• Authors:
    • Singh, U. P.
    • Punia, M.
    • Gupta, R.
    • Sidhu, B. S.
    • Chandna, P.
    • Ladha, J. K.
  • Source: Applied Geography
  • Volume: 32
  • Issue: 2
  • Year: 2012
  • Summary: Satisfying the food demands of an ever-increasing population, preserving the natural resource base, and improving livelihoods are major challenges for South Asia. A large area of land in the Middle and Lower Gangetic Plains of South Asia remains either uncultivated or underused following the rice harvest in the kharif (wet) season. The area includes "rice-fallow," estimated at 6.7 million ha, flood-prone riversides (" diara lands," 2.4 million ha), waterlogged areas (4.9 million ha), and salt-affected soils (2.3 million ha). Bringing these lands under production could substantially improve the food supply and enhance livelihoods in the region. This paper describes a methodological case study that targeted resource-conserving technologies in underused lands of the Ballia District of eastern Uttar Pradesh (India) using multispectral remote-sensing images. Classification of temporal satellite data IRS-P6 in combination with Spot VGT 2 permitted the identification of all major categories of underused land during the post-rainy rabi/winter season, with an average accuracy of 89%. Based on three-year averages of field demonstrations, farmers gained an additional income of $63 ha -1 by introducing raised beds in salt-affected soils; $140 and $800 ha -1 by introducing deepwater rice varieties (monsoon) and boro rice (winter) in waterlogged areas; and $581 ha -1 by introducing zero-till lentil (winter) in rain-fed fallow lowland. Timely wheat planting through zero-tillage implies an additional income of $147 ha -1 and could increase wheat production by 35,000-65,000 tons in the district. The methodologies and technologies suggested in the study are applicable to more than 15 million ha of underutilized lands of the Indo-Gangetic Plains of South Asia. If the technologies are precisely applied, they can result in more than 3000 million US $ of additional income every year to these poverty prone areas.
  • Authors:
    • Kremer, R. J.
    • Anderson, S. H.
    • Paudel, B. R.
    • Udawatta, R. P.
  • Source: Agroforestry Systems
  • Volume: 84
  • Issue: 2
  • Year: 2012
  • Summary: Soil enzyme activities and water stable aggregates have been identified as sensitive soil quality indicators, but few studies exist comparing those parameters within buffers, grazed pastures and row-crop systems. Our objective was to examine the effects of these land uses on the activities of selected enzymes (beta-glucosidase, beta-glucosaminidase, fluorescein diacetate (FDA) hydrolase, and dehydrogenase), proportion of water stable aggregates (WSA), soil organic carbon and total nitrogen content. Four management treatments [grazed pasture (GP), agroforestry buffer (AgB), grass buffer (GB) and row crop (RC)] were sampled in 2009 and 2010 at two depths (0 to 10- and 10 to 20-cm) and analyzed. Most of the soil quality indicators were significantly greater under perennial vegetation when compared to row crop treatments. Although there were numerical variations, soil quality response trends were consistent between years. The beta-glucosaminidase activity increased slightly from 156 to 177 g PNP g -1 dry soil while beta-glucosidase activity slightly decreased from 248 to 237 g PNP g -1 dry soil in GB treatment during 2 years. The surface (0-10 cm depth) had greater enzyme activities and WSA than sub-surface (10-20 cm) samples. WSA increased from 178 to 314 g kg -1 in row crop areas while all other treatments had similar values during the 2 year study. The treatment by depth interaction was significant ( P<0.05) for beta-glucosidase and beta-glucosaminidase enzymes in 2009 and for dehydrogenase and beta-glucosaminidase in 2010. Soil enzyme activities were significantly correlated with soil organic carbon content ( r≥0.94, P<0.0001). This is important because soil enzyme activities and microbial biomass can be enhanced by perennial vegetation and thus improve several other soil quality parameters. These results also support the hypothesis that positive interactions among management practices, soil biota and subsequent environmental quality effects are of great agricultural and ecological importance.
  • Authors:
    • Penha, L.
    • Khatounian, C.
    • Fonseca, I.
  • Source: Planta Daninha
  • Volume: 30
  • Issue: 1
  • Year: 2012
  • Summary: Weed control has always been an important issue in agriculture. With the advent of no-till systems, soil erosion was reduced but herbicide use was increased. Organic no-till systems try to adjust reduced erosion to the no use of herbicides. Nevertheless, this adjustment is limited by the cost of mechanical weed control. This cost may be reduced by improved cultural weed control with cover crops mulches. In this paper we report a study on the application of compost manure on an oats winter cover crop, preceding soybean, instead of on the soybean summer crop. Treatments comprised a control without compost manure, and compost manure doses of 4 and 8 Mg ha -1 applied either on oats in winter or soybean in summer, organized in a randomized block design, with five replications. In summer, plots were split into weed-controlled or not controlled subplots. The timing of application and the manure doses did not affect the oats biomass or the soybean performance. However, in summer, without water stress, the application of manure at 8 Mg ha -1 directly on soybean has reduced weed biomass in this crop.
  • Authors:
    • Way, T. R.
    • Kleinman, P. J. A.
    • Moore, P. A.
    • Pote, D. H.
  • Source: Journal of Agricultural Science
  • Volume: 4
  • Issue: 4
  • Year: 2012
  • Summary: Poultry manure provides a rich organic nutrient source to fertilize crops and help neutralize soil acidity. However, the usual practice of broadcasting litter on the surface of pastures and other no-till systems can degrade water quality by allowing nutrients to be transported from fields in surface runoff, while much of the ammonium-N volatilizes and escapes into the atmosphere. In a previous study, we used a subsurface banding technique to move litter from the soil surface into the root zone with minimal disturbance of the grass, thatch, and soil structure; and found that nutrient losses decreased substantially. Because subsurface banding increased retention of nutrients and water in the soil, we conducted follow-up research to compare crop yield and quality from this litter application method to those from the conventional surface broadcasting method. The objectives were to determine effects of subsurface application on perennial forage yield, quality, and temporal yield distribution during the growing season. Field plots were located on silt loam soil (8-10% slopes) with well-established bermudagrass ( Cynodon dactylon L. Pers.). Poultry litter was applied (6.7 Mg ha -1, dry weight) by one of two methods: surface broadcast manually or subsurface banded using a tractor-drawn prototype implement. Each treatment was replicated three times. There were also three control plots that received no litter. Results showed that subsurface application generally increased forage quality and yield, especially in the latter part of the growing season when forage production from surface-applied litter began to decline. Under the growing conditions in this study, subsurface application increased mean forage yield by as much as 40%.
  • Authors:
    • Kornecki, T. S.
    • Place, G. T.
    • Reberg-Horton, S. C.
    • Grossman, J. M.
    • Meijer, A. D.
    • Price, A. J.
    • Webster, T. M.
  • Source: Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems
  • Volume: 27
  • Issue: 1
  • Year: 2012
  • Summary: Organic systems in the southeastern USA offer unique challenges and solutions to crop production due to regional soil and climate characterized by highly weathered soil types, high precipitation and the capacity to grow cover crops in the winter. Recently, the interest of producers and researchers in high-residue cover crops and conservation tillage systems has increased. Various designs of the roller-crimper to manage cover crops have been invented and demonstrated to growers in the southeastern region of the USA over the past 17 years. The impacts of high-residue cover crop mulches on the agronomic systems in the region are diverse. Legume cover crops assist with meeting N demand from cash crops though they decompose rapidly and are seldom sufficient for N demanding crops such as corn. Cereal cover crop mulches can have the opposite effect by immobilizing N and have a longer impact on soil moisture and weed dynamics. While undesirable for many crops, N immobilization is one possible mechanism for weed suppression in legume cash crops planted into cereal residues. Other cover crop weed suppression mechanisms include physical impedance, light availability, allelopathy and microclimate effects. Regardless of the cause, successful weed control by mulches is highly dependent on having substantial biomass. The southeastern region is capable of producing cover crop biomass in excess of 9000 kg ha(-1), which is sufficient for weed control in many cash crops, although supplementary weed control is sometimes necessary. Long-term data are needed to predict when farmers should add supplementary weed control. More work is also needed on how much additional N is required for the cash crops and how best to deliver that N in a high-residue environment using organic sources.
  • Authors:
    • Nyakatawa, E. Z.
    • Reddy, S. S.
    • Reddy, C. K.
  • Source: International Journal of Agriculture & Biology
  • Volume: 14
  • Issue: 1
  • Year: 2012
  • Summary: Nitrogen uptake pattern by cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) at different growth stages in response to long-term application of poultry litter (PL) in a no-till system (NT) was studied on a silt loam soil in 2009. The study was done in plots that were established in 1996 at TVREC, Belle Mina, AL, USA. Treatments included were three tillage [conventional tillage (CT), mulch-tillage (MT), and no-tillage (NT)] two cropping systems tot ton-lye (C-R; cotton in summer & cereal rye cover crop in winter), and cotton-fallow (C-F; cotton in summer & fallow in winter)] and two sources of nitrogen [PL at 100 and 200 kg N ha(-1) and ammonium nitrate (AN) at 100 kg N ha(-1)] Out of all treatment combinations only 11 important treatments were selected and arranged in a randomized complete block design and replicated 4 times. Results in 2009, showed that NT system can supply equal quantity of nitrogen compared to CT at all growth stages. No-tillage recorded similar growth, yield and total nitrogen uptake compared to CT. Application of PL at 100 kg N ha(-1) showed significantly superior plant growth compared to AN at early growth stage, but the differences disappeared as the plant growth progressed. Similar yields and nitrogen uptake were observed with application of either PL or AN at 100 kg N ha(-1). Application of a double rate of PL (200 kg N ha(-1)) resulted in significantly higher nitrogen uptake compared to that of PL or AN at 100 kg N ha(-1), but a significant yield advantage was not observed with this higher rate. Of the total nitrogen extracted by cotton at maturity, 50% uptake was completed by early flowering stage and 97% was completed by boll development stage. At maturity, the majority of nitrogen (52%) was partitioned into seeds, while the rest was distributed into leaves (16%), stems (18%) and reproductive parts (14%). winter rye cover crop did not influence nitrogen uptake. (C) 2012 Friends Science Publishers
  • Authors:
    • Frigo, E. P.
    • Marins, A. C. de
    • Santos, R. F.
    • Souza, S. N. M. de
    • Borsoi, A.
    • Secco, D.
  • Source: Journal of Food, Agriculture, and Environment
  • Volume: 10
  • Issue: 1; Part 2
  • Year: 2012
  • Summary: Soil organic matter is of fundamental importance to improve the structure and retention of water and nutrients. This assay aims at evaluating the dynamic of organic matter in a clayey oxisol under three tillage systems, five periods and in five depths. The experiment was conducted in the Experimental Center of Agricultural Engineering in the State University of Western Parana (UNIOESTE), in Cascavel city, Parana, Brazil, in a red latosol (usually known as oxisol) from clayey to very clayey texture (600 g kg -1 clay; 320 g kg -1 silt and 80 g kg -1 sand) basalt substrate and soft-wavy relief. The area is geographically set by the coordinates 24degrees48′ south latitude and 53degrees26′ west longitude, 760 m average height. The treatments were composed of three soil tillage systems: CT conventional tillage=disc plowing followed by harrowing to level; RT reduced tillage=scarification without a following harrowing to level; and NT no-till farming=implantation of crops on the stubble of the previous crop. The depths of soil sample extractions, for the determination of organic carbon content, in each tillage system, were as follows: 0.0-0.025; 0.025-0.05; 0.05-0.10; 0.10-0.20 and 0.20-0.30 m. Organic carbon content was determined in accordance with the Walkley-Black methodology, from years 2006 to 2010. The experimental design used was a 5*3*5 factorial (five periods, three tillage systems and five depths). Tukey's test was applied to compare the average of treatments, with the significance level at 5%. After five years, NT showed an increase of 3.5% and 4.8% in organic carbon contents, related to CT and to RT, respectively.
  • Authors:
    • Bortoluzzi, T.
    • Silva, C. A. T. da
    • Arieira, C. R. D.
    • Silva, T. R. B. da
  • Source: African Journal of Agricultural Research
  • Volume: 7
  • Issue: 2
  • Year: 2012
  • Summary: Poultry manure, applied like organic fertilizer on corn, has not been studied extensively; so, no one knows its effect on the genealogy of the soil. However, organic fertilizer does not cost much, it is easy to buy and it has less degree of environmental degradation as compared to chemical fertilizers. This study was conducted in the commercial fields of St. Helena/PR with corn, using the triple hybrid 2B688, established in 2008 with no-till farming for seven years in order to evaluate the effect of poultry manure on corn yield. The treatment used was chemical fertilizer having nitrogen in the formulation NPK with an addition of three doses of poultry manure (0, 3.5 and 7 t ha -1) and a witness; whereas the experimental design was randomized blocks with split plots and five replications. It was observed that the results were not significant for the number of rows per ear and grains per spike. Nevertheless, increased yield in corn was observed with 100% of poultry manure.
  • Authors:
    • Tessier, D.
    • Curmi, P.
    • Guimaraes, M.
    • Tavares Filho, J.
  • Source: REVISTA BRASILEIRA DE CIENCIA DO SOLO
  • Volume: 36
  • Issue: 1
  • Year: 2012
  • Summary: It is known that any kind of soil management causes changes in the soil physical characteristics and can affect agricultural yield. The purpose of this study was to evaluate soil properties of an Alfisol and soybean yield under different management systems for no-tillage annual crops, no-tillage with chiseling and no-tillage crop rotation. The 11-year experiment was initiated in the 1998/99 growing season, on 100*30 m plots (11% slope). Soil samples (5 per management system) were systematically collected (0-25 cm layer) in the summer growing season, to quantify soil organic matter, bulk density, macroporosity and flocculation, as well as soybean yield. The highest values for soil bulk density and organic matter content and the lowest for macroporosity were observed in the no-till system alone, whereas in the no-till system with quarterly chiseling the values for organic matter content were lowest, and no-tillage crop rotation resulted in the highest values for organic matter and macroporosity, and the lowest for soil bulk density. The average soybean yield was highest under no-till and trimestrial chiseling or crop rotation, and lowest for no-tillage annual crops no-tillage annual crops alone.
  • Authors:
    • Divito, G.
    • Sainz Rozas, H.
    • Echeverria, H.
    • Wyngaard, N.
  • Source: Soil & Tillage Research
  • Volume: 119
  • Year: 2012
  • Summary: Agricultural management practices, such as tillage and fertilization alter soil physical, chemical and biological properties over the medium term, which has a direct impact on the system's sustainability and crop performance. The aim of this work was to evaluate how fertilization with nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), sulphur (S), micronutrients (Mi), liming (Li) and tillage systems affect soil properties in the medium term, and to measure the impact of these changes on maize ( Zea mays L.) yield. A seven-year experiment on a Typic Argiudoll in the Southern Pampas region of Argentina using seven fertilizations treatments (Control, N P, NS, PS, NPS, NPS+Mi, and NPS+Mi+Li) and two tillage systems - conventional tillage (CT) and no-till (NT) - was evaluated. Each sub-plot was analyzed to determine physical parameters - bulk density (BD) and aggregate stability (AS)-, biological parameters - total organic carbon (TOC), carbon in the particulate fraction (COP), anaerobically incubated nitrogen (AN), total nitrogen (TN) and nitrogen in the particulate fraction (PN) - and chemical parameters - nitrate, available phosphorus, sulphate and pH - at different depths. Also, maize yield was measured in the final year without fertilizer application, in order to evaluate the effects of soil changes on this crop. Among the physical parameters, the only differences found were in BD between tillage systems in the 0-5 cm layer (1.28 g cm -3 in NT and 1.15 g cm -3 in CT). Biological parameters were unaffected by fertilization treatments. However, tillage systems modified many of them in the 0-5 cm layer: COT (17 Mg ha -1 in CT and 21 Mg ha -1 in NT), POC (2.4 Mg ha -1 in CT and 4.5 Mg ha -1 in NT), TN (1.4 Mg ha -1 in CT and 1.8 Mg ha -1 in NT), PN (0.3 Mg ha -1 in CT and 0.5 Mg ha -1 in NT) and AN (56 mg kg -1 in CT and 79 mg kg -1 in NT). These differences were not significant when the 5-20 cm depth was analyzed. Chemical properties such as pH (5.7 in treatments with N; 6.1 without N, and 6.4 with N and lime) and P Bray content were modified (35 mg kg -1 in treatments with P and 13 mg kg -1 without P). In both cases, there was interaction with the tillage system, with significant stratification under NT. Maize yield was only affected by residual P; there were no other effects of medium-term fertilization or tillage systems.