• Authors:
    • Grace, P.
    • Barton, L.
    • Chen, D.
    • Eckard, R.
    • Kelly, K.
    • Officer, S.
    • Scheer, C.
    • Schwenke, G.
    • Wang, W.
  • Source: Soil Solutions for a Changing World
  • Year: 2011
  • Authors:
    • Kiese, R.
    • Butterbach-Bahl, K.
    • Reeves, S. H.
    • Dalal, R. C.
    • Wang, W.
  • Source: Global Change Biology
  • Volume: 17
  • Issue: 10
  • Year: 2011
  • Authors:
    • Cociu, A. I.
  • Source: Romanian Agricultural Research
  • Issue: 28
  • Year: 2011
  • Summary: This research was aimed to identify the most suitable tillage systems for sustainable winter wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) yield levels, with best economic efficiency, assuring at the same time high quality soil physical and mechanical properties. The field experiments were carried out at Fundulea on a cambic chernozem soil type. Four tillage systems were tested to determine their influence on soil water content, soil macro-aggregates, resistance to soil penetration, wheat grain yield and its components, and crop economic efficiency. The following tillage systems were studied: traditional, with moldboard plough (TS); chisel plough tillage - primary tillage executed with chisel implement type without furrow over throwing (CS); disc/sweep tillage, providing a combined effect of vegetal remnants chopped with disc implements along with soil work with arrow type tools, without furrow over throwing (DS); No till (NT) - without any tillage work. In comparison with TS variant, soil conservation tillage systems (SCTS), as CS, DS and NT, increased the soil water content, recorded at seeding time, with 0.8%, 3.9%, and 4.1%, respectively. Soil water content, recorded at harvest time for CS and NT variants was 1.3% and 2.5% higher than in the case of TS (P2 mm with 5.5%, and the mean weighted diameter of soil particles resulted by dry sieving, with 5.5% and 10%, respectively. Yield components recorded for soil conservation tillage systems (CS, DS, and NT) did not differ significantly from those evaluated for traditional system (TS), but the superior values of 1000 kernels weight and spike density suggest that these components contributed more to higher yields, obtained with SCTS, than grain weight per spike, number of grain per spike, and number of grains per square meter. With regards to economic efficiency, the outputs of all tested SCTS were significantly greater than the TS. The present study, revealing important advantages of soil conservation tillage systems over the traditional one, revealing the improvement of soil physical and mechanical properties, higher winter wheat yield levels and higher crop economic efficiency, invites farmers from South Plain of Romania to adopt soon these new progressive systems.
  • Authors:
    • Feng, G.
    • Sharratt, B.
    • Young, F.
  • Source: Journal of Soil and Water Conservation
  • Volume: 66
  • Issue: 4
  • Year: 2011
  • Summary: In the low precipitation zone (<0.3 m [11.8 in] annual precipitation) of the Inland Pacific Northwest, no-tillage continuous spring cereal and no-tillage spring cereal-chemical fallow rotations are being examined as alternatives to the traditional winter wheat-summer fallow rotation for soil conservation. There is limited information, however, regarding the long-term effects of no-tillage cropping systems on soil hydraulic properties in this semiarid region. The objective of this study was therefore to characterize infiltration, water retention, saturated hydraulic conductivity and bulk density of a silt loam that had been subject to various tillage and crop rotations in east-central Washington. Treatments examined included no-tillage spring barley-spring wheat (NTSB-SW), no-tillage spring wheat-chemical fallow (NTSW-ChF), and traditional winter wheat-summer fallow (WW-SF). Soil properties were measured in spring and late summer 2006 due to the vulnerability of the soil to rapidly dry and erode during these seasons. Saturated hydraulic conductivity was determined by the falling-head method, infiltration was measured using a double-ring infiltrometer, and water retention characteristics was assessed by examining the temporal variation of in situ soil water content. NTSB-SW resulted in higher infiltration and saturated hydraulic conductivity, lower bulk density, and larger and/or more continuous pores in the upper soil profile (<0.1 in [<3.9 in] depth) than WW-SF and NTSW-ChE Infiltration and saturated hydraulic conductivity were lower for chemical fallow than for traditional fallow in spring whereas hydraulic conductivity was lower for summer fallow than chemical fallow in late summer. Soil hydrologic properties appeared more favorable for no-tillage continuous spring cereal rotations. These results arc useful for soil and water management and conservation planning in the low precipitation zone of the Inland Pacific Northwest.
  • Authors:
    • Lezaún, J. A.
    • Lacasta, C.
    • Ciria, P.
    • Aibar, J.
    • Pardo, G.
    • Zaragoza, C.
  • Source: Chilean Journal of Agricultural Research
  • Volume: 71
  • Issue: 2
  • Year: 2011
  • Summary: Under semiarid conditions the response of cereal crops to chemical fertilizers and weed control practices with herbicides is often reduced. In fact, the economic profitability of agricultural production in many dryland regions is critically affected by high costs of inputs and low crop yields. As a solution, cropping systems like organic farming, obtaining similar yields and promoting environmental sustainability by reducing fertilizer and herbicides, could be an alternative to conventional systems. In this study, 23 trials were performed in five semiarid regions of Spain during 5 yr to compare different fertilizers and weed control methods on durum wheat ( Triticum durum Desf.) and barley ( Hordeum vulgare L.) yields. The following rotation pattern was developed on the experimental plots: fallow-barley-ground ploughed vetch ( Vicia sativa L.)-durum wheat. Plots either received organic fertilizer, chemical fertilizer, or no fertilizer. In addition, three levels of weed control were applied in cereal plots: flex-tine harrow tillage, conventional herbicide, and no weeding. The results indicated that neither the fertilization nor the weed control have effect on the yield crop.
  • Authors:
    • Alonso, J. C.
    • Magana, M.
    • Garcia de Leon, D.
    • Bravo, C.
    • Ponce, C.
  • Source: Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment
  • Volume: 141
  • Issue: 1/2
  • Year: 2011
  • Summary: Organic farming is considered an important way to preserve biodiversity in agricultural landscapes. However, more work is still necessary to enable a full appraisal of the potential benefits of this way of farming, since studies differ in the evaluation of its effectiveness. Studies are particularly scarce in the Mediterranean region, where different climatic and ecological conditions prevent simple extrapolations from work carried out at northern latitudes. In the present study, an analysis of weed and arthropod communities was conducted in 28 pairs of organic and conventional fields in a dry cereal farmland in central Spain. Plants were identified to the species level, and arthropods to the family level. Pitfalls and sweep nets were used to sample respectively, ground-dwelling and plant-visiting arthropods. Abundance (total numbers of individuals), richness (total numbers of plant species or arthropod families), diversity (Shannon-Wiener index) and biomass (milligrams per pitfall/sweep-net) were calculated for each field and compared between organic and conventional fields using Generalized Linear Mixed Models (GLMMs). To explore the effect of predictor variables on weed richness and arthropod biomass, GLMMs were used. Organic fields showed higher abundance of weeds and arthropods (3.01 and 1.43 times, respectively), higher weed richness and diversity (2.76 and 2.33 times, respectively), and a 24% reduction in cereal plants. Arthropod diversity was lower in organic fields due to the presence of three dominant groups: Collembola, Chloropidae (Diptera), and Aphididae (Hemiptera). Weed richness increased as cereal cover decreased in organic fields. Total arthropod biomass was slightly higher in organic fields, and was affected by weed abundance and diversity. The differences between organic and conventional fields found in this study were higher than those reported for northern latitudes. This could be explained by the richer weed flora in the Mediterranean region, and a higher weed seed availability favored by the two-year rotation system typical of Iberian dry cereal farmland. We conclude that organic farming may contribute to preserve biodiversity in dryland cereal agroecosystems in the Mediterranean region.
  • Authors:
    • Reyes Serrano, H. F.
    • Alvarez Latorre, P.
    • Poncet, Y.
  • Source: Sécheresse
  • Volume: 22
  • Issue: 4
  • Year: 2011
  • Summary: The Coquimbo region, in Chile, receives a rainfall of 110 mm (annual mean), winter rains, which allow only small scale cereal cropping and pastures for goat and sheep raising. However, thanks to subtle irrigation processes, practiced for centuries, the region used to export high value agricultural products up to mining and transportation workers and facilities settled in the northern arid area of the country. The history of ground occupation and soil uses, throughout the colonial era then in an independent Chile, designed not only the land property modalities, but also the sharing of rights of water usage. During the last sixty years, this system has changed considerably, with both technical causes (artificial lakes to stock water, cheap electric energy in rural areas) and with political and social causes (agrarian reform, agricultural foreign capital). The scientific research program " Suivi de la desertification, connaissance des systemes d'elevage caprin, gestion de la ressource en eau: trois aspects pour la definition d'une politique environnementale incluant la participation des populations dans la IVeregion du Chili ( ECOS-Conicyt)" studied theses changes and their consequences, in order to anticipate consequences and foresee negative ones: the "Limari model" is frequently given as an example of successful economic development and is to be copied in other arid valleys. The irrigation graphic scheme of the valley of Limari is hereafter presented in four dynamic figures, as one of the multidisciplinary supports for research into the well-known problems of geographic and economic balance between rural and urban development, between irrigated and arid areas, and upon the long range effects of the disconnection between land rights and water rights. The new social and economic order will be effected as a consequence of the relationship between new technical applications and new laws and rights. This graphic demonstration is contrived to organise and discuss available information about water, energy, irrigated areas and regulation by law.
  • Authors:
    • Stepannikov, V.
    • Popova, E.
    • Popov, N.
  • Source: Mezhdunarodnyi Sel'skokhozyaistvennyi Zhurnal
  • Issue: 4
  • Year: 2011
  • Summary: Problems associated with the organization and provision of irrigation in the arid regions of Astrakhan Province, Russia, for the efficient use of both water and land are discussed. Recommendations are made for modernizing the structures of irrigated land use on the basis of scientifically based crop rotations. Economic evaluations of the main indicators of irrigated farming efficiency allowed farming systems to be developed for the Province's various natural and climatic zones and according to farm type (for example, meat or dairy farms, and farms devoted to growing cereals, rice, vegetables, cucurbit crops, fodder crops or potatoes).
  • Authors:
    • Abusuwar, A.
    • Omer, E.
  • Source: Agriculture and Biology Journal of North America
  • Volume: 2
  • Issue: 1
  • Year: 2011
  • Summary: A field experiment was carried out for two consecutive seasons (2005/2006 and 2006/2007) in the Demonstration Farm of the Faculty of Agriculture at Shambat, University of Khartoum, Sudan, to study the effect of intercropping, phosphorus application and Rhizobium inoculation on the performance of some leguminous and cereal forage crops. The treatments used were pure stand, a mixture of Clitoria, lablab and Sudangrass, phosphorus fertilizer and Rhizobium inoculation. They were laid out in a completely randomized block design with three replications. Yield and quality were measured. Land equivalent ratio (LER) was calculated to evaluate intercropping versus monocropping. The results of the field experiment showed that, sole crop yield was higher than when grown in a mixture. The mixtures especially legume/legume combinations, gave more total forage yield than the sole crops. Nearly all the intercropping treatments had land equivalent ratio (LER) above one which indicated the advantage of intercropping over monocropping. Rhizobium inoculation and phosphorus application improved forage quality by increasing crude protein content. Intercropping and phosphorus fertilization decreased crude fiber percentage in the plant tissues.
  • Authors:
    • Ryan, J.
    • Yahyaoui, A.
    • Ahmed, S.
    • Pala, M.
  • Source: Arab Journal of Plant Protection
  • Volume: 29
  • Issue: 2
  • Year: 2011
  • Summary: Yield declines commonly observed under cereal monoculture are invariably attributed to disease buildup as well as nutrient and moisture depletions. While many long-term trials in the West Asia and North Africa region, especially in northern Syria rainfed cereal production belt, have assessed various cropping alternatives in comparison with fallow and continuous cereal cropping, few trials have involved measurement of fungal diseases. This paper reports observations made on the incidence of common root rot ( Cochliobolus sativus) from long-term trials at the International Center for Agriculture Research in the Dry Areas involving wheat and barley. With both cereals, crop rotation with legumes was shown to reduce the incidence of root rot. The results clearly indicated the need for a more comprehensive phytopathological assessment of the implications of continuous cereal cropping, especially considering the effects of residue management and nitrogen fertilization.