• Authors:
    • Finetto, G. A.
  • Source: Acta Horticulturae
  • Issue: 890
  • Year: 2011
  • Summary: Afghanistan can be considered the country of the pomegranate fruit because of the excellent quality of the cultivars that thrive there. Afghanistan is a land for 48 leading world cultivars of pomegranate commonly growing in Kandahar, Kapisa, Samangan, Farha, Nenroz and Balkh Provinces. Kandahar Province has historically, widely been known as main production area for its high quality and productivity. Other pomegranate orchards are located along the Arghandab River. Pomegranate ranks 5th after grapes, almond, apricot and apple. The area has decreased from 5667 ha (1996) to 2500 ha (2003). The average yields are in the range of about 8600 kg/ha in Dand district to more than 19000 kg/ha in Arghandab district. Although one estimate says the total production is around 24,000 Mt, a rational estimation is around 15-20,000 Mt, due to the poor production in some areas. Production in the Kandahar Province is approximately 10,000 metric tons; and the main cultivar is 'Kandahari'. Smaller volumes are produced elsewhere in Afghanistan. Elevation is the main restriction in production, with 'Bedana' produced in Nangarhar at or above 1000 m elevation. 'Kandahari' is produced at elevations from 550 m to below 1000 m. Up to now no collection of local cultivars has been carried out by the fruit tree projects funded by international organisations (EC, World Bank, FAO, USAID, DFID, ICARDA, etc.). To meet the high demand of the world market, Afghanistan must increase production levels and improve productivity through better husbandry of pomegranate orchards. In Afghanistan few are commercial orchards, commonly the farmers grow this fruit species in small plots with intercropping, due to very exiguous dimensions of farms (average 0.8 ha per household), dire needs of staple food for their families and an instable political situation. In spite of the good local cultivars few cultural practices such as irrigation, fertilisation, pruning, etc. are applied often in an unsteady way. Due to the health benefits of the fruit (anti-oxidant) several traders in Afghanistan have started to receive orders for pomegranate from outside their traditional markets in the Sub-Continent. So, locally the market for pomegranate does not compare with other more common fruits because the demand is growing rapidly. Pomegranate commercialisation has a typical supply chain that involves the following major players: Grower, Pre-harvest Contractor, Pakistani Importer/Financier, Packaging Company. From harvest to market, wooden baskets (typically 3 sizes, but without uniform size/weight), made of flexible pomegranate tree branches (1st or 2nd year shoots) are used. For export mostly wooden crates are used. Pomegranate is an ideal fresh fruit for Afghanistan to export as they come in a tough outer rind and have good storage properties. So, pomegranate should be considered as one of the most promising crops for support but refrigeration, postharvest handling and promotion should all be applied to this crop.
  • Authors:
    • Bueno, O. de C.
    • Frigo, E. P.
    • Frigo, M. S.
    • Esperancini, M. S. T.
    • Klar, A. E.
  • Source: Energia na Agricultura
  • Volume: 26
  • Issue: 2
  • Year: 2011
  • Summary: The knowledge production and energy expenditure in agriculture is crucial due to strategic importance which occupies as a producer of energy inputs to other economic sectors, such as biodiesel produced from oilseed crops, so this study was attempt to determine the energy cost of partial deployment and conduct of corn intercropping agroecosystem with physic nut, under the steering and without irrigation, in an experiment conducted in accordance with the productive system of family farming in the west of Parana State. Such a study is justified due to the scarcity of energy data of the culture of physic nut under brazilian conditions, as well as in intercropping system under technological conditions of the family farm west of Parana, and especially environmental issues involved in this study as the rational use of energy sources nonrenewable. The experiment was conducted in accordance with the techniques employed by family farmers in western Parana, from February 2008 to May 2008 for corn and from February 2008 to November 2009 for the cultivation of physic nut in the Experimental Center of Agricultural Engineering (NEEA), belonging to the State University of Western Parana (UNIOESTE), campus of Cascavel/PR, in the area of tillage. The final product was assessed only corn. The technical coefficients, the workload, performance, identification of the tractor, implements and equipment, their specifications and their consumption of fuel, lubricants and greases, as well as quantification of manpower used were derived from primary data and secondary. The methodology consisted of determining the "Efficiency Cultural Partial" and "Energy Efficiency Partial". Regarding the energy balance in part, cultural and energy efficiency partial there were no major differences between the systems studied. We conclude that the conditions of the experiment the conduction system assessed in terms of energy both systems have the same performance.
  • Authors:
    • Gabriel, J. L.
    • Quemada, M.
  • Source: European Journal of Agronomy
  • Volume: 34
  • Issue: 3
  • Year: 2011
  • Summary: Cover crops in dry regions have been often limited by low nutrient and water-use efficiency. This study was conducted during 3.5 years to determine the effect of replacing bare fallow by a cover crop on yield, N uptake, and fate of labeled fertiliser in an intensive maize production system. Three treatments were studied: barley ( Hordeum vulgare L.), vetch ( Vicia villosa L.) and bare fallow during the intercropping period of maize ( Zea mays L.). All treatments were irrigated and fertilised following the same procedure, and a microplot in each plot was established with 210 kg N ha -1 of double labeled ammonium nitrate. Crop yield and N uptake, soil mineral N (N min), and recovery of 15N in plant and soil were determined after maize harvest and killing the cover crop. Replacing bare fallow with cover crops did not affect subsequent maize yield but affected N uptake. Vetch increased N supply by legume residues after the second year, and the N content in grain by the third. Nitrogen recover from fertiliser was not affected by treatment and averaged 46%. Barley recovered more 15N during the autumn-winter period than vetch or fallow. Under representative conditions, average barley N content was 47, vetch 51, and spontaneous vegetation content 0.8 kg N ha -1. Recovery of 15N in barley comprised 19% of total N content in aerial biomass, while only 4% in vetch. Vetch enhanced soil 15N recovery more than other treatments, suggesting its presence in a fairly stable organic fraction unavailable for maize uptake or lost. Replacing bare fallow by a cover crop only reduced fertiliser losses in a year with abundant precipitation. Nevertheless, reduction in soil N min in vetch and bare fallow treatments was similar, showing that N losses can be reduced in this cropping system, either by replace bare fallow with barley or smaller N fertiliser application to maize.
  • Authors:
    • Dadhwal, K. S.
    • Sharma, N. K.
    • Ghosh, B. N.
  • Source: Indian Journal of Soil Conservation
  • Volume: 39
  • Issue: 3
  • Year: 2011
  • Summary: Agricultural land use coupled with cropping system and integrated nutrient management (INM) can enhance crop yields, water productivity, improve soil health and income to the farmers. To test this hypothesis, four technologies namely rainfed; (i) maize+cowpea (1:2)-wheat, (ii) maizewheat+mustard (9:1), (iii) irrigated, paddy-wheat, paddy (System of rice intensification, SRI) - wheat and (iv) maize-potato-onion with INM to each crop rotations were experimented and demonstrated on farmer's fields in the agroclimatic zone of valley land of north-west Himalayas (Agro-ecological 14) in the districts of Dehradun (Uftarakhand) and Sirmour (Himachal pradesh) during 2007-09. Two years pooled data indicated that maize-potato-onion rotation rendered highest maize equivalent yield (18762 kg ha -1) among all the cropping system, followed by paddy wheat (10789 kg ha -1) and maize-wheat+mustard intercropping system (4826 kg ha -1). Of the two rainfed systems, maize-wheat+mustard gave slightly higher (1.5%) maize equivalent yield than maize- + cowpea-wheat sequence whereas under limited irrigation condition, maize-potato-onion exhibited significantly higher (73.9%) maize equivalent yield than paddy-wheat system. Results also revealed that on an average, yield, water use efficiency (WUE) and net return increased to the tune of 40.7, 44.7 and 89.9%, respectively on adoption of technology in the farmer's field over conventional farming irrespective of crop rotations. Water use in system of rice intensification (SRI) with INM technology was 80-90 mm less than fanners practice. On adoption of INM technology, the soil quality index (SQI) improved from 11.9 to 18.8% exhibiting highest in maize-potato-onion and lowest in paddy-wheat system. It is inferred that maize-potato-onion under limited irrigation treatment and maize-wheat+mustard under rainfed conditions are the best management options for maximizing water productivity, net return and soil quality.
  • Authors:
    • Gill, B. S.
    • Singh, D.
    • Singh, G.
    • Salaria, A.
  • Source: Indian Journal of Arecanut Spices and Medicinal Plants
  • Volume: 13
  • Issue: 1
  • Year: 2011
  • Summary: This paper briefly discusses the agronomic requirements of onion-mint (Mentha arvensis, M. piperita, M. spicata and M. citrata [M. piperita var. citrata]) intercropping systems in India (mainly in semi-temperate regions of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Bihar). Optimum cultivation conditions in terms of climate and soil type, field preparation, sowing rate and seed treatment, planting date and method, fertilizer application, irrigation, weed control (cultural and chemical methods) and harvesting are presented.
  • Authors:
    • Peluzio, J. M.
    • Almeida, R. D. de
    • Afférri, F. S.
  • Source: Revista Ciência Agronômica
  • Volume: 42
  • Issue: 1
  • Year: 2011
  • Summary: The aim of this work was to evaluate the genetic divergence among twelve soybean cultivars under irrigated lowland conditions in south Tocantins State, Brazil, in the Companhia Brasileira de Agropecuaria (COBRAPE), at Formoso do Araguaia, TO, in the inter-cropping 2005. The experimental design employed was randomized blocks with twelve treatments and tree replications. The treatments consisted on the following cultivars: DM Vitoria, MG/BR 46 (Conquista), Suprema, BRS Pintado, DM 247, BRS/MG 68, BRS/MG Lideranca, BRS MG Seguranca, DM 339, BRS/MG Garantia, A 7002, and DM 309. The following characteristics were evaluated: grain yield, weight of hundred seeds, number of seeds per pod, number of pods per plant, number of days for flowering; number of days for maturation, plant height and height insertion of the primary pod. Genetic divergence was evaluated by multivariate procedures: generalized Mahalanobis distance, Tocher's agglomerative method of Tocher and nearest neighbor. The Tocher's method and nearest neighbor agreed among themselves. Number of days for the maturation (39.49%), weigh of hundred seeds (26.56%) and number of days for flowering (13.59%) were the traits that most contributed to the genetic dissimilarity. The presence of genetic variability allowed the identification of dissimilar cultivars with high average for the traits studied. BRS/MG Garantia * DM 339 and BRS/MG Garantia * MG/BR 46 (Conquista) hybridizations are promising for obtaining segregate populations with higher variability.
  • Authors:
    • Lima, N. R. C. de B.
    • Mendonca, F. C.
    • Santos, P. M.
    • Araujo, L. C. de
  • Source: Revista Brasileira de Zootecnia
  • Volume: 40
  • Issue: 7
  • Year: 2011
  • Summary: The objective of this work was to evaluate the development and productive traits of palisadegrass single cultivated or intercropped with corn, in addition to corn intercropped with pasture, under water deficit at different development stages of the plants. It was used a complete block experimental design with split plots and three replicates. Periods of water deficit were placed in the plots and types of cultivation were placed in the subplots. Irrigation was stopped at germination and initial tillering of palisadegrass and at V4 and V15 stages of corn and returned when soil moisture was 40% of available water capacity. Tiller density and palisadegrass height were evaluated weekly. Dry matter (DM) of fractions of herbage mass as well as leaf area of the plants were evaluated at corn tasseling and when grains reached physiological maturity. Components of corn production were determined in the second sampling. In palisadegrass, water influenced only tillering, which was reduced in the plots in which water defict was forced at the moment of germination or at the beginning of tilering, in both cultivation systems. Plant height and DM production were affected only by cultivation, reducing when intercropped with corn. Evaluated production components did not influence corn grain productivity, which was similar in all treatments (average of 10,145 kg/ha). Palisadegrass plants produce more DM in single cultivation than intercropped with corn. Water deficit during germination and initial tillering reduces tillering of palisadegrass during establishment phase. Water deficit, applied in this trial, does not reduce DM yield in palisadegrass or corn.
  • Authors:
    • Emerick, J. A. N.
    • Calazani, W. R.
    • Silva, C. F. da
    • Wendling, I. J.
    • Cunha, F. F. da
    • Araujo, R. A. S.
  • Source: Bioscience Journal
  • Volume: 27
  • Issue: 6
  • Year: 2011
  • Summary: The success in the use of pastures in silvopastoral systems depends on the understanding of the morphophysiological mechanisms and its interaction with the environment and of the management. It was aimed to evaluate the leaf appearance rate (LAR), leaf elongation rate (LER), stem elongation rate (SER), emerging leaf numbers (EmLN), expanded leaf numbers (ExLN), living leaf numbers (LLN), soil cover and plant height of Marandu grass intercropped with coconut. The experiment was mounted in a completely randomized arrangement, with six replications, in a split-plot design. The plots a treatments irrigated and not-irrigated and six rest periods in the split-plots (14, 21, 28, 35, 42 and 49 days). The irrigation provided increase in the soil cover, plant height, LER and SER of Marandu grass for the rest periods of 49 and 14 days, respectively. The rest periods provided linear reduction in the LAR and SER, and linear increase in the ExLN, LLN, soil cover and plant height of Marandu grass. The LER is bigger when rest periods used of 37 and 29 days, for Marandu grass irrigated and not-irrigated, respectively. It concludes that exactly in shade conditions, Marandu grass, when irrigated and submitted the biggest rest periods, provides to greaters morphogenic taxes and growth, indicating the potential of this fodder plant in integrated systems of production.
  • Authors:
    • Selvakumar, T.
    • Balakumbahan, R.
    • Joshua, J. P.
  • Source: Indian Journal of Arecanut Spices - Medicinal Plants
  • Volume: 13
  • Issue: 4
  • Year: 2011
  • Summary: The importance, geographical distribution, cultivars, cultivation aspects (soil, climate, land preparation, propagation, planting material, raising of nursery, shade, transplanting, manures and fertilizers, irrigation, and intercropping), pest and diseases and their control, harvesting, crop yield, drying, distillation of oil, oil content and chemical constituents and storage of oil of patchouli ( Pogostemon patchouli [ Pogostemon cablin]) are briefly discussed.
  • Authors:
    • Elfstrand, S.
    • Båth, B.
    • Wetterlind, J.
    • Stenberg, M.
    • Bergkvist, G.
  • Source: Field Crops Research
  • Volume: 120
  • Issue: 2
  • Year: 2011
  • Summary: Four two-year field trials, arranged in randomised split-plots, were carried out in southern Sweden with the aim of determining whether reduced N fertiliser dose in winter wheat production with spring under-sown clover cover crops, with or without perennial ryegrass in the seed mixture, would increase the clover biomass and hence the benefits of the cover crops in terms of the effect on the wheat crop, on a subsequent barley crop and on the risk of N leaching. Four doses of nitrogen (0, 60, 120 or 180 kg N ha(-1)) constituted the main plots and six cover crop treatments the sub-plots. The cover crop treatments were red clover (Trifolium pratense L). white clover (Trifolium repens L) and perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) in pure stands and in mixtures. The winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) was harvested in August and the cover crops were ploughed under in November. The risk of N leaching was assessed in November by measuring the content of mineral N in the soil profile (0-30, 30-90 cm). In the following year, the residual effects of the cover crops were investigated in spring barley (Hordeum distichon L) without additional N. Under-sowing of cover crops did not influence wheat yield, while reduced N fertiliser dose decreased yield and increased the clover content of the cover crops. When N was applied, the mixed cover crops were as effective in depleting soil mineral nitrogen as a pure ryegrass cover crop, while pure clover was less efficient. The clover content at wheat harvest as well as the amount of N incorporated with the cover crops had a positive correlation with barley yield. Spring barley in the unfertilised treatments yielded, on average, 1.9-2.4 Mg DM ha(-1) more in treatments with clover cover crops than in the treatment without cover crops. However, this positive effect decreased as the N dose to the preceding wheat crop increased, particularly when the clover was mixed with grass. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.