• Authors:
    • Schoenau, G.
    • Tabil, L.
    • Adapa, P.
  • Source: Biosystems Engineering
  • Volume: 104
  • Issue: 3
  • Year: 2009
  • Summary: Agricultural biomass has the potential to be used as feedstock for biofuel production. However, crop residue after harvest must be gathered, processed and densified in order to facilitate efficient handling, transportation and usage. in this study compacts were prepared by densifying material against a base plate (representing the specific energy required to overcome friction within the straw grinds) as opposed to the process that occurs in a commercial operation where compacts are formed due to back-pressure effect in the die. Densification was measured using four selected biomass samples (barley, canola (oilseed rape), oat and wheat straw) at 10% moisture content (wb) and 1.98 mm grinder screen size using a compaction apparatus which applied four pressure levels of 31.6, 63.2, 94.7 and 138.9 MPa. The specific energy required to extrude the compact was measured; this will closely emulate the specific energy required to overcome the friction between the ground straw and die. The mean densities of barley, canola, oat and wheat straw compacts ranged from 907 +/- 31 to 988 +/- 26 kg m(-3), 823 +/- 73 to 1003 +/- 21 kg m(-3), 849 +/- 22 to 1011 +/- 54 kg m(-3) and 813 +/- 55 to 924 +/- 23 kg m(-3), respectively; while the mean total specific energy for compaction of grinds ranged from 3.69 +/- 0.28 to 9.29 +/- 0.39 MJ t(-1), 3.31 +/- 0.82 to 9.44 +/- 0.33 MJ t(-1), 5.25 +/- 0.42 to 9.57 +/- 0.83 MJ t(-1) and 3.59 +/- 0.44 to 7.16 +/- 0.40 MJ t(-1), respectively. Best predictor equations having highest coefficient of determination values (R(2)) and standard error of estimate or root mean square error were determined for both compact density and total specific energy required to compress the ground straw samples. The resulting R 2 for pellet density from barley, canola, oat and wheat straw were 0.56, 0.79, 0.67 and 0.62, respectively, and for total specific energy the values of R 2 were 0.94, 0.96, 0.90 and 0.92, respectively. (C) 2009 IAgrE. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
  • Authors:
    • Vicente, M. C. de
    • Andersson, M. S.
  • Source: book
  • Year: 2009
  • Summary: This comprehensive volume provides the scientific basis for assessing the likelihood of gene flow between twenty important crops and their wild relatives. The crops discussed include both major staples and minor crops that are nonetheless critical to food security, including bananas and plantain, barley, canola, cassava, chickpeas, common beans, cotton, cowpeas, finger millet, maize, oat, peanuts or groundnuts, pearl millet, pigeonpeas, potatoes, rice, sorghum, soyabeans, sweet potatoes, and wheat. Each chapter is devoted to one of the crops and details crop-specific information as well as relevant factors for assessing the probability of gene flow. The crop-specific reviews provide insights into the possible ecological implications of gene escape. For each crop, a full-colour world map shows the modelled distributions of crops and wild relatives. These maps offer readers, at a glance, a means of evaluating areas of possible gene flow. The authors classify the areas of overlap into three "gene-flow categories" with respect to the possibility of genetic exchange. The systematic, unbiased findings provided here will promote well-informed decision making and the conservation of wild relatives of crops. This book is particularly relevant to agriculture in developing countries, where most crop biodiversity is found and where current knowledge on biodiversity conservation is limited. Given the ecological concerns associated with genetically modified crops, this reference is an essential tool for everyone working to feed a growing world population while preserving crop biodiversity.
  • Authors:
    • Bolotova, N. S.
  • Source: Kormoproizvodstvo
  • Issue: 12
  • Year: 2009
  • Summary: Techniques and standards for production of haylage and silage from high-protein fodder mixtures of pea, oat, rape, vetch, barley, beans, rye, wheat and maize are discussed. Plants should be cut into 15-20 mm pieces when the protein content of fodder mixture is over 30%, and into 40-50 mm pieces when the protein content of fodder mixture is less than 20%. Bales of silage mass are wrapped in film and roll size is 1.2 m wide and 0.8-1.6 m in diameter. The high yield of maize, vetch, and oat-rape mixture achievable in the conditions of European Russia is 10.8 t/ha of dry mass and 1.2 t/ha of protein.
  • Authors:
    • [Anonymous]
  • Source: Muhle + Mischfutter
  • Volume: 145
  • Issue: 18
  • Year: 2008
  • Summary: The article describes harvest and yield details of the German cereals season 2008. All federal states of Germany are covered and all cereals including milling, feed, industrial and grain maize, but excluding silage and corn-cob-mix maize. In 2008, the total tonnage increased from 23% to 49 million tonnes. The highest yield increases, compared to the poor year 2007, were reported from the northern states, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Niedersachsen, Schleswig-Holstein and Nordrhein-Westfalen. Average winter wheat yields were 8.1 t/ha, winter barley 6.6 t/ha and triticale 6.0 t/ha. Spring barley was 4.9 t/ha and oats only 4.6 t/ha. Because of the large quantities, enough good quality milling wheat will be available. An outlook on the EU cereal harvest, the global and USA harvests in 2008 are given at the end of the paper.
  • Authors:
    • Fourie, J.
    • Addison, P.
  • Source: South African Journal of Enology and Viticulture
  • Volume: 29
  • Issue: 1
  • Year: 2008
  • Summary: This study was conducted as part of a larger investigation into the effect of management practices on selected sown cover crops and the effects thereof on grapevine performance. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of these cover crops on plant parasitic nematode populations under natural field conditions. The trial site was in an own-rooted Sultanina vineyard situated in the Lower Orange River of the Northern Cape Province. Three management practices were applied selectively to ten cover crop species, with two control treatments consisting of weeds. Nematodes were monitored for a period of four years. 'Saia' oats were indicated as being poor hosts to both root-knot and root-lesion nematodes, while 'Overberg' oats showed poor host status against ring nematodes. 'Midmar' ryegrass and 'Paraggio' medic were also poor hosts for root-knot nematodes, while grazing vetch appeared to be a good host for root-knot nematodes. The most notable result from this study was the relatively high numbers of all three nematodes on the vine row, as opposed to the inter-row where cover crops were established. This indicates that vines were much better hosts for these nematodes than the cover crops. It is recommended that if more definite trends are to be observed, Brassica species, which have direct toxic/repellant effects on nematodes, should be tested.
  • Authors:
    • Giacomini, S.
    • Aita, C.
  • Source: Revista Brasileira de Ciencia do Solo
  • Volume: 32
  • Issue: 5
  • Year: 2008
  • Summary: This study was conducted to evaluate the accumulation and displacement of N-NO 3- in the soil after pig slurry application in no-tillage maize in southern Brazil. The doses of 0, 40 and 80 m 3/ha pig slurry were applied annually, for three years, on the mulch of cover crop of black oats [ Avena nuda] and of winter spontaneous vegetation, preceding maize sowing. The N-NO 3- concentration was evaluated in different soil layers to a depth of 60 cm and on six dates, from the slurry application until maize tasseling. The amount of N-NO 3- increased quickly in the soil surface layer with the pig slurry application, evidencing the high nitrification rates of ammoniacal N in the slurry. N-NO 3- produced in the surface layers moved down quickly in the soil profile. At a dose of 80 m 3/ha slurry the amounts of N-NO 3- in the 30-60 cm soil layer on the 30th day of the first year, 29th day in the second and 36th day in the third year were higher than the average of the treatments without slurry in 9, 21 and 32 kg N-NO 3-/ha, respectively. In the first two years the amount of soil N-NO 3- in the surface layer did not differ with slurry application on mulch of oats or spontaneous vegetation, indicating the low potential of grass mulch in promoting microbial N immobilization. The high rate of nitrification of ammoniacal N in the slurry and the fast displacement of N-NO 3- in the soil profile when maize N demand was still small indicate a greater susceptibility of N-NO 3- losses by leaching with slurry application, especially at a dose of 80 m 3/ha, where the average amount of total applied N in the three years was 244 kg/ha per year.
  • Authors:
    • Bello, F.
    • Arendt, E.
  • Source: Technology of functional cereal products
  • Year: 2008
  • Summary: This chapter focuses on the association between the ingestion of gluten and an immune-mediated enteropathy known as coeliac disease. Other topics covered include: difficulties in producing gluten-free breads; ingredients suitable for gluten-free bread production (pseudocereals, sorghum, oats, rice, corn, tef, dietary fibre); and improving the quality of gluten-free bread.
  • Authors:
    • Cargnin, R.
    • Inomoto, M.
    • Asmus, G.
  • Source: Tropical Plant Pathology
  • Volume: 33
  • Issue: 2
  • Year: 2008
  • Summary: Two greenhouse and one field experiment were carried out to evaluate the reaction of cover crops to reniform nematode, Rotylenchulus reniformis, and their effect on nematode populations in a naturally infested soil (2,359 nematodes/200 cm 3) and on cotton yield. Oil radish ( Raphanus sativus), Mulato grass ( Brachiaria ruziziensis * B. brizantha), forage sorghum ( Sorghum bicolor), tef ( Eragrostis tef), foxtail millet ( Setaria italica), Algerian ( Avena byzantina) and black ( A. strigosa) oats, pearl millet ( Pennisetum glaucum), and finger millet ( Eleusine coracana) were determined to be poor hosts for R. reniformis in greenhouse experiments. Grain amaranth ( Amaranthus cruentus) and quinoa ( Chenopodium quinoa) were good hosts to R. reniformis. In the field, lower nematode densities were observed after Mulato grass, oil radish and forage sorghum. Higher cotton fiber yields were obtained from plots cultivated with Mulato grass or sorghum during the winter compared to clean fallow. Cotton yield was inversely correlated with both reproduction factor (p
  • Authors:
    • Ullrich, S.
    • Baik, B.
  • Source: Journal of Cereal Science
  • Volume: 48
  • Issue: 2
  • Year: 2008
  • Summary: Barley ( Hordeum vulgare vulgare L.) is an ancient cereal grain, which upon domestication has evolved from largely a food grain to a feed and malting grain. However, barley food use today remains important in some cultures around the world, particularly in Asia and northern Africa, and there is renewed interest throughout the world in barley food because of its nutritional value. This review covers basic and general information on barley food use and barley grain processing for food use, as well as an in-depth look at several major aspects/traits of interest for barley food use including kernel hardness and colour, grain starch, and beta-glucan contents. These traits are described in terms of their effects on processing and nutrition, as well as their inheritance and the prospects for barley improvement through breeding. Whereas, the aspects listed above have been studied relatively extensively in barley in terms of content, form, genetics, physiology, and in some cases nutritional quality, little is know about functional properties for processing and food product development. Renewed interest in barley for food uses largely centres around the effects of beta-glucans on lowering blood cholesterol levels and glycemic index. Wholegrain barley foods also appear to be associated with increased satiety and weight loss. There is great potential to utilise barley in a large number of cereal-based food products as a substitute partially or wholly for currently used cereal grains such as wheat ( Triticum aestivum), oat ( Avena sativa), rice ( Oryza sativa), and maize ( Zea mays).
  • Authors:
    • Baker, B.
  • Source: Proceedings of the 5th Organic Seed Growers Conference, Salem, Oregon, USA
  • Year: 2008
  • Summary: The market for organic seed poses a great opportunity for both organic producers who want to diversify into new crops as well as for seed producers who want to enter into the rapidly growing organic market. While organic standards in the United States require the use of organic seed, organic producers are not able to find organic seed in sufficient quantity and of suitable quality to meet their production needs. Because commercial availability must be evaluated as part of the certification process, the certifying agents play an important role in assessing both the supply and demand for organic seed. Certifying agents were surveyed to identify how they assess commercial availability, what information resources are used, and what crops and varieties are considered commercially unavailable. More research is needed to forecast organic seed demand and overcome production obstacles.