• Authors:
    • Pawar, A. D.
    • Bhoge, R. S.
  • Source: Annals of Plant Physiology
  • Volume: 23
  • Issue: 2
  • Year: 2009
  • Summary: The effects of organic and inorganic farming practices on the performance of sorghum were studied in Rahuri, Maharashtra, India, during the rabi season of 2007-08. The treatments consisted of: (T1) farmyard manure (FYM; 10 t/ha); (T2) dhaincha [ Sesbania aculeata] green manure at 10 t/ha; (T3) 75% of the recommended NPK fertilizer rates (RFR) + 3 t FYM/ha + Azospirillum + PSB [phosphate solubilizing bacteria]; (T4) 100% RFR (100:50:50 kg NPK/ha); (T5) farmers' practice (10 kg N + 3 t FYM/ha); and (T6) soyabean-rabi sorghum rotation. T1, T2 and T3 induced early flowering, whereas T4 delayed flowering. T3 resulted in the highest 100-seed weight (35.80 g), grain yield (29.24 quintal/ha), fodder yield (53.14 quintal/ha), and benefit-cost ratio (2.17). The results indicated that the amount of inorganic fertilizers can be reduced by 25% using organic fertilizers as substitutes. [1.0 quintal=100.0 kg].
  • Authors:
    • Suryawanshi, J. S.
    • Bhondave, T. S.
    • Ranshur, N. J.
    • Talathi, M. S.
    • Pinjari, S. S.
  • Source: International Journal of Agricultural Sciences
  • Volume: 5
  • Issue: 2
  • Year: 2009
  • Summary: Present investigation was carried out at Pulses Research Unit, DnPDKV, Akola (M.S.) during kharif and rabi season in wilt sick plot, in which fungi population was observed more in rhizosphere of sunflower, soybean, and groundnut as compared with sorghum, mung and udid. There was a gradual increase in the propagules of Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. ciceri from sowing to harvesting of chickpea. In correlation study the inoculum range of 10.11 to 14.00 per cent was recorded and there was positive but non-significant correlation between the inoculum available and the wilt incidence in chickpea.
  • Authors:
    • Rufty, T.
    • Smyth, T. J.
    • Novais, R. F.
    • Correa, T. F. C.
    • Silva, I. R.
    • Silva, E. F.
    • Gebrim, F. O.
    • Nunes, F. N.
  • Source: Revista Brasileira de Ciência do Solo
  • Volume: 33
  • Issue: 1
  • Year: 2009
  • Summary: The protective effect of cations, especially Ca and Mg, against aluminium (Al) rhizotoxicity was extensively investigated in the last decades. The mechanisms by which the process occurs are however only beginning to be elucidated. Six experiments were carried out to characterize the protective effect of Mg application in relation to timing, location and crop specificity: Experiment 1 - Protective effect of Mg compared to Ca; Experiment 2 - Protective effect of Mg on distinct root classes of 15 soyabean genotypes; Experiment 3 - Effect of timing of Mg supply on the response of soyabean cultivars to Al; Experiment 4 - Investigating whether the Mg protective effect is apoplastic or simplastic using a split-root system; Experiment 5 - Protective effect of Mg supplied in solution or foliar spraying; and Experiment 6 - Protective effect of Mg on Al rhizotoxicity in other crops. It was found that the addition of 50 mmol litre -1 Mg to solutions containing toxic Al increased Al tolerance in 15 soyabean cultivars. This caused soyabean cultivars known as Al-sensitive to behave as if they were tolerant. The protective action of Mg seems to require constant Mg supply in the external medium. Supplying Mg up to 6 h after root exposition to Al was sufficient to maintain normal soyabean root growth, but root growth was not recovered by Mg addition 12 h after Al treatments. Magnesium application to half of the root system not exposed to Al was not sufficient to prevent Al toxicity on the other half exposed to Al without Mg in rooting medium, indicating the existence of an external protection mechanism of Mg. Foliar spraying with Mg also failed to decrease Al toxicity, indicating a possible apoplastic role of Mg. The protective effect of Mg appeared to be soyabean-specific since Mg supply did not substantially improve root elongation in sorghum, wheat, maize, cotton, rice, or snap bean when grown in the presence of toxic Al concentrations.
  • Authors:
    • Zhu, W. W.
  • Source: Guizhou Agricultural Sciences
  • Issue: 6
  • Year: 2009
  • Summary: The results from analyzing the comparative superiority of main agricultural products in Hunan province by using the comparative superiority index method show that the agricultural products with obvious comparative superiority are rice, cotton, soybean, tobacco and tea, which depend on their large-scale superiority, and the agricultural products with inferior position are maize, sorghum and wheat. The market competitive power is weak because the efficiency superiority of various agricultural products is not obvious essentially. The paper puts forward the measures including maintaining the market superiority of the agricultural products with obvious comparative superiority and improving the quality of the agricultural products with significant comparative inferiority to overall promote the market competitive power of Hunan province's agricultural products.
  • Authors:
    • Andresen, D.
    • Das, S.
    • Miller, M.
    • Lauwo, S.
    • Staggenborg, S.
    • Jin, W.
    • Bulatewicz, T.
    • Peterson, J.
    • Steward, D. R.
    • Welch, S. M.
  • Source: Hydrology & Earth System Sciences
  • Volume: 13
  • Issue: 8
  • Year: 2009
  • Summary: Near-term consumption of groundwater for irrigated agriculture in the High Plains Aquifer supports a dynamic bio-socio-economic system, all parts of which will be impacted by a future transition to sustainable usage that matches natural recharge rates. Plants are the foundation of this system and so generic plant models suitable for coupling to representations of other component processes (hydrologic, economic, etc.) are key elements of needed stakeholder decision support systems. This study explores utilization of the Environmental Policy Integrated Climate (EPIC) model to serve in this role. Calibration required many facilities of a fully deployed decision support system: geo-referenced databases of crop (corn, sorghum, alfalfa, and soybean), soil, weather, and water-use data (4931 well-years), interfacing heterogeneous software components, and massively parallel processing (3.8*10 9 model runs). Bootstrap probability distributions for ten model parameters were obtained for each crop by entropy maximization via the genetic algorithm. The relative errors in yield and water estimates based on the parameters are analyzed by crop, the level of aggregation (county- or well-level), and the degree of independence between the data set used for estimation and the data being predicted.
  • Authors:
    • Joshi, O. P.
    • Billore, S. D.
    • Dupare, B. U.
    • Verma, S. K.
  • Source: Soybean Research
  • Volume: 7
  • Year: 2009
  • Summary: A study was conducted to visualize the impact of soybean cultivation in the "Soya State", Madhya Pradesh. The data were collected using well-designed interview schedule containing relevant questions on how soybean has affected farmers lifestyle as well as overall farming scenario? Majority of the respondents perceived soybean cultivation as a major driving force for their socio-economic development. A steady increase in the farmers' inclination to grow soybean was observed during the last five decades, while, decreasing their area in traditionally grown crops like sorghum, pigeon pea, groundnut, cotton and black gram. During soybean introduction many changes in the overall farming scenario of Madhya Pradesh have occurred. The change was recorded in the land holding pattern of farmers which revealed that small and marginal farmers have further reduced their land holdings while larger farmers have not only managed their holdings but also added newer areas to their total farm size. The cost of cultivation as well as rates fetched by the soybean showed an upward trend with passage of time during these five decades. An inverse relationship between the labour availability and wages was also observed. The gathered opinion from farmers brought out that fertilizer consumption and insect-load appeared to have increased with time. It seems that in spite the irrigation facilities have increased during these 50 years, particularly that of canal, tube wells and ponds, soybean by and large, remained to be a rainfed crop. However, the farmers have shifted from bullock drawn implements to tractor drawn implements. This led to limiting number of animals with farmers, thereby progressive reduction in the use of manures. Subsequent to the introduction of soybean, the socio-economic status of the farmers has improved.
  • Authors:
    • Alsaadawi, I. S.
    • Dayan, F. E.
  • Source: Allelopathy Journal
  • Volume: 24
  • Issue: 2
  • Year: 2009
  • Summary: The promising allelopathic potential of sorghum [Sorghum bicolor L. (Moench)] opens a fruitful area of research to exploit this phenomenon in weed control and regulation of nutrients cycle. The data suggests that sorghum allelopathy can be exploited in different cropping practices [cover crop, smother crop, companion crop. mixing crop and smother crop to control weeds and inhibition of nitrification] and, application of its water extracts in fields controls the weeds and enhances the crops productivity. The herbicidal and allelopathic properties of sorgoleone. a compound isolated from root exudates of sorghum and other allelochemicals in sorghum deserve further work to identify the enzymes responsible for the biosynthesis oil these compounds and the genes encoding them. Besides there is need to use genetic engineering to manipulate the identified genes in sorghum or in other crops to enhance their ability to suppress the weeds, This review addresses the research on the role of allelopathic potential in different cropping systems and the approaches developed in weeds management.
  • Authors:
    • Dhuyvetter, K. C.
    • Staggenborg, S. A.
    • Gordon, W. B.
  • Source: Agronomy Journal
  • Volume: 100
  • Issue: 6
  • Year: 2008
  • Summary: Grain sorghum [ Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] is often grown where water stress is expected. But, improved drought tolerance in corn ( Zea mays L.) hybrids has resulted in increased dryland corn production in preference to grain sorghum. However, grain sorghum may still have a yield advantage over corn in drought prone environments. This study was conducted to determine if grain sorghum has either a yield or economic advantage over corn when drought or temperature stress occurs. Yield and weather data from crop performance testing programs in Kansas and Nebraska (1992-2005) were analyzed. Grain sorghum produced higher yields than corn in environments where corn yields were <6.4 Mg ha -1. When net returns ($ ha -1) were considered for grain sorghum prices that were set at 70, 87, 100, and 117% of corn prices, grain sorghum net returns were higher than corn net returns when corn yields were ≤4.4, 6.6, 8.8, and 13.6 Mg ha -1, respectively. Both corn and grain sorghum yields were positively correlated to June through August precipitation and negatively correlated to June through August maximum temperatures. The yield difference (grain sorghum minus corn) increased as July and August maximum temperatures increased. Monthly minimum temperatures affected corn yield less than grain sorghum yield. Producers in this region likely can minimize production risks by considering this historical yield information. At locations in this region where corn yields are consistently <6.4 Mg ha -1, producers should consider producing grain sorghum.
  • Authors:
    • Suyker, A. E.
    • Verma, S. B.
  • Source: Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
  • Volume: 148
  • Issue: 3
  • Year: 2008
  • Summary: In this paper, we present results from 4 years (May 2001-May 2005) of water and energy flux measurements made in a no-till, irrigated maize-soybean rotation system in eastern Nebraska, USA. The peak green leaf area index (LAI) reached 6.0 and 5.5 in maize (2001 and 2003, respectively) and 5.7 and 4.4 in soybean (2002 and 2004, respectively). The dependence of evapotranspiration (ET) on leaf area was consistent with previous studies. There was a nearly linear relationship between the daily ET/ET o (where ET o is the reference evapotranspiration over a grass reference crop) and LAI until a threshold LAI (between 3 and 4). Above this threshold LAI, the ET/ET o was virtually independent of LAI. The cumulative growing season (planting to harvest) evapotranspiration was 544 and 578 mm for maize, and 474 and 430 mm for soybean. The interannual variability in the growing season ET totals correlated very well with the number of days when the LAI was greater than 3. The non-growing season period (harvest to subsequent planting) contributed between 20 and 25% of the annual ET totals for both crops. The maximum canopy surface conductance ( Gsmax) was 29 mm s -1 for maize in both years, 41 mm s -1 for soybean in 2002 (peak LAI=5.7) and 36 mm s -1 for soybean in 2004 (peak LAI=4.4). The variability in Gsmax was largely explained by the leaf nitrogen concentration, consistent with the literature.
  • Authors:
    • Egbert, S. L.
    • Wardlow, B. D.
  • Source: Remote Sensing of Environment
  • Volume: 112
  • Issue: 3
  • Year: 2008
  • Summary: Improved and up-to-date land use/land cover (LULC) data sets that classify specific crop types and associated land use practices are needed over intensively cropped regions such as the U.S. Central Great Plains, to support science and policy applications focused on understanding the role and response of the agricultural sector to environmental change issues. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) holds considerable promise for detailed, large-area crop-related LULC mapping in this region given its global coverage, unique combination of spatial, spectral, and temporal resolutions, and the cost-free status of its data. The objective of this research was to evaluate the applicability of time-series MODIS 250 m normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data for large-area crop-related LULC mapping over the U.S. Central Great Plains. A hierarchical crop mapping protocol, which applied a decision tree classifier to multi-temporal NDVI data collected over the growing season, was tested for the state of Kansas. The hierarchical classification approach produced a series of four crop-related LULC maps that progressively classified: (1) crop/non-crop, (2) general crop types (alfalfa, summer crops, winter wheat, and fallow), (3) specific summer crop types (corn, sorghum, and soybeans), and (4) irrigated/non-irrigated crops. A series of quantitative and qualitative assessments were made at the state and sub-state levels to evaluate the overall map quality and highlight areas of misclassification for each map. The series of MODIS NDVI-derived crop maps generally had classification accuracies greater than 80%. Overall accuracies ranged from 94% for the general crop map to 84% for the summer crop map. The state-level crop patterns classified in the maps were consistent with the general cropping patterns across Kansas. The classified crop areas were usually within 1-5% of the USDA reported crop area for most classes. Sub-state comparisons found the areal discrepancies for most classes to be relatively minor throughout the state. In eastern Kansas, some small cropland areas could not be resolved at MODIS' 250 m resolution and led to an underclassification of cropland in the crop/non-crop map, which was propagated to the subsequent crop classifications. Notable regional areal differences in crop area were also found for a few selected crop classes and locations that were related to climate factors (i.e., omission of marginal, dryland cropped areas and the underclassification of irrigated crops in western Kansas), localized precipitation patterns (overclassification of irrigated crops in northeast Kansas), and specific cropping practices (double cropping in southeast Kansas).