• Authors:
    • Li, Y.
    • Zu, Y.
    • Wu, B.
    • An, T.
    • Zhan, F.
    • Yang, J.
    • Fu, Z.
  • Source: Research of Environmental Sciences
  • Volume: 24
  • Issue: 11
  • Year: 2011
  • Summary: In order to explore the effects of different planting patterns for the effective control of farmland runoff contamination, loss of TN, TP, COD Cr and SS under different planting patterns were analyzed with field plot experiments. The results showed that the surface runoff, loss of TN, TP, COD Cr and SS under a mono-cropping system were higher than under a maize and vegetables intercropping system. The surface runoff, loss of TN, TP, COD Cr and SS could be reduced using a maize and vegetables intercropping system. The maize || cauliflower/potato intercropping pattern was the most effective. Comparing with cauliflower/potato mono-cropping system, its reduction percentages of surface runoff, TN, TP, COD Cr and SS were 79.59%, 86.87%, 84.23%, 91.41% and 82.46%, respectively.
  • Authors:
    • Hore, J. K.
  • Source: The Jackfruit
  • Year: 2011
  • Summary: Jackfruit is popularly known as poor man's fruit in eastern and southern parts in India. The tree can be cultivated on marginal land and does not require intensive management to provide a good crop. The jack fruit is adopted only to humid tropical and near-tropical climates. It thrives from sea level to an altitude of 1600 m. It is grown on a variety of soils, deep alluvial, sandy loam, or clay loam of medium fertility, calcareous or lateritic soil, shallow limestone or stony soil with a pH of 5.0-7.5. The tree exhibits moderate tolerance to saline soils and poor drought and flood tolerance. The jack flourishes in rich, deep soil of medium or open texture, sometimes on deep gravelly or laterite soil. The best time for planting grafts or seedlings is June to August but with irrigation facilities it may be extended upto November. Pits of 1.0 m cube are dug at least 10 days before planting at a spacing of 8*8 m to 10*10 m. About 30 kg well-rotted farm yard manure, 500 g superphosphate and 250 g. muriate of potash are mixed with the top soil of the pit and refilled. Spraying of gibberellic acid (25-200 ppm) enhances both shoot and root growth. The young trees must be kept weed few during first three to four years. A 5-10 cm mulch will be good for suppression of weeds as well as to maintain soil moisture, particularly during the dry period. Regular punning of weak, dead and diseased branches at the end of rainy season is recommended. Fruit thinning is also recommended to prevent damage to branches due to heavy fruit load. Based on the firmness of flesh cultivated types are of two general groups (i) soft flesh - the pulp of ripe fruit is very juicy and soft, (ii) firm flesh - the flesh pulp is firm and crispy at ripe and can be preserved for several months. Some types are available with their common names viz., Gulabi, Hazari, Champaka, Rudrakshi, Singapore etc. The trees need good nutrition to promote regular and good bearing. The quantity of fertilizer required depends on vigour and age of trees and fertility of soil. The quantity of FYM varied from 20-50 kg/plant. The NPK dose (g/plant/year) for mature plant is 750:400:500 in Tamil Nadu, 800:480:1050 in Madhya Pradesh, 600:300:240 in Karnataka and 210:160:1000 in Assam. The yearly amount should be applied in two splits i.e., at the beginning of rainy season and after the rainy season is over. Manures and fertilizers should be applied in the drip zone i.e. 10 m wide circular basin, leaving 50 cm, around tree trunk. The Jackfruit is not normally irrigated. The trees are sensitive to drought and respond well to irrigation between flowering and fruiting. Since jackfruit takes about 8-10 years to attain full bearing, intercropping with vegetables like tomato, brinjal, chilli, cabbage, bhindi etc. and leguminous crops like cowpea, gram, kalai etc. will benefit the farmer. Seedling trees start bearing from 7th to 8th year onwards while the grafted ones from third year. The tree attains its peak bearing stage in about 15-16 years of planting. Period of fruit development is February to June. The optimum stage of harvesting has been reported to be 90-110 days after appearance of the spike. The fruit matures towards the end of summer in June. A tree bears upto 250 fruits annually, weighing about 3 kg to 25 kg with yield variation of 50-80 tonnes of fruit/ha.
  • Authors:
    • Zhang, C.
    • Wu, H. B.
    • Luan, Z. T.
    • Wang, H. J.
    • Zhai, W. Q.
    • Li, J. H.
  • Source: Xinjiang Agricultural Sciences
  • Volume: 47
  • Issue: 12
  • Year: 2011
  • Summary: Objective: The research was conducted on some keys factors which affect the planting effectiveness of cotton-melon interplanting in order to provide theoretical basis for improvement of the planting technique. Method: This study was carried out to investigate the irrigation and fertilization of cotton and melon, the main diseases, yield and quality of the melon, when intercropping of cotton and melon, compared with the common planting ways of cotton and melon. Result: Intergrowth contradictory between crops is little in cotton-melon Interplanting model, the powdery mildew of melon is less than that of melon of common planting way, while the downy mildew is more serious than melon of common planting way. A unit Hectare produced 3 888 kg cotton, 29 670 kg melon fruit with over 90% commodity rate. Conclusion: The Cotton-melon interplanting model obviously increased yield and income of unit field, which indicates that cotton-melon interplanting is helpful for increasing production and output value in a limited field in Kashgar.
  • Authors:
    • Mahajanashetti, S. B.
    • Kunnal, L. B.
    • Basavaraja, H.
    • Acharya, S. P.
    • Bhat, A. R. S.
  • Source: Agricultural Economics Research Review
  • Volume: 24
  • Issue: 2
  • Year: 2011
  • Summary: The nature and extent of crop diversification in the Karnataka state has been analyzed by collecting secondary data for a period of 26 years from 1982-83 to 2007-08. Composite Entropy Index (CEI) and multiple linear regression analysis have been used to analyze the nature and extent of crop diversification in the state. The CEI for different crop groups has shown that almost all the crop groups have higher crop diversification index during post-WTO (1995-96 to 2007-08) than during pre-WTO (1982-83 to 1994-95) period, except for oilseeds and vegetable crops. There has been a vast increase in diversification of commercial crops after WTO. Crop diversification is influenced by a number of infrastructural and technological factors. The results have revealed that crop diversification influences production. The study has suggested that the creation of basic infrastructural facilities like sustained supply of irrigation water, markets, fertilizer availability, proper roads and transportation is an essential pre-requisite for creating enabling conditions for fostering the process of agricultural development and crop diversification, as most of these parameters are found to influence the nature and extent of crop diversification.
  • Authors:
    • Pecchioni, N.
    • Perata, P.
    • Milc, J.
    • Meriggi, P.
    • Arru, L.
    • Caffagni, A.
  • Source: Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis
  • Volume: 42
  • Issue: 6
  • Year: 2011
  • Summary: Iodine is an essential microelement for human health, and the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of such element should range from 40 to 200 g day -1. Because of the low iodine contents in vegetables, cereals, and many other foods, iodine deficiency disorder (IDD) is one of the most widespread nutrient-deficiency diseases in the world. Therefore, investigations of I uptake in plants with the aim of fortifying them can help reach the important health and social objective of IDD elimination. This study was conducted to determine the effects of the absorption of iodine from two different chemical forms - potassium iodide (I -) and potassium iodate (IO -3) - in a wide range of wild and cultivated plant species. Pot plants were irrigated with different concentrations of I - or IO -3, namely 0.05% and 0.1% (w/v) I - and 0.05%, 0.1%, 0.2%, and 0.5% (w/v) IO -3. Inhibiting effects on plant growth were observed after adding these amounts of iodine to the irrigation water. Plants were able to tolerate high levels of iodine as IO -3 better than I - in the root environment. Among cultivated species, barley ( Hordeum vulgare L.) showed the lowest biomass reductions due to iodine toxicity and maize ( Zea mays L.) together with tobacco ( Nicotiana tabacum L.) showed the greatest. After the screening, cultivated tomato and potato were shown to be good targets for a fortification-rate study among the species screened. When fed with 0.05% iodine salts, potato ( Solanum tuberosum L.) tubers and tomato ( Solanum lycopersicum L.) fruits absorbed iodine up to 272 and 527 g/100 g fresh weight (FW) from IO -3 and 1,875 and 3,900 g/100 g FW from I -. These uptake levels were well more than the RDA of 150 g day -1 for adults. Moreover, the agronomic efficiency of iodine accumulation of potato tubers and tomato fruits was calculated. Both plant organs showed greater accumulation efficiency for given units of iodine from iodide than from iodate. This accumulation efficiency decreased in both potato tubers and tomato fruits at iodine concentrations greater than 0.05% for iodide and at respectively 0.2% and 0.1% for iodate. On the basis of the uptake curve, it was finally possible to calculate the doses of supply in the irrigation water of iodine as iodate (0.028% for potato and 0.014% for tomato) as well as of iodide (0.004% for potato and 0.002% for tomato) to reach the 150 g day -1 RDA for adults in 100 g of such vegetables, to efficiently control IDD, although these results still need to be validated.
  • Authors:
    • Tello-Marquina, J. C.
    • Gómez-Vázquez, J.
    • Santos-Hernández, M.
    • Pérez-Vargas, M.
    • Palmero, D.
    • de Cara, M.
  • Source: Acta Horticulturae
  • Issue: 914
  • Year: 2011
  • Summary: Cherry tomato crops were introduced in the late 1990s in the continental areas of southeast Spain. These fields had been previously cultivated with dry land crops as grapevine, olive, and cereal. After two years of cultivation, different soil-borne diseases widely appeared. The main disease observed was the root rot caused by Phytophthora parasitica, killing the plants during harvest period, concurring with the maximum demand of water from plants. The importance of the mycosis in the area together with the lack of control were the aim to first search for the inoculum sources, and then study the preservation of this oomycete in the infested soils for a long period time. Regarding the inoculum sources, no Phytophthora was found in seeds or seedlings from commercial nurseries sampled from the studied area, but the pathogen was isolated from the irrigation pools. Phytophthora parasitica was also isolated from the soils of the home gardens within the surrounded area, and even from the wheels of the tractors used in these fields. About the preservation study, a total of 92 samples from 42 different fields naturally infested with P. parasitica were analysed. All samples have been kept under laboratory conditions in sealed plastic bags. Only 20.58% of all samples preserved the oomycete for 4 years (48 months), and 18.18% for 5 years (57 months). These results can explain the rapid dissemination of the disease and its difficult control in the area.
  • Authors:
    • Souza, R. F. de
    • Medeiros, M. A. de
    • Marouelli, W. A.
    • Resende, F. V.
  • Source: Horticultura Brasileira
  • Volume: 29
  • Issue: 3
  • Year: 2011
  • Summary: The efficient use of water and the environmental diversity are crucial to the balance and sustainability of the organic production system of tomatoes. The present study aimed to evaluate the organic production of tomato cultivated as a single crop and in consortium with coriander, under sprinkler and drip irrigation. The experiment was carried out at an organic production area on the Federal District of Brazil. The experimental design was randomized blocks with treatments arranged in a 2*2 factorial (two irrigation systems * two cropping schemes). No significant interaction between the both factors occurred, and there was no significant effect of the cropping scheme over the evaluated variables. Although the crop cycle has been reduced when tomato was drip irrigated, the fruit yield was not affected by the irrigation systems. The larger reduction in the stand of plants observed under sprinkler irrigation has been compensated by an increase in the number of fruits per plant, without a change on the fruit mass. The smaller volume of soil explored by the tomato roots associated with the higher incidence of South American tomato pinworm ( Tuta absoluta) and mainly powdery mildew ( Leveillula taurica) may have limited the yield of drip irrigated tomato. The fruit decay rate on sprinkle irrigated plants was twice the rate found on the drip irrigated system.
  • Authors:
    • Gill, M. S.
    • Bhale, V. M.
    • Deshmukh, M. S.
    • Narkhede, W. N.
    • Gadade, G. D.
    • More, S. S.
  • Source: Indian Journal of Agronomy
  • Volume: 56
  • Issue: 2
  • Year: 2011
  • Summary: A field experiment was conducted for three consecutive years (2005-2007) at Parbhani to find out most productive and profitable cropping system. Among the different cropping systems, highest wheat [( Triticum aestivum L.) emend. Fiori & Paol] equivalent yield (19.9 t/ha) and net monetary returns (Rs 107.8*10 3/ha) were obtained from soybean [ Glycine max (L. Merr.)]-onion ( Allium capa L.) cropping system, followed by turmeric ( Curcuma domestica L.)+castor ( Ricinus communis L.) (WEY-14.0 t/ha, and NMR Rs 89.8*10 3/ha). The soybean-onion system also recorded maximum net monetary advantage per unit time (Rs 573/ha/day), employment (374 mandays) and water use efficiency (221 kg/ha-cm), followed by turmeric+castor intercropping system. The highest nutrient uptake was recorded in sorghum [ Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench]-wheat followed by maize ( Zea mays L.)+cow-pea ( Vigna sinensis L.)-wheat and maize-wheat cropping systems. The highest soil nutrient status was observed in cotton ( Gossypium sp.)-summer groundnut ( Arachis hypogaea L.) followed by soybean-onion cropping systems.
  • Authors:
    • Van Eerd, L. L.
    • Vyn, R. J.
    • Robinson, D. E.
    • O'Reilly, K. A.
  • Source: Weed Technology
  • Volume: 25
  • Issue: 3
  • Year: 2011
  • Summary: The effectiveness of cover crops as an alternative weed control strategy should be assessed as the demand for food and fiber grown under sustainable agricultural practices increases. This study assessed the effect of fall cover crops on weed populations in the fall and spring prior to sweet corn planting and during sweet corn growth. The experiment was a split-plot design in a pea cover-cover crop-sweet corn rotation with fall cover crop type as the main plot factor and presence or absence of weeds in the sweet corn as the split-plot factor. The cover crop treatments were a control with no cover crop (no-cover), oat, cereal rye (rye), oilseed radish (OSR), and oilseed radish with rye (OSR+rye). In the fall, at Ridgetown, weed biomass in the OSR treatments was 29 and 59 g m(-2) lower than in the no-cover and the cereal treatments, respectively. In the spring, OSR+rye and rye reduced weed biomass, density, and richness below the levels observed in the control at Bothwell. At Ridgetown in the spring, cover crops had no effect on weed populations. During the sweet corn season, weed populations and sweet corn yields were generally unaffected by the cover crops, provided OSR did not set viable seed. All cover crop treatments were as profitable as or more profitable than the no-cover treatment. At Bothwell profit margins were highest for oat at almost Can$600 ha(-1) higher than the no-cover treatment. At Ridgetown, compared with the no-cover treatment, OSR and OSR+rye profit margins were between Can$1,250 and Can$1,350 ha(-1) and between Can$682 and Can$835 ha(-1), respectively. Therefore, provided that OSR does not set viable seed, the cover crops tested are feasible and profitable options to include in sweet corn production and provide weed-suppression benefits.
  • Authors:
    • Drinkwater, L. E.
    • Schipanski, M. E.
  • Source: Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems
  • Volume: 90
  • Issue: 1
  • Year: 2011
  • Summary: The incorporation of legume cover crops into annual grain rotations remains limited, despite extensive evidence that they can reduce negative environmental impacts of agroecosystems while maintaining crop yields. Diversified grain rotations that include a winter cereal have a unique niche for interseeding cover crops. To understand how management-driven soil fertility differences and inter-seeding with grains influenced red clover (Trifolium pratense) N(2) fixation, we estimated biological N(2) fixation (BNF) in 2006 and 2007, using the (15)N natural abundance method across 15 farm fields characterized based on the reliance on BNF derived N inputs as a fraction of total N inputs. Plant treatments included winter grain with and without interseeded red clover, monoculture clover, monoculture orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata), and clover-orchardgrass mixtures. Fields with a history of legume-based management had larger labile soil nitrogen pools and lower soil P levels. Orchardgrass biomass was positively correlated with the management-induced N fertility gradient, but we did not detect any relationship between soil N availability and clover N(2) fixation. Interseeding clover with a winter cereal did not alter winter grain yield, however, clover production was lower during the establishment year when interseeded with taller winter grain varieties, most likely due to competition for light. Interseeding clover increased the % N from fixation relative to the monoculture clover (72% vs. 63%, respectively) and the average total N(2) fixed at the end of the first growing season (57 vs. 47 kg N ha(-1), respectively). Similar principles could be applied to develop more cash crop-cover crop complementary pairings that provide both an annual grain harvest and legume cover crop benefits.