• Authors:
    • Pires, C. S. S.
    • Medeiros, M. A. de
    • Gravina, C. S.
    • Langer, L. F.
    • Cavalcante, K. R.
    • Togni, P. H. B.
    • Fontes, E. M. G.
    • Sujii, E. R.
  • Source: Arquivos do Instituto Biologico Sao Paulo
  • Volume: 77
  • Issue: 4
  • Year: 2010
  • Summary: The adoption of cultural practices such as companion plants and the kind of irrigation system can benefit the community of natural enemies in the agroecosystem due to the increase of more favorable microhabitats available and as a source of alternative resources, mainly in periods of low precipitation. This study evaluated how the tomato+coriander intercrop and the kind of irrigation (drip and sprinkler) could benefit the community of natural enemies in the tomato agroecosystem. This work was carried out in the experimental field of Embrapa Hortalicas, Gama, DF, from September to November 2008. The tomatoes were planted in monoculture or with coriander (companion plant) and irrigated by drip and sprinkler irrigation (three replicates per treatment), forming two groups of experimental plots according to the kind of irrigation. The community of natural enemies was sampled by the direct observation of specimens on 20 tomatoes plants per plot and in the treatments. Coriander plants were shaken over a plastic tray for collection of insects. The abundance, richness and diversity of natural enemies were higher in tomato+coriander plots, regardless of the irrigation system. We observed more species of natural enemies in tomato monoculture plots when it was irrigated by sprinkler irrigation. However, the cultural practices adopted had a different effect on each species or group of species. Therefore, in periods of low precipitation, the tomato+coriander consortium associated with sprinkler irrigation can enhance the conservation of natural enemies in the organic tomato agroecosystem.
  • Authors:
    • Scopel, E.
    • Triomphe, B.
    • Tourdonnet, S. de
    • de Tourdonnet, S.
  • Source: Proceedings of a symposium on Innovation and Sustainable Development in Agriculture and Food, Montpellier, France, 28 June to 1st July 2010
  • Year: 2010
  • Summary: No-tillage techniques and conservation agriculture (CA), based on minimal soil disturbance, the maintenance of plant cover and a diversification of rotations and intercropping, are developing rapidly in both the North and South. The emergence of these techniques often involves an original process of innovation based on continuous and adaptive learning within innovative socio-technical networks, which overturn the traditionally linear process of innovation design and transfer. Changes in the functioning of the agrosystem associated with CA are likely to supply ecosystem services, but the difficult implementation of these techniques may decrease the performance of the agrosystem, in particular by increasing dependence on pesticides. The general objective of the PEPITES project is to generate knowledge concerning ecological processes, technical and social innovation processes and their interactions, for the evaluation and design of more sustainable technical and support systems. We are working towards this objective by constructing an interdisciplinary approach combining biophysical sciences, cropping system and production system agronomy and the sociology of innovation, in partnership with professionals in four study terrains: conventional field crops in France, organic farming in France and small-scale family farms in Brazil and Madagascar. After one year of operation, we present here the progress made towards answering the questions posed in this project, in terms of the positioning of research with respect to two key questions: first concerning the construction of an interdisciplinary approach in partnership to assist the innovation process and the generation of knowledge, and second the construction of an approach for comparing terrains in the North and South.
  • Authors:
    • Chaudhari, P. V.
    • Vaidkar, R. D.
    • Vitonde, A. K.
    • Rangacharya, D. S.
  • Source: Agriculture Update
  • Volume: 5
  • Issue: 3/4
  • Year: 2010
  • Summary: This study was conducted in Amravati and Bhatkuli Tahsils of Amravati district and five villages from each tahsil which were adopting sorghum based cropping systems. The data was collected for the year 2008-2009 from 24 cultivators for each system randomly. The ratio return over the investment at cost 'A' were 2.34, 2.58, 2.47, 2.42, 2.64 and at cost 'B', the ratio were 1.64, 1.85, 1.71, 1.68, 1.83 respectively for sole sorghum, sorghum+tur, sorghum+soybean, sorghum+cotton, sorghum+green gram. In case of sorghum+tur, the ratio at cost 'C' showed higher ( i.e. 1.95) and lower in sole sorghum (i.e.1.39). Thus, the study indicated that the sorghum+tur was found to be most profitable cropping system followed by sorghum+cotton cropping system.
  • Authors:
    • Dahatonde, S.
    • Bunde, D.
    • Katkhede, S.
    • Pohare, J.
    • Khambalkar, V.
  • Source: Journal of Agricultural Science
  • Volume: 2
  • Issue: 4
  • Year: 2010
  • Summary: The present research work has been carried out at Central Research Station farm of Dr. PDKV, Akola and at Katkheda and Sutala village of the Akola and Bulbhana district respectively. The operations considered were land preparation, sowing, intercultural, harvesting and crop residue management etc. The inputs like human power, bullock power for traditional operation were studied in entire work of the research. Similarly, for the same crops these operations were carried out by the mechanized practice for the exact quantification of the operational energy input. The study reflects the energy use patterns in mechanized and traditional farming and optimized energy efficient cropping system through mechanized farming over traditional farming. The practices evaluated for the crop production which resulted in the high yielding of crop and the crop residues. On the basis of results obtained, it was observed that the traditional operational energy requirement increases from 2680.78 MJ/ha in traditional method to 3130.72 MJ/ha in mechanized method for green gram crop. While, there is decrease in cost of operation from Rs 8407.5/ha in traditional method to Rs 5147.0/ha in mechanized system. Similar trend was observed in cotton, soybean, sorghum and wheat crop. For all the crops seed bed preparation is done by tractors in traditional as well as mechanized method except in mechanized method land smoothening is done by self propelled tiller instead of bullock drawn blade harrow. In most of the crops the farm operations were mechanized with different implements except harvesting operation, due to unavailability of appropriate machine for harvesting of crops except wheat crop. Overall it seen that the application of modern implements and machineries for the crop production over the traditional practices reduces the cost of production which surely impact on the crop production and the net income of the farmers.
  • Authors:
    • Ferreira, A. C. de B.
    • Lamas, F. M.
  • Source: Revista Ceres
  • Volume: 57
  • Issue: 6
  • Year: 2010
  • Summary: The objective of this work was to evaluate the production, persistence and the effect of different cover crops on weed control and cotton yield in no-tillage system. The treatments included: Pennisetum glaucum; Brachiaria ruziziensis; Sorghum bicolor; Eleusine coracana; Crotalaria juncea; Crotalaria spectabilis; Avena strigosa; Raphanus sativus; P. glaucum+ C. juncea; P. glaucum+ C. spectabilis; B. ruziziensis+ C. juncea; B. ruziziensis+ C. spectabilis; S. bicolor+ C. juncea; S. bicolor+ C. spectabilis; E. coracana+ C. juncea; E. coracana+ C. spectabilis; A. strigosa+ R. sativus; P. glaucum+ R. sativus; fallow. The cover crops were sown in late summer, after soybean harvest. The cotton cultivar BRS 269-Buriti was sown nine months later. The experiment was carried out in a randomized complete block design with four replications. Dry matter of B. ruziziensis, B. ruziziensis+ C. juncea, B. ruziziensis+ C. spectabilis and P. glaucum+ R. sativus was above 6.8 t ha -1 The dry matter produced by B. ruziziensis provided sufficient soil cover during the cotton cycle. Residues of B. ruziziensis, B. ruziziensis+ C. juncea and B. ruziziensis+ C. spectabilis reduced weed incidence until the time of cotton sowing, lasting until the initial stages of cotton development. The use of both R. sativus and A. strigosa, alone or in mixtures, resulted in reduced yield of cotton fiber.
  • Authors:
    • Dercon, G.
    • Nziguheba, G.
    • Iwuafor, E. N. O.
    • Berkhout, E. D.
    • Franke, A. C.
    • Vandeplas ,I.
    • Diels, J.
  • Source: Experimental Agriculture
  • Volume: 46
  • Issue: 4
  • Year: 2010
  • Summary: Integrated crop-livestock farming in the Guinea savanna of West Africa is often assumed to lead to synergies between crop and livestock production, thereby improving the overall productivity and resilience of agricultural production. Whether these synergies actually occur remains poorly studied. On-farm trials were conducted in northern Nigeria over a period of four years to assess the agronomic and economic performance of maize-legume systems with and without the integration of livestock (goats). Groundnut-maize rotations with livestock achieved the highest carry-over of nutrients as manure from one season to the next, covering approximately one-third of the expected N, P and K uptake by maize and reducing the demand for synthetic fertilizers. However, the advantage of lower fertilizer costs in rotations with livestock was offset by higher labour costs for manure application and slightly lower values of maize grain. Overall, no clear agronomic or economic benefits for crop production were observed from the combined application of manure and synthetic fertilizer over the application of synthetic fertilizer only, probably because the amounts of manure applied were relatively small. Legume-maize rotations achieved higher cereal yields, a better response to labour and fertilizer inputs, and a higher profitability than maize-based systems with no or only a small legume component, irrespective of the presence of livestock. Livestock at or near the farm could nevertheless make legume cultivation economically more attractive by increasing the value of legume haulms. The results suggested that factors other than crop benefits, e.g. livestock providing tangible and non-tangible benefits and opportunities for animal traction, could be important drivers for the ongoing integration of crop and livestock production in the savanna.
  • Authors:
    • Kuhn, A.
    • Hiepe, C.
    • Judex, M.
    • Gaiser, T.
  • Source: Agricultural Systems
  • Volume: 103
  • Issue: 9
  • Year: 2010
  • Summary: Upscaling of crop models from the field scale to the national or global scale is being used as a widespread method to make large-scale assessments of global change impacts on crop yields and agricultural production. In spite of the fact that soil fertility restoration and crop performance in many developing countries with low-input agriculture rely strongly on fallow duration and management, there are only few approaches which take into account the effect of fallowing on crop yields at the regional scale. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the sensitivity of maize yield simulations with the Environmental Policy Integrated Climate (EPIC) model to fallow availability at the field and regional scale and (2) to present a novel approach to derive a model-based estimate of the average fallow availability within a typical catchment of the sub-humid savanna zone of West Africa. Therefore, the EPIC model has been validated at the field scale and then incorporated into a spatial database covering a typical catchment within the sub-humid savanna zone of West Africa with 121 sub-basins. Maize-fallow rotations have been simulated within 2556 quasi-homogenous spatial units and then aggregated to the 10 districts within the catchment assuming three different scenarios of fallow availability: 100% of the bush-grass savanna area is available and used in fallow-crop rotations (FU100), 50% of the bush-grass savanna area is available and used in fallow-crop rotations (FU50) and 25% of the bush-grass savanna area is available and used in fallow-crop rotations (FU25). A new aggregation procedure has been developed which is based on changes in the frequency of fallow-cropland classes within the sub-basins to render the simulation results in the spatial database sensitive to changes in fallow availability. Comparison of the average simulated grain yield with the mean yield over the catchment shows that the simulations overestimate maize yields by 62%, 44% and 15% for scenario FU100, FU50 and FU25, respectively. The best agreement between simulated and observed crop yields at the district scale was found when using the assumption that 25% of the savanna is available as fallow land under the present cropping patterns, which corresponds to a fallow-cropland ratio of 0.9. Comparison with farm surveys shows that the combination of remote sensing and dynamic crop modelling with yield observations provides realistic estimates of effective fallow use at the regional scale. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
  • Authors:
    • Reddy, P. R. R.
    • Veeranna, G.
    • Rao, L. J.
  • Source: Journal of Research ANGRAU
  • Volume: 38
  • Issue: 3/4
  • Year: 2010
  • Summary: Maize ( Zea mays) is one of the important cereal crops cultivated in India. Its area is expanding fast in Andhra Pradesh. Plant density in corn, varies with soil, rainfall, hybrid, planting pattern and field preparation (Olson and Sander, 1988). Of late, Zero tillage maize, after kharif rice is gaining popularity among the farming community in Andhra Pradesh. In zero tillage, after harvesting kharif rice, maize seeds will be dibbled under optimum moisture condition without any field preparation. Pre emergence spraying of atrazine in combination with paraquat or glyphosate is practiced to control weeds. Fertilizer application starts from 15 days after sowing in various quantities. In general, intercultivation is not practiced. The crop receives 4-6 irrigations depending on soil type.
  • Authors:
    • Nutsugah, S. K.
    • Amponsah, N. T.
  • Source: Pakistan Journal of Nematology
  • Volume: 28
  • Issue: 1
  • Year: 2010
  • Summary: Soils and roots of 10 field crops grown in Northern and Upper East Regions of northern Ghana were sampled for the presence of plant parasitic and non-plant-parasitic nematodes. Species belonging to Xiphmema, Longidorus and Hoplolaimus were the most predominant and significantly higher, whereas Tylenchorhynchus was the least common genus of plant parasitic nematodes found. Meloidogyne, Pratylenchus, Heterodera and Hirschmanniella spp. were frequently found associated with soils and roots of tomato, peanut, soybean and irrigated rice respectively. In all, 16 genera of plant parasitic nematodes and eight of non-plant parasitic nematodes were recorded with the most ubiquitous being Cephalobus spp., (non parasitic) in root and soil samples of all the 10 crops irrespective of host location. Findings from the survey however, had provided evidence showing that soils and roots of most major crops grown throughout northern Ghana were infected with several types of parasitic nematodes.
  • Authors:
    • Bartosik, R.
  • Source: Julius-Kühn-Archiv
  • Issue: 425
  • Year: 2010
  • Summary: Concerning grain production, South America is divided in two main regions: (1) the Mercosur region (Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay) which produces more than 250 million tonnes of grains and oilseeds, and (2) the Andes Mountain region countries, which are net importers of these products. The main challenges related to grain postharvest that South America is facing are to minimize the quality and quantity losses; improve the food safety; enhance the capability for segregation and traceability of identity preserved (IP) grains; and incorporate technology to maintain the overall efficiency of the postharvest system. Among the critical points affecting the efficiency of the system are the shortage of permanent storage capacity; large storage structures which affects the segregation of IP grains; deficient transportation system (roads and railroads); poor management of integrated pest control system; and unsatisfied demand of formal and informal education in suitable grain postharvest technologies and practices. However, the region remains highly competitive in producing and delivering food for the rest of the world and it has demonstrated high capacity for incorporating cost efficient grain handling technologies. As a result, one of the main changes in the region was the appearance of the silobag system for temporary storage of dry grain and oilseeds. Each silobag can hold approximately 200 tonnes of wheat and with the available handling equipment is quite simple to load and unload. During the 2008 harvest season, more than 33 million tonnes of grain were stored in these plastic bags in Argentina (including corn, soybean, wheat, sunflower, malting barley, canola, cotton seed, rice, lentils, sorghum, beans and even fertilizers). The silobag technology is also being adopted not only in neighbor countries, but also in countries around the world such as the USA, Mexico, South Africa, Australia, Russia and Ukraine, among others.