Subsurface Soil Acidification in Farming Systems: Its Possible Causes and Management Options

2012 ◽  
pp. 389-412 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caixian Tang ◽  
Chandrakumara Weligama ◽  
Peter Sale
Keyword(s):  
Soil Acidification ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Management Options ◽  
Subsurface Soil

scholarly journals Benefits and Limitations of Decision Support Systems (DSS) with a Special Emphasis on Weeds

Agronomy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 548 ◽  
Author(s):  
Panagiotis Kanatas ◽  
Ilias S. Travlos ◽  
Ioannis Gazoulis ◽  
Alexandros Tataridas ◽  
Anastasia Tsekoura ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Support ◽  
Decision Support Systems ◽  
Weed Management ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Support Systems ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Management Options ◽  
The Right

Decision support systems (DSS) have the potential to support farmers to make the right decisions in weed management. DSSs can select the appropriate herbicides for a given field and suggest the minimum dose rates for an herbicide application that can result in optimum weed control. Given that the adoption of DSSs may lead to decreased herbicide inputs in crop production, their potential for creating eco-friendly and profitable weed management strategies is obvious and desirable for the re-designing of farming systems on a more sustainable basis. Nevertheless, it is difficult to stimulate farmers to use DSSs as it has been noticed that farmers have different expectations of decision-making tools depending on their farming styles and usual practices. The function of DSSs requires accurate assessments of weeds within a field as input data; however, capturing the data can be problematic. The development of future DSSs should target to enhance weed management tactics which are less reliant on herbicides. DSSs should also provide information regarding weed seedbank dynamics in the soil in order to suggest management options not only within a single period but also in a rotational view. More aspects ought to be taken into account and further research is needed in order to optimize the practical use of DSSs for supporting farmers regarding weed management issues in various crops and under various soil and climatic conditions.

Pulse production in Australia past, present and future

1997 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 103 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. H. M. Siddique ◽  
J. Sykes
Keyword(s):  
Stock Prices ◽  
Warm Season ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Grain Legumes ◽  
Export Demand ◽  
Cool Season ◽  
Management Options ◽  
Pulse Crops ◽  
The Past ◽  
Pulse Production

Summary. Several cool- and warm-season pulse crops (grain legumes) are grown in rotation with cereals and pasture forming sustainable farming systems in Australia. Australian pulse production has increased rapidly over the past 25 years to about 2 x 106 t/year, mainly because of the increase in the area and yield of lupin production for stockfeed purposes. Pulses currently comprise only 10% of the cropping areas of Australia and this could be expanded to 16% as there are large areas of soil types suitable for a range of pulse crops and new better-adapted pulse varieties are becoming available. Cool-season pulses will continue to dominate pulse production in Australia and the majority of the expansion will probably come from chickpea and faba bean industries. There appears to be no major constraint to pulse production in Australia that cannot be addressed by breeders, agronomists and farmers. Of the current major pulse crops, field pea faces the most number of difficulties, in particular the lack of disease management options. A recent strategic plan of the Australian pulse industry predicts the production of 4 x 106 t/year by 2005 but this will largely depend upon export demand and pulse prices. It is predicted that the growth in pulse production will come from increased productivity in the existing areas, from 1.0 to 1.4 t/ha, through improvements in crop management and the development of superior varieties. The area of pulse production will also expand by an additional 1.2 x 106 ha probably yielding 1.0 t/ha. If trends in grazing stock prices continue, the increased area under pulse production will mostly come at the expense of those areas under unimproved pasture and continuous cereal cropping.

Modelling the comparative growth, water use and productivity of the perennial legumes, tedera (Bituminaria bituminosa var. albomarginata) and lucerne (Medicago sativa) in dryland mixed farming systems

2017 ◽  
Vol 68 (7) ◽  
pp. 643 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chao Chen ◽  
Andrew Smith ◽  
Phil Ward ◽  
Andrew Fletcher ◽  
Roger Lawes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Field Experiments ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Dry Mass ◽  
Weather Data ◽  
Total Biomass ◽  
Management Options ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Mixed Farming ◽  
Bituminaria Bituminosa

Tedera (Bituminaria bituminosa var. albomarginata) has been proposed as an alternative perennial forage legume to lucerne in the mixed farming zone of Australia. Simulation of growth and production of tedera would be a useful tool for assessing its integration into Australian farming systems and agronomic and management options. This paper describes the development and testing of a model of the growth and development of tedera in Agricultural Production Systems Simulator (APSIM). The existing APSIM-Lucerne was modified to develop APSIM-Tedera. The key physiological parameters for tedera were obtained from the literature or by measuring and comparing the phenology and growth characteristics of tedera and lucerne in glasshouse experiments and partially from field experiments. The model was tested using data from a diverse range of soil and climatic conditions. Using the modelling approach, the production of tedera and lucerne was also assessed with long-term (1951–2015) weather data at Arthur River, Western Australia. Biomass simulations of tedera (n = 26, observed mean = 510 kg dry mass ha–1) explained 66% of the observed variation in field experiments (root mean square deviation = 212 kg dry mass ha–1). Long-term simulations of a 4-year pasture phase showed that more total annual biomass (5600 kg ha–1) would be obtained from lucerne than tedera if the pasture forage was harvested four times a year. Less biomass (400 kg ha–1) was also simulated for tedera in summer under this management. When the pasture forage was harvested when biomass was more than 2000 kg ha–1, tedera and lucerne produced similar accumulated biomass in the second (8000 kg ha–1), third (12 000 kg ha–1) and fourth (15 000 kg ha–1) years, but much less in the first 2 years for tedera. The model can be used for assessing tedera production, agronomic and management options in the Mediterranean climate of Australia. The present preliminary study indicates that tedera is not as effective as lucerne for total biomass production, but it may provide useful feed in situations where the summer-autumn feed gap is a major constraint to production. Further research is also necessary to determine the potential role of tedera in areas where lucerne is not well adapted.

Consistency of performance of early-maturing maize cultivars in Striga-infested and Striga-free environments

2015 ◽  
Vol 95 (6) ◽  
pp. 1073-1084
Author(s):  
Baffour Badu-Apraku ◽  
Chabi Yallou ◽  
Muhyideen Oyekunle ◽  
Richard Akinwale ◽  
G. Aweke ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Grain Yield ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Striga Hermonthica ◽  
Management Options ◽  
Maize Cultivars ◽  
Striga Resistance ◽  
Early Maturing ◽  
Republic Of Benin ◽  
High Consistency

Badu-Apraku, B., Yallou, C., Oyekunle, M., Akinwale, R., Aweke, G. and Kamara, A. 2015. Consistency of performance of early-maturing maize cultivars in Striga-infested and Striga-free environments. Can. J. Plant Sci. 95: 1073–1084. Despite the immense potential of maize (Zea mays L.) in savannas of West and Central Africa (WCA), production and productivity is constrained by Striga hermonthica parasitism. Sixteen early-maturing cultivars were evaluated at two locations in Nigeria and three locations in the Republic of Benin from 2007 to 2009 to assess the grain yield, stability and the consistency of the rankings of the cultivars under Striga-infested and Striga-free environments. The combined analysis of variance showed significant (P<0.01) cultivar and cultivar×environment interactions for grain yield and other traits under Striga-infested and Striga-free environments. The test of concordance was significant (P<0.001) for grain yield (W=0.68), number of emerged Striga plants (W=0.74) and Striga damage (W=0.56) under Striga infestation, indicating stability of resistance in the cultivars developed from diverse sources under artificial S. hermonthica infestation across environments. There was high consistency of the rankings of the cultivars for grain yield and other Striga-resistance traits under Striga-infested and Striga-free environments in Benin and Nigeria. The additive main effects and multiplicative interaction (AMMI) biplot analysis for grain yield revealed POOL15SR/ACR94TZECOMP5-W/ACR94TZECOMP5-W and 2004 TZE-Y Pop DT STR C4 as the most stable cultivars with above-average mean grain yield in Striga-infested environments and they can be combined with other crop management options to control the parasite in the Striga endemic environments. Cultivars TZE Comp 5-W C7F2 and TZE Comp5-Y C6 S6 (Set B) had less Striga damage and number of emerged Striga plants across test environments. These cultivars could therefore serve as unique sources of favorable alleles for improving Striga resistance in maize in different production environments and farming systems.

scholarly journals Efficacy of Nutrient Management Options for Finger Millet Production on Degraded Smallholder Farms in Eastern Uganda

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Ebanyat ◽  
Nico de Ridder ◽  
Mateete Bekunda ◽  
Robert J. Delve ◽  
Ken E. Giller
Keyword(s):  
Grain Yield ◽  
Finger Millet ◽  
Nutrient Management ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Management Options ◽  
Smallholder Farms ◽  
Grain Yields ◽  
Spatial Coverage ◽  
Eastern Uganda

Poor soil fertility is a major problem constraining crop productivity in smallholder farms of sub-Saharan Africa due to inadequate nutrient replenishment. Differential management of nutrients creates areas of accumulation and depletion of nutrients within farms with the latter increasing in spatial coverage. Nutrient additions are required to increase crop production in such degraded areas. We used experimental data to evaluate the potential of inorganic fertilizers and organic manures to offset finger millet yield differences or gap between degraded fields and former kraals, which are recognized as niches for obtaining the best yields within the Teso farming system in eastern Uganda. Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) fertilizers were sole applied at 0, 30, 60, and 90 kg ha−1 and in combination (N+P) at equal rates of sole application, and manure (3 t ha−1) supplemented with N (0, 30, 60, and 90 kg ha−1) to degraded fields located in upper and middle landscape positions in Chelekura and Onamudian villages. A second control treatment of finger millet grown on soils of former kraal sites (high fertility niches) was included as a benchmark to evaluate the efficacy of nutrient management options on degraded field. Average grain yield ranged from 404 to 2,026 kg ha−1 and differed significantly (p &lt; 0.001) between villages and seasons. Significant effects (p &lt; 0.05) of landscape position on grain yield were observed only in Onamudian village. Although the treatments significantly increased millet yields on degraded fields above the control, they could not eliminate the yield differences between degraded fields and former kraals. The largest average grain yields on degraded fields were obtained from combined application of N+P resulting in average grain yields of 800 and 1,171 kg ha−1 in Chelekura village and Onamudian village, respectively. These yield responses resulted in only 24 and 43% of yields obtained on former kraal fields in Chelekura and Onamudian, respectively. The physiological efficiencies, agronomic efficiencies, and apparent recoveries of N and P were low; often &lt;25%. Pot experiments conducted in a greenhouse showed that Sulphur (S) and potassium (K) were additional limiting nutrients to N and P for finger millet production in Chelekura and Onamudian and may partly explain the large yield differences of finger millet between fertilized fields and former kraals in the smallholder farming systems. Nutrient management strategies for sustainable millet production in these farming systems need consideration of site-specific nutrient limitations.

scholarly journals Analisis Sistem Budidaya untuk Mendukung Kebijakan Keberlanjutan Produksi Udang

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 51
Author(s):  
Wartono Hadie ◽  
Lies Emmawati Hadie
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Appropriate Technology ◽  
Shrimp Farming ◽  
Management Options ◽  
Healthy Environment

Volume ekspor udang Indonesia masih tergolong fluktuatif, namun komoditas udang tetap menjadi salah satu komoditas andalan ekspor perikanan Indonesia yang meliputi 40% hasil ekspor perikanan. Tujuan dari kegiatan ini adalah untuk menggambarkan status keberlanjutan sistem budidaya udang dan merumuskan opsi rekomendasi kebijakannya. Analisis secara deskriptif dan analisis ordinasi Rap-SISDITA yang berbasis metode dimensional scalling digunakan untuk mengevaluasi keberlanjutan beberapa sistem budidaya udang vaname yang berkembang di masyarakat. Hasil analisis menunjukkan bahwa: 1). Dalam mendukung Inpres Nomor 7 tahun 2016 tentang percepatan industrialisasi perikanan, maka sub sektor budidaya perlu mengimplementasikan hasil penelitian untuk mendukung keberlanjutan produksi udang vaname. Dimensi yang perlu diperhatikan adalah kebijakan pemerintah, teknologi budidaya, dan nilai ekonomi; 2). Membentuk program budidaya udang vaname berkelanjutan dan ramah lingkungan. Hal itu bisa dicapai melalui regulasi dengan penerapan model teknologi budidaya udang vaname yang ideal, berbasis lingkungan yang sehat, teknologi tepat guna, dan berorientasi pasar. Kebijakan pemerintah perlu berfokus pada pemberdayaan petambak pada berbagai sistem budidaya dengan dimensi pendukungnya yang tepat. Regulasi ini dapat ditetapkan oleh pihak Pemerintah beserta Pemerintah Daerah; 3). Pemanfaatan sentra budidaya udang vaname secara terintegrasi melalui diseminasi teknologi yang menjangkau daerah-daerah yang berpotensi untuk budidaya udang vaname dan melalui multimedia yang lebih luas; 4). Pemerintah Pusat menugaskan lembaga penelitian, perguruan tinggi, penyuluh perikanan, produsen benih, pengusaha pakan, dan kelompok pembudidaya untuk mengambil langkah persiapan hingga pelaksanaan program.  Indonesian shrimp export volume is fluctuating, yet the shrimp commodities remains main commodity of Indonesian export which covers 40% of export proceeds fishery. This research aims to to describe the sustainability status of shrimp aquaculture system and to formulate management options. A descriptive analysis and Rap-SISDITA ordination analysis based on dimensional scaling method were used to evaluate the sustainability of vaname shrimp farming systems. The results show that: 1). In support of Presidential Instruction No. 7 in 2016 on the acceleration of the industrialization of fisheries, aquaculture sub-sector, research urgently needed to support the sustainability of vaname shrimp production. A public policy should focus on aquaculture technology, and economic value; 2). A program of shrimp farming should be built in a sustainable and ecofriendly. This can be achieved through applying regulation with ideal technology for vaname shrimp farming, based on a healthy environment, appropriate technology, and market-oriented. A public policy should focus on empowering farmers on various farming systems with the exact dimensions. This regulation can be determined by the Central Government and Local Government; 3). Optimizing the vaname shrimp farming centers are integrated through the dissemination of technologies that reach potential areas for vaname shrimp cultivation through effective communication media; 4). A Central Government should asked research institutes, universities, fisheries extension institutions, seed producers, feed businesses, and farmer groups to arrange doable action plan to implement the program.

scholarly journals IWMPRAISE – An EU Horizon 2020 Project Providing Integrated Weed Management Solutions to European Farmers

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 152-159
Author(s):  
Per Kudsk ◽  
Mette Sønderskov ◽  
Ludovic Bonin ◽  
Jose L. Gonzalez-Andujar ◽  
Jens Erik Jensen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Weed Management ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Integrated Weed Management ◽  
Conventional Farming ◽  
Management Options ◽  
Horizon 2020 ◽  
Sites Of Action

IWMPRAISE is the first EU Framework Research project focusing solely on weed management. Thirty-eight partners in eight European countries are working together on developing integrated weed management strategies for agricultural and horticultural crops. Per Kudsk, the coordinator of IWMPRAISE, and the work package leaders present the project, the on-going studies and some of the early outputs. Weeds are ubiquitous and cause substantial yield losses across all arable and horticultural systems. Currently, the reliance on herbicides is very high in conventional farming systems and in many European countries herbicides are the single most used group of pesticides (https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?dataset=aei_fm_salpest09&lang=en). There are several reasons for the high herbicide use, such as lack of threshold-based spraying decisions and lack of any single sufficiently effective, readily applicable, cost-effective non-chemical method. Nonetheless, two factors are driving an immediate need to change weed control practices in conventional farming: the rapidly increasing problem of herbicide resistance, exacerbated by the fact that no new herbicide sites of action have been marketed since the early 1980s, and the expectation that many of the currently used herbicides will be withdrawn from the EU market as they do not meet the human and environmental toxicity criteria set out in EU Regulation 1109/2009. In addition to these two immediate concerns, it has also been shown that herbicides have partly been responsible for recent declines in farmland biodiversity and hence a negative impact on the associated ecosystem services. The over-reliance on chemical control of weeds has highlighted the need for Integrated Weed Management (IWM) strategies that combine non-chemical management options that reduce either weed density or competition with the crop.

Crop-yield and economic comparisons of organic, low-input, and conventional farming systems in California's Sacramento Valley

1999 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 109-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean Clark ◽  
Karen Klonsky ◽  
Peter Livingston ◽  
Steve Temple
Keyword(s):  
Crop Rotation ◽  
Crop Yields ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Farming System ◽  
Grain Legume ◽  
Conventional Farming ◽  
Management Options ◽  
Organic System ◽  
Low Input ◽  
Sacramento Valley

AbstractWe compared the crop yields and economic performance of organic, lowinput, and conventional farming systems over an eight-year period based on research from the Sustainable Agriculture Farming Systems (SAFS) Project in California's Sacramento Valley. The SAFS Project consisted of four farming-system treatments that differed in material input use and crop rotation sequence. The treatments included four-year rotations under conventional (conv-4), low-input, and organic management, and a conventionally-managed, two-year rotation (conv-2). The four-year rotations included processing tomato, safflower, corn, and bean and a winter grain and/or legume doublecropped with bean. The conv-2 treatment was a tomato and wheat rotation. In the lowinput and organic systems, inorganic fertilizer and synthetic pesticide inputs were reduced or eliminated largely through crop rotation, legume cover crops, composted manure applications, and mechanical cultivation.All crops, except safflower, demonstrated significant yield differences across farming systems in at least some years of the experiment. Yields of tomato and corn, the most nitrogen (N)-demanding crops in the rotations, responded most years to the farming-system years treatments, while bean and the winter grain/legume displayed treatment differences less often and instead tended to vary more with yearly growing conditions. Nitrogen availability and/or weed competition appeared to account for lower crop yields in the organic and low-input systems in some years. The economics of all farming systems depended mainly on the costs and profits associated with tomato production. The most profitable system was the conv-2 system due to the greater frequency of tomato in that system. Among the four-year rotations, the organic system was the most profitable. However, this system's dependence on price premiums leads to some concern over its long-term economic viability. Among the low-input cropping systems, corn demonstrated clear agronomic and economic advantages over conventional production methods. Based upon these findings, we suggest that future research on organic and low-input farming systems focus on developing cost-effective fertility and weed management options based upon improved understanding of N dynamics and weed ecology.

scholarly journals Composting as Manure Disposal Strategy in Small/Medium-Size Livestock Farms: Some Demonstrations with Operative Indications

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 3315
Author(s):  
Assunta Maria Palese ◽  
Alessandro Persiani ◽  
Carmine D’Adamo ◽  
Maria Pergola ◽  
Vittoria Pastore ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Farming Systems ◽  
Medium Size ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Manure Management ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Management Options ◽  
Livestock Sector ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Livestock Farms ◽  
On Farm

The livestock sector plays a fundamental role in human beings’ livelihood all over the world. However, significant changes have occurred in the last decades, transforming the livestock sector into a highly intensive economic activity with negative impacts on human health and the environment. Such a reality requires the identification of easy methods to apply to sustainable manure management. Composting is a clever approach to transform manure into a resource. Very limited scientific literature is available on techniques for composting in small and medium livestock farms. This paper describes, in detail, some on-farm composting plants made in Southern Italy within different rural contexts. A depth analysis of farm starting situation and nearby territory (resources/services) was performed to identify the least expensive/impactful composting logistics (reduction of ex novo farm investments and transport costs, etc.), making the action economically sustainable for farmers. This approach appears to be successful in guiding farmers towards the best composting technological option, based on pre-existent on-farm resources. These small-scale composting plants, reproducible in other similar contexts, allow one to turn manure into a product with a profitable placement on the market. For this reason, these manure management options should be widespread, especially under organic farming systems.

Ash alkalinity of animal and plant products

1991 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 321 ◽  
Author(s):  
WJ Slattery ◽  
AM Ridley ◽  
SM Windsor
Keyword(s):  
Soil Acidification ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Farm Management ◽  
Plant Products ◽  
Mixed Farming ◽  
Ash Alkalinity ◽  
North Eastern ◽  
Farm Produce ◽  
Excess Cations

The export of farm produce from farming systems results in the removal of excess cations over anions from the soil. This removal of bases from the soil will eventually cause an increase in the acidity of the soil. Ash alkalinity data for a range of farm products are presented in this paper and lime replacement values calculated. Of produce from mixed farming enterprises in north-eastern Victoria, hay required the greatest amount of lime (270-1260 kg CaCO3/ha.year) to replace lost alkali from the soil. By comparison, removal of cereal produce required much less lime (7-20 kg CaCO3/ha.year) to replace lost alkali, as did removal of wool and lamb (0.8 and 6.0 kg CaCO3/ha.year respectively). Management strategies that include a lime replacement value for exported farm produce should be considered in overall farm management strategies to reduce soil acidification.

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