Spatial evaluation of the impact of a climate change participatory extension programme on the uptake of soil management practices*

Earthworms are key indicators of soil quality and health in vineyards, but research that considers different soil management systems, especially in Slovenian viticultural areas is scarce. In this investigation, the impact of different soil management practices such as permanent green cover, the use of herbicides in row and inter-row areas, use of straw mulch, and shallow soil tillage compared to meadow control for earthworm abundance, were assessed. The biomass and abundance of earthworms (m2) and distribution in various soil layers were quantified for three years. Monitoring and a survey covering 22 May 2014 to 5 October 2016 in seven different sampling dates, along with a soil profile at the depth from 0 to 60 cm, were carried out. Our results showed that the lowest mean abundance and biomass of earthworms in all sampling periods were registered along the herbicide strip (within the rows). The highest abundance was found in the straw mulch and permanent green cover treatments (higher than in the control). On the plots where the herbicide was applied to the complete inter-row area, the abundance of the earthworm community decreased from the beginning to the end of the monitoring period. In contrast, shallow tillage showed a similar trend of declining earthworm abundance, which could indicate a deterioration of soil biodiversity conditions. We concluded that different soil management practices greatly affect the soil’s environmental conditions (temperature and humidity), especially in the upper soil layer (up to 15 cm deep), which affects the abundance of the earthworm community. Our results demonstrated that these practices need to be adapted to the climate and weather conditions, and also to human impacts.

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The Mechanical Impact of Water Affected the Soil Physical Quality of a Loam Soil under Minimum Tillage and No-Tillage: An Assessment Using Beerkan Multi-Height Runs and BEST-Procedure

Land ◽

10.3390/land10020195 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 195 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Mirko Castellini ◽

Anna Maria Stellacci ◽

Danilo Sisto ◽

Massimo Iovino

Keyword(s):

Soil Water ◽

Water Retention ◽

Management Practices ◽

Soil Management ◽

Soil Water Retention ◽

Physical Quality ◽

Soil Physical Quality ◽

Loam Soil ◽

The Impact

The multi-height (low, L = 3 cm; intermediate, M = 100 cm; high, H = 200 cm) Beerkan run methodology was applied on both a minimum tilled (MT) (i.e., up to a depth of 30 cm) and a no-tilled (NT) bare loam soil, and the soil water retention curve was estimated by the BEST-steady algorithm. Three indicators of soil physical quality (SPQ), i.e., macroporosity (Pmac), air capacity (AC) and relative field capacity (RFC) were calculated to assess the impact of water pouring height under alternative soil management practices. Results showed that, compared to the reference low run, M and H runs affected both the estimated soil water retention curves and derived SPQ indicators. Generally, M–H runs significantly reduced the mean values of Pmac and AC and increased RFC for both MT and NT soil management practices. According to the guidelines for assessment of SPQ, the M and H runs: (i) worsened Pmac classification of both MT and NT soils; (ii) did not worsen AC classification, regardless of soil management parameters; (iii) worsened RFC classification of only NT soil, as a consequence of insufficient soil aeration. For both soil management techniques, a strong negative correlation was found between the Pmac and AC values and the gravitational potential energy, Ep, of the water used for the infiltration runs. A positive correlation was detected between RFC and Ep. The relationships were plausible from a soil physics point of view. NT soil has proven to be more resilient than MT. This study contributes toward testing simple and robust methods capable of quantifying soil degradation effects, due to intense rainfall events, under different soil management practices in the Mediterranean environment.

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The GREASE project: Sustainable cultivation of Greco grapevine - Resource use efficiency and application of the footprint family indicators

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-9807 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Chiara Cirillo ◽

Antonello Bonfante ◽

Giovanna Battipaglia ◽

Angelita Gambuti ◽

Sheridan Lois Woo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Resource Use ◽

Southern Italy ◽

Soil Management ◽

Selling Price ◽

Campania Region ◽

Rural Development Programme ◽

Isotopic Analyses ◽

Use Efficiency ◽

The Impact

Climate change is one of the main challenges for future agriculture since it can severely affect plant growth and development. The Mediterranean area is one of the most vulnerable regions where climatic models have forecasted a significant increase in frequency and severity of drought events. Ongoing climate change is aggravating some critical issues in the production of the autochthonous grape variety Greco, widely cultivated in the Campania Region (southern Italy) and used alone or blend in many quality label wines.Nowadays, there is a high risk for the economic sustainability of Greco cultivation due to the following main issues: reduced vine productivity, low selling price of grapes, and territory fragmentation. Such criticisms induce the abandonment of small/medium-sized farms due to either crop conversion or consolidation into larger farms.The Greco variety may represent a study model to introduce innovative and integrated management of cultivation techniques, such as pruning and soil management, with the aim to resolve similar problems affecting other autochthonous regional cultivars. They include issues, such as low fertility, that cause an unbalanced ratio among sugars, acids, and affect grape metabolites important for the oxidative stability and sensory quality of wine.The GREASE project, funded by Campania Region within the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020, falls within the framework of sustainable management of vineyards (from economic, environmental and social viewpoints) with an insight to climate change. The general objective to improve the potential production of Greco concerns the management of major cultivation practices in viticulture by the realization of a cultivar-specific model for vine canopy and soil management. Optimization of parameters is important in order to achieve a good vegetative and reproductive balance that enhances grape and wine quality, improves farm profitability and environmental sustainability. This project is conducted in a vineyard of Vitis vinifera L. subsp. vinifera &#8216;Greco&#8217; located in southern Italy (Feudi di San Gregorio farm).The projects has 3 main inter-disciplinary actions: A1) to determine the effect of diverse vine pruning systems on plant resource use, through the reconstruction of vine eco-physiological history (dendro-anatomical and -isotopic analyses); A2-A3) to analyse the effect of soil management and of vine training systems on the continuum soil-plant-atmosphere system. Specific activities include: pedoclimatic, vegetative and reproductive, physiological and hydraulic characterization; microvinification and characterization of grapes and wine produced in the different trials; evaluation of resources use efficiency, pests, footprint family markers; model development.The impact of the project on other wineries of the Campania Region will be significant due to an increased understanding of how cultivation systems influence the efficient use of available resources in the Greco vineyard. Such knowledge would be useful to design simple modifications to the presently used agronomical practices, to achieve production and economic gains without long-term structural investments. This know-how will also favour other downstream technologies and biotechnologies of viticulture and enology production, as well as the associated companies (e.g., producers of fertilizers, seeds for green manure) to realize products and services better adapted to the development of cultivar-specific viticultural and enological production systems.

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Assessing the impact of climate change on crop management in winter wheat – a case study for Eastern Austria

The Journal of Agricultural Science ◽

10.1017/s0021859616000083 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 154 (7) ◽

pp. 1153-1170 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

E. EBRAHIMI ◽

A. M. MANSCHADI ◽

R. W. NEUGSCHWANDTNER ◽

J EITZINGER ◽

S. THALER ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Management Practices ◽

Crop Management ◽

Weather Data ◽

Climate Change Scenarios ◽

Management Scenarios ◽

Global Circulation Models ◽

Daily Weather Data ◽

Eastern Austria ◽

The Impact

SUMMARYClimate change is expected to affect optimum agricultural management practices for autumn-sown wheat, especially those related to sowing date and nitrogen (N) fertilization. To assess the direction and quantity of these changes for an important production region in eastern Austria, the agricultural production systems simulator was parameterized, evaluated and subsequently used to predict yield production and grain protein content under current and future conditions. Besides a baseline climate (BL, 1981–2010), climate change scenarios for the period 2035–65 were derived from three Global Circulation Models (GCMs), namely CGMR, IPCM4 and MPEH5, with two emission scenarios, A1B and B1. Crop management scenarios included a combination of three sowing dates (20 September, 20 October, 20 November) with four N fertilizer application rates (60, 120, 160, 200 kg/ha). Each management scenario was run for 100 years of stochastically generated daily weather data. The model satisfactorily simulated productivity as well as water and N use of autumn- and spring-sown wheat crops grown under different N supply levels in the 2010/11 and 2011/12 experimental seasons. Simulated wheat yields under climate change scenarios varied substantially among the three GCMs. While wheat yields for the CGMR model increased slightly above the BL scenario, under IPCM4 projections they were reduced by 29 and 32% with low or high emissions, respectively. Wheat protein appears to increase with highest increments in the climate scenarios causing the largest reductions in grain yield (IPCM4 and MPEH-A1B). Under future climatic conditions, maximum wheat yields were predicted for early sowing (September 20) with 160 kg N/ha applied at earlier dates than the current practice.

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Indicators of climate change in agricultural systems

Climatic Change ◽

10.1007/s10584-018-2222-2 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 163 (4) ◽

pp. 1719-1732 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Jerry L. Hatfield ◽

John Antle ◽

Karen A. Garrett ◽

Roberto Cesar Izaurralde ◽

Terry Mader ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Management Practices ◽

Warming Trend ◽

Historical Record ◽

Climate Impacts ◽

Agricultural Systems ◽

Agricultural Enterprise ◽

The Usa ◽

Near Term ◽

The Impact

AbstractClimate change affects all segments of the agricultural enterprise, and there is mounting evidence that the continuing warming trend with shifting seasonality and intensity in precipitation will increase the vulnerability of agricultural systems. Agricultural is a complex system within the USA encompassing a large number of crops and livestock systems, and development of indicators to provide a signal of the impact of climate change on these different systems would be beneficial to the development of strategies for effective adaptation practices. A series of indicators were assembled to determine their potential for assessing agricultural response to climate change in the near term and long term and those with immediate capability of being implemented and those requiring more development. The available literature reveals indicators on livestock related to heat stress, soil erosion related to changes in precipitation, soil carbon changes in response to increasing carbon dioxide and soil management practices, economic response to climate change in agricultural production, and crop progress and productivity. Crop progress and productivity changes are readily observed data with a historical record for some crops extending back to the mid-1800s. This length of historical record coupled with the county-level observations from each state where a crop is grown and emerging pest populations provides a detailed set of observations to assess the impact of a changing climate on agriculture. Continued refinement of tools to assess climate impacts on agriculture will provide guidance on strategies to adapt to climate change.

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Wheat Yield Responses to Rising Temperature: Insights from North Indian Plains of India

10.21203/rs.3.rs-699747/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Philip Kuriachen ◽

Asha Devi ◽

Anu Susan Sam ◽

Suresh Kumar ◽

Jyoti Kumari ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Management Practices ◽

Climatic Factors ◽

Technological Development ◽

Wheat Yield ◽

Significant Rise ◽

Yield Reduction ◽

Growth Stages ◽

Annual Increment ◽

The Impact

Abstract Climate change and consequent variations in temperature pose a significant challenge for sustaining wheat production systems globally. In this study, the potential impact of rising temperature on wheat yield in the north Indian plains, India's major wheat growing region, was analyzed using panel data from the year 1981 to 2009. This study deviates from the majority of the previous studies by including non-climatic factors in estimating the impact of climate change. Two temperature measures were used for fitting the function, viz., Growing Season Temperature (GST) and Terminal Stage Temperature (TST), to find out the differential impact of increased temperature at various growth stages. Analysis revealed that there was a significant rise in both GST as well as TST during the study period. The magnitude of the annual increment in TST was twice that of GST. Wheat yield growth in the region was driven primarily by increased input resources such as fertilizer application and technological development like improved varieties and management practices. Most importantly, the study found that the extent of yield reduction was more significant for an increase in temperature at terminal crop growth stages. The yield reduction due to unit increase in TST was estimated to be 2.26 % while rise in GST by 1◦C resulted in yield reduction of 2.03%.

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Risk Reduction and Productivity Increase Through Integrating Arachis pintoi in Cattle Production Systems in the Colombian Orinoquía

Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems ◽

10.3389/fsufs.2021.666604 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 5 ◽

Author(s):

Karen Johanna Enciso Valencia ◽

Álvaro Rincón Castillo ◽

Daniel Alejandro Ruden ◽

Stefan Burkart

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Ecosystem Services ◽

Management Practices ◽

Production Systems ◽

Climate Change Scenarios ◽

Cattle Production ◽

Forage Production ◽

Promising Alternative ◽

Arachis Pintoi ◽

The Impact

In many parts of the foothills of the Orinoquía region of Colombia, cattle production takes place on poorly drained soils. The region is dominated by extensive grazing systems of Brachiaira humidicola cv. Humidicola, a grass with high adaptation potential under temporal waterlogging conditions. Inadequate management practices and low soil fertility result in degradation, however, with important negative effects on pasture productivity and the quality and provision of (soil) ecosystem services–a situation that is likely to worsen in the near future due to climate change. Against this background, AGROSAVIA (Corporación Colombiana de Investigación Agropecuaria) selected Arachis pintoi CIAT 22160 cv. Centauro (Centauro) as a promising alternative for the sustainable intensification of livestock production and rehabilitation of degraded areas. This study assesses dual-purpose milk production in the foothills of the Colombian Orinoquía from an economic perspective. We compare two production systems: the Centauro–Brachiaira humidicola cv. Humidicola association (new system) and Brachiaira humidicola cv. Humidicola as a monoculture (traditional system). We used cashflow and risk assessment models to estimate economic indicators. The projections for economic returns consider changes in forage characteristics under regional climate change scenarios RCP (2.6, 8.5). The LIFE-SIM model was used to simulate dairy production. Results show that the inclusion of Centauro has the potential to increase animal productivity and profitability under different market scenarios. The impact of climatic variables on forage production is considerable in both climate change scenarios. Both total area and potential distribution of Centauro could change, and biomass production could decline. Brachiaira humidicola cv. Humidicola showed better persistence due to higher nitrogen levels in soil when grown in association with Centauro. The legume also provides a number of ecosystem services, such as improving soil structure and composition, and also contributes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This helps to improve the adaptation and mitigation capacity of the system.

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Soil Management Practices to Mitigate Nitrous Oxide Emissions and Inform Emission Factors in Arid Irrigated Specialty Crop Systems

Soil Systems ◽

10.3390/soilsystems3040076 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 (4) ◽

pp. 76

Author(s):

Xia Zhu-Barker ◽

Mark Easter ◽

Amy Swan ◽

Mary Carlson ◽

Lucas Thompson ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Nitrous Oxide ◽

Crop Production ◽

Management Practices ◽

Ghg Emissions ◽

Soil Management ◽

Emission Factors ◽

Nitrous Oxide Emissions ◽

Specialty Crops ◽

Specialty Crop ◽

The Impact

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from arid irrigated agricultural soil in California have been predicted to represent 8% of the state’s total GHG emissions. Although specialty crops compose the majority of the state’s crops in both economic value and land area, the portion of GHG emissions contributed by them is still highly uncertain. Current and emerging soil management practices affect the mitigation of those emissions. Herein, we review the scientific literature on the impact of soil management practices in California specialty crop systems on GHG nitrous oxide emissions. As such studies from most major specialty crop systems in California are limited, we focus on two annual and two perennial crops with the most data from the state: tomato, lettuce, wine grapes and almond. Nitrous oxide emission factors were developed and compared to Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) emission factors, and state-wide emissions for these four crops were calculated for specific soil management practices. Dependent on crop systems and specific management practices, the emission factors developed in this study were either higher, lower or comparable to IPCC emission factors. Uncertainties caused by low gas sampling frequency in these studies were identified and discussed. These uncertainties can be remediated by robust and standardized estimates of nitrous oxide emissions from changes in soil management practices in California specialty crop systems. Promising practices to reduce nitrous oxide emissions and meet crop production goals, pertinent gaps in knowledge on this topic and limitations of this approach are discussed.

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Freshwater, climate change and adaptation in the Ganges River Basin

Water Policy ◽

10.2166/wp.2011.065 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 14 (1) ◽

pp. 67-79 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Heather R. Hosterman ◽

Peter G. McCornick ◽

Elizabeth J. Kistin ◽

Bharat Sharma ◽

Luna Bharati

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

River Basin ◽

Water Resource Management ◽

Management Practices ◽

Ganges River ◽

Economic Sectors ◽

The Ganges ◽

The Impact ◽

Ganges River Basin ◽

Growth Economic

Climate change is one of the drivers of change in the Ganges River Basin, together with population growth, economic development and water management practices. These changing circumstances have a significant impact on key social and economic sectors of the basin, largely through changes in water quantity, quality and timing of availability. This paper evaluates the impact of water on changing circumstances in three sectors of the Ganges Basin – agriculture, ecosystems and energy. Given the inherent interconnectedness of these core sectors and the cross-cutting impact of changing circumstances on water resources, we argue that adaptation should not be viewed as a separate initiative, but rather as a goal and perspective incorporated into every level of planning and decision making. Adaptation to changing circumstances will need to be closely linked to water resource management and will require significant collaboration across the sectors.

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Plant Breeding and Management Strategies to Minimize the Impact of Water Scarcity and Biotic Stress in Cereal Crops under Mediterranean Conditions

Agronomy ◽

10.3390/agronomy12010075 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

pp. 75

Author(s):

Néstor Pérez-Méndez ◽

Cristina Miguel-Rojas ◽

Jose Antonio Jimenez-Berni ◽

David Gomez-Candon ◽

Alejandro Pérez-de-Luque ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Management Practices ◽

Management Strategies ◽

Future Climate Change ◽

Climate Change Scenarios ◽

Biotic And Abiotic Stress ◽

Fungal Disease Resistance ◽

New Varieties ◽

Rice Water ◽

The Impact

Wheat and rice are two main staple food crops that may suffer from yield losses due to drought episodes that are increasingly impacted by climate change, in addition to new epidemic outbreaks. Sustainable intensification of production will rely on several strategies, such as efficient use of water and variety improvement. This review updates the latest findings regarding complementary approaches in agronomy, genetics, and phenomics to cope with climate change challenges. The agronomic approach focuses on a case study examining alternative rice water management practices, with their impact on greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity for ecosystem services. The genetic approach reviews in depth the latest technologies to achieve fungal disease resistance, as well as the use of landraces to increase the genetic diversity of new varieties. The phenomics approach explores recent advances in high-throughput remote sensing technologies useful in detecting both biotic and abiotic stress effects on breeding programs. The complementary nature of all these technologies indicates that only interdisciplinary work will ensure significant steps towards a more sustainable agriculture under future climate change scenarios.

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