scholarly journals Fumigation and Solarization Practice in Plasticulture Systems

1996 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 189-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
James J. Stapleton

Soil disinfestation strategies for intensive vegetable crop production, which have relied heavily on chemical fumigants for the past 40 years, are now undergoing rapid change. The principal driving force of change has been governmental regulatory action to phase out chemicals with properties deemed to be hazardous to the environment and/or public health. Softer methods of soil disinfestation, which rely more on physical, cultural, biological, or integrated modes of action, likely will predominate in future vegetable-cropping systems. In conducive (i.e., warm) climates, solarization can be adopted economically in plasticulture systems. Solarization can be combined with other chemical, physical, and biological methods for enhanced management of soil and root pests and diseases.

2012 ◽  
Vol 151 (3) ◽  
pp. 303-321 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. PELTONEN-SAINIO ◽  
A. HANNUKKALA ◽  
E. HUUSELA-VEISTOLA ◽  
L. VOUTILA ◽  
J. NIEMI ◽  
...  

SUMMARYCrop-based protein self-sufficiency in Finland is low. Cereals dominate the field cropping systems in areas that are also favourable for legumes and rapeseed. The present paper estimated the realistic potential for expanding protein crop production taking account of climatic conditions and constraints, crop rotation requirements, field sizes, soil types and likelihood for compacted soils in different regions. The potential for current expansion was estimated by considering climate change scenarios for 2025 and 2055. By using actual regional mean yields for the 2000s, without expecting any yield increase during the expansion period (due to higher risks of pests and diseases), potential production volumes were estimated. Since rapeseed, unlike grain legumes, is a not a true minor crop, its expansion potential is currently limited. Thus, most potential is from the introduction of legumes into cropping systems. The current 100000 ha of protein crops could be doubled, and areas under cultivation could reach 350000 and 390000 ha as a result of climate warming by 2025 and 2055, respectively. Such increases result mainly from the longer growing seasons projected for the northern cropping regions of Finland. Self-sufficiency in rapeseed could soon increase from 0·25 to 0·32, and then to 0·50 and 0·60 by 2025 and 2055, respectively. If legume production expands according to its potential, it could replace 0·50–0·60 of currently imported soybean meal, and by 2025 it could replace it completely. Replacement of soybean meal is suitable for ruminants, but it presents some problems for pig production, and is particularly challenging for poultry.


2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (No. 3) ◽  
pp. 127-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.A. Gharaibeh ◽  
N.I. Eltaif

Irrigation with treated wastewater is essential for increasing crop production in arid and semi arid regions. Field experiments were conducted on rainfed clayey soil to investigate the impact of water quality, cultivation, and different cropping systems on cumulative infiltration (F<sub>(t)</sub>), field saturated hydraulic conductivity (HC<sub>fs</sub>), penetration resistance (PR), and water stable aggregates (WSA). Treatments were: (1) barley fields tilled for the past 20&nbsp;years (C<sub>B</sub>-T), (2) olive tree fields tilled for the past 20 years (C<sub>O</sub>-T), (3) non-cultivated field for 20&nbsp;years, tilled for the last 2 years (NC-T<sub>2yr</sub>), and (4) non-cultivated non-tilled field (NC-NT) for the past 20 years (control). Results indicated that F<sub>(t)</sub>, HC<sub>fs</sub>, PR, and WSA in NC-NT were significantly higher than in all other treatments. Compared to fresh water (FW), treated wastewater (TWW) significantly reduced F<sub>(t)</sub> and HC<sub>fs</sub> in all treatments. This study showed that irrigation with TWW and protection of soil from any physical manipulation improved soil hydraulic and physical properties to acceptable levels. Therefore, application of such practices could be recommended in arid clayey soils.


Author(s):  
S. P. Long

Despite great advances in understanding of photosynthesis in crops, photosynthesis research has contributed little to improvement of crop production in the past. Does it have a future role in the task of feeding a world of 8 billion? In this chapter I argue that modification of the primary carboxylase of photosynthesis (Rubisco) promises very significant increases in potential crop yields. Plant breeding over the past three decades has produced remarkable worldwide increases in the potential yields of many crops, most notably improvements in the small grain cereals of the “green revolution” (Beadle and Long, 1985; Evans, 1993). Potential yield is defined as the yield that a genotype can achieve under optimal cultivation practice and in the absence of pests and diseases. What are the physiological bases of these increases? Following the principles of Monteith (1977), the potential yield (Y) of a crop at a given location is determined by . . . y = St- εi- εe- η/k (1) . . . where St is the integral of incident solar radiation (MJ m-2), εi the efficiency with which that radiation is intercepted by the crop; εe the efficiency with which the intercepted radiation is converted into biomass; η the harvest index or the efficiency with which biomass is partitioned into the harvested product; and k the energy content of the biomass (MJ g-1). St is determined by the site and year, while k varies very little across higher plant species (Roberts et al., 1993). Potential yield is therefore determined by the combined product of three efficiencies, each describing broad physiological properties of the crop: εi, εe, and η. εi is determined by the speed of canopy development and closure, and by canopy longevity and architecture. εe is a function of the combined photosynthetic rate of all leaves within the canopy less crop respiratory losses. In the context of equation 1, increase in potential yield over the past 30 years has resulted almost entirely from large increases in η.


1997 ◽  
Vol 33 (01) ◽  
pp. 83-90
Author(s):  
H. De Bon ◽  
F. Faye ◽  
J. Pages

The importance of vegetable crops has been increasing in West Africa for the past forty years. This paper describes the evolution of intensive mixed vegetable production in the Niayes area near Dakar between 1970 and 1990. The importance of cultivation in low-lying areas with very few inputs have decreased but irrigated cropping systems have become more important due to the better adaptation of vegetative material, application of more fertilizers and better control of pests and diseases. This intensification appears to be irreversible, in spite of the negative effects of the more intensive use of land.


1987 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 166-168
Author(s):  
P. S. Hammes

Crop production is based on the photosynthetic process. Effective cropping systems are only attainable by optimising the size, active duration and effectivity of the photosynthesizing leaf canopy in the field. The extent of photosynthesis on a farm scale is impressive. A typical maize crop on one hectare of land utilises approximately 20 t. carbon dioxide, which is recovered from as much as 60 000 t. of air. Even highly productive cropping systems convert available radiation from the sun into chemical energy with an efficiency of less than 5%. Dramatic increases in crop yields may be attained in future, as has been the case in the past, as the process of photosynthesis is exploited with increasing skill.


Author(s):  
VICTOR BURLACHUK

At the end of the twentieth century, questions of a secondary nature suddenly became topical: what do we remember and who owns the memory? Memory as one of the mental characteristics of an individual’s activity is complemented by the concept of collective memory, which requires a different method of analysis than the activity of a separate individual. In the 1970s, a situation arose that gave rise to the so-called "historical politics" or "memory politics." If philosophical studies of memory problems of the 30’s and 40’s of the twentieth century were focused mainly on the peculiarities of perception of the past in the individual and collective consciousness and did not go beyond scientific discussions, then half a century later the situation has changed dramatically. The problem of memory has found its political sound: historians and sociologists, politicians and representatives of the media have entered the discourse on memory. Modern society, including all social, ethnic and family groups, has undergone a profound change in the traditional attitude towards the past, which has been associated with changes in the structure of government. In connection with the discrediting of the Soviet Union, the rapid decline of the Communist Party and its ideology, there was a collapse of Marxism, which provided for a certain model of time and history. The end of the revolutionary idea, a powerful vector that indicated the direction of historical time into the future, inevitably led to a rapid change in perception of the past. Three models of the future, which, according to Pierre Nora, defined the face of the past (the future as a restoration of the past, the future as progress and the future as a revolution) that existed until recently, have now lost their relevance. Today, absolute uncertainty hangs over the future. The inability to predict the future poses certain challenges to the present. The end of any teleology of history imposes on the present a debt of memory. Features of the life of memory, the specifics of its state and functioning directly affect the state of identity, both personal and collective. Distortion of memory, its incorrect work, and its ideological manipulation can give rise to an identity crisis. The memorial phenomenon is a certain political resource in a situation of severe socio-political breaks and changes. In the conditions of the economic crisis and in the absence of a real and clear program for future development, the state often seeks to turn memory into the main element of national consolidation.


Author(s):  
E.V. Shishkina ◽  
S.V. Zharkova ◽  
O.V. Malykhina

Представлены результаты работы селекционеров Западно-Сибирской ООС – филиала ФГБНУ ФНЦО по культуре лука алтайского. Из 18 образцов были выделены перспективные, из которых в 2008 году отобран образец № 11. Дальнейший клоновый отбор позволил отобрать образец № 61/98, который по ряду показателей превосходит районированный сорт. В 2017 году этот образец передан на испытание в ГСИ, как сорт Виктор.The accomplishments of the plant breeders of the West Siberian Vegetable Experimental Station, the Branch of the Federal Scientific Centre of Vegetable Crop Production, regarding Altai onion cultivation are discussed. Eighteen candidate varieties were examined, promising ones were selected, and the candidate variety No. 11 was selected in 2008. Further clone selection made it possible to select the candidate variety No. 61/98 which exceeded the released variety in terms of a number of indices. In 2017, this candidate variety was submitted for State Variety Testing as Viktor variety.


2007 ◽  
Vol 99 (4) ◽  
pp. 904-911 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. L. Tanaka ◽  
J. M. Krupinsky ◽  
S. D. Merrill ◽  
M. A. Liebig ◽  
J. D. Hanson

Author(s):  
Daniel P. Roberts ◽  
Nicholas M. Short ◽  
James Sill ◽  
Dilip K. Lakshman ◽  
Xiaojia Hu ◽  
...  

AbstractThe agricultural community is confronted with dual challenges; increasing production of nutritionally dense food and decreasing the impacts of these crop production systems on the land, water, and climate. Control of plant pathogens will figure prominently in meeting these challenges as plant diseases cause significant yield and economic losses to crops responsible for feeding a large portion of the world population. New approaches and technologies to enhance sustainability of crop production systems and, importantly, plant disease control need to be developed and adopted. By leveraging advanced geoinformatic techniques, advances in computing and sensing infrastructure (e.g., cloud-based, big data-driven applications) will aid in the monitoring and management of pesticides and biologicals, such as cover crops and beneficial microbes, to reduce the impact of plant disease control and cropping systems on the environment. This includes geospatial tools being developed to aid the farmer in managing cropping system and disease management strategies that are more sustainable but increasingly complex. Geoinformatics and cloud-based, big data-driven applications are also being enlisted to speed up crop germplasm improvement; crop germplasm that has enhanced tolerance to pathogens and abiotic stress and is in tune with different cropping systems and environmental conditions is needed. Finally, advanced geoinformatic techniques and advances in computing infrastructure allow a more collaborative framework amongst scientists, policymakers, and the agricultural community to speed the development, transfer, and adoption of these sustainable technologies.


2021 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Federica Zanetti ◽  
Barbara Alberghini ◽  
Ana Marjanović Jeromela ◽  
Nada Grahovac ◽  
Dragana Rajković ◽  
...  

AbstractPromoting crop diversification in European agriculture is a key pillar of the agroecological transition. Diversifying crops generally enhances crop productivity, quality, soil health and fertility, and resilience to pests and diseases and reduces environmental stresses. Moreover, crop diversification provides an alternative means of enhancing farmers’ income. Camelina (Camelina sativa (L.) Crantz) reemerged in the background of European agriculture approximately three decades ago, when the first studies on this ancient native oilseed species were published. Since then, a considerable number of studies on this species has been carried out in Europe. The main interest in camelina is related to its (1) broad environmental adaptability, (2) low-input requirements, (3) resistance to multiple pests and diseases, and (4) multiple uses in food, feed, and biobased applications. The present article is a comprehensive and critical review of research carried out in Europe (compared with the rest of the world) on camelina in the last three decades, including genetics and breeding, agronomy and cropping systems, and end-uses, with the aim of making camelina an attractive new candidate crop for European farming systems. Furthermore, a critical evaluation of what is still missing to scale camelina up from a promising oilseed to a commonly cultivated crop in Europe is also provided (1) to motivate scientists to promote their studies and (2) to show farmers and end-users the real potential of this interesting species.


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