scholarly journals KELIMPAHAN POPULASI, PREFERENSI DAN KARAKTER KEBUGARAN MENOCHILUS SEXMACULATUS (COLEOPTERA: COCCINELLIDAE) PREDATOR KUTUDAUN PADA PERTANAMAN CABAI

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-55
Author(s):  
Novri Nelly
Keyword(s):  
Organic Farming ◽  
Prey Species ◽  
Preference Test ◽  
Control Population ◽  
Choice Test ◽  
Population Abundance ◽  
Conventional Farming ◽  
Fitness Test ◽  
Predator Preference ◽  
Almost All

This predator is efective to control population of aphids, so the aim of research was to study the field population abundance, predator preference to this prey, and fitness character of M. sexmaculatus as predator. The population fluctuation was observed at conventional and organic farming. The preference test was conducted by choice and no choice test for some types of prey. Fitness test was performed by studying its prey, the number of eggs produced and number of eggs hatched. The results showed that M. sexmaculatus population abundance was fluctuated, the abundance higher in chili cultivated conventionaly than cultivated in organic farming.  But in conventional farming  decreased with increasing age of chili. Preference test showed that almost all species of  aphids preferred by M. sexmaculatus.  Some prey species  found were  aphids, thrips and Neotoxoptera. Predator  fitness levels showed by the longevity of females ranged  9-10 days. Oviposition period  was on average five days, while the post-oviposition was two days. The number of eggs produced ranged  100-200 eggs with an average of 135.3 eggs.

scholarly journals A Threat of Farmers’ Suicide and the Opportunity in Organic Farming for Sustainable Agricultural Development in India

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 2400 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karthikeyan Mariappan ◽  
Deyi Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Organic Farming ◽  
Tamil Nadu ◽  
Agricultural Development ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Conventional Farming ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Small Scale Farmers ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Input Cost

Agriculture is the main sources of income for humans. Likewise, agriculture is the backbone of the Indian economy. In India, Tamil Nadu regional state has a wide range of possibilities to produce all varieties of organic products due to its diverse agro-climatic condition. This research aimed to identify the economics and efficiency of organic farming, and the possibilities to reduce farmers’ suicides in the Tamil Nadu region through the organic agriculture concept. The emphasis was on farmers, producers, researchers, and marketers entering the sustainable economy through organic farming by reducing input cost and high profit in cultivation. A survey was conducted to gather data. One way analysis of variance (ANOVA) has been used to test the hypothesis regards the cost and profit of rice production. The results showed that there was a significant difference in profitability between organic and conventional farming methods. It is very transparent that organic farming is the leading concept of sustainable agricultural development with better organic manures that can improve soil fertility, better yield, less input cost and better return than conventional farming. The study suggests that by reducing the cost of cultivation and get a marginal return through organic farming method to poor and small scale farmers will reduce socio-economic problems such as farmers’ suicides in the future of Indian agriculture.

scholarly journals Can Organic Sources of Nutrients Increase Crop Yields to Meet Global Food Demand?

Agronomy ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
pp. 214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jagadish Timsina
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Organic Farming ◽  
Crop Yields ◽  
Food Demand ◽  
Conventional Farming ◽  
Chemical Fertilizers ◽  
Organic Nutrients ◽  
On Farm ◽  
Global Food

Meeting global demand of safe and healthy food for the ever-increasing population now and into the future is currently a crucial challenge. Increasing crop production by preserving environment and mitigating climate change should thus be the main goal of today’s agriculture. Conventional farming is characterized by use of high-yielding varieties, irrigation water, chemical fertilizers and synthetic pesticides to increase yields. However, due to either over- or misuse of chemical fertilizers or pesticides in many agro-ecosystems, such farming is often blamed for land degradation and environmental pollution and for adversely affecting the health of humans, plants, animals and aquatic ecosystems. Of all inputs required for increased agricultural production, nutrients are considered to be the most important ones. Organic farming, with use of organic sources of nutrients, is proposed as a sustainable strategy for producing safe, healthy and cheaper food and for restoring soil fertility and mitigating climate change. However, there are several myths and controversies surrounding the use of organic versus inorganic sources of nutrients. The objectives of this paper are: (i) to clarify some of the myths or misconceptions about organic versus inorganic sources of nutrients and (ii) to propose alternative solutions to increase on-farm biomass production for use as organic inputs for improving soil fertility and increasing crop yields. Common myths identified by this review include that organic materials/fertilizers can: (i) supply all required macro- and micro-nutrients for plants; (ii) improve physical, chemical and microbiological properties of soils; (iii) be applied universally on all soils; (iv) always produce quality products; (v) be cheaper and affordable; and (vi) build-up of large amount of soil organic matter. Other related myths are: “legumes can use entire amount of N2 fixed from atmosphere” and “bio-fertilizers increase nutrient content of soil.” Common myths regarding chemical fertilizers are that they: (i) are not easily available and affordable, (ii) degrade land, (iii) pollute environment and (iv) adversely affect health of humans, animals and agro-ecosystems. The review reveals that, except in some cases where higher yields (and higher profits) can be found from organic farming, their yields are generally 20–50% lower than that from conventional farming. The paper demonstrates that considering the current organic sources of nutrients in the developing countries, organic nutrients alone are not enough to increase crop yields to meet global food demand and that nutrients from inorganic and organic sources should preferably be applied at 75:25 ratio. The review identifies a new and alternative concept of Evergreen Agriculture (an extension of Agroforestry System), which has potential to supply organic nutrients in much higher amounts, improve on-farm soil fertility and meet nutrient demand of high-yielding crops, sequester carbon and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, provide fodder for livestock and fuelwood for farmers and has potential to meet global food demand. Evergreen Agriculture has been widely adapted by tens of millions of farmers in several African countries and the review proposes for evaluation and scaling-up of such technology in Asian and Latin American countries too.

scholarly journals A Continuing Professional Development Program for Pharmacists Implementing Pharmacogenomics into Practice

Pharmacy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 55
Author(s):  
Natalie Crown ◽  
Beth A. Sproule ◽  
Miles J. Luke ◽  
Micheline Piquette-Miller ◽  
Lisa M. McCarthy
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Multiple Choice ◽  
Development Program ◽  
Continuing Professional Development ◽  
Choice Test ◽  
Multiple Choice Test ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Primary Care Settings ◽  
Online Lectures ◽  
Almost All

A continuing professional development (CPD) program for pharmacists practicing in community and team-based primary care settings was developed and evaluated using Moore’s framework for the assessment of continuing medical education. The program had three components: online lectures, a two-day training workshop, and patient case studies. Knowledge (pre-post multiple choice test); attitudes, readiness, and comfort with applying pharmacogenomics in their practices (pre-post surveys); and experiences of implementing pharmacogenomics in practice (semi-structured interviews) were assessed. Twenty-one of 26 enrolled pharmacists successfully completed the program, and were satisfied with their experience. Almost all achieved a score of 80% or higher on the post-training multiple choice test, with significantly improved scores compared to the pre-training test. Pre- and post-training surveys demonstrated that participants felt that their knowledge and competence increased upon completion of the training. In the follow-up, 15 pharmacists incorporated pharmacogenomics testing into care for 117 patients. Ten pharmacists participated in semi-structured interviews, reporting strong performance in the program, but some difficulty implementing new knowledge in their practices. This multi-component CPD program successfully increased pharmacists’ knowledge, readiness, and comfort in applying pharmacogenomics to patient care in the short-term, yet some pharmacists struggled to integrate this new service into their practices.

scholarly journals Belowground fungal community diversity, composition and ecological functionality associated with winter wheat in conventional and organic agricultural systems

PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e9732
Author(s):  
Sigisfredo Garnica ◽  
Ronja Rosenstein ◽  
Max Emil Schön
Keyword(s):  
Winter Wheat ◽  
Organic Farming ◽  
Fungal Community ◽  
Agricultural Practices ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Fungal Communities ◽  
Conventional Farming ◽  
Total N ◽  
Ecological Functionality ◽  
Organic Farming Systems

Understanding the impacts of agricultural practices on belowground fungal communities is crucial in order to preserve biological diversity in agricultural soils and enhance their role in agroecosystem functioning. Although fungal communities are widely distributed, relatively few studies have correlated agricultural production practices. We investigated the diversity, composition and ecological functionality of fungal communities in roots of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum) growing in conventional and organic farming systems. Direct and nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplifications spanning the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of the rDNA from pooled fine root samples were performed with two different sets of fungal specific primers. Fungal identification was carried out through similarity searches against validated reference sequences (RefSeq). The R package ‘picante’ and FUNGuild were used to analyse fungal community composition and trophic mode, respectively. Either by direct or cloning sequencing, 130 complete ITS sequences were clustered into 39 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) (25 singletons), belonging to the Ascomycota (24), the Basidiomycota (14) and to the Glomeromycota (1). Fungal communities from conventional farming sites are phylogenetically more related than expected by chance. Constrained ordination analysis identified total N, total S and Pcal that had a significant effect on the OTU’s abundance and distribution, and a further correlation with the diversity of the co-occurring vegetation could be hypothesised. The functional predictions based on FUNGuild suggested that conventional farming increased the presence of plant pathogenic fungi compared with organic farming. Based on diversity, OTU distribution, nutrition mode and the significant phylogenetic clustering of fungal communities, this study shows that fungal communities differ across sampling sites, depending on agricultural practices. Although it is not fully clear which factors determine the fungal communities, our findings suggest that organic farming systems have a positive effect on fungal communities in winter wheat crops.

scholarly journals Economic results and development of organic farms in Latvia

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Armands Veveris ◽  
◽  
Armands Puzulis ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Organic Farming ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Social Goals ◽  
Economic Indicators ◽  
Conventional Farming ◽  
Organic Farms ◽  
Potential Problems ◽  
Production Value ◽  
Empirical Approaches

Organic farming is experiencing rather rapid development in Europe, including in Latvia. This could be rated from different aspects. The purpose of this article is to assess the economic indicators of the development of organic farming, linking them to conclusions stated in various studies in Latvia and other countries on the diverse economic, social and environmental impact of this type of farming, as well as potential problems. So, theoretical and empirical approaches are combined in this article. The different problems we can state as outcome of the research. The farms concentrate in areas with less favourable conditions for conventional farming. Also, large continuous areas under organic farming often leads to low production value per hectare and do not reach social goals.

scholarly journals Yields of Organically Grown Sweet Pepper Cultivars and Lines during the Hot-wet and Cool-dry Season in the Tropics

2009 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 418-422 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Juroszek ◽  
Hsing-Hua Tsai
Keyword(s):  
Organic Farming ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Sweet Pepper ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Viable Alternative ◽  
Conventional Farming ◽  
Wet Season ◽  
Commercial Cultivars ◽  
The Tropics ◽  
Cool Dry Season

Organic production is considered by many researchers to be a viable alternative to conventional farming systems. Equivalent yields already have been demonstrated in several studies. The major objective of our study was to collect data on total and marketable fruit yields of sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum) under organic farming conditions in the tropics. Experiments were conducted during the hot-wet season from 7 Mar. 2007 to 30 July 2007 and during the cool-dry season from 27 Nov. 2007 to 7 Apr. 2008. The six experimental entries included four commercial F1 hybrids and two genotypes bred at AVRDC–The World Vegetable Center (Shanhua, Taiwan). During the hot-wet season, high total (44.6–55.7 t·ha−1) and marketable yields (36.9–45.6 t·ha−1) were achieved under organic farming conditions in the open field similar to yields of conventionally produced sweet pepper in previous field experiments at AVRDC. The total yield of the commercial cultivars Queen Star and Hercules exceeded 50 t·ha−1; however, this was not significantly different compared with the other trial entries. During the cool-dry season, the total (25.4–45.7 t·ha−1) and marketable yields (21.1–37.8 t·ha−1) of all trial entries were reduced, probably because the relatively late planting date in November and relatively low air temperature resulted in reduced fruit set. The commercial cultivars Andalus and Green Bell Improved realized in both seasons a total fruit yield of more than 40.0 t·ha−1, suggesting that these can be grown successfully in hot-wet and cool-dry seasons. The relatively high yields of sweet pepper achieved on-station under tropical climatic conditions may encourage farmers and agricultural stakeholders to consider organic farming approaches as a viable alternative to conventional farming systems.

scholarly journals Temporal variation in wolf predation dynamics in the multi-prey system of northern Yellowstone National Park

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew C Metz ◽  
Douglas W Smith ◽  
Mark Hebblewhite ◽  
Daniel R Stahler
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Variation ◽  
Yellowstone National Park ◽  
National Park ◽  
Prey Species ◽  
Bison Bison ◽  
Prey Abundance ◽  
Large Carnivores ◽  
Population Abundance ◽  
Wolf Predation ◽  
Prey System

Predation is a fundamental ecological process that shapes ecosystem structure and biodiversity. For large carnivores preying on large ungulates, predation dynamics are influenced by many factors, including climatic conditions, prey abundance, and prey body size. Evaluating the factors that influence how large carnivore predation varies among different-sized prey, both among and within prey species, is critical for understanding how large carnivores influence prey species population dynamics. Here, in the wolf (Canis lupus)-multi-prey system of northern Yellowstone National Park, we assess how temporal variation in prey abundance and vulnerability affect seasonal wolf predation patterns. More specifically, we characterize wolf predation patterns during four seasons of the year (early winter [mid-November to mid-December], late winter [March], spring [May], summer [June, July]) and evaluate the influence of inter-annual variation in the abundance of the two, primary, year-round ungulate prey (elk [Cervus elaphus], bison [Bison bison]) from 1995-2015. Our results highlight how the wolf-prey system of northern Yellowstone National Park has shifted from a wolf-elk system to a wolf-elk-bison system. That is, although elk are still the primary prey for wolves, the proportion of wolf kills that are elk has declined over the last twenty years. Now, bison are more commonly preyed on by wolves, and possibly most importantly, are increasingly scavenged. This change has occurred due to the decline in the northern Yellowstone elk population and concurrent increase in the northern Yellowstone bison population. Although wolf predation of bison is minimal and likely has no influence on bison population abundance, increased use of bison by wolves has a potential effect on wolf population abundance, and as a result, elk population abundance. Our results highlight the importance of considering how subsidies provided through preying on and scavenging secondary prey affect predator-primary prey dynamics.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document