Agroresource potential and rationale for irrigation North-Central Steppe of Ukraine

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (90) ◽  
pp. 71-76
Author(s):  
Y. Soroka ◽  
Y.A. Tarariko ◽  
R.V. Saydak

The purpose of research - a comprehensive assessment of the potential agroresource North-Central Steppe of Ukraine, set limitipuyuschie factors to improve the productivity of agriculture. During the robot conventional research methods were used: field, laboratory, analytical, comparative, kompyuternoy simulation modeling, and system generalization of the results. Experiental part held in a stationary field experiment Zaporozhye experimental station Of Institute oil culture NAAS Studies have shown that the systematic application of fertilizers on a range of agro, chemical, physical, agrohimichesih indicators studied soil has Visokiy potential fertility. Surfacing Systems of soil on crop rotation productivity impact is immaterial. One can only note the trend for the most minor ways of loosening the soil with mulch. The test crop rotation composition simulates one of the most intensive farming options. Indicators of productivity and the variation coefficient of variation it indicates a fairly low level of realization of the potential fertility of chernozem ordinary, which is explained on the one hand, the steady downward trend in the annual water balance, on the other hand, promotion of a balance of humus, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilizers at the studied systems. The dependence of the yield of the agro-climatic conditions considered by the example of the main cereal region - winter wheat. It was found that the greatest impact on the implementation of crop production potential are hydrothermal conditions of May - June. Analysis of the results of research allowed to evaluate the potential agroresource North Steppe and to establish the impact of the major factors in the formation of crop yields. Irrigation in this zone is the most important factor for improving productivity of crops, and its implementation in 70% of rotations may increase the productivity of not less than 1.8 times.

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 123-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
S Pokhrel ◽  
S Pokhrel

An intensive review of the literatures was made to access the importance of crop rotation for sustainable agriculture in Nepal. Result shows that an appropriate crop sequences improves soil fertility, reduces fertilizer cost, controls soil erosion, makes environment healthy, increases crop yields and develop sustainable crop production in the long run. Based on the study, identification of location specific crop sequences, their extension and evaluation of the impact on food production are recommended. Agronomy Journal of Nepal (Agron JN) Vol. 3. 2013, Page 123-127 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ajn.v3i0.9014


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathalie Colbach ◽  
Sandrine Petit ◽  
Bruno Chauvel ◽  
Violaine Deytieux ◽  
Martin Lechenet ◽  
...  

The growing recognition of the environmental and health issues associated to pesticide use requires to investigate how to manage weeds with less or no herbicides in arable farming while maintaining crop productivity. The questions of weed harmfulness, herbicide efficacy, the effects of herbicide use on crop yields, and the effect of reducing herbicides on crop production have been addressed over the years but results and interpretations often appear contradictory. In this paper, we critically analyze studies that have focused on the herbicide use, weeds and crop yield nexus. We identified many inconsistencies in the published results and demonstrate that these often stem from differences in the methodologies used and in the choice of the conceptual model that links the three items. Our main findings are: (1) although our review confirms that herbicide reduction increases weed infestation if not compensated by other cultural techniques, there are many shortcomings in the different methods used to assess the impact of weeds on crop production; (2) Reducing herbicide use rarely results in increased crop yield loss due to weeds if farmers compensate low herbicide use by other efficient cultural practices; (3) There is a need for comprehensive studies describing the effect of cropping systems on crop production that explicitly include weeds and disentangle the impact of herbicides from the effect of other practices on weeds and on crop production. We propose a framework that presents all the links and feed-backs that must be considered when analyzing the herbicide-weed-crop yield nexus. We then provide a number of methodological recommendations for future studies. We conclude that, since weeds are causing yield loss, reduced herbicide use and maintained crop productivity necessarily requires a redesign of cropping systems. These new systems should include both agronomic and biodiversity-based levers acting in concert to deliver sustainable weed management.


Solid Earth ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. G. J. S. Sonneveld ◽  
M. A. Keyzer ◽  
D. Ndiaye

Abstract. Land degradation has been a persistent problem in Senegal for more than a century and by now has become a serious impediment to long-term development. In this paper, we quantify the impact of land degradation on crop yields using the results of a nationwide land degradation assessment. For this, the study needs to address two issues. First, the land degradation assessment comprises qualitative expert judgements that have to be converted into more objective, quantitative terms. We propose a land degradation index and assess its plausibility. Second, observational data on soils, land use, and rainfall do not provide sufficient information to isolate the impact of land degradation. We, therefore, design a pseudo-experiment that for sites with otherwise similar circumstances compares the yield of a site with and one without land degradation. This pairing exercise is conducted under a gradual refining of the classification of circumstances, until a more or less stable response to land degradation is obtained. In this way, we hope to have controlled sufficiently for confounding variables that will bias the estimation of the impact of land degradation on crop yields. A small number of shared characteristics reveal tendencies of "severe" land degradation levels being associated with declining yields as compared to similar sites with "low" degradation levels. However, as we zoom in at more detail some exceptions come to the fore, in particular in areas without fertilizer application. Yet, our overall conclusion is that yield reduction is associated with higher levels of land degradation, irrespective of whether fertilizer is being applied or not.


2021 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sihem Guechtouli ◽  
Nora Mimoune ◽  
Chafik-Reda Messai ◽  
Omar Salhi ◽  
Rachid Kaidi ◽  
...  

This study aimed to determine the prevalence of cryptosporidiosis in broiler chickens and turkeys and the factors that can influence its development, the precision of the most frequent sites of Cryptosporidium, and the severity of lesions associated with the disease. From October 2019 to September 2020, the prevalence of Cryptosporidia infection was determined on 22 farms located in north central Algeria. For each farm, weekly visits were conducted during the study period and information on the type of farming and health status was collected. At these farms, 98 chickens and 22 turkeys were examined and clinical lesions recorded. Analyses of faeces, tissue samples and scrapings made from the intestine, bursa of Fabricius, trachea, cloaca and proventriculus revealed a prevalence of 55% at chicken farms. The age of chickens was found to be a significant factor, with a high frequency of the disease observed in chickens aged between 10 to 50 days with a maximum between 31 and 40 days (84.62%). The parasite was not detected in chickens younger than 7 days. The most common site of Cryptosporidium sp. was the bursa (24.2%), followed by the trachea (21.5%), cloaca (18.9%), intestine (16.3%), and proventriculus (6.6%). In turkeys, the overall prevalence was 41%. The bursa was the most infected organ (23.81%), followed by the cloaca (15.79%) and intestine (9%). For both avian species, data confirmed the impact of season, strain (genetic potential), and rearing conditions on the prevalence of Cryptosporidium sp. To conclude, our results showed that Cryptosporidium was very common on these farms, and was related mainly to climatic conditions and poor management, particularly hygienic measures.


2021 ◽  
Vol 213 (10) ◽  
pp. 81-92
Author(s):  
Lyudmila Shalaeva

Abstract. Goal. The assessment of the main trends in the activity of agricultural producers in crop production was carried out in order to substantiate the possibilities of the Perm Region for self-sufficiency with the main types of food resources in the presence of adverse effects of natural and climatic conditions. Methods. A statistical analysis was carried out using grouping and comparison methods based on the official statistics of the Perm Region for 2016-2020. Results. In accordance with the social and geographical specifics of the Perm Region, on the territory of which rural areas predominate, the largest volume of crop production is produced in the households of the population (up to 58 %), whose activities are characterized by the lowest level of stability and are more susceptible to the negative impact of natural and climatic conditions. The activity of agricultural organizations (share up to 36 %) and farms (share up to 8 %) is more stable. A higher level of dependence on natural and climatic conditions was revealed in the field of potato production, a lower level – in the field of grain and vegetables production of protected soil. The risk is reinforced by the fact that up to 70 % of the natural volume of potatoes and more than 80% of vegetables are produced in households. With a decrease in the total sown area by 1.2 %, there is a decrease in the sown area of potatoes by 15 % and vegetables by 6 %. The identified trends allowed us to identify the risk of reducing the level of food self-sufficiency of the Perm Region with potatoes and vegetables. The insecurity of domestic potato consumption in the Perm Region is, according to preliminary data, 13 % in 2020. The presence of risk was also revealed for vegetables, the internal consumption of the region was provided with vegetable products of its own production by an average of 56% during the study period. The results obtained allow us to identify the directions of optimization of the Perm Region strategy in solving the problems of food self-sufficiency. Scientific novelty. The dynamics of factors of crop production (structure, yield, acreage, intensification) is assessed taking into account the social, geographical, natural and climatic specifics of the Perm Region through the prism of the impact on the regional food balance and the level of self-sufficiency of the region with potatoes and vegetables.


1980 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 165-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas R. Harris ◽  
Harry P. Mapp

Climatic conditions in semiarid regions like the Oklahoma Panhandle result in wide fluctuations in rainfall, dryland crop yields, and returns to agricultural producers in the area. Irrigated crop production increases peracre yields and significantly reduces fluctuations in yields and net returns.Irrigated production of food and fiber in the Oklahoma Panhandle has developed rapidly during the past three decades, increasing from 11,500 to 385,900 acres since 1950 (Schwab). The primary source of irrigation water in the area is the Ogallala Formation, an aquifer underlying much of the Great Plains region. Until the past couple of years, the presence of relatively low cost natural gas led producers to expand irrigated production and apply high levels of water to crops irrigated in the area.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 2104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chong Wang ◽  
Jiangang Liu ◽  
Shuo Li ◽  
Ting Zhang ◽  
Xiaoyu Shi ◽  
...  

Confronted with the great challenges of globally growing populations and food shortages, society must achieve future food security by increasing grain output and narrowing the gap between potential yields and farmers’ actual yields. This study attempts to diagnose the climatic and agronomic dimensions of oat yield gaps and further to explore their restrictions. A conceptual framework was put forward to analyze the different dimensions of yield gaps and their limiting factors. We quantified the potential yield (Yp), attainable yield (Yt), experimental yield (Ye), and farmers’ actual yield (Ya) of oat, and evaluated three levels of yield gaps in a rain-fed cropping system in North and Northeast China (NC and NEC, respectively). The results showed that there were great differences in the spatial distributions of the four kinds of yields and three yield gaps. The average yield gap between Yt and Ye (YG-II) was greater than the yield gap between Yp and Yt (YG-I). The yield gap between Ye and Ya (YG-III) was the largest among the three yield gaps at most sites, which indicated that farmers have great potential to increase their crop yields. Due to non-controllable climatic conditions (e.g., light and temperature) for obtaining Yp, reducing YG-I is extremely difficult. Although YG-II could be narrowed through enriching soil nutrients, it is not easy to improve soil quality in the short term. In contrast, narrowing YG-III is the most feasible for farmers by means of introducing high-yield crop varieties and optimizing agronomic managements (e.g., properly adjusting sowing dates and planting density). This study figured out various dimensions of yield gaps and investigated their limiting factors, which should be helpful to increase farmers’ yields and regional crop production, as long as these restrictions are well addressed.


Plant Disease ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 100 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jay Ram Lamichhane ◽  
Silke Dachbrodt-Saaydeh ◽  
Per Kudsk ◽  
Antoine Messéan

Whether modern agriculture without conventional pesticides will be possible or not is a matter of debate. The debate is meaningful within the context of rising health and environmental awareness on one hand, and the global challenge of feeding a steadily growing human population on the other. Conventional pesticide use has come under pressure in many countries, and some European Union (EU) Member States have adopted policies for risk reduction following Directive 2009/128/EC, the sustainable use of pesticides. Highly diverse crop production systems across Europe, having varied geographic and climatic conditions, increase the complexity of European crop protection. The economic competitiveness of European agriculture is challenged by the current legislation, which banned the use of many previously authorized pesticides that are still available and applied in other parts of the world. This challenge could place EU agricultural production at a disadvantage, so EU farmers are seeking help from the research community to foster and support integrated pest management (IPM). Ensuring stable crop yields and quality while reducing the reliance on pesticides is a challenge facing the farming community is today. Considering this, we focus on several diverse situations in European agriculture in general and in European crop protection in particular. We emphasize that the marked biophysical and socio-economic differences across Europe have led to a situation where a meaningful reduction in pesticide use can hardly be achieved. Nevertheless, improvements and/or adoption of the knowledge and technologies of IPM can still achieve large gains in pesticide reduction. In this overview, the current pest problems and their integrated management are discussed in the context of specific geographic regions of Europe, with a particular emphasis on reduced pesticide use. We conclude that there are opportunities for reduction in many parts of Europe without significant losses in crop yields.


Author(s):  
S. I. Kudria

Relevance of research. Having the variability of hydrothermal conditions, the rate of plant life, the intensity of photosynthesis and evaporation and the activity of plant nutrient consumption change. As a rule, the optimization of the water-air regime of the soil by conducting various types of amelioration makes it possible to significantly reduce the negative effects of adverse weather conditions and ensure high sustainability of agroecosystems. However, with regard to the requirements for organic agriculture in the regions with a shortage of water supply without sufficient water resources and without the use of fertilizers to effectively conduct agricultural production is problematic. Thus, the establishment of the patterns of the dynamics of agrophysical soil properties, taking into account their impact on the bioproductivity of agrophytocenoses under variable weather conditions is the theoretical basis for solving the problem of increasing agricultural sustainability, in particular using only natural fertility and obtaining organic crop products. Purpose and objectives of research: To establish the mechanisms of changes in the nutrient regime of typical chernozem, its agrophysical properties and crop yields in different crop rotations in relation to the dynamics of agrometeorological factors under the conditions of insufficient water supply in the eastern Forest-Steppe of Ukraine; to evaluate the productivity potential of cereals and grain crops in the system of organic farming without the use of mineral fertilizers. Research methods and techniques. Evaluation of the changes in agrometeorological resources of the territory was carried out using the method of mathematical and statistical analysis of the indicators of heat and moisture supply conditions: climatic water balance and precipitation. The data obtained from the stationary experiment were processed by the methods of system generalization, correlation, economic, calculation and comparative analyzes. Research results and main conclusions. Based on the information obtained in the course the stationary agrotechnical experiment it was established that the soil density changes over the years and depends on the hydrothermal conditions with the approximation certainity of (R2) 0.75. The inverse relationship between the specific weight of the soil and its water conductivity in terms of crop rotations with R2=0.8-0.9, by years with R2=0.6 was revealed. The variation coefficient of legumes yield was 30-33%, winter wheat – 33-37%, spring barley – 36-37%, which are the indicators of its low stability over the years. Crop yields, depending on the weather conditions of the year, also fluctuated significantly: peas between 0.8-3.2, lathyrus – 0.8-2.6, winter wheat – 0.6-6.8, buckwheat – 0.6-1.9, spring barley – 0.6-3.5 t/ha. Crop rotation with peas in terms of productivity of 2.4 t/ha of grain on average outperformed the others (2.2 and 2.0 t/ha) while maintaining the patterns of fluctuations of this indicator in relation to hydrothermal conditions. Having the average statistical selling price, the yield per 1 ha of crop rotation area of all studied crop rotations was almost the same with the fluctuations in the unfavorable years of 27-35 c. u./ha, in favorable ones – 97-104 c. u./ha, with the average value of 66-73 c. u./ha. If we assume that the selling price of organic products will be 25% higher than usual, the average annual yield will triple. Prospects for further research should correspond to the global trend of scientific research aimed at developing conceptual bases for the effects of hydrothermal conditions on agrophysical soil properties, taking into account their impact on bioproductivity of agrophytocenoses as a theoretical basis for solving the problem of increasing agricultural sustainability, in particular, using only the natural fertility of the organic-oriented model of developing the agricultural sector of the economy.


2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (18) ◽  
pp. 15301-15336 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. E. Pelster ◽  
M. C. Rufino ◽  
T. Rosenstock ◽  
J. Mango ◽  
G. Saiz ◽  
...  

Abstract. Few field studies examine greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from African agricultural systems resulting in high uncertainty for national inventories. We provide here the most comprehensive study in Africa to date, examining annual CO2, CH4 and N2O emissions from 59 plots, across different vegetation types, field types and land classes in western Kenya. The study area consists of a lowland area (approximately 1200 m a.s.l.) rising approximately 600 m to a highland plateau. Cumulative annual fluxes ranged from 2.8 to 15.0 Mg CO2-C ha−1, −6.0 to 2.4 kg CH4-C ha−1 and −0.1 to 1.8 kg N2O-N ha−1. Management intensity of the plots did not result in differences in annual fluxes for the GHGs measured (P = 0.46, 0.67 and 0.14 for CO2, N2O and CH4 respectively). The similar emissions were likely related to low fertilizer input rates (≤ 20 kg ha−1). Grazing plots had the highest CO2 fluxes (P = 0.005); treed plots were a larger CH4 sink than grazing plots (P = 0.05); while N2O emissions were similar across vegetation types (P = 0.59). This case study is likely representative for low fertilizer input, smallholder systems across sub-Saharan Africa, providing critical data for estimating regional or continental GHG inventories. Low crop yields, likely due to low inputs, resulted in high (up to 67 g N2O-N kg−1 aboveground N uptake) yield-scaled emissions. Improving crop production through intensification of agricultural production (i.e. water and nutrient management) may be an important tool to mitigate the impact of African agriculture on climate change.


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