scholarly journals Biochar Role in the Sustainability of Agriculture and Environment

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1330
Author(s):  
Muhammad Ayaz ◽  
Dalia Feizienė ◽  
Vita Tilvikienė ◽  
Kashif Akhtar ◽  
Urte Stulpinaitė ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Agriculture ◽  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Emission ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Agriculture And Environment

The exercise of biochar in agribusiness has increased proportionally in recent years. It has been indicated that biochar application could strengthen soil fertility benefits, such as improvement in soil microbial activity, abatement of bulk density, amelioration of nutrient and water-holding capacity and immutability of soil organic matter. Additionally, biochar amendment could also improve nutrient availability such as phosphorus and nitrogen in different types of soil. Most interestingly, the locally available wastes are pyrolyzed to biochar to improve the relationship among plants, soil and the environment. This can also be of higher importance to small-scale farming, and the biochar produced can be utilized in farms for the improvement of crop productivity. Thus, biochar could be a potential amendment to a soil that could help in achieving sustainable agriculture and environment. However, before mainstream formulation and renowned biochar use, several challenges must be taken into consideration, as the beneficial impacts and potential use of biochar seem highly appealing. This review is based on confined knowledge taken from different field-, laboratory- and greenhouse-based studies. It is well known that the properties of biochar vary with feedstock, pyrolysis temperature (300, 350, 400, 500, and 600 °C) and methodology of preparation. It is of high concern to further investigate the negative consequences: hydrophobicity; large scale application in farmland; production cost, primarily energy demand; and environmental threat, as well as affordability of feedstock. Nonetheless, the current literature reflects that biochar could be a significant amendment to the agroecosystem in order to tackle the challenges and threats observed in sustainable agriculture (crop production and soil fertility) and the environment (reducing greenhouse gas emission).

scholarly journals Agricultural Technical Efficiency of Smallholder Farmers in Ethiopia: A Stochastic Frontier Approach

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 246
Author(s):  
Markose Chekol Zewdie ◽  
Michele Moretti ◽  
Daregot Berihun Tenessa ◽  
Zemen Ayalew Ayele ◽  
Jan Nyssen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Technical Efficiency ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Stochastic Frontier ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Stochastic Frontier Approach ◽  
Small Scale Irrigation

In the past decade, to improve crop production and productivity, Ethiopia has embarked on an ambitious irrigation farming expansion program and has introduced new large- and small-scale irrigation initiatives. However, in Ethiopia, poverty remains a challenge, and crop productivity per unit area of land is very low. Literature on the technical efficiency (TE) of large-scale and small-scale irrigation user farmers as compared to the non-user farmers in Ethiopia is also limited. Investigating smallholder farmers’ TE level and its principal determinants is very important to increase crop production and productivity and to improve smallholder farmers’ livelihood and food security. Using 1026 household-level cross-section data, this study adopts a technology flexible stochastic frontier approach to examine agricultural TE of large-scale irrigation users, small-scale irrigation users and non-user farmers in Ethiopia. The results indicate that, due to poor extension services and old-style agronomic practices, the mean TE of farmers is very low (44.33%), implying that there is a wider room for increasing crop production in the study areas through increasing the TE of smallholder farmers without additional investment in novel agricultural technologies. Results also show that large-scale irrigation user farmers (21.05%) are less technically efficient than small-scale irrigation user farmers (60.29%). However, improving irrigation infrastructure shifts the frontier up and has a positive impact on smallholder farmers’ output.

scholarly journals Large Scale Demo Plot Trial Project of Potash Fertilization for Increased Yield and Profitability for Smallholder Soybean Fields in India

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-170
Author(s):  
Joachim B. Nachmansohn ◽  
Patricia Imas ◽  
Surinder K. Bansal
Keyword(s):  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Agricultural Practices ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Fine Tuning ◽  
Soil Testing ◽  
Yield Increase ◽  
K Fertilization

Agriculture is the backbone of the Indian economy, in spite of concerned efforts towards industrialization in the last three decades. Therefore, the soil quality and fertility are the major factors in crop production. Declining soil fertility is one of the primary factors that directly affect crop productivity, and fertilizer-use is a key factor in order to keep soil fertility and productivity. A major factor in declining soil fertility is potassium (K) depletion, especially on smallholder farms where fertilization decisions are not based on regular soil testing. Most of the smallholder soybean producers do not have access and investment capacity to soil testing services. Therefore, there is a need to create K fertilizer recommendations based on empirically verified knowledge at India-specific scale. Such large-scale studies, in local filed conditions, are currently lacking. In order to bridge this gap, and generate proven set of directly applicable recommendations, a large-scale plot trial was launched; the Potash for Life (PFL) project. The study evaluated the K response in soybean when fertilizing with potash on K depleted soils in local variable field conditions. The aim was to (1) evaluate the effect and response consistency of K application on soybean yield, (2) to demonstrate to farmers the increased yield and profitability from K-inclusive fertilization regimes for this crop and give recommendations for transient yield increase, and (3) to raise the awareness among smallholder farmers about the importance of K fertilization. A comprehensive experiment was carried out in Madhya Pradesh (M.P.) and Maharashtra. The methodology was straight-forward; two identical plots side by side, with the only difference that one of them was fertilized with additional potash. The results showed a significant yield increase response from the potash application; the average yield increase was 244 kg ha-1 or 26 % in M.P., and 105 kg ha-1 or 36 % in Maharashtra. This entailed an average additional net profit of ₹ 6,681 INR ha-1 and ₹ 2,544 INR ha-1, in M.P. and Maharashtra respectively. It was concluded that the soil status of plant available K is significantly lower than the plant demand for soybean production in the two states, Consequently, K fertilization is necessary in order to improve agricultural practices and optimizing yields. Ultimately, following recommendations given in this study would allow farmers to generate additional profit, which could further allow them to invest in fine-tuning fertilizer practices through the means of soil testing.

scholarly journals Crop Productivity and Implications for Food Security and Rural Livelihood Development in Africa

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mamudu A. Akudugu ◽  
Katherine K. Millar ◽  
Salifu Mubarik
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
African Countries ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Rural Livelihood ◽  
Food Shortages ◽  
Development Goals

Over the past few decades, there have been major advances in crop productivity across the world, which has been made possible through a combination of productivity enhancing technological innovations. Beyond this achievement however, most parts of Africa are still battling with low crop productivity resulting in food shortages and food insecurity. The yields of many staple crops are still far below their agronomic potentials with output increases being attributed largely to area expansion. This paper examines the implications of the current trends of crop/plant productivity for food security and rural livelihood development in Africa using Ghana as a case study. The paper argues that crop production in Africa is becoming a less viable and unattractive livelihood activity with farmers diversifying out of agriculture into non-agricultural activities such as illegal small-scale mining, which have negative consequences on the ability of African countries to attain the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Soil Fertility and Crop Productivity in African Sustainable Agriculture

2014 ◽  
pp. 257-291
Author(s):  
Alfred Oghode Misaiti Okorogbona ◽  
Patrick Olusanmi Adebola
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Agriculture ◽  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Crop Productivity

Role of Biofertilizer in Sustainable Agriculture: Enhancing Soil Fertility Plant Tolerance and Crop Productivity

2021 ◽  
pp. 41-64
Author(s):  
Priyanka Verma* ◽  
Dheer Singh ◽  
Ishwar Prasad Pathania ◽  
Komal Aggarwal
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Agriculture ◽  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Plant Tolerance

scholarly journals Migration and Residual Trapping of Immiscible Fluids during Cyclic Injection: Pore-Scale Observation and Quantitative Analysis

Geofluids ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Haejin Ahn ◽  
Seon-Ok Kim ◽  
Minhee Lee ◽  
Sookyun Wang
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Emission ◽  
Immiscible Fluids ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Immiscible Displacement ◽  
Pore Scale ◽  
Pore Networks ◽  
Spatial Changes ◽  
Residual Trapping ◽  
Cyclic Injection

Geological CO2 sequestration (GCS) is one of the most promising technologies for mitigating greenhouse gas emission into the atmosphere. In GCS operations, residual trapping is the most favorable form of a trapping mechanism because of its storage security and capacity. In this study, the effects of cyclic injection of CO2-water on the immiscible displacement and residual trapping in pore networks were examined. For the purpose, a series of injection experiments with five sets of drainage-imbibition cycles were performed using 2D transparent micromodels and a pair of proxy fluids, n-hexane, and deionized water. The multiphase flow and immiscible displacement phenomena during drainage and imbibition processes in pore networks were visually observed, and the temporal and spatial changes in distribution and saturation of the two immiscible fluids were quantitatively estimated at the pore scale using image analysis techniques. The results showed that the mobile region of invading fluids decreased asymptotically as the randomly diverged flow paths gradually converged into less ramified ones over multiple cycles. Such decrease was accompanied by a gradual increase of the immobile region, which consists of tiny blobs and clusters of immiscible fluids. The immobile region expanded as streams previously formed by the insertion of one fluid dispersed into numerous isolated, small-scale blobs as the other fluid was newly injected. These processes repeated until the immobile region approached the main flow channels. The observations and analyses in this study implied that the application of cyclic injection in GCS operations may be used to store large-scale CO2 volume in small-scale dispersed forms, which may significantly improve the effectiveness and security of geological CO2 sequestration.

scholarly journals Soil Fertility Management for Better Crop Production

Agronomy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 1349
Author(s):  
John Havlin ◽  
Ron Heiniger
Keyword(s):  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Nutrient Management ◽  
Root Zone ◽  
Nutrient Use Efficiency ◽  
Soil Nutrient ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Soil Fertility Management ◽  
Fertility Management

Increasing crop productivity per unit of land area to meet future food and fiber demand increases both soil nutrient removal and the importance of replenishing soil fertility through efficient nutrient management practices. Significant progress in enhancing nutrient-use efficiency in production agriculture requires improved estimates of plant-available nutrients in the root zone, enhanced crop response to applied nutrients, and reduced offsite nutrient transport. This special issue, Soil Fertility Management for Better Crop Production, presents 15 manuscripts that advance our knowledge of interrelated soil, plant, and management factors important to increasing the nutrient availability and crop recovery of applied nutrients.

Herbicide Inputs for a New Agronomic Crop, Annual Wormwood (Artemisia annua)

1991 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles T. Bryson ◽  
Edward M. Croom
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Trials ◽  
Weed Control ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Field Experiments ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Artemisia Annua ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Herbicide Treatments ◽  
Large Scale Cultivation

Annual wormwood has been cultivated on a small scale for production of the artemisinin class of antimalarial drugs in sufficient quantities for preclinical and clinical trials. Large scale cultivation will require a reliable, efficient crop production system. Production systems using 32 herbicides alone or in combinations were evaluated in growth chamber, greenhouse, and field experiments at Stoneville, MS from 1985 through 1988. The herbicide treatments that provided the best weed control were (A) metolachlor at 2.2 kg ai ha-1preemergence (PRE), (B) chloramben at 2.2 kg ai ha-1(PRE), or (C) trifluralin at 0.6 kg ai ha-1preplant soil incorporated (PPI) followed by fluazifop at 0.2 + 0.2 kg ai ha-1postemergence broadcast (POST) and acifluorfen at 0.6 kg ai ha-1(POST). These herbicide production systems provided excellent weed control (≥85%) and minimal crop injury (≤10%) with no effect on crop height or weight at harvest. Production of artemisinin was not reduced by herbicide treatments A, B, and C in 1987 and treatments B and C in 1988 when compared with the hand-weeded plots.

scholarly journals Social Innovation through Precision Farming: An IoT Based Precision Farming System for Examining and Improving Soil Fertility and Soil Health

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 2877-2881
Keyword(s):  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Production Efficiency ◽  
Social Innovation ◽  
Soil Health ◽  
Farming System ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Precision Farming ◽  
Technological Advancement ◽  
Agriculture Sector

Agriculture is the most important sector of Indian Economy. Indian agriculture sector provides employment to 50% of the countries workforce. India is the world's largest producer of pulses, rice, wheat, sugarcane, pomegranates etc. The current scenario of agriculture business in India is not up to the mark as expected. There are number of reasons which causes less yield in the agriculture such as unpredictable environmental conditions, excess use of fertilizers (cost is increasing day by day), increased draught frequency and its severity, increasing labor rate, less difference between the income and expenditure, ripeness of soil, influenced suspensions, non-appropriate water management, diseases on crops, invasion of animals and so on. There is need to find the ways which makes the use of Information Technology (IT) concepts and tools wherever possible for increasing automation in the agriculture business, which results in the efficient and effective outcome of agriculture i.e. higher yields. The production efficiency can be increased significantly with technological advancement in agriculture. Internet of Things (IoT) is a novel design approach for precision farming. Farming has seen number of technological transformations in the last decade. By using various smart agriculture gadgets, farmers have gained better control over the process of raising the growing crops and livestocks. One of the major issues which cause fewer yields is the soil health. This paper mainly analyses/reviews the problems related to the soil health (soil fertility), which is a main obstacle in the crop production. Also this study focuses on the use of IoT applications in precision farming. It gives an overview of the relation between crop productivity and soil health

scholarly journals Effects of Organic Fertilization and Cover Crops on an Organic Pepper System

2008 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Delate ◽  
C. Cambardella ◽  
A. McKern
Keyword(s):  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Cover Crops ◽  
Cover Crop ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Soil Analysis ◽  
Organic Fertilizer ◽  
The United States ◽  
Organic Fertilizers ◽  
Organic Farm

With the continuing 20% growth rate in the organic industry, organic vegetable crop production has increased to 98,525 acres in the United States. The requirement for certified organic vegetable producers to implement a soil-building plan has led to the development of soil fertility systems based on combinations of organic fertilizers and cover crops. To determine optimal soil fertility combinations, conventional and organic bell pepper (Capsicum annuum) production was evaluated from 2001 to 2003 in Iowa, comparing combinations of two synthetic fertilizers and three compost-based organic fertilizers, and a cover crop treatment of hairy vetch (Vicia villosa) and rye (Secale cereale) in a strip-tilled or fully incorporated cover crop system. Organic pepper growth and yields equaled or surpassed conventional production when nitrogen (N) was provided at 56 or 112 kg·ha−1 from compost-based organic fertilizer. Soil analysis revealed higher N in plots where cover crops were tilled compared with strip-tilled plots, leading to recommendations for sidedressing N in strip-tilled organic pepper production. Increased incidence of disease was also detected in strip-tilled plots. Postharvest weight loss after 6 weeks in storage was similar in organic and conventional peppers. The addition of calcium and sulfur products in conventional or organic fertilizer regimes did not increase pepper production or postharvest storage potential. Despite application challenges, cover crops will remain as critical components of the organic farm plan for their soil-building benefits, but supplementation with approved N sources may be required for optimal pepper production. Organic growers should conduct their own tests of organic-compliant soil amendments to determine cost effectiveness and value for their site before large-scale application.

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