rainfed farming
Recently Published Documents


TOTAL DOCUMENTS

114
(FIVE YEARS 27)

H-INDEX

14
(FIVE YEARS 2)

2022 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 775-796
Author(s):  
Paulo Cesar Batista de Farias ◽  
◽  
Leilson Rocha Bezerra ◽  
Alex Lopes da Silva ◽  
Romilda Rodrigues do Nascimento ◽  
...  

Forage sorghum is a crop that can be planted in semiarid regions, due to its greater adaptability to dry climate environments, and can replace maize in these regions, which are often unsuitable for its production. Thus, the objective of the study was to evaluate the structural, morphological and nutritional characteristics of 23 sorghum hybrids forage cultivated in rainfed conditions, planted in different climate conditions, comparing the hybrids, in order to determine what produces the best in the climatic conditions of the explored region, and also to indicate whether this crop can be planted as a replacement for maize in environments not suitable for planting it. The research was conducted in climate BSh in the Municipality of Alvorada do Gurgueia, and climate Aw in the Municipality of Bom Jesus, both in the state of Piauí from 2014 to 2015. Each trial consisted of 20 experimental forage sorghum hybrids [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench], and three commercial hybrids. A randomized block design was used, with three replications in a factorial scheme (2 × 23). The growth characteristics determined were hybrid × climate interaction for the variables plant height, lodging and leaf/stem ratio. For the variable number of tillers, there was a significant difference only between hybrids. There was no difference between hybrids only for the lodging variable of climate Aw. The other variables showed a difference in all hybrids evaluated. There was an interaction for production of dead matter and total dry forage mass between the different environments and hybrids evaluated. For leaf production, there was an effect only for the different environments. For the chemical characteristics, there was an interaction for all variables analyzed between the different environments and hybrids evaluated. The semi-arid region of the State of Piauí, climate BSh which presents a high climatic risk for maize cultivation, proved to be favorable for forage sorghum production. The forage sorghum also presented agronomic characteristics similar to those found in semi humid climate Aw, a favorable region for maize cultivation. In addition, the tested hybrids showed good chemical characteristics, so the BSh climate has great exploratory potential for the cultivation of forage sorghum.


Author(s):  
Alberto S. de Melo ◽  
Yuri L. Melo ◽  
Claudivan F. de Lacerda ◽  
Pedro R. A. Viégas ◽  
Rener L. de S. Ferraz ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Global climate change tends to intensify water unavailability, especially in semi-arid regions, directly impacting agricultural production. Cowpea is one of the crops with great socio-economic importance in the Brazilian semi-arid region, cultivated mainly under rainfed farming and considered moderately tolerant to water restriction. This species has physiological and biochemical mechanisms of adaptation to these stress factors, but there is still no clear vision of how these responses can not only allow survival, but also ensure yield advances in the field. Besides acclimation mechanisms, the exogenous application of abiotic (salicylic acid, silicon, proline, methionine, and potassium nitrate) and biotic (rhizobacteria) elicitors is promising in mitigating the effects of water restriction. The present literature review discusses the acclimation mechanisms of cowpea and some cultivation techniques, especially the application of elicitors, which can contribute to maintaining crop yield under different water scenarios. The application of elicitors is an alternative way to increase the sustainability of production in rainfed farming in semi-arid regions. However, the use of eliciting substances in cowpea still needs to be carefully explored, given the difficulties caused by genotypic and edaphoclimatic variability under field conditions.


Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (24) ◽  
pp. 3611
Author(s):  
Pius Borona ◽  
Friedrich Busch ◽  
Tobias Krueger ◽  
Philippe Rufin

Droughts are complex and gradually evolving conditions of extreme water deficits which can compromise livelihoods and ecological integrity, especially in fragile arid and semi-arid regions that depend on rainfed farming, such as Kitui West in south-eastern Kenya. Against the background of low ground-station density, 10 gridded rainfall products and four gridded temperature products were used to generate an ensemble of 40 calculations of the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) to assess uncertainties in the onset, duration, and magnitude of past droughts. These uncertainties were driven more by variations between the rainfall products than variations between the temperature products. Remaining ambiguities in drought occurrence could be resolved by complementing the quantitative analysis with ground-based information from key informants engaged in disaster relief, effectively formulating an ensemble approach to SPEI-based drought identification to aid decision making. The reported trend towards drier conditions in Eastern Africa was confirmed for Kitui West by the majority of data products, whereby the rainfall effect on those increasingly dry conditions was subtler than just annual and seasonal declines and greater annual variation of rainfall, which requires further investigation. Nevertheless, the effects of increasing droughts are already felt on the ground and warrant decisive action.


MAUSAM ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-148
Author(s):  
A. D. DAS ◽  
S. K. MUKHOPADHYAY

This article uses daily rainfall data (April-October) of Cooch Behar (1971-90) and Jalpaiguri (1972-90), the two predominantly rainfed farming districts of Terai zone of West Bengal, to study the, nature of different rainfall parameters of this area. It was observed that the mean date of Onset of Effective Monsoon (OEM) of this region is about one month in advance from the normal occurrence of monsoon over Kerala. However, the monsoon rains, here, retreat at about the same time with those of  Kerala. Distribution of the duration of dry spell has been studied to have some idea of the nature of critical dry spells during the monsoon season. The article also examines how prolonged, on the average, are the monsoon breaks for different return periods. Expected length of dry spell (in days) for 2, 5, 10 and 20 years return periods have been estimated with the help of suitably fitted curves for each location.


Author(s):  
Pius Borona ◽  
Friedrich Busch ◽  
Tobias Krüger ◽  
Philippe Rufin

Abstract: Droughts are complex and gradually evolving conditions of extreme water deficits which can compromise livelihoods and ecological integrity, especially in fragile arid and semi-arid regions that depend on rainfed farming, such as Kitui West in south-eastern Kenya. Against the background of low ground-station density, 10 gridded rainfall products and four gridded temperature products were used to generate an ensemble of 40 calculations of the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) to assess uncertainties in the onset, duration and magnitude of past droughts. These uncertainties were driven more by variations between the rainfall products than variations between the temperature products. Remaining ambiguities in drought occurrence could be resolved by complementing the quantitative analysis with ground-based information from key informants engaged in disaster relief, effectively formulating an ensemble approach to SPEI-based drought identification to aid decision making. The reported trend towards drier conditions in Eastern Africa was confirmed for Kitui West by the majority of data products, whereas the rainfall effect on the increasingly dry conditions was more subtle than annual and seasonal declines and greater annual variation, which warrants further investigation. Nevertheless, the effects of increasing droughts are already felt on the ground and warrant decisive action.


2021 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 291-302
Author(s):  
Vidéhouénou Ariane Lucrèce Todote ◽  
Gustavo Bastos Lyra ◽  
Marcel Carvalho Abreu

The climate is described by the predominant atmospheric conditions in a particular region and influences several human activities. In agriculture, water availability defines the growth and yield of crops and can be obtained by the water balance. The climate classification also aids to identify suitable areas for agricultural crops. Thus, the aim of this work was to elaborate the water balance and perform the climate classification through the method of Thornthwaite and Mather (1955) for six weather stations (Bohicon, Cotonou-Airport, Kandi-Airport, Natitingou, Parakou-Airport and Savè) located in Benin, Western Africa. For the execution of this work, monthly series of precipitation and potential evapotranspiration from 1970 to 2015 were used. Once the monthly water balance of the six seasons was elaborated, it was observed that the rainy (dry) period decreases (increases) from the coast (Cotonou-Airport) to the north of Benin (Kandi-Airport) and, coincides with Boreal summer and part of autumn (Boreal winter and part of spring). Regarding the climate classification, the Cotonou-Airport station was characterized as Subhumid Megathermal climate with moderate winter deficit (C2wA’a’); the stations of Bohicon and Savè presented similar climate classification with Subhumid Dry Megathermal climate with low or without water surplus (C1dA’a’); Natitingou with Subhumid Dry climate Megathermal with large summer surplus (C1s2A’a’); Parakou-Airport with Subhumid climate Dry Megathermic with moderate summer surplus (C1sA’a’) and, Kandi-Airport presented Semi-arid Megathermal climate with moderate summer surplus (DsA’a’). In Benin, subsistence and rainfed farming showed greater risk in the north of the country due to the decrease in the rainy season and the water surplus from the coast (south) to the north of the country, with the increase in aridity.


Author(s):  
I. Jan ◽  
S. Khan ◽  
T. Mahmood

This paper attempts to identify the effect of rainwater harvesting (RWH) and rainfed irrigation on yield of wheat and maize crops in Pakistan. The study was carried out in two villages, namely, Reerh  and Ghoutar of district Mansehra, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. A total of 200 farming households were randomly selected from both villages. A questionnaire survey was conducted to collect primary data. The descriptive analysis shows that farmers in the research area had adopted small-scale, indigenous RWH schemes such as channels, bunds, tanks, and rooftop collection. A paired-samples t-test was used to compare the yield of wheat and maize crops between irrigated and rainfed farming systems. The results of the paired t-test confirmed a difference in yield of wheat and maize in irrigated and rainfed conditions. The study concludes that the large portion of uncultivated land could be cultivated if water shortage problem is resolved through the promotion of community-led RWH schemes in the area. This will help in sustainable agricultural development in the area.    


Author(s):  
Abera Habte ◽  
Walelign Worku ◽  
Sebastian Gayler ◽  
Dereje Ayalew ◽  
Girma Mamo

Abstract For ensuring food demand of the fast growing population in developing countries, quantification of crop yield gaps and exploring production constraints are very crucial. Sorghum is one of the most important climate change resilient crops in the rainfed farming systems of semi-arid tropics. However, there is little information about yield gaps and production constraints. This study aimed at analysing existing yield gaps and exploring major constraints of sorghum production in Southwest Ethiopia. A crop simulation model approach using AquaCrop and DSSAT was used to estimate potential yield and analyse the yield gaps. Model calibration and evaluation was performed using data from field experiments conducted in 2018 and 2019. Sorghum production constraints were assessed using a survey. The actual and water-limited yield of sorghum ranged from 0.58 to 2.51 and 3.6 to 6.47 t/ha, respectively for the period 2003–17. The regional yield gaps of sorghum for the targeted period were 3.02–3.95 t/ha with a mean value of 3.51 t/ha. Majority of respondent farmers considered seasonal rainfall risk (98%), poor soil fertility (86%), lack of improved varieties (78%) and inadequate weed management (56%) as major factors responsible for the existing yield gaps. The mean exploitable yield gap (2.5 t/ha) between water-limited and actual yield showed the level of existing opportunity for improvement in the actual productivity of sorghum. The gaps also call for introduction of proper interventions such as adoption of improved varieties, planting date adjustment, conservation tillage, fertilizer application and on time weed management.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hui Liu ◽  
Daniel Mullan ◽  
Shancen Zhao ◽  
Yong Zhang ◽  
Jun Ye ◽  
...  

Abstract Breeding high-yield wheat varieties performing well in target environment is economically important. This study conducted a mini review of genome-wide association study (GWAS) outcomes on wheat yield-related traits reported in recent years, and performed GWAS in six individual environments to identify major alleles and their candidate genes responsible for wheat yield-related traits in Australia and North China where rainfed farming system is adopted. A panel of 228 spring wheat varieties were used. A double digest restriction-site associated DNA (ddRAD) genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) protocol was performed to generate single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) marker data. A total of 223 significant marker-trait association (MTAs) for yield traits, and 46 candidate genes for the major or consistent MTAs were identified. A phenomenon seldom reported in previous studies was that MTA clustered chromosome segments and gene clusters responsible for the trait were found across the genome, which suggested that marker-assisted selection (MAS) or transgenic method targeting a single gene might not be as effective as MAS targeting a much larger genomic region (GR) where all the genes or gene clusters underlying the GR play important roles.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document