Economic Analysis of Ginseng Based Forest Farming: a Sustainable Income Diversification Opportunity for Forest Landowners

While American ginseng is a complicated opportunity for forest farmers to understand, within these production systems there are many opportunities and constraints linked to production of ginseng. There are different market demands and prices paid for the various grades of dried roots depending on the system used to cultivate the plant. This study reviewed the unique benefits of producing ginseng, opportunities for forest farmers, the potential profits, as well as financial risks. The study focused on two common ginseng production systems in the southeastern region of the U.S. The specific objective of the paper is to assess economic returns of producing ginseng under different production systems. The Monte Carlo simulation was performed to analyze the profitability and risks associated with producing ginseng and performed sensitive analysis to determine the effect of uncertainty variables such as production costs, yield, and price of product on economic feasibility.

An Overview of Land Degradation and Sustainable Land Management in the Near East and North Africa

Land degradation and desertification (LDD) and climate change are having increased effects in the Near East and North Africa (NENA) impacting the livelihoods of about 410 million people. Agriculture is a vital sector, contributing on average 14% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (excluding oil producing countries) and providing jobs and incomes for 38% of the region’s economically active population. Nevertheless, most NENA countries import at least 50% of the calories they consume. Furthermore, it is estimated that the total area that is desertified or is vulnerable to desertification cover 9.84 million km2 or about 86.7% of the total NENA region. Soil erosion by water, wind, and sand and dust storms (SDS) cause losses of about USD 13 billion of GDP each year. To confront these hardships, the region must endorse proper land use planning, prioritization of target areas for restoration and adoption of sustainable land and water management (SLWM) to reverse the situation. This paper analyses the inter-linkages between LDD, resource base management and food security under different scenarios and offers mitigation and remediation options. These include knowledge management and sharing; establishment of a regional platform to facilitate dialogue; public and private investment opportunities; provision of tools to scale-out sustainable land and water management options; and creation of a conducive enabling environment supported by policies and strategies. The paper provides policy and decision-makers with priority actions and options to enhance productivity, and combat land degradation to improve food security in the region.

Effect of Different Mulching Materials on the Growth and Yield of Green Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) in Nfonta the Western Highlands of Cameroon

Mulching is a common technique used across the world by farmers to especially conserve soil moisture in vegetable production but farmers in Nfonta and the entire western highlands of Cameroon have not practiced the uses of mulching. In this experiment, a randomized complete block designe with 5 treatments and 3 replications was set up to study the effect of elephant grass, saw dust and white plastic as mulching materials on the growth and yield of green bean (Phaseolusvulgaris L.) in Nfonta. Data was collected on plant height; number of leaves per plants, leaf area index and yield of mature pods per plant. Data was analyzed using one way ANOVA from stat graphics centurion xv and means were separation using the Fischer least significant difference (LSD) test at 95% confidence interval. Results showed white plastic, and elephant grass mulches to have significantly (P<0.05) affected the growth and yield of green bean. White plastic mulched plants exhibited the highest growth parameters and subsequently produced the highest yield of 12.00 mature pods per plant with average pod length of 11.97cm and average mature pod weight of 4.22g compared to the other mulch treatments. There were no significant (P>0.05) differences in yield of green bean grown with no mulch (control), saw dust mulch and corn stalk mulch. Corn stalk mulched bean plants produced the lowest yield of 7.83 mature pods per plant with average pod length of 9.17cm and an average mature pod weight of 2.83 which was not much different from that produced by the control. These results call for more investigations to the potentials of white plastic as best mulch material for achieving optimum green beans yield in Nfonta and the entire western highlands of Cameroon.

Reviewer Acknowledgements for Sustainable Agriculture Research, Vol. 10, No. 4

Sustainable Agriculture Research wishes to acknowledge the following individuals for their assistance with peer review of manuscripts for this issue. Their help and contributions in maintaining the quality of the journal are greatly appreciated. Sustainable Agriculture Research is recruiting reviewers for the journal. If you are interested in becoming a reviewer, we welcome you to join us. Please contact us for the application form at: [email protected] Reviewers for Volume 10, Number 4 Aaron Norris, Texas Tech University, USA Bed Mani Dahal, Kathmandu University, Nepal Darwin Pangaribuan, Lampung University, Indonesia Jiban Shrestha, Nepal Agricultural Research Council, Nepal Katarzyna Panasiewicz, Poznan University of Life Sciences, Poland Luciano Chi, Sugar Industry Research and Development Institute, Belize Manuel Teles Oliveira, University Tras os Montes Alto Douro (UTAD), Portugal Patrice Ngatsi Zemko, University of Yaoundé I, Cameroon Roberto José Zoppolo, Instituto Nacional de Investigación Agropecuaria (Uruguay), Uruguay Tenaw Workayehu, Hawassa Research Center, Southern Agricultural Research Institute, Ethiopia Waqar Majeed, University of Agriculture, Pakistan

Germination, Growth and Yield Responses of Leaf Amaranth (Amaranthus hybridus) to Rates and Times of Poultry Manure Application

Manures are more environment-friendly and effective in improving soil fertility, hence their recent preference over inorganic fertilizers. Poultry manure is believed to be the most valuable manure produced by livestock. However, the application had always been only before sowing, unlike the inorganic fertilizers that are, generally, applied after sowing/planting of crops. Therefore, the effects of broiler droppings applied at different rates and times were evaluated on seed germination, growth and yield of leaf amaranths, during the raining season of year 2019. Broilers droppings were applied at 0, 30 and 50 tha-1, at 1 and 2 week (-s) before sowing, at sowing and 1 and 2 (week)s after sowing of amaranth seeds. The experiment was factorial and treatments were replicated thrice in a randomized complete block design. Growth parameters measured were: Plant height, number of leaves, stem girth, leaf area, number of germinated seeds , and yield were measured at 7, 8 and 9 weeks after sowing (WAS). The data generated were subjected to ANOVA at α0.05. At 7 WAS, application of 50 tha-1 manure at sowing produced the highest plant height (17 cm), stem girth (7.40 cm), number of harvested stands (18.33) and marketable yield (7.95 tha-1) with significant differences. At 8 WAS, the highest yield (5.83 tha-1 was obtained from plots treated with 30 tha-1 of poultry dung applied at 2 weeks before sowing while more seeds (27) germinated on both plots treated with 50 t/ha of broiler droppings applied at sowing and 1 WAS. The best recorded values for number of germinated seeds (27) and yield (2.83 tha-1) at 9 WAS were obtained from 50 tha-1 of broiler droppings applied at sowing. 50 t/ha of broiler droppings, at sowing compared well with poultry droppings applied at any rate before sowing.

Growth and Yield Losses of Roundup Ready Soybean as Influenced by Micro-rates of 2,4-D

Widespread resistance to glyphosate has made weed control very challenging. In response, new approaches to managing resistant biotypes such as the Enlist E3TM have been developed. This technology allows in-crop use of 2,4-D but there is fear associated with unintentional application of the herbicide (e.g. direct application, tank contamination, or spray drift) to sensitive crops. A study was conducted to evaluate Roundup Ready (RR) soybean growth and yield loss as influenced by 2,4-D [six micro rates of 1/5, 1/10, 1/50, 1/100, 1/500 and 1/1000 of the 1,120 g ae ha-1 label recommended dose, and a check with no herbicide applied] applied at V2, R1 and R2 growth stages. In general, RR soybean was more sensitive to 2,4-D at R1 than V2 and R2. The highest 2,4-D rate, 1/5 of the label recommended rate, caused 51% soybean injury symptom, 13 d canopy closure delay, 41.2% plant height reduction, and 68.9% yield loss at R1. Based on effective dose (ED) estimates, 37.7 g ae ha-1 2,4-D caused 5% yield loss (0.23 Mg ha-1) at R1 compared with a 2.5- and 2.0-fold higher dose at V2 and R2, respectively. With respect to number of days to canopy closure, both reproductive stages (R1 and R2) were equally less sensitive to 2,4-D than the vegetative one (V2) as the plants had already achieved maximum growth recorded. On the other hand, ED estimates for plant height have shown that both V2 and R2 were equally more sensitive to 2,4-D than R1. These results clearly indicated that RR soybean growth and yield loss were significantly influenced by the timing of exposure and amount of 2,4-D.

Factors Affecting Weight Gain in Nelore Calves from Birth to Weaning in the Bolivian Tropic

Retrospective data corresponding to the period between 2002 and 2018 were used, belonging to the Cooperativa Agropecuaria Integral San Juan de Yapacaní, Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Data corresponding to 663 male and female calves born to primiparous and multiparous cows were used. The calves had 13 individual weight controls. The calves had 13 individual weight controls. Variables used: Date of birth, Calf live weight at birth in kg, Calf live weight at weaning in kg, Average daily gain in kg, Live weight of cow in kg, Number of calving of cows. The mean values and standard deviations of the weights at birth were 35.1 ± 4.6 kg for males and 32.3 ± 4.7 kg for females, at 240 days (weaning) the weight of the males was 229 ± 35.8 kg and for females 206 ± 31.5 kg. The mean values and standard deviations of the weight increases were 0.807 ± 0.14 kg for males and 1.0 ± 0.13 kg for females. The selected model with the regressor variables: Year, Sex of the calf, Number of calving and Live Weight at Birth, all significant (p ≤0.001). No interaction was significant to be considered in the model (p≥0.05). The live weight at birth, the sex, the years and the number of deliveries of the mothers showed in this work and for the animals analyzed to be the factors affecting the increase in live weight in the rearing stage (from birth to weaning) in Nelore calves in the Bolivian tropics.

Financial Analysis of Water Management Practices in Cranberry Production in Quebec, Canada

At a global scale, Canada is the second largest cranberry producer, with Quebec being the largest producing region within Canada. Efficient water use in agricultural production has long been a topic of outmost importance to agricultural producers, and governing bodies. The immediacy of climate change effects sped up the need to find solutions that conserve water. One such promising technology is irrigation using real-time tensiometers, which provides rapidly critical irrigation needs information to producers. Adoption of improved technologies by farmers is dependent on the effect it has on the farms’ bottom line. In this study, we examine the financial performance of real-time tensiometer based irrigation, and compare it to evaporation needs based irrigation (baseline), in the context of a Quebec-based cranberry farm. Our findings show that irrigating using real-time tensiometers technology generated higher economic returns. With a net present value of $96,847, this technology increased returns by nearly 53% compared to the baseline technology. Subsequent sensitivity analyses confirmed the robustness of these findings, even when changing important farming parameters.

Seed Germination and Seedling Growth Responses to Different Sources and Application Rates of Hydrothermal Carbonization Processed Liquid

Hydrothermal carbonization processed liquid (HTCPL) is a by-product of hydrothermal carbonization of biomass, which is used sparingly as natural fertilizer. A study was performed in the Faculty of Agriculture, Dalhousie University (Canada) between June 2019 and April 2020 to evaluate the elemental composition of HTCPL derived from three different biomass feedstock; namely, seafood compost; buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum), and willow (Salix babylonica). Different HTCPL application rates (0-10%) were tested on seed germination and seedling growth of pea (Pisum sativum), sunflower (Helianthus annuus), pac choi (Brassica rapa subsp. chinensis), kale (Brassica oleracea var. sabellica) and lettuce (Lactuca sativa). Elemental composition was higher in the HTCPLs compared to their respective feedstocks except for nitrogen. The 5% and 10% willow HTCPL with a pH between 3.8-4.0 inhibited seed germination and seedling growth compared to the other treatments with a pH range between 4.6-5.8. Kale, lettuce and sunflower radicle and hypocotyl growth were promoted following treatments of their respective seeds with seafood compost HTCPL while pea radicle and hypocotyl lengths were best promoted by 5% buckwheat and 10% seafood compost HTCPLs. Comparatively, 0.5% willow HTCPL increased surface area of seedling radicles while 1% willow and 0.5% buckwheat HTCPLs increased surface area of hypocotyls, irrespective of plant species. The distinction among the treatments was demonstrated on a 2-dimensional principal component analysis biplot that explained 89% of the variations in dataset. Overall, buckwheat HTCPL proved to be more effective at increasing seed germination and seedling growth compared to the other HTCPLs. The inhibitory effect of willow HTCPL at high application rate (5-10%) were obvious for all plant species. A comprehensive non-targeted chemical profile of HTCPL will help to explain mechanisms.

Reviewer Acknowledgements for Sustainable Agriculture Research, Vol. 10, No. 3

Sustainable Agriculture Research wishes to acknowledge the following individuals for their assistance with peer review of manuscripts for this issue. Their help and contributions in maintaining the quality of the journal are greatly appreciated. Sustainable Agriculture Research is recruiting reviewers for the journal. If you are interested in becoming a reviewer, we welcome you to join us. Please contact us for the application form at: [email protected]   Reviewers for Volume 10, Number 3 Giuseppina Migliore, University of Palermo, Italy Inder Pal Singh, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Science University(GADVASU), India Katarzyna Panasiewicz, Poznan University of Life Sciences, Poland Luciano Chi, Sugar Industry Research and Development Institute, Belize Manuel Teles Oliveira, University Tras os Montes Alto Douro (UTAD), Portugal Maria Lúcia Pato, CERNAS-IPV Research Centre, Portugal Murtazain Raza, Subsidiary of Habib Bank AG Zurich, Pakistan Nehemie Tchinda Donfagsiteli, Institute of Medical Research and Medicinal Plants Studies, Cameroon Nicusor-Flavius Sima, University of Agricultural Studies and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, Romania Ram Niwas, Swami Keshwanand Rajasthan Agricultural University, India Samuel Obae, University of Connecticut, United States Tenaw Workayehu, Hawassa Research Center, Southern Agricultural Research Institute, Ethiopia