BACKGROUND Ensiling is a common method of preserving energy crops for anaerobic digestion, and many scientific studies report that ensiling increases the methane yield. In this study, the ensiling process and the methane yields before and after ensiling were studied for four crop materials. RESULTS The changes in wet weight and total solids (TS) during ensiling were small and the loss of ener...

The Industrial Revolution in England was characterised by early and rapid labour release from agriculture to industry. This was facilitated by rising levels of labour productivity in agriculture which permitted labour to be released without excessive upward pressure on food prices. New technology played a central role in raising agricultural productivity but the importance of particular innovat...

There is renewed interest in ethanol production, and sugarcane promises to be a sustainable ethanol source. Few studies have been done on the effect of season on biomass production, and no studies have quantified yields of a range of cultivars in terms of intercepted radiation. The objective of this study was therefore to assess how season affects the biomass yields of a number of commercial cu...

Drought is one of the major problems affecting crops production, including corn, in many parts of Iran. In order to detect drought tolerant grain corn hybrids, an experiment with twenty corn hybrids was conducted during 2006 in Qom Province, Iran, using a complete randomized block design with four replications, under optimal moisture and drought stress condition. Results showed diversity among ...

Cereal crops that have rigid non-cellulose components in the cell wall tissues of leaves and high starch and protein content in grains face limitations in DNA extraction. Advanced molecular genetic techniques such as mapping and marker-assisted selection programs require pure and quick DNA extraction. In this study, we developed methods for isolating high-quality genomic DNA from leaves and see...

Industrial or “Green Revolution” agriculture depends upon petroleum to manufacture and spread fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides and to power irrigation systems that act upon crops selected to increase agricultural yield. It has been criticized on the grounds that it has favored mainly rich farmers and caused serious environmental pollution. Now a second “Green Revolution” is being proposed...

Agriculture in Ghana is vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate variability. This poses a challenge food security across country. Despite this vulnerability, limited research has been conducted understand effect variability on yields staple crops Ghana. study assessed selected (millet, sorghum, rice, groundnut and maize). The used Mann-Kendall trend test multiple regression analysis assess...