In the coming century, modern bioenergy crops have the potential to play a crucial role in the global energy mix, especially under policies to reduce carbon dioxide emissions as proposed by many in the international community. Previous studies have not fully addressed many of the dynamic interactions and effects of a policy-induced expansion of bioenergy crop production, particularly on crop yi...

Orphanor understudied-crops are mostly staple food crops in developing world. They are broadly classified under cereals, legumes, root crops, fruits and vegetables. These under-researched crops contribute to the diet of a large portion of resource-poor consumers and at the same time generate income for small-holder farmers in developing countries, particularly in Africa. In addition, they perfo...

Crop yields are limited by a combination of biotic stresses, abiotic stresses, and nutritional factors. various analyses have suggested that abiotic stress—due primarily to drought, heat, cold or salinity—is the major factor that prevents crops from realizing their full yield potential (e.g. Boyer, 98 ; edmeades, 008). Increases in crop yields through conventional plant breeding result from gen...

Plants require the proper balance of zinc (Zn) for normal growth and optimum yield. Interest in Zn has risen in the last decade because Zn deficiency stress is extensive in many areas, causing decreases in crop yields. Zn deficiency also decreases the amount of Zn in cereal grain and diminishes its nutritional quality. Hence, increasing the Zn content of the edible portions of crops should be c...

An integrated model is developed, based on seasonal inputs of reservoir inflow and rainfall in the irrigated area, to determine the optimal reservoir release policies and irrigation allocations to multiple crops. The model is conceptually made up of two modules. Module 1 is an intraseasonal allocation model to maximize the sum of relative yields of all crops, for a given state of the system, us...

The main goal of this study was to quantify within and between field variability in mapping agricultural crop types, their biophysical characteristics, and yield for precision farming applications using near-real-time and historical (archival) Landsat TM images. Data for 6 crops (wheat, barley, chickpea, lentil, vetch, and cumin) were gathered from a representative benchmark study area in the s...

Orphanor understudied-crops are mostly staple food crops in developing world. They are broadly classified under cereals, legumes, root crops, fruits and vegetables. These under-researched crops contribute to the diet of a large portion of resource-poor consumers and at the same time generate income for small-holder farmers in developing countries, particularly in Africa. In addition, they perfo...

Abstraet-When ethanol fuel is produced from lignocellulosic materials such as wood, herbaceous plants, and agricultural and forestry wastes, its use as a transportation fuel reduces dependence on imported petroleum, decreases the balance of trade deficit, improves urban air quality, contributes no net carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, and provides new markets for depressed farm economies. The s...

Integrated weed management (IWM) advocates the use of a combination of preventive, cultural, mechanical, and chemical tools to keep weed pressure below threshold levels that reduce yields and profits. Herbicide tolerant crops (HTCs) represent a relatively new weed control technology that can be used in an integrated weed management program. These crops, which enhance weed control options and gr...

The incorporation of ecological practices into sugarcane production and management has the potential to arrest and ameliorate the negative effects of monocropping on soil degradation and yield decline. Historically, the production of green manures as cover or break crops has been shown to improve the physical, chemical, and biological properties of soil for many crops in production agriculture....