Agriculture of the inland arid region in Xinjiang depends on irrigation, which forms oasis of Northwest China. The production and water use of wheat, a dominant crop there, is significantly affected by undergoing climate variability and change. The objective of this study is to quantify inter-annual variability of wheat yield and water use from 1955 to 2006. The farming systems model APSIM (Agr...

Long-term yield performance and yield stability of common cropping systems needs to be simultaneously assessed at various fertility regimes. Based on a consecutive 19-year field trial, including eight fertilization treatments with different combinations of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K) and recycled manure (RM), the effects of fertilization and crop rotation on corn (Zea mays L.) y...

Carleton (1) claims that “temperature during India’s main agricultural growing season has a strong positive effect on annual suicide rates.”Using state-scale panel data for 1967–2013, the author suggests that an increase in 1 °C temperature in a single day can cause 70 suicides. The evidence, she argues, is consistent with “an agriculture channel in which heat damages crops,” resulting in econo...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS When examining the growth patterns of rice crops for a 5-year period, it was found that the time course of accumulation of above-ground dry matter did not follow a simple sigmoid curve as expected for a monocarpic plant. Instead, there was a decrease in growth around flowering, followed by an increase and then a final decrease of growth at crop maturity. There are two nearly...

Assemblages of macroalgae are believe to be among the most productive ecosystems in the world, yet difficulties in obtaining direct estimates of biomass and primary production have led to few macroalgal data sets from which the consequences of long-term change can be assessed. We evaluated the validity of using two easily measured population variables (frond density and plant density) to estima...

in order to perform each component of agricultural practices, its plan should be rationalized economically and technically. in a study for recognition patterns of energy inputs and outputs in saffron fields of southern khorasan, iran, during a five years exploitation period, two questionnaires were prepared, one for the first cultivation year, and another for crop management and harvest during ...

Reuse of saline subsurface drainage water for irrigation has been identi®ed as a potential option for managing drainage volumes and sustaining crop productivity in California's San Joaquin Valley. Soil surface structural instability, crusting and poor stand establishment may, however, be constraints in drainage reuse systems. The objective of this ®eld study was to evaluate the effectiveness of...

A 3-year field rotation study was conducted to assess the potential of switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) to suppress root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne arenaria), southern blight (Sclerotium rolfsii), and aflatoxigenic fungi (Aspergillus sp.) in peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) and to assess shifts in microbial populations following crop rotation. Switchgrass did not support populations of root-knot nem...

A one year field trial was carried out on three adjacent unfertilised plots; an 18 year old grassland, a 14 year old established Miscanthus crop, and a 7 month old newly planted Miscanthus crop. Measurements of N2O, soil temperature, water filled pore space (WFPS), and inorganic nitrogen concentrations, were made every one to two weeks. Soil temperature, WFPS and NO3 and NH4 concentrations were...

Mycorrhizal associations contribute to the sustainability of crop production systems through their roles in nutrient cycling and other benefits in the soil-plant ecosystems. A two-year study was conducted on the Alfisols of Lilongwe and Dowa districts, Central Malawi, to assess the vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal (VAM) fungal colonisation levels in pigeon pea, cowpea, and maize grown in sole c...