Efficiency and profitability in plant operation

Many developing countries implement programs and policies to increase or maintain soil fertility, with the objectives of increased crop yields and decreased poverty. However, few countries give emphasis to the biological management of soil fertility (BMSF) compared to more traditional approaches. Ethiopia emphasizes the use synthetic fertilizers to increase food security and reduce poverty, wit...

The relationships between N fertilizer rate, yield, and NO3 leaching need to be quantified to develop soil and crop management practices that are economically and environmentally sustainable. From 1996 through 1999, we measured yield and NO3 loss from a subsurface drained field in central Iowa at three N fertilizer rates: a low (L) rate of 67 kg ha(-1) in 1996 and 57 kg ha(-1) in 1998, a medium...

J. Nat. Resour. Life Sci. Educ. 39:125–131 (2010). doi:10.4195/jnrlse.2009.0021 • http://www.JNRLSE.org © American Society of Agronomy 5585 Guilford Road, Madison, WI 53711 USA ABSTRACT Opportunities for farmers to participate in greenhouse gas (GHG) credit markets require that growers, students, extension educators, offset aggregators, and other stakeholders understand the impact of agricultur...

Drill seeded rice ( L.) is the dominant rice cultivation practice in the United States. Although drill seeded systems can lead to significant CH and NO emissions due to anaerobic and aerobic soil conditions, the relationship between high-yielding management practices, particularly fertilizer N management, and total global warming potential (GWP) remains unclear. We conducted three field experim...

Scientifically based recommendations concerning the choice of deep banding versus traditional broadcast application of phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) for corn and soybean production in conservation tillage systems have been hampered by insufficient research and inconsistent results. Even when the decision is made (e.g. by strip-tillage corn farmers) to go with deepbanding of P and K, numerous...

The recent resurgence of hypoxia and harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie, driven substantially by phosphorus loads from agriculture, have led the United States and Canada to begin developing plans to meet new phosphorus load targets. To provide insight into which agricultural management options could help reach these targets, we tested alternative agricultural-land-use and land-management scenari...

BACKGROUND A three-year field experiment was conducted to examine the responses of corn yield and soil nitrous oxide (N2O) emission to various management practices in middle Tennessee. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS The management practices include no-tillage + regular applications of urea ammonium nitrate (NT-URAN); no-tillage + regular applications of URAN + denitrification inhibitor (NT-in...