In modern managed agro-ecosystems, the supply of adequate food from blooming crops is limited to brief periods. During periods of pollen deficiencies, bees are forced to forage on alternative crops, such as maize. However, pollen of maize is believed to be a minor food source for bees as it is thought to be lacking in proteins and essential amino acids. This study was conducted to verify this a...

A systematic approach to ensuring the stability of field and grassland feed production is justified. comparative assessment individual types forage crops given select most effective sour- ces in absence a shortage chemicals agricultural. The main directions for public livestock feed, improving quality components crops, especially terms protein sugar content, are shown. An economic efficiency wa...

Deer (Cervidae) cause considerable damage to forest plantations, crops, and protected habitats. The most common response to this damage is to implement strategies to lower population densities. However, lowering deer density may not always be desirable from hunting, recreational, or conservation perspectives. Therefore, knowledge is needed about additional factors beyond deer density that affec...

In many cases health and welfare problems are observed in organic egg production systems, as are high environmental risks related to nutrient leaching. These disadvantages might be reduced if the layers are allowed to utilise their ability to forage to a higher degree thereby reducing the import of nutrients into the system and stimulating the hens to perform a natural behaviour. However, very ...

1. Combining the needs of agricultural production with enhancing biodiversity requires a landscape-scale approach since the geographic scale at which most non-farmed species operate is unconstrained by farm boundaries. Bumblebees are a key component of farmland biodiversity as pollinators of both crops and wild flora. However, the factors determining their densities in such landscapes remain po...

Soybean and sunflower are summer annuals that can be grown as an alternative to corn and may be particularly useful in organic production systems for forage in addition to their traditional use as protein and/or oil yielding crops. Rapid and low cost methods of analyzing plant forage quality would be helpful for nutrition management of livestock. We developed and validated calibration models us...

Because of the protein content of their seeds, grain legumes, pseudocereals, and other crops are candidates to satisfy the growing demand for plant protein for food and feed. Crop production worldwide is highly specialized and currently relies on a very small number of species, raising questions about the sustainability of farming (Tilman et al., 2002). The role of legumes in nutrition has been...

Stable isotopes are an important tool for studying invertebrate food webs and movement of invertebrates in farmland. However, stable isotope values of farmland invertebrates have been reported for only a few crop types, and rarely for other land uses within farmland. We compared 13C and 15N of invertebrates captured in corn, soybean, hay, and hedgerows in eastern Ontario, Canada. 13C was signif...

Dual-use cover crops as forage for livestock could offer ecological and economic benefits when incorporated into rotations with corn (Zea mays L.) soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr) in the Mid-South USA; however, information on implementation impact is limited. A factorial of sixteen cool-season species a no-cover control by two management systems (forage harvest residue left field) was repeated u...