As the climate changes, a growing demand exists to identify and manage spatial variation in crop yield ensure global food security. This study assesses soil variability its impact on maize under future eastern Kansas’ top ten maize-producing counties. A cropping system model, CERES-Maize of Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT) was calibrated using observed yield. To accou...

Relative (actual / potential) evapotranspiration (RET) was derived using ten-day composite NOAA PAL datasets (8km x 8km spatial resolution) over Indian landmass and an operational energy balance algorithm for five agricultural years (June-May) between 1996 to 2001. This was used to characterize ‘Kharif’ (June-October) rice growing environment and its yield prediction in rainfed conditions. Inve...

Climate variability adversely impacts crop production and imposes a major constraint on farming planning, mostly under rainfed conditions, across the world. Considering the recent advances in climate science, many studies are trying to provide a reliable basis for climate, and subsequently agricultural production, forecasts. The El Niño-Southern Oscillation phenomenon (ENSO) is one of the princ...

This study assesses the vulnerability of Bulgarian agriculture to drought using the WINISAREG model and seasonal standard precipitation index SPI(2) for the period 1951-2004. This model was previously validated for maize on soils of different water holding capacity (TAW) in various locations. Simulations are performed for Plovdiv, Stara Zagora and Sofia. Results relative to Plovdiv show that in...

BACKGROUND Harnessing beneficial microbes presents a promising strategy to optimize plant growth and agricultural sustainability. Little is known to which extent and how specifically soil and plant microbiomes can be manipulated through different cropping practices. Here, we investigated soil and wheat root microbial communities in a cropping system experiment consisting of conventional and org...

Drought is a major constraint affecting rice production, especially in rainfed areas across Asia, Africa and South America. Development of drought resistant varieties will considerably improve rainfed rice production. Rice breeding programs focusing on drought resistance by direct selection for yield under stress have made little progress to date. Incorporation of secondary traits contributing ...

Perchlorate (Cl4-) reservoirs that accumulated in semiarid unsaturated zones, similar to chloride (Cl-), can contaminate underlying aquifers if they are mobilized. The purpose of this study was to evaluate Cl)4- mobilization related to land-use change from natural to agricultural ecosystems in the southern High Plains (SHP, USA), where large ClO4- concentrations (< or =60 microg/L) are found in...

Biophysical crop simulation models are normally forced with precipitation data recorded with either gauges or ground-based radar. However, ground-based recording networks are not available at spatial and temporal scales needed to drive the models at many critical places on earth. An alternative would be to employ satellite-based observations of either precipitation or soil moisture. Satellite o...

Soil biological quality can affect key soil functions that support food production and environmental quality. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of management and time on soil biological quality in contrasting dryland cropping systems at eight locations in the North American Great Plains. Alternative (ALT) cropping systems were characterized by greater cropping intensity (...