for the financial support for the work und their generous trust. Miss Buechl provided additional administrative support and moral support during the studies in Germany. Esta obra de esfuerzo y trabajo conjunto esta dedicada a mi querida familia. SUMMARY South Mexico belongs to the Mesoamerican tropical region. The typical production systems are characterized on the one side by high diversity ho...

Urban and peri-urban agriculture is becoming increasingly important as a source of income and food for the urban population in South Africa. This study was prompted by concerns of city authorities that soil compaction in horticultural fields that used conventional tillage practices with tractors was, not only limiting the performance of fruit and vegetable crops, but also affecting the quality ...

Invasive alien species Mikania micrantha, which originated from Central and South America, has spread quickly and become one of the most seriously invasive weedy species in Yunnan Province, Southwest of China. The harmful effects of this plant on major cash crops and local plant communities have been surveyed in 50 townships of 6 counties of Yunnan Province since 2006. Moreover, bioactivity and...

Introduction Essential mineral nutrients applied to crops are a cost to growers and, poorly managed, contaminate air and/or water resources. Over the past 30+ years, fertilizer costs (USDA, 2006) and evidence of the negative impact of fertilizer nutrient contamination of air and water resources have increased significantly (Tilman et al., 2002). Therefore, an increase in nutrient efficiency, me...

We studied the home ranges and activity patterns of 24 white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in southwestern Wisconsin via radio-telemetry and visual observation to determine their response to single-strand electric crop-protection fences. Deer were allowed to establish feeding patterns in alfalfa fields during the spring green-up periods of 1986 and 1987. In mid-April of each year, 7 fenc...

The potential for lead (Pb) and arsenic (As) transfer into vegetables was studied on old orchard land contaminated by lead arsenate pesticides. Root (carrot), leafy (lettuce), and vegetable fruits (green bean, tomato) were grown on seven "miniplots" with soil concentrations ranging from near background to ≈ 800 and ≈ 200 mg kg-1 of total Pb and As, respectively. Each miniplot was divided into s...

Site-specific crop management (SSCM) is one facet of precision agriculture which is helping increase production with minimal input. It has enhanced the cost-benefit scenario in crop production. Even though the SSCM is very widely used in row crop agriculture like corn, wheat, rice, soybean, etc. it has very little application in cash crops like fruit and nut. The main goal of this review paper ...

170 Mango is one of the most important and widely cultivated tropical fruits of the world. In India, it is grown in an area of 23.78 lakh hectares with an annual production of 161.98 lakh tones (Indian Horticulture Database-2012). This contributes to 37.8 per cent of total area and 18.6 per cent of total production of fruit crops in India. The plant start bearing 4 to 5 years after planting and...