Search results for "Cropping"

Managing arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in cropping systems

2005

Market globalization, demographic pressure, and environmental degradation have led us to reconsider many of our current agricultural systems. The heavy use of chemical inputs, including fertilizers and pesticides, has resulted in pollution, decreased biodiversity in intensively-farmed regions, degradation of fragile agro-ecosystems, and prohibitive costs for many farmers. Low input sustainable cropping systems should replace conventional agriculture, but this requires a more comprehensive understanding of the biological interactions within agro-ecosystems. Mycorrhizal fungi appear to be the most important telluric organisms to consider. Mycorrhizae, which result from a symbiosis between th…

Reply to Castellano and David: Long-term fate of nitrate fertilizer and nitrate from agricultural catchments

2014

We thank Castellano and David for their insightful comments (1) on our paper (2), in which they point out that short-term changes in land use and agricultural management can lead to rapid reductions in nitrate leaching from agricultural systems. We fully agree with Castellano and David that in diversified cropping systems, this N distribution may be different, potentially resulting in reduced nitrate leaching.

Soil organic carbon stocks under recommended management practices in different soils of semiarid vineyards

2019

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) approach is widely used to estimate the C account through the use of standardized coefficients that are not site specific. For these reasons, the aim of the work was to define specific IPCC coefficient taking into account differences in pedological characteristics that affect soil C steady state. In a vineyard area of Sicily, the effectiveness of 5 years of recommended management practice (RMP) adoption on soil organic carbon (SOC) stock increases was evaluated by considering 100 paired sites distributed over four functional soil groups. Each site consisted of two neighbouring plots. The soil of one plot was managed with cover crops accor…

Researches Regarding the Species Diabrotica Virgifera Virgifera Le Conte in Sibiu County

2010

From the very beginning of the recording of its appearance in Europe as well as in
 our country the published material emphasized the harmful potential of the pest Diabrotica virgifera
 virgifera also drawing the attention to the scientific world and to the farmers as well upon this factor
 of reduction of the production of corn.
 In Sibiu County this species was first recorded in 2001, coming from West, at the border with
 Alba County. The first gatherings were done in Miercurea Sibiului. The investigation was done during
 2001–2009 concerning in: monitoring the adults and the larvae, the identification of the attacked
 plants, the way of harming both for…

Plant arrangement effects on dry matter production and nitrogen fixation of berseem clover-annual reygrass mixture.

2005

Nitrogen Transfer Is Enhanced By AMF Fungi In A Faba Bean/Wheat Intercropping

2018

Intercropping is an agricultural practice that can offer several benefits allowing a better native resources use efficiency and, consequently, a restraint of the auxiliary inputs and often a greater production compared to the monocultures (Brooker et al. 2015). Several authors observed that, in a legume/non-legume mixture, one of the benefits could be the N transfer (up to 80 % of the non-legume N demand; Thilakarathna et al. 2016). The transfer may occur via different pathways: legume rhizodeposition, plant tissue decomposition and direct transfer through arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) (Bedoussac et al. 2015). The latter, can simultaneously establish symbiotic relationship with differe…

Pesticide Inhalation Exposure of Applicators and Bystanders Using Conventional and Innovative Cropping Systems in the Valencian Region, Spain

2021

This paper provides scientific results from a European LIFE project carried out in the Valencian region of Spain during the 2017 to 2018 time frame. In 2018, more than 60,000 tons of pesticides were commercialized in Spain, with approximately 15% destined for Valencian crops. In order to improve the air quality in the agricultural areas of this region, an innovative cropping system based on irrigation was developed and compared to conventional treatments based on hand-spray and turbo application. After applying conventional treatments to five types of crops (citrus, persimmon, nectarine, watermelon, and other stone fruits), a total of 13 active substances were detected in the air. The same …

Prove di coltivazione di Calendula (Calendula officinalis L.) in ambiente semi-arido

2008

Inside the family Asteraceae, Marigold is one of the most relevant species bearing some herbal interest. The evaluation of the bio-agronomical and yield response of the species to the field cropping conditions, especially when a low input cropping technique is applied, is the base for its full exploitation. With this objective, a long-term research activity has been started out by the DAAT (Department of Environmental and Land Agronomy) of the University of Palermo in the experimental farm “Sparacia” (Cammarata – AG – Sicily), performing observations on Marigold plants managed with a minimum recourse to external technical inputs (nor pesticides neither chemical weeding, and a light (50 kg h…

Weed seedbank size and composition in a long-term tillage and crop sequence experiment

2015

Summary Knowledge of the effects of agricultural practices on weed seedbank dynamics is essential for predicting future problems in weed management. This article reports data relative to weed seedbank structure after 18 years of continuous application of conventional tillage (CT, based on mouldboard ploughing) or no tillage (NT) within three crop sequences (continuous wheat, WW; wheat–faba bean, WF; and wheat–berseem clover, WB). Tillage system did not affect the size of the total weed seedbank, but altered both its composition and the distribution of seeds within the soil profile. In particular, the adoption of CT favoured some species (mainly Polygonum aviculare), whereas the continuous u…

Durum wheat yield uncertainty under different tillage management practices and climatic conditions

2019

Abstract In the field of conservative agriculture, no-till (NT) management has been receiving increasing interest, with 45 million ha of land under no-till management in 1999 to 155 million ha in 2014. Up until now, no-till has only been observed to perform better under rainfed conditions, especially in dry climates mainly because the reduced tillage system retains more soil moisture. However, the adoption of alternative agricultural practices (NT) can be improved only if uncertain and consequent assumption of risk is well known and accepted. For these reasons, the aim of this research is (i) to define durum wheat suitability under NT soil management in terms of yield success probability an…