Silage Practice and the Factors Related to its Adoption in the Chlef Area (Northwest Algeria)

Rising agricultural water scarcity in China is driven by expansion of irrigated cropland in water scarce regions

W the context of arable land and fresh water limits and a large population, the ability of China’s agriculture to meet demands for food, fodder, and fuel presents a falling tendency. Therefore, it is crucial for China to find appropriate methods and effective technologies to solve the food security problem, to achieve agricultural stability and sustainable development. Saline agriculture is proposed as one of the best solutions to deal with this threat. Success stories in saline agriculture have been documented in India and Pakistan. Nearly 70% of the total area of China’s saline soils occur in arid or semiarid regions, so developing water-saving saline agriculture is perhaps an efficient method for the optimized matching of agricultural water and soil resources. As an advanced irrigation technique with water-saving advantages, drip-irrigation is widely used in traditional agriculture throughout China. Here, we propose that planting halophyte crops under drip-irrigation conditions may be a promising approach for reclamation and utilization of saline soils in arid northwestern China. China’s National Mediumand Long-Term Program for Food Security (2008−2020) shows that China’s food security faces serious challenges, including rigid growth of commissary consumer demand, reduction of the arable land, and shortage of agricultural water resources. According to the Ministry of Land Resources of China, China is approaching the arable land “red line” (120 million hectare) because of urbanization, salinizaition and desertification. Saline soils, which are precious candidate arable land resources, occupy a significant strategic position in agriculture. Recently, rational reclamation and suitable utilization of saline soils in arid areas has become a major issue in China and has attracted increasing awareness from both government administrators and scientists. In China, about 25 million hectare saline soils in arid area remain uncultivable because of high salinity and water scarcity. Various approaches to reclaim saline soils including engineering, mechanical, chemical and biological are widely applied in northwestern China. However, such approaches have not yielded desirable results due to high costs or water limitations. Revegetation of saline soils with salt hyperaccumulating halophytes is a proactive phytoremediation method. Many halophytes such as Suaeda maritima and Sesuvium portulacastrum are reported to accumulate high contents of salt in their above ground tissues, and saline soils can be remediated by harvesting the plants regularly. To plant halophytes with limited water resources, this is a question of primary importance for arid saline soil recovery. Drip-irrigation is an effective irrigation technique to improve water use efficiency and is widely applied in traditional crops all over the world, especially in arid regions. This technology has the potential to plant halophytic crops and to obtain high-yield biomass with less irrigation water. Many halophytes have succulent leaves or small leaves, so we expect that water consumption for halophyte cultivation may be less than or similar to local crops grown under drip-irrigation. We hope that by using this system, a crucial step will be taken to break the bottleneck of biological reclamation of saline soils in arid areas. Not only can saline agriculture reclaim saline soils efficiently, it can also directly provide food, fodder, renewable energy and raw materials for industry. Scientists have found thousands of halophytes with great potential for development. Halophytes grown under saline conditions show levels of biomass and seed production comparable to conventional crops. For instance, Salicornia bigelovii, an oil-seed halophyte, could produce ca. 18 tons ha−1 of biomass and 2 tons ha−1 of seeds. Some halophytes have high nutritional value as forage or fodder crops. The restricting factor is their high salt content, but this limitation can be moderated by leaf protein extraction. Although the direct consumption of halophytic crops by humans and animals is limited, their seeds are being considered as new sources of grains or vegetable oils. Recent research carried out in Pakistan showed that some halophytes have potential as bioethanol crops.

Resumo Este trabalho teve por objetivo calcular a pegada hídrica dos suínos abatidos nos municípios que compõem o Conselho Regional de Desenvolvimento da Serra (Corede Serra), localizado na região nordeste do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul, no ano de 2014. A água consumida na produção dos grãos (milho e soja), destinados à alimentação dos animais e a água destinada à dessedentação animal e limpeza das áreas de criação, além da água incorporada aos suínos em crescimento e terminação, foram utilizadas no cálculo da pegada hídrica. A pegada hídrica total dos suínos abatidos foi de 0,19825 km3 ano-1, na qual o consumo de água para o cultivo de milho e soja foi o mais representativo, 99,6%. O município de Nova Prata apresentou a maior pegada hídrica total (0,02343 km3 ano-1), seguida pelos municípios de Paraí (0,02187 km3 ano-1) e por Serafina Corrêa (0,01658 km3ano-1). Os municípios de São Marcos (0,000006 km3ano-1), Bento Gonçalves (0,00002 km3 ano-1) e Boa Vista do Sul (0,00004 km3 ano-1) apresentaram as menores pegadas, resultado da baixa produtividade de milho associada ao rebanho suíno abatido pouco expressivo. A partir desta avaliação indica-se que a gestão dos recursos hídricos associada à cadeia suinícola deve contemplar a produção de grãos, destinados à atividade, além da demanda hídrica destinada ao confinamento.

The contribution of the livestock sector to the Indian Economy is 4.11% of its total GDP and it is nearly 25.6% for total agricultural GDP. Small and marginal farmers are mainly attached to the mixed farming of field crops and dairy animals. Farmers get regular income from their dairy unit and also use dairy animals as economic security. Though India comes under the highest livestock populated countries, the production of milk is lower than expected because of improper feeding quality. Through the last two decades, the demand and price of milk both increase gradually, and farmers are not getting that much profit because of their dependency on ready cattle food. The gross profit after the selling of milk is nearly equal to the feeding expenditure. For the use of paddy straw as dry fodder, the quality and quantity of milk production are decreased. So, green fodder is the best option for livestock as it contains adequate nutrients as well as crude fibre. Among the fodder and forage crops, berseem is the second maximum cultivated fodder crop which possesses a 2 million ha area of fodder crops in India. There are several advantages of berseem as a fodder crop such as a short-duration crop, multi-cut nature, the capability of higher biomass production, the presence of a good amount of crude protein, cellulose, total digestible nutrients and succulent nature. Though Phosphorus and zinc play an antagonistic effect on each other, both are required for the growth and development of berseem crops. From cellular respiration to enzymatic reactions, phosphorus is essential for completing several metabolic activities. Zinc is related to yield and fodder quality by completing plant metabolisms like carbohydrates and auxin production. Adequate management practice is required to maintain the concentration of both nutrients at an optimum level. In Indian soil, zinc is deficient and phosphorus is mostly present in organic form. So, the use of biofertilizers will be effective to convert those complex nutrients form into simple and available for the plant.

In Gujarat, sorghum is mainly cultivated for fodder purpose. Out of various zones of Gujarat, middle Gujarat is one of the remarkable zones of livestock population and farmers of this area grow various fodder crops to feed their animals. In middle Gujarat, farmers of Kheda district mainly grow sorghum, pearl millet and maize as a fodder crop. Due to nature of unavailability in some seasons of single cut variety of fodder sorghum and pearl millet, main forage research station, Anand Agricultural University, Anand recommended an improved multi cut variety CoFS 29 of sorghum. After understanding the importance of this variety, Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Kheda conducted the front line demonstrations of this variety in Kheda district from year 2017 with a view to long term fodder availability and to increase the area of production by increase the number of its adopters. To understand the actual usefulness of this variety among the users of it, the study on views of sorghum growers about CoFS 29 variety regarding its usefulness in Kheda district was conducted on those sorghum growers where KVK Kheda conducted FLD of CoFS 29 of fodder sorghum. A total of 200 CoFS 29 variety users were selected for the study. Ex-post-facto research design was used and interview schedule was prepared in light with objective. Usefulness in crop production, usefulness in animal husbandry and economic usefulness were three key indicators to measure the overall usefulness of this variety. Less number of ploughing is needed than other varieties of fodder sorghum, more number of cuttings and less seeds are needed were major perceived usefulness in crop production. Animal likes to feed and no poisoning effect after feeding of immature fodder were major perceived usefulness in animal husbandry. Less cost of cultivation and more profitable were major economic usefulness perceived by the users. Majority of the users had high perceived overall usefulness of this variety.

The results of the study on the comparative assessment of different tillage methods in the field crop rotation with different levels of mineral nutrition (N30P30 and N60P30 kg of active ingredient/ ha) are presented. The experiment was carried out on low-humus low-carbonate chernozem of the forest-steppe zone of Eastern Trans-Baikal Territory in 2012–2014. The zoned variety of Buryatskaya-79 spring wheat, and Metis oat variety were used for sowing. Low-cost methods of soil tillage were studied, providing for the preservation and improvement of soil fertility, an increase in the productivity of grain and fodder crops, and a decrease in material and energy costs. Replacement of the basic tillage with a PN-4-35 plow with a ring roller in the third and fourth crop rotation fields by surface tillage with a Stepnyak-7.4 cultivator and direct sowing on the stubble with a PPM Ob4-ZT seeder when applying mineral fertilizers at a rate of N60P30 kg of active ingredient/ha had a positive effect on the condition of the soil. The following indicators of soil fertility were achieved: structural coefficient 1.28–1.38, organic matter content 3.15–3.33%, productive moisture content in the 0–50 cm layer 29.2–31.8 mm, the release of carbon dioxide 1.810–1.969 kg per 1 hour, the content of Р2О5 in the 0–20 cm layer 71–96 mg/kg of soil, the content of K2O – 57–82 mg/kg of soil. An increase in the yield of oat grain of 0.16–0.21 t/ha, the green mass of annual grasses of 3.44.0 t/ha, the collection of feed units of 0.32–0.34 t/ha, a reduction in the cost of fuel and lubricants by 31.2-36.4%, and an increase in profitability by 25.0–40.3% were achieved.

Water stress due to poor water quality has been becoming severe in many places across the world. Comprehensive water utility and water scarcity assessments require information integrating both water quantity and quality. While massive attentions have been paid to water quantity scarcity evaluations, little effort has been made to assess inter-annual variations of regional water scarcity resulting from both water quantity and quality. The study, taking water-abundant while stressed Jiangsu province (JSP) in eastern China as the study area, investigated (i) the development in green, blue and grey water footprint (WFs) for crop production, over 1986–2016, (ii) the inter-annual evolutions in blue and grey WFs for industry and households over 2010–2016 and (iii) the associated inter- and intra-annual variations in water scarcities resulting from water quantity and quality. Results showed that the annual total WF of crop production in JSP increased by 18% between 1986 and 2016. Grey WF accounted for 77% of the total WF at an annual average level. Crop production occupied 61% and household accounted for 34% in the total grey WF related to N. The monthly blue water scarcity levels in JSP increased by 4 (October 2016) – 62 (February 2012) folders when water quality effects were taken into account. The wetter the year, the lower the blue water scarcity of water quality and quantity. As a sensitive and crucial region with both severe water pollution scarcity and the role of water source region in the huge South-to-North water transfer project, it is of great necessity to enhance the water pollution management and increase information transparency among water authorities and consumers.

Abstract. Research on water scarcity has mainly focussed on blue water (ground- and surface water), but green water (soil moisture returning to the atmosphere through evaporation) is also scarce, because its availability is limited and there are competing demands for green water. Crop production, grazing lands, forestry and terrestrial ecosystems are all sustained by green water. The implicit distribution or explicit allocation of limited green water resources over competitive demands determines which economic and environmental goods and services will be produced and may affect food security and nature conservation. We need to better understand green water scarcity to be able to measure, model, predict and handle it. This paper reviews and classifies around 80 indicators of green water availability and scarcity, and discusses the way forward to develop operational green water scarcity indicators that can broaden the scope of water scarcity assessments.

Following a report by Oram on “The Use of Pastures and Fodder Crops in Rotations in Mediterranean Agriculture”, which was presented to the Fourth Meeting of the F.A.O. Working Party on Mediterranean Pasture and Fodder Development at Lisbon in 1955, a further study was carried out by the writer on the integration of livestock husbandry with the grazing and fodder resources in the region, and with crop husbandry in general. This study was based on a three‐month survey carried out at the end of 1955 as an F.A.O. assignment, and visits were made to Libya, Cyprus, Israel, Greece, Turkey, Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Algeria and parts of Southern Italy.The survey dealt with prevailing conditions in these countries, with particular reference to existing research and extension programmes in both agronomy and animal husbandry. Following this, a report (5) was prepared for the Fifth Meeting of the Working Party held at Tel Aviv in May, 1957. The report covers the general principles of animal husbandry, with special reference to the Mediterranean environment, and stress is laid on the need for increased efficiency in both the production and use of pasture and fodder crops, especially in view of the fact that an increasing livestock population will in future probably have to be maintained on a steadily diminishing area, owing to the progressive encroachment of food‐ and cash‐crop production on land previously used for grazing. As far as practicable, grazing pressure must be transferred from “natural” pastures and upland grazings to the cultivated land, on which improved systems of rotational cropping will be necessary. Wherever possible these should incorporate both supplementary fodder crops and sown pastures. This should benefit both the livestock and the over‐cropped cultivated soils. In turn, any reduction in stocking rates on the natural pastures and on the upland and forest grazings should facilitate their improvement and the introduction of erosion control. Any improvement scheme designed to achieve these ends will require much closer co‐operation between cultivators and pastoralists and more effective integration of research and extension work in both agronomy and animal husbandry.This article describes some of the many difficulties confronting workers in both these fields in a Mediterranean environment, and suggestions are made as to how some of these problems may possibly be overcome.

Water crisis in Iran: A system dynamics approach on water, energy, food, land and climate (WEFLC) nexus

Biotech crops have now been grown commercially on a substantial global scale since 1996. This paper examines the production effects of the technology and impacts on cereal and oilseed markets through the use of agricultural commodity models. It analyses the impacts on global production, consumption, trade and prices in the soybean, canola and corn sectors. The analysis suggests that world prices of corn, soybeans and canola would probably be, respectively, 5.8%, 9.6% and 3.8% higher, on average, than 2007 baseline levels if this technology was no longer available to farmers. Prices of key derivatives of soybeans (meal and oil) would also be between 5% and 9% higher, with rapeseed meal and oil prices being about 4% higher than baseline levels. World prices of related cereals and oilseeds would also be expected to be higher by 3% to 4%. The effect of no longer using the current widely used biotech traits in the corn, soybean and canola sectors would probably impact negatively on both the global supply and utilization of these crops, their derivatives and related markets for grain and oilseeds. The modelling suggests that average global yields would fall for corn, soybeans and canola and despite some likely “compensating” additional plantings of these three crops, there would be a net fall in global production of the three crops of 14 million tonnes. Global trade and consumption of these crops/derivatives would also be expected to fall. The production and consumption of other grains such as wheat, barley and sorghum and oilseeds, notably sunflower, would also be affected. Overall, net production of grains and oilseeds (and derivatives) would fall by 17.7 million tonnes and global consumption would fall by 15.4 million tonnes. The cost of consumption would also increase by $20 billion (3.6%) relative to the total cost of consumption of the (higher) biotechinclusive level of world consumption. The impacts identified in this analysis are, however, probably conservative, reflecting the limitations of the methodology used. In particular, the limited research conducted to date into the impact of the cost-reducing effect of biotechnology (notably in herbicidetolerant soybeans) on prices suggests that the price effects identified in this paper represent only part of the total price impact of the technology.

Introduction. Grain production is a strategic branch of the economy of many countries of the world, which promotes or, on the contrary, restrains the development of many other related branches, agro-food markets. Stable and efficient development of grain production is the basis of food security, and the level of its economic development is an indicator of the country's well-being. The strengthening of positive trends in the foreign market regarding the production and export of domestic grain requires the presence of an effective mechanism of resource, financial and credit, and information and consulting support, which will contribute to the development of infrastructure support and access of domestic producers to the market and will positively affect the dynamics of the studied industry. Methods. The following methods were used in the research process: comparative analysis – to compare data, determine changes in market indicators in time and space; grouping – to select classes of objects with similar characteristics and determine relationships between them; abstract and logical – for the purpose of forming assumptions, hypotheses, as well as conclusions and generalizations; analysis and synthesis – when assessing the state of the research object and substantiating proposals for its improvement and ensuring full-fledged development in the future. Results. According to the results of the analysis of the current state of production of grain crops in agricultural enterprises, it will be reasonable to conclude that in the conditions of a further decrease in the amount of state support for the agricultural sector and a rapid increase in the prices of material and technical resources, producers are forced to focus on attracting all possible intra-regional and intra-economic reserves that could to provide them with economic stability. An important role should be given to the technical and technological factors of production and optimization of costs of production resources of agricultural enterprises of grain specialization, which is possible only with their integrated use. Discussion. In the post-war period of revival of the country's economy, the agricultural sector, in particular – grain production, will become the engine of economic growth. The focus will be on the cultivation of niche crops and the introduction of innovative technologies that will ensure a high level of crop yield at the level of the EU countries while increasing the quality parameters of grain, which will ensure its competitiveness on the global agri-food market. Taking into account the modern challenges of society, the task of forming grain product clusters that will unite producers, processors, business entities in the field of wholesale and retail trade with the aim of increasing production and, accordingly, export of grain products with high added value, arises. Keywords: supply, grain market, grain production, efficiency, gross harvest.

In modern socio-economic conditions, the production of high-quality grain remains the main task of agricultural production. The main way to solve it is to increase productivity by introducing new varieties and crops with high potential and improving the cultivation technology with minimal costs. Agrarians of the North-East of the Non-Chernozem Zone of Russia, having in their land, use poorly fertile sod-podzolic soils of varying degrees of cultivation. To increase the productivity of grain crops, they use adapted resource-saving technologies, in which the level of mineral fertilizer is determined by the magnitude of the dose of the nutrient established experimentally. The high productivity of the variety, along with the quality of the grain, is the most important indicator of the ultimate goal of every breeder. To assess the economic efficiency of the cultivation of spring triticale, studies were carried out on nine varieties: Saur, Dobroe, Zaozerye, KNIISH 9, KNIISH 11, KNIISH 22, Savva, Timur, Rovnya. The results of our studies convincingly indicate that in the conditions of the republic, even against an unfertilized background, cultivated varieties of spring triticale, provide grain yield from 2.5 to 3.8 t/ha. Some of the most important economic indicators characterizing production efficiency are such indicators as the cost of production and the degree of efficiency of grain production, expressed by the level of profitability. The main application of mineral fertilizers (N60P60K60, (P60K60) and the introduction of nitrogen fertilization in tillering at a dose of N30increases the cost of 1 kg of grain by 5-8%, thereby reducing the profitability of production when cultivating varieties. The cultivation of varieties Rovnya, Zaur, Zaozerye, KNIISH 22, KNIISH 11, Timur was economically profitable, but less profitable than varieties KNIISH 9, Dobroe and Savva. The cost of production of a kilogram of grain was on the option without mineral nutrition from 5.1; 7.0; 5.9; 5.1; 4.8; and 6.4 rubles, respectively. On fertilized options, the cost decreased to a minimum of 4.1 rubles in the Timur variety with the main application of N60P60K60with nitrogen fertilization N30during tillering. The maximum increase in the cost price was shown by the varieties Timur, Zaozerye: 4.8 and 4.9 rubles against the background of the main application of N60P60K60. On average for 2020 according to the results of economic analysis, the lowest cost price and the highest level of profitability indicator are observed when cultivating varieties KNIISH 9, Dobroe and Savva at all levels of mineral nutrition.

Intercropping cover plants with physic nut (Jatropha curcas L.) may be a viable strategy for improving soil quality and sustaining the yield of this oilseed crop. However, one of the main challenges facing prolonged cropping of physic nut is the lack of information regarding the agronomic practices of the crop in intercropping systems. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of cropping systems with cover plants and grain crops on the soil chemical properties and cumulative production of physic nut grain and oil. Eleven cropping systems and two evaluations were conducted in a split-plot arrangement on a dystrophic red latosol (Latossolo Vermelho Distrófico) in the municipality of Dourados. Growing cover plants or grain crops between the rows of physic nut did not provide significant increases in the cumulative production of grain and of oil over growing physic nut alone. There was reduction in the availability of nutrients, especially P and K, through growing Campo Grande Stylosanthes, U. humidicola, and Crotalaria. However, the beneficial effects of intercropping related to maintaining soil cover and the possibility of increasing the profitability of cropping physic nut from the production of forage crops and grains should be considered. Although the results did not show a significant increase in physic nut production in intercropping systems, the approach still offers opportunities to improve agricultural sustainability, crop diversification, and long-term profitability.

in modern conditions for solving numerous issues of improving the quality of grain, it is important to identify three fundamental structural elements of the development of the grain-producing subcomplex of the country: the selection and seed production of grain crops, pro-duction and processing of grain, which are united by a common technological scheme of the im-plementation of quality characteristics of various grades and hybrids of grain crops in view of tar-geted use of their products.