Adoption Of Agronomic Practices Research Articles

Quantitative trait locus mapping for resistance to heat‐induced seed degradation and low seed phytic acid in soybean

AbstractSoybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] reproductive structures are temperature‐sensitive, with a reproductive optimum of 22 to 24 °C. Currently, parts of the US soybean growing region experience consistent late‐season drought stress, resulting in the adoption of agronomic practices that favor early maturity groups. This approach is the Early Soybean Production System and has boosted yields and on‐farm returns on investment. However, seeds produced under this system develop under higher temperatures than standard practices, and frequently have decreased seed quality, loss of value, and unacceptable germination rates. Climate change may result in more widespread late‐season drought and elevated temperatures during seed filling. The ancestors of all modern US high‐yielding soybean lines lack substantial resistance to heat‐induced seed degradation, but an unadapted plant introduction (PI 587982A) can maintain ∼95% quality and germination under the same conditions. Inconsistent germination and emergence defects are associated with increased bioavailable phosphorus and reduced phytic acid. To evaluate these traits’ interaction, a backcross recombinant inbred line population was developed, and emergence and germination were evaluated in seed produced in six greenhouse and field environments. Two mutant alleles (lpa1a and lpa2a) were linked to decreased germination and emergence; this effect was pronounced under elevated temperatures. A novel major‐effect heat tolerance quantitative trait locus derived from PI 587982A was identified and found to be associated with positive effects on overall germination and emergence. These results open the potential application of marker‐assisted selection for tolerance to elevated temperatures and may accelerate the development of germplasm and cultivars with high‐quality seed.

Soft winter wheat outyields hard winter wheat in a subhumid environment: Weather drivers, yield plasticity, and rates of yield gain

AbstractDespite the proximity in zones of adaptation for soft and hard winter wheat (SWW and HWW; Triticum aestivum L.), agronomic evaluations have been confined to market class. Our objectives were to compare SWW and HWW regarding yield and agronomic attributes; genotype, environment, and their interaction; and rates of yield gain. Yield, grain volume weight, heading date, and plant height were collected from 40 adjacent studies evaluating HWW and SWW cultivars in 20 Kansas environments (n = 2,885). Growing season weather partially explained the variability in yield (47–51%), heading date (58–92%), and plant height (67–80%). Yield was greater in SWW than in HWW (3.73 vs. 3.48 Mg ha−1), and a quadratic relationship between the 10th, mean, and 90th percentile yields suggested that SWW has a greater yield potential than HWW, although grain volume weight was greater in HWW (743 vs. 733 kg m−3). An asymmetric yield response for both classes was associated with greater phenotypic plasticity, which portrayed a more positive response for SWW. We performed a literature review that suggested a greater genetic gain for SWW than for HWW (33 vs. 17 kg ha−1 yr−1). This gain, however, represented a smaller portion of the regional yield gain (considering both genetic gain and adoption of agronomic practices) of each class (72 vs. 81%). We concluded that SWW outyields HWW due to greater rates of genetic gain, partially due to breeding in higher yield environments, and more positive phenotypic plasticity of yield in high‐yielding environments coupled to yield stability in excessively moist environments.

English

Development of the Ethiopian economy is directly related to the transformation of the agricultural sector which is manifested with low utilization of recommended agronomic practices, improved farm inputs, and dependency on traditional farming and rainfall. As a result, low production and productivity of agriculture were prevalent over the last years. This study aims to identify the factors influencing adoption of recommended agronomic practices of wheat farming. Two-stage sampling method was applied to select 204 smallholder wheat producing farmers. Simple descriptive statistics and econometrics model such as multivariate probit model were used. The result of the model indicates that formal education level, family size, farm size, distance to the input market, use of chemical fertilizers and the use of credit have negatively and statistically significant effect on adoption decision while off-farm income, access of social media, cultivated land size, and attitude towards risk have positively and statistically significant effect on adoption decision of agronomic practices among wheat producing farmers. Moreover, early planting has a negative effect on distance to input market, farm size, and use of chemical fertilizers. The study recommended that government and other concerned body should develop the supply of inputs provision mechanism, credit, land, awareness creation through media. Key words: Adoption of agronomic practices, multivariate probit model, and Ethiopia. &nbsp

Maize Intercropping Systems Improve Nutrient for the Cowpea Crop in Sandy Soils

ABSTRACTSandy soils are characterized by their low fertility and low ability to supply nutrients to plants. However, the adoption of agronomic practices, such as the use of intercropping systems, can promote nutrient cycling and improve the production potential of sandy soils. A study was conducted to evaluate the nutrient accumulation and cycling of six maize cropping systems (maize alone and intercropped with cover crops), and to evaluate the nutrition and yield of cowpea crop in the no-till system (NT), grown in succession to maize intercropping systems. The treatments consisted of growing maize alone (monoculture), and five maize intercropping systems: maize + palisade grass (Urochloa brizantha); maize + sunn hemp (Crotalaria juncea); maize + pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan); maize + palisade grass + sunn hemp; and maize + p-alisade grass + pigeon pea. In the 2016/2017 growing season, dry matter (DM) production, macronutrient accumulation and exportation in maize grains were evaluated. In the 2017/2018 season, DM accumulation, leaf nutrient concentration and grain yield of cowpea crop were measured. Intercropping with cover crops influences maize grain yield, macronutrient contents, and straw dry matter accumulation. The grain yield of cowpea was higher than 600 kg ha–1, due to the benefits of cropping under the crop residues of maize intercropped with cover crops.

The impact of agricultural co-operatives on women’s empowerment: Evidence from Uganda

This article contributes to understanding the potential of agricultural co-operatives to boost women’s empowerment and close gender gaps in sub-Saharan Africa. It provides quasi-experimental evidence of the impact of membership of an agricultural co-operative on women’s capabilities, their power and ability to influence decisions, and intra-household productive and reproductive labour divisions. It uses the P’KWI Farmer to Farmer Co-operative Society in north-eastern Uganda as a case study. It shows that being a member of P’KWI has a significantly positive impact on economic wellbeing, knowledge and adoption of agronomic practices, especially among women. Co-operative membership has a particularly strong positive impact on women’s decision making power at the household, group and community levels. Intra-household domestic and farm related labour divisions, however, did not change as a result of co-operative membership and remain disadvantageous for women. The article concludes that agricultural co-operatives can make a significant difference for women’s empowerment, provided that they actively and consistently address the bottlenecks to achieve gender equality.

Farmers Adoption Scenarios for the Control of Cassava Mosaic Disease under the Cassava Enterprise Development Project in Enugu State, Nigeria

This study determined farmers’ adoption levels of the cassava varieties and value adding technologies introduced under the project. Data for the study were collected from 260 randomly selected respondents using interview schedule. Farmers’ adoption indices were used to summarize information on adoption levels, while exploratory factor analysis procedure using principal factor model with varimax rotation was used in grouping the major constraint factors to adoption. Results showed that farmers were still at the interest stage of the adoption of the cassava mosaic disease (CMD) resistant varieties ( = 2.44), cassava processing innovations ( = 2.32), and improved marketing methods ( = 2.25). Farmers were at the evaluation stage in the adoption of agronomic practices ( = 3.27) while, processors were at the evaluation stage in both processing and improved marketing innovations ( = 3.43 and 3.12 respectively). However, they were at interest stage ( = 2.84) in the adoption of the value adding technologies. Public and private extension agencies should therefore be encouraged to continue the extension service delivery of the CEDP innovations for greater proportion of cassava farmers to adopt the new varieties for sustainable production of cassava in the country.

Social Capital and Adoption of Agronomic Practices: Theory and Findings

Social capital is a concept that captures ways that human relations support productive activities. The concept had a meteoric rise in academia during the 1990s and has been picked up more by multinational corporations who are using the concept to improve their production and brand. This study explores: (1) what are the common assumptions behind social capital research; (2) can social capital increase the adoption of agronomic technology and practice; and (3) can social capital be purposefully built? Tying practical questions to a deeper understandings of social capital is instructive for future social capital research, as it identifies productive ways of dealing with theoretical tensions in the literature.

Risk Management in Agriculture - A Case Study in Orissa

Risk is involved in agricultural production. In the present study, an attempt has been made to identify the various responses of farmers to risk management in agriculture in the study area. A multistage random sampling technique was adopted in the selection of the district, block, villages and respondents. The Dhankauda block of the Sambalpur district in Orissa was purposively selected based on maximum area under crops, and using the same criteria, two villages were selected. Final samples of 200 respondents were selected randomly for data collection. Data corresponded to the agricultural year 2006--2007. The findings of the study revealed that majority of the farmers were middle aged, males, belonging to the backward caste, living in a joint family, literate and above, agricultural profession, marginal and small categories of farmers and having less income. There were 192 respondents who agreed that agricultural enterprise is a risky business. Nearly 76% of the respondents agreed that, risk in agriculture is minimised at the farm level/household level; while 24% of respondents disagreed on the reduction of risk. Almost 88% of the respondents had shown a great concern on the main causes of crop failure in their locality. In the study area, it revealed that nearly 74.50% of respondents expressed that the National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS) protect the farmers against their crop losses, whereas 25.5% of respondents disagreed against NAIS. The above efforts could have helped the respondents to understand the risk in agriculture in a better way and develop various suggestive measures towards minimising the risk in agriculture. The results clearly show that overwhelming majority of the respondents (90%) agree that the crop diversification will help to avoid risk in agriculture. Further, it could be noted that 87.50% of the respondents agreed about the adoption of agronomic practices to minimise the risk in agriculture. Almost 88.50% of the farmers agreed that insurance is necessary to protect the farmers against their losses. It was also observed that nearly 136 respondents agreed regarding the fact that utmost care should be taken while selling the farm products at different points of time, whereas 64 respondents disagreed about this matter. About 84.50% of the respondents agreed, according to their concern for government price policies and programmes, to avoid market risk management in agriculture. The findings clearly indicate that the respondents in the study area are very much concerned about minimising the risk in agriculture. Intensive extension efforts should be made to convince the farmers towards risk management in agriculture. Moreover, formulating and standardising appropriate techniques to minimise risk in the farming sector for achieving better economic growth in a sustainable approach are required.

Environmental factors affecting the expression of apple (Malus × domestica L. Borkh) allergen-encoding genes

SummaryApples can cause allergic reactions in the worldwide population because of the presence of four classes of allergens (Mal d 1, Mal d 2, Mal d 3, and Mal d 4), and their cross-reactivity with sensitising allergens in other species. Knowledge of the factors that affect the allergenic potential of apples would provide important information to apple growers and consumers for the adoption of agronomic practices to decrease the allergenic potential, and for the consumption of fruits with reduced levels of allergens. Expression studies on apple genes that encode allergens were performed by means of real-time PCR. Samples were collected from fruit in different trials set up to assess the effects of shading, elevation, storage, and water stress on the expression of apple allergen genes. Shading, elevation, and storage significantly affected the transcription of all genes encoding allergens, whereas water stress had only a slight influence on the expression of the Mal d 4 family of genes. The implications of these results for growers and consumers are critically discussed.