Conventional Crops Research Articles

Woody perennial polycultures increase ant diversity and ant-mediated ecosystem services compared to conventional corn-soybean rotations

The role plant diversity has played in regulating insect communities has been of interest for decades. Recent syntheses from agroecosystems suggest increasing plant diversity can positively affect beneficial insects like predators, reducing pest pressure and increasing yield. However, the agricultural landscape of the Midwestern United States is dominated by just two crops—corn and soybean—which cover approximately 180 million acres of arable land yearly. New ideas to conserve wildlife that additionally provide economic opportunities for farmers must be developed in order to promote sustainable and resilient ecosystems. Here we tested the capacity of an alternative cropping system to support more diverse insect populations than conventional cropping systems. We quantified differences in the diversity of an insect taxon, ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), over an annual cycle using pitfall traps in thirty-two 2-m2 plots of either woody perennial polycultures that contained apples, chestnuts, currants, hazelnuts, and raspberries or conventional corn-soybean rotations. In doing so, we found that woody perennial polycultures supported 2.4-fold more ant species and maintained a unique fauna of specialist and predatory ants. The observed differences in diversity were linked to higher levels of predation as 18.2-fold more sentinel prey were consumed during each month of the growing season. Combined, our results suggest that agricultural landscapes in the Midwestern United States can be modified to support important beneficial insects like ants while still producing commodities that can be economically beneficial to farmers.

Digital Agriculture System for Crop Prediction Based on Machine Learning

Agriculture is the number one source of livelihood for approximately 58 percent of India’s population and is the most crucial part of GDP. Indian farming is based totally on economic advantages from crop yields, but now day’s agricultural generation has failed to verified satisfactory crop choice techniques and to boom crop yield in all over India. So, lower in crop yield will increase the trouble in farmer’s monetary health situations. So, it will become the maximum trending hassle for our agricultural region to invent such noble technique to advocate super appropriate crop for a particular region. To reap high-quality appropriate crop desire for areas primarily based on parameters like soil conditions, rainfall and weather we have got applied gadget studying method. Secondary hassle is lack of understanding or absence of steering even as farming. Lack of guidance in Indian farmers may follow incorrect farming strategies or inefficient traditional strategies. Most of farmers are uneducated and non-technical backgrounds so they'll be relying on conventional crop choice and farming techniques which falls them into reasonable loss. With the assist of disorder assessment tool, we predict the crop disease prediction and propose the precaution from the ones illnesses. Last and most essential hassle isn't any right marketplace assessment at the equal time as cultivation of any unique crop, which can also reason a cheap lack of farmers.

Mortality of Orius insidiosus by contact with spinosad in the laboratory as well as in the field and a perspective of these as controllers of Frankliniella occidentalis.

Orius insidiosus, known as the pirate bug, is widely distributed throughout the Americas. It is employed for the biological control of Frankliniella occidentalis in organic berry crops in Mexico. In conventional crops, spinosad is the main control method for this pest. The LD50 of spinosad on O. insidiosus was determined. In addition, we monitored the population density of F. occidentalis in blackberry crops under two types of management (biochemical+mass trapping, and biological control). The LD50 was 225.65 ppm 3.8 times greater than the 60 ppm dose commonly used in blackberry crops. Both types of control are efficient; however, spinosad is less effective and should be combined with other environmentally friendly strategies. The possibility of combining chromatic traps+spinosad application and chromatic traps+strategic release of O. insidiosus to effectively control thrips without compromising fruit quality is discussed.

Quality Enhancement of Fruits and Vegetables through Organic Cultivation: A Review

Organic farming, which essentially excludes the use of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, is becoming popular worldwide. The covid-19 pandemic has positively impacted on the market due to growing awareness towards the healthy and nutritional diets. As a result, demand for organic fruits and vegetables has increased over the world. Organic fruits and vegetables are in higher demand than ever before, owing to lower production and rising global consumption. However, due to the high cost of production, organic fruit and vegetable supply is limited in comparison to demand. Several experiments were conducted for comparing the organic and conventional fruits and vegetables quality. The results obtained from the studies showed Vitamins like ascorbic acid and beta carotene, Total polyphenols, dry matter accumulation, fiber content and Total Soluble Solids were higher in organic fruits and vegetables than conventional farming. Other mineral nutrient contents like Ca, Mg, K, Cu, Fe, Zn, PO4, SO4 were found similar both in organic and conventional farm produce. Cooking of organic vegetables at high temperatures is not preferable because it shows higher polyphenols losses during cooking than conventional produces. Heavy metals contamination, pesticide residues, ammonium and nitrate contents were lower in organic produce than conventional crops. Organic foods are better for the environment and more nutritious. It can be concluded that organic crops have a lower amount of contaminants, but a higher quality compared to conventional crops.

Modelling human health risks from pesticide use in innovative legume-cereal intercropping systems in Mediterranean conditions

BackgroundThe adoption of innovative cropping systems with low pesticide inputs would reduce environmental degradation and dependency on the use of plant protection products. Evaluating the pesticide risk to human health is a growing concern in the assessment of the sustainability of cropping practices. The assessment of human health risks linked to pesticide use in either conventional or innovative cropping systems is poorly documented in the literature. ObjectivesThis study focused on the assessment of pesticide exposure and human health risks from pesticide use in arable cropping systems (two monoculture and one intercropping system) associated with the use of various tillage practices (conventional tillage, reduced tillage, and no tillage). MethodsHuman exposure (operators and residents) and health risks from pesticide use were assessed and compared between three conventional and six innovative cropping systems. We used the previously published BROWSE (Bystanders, Residents, Operators, and WorkerS Exposure) model based on data collected from interviews with the farmers and expert knowledge to compare the human health risk from pesticide use in the Setif area. Environmental conditions and the physical characteristics of the farmers were collected on three different farms from 2019 to 2021. ResultsThe modelling results demonstrate that human exposure to pesticides was systematically high under conservation tillage (no or reduced tillage) and monoculture cropping (pea and barley) conditions. It was also confirmed that operators experienced the highest cumulated exposure to pesticides (56 mg kg−1 bw day−1), followed by resident children seven days after pesticide application (0.66 mg kg−1 bw day−1). BROWSE simulations showed that dermal absorption was the most dominant route and represented more than 98% of the total amount of pesticides applied in all cropping × tillage system combinations. Regarding the overall results of the simulated human health risk, barley-pea intercropping was the most interesting system to reduce the risks for both operators and residents for all tillage practices. In addition, intercropping combined with conventional tillage was the most sustainable cropping system in terms of both agronomic performance (crop yield, Land Equivalent Ratio) and human health risk. Furthermore, the availability of advanced crop protection equipment was associated with a significant decrease in exposure and human health risk for both operators and residents. ConclusionsThe prediction of human health risks using BROWSE could help farmers to make the decision to adopt conventional barley-pea intercropping as a good alternative to barley monocultures and pea monocultures under conservation tillage.

Use of Gamma Radiation for the Genetic Improvement of Underutilized Plant Varieties.

Agricultural biodiversity includes many species that have biological variants (natives, ecotypes, races, morphotypes). Their use is restricted to local areas because they do not fulfill the commercial requirements; however, it is well documented that these species are a source of metabolites, proteins, enzymes, and genes. Rescuing and harnessing them through traditional genetic breeding is time-consuming and expensive. Inducing mutagenesis may be a short-time option for its genetic improvement. A review of outstanding research was carried out, in order to become familiar with gene breeding using gamma radiation and its relevance to obtain outstanding agronomic characteristics for underutilized species. An approach was made to the global panorama of the application of gamma radiation in different conventional crop species and in vitro cultivated species, in order to obtain secondary metabolites, as well as molecular tools used for mutation screening. The varied effects of gamma radiation are essentially the result of the individual responses and phenotypic plasticity of each organism. However, even implicit chance can be reduced with specific genetic breeding, environmental adaptation, or conservation objectives.

Parcel-Level Mapping of Horticultural Crop Orchards in Complex Mountain Areas Using VHR and Time-Series Images

Accurate and reliable farmland crop mapping is an important foundation for relevant departments to carry out agricultural management, crop planting structure adjustment and ecological assessment. The current crop identification work mainly focuses on conventional crops, and there are few studies on parcel-level mapping of horticultural crops in complex mountainous areas. Using Miaohou Town, China, as the research area, we developed a parcel-level method for the precise mapping of horticultural crops in complex mountainous areas using very-high-resolution (VHR) optical images and Sentinel-2 optical time-series images. First, based on the VHR images with a spatial resolution of 0.55 m, the complex mountainous areas were divided into subregions with their own independent characteristics according to a zoning and hierarchical strategy. The parcels in the different study areas were then divided into plain, greenhouse, slope and terrace parcels according to their corresponding parcel characteristics. The edge-based model RCF and texture-based model DABNet were subsequently used to extract the parcels according to the characteristics of different regions. Then, Sentinel-2 images were used to construct the time-series characteristics of different crops, and an LSTM algorithm was used to classify crop types. We then designed a parcel filling strategy to determine the categories of parcels based on the classification results of the time-series data, and accurate parcel-level mapping of a horticultural crop orchard in a complex mountainous area was finally achieved. Based on visual inspection, this method appears to effectively extract farmland parcels from VHR images of complex mountainous areas. The classification accuracy reached 93.01%, and the Kappa coefficient was 0.9015. This method thus serves as a methodological reference for parcel-level horticultural crop mapping and can be applied to the development of local precision agriculture.

RANC-CROP Recommendation Attributed to Soil Nutrients and Stock Analysis Using Machine Learning

Agriculture is India's greatest wealth, which also contributes to the country's economic development and defines the standard of living for more than 50 percent of the Indian population. In addition to this conventional crop, more are grown and have high dependency, such as wheat and rice. Farmers face many problems where sustainability is of primary importance in agriculture. To solve the issue, we propose to develop a “RANC (Recommendation Analysis by Soil Nutrients of Crops) Crop Recommendation Tool” web application that will help farmers generate their high income with effective crop cultivation along with the suggestion of organic fertilizer by providing up-to - date stock information, Soil Test Report, crop yield time and nutritional value of each crop. The RANC algorithm is used to pick crops and the Deep Neural Network is used for price prediction to improve the farmer’s choice of crops for cultivation with a high benefit. In the case of crop selection, an existing model uses the Soil Test Report to generate the quantity of fertilizers needed to expand. We use SVM for linear data regressions and ANN, RNN, RBM for non-linear data in the case of price estimation in stock analysis. From the experimental results, the prediction accuracy over 90% has been achieved for the proposed approach.

Long‐term yields in annual and perennial bioenergy crops in the Midwestern United States

AbstractMany yield predictions in perennial bioenergy species have been made based on data collected during the establishment phase of growth or a limited number of long‐term studies. Few studies compare multiple perennial crops with the dominant agricultural vegetation of the landscape over long time periods. Here, we present the results of 11 years of perennial crop management on fertile agricultural soils in central Illinois, compared with conventional row crop maize/soybean (Zea mays L., Glycine max L.) production. We examined the long‐term productivity and drought susceptibility of Miscanthus x giganteus Greef et. Deu. ex. Hodkinson et Renvoize (miscanthus), Panicum virgatum L., Cave‐in‐Rock cultivar (switchgrass), and a native prairie mix, in contrast to annual maize/soybean agriculture. Long‐term yields for miscanthus and switchgrass failed to reach initial predictions made during the establishment phase; however, in miscanthus, the 11th year of production shows little progressive yield loss with age, exceeding the modeled limit for the onset of age‐related decline. Harvest timing and differences in yields from hand and machine harvests in perennial crops likely contribute to overestimates of potential yields. Application of fertilizer to mature miscanthus resulted in significant increases in yield after a severe drought, though modeled effects of management and drought in miscanthus point to a more complex mechanism for yield response.

Effects of the reduction in chemical fertilizers on soil phosphatases encoding genes (phoD and phoX) under crop residue mulching

Phosphorus (P) within crop residues is released to soils and thus is expected to partially replace the application of chemical P. However, whether and how P availability responds to a reduction in chemical P under crop residue mulching is still poorly understood. In this study, conventional chemical fertilizer (NPK), NPK plus crop residue (NPKStr), NPKStr combined with 20% reduction in only chemical P (NPmKStr) and NPKStr combined with 20% reduction in chemical NPK fertilizers (mNPKStr) were used. The abundance and diversity of the phoD and phoX genes encoding phosphatases were evaluated using quantitative PCR and high-throughput sequencing. The results showed that variations in the abundance and α-diversity were detected in phoD rather than phoX, while the composition of phoX-harbouring bacterial communities changed between treatments. Specifically, NPmKStr resulted in an increase in the abundance and α-diversity of phoD while mNPKStr stimulated phoD abundance. In addition, NPmKStr decreased the activities of alkaline phosphomonoesterases (ALPs) and mNPKStr increased phosphodiesterase (PDE) activities. Moreover, phoD- and phoX-harbouring bacterial species were highly correlated, especially bridged by particular species belonging to Alphaproteobacteria and Cyanobacteria, in response to reduced amounts of chemical fertilizer. Last, structural equation modelling suggested that the activities of both ALP and PDE showed negative feedback towards increased available P by virtue of phoX-harbouring bacterial species. These results indicated that a balanced reduction in chemical fertilizers may be more reasonable for maintaining the ability to hydrolyse organic P under crop residue mulching and that phoX played an intermediary role in this process.

Genetic Variability for Early Growth Traits in Second Season Sunflower

Sowing a second season crop following the harvest of a first crop (hereafter referred to as double cropping) is a practice that allows for temporal diversification of cropping systems to increase the efficiency of land use and yield per unit area while improving the ecosystem services. Sunflower is particularly suitable for double cropping, especially under the current context of Southern Europe. However, planting sunflower in double cropping may result in poor establishment as the crop is very demanding in terms of seedbed preparations. In addition, most sunflower varieties available to date belong to late maturity groups (MGs), which were bred for conventional cropping. Planting these varieties in double cropping may further exacerbate the risk of crop establishment failure. Here, we performed laboratory and growth chamber phenotyping of 11 hybrid oilseed sunflower varieties with contrasting MGs and assessed their field performance for two consecutive years (2020 and 2021). We measured the variables, such as seed germination, seedling emergence dynamics and final rates, and post-emergence damage, as these characteristics are important for a uniform and robust crop establishment. Under laboratory conditions, we found statistically significant effect of varieties on cardinal temperatures and water potential for germination. Under growth chamber conditions, the maximum heterotrophic growth of the hypocotyl was higher (i.e., 85 mm) compared to that of the radicle (i.e., 80 mm). The seedling mortality rates under soil aggregates ranged from 0 to 12%, depending on the size and spatial distribution of soil aggregates in the seedbed. Under field conditions, the final rates of seed germination ranged from 87 to 98% and from 99 to 100%, while those of the seedling emergence ranged from 58 to 87% and from 78 to 94%, in 2020 and 2021, respectively. The average final rates of postemergence damage ranged from 13 to 44% and from 3 to 18% in 2020 and 2021, respectively. Bird damage was the main cause of pre- and postemergence losses. We found that a good sunflower establishment in double cropping is possible in the southwestern conditions of France, provided that there is no water stress in the seedbed. An optimal seedbed moisture ensures a rapid crop emergence and limits pre-and postemergence damage due to birds, by reducing the duration of the crop establishment phase, which is highly vulnerable to bird damage.

Determining the costs, revenues, and cost-share payments for the “floodwise” program: Nature-based solutions to mitigate flooding in eastern, rural North Carolina

FloodWise is a pilot project that proposes innovative new approaches for flood disaster resilience by applying nature-based solutions (NBS) in Eastern North Carolina to control water runoff for brief periods after major storm events. We collected production and cost data from primary or secondary sources and used discounted cash flow and capital budgeting procedures at a 6% discount rate for NBS practices to estimate the amounts of payments necessary for farmland owners to break even to adopt NBS practices. Conventional crop farming was profitable already on suitable lands and served as the business as usual (BAU) case to compare to selected NBS practices. Warm-season pasture, loblolly pine forests and agroforestry, and no-till farming exceeded the 6% hurdle rate. Other conventional farm practices of hardpan breakup, cool-season pastures and trees, and bottomland hardwoods would require total payments of up to $600/acre to break even at 6%. Modifications of existing conservation practices, such as stream buffers, cover crops, silvopasture, and tile outlet terraces and tiling, fell in the second tier of total costs of up to $1,512/acre. Major NBS projects that required substantial earthmoving and flood control structures were more expensive - $3,734/acre for water farming (i.e., retention) with berms, $13,252/acre for a forest wetland bank, and about $88,000/acre for a major flood control wetland - and would displace most of the existing area for farm and forest management. However, larger floodwater structure projects could store more water for more extended periods; these storage quantities and benefits need to be assessed in future research.

Improvements in soil health and soil carbon sequestration by an agroforestry for food production system

Woody perennial cropping systems have the potential to produce food while maintaining or improving soil health relative to annual cropping systems. We used space-for-time substitution to assess soil health improvements by a Chinese chestnut – pawpaw agroforestry (AF) system in Iowa, USA relative to corn – soybean rotation (CSR), representing conventional annual crop management, and secondary forest (SF), which served as a natural woody perennial ecosystem reference point for improved soil health. We also compared several Chinese chestnut (Castanea mollisima Blume) and pawpaw (Asima trilobal (L.) Dunal) AF guilds, including single and double density chestnut monoculture, pawpaw monoculture, and chestnut and pawpaw polyculture, to evaluate the effects of tree density versus diversity on soil health. We found significant improvements in biogeochemical metrics of soil health for a mature (24 years old) AF system established on fields previously in annual crop production, relative to an adjacent no-till CSR system. Surface soil (0–30 cm depth) total and microbial stocks of carbon and nitrogen in the agroforestry system were greater in AF than in CSR, but less than in the SF. Soil carbon stocks down to one meter increased from CSR (62.7 Mg C ha-1 ± 3.22 SE) to AF (72.1 Mg C ha-1 ± 2.23 SE) and SF systems (80.8 Mg C ha-1 ± 4.46 SE), but did not differ between the two perennial systems. Acid - base chemistry in surface soils was similar between AF and CSR, but SF ecosystems had significantly higher pH, CECe, and percent base saturation than both cropping systems. We found few effects of AF guild (i.e. groupings of woody crop species) on the biogeochemical metrics of soil health, suggesting that modest increases in woody perennial crop density and diversity did not lead to further improvements to soil health. Overall, land conversion to agroforestry from annual crop production improved soil health and increased soil carbon sequestration.

Soil organic matter pools response to perennial grain cropping and nitrogen fertilizer

Carbon sequestration in agricultural soils can play a pivotal role in the mitigation of accelerating climate change. Our research evaluated a continuum of agricultural cropping systems, including innovative perennial grain cropping, to assess which systems promote increases in and stabilization of soil organic matter (SOM). In comparison with conventional annual cropping systems, perennial grain cropping may be conducive to increased C accrual resulting from no-tillage management, longer growing seasons, and extensive root growth associated with these novel systems. Furthermore, the effects of N fertilizer addition on SOM dynamics under contrasting cropping systems were examined. We conducted physical SOM fractionation into particulate (POM) and mineral-associated organic matter (MAOM) in samples taken over two years from two experimental sites in Central Alberta, Canada. Five contrasting cropping systems (perennial-forage, perennial-grain, fall-grain, spring-grain and fallow) both with and without N fertilizer were tested. Our findings demonstrate that perennial-grain cropping was consistently superior in sequestering SOM-C compared to annual-grain crops at the surface soil layer (0–15 cm depth, Ps< 0.05). Over the duration of this experiment, perennial-grain cropping considerably boosted C accumulation in the recalcitrant SOM pools as represented by increasing MAOM, particularly at the Edmonton site, which is characterized by a clay-rich, Black Chernozemic soil (MAOM: 41.5 and 45.3 g C kg−1 in annual and perennial crops, respectively, P < 0.05). However, recurrent N fertilizer additions diminished C sequestration by perennial-grain cropping in both POM and MAOM fractions (Ps< 0.05). Correlation analysis indicated that accrual and allocation of C within the soil profile was more closely related to aboveground crop biomass productivity as opposed to root growth, particularly for generating more intermediate-labile POM. Our results shed light on how to achieve greater soil C sequestration as a function of cropping system options, N fertilizer addition and underlying soil texture.

The Environmental Impact of Poplar Stand Management: A Life Cycle Assessment Study of Different Scenarios

The circular economy will play an important role in the reduction of carbon emissions and poplar might be one of the winning choices according to sustainable development. As for agricultural crops, high-quality production is strictly related to genetic variability and best management practice. The main objective of this study was to analyze different stand management options to quantify differences on carbon emission and environmental impacts. Moreover, the study was focused on the assessment of differences between standard poplar management for veneer and poplar management according to sustainable production (such as the PEFC certification scheme). The system boundaries embraced fertilization (inorganic or organic), agricultural operations, machinery, and field emissions associated with poplar cultivation. The environmental impacts were quantified by a life cycle assessment (LCA) calculation using SIMAPRO software v8.0 with different databases. The primary data of poplar stands were collected during a decades-long Italian experience. A reduction of carbon emissions was observed in the stand managed with MSA clones (Case “Mezzi PEFC”), and negative emissions were observed due to organic fertilization (scenarios 7m-29 t CO2-eq ha−1 and 26M-129 t CO2-eq ha−1). In all cultivation scenarios, the environmental impacts were lower than conventional crops in the study area, such as corn. A higher impact was observed in the 26M scenario with oversized machinery for stand management. These data can also contribute to poplar stand modeling and represent a basis for future research developments in this field.

Application of ammonium to a N limited arable soil enriches a succession of bacteria typically found in the rhizosphere

Crop residue management and tillage are known to affect the soil bacterial community, but when and which bacterial groups are enriched by application of ammonium in soil under different agricultural practices from a semi-arid ecosystem is still poorly understood. Soil was sampled from a long-term agronomic experiment with conventional tilled beds and crop residue retention (CT treatment), permanent beds with crop residue burned (PBB treatment) or retained (PBC) left unfertilized or fertilized with 300 kg urea-N ha−1 and cultivated with wheat (Triticum durum L.)/maize (Zea mays L.) rotation. Soil samples, fertilized or unfertilized, were amended or not (control) with a solution of (NH4)2SO4 (300 kg N ha−1) and were incubated aerobically at 25 ± 2 °C for 56 days, while CO2 emission, mineral N and the bacterial community were monitored. Application of NH4+ significantly increased the C mineralization independent of tillage-residue management or N fertilizer. Oxidation of NH4+ and NO2− was faster in the fertilized soil than in the unfertilized soil. The relative abundance of Nitrosovibrio, the sole ammonium oxidizer detected, was higher in the fertilized than in the unfertilized soil; and similarly, that of Nitrospira, the sole nitrite oxidizer. Application of NH4+ enriched Pseudomonas, Flavisolibacter, Enterobacter and Pseudoxanthomonas in the first week and Rheinheimera, Acinetobacter and Achromobacter between day 7 and 28. The application of ammonium to a soil cultivated with wheat and maize enriched a sequence of bacterial genera characterized as rhizospheric and/or endophytic independent of the application of urea, retention or burning of the crop residue, or tillage.

Essential Oil Composition and Bioactive Properties of Lemon Balm Aerial Parts as Affected by Cropping System and Irrigation Regime

The ongoing climate crisis necessitates the sustainable use of natural resources and the adoption of environmentally friendly agronomic practices. Deficit irrigation is an ecofriendly technique that allows for the improvement in the water use efficiency of crops. On the other hand, medicinal and aromatic crops, which usually have an innate tolerance to harsh conditions, are suitable candidates for cultivation under low-input cropping systems. In the present study, Melissa officinalis plants were cultivated under conventional and organic cropping systems, while in each system two irrigation regimes (full irrigation or deficit irrigation) were tested. The aerial parts of the plants were evaluated in terms of growth and physiological parameters, chemical composition, antioxidant activity, essential oil yield and essential oil composition. Our results indicate that prolonged water stress after two deficit irrigation cycles had detrimental effects on the plant growth and biomass production, whereas it significantly increased the essential oil yield, regardless of the cropping system (organic or conventional cultivation). The recorded physiological parameters are in agreement with morphological features, especially the stomatal conductance, which was significantly reduced under deficit irrigation for both cultivation systems, revealing that the growth inhibition was the result of stomatal closure and carbon dioxide deprivation. Deficit irrigation and organic cultivation also increased total phenol and total flavonoid content, especially in the second harvest, thus resulting in higher antioxidant activity assayed by the FRAP method. In contrast, DPPH and ABTS methods did not show any differences among the tested treatments in the second harvest, which suggests that other bioactive compounds are also involved in the overall antioxidant mechanism of lemon balm plants, as indicated by the increased ascorbic acid content. Regarding the essential oil composition, the major detected compounds were geranial and neral and, although they were both increased under the organic cropping in the first harvest, the same trend was not observed in the second harvest. Finally, a variable effect of cropping system and irrigation regime on minerals content was recorded. In conclusion, deficit irrigation is an ecofriendly practice that could be applied in conventional and organic cropping systems of lemon balm crops, aiming to reduce irrigation water consumption and compensate for reduced herb yields with increased essential oil yield and polyphenol content.

Agroforestry systems as new strategy for bioenergy — Case example of Czech Republic

The paper deals with the analysis of economic efficiency of innovative agroforestry systems (AFS) using coppiced tree belts (CTB), which combine the advantages of traditional alley cropping with the short rotation coppice (dense plantation of fast-growing trees for biomass — SRC) on an agricultural field. We have analyzed and compared such innovative agroforestry system (AFS-CTB) with conventional food crops production in conventional 4 crop year rotation (winter barley, winter wheat, rapeseed and corn). The minimum price of production, (based on net present value criterion), was performed to enable simultaneous assessment of annual and perennial crops over time in order to obtain also economic evaluation and comparison. Our results show that AFS-CTB generate similar income and profits as from conventional annual crops when cultivating on suitable sites and adhering to good farming principles.

EVALUATING SPLIT TIMING FERTILIZER APPLICATIONS FOR IMPROVING BREAD BAKING QUALITY OF SOFT RED WINTER WHEAT IN KENTUCKY

There is growing interest among farmers to locally produce high protein and strong gluten wheat that is suitable for bread making and meet the demand of local artisanal bakers in Kentucky. The warm and humid weather in southeast region is ideal for soft red winter wheat (SRW) production which characterized by low protein content. The technique of splitting nitrogen (N) fertilization according to the growth stages has been suggested to improve protein content and its composition. This study evaluated the effect of split N application on yield and baking quality traits of two SRW wheat cultivars grown in the eastern U.S. region in conventional and organic cropping systems. One landrace (Purple Straw) and one modern cultivar (Pembroke 2014 ) were grown under three split N application treatments (ST1, ST2 and ST3). Late N applications (ST3) significantly increased protein content for both years by 5.45% and 6.11% respectively compared to a single application; however, this treatment decreased yield. Cropping system had consistent effects in that conventional system exceeded organic system except for thousand kernel weight. Conventional system had greater yield by 16.11% and 20.17% respectively for both years than organic system. Similarly, sedimentation value (a baking quality trait) was greater by 14.27% and 11.12% respectively in conventional than organic system. This study has generally found improvement in protein content by N application on soft red winter wheat. In addition, more studies should be done in organic system to examine other baking quality traits.

Monitoring and Inference of Behavioral Resistance in Beneficial Insects to Insecticides in Two Pest Control Systems: IPM and Organic

Pyrethrins are the most widely used insecticide class in olive groves with organic management. Although there are data sets about insect pests of stored products and human parasites developing resistance to pyrethrins, there is no information on the long-term effect on olive agroecosystems. A field method based on the experimental induction of sublethal effects by means of insecticide application, and the monitoring of the response of insects through post-treatment sampling, has recently been developed. This method has allowed for the detection of populations behaviorally resistant to organophosphates in integrated pest management (IPM) and conventional crops. With the application of a similar methodology, this study aimed to verify the possible reaction of natural enemies in organic crops, using pyrethrins as an inducing insecticide. The study was carried out in 2019 in two olive groves in southern Spain (Jaén, Andalusia), one of them being IPM and the other being an organic production system. The results did not allow for verification of the behavioral resistance in populations of natural enemies of both IPM and organic management against pyrethrins, while against dimethoate, behavioral resistance was verified in IPM management. The possible causes involved in obtaining these results are discussed.