Evergreen Agriculture Research Articles

Isolation and Characterization of Potassium-Solubilizing Rhizobacteria (KSR) Promoting Cotton Growth in Saline-Sodic Regions.

Cotton is highly sensitive to potassium, and Xinjiang, China's leading cotton-producing region, faces a severe challenge due to reduced soil potassium availability. Biofertilizers, particularly potassium-solubilizing rhizobacteria (KSR), convert insoluble potassium into plant-usable forms, offering a sustainable solution for evergreen agriculture. This study isolated and characterized KSR from cotton, elucidated their potassium solubilization mechanisms, and evaluated the effects of inoculating KSR strains on cotton seedlings. Twenty-three KSR strains were isolated from cotton rhizosphere soil using modified Aleksandrov medium. Their solubilizing capacities were assessed in a liquid medium. Strain A10 exhibited the highest potassium solubilization capacity (21.8 ppm) by secreting organic acids such as lactic, citric, acetic, and succinic acid, lowering the pH and facilitating potassium release. A growth curve analysis and potassium solubilization tests of A10 under alkali stress showed its vigorous growth and maintained solubilization ability at pH 8-9, with significant inhibition at pH 10. Furthermore, 16S rRNA sequencing identified strain A10 as Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Greenhouse pot experiments showed that inoculating cotton plants with strain A10 significantly increased plant height and promoted root growth. This inoculation also enhanced dry biomass accumulation in both the aerial parts and root systems of the plants, while reducing the root-shoot ratio. These results suggest that Pseudomonas aeruginosa A10 has potential as a biofertilizer, offering a new strategy for sustainable agriculture.

Analysis of the role of leadership style in improving employee performance

This research aims to determine the role of leadership style in improving employee performance at PT. Indonesia Evergreen Agriculture. This study used qualitative research methods. The informants in this research were 6 informants consisting of 1 head of HR, 2 production staff, 2 marketing staff, 1 general affairs staff of PT. Indonesia Evergreen Agriculture. The data collection methods used were interviews and documentation. The collected data was analyzed descriptively by carrying out data reduction, data presentation, and drawing conclusions. The results of this research show that the role of leadership style in improving employee performance at PT. Indonesia Evergreen Agriculture is very good, proven by making decisions based on Company Regulations so that it is fair for the Company and employees, leaders always provide motivation to employees in various ways such as group notes, employee training and appreciation, communication carried out by superiors towards employees through special communication groups such as information exchange of shifts between employees. The way leaders control employees is by providing an understanding of company regulations and the rules of the employment service. A supervisor is a person who is responsible for paying attention to his employees in relation to (Key Performance Indicators) as one of the superior's considerations in making decisions regarding responsibilities. Responsible as a superior with subordinates, the superior has a patient and firm nature, that his emotions only revolve around if the employee makes a mistake and will receive a verbal warning, not with violent action, if the mistake is big then the Company Regulations will be enforced.

Green manures in agriculture: A review

Restoration of soil fertility of arable land is a great challenge in the developing and populous countries like India. The country witnessed the benefits Green Revolution Technologies (GRTs) in boosting of grain yield and the after effect of GRTs during past few decades in terms of deterioration of soil fertility and land degradation, loss of soil flora and fauna, genetic erosion, ecological unbalance, yield plateauing and associated insecurity in livelihood of the farmers. Now maintenance of soil fertility and sustainability of agriculture production are of important concerns. Green manuring can play an important role in this regard as it showed versatile impacts like improvement of soil physico-chemical and biological properties and fertility, nutrient supply to succeeding crops, checking erosion and plant protection. The previous research activities on various aspects of green manures were reviewed here in favour of evergreen agriculture for the future.

Can Organic Sources of Nutrients Increase Crop Yields to Meet Global Food Demand?

Meeting global demand of safe and healthy food for the ever-increasing population now and into the future is currently a crucial challenge. Increasing crop production by preserving environment and mitigating climate change should thus be the main goal of today’s agriculture. Conventional farming is characterized by use of high-yielding varieties, irrigation water, chemical fertilizers and synthetic pesticides to increase yields. However, due to either over- or misuse of chemical fertilizers or pesticides in many agro-ecosystems, such farming is often blamed for land degradation and environmental pollution and for adversely affecting the health of humans, plants, animals and aquatic ecosystems. Of all inputs required for increased agricultural production, nutrients are considered to be the most important ones. Organic farming, with use of organic sources of nutrients, is proposed as a sustainable strategy for producing safe, healthy and cheaper food and for restoring soil fertility and mitigating climate change. However, there are several myths and controversies surrounding the use of organic versus inorganic sources of nutrients. The objectives of this paper are: (i) to clarify some of the myths or misconceptions about organic versus inorganic sources of nutrients and (ii) to propose alternative solutions to increase on-farm biomass production for use as organic inputs for improving soil fertility and increasing crop yields. Common myths identified by this review include that organic materials/fertilizers can: (i) supply all required macro- and micro-nutrients for plants; (ii) improve physical, chemical and microbiological properties of soils; (iii) be applied universally on all soils; (iv) always produce quality products; (v) be cheaper and affordable; and (vi) build-up of large amount of soil organic matter. Other related myths are: “legumes can use entire amount of N2 fixed from atmosphere” and “bio-fertilizers increase nutrient content of soil.” Common myths regarding chemical fertilizers are that they: (i) are not easily available and affordable, (ii) degrade land, (iii) pollute environment and (iv) adversely affect health of humans, animals and agro-ecosystems. The review reveals that, except in some cases where higher yields (and higher profits) can be found from organic farming, their yields are generally 20–50% lower than that from conventional farming. The paper demonstrates that considering the current organic sources of nutrients in the developing countries, organic nutrients alone are not enough to increase crop yields to meet global food demand and that nutrients from inorganic and organic sources should preferably be applied at 75:25 ratio. The review identifies a new and alternative concept of Evergreen Agriculture (an extension of Agroforestry System), which has potential to supply organic nutrients in much higher amounts, improve on-farm soil fertility and meet nutrient demand of high-yielding crops, sequester carbon and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, provide fodder for livestock and fuelwood for farmers and has potential to meet global food demand. Evergreen Agriculture has been widely adapted by tens of millions of farmers in several African countries and the review proposes for evaluation and scaling-up of such technology in Asian and Latin American countries too.

Light and moisture levels affect growth and physiological parameters differently in Faidherbia albida (Delile) A. Chev. seedlings

The multipurpose tree Faidherbia albida, which is highly recommended for evergreen agriculture, lacks much more recent ecophysiological data. Due to climate change global temperatures are rising; droughts are more common as water is becoming less and less available. How will plants, especially F. albida respond to these changes? We, therefore, set out to understand the effects of varied light and moisture levels. One hundred and thirty-five (135) 120-day-old seedlings were exposed to different light (75, 43 and 16% of full sunlight) and moisture [100, 50 and 25% of field capacity (32.6 ml/100 g of soil)] levels for 12 weeks. There were significant light and water main effects on most growth parameters, below ground biomass (BGB), above ground biomass (AGB), root:shoot ratio (RSR), concentration of chlorophyll b and quantum efficiency of photosystem II of the seedlings. Significant interactions were only recorded on the number of leaves (NL), stem diameter (SD), below ground biomass (BGB) and above ground biomass (AGB). The best water use efficiency, WUE (2661 ml/g), was recorded in the high-light medium-moisture (HLMM) treatment. Our results show that F. albida is affected differently by the different light and moisture levels. There also exists high stress tolerance level. We, therefore, highly recommend it for incorporation into most farming systems even when shading of seedlings constitutes a major intercropping problem.

A Cure for Africa's Soil.

The article discusses efforts to counter the degradation of soil and its impact on agriculture in Africa. Emphasis is given to topics such as rebuilding soil with organic matter such as decomposed plant and animal matter, the technique of perenniation and evergreen agriculture, and the doubling up of legume crops for soil enrichment.

Factors Affecting Adoption of Agroforestry and Evergreen Agriculture in Southern Africa

This paper examines the factors that affect adoption of agroforestry and integrated soil fertility management (ISFM) practices in Southern Africa. Agroforestry practices, especially evergreen agriculture and conservation agriculture with trees have emerged as sustainable measures of addressing land degradation and loss of soil fertility. Although agroforestry is known to be beneficial to farmers and the environment, its adoption rate falls far behind the projected goals. The present study reviewed several publications on adoption of agroforestry in Southern Africa and complemented the review with household and key informant interviews to obtain evidence from farmers and promoters of the technologies on the factors affecting adoption. The study revealed that the major factors affecting adoption of agroforestry fall into two main categories of socioeconomic and biophysical factors. The factors are high initial costs of agroforestry practices (75%), low extension knowledge (69%); unavailability of agroforestry germplasm (69%) for economic, social and biophysical categories respectively. Up to 84% of the key informants indicated that awareness of the connection between agroforestry and land quality improvement could lead to wide scale adoption of the technology. We conclude that Government policies will strongly influence adoption of agroforestry technologies. There is need to institutionalise sustainable agricultural land management practices through policy formulation, budgetary allocation for extension officers and farmer training and starter up inputs. Promotion of agroforestry should be coupled with investment in awareness creation, farmer-centered approaches in selection of technology and provision of inputs in the initial stages. Strong collaboration among policy makers, researchers and extension providers will be required to harmonise messages to be delivered to farming communities.

Potassium solubilizing rhizobacteria (KSR): Isolation, identification, and K-release dynamics from waste mica

Injudicious application of chemical fertilizers in India has a considerable negative impact on economy and environmental sustainability. There is a growing need to turn back to nature or sustainable agents that promote evergreen agriculture. Among such natural bio-agents, the potassium solubilizing rhizobacteria (KSR), which solubilize fixed forms of potassium (K) to plant available K by various mechanisms including acidolysis, chelation, exchange reactions, complexolysis, and production of organic acids are considered one such available viable alternative. KSR represent an enormous potential to transform the problems associated with the agrarian sector. Twelve KSR were isolated from rhizosphere of common Kharif crops (maize, banana, sugarcane, potato, pigeon pea, and tobacco) based on their ability to solubilize waste mica (muscovite and biotite) in plate assay. All these KSR were capable of K-solubilization from waste mica in both solid and liquid medium in-vitro. On the basis of 16S ribosomal DNA (16S rDNA) sequencing, out of 12 KSR, 7 strains belonged to Agrobacterium tumefaciens species, 2 strains each representing Rhizobium pusense and Flavobacterium anhuiense clade, while one strain showed affiliation to Rhizobium rosettiformans. As a result, among the assessed 12 KSR, A. tumefaciens OPVS 11 and R. pusense OPVS6 occurred at the highest K-solubilizing frequency. Studies on mechanism of K-solubilization by these strains demonstrated significant reduction in media pH and increased K release with incubation period under both waste muscovite and biotite as a sole source of insoluble K mineral.

Evergreen Agriculture: a robust approach to sustainable food security in Africa

Producing more food for a growing population in the coming decades, while at the same time combating poverty and hunger, is a huge challenge facing African agriculture. The risks that come with climate change make this task more daunting. However, hundreds of thousands of rain fed smallholder farmers in Zambia, Malawi, Niger, and Burkina Faso have been shifting to farming systems that are restoring exhausted soils and are increasing food crop yields, household food security, and incomes. This article reviews these experiences, and their broader implications for African food security, as manifestations of Evergreen Agriculture, a fresh approach to achieving food security and environmental resilience. Evergreen Agriculture is defined as the integration of particular tree species into annual food crop systems. The intercropped trees sustain a green cover on the land throughout the year to maintain vegetative soil cover, bolster nutrient supply through nitrogen fixation and nutrient cycling, generate greater quantities of organic matter in soil surface residues, improve soil structure and water infiltration, increase greater direct production of food, fodder, fuel, fiber and income from products produced by the intercropped trees, enhance carbon storage both above-ground and below-ground, and induce more effective conservation of above- and below-ground biodiversity. Four national cases are reviewed where farmers are observed to be applying these principles on a major scale. The first case involves the experience of Zambia, where conservation farming programmes include the cultivation of food crops within an agroforest of the fertilizer tree Faidherbia albida. The second case is that of the Malawi Agroforestry Food Security Programme, which is integrating fertilizer, fodder, fruit, fuel wood, and timber tree production with food crops on small farms on a national scale. The third case is the dramatic expansion of Faidherbia albida agroforests in millet and sorghum production systems throughout Niger via assisted natural regeneration. The fourth case is the development of a unique type of planting pit technology (zai) along with farmer-managed natural regeneration of trees on a substantial scale in Burkina Faso. Lastly, we examine the current outlook for Evergreen Agriculture to be further adapted and scaled-up across the African continent.