Agricultural Science Commons^™

Adapting Livestock Production Systems To Climate Change In Nepal: Challenges And Opportunities, D. D. Poudel, R. P. Thakur, T. Duex, G. Blakewood, A. Singh, A. Deramus, B. Chapagain, K. Acharya, S. Adhikari, R. B. Gramling, N. Sharma

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

To assess climate change impacts and identify challenges and opportunities for livestock climate change adaption, we conducted a comprehensive study in the Thulokhola watershed of Nuwakot district in Nepal from June 1, 2011 to January 31, 2013. We established nine community livestock groups (CLGs) consisting of 51 members and trained the CLG members in daily livestock record keeping and monitoring surface water quality. Monthly fecal samples from 50 cattle, 50 goats, and 50 buffaloes were collected for the determination of gastrointestinal parasites. Soil and fodder samples were also collected and analyzed. Group discussions, Participatory Rural Appraisals, and full-fledged household survey …

Adaptation To Climate Change In Mixed Crop-Livestock Farming Systems In Developing Countries, Philip K. Thornton, Mario Herrero

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Globally, crop-livestock systems produce over 90% of the world's milk supply and 80% of the meat from ruminants. Mixed crop-livestock systems are particularly important for livelihoods and food security, as they provide most of the staples consumed by poor people. These systems will be under considerable pressure in the coming decades to help satisfy the burgeoning demand for food from rapidly increasing populations, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, where rural poverty and hunger are already concentrated. At the same time, the impacts of climate change will be increasingly heavily felt. Increases in temperatures and changes in the amounts …

Impacts Of Climate Change On Livestock Systems: What We Know And What We Don’T Know, Mark Howden, S. Schroeter, S. Crimp, C. Stokes

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Climate changes and the associated increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration are just two of many possible future drivers of change in grassland systems and whilst there are significant uncertainties around these, they are probably more effectively characterised than many other drivers. The challenge for grasslands systems research is not so much trying to precisely predict future climate in the face of unresolvable uncertainty but rather to work with decision-makers to enhance their decisions for a range of possible climates, build their capacity to make sound risk-based and informed decisions and increase the array of options available for adaptation. There …

Photosynthetic And Growth Response Of Triodia Pungens To Elevated Co2 Concentration, Lisa Xian, Susanne Schmidt, Fernanda Dreccer, Paul Memmott

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Triodia (“spinifex”) is a widely distributed endemic C4 grass genus in Australia. Triodia species form the hummock grasslands which is one of Australia’s dominant vegetation types covering approximately 30% of the continental land mass in the arid zone. Hummock grasslands are commonly used as rangelands and Triodia plays an important role in the ecosystem by providing habitat for arid fauna and maintaining arid lands vegetated.

Currently, Triodia survive extreme temperatures, water deficit and low nutrient availability. Predicted changes for Australia’s arid climate under elevated atmospheric CO₂ (eCO₂) include reduction in rainfall and higher daily average temperatures in …

Crop Production Simulation And Analysis Of Climate Scenarios Based On The Apsim Model For The Long Term Run Of The Western Loess Plateau, Xuan Yang, Yuying Shen

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

The APSIM model is an effective tool for making decisions on agricultural management. The model can simulate the biophysical process in farming systems, particularly economic and ecological features of the systems under climatic risk (Keating et al. 1998). The APSIM model has previously been used in the Loess Plateau (Tan, 2007; Chen et al. 2008). Based on climate data from the Loess Plateau from 1961-2010, we simulated three commonly grown crops, wheat, maize and lucerne. Additionally, by applying three climate change scenarios, we attempted to determine the production risk in the future, and gain an understanding of the …

Fermentation Parameters Of Kikuyu Grass (Pennisetum Clandestinum) By In Vitro Gas Production Technique (Ivgpt), A. Marín, P. Giraldo, L. A. Giraldo

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Methane (CH₄) is a byproduct of ruminal fermentation whose production is directly related to forage quality, which in turn is affected by a myriad of environmental factors. In general the quality of pastures in the tropics range from medium to poor due to a high content of lignocellulosic material of low digestibility and a low content of other components, such as soluble carbohydrates and protein (Correa et al, 2008). CH₄ produced by enteric fermentation from cattle rumen represents a major source of greenhouse gases (GHG). By measuring these emissions the impact of dairy production systems on …

Identifying Target Traits For Forage Grass Breeding Under A Changing Climate In Norway Using The Basgra Model, Mats Höglind, Tomas Persson, Marcel Van Oijen

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Grass-based dairy and livestock production constitutes the most important agricultural sector in Norway in economic terms, and 60% of the agricultural land in Norway is used for grass production. Climate change may have consider-able impact on the survival and productivity of grasslands, with consequences for the local supply of forage to live-stock, farmers’ income and the supply of dairy- and livestock-based food products to the global market. Farmers can adapt to climate change by choosing different grass species or cultivars or by changing management practices such as the timing and frequency of harvests. Plant breeders select new cultivars of grasses …

Climate-Smart Brachiaria Grasses For Improving Livestock Production In East Africa, Appolinaire Djikeng, Idupulapati M. Rao, Donald M. G. Njarui, Mupenzi Mutimura, John Caradus, Sita R. Ghimire, Linda Johnson, Juan A. Cardoso, Monday Ahonsi, Segenet Kelemu

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Climate change is a global phenomenon with negative impacts severely felt by poor people in developing countries (Morton 2007). Across many parts of Africa, rural poor communities rely greatly for their survival on agriculture and livestock that are amongst the most climate-sensitive economic sectors. Climate-smart agriculture helps farmers to increase food production, become more resilient to climate change and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The main anthro-pogenic GHGs are carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄) and nitrous oxide (N₂O); they are critically important for regulating the Earth’s surface temperature. Inadequate quantity and quality of feed …

Climate-Smart Crop-Livestock Systems For Smallholders In The Tropics: Integration Of New Forage Hybrids To Intensify Agriculture And To Mitigate Climate Change Through Regulation Of Nitrification In Soil, Idupulapati M. Rao, Manabu Ishitani, John Miles, Michael Peters, Joe Tohme, Jacobo Arango, Danilo E. Moreta, Hernán Lopez, Aracely Castro, Rein Van Der Hoek, Siriwan Martens, Glenn Hyman, Jeimar Tapasco, Jorge Duitama, Harold Suarez, Gonzalo Borrero, Jonathan Núñez, Katharina Hartmann, Moralba Dominguez, Mauricio Sotelo, Daniel Vergara, Patrick Lavelle, Guntur V. Subbarao, Alvaro Rincon, Camilo Plazas, Reynaldo Mendoza, Lena Rathjen, Georg Cadisch

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

It is widely recognized that less than 50% of applied nitrogen (N) fertilizer is recovered by crops, and based on current fertilizer prices the economic value of this “wasted N” globally is currently estimated as US$81 billion annually. Worse still, this "wasted" N has major effects on the environment (Subbarao et al. 2012). CIAT researchers and their collaborators in Japan reported a major breakthrough in managing N to benefit both agriculture and the environment (Subbarao et al. 2009). Termed "Biological Nitrification Inhibition" (BNI), this natural phenomenon has been the subject of long-term collaborative research that revealed …

Root Decomposition Of Elephant Grass Pastures Grazed At Different Management Intensities, José C. B. Dubeux Jr., Hiran Marcelo Siqueira Da Silva, Maria Lúcia Silveira, Erinaldo Viana De Freitas, Mércia V. F. Dos Santos, Alexandre C. L. De Mello

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Grazing management may alter chemical composition of plant components affecting nutrient cycling. Among pasture management tools, adjustment of stocking rate (SR) and N fertilization have potential to affect nutrient cycling in the grassland ecosystem (Dubeux et al. 2007). Excreta from grazing animal and litter are the two major pathways of nutrient return on grazed pastures (Thomas 1992). Fertilization and SR may alter these pathways by different forms. Increasing fertilization generally increases pasture net primary productivity. Stocking rate affects different pasture and animal responses. Regarding nutrient cycling, increasing SR will likely increase proportion of nutrient returned through excreta as opposed …

Effects Of Nitrogen Supply And Nitrogen Form On Intrinsic Water-Use Efficiency In Temperate, Semi-Natural Grasslands Under Rising Atmospheric Co2, Iris H. Köhler, Andy Macdonald, Hans Schnyder

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Carbon uptake and water loss of plants are controlled by the regulation of carbon assimilation rate (A) and stomatal conductance (g_s). Any changes in these parameters under rising atmospheric CO₂ concentration (c_a) influence plant water-use efficiency and can affect carbon and water relations in grassland ecosystems. Time-series analyses of intrinsic water-use efficiency (W_i) of C3 grassland vegetation during the 20^th century have shown that carbon uptake relative to water loss generally increased (Köhler et al. 2010, 2012; Barbosa et al. 2010). Short-term experiments suggest that nitrogen …

Climagie: A French Inra Project To Adapt The Grasslands To Climate Change, Jean-Louis Durand, Jérome Enjalbert, Laurent Hazard, Isabelle Litrico, Catherine Picon-Cochard, Marie-Pascale Prudhomme, Florence Volaire

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Climate change in France, central and southern Europe is expected to provoke more frequent and more intense summer water deficits, with increased amplitude in temperatures, exposing the same perennial crops to frosts as well as to heat waves and severe droughts. The impacts on sown monospecific grasslands have been assessed using crop models (Durand et al. 2010) but with less accuracy in extreme situations. Since less work has been done on intra-specific genetic variability there is urgent need to investigate both ranges of climate conditions and genetic variability (Poirier et al. 2012). Phenology and plant productivity responses to …

How Agro-Pastoralists Adapt To Climate Change In The Algerian Steppe?, Slimane Bédrani, Mohamed El Amine Benhassine

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

The Algerian steppe grasslands cover about 30 million ha located between the 100 and 400 mm isohyets. It feeds about 15 to 23 million sheep and goats, depending on the year (MARA 1974). To assist agro-pastoralists plan for future we wanted to know:

• What perceptions do different pastoralists and agro-pastoralists have of climate change?
• Have these land users changed the way they are man-aging their livestock and crop production enterprises? and,
• How do changes adopted differ pastoralists and agro-pastoralists?

Assessment Of Harvest Security Of Timothy Under Climate Change Condition Using A Set Of Simple Criteria, Tomas Persson, Mats Höglind

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

According to climate change projections, the conditions for forage grass production in Northern Europe, including Norway, will change dramatically during the 21st century. The projected changes in climate in this country include increased average annual air temperature as well as increased precipitation both during the summer and winter season (Hansen-Bauer et al. 2009). In previous studies, effects of projected climate change on the above-ground biomass production, winter survival and harvest security of forage grasses have been assessed (Thorsen and Höglind 2010; Höglind et al. 2013). For example, Persson and Höglind (2013) showed a decreased dry spell period and …

Spatio-Temporal Changes Of Snow Cover And Its Response To Climate Change Over Tibetan Plateau, Xiaodong Huang, Wei Wang, Qisheng Feng, Tiangang Liang

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Snow cover, as an important part of land cover, is one of the most active natural elements on the earth surface. This program used the MODIS/Terra-Aqua daily snow products (MOD10A1 and MYD10A1) and AMSR-E/Aqua daily snow water equivalent product (AE_DySno) from 2003 to 2010 of Tibetan Plateau (TP), together with systematic study on MODIS daily snow cover product composite and a merging of multi-sensor and snow line approaches (Liang et al. 2008) to put forward a new snow cover mapping algorithm. Daily cloud-free snow cover images were calculated based on the new algorithm and the response of climate change …

Data Integration And Modelling For The Assessment Of Future Climate Change Impacts On Natural Pasturelands Of The Alps, Camilla Dibari, Giovanni Argenti, Marco Moriondo, Marco Bindi

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Evidence shows that in the last century in the Alps area warming was roughly three times the global average and, according to future projections, this trend is expected to worsen in the next decades. Moreover, the species-rich permanent grasslands characterizing the marginal areas of the Alpine landscape are acknowledged as very sensitive and vulnerable ecosystems to climate change (IPCC 2007). So far several studies have investigated the climate effects only on specific Alpine grassland species at a very small scale, while a comprehensive assessment of the impact of climate change on Alpine mountain grasslands distribution and composition at a territorial …

Photosynthetic Response Of Two Caragana Species To The Stimulated Climate Change In Mu Us Sand Land Of Northwest China, Zhirong Zheng, Yubao Gao, Shihai Lu

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Due to human activities, the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the Earth’s atmosphere is rising rapidly. The atmospheric CO₂ concentration has increased to 360 μmol/mol from 280 μmol/mol at the end of the 19th century, and it will be doubled in the late 21st century (Alcamo 1996). Since CO₂ is a key factor for plant growth and development, much more attention has been paid to the effect of an elevated atmospheric CO₂ concentration on many ecosystem processes (Hungate et al. 1997; Idso et al. 1992; Oren et al. 2001; Sun et …

Climate Changes And Trends In Phenology Of Woody And Herb Plants In Inner Mongolia, 1981–2010, Yurong Wei, Yanfang Cao, Zhicun Wang, Xuebiao Pan

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

The phenology of plants is a comprehensive reflection of seasonal climatological and ecological conditions and may be used as an indicator of climate change (Thomas et al. 2000; Volker and Annette 2004; Li et al. 2005). Analysis was made of the dates of sprouting, flowering and defoliating of woody and herb plants observed on 24 Agricultural Meteorological Stations in Inner Mongolia, China from 1980 to 2010. To assess the potential future change data was analysed for the 2011 to 2050 period using the England Hadley Climate Centre scenario (Wei et al. 2012).

Precipitation Pattern Change Influence On Vegetation Of Xilingol Grassland In Inner Mongolia, China, Wulanbter, Yurong Wei, Pengtao Liu, Xirong Jiang

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

The Xilingol grassland covers the region bounded by 41’09”–45’31” N and 111’14”–118’25” E. It is representative of a typical steppe in northern China, with the major native grass species present being Aneurolepidium chinense and Stipa spp. However these grasslands have become increasingly degraded due to desertification and/or the impacts of human activities resulting in the previous climax plant community becoming substantially altered.

In the Xilingol League most weather station started observations around 1960 (earliest 1952), however, grassland phenology and biomass measurement only started in 1980. The growing season runs from the 1st May to the 30th September. Between 1961-2010, the …

Estimated Effects Of Climate Change On Grassland Production And Legume Content Across Southern Australia, Andrew D. Moore, Afshin Ghahramani

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Climate changes caused by anthropogenic increases in greenhouse gases such as CO₂ will affect southern Australia along with the rest of the globe. Dryland pastures supporting extensive beef, sheepmeat and wool production occupy a third of southern Australia’s farming zone. These livestock production systems are highly sensitive to climatic variation, because they depend almost entirely on pasture as their source of feed. Given the diversity of current climates, soils and pastures that are found across southern Australia, and the spatial variation in projected climate changes (CSIRO 2007), it can also be expected that the impacts of changing climates on …

Assessing Resilience Of Pasture Production To Climatic Changes, Brendan R. Cullen, Richard P. Rawnsley, Richard J. Eckard

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Increasing temperatures and atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentrations, together with changes to rainfall patterns, will influence seasonal pasture production; however climate change projections for south eastern Australia are uncertain (CSIRO and BoM 2007). Despite this, climate change impact assessments generally rely on specific climate projections, but in this study an alternative approach was developed to test the resilience of production to incremental changes in climate.

Impacts Of Projected Climate Change On Pasture Growth And Safe Carrying Capacities For Three Extensive Grazing Land Regions In Northern Australia, Giselle L. Whish, Robyn A. Cowley, Lester I. Pahl, Joe C. Scanlan, Neil D. Macleod

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

The northern beef industry is a major component of the regional economies of Queensland, Northern Territory and northern Western Australia, and has contributed an estimated $5 billion to Australia’s economy in 2009-10. Projected climate change will have an adverse impact on Australia’s agricultural production (McKeon et al. 2008) with an expected 3.5% decline in beef production in northern Australia by 2030 (Heyhoe et al. 2008). The GRASP pasture production model (McKeon et al. 2000) has been used to evaluate impacts of climate change in Australia’s rangelands (Crimp et al. 2002, McKeon et al. 2008), with …

Impact On Grassland Biomass From Climate Warming And Drying, Suying Li, Li Yang

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

It is becoming increasingly urgent to assess the impact of climate change on grassland biomass due to the important role these grasslands play in animal production. The typical steppe in Xilinhot of Inner Mongolia is the most representative vegetation types in the temperate grasslands of the northern China. One means to determine climate change is using the Aridity index (AI, also referred to as the dry degree of climate in this article) that is based on both temperature and precipitation (Arora 2002; Bannayan et al.. 2010; Nastos et al. 2012). The objective of this paper was to indicate how …

Impacts Of Future Climate Change On Net Primary Productivity Of Grassland In Inner Mongolia, China, Qiuyue Li, Xuebiao Pan, Jiaguo Qi, Lizhen Zhang, Xiaoyu Wei, Zhihua Pan, Yinlong Xu

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Net Primary Productivity (NPP) of grassland is a key variable of terrestrial ecosystems and is an important parameter for characterizing carbon cycles in grassland ecosystems. In this research, the Inner Mongolia grassland NPP was calculated using the Miami Model and the impact of climate change on grassland NPP was subsequently analyzed under the Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) A2, B2, and A1B scenarios, which are inferred from Providing Regional Climates for Impacts Studies (PRECIS) climate model system. The results showed that: (1) the NPP associated with these three scenarios had a similar distribution in Inner Mongolia: the grassland NPP …

Future Climate Change Impacts On Pasture Biomass In Mongolia, Erdenetsetseg Baasandai, Erdenetuya Magsar

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

The main objective of this study is to estimate pasture biomass changes in Mongolia using the simulation model CENTURY. For the study framework we used the fenced pasture biomass data from 1960’s to 2008, over 60 meteorological stations and simulation data of the carbon, nitrogen, aboveground and belowground biomass, potential evapotranspiration, evaporation, transpiration and precipitation data across these grasslands. The simulated climatic and other parameters were estimated meteorological station based and their differences between 2 time periods were calculated. With purpose to make comparison of the present situation to the future situation used Climate Change Scenarios under A2, A1B and …

Comparative Analysis Of Climate Change Adaptation Options Across The Southern Australian Livestock Industry, Afshin Ghahramani, Andrew D. Moore

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Climate change is predicted to have a substantial negative effect on the productivity of grasslands across southern Australia (Moore and Ghahramani 2013). We used the GRAZPLAN biophysical simulation models to assess several possible grassland management and animal genetic improvement adaptations under SRES A2 climate change scenario. Simulations spanned the five dimensions of geography, time, global circulation models, enterprise, and adaptations. Impact of climate change was predicted to reduce profitability of livestock industry by 46%, 58%, and 72% at 2030, 2050 and 2070, respectively. Increasing soil fertility could return the average profitability of five livestock enterprises to its historical level at …

Eco-Efficiency Of Forage Production In Northern Germany, Antje Herrmann, Sandra Claus, Christof Kluß, Friedhelm Taube

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

A 2-year field experiment was conducted at two sites in Schleswig-Holstein, northern Germany, to quantify and evaluate the carbon footprint of arable forage cropping systems (continuous silage maize, maize-wheat-grass rotation, perennial ryegrass ley) as affected by N fertilizer type and N amount. Total greenhouse gas emission showed a linear increase with N application, with mineral N supply resulting in a higher slope. Product carbon footprint ranged between -66 and 119 kg CO2eq/(GJ NEL) and revealed a quadratic or linear response to fertilizer N input, depending on the cropping system. At N input required for achieving maximum energy yield, perennial ryegrass …

Elevated Co2 Impacts On Grazed Pasture: Long-Term Lessons From The New Zealand Face, Michael B. Dodd

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

A grazed pasture Free Air CO₂ Enrichment (FACE) experiment has been operating for almost 15 years in the Rangitikei Region of New Zealand, following earlier work studying CO₂, temperature and moisture effects on pasture in growth chambers. The longer-term results are reviewed with a focus on primary productivity, pasture compositional dynamics, nutrient cycling feedbacks and soil carbon supply. In terms of the direct effects of CO₂ elevated to 475 ppm, increases in primary production were reflected in belowground allocation and legume stimulation, with the latter diminishing in the longer term and annual aboveground net herbage accumulation …

Assessing Climate Change Impacts On Managed Grassland Production Using A Bio-Economic Modelling Approach, Robert Finger, Pierluigi Calanca, Simon Briner

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

We develop a bio-economic model that combines the process based grassland simulation model PROGRASS with an economic decision model, which accounts for income risks and yield quality, to derive optimal nitrogen application rates in a grass-clover system in Switzerland. The model is applied to current as well as to future climate conditions. Though nitrogen increases yields, it also leads to a higher variance and more negative skewness of yields, i.e. is risk increasing. Accounting for farmers’ risk aversion thus reduces optimal nitrogen use. We find climate change, ceteris paribus, to lead to higher grassland yields but also to increase the …

Tithonia Diversifolia For Ruminant Nutrition, Rogerio M. Mauricio, Rafael S. Ribeiro, Sylvia R. Silveira, Person L. Silva, Leonardo Calsavara, Luiz G. R. Pereira, Domingos S. C. Paciullo

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

India and Brazil lead the world ranking of livestock enteric methane emissions (FAO 2006). According to FAO (2006), Brazil (9.6 Tg of CH4/year) is the highest emitter of methane from cattle, followed by India (8.6 Tg of CH4/year) and the USA (5.1 Tg of CH4/year). In livestock, methane (CH4) formed from enteric fermentation of carbohydrates is primarily responsible for the emissions in the sector. Regarding livestock methane emission, Delgado et al. (2012) evaluated 20 tree and shrub species using in vitro technique and demonstrated a reducing effect on the amount of methane when Tithonia diversifolia was compared with, for …