Agricultural Science Commons^™

Influence Of Different In-Situ Soil Moisture Conservation Techniques In Aonla Based Hortipasture System On Water Yield In Semi-Arid Region Of India, Ramesh Singh, Sunil Kumar, A. K. Shuka, R. K. Singh

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Land degradation, mainly because of lack of permanent vegetal cover, is major challenges to feed the ever increasing population of the world. As of now, one-sixth population is affected by land degradation. India is also suffering by land degradation as it’s having detrimental impact on production and productivity. The Bundelkhand region, located in Central India, is amongst the most degraded ecosystems characterized by undulating and rugged topography, highly eroded and dissected land, poor soil fertility and low water holding capacity, scarce ground water resources, erratic distribution of rainfall, lack of assured irrigation facilities, heavy biotic pressure on forests, inadequate vegetation …

Water Use Efficiency And Evapotranspiration Of Hybrid Napier (Pennisetum Purpureum X P. Americanum) Under Semi-Arid Indian Region, J. B. Singh, Rajiv K. Agrawal, Pradeep Behari

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Napier bajra hybrid (Pennisetum glaucum x P. purpureum) is a highly valued for its abundant quality forage, round the year fodder availability, regenerative ability and suitability to silage and hay making. It yields upto 110-120 t/ha fresh fodder as sole crop. Though, it requires moist regimes for optimum growth, but it can withstand drought for a short spell and regenerate with rains. It contains 8.7-10.2 % crude protein, 28-30.5% crude fibre and 10-11.5 % ash on dry matter basis (Agrawal et al., 2001). The hybrid napier has wider adaptability and is grown all over the country, …

Evaluation Of Grasses Raised Through Sewage Water In Musi, Hyderabad, M. Shanti, K. Narasimha Reddy, M. C. Patnaik, R. V. T. Balazzii Naaiik, T. Shashikala, Ch. Chiranjeevi, R. Susheela, M. Anuradha

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Growing of various crops utilizing sewage is a common scenario in many urban and sub-urban areas. The crops mostly include forage crops, leafy vegetables, vegetables and sometimes food grains. These sewage waters are known to contain undesirable constituents like heavy metals, pesticide residues besides, harmful pathogens. These undesirable components can make way very possibly from sewage to soils, plant parts; there by to even milk, thus entering into food chain. Musi, a tributary of Krishna on whose banks Hyderabad lays is the main fodder bank of the city. Thousand of hactares of land resembling vast grassland ecosystem is under cultivation …

Effect Of Planting Methods And Forage Crop Combinations On Fodder Productivity Through Moisture Conservation, Kauthale Vitthal Keshav, P. S. Takawale, S. D. Patil

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Out of 140.02 million ha cultivated area of the country, 76.76 million ha (54.82 %) is rainfed having soils with poor fertility and numerous physiochemical constraints. The productivity of animals is very low because of shortage of green fodder during most of the years. The poor feed quality and dry season feed shortage are the serious limitations for livestock production in rainfed areas & farmers maintain a large herd of animals to compensate for the low productivity of the livestock, which adds to the pressure on land and fodder resources (Pathak, 2005).

Western Maharashtra region suffers from very low rainfall …

Relationship Between Rainfall And Annual Forage Biomass To Build A Forage-Balance Guarantee System In Brazilian Semiarid, Ana Clara Rodrigues Cavalcante, Rodrigo Gregório Da Silva, Magno José Duarte Cândido, Jay Peter Angerer

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Semiarid regions around the world are characterized by elevated annual evapotranspiration and irregular rainfalls (Creswell and Martin, 1998), resulting in a negative water balance in most part of the year. The high rainfall variability associated to a high pressure on natural resources generated a scenario of degradation, which is worrying for the future of many rangelands. In this sense, it is urgent to understand the processes involved in the sustainability of vulnerable ecosystems to keep them productive and profitable. Among the rural activities in the semiarid regions, the raising of livestock has been contributed to become the farms viable. To …

Tillage And Mulching Effects On Crop Productivity And Moisture Dynamics In Fodder Sorghum Based Cropping Systems Under Rainfed Condition, Kiran Kumar, T. Palsaniya, A. K. Dixit, G. Prabhu, Manoj Chaudhary

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Indian farmers generally take more than one crop in a year to maximize their total production and profits. In this process fodder sorghum followed by crops like chickpea, wheat, oat, barley and mustard are common in Bundelkhand region of central India. The soils of Budelkhand region of India are medium to low in fertility with low organic matter content and poor water holding capacity that limits the fodder and food productivity. Therefore, adoption of resource conserving technologies in fodder sorghum based cropping systems under rainfed conditions is one of the potential areas, where increase in green fodder and food production …

Participation And Constraints Faced By Farm Women Of Watershed Programmes In Bundelkhand Region Of Central India, Om Prakash, Bankey Bihari

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

The watershed programme is primarily a land based programme, which is increasingly being focused on water, with its main objective being to enhance agricultural and grassland productivity through increased in-situ moisture conservation and productive irrigation for socio-economic development of rural people and its success in soil and water conservation often requires a combination of various measures and needs to be integrated with in a comprehensive agricultural management system. Hence, in order to gain the potential ecological and economic benefits from soil and water conservation, policy and funding support are necessary. The region of Bundelkhand in central India (240-260 30’ N …

Estimation Of Net Rainfall Through Guava Tree For In-Situ Soil Moisture Conservation In Guava Based Hortipasture System In Central India, Akram Ahmed, Sunil Kumar

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Rainfall (R) falling on any vegetation can be partitioned in Stemflow (SF), Throughfall (TF) and Interception loss (I). Stemflow is that part of rainfall which flows down to the ground via leaves, stem, branches and trunk (above ground vegetative part). Throughfall is the part of rainfall which drips down through the canopy to the ground. Interception is the part of the rainfall after absorption by different parts of tree which remains with the above ground vegetative part and later on lost by the process of evaporation. Thus, SF and TF are combined termed as net rainfall and flow as runoff …

Management Effect On Rainfall Use Efficiency And Growth Rate Of Spineless Cactus Cv. Miúda In Northeast Brazil, Toni Carvalho De Souza, Mércia V. F. Dos Santos, Márcio V. Da Cunha, Felipe M. Saraiva, Alexandre C. L. De Mello, Mário De Andrade Lira, Ivan Ferraz, José C. B. Dubeux Jr.

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Spineless cactus has a high rainfall use efficiency. Under water deficit, they open their stomata during the night to capture atmospheric carbon dioxide when the air temperature is lower and relative humidity higher (Taiz and Zeiger, 2009), losing less water to the atmosphere. The rainfall use efficiency (RUE) can be expressed as the amount of water used by the crop to produce dry matter (Han and Felker, 1997). The RUE showed by spineless cactus, a CAM plant, is three to five times greater than the one observed in C₃ and C₄ plants (Felker and Russel, 1988; Nobel, 1991). …

Effects Of Alternate Furrow Irrigation On The Forage Quality Of Alfalfa (Medicago Sativa), Xiao Yu, Zhengang Guo, Tingting Jia, Yuying Shen

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) is widely used to establish pasture to sustain animal production because of its high nutritional quality for livestock (Bouton, 2012). Therefore improving quality of alfalfa pasture is the main goal for establishing pasture throughout the world. Irrigation is an important approach for achieving high qualities of alfalfa pasture, however, the scarcity of water threatens the sustainability of world alfalfa production, requiring us to force on using water more efficiently (Liu and Guo, 2013). Alternate furrow irrigation has been proved as a water-saving technique to promote fruit quality of tomatoes and grapevines and the seed quality …

Effect Of Mulching Practices On Soil Moisture And Yield Of Forage Crops, Champak Kumar Kundu, Himangshu Das, Pintoo Bandopadhyay

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

One of the main impediments in the way of improvement of livestock production is insufficiency of fodder. The gap between supply and demand would further aggravate due to increase in livestock population. In eastern India and Bengal delta land is usually devoted to fodder crops beyond monsoon when soil moisture becomes a limiting factor for crop production. Appropriate soil moisture conservation practices may reduce the evaporation loss and increase the yield. Among the different soil water conservation measures, mulching has gained popularity because it reduces the direct evaporation loss of soil water by restricting the transport of water vapour from …

Waterponding The Rangelands, Ray F. Thompson

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Bare, scalded semi-arid areas in western New South Wales Australia are being transformed into biodiverse native pastures, thanks to the waterponding technique which is returning clear profit to the landholder and benefits to the environment. Waterponding is a land rehabilitation technique used on duplex scalded soils in the semi-arid rangelands. Waterponding is the holding of water on the scald in surveyed horseshoe-shaped banks, each covering 0.4 ha. The ponded water leaches the soluble salts from the scalded surface. This improves the remaining soil structure, inducing surface cracking, better water penetration and entrapment of wind-blown seed. In the 1960s, it was …

Nitrogen Use Efficiency And Root Dry Matter Partitioning In Four Perennial Temperate Forage Grass Species, Luis Inostroza, Joel Ibañez, Fernando Ortega, Hernán Acuña, Pablo Undurraga

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

In Chile, the livestock systems based on perennial swards (grasses/white clover) have intensified its production because of the indiscriminated increases in nitrogen fertilization (Vistoso et al., 2012). Currently, new agronomic practices are demanded to allow the increase of the Nitrogen Use Efficiency (NUE) of perennial swards. In livestock systems, NUE can be studied and improved at animal, soil and plant level. In Chile, the two first levels have been broadly studied (Vistoso et al., 2012) but the plant contribution has been ignored. Today, a lot of cultivars from temperate grass species originated from different part of the world …

Tall Fescue (Festuca Arundinacea) Stockpiling Response To N Fertilizer In Southern Virginia As Affected By Biological Soil Quality, Christopher D. Teutsch, Robert Shoemaker, Alan J. Franzluebbers

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Cattlemen in the eastern USA profitably utilize endophyte-infected tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea) for fall-stockpiled winter grazing. Ergot alkaloid concentration in fescue tends to decline in winter. This improves the quality of fescue for grazing when the supply of other forage becomes limited on most farms. Tall fescue dry matter yields generally respond favorably to nitrogen (N) inputs, but response can be limited with summer application due to accumulation of biologically available N in soil. Research is needed to characterize a diversity of pastures for response to N fertilizer during fall stockpiling.

Biological soil quality can be estimated with …

Declining Water Resources And Environmental Degradation: A Case Of The Thulokhola Watershed In The Nuwakot District Of Nepal, Durga D. Poudel, Timothy W. Duex

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Climate change alters the hydrology of a watershed through changes on precipitation patterns, extreme rain events, increase on temperatures, degradation of forest and soil resources and drought conditions. Drought conditions create stress on agricultural crops, forests, drinking water supply for human and wildlife as well as water supply for industrial uses. Flooding destroys crops, infrastructures, private properties, and results in loss of life. Climate change impacts both the availability as well as the quality of water resources as extreme rain events tend to alter water infrastructures and pollute water sources.

In Nepal, climate change impacts include degradation of resource and …

The Emergence And Survival Of Digitaria Eriantha And Chloris Gayana Seedlings On Mine Tailings Planted With Coated And Non-Coated Seed, Leana Nel, Wayne F. Truter, Piet Van Deventer, Klaus Kellner

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

The importance of vegetation in the process of rehabilitation and stabilisation of mined land is becoming more critical as the size of the affected areas and the impact on urban development increases. Successful establishment of vegetation on these areas are complicated by adverse physical and chemical properties of the growth mediums. These include; soil compaction, acidity, salinity and heavy metal contamination, extreme temperatures, low soil water contents and soil erosion (Oncel et al. 2000; Turner et al. 2006; Aken et al. 2007). Many of these soil/substrate conditions mentioned limit the establishment of vegetation from seed. Seed coating …

Relationship Between Live Weight Gain Of Tibetan Sheep And Available Pasture In Qinhai-Tibetan Plateau, Y. Sun, Y. Liu, Y. Zhang, S. H. Chang, Z. F. Wang, X. J. Chen, Fujiang Hou

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Overgrazing is a universal phenomenon on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, which results in 90% of the alpine meadow grassland being degraded (Gao and Hou 2011). As well, animal productivity of the grassland is becoming lower because of the yearly continuous grazing. Improved grazing management will play a key role in the sustainable use of alpine meadow grasslands.

Vegetation Restoration Patterns After Rangeland Enclosure In Arid Tunisia, Khalil Mseddi, Ahmad Mohajja Al-Shammari, Hossain Sharif, Mohamed Chaieb

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

In Tunisia arid regions, the increase in the rural populat-ion density, (Le Floc’h et al. 1999) has intensified human pressure on natural resources through ‘‘disturbances’’ such as grazing and wood harvesting, land clearing and ploughing, which largely depend on the annual rainfall. About 10% of the steppe area has been taken over by agriculture, shrinking perennial plant cover and a highly degraded vegetation class (Hanafi and Jauffret 2008). This work assesses the vegetation restoration patterns on a protected agricultural field in Tunisian arid rangeland after 15 years of enclosure and protection against plowing.

Competition Between Lolium Perenne L. And Agrostis Capillaris L. Growing Under Different Light Regimes As Response To Fertiliser Addition In A Degraded Pasture, Paulina Flores, Ignacio F. López, Peter D. Kemp, José Dörner

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

At the field level plants can experience solar irradiance fluctuations caused by cloud cover or canopy shading. The majority of the research in this area has been done on forestry/pastoral systems using artificial structures so that the pasture has the desired light level (Peri et al. 2006). However, the effect of a change from high to low irradiance on the seasonal plant growth and production in a degraded pastoral system has not been previously studied, especially when fluctuating light regimes are involved. The aims of this study were to evaluate tillering dynamics of Lolium perenne L. (Lp) and Agrostis …

Monitoring Of Rehabilitation Of Degraded Rangelands, B. Bouchareb, R. Hammouda, D. Nedjraoui

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

The Algerian steppe covers an area of about 20 million ha, and is the barrier between the desert and the Mediterranean region. With more than 20 million sheep, overgrazing is an important issue resulting in continued degradation of the natural resources (Nedjraoui and Bedrani 2008). Trials of the rehabilitation of these ecosystems were undertaken in a participatory process with farmers complemented by some detailed monitoring of the responses in experimental plots (Hammouda 2009; Bouchareb 2012). This study reports on some results of the ecological monitoring and evaluation for a participatory project, in the steppe of South Algiers, conducted by a …

Case Study: Conservative Stocking On The Fitzroy River Floodplain; Jubilee Downs And Quanbun Downs, Central Kimberley Western Australia, Kath Ryan, Anne Marie Huey, Paul Novelly, Keith Anderson

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Keith and Karen Anderson and family run a breeder operation on Jubilee Downs and Quanbun Downs in the Fitzroy Valley of Western Australia (18°21' S, 125°18' E). These adjacent pastoral leases are in the shire of Derby/West Kimberley. The Andersons have been managing Jubilee Downs station since 1985. Quanbun Downs station was purchased in 2002, and a farm in the northern agricultural region of WA has been recently added for use as a finishing block. The current combined herd for Jubilee Downs and Quanbun Downs is around 8,000 head. Keith believes in selling close to his branding percentage and that …

Community Structure Of Oribatid Mites In Improved Grasslands: A Case Study From Central India, Sharmila Roy

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

About 14% of the land in Central India (25º20'-26º30'N and 79º45'-78º15'E) is classified as grass/range lands, most of which is degraded. In order to improve condition class of these areas, several land development programs have been undertaken by various agencies. However, long term implications of such interventions are not understood properly. Since oribatid mites constitute an important part of soil ecosystem(Noti et al. 2003) having intricate relations with the niches in soil and their community structure is a swift reflection on ecosystem habitat structure, complexity and other factors, this study was planned.

The Impact Of Surface Coal Mining On The Pre- And Post-Mining Agricultural Potential Of The Grassland Biome Of Southern Africa, Wayne F. Truter, T. Bredell, J. Olivier, D. Van Heerden, P. Mosebi

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Surface mining of coal is widespread in the grassland areas of the Mpumalanga Province in South Africa, and is the main cause of many environmental impacts in this agriculturally important region. To ensure healthy and productive vegetation after the reclamation process, disturbed soils need to be ameliorated and re-vegetated with locally adapted grass species to protect, preserve and improve soils for future agricultural use. To date, soil compaction is regarded as one of the main factors that cause severe restrictions in the effective rooting depth of plants, and the level of compaction is strongly influenced by altered soil water contents, …

De Novo Sequencing And Analysis Of Salvia Hispanica Tissue-Specific Transcriptome And Identification Of Genes Involved In Terpenoid Biosynthesis, James Wimberley, Joseph Cahill, Hagop S. Atamian

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Salvia hispanica (commonly known as chia) is gaining popularity worldwide as a healthy food supplement due to its low saturated fatty acid and high polyunsaturated fatty acid content, in addition to being rich in protein, fiber, and antioxidants. Chia leaves contain plethora of secondary metabolites with medicinal properties. In this study, we sequenced chia leaf and root transcriptomes using the Illumina platform. The short reads were assembled into contigs using the Trinity software and annotated against the Uniprot database. The reads were de novo assembled into 103,367 contigs, which represented 92.8% transcriptome completeness and a diverse set of Gene Ontology …

Salt-Tolerant Forages For Irrigated Saline Land In Central Iraq, Iman S. Salman, Edward G. Barrett-Lennard, Kareem Kadhim, Shoaib Ismail, Hayley C. Norman

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Salinity is a major problem in the irrigated zones of central and southern Iraq. We investigated biomass production from five salt-tolerant forage species, represented by 15 introduced accessions and 3 local accessions, during two successive summer growing seasons. Species included pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum), sorghum (Sorghum bicolour), guar (Cluster bean; Cyamopsis tetragonoloba), cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) and sesbania (Sesbania aculeata and S. sesban). The research site was located in the Al-Dujaila irrigation project area in Wasit. The soil had a silty clay texture with moderate salinity (ECe 10-20 dS/m). The site was …

Improving Grassland Quality In Communal Arable Lands In The Eastern Cape Province, South Africa, Theunis L. Morgenthal, Pieter W. Conradie, Gideon Jordaan, Unathi Gulwa, Neil Ballard, John Howieson

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Overgrazing and shifting cultivation practise have severely degraded communal lands in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Methods need to be developed to improve forage quality of grazing land, especially previously cultivated lands. The aim of the study was to investigate legume species to rehabilitate arable lands abandoned from cropping, to enhance their forage quality, productivity and ecological integrity. The study was conducted in seven communities within the Eastern Cape Province. This study showed that within the communal lands studied extensive areas have been cultivated and the majority of this land is now poorly utilised. Natural grasslands ploughed for cropping …

Identifying And Addressing Sustainable Pasture And Grazing Management Options For A Major Economic Sector–The North Australian Beef Industry, Neil D. Macleod, Joe C. Scanlan, Lester I. Pahl, Giselle L. Whish, Robyn A. Crowley

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Sustainable use of the northern grazing lands is a long-standing issue for management and policy, heightened by projections of increased climatic variability, uncertainty on forage supplies, vegetation complexes, and weeds and diseases. Meat and Livestock Australia has supported a large study to explore sustainable grazing management strategies and increase the capacity of the sector to address climate change. Potential options were explored by bio-economic modeling of ‘representative’ beef enterprises defined by pastoralists and supported by regional research and extension specialists. Typical options include diversification, infrastructure, flexible stocking rates, wet season resting, and prescribed fire. Concurrent activities by another team included …

Grassland Rehabilitation Through Re-Designing Livestock Management Systems, Guodong Han, Zhongwu Wang, Zhiguo Li, Mengli Zhao, David R. Kemp, David L. Michalk, Kris M. Havstad

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Grasslands are one of the most important land types supplying critical ecosystem services including feed for livestock grazing. They occupy ~54% of the world’s ice-free land surface. China contains the third largest area of grassland in the world, ~400 M ha, ~40% of China’s land surface. Chinese grasslands are severely degraded primarily due to overgrazing, which contributes to local poverty because of poor livestock production. To both recover the degraded grassland and to enhance the local herders’ income, a large farm-scale experiment was conducted in a desert steppe of Inner Mongolia, China from 2007 to 2012. We used a baseline …

Incidence And Control Of Worm Burdens In Bali Bulls Fed Forage Tree Legumes In West Nusa Tenggara, Luh Gde Sri Astiti, Baiq Tutik Yuliana, Muhammad Fauzan, Tanda Panjaitan

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Bali cattle are the predominant domestic cattle raised in smallholder systems in eastern Indonesia. They are characterised by low growth rates partly due to genetic factors but largely due to insufficient and/or poor quality feed and management. Internal parasites can have severe impacts on animal production and are a common problem in eastern Indonesia due to poor hygiene and management practices. Prevalence, or the ratio of number of worm infestation occurrences, in the cattle population is high in West Nusa Tenggara. Astiti et al. (2011) reported prevalence levels of 81% in some area of Sumbawa Island and Astiti and …

The Occurrence Of Alfalfa Weevil And Its Major Parasitoid Bathyplectes Curculionis Across Saskatchewan, Canada, Juliana J. Soroka

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

The alfalfa weevil Hypera postica (Gyllenhal) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) is one of the most destructive insect pests of alfalfa herbage in North America. Palearctic in origin, the weevil was first found in North America near Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1902 (Titus 1911), with the first Canadian record in southeast Alberta and southwest Saskatchewan in 1954 (Hobbs et al. 1959; Beirne 1971). Alfalfa weevil became an economic pest on the Canadian prairies only in the area of first location, and its distribution remained below the 51st parallel North latitude for about 40 years. In the mid-1990s, however, the weevil expanded …