Plant Biology Commons^™

Using On-Farm Demonstrations To Evaluate Newly Developed Cool-Season Forages In The Southeastern Usa, Tim Wilson, Mark Warren, Ann R. Blount, Cheryl L. Mackowiak, Jose C. B. Dubeux, James Devalerio, Barton Wilder, Derek Barber, Sydney Hayter

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Multiple demonstration sites throughout Florida were designed to evaluate and provide hands-on producer and county faculty access to newly developed cool-season winter forage crops that can be grown in the southeastern United States. Research funding for these projects was provided by the Dairy Research and Education Project, supported through the Georgia/Florida Dairy Industry check-off dollars. Early adopter producers interested in evaluating forages were identified for this cooperation. Long-term goals are to have the early adopter producer aid in the trialing and dissemination of information about improved varieties.

Cool-season forages for use on southeastern US livestock operations benefit the producer in …

Feed And Fodder–A Major Challenge In Cold Arid Region Of Leh, Mahendra Singh Raghuvanshi, R. K. Bhatt, J C. Tewari, Stanzin Landol, Jigmat Stanzin

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Agriculture and animal husbandry in cold arid region are interwoven with the complex fabric of the society in sociocultural, religious and economical ways. Mixed crop-livestock farming systems have exerted a powerful influence on climate of Leh because of dissected topography with high peaks and deep valleys, having immense surface area and substantial area of which is clothed with a massive green mantle of plant cover during cropping season. Increased development in terms of increased agriculture, construction of roads, other miscellaneous constructions, and revenue oriented forestry has accentuated deforestation to meet the demand of fuel, fodders based industries. This has also …

An Overview Of Current Status And Future Prospects Of Grassland Resource In Sri Lanka, Disna Ratnasekera

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

In Sri Lanka, nearly 12,000 km² of the total land area is under grass (Pemadasa, 1990). Use of grassland for livestock through traditional way goes back a number of centuries. Almost 20% of the countryside of the earth is covered by grassdominated flora, which includes numerous communities (Pemadasa, 1990).The cohesiveness of traditional societies and social groups in livestock rearing led to complete approaches that resulted in appropriate, environmentally sound sustainable technologies in sustainable grassland management. However, due to growing population and mismanagement, Sri Lankan grasslands are deteriorating. Moreover grasslands play key role in livestock production and environment stability. There …

Revolutionary Self-Sustaining Pasture-Crop Rotation Systems Developed By Researcher-Farmer Collaboration For Southern Australian Farming Systems, Belinda Hackney, Angelo Loi, Bradley Nutt, Ronald Yates, Jane Quinn, Janelle Jenkins, John Plitz, Michael O'Hare, Colin Butcher, Anna Butcher, Leslie Weston, Deirdre Lemerle, Ted Wolfe, John Howieson

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Mixed farming pasture-crop rotation systems in southern Australia have traditionally relied on subterranean clover and annual medics. Concern over the long-term persistence of these species was raised in the 1980‟s with the cessation of manufacture of suction harvesters required for seed production. Subsequently, their adaptation has been tested due to climate change. More frequent droughts, particularly the millennium drought (2002-2009), increased incidence of false breaks and dry spring conditions causing decline or complete loss of seedbank reserves and failure of new sowings. A concerted effort developing new legume species for Australian farming systems, led by Western Australia, resulted in domestication …

Performance Of Acacia Senegal L.: Untapped Wealth Of Gum Arabic In Rangelands And Grasslands In Arid And Semi-Arid Region Of India, Rajendra Prasad, Vishva Deepak Tripathi, S. K. Dhyani, A. K. Handa, Badre Alam, Ajit, Ramesh Singh

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Acacia senegal (Linn) Wild a member of Mimosaceae is a small tree of 3-6m in height with umbrella-shaped crown. It is a typical tree of Sahel in Africa from Senegal to red sea and essentially limited to the area between 11⁰ and 16⁰ North, with a wide range of rainfall 100 to 800mm. It spread widely in tropical Africa from Mozambique, Zambia to Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Nigeria, and in South Asia in India and Pakistan. In India it is a typical tree of arid regions with a low rainfall of 100-250mm. It is drought resistant …

Determinants Of The Utilization Of Desho Grass (Pennisetum Pedicellatum) For Multiple-Purposes In Ethiopia, Bimrew Asmare, Jane Wamatu, Ashraf Alkhatib, Barbara Rischkowsky, Solomon Demeke, Taye Tolemariyam, Firew Tegegne

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

In the densely populated, humid highland and midland regions of Ethiopia, the green canopy of desho grass (DG), local varieties of Pennisetum sp., spread across the escarpments. Planting of DG is an example of a locally tried and tested land management technique documented by the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development as a successful technology to mitigate land degradation. This technology is in response to cropland encroachment onto communal grazing areas and overstocking of livestock that has led to overgrazing, causing further land degradation and serious pasture shortages. DG is used for multiple purposes in Ethiopia. It is mainly …

Cover Crops Alternatives For Sustainable Agriculture Systems In Uruguay, Walter Ayala, José A. Terra, Ethel Barrios, Ignacio Macedo

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

In Uruguay, the increase of cropland area during the last decade was based on rotation systems intensification and soybean expansion, achieving 1.321.000 ha (Souto, 2014). Diaz (2007) demonstrated the value of the ley-farming systems where the integration of livestock and crop production achieved benefits on sustainability. Despite the advantages of crop-pasture rotation systems (García Prechac et al., 2004), grain market prices and food demand resulted in pasture phase losses in rotation with crops. Recently, Livestock Agriculture and Fisheries Ministry implemented a national soil conservation plan, that regulates cropping rotation systems based on soil erosion estimations and other key soil …

Gum Exudation In Relation To Depth Of Incisions On Stem-Bark Of Butea Monosperma L.: A Dominant Interspersed Tree Species In Grazing Lands, Vishva Deepak Tripathi, Rajendra Prasad, Chandra Shekhar Sahay, Prasahant Singh, S. K. Dhyani

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Butea monosperma (Palas), a medium-sized deciduous tree belonging to the family Leguminosae-Papilioneae (family Fabaceae), is a native to tropical South Asia, especially from the regions of India (Indo-Gangetic plains). B. monosperma is a gum yielding tree, found naturally in most of the rangelands and grasslands particularly in arid and semi-arid regions. It is an important multipurpose tree for the rural population providing fodder, fibre, fuel wood, gum, medicine and shade. In Bundelkhand it is most widespread species and mainly found in open woodlands, degraded/ pasture lands and forest and farmer’s lands. It is adapted to survive under harsh environmental conditions …

Performance Of Bajra Napier Hybrid Varieties In North Konkan Zone Of Maharashtra, A. V. Dahipahle, S. B. Bhagat, B. D. Shinde, U. V. Mahadkar, S. B. Gangawane

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum) commonly referred to as elephant grass, is popular fodder crop for small scale dairy farmers in the high and medium potential dairy production areas of north konkan zone of Maharashtra under the cut & carry system of production. It is a fast growing, deeply rooted, perennial grass growing up to 4 m tall that can spread by underground stems to form thick ground cover. Napier is easy to establish and persistent, drought tolerant, suitable for cutting and very good for silage making. It is also used as a soil stabilizer in soil conservation methods …

New Mechanisms Of Grassland Carbon Sink For Increasing Green Of Grasslands And Income Of Pastoralists, Ji Zhao

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

International meetings in Durban and Doha reach an agreement on a second commitment to the Kyoto Protocol which is planned to be phased in from 2013. China has is-sued two major papers to guide green house gas management, namely the Work Programs of Greenhouse Gases Emission Control for the 12th Five-Year Plan and China's Policies and Actions for Addressing Climate Change. The primary mission of these policies and regula-tions is to improve farmland and grassland carbon sink by implementing grassland protection policy such as forage-livestock balance, grassland enclosure, rest grazing and rotational grazing, controlling grazing capacity and grass-land degradation. …

Information Bank Of Phytoremedial Plants In Arid And Semi-Arid Rangeland Ecosystems, Fatemeh Montazeri, Reza Tamartash, Mohammadreza Tatian, Maedeh Yousefian

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Accumulation of heavy elements by human activities in ecosystems and food chains created hazards for human, plants and ecosystems. Among different methods of managing heavy elements in the environment, using phytoremedial plants has emerged as an efficient way to reduce the concentration of heavy metals in soils (Shtangeeva, 2008). This research examines the efficiency of this heavy metal reduction strategy in dry rangeland ecosystems.

Application Of Payment For Ecosystem Services In China’S Rangeland Conservation: A Social-Ecological System Resilience Perspective, Wenjun Li, Yanbo Li

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Payment for ecosystem services (PES) has been adopted by the Chinese government over the past decade as a mechanism to combat regional-scale rangeland degradation. We analyzed some fundamental problems associated with PES application in rangeland management from the perspective of social-ecological system (SES) resilience by using as a case study he PES project of “retire livestock to restore rangeland” in Inner Mongolia. The study findings demonstrated that PES project resulted in obvious negative impacts on local pastoralists’ livelihood and society networks without achieving any substantial rangeland restoration. Such failures are rooted in that PES strategy in which the logic of …

Variance Heterogeneity Genome-Wide Mapping For Cadmium In Bread Wheat Reveals Novel Genomic Loci And Epistatic Interactions, Waseem Hussain, Malachy T. Campbell, Diego Jarquin, Harkamal Walia, Gota Morota

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Genome-wide association mapping identifies quantitative trait loci (QTL) that influence the mean differences between the marker genotypes for a given trait. While most loci influence the mean value of a trait, certain loci, known as variance heterogeneity QTL (vQTL) determine the variability of the trait instead of the mean trait value (mQTL). In the present study, we performed a variance heterogeneity genome-wide association study (vGWAS) for grain cadmium (Cd) concentration in bread wheat. We used double generalized linear model and hierarchical generalized linear model to identify vQTL associated with grain Cd. We identified novel vQTL regions on chromosomes 2A and …

Piptatherum Miliaceum (L.) Coss: A Mediterranean Native Perennial Grass With Potential Use For Bioenergy, Claudio Porqueddu, Antonello Franca, Federico Sanna, Giovanni A. Re, Rita A. M. Melis, Leonardo Sulas

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

In Mediterranean regions, the development of a bioenergy sector is restricted by the scarce availability of species and varieties suitable to cultivation in rainfed environments, where summer drought affects plant survival (Scordia et al., 2014). Native perennial grasses that survive summer drought in a dormant or semi-dormant state may represent potential bioenergy crops. Nevertheless, the native germplasm of Mediterranean perennial grasses is unexplored for bioenergy production, except for giant reed, and little investigated also for other uses, as forage production. Smilo grass (Piptatherum miliaceum (L.) Coss) is a native species growing in marginal environments and it is palatable …

Management Of Rangelands And Forests For Sustainable Mithun Farming By Chakhesang Tribe Of Nagaland, Raj K. Singh, Prakash R. Dutta, Vidya Singh, Akhilesh Kumar, D. Apole Theluo

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Mithun (Bos frontalis) belonging to the family Bovidae is a unique bovine mainly found in the North-Eastern hilly region of India and neighbouring countries (Dhali et al., 2009). The animal has an important place in the socio-economic life of the tribal communities and primarily reared as sacrificial animal during religio-cultural ceremonies. Feeding habits of Mithun differs from their domestic counterparts cattle; like they prefer browsing as compared to the grazing behaviour of the later. Mithun forage on forest grasses, shrubs and tree leaves available in the jungle and they nibble them like goats (Gupta et al., 1996). …

Institutional And Technological Options For Sustainable Intensification Of Community Based Silvi-Pasture Systems In Arid Eco-Regions Of South Asia, Shalander Kumar, Ramilan Thiagarajah, Anthony Whitbread

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

In arid eco-region of Rajasthan, India, common pool resources (CPRs) like common pastures and village water bodies provide ecosystem services such as fodder, fuel, timber, water and medicinal plants which are crucial for the livelihoods in particular of the poor. In western Rajasthan livestock keeping is the most important and resilient component of the agricultural systems which strongly depends on common pastures. However, the grazing areas have become severely degraded making the rural poor more vulnerable. A number of efforts have been made to improve the management of and rehabilitate the community pastures (Conroy and Lobo, 2002). The success of …

Valuation Of Forage Production Function Of Rangeland Ecosystems In North Of Iran–East Alborz Mountains, Shafagh Rastgar, Seyed Mojtaba Mojaverian

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Rangeland ecosystem has 11-17 goods and services that most of them are public and non‐market in nature; meaning they are non‐rival and non‐exclusive and are typically not sold in a traditional; such as climate regulation, soil conservation, biodiversity, etc. (Croitoru, 2007; Wu et al., 2010). Forage is the main product of rangelands. According to the heterogeneity of range forages in terms of economic and lacking organized market for transaction, despite of imagine of ecological economists, it's a public good. So, determining its economic value as one of the main important nonmonetary functions of rangelands ecosystems can help managers to …

Operator Bias And The Effect Of Training On Visual Assessments Of Pasture Yield For Forage Budgets In Northern Australian Savanna, Nicole B. Spiegel, Peter O'Reagin, Angela Anderson, Megan R. Willis

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Sustainable management of Australia’s extensive northern grazing lands is challenging given its highly variable interannual rainfall and pasture production. Accordingly, a key management recommendation is to adjust stocking rates to match forage supply (O’Reagain et al., 2014). ‘Stocktake’ is a forage budgeting system (Aisthorpe et al., 2004) widely used and promoted to assist graziers make short-term (< 1 year) adjustments of stocking rate. Budgets are typically calculated at the start of the dry season, to ensure sufficient forage for stock and ground cover levels until the first rains some six to nine months later. The software application ‘Future Beef Stocktake Plus’ has also been developed for use on smart devices (http://www.stocktakeplus.com.au/).

A key requirement for forage budgets is an accurate estimate of pasture mass. This is typically done visually with the aid of photo standards of pasture mass, providing a simple, efficient and non-destructive approach. Other key variables of forage budgeting include …

Economics Of Camel Rearing On Grasslands In Gujarat, Khem Chand, B. L. Jangid, Subhash Kachhawa

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Camel in India is primarily reared for carting/draft, agricultural operation, transportation in addition to the secondary utility of milk and hair production (Saini et al 2006). The One humped or Dromedary camel (Camelus dromedarius) is an important livestock species uniquely adapted to hot and arid environments (Schwartz, 1992). It is important livestock specie contributing significantly in rural economy and livelihood of desert dwellers in Kachchh region of Gujarat. It still plays a very distinctive role in various agricultural operations and rural transportation in dry land farming (Rajput and Tripathi, 2005). The Kachchh region of Gujarat has large camel …

Economics Of Bn Hybrid Grass Production Bundelkhand Region Of India: A Case Study, Satendra Kumar, Ravi Pratap Singh, Rajiv K. Agrawal, J. B. Singh, M. M. Das, Sunil Kumar

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Napier grass is also called as Elephant Grass due to its tallness and vigorous vegetative growth. The plants tiller freely and a single clump may produce more than 60 tillers under favorable climatic and soil conditions. Unfortunately, the grass coarse-textured, the leaf blade sheaths as well as sharply serrated, leaf margins. Therefore, cross was made between Bajra which is more succulent, leafy, fine-textured, palatable, fast growing and drought resistant and Napier to combine these qualities with its high yielding potential. The outcome Hybrid Napier is a perennial grass which can be retained on field for 2-3 years. Hybrid napier grass …

Economic Review Of Pasture Development Options For North Australian Beef Enterprises, Neil D. Macleod, Dianne Mayberry, Lindsay Bell, Ian Watson

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Beef cattle grazing (~14 million head) native pastures is the dominant economic use of northern grazing lands (2.3 million km2). Few enterprises make positive economic returns in most years or achieve the necessary productivity gains (~2% per annum) to offset an ongoing cost-price squeeze (McCosker et al., 2010). A significant contributor to poor performance is low reproductive performance, management of first calving heifers, calf growth and weaning rates and liveweight gain - linked to nutrition and the low quality of pastures. Pasture development technologies (Gramshaw and Walker, 1988) are available but uptake has been poor. Three pasture development options …

Biomass Of Grasses And Other Herbaceous Plants For Bioenergy Use, Žydrė Kadžiulienė, Lina Šarūnaitė, Vita Tilvikienė, Jonas Šlepetys, Zenonas Dabkevičius

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Biomass supply for different uses, especially for bioenergy production, is becoming increasingly important. Independently of the purposes of biomass use, high yields per unit area and best possible quality need to be achieved. As a result, the selection of appropriate plant species is an important aspect. Cocksfoot (Dactylis glomerata L.), tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) and reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea L.) were investigated on a light loam (Cambisol) with a view to assessing the impact of nitrogen (N) and harvest time on biomass yield used for biogas. The biomass yield was influenced by cutting …

Fairness And Efficiency: A Challenge For Payment For Environmental Services In Asia, Beria Leimona

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Payment for environmental service (PES) is commonly defined as a market-based environmental policy instrument to efficiently achieve environmental protection. However, an increasing body of literature shows that the prescriptive conceptualization of PES cannot be easily generalized and implemented in practice and the commoditization of ecosystem services is problematic and may be unfair. To investigate the underlying causes, this study combined a quantitative and qualitative research approach using case studies in Indonesia, the Philippines and Nepal. The empirical observations on emerging PES-mechanisms in the Asian case studies show that interdependency of fairness and efficiency should be the main consideration in designing …

Identifying Priority Areas For Ecosystem Services Management In South Africa, Benis Egoh, Belinda Reyers, Mathieu Rouget, Patrick O’Farrel, David Le Maitre, Richard Cowling

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Studies have highlighted the importance of managing ecosystem services to stop further degradation and transformation, yet very few studies have endeavored to identify priorities. The identification of priority areas for ecosystem services remains the least of objective for all studies that have mapped ecosystem services. Steps for identifying priority areas for management of ecosystem services include identifying features that supply ecosystem services, threats to service provision, potential actions to ensure future supply of service and cost of these actions as well as the availability of alternative means of providing benefits supplied by the service, the capacity to meet human demands …

Quantifying The Economic Value Of Evidence-Based Animal Selection On The Inner Mongolian Desert Steppe, Taro Takahashi, Zhiguo Li, Zhongwu Wang, Guodong Han, Karl Behrendt, David R. Kemp

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Inner Mongolian desert steppe in northwestern China suffers from significant grassland degradation, causing a decrease in producers' income as well as negative off-site impacts (Kemp et al., 2013). Recent studies attribute this problem to a sudden increase in the stocking rate over the last half century, and thus development of an alternative farming system to reduce the animal number is urgently needed (Wang et al., 2011). Scientific experiments and modelling analyses have shown the potential of innovative systems that could deliver a "win-win" solution to local producers and environment (Li et al., 2015). However, the uptake of …

Payments For Ecosystem Services Based The Cost Of Soil Conservation Function Of Range Plants Vegetation In North Of Iran-Lar Dam, Shafagh Rastgar

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Rangelands provide a variety of non-monetary goods and services essential to human survival and well-being such as regulate climate and water, generate cultural benefits such as recreation, create habitat for biodiversity and soil conservation. Perhaps the most important problem our society currently faces is how to allocate ecosystem structure between conversion to economic production and conservation to provide ecosystem services, both of which are essential to our well-being and also has an important role in economic interaction between suppliers and users as PES.The “payment for ecosystem services” (PES) is one of economic instruments which have been widely used throughout the …

Sustaining Productivity In Aonla Based Hortipasture System Through In-Situ Soil Moisture Conservation In Semi-Arid Region Of India, Sunil Kumar, Ramesh Singh, A. K. Shukla

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Globally land degradation affects about one sixth of the world population. In India, about 120 m ha area is affected with different kinds of land degradation. Under such situation, horti-pasture system provides best and economic alternative in conjunction with in-situ soil moisture conservation in general and semi-arid tropics in particular. India supports 55% buffaloes, 16% cattle, 20 % goats and about 4% sheep with deficit of 35% green fodder (525.51 mt), 10% dry fodder (453.28 mt) and 44% feed (28.4 mt) (IGFRI Vision, 2050). The per capita/day availability of fruits is 85 g as compared to average requirement of 120 …

Successional Pattern Of Fungi Associated With Leaf Litter Of Bauhinia Malabarica Based Silvipasture System In Semiarid Region, Harsh Vardhan Singh, Ritu Mawar

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Soil fungi are critical components of microbial communities in terrestrial ecosystems, where they play essential roles in many aspects of ecosystem development, functioning and stability. Leaf litter fungal decomposers, in particular, play an important biotic role in recycling ecosystem nutrients (Schneider et al., 2012).The extreme conditions due to changing climate of any ecosystems restrict primary producers to form symbiotic relationships that aid their establishment and survival (Khidir et al., 2010). Root exudates are known to attract and maintain symbiotic fungal communities that form mutualistic associations with plant roots and colonize surrounding soil. Studies suggested a strong correlation between …

Economic Trade-Offs Of Novel Forage Use In Livestock Production Systems: Insights From Australia, Marta Monjardino, Neil D. Macleod, Dean K. Revell

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Globally, livestock are a major component of agricultural systems and natural resource management, as well as an important contributor to nutrition and livelihoods, but are often undervalued (Herrero et al., 2009). In Australia, livestock production systems occupy half of the available land and contribute to ~50% of gross agricultural production. The main livestock systems are beef cattle grazing at low intensity in the arid and semi-arid regions of northern and central Australia; and sheep flocks integrated in crop-livestock systems in the temperate zone of southern Australia (Bell et al., 2014). Despite increased physical productivity (changes in outputs relative …

Tall Fescue: Forage And Seed Production Economics, M. Anowarul Islam

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Irrigated grass pastures are essential components of western U.S. agriculture, especially on cattle ranches of the intermountain region. Unfortunately, the yield and quality of these grasslands are relatively low compared to the national average because of current management practices (Jacobs et al., 1993). Attempts have been made to increase forage yields of these pastures by fertilization and applying or controlling irrigations but these efforts have resulted in minimum success (Jacobs et al., 1993). The price increase of fertilizer, energy, and fuel has made improvement of these natural grasslands more difficult and thus threatens the profitability and sustainability of …