Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Frost Tolerance, Deacclimation And Reacclimation Traits In Perennial Ryegrass, Mats Höglind, Hans Martin Hanslin

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

The ability of perennial grasses to harden and maintain frost tolerance throughout the winter is crucial for winter survival. This includes the ability to resist deacclimation during transient mild spells in winter, and the ability to reacclimate when cold temperatures return. The latter traits are especially critical in regions with cycles of freezing and thawing, and lack of a stable, insulating snowcover that can protect the plants from extreme air temperatures. Such conditions are typical for many coastal areas in Northern Eurasia and America, such as the southwestern coast of Norway. The climate is changing and one of the consequences …

Importance Of Grassland Management For Carbon Sequestration And To Mitigate Climate Change: A Review, Poonam Yadav, Sheela Choudhary, Sunil Dutt Choudhary, Praveen Kaushik

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

Grasslands, including rangelands, shrub lands, pastureland, and cropland sown with pasture and fodder crops, covered approximately 3.5 billion ha in 2000, representing 26 percent of the world land area and 70 percent of the world agricultural area, and containing about 20 percent of the world’s soil carbon stocks (Ramankutty et al., 2008). All ecosystems- forested ecosystems, agro-ecosystems, grassland, ecosystems etc. take up atmospheric CO₂ and mineral nutrients and transform them into organic products In undisturbed ecosystems, the carbon balance tends to be positive: carbon uptake through photosynthesis exceeds losses from respiration, even in mature, old-growth forest ecosystems.

Improving …

Simulating The Effect Of The Climate Change, Genotypes And Management On The Productivity Of Forage Cowpea In Semi-Arid Regions Of India, Suchit K. Rai, Sunil Kumar, D. Deb

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

Climate variability and change due to increase in green house gases concentration and the resultant increase in temperature has led to notable changes in different sectors including water and agriculture which would impact food security (Rai et al., 2014) in many regions of the developing world, which are largely dependent on rainfed and labor intensive agricultural production (Ziervogel and Calder, 2003). Eco-physiological models are widely used especially the potential impacts of climate change (Gitay et al., 2001; White et al., 2011). The cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) is an annual herbaceous legume cultivated for its edible seeds …

Change In Migration And Pasture Utilization By Brokpa Pastoral Nomads: A Sustainable Adaptation Strategy For Climate Sensitive Arunachal Pradesh!?, Sanjit Maiti, S. K. Jha, Sanchita Garai, Vijay Paul, G. Krishnan, A. K. Bera, D. Bhattacharya, S. M. Deb

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

The north-eastern states of India specially Arunachal Pradesh, one of the bio-diversity hotspot, is expected to be greatly affected by climate change. Climate change will not only adversely impact the biodiversity of Arunachal Pradesh, but also affect the livelihood of local communities as they fully dependent on the natural resources. The Monpa is a primitive tribe inhabiting parts of West Kameng and Tawang district of Arunachal Pradesh. The pastoral nomad of the Monpa tribe is popularly known as Brokpa. Transhumance system of livestock mainly yak (Poephagus grunniens L.) rearing is their main source of livelihood. In recent past, …

Cultivating The Next Generation Of Pasture Scientists In Australia, Sarita Jane Bennett

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

Current students coming through agricultural faculties in Australian universities have grown up in an era of low wool and meat prices, the introduction and acceptance of no-till farming as the norm and a general decrease in mixed farming landscapes in favour of continuous cropping. Since the collapse of the wool reserve price scheme in 1991, wool prices declined and income on wool producing farms followed suit. R & D during this period has also declined from 5-4% agricultural GDP in 1986 to only 3% in 2005 and has favoured research related to cropping rather than that related to pastures and …

Using Expert Knowledge To Develop Management Actions For Tasmanian Lowland Native Grasslands Under Climate Change, Kerry L. Bridle, Louise Gilfedder, Nicholas Macgregor

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

Climate change projections for Tasmania suggest that the climate in 2070 will be warmer than present, with increasingly variable seasonal rainfall (Grose et al. 2010). Results from climate change modelling suggest that grassland communities may not exist over their current range in the future (Prober et al. 2012). Lowland temperate natural grasslands have been greatly reduced in areal extent since European settlement in the early 1800s. Two ‘Lowland temperate native grassland’ communities are listed as critically endangered under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (1999): Themeda triandra grasslands and Poa labillardieri grasslands. Careful landscape planning for current …

Ecological Restoration Of Common Pastures Through A Community Led Multi-Stakeholder Partnership, Giresh Mohan, Sarvashish Roy

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

Kalyanpura watershed, spread over 5,175 ha area with 16 villages, is situated in the drought prone district of Bhilwara in Rajasthan. Prior to project initiation, only 27% of the area in Kalyanpura was under agriculture and the balance was mainly accounted for by village commons used for livestock grazing and fuel wood collection. Although the area receives an average annual rainfall of 700 mm, the undulating landscape, shallow soil cover and the absence of any soil moisture conservation resulted in high runoff and degraded commons. Recurring droughts and absence of irrigation facilities made farm based livelihood vulnerable to seasonality, especially …

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 (1997-2023)

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 …

Planet At Risk From Grazing Animals?, Albrecht F. Glatzle

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

The famous FAO report “Livestock’s Long Shadow” (Steinfeld et. al. 2006) and hundreds of subsequent publications blamed domestic livestock, in general, and grassland-based production systems in the (sub) tropics, in particular, of causing serious environmental hazards such as climate change, claiming that 18% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are from livestock, more than from the transport sector. Few reviews challenged this claim, and those that did received little attention from the media. Pitseky et al. (2009) revealed the double standard applied by the FAO in this matter. Whereas for livestock products a full life cycle assessment for …

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 (1997-2023)

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 …

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 (1997-2023)

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 …

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 (1997-2023)

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 …

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 (1997-2023)

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 …

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 (1997-2023)

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 (1997-2023)

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 …

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

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

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 (1997-2023)

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 (1997-2023)

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 …

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

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

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 (1997-2023)

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 …

Modelling Adaptation And Mitigation Strategies For Southern Livestock Industries Of Australia, Richard J. Eckard, Richard P. Rawnsley, Brendan R. Cullen, Matthew Bell, Karen Christie

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

Climate change will impact on the Australian grazing industries both through mitigation policies and the impact of warmer temperatures, increased atmospheric CO₂ and changed rainfall patterns (Cullen et al. 2009; Eckard et al. 2010). Mechanistic models are useful tools to inform our understanding of the complex interactions between future climates and the soil, plant, animal and management in livestock production systems.

This paper summarises the results of a number of whole farm systems modelling studies investigating likely impacts of climate change, adaptation options and emissions implications for livestock production in southern Australia.

Challenges And Opportunities For Improving Eco-Efficiency Of Tropical Forage-Based Systems To Mitigate Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Michael Peters, Mario Herrero, Myles Fish, Karl-Heinz Erb, Idupulapati M. Rao, Guntur V. Subbarao, Aracely Castro, Jacobo Arango, Julian Chará, Enrique Murgueitio, Rein Van Der Hoek, Peter Läderach, Glenn Hyman, Jeimar Tapasco, Bernardo Strassburg, Birthe K. Paul, Alvaro Rincón, Rainer Schultze-Kraft, Steve Fonte, Timothy Searchinger

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

Forage-based livestock production plays a key role in national and regional economies, for food security and poverty alleviation. Livestock production is also considered as a major contributor to agricultural GHG emissions, however. While demand for livestock products is predicted to continue to increase, there is political and societal pressure both to reduce environmental impacts and to convert some of the pasture area to alternative uses such as crop production and environmental conservation. Thus it is essential to develop approaches for sustainable intensification of livestock systems to mitigate GHG emissions, addressing biophysical, socioeconomic and policy challenges. This paper highlights the potential …

The Italian Catalogue Of Herbage Varieties, M. Giolo, Giovanni Corsi, N. Mugueta, F. Sorgoni, Pier Giacomo Bianchi, Renzo Torricelli, Mario Falcinelli

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

With 3.4 million hectares, permanent grassland covers 25.8% of Italian U.A.A. (Usable Agricultural Area). Most of this is located in hilly and mountainous areas and is important for the stability of the soil even if their productivity is low. Alfalfa and annual forages cover 1.8 million hectares (C.R.P.A. 2010). Italy’s large longitudinal extension (between latitudes 35° and 47° N), delivers a great variety of climates (Fig. 1). The northern regions bordering the rest of Europe differ greatly from the southern regions surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea.

The Use Of Functional Traits To Identify Grasses And Fodder Shrubs For Domestication To Suit A Changing Climate, Meredith L. Mitchell, R. D. B. Whalley, Hayley C. Norman

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

There is uncertainty about future climatic predictions; however there is little doubt amongst experts that the future will be warmer. Climate change and the associated elevation in atmospheric CO₂ level and temperatures will provide novel challenges and potential opportunities for cultivated plant species. Plant breeding and domestication can contributed to improvements in both yield and quality of grasses and fodder shrubs. A range of key functional traits is required to cope with this changing climate. The main challenges that are discussed are new pests and pathogens; changes in the pattern of nutrient supply and forage quality; challenge associated with …

Summer Dormancy And Survival Of Tall Fescue In Relation To Endophyte Presence, J. L. Thomas, Charles P. West, D. P. Malinowski

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

True summer dormancy in temperate perennial grasses is the ability to survive summer stresses by ceasing growth and senescing vegetative tissues independently of water supply, as opposed to summer-active grasses, which respond to rains by continuing growth, but senesce during droughts (Volaire and Norton 2006). Summer dormancy is a common drought-escape mechanism for Mediterranean-origin perennial grasses, but is also being considered as a potentially useful trait in semiarid to humid zones whose climates are not strictly Mediterranean, but where temperate grass survival is threatened by summer heat and water deficits (Malinowski et al. 2005). Moreover, summer dormancy may provide …

Australian Grasslands Research At The Crossroads, Alan Robson

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

Grasslands research in Australia is at a crossroad. There are several difficulties. First, the decline of sheep production and dairying within Australia and increased cropping has focused attention on crop research rather than pasture research. Second, enrolments in agricultural and related education have declined, and graduate numbers are insufficient to meet demand for expertise. Third, there has been a move towards specialisation in research and there are relatively few generalist agricultural scientists able to integrate research results into agricultural ecosystems. There remain very many challenges. Adapting grassland production to minimize the emission of carbon dioxide and methane is a major …

Managing Grassland Systems In A Changing Climate: The Search For Practical Solutions, Jean-François Soussana, Luis Gustavo Barioni, Tamara Ben Ari, Rich Conant, Pierre Gerber, Petr Havlik, Alexandre Ickowicz, Mark Howden

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

By the end of the XXI^st century, a global temperature rise between 1.5 and 4°C compared to 1980-1999 and CO₂ concentrations in the range 550-900 ppm are expected, together with an increased frequency of extreme climatic events (heat waves, droughts, and heavy rain) that is likely to negatively affect grassland production and livestock systems in a number of world regions. Grassland management has a large potential to mitigate livestock greenhouse gas emissions at a low (or even negative) cost, by combining a moderate intensification, the restoration of degraded pastures and the development of silvo-pastoral systems. Climate change vulnerability …

Emission Of Green House Gases From Grasslands And Their Mitigation, Prem N. Sharma, Shyam Khadka

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

The concentrations of green house gases (GHG) in the atmosphere began in pre-industrial times and it continues to increase. This could result into an alarming increase in temperature of up to 5.4 ^oC by year 2100 due to a net global annual GHG emission of H 4.5-6.5 Gt C equivalent. About 18% of the world’s GHG are contributed by livestock and related activities on grasslands that are spread over almost 35 million Km².These grasslands give livelihood to over a billion people most of who are poor. Twenty to 70% of the land surface area is degrading often …

Rainwater Harvesting And Its Impact On Farming Systems, J. S. Samra

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

Landless, small holders and other poors supplement their livelihood and adapt to climate change by grazing, stall feeding with crop residues and fodder cultivated under rainfed and irrigated conditions. Improving productivity by conserving rainfall, ground water recharging, harvesting and recycling of rainwater especially in degraded open access or shared land with community participation was quite successful over a wide range of precipitation and ecological situations. Various types of trenches, bunding, vegetative barriers, gully plugs, ponds, check dams, land slides and mine spoils stabilization etc. retained more soil moisture, seeds, vegetative propagules etc. in situ and prevented soil erosion. It regenerated …

Climate Change Impact And Adaptation In Temperate Grassland And Livestock Industries, Afshin Ghahramani, Andrew D. Moore

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

Climate is projected to have negative impact on temperate grassland and livestock productions across the globe. Moderately elevated atmospheric CO₂ in the near future is expected to increase plant photosynthetic rates but this is likely to be limited by soil nitrogen deficits. However, in Australia at least it is unlikely that positive effect of elevated CO₂ on plant production be able to offset the negative impacts of climate change. Currently there is a considerable gap between actual and achievable production and profit in Australian grazing systems and many management and genetic improvements for climate adaptation would operate by …