Agriculture Management Articles
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Statistical evaluation of the early-stage development of Jatropha energy plantations in Northeastern Mexico
A systematic evaluation of agricultural factors affecting the adaptation of the tropical oil plant Jatropha curcas L. to the semi-arid subtropical climate in Northeastern Mexico has been conducted. The factors studied include plant density and topology, as well as fungi and virus abundances. A multiple regression analysis shows that total fruit production can be well predicted by the area per ...
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Utilisation of sugarcane agricultural residues: electricity production and climate mitigation
This paper deals with the potentials and opportunities of Sugarcane Agricultural Residues (SARs) for green power production in sugarcane-growing countries. It focuses on the possibilities of cofiring SARs with sugarcane bagasse, a similar physicochemical resource which is currently being commercially converted into electricity in state-of-the-art cogeneration plants. It also assesses the climate ...
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Mineral-nitrogen leaching and ammonia volatilization from a rice–rapeseed system as affected by 3,4-dimethylpyrazole phosphate
Received for publication November 9, 2008. 3,4-Dimethylpyrazole phosphate (DMPP) was validated as an effective nitrification inhibitor to reduce nitrate leaching. Its effects on ammonia (NH3) volatilization were not clear, especially on farmland scale with crop rotations. In this study, on-farm experiments at the Jiaxing (JX) and Yuhang (YH) sites in Taihu Lake Basin, China were conducted to ...
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A Conceptual model for describing processes of crop improvement in database structures
Rising research costs, broadening goals, intellectual property rights, and other concerns increase the need for robust management of crop improvement data. The data model of the International Crop Information System (ICIS) allows breeding processes to be recorded unambiguously in a relational database. This paper describes this model, which underlies the Genealogical Management System (GMS) of ...
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Genetically engineered flax: potential benefits, risks, regulations, and mitigation of transgene movement
Flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) has been grown for more than 6000 years, primarily for oil and fiber. Advances in plant biotechnology have resulted in flax cultivars with increased herbicides resistance and there is potential to produce transgenic flax with seed oil containing fatty acids with nutraceutical properties. Flax oil is a rich source of -linolenic acid (ALA, 18:3cis9,12,15), a precursor ...
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Heterosis decreasing in hybrids: Yield test inbreds
Yield testing finished inbreds to replace preliminary single-cross corn (Zea mays L.) yield tests will increase rate of commercial hybrid yield gains. Studies have shown that heterosis decreased 25%/50 yr, 10%/60 yr, and 35%/100 yr. Natural selection and artificial selection by plant breeders for adaptedness have increased parental inbred and hybrid seed yields, whereas percentage heterosis ...
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Two alleles of ahFAD2B control the high oleic acid trait in cultivated peanut
A high oleic:linoleic acid ratio (O/L) in peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) seeds is controlled primarily by two recessive genes, ahFAD2A and ahFAD2B (ol1 and ol2). Marker-assisted breeding for high O/L could become routine provided that user-friendly and economical markers could be developed that would target mutant alleles underlying the trait. Previously, a mutant allele of ahFAD2A was ...
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Improvement in grain and fodder yields of early-maturing promiscuous soybean varieties in the guinea savanna of Nigeria
Thirteen early-maturing and promiscuously nodulating soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] varieties that belonged to maturity group I developed at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) from 1980 to 1996 were evaluated at two locations in the Guinea savanna of Nigeria in 2001 and 2002 to determine genetic gain in grain yield and associated agronomic traits. The varieties were ...
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Generalizing the sites regression model to three-way interaction including multi-attributes
When a multienvironment trial (MET) is established across several locations and years, the interaction is referred to as a three-way array. Three-way interaction can be studied by means of three-way principal components analysis. In this study, the three-way principal components analysis is adapted to the sites regression model (three-way SREG). The three-way SREG with location and year combines ...
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Evaluation and characterization of seedling resistances to stem rust ug99 races in wheat–alien species derivatives
Stem rust (caused by Puccinia graminis Pers.:Pers. f. sp. tritici Eriks. & E. Henn.), a devastating disease of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), was effectively controlled worldwide for the past 50 yr by deployment of stem rust resistance (Sr) genes in wheat cultivars. However, a new stem rust race, TTKSK (known as Ug99 or TTKS) that emerged in eastern Africa, is a cause of concern because it has ...
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Bumble bee pollinators in red clover seed production
Bumble bees pollinate red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) but impact on seed production depends on the species, abundance, and synchrony with bloom. The objectives of the current study were to examine pollination by a native bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii (Radoszkowski), determine the bumble bee fauna associated with red clover in Oregon, and assess if seed set is limiting. In a cage study, ...
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New and old soybean cultivar responses to plant density and intercepted light
Genetic gain for new soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] cultivars is substantial, and research suggests this is partially explained by greater tolerance to increased plant densities. We conducted an experiment to determine if greater tolerance to increased plant density and more efficient use of cumulative intercepted photosynthetically active radiation (CIPAR) partially explained the yield ...
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Competitiveness of agrostis interspecific hybrids in turfgrass swards
Transgenic herbicide-resistant cultivars of creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera L.) have been developed and are being considered for commercial release. Concerns regarding transgenic species include potential for outcrossing of the crop, which may produce novel genotypes with increased weediness. Persistence and multiyear growth of interspecific hybrids between creeping bentgrass and velvet ...
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Water deficit, heat tolerance, and persistence of summer-dormant grasses in the U.S. southern plains
Summer-dormant cool-season grasses are being used in the Southern Plains of the United States in place of traditional summer-active cultivars for high-quality winter forage. One reason for this is the ability of cultivars with summer dormancy traits to tolerate increasing annual temperature, decreasing precipitation, and repeated severe summer droughts. Research on adaptation of these grasses and ...
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Current and potential development of perennial grasses in rainfed mediterranean farming systems
Past and recent development of perennial grasses in the rainfed Euro-Mediterranean region is reviewed concerning climatic constraints and main types of farming systems. The few Mediterranean cultivars that are registered and available are used for livestock production and cover crops only in subtemperate areas. These cultivars are adapted where annual rainfall exceeds 500 mm and accumulated water ...
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An alternate wetting and moderate soil drying regime improves root and shoot growth in rice
A major challenge in rice (Oryza sativa L.) production is to achieve the dual goal of increasing food production and saving water. This study aimed to investigate if alternate wetting and drying regimes could improve root and shoot growth and consequently increase grain yield and water use efficiency (WUE). Two rice varieties were field-grown at Yangzhou, China in 2005 and 2006. Three irrigation ...
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Meta-analysis of QTL associated with fusarium head blight resistance in wheat
Quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with resistance to Fusarium head blight (FHB), which is mainly caused by Fusarium graminearum Schwabe [telomorph: Gibberella zeae Schw. (Petch)], have been identified in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) from different countries. Due to the differences of genetic backgrounds and analysis methods, the linked marker and significance levels of QTL are not ...
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Summer drought survival strategies and sustainability of perennial temperate forage grasses in mediterranean areas
Perennial grasslands provide numerous agroenvironmental benefits due to continuous soil cover. In Mediterranean areas, chronic summer drought is expected to increase as a result of climate changes. Plant adaptations that protect meristematic tissues include dehydration delay, dehydration tolerance, and summer dormancy. Summer dormancy can only be reliably tested in plants not subjected to water ...
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Growth analysis of biomass production in sole-crop and double-crop corn systems
Increased biomass productivity could be achieved through double-cropping if extended growth duration could be realized with minimal reductions in growth efficiency relative to sole-cropping. To test this hypothesis, functional growth analysis was used to assess the relative importance of photosynthetic duration and efficiency in determining biomass production by sole-crop corn (Zea mays L.; SC) ...
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Comparison of weighting in two-stage analysis of plant breeding trials
Series of plant breeding trials are often unbalanced and have a complex genetic structure. To reduce computing cost, it is common practice to employ a two-stage approach, where adjusted means per location are estimated and then a mixed model analysis of these adjusted means is performed. An important question is how means from the first step should be weighted in the second step. Our objective ...
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