biomass crop Articles
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USDA amends BCAP
Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued a final rule amending the Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) to implement changes required by the 2014 Farm Bill. BCAP provides financial assistance to owners and operators engaged in biomass crops, including collection, harvest, storage, and transportation. The final rule does not alter the scope of the BCAP but does reduce the ...
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Scale of biomass production from new woody crops for salinity control in dryland agriculture in Australia
There is scope internationally to utilise surplus and degraded agricultural land for biomass crops that might also be environmentally beneficial. For example, dryland salinity in southern Australian could be ameliorated using profitable woody biomass crops. A model was developed to predict biomass production from such woody crops. At a biomass price of A$35/t (green) and a water use efficiency of ...
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Symbiotic and growth performance of supernodulating forage pea lines
The exploitation of nitrate-tolerant symbiosis (nts) mutants of pulse legumes is limited by the accompanying supernodulation trait, which causes uncontrolled initiation of excessive symbiotic nodules on the root. The resulting disproportion between the photosynthetic capacity and the catabolic activity of nodules leads to growth deprivation, regardless of the desirable enhancement of symbiotic N ...
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Aquacrop—the FAO crop model to simulate yield response to water
This article introduces the FAO crop model AquaCrop. It simulates attainable yields of major herbaceous crops as a function of water consumption under rainfed, supplemental, deficit, and full irrigation conditions. The growth engine of AquaCrop is water-driven, in that transpiration is calculated first and translated into biomass using a conservative, crop-specific parameter: the biomass water ...
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Corn stover to sustain soil organic carbon further constrains biomass supply
Sustainable aboveground crop biomass harvest estimates for cellulosic ethanol production, to date, have been limited by the need for residue to control erosion. Recently, estimates of the amount of corn (Zea mays L.) stover needed to maintain soil carbon, which is responsible for favorable soil properties, were reported (5.25–12.50 Mg ha–1). These estimates indicate stover needed to maintain soil ...
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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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Treatment of Waste Biomass from Crop Cultivation: Making Charcoal
In the vast realm of agriculture, the disposal of waste biomass generated during crop cultivation stands as a critical challenge. This article delves into the intricacies of treating waste biomass, focusing on the innovative approach of making charcoal. From the types of waste biomass to cutting-edge charcoal-making techniques and the environmental benefits of the end product, this exploration ...
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Canola–Wheat intercrops for improved agronomic performance and integrated pest management
Intercropping can enhance yields and reduce pest infestations, but investigations of intercropping regimes using crop species common to the large-scale monoculture production systems of western Canada have not examined these diverse elements. Intercrops of canola (Brassica napus L.) and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) were established at three sites in Alberta, Canada in 2005 and 2006 to determine ...
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Chelant-assisted accumulation of Cd, Cu and Zn in rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) biomass as a renewable energy feedstock.
This article discusses the environmental concerns regarding soil contamination by heavy metals and the possibility of growing a high biomass-yielding crop (i.e., rapeseed) as a tool of phytoremediation. The aim of our research was to investigate the growth parameters and the capacity of rapeseed to accumulate Cd, Cu, and Zn from the contaminated soil and to investigate the effects of the chelants ...
By Biovala
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O3 sensitivity in a potential C4 bioenergy crop: Sugarcane in California
The C4 perennial grasses have many potential virtues as bioenergy crops—high productivity and water use efficiency, multiyear crop cycle that minimizes replanting costs, and wide environmental adaptation. In the productive San Joaquin Valley (SJV) of California, these species also confront high levels of ozone (O3) air pollution. It is often assumed that C4 species will exhibit tolerance to O3, ...
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Summer cover crop and management system affect lettuce and cantaloupe production system
Cover crops are widely used in both conventional and organic systems to protect and improve the soil. This study evaluated the effect of summer cover crop and management system on the production of fall romaine lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) and spring cantaloupe (Cucumis melo L.) from 1999 to 2003. Cover crop treatments included cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.] incorporated (CPI), cowpea used ...
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Dryland crop yields and soil organic matter as influenced by long-term tillage and cropping sequence
Novel management practices are needed to improve the declining dryland crop yields and soil organic matter contents using conventional farming practices in the northern Great Plains. We evaluated the 21-yr effect of tillage and cropping sequence on dryland grain and biomass (stems + leaves) yields of spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), and pea (Pisum sativum L.) and ...
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Productivity of ephemeral headwater riparian forests impacted by sedimentation in the southeastern United States coastal plain
Received for publication April 30, 2008. Riparian forests serve an essential function in improving water quality through the filtering of sediments and nutrients from surface runoff. However, little is known about the impact of sediment deposition on productivity of riparian forests. Sediment inputs may act as a subsidy to forest productivity by providing additional nutrients for plant uptake or ...
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Valorising Agri-Waste – Agriculture produces an unsustainable amount of waste, so how does the bioeconomy let us derive value from it?
For every kilogram of “usable” crop produced in agriculture, between 1 and 2.5 kilograms of residue is also produced. Of course, some of this residue must remain in the field or be used elsewhere on the farm in order to maintain a healthy ecosystem, but that which isn’t used thus is an unavoidable waste. Minimising waste is one of the central tenets of sustainability: the waste ...
By NNFCC Ltd.
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Aerial color infrared photography to optimize in-season nitrogen fertilizer recommendations in winter wheat
Remote sensing in the form of aerial color infrared (CIR) photography has been shown to be a useful tool for in-season N management in winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). The objectives of this study were (i) to develop a methodology for predicting in-season optimum fertilizer N rates for winter wheat at growth stage (GS) 30 directly from aerial CIR photography and (ii) to quantify how the ...
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Importance of Sustainable Sourcing and How Technology Helps to Achieve This
Today, sustainable agriculture entails boosting agricultural crop production while maintaining the ecological resources in which they flourish. Gardeners and farmers have debated the clash between sustainable agriculture and energy crop cultivation technologies that allow bioenergy and biomass crops to be grown on agricultural land. The consequences of rising oil prices and the environmental ...
By Farmsio Ltd.
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Better photosynthesis for a better world?
There’s no question that plants are better than most other life forms at converting carbon dioxide and sunlight into the sugars that form the basis of our global food web — and eventually, humans’ entire food supply. But fact of the matter is, with conversion rates hovering around 2 percent for our best crop fields, they’re by no means great. Even a slight increase in the ...
By Ensia
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Impact of fly–ash–amended soil on growth and yield of crop plants
Fly Ash (FA), a waste product of thermal power stations, has great potential for use in agriculture, because it contains almost all macro as well as micronutrients. In view of the potential disposal problem of FA, this investigation was carried out to search an economical and eco–friendly solution of its disposal by using it as nutrient source in agriculture for growth of crop plants. FA ...
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