crop biomass 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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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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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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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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Northam Wheat Trial – NPK Reduction - Case Study
First of a five year trial producing wheat at reduced rates of NPK (50% to 75%). At Northam in the central wheatbelt of Western Australia in 2013, wheat cv. Eradu was sown into a pasture paddock to evaluate the effects of various rates of fertiliser in combination with Hibrix BB. Agras fertiliser was banded below the seed at sowing at 0, 25, 51, 75 or 99 kg/ha whilst Hibrix BB was applied to half ...
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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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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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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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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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Impact assessment of pre- and post-sown irrigation with Post Methanation distillery Effluent on soil health and crop yield
Field experiments were conducted to assess the optimum dilution of Post Methanation distillery Effluent (PME) to utilise as an organic nutrient source for growing rice and wheat crops. Dilution levels of distillery effluent significantly affected the biomass production as well as grain yield of rice and wheat crops. Levels of organic carbon and NPK were significantly higher in effluent treated ...
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Effect of irrigation with secondary treated effluent on essential oil, antioxidant activity, and phenolic compounds in oregano and rosemary
Shortage of water throughout the world dictates utilization of marginal water for irrigation. Treated urban wastewater is a common alternative water source for irrigation in arid and semiarid regions. In this study we aimed to evaluate the effect of irrigation with secondary-treated effluent on plant development, essential oil yield, antioxidant activity and selected antioxidant phenolic ...
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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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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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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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Crop Intelligence Creates New Opportunities
Adding Crop Intelligence to your tool kit creates a number of new opportunities for your farm. Here’s what we know from data analysis and firsthand experience with farmers and agronomists. The Crop Intelligence app interprets data and that can help you: Develop a baseline Weather stations and environmental sensor technology is more reliable and affordable to implement. With farm-specific ...
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Monitoring and forecasting soil moisture
Real-Time Technology Can Impact Decision Making On-Farm And Across Regional Landscapes. Soil moisture is not only important for crop production, input decisions and yield outcomes – it is an important determinant of runoff volume, flood risk and greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture soil, such as nitrous oxide (N2O). Advancements in moisture monitoring and forecasting, along with the ...
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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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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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Potential for using sunn hemp as a source of biomass and nitrogen for the piedmont and coastal plain regions of the southeastern usa
The tropical legume sunn hemp (Crotalaria juncea L.) could be a valuable green manure/cover crop for vegetable producers in the southeastern USA because of its rapid growth and large N2 fixing ability. Planting and termination date effects on biomass and N accumulation are relatively unknown for the region, but would help producers manage sunn hemp between summer and winter cash crops. We ...
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Soil carbon levels in irrigated western corn belt rotations
Proposals promoting the use of massive amounts of crop residues and other lignocellulosic biomass for biofuel production have increased the need for evaluation of the sustainability of cropping practices and their effect on environment quality. Our objective was to evaluate the effects of crop rotation and N fertilizer management and their stover production characteristics on soil organic carbon ...
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