Showing results for: corn yield News
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Intercropping `boosts maize yields by 50 per cent`
Growing leguminous trees on maize farms — a form of agroforestry — can boost and stabilise maize yields, a 12-year study in Malawi and Zambia has found. The researchers behind the study, from the Kenya-based World Agroforestry Centre and the University of Pretoria, South Africa, say this is the first analysis of long-term crop yield trends in cereal-legume agroforestry systems in ...
By SciDev.Net
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Population has bigger effect than climate change on crop yields, study suggests
Population pressure will be as significant a factor as climate change in reducing crop yields — and thus increasing food insecurity — in West Africa, according to a modelling study. The authors inserted different climate change, land use, and demographic change scenarios, into an internationally validated model to estimate maize yields in Benin from 2021–2050. They found that, ...
By SciDev.Net
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Burundi set to embrace hybrid maize seeds
Farmers in Burundi are set to benefit from new high-yielding, fast-maturing hybrid maize seeds that are also resistant to maize streak virus. The varieties are being tested by the Burundi Institute of Agronomic Sciences (ISABU) and should be available to farmers in September. Two seed companies, Pannar and Naseco, based in Kenya and Uganda respectively, have developed the seeds. "These ...
By SciDev.Net
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Warming Threatens to cut Crop Yields
Projecting the impact of climate change on global food production is no easy task. A warming climate might result in better crop yields in one region, but cause drought and crop failure in another. A new US study, published in the journal Environmental Letters, assesses the odds of a major slowdown in global food production over the next 20 years. Overall, the study’s authors say, the ...
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`Push–pull` pest control to reach more African farmers
A farming technology that uses intercropping to repel insect pests from food crops has been given a new lease of life by a programme to expand its uptake. The 'push–pull' strategy intercrops cereals with a repellent plant bordered by an attractive trap plant. For example, maize can be intercropped with desmodium, which repels ('pushes') pests such as the maize stem borer away from the ...
By SciDev.Net
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Fertiliser trees prove a hit in southern Africa
Hundreds of thousands of smallholder farmers in southern Africa are adopting fast-growing trees and shrubs to fertilise their fields naturally, for improved yields and incomes, according to a study. Scientists at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), a non-profit research organisation in Kenya, analysed two decades-worth of efforts to bring 'fertiliser trees' to African farms and announced ...
By SciDev.Net
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Global warming `has reduced maize and wheat yields`
Global warming has already reduced the global yields of key crops, say scientists. Maize and wheat production have been 3.8 and 5.5 per cent lower, respectively, than they would have been without the temperature rises associated with climate change since the 1980s, according to the statistical analysis. Rice and soya yields have dropped in some parts of the world and risen in others, so overall ...
By SciDev.Net
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Insect-eating bats save global maize farmers €0.91 billion a year from crop damage
Insect-eating bats are estimated to be worth US$ 1 billion (€0.91 billion) a year to maize farmers around the world, a new study has revealed. Not only do bats reduce crop damage by eating adult corn earworm crop pests, they also suppress fungal infections in maize ears. Bats and their habitats need to be better protected for their ecological and economic contributions, say the study’s ...
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Sustainable silage maize farming requires earlier varieties
Dutch silage maize farmers can increase their yield in the long term by using earlier varieties. This was the conclusion reached by maize scientists at Wageningen UR based on many years of practical cultivation tests. The use of earlier varieties increases the chance that the maize will ripen properly and ensures better (soil) conditions for harvesting. Moreover, it would provide more space for ...
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Africa could feed itself, says development expert
Africa could feed itself within a generation through the application of science-based techniques to agricultural production, according to the editor of a report on how to do this, which will be discussed by East African heads of state today. The continent has a window of opportunity in which to take decisions to increase food production that would enable it to feed itself, said the report, put ...
By SciDev.Net
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Maize seedlings predict drought Tolerance
Scientists have developed a new method for measuring drought tolerance in maize. By comparing the shoot-to-root ratio in seedlings stressed by low water, scientists can predict whether a plant has the right mix of genes for adapting to drought conditions. The ideal drought-resistant maize should have a higher ratio of root surface area compared to leaves and stems. Developing enough adult plants ...
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New maize could prepare farmers for climate change
New varieties of drought-tolerant maize could deliver a US$1.5 billion gain in food and income in Sub-Saharan Africa as well as helping smallholders cope with the effects of climate change, according to a study carried out in 13 countries in the region. Researchers at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Mexico, and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture ...
By SciDev.Net
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A little nitrogen can go a long way
Varying the rate of crop production inputs such as fertilizer and seed makes intuitive sense, as farmers have long observed differences in crop yield in various areas of a single field. The availability of spatial yield information from combines equipped with yield monitors has provided a good resource for improved management. So, optimizing inputs to match yield potential of different areas ...
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Cover crops reduce erosion, runoff
Cover crops may be more effective at reducing soil erosion and runoff after maize harvest than rough tillage, according to scientists from the Université Catholique de Louvain, in collaboration with the Independent Center for the Promotion of Forage (CIPF). The three-year study, supervised by Charles Bielders and conducted by Eric Laloy, measured erosion and runoff losses from silt loam ...
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Farming must change to feed the world
The world's farmers must quickly switch to more sustainable and productive farming systems to grow the food needed by a swelling world population and respond to climate change, FAO's top crops expert told an international farm congress here today. In a keynote speech to 1,000 participants at the IVth World Congress on Conservation Agriculture (CA) in New Delhi, Shivaji Pandey, Director of FAO's ...
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Compost made by worms from livestock manure yields benefits when applied to maize
Vermicomposting livestock manure with maize can increase agricultural benefit by 304%, shows a new study. The combination of increased crop yield and the additional earthworms produced as a result of the process led to a substantial increase in output compared to a traditional composting system. As intensive agriculture and livestock production both increase, unique problems emerge. Heavy use of ...
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Earthworms decompose GM maize
Pest-resistant genetically modified (GM) maize makes up an increasing proportion of maize grown commercially in the EU. A new study shows that earthworms may help break down the toxins produced by GM maize. GM maize (Bt-maize) plants are engineered to produce 'cry' proteins that are toxic to the European corn borer, a major insect pest responsible for corn crop losses. Recent studies have shown ...
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Monitoring cow nutrition
This month 2013 NMR/RABDF Gold Cup winner Bill Higgins updates us on the latest news from Wilderley Hall Farm, Pulverbatch, Shropshire, and in particular cow nutrition. Following on from last month’s article we are a third of the way through the maize and the bucket brush is in full use. It does surprise me that after only six loads of maize from the first field we were checked out by the ...
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Comparing USDA August Corn Yield Forecasts
On Monday, August 12th, 2019 the USDA increased its national estimate of the end of season corn yield (to be reported in January 2020) from 166.0 bpa to 169.5 bpa, an increase of 3.5 bpa. USDA’s estimate of corn planted acreage was revised downwards by less than 2% to 90.0 million acres, versus an industry expectation of 88.0 million acres. Estimated corn production was almost unchanged at ...
By CropProphet
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Harvests in DPR Korea up for third year but chronic malnutrition persists
A nationwide assessment by two United Nations agencies shows an increase in staple food production in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) for the third year running. The report, however, notes that although rates of child malnutrition have steadily declined over the past 10 years, rates of stunting caused by malnutrition during the first 1 000 days of a child's life remain high and ...
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