International Workshop on Nutrient Balances for Sustainable Agricultural Production and Natural Resource Management in Southeast Asia, Bangkok, Thailand, 20-22 February 2001: selected papers and presentations

Soil management / Soil properties / Soil fertility / Soil degradation / Crop production / Farmers / Agricultural extension / Farming systems / Sustainability / Rice / Cassava / Vegetables / Maize / Fertilizers / Decision support tools / Economic aspects

Proceedings of the COST SUSVAR/ECO-PB Workshop on organic plant breeding strategies and the use of molecular markers

In many countries,national projects are in progress to investigate the sustainable low-input approach.In the present COST network,these projects are coordinated by means of exchange of materials,establishing common methods for assessment and statistical analyses and by combining national experimental results.The common framework is cereal production in low-input sustainable systems with emphasis on crop diversity.The network is organised into six Working Groups,five focusing on specific research areas and one focusing on the practical application of the research results for variety testing:1)plant genetics and plant breeding,2)biostatistics,3)plant nutrition and soil microbiology,4)weed biology and plant competition,5)plant pathology and plant disease resistance biology and 6)variety testing and certification.It is essential that scientists from many disciplines work together to investigate the complex interactions between the crop and its environment,in order to be able to exploit the natural regulatory mechanisms of different agricultural systems for stabilising and increasing yield and quality.The results of this cooperation will contribute to commercial plant breeding as well as official variety testing,when participants from these areas disperse the knowledge achieved through the EU COST Action

Aquaculture Asia, vol. 8, no. 4, pp.1-52, October - December 2003

CONTENTS: Freshwater prawn, Macrobrachium nobilii a promising candidate for rural nutrition, by Pitchimuthu Mariappan, P. Balamurugan, and Chellam Balasundaram. Snapshots of a clean, innovative, socially responsible fishfarm in Sri Lanka, by Pedro Bueno. Introduction of rainbow trout Onchorynchus mykiss in Nepal: Constraints and prospects, by Tek Bahadur Gurung, Sadhu Ram Basnet. Tilapia seed production in Ho Chi Minh City, Southern Vietnam, by H. P. V. Huy, A. MacNiven, N. V. Tu, Ram C. Bhujel and David C. Little. Seaweed Mariculture: Scope And Potential In India, by Sajid I. Khan and S. B. Satam. Growth enhancement of carp and prawn through dietary sodium chloride supplementation, by P.Keshavanath, B. Gangadhara and Savitha Khadri. Fertilization, soil and water quality management in small-scale ponds, by S. Adhikari Shrimp harvesting technology on the south west coast of Bangladesh, by S. M. Nazmul Alam, Michael J. Phillips and C. K. Lin. The “Gher Revolution”, by M.C. Nandeesha [Farmers as Scientists series] Aquaculture Compendium – case study component, by Peter Edwards. Rice-Fish Culture in China, by Fang Xiuzhen. Exercising responsibilities to tackle aquatic animal diseases, by CV Mohan. Application of immunostimulants in larviculture: Feasibility and challenges, by ZhouJin. Marine Finfish Sectio

Use of DNA-based genetic markers in plant breeding

Genetic markers have been used since the beginnings of plant breeding, but the concept of linkage and recently the availability of molecular markers have offered new and powerful tools that can help to perform the traditional tasks of selection or that can change the traditional breeding process. Markers can either be used in a descriptive manner to identify varieties, to study the ‘micro-evolution’ of composite crosses or variety mixtures or to analyse the breeding progress retrospectively in order to learn from the past. The operative use of markers in plant breeding is connected to the selection of parental lines and progeny lines. The possible implementation of these processes stretches from the introgression of specific chromosome fragments to ‘marker-based idiotype breeding’

Aquaculture Asia, Vol.14, No.1, pp.1-51, January-March 2009

Peter Edwards writes on rural aquaculture: Myanmar revisited. Harvesting, traditional preservation and marketing of fishes of Chalan Beel, Bangladesh, by Galib, S.M. and Samad, M.A. Role of community in production and supply of larger, quality fingerlings, by Radheyshyam, De, H.K. and Saha, G.S. Can rice-fish farming provide food security in Bangladesh? by Ahmed, N. and Luong-Van, J. Nutritional and food security for rural poor through multi-commodity production from a lake of eastern Uttar Pradesh, by Singh, S.K. Emerging boost in Sri Lankan reservoir fish production: a case of adoption of past research findings, by Amarasinghe, U.S., Weerakoon, D.E.M., Athukorala, D.A. Farming the freshwater prawn Macrobrachium malcolmsonii, by Radheyshyam Breeding and seed production of butter catfish, Ompok pabda (Siluridae) at Kalyani Centre of CIFA, India, by Chakrabarti, P.P., Chakrabarty, N.M. and Mondal, S.C. Asia-Pacific Marine Finfish Aquaculture Magazine Use of fish in animal feeds: a fresh perspective National strategies for aquatic animal health management, by Mohan, C.V. NACA Newsletter

Cage row arrangement affects the performance of laying hens in the hot humid tropics

Although the traditional cage system of housing laying hens is gradually being faced out due to welfare reasons, cages are still common in most developing tropical countries in different arrangements. In a 12-week experiment, the effects of a three cage row arrangement on hen-day production and egg qualities of Shaver Brown hens was studied. Data were collected from 2 layer sheds housing 9,000 hens in a 3-cage row arrangement (southern row, northern row and middle row) with 3,000 hens per row. Data were analysed for a randomized complete block design where cage rows were the treatments and weeks the blocks. Results showed no significant effects of cage row arrangement on feed intake, hen-day production, per cent yolk and Haugh unit (P>0.05). Egg weight, egg mass and per cent shell were significantly reduced and feed conversion ratio increased on the middle row (P<0.05). Egg weight, egg mass, per cent shell and feed conversion ratio did not differ between the side rows (P>0.05). These results suggest that battery cage row arrangement may not affect the rate of lay but egg weight, egg mass and efficiency of feed utilisation may be adversely affected in hens housed in the middle row. These findings have both economic and welfare implications

Participatory Research and Gender Analysis in Agricultural and Natural Resource Management Research

This selected bibliography provides a snapshot of reported research in participatory research and gender analysis, and as a prototype for an ongoing resource for researchers

Management of Acid Soils

Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Agriculture and climate change: An agenda for negotiation in Copenhagen

Table of Contents: •Overview by Gerald C. Nelson •Agricultural Science and Technology Needs for Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation by Rudy Rabbinge •Reducing Methane Emissions from Irrigated Rice by Reiner Wassmann, Yasukazu Hosen, and Kay Sumfleth •Direct and Indirect Mitigation Through Tree and Soil Management by Brent M. Swallow and Meine van Noordwijk •The Potential for Soil Carbon Sequestration by Rattan Lal •Mitigating Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Livestock Systems by M. Herrero and P. K. Thornton •The Role of Nutrient Management in Mitigation by Helen C. Flynn •Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification Methodologies for Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Use by Sean Smukler and Cheryl Palm •Synergies Among Mitigation, Adaptation, and Sustainable Development by Pete Smith •The Importance of Property Rights in Climate Change Mitigation by Helen Markelova and Ruth Meinzen-Dick •The Important Role of Extension Systems by Kristin E. Davis •Adaptation to Climate Change: Household Impacts and Institutional Responses by Futoshi Yamauchi and Agnes Quisumbing •The Constructive Role of International Trade by Franz FischlerClimate change, Copenhagen, Science and technology, rice, Soil fertility management, Greenhouse gas, Nutrients, Forestry resources, Land use, Sustainable development, International trade, extension activities, Household behavior, Institutional Impacts,

Remote Sensing for Precision Nitrogen Management

This book focuses on the fundamental and applied research of the non-destructive estimation and diagnosis of crop leaf and plant nitrogen status and in-season nitrogen management strategies based on leaf sensors, proximal canopy sensors, unmanned aerial vehicle remote sensing, manned aerial remote sensing and satellite remote sensing technologies. Statistical and machine learning methods are used to predict plant-nitrogen-related parameters with sensor data or sensor data together with soil, landscape, weather and/or management information. Different sensing technologies or different modelling approaches are compared and evaluated. Strategies are developed to use crop sensing data for in-season nitrogen recommendations to improve nitrogen use efficiency and protect the environment