Does Hydro and Osmo-Priming Improve Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) Seeds Germination and Seedlings Growth?

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of hydropriming and osmopriming on germination rate, percentage of, root–shoot length and root–shoot weight of fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) seeds. Priming was done by: hydropriming with distilled water, . osmopriming with NaCl at four levels (-0.3, -0.6, -0.9, -1.2 MPa), osmopriming with K2SO4 in four levels (-0.3, -0.6, -0.9, -1.2 MPa), priming with PEG6000 in four levels (-0.3, -0.6, -0.9, -1.2MPa) and 5. seeds with unprime control at treat. In this study, RCBD experimental design was used for the analysis of experimental factors. The results showed that priming significantly effected at all treatment methods. Maximum and minimum germination percentage were obtained with PEG (-0.9 MPa) applied, and in control. Maximum and minimum germination rates were obtained when K2SO4 (-0.3 MPa), NaCl (-0.3 MPa) were used. Maximum and minimum root length were obtained when NaCl [(-1.2 MPa), PEG (-0.3 MPa)], NaCl (-0.6 MPa) were used. Maximum and minimum shoot length were obtained when PEG (-0.3 MPa), NaCl (-0.6 MPa) were used. Maximum and minimum root weight, root/shoot length were obtained when NaCl (-1.2 MPa), NaCl (-0.6 MPa) were used. Maximum and minimum shoot weight were obtained when NaCl (-1.2 MPa), NaCl (-0.3 MPa) were used. Maximum and minimum root/shoot weight were obtained when [PEG (-0.3 MPa), K2SO4 (-0.3, -0.6, -0.9 MPa), NaCl (-0.6, -0.9 MPa), hydropriming] and [PEG (-0.6, -1.2 MPa), NaCl (-1.2 MPa)] were used

A Global Mapping System for Bambara Groundnut Production

This is the first study that estimates the potential production for any underutilised crop on a global basis. Our long-term aim is to demonstrate how this approach, initially for bambara groundnut, can be used to assess the potential productivity of many underutilised food crops at locations beyond their current distribution. The most significant contributions from this study are the integration of a weather simulator and a crop simulation model into a Geographical Information System (GIS) to predict potential production of bambara groundnut over the globe. The integration came through a coincidence of interests. FAO needed to improve the knowledge and better use of underutilised crops that can contribute to the food security of the world s poorest people. For the University of Nottingham it was an opportunity to provide a geographic basis for their existing crop model that had been refined by the third author so that predictions of bambara groundnut potential could be extended to new sites. Integration of the weather generator and model into a GIS was based on the experiences gained by the second author in using fish growth models to estimate potential for fish farming in Africa (FAO, 1998, available at www.fao.org/docrep/ W8522e/W8522E00.htm)

Predicting realizations of daily weather data for climate forecasts using the non-parametric nearest-neighbour re-sampling technique

ABSTRACT: Weather is one of the primary driving variables that prominently impacts agricultural production and associated disciplines, such as resource management. Lack of daily weather data for many locations along with many prognosis requirements for weather for various applications has resulted in continuous efforts to determine the best possible approach for weather sequence prediction. The goal of this study was to verify the k-nearest neighbours (k-NN) approach for the prediction of daily weather sequences. This method can be employed on the assumption that the weather during the target year is analogous to the weather recorded in the past. We used the nearest-neighbour re-sampling method for the simultaneous prediction of daily radiation, maximum and minimum temperature, and precipitation for multiple locations. A vector of weather variables, including precipitation, radiation, maximum and minimum temperature, on day (t + 1) is re-sampled from historical data by conditioning on the vector of the same variables for the preceding day (t). Observed historical weather data for ten different sites located in Georgia were used for evaluation. The selected sites represent different climatic conditions and the number of daily records varied from 46 to 97 years. The predicted daily and monthly data were compared with both the observed daily and monthly average historical weather data and the target year of 2005 for all ten study sites. The statistical analysis included summary statistics, mean square difference (MSD) and its components, and the Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) test. The results showed that the k-NN approach was able to reproduce a similar pattern of the target year 2005 from the observed historical weather data. For all weather variables, both the lower and upper quartiles (Q1 and Q3) showed a very good agreement with the data of the observed target year. The cumulative distribution functions (CDFs) for the observed and predicted data were not significantly (P > 0.05) different across all sites for precipitation, except for the minimum temperature of seven study sites, radiation for five study sites, and maximum temperature for one study site. Our investigation to determine the minimum number of historical observed weather data required for obtaining reliable prediction revealed that 25 years of data were sufficient to find similar patterns compared to when all available weather data were used across all sites. It can be concluded from this study that the k-NN approach on the basis of pattern recognition can be considered as a reliable method to predict daily weather sequences based on historical weather data

Toward Environmentally Sustainable Wheat Harvesting Operation in Rainfed and Irrigated Systems

This study aimed to assess the environmental sustainability of wheat harvesting operation in rainfed and irrigated farming systems in three different locations in Iran, including Sari, Mashhad and Parsabad Moghan counties. Four sustainability indices of energy, emergy, exergy, and greenhouse gas emissions were investigated in this research. Results revealed that the energy efficiency of harvesting operation in irrigated systems was higher than that in rainfed systems. The emergy analysis results highlighted that the environmental sustainability indices for rainfed systems in Mashhad, Parsabad Moghan, and Sari were 0.047, 0.035 and 0.034, respectively. The values for the irrigated systems were 0.036, 0.035 and 0.034, respectively. The results of exergy analysis also indicated that the exergy efficiency of harvesting operation in rainfed and irrigated systems in Sari and Parsabad Moghan was higher than that in other areas by 56.07 and 128.72, respectively. Total GHG emissions of harvesting operation in Sari, Parsabad Moghan, and Mashhad in rainfed systems were determined to be lower than that in the irrigated systems (54.88, 47.64 and 36.03 kg CO2eq ha-1 versus 67.52, 66.56 and 59.22 kg CO2eq ha-1, respectively). In conclusion, the wheat harvesting system was environmentally more sustainable in Sari and Parsabad Moghan counties in rainfed and irrigated farming systems, respectively

Comparison of Pattern Recognition, Artificial Neural Network and Pedotransfer Functions for Estimation of Soil Water Parameters

This paper presents the comparison of three different approaches to estimate soil water content at defined values of soil water potential based on selected parameters of soil solid phase. Forty different sampling locations in northeast of Iran were selected and undisturbed samples were taken to measure the water content at field capacity (FC), -33 kPa, and permanent wilting point (PWP), -1500 kPa. At each location solid particle of each sample including the percentage of sand, silt and clay were measured. Organic carbon percentage and soil texture were also determined for each soil sample at each location. Three different techniques including pattern recognition approach (k nearest neighbour, k-NN), Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and pedotransfer functions (PTF) were used to predict the soil water at each sampling location. Mean square deviation (MSD) and its components, index of agreement (d), root mean square difference (RMSD) and normalized RMSD (RMSDr) were used to evaluate the performance of all the three approaches. Our results showed that k-NN and PTF performed better than ANN in prediction of water content at both FC and PWP matric potential. Various statistics criteria for simulation performance also indicated that between kNN and PTF, the former, predicted water content at PWP more accurate than PTF, however both approach showed a similar accuracy to predict water content at FC

Climatic Suitability of Growing Summer Squash (Cucurbita pepo L.) as a Medicinal Plant in Iran

Diversification of production by including a broader range of plant species, can significantly contribute to improve health and nutrition, livelihoods, household food security and ecological sustainability. Exploring the climate impact on any given crop is one of the first priorities to find new suitable areas for production and management of new crops. Summer squash (Cucurbita pepo L.) is an economically valuable plant with various medicinal potentials. In order to investigate summer squash cultivation feasibility under Iran�s climate, three main agricultural regions (Azerbaijan, Khorasan and central part of Iran (Fars and Isfahan)) were selected. These regions suitability for summer squash cultivation were evaluated by considering three vital climate variables encompass temperature, precipitation, and sunshine hours. These regions show distinct and representative climatic conditions of Iran. Annual and growing season average of maximum, minimum, mean temperature, precipitation, and sunshine hours were calculated (May-September) for all locations with 44 years historical weather data (1961-2005) for 8 locations (Oroomieh, Tabriz, Khoy, Mashhad, Sabzevar, Birjand, Shiraz and Isfahan), 39 years (1966-2005) for 2 locations (Kashan and Fassa), 28 years (1977-2005) for 4 locations (Ardebil, Abadeh, Bojnurd and Shargh Isfahan) and 20 years (1985-2005) for 9 locations (Mahabad, Sarab, Maragheh, Parsabad, Khalkhal, Ferdous, Ghaen, Kashmar and Sarakhs). Climatic demands of summer squash were determined by four years field studies at four different locations in Iran. Our results showed Azerbaijan region has a suitable condition for this crop cultivation especially from precipitation and temperature perspectives. Central part of Iran and Khorasan were also found as partly suitable locations however as they are near to deserts with hotter and drier climate, there might be some other crops considered as priorities in these areas

Climatic Suitability of Growing Summer Squash (Cucurbita pepo L.) as a Medicinal Plant in Iran

Diversification of production by including a broader range of plant species, can significantly contribute to improve health and nutrition, livelihoods, household food security and ecological sustainability. Exploring the climate impact on any given crop is one of the first priorities to find new suitable areas for production and management of new crops. Summer squash (Cucurbita pepo L.) is an economically valuable plant with various medicinal potentials. In order to investigate summer squash cultivation feasibility under Irans climate, three main agricultural regions (Azerbaijan, Khorasan and central part of Iran (Fars and Isfahan)) were selected. These regions suitability for summer squash cultivation were evaluated by considering three vital climate variables encompass temperature, precipitation, and sunshine hours. These regions show distinct and representative climatic conditions of Iran. Annual and growing season average of maximum, minimum, mean temperature, precipitation, and sunshine hours were calculated (May-September) for all locations with 44 years historical weather data (1961-2005) for 8 locations (Oroomieh, Tabriz, Khoy, Mashhad, Sabzevar, Birjand, Shiraz and Isfahan), 39 years (1966-2005) for 2 locations (Kashan and Fassa), 28 years (1977-2005) for 4 locations (Ardebil, Abadeh, Bojnurd and Shargh Isfahan) and 20 years (1985-2005) for 9 locations (Mahabad, Sarab, Maragheh, Parsabad, Khalkhal, Ferdous, Ghaen, Kashmar and Sarakhs). Climatic demands of summer squash were determined by four years field studies at four different locations in Iran. Our results showed Azerbaijan region has a suitable condition for this crop cultivation especially from precipitation and temperature perspectives. Central part of Iran and Khorasan were also found as partly suitable locations however as they are near to deserts with hotter and drier climate, there might be some other crops considered as priorities in these areas

Differential Responses for Harvesting Times and Storage on Hardness of Different Varieties of Okra

Okra seed hardness results in slow and nonuniform germination. This study was conducted to determine the effects of time of harvest and storage on seed germination of four different cultivars of okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L.). The study was carried out at Agricultural faculty of Razi University in years 2009 and 2010. The experimental design was a randomized complete block under factorial arrangement with three replications. Four different cultivars of okra included, Boiatloy, Beloudo, Clemsson Seinless and Pleas and six harvesting times of 20-25-30-35-40 and 50 days after flowering were considered in the present study. The results showed that seed germination increased in 2009 from 3.4%, at first harvesting time, to 46.4% at fifth harvesting time, and in 2010 from 2.9%, at the first harvesting time, to 49.7% at fifth harvesting time. Different cultivars varied in seed germination. In 2009 Plea and in 2010 Clemson cultivars showed the highest germination. Seeds from different parts of the plant also showed different germination rate. In 2009 seeds from the middle part of the plant with 54.3% and in 2010 seed from the lower part with 50.3 % showed the highest germination. In 2009 seeds from the lower part of pod showed more germination, whereas in 2010 seeds from middle part of pod produced higher germination. By increasing time to harvest, the percentage of seed germination after storage highly increased. Different cultivars during storage showed different behaviors on germination. Beloudo cultivar produced more seed germination than other varieties after storage, and Pleas after storage produced lower seed germination. Seeds from the middle part of plant and middle part of pod showed a higher germination after storage