Adoption of Research Recommendations by Rice Farmers : A Case Study on Bangkok Plain

Farm survey and field experiments on farmers' fields and at Suphanburi Rice Experiment Station were conducted from April 1993 to January 1994 to gather information on crop management practices followed by farmers and to evaluate applied N response. Field experiments consisted of three treatments : i) control with no N but recommended P fertilizer applied ; ii) fertilizer dosage by the farmer oraverage dosage used by farmers in the survey ; and ni) fertilizer dosage recommended by the Department of Agriculture (DOA). Thirty-nine % of farmers used herbicide and pesticide dosages in excess of the DOA recommended dosage. 18 types of pesticides of class Moderate to Extremely Hazardous not recommended by DOA were used by farmers. Only 18 % of farmers were aware of the recommended herbicide and pesticide dosages. Not all farmers (only 65 %) were aware of proper handling and storage procedures for herbicides and pesticides. Only 11 % of farmers were aware of fertilizer recommendations. 84 % used fertilizer dosage higherthan the DOA recommended dosage. On average, 34 kg of N ha-1 and 5 kg of P ha-1 were used in excess ofthe DOA recommended dosage in one season. The excess dosage did not produce grain and straw yields higher than the recommended dosage on both farmers' fields and at the experimental station. Furthermore, N response (kg grain per kg N) was 60 % lower than at DOA recommended dosage. Farmers trusted results from their own field experiment more than results from the experimental station. They were willing to adopt DOA recommendations during the next growing season. However, a follow-up survey conducted in the next season showed that farmers had not adopted the DOA recommendations. Reason given was that they are used to applying high doses and that it gives high yields

Boundary Line Approach in Specifying Durian Nutrient Standards

The boundary line approach was used to improve the diagnostic criteria for durian leaf nutrient standards. The mature `Mon Thong' commercial orchards located in 3 provinces in Eastern Thailand were surveyed during the 1999/2000 growing season. At each location, three to five orchards from each category of low, medium and high-yield orchards were selected. In each orchard, 8-10 uniform and representative trees were chosen for sampling. Second and the third leaves from the terminal of the first flush after harvest were sampled (when leaves were 5-7 months old) at one month intervals from October to December 1999. Eight exposed leaves from the perimeter of each tree were collected to make composite samples for nutrients analysis. The yield of each durian tree was estimated using the equation developed by Koseki et al. (1987)

Repeptization by dissolution in a colloidal system of iron(III) pyrophosphate

Repeptization (redispersion) from an aggregated state is usually only possible in charge-stabilized colloidal systems if the system is either coagulated in the secondary minimum of the interaction potential or if the system cannot settle completely into the primary minimum. In this work, we analyze the zeta potential, conductivity, and long-term stability of colloidal systems of iron(III) pyrophosphate and surprisingly find that the system seems to defy conventional wisdom as it can be repeptized from its coagulated state regardless of aging time and background ions. Moreover, after having been stored for up to a month in 2 M NaCl, dialysis of iron pyrophosphate will yield a colloidal dispersion that is actually stable for a longer period of time than a fresh system with background electrolyte removed

An assessment of uncertainties in V S profiles obtained from microtremor observations in the phased 2018 COSMOS blind trials

Site response is a critical consideration when assessing earthquake hazards. Site characterization is key to understanding site effects as influenced by seismic site conditions of the local geology. Thus, a number of geophysical site characterization methods were developed to meet the demand for accurate and cost-effective results. As a consequence, a number of studies have been administered periodically as blind trials to evaluate the state-of-practice on-site characterization. We present results from the Consortium of Organizations for Strong Motion Observation Systems (COSMOS) blind trials, which used data recorded from surface-based microtremor array methods (MAM) at four sites where geomorphic conditions vary from deep alluvial basins to an alpine valley. Thirty-four invited analysts participated. Data were incrementally released to 17 available analysts who participated in all four phases: (1) two-station arrays, (2) sparse triangular arrays, (3) complex nested triangular or circular arrays, and (4) all available geological control site information including drill hole data. Another set of 17 analysts provided results from two sites and two phases only. Although data from one site consisted of recordings from three-component sensors, the other three sites consisted of data recorded only by vertical-component sensors. The sites cover a range of noise source distributions, ranging from one site with a highly directional microtremor wave field to others with omni-directional (azimuthally distributed) wave fields. We review results from different processing techniques (e.g., beam-forming, spatial autocorrelation, cross-correlation, or seismic interferometry) applied by the analysts and compare the effectiveness between the differing wave field distributions. We define the M index as a quality index based on estimates of the time-averaged shear-wave velocity of the upper 10 (VS10), 30 (VS30), 100 (VS100), and 300 (VS300) meters and show its usefulness in quantitative comparisons of VS profiles from multiple analysts. Our findings are expected to aid in building an evidence-based consensus on preferred cost-effective arrays and processing methodology for future studies of seismic site effects