Agronomic and economic performance of organic, conventional and GM-cotton in Central India - First results of a long-term farming systems comparison

Over the past five years the organic cotton production in India has grown many folds. In the conventional cotton arena, the genetically modified cotton is growing at an unprecedented rate. In view of these developments, it was considered necessary to carry out a systematic comparison between the various cotton production systems common in the area. Further, this research attempts to address the larger issues: • Put the discussion regarding the benefits and drawbacks of organic agriculture on a rational footing; • Help to identify challenges for organic agriculture that can then be addressed systematically; • Provide physical reference and meeting points for stakeholders in agricultural research and development and thus support decision-making and agricultural policy dialogue at different levels

Age and sex-specific rates of leaf regeneration in the Mojave Desert moss Syntrichia caninervis

The extremely skewed female-biased sex ratio in the desert moss Syntrichia caninervis was investigated by assessing the regeneration capacity of detached leaves. Juvenile, green, yellow-green, and brown leaves equating to approximately 0, 2, 6, and 12 yr of age, respectively, were detached from individuals of S. caninervis collected from 10 field populations and grown in a growth chamber for 58 d at a light intensity of 33–128 µmol · m–2 · s–1. Younger leaves (0–2 yr old) tended to have a greater viability, regenerate more quickly, extend their protonemal filaments farther, produce shoots (gametophores) more quickly, produce more shoots, and accumulate a greater biomass than older leaves (6 and 12 yr old). Among younger leaf classes, regenerating female leaves were more likely to produce a shoot than male leaves and produced more shoots than male leaves. The sexes did not differ significantly in time until protonemal emergence, linear extension of protonemata, or rate of biomass accumulation. However, protonemata of male leaves tended to emerge more quickly and produce a greater total biomass, ultimately consisting mostly of protonemata, than did female leaves. The more rapid proliferation of shoots by female leaf regenerants may help to explain the rarity of males in this species

Yields and gross margins of cotton-based production systems under organic and conventional management in India

The debate on the relative benefits of conventional and organic farming systems has in recent time gained significant interest. So far, global agricultural development has focused on increased productivity rather than on a holistic natural resource management for food security. Thus, developing more sustainable farming practices on a large scale is of utmost importance. However, information concerning the performance of farming systems under organic and conventional management in tropical and subtropical regions is scarce. This study presents agronomic and economic data from the conversion phase (2007-2010) of a farming systems comparison trial on a Vertisol soil in Madhya Pradesh, central India. A cotton-soybean-wheat crop rotation under biodynamic, organic and conventional (with and without Bt cotton) management was investigated. We observed a significant yield gap between organic and conventional farming systems in the 1st crop cycle (cycle 1: 2007-2008) for cotton (-29%) and wheat (-27%), whereas in the 2nd crop cycle (cycle 2: 2009-2010) cotton and wheat yields were similar in all farming systems due to lower yields in the conventional systems. In contrast, organic soybean (a nitrogen fixing leguminous plant) yields were marginally lower than conventional yields (-1% in cycle 1, -11% in cycle 2). Averaged across all crops, conventional farming systems achieved significantly higher gross margins in cycle 1 (+29%), whereas in cycle 2 gross margins in organic farming systems were significantly higher (+25%) due to lower variable production costs but similar yields. Soybean gross margin was significantly higher in the organic system (+11%) across the four harvest years compared to the conventional systems. Our results suggest that organic soybean production is a viable option for smallholder farmers under the prevailing semi-arid conditions in India. Future research needs to elucidate the long-term productivity and profitability, particularly of cotton and wheat, and the ecological impact of the different farming systems

Participatory Technology Development (PTD) Trials in India

Background: bioRe Association is working with (about 5000) organic farmers, to solve their major practical farming problems. PTD-approach offers a great opportunity to work with the organic farmers to find solutions to their problems like in nutrient and pest management

Self-trapping in an array of coupled 1D Bose gases

We study the transverse expansion of arrays of ultracold $^{87}$Rb atoms weakly confined in tubes created by a 2D optical lattice, and observe that transverse expansion is delayed because of mutual atom interactions. A mean-field model of a coupled array shows that atoms become localized within a roughly square fort-like self-trapping barrier with time-evolving edges. But the observed dynamics is poorly described by the mean-field model. Theoretical introduction of random phase fluctuations among tubes improves the agreement with experiment, but does not correctly predict the density at which the atoms start to expand with larger lattice depths. Our results suggest a new type of self-trapping, where quantum correlations suppress tunneling even when there are no density gradients