IMPACT OF COVER CROP MANAGEMENT ON CROP PRODUCTION: A FIELD EXPERIMENT IN WALLONIA CONTEXT

Minimal soil tillage methods, crop rotation, cover crop and continuous plant residue cover are the main pillars of sustainable agriculture. Lower energy consumption, costs and time are some direct benefits in favor to the adaptation of this agriculture. This practices aims also directly at protecting the soil from wind and water erosion by covering the soil. Lower disruption of the soil aims at developping the micro- and macro-fauna activity that increases soil fertility and carbon and nitrogen sequestration in soils. Unfortunately, some of the great constraints to the adaptation of conservation agriculture remain weed management, fungal diseases and pest management, that has been shown to be a problem in non-ploughed fields. The aim of our study is to evaluate, on a same field (Wallonia context), contrasted tillage methods for managing the cover crop and the implantation of the main crop. The following measurements were taken: germination rate, root and shoot biomass development, root notation (size and shape), leaf area index and quality of harvested product. Preliminary results indicate that the different tillage methods did not have a significant impact on crop production or development. However changes in germination dynamics were observed, the reduced tillage inducing slower germination. Regarding weeds populations, some difference were observed in weed occurrences. Since a field ex

Dealing with crop rotation in agroforestry: the impact of shade on winter wheat and sugar beet growth and yield under belgium conditions

peer reviewe

Application de l'imagerie hyperspectrale PIR combinée à la chimiométrie pour évaluer l'impact du travail du sol sur le développement racinaire d'une culture de froment d'hiver

This poster presents de results of a study of the influence of tillage on the root development of a winter wheat crop. The originality of this research lies in the application of an innovative root quantification method based on the near infrared hyperspectral imaging.Ce poster présente les résultats obtenus lors d'une étude de l'influence du travail du sol sur le développement racinaire d'une culture de froment d'hiver. L'originalité de la recherche réside dans l'application d'une méthode innovante de quantification racinaire basée sur l'imagerie hyperspectrale proche infrarouge

Assessment and validation of a suite of reverse transcription-quantitative PCR reference genes for analyses of density-dependent behavioural plasticity in the Australian plague locust

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The Australian plague locust, <it>Chortoicetes terminifera</it>, is among the most promising species to unravel the suites of genes underling the density-dependent shift from shy and cryptic solitarious behaviour to the highly active and aggregating gregarious behaviour that is characteristic of locusts. This is because it lacks many of the major phenotypic changes in colour and morphology that accompany phase change in other locust species. Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) is the most sensitive method available for determining changes in gene expression. However, to accurately monitor the expression of target genes, it is essential to select an appropriate normalization strategy to control for non-specific variation between samples. Here we identify eight potential reference genes and examine their expression stability at different rearing density treatments in neural tissue of the Australian plague locust.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Taking advantage of the new orthologous DNA sequences available in locusts, we developed primers for genes encoding 18SrRNA, ribosomal protein L32 (RpL32), armadillo (Arm), actin 5C (Actin), succinate dehydrogenase (SDHa), glyceraldehyde-3P-dehydrogenase (GAPDH), elongation factor 1 alpha (EF1a) and annexin IX (AnnIX). The relative transcription levels of these eight genes were then analyzed in three treatment groups differing in rearing density (isolated, short- and long-term crowded), each made up of five pools of four neural tissue samples from 5^thinstar nymphs. SDHa and GAPDH, which are both involved in metabolic pathways, were identified as the least stable in expression levels, challenging their usefulness in normalization. Based on calculations performed with the geNorm and NormFinder programs, the best combination of two genes for normalization of gene expression data following crowding in the Australian plague locust was EF1a and Arm. We applied their use to studying a target gene that encodes a Ca²⁺binding glycoprotein, <it>SPARC</it>, which was previously found to be up-regulated in brains of gregarious desert locusts, <it>Schistocerca gregaria</it>. Interestingly, expression of this gene did not vary with rearing density in the same way in brains of the two locust species. Unlike <it>S. gregaria</it>, there was no effect of any crowding treatment in the Australian plague locust.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Arm and EF1a is the most stably expressed combination of two reference genes of the eight examined for reliable normalization of RT-qPCR assays studying density-dependent behavioural change in the Australian plague locust. Such normalization allowed us to show that <it>C. terminifera </it>crowding did not change the neuronal expression of the <it>SPARC </it>gene, a gregarious phase-specific gene identified in brains of the desert locust, <it>S. gregaria</it>. Such comparative results on density-dependent gene regulation provide insights into the evolution of gregarious behaviour and mass migration of locusts. The eight identified genes we evaluated are also candidates as normalization genes for use in experiments involving other Oedipodinae species, but the rank order of gene stability must necessarily be determined on a case-by-case basis.</p

Vers une meilleure protection de nos sols agricoles

Dans le cadre des projets Interreg PROSENSOLS et BODEMBREED, une journée d'échange transfrontalière a été organisée sur la protection des sols agricole, le 27 mars dernier, à Bruxelles. Cette journée a réuni quatre-vingt personnes de Flandre, Wallonie, France et des Pays-Ba

Assessment of a design to monitor the influence of crop residue management on the dynamics of soil water content with ERT

Choices related to crop residue management affect the soil structure. As a consequence, they may determinethe spatio-temporal dynamics of water content and eventually the crop yields. In order to better understand the influence of these strategies on hydraulic processes occurring at the plot scale, we opted for the use electrical resistivity tomography (ERT). This approach presents the advantage to limit soil disturbance but is still faced to important challenges when applied in an agricultural field context. Especially changing soil-electrode contact has to be considered, as it can lead to bad quality data, especially for setups with small electrodes and small inter-electrode distance. The objective of this study was to test the efficiency of a high-resolution 3-D field measurement design to properly assess the dynamics of soil water content. ERT measurements were conducted in a Cutanic Siltic Luvisol in Gembloux, Belgium, on two plots of 2m^2 ploughed in Oct 2014 at a depth of 25 cm and sown with maize in April 2015. The plants were removed on one of the plots in order to obtain a bare soil reference. A grid of 98 surface stainless steel electrodes was layed-out on each plot and four sticks supporting each eight stainless steel electrodes were vertically inserted into the soil up to 1.20 m to get more detailed information in depth. The experiments were performed between Jul and Oct 2015, in order to get measurements both in dry and wet periods. For surface and borehole monitoring, a dipole-dipole array configuration including in-line and cross-line measurements was adopted. Normal and reciprocal measurements were performed systematically to assess the data quality: only the datasets with a mean reciprocal error lower than 3% were considered for the data inversion. This contribution will show the first inverted results showing the complexity of experimental design and data analysis for high-resolution, timelapse ERT in field conditions. Based on these results, we will draw conclusions about a minimal data set to be obtained in our upcoming field experiments

Tillage as a tool to manage crop residue : impact on sugar beet production

Crop residues and plant cover represent a pool of organic matter that can be used either to restore organic matter in soils, and therefore maintain soil fertility, or that can be valorized outside of the field (e.g. energy production). However, it is crucial that the exportation of residues is not done to the detriment of the system sustainability. Three long term experiments have been settled in the loamy region in Belgium. All of them are designed to study the effect of residues management by several tillage systems (conventional plowing versus reduced tillage) on the whole soil-water-plant system. SOLRESIDUS is a field experiment where we study the impact of crop residue management while in SOLCOUVERT and SOLCOUVERT-BIS, we study the impact of cover crop management. SOLRESIDUS was started in 2008. In this field, four contrasted crop residues managements are tested in order to contrast as much as possible the responses from the soil-water plant system. Two practices characterize the four modalities: soil tillage (ploughing at 25 cm depth or reduce tillage at 10 cm max) and residue management (exportation or restitution). SOLCOUVERT and SOLCOUVERT-BIS were started in 2012 and 2013 respectively. In those fields cover crop management is also diverse: destruction of the cover crop by winter ploughing, spring ploughing, strip tillage (with a chemical destruction if needed) or shallow tillage (with a decompaction before cover crop sowing). Although although the overall project aims at studying the impact of management on the whole soil-water-plant system, here we will only present the results concerning crop production (sugar beet) in SOLCOUVERT experiments. The presented data will include germination rate, crop development (biomass quantification and BBCH stages) weeds population, disease occurrence, pest occurrences, nitrogen uptake by plants, quality and quantity of harvested products.