Agricultural innovations for sustainable crop production intensification

Sustainable crop production intensification should be the first strategic objective of innovative agronomic research for the next 40 years. A range of options exist (often very location specific) for farming practices, approaches and technologies that ensure sustainability, while at the same time improving crop production. The main challenge is to encourage farmers in the use of appropriate technologies, and to ensure that knowledge about sound production practices is increasingly accepted and applied by farmers. There is a huge, but underutilized potential to link farmers' local knowledge with science-based innovations, through favourable institutional arrangements. The same holds for the design, implementation and monitoring of improved natural resource management that links community initiatives to external expertise. It is also suggested that a comprehensive effort be undertaken to measure different stages of the innovation system, including technological adoption and diffusion at the farm level, and to investigate the impact of agricultural policies on technological change and technical efficiency. This paper provides a brief review of agronomic management practices that support sustainable crop production system and evidence on developments in the selection of crops and cultivars; describes farming systems for crop which take a predominantly ecosystem approach; discusses the scientific application of ecosystem principles for the management of pest and weed populations; reviews the improvements in fertilizer and nutrient management that explain productivity growth; describes the benefits and constraints of irrigation technologies; and suggests a way forward. Seven changes in the context for agricultural development are proposed that heighten the need to examine how innovation occurs in the agricultural sector

Multiple benefits of legumes for agriculture sustainability: an overview

Food security, lowering the risk of climate change and meeting the increasing demand for energy will increasingly be critical challenges in the years to come. Producing sustainably is therefore becoming central in agriculture and food systems. Legume crops could play an important role in this context by delivering multiple services in line with sustainability principles. In addition to serving as fundamental, worldwide source of high-quality food and feed, legumes contribute to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases, as they release 5–7 times less GHG per unit area compared with other crops; allow the sequestration of carbon in soils with values estimated from 7.21 g kg−1 DM, 23.6 versus 21.8 g C kg−1 year; and induce a saving of fossil energy inputs in the system thanks to N fertilizer reduction, corresponding to 277 kg ha−1 of CO2 per year. Legumes could also be competitive crops and, due to their environmental and socioeconomic benefits, could be introduced in modern cropping systems to increase crop diversity and reduce use of external inputs. They also perform well in conservation systems, intercropping systems, which are very important in developing countries as well as in low-input and low-yield farming systems. Legumes fix the atmospheric nitrogen, release in the soil high-quality organic matter and facilitate soil nutrients' circulation and water retention. Based on these multiple functions, legume crops have high potential for conservation agriculture, being functional either as growing crop or as crop residue. Open image in new window Graphical abstract

Kinetically Consistent Data Assimilation for Plant PET Sparse Time Activity Curve Signals

Time activity curve (TAC) signal processing in plant positron emission tomography (PET) is a frontier nuclear science technique to bring out the quantitative fluid dynamic (FD) flow parameters of the plant vascular system and generate knowledge on crops and their sustainable management, facing the accelerating global climate change. The sparse space-time sampling of the TAC signal impairs the extraction of the FD variables, which can be determined only as averaged values with existing techniques. A data-driven approach based on a reliable FD model has never been formulated. A novel sparse data assimilation digital signal processing method is proposed, with the unique capability of a direct computation of the dynamic evolution of noise correlations between estimated and measured variables, by taking into explicit account the numerical diffusion due to the sparse sampling. The sequential time-stepping procedure estimates the spatial profile of the velocity, the diffusion coefficient and the compartmental exchange rates along the plant stem from the TAC signals. To illustrate the performance of the method, we report an example of the measurement of transport mechanisms in zucchini sprouts

Effect of Soil Tillage and Crop Sequence on Grain Yield and Quality of Durum Wheat in Mediterranean Areas

Abstract: Conservation agriculture (CA) can be very strategic in degradation prone soils of Mediterranean environments to recover soil fertility and consequently improve crop productivity as well as the quality traits of the most widespread crop, durum wheat, with reference to protein accumulation and composition. The results shown by two years of data in a medium long-term experiment (7-year experiment; split-plot design) that combined two tillage practices (conventional tillage (CT) and zero tillage (ZT)) with two crop sequences (wheat monocropping(WW)and wheat-faba bean (WF)) are presented. The combination ZT + WF (CA approach) induced the highest grain yields (617 and 370 g m-2 in 2016 and 2017, respectively), principally due to an increased number of ears m-2; on the other hand, the lowest grain yield was recorded under CT + WW(550 and 280 g m-2 in 2016 and 2017, respectively). CA also demonstrated significant influences on grain quality because the inclusion of faba bean in the rotation favored higher N-remobilization to the grains (79.5% and 77.7% in 2017). Under ZT and WF, all gluten fractions (gliadins (Glia), high molecular-weight glutenins (GS), and low molecular-weight GS) as well as the GS/Glia ratio increased. In durum wheat-based farming systems in Mediterranean areas, the adoption of CA seems to be an optimal choice to combine high quality yields with improved soil fertility

Desfolha e nutrição do S no rabanete: crescimento, polifenóis e atividade antiradical

ABSTRACT Experiments were carried out to study patterns of artificial defoliation in radish in combination with sulphur (S) fertilization, to evaluate the contribution of younger and older leaves on plant growth and phenolics accumulation in storage roots. Biomass accumulation and partitioning were related to leaf age, magnitude and timing of the clipping treatments. Older leaves increased biomass production and translocation into the storage organ; besides, they induced higher accumulation of phenolic compounds compared to the younger leaves. The highest S fertilization rate (120 kg ha-1) significantly enhanced the polyphenols accumulation, as well as the antiradical activity. The modulation of S inputs in combination with slightly induced stress from defoliation could effectively enhance the concentration of some important phytochemicals, providing higher nutritionally improved vegetables, without affecting yield

Durum Wheat Yield and Grain Quality in Early Transition from Conventional to Conservation Tillage in Semi-Arid Mediterranean Conditions

In semi-arid Mediterranean areas, there is a growing interest in adopting conservation tillage practices for their advantages in improving soils fertility, reducing production costs, and stabilizing crop yields. The aim of this study conducted in the 2019 and 2020 seasons was to investigate the effect of three tillage systems—conventional tillage (CT), minimum tillage (MT), and no-tillage (NT)—on grain yield, yield components, and quality indices of a durum wheat crop (Triticum durum Desf. cv. Simeto) grown in monoculture in semi-arid conditions of Northern Algeria. Tillage systems had a significant effect on the average yield of the 2 years, with NT being 28% and 35% higher than CT and MT, respectively—a trend even more evident in the second year under observation. The superiority of NT (p < 0.001) in the second year (2020) is mainly due to the increased spikes density (318.93 spikes m2 under NT vs. 225.07 and 215.20 spikes m2 under MT and CT, respectively). Yield components and quality parameters were more affected by climatic conditions than by tillage treatments. The number of kernels per spike being the most affected by water and heat stresses occurred in 2020 season. A decrease of 51% is noted regardless of the tillage treatment, which negatively affected the grain yield in that year (1.9 vs. 1.3 t ha-1 in 2019 and 2020, respectively). This stress also induced an increase in grain protein content, but a reduction of its weight. The results of this study conducted in the early transition from conventional to conservation tillage show that durum wheat grown under NT results in higher grain yield than the other systems in the specific operative conditions of the study region, providing better seed emergence and better spikes density, especially in the dry years. Moreover, the quality parameters are more affected by weather conditions than by the tillage system—with an interaction year tillage system significant only for the grain

Kinetically Consistent Data Assimilation for Plant PET Sparse Time Activity Curve Signals

Time activity curve (TAC) signal processing in plant positron emission tomography (PET) is a frontier nuclear science technique to bring out the quantitative fluid dynamic (FD) flow parameters of the plant vascular system and generate knowledge on crops and their sustainable management, facing the accelerating global climate change. The sparse space-time sampling of the TAC signal impairs the extraction of the FD variables, which can be determined only as averaged values with existing techniques. A data-driven approach based on a reliable FD model has never been formulated. A novel sparse data assimilation digital signal processing method is proposed, with the unique capability of a direct computation of the dynamic evolution of noise correlations between estimated and measured variables, by taking into explicit account the numerical diffusion due to the sparse sampling. The sequential time-stepping procedure estimates the spatial profile of the velocity, the diffusion coefficient and the compartmental exchange rates along the plant stem from the TAC signals. To illustrate the performance of the method, we report an example of the measurement of transport mechanisms in zucchini sprouts