Integrated Land, Water and Forest Management at Landscape Level

The report, presented by Elias Fereres of the Institute for Sustainable Agriculture and University of Cordoba, Spain, covers the issue of integrated natural resource management (INRM) and discusses the complexity of managing natural resources at the landscape level. Technological packages such as simulation models, decision support systems and tools for spatial characterization and analysis are introduced together with an adaptive management framework. The importance of achieving dynamic management processes is discussed in the context of the need to sustain high productivity in agriculture without depleting the available water and soil resources. Tools for monitoring and surveillance of soil degradation are available for use at different scales and can assist with decision making and choice of soil management techniques. Soil conservation approaches are discussed with reference to a specific case in organic olive oil production. The challenge of incorporating both the biophysical and social dimensions in research on forest, land and water management is also discussed. Recent advances in irrigation management highlight the challenge of scaling up activities and moving from planning to the management of natural resources at the landscape level. This report was discussed at the Stakeholder Meeting at AGM2005

AquaCrop: Manuel d'utilisation

Le logiciel AquaCrop est un modèle de bilan d’eau qui permet d’évaluer les efficiences en irrigation, l’élaboration des calendriers d’irrigation au niveau de la parcelle et l'estimation des rendements. AquaCrop a été sélectionné en raison de sa simplicité et de sa robustesse, et du nombre limité de variables à introduire. Il existe bien des modèles déterministes, mais pour fonctionner correctement, ils exigent des paramètres d’entrée très détaillés qui ne sont pas toujours disponibles quand il s’agit de recherche en milieu rural (‘on-farm’)

Aphid resistance: an overlooked ecological dimension of nonstructural carbohydrates in cereals

Nonstructural carbohydrates in cereals have been widely investigated from physiological, genetic, and breeding perspectives. Nonstructural carbohydrates may contribute to grain filling, but correlations with yield are inconsistent and sometimes negative. Here we ask if there are hidden functions of nonstructural carbohydrates, advance an ecological dimension to this question, and speculate that high concentration of nonstructural carbohydrates may challenge the osmotic homeostasis of aphids, thus providing a working hypothesis that connects nonstructural carbohydrates with aphid resistance in cereals. In the light of this proposition, the amount and concentration of nonstructural carbohydrates should be regarded as functionally different traits, with amount relevant to the carbon economy of the crop and concentration playing an osmotic role. We conclude with suggestions for experiments to test our hypothesis

AquaData and AquaGIS: Two computer utilities for temporal and spatial simulations of water-limited yield with AquaCrop.

The crop simulation model AquaCrop, recently developed by FAO can be used for a wide range of purposes. However, in its present form, its use over large areas or for applications that require a large number of simulations runs (e.g., long-term analysis), is not practical without developing software to facilitate such applications. Two tools for managing the inputs and outputs of AquaCrop, named AquaData and AquaGIS, have been developed for this purpose and are presented here. Both software utilities have been programmed in Delphi v. 5 and in addition, AquaGIS requires the Geographic Information System (GIS) programming tool MapObjects. These utilities allow the efficient management of input and output files, along with a GIS module to develop spatial analysis and effect spatial visualization of the results, facilitating knowledge dissemination. A sample of application of the utilities is given here, as an AquaCrop simulation analysis of impact of climate change on wheat yield in Southern Spain, which requires extensive input data preparation and output processing. The use of AquaCrop without the two utilities would have required approximately 1000 h of work, while the utilization of AquaData and AquaGIS reduced that time by more than 99%. Furthermore, the use of GIS, made it possible to perform a spatial analysis of the results, thus providing a new option to extend the use of the AquaCrop model to scales requiring spatial and temporal analyses

Frequência de irrigação, desenvolvimento e produção do feijão Kidney

The effects of high frequency deficit irrigation on plant water status, leaf growth, dry matter accumulation, leaf resistance, photosynthesis rate and yield of Dark-Red kidney bean were studied by using line-source sprinkler irrigation on a "Yolo" soil at Davis, California, in 1977 and 1978. Aiming at different degrees of plant water stress at each frequency, the amount of water applied in the different treatments as a percentage of evapotranspiration varied. Leaf resistance and photosynthetic rate were not affected by irrigation regimes nor by the degree of stress. On the other hand, source size, total dry matter and yield were reduced about the same proportion as the reduction on ET, independently of the irrigation frequency. No advantage was found by using high frequency irrigation as compared with normal.Foi estudado o efeito da alta frequência de irrigação no estado hídrico das plantas, crescimento das folhas, acumulação de matéria seca, resistência foliar, taxa de fotossíntese e produção do feijão kidney, em condições de campo, usando-se irrigação por aspersão com "line-source", em um solo "Yolo", em Davis, Califórnia, em 1977 e 1978. Visando diferentes graus de estresse de água na planta, em cada frequência, o total de água aplicada variou nos diferentes tratamentos como percentagem da evapotranspiração (ET). A resistência foliar e a taxa de fotossíntese não foram afetadas pela frequência de irrigação e nem pelo grau de estresse. Por outro lado, a área de fotossíntese, a matéria seca total e a produção foram reduzidas aproximadamente nas mesmas proporções de redução da ET, independentemente da frequência de irrigação. O uso da alta frequência de irrigação não apresentou nenhuma vantagem quando comparado com a irrigação normal

AquaCrop: calibration of new crops

Extended core group meeting on AquaCro

Plant Breeding and Management Strategies to Minimize the Impact of Water Scarcity and Biotic Stress in Cereal Crops under Mediterranean Conditions

Wheat and rice are two main staple food crops that may suffer from yield losses due to drought episodes that are increasingly impacted by climate change, in addition to new epidemic outbreaks. Sustainable intensification of production will rely on several strategies, such as efficient use of water and variety improvement. This review updates the latest findings regarding complementary approaches in agronomy, genetics, and phenomics to cope with climate change challenges. The agronomic approach focuses on a case study examining alternative rice water management practices, with their impact on greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity for ecosystem services. The genetic approach reviews in depth the latest technologies to achieve fungal disease resistance, as well as the use of landraces to increase the genetic diversity of new varieties. The phenomics approach explores recent advances in high-throughput remote sensing technologies useful in detecting both biotic and abiotic stress effects on breeding programs. The complementary nature of all these technologies indicates that only interdisciplinary work will ensure significant steps towards a more sustainable agriculture under future climate change scenarios.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

AquaCrop Version 7.0 - New Developments

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