How diverse are farming systems on the Eastern Gangetic Plains of South Asia? A multi-metric and multi-country assessment

Brendan Brown Pragya Timsina Emma Karki (2023, [Artículo])

While crop diversification has many benefits and is a stated government objective across the Eastern Gangetic Plains (EGP) of South Asia, the complexity of assessment has led to a rather limited understanding on the progress towards, and status of, smallholder crop diversification. Most studies focus on specific commodities or report as part of a singular index, use outdated secondary data, or implement highly localized studies, leading to broad generalisations and a lack of regional comparison. We collected representative primary data with more than 5000 households in 55 communities in Eastern Nepal, West Bengal (India) and Northwest Bangladesh to explore seasonally based diversification experiences and applied novel metrics to understand the nuanced status of farm diversification. While 66 crops were commercially grown across the region, only five crops and three crop families were widely grown (Poaceae, Malvaceae, and Brassicaceae). Non-cereal diversification across the region was limited (1.5 crops per household), though regional differentiation were evident particularly relating to livestock and off-farm activities, highlighting the importance of cross border studies. In terms of farmer's largest commercial plots, 20% of systems contained only rice, and 57% contained only rice/wheat/maize, with substantial regional diversity present. This raises concerns regarding the extent of commercially oriented high value and non-cereal diversification, alongside opportunities for diversification in the under-diversified pre-monsoon and monsoon seasons. Future promotional efforts may need to focus particularly on legumes to ensure the future sustainability and viability of farming systems.

Agricultural Production Systems Farming Systems Change CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION CROPPING SYSTEMS DIVERSIFICATION FARMING SYSTEMS SUSTAINABLE INTENSIFICATION

A Novel Technique for Classifying Bird Damage to Rapeseed Plants Based on a Deep Learning Algorithm.

Ali Mirzazadeh Afshin Azizi Yousef Abbaspour_Gilandeh José Luis Hernández-Hernández Mario Hernández Hernández Iván Gallardo Bernal (2021, [Artículo])

Estimation of crop damage plays a vital role in the management of fields in the agricultura sector. An accurate measure of it provides key guidance to support agricultural decision-making systems. The objective of the study was to propose a novel technique for classifying damaged crops based on a state-of-the-art deep learning algorithm. To this end, a dataset of rapeseed field images was gathered from the field after birds¿ attacks. The dataset consisted of three classes including undamaged, partially damaged, and fully damaged crops. Vgg16 and Res-Net50 as pre-trained deep convolutional neural networks were used to classify these classes. The overall classification accuracy reached 93.7% and 98.2% for the Vgg16 and the ResNet50 algorithms, respectively. The results indicated that a deep neural network has a high ability in distinguishing and categorizing different image-based datasets of rapeseed. The findings also revealed a great potential of Deep learning-based models to classify other damaged crops.

rapeseed classification damaged crops deep neural networks INGENIERÍA Y TECNOLOGÍA CIENCIAS TECNOLÓGICAS TECNOLOGÍA DE LOS ALIMENTOS

Planting rice at monsoon onset could mitigate the impact of temperature stress on rice–wheat systems of Bihar, India

Carlo Montes Anton Urfels Eunjin Han Balwinder-Singh (2023, [Artículo])

Rainy Season TIMESAT APSIM Agricultural Production Systems Simulator Climate Adaptation CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA RICE WHEAT MONSOONS WET SEASON CROP MODELLING CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION

Comprehending the evolution of gene editing platforms for crop trait improvement

deepmala sehgal Apekshita Singh SoomNath Raina (2022, [Artículo])

Cas9 Base Editing Prime Editing Epigenome Editing CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA CRISPR ABIOTIC STRESS ARABIDOPSIS CROP IMPROVEMENT DNA ELECTROPORATION GENE EDITING RICE WHEAT

Distribution of Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici races and virulence in wheat growing regions of Kenya from 1970 to 2014

Lesley Boyd sridhar bhavani Cristobal Uauy Annemarie Fejer Justesen Mogens Hovmoller (2022, [Artículo])

Cereals and Grains Pathogen Diversity Puccinia f. sp. tritici Stripe Rust Yellow Rust CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA CEREALS FIELD CROPS FUNGI PATHOGENICITY RUSTS TRITICUM AESTIVUM

Trade-off in the design of sustainable cropping systems at a regional level: A case study on the North China plain

Jeroen Groot XiaoLin Yang (2022, [Artículo])

Holistic Analysis Model-Based Analysis CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA CROP ROTATION FOOD SECURITY WATER USE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ECONOMIC VIABILITY

Mulch application as the overarching factor explaining increase in soil organic carbon stocks under conservation agriculture in two 8-year-old experiments in Zimbabwe

Regis Chikowo Christian Thierfelder Marc Corbeels (2024, [Artículo])

Conservation agriculture (CA), combining reduced or no tillage, permanent soil cover, and improved rotations, is often promoted as a climate-smart practice. However, our understanding of the impact of CA and its respective three principles on top- and subsoil organic carbon stocks in the low-input cropping systems of sub-Saharan Africa is rather limited. This study was conducted at two long-term experimental sites established in Zimbabwe in 2013. The soil types were abruptic Lixisols at Domboshava Training Centre (DTC) and xanthic Ferralsol at the University of Zimbabwe farm (UZF). The following six treatments, which were replicated four times, were investigated: conventional tillage (CT), conventional tillage with rotation (CTR), no tillage (NT), no tillage with mulch (NTM), no tillage with rotation (NTR), and no tillage with mulch and rotation (NTMR). Maize (Zea mays L.) was the main crop, and treatments with rotation included cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp.). The soil organic carbon (SOC) concentration and soil bulk density were determined for samples taken from depths of 0–5, 5–10, 10–15, 15–20, 20–30, 30–40, 40–50, 50–75 and 75–100 cm. Cumulative organic inputs to the soil were also estimated for all treatments. SOC stocks at equivalent soil mass were significantly (p<0.05) higher in the NTM, NTR and NTMR treatments compared with the NT and CT treatments in the top 5 cm and top 10 cm layers at UZF, while SOC stocks were only significantly higher in the NTM and NTMR treatments compared with the NT and CT treatments in the top 5 cm at DTC. NT alone had a slightly negative impact on the top SOC stocks. Cumulative SOC stocks were not significantly different between treatments when considering the whole 100 cm soil profile. Our results show the overarching role of crop residue mulching in CA cropping systems with respect to enhancing SOC stocks but also that this effect is limited to the topsoil. The highest cumulative organic carbon inputs to the soil were observed in NTM treatments at the two sites, and this could probably explain the positive effect on SOC stocks. Moreover, our results show that the combination of at least two CA principles including mulch is required to increase SOC stocks in these low-nitrogen-input cropping systems.

CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA SOIL ORGANIC CARBON CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE EXPERIMENTATION CROP MANAGEMENT

Commodity crops in biodiversity-rich production landscapes: Friends or foes? The example of cotton in the Mid Zambezi Valley, Zimbabwe

Frédéric Baudron Ken Giller (2022, [Artículo])

Land Sparing Land Sharing Human-Wildlife Conflicts CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA BIODIVERSITY HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS LAND COVER LANDSCAPE MAMMALS CASH CROPS HUMAN-WILDLIFE RELATIONS LAND USE CHANGE

Multi-modal deep learning improves grain yield prediction in wheat breeding by fusing genomics and phenomics

Xu Wang Sandesh Kumar Shrestha Philomin Juliana Suchismita Mondal Francisco Pinto Govindan Velu Leonardo Abdiel Crespo Herrera JULIO HUERTA_ESPINO Ravi Singh Jesse Poland (2023, [Artículo])

New Crop Varieties Plant Breeding Programs Yield Prediction CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA LEARNING GRAIN YIELDS WHEAT BREEDING FOOD SECURITY

Editorial: Conservation agriculture: knowledge frontiers around the world

Stéphane Cordeau ML JAT Cameron Pittelkow Christian Thierfelder (2023, [Artículo])

No-Tillage Direct Seeding Cover Crops Crop Diversification CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA COVER PLANTS DIVERSIFICATION CROPPING SYSTEMS DIRECT SOWING ZERO TILLAGE