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162 resultados, página 8 de 10

Climate-smart agricultural practices influence the fungal communities and soil properties under major agri-food systems

madhu choudhary ML JAT Parbodh Chander Sharma (2022, [Artículo])

Fungal communities in agricultural soils are assumed to be affected by climate, weather, and anthropogenic activities, and magnitude of their effect depends on the agricultural activities. Therefore, a study was conducted to investigate the impact of the portfolio of management practices on fungal communities and soil physical–chemical properties. The study comprised different climate-smart agriculture (CSA)-based management scenarios (Sc) established on the principles of conservation agriculture (CA), namely, ScI is conventional tillage-based rice–wheat rotation, ScII is partial CA-based rice–wheat–mungbean, ScIII is partial CSA-based rice–wheat–mungbean, ScIV is partial CSA-based maize–wheat–mungbean, and ScV and ScVI are CSA-based scenarios and similar to ScIII and ScIV, respectively, except for fertigation method. All the scenarios were flood irrigated except the ScV and ScVI where water and nitrogen were given through subsurface drip irrigation. Soils of these scenarios were collected from 0 to 15 cm depth and analyzed by Illumina paired-end sequencing of Internal Transcribed Spacer regions (ITS1 and ITS2) for the study of fungal community composition. Analysis of 5 million processed sequences showed a higher Shannon diversity index of 1.47 times and a Simpson index of 1.12 times in maize-based CSA scenarios (ScIV and ScVI) compared with rice-based CSA scenarios (ScIII and ScV). Seven phyla were present in all the scenarios, where Ascomycota was the most abundant phyla and it was followed by Basidiomycota and Zygomycota. Ascomycota was found more abundant in rice-based CSA scenarios as compared to maize-based CSA scenarios. Soil organic carbon and nitrogen were found to be 1.62 and 1.25 times higher in CSA scenarios compared with other scenarios. Bulk density was found highest in farmers' practice (Sc1); however, mean weight diameter and water-stable aggregates were found lowest in ScI. Soil physical, chemical, and biological properties were found better under CSA-based practices, which also increased the wheat grain yield by 12.5% and system yield by 18.8%. These results indicate that bundling/layering of smart agricultural practices over farmers' practices has tremendous effects on soil properties, and hence play an important role in sustaining soil quality/health.

Agriculture Management Fungal Community Diversity Indices Climate-Smart Agricultural Practices CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA AGRICULTURE TILLAGE CLIMATE-SMART AGRICULTURE SOIL ORGANIC CARBON

Analysis of adoption of conservation agriculture practices in southern Africa: mixed-methods approach

Adane Tufa Hambulo Ngoma Paswel Marenya Christian Thierfelder (2023, [Artículo])

In southern Africa, conservation agriculture (CA) has been promoted to address low agricultural productivity, food insecurity, and land degradation. However, despite significant experimental evidence on the agronomic and economic benefits of CA and large scale investments by the donor community and national governments, adoption rates among smallholders remain below expectation. The main objective of this research project was thus to investigate why previous efforts and investments to scale CA technologies and practices in southern Africa have not led to widespread adoption. The paper applies a multivariate probit model and other methods to survey data from 4,373 households and 278 focus groups to identify the drivers and barriers of CA adoption in Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The results show that declining soil fertility is a major constraint to maize production in Zambia and Malawi, and drought/heat is more pronounced in Zimbabwe. We also find gaps between (a) awareness and adoption, (b) training and adoption, and (c) demonstration and adoption rates of CA practices in all three countries. The gaps are much bigger between awareness and adoption and much smaller between hosting demonstration and adoption, suggesting that much of the awareness of CA practices has not translated to greater adoption. Training and demonstrations are better conduits to enhance adoption than mere awareness creation. Therefore, demonstrating the applications and benefits of CA practices is critical for promoting CA practices in all countries. Besides, greater adoption of CA practices requires enhancing farmers’ access to inputs, addressing drudgery associated with CA implementation, enhancing farmers’ technical know-how, and enacting and enforcing community bylaws regarding livestock grazing and wildfires. The paper concludes by discussing the implications for policy and investments in CA promotion.

Adoption Focus Group Discussion CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE CLIMATE CHANGE

User manual: How to use Agvisely to generate climate service advisories for livestock in Bangladesh

T.S Amjath-Babu Timothy Joseph Krupnik (2023, [Libro])

The Agvisely digital service for livestock integrates location-specific meteorological forecasts generated by the Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) with species specific biological thresholds for weather variables (Temperature, rainfall, and temperature-humidity index (THI). When a biological threshold is to be breached in next five days' forecast, the system automatically generates location-specific management advice for livestock farmers. Advisories are based on a decision tree developed by the Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute (BLRI) and CIMMYT. Agvisely is a smart phone app and web-based service developed by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) CIMMYT with the support of USAID, securing the Food Systems of Asian Mega- Deltas (AMD) for Climate and Livelihood Resilience and the Transforming Agrifood Systems in South Asia (TAFSSA) initiatives in collaboration with Bangladesh Dept. of Agricultural Extension (DAE) and Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD).

CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA CLIMATE SERVICES LIVESTOCK DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY