Evaluation of irrigation schemes for sugarcane in Sindh,Pakistan, using SWAP93

A computer simulation model, SWAP93, was used to simulate the soil water balance of sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) over a period of 6 years, in order to develop an efficient irrigation scheduling scheme for Sindh, Pakistan. Given the limitations and inflexibility of the existing warabandi irrigation system, which does not allow on-demand irrigation, only irrigation depth and irrigation interval were varied in order to assess the best irrigation depth/interval combination for sugarcane production. Twelve irrigation treatments were simulated. These treatments were four irrigation amounts (900, 1200, 1650 and 1800 mm) and three irrigation frequencies (7, 10 and 15 days). Three seasons with rainfall totaling less than 20 mm were compared with three seasons of over 200 mm rainfall. Two approaches were used in assessing the irrigation schemes: yield parameters and water management response indicators. Treatment parameters (e.g. irrigation amounts, weather conditions, soil characteristics, etc.) served as input for SWAP93, actual transpiration was calculated and then used in a crop water production function to predict yield and water use efficiency. Additionally, water management response indicators were derived from model outputs, and used to assess the impact of the schemes on soil salinity and water logging. Both these indicators and the yield and water use efficiency indicated that a seasonal total of 1650 mm, applied at a 15-day interval was the best irrigation scheme for the region.     

Strip-till as a means of decreasing spatial variability of winter barley within a field scale

The tillage system, which joins soil tillage, fertilisation, and seed sowing in one pass of a machine, is rarely used in cereal cultivation. This research aimed to study whether strip-till and conventional tillage (post-harvest ripping and mixing of stubble, ploughing, pre-sowing fertilisation, and seedbed preparation) differ in plant density, yield components, and grain yield of winter barley cultivated on Cambisol in a region with low rainfall, the annual average is about 500?mm. To reach this aim, a two-year, large-plot experiment was conducted in a production field. The soil within the field was spatially variable in texture, moisture, and chemical and biological properties, CV 2.3% do 29.6%. Strip-till had lower within-field spatial variability of winter barley grain yield than conventional tillage. The standard deviation was 0.36?t?ha^?1, 0.67?t?ha^?1 in the first year and 0.12?t?ha^?1, 0.30?t?ha^?1 in the second year, respectively. During the period of limited rainfall, strip-till had greater uniformity of plants after emergence; after the winter with low air temperature and a low amount of snow, it had greater plant density. Thus, strip-till can reduce variability of plants and their yield within a field, especially in adverse environmental conditions.     

Assessment of insurance coverage and claims in rainfall related risks in processing tomato in Western Spain

An extension of guarantees related to rainfall-related risks in the insurance of processing tomato crops has been accompanied with a large increase in claims in Western Spain, suggesting that damages may have been underestimated in previous years. A database was built by linking agricultural insurance records, meteorological data from local weather stations, and topographic data. The risk of rainfall-related damages in processing tomato in the Extremenian Guadiana river basin (W Spain) was studied using a logistic model. Risks during the growth of the crop and at harvesting were modelled separately. First, the risk related to rainfall was modelled as a function of meteorological, terrain and management variables. The resulting models were used to identify the variables responsible for rainfall-related damages, with a view to assess the potential impact of extending insurance coverage, and to develop an index to express the suitability of the cropping system for insurance. The analyses reveal that damages at different stages of crop development correspond to different hazards. The geographic dependence of the risk influences the scale at which the model might have validity, which together with the year dependency, the possibility of implementing index based insurances is questioned.     

Identifying factors that determine kernel number in wheat

Understanding variation in kernel number per unit area (KNO) is of major importance in understanding yield and in identifying opportunities to increase yield potential. Factors that determine KNO should therefore be identified considering wide ranges in both crop and environmental conditions. Several field experiments with various spring wheat cultivars were conducted over three years in Mexico. Wide ranges in crop and environmental conditions were obtained by varying N application rates and timing and by different planting dates and locations. Crop development from emergence (DC10) to physiological maturity (DC90) was divided in three phases, with the intermediate phase II ranging approximately from early booting (DC40) to final anthesis (DC70). A photothermal quotient (PTQ) during phase II failed to explain the variation in KNO. Biomass at anthesis explained 72% of the variance, but could not explain some deviant situations and the relation was strongly cultivar specific. Biomass accumulation during phase II more accurately (80%) explained the deviant situations, except one particular location, and cultivar differences became even more pronounced. At this location KNO was also well explained by non-grain spike weight at a week from anthesis, with a constant number of kernels per unit spike dry matter, while differences among cultivars tended to disappear. Factors that are identified to determine KNO are discussed.     

Quantitative genetics of rice III. The potential of a pair of new plant type crosses

This paper reports the results obtained from an investigation of the potential of two crosses that were taken at random from the new plant type (NPT) programme initiated recently at the International Rice Research Institute, whose objective is to increase the yield potential of the direct-seeded, irrigated crop in the lowland tropics to 13–15 t/ha. The pedigrees in the NPT programme have been initiated by crossing temperate japonica varieties from China, Japan and Korea with tropical javanica land races from southeast Asia and are, thus, of a novel kind. The parents, F₁ and F₃ families of each of the two crosses were raised in completely randomised blocks and their individuals scored for twelve quantitative characters, nine of which were those specified in the NPT ideotype. The results showed that every character was heritable in both crosses, except for harvest index in the first, their heritabilities being mostly moderate to high. An assessment of the potential of these crosses indicated that it should be relatively easy to obtain transgressive segregants from both for the six characters where the NPT targets take the form of an interval, such as days to heading, culm length, number of panicles per plant and number of spikelets per panicle, but more difficult, if not impossible to accomplish this for percentage of filled spikelets and grain yield, whose targets lie well above the parental range. A striking feature of the results obtained from the second cross was a marked loss of fertility, in terms of percentage of filled spikelets, in the F₂ and backcross generations which, it is argued, was caused by the disruption of the independently co-adapted gene complexes of the parents by recombination and segregation at F₁ meiosis. The pattern of genetic correlations between characters differed markedly between the crosses, suggesting that the chief cause of these correlations was the linkage disequilibrium of genes linked in their inheritance.     

玉米沟塘覆膜模式间作马铃薯产量效益研究

针对云南省农业生产中玉米马铃薯间作面临的突发干旱危害和低产低效问题,在云南省宣威市农业技术示范基地,进行了玉米打塘开沟地膜覆盖间作马铃薯抗旱增产增效试验研究。结果表明：玉米开沟或打塘+地膜覆盖间作马铃薯复合技术可以提高土壤水分积蓄量,玉米开沟间作和打塘间作土壤含水量分别比玉米平垄和马铃薯单作最多增加28.32%和25.16%;在玉米生育前期,玉米开沟或打塘地膜覆盖间作马铃薯措施有利于促进玉米和马铃薯的生长发育,开沟和打塘模式玉米株高比平垄分别增加31.94%和26.33%,叶面积指数（LAI）分别增加49.56%和25.29%;开沟和打塘措施的玉米理论产量和经济系数均高于玉米平垄间作和单作,玉米产量、复合产量和土地当量比（LER）均显著增加,打塘种植的土地当量比最大（LER=1.20）,比平地处理增加10.52%,增产效益显著。所以,该措施能有效提高作物间作系统抗旱能力,增产增效,对稳定农业收益和保障粮食安全具有重要意义。     

Analysis of genetic diversity and population structure of confectionery sunflower (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Helianthus annuus</Emphasis> L.) native to Iran

Genetic diversity within and among 50 populations of confectionery sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) collected from different geographical areas of Iran was evaluated by using microsatellite and retrotransposon markers. The number of alleles (Na) in SSR loci ranged from 2 to 3 with an average of 2.1. The polymorphic bands in retrotransposon markers ranged from 7 in locus CR-UR1 to 15 in locus CR-816 with a mean value of 11.33. Herarchical clustering of individuals (50 × 5 = 250) by neighbor joining method in DARwin5 software subdivided them into three groups. Using Bayesian method in the software pakage of Structure, the studied individuals were subdivided into two sub-populations. Principal coordinate analysis revelaed that the two first components explaine 7.86 and 6.16% of the total variance, respectively. Analysis of molecular variance revealed a higher level of genetic variation within (70%) than between (30%) populations. High molecular variation among individuals within population possibly is due to high allogamy nature of the sunflower plant. Low genetic variation observed between populations could be considered as a consequence of genetic equilibrium that has occurred over the long period of cultivation of confectionery sunflower in this area as well as seed exchange among regions. The traditional assumption that selecting genotypes of different geographical origin will maximize the diversity available to a breeding project does not hold in confectionery sunflower.     

青枯劳尔氏菌潜在新寄主鉴定与青枯病防治策略的思考

为了充分发挥农业措施管理,合理轮套作技术在防治农作物青枯病的作用,结合云南当地农业生态实际情况,采用分离自雪莲果青枯病植株上的青枯劳尔氏菌,在28℃温室条件下,遵循柯赫氏法则,接种、分离、再接种和再分离该病菌,完成了植物病害验证过程。结果表明：在接种后,杜氏鼠尾草、曼陀罗和鸭趾草等3种昆明地区田间常见杂草均出现青枯病典型症状,首先在接种部位出现黑色病斑,继而植株萎蔫,并有大量的乳白色菌脓溢出。结合在自然界下尚未发现这3种杂草感染青枯病和在根部有青枯劳尔氏菌富集的研究结果,这3种杂草被推断为青枯劳尔氏菌的潜在寄主。本研究结果对农作物青枯病防治策略有重要指导意义。     

Mineralogical and Textural Characteristics of Soils of Hancheng and Shannxi Province,China

Studies were conducted to investigate mineralogical and textural characteristics of Hancheng soils in relation to fertility status, mineralogical, and particle size distribution properties, which were determined from soil samples of the profile pits in 2014. Prepared representative clay fraction samples were subjected to x-ray diffraction analysis for mineralogical characterization. The results show dominant of quartz, attributed to high granitic parent materials with a range of 65.7–84.6% mean 54.1%, moganite 59.8%, albite 12.0–26.3% mean 21.03%, flusston 18.1%, calcium magnesium silicate 10.6%, muscovite 7.8%, olivine 1.8%, and illite 1.6% were detected. The particle size distribution analysis revealed sand fraction of 28.12–30.12% mean 29.1%, 22.12–28.12% mean 25.1%; silt 34.0–36.0% mean 35%, 32.0–38.0% mean 35%; and clay 35.9–35.9% mean 35.9%, 35.9–43.9% mean 32.6% surface and subsurface soils respectively. Texture classes of the soils were clay loam to clay apredominantly clay loam. The mineralogical and textural characteristics are important in relation to soil fertility, which allow farmers to adapt crop management practices with real soil situation.