Systems approaches to innovation in crop protection. A systematic literature review

The objective of this paper is to explore the extent to which systems approaches to innovation are reflected in the crop protection literature and how such approaches are used. A systematic literature review is conducted to study the relation between crop protection and systems approaches to innovation in 107 publications. The analysis of the crop protection literature demonstrates that only a small fraction is systems-oriented as compared to the bulk of publications with a technology-oriented approach. The analysis of agricultural innovations systems literature shows that, although crop protection is addressed, the potential of this systems approach remains largely unexplored for crop protection innovation. A large share of the publications included in this review focus on cropping or farming ‘systems’ while ‘innovation’ often equals the development, transfer, adoption and diffusion of crop protection technologies at farm level. There is relatively little attention for the institutional and political dimensions of crop protection and the interactions between farm, regional and national levels in crop protection systems. The traditional division of roles and responsibilities of researchers as innovators, extension personnel as disseminators, and farmers as end-users, is challenged only to a limited extent. The majority of publications discusses ways to optimise existing features of crop protection systems, without exploring more structural transformations that may be required to enhance the resilience of crop protection systems.     

Sustainable agriculture and chemical control: opponents or components of the same strategy?

Sustainability is a term which is frequently used — and even abused. Since the Rio Earth Summit, it has been recognised as encompassing three interdependent dimensions: economic impact, social needs and the environment. This paper considers the role of chemical crop protection in sustainable agriculture in Western Europe. It discusses the contribution of industry, both as a provider of products and as a responsible partner for stakeholders, such as farmers, food processors, food retailers and regulatory authorities. A conceptual and factual framework is proposed which reconciles the various elements of sustainable agriculture and chemical crop protection. It concludes that sustainable crop protection is a challenge but is feasible if all players contribute their share.     

绿色超级稻品种培育及其发展

粮食安全、资源环境保护以及绿色发展是农业产业发展面临的重大问题。水稻作为我国主要粮食作物之一,在保障粮食安全中发挥着重要作用。“绿色超级稻”的理念要求水稻新品种在高产优质的基础上兼有多种病虫害抗性、养分高效吸收利用、以及较强的抗旱性和抗逆性特性,实现水稻生产“少打农药、少施化肥、节水抗旱、优质高产”的目标。“绿色超级稻”的理念与实践推动了绿色农业的发展。本文简要介绍了“绿色超级稻”理念及其形成的历史背景、研究进展及未来的发展趋势。     

水肥耦合对干热河谷冬春番茄产量及其品质的影响

干热河谷等“热区”以其充足的光照及相对较高的温度为冬春季蔬菜生产提供了重要条件,合理的水肥管理是保障区域蔬菜产业可持续发展及农业环境安全的重要举措。为提高西南热区特色作物水肥管理能力,巩固北方冬春蔬菜供应链,设置不同灌溉量（4469.10、2253.60、1806.70 m³/hm²）和施氮量（240、210、180、150 kg/hm²）2个因子,在元谋干热河谷开展冬春季节番茄大田试验,分析比较不同水氮处理对番茄产量、品质及其水肥利用效率的影响。结果表明：（1）降低灌溉定额后,番茄单果重显著增加（P<0.05）,总产量无显著差异（P>0.05）,番茄果横径和果梗洼大小显著增加（P<0.05）,糖含量和番茄红素显著降低（P<0.05）,水分利用效率显著提高（P<0.05）;（2）氮肥施用量显著影响番茄果梗洼大小（P<0.05）;（3）水氮耦合作用显著影响糖含量和番茄红素（P<0.05）,番茄产量和品质更易受水分供应限制,而受氮肥影响较小。结果显示元谋冬春茬番茄传统种植模式存在过量灌溉和过量施肥的现象,选择低水（灌溉定额1806.70 m³/hm²）中氮（180 kg N/hm²）的水肥管理策略,保产的同时能有效提高番茄水分利用效率,能产出品质较好的番茄,同时减小环境污染风险。     

甘蔗制糖副产物的开发与利用

甘蔗副产物主要指甘蔗制糖外的产物,为可再生资源,其产量极为丰富,可利用形式多样。如何合理开发甘蔗副产物的价值和潜力是值得我们探讨的课题,且对资源综合利用、生态环境保护和甘蔗业可持续发展也具有非常重要的现实意义。基于此,本文主要从蔗梢、蔗叶、蔗渣和糖蜜4个方面综述了甘蔗副产物的资源化利用现状,以期为其进一步的开发提供理论参考。     

Potato nutrient management in sustainable cropping systems

Sustainable nutrient management involves a set of management practices designed to conserve soil resources, to maintain or enhance productivity, and to help reduce growers’ reliance on chemical fertilizers. Sustainable nutrient management systems will most certainly rely heavily on the use of legume rotation crops and/or organic soil amendments. To realize the full benefit to the crop ecosystem, sustainable nutrient management programs will also likely require longer crop rotations with less frequent potato production. There is considerable research evidence indicating that these systems can maintain or increase productivity while having positive impacts on nutrient supply, soil physical properties, and soil conservation. However, their successful adoption and continued use on a large scale will require resolution of uncertainties related to economic risk associated with inconsistent nutrient availability in alternative nutrient management systems, potential environmental risks associated with excessive P applications in animal manures, and the potential for increased potato pest incidence resulting from manure application.     

江苏水稻生产现状和新形势下绿色可持续发展的技术对策

水稻是江苏省第一大粮食作物,也是最主要的口粮作物。新形势下江苏水稻生产出现增产不增收、资源过度消耗、生态环境受损、供给矛盾凸显等一些新问题、新情况,严重影响水稻绿色可持续发展。本文按照"提质增效转方式、稳粮增收可持续"的思路方向与"藏粮于技"的战略要求,总结阐述了江苏水稻生产现状,分析指出了生产上存在的主要问题,研究提出了绿色可持续发展的技术对策,以促进水稻产能稳定、产出高效、产品安全,实现绿色可持续发展。     

Evolutionary aspects of the trade-off between seed size and number in crops

Whereas the concept that availability of resources drives seed production is sound in principle, it is incomplete as there are many solutions to the allocation of resources that derive from the trade-off between number and size. This paper examines evolutionary aspects of this trade-off in annual grain crops. The analysis is centred on the working hypotheses that, for a given species and environment, allocation of resources to reproduction involves (H1) high plasticity in seed number, which allows for variable resource availability, and (H2) a relatively narrow range of seed size that results from evolutionary and agronomic selection. Comparisons between crops and fish are used to highlight common evolutionary elements in taxa where parents provide little or no care to their offspring, with the consequence that both number and early survival of offspring, hence fitness of parents, are partially related to embryo size and reserves.

The plasticity of seed number in relation to availability of resources is analysed against the established relationship between offspring number and parent growth rate during critical stages. The notion that seed size is under stabilising selection is analysed against three conditions: (1) mean seed size is conservative for a given species and environment, (2) seed size affects fitness, and (3) seed size is heritable. Databases from published papers were compiled to analyse the relative variability of seed size and number, and the heritability of seed size. Evidence for and against the link between seed size and parental fitness is revised using the Smith–Fretwell model as framework (Am. Nat., 108, 499–506).

The proposal of high plasticity of seed number and narrow variability of seed size resulting from stabilising natural selection is generally consistent with evolutionary and genetic considerations. Agronomic selection may have reinforced natural selection leading to relatively narrow seed size in species such as wheat and soybean, where cultivated types retained high plasticity for seed number. In contrast, selection for one or few inflorescences in crops like sunflower and maize may have morphologically reduced seed number plasticity and increased variability of seed size and its responsiveness to resource availability in relation to their wild ancestors.     

生态农业中的农作物秸秆综合利用

从秸秆转化为饲料、肥料、能源、工业原料及作为基料生产食用菌等方面,深入阐述秸秆在农业生产中的重要用途及环保功能,以发挥秸秆对生态农业的促进作用,实现农业可持续发展。     

Radiation effects on potential number of grains per spike and biomass partitioning in two- and six-rowed near isogenic barley lines

The critical period for yield determination in barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) is situated in the pre-heading phases. During the latest part of the critical period one of the most important yield components (i.e. the number of grains per spike) is set in two- and six-rowed barley. In wheat, much is known about the role of the spike in assimilate acquisition for the establishment of grains per spike, but not in barley. This paper evaluates how biomass partitioning between vegetative and reproductive organs impacts floret development and primordia survival in response to radiation during different periods in the crop cycle, in barley lines. Field experiments were carried out using two- and six-rowed near isogenic barley lines differing only in spike type. Shading treatments were applied at different periods during the crop cycle (from 60 to 15 days before and after heading) reducing the intercepted radiation (ca. 70%). Dynamics of floret primordia initiation and mortality and of floret development for different spikelet positions along the spike were measured, and biomass partitioning between vegetative and reproductive structures was calculated.

Pre-heading shading reduced fertile florets per spike (P < 0.001). In the immediate pre-heading treatment, distal floret primordia could not reach a fertile floret stage due to a low rate of floral development.

The amount of assimilates partitioned to the spike at heading affected the number of fertile florets per spike in both barley types. However, when spike biomass at heading was corrected by nitrogen concentration, the fitness of the relationship did not improve in relation to the first one. In relative terms, radiation restrictions during the immediate pre-heading phase increased the amount of biomass partitioned to the growing spike.     

生态农业中的农作物秸秆综合利用

从秸秆转化为饲料、肥料、能源、工业原料及作为基料生产食用菌等方面,深入阐述秸秆在农业生产中的重要用途及环保功能,以发挥秸秆对生态农业的促进作用,实现农业可持续发展。     

基于间套作弱光胁迫下作物源库协调与产量研究进展

光能在作物进行光合作用和籽粒产量形成中起着重要作用。随着我国种植结构和区划的调整,间套作种植模式在一些适宜地区得到广泛应用,增加了农田生产力。然而,间套作种植方式下,由于受高位作物荫蔽影响,低位作物在某一生长阶段常常处于弱光胁迫环境中。弱光胁迫不仅会引起作物生长发育不良,而且会制约作物产量潜力的提升。本文以间套作荫蔽环境下的大豆源库关系为例,综述了弱光胁迫调节作物源库器官生长发育的国内外研究现状;阐述了源库协调与作物产量之间的关系以及现有间套作作物产量研究概况与存在的不足;探讨了未来间套作种植下作物在源库关系与产量研究的发展方向。     

Methodologies for simulating impacts of climate change on crop production

Ecophysiological models are widely used to forecast potential impacts of climate change on future agricultural productivity and to examine options for adaptation by local stakeholders and policy makers. However, protocols followed in such assessments vary to such an extent that they constrain cross-study syntheses and increase the potential for bias in projected impacts. We reviewed 221 peer-reviewed papers that used crop simulation models to examine diverse aspects of how climate change might affect agricultural systems. Six subject areas were examined: target crops and regions; the crop model(s) used and their characteristics; sources and application of data on [CO₂] and climate; impact parameters evaluated; assessment of variability or risk; and adaptation strategies. Wheat, maize, soybean and rice were considered in approximately 170 papers. The USA (55 papers) and Europe (64 papers) were the dominant regions studied. The most frequent approach used to simulate response to CO₂ involved adjusting daily radiation use efficiency (RUE) and transpiration, precluding consideration of the interacting effects of CO₂, stomatal conductance and canopy temperature, which are expected to exacerbate effects of global warming. The assumed baseline [CO₂] typically corresponded to conditions 10-30 years earlier than the date the paper was accepted, exaggerating the relative impacts of increased [CO₂]. Due in part to the diverse scenarios for increases in greenhouse gas emissions, assumed future [CO₂] also varied greatly, further complicating comparisons among studies. Papers considering adaptation predominantly examined changes in planting dates and cultivars; only 20 papers tested different tillage practices or crop rotations. Risk was quantified in over half the papers, mainly in relation to variability in yield or effects of water deficits, but the limited consideration of other factors affecting risk beside climate change per se suggests that impacts of climate change were overestimated relative to background variability. A coordinated crop, climate and soil data resource would allow researchers to focus on underlying science. More extensive model intercomparison, facilitated by modular software, should strengthen the biological realism of predictions and clarify the limits of our ability to forecast agricultural impacts of climate change on crop production and associated food security as well as to evaluate potential for adaptation.     

Yield stability of induced-early-maturing mutants of mungbean (Vigna radiata) and their use in a multiple-cropping system

The performance of seven mutants of mungbean along with parental types was studied at 41 different sites in three summer crop seasons from 1980 to 1982. The performance of mutants was also studied in spring in the fallow period preceding cotton, and in early summer in the fallow period between wheat harvest and rice/maize planting, to assess their suitability of growing as a catch-crop in these fallows.

The mutants yielded significantly higher and matured 2–4 weeks earlier than parental types, leaving sufficient time to sow the succeeding crops. The mutants were characteristically short-statured, and superior to their parents with respect to number of pods per plant, seed weight, harvest index and productivity per day, but similar in numbers of seeds per pod and seed protein content.

The stability of yield was estimated through regression analysis. Significant genotypic differences were observed among mutants and varieties. Some mutants were widely adapted whereas others performed better in favourable environments. The parental types tended to respond well under poor environments.

Owing to their higher yield potential, early and uniform maturity, and wide adaptability, four mutants were approved as commercial varieties in 1986. These mutants yield 30–50% higher than the parents, mature in 55–70 days, and are suited to both summer and spring crop seasons. Of these four mutants, two can be grown in the fallow period between wheat harvest and rice/maize planting. Because of their determinate plant type, non-shattering pod and top fruit-bearing habit, these mutants are also amenable to intercropping practices and mechanised harvesting operations.

The role of induced mutations for the improvement of mungbean is discussed.     

Forage production and quality of several crop rotations and pastures in northwestern Spain

Multiple cropping has been used for many years to increase production in temperate areas of Europe where the growing season is favourable and is important when land area is limiting.
The purpose of this 3-year study was to determine how several different cropping systems affected forage production potential at three rainfed locations in northwestern Spain (Galicia). The cropping systems compared were: single crop maize; double crop systems of maize-rye, maize oats+ vetch, and maize-Italian ryegrass; three crops in a two-year rotation of maize-Italian ryegrass (12-months) forage rape; 2-year pasture maize and two contrasting 3-year grass-legume mixtures.
There was an increase in dry matter (DM) production as cropping intensity increased. The one-year double cropping systems always yielded more than three crops in two years, which in turn outyielded single crop maize or 3-year pastures. The highest DM yields were 20–9 t ha-¹ from the maize-oats-I-vetch rotation. Maize was the principal crop determining total production, yielding about 70% of the total DM for the double cropping systems. The maize component gave similar annual yields in the multiple crop and maize-pasture rotations, but the use of maize allowed double cropping, which increased production compared with 3-year pasture.
Forage rape gave the highest in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) of 773–815 g kg-¹ while the oats-I-vetch mixture gave the highest crude protein (CP) concentration (105-217 g kg-¹). The maize crops had the lowest CP content (62-76 g kg-¹) though digestibility was high (653-713 g kg-¹).     

Genomics and the physiologist: bridging the gap between genes and crop response

Plant physiologists have traditionally studied the relationship between crop performance (the phenotype) and the environment. Global change processes present multiple challenges to crop performance that can be met effectively by changing the crop environment through management, and by modifying the crop genome (the genotype) through plant breeding and molecular biology. In order to increase the reliability of crop performance prediction based upon genetic information, new tools are needed to more effectively relate observed phenotypes to genotypes. The emerging discipline of genomics offers promise of providing such tools, and may provide a unique opportunity to enhance genetic gains and stabilize global crop production. Genomics has developed from the confluence of genetics, automated laboratory tools for generating DNA- and RNA-based data, and methods of information management. Functional genomics concentrates on how genes function, alone and in networks, while structural genomics focuses on physical and structural aspects of the genome. The traditional strengths of physiology lie in interpreting whole plant response to environmental signals, dissecting traits into component processes, and predicting correlated responses when genes and pathways are perturbed. These complement information on the genetic control of signal transduction, gene expression, gene networks and candidate genes. Combining physiological and genetic information can provide a more complete model of gene-to-phenotype relationships and genotype-by-environment interactions. Phenotypic screening procedures that more accurately identify underlying genetic variation, and crop models that incorporate Mendelian genetic controls of key processes provide two tangible examples of fruitful collaboration between physiologists and geneticists. These point to a productive complementary relationship between disciplines that will speed progress towards stable and adequate food production, despite challenges posed by global climate change.     

中国热带作物种质资源保护研究现状与思考

中国热带作物种质资源是生物多样性的重要组成部分,是我国热带作物产业持续发展的物质基础,其保护状况对热带作物产业的发展非常重要.从1978年以来,相关研究单位开展了多次考察收集,收集的种质资源材料以种质圃、离体库、种子库的形式保存,共有4.7万份;对热带作物种质资源的鉴定评价主要集中在品质性状、抗逆性状、抗病虫性状和细胞...     

椰子种质资源、栽培与利用研究进展

椰子是热带地区主要木本油料作物,也是食品能源作物;不仅口感清凉,风味独特,并含有大量的营养成分,并且具有解毒、美容、消毒等功效。随着椰子产业发展,对椰子需求越来越大,因此,椰子规模化生产发展迅速,关于椰子各方面研究非常重要,同时也受到人们重视。然而,与其他经济作物相比,椰子种质资源、栽培、产品加工及作用等研究较晚,研究基础较为薄弱,但是,近20 a来,国内外在椰子种质资源、栽培、生理生化、分子生物学、产品加工等及作用研究取得一些重要进展,为椰子生产和发展提供理论基础和技术支撑。本文综合分析了椰子种植资源收集、鉴定评价、创新利用、耕作栽培、栽培生理等研究进展情况,并介绍了椰子产品加工利用的研究进展,就进一步的研究和利用提出具体建议,以期为今后椰子产业发展提供参考。     

我国热带作物新品种权保护现状及建议

加强热带作物新品种知识产权保护、推动种业自主创新,对于维护国家战略安全和满足人民美好生活的需求具有重要意义。在过去的20 a里,我国热带作物共有20个属（种）纳入新品种权保护目录,新品种保护工作取得了长足的发展。本文运用农业农村部科技发展中心的公开数据,从热带作物的属（种）、类型、申请授权时间和育种主体等不同角度,统计分析了当前我国的热带作物品种权保护现状,归纳剖析了新品种权保护工作存在的保护意识不强、保护难度大、育种主体单一、创新能力不足、品种权授予不及时等问题,最后,针对性地提出了提高品种权保护意识、强化侵权打击和技术保护、加大政策支持和经费投入、加强热带作物种质资源收集与利用、加快热带作物新品种测试能力建设等建议。