The potential of alley farming in humid West Africa — a re-evaluation

Previously published hypothesis concerning the potential impact of alley farming on maize yields are re-examined relative to the humid regions of West Africa. When more realistic assumptions regarding the availability of organic nitrogen are used, it is concluded that alley farming may have potential in a wider range of maize yield environments in West Africa than previously proposed. A pragmatic approach to alley farming research is proposed, and the importance of on-farm research in the development of farmer friendly alley farming is stressed.(Former Agronomist, International Livestock Centre for Africa, P.M.B. 5320, Ibadan, Nigeria)     

Biophysical interactions in tropical agroforestry systems

The rate and extent to which biophysical resources are captured and utilized by the components of an agroforestry system are determined by the nature and intensity of interactions between the components. The net effect of these interactions is often determined by the influence of the tree component on the other component(s) and/or on the overall system, and is expressed in terms of such quantifiable responses as soil fertility changes, microclimate modification, resource (water, nutrients, and light) availability and utilization, pest and disease incidence, and allelopathy. The paper reviews such manifestations of biophysical interactions in major simultaneous (e.g., hedgerow intercropping and trees on croplands) and sequential (e.g., planted tree fallows) agroforestry systems. In hedgerow intercropping (HI), the hedge/crop interactions are dominated by soil fertility improvement and competition for growth resources. Higher crop yields in HI than in sole cropping are noted mostly in inherently fertile soils in humid and subhumid tropics, and are caused by large fertility improvement relative to the effects of competition. But, yield increases are rare in semiarid tropics and infertile acid soils because fertility improvement does not offset the large competitive effect of hedgerows with crops for water and/or nutrients. Whereas improved soil fertility and microclimate positively influence crop yields underneath the canopies of scattered trees in semiarid climates, intense shading caused by large, evergreen trees negatively affects the yields. Trees in boundary plantings compete with crops for above- and belowground resources, with belowground competition of trees often extending beyond their crown areas. The major biophysical interactions in improved planted fallows are improvement of soil nitrogen status and reduction of weeds in the fallow phase, and increased crop yields in the subsequent cropping phase. In such systems, the negative effects of competition and micro-climate modification are avoided in the absence of direct tree–crop interactions. Future research on biophysical interactions should concentrate on (1) exploiting the diversity that exists within and between species of trees, (2) determining interactions between systems at different spatial (farm and landscape) and temporal scales, (3) improving understanding of belowground interactions, (4) assessing the environmental implications of agroforestry, particularly in the humid tropics, and (5) devising management schedules for agroforestry components in order to maximize benefits. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

干旱河谷区坡耕地等高植物篱种植系统土壤水分动态研究

金沙江干旱河谷区坡耕地固氮植物篱种植模式的研究结果表明 ,植物篱与农作物利用土壤水分的深度不同 ,植物篱在旱季主要利用 5 0 cm以下深层土壤水分来度过严酷的旱季 ,在雨季促进水分向深层土壤渗透 ,提高 0～ 15 0 cm土层贮水量 ;据剖面含水量的变异程度可将剖面分为 4个层次 :水分剧变层、水分渐变层、水分弱变层和水分稳定层 ,其中植物篱模式下剧变层为 0～ 30 cm,渐变层为 30～ 10 0 cm ,弱变层为 10 0～ 15 0 cm,稳定层在15 0 cm以下 ,而传统耕作坡地和裸坡地 (梯地 )分别为剧变层 0～ 30 cm,渐变层为 30～ 5 0 cm,弱变层为 5 0～ 12 0cm ,稳定层在 12 0 cm以下 ,渐变层厚度显著小于植物篱种植模式。植物篱模式提高系统中土壤水分周转库容 ,不仅有利于雨季调节地表径流 ,而且有利于旱季改善土壤水分条件。在时间上 ,一个旱季 -雨季周期内干热河谷坡耕地土壤水分动态可分为 3个时期 :水分消耗期、水分补给期和水分平稳期     

等高固氮植物篱值得大力推广

等高固氮植物篱营造费用仅为坡改梯的10%～17%,一般种植3年后可降低地表径流53%～74%,减少土壤流失97%～99%,并使土壤有机质增加20%～31%,全氮增加70%以上,作物产量增加30%～60%。常规耕作几年后坡地渐成梯地,成为群众的基本农田,可减少陡坡开垦并有效缓解农村"三料"俱缺的矛盾。在四川宁南等地的试验及推广应用效果良好,受到了国内外各界人士的好评,推广应用前景广阔。     

自然环境下贴叠葡萄串的识别与图像分割算法

针对自然环境下贴叠葡萄串难以识别与分割的问题,该文首先提取HSV颜色空间中的H分量,获取贴叠葡萄串区域,分析该区域长宽比从而判定葡萄串的贴叠性质;提取葡萄串图像轮廓信息,获取轮廓拐点与类圆心点信息;利用拐点与中心点之间的斜率判定目标葡萄串所在位置。然后,利用Chan-Vese模型进行葡萄串的迭代识别,并结合拐点信息获得重叠边界的轮廓信息。最后,将重叠边界轮廓与图像轮廓进行融合,实现目标葡萄串识别。试验结果表明,该文方法的平均精准度为89.71%,平均假阳率为4.24%,识别成功率为90.91%,与现有方法相比,该文方法可实现完整目标葡萄串的识别与分割,并提高了识别与分割的精准度,为葡萄采摘机器人成功采收贴叠葡萄串提供切实可行的算法。     

Visual Navigation for Automatic Guided Vehicles Based on Active Contour Model

Lane detection and tracking algorithm based on active contour model was proposed to solve the poor robustness and real time problem for vision navigation under factory or agricultural nonlinear illumination conditions. First of all, it was illustrated that navigation problem was equivalent to calculation of polynomial curve parameters, which could describe the navigation lanes. Secondly, the external energy function of active contour model was investigated, including three energy terms. The first energy term was about the Euclidean distance between lane colors and colors on one side of polynomial curve, by minimizing the first energy term could attract polynomial curve to navigation lanes. The second energy term was about the edge features, which could attract polynomial curve to lane edges. The third energy term was about the position difference of polynomial curve between adjacent frames, which could limit curve to change abruptly. Finally, the energy function was simplified to a nonlinear least squares problem, and the Gauss-Newton method as well as the Armijo-Goldstein inexact line search method were used to solve this problem. Home video and independent car were tested, the result showed that the algorithm achieved a navigation accuracy of 98.96% for both the straight lane and bending lane under nonlinear illumination, with average processing time of 40.18ms, and the independent car could walk along the navigation lane successfully. Experiment result showed that the algorithm was robust and real-time.     

香根草植物篱对三峡库区坡地紫色土侵蚀的影响

紫色土坡地是三峡库区水土流失的主要来源,严重影响着三峡工程的运行安全。植物篱是三峡库区坡地的重要水土保持措施之一,具有明显的减流减沙效益,然而植物篱地上及地下部分对坡面侵蚀的影响尚不明确。为此,该研究通过设置2个坡度（15°和25°）、2个降雨强度（60和120 mm/h）和3个坡面条件（裸坡对照、植物篱和仅有植物篱根系）,开展人工降雨试验,分析各试验条件下初始产流时间、径流量和侵蚀量的变化特征。结果表明：植物篱、地下部分和地上部分的平均减沙效益分别为75.59%、29.45%、46.13%,是对应的平均减流效益的4.79、4.60、4.92倍;地上部分和地下部分延缓初始产流时间、减流和减沙平均贡献率分别为48.28%和51.72%、62.25%和37.75%、60.44%和39.56%,表明植物篱对减沙作用更明显,且地上部分对产流产沙的影响大于其地下部分。以上结果加深了香根草植物篱对坡地侵蚀过程影响的理解,可为三峡库区紫色土坡地水土流失防治提供科学依据。     

等高绿篱——坡地农业复合系统土壤性质空间变异

土壤性质空间变异是一种普遍现象,但等高绿篱——坡地农业复合系统中土壤性质空间变异的研究较少。本文以设置在三峡库区王家桥小流域的香根草（Vetiveria zizanioides）绿篱试验小区为研究对象,从径流小区尺度探讨了不同措施对土壤性质空间变异的影响。结果表明,绿篱种植可降低O．2～0．002mm粒级团聚体的空间变...     

香根草等高绿篱在大别山南麓黄棕壤坡耕地水土保持应用的研究

摘要2010年实验结果表明：大别山南麓黄棕壤坡地采用种植行距为2m的香根草等高绿篱水土保持措施,可使地表径流量和土壤侵蚀量分别减少46．7％、75．8％以上;可使临界侵蚀量增加50．6％;可使土壤分散率降低28．1％;可使水稳性团聚体增加27．6％。说明香根草等高绿篱能有效地防治大别山南麓黄棕壤坡地水土流失。     

等高草篱对坡耕地土壤苯磺隆残留迁移的影响

在北京市昌平区冬小麦田采用模拟降雨的方法,对不同坡位（坡中和坡底）的土壤进行分层（0~5、5~10、10~15 cm）取样测定,研究了草木樨和狼尾草两种等高草篱在不同雨强（15、20 mm·h-1）和坡度（15%和20%）条件下对土壤苯磺隆残留迁移及分布特征的影响。结果表明,前期干旱条件下,降雨后土壤苯磺隆残留纵向迁移特征明显,无明显的水平移动,亦未产生残留径流输出。草篱能够促进土壤中苯磺隆残留向下迁移,导致草篱带内和无草篱区域土壤中的残留纵向分布特征有较大差异：草篱带内3个土层残留水平相近,而对应坡位无草篱区域残留主要滞留于土壤表层,并随土层加深而显著降低。雨强、草篱、坡度均对土壤苯磺隆残留量有显著影响,草篱的贡献超过雨强和坡度,成为影响坡耕地农药残留纵向迁移行为的首要因素。