Open Access Published by De Gruyter Open Access

Volume 2 Issue 1

February 2017

Issue of Open Agriculture

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Contents
Journal Overview

Research and technology developments surrounding Advanced Life-Support (ALS) began at the University of Guelph in 1992 as the Space and Advanced Life Support Agriculture (SALSA) program, which now represents Canada’s primary contribution to ALS research. The early focus was on recycling hydroponic nutrient solutions, atmospheric gas analysis and carbon balance, sensor research and development, inner/intra-canopy lighting and biological filtration of air in closed systems. With funding from federal, provincial and industry partners, a new generation of technology emerged to address the challenges of deploying biological systems as fundamental components of life-support infrastructure for long-duration human space exploration. Accompanying these advances were a wide range of technology transfer opportunities in the agri-food and health sectors, including air and water remediation, plant and environment sensors, disinfection technologies, recyclable growth substrates and advanced light emitting diode (LED) lighting systems. This report traces the evolution of the SALSA program and catalogues the benefits of ALS research for terrestrial and non-terrestrial applications.

Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (WCED, 1987). For the business community, sustainability is more than mere window-dressing. By adopting sustainable practices, companies can gain a competitive edge, increase their market share, and boost shareholder value (IISD, 2013). The wine industry has incorporated sustainability into its business strategy for a long time. In the USA, several industry organizations promoted its adoption by both grape growers and winemakers. In mountain wine regions, sustainability becomes more important as these regions generally struggle with reduced competitiveness due to inherent difficulties such as accessibility, remoteness, sparseness of business and population, topography and pedoclimatology (EUROMONTANA 2005). Therefore, any improvement in sustainability is a key factor for the viability of mountain wine producers. Sogrape Vinhos farms 480 ha of mountain vineyards in DWR securing the quality base of grapes for its SANDEMAN Port and CASA FERREIRINHA Douro wines. The company continuously adopted sustainable practices across the whole value chain, from grape to glass. This paper illustrates how a simple, but comprehensive, sustainability assessment, as proposed by a US-based award, can be used to monitor and improve sustainable development practices for a wine business set in an adverse environment, while raising awareness in a key market for wines produced in a mountain vineyard area such as the DWR.

Sweet potato weevils (Cylas puncticollis and C. formicarius) are notorious pests of sweet potato and cause severe losses in marketable yield. The study tested the use of Beauveria bassiana ((Balsamo) Vuillemin) (Deuteromycota: Hyphomycetes) for controlling sweet potato weevils. An experiment was conducted using four treatments: 1) dipping sweet potato cuttings in solution of 1 g/litre B. bassiana before planting, 2) spraying with the registered chemical Deltametrin at 50ml/100litre every 2 weeks for four months after planting, 3) spraying the leaves every 2 weeks with B. bassiana (10 g/100 litre) for four months after planting; and 4) a control (sprayed with distilled water). The experimental design was a Latin square with split plot design: pest management strategy as main plot factor and cultivars (Bophelo, Ndou and Blesbok) as subplot factors. Spraying with B. bassiana significantly reduced the percentage of insect damaged roots (5.31%) compared to the control (13.75%). Dipping did not significantly reduce the number of insect damaged roots (12.13%). There was no significant difference between the chemical spray (5.88% insect damage) and spraying with B. bassiana (5.31% insect damage). The preliminary investigation indicated that B. bassiana can be considered as an alternative control method for the sweet potato weevil.

Unavailability of information on photoperiod sensitivity of traditional rice is a disadvantage in breeding rice for adaptation to changing climatic conditions and for optimum plant architecture. This experiment was conducted to address the above problem through determination of variation in days to flowering (DF) and morphological traits of twenty eight selected very early maturing Sri Lankan traditional rice accessions under three photoperiod conditions: short day (SD), day neutral (DN) and long day (LD). Although rice is considered to be a facultative short day plant, 12 accessions (2088, 2979, 4615, 3970, 4245, 2091, 3450, 3883, 4217, 6741, 3738 and 3677) flowered significantly late under SD over LD, while accession 4223 flowered significantly late under DN. Fifteen accessions (3943, 4042, 4734, 3693, 4513, 3845, 4390, 4144, 4220, 4223, 4237, 4387, Bg 300, At 308 and Bg 379-2) flowered significantly early under SD over LD. Four accessions (3457, 3884, 6305 and 4358) were non-responsive to photoperiod for flowering time. Plant height significantly increased only in accession 4217 under SD. Higher plant height under DN was obtained from At 308 and accession 3883. Photoperiod did not affect plant height in accession 4237 and Bg 379-2. LD only or both LD and DN conditions produced significantly higher plant height irrespective of photoperiod responsiveness for DF in rest 26 accessions. Variation in response to photoperiod for DF and plant architecture in very early maturing Sri Lankan rice indicates the potential diversity of genetic factors for photoperiod response for future use in rice breeding.

Wheat is an important staple crop in arid and semi-arid areas of the Tigray region of Ethiopia. However, the yield and quality of the crop is markedly constrained by low soil fertility, inappropriate rate and timing of nitrogen application. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to elucidate the effect of different rates and timing of nitrogen fertilizer application on the yield, quality, and nitrogen use efficiency of bread wheat varieties during 2013 and 2014 main cropping seasons. The treatments consisted of four rates of nitrogen (23, 46, 69, and 92 kg N ha -1 ), three timing of N application (½ at sowing + ½ at tillering, ¼ at sowing + ½ at tillering + ¼ at anthesis, and 1/3 rd at sowing + 1/3 rd at tillering + 1/3 rd at anthesis) and two bread wheat varieties (Picaflor and Mekelle I) and 0 kg N ha -1 (control). The experiment was laid out as a randomized complete block design in a factorial arrangement with three replications. During both cropping years, increasing the rate of nitrogen application up to 69 kg N ha -1 significantly (P< 0.01) increased the total aboveground biomass and grain yields of the crop and decreased with further increase of applied N fertilizer. The highest aboveground biomass (6871 kg ha-1) and grain yields (2775 kg ha-1) of the crop were obtained in response to the application of 69 kg N ha -1 , in 2013. The equivalent value for total aboveground biomass and grain yields during 2014 cropping season were (8815 kg ha -1 and 3695 kg ha -1 ), respectively . The highest apparent recovery efficiency of 75% was obtained in response to the rate of 69 kg N ha -1 applied in three splits of 1/4 at planting, ½ at tillering, and 1/4 at anthesis. The equivalent values for the highest apparent recovery was 81% in the 2014 cropping season. The highest agronomic efficiency of 25 kg kg -1 and utilization efficiency of 55 kg kg -1 were recorded at the rate of 46 kg N ha -1 in three splits of 1/4 at planting, ½ at tillering and ¼ at anthesis. The equivalent values in 2014 were 34 kg kg -1 and 78 kg kg -1 , respectively. Grain protein concentration increased from 10.57% to 11.82% in 2013 and from 8.97% to 9.84% in 2014 cropping season as the rate increased from 23 kg N ha -1 to 69 kg N ha -1 . The acceptable marginal rate of return (1618%) and highest net benefit (34141ETB ha -1 ) was obtained from 69 kg N ha -1 for the variety Picaflor. In conclusion, applying 69 kg N ha -1 in three splits of ¼ at planting, 1/2 at tillering and ¼ at anthesis resulted in optimum grain yield, protein concentration and economic return of the crop.

About this journal

Scope

Veterinary Medicine
Agro-ecology
Soil science
Plant science
Horticulture
Forestry, Wood technology
Animal science
Entomology
Aquaculture
Hydrology, Irrigation
Food science
Nutrition
Agricultural economics
Bio-based economy
Agricultural engineering
Landscape management
Postharvest technology
Climate-based agriculture
Amelioration
Tropical agriculture
Microbiology
Agroforestry
Sustainable development
Biomass, Biofuel
Agronomy
Agricultural Extension Education
Rural development
Agricultural information and communication
Capacity Building
Mycology

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