International Journal of Plant Production
Volume:9 Issue: 4, Oct 2015

Oat (Avena sativa L.) traditionally has been a major crop for feed and forage in Turkey. The objective of this research was to study hay yield and quality of oat genotypes harvested at the late milk stage. One hundred oat varieties of worldwide origin were compared in field experiments in Samsun (northern Turkey) over two growing seasons (2007-2008 and 2008-2009). Significant differences between the tested oat varieties were observed for the plant height, hay yield, crude protein (CP), acid detergent fibre (ADF), neutral detergent fibre (NDF), total digestible nutrients (TDN), relative feed value (RFV) and macro minerals (Ca, K, P and Mg). Plant height varied from 76.2 to 141.2 cm, hay yield from 6.03 to 11.83 t ha-1, crude protein from 58.8 to 136.4 g kg-1 dry matter (DM), acid detergent fibre from 333.2 to 424.8 g kg-1 DM and neutral detergent fibre from 522.5 to 652.4 g kg-1 DM. The TDN ranged from 465.1 to 583.3 g kg-1 and relative feed value from 80.9 to 112%. Cluster analysis grouped the 1 genotypes within 7 clusters, each of which having 17, 21, 13, 12, 20, 12 and 5 genotypes. Sisko, Akiyutaka, Longchamp, Sanova, Flämingslord, Matra and Revisor were identified as the high hay yield potential genotypes. However, quality traits of these genotypes were lower than some of other genotypes. Furthermore, while some macro minerals were insufficient, others were in excess regarding healthy feeding. Hence, some form of commercial mineral supplement would be required to oat-based ration or oat should be grown in mixtures with legumes for feeding productive livestock.

Of the several mechanisms that can bring about efficient resource use, the most widelyapplicable one is intercropping systems that can make better use of resources. The aim of this study was to evaluate resource capture and resource use efficiency in transgenic cotton peanut intercropping system and in their respective sole crops with using 25-50% substitution of recommended dose of nitrogen (RDN) of cotton through farmyard manure (FYM) along with 100 % RDN through urea and control (0N). Apparent crop water productivity, nutrient use efficiency, economic returns and modern intercropping indices (system productivity index, actual yield loss, intercropping advantage index, nitrogen stress factor, etc.) were measured for making better understanding of resource use efficiency. Comparisons of intercropped peanut with sole peanut were emphasized because of shrinking area of peanut in the south-east Asian region represents a threat to agricultural system sustainability. Cotton + peanut intercropping system resulted in improved water productivity (19%), nutrient use efficiency (15-20%) and monetary advantage index (16,709) as measured with modern tools of intercropping indices compared with sole crops of cotton and peanut. Peanut cultivated as sole crop attained the least resource productivity in terms of apparent crop water productivity (0.71 kg m-3),nutrient use efficiency (4.47 kg grain kg N-1) and total factor productivity (0.07). Among fertility levels, substitution of 25% RDN of cotton through FYM maintained higher apparent crop water productivity (17%), monetary advantage index (6%), system productivity index (9%) and nutrient use efficiencies (15-17%) over 100% RDN through urea only. This work provides basis for efficient resource use by peanut intercropping with cotton which simultaneously enhances domestic oilseed production and reduce import load of cooking oil without sacrificing the productivity of main crop of cotton in India and other cotton growing countries of the world.

Physiological basis of genetic variability in drought response and its association with yield and related indices is not clear in Brassica. In this study 36 accessions belonged to seven species of Brassica were evaluated under normal, moderate and severe stress environments. Physiological traits along with seed yield, seed yield components, oil content and two selection indices (stress tolerance index, STI and drought susceptibility index, DSI) were studied. Moderate and intense stress caused reduction in seed yield and the most studied traits. Based on the STI, B. carinata and B. juncea were identified as the superior species in moderate stress condition while B. oleracea was the most tolerant under intense stress. Moderate drought stress significantly increased the ratio of chlorophyll a to chlorophyll b (Chla/Chlb) while severe stress decreased it. Although relative water content (RWC) had positive correlation with STI, its heritability was low. Chlorophyll content (TChl) was associated with STI and had moderate heritability. Positive correlation was found between proline content and DSI under both stress conditions. Results showed large variation is among studied species for drought tolerance and related traits indicating that selection in this germplasm would be useful. Changes in chlorophyll content can be recognized as a key component affecting drought tolerance in Brassica.

The aim of this paper was to map the scientific research on soybean physiology by using bibliographic review and analyses of papers indexed up to July 31, 2014 in the web of science database. A total of 1682 non-redundant bibliographic records were curated. The soybean physiology research experienced two major periods. The first period was from 1943 when the first soybean paper was published to 1989 during which a small and gradual increase took place with no more than 12 annual publications. The second period being from 1990 to present, saw a substantial increase in annual publications ranging from 35 to 92 per year. Authors representing a total of 76 countries were involved in soybean physiology research. Drs. T.R. Sinclair and Dr. D.B. Egli were the most productive authors while the USDA/ARS, University of Illinois and Iowa State University published the most influential articles. The most productive journals were the Journals of Crop Science, Plant Physiology, Plant and Soil, Field Crops Research the most research subject categories were nitrogen fixation, photosynthesis, growth, mineral nutrition, genotypes, drought stress, yield and quality. Gene expression for quality and yield under drought stress has become a favored topic for soybean physiology. Eight out of the top ten productive institutions were located in the USA. The USA exceeded all other countries with the most independent and collaborative papers on soybean physiology research. The status of publications on soybean physiology described here may serve as a tool for guiding researchers in their future work.

Great changes in land use/land cover from rapid urbanization have occurred in the Pearl River Delta, China. As the primary cause of land development in the urbanization process, urban expansion has mostly occurred on land with higher NPP, significantly impacting the regional ecosystems. The primary purpose of this study was to reveal the impacts of urban expansion on the regional NPP. The land cover datasets and three types of urban lands (urban, peri-urban and non-urban areas) were obtained to quantify the urban expansion of the Pearl River Delta from 2000 to 2010. The Carnegie-Ames-Stanford-Approach (CASA) model was driven by the land cover types, NDVI data and climate data to calculate the NPP for the study area and analyze its spatial-temporal variations, as well as the impacts on NPP from urban expansion. The results showed: cropland and forest with higher NPP values and wetland were the major source of urban expansion, which generally reduced the regional NPP values, primarily by replacing vegetation with urban land. The conversion of land to urban use resulted in a reduction of 0.103TgC from 2000 to 2005 and 0.034TgC from 2005 to 2010, cropland and forest accounted for the largest proportion of the total NPP losses. In spatial distribution, the NPP losses occurring in urban and peri-urban areas accounted for 89.63% and 75.04%, respectively, which was primarily a result of the massive vegetation with high productivity being replaced with impervious surfaces during the rapid urbanization process. These results provided an indicator to understand and evaluate ecosystem changes in urban regions.

Seasonal variation (e.g. temperature and photoperiod) between growing seasons might affect inulin content and inulin yield of Jerusalem artichoke. However, there is limited information on genotypic response to seasons for inulin content and inulin yield. The objective of this study was to investigate the variability in genotypic response to seasons for inulin content and inulin yield of Jerusalem artichoke. Field experiments were conducted during the early-rainy season from June to September 2011 and the post-rainy season from September to December in 2011 and these 2 seasons were repeated in 2012 at the Field Crop Research Station of Khon Kaen University. A randomized complete block design (RCBD) with 5 replications was used. Four Jerusalem artichoke genotypes were studied during both seasons in each year. Data were recorded for brix value, inulin content, tuber yield, inulin yield, biomass and harvest index at harvest. The results revealed that seasonal variations had significant effects on inulin content, inulin yield, tuber yield, biomass and harvest index but not on brix value. The results indicated that growing Jerusalem artichoke in the early-rainy season with high temperature and long photoperiod resulted in greater inulin content and biomass. In contrast, growing Jerusalem artichoke in the post-rainy season with low temperature and short photoperiod resulted in greater tuber yield and inulin yield. The present study revealed that temperature and photoperiod were important for producing tuber yield and inulin yield. This information can be used to select the appropriate growing seasons for sustainable production of inulin content, inulin yield and tuber yield of Jerusalem artichoke in Thailand.

Irrigation, salinity and nitrogen (N) are the three major limiting environmental factors in maize yield potentials especially in arid and semi-arid regions. An integrated water and N Maize Simulation Model (MSM) was modified for salinity conditions using 2009-2010 field experiments data in southwest of Iran. Irrigation levels were: I1=1.0ETc+0.25ETc as normal leaching amount, I2=0.75I1 and I3=0.5I1, salinity of irrigation water: S1=0.6, S2=2.0 and S3=4.0 dS m-1 and N fertilizer rate: N1=0, N2=150 and N3=300 kg N ha-1. Data of the first and second year were used to calibrate and validate the modified model, respectively. The MSM model was modified by including the combined effects of water and salt stresses using different water uptake functions. Furthermore, N uptake via mass flow process was also modified. By this modification, the soil salinity was also estimated by the model. Calibration/validation results showed that the water uptake function of Homaee and Feddes led to a better estimation of all parameters than those obtained by other water uptake functions. Based on the NRMSE and d indices, the modified MSM model presented a very good to fair estimation of soil water content, salinity and N, evaporation, transpiration, evapotranspiration, leaf area index, total dray matter, N uptake and grain yield. Besides, under saline irrigation water there was much higher risk to the groundwater contamination by nitrate leaching.