The depth to ground water is increasing in several regions of the world due to use of high-yielding, but also high water-requiring crops such as rice (Oryza sativa) and wheat (Triticum aestivum), in order to maintain food security for an ever increasing world population. There is a need not only to increase the water productivity of food crops, but also to find less water-requiring crops. Irrigated chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), traditionally grown without irrigation, may provide an alternative crop to irrigated wheat in some regions. Two field experiments were conducted to determine the effects of irrigation on chickpea yields, yield components and grain and biomass water productivity (based on irrigation (WPI) and irrigation + rainfall (WPI+R)) grown in a loamy sand soil. In the first year, 75 mm of irrigation at the vegetative stage and at the vegetative plus podding stages resulted in a 59% and a 73% increase in grain yield, respectively, compared to no irrigation, but with little change in WPI+R. Overall yields in the second year were significantly higher due to warmer temperatures and fewer frosts during flowering and podding. Compared to no irrigation, 75 mm of irrigation at flowering or at podding resulted in a 7% and a 27% increase in grain yield, but a decrease in grain and biomass water productivity (WPI+R). Irrigation had a significant effect on the number of pods plant−1 in both the years and on 100-seed weight in the first year. We conclude that application of a single irrigation during podding to chickpea grown in a loamy sand soil will reliably increase yields and may provide a water-saving alternative to wheat in water-scarce environments.

To quantify the effect of thermal stress and photothermal quotient (PTQ) on yield components, eleven years experimental data of three cultivars (HD-2285, K-8804 and K-9107) under three sowing dates at Kanpur centre were analysed. Number of grains per ear (NG), grain weight per ear (GW) and 1000-grain weight (TG) were identified as prime yield contributing components in HD-2285, K-8804 and K-9107, respectively. GW was highly sensitive to maximum temperature (MXT) while NG was sensitive to minimum temperature (MNT) during jointing (JNT) to anthesis (ATS) as well as the total growing season in all the cultivars. In both HD-2285 and K-8804, optimum MXT and MNT during JNT to ATS are 22.7–24.6 and 7.0–7.9 °C, respectively for obtaining maximum NG. Optimum MXT for GW ranged from 15.8–17.3 °C during tillering (TLR) to JNT stage in K-8804 and K-9107 while it was 20.4 °C during JNT to ATS stage in HD-2285. MXT, MNT and PTQ of 23.6 °C, 9.2 °C and 25 MJ/m2/day/ °C, respectively during JNT to ATS in K-9107 were found optimum for higher TG.

The soil health of rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) plantations shows a declining trend, mainly due to the continuous mono crop cultivation and the ‘clean-weeding’ practices. Another weeding approach which allows the under-flora to grow profusely after closing up of the rubber canopy (no-weeding) can establish a multi-flora system that can improve soil health. A case study was undertaken to test this hypothesis. Rubber fields with and without control of under-flora were investigated for different soil properties, biomass and nutrients of under-flora and rubber yield. The ‘no-weeding’ practice for about 10 years in the rubber fields significantly improved the soil OC, N, available forms K and Mg, respiration rate and moisture status. The biomass and associated nutrients of under-flora also were much higher while the rubber yield was not negatively affected in the ‘no-weeding’ fields. The new weed management system is of great significance in improving soil quality, carbon sequestration and biodiversity conservation, besides the economic and energy savings without affecting crop yield.

Conservation agriculture (CA) is a promising technology for controlling soil degradation, mitigating drought, increasing crop yield and reducing production costs. We hypothesized that adopting CA system would improve system productivity and efficiency, hence resulting in higher profits. To test the hypothesis, we designed a study to evaluate water use efficiency (WUE) and the economic benefits (yield and gross margins) of CA in the upper and lower midlands agro-ecological zones of eastern Kenya. Four tillage treatments, including farmers’ practice (residues removed), conventional tillage (residues removed) and two CA practices with residue retention (zero tillage and furrow–ridge), were laid out in 22 farmers’ fields where each farm was treated as a replicate. The results are based on four consecutive seasons farmer–researcher managed trials during the period 2010 and 2012. CA significantly improved crop yields after the first season of experimentation. Joint use of zero tillage and furrow–ridge provided higher WUE and yield advantage (25–34%) in the third and fourth seasons compared to the conventional practices. The lower midlands zone gave higher WUE values, which can be explained by the effects of water harvesting and retention for longer period on CA treatments. CA practices have increased income on average by 12% resulted from labour cost reduction and yield increment. Weeding costs for conventional tillage were USD 88 ha−1 compared to USD 24 ha−1 for herbicide application under CA. Practicing CA will certainly increase crop yields, WUE, generate more revenue and diversify risks during poor seasons. However, these benefits may not necessarily be earned in the first season, but will accrue in subsequent seasons.

To evaluate the impact of trash management on sugarcane production and N fertiliser requirements in environmental conditions of Brazilian coastal tablelands, a simulation was conducted with APSIM-Sugar cropping systems model. The model was parameterised for, and validated against results from a long term (over 23 years) experiment comparing the system-burnt trash and green cane trash blanketing (GCTB), in Linhares-ES. Simulations were conducted over two crop cycles (14 years) with different management (100%, 75%, 50%, 25% GCTB and burnt trash), and N fertiliser rates from 0 to 240 kg ha−1 (in 40 kg ha−1 increments) on the ratoon crops, and 75% of these rates on the plant crops. Measured cane yields and soil carbon were simulated well by the model. The RMSE (root mean square error) of predictions in burnt and GCTB treatments were 14.02 Mg ha−1 and 13.45 Mg ha−1 for yield, and 0.09 and 0.13% for soil carbon. In the simulation, the cane yield responded positively to the GCTB systems. Optimum N rates were higher in the 100%, 75% and 50% GCTB than with burnt trash and 25% GCTB reflecting the greater yields under GCTB systems. The response to trash retention was dependent on N fertiliser, and it was smaller or even negative at lower N rates. With adequate N, the positive responses were predicted to occur in all crops after the imposition of GCTB system. The removal of any proportion of the trash reduced the potential sugarcane yield. The simulations showed that average environmental losses of N are likely to be greater from trash-retained systems at all N fertiliser rates.

In order to identify factors that constrain or favour adoption of five crop or forage related and six animal husbandry technologies promoted by government to small-scale dairy farmers, a field survey was conducted with 115 farmers. A binary logistic regression model was fitted to identify socioeconomic and farm variables explaining the technology adoption. Factors that favoured technology adoption were based on perceived usefulness, productivity and benefits to the farm, farmer's skills and farm characteristics; moreover farmers were more willing to use technologies which required low levels of investment such as de-worming, vaccines, and data recording. Constraints were related to economic restrictions, lack of knowledge, lack of land, herd size, lack of extension advice, lack of information about government programmes, requirements associated with applying for government financial support, and technologies considered to be of little or no importance to the farm such as herbicides, artificial insemination (AI) and milking machines. Adoption of crop or forage related and animal husbandry technologies was significantly associated (p < 0.05) with socioeconomic (farmer's education, farmer's experience, farmer's wealth status) and farm characteristics (herd size, cows in production, milk yield, total hectares and technological level). It is concluded that the approach implemented in this study enables identification of key factors together with the communication approaches that have been successful.

This paper investigates the determinants of the performance of family farms in Senegal using both production and profit functions. The econometric analysis is based on agricultural inputs and outputs information from a survey of 504 agricultural households, member of a farmer organization in the Saint Louis region in 2009. Our main results indicate that the size of the cultivated plots has a negative effect on crop yields, representing diseconomies of scale. This finding suggests potential for improvements in farm management and organization. We also find that the development of commercialization sectors and loans could boost agricultural inputs. In terms of profitability, our results show that yields and prices play significant and important roles for all crops. An increase in the bargaining power of farmers would be required to increase unit prices and consequently their profits.

We studied physiological traits of 12 Criollo cocoa cultivars growing in a germplasm bank in the southern region of Maracaibo Lake Basin, during the rainy (RS) and dry seasons (DS) of 2007. A further evaluation of photosynthetic responses to changes in environmental parameters was done on three cultivars: Los Caños 001 (LCA001), Sur Porcelana 010 (SP010) and Escalante 001 (ESC001) in 2009 and 2010. Leaf water potential (ΨL) of most cultivars decreased during the DS of 2007, with the exception of ESC001. Maximum photosynthetic rate (Amax), stomatal conductance and water use efficiency varied among cultivars and seasons. The CO2-saturated photosynthetic rate (ACO2sat) was higher in LCA001 and ESC001 than in SP010, with no differences in carboxylation efficiency. Light curve responses of the three cultivars were similar. In all cultivars, no evidence of chronic photoinhibition was observed, since maximum quantum yield of photosystem II was high (0.77–0.81). We conclude that ESC001 has the best physiological performance (ΨL remained unchanged, highest Amax, ACO2sat and photochemical activity), and it seems to be a promising cultivar for cocoa agroforestry systems in the southern region of Maracaibo.

Phaseolus vulgaris is considered an inefficient nitrogen fixer, and therefore farmers in Mexico use large quantities of synthetic nitrogen fertilisers. The aim of this research was to evaluate the performance of native isolates of Rhizobium spp. and Bacillus spp. as biological fertilisers in northern Mexico. A first test was carried out under greenhouse conditions to analyse 15 native isolates of Rhizobium and 15 native isolates of Bacillus. Based on their effects on the bean crop, the best treatments were tested under field conditions. In the field, the combination of Rhizobium and Bacillus (Rz + Bs) produced the highest grain yield, biomass production, number of nodules per plant and dry weight of nodules, statistically surpassing (p ≤ 0.05) the control (without inoculation and fertilisation). Furthermore, compared with synthetic fertilisation, no statistical differences were found, which suggests that the combination Rz + Bs can replace synthetic fertilisation.