Vegetable production systems are often characterized by excessive nitrogen (N) fertilization and the incorporation of large amounts of post-harvest crop residues. This makes them particularly prone to ammonia (NH3) and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions. Yet, urgently needed management strategies that can reduce these harmful emissions are missing, because underlying processes are not fully understood. The present study therefore focuses on the effects of residue placement on NH3 and N2O emissions. For this, cauliflower leaf residues (286 kg N/ha) were either applied as surface mulch (mulch) or mixed with the topsoil (mix) and in situ NH3 and N2O emissions were investigated. The experiment took place on a sandy soil in Northeastern Germany during summer 2012. Residue application created a high peak in N2O emissions during the first 2 weeks, irrespective of residue placement. There was no significant difference in the emission sums over the experimental period (65 days) between the mix (5·8 ± 0·68 kg N2O-N/ha) and the mulch (9·7 ± 1·53 kg N2O-N/ha) treatment. This was also the case for NH3 emissions, which exhibited a lower initial peak followed by a prolonged decline. Measured emission sums were 4·1 ± 0·33 (mix) and 5·1 ± 0·73 (mulch) kg NH3-N/ha. It was concluded that substantial NH3 and N2O emissions can occur after high input of available organic carbon and N even in a coarse-textured soil with low water-holding capacity. Other than expected, surface-application does not enhance NH3 emissions at the expense of N2O emissions compared with residue mixing into the soil, at least under the conditions of the present study.

Ten leading varieties of winter wheat released during 1950–2009 in North China were tested in a free-air temperature increase (FATI) facility. The FATI facility mimicked the local air temperature pattern well, with an increase of 1·1 °C in the daily mean temperature. For all the tested varieties, warming caused a significant reduction in the total length of wheat growth period by 5 days and especially in the pre-anthesis period, where it was reduced by 9 days. However, warming increased wheat biomass production and grain yield by 8·4 and 11·4%, respectively, on an average of all the tested varieties. There was no significant difference in the warming-led reduction in the entire growth period among the tested varieties. Interestingly, the warming-led increments in biomass production and grain yield increased along with the variety release year. Significantly higher warming-led increases in post-anthesis biomass production and 1000-grain weight were found in the new varieties compared to the old ones. Meanwhile, a significant improvement in plant productivity was noted due to wheat breeding during the past six decades, while no significant difference in the length of entire growth period was found among the varieties released in different eras. The results demonstrate that historical wheat breeding might have enhanced winter wheat productivity and adaptability through exploiting the positive effects rather than mitigating the negative impacts of warming on wheat growth in North China.

The Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT) v. 4·2 crop model was used to estimate climate change impacts on soybean yield in Serbia in simulations for 2030 and 2050 integration periods using three global climate change models (GCMs): the European Centre Hamburg Model (ECHAM), The Hadley Centre Coupled Model (HadCM) and the National Center for Atmospheric Research Parallel Climate Model (NCAR-PCM) under two scenarios from the IPCC Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (IPCC 2001): A1B SRES and A2 SRES. Input data included weather data from a 1971–2000 baseline period from ten weather stations assimilated from the Republic Hydrometeorological Service of Serbia. Output results from the three GCMs under the two scenarios for 2030 and 2050 were statistically downscaled with the ‘Met & Roll’ weather generator for predicted climate conditions. Mechanical and chemical soil properties were collected in the vicinity of weather stations and analysed by the Agency for Environmental Safety in Belgrade. Genetic coefficients, for the soybean maturity group II variety, were slightly modified using the DSSAT-SOYGRO model ones. The results showed a considerable benefit of carbon dioxide fertilization on soybean yield and yield increases at all locations. The greatest estimated yield increases obtained using outputs the HadCM model for 2030 both scenarios; in 2050, however, the A2 scenario resulted in smaller increase in yield at some locations. The highest increase in yield was in the central and eastern parts of Serbia. Analyses of the climate change impacts on irrigation demand showed a great increase in the irrigation demand amount per growing season. The average irrigation demand reached the highest values in the southern and eastern parts of Serbia. Water productivity reached highest values in eastern and central locations, while the minimum is expected in the most southern and northern location. According to all results it can be concluded that soybean will benefit greatly under climate change conditions and that soybean cropping, currently most concentrated in the Vojvodina region in northern Serbia, expanding in the central part and one location in eastern Serbia.

Climate risk assessment in cropping is generally undertaken in a top-down approach using climate records while critical farmer experience is often not accounted for. In the present study, set in south India, farmer experience of climate risk is integrated in a bottom-up participatory approach with climate data analysis. Crop calendars are used as a boundary object to identify and rank climate and weather risks faced by smallhold farmers. A semi-structured survey was conducted with experienced farmers whose income is predominantly from farming. Interviews were based on a crop calendar to indicate the timing of key weather and climate risks. The simple definition of risk as consequence × likelihood was used to establish the impact on yield as consequence and chance of occurrence in a 10-year period as likelihood. Farmers’ risk experience matches well with climate records and risk analysis. Farmers’ rankings of ‘good’ and ‘poor’ seasons also matched up well with their independently reported yield data. On average, a ‘good’ season yield was 1·5–1·65 times higher than a ‘poor’ season. The main risks for paddy rice were excess rains at harvesting and flowering and deficit rains at transplanting. For cotton, farmers identified excess rain at harvest, delayed rains at sowing and excess rain at flowering stages as events that impacted crop yield and quality. The risk assessment elicited from farmers complements climate analysis and provides some indication of thresholds for studies on climate change and seasonal forecasts. The methods and analysis presented in the present study provide an experiential bottom-up perspective and a methodology on farming in a risky rainfed climate. The methods developed in the present study provide a model for end-user engagement by meteorological agencies that strive to better target their climate information delivery.

Brazil is one of the most important soybean producers in the world. Soybean is a very important crop for the country as it is used for several purposes, from food to biodiesel production. The levels of soybean yield in the different growing regions of the country vary substantially, which results in yield gaps of considerable magnitude. The present study aimed to investigate the soybean yield gaps in Brazil, their magnitude and causes, as well as possible solutions for a more sustainable production. The concepts of yield gaps were reviewed and their values for the soybean crop determined in 15 locations across Brazil. Yield gaps were determined using potential and attainable yields, estimated by a crop simulation model for the main maturity groups of each region, as well as the average actual famers’ yield, obtained from national surveys provided by the Brazilian Government for a period of 32 years (1980–2011). The results showed that the main part of the yield gap was caused by water deficit, followed by sub-optimal crop management. The highest yield gaps caused by water deficit were observed mainly in the south of Brazil, with gaps higher than 1600 kg/ha, whereas the lowest were observed in Tapurah, Jataí, Santana do Araguaia and Uberaba, between 500 and 1050 kg/ha. The yield gaps caused by crop management were mainly concentrated in South-central Brazil. In the soybean locations in the mid-west, north and north-east regions, the yield gap caused by crop management was <500 kg/ha. When evaluating the integrated effects of water deficit and crop management on soybean yield gaps, special attention should be given to Southern Brazil, which has total yield gaps >2000 kg/ha. For reducing the present soybean yield gaps observed in Brazil, several solutions should be adopted by growers, which can be summarized as irrigation, crop rotation and precision agriculture. Improved dissemination of agricultural knowledge and the use of crop simulation models as a tool for improving crop management could further contribute to reduce the Brazilian soybean yield gap.

A study was carried out in the rainy seasons of 2008 and 2009 in Niger to investigate the effects of fertilizer micro-dosing on root development, yield and soil nutrient exploitation of pearl millet. Different rates of diammonium phosphate (DAP) were applied to the soil at different depths and it was found that although micro-dosing with DAP increased grain yield over the unfertilized control to a similar level as broadcast DAP, doubling the micro-dosage did not increase it further. Increasing the depth of fertilizer application from 5 to 10 cm resulted in significant increases in root length density, and deep application of fertilizer resulted in higher yields, although the increases were generally not significant. It was postulated that the positive effect of micro-dosing resulted from better exploitation of soil nutrients because of the higher root volume. Levels of nutrients exported from the soil were at least as high in plants receiving micro-dosing as the unfertilized control, and plants receiving micro-dosing exported 5–10 times more phosphorus from the soil than the amount added through fertilization.

There is little empirical evidence to indicate that dairy cow live weight affects the extent of soil damage at the hoof-soil interface during grazing on poorly drained permanent grassland. In the present study the impact of Holstein-Friesian (HF) dairy cows with a mean (±standard deviation) live weight of 570 (±61) kg were compared with Jersey × Holstein-Friesian (JX) with a mean live weight of 499 (±52) kg each at two stocking densities: mean 2·42 ± (0·062) and 2·66 (±0·079) cows/ha. Soil physical properties (bulk density, macroporosity, gravimetric water content, air-filled porosity, penetration resistance and shear strength), poaching damage (post-grazing soil surface deformation and hoof-print depth), herbage yield and milk production were measured throughout 2011 and 2012. Soil physical properties, post-grazing soil surface deformation and herbage production were not affected by dairy cow breed or by interactions between breed and stocking density. Hoof-print depth was higher in the HF treatments (39 v. 37 mm, s.e. 0·5 mm). Loading pressure imposed at the soil surface was the same for both breeds due to a direct correlation between live weight and hoof size. Poaching damage was greater at higher stocking density. Using the lighter JX cow offered little advantage in terms of lowering the negative impact of treading on soil physical properties or reducing poaching damage and no advantage in terms of herbage or milk production compared with the heavier HF cow.

Lodging can be an important factor in limiting yield and quality of summer foxtail millet [Setaria italica (L.) P. Beauv.]. Although lodging resistance varies among different genotypes, direct selection for lodging resistance is difficult because of its sporadic occurrence in the field and inconsistency between years. A 2-year-field study was conducted with 35 summer foxtail millet cultivars or advanced breeding lines to determine the association between lodging resistance and culm morphology, anatomy and chemical composition. Path analyses indicated that stem-breaking strength had the most important effect on the lodging coefficient. The breaking strength of stem was associated with specific morphological properties of the culm, such as greater culm diameter and most importantly culm wall thickness. Width of sclerenchyma tissue, and the number and sheath width of the large vascular bundles were the major anatomical properties that influenced stem-breaking strength. The cellulose and lignin compositions of the culm had different effects on stem-breaking strength. Cultivars with smaller lodging coefficients contained higher levels of cellulose, but lower levels of lignin than the cultivars that were more prone to lodging. The findings from the present study provide useful information on lodging-associated traits in the culm that can be used as indicators for the improvement of lodging resistance in foxtail millet.

Plant organic reserves and sward leaf area index (LAI) influence plant growth, persistency and herbage accumulation in grazed swards. The present study was conducted to describe patterns of variation in herbage accumulation and carbohydrate and nitrogen (N) reserves in shoot and root of marandu palisade grass subjected to intensities of continuous stocking management throughout the year. Treatments corresponded to four levels of grazing intensity – severe (S), severe/moderate (S/M), moderate (M) and lenient (L) – and were implemented in the field using bands of sward surface height (SSH – 10, 20, 30 and 40 cm ± 10%, respectively) maintained through continuous stocking and variable stocking rate. Total N concentration was higher in the shoot relative to the root compartment during autumn, early and late spring. On the other hand, the concentration of non-structural carbohydrates (NSC) and soluble N was higher in the root compartment, regardless of grazing intensity and season of the year. When taking into account the pool of C and N reserves, the shoot compartment represented the main storage organ, since it corresponded to the largest pool of NSC (averages of 0·102 ± 0·0038 and 0·201 ± 0·0088 kg/m2 for root and shoot, respectively) and soluble N (averages of 2·7 ± 0·26 and 5·3 ± 0·59 kg/m2 for root and shoot, respectively). During late spring, the time of active plant growth, there was a clear contrast in herbage accumulation and sward LAI among grazing intensities, particularly between the severe and lenient grazing treatments. The results show that even with larger pools of soluble N and NSC in the shoot compartment, herbage accumulation was limited by the reduced leaf area of swards subjected to the severe grazing treatment, indicating that under continuous stocking growth seems to be sustained by current assimilates instead of organic reserves. Therefore, targets of grazing management for maximizing herbage accumulation throughout the year should provide adequate combinations between quantity and quality of sward leaf area. This condition was obtained in the severe/moderate and moderate grazing intensities, and corresponded to sward heights between 20 and 30 cm for marandu palisade grass.

Findings from multi-year, multi-site field trial experiments measuring maize yield response to inoculation with the phosphorus-solubilizing fungus, Penicillium bilaiae Chalabuda are presented. The main objective was to evaluate representative data on crop response to the inoculant across a broad set of different soil, agronomic management and climate conditions. A statistical analysis of crop yield response and its variability was conducted to guide further implementation of a stratified trial and sampling plan. Field trials, analysed in the present study, were conducted across the major maize producing agricultural cropland of the United States (2005–11) comprising 92 small (with sampling replication) and 369 large (without replication) trials. The multi-plot design enabled both a determination of how sampling area affects the estimation of maize yield and yield variance and an estimation of the ability of inoculation with P. bilaiae to increase maize yield. Inoculation increased maize yield in 66 of the 92 small and 295 of the 369 large field trials (within the small plots, yield increased significantly at the 95% confidence level, by 0·17 ± 0·044 t/ha or 1·8%, while in the larger plots, yield increases were higher and less variable (i.e., 0·33 ± 0·026 t/ha or 3·5%). There was considerable inter-annual variability in maize yield response attributed to inoculation compared to the un-inoculated control, with yield increases varying from 0·7 ± 0·75 up to 3·7 ± 0·73%. No significant correlation between yield response and soil acidity (i.e., pH) was detected, and it appears that pH reduction (through organic acid or proton efflux) was unlikely to be the primary pathway for better phosphorus availability measured as increased yield. Seed treatment and granular or dribble band formulations of the inoculant were found to be equally effective. Inoculation was most effective at increasing maize yield in fields that had low or very low soil phosphorus status for both small and large plots. At higher levels of soil phosphorus, yield in the large plots increased more with inoculation than in the small plots, which could be explained by phosphorus fertilization histories for the different field locations, as well as transient (e.g., rainfall) and topographic effects.

The present paper presents details of the population dynamics of Diabrotica v. virgifera LeConte beetles on six maize varieties of three different maturity classes, i.e. early (FAO 190), medium-early (FAO 250) and medium-late (FAO 280–300), grown in Central and Eastern Europe. The study was conducted in 2009/10 in the south-eastern part of Poland. The D. virgifera beetles were captured using two types of trap: pheromone (PTs) and floral-baited (FTs). Significant differences in beetle counts were found between: (i) the first and second year of the study (higher in 2009 than in 2010); (ii) the varieties of maize and their different growth stages; (iii) early and medium-late varieties of maize. Initially, depending on the availability of maize silk and pollen, the most numerous D. virgifera beetles were found on the early varieties followed by the medium-late varieties. The study also revealed a significant difference in the performance of the two types of trap used to monitor the number of adults, particularly during the initial period when arrival rates were high. Pheromone traps were more effective in catching D. virgifera beetles, especially during the flowering stage of maize. Floral-baited traps were most effective at the end of the active growth of maize, when the preferred food of D. virgifera was unavailable.

Four restriction enzymes (AluI, HhaI, MspI and RsaI), either individually or in combination, were used in terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis to: (i) characterize the chicken intestinal bacterial community; and (ii) tentatively identify intestinal bacterial groups related with increased performance parameters in broiler chickens. Balanced commercial diets free of any feed antibiotics were offered to broilers assigned randomly to one of the five dietary treatments: control (C) (commercial diet with no additive), inulin (I), fructose caramel, propyl propane thiosulphonate (PTS-O)-45 and PTS-O-90. Except for the inulin-supplemented diet, multivariate statistical analysis of T-RFLP profiles based on individual enzymes or their combinations showed that the caecal bacterial community composition was significantly different among diets, particularly between the control and the supplemented diets. Individual RsaI and the combination AluI + RsaI proved to be the most useful to discriminate between dietary treatments. Clostridiaceae 1, Lachnospiraceae, Ruminococcaceae and Micrococcaceae were tentatively identified as those families most likely to be implicated in defining the caecal microbiota composition of growing broiler chickens, and also as those most closely related with differences in productive parameters.

The effect on performance of adding calcium (Ca)-butyrate and Oleobiotec (a flavouring agent) additives to dairy calf starter diet was investigated. Thirty-two newborn Holstein calves (16 males and 16 females) were used in a completely randomized design with four treatments as: (1) diet with no additives, (2) diet containing Ca-butyrate, (3) diet containing Oleobiotec and (4) diet containing Ca-butyrate plus Oleobiotec. Milk of calves was supplemented with additives in the first 20 days of the study and then additives were top-dressed into the starter. Calcium-butyrate had no effect on starter and alfalfa intake during pre-weaning, post-weaning and over the whole trial period but it significantly increased the average daily gain and feed efficiency of calves during post-weaning and the whole trial period. Adding Oleobiotec did not change calf performance significantly. Furthermore, no synergistic effect of experimental additives on calf performance was observed.

Twenty four French Alpine goats (39 ± 2·0 kg) were individually housed in a completely randomized design and fed a basal diet containing 146 g crude protein and 356 g neutral detergent fibre (NDF)/kg in the absence (control – CTRL) or presence (CELL) of 2 ml of cellulase/kg dry matter intake (DMI) for 70 days, which included a 10-day adaptation period. The feed was offered three times daily at 07·00, 13·00 and 19·00 h, but the single daily dose of cellulase was only fed at 07·00 h. Goats were hand-milked daily; milk production recorded and samples taken for compositional analysis. During the last 5 days of the experimental period, goats from each group were individually housed in stainless steel metabolic cages to enable separate and total collection of faeces and urine for nutrient digestibility and ruminal fermentation determinations. Goats fed CELL had greater DMI and greater digestibility of dry matter (DM), organic matter and NDF than CTRL goats. CELL goats had greater ruminal pH, concentration of acetic acid and concentration of propionic acid than CTRL goats. However, the concentration of ruminal butyric was lower in CELL goats compared with CTRL goats. CELL goats had greater milk yield, energy corrected milk, milk energy content, milk energy output and milk density than CTRL goats and the milk content for total solids, fat, protein and lactose were also greater for CELL goats than for the CTRL goats. The milk of CELL goats had greater palmitoleic acid, cis-10-heptadecanoic acid content and mono-saturated acids than the milk of CTRL goats and lower linoleic acid, linolenic acid contents and saturated fatty acids than the milk of CTRL goats. These results suggest that addition of 2 ml cellulase/kg DM of feed in the diet of lactating French Alpine goats elevated their milk production and improved its composition probably due to improved feed utilization.