Water scarcity is a major constraint of agricultural production in arid and semi-arid areas. In the face of future water scarcity, one possible way the agricultural sector could be adapted is to change cropping patterns and make adjustments for available water resources for irrigation. The present paper analyses the temporal evolution of cropping pattern from 1960 to 2008 in the Hetao Irrigation District (HID), China. The impact of changing cropping patterns on regional agricultural water productivity is evaluated from the water footprint (WF) perspective. Results show that the area under cash crops (e.g. sunflower and melon) has risen phenomenally over the study period because of increased economic returns pursued by farmers. Most of these cash crops have a smaller WF (high water productivity) than grain crops in HID. With the increase of area sown to cash crops, water productivity in HID increased substantially. Changing the cropping pattern has significant effects on regional crop water productivity: in this way, HID has increased the total crop production without increasing significantly the regional water consumption. The results of this case study indicate that regional agricultural water can be used effectively by properly planning crop areas and patterns under irrigation water limitations. However, there is a need to foster a cropping pattern that is multifunctional and sustainable, which can guarantee food security, enhance natural resource use and provide stable and high returns to farmers.

The prospect of climate change has revived both fears of food insecurity and its corollary, market opportunities for agricultural production. In Australia, with its long history of state-sponsored agricultural development, there is renewed interest in the agricultural development of tropical and sub-tropical northern regions. Climate projections suggest that there will be less water available to the main irrigation systems of the eastern central and southern regions of Australia, while net rainfall could be sustained or even increase in the northern areas. Hence, there could be more intensive use of northern agricultural areas, with the relocation of some production of economically important commodities such as vegetables, rice and cotton. The problem is that the expansion of cropping in northern Australia has been constrained by agronomic and economic considerations.

The present paper examines the economics, at both farm and regional level, of relocating some cotton production from the east-central irrigation areas to the north where there is an existing irrigation scheme together with some industry and individual interest in such relocation. Integrated modelling and expert knowledge are used to examine this example of prospective climate change adaptation. Farm-level simulations show that without adaptation, overall gross margins will decrease under a combination of climate change and reduction in water availability. A dynamic regional Computable General Equilibrium model is used to explore two scenarios of relocating cotton production from south east Queensland, to sugar-dominated areas in northern Queensland. Overall, an increase in real economic output and real income was realized when some cotton production was relocated to sugar cane fallow land/new land. There were, however, large negative effects on regional economies where cotton production displaced sugar cane. It is concluded that even excluding the agronomic uncertainties, which are not examined here, there is unlikely to be significant market-driven relocation of cotton production.

Due to the potential impact of climate change and climate variability on rainfed production systems, both farmers and policy makers will have to rely more on short- and long-term yield projections. The goal of this study was to develop a procedure for calibrating the Cropping System Model (CSM)-CROPGRO-Soybean model for six cultivars, to determine the potential impact of climate change on rainfed soybean for five locations in Georgia, USA, and to provide recommendations for potential adaptation strategies for soybean production in Georgia and other south-eastern states. The Genotype Coefficient Calculator (GENCALC) software package was applied for calibration of the soybean cultivar coefficients using variety trial data. The root mean square error (RMSE) between observed and simulated grain yield ranged from 201 to 413 kg/ha for the six cultivars. Generally, the future climate scenarios showed an increase in temperature which caused a decrease in the number of days to maturity for all varieties and for all locations. This will benefit late-planted soybean production slightly, while the increase in precipitation and carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration will result in a yield increase. This was the highest for Calhoun and Williamson and ranged from 31 to 49% for the climate change projections for 2050. However, a large reduction in precipitation caused a decrease in yield for Midville, especially based on the climate scenarios of the Global Climate Models (GCMs) Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation's model CSIRO-Mk3.0 and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory's model GFDL-CM2.1. Overall, Calhoun, Williamson, Plains and Tifton will probably be more suitable for rainfed soybean production over the next 40 years than Midville. Farmers might shift to a later planting date, around 5 June, for the locations that were evaluated in the present study to avoid potential heat and drought stress during the summer months. The cultivars AG6702, AGS758RR and S80-P2 could be selected for rainfed soybean production since they had the highest rainfed yields among the six cultivars. In general, the present study showed that there are crop management options for soybean production in Georgia and the south-eastern USA that are adapted for the potential projected climate change conditions.

The impacts of climate change on maize and winter wheat yields in China from 1961 to 2010 were studied in the current paper, based on provincial data. The results indicated that rising average temperatures resulted in decreased maize yield in most of the study regions, and reduced maize production at a national scale by c. 3·4% relative to the average from 1961 to 2010. Moreover, the warming resulted in a decrease of winter wheat yield in the Huang-Huai-Hai and southwest regions and led to an overall loss in production of c. 5·8% at a national scale. The decrease of diurnal temperature range (DTR) affected maize yield adversely in the west and central regions, but a beneficial DTR effect was observed in the other provinces. The changes in DTR resulted in increased maize production at a national scale by c. 0·6%. However, the generally decreasing trends for DTR resulted in an increasing winter wheat yield in the northwest and south regions but a decreasing yield in the other provinces, and the production of winter wheat at a national scale was reduced by c. 2·9% because of changes in DTR. Changes in precipitation increased maize and winter wheat yields in some provinces but reduced crop yield in others. There was no significant effect of precipitation on maize production at a national scale, but the contribution of precipitation change reached c. 1·6% for winter wheat production.

Snap bean genotypes (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) with different ozone (O3) sensitivities (line S156: O3-sensitive; line R123: O3-tolerant) were grown for 70 days with or without inoculation of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi under ambient (CAMB = 20 nanolitres (nl)/l and elevated (CMID = '50 nl/l and CHIG = 80 nl/l) O3. Sequential determinations (leaf injury, pigment concentration, chlorophyll fluorescence, photosynthesis, etc) were carried out during plant growth to evaluate mycorrhizal influence on the photosynthetic function of the two genotypes under elevated O3. Inoculation with AM fungi alleviated leaf injury in both genotypes and delayed time of injury manifestation (TIM) in the R123 line at the blooming stage (growth stage (GS): 61-65 (Zadoks scale, Zadoks et al. 1974), 30–35 days after the onset of O3 fumigation), but mycorrhizal effect was slight at the initial growth stage (GS 11–13, 0–5 days after onset of O3 fumigation). Relative to the non-mycorrhizal plant, AM fungi inoculation increased the concentrations of chlorophyll (Chl) a, Chl b and carotenoids in S156 plants, regardless of O3 levels, while in R123 plants a similar effect was observed only in the CAMB treatment. At the blooming (GS 61–65) and the pod filling (GS 71–77, 45–50 days after starting O3 fumigation) stages, photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance and transpiration rate for the two genotypes decreased with elevated O3 in all treatments, although the effect was reduced in CAMB and CMID treatments in AM-inoculated plants; however, the mycorrhizal effect was slight in the CHIG treatment. Intercellular carbon dioxide concentration increased with elevated O3 regardless of AM fungi inoculation, but it was lower in the mycorrhizal plants than in the non-mycorrhizal plants, in most cases. Furthermore, AM fungi inoculation significantly increased the maximum quantum yield of photosystem II (PS II) photochemistry (Fv/Fm) and electron transport rate in both genotypes in the CHIG treatment. The present study indicated that in some cases, AM fungi inoculation can enhance plant tolerance to elevated O3 through improving plant photosynthetic function, but the effect was reduced by serious O3 stress.

According to the EU 28/2009 directive, member states are mandated to substitute 10% of fossil fuels used in transportation with biofuels by the year 2020. Bioethanol production is expected to contribute significantly towards fulfilling Greece's obligations. First-generation bioethanol, produced from amylaceous and sugar crops, is the most important biofuel globally. Maize (Zea mays L.) is the main feedstock for production worldwide, while sweet sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench), although a promising raw material source, has not yet enjoyed substantial commercial exploitation due to the high seasonality of the crop. Sustainability criteria set by the EU constitute a key factor in the characterization and future use of biofuels. A 3-year study including 20 maize and 4 sweet sorghum varieties was conducted in order to compare these two crops in terms of emitted greenhouse gases (GHG) during the cultivation phase as well as regarding emission savings by substituting bioethanol for petrol/gasoline. Both crops demonstrated promising bioethanol yields reaching 5235·7 and 6443·7 l/ha/yr for maize and sweet sorghum, respectively, and showed that they could be employed towards first-generation bioethanol production in Greece. Sweet sorghum varieties produced higher bioethanol yields per hectare coupled with lower emissions during the cultivation phase and better overall GHG savings compared to maize.

Field experiments were conducted between 2009 and 2011 in Ireland to compare the effects of soil tillage systems on the grain yield, nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) and nitrogen (N) uptake patterns of spring barley (Hordeum vulgare) in a cool Atlantic climate. The four tillage treatments comprised conventional tillage in spring (CT), reduced tillage in autumn (RT A), reduced tillage in spring (RT S) and reduced tillage in autumn and spring (RT A+S). Each tillage system was evaluated with five levels of fertilizer N (0, 75, 105, 135 and 165 kg N/ha). Grain yield varied between years but CT had a significantly higher mean yield over the three years than the RT systems. There was no significant difference between the three RT systems. Tillage system had no significant effect on the grain yield response to fertilizer N. As a result of the higher yields achieved, the CT system had a higher NUE than the RT systems at all N rates. There was no significant difference in NUE between the three RT systems. Conventional tillage had significantly higher nitrogen uptake efficiency (NUpE) than RT A and a significantly higher nitrogen utilization efficiency (NUtE) than all three RT systems. Crop N uptake followed a similar pattern each year. Large amounts of N were accumulated during the vegetative growth stages while N was lost after anthesis. Increased N rates had a positive effect on N uptake in the early growth stages but tended to promote N loss later in the season. The CT system had the highest N uptake in the initial growth stages but its rate of uptake diminished at a faster rate than the RT systems as the season progressed. Tillage system had an inconsistent effect on crop N content during the later growth stages. On the basis of these results it is concluded that the use of non-inversion tillage systems for spring barley establishment in a cool oceanic climate remains challenging and in certain conditions may result in a reduction in NUE and lower and more variable grain yields than conventional plough-based systems.

The widespread adoption by agronomists and researchers of handheld leaf chlorophyll meters stimulates enquiries on instrumental calibration issues, given the necessity, for some applications, of inferring actual chlorophyll concentrations from the readings provided. This is especially required for recently developed and more innovative devices such as the Dualex (Force-A, France), which unlike the more common SPAD-502 (Minolta, Japan) has not undergone extensive (published) calibration tests. Additionally, devices for spectral reflectance measurements are also becoming increasingly available. In the present paper, the calibration of SPAD on maize (Zea mays L.) and of Dualex on winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.), horse bean (Vicia faba L.) and maize, was compared to spectral reflectance indices and full spectral information (400–2500 nm) acquired by a spectroradiometer (ASD FieldSpec) equipped with a contact probe and leaf clip. Full spectral data were exploited using partial least squares regression (PLSR). The measurements were performed in the field at Maccarese (Central Italy) in 2012, gathering a specific experimental dataset. The calibration models obtained on experimental data for SPAD (on maize) and Dualex (on four crops) showed intermediate or high estimation accuracy with root-mean-square error (RMSE) values ranging between 7 and 11 μg/cm2 depending on the species. These results were slightly better than those achieved using spectral reflectance indices, which were inferior though to those provided by PLSR using full spectral resolution. A synthetic database, generated by the physically based PROSPECT model, simulating hemispherical leaf reflectance and transmittance, was used to compare the performances of the reflectance indices and the chlorophyll meters for a wider range of leaf properties. The results confirmed the substantial equivalence of reflectance-based and transmittance-based (i.e. simulated SPAD and Dualex) indices and the advantage of exploiting the full spectral information, e.g. through PLSR, if available.

To upgrade the use of permanent grasslands in livestock farming systems for their economic and environmental utility, their value needs better assessment in terms of both quantity (biomass production) and quality (nutritive value: organic matter digestibility (OMD) and crude protein content (CP)). The wide variability in permanent grassland botanical composition makes it important to understand the links between vegetation characteristics and permanent grassland value, and how far environmental factors influence this value. The current work investigated how vegetation characteristics and weather explained the variability of the biomass production and nutritive value of permanent grasslands. Two models were used to determine the best vegetation characteristics for the prediction: (i) plant functional types (PFT), proportions of grasses, legumes and forbs and weather, and (ii) two proxies for PFT (dry matter content (DMC) and phenological development at medium plant stage (MPS)), proportion of grasses, legumes and forbs, and weather. The study was conducted on a set of 190 permanent grasslands distributed over a wide range of soil, climatic and management conditions, and lasted 2 years (2009/10). For each of the permanent grasslands, climatic data, values of vegetation characteristics, biomass production and nutritive value were collected at the beginning and end of spring, and during summer and autumn regrowths. Contribution of weather was important and particularly for regrowths. Composition in terms of botanical families, plant stage and sward DMC was the common variables that explained both biomass production and nutritive value during the growing season. Biomass production was mainly explained by the proportion of legumes and forbs, MPS and DMC considering both models. Grass nutritive value was linked to the same factors, including PFT. However, the contribution of grass PFTs was lower in models. Both models could be used to predict biomass production and nutritive value: R2 of the two models are quite similar. Over a wide range of environmental and management conditions, vegetation characteristics and climatic data explained almost half of the variance of forage quality and 20–40% of the variance of biomass production.

In farm animals, restricted housing conditions or inadequate management practices during gestation may be potential stressors for the mother, with possible consequences on the growth, vitality, health and welfare of the dam and its offspring, and thus can have economic as well as ethical implications. The current review summarizes data from studies in pigs on the impact of maternal stress during gestation on the litter characteristics and phenotypic traits of offspring. The outcomes from the different experimental models using either maternal stress paradigms or artificially increased maternal cortisol are presented, and possible reasons for the consistent or divergent results are discussed. Maternal stress models are of particular importance, because social stress, restraint, rough handling and heat or cold stress are of practical relevance during housing of pregnant sows, whereas in other models the specific role of maternal cortisol as a mediator for pre-natal stress is studied. The data reveal that pre-natal stress in pigs can impair growth and modify the immune function, stress reactivity and behaviour of offspring. There is evidence that the materno-foetal cortisol regulation is a major determinant of the alterations in offspring. Neuroendocrine and behavioural data in the offspring indicate that pre-natally stressed pigs can express a modified phenotype characterized by increased reactivity of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis, altered emotionality, more fearfulness in a novel environment and disturbed social and maternal behaviour. Further research is needed and should focus on the long-term consequences on immune function, reproductive traits and maternal behaviour in female offspring used as breeding animals.

Butoxybutyl alcohol (BBA) is a possible growth promoter contained in the fermentation and distillation by-products of a traditional Japanese spirit, shochu. In the present study, BBA was synthesized and its chemical structure was confirmed by gas chromatography mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance. Then, two studies were conducted to investigate the effects of feeding the synthesized BBA on the growth and skeletal muscle proteolysis of broiler chickens. Ross male broiler chickens were divided into two groups, control (basal diet: 219 g crude protein/kg and 12·66 MJ metabolizable energy/kg) and BBA diet (30 mg BBA/kg basal diet), with the experimental diets being provided from 15 to 27 days and 0 to 27 days of age, for Studies 1 and 2, respectively. Butoxybutyl alcohol supplementation increased final body weight in both studies, whereas feed intake was unchanged, thereby indicating significantly increased feed efficiency. Furthermore, the synthesized BBA increased the weights of the pectoralis superficialis and profundus muscles, and the leg. The BBA decreased the Nτ-methylhistidine concentration in the excrement and plasma, which are indices of the rate of skeletal muscle protein degradation. It also decreased the mRNA levels of μ-calpain large subunit, atrogin-1/muscle atrophy F-box (MAFbx), ubiquitin and 20S proteasome C2 subunit. These suggest that growth promotion due to the feeding of synthesized BBA is caused by the suppression of skeletal muscle protein degradation, which is related to a decrease in gene expression in the calpain and ubiquitin–proteasome systems.

The objective of the current experiment was to compare the effects of supplementing mid-lactation dairy cows with all-rac-α-tocopheryl acetate (SyntvE), RRR-α-tocopheryl acetate (NatvE) or seaweed meal (Seaweed) in the presence of a Control group (no supplemental vitamin E or seaweed) on the concentration of α-tocopherol in plasma and milk, and antibody response following immunization. The hypothesis was that supplementation of dairy cows with vitamin E, regardless of its form, would increase plasma and milk α-tocopherol compared to the control diet and this incremental response would be bigger with NatvE than SyntvE. Furthermore, it was hypothesized that vitamin E, regardless of its form, will provide an improved adaptive immune response to immunization than the Control diet, and cows supplemented with Seaweed meal would produce better adaptive immune response following immunization than cows in the Control group. Twenty-four Norwegian Red (NR) dairy cows in their mid-lactation were allocated randomly to the four treatments in a replicated Latin square design. The cows were fed on a basal diet of silage and concentrate on top of which the experimental supplements were provided. Plasma and milk α-tocopherol concentrations were higher in NatvE and SyntvE groups than in the other two groups. The RRR-α-tocopherol stereoisomer was the predominant form (>0·86), in both plasma and milk, whereas the remaining part was largely made up of the other three 2R stereoisomers (RRS, RSR and RSS). In cows fed the Control, Seaweed and NatvE, the proportion of the RRR-α-tocopherol stereoisomer in plasma and milk constituted >0·97 of the total α-tocopherol. Mid-lactation NR dairy cows had higher than adequate levels of plasma α-tocopherol (9·99 mg/l) even when not supplemented with external source of vitamin E, suggesting that with a good quality silage these cows may not be at risk of vitamin E deficiency. Furthermore, the present study shows that dairy cows in mid to late lactation have preferential uptake of RRR stereoisomer of α-tocopherol compared with other stereoisomers. All cows responded well to immunization with different antigens, but there were no significant group effects of the diet on the immune response measured.

Four Holstein steers (297 ± 56 kg of body weight (BW)) fitted with duodenal cannula and rumen catheter, were housed in metabolism cages and used in a 4 × 4 Latin Square trial to evaluate the effect of both protein source and Acacia mearnsii tannin extract on digestibility, ruminal fermentation, rumen microbial protein synthesis, N utilization and on duodenal flow of individual amino acids. The diet was offered at restricted amount of 25 g of dry matter (DM)/kg BW and consisted of maize silage plus concentrate, in a proportion of 0·7:0·3 (DM basis) respectively. Concentrate was formulated with either soybean meal or canola meal as protein source, with or without 50 g/kg of A. mearnsii tannin extract (i.e. 15 g/kg of total dietary DM). There was no effect of protein source on most variables. The apparent and true organic matter (OM) digestibilities, as well as neutral detergent fibre (NDF) digestibility were negatively affected by tannin extract inclusion without, however, affecting digestible OM intake. The amount of nitrogen (N) excreted in faeces increased whereas the urinary N excretion decreased in tannin extract treatments. No interaction time × treatment was detected for any rumen variable and no treatment effect was observed for rumen fluid pH and reducing sugars concentration. Rumen fluid concentration of ammonia N was lower for the canola meal plus tannin extract treatment. Rumen concentration of α-amino compounds was not affected by tannin extract but was higher when canola meal was the protein source. The duodenal flow of OM, total N, α-amino N and non-ammonia non-microbial N increased with tannin extract inclusion, whereas the duodenal flow of microbial N was not affected by treatment. For both protein sources, the amount of most individual amino acids flowing to the duodenum increased due to tannin extract addition. In conclusion, the dietary inclusion of 15 g/kg DM of tannin extract from A. mearnsii improved the amino acid supply independently of whether the protein source was canola meal or soybean meal, without affecting the amino acid profile, to steers fed maize silage plus concentrate, with a minor but significant impact on OM digestibility.