Conservation agriculture (CA), defined as minimal soil disturbance (no-till) and permanent soil cover (mulch) combined with rotations, is a more sustainable cultivation system for the future than those presently practised. The present paper first introduces the reasons for tillage in agriculture and discusses how this age-old agricultural practice is responsible for the degradation of natural resources and soils. The paper goes on to introduce conservation tillage (CT), a minimum tillage and surface mulch practice that was developed in response to the severe wind erosion caused by mouldboard tillage of grasslands and referred to as the American dust bowl of the 1930s. CT is then compared with CA, a suggested improvement on CT, where no-till, mulch, and rotations significantly improve soil properties (physical, biological, and chemical) and other biotic factors, enabling more efficient use of natural resources. CA can improve agriculture through improvement in water infiltration and reducing erosion, improving soil surface aggregates, reducing compaction through promotion of biological tillage, increasing surface soil organic matter and carbon content, moderating soil temperatures, and suppressing weeds. CA also helps reduce costs of production, saves time, increases yield through more timely planting, reduces diseases and pests through stimulation of biological diversity, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Availability of suitable equipment is a major constraint to successful CA, but advances in design and manufacture of seed drills by local manufacturers are enabling farmers to experiment and accept this technology in many parts of the world. Estimates of farmer adoption of CA are close to 100 million ha in 2005, indicating that farmers are convinced of the benefits of this technology. The paper concludes that agriculture in the next decade will have to produce more food, sustainably, from less land through more efficient use of natural resources and with minimal impact on the environment in order to meet growing population demands. This will be a significant challenge for agricultural scientists, extension personnel, and farmers. Promoting and adopting CA management systems can help meet this complex goal.

Analysis of measurements of absorbed radiation and leaf area indices of wheat and barley crops showed that throughout most of growth the fraction of absorbed solar radiation could be described by a simple exponential equation.

For several of these crops grown under a wide range of weather and husbandry at Sutton Bonington and Rothamsted, 2-weekly values of crop growth rate (C) were closely related to radiation absorbed until ear emergence and about 3·0 g of dry matter (D.M.) were produced by each MJ of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) absorbed. Final crop weight was closelyrelated to total PAR absorbed during growth (SA); on average about 2·2 g D.M. were produced per MJ absorbed, equivalent to a growth efficiency (Eg) of approximately 3·9%. Unfertilized and drought-stressed crops had a smaller Eg.

The fraction of total crop D.M. harvested as grain (harvest index) varied more for wheat than for barley. Calculations of a maximum realizable grain yield made using the largest values of Eg and SA for the crops measured and assuming a harvestindex of 0.53 (achieved in an experimental crop) showed a grain D.M. yield of 10·3 t D.M./ha to be possible. To achieve such a yield would require full crop cover from the beginning of April until the end of July in a typical English growing season.

Deep learning (DL) constitutes a modern technique for image processing, with large potential. Having been successfully applied in various areas, it has recently also entered the domain of agriculture. In the current paper, a survey was conducted of research efforts that employ convolutional neural networks (CNN), which constitute a specific class of DL, applied to various agricultural and food production challenges. The paper examines agricultural problems under study, models employed, sources of data used and the overall precision achieved according to the performance metrics used by the authors. Convolutional neural networks are compared with other existing techniques, and the advantages and disadvantages of using CNN in agriculture are listed. Moreover, the future potential of this technique is discussed, together with the authors’ personal experiences after employing CNN to approximate a problem of identifying missing vegetation from a sugar cane plantation in Costa Rica. The overall findings indicate that CNN constitutes a promising technique with high performance in terms of precision and classification accuracy, outperforming existing commonly used image-processing techniques. However, the success of each CNN model is highly dependent on the quality of the data set used.

A whole crop computer simulation model of winter wheat has been written in FORTRAN and used to simulate the growth of September- and October-sown crops of Hustler wheat at Rothamsted for the years 1978–9, 1979–80 and 1980–1. Results of the simulations, which are for crops with adequate water and nutrients, are compared with observations from experiments at Rothamsted. The model uses daily maximum and minimum temperatures and daylength to calculate the dates of emergence, double ridge, anthesis and maturity of the crops and the growth and senescence of tillers and leaves. In the simulations, the canopy intercepts daily radiation and produces dry matter that is partitioned between roots, shoots, leaves, ears and grain. Partial simulations, using observed LAI values, produced dry matter in close agreement with observations of late-sown crops, but consistently overestimated the total dry-matter production of the early-sown crops. Full simulation described satisfactorily the average difference in dry-matter production to be expected with changes in time of sowing, but did not give as close correspondence for individual crops. A grain growth submodel, that linked maximum grain weight to average temperatures during the grain growth period, correctly simulated the observed growth of individual grains in the 1981 crop. The benefits to be obtained by combining whole crop modelling with detailed crop observations are discussed.

Four sets of near-isogenic lines carrying different combinations of the alleles Rht-B1b, Rht-D1b and Rht-B1c for gibberellin-insensitive dwarfism in hexaploid wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) were compared with tall controls in a series of yield trials in eastern England and central Germany. In all four varietal backgrounds the effects of Rht-B1b and Rht-D1b were similar (plant height ≈ 86 and 83% of tall controls respectively) and in combination reduced plant height to c. 58%. The Rht-B1c allele caused more severe dwarfism (c. 50%) and, when combined with Rht-D1b, reduced plant height still further to c. 41%.

Data from the trials were consistent with a model for height/yield relationships in which the pleiotropic effects of the Rht alleles on yield can be inferred from their primary function: insensitivity to gibberellin limits stem extension growth, decreasing assimilate demand for this organ and diverting it to the developing ear (which is not itself dwarfed). The net balance between the resulting increase in harvest index and the curvilinear relationship observed between plant height and total shoot yield results in optimum grain yields at intermediate plant heights.

Yield advantages of shorter plants over tall controls were evident over several trials with mean grain yields ranging from 200 to 760 g m−2. The optimum plant height for yield improvement in different genetic backgrounds was achieved by different Rht alleles according to the background varietal height, such that intrinsically taller genotypes required more potent Rht alleles to achieve maximum potential grain yield.

Ear yield components showed increases in grain number due to Rht pleiotropy, from which it is inferred that the number of grains per ear is limited by supply of assimilates pre-anthesis. Increases in grain number were associated with decreases in mean weight per grain which varied according to severity of dwarfism and varietal background, so that the net effect on grain yield per ear was sometimes positive, sometimes negative, and sometimes neutral in different Rht/variety combinations.

Using data from a blank experiment with wheat it was found that the regression of the logarithms of the variances for plots of different areas on the logarithms of their areas was approximately linear. A graphical review of variances, etc., reported in the literature for thirty-nine other blank experiments indicates that the results of most such experiments conform to the same law.

It is shown that the above law can be generalized (so as to be applicable to any size of field) by applying a certain adjustment to the regression coefficient b', so as to give a modified coefficient b applicable to an “infinite” field.

From this generalized relationship there has been deduced an expression ((4), p. 16) to indicate average relative efficiencies to be expected for randomized block experiments with varying numbers of plots per block in a field for which the coefficient b is known.

A formulae (5), which may be used to estimate the most efficient size of plot for any given experiment, has also been deduced. The cost of using plots of other than the most efficient size is indicated graphically in Fig. 7.

Breeding of temperate forage grasses is aimed at improving the economic and environmental sustainability of production from cattle and sheep. The primary objective is to ensure that forage can be the main source of feed for ruminants. This requires consistent production of herbage with a high feeding value, usually under nitrogen-limiting conditions. The most important traits affecting the feeding value of herbage are in vitro dry matter digestibility (DMD), the ratios of crude protein, water-soluble carbohydrate and fibre, and the concentration of alkaloid toxins. Improvements in these primary quality traits must be combined with good plant persistency, adequate tolerance to a range of environmental stresses, adequate resistance to a large number of different pathogens and invertebrate pests, and adequate seed yield. Forage grasses also have considerable potential to produce material for refining, to provide protein extracts for feeding to monogastric animals and carbohydrate for fermentation into fuel or into feedstocks for other industries.

A knowledge of the exact length of the breeding season for improved breeds under different environmental conditions in this country is lacking. Such knowledge is of importance so that the lambing season can be arranged according to farm conditions. Such knowledge, apart from providing the necessary background for the successful application of artificial insemination and administration of hormones, helps to explain certain problems of infertility. By selection it should be possible to build up strains, by extending the breeding season at one or both ends, so as to get lambing at any required time. As the results below show, crossbreeding and selection could lead to early sexual maturity, prolonged breeding season or restricted lactation anoestrus, which would undoubtedly increase the reproductive potentiality of the ewe.

Two steers totally nourished by intragastric infusion of volatile fatty acids and casein were given an abomasal infusion of a microbial protein preparation (Pruteen) at eight rates with a purine input ranging from 0 to 170 mmol/day over 11 successive 5-day periods. The urinary excretion of purine derivatives relative to the purine input was measured. Negligible amounts of xanthine plus hypoxanthine were present in the urine. The relative contributions of allantoin and uric acid to the total excretion were not affected by the rate of purine infusion. Total purine derivative excretion (uric acid and allantoin) was linearly correlated with purine input. Recovery in the urine of the infused purines was 0·77. It is suggested that utilization of exogenous purines may only occur in the intestinal mucosa and that the remaining purines may be completely converted, before entering the liver, to uric acid and allantoin, which are subsequently eliminated by the renal and extrarenal routes. The differences between cattle and sheep in excretion of purine derivatives, and the implications of these differences for the use of purine excretion values in order to estimate microbial protein supply to the ruminant, are discussed.

It is not infrequently assumed that varieties of cultivated plants differ not only in their suitability to different climatic and soil conditions, but in their response to different manures. Since the experimental error of field experiments is often underestimated, this supposition affords a means of explaining discrepancies between the results of manurial experiments conducted with different varieties; in the absence of experimental evidence adequate to prove or disprove the supposed differences between varieties in their response to manures such explanations cannot be definitely set aside, although we very often suspect that the discrepancies are in reality due to the normal errors of field experiments.

1. The details of the Dennstedt dry-combustion method for determining carbon in soils were described, and some simplifications suggested.

2. The Bangor modified Kjeldahl method for carbon and nitrogen in soils requires carefully standardised heating. Errors may arise from contamination of sandy soils by material abraded during grinding in iron or porcelain mills.

3. For many heavy soils the addition of water before the Kjeldahl digestion is convenient but not essential. For heavy alkaline soils with little organic matter it is advisable to grind the soil very finely and to add water.

Gabriel (1971) proposed a technique for displaying the rows and columns of a twoway table as a two-dimensional biplot so that any element of the table can be approximated by the inner product of vectors corresponding to the appropriate row and column. The technique is useful for investigating the pattern of response of varieties over different environments, and substantially increases the information available from the more familiar methods of regression and principal component analysis without need for additional computation.

The investigations to be described below are the outcome of some experiments started in 1900 which had in view the improvement of English-grown wheat. The necessity of such work may not be evident to all, so at the outset I will sketch in broad outlines the state of affairs which led me to undertake the task. The fact is generally recognized that the wheats of this country are characterized by their high yields per acre and by the shapeliness of their grain. We can grow on the average over 30 bushels to the acre where the United States grow 14, Russia 10, and the Argentine 7. Yet the acreage under wheat in this country has fallen from three and a-half million acres in 1876 to one and a-half million in 1903, and we now grow approximately only one-fifth of the wheat we consume. Further than this there is good evidence to show that the quality of the grain now grown is inferior to that of twenty years ago. It has been sacrificed to yield, and many of the better class varieties, such as Chiddam, Red Lammas and Rough Chaff, have been more or less driven out of the field by varieties such as Square Head and Rivet, which are capable of giving slightly larger crops of grain and straw. These inferior varieties have now to compete with wheat imported from Canada, the United States, Russia and other countries. The seriousness of the position becomes evident when one finds English wheat selling at 28s. 6d. a quarter when Manitoba Hard is selling at 35s.

Climate change is now unequivocal, particularly in terms of increasing temperature, increasing CO2 concentration, widespread melting of snow and ice and rising global average sea level, while the increase in the frequency of drought is very probable but not as certain.

However, climate changes are not new and some of them have had dramatic impacts, such as the appearance of leaves about 400 million years ago as a response to a drastic decrease in CO2 concentration, the birth of agriculture due to the end of the last ice age about 11 000 years ago and the collapse of civilizations due to the late Holocene droughts between 5000 and 1000 years ago.

The climate changes that are occurring at present will have – and are already having – an adverse effect on food production and food quality with the poorest farmers and the poorest countries most at risk. The adverse effect is a consequence of the expected or probable increased frequency of some abiotic stresses such as heat and drought, and of the increased frequency of biotic stresses (pests and diseases). In addition, climate change is also expected to cause losses of biodiversity, mainly in more marginal environments.

Plant breeding has addressed both abiotic and biotic stresses. Strategies of adaptation to climate changes may include a more accurate matching of phenology to moisture availability using photoperiod-temperature response, increased access to a suite of varieties with different duration to escape or avoid predictable occurrences of stress at critical periods in crop life cycles, improved water use efficiency and a re-emphasis on population breeding in the form of evolutionary participatory plant breeding to provide a buffer against increasing unpredictability. ICARDA, in collaboration with scientists in Iran, Algeria, Jordan, Eritrea and Morocco, has recently started evolutionary participatory programmes for barley and durum wheat. These measures will go hand in hand with breeding for resistance to biotic stresses and with an efficient system of variety delivery to farmers.

Three grasses and two legumes, each at two stages of maturity, were fed to three fistulated sheep and samples of the feed, and faeces and contents of the reticulo-rumen, abomasum and ileum were collected for the determination of particle size by wet sieving. Modulus of fineness (MF) was calculated for all particulate matter that failed to pass a 0·15 mm screen. Resistance to flow from the rumen of feed particles of different sizes was also calculated.

The mean MF of the reticulo-rumen contents was 2·56 compared with 5·72 for the feed. Material leaving the rumen and found in the abomasum had a MF of 1·67 and subsequent changes were small and not significant; ileum 1·63, faeces 1·80. Particles greater than 1·18 mm passed out of the reticulo-rumen although the quantity was small (1–3%). The resistance to flow of particles of different sizes from the reticulo-rumen was closely related to particle size with no difference between grasses and legumes or between young and mature forages.

It was concluded that in modelling the flow of particles from the reticulo-rumen a non-compartmentalized approach should be adopted, but if a simple two-compartment model is required then a critical sieve size of about 1·18 mm may be useful, since less than 5% of the particulate material is retained on this sieve size.

Split-plot (or split-block) analyses are commonly applied to experimental results where several successive observations of the same variable have been recorded on each experimental unit. The assumptions required for such analyses receive scant attention and it often seems unlikely that these assumptions would be satisfied in experimental situations. Five sets of results are presented to support this proposition. An alternative analytical approach is suggested in which contrasts over time are analysed; such a method is always valid, computationally simple, and readily interpretable, and may also be used to gauge the validity of the split-plot analysis.

Moringa oleifera grows throughout most of the tropics and has several industrial and medicinal uses. The objective of this study was to evaluate the potential of different morphological parts of this tree as animal feed. The crude protein (CP) content of leaves, soft twigs and stems was 260, 70 and 60 g kg−1 respectively. About 64, 79 and 67% of the total CP present in the leaves, twigs and stems respectively was found to be degradable after 24 h in the rumen. The protein insoluble in acid detergent fibre (ADIP), considered unavailable to animals, in these samples was 30, 150 and 170 g kg−1 respectively. About 87% of the total CP was in the form of true protein in the leaves (60 and 53% in twigs and stems respectively). The leaves had negligible amounts of tannins (12 g kg−1), and trypsin and amylase inhibitors, lectins, cyanogenic glucosides and glucosinolates were not detected. The saponin content of the leaves was 80 g kg−1 as diosgenin equivalent, which did not show any haemolytic activity. The phytate content of the leaves was 21 g kg−1. Tannins, saponins, cyanogenic glucosides and glucosinolates were detected in twigs and stems but the concentrations were negligible. Trypsin and amylase inhibitors were not detected in twigs and stems. Phytate contents of both twigs and stems were c. 30 g k−1. In leaves, amounts of all the essential amino acids were higher than the amino acid pattern of the FAO reference protein and comparable to those in soyabeans. The CP and lipid contents of the kernel were 370 and 420 g kg−1 respectively, and the CP of the meal (fat-free) was 610 g kg−1. The kernels and meal are extracted with water and the extract is used for the purification of water in some developing countries. The residues left after water extraction of kernels and meal (designated as extracted-kernel and extracted-meal) had a CP content of 350 and 700 g kg−1 respectively and all of this CP was in the form of true protein. After taking into account the ADIP contents in these samples, c. 38 and 69% of the total protein was calculated to be available in the post-rumen in extracted-kernel and extracted-meal respectively. The pepsin digestibility of these samples was 91 and 84% respectively. The sulphur-containing amino acids in kernel proteins were present at higher concentrations than those specified in the amino acid pattern of the FAO reference protein but other essential amino acids were deficient. Amongst the antinutritional factors mentioned above, glucosinolates and phytate were present in appreciable amounts (65·5 μmol/g and 41 g kg−1 respectively) in meal. Haemagglutination activity was also detected in the meal. The extracted-meal was virtually free of all the antinutritional factors examined except for phytate (67 g kg−1). The leaves of Moringa oleifera and the residue obtained after the recovery of oil and coagulants can be good sources of proteins for animal feeds.

The computer model described simulates changes in soil mineral nitrogen and crop uptake of nitrogen by computing on a daily basis the amounts of N leached, mineralized, nitrified and taken up by the crop. Denitrification is not included at present. The leaching submodel divides the soil into layers, each of which contains mobile and immobile water. It needs points from the soil moisture characteristic, measured directly or derived from soil survey data; it also needs daily rainfall and evaporation. The mineralization and nitrification submodel assumes pseudo-zero order kinetics and depends on the net mineralization rate in the topsoil and the daily soil temperature and moisture content, the latter being computed in the leaching submodel. The crop N uptake and dry-matter production submodel is a simple function driven by degree days of soil temperature and needs in addition only the sowing date and the date the soil returns to field capacity, the latter again being computed in the leaching submodel. A sensitivity analysis was made, showing the effects of 30% changes in the input variables on the simulated amounts of soil mineral N and crop N present in spring when decisions on N fertilizer rates have to be made. Soil mineral N was influenced most by changes in rainfall, soil water content, mineralization rate and soil temperature, whilst crop N was affected most by changes in soil temperature, rainfall and sowing date. The model has so far been applied only to winter wheat growing through autumn, winter and spring but it should be adaptable to other crops and to a full season.

The model was validated by comparing its simulations with measurements of soil mineral N, dry matter and the amounts of N taken up by winter wheat in experiments made at seven sites during 5 years. The simulations were assessed graphically and with the aid of several statistical summaries of the goodness of fit. The agreement was generally very good; over all years 72% of all simulations of soil mineral N to 90 cm depth were within 20 kg N/ha of the soil measurements; also 78% of the simulations of crop nitrogen uptake were within 15 kg N/ha and 63% of the simulated yields of dry matter were within 25 g/m2 of the amounts measured. All correlation coefficients were large, positive, and highly significant, and on average no statistically significant differences were found between simulation and measurement either for soil mineral N or for crop N uptake.

The nutritional and immunological importance of colostrum for the survival and development of the neonatal pig are reviewed. The pig is born with low body energy stores and devoid of serum immunoglobulins. Colostrum provides the piglet with both energy and maternal antibodies but its fat and protein composition is very variable. Colostrum is very digestible, and both colostral energy and nitrogen (N) are retained with a very high efficiency. Colostrum production by the sow assessed from the weight gain of the litter from birth to 24 h of age is very variable (from 1900 to 5300 g). There is no clear effect of litter size or parity, suggesting that colostrum production is a characteristic of the sow. Within a litter, colostrum consumption by the individual piglets varies considerably. It is independent of birth order, but related positively to birth weight and negatively to litter size. Other factors influencing colostrum consumption, including cold stress, premature birth and birth hypoxia, are discussed. Because of the epitheliochorial nature of the porcine placenta, the new-born piglet must acquire maternal immunoglobulin G (IgG) from ingested colostrum for passive immune protection until the immune system of the piglet becomes fully developed. Colostrum IgG concentrations in milk vary widely between individual sows both in initial concentration and in the rate at which concentrations decline during the first 24 h of life. The piglet can only absorb intact IgG prior to gut closure, which occurs in the first 24 h of life and is induced by intakes of colostrum which are insufficient to maintain piglet live-weight. As a result, the amounts of intact IgG absorbed by the piglet vary widely. The effects of colostrum consumption on neonatal survival are discussed. Consumption of colostrum in amounts sufficient to meet the energy requirement of the piglet is a major determinant for survival. Since most neonatal losses occur in the first 2 days of life, before acquisition of a maternal IgG for immune protection becomes important for survival, piglet serum IgG concentration does not correlate well with early survival but is important in later resistance to disease challenge. It is concluded that colostrum production is a good marker for the maternal quality of the sow. Future research should focus on the ability of the sow to produce more colostrum and on the possible delayed effects of passive immunisation on the health and performance of piglet at weaning and later in life.

The production of root axes and the growth of the root system are reported for a commercially grown crop of Maris Huntsman winter wheat. Soil cores were extracted on 17 occasions during the growing season permitting a detailed study of root length and root dry weight with depth and time.

Production of seminal root axes was complete by the beginning of March when all plants possessed six (occasionally seven) axes which persisted throughout the life of the crop. Nodal axes were produced continuously from mid-February until late May and finally numbered approximately 20 stem nodal axes per main stem. Total root dry weight increased exponentially until the beginning of April and then almost linearly to reach a maximum of 105 g root/m2 field in mid-June (anthesis). After anthesis, total root dry weight decreased but root growth continued below 80 cm. From April onwards, approximately 65% of the total root dry weight was in the 0–30 cm layer.