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Nitrogen Supplying Capacity of Brown Forest Soil under Different Cropping Practices and 0.01 M CaCl2 Soluble Organic Nitrogen
17-23Views:94The best known and most remarkable example of continuous production in Hungary is the Westsik’s crop rotation experiment, which was established in 1929, and is still in use to study the effects of organic manure treatment, to develop models, and predict the likely effects of different cropping systems on soil properties and crop yields. In this respect, Westsik’s crop rotation experiment provides data of immediate value to farmers concerning the applications of green, straw and farmyard manure, as well as data sets for scientific research.
Although commonly ignored, the release of nitrogen by root and green manure crops has a significant impact on soil organic matter turnover. The design of sustainable nitrogen management strategies requires a better understanding of the processes influencing nitrogen supplying capacity, as the effects of soil organic matter on soil productivity and crop yield are still very uncertain and require further research. In the treatments of Westsik’s crop rotation experiment, nutrients removed from soil through plant growth and harvesting are replaced either by fertilisers and/or organic manure. Data can be used to study the nitrogen supplying capacity of soil under different cropping systems and its effect on the 0.01 M CaCl2 soluble organic nitrogen content of soil.
The aim of this paper is to present data on the nitrogen supplying capacity of brown forest soil from Westsik’s crop rotation experiment and to study its correlation with hundredth molar calcium-chloride soluble organic nitrogen. The main objective is to determine the effects of root and green manure crops on the nitrogen supplying capacity of soil under different cropping systems. The nitrogen supplying capacity was calculated as a difference of plant uptake, organic manure and fertiliser supply.
The 0.01 M CaCl2 soluble organic nitrogen test has proved reliable for determining the nitrogen supplying capacity of soils. Brown forest soils are low in organic matter and in the F-1 fallow-rye-potato rotation, the nitrogen supplying capacity was 15.6 kg/ha/year. 0.01 M CaCl2 soluble organic nitrogen content was as low as 1.73 mg/kg soil. Roots and green manure increased the nitrogen supplying capacity of soil by more than 100%. This increase is caused by lupine, a legumes crop, which is very well adapted to the acidic soil conditions of the Nyírség region, and cultivated as a green or root manure crop to increase soil fertility. -
Comparative analysis of maize weed control system and the competitive effect of sorghum
97-104Views:91In our investigation we used different weed control technologies in the different phenology states of the maize. The experiment have been
carried out in Hódmezővásárhely, in the Experiment garden of the Pilot farm of University of Szeged Faculty of Agriculture, on meadow
chernozem soil, on 24 m2 plots, in 3 replications, randomized blotch design. The experiment can be regarded as 15 weed-control strategies
where, in addition to the untreated control, six chemicals or chemical-combinations are applied (Spectrum 720 EC, Motivell Turbo D,
Stellar + Dash HC, Clio + Akris SE + Dash HC, Clio + Dash HC) in five different times (pre, early post, post and two late post) and eight
mechanical weed-control technologies were used. Hoeing took place connected to the herbicide treatments in different times: until 2-3-leave
age weedless, in 3-4-leave age hoed once, from 3-4-leave age weedless, in 6-7-leave age hoed once, from 6-7-leave age weedless, in 8-leave
age hoed once, from 8-leave age weedless.
Our results were assessed by chemical efficiency examination, maize length measurement, corncob-length and fertility examination,
Sorghum plant-number determination and yield weighing carried out in four periods. The data were evaluated by a one-factor analysis of
variance and a two-factor linear regression analysis. -
Performance of agricultural factors on yield of sweet corn (Zea mays L. Saccharata ) - A review
143-156Views:57Sweet corn producers and industries require more reliable cultivars which could be accomplished by hybrid breeding. However, progressive phenological growth may be affected by different factors. In this paper, we analyze the key factors that determine the growth and yield of sweet corn. Environmental factors such as temperature and photoperiod were strong determinants of dates of flowering and harvest which are often crucial to yield in diverse climates and agricultural systems, besides the country's pedological conditions, especially soil fertility, affected phenological development. The effectiveness of fertilization in improving sweet corn growth performance was significantly influenced by the soil characteristics, the water supply, the genotype, and the agrotechnological factors. Therefore, genetic improvement of hybrids should be incorporated into the climate and soil elements to stabilize sweet corn yields in various agroecosystems. Decisions made in the sowing period are very significant, as up to 30% of the obtained yield may depend on making the proper choice. Deviation from the optimum date (either early or late sowing) may decrease yield. When deciding about the sowing date of maize, one needs to consider climate, soil quality, geographical location, temperature, weed infestation, sowing seed quality, and the ripening time of the hybrid to be produced.
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Long-term effect of soil management on the carbon-dioxide emission of the soil
515-527Views:99CO2 emission from soils is one of the most important elements of the global carbon cycle, thus it has crucial rule in climate change. Each soil cultivation operation intervenes in the microbiological life of the soil, hence tillage is a factor through that the processes taking place in soil can be controlled. During the last decades, the organic material content of agricultural soils decreased to the half due to the intensive management resulting in the degradation of natural soil fertility. While intensive, plough-based tillage can cause soil degradation and erosion, the physical, chemical and biological status of the soil can be significantly improved through the application of conservation tillage methods. The results of long-term experiments prove that soil protective tillage enhances the enrichment of organic matter in the top layer of the soil. In order to reveal the role of tillage systems in CO2 emission from the soil, regular measurements were carried out in the plots with conventional and reduced tillage of the soil cultivation experiment of Research Institute of Karcag. Anagas CD 98 and Gas Alert Micro 5w infrared gas analysers were used to measure CO2-concentrations, and a specially developed method (consisting of a frame and a bowl) was applied to delimitate the measuring area. Most of the measurements were done on stubbles after harvest in order to exclude root respiration. The weather conditions of the examined 10 years were very changeable providing a good chance to compare them to each other. We found the tillage operations resulting in higher emission values in both tillage systems. On stubbles higher and more even emission was characteristic to reduced tillage due to the lower degree of soil disturbance and higher soil moisture content.
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The effect of soil cultivation systems on organic matter distribution in different grain size fractions of the soil based on three years of experience
22-30Views:80Changes in the physical distribution (particle size and the state stability against decomposition) of the organic carbon pool in tilled layers of Hungarian field soil under different tillage treatments were studied. Three years after starting the experiment, soil samples were fractionated (they were taken in March 2005) by their particle size and density. The treatments caused well measurable, significant effects on two fractions of intra-microaggregate organic matter (53-250μm particle-sized, well and less decomposition-resistant pools) and onto their relative rate in the organic carbon pool of the whole soil.
Different tillage treatments caused different distributions in the organic matter fractions. In regularly intensely cultivated soils evolve different physical structure, particle size-distribution, which reduce the soil fertility and its resistance against outer impacts. -
Environmental inspection agro tech – guarantee sustainable development agricultural systems
41-42Views:130Shown the expediency of the environmental expertise technologies of growing crops in terms of impact on soil fertility, crop phytosanitary status, quality, chemicals migration, biological soil activity, crop productivity, which ensure avoidance of adverse impact on the environment and human health.
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Assessment of Environmental Susceptibility/Vulnerability of Soils
62-74Views:90Soils represent a considerable part of the natural resources of Hungary. Consequently, rational land use and proper soil management – to guarantee normal soil functions – are important elements of sustainable (agricultural) development, having special importance both in the national economy and in environment protection.
The main soil functions in the biosphere are as follows: conditionally renewable natural resource; reactor, transformer and integrator of the combined influences of other natural resources (solar radiation, atmosphere, surface and subsurface waters, biological resources), place of „sphere-interactions”; medium for biomass production, primary food-source of the biosphere; storage of heat, water and plant nutrients; natural filter and detoxication system, which may prevent the deeper geological formations and the subsurface waters from various pollutants; high capacity buffer medium, which may prevent or moderate the unfavourable consequences of various environmental stresses; significant gene-reservoir, an important element of biodiversity.
Society utilizes these functions in different ways (rate, method, efficiency) throughout history, depending on the given natural conditions and socio-economic circumstances. In many cases the character of the particular functions was not properly taken into consideration during the utilization of soil resources, and the misguided management resulted in their over-exploitation, decreasing efficiency of one or more soil functions, and – over a certain limit – serious environmental deterioration.
Soil resources are threatened by the following environmental stresses:
– soil degradation processes;
– extreme moisture regime;
– nutrient stresses (deficiency or toxicity);
– environmental pollution.
Environmental stresses caused by natural factors or human activities represent an increasing ecological threat to the biosphere, as well as a socio-economic risk for sustainable development, including rational land use and soil management.
The stresses are caused by the integrated impacts of various soil properties, which are the results of soil processes (mass and energy regimes, abiotic and biotic transport and transformation and their interactions) under the combined influences of soil forming factors. Consequently, the control of soil processes is a great challenge and the main task of soil science and soil management in sustainable development.
The efficient control of these processes necessitates the following consecutive steps:
• registration of facts and consequences (information on land and soil characteristics, land use, cropping pattern, applied agrotechnics, yields, with their spatial and temporal variability);
• evaluation of potential reasons (definition and quantification of soil processes, analysis of influencing factors and their mechanisms);
• assessment of the theoretical, real, rational and economic possibilities for the control of soil processes (including their risk-assessment and impact analysis);
• elaboration of efficient technologies for the „best” control alternatives (best management practice).
Scientifically based planning and implementation of sustainable land use and rational soil management to ensure desirable soil functions, without any undesirable environmental side-effects, require adequate soil information. In the last years such data were organized into a computer-based GIS soil database in Hungary, giving opportunities for the quantification, analysis, modelling and forecasting of the studied environmental stresses and for the efficient and scientifically based prevention, elimination or reduction of environmental stresses and their unfavourable ecological and economical consequences.
Special attention was paid to the assessment of various soil degradation processes, as: (1) soil erosion by water or wind; (2) soil acidification; (3) salinization and/or alkalization; (4) physical degradation (structure destruction, compaction); (5) extreme moisture regime: drought sensitivity and waterlogging hazard; (6) biological degradation; (7) unfavourable changes in the plant nutrient regime; (8) decrease of natural buffering capacity, (9) soil (and water) pollution.
The actions against undesirable environmental stresses and their unfavourable consequences are important elements of sustainable, efficient, economically viable, socially acceptable and environmentally sound crop production and agricultural development. These are joint tasks of the state, decision makers on various levels, the land owners, the land users and – to a certain extent – of each member of the society. -
The effect of gossypol acetate on the fertility of boars
47-55Views:148This study evaluated the effect of gossypol acetate, a potential antifertility compound, on semen quality and testicular histopathology of boars. Six boars were allotted into two experimental groups. Half of the animals were fed a diet that was supplemented with 2 mg of gossypol acetate per kg body weight per day for 9 weeks, control animals received a gossypol acetate-free feed. During the experimental period, semen was collected weekly from each boar and semen parameters were recorded. The animals were then euthanized, testicular samples were collected and histopathological examination of the testicular cells, as well as morphometrical analysis of the seminiferous tubules, were performed. The percentage of spermatozoa showing tail abnormalities increased significantly (P=0.017) in the semen of boars fed gossypol acetate-supplemented feed, while several other semen parameters deteriorated without showing statistical significance. Gossypol acetate supplementation also led to a decrease (P=0.042) in the number of spermatogonia in the seminiferous tubules and an increase (P=0.020) in the number of vacuoles in the seminiferous epithelium, consistent with changes seen in cases of male reproductive toxicity. In conclusion, gossypol acetate negatively affected a number of semen characteristics and also had detrimental effects on the histopathology of the testes.
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Upgrading breeding value estimation in beef cattle
451-458Views:207This paper gives a summary of the possibility for applying genomic information for breeding value estimation in beef cattle breeding. This process is called genomic prediction and is now widely used in dairy cattle globally as well as in some beef and sheep populations. The advantage of genomic prediction is a more accurate estimate of the genetic merit of an individual at a young age thereby facilitating greater annual genetic gain, predominantly through shorter generation intervals. Genomic predictions are more advantageous for sex-linked (e.g., milk yield), low heritability (e.g., fertility) and difficult-to-measure (e.g., feed intake) traits. The larger the reference population, on average, the more accurate the genomic predictions; additionally, the closer genetically the reference population is to the candidate population, the greater the accuracy of genomic predictions. Research is continuing on strategies to generate accurate genomic predictions using a reference population consisting of multiple breeds (and crossbred). Retrospective analysis of real-life data where genomic predictions have been operation for several years clearly shows a benefit of this technology.
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History of origin and development of replacement of plants crop rotations is in world agriculture
53-56Views:132In practice of world agriculture a long ago the known problem of decline of harvests of agricultural cultures at their permanent growing, scientific explanation of this phenomenon became possible only with appearance of natural sciences. At first the declines of harvests bound to the toxic action of root excretions cultures on her repeated sowing, with development of humus theory of feed of plants of diminishing of harvests at the permanent sowing began to explain impoverishment of soil on a humus.
During a few centuries the known farmers development the looks in relation to forming of scientific bases of construction of replacement of plants crop rotations in the world systems of agriculture, set history of their development and improvement. The analysis of influence of possibility of optimal satiation of replacement of plants crop rotations is conducted by agricultural cultures on the level of fertility of soil, water and nourishing modes and their productivity. For the terms of the insufficient moistening a positive action is marked black pair on the improvement of the water mode of soil in crop rotations.
In historiography the problem of introduction and mastering of replacement of plants crop rotations for the decision of scientific and practical tasks of agricultural production is represented in many-sided aspects, worked out and the recommended replacement of plants crop rotations that are base on zonal principle of development of world agriculture that passed the protracted term of test and counted on various specialization of economies. But for today development of scientific and technical progress requires intensification of agricultural production with the use of intensive crop rotations and growing of high-performance cultures.
Hereupon there was a necessity of realization of analysis of the systems of historical value of scientifically-practical knowledge about development and improvement of replacement of plants crop rotations, as it gives an opportunity to work out to recommending a production with the use of the most effective elements of the past on modern agrarian business and allows to forecast them on the future.
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Some Practical and Biotechnological Methods for Improving Reproduction Traits in Sheep
15-20Views:118However, reproduction in sheep is seasonal, many breeds of sheep are able to mate not only in autumn, but out-of-season as well. The main factor determining seasonality is the photoperiod, but other factors can influence reproductive pattern, such as genetics, management practices and social cues. The fertility of spring and early summer breeding is usually lower; this imposes the need for alternative methods (e.g. hormonal treatments, biotechnological practice), to increase the conception rate.
The author summarize the main practical techniques and biotechnological methods for controlling reproduction completed with some own experimental results in connection with different topics.