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Application of advanced environmental assessment methods in orchard management
221-225Views:113Our reseaches were carried out in apple and pear orchards at Farm and Regional Research Institute in Pallag of the University of Debrecen and Pear Gene Reservoir in Újfehértó. Aim of this study is to interpret and analyse field studies with the aim of a GIS based database. Furthermore, beside field measurements, airborne and field hyperspectraldatacollection and analysis were also made to facilitate special watermanagement and irrigation related surveys. The integration of unified, geoinformatics systems with high spatial resolution and calibrated airborne hyperspectral data are appropriate tool for decision support systems, which support the continuous update and actualization of the changing cropping data, the analysis of cropping results in a unified complex data system, the acquiring of agro environmental subsidies, the establishment of monitoring system, and the optimization of irrigated fruit production.
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Verifying the farm size – environment interaction
33-41Views:149With this study, based on experience gained in the United States of America, the author intends to draw attention to the fact that farm size related questions in Hungary, which form an integrant part of farm policies all around the world, cannot and should not be discussed without taking environmental relations into account. In the United States, where the excessive use of agrochemicals poses a great threat to the environment, many researchers claim that the conventional large farm model is now getting outdated. These experts question the social and economic benefits of a large farm oriented farm structure and try to convince researchers arriving from Middle- and Eastern-European countries to reform their thought on optimum farm structure. In their opinion, it is essential to let countries in the region understand that they are not required to follow the US course of large farms, which many experts in the States also would prefer to leave. From the facts presented in this study, it can be concluded that large farms by nature can protect the environment less efficiently than small farms. It is also pointed out that the excessive use of fertilizers, which is a trait often attributed to large farms by researchers throughout the world, do not yet apply to large farms in Hungary. As regards the use of pesticides in Hungary, the unfavorable tendency portrayed in foreign literature is identified in this analysis, according to which the larger the farm involved in field cropping the larger per hectare doses they use to protect their crops.
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Stand evaluation, crop estimation and yield analysis of winter wheat for the optimization of yields
103-109Views:126The authors have been carrying out stand evaluation, crop estimation and yield analysis in winter wheat since 2012. The sampling areas were assigned at the fields of the Training Farm of the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences of Széchenyi István University Mosonmagyaróvár according to the structure of the cropping system. According to their observations the value of field emergence is always lower than the laboratory germination. The weak emergence is important because the lower plant density cannot be compensated by the increased tillering in spite of having larger plant growth space. It is proven by the fact that they detected strong productive tillering even at 5 and 10 mm plant spacing while there were single-spiked plants at 40-50 mm plant spacing as well. The analysis revealed that the total ear mass and grain mass of wheat plants bearing two or more ears is almost the double than that of the single-spiked plants. It was a further basic experience that the largest ear of ”multiple-spiked” plants is always heavier than the single ear of one-spiked plants. Plants with intense tillering and more ears demonstrate the importance of proper seedbed preparation and drilling and the significance of sowing good quality seeds. These are the factors that determine field germination and emergence, influence the speed and intensity of initial development and by all these factors the sufficient productive tillering. The authors emphasize the use of exact and objective methods at crop estimation, e.g. the relationship between the ear mass and the yield which is in strong correlation whilst ear length and grain mass are not suitable for a precise estimation. The authors conclude that crop estimation and yield analysis must be inevitable tools of modern crop production and will be particularly important in precision agriculture. These tools also qualify the job done by farmers and helps to identify the areas that require special attention.
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Comparing the yield of maize (Zea mays L.) hybrids in organic and conventional agriculture
13-17Views:60The European Green Deal was published by the European Commission in 2019. The main aim of the program is to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, making Europe the first climate-neutral continent in the world. To achieve this, criteria are also set for agriculture: increasing the share of land under organic farming to 25%, reducing the use of fertilisers and pesticides. However, the benefits of organic farming are widely debated. The aim of our study was to compare the yield of maize (Zea mays L.) hybrids bred in Martonvasar in two different cropping environments. The silage yields of 20 different maize hybrids were evaluated in a three replicate small plot experiment in an organic field and an adjacent conventional field. The average green mass yield of the hybrids was 36,58 t ha-1 in the organic field and 43,03 t ha-1 in the conventional. The green mass yield in the organic area was 20% lower than in the conventional area, and the dry matter yield and digestible dry matter yield were about 18% lower. Hybrids of different maturity groups responded differently to organic cultivation. The yields of early hybrids decreased more and late hybrids less in the organic farming compared to the conventional production.
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The effect of plant density on the yield of sweet potato
125-128Views:353A field study was conducted in South-East Hungary during the main cropping season of 2016, 2017 and 2018, with the objective of determining the effect of plant spacing on the productivity of sweet potato. Production technology experiments of four repetitions were set up in a randomized block design on sandy soil. The performed treatments consisted of four variations of plant spacing (row distance x plant-to-plant distance): 80 cm x 20 cm, 80 cm x 30 cm, 100 cm x 20 cm, 100 cm x 30 cm. The plant material was the Hungarian registered sweet potato variety ‘Ásotthalmi-12’. Analysis of variance revealed that planting density significantly affected the average yield of storage roots. The highest yield per plant was achieved with the 100 cm x 30 cm (2016, 2017), as well as with the 80 cm x 30 cm (2018) setups. On hectare level, our results showed that the highest plant density of 62,500 plants ha-1 (80 cm x 20 cm setup) could give the highest yield. Comparing the highest tons ha-1 results to those achieved with the plant spacing setups resulting in the highest yield per plant, the differences can be even 13 or 14 tons at hectare level. This finding underlines the importance of choosing the proper planting density towards the higher end.
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Soil Fertility Management in Westsik’s Crop Rotation Experiment
34-39Views:93The crop rotation experiment, established by Vilmos Westsik in 1929, is the best known and most remarkable example of continuous production in Hungary. It is still used to study the effects of organic manure treatment, develop models and predict the likely effects of different cropping systems on soil properties and crop yields. Westsik’s crop rotation experiment provides data of immediate value to farmers concerning the applications of fertilisers, green, straw and farmyard manure. The experiment also provides a resource of yield, plant and soil data sets for scientific research into the soil and plant processes which control soil fertility, and into the sustainability of production without environmental deterioration. The maintenance of Westsik’s crop rotation experiment can be used to illustrate the value of long-term field experiments.