Double cropping of wheat and maize is common on the North China Plain, but it provides limited income to rural households due to the small farm sizes in the region. Local farmers in Quzhou County have therefore innovated their production system by integration of watermelon as a companion cash crop into the system. We examine the economic performance and sustainability of this novel intercroppin...

the objective of this study was to investigate the effects of addition of pulses in crop sequences, crop residue management, and application of fertilizer n on soil nitrogen content, soil organic carbon, nutrient uptake, and its consequences for wheat yields. the field experiments were carried out from 2009 to 2012 in the sub-humid and sub-tropical zone of northern india. the treatments were (i...

The effects of cultivar mixture cropping on yield, biomass, and water use efficiency (WUE) in winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) were investigated under non-irrigation (W0, no irrigation during growth stage), one time irrigation (W1, irrigation applied at stem elongation) and two times irrigation (W2, irrigation applied at stem elongation and anthesis) conditions. Nearly 90% of cultivar mixtur...

With increased cropping intensity, one would expect that more crop residue and C would be added to the Soil C sequestration can improve soil quality and reduce agriculsoil than with a crop-fallow system (Campbell et al., ture’s contribution to CO2 emissions. The long-term (12 yr) effects of tillage system and N fertilization on crop residue production and 1995, 2000b; Janzen et al., 1998a; Pete...

Nonhomologous repair of double-stranded breaks, although fundamental to the maintenance of genomic integrity in all eukaryotes, has received little attention as to its evolutionary consequences in the generation and selection of phenotypic diversity. Here we document the role of illegitimate recombination in the creation of novel alleles in VRN1 orthologs selected to confer adaptation to annual...

North China Plain is one of the most important agricultural regions in China with severe challenges of water shortage. Agriculture in the plain is very intensive. Farming in the region is a typical irrigation-supported system of winter wheat, followed by summer maize. Other important crops in the region include cotton, potatoes, soybean and various vegetables. Cultivation of these crops require...

Differences in soil nitrous oxide (N2 O) fluxes among ecosystems are often difficult to evaluate and predict due to high spatial and temporal variabilities and few direct experimental comparisons. For 20 years, we measured N2 O fluxes in 11 ecosystems in southwest Michigan USA: four annual grain crops (corn-soybean-wheat rotations) managed with conventional, no-till, reduced input, or biologica...

Samples of grain from 40 New Zealand wheat and barley crops harvested in 2000 were assayed for Fusarium infection. Grain from all crops was infected, and Fusarium incidence ranged from 3 to 52% of grains infected, with a mean of 14%. Incidence of Fusarium was higher in spring wheat than in autumn wheat or spring barley. The highest level of infection (52% grains infected) was found in Otane whe...

Global food security requires eco-efficient agriculture to produce the required food and fiber products concomitant with ecologically efficient use of resources. This eco-efficiency concept is used to diagnose the state of agricultural production in China (irrigated wheat-maize double-cropping systems), Zimbabwe (rainfed maize systems), and Australia (rainfed wheat systems). More than 3,000 sur...

Gene flow between jointed goatgrass and winter wheat is a concern because transfer of herbicide-resistance genes from imidazolinone-resistant (IR) winter wheat cultivars to jointed goatgrass could restrict weed-management options for this serious weed of winter wheat cropping systems. The objectives of this study were (1) to investigate the frequency of interspecific hybridization between IR wh...