Wild deer have an important role in the epidemiology of bovine tuberculosis (bTB). The aims of this study were (1) to compare the pattern of lesions present in wild red (Cervus elaphus) and fallow (Dama dama) deer that were naturally infected with Mycobacterium bovis, and (2) to use this information to develop a sampling strategy for the isolation of M. bovis from the lymphoid tissues of the he...

Fallow forests, which have been generated by shifting cultivation, cover large parts of the highlands of Northern Thailand. This paper presents the case study of a village, in which a particularly sustainable form of shifting cultivation was practiced until the early 1990s. Secondary forests, which regenerate on the fallow swiddens of this village were found to be surprisingly rich in tree spec...

Agriculture is the single biggest user of land and water in Morocco; however its performances are still low due to high rainfall variation and rates of soil productivity depletion. Increasing concerns about soil and environment quality degradation have raised the need to review existing tillage management systems and develop new systems for seed-bed preparation. Consequently, No-tillage is foun...

The intensification of dairying can have adverse impacts on the environment through diminished soil quality and greater loss of nutrients to water bodies. Poor soil quality can reduce the productivity and sustainability of pastoral farming systems. The effects of increased stocking rate (SR) (3, 4 and 5 cows/ha) and introducing a cut and carry system on soil, pasture and water quality were comp...

The Five different cropping patterns such as Fallow-Fallow-Fallow (F-F-F), Sugarcane-Sugarcane-T Aman (S-S-R), Vegetables-Fallow-T (V-F-R), Fallow-Fallow-T (F-F-R) and Fallow-Mung bean- T (F-M-R) from Jessore district were investigated for carbon sequestration in soil aggreagates. Highest value of bulk density (1.53 g cm-3) was found S-S-R lowest (1.27 F-M-R. under V-F-R exhibited highest poros...

The effects of intercycle cover crops on Rotylenchulus reniformis population densities in pineapple were evaluated in one greenhouse and two field experiments. In the greenhouse, Crotalaria juncea, Brassica napus, and Tagetes erecta were planted for 3 months and then incorporated. These treatments were compared to weedy fallow with or without 1,3-dichloropropene (1,3-D) in three soils (Makawao ...

Small farmers in many tropical developing countries practice swidden agriculture. A key aspect of swidden agriculture is the time period during which the land is left fallow. This paper uses a new ecological-economic approach to study the fallow period and to determine the optimal length of this period in swidden agriculture. We first construct a theoretical model of a parcel of forest land tha...

The effects of soil management systems on root-knot nematode (Meloidogyne incognita) eggs and gall incidence on tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) and cucumber (Cucumis sativus) following tomato were evaluated. Soil was collected from a replicated field experiment in which six management systems were being assessed for vegetable production. Soil management systems were conventional production, or...

The flea beetle Aphthona whitfieldi Bryant (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) is the main pest of the bioenergy crop Jatropha curcas L. (Euphorbiaceae) in Burkina Faso and several other West African countries. Adults severely defoliate plants, resulting in seedling mortality, poor growth, and low yields. To study the population dynamics of the pest in the Sissili Province of Burkina Faso, 12 sites wer...

Machine learning algorithms recently have made major advances, with decision tree classifiers gaining wide acceptance. Boosting and bagging of decision trees have added to the predictive capabilities of these approaches. Object-oriented (O-O) analyses have been developed during this same period, offering important improvements in classification over pixel-based approaches under certain conditio...