Maize (Zea mays L.) is truly a remarkable crop species, having been adapted from its tropical origins to a wide diversity of environments and end uses. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations FAOSTAT webpage, 792 million metric tons of maize were produced worldwide in 2007, making it the world’s highest yielding grain crop (http://faostat.fao.org/site/339/defaul...

Simple nitrogen (N) input/output balance calculations in agricultural systems are used to evaluate performance of nutrient management; however, they generally rely on extensive assumptions that do not consider leaching, denitrification, or annual depletion of soil N. We constructed a relatively complete N mass balance for the Big Ditch watershed, an extensively tile-drained agricultural watersh...

introduction since the legislation of european :union: has prohibited the use of growth-promoting antibiotics such as: monensin, there is an interest in alternatives to manipulate the rumen fermentation. the use of growth-promoting antibiotics in animal feeds is banned in europe due to having potential risks such as the spread of antibiotic resistance genes or the contamination of milk or meat ...

this experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of barley green fodder produced by hydroponics system on the performance of feedlot calves. in a completely block randomized experiment, 24 cross bred (holstein×local) male calves were assigned randomly to one of the two treatments (diets) that were either control (grain barley) or hydroponic barley green fodder (bgf) that was included to...

scarce water resources is a worldwide problem, still for iran, a country predominated by an arid and semi-arid climate, water limitation is more severe than for many other areas of the world. a field experiment was conducted to investigate the impact of irrigation regimes on growth, grain yield and irrigation water use efficiency in maize (zea maize l.) in 2006 at the research farm, college of ...

This editorial seeks to help eradicate confusions, enlighten the current perceptions, and highlight a global need to develop feasible guidelines for optimum bioprocessing of barley grain (BG). The optimum processing techniques must result in moderated rumen fermentation of starch and protein, improved rumen microbial protein synthesis, reduced risks of Sub-Acute Rumen Acidosis (SARA) and pro-in...