Agriculture is the process of managing plant communities to obtain useful materials from the small set of species we call crops. Weeds comprise the “other” set of plant species found in agroecosystems. Although they are not intentionally sown, weed species are well adapted to environments dominated by humans and have been associated with crop production since the origins of agriculture (Harlan,...

Pest management involves assessment of pest and crop biology at the population level and an understand'mg of the interaction of organisms at the molecular, cellular, tissue, plant, and population levels. These interactions frequently are sufficiently complex to require simphfication through modeling to allow objective management decisions. The disciplinary orientation of pest scientists often r...

Mycotoxins such as aflatoxins, fumonisins, trichothecenes, and ochratoxins are contaminants of many agronomic crops worldwide, and cause both economic losses and health effects. The potential of antagonistic microorganisms to be developed into biological control agents has been investigated in several crop systems, as alternatives to chemical fungicides for control of mycotoxigenic fungi. Labor...

Timing nitrogen applications to the biological needs of a crop is an effective way to reduce nitrogen losses to the environment. However, this strategy may carry a production risk and conflict with farmers' economic objectives. A field-level production decision model was used to estimate on-farm costs associated with timing nitrogen applications for crop needs in Indiana. For a risk-neutral far...

As a result of human activities, currently a large number of pollutants and waste are eliminated to the environment. Worldwide, more than one billion pounds of toxins are released into the air and water. Approximately 6x106 chemical compounds have been produced; annually 1,000 new products are synthetized and between 60,000 and 95,000 chemicals are commercially used [1]. Among these substances ...

Museum collections constitute a massive store of information on biological diversity. We used museum specimen data to generate ecological niche models that provide predictions of geographic distributions of native rodent pest species and agricultural census data that summarize the geographic distribution of nine crops in the state of Veracruz, Mexico, as well as crop losses between planting and...

Bag silos made at three research farms in 2000 and 2001 were monitored at filling and emptying to determine densities and losses. A total of 47 bags (23 alfalfa, 1 red clover, 23 whole−plant corn) were made, and losses were calculated on 39 of the silos. Dry matter (DM) density ranged from 160 to 270 kg/m3. Dry matter density increased with DM content in hay crop silages on average 2.9 kg/m3−% ...

The integrated soil fertility management paradigm, currently advocated in Sub-Saharan Africa for rehabilitating its soils, recognizes the possible interactive benefits of combining organic residues with mineral fertilizer inputs on agroecosystem functioning. Residue quality may be a controlling factor for any beneficial interactions. The objectives of this study were to determine the effect of ...

A nutrient loss reduction strategy is necessary to guide the efforts of improving water quality downstream an agricultural watershed. In this study, effectiveness two winter cover crops, namely cereal rye and annual ryegrass, explored as a in watershed that ultimately drains into supply reservoir. Using coupled optimization-watershed model, optimal placements crops were identified would result ...