Dynamic models are often used to predict the effects of farmers’ practices on crop yield, crop quality, and environment. These models usually include many parameters that must be estimated from experimental data before practical use. Parameter estimation is a difficult problem especially when some of the parameters vary across genotypes. These genetic parameters may be estimated from plant bree...

The advantages of precision agriculture in the vegetable growing and high value crop sector may accrue to horticulturists especially with respect to meet quality standards and to carry out selective and subsequent harvesting. However, the implementation and use of site-specific sensor technologies has never been adopted for horticultural purposes in the context of nitrogen fertilization suffici...

Winter wheat is a suitable crop to be ensiled for animal feed and China has the largest planting area of this crop in the world. During the ensiling process, lactic acid bacteria (LAB) play the most important role in the fermentation. We investigated the natural population of LAB in whole-crop wheat (WCW) and examined the quality of whole-crop wheat silage (WCWS) with and without LAB inoculants...

There is a growing need to increase global crop yields, whilst minimising use of resources such as land, fertilisers and water. Agricultural researchers use ground-based observations to identify, select and develop crops with favourable genotypes and phenotypes; however, the ability to collect rapid, high quality and high volume phenotypic data in open fields is restricting this. This study dev...

Cover crops are a suite of non-marketable plant species grown to improve soil quality. They may have additional benefits including reduced weed pressure and enhanced habitat for beneficial arthropods, but they do not provide direct revenue. Integrating sheep grazing for cover crop termination could make the use of cover crops more economically feasible. However, if grazing shifts biological com...

This paper presents a number of applied management practices, based on data and research, necessary for dairies in the western United States to produce, store and fed high quality corn silage. These management practices include hybrid selection, growing a quality crop, proper harvest timing, chopping, packing, inoculating and feed out of the stored corn silage.

introduction integrated nutrient management involving crop residue/green manures and chemical fertilizer is potential alternative to provide a balanced supply of nutrients, enhance soil quality and thereby sustain higher productivity. the present experiment was undertaken to evaluate the effect of different crop residue management practices and npk levels on yield components and yield of wheat....

a Produce Quality and Safety Laboratory, Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA b Crop Quality & Fruit Insect Research Unit, Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Weslaco, TX 78596, USA c Biometrical Consulting Service, Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, ...