Information on inoculum load and diversity of native microbial community is an important prerequisite for crop management of microbial origin. Azospirillum has a proven role in benefiting the maize (Zea mays) crop in terms of nutrient (nitrogen) supply as well as plant growth enhancement. Bihar state has highest average national maize productivity although fertilizer consumption is minimum, ind...

Past agricultural management practices have contributed to the loss of soil organic carbon (SOC) and emission of greenhouse gases (e.g., carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide). Fortunately, however, conservation-oriented agricultural management systems can be, and have been, developed to sequester SOC, improve soil quality, and increase crop productivity. Our objectives were to (i) review literature...

abstarct precise knowledge of all components of water balance is essential to optimize water use in irrigated agriculture. however, water balance components are difficult to measure in required time intervals because their measuring is time consuming and costly. unsaturated zone simulator models are useful tools for predicting the effects of agricultural management on crop water use and can be ...

Chlorpyrifos is a common surface water contaminant in California, USA. We evaluated five years of chlorpyrifos use and surface water monitoring data in California's principal agricultural regions. Imperial County and three central coastal regions accounted for only 10% of chlorpyrifos statewide use, but displayed consistently high aquatic benchmark exceedances (13.2%-57.1%). In contrast, 90% of...

Agricultural risks constitute a fundamental challenge in Nigeria, hence the importance of agricultural insurance in managing farm risks cannot be underestimated. As the crop sub-sector contributes about 85% of the agricultural GDP in Nigeria, this study focussed on awareness and factors that can enhance the adoption of crop insurance among crop farmers in Nigeria. Data collected from 310 random...

An undeniable and expensive consequence of agricultural practices is the adaptation of weeds to agricultural systems. Weeds are responsible for significant crop yield losses and for financial losses in agricultural production – in the order of 10% per year worldwide (Oerke, 2006). To address this critical problem, the discipline of weed science has expanded over the past 50 yr into an amalgam o...