Decreasing the dependence on fossil resources as raw materials for production of fuels, platform chemicals, and commodities is an imperative requirement today’s industry society in order to alleviate threats related climate change [...]

While many ecosystem processes depend on biodiversity, the relationships between agricultural plant diversity and soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) dynamics remains controversial. Our objective was to examine how temporal plant diversity (i.e. crop rotation) influences residue decomposition, a key ecosystem function that regulates nutrient cycling, greenhouse gas emissions, and soil organic matt...

No-till farming is an important approach to sustainable agriculture because it can conserve soil and water resources. Unfortunately, rodent populations can thrive under no-till conditions because burrow systems are not disrupted by annual plowing and plant residues build-up on the surface, providing cover and insulation. This can result in substantial crop damage. We assessed rodent populations...

Winter cover crops are sources of C and N in flooded rice production systems, but very little is known about the effect of crop residue management and quality on soil methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions. This study was conducted in pots in a greenhouse to evaluate the influence of crop residue management (incorporated into the soil or left on the soil surface) and the type of cover-...

In dryland cropping systems, optimal yields require that nutrient supply matches the soil’s yield potential supported by available moisture. Conservation tillage systems that leave at least 30 percent of the soil surface covered by residue dramatically increase moisture retained in the soil compared to crop-fallow systems. This enables producers to plant two, three, or four consecutive crops, o...

Two digestion experiments and an in situ nylon bag experiment were conducted to determine the correlations between chemical composition, ruminal in situ degradation kinetics and OMI, and OM and CP digestibilities of diets in wethers fed forages of varying nutritive value without and with protein supplementation. Wethers were fed ground corn crop residues, oat-berseem clover or alfalfa hay in th...

The liquefaction of crop residues in the presence of ethylene glycol, ethylene carbonate, or polyethylene glycol using sulfuric acid as a catalyst was studied. For all experiments, the liquefaction was conducted at 160°C and atmospheric pressure. The mass ratio of feedstock to liquefaction solvents used in all the experiments was 30:100. The results show that the acid catalyzed liquefaction pro...