Soils perform a number of essential functions affecting management goals. Soil functions were assessed by measuring physical, chemical, and biological properties in a regional assessment of conventional (CON) and alternative (ALT) management practices at eight sites within the Great Plains. The results, reported in accompanying papers, provide excellent data for assessing how management practic...

the greatest limitations to agricultural development and production in iran are scarcity of water resources, ineffective irrigation scheduling and wasteful water usage. avenues discussed for optimum water use include improving water productivity by improving irrigation scheduling, farm water management and water profitability. the present study evaluated current water use and ways to improve wi...

Numerous plant species are considered weeds in agronomic cropping systems. Weeds have many attributes undesirable to crop producers, not the least being the ability to reduce crop yields through competition for resources such as sunlight, water, nutrients, and space. Weeds also may harbor insects and provide a host for certain plant pathogens. Some weed species, such as wild garlic and eastern ...

Agronomic N-use efficiency is the basis for economic and environmental efficiency, and an effective agro-ecosystem management practice, improving nutrient use efficiency, is a crucial challenge for a more sustainable production of horticultural, industrial and cereal crops. However, discrepancy between theory and practice still exists, coming from large gaps in knowledge on net-N immobilization...

The diversity of microbial communities constitutes a critical component of good soil-management practices. To characterize the effects of different management practices, molecular indicators such as phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA), denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and composition of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria were used to analyze bacterial community structure and diversity from fou...

Large inputs of phosphorus (P) in chemical fertilizers and feed supplements since 1978 have improved soil P status in arable land in China, but have also created challenges by increasing P concentrations in manure and exacerbating water quality degradation. Arable land in China can be divided into five management zones based on soil P chemistry, with 15-92 % of arable land having lower P status...

Evaluation of diverse classification approaches for land use/cover mapping in a Mediterranean region utilizing Hyperion data Alata Elatawneh a b , Chariton Kalaitzidis b , George P. Petropoulos c & Thomas Schneider a a Institute of Forest Management, Technische Universität München (TUM), 85354, Freising, Germany b Department of Geoinformation in Environmental Management, Mediterranean Agronomic...

Weed communities in agronomic fields are dominated by annual species. Summer annuals initiate growth each spring from seeds found in the upper soil profile (Figure 1). In most fields, a small percentage of the emerging plants survive and contribute new seeds to the soil seedbank. Historically, most research of the annual weed life cycle has focused on seed dormancy and emergence (A), effect of ...

Yields of dryland (rainfed) wheat in Australia have increased steadily over the past century despite rainfall being unchanged, indicating that the rainfall-use efficiency has increased. Analyses suggest that at least half of the increase in rainfall-use efficiency can be attributed to improved agronomic management. Various methods of analysing the factors influencing dryland yields and rainfall...