scholarly journals Biochar influences on agricultural soils, crop production, and the environment: A review

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 495-502 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed Ahmed ◽  
Jiby Kurian ◽  
Vijaya Raghavan
Keyword(s):  
Crop Production ◽  
Agricultural Soil ◽  
Agricultural Soils ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Increase In Productivity ◽  
Water Holding ◽  
Biochar Amendment

Given its high pore volume and adsorption capacity, and when applied as an agricultural soil amendment, its ability to enhance the soil’s nutrient- and water- holding capacities, biochar has become a focus of research interest. In most applications, crop productivity is significantly increased after agricultural soils are amended with biochar. In addition to increasing soil quality, the biochar amendments sequester carbon within the soil. However, the long-term effects of amending agricultural soils with biochar are difficult to predict, because the mechanisms behind the increase in productivity of biochar amended soils are not yet fully understood. Long-term detrimental effects on soil and the environment can occur if biochar is applied haphazardly. Current knowledge and the additional experimental work required to thoroughly understand the influence of biochar amendment on the behavior of agricultural soils processes are reviewed. Further, studies on the post production processing of biochar are discussed in the context of the possible engineering of biochar for particular states of soil degradation.

Incest: What do we Really Know about It?

1987 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 430-440 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Kosky
Keyword(s):  
Adverse Effects ◽  
Sexual Activity ◽  
Sexual Intercourse ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Epidemiological Studies ◽  
Scientific Basis ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Clinical Series ◽  
General Populations

The literature on incest is reviewed. Current knowledge rests on a very insecure scientific basis and has been mainly derived from small, highly selected clinical series. Recently, some important epidemiological studies of general populations have been reported, but the results of prevalence are inconsistent. Overall, however, it appears that incest, when defined in terms of sexual intercourse, occurs in less than 1% of the population, but other forms of intrafamilial sexual activity may affect 10% of females before they are 16 years of age. Some children are more at risk than others. Because information has generally been derived from court or treatment samples, we are unclear about the long-term effects of incest experiences but, overall, the impression is that incest has markedly adverse effects, especially if it is accompanied by violence and threats and is directed, as it usually is, at the young pre-pubescent child.

Nutrient cycling differs between cropped soils with century-old and recently pyrolyzed biochar

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor Burgeon ◽  
Julien Fouché ◽  
Sarah Garré ◽  
Ramin Heidarian-Dehkordi ◽  
Gilles Colinet ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Nutrient Cycling ◽  
Soil Solution ◽  
Nutrient Dynamics ◽  
Chemical Properties ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Nutrient Concentrations ◽  
Soil Productivity ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Mitigation And Adaptation

<p>The amendment of biochar to soils is often considered for its potential as a climate change mitigation and adaptation tool through agriculture. Its presence in tropical agroecosystems has been reported to positively impact soil productivity whilst successfully storing C on the short and long-term. In temperate systems, recent research showed limited to no effect on productivity following recent biochar addition to soils. Its long-term effects on productivity and nutrient cycling have, however, been overlooked yet are essential before the use of biochar can be generalized.</p><p>Our study was set up in a conventionally cropped field, containing relict charcoal kiln sites used as a model for century old biochar (CoBC, ~220 years old). These sites were compared to soils amended with recently pyrolyzed biochar (YBC) and biochar free soils (REF) to study nutrient dynamics in the soil-water-plant system. Our research focused on soil chemical properties, crop nutrient uptake and soil solution nutrient concentrations. Crop plant samples were collected over three consecutive land occupations (chicory, winter wheat and a cover crop) and soil solutions gathered through the use of suctions cups inserted in different horizons of the studied Luvisol throughout the field.</p><p>Our results showed that YBC mainly influenced the soil solution composition whereas CoBC mainly impacted the total and plant available soil nutrient content. In soils with YBC, our results showed lower nitrate and potassium concentrations in subsoil horizons, suggesting a decreased leaching, and higher phosphate concentrations in topsoil horizons. With time and the oxidation of biochar particles, our results reported higher total soil N, available K and Ca in the topsoil horizon when compared to REF, whereas available P was significantly smaller. Although significant changes occurred in terms of plant available nutrient contents and soil solution nutrient concentrations, this did not transcend in variations in crop productivity between soils for neither of the studied crops. Overall, our study highlights that young or aged biochar behave as two distinct products in terms of nutrient cycling in soils. As such the sustainability of these soils differ and their management must therefore evolve with time.</p>

scholarly journals CLIMATE VARIABILITY AND CHANGE: FARMER PERCEPTIONS AND UNDERSTANDING OF INTRA-SEASONAL VARIABILITY IN RAINFALL AND ASSOCIATED RISK IN SEMI-ARID KENYA

2011 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 267-291 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. P. C. RAO ◽  
W. G. NDEGWA ◽  
K. KIZITO ◽  
A. OYOO
Keyword(s):  
Climate Variability ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
General Tendency ◽  
Climate Variability And Change ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
Probabilistic Nature ◽  
Semi Arid

SUMMARYThis study examines farmers’ perceptions of short- and long-term variability in climate, their ability to discern trends in climate and how the perceived trends converge with actual weather observations in five districts of Eastern Province in Kenya where the climate is semi-arid with high intra- and inter-annual variability in rainfall. Field surveys to elicit farmers’ perceptions about climate variability and change were conducted in Machakos, Makueni, Kitui, Mwingi and Mutomo districts. Long-term rainfall records from five meteorological stations within a 10 km radius from the survey locations were obtained from the Kenya Meteorological Department and were analysed to compare with farmers’ observations. Farmers’ responses indicate that they are well aware of the general climate in their location, its variability, the probabilistic nature of the variability and the impacts of this variability on crop production. However, their ability to synthesize the knowledge they have gained from their observations and discern long-term trends in the probabilistic distribution of seasonal conditions is more subjective, mainly due to the compounding interactions between climate and other factors such as soil fertility, soil water and land use change that determine the climate's overall influence on crop productivity. There is a general tendency among the farmers to give greater weight to negative impacts leading to higher risk perception. In relation to long-term changes in the climate, farmer observations in our study that rainfall patterns are changing corroborated well with reported perceptions from other places across the African continent but were not supported by the observed trends in rainfall data from the five study locations. The main implication of our findings is the need to be aware of and account for the risk during the development and promotion of technologies involving significant investments by smallholder farmers and exercise caution in interpreting farmers’ perceptions about long-term climate variability and change.

scholarly journals Climate change and drought effects on rural income distribution in the Mediterranean: a case study for Spain

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (7) ◽  
pp. 4353-4389
Author(s):  
S. Quiroga ◽  
C. Suárez
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Income Distribution ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Social Aspect ◽  
Adaptation Measures ◽  
Effects Of Drought ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. This paper examines the effects of climate change and drought on agricultural outputs in Spanish rural areas. By now the effects of drought as a response to climate change or policy restrictions have been analyzed through response functions considering direct effects on crop productivity and incomes. These changes also affect incomes distribution in the region and therefore modify the social structure. Here we consider this complementary indirect effect on social distribution of incomes which is essential in the long term. We estimate crop production functions for a range of Mediterranean crops in Spain and we use a decomposition of inequalities measure to estimate the impact of climate change and drought on yield disparities. This social aspect is important for climate change policies since it can be determinant for the public acceptance of certain adaptation measures in a context of drought. We provide the empirical estimations for the marginal effects of the two considered impacts: farms' income average and social income distribution. In our estimates we consider crop productivity response to both bio-physical and socio-economic aspects to analyze long term implications on both competitiveness and social disparities. We find disparities in the adaptation priorities depending on the crop and the region analyzed.

Dynamic phosphorus mass balance modeling of large watersheds: long-term implications of management strategies

2001 ◽  
Vol 43 (5) ◽  
pp. 153-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. A. Cassell ◽  
R. L. Kort ◽  
D. W. Meals ◽  
S. G. Aschmann ◽  
J. M. Dorioz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mass Balance ◽  
Urban Growth ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Nutrient Dynamics ◽  
Agricultural Soils ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Wastewater Management ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Modeling Process

The principles of mass balance, compartment-flux diagramming, and dynamic simulation modeling are integrated to create computer models that estimate phosphorus (P) export from large-scale watersheds over long-term futures. These Watershed Ecosystem Nutrient Dynamics (WEND) models are applied to a 275,000 ha dairy-documented watershed and a 77,000 ha poultry-dominated watershed in northeastern USA. Model predictions of present-day P export loads are consistent with monitoring data and estimates made using P export coefficients. For both watersheds P import exceeds P export and P is accumulating in the agricultural soils. Agricultural and urban activities are major contributors to P export from both watersheds. Continued urban growth will increase P export over time unless wastewater management is substantially enhanced and/or rates of urban growth are controlled. Agriculture cannot rely solely on the implementation of increasingly stringent conservation practices to reduce long-term P export but mustconsider options that promote P input/output balance. The WEND modeling process is a powerful tool to integrate the diversity of activities in watersheds into a holistic framework. Model outputs are suited to assist managers to explore long-term effects of overall watershed management strategies on P export in comparison to environmental and economic goals.

scholarly journals SECURITY OF CROP PRODUCTION OF SOIL-PROCESSING TECHNIQUE: STATUS AND PROSPECTS

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 132-137
Author(s):  
Губейдулла Юнусов ◽  
Gubeydulla Yunusov ◽  
Марзия Ахмадеева ◽  
Marziya Akhmadeeva ◽  
Алексей Жук ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Crop Production ◽  
Arable Land ◽  
Processing Technique ◽  
Automated Control ◽  
Current Trends ◽  
Increase In Productivity ◽  
Farm Vehicles ◽  
Working Bodies

In Russia for the last 20 years the park of farm vehicles was repeatedly reduced and security of crop production with the soil-cultivating equipment and tractors has significantly worsened. Despite reduction of arable land more than on 40 million hectares, the number of cars on 1000 hectares during the present period are many times lower, than at the countries with the developed agriculture, including in Belarus. The main reasons for reduction of the area of the cultivated arable land, need of their elimination, including due to multiple increase and high-quality improvement of the machine park are specified. The analysis of current trends of development of tillage machines is carried out and the factors influencing this process are shown. The major requirements are increase in productivity due to increase in width of hijacking of cars and power of tractors, ensuring adaptability of cars to agrotechnical requirements due to use of replaceable working bodies and adapters, means of the automated control of quality of work and, in the long term, aggregation with the pilotless power means equipped with GLONASS systems. Types and the predicted need for priority tillage machines taking into account broader performance of pochvovlagosberegayushchy technologies, increases in arable land due to development of 20 million hectares of deposits and updating of the tractor park with his saturation by powerful enegosredstvo are given.

scholarly journals Effect of Long Term Fertilization on Content and Uptake of Macro Nutrients in Sorghum-Wheat Cropping Sequence - A Review

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jayalakshmi Mitnala
Keyword(s):  
Crop Production ◽  
Chemical Properties ◽  
Central India ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Npk Fertilizers ◽  
Intensive Farming ◽  
Physico Chemical ◽  
Food Grain ◽  
High Yielding Varieties

Sorghum and wheat are the premier food grain crops of the peninsular central India and in particular of Maharashtra. There has been a phenomenal increase in its production after mid sixties with the introduction of high yielding varieties. Increase in production was achieved through increase in area as well as productivity. Inputs like improved seeds, irrigation, fertilizers etc. has given a boost to productivity. Continuous addition of chemical fertilizers poses problems like toxicity due to high amounts of salts as residues of fertilizer and deterioration of the physico-chemical properties. Organic manure ameliorates this problem as organic matter helps in increasing adsorptive power of soil for cations and anions particularly phosphate and nitrate. Long term manuring and fertilizer experiments conducted in India showed declining trend in productivity even with the application of NPK fertilizers under modern intensive farming. Neither organic source alone nor inorganic fertilizers can achieve sustainability in crop production under intensive agriculture, where nutrient turnover in soil-plant system is much higher. However, their combined use appeared promising in enhanced crop productivity besides improving soil fertility.

scholarly journals Crop Production, Livestock Production and Economic Growth in Botswana (1990-2017): An Application of ARDL Model

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 1500-1508
Author(s):  
Mufaro Andrew Matandare ◽  
Patricia Masego Makepe ◽  
Lekgatlhamang Setlhare ◽  
Jonah Bajaki Tlhalefang
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Livestock Production ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Bounds Testing ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Short Run ◽  
Testing Approach

There are few studies in Botswana which have examined the relationship between agriculture and economic growth. The uniqueness of this study is grounded in investigating disintegrated agriculture components into crop production and livestock production and investigating their nexus with economic growth. This study estimated the short and long term effects between crop production, livestock production and economic growth in Botswana for the period 1990 to 2017. The Auto-Regressive Distributed Lagged (ARDL) bounds testing approach was employed to investigate the stated relationship. Study findings from the ARDL bound testing approach confirm evidence of a long-run equilibrium relationship between crop production, livestock production and economic growth. Results indicated that livestock production has a positive and significant impact on economic growth both in the short run and long run. On the other hand crop production has a positive and significant impact on economic growth only in the long run. Efforts towards supporting agricultural sector growth should be emphasized to promote agricultural sector productivity in a bid to forge a move away from dependence on imports of food in Botswana. To enhance economic growth, in both the short run and long run, the government of Botswana and all relevant stakeholders should invest in and promote livestock production. In the long term, policies that foster crop production are essential for economic growth.

scholarly journals Long-term effects of straw return and straw-derived biochar amendment on bacterial communities in soil aggregates

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Naling Bai ◽  
Hanlin Zhang ◽  
Sheng Zhou ◽  
Huifeng Sun ◽  
Yuhua Zhao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bacterial Communities ◽  
Soil Aggregates ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Straw Return ◽  
Biochar Amendment
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