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Author Ventrella, D.; Giglio, L.; Charfeddine, M.; Lopez, R.; Castellini, M.; Sollitto, D.; Castrignanò, A.; Fornaro, F.
Title Climate change impact on crop rotations of winter durum wheat and tomato in southern Italy: yield analysis and soil fertility Type Journal Article
Year 2012 Publication Italian Journal of Agronomy Abbreviated Journal Ital. J. Agron.
Volume 7 Issue 1 Pages 15
Keywords DSSAT model; CENTURY-module; climate change; winter durum wheat; tomato, crop rotation
Abstract Cropping systems are affected by climate change because of the strong relationship between crop development, growth, yield, CO2 atmospheric concentration and climate conditions. The increasing temperatures and the reduction of available water resources may result in negative impacts on the agricultural activity in Mediterranean environments than other areas. In this study the CERES-Wheat and CROPGRO-Tomato models were used to assess the effects of climate change on winter wheat (Triticum durum L.) and processing tomato (Lycopersicon aesculentum Mill.) in one of most productive areas of Italy, located in the northern part of the Puglia region. In particular we have compared three different General Circulation Models (HadCM3, CCSM3, ECHAM5) subjected to a statistical downscaling under two future IPCC scenarios (B1 and A2). The analysis was carried out at regional scale repeating the simulations for seven homogeneous area characterizing the spatial variability of the region. In the second part of the study, considering only HadCM3 data set, climate change impact on long-term sequences of the two crops combined in three crop rotations were evaluated in terms of yield performances and soil fertility as indicated by the soil organic content of carbon and nitrogen. The comparison between GCMs showed no significant differences for winter durum wheat yield, while noticeable differences were found for yield and irrigation requirements of tomato. Under future scenarios, the production levels were reduced for tomato, whereas positive yield effects were observed for winter durum wheat. For winter durum wheat the simulation indicated that two- and three-year rotations, including one year of tomato cultivation, improved the cereal yield and this positive effect maintained its validity also in future scenarios. For both crops higher requirements of water and nitrogen were predicted under future scenarios. This result coupled with the decrease of yield caused negative reduction of water use efficiency and nitrogen use efficiency for tomato cultivation.
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Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language (up) Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 2039-6805 1125-4718 ISBN Medium Article
Area Expedition Conference
Notes CropM, ftnotmacsur Approved no
Call Number MA @ admin @ Serial 4481
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Author Angulo, C.; Gaiser, T.; Rötter, R.P.; Børgesen, C.D.; Hlavinka, P.; Trnka, M.; Ewert, F.
Title ‘Fingerprints’ of four crop models as affected by soil input data aggregation Type Journal Article
Year 2014 Publication European Journal of Agronomy Abbreviated Journal European Journal of Agronomy
Volume 61 Issue Pages 35-48
Keywords crop model; soil data; spatial resolution; yield distribution; aggregation; us great-plains; climate-change; integrated assessment; simulating wheat; yields; scale; productivity; uncertainty; variability; responses
Abstract • Systematic analysis of the influence of spatial soil data resolution on simulated regional yields and total growing season evapotranspiration. • The responses of four crop models of different complexity are compared. • Differences between models are larger than the effect of the chosen spatial soil data resolution. • Low influence of soil data resolution due to: high precipitation amount, methods for calculating water retention and method of data aggregation. The spatial variability of soil properties is an important driver of yield variability at both field and regional scale. Thus, when using crop growth simulation models, the choice of spatial resolution of soil input data might be key in order to accurately reproduce observed yield variability. In this study we used four crop models (SIMPLACE<LINTUL-SLIM>, DSSAT-CSM, EPIC and DAISY) differing in the detail of modeling above-ground biomass and yield as well as of modeling soil water dynamics, water uptake and drought effects on plants to simulate winter wheat in two (agro-climatologically and geo-morphologically) contrasting regions of the federal state of North-Rhine-Westphalia (Germany) for the period from 1995 to 2008. Three spatial resolutions of soil input data were taken into consideration, corresponding to the following map scales: 1:50 000, 1:300 000 and 1:1 000 000. The four crop models were run for water-limited production conditions and model results were evaluated in the form of frequency distributions, depicted by bean-plots. In both regions, soil data aggregation had very small influence on the shape and range of frequency distributions of simulated yield and simulated total growing season evapotranspiration for all models. Further analysis revealed that the small influence of spatial resolution of soil input data might be related to: (a) the high precipitation amount in the region which partly masked differences in soil characteristics for water holding capacity, (b) the loss of variability in hydraulic soil properties due to the methods applied to calculate water retention properties of the used soil profiles, and (c) the method of soil data aggregation. No characteristic “fingerprint” between sites, years and resolutions could be found for any of the models. Our results support earlier recommendation to evaluate model results on the basis of frequency distributions since these offer quick and better insight into the distribution of simulation results as compared to summary statistics only. Finally, our results support conclusions from other studies about the usefulness of considering a multi-model approach to quantify the uncertainty in simulated yields introduced by the crop growth simulation approach when exploring the effects of scaling for regional yield impact assessments.
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Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language (up) Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1161-0301 ISBN Medium Article
Area Expedition Conference
Notes CropM, ft_macsur Approved no
Call Number MA @ admin @ Serial 4511
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Author Jing, Q.; Bélanger, G.; Baron, V.; Bonesmo, H.; Virkajärvi, P.
Title Simulating the Nutritive Value of Timothy Summer Regrowth Type Journal Article
Year 2013 Publication Agronomy Journal Abbreviated Journal Agronomy Journal
Volume 105 Issue 3 Pages 563
Keywords varying n nutrition; cation-anion difference; spring growth; swine manure; leaf-area; nitrogen; yield; model; digestibility; dynamics
Abstract The process-based grass model, CATIMO, simulates the spring growth and nutritive value of timothy (Phleum pratense L.), a forage species widely grown in Scandinavia and Canada, but the nutritive value of the summer regrowth has never been simulated. Our objective was to improve CATIMO for simulating the N concentration, neutral detergent fiber (NDF), in vitro digestibility of NDF (dNDF), and in vitro true digestibility of dry matter (IVTD) of summer regrowth. Daily changes in summer regrowth nutritive value were simulated by modifying key crop parameters that differed from spring growth. More specifically, the partitioning fraction to leaf blades was increased to increase the leaf-to-weight ratio, and daily changes in NDF and dNDF of leaf blades and stems were reduced. The modified CATIMO model was evaluated with data from four independent experiments in eastern and western Canada and Finland. The model performed better for eastern Canada than for the other locations, but the nutritive value attributes of the summer regrowth across locations (range of normalized RMSE = 8-25%, slope < 0.17, R-2 < 0.10) were not simulated as well as those of the spring growth (range of normalized RMSE = 4-16%, 0.85 < slope < 1.07, R-2 > 0.61). These modeling results highlight knowledge gaps in timothy summer regrowth and prospective research directions: improved knowledge of factors controlling the nutritive value of the timothy summer regrowth and experimental measurements of leaf-to-weight ratio and of the nutritive value of leaves and stems.
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Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language (up) Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0002-1962 ISBN Medium Article
Area Expedition Conference
Notes CropM, LiveM Approved no
Call Number MA @ admin @ Serial 4493
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Author Allan, C.; Nguyen, T.P.L.; Seddaiu, G.; Wilson, B.; Roggero, P.P.
Title Integrating local knowledge with experimental research: case studies on managing cropping systems in Italy and Australia Type Journal Article
Year 2013 Publication Italian Journal of Agronomy Abbreviated Journal Ital. J. Agron.
Volume 8 Issue 2 Pages 15
Keywords participatory action research; agronomic research; local knowledge; knowledge integration
Abstract The sustainable development of agricultural systems is currently challenged by many complex agro-environmental issues. These are characterized by an incomplete understanding of the situation and the problems that arise, and the conflicting opinions that result, issues over boundaries that are often difficult to define, and controversy over the multiple goals and uncertain outcomes. Added to these characteristics, we also have the slow and often inadequate uptake and implementation of research outcomes in this complex, real world. In order to improve sustainability of agro-ecosystems, agronomic research must move away from the linear research approaches and extension practices adopted so far that have focused purely on biophysical agro-ecosystems. The theoretical operational space of agronomic research must be transformed by considering agronomic issues as part of a broader social-agro-ecosystem. One aspect of this transformation is the inclusion of knowledge collected on a local level with the participation of farmers on the ground. The integration of local experiential knowledge with traditional agronomic research is by necessity based on the participation of many different stakeholders and there can be no single blueprint for how best to develop and use the input received. However, agronomists and policy advisors require general guidelines drawn up from actual experience in order to accelerate positive agronomic change. We address this need through a comparative analysis of two case studies; one involves multi-stakeholder research in a cropping system in the dairy district of Arborea, Sardinia, Italy. The central question was: How can high crop production be maintained while also achieving the EU target water quality and minimizing the production costs? The second case is a multi-stakeholder soil health project from south-eastern Australia. Here the central question was: How can soil decline be prevented and reversed in this district, and soils made more resilient to future challenges? The Social Learning for the Integrated Management and sustainable use of water (SLIM) framework, a useful heuristic tool for exploring the dynamics of transformational change, guided the analysis of the case studies. Within this framework, a key indicator of success is the emergence of new knowledge from the creation of new spaces for learning between researchers and local stakeholders. The Italian case study appears to have been the most successful in this sense, as opportunities for joint exploration of research data allowed new potential farming responses to the central question to emerge. The multi-stakeholder processes in the Australian case focused more on providing public openings for individual learning, and missed the opportunity for new knowledge to emerge through joint exploration. We conclude that participatory approaches may enable transformative practice through knowledge integration, but that this process is not an automatic outcome of increased community participation.
Address
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language (up) Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 2039-6805 1125-4718 ISBN Medium Article
Area Expedition Conference
Notes CropM Approved no
Call Number MA @ admin @ Serial 4482
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Author Leogrande, R.; Lopedota, O.; Montemurro, F.; Vitti, C.; Ventrella, D.
Title Effects of irrigation regime and salinity on soil characteristics and yield of tomato Type Journal Article
Year 2012 Publication Italian Journal of Agronomy Abbreviated Journal Ital. J. Agron.
Volume 7 Issue 1 Pages 8
Keywords saline water; irrigation volume; Lycopersicon esculentum; soil solution
Abstract A field experiment was conducted in Mediterranean conditions to evaluate the effects of different irrigation volumes and water quality on yield performance of tomato crop. The tomato crop was irrigated reestablishing 50 (I1), 75 (I2) and 100% (I3) of the crop evapotranspiration (ETc) with two water quality: fresh water with EC 0.9 dS m-1 (FW) and saline water with EC 6 dSm-1 (SW). At harvest, total and marketable yield, weight, number, total soluble solids (TSS) and dry matter of fruit were calculated, The results showed no statistical differences among the three different irrigation volumes on tomato yield and quality. The salinity treatment did not affect yield, probably because the soil salinity in the root zone on average remained below the threshold of tomato salt tolerance. Instead, salinity improved fruit quality parameters as dry matter and TSS by 13 and 8%, respectively. After the first field application of saline water, soil saturated extract cations (SSEC), electrical conductivity of soil paste extract (ECe), sodium absorption ratio (SAR) and exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP) cations increased; the largest increase of cations, in particular of Na, occurred in the top layer. At the end of the experiment, the absolute value of SSEC, ECe and SAR, for all the effects studied, were lower than those recorded in 2007. This behavior was suitable to the reduced volumes of treatments administered in 2009 in respect to the 2007. Furthermore, the higher total rainfall recorded in 2009 increased the leaching and downward movement of salts out of the sampling depth.
Address
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language (up) Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 2039-6805 ISBN Medium Article
Area Expedition Conference
Notes CropM, ftnotmacsur Approved no
Call Number MA @ admin @ Serial 4476
Permanent link to this record