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Author Bodirsky, B.L.; Müller, C.
Title Robust relationship between yields and nitrogen inputs indicates three ways to reduce nitrogen pollution Type Journal Article
Year 2014 Publication Environmental Research Letters Abbreviated Journal Environ. Res. Lett.
Volume (down) 9 Issue 11 Pages 111005
Keywords nitrogen use efficiency; nitrogen; fertilizer; nitrogen pollution; agriculture; yields; mitigation; framework
Abstract Historic increases in agricultural production came at the expense of substantial environmental burden through nitrogen pollution. Lassaletta et al (2014 Environ. Res. Lett. 9 105011) examine the historic relationship of crop yields and nitrogen fertilizer inputs globally and find a simple and robust relationship of declining nitrogen use efficiency with increasing nitrogen inputs. This general relationship helps to understand the dilemma between increased agricultural production and nitrogen pollution and allows identifying pathways towards more sustainable agricultural production and necessary associated policies.
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Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1748-9326 ISBN Medium Article
Area Expedition Conference
Notes CropM, ft_macsur Approved no
Call Number MA @ admin @ Serial 4514
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Author Bertocchi, L.; Vitali, A.; Lacetera, N.; Nardone, A.; Varisco, G.; Bernabucci, U.
Title Seasonal variations in the composition of Holstein cow’s milk and temperature-humidity index relationship Type Journal Article
Year 2014 Publication Animal Abbreviated Journal Animal
Volume (down) 8 Issue 4 Pages 667-674
Keywords Animal Husbandry/*methods; Animals; Cattle/*physiology; Cell Count/veterinary; Dairying; Female; Hot Temperature; Humidity; Italy; Lactation/*physiology; Milk/cytology/*physiology; Retrospective Studies; Seasons
Abstract A retrospective study on seasonal variations in the characteristics of cow’s milk and temperature-humidity index (THI) relationship was conducted on bulk milk data collected from 2003 to 2009. The THI relationship study was carried out on 508 613 bulk milk data items recorded in 3328 dairy farms form the Lombardy region, Italy. Temperature and relative humidity data from 40 weather stations were used to calculate THI. Milk characteristics data referred to somatic cell count (SCC), total bacterial count (TBC), fat percentage (FA%) and protein percentage (PR%). Annual, seasonal and monthly variations in milk composition were evaluated on 656 064 data items recorded in 3727 dairy farms. The model highlighted a significant association between the year, season and month, and the parameters analysed (SCC, TBC, FA%, PR%). The summer season emerged as the most critical season. Of the summer months, July presented the most critical conditions for TBC, FA% and PR%, (52 054 ± 183 655, 3.73% ± 0.35% and 3.30% ± 0.15%, respectively), and August presented higher values of SCC (369 503 ± 228 377). Each milk record was linked to THI data calculated at the nearest weather station. The analysis demonstrated a positive correlation between THI and SCC and TBC, and indicated a significant change in the slope at 57.3 and 72.8 maximum THI, respectively. The model demonstrated a negative correlation between THI and FA% and PR% and provided breakpoints in the pattern at 50.2 and 65.2 maximum THI, respectively. The results of this study indicate the presence of critical climatic thresholds for bulk tank milk composition in dairy cows. Such indications could facilitate the adoption of heat management strategies, which may ensure the health and production of dairy cows and limit related economic losses.
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Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1751-7311 ISBN Medium Article
Area Expedition Conference
Notes LiveM, ft_macsur Approved no
Call Number MA @ admin @ Serial 4618
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Author Zhen, L.; Deng, X.; Wei, Y.; Jiang, Q.; Lin, Y.; Helming, K.; Wang, C.; König, H.J.; Hu, J.
Title Future land use and food security scenarios for the Guyuan district of remote western China Type Journal Article
Year 2014 Publication iForest Abbreviated Journal iForest
Volume (down) 7 Issue 6 Pages 372-384
Keywords land-use patterns; scenario analysis; dynamics of land systems modeling; food security; guyuan district; north-central china; cultivated land; dynamics; conversion; policy
Abstract Government policy is a major human factor that causes changes in land use. Decisions on land management and land-use planning, as well as the analysis and quantification of policy consequences, may greatly benefit from the simulation of the dynamics of land-use systems. In the present study, we predicted land-use changes and their potential impacts on food security in the environmentally fragile Guyuan District, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (north-central China), under the influence of a program to convert sloping agricultural land to conservation uses. Baseline and conservation policy scenarios (2005 to 2020) were developed based on input from local stakeholders and expert knowledge. For the baseline and conservation policies, we formulated high-, moderate-, and low-growth scenarios, analyzed the driving mechanisms responsible for the land-use dynamics, and then applied a previously developed “dynamics of land systems” model to simulate changes in land uses based on the driving mechanisms. We found that spatially explicit policies can promote the conversion of land to more sustainable uses; however, decreasing the amount of agricultural and urban land and increasing grassland and forest cover will increase the risk of grain shortages, and the effect will be more severe under the conservation and high- growth scenarios than under the baseline and low-growth scenarios. The Guyuan case study suggests that, during the next decade, important trade-offs between environmental conservation and food security will inevitably occur. Future land-use decisions should carefully consider the balance between land resource conservation, agricultural production, and urban expansion.
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Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1971-7458 ISBN Medium Article
Area Expedition Conference
Notes CropM Approved no
Call Number MA @ admin @ Serial 4547
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Author Bennett, E.; Carpenter, S.R.; Gordon, L.J.; Ramankutty, N.; Balvanera, P.; Campbell, B.; Cramer, W.; Foley, J.; Folke, C.; Carlberg, L.; Lui, J.; Lotze-Campen, H.; Mueller, N.D.; Peterson, G.D.; Polasky, S.; Rockström, J.; Scholes, R.J.; Spierenburg, M.
Title Toward a more resilient agriculture Type Journal Article
Year 2014 Publication The Solutions Journal Abbreviated Journal The Solutions Journal
Volume (down) 5 Issue 5 Pages 65-75
Keywords
Abstract Agriculture is a key driver of change in the Anthropocene. It is both a critical factor for human well-being and development and a major driver of environmental decline. As the human population expands to more than 9 billion by 2050, we will be compelled to find ways to adequately feed this population while simultaneously decreasing the environmental impact of agriculture, even as global change is creating new circumstances to which agriculture must respond. Many proposals to accomplish this dual goal of increasing agricultural production while reducing its environmental impact are based on increasing the efficiency of agricultural production relative to resource use and relative to unintended outcomes such as water pollution, biodiversity loss, and greenhouse gas emissions. While increasing production efficiency is almost certainly necessary, it is unlikely to be sufficient and may in some instances reduce long-term agricultural resilience, for example, by degrading soil and increasing the fragility of agriculture to pest and disease outbreaks and climate shocks. To encourage an agriculture that is both resilient and sustainable, radically new approaches to agricultural development are needed. These approaches must build on a diversity of solutions operating at nested scales, and they must maintain and enhance the adaptive and transformative capacity needed to respond to disturbances and avoid critical thresholds. Finding such approaches will require that we encourage experimentation, innovation, and learning, even if they sometimes reduce short-term production efficiency in some parts of the world.
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Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
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ISSN ISBN Medium Article
Area Expedition Conference
Notes TradeM, ftnotmacsur Approved no
Call Number MA @ admin @ Serial 4657
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Author Asseng, S.; Ewert, F.; Martre, P.; Rötter, R.P.; Lobell, D.B.; Cammarano, D.; Kimball, B.A.; Ottman, M.J.; Wall, G.W.; White, J.W.; Reynolds, M.P.; Alderman, P.D.; Prasad, P.V.V.; Aggarwal, P.K.; Anothai, J.; Basso, B.; Biernath, C.; Challinor, A.J.; De Sanctis, G.; Doltra, J.; Fereres, E.; Garcia-Vila, M.; Gayler, S.; Hoogenboom, G.; Hunt, L.A.; Izaurralde, R.C.; Jabloun, M.; Jones, C.D.; Kersebaum, K.C.; Koehler, A.-K.; Müller, C.; Naresh Kumar, S.; Nendel, C.; O’Leary, G.; Olesen, J.E.; Palosuo, T.; Priesack, E.; Eyshi Rezaei, E.; Ruane, A.C.; Semenov, M.A.; Shcherbak, I.; Stöckle, C.; Stratonovitch, P.; Streck, T.; Supit, I.; Tao, F.; Thorburn, P.J.; Waha, K.; Wang, E.; Wallach, D.; Wolf, J.; Zhao, Z.; Zhu, Y.
Title Rising temperatures reduce global wheat production Type Journal Article
Year 2014 Publication Nature Climate Change Abbreviated Journal Nat. Clim. Change
Volume (down) 5 Issue 2 Pages 143-147
Keywords climate-change; spring wheat; dryland wheat; yield; growth; drought; heat; CO2; agriculture; adaptation
Abstract Crop models are essential tools for assessing the threat of climate change to local and global food production1. Present models used to predict wheat grain yield are highly uncertain when simulating how crops respond to temperature2. Here we systematically tested 30 different wheat crop models of the Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project against field experiments in which growing season mean temperatures ranged from 15 °C to 32 °C, including experiments with artificial heating. Many models simulated yields well, but were less accurate at higher temperatures. The model ensemble median was consistently more accurate in simulating the crop temperature response than any single model, regardless of the input information used. Extrapolating the model ensemble temperature response indicates that warming is already slowing yield gains at a majority of wheat-growing locations. Global wheat production is estimated to fall by 6% for each °C of further temperature increase and become more variable over space and time.
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Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1758-678x ISBN Medium Article
Area Expedition Conference
Notes CropM, ft_macsur Approved no
Call Number MA @ admin @ Serial 4550
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