Agronomy, Volume 9, Issue 6

The support and development of the primary agri-food sector is receiving increasing attention. The complexity of modern farming issues has lead to the widespread penetration of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Decision Support Systems (DSS). IPM DSSs...

Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) is a common edible fruit. Its juice can be used as a source of antioxidative compounds, primarily polyphenols and vitamin C, in addition to other vitamins and minerals. Nevertheless, little is still known about how th...

Lower quality and longer production periods of grafted seedlings, especially grafted plug seedlings of fruit vegetables, may result from insufficient amounts of light, particularly in rainy seasons and winter. Supplemental artificial lighting may be...

The abandonment of the economic activities of agriculture, livestock, and forestry since the second half of the 20th century, in conjunction with the exodus of inhabitants from rural areas, has resulted in an increase in the forest mass as well as an...

Biostimulants are among the natural preparations that improve the general health, vitality, and growth of plants and protect them against infections. They can be successfully used in both agri- and horticultural crops. The main active substances used...

Elucidating the mechanisms underlying the relationships between root growth and water use efficiency is important for achieving full yield potential. We conducted a field experiment with maize under high planting density (105,000 plants ha⁻¹) i...

California has some of the key agricultural regions in the United States. One of these key regions, San Joaquin Valley, frequently experiences severe droughts leading to shortage of irrigation water. This has a significant impact on the agricultural...

Globally, mineral nitrogen (N) losses as nitrate leaching (NL) are a substantial portion of applied fertilizer and cause surface and sub-surface water contamination. To precisely measure NL and its interlink parameters, biochar soil amendment was tes...

Heracleum mantegazzianum is an invasive plant species with enormous effect on ecosystems and human health. Mechanical weed management often results in large amounts of biomass. Fermentation in biogas plants can be used for disposal of this biomass co...

Livestock site use intensity can vary widely across a grazing area due to several factors such as topography and distance from sheds and water sources. However, an accurate approximation of animal site use should be assessed for each part of the graz...

In agroforestry systems (AFS), trees shade the understory crop to a certain extent. Potato is considered a shade-tolerant crop and was thus tested under the given total solar irradiance and climatic conditions of Southwestern Germany for its potentia...

This paper presents a methodology for defining spatial priorities for irrigation development in Vojvodina Province (Serbia). The purpose of the methodology is to take into account several UN Sustainable Development Goals and to try to minimize land d...

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is one of the primary factors driving climate change impacts on plants, pests, and natural enemies. The present study reports the effects of different atmospheric CO₂ concentrations on the vine mealybug Planococcus ficus (Signore...

Piquin pepper (Capsicum annuum var. glabriusculum) is an important species that supports the economy of rural households; it is part of Mexican gastronomy and it is a highly valuable phytogenetic resource. There has been recent interest in domesticat...

Agricultural and environmental applications of biochar (BC) to soils have received increasing attention as a possible means of improving productivity and sustainability. Most previous studies have focused on tropical soils and more recently temperate...

Future increases in temperatures are expected to advance grapevine phenology and shift ripening to warmer months, leaving a longer post-harvest period with warmer temperatures. Accumulation of carbohydrates occurs during post-harvest, and has an infl...

Macronutrient (N, P, S, K, Ca, and Mg) availability and distribution in soils of grassland ecosystems are affected by diverse factors, including landscape position, climate, and forms of management. This study examined flux in plant-available macronu...

Combined application of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) is a valuable practice to improve the growth and physiological activities of cotton, especially during a boll setting. The main purpose of this research was to investigate the ef...

Black carrot (Daucus carota L. ssp. sativus var. atroburens) is a root vegetable with anthocyanins as major phenolic compounds. The accumulation of phenolic compounds is a common response to UV-B exposure, acting as protective compounds and as antiox...

Organic farming relies heavily on tillage for weed management, however, intensive soil disturbance can have detrimental impacts on soil quality. Cover crop-based rotational tillage (CCBRT), a practice that reduces the need for tillage and cultivation...

Faba bean (Vicia faba L.) is an important pulse crop known for its nitrogen-fixing characteristics and as a disease-break crop in crop rotations. Sowing time, scheduling of supplemental irrigation, and sowing rate are some of the agronomic management...

Diminishing availability of non-saline water in arid and semiarid regions is of concern to all irrigated agricultural producers, including wine and grape producers. Grapes are not a salt tolerant crop and producers often face the choice of either lim...

Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.) is a logical candidate crop to suppress invasive plants, but additional information is needed to support its potential application as a suppressive ground cover. The current study utilized a de Wit replacement...

Lectins, phytic acid and condensed tannins exert major antinutritional effects in common bean when grains are consumed as a staple food. In addition, phaseolin, i.e., the major storage protein of the bean seed, is marginally digested when introduced...

Rational regulation of phosphorus (P) use in the soil–rhizosphere–plant system is challenging in the development of sustainable, intensive, and healthy agriculture. Rational maize (Zea mays L.) based intercropping with legumes/oilseed rap...

Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum L.) is one of the most problematic weeds in western United States rangelands and sagebrush steppe. It responds positively to different forms of disturbance, and its management has proven difficult. Herbicide or targeted gr...

Process-based land surface models are important tools to study the historical and future effects of climate change and land use change. The planting date has a considerable effect on crop growth and consequently on dynamic parameters used in land sur...

The balance between fertilizer application and plant nutrient demand is essential for ensuring agricultural production because it is effective to prevent nutrient deficiency and excess, especially for soybean. This study used data from 29 sites of fi...

Urbanization and global climate change have constrained plant development and yield. Utilization of wild gene pool, together with the application of sustainable and eco-friendly agronomic crop improvement strategies, is being focused on to tackle mou...

The effects of long-term incorporation of organic manure and biofertilizers have been investigated on winter wheat in the North China Plain (NCP). The five-year field experiment (2013–2018) has illustrated the responses of grain yield and yield...

Fungicide intensity and sowing time influence the N use efficiency (NUE) of winter wheat but the underlying mechanisms, interactions of plant traits, and the temporal effects are not sufficiently understood. Therefore, organ-specific responses in NUE...

Abiotic stresses strongly affect plant growth, development, and quality of production; final crop yield can be really compromised if stress occurs in plants’ most sensitive phenological phases. Additionally, the increase of crop stress tolerance thro...

Phenylpropanoids are naturally occurring compounds that exert beneficial pharmacological effects on human health. Phenylpropanoids can act as antioxidants and are involved in resistance to ultraviolet light and cancer; these compounds possess anti-in...

Battery-powered multi-rotor UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) have been employed as chemical applicators in agriculture for small fields in China. Major challenges in spraying include reducing the influence of environmental factors and appropriate chem...

The spatial distribution and location of crops are necessary information for agricultural planning. The free availability of optical satellites such as Landsat offers an opportunity to obtain this key information. Crop type mapping using satellite da...

Two experiments were conducted in different cropping seasons under Mediterranean climatic conditions to investigate the impact of two cooling systems (fan-pad evaporative as opposed to fan ventilation) on greenhouse microclimate and soilless cucumber...

Yacon (Smallanthus sonchifolius) is a tuberous root crop native to the Andean region. The eatable tubers contain up to 70% fructooligosaccharides (FOS) on a dry matter (DM) basis. These FOS are not digestible by the human intestinal tract and do not...

Evaluation of genetic diversity within wild populations is an essential process for improvement and domestication of new crop species. This process involves evaluation of population structure and individual accessions based on genetic markers, growth...

Parental environments (PEs) affect seed quality and might alter the re-establishment of big bluestem grass due to impacts on seed germination. An in vitro study was conducted to quantify the temperature response of seed germination and its interactio...

Caper (Capparis orientalis Veill.) is a species rich in bioactive compounds, with positive effects on human health. It has a great adaptability to harsh environments and an exceptional ability to extract water from dry soils. In Croatia, the caper gr...

The capacity for optimising grain yield depends largely on the timing of senescence and the processes underlying efficient remobilisation and cycling of nutrients from source tissues to the developing grain. This study describes how metabolism is adj...

Chilling stress limits processing tomato growth and yield, leading to high losses. An approach to increase the sustainability of crop production could involve the use of beneficial microorganisms. The objectives of this research were to investigate:...

Decreasing arable land, rising urbanization, water scarcity, and climate change exert pressure on agricultural producers. Moving from soil to soilless culture systems can improve water use efficiency, especially in closed-loop systems with a recircul...

Breeding for crops in the context of climate change necessitates phenotyping tools for roots in field conditions. Such in-field phenotyping requires the development of rapid and non-destructive measurement techniques for the screening of relevant roo...

In this study, root exudates from mycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizal plants growing at low or high nutrient supply were used in vitro to examine their effects on the growth and fumonisin B1 gene (FUM1) expression of Fusarium proliferatum (Hypocreales: N...

Protein crops can represent a sustainable answer to growing demand for high quality, protein-rich food in Europe. To better understand the state of scientific studies on protein crops, a systematic review of field trials results to collect existing k...

The nutritive value (NV) of perennial ryegrass is an important driver of productivity for grazing stock; therefore, improving NV parameters would be beneficial to meat and dairy producers. NV is not actively targeted by most breeding programs due to...

To achieve efficient weed control through cover cropping, the plant species chosen needs particular consideration. Combing different cover crop (CC) species in mixtures may increase the number of provided ecosystem services, including reliable suppre...

A major challenge of the Sustainable Development Goals linked to Agriculture, Food Security, and Nutrition, under the current global crop production paradigm, is that increasing crop yields often have negative environmental impacts. It is therefore u...

This study examined the effect of stripwise subsoiling and subsoiling combined with the incorporation of organic material on crop development in a two-year field trial with typical weather in the first year and hot, dry weather in the second. Subsoil...