Plant Community Structure and Nitrogen Dynamics Affect Productivity and Environment of Meadow Bromegrass - Legume Cropping Systems

Plant Community Structure and Nitrogen Dynamics Affect Productivity and Environment of Meadow Bromegrass - Legume Cropping Systems PDF Author: Dennis Ashilenje
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780438880580
Category : Agronomy
Languages : en
Pages : 213

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Book Description
Poor legume persistence reduces performance of grass-legume mixtures. This can be solved by understanding plant community structure changes. A study was conducted from 2015 to 2017 at the University of Wyoming Sheridan Research and Extension Center with the objectives to determine: 1) plant community structure changes and nitrogen (N) use in meadow bromegrass (Bromus riparius Rehm.)—legume mixtures and their role in forage accumulation and nutritive value; 2) effects of N fixation and crop canopy characteristics on forage accumulation and nutritive value of meadow bromegrass-alfalfa ( Medicago sativa L.) mixtures; 3) influence of meadow bromegrass-alfalfa mixtures and N on greenhouse gas emissions and soil microbial biomass; and 4) productivity and economic benefits of grass-legume mixtures. Treatments were alfalfa, sanfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia Scop.), birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus L.), and meadow bromegrass or mixtures of them in different ratios. These included 50–50% and 70–30% mixtures of meadow bromegrass with each legume and 50–25–25% mixture of meadow bromegrass with two legumes and 50–16.7–16.7–16.7% mixture of meadow bromegrass, alfalfa, sainfoin, and birdsfoot trefoil. Grass monocultures received 0, 56, and 112 kg N ha−1. Grass-legume mixtures particularly the 50–50% and 70–30% mixture of meadow bromegrass with alfalfa and 50–25–25% mixture of meadow bromegrass, alfalfa, and birdsfoot trefoil had higher forage accumulation, nutritive value, and profitability compared to monocultures. This was associated with low synchrony in species biomass accumulation. Alfalfa seed mass ratio, height within crop canopy, leaf area, and intercepted light were potential measures for predicting forage accumulation and nutritive value. The 70–30% mixture of meadow bromegrass with alfalfa reduced N2O emissions (92 μg N m−2h−1) than alfalfa monocrop (150 μg N m−2h−1). Overall, mixtures with 16.7 to 30% of alfalfa seed mass proportions were buffered against poor sainfoin and birdsfoot trefoil persistence and had enhanced N use, forage productivity, and nutritive value.

Plant Community Structure and Nitrogen Dynamics Affect Productivity and Environment of Meadow Bromegrass - Legume Cropping Systems

Plant Community Structure and Nitrogen Dynamics Affect Productivity and Environment of Meadow Bromegrass - Legume Cropping Systems PDF Author: Dennis Ashilenje
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780438880580
Category : Agronomy
Languages : en
Pages : 213

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Book Description
Poor legume persistence reduces performance of grass-legume mixtures. This can be solved by understanding plant community structure changes. A study was conducted from 2015 to 2017 at the University of Wyoming Sheridan Research and Extension Center with the objectives to determine: 1) plant community structure changes and nitrogen (N) use in meadow bromegrass (Bromus riparius Rehm.)—legume mixtures and their role in forage accumulation and nutritive value; 2) effects of N fixation and crop canopy characteristics on forage accumulation and nutritive value of meadow bromegrass-alfalfa ( Medicago sativa L.) mixtures; 3) influence of meadow bromegrass-alfalfa mixtures and N on greenhouse gas emissions and soil microbial biomass; and 4) productivity and economic benefits of grass-legume mixtures. Treatments were alfalfa, sanfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia Scop.), birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus L.), and meadow bromegrass or mixtures of them in different ratios. These included 50–50% and 70–30% mixtures of meadow bromegrass with each legume and 50–25–25% mixture of meadow bromegrass with two legumes and 50–16.7–16.7–16.7% mixture of meadow bromegrass, alfalfa, sainfoin, and birdsfoot trefoil. Grass monocultures received 0, 56, and 112 kg N ha−1. Grass-legume mixtures particularly the 50–50% and 70–30% mixture of meadow bromegrass with alfalfa and 50–25–25% mixture of meadow bromegrass, alfalfa, and birdsfoot trefoil had higher forage accumulation, nutritive value, and profitability compared to monocultures. This was associated with low synchrony in species biomass accumulation. Alfalfa seed mass ratio, height within crop canopy, leaf area, and intercepted light were potential measures for predicting forage accumulation and nutritive value. The 70–30% mixture of meadow bromegrass with alfalfa reduced N2O emissions (92 μg N m−2h−1) than alfalfa monocrop (150 μg N m−2h−1). Overall, mixtures with 16.7 to 30% of alfalfa seed mass proportions were buffered against poor sainfoin and birdsfoot trefoil persistence and had enhanced N use, forage productivity, and nutritive value.

Halophytes: Salt Stress Tolerance Mechanisms and Potential Use

Halophytes: Salt Stress Tolerance Mechanisms and Potential Use PDF Author: Raoudha Abdellaoui
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
ISBN: 2832529305
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description


Legumes and Grasses in Dryland Cropping Systems in the Northern and Central Great Plains

Legumes and Grasses in Dryland Cropping Systems in the Northern and Central Great Plains PDF Author: Paul L. Brown
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Crop rotation
Languages : en
Pages : 72

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Book Description


Legume Nitrogen Fixation in a Changing Environment

Legume Nitrogen Fixation in a Changing Environment PDF Author: Saad Sulieman
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319062123
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 136

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Book Description
The world population will grow more rapidly during the few coming years. This must be accompanied by a parallel increase in the agricultural production to secure adequate food. Sustainability considerations mandate that alternatives to chemical nitrogen fertilizers must be urgently sought. Biological nitrogen (N2) fixation, a microbiological process which converts atmospheric N2 into a plant-usable form, offers this alternative. Among these renewable sources, N2-fixing legumes offer an economically attractive and ecologically sound means of reducing external inputs and improving internal resources. Environmental factors such as drought, elevated temperature, salinity, soil acidity and rising CO2 are known to dramatically affect the symbiotic process and thus play a part in determining the actual amount of nitrogen fixed by a given legume in the field. Understanding how nodule N2 fixation responds to the environment is crucial for improving legume production and maintaining sustainability in the context of global change. In this thoughtful and provocative new Brief, we provide critical information on how current and projected future changes in the environment will affect legume growth and their symbiotic N2 fixing capabilities. Each section reviews the main drivers of environmental change on the legume performance that include drought, elevated temperature, salinity and rising CO2, and soil acidity. Importantly we discuss the molecular approaches to the analysis of the stress response in legumes and the possible biotechnological strategies to overcome their detrimental effects.

Advances in Legumes for Sustainable Intensification

Advances in Legumes for Sustainable Intensification PDF Author: Ram Swaroop Meena
Publisher: Academic Press
ISBN: 0323886000
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 730

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Book Description
Advances in Legume-based Agroecoystem for Sustainable Intensification explores current research and future strategies for ensuring capacity growth and socioeconomic improvement through the utilization of legume crop cultivation and production in the achievement of sustainability development goals (SDGs). Sections cover the role of legumes in addressing issues of food security, improving nitrogen in the environment, environmental sustainability, economic-environmentally optimized systems, the importance and impact of nitrogen, organic production, and biomass potential, legume production, biology, breeding improvement, cropping systems, and the use of legumes for eco-friendly weed management. This book is an important resource for scientists, researchers and advanced students interested in championing the effective utilization of legumes for agronomic and ecological benefit. - Focuses on opportunities for agricultural impact and sustainability - Presents insights into both agricultural sustainability and eco-intensification - Includes the impact of legume production on societal impacts such as health and wealth management

Linking Carbon and Nitrogen Cycling to Plant-soil-microbial Interactions at the Field-, Soil Pedon-, and Micro-scales Within Long-term Conventional, Low-input, and Organic Cropping Systems

Linking Carbon and Nitrogen Cycling to Plant-soil-microbial Interactions at the Field-, Soil Pedon-, and Micro-scales Within Long-term Conventional, Low-input, and Organic Cropping Systems PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
Despite the greatly increased productive capacity of current-day cropping systems, the shortcomings associated with conventional, high-intensity cropping systems and the growing threat of global climate change, warrant the identification of crop management practices that promote long-term agricultural sustainability and productivity. Unlike conventional cropping practices, which include synthetic nitrogen and pesticide use, alternative crop management practices, e.g., cover cropping, tillage reduction, organic amendment additions, and reducing or eliminating synthetic fertilizer use, have emerged as integrated and ecologically sound approaches to enhance agroecosystem functioning and services. Yet, mechanisms governing the differences in soil quality and crop yields among alternative cropping systems and conventional systems remain unclear. The aim of this dissertation study was to understand and quantify the mechanisms governing the relationship between carbon and nitrogen cycling and the interactions between plants, soil, and microorganisms within long-term conventional (annual synthetic fertilizer), low-input (alternating synthetic fertilizer and cover crop additions), and organic (annual manure- and cover crop additions) cropping systems, at the field-, soil pedon-, and micro-scales. A multi-scaled approach, including agronomic experiments, stable isotopes (13C and 15N), soil fractionation techniques, and microbiological analyses (e.g., functional gene quantification and phospholipid fatty acid assays), was employed to study mechanisms of soil carbon and nitrogen stabilization and loss and to draw links between microbial populations and carbon and nitrogen processing across different agroecosystems. Data from this research only partly corroborated the global hypothesis: the effects of long-term, low-input crop management enhance microbial-mediated carbon and nitrogen turnover in different soil microenvironments and optimize the balance between carbon and nitrogen stabilization and loss compared to the conventional and organic cropping systems. Only a weak relationship between short-term microbial community structure and long-term carbon and nitrogen sequestration was found across the three cropping systems. The conclusion drawn is that the effects of long-term crop management are dictated by complex trade-offs between soil carbon and nitrogen stabilization, microbial abundance and activity, nitrogen losses, crop productivity, and the quantity and quality of carbon and nitrogen inputs in alternative cropping systems.

Legume Nitrogen Fixation in Soils with Low Phosphorus Availability

Legume Nitrogen Fixation in Soils with Low Phosphorus Availability PDF Author: Saad Sulieman
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319557297
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
This thoughtful and provocative book provides a concise, up-to-date presentation of how current and projected future phosphorus scarcity will affect legume growth and their symbiotic nitrogen-fixing capabilities. It is a timely examination of the physiological and molecular responses of nodules to phosphorous deficiency in attempt to identify common principles. Students and researchers in the many disciplines related to crop productivity will find this title an exciting contribution in the area of plant stress physiology. The knowledge in this volume can also aid plant breeders, particularly through new methods of genetic engineering, in developing unique and adaptive cultivars with higher symbiotic efficiency. The awareness of the rapidly rising world population must translate into a parallel increase in agricultural production in order to sustain the growing population both now and in the future. Hence, the demand for food crops to produce proteins and vegetable oil for human consumption is going to increase considerably during the coming years. The essential role of legumes in agriculture is well-recognized, given the abundant levels of proteins and oils found in plants along with their enormous contribution to the sustainability of agricultural systems and human health. The capacity of legumes to fix nitrogen (N2) in partnership with rhizobia provides an input-saving and resource-conserving alternative, thereby reducing the need for chemical fertilizers while enhancing overall crop productivity. The use of N2-fixing legumes to produce plant proteins results in a substantial decrease in the consumption of fossil fuels and therefore also in the agricultural effects to global warming. However, a major constraint to legume production is low soil phosphorus (P) availability, considering that an overwhelming majority of the world’s soils are classified as P-deficient. Low-P availability is especially problematic for legumes, since legume nodules responsible for N2 fixation have a high P requirement. Therefore, this book explains how nodule N2 fixation responds to low P availability, which is crucial for improving legume production and maintaining agricultural sustainability in the context of the global P crisis.

Climate Change and Management of Cool Season Grain Legume Crops

Climate Change and Management of Cool Season Grain Legume Crops PDF Author: Shyam Singh Yadav
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9048137098
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 466

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Book Description
This book covers all aspect of legume production management technologies, plant ecological response, nutrients management, biological nitrogen fixation, molecular approaches, potential cultivars, biodiversity management under climate change. Also covered are various aspects of legume management under climate change such as, production management technology, ecology & adaptation, diseases, and international trade; physiology and crops response to nutrients, drought, salinity, and water use efficiency; Biodiversity management, molecular approaches and biological Nitrogen fixation; climate change and strategies. This book presents the most comprehensive and up to date review of research on different cool season grain legume crops, nutrients management, biotic and abiotic stresses management, agronomical approaches for drought management, salinity, drought, weed management and water use efficiency, impact on international trade around the world.

Plant Diversity and Nitrogen Addition on Belowground Biodiversity and Soil Organic Carbon Storage in Biofuel Cropping Systems

Plant Diversity and Nitrogen Addition on Belowground Biodiversity and Soil Organic Carbon Storage in Biofuel Cropping Systems PDF Author: Jennifer Butt
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Crops and nitrogen
Languages : en
Pages : 45

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Book Description
"Bioenergy production may reduce the emission of CO2 which contributes to climate change, particularly when management strategies are adopted that promote soil carbon (C) sequestration in bioenergy cropping systems. Planting perennial native grasses, such as switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) and big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii Vitman) may be used as a strategy to enhance soil C accumulation owing to their extensive root systems. Fertilizer use may further promote soil C sequestration, because of its positive impacts on plant production and soil C input. However, the influence of fertilizer addition on soil C accumulation is variable across bioenergy cropping systems, and fertilizer can negatively impact the environment. Increasing plant diversity may be used as a strategy to enhance soil C accumulation while augmenting other ecosystem properties such as soil biodiversity. The present study evaluates how inter- and intra- specific plant community diversity and N addition influence soil C storage and soil biodiversity. Soil was collected from a long-term (9 growing seasons) field experiment located at the Fermilab National Environmental Research Park in Illinois, USA. Treatments included [1] three cultivars of big bluestem and three cultivars of switchgrass cultivars grown in monoculture, [2] plant community diversity manipulated at both the species- and cultivar level, and [3] nitrogen (N) applied annually at two levels (0 and 67 kg ha-1). The soil at the site was dominated by C3 grasses for 30 years before replacement with C4 bioenergy grasses, which enabled quantification of plant-derived C accumulation owing to the natural difference in isotopic signature between C3 and C4 grasses. Soil samples were analyzed for [1] soil C and its delta13C isotopic signature, and [2] nematode and soil bacterial diversity. Our results indicate that both plant diversity and N addition influence soil community structure but not soil C storage or soil nematode biodiversity. However, the addition of big bluestem to the plant species mixes enhanced plant-derived C storage. In summary, our findings suggest that plant species identity can control soil C accumulation in the years following land conversion, and that manipulating plant community structure in bioenergy cropping systems may have a greater positive impact on soil C accumulation than N fertilization."--Boise State University ScholarWorks.

Legumes in Cropping Systems

Legumes in Cropping Systems PDF Author: Donal Murphy-Bokern
Publisher: Cabi
ISBN: 9781780644981
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Based on contributions from members of the Legumes Future research consortium and complemented by articles from other research teams, this book provides a comprehensive overview of knowledge relevant to developing legume-supported cropping systems in Europe. It reflects the growing interest in using legumes to improve cropping and the current debate over the imbalance in European systems where the low use of legumes has caused concern in the agricultural policy community. This book supports informed debate and decision-making that addresses the associated challenges. Legumes in Cropping Systems presents current knowledge on this subject across 15 coordinated chapters. Each chapter addresses a specific aspect of legume cropping and provides insight into the relevant literature to help support understanding and explore the underlying processes that influence cropping system development. This book includes coverage of: · the role of legumes in cropping systems; · the role of legumes in European protein supplies; · environmental effects of grain and forage legumes; · current status of the major grain and forage legume crops; · economic effects; and · policy development. Written by an international team of expert authors and presented in full-colour throughout, this book is an invaluable resource for researchers in agronomy and crop sciences, agricultural professionals, policy makers, and students.