The effects of inter-crop cultivation Between rows of citrus crop on spreading of Guignardia citricarpa Ascospores and in the citrus black spot occurrence

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

A universal agro-hydrological model for water and nitrogen cycles in the soil-crop system SMCR_N: critical update and further validation

Agro-hydrological models have widely been used for optimizing resources use and minimizing environmental consequences in agriculture. SMCRN is a recently developed sophisticated model which simulates crop response to nitrogen fertilizer for a wide range of crops, and the associated leaching of nitrate from arable soils. In this paper, we describe the improvements of this model by replacing the existing approximate hydrological cascade algorithm with a new simple and explicit algorithm for the basic soil water flow equation, which not only enhanced the model performance in hydrological simulation, but also was essential to extend the model application to the situations where the capillary flow is important. As a result, the updated SMCRN model could be used for more accurate study of water dynamics in the soil-crop system. The success of the model update was demonstrated by the simulated results that the updated model consistently out-performed the original model in drainage simulations and in predicting time course soil water content in different layers in the soil-wheat system. Tests of the updated SMCRN model against data from 4 field crop experiments showed that crop nitrogen offtakes and soil mineral nitrogen in the top 90 cm were in a good agreement with the measured values, indicating that the model could make more reliable predictions of nitrogen fate in the crop-soil system, and thus provides a useful platform to assess the impacts of nitrogen fertilizer on crop yield and nitrogen leaching from different production systems. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Efeito do manejo da entrelinha da seringueira sobre as propriedades químicas do solo, o estado nutricional e o crescimento

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Friendly Settlements in the Framework of the Inter- American Human Rights System

The Inter-American system for the protection of human rights provides that disputesbetween States and victims of human rights violations or their representatives can beresolved through a friendly settlement. In this arrangement, conducted before the regionalorgans of protection of human rights, the State accepts its international responsibility,commits itself to investigate and judge the responsible and makes commitmentson compensation to the offended, the victims, on his part, renounce to take the caseto the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and the Inter-American Commissionmonitors the legal consistency of the agreement and holds the role of independentobserver. What are these agreements, what possibilities and limitations provide to theopposing parties and, above all, what kind of reparation offer to victims of humanrights violations are issues to resolve in this article.

Economic valuation of collecting water to billing in the aspersion irrigated bean in the no tillage system and conventional crop

The law's project n.676/2000 approved the collecting of billing water for farmers in a maximum foreseen value of US$ 0.01 m(-3) of extracted water in the São Paulo State. As the irrigated agriculture is the activity that consumes more water, the farmers profitability can be affected. This work was to analyze the economic impact of billing water in the aspersion irrigated bean crop to consider the system of conventional production and no tillage system in the Paranapanema municipal district, São Paulo State, Brazil. The indicators used to analyze the economic results were unit variable cost, market price and unit profitability. The results showed that for the aspersion irrigated bean crop in conventional system, the participation of cost to the recourse water in cost variable totality was of 2.5% and in no tillage system the participation was of 2.2%. The fall of profitability just the billing water in conventional crop system and in no tillage system was US$ 0.01 kg(-1).

Report on the provisions of the project of Inter-American peace system relative to obligatory arbitration,

Report of the Committee on the Organization of the Inter- American System.--Report of the Juridical Subcommittee on the project of Inter-American peace system submitted by the Inter-American Juridical Committee on November 18, 1947.-- Comments on the draft project of Inter-American peace system formulated by the Inter-American Juridical Committee in 1945.-- Memorandum on the definite project of an inter-American peace system formulated by the Inter-American Juridical Committee, by C. G. Fenwick.

Emergy Assessment of a Wheat-Maize Rotation System with Different Water Assignments in the North China Plain

Sustainable water use is seriously compromised in the North China Plain (NCP) due to the huge water requirements of agriculture, the largest use of water resources. An integrated approach which combines the ecosystem model with emergy analysis is presented to determine the optimum quantity of irrigation for sustainable development in irrigated cropping systems. Since the traditional emergy method pays little attention to the dynamic interaction among components of the ecological system and dynamic emergy accounting is in its infancy, it is hard to evaluate the cropping system in hypothetical situations or in response to specific changes. In order to solve this problem, an ecosystem model (Vegetation Interface Processes (VIP) model) is introduced for emergy analysis to describe the production processes. Some raw data, collected by investigating or observing in conventional emergy analysis, may be calculated by the VIP model in the new approach. To demonstrate the advantage of this new approach, we use it to assess the wheat-maize rotation cropping system at different irrigation levels and derive the optimum quantity of irrigation according to the index of ecosystem sustainable development in NCP. The results show, the optimum quantity of irrigation in this region should be 240-330 mm per year in the wheat system and no irrigation in the maize system, because with this quantity of irrigation the rotation crop system reveals: best efficiency in energy transformation (transformity = 6.05E + 4 sej/J); highest sustainability (renewability = 25%); lowest environmental impact (environmental loading ratio = 3.5) and the greatest sustainability index (Emergy Sustainability Index = 0.47) compared with the system in other irrigation amounts. This study demonstrates that application of the new approach is broader than the conventional emergy analysis and the new approach is helpful in optimizing resources allocation, resource-savings and maintaining agricultural sustainability.

População de plantas e espaçamento entre linhas do feijoeiro irrigado. I: comportamento morfológico das plantas

O experimento foi conduzido com o objetivo de avaliar variações no índice de área foliar, altura das plantas, número de nós, comprimento dos entrenós na haste principal e altura das vagens em relação à superfície do solo do feijoeiro irrigado e cultivado em diferentes populações de plantas e espaçamentos entre linhas de cultivo. O experimento foi conduzido no ano agrícola 1997/98, em área experimental do Departamento de Engenharia Rural da Universidade Federal de Santa Maria (UFSM), Santa Maria, RS. A cultivar de feijão preto BR-FEPAGRO 44 - Guapo brilhante, de crescimento indeterminado (tipo II), foi cultivada em três populações de plantas (175, 250 e 325 mil plantas há-1) e três espaçamentos entre linhas de cultivo (35, 50 e 65cm). Utilizou-se o delineamento experimental inteiramente casualizado, bifatorial, com quatro repetições. Irrigações por aspersão foram aplicadas quando a evapotranspiração máxima da cultura, estimada com base na evaporação do tanque classe A, indicava um valor acumulado de 25mm. Os resultados demonstraram que o aumento da população de plantas ocasionou aumento no índice de área foliar durante a fase de crescimento vegetativo da cultura, sendo que na fase reprodutiva, o índice de área foliar foi afetado pelo espaçamento entre as linhas de cultivo. A área foliar, a altura de plantas e o número de nós na haste principal aumentaram com a redução na população de plantas. A altura da extremidade da primeira vagem das plantas em relação ao solo apresentou comportamento quadrático com o aumento na população de plantas. Os diferentes espaçamentos e populações de plantas não afetaram o comprimento dos entrenós na haste principal das plantas.

Adubação nitrogenada no feijoeiro após palhada de milho e braquiária no plantio direto

The present study was carried out to evaluate the agronomic and technological performance of common-bean crop following three straw mulch production system (sole corn, corn-Urochloa ruziziensis inter-crop and sole U. ruziziensis) and topdressing nitrogen fertilization (0, 40, 80, 120 and 160 kg ha(-1) of N) in the fourth year after the no-tillage system implementation. A randomized block design, in a splitplot array, with three replications was used. The use of U. ruziziensis intercropped with maize allowed a greater straw mulch formation and a more adequate coverage of the soil surface aiming the beans cultivation in succession. The nitrogen fertilization influenced the common-bean productivity in succession to U. ruziziensis unique and maize intercropped with U. ruziziensis. The common-bean crop in succession to the straw mulch production system with U. ruziziensis allowed higher grain production and sieve yield. The grain cooking time decreased due to the rates of N used in the dry bean crop in succession of maize exclusive.

Reparation and enforcement of judgments : a comparative analysis of the European and Inter-American human rights systems

The inter-American human rights system has been conceived following the example of the European system under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) before it was modified by Protocol No 11. However, two important differences exist. First, the authority of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) to order reparation has been strictly limited by the principle of subsidiarity. Thus, the ECtHR's main function is to determine whether the ECHR has been violated. Beyond the declaratory effect of its judgments, according to Article 41 ECHR, it may only "afford just satisfaction to the injured party". The powers of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) were conceived in a much broader fashion in Article 63 of the American Convention on Human Rights (ACHR), giving the Court the authority to order a variety of individual and general measures aimed at obtaining restitutio in integrum. The first main part of this thesis shows how both Courts have developed their reparation practice and examines the advantages and disadvantages of each approach. Secondly, the ECtHR's rather limited reparation powers have, interestingly, been combined with an elaborate implementation system that includes several of the Council of Europe's organs, principally the Committee of Ministers. In the Inter-American System, no dedicated mechanism was implemented to oversee compliance with the IACtHR's judgments. The ACHR limits itself to inviting the Court to point out in its annual reports the cases that have not been complied with and to propose measures to be adopted by the General Assembly of the Organization of American States. The General Assembly, however, hardly ever took action. The IACtHR has therefore filled this gap by developing a proper procedure to oversee compliance with its judgments. Both the European and the American solutions to ensure compliance are presented and compared in the second main part of this thesis. Finally, based on the results of both main parts, a comparative analysis of the reparation practice and the execution results in both human rights systems is being provided, aimed at developing proposals for the improvement of the functioning of either human rights protection system.

Nitrogen Fertilization of Corn Grown with a Cover Crop

Objectives of this project were to study corn nitrogen (N) fertilization requirement and corn-soybean yield response when grown in a rye cover cropping system. Multiple rates of N fertilizer were applied, with measurement of corn yield response to applied N and soybean yield with and without a fall planted winter rye cover crop. The study was conducted at multiple research farms, with the intent for comparison of with and without a cover crop system across varying soil and climatic conditions in Iowa.

High Tunnel Production: Inputs, Labor, and Crop Productivity

The 30 × 12 × 96 ft (W × H × L, 2,880 ft 2 ) high tunnel was planted and maintained as part of a high tunnel production budget project funded by a Specialty Crop Grant through the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. Six growers throughout the state participated in the project with the objectives of creating an enterprise budgeting tool that estimates the costs and revenues associated with producing specific crops in a high tunnel, either as a single crop or multi-crop system. The budgeting tool will estimate the production cost and net profit per square foot in a high tunnel from mono-culture (one crop per tunnel) or multi-cropping, successionplanted systems. This report summarizes the findings from the high tunnel at the ISU Horticulture Research Station. The plantings in this high tunnel were used to collect labor and yield data as well as demonstrate a continuous, multi-cropping production system. A publication containing the enterprise budgeting tool, using this data and data collected from the other six farms, will be available through Iowa State University Extension and Outreach in the fall of 2012.

Interactions between nematodes, potato and soil-borne micro-organisms and their effect on the management of potato cyst nematodes

Potato cyst nematodes (PCN) cause significant damage to the potato crop worldwide and growers experience economic losses related to yield loss and the cost of control measures. Experiments were set up to further elucidate the complex tritrophic PCNpotato-soil bacteria relationship. Bacterial strains isolated from the sugar beet rhizosphere were shown to be hatch active towards Globodera pallida and to be capable of successfully colonising the sugar beet rhizosphere when applied exogenously. A trap-crop system, based on these isolates, was proposed. Ridge and bulk soil taken from a commercial potato field were incubated with sterile potato root leachate (sPRL) and subsequent in vitro hatching assays showed that PCN hatch was influenced by microorganisms present in the ridge, but not in the bulk soil. Community level physiological profiling (CLPP) of ridge and bulk soil, using BIOLOG EcoplatesTM, demonstrated differences in bacterial functional diversity between the two soil types. An investigation of the inter-species competition between G. pallida and G. rostochiensis showed that G. pallida performed significantly better, in terms of multiplication rate, in competition with G. rostochiensis compared to its multiplication rate in single-species populations. Effectively removing the early hatch of G. rostochiensis in pot trials led to the removal of this competitive advantage of G. pallida suggesting that this advantage was due, at least in part, to morphological changes to the root caused by the early hatching of G. rostochiensis.