{"title":"Understanding Species Traits and Biodiversity Indices to Solve Problems Associated with Legume Persistence in Cropping Systems","authors":"M. Islam, D. Ashilenje","doi":"10.5772/INTECHOPEN.76523","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5772/INTECHOPEN.76523","url":null,"abstract":"Shading and competition for mineral nutrients by grass impair legume functions and production in mixed cropping systems. Sustained stress from competition and adverse environments contribute to shortened legume life spans in such cropping systems. This creates negative consequences to forage productivity. There are opportunities to solve the challenge of legume persistence by understanding species traits and plant community dynamics that foster coexistence and complementary resource use. Together with species ’ unique ability to tolerate adverse soil factors such as water stress, acidity and salinity, self- seeding, and shade tolerance are positive traits among legume species that grow in mixed crops. In communities, converging leaf and shoot conformations as well as asynchrony in dry matter distribution among species can avert negative effects of species competition. While seeding ratios can influence forage production and quality, management including harvest frequency and optimizing phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) fertilizers have crucial roles in perpetuating legume growth and function in mixtures with grass. Some facts on species competition for light, water, and nutrient resources; shade avoidance; and biodiversity mechanisms are highlighted in this chapter.","PeriodicalId":282239,"journal":{"name":"Plant Competition in Cropping Systems","volume":"36 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-10-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128378621","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Ecological Role of Biodiversity for Crop Protection","authors":"Ö. Baysal, R. Silme","doi":"10.5772/INTECHOPEN.78228","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5772/INTECHOPEN.78228","url":null,"abstract":"Agricultural system is a complex community sheltering different ecological units. The units of this complex structure are in balance with each other showing fluctuations to ensure effective regulations from time to time depending on the abundance of both undesirable and beneficial organisms. This balance is a major case for biological activity playing an important role to maintain biological diversity. Once this natural balance is impaired due to abiotic and biotic factors occurring in biosystems, the economic and environmental problems appear becoming significant for the economical dimension in agriculture. The most important components showing deficiencies in systemically agro ecostructure problems result from soil fertility, pest and disease management. Large interactions, which are concomitantly persisting with biological processes, are on plant and animal biodiversity, which have been affected by miss-treatments in crop protection and plant nutrition. Hence, food-web and biodiversity are indirectly seriously damaged in nature, such as recycling of nutrients and changes of microclimate. In this chapter, we have discussed the major effects of crop protection on biodiversity in detail regarding the persistence of biodiversity that needs to be mediated, considering the preserving of eco - logical properties and sustainable maintenance of biological integrity in agroecosystems .","PeriodicalId":282239,"journal":{"name":"Plant Competition in Cropping Systems","volume":"14 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-10-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125584483","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Introductory Chapter: Plant Competition in Multiple Cropping Systems beyond Conceptual Knowledge","authors":"D. Dunea","doi":"10.5772/INTECHOPEN.81076","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5772/INTECHOPEN.81076","url":null,"abstract":"In the coming years, farmers will face difficult challenges throughout the world in the context of climate change, water scarcity and environmental issues caused by conventional agricultural technologies. An effective management of natural resources can be encouraged by orienting the common agricultural practices towards the functional biodiversity concept in designing and implementing sustainable and eco-friendly cropping systems. It is well established that the enhancement of biodiversity facilitates and ameliorates the natural regulatory mechanisms of pests, insects and weeds [1].","PeriodicalId":282239,"journal":{"name":"Plant Competition in Cropping Systems","volume":"463 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-10-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116025816","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Land Utilization Pattern in the Indonesian Forest: Cassava Cultivation in an Agroforestal System","authors":"E. Banowati, S. Nugraha","doi":"10.5772/INTECHOPEN.76928","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5772/INTECHOPEN.76928","url":null,"abstract":"The potential forestland for agroforestry implementation in Indonesia is teak forest ( Tectona grandis ). The teak forest is less dense during the dry season, allowing sunlight to enter through the trees gap to the ground under the canopy. Therefore, some people use that condition as “palawija” farming land (palawija/phaladwija, in Java-Indonesia represents the type of non-rice agricultural crops). It is done to prevent the growth of weeds that can disturb the teak growth. The phenomenon of land utilization under the stands (PLDT) is an alternative in accessing forestland use by the community, a part of intercropping location. Theoretically, if the implementation was correct, it could be an effort to restore the forest ecological function. The pattern of the PLDT model on teak forests needs to select correct plants according to temporal dynamics, namely the season (dry or rainy) and the plants age. Land use representation could be seen from the cultiva- tion pattern and crops variety that is cultivated under the forest stands at three research locations called Development Areas wilayah pengembangan (WP). The palawija crops that exist on all three WP were cassava ( Manihot esculenta Crantz).","PeriodicalId":282239,"journal":{"name":"Plant Competition in Cropping Systems","volume":"63 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-10-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116594866","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Enhancing Productivity in Rice-Based Cropping Systems","authors":"U. Sravan, K. Murthy","doi":"10.5772/INTECHOPEN.76904","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5772/INTECHOPEN.76904","url":null,"abstract":"In India, the rice-based cropping system is a major food production system with rice as the first food crop. The cereal-based cropping system is low-yielding and highly nutrient exhaustive resulting in the declining of soil fertility. Summer/pre kharif fallowing leaves on the land fallow for entire season and production of the cropping system is declined. Hence, crops that can improve the fertility status should be included in the cropping system. Development of short duration thermal insensitive rice varieties has encouraged multiple cropping involving a wide range of crops. Diversification of rice-based cropping systems with inclusion of pulses/legumes and oilseeds in summer fallows is one of the options for horizontal expansion, as they are known to improve soil organic matter through biological nitrogen fixation, root exudates, leaf shedding and higher below ground biomass. The strategy for higher yields in the cropping system should be formulated using the combined application of organics, inorganics and biofertilizers coupled with the inclusion of crops in summer fallows for sustainable yields and preservation of soil health.","PeriodicalId":282239,"journal":{"name":"Plant Competition in Cropping Systems","volume":"4 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-10-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127573652","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
F. Schreiber, Ananda Scherner, A. Andres, G. Concenço, F. Goulart
{"title":"Competitive Ability of Rice Cultivars in the Era of Weed Resistance","authors":"F. Schreiber, Ananda Scherner, A. Andres, G. Concenço, F. Goulart","doi":"10.5772/INTECHOPEN.78342","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5772/INTECHOPEN.78342","url":null,"abstract":"Almost all plants are negatively affected by neighboring plants, which impose some degree of competition within the population, depending mainly on the quantity and quality of natural resources available in the environment. In rice cultivation, the occur - rence of a high and diverse infestation of weeds results in high competition levels among the species. In addition, the high and growing number of cases about herbicide-resistant weeds, especially the widespread distribution of Imidazolinone-resistant weedy-rice and the high infestation of weeds belonging to the Echinochloa genus, has increased the competition levels within rice cultivation due to the lack of control. Therefore, the inclusion of rice cultivars with greater competitive ability represents a promising tool for weed management, since new cases of resistance to herbicides are often reported and alternative control strategies are scarce. The use of rice cultivars with a greater ability to suppress weeds can alleviate the competitive effect of these species, giving priority to the crop for the use of environmental resources due to the faster occupation of the ecological niches. Thus, this chapter aims to explore the competitive ability of rice cultivars against troublesome weed species, accounting for the role of their morphological and physiologi cal traits as a function of environment-friendly crop practices. on their biological and morphological traits to optimize management strategies. Germination and emergence patterns, dry mass, dry mass accumulation, plants height, number of tillers or branches, number of inflorescences other variables often for future estimations","PeriodicalId":282239,"journal":{"name":"Plant Competition in Cropping Systems","volume":"38 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-10-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128172803","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}