Energy,Nitrogen, and Farm Surplus Transitions in Agriculture from Historical Data Modeling. France, 1882–2013.

This article addresses agricultural metabolism and transitions for energy, nitrogen, farm production, self‐sufficiency, and surplus from historical data since the nineteenth century. It builds on an empirical data set on agricultural production and production means in France covering 130 consecutive years (1882–2013). Agricultural transitions have increased the net production and surplus of farms by a factor of 4 and have zeroed self‐sufficiency. The energy consumption remained quasi‐stable since 1882, but the energy and nitrogen structure of agriculture fully changed. With an EROI (energy return to energy invested) of 2 until 1950, preindustrial agriculture consumed as much energy to function as it provided in exportable surplus to sustain the nonagricultural population. The EROI doubled to 4 over the last 60 years, driven, on the one hand, by efficiency improvements in traction through the replacement of draft animals by motors and, on the other hand, by the joint increase in crop yields and efficiency in nitrogen use. Agricultural energy and nitrogen transitions shifted France from a self‐sufficiency agri‐food‐energy regime to a fossil‐dependent food export regime. Knowledge of resource conversion mechanisms over the long duration highlights the effects of changing agricultural metabolism on the system's feeding capacity. Farm self‐sufficiency is an asset against fossil fuel constraints, price volatility, and greenhouse gas emissions, but it equates to lower farm surplus in support of urbanization.     

Nitrogen use scenario in India

Nitrogen is one of the major plant nutrients without which the agricultural production is not possible. Nitrogen use in Indian agriculture was nearly 55000 tons in 1950-1951 that increased to 11.31 million tons in 2001 -2002. The total food production of the country has also experienced the similar increase from 50.83 to 222 million tons in the respective years. Interestingly the N fertilizer consumption of India remained almost constant during the last six years indicating the possibility of reducing N consumption. The highest N consumption is in North zone owing to the introduction of rice-wheat cropping system followed by West, South and East. The N use efficiency has been reported to be varying between 30% to 50% depending on the crops and the management. But in most of the cases, N use efficiency has been calculated based on the total N removed by the crops (above ground part only) ignoring the N content left in the roots. It has been observed in controlled experiments that the total N uptake by roots varied from 18% to 44% of the total N removed by the above ground parts, i.e. grain and straw. If the root N is also accounted, the N use efficiency will be higher than reported. The management of other organic sources has to be improved so as to increase the fertilizer use efficiency as well as to check the direct release of N in the atmosphere. In this review all these issues will be dealt.     

Nitrogen use scenario in India

Nitrogen is one of the major plant nutrients without which the agricultural production is not possible. Nitrogen use in Indian agriculture was nearly 55000 tons in 1950-1951 that increased to 11.31 million tons in 2001-2002. The total food production of the country has also experienced the similar increase from 50.83 to 222 million tons in the respective years. Interestingly the N fertilizer consumption of India remained almost constant during the last six years indicating the possibility of reducing N consumption. The highest N consumption is in North zone owing to the introduction of rice-wheat cropping system followed by West, South and East.The N use efficiency has been reported to be varying between 30% to 50% depending on the crops and the management. But in most of the cases, N use efficiency has been calculated based on the total N removed by the crops (above ground part only) ignoring the N content left in the roots. It has been observed in controlled experiments that the total N uptake by roots varied from 18% to 44% of the total N removed by the above ground parts, i.e. grain and straw. If the root N is also accounted, the N use efficiency will be higher than reported. The management of other organic sources has to be improved so as to increase the fertilizer use efficiency as well as to check the direct release of N in the atmosphere. In this review all these issues will be dealt.     

Marine mammals in macro-ecosystems of the Far Eastern seas and adjacent waters of the North Pacific

This article considers the role of marine mammals in a sea or ocean ecosystem based on the example of the Far Eastern seas with adjacent waters of the North Pacific, which is one of the regions of the World Ocean that is distinguished by its high biological and fish capacity and by a high abundance of cetaceans and pinnipeds. Based on extensive data, which was published mostly by Russian experts, the authors have estimated the quantities of annual consumption of fish and invertebrates by marine mammals in three Far Eastern seas: 14.6–18.2 million tons in the early 20th century; 12.3–15.1 million tons in the late 1970s; 22.7–28.8 million tons in the pre-harvest period; and 24.0–24.7 million tons in the early 21st century (27.0–29.5 million tons, if 3–5 million tons in ocean waters off the Kuril Islands and Kamchatka are taken into account). More than half of this quantity is formed by zooplankton and zoobenthos; the second largest portion consists of fish and squid. At the same time, the values of food consumption by fish and large invertebrates are much higher than these estimates for the 0–1000 m layer: 516 million tons were consumed in the 1980s–1990s; 389 million tons in 1991–1995; and 461 million tons in 1996–2005. In the years of high abundance, large walleye pollock alone consumed nearly 40 million tons of small fish and squid. Based on the data of 35-year-long ecosystem studies that were conducted by the Pacific Research Fisheries Center (TINRO Center), the following biomass estimates have been obtained for the biota of the Far Eastern Economic Zone of Russia: mesoand macroplankton, 1000 million tons; zoobenthos, 500 million tons; nekton, 100 million tons; benthic fish, 5 million tons; and large benthic invertebrates that are not included in the benthos, 2.43 million tons. By using these estimates and by comparing the quantities of food consumption by marine mammals, the conclusion was made that the role of marine mammals in food webs of waters of the Russian Far East is remarkable, but it does not reach a level that is high enough to regulate such a large-scale ecosystem as the macro-ecosystem of a sea or ocean.     

Nitrogen use scenario in India

Nitrogen is one of the major plant nutrients without which the agricultural production is not possible. Nitrogen use in Indian agriculture was nearly 55000 tons in 1950–1951 that increased to 11.31 million tons in 2001–2002. The total food production of the country has also experienced the similar increase from 50.83 to 222 million tons in the respective years. Interestingly the N fertilizer consumption of India remained almost constant during the last six years indicating the possibility of reducing N consumption. The highest N consumption is in North zone owing to the introduction of rice-wheat cropping system followed by West, South and East.

The N use efficiency has been reported to be varying between 30% to 50% depending on the crops and the management. But in most of the cases, N use efficiency has been calculated based on the total N removed by the crops (above ground part only) ignoring the N content left in the roots. It has been observed in controlled experiments that the total N uptake by roots varied from 18% to 44% of the total N removed by the above ground parts, i.e. grain and straw. If the root N is also accounted, the N use efficiency will be higher than reported. The management of other organic sources has to be improved so as to increase the fertilizer use efficiency as well as to check the direct release of N in the atmosphere. In this review all these issues will be dealt.

     

城郊有机农场生态系统服务评估——以北京市为例

快速城市化对周边农业区域造成巨大影响。都市农业能够提供世界上20%的食品,为粮食安全做出了重要贡献。在全球环境危机的背景下,农业生态保护问题得到了越来越多的关注。有机农场在生产过程中遵循自然规律,不使用化学合成的农药、化肥和生长调节剂等物质,是实现生态农业的有效模式之一。城郊有机农场得益于临近都市的地理位置,常常同时提供参观、采摘等休闲服务,加深了游客对农业的理解和与自然的连结。目前,国内研究大多关注有机食品健康、有机农业政策和环境效益,但往往忽视其提供的经济和文化价值。基于生态系统服务与人类福祉关系的概念框架,以北京市为例,从供给、调节、文化三个方面全面评估城郊有机农场的生态系统服务。结果显示,截至2019年北京市城郊共有271家有机农场,种植面积1.09万hm²,占北京市耕地面积的5.1%。供给服务价值为16.12亿元。调节服务方面,提供了2140万元的土壤碳固存价值,并且比相同面积的常规农场减少了16.4万GJ能量、2639tCO₂、202tSO₂和29tPO₄^3-的排放。文化服务方面,提供了1.189亿元的采摘服务,并促成了120余次农夫市集和50余次讲座、沙龙的宣传教育活动,积累了社会资本。本研究尝试通过直观的数据全面反映城郊有机农场对收益者的多种惠益,凸显了在有限的供给服务之外,城郊有机农场在休闲游憩和教育宣传等文化服务的贡献,为深入理解城郊有机农场生态系统服务提供基础,有助于进一步提高农业管理的精细程度和城市的可持续性。     

Dual Purpose of ligninolytic- basidiomycetes: mycoremediation of bioethanol distillation vinasse coupled to sustainable bio-based compounds production

Agro-industrial wastes consist of various agriculture and food industry residues produced worldwide at an estimated rate of a thousand million tons per year. Vinasse is the main wastewater resulting from sugarcane bioethanol production. This agro-industrial effluent is highly polluting and, when discarded with no previous treatment, may cause nutrient imbalance and salt saturation in the soil as well as a reduction in photosynthesis in aquatic ecosystems. Environmentally safe vinasse disposal requires reliable mechanisms, preferably involving the production of goods or services. Various cleanup technologies have been implemented and different microorganisms are being studied as viable remediation agents. Ligninolytic basidiomycetes, which have the ability to store, release and mineralize a wide variety of toxic materials and compounds, are a source of valuable biochemicals for agricultural and industrial uses. This review discusses the use of filamentous fungi in the bioremediation of distillery vinasses, their main characteristics, the enzymes implicated and the transformation processes involved in the production of several high-value bio-based compounds.     

Mass balancing in kinetic resolution: calculating yield and enantiomeric excess using chiral balance

When kinetic resolution is applied for the production of enantiomerically pure compounds, process options may be used which involve more than one chiral substrate and one chiral product, such as sequential or parallel enzymatic kinetic resolutions or hydrolysis of diastereomers. Although the relation between the yields (y) of the chiral compounds is straightforward in these cases, the relation between their enantiomeric excess (ee) values is not. Combining mass balances into a so-called chiral balance (Sigma y . ee(R) = 0) provides the relation between enantiomeric excess values in a useful manner. This chiral balance easily shows which nonmeasured enantiomeric excess values and yields can be calculated from measured values. The chiral balance is only valid when configurations at chiral centers are conserved. (c) 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Challenges of reducing excess nitrogen in Japanese agroecosystems

Fertilizer N use in Japan has decreased by about 30% from 1960 to 2000, while keeping a little increase in cereal yields. This has resulted in a significant increase in apparent nitrogen use efficiency, in particular for rice. On the other hand, national N Icad on the environment associated with the production and consumption of domestic and imported agricultural products has almost tripled during this period, mainly due to the dramatic increase of imports of food and feedstuffs. The environmental problems, including water and air pollution, caused by the excessive loads of N are serious public concerns and there is an urgent need to minimize N losses from agricultural production. In order to meet the necessity for reducing the environmental impacts by excess N, political and technological measures have been taken at regional and country levels. In recent years, the Japanese government has embarked on a series of policies to encourage transition to an environmentally conscious agriculture. Promoting proper material circulation with reducing fertilizer impact and utilizing biomass and livestock wastes is emphasized in these policies. The effectiveness of environmental assessment and planning for reducing regional and national N Icad has been discussed. Implementation of environmentally friendly technologies and management, both conventional and innovational, have been developed and adopted in Japanese agriculture. The effectiveness of conventional technologies in reducing environmental reactive N has been re-evaluated. Innovative technologies, such as use of controlled availability fertilizers and livestock wastes compost pellets, are being investigated and extended.A comprehensive approach that applies political and technological measures with closer cooperation is necessary to control reactive N in the environment.     

Challenges of reducing excess nitrogen in Japanese agroecosystems

Fertilizer N use in Japan has decreased by about 30% from 1960 to 2000, while keeping a little increase in cereal yields. This has resulted in a significant increase in apparent nitrogen use efficiency, in particular for rice. On the other hand, national N load on the environment associated with the production and consumption of domestic and imported agricultural products has almost tripled during this period, mainly due to the dramatic increase of imports of food and feedstuffs. The environmental problems, including water and air pollution, caused by the excessive loads of N are serious public concerns and there is an urgent need to minimize N losses from agricultural production. In order to meet the necessity for reducing the environmental impacts by excess N, political and technological measures have been taken at regional and country levels. In recent years, the Japanese government has embarked on a series of policies to encourage transition to an environmentally conscious agriculture. Promoting proper material circulation with reducing fertilizer impact and utilizing biomass and livestock wastes is emphasized in these policies. The effectiveness of environmental assessment and planning for reducing regional and national N load has been discussed. Implementation of environmentally friendly technologies and management, both conventional and innovational, have been developed and adopted in Japanese agriculture. The effectiveness of conventional technologies in reducing environmental reactive N has been re-evaluated. Innovative technologies, such as use of controlled availability fertilizers and livestock wastes compost pellets, are being investigated and extended. A comprehensive approach that applies political and technological measures with closer co-operation is necessary to control reactive N in the environment.

     

A conspectus of Barley Yellow Dwarf in Pakistan

Wheat is an important cereal crop worldwide and in Pakistan. Among the wheat producing countries, Pakistan ranks 6th with an annual wheat production of 24.214 million tons. Burgeoning population of the country demands increase in its production that is hindered by a number of pests, pathogens and environmental stresses. Among the yield limiting constraints, Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus (BYDV) is important, inflicting approximately 75% wheat production losses in diseased crop nationally. Research on BYDV and its management is mandatory for sustainable agriculture in the country. This review focuses on BYDV, its relationship with vectors, classification and management practices. Additionally, its currents status in Pakistan has been reviewed.     

Challenges of reducing excess nitrogen in Japanese agroecosystems

Fertilizer N use in Japan has decreased by about 30% from 1960 to 2000, while keeping a little increase in cereal yields. This has resulted in a significant increase in apparent nitrogen use efficiency, in particular for rice. On the other hand, national N load on the environment associated with the production and consumption of domestic and imported agricultural products has almost tripled during this period, mainly due to the dramatic increase of imports of food and feedstuffs. The environmental problems, including water and air pollution, caused by the excessive loads of N are serious public concerns and there is an urgent need to minimize N losses from agricultural production. In order to meet the necessity for reducing the environmental impacts by excess N, political and technological measures have been taken at regional and country levels. In recent years, the Japanese government has embarked on a series of policies to encourage transition to an environmentally conscious agriculture. Promoting proper material circulation with reducing fertilizer impact and utilizing biomass and livestock wastes is emphasized in these policies. The effectiveness of environmental assessment and planning for reducing regional and national N load has been discussed. Implementation of environmentally friendly technologies and management, both conventional and innovational, have been developed and adopted in Japanese agriculture. The effectiveness of conventional technologies in reducing environmental reactive N has been re-evaluated. Innovative technologies, such as use of controlled availability fertilizers and livestock wastes compost pellets, are being investigated and extended. A comprehensive approach that applies political and technological measures with closer cooperation is necessary to control reactive N in the environment.     

An exploratory model of the impact of rapid climate change on the world food situation

A simple, globally aggregated, stochastic-simulation model was constructed to examine the effects of rapid climatic change on agriculture and the human population. The model calculates population size and the production, consumption and storage of grain under different climate scenarios over a 20-year projection time. In most scenarios, either an optimistic baseline annual increase of agricultural output of 1.7% or a more pessimistic appraisal of 0.9% was used. The rate of natural increase of the human population exclusive of excess hunger-related deaths was set as 1.7% per year and climatic changes with both negative and positive impacts on agriculture were assessed. Analysis of the model suggests that the number of hunger-related deaths could double (with reference to an estimated 200 million deaths in the past two decades) if grain production keeps pace with population growth but climatic conditions are unfavourable. If the rate of increase in grain production is about half that of population growth, the number of hunger-related deaths could increase about fivefold (over past levels); the impact of climatic change is relatively small under this imbalance. Even favourable climatic changes that enhance agricultural production may not prevent a fourfold increase in deaths (over past levels) under scenarios where population growth outpaces production by about 0.8% per annum. These results may foreshadow a fundamental change where, for the first time, absolute global food deficits compound inequities in food production and distribution in causing famine. The model also highlights the effectiveness of reducing population growth rates as a strategy for minimizing the impact of global climate change and maintaining food supplies for everyone.     

Food and processing residues in California: resource assessment and potential for power generation

The California agricultural industry produces more than 350 commodities with a combined yearly value in excess of $28 billion. The processing of many of these crops results in the production of residue streams, and the food processing industry faces increasing regulatory pressure to reduce environmental impacts and provide for sustainable management and use. Surveys of food and other processing and waste management sectors combined with published state data yield a total resource in excess of 4 million metric tons of dry matter, with nearly half of this likely to be available for utilization. About two-thirds of the available resource is produced as high-moisture residues that could support 134 MWe of power generation by anaerobic digestion and other conversion techniques. The other third is generated as low-moisture materials, many of which are already employed as fuel in direct combustion biomass power plants. The cost of energy conversion remains high for biochemical systems, with tipping or disposal fees of the order of $30-50Mg(-1) required to align power costs with current market prices. Identifying ways to reduce capital and operating costs of energy conversion, extending operating seasons to increase capacity factors through centralizing facilities, combining resource streams, and monetizing environmental benefits remain important goals for restructuring food and processing waste management in the state.     

Quantification of Key Genes Steering the Microbial Nitrogen Cycle in the Rhizosphere of Sorghum Cultivars in Tropical Agroecosystems

The effect of agricultural management practices on geochemical cycles in moderate ecosystems is by far better understood than in semiarid regions, where fertilizer availability and climatic conditions are less favorable. We studied the impact of different fertilizer regimens in an agricultural long-term observatory in Burkina Faso at three different plant development stages (early leaf development, flowering, and senescence) of sorghum cultivars. Using real-time PCR, we investigated functional microbial communities involved in key processes of the nitrogen cycle (nitrogen fixation, ammonia oxidation, and denitrification) in the rhizosphere. The results indicate that fertilizer treatments and plant development stages combined with environmental factors affected the abundance of the targeted functional genes in the rhizosphere. While nitrogen-fixing populations dominated the investigated communities when organic fertilizers (manure and straw) were applied, their numbers were comparatively reduced in urea-treated plots. In contrast, ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) increased not only in absolute numbers but also in relation to the other bacterial groups investigated in the urea-amended plots. Ammonia-oxidizing archaea exhibited higher numbers compared to AOB independent of fertilizer application. Similarly, denitrifiers were also more abundant in the urea-treated plots. Our data imply as well that, more than in moderate regions, water availability might shape microbial communities in the rhizosphere, since low gene abundance data were obtained for all tested genes at the flowering stage, when water availability was very limited.Land degradation is one of the most serious threats to food production on the African continent. Soil erosion, nutrient depletion, low organic matter content, and unfavorable pH values are some of the reasons for a deficient soil fertility (30), mainly in Central African countries. Combined with high variability and irregular distribution of rainfall, these factors contribute to negative nutrient balances. For example, 4.4 million tons of nitrogen (N) are lost per year in African soils, but only 0.8 million tons are reapplied by fertilization (12, 34). Since nitrogen is a key nutrient determining the productivity of agroecosystems (7, 11, 43), it is of central importance to optimize the nitrogen balance in these countries, mainly by steering the genetic resources of soil microbes in a way that losses of applied nitrogen are minimized and biological nitrogen fixation is increased. The aim should be to obtain a highly efficient nitrogen turnover, with leaching of nitrate and losses of gaseous products such as nitrous oxide (N₂O) or dinitrogen (N₂) as low as possible.Despite the importance of this issue, not much data are available on microbial community structure and function related to the nitrogen cycle in agroecosystems of Central Africa, and scenarios from moderate climatic regions cannot simply be transferred to tropical agroecosystems. Furthermore, the few studies published thus far only investigated effects of agricultural management on a single process of the nitrogen turnover (18, 20, 32) and ignore the fact that nitrogen turnover is a network of closely interlinked processes.Therefore, we sought to investigate the effects of different fertilizer regimens on multiple transformation processes within the nitrogen cycle in agroecosystems from semiarid areas in Central Africa. We investigated nitrogen dynamics on a full-cycle approach, including the most important steps in well-aerated agricultural soils (nitrification, denitrification, and nitrogen fixation). We hypothesized that each fertilizer regimen results in typical abundance pattern of the functional populations. While in moderate agroecosystems the plant (respectively, the plant development stage and the plant performance) plays an important role in shaping microbial community structure and function in the rhizosphere, we further postulated that nitrogen turnover and the corresponding populations are also influenced by the availability of water in semiarid soils. To test these hypotheses on a molecular basis, we quantified bacterial genes encoding the nitrogenase reductase (nifH), ammonia monooxygenase (amoA), and nitrite reductase (nirK and nirS), as well as archaeal amoA genes, by real-time PCR and linked the data to soil properties and grain yield.     

1990—2010年淮河流域人类活动净氮输入

1990—2010年,淮河流域粮食产量由6414×10⁴ t增长到10121×10⁴ t(增幅为58%),城市化率由13%增长到35%(涨幅为22%),流域社会经济发生了显著变化.从流域整体定量评估人类活动所带来的生态环境影响将为区域生态环境管理提供科学依据.本文估算淮河流域1990—2010年人类活动净氮输入(NANI)的空间分布及变化趋势.结果表明: 研究期间,淮河流域氮输入量呈现出增加趋势;1990—2001年流域内氮输入量快速增加,2001年后氮输入增加趋势减缓.1990年氮输入量为17232 kg N·km^-2·a^-1,2003年氮输入量最高,为28771 kg N·km^-2·a^-1,2010年回落为26415 kg N·km^-2·a^-1.从氮输入的组成上来看,化肥和大气氮沉降仍然是最主要的输入来源,其次为食品/饲料和生物固氮的输入.化肥和大气沉降输入占总氮输入的比例持续增加,由1990年的64%和16%分别增长至2010年的77%和19%.单纯以增施化肥来实现粮食增产、化石燃料大量燃烧来推动经济发展的观念,应切实转变到改善农业耕种技术、实现新能源的发展轨道上来,进而推动社会经济的可持续发展.     

Economic impact of future biological nitrogen fixation technologies on United States agriculture

The economic impact of some future biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) technologies are estimated using AGSIM, an economietric model of United States agriculture. Five separate scenarios were modeled: (1) legumes fix more nitrogen (N₂) with no yield increase, (2) legumes fix more N₂ with an increase in yields of 10%, (3) N fertilization requirements on all crops are reduced 50% with no yield changes, (4) total elimination of N fertilization, and (5) total elimination of N fertilization and non-legume yields decrease 10%. Results indicate that BNF technologies have a high value to society. Increasing the efficiency of legumes to fix N₂ may have an annual US benefit of $1,067 million while decreasing N fertilization by 1,547 thousand metric tons. Total elimination of N fertilization of the major crops has an annual US benefit of $4,484 million.     

Heavy-Metal Balances, Part II: Management of Cadmium, Copper, Lead, and Zinc in European Agro-Ecosystems

The aim of sustainable heavy-metal management in agroecosystems is to ensure that the soil continues to fulfill its functions: in agricultural production, in environmental processes such as the cycling of elements, and as a habitat of numerous organisms. To understand and manage heavy-metal flows effectively, a consistent approach to modeling the flows is needed within the particular agro-system under study. General aspects of heavy-metal balance studies in agro-ecosystems were described in part I of this study. In this article (part II), several European studies of heavy-metal balances at varying spatial scales and in a variety of agro-ecosystems are reviewed. Sectoral studies at the national and international levels provide information for economic analyses and generic regulations; however, policies implemented at these levels often ignore farm characteristics and individual management options. Field-scale and farm-gate balances give farmers specific feedback on effective options for better heavy-metal management. Heavy-metal balances could be incorporated in an environmental management system of certified farms. In this way, farm certification may well serve as a basis from which to develop policy to address environmental issues in agriculture.     

Agrochemical characterisation of "alperujo", a solid by-product of the two-phase centrifugation method for olive oil extraction

Introduction of the two-phase centrifugation system for olive oil extraction during the early nineties in Spain has led to the generation of approximately four million tons per year of a solid olive-mill by-product called "alperujo" (AL). Agrochemical characterisation showed that AL has a high moisture content, slightly acidic pH values and a very high content of organic matter, mainly composed by lignin, hemicellulose and cellulose. It also has a considerable proportion of fats, proteins, water-soluble carbohydrates and a small but active fraction of hydrosoluble phenolic substances. Amongst plant nutrients, AL is rich in potassium, less so in (mainly organic) nitrogen and poor in phosphorus and micronutrients. Some of those properties are not compatible with agricultural requirements, for which reason composting may be considered a suitable alternative for its disposal. AL needs to be characterised before composting, and so an attempt was made to correlate the easily determined ash content with other parameters; the regression models thus obtained are discussed.