152132 research outputs found
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Monitoring report on fertilizer validation trials under the Kenya fertilizer access and nutrient use efficiency program
No full textThe Excellency in Agronomy (EiA) initiative in collaboration with Africa Fertilizer Agribusiness Partnerships (AFAP), Kenya
Agriculture and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO), President’s Economic Transformation Secretariat (PETS),
University of Eldoret and the Ministry of Agriculture are conducting fertilizer validation trials in Nandi County of Kenya.
The aim of the fertilizer validation exercise is to:
1) Establish what are the localized NPK fertilizer recommendation for maize
2) Assess maize response to application of lime
3) Increase maize yields and profitability by at least 20%.
To achieve the above objectives, three fertilizer recommendations were identified/developed for validation:
1) Agwise recommendation: different rates of NPK (17:17:17) depending on the sub-County’s soil nutrient levels
2) Agwise recommendation + lime: NPK (17:17:17) + Lime guided by sub-County’s soil pH levels
3) Blanket recommendation: Ministry of Agriculture recommendation for the County applied in form of Di-
ammonium phosphate (DAP)
Biological technology and agricultural policy: an assessment of azolla in Philippine rice production
No full textConcerns about external debt and energy security have motivated several developing countries to develop biological technologies to substitute for petrochemical inputs. This paper examines the economic feasibility of azolla as a source of nitrogen in Philippine rice production. Green manuring with azolla is found not to be cost effective. Substantial savings from intercropping with azolla can be realized only if the cost of nitrogen from azolla is compared with the price of nitrogen from ammonium sulfate, but not if urea is used as the basis of comparison. Farmers would benefit more from liberalization of import controls on urea. Additional research is needed to develop appropriate chemical‐saving systems before investing heavily in extension
CGIAR Climate Impact Platform establishes 600 member strong global Climate Community of Practice across all 15 research centers to enhance collaboration and expertise
No full textFor the first time ever, a climate community of practice was launched in 2023 across all CGIAR centers to strengthened capacity among around 600 people
Territorial Intelligence: A collective opportunity for sustainable pastoral development and good rangeland governance in South Tunisia
No full textPastoralism is still considered an important economic and cultural aspect of the life of the Tunisian communities practicing agropastoral faming in South Tunisia. Our research on fundamental rangeland governance aspects showed that questions on “how to sustain rangelands and enhance their governance” and “how to develop pastoral areas” are highly interlinked. A research was carried out explore these linkages based on the “territorial intelligence - TI” concept. We particularly aim to explore the opportunities to apply the TI (as reflected by more efficient pastoral development investments) as a wider framework to enhance rangeland governance through more efficient pastoral development actions and investments. A mixed methodology has been used combining both social network analysis and “prospective system” method. To this end, results show that the lack of communication between the main economic actors involved in the management of collective pastoral areas, the ominance of the local authorities on pastoral development program design, and the weak autonomy of community based organizations (CBO’s) are the main challenge factors which could enhance harmony between rangeland governance and pastoral development
Combining spaceborne lidar from the global ecosystem dynamics Investigation with local knowledge for monitoring fragmented tropical landscapes: A case study in the forest–agriculture interface of Ucayali, Peru
No full textAbstract Improving our ability to monitor fragmented tropical ecosystems is a critical step in supporting the stewardship of these complex landscapes. We investigated the structural characteristics of vegetation classes in Ucayali, Peru, employing a co‐production approach. The vegetation classes included three agricultural classes (mature oil palm, monocrop cacao, and agroforestry cacao plantations) and three forest regeneration classes (mature lowland forest, secondary lowland forest, and young lowland vegetation regrowth). We combined local knowledge with spaceborne lidar from NASA's Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation mission to classify vegetation and characterize the horizontal and vertical structure of each vegetation class. Mature lowland forest had consistently higher mean canopy height and lower canopy height variance than secondary lowland forest (μ = 29.40 m, sd = 6.89 m vs. μ = 20.82 m, sd = 9.15 m, respectively). The lower variance of mature forest could be attributed to the range of forest development ages in the secondary forest patches. However, secondary forests exhibited a similar vertical profile to mature forests, with each cumulative energy percentile increasing at similar rates. We also observed similar mean and standard deviations in relative height ratios (RH50/RH95) for mature forest, secondary forest, and oil palm even when removing the negative values from the relative height ratios and interpolating from above‐ground returns only (mean RH50/RH95 of 0.58, 0.54, and 0.53 for mature forest, secondary forest, and oil palm, respectively) ( p < .0001). This pattern differed from our original expectations based on local knowledge and existing tropical forest succession studies, pointing to opportunities for future work. Our findings suggest that lidar‐based relative height metrics can complement local information and other remote sensing approaches that rely on optical imagery, which are limited by extensive cloud cover in the tropics. We show that characterizing ecosystem structure with a co‐production approach can support addressing both the technical and social challenges of monitoring and managing fragmented tropical landscapes
High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol Concentrations and Particle Size Are Modified by Dietary Zinc in Men
No full textObjective To measure biomarkers of lipid metabolism in response to a marginal zinc depletion, repletion, and supplementation in healthy male subjects. Methods Eighteen male subjects between ages of 18–45 consumed a controlled diet (80% carbohydrate, 10% fat, 10% protein) with two levels of dietary zinc. Phase I: Low zinc: 6 mg/day with 1.5 mg of phytate (2 weeks); Phase II: Zinc repletion: 10 mg/day with no phytate (4 weeks). Thereafter, a 25 mg/day zinc supplement was administered with an ad libitum diet for 3 weeks (Phase III). Targeted analysis of lipids and lipoprotein particle size were performed using standard methodology. Results Plasma zinc levels remained unchanged during Phases I and II in all subjects; they increased by 17.4 ± 3.8% (mean ± SE) at the end of supplementation (phase III). Apo-A1 decreased significantly from 119.2 ± 13.2 mg/dL (mean ± SD) to 110.2 ± 13.2 mg/dL (p=0.003) at the end of the low zinc period. Apo-A1 remained low at the end of phase II, but returned back to baseline after supplementation. A similar pattern was observed in HDL-c and HDL-L (large buoyant HDL particles) levels across the three phases. Plasma triglyceride levels increased during the 6-week high-carbohydrate diet, but were not modified by shifts in dietary zinc. Based on our previous observation of higher DNA strand breaks in the low zinc metabolic period and literature reports linking cancer to low HDL-c levels, we performed a correlation analysis of DNA strand breaks and HDL subspecies. Our results show that the percent changes in HDL-L and DNA strand breaks from phase I to II are negatively correlated (r=−0.45; p=0.05). Conclusion Results from our studies show that low zinc combined with a high carbohydrate diet increased biomarkers of dyslipidemia, but provision of adequate dietary zinc or a zinc supplement for a short period of time mitigated the increase in these biomarkers. Support or Funding Information Harvest Plu
International migration and environmental degradation: the case of Mozambican refugees and forest resources in Malawi.
No full textConsidering the continuous influx of Mozambican refugees to Malawi as an external shock to the forest ecosystem, a dynamic model of optimizing the use of forest tree resources is developed in this paper. Land clearing for refugee camp sites, construction material, fuelwood and agricultural crop production constitute a major threat to forest resources in the refugee populated areas. The model presented in the paper provides a framework for analysing various afforestation and technology policies to increase the sustainable use of forest tree resources. The optimal conditions for choosing the levels of land clearing for various uses of refugee population are derived. The model parameters are used to identify the optimal timing and rate of afforestation that will attain a dynamic equilibrium of forest tree resources. Several policy implications are derived from the model results for reducing the environmental degradation of forest resources due to the presence of refugees. It is argued that the general environmental regulation policies based on user-pay principles may not be appropriate under the refugee situation and that additional intervention is needed by the host government and international relief agencies for reversing the trends in deforestation
Molecular characterization workflow of gene-edited rice lines: from development to securing non-transgenic status
No full textGenome editing technology enables precise, cost-effective, and rapid introduction of desirable traits to crops overcoming the limitations posed by conventional plant breeding and transgenesis. Ensuring the presence of desired edits, verifying the editing system's accuracy, and securing non-transgenic status are all crucial in expediting development, Philippine regulatory compliance, and the eventual deployment of plants generated through genome editing. This work outlines a streamlined molecular characterization workflow for gene-edited rice lines, covering the entire development process from construct design to achieving non-transgenic state as a requirement for the certificate of non-coverage from the DOST-DA-DENR-DOH-DILG Joint Department Circular No. 1, Series of 2021 (JDC No.1, s. 2021)
