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Advantages of bi-cropping field beans (Vicia faba) and wheat (Triticum aestivum) on cereal forage yield and quality
Get PDFIn organic production systems, penalties in cereal forage yield and low crude protein (CP) concentration are mainly caused by limited soil nitrogen (N) availability, which can be addressed by using cereal/grain legume bi-cropping systems. To confirm this, a bi-cropping experiment of spring wheat cv. Paragon and faba beans cvs. Fuego and Maris Bead was conducted in two years, using a randomised complete block design and sowing the crops in a replacement design series. In 2016, the wheat forage yield in sole cropping exceeded that in bi-cropping by 58%. In 2015, the wheat forage harvest index (HI) in bi-cropping was 14% higher than that in sole cropping, but in 2016 it was 7% lower. In both years, bi-cropping increased the CP and the grain N uptake in the wheat compared with that sole cropping, by 25% and 17%, respectively. The chlorophyll concentration index (CCI) in the wheat was 2.2 times higher in bi-cropping than in sole cropping and 34% higher in the alternate rows systems than in the broadcast system. In 2015, the efficiency of N use (NLER) in bi-cropping was 50.7% higher than that in sole cropping. Alternate row bi-cropping improved NLER over broadcast by 37.9%. Faba bean rust disease was more severe in Fuego than in Maris Bead. In conclusion, bi-cropping in uniform alternate row spacing can improve productivity and nutritional quality of wheat forage, compared with sole cropping. The bi-crop bean cultivars Fuego and Maris Bead can, improve wheat straw CP and reduce rust disease severity, respectively
A participatory, farmer-led approach to changing practices around antimicrobial use on UK farms
Get PDFFarmer-led, participatory approaches are being increasingly employed in agricultural research with promising results. This study aimed to understand how a participatory approach based on the Danish Stable Schools could help to achieve practical, farmer-led changes that reduced reliance on antimicrobials in the UK. Five facilitated Farmer Action Groups comprising 30 dairy farms across South West England met on farm at regular intervals between 2016 – 2018 and worked collaboratively within their groups to discuss how to reduce antimicrobial use. Qualitative data from group discussions and individual semi-structured interviews were collected and analysed using thematic analysis to explore how the approach helped farmers address and deal with changes to their on-farm practices. Facilitator-guided reviews of antimicrobial use and benchmarking were carried out on each farm to assess any change in usage and help farmers review their practices. The pattern of antimicrobial use changed over the 2 years of the study with 21 participating farms reducing their use of highest priority critically important antibiotics (6 farms were not using any of these critical medicines from the outset). Thirty practical action plans were co-developed by the groups with an average implementation rate of 54.3% within a year. All assessed farms implemented 1 recommendation, and many were still ongoing at the end of the study. Farmers particularly valued the peer-to-peer learning during farm walks. Farmers reported how facilitated discussions and action planning as a peer group had empowered them to change practices. Participants identified knowledge gaps during the project, particularly on highest priority critically important antibiotics where they were not getting information from their veterinarians. The study demonstrated that facilitation has a valuable role to play in participatory approaches beyond moderating discussion; facilitators encouraged knowledge mobilization within the groups and were participants in the research as well. Facilitated, farmer-led, participatory approaches that mobilize different forms of knowledge and encourage peer learning are a promising way of helping farmers to adapt and develop responsible practices
What causes organisations to fail? A review of literature to inform future food sector (management) research
Get PDFBackground: Organizational failure in food markets is a potential threat to food security. Thus, a greater understanding of the factors that influence organizational failure and reduce supply chain resilience is essential to underpin agile and dynamic food supply chains.
Scope and Approach: The aim of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of system level factors that influence organizational failure in food supply chains in order to conceptualize the horizontal and vertical interaction of such factors at the three levels described: the micro system, the meso system and the macro system level. A systematic review, based on a specific search strategy, incorporated articles from the fields of management, business and economics research. Whilst 616 articles were initially identified, only 41 of these were within the established inclusion criteria and reviewed. A model of organizational failure, determined here as “The House of Cards Model”, is developed, that can then be empirically tested in further research.
Key findings and conclusions: A hierarchy was developed to contextualize the factors deemed to be of influence. The macro (external environment) level includes criteria such as economic conditions, formal institutions, government policies, competitors and rumors. The factors addressed in the meso (organizational) level include organization age and size, location, property structure, client, supplier and shareholder relationships, financial resources, physical resources, human resources and succession process. At the micro (individual) level the managers’ skill, characteristics, actions and mindset are of influence. This paper contributes to advancing the debate and underpins further empirical research on organizational failure in food supply chains
Growth rates of Thoroughbred foals and in vitro gut health parameters when fed a cereal or an all fibre creep feed.
Get PDFAbstract
Traditions and the economic advantage when producing big athletic TB yearlings for sale, encourages owners to feed high levels of cereals. Such diets can predispose gastric ulceration and developmental orthopaedic diseases, impacting negatively on future careers. Study aims: 1. Determine if an all fibre creep feed (TMFR) would sustain equal growth rates in TB foals versus a cereal based stud cube (SC); 2. Compare pH and lactate produced by SC and TMFR in in vitro foregut and hind gut conditions. Eight TB foals in matched-pairs were fed SC or TMFR for 18 weeks. Weight gain (ADG), height at wither and hip, heart girth and body length were recorded weekly. Similar growth rates were recorded for all measurements. ADG of 1 and 1.1kg/head/d for TMFR and SC respectively. In vitro foregut incubation of SC and TMFR at 37oC in pepsin HCl solution for 6 hours, produced higher pH 5.84 (TMFR) compared with 5.33 (SC) (P<0.05). Gas production measured fermentation rate, acidity and lactate from TMFR and SC, incubated with faecal inoculum from the foals on the same diet. Fermentation rates and lag times were equal for both feeds; total gas produced, t 50 and Y50 were greater (P<0.05) for SC. Lactate and pH levels were lower and higher respectively for the TMFR. This study showed that similar growth in TB foals was achieved on the TMFR feed and that potentially better gut health, denoted by higher pH and lower lactate levels could be maintained by fibre compared with cereal feed
Swans and Elephants: a typology to capture the challenges of food supply chain risk assessment
Get PDFBackground: As a result of internal or external shocks, food supply chains can transition between existing regimes of assembly and planned activity to situations that are unexpected or unknown. These events can occur without warning, causing stress, shift, even collapse, and impact on business/supply chain viability.
Scope and Approach: The aim of this research is to consider how with existing complexity, uncertainty and constantly emerging transitions, risk managers food supply chains can comprehend, and address risk. This study, based on an iterative analysis of grey and academic literature, considers the application of multiple swan (black, grey, white) and black and white elephant theory to food supply chain risk. Case study examples explore and explain the academic theory in more depth. Five types of risk are considered: known knowns, unknown knowns, known unknowns, unknown unknowns and a category introduced in this paper, unknowable unknowns.
Key findings and conclusions: Traditional risk assessment techniques, mediated by the level of knowledge uncertainty, lead risk managers to accept, tolerate, treat or ignore a risk. Effective risk assessment can convert black swans via grey swans ultimately into white swans, but in some circumstances, white swans can escalate to be grey swans again. When the risk manager intentionally chooses to accept a black elephant, this can result in a significant public health incident and/or extreme financial impact. The multiple swan (black, grey, white) and black and white elephant typology developed here can assist risk managers to more effectively visualise and rank supply chain risk
VIRS based detection in combination with machine learning for mapping soil pollution
Get PDFWidespread soil contamination threatens living standards and weakens global efforts towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Detailed soil mapping is needed to guide effective countermeasures and sustainable remediation operations. Here, we review visible and infrared reflectance spectroscopy (VIRS) based detection methods in combination with machine learning. To date, proximal, airborne and spaceborne carrier devices have been employed for soil contamination detection, allowing large areas to be covered at low cost and with minimal secondary environmental impact. In this way, soil contaminants can be monitored remotely, either directly or through correlation with soil components (e.g. Fe oxides, soil organic matter, clay minerals). Observed vegetation reflectance spectra has also been proven an effective indicator for mapping soil pollution. Calibration models based on machine learning are used to interpret spectral data and predict soil contamination levels. The algorithms used for this include partial least squares regression, neural networks, and random forest. The processes underlying each of these approaches are outlined in this review. Finally, current challenges and future research directions are explored and discusse
Relative contribution of ancient woodland indicator and non-indicator species to herb layer distinctiveness in ancient semi-natural, ancient replanted, and recent woodland.
Get PDFQuestions: The floristic distinctiveness of ancient woodland relative to recent woodland is commonly measured by Ancient Woodland Indicator (AWI) species richness. However, focusing on a pre-defined subset of species means that wider community-level differences may be overlooked. Can ancient semi-natural, ancient replanted, and recent woodland herb layer communities be distinguished by alpha, beta, and gamma diversity? How are any differences partitioned across AWI and non-AWI species communities?
Location: Cotswolds, South-West UK.
Methods: To quantify AWI and non-AWI responses to stand history in ancient semi-natural, ancient replanted, and recent woodland, we conducted floristic surveys of 45 sites. Using a modelling approach, we tested the relative and additive contribution of alpha scale AWI and non-AWI species richness to woodland distinctiveness. Ordination was applied to analyse beta species composition distinctiveness, and multilevel pattern analysis was used to examine which species were significant contributors to gamma scale richness differences.
Results: AWI species richness models significantly distinguished ancient semi-natural woodland from both ancient replanted and recent woodland at the alpha scale. For the classification of ancient semi-natural woodland and recent woodland, the hierarchical inclusion of non-AWI alpha richness resulted in a superior and more significant model. AWI gamma richness was numerically similar for all three woodland categories, whereas non-AWI was more varied. AWI and non-AWI species composition showed significant beta diversity differences among all woodland types, with six species being significant drivers of differences.
Conclusions: Our results have revealed previously undetected complexity in the contributions of AWI and non-AWI species to floristic distinctiveness of ancient woodland. In addition to traditional AWI species, the non-AWI assemblage also exhibited a sensitivity to habitat continuity that: (a) adds weight to the argument that ancient woodland is floristically distinct from recent woodland; and (b) provides a useful measure of success for ancient replanted woodland restoration
Investigating the status of pyrethroid resistance in UK populations of the cabbage stem flea beetle (Psylliodes chrysocephala)
Get PDFThe cabbage stem flea beetle, Psylliodes chrysocephala L. is a major pest of winter oilseed rape in several European countries. Traditionally, neonicotinoid and pyrethroid insecticides have been widely used for control of P. chrysocephala, but in recent years, following the withdrawal of neonicotinoid insecticide seed treatments, control failures have occurred due to an over reliance on pyrethroids. In line with previous surveys, UK populations of P. chrysocephala were found to exhibit high levels of resistance to the pyrethroid lambda-cyhalothrin. This resistance was suppressed by pre-treatment with the cytochrome P450 inhibitor PBO under laboratory conditions, suggesting that the resistance has a strong metabolic component. The L1014F (kdr) mutation in the voltage-gated sodium channel, which confers relatively low levels (10–20 fold) of resistance to pyrethroids, was also found to be widespread across the UK regions sampled, whereas the L925I (s-kdr) mutation was also present but much less common. The current survey also suggests that higher levels of pyrethroid resistance have spread to the North and West of England, and that resistance levels continue to remain high in the South East
Ecopreneurial education and support: developing the innovators of today and tomorrow
Get PDFEntrepreneurship and more particularly ecopreneurship are essential to drive the sustainable transitions needed in food supply chains. Existing pedagogic frameworks should address these academic disciplines and they should be embedded in the educational curricula. Even when ideas are formed that can drive sustainable change the process from ideation to commercialization can be difficult. The so-called “valley of death.” This aim of this conceptual paper is to consider pedagogic and program design and the mechanisms required to enaction of a body of practice around entrepreneurship and more specifically ecopreneurship within academic curricula and associated business incubators. This makes this paper of particular interest for both academia, policy makers and industry support sectors alike. An existing university that has both a student enterprise and ecopreneurship programme and an established agri-technology business incubator and accelerator is used as a case study to provide insight into how progress from ideation to commercialization can be more readily supported in a university setting. From a pedagogical perspective, it is incumbent to develop new conceptual, methodological and theoretically underpinned spiral pedagogies to teach and support future generations of learners at agricultural and landbased colleges and universities as to how to exploit and take advantage of entrepreneurial and ecopreneurial business opportunities. Productization too needs to be embedded into the ecopreneurial pedagogy and also consideration of how businesses and their associated ecopreneurs navigate from ideation to successful product/service commercialization
The Haybiome: Characterising the viable bacterial community profile of four different hays for horses following different pre-feeding regimens
Get PDFRespirable dust in conserved forages can pose problems with equid respiratory health, thus soaking (W) and high temperature steaming (HTS) are employed to reduce the levels in hay. The aim of this study was to characterize the viable bacterial community profile of four hays from two different locations in UK following pre-feeding wetting regimens. Hypothesis: (1).Viable microbial community profile of hays will not differ between different pre-feeding regimens. (2).Hay type and location will not influence microbial community profile.
Replicates of each of the four hays were subjected to dry (D), HTS conducted in a HG600, W by submergence in 45 L tap water, 16 °C for 12 hours. From each post-treated hay, 100 g samples were chopped and half (n=36) treated with Propidium monoazide dye, the remaining half untreated. Bacterial DNA were extracted for profiling the V4-V5 region of 16S rRNA gene from all 72 samples, then sequenced on the Illumina MiSeq platform. Bioinformatics were conducted using QIIME pipeline (v1.9.1). Linear discriminate analysis effect size (LEfSe) was used to identify differences in operational taxonomic units and predicted metabolic pathways between hays and regimens.
HTS reduced proportions of microbiota compared to W and D hay (P < 0.001, df 3, F 13.91), viability was reduced within regimens (P = 0.017, df 1, F 5.73). Soaking reduced diversity within and between regimens. Core bacterial communities differed between hays and regimens, however pre-feeding regimen had the greatest effect on the bacterial community profile. W and HTS reduced viable bacteria (P< 0.05) known to cause respiratory disease, for HTS both respiratory and dental disease, with the greatest reductions overall from HTS without reducing bacterial diversity. Soaking increased Gram-negative bacteria and reduced bacterial diversity. Collectively these findings add to a body of evidence that suggest HTS is the most suitable pre-feeding regimen of hay for equid health