COLUMELLA – Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences

Relationship between nutrition factors and development of food pad dermatitis (FPD)

Márk Tóth — 2023-07-04

Nowadays, foot pad dermatitis and the associated loss of production and income is one of the major problems in intensive broiler chicken production. The third most valuable part of a broiler chicken is the legs. In the case of FPD, losses are realised as animals with foot pad dermatitis (FDP) eat, drink, and move less, and their performance is reduced, which causes serious loss of income. It also raises animal welfare concerns and can cause food safety problems. Development of the FPD and its frequency is influenced by several factors, individually or in combination: genetics, management, and feeding. In this article, we review the feeding causes of the development of FDP. Feedstuffs, rich in soluble NSP substances, low energy concentration in the diet, or luxury protein supply lead to low quality of the litter, predisposing birds to FPD. In addition, some minerals (Na, K, Cl) stimulate water consumption, while deficiency of others (Zn, Cu, Mn) affects epithelial tissue development and thus might provoke FPD.

Impact of N Supply on Some Leaf Characteristics of Maize Crop

Suhana Binti Omar — 2023-07-04

Nitrogen (N) is an essential nutrient widely used in maize crop production. The application of a high N rate is commonly practiced by growers as a "guarantee" of optimal growth and yield. However, excessive nitrogen consumption can cause wastage, negatively impact plants, and adversely affects the environment. This paper reports on the impact of N supply on leaf characteristics in maize. Maize was grown in an experimental plot of the Department of Agronomy, The Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Hungary, during the spring and summer of 2021 (May - October). Four observation plots consisting of 10²m area size were evaluated for various N levels (0, 50, 100, and 150 kg ha-1 N a.i) with marked plants sampling in four replications. Data collection on leaf traits viz. leaf number plant^-1 (B), leaf number plant^-1 (S), temperature ⁰C (leaf surface), SPAD, leaf length (cm), leaf width (cm), and leaf area (cm²) were measured one week after application in weekly sequences of N until the eighth week. The results showed that nitrogen fertilizer application increased the leaf number plant^-1 (B), temperature, SPAD, and leaf width while contrasting with leaf number plant^-1 (S). However, there was no difference in leaf length for all treatments studied. Although an increase occurred up to the use of 100 N. Whereas, the 150 N treatment showed low performance and exhibited a negative correlation for all traits except temperature and number of leaves (S). The results suggest that treatment of 100 N produced the best results in most traits studied. Furthermore, a detailed research study is needed to confirm the findings, as many other environmental factors influence maize plant growth.

Aquacrop Model Evaluation for Generation of Irrigation Requirements for Winter Wheat Cultivars

Florent Demelezi — 2023-07-04

Researches on the water-saving techniques in agriculture should be brought forward because of water resources shortages. The optimisation of irrigation strategies to increase water-use efficiency is an important factor in water security for the region. AquaCrop model based on FAO’s crop water productivity is used to simulate yield. In our study, the model was calibrated to the field measurements of the MATE ÖVKI Lysimeter Research Station. Four winter wheat cultivars were cultivated under non-limiting water range. Four different average yields were measured as 6.1 t/ha, 5.0 t/ha, 6.3 t/ha and 7.6 t/ha after the harvest on 6th of July 2020, respectively. The results of vegetative growth were inserted and simulated for the same climate conditions, field management, soil profile and groundwater parameters. Whereas we have achieved a yield of 6,1 t/ha 5,0 t/ha, 6,3 t/ha and 7,6 t/h with respective water productivity of 1.17 and 1.07 and 1.23 and 1.2 from the AquaCrop model schedule, respectively. In practice, water optimisation based on climate data and crop yield can help us achieve the goal. The crop cycle of the plants was a fixed value of 187 days and harvest index of 45% was used in model settings. Generation of sprinkler irrigation schedule developed from this research would provide information for farming communities to mitigate the occurrence of the adverse effect of climate change through innovative changes.

Soil related environmental considerations of farmers in the Great Hungarian Plain

József Zsembeli — 2023-07-04

Climate change and associated environmental changes are the major sustainability challenges facing the world today. The selection of appropriate agrotechnological elements is required not only to increase the quality and quantity of food produced but as well as reducing the costs of the farmers and protecting the environment for future generations. In the Great Hungarian Plain, the adoption of recent environmentally friendly technologies is still not sufficient and the region faces various environmental challenges. This study aimed to analyse the economic and environmental consciousness of farmers in the selection of 3 agrotechnological elements (soil protective cultivation, soil reclamation/conditioning, manure application). A pilot study was conducted on 5 representative farmers, in which they were interviewed, and questionnaires were designed to critically analyse farmers’ perceptions of the environment based on the opinions of 106 respondents. The result show that farmers are aware of the environmental impacts of selected technologies in their farms. They highlighted some of the environmental challenges they are experiencing including drought, secondary salinization, and unfavourable soil properties. However, they showed more economic than environmental consciousness, as they suggested that it was important to be familiar with economic issues and conditions to ensure higher income. The level of willingness to introduce or apply soil protective cultivation, soil reclamation/conditioning, and manure differed from low to high.

Monitoring of plant growth through methods of phenotyping and image analysis

Nezha Kharraz — 2023-07-04

With the rapid development of imaging technology, computing power, and algorithms, computer vision has revolutionized thoroughly plant phenotyping and is now a major tool for phenotypic analysis. Those reasons constructed the base for developing image-based plant phenotyping methods, it is a priority for the complementary or even alternative to the manual measurement. Nonetheless, the use of computer vision technology to analyze plant phenotypic traits can be affected by a lot of factors such as research environment, imaging system, and model selection. The field of plant phenotyping is developing rapidly at the moment. Image-based plant phenotyping has stated proven to be in precision agriculture, providing a quantitative basis for the description of plant-environment interactions.