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Valuing plant genetic resources in genebanks: past, present and future
Though the intrinsic value to society of plant genetic resources conserved in genebanks may be recognized, assigning a cardinal value to them remains elusive. This chapter summarises the main messages from applied economics literature on genebank values that began in the late 1990s, a recent set ...
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Developing effective welfare measures for cattle
This chapter focuses on the performance characteristics a welfare measure should possess in order to be considered valid for the assessment of animal welfare. It presents a choice of validation measures that can be used to assess the welfare of cattle and discusses ways they can be collected in p...
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Advances in understanding behavioral needs and improving the welfare of calves and heifers
Management factors affecting dairy calves have broad impacts on behavioral development and implications for long-term welfare, and research in this area is increasingly focused on understanding the behavioral needs of the calf, to refine management and improve understanding of welfare. In this ch...
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Dairy cattle welfare and other aspects of sustainability
Welfare and other aspects of sustainability are becoming increasingly important in consumer purchasing decisions. This chapter introduces a number of key welfare issues affecting the dairy industry that need system change, including lameness, mastitis and aspects of calf management. Other major t...
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Advances in understanding pain and stress in cows
This chapter provides definitions of pain and stress, particularly focusing on the issue that 'stress' as a stand-alone generic term may not be helpful in terms of advancing our understanding of the impact of animal management on animal welfare. For cattle, as for other animals managed by humans,...
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Advances in understanding the biology and epidemiology of barley yellow dwarf virus (bydv)
A tri-trophic network of domesticated grasses (host), various aphids (vector) and barley yellow dwarf virus (pathogen) species has been spread by humans from Eurasia to the rest of the world. Understanding how climate, natural and agricultural landscapes challenge pathogens, vectors, and their na...
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Developments in housing of cattle to promote health and welfare
While housing systems have served to provide shelter and protection from predation, they have also been associated with negative effects on cow health and welfare. Efforts in the dairy sector have had significant impact on transition cow housing, feeding and resting behaviors, and protection from...
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Spectral mapping of soil organic carbon
This chapter first reviews recent pilot studies covering limited areas often with exposed bare soils. Then we focus on the challenges for large-scale application of spectral mapping when the soil and parent material are heterogeneous and surface conditions are unknown. In order to deal with these...
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Advances in understanding the needs and improving the welfare of transition dairy cows
One of the most challenging time periods in a dairy cow’s life is when she gives birth and transitions into lactation (the ‘transition’ period). This chapter reviews the latest research assessing the welfare of transition cows. The chapter begins by focusing on the biological health of dairy cows...
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Advances in precision livestock farming techniques for monitoring dairy cattle welfare
This chapter reviews advances in precision livestock farming techniques for monitoring dairy cattle welfare. It begins by describing the potential of PLF technology linked to the Five Domains framework, then goes into more detail by focusing on the use of precision livestock farming techniques fo...
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Advances in understanding cognition and learning in cattle
Understanding the cognitive capacities of cattle is central when designing husbandry environments and developing handling regimes. This chapter outlines the current knowledge on cattle learning and cognition, with special emphasis on their socio-cognitive capacities. Cattle easily learn features ...
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Developing effective training and certification schemes for improving on-farm dairy cattle welfare
This chapter discusses developing effective training and certification schemes for improving on-farm dairy cattle welfare. It begins by reviewing the selection of measures that can be used for assessing animal welfare, focusing firstly on animal-based measures, then moves on to review resource an...
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Advances in soilless culture strawberry production
The majority of strawberries produced in the world are grown in the open field, and only in the past 50 years has protected cropping become established as a commercially viable system. Soilless culture (hydroponics) is an important component of this form of intensive production because it enabl...
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Optimizing product quality in soilless culture systems (scs)
In a soilless culture system (SCS), quality parameters of produce may be improved by better control of the environmental and technical factors involved. This chapter focuses on the main factors through which it is possible to influence and improve the quality profile of soilless horticultural pro...
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Understanding and optimizing the physical properties of growing media for soilless cultivation
From the end of the last century and the beginning of this millennium, the design and use of growing media have rapidly evolved to respond to new needs and constraints. Additional concepts in soil physics have been developed to cope with these changes. The beginning of this millennium has also wi...
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Developments in alternative organic materials for growing media in soilless culture systems
There is increasing pressure on both growing media manufacturers and horticulturists to significantly reduce their reliance on peat as a constituent of substrates. This chapter distils down the available information on alternative organic materials which have emerged as the major contenders for p...
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Developments in inorganic materials, synthetic organic materials and peat in soilless culture systems
Soilless substrates utilised in traditional hydroponics are often inorganic or synthetic materials, as opposed to organic substrate components utilised in other forms of soilless culture. As growers seek more precision production applications, more operations are shifting to soilless culture prod...
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Advanced hydroponics design for plant cultivation in cities
The growth of the world urban population altogether with the detrimental effects of climate change and resource scarcity are currently exerting extreme pressure on our food systems. Innovation in vegetable crop production is being driven by plant cultivation technologies that are independent of s...
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Advances in soilless cultivation of tomatoes and other fruit vegetables
Fruit vegetables are a rich nutritive source for the human diet and highly appreciated for their taste. Tomato, sweet pepper or cucumber crops have specific growth requirements linked to their physiology and their architecture (plant bearing fruits). Soilless culture system (SCS) are characterize...
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Advances in nutrient management modelling and nutrient concentration prediction for soilless culture systems
In closed-loop soilless culture systems (SCS), ion concentration and ionic balance are important factors to be considered for stable management of nutrient solutions. For maintaining appropriate ion concentration and ion balance, various techniques of nutrient analysis and prediction are required...
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Understanding and optimising the chemical properties of growing media for soilless cultivation
Chemical properties exert a considerable influence on the behavior of growing media, particularly in regulating the composition of the nutrient solution. This effect depends on the nature of components: mineral growing media are chemically inert and weakly affect the nutrient solution only in the...
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Advances in irrigation/fertigation techniques in greenhouse soilless culture systems (scs)
The objective of this chapter is to describe the most common soilless culture system (SCS) irrigation and fertigation methods. The chapter summarizes common types of irrigation/fertigation system and types of management system. It then discusses the shift to real-time plant-based sensing and mon...
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Advances in soilless culture of ornamentals
In the production of cut flowers and pot plants there are slow developments towards closed growing systems with recirculation of the surplus nutrient solution. In some countries, such as in The Netherlands, legislation to reduce discharges is a steering factor, as well as the advantages of a dise...
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Soilless culture systems and growing media in horticulture: an overview
Soilless culture plant production presents a sector with unlimited potential for the horticulture industry. Soilless culture systems are environmentally friendly, resource-efficient, and support sustainable intensification in agriculture. Soilless culture system (SCS) crops in climate-controlled ...
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Understanding and optimising the biological properties of growing media for soilless cultivation
The biological properties of growing media (GM) in soilless cultivation have been considered minor traits for decades. However, there is a growing demand for alternative, cheaper GM constituents, characterized by organic origin. A better understanding of the biological processes of GM is a key fa...
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Advances in liquid- and solid-medium soilless culture systems
There are two types of soilless cultivation. Liquid systems are the growing of plants in the nutrient solution or under the mist of nutrient solution without a solid substrate. Solid-medium systems use inorganic, or organic materials for the plant roots. The chapter reviews a number of liquid sys...
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Advances in understanding plant root behaviour and rootzone management in soilless culture systems
A healthy and vigorous root system is essential in soilless plant cultivation. The primary function of roots in soilless systems is water and nutrient uptake. Root nutrient uptake has three characteristics: (1) selective, (2) accumulative, and (3) genotype dependent. Many factors can affect root ...
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Optimising pig welfare at the weaning and nursery stage
The welfare of pigs at the nursery stage is an area of special concern because of the manifold influencing factors that have the potential to decrease seriously the piglets’ wellbeing. Especially the separation from their mother sow in combination with a very young weaning age in modern pig farmi...
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Developmental influences on pig behaviour
This chapter reviews developmental influences on pig behaviour. It begins by discussing prenatal environmental effects on development of pig behaviour, focusing on aspects such as pre-conception and post-conception environments on offspring and piglet behaviour. It also touches on prenatal housin...
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Welfare assessment of pigs
If the aim of a welfare assessment is to describe the welfare on-farm, not only here and now but for a longer time period, then the measures to be used have to be chosen with this in mind. It is by choosing relevant but common indicators that the assessment is representative of the farm over time...
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Physiological and behavioral responses to disease in pigs
This chapter provides critical information on the physiological and behavioral responses common to pigs experiencing disease and describe animal-based outcomes directly impacted during a disease state. In addition, timely tools to prevent and monitor disease at the herd level are discussed and di...
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Understanding and preventing tail biting in pigs
Tail biting is a behavioural problem of pigs which is associated with welfare detriment for both the perpetrator and victim. It is seen to some extent on most farms worldwide and causes considerable economic loss, leading to widespread adoption of tail docking for risk reduction. Its occurrence ...
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Evidence of pain in piglets subjected to invasive management procedures
In this chapter, the authors examine the physiological and behavioural reactions in pigs submitted to tissue damaging procedures. They are grouped in three parts: (1) neural, (2) hormonal and metabolic and (3) behavioural consequences. The chapter focuses on surgical castration, tail docking and ...
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Alternatives to castration of pigs
Piglets have been traditionally been surgically castrated to avoid boar taint risk and aggression and mounting behaviour. However, castration without anaesthesia and analgesia induces pain and has become a controversial practice on welfare grounds. Therefore, alternatives to surgical pig castrati...
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The role of enrichment in optimizing pig behaviour and welfare
Modern pig housing environments provide animals with essential resources, but from an animal’s point of view, they are quite barren and deprive them of the opportunity to make full use of their natural behavioural repertoire and actively work for these resources. The lack of stimulation resulting...
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Advances in technologies for monitoring pig welfare
The pig sector undergoes a major transformation characterized by intensification, geographic concentration, vertical integration and increasing scales of production. This creates new challenges for animal welfare. Sensor technology offers multiple advantages for monitoring key indicators of welfa...
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Assessing emotions in pigs: determining negative and positive mental states
This chapter reviews assessing emotions in pigs, specifically focusing on the ways of determining negative and positive mental states. It begins by examining behavioural indicators of emotion such as behavioural tests, qualitative behaviour assessment, vocalisations, play behaviour, defence casca...
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Optimizing pig welfare in the growing and finishing stage
The main objectives of this chapter are to define animal welfare and to identify where intensive production systems may put finishing pigs at risk of poor animal welfare. The chapter discusses pig behavior and how this is affected by production systems, group size, living condition as well as sys...
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Optimising sow and piglet welfare during farrowing and lactation
Optimising welfare in the farrowing and lactation environment involves resolving the concerns regarding continued use of close confinement systems, such as the farrowing crate for the sows and the lack of provision of environmental enrichment to provide for behavioural needs. For piglets the main...
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Optimising pig welfare during transport, lairage and slaughter
Preslaughter practices, such as transport, handling and slaughter, can affect the welfare of pigs, and carcass and meat quality both individually and additively. Poor transport conditions and handling may result in loss of profits due to animal losses, carcass downgrading and meat quality defects...
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Optimising pig welfare in breeding and gestation
This chapter considers factors affecting the welfare of pigs during breeding and gestation and provides recommendations on optimising their welfare in commercial conditions. The chapter concludes with a summary of the main findings and a discussion of future opportunities to safeguard pig welfare.
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Advances in understanding plant root anatomy and nutrient acquisition
In this chapter root anatomical traits and trait states, and nutrient acquisition mechanisms, along with the environmental issues affecting nutrient acquisition are summarized. Then, the whole range of adaptations of root anatomical traits, and its impact on nutrient acquisition are discussed. Co...
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Advances in understanding plant root water uptake
Water deficit is one of the primary limitations to crop production. Here, we review the role of root and rhizosphere hydraulic processes that affect the ability of a plant to extract water from the soil. Prominent features of rhizosphere hydraulic properties are: root shrinkage, alteration of por...
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The development of crop root architecture and optimization of nutrition acquisition: the case of rice
Plant root system architecture (RSA), the spatial configuration of a root system in the soil, is critical for water and nutrient acquisition. Rice generates a root system consisting of seminal, lateral, and crown/adventitious roots, whose growth and development are regulated by plant hormones and...
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Advances in understanding plant root uptake of phosphorus
At a global scale, phosphorus (P) deficiency comprises a large area of cropland, while P has also been used in excess of crop requirements in many other regions. Improved crop P-acquisition efficiency would allow lower target critical soil P values and provide savings in P-fertiliser use. At the ...
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Advances in understanding plant root responses to root-feeding insects
This chapter presents an overview of the interactions between plant roots and root-feeding insect herbivores, focussing on changes in growth and physiology and crucially how roots are defended against insect attack. Several reviews have covered the ecology and management of insect root herbivores...
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Advances in root architectural modeling
Root architectural (RSA) models have become important tools in root research and plant phenotyping for studying root traits, processes, and interactions with the environment. The models have been used to simulate how various root traits and processes influence water and nutrient uptake. At a more...
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Advances in the understanding of nitrogen (n) uptake by plant roots
Efficient use of nitrogen (N) by plants and particularly crops, is of global importance. In agriculture, high crop yields and protein content depend upon extensive N-inputs, however fertilizer N is costly to the farmer, and overuse can be damaging to the environment. A critical component of optim...
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Advances in understanding plant root growth regulators
Global food production needs to increase by more than 60% by 2050 while concurrently reducing fertiliser applications to crops to reduce greenhouse emissions, production costs and environmental pollution. This chapter explores the role of hormones on nitrogen and phosphate uptake and responses. I...
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Understanding and exploiting the genetics of plant root traits
This chapter illustrates how genomics and other -omics approaches coupled with new-generation sequencing (NGS) platforms have been deployed to dissect the genetic make-up of RSA traits and better understand their functions, particularly under environmentally constrained conditions that commonly o...
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Advances in understanding plant root response to nematode attack
Plant parasitic nematodes are damaging pests on all crops grown across the world. They exploit plants using a range of strategies, ranging from simple browsing ectoparasitism to highly complex biotrophic endoparasites. Some nematodes induce the formation of complex feeding structures in the roo...
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The use of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (pgpr) to improve root function and crop nutrient use efficiency
Bacteria that colonize plant roots and promote plant growth and development, plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) can contribute to more sustainable intensification of agriculture while minimizing detrimental impacts associated with excessive fertilization. In this chapter we review recent...
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Rootstocks to improve root function and resource-use efficiency
Grafting, a surgical technique to attach genetically different shoots and roots (scions and rootstocks) allows “designer root systems” to enhance agricultural productivity and sustainability. Rootstocks improve plant nutrient relations by increasing nutrient capture and/or nutrient use efficiency...
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The use of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi to improve root function and nutrient-use efficiency
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) form endosymbiosis with over 70 % of land plants, including most crops including cereals. These symbioses facilitate resource exchange between partners and can significantly increase plant nutrient uptake and growth, among other benefits. AMF ubiquity in agricul...
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Understanding plant-root interactions with rhizobacteria to improve biological nitrogen fixation in crops
Plant roots have evolved with the presence of rhizobacteria that can colonise the surface or interior of the plant. Some of these rhizobacteria are actively recruited by the plant and carry out particular functions, in particular in nutrient acquisition. Nitrogen-fixing bacteria form associations...
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Delivering improved phosphorus acquisition by root systems in pasture and arable crops
Improving low efficiency of phosphorus (P) use in agriculture is an imperative because P is one of the key nutrients underpinning sustainable intensification of food production and the rock-phosphate reserves, from which P fertilisers are made, are finite. This paper describes key soil, root and ...
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Advances in understanding arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal effects on soil nutrient cycling
Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi assist with plant acquisition of nutrients, with most studies focussing on the nutrient forms taken up and translocated to the host. Recent studies have focussed on how extraradical fungal hyphae can affect nutrient ransformations, leaching and movement. However,...
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Advances in understanding plant root response to weedy root parasites
This chapter addresses advances in understanding plant root responses to weedy root parasites. It begins by reviewing host-parasitic weed interactions, focusing specifically on seed dispersal and germination and the possibility of host infection as a consequence of germination. The chapter then m...
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Using systems agronomy to exploit deep roots in crops
In this chapter we review strategies to capture benefits from deeper rooting, taking the example of the semi-arid southern Australian wheat belt. The chapter focusses on the theme of better capturing deep subsoil water with deeper and more effective root systems. The chapter looks at ways of incr...
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Advances in understanding plant root hairs in relation to nutrient acquisition and crop root function
Root hairs are found on most terrestrial flowering plant species. They form from epidermal cells at a predetermined distance behind the growing root tip in three main patterns. Their presence, pattern, length, density and function are genetically controlled and numerous genes are expressed solely...
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Optimizing welfare in transport and slaughter of cattle
Transport represents one of the most stressful events an animal may experience. Its impact on the welfare of beef and dairy cattle is frequently underestimated, as are the effects of transport on carcass quality issues such as bruises and dark cutting beef. For ease of discussion, the process is ...
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Understanding and mitigating the impact of climate change on insect pests and food security
This chapter reviews the impact of climate change on insect pests, agricultural productivity and food security. Increased temperatures, elevated levels of carbon dioxide and fluctuations in precipitation pattern impact insect pest populations. The chapter reviews how climate change has affected i...
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Improving market access for smallholders
This chapter reviews improving market access for smallholders. It begins by highlighting the challenges faced by smallholders when trying to access markets and moves on to review findings from recent studies on policy interventions to improve access to markets. The chapter concludes by addressing...
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Overcoming the fertility crisis in bananas (musa spp.)
Edible bananas are normally parthenocarpic and seedless, a condition which ensures edibility but limits their use in hybridizations to generate new combinations of targeted traits for crop improvement. Hybridizations involving edible bananas result in too few or no viable hybrid seeds thus consti...
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Targeted improvement of cavendish clones
Despite hundreds of different domesticated banana cultivars, both consumers and growers prefer the Cavendish subgroup for the export industry. The Cavendish cultivars are triploid and parthenocarpic. But despite the sterility characteristic, Cavendish banana plants portray a diverse range of morp...
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Collection and evaluation of wild musa species
The genus Musa includes about 70 species distributed throughout the Asian tropics and subtropics from India, Southern China and Southern Japan in the north to Northern Australia in the south and the islands in the western Pacific Ocean. The haploid chromosome number in the subgenus Musa is 11 whi...
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Strengthening public-sector extension systems for smallholder farmers in kenya
This chapter discusses key issues and challenges in public extension services for smallholders and how challenges have been addressed. The discussion is made with particular reference to experiences in disseminating Conservation Agriculture-based technologies and practices generated from the Sust...
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Financial services for smallholders
Financing for smallholder farmers starts with the question of what does a smallholder need to improve their income and ends with financing as one of the solutions that help achieve this goal. The chapter outlines some basic concepts and then outlines a set of various loan products that may fit a ...
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Incentivizing sustainable production practices: improving and scaling extension, certification, carbon markets and other incentive systems
In the absence of subsidies and secure land ownership, farmers often have weak incentives to adopt sustainable production practices. Potential means to change that include improved extension services, certification schemes, access to finance, and results-based payments (e.g. for carbon offset cre...
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The role and challenges of the private sector in supplying inputs to smallholders
This chapter focuses on analysis of the private sector input supply to smallholders, in Africa. The goal of the chapter is to describe and discuss challenges of the private sector when working with smallholders. There is special emphasis of reliability of demand, purchasing power and logistics th...
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Smallholder seed systems for sustainability
This chapter discusses the role of seed systems particularly as a channel to supply smallholder farmers with new traits and combinations of traits through improved hybrids or varieties. This chapter looks at issues surrounding the development of more economically-sustainable and predominantly “fo...
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Collection and evaluation of banana and plantain landraces in africa
This chapter provides a review of the processes involved in the collection and evaluation of banana and plantain landraces, the challenges and opportunities encountered and suggestions for the way forward.
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Identifying and classifying banana cultivars
This chapter addresses identifying and classifying banana cultivars. It begins with an overview of banana cultivars, which is then followed by a discussion of the different levels bananas can be classified at: genera, section and species level. The chapter also examines how to identify different ...
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Improving integrated soil fertility management (isfm) by smallholders
Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) continues to experience food insecurity underpinned by low crop productivity. Yields for cereal crops in smallholder farming systems are typically less than 30% of attainable yields and low use of fertilizer and other nutrient resources are recognized as the one of the ma...
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The economics of smallholder farming
Sustainable agriculture is possible when smallholder farmers overcome economic barriers to establish profitable farm businesses. This chapter outlines key economic factors of land, labour, capital and inputs which impact the production costs. Access to markets influences the farmer’s ability to...
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Seed germination, preservation and population genetics of wild musa germplasm
Bananas and plantains (Musa spp.) are amongst the most important tropical and subtropical food crops in the world. In order to reduce the impact of biotic and abiotic factors on banana cultivation, it is important to allow for a genetic enrichment of the currently cultivated genepool. Crop Wild R...
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Water management for rainfed smallholder farming
This chapter aims to show how small-scale farmers can use water more efficiently, productively and sustainably in rainfed production. We will first discuss general aspects of how water use in crop and livestock production may be improved – measures that are important and useful in both rainfed as...
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Strengthening commercial extension systems for smallholders
When examining opportunities to strengthen commercial extension systems for smallholders, it is important to answer the question: to what end. This chapter puts forward the argument that in addition to supporting adoption of commercial technologies and increasing yields on select crops purchased ...
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Genetic modification of bananas: the long road to farmers’ fields
The great challenge for bananas into the future is to develop cultivars with multiple disease resistances, stress tolerance and enhanced fruit quality. The two major development strategies are conventional breeding which will deliver new cultivars and genetic modification which will deliver curre...
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Scope of collecting wild musa species germplasm
The value of Crop Wild Relatives as sources of new genes that can help secure crop production is increasingly recognized. In banana (Musa spp.), past collecting and conservation efforts focused mainly on the two direct ancestors of cultivated bananas, M. acuminata Colla and M. balbisiana Colla. H...
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The usage of phenotyping, genetics and functional genomics approaches to improve environmental stress factors in banana
Modelling predicts that temperature and precipitation are the abiotic factors that have the biggest impact on banana production. It is clear that banana needs tropical temperatures and that it responds very early to a reduced soil water content. The stomata of banana plants also respond very sens...
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Cytogenetics of structural rearrangements in musa hybrids and cultivars
Edible bananas are diploid or triploid Musa acuminata, or hybrids of M. acuminata x M. balbisi-ana, producing nutritious seedless fruit of different taste and structure. Breeding for high yield and host plant resistance to pathogens and pests as well as adaptation to abiotic stress of im-portant ...
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Access to mechanization for smallholder farmers in africa
Agricultural mechanization is vital to achieving sustainable livelihood, food security and national development. Mechanization is pertinent for Africa where the predominant production system remains the smallholder’s system. The use of technologies from the West continue to face lots of constrain...
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Making banana breeding more effective
There is a need for more diverse bananas with far more diverse genetic backgrounds which meet specific objectives such as fresh fruit, cooking bananas or varieties dedicated to processing. This chapter shows how diversification objectives can be achieved by taking into account sexual reproductive...
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Safe dissemination of germplasm resources of banana
The relentless increase in human populations and the increasing consumption of bananas as a dessert fruit and as staple food source in many tropical countries, coupled with increasing production pressures due to climate change, have increased the demand for the evaluation and exploitation of new ...
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The role and challenges of the private sector in enabling market access for smallholders
Sourcing from smallholder farmers presents a number of challenges, stemming from the informal ecosystem in which individual farmers operate as well as from the diverse and fragmented nature of smallholders as a group. The three main types of challenges are: technical, logistical and behavioural. ...
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The challenges of smallholder farming
This chapter starts by discussing the features of small-scale farming, indentifying family management and labour as its hallmark. The considerable differences of geography, economic and social circumstances among smallholder farms are explored. These suggest that while some smallholdings can prov...
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An overview of genetic improvement in bananas over the last century
Bananas were among the first crops cultivated by man and continue to be important for the livelihoods of millions of people throughout the tropics and subtropics. Yet many cultivars and landraces are susceptible to biotic and abiotic stresses. Genetic resistance to diseases and pests is the best ...
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Exploiting current musa collections
Collections of Musa provide material for germplasm and genetic improvement; however, several challenges must be addressed by collections and information systems to optimize their use. In this chapter, we discuss conservation and germplasm integrity, accession characterization and information that...
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Developing hybrid banana varieties with improved properties
Banana production in Brazil includes different types of cultivars, with the Prata cultivar accounting for 70% of the crop area, followed by the Cavendish, Maçã, and plantain cultivars. In 2019, Brazil produced approximately 7 million tons of bananas in an area of 465,000 ha, which makes it one of...
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Supporting female smallholders
Smallholder women are pivotal in balancing rural food systems yet, they face several inequalities that make it difficult for them to sustainably intensify their operations. This chapter provides insights into how smallholder women can be supported for sustainable intensification. It uses qualitat...
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Managing calves/young stock to optimise dairy herd health
This chapter demonstrates that youngstock management can play a critical role in optimising dairy herd health. While the immediate impact of better calf management is visible to farmers in better youngstock health and growth, the long-term benefits in dairy herd productivity and survival need to ...
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Pathogens in tropical forests: diversity and management
Plants in tropical forests are subject to attack by a wide range of pathogenic organisms, including fungi, bacteria, viruses and parasitic plants, which reduce productivity. In natural forests, pathogens are normal components, arguably driving evolution through attacking susceptible individual tr...
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New techniques for assessing and mapping tropical forests
This chapter reviews recent developments in assessing and mapping tropical forests. It discusses the planning of inventories, assessment procedures and statistical evaluation. It discusses the use of remote sensing techniques to identify changes in land use such logging and deforestation. It also...
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The role of agroforestry in sustainable forest management (sfm) of tropical forests
In this chapter we review to what extent agroforests that are classified as forests are in line with the objectives of sustainable forest management, focusing on biodiversity conservation, supply of forest products and carbon capture. We use shifting cultivation as a case study, given its pantrop...
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Biodiversity and ecosystem services in tropical forests: recent findings and implications for sustainable forest management (sfm)
Tropical forests are some of the biologically richest areas on Earth. The biodiversity in tropical forests, specifically species and functional groups and the ecological processes resulting from species behaviors and interactions provide important ecosystem services. These ecosystem services are...
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Achieving sustainable management of tropical forests: overview and conclusions
This chapter summarises the key findings from the chapters written by subject specialists from around the world for Achieving sustainable management of tropical forests, providing a synopsis of current knowledge and thinking about different aspects of Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) to help t...
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Forest landscape restoration (flr) of tropical forests
This chapter reviews the restoration of tropical forests, focusing specifically on forest landscape restoration (FLR). It begins by addressing the importance on implementing forest landscape restoration and provides an overview of different guides and tools for FLR. It also provides two case stud...
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Ecosystem services delivered by tropical forests: regulating services of tropical forests for climate and hydrological cycles
Global warming is significantly altering the environmental conditions in which forests grow at a global scale. At the local scale, the impact of global warming on forests depends heavily on current forest type and structure, soil conditions and water availability (Figure 1). Managing forests for ...
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The role of certification schemes in sustainable forest management (sfm) of tropical forests
Forest certification and its impact has proved to be fertile ground for research and study, both political and technical, and a huge number of research articles, papers and books has accumulated. This chapter seeks to offer an overview and of this research, some of the main conclusions that have ...
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