Effect of Differently Matured Composts from Willow on Growth and Development of Lettuce

Soil amendments from peats, brown coals and composts produced from segregated biodegradable waste or biomass from fallow land can increase soil fertility and improve soil productivity. The aim of the study was to determine the possibility of using willow (Salix viminalis L.) biomass composts as a substrate component in horticulture. The objects of the research were composts produced from willow carried out in a pile under aerobic conditions. The addition of hay and mineral nitrogen (Nmin) was used to improve process efficiency. In order to verify the type and determine fertilizing value, basic chemical parameters were analyzed (pH, total contents of C, N and P) and a pot experiment was established to analyze the germination and growth of lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.). Changes in pH, an increase in total nitrogen content (TN), phosphorus (TP) and a decrease in TOC was observed in the investigated samples. Results of the experiment showed that the highest yield was obtained from the pots with the mixture of willow, hay and Nmin. Matured composts significantly stimulated the germination and growth of the test plants. It can be concluded that the addition of hay and Nmin significantly improved composting process and increased the fertilizing value of the investigated composts.

AN ASSESSMENT OF THE SET-ASIDE AND FALLOW LAND SCALE IN POLAND

Changes in land management methods constantly occur, caused by natural, economic, social and demographic conditions. This paper aims to determine changes in set-asides and fallow land in Poland, in the years 1990-2020, and determine the spatial diversity of this phenomenon. The study was based on available statistical data for the studied period. The study shows that, before 2004, the share of fallow land was much more significant. After Poland acceded to the European Union, land left without cultivation decreased considerably with a simultaneous increase in the area of land used for agriculture. The results show that the share and number of hectares of fallow area decreased. The provinces of Kujawsko-Pomorskie, Opole and Wielkopolskie were characterized by the lowest percentage of fallow land in the agricultural area of the province. In contrast, the provinces of Podkarpackie, Lubuskie, Świętokrzyskie, Małopolskie, Śląskie and Warmińsko-Mazurskie had the highest percentage of fallow land.

Exploring the Major Climate-smart Agricultural Practices for Dry Season Crop Production in Salinity Affected Fallow Land in the Coastal Areas of Bangladesh

The landmasses of the coastal areas of Bangladesh still remains under-utilized, thus cropping intensity is much less than the national average. Most areas remain fallow during dry (rabi) season from December to May due to presence of higher concentration of salts in soil and water, and scarcity of suitable irrigation water. Available adaptation options or technologies are not capable to solve these problems at all. Nevertheless, the areas receive a lot of water from monsoon rain, most of that rainwater is drain-out as surface runoff. The present study results suggest that the use of harvested rainwater and conservation agriculture either in combination or alone could mitigate the problem for bringing huge areas under crop cultivation. The public social safety net programmes such as cash-for-work, food-for-work etc. can be deployed for excavating or re-excavating the abandoned coastal ponds, ditches or canals for storing rainwater. Salt-, drought- and/or heat-tolerant crop varieties with short life span can also be cultivated to get the better results. Early plantation or growing crops with early-maturing varieties can ensure safer harvest in ahead of stress arrives. The avenues have immense potential as climate-smart practices for growing crops preferably non-rice crops during dry season in vast fallow land that will not only ensure food security for coastal people but could turn the entire southern Bangladesh as a food surplus zone. The findings refer the broad recommendation, therefore, specific research works based on the locations and resources available are necessary.

Floristics and Diversity of Invasive Alien Plant Species in Humbo District, South Ethiopia

Deliberate and unintentional introduction of invasive alien plant species on native biodiversity by aid agencies and other bodies directly or indirectly are being a series of problems on the economy, ecology, politics, and health of life on earth. Identifying and compiling floristics and the status of invasive alien species and identifying which have viable populations are necessary to manage the ecosystems. The present study is therefore intended to provide information for concerned bodies on the area which needs management priority computing the composition, structure, and diversity of invasive alien plants. A field assessment was conducted to determine the distribution and heterogeneity of invasive alien plant species, and then, six kebeles were chosen and transact lines were laid using a purposeful sampling technique. The vegetation and environment data were collected from farmland, grazing land, fallow land, and road sides using 95 subquadrats (5 m × 5 m) set in the center and corner of 19 main quadrats (20 m × 20 m). The voucher specimens collected were taken to the Herbarium of Ethiopia (ETH) for taxonomic identification and future reference. The frequency and density of floristics data were analyzed using MS Excel version 2010, and species diversity was calculated using Shannon (H′), Simpson (D), and evenness (E) indices. Among 35 alien plant species invading natural vegetation in Ethiopia, 25 alien plant species were found in the Humbo district of the Wolaita zone. The densest invasive alien plant species in the area were Parthenium hysterophorus consisting of 15197 individuals/ha, followed by Richardia scabra consisting of 11908 individuals/ha, Xanthium strumarium consisting of 7292 individuals/ha, and Ocimum forskolei consisting of 6280 individuals/ha. The highest species diversity was computed in fallow land (H′ = 2.369), which is followed by farmland (H′ = 1.627) and grazing land (H′ = 1.419). The higher the density of the invasive alien species, the higher the ability to change the structure and diversity of native species of the area results in a decrease in the function and services of the ecosystem. Therefore, management methods must prioritize land types that had the highest diversity of invasive alien species.

Losses and gains of fallows drive farmland bird populations over three funding periods of the EU Common Agricultural Policy

Fallow land provides habitat for threatened and declining farmland biodiversity. Policy change under the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has been driving the area of fallows over the past decades and influenced trends in farmland biodiversity. We analyzed the impact of changes in fallow area across Germany on species richness and abundance of farmland birds over three CAP funding periods. We examined whether responses to fallow land area were modulated by species habitat preferences and landscape complexity. We combined spatial data on fallow land area from three agricultural censuses in Germany (2007, 2010 and 2016) with country-wide, annual monitoring data on farmland birds. Farmland bird species richness and the abundance of edge- and field-breeders responded positively to increases in fallows. The effect of fallows on bird richness was strongest at intermediate levels of landscape complexity. There was support for an increasing effect strength of fallow land area on field-breeders' abundance with increasing landscape complexity. We conclude that the loss of fallows in the period 2007 to 2016 resulted in strong declines of farmland birds. We predict that a future increase of the proportion of fallow land to 4%, as envisaged in the post-2020 CAP for Germany, will result in an average increase of 7% in farmland bird species richness and of 11% in average farmland bird abundance compared to 2016, but will depend on species-specific habitat preferences. Increasing the proportion of fallow land will be a key lever to stabilize and revert negative farmland bird population trends. An increase of fallow area in all but the least complex landscapes will boost farmland bird richness and abundance of field breeders. Increasing the proportion of fallow land to 4% is projected to, on average, bring farmland bird richness and abundance back to the levels observed in 2007 acknowledging that farmland bird populations were already severely depleted in 2007. A more ambitious expansion of fallow land towards 10%, such as in the context of the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, should be targeted towards areas that experienced the strongest loss of fallows and towards landscapes with intermediate structural complexity.

Analysis of the Impact of Land-Use/Land-Cover Change on Land-Surface Temperature in the Villages Within the Luki Biosphere Reserve

Major land-use/land-cover change due to rapid urbanization has been known to increase the land-surface temperature around the world. Consequently, examining the variation of land-surface temperatures and mitigating the related impacts remain a challenge. The present study employed remote-sensing and geoinformational techniques to examine land-use/land-cover change and its effects on land-surface temperature variations in the villages within the Luki Biosphere Reserve, Democratic Republic of Congo. Land-use/land-cover change for the year 2038 was predicted by using the CA–Markov chain. Additionally, focus-group discussions (FGDs) with local communities from different villages were applied to better understand the impact of climate change, considering the increase of land-surface temperature. The results revealed major changes in land-use/land-cover in the four villages from 2002 to 2020, principally the expansion of fallow land and built-up areas, as well as the decline in forest land, and the complex of young secondary and degraded forest. There was an increase in mean LST values over all villages between 2002 and 2020. The highest value was observed in Tsumba kituti (25.12 °C), followed by Kisavu (24.87 °C), Kibuya (23.31 °C) and Kiobo (21.82 °C). Between 2002 and 2020, the mean LST of built-up areas increased from 23.18 to 25.12 °C, 21.55 to 23.38 °C, 21.4 to 25.78 °C and 22.31 to 25.62 °C in Tsumba kituti, Kiobo, Kisavu and Kibuya, respectively. Moreover, the mean LST of fallow land increased from 20.8 to 23.2 °C, 21.13 to 22.12 °C, 21.89 to 23.12 °C and 20.31 to 23.47 °C in Tsumba, Kiobo, Kibuya and Kisavu, respectively. This indicates that built-up and fallow land experienced the highest land-surface temperature compared to other land-use/land-cover categories. Meanwhile, the conversion of all land-use/land-cover categories into built-up areas in all the villages resulted in the increase of the land-surface temperature. FGDs results recognize the recurrent land-use/land-cover change as the major driver of the increase in LST (86%). However, it was predicted that farmland and built-up area will still increase within all the villages, while the forest land will decline. As for the complex of secondary and degraded forest, it will decrease in Tsumba kituti, while, in Kiobo and Kisavu, it is expected to increase. Through a combination of remote-sensing and primary data, this study provides accurate information that will benefit decision-makers to implement appropriate landscape-planning techniques to mitigate the effect of the increased land-surface temperature in the villages.

Use of Remote Sensing to Assess the Water-Saving Effect of Winter Wheat Fallow

Winter wheat fallow policy has a greater effect on water resource management, and the water-saving effect in the fallow process of winter wheat can provide data support for precise water resource utilization planning. In order to evaluate the water resource consumption of winter wheat and the related effect from winter wheat fallow, this study searched the changing trends of cultivated land evapotranspiration under five different scenarios through the object-oriented extraction method and a SEBS model based on multi-source data. The results indicated that the evapotranspiration during winter wheat growing period was higher than that of winter wheat fallow land, and there was no big difference in evapotranspiration between the fallow land during harvesting and the emergence of new crops. The evapotranspiration of winter wheat was higher than that of various fallow land, and the evapotranspiration of abandoned land was higher than other fallow land in the winter wheat growing season. From this point, this study concludes that the fallow land policy can effectively reduce evapotranspiration during the growing of winter wheat, which is conducive to the sustainable exploiting of water resources.

Land Use/Land Cover Mapping of Sambar Watershed by Using Remote Sensing and GIS

In the present study, an effort has been made to study in detail of Land Use/Land Cover Mapping for Sambar watershed by using Remote Sensing and GIS technique was carried out during the year of 2020-2021 in Parbhani district. In this research the Remote Sensing and Geographical Information system technique was used for identifying the land use/land cover classes with the help of ArcGIS 10.8 software. The Sambar watershed is located in 19º35ʹ78.78˝ N and 76º87ʹ88.44˝ E in the Parbhani district of Marathwada region in Maharashtra. It is covered a total area 97.01 km2. The land use/land cover map and its classes were identified by the Supervised Classification Method in ArcGIS 10.8 software by using the Landsat 8 satellite image. Total six classes are identified namely as Agricultural area, Forest area, Urban area, Barren land, Water bodies and Fallow land. The Agricultural lands are well distributed throughout the watershed area and it covers 4135 ha. (43 per cent). Forest occupies 502 ha area and sharing about 5 per cent of the total land use land cover of the study area. The Urban land occupies 390 ha. area (4 per cent) and there was a rapid expansion of settlement area. Barren land occupies 3392 ha. area (35 per cent). A water bodies occupy 630 ha. area (6 per cent) and the Fallow land occupies 650 ha (7 per cent) but well-developed dendritic drainage pattern and good water availability is in the Sambar watershed.

Intensification of Cropping through Utilization of Fallow Period and Unutilized Land Resources in Bangladesh

Unavailability of suitable technologies including stress-tolerant cultivars, management options, irrigation facilities as well as extension supports are the key challenges for intensification of cropping through horizontal and vertical extension approaches. This study assesses the potential for increasing rice production through a horizontal extension approach. Historical and projected trend of area and production of rice, major cropping patterns and cropping intensity, as well as expert opinion, were the basis for extrapolation of the intensity of cropping by 2030. The analysis shows that about 1.52 M ha area with fallow period of the existing major cropping patterns and 0.65 M ha fallow land is potential for additional rice cropping. Resulting from that about 5.8 million tons additional rice can be added to total rice production in the country. An inclusion of a rice crop in certain percentage of the existing major cropping patterns, such as Boro-Fallow-T. Aman (25%), Boro-Fallow-Fallow (50%) and Fallow-Fallow-T. Aman (40%) may contribute, respectively 1.38 million tons, 1.57million tons and 0.80 million tons of rice in the total rice production. Besides, the addition of a certain percentage of cultural waste (50%), marshy land (25%), newly developed char land (50%), and Jhum (60%) and other extrapolation areas of Chittagong Hill Tract, respectively may contribute 0.4 million tons, 0.25 million tons, 0.34 million tons and 0.06 million tons rice in the total rice production. Strategic policy supports are required for implementing appropriate action plans to achieve the goals. Bangladesh Rice J. 25 (1) : 89-100, 2021

People’s Bamboo Production Status and their Livelihood Improvement in Dimla Upazila, Nilphamari District, Bangladesh

The bamboos are an amazingly multipurpose and useful group of plants. It is a fundamental part of human livelihood strategies in many places worldwide. This study focus was to know the state of bamboo, its’ production and the available bamboo made products, to identify the knowledge requirement for increasing the bamboo production, to identify the ways of livelihood improvement by bamboo production and explore the causes of bamboo declining along with suggestion to overcome this. Data were collected using pre-tested interview schedule from a sample of 105 bamboo clump owners. This data collection was conducted in Tepa Kharibari union of Dimla Upazila under Nilphamari district during 1st December 2017 to 15th January 2018. Besides the descriptive statistical parameter, rank order was used for the analysis. The findings revealed that the bamboo production is declining at a gradual rate and has already decreased considerably in the study area. It is also explored that the local people mostly mentioned knowledge about better variety of bamboo is considered for increasing bamboo production. Furthermore, the means of livelihood is significantly influenced by bamboo production. The local people’s livelihood therefore, is mostly improved through increasing income and creating employment opportunities. It is warning that due to rapid increasing of residents/houses bamboo production is declining as there are not enough homesteads or fallow land in the study area to have a bamboo clump.