Influence of nitrogen fertilizers on crop formation winter rye in the Smolensk region

We found that in order to obtain a high yield of winter rye at the level of 4.4-5.0 t/ha, 120 kg/ha of d. V. nitrogen must be added according to the following scheme: in the autumn before sowing –N30, in early spring feeding – N60 and at the beginning of the plant exit into the tube - N30.

Productivity of spring wheat depending on food backgrounds in the Southern Steppe of Ukraine

The results of the influence of pre-sowing seed treatment, the main application of mineral fertilizers and foliar fertilizing with ammonium nitrate, urea, organo-mineral fertilizer D2 or bacterial preparation Escort-bio on the formation of productivity and quality of spring wheat of the Elegia mironovskaya variety are presented. Experimental investigations were carried out on the Chernozem of the South during 2014-2016. In the conditions of the educational, scientific and practical center of the Nikolaev NAU. The results of research showed that the introduction of nitrogen-phosphorus fertilizers before sowing and foliar fertilizing of spring wheat crops on average over three years provided an increase in grain yield by 1.00–1.58 t/ha in variants with water treatment of seeds and by 1.08–1.72 t/ha when processing seeds with microbial preparation Escort-bio. Pre-sowing treatment of escort-bio seeds contributed to the additional production of 0.14–0.28 t /ha of grain, depending on the fertilizer option. The highest grain yield was formed by applying N30P30 for pre-sowing cultivation, treating seeds with a microbial preparation and carrying out the phase of plant exit into the tube of feeding with ammonium nitrate with a dose of N30. Pre-sowing treatment of escort-bio seeds and foliar fertilizing contributed to an increase in the payback of fertilizers by increasing the yield of spring wheat. The maximum specified indicator is determined by the background of bacterial seed treatment, the main application to the sowing of N30P30 and carrying out two top-UPS with organo-mineral fertilizer D2 or Escort-bio. Application of fertilizers and foliar top-UPS on average over three years increased the protein content of spring wheat by 0.7–1.4 %, and gluten – by 1.2–1.9 %. The maximum both indicators of grain quality are determined in the version of the main application of N30P30 with making-up at the beginning of the earing phase with urea at a dose of N30 –14.9 and 28.1 %. The conditional yield of protein and gluten from a hectare of spring wheat sowing with an improvement in the background of plant nutrition grew and reached maximum values in the variants of N60P30 before sowing or N30P30 before sowing with fertilizing with ammonium nitrate at a dose of N30 in the phase of exit to the tube.

On the Stability of Energy-Only Markets with Government-Initiated Contracts-for-Differences

Rising levels of variable renewable energy (VRE) in Australia’s National Electricity Market have been driven by a 20% renewable energy target by 2020. This certificated renewable portfolio standard has successfully driven new investment, allocated risk amongst buy- and sell-side market participants and met overall policy objectives. But a policy vacuum for achieving long-term CO2 emission targets post-2020 has led to sub-national and, potentially, national governments initiating contract-for-differences (CfDs) to drive further investment activity in new plant – with virtually no coordination between the jurisdictions. In a gross pool energy-only market setting, replacing on-market transactions between retailers and generators with off-market transactions between governments and generators may have unintended side-effects vis-à-vis market stability. In this article, an energy-only gross pool is modeled with rising levels of off-market government-initiated CfDs, with a specific focus on spot and forward contract market outcomes. Model results show that as VRE plant enters, coal plant exit, and on-market firm hedge contracts historically supplied by coal plant are progressively replaced by off-market CfDs. In the event, while a tractable equilibrium can be maintained in the spot market, shortages of “primary issuance” hedge contracts emerge in the forward market. Any shortage of hedge contract capacity is likely to raise forward contract price premiums above efficient levels, force price-elastic customers into accepting unwanted spot market exposures and may unintentionally foreclose non-integrated (2nd tier) energy retailers, all of which harms consumer welfare. A wide-ranging program of government CfDs may therefore not be compatible with an energy-only market design.

Quest for Better Technology: Case of Brown Coir Fibre Industry in Sri Lanka

The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of a number of attributes (a = 23) upon 5 major factors (Labor, Land and Capital, Machine, Technical and Market) that influence a selection of a particular technology to manufacture brown coir fibre in Sri Lanka (i.e. Sri Lankan Drum Pairs, Defibering Machine, D1 Machine). A cross section of owners of fibre mills (n = 30) located in the Kurunegaka, Puttlam and Gampaha districts were selected and a personal interview with each mill owner was carried out with the help of a structured questionnaire from May to June 2008 to collect data. The Semantic Differential Analysis techniques were employed to find the relative strength of the attributes of 5 factors considered in the analysis, where the responses were recorded on a seven-point bipolar scale. The “XLStat” software was used extensively to plot the relationships between the 23 attributes and 3 technologies. The results suggest that all three technologies are negatively perceived by the coir fibre millers on land and capital, and machine subsets. Further millers had negative perception on attributes related to labor subset of Sri Lankan Drum Pair technology. However, they hold the view that high quality of the bristle fibre extracted by this machine is not comparable with that extracted using any other technologies. The millers’ perception on technical and market attributes of the three different technologies was better than on other attributes. The results imply that policymakers should, more specifically, take into account the issues related to capital, machine and labor as they advise coir fibre manufactures about possible technology transfer, in order to avoid potential failures in these markets (i.e. plant-exit) and government policy (i.e. non-compliance).