The Effect Of Reduced Rainfall On Root Plasticity Of Soybeans

GMOs are extremely effective in increasing crop yields a tremendous amount. One good example of this is the green revolution, which took place during the 1960s and 1970. During this time, farmers started using hybrid seeds and pesticides far more heavily than ever before. Biologist Paul Ehrlich predicted that by the 1970s, the US will have stopped sending India food aid, and that hundreds of millions of people will have died of hunger. The hybrid seeds, between 1970 and 1995, improved production speeds by two-thirds, and saved an estimated billion people from starvation. The use of

According to Dr. Denning, “as the global climate changes, average temperatures will rise sharply. Because Colorado is so far inland, this effect will be stronger because large bodies of water help mitigate temperature swings and Colorado is far from our oceans or Great Lakes. Imagine the climate of Albuquerque as far north as Greeley.” Additionally, we must consider the agriculture industry is estimated to be worth around forty-one billion dollars in Colorado, which means climate change will have a drastic impact on food production. Colorado’s geographic location is problematic in itself, but the continuous temperature changes means longer growing seasons. Ultimately, the rising temperatures make plants consume more water and it reduces the annual snowpack, which creates a conundrum of issues. Similarly, we can assume a warmer Colorado will also mean a much drier Colorado, which will hurt agriculture on every level.

The purpose of this lab was to investigate and observe the effects of organic vs. synthetic fertilizers on plant growth by planting lima beans with added amounts of fertilizers, and to see how does adding different nutrients to the soil affect the growth of the lima bean? A significant difference was examined between the plants that contained manure and miracle growth, unfortunately the plant with no additional fertilizers (Plant #3) did not show any growth. The plant that grew the most was the one that contained manure, to an extent the one that grew the most in a short period of time was the one that contained miracle growth, as shown in figure I. The hypothesis explaining if the Lima Bean plant contains synthetic nutrients in the soil then

Changes in climate have affected the growth of crops. Particularly climate change has increased the amount precipitation fall in North Dakota.

Although more agriculture opportunities are provided, the frequency of droughts, storms, and floods also increased in some regions (“Impact of climate change on Canadian agriculture”, July 3rd 2015, www.agr.gc.ca/ , accessed November 7th 2016). Which destroy infrastructure, sewer systems, and crops, increasing the risk of a downfall of the economy, and a shortened food supply. Global warming also causes health and hygienic issues, such as the increasing risk of contamination of water sources in the Northwest Territories, or the decreasing air quality in the Atlantic Provinces of Canada (“Impact by regions”, September 15th 2010, www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca, accessed November 7th 2016). These problems result in diseases, affecting the health of Canadians. And worse, global warming has a direct impact on Canada’s ecosystem (Debra Davidson, “Climate change”, February 23rd 2011, http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/, accessed November 7th 2016). Most plants and animals are sensitive to changes in temperature and water cycles, which can cause them to move, changing habitats and nature in an area. There is also a high risk of extinction for those who cannot

Throughout history, land employed for agricultural production has caused greater environmental change to the biosphere than any other land use (Gliessman, 2010).

The practice of Drought Tolerant Maize showed excellent consequences under reduced rainfall and warm climate. Moreover, climate information and early warning system were applied in sub-Saharan Africa. They aimed to provide evidences of risk of significant changes in climate ahead and to tack action that can decrease possible risks. In contrast, because of insufficient and incomplete understanding of the impact of climate change on the agriculture, Australia introduced climate change adaptations, which covers obtaining knowledge about how the communities confront the climate change in the

In a global perspective, they worry that the rising sea level will drown productive lands, like Southern Louisiana, and lead to a lower agricultural production level (Wernick, 2014). That may be so, but specifically, northern Canadian agriculture can reap rewards from climate change. Statistically, the temperature in northern and western Canada has risen two to three centigrades in the past 50 years (Frugal & Prowse, 2009). Consequently, this warming will increase the productivity of northern lands in Canada and provide the opportunity of growing more profitable crops (Government of Canada, 2014, para. 4). Moreover, the government of Canada claims that the livestock production and soil quality can also benefit from the warmer temperature (Government of Canada, 2014, para. 4). Thus, Canada will be very likely to become more self-sufficient in food supply in the future. Therefore, Canada will benefit from climate change in both transportation and agricultural

Existing climate variability is a fundamental driver of cotton production in Australia. Negative effects of anthropogenic climate change will increase the existing climate-related production challenges to the Australia cotton industry most likely through significant fruit loss, lower yields and reduced water use efficiencies due to higher temperatures (Williams et al. 2014; Bange et al. 2010). On average, on cotton-producing farms, cotton makes up the largest proportion of farm income (approximately 66%) in terms of gross value of production and yet only comprises about 10% of the total farm area (ABARE 2012; Roth 2010). 80% of cotton producing farms are irrigated and consequently overall production is very sensitive to water availability and price (McRae et al. 2007; Roth

Soybean Sudden Death Syndrome (SDS) has been a problem in soybeans across the United States. According to the Effects of Crop Rotation of Soybean with Corn on Severity of Sudden Death Syndrome and Population Densities of Heterodera Glycines in Naturally Infested Soil; there was 2.4 million tonnes of soybean loss in 2005 due to SDS (One tonnes is equivalent to 1.1 U.S. tons.). Sudden Death Syndrome is caused by two main pathogens, the fungus, Fusarium virguliforme, and the soybean cyst nematode, Heterodera glycines. Sometimes symptoms are confined to certain strips in the field. This may be due to soil structure and if there has been any previous infection of SDS in that field from the prior year. After a few weeks of growth, the diameter of the affected area can increase. However this is not always likely. It has been shown that heavy rains during reproductive stages of growth can cause the SDS to develop and ultimately flourish. The wetter the soil, the greater the

Agriculture has been an essential part of to the survival of humanity from the beginning, and we rely on it now just as much as we did then. Fortunately, the technology used in agriculture has been increased over time, and currently the ‘Green Revolution’ is providing us with greater inputs of fertilizer, water and pesticides, new crop strains, and increased technology as stated by Tillman and others (2002). These advances modern agriculture is currently feed 6 million people, and it only continues to increase (in both advances and in those fed). However, the global population is also continuing to increase, allowing for there to be more agricultural output which are essential for social stability and global politics as a whole. While this sounds good, doubling this food production comes with major challenges. Tillman and others (2002) evaluate and explain these scientific and policy challenges that are required to be met in order to sustain the entire agricultural production. This will require fundamental shifts in institutions and policies because the concept of sustainable agriculture must be adopted.

Climate change is one of the major issues surfacing earth over the past century. The earth’s temperature has increased over the years leading to detrimental effects on the economic and life sources of people, especially that of agricultural production and livestock. The Merriam-Webster online dictionary (2014), defined climate change as a change in global climate patterns apparent from the mid late 20th century. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, (2007) predicts that by 2100 the increase in global average surface temperature may be between 1.8° C and 4.0° C. With increases of 1.5° C to 2.5° C, approximately 20 to 30 percent of plant and animal species are expected to be at risk of extinction. Moreover, the IPCC (2007)

In the mid-1950s, the first SCN resistance soybean sources, PI 90763 and PI 84751 and cultivars Ilsoy and Peking, were identified (Ross and Brim 1957). During the last 20 years, more than 120 soybean germplasm with SCN resistance have been reported (Concibido et al. 2004; Vuong et al. 2013). However, most of them present resistance to only one or few SCN races and only eight soybean germplasm including Peking, PI 88788, and PI 437654 have widely been used for breeding programs in the US (Vuong et al. 2013). Understanding of resistance to the nematodes have remained limited because most of the reported resistance QTL have not been cloned. Also, continuous cultivation of soybean cultivars with the same resistance sources may accelerate selection pressure for SCN as well as other nematode species. Therefore, development of soybean cultivars with multiple nematodes resistance would be essential to prevent losses by the nematodes that can occur in the same field. The lack of diversity for SCN, RKN, and RN resistance source in current soybean cultivars still emphasizes the necessity of identifying new resistance genes/QTL. Therefore, continuous germplasm screening to find new germplasm and genes/QTL would be required for successful soybean breeding programs. The identification of new genetic sources with broad spectrum resistance to multiple SCN HG types, RKN and RN would be beneficial for the development of germplasm and varieties to reduce losses from these nematode species (Lee

Agriculture is one of the major sector becoming vulnerable to climate-change. Increased incidences of abiotic and biotic stresses are likely to cause serious negative impact on crop production. Abiotic stress is defined as the negative impact of non-living factors on the living organisms in a specific environment. The non-living variable must influence the environment beyond its normal range of variation to adversely affect the performance or individual organism in a significant way. This leads to decrease in the productivity by more than 50% in major crop plants which are growing word wide (Bray et al., 2000). Increased water stress, reduction in rainfall and increased air temperature are the major reasons for yield decline in wheat and paddy crops in many parts of South Asia. The average increase in temperature per decade is measured to be 0.28 ºC over land and 0.12 ºC over ocean and predicted that it is likely to rise further to a maximum of 2.5 ºC by 2050 and 5.8 ºC by 2100 (Jones et al., 1999; Grover et al., 2011). The principal abiotic stresses in India are drought or soil moisture stress, high temperatures, soil salinity/alkalinity, low pH and metal toxicity stresses that affect nearly two-thirds area forming parts of the arid and semi arid eco systems (Grover et al., 2011).

Firstly, climate change has a big impact with world hunger. Climate change may affect food systems in several ways ranging from direct effects on crop production (e.g. changes in rainfall leading to drought or flooding, or warmer or cooler temperatures leading to changes in the length of growing season), to changes in markets, food prices and supply chain infrastructure (Gregory, Ingram & Brklacich, 2005, p.2139). It can trigger a natural disaster like drought and flood, which can have an extreme effect with the problems in the sources of food. In one hand, drought is a common scenario in farm lands in which