Managing water in rainfed agriculture - The need for a paradigm shift
Rainfed agriculture plays and will continue to play a dominant role in providing food and livelihoods for an increasing world population. We describe the world's semi-arid and dry sub-humid savannah and steppe regions as global hotspots, in...
Improving agricultural water productivity: Between optimism and caution
In its broadest sense, water productivity (WP) is the net return for a unit of water used. Improvement of water productivity aims at producing more food, income, better livelihoods and ecosystem services with less water. There is considerable...
The Challenges of Wastewater Irrigation in Developing Countries
The volume of wastewater generated by domestic, industrial and commercial sources has increased with population, urbanization, improved living conditions, and economic development. The productive use of wastewater has also increased, as millions...
Variation of Soil Physical Properties and Moisture Content Along Toposequences in the Arid to Semiarid Area
Accurate prediction and characterization of the spatial distribution and temporal variation of soil water is indispensable to optimize the use and management of land within dry areas, which suffer from limited arable land and water resources...
Genetic variability of some agronomic traits in the Iranian Fenugreek landraces under drought stress and non-stress conditions
This study was carried out to assess the genetic diversity and heritability of various agronomic traits using twenty fenugreek landraces from Iran. The trial was conducted at Maragheh experiment station in North-west of Iran under rainfed (RF)...
Nitrogen Fertilizer Response of Some Barley Varieties in Semi-Arid Conditions in Morocco
The West Asia-North Africa region, which is characterized by a typical Mediterranean climate, is the center of origin of cereals, notably wheat (Triticum spp.) and barley (Hordeum spp). However, cereal production, which is primarily rainfed, is...
Phenotypic and genetic diversity in Sinorhizobium meliloti and S. medicae from drought and salt affected regions of Morocco
Sinorhizobium meliloti and S. medicae are symbiotic nitrogen fixing bacteria in root nodules of forage legume alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.). In Morocco, alfalfa is usually grown in marginal soils of arid and semi-arid regions frequently affected...
Effect of methionine supplement on physical responses and neurological symptoms in broiler chicks fed grass pea (Lathyrus sativus)-based starter ration
Starter feeding experiments of broiler chicks with raw grass pea (Lathyrus sativus L.) supplemented with different levels of DL-methionine were undertaken for 4 weeks to assess the toxicity of grass pea-based feed and to correlate it with...
Detection and Partial Characterization of Milk vetch dwarf virus Isolates from Faba Bean (Vicia faba L.) in Yunnan Province, China
A virus disease of faba bean (Vicia faba L.) in China, characterized by leaf yellowing and rolling and plant stunting, was shown to be caused by a virus of the genus Nanovirus based on serological reactions to nanovirus-specific monoclonal...
