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The production of biofuels (e.g., ethanol and biodiesel) requires a significant amount of water during feedstock production, transportation, and its conversion into biofuels. Therefore present study devoted to study the impact of biofuel production on water demand in Alberta. In scenario #1, it is assumed that ethanol is produced from both wheat and wheat straw and that biodiesel is produced from rapeseed. Scenario #2 proposes ethanol production from wheat only and biodiesel production from rapeseed. The water requirements for biofuel production in both scenarios are calculated for Alberta for the year 2025. Data on the current availability of water in Alberta indicate that the Athabasca, North Saskatchewan, and Peace River basins of northern Alberta have enough water to grow crops for the production of biofuels. In 2025, Alberta will have to produce 3,754 million liters of ethanol and 270 million liters of biodiesel to meet the projected levels. If biofuels are produced from the crops grown in the abovementioned northern river basins, the province of Alberta should be able to meet biofuel demand in 2025 sustainably. The water requirement from these river basins for biofuel production will increase to 5.2%, 0.6%, and 11.6%, respectively, of the natural flow in scenario #1 whereas, for scenario #2, the water requirement from these rivers basins will increase to 5.2%, 2.3%, and 16.1%, respectively, of natural flow. These increases in the requirements are much lower than the possible allowed withdrawal levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intense cultivation with narrow row spacing in wheat, a common practice in the Indo-Gangetic plains of South Asia, renders the crop more susceptible to lodging during physiological maturity. This susceptibility, compounded by the use of traditional crop cultivars, has led to a substantial decline in overall crop productivity. In response to these challenges, a two-year field study on the system of wheat intensification (SWI) was conducted. The study involved three different cultivation methods in horizontal plots and four wheat genotypes in vertical plots, organized in a strip plot design. Our results exhibited that adoption of SWI at 20 cm × 20 cm resulted in significantly higher intercellular CO2 concentration (5.9–6.3%), transpiration rate (13.2–15.8%), stomatal conductance (55–59%), net photosynthetic rate (126–160%), and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) interception (1.6–25.2%) over the existing conventional method (plant geometry 22.5 cm × continuous plant to plant spacing) of wheat cultivation. The lodging resistance capacity of both the lower and upper 3rd nodes was significantly higher in the SWI compared to other cultivation methods. Among different genotypes, HD 2967 demonstrated the highest recorded value for lodging resistance capacity, followed by HD 2851, HD 3086, and HD 2894. In addition, adoption of the SWI at 20 cm × 20 cm enhanced crop grain yield by 36.9–41.6%, and biological yield by 27.5–29.8%. Significantly higher soil dehydrogenase activity (12.06 μg TPF g-1 soil hr-1), arylsulfatase activity (82.8 μg p-nitro phenol g-1 soil hr-1), alkaline phosphatase activity (3.11 n moles ethylene g-1 soil hr-1), total polysaccharides, soil microbial biomass carbon, and soil chlorophyll content were also noted under SWI over conventional method of the production. Further, increased root volumes, surface root density and higher NPK uptake were recorded under SWI at 20×20 cm in comparison to rest of the treatments. Among the tested wheat genotypes, HD-2967 and HD-3086 had demonstrated notable increases in grain and biological yields, as well as improvements in the photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) and chlorophyll content. Therefore, adoption of SWI at 20 cm ×20 cm (square planting) with cultivars HD 2967 might be the best strategy for enhancing crop productivity and resource-use efficiency under the similar wheat growing conditions of India and similar agro-ecotypes of the globe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanofertilizers have emerged as an effective alternative to traditional fertilizers. They contribute to increased agricultural production by increasing input efficiency and reducing relevant losses. The present study was carried out at the G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand, India, during 2016-17 to study the effect of synthesized zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) on the growth and productivity of wheat and field pea crops. The results of the study revealed that significantly greater wheat and field pea plant height was recorded with 10, 20 and 50 ppm concentration of ZnO NPs, which decreased at 100 ppm concentration. A significantly higher yield of wheat was recorded at 50 ppm ZnO NPs concentration (3.28 ± 0.51 g plant-1), followed by 20 ppm (3.05 ± 0.43 g plant-1), which was at par with 100 ppm (3.02 ± 0.45 g plant-1), and the minimum at 10 ppm concentration (2.70 ± 0.34 g plant-1) over control. A similar trend in yield was observed for field pea. With respect to the mode of application, a higher yield of wheat was observed in the seed-soaking method (3.05 ± 0.43 g plant-1); however, in the case of field pea, a higher yield was observed using foliar spray (6.21 ± 0.52 g plant-1) method of ZnO application. Higher Zn content was observed in 50 ppm concentration for wheat (42.39 µg g-1) and field pea (26.00 µg g-1). The higher Zn use efficiency in terms of physiological efficiency was recorded at 20 ppm concentration (1.46) for wheat and 10 ppm (5.51) for field pea. Hence, it can be concluded that the applied ZnO NPs have stimulating effects on wheat and field pea crop growth and yield through increased zinc content in plants, zinc uptake and zinc use efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An experiment was conducted at CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar during rabi 2010-11 and 2011-12, consisting of three irrigation frequencies viz. one irrigation at CRI, two irrigations at CRI and heading and four irrigations at CRI, late tillering, heading and milking in main plots and five nitrogen levels (0, 50, 100, 150 and 200 kg N/ha) in sub-plots in strip plot design with four replications. Grain yield and NUE increased significantly with increased irrigation levels. Increase irrigation frequency increased the N (33.4 and 31.3%), P (42.2 and 42.3%) and K (26.7 and 25.1%) uptake over one irrigation during 2010-11 and N (16.0 and 15.9%), P (19.4 and 20.7%) and K (11.2 and 13.5%) during 2011-12. Increased nitrogen dose increased the protein content, hectolitre weight, sedimentation value and grain yield over control. Maximum and minimum nutrient uptake was recorded with 200 and 0 kg N/ha. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. Influence research of wheat food fiber (Vitacel WF400) have been carried out in order to rationalize the structure formation process of whey-creamy cheeses. Materials and Methods. Cheese whey, cream and Vitacel WF400 were the raw materials for the production of whey-creamy cheese. The technological properties of food fiber were determined by the amount of retained fat and adsorbed water, respectively, in the infusion process and suspension centrifugation. The yield value and the water activity in model samples of whey-creamy cheeses, the optimal addition amount of Vitacel WF400 the temperature and the mixing duration of the condensed whey have been determined. Results and discussion. The water-retainaing capacity in cheese whey and fat holding capacity in cream with mass fat fraction 33 were 104.2±1.0 and 82.0±0.5, respectively. With an increase in the addition amount of Vitacel WF400 (from 1.0 to 4.0) and an increase in the temperature of structure formation (from 62 to 74 °C), the index of yield value increases from 350±1.1 Pa to 430±1.3 Pa. Increasing the temperature to 68 °C, increasing the amount of Vitacel WF400 to 2.5 and reducing the mixing duration to 70 min leads to a decrease in the amount of dispersion medium and the structure coagulation of the samples of whey-creamy cheeses is dehydrated. Model samples of the above products with different amounts of Vitacel WF400 (from 2 to 3) are characterized by a decrease in water activity compared with the control sample. aw is 0.898 for the control sample. Upon reaching a dry solids content of 66 and a corresponding decrease in the content of the liquid phase, the index of yield value reaches 427 Pa. The consistency of whey-creamy cheeses samples turns into a plastic pastes state, in which the structure restoration is possible only under the load action, that causes irreversible deformation, which acts on the entire surface area of the phase separation. With a further temperature increase to 74 °C and a mixing time to 70 min, a further structure compaction occurs -- the layers' thickness of the liquid medium decreases, thixotropy and plasticity disappear. Conclusions. The optimum values of the Vitacel WF400 amount have been justified at the level of 2.5±0.5, temperature -- 68±1 °C and mixing time during structure formation -- 70±2 min. Whey-creamy cheeses with the rational addition amounts of food fiber are characterized by a decrease in water activity values from 0.885 to 0.823. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study conducted in India to determine the carbon and water footprints of rice, wheat, and corn cultivation across different regions, highlighting the highest water footprint for rice farming and the highest carbon footprint for rice cultivation in South India.

To reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission from rice and wheat cultivation several mitigation options have been suggested. However, economic impact of these technologies has been poorly documented. In the present study economic analysis of some emerging GHG mitigation technologies for rice-wheat system of the Indo-Gangetic Plains has been carried out. The experiment consisted of six combinations of wheat- rice crop rotation using eight treatments, including conventionally tilled wheat (CTW), zero tilled wheat (ZTW), transplanted puddled rice (TPR), dry direct seeded rice (DSR), intermittent wetting and drying (IWD), application of rice straw (RS) with ZTW and use of neem oil-coated urea (NOCU) in TPR and ZTW. Cost of various inputs and income from grain and straw were used for computing the benefit to cost (B : C) ratio in the different treatments. ZTW showed higher yield and B : C ratio compared to CTW along with reduction in fuel consumption during tillage operation. In spite of lower yield under DSR and IWD, saving of water, labour and energy in these treatments lowered the cost of cultivation and enhanced B : C ratio similar to TPR. Application of rice straw and NOCU also showed positive impact on crop yield. B : C ratio of rice-wheat system ranged from 1.62 to 1.86 in the first year and from 1.86 to 2.16 in the second year. B : C ratio was significantly higher in all the treatments in the experimented rice-wheat system compared to conventional system, i.e. CTW-TPR. The ZTW + RR - DSR (WR5) showed highest B : C ratiofollowed by ZTW + DSR (WR4) in both the seasons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intensive mono-cropping without a balanced supply of nutrients and declining water resources are degrading soil health, and as a consequence, agriculture production is becoming unsustainable and causing environmental degradation. The field experiment was conducted during Rabi season to assess the effect of an irrigation schedule, nutrient management, and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) varieties on soil microbial biomass carbon (SMBC) and soil enzymes activities. Two nutrient levels, recommended rate of chemical fertilizer (RDF) and 50% RDF + 50% recommended dose of nitrogen (RDN) through farmyard manure (FYM) designated as Integrated Nutrient Sources (INS), and three irrigations levels, one irrigation at crown root initiation (CRI), two irrigations at CRI and flowering stages, and five irrigations at all main stages of the crop (CRI, tillering, jointing, flowering, and grain filling) were allocated to main-plots while four varieties of wheat, HD 2967, WR 544, HD 2987, and HD 2932, were allocated to sub-plots. The results revealed that SMBC and activities of dehydrogenase, alkaline phosphatase enzymes, and acid phosphatase were higher under restricted irrigation (irrigation at CRI stage) than other irrigation schedules. SMBC, dehydrogenase, acid phosphatase, and alkaline phosphatase activities were 73.0 µg g soil−1, 86.0 µg TPF g soil−1d−1, 39.6 µg PNP g soil−1 h1, and 81.8 µg PNP g−1 soil h−1, respectively, with the use of INS that was higher than RDF. Root weight and root volume followed a similar pattern. Applying single irrigation at CRI left behind the maximum available nitrogen (166.4 kg ha−1) in soil compared to other irrigation schedules and it was highest (149.31 kg ha−1) with the use of INS. Moreover, total organic carbon (TOC) was 0.44 and 0.43% higher with irrigation at CRI stages and the use of INS, respectively. The INS with single irrigation at the CRI stage is important to improve the root growth, SMBC dehydrogenase, alkaline phosphatase, and acid phosphatase enzyme activity in the wheat production system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]