31 articles in this issue
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Y. Ubeda,P. A. Lopez-Jimenez,J. Nicolas,S. Calvet
Odours generated in livestock buildings constitute one of the most relevant air quality issues of intensive livestock production. Reducing nuisance episodes related to odour exposure is therefore essential for a sustainable livestock production. In this s... see more
G. Montalvo,J. Morales,C. Pineiro,S. Godbout,M. Bigeriego
The objective of this study was to assess the effects of different dietary strategies in post-weaned piglets on gas emissions and animal performance. Eighty piglets were allotted in ten environmentally-controlled chambers. Piglets were fed with five diffe... see more
S. Dikmen
Heat stress has an important effect on the welfare of livestock and causes significant changes in biological functions. This study was carried out to investigate the behavioral differences of Brown Swiss (BS) and Holstein (H) feedlot cattle reared in a ho... see more
A. Faridi,A. Golian,M. Mottaghitalab,S. López,J. France
Support vector regression (SVR) is used in this study to develop models to estimate apparent metabolizable energy (AME), AME corrected for nitrogen (AMEn), true metabolizable energy (TME), and TME corrected for nitrogen (TMEn) contents of corn fed to duck... see more
M. Pateiro,J. M. Lorenzo,S. Diaz,J. A. Gende,M. Fernandez,J. Gonzalez,L. Garcia,F. J. Rial,D. Franco
The physicochemical and fatty acid compositions of meat from 81 calves were measured in order to prove whether the extension of suckling period could distinguish “Normal” from “Suprema” class calves. Three groups of animals were investigated depending on ... see more
A. Robina,J. Viguera,T. Perez-Palacios,A. I. Mayoral,J. M. Vivo,M. T. Guillen,J. Ruiz
A total of 144 pigs were used to study the effects of sex (barrows or gilts) and terminal sire line (Iberian or three genetic lines of Duroc: Duroc 1, Duroc 2 and Duroc 3) on performance and carcass and meat quality traits. Gilts showed slightly lower ave... see more
K. Q. Wei,J. X. Yang,Z. Z. Wei
Tobacco is an important cash crop in the world. However, the genetic basis is comparatively narrow among the modern Nicotiana tabacum cultivars, limiting its potential for quality improvement. To introduce genes conferring desirable chemical constituents ... see more
J. Peña-Asin,A. Costar,A. Alvarez
One of the most important stress factors in maize (Zea mays L.) fields is weed competition, which reduces the crop yield. Weeds chiefly interfere with maize and establish considerable competition for light, water and nutrients. To avoid these harmful effe... see more
H. Bagheri,D. Pino-Del-Carpio,C. Hanhart,G. Bonnema,J. Keurentjes,M. G. M. Aarts
To reveal the genetic variation, and loci involved, for a range of seed-related traits, a new F2 mapping population was developed by crossing Brassica rapa ssp. parachinensis L58 (CaiXin) with B. rapa ssp. trilocularis R-o-18 (spring oil seed), both rapid... see more
J. Wang,M. Lu,W. L. Du,J. Zhang,X. Y. Dong,J. Wu,J. X. Zhao,Q. H. Yang,X. H. Chen
Psathyrostachys huashanica Keng is an endangered species that is endemic to China, which provides an important gene pool for wheat improvement. We developed a quick and reliable PCR-based diagnostic assay to accurately and efficiently detect P. huashanica... see more
I. Vasilakoglou,D. Vlachostergios,K. Dhima,A. Lithourgidis
Broad-leaved weeds constitute a serious problem in the production of winter legumes, but few selective herbicides controlling these weeds have been registered in Europe. Four field experiments were conducted in 2009/10 and repeated in 2010/11 in Greece to... see more
L. Batalla-Carrera,A. Morton,F. García-del-Pino
The hazelnut weevil, Curculio nucum L. (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) is a pest affecting hazelnut orchards in Europe, with an important economical repercussion. Its potential control, short-term field persistence and the vertical distribution of native ento... see more
K. Zanic,D. Ban,T. Gotlin Culjak,S. Goreta Ban,G. Dumicic,J. Haramija,D. Znidarcic
Winged morphs of aphids were investigated under field conditions during 2008, 2010 and 2011 in the Mediterranean region of Croatia. Field experiments were conducted to record aphid diversity and compare polyethylene black mulch to straw mulch and bare soi... see more
P. Chueca,C. Garcerá,A. Urbaneja,E. Molto
The Mediterranean fruit fly (or medfly), Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Tephritidae), affects most of the fruit species grown in temperate and tropical climate regions, causing significant economic damage. One of the classical cultural strategie... see more
J. F. Maestre-Valero,V. Martínez-Alvarez,M. M. González-Real
This study employs a methodological approach for estimating long-term series of monthly reference evapotranspiration (ETo) from historical data. To carry it out a regionally calibrated version of the Hargreaves equation was applied at old ordinary weather... see more
P. Garofalo,M. Rinaldi
A large interest is currently addressed to the no-food crops as an alternative source of energy. One of these crops is the biomass sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) thanks to its high biomass productivity and high use efficiency of solar radiation and w... see more
G. Dono,L. Giraldo,E. Nazzaro
In this study we investigated the potential economic impact of good management of the calving interval on dairy farms. This involved the assessment of economics and production of a sample of farms, selected from the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN), a... see more
Z. Bakucs,S. Bojnec,I. Ferto,L. Latruffe
The aim of this article is to investigate the relationship between size and farm growth. The existing theories of the association between size and farm growth give mixed results by countries and over time. This paper pursues a twofold objective: on one ha... see more
G. Martin-Rodriguez,J. J. Caceres-Hernandez
Statistical procedures are proposed to describe, compare and forecast the behaviour of seasonal variations in two daily price series of Canary tomato exported to German and British markets, respectively, over the last decade. These seasonal patterns are p... see more
J. Cusicanqui,K. Dillen,M. Garcia,S. Geerts,D. Raes,E. Mathijs
In the Southern Bolivian Altiplano recent research has suggested to introduce deficit irrigation as a strategy to boost quinoa yields and to stabilize it at 2.0 ton ha-1. In this study we carried out an economic assessment of the implementation of deficit... see more
S. Kourtesi,P. Fousekis,A. Polymeros
The assessment of technical efficiency in the agricultural sector and the influence of exogenous (environmental) variables on the production process has been a major topic of economic research especially for managers and policy makers. The methological in... see more
J. Nejadi,M. H. Raoufat
Seed placement and failure to establish a uniform plant stand are critical problems associated with production of corn (Zea mays) following wheat (Triticum aestivum) in a conservation agriculture system in Iran. Our objectives were to evaluate the perform... see more
H. Golpira,T. Tavakoli,J. D. Baerdemaeker
Saving cost and time was a motivation to develop a mechanized harvesting system for chickpeas, which are manually uprooted on fallow fields in developing countries. A tractor-pulled harvester with a modified stripper header was designed and fabricated, in... see more
A. D. Sedlar,R. M. Bugarin,D. Nuyttens,J. J. Turan,M. S. Zoranovic,O. O. Ponjican,T. V. Janic
The goal of this work was to evaluate the potential of reduced application rates in apple trees as well as the potential of selective spray applications by using sensor-based tree detection techniques in Serbian fruit production. Their economical and biol... see more
J. F. Velez,A. Sanchez,J. Sanchez,J. L. Esteban
Accurate individual animal identification provides the producers with useful information to take management decisions about an individual animal or about the complete herd. This identification task is also important to ensure the integrity of the food cha... see more
A. López-Martínez,D. L. Valera-Martínez,F. D. Molina-Aiz,A. A. Peña-Fernández,P. Marín-Membrive
The installation of insect-proof screens on greenhouse vents is one of the principal methods of protection against harmful insects for crops. Their main disadvantage lies on their negative effects on natural ventilation and greenhouse microclimate, which ... see more
H. W. Karuri,R. L. Amata,N. O. Amugune,C. N. Waturu
The quality of decomposing plant materials may affect the soil community structure. The aim of the study was to determine the impact of decomposing Bt cotton and its isoline on soil nematode diversity. Bt cotton (06Z604D), isoline (99M03) and HART 89M (lo... see more
Q. Guo,W. W. Li,D. D. Liu,W. Wu,Y. Liu,X. X. Wen,Y. C. Liao
This study investigated the dynamics of CO2 flux in a rain-fed wheat field ecosystem using an eddy covariance technique during the 2011 to 2012 wheat-growing season at the Loess Plateau, China. Results showed that the daily CO2 flux was closely related to... see more
V. de Brun,J. A. Abecia,A. Fernandez-Foren,M. Carriquiry,F. Forcada,I. Vazquez,A. Meikle,C. Sosa
The effect of undernutrition on gene expression of progesterone and oestrogen receptors (PGR and ESR1), and insulin-like growth factors 1 and 2 (IGF1 and IGF2) in the uterus and oviducts of ewes on day 5 after oestrus was investigated. The effect of the s... see more
L. A. Zarazaga,M. C. Gatica,L. Gallego-Calvo,I. Celi,J. L. Guzman
The aim of the present study was to determine whether any combination of buck effect and melatonin treatment could improve reproductive performance in Payoya female goats during early postpartum. Forty-four pregnant female goats were used. After birth in ... see more