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Agricultural Research (agricultural + research)
Terms modified by Agricultural Research Selected AbstractsUnderground Vetch (Vicia sativa ssp. amphicarpa): A Potential Pasture and Forage Legume for Dry Areas in West AsiaJOURNAL OF AGRONOMY AND CROP SCIENCE, Issue 3 2003A. M. Abd El Moneim Abstract Subterranean vetch [Vicia sativa ssp. amphicarpa (Dorth.) Aschers & Graebn.] is native to disturbed grasslands of the Mediterranean basin where heavy grazing, seasonal drought and erosion act as strong selection forces. It produces two pod types, above-ground and 5 cm below the soil surface. Unlike subterranean clover (Trifolium subterranean L.), which buries its seeds after flowering above-ground, subterranean vetch flowers and forms pods beneath the soil surface on underground stems. The aerial pods are produced after vegetative development ceases, while the underground pods are produced in ontogeny. The ability of this unusual vetch to survive in marginal areas with low rainfall (about 250 mm year,1) and to produce nutritious herbage and pods is an important characteristic which helps address rehabilitation of degraded rangelands and increase feed production for small ruminants. Research at the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) during the 1988,93 growing seasons has assessed the herbage and seed productivity of underground vetch, its ability to grow in rotation with barley in marginal low-rainfall areas, and its capacity to regenerate after heavy grazing. Drier conditions in 1989 favoured earlier underground flowering; the number of underground pods was higher than that of aerial pods. Grain yield of barley (var. Atlas) was around 2.0 t ha,1 after underground vetch and only 1.2 t ha,1 after barley. Grazing underground vetch had no effect on the productivity of the succeeding barley crop. The aerial and underground pods serve two distinct functions; aerial pods increase dissemination within suitable habitats, while underground pods increase the probability of plant survival under adverse conditions such as drought and heavy grazing. Underground vetch has two potential uses, namely the rehabilitation of marginal areas and production in rotation with barley. [source] Food Security, Overweight, and Agricultural Research,A View from 2003JOURNAL OF FOOD SCIENCE, Issue 1 2004E. KENNEDY ABSTRACT: Some of the poorest countries of the world are facing an apparent paradox. Food insecurity, undernutrition, and overweight exist side by side within the same country. Indeed, food-insecure households often contain an overweight member. Data from 11 mega-countries (countries with a population of more than 100 million) will be presented to illustrate the magnitude of the problem. These 11 countries represent more than 60% of the world's population. Agriculture is still a dominant industry. The links between food insecurity, nutritional status, and agriculture will be presented. [source] Agricultural Research at a CrossroadsCANADIAN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS, Issue 1 2008Richard Gray First page of article [source] Reciprocal insights into adaptation from agricultural and evolutionary studies in tomatoEVOLUTIONARY APPLICATIONS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 5-6 2010Leonie C. Moyle Abstract Although traditionally separated by different aims and methodologies, research on agricultural and evolutionary problems shares a common goal of understanding the mechanisms underlying functionally important traits. As such, research in both fields offers potential complementary and reciprocal insights. Here, we discuss adaptive stress responses (specifically to water stress) as an example of potentially fruitful research reciprocity, where agricultural research has clearly produced advances that could benefit evolutionary studies, while evolutionary studies offer approaches and insights underexplored in crop studies. We focus on research on Solanum species that include the domesticated tomato and its wild relatives. Integrated approaches to understanding ecological adaptation are particularly attractive in tomato and its wild relatives: many presumptively adaptive phenotypic differences characterize wild species, and the physiological and mechanistic basis of many relevant traits and environmental responses has already been examined in the context of cultivated tomato and some wild species. We highlight four specific instances where these reciprocal insights can be combined to better address questions that are fundamental both to agriculture and evolution. [source] Matching Technologies with Potential End Users: A Knowledge Engineering Approach for Agricultural Research ManagementJOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS, Issue 1 2004J. David Reece This paper addresses the problem of priority setting that faces developing country agricultural research, a problem whose relevance has been sharpened by the current context of demands for greater efficiency and targeted impact. A new method for ex ante estimation of the impact of developing each of several alternative proposed technologies is described and illustrated through an example from West Africa. This method is based on the notion of market segmentation, which normally makes intensive use of secondary data-sets that are simply not available for rural areas of developing countries. To circumvent this lack of secondary data, the method adopts a knowledge engineering approach based on the views of an expert panel familiar with the region to be served. Descriptions of proposed technologies are matched with the interests and resources of identified market segments, together with the characteristics of their farming systems and locations, to identify those segments whose members are likely to use the proposed technology. Further development of the method is discussed. [source] The political economy of public research investment and commodity policies in agriculture: an empirical studyAGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS, Issue 2 2000Johan F.M. Swinnen Abstract The paper tests a political economy theory of simultaneous government decision-making on income redistribution through commodity policies and on public research investment in agriculture. We use data from 37 countries on agricultural protection and public agricultural research expenditures (PARI). The empirical results are consistent with the political economy hypotheses. The analysis suggest that structural changes in the economy have important effects on the political incentives for governments not only to subsidize or tax farmers, but also to invest in public agricultural research. Furthermore, the analysis supports the hypotheses that the impact of such structural changes on government decision-making on PARI is non-linear and conditional on other factors. Regarding the impact of political institutions, the results suggest that more democracy neither leads to more distortionary transfers (agricultural protection), nor to lower investment in public goods (PARI). ©2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. [source] Use of Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Analysis for Economically Important Food CropsJOURNAL OF INTEGRATIVE PLANT BIOLOGY, Issue 12 2007Halima Hassan Salem Abstract The objective of this review is to summarize numerous studies on the use of the random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) technique on rice, corn, wheat, sorghum, barley, rye, and oats to examine its feasibility and validity for assessment of genetic variation, population genetics, mapping, linkage and marker assisted selection, phylogenetic analysis, and the detection of somaclonal variation. Also we discuss the advantages and limitations of RAPD. Molecular markers have entered the scene of genetic improvement in different fields of agricultural research. The simplicity of the RAPD technique made it ideal for genetic mapping, plant and animal breeding programs, and DNA fingerprinting, with particular utility in the field of population genetics. [source] Gender, social capital and information exchange in rural UgandaJOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, Issue 1 2008Enid Katungi Abstract Changing agricultural research and extension systems mean that informal mechanisms of information diffusion are often the primary source of information about improved seed and practices for farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. This paper investigates the interactions between gender, social capital and information exchange in rural Uganda. Within the framework of farmer-to-farmer models, we conceptualise the informal information diffusion process to comprise social capital accumulation and information exchange. We assume that each agent participates in information exchange with a fixed (predetermined) level of social capital and examine how endowments of social capital influence information exchange, paying close attention to gender differences. A multinomial logit model is used to analyse multiple participation choices of information exchange facing the farmer. Findings demonstrate that social capital is an important factor in information exchange, with men generally having better access to social capital than women. We also find strong evidence in support of group-based technology dissemination systems. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] The Strange Budgetary Politics of Agricultural Research EarmarksPUBLIC BUDGETING AND FINANCE, Issue 3 2006MARC T. LAW This article explores how members of the House and Senate Subcommittees on Agricultural Appropriations use the appropriations process to earmark special grants for agricultural research projects without forming a majority logroll. It also shows how subcommittee members coerce the USDA into administering individual earmarked research grants even though the precise allocation of these grants does not have the force of law. This article makes an important contribution because it analyzes an institutional development within the appropriations process that has not been explored in the existing literature, and it examines the consequences that this development has had on the quality of USDA-funded agricultural research. [source] REVIEW ARTICLE: Medawar Redux , An Overview on the Use of Farm Animal Models to Elucidate Principles of Reproductive ImmunologyAMERICAN JOURNAL OF REPRODUCTIVE IMMUNOLOGY, Issue 4 2010Peter J. Hansen Citation Hansen PJ. Medawar redux , an overview on the use of farm animal models to elucidate principles of reproductive immunology. Am J Reprod Immunol 2010 Farm animals have been important models for the development of reproductive immunology. Two of the major concepts underpinning reproductive immunology, the idea of the fetal allograft and progesterone's role in regulation of uterine immunity, were developed using the bovine as a model. This volume of the American Journal of Reproductive Immunology is composed of review articles that highlight the continued relevance of farm animals as models for research in mammalian biology. It is important that a diverse array of genotypes are used to elucidate biological principles relevant to mammalian biology and human health because the nature of mammalian evolution has resulted in a situation where the genome of the most commonly used animal model, the laboratory mouse, is less similar to the human than other species like the cow. Moreover, the evolution of placental function has been accompanied by formation of new genes during recent evolution so that orthologs do not exist in any but closely related species. Given the infrastructure needs to study farm animal species, optimal utilization of these animals as models for biomedical research will require significant increases in funding to reverse a historical erosion of resources devoted to animal agricultural research. [source] Cytokines, implantation and early abortion: re-examining the Th1/Th2 paradigm leads to question the single pathway, single therapy conceptAMERICAN JOURNAL OF REPRODUCTIVE IMMUNOLOGY, Issue 3 2003Gérard Chaouat Problem: Human in vitro fertilization (IVF) embryo transfer is accompanied by a low implantation rate even after a very successful IVF, and there are a certain number of ,idiopathic sterilities' which are due to repeated implantation failures. In the very same vein, the question of improving implantation rates is of prime importance in agricultural research to improve the management of livestock. Pre-implantation prenatal diagnosis cannot be accomplished in individuals who have a high rate of implantation failure, whether women undergoing IVF, or animals, during genetic cloning. Implantation cytokine networks need to be known in such a perspective. Methods: We review the evolution and theories in reproductive immunology, briefly deal with the complexity of implantation as a step by step developmental event, and then present some of our recent data in mice and human. Conclusions: We conclude that the T helper cell type 1/2 (Th1/Th2) paradigm, as useful as it has been to explain pregnancy, is no longer sufficient in view of the emerging complexity of the cytokine network at the materno-fetal interface. This is peculiarly true for implantation, which, as a step by step developmentally regulated process, involving inflammatory molecules, cannot fit into such a scheme. [source] Does Allocation of Public Spending Matter in Poverty Reduction?ASIAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL, Issue 4 2008Evidence from Thailand H41; H53; H54 The present paper uses a panel dataset to estimate the marginal returns to different types of government expenditure on agricultural growth and rural poverty reduction in Thailand. The study finds that additional government spending on agricultural research provides the largest return in terms of agricultural productivity and has the second largest impact on rural poverty reduction. Increased investment in rural electrification has the largest poverty reduction impact, mainly through improved nonfarm employment. Rural education has the third largest impact on both productivity and poverty reduction. Irrigation has a positive impact on agricultural productivity, but regional variation is considerable. Government spending on rural roads has no significant impact on agricultural productivity and its poverty reduction impact ranks last among all investment alternatives considered. Additional investment in the Northeast Region has a greater impact on poverty reduction than in other regions. [source] Productivity growth and the returns from public investment in R&D in Australian broadacre agricultureAUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL & RESOURCE ECONOMICS, Issue 4 2007John Mullen Investment in R&D has long been regarded as an important source of productivity growth in Australian agriculture. Perhaps because research lags are long, current investment in R&D is monitored closely. Investment in R&D has been flat while productivity growth has remained strong, relative both to other sectors of the Australian economy and to the agricultural sectors of other countries. Such productivity growth, at a time when the decline in terms of trade facing Australian farmers has slowed, may have enhanced the competitiveness of Australian agriculture. The econometric results presented here suggest no evidence of a decline in the returns from research from the 15 to 40 per cent per annum range estimated by Mullen and Cox. In fact the marginal impact of research increases with research over the range of investment levels experienced from 1953 to 2000, a finding which lends support to the view that there is underinvestment in agricultural research. These results were obtained from econometric models which maintain strong assumptions about how investments in research and extension translate into changes in TFP. Hence some caution in interpreting the results is warranted. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||