Lemongrass essential oil (LEO) has been evaluated as a silage additive to improve silage fermentation and reduce fermentative losses. The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of increasing levels of LEO on whole-plant sorghum silage (WPSS) fermentation profile, fermentation losses, chemical composition, dry matter (DM) and neutral detergent fibre (NDF) in vitro degradation and aerobic stability. Five cultivars and fifty experimental silos were used to evaluate the following LEO levels: 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4 ml kg−1 DM of WPSS. The material was compacted (650 kg m−2) and the silos were sealed, weighed and stored at room temperature for 167 days. The addition of LEO linearly decreased butyric acid content and the ratio between lactic and acetic acids. Intermediate levels of LEO increased NH3-N and reduced lactic and acetic acids content. LEO linearly decreased silage gas losses. However, LEO did not affect total silage losses and DM recovery. Intermediate levels of LEO addition decreased organic matter and crude protein in the WPSS. The addition of LEO did not affect other chemical composition parameters, DM and NDF in vitro degradation, and pH and temperature of the silage after aerobic exposure. Thus, LEO supply in WPSS reduces gas losses, butyric acid concentration, and the ratio between lactic and acetic acids. However, LEO does not improve the chemical composition, in vitro degradation, and aerobic stability of WPSS.

It is often stated that organic rice has a higher content of healthy phytochemicals than ordinary rice, and the facts on this claim obtained experimentally are rare. Riceberry is a new rice variety in Thailand. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of organic practice and conventional practice on the content of chemical composition and bioactive compounds in Riceberry rice. The results showed that agricultural practices were not significantly different for grain yield in the first year, but they were different in the second year. Rice produced by organic practice had a higher content of iron, gamma-aminobutyric acid, total phenolic and anthocyanin (4.15, 1.67, 41.3 and 20.1 mg/100 g dry weight in the first year, and 4.06, 3.37, 89.7 and 14.7 mg/100 g dry weight in the second year) than that produced by conventional practice (2.25, 1.11, 38.8 and 6.89 mg/100 g dry in the first year, and 1.96, 2.77, 54.1 and 5.71 mg/100 g dry in the second year). Rice produced by organic practice also had lower sugar content (2.92 g/100 g dry weight in the first year, and 1.99 g/100 g dry weight in the second year) than that produced by conventional practice (3.46 g/100 g dry weight in the first year, and 2.81 g/100 g dry weight in the second year). Gamma oryzanol and antioxidant capacity were also lower in organic rice compared to conventional rice. This study indicated that organic Riceberry rice had a higher quality compared to non-organic rice.

In the present study, we investigated the influence of different mid-stage N compensation timings on agronomic and physiological traits associated with grain yield and quality in field experiments. Two japonica rice cultivars with a good tasting quality (Nangeng 9108 and Nangeng 5055) were examined under eight N compensation timings (N1–N6: one-time N compensation at 7-2 weeks before heading; N7: split N compensation at 5 and 3 weeks before heading; N8: split N compensation at 4 and 2 weeks before heading) and a control with no N compensation. The highest yield was obtained with N7, followed by N3. The yield advantage is mainly attributable to the improved population structure (higher productive tiller rate with a stable number of effective panicles), higher total number of spikelets per unit area (large panicles with more grains per panicle), larger leaf area index in the late period and higher photosynthetic production capacity (more dry matter accumulation and transportation in the middle and late periods). Delaying N compensation timing improved the processing and nutritional quality of rice, but decreased the quality of appearance and cooking/eating traits. Our results suggest that, from the perspective of achieving relative coordination between high yield and high quality of japonica rice, the optimal N compensation should be divided equally at 5 and 3 weeks before heading. However, if simplifying the number of operations and the pursuit of eating quality were considered, one-time N compensation should be conducted at 5 weeks before heading.

Planting patterns have significant effects on rice growth. Nonetheless, little is known about differences in annual crop yield and resource utilization among mechanized rice planting patterns in a rice–wheat cropping system. Field experiments were conducted from 2014 to 2017 using three treatments: pot seedling transplanting for rice and row sowing for wheat (PST-RS), carpet seedling transplanting for rice and row sowing for wheat (CST-RS) and row sowing for both crops (RS-RS). The results showed that, compared with RS-RS, PST-RS and CST-RS prolonged annual crop growth duration by 25–26 and 13–15 days, increased effective accumulated temperature by 399 and 212°C days and increased cumulative solar radiation by 454 and 228 MJ/m2 because of the earlier sowing of rice by 28 and 16 days in PST-RS and CST-RS, respectively. Compared with RS-RS, the annual crop yield of PST-RS and CST-RS increased by 3.1–3.8 and 2.0–2.6 t/ha, respectively, because of the increase in the number of spikelets/kernels per hectare, aboveground biomass, mean leaf area index and grain–leaf ratio. In addition, temperature production efficiency, solar radiation production efficiency and solar radiation use efficiency were higher in PST-RS, followed by CST-RS and RS-RS. These results suggest that mechanized rice planting patterns such as PST-RS increase annual crop production in rice–wheat cropping systems by increasing yield and solar energy utilization.

We investigated whether the one-time application of polymer-coated urea (PCU) before transplanting could simultaneously improve the grain yield and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) of japonica-indica hybrid rice (JIHR) through a field experiment. The local high-yield JIHR cultivar Chunyou-927 was field grown during the rice-growing seasons in 2019 and 2020. The experiment consisted of three treatments: no nitrogen application (0N), application of conventional urea (CU), and the one-time application of PCU. Grain yield was 1.0–1.3 t/ha higher, and agronomic NUE (kg grain yield increase per kg N applied) was 5.2–5.9 kg/kg higher, respectively, under the PCU treatment compared with the CU treatment across the two study years. When compared with the CU treatment, the PCU treatment could (1) improve root morphological trait, (2) reduce redundant vegetative growth during the early growth period, (3) increase matter production during the mid and late growth period, and (4) increase plant activity during the grain-filling period. Overall, our findings indicate that one-time PCU application before transplanting of the JIHR cultivar holds great promise for increasing grain yield and NUE.

Fonio is an identity and orphan cereal of Africa whose production system has remained traditional. This work assessed the responses of selected genotypes of fonio to different sowing methods in Benin from 2018 to 2019. Split plot design with three replicates was used. Four genotypes from mass selection and two control varieties were randomly arranged in four planting modalities (ordinary broadcast sowing, continuous row sowing at inter-rows 20 cm (SLC20) and 25 cm (SLC25) and in seed hole sowing (SP25 × 20)). Agro-morphological data were collected and subjected to variance and multivariate analyses. On all traits, interaction (variety × sowing × year) was not significant. Other interactions (variety × sowing, variety × year, sowing × year) were significant on some morpho-phenological traits. Genotypes AS19-1-1, AS1 and ‘Yoro’ were the earliest, especially AS19-1-1 presenting sowing–heading cycle less of 65 days. Improved genotypes were the most grain yielding mainly AS15-1-1 (1056.5 kg/ha) showing an excess of 405.9 kg/ha compared to control ‘Yoro’ (650.9 kg/ha), the least performing. However, control ‘Iporawan’ was the most yielding in dry matter (>8000 kg/ha). Based on sowing methods, plant density was negatively correlated with tiller number. The best growth and grain yield performances were obtained in broadcast sowing and especially in SLC25 (911.4 kg/ha). Cropping systems in which the new genotypes (AS1, AS13-1, AS15-1-1, 19-6-1-1) sown in continuous rows at 20–25 cm apart, or by broadcasting, were better in terms of grain yield (971.7 kg/ha). These systems constitute cultivation innovation which will enable to optimize fonio production and bring added value.

SALTMED model performance was evaluated by comparing simulated and observed soil water content, dry matter (DM) yield, yield and water productivity (WP) data of field-grown bell pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) under Mediterranean climatic conditions irrigated with surface and subsurface drip systems. Simulation data were obtained from field experiments performed in 2016 and 2017. Treatments were full irrigation (I100), conventional deficit irrigation at 75 and 50% actual crop evapotranspiration (ETa; I75 and I50), regulated-deficit irrigation (RDI) and partial root-zone drying (PRD) at 50% ETa using surface (SfDI) and subsurface drip systems (SbDI) on a clay-loam soil, in a split-plot with four replications. Results showed that 56 and 29 mm less irrigation water was applied to SdDI100 in 2016 and 2017, respectively, than SfDI100; RDI used 27 and 77 mm less irrigation water than SfDI100 in experimental years, respectively. SbDI and SfDI performed similarly for bell pepper yield, DM and WP. However, the effect of irrigation treatments on yield, DM and WP was significant. I100 showed the highest yield (74.9 and 71.1 t/ha in 2016 and 2017, respectively), followed by RDI in 2016; I100, RDI and I75 produced greater yield than other treatments in 2017. PRD50 and I50 produced the least yield (49.8 and 45.9 t/ha in 2016 and 2017, respectively). SbPRD50 and SbI50 had the greatest WP value under SbDI in the experimental years. Results showed that the SALTMED model simulated yield, DM, soil water content and WP reasonably well (R2 = 0.95, 0.97, 0.98 and 0.74, respectively).

The objective of this study was to evaluate the radiation use efficiency (RUE) and canopy structure of elephant grass varieties (Cenchrus purpureus Schum.) of contrasting statures, under monocropping or intercropped with butterfly pea (Clitoria ternatea L.) in cut-and-carry systems. Two tall varieties (elephant B and IRI-381), and two dwarf ones (Mott and Taiwan A-146 2.37), were evaluated as monocrops or binary intercrops with the legume in a 2-year trial with eight harvests. Greater annual leaf biomass accumulation was observed in the monocrops of the tall variety elephant B (7.76 t/ha per year) and dwarf Mott (8.08 t/ha per year). Greater herbage bulk density (59 kg/ha per cm) and leaf area index (3.83) were recorded in canopies of dwarf Mott than in those composed of IRI-381 (37 kg/ha per cm and 3.48, respectively). In the first year, dwarf varieties Mott and Taiwan A-146 2.37 showed less RUE (0.89 and 0.84 g dry matter (DM)/MJ, respectively) than the elephant B (1.46 g DM/MJ). Higher non-fibre carbohydrate (NFC) contents were found in dwarf Mott under monocrop (180 g/kg) and in the intercrop systems. Tall varieties elephant B and IRI-381 showed greater efficiency in intercepting the radiation to accumulate herbage via stem accumulation. Dwarf Mott variety exhibited short stems and great leaf biomass accumulation that favoured denser canopies with higher content of NFCs in vegetal tissue. Planting butterfly pea into rows of elephant grass varieties can be adopted with no significant losses in RUE caused by light extinction, regardless of the grass stature.

Interest in organic agriculture worldwide is growing and is mainly supported by a strong consumer interest. In the literature, a lot of attention has been paid to comparing organic and conventional systems, on studying the yield gap between the two systems and, how to reduce it. In the present work, based on the results from Polish organic and conventional series of field trials carried out in 2019–2021, organic and conventional systems were compared in terms of potato tuber yield. Moreover, we propose a Bayesian approach to the variety × environment × system data set and describe Bayesian counterparts of two stability measures. Using this methodology, we identify the most stable and highest tuber yielding varieties in the Polish potato organic and conventional series of field trials. It is shown that the tuber yield in the organic system was approx. 44% lower than the tuber yield in the conventional system. Moreover, varieties Tajfun and Otolia were the most stable and highest yielding varieties in the organic system, whereas in the conventional system, the variety Jurek was the most stable and highest yielding variety among the tested varieties. In the present work, the use of the Bayesian approach allowed us to calculate the probability that the mean of a given variety in given system exceeds the mean of control varieties in that system.

The aim was to study the effect of the threshold number on the accuracy of genomic evaluation of the threshold traits using support vector machine (SVM), genomic best linear unbiased prediction (GBLUP) and Bayesian method B (BayesB). For this purpose, a genome consisting of three chromosomes was simulated for 1000 individuals on which 3000 bi-allelic single nucleotide polymorphism markers were evenly distributed. Genomic breeding values were predicted in different scenarios of threshold number (1–6 thresholds), QTL number (30 and 300 QTLs) and heritability level (0.1, 0.3 and 0.5). By increasing the number of thresholds from 1 to 6 thresholds, especially at higher levels of heritability, the accuracy of genomic evaluation increased; however, the increase in accuracy was not linear so that it was much more noticeable when the number of thresholds increased from 1 to 2 thresholds. In the most studied scenarios, SVM showed a very poor performance compared to other methods. BayesB ranked first regarding prediction accuracy, though in some cases the observed differences with GBLUP was not significant. While increase in heritability increased the accuracy of genomic evaluation, change in the QTL number had a slight effect on the prediction accuracy. According to the results, the SVM is not recommended for genomic evaluation of threshold traits, especially those which have only one threshold and instead, use of GBLUP and BayesB is recommended. For traits with more than one threshold, fortunately we can achieve accuracy similar to continuous traits by applying traditional genomic evaluation methods.

The optimal feeding time of microencapsulated sodium butyrate (SB) in whole milk (WM) and starter feed on growth performance and health in dairy calves was evaluated. Forty-eight newborn Holstein calves (body weight (BW) = 39.45 ± 2.48 kg) were randomly assigned to one of the four treatment groups (12 calves per treatment; seven females and five males) in a complete randomized block design and fed (1) WM without microencapsulated SB (CON) supplementation; (2) 4 g/day SB added to WM since days 4–32 (SB-4-32); (3) 4 g/day SB added to WM since days 61–74 and an equal amount was added to starter since days 75–88 (SB-61-88) and (4) 4 g/day SB added to WM since days 4–74 and an equal amount was added to starter since days 75–88 (SB-4-88). Total dry matter intake, starter intake, BW, average daily gain and gain-to-feed were similar between treatments. Calves fed SB-4-32, and SB-4-88 had lower faecal score during pre-weaning, and overall. In addition, calves in SB-4-32 and SB-4-88 groups had fewer numbers of days with scours during the pre-weaning period, and throughout the study. Calves fed SB-61-88 had greater serum total protein during post-weaning. Post-weaning and overall albumin concentrations were greater in SB-4-32 and SB-4-88 calves and tended to be greater in the pre-weaning period compared to control calves. In general, the time of SB addition had no remarkable effect on performance but better faecal score within the pre- and post-weaning periods.

Medicinal plants with high phytochemical values are critical for enhancing the productivity of livestock systems, while reducing their environmental impact. This study investigated the influence of graded levels of Cassia fistula leaf powder (CFLP) on in vitro ruminal fermentation parameters, gas production and degradability of diets for ruminants. Five concentrate diets were formulated to contain varying levels of CFLP (0, 15, 30, 45 and 60 mg/g dry matter (DM), denoted CF0, CF15, CF30, CF45 and CF60, respectively). The concentrate diets combined with guinea grass hay at the ratio of 4 : 6 (concentrate : forage) served as a substrate for the study. In vitro gas production test was performed by incubating 200 mg DM of the substrate for 48 h. At the end of the incubation period, the total gas and methane production, nutrient digestibility, in vitro fermentation and post-incubation parameters were evaluated. Results revealed a linear decrease (P < 0.001) in gas and methane production across the treatment groups with an increase in CFLP levels. The amount of methane produced varied from 9.3 ml/200 mg DM in the CF60 diet to 20 ml/200 mg DM in the control diet. Nutrient digestibility was highest in the control diet and lowest in the CF60 diet. There was a linear decrease in ammonia-nitrogen and total volatile fatty acid (TVFA) concentration with an increase in the CFLP level. Inclusion of CFLP up to 30 mg/g DM ruminant diet was found to reduce methane production and ammonia-nitrogen concentration with minimal effects on nutrient degradation and TVFA concentration.

There is a need for a low-cost strategy that accelerates the genetic change in local chicken breeds. Therefore, the objective of this study is to develop a strategy for marker-assisted selection for growth in local chickens in the developing countries. The studied lines were a homozygous normally feathered selected line (CE1), homozygous naked-neck selected line (CE3) and their corresponding control lines (CE2 and CE4). Lines CE1 and CE3 have been selected for high 6-week body weight (BW) for five generations. Three generations were obtained for this study. In the current study, we consider the 6th generation as the base generation for marker-assisted selection study. Two subsequent selected generations were obtained from the base generation. The selected lines were significantly heavier at 6 weeks of age than their corresponding control lines by 24.15 and 27.07% in the base generation and by 51.4 and 34.5% in the second selected generation. A total of 34 polymorphic alleles in 19 loci were flown over generations and the flow trends were different in different lines and families within lines. Principal component analysis was applied to the data of both lines and two main components were found and three canonical correlations were obtained. Four and five alleles were persistently concomitant with the highly performed families in lines CE1 and CE3, respectively. These alleles would have brought 6-week BW into higher levels of performance by 25.1 and 16.6% in the second generation if they would have been considered in the selection for 6-week BW.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of genotype–environment interaction (GEI) on the yearling weight of Simmental cattle raised in Brazil, including the sex dimorphism in reaction norm models. The environmental gradient (EG) was formed using the average weight at 365 days of the contemporary groups. Two approaches were adopted in this study to evaluate reaction norms for weight at 365 days: a single-trait model and a multitrait model in which the data for males and females were separated and considered different traits for the analysis of sexual dimorphism. The genetic parameters were estimated using the Bayesian inference and Gibbs sampling. Analysis of the trend of the heritability estimates obtained with the single-trait model along the EG revealed a value of about 0.33 (EG: −21) in the worst environments, which decreased in the intermediate environments and reached a value of 0.24 in EG: −8, with a subsequent increase of the estimates up to 0.51 in EG: +23. Using the multitrait model, similar trends were observed for the heritability estimates, which ranged from 0.25 to 0.54 for males and from 0.23 to 0.50 for females. The results show that the weight of Simmental cattle raised in the tropics is influenced by GEI and greater genetic progress could be obtained by selecting better environments. However, no significant differences in the response to most environmental changes were observed between sexes and there is only evidence of genetic heteroscedasticity in environments with lower production levels.