| 1. |
- Johansson, Birgitta, et al.
(författare)
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Cold-pressed rapeseed cake or full fat rapeseed to organic dairy cows - milk production and profitability
- 2015
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Ingår i: Organic Agriculture. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1879-4238 .- 1879-4246. ; 5, s. 29-38
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The interest in growing and feeding locally produced feeds is increasing. Case studies in Sweden have shown that feeds grown on-farm are more environmentally favourable than imported feeds, partly due to the lower energy requirements for transport. Full fat rapeseed (FFRS) and its co-product cold-pressed rapeseed cake (CRC) can both be locally produced, and CRC has been proven to be suitable for dairy cows. In both feeds, fat content limits the amount that can be supplemented in the diet, and less FFRS than CRC can be used. However, in a previous study with scenario calculations, CRC showed lower profitability than FFRS. The present study examined how milk yield and milk composition were influenced by feeding FFRS compared with CRC in organic diets and calculated the farm profitability on each occasion. The study was performed using 56 Swedish Holstein cows in different lactation stages. Diets were 100% organic, including a mixed ration (silage, grains and minerals) fed ad libitum and a restricted amount of concentrates (field beans together with either CRC or ground FFRS). There were no significant differences in milk yield and composition between the diets. However, cows fed FFRS had a higher intake of the mixed ration than cows fed CRC. Cows fed CRC had the highest profitability in later lactation, whereas the diets were economically similar during early lactation.
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| 2. |
- Johansson, Birgitta, et al.
(författare)
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Using clover/grass silage as a protein feed for dairy bull calves
- 2016
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Ingår i: Organic Agriculture. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1879-4238 .- 1879-4246. ; 6, s. 57-63
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Abstract Soybean meal (SBM) is globally used as a protein feed of good nutritional quality, e.g. for calves. However, the environmental impact of soybean cultivation is often questioned and SBM can therefore of ethical reasons be replaced by nitrogen-fixing forage and grain legumes and rapeseed products. In two experiments (exp.), we examined whether feeding dairy bull calves forages with a high inclusion of red clover together with cold-pressed rapeseed cake (CRC; exps. 1 and 2) and field bean (FB; exp. 2) met their protein requirement for proper growth, and calculated the profitability of using these diets. The calves were allocated to one of three protein feed treatments per experiment and studied from 97 to 275 kg live weight. In exp. 1, red clover/grass silage was combined with either smaller or greater amounts of CRC, which was compared with SBM. In exp. 2, red clover/grass silage, CRC and FB were combined with silage constituting 40, 50 or 60 % of DM in the total diet, to find the best combination. The profitability was calculated as value of calf gain minus feed costs. Soybean meal gave the highest live weight gain (LWG) and profitability in exp. 1, closely followed by the diet with greater amount of CRC together with clover/ grass silage. In exp. 2, the diets with 40 or 50 % silage resulted in similar DM intake and LWG, both higher than with 60 % silage. At conventional prices, the 40 % silage diet had the highest profitability, whereas at organic prices, the 50 % silage diet was more profitable.
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| 3. |
- Owusu Sekyere, Enoch
(författare)
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Examining the social, physical and institutional determinants of pineapple farmers’ choice of production systems in Central Ghana
- 2018
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Ingår i: Organic Agriculture. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1879-4238 .- 1879-4246. ; 9, s. 315-329
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Various researchers have determined the different factors influencing farmers’ decisions to adopt certified organic production, without considering factors about the social and institutional environments of smallholder farmers in developing countries. In this paper, we examined the social, physical and institutional factors that affect farmers’ choice of production systems for pineapple in Ghana. A multinomial logit model was used to examine the factors influencing the pineapple farmers’ choice of a production system. Empirical findings indicate that apart from personal and attitudinal factors, the social, physical and institutional factors are also very important in individual farmer’s decisions to adopt certified organic production systems. Policy implications of these findings are that besides farmers’ personal and attitudinal characteristics, the social, physical and institutional features were also crucial in their decision to adopt certified organic production systems. The identified factors contribute to informing the government and other key players along the pineapple value chain on the elements to strive for when designing strategies and programmes to promote certified organic pineapple production. The study proposes that to encourage and sustain certified organic pineapple production systems, stakeholders in the pineapple sector should help farmers to consider the environmental sustainability in their production decision making and educate farmers on the potential cost and benefits of certifying their products organically. Effective policy and strategy design should, therefore, consider these factors to improve the adoption rate from conventional to certified organic production systems.
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| 4. |
- Rezaei, Mehdi, et al.
(författare)
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Feed Efficiency, growth performance, and carcass characteristics of a fast- and a slower-growing broiler hybrid fed low- or high-protein organic diets
- 2018
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Ingår i: Organic Agriculture. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1879-4238 .- 1879-4246. ; 8, s. 121-128
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Organic poultry meat production in Sweden is characterized by diets based on organic and locally produced feedstuffs, roughage allowance, a long rearing period (>10 weeks), outdoor access for the birds, and ban of synthetic amino acids and prophylactic use of antibiotics and anthelmintic. Until recently, the main hybrids used in organic broiler chicken production in Sweden were the same as used in conventional broiler chicken production. These birds are bred to reach market weight at 5 to 6 weeks on a high-protein quality nonorganic diet. In this study, organic high- and low- protein diets were fed to fast- and slower-growing hybrid broiler chickens with 5 pens per genotype × diet treatment and 21 to 22 broiler chickens per pen. Weight gain, feed conversion, health, and mortality were recorded during a 71-day rearing period. The fast-growing hybrid birds grew faster (55.4 ± 0.7 versus 38.3 ± 0.5 g/day, P = 0.001) and had a better feed conversion ratio (2.6 ± 0.1 versus 2.9 ± 0.1 kg feed/kg body weight, P = 0.001) than the slower-growing hybrid birds. The fast-growing hybrid birds grew slower when fed the high-protein compared to the low-protein diet (55.3 ± 0.5 versus 57.8 ± 1.4 g/day, P = 0.050), while the slower- growing hybrid birds grew faster when fed the high-protein compared to the low-protein diet (39.4 ± 0.7 and 37.2 ± 0.4 g/day, P = 0.038). A higher proportion of fast- compared to slower-growing hybrid birds had sticky droppings at 1 week of age (18.8 ± 1.6 versus 3.8 ± 1.6%, P = 0.001) and were culled because of leg weakness during the 10-week rearing period (10.0 ± 2.0 versus 3.3 ± 2.0%, P = 0.031), indicating poorer welfare among fast-growing hybrid birds when reared for 10 weeks on organic diets.
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| 9. |
- Alsanius, Beatrix, et al.
(författare)
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Ornamental flowers in new light: Artificial lighting shapes the microbial phyllosphere community structure of greenhouse grown sunflowers (Helianthus annuus L.)
- 2017
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Ingår i: Scientia Horticulturae. - : Elsevier BV. - 0304-4238 .- 1879-1018. ; 216, s. 234-247
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Artificial assimilation lighting is a common practice in greenhouse horticulture in the circumpolar region to compensate for natural low light conditions. To modulate plant architecture, regulate flowering of photoperiodic crops, increase plant performance per energy input and consequently profitability, light emitting diodes (LEDs) have been suggested as a powerful tool for ornamental growers in complementary or replacement of conventional lighting such as incandescent, fluorescent and high pressure sodium (HPS) lamps. As LED light differs from HPS lamps with regard to spectral output, light distribution as well as heat emission, the microclimate within the crop stand is affected. In two independent experiments conducted in fall and winter, we therefore compared the effect of two types of LED light (red 660 nm + blue 460 nm LED, 80:20 RB-LED; white LED, W-LED) with HPS lighting on ornamental sunflowers (Helianthus annuus cv. 'Teddy Bear'). Depending of the solar radiation (fall vs winter experiments), a same PPFD of 70-120 mu mol m(-2) s(-1) of artificial lighting (photoperiod of 16 h) was given at the top of the plants. Plant growth performance and biomass, leaf temperature, photobiological parameters (photosynthetic activity, stomatal conductance, chlorophyll fluorescence) as well as the leaf associated microbiome, assessed using culture dependent and independent methods on apical, directly exposed to the light treatments, and basal leaves, were studied. As expected, significant differences were obtained for plant related parameters between the two repetitions of the experiment due to difference in solar radiation. Light treatments influenced plant growth performance which was lower for all parameters in sunflowers exposed to LEDs than HPS. However, no differences were found with respect to photobiological parameters. Top leaf temperature was higher in the presence of HPS than LEDs, which explained the lower plant growth performance observed under LED regimes. Colony-forming units representing culturable fungi and fluorescent pseudomonads were higher on basal leaves than on apical ones, but did not vary with respect to light treatments. On the other hand, biodiversity estimated with respect to species abundance and evenness (Shannon-H index) and species richness (Chao1) revealed different patterns for the fungal and bacterial microbiome. Regardless of the leaf position, light treatments affected fungal species abundance and evenness, which was highest on leaves exposed to HPS, but not species richness. The fungal microbiome was more diverse on apical than on basal leaves. For the bacterial microbiome, biodiversity estimates differed between the repetitions. Interactions between leaf temperature and bacterial genera were found for several of the dominant genera in the sunflower phyllosphere (Pseudomonas, Staphylococcus, Enhydro bacter) while other decisive bacterial and fungal genera were correlated to photobiological parameters, e.g. Bradyrhizobium, Sphingomonas, Brevibatericum, Bacillus, Hypotrachyna, Aureobasidium. The use of "new light" in greenhouse ornamentals is not only a technological change modifying plant morphology and development, but also affects the microbial ecology on plant surfaces, implying consequences on plant protection issues and biological control strategies. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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