Resource Development Institute

Soil health assessment is new to farmers in Ontario, Canada, and is theorized as a tool for increasing the adoption of beneficial management practices (BMPs). The Greenbelt Foundation and Soil Health Institute are pilot testing how to make soil health assessments and recommendations available to grain and oilseed farmers in Ontario’s Golden Horseshoe region (2023–2026). The program provides soil health tests measuring indicators such as soil organic matter, aggregate stability, and carbon mineralizable potential. Farmers receive a detailed soil health report with results, locally relevant comparisons, and suggestions of practice changes, followed by conversations with a Certified Crop Advisor (CCA) to guide BMP adoption. Over 100 farmers participated in the first two years, with soil samples taken on 162 cropland fields. Initial results show that providing soil health tests with a detailed report leads to more farmers implementing and planning future BMPs. Participants were willing to try new practices, expand crop rotations, reduce tillage, and plant cover crops. Meeting with the program's CCA helped farmers overcome barriers by providing education and connecting them with cost-shared programs. To date, 8000 acres of new BMPs have been implemented, demonstrating the benefits of combining soil health testing, tailored management plans, and extension support.

Bangladesh, a South Asian nation renowned for its exclusive fine aromatic rice varieties, has done little to preserve these valuable crops. Traditional aromatic varieties with excellent aroma are nearly extinct. The purpose of this study was to determine farmers’ constraints in aromatic rice production, and to explore the relationship between the selected characteristics of the farmers with their constraints in aromatic rice production. Data were collected using a pre-designed and pre-tested structured interview schedule from a sample of 92 farmers out of 653 farmers selected by a simple random sampling procedure. The data collection was done in Uthrail unions of Sadar Upazila under Dinajpur district. Besides the usual descriptive statistical parameter, Pearson’s Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient (r) was used for the statistical analysis. About three-fourths (67.3 percent) of the respondents had faced medium constraints, while 20.7 percent had low constraints and only 12.0 percent had faced high constraints. Among the constraints, “Diseases” (CFI = 270.6) was found to be the first-ranked constraint in aromatic rice production faced by the farmers. The lowest constraints in aromatic rice production faced by the farmers were ‘Erosion’ (CFI = 78.2) among the selected constraints. According to the computed value of correlation coefficients (r), among ten selected characteristics of the farmer’s age, education, family size, farm size, and annual income, had no significant relationship with farmers’ constraints in aromatic rice production. On the other hand, the area under aromatic rice cultivation, agricultural knowledge, extension media contact, training received, and aspiration had a positive significant relationship with farmers’ constraints in aromatic rice production.

This community service program aims to develop sustainable geotextiles made from local biomass. It involves training farmers in their production as an effort to reduce plastic use, improve soil health, and increase yields of papaya and chili crops. This community service implementation uses a participatory approach targeting farmers who are members of the "Karya Tani" farmer group in Desa Sidorejo, Bojonegoro Regency, East Java, with a total of 25 participants. The results of this service indicate that plastic mulch can be replaced with geotextiles made from local biomass in maintaining soil moisture, weed control, sunlight absorption, and water management. The best results were obtained from coconut coir geotextiles compared to straw, yielding 500 kg of papaya harvest from a 0.25-hectare plantation. Ultimately, this community development project aims to promote sustainable agriculture, empower rural communities, and contribute to a circular economy.

Homesteads are considered as a potential sources of carbon (C) stock which mitigate the adverse effect of climate under the changing environment. Therefore, a study was conducted to find out the tree species diversity and carbon stock of the existing homesteads situated in the Kazipur upazilla of Sirajganj district, Bangladesh. Four villages were selected randomly from the selected upazila, namely Shaldah, Fuljor, Natuarpara and Panagari. A total of 64 homesteads were selected randomly from the four villages as sample of the study. From the study, a total of 18 individual tree species under 14 families were recorded where tree diversity ranged from 0 to 1.85 with average value of 1.06. Carbon stock was quantified as 50% of the tree biomass and out of 64 homesteads the average tree carbon stock was found 16.54 Mg ha -1 . The study revealed that homestead has the great potentiality to store substantial amount of atmospheric carbon and conservation of tree species diversity.

Abstract Background: The soils under continuous rice monocropping are currently facing a serious threat of accelerated soil and environmental quality degradation.Aims: Examining the impact of tillage and cropping diversity on soil aggregate stability and associated nutrients in a sub‐tropical rice ecosystem.Methods: A split‐plot experiment with tillage (minimum, MT vs. conventional, CT) as a main plot and cropping diversity [mustard (Brassica napus)–rice (Oryza sativa)–rice (M–R–R), wheat (Triticum aestivum)–rice–rice (W–R–R), and lentil (Lens esculenta)–rice–rice (L–R–R)] as a sub‐plot was repeated for four years. Soil aggregate properties were measured using wet sieving techniques. Soil organic carbon (SOC) and nutrients were measured in different aggregate size groups as well as in the bulk soil samples.Results: Results show that all the aggregate size groups were similar in both MT and CT, except in 0.85–0.30 mm. Likewise, cropping diversities increased soil aggregation, being higher aggregate size of < 0.053 mm in M–R–R relative to the W–R–R and L–R–R, where the latter two were alike. By contrast, > 2 mm aggregates were higher in L–R–R than in M–R–R and W–R–R, where the latter two were similar. The MT increased aggregate mean weight diameter (MWD) by 14% in W–R–R, and by 29% in L–R–R. Soil organic carbon (SOC), total N (TN), and available P were higher in MT than in CT, while it was alike for exchangeable K and available S. While W–R–R had a higher aggregate‐associated SOC, available P, and available S, L–R–R had a higher TN, and M–R–R had a higher exchangeable K. While SOC, TN, and exchangeable K accumulated more in the > 0.85 mm size aggregates, the available P, in contrast, accumulated more in < 0.85 mm size aggregates.Conclusion: Wheat–rice–rice diversity, coupled with minimum tillage, has a higher potential for soil fertility sustenance and crop productivity through better nutrient protection.

Soil aggregate is one of the vital indicators of soil health that depends on organic carbon (OC), texture and basic cations. A total of 206 soil samples were collected from 12 agro-ecological zones (AEZs) of Bangladesh to study the effects of organic carbon (OC), basic cations (Ca, Mg, K and Na) and different sized soil particles on soil aggregate stability. Soil samples were analyzed for bulk density, pH, OC, texture, basic cations and water stable soil aggregates (WSA) following standard protocols. Data revealed that OC positively increased WSA, while monovalent basic cations Na+ and K+ showed negative effects. Water stable soil aggregates and C stock of 0.25 mm sized soil fraction were found higher than that of larger sized soil fractions of 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 mm. The roles of divalent basic cations Ca2+ and Mg2+ on WSA were found to be indistinct and need to be studied further. Ann. Bangladesh Agric. (2019) 23(2) : 27-36

The study was conducted at Shyamnagar and Talaupazila of Satkhira district in Bangladesh to know about the soil salinity and its relation to other properties of soil in both dry and wet season and comparison the present status of soil between two upazilas. Electrical Conductivity (EC) value of the study area showed that yield of many crops can be restricted in dry season due to salinity. Mean EC was slightly saline (5.93 dsm-1) in dry season and non- saline (0.61 dsm-1) in wet season. Ranges of pH were slightly acidic to slightly alkaline (6.2 to 7.5) in dry season and slightly acidic to neutral (5.7 to 6.9) in wet season. pH values indicate it was suitable for crop production. Mean Organic Matter (OM) status was low in both seasons (1.5 % in dry season and 1.6 % in wet season). Mean total N status was very low (0.08 %) in dry season and low (0.10 %) in wet season. Mean status of P in the study areas was low (8.08 µgg-1 soil) in dry season and very low (4.98 µgg-1 soil) in wet season. Mean status of K, Ca, Mg, S and Zn were very high in both season of study area and this was may be due to excessive fertilizer use and inherent properties of soil in the agricultural land. Mean status of B was high in Tala in both season and in Shyamnagar was high in dry season and optimum in wet season. To test the significance of the pair of parameters p-value has been measured. Pearson’s correlations among the different parameters were done to identify the highly correlated and interrelated soil quality parameters. EC showed significant and positive correlation with Potassium, Sulphur and Zinc in dry season. Although chemical properties of soil at Shyamnagar and Talaupazila was not found similar and optimum level but it was found that the chemical properties of soil of wet season more suitable than the dry season because of soil salinity.
 Progressive Agriculture 30 (2): 157-164, 2019

A field experiment was carried out at the Agronomy Field Laboratory, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh during July to December 2003 to find out the effect of weed control on the performance of transplant Aman rice cv. BRRI Dhan 32. Weed control treatments Included in the study were no weeding, one hand weeding, two hand weeding, one hand weeding+one weeding with Japanese rice weeder, Rift@ 0.5, 0.75, 1.0, and 1.25 L ha-1 and Rostar@ 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, and 2.5 L ha-1. Important weed species found to infest the crop were Angta (Panicum repens), Acidgras (Ammania bacifera L.) Nackphulee (Cyperous difformis), Khudeshama (Echinochloa crusgalli) was the least important weed species. Higher doses of Rift 1.25L ha-1 and Ronstar 2.5 L ha-1 showed the best performance in reducing weed density and weed dry weight. The highest grain yield (5.0 4ton ha-1) was obtained from Ronstar 2.0 L ha-1 which was identical with the second highest grain yield (4.93 t ha-1) obtained from Rift 1.0 L ha-1. The highest net income of tk. 38915 ha-1 was obtained from Ronstar 2.0 L ha-1 and the next highest from Rift 1.0L ha-1.Progressive Agriculture 28 (4): 271-278, 2017