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Dissertation
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Sustainability of traditional cocoa agroforests in Ghana
(2022)
Cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) is an important agricultural commodity that is important to the economies of many countries in the world. Due to cocoa’s dependence on fertile forests soils, its production is a major cause of deforestation and soil degradation in producing countries. When grown in agroforestry systems it can conserve biodiversity, sequester carbon (C), and maintain soil fertility. There are many cocoa agroforests which are managed without synthetic agrochemicals. Because organic cocoa certification is now ...
Dissertation
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Plant growth, water quality, carbon and nutrient flows in rural-urban cropping systems of Bengaluru, India
(2024)
The global urban population is expected to reach 5.2 billion by 2030 and by mid-2023 approximately 4.6 billion out of more than 8 billion population were living in towns or cities. This represents approximately 57% of the total global population and is set to reach 60% by 2030. India’s urban population is expected to reach 607 million by 2030 and by mid-2030 40% of the total population will be living in urban areas. Growing urban population has multi-sectoral and dimensional implications in the rural, peri-urban, and ...
Dissertation
Challenges to ecosystem services of sustainable agriculture in West Africa
(2020)
Food security is still sub-optimal in many parts of West Africa calling for more efficient agricultural practices in mitigating food insecurity. Some of the problems faced in West African agricultural systems are bottlenecks in ruminant livestock supply, inefficiency in commercial poultry production, and loss of arthropod diversity. These issues require proper integration of farming systems, demand the closing of nutrient cycles, need diversi cation of production, and require enhancement of ecosystem services. To ...
Dissertation
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Assessment and use of sea buckthorn and apple diversity in northern Pakistan
(2020-12-03)
Many local perennial plant genetic resources (P/PGR) are under threat due to over-exploitation, depletion, degradation, farmers’ favoring few cash crops, poor marketing conditions leading to low product prices along with the lack of knowledge about alternative uses and management strategies. Such processes often cause the underutilization and replacement of local P/PGR causing them to become neglected and underutilized species (NUS). The decline of species abundance may cause genetic erosion of these NUS crops and ...
Dissertation
Manure application effects on nitrogen pools in a subtropical soil of Oman
(2019-04)
Agricultural productivity of the millennia-old oasis agriculture in Oman is based on the continuous application of high rates of goat and sheep manure combined with flood irrigation. The high nitrogen (N) and carbon (C) turnover in these systems is a result of year-around high temperatures and continuous soil moisture, but knowledge is lacking on how N and C are transformed under these conditions. Therefore, this study aimed at investigating the N movement in different soil N pools. To this end a field experiment was ...
Dissertation
Improving cropping systems of semi-arid south-western Madagascar under multiple ecological and socio-economic constraints
(2015-07-01)
Das Mahafaly Plateau im südwestlichen Madagaskar ist gekennzeichnet durch raue klimatische Bedingungen, vor allem regelmäßige Dürren und Trockenperioden, geringe Infrastruktur, steigende Unsicherheit, hohe Analphabetenrate und regelmäßige Zerstörung der Ernte durch Heuschreckenplagen. Da 97% der Bevölkerung von der Landwirtschaft abhängen, ist eine Steigerung der Produktivität von Anbausystemen die Grundlage für eine Verbesserung der Lebensbedingungen und Ernährungssicherheit in der Mahafaly Region. Da wenig über die ...
Dissertation
Shifting cultivation and forest resources in Nagaland, N.-E. India
(2010-06-17)
Die vorliegende Studie befasst sich mit der Ressourcennachhaltigkeit der traditionellen, auf Wanderfeldbau beruhenden Subsistenzwirtschaft in zwei Dörfern (Hongphoy und Minyakshu) in Nagaland im Nordosten Indiens. Hierbei werden die Cerealien Produktion, der Feuerholz Konsum und auch die Folgen der intensivierten Bewirtschaftung (Forstdegradation und Bodenverarmung) im Hinblick auf das Bevölkerungswachstum diskutiert. Während das traditionelle System des Wanderfeldbaus (Jhum) seit Jahrzehnten die Bedürfnisse der ...
Dissertation
Effects of activated charcoal and quebracho tannins on the turnover of goat manure in irrigated organic agriculture of the subtropics
(2015-04-15)
Agriculture in semi-arid and arid regions is constantly gaining importance for the security of the nutrition of humankind because of the rapid population growth. At the same time, especially these regions are more and more endangered by soil degradation, limited resources and extreme climatic conditions. One way to retain soil fertility under these conditions in the long run is to increase the soil organic matter. Thus, a two-year field experiment was conducted to test the efficiency of activated charcoal and quebracho ...
Dissertation
Causes of legume rotation induced yield increases in cereals grown on West African soils
(2013-08-28)
This study was conducted to investigate soil biological and chemical factors that give rise to cereal yield enhancing effects of legume rotations on sandy, nutrient poor West African soils. The aim was not only to gain more information on the role of legume residues and microorganisms in the soil nutrient cycle. But the study aimed at evaluating if differences in substrate qualities (e.g. root residues) cause changes in the microbial community structure due to specific and highly complex microbe-root-soil interactions. ...
Dissertation
Diversity and nutritional properties of Pakistani dates: implications for sustainable value chain and decent living perspectives of rural households
(2016-02-09)
Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) occupies almost three percent of the total worldwide cultivated area, with an annual production of seven million tonnes (t). Pakistan is an ideal place for the cultivation of date palm due to its sandy loam soil and semi-arid climate. In 2012, Pakistan produced 600,000 t of dates, on an area of 95,000 ha. Baluchistan province is the country’s top date producer, followed by Sindh, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) provinces. More than 300 date varieties are known to exist in Pakistan ...