Forage crops are an essential component of livestock’s diet. Production and availability of sufficiently good quality forage under diverse ecological dynamics are fundamental to develop an efficient and productive livestock industry. Growers worldwide, especially in developing and underdeveloped countries, face significant challenges in producing sufficient winter fodder. The livestock population is increasing at high rates, and its feed requirement is increasing accordingly. Fodder crops are the leading and cheapest source of feed for livestock; however, the shortage of fodder production is the primary limiting factor for livestock production. This book features an extensive overview of literature providing information on winter fodders used in livestock management. Key features Discusses breeding strategies of winter fodders through conventional approaches and biotechnology. Highlights production, agronomy, and bioecology of winter fodder crops. Provides comprehensive information on the ecological dynamics of winter fodders. Describes the use of precision agriculture for mitigating the effect of climate change on winter fodders. Relays challenges of winter fodder crops on account of microbes, toxins, pests, and diseases. This book is written for researchers and practitioners in agronomy, biotechnology, bioecology and is a comprehensive guide for improving winter fodder production.

Increasing human population pressure, especially in developing countries, indicates a massive increase in the consumption of livestock products. Fodder crops are the primary and cheapest source of feed for livestock, but feed shortages or poor-quality fodder are particular constraints to the world's livestock sector. These shortages affect milk production, adult and calf health, calving rates, and livestock numbers. Summer crops including cereal, legume, grass, and tree fodder, provide an economical source of nutrients suitable for animal health as well as improve their breeding efficiency. Sustainable Summer Fodder: Production, Challenges, and Prospects presents the unique opportunities and difficulties of supportable cultivation and growth of summer fodder crops and the various methods for enabling crop preservation. It details conventional modern approaches to sustainable production and advanced molecular approaches to develop high-yielding fodder crops. FEATURES * Contains information on cultivation, growth, productivity, and protection from pests and diseases of various summer fodder crops * Presents approaches to sustainable production, summarizes fodder preservation methods; and details molecular approaches to develop high-yielding fodder crops * Provides insights into agronomic aspects of cereal, legume, grass, and tree species cultivated as summer fodder worldwide * Discusses the trends in insect pests and diseases, their field identification, and various control methods This book is an essential resource for agronomists, horticulturalists, livestock farmers and practitioners, and students working in the field.

This volume gathers the latest advances, innovations, and applications in the field of sustainable and smart agriculture, as presented by leading researchers at the XI Farm Machinery and Processes Management in Sustainable Agriculture (FMPMSA), held in Bari, Italy on June 13-15, 2022. The volume covers highly diverse topics, including: management of field and livestock production machinery; management of biomass and agroenergy production; plant protection, soil management and agrochemicals application; smart farming and sustainability; ergonomic, labour organization, pandemic impact; sustainable agriculture in the European Union and other countries. The papers, which are published after a rigorous international peer-review process, highlight numerous exciting ideas that will spur novel research directions and foster multidisciplinary collaboration among different specialists.

The book presents a collection of the high-quality research articles in the field of power engineering, grid integration, energy management, soft computing, artificial intelligence, signal and image processing, data science techniques, and their real-world applications. The papers are presented at International Conference on Power Engineering and Intelligent Systems (PEIS 2023), held during June 24–25, 2023, at National Institute of Technology Delhi, India.

Heathlands in Europe reflect a long history of human activity and use. Through the ages heathlands have been of importance as (semi)agricultural areas, hunting territories and various other uses of mankind. This diversity of use has created a cultural diversity over the whole Atlantic area of Europe, from Portugal and Spain in the south to Norway in the north and from Germany in the east to Ireland in the west. Economy and Ecology of Heathlands shows us both the diversity in use all over Europe and combines this information with the newest insights in ecology and the Natura 2000 status most of these heathlands have got nowadays. Central theme is how to cover the costs of maintenance of these heathlands. Is their future in new types of commons, or do other types of land ownership, using the revenues of heathland ecosystem services, give better opportunities? The editors combine a broad variance in knowledge of heathlands varying from all aspects of ecology, land use, as well as economy.

This edited volume is an inclusive collection of information on crop holobiome, their function and diversity, the plausible role of soil microbes in crop growth, protection from pathogens and stresses, the use of resilient microbiomes for changing climate, and the use of new technologies to study plant-insect-microbe molecular interactions in agricultural systems. Holobiomes provide information about both plants and their microbiomes, which gives a more comprehensive insight, particularly for changing climatic scenarios. By optimizing the crop holobime function crop productivity and plant health can be enhanced manifold. This book deep dives into the numerous ways in which holobiome supports the improving plant health, nutrient uptake, disease control, and stress resistance in major food crops. It helps researchers, academicians, agri-entrepreneurs, and technologists understand the structure and function of holobiomes in crop growth, health, stress tolerance under climatic changes, and holobiome diversity and evolution. The book is also helpful in designing new dimensions in the holobiome research and development of new products and technologies. This volume is of interest and useful to agriculture scientists, microbiologists, ecologists, and is a valuable source of reference to researchers and students.

The present book is composed of modern theoretical and applied studies that highlight the core principles and evidence of sustainable agriculture. This work is systematically divided into two sections, which summarize crucial insights into this theme, such as agroecological concepts, case studies, soil health, and agroforestry systems. The chapters included in this book have been written by researchers whose expertise allows the relatively complex sustainable agroecosystem-related topics to be easily understood by any reader. Therefore, the target audience comprises not only scholars and specialists in the field but also common people and enthusiasts about this theme. Such chapter's collection is certainly a valuable resource about agricultural sustainable principles and a pleasure reading for those who are willing to dive more deeply into the study of "sustainability of agroecosystems."