No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

This study assessed the resilience of pistachio production systems in the Rafsanjan plain in Iran using an index of behavior-based indicators. One-hundred fifty pistachio orchards located in five major production areas were studied in 2016. The data was subjected to three-step multi-criteria analysis, including (i) normalization and aggregation; (ii) determination of the weights representing the priorities for each criterion and evaluation of the performance of each indicator; and (iii) comparison. The results showed that the study areas had problematic statuses regarding the indicators of membership in grassroots organizations, innate abilities, water sources, production stability, and insurance. They had critical or moderate statuses concerning the indicators of use of organic fertilizers, use of pesticides, soil fertility index, water-use efficiency (kg/m3), trust in government, access to advisor services (extension), on-the-job training, and diversity of marketing. They had positive levels for the indicators of productivity, diversity of cultivars, diversity of on-farm practices, and exchange of information. We recommend the enhancement of the transformability capacity in PPSs by changing the focus from optimal states and the determinants of maximum sustainable yield (MSY paradigm) to adaptive resource management that includes developing participatory platforms for collaboration of usage of water resources.

In order to study the effects of different farming systems and garlic (Allium sativum L.) clones on yield quality and quantity of garlic, an experiment was conducted with split plot arrangement with three completely randomized blockes in the 2005 growing season at the experimental research station of Shahid Beheshti University at Zirab, north of Iran. Two factors were involved in the experiment: farming systems in three levels (intensive, conventional and organic farming), as main plots and garlic clones in three levels (Atoo, Hamedani and Khorassani) as sub-plots. The studied factors in this experiment consisted of leaf number, LAI, stem height and diameter, bulb yield, weight of bulbs, number of cloves, weight of cloves and level of allicin. Results showed that the farming systems had significant effect (p<0.05) on LAI, number of plant and bulb yield, but the effect on the other factors was not significant. The highest and lowest bulb yields were obtained in intensive (9.5 ton ha(-1)) and organic (7.4 ton ha(-1)) systems, respectively. All of the top factors were significantly (p< or =0.01) affected by garlic clones. Maximum and minimum yields were obtained from Hamedani, Atoo (9.2 ton ha(-1)) and Virani (7.1 ton ha(-1)) clones, respectively. Level of allicin was not significantly affected by farming systems but, differences among garlic clones were significant. Maximum and minimum allicin yields were obtained from Hamedan (5.96 mg g(-1)) and Virani (4.52 mg g(-1)) clones, respectively. As a result, however, organic farming systems can not influence the yield in short term, but can increase it by applying crop rotation, use of organic fertilizer and cover crops in the long term.