Jerusalem Artichoke as a Means of Fields Conservation

Abstract

In Russia, the cultivated fields represent a major issue. According to various estimates, they occupy 20-40 million hectares. Of course, this is a great reserve for the development of agriculture and, if necessary, production of in-demand crops. However, if the fields are not used for a long term, they become gradually overgrown with weeds during quarantine: ragweed, hogweed, shrubs and trees. Subsequent introduction of these fields in turnover requires multiple treatments of the soil and the use of potent herbicides due to the high cost of the uprooting of trees. Based on the decisions of the Russian Federation on land conservation, the land management project defining the terms of land conservation, prevention of land degradation, restoring of soil fertility and bringing of life to contaminated areas as well as the order of how these activities should be carried out and their cost and suggestions for land use after the completion of the mentioned processes was developed. However, the technology of land conservation is yet to be developed.

Loosening and Leveling Device for Preparing Soil For Melon Crops

“…Such working bodies allow strip plowing of the area with the simultaneous formation of irrigation furrows, due to the incomplete turnover of layers. On both sides of the formed irrigation furrow, there are ridges of plowed soil layers, and in this area it is necessary to carry out pre-sowing tillage (Romaneckas K. et al, 2016;Starovoytov V. et al, 2017;Izmailov A.Yu. et al, 2013).…”

Jerusalem Artichoke as a Fodder Crop for Food Security Solutions

“…Being harvested in early September, the yield of tubers with a fraction of more than 30 mm in transverse diameter in accordance with the requirements (more than 25.0 t/ha) was obtained from the following varieties (Table 6): Diyeticheskiy (40.1 t/ha), Korenevskiy (31,7), Blank Brekos (27.1 t/ha). The yield slightly lower than 25 t/ha was obtained from the following varieties: Nakhodka (21.2 t/ha), Podmoskovniy (24.4 t/ha), Skorospelka (16.7 t/ha).…”

“…Jerusalem artichoke is cultivated on an area of only about 3 thousand hectares in Russia, mainly in the regions of Nizhny Novgorod, Lipetsk, Tver, Ryazan, Tula, Ulyanovsk, Kostroma, Volgograd, Omsk, Bryansk, Moscow, Saratov, Yaroslavl, as well as, in the Republic of Chuvashia, Krasnodar and Stavropol regions [6,7]. There are more than 200 Jerusalem artichoke species, most of them being herbaceous like sunflowers, some being semi-shrubs, and very few being real shrubs up to 5 -7 m in height [1].…”

Identifying new criteria for assessing the impact on the ecosystem generated by the establishment of Jerusalem artichoke crops on difficult and floodable soils

“…The field of risk assessment for potentially dangerous plant species is now in an early stage of development [6], there is a gap of assessment principles and reliable procedures for identifying the invasive potential of plants in various geographic areas. Identifying the potential hazards and opportunities is the first step to build a valuable risk assessment, being needed the design extensive research studies that could assess aspects such as carbon sequestration [7,8], or certain advanced biofuel production techniques [9][10][11].…”