Arable crops

Wheat is a deep-rooted plant which grows well on rich and heavy soils and in the sunnier eastern and southern parts of the country. Winter wheat can withstand most of the frosty conditions of this country, but is easily killed by water-logged soil conditions. It needs a pH higher than 5.5. It is the best cereal to grow when the soil is highly fertile, so it should follow grain legumes and root crops 

Levels of the enzyme a-amylase in wheat grains also affect breadmaking quality. Flour for bread-making requires low levels of a-amylase and this is favoured by a dry ripe dormant grain. The Falling Number (Hagberg) Test is used to determine a-amylase levels. A 

Barley is an important crop, with the best quality grains sold for malting and the remainder used for feeding all classes of stock, especially pigs, dairy cows and intensively fed beef. Barley straw can be used for bedding and as a maintenance ration. Barley is a shallow-rooted crop which grows well on chalk and limestone soils, with a preferred pH of 6.5. Its place in the rotation can be when soil fertility is low, which means that it can follow a previous cereal crop such as wheat. 

The different grain composition of wheat, barley and oats is shown in Table 5.3. Oats are higher in fibre and fat. 

This is a cross between wheat and rye. Triticale combines the yield and quality of wheat with the winter hardiness of rye and is also disease resistant. It can be used as a replacement for concentrates in a livestock ration because it is high in crude protein and essential amino acids. Its place in the rotation is similar to rye, so that it can be used as a forage crop or a green manure. 

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Impacts of Nitrogen Deposition on Terrestrial Ecosystems, Report of the United Kingdom Review Group on Impacts of Atmospheric Nitrogen, Department of the Environment, London, 1994. Report of the AERC Institute of Arable Crops Research for 1991, AERC, London, 1992, p. 36. 

D. J. Greenwood and T. V. Karpinets, Dynamic model for the effects of K-fertilizer on crop growth, K-uptake and soil-K in arable cropping I. Description of the model. Soil Use Mift. i34 19, (1997). 

In Europe in 1996, the largest area devoted to organic arable crops was in Denmark (91000 ha), with Italy next (62000 ha) and then France (34000 ha). This compares with 4800 ha devoted to organic arable crops in Great Britain (Foster Lampkin, 1999). However, by 2003 this had increased dramatically to 44413 ha (Soil Association, 2003). Changes in crop areas are shown in Table 5.1. Of the total crop area of 4 515 000 ha in 1996, wheat occupied 44% of the area. The area of spring barley had decreased by nearly 50% from the 1988 figure. 

Elarper, F. (1983) The Principles of Arable Crop Production. Granada, London. 

The answer to the absence of fast-acting nitrogen fertilisers, with arable crops and grassland, has been threefold first, to make much greater use of farmyard manure, and to make sure that it is properly stored and not allowed either to be washed down the drains or to volatilise into the air second, to make much greater use of the legume for its power of nitrogen fixation, particularly white and red clover... 

Figure 8.2 illustrates the format of a typical absorption costing exercise. This exercise can easily be used to calculate the overall profit or loss of each enterprise and its profit margin. See for example Fig. 8.3. One of the difficulties of this exercise is allocating the fixed costs between the various enterprises. Take housing for example if the shed is shared between beef cattle and sheep, then the allocation of the cost could be made on a space and time basis. On a large-scale farm with several workers there will probably be a shepherd, a stockman, and a tractor driver for the arable crops. However, on a smaller farm where the farmer and his family do all the work then division of time between...

Brentrup F. Life Cycle Assessment to Evaluate the Environmental Impact of Arable Crop Production [thesis]. Hannover University of Hannover 2003... 

Nemecek T, Erzinger S. Modelling Representative Life Cycle Inventories for Swiss Arable Crops. International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 2005 10(l) 68-76. DOI 10.1065/lca2004.09.181.8... 

A plant accumulates nutrients from the soil as it grows. Such accumulation depletes the amount of nutrient remaining in the soil so, harvesting an arable crop, such as maize, barley or com, removes nutrients from the field. A farmer needs to replenish the nutrients continually if the land is not to become exhausted after a few seasons. 

Analyses will be those in common use for soils from fields for both grass and arable crops. MAFF/ADAS (now DEFRA) methods and Index Tables are reproduced by permission of the Controller of Her Majesty s Stationery Office (Ref. 20001327). Analyses for nitrogen mineralization are included. Special consideration will be given to composts and recycled urban waste. 

Man has battled against insects ever since he first grew arable crops to feed and shelter his family and to nourish his livestock. The devastation that can be caused by insects is recounted in the Bible with two of the plagues of Egypt Else, if thou wilt not let my people go, behold I will send swarms of flies upon thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thy houses and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of... 

Breland, T.A. and Eltun, R. 1999. Soil microbial biomass and mineralization of carbon and nitrogen in ecological, integrated and conventional forage and arable cropping systems. Biology and Fertility of Soils 30 193-201. 

Spiertz, J.H.J. 1989. Arable crop production. In Zadoks, J.C. (ed.) Development of Farming Systems. Evaluation of Jive year period 1980-1984. Pudoc, Wageningen. pp. 19-25. 

Lobe, I, Du Preez, C. C., and Amelunga, W. (2002). Influence of prolonged arable cropping on lignin compounds in sandy soils of the South African Highveld. Eur. I. Soil Sci. 53, 553-562. 

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