improving yields and profitability - organic research centre · • soil nutrient cycle . energy...
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Energy flow in ecosystems:
improving yields and profitability
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Energy Flow and Ecosystem Cycles
Linear
• Energy Flow
Cyclical
• Nitrogen Cycle
• Carbon Cycle
• Water Cycle
• Soil Nutrient Cycle
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Energy Flow Pyramid
• 90% of energy lost from the ecosystem as heat, as it moves from one trophic level to another.
Plants
Herbivores
carnivores
carnivores
Scavenger/decay
decay Layer 6 1mm Layer 5 1cm Layer 4 10cm Layer 3 1 metre Layer 2 10 metres Layer 1 100 metres!
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Plants determine the scale
Time Period of active growth. Speed of growth
Density Leaf shape/ diversity of leaf shapes
Area Total ground cover Eliminate bare ground
Area Density Time
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Practical Application
Crops
• Intercropping
• Combination of fast and slow growing crops to cover the ground more quickly
• Faster growing crop varieties to make more time for GM
• Closer spacing or combination of leaf shapes
Green Manures
• Under sowing cash crops
• Increasing height of cut
• Arable silage mixtures
• Mow killed and winter killed
• Fast growing GM smother weeds and store more energy
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Intercropping
Opportunities
• Increased production from smaller area spreads seed bed cultivation costs
• Better return from low gross profit/ area crops
• Shade out weeds
• Slow rainfall reduce damage improved infiltration
• Better environment for micro organisms
Problems
• Difficulty of mechanical weeding increases weeding cost
• Need markets for extra produce
• Crop rows in centre of bed too shaded
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B L B L B L B L B
L L L L L L L L L L L
B L B L B L B L B
B = Brassica L = Lettuce
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Path
intercrop intercrop
crop crop
crop
24 inches
12 inches
6”
24 inches
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0
8
16
0 20 40 60 80
Yield gains from intercropping
Percent gain
Days between harvests
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New Rotations
Rotation 1 early crops
• Potatoes
• Buckwheat/barley/lupin
• Onion/lettuce/carrots
• Persian clover sorghum
• Parsnip/beetroot
• Compost
• Broad bean/ radish
• Persian clover/barley/vetch
• Brassica/lettuce
Rotation 2
• Brassica /lettuce
• Pea /barley/crimson clover
• Leeks/carrots/ celery/celeriac
• Phacelia/crimson clover
• Runner beans/squash
• Vetch/triticale
• Pea/barley/crimson clover
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Weeding
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Energy Flow and Ecosystem Cycles
Linear
• Energy Flow
Cyclical
• Nitrogen Cycle
• Carbon Cycle
• Water Cycle
• Soil Nutrient Cycle
Acknowledgements: Holistic Management Allan Savory with Jody Butterfield Intercropping and the scientific basis for traditional agriculture Donald Q Innes