7 pages, The application of balanced fertilizers is essential to produce highquality broccoli. A field experiment was conducted to find an appropriate fertilizer management practice for broccoli (Brassica oleracea L. var. ‘Italica’) that can generate higher yield and quality. The experiment comprised 24 treatment combinations with six fertilizer management practices, i.e., T1: control. T2: cow dung at 10 t ha-1. T3: chicken manure at 10 t ha-1. T4: recommended NPK dose. T5: cow dung at 5 t ha-1 + 50% of the recommended NPK dose. T6: chicken manure at 5 t ha-1 + 50% of the recommended NPK dose. The highest plant height (60.00 cm) occurred in response to T6, the highest stem length (22.25 cm) in T4, and the maximum number of leaves per plant (22.00) in T4 and T6 treatments. Maximum fresh leaf weight per plant (609 g), stem diameter (3.98 cm), curd diameter (16.63 cm), and individual curd weight (494.50 g) occurred in response to the T5 treatment. The optimum yield (25.78 t ha-1) of broccoli can be obtained by application of cow dung (5 t ha-1) with a recommended dose of 50% inorganic fertilizer NPK (T5). Maximum TSS value (10.54%) occurred in response to T3, which was statistically similar to the effect of T6 (10.52%). Vitamin C content (80.77 mg 100 g-1) became significantly high in response to the T4 treatment (100% recommended dose of NPK). Minimum vitamin C content (53.84 mg 100 g-1) occurred in the control treatment (T1). Applying cow dung at 5 t ha-1 in addition to the 50% recommended dose of NPK fertilizers (T5) led to superior yield values in broccoli.
13 pages, During the 1990s, within the context of "corporate greening," New Zealand experienced exponential growth in organic farming and the institutionalising of a former fringe farming subculture. Organic farming practices, however, often result in landscapes that differ from those produced by the application of long-standing conventional land management systems. The resulting aesthetic poses a threat to the landscape tastes and senses of place of conservative farming communities. In this article we portray how social beliefs and practices find symbolic expression in the landscape, how they influence sense of place, and how their associated values are challenged by changes in traditional dominant landscapes.
20 pages, The main goal of this article is to assess the conditions under which market-oriented and formally organised organic farming might become a factor for local development. The main question is: to what degree is the impact of this factor (organic farming) due to local policies and the quality of local governance? Based on research carried out in 2013 and in 2016 in various parts of Poland, the authors demonstrate when and under what conditions and circumstances organic farming may improve farmers’ social and economic conditions as well as the overall development of areas with a significant organic agricultural sector (proportionally to the local scale). The preliminary findings underline that local authorities in rural areas are an institution that can significantly contribute to the maintenance and development of organic farming in Poland.
12 pages, Little comparative work has been conducted on the environmental belief systems and behaviours of conventional and organic farmers, especially in relation to farming culture, the environment and lowland farmland avifauna. Adopting a modified behavioural approach, this paper analyses the ways in which the environmental attitudes and understandings of farmers in central-southern England influence their behaviour. Key stakeholder and farmer interviews and a focus group discussion showed how some organic farmers tend to have small, diverse and untidy farms, ecocentric attitudes and a non-exploitative approach towards farming which includes an appreciation of farmland birds. This often contrasts with the tidy, well-organised conventional farmers with their larger, specialised farms, technocentric attitudes and exploitative view of nature, frequently related to creating pheasant cover and the belief that corvids and birds of prey are vermin and should therefore be eradicated. However, these attitudes and behaviours may not necessarily be representative of any differences between those farmers loosely labelled as ‘organic’ and ‘conventional’.