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Sown Biodiverse Pasture
Sown biodiverse pastures consist of diverse mixes of up to twenty different species or varieties of seeds, and are rich in legumes. They are more productive than natural grasslands, and are also richer in number of species. The seed mix is designed specifically for each location after soil analysis. Species in the mix is adapted to soil physical and chemical characteristics, as well as to local climate conditions, and therefore there is no single representative mix. However, some very common sown species in SBP are ''Trifolium subterraneum'', ''Trifolium incarnatum'', ''Trifolium resupinatum'', ''Ornithopus'' spp., ''Biserrula pelecinus'', annual ''Medicago'' spp., and grass species of the genera ''Lolium'', ''Dactylis'' and ''Phalaris''. The mixes of sown species are often enriched with seeds from spontaneous plants such as ''Plantago'' spp., ''Vulpia'' spp. and ''Bromus'' spp.. Legumes are thus very common in these mixtures and cover more than 50% of first-year SBP. As pasture settl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seeds
In botany, a seed is a plant structure containing an embryo and stored nutrients in a protective coat called a ''testa''. More generally, the term "seed" means anything that can be sown, which may include seed and husk or tuber. Seeds are the product of the ripened ovule, after the embryo sac is fertilized by sperm from pollen, forming a zygote. The embryo within a seed develops from the zygote and grows within the mother plant to a certain size before growth is halted. The formation of the seed is the defining part of the process of reproduction in seed plants (spermatophytes). Other plants such as ferns, mosses and liverworts, do not have seeds and use water-dependent means to propagate themselves. Seed plants now dominate biological niches on land, from forests to grasslands both in hot and cold climates. In the flowering plants, the ovary ripens into a fruit which contains the seed and serves to disseminate it. Many structures commonly referred to as "seeds" are actuall ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dactylis
''Dactylis'' is a genus of Eurasian and North African plants in the bluegrass subfamily within the grass family. ''Dactylis'' is native to North Africa, they are found throughout the world, and are an invasive species. They are known in English as cock's-foot or cocksfoot grasses, also sometimes as orchard grasses. Taxonomy The genus has been treated as containing only a single species ''Dactylis glomerata'' by many authors, treating variation in the genus at only subspecific rank within ''D. glomerata'',Flora Europaea''Dactylis glomerata''Flora of China Town''Dactylis''/ref> but more recently, there has been a trend to accept two species,Germplasm Resources Information NetworkSpecies Records of ''Dactylis'' while some authors accept even more species in the genus, particularly island endemic species in Macaronesia.Schönfelder, P., & Ludwig, D. (1996). Dactylis metlesicsii (Poaceae), eine neue Art der Gebirgsvegetation von Tenerife, Kanarische Inseln. ''Willdenowia'' 26 (1–2) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soil Organic Matter
Soil organic matter (SOM) is the organic matter component of soil, consisting of plant and animal detritus at various stages of decomposition, cells and tissues of soil microbes, and substances that soil microbes synthesize. SOM provides numerous benefits to soil's physical and chemical properties and its capacity to provide regulatory ecosystem services. SOM is especially critical for soil functions and quality. The benefits of SOM result from several complex, interactive, edaphic factors; a non-exhaustive list of these benefits to soil function includes improvement of soil structure, aggregation, water retention, soil biodiversity, absorption and retention of pollutants, buffering capacity, and the cycling and storage of plant nutrients. SOM increases soil fertility by providing cation exchange sites and being a reserve of plant nutrients, especially nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and sulfur (S), along with micronutrients, which the mineralization of SOM slowly rele ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soil Organic Carbon
Soil carbon is the solid carbon stored in global soils. This includes both soil organic matter and inorganic carbon as carbonate minerals. It is vital to the soil capacity in our ecosystem. Soil carbon is a carbon sink in regard to the global carbon cycle, playing a role in biogeochemistry, climate change mitigation, and constructing global climate models. Microorganisms play an important role in breaking down carbon in the soil. Changes in their activity due to rising temperatures could possibly influence and even contribute to climate change. Human activities have caused a massive loss of soil organic carbon. For example, anthropogenic fires destroy the top layer of the soil, exposing soil to excessive oxidation. Overview Soil carbon is present in two forms: inorganic and organic. Soil inorganic carbon consists of mineral forms of carbon, either from weathering of parent material, or from reaction of soil minerals with atmospheric CO2. Carbonate minerals are the dominant form o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Photosynthesis
Photosynthesis ( ) is a system of biological processes by which photosynthetic organisms, such as most plants, algae, and cyanobacteria, convert light energy, typically from sunlight, into the chemical energy necessary to fuel their metabolism. ''Photosynthesis'' usually refers to oxygenic photosynthesis, a process that produces oxygen. Photosynthetic organisms store the chemical energy so produced within intracellular organic compounds (compounds containing carbon) like sugars, glycogen, cellulose and starches. To use this stored chemical energy, an organism's cells metabolize the organic compounds through cellular respiration. Photosynthesis plays a critical role in producing and maintaining the oxygen content of the Earth's atmosphere, and it supplies most of the biological energy necessary for complex life on Earth. Some bacteria also perform anoxygenic photosynthesis, which uses bacteriochlorophyll to split hydrogen sulfide as a reductant instead of water, p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nitrogen-fixing
Nitrogen fixation is a chemical process by which molecular dinitrogen () is converted into ammonia (). It occurs both biologically and abiological nitrogen fixation, abiologically in chemical industry, chemical industries. Biological nitrogen fixation or ''diazotrophy'' is catalyzed by enzymes called nitrogenases. These enzyme complexes are encoded by the Nif gene, ''Nif'' genes (or ''Nif'' homologs) and contain iron, often with a second metal (usually molybdenum, but sometimes vanadium). Some nitrogen-fixing bacteria have symbiotic relationships with plants, especially legumes, mosses and aquatic ferns such as ''Azolla''. Looser non-symbiotic relationships between diazotrophs and plants are often referred to as associative, as seen in nitrogen fixation on rice roots. Nitrogen fixation occurs between some termites and fungus, fungi. It occurs naturally in the air by means of NOx, NOx production by lightning. Fixed nitrogen is essential to life on Earth. Organic compounds such ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rhizobium
''Rhizobium'' is a genus of Gram-negative soil bacteria that fix nitrogen. ''Rhizobium'' species form an endosymbiotic nitrogen-fixing association with roots of (primarily) legumes and other flowering plants. The bacteria colonize plant cells to form root nodules, where they convert atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia using the enzyme nitrogenase. The ammonia is shared with the host plant in the form of organic nitrogenous compounds such as glutamine or ureides. The plant, in turn, provides the bacteria with organic compounds made by photosynthesis. This mutually beneficial relationship is true of all of the rhizobia, of which the genus ''Rhizobium'' is a typical example. ''Rhizobium'' is also capable of solubilizing phosphate. History Martinus Beijerinck was the first to isolate and cultivate a microorganism from the nodules of legumes in 1888. He named it ''Bacillus radicicola'', which is now placed in '' Bergey's Manual of Determinative Bacteriology'' under the gen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phalaris
Phalaris () was the tyrant of Akragas (now Agrigento) in Sicily in Magna Graecia, from approximately 570 to 554 BC. History Phalaris was renowned for his excessive cruelty. Among his alleged atrocities is cannibalism: he was said to have eaten suckling babies. Another expression of his sadistic brutality is that he supposedly ordered a sculptor named Perilaus to make him a brazen hollow bull. The bull could hold a man and was used as an execution machine. The condemned person was placed inside, then the bull was closed and a fire lit underneath. The sculpture was made in such a way that, while the condemned met a horrible death in the burning furnace, their cries were said to sound like the bellowing of a bull. Phalaris was entrusted with the building of the temple of Zeus Atabyrius in the citadel and took advantage of his position to make himself tyrant. Under his rule, Agrigentum seemed to have attained considerable prosperity. He supplied the city with water, adorned it w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lolium
''Lolium'' is a genus of tufted grasses in the bluegrass subfamily (Pooideae). It is often called ryegrass, but this term is sometimes used to refer to grasses in other genera. They are characterized by bunch-like growth habits. ''Lolium'' is native to Europe, Asia and northern Africa, as well as being cultivated and naturalized in Australia, the Americas, and various oceanic islands. Ryegrasses are naturally diploid, with 2n=14, and are closely related to the fescues (''Festuca''). Ryegrass should not be confused with rye, which is a grain crop. Species the species of ''Lolium'' listed by Plants of the World Online include: ; Formerly included Several former ''Lolium'' species now regarded as part of other genera: '' Castellia'', '' Enteropogon'', '' × Festulolium'', '' Hainardia'', '' Lepturus'', '' Melica'', and '' Vulpia''. File:Perennial Ryegrass.jpg, Perennial ryegrass, used as winter lawn. File:Illustration Leymus arenarius and Lolium temulentum0.jpg, Poison ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Legumes
Legumes are plants in the pea family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seeds of such plants. When used as a dry grain for human consumption, the seeds are also called pulses. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consumption, but also as livestock forage and silage, and as soil-enhancing green manure. Legumes produce a botanically unique type of fruit – a simple dry fruit that develops from a simple carpel and usually dehisces (opens along a seam) on two sides. Most legumes have symbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacteria, Rhizobia, in structures called root nodules. Some of the fixed nitrogen becomes available to later crops, so legumes play a key role in crop rotation. Terminology The term ''pulse'', as used by the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), is reserved for legume crops harvested solely for the dry seed. This excludes green beans and green peas, which are considered vegetable crops. Also excluded are seeds that are main ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biserrula Pelecinus
''Biserrula'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae, found in Portugal (including Madeira and Selvagens), the Canary Islands, all the Mediterranean countries, the Arabian peninsula, and in east Africa as far south as Tanzania. ''Biserrula pelecinus'', generally called just "biserrula", is under domestication in Australia as a forage legume. Species Currently accepted species include: *''Biserrula epiglottis ''Biserrula'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae, found in Portugal (including Madeira and Selvagens), the Canary Islands, all the Mediterranean countries, the Arabian peninsula, and in east Africa as far south as Tanzania. ''B ...'' (L.) Coulot, Rabaute & J.-M.Tison *'' Biserrula pelecinus'' L. References {{Taxonbar, from=Q11909454 Faboideae Fabaceae genera ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ornithopus
''Ornithopus'', the bird's-foot, is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae. It includes six species and one natural hybrid native to Europe, Macaronesia, the eastern Mediterranean, northwest Africa, and Iran, and from southern Brazil to northeastern Argentina in South America. *'' Ornithopus × bardiei'' *'' Ornithopus compressus'' — yellow serradella *'' Ornithopus micranthus'' *'' Ornithopus perpusillus'' — little white bird's foot *'' Ornithopus pinnatus'' — orange bird's foot *''Ornithopus sativus ''Ornithopus sativus'', the serradella or common birdsfoot, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae. It is native to Southwestern Europe and Northwest Africa in Portugal, western Spain, northern Morocco and Algeria, and southwester ...'' — serradella, common bird's foot *'' Ornithopus uncinatus'' References External linksUSDA: ''Ornithopus'' in North America Loteae Fabaceae genera Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Loteae ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
