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"Weeds Lebanon"
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Farmers’ Willingness to Adopt Conservation Agriculture: New Evidence from Lebanon
With increasing food insecurity and climate change, conservation agriculture has emerged as a sustainable alternative to intensive conventional agriculture as a source of food supply. Yet the adoption rate of conservation agriculture is still low. Our paper analyses the factors affecting farmers’ willingness to adopt conservation agriculture in Lebanon. The findings show that household characteristics—years of farming and farm size affect conservation agriculture adoption. However, household characteristics alone were insufficient to explain conservation agriculture adoption. We found that farming experience, information sources, frequency of irrigation, and severity of weed infestation in the past, participation in specific trainings, and farmers’ perception about the long-term impact of conservation agriculture, were key determinants of conservation agriculture adoption. Our paper encourages policymakers to invest in conservation agriculture to overcome food insecurity and environmental changes affecting food systems in the Middle East. The paper also informs agribusiness firms to view conservation agriculture as a viable alternative to strengthen their business relationship with farmers in arid and semi-arid regions.
Journal Article
The Effects of Local Weed Species on Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungal Communities in an Organic Winter Wheat (Triticum durum L.) Field in Lebanon
We examined the potential effects of weed species on the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in an organic winter wheat (Triticum durum) field in Lebanon. In this agroecosystem, the field and its surroundings were covered with spontaneous vegetation corresponding to local weeds. The coexistence between wheat and weeds did not modify AM fungal community diversity and colonization in T. durum but changed their composition. We evidenced 22 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) specifically shared between wheat associated with weeds (Tdw) and weeds, regardless of their localization and 12 OTUs with an abundance of variation between wheat without neighboring weeds (Td) and Tdw. The number of AM propagules and total C and N contents were higher in soil covered with wheat associated with weeds (TdWsoil) vs. wheat without neighboring weeds (Tdsoil). In greenhouse experiments, the shoot biomass and root mycorrhizal intensity of Medicago sativa, used as a trap plant, were higher using TdWsoil vs. Tdsoil as the inoculum. Positive correlations were observed between soil AM propagule numbers and M. sativa shoot biomass, on the one hand and M. sativa mycorrhizal intensity, on the other hand. Weeds seemed to exert significant effects on root AM fungal composition in T. durum and these effects may contribute to enhanced AMF development in the field.
Journal Article
LEGU‐MED: developing biodiversity‐based agriculture with legume cropping Systems in the Mediterranean Basin
Environmental degradation and the decrease of ecosystem service provision are currently of major concern, with current agricultural systems being a major driver. To meet our future environmental and sustainability targets a transformation of the agro-food systems and current agricultural value chain are crucial. One approach to redesign farming systems is the concept of biodiversity-based agriculture (BBA) which relies on sustainable diversification of biological components and their natural interactions in farming systems to maximize fertility, productivity, and resilience to external perturbations. Despite minimizing anthropogenic inputs, BBA is not yet able to meet all beneficial environmental objectives. BBA applied in the Mediterranean basin requires urgent innovation in approaches, methodologies, and models for small-holder traditional farming systems to ensure a stable provision of ecosystem services and better resilience to environmental stresses linked to climate change. Legumes are the backbone of the Mediterranean agro-ecosystems from ancient times, but their unique and wide biodiversity was not sufficiently valorized, especially by North-African countries. Here, we present LEGU-MED, a three-year international project funded by PRIMA initiative 2019. An international consortium was established involving five universities, 5 research institutes, and one private company from 8 countries: Italy, Germany, Spain, Algeria, Tunisia, Turkey, Lebanon, and Croatia. The main objective of this project is to put forward an international and well-integrated plan to valorize the legume agrobiodiversity of the Mediterranean in biodiversity-based farming systems and consequently enhance agro-ecosystem functions and services in the Mediterranean basin. The successful completion of LEGU-MED will have the following impacts on Mediterranean legume-based farming systems: (1) improve water use efficiency, (2) reduce the use of anthropogenic inputs through the maintenance of soil fertility, (3) enhance pollination and improve ecological connectivity with flora and fauna, (4) protect close-by wildland ecosystems, (5) enhance other ecosystem services (e.g., pest, disease, and weed suppression), and (6) provide healthier and safer protein-rich food.
Journal Article
Evaluation of Weed Management Practices for Rain-Fed Safflower Production in a Semiarid Mediterranean Environment
Since safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) has slow early growth, effective early weed control is essential. The objective of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of various nonchemical and chemical practices for weed management in rain-fed safflower. Field experiments were performed for three production years in the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon. Six weed management practices were tested: delayed sowing, delayed sowing with interrow cultivation, normal sowing with interrow cultivation, preemergence herbicide, hand weeding, and the normal sowing weedy check. Averaged over 1999-2000 and 2000-2001, weeds were absent with herbicide application and there were as few as <4 weed plants m-2 in delayed sowing with interrow cultivation and hand weeding. Interrow cultivation under normal sowing, herbicide application, and hand weeding gave higher safflower seed and straw yields than the weedy check. Over the three production years, only interrow cultivation under normal sowing and hand weeding produced higher safflower seed and straw yields than the weedy check. In conclusion, interrow cultivation under normal sowing could be considered the best practice; application of pendimethalin and pronamide was also superior to delay sowing.
Journal Article
Conservation versus Conventional Tillage on Performance of Three Different Crops
Conservation tillage, besides being more economical, prevents soil erosion and has other beneficial effects on our environment, but few studies have been conducted on differential responses of different crops to conservation tillage. The main objective of this study was to examine the interaction of tillage with crop species. Rainfed field experiments in a strip‐plot design with four replicates were conducted in the semiarid, central Bekaa Valley of Lebanon for 2 yr. There were three tillage treatments: conventional (CT), minimum (MT), and no tillage (NT). Crops studied were barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), and safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.). The experiment was initiated in 2005–2006 on a field in which CT was practiced for years. In 2006–2007, the experiment was conducted on the exact site following the same 2005/2006 randomization. In each year, NT had similar weed density and dry weight m−2 as CT, and mean weed infestation over years was lower in CT and NT than in MT. Year × tillage × crop interaction was significant for plant height in April, days to flowering/heading, seed yield, and harvest index. Tillage × crop interaction existed for seed and straw yields, harvest index, and plant height at maturity. Barley yielded poorer in NT than in CT, but similar yields were obtained in NT and CT for chickpea and safflower, suggesting that the tap root system of chickpea and safflower may be more adapted to NT than the fibrous root system of barley. Results of this study could be used to organize demonstration trials to help encouraging farmers to try practicing NT.
Journal Article
Genetic Diversity in Wild and Weedy Aegilops, Amblyopyrum, and Secale Species—A Preliminary Survey
The wild and weedy relatives of bread wheat, Triticum aestivum L., are suggested as potential sources of useful alleles for bread wheat improvement. For example, the genus Aegilops L. has contributed two of the three bread wheat genomes. In this study we measured the nature and extent of allozyme variation for 10 isozymes in three diploid and eight polyploid Aegilops, one Amblyopyrum (Jaub. & Spach), and one feral Secale L. species collected from 15 populations in their centers of origin in Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, and California. The predominantly autogamous Aegilops species were, to a large extent, homozygous and homogeneous. The presence of heterozygous genotypes in Aegilops tauschii Coss. (H0 = 0.0033 ± 0.01) and Ae. crassa Boiss (H0 = 0.0048 ± 0.08) indicated the possibility of limited facultative outcrossing in these Aegilops species. The obligate outcrossers, Amblyopyrum muticum (Boiss.) Eig (He = 0.09 ± 0.16) and Secale cereale L. (He = 0.09 − 0.13), showed less than expected genetic variation. The extent and nature of genetic variation were identical between the introduced Californian Ae. cylindrica Host and that which occurs in the Fertile Crescent (He = 0.00); however, in Ae. triuncialis L., the introduced Californian population had a higher genetic diversity estimate (He = 0.06 ± 0.12) than the population from the Fertile Crescent (He = 0.00). The average genetic distance between the polyploid Aegilops species was greater (D = 0.64 ± 0.28) than that observed between the diploid Aegilops species (D = 0.18 ± 0.10), or between the diploid Aegilops and weedy S. cereale (D = 0.52 ± 0.06). We discuss the implication of these findings for germplasm collection and wheat breeding.
Journal Article