Journal articles on the topic 'Sorghum – Harvesting time'

Due to global climate change, sugar sorghum (Sorghum saccharatum), due to its fast growth rate, early maturation, efcient use of water and limited need for fertilizers, is the most promising plant for biofuel production in the world. The article presents the results of the study on establishing the dependence of sugar sorghum energy performance indicators on varietal characteristics (varieties 'Silosne 42' and 'Favorit' and hybrids 'Dovista' and 'Medoviy F1') and the green biomass harvesting time. The purpose of the research was to establish the influence of varietal characteristics and harvesting time on sugar sorghum energy productivity in the zone of unstable moisture in the Central part of the Forest-Steppe of Ukraine. The research subject is sugar sorghum energy productivity indicators (yield of green biomass; sugar content of juice; yield of biogas, bioethanol, solid biofuel; total energy yield). The studies were carried out during 2016–2020 in the zone of unstable moisture in the central part of the Forest-Steppe of Ukraine in the conditions of the Bila Tserkva Experimental Breeding Station of the Institute of Bioenergy Crops and Sugar Beet of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. It has been established that the highest yield of biofuel and energy (up to 791.8 GJ/ha) is achieved under growing sugar sorghum of the 'Dovista' hybrid, provided that its biomass is collected in the phase of full seed ripeness (early October). It is advisable to start collecting sugar sorghum biomass for biogas after the panicle throwing phase. To ensure the maximum yield of bioethanol, the optimal time for harvesting green biomass of sugar sorghum is the second decade of September – the frst decade of October. The maximum yield of solid biofuel is achieved under harvesting biomass after the phase of waxy ripeness of grain. The formation of the yield of green biomass of sugar sorghum was more influenced by weather conditions (47.4 %), the influence of varietal characteristics (17.8 %) and the timing of harvesting (12.8 %) was less. But the energy yield was most influenced by the timing of harvesting biomass (37.4 %). A close linear correlation between the energy output and the yield of green (R2=0.81) and dry biomass (R2=0.99) was established. The most ecological plasticity in terms of the total energy yield per unit area turned out to be the 'Medoviy F1' hybrid (b=1.62), which indicates the prospects of growing this hybrid under favorable weather conditions and high level of agricultural technology. Key words: sugar sorghum, varietal characteristics, harvesting time, energy yield, biofuel yield, productivity.

Abstract. The aimed of this study to determine the effect of adding urea fertilizer (0, 50, and 100 kg/ha) and harvesting time (50, 80 and days) on prussic acid content and production of the brown midrib (BMR) sorghum plants. This study design was completely randomized factorial 3 x 3. The variables measured were prussic acid content, fresh yield, the production of dry matter (DM) and organic matter (OM). The results showed that content of prussic acid increased and highly significant with the addition of urea. The fresh yield of BMR sorghum is highest in the fertilization of 50 kg/ha and at the harvesting time 80 days. The highest DM production at fertilization 0 kg/ha and harvesting time 110 day. OM production of the highest is the addition of fertilizer 0 kg/ ha and at the harvesting time on 80 days. From the results of this study concluded that on harvesting time 80 day sorghum BMR have produces optimum and addition of urea to a level of 100 kg/ha did not affect the content of prussic acid, fresh yield, DM and OM.

The hydroponic fodder yield performance evaluation of different varities of sorghum was conducted in green house of Wollega University.. Three experiments were conducted. The first was to observe effects of irrigation frequency. The second one was undertaken to evaluate four sorghum varieties (Lalo, Chemeda, Gamadi and Dano) on fodder yield, yield related components and nutritive values. The third experiment was done to determine the appropriate date of harvest for biomass yield and agronomic traits. Complete randomized design (CRD) was employed to conduct the experiment with three replications. The results showed that there was no significant difference (p>0.05) between treatments on Dry matter yield (t/ha), Leaf Weight (t/ha), Root weight (t/ha) and Plant height (cm) as effect of frequency of watering at 2hr, 3hr and 4hr interval but, significant difference (p<0.05) among varieties of sorghums as an effect of frequency of irrigation on Fresh yield(t/ha), Plant height (cm) and leaf to root ratio (LRR%).The lowest average fresh yields were harvested at 7th days after planting and consistently increased until 17th days of planting. The highest plant heights were observed at 17 days while the lowest was observed at 7th days of harvesting. Except for dry matter (DM), Ash and crude protein (CP), there were significant differences (P<0.05) in neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF), acid detergent lignin (ADL) and in vitro dry matter digestibility contents of the sorghum varieties. The Sorghum variety, Gamadi contained the highest CP (13.29%) and lowest Acid detergent lignin contents. The Sorghum variety, Chemeda showed best in vitro DM digestibility (73.24%). Harvesting hydroponic sorghum at 17 days after planting gave the best biomass yield (t/ha), LRR and Plant height (cm); showing the increase in biomass as time of harvesting increases. Among the tested varieties of sorghum a variety, Dano best for biomass yield among the others.

The article contains the results of three-year field research in the steppe dryland zone of the republic, the best options of grass sorghum cultivation, which increase the gross yield of green forage and hay were developed. Optimum planting standards for dry steppe conditions, planting and harvesting methods of Sudan grass and sorghum-Sudangrass hybrids were identified to produce a high, more energy-intensive green and dry forage of the studied crops. The quality and feed qualities of fodder for production and direct feeding to animals are determined. The crop growing time after hay harvest and quantity for feeding after harvesting are given.

Optimal sowing time for perennial sorghum under irrigation is when soil temperature at the depth of sowing reaches up to 10–11 °С, harvesting for the green mass has to be done when panicle is situated on the stem in 10 sm from the flag leaf and hight of cut must be 11 sm.

Abstract. Sweet sorghum ( (L.) Moench) is a multi-purpose crop, yielding fuel in the form of ethanol from its stem juice, food in the form of grain, and fodder from its leaves and bagasse. The sugars utilized for bioethanol production are contained in the stalks, in an amount varying between 12% and 25% of the fresh biomass, according to the genotypes and harvesting time. However, these carbohydrates can be easily lost during harvest and post-harvest, because of wrong machinery settings and prolonged periods of exposure of the cut material to the action of fermentative agents. For these reasons, the production of biofuel from sweet sorghum is very sensitive to harvest systems and storage methods, as they can influence remarkably the final energetic yield of the crop. The main objective of the present study was to monitor the time course of dry matter and sugar content in sweet sorghum stem over a long-time storage period. The analysis was carried out by dividing the stems into portions of different length in order to test different storage configuration by varying the stem portion stored to simulate the action of different harvest machines. This work has been designed to take into account a larger storage window respect previous experimentation. The research has provided evidence that sugar loss during the storage is highly influenced by the length of the stem portion, as well as by storage conditions. Total sugar content at harvest was on average 23.2%. The decreasing of sugar content continued during the storage period but at different rate for the different portions. At the end of storage, the sugar content of the whole stem was on average 6.6%, while the smallest portion (1/16 of the whole stem) had an average content of 1.0%. Indications on best storage conditions (storage form, storage location, storage ambient condition), as well as technical details regarding new potential harvesting solutions to decrease the speed rate of sugar loss have been provided. Keywords: Biofuel, Harvesting, Storage, Sugar losses, Sweet sorghum.

Abstract Maximum germination percentage achieves immediately after harvesting and gradually decreases with storage time. Aging is one of the key factors in plant yield loss especially in vegetables. Seed aging is the main problem of seed storage. Application of accelerated aging treatment is used to assess seed vigor and quality. Seed priming enhances seed germination performance after aging. An experiment was conduct in order to investigate the activity of catalase and ascorbate peroxidase during accelerated aging and repair during priming treatment of sorghum seeds. In order to improve germination characteristics in aged seeds with seed priming. Our result showed that seed priming treatments significantly (p≤ 0.01) affected, germination percentage, germination index and means time to germination after aging (0, 3 and 6 days). Increasing aging duration resulted higher reduction in germination characteristics. Priming with gibberelic acid (GA), salicylic acid (SA) and ascorbic acid (ASC) increased germination characteristics of seed aged. The highest germination percentage, germination index, normal seedling percentage and enzyme activity were achieved in control conditions (0 day of aging). Antioxidant activity of aged seeds increased after seed priming.

Despite the gradual increase in livestock feed demands, the supply faces enormous challenges due to extreme climatic conditions. As the presence of these climatic condition has the potential to affect the yield of sorghum-sudangrass hybrid (SSH), understanding the yield variation in relation to the climatic conditions provides the ability to come up with proper mitigation strategies. This study was designed to detect the effect of climatic factors on the long-term dry matter yield (DMY) trend of SSH using time series analysis in the Republic of Korea. The collected data consisted of DMY, seeding-harvesting dates, the location where the cultivation took place, cultivars, and climatic factors related to cultivation of SSH. Based on the assumption of normality, the final data set (n = 420) was generated after outliers had been removed using Box-plot analysis. To evaluate the seasonality of DMY, an augmented Dickey Fuller (ADF) test and a correlogram of Autocorrelation Function (ACF) were used. Prior to detecting the effect of climatic factors on the DMY trend, the Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) model was fitted to non-seasonal DMY series, and ARIMA (2, 1, 1) was found to be the optimal model to describe the long-term DMY trend of SSH. ARIMA with climatic factors (ARIMAX) detected significance (p < 0.05) of Seeding-Harvesting Precipitation Amount (SHPA) and Seeding-Harvesting Accumulated Temperature (SHAMT) on DMY trend. This does not mean that the average temperature and duration of exposure to sunshine do not affect the growth and development of SSH. The result underlines the impact of the precipitation model as a major factor for the seasonality of long-term DMY of SSH in the Republic of Korea.

This study aimed to evaluate the development of culture, mass production, and the silage nutritional value of sorghum under three nutrients fonts. The experiment was conducted as a block randomized design, with three treatments and six replications. The treatments consisted of fonts fertilizations in showing: Monoammonium Phosphate, with 90.0 kg ha-1, and Rizostar with 37.5 kg ha-1 and 45.0 kg ha-1 doses. The productive parameters of the plants were evaluated at 30 days and at the time of harvesting the plants for silage, in addition to the nutritional value of the silages. The materials presented expressive productions, with averages of 43846; 43346; 44002; and 35674 kg ha-1 of green matter. The Maxisilo sorghum hybrid presented the highest levels of acid detergent fiber (ADF), with a mean of 471.42 g kg-1 dry matter (DM). Crude protein (CP) contents in each hybrid remained constant over time, presenting mean values of 74.37; 65.26; 54.44; 78.43 g kg-1. The mean total digestible nutrients values found in the Dominator sorghum hybrid were 657.34 g kg-1, being higher than the others. After long storage periods, the nutritional parameters of the materials remained stable in their CP, DM, NDF, and ADF values. The aerobic exposure nutritionally deteriorated silages. Fertilization with Rizostar 45, does not influence the final level of plants, fresh raw materials, and dry raw materials, besides significantly increasing the use of samples.

Introduction. Solving the problem of harvesting broom corn (Sorghum vulgare var. technicum) with minimal expenditure of labor and resources, and high quality is possible through improving existing or developing new processes and equipment for harvesting. At the same time, the proposed new processes and equipment should ensure the reduction or complete elimination of the share of manual labor. The purpose of the work is to improve the process for harvesting of broom corn based on a complex performance criterion. Materials and Methods. The methodological basis for choosing an effective process for harvesting broom corn was the theory of efficiency of technical systems. According to it, the latter is estimated using the value of a complex criterion that includes a set of particular indicators and their relative importance. Results. It is proposed to evaluate the efficiency of the broom corn harvesting process according to a complex criterion that takes into account particular indicators and their relative importance. A developed process for harvesting broom corn includes: threshing of standing broom corn in the direct flow offset threshing chamber of a combine harvester with simultaneous mowing of the threshed plants using the combine harvester thresher; collecting the threshed and mown plants in the tractor trailer and the threshed grain in the hopper; transportation of threshed and cut plants to the place of storage; and stacking of threshed plants with drying them using active ventilation. Based on experimental studies, the values of all the studied particular indicators and their coefficients of relative importance were determined; a comprehensive performance criterion for the existing process for broom corn harvesting and the proposed process was calculated. Discussion and Conclusion. The calculated values of coefficients K* 1 and K* 2 for the existing and proposed processes for harvesting broom corn were used to determine the complex performance criterion, which is φ(Wi) = 15.54 for the existing process and φ(Wi) = 2588.75 for the proposed one respectively. According to the complex criterion, the proposed harvesting process is more efficient than that currently used more than 160 times.

Maize and sorghum silages are good sources of energy for lactating dairy cows that produce milk destined for fresh and matured cheeses. Silages are usually stored in horizontal silos with or without side walls on commercial farms throughout the world. The main microbiological and nutritional quality problems are related to harvesting time, ensiling technology, and management practices during filling and feed-out. Aerobic deterioration is a key point that must avoided on farms in order to improve the hygienic, chemical and sensorial quality of milk and cheeses. Aerobic deterioration causes large losses of dry matter (DM) and quality, and it can cause health problems for animals and humans through the transfer of pathogens and mycotoxins from feed and livestock to food products. The objectives of the present work were to overview management practices connected to the storage of maize and sorghum in horizontal silos on farms producing milk for make Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) hard ripened cheese, to define good management practices that should be applied as the basis for safe silage production and to reduce the extent of aerobic deterioration.

After harvesting of wheat the great surfaces of land remain unused although they are suitable both for growing forage crops and production of voluminous animal feeds. The greatest importance in the production system of animal feeds is attributed to annual leguminous and grasses species which can be grown either as clear crops or mixtures. Their growing is conditioned by suitable irrigation system since in the time of seeding the temperatures are rather high and precipitations uncertain. In that sense this research has been conducted in which productivity of sorghum and soybean in after crop sowing grown both as clear and mixed crops with decreased density of both species by ? in relation to clean crops has been observed. Sorghum had greater yield than that of soybean. The greatest yield was formed by mixture of sorghum and soybean (5587 kg ha-1), what is very significant in relation to clean soybean (4563 kg ha-1). The yield in mixtures was 6% and 11% greater in relation to the expected one, that is 6 or 11% greater land surface with clean crops is needed in order to obtain corresponding yield in mixed crops. Soybean contains considerably greater quantity of crude protein, crude fat, calcium and magnesium in relation to sorghum what resulted in fact that mixtures also had greater quantities of the same nutritive substances in comparison with sorghum. The highest net energy value in the production of milk and meat was realized by soybean (5.70 and 5.67 MJkg-1 SM). Mixtures realized higher production of NEL and NEM per surface unit. By the combination of crops more favourable ratio of energy and proteins is realized what besides greater yield means that by mixtures the higher production of meat and milk per surface unit is possible.

Abstract. The ability of a region to feed itself in the upcoming decades is an important issue. The West African population is expected to increase significantly in the next 30 years. The responses of crops to short-term climate change is critical to the population and the decision makers tasked with food security. This leads to three questions: how will crop yields change in the near future? What influence will climate change have on crop failures? Which adaptation methods should be employed to ameliorate undesirable changes? An ensemble of near-term climate projections are used to simulate maize, millet and sorghum in West Africa in the recent historic period (1986–2005) and a near-term future when global temperatures are 1.5 K above pre-industrial levels to assess the change in yield, yield variability and crop failure rate. Four crop models were used to simulate maize, millet and sorghum in West Africa in the historic and future climates. Across the majority of West Africa the maize, millet and sorghum yields are shown to fall. In the regions where yields increase, the variability also increases. This increase in variability increases the likelihood of crop failures, which are defined as yield negative anomalies beyond 1 standard deviation during the historic period. The increasing variability increases the frequency of crop failures across West Africa. The return time of crop failures falls from 8.8, 9.7 and 10.1 years to 5.2, 6.3 and 5.8 years for maize, millet and sorghum respectively. The adoption of heat-resistant cultivars and the use of captured rainwater have been investigated using one crop model as an idealized sensitivity test. The generalized doption of a cultivar resistant to high-temperature stress during flowering is shown to be more beneficial than using rainwater harvesting.

Aim. The aim of the research was to identify the effect of types of fertilizer on increasing soil fertility and corn yield of grain and sorghum in conditions of irrigation of the Tersko-Sulak subprovince. Methods. Carrying out some field experiments: conducting observations and laboratory tests, selection of soil and plant samples was carried out according to generally accepted methods: statistical processing of yield data was carried out by the method of variance analysis based on Kirov Federal State Unitary Enterprise and FSBSI Dagestan Agricultural Research Institute named after F.G. Kisriev. Results. Studies showed that in the post-harvest period after harvesting winter wheat, it is better to cultivate green manure with the presence of legumes. A valuable biological feature of them is the ability to absorb atmospheric nitrogen. The powerful root system of the seeding pea improves the physical properties of the soil, as well as microbiological activity. The most favorable conditions are created for the growth and development of maize and sorghum, after plowing of fertilizers in the stubble period in the conditions of irrigation of the Tersko-Sulak subprovince, by applying mineral fertilizers at a dose of N150 P75 K75, seeding peas, manure (30 t / ha), In these cases, on average, over two years, the highest yield of maize was 5.6-5.7-5.5 t / ha and grain sorghum, respectively, 4.7-4.8-4.5 t / ha. Conclusion. For the first time, in conditions of irrigation of the Tersko-Sulak subprovince, were obtained the results on the effectiveness of different types of fertilizers introduced into the soil.

Natural dissemination of johnsongrass seeds as well as the effect of combine harvesting on this process were studied in corn fields. The estimation of natural dispersal was carried out by two different methods, collecting seeds throughout the season using seed traps and sampling soil–surface seed abundance before harvest using a vacuum device. Both methods showed the same dispersal pattern. A minimum of 84.6% was dispersed in the first 2 m from the focus and a maximum of 1.6% was dispersed beyond the first 5 m. An average of 76.3% of these dispersed seeds were lost or buried after shedding but before harvest. Seed dispersal by the combine harvester was estimated from the difference between soil–surface seed abundance in the same sites pre and postharvest. Although the quantity of seeds dispersed by the combine was similar to those dispersed by natural factors, dispersal distances were significantly higher. Around 90% of the dispersed seeds were found in the first 5 m forward and backward of the combine direction from the infestation source, and 1.6% of the seeds were found beyond 22 m forward and 10 m backward of the combine direction from the infestation source. A large proportion of the seeds dispersed were dormant or not viable. It is concluded that the major role of sexual reproduction in johnsongrass population dynamics may be to spread the risks, promoting dispersal in time and space.

This trail is aimed to demonstrate the effect of husbandry and management system on Sudan desert sheep performance and skin quality. For this purpose a questionnaire was designed and distributed randomly for 20 sheep breeders in each of the five chosen sheep breed area’s (Total of 100 ques.). The questionnaire include beside the personal data, twenty two (22) questions mainly about; system of feeding and application methods in each season, husbandry systems in each season , the main effective treatments on skins quality and common skin diseases and external parasites. The results revealed that, most of Sudan desert sheep owners or breeders were illiterate and most of them were herder 48.0%, while 37.5% were herder and farmer at the same time. All respondents confirmed that the open system depending on natural grazing was the main h usbandry and management system in all study target area. In autumn sheep depends totally on natural pasture grazing, while in winter sheep partly fed on natural grazing and the breeders complete it's feeding depending on the litter that remained from food crops after harvesting. Sudan desert sheep breeder in summer are using their stock of forage hay that collected either during the rainy season from good growing autumn pastures or from agricultural byproducts such as sorghum and sesame straw or groundnut r esiduals. The additional diets is varies by the variation of Sudan desert sheep locations. sometimes when forage are limited and for marketing purposes Sudan desert sheep breeders adding little amount or uncountable amount of sorghum grains, cotton seed ca kes, groundnut seed cake as finisher diet concentrate beside agricultural byproducts such as groundnut byproduct hay, sorghum byproduct hay and sesame byproduct hay for the herd that offered for sale or for fleshing or steaming up ewes during lambing seaso n. Branding is the most common and known damage in skins generally. Also some animal breeder's belief that by means of hot iron branding some animals may acquire immunity against certain diseases. The respondents attributed causes of mechanical damages of skins of animals on range land mainly to the domination of thorny bushes and grass with hairy and spiny seeds in pastures. External parasites and skin diseases cause most of skins damages and wastages in Sudan generally. Sheep pox spreads on sheep skins wi th high rates (88%). On the other hand, mange are resulting in (8%) of sheep skins infections. However, ticks infect most of sheep skins (80%), when Lice infection estimated at 20% of sheep skins.

Technological change has been the major driving force for increasing agricultural productivity and promoting agriculture development in developing countries. To improve the agricultural productivity and farmers’ livelihoods, several agricultural technologies (improved crop varieties and related agricultural practices) were introduced by various agencies to the farmers in the Rift Valley of Ethiopia. Thus, the objective of this study is to identify these technologies, and evaluate their characteristics and sustainability. The data were collected from farmers, agricultural extension workers, and agricultural experts, through a series of focus group discussions, key informant interviews, and farm observations, selected through purposive and random sampling techniques. Results showed that extension systems, social networks, or research projects were the agencies that introduced the technologies to the farmers. Haricot beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) and early and mid-maturing maize (Zea mays L.), as well as agricultural practices like row-sowing, banding fertilizer application, intercropping, and traditional rainwater-harvesting, were found to be in continuous use by the farmers. In contrast, the use of extra-early-maturing maize, sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) and finger millet (Eleusine coracana L.), as well as the use of related practices, including harvesting maize at physiological maturity, seed priming and fertilizer microdosing, were the technologies that were discontinued at the time of pursuing this study. Most of the continuing technologies had a high potential for reducing the vulnerability of the rain-fed agriculture to rainfall variability. Regardless of sources, the national extension system supported technologies that were integrated into the system only. Most of the discontinued technologies were found to be introduced by the research projects. These technologies were not brought into the attention of policy-makers for their integration into the extension system. The farmers also disliked a few of them for unfitting the existing socioeconomic setting. Whereas, the technologies that were introduced by the social networks were found to be widely used by the farmers, though they were not supported by the extension system. This is because most such technologies offer better yield and income. For instance, social networks have popularized haricot beans and hybrid maize because of their higher benefits to farmers. Farmers consider both socioeconomic and agroecological conditions for selecting and using technologies, whereas the extension system centers on existing agroecological conditions for recommending and supporting agricultural technologies. Consideration of both socioeconomic and agroecological settings would increase the prospect of a technology for sustainable adoption. Overall, rainfall variability, high price and poor access to improved seeds, farmers’ poor economic conditions, and the inadequate linkage between extension systems, social networks and research projects, remain critical factors influencing the sustainable use of agricultural technologies. It is, thus, commendable that policymakers should consider local socioeconomic and agroecological settings in recommending and supporting agricultural technologies besides instituting a strong consortium of extension systems, research institutes, research projects, social networks and farmers for improved agricultural technology development, extension system and sustainable adoption.

The study was conducted to evaluate the effects of variety, plant spacing and stage of harvest on the forage yield components of two sorghum varieties (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) at the National Animal Production Research Institute Shika, Zaria. The agronomic study was laid in a 2 × 3 × 5 factorial arrangement of a Split Plot Design with three replicates, which consist of two varieties (bush head and sweet sorghums), three plant spacing (15 × 85, 20 × 85 and 25 × 85 cm) and five stages of harvest (6, 8, 10, 12 and 14 weeks after sowing), respectively. The forage yield was determined at 14 weeks after sowing (WAS). Leaf length (68.68 cm), stem diameter (7.13 cm), number of leaves per plant (12.02) and leaf area index (2.78) were significantly (p<0.05) higher in bush head sorghum variety. Similarly, plant spacing significantly (p<0.05) affected the leaf area index (LAI) with the highest leaf area index recorded in 15 × 85 cm plant spacing. There was significant (p<0.05) interaction between variety and plant spacing. Stage of harvest significantly (p<0.05) affected all the growth parameters with 14 weeks having the highest (223.88 cm) plant height and 10.37 number of leaves per plant and the stage of harvest at 12 weeks after sowing (WAS) recorded the highest 69.84 cm leaf length, 6.82 cm leaf width and 2.46 leaf area index. While stage of harvest at 6 and 10 weeks after sowing (WAS) also having the highest number of tillers per plant and stem diameter of 1.24 and 6.47 cm respectively. Fresh forage yield was significantly (p<0.05) higher (42.92 t/ha) in bush head sorghum variety not and plant spacing significantly (p<0.05) affected fresh forage and dry matter yields at 14 weeks after sowing (WAS). The highest fresh forage yield (41.81 t/ha) and dry matter yield (7.99 t/ha) were recorded in 15 × 85 cm plant spacing. It was concluded, that harvesting of Sorghum bicolor bush head and sweet sorghum varieties for forage is to be best carried out at 14 weeks after sowing for better forage productivity. L'étude a été menée pour évaluer les effets de la variété de sorgho, et faisant l'espace des plantes sur les composantes de rendement fourrage de deux variétés de sorgho (Sorgho bicolore L. Moench) à l'Institut National de Recherche sur la Production Animale Shika, Zaria. L'étude agronomique a été posée dans un 2 × 3 × 5 arrangement factorial d'une conception de parcelle divisée avec trois répliques, qui se composent de deux variétés (leEffect of variety and plant spacing on yield components of two sorghum varieties (Sorghum bicolor l. Moench)'bush head' et sorghos sucrés), de trois espacements végétaux (15 × 85, 20 × 85 et 25 × 85 cm) et de cinq étapes de récolte (6, 8, 10, 12 et 14 semaines après le semailles), respectivement. Le rendement du fourrage a été déterminé à 14 semaines après la semailles (le 'WAS'). La longueur des feuilles (68,68 cm), le diamètre de la tige (7,13 cm), le nombre de feuilles par plante (12,02) et l'indice de la superficie des feuilles (2,78) étaient significativement (p<0,05) plus élevés dans la variété de sorgho 'bush head'. De même, l'espacement des plantes de façon significative (p<0,05) a affecté l'indice de la superficie des feuilles (le 'LAI') avec l'indice de superficie folio-feuille le plus élevé enregistré en 15 × espacement des plantes de 85 cm. Il y avait une interaction significative (p<0,05) entre la variété et l'espacement des plantes. L'étape de la récolte a eu une incidence importante (p<0,05) sur tous les paramètres de croissance, 14 semaines ayant la hauteur végétale la plus élevée (223,88 cm) et 10,37 le nombre de feuilles par plante et le stade de la récolte à 12 semaines après le semis (WAS) ayant enregistré la longueur de feuilles la plus élevée de 69,84 cm, la largeur des feuilles de 6,82 cm et l'indice de la superficie des feuilles de 2,46 feuilles. Alors que le stade de la récolte à 6 et 10 semaines après le semailles (le 'WAS') a également le plus grand nombre de laboureurs par plante et le diamètre de la tige de 1,24 et 6,47 cm respectivement. Le rendement des fourrages frais était significativement (p<0,05) plus élevé (42,92 t/ha) dans la variété de sorgho de la tête de brousse et l'espacement des plantes de façon significative (p<0,05) affectait les rendements de fourrage frais et de matière sèche à 14 semaines après le semis (le 'WAS'). Le rendement le plus élevé en fourrage frais (41,81 t/ha) et en matière sèche (7,99 t/ha) a été enregistré dans 15 × espacement des plantes de 85 cm. Il a été conclu que la récolte de 'bush head' bicolore de Sorgho et des variétés de sorgho sucré pour le fourrage doit être effectuée au mieux 14 semaines après la semailles pour une meilleure productivité fourragère.

Purpose This study aims to examine the effect of climate variability on smallholders’ crop income and the determinants of indigenous adaptation strategies in three districts (Mieso, Goba-koricha and Doba) of West Hararghe Zone of Ethiopia. These three districts are located in high-moisture-stress areas because of crop season rainfall variability. Design/methodology/approach Primary data collected from 400 sample households were used for identifying factors that affect households’ crop income. The study used ordinary least square (OLS) regression to examine the effect of climate variability. Given this, binary logit model was used to assess smallholders’ adaptation behavior. Finally, the study used multinomial logistic regression to identify determinants of smallholders’ indigenous adaptation strategies. Findings The OLS regression result shows that variability in rainfall during the cropping season has a significant and negative effect, and cropland and livestock level have a positive effect on farmers’ crop income. The multinomial logistic regression result reveals that households adopt hybrid crops (maize and sorghum) and dry-sowing adaptation strategies if there is shortage during the cropping season. Variability in rainfall at the time of sowing and the growing are main factors in the area’s crop production. Cropland increment has positive and significant effect on employing each adaptation strategy. The probability of adopting techniques such as water harvesting, hybrid seeds and dry sowing significantly reduces if a household has a large livestock. Originality/value The three districts are remote and accessibility is difficult without due support from institutions. Thus, this study was conducted on the basis of the primary data collected by the researchers after securing grant from Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA).

Cereal grains provide half of the calories consumed by humans. In addition, they contain important compounds beneficial for health. During the last years, a broad spectrum of new cereal grain-derived products for dietary purposes emerged on the global food market. Special breeding programs aimed at cultivars utilizable for these new products have been launched for both the main sources of staple foods (such as rice, wheat, and maize) and other cereal crops (oat, barley, sorghum, millet, etc.). The breeding paradigm has been switched from traditional grain quality indicators (for example, high breadmaking quality and protein content for common wheat or content of protein, lysine, and starch for barley and oat) to more specialized ones (high content of bioactive compounds, vitamins, dietary fibers, and oils, etc.). To enrich cereal grain with functional components while growing plants in contrast to the post-harvesting improvement of staple foods with natural and synthetic additives, the new breeding programs need a source of genes for the improvement of the content of health benefit components in grain. The current review aims to consider current trends and achievements in wheat, barley, and oat breeding for health-benefiting components. The sources of these valuable genes are plant genetic resources deposited in genebanks: landraces, rare crop species, or even wild relatives of cultivated plants. Traditional plant breeding approaches supplemented with marker-assisted selection and genetic editing, as well as high-throughput chemotyping techniques, are exploited to speed up the breeding for the desired genotуpes. Biochemical and genetic bases for the enrichment of the grain of modern cereal crop cultivars with micronutrients, oils, phenolics, and other compounds are discussed, and certain cases of contributions to special health-improving diets are summarized. Correlations between the content of certain bioactive compounds and the resistance to diseases or tolerance to certain abiotic stressors suggest that breeding programs aimed at raising the levels of health-benefiting components in cereal grain might at the same time match the task of developing cultivars adapted to unfavorable environmental conditions.

Sorghum has a growing popularity for food, feed, biofuel, and therefore needs to be developed. The research aimed to compare the effectiveness of pedigree and modified bulk selection methods for improving yield in three sorghum populations. The genetic materials used were 60 F6 lines from three populations, namely PI 10-90-A x Numbu, PI 150-20-A x Numbu and PI 150-20-A x Kawali which had been selected using pedigree and modified bulk methods. The experiment was conducted from October 2018 to February 2019 at the Cikabayan Experimental Station of IPB University, Dramaga, Bogor. The experiment was arranged in an augmented design with six checks, namely Kawali, Numbu, PI 10-90-A, PI 150-20-A, Samurai 1, and Samurai 2 which were replicated four times. Observations were made on agronomic traits and yield. Plant height and grain weight per panicle had high heritability and large genotypic coefficients of variation. The contrast test results showed significant differences between populations in plant height, panicle length, days of harvesting and 100-seed weight. On the other hand, no significant difference was observed among selection methods, indicating that both methods were equally effective for increasing sorghum yield. The pedigree selection and modified bulk selection increased grain yield per panicle by 14.1 g and 18.2 g respectively. Bulk of the best genotypes in early generation could be an alternative of bulk selection method. Keywords: contrast test, differential selection, genotypic coefficient of variation, heritability

The purpose of this paper is to present preliminary results from testing a pilot-scale sweet sorghum diffusion extractor that was designed to extract the juice from sweet sorghum stalks while simultaneously filtrating the extracted juice. The ultimate use of the juice is fuel grade ethanol. In essence, the system is a large coffee percolator that works by running shredded sorghum through a conveyor with recirculating hot water running over the crop to extract the sugar through diffusion. The current system spans 10 m in length, is 1m wide, and 0.6 m high. The sorghum is harvested with a forage chopper, and discharged at a constant rate into the trough. The sorghum moves at a rate of 0.2 m per minute, so the sorghum is in the diffusion system for 20 minutes. The water/juice is sprayed over the chopped stalks and is kept at a target temperature of 660C. A roller fixture located at the end of the trough helps squeeze out some of the remaining juice. The pilot scale sweet sorghum diffusion system continuously extracts the sugar at a rate of 3 metric tons (mt) of sorghum an hour with a minimum sugar extraction of 60%. During our pilot testing phase we were able to process 0.65 mt of material per hour with a resultant brix of 6%. The system was halted several times to adjust the heating system, so we are confident that with further testing we can process at least 3 mt per hour of material. The conversion from the conventional harvesting and roller press of the sorghum stalk to this method could resulted in a 66% reduction in energy to harvest and extract the juice.

The aim of the research was to the efficiency wind erosion control of farming system «no-till» (NT) for conditions of South Steppe of Ukraine. The research was conducted at heavy load southern chornozem in the crop rotation «pea – winter (spring) wheat – sorghum – mustard». In field experiment two options of processing of the soil (traditional and minimum) and NT were studied. Options aggregate of surface soil (0–5 cm), the weight of crop residues and projective covering the soil surface were determined. Research field was equipped by meteorological station and field’s wind erosion dust-meter. The efficiency wind erosion control by NT was evaluated in three directions: the presence of dangerous wind erosion period (February–April) a certain amount of plant residues, that protect of soil surface from extreme winds (1); presence during this period of high values of «random» surface roughness of the soil, which reduces the strength of the wind in ground layer of air (2) and values of soil wind erodibility index (3). Evaluation promises more effective in terms of opening up the soil surface crop residues reveals that NT fully meets the criterion of preserving (erosion control) technology – projective cover ground in a dangerous deflationary period is an average of three years of research on the crops of spring wheat – 37.9 % for sorghum crops – 71.1 % and on crops of mustard – 60.2 %. An important indicator of the erosion control efficiency of soil tillage is percentage of vertically oriented surface plant residues. Unbroken soil surface tillage after harvesting will have the maximum amount of such residues. Analysis of these studies show that when used NT observed maximum value of this parameter – 35–55 %, more than that in other tillage. So the version with traditional soil tillage this parameter does not exceed 5 %, and versions with minimal system soil tillage – 30 %. Estimation of effectiveness of soil protection NT via a «random» surface roughness also shows a high ability wind erosion control this technology. At the same time, it should be stated that the presence of high «random» roughness autumn plowing deep plowed fields, despite the fact that the surface of the soil in the case of poorly protected plant residues. The main index of soil wind erodibility is the fraction greater than 1 mm, the so-called «lumpiness». It is known, lumpiness indicator correlate with various other soil wind erodibility indicators, in particular, the mechanical strength of soil aggregates, containing wind erosion fraction by (<0.25 mm) and wind erodibility indicators there were obtained in portable wind tunnel. Intensive plowing of the soil leads to formation of a surface of the soil with high resistance by the strong winds in the fall (lumpiness – 70–90 %). It is connected with specific mechanisms of formation of soil structure. Plowing of solonetzic chernozems, especially after dry summer and an early autumn, leads to formation of soil structure units of the larger sizes. But during the winter of lumpiness by all options of researches gradually decreases, what is explained, first of all, by action on soil units of the procedures «melting» – «freezing» that, in turn, is function from the number of transitions of temperature of the soil through 0 °C. There is a destruction of soil aggregates and dispersion of the soil, in the conditions of an unstable temperature schedule in the winter, that is a consequence of warming of climate when in the afternoon of air temperature and the soil positive, and at night the soil freezes. At the same time, when the surface of the soil during the winter and at the beginning of spring is unploughed the soil condition, as it is observed on options with NT, the number of procedures of transition through 0 °C soil temperatures sharply decreases, so a destruction of aggregates goes not so intensively on the soil surfaces. But, according to our research, in the spring, lumpiness in variants of the NT is not diminished, was 50–70 %, the lower limit soil wind erodibility for chernozem. This phenomenon is bound to higher humidity of the soil which promotes coagulation of soil particles and existence of a large number of plant residues as source of the biological substances with capacity for bonding. These factors strengthen process of formation of aggregates, large by the size, what leads to increase soil lumpiness. Direct observations of NT wind erosion control efficiency during dust storms on 26th and 27th of January, 2014 showed that soil loss in NT was 3.5 times less them on a variant of traditional tillage and 2.9 times less them on a variant of minimum tillage.

Growing and utilizing bioenergy crops as feeding substrates in biogas plants may aid the development of the biogas sector in Ukraine. Therefore, research was done on potential methane yields from 22 high-yield varieties of 7 different crops grown in Ukraine for their biogas production suitability. Annual crops (maize, soybean, sweet sorghum and sorghum hybrids) and perennials (miscanthus, paulownia and switchgrass) harvested at three different harvesting times (H1, H2 and H3) related to specific stages of phenological development were investigated. The perennial crops studied were from different vegetation years. The samples were analysed in Ukraine on their dry matter- and volatile solids contents, dry matter yield (DMY) and crop nitrogen (N) uptake. The 55 °C -dried samples were delivered to Germany for their analysis with the Hohenheim Biogas Yield Test (HBT) on their specific methane yield (SMY). Based on DMY and SMY, the areal methane yields (AMY) were calculated. The highest SMY and AMY were found for maize, sweet sorghum and miscanthus. The highest average SMY of 0.35 ± 0.03 m3CH4 kgVS−1 was found for maize samples harvested at H2. Miscanthus “Giganteus” from the 8th vegetation year harvested at H1 has shown the highest AMY of 7404.50 ± 199.00 m3CH4 ha−1.

Sudan grass (Sorghum × drummondii) is grown after alfalfa and corn as the main fodder crops in developed countries. Sudan grass is a perennial plant that is resistant to salt and drought. This article provides information on the effects of planting Sudan grass at different rates and harvesting at different times in saline soils of the Syrdarya province, Uzbekistan, on plant growth, yield formation and nutrient quality. Sufficient results were obtained when Sudan grass was planted at 25 kg per hectare and harvested at 50% flowering phase. Experiments were carried out in soil-climatic conditions of the experimental production base of the Syrdarya Scientific Experimental Station of the Research Institute of Cotton Breeding, Seed Production and Cultivation Agrotechnologies.

The objective of this work was to evaluate the effects of lignin, hemicellulose, and cellulose concentrations in the decomposition process of cover plant residues with potential use in no-tillage with corn, for crop-livestock integrated system, in the Cerrado region. The experiment was carried out at Embrapa Cerrados, in Planaltina, DF, Brazil in a split plot experimental design. The plots were represented by the plant species and the subplots by harvesting times, with three replicates. The cover plants Urochloa ruziziensis, Canavalia brasiliensis, Cajanus cajan, Pennisetum glaucum, Mucuna aterrima, Raphanus sativus, Sorghum bicolor were evaluated together with spontaneous plants in the fallow. Cover plants with lower lignin concentrations and, consequently, higher residue decomposition such as C. brasiliensis and U. ruziziensis promoted higher corn yield. High concentrations of lignin inhibit plant residue decomposition and this is favorable for the soil cover. Lower concentrations of lignin result in accelerated plant decomposition, more efficient nutrient cycling, and higher corn yield.

<p>Climate change is characterized by an increasing in temperature, drought, and an increase in CO2. This paper aims to propose the right strategy to deal with climate change in forage crops. Plant adaptation mechanisms include increasing water content, cell membrane stability, and photosynthetic capacity by suppressing stomata conductance and C consumption through respiration. The impacts of climate change on animal feed crops include: decreased productivity and nutrient content, and reduced planting area which affects the supply of animal feed so that food availability is disrupted. Adaptation strategies are carried out by managing the cultivation of forage plants, including selecting planting and harvesting times, as well as irrigation. Besides, it is necessary to select adaptive fodder plants through breeding. Breeding methods are conducted through the exploration of genetic resources to compile new superior forage adaptive crops to climate change. Recommendations for adaptable forage include: sorghum, <em>Brachiaria humidicola</em>, Napier grass (<em>Pennisetum purpureum</em>).</p>

While perennial forages dominate the feed base on Australian dairy farms, poor persistence of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) and relatively poor forage nutritive value of kikuyu (Pennisetum clandestinum Hochst. ex. Chiov.) and paspalum (Paspalum dilatatum Poir.) has led to an increasing interest in growing annual forages. Thus, this study was conducted to identify annual forage species that are more productive than the commonly used perennial pasture species. Seventeen annual forages were investigated under ‘optimal’ irrigation and two deficit irrigation treatments (nominally 66 and 33% of irrigation water applied of the optimal level) over 3 years at Camden, New South Wales, on a brown dermosol in a warm temperate climate. The forages evaluated were: Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.), oats (Avena sativa L.), triticale (Triticosecale rimpaui Wittm), wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), balansa clover (Trifolium michelianum Savi), berseem clover (Trifolium alexandrinum L.), maple pea (Pisum sativum L.), Persian clover (Trifolium resupinatum L. var. majus Boiss.), subterranean clover (Trifolium subterraneum L.), forage rape (Brassica napus L.), forage radish (Raphanus sativus L.), maize (Zea mays L.), Japanese millet [Echinochloa esculenta (A. Braun) H. Scholz], pearl millet [Cenchrus americanus (L.) Morrone], sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench], cow pea [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.] and lablab [Lablab purpureus (L.) Sweet]. There was more than a 4-fold range in annual yield between forages, but the length of the growing season and season of growth made direct comparisons difficult. Under optimal irrigation, maize produced the highest mean yield of 29.0 t DM/ha in only 125 days, which was over three times greater than cow pea (9.2 t DM/ha) grown in the same season yet requiring 190 days. Of the cool season annuals, wheat had the highest mean yield of up to 20.6 t DM/ha in 230 days, which was more than three times the yield of the lowest yielding forage, subterranean clover, at only 6.5 t DM/ha in 215 days. The forages which require harvesting generally had higher yields within a growing period of similar length than those that were defoliated to reflect being ‘grazed’. Combining annual forages in an annual cycle (e.g. maize and wheat) had the potential to produce up to 47 t DM/ha. Deficit irrigation reduced annual yield of all warm season-grown forages ranging from 8% for sorghum up to 48% for maize. In contrast, annual yield reductions were generally smaller for cool season forages, there being no reduction for forage rape, subterranean clover or oats, but up to 35% for Persian clover. However, while yield is an important criterion for choosing dairy forages, it is only one factor in a complex system, and choice of forages must be considered on a whole-farm basis and include water use efficiency, nutritive value, cost of production and risk.

This research was aimed to determine the growth, production and prussic acid content of sorghum variety that planted on stylosanthes pasture with different harvesting time. This research was done using split-plot design with three replications which sorghum variety (brown midrib resistance (BMR) and Super-2) as the main plot and harvesting time (6, 8 and 10 weeks) as the sub plot. The sorghum seeds were germinated for 12 days before planted on the 30 days stylosanthes pasture which was planted with planting space 25 x 25 cm. Sorghum was planted with planting space 75 x 25 cm. The variables observed were plants height, dry and organic matter production and prussic acid. Data obtained were analyzed statistically using analysis of variance and significantly different between means were tested with Duncan's New Multiple Range Test (DMRT). Sorghum BMR had plant height, dry and organic matter production higher (P<0.05) than Super-2. Prussic acid content of BMR was lower (P<0.05) than Super-2. The older harvesting time increase (P<0.05) plant height, dry matter and organic production, but reduced (P<0.05) prussic acid content from 727.34 mg/kg to 241.71 mg/kg. Based on the results it can be concluded that the oldest harvesting time (10 weeks) produced the highest dry and organic matter, and reduce prussic acid content. Sorghum BMR is more productive and grew faster than Super-2. Sorghum BMR that harvested in 10-week shows the best in growth and productivity also had lower prussic acid content.

Purpose: substantiation of the design of the cutterbar of the header, providing high indicators of its maintainability and quality of sorghum harvesting. Materials and methods: scientific works on research of cutting devices of headers for grain and forage harvesters were used. In the 2020 harvesting season, the timing of the operation of a sorghum harvester equipped with a segment-finger cutter with an endless knife contour and a segment failure control device was carried out for harvesting grain sorghum of the Premierra variety, on the basis of which the laboriousness of restoring parts and assemblies was determined of the improved cutterbar, an assessment of the quality of plants cutting and grain losses is given. Results. The basic requirements for the design of the cutterbar of the header are given: to ensure high quality of plants cutting of various crops and varieties of agricultural crops; to have low energy consumption, high reliability of the structure in a wide range of operating conditions and high technological performance; to be compact and safe to maintain. The design of the cutting device of the header is proposed, which contains a knife in the form of a chain circuit with segments, a knife drive, a sensor, a control unit, a signaling device, a drive with a brush, while the header speed sensor and an analog-to-digital converter are additionally connected to the input of the control unit, and to the output - a control unit, functionally connected to the chain circuit drive. In the event of segment failures, the control unit receives a signal corresponding to the time the sensor travels a distance equal to the segment setting step on the chain loop tfact.. The control unit compares tfact. with a given t0. If tfact. > t0, then the frequency of rotation of the drive shaft increases until the moment when tfact. = t0. The linear speed of the segments is maintained at the achieved level. When a signal arrives at the control unit corresponding to the time tfact. < tmin, a signal is sent to the control unit to turn off the drive of the chain loop. Experimental studies of a sorghum harvester have shown that the average labor intensity of restoring an improved cutting device is 2.2 times less than that of a segment-finger one. In addition, it was found that the cuttingedge of the header of the proposed design allows mowing broom and grain sorghum at a given cutting height with high quality in case of failure of up to three adjacent segments. Conclusion: a new design of the cutterbar of the header with an endless knife contour, sensors for segment failures and header speed, a control unit, a signaling device, an analog-to-digital converter and a control unit has been proposed, which has the ability to automatically regulate the linear speed of the segments of the ensuring the quality of the cut of plants, determined by agrotechnical requirements.

The climate change impacts primarily affect the developing country’s agriculture and natural resources which is highly vulnerable due to population pressure. Using Participatory GIS (PGIS) approach, first hand information on farmers needs, availability of resources, location specific problems and researchable issues were identified in Thattaparai village in Gudiyatham taluk of Vellore district of Tamil Nadu. In the present study, the Participatory Rural Appraisal tools like transect walk, agro-ecological mapping, social mapping, time trend, gender analysis, time line, livelihood analysis, seasonal calendar, technology mapping etc were employed to understand the farmers real need and problems of the study village. The Rank Based Quotient (RBQ) and Value Based Indicator (VBI) were calculated to find out the ranking of the problems in that village. Through analysis, it was found research gaps of water scarcity, increased atmospheric temperature, cropping system practices, heat waves causes extreme heat stress in crops and the extension gaps of poor awareness about water conservation and maintenance of water bodies, water harvesting process, crop insurance and weather forecasting and cultivation of less water consuming crops like sorghum, millets, pulses, oil seeds and value addition. The authors suggested solution to the identified problems of the village under study and also gave suggestion to formulate community- based climate smart sustainable agriculture model projects for inclusive development of the region.

Saccharine sorghum is an excellent option for ethanol production under industrial and agronomic perspectives, due to high green matter production and succulent stalks with fermentable sugars. The aim of this work was to evaluate the harvesting season and plants population effect over theethanol and fodder production from sweet sorghum culture BRS 506. The experiment was installed in November 2012, at (CDTCA/UFLA), located in Lavras (MG). The experimental design was in randomized blocks, with 3 repetitions, factorial scheme 4 x 4 (4 populations: 70, 100, 130 and 160thousand plants ha-1 ; 4 harvesting seasons: flowering (0 days after flowering (DAF), 10 DAF, 20 DAF and physiological maturity at 40 DAF). The variables evaluated at harvesting: green matter weight (GM), dry matter weight (DM), juice volume (JV), total soluble solids (ºbrix), total reducing sugars (TRS) and brix tonnes per hectare (TBH). The populations increase provided the highest JV and it has not affected other variables. The characteristics were influenced by the harvesting seasons. The harvesting season at 40 DAF provided the highest ºbrix. The ºbrix and the TRS showed linear growth with an increase after flowering for plants harvesting. The highest productivities (GM, DM, JV and TBH) were obtained close to 17, 22, 17 and 14 DAF, respectively, favoring higher fodder and ethanolproduction in these stages.

It’s a cool autumn morning and I am grateful for the sun as it warms the wet concrete. I have been told we will be spending some time outside later, so I am hopeful it will remain sunny. When everyone arrives, we go directly to the principal’s office. Once inside, someone points at the PA system. People pull out their cameras and take a quick photo—we were told the PA system in each school can be different so information about the broadcasting mechanism could be helpful in an emergency. I decide to take a photo as well. Figure 1: PA system inside the principal's office (Photo by Michelle Stewart) The principal joins us and we begin the task of moving through the school: a principal, two plain clothes police officers, two uniformed police officers, two police volunteers and an anthropologist researcher. Our goal is to document the entire school for a police program called School Action For Emergencies (SAFE) that seeks to create emergency plans for each school on a national Canadian police database. It is a massive undertaking to collect the data necessary to create the interactive maps of each school. We were told that potential hiding spaces were one focus alongside the general layout of the school; the other focus is thinking about potential response routes and staging for emergency responders. We snap photos based on our morning training. Broom closets and cubbyholes are now potential hiding spots that must be documented with a photo and narrated with a strategy. Misplaced items present their own challenges. A large gym mattress stored under the stairs. The principal comments that the mattress needs to be returned to the gym; a volunteer crouches down and takes a picture in the event that it remains permanently and creates a potential hiding spot. Figure 2: Documenting gym mat in hallway/potential hiding spot (Photo by Michelle Stewart) We emerge from the school, take a photo of the door, and enter the schoolyard. We move along the fence line: some individuals take notes about the physical characteristics of the property, others jot down the height of the retaining wall, still others take photos of the neighboring properties. Everyone is taking notes, taking photos, or comparing notes and photos. Soon we will be back at the police station for the larger project of harmonizing all the data into a massive mapping database. Locating the State in Its Objects Focusing on a Canadian police program called School Action for Emergency (SAFE), this article discusses the material labour practices required to create a virtual object—an augmented map. This mapping program provides a venue through which to consider the ways augmented objects come into the world. In this article, I discuss the labour practices necessary to create this map and then illustrate how labour practices are erased as part of this production and consumption of an augmented technology meant to facilitate an effective emergency response. In so doing, I will also discuss the production of authority and expertise through deployment of these police aids. As someone concerned with the ways in which the state instantiates itself into the lives of its subjects, I look at the particular enrollment practices of citizen and state agents as part of statecraft (Stewart). From Weber we are told about the role of police as they relate to state power, “state is a human community that (successfully) claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory. Note that 'territory' is one of the characteristics of the state. Specifically, at the present time, the right to use physical force is ascribed to other institutions or to individuals only to the extent to which the state permits it” (Weber, 34 my emphasis). I would argue that part of this monopoly involves cultivating citizen consent; that the subordination of citizens is equally important to police power as is the state’s permission to act. One way citizen consent is cultivated is through the performance of expertise such that subjects agree to give police power because police appear to be experts. Seen this way, police aids can be critical in cultivating this type of consent through the appearance of police as experts when they appear all knowing; what is often forgotten are the workers and aids that support that appearance (think here of dispatchers and databases). Becoming SAFE The SAFE project is an initiative of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), the national police force in Canada. The goal of the program is to “certify” every school in the country, meaning each school will have documentation of the school that has been uploaded into the SAFE computer program. As illustrated in the introduction, this is a time-consuming process requiring not only photos and other data be collected but also all of this data and material be uploaded into the RCMP’s centralized computer program. The desired effect is that each school will have a SAFE program so police and dispatchers can access this massive collection of the data in the event of an emergency. During my time conducting research with the RCMP, I attended training sessions with John, a young corporal in the national police force. One of John’s duties was to coordinate the certification of the SAFE program that included training sessions. The program was initiated in 2007, and within one year, the province we were working in began the process of certifying approximately 850 of its 1700 schools; it had completed over 170 schools and identified 180 local SAFE coordinators. In that first year alone over 23,000 photos had been uploaded and 2,800 school layouts were available. In short, SAFE was a data heavy, labour-intensive process and one of John’s jobs was to visit police stations to get them started certifying local schools. Certification requires that at least one police officer be involved in the documentation of the school (photos and notes). After all the data is collected it must be articulated into the computer program through prompts that allow for photos and narratives to be uploaded. In the session described in the introduction, John worked with a group of local police and police auxiliaries (volunteers). The session started with a short Power Point presentation that included information about recent school tragedies, an audio clip from Columbine that detailed the final moments of a victim as she hid from killers, and then a practical, hands-on engagement with the computer software. Prior to leaving for on-site data collection, John had the trainees open the computer program to become familiar with the screens and prompts. He highlighted the program was user-friendly, and that any mistake made could be corrected. He focused on instilling interest before leaving for the school to collect data. During this on-site visit, as I trailed behind the participants, I was fascinated by one particularly diligent volunteer. He bent, climbed, and stretched to take photos and then made careful notations. Back at the police station he was just as committed to detail when he was paired up with his partner in front of the computer. They poured over their combined notes and photos; making routes and then correcting them; demanding different types of maps to compare their handwritten notes to the apparent errors in the computer map; demanding a street map for one further clarification of the proposed route. His commitment to the process, I started to think, was quite substantial. Because of his commitment, he had to engage in quite a bit of labour. But it was in this process of refining his data that I started to see the erasure of labour. I want to take some time now to discuss the process of erasure by turning attention to feminist and labour theory emerging from science and technology studies as means to articulate what was, and was not, taking place during the data entry. Maria Puig de la Bellacasa highlights the role of care as it relates to labour. In so doing, she joins a literature that draws attention to the ways in which labour is erased through specific social and material practices (see for example works in Gibson-Graham, Resnick and Wolf). More specifically, Puig de la Bellacasa investigates care in labour as it effects what she calls “knowledge politics” (85). In her work, Puig de la Bellaca discusses Suchman’s research on software design programs that produce virtual “office assistants” to assist the user. Suchman’s work reveals the ways in which this type of “assistant” must be visible enough to assist the user but not visible enough to require recognition. In so doing, Suchman illustrates how these programs replicate the office (and domestic servant) dynamics. Seen this way, labour becomes undervalued (think for example interns, assistants, etc.) and labour that is critical to many offices (and homes). Suchman’s work in this area is helpful when thinking about the role of augmented objects such as the augmented police map because in many ways it is a type of office assistant for police officers, handing over virtual notes and information about a location that police would otherwise not necessarily know thereby replicating the office dynamic of the boss that appears all knowing because, in part, s/he has a team that supports every aspect of their work. This devalued work (the lower paid intern or assistant) facilitates the authority—and ultimately the higher wage of the boss—who appears to earn this status. Let me layer this analysis of the “office assistant” with the similar phenomena in scientific knowledge production. Steven Shapin, a sociologist of science, discusses Robert Boyle’s 17th century laboratory and the various technicians in the background that assisted in experiments but remained ignored. Shapin argues contemporary scientific practice has changed little in this regard as technicians remain unaccounted for in the scientific record. He points out “science could not be made if this technician’s work were not done, but it is thought that anyone can do it” (Shapin, 557). Without these workers and their labour, scientific knowledge would not be possible, and yet they are ignored and their labour contribution erased (for example not included in formal discussion about the research, or more recently not included as authors in articles). Of course many technicians are/were paid, but nevertheless their role in the experiment erased. One figure emerged as the expert, the scientist, whose work appeared to be solely configured and created. Programs such as the SAFE project illustrate ways in which the police officer can emerge as an authority figure; but the authority rests on labour practices that move around in the background and go unacknowledged. Much like the lab, there are many ignored figures that produce the necessary objects of police work. In the case of the SAFE program, the ideal is that a police officer will respond to a call for service and with the click of a computer screen will be immersed in this augmented map. One click reveals data about the PA system, another click offers a full layout of the school, instructions about the design of the exits, notes about potential hiding spots inside, the list goes on. Each click is a product of labourer(s) that compiled the data. But these individuals, much like Boyle’s laboratory technicians, fade into the background and are erased as the police officer emerges as an authority. The map, an augmented object, may be credited with the data it holds, but the data collectors are long forgotten as the police officer stands alone as the subject of authority because of the smooth effects of the augmented map. Smooth Effects In an era of big data and data-intensive experiences, augmented objects are increasingly present in our daily lives—with expanded tolerance and appetite. When engaging an augmented object, there is a built-in expectation that the object will "work;" meaning it will run smoothly and effectively. Take Google Maps as an example: one expects the program will run on different scales, offer the capacity to map directions, and perhaps most importantly to be accurate. When these augmented objects run smoothly they appear to be a self-contained and organized object in and of themselves. This paper intervenes on these assumptions to illustrate that this “smooth effect” can serve to erase the labour necessary to produce the effect. Thinking here of the commodity fetish, one can recall Karl Marx’s intervention that illustrated how objects, commodities, permeate our social worlds in such ways that we can see the object—that we only see the object. This concept, commodity fetishism, argues that we erase the labour and social relations involved in the production of the objects, that we forget all that was required to create the object, and we don’t see all that was destroyed in its making. An example is to think of a cup of coffee. As you sip and consume it, do you think of the commodity chain? Do you think of the worker, the working conditions necessary to plant, harvest, roast and distribute the beans; do you think about the production of the bag the beans were transported in; do you think of the warehouse or coffeehouse from which the bag of beans came from? You more likely think about how it tastes—as an object in and of itself, how it is, rather than how it came into being in the world. Similarly, I want to think about this augmented map and how attention turns to it, not how it came into the world. Thinking about labour as it relates to computer programs and computer worlds, social scientists have investigated the necessary work of computer programmers and other labourers (see for example Kelty). Tiziana Terranova discusses the immaterial and affective labour that makes online communities thrive as individuals lend their labour (often unpaid) to create an online “world” that appears to organically come together—she argues these online communities are a product of free labour. Although the police are not working for “free” the volunteers are and the valorization of labour, if erased, still results in the similar outcome. Terranova is concerned about online communities that don’t simply come into being, but rather are the product of free labour. In the case of the SAFE program, labour practices are rendered invisible when augmented objects appear to be running smoothly —when in fact this appearance of smoothness necessarily requires labour and the commodity being exchanged is the claim to authority. Figure 3: Cross referencing hardcopy map (Photo by Michelle Stewart) Figure 4: Using a hand-drawn map to assist data entry (Photo by Michelle Stewart) Moving in a different direction, but still thinking about labour, I want to turn to the work of Chris Kortright. In his work about agricultural scientists, Kortright carefully details the physical practices associated with growing an experimental crop of sorghum. From the counting and washing of the seeds, to the planting and harvesting of the seeds, he delivers rich ethnographic stories from experimental fields and labs. He closes with the story of one researcher as she enters all the data into the computer to generate one powerpoint. He explains her frustration: “You can’t see all the time we spent. The nights we slept here. All the seeds and plants. The flooding and time at the greenhouse. All the people and the labour.” I nodded, these things had disappeared. In the table, only numbers existed. (Kortright, 20) Kortright argues for the need to recognize the social relations carved out in the field that are erased through the process of producing scientific knowledge—the young researcher ultimately knowing her labour did have a place on the slide.In much the same way, the police and volunteers engaged in a practice of removing themselves from the map. There was not enough space for long sentences explaining the debate about the best route to take; longer sentences were replace with short-phrased instructions. Conjuring the image of the police officer looking for fast, quick information, quick data was what they would deliver. The focus of the program was to place emergency icons (police cars, ambulance, fire engines and helicopters) onto the map, outline response routes, and offer photos as the evidence. Their role as individuals and their labour and creativity (itself a form of labour) was erased as the desired outcome was ease and access to data—a smooth effect. I was often told that many of the police cars don’t yet have a computer inside but in an idealized future world, police cars would be equipped with a computer console. In this world, officers could receive the call for service, access the program and start to move through layers of data rapidly while receiving the details of the call. This officer would arrive informed, and prepared to effectively respond to the emergency. Thinking back to labour required to create the SAFE map for each school (photographing, mapping, writing instructions, comparing details, etc.) and then the processes of hiding that labour (limited photos and short instructions) so that the program would appear to run smoothly and be user-friendly, the SAFE program, as an object, serves to abstract and erase labour. Indeed, the desired result was a smooth running program that operated much like Suchman’s office assistant who should be just visible enough to provide the needed help but otherwise remain invisible; similar in many ways to Shapin/Boyle’s scientific technician who is critical to knowledge production and yet remains formally unrecognized. Conclusion This article investigated a map as an entry point to understand the ways in which labour can be erased in augmented objects and, concurrently, how authority figures or experts instead emerge. My goal was to discuss the labour necessary to make one augmented map while also describing the process by which the labour necessary for the map was concurrently erased. Central to this article are the ways in which labour is erased as one clicks between these layers of data and, in the process, thinks the smoothly operating computer program is a measure of the strength of program itself, and not the labour required therein. By focusing on this augmented object, I am pointing out the collective labour needed to co-produce the map but how that map then helps to produce the police officer as authority figure. My intention is to look at the map as an unexpected entry point through which to understand how consent and authority is cultivated. Accordingly, I am concerned with the labour that is erased as this police figure emerges and authority is cultivated on the ground. I focus on the labour that necessarily to produce the police officer as expert because when that labour is erased we are left only with the authority figure that appears to be self-evident—not co-constructed. To understand state practices, as practices and not magical phenomena, we must look for the ways in which the state comes into being through particular practices, such as policing and to identify the necessary labour involvedReferencesGibson-Graham, J.K., Stephen Resnick, and Richard Wolff, eds. Re/Presenting Class: Essays in Postmodern Marxism. Durham: Duke University Press, 2000. Kelty, Chris. Two Bits: The Cultural Significance of Free Software. Durham: Duke University Press, 2008. Kortright, Chris. “On Labour and Creative Transformations in the Experimental Fields of the Philippines.” East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal 7.4 (2013). Marx, Karl. Capital: A Critique of Political Econony Vol. 1. New York: Penguin Books, 2004. 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