European soybean to benefit people and the environment.

Europe imports large amounts of soybean that are predominantly used for livestock feed, mainly sourced from Brazil, USA and Argentina. In addition, the demand for GM-free soybean for human consumption is project to increase. Soybean has higher protein quality and digestibility than other legumes, along with high concentrations of isoflavones, phytosterols and minerals that enhance the nutritional value as a human food ingredient.

Agricultural expansion raises groundwater and increases flooding in the South American plains.

Regional effects of farming on hydrology are associated mostly with irrigation. In this work, we show how rainfed agriculture can also leave large-scale imprints. The extent and speed of farming expansion across the South American plains over the past four decades provide an unprecedented case of the effects of rainfed farming on hydrology.

High-yield dairy cattle breeds improve farmer incomes, curtail greenhouse gas emissions and reduce dairy import dependency in Tanzania.

Tanzania's dairy sector is poorly developed, creating reliance on imports for processed, value-added dairy products and threatening food security, particularly when supply chains are disrupted due to market volatility or armed conflicts. The Tanzanian Dairy Development Roadmap is a domestic development initiative that aims to achieve dairy self-sufficiency by 2030. Here, we model different outcomes of the roadmap, finding that adoption of high-yield cattle breeds is essential for reducing dairy import dependency.

Prolonged low temperature exposure de-sensitises ABA-induced stomatal closure in soybean, involving an ethylene-dependent process.

Chilling can decrease stomatal sensitivity to abscisic acid (ABA) in some legumes, although hormonal mechanisms involved are unclear. After evaluating leaf gas exchange of 16 European soybean genotypes at 14°C, 6 genotypes representing the range of response were selected. Further experiments combined low (L, 14°C) and high (H, 24°C) temperature exposure from sowing until the unifoliate leaf was visible and L or H temperature until full leaf expansion, to impose four temperature treatments: LL, LH, HL, and HH.

Feeding efficiency gains can increase the greenhouse gas mitigation potential of the Tanzanian dairy sector.

We use an attributional life cycle assessment (LCA) and simulation modelling to assess the effect of improved feeding practices and increased yields of feed crops on milk productivity and GHG emissions from the dairy sector of Tanzania's southern highlands region. We calculated direct non-CO emissions from dairy production and the CO emissions resulting from the demand for croplands and grasslands using a land footprint indicator. Baseline GHG emissions intensities ranged between 19.

Agricultural land is the main source of stream sediments after conversion of an African montane forest.

In many parts of Africa, soil erosion is an important problem, which is evident from high sediment yields in tropical montane streams. Previous studies in Kenya pointed to a large contribution from catchments cultivated by smallholder farmers. This led to the hypothesis that unpaved tracks and gullies are the main sediment sources in smallholder agriculture catchments of the highlands of Kenya.

Diurnal Patterns in Solute Concentrations Measured with In Situ UV-Vis Sensors: Natural Fluctuations or Artefacts?

In situ spectrophotometers measuring in the UV-visible spectrum are increasingly used to collect high-resolution data on stream water quality. This provides the opportunity to investigate short-term solute dynamics, including diurnal cycling. This study reports unusual changes in diurnal patterns observed when such sensors were deployed in four tropical headwater streams in Kenya.

Advances in sensing ammonia from agricultural sources.

Reducing ammonia emissions is one of the most difficult challenges for environmental regulators around the world. About 90% of ammonia in the atmosphere comes from agricultural sources, so that improving farm practices in order to reduce these emissions is a priority. Airborne ammonia is the key precursor for particulate matter (PM2.

Intensification of dairy production can increase the GHG mitigation potential of the land use sector in East Africa.

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) could face food shortages in the future because of its growing population. Agricultural expansion causes forest degradation in SSA through livestock grazing, reducing forest carbon (C) sinks and increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Therefore, intensification should produce more food while reducing pressure on forests.

The value of manure - Manure as co-product in life cycle assessment.

Livestock production is important for food security, nutrition, and landscape maintenance, but it is associated with several environmental impacts. To assess the risk and benefits arising from livestock production, transparent and robust indicators are required, such as those offered by life cycle assessment. A central question in such approaches is how environmental burden is allocated to livestock products and to manure that is re-used for agricultural production.

Temporal and spatial variability in the nutritive value of pasture vegetation and supplement feedstuffs for domestic ruminants in Western Kenya.

Objective: The study aimed at quantifying seasonal and spatial variations in availability and nutritive value of herbaceous vegetation on native pastures and supplement feedstuffs for domestic ruminants in Western Kenya.

Methods: Samples of herbaceous pasture vegetation (n = 75) and local supplement feedstuffs (n = 46) for cattle, sheep, and goats were collected in 20 villages of three geographic zones (Highlands, Mid-slopes, Lowlands) in Lower Nyando, Western Kenya, over four seasons of one year. Concentrations of dry matter (DM), crude ash (CA), ether extract (EE), crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fibre (NDF), gross energy (GE), and minerals were determined.

Land use affects total dissolved nitrogen and nitrate concentrations in tropical montane streams in Kenya.

African tropical montane forests are facing fast and dynamic changes in land use. However, the impacts of these changes on stream water quality are understudied. This paper aims at assessing the effect of land use and physical catchment characteristics on stream water concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), total dissolved nitrogen (TDN), nitrate (NO-N) and dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) in the Mau Forest, the largest tropical montane forest in Kenya.

Reducing emissions from agriculture to meet the 2 °C target.

More than 100 countries pledged to reduce agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the 2015 Paris Agreement of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Yet technical information about how much mitigation is needed in the sector vs. how much is feasible remains poor.

Climate change mitigation through livestock system transitions.

Livestock are responsible for 12% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Sustainable intensification of livestock production systems might become a key climate mitigation technology. However, livestock production systems vary substantially, making the implementation of climate mitigation policies a formidable challenge.

Biomass use, production, feed efficiencies, and greenhouse gas emissions from global livestock systems.

We present a unique, biologically consistent, spatially disaggregated global livestock dataset containing information on biomass use, production, feed efficiency, excretion, and greenhouse gas emissions for 28 regions, 8 livestock production systems, 4 animal species (cattle, small ruminants, pigs, and poultry), and 3 livestock products (milk, meat, and eggs). The dataset contains over 50 new global maps containing high-resolution information for understanding the multiple roles (biophysical, economic, social) that livestock can play in different parts of the world. The dataset highlights: (i) feed efficiency as a key driver of productivity, resource use, and greenhouse gas emission intensities, with vast differences between production systems and animal products; (ii) the importance of grasslands as a global resource, supplying almost 50% of biomass for animals while continuing to be at the epicentre of land conversion processes; and (iii) the importance of mixed crop–livestock systems, producing the greater part of animal production (over 60%) in both the developed and the developing world.

Exploring global changes in nitrogen and phosphorus cycles in agriculture induced by livestock production over the 1900-2050 period.

Crop-livestock production systems are the largest cause of human alteration of the global nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) cycles. Our comprehensive spatially explicit inventory of N and P budgets in livestock and crop production systems shows that in the beginning of the 20th century, nutrient budgets were either balanced or surpluses were small; between 1900 and 1950, global soil N surplus almost doubled to 36 trillion grams (Tg) · y(-1) and P surplus increased by a factor of 8 to 2 Tg · y(-1). Between 1950 and 2000, the global surplus increased to 138 Tg · y(-1) of N and 11 Tg · y(-1) of P.