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Economic botany is the study of the relationship between people (individuals and cultures) and plants.Economic botany intersects many fields including established disciplines such as agronomy, anthropology, archaeology, chemistry, economics, ethnobotany, ethnology, forestry, genetic resources, geography, geology, horticulture, medicine, microbiology, nutrition, pharmacognosy, and pharmacology. [1]
The seed multiplication ratio is the ratio between the investment in seed versus the yield. For example, if three grains are harvested for each grain seeded, the resulting multiplication ratio is 1:3, which is considered by some agronomists as the minimum required to sustain human life. [3]
(pl.) aboiteaux A sluice or conduit built beneath a coastal dike, with a hinged gate or a one-way valve that closes during high tide, preventing salt water from flowing into the sluice and flooding the land behind the dike, but remains open during low tide, allowing fresh water precipitation and irrigation runoff to drain from the land into the sea; or a method of land reclamation which relies ...
They sequester nitrogen and other nutrients that might otherwise enter groundwater, and they fix nitrogen from the atmosphere, making it available to plants. Many organisms enhance soil aggregation and porosity, thus increasing infiltration and reducing surface runoff. Soil organisms prey on crop pests and are food for above-ground animals.
Agricultural economics is an applied field of economics concerned with the application of economic theory in optimizing the production and distribution of food and fiber products. Agricultural economics began as a branch of economics that specifically dealt with land usage .
An example of a topological food web (image courtesy of USDA) [1] The soil food web is the community of organisms living all or part of their lives in the soil. It describes a complex living system in the soil and how it interacts with the environment, plants, and animals. Food webs describe the transfer of energy between species in an ecosystem.
The controversies surrounding monocropping are complex, but traditionally the core issues concern the balance between its advantages in increasing short-term food production—especially in hunger-prone regions—and its disadvantages with respect to long-term land stewardship and the fostering of local economic independence and ecological ...
A plant whose origin or selection is primarily due to intentional human activity. cultivar A term derived from "cultivated variety" denoting an assemblage of cultivated plants clearly distinguished by one or more characters (morphological, physiological, cytological, chemical, or other). When reproduced (either sexually or asexually), the ...