evaluation of an agropastoral system introduced into soybean.pdfVIP

JARQ 44 (1), 25 - 31 (2010) http://www.jircas.affrc.go.jp Evaluation of an Agropastoral System Introduced into Soybean Fields in Paraguay: Positive Effects on Soybean and Wheat Production 1,3 2 2 Katsuhisa SHIMODA *, Toshiyuki HORITA , Ken HOSHIBA and Jorge BORDON2 1 Animal Production and Grassland Division, Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS) (Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8686, Japan) 2 Paraguay Agricultural Technology Center, Japan International Cooperation Agency (CETAPAR-JICA) (Yguazu, Alto Parana, Paraguay) Abstract Effects of an agropastoral system on the production of soybean and wheat were investigated by comparing, Panicum from 2003 to 2007, agropastoral plots that had been converted from 7-year pasture (guinea grass: maximum; 1996 to 2003) to crop cultivation, with control plots that had been continuously cropped over 10 years with soybean at the Japan International Cooperation Agency’s Paraguay Agricultural Technology Center (CETAPAR-JICA). Soybean productivity in this area increased from 1979 until 1993, when yield peaked at 3.39 t/ha and then declined. In this study, soybean yields ranged from 1.48 to 3.56 t/ha in agropastoral plots and from 0.63 to 2.47 t/ha in control plots. In each year, the yield in the agropastoral plots was 1.1 to 2.4 times more than