Technical efficiency and its determinants of the various cropping systems in the purple-soiled,hilly region of southwestern China

This study examines the technical efficiency(TE) differences among typical cropping systems of smallholder farmers in the purple-soiled hilly region of southwestern China.Household-,plot-,and crop-level data and community surveys were conducted to explore TE levels and determinants of typical cropping systems by using a translog stochastic frontier production function.Results indicate significant difference in TE and its determinants among cropping systems.The mean TEs of the rice cropping system(R),the rice-rape cropping system(RR),the rice-rape-potato cropping system(RRP),and the oil cropping system(O) are0.86,0.90,0.84,and 0.85,respectively,which are over 1.17 times higher than those of the maize-sweet potato-other crop cropping system(MSO) and the maize-sweet potato-wheat cropping system(MSW) at0.78 and 0.69,respectively.Moreover,Technical inefficiency(TIE) of different cropping systems is significantly affected by characteristics of the household as well as plot.However,the impact of land quality,mechanical cultivation conditions,crop structure,farming system,farm radius,household type,cultivated land area per capita,and annual household income per capitalon TIE vary by cropping system.Additionally,output elasticity of land,labor,and capital,as a group,is greater than the one of agricultural machinery and irrigation.Finally,when household-owned effective agricultural labor is at full farming capacity,optimal plot sizes for the R,RR,RRP,MSO,MSW,and 0 cropping systems are 1.12hm^2,0.35 hm^2,0.25 hm^2,2.82 hm^2,1.87 hm^2,and 1.17hm^2,respectively.

Shear strength features of soils developed from purple clay rock and containing less than two-millimeter rock fragments

Soil shear strength is an important indicator of engineering design and an essential parameter of soil precision tillage and agricultural machinery and equipment design. Although numerous studies have investigated the characteristics of different soil shear strengths, only a few of these works have paid attention to soils containing considerable quantities of rock fragments. To date, most studies on the effects of rock fragments on the shear strength have paid attention to the role of rock fragments with sizes >2 mm. The effects of rock fragments <2 mm in soil are generally ignored. Similar to rock fragments >2 mm, the presence of rock fragments <2 mm could also change the mechanical properties of soils. Thus, in the present study we evaluated the potential influence of <2 mm rock fragments on soil shear strength via an unconsolidated undrained(UU) triaxial compression test. Our results were as follows:(1) A certain quantity of <2 mm rock fragments presented in purple soils developed from clay rocks; and an appropriate quantity of <2 mm rock fragments could improve the shear strength of soils.(2) The different PSDs of soils containing <2 mm rock fragments mainly caused variations in the internal friction angle of soils.(3) The shear strengths of the two mudstone-developed red-brown and gray-brown purple soils was more sensitive to water than that of the shale-developed coarse-dark purple soil. As the soil water content increased from 9% to 23%, the changes in the cohesion, internal friction angle, shear strength, and the maximum principal stress difference were smaller in the coarse dark purple soil than in the two other soils. We therefore concluded that <2 mm rock fragments in purple soils exerted important effects on soil shear strength. A better understanding of the differences among the shear strength features of purple soils could help improve the design of agricultural machinery and equipment.

Restoration technologies of damaged paddy in hilly post-mining and subsidence-stable area of Southwest China

The paddy fields and water storage facilities are seriously damaged by the coal mine subsiding in the hilly post-mining and subsidence-stable areas in China,which make the farmers there being suffered greatly from the lack of water for traditional rice cultivation and daily life.The purpose of this paper is to find a method to restore the damaged paddy fields,thereby promoting sustainable development of land resources,and alleviating the contradiction between people and land,as well as creating a more inhabitable environment.The research methodology included field experiments,cultivated observation,and field investigation.This paper selected the Songzao Mining Area as the research area,and focused on the restoration technologies of damaged paddy fields,through the following four different measures at three experimental fields:(1)Traditional repeated cattle plowing(CK);(2)Water retention agent with repeated cattle plowing(W&C);(3)Film without holes under tilth depth(FO);and(4)Film with holes under tilth depth(FW).At last,a contrastive analysis of the four measures was made according to the results of the experiments.The results show that the use of water retaining agent with repeated cattle plowing(W&C)can be the most appropriate method to restore the damaged paddy field in the hilly post-mining and subsidence-stable area in southwest China.Compared with the other three measures,its water productivity is the maximum(0.81 kg/m3),and the net income is the highest(1403$/hm^(2)).What’s more,it is simple,short time-consuming,and low cost,which is benefit to generalize the use of this restoration technology.