Journal of Sustainable Agriculture and Environment最新文献

The use of biostimulants in agriculture provides a sustainable and efficient technology to improve resource-use efficiency. Biostimulants may boost vegetative growth, enhancing plant tolerance to biotic and abiotic stress. The tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is sensitive to drought stress, particularly during fruit setting and fruit development stages. In Italy, long-storage tomato genotypes characterised by drought resistance were selected. In this 2-year study, the foliar application of different biostimulants (betaine, seaweed extracts, vegetal protein hydrolysate and animal protein hydrolysate) was evaluated to determine effects on yield and quality of a local tomato landrace (Pizzutello) cultivated in Sicily without irrigation. The highest dry matter (9.9%) and solid soluble content (6.9° Brix) were observed in plants treated with betaine. Plants treated with A. nodosum or animal protein hydrolysate showed the highest potassium concentrations, whereas those supplied with vegetal protein hydrolysate had the highest calcium concentrations. Tomato treated with betaine were found to have the highest nitrate concentrations. The highest marketable yield (13.8 t ha⁻¹) was recorded in plants treated with vegetal protein hydrolysate, with an increase of 17.4% compared to the control plants. The highest unmarketable yield was observed in control plants and in those treated with betaine (1.1 t ha^-1). In conclusion, we can say that each biostimulant had a different effect on the different parameters analysed. Overall, the application of biostimulants has improved tomato growth, productivity and quality in limited water conditions. Our results highlight the potential of biostimulant applications to optimise both the yield and fruit quality of renowned local varieties. This study demonstrated the improvement in the agronomic performance of the Pizzutello tomato, which is particularly significant not only in response to the growing consumer demand for high-quality traditional tomatoes, but also for the enhancement of the technological traits valued by the food industry.

Ecological restoration has gained increased attention to combat the global biodiversity and habitat loss driven by human activities and climate change. To address these impacts, restoration efforts apply interventions aimed at recovering native ecosystems on degraded lands. However, they tend to centre on vegetation-based interventions, with limited attention to aboveground and belowground linkages. Soil health, including its physicochemical, biological and functional attributes, is fundamental to ecosystem resilience and sustainability, provision of services, and human well-being. This synthesis explores how a deeper understanding of soil-vegetation interactions can support restoration and conservation efforts. We discuss how restoration interventions can be applied from early to later stages of restoration, future directions and novel approaches that target aboveground and belowground processes to promote soil health and successful plant community establishment. We propose that integrating practices that explicitly consider linkages among vegetation, soil properties and biota can lead to more effective restoration outcomes and the establishment of resilient, self-sustaining ecosystems.

Rice cultivation significantly contributes to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, particularly methane released from flooded paddy fields, exacerbating climate change. At the same time, rice farming is highly sensitive to climate conditions, with climate change introducing various abiotic stresses, notably salinity stress. This is especially critical in coastal regions like Indonesia, where rising sea levels and land degradation worsen the salinity challenge. This review systematically examines salinity stress in coastal rice cultivation, the impact of climate change on salinity dynamics and crop performance, and the potential of innovative regenerative technologies to enhance resilience and create low-salinity, net-zero agricultural systems. We conducted a systematic literature review following PRISMA guidelines, supplemented by a bibliometric analysis using Scopus, employing keywords such as “salinity stress”, “rice”, “agriculture”, “climate change” and “regenerative”. From an initial 2,191 articles, 18 were deemed eligible for further analysis. Findings indicate that increased soil salinity adversely affects rice production, yet innovative strategies such as rhizomicrobiome engineering, salt-tolerant rice varieties, regenerative soil amendments, irrigation management, agricultural practices offer viable solutions to mitigate salinity stress. Furthermore, adopting net-zero farming practices can help achieve carbon neutrality in agriculture while significantly reducing GHG emissions. This review highlights the need for a collaborative approach among scientists, farmers, and policymakers to scale these innovations, ensuring their implementation not only in Indonesia but also in other regions facing similar challenges, thereby promoting food security and environmental sustainability in the face of climate change.

Effective water management practices are essential for maximising tomato yield while mitigating the risks associated with climate change. The need for climate-smart irrigation management techniques in agriculture has increased to optimise water use efficiency and enhance crop productivity. Irrigation scheduling using precision agriculture technologies like soil moisture sensors is an effective and efficient water management strategy in crop production. This strategy helps growers apply the right amount of water at the right time to meet crop needs, thus reducing water wastage and increasing environmental sustainability. Combining soil moisture sensors and crop simulation models for real-time irrigation scheduling can enhance water use efficiency while reducing operations, energy costs, and labour in crop production. Therefore, this study provides a comprehensive review of the current efforts to improve irrigation management by integrating precision agriculture technologies such as soil moisture sensors, plant sensors, and crop models for irrigation scheduling in tomato production.

Enteric methane (eCH4) is a major environmental pollutant emitted by ruminants. To target mitigation measures, it is necessary to accurately estimate GHG emissions from livestock farming. Until now, milk-producing farms in the peri-urban areas of South Benin are pasture-based systems, and have been largely neglected by international research. Therefore, this study estimates eCH4 emissions from pasture-based peri-urban dairy farms across four different animal categories during dry and wet seasons. Six herds were selected for field measurements; one representative animal was selected per category from each herd and its body weight estimated. Subsequently, the selected animals were closely monitored on pasture for three consecutive days. Direct observation of their behavior and the hand-plucking method were used to mimic the animals' selective foraging and to sample parts of the different plant species consumed in proportion to their, to determine the quality of their daily diet. The nutrient content and digestibility of the collected feed samples were assessed using near-infrared spectroscopy. Additionally, 30 herds were monitored bi-monthly during a 12-month period to collect all input and output data, including milk yields. Annual enteric methane (eCH4) emissions per animal category were estimated using the IPCC Tier 2 method. Subsequently, the eCH4 intensities of lactating cows were calculated per kg of fat-protein corrected milk (FPCM). All statistical analyses were performed using R software. Overall, the average annual eCH4 production was 40.6 kg/head/year and the eCH4 yield was 20.3 g/kg of dry matter intake, with significant differences between seasons and no differences between animal categories. Regardless of season, older animals yielded higher eCH4 outputs. The average eCH4 production per kg of live weight was 0.48 g for both seasons. The overall eCH4 intensity (g CH4/kg FPCM) recorded during the wet season (74.3) was higher than that recorded during the dry season (70.5).

Climate change poses a significant threat to global agriculture by altering weather patterns, increasing the frequency of extreme events, and reducing the availability of arable land. Hydroponic systems offer a sustainable solution allowing efficient resource use, including water and nutrients, and enabling cultivation in areas with poor soil quality or limited space. The incorporation of biostimulants derived from plant byproducts further enhances sustainability by improving plant growth and resilience, reducing the use of synthetic fertilizers and the environmental footprint of agriculture, promoting, at the same time, healtier crop production. This study investigates the effect of biostimulants, derived from fermented kiwifruit byproducts, on the morpho-physiological and productive performances of Fragaria vesca (L.), cv. Malga, and of Fragaria x ananassa (Duch.), cv. Annabelle, grown in a column hydroponic system. Plants of both species, when treated with the biostimulant, demonstrated significant improvements for all the parameters evaluated, with healthier plants and improved quality features in fruits. These findings suggest that fermented kiwi byproduct could be an effective, sustainable integration to synthetic fertilizers, promoting better growth and fruit quality in strawberry cultivation under hydroponic systems.