Agricultural Research最新文献

Applying green manure and plant growth-promoting fungi (PGPF) can contribute to sustainable agricultural production, reduce the use of chemical fertilisers, and preserve soil biodiversity. The available research literature does not extensively cover the agricultural advantages associated with the simultaneous utilisation of green manure along with PGPF as a substitute for chemical fertilisers. In particular, little attention has been paid to the effects of combining green manure with PGPF on soil enzyme activities, fungal biomass and population, and plant growth promotion. Therefore, we conducted to clarify the effects of the combined application of green manure and the Trichoderma spp. strain RW309 having phosphorus- and carbon-related enzyme activities, plant growth-promoting potential, and also influence on soil fungal community. Two green manure treatments [Vicia villosa (hairy vetch) and Brassica juncea (L.)] with and without RW309, only RW309, and control (only soil), were applied. Soil samples were collected after the co-application of treatments and after plant harvesting soil. This is the first finding that plant growth was significantly higher with green manure combined with RW309 inoculation than with green manure alone. The enzyme activities and fungal biomass were also markedly higher in the co-application treatments than in the other treatments. It is likely that the co-incorporation of green manure and RW309 decomposes organic matter faster and provides an energy source to soil microbes. Moreover, new finding was to enhance specific fungal genera (Penicillium spp.), which may be responsible for nutrient mineralisation and plant growth promotion. In conclusion, co-application of green manure and beneficial microbial strains should be promoted for sustainable agricultural practices to improve soil health and maintain sustainable agriculture.

Data on carbon footprint of potato are scanty in Bangladesh and in many other countries in the globe, although it is an important crop. Both life cycle-based (LCB) and field scaled measured (FSM) greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions were considered for determination of carbon footprint for Bangladesh compared to top 20 potato producing countries in the world. Carbon footprint was 0.16 kg CO₂ eq kg⁻¹ (LCB) for producing potato in Bangladesh. Fertilizers and irrigation water managements were the dominant inputs for GHG emissions in Bangladesh. Based on available data sources, GHG emission was the highest in USA (13206 kg CO₂ eq ha⁻¹) followed by Germany (6210.93 kg CO₂ eq ha⁻¹). The position of Bangladesh was fifth (4619 kg CO₂ eq ha⁻¹) considering LCB estimates and 12th (1279 kg CO₂ eq ha⁻¹) as FSM basis. Considering total potato areas, China was the top emitter (13.75 million tons, MT CO₂ eq) followed by India (7.35 MT CO₂ eq) and the position of Bangladesh was 6th (LCB). Apparently, there could be carbon sequestration based on FSM data, but net emission takes place when LCB assessment is considered. Total GHG emissions from potato-based cropping patterns and evaluating their total balances can provide a real scenario of net ecosystem carbon balance (NECB) in Bangladesh and in other countries having similar environments. Fertilizer and water management, choice of cultivar, tillage system, and sowing time need to be fine-tuned along with adoption of suitable crop rotations for reducing GHG emission during potato cultivation.

This paper seeks to examine how subsistence farmers employ indigenous knowledge methods to enhance food security within rural communities in the Vhembe district. It analyses indigenous knowledge practices used in managing climate change impacts on crop production and determines indigenous knowledge processes used to preserve food to fill the gap during food shortages. The paper also considers the indigenous weather prediction approaches used in the area. A participatory rural appraisal is complemented by a qualitative and quantitative approach. This study used semi-structured interviews, questionnaires and focus group discussions for data collection. A survey of 200 randomly selected indigenous farmers was sampled. The finding revealed that local farmers depend on the use of indigenous knowledge practices to improve household food security. The majority of farmers apply manure in their farms using livestock dumps. Also, it shows that 87.8% of households used sun-drying processes for food preservation and used local mortars to pound and grind foodstuffs such as peanuts and maize. Practices such as crop rotations, mixed cropping and intercropping were employed to improve soil fertility and climate change and reduce insect pest outbursts on crops, hence, improving crop production. Indigenous knowledge of rainfall prediction is helpful in preparation for the planting season. The study recommended that agriculture policies must acknowledge indigenous knowledge practices in development programmes and specific policy interventions to promote the indigenous knowledge systems must focus on enhancing socio-economic factors assisting farmers in improving post-harvest storage facilities. The findings could facilitate interaction between indigenous knowledge stakeholders and the Limpopo provincial agriculture training institution. The fulfilment of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 2 on zero hunger and food security could benefit from the indigenous knowledge systems.

The vineyards present different phenological phases that comprise dormancy, bud break, and flowering buds going through different stages of development, such as inflorescence formation, flowering, fruit set, growth and fruit maturation. To control the quantity and quality of production, thinning is used in table grapes. The technique reduces berry number to improve fruit growth, but it is costly and in some cases impractical in the entire extension of an orchard. The right moment for execution and the intensity are complex issues that involve specific knowledge about the conditions of the vineyard. Therefore, phenological information that can help planning and decision-making about thinning is relevant and can improve the cost-effectiveness of the technique in viticulture. An electronic nose system was developed to collect and analyze compound volatile variations during the growing season, more specifically during the period of bud growth and ripening in three grape cultivars (BRS Vitória, Niagara Rosada, Bordô). The data were collected from October 2021 to February 2022. The research hypothesis is that the electronic nose can identify the general stage of plant development. To verify the hypothesis, a classification analysis was performed for each cultivar. The result showed that all models presented balanced accuracy above 85% for the cultivar BRS Vitória, above 92% for Niagara, and above 93% for Bordô, with better performance for models based on K-nearest neighbors (KNN), and random forest, than those based on extreme learning machine and support vector machine. In the total of 24 models, 9 for BRS Vitória, 9 for Niagara, and 11 for Bordô did not obtain error given the metrics used. It was observed that the normalization of the database is not necessary to improve the accuracy rates obtained, which obtained total rates using the KNN classifier. Regarding the research hypothesis, it is considered that the electronic nose is capable of distinguishing between the different stages proposed for each analyzed cultivar and between them. The results of this work indicate a potential use of the electronic nose to aid decision-making in vineyard activities.

Food crops contribute to food security in developing countries while being planted and harvested for profit in many industrialized countries. To improve food security and farmer income, the National Agricultural Research System of India developed and disseminated many crop varieties through technology transfer. Non-exclusive licensing allowed faster distribution due to multiple players having seed production rights and a market pricing control mechanism. Current literature shows technology transfer mechanism research on non-exclusive licensing is scarce. This study investigates the determinants of crop variety tech transfer in the case of non-exclusive licensing. It collects data from 100 seed licensees of India's largest agricultural research institute to examine the process from their perspective. Multivariate regression is applied to analyze the data under four domains, i.e., technology, technology transferor, tech transfer procedure, and policy. Technology readiness, availability, and an amicable tech transfer procedure boost technology commercialization, while stringent tech transfer policies negatively affect it. Results are used to create an effective technology transfer action framework to improve crop variety technology dissemination and enhance food security.

The greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agriculture, forestry, and other land use (AFOLU) account for more than 10% of the total GHG emissions in Iran. To reduce the environmental impact, assessments of Iran’s GHG emissions status are critical for identifying the national policies to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the bio-based industry. However, there is no study exploring the dependency between AFOLU and GHG emissions in Iran by using the Vine Copula approach. Hence, the study aims to examine the causality direction and correlation structure among selected horticulture, farming crops, livestock, and poultry products and carbon dioxide (CO₂), nitrogen dioxide (N₂O), and methane emissions (CH₄) in the Iranian agriculture sector over the period 1961–2019, to determine which crops or products are more responsible to deteriorate the environment. The empirical strategy used a C-Vine Copula model to measure the correlations together with the Granger causality (GC) test to analyze the causality links. According to the empirical findings, several crops and products are the sources of emissions. Rice and vegetable cultivations, as well as meat and milk products (Kendall’s τ values of 0.37, 0.33, 0.31, and 0.31, respectively), are the leading sources of CH₄ emissions. Legumes, eggs, maize, rice, and milk enhance N₂O emissions, while CO₂ emissions are caused by apple, potato, and apricot crops (Kendall’s τ values of 0.22, 0.18, and 0.16, respectively). Finally, based on the findings, policy implications are offered.

Climate change stands as one of the most pressing challenges confronting global ecosystems and human livelihoods. The agriculture sector of Anuradhapura district, Sri Lanka, well renowned for its pivotal role in the nation’s food production, faces an increasing threat from the changing climate. This study aims to incorporate the indicator system method which uses a set of indicators to assess the agricultural vulnerability (AV) to climate change in Anuradhapura district. The AV assessment used in this study involves three principal components exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity. The indicators are normalized to allow spatial analysis and smooth integration within a geographic information system (GIS) framework. The AV of Anuradhapura district ranged from 0.32 to 0.67 and was divided among five levels very low, low, moderate, high, and very high. The findings suggest that Anuradhapura’s agricultural sector was significantly impacted by climate change as the majority of the total area was found to have very high, high, and moderate levels of AV with 25, 28, and 24%, respectively. The results obtained from this study are essential for formulating plans to improve Anuradhapura’s agricultural sector resilience and adaptability to ensure food security and livelihood sustainability considering the ever-changing climate.

The Oriental fruit fly Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) is a highly significant, invasive pest of fruits which severely affect the global fruit trade. The advent of CRISPR/Cas9 has opened up new avenues for developing futurist management approaches as standalone or complementing other approaches. In this context, numerous earlier studies have documented the mutation of the white locus in B. dorsalis. Studies on Drosophila melanogaster and D. suzukii demonstrated that the white locus (wh) plays a crucial role in pigmentation and various other physiological functions like reproduction. Therefore, in the present study, we have generated a homozygous white eye mutants (wh^−/−) bearing a four base pair deletion and studied the possible effects on the biological attributes such as reproductive fitness and body size as compared to the wild flies. A single pair of adults produced significantly lesser offsprings (5.80 ± 3.67 pupae) in the cross involving wh^−/−♀ × wh^−/−♂ than in the WT♀ × WT♂ cross (21.80 ± 3.91 pupae). The morphometric analysis showed that wh^−/− individuals exhibited a reduced overall body size compared to wild-type males and females. Also, there was an overall increase in the life cycle of wh^−/− individuals (23.20 ± 0.47 days) as compared to WT individuals (19.20 ± 0.51 days). This study provides comprehensive insights into the effects of the white gene mutation and provide potential avenues for future research on devising novel management strategies against B. dorsalis.

Bemisia tabaci transmits begomoviruses that cause the most devastating disease of Capsicum chinense in tropical regions. Here we first evaluated the incidence and severity of Begomovirus symptoms on habanero pepper landraces H-224 and H-241 and commercial cultivar Jaguar that were naturally infested with B. tabaci in the field. Then we treated H-241 in the greenhouse with different botanical insecticides and assessed the Begomovirus symptoms. In the field, the mean area under the disease progress curve for incidence and severity did not differ significantly (P > 0.05) among the peppers tested; however, the final incidence of symptoms was significantly lower on Jaguar pepper than on the two landraces. Jaguar and H-241 had higher fruit yield than H-224. In the greenhouse experiment, the botanical insecticides protected H-241 against viral symptoms similarly to the treatment with only chemical insecticides. The fruit yield did not differ significantly between plants treated with the botanical insecticide combinations (2.1–2.5 kg plant⁻¹) and those treated with only chemical insecticides (2.3 kg plant⁻¹). The use of botanical insecticides holds promise as an environmental-friendly option to manage B. tabaci-transmitted begomoviruses in habanero pepper.

Multiple changes in centralized agricultural policies over the past 100 years have influenced crop production in Russia. The differential contributions of political and climatic factors in the performance of Russian agriculture have been widely examined in many historical and economic contexts. Besides traditional descriptive analysis statistical models proved their usefulness due to the quantitation of the role of both factors. We review the results of the statistical models of climate-driven dynamics of grain production in Russia in different historical periods. The modeling approach also proves its actuality today when Russia surprisingly emerges as a major net exporter of grain. Many experts attribute this success to a warmer climate, extending the growing season. Yet climate-yield modes are unable to fully explain this unprecedented yield increase with climate change alone. We propose that projecting climate change’s impact on yields under climate change in countries with transition economies needs to account more for the political factor in grain production.