Annals of Applied Biology最新文献

The yellow stem borer (YSB), Scirpophaga incertulas (Walker), is a major insect pest that significantly damages rice crop. This study investigates methods to predict YSB populations in rice fields, aiming to develop an early warning system. Traditionally, rice farmers rely on light traps to monitor YSB presence. However, this study goes beyond this approach by combining light-trap data with weather information (temperature, humidity, rainfall) and utilizing powerful artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to forecast future YSB populations. Two AI methods, multilayer perceptron (MLP) and long short-term memory (LSTM), were employed to estimate YSB populations and assess their performance. The results revealed that the LSTM model outperformed the MLP model based on statistical metrics like RMSE, MAE, and R² values. Utilizing LSTM model with historical data, stakeholders in the Eastern Coastal Plains and Hills agro-climatic zone of India can gain a significant advantage in predicting YSB populations well in advance. This early warning system can alert stakeholders of potential YSB outbreaks, allowing them to take timely management actions and protect their rice crops from substantial yield losses.

Grafting facilitates the management of phytodiseases, especially of soils, but the growth and development of the grafted plant depend on the compatibility with rootstocks. The objective was to evaluate the graft union and survival, the growth characteristics, fruit biometrics, yield and physiological characteristics of the tomato plant ‘Santa Clara’ on five rootstocks. The study was conducted at the Pici Campus of the Federal University of Ceará in Fortaleza, Ceará state, Brazil. The seven treatments were tomato ‘Santa Clara’ ungrafted and self-grafted, or grafted onto cherry tomato ‘Vermelho’, hybrid tomato ‘Guardiao’, eggplant ‘Comprida Roxa’, jiló ‘Comprido Grande Rio’ (Solanum gilo) and cocona (Solanum sessiliflorum). Cleft grafting was used. The growth characteristics evaluated were stem diameter (SD), plant height (PH), and number of commercial (NCF) and total (NTF) fruits. The biometric characteristics of the fruits (diameter-FD, length-FL and average mass-AMF) and productive (commercial-CFM and total-TFM fruit mass) and yield of commercial (YCF) and total (YTF) fruits were estimated per hectare. Physiological evaluations were performed to obtain the internal concentration of CO₂ (Ci), transpiration rate (E), stomatal conductance (Gs), liquid photosynthesis (A), ratio between internal CO₂ and the environment (Ci/Ca) and carboxylation efficiency (A/Ci). The graft union and survival of S. lycopersicum plants was 100% at 10 days after grafting. The number of commercial and total fruits were higher in non-grafted tomato plants. The FD of the plants was higher with rootstocks of the ‘Vermelho’ cherry tomato and ‘Guardião’ hybrid, the CFM and TFM with ungrafted, the AMF and TFM with ‘Vermelho’ cherry tomato and the YCF and YTF with ungrafted and grafting on the ‘Vermelho’ cherry tomato. The tomato plant ‘Santa Clara’ completed its development in rootstocks and, therefore, they are compatible with this plant. The production of tomato fruits was higher with grafting on the ‘Vermelho’ cherry tomato with diameter and productivity similar to those of the ungrafted plants, indicating that this tomato cultivar can be used as rootstock.

One pillar of sustainable agriculture is grassland resilient and resistant to climate perturbation and capable of attaining multiple services. Novel or exotic and, so far, minor or underutilised plant species may become increasingly important against this background and exploration of such plant species seems of importance to maintain grassland functioning. We chose a set of 21 dicotyledonous plant species from seven botanical families. The set included 10 legumes, of which four were, so far, not used in temperate climate grassland and are named exotic henceforward. The other species are named minor as they are mostly not in widespread use. We evaluated different plant functions including herbage accumulation, herbage quality and functional traits in a pilot study under semi-controlled conditions under increased temperatures compared to ambient conditions. The factor species had a significant influence (p < .001, F-test) on all target variables, including the leaf dry matter content, the herbage biomass and the protein contents. All studied species had a high concentration of organic matter in the dry-matter, had low concentrations of neutral detergent fibre and reached relatively large protein concentrations. In addition, fibre-bound protein concentration was low resulting in pre-caecal digestible protein concentrations that meet the nutritional requirements of horses. In contrast, protein concentrations were often too low for intensive livestock feeding. Since no fertiliser N was applied, non-legumes accumulated on average 29% less herbage than legumes. The exotic legumes accumulated the highest herbage biomass on average while the minor legumes produced on average 22% less. Of the exotic legumes, Bituminaria bituminosa and Hedysarum coronarium were within the upper quartile for herbage accumulation. Plant functional traits of several species were in similar ranges showing potential for mixture design to follow traits rather than species. The study may pave the way for informed breeding of distinct plant species on the basis of relevant traits in order to improve herbage provision in the future under ongoing climate changes.

Footpad dermatitis (FPD) is characterized by lesions on the plantar region of the footpad. It is one of the most common foot health problems and welfare issues mainly described for broilers and turkeys. This retrospective study aimed to evaluate the presence of this footpad disorder in laying hens as well as to identify typical risk factors for FPD during the laying period. Data were collected from 39 German laying hen flocks visited up to 16 times during production, where the housing system, flock size, age of flock, season, litter type and quality as well as hens' foot health were recorded in 30–200 randomly selected animals/visit using a four-point scoring system (FPD-Score 0–3). In total, 15,448 randomly selected laying hens were scored and classified, recording the highest degree of FPD per animal as well as whether FPD was detected in one or both of its feet. Of the hens examined, 78.9% showed no alterations, 18.6% showed slight ones, 2.2% moderate alterations, and 0.3% showed severe FPD. In the animals related to FPD (n = 3253), 48.0% of the hens showed an alteration in one foot and 52.0% in both feet. While few animals showed FPD at the first two visits (AF0, AF1), the percentage of animals related to FPD increased at the laying peak (~28th week of life). At the end of the laying period, 34.4% of the hens showed at least slight alterations (n = 955/2776). The results of the statistical analysis showed that the FPD-Score was statistically affected by the type of litter, the season, and the age of flock (all P < .0001), while the quality of litter at the time of visit (P = .0940), the housing system (P = .2696), and flock size (P = .8776) were not related to FPD. In summary, this study detected that more than a third of the animals examined showed alterations in their footpads at the end of the laying period. Such changes in foot health occurred from the laying peak and increased to the end of the laying period. In addition to the age of the hens, the type of litter and the season were determined as potential risk factors. Moreover, this study shows how common this foot health problem is, not only in turkeys and broilers but also for laying hens.