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In this study, the relative performance of Mazandaran Wood and Paper Company as a major supplier of paper products in Iran was measured. Network Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) models with parallel structure were used to evaluate and measure its performance. GAMS software version 23.4 was used for data analysis. Results indicated that this company in all studied years had good performances based on the parallel DEA models. Also, according to the same models with parallel structure, 2007 and 2008 had better efficiency score than the other years. Finally, results indicated that, using the cross efficiency models, the company had the best performance in 2007. This result could be due to the input-oriented nature of the models. Consequently, by proper management and optimum consumption of the resources, the company had the best performance in 2007. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To determine the droplet characteristics of agricultural spray nozzles through Water Sensitive Paper (WSP), the non-circular and overlapped spots appearing on the water sensitive paper surfaces are eliminated. In the conventional approach, the procedure is done according to the subjective self determined estimation of the operator. The objective of this study was to develop a practical alternative to the conventional approach to Spot Elimination (SE) from WSP surfaces. Droplet samples were taken through application of seven different spray nozzles. Papers were placed within and outside the domain of spraying area and scanned at 600 pixels per inch resolution following their collection. The diameter and roundness values of each spot on multiple WSP samples were determined through image processing software. The overlapped spots and the non-circular ones were manually eliminated by the operator. Spot Roundness (SR) ranged from 0.051 to 6.283 and from 0.130 to 6.283 prior to, and following SE, respectively. Results indicated a linear relationship between minimum SR value and volume median diameter of the droplets. Regression analysis revealed the optimal SR variation interval to be between 0.765 and 2.356 for SE. Characteristics of the spots remaining out of this range were compatible with the characteristics of the droplets conventional SE (when the spots subjectively eliminated). When the volumetric diameters (DV) in the conventional SE approach were compared with the optimum SR variation interval (for 10, 50 and 90 percent ratios) their absolute relative error ratios and confidence intervals at 95% level of significance level found as 2.8%±1.4, 1.8%±0.9, and 3.8%±1.5, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The post-harvest damage caused by several pests is a major problem in stored grain product industry. Recently, synthesizing NanoParticles (NPs) with plant extracts act as an alternative approach in reduction of this damage. An attempt was made to synthesize and test the mortality effect of green synthesized silver NanoParticles (AgNPs) with peels extract of sweet orange, Citrus sinensis (L.) (Rutaceae, Sapindales), against the adult tenebrionid beetle Tribolium confusum (Duval). The synthesized nanoparticles were characterized with UV-visible spectroscopy, X-ray Diffraction, and Transmission Electron Microscopy. Five bioassays were conducted by filter-paper residue and feeding methods with different concentrations of both green synthesizing and commercial AgNPs. Results showed that citrus extract by itself was not toxic against beetles, however, the green AgNPs showed 83-77% mortality in filter-paper residue and feeding methods. The impact of commercial AgNPs in both methods led to 75 and 40% mortality. The lowest LC50 and LT50 for green synthesized AgNPs were recorded (30.62 ppm and 9.92 day) for filter-paper residue tests. According to the results, the green silver nanoparticles, showed more efficiency than the commercial ones. This provides an evidence that green synthesized AgNPs have a great potential as an alternative option in stored products pest management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering the agriculture sector's progress in the recent years and emergence of new innovative kind of businesses such as agricultural startups, it is compulsory that educational programs are precisely evaluated and especial attention is paid to entrepreneurship and startup education. For this purpose, it is very vital to know the exact current situation of entrepreneurship education in agriculture. Thus, the main objective of this paper was to analyze the entrepreneurial and startup education status in Sari Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University of Iran through investigating students' perspectives. In this research, respondents' insights were obtained via following a survey approach. The study instrument was a questionnaire in which its reliability and validity were carefully confirmed. The results indicated that for all components of entrepreneurial and startup knowledge, students scored less than average. Also, only 6.1% of the respondents had high entrepreneurship and startup knowledge; while, 51.3% had moderate, and 42.6% had low knowledge. The average score of less than 3 indicates that the majority of students did not have a positive attitude towards running entrepreneurship and startup activities in the country and found it to be very difficult. The findings pointed out that the students' families and parents, internets and virtual networks, as well as entrepreneurs were the most important sources of impact on starting new startups or entrepreneurship activities by students, respectively. According to the results, in students' opinion the importance of entrepreneurship curriculum was significantly higher than its degree of performance. Similarly, there was a statistically significant difference between importance level and implementation level regarding the entrepreneurship and startup programs. The conclusions of this analysis could provide a valuable starting point for educational policies and promoting entrepreneurial skills in agricultural universities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural sector plays a fundamental role in development, especially in developing countries. Investment in targeted agribusinesses can develop and improve agricultural value chains. Because of capital shortages and different investment requirements of the sector, the capital allocation has become an important decision-making issue for managers and investors of the agricultural sector in recent years. Investors have many alternative investment options in the agriculture sector and factors such as return on investment, investor expertise and interest, government policies, and the comparative advantages of each region can affect the direction of the capital to different agricultural subsectors. The main objective of this study was to investigate investment priorities in the livestock and poultry value chains of Khorasan Razavi Province in Iran. This paper employs the Analytic Network Process (ANP) model for agribusiness investment decisions, which is one of the important Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) methods. The contribution of this research is that it ranks agribusiness activities on the livestock and poultry value chains and determines the most important areas for investment direction. The results show that “government policies and laws” are the most important factor for business selection in the livestock and poultry subsectors. Furthermore, livestock and poultry feed businesses contribute the most to the progress of the value chains. Therefore, stability in policy-making and appropriate legislation to support agricultural businesses can be effective in this regard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The general desire to replace antibiotics and synthetic antioxidants with natural plants extracts has gained importance in recent years. This approach may be associated with the negative health effects of synthetic antioxidants and antibiotic resistance. Due to these controversial issues, in this study, free radical scavenging activity, Total Phenolic Content (TPC), Total Flavonoid Content (TFC), and antimicrobial activity of Methanolic Extracts (ME) from Teucrium polium, Smyrnium cordifolium Boiss, Mentha longifolia, and Nectaroscordum tripedale leaves were compared with Crocus sativus tepals. The antioxidant activity of these extracts was investigated in comparison with BHA, BHT, and α-tocopherol by DPPH method. Antimicrobial activities were determined by paper disc agar diffusion method against S. aureus (Gram positive) and E. coli O157: H7 (Gram negative). Results showed that C. sativus tepals contained the highest TPC (37.36 mg GAE g-1) and TFC (138.52 mg Q g-1). Also, radical scavenging activity of C. sativus tepals ME (87.33%) was significantly higher than the other extracts; and it was the same as BHA and α-tocopherol statistically. In addition, a significant relationship between radical scavenging activity and TPC (R= 0.964) and TFC (R= 0.806) was found, illustrating the major role of these compounds in antioxidant activity of the mentioned plants. Antibacterial activity of N. tripedale leaf extract and C. sativus tepal extract against the two abovementioned pathogens were the highest among all the studied herbal extracts (P< 0.05). Moreover, Results of antimicrobial activities were also strongly correlated to free radical scavenging activity and TPC, which indicates the importance of these factors on antimicrobial properties of the five studied medicinal herbs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to explore the crucial antecedents of consumer behaviour toward sustainable consumption of organic food. The integrated fuzzy set theory and Decision- Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) methods, with experts' suggestion approach were adopted. The results reveal the six origins of sustainable consumption of organic foods, namely, the government support and guidance, mass media agents, education and research institutions, and consumer demographics (educational level, income status and age). The study grants an alternative approach for sustainable consumption theory using a fuzzy-set theory and DEMATEL methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Debate about Genetically Modified Food (GMF) has received much attention in concurrence with the development of biotechnology. This paper examines consumers' intentions towards GM food in Iran. Given the potential of Corporate Social Responsibility CSR) in shaping consumers' behavior, relationships between CSR, trust, and health concerns with consumer intentions towards GM foods have been investigated rarely. This study used a moderated mediation analysis to understand how health concerns, trust in GM foods, and CSR perceptions affect consumer intentions towards GM foods. A survey study with 389 consumers indicates that health concerns reduce trust in GM foods, but trust exerts a positive influence on consumers' intentions toward these products, thus playing a mediating role between health concerns and consumers' intentions. More importantly, CSR perceptions magnify the positive effect of trust in GM foods on consumers' intentions, thus offering evidence for a moderating role of CSR perceptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increase of the world population, the worries and concerns for food supply increase too. Wheat, as one of the most important agricultural products, which is widely consumed all over the world, has a very important role in people's nutrition, particularly among Iranians, the diet of whom is highly dependent on bread. Product forecasting is critical for any country so that decisions about storage, import or export, etc. can be planned. In this paper, several univariate time series models and the Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model are used to forecast wheat production in Iran. Annual wheat production, total annual precipitation, total applied fertilizer, population, and wheat cultivated area data were used in the period between 1961-1962 to 2018-2019. With the minimum values of 1.45894, 1.00329, 1.0448, and 1.09742 obtained for RMSE, AIC, HQC, and SIBC criteria, respectively, Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) (1,1,1) was selected as the best univariate model. In testing the ANN models, total annual precipitation, total applied fertilizer, population, and wheat cultivated, area as input variables, and wheat production, as output variable, were used. Among several NN models, the Multilayer Perceptron Neural Network (MLP-NN) model with five hidden layers had the lowest MSE= 0.153 and was chosen in this study. Comparison between the ANN model and the ARIMA (1,1,1) model showed that RMSE= 0.391, MSE= 0.153, and MAPE= 0.4231 in the ANN model were much lower than that of the ARIMA (1,1,1) model. The results showed the power of ANN models to predict wheat production using efficient parameters, as compared to the ARIMA model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, two transport methods for tomato (room temperature and refrigerated transport) as well as post-harvest packaging treatments (thin polyethylene packaging bags, thick polyethylene packaging bags, use of 1%calcium chloride, use of absorbent paper in the box, and control) were examined at four stages of post-harvest consumer chain transport. These stages included: (1) Farm, after harvesting and putting in boxes, (2) Transport, after transferring products for wholesale and during discharging, (3) Wholesale, after discharging and when selling to local retailers usually 24-36 hours after harvesting time, and (4) Retail stores (2 days after harvesting time at most). The total acid level, vitamin C, and lycopene of the fruit differed across different farms, different transportation conditions, post-harvest treatments, and the four stages of product transport. The total percentage of unacceptable fruits was significant in post-harvest treatments and at different stages of transport. Among post-harvest treatments, packaging with high-density plastic and absorbent paper with 7.94 and 12.16% of weight loss, respectively, claimed the minimum and maximum physiological loss in fruit weight. The minimum post-harvest loss (4.21 percent) was related to high-density plastic packaging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food security in developing countries faces new challenges these days. Scientific developments and biotechnological applications such as transgenic products are of particular importance due to their principal impact on key contexts such as food production. If transgenic products are a potential solution to the world's challenges, authorities need to know and understand the core of society's responses to scientific innovations and their products. This paper expands the body of knowledge by examining the predictors of transgenic product consumption by mediating the role of food integrity. The study population included 681 faculty members of Shiraz University in Iran. The sample size was estimated at 140 faculties using the stratified random sampling method, based on the Cochran formula. The results of applying path analysis showed a good fit of the variables entered in the conceptual model (RMSEA= 0.068). The explaining power of variables in the model respectively include attitude to transgenic product, environmental concerns, trust, and ethical norms. Results of this investigation could be effective in providing practical solutions in social issues such as enhanced attitude to the transgenic product with cultural mechanisms, emphasis on ethical norms, and trust-building in the academic community. These factors, based on public awareness of human involvement in food systems, can be improved by planning and presentation by researchers from relevant business and executive organizations. Based on these findings, providing factors that ensure the health of people could reduce the level of concern about the issues of food integrity and lead to the ideal level of acceptance and consumption of transgenic products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper contains a review of the tribe Eryciini (Tachinidae: Exoristinae) that occur in Iran. Twenty-six species belonging to 15 genera are reviewed. The collected data on 20 species are provided. Of these, seven genera and 16 species are newly recorded. Distribution and host information are briefly summarized. The diagnostic characters of the new records species are given. The key to the species found in Iran is also provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agriculture extension services in Pakistan are perceived as ineffective for many reasons. Limited research has been conducted so far in Pakistan to find those reasons. This study was conducted to consolidate different factors impeding the performance of Agriculture Officers (AOs), who are the change agents and most important pillar of extension system in Punjab, Pakistan. This study employed 348 randomly selected AOs working in Punjab Province. The main research question levelled was that why the work of AOs is perceived ineffective and how it can be mainstreamed. This study was qualitative in nature with probability sample and external validity. Data were collected qualitatively and analyzed using thematic analysis technique. Empirically, we identify and discuss a number of notable and explanatory themes affecting the performance of AOs such as “fractional support from the government”, “confused working environment”, “advisory services techniques and physical environment”, "organizational capacity and professional growth”, and “partnership and linkages issues”. The findings highlight a deep insight into how AOs struggle for their survival and meeting hefty targets with fractional facilitation. This paper also provides a generalization of the results and brief recommendations to be considered to revamp extension services in Pakistan and Asian countries, and initiate transnational linkages to restore the grace agricultural extension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper was to evaluate the impacts of International Corporate Entrepreneurship (ICE) on general performance in Halal Food Industry, with moderating part of global environmental hostility. Our data comprised of 250 firms working in Halal Food Industry in Iran and they were studied utilizing the structural equation modeling. According to the results, the firms exploit ICE activities by accomplishing higher general performance in addition to promoting export and financial performance. The results underscore the significance of ICE for organizational achievement, both in general and in foreign markets. Also, the results suggest that the perceived nature of its environmental condition, especially hostility, will affect the link between ICE and performance fundamentally. This study explored the relationship between ICE and firm performance along with the role of hostility at the international environment in this relationship. The findings of this study help bridge the gap in the literature by assessing the impact of ICE on an organization's general performance with the hostilities at the international scale playing a moderating role in this regard. This paper makes huge contribution to the current works by exploring the connection between ICE, firm performance, and global environmental hostility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the colleges of agriculture in Iran, lecture is used as a dominated teaching method. Team learning is one of the most commonly used educational methods in the present erea. The aim of this study was to compare the Team Member Teaching Design (TMTD) and the regular lecture method on the academic achievement and teamwork behavior of agricultural students. A within-subject design was followed for two courses in which students first attended a series of lectures and then participated in team teaching. Differences between lecture and team teaching methods were examined for their academic achievement and teamwork. The study samples were taken of Agricultural Extension and Education Department of the University of Tehran during the academic year of 2017-2018. The mean scores of academic achievement and the teamwork behavior of students were compared. In compared coursess, the effect of TMTD method on the academic achievement of students was shown. The results of means comparison tests indicated a significant difference between the two methods of teaching in the field of academic achievement and the strengthening of the teamwork behavior of students. The paper further discusses team method implementation and its implication for teaching and proffers the way forward for an effective use of teaching methods for better results in the classroom teaching and learning process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the socio-economic determinants of Rainwater Harvesting Systems (RWHS) in Pakistan. The study was based on a survey of 200 farming households selected from two villages in Pakistan. A binary logit model was used to identify determinants of RWHS. The study found that the age of respondents, size of non-irrigated land, and household monthly income were statistically significant and positively related to the adoption of RWHS. On the contrary, variables such as occupation as laborer and membership of any Community-Based Organization (CBO), though significant, had an inverse effect on the adoption of RWHS. The overall model was significant as shown by P< 0.05 which depicts that the socio-economic characteristics of the population are the main factors contributing to the adoption of RWHS. The study recommends that increased public and private investment and active involvement of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and voluntary organizations for social mobilization are essential for the promotion of RWHS in Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electronic commerce (E-commerce) is a contemporary concept with huge potential that is fundamentally changing how business is done. This paper describes robust E-commerce strategies for trading agricultural goods and services. The purpose of this study was to enhance the efficiency of E-commerce in the export of agricultural commodities. Since the SWOT method is a key tool used by businesses to formulate strategic plans, this study conducted a SWOT analysis of E‐commerce to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats faced by E‐commerce in current scenarios. A random sampling method was used to select the statistical population, which was composed of 96 experts from the Ministry of Agriculture. Seventy-five questionnaires were distributed to the experts (N= 75) using Morgan and Krejsi's table, of which 59 questionnaires were filled (n= 59). The questionnaire consisted of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to E-commerce development and it was prepared using the Delphi technique. The important results of SWOT analysis constituted a framework to help planners and managers realize their goals and enhance the export of agricultural commodities. The resulting SWOT matrix analysis was located in the area of WO (conservative strategy). Accordingly, it is recommended that for proper exploitation of environmental opportunities, organizational weaknesses should be taken into account. Some important strategies suggested based on this study are enforcing laws and providing effective incentives to reduce production costs relative to global prices as well as creating innovation in the export process using E-commerce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cellular Automaton (CA) was applied, for the first time, to model mass transfer during the drying process. CA is a discrete model with powerful potential application for simulating complex systems. In this paper, a two-Dimensional (2D) model was applied to simulate drying process of banana slices. The system was designed for a grid with size of 30×90 square cells, four possible states, and von Neumann neighborhoods. The logical trends of the model results were examined by running program for different process conditions such as various temperatures, air relative humidity values, air flow velocities, and sample thicknesses. Validation of the model was performed by comparing estimated and experimental data of banana drying for three temperatures (60, 70, and 80°C). The model showed high accuracy for predicting moisture content (R2 values higher than 0.99). Notable accuracy based on simple rules to pattern the complexity of the system and flexibility indicated the superior application of cellular automaton for modeling food processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monosporascus cannonballus and M. eutypoides are the causative agents of melons' root rot and vine decline, with little knowledge about their mechanisms of infection. M. cannonballus secretome was isolated and subdivided into two fractions based on molecular weight (smaller and larger than 10 kDa), and further separated via high voltage paper electrophoresis and SDS-PAGE, respectively. Large cell-free filtrates of the fungus were found to contain biologically active proteins that were further characterized via mass spectrometry and revealed to be α-1,2-mannosidase and serine protease. Meanwhile, biochemical analyses of low molecular weight compounds were suggestive to be similar to marasmines. Both fractions were capable of inducing phytotoxicity, once infiltrated into the melon leaves. This is the first report of phytotoxic compounds isolated from M. cannonballus contributing to disease induction in melon plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The overall objective of the present paper is demonstrating the utility of price forecasting of farm prices and validating the same for major crops namely, Paddy, Ragi and Maize in Karnataka state for the year 2016 using the time series data from 2002 to 2016. The results were obtained from the application of univariate ARIMA techniques to produce price forecasts for cereal and precision of the forecasts were evaluated using the standard criteria of MSE, MAPE and Theils U coefficient criteria. The results of ARIMA price forecasts amply demonstrated the power of the ARIMA model as a tool for price forecasting as revealed by pragmatic models of forecasted prices for 2020. The values of MSE, MAPE and Theils U were relatively lower, indicating validity of the forecasted prices of the three crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper had as main objective the comparison of new technological solutions for degraded grassland using a grasslands regeneration machine and a trailed vindrover, with the conventional technologies. The grasslands regeneration machine performs several operations in one pass, as follows: soil tillage in narrow strips, direct seeding of an herb seed mixture into the vegetal cover and light compaction of the soil over the seeds for a proper contact, in order to obtain a good germination. The trailed vindrover is designed to the harvest and conditioning forage technology, running in a single pass operation of mowing, crushing and left on the ground to dry naturally. Experimental researches were carried out in two locations, namely National Institute of Research-Development for Machines and Installations designed for Agriculture and Food Industry- INMA Bucharest and Grasslands Research-Development Station- SCDP Vaslui, in the agricultural year 2014. For each technological link the following parameters were determined: fuel consumption per hour, fuel consumption per surface unit, hourly working capacity and labor consumption. Analyzing the comparative diagrams, it was observed that total average values of parameters obtained in the two locations in spring and late summer by applying the new technological variants were smaller than the ones obtained by applying conventional technologies. The new technological solutions for regeneration of degraded grasslands involve less fuel and labor consumption, being more environmentally friendly than conventional technologies used so far. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In production of tissue paper, the adhesion of a liquid adhesive creping aid, compound polymer, as creping aids on the Yankee dryer surface was investigated. A compound polymer was prepared based on mixing ratio of poly (amideamine)-epichlorohydrin resin (PAE) as an adhesive agent, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as a modifier agent, and cationic fatty acid (CFA) and ethylene glycol (EG) as release agents. In order to simulate the Yankee dryer cylinder, the adherence of paper to the substrate that was coated by the compound polymer solution was measured using a peel strength test. Results indicated that increasing the percent of total solid content of compound polymer would increase peel strength of paper. Peel strength of paper increases if EG as a release agent is used. The amount of PVA/PAE resin in the formulation of creping aid was critical for building a flexible and tough coating layer on to the substrate and to provide adequate adhesion of paper in peel strength test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Iran, applying geostatistics to regional analysis is said to be in its early stages. The fundamental principle of this technique emphasizes the interpolation of hydrological variables in physiographical, instead of geographical, spaces. This paper deals with the adaptation, application, and comparison of two regional analysis methods based on geostatistics. In this study, data from 38 gauging stations located in the north of Iran were used to investigate the performance of geostatistical methods in two physiographical spaces. Two multivariate analysis methods, namely, Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA) and Principal Components Analysis (PCA), were used to identify physiographical spaces. Gaussian and exponential models were selected as the best theoretical variogram models in CCA and PCA spaces, respectively. Ordinary and simple kriging geostatistical estimators were also used for regional estimations in both physiographical spaces. Using the interpolation methods in CCA and PCA spaces, regional flood estimations were made for different return periods (10, 20, 50, and 100 years). Finally, performance of both models was studied using five statistical indices. The results showed that both methods had similar and satisfactory performance; however, regional estimations in CCA had higher accuracy and less uncertainty than those in PCA-space. Furthermore, the results indicated that the ordinary kriging method had better performance than the simple kriging method in both spaces and the best interpolation efficiency was observed in the CCA space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors of the present paper studied some aspects of hydro and agrometeorological phenomena in terms of humidness, dryness and crop growing periods over India. Revised water balance model is used to obtain the above and the results are examined during the two half centuries i.e 1901 to 1950 and 1951 to 1995 in delineating the climate change impacts over India. Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) for All India is related to aridity and humidity indices to understand the dry and wet spells over India. The paper also holds its stand on the analysis and the trends of thermo and hygric components such as precipitation, maximum and minimum temperatures, water need, actual evapotranspiration and soil moisture for All India. The return rates of All India maximum and minimum rainfall and temperatures are obtained for different time intervals using Extreme Value Analysis, that might be useful in assessing the impact and thereby to plan over the risk management for the better environmental and thus the human sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes an evaluation of the drivers of the duration of grain competitiveness in the European Union (EU-27) member states on global markets from 2000 to 2011. Results indicate that most of the EU-27 member states were competitive with at least one segment of grain chain products. The long-term competitiveness of grain products differs between the EU-27 member states and across grain chain product groups. Trade costs reduce, while agricultural endowments, the level of economic development, export differentiation for final consumer grain products, EU enlargement and recent EU membership increase the duration of grain competitiveness. Competitiveness may be increased through sustainable grain trade specialization with a focus either on entering the market for diversified niche products, or on developing a competitive, global, integrated supply chain management system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents results of research on weed infestation and health of spring wheat grown in the three-year monoculture. The field experiment was carried out on loess soil, classified as "good wheat complex" (soil class II). The first experimental factor was the type of Catch Crop (CC): (a) Object control, no catch crop, (b) White mustard, (c) Tansy phacelia, and (d) Mixture (bean+spring vetch+oat). The second factor was Tillage System (TS): (a) Plow Tillage (PT), and (b) Conservation Tillage (plowless tillage, CT). It was proved that catch crops (especially white mustard) could be an effective way to reduce the negative effects of growing spring wheat in monoculture. This causes both the reduction of the number and weight of weeds in the field, as well as reduction of the proportion of fungal pathogens infecting wheat plants. The regenerating effects of catch crops in the three-year wheat monoculture were more effective under conventional tillage conditions compared to conservation tillage. It also showed that the conservation tillage system had significant effect on increasing the quantitative indicators of weed infestation of wheat and increasing the number of weed seeds in the soil. Conventional tillage with plowing resulted in smaller biodiversity of weed species than conservation tillage system. Tillage method did not cause differentiation degree of infection of wheat stem base by a fungal disease complex. Catch crops, in particular white mustard, proved to be an effective method to reduce the degree of infection of spring wheat by fungal pathogens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focused on soil degradation of Ukrainian Mollisols and investigated the effect of conservation practices on soil physical, chemical, and biological properties over the past 50 years. And the policies and relevant legislation are also outlined in this paper. The results showed conversion from plow-tillage to minimum tillage and no-till improved infiltration rate, pH, and Soil Organic Matter (SOM) in 0-10 cm layer and led to carbon accumulation in fulvic acids and humins. No significant differences in SOM storage were observed among tillage systems in the 0-100 cm layer. The five crop rotation increased 0.8, 0.71, and 0.94 t ha-1 yield of cereals and 5.8, 1.0, and 4.2 t ha-1 sugar beet under conventional tillage, deep minimum tillage, and reduced minimum tillage, respectively. Application of fertilizer in conservation agriculture, including NPK and manure, was 12 t ha-1 in the humid zone, 10-12 t ha¹ manure in semi-humid zone and 8-10 t ha-1 manure in the Mollisols region of semi-arid zone. Green manure, cover crops, and inter crops increased crop yield by 2-10% on Forest-Steppe and Steppe Mollisols. The combination of strip cropping, contour farming, contour bunds, and terracing are particularly recommended for the sloping farmland in order to reduce soil erosion. In conclusion, soil conservation practices should be applied in Ukraine to prevent soil degradation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present experiment was conducted to study the effect of pre-harvest bagging and spray of CaCl2 and K2SO4 on quality and shelf life of mango fruits cv. Amrapali during two succeeding years. Trees of Amrapali mango were sprayed three times at 30, 20, and10 days before harvesting and bagging with brown paper bag 20 days before harvesting of fruits. Harvested fruits were stored under the ambient temperature (storage at room temperature) and observations were taken at three days intervals upto 18 days. The results indicated that the pre-harvest treatment of 2% CaCl2+1% K2SO4+bagging was found superior to improve the quality of fruits in respect of highest fruits weight, firmness, TSS, ascorbic acid, total sugars, and β-carotene content with minimum black spotted fruits per cent and maintained it throughout the storage period upto 18 days. Fruits treated with 2% CaCl2+1% K2SO4+bagging showed shelf life up to 12 days with lowest weight loss and highest organoleptic quality as against 6 days of untreated fruits (control). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In small orchards, gardeners face several problems such as irregular tree planting, hard trafficability for tractors, economic problems for buying tractors, high drift in high height sprayers, low height of spraying, and difficulty of working with conventional sprayers. In this study, in order to solve some of these problems, a telescoping boom sprayer was designed and fabricated. The sprayer equipped with This Boom (TS) was evaluated in comparison with the conventional sprayers [Wheel Barrow (WBS), Electrostatic (ES), Side Pump (SPS) Sprayers] in terms of drift, spraying quality, solution consumption, fuel consumption, spray height, spraying time, and spray loss. Results showed that the spraying quality coefficient of ES was better than that of SPS; WBS and TS could not be evaluated because the surface of sensitive papers was wetted completely, but distribution of droplets on each card and between the cards was more uniform in TS. Due to differences in drift, WBS had the highest mean of droplet area and TS had the lowest. Also, WBS, TS, SPS, and ES had the maximum amount of solution consumption while ES, TS, and WBS had the minimum. SPS and ES did not spray at high height; however, TS and WBS could spray at high height. The maximum and minimum spraying times were recorded for WBS and SPS, respectively. Values of 9.93 and 2.80 mm² were obtained for mean spray loss area of SPS and ES, respectively. Spray loss area of the TS and WBS was not calculated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For maximum impact, high yielding improved varieties with significant yield advantages must be targeted to farmers and localities that value this trait most. Explaining farmers' demand for yield can serve as a means of targeting the development and dissemination of high yielding varieties. This paper analyzes data collected from 395 farmers in northern Ethiopia using a zero-limit Tobit regression. According to the results, poor and marginalized farmers prefer varieties adaptable to poor weather and soils, early maturing, and those which can address diverse concerns than varieties exceptionally good in a single trait (like yield). The richer farmers demand more yield advantage over the existing ones to convince them to use Improved Varieties. For farmers operating in relatively good farming systems (soils, weather, etc.), investment has to be made not only on crop improvement but also on complementary inputs, improved practices, and market development. Farmers who consider improved varieties more marketable and valuable take up high yielding varieties with relatively marginal yield difference. In areas and farmers where there is lower demand for yield, other variety traits (like early maturity, yield stability, and adaptability to local soils/weather) are also important to consider in future crop improvement activities. To ensure that farmers who demand more yield use IVs more productively, the yield advantage, compared to the existing varieties under use, must be high enough and stable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pistachio nut (Pistacia vera L.) is one of the most delicious and nutritious nuts in the world. In order to increase the added value of the pistachio nuts, it is necessary to develop new products to meet consumer needs. This is the first paper on pistachio halva. The product was developed using pistachio paste (as main ingredient), mixture of sugar-glucose, egg white and citric acid. The effect of soapwort root extract (from saponaria officinalis) and Glycyrrhizin (from Glycyrrhiza glabra) as whitening and emulsifying agent in three levels (0.00, 0.10, and 0.15%) on the oil separation, consumer acceptance, and texture of pistachio halva was investigated. Sensory evaluation was carried out after 4 months storage at 20±2°C. There was a significant difference (P< 0.05) between samples with and without soapwort and glycyrrhizin. The oil separation (R= 0.595, P=0.001), from halva were moderately correlated to the hardness. The sensory texture of halva was negatively correlated to the hardness (R= -0.694, P= 0.000) and oil separation (R= -0.730, P= 0.000). The sensory color (R= 0.652, P= 0.000) of halva was moderately correlated to the a-value. It is recommended that mixture of 0.10% soapwort root extract and 0.10% commercial Glycyrrhizin be used for the pistachio halva production. Using combination of soapwort root extract and Glycyrrhizin in the formulation of pistachio halva prevents oil separation from the product and increases its consumer acceptance. Development of pistachio halva would potentially increase the food uses of nuts and introduce consumers with a healthier non-animal snack food. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To introduce ecologically safe acaricide, effects of essential oils derived from Cuminum cyminum (Cumin), Syzygium aromaticum (Clove), and Mentha spicata (Spearmint) were determined on Tetranychus urticae at 25±1°C, 65±5% RH and a photoperiod of 16:8 (L:D) hour. The essential oils extracted by hydro-distillation were characterized by means of GC and GC-MS. Bioassays were performed by filter paper diffusion without allowing direct contact. Cumin, clove, and spearmint oils contained α- Pinene (29.1%), eugenol (78.5%) and carvone (59.4%), respectively, as the major compounds. The lowest LC50 value for adults was recorded for cumin oil (3.74 μL L-1 air) followed by clove (6.13 μL L-1 air) and spearmint (7.53 μL L-1 air). The highest ovicidal activity was recorded for cumin oil (LC50 = 7.65 μL L-1 air) followed by clove (LC50 = 8.73 μL L-1 air) and spearmint (LC50 = 9.01 μL L-1 air). According to repellency tests, by increasing concentration of oils, the repellency effects were increased. The most potent repellency effect was recorded for clove, followed by spearmint and cumin oils. The three extracted essential oils seem to be suitable sources of active vapors that can be used as alternatives for chemical pesticides for controlling this pest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a model for constrained multiobjective optimization of mixed-cropping planning. The decision challenges that are normally faced by farmers include what to plant, when to plant, where to plant and how much to plant in order to yield maximum output. Consequently, the central objective of this work is to concurrently maximize net profit, maximize crop production and minimize planting area. For this purpose, the generalized differential evolution 3 algorithm was explored to implement the mixed-cropping planning model, which was tested with data from the South African grain information service and the South African abstract of agricultural statistics. Simulation experiments were conducted using the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II to validate the performance of the generalized differential evolution 3 algorithm. The empirical findings of this study indicated that generalized differential evolution 3 algorithm is a feasible optimization tool for solving optimal mixed-cropping planning problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pressurized irrigation technologies of course have the potential to raise the productivity of land and water; but, these technologies could not popularize among the smallholders who own millions of farms worldwide. In developing pressurized irrigation technologies, particularly for field crops irrigation, researchers and manufacturers have developed more specialized and expensive technologies with sophisticated and intricate hardware. These new technologies have benefited only the large and wealthier farmers leaving the smallholders to remain confined with conventional methods of irrigation. This paper discusses the design, performance, and applicability of a low-pressure water sprinkling nozzle, named LERN. This nozzle can be operated satisfactorily over the operating pressure range of 79-117 kPa. The water application rate of LERN is reasonably high, i.e. 20-23 mm h-1; therefore, field crops such as rice, wheat, oil seed etc. can be irrigated quickly and efficiently even at small plots, where available options such as impact sprinklers are, in general, neither feasible nor applicable due to high pressure requirement (196 - 294 kPa), non-divisibility over small plots, and relatively high cost of pumping and system networking. Since the pressure requirement at the nozzle head reflects overall cost of a pressurised irrigation system, LERN holds greater promise in development of a cost effective pressurized irrigation system for irrigating field crop even at small plots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water conflict is considered as one of the major challenges in agricultural water management. "Agricultural water conflict" is a term describing disputes and differences among water stakeholders over an access to water resources in the agricultural sector. The purpose of this paper was to investigate farmers’ viewpoints toward agricultural water conflicts. A descriptive correlation method was adopted and the study was conducted in Doroodzan dam irrigation network in Fars province, Iran. Multistage stratified random sampling was used to collect data from 294 farmers. The research tool included a questionnaire whose validity was confirmed by a group of professionals. A pilot study was conducted during which the Cronbach's alpha test was calculated to determinate the reliability of data collection instrument. Findings revealed that, among the groups involved in water conflicts, the main conflict was between farmers and the government. Farmers in downstream were the main losers in water distribution. The dominant water conflict was "latent" as well. The main reasons for agricultural water conflict were "water scarcity", "drought", and "the kind of water management". Farmers' satisfaction toward water management was "low". Farmers’ age, education levels, satisfaction toward water management, and attitude toward geographical and climatic conditions had a significant relationship with agricultural water conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High efficiency and uniformity of water and fertilizer application are usually, considered as the ultimate goals of an appropriate design and management of irrigation and fertigation systems. The objective followed in this paper was to present a simulation-optimization model for alternate vs. conventional furrow fertigation. Two simulation models (surface fertigation and SWMS-2D models) along with an optimization approach (genetic algorithm) were employed. Inflow discharge, irrigation cutoff and start times as well as duration of fertilizer injection were chosen as decision variables to be optimized for maximizing two objective (fitness) functions based on water and nitrate application efficiency plus uniformity. Experiments were conducted to collect field data (soil water content, soil nitrate concentration, discharge and nitrate concentration in runoff, as well as advance and recession times) in order to calibrate the simulation models. The simulation-optimization model indicated that variable and fixed alternate furrow fertigations benefited from higher water and nitrate efficiencies than the conventional furrow fertigation. However, minor differences were observed between these types of furrow irrigation regarding water and nitrate uniformity. This approach substantially improved water and nitrate application efficiency as well as uniformity, taking into account the field experimental conditions. Water and nitrate application efficiencies ranged from 72 to 88% and from 70 to 89%, respectively. Christiansen uniformity coefficients for water and nitrate varied between 80 and 90% and from 86 to 96%, respectively. A higher improvement was observed in conventional furrow fertigation than those in both alternate furrow fertigation treatments. The potential of the simulation-optimization model to improve design and management of furrow fertigation is highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Closed-end furrows are commonly used to irrigate crop in northern part of China. The irrigation performance of furrow in this area is often low. The objectives of this paper are to verify reliability of infiltration parameters and Manning roughness estimated with SIPAR_ID software and present an optimized method for design of closed-end furrow system. The study consisted of field experiments and numerical simulation. Field experiments were conducted in two villages of Yangling district in October 2007. Infiltration parameters and Manning roughness values were estimated with SIPAR_ID software. The estimated values were put into the WinSRFR software, and then the advance trajectory, flow depths in the upstream, and irrigation performance were simulated on each test furrow. The results showed that the simulated values with the WinSRFR software were in excellent agreement with the measured data. Therefore, the infiltration parameters and Manning roughness estimated with SIPAR_ID software were reliable. Later, an optimized model for design of closed-end furrow irrigation system was proposed, based on field data and using the project of Uniform design and the WinSRFR software. Its solution required the use of optimized methodology with genetic algorithm (GA), and the inflow discharge and cutoff time were the independent variables. The results showed that adequate and efficient irrigations can be obtained using closed-end furrows through a proper selection of inflow discharge and cutoff time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper was to assess the effect of catechol (CH), as a peroxidase inhibitor, and 8-hydroxyquinoline citrate (HQC), as a bacterial inhibitor, on keeping the quality of Gerbera Jamesonii cv. Hongyan cut flowers, known to be limited by vascular occlusion. Blockage in the stem xylem vessels of cut gerbera was studied using light and scanning electron microscope. The results showed that some stem xylem vessels of the cut flowers were blocked during the vase period, and the blockage consisted of some amorphous or physiological deposition and rod-shaped bacteria located within the 5cm stem end of the cut flower. In addition, CH (1.0mM) or 8-HQC (0.45mM) decreased the blockage of stems and reduced the bacterial growth in the vase solution, but extended the vase life without statistical significance. The combination of CH (0.5 or 1.0 mM) and 8- HQC (0.45mM) decreased the blockage and inhibited the bacteria more than CH or 8- HQC alone, and extended the vase life significantly (P⩽ 0.05). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the distributive impacts of subsidy removal in agricultural sectors and related industry in Iran, using a social accounting matrix (SAM)-based price model. The structural path analysis approach is used to decompose the overall influences into direct, global, and total effects. The simulation results reveal that a shock therapy strategy, which involves the removal of all subsidies from all food producing sectors at once, amplifies the adverse effects of this policy option, especially on the low income households. Also, results indicate that removing subsidy from food producing sectors has distributional consequences for the Iranian households. The rural low income group is the most adversely affected group while the urban high income group is the least affected among the Iranian households. In addition, reducing subsidy in food industry sector has the largest impact on the households' welfare. Based on the results of the path decomposition of the households' expenditure, it is expected that less than 50 percent of the overall effects of subsidy removal appear almost immediately after implementing this policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Fully Fuzzy Linear Programming (FFLP) formulation for the reservoir operation of a multipurpose reservoir in presented in the ongoing paper. In the real world, water resources systems usually have complexities among social, economic, natural resources and environmental aspects, which lead to multi-objective problems of significant uncertainties in system parameters, objectives and in their interactions. These uncertainties in FFLP reservoir operation model are considered by being treated as fuzzy sets. In the present study, an FFLP reservoir operation model is developed where all parameters and decision variables are fuzzy numbers. The developed model is demonstrated through a case study of Jayakwadi reservoir stage-II, Maharashtra, India with the objectives of maximization of annual releases for irrigation and hydropower generation. The FFLP reservoir operation model is solved to obtain a compromised solution by simultaneously optimizing the fuzzified objectives and the corresponding degree of truthfulness, using linear membership function. The degree of correspondence (Correspondence) obtained is equal to 0.78 and the corresponding annual releases for irrigation amount of 367 Mm3 and while annual releases for hydropower generation being 216 Mm3. the present study clearly demonstrates that, use of FFLP in multipurpose reservoir system optimization presents a potential alternative to attain an optimal operating policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim followed in the present paper was to evaluate the slaughter body and carcass weights as well as the characteristics of hide and leather in Dromedaries (one-hump) and in the crossbred (C. bactrianus×C. droedarius) camels. Fourteen camels from each sex (female and male) representing two genotypes at 21 months of age were utilized. Slaughter weight, hot and cold carcass weights, dressing-out percentage, wet and dry salting hide and leather properties were assessed. There were significant differences in slaughter weights between Dromedary and crossed types (339±10.7 vs. 372±11.1 kg) and as well between male vs. female camels (382±9.7 vs. 326±10.6 kg). Moreover, while the effect of sex was significant on wet hide weight (34±1.2 vs. 29.3±1.2 kg for males and females, respectively), the difference observed between males and females regarding the thickness of hide was non-significant (P> 0.05). Breaking force, tensile strength and elongation of the leather samples decreased with increase in their thicknesses. It was found out that the obtained leather from the camel benefited from such valuable mechanical characteristics as tensile strength and extension with no variations being observed as due to the animal's sex or genotype. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at analyzing farmers' responses on quality of agricultural information services provided by public and private sources. The study is based on primary survey of 461 farmers in eight districts of Uttar Pradesh, India, using a structured questionnaire. Farmers' responses on quality of agricultural information services from public and private sources were analyzed using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) technique. Findings of the study indicate that private sector information delivery sources provide significantly better quality information to the farming communities as compared to public sector information delivery systems. The results have far reaching implications for designing successful information and extension delivery models by the public, private or by collaborative efforts of the public and the private sector for better extension services delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biodiesel fuel, which is produced by transesterification reaction between alcohol and vegetable oil/animal fat is proposed as a clean alternative to petro diesel fuel. Today, one of the new technologies to produce biodiesel is using ultrasonic energy that makes production faster, with improved quality and less expensive. Various factors that affect the design of ultrasonic reactors are ratio of vibrating rod diameter to reactor diameter, reactor height, depth of horn penetration into fluid and chamber characteristics (material and shape). In this paper, two parameters namely the ratio of vibrating rod diameter to reactor diameter and reactor height were studied in order to increase the reaction efficiency. In all performed tests, the horn diameter of 14 mm, molar ratio of alcohol to oil of 5 to 1, catalyst concentration of 0.7% wt?? oil, depth of horn penetration into fluid of 15 mm and a cylindrical reactor were used. Experimental design involved the use of Central Composite Design (CCD) and the statistical Response Surface Methodology (RSM). Considering the empirical model, a significant relationship was found between independent and dependent variables with a regression coefficient of 0.99. Taking into account the desirability of increasing the efficiency, the optimal function of reactor diameter and reactor height were 63 and 110 mm, respectively with a reaction yield of 87%. In order to verify the model, function responses in the defined area were tested with five replicates and the average efficiency of the reaction was 87.2%. The obtained model suggests the simultaneous reverse effects of reactor diameter and height on the reaction efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the complex structure of the pressure-adjusting device used in most sprinklers for variable irrigation, it is not possible to observe the flow behavior of the water passing through the flow field. In this paper, an integral three dimensional (3D) numerical model based on the structural characteristics of the fluidic sprinkler was constructed to simulate the flow field distribution using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). A new type of fluid sprinkler (BPXH) was used in the experiments. The main stream region and the variable velocity regions were clearly distinguished, and the details of the variations in pressure are discussed. The results indicated that the simulation methodology generated sufficient data to analyze the sprinkler pressure and outlet velocity changes. The minimum error of the difference between the simulation and the test pressure values was 0.049, with a maximum of 0.14. The turbulence model could accurately predict the relationship between the outlet velocity and the wetted radius. The outlet velocity ranged from 12.6 to 17.9 m s-1 during the simulation under the variable inlet boundary conditions of the sprinkler. Both the simulation and test values of the wetted radius increased gradually with the sprinkler rotating angle. The absolute error of the simulation and the test ranged from 0.07 to 0.16. Computational fluid dynamics provides a promising tool to help in the design of pressure-adjusting devices using a new type of variable-rate fluidic sprinkler. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of different storage temperatures on senescence and postharvest performance in cut scapes of three Iris species (Iris germanica, Iris reticulata and Iris kashmiriana) was studied with the aim to develop a cost-effective storage protocol so as to bring out the transportation of these cut flowers. The scapes were subjected to two different storage treatments-dry storage and wet storage. For dry storage, the scapes were wrapped in moistened filter papers and kept at different storage temperatures [RT (20±2°C), 10and 5°C] for 72 hours. For wet storage, the scapes were kept in buckets containing distilled water (DW) and kept at different storage temperatures [RT (20±2°C), 10°C and 5°C] for 72 hours. After 72 hours storage, the scapes were transferred to flasks containing either DW or sucrose 0.15 M (SUC). Storage of buds for 72 hours at 5oC, followed by transfer to DW and SUC improved longevity in all the three species. Cold storage treatment before transfer to holding solutions improved floral diameter, membrane integrity and maintained higher fresh and dry mass of flowers, sugar content, and soluble proteins. In all the three species studied, enhanced vase life was found associated with the decrease in the total phenolic content of the perianth tissue. In conclusion, our results suggest that wet and dry storage of premature scapes of Irises for 72 hours at 5°C, and placing them in sucrose improves the cut flower performance and can be used as effective postharvest storage treatments for these beautiful cut flowers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the performance evaluation of a two-way hybrid photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) solar collector was analytically and experimentally carried out. Mathematical expressions for operating parameters in glass to glass and glass to tedlar PV/T solar collectors were developed and experimentally validated by a glass to tedlar PV/T solar collector system. Also the influence of air flow rate on the solar collector performance was investigated. The results showed that the glass to glass PV/T solar collector gave higher outlet air temperature, cell temperature and thermal efficiency than the glass to tedlar PV/T solar collector. However, back surface temperature and electrical efficiency were higher in case of glass to tedlar collector. Increasing the air flow rate led to a lower outlet air temperature and a higher electrical efficiency of the photovoltaic module. Maximum experimental electrical efficiency, thermal efficiency and overall thermal efficiency for the glass to tedlar PV module were found to be 10.35, 57.9 and 84.5%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is one of the largest grain producing and consuming nations in the world and the importance of grain security to the Chinese can never be overemphasized. In this paper, we present a comprehensive early-warning model for evaluating the status of grain security in China. The model is based on the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method and the Dempster-Shafer theory (DST). We divided the risk assessment into four stages. First, we seek risk sources and identify the indices to be used in the model. Then, we preprocess the index data to obtain the index directions and risk bounds. After that, we assign index weights via AHP method. Finally, we evaluate risk of grain security via DST method and determine the overall risk degree. An empirical analysis is conducted to demonstrate the use of the model for evaluating the status of grain security in China. The result shows that the model which conforms to the reality of China is effective and can be used as a grain security pre-warning monitoring tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jujube (Zizyphus jujube Mill), a valuable medicinal plant, is consumed either as fresh fruit or dried product in Iran. Drying jujube guarantees a longer shelf time while preserving its quality to be used in medical and pharmaceutical industries. In this research paper, the influence of several drying conditions on the effective moisture diffusivity, activation energy, energy consumption and required specific energy in the drying of jujube is presented. Temperature levels of 50, 60 and 70 °C and hot air velocities of 0.5, 1 and 1.5 (m s-1) were used as the treatments. Effective moisture diffusivity of jujube fruit during the drying process was in the range of 1.1532-5.1895×10-10 (m2 s-1) for the first period and 0.4036-2.3064×10-10 (m2 s-1) for the second period. Also, the values of energy of activation in both periods were determined to be between 34.97 and 74.20 (kJ mol-1). The energy consumption and the required specific energy for drying were in the range of 79.1- 92.46 (kW h) and 203.59 - 900.08 (kW h kg-1), respectively. Results show that energy consumption diminished when temperature increased at each air velocity, while it increased with increasing hot air velocity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interest for the spatial dimensions of agricultural development has been recently increased. This paper aimed at redefining the spatial patterns of agriculture to formulate appropriate strategies based on regional potentials. A Composite Agricultural Development Indicator (CADI), which is useful for the identification of spatial structure, has been developed. The developed composite Index (CI) includes five dimensions of Agricultural Development: (1) social-cultural, (2) structural-farming, (3) technicalmanagement, (4) economical-financial, and (5) infrastructural-services and consists of 87 indicators selected at the county level. Indicators were normalized according to a coherent framework and using the division by means technique and were combined via weightings derived from Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) and Principal Components Analysis (PCA). The evaluation of agricultural development based on desired CADI was used to map the spatial development patterns at county level. Province counties are compared and ranked in order to show the spatial gap between them. Then, spatial development patterns were divided into three zones based on CADI. Results showed that the nature of spatial agricultural development firstly depends on the service and infrastructural development and secondly on utilization of natural and physical endowments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the light of the 2008 World Development Report, this paper revisits the impact of agriculture on overall economic growth, in the case of an oil producing country, using indices of intersectoral linkages. To this end, four input-output tables of Iran's economy are utilized. The results support the importance of the agricultural sector in stimulating the economic growth of Iran, but also show that the manufacturing sector has a higher potential to increase domestic production through its intersectoral linkage effects. Consequently, the results provide a caveat to the recommended general policy of the World Bank that the agricultural sector can be considered a key sector for the economic development in developing countries, at least in an oil producing country like Iran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]