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Agriculture is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and is vulnerable to climate change. Regenerative agriculture, which focuses on increasing soil carbon, has been recognized as a potential climate solution. A recent study found that seven regenerative practices, including planting cover crops and using non-chemical fertilizers, all increased carbon sequestration. However, the study also highlights that regenerative agriculture has other benefits beyond carbon sequestration, and the focus should not solely be on carbon credits. The popularity of regenerative agriculture is growing, but there is a risk of it being co-opted and losing its essence. [Extracted from the article]

California agriculture will undergo significant transformations over the next few decades in response to climate extremes, environmental regulation and policy encouraging environmental justice, and economic pressures that have long driven agricultural changes. With several local climates suited to a variety of crops, periodically abundant nearby precipitation, and public investments that facilitated abundant low-priced irrigation water, California hosts one of the most diverse and productive agroecosystems in the world. California farms supply nearly half of the high-nutrient fruit, tree nut, and vegetable production in the United States. Climate change impacts on productivity and profitability of California agriculture are increasing and forebode problems for standard agricultural practices, especially water use norms. We highlight many challenges California agriculture confronts under climate change through the direct and indirect impacts on the biophysical conditions and ecosystem services that drive adaptations in farm practices and water accessibility and availability. In the face of clear conflicts among competing interests, we consider ongoing and potential sustainable and equitable solutions, with particular attention to how technology and policy can facilitate progress.

The unculturable bacterium 'Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum' (CLso) is responsible for a growing number of emerging crop diseases. However, we know little about the diversity and ecology of CLso and its psyllid vectors outside of agricultural systems, which limits our ability to manage crop disease and understand the impacts this pathogen may have on wild plants in natural ecosystems. In North America, CLso is transmitted to crops by the native potato psyllid (Bactericera cockerelli). However, the geographic and host plant range of the potato psyllid and CLso beyond the borders of agriculture are not well understood. A recent study of historic herbarium specimens revealed that a unique haplotype of CLso was present infecting populations of the native perennial Solanum umbelliferum in California decades before CLso was first detected in crops. We hypothesized that this haplotype and other potentially novel CLso variants are still present in S. umbelliferum populations. To test this, we surveyed populations of S. umbelliferum in Southern California for CLso and potato psyllid vectors. We found multiple haplotypes of CLso and the potato psyllid associated with these populations, with none of these genetic variants having been previously reported in California crops. These results suggest that CLso and its psyllid vectors are much more widespread and diverse in North American natural plant communities than suggested by data collected solely from crops and weeds in agricultural fields. Further characterization of these apparently asymptomatic haplotypes will facilitate comparison with disease-causing variants and provide insights into the continued emergence and spread of CLso.

Glucosinolates are plant-specialized metabolites that can be hydrolyzed by glycosyl hydrolases, called myrosinases, creating a variety of hydrolysis products that benefit human health. While cruciferous vegetables are a rich source of glucosinolates, they are often cooked before consumption, limiting the conversion of glucosinolates to hydrolysis products due to the denaturation of myrosinases. Here we screen a panel of glycosyl hydrolases for high thermostability and engineer the Brassica crop, broccoli (Brassica oleracea L.), for the improved conversion of glucosinolates to chemopreventive hydrolysis products. Our transgenic broccoli lines enabled glucosinolate hydrolysis to occur at higher cooking temperatures, 20 °C higher than in wild-type broccoli. The process of cooking fundamentally transforms the bioavailability of many health-relevant bioactive compounds in our diet. Our findings demonstrate the promise of leveraging genetic engineering to tailor crops with novel traits that cannot be achieved through conventional breeding and improve the nutritional properties of the plants we consume.

The development of cereal crops with high nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) is a priority for worldwide agriculture. In addition to conventional plant breeding and genetic engineering, the use of the plant microbiome offers another approach to improving crop NUE. To gain insight into the bacterial communities associated with sorghum lines that differ in NUE, a field experiment was designed comparing 24 diverse Sorghum bicolor lines under sufficient and deficient nitrogen (N). Amplicon sequencing and untargeted gas chromatography-mass spectrometry were used to characterize the bacterial communities and the root metabolome associated with sorghum genotypes varying in sensitivity to low N. We demonstrated that N stress and sorghum type (energy, sweet, and grain sorghum) significantly impacted the root-associated bacterial communities and root metabolite composition of sorghum. We found a positive correlation between sorghum NUE and bacterial richness and diversity in the rhizosphere. The greater alpha diversity in high NUE lines was associated with the decreased abundance of a dominant bacterial taxon, Pseudomonas. Multiple strong correlations were detected between root metabolites and rhizosphere bacterial communities in response to low N stress. This indicates that the shift in the sorghum microbiome due to low N is associated with the root metabolites of the host plant. Taken together, our findings suggest that host genetic regulation of root metabolites plays a role in defining the root-associated microbiome of sorghum genotypes differing in NUE and tolerance to low N stress.IMPORTANCEThe development of crops that are more nitrogen use-efficient (NUE) is critical for the future of the enhanced sustainability of agriculture worldwide. This objective has been pursued mainly through plant breeding and plant molecular engineering, but these approaches have had only limited success. Therefore, a different strategy that leverages soil microbes needs to be fully explored because it is known that soil microbes improve plant growth through multiple mechanisms. To design approaches that use the soil microbiome to increase NUE, it will first be essential to understand the relationship among soil microbes, root metabolites, and crop productivity. Using this approach, we demonstrated that certain key metabolites and specific microbes are associated with high and low sorghum NUE in a field study. This important information provides a new path forward for developing crop genotypes that have increased NUE through the positive contribution of soil microbes.

Increasing soil organic carbon (SOC) in croplands by switching from conventional to conservation management may be hampered by stimulated microbial decomposition under warming. Here, we test the interactive effects of agricultural management and warming on SOC persistence and underlying microbial mechanisms in a decade-long controlled experiment on a wheat-maize cropping system. Warming increased SOC content and accelerated fungal community temporal turnover under conservation agriculture (no tillage, chopped crop residue), but not under conventional agriculture (annual tillage, crop residue removed). Microbial carbon use efficiency (CUE) and growth increased linearly over time, with stronger positive warming effects after 5 years under conservation agriculture. According to structural equation models, these increases arose from greater carbon inputs from the crops, which indirectly controlled microbial CUE via changes in fungal communities. As a result, fungal necromass increased from 28 to 53%, emerging as the strongest predictor of SOC content. Collectively, our results demonstrate how management and climatic factors can interact to alter microbial community composition, physiology and functions and, in turn, SOC formation and accrual in croplands.

There is a large demand for seasonal crops year-round within Australia, even when they are considered out of season. The demand is satisfied by continually moving production throughout the year to climates where the crops are in season. Management of the supply chain for a major national grower is challenging for several reasons. Due to the large number of planting decisions, it is standard practice for a team of production planners to create the annual production plan. For fresh food production, the supply chain does not contain intermediate storage requiring that the production plan is carefully timed not to waste resources with overproduction. In this paper, we develop a supply chain model that simultaneously manages the production of multiple crops across many growing regions. Production is set to satisfy the demand of multiple end-products while considering the packing plants' throughput capacity, each growing region's harvest capacity, and farm capacity. A time delay may be applied when moving between stages of the supply chain due to the geographic scale being modelled. A deterministic Mixed Integer Program is used to find the optimal planting plan, which minimises the deviation from demand for all products year-round at a minimal cost. Due to the excessive runtime for solving the model, a heuristic solution method is introduced. Numerical experiments demonstrate the advantage of the proposed model over the current manual planning process, which can solve the problem faster and with less deviation across the planning horizon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over 50% of India's population relies on crop growing, making it the foundation of the country's economy. Differences in weather, temperature, and other environmental factors are now a significant threat to the continued success of agriculture. This makes it difficult to predict the crop yield appropriately. Hence, computer-based models are believed to be more predictive in analyzing crop yields. Machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) models play a vital role as the supporting tool for Crop Yield Prediction (CYP), which includes assisting decisions on which crops to plant and the measures to be taken for the growth of crops. This paper aims to propose a deep ensemble model for predicting crop yields more accurately. The steps followed are: Improved Log scaling-based pre-processing of data. Then, from the preprocessed data, the input features like higher-order features, Enhanced entropy-based features and correlation-based features are derived. Further, the optimal features are elected using the Integrated Bird Swarm and BOA (IBS-BOA) algorithm. Based on the selected features, prediction is done by the Deep Ensemble Model (DMO, Bi-GRU and CNN). Also, one of the models of Ensemble classifiers, CNN is trained by the IBS-BOA algorithm. Finally, the performance of the proposed DEC-IBSBOA is evaluated concerning varied error factors namely, MEAE, MAE, MALE, MAPE, ME and MSE. For the suggested system minimum error is obtained for MAE (~ 1.0) when compared to the other existing methods such as Bi-GRU, DMO, CNN, PLMDC, SVM, LSTM, SSTNN, EC + WOA, EC + BES, EC + BOA, EC + BMO and EC + BSA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Boron- B is an essential element for the growth and development of plants. Its deficiency in hot, dry areas with calcareous soils can significantly reduce agricultural crop production. To study the impact of B fertilization, an experiment was conducted using a completely randomized design with seven treatments, including control, foliar spray (0.5, 1, and 2 g L−1 boric acid), and fertigation (0.5, 1, and 2 g L−1 boric acid). The experiment, with three replicates, was carried out in greenhouse conditions on pepper plants (Capsicum annuum cv. Lorca). The highest fruit yield was achieved with foliar spray at a concentration of 0.5 g L−1 and fertigation at 1 g L−1. Overall, the use of B fertilizer increased the concentration of macronutrients such as potassium-K (up to 27.79%), phosphorus-P (up to 59%), calcium-Ca (up to 49.61%), and magnesium-Mg (up to 158%), as well as micronutrients like iron-Fe (up to 59.55%), manganese-Mn (up to 29.03%), zinc-Zn (up to 81.81%), copper-Cu (up to 49.33%), B (up to 180%), and sodium-Na (up to 85.19%). It also decreased the concentration of nitrogen-N (up to 15%), sulfur-S (up to 21.36%), and chlorine-Cl (up to 48.02%) in the leaf tissue of pepper plants compared to the control treatment. These changes were influenced by the B concentration and type of fertilization. The results indicate that in calcareous soils with high pH, both fertigation and foliar spray methods can effectively address B deficiency in pepper plants by enhancing element absorption and increasing yield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Selenium (Se) is considered a beneficial element for plants. It plays a fundamental role in several physiological processes that influence their growth, development, and productivity. However, the influence of Se depends on both the concentration used and the method of application. It was hypothesized that low concentrations of Se stimulate plant growth and development, and foliar applications are more effective as a method of application. For that reason, the objective of the present investigation was to evaluate the effectiveness of 5, 10, 25, and 50 µM of Se applied radically and foliarly in bell pepper crop employed in a soilless cultivation system. The presence of Se by both application methods stimulated plant production, dry biomass accumulation, and photosynthetic pigment content, as well as leaf concentration of nitrogen (N) and potassium (K), except for calcium (Ca), and phosphorus (P) which were influenced by the application method and Se concentration factor, respectively. Fruit size was favored by the Se concentration factor while shelf life was favored by the application method. Se concentration in fruit dry matter varied as a function of Se concentration and application method, being more effective for human consumption by foliar application. This demonstrates the potential of Se as a beneficial element and reinforces the importance of proper management of both the concentration and method of Se application in agricultural crop production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a smart roof that makes fragmented droplets from the impact of raindrops on superhydrophobic meshes and utilizes the droplets for agricultural spraying. This facile method transforms raindrops or waterdrops into uniform microdroplets, which can both reduce crop lodging induced by heavy rainfall, and realize uniform spraying of pesticides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here we report that non-thermal atmospheric-pressure plasma exposure can improve Brassica juncea (leaf mustard) seed germination rate from 50 % to 98 %. The commercially relevant germination rate was achieved by plasma exposure for only 10 minutes and the effect sustains at least for one month under an appropriate storage condition. Improved germination by plasma exposure was also observed for Brassica rapa subsp. pekinensis (Chinese cabbage) seeds. The plasma device used is simple. No pure gas flow system is necessary and it is easy to handle. A large number of seeds can be treated by simply scaling up the device. Plasma exposure can be a practical method for improving seed germination of crop plants important for agriculture. • Non-thermal atmospheric-pressure plasma exposure can improve Brassica seed germination rate. • The effect sustains at least for one month under an appropriate storage condition. • The plasma device used is simple and a large number of seeds can be treated. • Plasma exposure can be a practical method for improving seed germination in agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary The objective of the study was to identify the impact of consumer familiarity on liking, acceptability, purchase intention and textual description of a novel cream substitute formulated with popped amaranth flour. Four formulations were evaluated in different proportions of amaranth vs. a control. A total of 400 consumers from two regions participated (Veracruz: familiar with coffee and Tlaxcala: familiar with amaranth). Consumers from both regions had significant differences in liking the attributes of the different formulations. Liking across regions was mainly a function of product aroma. Regarding the acceptance of the product, it was found that the attributes flavour, colour and overall liking were significant (P < 0.05) for consumers from Veracruz, whereas appearance and mouthfeel were significant (P < 0.05) for consumers from Tlaxcala. In purchase intent, overall liking was significant for both regions (P < 0.05). In relation to the impact of amaranth on purchase intention, Tlaxcala showed higher purchase willingness. The words used for sensory characterisation and that are important for both regions were the amaranth aroma, and the creamy flavour in the formulation with the highest amaranth content. The findings of this study allowed for understanding the potential of amaranth to formulate new creamers in a cross‐cultural context, considering consumers from two different levels of familiarity with specific crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lowbush blueberry is an important berry crop in Maine (USA), Quebec and the Maritime provinces of Canada. The other economically important crops in Maine are potato, dairy and organic mixed vegetable produce. Lowbush blueberry is a complex of 1–4 Vaccinium species, primarily dominated by Vaccinium angustifolium Aiton. All but one of the insect pest species in this crop system are native to the regions where it is managed in North America. Insect decline has been shown to be a recent global phenomenon although it has rarely been studied in agricultural ecosystems. Long‐term datasets of insect species abundances are a powerful tool for insect population trends. To determine if native insect pests have declined over the past several decades in Maine lowbush blueberry, we surveyed three native species. All surveys were conducted in commercial blueberry fields; although, none of the sample sites were sprayed with insecticides. Insect pest sampling comprised two surveys (1961–2014 and 1998–2017) conducted on the larval stage of the blueberry maggot fly (Rhagoletis mendax Curran), one survey (1981–2016) on the larval stage of the blueberry spanworm (Itame argillacearia (Packard)), and one survey (1983–2019) on the larval stage of the blueberry flea beetle (Altica sylvia Malloch). Based upon the analysis of our long‐term population‐level datasets, we found no evidence that insect decline has occurred in this native blueberry insect pest complex intimately associated with the lowbush blueberry, a native crop plant in North America, despite recent documentation of rapid climate change occurring in the lowbush blueberry production areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Long terminal repeat retroelements (LTR‐REs) have profound effects on DNA methylation and gene regulation. Despite the vast abundance of LTR‐REs in the genome of Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys edulis), an industrial crop in underdeveloped countries, their precise implication of the LTR‐RE mobility in stress response and development remains unknown. We investigated the RNA and DNA products of LTR‐REs in Moso bamboo under various developmental stages and stressful conditions. Surprisingly, our analyses identified thousands of active LTR‐REs, particularly those located near genes involved in stress response and developmental regulation. These genes adjacent to active LTR‐REs exhibited an increased expression under stress and are associated with reduced DNA methylation that is likely affected by the induced LTR‐REs. Moreover, the analyses of simultaneous mapping of insertions and DNA methylation showed that the LTR‐REs effectively alter the epigenetic status of the genomic regions where they inserted, and concomitantly their transcriptional competence which might impact the stress resilience and growth of the host. Our work unveils the unusually strong LTR‐RE mobility in Moso bamboo and its close association with (epi)genetic changes, which supports the co‐evolution of the parasitic DNAs and host genome in attaining stress tolerance and developmental robustness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The advancement of fungal biocontrol agents depends on replacing cereal grains with low-cost agro-industrial byproducts for their economical mass production and development of stable formulations. We propose an innovative approach to develop a rice flour-based formulation of the beneficial biocontrol agent Trichoderma asperelloides CMAA1584 designed to simulate a micro-bioreactor within the concept of full biorefinery process, affording in situ conidiation, extended shelf-life, and effective control of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, a devastating pathogen of several dicot agricultural crops worldwide. Rice flour is an inexpensive and underexplored byproduct derived from broken rice after milling, capable of sustaining high yields of conidial production through our optimized fermentation-formulation route. Conidial yield was mainly influenced by nitrogen content (0.1% w/w) added to the rice meal coupled with the fermentor type. Hydrolyzed yeast was the best nitrogen source yielding 2.6 × 109 colony-forming units (CFU)/g within 14 days. Subsequently, GControl, GLecithin, GBreak-Thru, GBentonite, and GOrganic compost+Break-Thru formulations were obtained by extrusion followed by air-drying and further assessed for their potential to induce secondary sporulation in situ, storage stability, and efficacy against Sclerotinia. GControl, GBreak-Thru, GBentonite, and GOrganic compost+Break-Thru stood out with the highest number of CFU after sporulation upon re-hydration on water-agar medium. Shelf-life of formulations GControl and GBentonite remained consistent for > 3 months at ambient temperature, while in GBentonite and GOrganic compost+Break-Thru formulations remained viable for 24 months during refrigerated storage. Formulations exhibited similar efficacy in suppressing the myceliogenic germination of Sclerotinia irrespective of their concentration tested (5 × 104 to 5 × 106 CFU/g of soil), resulting in 79.2 to 93.7% relative inhibition. Noteworthily, all 24-month-old formulations kept under cold storage successfully suppressed sclerotia. This work provides an environmentally friendly bioprocess method using rice flour as the main feedstock to develop waste-free granular formulations of Trichoderma conidia that are effective in suppressing Sclerotinia while also improving biopesticide shelf-life. Key points: • Innovative "bioreactor-in-a-granule" system for T. asperelloides is devised. • Dry granules of aerial conidia remain highly viable for 24 months at 4 °C. • Effective control of white-mold sclerotia via soil application of Trichoderma-based granules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information on the effects of changing agricultural management on crop and livestock performance is critical for developing evidence-based policies, investments, and programs. Evidence for Resilient Agriculture (ERA) v1.0.1 presents a dataset that harmonizes and aggregates 112,859 observations from 2,011 agricultural studies taken place in Africa between 1934 and 2018. The dataset includes information on the effect of 364 combinations of management practices and technologies on 87 environmental, social, and economic indicators of outcomes. Observations are geolocated and temporally tagged and thus can be linked to other datasets such as historical weather, soil properties, and road networks. ERA offers a new resource for understanding the impacts of changing farming practices under diverse environmental contexts, providing data to support strategic interventions aimed to enhance productivity, resilience, and sustainability of African agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Plant biostimulants constitute a promising environmentally friendly alternative for increasing crop yield and tolerance to unfavorable conditions. Among various types of such formulations, botanical extracts are gaining more recognition as products supporting plant performance. Moreover, novel tools such as cold-plasma or low-pressure microwave plasma discharge are being proposed as techniques that might improve their efficacy. Elucidation of the biostimulant's mode of action requires complex research at a molecular level. Transcriptional changes occurring after biostimulant spraying might be investigated using RT-qPCR. However, this technique requires data normalization against stable endogenous controls. Results: Here, we tested the expression stability of ten candidate genes in soybean plants exposed to various biostimulants treatment. Selection of the best-performing reference genes was conducted using four algorithms (geNorm, NormFinder, BestKeeper, and ΔCt method). According to the obtained results, Bic-C2 (RNA-binding protein Bicaudal-C) and CYP (cyclophilin type peptidyl-prolyl cis–trans isomerase) showed highest expression stability, while expression of EF1B (elongation factor 1-beta) fluctuated the most among a tested set of candidate genes. Conclusions: Overall, we recommend using Bic-C2 together with CYP for the RT-qPCR data normalization in soybean biostimulation experiments. To our best knowledge, this is the first comprehensive study of reference genes stability in plants subjected to biostimulant treatment. The results of this study will aid in further biostimulant research in crop plants, facilitating analyses performed on the transcriptional level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lai (Durio kutejensis Hassk. Becc) an endemic plant of Kalimantan-Indonesia leaves contain secondary metabolites as allelochemicals (alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, phenols, and steroids). We investigated the allelopathic effects of lai leaf extract on the seed germination and early growth of weeds (Ruellia tuberosa L. and Amaranthus spinosus L.) and crops (Oryza sativa L. and Zea mays L.). We conducted two experiments: Germination bioassay and Early growth greenhouse bioassay consisting of 0 (Control), 25, 50 and 75 % leaf extracts. The leaf extracts significantly decreased the germination and early growth of both test weeds and crops: Germination (%) (100 to 26.66 %), shoot length (9.40 to 3.16 cm); germination index (3.30 to 0.36); vigour index (9.40 to 0.84); biomass 1.43 to 0.14 g); and chlorophyll a (0.45 to 0.016 mg/L), b (0.077 to 0.024 mg/L), and total chlorophyll (0.122 to 0.038 mg/L) contents. In contrast, the extract increased the germination time (3.00 to 7.00 h), mortality (0 to 40 %), and phytotoxicity (0 to 2.33 %) of test plants. Higher concentrations of plant extracts were more inhibitory to germination and early growth in all test crops. Therefore, D. kutejensis leaf extract contains a natural compound that can be potentially suitable as an allelopathic-natural herbicide. In future, the results can be used to reduce the use of chemical herbicides in crop production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Species in Alternaria sections Infectoriae and Pseudoalternaria are commonly isolated from agricultural crops and a variety of other plant hosts. With the increasing appreciation that species from these two sections are often the dominant taxa recovered from important cereal crops, the need for improved understanding of their biodiversity and taxonomy has grown. Given that morphological characteristics and existing molecular markers are not sufficient for distinguishing among species, we expanded the genomic resources for these sections to support research in biosystematics and species diagnostics. Whole genome assemblies for 22 strains were generated, including the first genomes from section Infectoriae or Pseudoalternaria strains sampled from Canada, which significantly increases the number of publicly released genomes, particularly for section Pseudoalternaria. We performed comprehensive phylogenomic analyses of all available genomes (n = 39) and present the first robust phylogeny for these taxa. The segregation of the two sections was strongly supported by genomewide data, and multiple lineages were detected within each section. We then provide an overview of the biosystematics of these groups by analyzing two standard molecular markers from the largest sample of section Infectoriae and Pseudoalternaria strains studied to date. The patterns of relative diversity suggest that, in many cases, multiple species described based on minor morphological differences may actually represent different strains of the same species. A list of candidate loci for development into new informative molecular markers, which are diagnostic for sections and lineages, was created from analyses of phylogenetic signals from individual genes across the entire genome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Animals representing a wide range of taxonomic groups are known to select specific food combinations to achieve a nutritionally balanced diet. The nutrient balancing hypothesis suggests that, when given the opportunity, animals select foods to achieve a particular target nutrient balance, and that balancing occurs between meals and between days. For wild ruminants who inhabit landscapes dominated by human land use, nutritionally imbalanced diets can result from ingesting agricultural crops rich in starch and sugar (nonstructural carbohydrates [NCs]), which can be provided to them by people as supplementary feeds. Here, we test the nutrient balancing hypothesis by assessing potential effects that the ingestion of such crops by Alces alces (moose) may have on forage intake. We predicted that moose compensate for an imbalanced intake of excess NC by selecting tree forage with macro‐nutritional content better suited for their rumen microbiome during wintertime. We applied DNA metabarcoding to identify plants in fecal and rumen content from the same moose during winter in Sweden. We found that the concentration of NC‐rich crops in feces predicted the presence of Picea abies (Norway spruce) in rumen samples. The finding is consistent with the prediction that moose use tree forage as a nutritionally complementary resource to balance their intake of NC‐rich foods, and that they ingested P. abies in particular (normally a forage rarely eaten by moose) because it was the most readily available tree. Our finding sheds new light on the foraging behavior of a model species in herbivore ecology, and on how habitat alterations by humans may change the behavior of wildlife. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Farmland habitats witness steep declines in biodiversity. One rapidly declining farmland species is the ortolan bunting Emberiza hortulana. In Finland, a staggering 99% of the population has been lost during the past 30 years. Changes in the breeding habitats have been proposed as a reason for the decline, although hazards during migration and wintering may also play a role. We gathered a 19‐year data set of Finnish ortolan buntings and studied which spatial characteristics, habitat features, and climate factors might explain the population growth rate at the singing‐group level. As explanatory variables we used region, density of small‐scale structures, proportion of agricultural area in the landscape, diversity of crop types, proportion of bare ground, and temperature and precipitation of previous breeding season. Higher population growth rates were associated with higher crop type diversity and higher proportion of bare ground. The mosaic of various crop plants and bare ground may provide a wider array of feeding, hiding and nesting places, and an easier access to food. Higher growth rates were also associated with landscapes dominated by interconnected agricultural land, which may reflect the species' sociability and avoidance of forested areas. The North Ostrobothnia region had higher growth rates compared to other regions. We suggest that northern populations of ortolan bunting should be targeted for further studies on feeding and breeding ecology as well as for urgent conservation actions, such as increasing crop type diversity and bare ground. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The blister beetle Epicauta atomaria (Germar) (Coleoptera: Meloidae) is a phytophagous pest of various agricultural crops, especially in Amaranthaceae, Solanaceae, and Fabaceae. Currently, this insect is managed through the spraying of synthetic insecticides that cause serious human health and environmental damage. To reduce the use of synthetic insecticides, the integrated pest management (IPM) programs for other crop pests rely on the use of semiochemical compounds, such as pheromones, kairomones, and allomones, to manipulate the insects' behavior to prevent crop damage. However, studies on semiochemical compounds related to E. atomaria have never been carried out. For this reason, the aim of this study was to explore the chemical communication of E. atomaria. This includes the existence of (i) a sex and/or an aggregation pheromone, (ii) attractant volatile kairomones from host plants, and (iii) repellent volatile allomones from non‐host plants. Tests were carried out using olfactometers and an experimental arena. First, olfactometer tests failed to show the existence of volatile sex and/or aggregation pheromones of these insects. Second, olfactometer and experimental arena tests failed to demonstrate attraction of E. atomaria via volatile kairomonal compounds from host plants (chard, bell pepper, and cock's‐eggs). However, olfactometer tests showed that non‐host plants of E. atomaria (thyme and lavender) emit allomonal volatile compounds with repellent activity. This work represents a first step toward the elucidation of the chemical ecology of E. atomaria and suggests that volatiles from non‐host plants help shape the host preferences of these insects. Those volatiles could be used as a "push" component in a "push–pull" strategy against this pest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Securing agricultural supplies for the increasing population without negative impacts on environment demands new crop varieties with higher yields, better quality, and stronger stress resilience. But breeding such super crop varieties is restrained by growth–defense (G–D) trade‐off. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are versatile regulators of plant growth and immune responses, with several being demonstrated to simultaneously regulate crop growth and defense against biotic stresses and to balance G–D trade‐off. Increasing evidence also links miRNAs to the metabolism and signaling of phytohormones, another type of master regulator of plant growth and defense. Here, we synthesize the reported functions of miRNAs in crop growth, development, and responses to bio‐stressors, summarize the regulatory scenarios of miRNAs based on their relationship with target(s), and discuss how miRNAs, particularly those involved in crosstalk with phytohormones, can be applied in balancing G–D trade‐off in crops. We also propose several open questions to be addressed for adopting miRNAs in balancing crop G–D trade‐off. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pest infestation poses a significant threat to agricultural crop yields, and to control it, farmers spray chemical pesticides. The persistent use of these chemical agents not only leads to pesticide residues within crops but also exerts collateral damage on the beneficial pest population. In this research work, we formulate a nonlinear mathematical model to assess the impacts of pesticide on crop yields within a multiple cropping system. Model analysis illustrates that crop consumption rates destabilize, and the spraying rate of pesticide stabilizes the system. Furthermore, we determine conditions for the global stability of the coexisting equilibrium and conduct a global sensitivity analysis to identify model parameters that significantly influence pest population density. Our findings emphasize that, for effective pest population control and enhanced crop yields, farmers should choose either pesticides with a high pest abatement rate or those with a higher pesticide uptake rate. Considering the spraying rate of pesticide as time-dependent, we also suggest an optimal control strategy to minimize the pest population and associated costs. We provide analytical results backed by numerical simulations implemented through the non-standard finite difference scheme to support our findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anthracnose caused by Colletotrichum spp. is a serious threat to many crops, and C. siamense has become increasingly prevalent worldwide. However, the mycelial growth and virulence of many of these species, especially below 26 °C, has largely remained unknown. Here, mycelial growth of five representative Colletotrichum strains (three C. siamense [Cs], one C. fructicola [Cf] and one C. gloeosporioides s.s. [Cg]) from diseased strawberry was measured at 10, 14, 18, 22 and 26 °C. Their virulence on Fragaria vesca and highly susceptible F. × ananassa cv. Benihoppe was tested at 14 °C and 22 °C. The strains did not differ much in mycelial growth between 10 and 26 °C, although growth of the Cs and Cg strains was somewhat faster than that of Cf. However, the strains varied greatly in their virulence on the two hosts. Strain Cs GQHZJ19, which grew fastest at 22 °C, was also the most virulent on both hosts at 14 °C and 22 °C. But growth rate of Cs was only positively correlated with virulence on susceptible cv. Benihoppe after 3 days at 22 °C. Based on the virulence analysis of the five Colletotrichum strains on hosts that vary in susceptibility at distinct temperatures, host genotype might play a decisive role in disease severity at an early stage, while temperature might influence the host–Colletotrichum spp. interaction at a later stage. More Colletotrichum strains (especially C. siamense) need to be tested to determine the mycelial growth and virulence in a wider temperature range and thus we can effectively manage disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing the C sequestration potential and higher soil organic carbon stocks with the application of organic manures will reflect in the improvement of crop productivity. Long-term monitoring approach is essential to evaluate these impacts, especially given the escalating effects of climate change on agriculture. Recognizing this, a 112-year-long Permanent Manurial Experiment (PME) at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, India, investigates the influence of application of organic manures. Utilizing the DSSAT crop simulation model, the study assessed the impact of organic manure, specifically NPK + FYM (Farm Yard Manure), on maize yield over 25 years on a sandy-loam Alfisol. Data collected from the field experiment including crop growth parameters, management options, weather, and soil data were used for simulations. Results showed a 93.8% agreement between simulated and observed yields, endorsing NPK + FYM treatment with a 20% increase in grain yield by 2032 compared to using 100% NPK alone. Furthermore, the study explored future climate change scenarios' impact on maize yield. It highlighted that NPK + FYM consistently outperformed other treatments, emphasizing its efficacy in increasing the yields under changing climatic conditions. This approach emerges as promising for enhancing carbon sequestration, elevating soil organic carbon stocks, and significantly improving crop productivity. In conclusion, adopting the NPK + FYM treatment is recommended to achieve optimal maize yield outcomes, surpassing the effects of using NPK or FYM independently. This research signifies the potential of combining organic manures with synthetic fertilizers in sustainable agriculture amid evolving climate challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The invasion of the terrestrial ecosystem by gastropods has immense negative impacts on ecosystem functions, health, and agricultural plants. The non‐native slug, Deroceras laeve (O. F. Müller, 1774), a recognised agricultural pest in native and invaded regions, was recently reported from the Darjeeling Himalayas, India. We assessed the plant palatability and preference of D. laeve using selected plants being farmed in Darjeeling Himalayas (basil, cabbage, coriander, lettuce, mint, pumpkin leaf, and spinach) by laboratory‐based choice and non‐choice experiments. Moreover, we evaluated the correlation between different chemical features of the plants with the consumption rate of D. laeve and observed the fecundity of D. laeve reared on different plant diets. The highest consumption rate of D. laeve was observed for pumpkin (12.99 ± 1.33 mg dry mass) and the lowest for mint (1.63 ± 0.13 mg dry mass), with a significant positive correlation between consumption rate and D. laeve body mass (for lettuce: R =.47, p =.0009 and other plant species: R =.52, p =.00004) was observed through the non‐choice experiment. Moreover, the consumption rate of the non‐native slug, D. laeve, was considerably higher than a controphic slug, Meghimatium bilineatum. In the choice experiment, D. laeve preferred lettuce, followed by pumpkin, cabbage, and coriander, even in the presence of detritus and significantly avoided spinach, mint, and basil. The consumption rate of D. laeve had a significant negative correlation with calcium (R = −.49, p =.003) and potassium (R = −.37, p =.03), and a positive correlation was observed for magnesium (R =.37, p =.03). However, no correlation was observed for zinc, silica, total carbohydrate, protein, and phenol content of the leaves. The highest fecundity of D. laeve was observed in the lettuce and cabbage diet, while no eggs were laid on the mint diet. Hence, the consumption of different leaves, irrespective of physical and chemical features (hairiness, amount of silicon, protein, carbohydrate, and phenol), suitable life history traits, and suitable habitats, may facilitate D. laeve as a potential agricultural pest in the Darjeeling Himalayas, India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ever since the first crops were domesticated over 10,000 years ago, pests and pathogens have wreaked havoc on crop production. Despite diverse threats from longstanding and emerging diseases, plants continue to play a central role in meeting humanity's requirements for calories and nutrients. In this review, we discuss historical advances made by plant pathologists and breeders that have helped keep many plant diseases at bay. We focus predominantly on fungal diseases of five food crops—rice, wheat, maize, soybean and potato—that provide the bulk of calories consumed globally. We cover such historical triumphs in plant pathology as (i) advanced knowledge of fungal biology revolutionizing disease management strategies, (ii) integration of genetics by the 'wheat wizard' Rowland Biffen and others transforming the landscape of resistance breeding and (iii) the advent of modern fungicides—from a sinking ship in the 1660s—leading to dramatic yield enhancements. We also discuss (iv) the potential for emerging biocontrol agents to holistically promote plant health and yield. Today, the high homogeneity of crops in modern agricultural systems exacerbates yield losses due to disease by increasing pest/pathogen transmission rates and eroding natural spatial barriers to pest/pathogen dispersal. Meanwhile, climate change is altering the compositions of global pest and pathogen populations and expanding pest/pathogen territories with unpredictable consequences. As we look to the future, the strength of the plant pathology community remains central to developing innovative solutions to tackle these complex and expanding threats to plant health and secure a plentiful food supply. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several irrigated agricultural perimeters have been established as a part of Tunisian strategy for optimizing the conservation of freshwater and providing alternative water sources. In this work, olive trees were cultivated in a small scale, irrigated with treated wastewater (TWW) from three different industrial wastewater treatment stations and compared with tap water used as a control (GW). In order to evaluate the performance of using effluents characterized by its high metal contents for the irrigation of agricultural crops with high added value, two-year monitoring of soil and plants characteristics was conducted by the evaluation of different physicochemical parameters such as plant growth and soil salts and metal contents. The increase of nutrients such as potassium, nitrogen, phosphorus and sodium was registered in soil after the application of different TWWs compared to the GW. The metal contents in both soil and plants increased but without exceeding the permissible limits. No significant differences in plant growth for all irrigation sources as demonstrated by investigated plant height. The absence of E. coli, Streptococcus and Total coliform in TWWs verified the safe microbial aspect on future olive fruits. Results based on the evaluation of different physicochemical properties of soil, plants growth and characteristics suggest the possibility of a brief reuse of TWWs in the irrigation of the olive tree. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing population increases the demand for agricultural production. Owing to some plant diseases, this production is continuously decreasing. Detecting and recognising these diseases at the initial stage is crucial for the sake of high yields from crops and plants. The conventional methods involve manual detection, which can be error-prone and laborious. Automatic recognition paves a way for the regular monitoring of huge areas of crops in less time. The deep learning-based approaches have entered in a big way in the detection of diseases in plants and crops because of their ability to overcome the limitation of regular manual monitoring. The use of colour space models helps demarcate the affected area ofimages of plants and crops prior to inputting them to the CNN model so as to improve the detection accuracy. For this, different colour space models that include RGB, HSL, HSV, LAB, LUV, XYZ and YUV are investigated. However, HSL-CNN joint model performs the best by achieving 98.97% accuracy, 98.61% precision, and 99.28% F1-score. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In plants, the pathogenesis-related (PR) proteins have been identified as important regulators of biotic and abiotic stresses. PR proteins branch out into 19 different classes (PR1–PR19). Basically, all PR proteins display a well-established method of action, with the notable exception of PR1, which is a member of a large superfamily of proteins with a common CAP domain. We have previously isolated and characterized the first PR1 from durum wheat, called TdPR-1.2. In the current research work, TdPR1.2 gene was used to highlight its functional activities under various abiotic (sodium chloride (100 mM NaCl) and oxidative stresses (3 mM H2O2), hormonal salicylic acid (SA), abscisic acid (ABA) and jasmonic acid (JA), and abiotic stresses (Botrytis cinerea and Alternaria solani). Enhancement survival index was detected in Arabidopsis transgenic plants expressing TdPR1.2 gene. Moreover, quantitative real-time reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis demonstrated induction of antioxidant enzymes such as catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD), and superoxide dismutase (SOD). It equally revealed a decrease of malondialdehyde (MDA) as well as hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) levels in transgenic Arabidopsis plants compared to control lines, confirming the role of TdPR1.2 in terms of alleviating biotic and abiotic stresses in transgenic Arabidopsis plants. Eventually, RT-qPCR results showed a higher expression of biotic stress-related genes (PR1 and PDF1.2) in addition to a downregulation of the wound-related gene (LOX3 and VSP2) in transgenic lines treated with jasmonic acid (JA). Notably, these findings provide evidence for the outstanding functions of PR1.2 from durum wheat which can be further invested to boost tolerance in crop plants to abiotic and biotic stresses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Societal Impact Statement: Maize is the world's second most important agricultural crop. The cereal was unknown to Europeans before the end of the 15th century, but since its arrival in Europe, it has changed agriculture, food and landscapes. Terraces where maize was cultivated in the Northwest of the Iberian Peninsula contributed to the formation of local cultures and identities. The history of maize and maize landscape are mementos that help to recover traditional practices, fostering identities, and are crucial for the successful implementation of sustainable policies to provide prosperous futures. Summary: Maize (Zea mays L.) in the Iberian Peninsula embodies a history of landscape changes where the concepts of 'exotic', 'traditional' and 'hybrid' help to understand the engagements between landscape, farmers, agronomists (since the 19th and 20th centuries) and seeds. Today, landscapes reveal biophysical and ecological changes that reflect a panoply of intentions. A multitude of agents, and their interactions, acted upon those territories over time.Using historical sources from the leading institutions dedicated to agricultural research in the Iberian Peninsula, this paper aims to (1) contribute to a better understanding of the maize landscape and culture in the Iberian Peninsula and (2) interrogate how landscape changes (and the landscape history of maize) can frame local or regional heritage and identities reflecting customs or ways of life.The analysis unveils networks of knowledge, agricultural technologies and seed exchange. Politicians, economists, engineers, agronomists, farmers, governmental officials and agricultural industries planned and transformed traditional rural practices into modern and industrialised ones. Experts and politicians, willing to improve agricultural practices and seeds, using hybrid seeds or building new irrigation systems, led to deep social and landscape changes, allowing maize to cover territories far away from its traditional domains. Moreover, despite farmers' resistance, hybrid maize substituted landraces, eroding agrobiodiversity. Nowadays, the south and east regions of the Iberian Peninsula are the main producers of maize (hybrid), whereas in the Northwest maize is an occasional crop, being replaced by vineyards for economic reasons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Societal Impact Statement: Agricultural techniques are inherently connected to social organization. Under colonialism, broadly understood as foreign powers suppressing (parts of) a local population, escape agriculture offers a way to avoid despotism by producing food and other produce in independent and sustainable ways. Crop diversity plays an important role in escape agriculture, demonstrated here by the variation of rice varieties on Maroon farms in Suriname. Histories of Maroon agricultural practices, and similarly marginalized groups in (formerly) colonized regions, are informative for current interventions in agriculture. Agronomic support to marginalized groups will only be successful when addressing historically grown social disengagement. Summary: Rationale: Food is essential for successful marronage and produced by means of escape agriculture. Today, communities in the interior of Suriname continue to farm by following practices of escape agriculture. Our study traces the historical development of these farming practices, in particular the extensive cultivation of rice. Our aim is to show that the diversity of rice varieties used in their fields reveals the sophisticated farming techniques and social significance of escape agriculture.Methods: We visited about 60 farm plots upstream the main rivers of Suriname where we interviewed the person in charge about the rice varieties grown in their fields. We asked about origin, names, and characteristics of each rice variety. We also screened historical sources, primary and secondary, as well as anthropological accounts of these communities for historical evidence of rice cultivation and varietal diversity.Results: Plots were farmed primarily by women and contained a broad range of different rice varieties. Naming and origin stories show a clear reference to the escape from plantations and the leading role of women in farming and food security. In some fields, a small patch was reserved for a rice type with very dark grains, used mostly for ritual purposes. Results also show adoption of more recently introduced rice varieties.Conclusion: Rice plays a key role in escape agriculture as practiced by Maroon communities in Suriname. Rice varieties are used as agricultural markers of difference. Agricultural techniques are inherently connected to social organization. Under colonialism, broadly understood as foreign powers suppressing (parts of) a local population, escape agriculture offers a way to avoid despotism by producing food and other produce in independent and sustainable ways. Crop diversity plays an important role in escape agriculture, demonstrated here by the variation of rice varieties on Maroon farms in Suriname. Histories of Maroon agricultural practices, and similarly marginalized groups in (formerly) colonized regions, are informative for current interventions in agriculture. Agronomic support to marginalized groups will only be successful when addressing historically grown social disengagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Societal Impact Statement: Agricultural extension is recognized as an important pathway for generating changes in individual farmers' practices and therefore broader patterns of production. In the United States, historical research has implicated extension work in transformations that privileged White farmers and wealthier operations over other producers and that fostered the industrialization and consolidation of farms. This article examines the work of one early 20th‐century extension agent and the demonstrations he used to teach farmers how to choose and keep corn seeds and to identify the best performing corn varieties for a particular location. This history can inform contemporary efforts to develop more socially and ecologically aware approaches to agricultural research, extension, and production by emphasizing the need for measures of success that align with community‐level objectives and for larger institutional structures that support and sustain such goals. Summary: The article examines the histories of agricultural extension and crop development in the early 20th‐century United States. It discusses the role of farm demonstrations, including the participation of farmer‐breeders, in the development of spread of higher yielding corn varieties in the Midwestern states in the 1910s and 1920s. It highlights the emphasis placed on finding locally or regionally appropriate varieties in some early corn extension activities and dwells on the irony that these locally specific endeavors played a role in the development of universalized solutions.The article examines and contextualizes an unusual archival document as an entry point into these histories: The Cornbelt's Last Open Pollinated Corn, a two‐volume work prepared by Martin Luther Mosher (1882–1982). Mosher was the first county agricultural extension agent in the state of Iowa and worked in extension until his retirement in 1950.The article makes three main observations: (1) The Cornbelt's Last Open Pollinated Corn is best read as an agricultural demonstration; (2) The Cornbelt's Last Open Pollinated Corn is Mosher's attempt to grapple with the material legacies of his extension work in relation to the different agricultural life he idealized; and (3) Mosher's work exemplifies the complex relationships and expectations seen among breeders, seed companies, extension agents, and farmers in the early 20th‐century United States.The article concludes that Mosher's work with open‐pollinated corn varieties offers insight into the importance of agricultural extension as a means of crop development and highlights the contingent nature of agricultural industrialization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bees can be exposed to pesticides when visiting crops or plants in adjacent areas affected by spray drift. Among pesticide categories, fungicides tend to be considered relatively safe, though they also can negatively affect pollinators. Most evidence of damage by fungicides to bees comes from laboratory tests; there is little information concerning contamination levels in the field. We examined exposure of honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) (Hymenoptera: Apidae) and a common Brazilian native species of social stingless bees (Scaptotrigona postica Latreille; Hymenoptera: Apidae), which is about a third the size of a honey bee, to a commercial fungicide (Fox Xpro), with three active ingredients (trifloxystrobin, bixafen, and prothioconazole), applied to crops they often visit according to label directions. A spraying apparatus mounted on tracks in a laboratory spray room was used to simulate field conditions. Soybean and cotton plants grown in pots were transferred to the spray room when the plants were in flower. Anaesthetized bees were attached with insect pins at the top and middle of the plants, on leaves and flowers. The fungicide was applied using fine or coarse droplets. The amounts of the individual active ingredients absorbed by bees were then quantified. Concentrations of trifloxystrobin were highest in both honey bees and stingless bees, followed by bixafen, and then prothioconazole, which was detected in the bees at much lower levels. Overall, bees at the top of the plants and those sprayed with fine droplets absorbed more pesticide. As a function of body mass, the stingless bees were more heavily contaminated than the larger honey bees. Tests using spraying systems that simulate field conditions can better estimate the actual doses that contaminate bees to help determine the impact of fungicides and other pesticides applied to crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The innovations and progress in genome editing/new breeding technologies have revolutionized research in the field of functional genomics and crop improvement. This revolution has expanded the horizons of agricultural research, presenting fresh possibilities for creating novel plant varieties equipped with desired traits that can effectively combat the challenges posed by climate change. However, the regulation and social acceptance of genome-edited crops still remain as major barriers. Only a few countries considered the site-directed nuclease 1 (SDN1) approach-based genome-edited plants under less or no regulation. Hence, the present review aims to comprise information on the research work conducted using SDN1 in crops by various genome editing tools. It also elucidates the promising candidate genes that can be used for editing and has listed the studies on non-transgenic crops developed through SDN1 either by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation or by ribo nucleoprotein (RNP) complex. The review also hoards the existing regulatory landscape of genome editing and provides an overview of globally commercialized genome-edited crops. These compilations will enable confidence in researchers and policymakers, across the globe, to recognize the full potential of this technology and reconsider the regulatory aspects associated with genome-edited crops. Furthermore, this compilation serves as a valuable resource for researchers embarking on the development of customized non-transgenic crops through the utilization of SDN1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study was conducted at four different locations in India in order to evaluate the genetic diversity and stability of 38 genotypes of onion (Allium cepa L.) under various climatic circumstances. The genetic diversity was evaluated through cluster analysis which divided thirty-eight genotypes into two major clusters (cluster I and cluster II) each of which had 20 and 18 genotypes. As per Additive Main-effects and Multiplicative Interaction (AMMI) model, five genotypes from cluster I, namely Accession (Acc.) 1217, 1209, Bhima Shweta, 1639, and 1640 were shown to have greater adaptation, with regressive values of 0.14, 0.74, 1.51, 2.11, and 2.17, respectively and marketable yields ranging from 176.23–227.31 q/ha. The mean performance of genotypes in individual clusters revealed that the cluster I and cluster II genotypes showed maximum marketable yield, total yield and average bulb weight. Based on the findings of the assessment study, these stable genotypes could be utilised as parent plants in future breeding programmes to develop high-yielding onion varieties that not only showcase stability but also possess widespread adaptability, thereby enhancing overall onion crop performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transgenic, dicamba‐resistant soybean and cotton were developed to enable farmers to combat weeds that had evolved resistance to the herbicide glyphosate. The dramatic increases in dicamba use these crops facilitated have led to serious problems, including the evolution of dicamba‐resistant weeds and widespread damage to susceptible crops and farming communities. Disturbingly, this pattern of dicamba use has unfolded while the total herbicide applied to soybean has nearly doubled since 2006. Without substantive changes to agricultural policy and decision making, the next 'silver‐bullet' agrotechnology will likely be no more than another step on the transgene‐facilitated herbicide treadmill. © 2024 The Authors. Pest Management Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change and anthropogenic activities (changes in rainfall and temperature pattern) activities have significantly affected agricultural activity and crop production. So, studying cropland greenness and crop yield trends is essential to understand their impacts and to ensure food security. The present study attempted to depict the cropland greenness and wheat yield trends in Uttar Pradesh (UP) state, India, during 2001–2019. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) based Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) dataset was used to decipher the cropland greenness trends through the Mann-Kendall (MK) test. Furthermore, the wheat yield dataset from Baghel and Sharma (2022) was used to depict the wheat yield trends using the Thiel-Sen slope test from 2001 to 2019. The study's results showed that ~ 37.3% (82,041 km2) area of the total agricultural land was with positive cropland greenness (NDVI) trend, and 1.67% (3673 km2) area was under a negative cropland greenness trend. On the other hand, ~ 8463 km2 (at 99% significance level) and 160,557 km2 (90% significance level) area corresponding to the ~ 4% and 73%, respectively, of the total agricultural land has shown positive (increasing) wheat yield trends during 2001–2019. In conclusion, the findings of this study emphasize the need for ongoing monitoring and a comprehensive understanding of cropland greenness and wheat yield trends over different agroclimatic zones. By gaining insights into these trends, policymakers and stakeholders can develop and implement effective mitigation and adaptation strategies to minimize the adverse effects of climate change and anthropogenic activities on agricultural systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zinc solubilizing bacteria inhabiting root endosphere possesses great potential to enhance plant yield by solubilizing the nutrients. The potential of Zn solubilizing bacteria Bacillus sp. SH-10 and Bacillus cereus SH-17 to improve yield and grain zinc content of rice was investigated under different regimes of individual and co-inoculation in the presence and absence of chemical fertilizer zinc sulfate (ZnSO4). The strains were applied to the rice varieties basmati 385 and super basmati under field conditions for two consecutive years. A significantly improved growth of rice plants, such as plant height (102–118 cm), number of tillers per plant (8.5–11.5), chlorophyll content (29.5–35.1), zinc requiring enzymes, i.e., superoxide dismutase (396–570 per gram fresh weight (g−1 FW)), carbonic anhydrase activity (CA) (10–15.06 U g−1 FW) and grain yield (3.0–3.8 tons ha−1), was observed in the plants inoculated with Bacillus sp. in the presence of chemical fertilizer (ZnSO4). Consortium of zinc solubilizing bacteria also caused higher grain Zn content (25.0–30.5 mg kg−1) of the rice varieties basmati 385 and super basmati as compared to that of un-inoculated plants. Hence, it can be concluded that Zn solubilizing bacteria has immense potential to be used as agricultural crop inoculants as they synergize the effect of chemical Zn, increase yield and improve the nutritional value of crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In today's society, keeping our gardens attractive is complex, especially if you need more time to care for them. This can cause the plant to wilt if it is not watered occasionally to keep the soil moist. In summer, this problem tends to get worse because the temperature tends to rise and reach high degrees. The objective is to design an automatic and manual irrigation system with a humidity detector through hardware programming and free software to solve this. The necessary components will be identified and selected, humidity thresholds will be established, and the adoption of technologies such as internet of things (IoT), Arduino, and humidity sensors will be promoted to solve the problem in automated irrigation systems. The technical specifications of the components are described, and the circuit design is presented. A programming algorithm will be developed to control the frequency and duration of irrigation, as well as the state of the water pump. Implementing the automated system will allow precise water supply control, contributing to the healthy growth of plants and crops in green areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enhanced phytoremediation offers a rapid and eco-friendly approach for cleaning agricultural soil contaminated with copper and cadmium which pose a direct threat to food scarcity and security. The current study aimed to compare the effectiveness of the two commonly used additives, IAA and EDTA, for the remediation of copper (Cu) and cadmium (Cd) contaminated soils using sunflower and maize. The plants were cultivated in pots under controlled conditions with four sets of treatments: control (0), Cu50/Cd50, Cu50/Cd50 + EDTA, and Cu50/Cd50 + IAA. The results showed that Cu50/Cd50 mg/kg drastically compromised the phytoremediation potential of both plants, as evident by reduced shoot and root length, and lower biomass. However, the augmentation of Cu50/Cd50 with EDTA or IAA improved the tested parameters. In sunflower, EDTA enhanced the accumulation of Cu and Cd by 58% and 21%, respectively, and improved plant biomass by 41%, compared to control treatment. However, IAA exhibited higher accumulation of Cu and Cd by 64% and 25%, respectively, and enhanced plant biomass by 43%. In case of maize, IAA was superior to EDTA which enhanced the accumulation of Cu and Cd by 87% and 32% respectively, and increased the plant biomass by 57%, compared to control treatment. Our findings demonstrate that foliar IAA is more effective than EDTA in enhancing the phytoremediation potential of sunflower and maize for Cu and Cd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractPhytoparasitic nematodes pose a widespread threat to agricultural crops worldwide. The escalating nematode damage has placed a substantial burden on growers, compelling heavy reliance on chemical nematicides. However, the use of these chemicals not only inflates production costs but also poses considerable risks to human health and the environment. In response to these challenges, researchers are actively exploring alternative nematode control techniques in agronomic crops, with a focus on environmentally friendly and economically viable solutions. The imperative to reduce dependence on chemical nematicides has spurred interest in developing strategies that are both agronomically effective and environmentally safe. Current nematode management methods often integrate biological and cultural approaches, taking into account ecological and financial considerations. Among these strategies, the utilization of antagonistic plants has emerged as particularly effective. Despite extensive research on the allelopathic properties of plants such as Tagetes, Crotalaria, Brassica, and Azadirachta indica against phytonematodes, the practical implementation of cover cropping with these antagonistic plants in commercial operations still requires attention. This review explores the impact of various antagonistic plants in combating phytonematodes, highlighting their significance in nematode management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate and timely diagnosis of plant viral infections plays a key role in effective disease control and maintaining agricultural productivity. Recent advances in the diagnosis of plant viruses have significantly expanded our ability to detect and monitor viral pathogens in agricultural crops. This review discusses the latest advances in diagnostic technologies, including both traditional methods and the latest innovations. Conventional methods such as enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and DNA amplification-based assays remain widely used due to their reliability and accuracy. However, diagnostics such as nextgeneration sequencing and CRISPR-based detection offer faster, more sensitive and specific virus detection. The review highlights the main advantages and limitations of detection systems used in plant viral diagnostics including conventional methods, biosensor technologies and advanced sequence-based techniques. In addition, it also discusses the effectiveness of commercially available diagnostic tools and challenges facing modern diagnostic techniques as well as future directions for improving informed disease management strategies. Understanding the main features of available diagnostic methodologies would enable stakeholders to choose optimal management strategies against viral threats and ensure global food security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fusarium oxysporum is an asexual filamentous fungus that causes vascular wilt in hundreds of crop plants and poses a threat to public health through Fusariosis. F. oxysporum f. sp. conglutinans strain Fo5176, originally isolated from Brassica oleracea, is pathogenic to Arabidopsis, making it a model pathosystem for dissecting the molecular mechanisms underlying host-pathogen interactions. Assembling the F. oxysporum genome is notoriously challenging due to the presence of repeat-rich accessory chromosomes. Here, we report a gap-free genome assembly of Fo5176 using PacBio HiFi and Hi-C data. The 69.56 Mb assembly contained 18 complete chromosomes, including all centromeres and most telomeres (20/36), representing the first gap-free genome sequence of a pathogenic F. oxysporum strain. In total, 21,460 protein-coding genes were annotated, a 26.3% increase compared to the most recent assembly. This high-quality reference genome for F. oxysporum f. sp. conglutinans Fo5176 provides a valuable resource for further research into fungal pathobiology and evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractKalmegh is an important medicinal crop because of the most important biologically active phyto-chemical called andrographolide. Production of higher herbage yields with appropriate quality in terms of andrographolide is largely dependent upon efficient nutrient management. This study aimed to assess the effect of organic manures application and variable nitrogen rates on growth, yield, andrographolide content and total antioxidant activity of Kalmegh. The experiment was laid out in split plot design with three levels of organic manures [M1- Control, M2- vermicompost @ 5 t ha−1 and M3- poultry manure @ 5 t ha−1] and four fertility levels [F1- 0: 50: 50, F2- 50: 50: 50, F3- 75 (37.5 + 37.5): 50: 50 and F4- 75: 50: 50 kg ha−1 N, P2O5 and K2O, respectively] replicated thrice. The highest dry herbage yields and andrographolide content of kalmegh were recorded with vermicompost @ 5 t ha−1 + 75 (37.5 + 37.5): 50: 50 N, P2O5 and K2O kg ha−1 followed by poultry manure @ 5 t ha−1 + 75 (37.5 + 37.5): 50: 50 N, P2O5 and K2O kg ha−1 during both the years while, lower yields due to control. Dry herbage and andrographolide yield were found to be highest in M2×F3 compared with M1×F1. Our study concluded that the application of vermicompost @ 5 t ha−1 along with 75 kg ha−1 N in two splits and 50 kg ha−1of each P2O5 and K2O resulted higher yield and andrographolide content which, would provide better soil nutrient status in sustainable manner without affecting ecological balances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To address poor crop extraction results in mountainous regions using single-feature data in previous research, this study employed a quadcopter to capture aerial orthophoto imagery and image-matching point cloud data from a pitaya cultivation site in the rugged mountainous terrain of southwestern China. The authors identified three critical features: the visible-band difference vegetation index (VDVI), excess green – excess red (ExG-ExR), and canopy height model (CHM) and then integrated them to build a multi-dimensional feature dataset, namely VDVI+CHM and ExG-ExR+CHM. Through a rule-based object-oriented technique, they conducted identification extraction specifically for pitayas plants. The study yielded impressive extraction accuracies, with VDVI, ExG-ExR, CHM segmentation, VDVI+CHM, and ExG-ExR+CHM achieving overall accuracies of 92.34%, 91.05%, 89.08%, 97.56%, and 96.86%, respectively. Furthermore, to validate the accuracy of the extraction results, a regression analysis was conducted to compare the actual canopy area of the pitayas plants determined through human-computer interaction with the extraction results. The root mean square error (RMSE) for VDVI+CHM and ExG-ExR+CHM were found to be 18 dm2 and 25 dm2, respectively, while the coefficient of determination (R2) was 0.81 and 0.67, respectively. Notably, the comparative analysis revealed that VDVI + CHM, which fused multi-dimensional features, exhibited the highest recognition accuracy, demonstrating that integrating multi-dimensional plant features effectively enhanced the accuracy of pitaya plant identification and extraction. By overcoming the limitations of single spectral or spatial structural features, this approach provides valuable insights into the identification and extraction of characteristic economic crops in mountainous regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Timely and accurate acquisition of cotton seedling information is crucial for seedling replenishment, yield increase, and effective cotton field management. This study proposes a cotton seedling recognition model and weed removal method for high-resolution UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) remote sensing images. First, the image information of cotton seedlings is enhanced by calculating the remote sensing index and using threshold segmentation. Second, the recognition model is constructed based on the spatial morphological characteristics of cotton seedlings, with weed interference removed using the straight-line method. Finally, the growth condition of cotton seedlings in farmland is comprehensively evaluated by calculating the seedling emergence rate and coverage rate. The experimental results show that: (1) the combination of the GLI (Green Leaf Index) and Otsu threshold segmentation algorithm effectively distinguishes cotton seedlings from the soil background and accurately portrays cotton seedling contours, further enhancing image information; (2) the proposed recognition model achieves an average overall accuracy of 95.75%, making it a practical method for cotton seedling recognition; and (3) the overall growth condition of cotton seedlings in the study area is good, enabling farmers to apply appropriate seedling replenishment and fertilizer based on the comprehensive cotton evaluation map to further improve the final cotton yield. This study aims to provide new research ideas for crop seedling identification and serve as a reference for the practical application of UAVs in crop monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]