The rye (Secale cereale L.) crop shows a high potential to collaborate in the sustainability of high Andean livestock because it supports the agroclimatic conditions and acid soils in the Peruvian Andes. The production of green forage, hay, and grain of the rye crop in acid soils was studied with the use of different levels of phosphorus and potassium fertilization in four local rye ecotypes (CBI-001, CSM-001, CJS-001, and CCE-001). The green forage yield (FV) ranged from 32.35 to 53.62 t ha-1, dry matter from 6.05 to 8.56 t ha-1, and hay from 7.0 to 10.36 t ha-1; nutritional levels ranged from 9.02 % to 13.56 % protein and 6.50 to 7.75 % ash levels, mainly with differences between ecotypes (p<0.05). No differences existed between fertilization levels for the number of stems per plant, and flowering stems per plant, and grains per ear (p>0.05). Also, CBI-001 and CCE-001 were superior with 1868.4 and 1797.8 kg ha-1 of grain, respectively (p=0.0072); the use of 60 kg ha of Nitrogen, 120 kg ha-1 of P2O5 and 80 kg ha-1 of K2O gave higher grain and residue yields. The high nutritional value and yield of the rye ecotypes studied in acid soil conditions and without irrigation can be an alternative for livestock feeding and grain production in the rainy season in the Andes as a dual-purpose crop.

Soil-borne oomycetes include devastating plant pathogens that cause substantial losses in the agricultural sector. To better manage this important group of pathogens, it is critical to understand how they respond to common agricultural practices, such as tillage and crop rotation. Here, a long-term field experiment was established using a split-plot design with tillage as the main plot factor (conventional tillage [CT] vs. no till [NT], 2 levels) and rotation as the subplot factor (monocultures of soybean, corn, or wheat, and corn-soybean-wheat rotation, 4 levels). Post-harvest soil oomycete communities were characterized over three consecutive years (2016-2018) by metabarcoding the Internal Transcribed Spacer 1 (ITS1) region. The community contained 292 Amplicon Sequence Variants (ASVs) and was dominated by Globisporangium spp. (85.1% in abundance, 203 ASV) and Pythium spp. (10.4%, 51 ASV). NT decreased diversity and community compositional structure heterogeneity, while crop rotation only affected the community structure under CT. The interaction effects of tillage and rotation on most oomycetes species accentuated the complexity of managing these pathogens. Soil and crop health represented by soybean seedling vitality was lowest in soils under CT cultivating soybean or corn, while grain yield of the three crops responded differently to tillage and crop rotation regimes.

In order to ensure food security worldwide in the face of current climatic changes, a higher quality and quantity of crops is necessary to sustain the growing human population. By developing a sustainable circular economy and biorefinery approaches, we can move from a petroleum-based to a bio-based economy. Plant biostimulants have long been considered an important source of plant growth stimulants in agronomy and agro-industries with both macroalgae (seaweeds) and microalgae (microalgae). There has been extensive exploration of macroalgae biostimulants. A lack of research and high production costs have constrained the commercial implementation of microalgal biostimulants, despite their positive impact on crop growth, development and yields. The current knowledge on potential biostimulatory compounds, key sources and their quantitative information from algae is summarized in the present review. Our goal is to provide a brief overview of the potential for microalgal biostimulants to improve crop production and quality. A number of key aspects are discussed, including the biostimulant effects caused by microalgae extracts, as well as the feasibility and potential for cocultures and coapplication with other biostimulants and biofertilizers. This article also discusses the current knowledge, recent developments and achievements in extraction techniques, types of applications, timings of applications. Ultimately, this review highlights the potential for microalgal biostimulants for sustainable agricultural practices, the algal biochemical components contributing to these traits, and finally bottlenecks and involved prospects in commercializing microalgal biostimulants.

Nations of the world have seen unprecedented changes in climate variables in recent decades. But it is unclear to what extent climate change has impacted and will impact food systems in some developing regions, and how policymakers can frame an approach to encouraging adaptation and advancing climate-smart agriculture. Many studies attempting to link agroecology to climate change adaptation do so without understanding the potential of Agroecology not only to mitigate climate change – which is the weak response – but to reverse its impact and ‘climate proof’ our food systems. By modeling the near and far future impacts of climate change on crop production, we showed how climate will impact crop production under two crop production systems (agroecology and non-agroecology production systems). The overarching aim is to derive sustainable development strategies and lessons for policymakers and climate researchers - essential components of environment and Agricultural development. Using case studies from Nigeria, we observed that transitioning to agroecology, even at the farm level also transforms farm designs, thereby affecting their overall food and nutrition status. The result showed that the use of agroecology management practices not only reduces the impact of climate change in the near future but will also lead to increased crop yield in the future. The finding suggests that to feed the over 400 million projected population of Nigeria by 2050, the use of agroecological practices will be a better alternative to the conventional farming methods. To advance the use of agroecological farming methods, governments at every level in Nigeria need to mainstream organic agriculture in national government policies. This is important as it will not only address climate change impacts but also hunger and poverty.

Latin America and the Caribbean offer the most favorable natural and social conditions for the emergence of cattle ranching that regenerate and maintains the ecosystem services on which life on Earth depends, that is energy efficient and that contributes to meeting fundamental human food needs. Unlike other major global producers, cattle farming in Latin America and the Caribbean is fundamentally based on pasture. Therein lies both its strength (due to the regenerative potential of well-managed pastures) and its vulnerability (due to the pervasive link between deforestation and pasture formation, especially in the Amazon, where 40% of the Brazilian herd is concentrated). The diversification of pastures (today marked by impressive monotony, with brachiaria accounting for 85% of the species in Brazil), the introduction of legumes and tree plantations within them, and the proper management of herds, open the way to the possibility of drastically reducing the area currently occupied by the activity (especially in the Amazon) while maintaining the supply of its products. Agricultural research has disseminated forms of moderate intensification of cattle ranching, which represent a low opportunity cost of animal feed and, at the same time, regeneration of ecosystem services that have so far been destroyed by the prevailing methods of farming.

To identify soil microbial communities, it is essential to understand their phenotypic and genetic characteristics. Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) are bacteria capable of promoting plant growth. In addition, rhizobacteria also serve as biological control agents. In addition to fixing atmospheric nitrogen, solubilising insoluble phosphate and secreting hormones such as indoloacetic acid, kinetics and gibberellins, plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria help plants grow directly. Furthermore, they facilitate plant growth indirectly by inducing systemic resistance, siderophores, antibiotics, lytic enzymes, hydrogen cyanide production and stress regulation. This review examines in detail the direct and indirect mechanisms of PGPR action and their interaction in plant growth and resistance.

Agricultural intensification increased crop productivity but simplified production with lower diversity of cropping systems, higher genetic uniformity, and a higher uniformity of agricultural landscapes. Associated detrimental effects on the environment and biodiversity as well as the resilience and adaptability of cropping systems to climate change are of growing concern. Crop diversification may stabilize productivity of cropping systems and reduce negative environmental impacts and loss of biodiversity, but a shared understanding of crop diversification including approaches towards a more systematic research is lacking. The current review highlights the use of Cropping Systems Diversification as an Approach to Enhancing Crop Productivity. Crop diversification can be considered as an attempt to increase the diversity of crops through, e.g. crop rotation, multiple cropping or intercropping, compared to specialized farming with the aim to improve the productivity, stability and delivery of ecosystem services. It can be one measure to develop more sustainable production systems, develop value-chains for minor crops. Crop diversification practices can include higher crop diversity, more diverse crop, mixed cropping; cultivation of grain legumes in otherwise cereal dominated systems, perennial leys or grassland and regionally adapted varieties or variety mixtures. Crop diversification and/or additional diversification measures like variation of seeding time or changing cropping patterns have the potential to lead to higher and more stable yields, increase profitability and lead to greater resilience of agro-ecosystems in the long term. These practices have the potential to make cropping systems more diverse in space, time and genetics. Through a balanced portfolio approach to agricultural sustainability, cropping system performance can be optimized in multiple dimensions, including food and biomass production, profit, energy use, pest management, and environmental impacts.

Little is known about public knowledge of meat chicken production and how it influences attitudes to birds’ welfare and consumer behaviour. We interviewed 506 members of the public in SE Queensland, Australia, to investigate this. Knowledge was assessed from 15 questions, and low scores were supported by respondents’ self-assessed report of low knowledge levels and agreement that their knowledge was insufficient to form an opinion about which chicken products to purchase. Older respondents and single people without children were most knowledgeable. There was uncertainty about whether chicken welfare was adequate, particularly in those with little knowledge. There was also evidence that lack of empathy towards chickens related to lack of knowledge, since those that thought it very acceptable that some birds are inadequately stunned at slaughter had low knowledge scores. More knowledgeable respondents ate chicken more frequently and were less likely to buy products with accredited labelling. Approximately half of the respondents thought the welfare of the chicken to be more important than the cost. It is concluded that the public’s knowledge has an important connection to their attitudes and consumption of meat chickens. Respondents with little knowledge demonstrated that they had both lack of empathy and intolerance to religious slaughter practices.

In sustainable agriculture, plant nutrients are the most important elements. Biofertilizers introduce microorganisms that improve the soil nutrients and increase their accessibility to crops. In order to meet the demands of a growing population, healthy crops need to be produced using the right type of fertilizers to provide them with all the major nutrients they require. However, an increasing dependency on chemical fertilizers is destroying the environment and negatively af-fecting the health of humans. Thus, using microbes as bioinoculants as the best replacement of chemical fertilizers as eco-friendly way for plant growth and soil fertility is believed to be the best method for improving plant growth and soil fertility. In sustainable agriculture, these microbes provide significant benefits to crops. In addition to colonizing plant systems (epiphytic, endo-phytic, and rhizospheric), beneficial microbes play a key role in absorbing nutrients from surrounding ecosystems. Plant associate microbes can promote plant growth regardless of natural and extreme conditions. Plant growth promoting microbes promote plant growth through a variety of direct and indirect methods, such as nitrogen fixation, plant growth hormone production, siderophores, HCN, several hydrolytic enzymes, and potassium, zinc, and phosphorus solubilization. Research on biofertilizers has been extensive and even available, which demonstrates how these microbes can deliver nutrients to crops in sufficient quantities to enhance their yield. This review examines in detail the direct and indirect mechanisms of PGPR action and their interaction in plant growth and resistance.

Here we review and describe a set of research priorities to meet present and future challenges posed to farmed animal production that build on progress, successes and resources from the Functional Annotation of ANimal Genomes (FAANG) project.

Macadamia (Macadamia integrifolia) nuts have become an essential commodity crop in Malawi. The nuts are a lucrative commodity and are used for household consumption and income generation among farming families and as a foreign exchange earning crop at country-level. In addition, macadamia production has increased significantly in recent years in the country. Currently, Malawi is the seventh top producer of macadamia nuts, with a global market share of three percent (1,846 metric tonnes on kernel basis). In 2018, exports of macadamia kernel had a value of US$24.3 million (£19.8 million or MKW 18.01 billion). However, the bulk (85%) of the crop is grown on large commercial plantations, but the smallholder sector is emerging as vital for the future growth of the macadamia sub-sector in Malawi. Furthermore, Malawian smallholders consider macadamia production to be a low-input crop with large returns per unit area (US$14.37 kg^-1ha^-1 or MKW 10,701kg^-1ha^-1) thus a lucrative crop with high potential for poverty reduction and wealth creation among these farming families. This paper, therefore, explores: (i) the historical and current trends in macadamia nut production in Malawi; (ii) analyses the country’s macadamia value chain and (iii) discusses the constraints of macadamia production in Malawi for informed policymaking. Thus, the synthesis of the Malawian macadamia sub-sector provides an understanding of the vital contributions of macadamias to Malawi’s economic growth and improvement of livelihoods.

The Philippines is an archipelagic country composed of different indigenous cultural communities (ICCs) spread across various islands. Many of these Indigenous Peoples (IP) are marginalized and do not have access to common resources enjoyed in the lowland areas. An initial assessment focusing on the evaluation of their available livelihood and resources was conducted, in order to find common solutions to existing problems. The assessment took place at the office of the tribal council of Matigsalog in barangay Datu Salumay, Marilog District, Davao City from April 11 to 13, 2023. There were about 42 participants in total for Matigsalog tribes (26 men and 16 women) who attended the meeting and there were 15 participants from the Ata tribe (7 men and 8 women). Validation of the study separately took place through a brief presentation of the results before 15 members of the tribe and a hiking visit in their farmlands. The study determined the existing livelihoods in the two areas which are mainly agricultural, farming of crops (rice, corn, cassava, sweet potato) and fruit trees (coconut, banana, durian, jackfruit, pomelo) and the resources as well as the community’s knowledge, systems, and practices with regards to agricultural crops including climate change. Their sustainable farming practices include intercropping, seed-saving, and exchange practices, preserving these crop varieties and ensuring their availability for future planting seasons, no usage of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. To conclude, the tribe’s aspirations and resulting recommendations are summarized, to facilitate more directed and effective governmental assistance.

Variable nitrogen(N) rate fertilization based on remote sensing is challenging for cotton production fields, but active crop canopy sensors (ACS) appear as an alternative to make this practical on farm since they can be used at night as well. The crop spatial variability in inherent in crop production in general, and not on-the-go solutions can be used with this type of active sensing technologies. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate the potential of two vegetation indices to identify the N requirement variability for cotton plants and to develop prototype algorithms for topdressing nitrogen variable rate on commercial and experimental areas, using the N-sufficiency methodology based on virtual reference. The concept of virtual reference is to use a histogram to characterize the vegetation index of properly fertilized plants without establishing an N-rich plot as a reference strip. The experiment was conducted in strips with four different N rates (0, 45, 90 and 180 kgN ha^-1) during the 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 crop seasons in partnership with large cotton producers in Mato Grosso and also in experimental area of Embrapa Agrosilvopastoral. Two algorithms for variable rate nitrogen fertilization for cotton were developed, namely: 1) N recommendation algorithm for cotton in commercial production system: N rate (kg.N ha^-1) = -234.79 ISN² + 49,879 ISN + 195.15; R² = 0.97; and 2) for cotton grown in experimental area: N dose (kgN ha^-1) = -174.73 ISN² - 107.21 ISN + 306.78; R² = 0.94.

To increase rice production, fertilizer plays a crucial role in rice yield. In this research, we applied the coupled atmospheric and crop model, which is based on the WRF and CERES-Rice models, to find the appropriate nitrogen fertilizer level for increasing rice yield production in northern Thailand. The model was conducted from October to December in 2011 to 2015. To evaluate the model capability, the output from the model, including meteorological data, i.e., precipitation and temperature, and rice production, as compared to actual observation data. The modeling system shows an acceptable level of output for statistical examination; for example, the R² values were 0.93, 0.76, and 0.97 for precipitation, temperature, and rice production, respectively. To assess the optimization of the nitrogen fertilizer level, we designed 9 experiments: control cases and other cases that were multiplied by a factor of 2 – 10 times the nitrogen fertilizer levels. The model suggested that we can produce worthwhile rice yield production by approximately 4830 kg/ha if we increase the nitrogen fertilizer levels by 36 kg/ha.

Soybean (Glycine max L.) is a vital leguminous crop known for its rich nutritional profile, includ-ing high protein and oil content, making it a valuable resource in global agriculture and human nutrition. In Pakistan due to regulatory issues non-GMO soybean is grown therefore, the universal herbicide control method is not applicable. Similarly, for other crops, specific herbicides are avail-able but for soybean no crop specific herbicide is present. A comprehensive study was conducted over two growing seasons, in 2022 and 2023, at Agronomic Research Farm University of Agri-culture Faisalabad. The research involved 16 different treatments, including both six pre-emergence and eight post-emergence herbicides as well as a control group and weedy check. Findings of this study showed that critical importance of weed management in soybean cultiva-tion, as unchecked weed infestation can lead to substantial yield losses. Among the pre-emergence herbicide S-Metolachlor + Pendimethalin performed best and showed higher plant height (54.33 cm & 53.67 cm), 100 grain weight (11.57 g & 12 g), seed yield plant-1 (13.07 g and 12.87 g), lower Susceptibility Index (10%), higher weed control percentage (91.21% & 95.65%) higher weed con-trol efficiency (92.02% & 93.43%), herbicide efficiency index (27.54% & 32.48%) and lower weed index (18.16% & 21.70%) during 2022 and 2023 respectively. However, in post emergence herbi-cide the Fluizefop-p-butyl is most effective herbicide due to less crop injury 10% Susceptibility In-dex, higher plant height (42.67 cm & 44 cm), whole plant weight (93.33 g & 95 g), 100-grain weight (11.40 g & 11.77 g), seed yield plant-1 (12.87 g & 13.13 g), higher weed control percentage (91.12% & 91.03%) higher weed control efficiency (89.73% & 92.36%, herbicide efficiency index (21.18% & 30.41%) and lower weed index (19.42% & 20.08%) in both 2022 and 2023 respectively. Notably, herbicides such as S-Metolachlor + Atrazine + Mesotrione, Topramezone, Mesosulfu-ron-methyl + Iodosulfuron-methyl sodium and Mesotrione + Atrazine led to complete plant mor-tality, resulting lethal to soybean. The findings of this study support the hypothesis that screened the best suitable herbicides with less plant injury, and higher efficiency index. So, it is recom-mended that the application of S-Metolachlor + Pendimethalin as PRE and Fluizefop-p-butyl as POST showed the least injury and best weed control results with higher grain yield.

Microbial communities play a key role in sustainable agriculture. However, we still need more in-formation, to understand the complex response of the microbial community to long-term organic farming, which aims to reduce synthetic fertilizer and pesticide use in order to produce sustainably and improve soil quality. We have assessed the long-term effect of two organic cropping systems and a conventional system on the microbial soil community structure using high-throughput se-quencing analysis. We analyzed the link between these communities and changes in soil properties and crop yield. Results showed that the crop yield was similar among the three cropping systems. Soil properties, such as total organic carbon, nitrogen, ammonium, magnesium and boron, influ-enced changes in the bacterial community structure. A linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe) showed different bacteria and fungi as key microorganism of each of the three different cropping systems, in addition, our results reflected that fungal community were more sensitive than bacteria to cropping system. This research provides an insight about changes occurred in soils, especially in microbial communities considering the effect of that changes in crop yield which were remained stable among the different cropping systems.

RNA-guided genomic transcriptional regulation tools, namely Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats interference (CRISPRi) and CRISPR-mediated gene activation (CRISPRa), are a powerful technology for the field of functional genomics. Deriving from the CRISPR/Cas9 system, both systems comprise a catalytically dead Cas9 (dCas9) and a single guide RNA (sgRNA). This type of dCas9 is incapable of cleaving DNA but retains its ability to specifically bind to DNA. The binding of the dCas9/sgRNA complex to a target gene results in transcriptional interference. The CRISPR/dCas9 system has been explored as a tool for transcriptional modulation and genome imaging. Despite its potential applications and benefits, the challenges and limitations faced by the CRISPR/dCas9 system include the off-target effects, PAM sequence requirement, efficient delivery methods, and the CRISPR/dCas9-interfered crops being labeled as genetically modified organisms in several countries. This review highlights the progression of CRISPR/dCas9 technology as well as its applications and potential challenges in crop improvement.

Many farms are replacing the lighting with light emitting diode (LED) bulbs because of the technological modernization. We aimed to investigate the effects of incandescent light (IL) and LED lighting on Cobb500 broiler chickens for six weeks. Production parameters (body weight, feed consumption, feed conversion ratio), calculated slaughter values (yield%, relative breast%, thigh%) and breast meat quality parameters (pH at 45 min and 24 h postmortem, color, drip loss, kitchen equipment losses, shear force, meat composition) were recorded. Non-stop recordings were used to analyze the behavior of the birds in several periods of the rearing. LED group was significantly better in body weigh parameter between week 1-5 and feed conversion ratio between week 2-3. The most significant difference in behavior was observed in the middle of the rearing period. The chickens in the LED group spent more eating time, drinking time, interacting, and resting less. There was no difference in the meat quality parameters, only shear force was significantly lower in the LED group (1781.95±0.33 g/s vs. 2098.82±0.42 g/s). Based on our results, LED lighting can bring positive changes in animal production efficiency, behavior, and important characteristics for meat consumers.

The article presents comparative results from 5 categories of animals (4 samples originating from pigs, 2 from cows, 1 from chicken, 1 from ostriches, 1 from horses, samples quantified with A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I). These samples were collected from large, medium and small (family) farms. The results were validated by the biogas production generated by the respective samples, using the Automatic Methane Potential Test System (AMPTS II) bio-processor. The largest amounts of biogas (2,464.5 Nml, 2,262.0 Nml) were recorded for the samples from pig farms (Sample B and Sample D), whereas the lowest values were obtained in the case of Sample A (414.1 Nml) and Sample C (558.3 Nml). The heavy metals analyzed in the article are Zn, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ca, K, As. The results corroborate that the C/N ratio can also vary to values lower than 20-30, without affecting the biogas production process, and the heavy metal content must be known especially for the full management of the wastes. All final data presented in the article are based on repeated, triplicate experiments, with less as 2% deviation between data.

This study investigates the long-term impact of soil tillage systems and crop residue incorporation on agrophysical properties. A long-term field experiment has been conducted since 1999 at the Ex-perimental Station of Vytautas Magnus University Agriculture Academy. According to the latest edition of the International Soil Classification System, the soil in the experimental field was classified as Planosol, with a silty medium loam texture at a depth of 0–20 cm and a silty light loam at a depth of 20–40 cm. This investigation aimed to assess the long-term impact of reduced tillage systems, straw, and green manure combinations on soil physical properties, including soil shear strength, and soil aggregate stability. Studies were carried out on winter wheat crops in 2014, 2017, and 2023. The treatments were arranged using a split-plot design. In a two-factor field experiment, one part of the experimental field had straw removed, while the other part had the entire straw yield chopped and spread at harvest (Factor A). The subplot factor (Factor B) included three different tillage sys-tems: conventional deep ploughing, cover cropping for green manure with no-till, and no-tillage. Soil samples were analysed in the Laboratory of Agrobiology at Vytautas Magnus University Ag-riculture Academy. The findings indicate that long-term application of reduced tillage significantly increases soil shear strength. Shallower tillage depths lead to higher soil shear strength, while the effect of spreading plant residues is relatively lower. Long-term tillage of different intensities, spreading plant residues, and catch crop cultivation for green manure did not significantly affect soil structure. However, soil structural stability was found to be highly dependent on soil tillage. Cover cropping for green manure with no-till and no-tillage positively affected soil aggregate sta-bility in the upper (0–10 cm) and 10–25 cm layers.

Accurate prediction of crop production is essential in effectively managing agricultural countries' food security and economic resilience. This study evaluates the performance of statistical and machine learning-based methods for large-scale crop production forecasting. We predict the quarterly production of 325 crops (including fruits, vegetables, cereals, non-food, and industrial crops) across 83 provinces in the Philippines. Using a comprehensive dataset of 10,949 time series over 13 years, we demonstrate that a global forecasting approach using a state-of-the-art deep learning architecture, the transformer, significantly outperforms traditional local forecasting approaches built on statistical and baseline methods. By leveraging cross-series information, our proposed way is scalable and works well even with time series that are short, sparse, intermittent, or exhibit structural breaks/regime shifts. The results of this study further advance the field of applied forecasting in agricultural production and provide a practical and effective decision-support tool for policymakers that oversee the farm sector on a national scale.

Food security relies mainly on a few major crop such as wheat, maize, rice and yam. Many of the cultivated plant such as Cyperus exculentus are still considered invasive plants and are neglected and underutilized. In the perspective to valorization of the species, this systematic review aimed at identifying the biology, production constraints and uses of tigernut for future research directions. Extensive searches were carried out and studies were screened and extracted using established systematic review methods. A total of 175 papers met the inclusion criteria. Approximately 52% and 21.71% of the studies were undertaken in Europe and Africa respectively. Most of the papers reviewed for the study were published between [2010-2015[. The review highlighted the critical research gaps in genetic diversity using SSR makers and evolutionary biology. Further, production constraints and solution approaches for the promotion of the species were the other gaps identified in the reviewed studies. Production constraints were specifically related to the insufficient mineral fertilizers and difficult in harvesting. Tigernut is used in more fields such as food, medicinal, cosmetic, biofuel and fishing and fish breeding. Such investigations would help in decision-making and elaboration of breeding strategies, and advancing steps towards sustainable use of the species.

Pasture-based production systems are predominant in major beef-producing countries, however, these systems lack validated protocols to assess animal welfare under commercial conditions. The objective of this study was to validate an animal welfare protocol for fattening Zebu cattle farms in tropical pasture systems. The initial protocol was developed with the participation of producers, professionals, the general public, and the Colombian health authority, through workshops with a participatory approach and collaborative knowledge management. The validation was carried out in 24 pasture-based commercial Zebu cattle farms in the middle Magdalena region of Colombia. Visits were made with an average duration of 2.5 hours, which included the evaluation of 788 fattening cattle. The protocol evaluated animal-based, resource-based, and livestock management indicators through a questionnaire-guided interview to evaluate cattle handling and health, animal-based measurements, and documentation management. A protocol validation process was carried out by selecting indicators that remained unchanged, adjusting those that were feasible to implement, and eliminating inadequate or unnecessary indicators. The application of the protocol demonstrated that there are valid and feasible measures to include in the evaluation protocols of pasture-based fattening systems. Likewise, the active participation of producers is crucial to achieving a greater commitment to the implementation of this protocol.

Tillage has been reported to induce seasonal changes of organic carbon (Сmicro) and nitrogen (Nmicro) in biomass of microorganisms. Soil microorganisms execute such ecosystem functions as: it is an immediate sink of labile biophil elements; it is an agent of a conversion, catalysis and synthesis of humus substances; it transforms soil contaminants into non-hazardous wastes; it participates in soil aggregation and pedogenesis as a whole. However, the seasonal turnover of microorganisms on arable lands in temperate ecosystems has not been investigated on a relevant level. Hence, we aimed to study the dynamics of such soil microbial biomass patterns as: Сmicro, Nmicro, microbial index (MI = (Сmicro/CTOC)·100, %) and CO2-C emission on the background of 9 years of tillage and 22 years of abandoned (Ab) and fallow (F) usage. Our study was conducted on a long-term experimental site on a Mollisol in the northeast China. The maximum Сmicro and Nmicro content was found: at the beginning of the growing season – in 0-10-; in mid-July – in 20-40 cm layers, while the minimum – in August-October. The Сmicro content ranged from 577.79- and 381.79 mg-1 kg-1 under Ab in spring to 229.53- and 272.86 mg-1 kg-1 in autumn under CT (conventional tillage) and F in 0-10- and 10-20 cm layers, respectively. The amplitude of Nmicro content changes was several times lower comparatively to Сmicro. The smallest quartile range (IQR0.25-0.75) of such changes was under: no-till (NT) and Ab in 0-10-, NT and F – in 10-20- and CT - in 20-40 cm layers. The widest Сmicro : Nmicro ratio was found at F and CT – in 0-20- and CT and rotational tillage (Rot) – in 20-40 cm layers. MI dynamics resembled the trends of Сmicro and Nmicro and changed from 0.72  0.168- tо 2.00  0,030 %. The highest part of Сmicro in CTOC was at Ab (1.82  1.85 %) and NT (1.66  1.52 %) – in 0-10-; Ab (1.23  1.27 %) and NT (1.29  1.32 %) – in 10-20- and – Ab (1.19  1.09 %) and F (1.11  1.077 %) – in 20-40 cm layers, correspondingly. The Pearson’s correlation coefficient between Сmicro and CTOC increased from the upper 0-10- to the lower 20-40 cm layer, it was "strong" and "high" between Сmicro and CTOC. Different use of Mollisol affected the amplitude of Сmicro and Nmicro seasonal changes, but it didn’t change their trend. Our results suggest the key role of Ab and NT technologies in Сmicro accumulation in total organic carbon (TOC).

The use of swine manure as a source of plant nutrients is one alternative to synthetic fertilizers. However, conventional manure application with >90% water and a low C:N ratio results in soil C loss to the atmosphere. Our hypothesis was to use biochar as a manure nutrient stabilizer that would slowly release nutrients to plants upon biochar-swine manure mixture application to soil. The objectives were to evaluate the impact of biochar-treated swine manure on soil total C, N, and plant-available macro and micronutrients in greenhouse-cultivated corn (Zea mays L.) and soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.). Neutral pH red oak (RO), highly alkaline autothermal corn stover (HAP), and mild acidic Fe-treated autothermal corn stover (HAPE) biomass were pyrolyzed to prepare biochars. Each biochar was surface-applied to swine manure at a 1:4 (biochar wt/manure wt) ratio to generate mixtures of manure and respective biochars (MRO, MHAP, and MHAPE). Conventional manure (M) control and manure-biochar mixtures were then applied to the soil at a recommended rate. Corn and soybean were grown under these controls and treatments (S, M, MRO, MHAP, and MHAPE) to evaluate the manure-biochar impact on soil quality, plant biomass yield, and nutrient uptake. Soil OM significantly (<0.05) increased in all manure-biochar treatments; however, no change in soil pH or N was observed under any treatment. No difference in soil ammonium between treatments was identified. There was a significant decrease in soil M3-P and soil NO₃^- for all manure-biochar treatments compared to the conventional M. However, the plant biomass nutrient concentrations were not significantly different from control manure. Moreover, an increasing trend of N and decreasing trend of P in the plant under all biochar-manure treatments than the controls were noted. This observation suggests that the presence of biochar is capable of influencing the soil N and P in such a way as not to lose those nutrients at the early growth stages of the plant. In general, no statistical difference in corn or soybean biomass yield and plant nutrient uptake for N, P, and K was observed. Interestingly, manure-biochar application to soil significantly diluted the M3-extractable soil Cu and Zn concentrations. The results attribute that manure-biochar has the potential to be a better soil amendment than conventional manure application to the soil.

Here, we critically evaluate the communication and integrative mechanisms in ctenophores or comb jellies, the descendants of the earliest animal lineage. Ctenophores convergently evolved their neuro-muscular systems compared to other animals. Besides the canonical neural organization with distinct synapses, recent 3D electron microscopy reconstruction revealed unique syncytial-type connectivity in some neuronal populations, providing additional support for the independent origins of neurons in ctenophores. Furthermore, it was proposed that non-synaptic transmission is the distinct characteristic of ctenophores, in contrast to other metazoans and Cajal’s neuronal doctrine, highlighting Golgi’s reticular theory. However, the astonishing diversity and higher information capacity of classical synapses and volume transmission indicate that chemical signaling is the hallmark of neural and other integrative systems regardless of their origins.

The rice-wheat rotation is the dominant cropping system in Bihar, where food security of the rural population depends heavily on the production of rice and wheat. In Bihar, climatic shocks induced by low temperatures and terminal heat stress can significantly affect rice and wheat yields. The present work evaluates the benefit of using the monsoon onset as the date for planting rice in reducing thermal stress on rice-wheat systems. High-resolution gridded crop simulations using the APSIM model were performed to simulate potential yields of rice and wheat using the monsoon onset and the farmers’ practice as planting dates. The monsoon onset was calculated using an agronomic definition and farmers’ practice dates were estimated using satellite data. Model outputs were analyzed in terms of planting dates, yields, and the incidence of low temperature stress on rice and high temperature stress on wheat by means of the APSIM yields limiting factors. The results show that the rice planting and harvest dates using the monsoon onset are in general 20-30 days earlier, decreasing the incidence of thermal stress in rice and wheat, and generating higher and more stable yields. These results can help design mitigation strategies for the impacts of climate shocks induced by low and high temperature events in the context of the advances in sub-seasonal and seasonal forecasting, targeting climate services for farmers in Bihar.

Internet of Things (IoT) technologies can greatly benefit from machine learning techniques and Artificial Neural Networks for data mining and vice versa. In the agricultural field, this convergence could result in the development of smart farming systems suitable for use as decision support systems by peasant farmers. This work presents the design of a smart farming system for crop production, which is based on low-cost IoT sensors and popular data storage services and data analytics services on the Cloud. Moreover, a new data mining method exploiting climate data along with crop production data is proposed for the prediction of production volume from heterogeneous data sources. This method was initially validated using traditional machine learning techniques and open historical data of the northeast region of the state of Puebla, Mexico, which were collected from data sources from the National Water Commission and the Agri-food Information Service of the Mexican Government.

Waste recovery is an important aspect towards human and environmental health protection. Unfortunately, proper food waste management is among the serious challenges in the field of solid waste management worldwide. Therefore, it is of great importance to conduct studies towards achieving efficient and cost-effective approaches for food waste management. This study investigated the potential of recovering food waste through maggots’ production as animal feed. The influence of fly attractant application on maggot production was also investigated. The study also investigated the potential of maggot production for waste recovery and reduction. Four different types of food waste (starch food leftovers, rotten bananas and peels, rotten pineapple and peels, and rotten oranges) were used in the investigation process. From the results, it was observed that the application of fly attractants had a significant effect on the production of maggots as determined by the weights after harvesting. Average weight of 94 g/kg of maggot was achieved from banana materials with an application of fly attractant during the 8th day of the cultivation; which is equivalent to a 32.4% increase from the same day when the material was cultured without applying fly attractant. Also, from the starch materials, about 77 g/kg of maggot weight was achieved; which is a 54.6% increase from the same day and the same material but without application of fly attractant. Moreover, the relative dry weight reduction in the trials varied from 52.5% to 82.4%.

A field experiment was conducted for determination of crop coefficient (KC) and water stress coefficient (Ks) for wheat crop under different salinity levels, during 2015-16. Complete randomized block design of five treatments were considered, i.e., 0.51 dS/m (fresh water) as a control treatment and other four saline water treatments (4, 6, 8 and 10 dS/m), for S1, S2, S3 and S4 with three replications. The results revealed that the water consumed by plants during the different crop growth stages follows the order of FW>S1>S2>S3>S4 salinity levels. According to the obtained results, the calculated values of crop coefficients significantly differed from those suggested by FAO No.56 for the crops. The Ks values clearly differ from one stage to another because the salt stress causes both osmotic stress, due to a decrease in the soil water potential, and ionic stress which the average values of water stress coefficient (Ks) follows this order; FW(1.0)=S1(1.0)>S2(1.0)>S3(0.93)>S4(0.82). Overall, it was found the differences are attributed primarily to specific cultivar, the changes in local climatic conditions and seasonal differences in crop growth patterns. Thus, further studies are essential to determine the crop coefficient values under different variables, to make the best management practice (BMP) in agriculture.

A comprehensive investigation was undertaken at Vytautas Magnus University Experimental Station, located at 54°52’50” N latitude and 23°49’41” E longitude on soil (Epieutric Endocalcaric Planosol – PLe-gln-w) since 1999, to understand the impacts of different agrotechnical measures on soil health and crop yield. Two primary factors were assessed. Factor A incorporated practices of straw removal versus straw chopping and spreading, while Factor B evaluated a spectrum of tillage techniques: conventional deep ploughing, shallow ploughing, ploughless tillage, single seedbed discing, and two no-tillage practices, one of which involved cover crops. Findings from this long-term study highlight the significant potential of specific farming systems in enhancing soil organic carbon. It has a positive effect on the release of CO2 emissions from the soil, thus promoting soil resilience and increasing plant productivity. These insights are paramount in devising sustainable agricultural strategies to counter the challenges of climate change on agroecosystems. This research showcases the profound effects of combining residue management and tillage practices, setting a novel standard for sustainable soil management of climatic uncertainties.

Crop production is a major livelihood activity of smallholders in Ethiopia. However, it is often characterized by low performance. In an effort to improve crop production, a series of agricultural extension programs have been running in Ethiopia since the 1950s. Nevertheless, the performance of agriculture is still low. In this study, it is argued that the limited attention given to cropland allocation methodologies is one of the major causes of low performance of crop production and increased environmental degradation. This study used linear programming to examine the role and impacts of cropland allocation methods on performance of crop production. The data for this study was drawn from household survey of 75 randomly selected households combined with focus-grouped discussion, key informant interview, and secondary data. In the current conventional cropland allocation, households were not able to meet their household consumption. The average profitability of farms under current practice was found significantly below than estimated optimal level of profit that could be realized using linear programming. In addition, it uncovered that low performance of crop production (in terms of meeting household consumption demand and profitability) is the primary cause that limited the effort of households to participate in environmental and natural resource management. This study suggests the use of linear programming-based cropland allocation to enhance the profit performance of smallholder crop production, meeting household consumption requirement, and thereby promote sustainable utilization of natural and environmental resources.

A proposed animal welfare assessment protocol for semi-arid rangeland-based cow-calf systems in Namibia combined 40 measures from a protocol developed for beef cattle in New Zealand with additional Namibia-specific measures. Preliminary validation of the protocol had been undertaken with five herds in one semi-commercial village. The aim of the current study was to apply this protocol and compare animal welfare across three cow-calf production systems in Namibia. A total of 2529 beef cows were evaluated during pregnancy testing in the yards of 17 commercial, 20 semi-commercial and 18 communal (total: 55) herds followed by an assessment of farm resources and a questionnaire-guided interview. Non-parametric tests were used to evaluate the difference in the welfare scores between the production systems. The results indicated a discrepancy of animal welfare between the three farm types, with a marked separation of commercial farms from semi-commercial, and communal village farms in the least. The differences in these production systems was mainly driven by economic gains through access to better beef export market for commercial farms and semi-commercial villages, as well as by the differences in the available grazing land, facility designs/quality and traditional customs in the village systems. The results indicate an advantage of commercialisation over communalisation.

Satellite Crop Detection technologies are focused on detection of different types of crops on the field in the early stage before harvesting. Crop detection is usually done on a time series of satellite data by classification of the desired fields. Currently, data obtained from Remote Sensing (RS) are used to solve tasks related to the identification of the type of agricultural crops, also modern technologies using AI methods are desired in the postprocessing part. In this challenge Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 time series data were used due to their periodic availability. Our focus was to develop methodology for classification of time series of Sentinel 2 and Sentinel 1 data and compare how accuracy of classification can be increased, but also how to guarantee availability of data. We analyse phenology of single crops and on the basis of this analysis we started to provide crop classification. Original crop classifications were made from Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) layers made from Sentinel-2 time-series data and then we added also . To increase accuracy we also integrate into the process parcel borders and provide classification of fields..

This study evaluated five annual and eleven perennial Indian pasture legumes species for their nutritive value, dry matter, mineral contents and in vitro fermentation parameters, aiming to boost their potential as animal feed. Legume species significantly differed (p<0.05) in organic matter, crud protein (CP), ether extracts, fibres, and protein fractions. Clitoria ternatea (CT) a perennial had higher (p<0.05) buffer soluble protein (477), while neutral detergent soluble protein was highest in annually grown Lablab purpureus (420 g/kg CP). Atylosia scarabaeoides (AS) had higher NSC (392 g/kg DM) than SC (367 g/kg DM). Rapidly degradable fraction (51.7 g/kg tCHO) was lower (p<0.05) than other fractions of carbohydrate. Total digestible nutrients, digestible energy and metabolisable energy varied and values were higher for Desmenthus virgatus and lowest for Stylosanthas seabrana (SSe). The NE values for lactation (NEL), maintenance (NEM) and gain (NEG) were also higher for DV (6.6, 7.95 and 4.28) and lowest for SSe (3.54, 4.24 and 0.58 kJ/g DM), respectively. dry matter intake, digestible DM (DDM) and relative feed value of legumes differed (p<0.05) with mean values of 2.22% body weight, 592 g/kg DM and 102%, respectively. Annual grasses like Dolichos biflorus, Macroptilium atropurpureum, Rhynchosia minima (RM) were found better with micro minerals compared to other perennials. In vitro dry matter degradability, partition factor, short chain fatty acids and microbial protein production of legumes varied (P<0.05) and mean values were 578 g/kg DM, 5.61 mg DDM/mL, 2.42 mm/g and 352 mg/g, respectively. Gas and CH4 production (mL/g and mL/g DDM) varied (p<0.05) being lowest gas from AS (55.5) and highest from CT-blue (141), while CH4 production was lower (p<0.05) from CT-white and AS (8.24 and 9.14) and higher from Arachis glabrata (AG) and Arachis hagenbackii (AH) (15.2 and 15.1). Methane in total gas was low for DV, RM and CT-w (8.99, 9.72 and 9.51%) and loss of DE and ME as CH4 varied (P<0.05) amongst the legumes with mean values of 4.62 and 7.86%, respectively. Based on these findings, each legume offers unique benefits, allowing for tailored combinations of annual and perennial legumes to optimize rumen feed efficiency.

Crop disease classification has always been a critical and persistent problem in the field of agricultural and forestry sciences, where often we do not have access to a sufficient number of samples to know the distribution of real-world samples. How to make full use of the existing data is the starting point of our thinking. To address this problem, this paper proposes a supervised image augmentation method Negative Contrast, which uses the contrast images of existing disease samples after removing disease areas as negative samples for image augmentation when samples are relatively scarce. Numerous experiments have shown that several classical models using this augmentation method have improved in disease classification of four crops, rice, wheat, corn, and soybean, with a maximum accuracy improvement of 30.8%. In addition, the comparative analysis of attentional heat map shows that the model using Negative Contrast is more accurate and intense on the area of interest of diseases, and thus reflects better generalization ability in real-world disease classification. Our dataset and codes can be found in https://www.kaggle.com/datasets/w970704112/corn-wheat-rice-soybean and https://github.com/hiter0/contrastaug .

This study was carried out at Kita-mura near Bibai located in central Hokkaido, Japan, with the intention of investigating the effects of different agronomical managements on CH4 emissions from paddy fields on mineral soil over peat under farmers’ actual management conditions in the snowy temperate region. Four fields were studied, including two fields with twice drainage (D1-M and D2-M) and also a single-drainage field (D3-S) under single-cropping yr-1 and a paddy-fallow-paddy crop rotation as their systems. The other field was under single cropping yr-1 with continuous flooding (CF-R) in the pattern of soybean (upland crop)-fallow-paddy. The mineral-soil thickness of these soil-dressed peatland fields varied from 20 to 47 cm. The amount of crop residues leftover in the fields ranged from 277 to 751 g dry matter m−2. Total CH4 emissions ranged from 25.3 to 116 g CH4-C m−2 per growing season. There was a significant relationship between crop-residue carbon (C) and total CH4 emissions during the rice-growing season. This study, therefore, CH4 fluxes from paddy soils in that there was a strong interaction between readily available C source for methanogens and anaerobic conditions created by water management. Despite the differences in water regime and soil type, the average values of straw’s efficiency on CH4 production in this study were significantly higher than those of southern Japan and statistically identical with central Hokkaido. Our results suggest that the environmental conditions of central Hokkaido in association with crop-residue management had a significant influence on CH4 emission from paddy fields on mineral soil over peat. Rotation soybean (upland)-to-paddy followed by drainage twice practices also largely reduces CH4 emission. However, mineral-soil dressing on peat could have a significant impact to suppress CH4 emission from beneath the peat reservoir.

Panic disorder (PD) is characterized by recurrent and uncontrollable panic attacks associated with behavioral changes and/or persistent anxiety due to the attacks. The development of behavioral models in animals is important for the understanding of the psychobiological and behavioral bases of PD. The present article reviews the main models used in the current literature. Biobehavioral assays used in rats and mice include fear conditioning (which presents moderate predictive, face, and construct validities); the elevated T-maze (which presents good predictive validity, but low face and construct validities); electrical stimulation of the periaqueductal gray (which presents good face validity, but moderate construct validity); predator exposure models (which present good predictive and moderate construct validity); and hypercapnia-induced responses (which present moderate construct validity). These three approaches seek coherence with theories on fear as a way to increase its translational potential; thus, while the elevated T-maze is supported by the Deakin/Graeff theory, the mouse defense test battery relies on the concept of defensive distance, and periaqueductal gray stimulation is based on the functional neuroanatomy of fear. Moreover, to higher or lower degree the three models are supported by an “etho-experimental” approach, with careful observation of animal behavior as a way of discriminating different defensive strategies that model different aspects of anxiety, fear, and panic. These assays can be used, in conjunction with independent variables that attempt to simulate the vulnerabilities and stressors which lead to panic attacks, to produce true models of PD. Finally, an alternative/complementary model is proposed that uses zebrafish alarm reaction to study this disorder.

Companion animals play a central role in many families and are especially valued by those who are socially isolated. Crisis situations such as acute hospitalizations, homelessness and natural disasters can make it difficult to preserve the human-animal bond and can result in animals being surrendered or euthanized. Social support programs like the RSPCA NSW Emergency Boarding and Homelessness program support people experiencing crisis situations with emergency pet boarding, access veterinary treatment and individualized case management. This study aimed to estimate the social return on investment (SROI) for this program using standard SROI methodology. In-depth interviews were conducted with 13 program stakeholders and questionnaire responses were received from 29 program clients. Outcomes were quantified for four stakeholder groups: program clients, client’s animals, RSPCA Inspectors, animal pounds and shelters. Clients and their animals experienced the bulk of the benefit from the program, estimated to have a combined value of over $5 million AUD for the 2020-21 financial year. The estimated social return on investment was $8.21 for each $1 invested. The study demonstrates that keeping people together with their companion animals, or ensuring they are reunited as soon as possible, can reduce stressors, and improve outcomes for people and animals.

Animal-assisted interventions (AAI) use human-animal interactions to positive effect in various contexts including cancer care. This systematic literature review is the first part of a two-part paper series focusing on the research methods and quantitative results of AAI studies in oncology. We find methodological consistency in the use of canines as therapy animals, in the types of high-risk patients excluded from studies, and in the infection precautions taken with therapy animals throughout cancer wards. The investigated patient endpoints are not significantly affected by AAI, with the exceptions of improvements in oxygen consumption, quality of life, depression, mood, and satisfaction with therapy. The AAI field in oncology has progressed significantly since its inception and has great potential to positively impact future patient outcomes. To advance the field, AAI research in oncology should consistently improve the methodological design of studies, report data more completely, and focus on the therapy animal’s well-being.

The impact of long-term soil and crop management practices on soil biological and chemical properties in oilseed brassica-based production systems were deliberated for holistic soil health improvement in the present study. Different tillage, crop residue re-cycling and cropping systems were studied for 5-years in 0-15 and 15-30 cm soil profiles. No-till permanent beds with crop residue (PB+R) noticeably improved soil organic carbon (SOC), microbial biomass carbon (MBC), enzymes [dehydrogenase (DHA) and alkaline phosphatase (AlP)], nitrogen fractions (available, nitrate and total), and available phosphorus and potassium content in both the soil layers compared to conventional tillage without crop residues. Though, the plow soil layer (0-15 cm) showed higher concentration of soil carbon, enzymes, N fractions and available P than in the sub soil (15-30 cm). The dynamic soil biological and chemical properties were also varied with the crop stage, and recorded higher MBC at 30 days, SOC and enzymatic activities at 60 days, and N fractions and available P and K at harvest of mustard crop. Green gram-mustard rotation showed higher values of biological and chemical parameters. Thus, the legume-based mustard crop rotation following no-till permanent beds and residue re-cycling found holistic in improving soil health, and nutrient cycling.

We live in the world that is completely entangled on energy and thus, Humankind can no longer do without it, power. With electricity being the main form of energy today, this has increased the complexity of our life today. In Uganda, electricity generation is mainly through hydropower which put the country in the bottleneck of over dependence on one source of energy. Yet, there are many energy systems out there that country can diversify its electricity generation. Therefore, the need to understand, the level of development and utilization of various energy systems has been the underlying question for this present study. Comprehensive literature survey was conducted from the electronic databases including ScienceDirect, Wiley, Sage, Scopus, Taylor & Francis, and Google Scholar. The publications in form of reports, conference papers, working papers, discussion papers, journal articles, book sections and textbooks were considered in this study. In total, 11 energy systems including human and animal energy, solid biomass (firewood), hydropower, wind, geothermal, solar, nuclear, peat, coal, petroleum, and non-solid biomass (methanol, hydrogen, ethanol, biodiesel, and biogas) are described. The current and the future development and utilization of these energy systems has been described. The challenges with their development and utilization were elaborated and the solution the challenges were presented. The hydropower with River Nile being the main river for large hydropower plant construction is the dominance energy system in Uganda. Nuclear energy will be the salvation for the country’s electric energy supply in the near future. Therefore, Uganda needs to bet big on nuclear energy.

Animal-assisted interventions (AAI) are a unique class of complementary medical treatments that can improve a patient’s quality of life, both physically and psychologically. Part I of this two-paper systematic literature review series focused on the study methods and quantitative results of researchers in this field. We continue this in-depth review here in Part II by discussing the common theories associated with AAI in the context of cancer. Of all the factors at work in human-animal interactions, researchers explicitly cite compatible animal personality, physical touch, physical movement, distraction/entertainment, and increased human interaction as the mechanisms responsible for the positive clinical outcomes observed in AAI. In various combinations, these mechanisms group under broader theoretical frameworks that attempt to fully explain the AAI context as it relates to cancer care. The social support hypothesis and the conception of a human-animal bond are the most referenced overarching frameworks. The cognitive activation theory of stress, the science of unitary human beings, and the self-object hypothesis are also referenced. We briefly consider other relevant theories commonly noted in the human-animal interactions literature that have the potential to clarify aspects of cancer-related AAI. We also discuss the neurobiological transduction mechanisms needed to connect theoretical frameworks and their mechanisms directly to the observed clinical outcomes. To advance the field, researchers should consider overarching theories with testable hypotheses when designing studies, and use consistent terminology when reporting results. This review lays a foundation for progress towards a unified theoretical framework and for effective treatment of the whole cancer patient.

The importance of irrigation in boosting agricultural production and productivity is widely understood. Proper planning and effective and efficient management and operation of irrigation system require crop and site-specific data. Since the last few years, Ethiopia has embarked on expansion of irrigated wheat. However, crop-specific data useful for irrigation planning and management for wheat crop is limited. The objective of this research was to determine water requirements and crop coefficients for wheat crops based on field measurements. The research was carried out at the Debre Zeit Agricultural Research Center in central Ethiopia during the dry season (Bega) of 2021/22. The crop considered for the experiment was durum wheat of the Utuba variety. Two non-weighing lysimeter units were employed to measure the water balance components. The soil moisture was monitored using gravimetric method on daily basis conducted both before and after each irrigation event at various depth intervals. The crop required a total of 115 days to fully mature. The length of the growth of initial, development, mid, and late stages were about 20, 30, 42, and 23 days, respectively. Microsoft Excel was used for the data analysis and the CropWAT8.0 model to estimate the reference evapotranspiration. Crop evapotranspiration (ETc) was determined using the water balance equation, and crop coefficients were computed from ETc and reference evapotranspiration (ETo). The results indicate that the total seasonal water requirement of the crop was 392.75mm. The growth stage-based water requirement was 40.35 mm, 82.44 mm, 238.66 mm, and 31.3 mm during the initial, development, mid, and late growing stages, respectively. For the initial, development, mid, and late stages of wheat growth, the crop coefficient was calculated to be 0.51, 0.83, 1.29, and 0.52, respectively. It was found that a fourth-degree polynomial equation fits well and explains the relationship between day of growth stage and kc of the crop. Although a one-season measurement, the results generated here could be useful for crop-specific data in scarce areas.

Emotions or affective states recognition in farm animals is an underexplored research domain. Despite significant advances in the animal welfare research, the animal affective computing through the development and application of devices and platforms that can not only recognize but interpret and process the emotions, are in nascent stage. By capitalizing on the immense potential of biometric sensors, the artificial intelligence enabled big data methods substantially offers advancement of animal welfare standards and meet the urgent need of caretakers to respond effectively to maintain the wellbeing of their animals. Farm animals, numbering over 70 billion worldwide, are increasingly managed in large-scale, intensive farms. With both public awareness and scientific evidence growing that farm animals experience suffering, as well as affective states such as fear, frustration and distress, there is an urgent need to develop efficient and accurate methods for monitoring their welfare. At present, there are no scientifically validated ‘benchmarks’ for quantifying transient emotional (affective) states in farm animals, and no established measures of good welfare, only indicators of poor welfare, such as injury, pain and fear. Conventional approaches to monitoring livestock welfare are time consuming, interrupt farming processes and involve subjective judgments. Biometric sensors data enabled by Artificial Intelligence are an emerging smart solution to unobtrusively monitoring livestock, but their potential for quantifying affective states and groundbreaking solutions in their application are yet to be realized. This review provides innovative methods for collecting big data on farm animal emotions, which can be used to train artificial intelligence models to classify, quantify and predict affective states in individual pigs and cows. Extending this to the group level, social network analysis can be applied to model emotional dynamics and contagion among animals. Finally, ‘digital twins’ of animals capable of simulating and predicting their affective states and be-havior in real time are a near-term possibility.

Light enables vision and exerts widespread effects on physiology and behaviour, including regulating circadian rhythms, sleep, hormone synthesis, affective state, and cognitive processes. Appropriate lighting in animal facilities may support welfare and ensure that animals enter experiments in a controlled physiological and behavioural state. Proper consideration of light during experimentation - both when it is explicitly employed as an independent variable and as a general feature of the environment - has the potential to provide more informative experimental designs and more reliable outcomes, contributing to Reduction and Refinement, helping to ensure more ethical animal use, and improving data quality. As such, it is unfortunate that ambient light for animals is typically quantified in units (lux) designed for human observers. We report the consensus views of an expert working group, with expertise spanning mammalian photobiology, neurobiology and animal husbandry and welfare, convened in February 2023 to agree upon metrics for light appropriate for non-human mammals and their application to improve animal welfare and the quality of animal research. We conclude that species-specific versions of the recently standardised a-opic metrology represent the best available approach to quantifying light. We provide methods for measuring these quantities; practical guidance for their implementation in husbandry and experimentation; and quantitative guidance on appropriate light exposure for laboratory mammals.

Animals living in the wild are exposed to numerous challenges, such as fires, that can lead to animal suffering. The impacts of fire have been studied in different branches of ecology, but studies of its effects on the welfare of individual animals remain scarce. The current review aims to synthesize a sample of relevant aspects regarding fire’s negative effects on wild animals. This review provides a better understanding of how fire compromises animal welfare, providing an example of how to use the knowledge gathered in ecology studies to examine the welfare of wild animals. It can help raise concern for the situation of wild animals as individuals, and to develop the field of welfare biology, by identifying promising future lines of research. The fundamentals of carrying out future work to design protocols for rescuing animals or preventing the harms they can suffer in fires is also explored.

Animal-based measures are the measure of choice in animal welfare assessment protocols as they can often be applied completely independently to the housing or production system employed. Although there has been a small body of work on potential animal-based measures for farmed crocodilians [1-3], they have not been studied in the context of an animal welfare assessment protocol. Potential animal-based measures, that could be used to reflect the welfare state of farmed crocodilians, were identified and aligned with the Welfare Quality® principles of good housing, good health, good feeding and appropriate behaviour. A consultation process with a panel of experts was used to evaluate and score the potential measures in terms of validity and feasibility. This resulted in a toolbox of measures being identified for further development and integration into animal welfare assessment on the farm. Animal-based measures related to ‘good feeding’ and ‘good health’ received the highest scores for validity and feasibility by the experts. There was less agreement on the animal-based measures that could be used to reflect ‘appropriate behaviour’. Where no animal-based measures were deemed to reliably reflect a welfare criterion nor be useful as a measure on the farm, additional measures of resources or management were suggested as alternatives. Future work in this area should focus on the reliability of the proposed measures and involve further evaluation of their validity and feasibility as they relate to different species of crocodilian and farming system.

The demand for animal products is expected to continue to rise, which requires the development of efficient livestock farming systems. Environmental, societal and economic concerns regarding this industry are however accumulating, addressing the large resource demand, pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions and health concerns that the livestock industry is responsible for. Precision livestock farming systems allow the continuous automatic monitoring of various physiological, behavioural and phenotypic parameters of animals in order to increase productivity and animal welfare while controlling and minimizing the environmental impact. There is a high potential for digital farming to be the solution for responsibly and ethically feeding the growing and urbanizing population. However, many problems and concerns are still present in this developing industry and remain relatively unaddressed, starting with the ethical aspects in regard to the animal, including its objectification, human-animal relationships and welfare and ending with the societal implications of this digitalization. Concrete frameworks, inter-disciplinary studies and global legislation need to be put in place in order to ensure the safety and protection of the animals, farmer and society. Here, implications of digital farming for the animals, farmers, society and the planet are critically reviewed with the future outlook of digital farms.

In sustainable cultivation technologies, the method of managing crop residues and the microbiological activity of the soil supported by the application of effective microorganisms are of particular importance. Therefore, a four-year two-factor experiment was carried out with spring wheat monoculture. Six ways management of organic matter before sowing and tillage (first factor) and the application of microbiological preparations (second factor) were tested - a total - 18 experimental objects. Parameterized: weed infestation, SPAD and LAI indicators, elements of the yield structure and spring wheat yield - all features were significantly determined by the tillage technology used. In most cases, the application of biopreparations does not have a significant impact on the tested features. It was found that the highest yields of spring wheat obtained in the technology: application of EM or UGmax microbiological preparations on the shredded straw of the forecrop and mixing it with the soil using a grubber immediately after harvest, sowing of the white mustard catch crop and winter plowing.

In recent years, the interest in increasingly sustainable agriculture has also turned attention towards new crops which could enter the food chain as new protein and oil sources or that can be used as new cover crops. In this scenario, Camelina sativa is a perfect crop to study. Camelina is an annual herbaceous plant belonging to the Brassicaceae which is interesting for its oil content, since the seeds contain about 40% of oils, with a high level of polyunsaturated fatty acids (30-40% alpha linolenic acid, 15-25 % linoleic acid, 15% oleic acid and about 15% eicosenoic acid). It is a hexaploid species (2n = 40, genome size ~782 Mb) characterized by rapid growth, short life cycle (85-100 days for spring varieties, 190-210 for autumn varieties) and low input cultivation needs. All these traits make it suitable for use in marginal areas. However, its use in feed and food is limited by the presence of glucosinolates (GLS). GLS are sulfur molecules involved in plant defense. In recent years, they have been studied not only as anti-nutritionals, but also for their anti-carcinogenic effects against chronic inflammatory and heart diseases and for their use as natural pesticides. Given the recent interest in camelina and its highly nutritious oil, eight pure lines and a synthetic population were compared in two different growing periods, spring and winter. In this work, the genetic materials were characterized for different phenotypic traits, yields and yield components, bromatological and glucosinolate content. The results confirmed that in North Italy camelina has higher yields if cultivated in the autumn-winter period (about 2 t/ha vs 0.6 t/ha), furthermore, a negative correlation was found between spring and winter yields, indicating that varieties that produce more in winter cultivation produce less in spring cultivation. Moreover, to our knowledge, it is the first work in which a synthetic population of Camelina sativa has been tested and proved to be a valid solution for use in various environments both for its adaptability and for the low content of glucosinolates (about 17 mmol/ kg).

Rain-fed maize production has significantly declined in Zimbabwe especially in semi-arid and arid areas causing food insecurity. Erratic rainfall received associated with mid-season dry spells largely contribute to low and variable maize yields. This study involved a survey of current farmers’ cropping practices, analyses of climatic data (daily rainfall and daily minimum and maximum temperature) of Hwedza station and simulation of maize yield response to climate change using DSSAT CERES crop growth simulation model. The climatic and maize yield data was analysed using mean correlation and regression analyses to establish relationships between rainfall characteristics and maize yield in the study area. Survey results showed that maize was the staple food grown by 100% of the farming households while 8.7% also grew sorghum. The survey concludes that 56.2% of the farmers grew short season varieties, 40.2% medium season varieties and 3.6% long season varieties. The result of the correlation analysis of climatic data and maize yield showed that number of rain days had strong positive relationship (r = 0.7) with maize yield. Non-significant yield differences (p > 0.05) between maize cultivar and planting date criteria were obtained. Highest yields were obtained under the combination of medium season maize cultivar and the DEPTH criterion in all simulations. The range of simulated district average yields of 0.4 t/ha to 1.8 t/ha formed the basis for the development of an operational decision support tool (cropping calendar).

Animal hoarding is a complex issue that, when discovered, frequently necessitates opening shelter doors to many animals. This is due to hoarders' inability to provide even the most basic welfare standards for their animals, resulting in poor welfare conditions that frequently border on mis-treatment. These people are frequently unaware of their failure to care for their animals, as well as of the harm that they cause to people around them and the environment. They usually don't care for themselves either. The majority of hoarders have difficult histories, and they all need help get-ting back on track. Meanwhile, when the agencies discover the status quo, the animals are usually seized and taken to shelters, where they face a variety of welfare consequences, beginning with confinement in an unknown environment that is associated with additional risks (e.g., infectious diseases, behavioral deterioration, and distress). Furthermore, the targeted shelters are frequently overcrowded and cannot adequately accommodate the large number of animals found in hoard-ers' environments. The One Welfare approach, which is increasingly being used alongside One Health to work at the intersection of human and animal health and welfare, could be adopted to benefit animals while also addressing the poor states of humans. This concept’s depiction of the interconnections between animal welfare, human wellbeing, and the environment can fit with all the components of the animal hoarding phenomenon, including the peculiarities of the hoarding environment as well as those of shelters where animals are often moved. The purpose of this paper is to offer insights into how the One Welfare concept may be critical in tackling all of the interests concerned in these cases and offering solutions.

The field of applied behavior analysis has been directly involved in both research and applications of behavioral principles to improve the lives of captive zoo animals. Thirty years ago, Forthman and Ogden (1992) wrote one of the first papers documenting some of these efforts. Since that time, considerable work has been done using behavioral principles and procedures to guide zoo welfare efforts. The current paper re-examines and updates Forthman and Ogden’s original points, with attention to the five categories they detailed: (1) promotion of species-typical behavior, (2) reintroduction and repatriation of endangered species, (3) animal handling, (4) pest control, and (5) animal performances. In addition, we outline three current and future directions for behavior analytic endeavors: (i) experimental analyses of behavior and the zoo, (ii) applied behavior analysis and the zoo, and (iii) within-subject methodology and the zoo. The goal is to provide a framework that can guide future behavioral research in zoos, as well as create applications based on these empirical evaluations.

This paper assesses whether there is intrinsic positive educational value in travelling animal presentations and exhibits, referred to here as Mobile Live Animal Programs (MLAPs). Given that educational claims serve as the basis for allowing MLAPs to operate in many jurisdictions throughout Canada and the United States, it is essential to examine whether these purported claims are valid. This study takes a twofold approach of examining first, what constitutes an MLAP and how such programs are situated within the larger context of animal observation and tourism, and second, what constitutes both positive and negative education, and how such learning can empirically be measured in these settings. This approach provokes the ethical question of whether or not MLAPs should be allowed to operate given the high price paid not only by the individual animals used, but also to our psychological, emotional, and intellectual relationship with other species when we use non-human animals for our own knowledge, pleasure or comfort. The paper concludes that we must consider that the pervasive problem of negative education, that using displaced captive wild animals as learning tools that highlights human control over them, their objectification and their exploitation, is not justified by the purported positive educational claims of MLAPs.

The experiences gathered during the past 30 years support the operational use of irrigation scheduling based on frequent multi-spectral image data. Currently, the operational use of dense time series of multispectral imagery at high spatial resolution makes monitoring of crop biophysical parameters feasible, capturing crop water use across the growing season, with suitable temporal and spatial resolutions. These achievements, and the availability of accurate forecasting of meteorological data, allow for precise predictions of crop water requirements with unprecedented spatial resolution. This information is greatly appreciated by the end users, i.e. professional farmers or decision-makers, and can be provided in an easy-to-use manner and in near-real-time by using the improvements achieved in web-GIS methodologies. This paper reviews the most operational and explored methods based on optical remote sensing for the assessment of crop water requirements, identifying strengths and weaknesses and proposing alternatives to advance towards full operational application of this methodology. In addition, we provide a general overview of the tools which facilitates co-creation and collaboration with stakeholders, paying special attention to these approaches based on web-GIS tools.

Background: Little is known about the decisional background of choosing an appropriate disease model. Therefore, this paper aims, (1) to identify a spectrum of reasons for choosing between animal and non-animal disease models and (2) provides an ethical analysis of these reasons. Methods: 13 researchers from basic and preclinical research were interviewed, the interviews were analyzed qualitatively and the results were categorized. The ethical analysis was based on the principlism approach and a value judgement model. Results: This paper presents 66 reasons why researchers use animal (41 %) or alternative, non-animal disease models (59 %). Most of the reasons were be assigned to the work environment (29 reasons) and scientific standards (22 reasons). Other reasons were assigned to personal attitudes (11 reasons) and animal welfare (4 reasons). Qualitative relevant normative differences are presented in the ethical analysis. Even if few reasons can be rejected outright from an ethical point of view, there are good reasons to give some more weight than others. Conclusions: The spectrum of reasons and its ethical assessment provide a framework for reflection for researchers who may have to choose between animal models and (investing in) alternatives. This can help to reflect on and justify decisions.

Ethical considerations regarding our treatment of animals have gained strength, leading to legislation and a societal focus across various disciplines. This is a subject of study within curricula related to agri-food sciences. The aim was to determine the perceptions of agronomy university students concerning animal welfare in livestock production systems. A survey was conducted to encompass various aspects, from participants' sociodemographic attributes to their attitudes and behaviors regarding animal welfare and the consumption of animal products. Statistical analysis, performed using R software, delved into the associations between participants' characteristics and their perspectives on the ethical, bioethical, and legal dimensions of animal welfare. Associations between demographic factors and ethical viewpoints among students were identified. Gender differences emerged in animal treatment perceptions, while rural and urban environments impacted perspectives on various animals. Bioethical considerations revealed distinctive disparities based on gender and education in concerns for animal welfare, value perceptions, evaluations of animal behaviors, and opinions on animal research. It is crucial to distinguish between animal welfare and ethical considerations arising from coexisting with sentient beings capable of experiencing suffering. Ethical theories provide a lens through which we perceive our obligations toward animals. The responsibility to ensure animal welfare is firmly rooted in recognizing that animals, like humans, experience pain and physical suffering. Consequently, actions causing unjustified suffering or mistreatment, particularly for entertainment purposes, are considered morally unacceptable.

How a species is represented by marketers of animal-based products both reflects and shapes how consumers think about that animal. By examining the explicit statements, and implicit messages encoded in the imagery on supermarket egg boxes, this paper explores how hens are represented by whole egg retailers. Content analysis reveals two prominent messages purveyed through eggbox graphics, namely those pertaining to hen welfare and human health. The later disenfranchises hens from their products by focusing on the nutritional value of eggs, whereas the former reflects a public concern for the welfare of egg-laying hens. Although claims of improvements in welfare practices are undoubtedly exploited as marketing tools, they serve to raise awareness and drive competitors to adopt similar practices. Welfare claims are a direct response to public concerns about the plight of hens, and may positively influence industry welfare standards. However, idyllic depictions displayed on eggboxes also lull consumers into the belief that those eggs are an ethically sound food choice, regardless of the actual standard of living experienced by the hens.

Deepfake technologies are known for the creation of forged celebrity pornography, face and voice swaps, and other fake media content. Despite the negative connotations the technology bears, the underlying machine learning algorithms have a huge potential that could be applied to not just digital media, but also to medicine, biology, affective science, and agriculture, just to name a few. Due to the ability to generate big datasets based on real data distributions, deepfake could also be used to positively impact non-human animals such as livestock. Generated data using Generative Adversarial Networks, one of the algorithms that deepfake is based on, could be used to train models to accurately identify and monitor animal health and emotions. Through data augmentation, using digital twins, and maybe even displaying digital conspecifics where social interactions are enhanced, deepfake technologies have the potential to increase animal health, emotionality, sociality, animal-human and animal-computer interactions and thereby animal welfare, productivity, and sustainability of the farming industry.

Breadfruit [Artocarpus altilis (Parkinson) Fosberg] is recognized as a tropical fruit tree crop with great potential to contribute to food and nutrition security in the Caribbean and other tropical regions. However, the genetic diversity and identification of germplasm in the Caribbean and elsewhere is not well understood and documented. This hampers the effective conservation and use of the genetic resources of the tree crop for commercial activities. This study assessed the genetic identity, diversity, ancestry, and phylogeny of breadfruit germplasm existing in Caribbean and recently introduced accessions using 117 SNPs from 10 SSR amplicon sequences. The results showed that there was high genetic diversity in the breadfruit germplasm in the Caribbean, as well as the newly introduced breadfruit accessions based on nucleotide diversity (π_T) and nucleotide polymorphism (θ_W). Furthermore, based on these measures of genetic diversity, there were no significant differences between existing Caribbean breadfruit accessions and newly introduced breadfruit accessions which are known to be highly diverse. Ancestry and phylogeny analysis corroborated the genetic relatedness of these two groups with accessions of these groups being present in both main germplasm clusters. This suggests that the existing Caribbean breadfruit germplasm harbors a higher level of genetic diversity than expected.

The characteristics of the Sentinel-2 mission with a decametric resolution and frequent acquisitions allow to improve the identification of crops. The majority of the studies on crop classification using RS were targeted at herbaceous and gramineous crop classes while fewer results were obtained on woody crops which present a strong variability in management practices that make their identification difficult. Thus, this study aimed to propose a rapid, accurate, and cost-effective analytical approach for the delineation of fruit orchards (OC), vineyards (VY), and olive groves (OL) in the Mediterranean (Southern France) considering two locations. A classification based on phenology metrics (PM) de-rived from temporal Sentinel-2 time series was developed to perform the classification. The PM were computed by fitting a double logistic model on temporal profiles of vegeta-tion indices to delineate OC, VY, and a DC class gathering all remaining surfaces. The generated PM were introduced in a random forest (RF) algorithm to identify woody crops across the two sites. The method was tested on different vegetation indices, the best results being obtained with the leaf area index (LAI). To delineate OL in the DC class, the tem-poral features of the green chlorophyll vegetation index (GCVI) were found to be the most appropriated with a typical drop of the signal during the mid-season (DOY 150-250). As a final result, we obtained an overall accuracy ranging from 89-96% and Kappa of 0.86-0.95 by considering each study site and year (2016-2021), separately. This accuracy is much better than applying the RF algorithm on the LAI times series, which led to a Kappa rang-ing between 0.3 and 0.52 and demonstrates the interest of using phenological traits rather than the raw time series of the RS data. The method can be well reproduced from one year to another. Moreover, it is possible to apply the classification model of a given year to an-other, keeping good accuracy. This is an interesting feature to reduce the burden of col-lecting ground truth information. On the contrary, the use of a classification model cali-brated in one site and applied to another led to a strong degradation of the classification accuracy. Woody crop phenology is dependent on site climatic conditions as well as the cultivar and management practices that can differ from one site to another.

Weeds are among the major constraints to any crop production system, reducing productivity and profitability. Herbicides are among the most effective methods to control weeds, and reliance on herbicides for weed control has increased significantly with the advent of herbicide-resistant crops. Unfortunately, over-reliance on herbicides leads to environmental-health issues and herbicide-resistant weeds, causing human-health and ecological concerns. Crop diversification can help manage weeds sustainably in major crop production systems. It acts as an organizing principle under which technological innovations and ecological insights can be combined to manage weeds sustainably. Diversified cropping can be defined as the conscious inclusion of functional biodiversity at temporal and/or spatial levels to improve the productivity and stability of ecosystem services. Crop diversification helps to reduce weed density by negatively impacting weed seed germination and weed growth. Additionally, diversified farming systems are more resilient to climate change than monoculture systems and provide better crop yield. However, there are a few challenges to adopting a diversified cropping system, which ranges from technology innovations, government policies, farm-level decisions, climate change, and market conditions. In this review, we discuss how crop diversification supports sustainable weed management, the challenges associated with it, and the future of weed management with respect to the diversification concept.

With the increasing societal expectation that animals are afforded greater protection in emergencies, the legal process from entering a property to rescue a companion animal, through to how to dispose of such animals if they remain unclaimed has not been well examined in New Zealand. It is hypothesised that the legal framework for such response is flawed. In this study, each phase of animal disaster rescue is evaluated against four key statues that may apply in each phase, in that does any statute provide clear end to end provisions with clear legal authority to do so. The study found that all statutes evaluated contained flaws and that the current legal provisions are insufficient to provide clear authority for the sequential process of undertaking rescue of animals during emergencies. A major flaw was discovered in the Civil Defence Emergency Management Act 2002 a key statute, that provided for the seizure of property and animals but omitted a procedure for the disposal of such seized things leaving them all in legal limbo. It is recommended that animal disaster laws are updated to be more animal inclusive. The method also may be applicable to assist evaluating animal disaster management legal frameworks in other countries.

For water-stressed regions like Iran improving the effectiveness and productivity of agricultural water-use is of utmost importance due to climate change and unsustainable demands. Therefore, a hydro-economic model has been developed here for the Zarrine River Basin with the central concept of that demands are value-sensitive functions, where quantities of water-uses at different locations and times have a changeable economic benefits. To do this, the potential crop yields and the surface and groundwater resources, especially Boukan Dam inflow are simulated using the hydrologic model, SWAT, based on predicted climatic scenarios i.e. quantile mapping-downscaled projections. Then, to allocate the agricultural water based on the agro- economic crop water productivity (AEWP) of crops, a basin-wide water management tool, MODSIM, is customized. Next, a simulation- optimization model has been developed using a coupled CSPSO-MODSIM, to optimize the total AEWP, considering climatic impact and crop pattern scenarios, for 2020-2038, 2050-2068 and 2080-2098 periods. Finally, the optimum crop pattern and crop water irrigation depths are presented for different RCPs and periods. The results indicated that this approach will improve considerably the AEWPs and decrease the agricultural water-use up to 40%. Thus, this integrated model is able to support water authorities and other stakeholder in a water-scarce basin, as is the study area.

People working in the field of Animal-Assisted Interventions (AAI) often state that they perceive animal welfare as a matter of paramount importance, nevertheless most of scientific literature focuses on the effectiveness of interventions from the user's perspective. Before focusing on animals’ management and welfare during the interaction with users, it would be important to ensure animal welfare during their “ordinary lives”. This article reports information and considerations about the management of donkeys involved in AAI in Northern Italy. Six facilities with several years of experience in Donkey-Assisted Interventions were visited for the purpose of an initial data collection regarding the management of donkeys involved in AAI. A general lack of knowledge regarding the nutritional needs of the donkey and a heterogeneity of practices in the field of its preventive medicine have been identified; the study also highlighted a need for efforts to create a more stimulating and enriched environment for animals involved in AAI. Some possible areas for improvement in the management of donkeys involved in AAI have been highlighted. Further studies are necessary to provide a more comprehensive picture of the welfare of donkeys involved in this context.

Enforcement of animal welfare statutes are the primary protection given for the maintenance of animal welfare and prevention of cruelty. It is speculated that animal law enforcement in Australia has a number of weakness in the enforcement model. These weaknesses create a gap between the goals of animal law enforcement and the reality of the animal law justice system. This gap is defined as the ‘enforcement gap’. This paper identifies and investigates the causes of this gap. The hypothesized causes discussed are (1) the impact the public can have on reporting animal cruelty, (2) the reliance on charitable organizations as enforcement bodies, (3) the inconsistencies in animal welfare legislation, and (4) the role of the sentencing courts. Thus, the causes of the enforcement gap are multifactorial; derived from all stages of the enforcement process. Further research is needed to investigate the concepts raised in this paper. However, it is likely that a combination of structural change to enforcement agencies, legislative reform and public education is required to reduce the enforcement gap.

Climate change and the increasing frequency of high-temperature events are significant threats to global crop yields. To address this, a comprehensive understanding of how plants respond to heat shock (HS) is essential. Signaling pathways involving calcium (Ca2+), a versatile second messenger in plants, encode information through temporal and spatial variations in ion concentration. Ca2+ is detected by Ca2+-sensing effectors, including channels and binding proteins, which trigger specific cellular responses. At elevated temperatures, the cytosolic concentration of Ca2+ in plant cells increases rapidly, making Ca2+ signals the earliest response to HS. In this review, we discuss the crucial role of Ca2+ signaling in raising plant thermotolerance and we explore its multifaceted contributions to various aspects of the plant HS response.

Precision agriculture and open-source data repositories provide a plethora of field-specific ecological data about agroecosystems, but few mechanisms have been developed to turn that information into management recommendations for crop production. The On-Farm Precision Experiments (OFPE) framework is an agroecological model-based methodology to improve crop manager’s abilities to make field-scale agronomic input decisions. This work evaluates the use of field-specific experiments that employ open-source data and the data emanating from precision agriculture technologies to gain local knowledge of the spatial and temporal variability in agroeconomic performance at the sub-field scale. Quantification of the temporal variability in crop response to inputs (e.g., crop seeding rates, crop rotations, fertilizers, other soil amendments, pesticides, etc.) allows for estimation of the probability that a future management scenario will outcompete another, in terms of crop yield, crop quality, farmer net return, or environmental quality. The challenge is to integrate OFPE into applied management with minimal disruption of stakeholder practices while drawing on historic knowledge about the field and economic constraints. OFPE is the basis of a decision support system that includes a six-step cyclical process that harnesses precision agriculture technology to apply experiments and gather field-specific data, incorporates modern data management and analytical approaches, and generates management recommendations as probabilities of outcomes. The OFPE framework allows field managers to assess the tradeoffs in agronomic input management between the maximization of crop production, quality and profits from production while considering environmental effects.

Molnupiravir, a prodrug known for its broad antiviral activity, demonstrated efficacy in animal models of Covid-19, prompting clinical trials where initial results indicated a significant effect against the disease. However, subsequent clinical studies did not confirm these findings, leading to the rejection of molnupiravir for permanent market authorization in many countries. This report critically assessed 19 studies published in 17 reports that investigated the efficacy of molnupiravir in animal models of Covid-19 with the purpose of determining how well the design of these models informed human studies. We found that the administered doses of molnupiravir in most studies involving animal Covid-19 models were disproportionately higher than the dose rec-ommended for human use. Specifically, when adjusted for body surface area, half of the doses of molnupiravir used in the animal studies were more than twice as high as the human dose. Addi-tionally, the drug was frequently given prophylactically or shortly after SARS-CoV-2 inoculation in these models, in contrast to clinical trials where such timing is not consistently achieved. Furthermore, the recommended five-day treatment duration for humans was exceeded in several animal studies. Collectively, we suggest that these design elements in the reported animal studies contributed to a bias favoring molnupiravir, and thus inflated expectations for its efficacy against Covid-19. Addressing these elements may offer avenues to enhance the clinical efficacy of mol-nupiravir for treatment of Covid-19 that include dose increment, early treatment, and admin-istration by inhalation along with use of molnupiravir in antiviral combination therapy.

The prevalence of Schistosoma mekongi in humans in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) has been relatively well monitored and has decreased due to effective interventions such as preventative chemotherapy with mass drug administration of praziquantel and community awareness programs. However, the prevalence among potential domestic reservoir animals remains broadly unclear, except for a few villages in the endemic area. Therefore, we conducted S. mekongi surveys for the domestic animals that had contact with Mekong River water. We conducted a cross-sectional study of the domestic animals in the seven sentinel villages in the Khong and Mounlapamok Districts of Champasak Province in southern Lao PDR in 2018 by random sampling with a statistically reliable sample size. Stool samples of the five predominant domestic animal species, cattle (n = 160), pig (n = 154), buffalo (n = 149), dog (n = 143), and goat (n = 85), were collected and examined by experienced laboratory technicians using parasitological FECT method and the LAMP technique. The microscopic analysis did not detect any eggs of S. mekongi in the stool samples of any animal species. However, S. mekongi DNA was detected by the LAMP test in dog stool samples (0.7%; 1/143). Other helminth eggs were found during our microscopic analysis. These findings suggested that an intervention for S. mekongi infection should focus solely on human populations. However, periodic surveillance for S. mekongi infection among dogs should be conducted to monitor a possible resurgence of S. mekongi infection in the domestic animal population.

Zoos are increasingly putting in place formalized animal welfare assessment programs to allow monitoring of welfare over time, as well as to aid in resource prioritization. These programs tend to rely on assessment tools that incorporate resource-based and observational animal- focused measures since it is rarely feasible to obtain measures of physiology in zoo-housed animals. A range of assessment tools are available which commonly have a basis in the Five Domains framework. A comprehensive review of the literature was conducted to bring together recent studies examining welfare assessment methods in zoo animals. A summary of these methods is provided with advantages and limitations of the approach es presented. We then highlight practical considerations with respect to implementation of these tools into practice, for example scoring schemes, weighting of criteria, and innate animal factors for consideration. It is concluded that would be value in standardizing guidelines for development of welfare assessment tools since zoo accreditation bodies rarely prescribe these. There is also a need to develop taxon or species- specific assessment tools to inform welfare management.

Ebola virus (EBOV) is a negative-sense RNA virus that can infect humans and nonhuman primates with severe health consequences. Development of countermeasures requires a thorough understanding of the interaction between host and pathogen, and the course of disease. The goal of this study was to further characterize EBOV disease in a uniformly lethal rhesus macaque model, in order to support development of a well-characterized model following rigorous quality standards. Rhesus macaques were intramuscularly exposed to EBOV and one group was euthanized at predetermined time points to characterize progression of disease. A second group was not scheduled for euthanasia in order to analyze survival, changes in physiology, clinical pathology, terminal pathology, and telemetry kinetics. On day 3, sporadic viremia was observed and pathological evidence was noted in lymph nodes. By day 5, viremia was detected in all EBOV exposed animals and pathological evidence was noted in the liver, spleen, and gastrointestinal tissues. These data support the notion that EBOV infection in rhesus macaques is a rapid systemic disease similar to infection in humans, under a compressed time scale. Biomarkers that correlated with disease progression at the earliest stages of infection were observed thereby identifying potential “trigger--to-treat” for use in therapeutic studies.

Various environmental challenges, related to oil palm commodity has became a major environmental challenge to oil palm production. The aim and objective of this study is to analyze the actual water footprint of oil palm based on root water uptake under varying crop age and soil type. The research was conducted in Pundu Village, Central Kalimantan. The methodology adopted in carrying out this study consists of various stages which includes observing soil moisture, rainfall, and water table, ETo, root water uptake and oil palm water footprint. The highest rate of water consumption was the 13 years oil palm on spodosol soil type with an average daily rate of 3.73 mm/day. The lowest evapotranspiration was represented by the 7th year oil palm on spodosol with an average rate of 3.07 mm/day. The total water footprint value obtained was between 0.56 – 1.14 m3/kg for a variety of plants with various age and soil types. It can be deduced that the water footprint value of oil palm vary for different crop age and soil types on temporal scale. The study also presented that the source of green water from the first root zone of oil palm deliver the highest contribution for oil palm root water uptake.

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of animal therapy in alleviation of anxiety in pre-school children.Method: The study was carried out as a quasi-experimental study with pre-test and post-test design and control group. The study population consisted of 33 anxious 5-7years old children (participated in a welfare anxiety screening plan held by Counseling Center, Tehran-Iran) between 2018 and 2019. The participants took part in the study voluntarily.The subjects were randomly divided into experimental and control groups (10 in each group). The experimental group was exposed to 8 sessions of animal therapy. The research instrument was Spence Preschool Anxiety Scale (Parent Form) and the data were analyzed on SPSS 21 software.Results: The results showed that animal therapy had a significant effect on general anxiety score after adjusting for post-test scores (f= 32.49 and p= 0.001) with the effect equal to 0.70. In addition, the effect of animal therapy on anxiety of separation (f= 5.63, p= 0.03), generalized anxiety disorder (f= 8.56, p= 0.01), social phobia (f= 14.58, p= 0.002) and specific anxiety (f= 11.63, p= 0.005) was significant with effects equal to 0.30, 0.40, 0.53, and 0.47, respectively. The results also showed that the effect of animal therapy on obsession was not significant (p>0.05).Conclusion: Therefore, it can be concluded that Animal therapy is effective in alleviating anxiety in children.

In Australia, traditional methods of cat management by local government (councils) animal management officers (AMO) have been ineffective, with cat-related calls and cat impoundments continuing to increase, resulting in many healthy cats being euthanized. This has detrimental effects on the mental health of AMOs, pound and shelter staff and veterinarians. The City of Banyule, Victoria implemented a free cat sterilization, microchipping and registration (licensing) program in 2013-14. Initially targeted to three low socioeconomic suburbs with the highest cat-related calls and intake, where enforcement action had little effect. An average of 4.1 cats/1000 residents per year were sterilized over eight years. The program was available to all cats in the area, including stray cats being fed by caregivers, provided they took ownership of the cats. There were no limitations on the number of cats enrolled per household and free transport was provided if required. The program was later expanded city-wide. Over eight years, city-wide cat intake decreased by 66%, euthanasia by 82%, with an increase in proportion of cats reclaimed by owners from a baseline of 6% of intake (2012-13) to 16% (2020-21). Cat-related calls decreased in the target area by 51% and city-wide by 36%. The council’s financial outlay was $84,000, which resulted in decreased costs as-sociated with cat-related calls of $266,225.00. Instead of traditional trap-adopt- kill, proactive management of urban cats based on targeted sterilization should be utilized by government and animal welfare agencies in Australia and internationally. These types of programs are effective at reducing intake and euthanasia and are cost-effective.

The present essay illustrates the methodological and theoretical premises of an emerging research area carrying out both ethological and (bio)ethical implications: the ethology of the freed animal (EFA). Unlike existing ethological fields, EFA focuses neither on non human (NH) animals in natural conditions of freedom in their own environment, nor on NH animals kept in conditions of “captivity”. Rather, EFA consists of a comparative study of NH animals that are released from a condition of more or less abusive captivity and instead relocated in an environment more appropriate to their species-specific and individual characteristics and inclinations. Ideal places for this study are contexts like “Animal sanctuaries” and parks/reserves provided with a camp or station for researchers, where a previously-captive NH animal can be reintroduced in his/her natural habitat. Even though EFA exists already, as a de facto practice of the specialized and/or volunteer personnel running sanctuaries and parks, the field still lacks a recognizable scholarly paradigm, and it is yet to be acknowledged at institutional/academic level. By consequence, one important aim for creating a field like this lies in the establishment of an active interaction between the two parties involved (researchers and sanctuaries/parks operators).

Maize (Zea mays L.) stands as one of the most extensively cultivated crops globally, offering significant contributions to food, animal feed, and biofuel production. Maize yield is significantly impacted by diverse climate and soil variables, yet its productivity faces hindrances due to abiotic stresses, including drought, salinity, extreme temperatures, and cold conditions. In confronting these hurdles, the field of crop breeding has undergone a transformation thanks to high-throughput sequencing technologies (HSTs). These advancements have streamlined the identification of beneficial quantitative trait loci (QTL), associations between markers and traits (MTAs), as well as genes and alleles that contribute to crop improvement. Presently, well-established omics techniques such as genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics are being amalgamated into maize breeding studies. These approaches have unveiled new biological markers that are being employed to bolster maize's capacity to withstand an array of challenges. In this chapter, we explore the current knowledge regarding the morpho-physiological and molecular mechanisms that underlie the resistance and tolerance of maize to biotic and abiotic stresses. The focus is on utilizing omics techniques to augment maize's ability to withstand these challenges. Moreover, it emphasizes the significant potential of integrating various omics techniques to tackle the challenges presented by biotic and abiotic stress in maize productivity, contrasting with singular approaches.

Purpureocillium lilacinum PL11 (formerly Paecilomyces lilacinus) is a ubiquitous fungus found in several habitats, mainly in the soil, and belongs to the Ophiocordycipitaceae family. This fungus was shown to have potential applications in agriculture as a biocontrol agent and biofertilizer. P. lilacinum can inhibit plant‒pathogenic fungi and nematodes, including root-knot and potato cyst nematodes. Additionally, P. lilacinum produces siderophores and indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), enhancing plant development and increasing soil nutrient availability. P. lilacinum has been extensively studied in various commodities, including pineapple, maize, soybean, and legume. Most studies have evaluated P. lilacinum as a biocontrol agent, especially for nematode control. Other studies have evaluated the production of secondary metabolites and bioremediation, and few studies have used this fungus as a plant growth promoter. This review addressed important aspects of using this fungus. P. lilacinum is a promising fungus that can be used for agricultural production, reducing environmental impact, and thus collaborating for a sustainable agriculture production system.

On-farm research was conducted at Gouripur sub-district under Mymensingh district of Bangladesh during the boro (mid November-June) season in 2013-14 and 2014-15 to evaluate the performance of non-puddled rice cultivation with and without crop residue retention. The rice var. BRRI dhan28 was transplanted by two tillage practices viz., puddled conventional tillage (CT) and non-puddled strip tillage (ST) and at two levels of mustard residues, i.e., no residue (R₀) and 50% residue (R₅₀). The experiment was designed in a randomized complete block design with four replications. There were no significant yield differences between tillage practices and residue levels in 2013-14. But in the following year, ST yielded 9% more grain compared to CT leading to 22% higher BCR. Retention of 50% residue increased yield by 3% compared to no-residue, which contributed to 10% higher benefit-cost ratio (BCR). The ST combined with 50% residue retention yielded the highest grain yield (5.81 t ha^-1) which contributed to produce the highest BCR (1.06).

In this paper, we critically examine the burgeoning role of advanced computational methodologies in deciphering the complex tapestry of farm animal behaviors and emotions. Leveraging digital imaging and artificial intelligence, we unearth nuanced behavioral patterns and micro-expressions, offering predictive insights into animal emotional states. Sound vocalization analysis, often overlooked, emerges as a pivotal tool, decoding intricate communicative nuances and emotional undertones. Cognitive tests, including mirror and bias assessments, challenge long-standing perceptions, revealing surprising depths of animal self-awareness and cognitive sophistication. However, the paper also underscores the imperative of integrating these tools with a profound understanding of animal psyche, ensuring technology serves as an enhancer, not a replacement, of traditional observational methods. This research not only highlights the transformative potential of cognitive computing in animal welfare but also calls for a judicious application, ensuring technology augments, not undermines, the intrinsic value of human-animal interactions and understanding.

It is widely recommended to group house male laboratory mice because they are ‘social animals’, but male mice do not naturally share territories and aggression can be a serious welfare problem. Even without aggression, not all animals within a group will be in a state of positive welfare. Rather, many male mice may be negatively affected by the stress of repeated social defeat and subordination, raising concerns about welfare and also research validity. However, individual housing may not be an appropriate solution, given the welfare implications associated with no social contact. An essential question is whether it is in the best welfare interests of male mice to be group- or singly-housed. This review explores the likely impacts, positive and negative, of both housing conditions, presents results of a survey of current practice and awareness of mouse behaviour, and includes recommendations for good practice and future research. We conclude that whether group- or single-housing is better (or less worse) in any situation is highly context-dependent according to several factors including strain, age, social position, life experiences, and housing and husbandry protocols. It is important to recognise this and evaluate what is preferable from animal welfare and ethical perspectives in each case.

We aimed to assess whether play behavior can be used as a welfare indicator for farmed spotted pacas (Cuniculus paca) by examining its association with other positive welfare markers including affiliative behavior and low-amplitude vocalizations. We submitted six groups of spotted pacas (one male/two females per group) (N=18) to an ABA experimental design (A1/A2: without ball; B: with three boomer balls). Play behavior occurred only during phase B (mean=35.5s, SE=6.4). Spotted pacas spent more time in affiliative and exploratory behaviors, while they spent less time engaging in agonistic interactions during phase B than in both control phases (A1 and A2) (P<0.05). Moreover, spotted pacas emitted more low-amplitude bark vocalizations during phase B than during either control phase (P<0.05), which have previously been shown to indicate a positive affective state and low arousal level. Because the expression of play was associated with a decrease in aggression, an increase in affiliative behavior, and an increase in low-amplitude barking, indicating thus a positive state, we suggest that play behavior can be used as a non-invasive indicator of positive welfare in this species.

In the wake of Portugal's pivotal shift to animal welfare legislation in 2018, where the no-kill policy for population control came into effect, animal shelters have emerged as critical sanctuaries for stray or unwanted animals. Recognising the critical role that adopter preferences play in the successful placement of shelter animals and the pressing need for shelters to expedite adoptions to liberate valuable space to accommodate more animals in need of refuge, this study seeks to investigate the intricate matrix of factors guiding adopters' choices. A descriptive cross-sectional study was performed with a convenience sample of the Portuguese population to assess their preferences and opinions about pet adoption. An online questionnaire was completed by 415 participants from February to October 2021. Among participants selecting attributes for pet adoption, the top preferences were behaviour (52.8%), size (49.6%), vaccination and deworming status (44.3%), and age (36.1%). Conversely, breed (7.2%), sex (6.3%), and animal colour (5.1%) were the least prioritised. Combinations were established based on the most selected attributes. Certain participant characteristics, such as education level and pet ownership history, exhibited distinct preferences in animal attributes. Portuguese people show a marked preference for shelter adoption, prioritising behaviour, size, and health over breed and colour. This insight allows shelters to allocate resources effectively. While promising, the trend towards shelter adoption needs adaptive strategies to align with evolving adopter preferences.

Zoonoses are diseases transmitted from (vertebrate) animals to humans. Control and prevention of these diseases require an appropriate way to measure health for prudent and well-balanced decisions in public health. We propose a framework that aims to explore, understand and open up a conversation about the non-monetary value of animals through environmental and normative ethics. As an example of its application, participants can choose what they are willing to give in exchange for curing an animal in hypothetical scenarios selecting a human health condition to suffer, the amount of money, and lifetime as a tradeoff. We believe that considering animals beyond their monetary value in public health decisions will contribute to a more rigorous assessment of the burden of zoonotic diseases, among other health decisions. This method might help us complement the existing metrics in health, adding more comprehensive values for animal and human health for the “One Health” approach.

Adolescence represents a critical period for the programming of future adult behaviours. Neurogenesis is particularly active during adolescence, with increased number of granule cells and increased hippocampal volume both in animals and humans. Among the factors which can affect neurogenesis during adolescence, stress is considered a major one. Indeed, adolescence is known to be a particularly stressful period in life, with some adolescents suffering from mood disorders and anxiety. While there is increasing interest on the neurogenic changes occurring during the adolescent period, evidence is sparse. We conducted a systematic review summarising changes in hippocampal neurogenesis, neuroplasticity and hippocampal-dependent cognitive functions and behavioural outcomes in stress-induced adolescent animal models of depression, and investigating long-term stress effects on the same outcomes assessing the same animals in adulthood. Overall, the results show a significant reduction in hippocampal cell proliferation, and a concomitant increase in depressive-like behaviours in adolescent animals exposed to stress challenges, however reduction in the number of surviving neurons was accompanied by no changes in both cognition and behaviour. Studies also observed altered neuroplasticity, including a stress-induced decrease in markers of pre- and post-synaptic plasticity, dendritic spine length and density, and long-term potentiation. These changes in neuroplasticity were accompanied by cognitive impairments and depressive-like behaviours. Overall, some of the negative effects observed during adolescence, especially on cell proliferation, neuroplasticity, cognition and behaviour either persisted or worsened during adulthood. Interestingly, treatment during adolescence with antidepressants, glutamate receptor inhibitors, glucocorticoid antagonists, or a healthy diet consisting of omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin A, were able to reverse or prevent these detrimental effects. Future research should aim to investigate the translational impact of these preclinical findings, developing novel tools for the measurement of hippocampal neurogenesis directly in depressed adolescents, and subsequently assessing neurogenic changes in response to stress as well as pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions.

Mycobacterium ulcerans is the causative agent of the Buruli ulcer, also known, in Australia, as Daintree ulcer or Bairnsdale ulcer. This destructive skin disease is characterized by extensive and painless necrosis of the skin and soft tissue with the formation of large ulcers, commonly on the leg or arm. To date, 33 countries with tropical, subtropical and temperate climates in Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Western Pacific have reported cases of Buruli Ulcer. The disease is rarely fatal, although it may lead to permanent disability and/ or disfigurement if not treated appropriately or in time. It is the third most common mycobacterial infection in the world after tuberculosis and leprosy. The precise mode of transmission of M. ulcerans is yet to be elucidated. Nevertheless, it is possible that the mode of transmission varies with different geographical areas and epidemiological settings. The knowledge about the possible route of transmission and potential animal reservoir of M. ulcerans is poorly understood and still remains patchy. We conducted a systematic review with selected key words on PubMed and INFORMIT databases to aggregate available published data on animal reservoirs of M. ulcerans. After certain inclusion and exclusion criteria, a total of 17 studies were included in the review. A variety of animals, e.g rodents, shrews, possums (ringtail and brush tail), horses, dogs, alpacas, koalas and Indian flap-shelled turtles have been recorded as being infected with M. ulcerans around the world. The majority of studies included in this review identified animal reservoirs, either aquatic or terrestrial, as predisposing for the emergence and reemergence of M. ulcerans infection. Taken together, the selected studies in this systematic review and discussed so far, it is clear that exotic wildlife, aquatic animals and native mammals play a significant role as reservoirs for M. ulcerans.

The aim of this work was to describe the physiological limitations induced under drought conditions in young sweet orange trees, including the crop capability to recuperate its physiological status once re-watering, and after a water withholding. The trial was conducted during two consecutive months (July and August) in two-years old sweet orange trees. Three irrigation treatments were arranged: A full irrigation treatment; (FI); a low-frequency deficit-irrigation treatment (LFDI); and a sustained-deficit irrigation (SDI) treatment. The obtained results showed that for Stem values below -1.5 MPa, significant decreases in gas exchange rates, evidencing diffusive limitations to drought stress. Additionally, there was evidence of increased osmolyte synthesis, compatible as a defensive response to prevent oxidative damage. Likewise, the isohydric behaviour observed also resulted in significant decreases in gs even for moderate stress situations. In addition, it was observed that in the LFDI treatment, the stress levels reached caused a significant increase in the levels of Pro and MDA, which were not equal to those detected in FI during the recovery periods, which leads us to assume that potential values below -1.8 MPa would be causing significant oxidative damage with no capacity for subsequent recovery, and probably affecting the final yield.

The cultivation systems of Coffea spp in a cooperative society in Puebla, Mexico, include rustic, traditional polyculture, commercial polyculture, unshaded monoculture and shaded monoculture. In this work, the properties of the soil were analyzed through physical, chemical, and biological analysis to determine its nutritional status. Composite sample analyses were conducted to determine physical, chemical and microbiological parameters (fungi, actinomycetes, mesophilic bacteria, nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria). Leaf nutrients were determined. Rustic was the cropping system with the highest amount of K (0.76 cmol kg-1) in soil and nutrient assimilation in leaf (N= 2.79%, P= 660.01, K= 17297.22 and Fe= 271.24 mg kg-1) (p= 0.001); in addition to presenting high populations of mesophilic bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes (30.16, 0.59 and 0.83 respectively, x10 6 CFU g-1 soil) and very low nitrification and denitrification rates. The principal component analysis (PCA) (>3.25%) indicated that actinomycetes and K in soil favor the assimilation of Fe, K and P. This Coffea spp cultivation system had a lower impact on soil health than the rest of the systems and favored forest ecosystem conservation.

Floods are among the most serious natural disasters worldwide; they cause enormous crop losses every year and threaten world food security. There are many studies focused on flood impact assessments for administrative districts but fewer on postdisaster impact assessments for specific crops. Therefore, this study used remote sensing data, including the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), elevation data, slope data, and rainfall data, combined with crop growing season data to construct a crop flood damage assessment index (CFAI). First, an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was used to assign weights to the impact factors; then, the weighted composite score method was used to calculate the CFAI; and finally, the impact was classified as slight, moderate, or severe based on the magnitude of the CFAI . This method was used for the Missouri River floods of 2019 in the U.S. Due to the lack of measured data, the disaster vegetation damage index (DVDI) was used to validate the results. The combined approach achieved a high degree of consistency in spatial distribution. The CFAI can respond well to the degree of crop impact after flooding, providing new ideas and reference standards for agriculture-related departments.

The objective was to estimate the correlation between VIs and grain yield and identify the optimal timing and VIs for precise corn grain yield estimation. Furthermore, the study aims to employ photographic quantification to measure corn ear traits and establish their correlation with corn grain yield. Ten corn hybrids were evaluated in CRB with three rep-lications at three locations. Vegetation indices and green leaf area were estimated throughout the cycle using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and subsequently corre-lated with grain productivity. In addition, photographs were taken of the corn ear to esti-mate their length, width and total number of kernels and compare these values with manual measurements. The experiments consistently demonstrated significant experi-mental quality across sites, with accuracy ranging from 79.07% to 95.94%. UAV flights carried out at the beginning of the crop cycle revealed a positive correlation between grain productivity and the evaluated indices (NGRDI, VARI, GLI). Regarding the phenotyping of corn ears, the regression coefficients for width, length and TNG were 0.92, 0.88 and 0.62, respectively, indicating an association with manual measurements. However, stage V5 in the localities of Lavras and Ijaci and stage V8 in the locality of Nazareno showed a posi-tive correlation with productivity. The use of images for ear phenotyping is promising as a method for measuring corn components.

Cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) is an important woody species for production in Ecuador. Woody species have the potential to incorporate soil organic carbon (SOC) into the soil. The province of Manabí is known for its cocoa plantations and several cocoa species, which generates interest in their analysis. This study aimed to determine the concentration and accumulation of SOC in three cocoa species (EET95, EET103 and EET116) 15 years old, both under the tree and in the rows, at different depths 0-5, 5-10, 10-20 and 20-30 (cm). The results showed that soil SOC concentration was higher in the row for EET116 (2.51%) and significantly different under the tree for EET103 (1.57%) at 0-5 cm. No significant differences were found in the other sections. In the whole profile analyzed (0-30 cm), the EET116 species accumulated 41 t ha-1 and 54 t ha-1 under the tree and in the row, respectively. The species EET103 in the row presented 47 t ha-1 with no significant differences. Species EET95 and EET103 had the lowest values, but without significant differences between sampling locations, with 36 t ha-1, 37 t ha-1, and 47 t ha-1 under the tree and in the windrow, respectively. In conclusion, the species EET116 accumulated more organic carbon due to several factors, possibly a higher decomposing biomass, not only from the tree but also from other trees in the area, which contributes to the incorporation of organic matter throughout the soil profile.

In this study, we examine the possibility of proactive floodwater diversion to fields via backwater in numerical experiments using multiple elevation data products with different spatial resolutions and explore the optimal timing of water diversion from the perspective of crop calendars. First, a comparison of the elevation data products revealed that photogrammetric data can capture microtopography, such as the footpaths between rice paddies and drainage channels around a field. Numerical experiments using two elevation data products, 5mDEM and LP-derived approximately 5mDEM, revealed that floodwater diversion can reduce the peak to about 19.2 m3/s when using the 5mDEM and can reduce the peak to 16.0 m3/s when using the LP-derived approximately 5mDEM. Interviews with land improvement districts and a review of previous studies revealed that the ear-burst period is particularly vulnerable to flooding. Although the effect of flood peak reduction is reduced due to flooding of the field, it is possible that floodwater can be channeled during the ripening period in August and in late September and October when the ears have been harvested.

Crop breeding is an important global strategy to meet sustainable food demand. CRISPR-Cas is a most promising gene-editing technology for rapid and precise generation of novel germplasm, and leads to revolutionary crop breeding innovation. In this review, we summarize recent advance of CRISPR/Cas technology in gene function analyses and generation of new germplasms with increased yield, improved product quality, and enhanced resistance to biotic and abiotic stress. We highlight their applications and breakthroughs in agriculture including crop de novo domestication, decoupling the gene pleiotropy tradeoff, crop hybrid seed conventional production, hybrid rice asexual reproduction, and double haploid breeding. Moreover, the challenges and development of CRISPR/Cas technology in crops are also discussed.

Lupinus mutabilis Sweet (Fabaceae), “tarwi” or “chocho”, is an important grain legume in the Andean region. In Peru, studies on tarwi have been mainly focused on morphological features, however, the have not been molecularly characterized. Currently, it is possible to explore genetic parameters of plants with reliable and modern methods like genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS). We here for the first time used single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) markers to infer the genetic diversity and population structure of 89 accessions of tarwi from nine Andean regions of Peru. A total of 5922 SNPs distributed along all chromosomes of tarwi were identified. STRUCTURE analysis revealed that this crop is grouped into two clusters. A dendrogram was generated using the UPGMA clustering algorithm and, similar to the principal coordinate analysis (PCoA), it showed two groups that correspond to the geographic origin of the tarwi samples. AMOVA showed a reduced variation between clusters (7.59 %) and indicated that variability within populations is 92.41 %. Population divergence (Fst) between clusters 1 and 2 revealed low genetic difference (0.019). We also detected a negative Fis for both populations, demonstrating that, similar to other Lupinus species, tarwi also depends on cross-pollination. SNPs markers were powerful and effective for the genotyping process in this germplasm. We hope that this information is the beginning of the path towards a modern genetic improvement and conservation strategies of this important Andean legume.

The specialisation and intensification in agriculture have increased the productivity but have also led to the spread of monocultural systems, simplifying production and reducing genetic diversity. The purpose of this study was to propose crop diversification as a tool to increase biodiversity and achieve sustainable and resilient intensive agriculture, particularly in areas with water scarcity. In this paper, a combined Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Costing (LCC) was applied to evaluate the environmental and economic sustainability of a differentiated system of cultivation (pomegranate, almond and olive), according to modern intensive and superintensive cropping systems. Based upon the results obtained, it is deduced that pomegranate cultivation generated the highest environmental load, followed by almond and olive. From the financial analysis, it emerged that almond is the most profitable, followed by pomegranate and olive.

With the rapid population growth, there is an urgent need for innovative crop improvement approaches to meet the increasing demand for food. Classical crop improvement approaches involve, however, a backbreaking process that cannot equipoise with increasing crop demand. RNA based approaches i.e. RNAi-mediated gene regulation and site-specific nuclease based CRISPR/Cas9 system for gene editing has made advances in the efficient targeted modification in many crops for the higher yield and resistance to diseases and different stresses. In functional genomics, RNA interference (RNAi) is a propitious gene regulatory approach that plays a significant role in crop improvement by permitting down-regulation of gene expression by small molecules of interfering RNA without affecting the expression of other genes. Gene editing technologies viz. clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein (CRISPR/Cas) have appeared prominently as a powerful tool for precise targeted modification of nearly all crops genome sequence to generate variation and accelerate breeding efforts. In this regard, the review highlights the diverse roles and applications of RNAi and CRISPR/Cas9 system as powerful technologies to improve agronomically important plants to enhance crop yields and increase tolerance to environmental stress (biotic or abiotic). Ultimately, these technologies can prove to be important in view of global food security and sustainable agriculture.

Among the plant resources in pre-Columbian Mexico and Central America, the Chia (Salvia hispanica L.) is unique in being the only member of the Lamiaceae cultivated for the mericarps. Recently the crop has gained considerable attention due to its high of content omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid, antioxidants, fibre and protein classifying it as a nutraceutical.

Nutrient management of lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium Ait.) depends on several yield-limiting features. Machine learning models can process such yield-impacting variables to predict berry yield. We investigated the effects of local variables on yields and nutrient management of lowbush blueberry. We collected 1504 observations from N-P-K fertilizer trials conducted in Quebec, Canada. Meteorological indices at various phenological stages showed the greatest impact on yield. High mean temperature at flower bud opening and after fruit maturation, and total precipitation at flowering showed positive effects. Low mean temperature and low total precipitation before bud opening, at flowering, and by fruit maturity, as well as number of freezing days (< -5ºC) before flower bud opening, showed negative effects. Soil fertility variables, leaf nutrient compositions and N-P-K fertilization showed smaller effects. Gaussian processes predicted berry yields from historical weather data, soil analysis, fertilizer dosage, and leaf nutrients with a root-mean-square-error of 1447 kg ha-1 on the testing data set. An in-house Markov chain algorithm optimized yields modelled with Gaussian processes from leaf nutrient composition, soil test value, and fertilizer dosage conditioned to specified historical weather features. We propose to use conditioned machine learning models to manage nutrients of lowbush blueberry at local scale.

Glyphosate-based herbicide products are the most widely used broad-spectrum herbicides in the world for post-emergent weed control. There are ever-increasing concerns that glyphosate, if not used judiciously, may cause adverse non-target impacts in agroecosystems. The purpose of this brief review is to present and discuss the state of knowledge with respect to its persistence in the environment, possible effects on crop health, and impacts on crop nutrition.