Preface

Abstract

The outbreak of COVID-19 in late 2019 has brought about great changes to all aspects of our daily lives. The “Social Distancing” and “Quarantine” policies making labor-oriented agriculture trap in the dilemma of migrant labor shortage and sharp increase in daily wages for some harvesting activities. Meanwhile, the supply chains in agriculture have been disrupted because of issues in transportation and market operation policy, farmers have to decline the price for wheat, crops and vegetables, but consumers need to pay more. Agriculture around the world will undergo a difficult transition period to change production mode if the coronavirus-driven consumption patterns continue.ABS is an international annual conference that deal with agricultural and biological sciences, and ABS 2020 is primarily scheduled to be held at Tokyo University of Agriculture, Japan from August 23rd-26th. Many works were done, and many participants showed their willingness to participate ABS 2020 by submitting full papers or abstracts since late 2019. However, the outbreak of COVID-19 brought great changes to our lives as well as the schedule of ABS 2020. For the safety of the participants and for the purpose of academic exchanges, ABS 2020 was changed to online conference, August 23rd-26th, 2020.Thanks to the support and contribution of more than 50 participants from China, Japan, Israel, Turkey, Spain, Indonesia, Poland, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Russia, Portugal, USA, Brazil, Canada, Korea, Malaysia, Italy etc., the 6th International Conference on Agricultural and Biological Sciences (ABS 2020) was held successfully virtually online. General information about the conference was as below:2 welcome speeches were delivered by the general Chair Prof. Machito Mihara, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Japan (Lasted for 10 mins) and TPC Chair Prof. Xuqiao Feng, Bohai University; Institute for Science and Technology of Fruits and Vegetables, China (Lasted for 15 mins);2 Plenary Speeches were delivered by Prof. Hisayoshi Hayashi, University of Tsukuba, Japan (40 mins) and Prof. Hermona Soreq, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel (40 mins);38 regular and invited speakers shared their newest research findings, the time duration is 10-20 mins including Q&A, covering a wide range of branches on animal, crop sciences, food, irrigation, biochemistry, agricultural economics, and ecological sciences.The conference was delivered via teams, wechat as well as via Linked, which was a great way to share newest knowledge and for academic exchanges during this special period. However, there will be limitations due to time differences, internet conditions as well as the delay feedbacks etc.More than 200 papers were submitted to ABS2020, and 60 submitted manuscripts have met the scope of IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science (EES). After a pre-review on the originality and language, peer review process was arranged by the Editorial Committee and 36 best manuscripts were selected for publication in IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science (EES). The Editorial Board was led by the Guest Editor Prof. Corina Carranca, Prof. Xuqiao Feng and Reviewers like Prof. Güllü Kaymak, Prof. Aleksandar Slavov, Dr. Anita Eka Putri, Dr. Malkanthi and Dr. Faris Nur Fauzi Athallah etc. We believe those selected 36 papers will provide some insights in the field of soil, environmental and biological sciences.On behalf of the Conference Organizers, we would like taking this opportunity to express our sincere thanks to the Guest Editor and all the Reviewers for their tremendous efforts and dedication to the conference, to all the authors for their relevant contributions to the conference, as well as all the colleagues from IOP publisher for their support and their endless efforts towards the publication of the Conference Proceedings. We believe that with their earnest support and contributions, future ABS Conferences would scale new heights.ABS 2020 Organizing Committee