Agricultural Cultivation Research Articles

Technologies to reduce water waste during land leaching and cultivation of industrial crops

More than half of Uzbekistan’s irrigated land is saline to some degree. The drying up of the Aral Sea has intensified this process. Chronic salt storms in the northern part of the country have for many years sprayed large quantities of salt onto agricultural land, leading to increased salinisation. These processes cause the water required to flush saline soils year after year. The problem is exacerbated by water shortages worldwide, including in Central Asia. This requires leaching of saline soils and a multiplication of the water used in crop cultivation. Therefore, alternative use of water resources in our country is one of the most important issues for agriculture. Introduction of salt leaching and cultivation in farms on the basis of outdated technologies and low efficiency of new technologies (bio-solvent washing, etc.) in production of new salt leaching and cultivation remain a negative obstacle for economic development of farms and the country as a whole. The analysis shows that in our country billions of cubic meters of water are used for flushing of saline soils and cultivation of agricultural crops, but only 60% of this water reaches the fields where crops are grown, while the rest of it disappears into the irrigation systems and irrigation processes (canals, ditches and branch lines). When providing water resources for soil salinisation and cultivation by means of trapezoidal canals, part of the water flowing through them dissolves and filters the mineral and organic fertilizers in the soil due to air pressure and gravity, as a result up to 30% of water is lost (wasted). In this paper the water resources for soil washing and crop cultivation are replaced by a parabolic excavator with a trapezoidal boom, designed to save up to 30% of water resources.

The Strategy of the Revitalization of Shandong Rural Culture by the Agricultural Cultural Heritage

The agricultural cultural heritage is helpful to promote the inheritance and development of outstanding agricultural culture, promoting the construction of ecological civilization and the revitalization of rural culture. The cultural value of Shandong agricultural cultural heritage lies in excavating and inheriting Qilu culture. To protect and inherit the agricultural cultural heritage of Shandong can effectively stimulate the power of rural culture revitalization. The agricultural cultural heritage expresses the rural people’s love for the countryside, their high sense of identity and strong sense of belonging to the rural culture. It has become one of the important carriers of carrying forward and inheriting Chinese traditional culture and planting the foundation of cultural self-confidence. Taking the cultural value of agricultural cultural heritage as the starting point, building the brand of Shandong rural culture to promote the prosperity and development of Shandong rural culture and to explore the strategies and ways of revitalizing the rural culture with Shandong characteristics.

Re-identification of Colletotrichum acutatum Species Complex in Korea and Their Host Plants.

Colletotrichum acutatum species complex is one of the most important groups in the genus Colletotrichum with a high species diversity and a wide range of host plants. C. acutatum and related species have been collected from different plants and locations in Korea and deposited into the Korean Agricultural Culture Collection (KACC), National Institute of Agricultural Sciences since the 1990s. These fungal isolates were previously identified based mainly on morphological characteristics, and a limitation of molecular data was provided. To confirm the identification of species, 64 C. acutatum species complex isolates in KACC were used in this study for DNA sequence analyses of six loci: nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacers (ITS), betatubulin 2 (TUB2), histone-3 (HIS3), glyceraldehyde3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), chitin synthase 1 (CHS-1), and actin (ACT). The molecular analysis revealed that they were identified in six different species of C. fioriniae (24 isolates), C. nymphaeae (21 isolates), C. scovillei (12 isolates), C. chrysanthemi (three isolates), C. lupini (two isolates), and C. godetiae (one isolate), and a novel species candidate. We compared the hosts of KACC isolates with "The List of Plant Diseases in Korea", previous reports in Korea and global reports and found that 23 combinations between hosts and pathogens could be newly reported in Korea after pathogenicity tests, and 12 of these have not been recorded in the world.

First Report of Sharp Eyespot of Oat (Avena sativa) Caused by Ceratobasidium cereale in Korea.

Along with barley and wheat, oats (Avena sativa) are cultivated as winter crops in Korea, and the total area for oat cultivation is 103 ha in 2021. From late March to early April 2021, sharp eyespot symptoms on oat (cv. Choyang) leaf sheaths and straws were observed in two commercial fields located in Haenam (N34°38'35.04588/E126°38'31.00668) and Gangjin (N34°38'9.46788/E126°37'19.44984), Jeollanam-do, Korea. The incidence was 5% and 7%, respectively. Small brown spots were irregular circles that began to appear on the lower sheaths, and the spots gradually enlarged in the upper part of the sheaths. The center of each lesion turned whitish-brown with dark brown margins, resulting in a blight of the sheaths. Three plants displaying typical sharp eyespot lesions were collected from each of two individual regions, Haenam and Gangjin. To isolate the causal pathogen, two infected tissues (5  5 mm) from the collected plants were surface-sterilized by treating them with 70% ethanol for 1 min and 1% NaClO for 1 min immediately after being treated with 95% ethanol for 1 min. Subsequently, the samples were rinsed three times with distilled water, dried with sterile filter paper, transferred to 1.5% water agar supplemented with 100 ppm streptomycin, and then incubated in the dark at 25°C. Hyphae emerging from the randomly selected three independent tissues from each location were subcultured on potato dextrose agar (PDA, Sparks, MD 21152, USA), resulting in three independent isolates (HNO-1, HNO-2, HNO-3) from Haenam and three (KJO1-1, KJO1-2, KJO1-3) from Ganjin after single-hypha-tip purification. Colonies on the PDA were pigmented white at first and subsequently changed to light brown after 2 weeks. All collected isolates formed globose and irregular dark brown to black sclerotia on PDA after 2 weeks. Binuclear hyphae were white to dark brown in color, branched at right angles with a septum near the branch, and multinucleate cells, suggesting that these isolates belonged to Ceratobasidium cereale (Boerema et al., 1977; Burpee, 1980; Sharon et al.,2008). For molecular identification, the ITS (GenBank accession nos. MW691851-53 for HNO-1 to HNO-3; MW691857-59 for KJO1-1 to KJO1-3), LSU (OQ397530-35), rpb2 (OQ409878-83), tef1 (OQ409884-89), and atp6 (OQ409890-95) regions of six isolates were amplified using the primer pairs ITS4/5 (White et al., 1990), LROR/LR5 (Vilgalys and Hester, 1990), bRPB2-6F/bRPB2-7.1R (Matheny, 2005; Reeb et al., 2004), TEF1-F/TEF1-R (Litvintseva et al., 2006), and ATP61/ATP62 (Kretzer and Bruns, 1999), respectively. The sequences of ITS region showed 99.7% identity with C. cereale strain WK137-56 (KY379365) and 99.8% with Ceratobasidium sp. AG-D (KP171639). Using the MEGA X program (Kumar et al. 2018), a maximum likelihood phylogenetic analysis based on the concatenated ITS-LSU, rpb2, tef1 and atp6 sequences placed the six isolates within a clade comprising C. cereale (Gónzalez et al.,2016; Ji et al., 2017; Tomioka et al., 2021; Li et al., 2014). Two representative isolate, HNO-1 and KJO1-1, were deposited in the Korean Agriculture Culture Collection (Accession No. KACC 49887 and 410268, respectively). For pathogenicity, the six isolates were cultured on sterilized ray grains at 25°C in the dark for 3 weeks as the inoculum. Five oat (cv. Choyang) seeds were sown per pot containing 80 g of the infected ray grains mixed with 150 g of composite soil and 150 ml of water (Baroker Garden Soil, Seoul Bio Co., LTD). The control was treated with 80 g of the sterilized ray grains mixed with 150 g of composite soil and 150 ml of water. All inoculated and control pots were placed in a 20°C growth chamber with a 12-h photoperiod and 65% humidity. Typical sharp eyespot symptoms were observed on the oat sheath of seedlings three weeks post-inoculation. No symptoms were observed in the control seedlings. The infection assays were repeated thrice, with similar results. The pathogen was successfully re-isolated, and its identity was confirmed via morphological and molecular analyses. In Korea, few etiological studies have been conducted on oats because they are less economical than barley and wheat. Sharp eyespot disease caused by C. cereale has already been reported in barley and wheat (Kim et al., 1991); however, this is the first report of this disease in oats in Korea.

Air Temperature Monitoring over Low Latitude Rice Planting Areas: Combining Remote Sensing, Model Assimilation, and Machine Learning Techniques

Air temperature (Ta) is essential for studying surface processes and human activities, particularly agricultural cultivation, which is strongly influenced by temperature. Remote sensing techniques that integrate multi-source data can estimate Ta with a high degree of accuracy, overcoming the shortcomings of traditional measurements due to spatial heterogeneity. Based on in situ measurements in Guangdong Province from 2012 to 2018, this study applied three machine learning (ML) models and fused multi-source datasets to evaluate the performance of four data combinations in Ta estimation. Correlations of covariates were compared, focusing on rice planting areas (RA). The results showed that (1) The fusion of multi-source data improved the accuracy of model estimations, where the best performance was achieved by the random forest (RF) model combined with the ERA5 combination, with the highest R2 reaching 0.956, the MAE value of 0.996 °C, and the RMSE of 1.365 °C; (2) total precipitation (TP), wind speed (WD), normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and land surface temperature (LST) were significant covariates for long-term Ta estimations; (3) Rice planting improved the model performance in estimating Ta, and model accuracy decreased during the crop rotation in summer. This study provides a reference for the selection of temperature estimation models and covariate datasets. It offers a case for subsequent ML studies on remote sensing of temperatures over agricultural areas and the impact of agricultural cultivation on global warming.

HUBUNGAN PEMANFAATAN SOSIAL MEDIA FACEBOOK DENGAN KOMPETENSI PETANI TANAMAN SAYURAN DI DESA LALOSINGI KECAMATAN LALOLAE KABUPATEN KOLAKA TIMUR

This study aims, namely to find out how the utilization of Facebook social media, to find out how the competence of farmers in cultivating vegetables, and to determine the relationship between the utilization of Facebook social media with the competence of vegetable crop farmers. The research was conducted on all vegetable farmers who use Facebook social media in cultivating vegetable crops in Lalosingi Village, Lalolae District, East Kolaka Regency as many as 32 people, sampling using census techniques with data collection methods carried out by means of surveys, interviews, and documentation. Data were collected using a research questionnaire using a Likert scale. The selection of the research location was carried out purposively with the consideration that the research location is one of the villages where most of the people work as farmers and utilize Facebook social media to get information related to vegetable cultivation. This study used class interval analysis and correlation (Rank Spearman) with the help of SPSS version 22. The results showed that the use of Facebook social media (Context, Communication, Collaboration) and the competence of vegetable farmers in Lalosingi Village were in the high category seen from the knowledge, attitudes and skills possessed by farmers in vegetable cultivation. There is a significant relationship between the use of Facebook social media and the competence of vegetable farmers in Lalosingi Village.

Correlation relationships of economically valuable characteristics of sugar sorghum samples in arid conditions of the Lower Volga region

Relevance. Sugar sorghum is one of the leading forage crops in the regions of arid agriculture. Comprehensive in-depth study and improvement of breeding-valuable indicators, determination of correlations between traits to identify the strongest dependencies in order to accelerate the breeding process is relevant.Methods. The field assessment of 11 morphometric indicators and productivity elements of the studied samples (43 in total) was carried out according to the methodology of the state variety testing of agricultural cultures. The assessment of the conjugacy of features was carried out according to the correlation analysis using the «Agros 2.09» program.Results. The different degree of conjugacy of the signs is revealed. On average, in 2020–2022, the yield of sugar sorghum biomass depended on seed productivity (r = 0.70), seed size (r = 0.41), the area of the largest leaf (r = 0.39). At the same time, the seed yield correlated with the mass of 1000 grains and the area of the largest leaf (r = 0.45–0.46). There was a significant positive correlation between the height of plants at maturity and the extension of the inflorescence stem (r = 0.58). It was found that in sugar sorghum, the seed size correlated with the area of the largest leaf (r = 0.49). At the same time, the length and width of the inflorescence have a conjugacy equal to 0.46. In addition, in years differing in meteorological conditions, there was a different degree of manifestation of the interrelationships between the considered signs, which must be taken into account when conducting the selection process. Knowledge of the features of correlations provides acceleration of the creation of new varieties with the specified parameters.

Profile Characteristics of Paddy Farmers in Telangana State, India

Agriculture caused significant harm to the environment for a long time. More acreage, fertiliser and pesticides were used to boost the output. Sustainable development is one that meets present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own. According to study, a number of factors can affect a farmer's decision to adopt sustainable practises. The research investigation employed Ex-post-facto-research design as the event has already happened. The present study aimed to assess the profile characteristics of farmers on Paddy farming sustainability and adoption of recommended sustainable farming practices comprising the data from three different zones of the Telangana state. Three districts namely Nizamabad, Khammam and Nalgonda from each zone of Telangana state were selected for the purpose respectively during the year 2021. As these three districts account for Paddy area compared to other districts. Purposive sampling technique was employed for data collection from 216 Paddy growing farmers by standardized and pre-tested interview schedule. Findings revealed that majority of the farmers were middle-aged (54.62 %), educated up to primary school (25.19 %), semi-medium in land holdings (25.32 %), followed by possessed medium level of income (55.56 %), mass media exposure (73.14 %), extension contact (56.10 %), extension participation (73.60 %), management orientation (71.75 %), scientific orientation (58.10 %), innovativeness (81.00 %), economic motivation (67.50 %), decision-making pattern (62.51 %), value orientation (52.79 %), level of aspiration (64.35 %) and risk orientation (53.20 %), whereas high level of farming experience (60.18 %), high farming commitment (54.62 %) and high achievement motivation (51.86 %). The policymakers should instruct researchers, extension specialists, NGO’s and field workers to serve as advisors, facilitators and collaborators for inspiring and empowering farmers to actively participate in solving issues related to sustainable farming cultivation practises. Hence, these variables have to be considered in promoting farmers among the farming community in the long run.

Agricultural Cultivation Structure in Arid Areas Based on Water–Carbon Nexus—Taking the Middle Reaches of the Heihe River as an Example

China faces challenges of food security and sustainable agricultural production. However, current studies rarely address the spatial distribution patterns of water consumption and carbon emissions. We studied the irrigation water use efficiency and carbon emission differences of crops in arid areas and their spatial distribution using wheat and maize, two major food crops in the middle reaches of the Heihe River, as examples. Furthermore, we have optimized low-carbon cropping of crops under the multiple objectives of water conservation and economic development. The results show that: (1) The carbon emissions per unit of water consumption for maize are 0.03 × 10−6 t mm−1 and 0.49 × 10−6 t mm−1 for wheat. Irrigation water consumption per unit yield is 515.6 mm t−1 for maize and 426.7 mm t−1 for wheat. (2) The spatial distribution patterns of irrigation water consumption were opposites for maize and wheat. The former has lower irrigation water consumption in the planting area upstream of the Heihe River and higher in the lower reaches. In contrast, the pattern of wheat irrigation is the opposite. (3) After optimizing the cropping mix for both crops, the area planted with wheat should be reduced to 59% of the current size, while maize should be expanded to 104%. The results of the research hold immense importance in guiding the future grain crop planting patterns for water-saving agriculture and low-carbon agriculture development in arid zones worldwide, aligning with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

First Report of Black Rot on Persimmon Fruit Caused by Diaporthe eres in China.

The fruit of persimmon (Diospyros kaki L.) is popular with consumers for its delicious taste and is widely grown in China. In September 2022, fruit rot symptoms were found on persimmons grown at the Tobacco Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (120°26'43.879″E, 36°7'59.794″N) in Qingdao City, Shandong Province, China. Diseases incidence on fruit is 70%. Typical symptoms were small, black spots, which gradually expanded, and became rot lesions, causing fruit rot and serious losses. To isolate the pathogen, small sections (approximately 2 × 2 mm) of symptomatic tissues from five persimmon fruits were surface-sterilized in 5% NaClO, followed by 75% ethanol, rinsed with sterile distilled water, and then incubated on potato dextrose agar (PDA) plates incubated at 28℃ for 5 days. By single spore isolation method, seven dominant fungal isolates developed with similar colonies. They were initially white and gradually turned to gray after 7 d. The alpha conidia were unicellular, colorless, elliptic or fusiform, and 5.0 to 8.0 μm × 2.5 to 3.5 μm in size. Beta conidia were unicellular, colorless, filiform, often hooked at one end and 18 to 28 μm × 1.3 to 1.5 μm in size. These morphological features were consistent with Diaporthe spp (Udayanga et al. 2014). To confirm identity of the causal fungus, the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) rDNA, translation elongation factor 1-a (TEF1-a), b-tubulin (TUB), and histone H3 (HIS) genes of three representative isolates (De2, De3 and DeR2) were amplified and sequenced using primers ITS1/ITS4, EF1-728F/EF1-986R, Bt2a/Bt2b and CYLH3F/H3-1b as described by Chaisiri et al. (2021). The resulting sequences were deposited in GenBank (accession nos. OP963195, OP963386 and OP963389 for ITS; OP968958, OP968959 and OP9689600 for EF1-α; OP978141, OP978142 and OP978143 for TUB; OP968955, OP96896 and OP968957 for HIS), and showed 99-100% similarity with D. eres by NCBI blast. Phylogenetic analysis was conducted using MEGA-X software, with the NJ method. In the phylogenetic tree, the combined sequences attributed the three isolates to the D. eres. On the basis of morphological and molecular characteristics, the pathogen was identified as D. eres. The strain De2 was preserved in the Agricultural Culture Collection of China (preservation number: ACCC 35482). Pathogenicity tests were performed by wound inoculation on healthy persimmon fruit. These were surface sterilized with 75% ethanol for 1 min, rinsed in sterile water three times, and allowed to dry. A 5-mm agar disc with mycelium of the causal pathogen was placed on the surface of fruit, which was wounded with a sterile needle in advance, with the sterile PDA plugs used as control. Three persimmons were used for each treatment, repeat three times. All the treated fruits were incubated in the sterilized transparent plastic cans at 28°C and 90% RH. After 3 days inoculation, the first symptom of rot lesion appeared on the fruit with mycelial plugs, whereas the control fruit remained symptomless. The same causal pathogens were re-isolated from the lesions and identified by morphologyand confirmed to fulfill Koch's postulates. This is the first report of D. eres causing fruit rot on persimmon. This finding showed that Diaporthe eres is a causal agent of persimmon fruit rot in China.

Higher abundance of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria than ammonia-oxidizing archaea in biofilms and the microbial community composition of Kaiping Diaolou of China

We here investigated microbial biofilm communities on the surfaces of Linlu Villa, a villa built on a cultural heritage site known as Kaiping Diaolou and Villages located in southern China, by using next-generation sequencing technology. Then, 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that the dominant bacterial groups in these biofilms were Cyanobacteria, Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Chloroflexi, Acidobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Deinococcus-Thermus. The site survey revealed that the unique climatic conditions (ambient temperature and humidity), activities in the surroundings (farming and domestic pollution), and the rough surface of Diaolou buildings were the main factors promoting microbial colonization and development, and subsequent biofilm formation. In addition, we conducted inorganic nitrogen detecting on the surrounding environment of the Diaolou buildings and found that the inorganic nitrogen content was very high, with inorganic nitrogen NO3−-N reaching 8947.27 mg/kg; the NH4+-N content can reach 895.88 mg/kg qPCR quantification of AOA-amoA and AOB-amoA genes was performed at four sites and found that the abundance of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) was far higher than that of ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA), reaching a maximum of 4–5 orders of magnitude, which is different from the current results on other cultural heritage sites. This may be due to the specific geographical location of Kaiping Diaolou and villages in the southern China with severe nitrogen deposition, as well as the surrounding residential areas and agricultural cultivation areas where nitrogen fertilizer is used in nearby agricultural cultivation. This will be worth further investigation, and the results are valuable for the protection for the protection of Kaiping Diaolou and Villages.

Study of new biocontrol bacterial agent Bacillus velezensis S41L against Rosellinia necatrix

White root rot in woody plants is mainly caused by the necrotrophic phytopathogenic fungus Rosellinia necatrix. In this study, we isolate antagonistic bacteria from rhizospheric soil from asymptomatic pear trees infested with white root rot. Furthermore, we isolated 40 bacterial strains and screened them for antagonistic activity against R. necatrix. Then, we selected antagonists that retarded pathogen growth for >30 days. Finally, the strain that exhibited >80 % inhibitory activity against all R. necatrix strains (Korean Agricultural Culture Collection 40446, 40445, 40447, and 40168), demonstrating its effectiveness in controlling this pathogen prevalent in Korean pear and apple orchards, was selected for further experiments. Strain S41L (OP349111) showed the most potent growth-inhibitory activity against the tested phytopathogens. Microbiological and 16S rRNA gene sequencing analyses revealed that the bacterial isolate belonged to the Bacillus genus and had 100 % nucleotide sequence similarity with Bacillus velezensis in GenBank. This strain also harbored antibiotic biosynthesis genes and possessed plant growth-promoting traits such as phosphate solubilization, indole-3-acetic acid, and siderophore production.

Implementation of Fuzzy Logic for Chili Irrigation Integrated with Internet of Things

Chili, mustard greens, and tomatoes have always been farmers' favored crops, despite their high water and labor demands. Adapt to these conditions by utilizing smart agriculture systems (SAS) agricultural techniques that involve technology such as automatic irrigation that regulates watering based solely on routine, regardless of land conditions. This type of control during the transitional season can lead to root rot and fungisarium disease on chile plants. In the form of an embedded system with internet of things (IoT) monitoring, a system incorporating artificial intelligence such as fuzzy logic is proposed as a solution. Fuzzy logic will regulate irrigation based on the land's humidity and temperature using computational mathematics. Beginning with the fuzzyification stage to map the sensor's temperature and humidity input values, fuzzy logic is applied. The creation of an inference engine in the NodeMcu 8266 microcontroller to interpret fuzzy rule statements in the form of aggregation of minimum conditions with the AND operator, followed by the combination of a single set value of 0 and 1 in the fuzzy system to produce an appropriate actuator response After the entire system has been prototyped, testing is conducted to determine the responsiveness of the fuzzy program code to changes in the simulated agricultural cultivation land ecosystem. This study found that the fuzzy logic program code embedded in the nodeMCU8266 microcontroller effectively controls the spraying duration of the pump in response to various simulated environmental conditions within 3.6 seconds.

Field assessment of yield and its contributing traits in cowpea treated with lower, intermediate, and higher doses of gamma rays and sodium azide.

Across the globe, plant breeders of different organizations are working in collaboration to bring preferred traits to crops of economic importance. Among the traits, "high yielding potential" is the most important as it is directly associated with food security and nutrition, one of the sustainable development goals. The Food and Agriculture Organization acknowledges plant breeders' role and efforts in achieving local and global food security and nutrition. Recognizing the importance of pulses and increasing pressure on food security, the United Nations General Assembly declared 2016 the "International year of Pulses" owing to their preferred traits such as climate change resilience, wide adaptability, low agriculture input, and protein- and nutrient-rich crops. Keeping all these developments in consideration, we initiated an induced mutagenesis program by treating cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp.) with different doses of gamma rays and sodium azide aiming to enhance the yielding potential of an otherwise outstanding variety viz., Gomati VU-89 and Pusa-578. We noticed a substantial increase in mean values of agronomic traits in putative mutants raised from seeds treated with lower and intermediate doses of mutagens. Statistical analysis such as correlation, path, hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA), and principal component analysis (PCA) were used to assess the difference between mutagenized and control populations. A significant and positive correlation of yield with yield-attributing traits was recorded. However, among all the yield attributing traits, seeds per pod (SPP) depicted the maximum direct impact upon yield, and therefore, working on this trait may yield better results. A widely used PCA revealed 40.46% and 33.47% of the total variation for var. Gomati VU-89 and var. Pusa-578, respectively. Cluster analysis clustered treated and control populations into separate clusters with variable cluster sizes. Cluster V in the variety Gomati VU-89 and cluster V and VI in the variety Pusa 578 comprised of putative mutants were higher yielding and hence could be recommended for selection in future breeding programs. We expect to release such mutant lines for farmer cultivation in Northern parts of India depending on the performance of such high-yielding mutant lines at multilocations.

FROM THE HISTORY OF MODERN RESEARCH OF GEO-ECOLOGICAL PROBLEMS OF SMALL RIVERS OF WESTERN PODILLIA

Systematization of the authors' research and publications on the river-basin systems of small rivers of Western Podillia has been carried out. Three main stages are distinguished. The analyzed basic scientific works of these stages proved the expansion of the spectrum of geoecological studies of small rivers by representatives of the Lviv Scientific School under the patronage of Prof. I. Kovalchuk. At the end of the first stage (2005, 2007, 2010, such studies were carried out by representatives of the Ternopil Scientific Center under the leadership of Prof. L. Tsaryk. The study of the geoecological problems of small rivers reached special relevance in the middle of the second stage with the study of the natural resource potential in river basins (natural recreational, environmental protection, integral resources in the dissertation studies of S. Novytska, O. Greskiv, I. Vitenko, L. Babiuk. During this period, four candidate theses on this issue, a number of bachelor's and master's theses (O. Burtak, V. Tsaryk) were defended ).At the third stage, the activity of expeditionary research in the basins of the rivers Kachava (L. Yankovska, A. Tsidylo), Gnizdechna (I. Kuzyk, I Branovskyi.), Gnizna (V. Tsaryk, P. Tsaryk), Nichlavka and Nichlava (Yu. Melnyk, I. Kuzyk, L. Tsaryk). Graduate students of the Faculty of Geography conduct complex hydroecological studies of the basins of small rivers of Western Podillia, as evidenced by the published collective monograph and a number of articles in specialized scientific journals.
 The article highlights the geoecological problems of small rivers, such as the reclamation of wetlands, which in the conditions of aridization of the climate leads to over-draining of reclaimed lands, disruption of the water balance within river basins, which have turned into ecologically unstable lands. Daily and seasonal changes in the heat balance are observed, which affects the daily and seasonal rhythms of the bioproductivity of soil microorganisms, and therefore the processes of soil formation, renewability and stability of soils. Changes in the heat balance in conditions of aridization of the climate do not contribute to the establishment of optimal ratios between heat and moisture. The problem of disturbance of mineral metabolism in soils as a result of agricultural cultivation, when mineral fertilizers, toxic chemicals are applied to them, and mineral substances are removed from the fields along with the harvest. Annually, with the harvest of one ton of grain, up to 65 kg of the main active substances are removed from the soil. The introduction of an excessive amount of mineral fertilizers leads to their accumulation in soil horizons, and therefore in plant organisms.
 The problem of changing the biogenic cycle of substances is related to the processes of soil and humus formation. Extraction of a significant part of organic substances with plant products from the geosystem in the process of agricultural production, lack of adequate introduction of organic fertilizers instead leads to dehumification of soils, reduction of the capacity of their humus layer, reduction of fertility, ultimately to their depletion and degradation. In river basins, the average application of organic fertilizers has decreased tenfold - from 14 t/ha in 1990 to 0.34 t/ha in 2020, and they are not applied at all on large areas of land.
 Residual soil contamination with radionuclides of cesium-137 and strontium-90 remains within the limits of Polivetska, Palashivska and Bazarska village councils, located in the middle part of the Djuryn river basin. Within the basin of the Nichlava River, radiation pollution is limited to the outskirts of the settlements of Shmankivchiki, Kolindani, Davidkivtsi, Mikhalkiv, Pylypche, Ustya. Radionuclides migrated deep into the soil profiles in the watershed areas and accumulated at a depth of 80-100 cm.
 The conducted studies proved that the development of degradation processes in the conditions of long-term anthropogenic loads is the cause of the loss of the basin system's stability.
 Optimization measures based on the principle of maintaining balance and parity development of the economy and nature protection are substantiated. This means that the use of land and other natural resources and the development of economic activity in the studied territory should not deteriorate the quality of the environment and the state of natural geosystems and their geocomponents. Optimization measures provide for the improvement of the quality of the environment and the formation of an ecologically safe system of nature management
 Key words: historical stages, geoecological problems, small rivers, Western Podillia.

Photodegradation of glyphosate in water and stimulation of by-products on algae growth

Glyphosate is the most widely used herbicide in global agricultural cultivation. However, little is known about the environmental risks associated with its migration and transformation. We conducted light irradiation experiments to study the dynamics and mechanism of photodegradation of glyphosate in ditches, ponds and lakes, and evaluated the effect of glyphosate photodegradation on algae growth through algae culture experiments. Our results showed that glyphosate in ditches, ponds and lakes could undergo photochemical degradation under sunlight irradiation with the production of phosphate, and the photodegradation rate of glyphosate in ditches could reach 86% after 96 h under sunlight irradiation. Hydroxyl radicals (•OH) was the main reactive oxygen species (ROS) for glyphosate photodegradation, and its steady-state concentrations in ditches, ponds and lakes were 6.22 × 10−17, 4.73 × 10−17, and 4.90 × 10−17 M. The fluorescence emission-excitation matrix (EEM) and other technologies further indicated that the humus components in dissolved organic matter (DOM) and nitrite were the main photosensitive substances producing •OH. In addition, the phosphate generated by glyphosate photodegradation could greatly promote the growth of Microcystis aeruginosa, thereby increasing the risk of eutrophication. Thus, glyphosate should be scientifically and reasonably applied to avoid environmental risks.

An Empirical Analysis of Climate Change Effects on Selected Cereals Acreage in Nigeria: A Ricardian Approach

This study examined the relationship between the acreage of selected cereal crops and climate variables for the period 1995 – 2021 in Nigeria. The study was based on maize, rice, millet and guinea corn for all the states in Nigeria for the period of study. Data for acreage of selected cereal crops for all the time period were collected from the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (N.B.S) while data on the two important climate variables required for crop growth – temperature and precipitation – used for the analysis were obtained from the Nigerian Metrological Agency. The results indicated positive response of the acreage of the cereal crops to increase in temperature which is possibly due to other factors that serve in cushioning the effect of the temperature such as irrigation; rainfall has mixed relationship with the acreage of the cereal crops except; the negative coefficient of trend variable shows a negative relationship with the acreage of selected cereal crops. The results of the elasticity of cereals acreage to climate variables show that the acreage of rice is inelastic to rainfall but elastic to temperature. However, maize, millet and guinea corn acreage are all appreciably elastic to precipitation and temperature changes. These results also reveal that with the passage of years and climate factors running contrary to agricultural productivities, cereal crops farmers in Nigeria were adopting new measures to cope with the negative effect of climate change. Climate adaptation measures which include the use of drought or heat resistant varieties, early sowing, mixed cropping, tillage system alteration and the utilization of land that has been considered too marginal for agricultural cultivation reduces the negative effects of climate change on cereal crops acreage and enhances the positive factors.

Repellency and Phytoxicity Assessment of Plant Extracts, Essential Oils and Nanoparticles on Tribolium castaneum Herbst Beetles Infesting Wheat Grains (Triticum estivum L.)

Plant extracts and nanoparticles were tested for Tribolium castaneum Herbst Beetle repellency and wheat grain phytotoxicity. Mugwort plant extract had 100% repellency after 3 hours for 10%, 15%, and 20% concentrations, 85% after 2 hours at 20%, and 82% at 15%. The lowest significant repellency values for Mugwort (Artemisia annua) plant extract and EOs after 1 hour were 42% and 54% at 5% concentration. After 3 hours, plant extract and essential oil at 10%, 15%, and 20% concentrations repelled black seeds (Nigella sativa) 100%. Black seeds plant extract had 93% repellency at 20% after 2 hours and 85% at 5% after 3 hours, compared to 50% for EOs. The lowest significant repellency values for plant extract and EOs after 1 hour were 50% and 52% at 5% concentration. SiNPs and AgNPs have similar repellency values across exposure times. SiNPs and AgNPs had 40% repellency at 100 ppm after 1 hour compared to the control. After 1 hour of exposure, SiNPs had 2% repellency and AgNPs 4% at 100 ppm. Phytotoxicity tests showed that wheat grains did not affect seed germination characteristics or biological measurements. In treated wheat grains, most germination and biological indices increased. This shows that these treatments did not kill the wheat embryo. These findings suggest that these treatments could protect grains, particularly wheat, for human consumption, animal feed, or agricultural cultivation.

First Report of Brown Spot Caused by Alternaria alternata on Potato (Solanum tuberosom L.) in Korea.

In June 2020, brown spot symptoms were observed in a commercial potato field located in Yeocheon, Gyeonggi Province, Korea. The symptoms were similar to those associated with early blight. Brown lesions on leaves were circular and expanded rapidly under high humidity and warm temperatures ranging 12°C at night to 30°C during daytime. Over 60% of potato (Solanum tuberosum L. cv. Superior) leaves showed the symptoms. For fungal isolation, infected leaf tissues (5 × 5 mm) from 14 infected samples were immersed in 70% ethanol for 1 min, rinsed three times in sterilized water, dried, placed on water agar amended with 100 ppm of streptomycin, and then incubated in the dark at 25°C. Hyphae emerging from the tissues were subcultured on V8-Juice agar (8% of V8-Juice, 1.5% agar, pH 7), and the obtaining cultures were subjected to single-spore isolation, resulting in 14 isolates (SYP-934~947). Three representative isolates, SYP-934 to SYP-936, were deposited in the Korean Agriculture Culture Collection (Accession Nos. KACC 410058 to KACC 410060). Conidia (n = 100) produced on the colony were brown, ellipsoid to ovoid with walls ornamented, 1 to 6 transverse and 0-3 vertical septa, and length × width of 20-45 × 7 to 24 μm (n = 100). Their morphological characteristics were consistent with Alternaria alternata (Simmons, 2007; van der Waals et al., 2011; Woundenberg et al. 2015). Sequences of the following loci in the 14 isolates were determined as described in Woundenberg et al. (2013 and 2014: the internal transcribed spacer (primer pairs VG9/ITS4, GenBank accession nos. OP581413-25), glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (gpd1/gpd2, OP588286-99), RNA polymerase second largest subunit (RPB2-5F2/fRPB2-7cR, OP588314-27), translation elongation factor 1-alpha (EF1-728F/EF1-986R, OP588300-13), Alternaria major allergen gene (Alt-For/Alt-Rev, OP588328-41), endopolygalacturonase (PG3/PG2b, OP588342-55), and an unknown gene region (OPA10-2R/OPA10-2L, OP588356-68). A neighbor-joining phylogenetic analysis based on the concatenated gene sequences, which was performed using the MEGA X program (Kumar et al., 2018), placed the 14 isolates in the clade containing A. alternata isolates. To test pathogenicity, one-month-old potato (S. tuberosum cv. Superior) plants grown in a 25°C growth chamber were sprayed with conidial suspensions (1×106 conidia/mL) prepared from 14-day-old cultures of three isolates (KACC 410058 to KACC 410060). Sterile distilled water was used as the control treatment. The inoculated pots were placed in a plastic box to maintain high humidity and incubated in the dark at 25°C for 2 days. The plants were transferred to a growth chamber (16h light with over 70% humidity at 25°C). Symptoms were first observed after 3 days post inoculation (dpi) with all three isolates, and severe brown spot symptoms were observed after 7 dpi. No symptom was observed in the control treatment. The pathogenicity assay was repeated at triplicate. Reisolated cultures from lesions were confirmed to be A. alternata based on their sequence at the rpb2 locus, thus fulfilling Koch's postulates. Alternaria alternata has been reported to cause brown spot and leaf blight on potato leaves in Israel (Dorby et al., 1984) and South Africa (van der Waals., et al. 2011). To our knowledge, this study is the first report of A. alternata causing brown spot disease in Korea.

Improving local adaptive capacity to mitigate the negative impact of climate change: A case study of Tram Kak District, Takeo Province

Climate change is a long-term change in temperature and weather patterns. Drought is one of the two major natural disasters in Cambodia. The study aims to better understand the negative impact of climate change on the rice production of small-scale farmers in two communes in Tram Kak district, Takeo province, by focusing on droughts or water shortages. It was found that (i) the small-scale farmers of Sraeronorng commune mostly cultivated late-cycle rice, and the harvest was completed later than small-scale farmers in the Nhaenghorng commune, and (ii) the impact of drought over a decade affected small-scale farmers in the Nhaenghorng commune more than the Sraeronorng commune, except in 2021 when the impact on rice production in the two communes was similarly high. If a drought or water shortage came, most small-scale farmers would have a dispute over access to water from canals or community ponds to irrigate their rice fields. However, (iii) the small-scale farmers were found to have a high adaptive capacity to droughts or water shortages. The study also found that most small-scale farmers tried to construct their water sources to supply their agricultural cultivation, such as digging their ponds. However, these water sources can only provide small amounts of irrigation to reduce rice damage in the event of a long-term drought or water shortage. In addition, it was very important that all key stakeholders, both at the national and local levels, take more action to ensure the resilience of rural communities. These actions should focus on developing high-quality irrigation systems, training on agricultural techniques, selling drought-resistant rice seeds at a low price, and strengthening small-scale farmers’ capacity to produce their quality seeds. Local development projects must include planning and participation of community members.