Economic Losses In Agriculture Research Articles

Effects of global warming on insect behaviour in agriculture

Global warming and climate change are some of the most widely discussed topics in today's society, and they are of considerable importance to agriculture globally. Climate change directly affects agricultural production. On the other hand, the agricultural sector is inherently sensitive to climate conditions, and this has made the agricultural sector one of the most vulnerable sectors to the effects of global climate change. Rising CO2 levels in the atmosphere, increased temperature, and altering precipitation patterns all substantially influence agricultural insect pests and agricultural productivity. Climate change has a number of implications for insect pests. They can lead to a decreased biological control effectiveness, particularly natural enemies, increased incidence of insect-transmitted plant diseases, increased risk of migratory pest invasion, altered interspecific interaction, altered synchrony between plants and pests, increase in the number of generations, increased overwintering survival, and increase in geographic distribution. As a consequence, agricultural economic losses are a real possibility, as is a threat to human food and nutrition security. Global warming will necessitate sustainable management techniques to cope with the altering state of pests, as it is a primary driver of pest population dynamics. Future studies on the impacts of climate change on agricultural insect pests might be prioritized in several ways. Enhanced integrated pest control strategies, the use of modelling prediction tools, and climate and pest population monitoring are only a few examples.

DNA methylation affects freezing tolerance in winter rapeseed by mediating the expression of genes related to JA and CK pathways.

Winter rapeseed is the largest source of edible oil in China and is especially sensitive to low temperature, which causes tremendous agricultural yield reduction and economic losses. It is still unclear how DNA methylation regulates the formation of freezing tolerance in winter rapeseed under freezing stress. Therefore, in this study, the whole-genome DNA methylation map and transcriptome expression profiles of freezing-resistant cultivar NTS57 (NS) under freezing stress were obtained. The genome-wide methylation assay exhibited lower levels of methylation in gene-rich regions. DNA methylation was identified in three genomic sequence contexts including CG, CHG and CHH, of which CG contexts exhibited the highest methylation levels (66.8%), followed by CHG (28.6%) and CHH (9.5%). Higher levels of the methylation were found in upstream 2 k and downstream 2 k of gene regions, whereas lowest levels were in the gene body regions. In addition, 331, 437, and 1720 unique differentially methylated genes (DMGs) were identified in three genomic sequence contexts in 17NS under freezing stress compared to the control. Function enrichment analysis suggested that most of enriched DMGs were involved in plant hormones signal transduction, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis and protein processing pathways. Changes of genes expression in signal transduction pathways for cytokinin (CK) and jasmonic acid (JA) implied their involvement in freezing stress responses. Collectively, these results suggested a critical role of DNA methylation in their transcriptional regulation in winter rapeseed under freezing stress.

Fumigant Activity of Bacterial Volatile Organic Compounds against the Nematodes Caenorhabditis elegans and Meloidogyne incognita.

Plant-parasitic nematodes infect a diversity of crops, resulting in severe economic losses in agriculture. Microbial volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are potential agents to control plant-parasitic nematodes and other pests. In this study, VOCs emitted by a dozen bacterial strains were analyzed using solid-phase microextraction followed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. Fumigant toxicity of selected VOCs, including dimethyl disulfide (DMDS), 2-butanone, 2-pentanone, 2-nonanone, 2-undecanone, anisole, 2,5-dimethylfuran, glyoxylic acid, and S-methyl thioacetate (MTA) was then tested against Caenorhabditis elegans. DMDS and MTA exhibited much stronger fumigant toxicity than the others. Probit analysis suggested that the values of LC50 were 8.57 and 1.43 μg/cm3 air for DMDS and MTA, respectively. MTA also showed stronger fumigant toxicity than DMDS against the root-knot nematode Meloidogyne incognita, suggesting the application potential of MTA.

Designing Watersheds for Integrated Development (DWID): A stochastic dynamic optimization approach for understanding expected land use changes to meet potential water quality regulations

This study investigates the tradeoff between agricultural economic losses and potential water quality regulations at the watershed level over time. Specifically, we applied a stochastic dynamic mathematical programming approach to evaluate the impact of land use changes on agricultural economic losses under uncertain water quality regulations and crop yields. We selected the Little River Experimental Watershed in South Georgia as a case study. Seven potential water pollution reduction trajectories for total phosphorus (TP) were developed. The proposed model applied a chance-constraint technique to allow some degree of uncertainty in meeting the water quality standards. The result shows that agricultural profits decrease when uncertainties are considered at the watershed level. The findings further show that uncertainties of meeting the water quality standard expedited the land use transition from croplands to forestlands and magnified the share of forestlands, highlighting the crucial role of forests in managing water pollution in the selected watershed. The results also indicate that under a moderate pollution reduction scenario, an economic loss of $232/ha/yr is expected to achieve a 16 % reduction in TP concentration. In a more ambitious pollution mitigation scenario, agricultural economic losses are expected to be $778/ha/yr and may result in a 45 % decrease in TP concentration. The modeling approach developed in Designing Watersheds for Integrated Development (DWID) could easily feed into those policy deliberations which operate at the interface of economics and water-related policies for ensuring sustainable management of watersheds worldwide.

Effects of Volatile Organic Compounds Produced by Pseudomonas aurantiaca ST-TJ4 against Verticillium dahliae.

Verticillium dahliae is one of the most destructive fungal pathogens, causing substantial economic losses in agriculture and forestry. The use of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) is an effective and environmentally friendly strategy for controlling diseases caused by V. dahliae. In this study, 90 mm in diameter Petri plates were used to test the effect of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) produced by different concentrations of Pseudomonas aurantiaca ST-TJ4 cells suspension on V. dahliae mycelia radial growth and biomass. The mycelial morphology was observed by using scanning electron microscopy. The conidia germination and microsclerotia formation of V. dahliae were evaluated. The VOCs with antifungal activity were collected by headspace solid-phase microextraction (SPME), and their components were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The VOCs produced by strain ST-TJ4 significantly inhibited the growth of mycelium of V. dahliae. The morphology of the hyphae was rough and wrinkled when exposed to VOCs. The VOCs of strain ST-TJ4 have a significant inhibitory effect on V. dahliae conidia germination and microsclerotia formation. At the same time, the VOCs also reduce the expression of genes related to melanin synthesis in V. dahliae. In particular, the expression of the hydrophobin gene (VDAG-02273) was down-regulated the most, about 67-fold. The VOCs effectively alleviate the severity of cotton root disease. In the volatile profile of strain ST-TJ4, 2-undecanone and 1-nonanol assayed in the range 10–200 µL per plate revealed a significant inhibitory effect on V. dahliae mycelial radial growth. These compounds may be useful to devise new control strategies for control of Verticillium wilt disease caused by V. dahliae.

Treatment of Subclinical Mastitis of Cows with Probiotics

t. A large number of dairy cows in Ukrainian farms suffer from subclinical mastitis, which leads to significant economic losses in agriculture. Conditioned upon the lack of clinical manifestations it is difficult to detect, in particular, explained by insufficient information about the microbial composition of milk. The ban on the use of antibiotics for productive animals is forcing new safe and effective remedies. The aim of the study was to determine the therapeutic effect of Bacillus megaterium NCH 55 in subclinical mastitis of Holstein cows. Research materials – milk of cows with subclinical mastitis, isolates of microorganisms and B. megaterium NCH 55. Methods used: California test for mastitis; microscopic test to count the total number of somatic cells by the method of Prescott and Britt; bacterial method for the study of microorganisms; polymerase chain reaction to determine Mycoplasma spp. in milk; spectrophotometry; method VI Brillis to determine the adhesive properties of Bacillus megaterium NCH 55; determination of antagonistic properties of B. megaterium by diffusion into agar wells; the method of flow cytometry using the device “SomaCount Flow Cytometer”; physiological. The experiment was conducted in dairy farms of the North-Eastern region of Ukraine: LLC agrofirm “Lan”, LLC agrofirm “Vorozhbalatinvest”, LLC agrofirm “Vladana” in the period February-August 2021. Isolates of S. aureus, S. agalactiae, E. coli enterohemorrhagic, E. coli, Candida, E. fecalis, S. epidermidis and Mycoplasma spp. were detected in milk samples from cows with subclinical mastitis. Microscopic studies have shown that Bacillus megaterium NCH 55 are white gram-positive rods that have low adhesive properties and form spores. The greatest antagonism of B. megaterium is shown in relation to bacterial isolates in concentration of 1×109 , CFU/g. In 70% of cows that reached a productivity of more than 30 kg/day on the 30th day of research, milk parameters such as the number of somatic cells (CSC ≤400 thousand/cm3 ) and the number of mesophilic aerobic and facultative anaerobic microorganisms (kMAFANM) (≤100 thousand CFU/cm3 ) corresponded to the class “Extra”. The recovery time of animals with subclinical mastitis depended on the degree of damage to the breast and individual characteristics of the organism. Cows that did not reach a productivity of 30 kg/day continued treatment individually. The number of somatic cells in the milk of cows was ≤500 thousand/cm3 and kMAFAnM ≤200 thousand CF/cm3

Monitoring of Extreme Agricultural Drought of the Past 20 Years in Southwest China Using GLDAS Soil Moisture

Drought can cause severe agricultural economic losses and hinder social and economic development. To manage drought, the process of drought events needs to be described with the help of an effective drought indicator. As a comprehensive variable, soil moisture is an essential indicator for describing agricultural drought. In this work, the extreme drought events in southwest China were analysed by the Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) root zone soil moisture data set. To define the drought quantitatively, a Standardized Soil Moisture Drought Index (SSMI) was calculated using the soil moisture data, then used to get the duration, frequency, and severity of drought events in southwest China. The results showed that the frequency and intensity of drought in southwest China had an apparent upward trend before 2014 and an apparent downward trend since 2014. Moreover, there are apparent differences in the frequency and intensity of drought in various regions of southwest China. Yunnan Province is prone to spring drought events. Guangxi Province and Guizhou Province are prone to spring, autumn and winter droughts, and the intensity of autumn and winter droughts is significantly higher than that of spring droughts. The Sichuan-Chongqing border area is prone to summer drought. We found that the monthly variation of soil moisture in different provinces in southwest China is consistent, but the seasonal variation of drought is different. Meanwhile, the performance of the SSMI was compared to the commonly used drought indices, the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) and the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI). The results showed that the SSMI is more sensitive to drought than both SPEI and PDSI in southwest China. The results also demonstrate that GLDAS soil moisture data can be used to study drought at a small regional scale.

A review of hyperspectral image analysis techniques for plant disease detection and identif ication.

Plant diseases cause signif icant economic losses in agriculture around the world. Early detection, quantif ication and identif ication of plant diseases are crucial for targeted application of plant protection measures in crop production. Recently, intensive research has been conducted to develop innovative methods for diagnosing plant diseases based on hyperspectral technologies. The analysis of the ref lection spectrum of plant tissue makes it possible to classify healthy and diseased plants, assess the severity of the disease, differentiate the types of pathogens, and identify the symptoms of biotic stresses at early stages, including during the incubation period, when the symptoms are not visible to the human eye. This review describes the basic principles of hyperspectral measurements and different types of available hyperspectral sensors. Possible applications of hyperspectral sensors and platforms on different scales for diseases diagnosis are discussed and evaluated. Hyperspectral analysis is a new subject that combines optical spectroscopy and image analysis methods, which make it possible to simultaneously evaluate both physiological and morphological parameters. The review describes the main steps of the hyperspectral data analysis process: image acquisition and prepro cessing; data extraction and processing; modeling and analysis of data. The algorithms and methods applied at each step are mainly summarized. Further, the main areas of application of hyperspectral sensors in the diagnosis of plant diseases are considered, such as detection, differentiation and identif ication of diseases, estimation of disease severity, phenotyping of disease resistance of genotypes. A comprehensive review of scientif ic publications on the diagnosis of plant diseases highlights the benef its of hyperspectral technologies in investigating interactions between plants and pathogens at various measurement scales. Despite the encouraging progress made over the past few decades in monitoring plant diseases based on hyperspectral technologies, some technical problems that make these methods diff icult to apply in practice remain unresolved. The review is concluded with an overview of problems and prospects of using new technologies in agricultural production

A high-quality functional genome assembly of Delia radicum L. (Diptera: Anthomyiidae) annotated from egg to adult.

Belowground herbivores are overseen and underestimated, even though they can cause significant economic losses in agriculture. The cabbage root fly Delia radicum (Anthomyiidae) is a common pest in Brassica species, including agriculturally important crops, such as oilseed rape. The damage is caused by the larvae, which feed specifically on the taproots of Brassica plants until they pupate. The adults are aboveground-living generalists feeding on pollen and nectar. Female flies are attracted by chemical cues in Brassica plants for oviposition. An assembled and annotated genome can elucidate which genetic mechanisms underlie the adaptation of D. radicum to its host plants and their specific chemical defences, in particular isothiocyanates. Therefore, we assembled, annotated and analysed the D. radicum genome using a combination of different next-generation sequencing and bioinformatic approaches. We assembled a chromosome-level D. radicum genome using PacBio and Hi-C Illumina sequence data. Combining Canu and 3D-DNA genome assembler, we constructed a 1.3Gbp genome with an N50 of 242Mbp and 6pseudo-chromosomes. To annotate the assembled D. radicum genome, we combined homology-, transcriptome- and ab initio-prediction approaches. In total, we annotated 13,618genes that were predicted by at least two approaches. We analysed egg, larval, pupal and adult transcriptomes in relation to life-stage specific molecular functions. This high-quality annotated genome of D. radicum is a first step to understanding the genetic mechanisms underlying host plant adaptation. As such, it will be an important resource to find novel and sustainable approaches to reduce crop losses to these pests.

Bioassay Directed Fractionation of Petroleum Ether Extract of Aerial Parts of Ceriops tagal: Isolation of Lupeol as the Nematicidal Agent against Cyst Nematode Heterodera zeae.

Plant parasitic cyst nematode Heterodera zeae is a pest, causing substantial economic losses in agriculture. Organic pesticides, based on plant products have emerged as eco-benign nematicidal agents. Ceriops tagal is a well-known marine medicinal plant which has not been evaluated against any nematode. Petroleum ether extract of the aerial parts of the plant (CTP), exhibited promising activity against infective stage larvae of H. zeae. On subjecting to classical solvent-solvent separation, it afforded petroleum ether soluble (CTP-S), methanol soluble (CTPMS-1, CTPMS-2) and insoluble (CTPM-IN-2) fractions, which exhibited activity against the cyst nematode within 24 h exposure. GC, GC/MS and HR-ESI-MS analyses of CTPMS-1 and CTPMS-2 fractions resulted in the identification of a number of compounds, including pentacyclic triterpenoids, lupeol (1), betunal (2), betulin (3), lupenone (4), betulonaldehyde (5), betulonic acid (7), methyl 3-acetoxy-27-O-(3,4-dihydroxy-E-cinnamoyl)-20(29)-lupen-28-oate (8) and β-amyrin, along with phenylpropanoid esters, fatty acids and their derivatives, benzamide, and indole derivatives. CTPM-IN-2 which mainly contained lupeol (1) exhibited maximum nematicidal activity, with 91 % and 93 % mortality of the larvae of H. zeae, after exposure for 72 h at the concentration of 0.5 % and 1 %, respectively. Its fractionation and purification through column chromatography resulted in the isolation and identification of four lupane-type triterpenoids 1, 3, 4 and betulinic acid (6). One of its most abundant column fractions CC-9-18 (145 mg) which exhibited substantial activity, with 81 % mortality at the lowest concentration of 0.125 % after 48 h of incubation mainly contained lupeol. It seems lupeol, a wide spread bio-privileged triterpenoid is the nematicidal principle of the plant as its authentic sample showed LC50 value of 0.061 after 72 h exposure. It is for the first time that nematicidal activity is reported for any part of C. tagal and that of lupeol against H. zeae. Pentacyclic triterpenoids 1-8 are biosynthetically related. Of the twenty-four compounds isolated or identified in the present investigation only five constituents 1, 3, 6, 7 and palmitic acid have been isolated previously from C. tagal.

Spread of Aujeszky’s disease among wild boars and domestic pigs in Ukraine

Aujeszky’s disease, also known as pseudorabies is an acute infectious viral disease in a variety of mammals caused by Suid herpesvirus 1, a member of the subfamily Alphaherpesvirinae and the family Herpesviridae. This virus causes significant economic losses in agriculture of numerous countries. In particular, in pig farming, the main losses are currently associated with restrictions of international trade, as well as the cost of vaccination or slaughter of infected animals. The main reservoirs species of this disease are considered to be wild boars and domestic pigs. So, in this article the authors performed a comparative retrospective analysis of the prevalence of Aujeszky’s disease among these species in Ukraine over 2009–2020 by systematizing and analyzing the epizootic data and results of serological studies. As a result of the conducted research, there is a clear trend that shows the reduction in the number of locations in Ukraine (farms, households, etc.) with domestic pigs affected by Aujeszky’s disease. Thus, in 2009 four such farms were found, and in 2018 – only one. During 2014–2016 and 2019–2020, affected farms and locations were not registered for this disease. In total, 21 such points with infected pigs were registered during the analyzed period. As for wild boars, during the analyzed 12 years, locations with animals affected by Aujeszky’s disease were registered only in 2013 and 2014 (two and one, respectively). It should be noted that all of those with infected wild boars were found in the AR Crimea. For the twelve years, the number of tested sera samples from domestic pigs amounted to 378,678 (7.4% were positive) and from wild boars – 9,052 (19.8% were positive). As a result of comparative geographical analysis of the obtained data on the detection of specific humoral antibodies to the Aujeszky’s disease virus among both species for 12 years in the regions of Ukraine, there is no established clear correlation between the spread of the disease among wild boars and domestic pigs. Thus, the highest seroprevalence rates among wild boars were observed in the northern and northeastern parts of Ukraine, and in domestic pigs, on the contrary, in the southern and central parts of this country. It should be noted, that since 2014 the number of serological tests among both species for carriers of Aujeszky’s disease has significantly decreased.

Search for Effective Approaches to Fight Microorganisms Causing High Losses in Agriculture: Application of P. lilacinum Metabolites and Mycosynthesised Silver Nanoparticles.

The manuscript presents the first report to produce silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using soil-inhabiting Purpureocillium lilacinum fungus cell filtrate as a promising fungicide and nematicide on two microorganisms causing high economic losses in agriculture. Methods: A fungus biomass was used as a reducing and stabilising agent in the process of NPs synthesis and then characterisation done by SEM, TEM, UV-Vis. Finally, the antimicrobial activity of the synthesised AgNPs was determined. Results: Synthesised AgNPs with a spherical and quasi-spherical shape with an average diameter of 50 nm were effective to inhibit A. flavus fungi and M. incognita root knot nematode, which are extremely pathogenic for plants. Application of the AgNPs led to 85% reduction of proliferation of A. flavus, to a 4-fold decrease of hatching of M. incognita plant-parasite juveniles from eggs, and to a 9-fold increase of M. incognita nematode mortality. Conclusions: Biosynthesised AgNPs can be used as an effective fungicide and nematicide for food safety and security and improvement of agricultural production, but further agricultural field trials are required to observe their effect on environment and other factors.

Ubiquitylomes and proteomes analyses provide a new interpretation of the molecular mechanisms of rice leaf senescence.

We identified a typical rice premature senescence leaf mutant 86 (psl86) and exhibited the first global ubiquitination data during rice leaf senescence. Premature leaf senescence affects the yield and quality of rice, causing irreparable agricultural economic losses. In this study, we reported a rice premature senescence leaf mutant 86 (psl86) in the population lines of rice (Oryza sativa) japonica cultivar 'Yunyin' (YY) mutagenized using ethyl methane sulfonate (EMS) treatment. Immunoblotting analysis revealed that a higher ubiquitination level in the psl86 mutant compared with YY. Thus, we performed the proteome and ubiquitylome analyses to identify the differential abundance proteins and ubiquitinated proteins (sites) related to leaf senescence. Among 885 quantified lysine ubiquitination (Kub) sites in 492 proteins, 116 sites in 94 proteins were classified as up-regulated targets and seven sites in six proteins were classified as down-regulated targets at a threshold of 1.5. Proteins with up-regulated Kub sites were mainly enriched in the carbon fixation in photosynthetic organisms, glycolysis/gluconeogenesis and the pentose phosphate pathway. Notably, 14 up-regulated Kub sites in 11 proteins were enriched in the carbon fixation in photosynthetic organism pathway, and seven proteins (rbcL, PGK, GAPA, FBA5, ALDP, CFBP1 and GGAT) were down-regulated, indicating this pathway is tightly regulated by ubiquitination during leaf senescence. To our knowledge, we present the first global data on ubiquitination during rice leaf senescence.

Geomatic-Based Flood Loss Assessment and Its Application in an Eastern City of China

Flash-flood disasters pose a serious threat to lives and property. To meet the increasing demand for refined and rapid assessment on flood loss, this study exploits geomatic technology to integrate multi-source heterogeneous data and put forward the comprehensive risk index (CRI) calculation with the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation (FCE). Based on mathematical correlations between CRIs and actual losses of flood disasters in Weifang City, the direct economic loss rate (DELR) model and the agricultural economic loss rate (AELR) model were developed. The case study shows that the CRI system can accurately reflect the risk level of a flash-flood disaster. Both models are capable of simulating disaster impacts. The results are generally consistent with actual impacts. The quantified economic losses generated from simulation are close to actual losses. The spatial resolution is up to 100 × 100 m. This study provides a loss assessment method with high temporal and spatial resolution, which can quickly assess the loss of rainstorm and flood disasters. The method proposed in this paper, coupled with a case study, provides a reliable reference to loss assessment on flash floods caused disasters and will be helpful to the existing literature.

FROST RESISTANCE OF THE COLUMNAR APPLE TREE THE METHOD OF DIRECT FREEZING

Frost stress strongly affects the spatial distribution of plants. Among various weather hazards, frost causes the greatest economic losses in agriculture. Among various environmental hazards, it is frost that causes the greatest economic losses in agriculture. Although frost severely limits life forms and creates enormous economic losses, it has not been studied as thoroughly as other biotic or abiotic stresses. Frost resistance can be affected by many factors, including microclimate, soil condition, plant height, but they must be studied in a complex. The purpose of the research was to select frost-resistant cultivars and hybrids of the columnar apple tree under the conditions of the Forest Steppe of Ukraine. The research was carried out during 2021–2022 at the V.L. Symyrenko Department of Horticulture of the National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine. The experimental basis for conducting research was the columnar apple tree plantations of the Training Laboratory «Fruit and Vegetable Garden». Frost resistance was determined during the period of deep rest by the method of direct freezing of one-year increments. Freezing was performed in the laboratory of plant physiology and microbiology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. In the researched plantations, when the test samples were frozen at temperatures of -25 and -30 °C during deep rest, different resistance of varieties and shoot parts to low temperatures was found. In all cultivars and hybrids of columnar type apple trees, the apical bud and generative buds were the most vulnerable, and the tissues of the middle and upper part of the shoot were the most resistant to frost. The damage index during general freezing was the lowest in the cultivars Valuta’, Sparta’, Favoryt’, Bilosnizhka’, as well as in the hybrids 9/110 Mykhailivske’, 11/15(2)’ and 9/78 Viktoriia’; it was the largest in the Bolero’ cultivars. Freezing of experimental samples at temperatures of -25 and -30 °C did not result in frostbite, critical for plants. All studied cultivars and hybrids of columnar apple trees are recommended for further research and production. The obtained results will be interesting for both experienced gardeners and amateur gardeners who plan to grow columnar apple trees in their garden.

EFFECTS OF AIR POLLUTION ON AGRICULTURE

In India, the problem of air pollutions increases due to boosting in size of population, industrialization, and urbanization in the last few decades. Thermal power plants and transport sector is the biggest contributor to air pollution in the country. In 1980, National Crop Loss Assessment Programme (NCLAN) was established for assessing current economic losses in agriculture by air pollution. Air pollutants are present in the forms of gases, p articles in suspension, different ionizing radiation in atmosphere and they cause directly or indirectly effects on agriculture crops as well as effects on animals and humans also. Reductions in leaf area,biomass, chlorophyll, ascorbic acid, and N contents have often been observed for the crop species growing in a polluted area. Black carbon directly absorbs sunlight, reduces the amount of light for photosynthesis and caused more damage to the crops and reduce the yields of the crops.

Detection of the Change in the Morphology of the Courses of the River Ganga Using Satellite-derived Data: A Case Study Area

This study seeks to examine the detection of course change in one of the major rivers of India, that is the Ganga, between the period of 1980 to 2020 and utilizes satellite driven data to demonstrate the visibility of shifting in its course. The purpose of study area is to find out the change detection of the river course. The channel shifting of the river course has been used to demonstrate the historical change in Landsat MSS, TM, ETM, and OLI/TIRS satellite images in the decades of 1980, 1990, 2000, 2010 and 2020. The study exhibits several reasons responsible for and lead to this shift, such as erosion problems and changing characteristics of the Ganga from Rampurghat to Chunar at different cross-section site points. This research area has been divided into six cross-sections, namely, XS-1, XS-2, XS-3, XS-4, XS-5, and XS-6. We attempt to examine how the river’s shape and position have witnessed a change during the 1980–2020 period via using remote sensing and GIS methods. We have identified that the course line of the Ganga has demonstrate a shift via using five types of satellite imagery in the above-mentioned period. The process of channel shifting has included an erosional and a depositional development occurred due to infrastructure damage by sedimentation, flood and changing river course. The Ganga course has shifted towards the south and the north direction places which as a result leads to village erosion. The major aspects of this study have a direct interaction with the physical and socio-cultural environment from upstream to downstream in cross-section. The course change detection of the study has been taken in the context of the river management and planning for future prevention of agricultural land, kuccha houses, food, and economic loss to farmers.

Real-time monitoring of deformed wing virus-infected bee foraging behavior following histone deacetylase inhibitor treatment

SummaryImpairment in the learning/memory behavior of bees is responsible for the massive disappearance of bee populations and its consequent agricultural economic losses. Such impairment might be because of o both pesticide exposure and pathogen infection, with a key contributor deformed wing virus (DWV). The present study found that sodium butyrate (NaB) significantly increased survival and reversed the learning/memory impairment of DWV-infected bees. A next-generation sequencing analysis showed that NaB affected the expression of genes involved in glycolytic processes and memory formation, which were suppressed by DWV infection. In addition, we performed a large-scale movement tracking experiment by using a wireless sensor network-based automatic real-time monitoring system and confirmed that NaB could improve the homing ability of DWV-infected bees. In short, we demonstrated the mechanism of how epigenetic regulation can resume the memory function of honeybees and suggest strategies for applying NaB to reduce the incidence of colony losses.

Microbial community responses to multiple soil disinfestation change drivers

Soil continuous cropping obstacles lead to yield and economic losses in agriculture. Reductive soil disinfestation (RSD) is an effective technology for alleviating it. However, the key factors influencing microbial community composition and how do they promote functional transformation of core microbes under RSD practice remain poorly understood. Hence, a short-term field experiment was performed integrating real-time polymerase chain reaction, average well color development (AWCD), and MiSeq pyrosequencing to investigate relationships between environmental factors and microorganisms in five different disinfestation treatments, i.e., untreated monoculture soil (CK), soil with high temperature heating (HT), soil with dazomet (DZ), RSD with sugarcane bagasse (SB), or with bean dregs (BD). The results showed that compared to non-RSD treatments, both RSD treatments significantly increased soil microbial abundance and soil available K and organic matter (OM). Further analysis found that available K and OM were the key factors inducing microbial community change. Additionally, relative to non-RSD treatments, the relative abundances of phyla Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria, Rokubacteria, and Ascomycota were higher, whereas those of Actinobacteria, Gemmatimonadetes, and Basidiomycota were lower in RSD treatments. Changes in microbial diversity and abundance led to variation of soil microbial community functions. AWCD and community function prediction showed that, in contrast with non-RSD treatments, soil metabolism activity significantly increased, bacterial community functions including terpenoids and polyketides metabolism, signal transduction and cell motility increased, and the number of saprotroph fungi increased under RSD treatments. Overall, RSD incorporated with sugarcane bagasse or bean dregs efficiently improved soil fertility, and considerably increased soil microbial activity and function, which may benefit future sustainable agriculture production. Key points • Reductive soil disinfestation can alleviate continuous cropping obstacles by improving soil fertility. • Organic matter and available potassium as the key factors affected microbial community reconstruction and function. • Reductive soil disinfestation can improve soil metabolic activity and functional diversity by altering microorganism community.

Analysis of the Impact of Soil Compaction on the Environment and Agricultural Economic Losses in Lithuania and Ukraine

Soil compaction (SC) is one of the most damaging degradation processes. The effects of compaction are closely related to crop losses and GHG emissions due to additional fuel use. It is therefore important not only to correctly monitor the condition of the soil and the restoration of damaged soil but also to understand the costs of excessive exploitation of soil and individual risks in different countries and continents. A model of equations has been developed to assess the effects of compaction that can be used on a national or even single farm scale. However, for its further application, more data should be collected. Based on the data available in the public domain, the damage caused by compaction was compared between Ukrainian (UA) and Lithuanian (LT) scenarios as these countries have a similar situation but different levels of soil resource management. Soil characteristics, such as soil types and predisposition to compaction, depending on its type, were assessed in both countries. The main parameters used to estimate the damage due to SC were: yield loss; additional fuel consumption; losses of N, P, K fertilizers, water pollution, and flooding; erosion; and GHG emissions. The results reveal potential annual losses due to compaction of around EUR 27 million for Lithuania and around EUR 1.6 billion for Ukraine. Expected potential average losses per hectare of arable land are about EUR 49 ha−1 y−1 for Ukraine (33.9 million ha or 56.76% of the total area) and about EUR 13 ha−1 y−1 for Lithuania (2.11 million ha or 33.77%). Potential crop losses are one of the costliest consequences of compaction. They could cost about EUR 1 billion annually for Ukraine and about EUR 10.7 million for Lithuania. Moreover, the additional use of fuel and the associated GHG emissions can probably take away EUR 180 million (UA) and about EUR 4 million (LT) each year.