ABSTRACT The Bigeye grunt (Brachydeuterus auritus) and Lesser African threadfin (Galeoides decadactylus) underpin food security and livelihoods in the Eastern Central Atlantic Ocean, yet robust stock assessments remain scarce for the northern stock (NS) region delineated by the Committee for the Eastern Central Atlantic Fisheries (CECAF). This study applied the Bayesian Catch-Maximum Sustainable Yield (CMSY++) catch-only model to Food and Agriculture Organization FishStatJ catch data (2001–2021) for Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. The study aimed to (1) assess the predictive accuracy of CMSY++ under four biomass-prior (b/k) scenarios, and (2) estimate the status of both stocks. From the results, the expert-informed prior yielded the most reliable estimates: Bigeye grunt exhibited sustainable biomass above the Maximum Sustainable Yield (i.e., B/BMSY >1.0), fishing mortality below the Maximum Sustainable Yield threshold (i.e., F/FMSY< 1.0), and a high intrinsic growth rate (i.e., r ≈ 0.6 per year). Conversely, Lesser African threadfin was overexploited and depleted (B/BMSY ≈ 0.6, F/FMSY ≈ 2.6, r ≈ 0.4). These findings affirm CMSY++ as a valuable tool for data-limited fisheries, contingent on expert-informed priors, and underscore the urgent need for precautionary management of Lesser African threadfin to promote stock rebuilding and long-term sustainability.

The Cameroonian government implemented import restrictions in 2004 to protect the local poultry industry from low‑priced frozen chicken imports that had been driving substantial financial losses and extensive job losses among small‑scale producers. Prior to the ban, imported frozen chicken accounted for over 60 percent of urban poultry markets, undercutting domestic prices, eroding producer margins, and exacerbating concerns about food quality, food sovereignty, and rural livelihoods. This study investigated the policy’s impact on annual domestic chicken production by applying the Synthetic Control Method (SCM) which is a counterfactual‑based approach that constructs a weighted average of several other units to recreate the trajectory that chicken production would have followed in the absence of the intervention. The analysis draws on Food and Agriculture Organization Corporate Statistical Database (FAOSTAT) data from 1961 to 2022, focusing on a 1984–2003 pre‑intervention window to secure a robust counterfactual, and assembling a donor pool of ten agricultural commodities, excluding crops with incomplete data or those affected by trade measures during the time frame of the analysis. Predictor variables include production levels, ensuring the synthetic control closely mirrors Cameroon’s pre‑2004 production trend. Between 2004 and 2008, observed output exceeded the synthetic counterfactual by an average of 23,880 tons per year, indicating a sizable policy‑induced expansion. In major cities such as Yaounde and Douala, broiler prices respond to seasonal supply fluctuations: during shortages, prices for a 2kg bird rise to 3,500 Franc of the African Financial Community (FCFA), while in periods of surplus they fall to around 3,000 FCFA. National production is nearly fully absorbed by domestic demand, with no structural oversupply. Three Robustness checks: the placebo effects test, Root Mean Square Predictor Error (RMSPE) comparisons and leave one out tests confirm that the findings are robust. However, after 2008 volatility emerged due to the avian influenza shock and binding feed constraints (maize/soy), highlighting structural bottlenecks beyond border policy. These results support the infant-industry rationale for temporary protection but show that durable gains require complementary investments: input stabilization, veterinary and processing infrastructure, and market/quality systems aligned with World Trade Organization (WTO) consistent policy transitions. The SCM’s applicability to agricultural trade policy in Africa was demonstrated and a replicable template for future evaluations provided. By doing that, this study offers concrete guidance for policymakers in designing sustainable agricultural trade policies. Key words: Chicken production, frozen chicken, import restrictions, Cameroon, Synthetic Control Method

ABSTRACT Fruits are a critical component of the human diet, as they provide essential dietary nutrients that play an important role in the functioning of the human body and maintaining health. It is well‐known that consuming fruits has various benefits, including the prevention of chronic diseases, cancer, and cardiovascular disorders. Thus, wider availability and maintaining the quality of fruits are highly required. Around 25% of global crop losses reported annually are attributed to disease and pest infestations, as per the Food and Agriculture Organization. Fungal pathogens are a major cause of post‐harvest diseases, which significantly affect production and lead to economic losses. To address this, disease diagnosis at an early stage is crucial to enable timely monitoring, implementation of prevention techniques, and minimizing storage‐related losses. Various methods are available for early pathogen detection; spectroscopic and imaging techniques have been widely applied as they offer cost‐effectiveness, potential for real‐time analysis, and a non‐destructive nature of analysis. When integrated with advanced decision‐support tools, these instrumental techniques can enable rapid and accurate detection of fungal diseases in fruits. In recent years, nanotechnology has emerged as a promising approach, with a wide range of nanoparticles being utilized to develop nanobiosensors for various applications. This review also highlights recent advancements in the use of nanomaterials and nanoparticle‐based sensing systems for the detection of pathogens, providing an overview of their potential role in improving post‐harvest disease diagnostics.

This study was carried out to examine the effectiveness of financing options in the adoption of climate smart agriculture practices among farmers in delta state, Nigeria. Survey questionnaire was administered to 210 respondents in the study area through the use of multistage sampling technique. Descriptive statistics such as, means, percentage and frequency count was used to achieve the objectives and hypotheses were tested using binary logistics regression. The study shows that most respondents were female (71.0%), married (60.5%), aged 30–49 (62.9%), and operated small farms under 3 hectares (80.5%). Education varied, but 27.1% had secondary education. Many relied on personal savings (45.2%) and leased land (49.5%). Contact with extension agents was minimal (76.2% had none), and only 34.8% belonged to cooperatives. Access to CSA financing was highest through youth and women’s schemes like N-Power Agro (91.9%) and commercial bank green loans (64.3%), while access to schemes like NIRSAL, Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, and CBN Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund remained low (&lt;30%). Effectiveness ratings of existing financing schemes were generally below average (mean &lt; 2.5), indicating weak support for CSA adoption, hindered by bureaucratic bottlenecks and poor outreach (Abioye et al., 2021; Oladipo et al., 2022). Severe challenges included high collateral, interest rates, and limited insurance (Food and Agriculture Organization, 2021). Innovative strategies like results-based financing and blended finance showed modest support (≈30%), while digital and insurance-based tools had low acceptance due to trust gaps (Adeagbo et al., 2022). Regression results showed education, farm experience, and credit access positively influenced CSA adoption. Based on the findings of this study it was recommended that Financial institutions such as NIRSAL, Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, and CBN Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund should lower collateral requirements, reduce interest rates, and extend repayment periods to make credit accessible to smallholders.

ABSTRACT Climate change poses significant challenges for agricultural systems in Africa, particularly affecting agro‐pastoral communities dependent on crops and livestock for their livelihoods. This study investigates the impact of adaptation strategies on climate resilience among agro‐pastoral communities in Laikipia County, Kenya. It applies the Food and Agriculture Organization's RIMA‐II framework to analyze data collected from 308 households selected through multistage sampling. Factor analysis is used to cluster adaptation strategies, Principal Component Analysis to calculate resilience pillars, and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with instrumental variable regression (IVR) to estimate the Climate Resilience Index. Our findings reveal that household resilience is significantly influenced by: Access to basic services ( β = 1.643, p &lt; 0.05), assets ( β = −3.422, p &lt; 0.01), and adaptive capacity ( β = −4.034, p &lt; 0.01). Farm risk reduction, diversification, and access to agro‐weather information demonstrated strong positive associations with resilience, while households with higher education levels and larger adult equivalent size showed greater capacity to implement effective adaptation. The negative influence findings imply the use of only the agricultural mitigation mechanism. Policies aimed at emphasizing the use of informal and non‐economic approaches as pillars could significantly boost the resilience of agro‐pastoral communities in similar arid and semi‐arid regions.

The sustainability of any society is undeniably linked to food security. Despite most Africans engaging in agricultural activities, the continent's unpredictable weather has left many of them food insecure. Therefore, this paper aims to examine the impact of climate change on food security in SANE (South Africa, Algeria, Nigeria and Egypt) countries over the period from 2012 to 2023. The data were sourced from the World Development Indicator (WDI), the Food and Agricultural Organization data bank (FAO). The study used the framework of panel fixed effect model to reveal that both carbon dioxide emission and average precipitation rate had negative impact on food production index but their impact is not significant. The study equally reveal that employment in agriculture and agricultural raw material import impacted positively on food production index but without a significant outcome, while food import had a negative and significant impact. Consequently, the study recommends that the countries in this bloc should implement policies meant to mitigate the threat posed by climate change, while food import should be encouraged as a short-term measure to boost the shortfall in local supply. In the long-run, the objective should be to improve local food production using several measures.

Oxytetracycline (OTC) is a broad-spectrum antibiotic widely used in animal husbandry to prevent and treat infections in livestock. A significant fraction of administered OTC can be excreted unmetabolized, raising serious environmental concerns due to the dissemination of antibiotic residues and the potential development of antibiotic-resistant pathogens in surface and livestock drinking water. This study focuses on the synthesis of magnetic activated carbon (MAC), the evaluation of its OTC removal efficiency and the assessment of its magnetically assisted separation from livestock drinking water formulated according to the Food and Agriculture Organization technical guidelines. The results demonstrate that MAC exhibits substantially enhanced performance compared to conventional activated carbon (AC). Specifically, MAC achieved approximately twice the OTC removal efficiency of AC and enabled a dramatic reduction in sedimentation time when assisted by an external magnetic field, decreasing settling from 6 h to approximately 1 min. Under FAO-recommended ranges of pH, ionic strength, and hardness for livestock drinking water, MAC containing 5% magnetic nanoparticles showed, on average, a 24% higher OTC removal capacity than AC. Adsorbent dosage was identified as the dominant factor influencing OTC removal, although water physicochemical conditions also played a significant role. Both MAC5% and AC exhibited maximum adsorption efficiency at neutral to slightly acidic pH and at low concentrations of NaCl and CaCO₃. MAC5% achieved nearly 100% higher OTC removal than AC at moderately saline and hard water conditions (pH = 8, [NaCl] = 60 mg l-1, [CaCO3] = 300 mg l-1). At high salinity and hardness levels ([NaCl] = 6000 mg l-1and [CaCO3] = 500 mg l-1), the adsorption efficiencies of MAC5% and AC became comparable. In terms of solid-liquid separation, the application of an external magnetic field markedly improved MAC5% settling efficiency, independently of pH, salinity, and hardness, confirming its suitability for rapid and efficient water treatment applications.

The construction of the Human Right to Food Security is a constant evolution. While human rights manifest themselves as self-integrative dimensions and in constant construction, these rights derive their validity from the dignity that every person bears on their individual level as they are being conquered through historical struggles symbolizing the achievement of people against oppression. The World Food Summit, organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization, held in Rome in 1996, definitively associated the fundamental role of the Human Right to Adequate Food with the guarantee of Food and Nutritional Security which includes the right to clean air; a safe and stable climate; access to safe water and adequate sanitation; healthy and sustainably produced food. The IPCC last report states that there are widespread and rapid changes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere and biosphere have already occurred implying that approximately 3.3 to 3.6 billion people live in contexts that are highly vulnerable to climate change. The general adaptation clause is presented in the UNFCCC Paris Agreement on the article 7.1 and establish the global goal on adaptation of enhancing adaptive capacity, strengthening resilience, and reducing vulnerability on a perspective of intergenerational equity. Mainstreaming is to integrate this adaptation policy within other policies, coordinating the efforts on systemic, organizational, and individual level, establishing not only a general and apart approach of the article 7.1 of the UNFCCC Paris Agreement, but a full integrated adaptation policy in food security. The bottom-up characteristic of this soft law presents a form of multilateral and multilevel governance approach that presents the possible solution from a global to local perspective. This article is based on bibliographic and document analysis, and it’s based on the hypothesis that general policy is better achieved through its integration with a specific one that approaches a specific subject. Briefly the main goal of the adaptation policy is to be mainstreamed with/in food security policy to achieve both objectives thus realizing the aspirations of the international climate change regime and realizing the human right to adequate food.

Agriculture is essential to food security and rural development in emerging economies, as it provides livelihoods for over 70% of the rural population, especially in areas like South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. However, efforts to enhance agricultural productivity have been hindered by multiple interlinked factors, including economic instability, unequal land distribution, increasing climate variability, and the limited dissemination of scientific knowledge and improved planting methods among farmers. Despite the fact that agriculture is rapidly changing technologically thanks to Agriculture 4.0 and the new Agriculture 5.0 paradigm, many rural and resource-constrained areas have not yet embraced these innovations because of their high costs, poor infrastructure, and lack of technical capacity. Organizations like the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have promoted a balanced strategy that incorporates social justice, environmental preservation, and productivity in response to these issues, and the idea of sustainable agriculture has been widely recognized. Sustainable agricultural methods have been clearly beneficial to industrialized farming systems since the 1990s, but for successful global application, both large-scale commercial farms and smallholder systems in poor nations still need focused, site-specific study. Through the promotion of diverse cropping systems, design-oriented spatial planning, and efficient resource flows, climate-smart agriculture (CSA) helps conserve biodiversity by enhancing ecosystem resilience and lowering climate-related risks. The shift to climate-smart, circular agricultural systems is further supported by the integration of spatiotemporal, data-driven sensing, monitoring, and decision support frameworks, which allows for optimal resource usage.

Aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) is a carcinogenic milk contaminant and a persistent food safety concern in Serbia, especially under changing climate conditions that exacerbate contamination risks. This review synthesizes national research conducted between 2012 and 2024, covering more than thirty thousand analyzed milk and dairy samples, to evaluate AFM1 contamination, public health risks, and the need for structured risk ranking and prioritization frameworks recommended by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). A systematic analysis of Serbian studies explored AFM1 occurrence, dietary exposure, and health risk estimates across population groups. The evidence reveals persistent AFM1 contamination with pronounced seasonal peaks during drought years and winter months, frequently exceeding the EU maximum limit of 0.05 µg/kg. Recent multi-year studies confirm that climate-driven AFB1 contamination in maize and compound feed remains a significant and recurring source of AFM1 in milk, highlighting the necessity of structured risk prioritization frameworks. Exposure assessments highlight children and students as the most vulnerable groups, displaying the highest estimated daily intake. Although current margin of exposure (MOE) values remain within acceptable limits, the persistence of contamination underscores a need for proactive risk management. Adoption of FAO and EFSA risk-ranking methodologies would enhance monitoring efficiency, protect high-risk populations, and support alignment with EU standards. Implementing structured risk prioritization is crucial for strengthening Serbia's food safety governance, guiding policy decisions, and reducing the health burden of AFM1 in the dairy sector.

Abstract. Remote sensing-based observations are used to map tree cover extent, estimate canopy height, detect disturbances, and classify land cover and land use. However, comprehensive global information on forest cover, capturing both physical characteristics and land use components as defined by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), remains limited. Here, we present a harmonized and globally consistent map of forest presence or absence at 10 m spatial resolution for the year 2020, hereafter referred to as GFC2020. Our approach combines multiple spatial datasets, primarily derived from Earth observation (EO), to harness their complementary strengths within a transparent, flexible, and open science framework. GFC2020 maps 4562 million hectares (Mha) of forests globally, which is 9.5 % more than the estimate from latest FAO Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA) for 2020. GFC2020 forest area does not include 578 Mha of tree cover (11 % of the global tree cover area) because these areas do not meet the height threshold or occur on agricultural or urban land. Conversely, around 0.6 % (∼ 25 Mha) of the area classified as forest in GFC2020 is unstocked, due to forest management practices or natural disturbances such as fire. Based on the reinterpretation of a previously collected reference set of 21 752 sample units, GFC2020 achieves an overall accuracy of 91 %, with a commission error of 18 % and an omission error of 8 % for forest. Improvements in EO products, such as better detection of trees in dry and open landscapes, distinguishing natural from human drivers of forest disturbance, mapping tree crops at high spatial resolution or identifying agroforestry systems, will contribute to enhancing future versions of GFC2020. The shift from tree cover to forest cover mapping is not only essential for ecological and climate-related applications but also provides new opportunities to support policy needs. GFC2020 is one of many tools to inform the deforestation risk assessments under supply chain oriented regulations such as the European Union's Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). Even though this map follows the EUDR's definition of forest, it is a non-exclusive, non-mandatory, and not legally binding source. The data availability is as follows: GFC2020 (Bourgoin et al., 2024a, http://data.europa.eu/89h/e554d6fb-6340-45d5-9309-332337e5bc26) and the validation dataset (Colditz et al., 2025a, http://data.europa.eu/89h/8fbace34-a2fe-47b9-ad82-3e9226b7a9a6).

Food insecurity-insufficient access to safe and nutritious foods-is one of the most crucial societal grand challenges the world faces today. It affects 2.3 billion people globally, and addressing it is one of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals of 2030 (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations et al., 2025). Despite its prevalence and importance, the field of applied psychology has ignored this problem with the implicit assumption that food insecurity is not an issue relevant to the workplace. Contrary to this view, we hypothesize and demonstrate that food insecurity is detrimental to the three core work outcomes: task performance, work engagement, and organizational citizenship behaviors. To test our hypotheses, we employed a multimethod design across three empirical studies: (a) an experimental recall study, (b) a within-person diary study, and (c) a field experiment. Our findings consistently demonstrate that food insecurity leads to higher anxiety, which subsequently has a negative effect on task performance, work engagement, and organizational citizenship behavior. In our field experiment, we further demonstrated that providing food to those experiencing food insecurity can improve work outcomes. This research highlights that food insecurity is a significant issue with important implications for the workplace that requires greater attention from both researchers and business leaders. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Certification of grapevine planting material in Russia constitutes a voluntary procedure essential for confirming varietal purity, verifying phytosanitary condition, and ensuring compliance with GOST standards for biometric indicators of the planting material. The utilization of certified material serves to enhance buyer confidence and fortify the producer’s market standing. Obtaining certification for grapevine planting material frequently serves as a mandatory condition for accessing state support programs. The historical development of grapevine sapling certification is closely linked to the creation of national and international standards and the implementation of disease control measures, particularly for viral pathogens. This article examines international grapevine planting material certification programs, including their principles, regulatory foundations, and phytosanitary requirements. A comparative analysis of approaches adopted in Europe, Asia, North and South America, Africa, Australia, and the Russian Federation was conducted. In Russia, the key documents regulating the certification of grapevine saplings include: (i) GOST 31783-2012 “Grapevine planting material (saplings). Specifications” (Ministry of Agriculture in the Russian Federation, 2012); (ii) Government Resolution No. 2425 (2021); (iii) Federal Law No. 468-FZ (2019); (iv) Order of the Ministry of Agriculture in the Russian Federation No. 502 (May 16, 2023). Current focus lies in harmonizing international standards, recognizing the role of international organizations (EPPO, FAO, IPPC, ICVG), and unifying phytosanitary protocols. Furthermore, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), acting through the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), plays a key global role in coordinating these processes. Fundamental certification approaches involve the enhancement of regulatory frameworks, the control of grapevine pests and diseases, the application of innovative assessment methods, and the mandatory conduct of laboratory testing and inspections of planting material production sites. For contemporary industrial viticulture, securing virus-free planting material is of paramount importance. Modern research indicates that grapevine viral infections exhibit wide geographical distribution and vary significantly in prevalence and intensity across regions. The certification of planting material prevents the propagation of infected plants and the interregional dissemination of pathogens, thereby contributing to increased productivity in commercial vineyards.

This paper is based on a farmer, Manne Srinivasa Rao’s experiences and observations over a period of 4 years from 2021. Affected by the incidence of higher cancer rates in the villages and his own father’s loss, he chose to grow food on his own farm using indigenous paddy. Communities firmly believe that the poor health resulting from poor-quality food consumption contributes to the increase in non-communicable diseases. Drawing knowledge from his ancestors and elders, combined with training and exposure at civil society organisations, he chose natural farming, a regenerative agroecological practice, to raise paddy using 8 varieties of indigenous seeds. The transition from chemical-based farming to Natural Farming on the study farm began in 2021 and has been practised continuously for 4 cropping seasons. The study documents the cultivation of selected traditional rice landraces, including Bahuroopi, Kumkumshali (Rakthashali), Kalabat, Kullakar, and Navara. Rice type – all varieties belong to Oryza sativa , predominantly indica-type rice. Seed material is sourced from Basudha farm, founded by Dr Depal Deb, which has preserved 1,500 landrace varieties in West Bengal. In the first year, he collected 5 kg of seed of each variety from the SAVE organisation. In the second year, he also collected 4 kg of seed from Basudha farm, Munugodu, Odisha. In subsequent years, he multiplied the seeds, saving seeds from the harvest. Further research is needed to validate observations on soil health, stress resilience, yields, and nutrition, highlighting the importance of preserving traditional seeds through community involvement. The writer is a video producer, and a film has been made, an oral history archived by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in the knowledge digest.

Background: While there are numerous dietary quality indices for individuals, a longitudinal population-level index is missing from the literature. This article presents a novel population-level dietary index, the Population Eating Quality Index (PEQI) that measures a country's annual dietary quality. Methods: Using data from the Food and Agriculture Organization and the Global Dietary Database, PEQI comprises of ten waste-adjusted food items for which weighted scores are assigned according to their effect on human health. Associations between the PEQI and health outcomes for a panel of developed countries were studied to further validate the instrument. Results: PEQI shows a slight upward trend with Greece and Czech Republic scoring the highest and lowest average scores, respectively. The index shows good predictive ability regarding life expectancy at birth and premature mortality, for an average developed country. Specifically, a one standard deviation increase in PEQI was associated with 3.23-3.45 years (a 26%-28%) increase (rate decrease) in life expectancy (potential years of life lost). Moreover, the direction of associations held even when adding a 1-year lag of the outcome in the models. Conclusions: PEQI has multiple potential applications in the ecological study of health and nutrition as an exposure or even as an outcome.

Although it has been agreed that agroecology can be understood as a movement, science and/or practice, this classification is insufficient in sociological terms. We sought to identify the political and ideological content of what is claimed to be the “social dimension of agroecology” by comparing the political discourses of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and La Via Campesina. Using Social Ecology and sociological materialism as analytical-interpretative tools, we identified that the fundamental distinction between the “types” of agroecology can be found in categories of class differentiation, ideology, social organization and the relationship between society and nature. We concluded that today agroecological knowledge can take on both a hegemonic-dominant-central form and a subaltern-peripheral-insurgent form. At the same time as they exclude each other, both mutually reinforce each other, in a dialectical relationship between authority and freedom.

Agricultural soils contamination of heavy metals is a growing concern due to food safety issues and potential health risks. Consuming crops that contain these minerals is one of the main ways elements enter the human body, then, they accumulate in human tissues and cause serious effects on health. This study aimed to monitor the levels of lead and cadmium accumulation in the edible parts of lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) and watercress (Nasturtium officinale R. Br.) planted in several areas in Damascus and its countryside in accordance with the permissible levels according to FAO 2019. The dried samples were prepared using the open wet oxidation method using concentrated nitric acid HNO3 65% and hydrogen peroxide H2O2 50%, noting that the number of samples was (40) samples, finally they were analyzed using the graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrophotometer (GFAAS).The results were compared with the Food and Agriculture Organization standard (FAO) 2019, and the results were as follows: For cadmium: in watercress all samples exceeded the acceptable upper limit of 0.2mg/ kg. In lettuce ten samples exceeded the acceptable upper limit of 0.2mg/kg. For lead: in watercress five samples exceeded the acceptable upper limit of 0.3mg /kg. In lettuce the results showed that the lead concentration in all studied samples didn’t exclude normal limits (0.3mg/kg). This study highlights the potential hazard for human health due to the uptake of high concentrations of heavy metals especially Cd and Pb by the studied vegetable crops. Vegetable consumers from these study areas are likely to be more susceptible to cadmium and lead toxicity as mentioned above. To avoid the harmful effects of the heavy metals accumulation on human health, consideration should be given to the constant examination to the edible parts of the vegetables grown in heavy metals contaminated soil.

Background: Quality and quantity of plant crops and feeds take a major concern by scientists for sustainable development. Mycotoxins are deleterious secondary metabolites synthesized by diverse species of filamentous fungi, predominantly from the genera Aspergillus, Fusarium, Penicillium, and Alternaria. The effects of mycotoxins on crops are complex, encompassingyield reduction, quality degradation, economic losses, food safety and health hazards as well as sustainability and soil health concerns. The World Health Organization, along with the Food and Agriculture Organization, has instituted international safety standards via Codex to govern mycotoxin concentrations in food and feed by establishing maximum permissible limits: aflatoxin B₁: 5–10 µg/kg in food products; total aflatoxins: 15 µg/kg; ochratoxin A: 3–10 µg/kg in cereals and 0.5 µg/kg in infant foods; and fumonisins, with a tolerable daily intake for FB₁: 2 µg/kg body weight per day. Objective: Multiple modern controlling strategies are developed to limit fungal contaminant growth securing both agricultural yield and quality of productions. Currently this reviews provide comparative study among different biocontrol mechanisms that down-regulate mycotoxins productivity using different traditional biological mechanisms such as microbial degradation, antagonisms, and phytochemicals with recently developed methods focused on manipulation at genomic level for suppressing fungal proliferation and toxins pollution. Conclusion: Modern biotechnological techniques directly interferes to diminish mycotoxin biosynthesis pathways and triggers innate plants defense systems, which enhance with great specificity, and more efficient and persistent restrictions.

Background: Cardiometabolic risk is increasingly observed in young adults, particularly during university years, and is not limited to individuals with elevated body mass index. Emerging evidence highlights the presence of normal weight obesity-characterized by excess adiposity and unfavorable body composition despite normal BMI-which may confer early metabolic vulnerability. Dietary diversity is often promoted as a marker of dietary adequacy; however, its relationship with adiposity, body composition, and muscular health remains inconsistent, particularly in Latin American populations. Moreover, few studies have directly contrasted dietary diversity indicators with empirically derived dietary patterns in relation to cardiometabolic and functional outcomes. Objective: To examine the associations between dietary diversity, dietary patterns, and indicators of adiposity, muscular strength, and relative muscle mass in Ecuadorian university students. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 349 undergraduate students aged 18-26 years enrolled in health sciences programs in Ecuador. Dietary intake was assessed using a validated food frequency questionnaire. Dietary diversity was quantified using the Food and Agriculture Organization's Individual Dietary Diversity Score, while dietary patterns were identified through principal component analysis followed by k-means clustering. Outcomes included excess body weight, relative muscle mass assessed by bioelectrical impedance analysis, and handgrip strength. Multivariable Poisson and linear regression models were fitted, adjusting for age, sex, academic program, physical activity level, and pre-existing conditions. Results: Despite their young age and low prevalence of diagnosed disease, approximately one-third of the participants exhibited markers of early cardiometabolic risk, including excess body weight and central adiposity. Higher dietary diversity was independently associated with a higher prevalence of excess body weight (adjusted prevalence ratio per one-unit increase in IDDS: 1.17; 95% CI: 1.06-1.30) and with greater relative muscle mass (adjusted β = 0.13; 95% CI: 0.05-0.22), whereas no association was observed with handgrip strength. In contrast, dietary patterns derived from multivariate analysis showed no significant associations with adiposity, muscular strength, or relative muscle mass after adjustment. Conclusions: In this young adult population, dietary diversity captured aspects of overall dietary exposure associated with both increased adiposity and greater lean mass, but not with muscular strength. Empirically derived dietary patterns demonstrated limited discriminatory capacity, likely reflecting dietary homogeneity within the cohort. These findings indicate that dietary diversity alone does not necessarily reflect diet quality and underscore the importance of interpreting diversity metrics alongside indicators of food quality, energy density, and body composition when evaluating early cardiometabolic risk in contemporary food environments.

Precise identification of individuals and accurate parentage verification is critical to livestock breeding programs, facilitating efficient genetic improvement and management practices. Short tandem repeat (STR)-based genotyping in pigs, current genotyping methods are often limited by inadequate resolution, suboptimal throughput and susceptibility to cross-species amplification. This study addresses these limitations by developing and validating a robust, species-specific 21-plex STR typing system. Integrating 13 core loci recommended by International Society for Animal Genetics/Food and Agriculture Organization with eight additional polymorphic markers identified from high-throughput sequencing, the multiplex assay was optimized for simultaneous amplification using fluorescence-labeled primers and capillary electrophoresis. Comprehensive primer optimization and thermal cycling adjustments established uniform amplification conditions, achieving balanced peak heights and distinct genotyping profiles with a sensitivity threshold of 0.5 ng DNA input per reaction. Species-specificity testing demonstrated no cross-reactivity with sheep, cattle and dogs and only weak amplification for the IGF1 locus in cats without compromising genotyping accuracy. Validation using diverse pig populations confirmed the assay's high discriminatory power and reproducibility. The resulting assay is technically rigorous, scalable and cost-effective, making it suitable for broad application in pig genetic improvement programs, pedigree verification, meat traceability and germplasm conservation.