Campus Garden Research Articles

Physicochemical Parameters of Soils in Tepi Campus South Western Parts of Ethiopia

Soil is an important part of agriculture applications. An understanding of physical and chemical condition of any soil is essential for proper implementation of the other soil management practices. Therefore the physico-chemical study of soil is very important because both physical and chemical properties which affect the soil productivity. This physico-chemical study of soil is based on various parameters like pH, electrical conductivity, moisture, soil organic matter, and soil organic carbon. This knowledge will create awareness among the farmers about economic productivity. In this study the physicochemical properties of soil samples obtained from Tepi campus was determined. Their value could be pH 6, Electrical conductivity 7.31µS/m, moisture content 5.038%, organic matter content 4.1% and organic carbon content 3.3%. Physical and chemical properties listed above indicate that this soil sample is productive and suitable for agricultural use. Based on the result in this study soil sample in the Tepi campus garden is slightly acidic, wet, and high organic matter content. Most of the south western parts of Ethiopia get high rain fall through the year more than eight month and its forest area. This makes the soil in this area high moisture content and organic matter content. Corn, maize, sugar cane and coffee are the most cultivated crops in this area.

Analysis of Relationship with Structuring Factors for Recognition and Satisfaction of Use of University Campus Garden

Analysis of Relationship with Structuring Factors for Recognition and Satisfaction of Use of University Campus Garden

Droplet Microfluidic-Based In Situ Analyzer for Monitoring Free Nitrate in Soil.

Monitoring nutrients in the soil can provide valuable information for understanding their spatiotemporal variability and informing precise soil management. Here, we describe an autonomous in situ analyzer for the real-time monitoring of nitrate in soil. The analyzer can sample soil nitrate using either microdialysis or ultrafiltration probes placed within the soil and quantify soil nitrate using droplet microfluidics and colorimetric measurement. Compared with traditional manual sampling and lab analysis, the analyzer features low reagent consumption (96 μL per measurement), low maintenance requirement (monthly), and high measurement frequency (2 or 4 measurements per day), providing nondrifting lab-quality data with errors of less than 10% using a microdialysis probe and 2-3% for ultrafiltration. The analyzer was deployed at both the campus garden and forest for different periods of time, being able to capture changes in free nitrate levels in response to manual perturbation by the addition of nitrate standard solutions and natural perturbation by rainfall events.

Fieldwork at Its Best: Community Engagement Through a University Campus Garden

Abstract This paper describes social science professionals acquiring skill sets in co-curricular environments. Understanding the agro-food system while growing fresh produce with students, faculty, and staff in a campus garden raises issues on the environment, food security, culture, and time management and broadens people's skills in gardening. Authors draw from their experience working on a campus garden, at a farmers market, at a local food pantry, in their home community, and during research conducted in France on food and among food providers and others from North Carolina.

Natural occurrence of broad bean wilt virus 2 on Mirabilis jalapa in China.

Mirabilis jalapa Libosch. is an annual ornamental herbaceous plant. Its leaves and roots are used as a traditional folk medicine that function in clearing heat and detoxifying, promoting blood circulation, regulating menstruation, and nourishing kidney (Annapoorani et al. 2014; Liu et al. 2020; Wang et al. 2018). Broad bean wilt virus 2 (BBWV-2), which belongs to the family Secoviridae, is transmitted by aphid in a non-persistent manner in the nature (Kondo et al. 2005) and mainly damages Vicia faba, pepper, yam and spinach (He et al. 2021). The leaves of M. jalapa on the campus showed shrinking (Supplementary Fig. 1A), yellowing (Supplementary Fig. 1B), mosaic (Supplementary Fig. 1D & 1E), and the whole plant had stunted and rough (Supplementary Fig. 1A & 1C) symptoms in the autumn of 2021. Eight plants (S21-S28) with these symptoms were harvested for total RNA extraction, siRNA mixture purification, and siRNA library made (NEBNext® Ultra™ II RNA Library Prep Kit for Illumina®, NEB, UK). The high-throughput siRNA sequencing with pair-end method was performed on Illumina Hiseq 2000 platform (Sangon, Shanghai, China). The raw sequencing data was treated with the Illumina's CASAVA pipeline (version 1.8). The adaptor was removed and the reads were mostly distributed in 21-24 nt length area (Supplementary Fig. 2A). The contigs (∼12,500, Length > 350 bp) were obtained by de novo assembling with the Velvet Software 0.7.31 (k = 17), then the BLASTN was preformed against GenBank database. Surprisingly, 237 contigs showed significant nucleotide sequence similarities to the genome of BBWV-2. To determine the incidence of BBWV-2 to M. jalapa in campus garden, twenty-eight leaf samples were randomly collected from the garden. Leave extract and total RNA of the sample were tested for BBWV-2 by ELISA (Agdia, USA, SRA46202/0096) and RT-PCR assay, respectively. Twenty-two samples were infected compared with the positive control, and their readings of ELISA were above or parallel to the positive control (Supplementary Fig. 2B∼2D). The coding sequence (1,395 bp) of BBWV-2 movement protein (MP) was amplified by a specific pair of primers (Supplementary Table S1) according to the contigs, the results indicated that the 22 out of 28 samples (78.6%) tested positive for BBWV-2 by both ELISA and RT-PCR (Supplementary Fig. 2E). The MP fragment of BBWV-2 obtained from one of the sample was purified by TIANgel Midi Purification Kit (Tiangen, Beijing, China) and then cloned into pMD19-T (TaKaRa, Dalian, China) vector. Ten separate clones were selected and sequenced (Sangon, Shanghai, China) after PCR verification. The obtained sequences (GenBank accession No. OM416039) were analyzed by BLASTN and bioEdit software (version 7.2.3). According to the phylogenetic tree constructed by BBWV-2 MP sequences (Supplementary Fig. 3), the obtained MP sequences (OM416039, ON677747, and ON677748) were most related to the BBWV-2 MP sequences that from pepper (GenBank accession No. JX183228.1), they share the nucleotide identity of 84.87%. To determine the occurrence and distribution of BBWV-2 in other areas, another twenty-two samples were randomly collected for RT-PCR in different regions of Jiangsu Province, China (Supplementary Table S2). The BBWV-2 infection rate was 76.0% in the M. jalapa. In sum, this is the first report of BBWV-2 naturally infecting M. Jalapa in China.

Diverse partitiviruses hosted by the ectomycorrhizal agaric Hebeloma mesophaeum and the natural transmission of a partitivirus between phylogenetically distant, sympatric fungi

Mycorrhizal fungi host diverse mycoviruses that contribute to our understanding of their diversity and evolution. Here we report on the identification and complete genome characterization of three novel partitiviruses naturally infecting the ectomycorrhizal fungus Hebeloma mesophaeum. During NGS derived viral sequence analyses, we identified a partitivirus that is conspecific with the previously reported partitivirus (LcPV1) described from a saprotrophic fungus Leucocybe candicans. The two distinct fungal specimens inhabited the same vicinity of a campus garden. RdRp sequences encoded by the LcPV1 isolates from both host fungi was found to be identical. Bio-tracking studies revealed that viral loads of LcPV1 drop significantly in L. candicans but not in H. mesophaeum within four years period. The physical proximity of the mycelial networks of both fungal specimens implied the occurrence of a virus transmission event with unknown mechanism. Nature of this virus transmission was discussed in relation to transient interspecific mycelial contact hypothesis.

Investigation and Identification of Various Garden Spider Species in Two Distinct Locations

Aim: Spiders require all environments in which they can survive, and they are regarded as a helpful indicator of the overall species richness and health of terrestrial communities. They are particularly sensitive to natural world disturbances. As a result, the current study was carried out to investigate and identify the diverse garden spider species at two distinct locations: a large college campus garden and a house garden (small).
 Place and Duration of Study: Garden of Magadh Mahila College (Patna, India) and the house garden (Patna city, India), between July 2001 to March 2022.
 Methodology: Visual examination and camera capture of photographs of spiders in both research sites, and identification based on general shape, size, distinctive colour pattern, number and positioning of eyes, length and arrangement of their legs, and so on.
 Results: Spiders are among the most diverse groups of organisms that exist in almost all microhabitats, as evidenced by the presence of 07 families, 15 genus, and 25 species in a small area. Due to their small numbers, this group cannot be disproved in conservation studies. Less species were found in the small garden in the house that was located in a well-built area, whereas a large number of different species of spiders were found in the college campus garden with a larger area of vegetation.
 Conclusion: According to this brief investigation, multiple species were present, each belonging to a different taxonomic group. As a result of this research, we will be able to gain a better understanding of spider diversity and taxonomy.

To use of campus garden as a learning environment in the preservice science teacher education

Bahçe temelli eğitim, örgün ve yaygın öğrenme ortamlarının bir araya getirilmesinde önemli rol oynamakta ve farklı eğitim düzeylerinde uygulanmaktadır. Eğitimde güncel yaklaşımlarla, öğretmenlerin farklı öğrenme ortamlarında birden çok öğretim tekniği kullanmaları beklenmektedir. Ancak, eğitim araştırmaları, öğretmen eğitimi programlarının hala ağırlıklı olarak sınıf içi ortamlara odaklandığını ve öğretmenlerin öğrencilerini sınıf dışına çıkarmak için hazır olmadıklarını veya kendilerini hazırlıklı hissetmediklerini göstermektedir. Bir durum araştırması olan bu çalışmada, fen bilgisi öğretmen adaylarını okul bahçelerinin eğitimsel kullanımıyla tanıştırmak, alan öğretimi becerilerini geliştirmek ve onlara sınıf dışı öğrenme ortamlarında güven kazandırmak amaçlanmıştır. Çalışma 2014-2015 akademik yılında Bahar döneminde 38 fen bilgisi öğretmen adayının katılımıyla bir devlet üniversitesinde yürütülmüştür. Ders araştırmaları modeli takip edilerek hazırlanan ders, mobil teknoloji ile zenginleştirilmiş sınıf dışı öğrenme ortamında (yerleşke bahçesi) üç fen bilgisi öğretmen adayı tarafından verilmiştir. Öğretmen adayları, bitkilerin bilimsel isminin kullanmasında farkındalıklarının olduğunu ancak kendilerini yeterli hissetmediklerini belirtmişlerdir. Sonuçlar, ders araştırmaları modelinin öğretmen adaylarının mesleki yeterliliklerine ve alan bilgilerine katkısını göstermiştir. Çalışma sonuçlarının, fen bilgisi öğretmen adaylarının sınıf dışı öğrenme ortamlarında alan öğretimi ve genel mesleki yeterliliklerine katkı sağlaması beklenmektedir.

Food Insecurity on College and University Campuses: A Context and Rationale for Solutions

Food Insecurity on College and University Campuses: A Context and Rationale for Solutions

Understanding pocket garden users’ perspective for urban campus garden sustainability

Green open spaces have many functions and positively impact urban communities, both psychologically and physically. Students spend most of their time in the campus area like gardens, but their perspectives are less involved in planning campus gardens as the user of the garden. The condition of the garden as one of the environmental factors depends on the behavior of garden users. On the other hand, the condition of the garden forms the behavior and perspectives of garden users. It is crucial to know users’ needs to ensure the sustainability of users’ behavior and gardens’ condition. Based on these problems, this study aims to understand users’ perceptions and problems on-site, create a conversation between stakeholders. Questionnaire results were obtained from 36 active garden users by using a purposive sampling method. The results were analyzed descriptively. The questions were divided into three sections regarding users’ cognitive, environmental, and behavioral factors—the results actors, user perspectives, and user behavior that are interdependent and form one another. Universities need to start a conversation concerning users’ needs in the campus garden to sustain its condition and a better campus community.

Antimycobacterial Activity and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) Analysis of Henna (Lawsonia Inermis) Leaves extract.

Lawsonia inermis or (henna) is used as a cosmetic dye and medicinal plant for its strong antimycobacterial and other therapeutic effects. In this study, we investigated the phytochemical and antimycobacterial activity of L. inermis leaves methanol extract against Rifampicin sensitive and resistant mycobacterium tuberculosis ( M.tb ) strains. Fresh Sudanese henna leaves were collected from the University of Gezira campus garden, shade dried, ground and was extracted by methanol. Crude henna methanolic extract was then tested for antimycobacterial activity against eight M.tb strains sensitive and resistant to rifampicin, using drug susceptibility test. The phytoconstituents were identified by using gas chromatograph interfaced to a mass spectrometer (GC-MS). GC-MS analysis revealed the presence of seven phytochemical components, with prevailing of squalene (34.433%), Lawsone (20.185%) and Coumarin-4-carboxylic acid (23.328%). The crude methanolic extract of henna leaves demonstrated an inhibitory effect on all tested M.tb strains, with antimycobacterial activity being ≤ 50 mg/ml. Henna leaves crude methanolic extract is rich in phytoconstituents that may involve in its remarkable antimycobacterial activity against rifampicin sensitive and resistant M.tb strains.

Diversity of polypores in Kerala Agricultural University main campus, Vellanikkara, Kerala, India

A survey of polypores was conducted from January 2013 to December 2015 in the Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) main campus garden lands, botanical gardens, and plantations visited during pre-monsoon, monsoon, and post monsoon periods. A total of 43 polypore species in 28 genera belonging to seven families were recorded during the study. Their distributions were analyzed by family, rot, and habit. Polyporaceae dominated with 29 species, followed by Hymenochetaceae with nine, Meruliaceae with five, Ganodermataceae with three, and Meripilaceae & Fomitopsidaceae represented by two species each. Forty species were white rot polypores and three were brown rotters; annuals and perennials were represented by 28 and 15 species, respectively. This survey emphasizes the importance of university campuses in biodiversity conservation.

Campus community gardens and student health: A case study of a campus garden and student well-being

Objective The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between working at a campus community garden and student volunteers’ wellbeing. Participants: 76 undergraduate students at a large urban university in the San Francisco Bay area. Methods: A Web-based survey was conducted. Using an email mailing list of current and former garden volunteers, the study questionnaire was sent to survey participants multiple times to promote higher response rate. Results: Bootstrap regression revealed that both connectedness to nature and general health were significant predictors of a general well-being variable. Conclusions: University leaders might consider that campus natural spaces contribute to student success and may be among the few opportunities that urban college students have to engage with nature.

Women and the Making of the University of Alicante Campus: Critical Reappraisals of Modern Architecture (1982–1999)

A stroll around the University of Alicante campus is like a journey through the history of Spanish architecture of the last 40 years, as many of its buildings exemplify the best production of the period. This legacy also tells a story about the role played by female architects within the profession. In fact, a gender reading reveals that only two women, Pilar Vázquez Carrasco, the architect of the Faculty of Sciences (FS, 1982) and the Social Club I (1987), and Dolores Alonso Vera, responsible for the Higher Polytechnic School IV (HPS, 1999), have designed structures on the campus over almost four decades and out of a total of more than 50 buildings. The FS is an example of structural sincerity whose brick and concrete materials and externalisation of services provide Brutalist echoes. The HPS IV is a design exercise consisting of a series of elegant, inviting volumes and open spaces intertwined with the campus garden. This essay focuses on the comparative analysis of these two award-winning works to unveil those contributions that female authorship has brought to their solutions by relating them to comparable buildings in space, time and type, but designed by male architects.

Implementation of an Interactive Environment With Multilevel Wireless Links for Distributed Botanical Garden in University Campus

In this contribution, an end to end system to enable user interaction with a distributed botanical university campus garden is designed, implemented and tested. The proposed system employs different wireless links to collect data related to different bio physiological parameters of both the vegetation mass and the surrounding environment. Detailed analysis of these multilevel communication links is performed by using deterministic volumetric wireless channel estimation and considering underground, near ground and over ground radio propagation conditions. An in-house developed technique enables accurate wireless channel characterization for complete campus scenario considering the multiple link types and all its composing elements. Node definition and network topology is thus obtained by wireless channel analysis of over ground, near ground and underground communication for both 868 MHz and 2.4 GHz Wireless Sensor Networks in an inhomogeneous vegetation environment. Connectivity to enable user interaction as well as for telemetry and tele-control purposes within the campus is achieved by combining ZigBee and LoRaWAN transceivers with the corresponding sensor/actuator platforms. Coverage studies have been performed in order to assess communication capabilities in the set of multiple underground/near ground/over ground links, by means of deterministic channel analysis for the complete university campus location. Measurement results in lab environment as well as full system deployment are presented, showing good agreement with deterministic simulations. Moreover, system level tests have been performed over a physical campus cloud, providing adequate quality of experience metrics. The proposed solution is a scalable system that provides real time trees status monitoring by a cloud-based platform, enabling user interaction within a distributed botanical garden environment in the university campus.

Combatting Food Insecurity on a Mid sized Public University Campus in the Midwest

Students and faculty at a rural university in Western Kansas took steps to decrease food insecurity in the campus population through the establishment of a campus garden and food pantry. Over a two-year period, the campus garden was relocated and expanded to provide easy access to faculty, staff, and students. The campus food pantry was enhanced to include cold and frozen foods and well as staple items. Survey results showed an increase in participation of both the garden and food pantry over the two-year period.

Campus gardens: Food production or sense of place?

Campus gardens can provide opportunities for experiential learning and enhanced physical and mental health; however, they require substantial commitments of time, money, and effort. This formative evaluation explored the perspectives of a university population on the establishment of a campus garden prior to its implementation. Phase 1 involved an electronic survey of the entire population at a small university (N=1300). Phase 2 consisted of 11 in-depth interviews with survey respondents who were interested in furthering the dialogue. The majority (85%) of the 415 individuals who responded to the survey and all interviewees supported the idea of a campus garden. Compared to a shared/community garden or rental plot, participants preferred a low-maintenance forest garden. Food production was secondary to protection of the natural environment and providing a space for rest and reflection. Participants’ sense of community, combined with knowledge of the university’s history, mission, and values, reflected a strong sense of place, a key component of social sustainability. Perhaps it is time to consider alternate options to traditional community gardens on university campuses. This research suggests that forest gardens, with their low-maintenance approach to food production and their potential to promote social sustainability through an enhanced sense of place, may be a good place to start.

Cultivating a Sense of Place in Religious Studies

AbstractThis essay analyzes student learning through place‐based pedagogies in an American Religions course. In the course, students analyzed cultural meanings and practices of regional religious communities and participated in sensory awareness and ecological learning in a campus garden. Embodied learning increased student understanding and appreciation of land‐based religious practices and epistemologies, and promoted multiple student literacies. In Religious Studies, place‐based learning is vital to the examination of the rich dimensions and expressions of religious experience. Across disciplines, place‐based pedagogies can expand and deepen text‐based learning, cultivate recognition of various ways of knowing, foster affective connections to the local community, and develop critical skills for addressing patterns of displacement and ecological denigration.

University food gardens: a unifying place for higher education sustainability

This research describes the key characteristics of campus food gardens and investigates their contribution to overall campus sustainability. An email-survey of 52 campus garden managers in North America provided quantitative and qualitative data for this analysis. It was found that gardens are often student initiated and managed, but also bring together diverse stakeholders from the campus and community. These sites increase sustainability awareness as well as overall institutional sustainability. University food gardens provide formal education that overcomes many institutional barriers to interdisciplinary programs. Informal education also occurs at these sites through experiential learning which leads to greater environmental awareness among garden participants. Campus gardens increase sustainability of institutions by providing local organic food, sustainability education, campus biodiversity, and community-building. Overall, this research indicates that campus food gardens take root for the long-term with strong student participation and institutional support.

Utilization of New Activated Carbon Derived from Oak Leaves for Removal of Crystal Violet from Aqueous Solution

Significant negative environmental impact has been noticed at the campus garden of Gdansk University of Technology in Gdansk, Poland, when the withered leaves of Quercus robur Oak Tree (OL) cover large areas at such places. In this regard, an attempt has been made to recycle the most abundant agricultural leaf waste into a high quality local activated carbon (LAC) for use in the decolorization processes of dye industrial wastewater. A novel AC prepared from OL was studied for removing of crystal violet dye (CV) from aqueous solution under various experimental conditions. The effect of an OLAC adsorbent dose (5-30 mg/25ml), pH (3.09.0), two levels of shaking (90 and 130 rpm) under different contact times as compared to the sorption process at soaking in a beaker for one day, and CV initial concentrations (5-40 mg/l) were all studied in a batch mode process. The sorption exhibited high efficiency for CV adsorption and the equilibrium state could be achieved in 20 minutes for the different CV initial concentrations. CV uptake was proved to increase with the increase in OLAC dose, pH, shaking rate, contact time, and CV initial concentration. The applicability of Lungmuir and Freunflich isotherm equations was investigated. The Freundlich isotherm exhibited a better fit with the experimental data with linear regression value (R 2 ) of 0.9937, although the isotherm parameters of the Langmuir isotherm also indicate favourable adsorption. The maximum capacity (qm) obtained from Langmuir isotherm model was 41.15 mg/g for CV. The results of this study demonstrated the feasibility of applying the low cost and abundantly available OL as a raw material for the preparation of high-quality AC the for removal of CV from aqueous solution.