Cotton Fields Research Articles

Soil Salinity Estimation in Cotton Fields in Arid Regions Based on Multi-Granularity Spectral Segmentation (MGSS)

Soil salinization seriously threatens agricultural production and ecological environments in arid areas. The accurate and rapid monitoring of soil salinity and its spatial variability is of great significance for the amelioration of saline soils. In this study, 191 soil samples were collected from cotton fields in southern Xinjiang, China, to obtain spectral reflectance and electrical conductivity (EC) indoors. Then, multi-granularity spectral segmentation (MGSS) and seven conventional spectral preprocessing methods were employed to preprocess the spectral data, followed by the construction of partial least squares regression (PLSR) models for soil EC estimation. Finally, the performance of the models was compared. The results showed that compared with conventional spectral preprocessing methods, MGSS could greatly improve the correlation between spectrum and soil EC, extract the weak spectral information of soil EC, and expand the spectral utilization range. The model validation results showed that the PLSR model based on the second-order derivative (2nd-der-PLSR) had the highest estimation accuracy among the models constructed by conventional methods. However, the PLSR model based on MGSS (MGSS-PLSR) had the highest estimation accuracy among all models, with Rp2 (0.901) and RPD (3.080) being 0.151 and 1.302 higher than those of the 2nd-der-PLSR model, respectively, and nRMSEP (5.857%) being 4.29% lower than that of the 2nd-der-PLSR model. The reason for the high accuracy of the MGSS-PLSR model is as follows: In the continuous segmentation of the raw spectrum by MGSS, the bands with strong and weak correlations with respect to soil EC were concentrated during low granularity segmentation. With the increase in granularity level, the spectral features decreased and were distributed discretely. In addition, the locations of spectral features were also different at different granularity levels. Therefore, the spectral features of soil EC can be effectively extracted by the MGSS, which significantly improves the spectral estimation accuracy of soil salinity. This study provides a new technical means for soil salinity estimation in arid areas.

Cloning and functional characterization of a tau class glutathione transferase associated with haloxyfop-P-methyl resistance in Digitaria sanguinalis.

Haloxyfop-P-methyl, an acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACCase)-inhibiting herbicide, has been extensively used to control grass weeds. Widespread use of haloxyfop-P-methyl in cotton fields in China has led to the development of glutathione transferase (GST)-mediated resistance in Digitaria sanguinalis. An RNA-seq analysis identified DsGSTU1, a tau class glutathione transferase from the D. sanguinalis transcriptome as a potential candidate. Here, we cloned DsGSTU1 from D. sanguinalis young leaf tissues and subsequently characterized DsGSTU1 by a combination of sequence analysis, as well as functional heterologous expression in rice. The full-length coding DNA sequence (CDS) of DsGSTU1 is 717 bp in length. Higher DsGSTU1 expression was observed in haloxyfop-P-methyl-resistant (HR) D. sanguinalis than in haloxyfop-P-methyl-susceptible (HS) plants. Overexpression of the DsGSTU1 gene was confirmed by transformation into the wild-type (WT) Nipponbare rice with pBWA(V)HS, a recombinant expression vector. GST activity in transgenic rice seedlings was 1.18-1.40-fold higher than the WT rice seedlings before and after haloxyfop-P-methyl treatment, respectively. Additionally, transgenic rice seedlings overexpressing DsGSTU1 were less sensitive to haloxyfop-P-methyl. Our combined findings suggest that DsGSTU1 is involved in metabolic resistance to haloxyfop-P-methyl in D. sanguinalis. A better understanding of the major genes contributing to herbicide-resistant D. sanguinalis facilitates the development of resistance management strategies for this global invasive grass weed. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry.

Biochar derived from papermill factories improves soil physical and hydraulic properties in no-till cotton fields

Whether biochar produced as a by-product of energy generation from the papermill industry, and often disposed in landfills, can be gainfully applied to commercial croplands has not been investigated. The objective of this study was to investigate the physical and hydraulic properties of soils in commercial cotton fields managed as no-till systems following repeated applications of biochar generated as a waste of a papermill plant. Undisturbed cores and disturbed soil samples were collected from 0–5 and 5–10 cm layers from five commercial no-till fields in Mississippi, USA that received 6.7 Mg ha−1 year−1 biochar for 0, 2, 3, 5 or 10 years. A number of physical, hydraulic, and chemical properties of these samples were measured in the lab. The results showed that biochar reduced the degree of soil compactness and increased soil aggregation and structural stability index. The findings were particularly apparent for the 10 years of consecutive application, which increased soil aggregate stability by up to 67%, reduced bulk density from 1.40 to 1.26 g cm−3, and reduced degree of compactness from 73.2% to 62.8%. Biochar increased soil porosity but much of this increase (55%) occurred for small pores (< 0.5 μm) with little effect on storage pores (0.5–50 μm) or transmission pores (> 50 μm). Consequently, biochar increased soil field capacity by up to 26%, but PAW increased by only 17%. Biochar significantly increased soil physical quality index score in the 0–5 cm layer from 0.16 to 0.26 and the increase was positively correlated with the number of years of application. The results suggest biochar generated as a byproduct of papermill could be land-applied in real-world crop production systems to improve soil health as an alternative to disposal in landfills.Graphical

Accuracy Comparison of Estimation on Cotton Leaf and Plant Nitrogen Content Based on UAV Digital Image under Different Nutrition Treatments

The rapid, accurate estimation of leaf nitrogen content (LNC) and plant nitrogen content (PNC) in cotton in a non-destructive way is of great significance to the nutrient management of cotton fields. The RGB images of cotton fields in Shihezi (China) were obtained by using a low-cost unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with a visible-light digital camera. Combined with the data of LNC and PNC in different growth stages, the correlation between N content and visible light vegetation indices (VIs) was analyzed, and then the Random Forest (RF), Support Vector Machine (SVM), Back Propagation Neural Network (BP), and stepwise multiple linear regression (SMLR) were used to develop N content estimation models at different growth stages. The accuracy of the estimation model was assessed by coefficient of determination (R2), root mean squared error (RMSE), and relative root mean square error (rRMSE), so as to determine the optimal estimated growth stage and the best model. The results showed that the correlation between VIs and LNC was stronger than that between PNC, and the estimation accuracy of different models decreased continuously with the development of growth stages, with higher estimation accuracy in the peak squaring stage. Among the four algorithms, the best accuracy (R2 = 0.9001, RMSE = 1.2309, rRMSE = 2.46% for model establishment, and R2 = 0.8782, RMSE = 1.3877, rRMSE = 2.82% for model validation) was obtained when applying RF at the peak squaring stage. The LNC model for whole growth stages could be used in the later growth stage due to its higher accuracy. The results of this study showed that there is a potential for using an affordable and non-destructive UAV-based digital system to produce predicted LNC content maps that are representative of the current field nitrogen status.

Effect of Irrigation Water Salinity on Soil Characteristics and Microbial Communities in Cotton Fields in Southern Xinjiang, China

Irrigation with saline water is a possible solution to alleviate freshwater shortages. The long-term use of saline water for irrigation requires consideration of the influence of salt on the environmental conditions of the soil. The objective of this field study was to determine the effects of three continuous years of saline water irrigation on physiochemical properties and microbial communities in drip-irrigated cotton fields. The three total dissolved solid (TDS) levels of irrigation water treatments were (i) 1 g L−1 (fresh water, FWI), (ii) 3 g L−1 (brackish water, BWI), and (iii) 7 g L−1 (salt water, SWI). After three years, the electrical conductivity (EC), sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), and contents of K+, Na+, Mg2+, Cl−, and SO42− in the SWI treatment were significantly higher than those in the FWI and BWI treatments, but there were no significant differences in EC and K+ between the FWI and BWI treatments. BWI treatment significantly increased microbial biomass carbon (MBC), microbial biomass nitrogen (MBN), urease, and sucrase contents. The diversity and abundance of bacteria and fungi were not affected by saline water irrigation, but the microbial community structure was altered. Saline water irrigation resulted in an elevation in the bacterial abundance of the phylum Chloroflexi and a decline in Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria. For fungi, the abundance of the phylum Ascomycota in the BWI treatment was greater than that in the FWI and SWI treatments. Linear discriminant analysis effect size (NMDS) results indicated clear variation in the microbiota profiles between the FWI, BWI, and SWI treatments for bacteria. Regarding the fungal microbiota profiles, the BWI and SWI treatments had similar microbiota profiles but were different from the FWI treatment. The number of bacterial biomarkers gradually increased with increasing total dissolved solids of irrigation water, while the number of fungal biomarkers gradually decreased. Additionally, cotton yield was significantly and positively correlated with the observed species of fungi, while it was significantly and negatively correlated with EC. Redundancy analysis (RDA) showed that bacterial community structure was regulated by SAR and fungal community structure was regulated by soil salinity and bulk density (BD). Future research will need to look into how the structure of the microbial community and the associated functional microorganisms are gradually changing with increased irrigation frequency under saline irrigation, as well as explore and screen for advantageous functional microorganisms.

Design, synthesis and biological activity of novel triketone herbicides containing natural product fragments

4-Hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (EC 1.13.11.27, HPPD) belongs to the non-heme Fe2+ − containing enzyme family and is an important enzyme in tyrosine decomposition. HPPD is crucial to the discovery of novel bleaching herbicides. To develop novel HPPD inhibitor herbicides containing the β-triketone motif, a series of 4-hydroxyl-3-(substituted aryl)-pyran-2-one derivatives were designed using the active fragment splicing method. The title compounds were synthesized and characterized through infrared spectroscopy (IR), 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR), 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (13C NMR), and high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS). The X-ray diffraction method determined the single crystal structure of I-17. Preliminary bioassay data revealed that several novel compounds, especially I-12 and II-3, showed excellent herbicidal activity against broadleaf and monocotyledonous weeds at a dose of 150 g ai/ha. The results of crop selectivity and carotenoids determination indicated that compound I-12 is more suitable for wheat and cotton fields than mesotrione. Additionally, compound II-3 is safer for soybeans and peanuts than mesotrione. The inhibitory activity of Arabidopsis thaliana HPPD (AtHPPD) verified that compound II-3 showed the most activity with an IC50 value of 0.248 μM, which was superior to that of mesotrione (0.283 μM) in vitro. The binding mode of compound II-3 and AtHPPD was confirmed through molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulations. This study provides insights into the future development of natural and efficient herbicides.

Duration of continuous cropping with straw return affects soil organic carbon

AbstractUnderstanding the impact of continuous cropping with straw return on soil organic matter functional groups is of great importance for maintaining chemical stabilization of SOC in arid regions. Infrared spectral characteristics of cotton field soil with different continuous cropping durations (0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 years) were determined with Fourier‐transform infrared spectroscopy for fields in Manasi River Basin, Xinjiang province, China. The effects of continuous cropping duration on the stability and chemical composition of soil organic carbon (SOC) were analysed. The results indicate an initial increase in the SOC, soil particulate organic carbon (POC), and mineral‐associated organic carbon (MOC) content of soil under continuous cropping with straw return. However, as continuous cropping duration increased, the levels of SOC, POC, and MOC in soil began to decrease. The soil POC content and POC/MOC were highest after 5 years of straw return, and started to decrease as the continuous cropping duration increased. The SOC and MOC contents were highest after 10 years of continuous cropping, and were 3.30 and 1.84 times higher than the control, respectively. As continuous cropping duration increased, the relative peak intensities for polysaccharides and aromatic groups in soil organic matter decreased, while the relative peak intensities for aliphatic compounds and hydroxyketone increased. In conclusion, continuous cropping with straw return in cotton fields promotes SOC but only for about 10 years. An increase in straw return duration boosts the degree of esterification in soil organic matter. Moreover, enhanced protection by mineral binding was observed for soil organic matter, increasing organic matter stabilization. This study aimed to provide an empirical foundation for the management of the SOC pool and the establishment of rational straw return practices for cotton fields in arid areas.

Precision Agriculture

The ability to manage fields not as a single unit but by dividing them into separate areas distinguishes precision farming from traditional agriculture. Technologies and techniques used to improve the crop farming is the main domain we are working under precision agriculture.Optical sensors that use the reflectivity of light placed on growing plants to monitor and record the data about soil and crops in real time are available. Electrochemical sensors,are those that monitor plant, soil, and external factors that have a direct impact on plant growth.. A prototype of an intelligent Agriculture Robot tailored exclusively for seed sowing tasks is exhibited. It is a four-wheeled vehicle driven by an LPC2148 microcontroller. Its operation is based on precision agriculture, which allows for effective seed planting at appropriate depths and distances within crops and rows that are specific to each crop species.This work presents a system for diagnosing cotton leaf diseases in India using image processing. The system uses SVM to classify diseases based on color and texture of images obtained from cotton fields using a digital camera. The images undergo pre-processing, including segmentation and feature extraction. The goal is to reduce loss of yield and productivity by early disease identification.

Effect of irrigation intervals for the safety of Tricho-cards from secondary predators in cotton field

Effect of irrigation intervals for the safety of Tricho-cards from secondary predators in cotton field

Partitioning Evapotranspiration in a Cotton Field under Mulched Drip Irrigation Based on the Water-Carbon Fluxes Coupling in an Arid Region in Northwestern China

Measuring evapotranspiration (ET) components in cotton fields under mulched drip irrigation is needed to improve water use efficiency and promote the development of water-saving agriculture. In this study, an Eddy Covariance (EC) system was used to observe the water-carbon fluxes of cotton fields under mulched drip irrigation in an arid region during two years (2021–2022). The Underlying Water Use Efficiency (uWUE) method was used to partition the ET into transpiration (T) and evaporation (E) in order to reveal the changing characteristics of ET and its components in cotton fields under mulched drip irrigation and analyze the effects of environmental factors on each component. The results showed that the diurnal variation of ET was the same as gross primary productivity (GPP), and their course of change showed a bimodal curve at budding, blooming, and boll stages. The relationship of T at different growth stages was the same as ET, which is blooming and boll stage &gt; budding stage &gt; boll opening stage &gt; seedling stage. ET and its components were mainly affected by temperature (Tair) and net radiation (Rn). This study can provide a theoretical and practical basis for the application of uWUE in cotton fields under mulched drip irrigation and a scientific basis for the rational allocation of water resources and the formulation of a scientific water-saving irrigation system for farmland in an arid region.

IMPLICATIONS FOR BT COTTON'S REFUGEE STRATEGY AND FITNESS COSTS OF HELICOVERPA ARMIGERA RESISTANCE

In order to get the H. armigera larva, many trips were made to the Bt cotton fields in the Karjan area of the Vadodara district of Gujarat. The study was carried out every week throughout the 2019-2020 growing season to gather the population of Bt resistant H. armigera larvae from 105 cotton fields. Five species of Lepidoptera, four species of Hemiptera, and one species of Spotted Wing Drosophila were among the other insect fauna collected alongside 71 Bt-resistant H. armigera larvae and the various plant parts (tender leaves, older leaves, squares, flowers, and bolls) on which they feed during the course of the survey

Sentinel plot surveillance of cotton leaf curl disease in Pakistan- a case study at the cultivated cotton-wild host plant interface

A sentinel plot case study was carried out to identify and map the distribution of begomovirus-betasatellite complexes in sentinel plots and commercial cotton fields over a four-year period using molecular and high-throughput DNA ‘discovery’ sequencing approaches. Samples were collected from 15 study sites in the two major cotton-producing areas of Pakistan. Whitefly- and leafhopper-transmitted geminiviruses were detected in previously unreported host plant species and locations. The most prevalent begomovirus was cotton leaf curl Kokhran virus-Burewala (CLCuKoV-Bu). Unexpectedly, a recently recognized recombinant, cotton leaf curl Multan virus-Rajasthan (CLCuMuV-Ra) was prevalent in five of 15 sites. cotton leaf curl Alabad virus (CLCuAlV) and cotton leaf curl Kokhran virus-Kokhran, ‘core’ members of CLCuD-begomoviruses that co-occurred with CLCuMuV in the ‘Multan’ epidemic were detected in one of 15 sentinel plots. Also identified were chickpea chlorotic dwarf virus and ‘non-core’ CLCuD-begomoviruses, okra enation leaf curl virus, squash leaf curl virus, and tomato leaf curl New Delhi virus. Cotton leaf curl Multan betasatellite (CLCuMuB) was the most prevalent CLCuD-betasatellite, and less commonly, two ‘non-core’ betasatellites. Recombination analysis revealed previously uncharacterized recombinants among helper virus-betasatellite complexes consisting of CLCuKoV, CLCuMuV, CLCuAlV and CLCuMuB. Population analyses provided early evidence for CLCuMuV-Ra expansion and displacement of CLCuKoV-Bu in India and Pakistan from 2012-2017. Identification of ‘core’ and non-core CLCuD-species/strains in cotton and other potential reservoirs, and presence of the now predominant CLCuMuV-Ra strain are indicative of ongoing diversification. Investigating the phylodynamics of geminivirus emergence in cotton-vegetable cropping systems offers an opportunity to understand the driving forces underlying disease outbreaks and reconcile viral evolution with epidemiological relationships that also capture pathogen population shifts.

Responses of soil nutrient and enzyme activities to long-term mulched drip irrigation (MDI) after the conversion of wasteland to cropland

Soil nutrients and enzymes are essential indicators of ecological functions in terrestrial ecosystem and are also sensitive to land-use change. However, the response of soil nutrients and enzymes to long-term mulched drip irrigation (MDI) in the conversion of agroecosystems is still limited. In this study, we analyzed soil nutrient concentrations and enzyme activities at a soil depth of 0–40 cm in four typical cotton fields with different durations of MDI (8, 12, 16, and 22 years) and a wasteland (CK) as control. After the conversion of saline-alkali wasteland into cotton fields, we found that soil electrical conductivity (EC) and pH significantly decreased, but the concentrations of available soil phosphorus (AP), total carbon (TC), soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (TN) significantly increased with increasing years of MDI application. Soil enzymes, such as polyphenol oxidase, catalase, urease, alkaline phosphatase, and cellulase were more active in the subsoil than in the topsoil. Compared to the wasteland, a significant reduction of soil enzyme activities (polyphenol oxidase, catalase, and cellulase) appeared in the young cotton field, which gradually reestablished after practicing long-term MDI. Based on redundancy analysis, the variations of the enzyme activities were obtained by pH (38.7 %), C/N (27.6 %), EC (20.9 %), TN (4.9 %), and NO3−-N (3.1 %) at 0–20 cm depth; and by AP (43.7 %), SWC (18.4 %), pH (12.6 %), and TN (12.5 %) at 20–40 cm depth. Long-term MDI has a positive effect on reducing soil salinity, increasing nutrient content in cotton fields, and can accelerate the activities of nutrient-releasing enzymes, which partly confirm the sustainability of MDI in oasis agroecosystems.

A Great and Rising Nation: Naval Exploration and Global Empire in the Early US Republic by Michael A. Verney (review)

Reviewed by: A Great and Rising Nation: Naval Exploration and Global Empire in the Early US Republic by Michael A. Verney Heesoo Cho (bio) Keywords Early republic, U.S. exploration, U.S. Navy; Imperialism, U.S. Empire, Maritime history A Great and Rising Nation: Naval Exploration and Global Empire in the Early US Republic. By Michael A. Verney. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2022. Pp. 300. Paper, $35.00.) Michael Verney's book recovers nineteenth-century U.S. imperialization through six naval explorations between 1816 and 1853. Imperialization was not an uncommon process to many Americans in this period who observed and practiced it in the western lands of North America and the cotton fields of the South. Overseas imperialism, however, had different overtones. Naval exploration had long been considered a "European strategy for global imperialism" (4) that was at odds with the republican values that Americans held dear to their hearts. Verney argues that the gradual embracement of naval exploration as an instrument of U.S. global imperialism is "a story about coalition building" (5) among white capitalists, evangelicals, slaveholders, and the middle class. By moving chronologically through the first half of the nineteenth century, Verney successfully shows how each group aligned their private interests with the scientific, commercial, and religious advancement of the nation and thereby contributed to the process of creating a global U.S. empire rooted in white supremacy. Verney's book joins a growing body of scholarship that explores U.S. expansion and identity formation in the seafaring world. Work over the last decade includes Paul A. Gilje, Free Trade and Sailors' Rights in the War of 1812 (New York, 2013); Brian Rouleau, With Sails Whitening [End Page 342] Every Sea: Mariners and the Making of An American Maritime Empire (Ithaca, NY, 2014); Dane Morrison, True Yankees: The South Seas and the Discovery of American Identity (Baltimore, 2014); Nathan Perl-Rosenthal, Citizen Sailors: Becoming American in the Age of Revolution (Cambridge, MA, 2015); Jason W. Smith, To Master the Boundless Sea: The U.S. Navy, the Marine Environment, and the Cartography of Empire (Chapel Hill, NC, 2018). Primarily driven by maritime scholars, this scholarship shifts our attention from territorial visions of empire contained to the land mass of North America to overseas places where empire assumes many shapes. Sailors' social and cultural lives have been conducive to understanding the encounters between Americans and foreign populations, from which ideas about racial and ethnic differences developed. By centering this story in naval exploration, Verney demonstrates how overseas expansion was also a state enterprise that took place in the halls of Congress. The global U.S. empire that developed as a result was not a product of a separate maritime world but one deeply connected to continental concerns. In this sense, Verney also joins historians such as Kariann Akemi Yokota, Emily Conroy-Krutz, and Dael Norwood, among others, who situate the history of the early republic in a global context, in which global is not an antithesis to national but an extension. Empire is both a given and a process in this book. Verney defines empire in its broadest sense, "as a field of cultural domination or spatial governance where power, knowledge, and/or access to resources is structured hierarchically" (9). This capacious definition allows him to find evidence of empire in pursuits of knowledge and commerce, practices of religion and diplomacy, and the expansion of slavery. It also takes us to the Pacific islands, South America, the Dead Sea, and the Arctic, all subjected to European imperialism at varying times. At these places, Americans practiced their own visions of empire based on white supremacy. For instance, the South Sea Expedition of 1838–1842 (referred to as the "Ex Ex" by contemporaries) promoted overseas capitalism to increase opportunities at home for white laborers. Masculinity and gentility were at the center of the Arctic missions between 1850 and 1855 to rescue Sir John Franklin and his crew. From a conventional definition of empire that focuses on territorial acquisition and commercial exploitation, many of these U.S. naval explorations were a failure. The expeditions to the Amazon Valley and Rio de la Plata between 1850 and 1860 failed to integrate...

Study of Blue green algae from Cotton fields of Nyahali village of Nandurbar district of Maharashtra state

Study of Blue green algae from Cotton fields of Nyahali village of Nandurbar district of Maharashtra state

Diagnostic expression of the cotton pink bollworm Pectinophora gossypiella (Saunders) Ace1 exposed to some insecticide by the real-time PCR

The Pink Bollworm Pectinophora gossypiella (Saunders) is a devastating pest in Egyptian cotton field. Insecticide control failure may be happen due to its biological features of hide inside bolls and rarely exposed to insecticide application. Thus, a bulk of bolls infested with larvae collected from fields of Sharkia and Benysuef governorate. Moreover, exposed to py, Op sub lethal concentrations in laboratory bioassay. Toxicity features as LC50, LC90 and the slope, and RR was completed. Whereas the common target site of OP and pyrethroid is the acetylcholinesterase enzyme. Thus, the gene Ace1 encoding AChE relative expression was investigated using molecular marker of real-time PCR procedures via the steps of generating data was RNA isolation and characterization, cDNA synthesis, then generating normalization factors, and Ct data attained and analyzed using 2-ΔΔCT method to quantify the gene expression quantitatively of insecticide treated larvae tissue extracted. Data showed the most expressed ratio of samples was cypermethrin followed by deltamethrin compared with the control and the least was malathion and chlorpyrifos, thus, the most effective insecticide was malathion and the least were cypermethrin according to ct values. Hierarchical clustering combined with Heat map and principle component analysis based on various clustering systems and algorithm as distance measures were completed. Validation of reference gene in addition to gene expression stability analyzed by the three optimal gene finders and showed that deltamethrin and cypermethrin treated genes having lower mean weights and considered transcriptionally stable and ideal reference genes.

GEE-Based monitoring method of key management nodes in cotton production

ABSTRACT The high-temporal-resolution monitoring of key management nodes in cotton management via agricultural remote sensing is vital for field cotton macro-statistics, particularly for predicting cotton production and obtaining comprehensive data. This study examines Shihezi, Xinjiang as a case study, utilizing Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 data from 2019 to 2021. Three machine learning models(RF, SVM, and CART) were employed to extract annual crop classification area rasters, monitor weekly cultivation progress, and monitor abandoned cropland during the cultivation period. The results demonstrate that the random forest model has produced satisfactory results in gridded extraction for cotton classification areas, achieving the producer's accuracy of the cotton category reached 98.5%, and the kappa coefficient is 0.947. Cotton cultivated in 2021 began is a week later than in 2020, yet exhibited a faster cultivate speed. The proportion of abandoned cotton fields in the study area rose in 2020 compared to 2019. The methodology presented in this study has a certain reference value for exploring the monitoring of continuous changes in crops over the years and macro-monitoring of important activities in the entire growth cycle.

Species composition, seasonal abundance and population dynamics of predatory spiders from cotton field plots of irrigated and semi-arid regions of Punjab, Pakistan

The purpose of the current study was to document the variety of predatory spider species present in the cotton fields of two major cotton-producing districts in Punjab, Pakistan, as well as the population dynamics of those spiders. The research was carried out between May and October 2018 and 2019. Manual picking, visual counting, pitfall traps, and sweep netting were the procedures used to collect samples on a biweekly basis. A total of 10,684 spiders comprising 39 species, 28 genera, and 12 families were documented. Araneidae and Lycosidae families contributed a major share to the overall catch of spiders, accounting for 58.55 percent of the total. The Araneidae family's Neoscona theisi ) was the most dominating species, accounting for 12.80% of the total catch and being the dominant species. The estimated spider species diversity was 95%. Their densities were changed over time in the study, but they were highest in the second half of September and the first half of October of both years. The cluster analysis distinguished the two districts and the sites chosen. There was a relationship between humidity and rainfall and the active density of spiders; however, this association was not statistically significant. It is possible to increase the population of spiders in an area by reducing the number of activities detrimental to spiders and other useful arachnids. Spiders are considered effective agents of biological control throughout the world. The findings of the current study will help in the formulation of pest management techniques that can be implemented in cotton growing regions all over the world.

Biodegradation of quinalphos by gram negative bacteria Pantoea agglomerans and Acinetobacter sp. dcm5A

Five bacterial strains for biodegradation study were initially isolated from quinalphos exposed soil from cotton field of Indian Agricultural Research Institute, India by Serial dilution and enrichment technique. Amongst them, two strains Pantoea agglomerans and Acinetobacter sp. dcm5A were exposed to different concentrations (50-250 ppm, parts per million) of quinalphos to evaluate their tolerance and the optimum concentration of quinalphos supported growth. Growth kinetics of the isolates was studied by means of optical density of the culture media (150 rpm, rotation per minute) at 30oC for 15 days. The optimal concentration of quinalphos for the growth of Pantoea agglomerans was 100 ppm, while for Acinetobacter sp. dcm5A was 200 ppm. Bacterial strains Pantoea agglomerans and Acinetobacter sp. dcm5A degraded quinalphos 60% and 79.7% respectively in 7 days incubation and 100% degradation by both strains was observed after 13 days of incubation.

Design and synthesis of novel PPO-inhibiting pyrimidinedione derivatives safed towards cotton

Developing innovative and effective herbicides is of utmost importance since weed management has become a worldwide agricultural production concern, resulting in severe economic losses every year. In this study, a series of new pyrimidinedione compounds were developed via combination of pyrimidinediones with N-phenylacetamide moiety. The herbicidal activity test (37.5–150 g of ai/ha) indicated that most of the new derivatives exhibited excellent herbicidal activity against dicotyledonous weeds, but less against grasses. Among them, compound 34 was identified as the best postemergence herbicidal activities against six species of weeds (Amaranthus retrof lexus, AR; Abutilon theophrasti, AT; Veronica polita, VP; Echinochloa crusgalli, EC; Digitaria sanguinalis, DS; Setaria viridis, SV), which were comparable to the commercial control agent saflufenacil (≥90%). The protoporphyrinogen oxidase (PPO; EC. 1.3.3.4) activity experiment suggested that compound 34 could significantly reduce the PPO content in weeds, the relative expression levels of the PPO gene were verified by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), and the results were consistent with the trend of the enzyme activity data. Molecular docking showed that compound 34 could occupy the PPO enzyme catalytic substrate pocket, which played an excellent inhibitory effect on the activity of receptor protein. Meanwhile, the tolerance of compound 34 to cotton was better than that of the commercial agent saflufenacil at 150 g of ai/ha. Thus, compound 34 exhibits the potential to be a new PPO herbicide for weed control in cotton fields. This study provided a basis for the subsequent structural modification and mechanism research of pyrimidinedione derivatives.