Green Agriculture Research Articles

Retracted: Development of Novel Nano-Silver-Based Antenna for Green Agriculture

Retracted: Development of Novel Nano-Silver-Based Antenna for Green Agriculture

Sustainable Integrated Pest Management using Pheromones: Types, Synthesis, Mechanism of Action and Applications

Integrated pest management (IPM) strategies have been developed to combat the health, environmental and organismal adverse effects of conventional pesticides. It is possible to control agricultural and forestry pests by using insect pheromones. Recently, pheromone research has been influenced significantly by advances in agriculture as well as in technical aspects. Pheromone research is discussed in this review including synthesis, mechanism and application in integrated pest management. Moreover, the synthesis of certain chiral, racemic, monoolefinic and poly-olefinic pheromones has evolved a standard method for the manufacture of similar compounds. IPM is concluded with an in-depth discussion of pheromones' role in IPM. Further, it provides faster directions to organic chemists and entomologists in the development of eco-friendly tools. Future green agriculture will depend heavily on pheromones for its sustainability.

Temporal and Spatial Changes of Agriculture Green Development in Beijing’s Ecological Conservation Developing Areas from 2006 to 2016

As an irreplaceable ecological barrier, an ecological conservation developing area (ECDA) is vital for the integrated construction of urban and rural areas and the optimization and adjustment of industrial structures. However, few empirical studies have been conducted on the spatiotemporal variations of agricultural green development (AGD) in the ECDAs of large cities. Based on the green agricultural traits of Beijing and the accessible data, we evaluated the AGD and analyzed its spatial and temporal heterogeneity in Beijing’s ECDAs by constructing a framework with 13 indicators. The results stated that energy consumption is a vital factor in green agriculture production and that the agricultural output value per unit of arable land area is the key to green agricultural revenue. From 2006 to 2016, the AGD index of the ECDA had an increasing trend, until 2012 when it followed a decreasing tendency. The AGD index of the northern region was higher than in the southern ECDA. The obstacle degree model was used to verify the AGD limiting factors, where poor infrastructure, slow agritourism, low labor productivity, and low resource use efficiency varied by districts in the ECDA. Given these findings, our study is conducive to AGD evaluation at the district (county) level for the ECDAs of large cities and provides important policy implications.

Novel Endophytic Pseudescherichia sp. GSE25 Strain Significantly Controls Fusarium graminearum and Reduces Deoxynivalenol in Wheat.

Fusarium heading blight (FHB) is a devastating disease in wheat, primarily caused by field invasion of Fusarium graminearum. Due to the scarcity of resistant wheat varieties, the agricultural sector resorts to chemical fungicides to control FHB incidence. On the other hand, biocontrol represents a promising, eco-friendly approach aligned with sustainable and green agriculture concepts. In the present study, a bacterial endophyte, Pseudescherichia sp. (GSE25), was isolated from wheat seeds and identified through complete genome sequencing and phylogenetic analysis. In vitro testing of this endophytic strain demonstrated strong antifungal activity against F. graminearum PH-1 by inhibiting spore germination, suppressing germ tube growth, and causing cell membrane damage. Under field conditions, the strain GSE25 significantly reduced the FHB incidence and the associated deoxynivalenol mycotoxin accumulation by over 60% and 80%, respectively. These findings highlight the potential of the isolated bacterial endophyte Pseudescherichia sp. GSE25 strain as a biocontrol agent in protecting wheat from FHB-caused F. graminearum. This is the first report showing a biocontrol effect of Pseudescherichia sp. a strain against phytopathogens.

Fiscal policy, green finance, and low carbon transformation nexus: a novel study unleashing the synergistic effects of carbon reduction and pollution in China.

Under the simultaneous demands of combating environmental pollution and decreased carbon emissions, it is critical to investigate the combined effect of agricultural contamination reduction and fiscal policy carbon reduction to support and promote green agriculture and low-carbon transformation. Based on provincial panel data of 2007 to 2020 in China, this paper employs the spatial Dubin model to empirically examine the pollution reduction and carbon reduction effects of fiscal policies supporting agriculture, as well as calculating the synergistic effect of pollution reduction and carbon reduction. Our study's findings reveal that non-point source agricultural pollution and agricultural carbon emissions have a tendency of growing and subsequently reducing, such as increasing from 2007 to 2015 and decreasing from 2016 to 2020. Second, results demonstrate that agricultural carbon emissions and agricultural pollution have a positive geographical dependency in each province, and fiscal policies supporting agriculture have high-high and low-low spatial clustering features. Furthermore, fiscal policies that promote agriculture can lower local agricultural carbon emissions and pollution while also having a considerable beneficial spillover impact on neighboring provinces. According to the study findings, the fiscal policy for supporting agriculture has a negative pollution reduction impact and a positive synergistic effect, resulting in a synergistic effect of agricultural pollution reduction and carbon reduction. The outcomes of this study can serve to promote carbon-reduction measures and provide recommendations for future policy development.

Chinese Agriculture for “Green and Grain” Productivity Growth: Evidence from Jiangsu Province

China is striving to leverage the power of science and technology to green its agriculture and simultaneously enhance grain productivity. To assess the performance dynamics of the dual agricultural mission, this study presents the green growth rate of agriculture using the DEA-based Green Total Factor Productivity (GTFP) indicator, together with the growth rate of grain yields, and applies it to the case of Jiangsu, a major grain-producing province with a well-developed economy. It is found that Jiangsu’s agriculture has generally performed well during the implementation of the two major national strategies addressing green development and grain security, especially in northern Jiangsu, which is a major grain-producing area. In contrast, the phased fluctuations in green growth in agriculture in southern Jiangsu are more pronounced, with negative green growth even occurring during the green agriculture movement. Much of the volatility in agricultural green growth at the provincial, subregional and municipal levels is generated by the effects of the movement of the green technology frontier, which is led by the best practitioners. Accordingly, the possibility of improving the weak state of the catch-up effect on green growth is explored from the perspective of the Chinese government-led agricultural science and innovation system; it also traces the green agricultural initiatives in the main grain-marketing areas that have failed to deliver the expected green growth, and recommends a review of such policies and a refinement of the GTFP Index tool for assessing sustainable green growth.

Green Agriculture: Nanoparticles as Tools to Mitigate Heavy Metal Toxicity

Green Agriculture: Nanoparticles as Tools to Mitigate Heavy Metal Toxicity

Green Investment Decisions and Coordination in a Green Agri-Product Supply Chain considering Risk Aversion and Bargaining Power under Different Channel Power Structures

With eco-friendly green agriculture becoming the development trend of modern agriculture, how to make green investments and how to coordinate the supply chain become the key issues of agricultural green development. Using game theory and optimization theory, this paper studies the green investment decision in a two-echelon agricultural supply chain composed of a risk-averse farmer and a risk-neutral retailer under different power structures including three kinds of decentralized decision making and three kinds of cooperative decision making and conducts the supply chain coordination based on generalized Nash bargaining model. The results show that under decentralized decision making, Nash vertical, farmer-led, and retailer-led maximizes green investment level, the expected utility of farmer and retailer, respectively. In addition, the cooperative decision increases the marginal revenue, sales price, and the expected utility of the retailer and decreases the expectations of farmers. Except for retailer-led cooperative decisions, all cooperative decisions have increased the level of green investment and wholesale prices; among the six decision models, the green investment level is negatively correlated with risk aversion, while it is positively correlated with the cost-sharing contract. The optimal cost-sharing ratio is positively correlated with risk aversion and bargaining power. The cost-sharing contracts are invalid when farmers have full bargaining power. Numerical analysis shows that a cost-sharing contract with equal bargaining power can achieve perfect coordination in the supply chain.

Relationship between the evaluation of agricultural scientific and technological innovation capacity and the influencing factors of green agriculture.

China has limited arable land area, and its output value is increased with enhanced agricultural inputs such as machinery, irrigation, fertilizers, and pesticides. However, this mode is accompanied by an increase in agricultural carbon emissions. With the aim to further examine the driving effect of scientific and technological innovation on economic growth and green agriculture, this study uses the Solow growth model coupled with the Cobb-Douglas production function and vector autoregressive models. Then, the agricultural scientific and technological innovation capacity in Guangdong Province during 2006-2020 is evaluated by using the contribution rate of agricultural scientific and technological progress (ASTP) as the assessment index. In addition, the carbon footprints of green agricultural indexes such as machinery, irrigation, fertilizers, and pesticides are measured to analyze the relationship between green agriculture and agricultural scientific and technological innovation capacity. Results demonstrate the gradual increase in the contribution rate of ASTP in Guangdong Province. During the 11th, 12th, and 13th Five-Year Plan periods, the rates were 65.09%, 65.94%, and 70.40%, respectively, indicating that the agricultural scientific and technological innovation ability constantly improved. Among the indexes of green agriculture, the carbon footprints of machinery have a significant impact on agricultural scientific and technological innovation, which is quickly transformed into machinery. Such innovation requires the driving force of science and technology itself, which have relatively significant and rapid effects. On the basis of the results, corresponding policy suggestions are proposed: increasing investments in scientific and technological innovation in the agricultural field, vigorously developing new energy-saving and emission reduction products and processes for fertilizers, and increasing the research and promotion of agricultural machinery. The proposed method provides good prospects for the development of agricultural production towards mechanization, intelligence, efficiency, and greenness.

Fish Recognition in the Underwater Environment Using an Improved ArcFace Loss for Precision Aquaculture

Accurate fish individual recognition is one of the critical technologies for large-scale fishery farming when trying to achieve accurate, green farming and sustainable development. It is an essential link for aquaculture to move toward automation and intelligence. However, existing fish individual data collection methods cannot cope with the interference of light, blur, and pose in the natural underwater environment, which makes the captured fish individual images of poor quality. These low-quality images can cause significant interference with the training of recognition networks. In order to solve the above problems, this paper proposes an underwater fish individual recognition method (FishFace) that combines data quality assessment and loss weighting. First, we introduce the Gem pooing and quality evaluation module, which is based on EfficientNet. This module is an improved fish recognition network that can evaluate the quality of fish images well, and it does not need additional labels; second, we propose a new loss function, FishFace Loss, which will weigh the loss according to the quality of the image so that the model focuses more on recognizable fish images, and less on images that are difficult to recognize. Finally, we collect a dataset for fish individual recognition (WideFish), which contains and annotates 5000 images of 300 fish. The experimental results show that, compared with the state-of-the-art individual recognition methods, Rank1 accuracy is improved by 2.60% and 3.12% on the public dataset DlouFish and the proposed WideFish dataset, respectively.

Preparation and characterization of hexaconazole/hydroxypropyl-gamma-cyclodextrin inclusion complex nanofibers for sustainable agriculture: Improved physicochemical properties and antifungal activity of hexaconazole

Hexaconazole (HEZ) is a triazole fungicide with low water solubility, which restricts its use in agricultural production. In this work, HEZ/hydroxypropyl-γ-cyclodextrin inclusion complex nanofibers (HEZ/HPγCD-IC-NF) were successfully prepared to improve the antifungal activity of HEZ. Physicochemical properties and antifungal activity of HEZ/HPγCD-IC-NF were characterized and evaluated by several key technologies. The results confirmed that HEZ was completely encapsulated in the hydroxypropyl-γ-cyclodextrin cavity, and the thermal stability and water solubility of HEZ could be enhanced by preparing HEZ/HPγCD-IC-NF. Importantly, the antifungal activity of HEZ against Botrytis cinerea was significantly enhanced by the preparation of HEZ/HPγCD-IC-NF (1.92 times to that of HEZ). Furthermore, HEZ/HPγCD-IC-NF also showed sustained release characteristics. This research attempts to develop a new formulation based on insoluble fungicides to reduce the dosage of fungicides and promote the development of green agriculture.

Comprehensive assessment system and spatial difference analysis on development level of green sustainable agriculture based on life cycle and SA-PP model

Consider the whole life cycle process of agricultural green production, a comprehensive evaluation index system of agricultural green development level is constructed by integrating the agricultural cycle development process from input, production to output. It consists 3 subsystems (green input, green production and green product) and 19 indicators. Simulated annealing algorithm was used for projection pursuit optimization. The comprehensive evaluation index system and simulated annealing-projection pursuit model are applied to the comprehensive evaluation of agricultural green development level in 31 provinces of China from 2013 to 2020, and the differences between the eastern, central and western regions are analyzed. The results suggest that: (1) The green production subsystem accounts for the largest proportion in the evaluation index system. (2) From 2013 to 2020, the agricultural greening level in China develops rapidly. In 2013, only Heilongjiang, Jiangsu and Shandong provinces reached a high level of agricultural greening. However, in 2020, there are 14 provinces at the high level of agricultural greening. (3) From 2013 to 2020, there were significant differences between eastern, central and western China, and the differences are still increasing. The order of the green development capacities of agriculture are central > eastern > western, indicating that China's agricultural green development is unbalanced. This study provides scientific decision-making basis for comprehensive evaluation and analysis of agricultural green development level and green agriculture development in China.

Agri-environmental Climate Measures in the Serbian Agricultural Policy in Relation to the Common Agricultural Policy

The agriculture and food production sectors are of great importance for the economy of every country, especially for the member states of the European Union (EU). The European Union started implementing the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in 1962. In order to solve the problems and adapt the agricultural policy to the needs of each member country, in the course of years, there have been numerous Common Agricultural Policy reforms. The new EU's agricultural policy emphasizes the multi functionality of agriculture and integrates the environmental component in the form of the environmental management that encourages the sustainable "green agriculture" and the implementation of environmental measures. On the other hand, the process of integration to the EU require from potential member states to pursue the necessary political, institutional, legal, administrative, social and economic reforms required to comply with EU values, progressively aligning with EU rules, standards, policies and practices. For the Republic of Serbia, this issue is extremely important as it should gradually harmonize its agricultural and rural policy with the CAP, in the viewpoint of a potential EU member state. IPARD, pre-accession EU assistance for rural development, focuses specifically on rural areas and agro food sectors of countries in the process of joining the European Union (EU). The new IPARD III programmes for the 2021-27 period further promotes a gradual alignment with the rules of the EU’s common agricultural policy. However, the adoption and implementation of the Republic of Serbia acquis with the EU in the field of agricultural and rural policy will require significant financial and technical investments in the future.

The road to green innovation in agriculture: the impact of green agriculture demonstration zone on corporate green innovation.

Agricultural green transformation is crucial for addressing environmental issues like pollution and soil degradation. However, limited attention has been given to its determinants in the existing literature. This study extends the "Porter hypothesis" in agricultural economics and discusses the institutional factors influencing green transformation in Chinese agricultural enterprises from the perspective of environmental regulations. Using data from 2007 to 2020, we examine the impact of the green agriculture demonstration zone (GADZ) policy on green innovation in Chinese A-share listed agribusinesses. The results show that the policy significantly improves green innovation, leading to a 9.9% increase in patent applications. We also find that the GADZ promotes green innovation in agricultural businesses through two economic mechanisms, reducing financial risks and enhancing media attention. In addition, the policy's effect is influenced by property rights, information disclosure quality, and financial resources. Our findings offer valuable insights for promoting green innovation and high-quality agricultural development in emerging economies.

Perceived Value, Government Regulations, and Farmers' Agricultural Green Production Technology Adoption: Evidence from China's Yellow River Basin.

Farmers' agricultural green production technology (AGPT) adoption behavior has attracted extensive attention, while few studies explored the interactive effect of perceived value and government regulations in this process. Therefore, we analyze the interaction effect between perceived value and different government regulations on farmers' AGPT adoption by the Poisson regression model, using micro-survey data from 1491 households in China's Yellow River basin. Furthermore, we examine the heterogeneous effect of perceived value and government regulations on farmers' AGPT adoption behavior considering the change in production scale and farmers' age. The results suggest that perceived value can substitute for incentive government regulation and guiding government regulation, respectively. While binding government regulation can inhibit the promotion effect of perceived value on farmers' AGPT adoption. In addition, the larger the production scale, the more influential the effects of perceived value and government regulations on farmers' AGPT adoption are. In contrast, with the increase in farmer's age, the promotion effect of perceived value becomes weak while the effect of government regulations experiences a U-shaped trend. Finally, the conclusions and policy implications are set forth.

Analysis of Measurement, Regional Differences, Convergence and Dynamic Evolutionary Trends of the Green Production Level in Chinese Agriculture

The development of green agriculture is conducive to accelerating the agricultural modernization process, making a significance for the sustainable development of agriculture and the environment in China. This paper constructs a comprehensive evaluation model by selecting 17 representative indicators from the perspective of sustainability. Then, this paper uses the entropy value method to measure the level of green agricultural production in 31 provinces from 2011 to 2021. We use Dagum’s Gini coefficient and decomposition method, the kernel density estimation method and spatial Markov chain analysis method to explore the main sources of spatial differences and dynamic evolution trends. The results show that: (1) The overall level of green production in Chinese agriculture is low, and the level in the central region is higher than that in eastern and western regions; (2) There are significant regional differences in the level of green production in China’s agriculture, and this is likely to widen. The interaction of inter- and intra-regional differences is the main reason for overall differences; (3) The trend of polarization in the level of green agricultural production is more obvious in the eastern part of China, while it is weaker in central and western regions; (4) There is a spatial spillover effect in the dynamic evolution of China’s agricultural green production level. And the longer the overall time, the more obvious the spillover effect is. This paper analyzes the past development of green agriculture in China, makes predictions and provides constructive suggestions for the improvement and development of green agricultural production in China in the future.

Secretion and volatile components contribute to the antagonism of Bacillus velezensis 1-10 against fungal pathogens

Fungal pathogens widely infect plants and fruits, causing various diseases and reducing their yield and quality. Biological control provides a good strategy for improving crop productivity and quality as well as reducing the use of potentially environmentally hazardous chemical fertilizers and pesticides. In this study, antagonistic and functional components of Bacillus velezensis 1–10 (GenBank: JAJJCH000000000), isolated from the acidic soil of tea gardens were investigated. B. velezensis 1–10 inhibited the growth of four fungal pathogens based on dual culture bioassay and the counterpoint fumigation method, as well as inhibiting the diseases of tomato and grapes caused by Glomerella cingulata PTT and Athelia rolfsii DQ. Genomic analysis showed that B. velezensis 1–10 contained multiple gene clusters encoding lipopeptides and siderophore bacillibactin. Based on antimicrobial experiments and mass spectrometry analysis, B. velezensis 1–10 was found to produce 2 types of lipopeptides, iturin with four homologues, and fengycin with five homologues. Quality and quantity tests demonstrated that B. velezensis 1–10 produced siderophore baillibactin. Headspace solid-phase microextraction and GC–MS detection indicated that B. velezensis 1–10 produced 22 VOC components, including antifungal phenol, N-methylacetamide and 2,4-di-tert-butylphenol. 2,4-di-tert-butylphenol was confirmed to inhibit three of the fungal pathogens. The various antifungal substances produced by B. velezensis 1–10, including secreted lipopeptides, siderophores and volatile compounds, collectively endow the strain with great potential in green agriculture and fruit preservation.

Biocontrol mechanisms of Bacillus: Improving the efficiency of green agriculture.

Species of the genus Bacillus have been widely used for the biocontrol of plant diseases in the demand for sustainable agricultural development. New mechanisms underlying Bacillus biocontrol activity have been revealed with the development of microbiome and microbe-plant interaction research. In this review, we first briefly introduce the typical Bacillus biocontrol mechanisms, such as the production of antimicrobial compounds, competition for niches/nutrients, and induction of systemic resistance. Then, we discussed in detail the new mechanisms of pathogen quorum sensing interference and reshaping of the soil microbiota. The "cry for help" mechanism was also introduced, in which plants can release specific signals under pathogen attack to recruit biocontrol Bacillus for root colonization against invasion. Finally, two emerging strategies for enhancing the biocontrol efficacy of Bacillus agents, including the construction of synthetic microbial consortia and the application of rhizosphere-derived prebiotics, were proposed.

Study on the Design and Experiment of Trichogramma Ball Delivery System Based on Agricultural Drone

Trichogramma-based biological control technology is of great significance to the development of green agriculture. Agricultural drones have the advantages of low-altitude and high-speed operations and have been well applied and widely recognized in the field of Trichogramma delivery. Drone-based Trichogramma ball delivery not only utilizes the efficiency and flexibility of drones but also enables remote precision control. However, existing delivery devices are relatively rudimentary, leading to reliability and precision issues. It is necessary to develop an efficient and accurate drone delivery device to improve the effect of drone delivery of Trichogramma. In this study, a device consisting of a rotary storage mechanism and a rotating hammer-type delivery mechanism was developed. The delivery port of the delivery device should be set in the airflow outlet area 50 cm below the drone’s body. The storage mechanism is equipped with eight storage tube units with a diameter of Φ38 mm, capable of delivering a total of 56 balls in a single mission. The reliable delivery speed ranges from 2 to 6 m/s, with the remote position of the lever serving as the optimal starting position. The release test results showed that 3 m/s flight speed and 4 m/s delivery speed resulted in a small coefficient of variation for the delivery deviation (29%), making it the best operating parameter set. The performance of the developed UAV-based Trichogramma delivery device meets the requirements of field delivery when the appropriate operating parameters are optimized. This study provides reference for further optimization and design of this delivery device prototype.

The Digital Economy, Green Technology Innovation, and Agricultural Green Total Factor Productivity

The digital economy is a key driver of greener agriculture and sustainable development. This paper focuses on the impact of the digital economy on green agricultural development and the mediating role of green technology innovation. Using provincial panel data from China from 2011 to 2020, we test hypotheses using fixed effects models. The results indicate that: (a) the digital economy boosts agricultural total factor productivity (AGTFP); (b) green technology innovation positively moderates the relationship between the digital economy and AGTFP; and (c) the positive impact of the digital economy on green agriculture varies across regions, favoring eastern areas.