Major Cereal Crops Research Articles

Composition, Microbiota, Mechanisms, and Anti-Obesity Properties of Rice Bran.

Rice is a major cereal crop and a staple food for nearly 50% of people worldwide. Rice bran (RB) is a nutrient-rich by-product of rice processing. RB is rich in carbohydrates, fibers, proteins, lipids, minerals, and several trace elements (phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, potassium, and manganese). The extraction process and storage have influenced RB extracts and RB oil's quality. The RB composition has also varied on the rice cultivars. The color of RB indicates the richness of the bioactive compounds, especially anthocyanins. γ-oryzanol, tocopherols, tocotrienols, and unsaturated fatty acids are major components of RB oil. It has been established that RB supplementation could improve the host's health status. Several preclinical and clinical studies have reported that RB has antioxidant, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, anticolitis, and antidiabetic properties. The beneficial biological properties of RB are partially attributed to its ability to alter the host microbiome and help to maintain and restore eubiosis. Non-communicable diseases (NCDs), including heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and lung disease, account for 74% of deaths worldwide. Obesity is a global health problem and is a major reason for the development of NCDs. The medical procedures for managing obesity are expensive and long-term health supplements are required to maintain a healthy weight. Thus, cost-effective natural adjuvant therapeutic strategy is crucial to treat and manage obesity. Several studies have revealed that RB could be a complementary pharmacological candidate to treat obesity. A comprehensive document with basic information and recent scientific results on the anti-obesity activity of RB and RB compounds is obligatory. Thus, the current manuscript was prepared to summarize the composition of RB and the influence of RB on the host microbiome, possible mechanisms, and preclinical and clinical studies on the anti-obesity properties of RB. This study suggested that the consumption of RB oil and dietary RB extracts might assist in managing obesity-associated health consequences. Further, extended clinical studies in several ethnic groups are required to develop dietary RB-based functional and nutritional supplements, which could serve as an adjuvant therapeutic strategy to treat obesity.

Fusarium diversity associated with diseased cereals in China, with an updated phylogenomic assessment of the genus.

Fusarium species are important cereal pathogens that cause severe production losses to major cereal crops such as maize, rice, and wheat. However, the causal agents of Fusarium diseases on cereals have not been well documented because of the difficulty in species identification and the debates surrounding generic and species concepts. In this study, we used a citizen science initiative to investigate diseased cereal crops (maize, rice, wheat) from 250 locations, covering the major cereal-growing regions in China. A total of 2 020 Fusarium strains were isolated from 315 diseased samples. Employing multi-locus phylogeny and morphological features, the above strains were identified to 43 species, including eight novel species that are described in this paper. A world checklist of cereal-associated Fusarium species is provided, with 39 and 52 new records updated for the world and China, respectively. Notably, 56 % of samples collected in this study were observed to have co-infections of more than one Fusarium species, and the detailed associations are discussed. Following Koch's postulates, 18 species were first confirmed as pathogens of maize stalk rot in this study. Furthermore, a high-confidence species tree was constructed in this study based on 1 001 homologous loci of 228 assembled genomes (40 genomes were sequenced and provided in this study), which supported the "narrow" generic concept of Fusarium (= Gibberella). This study represents one of the most comprehensive surveys of cereal Fusarium diseases to date. It significantly improves our understanding of the global diversity and distribution of cereal-associated Fusarium species, as well as largely clarifies the phylogenetic relationships within the genus. Taxonomic novelties: New species: Fusarium erosum S.L. Han, M.M. Wang & L. Cai, Fusarium fecundum S.L. Han, M.M. Wang & L. Cai, Fusarium jinanense S.L. Han, M.M. Wang & L. Cai, Fusarium mianyangense S.L. Han, M.M. Wang & L. Cai, Fusarium nothincarnatum S.L. Han, M.M. Wang & L. Cai, Fusarium planum S.L. Han, M.M. Wang & L. Cai, Fusarium sanyaense S.L. Han, M.M. Wang & L. Cai, Fusarium weifangense S.L. Han, M.M. Wang & L. Cai. Citation: Han SL, Wang MM, Ma ZY, Raza M, Zhao P, Liang JM, Gao M, Li YJ, Wang JW, Hu DM, Cai L (2023). Fusarium diversity associated with diseased cereals in China, with an updated phylogenomic assessment of the genus. Studies in Mycology 104: 87-148. doi: 10.3114/sim.2022.104.02.

Genome-wide identification and comparative analyses of key genes involved in C4 photosynthesis in five main gramineous crops.

Compared to C3 species, C4 plants showed higher photosynthetic capacity as well as water and nitrogen use efficiency due to the presence of the C4 photosynthetic pathway. Previous studies have shown that all genes required for the C4 photosynthetic pathway exist in the genomes of C3 species and are expressed. In this study, the genes encoding six key C4 photosynthetic pathway enzymes (β-CA, PEPC, ME, MDH, RbcS, and PPDK) in the genomes of five important gramineous crops (C4: maize, foxtail millet, and sorghum; C3: rice and wheat) were systematically identified and compared. Based on sequence characteristics and evolutionary relationships, their C4 functional gene copies were distinguished from non-photosynthetic functional gene copies. Furthermore, multiple sequence alignment revealed important sites affecting the activities of PEPC and RbcS between the C3 and C4 species. Comparisons of expression characteristics confirmed that the expression patterns of non-photosynthetic gene copies were relatively conserved among species, while C4 gene copies in C4 species acquired new tissue expression patterns during evolution. Additionally, multiple sequence features that may affect C4 gene expression and subcellular localization were found in the coding and promoter regions. Our work emphasized the diversity of the evolution of different genes in the C4 photosynthetic pathway and confirmed that the specific high expression in the leaf and appropriate intracellular distribution were the keys to the evolution of C4 photosynthesis. The results of this study will help determine the evolutionary mechanism of the C4 photosynthetic pathway in Gramineae and provide references for the transformation of C4 photosynthetic pathways in wheat, rice, and other major C3 cereal crops.

A Novel Wall-Associated Kinase TaWAK-5D600 Positively Participates in Defense against Sharp Eyespot and Fusarium Crown Rot in Wheat

Sharp eyespot and Fusarium crown rot, mainly caused by soil-borne fungi Rhizoctonia cerealis and Fusarium pseudograminearum, are destructive diseases of major cereal crops including wheat (Triticum aestivum). However, the mechanisms underlying wheat-resistant responses to the two pathogens are largely elusive. In this study, we performed a genome-wide analysis of wall-associated kinase (WAK) family in wheat. As a result, a total of 140 TaWAK (not TaWAKL) candidate genes were identified from the wheat genome, each of which contains an N-terminal signal peptide, a galacturonan binding domain, an EGF-like domain, a calcium binding EGF domain (EGF-Ca), a transmembrane domain, and an intracellular Serine/Threonine protein kinase domain. By analyzing the RNA-sequencing data of wheat inoculated with R. cerealis and F. pseudograminearum, we found that transcript abundance of TaWAK-5D600 (TraesCS5D02G268600) on chromosome 5D was significantly upregulated, and that its upregulated transcript levels in response to both pathogens were higher compared with other TaWAK genes. Importantly, knock-down of TaWAK-5D600 transcript impaired wheat resistance against the fungal pathogens R. cerealis and F. pseudograminearum, and significantly repressed expression of defense-related genes in wheat, TaSERK1, TaMPK3, TaPR1, TaChitinase3, and TaChitinase4. Thus, this study proposes TaWAK-5D600 as a promising gene for improving wheat broad resistance to sharp eyespot and Fusarium crown rot (FCR) in wheat.

Vertical farming for crop production

Vertical farming for crop production

Field‐based robotic leaf angle detection and characterization of maize plants using stereo vision and deep convolutional neural networks

AbstractMaize (Zea mays L.) is one of the three major cereal crops in the world. Leaf angle is an important architectural trait of crops due to its substantial role in light interception by the canopy and hence photosynthetic efficiency. Traditionally, leaf angle has been measured using a protractor, a process that is both slow and laborious. Efficiently measuring leaf angle under field conditions via imaging is challenging due to leaf density in the canopy and the resulting occlusions. However, advances in imaging technologies and machine learning have provided new tools for image acquisition and analysis that could be used to characterize leaf angle using three‐dimensional (3D) models of field‐grown plants. In this study, PhenoBot 3.0, a robotic vehicle designed to traverse between pairs of agronomically spaced rows of crops, was equipped with multiple tiers of PhenoStereo cameras to capture side‐view images of maize plants in the field. PhenoStereo is a customized stereo camera module with integrated strobe lighting for high‐speed stereoscopic image acquisition under variable outdoor lighting conditions. An automated image processing pipeline (AngleNet) was developed to measure leaf angles of nonoccluded leaves. In this pipeline, a novel representation form of leaf angle as a triplet of keypoints was proposed. The pipeline employs convolutional neural networks to detect each leaf angle in two‐dimensional images and 3D modeling approaches to extract quantitative data from reconstructed models. Satisfactory accuracies in terms of correlation coefficient (r) and mean absolute error (MAE) were achieved for leaf angle () and internode heights (). Our study demonstrates the feasibility of using stereo vision to investigate the distribution of leaf angles in maize under field conditions. The proposed system is an efficient alternative to traditional leaf angle phenotyping and thus could accelerate breeding for improved plant architecture.

Distributional heterogeneity in climate change impacts and adaptation: Evidence from Indian agriculture

AbstractThis study estimates the distributional heterogeneity in the effects of climate change on yields of three major cereal crops: rice, maize, and wheat in India using district‐level information for the period 1966–2015. We distinguish between the effects of changes in growing season weather from those due to changes in long‐term climate trends and the heterogeneity in these effects across the distribution of crop yields by estimating naïve and climate penalty inclusive models using fixed‐effect quantile panel models. We observe an absence of adaptation against rising temperatures for rice and wheat. However, we find a statistically significant presence of adaptation for wheat and maize for changes in precipitation, though the magnitude is small. Moreover, we find that the effects are asymmetric, and are larger at the lower tail of productivity distribution and smaller at the upper tail of the distribution. A 1°C increase in temperature lowers rice and wheat productivity by 23% and 9%, respectively at the first quantile, but the damage is only 6% and 5% at the ninth quantile. Heterogeneity in impacts and adaptation estimates over the yield distribution curve and across crops suggests the importance of customizing strategies for adaptation to changing weather and climate conditions across regions, crops, and current productivity levels.

Linkages between natural gas, fertiliser and cereal prices: A note

AbstractWe use structural vector autoregressions to analyse the dynamic effects of shocks to natural gas and nitrogenous fertiliser prices on three major cereal crops: maize, rice and wheat. We find that the response of cereal prices to natural gas and fertiliser price shocks has been relatively small, instantaneous and transitory. These findings suggest that crop prices may change rapidly in response to energy and fertiliser prices, even when there are no shifts in the underlying fundamentals in crop markets. Furthermore, because the effects of the shocks dissipate rather quickly, short‐term measures to address swings in food prices may suffice.

Identification and molecular characterization of novel sucrose transporters in the hexaploid wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

Common wheat (Triticum aestivum) is a major cereal crop grown and consumed globally. Recent advances in sequencing technology have facilitated the exploration of large and repetitive genomes. Plant sucrose transporter (SUT) genes are vital components of energy transport systems that play prominent roles in various plant functions, such as signaling and stress regulation. In this study, we identified and analyzed five novel sucrose transporter genes in wheat. The wheat sucrose transporter genes were divided into five clades based on their phylogenetic relationships. Synteny analysis revealed that synteny in the genome is highly conserved between wheat and rye, barley, and Brachypodium. Furthermore, the cis-element analysis indicated that sucrose transporter genes might be regulated by light and some phytohormone-related transcriptional factors. Overall, plant tissue-specific gene expression revealed enhanced expression of the transporter genes in the root and stem, whereas they were differentially expressed under abiotic stress treatments (cold, heat, NaCl, PEG-6000, and sucrose). These results indicate that each TaSUT gene may play a crucial role in stabilizing plants under stress by actively regulating the energy demands of cells. The findings of this study may provide a basis for further research on sucrose transporters and their significant roles in plant energy metabolism as well as in abiotic stress response, signaling, and regulation.

Downregulation of barley ferulate 5-hydroxylase dramatically alters straw lignin structure without impact on mechanical properties.

Barley is a major cereal crop for temperate climates, and a diploid genetic model for polyploid wheat. Cereal straw biomass is an attractive source of feedstock for green technologies but lignin, a key determinant of feedstock recalcitrance, complicates bio-conversion processes. However, manipulating lignin content to improve the conversion process could negatively affect agronomic traits. An alternative approach is to manipulate lignin composition which influences the physical and chemical properties of straw. This study validates the function of a barley ferulate 5-hydroxylase gene and demonstrates that its downregulation using the RNA-interference approach substantially impacts lignin composition. We identified five barley genes having putative ferulate 5-hydroxylase activity. Downregulation of HvF5H1 substantially reduced the lignin syringyl/guaiacyl (S/G) ratio in straw while the lignin content, straw mechanical properties, plant growth habit, and grain characteristics all remained unaffected. Metabolic profiling revealed significant changes in the abundance of 173 features in the HvF5H1-RNAi lines. The drastic changes in the lignin polymer of transgenic lines highlight the plasticity of barley lignification processes and the associated potential for manipulating and improving lignocellulosic biomass as a feedstock for green technologies. On the other hand, our results highlight some differences between the lignin biosynthetic pathway in barley, a temperate climate grass, and the warm climate grass, rice, and underscore potential diversity in the lignin biosynthetic pathways in grasses.

Growth enhancement and extenuation of drought stress in maize inoculated with multifaceted ACC deaminase producing rhizobacteria

IntroductionMaize is a major staple cereal crop grown and consumed globally. However, due to climate change, extreme heat and drought stresses are greatly affecting its production especially in sub-Saharan Africa. The use of a bio-based approach to mitigate drought stress is therefore suggested using plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR).MethodsThis study investigated the abilities of 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) deaminase producing PGPR Pseudomonas sp. MRBP4, Pseudomonas sp. MRBP13 and Bacillus sp. MRBP10 isolated from maize rhizosphere soil, to ameliorate the effect of drought stress in maize genotypes MR44 and S0/8/W/I137TNW//CML550 under two water regimes; mild drought stress (50% FC) and well-watered conditions (100% FC). The rhizobacterial strains were identified by 16S rRNA sequencing and biochemical tests, and evaluated for plant growth-promoting and abiotic stress tolerance traits.Results and discussionThe synergistic effect of the bacterial strains had a highly significant (p < 0.001) effect on the total soluble sugar, soil moisture content and relative water content, which were enhanced under water-stress in the inoculated plants. Relative water content was significantly highest (p < 0.001) in maize plants co-inoculated with Pseudomonas sp. MRBP4 + Bacillus sp. MRBP10 (60.55%). Total chlorophyll content was significantly enhanced in maize seedlings sole inoculated with Pseudomonas sp. MRBP4, Pseudomonas sp. MRBP13, and co-inoculated with Pseudomonas sp. MRBP13 + Bacillus sp. MRBP10 by 15.91%, 14.99% and 15.75% respectively, over the un-inoculated control. Soil moisture content increased by 28.67% and 30.71% compared to the un-inoculated control when plants were inoculated with Pseudomonas sp. MRBP4 + Bacillus sp. MRBP10 and Pseudomonas sp. MRBP4 + Bacillus sp. MRBP10 respectively. The interactive effect of genotype × bacteria significantly enhanced biomass production. Leaf area was highest in maize plants co-inoculated with Pseudomonas sp. MRBP4 + Pseudomonas sp. MRBP13 (212.45 ± 0.87 cm2) under drought stress. Treatment of maize seeds with Pseudomonas sp. MRBP 4 + Pseudomonas sp. MRBP13 + Bacillus sp. MRBP10 significantly increased the root length (10.32 ± 0.48 cm) which enhanced survival of the maize seedlings. Bioinoculation of maize seeds with these strains could boost maize production cultivated in arid regions.

Modelling CH4 emission from rice ecosystem: A comparison between existing empirical models

Rice is a staple food for more than three billion people and accounts for up to 11% of the global methane (CH4) emissions from anthropogenic sources. With increasing populations, particularly in less developed countries where rice is a major cereal crop, production continues to increase to meet demand. Implementing site-specific mitigation measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from rice is important to minimise climate change. Measuring greenhouse gases is costly and time-consuming; therefore, many farmers, supply chains, and scientists rely on greenhouse gas accounting tools or internationally acceptable methodologies (e.g., Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) to estimate emissions and explore mitigation options. In this paper, existing empirical models that are widely used have been evaluated against measured CH4 emission data. CH4 emission data and management information were collected from 70 peer-reviewed scientific papers. Model input variables such as soil organic carbon (SOC), pH, water management during crop season and pre-season, and organic amendment application were collected and used for estimation of CH4 emission. The performance of the models was evaluated by comparing the predicted emission values against measured emissions with the result showing that the models capture the impact of different management on emissions, but either under- or overestimate the emission value, and therefore are unable to capture the magnitude of emissions. Estimated emission values are much lower than observed for most of the rice-producing countries, with R correlation coefficient values varying from −0.49 to 0.87 across the models. In conclusion, current models are adequate for predicting emission trends and the directional effects of management, but are not adequate for estimating the magnitude of emissions. The existing models do not consider key site-specific variables such as soil texture, planting method, cultivar type, or growing season, which all influence emissions, and thus, the models lack sensitivity to key site variables to reliably predict emissions.

Estimating Green and Blue Water Footprint of Major Cereal and Vegetable Crops in Salale Zone, Oromia, Ethiopia

To attain effective utilization of water in different sectors, understanding and applying the new concept of water management tools like water footprint analysis is mandatory. Hence, this study aims to estimate green and blue water footprint for selected major cereal and vegetable crops in Salale Zone. Ten year (2011–2020) climatic, crop yield, and cultivated area data were collected. Green and blue water footprints (m3/ton), average water footprint per-kilogram of each crops product (m3/kg), and their Zonal level total water footprints (m3/ton) were estimated. The results indicated that both green and blue water footprint was greater than benchmark value for each considered crops though blue water was highly utilized in the Zone for production of vegetable crops than cereal. At Zonal level, average total water footprint for the major crops was estimated to 14,417.35 m3/ton from which 86% accounts for cereal. From the comparison of average Zonal water footprint with the benchmark, the estimated values for each crop was higher than the benchmark which indicated less efficient utilization of green and blue water. Hence, for effective management and utilization of water, applying the concept of water footprint is essential to account water use in production of a given crop.

Molecular mechanisms of flowering phenology in trees.

Flower initiation is a phenological developmental process strictly regulated in all flowering plants. Studies in Arabidopsis thaliana, a model plant organism in plant biology and genetics, and major cereal crops have provided fundamental knowledge and understanding of the underlying molecular mechanisms and regulation in annuals. However, this flowering process and underly molecular mechanisms in perennials are much more complicated than those in annuals and remain poorly understood and documented. In recent years, the increasing availability of perennial plant genomes and advances in biotechnology have allowed the identification and characterization of flowering-associated gene orthologs in perennials. In this review, we compared and summarized the recent progress in regulation of flowering time in perennial trees, with an emphasis on the perennial-specific regulatory mechanisms. Pleiotropic effects on tree growth habits such as juvenility, seasonal activity-dormancy growth, and the applications of tree flowering phenology are discussed.

On-farm demonstration and evaluation of Jimma replaceable drum multi-crop thresher in west Shawa zone, Ethiopia

In West Shawa Zone where this research endeavored to introduce Jimma made multi crop thresher, the most common methods of threshing a variety of crops is traditional. It involves striking the crops panicle with stick or trampling under animal hooves and winnowing it by tossing the threshed mixed mass in the air when there is enough wind to separate the chaff from grain on ogdi. This method is inefficient, slow, prone to drudgery as well as the time taken and the labor required are considerably high along with the problem of contamination of grains with extraneous material such as dung, urine and sand. To obviate these all, a multi crop thresher for major cereal crops was developed at JAERC and intended to demonstrate in Toke Kutaye and Liban Jawi districts with the specific objectives of building farmers awareness of Jimma MCT and its potential uses; evaluating the machine for its performance in terms of threshing efficiency, capacity and total threshing losses and eliciting farmers and other stakeholders’ feedback that can be used as an important data source for further refinement of the machine demonstrated. The participants were both extension functionaries and the purposively selected farmers from the areas where production of teff, wheat and maize are collectively predominating. data entailed Weight of the threshed grain, un threshed grains, damaged grains, time of operation, no of farmers participated in awareness creation training and field days, and feedback information were collected through a variety of indices of measurement, reckoning techniques and focus group discussions. It was found that the thresher could thresh the crops to a threshing efficiency of 91, 92, and 98.5% for teff wheat and maize; the output capacities of 69.09, 110.5 and 930 kg/hr for the same crops were satisfactory; and threshing loss of 12.9 and 10.9% achieved for teff and wheat respectively was rather high. Hence, the recommendation to pre scaling up the machine for maize threshing and on how to improve for teff and wheat were provided.

Land Suitability Assessment for Cereal Crops in Sainamaina Municipality Nepal


 
 
 Land suitability is the fitness of a given type of land for a defined use. The land may be considered in its present condition or after improvements. This paper aims to present the land suitability of the study area for major cereal crops. The present study is conducted in ward no. 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 of Sainamaina municipality Rupandehi district Nepal. Soil samples were taken from 29 different pits from polygon generated by intersecting land system map and land capability map within agricultural land use map with the help of geographic information system. Collected soil samples were tested in soil the laboratory of central department of geography, Tribhuwan University. Land suitability for major cereal crops paddy, wheat, maize and millet were derived from FAO guideline for land evaluation. As a result, the land of study area is found more suitable for wheat followed by paddy maize and millet.
 
 

Effect of Foliar Application of Mannitol on Growth and Yield of Maize under Different Water Regimes

Maize is an important cereal crop in world. Due to the climate change the temperature has increased and water availability is reduced. Both factors limit yield potential of major cereal crops. Uniform and vigorous stand establishment is the main milestone for economically successful maize production program, but drought stress is the major cause of stand failure and yield reduction. Mannitol is considered essential for photosynthates activity which contributes 60-80% in many plants, it produces photosynthates in leaves that are translocated in phloem. Mannitol synthesis is normal in the cytosol of source leaves with a hexose phosphate pool with sucrose synthesis. Experiment was conducted to estimate the effect of various irrigation levels I0: Control, I1: Skip Irrigation at tasseling, I2: Skip Irrigation at dough stage and foliar application of mannitol with given concentration C0: 0 mM, C1: 2 mM, C2: 4 mM, C3: 6 mM on maize variety DS-555. This experiment was conducted at Agronomic Research Area, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad. The plants were uprooted from field at emergence, tasseling, silking, milking and physiological maturity stages and subject to oven dry method to understand the plant biomass partitioning. All parameters of stand establishment, growth and yield related parameters were evaluated in laboratory. The Fisher's ANOVA analysis of variance methodology was used to statistically evaluate the measured results, and the treatment means was valuated using the Least Significance Difference (LSD) test at a 5% probability level.

MECHANISM OF DROUGHT STRESS TOLERANCE IN WHEAT

Wheat is one of our major cereal crops worldwide, facing different challenges. Drought is a combination of adverse effects because of global warming and climate change. About ¼ of the world is under these effects, which were not under consideration till 2019. This article will discuss multiple harmful effects on our major cereal crop, wheat. The retarded growth and overall yield of 39% have a great effect on the economy of any country. No doubt, the plant itself has natural mechanisms to alleviate the adverse effects, but long-term and periodic stresses greatly affect wheat's gene pool. Some goods are involved in improving wheat plants, which are briefly described in this article.

Phenological and yield components response of major exotic maize varieties to different levels of soil bulk densities

<p>Maize is the second staple food and a major cereal crop in Pakistan, but its actual yield is 25-30% less than the potential because of high soil bulk densities. Three exotic maize varieties (Baber, Pioneer-30P45, and Syngenta-6621) were evaluated under the three different soil bulk densities of 1.00 - 1.30, 1.30 - 1.60, and 1.60- 1.90 g.cm<sup>-3</sup>. Nine treatments were replicated three times, making 27 pots experiments under complete randomized design were tested. Results showed that bulk density significantly (α < 0.05) affected all the parameters of the crops except the number of days to emergence. The fewest number of days to emergence (8.4), tasseling (60.9), silking (66.9), maturity (91.9), leaves per plant (6.3), as well as the lowest shoot thickness (0.49 cm) were obtained under the 1.00 - 1.30 g.cm<sup>-3</sup> density. This density also produced the tallest plants (174.7 cm), highest stover (5938.7 kg ha<sup>-1</sup>), grain yields (1551 kg ha<sup>-1</sup>), and harvest index (21.9 %). Conversely, most days to emergence, tasseling, silking, and maturity occurred at the bulk density of 1.60 - 1.90 g.cm<sup>-3</sup>, which also produced the shortest plants and the lowest grain stover and grain yields as well as the harvest index. It was concluded that increasing bulk density levels increase the number of days to tasseling, silking, maturity, and leaves per plant and shoot thickness. Syngenta 6621 was found late in maturity among the hybrids but produced superior stover and grain yields.</p>

Evaluating cereal market (dis)integration in less developed and fragile markets: The case of Sudan

This paper evaluates spatial market integration in cereal markets in Sudan, focusing on wheat and sorghum, two major cereal crops. Sudan’s context provides important insights on the functioning of markets in economies marred by sanctions, conflicts, soaring inflation, and macroeconomic imbalances. We use long-ranging monthly cereal price data and a vector of error-correction cointegration model (VECM) to characterize both short-term and long-term spatial price adjustment across cereal markets. Among the 15 wheat and 18 sorghum markets considered, we can only detect significant spatial market integration among 6 wheat and 11 sorghum markets. Despite some strong spatial market integration among a few neighboring markets, there is no spatial market integration between several markets, including between major wheat consumption and production hotspots. For example, cereal markets in Darfur are not integrated with cereal markets in the rest of the country, despite exhibiting some level of spatial integration within the Darfur region. Finally, we also observe relatively stronger spatial market integration in sorghum markets than in wheat markets. These findings have important policy implications for improving the efficiency of cereal markets in Sudan and other comparable settings.