Nanjing Agricultural University Research Articles

Promoting sustainable agri‐food production to achieve food and nutrition security: The role of soil conservation practices

AbstractWe examine the role of soil conservation practices (SCPs) in promoting sustainable agri‐food production to achieve food and nutrition security. To this end, we use the endogenous treatment regression model, as it allows us to address the selection bias associated with SCP adoption. Data sourced from the 2020 China Land Economic Survey, collected by Nanjing Agricultural University, China, are examined. First, we analyse the association between the adoption of SCPs and rice yield; we focus on rice as it is the most common staple food globally. Then, we examine the links between SCP adoption and dietary diversity and the consumption of seven specific foods (rice, potato, pork, poultry, egg, fruits and vegetable oil). This allows us to glean insights into how SCPs may affect the dietary patterns in rural communities. The findings show that adopting SCPs is associated with an 8.5% increase in rice yield. Rice yields increase with the intensification of SCP adoption. Disaggregated analysis suggests that low‐income farmers receive the most rice yield promotion by adopting SCPs compared with wealthier ones. Meanwhile, among the three SCPs (i.e. soil remediation, commercial organic fertiliser application and formulated fertilisation) considered in our study, only formulated fertilisation increases rice yields. Furthermore, adopting SCPs is associated with higher consumption of protein‐rich foods and lower dietary diversity.

The larva and pupa of Anabolia appendix (Ulmer 1905) (Trichoptera: Limnephilidae) from China

Adult females from the town of Xin-si, Ding-xi County, Gan-su Province, as well as larvae and pupae from Tian-jun and Qi-lian Counties, Hai-bei Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qing-hai Province, were examined, and their COI sequences were extracted and analyzed. Adult females were identified as Anabolia appendix (Ulmer 1905) and were associated with larvae and pupae by their COI sequences. The larva and pupa of A. appendix are described and diagnosed for the first time and morphological photos of the larva and pupa of A. appendix are also provided. All the COI sequences have been uploaded to GenBank. All specimens are deposited in the Insect Collection, Nan-jing Agricultural University, Nan-jing, Jiang-su Province, P. R. China.

A study of the driving factors of the intention and behavioral deviations of rural residents in waste classification

Introduction: The deviation between the stated intentions and actual actions of rural residents regarding waste classification constitutes a significant impediment to the effective implementation of environmental management strategies in rural areas. It is therefore recommended that steps be taken to reduce the deviation between the stated intentions and actual behaviors of rural residents. Doing so will help to reinforce environmental governance in rural communities and provide the necessary support for rural revitalization.Methods: This study establishes an analytical framework for examining the deviation between the internal perceived efficacy and external environmental policies among rural residents. The relationship between intention and behavior can be classified into three distinct scenarios: “intention with behavior,” “intention without behavior,” and “no intention with behavior.” Furthermore, an empirical analysis is conducted using survey data collected by Nanjing Agricultural University in the China Land Economic Survey in June and July 2021.Result: The results show that 1) the perceived efficacy has a significant positive influence on the deviation between the intention and behavior of rural residents in domestic waste classification, while the environmental policy has a significant negative effect on it; 2) the guiding policy has a significant negative moderating effect on the influence of perceived efficacy on the deviation between the intention and behavior of rural residents and the situation of “with intention and without behavior,” while the reward–punishment policy has a significant positive moderating effect on the influence of perceived efficacy on “without intention and behavior;” 3) the perceived efficacy has a masking effect on the impact of environmental policies on the deviation between the intention and behavior or “with intention and without behavior” of rural residents and a partial mediating effect on the impact of the environmental policy on “with intention and behavior” or “without intention and behavior.”Discussion: In consideration of these findings, the study proposes policy recommendations that emphasize the interconnectivity of the government, village collective organizations, and rural residents. The recommendations include the implementation of environmental policies and initiatives designed to enhance rural residents’ awareness of waste classification.

Green pesticide practices and sustainability: empirical insights into agricultural services in China

ABSTRACT In a world grappling with the overuse of pesticides, China emerges as a key consumer and producer, facing substantial challenges in environmental and agricultural sustainability. This study investigates how agricultural services can foster eco-friendly pesticide use among farmers. It leverages data from the ‘China Land Economic Survey’ (2020-2021) by Nanjing Agricultural University, covering 52 villages and 2600 households. Using a multi-dimensional fixed effects model and propensity score matching, the research addresses biases inherent in the data. Results show that agricultural business services significantly boost green pesticide adoption, outperforming agricultural technology and input sectors. These services increase the use of safer pesticides and the recycling of their containers by 11.6% and 6%, respectively. Farmer satisfaction and regular internet use also play a role in reinforcing this trend. Based on these insights, it recommends enhancing support for low-toxicity pesticides and recycling programmes, creating tailored policies for diverse agricultural needs, and implementing resource management and incentive mechanisms to promote sustainable practices. These strategies aim to bolster sustainable agriculture, balancing environmental health with economic viability.

First report of leaf rot on Lonicera japonica caused by Rhizopus arrhizus in China.

Lonicera japonica is a perennial shrub that has been used since ancient times as a medicine to clear heat and detoxify poisons. Its branches (the vine of L. japonica) and unopened flower buds (honeysuckle) can be used as medicine to treat external wind heat or febrile disease fever (Shang, Pan, Li, Miao, & Ding, 2011). In July 2022, a serious disease was observed in L. japonica individuals planted in an area of experimental base of Nanjing Agricultural University (N 32°02', E 118°86'), Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China. More than 200 Lonicera plants were surveyed, and the incidence of leaf rot in Lonicera leaves was over 80%. The initial symptoms were of chlorotic spots and gradual development of visible white mycelia and powdery substances (fungal spores) were observed on the leaves. Both the front and back of the leaves gradually appeared as brown diseased spots. Thus, a combination of multiple disease spots causes leaf wilting and the leaves eventually fall off. Leaves with typical symptoms were collected and cut into approximately 5 mm square fragments. The tissues were sterilized in 1% NaOCl for 90 s and 75% ethanol for 15 s and then washed with sterile water three times. The treated leaves were cultured on Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA) medium at 25℃. When mycelia grew around the leaf pieces, fungal plugs were collected along the outer edge of the colony and transferred to fresh PDA plates using a cork borer. Eight fungal strains with the same morphology were obtained after three rounds of subculturing. The colony was initially white with a fast growth rate, and occupied a 9-cm-diameter culture dish within 24 h. The colony turned gray-black in the later stages. After 2 days, small black sporangia spots appeared on top of the hyphae. The sporangia were yellow when immature, and black at maturity. The spores were oval with an average size of 29.6 (22.4-36.9) × 35.3 (25.8-45.2) µm (n = 50) in diameter. To identify the pathogen, fungal hyphae were scraped, and the fungal genome was extracted using a kit (BioTeke, Cat#DP2031). The internal transcribed spacer region (ITS) of the fungal genome was amplified with primers ITS1/ITS4, and the results of ITS sequencing were uploaded to the GenBank database with accession number OP984201. The phylogenetic tree was constructed using the neighbor-joining method with MEGA11 software. Phylogenetic analysis based on ITS showed that the fungus was grouped together with Rhizopus arrhizus (MT590591) and had high bootstrap support. Thus, the pathogen was identified as R. arrhizus. To verify Koch's postulates, 60 ml of a spore suspension (1×104 conidia/ml) was sprayed onto the surface of 12 healthy Lonicera plants, and the other 12 plants were sprayed with sterile water as a control. All plants were kept in the greenhouse at 25°C with 60% relative humidity. After 14 d, the infected plants showed symptoms similar to those of the original diseased plants. The strain was isolated again from the diseased leaves of artificially inoculated plants and verified as the original strain by sequencing. The results showed that R. arrhizus was the pathogen responsible for Lonicera leaf rot. Previous studies have shown that R. arrhizus causes garlic bulb rot (Zhang et al., 2022) and Jerusalem artichoke tuber rot (Yang et al., 2020). To our knowledge, this is the first report of R. arrhizus causing Lonicera leaf rot disease in China. Information regarding the identification of this fungus may be helpful for controlling the leaf rot disease.

Rolling Bearing Fault Diagnosis Based on Support Vector Machine Optimized by Improved Grey Wolf Algorithm.

This study targets the low accuracy and efficiency of the support vector machine (SVM) algorithm in rolling bearing fault diagnosis. An improved grey wolf optimizer (IGWO) algorithm was proposed based on deep learning and a swarm intelligence optimization algorithm to optimize the structural parameters of SVM and improve the rolling bearing fault diagnosis. A nonlinear contraction factor update strategy was also proposed. The variable coefficient changes with the shrinkage factor α. Thus, the search ability was balanced at different early and late stages by controlling the dynamic changes of the variable coefficient. In the early stages of optimization, its speed is low to avoid falling into local optimization. In the later stages of optimization, the speed is higher, and finding the optimal solution is easier, balancing the two different global and local optimization capabilities to complete efficient convergence. The dynamic weight update strategy was adopted to perform position updates based on adaptive dynamic weights. First, the dataset of Case Western Reserve University was used for simulation, and the results showed that the diagnosis accuracy of IGWO-SVM was 98.75%. Then, the IGWO-SVM model was trained and tested using data obtained from the full-life-cycle test platform of mechanical transmission bearings independently researched and developed by Nanjing Agricultural University. The fault diagnosis accuracy and convergence value of the adaptation curve were compared with those of PSO-SVM (particle swarm optimization) and GWO-SVM diagnosis models. Results showed that the IGWO-SVM model had the highest rolling bearing fault diagnosis accuracy and the best diagnosis convergence.

International literature characteristics and hotspots evolution of the impact of climate change on cotton: A bibliographic study

Abstract This study uses information visualization analysis software to quantitatively analyze the literature characteristics and hotspot evolution in the field of research on the impact of climate change on cotton. The results showed that the number of literature was on the rise, and environmental sciences, agronomy, plant sciences, water resources and agriculture were the main disciplines in this field. Countries and regions such as China, the U.S.A, Argentina, Pakistan and India pay great attention to the research field, and the cooperation between countries was relatively closed. Many well-known institutions such as the Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Nanjing Agricultural University and United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service were committed to research in this field. ‘Yield’, ‘CO2’, ‘Adaptation strategy’, ‘Irrigation’, ‘Model’, etc., were the hot words in the research. Research hotspots had developed from the research on assessing the impact of climate change on future cotton production to focus on the impact of CO2 concentration on cotton production, coping strategies for cotton industry development under climate change and climate-smart agriculture issues.

Enterprise Organization Management Research and Practical Application

This paper takes the development department of Nanjing Agricultural University as the research object for organization management research. Using organizational culture and values as the driving force, and based on the establishment model of employer brand, this paper proposes talent management and development policies and sorts out the existing organizational culture and values of the department. Besides, this paper also explains theoretical concepts and methodological paths that can be applied to an organization. Then, the methods of establishing the organizational culture and values of the department are explained by relating the experience of teachers and students to the experience of employees. Strategies are then proposed to attract, select, train, and retain top talents, and strive for the realization of the strategic goals of the school.

UMA ANÁLISE DE CLUSTER VIA CITESPACE A PROPÓSITO DE FERTILIZANTES (2008-2018)

The main objective of this work was to identify and analyze the international scientific production about “fertilizer” using bibliometric tools, referring to the period from 2008 to 2018. Thus, an exploratory-bibliographic study with a quantitative approach was carried out using the Web of Science (WoS) database as a search source, through the platform available on the CAPES website. A result of 28,282 publications was obtained, distributed in 45 journals, covering several areas of knowledge, with emphasis on: soil sciences (22%), environmental sciences (22%) and agricultural sciences (18%). The journal with the highest number of publications was the Agronomy Journal, with 737 papers, followed by Communications In Soil Science And Plant Analysis, with 702 publications. Chinese researcher Qirong Shen, from Nanjing Agricultural University, was the author with the most publications, 134 papers. Regarding the Institutions that produced the most, there was a predominance of universities from China and the USA, with the Agricultural University of China being the most prominent, with 585 records; followed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences University (CAS), with 563 records; and third, the Florida State University System, with 475 publications. Using the CiteSpace software, 62 clusters were mapped, worth highlighting six: Organic Fertilization, the largest cluster (65 references), Food security, the second largest cluster (57 references), followed by: Emission of N2O (52 references), Pasture (45 references), Biochar (24 references) and Bacterial community (6 references). This data mining for the period from 2008 to 2018, allowed us to conclude that: scientific production for fertilizer increased by 7.76%, on average per year, demonstrating the great importance of the topic before the scientific community, and not only that, also the its impact on humanity and on socio-economic and environmental policies.

Affecting factors for abdominal incisional tension in surgery of dogs and cats

ObjectiveProper assessment of intraoperative abdominal incisional tension helps to select the appropriate sutures and suture method. Wound tension is usually thought to be associated with wound size, but few relevant articles have been reported. The aim of this study was to investigate the core factors influencing abdominal incisional tension and construct regression equations to judge incisional tension in clinical surgery. MethodsMedical records were collected from clinical surgical cases at the Teaching Animal Hospital of Nanjing Agricultural University from March 2022 to June 2022. The data collected mainly included the body weight, and the incisional length, margin, and tension. The core factors affecting abdominal wall incisional tension were screened by correlation analysis, random forest analysis, and multiple linear regression analysis. ResultsAlthough correlation analysis showed that multiple same and deep layer abdominal incision parameters and body weight were significantly correlated with abdominal incisional tension. However, the same layer of abdominal incisional margin had the largest correlation coefficient. In random forest models, the abdominal incisional margin had the main contribution to the prediction of the same layer's abdominal incisional tension. In the multiple linear regression model, all incisional tension could be predicted by the same layer of abdominal incisional margin as the only independent variable, except for canine muscle and subcutaneous. The canine muscle and subcutaneous incisional tension were binary regressions with the same layer's abdominal incision margin and body weight. ConclusionThe same layer's abdominal incisional margin is the core factor positively related to the abdominal incisional tension intraoperatively.

The Impact of Off-Farm Employment on Farmland Production Efficiency: An Empirical Study Based in Jiangsu Province, China

The secret to ensuring food security and the growth of agricultural development is farmland production efficiency. In the context of urbanization, this means that farmers need to increase their off-farm employment behavior. The research goal of this paper is to explore whether this will have a impact on farmland production. This paper is based on the data of the China Land Economic Survey conducted by Nanjing Agricultural University and uses Tobit and other methods to conduct empirical tests. The main findings of this paper are as follows: (1) When the proportion of the household’s off-farm employment time is less than 73%, an increase in off-farm employment reduces farmland production efficiency. When the proportion of the household’s off-farm employment time exceeds 73%, an increase in off-farm employment increases the farmland production efficiency. (2) This paper eliminates the scale efficiency contribution in farmland production efficiency to obtain pure technical production efficiency. After verification, off-farm employment and farmland pure technical production efficiency show a U-shaped correlation and the inflection points of the two U-shaped curves coincide. (3) The reason for the inflection point is that after the off-farm employment of farmers reaches the inflection point, with a further increase in off-farm employment, the renting-out behavior of farmland increases and there is increased input of labor-saving technology in agricultural land production, because of which the production efficiency and pure technical efficiency of the farmland increase. To sum up, off-farm employment does not necessarily mean reduced farmland production efficiency. Farmland leasing behavior plays a key role in mitigating the impact of off-farm employment on farmland production. Therefore, in the process of urbanization, the improvement of the land transfer market, the development of agricultural socialized services, and the promotion of cooperative operation will help to ensure the productivity of farmland.

Forensic Analysis of Novel SARS2r-CoV Identified in Game Animal Datasets in China Shows Evolutionary Relationship to Pangolin GX CoV Clade and Apparent Genetic Experimentation

Pangolins are the only animals other than bats proposed to have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 related coronaviruses (SARS2r-CoVs) prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, we examine the novel SARS2r-CoV we previously identified in game animal metatranscriptomic datasets sequenced by the Nanjing Agricultural University in 2022, and find that sections of the partial genome phylogenetically group with Guangxi pangolin CoVs (GX PCoVs), while the full RdRp sequence groups with bat-SL-CoVZC45. While the novel SARS2r-CoV is found in 6 pangolin datasets, it is also found in 10 additional NGS datasets from 5 separate mammalian species and is likely related to contamination by a laboratory researched virus. Absence of bat mitochondrial sequences from the datasets, the fragmentary nature of the virus sequence and the presence of a partial sequence of a cloning vector attached to a SARS2r-CoV read suggests that it has been cloned. We find that NGS datasets containing the novel SARS2r-CoV are contaminated with significant Homo sapiens genetic material, and numerous viruses not associated with the host animals sampled. We further identify the dominant human haplogroup of the contaminating H. sapiens genetic material to be F1c1a1, which is of East Asian provenance. The association of this novel SARS2r-CoV with both bat CoV and the GX PCoV clades is an important step towards identifying the origin of the GX PCoVs.

Global Root Traits Research during 2000–2021: A Bibliometric Analysis

Root traits have an important impact on plant growth, which reflects the adaptation of plants to nutrients. This paper describes the focus and progress of root traits research and provides references for future research. Based on the Web of Science online database, articles related to root traits from 2000–2021 were evaluated using bibliometric methods. The results showed that the study of root traits has been growing steadily in the last two decades. Wang Yan is the author with the highest number of published papers, the most citations and the highest H-index. The top three published countries are the USA, China and India. The top three institutions are the University of Western Australia, China Agricultural University and Nanjing Agricultural University. Plant and Soil, Frontiers in Plant Science and PLoS One have the highest number of published articles. In terms of co-occurrence of keyword analysis, growth, soil and plant diversity are highly correlated with root traits. It was found that cooperation between authors, institutions and countries are not close enough and that z global network of cooperation has not yet been formed. Therefore, worldwide cooperation should be strengthened to promote resource sharing and the openness of relevant mechanisms.

Low cell number ChIP-seq reveals chromatin state-based regulation of gene transcription in the rice male meiocytes.

Low cell number ChIP-seq reveals chromatin state-based regulation of gene transcription in the rice male meiocytes.

Research on the Spatiotemporal Characteristics and Concentration Prediction Model of PM2.5 during Winter in Jiangbei New District, Nanjing, China

Accurate prediction of PM2.5 concentration is one of the key tasks of air pollution assessment, early warning, and treatment. In this paper, four monitoring sites were arranged in Jiangbei New District of Nanjing City, China. The environmental parameters such as PM2.5/PM10 concentration, temperature, and humidity were monitored from January to February 2020. A gated recurrent unit (GRU) network based on the PM2.5 concentration prediction model was established to predict PM2.5 concentration. The mean relative error (MRE), root mean square error (RMSE), and Pearson correlation coefficient were selected as the evaluation criteria for the accuracy of the GRU model. The data set was divided into a training set, a test set and a validation set at a ratio of 7:2:1, and the GRU model was used to predict the hourly value of PM2.5 concentration in the next week. The prediction results show that the Pearson correlation coefficients between the predicted values and the monitored values of the four monitoring sites have reached more than 0.9, reflecting a strong correlation. The relative average errors are around 10%. The GRU model prediction of NJAU (Nanjing Agricultural University)-Pukou Campus Site is the most accurate, and the correlation coefficient, MRE, and RMSE are 0.970, 7.85%, and 9.6049, respectively, reflecting the good prediction performance of the model. Therefore, this research supports the prediction of air quality in different cities and regions, so people can take protective measures in advance and reduce the damage caused by air pollution to human bodies.

How Do Non-Agricultural Employment and Regional Selection Affect Farmers' Domestic Sewage Discharge Behavior? Empirical Evidence from Rural China.

In many countries, along with rising rural labor transfer, the problem of rural domestic sewage discharge is becoming increasingly serious due to labor shortages in the villages. It is urgent to solve the environment pollution and health problems of residents which is caused by the massive discharge of domestic sewage in rural areas. Based on the survey data collected from Nanjing Agricultural University in 2020, this paper employs the ordered probit model and the CMP method, to empirically test the impact of non-agricultural employment and regional choice on farmers’ domestic sewage discharge behavior and the moderating effect of environmental cognition and the social network. The results show that: (1) There is a significantly positive correlation between non-agricultural employment and farmers’ sewage treatment behavior. (2) Environmental cognition significantly improves the participation of urban non-agricultural employment farmers in sewage treatment, and the social network has a significant role in promoting the adoption of sewage treatment behavior of local non-agricultural employment farmers. (3) Further heterogeneity analysis results show that the inhibitory effect of urban non-agricultural employment on random sewage discharge is more pronounced than that of local non-agricultural employment. Therefore, in order to effectively solve the problem of rural domestic sewage discharge, it is necessary to actively guide the sewage discharge behavior of non-agricultural employment households, strengthen the social network interaction within the village, and increase the publicity for sewage discharge knowledge.

A Bibliometric and Visualized Analysis of Research Progress and Trends in Rice Remote Sensing over the Past 42 Years (1980–2021)

Rice is one of the most important food crops around the world. Remote sensing technology, as an effective and rapidly developing method, has been widely applied to precise rice management. To observe the current research status in the field of rice remote sensing (RRS), a bibliometric analysis was carried out based on 2680 papers of RRS published during 1980–2021, which were collected from the core collection of the Web of Science database. Quantitative analysis of the number of publications, top countries and institutions, popular keywords, etc. was conducted through the knowledge mapping software CiteSpace, and comprehensive discussions were carried out from the aspects of specific research objects, methods, spectral variables, and sensor platforms. The results revealed that an increasing number of countries and institutions have conducted research on RRS and a great number of articles have been published annually, among which, China, the United States of America, and Japan were the top three and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zhejiang University, and Nanjing Agricultural University were the first three research institutions with the largest publications. Abundant interest was paid to “reflectance”, followed by “vegetation index” and “yield” and the specific objects mainly focused on growth, yield, area, stress, and quality. From the perspective of spectral variables, reflectance, vegetation index, and back-scattering coefficient appeared the most frequently in the frontiers. In addition to satellite remote sensing data and empirical models, unmanned air vehicle (UAV) platforms and artificial intelligence models have gradually become hot topics. This study enriches the readers’ understanding and highlights the potential future research directions in RRS.

A New Species of Limnephilus (Insecta: Trichoptera: Limnephilidae) from China, with Revision of the Genus Limnephilus on the Chinese Mainland.

Simple SummaryAs the most diverse genus in the family Limnephilidae, Limnephilus Leach, 1815 (194 extant species and 9 fossil species), has a wide distribution and a broad range of ecological tolerances among its species. Although it has a high species diversity in the Holarctic region, only 16 species have been recognized in China until now, of which 7 are endemic to China. In this study, a new species of the genus Limnephilus was found. The adult females, larvae, and pupae of this new species were associated with the adult males based on COI sequencing, and all the life stages except for the egg stage are described and illustrated. In addition, the biological and habitat information for this new species is provided. Furthermore, all of the Limnephilus species from the Chinese mainland are revised at the species group level, and diagnoses for species groups and species (keys of groups and species) are given, along with a distribution map.Fifty individuals of Limnephilus from the Qinghai Province, China, were examined, and their COI barcode sequences were extracted and analyzed. Forty individuals of Limnephilus from the Insect Collection of Nanjing Agricultural University (ICNAU), China, were examined, and photos of the male genitalia of four Limnephilus species are here presented. The males, females, larvae, and pupae of a new species, Limnephilus deqianensis n. sp., associated via COI barcode sequences, are described and illustrated. Ecological photos of the male, pupal case, and the habitat of the new species L. deqianensis n. sp. are also provided. Five species groups containing all seventeen Chinese Limnephilus species are revised. Diagnoses, keys, and a distribution map of them are provided. All of the sequences have been uploaded to GenBank. All specimens are deposited in the ICNAU, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, P. R. China.

Cultivated strawberry HANABA TARANU: a tale of transcription factors, raging hormones, and asexual reproduction

Cultivated strawberry <scp><i>HANABA TARANU</i></scp>: a tale of transcription factors, raging hormones, and asexual reproduction

First Report of Leaf Spot Disease on Microstegium vimineum Caused by Bipolaris setariae in China.

First Report of Leaf Spot Disease on Microstegium vimineum Caused by Bipolaris setariae in China.