Pineapple Plantations Research Articles

Combined effects of cover crops and herbicide rotation as proactive weed management in pineapple (Ananas comosus L. Merr) in Huimanguillo Tabasco, Mexico.

Objective: to evaluate the effect of two proactive strategies for weed management in pineapple, including (1) cover crop rotation and reduced rate of herbicide (RRH) and (2) cover crop association and RRH. Design/Methodology/Approach: We conducted pineapple field experiments in Huimanguillo, Tabasco Mexico, using a complete randomized block design for both rotation and association experiments. Weed occurrence were registered and classified. The weed management effect of cover crops such as cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), sunnhemp (Crotalaria juncea), stylo (Stylozanthes guanensis) and velvet bean (Mucuna pruriens) were evaluated alone and combined with three herbicides. Data of soil ground cover and weed suppression levels were analyzed by one-way ANOVA and the means were separated by Least Significant Differences (LSD) at P = 0.05. Results: Synergistic interaction was detected for weed suppression in all cover crops and herbicide treatments. Combined effects of metribuzin and pendimethalin herbicides with cover crops varied from 80%- 90 % of weed suppression until 90 days after treatment (DAT); however, when cover crops were combined with haloxifop plus diuron, 100 % of weed control was achieved until 90 DAT. Study limitations/implications. Irrigation, weather conditions may affect observations. Findings/Conclusions: Our results showed that all cover crops, specially Vigna unguiculata and Mucuna pruriens in a rotation system, along with reduced rate of herbicides is novel approach strategy for weed management in pineapple plantation. Cover crops such as cowpea might improve crop performance, productivity and feasibility for farmers. The reduced rates of preemergence herbicides and cover crops will be very helpful for the farmers and for protection of environment. Keywords: Cover crops, Anananas comosus, herbicide, weed suppression, integrated weed management

Population genetics analysis of Phytophthora nicotianae associated with heart rot in pineapple revealed geneflow between population

Abstract. Afandi A, Subandiyah S, Wibowo A, Hieno A, Afandi, Loekito S, Suga H, Kageyama K. 2021. Population genetics analysis of Phytophthora nicotianae associated with heart rot in pineapple revealed gene flow between populations. Biodiversitas 22: 3342-3348. Phytophthora nicotianae has caused heart rot in pineapple. This study identified the population genetic diversity of P. nicotianae, collecting 90 isolates of P. nicotianae from the pineapple plantation sites in three provinces of Indonesia and, as comparisons, seven isolates from non-pineapple sites. Six polymorphic microsatellite markers amplified the non-coding region was used to characterize the population diversity. The phylogenetic tree constructed by MEGA revealed three major clades; the first and second clades were dominated by the isolates from pineapple plantation sites, and the third clade contained isolates from the non-pineapple sites. The allelic pattern analysis using Genalex software revealed the local alleles specific to Lampung and Blitar populations. The AMOVA of microsatellite genotypes data showed that the isolates had a low diversity among the population (6%) but high diversity within individual. Conclusively, P. nicotianae population associated with heart rot in pineapple showed geneflow between populations.

ESTIMASI KANDUNGAN FOSFOR PADA TANAMAN NANAS MENGGUNAKAN UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE (UAV) DI PT. GREAT GIANT PINEAPPLE, LAMPUNG

PT. Great Giant Pineapple (PT. GGP) is the largest pineapple plantation company in Indonesia, with a land area of approximately ±33,000 ha and dominated by soil types in the form of Ultisols. Soil fertility at PT. GGP tends to have relatively low nutrient content, one of which is phosphorus due to Al fixation. The nutrient P in pineapple is used to stimulate root growth, accelerate the ripening of fruit and seeds. Symptoms arising from P deficiency will experience stunted growth (stunted), and the pineapple will become imperfect. This study aimed to estimate the P nutrient content in pineapple plants using vegetation indexes in the form of GNDVI (Green Normalized Difference Vegetation Index). The study was carried out by taking aerial photographs and samples of pineapple plants in the 1 months phase before forcing and 1 months after forcing (F-1 and F+1), laboratory analysis, statistical analysis, and making distribution maps. The results showed that the vegetation index could estimate the nutrient content of P using the best estimation model. This was evidenced from the results of the correlation test which shows a very strong and real relationship of 0.81-0.82 with the regression test results of 66%-67%. In addition, the results of the validation test using the paired t-test showed that the t-count was smaller than the t-table of 2.30, which means that the estimated GNDVI vegetation index and the P nutrient content of pineapple plants showed no significant difference.

Monitoring Heavy Metal Contamination in the Pineapple (Ananas comosus) Cultivated tracts of Kerala, India

Agriculture plays an important role in the sustainable development of the country. Use of chemical fertilizers escalate certain components in excess quantity thereby deteriorate the productivity and leads to unpredicted outcome. This study makes an effort to reckon the accumulation of some selected heavy metals [Lead (Pb), Nickel (Ni) and Cadmium(Cd)] and related indices [bio concentration factor(BCF) and translocation factor (TF)] from roots, leaves and fruits of pineapple plantations in Ernakulam district. Contamination factor(CF), enrichment factor(EF) and geo accumulation index (Igeo) disclose the extent of soil contamination in the pineapple cultivated regions of Ernakulam district. Root to shoot TF derived for Pb, Ni, and Cd were 0.25, 0.733 and 0.6731. TF of Pb, Ni and Cd from root to fruit was 0, 0.5 and 0.195 respectively. Values obtained for BCF of Pb, Ni and Cd in root of the pineapple plant were 0.2013,0.5758 and 0.3288. In pineapple leaves BCF showed the values 0.0503, 0.4222 and 0.2214 by Pb, Ni and Cd. Pineapple fruit showed BCF values Zero, 0.2879 and 0.0641 for Pb, Ni and Cd. Enrichment factor for Pb, Ni and Cd in pineapple cultivated areas comes under the value 4.2, 3.7 and 2.8 respectively. Furthermore, the contamination factor of Pb, Ni and Cd was 9.93, 8.26 and 6.23, respectively. The values of geo accumulation index obtained for different heavy metals pass on that the degree of pollution with respect to Pb (6.621) was very strong and extremely contaminated, heavily to extremely contaminated for Ni (5.513) and Cd (4.15).

Long-term application of diuron herbicides caused Eleusine indica weeds to become resistant to diuron

The presence of weeds during the vegetative growth of pineapple plants could reduce production by up to 88%, so weed control is necessary. One way of controlling weeds is by use of herbicides. However, continuous, long-term application of herbicides could result in environmental pollution and weed resistance to the herbicides. This research aimed to identify the resistance of E. indica weeds to herbicide diuron and to compare the growth characteristics of diuron-resistant and diuron-sensitive E. indica. The resistant weeds were taken from the pineapple plantations under continuous, long term application of diuron herbicides, while the sensitive weeds were taken from areas which have never been applied with diuron herbicides. This research was conducted at the University of Lampung, from February to October 2020. It consisted of two experiments, The experiment 1 : the response of E. indica to diuron and The experiment 2: the growth characteristics of diuron-resistant and diuron-sensitive E. indica. In the experiment 1, experiments were arranged in a split plot design with five replicates and the treatments consisted of two factors. The first factor consisted of the diuron-resistant and the diuron sensitive E. indica and the second factor was diuron dosage (0, 1600, 3200 and 6400 g ha-1). In the experiment 2, The resistant and sensitive E. indica were compared using t-test. The study revealed that the diuron-resistant E. indica needed a longer time to be 50% damaged than the sensitive one. The resistance index (RI) of E. indica to diuron was 2.80, indicating low level of resistance. The diuron-resistant and diuron-sensitive E. indica did not significantly showed different growth characteristics.

Changes in soil carbon stocks under plantation systems and natural forests in Northeast India

Understanding the impact of land use conversion from forests to plantations on soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks is critical for sustainable land and forest management in Northeast India (NEI). The present study was conducted in West Garo hills district of Meghalaya state in NEI, to evaluate the impact of plantations (rubber, tea, areca nut, cashew nut and pineapple) on SOC stocks in comparison with a natural forest. Soil samples were collected from plantations of different age classes (0–5, 5–10, 10–15, 15–20, 20–25, 25–30, and 30–40 years old) to assess their potential for C storage. RothC model was run at equilibrium on forest land-use, and thereafter was calibrated and validated to model SOC stocks in the plantations over the 40 years chrono-sequence using the baseline average climate data. Results showed that with increase in age of plantations (at 40 years), SOC stocks decreased to 57.4, 50.3 and 44.4 Mg C ha−1 in rubber, areca nut and pineapple plantations at the average rate of 0.41, 0.58 and 0.73 Mg C ha−1 yr−1, respectively. This corresponded to a SOC stock loss of about 22, 32 and 40% compared to the initial SOC stock under forest (73.6 Mg C ha−1). Conversely, SOC stocks in tea and cashew nut plantations increased to 83.4 and 75.4 Mg C ha−1 (at the average rate of 0.24 and 0.05 Mg C ha−1 yr−1), corresponding to a SOC gain of about 13 and 2.5% compared to that under forest over 40 years. The data on abrupt climate change (ACC) scenario by RothC simulations showed that rubber, areca nut, pineapple and forest land uses would lose carbon at the rate of 0.65, 0.65, 1.42 and 0.13 Mg C ha−1 yr−1, respectively. Conversely, tea and cashew nut plantations might gain C at the rate of 0.35 and 0.23 Mg C ha−1 yr−1, respectively, representing a valuableoption for storing C and mitigating and adapting to climate change. Further, protecting and restoring natural forests and/or mixed stands of native tree species might reduce the risks of the loss of biodiversity and be a viable option for sustainable land management in NEI.

Utilization of Central Composite Design in Optimization of Microbial Growth Inhibition using Ananas Comosus Leaves Juice

Microbial growth inhibitors have been very effective for the prevention of disease transmission and infection. For this study, pineapple (Ananas comosus) leaves juice (PLJ) was use as microbial growth inhibitor (MGI) because of its higher phenolic content. Microbe from contaminated pineapple leaves was use as tested microbe. The selected operating conditions in this study were temperature and microbial inhibition time with the range between 35 to 39 °C and 10 to 50 min respectively. Microbial growth inhibition experimental design set-up was constructed using Design Expert software (Version 7.1.6) to analyze the condition required. The experiments was conducted according to the central composite design (CCD) in two variables of the surface response methodology (RSM) to determine the optimum conditions for inhibiting microbial growth. Quadratic polynomial model was constructed to predict the microbial growth inhibition. A quadratic polynomial model was generated to predict microbial growth inhibition. Microbial growth inhibition was measured using the method of colony formation unit (CFU) counting. The RSM result showed that microbial inhibition time had a major impact on inhibition of microbial development. The optimum conditions were 37 °C and 34.25 min with a 94.73% microbial growth inhibition. In this condition, microbe growth was predicted to be at a minimum rate due to inhibition of the phenolic compound in PLJ. The optimum state of this study will be useful for the use of PLJ in pineapple plantation.

Effect of Steam and Bleaching Treatment on the Characteristics of Pineapple Leaves Fibre Derived Cellulose

Pineapple leaf fibres (PALF) is one of the abundant residues generated from pineapple plantation. The residues are left on the plantation for nutrient cycling or burning, and this circumstance leads to environmental issues. PALF has high cellulose content among other natural fibres. Cellulose is a reinforcing element that exists as whisker-like microfibrils and has a long-chain structure. In this study, cellulose produced from PALF was treated by steam and chemical treatment. The fibre was treated with steam at 121°C, a pressure of 21 psi for 30 or 60 min. Next, the steam-treated fibre was treated with 5 wt% sodium chlorite (NaClO2) solution with pH adjusted between 4 and 5 for 90 min. The condition was varied with three different temperatures, which were room temperature, 50, and 70°C. Then, the bleached fibre was treated with 5 wt% sodium hydroxide (NaOH) at room temperature for 3 h. After the treatments, the fibre was analysed for its thermal stability, morphology, and chemical composition. Cellulose obtained from the treatment condition of steam for 60 min, bleaching at 70°C, and alkali treatment at room temperature expressed the highest degradation temperature of 276°C at 20% weight loss, percentage of cellulose of 86% and lowest moisture content (8%) compared to others sample. It also had an excellent surface morphology with finest fibril disintegration. It showed longer steam treatment (60 min) degrading more hemicellulose; and bleaching treatment at high temperature (70°C), increasing the rate of oxidative delignification. In conclusion, the suggested treatment provides a simple but efficient method to isolate cellulose that can be used for various types of applications.

Incidence of filamentous fungii in normal oral mucosa of rural workers in the region of Frutal, MG

Working conditions give rise to health problems in a complex way, where specialist services are not always capable of finding a solution.Epidemiological studies evaluate these infections, both superficial and deep, and some of these studies perform an evaluation with regard to working and living conditions and the health of workers in a variety of areas. However, there are no bibliographical references in respect of filamentous fungal contamination of the oral cavity, related to rural labour activity.AIMS: To evaluate the incidence of fungal contamination in the normal oropharyngeal region of sugarcane, orange and pineapple plantation workers, in the municipality of Frutal, in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. METHODS: This constitutes a prospective, longitudinal study of the cohort type, of 60 temporary workers for each crop, making a comparison with the environment. The collection and analysis of material from the workers and from the environment followed the timing of each culture, designated as (t0), (t1) and (t2). RESULTS: Worker contamination occurred at the second interval of the study. Of the orange grove workers, 1.6% (N=1) were contaminated by F. subglutinans. In the sugarcane plantation, 8.3% (N=5) of workers were contaminated, 5% (N=3) by A. niger and 3.3%(N=2) by F. moniliforme. The two volunteers infected by A. niger were simultaneously infected by C. albicans. Of the sixty pineapple plantation workers analysed, 13.3% (N=8) were contaminated with F. subglutinans. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that working with the pineapple crops was found to be a risk factor for fungal infection in the oral mucosa, when compared to the orange crop. Fungal contamination also occurred with the sugarcane crop, when compared to the reference group. Other factors, such as age, alcohol consumption, smoking, family income and ethnicity were not deemed to be statistically significant in the incidence of infection.

Contrast Enhancement for Improved Detection of Ananas Comosus from Aerial Imagery

This paper describes contrast enhancement method used in detecting Ananas Comosus from aerial images. The main challenge faced by many researchers is to deal with image under low contrast conditions. Under low contrast, target images of Ananas Comosus often blends with the background features such as leaves and ground, making detection difficult. This study is set out to investigate the usefulness of implementing contrast enhancement technique on existing image to improve detection performance. Aerial images under study were obtained at Simpang Renggam pineapple plantation using DJI Phantom 3 and subjected to two image pre-processing methods-intensity adjustment method and contrast-limited adaptive histogram equalization methods. As a control, these images were also evaluated against pre-processing method without any contrast enhancement. The performance of the techniques for detecting Ananas Comosus is then assessed using relative error, RE and mean absolute percentage, MAPE. The best results were obtained by using contrast-limited adaptive histogram equalization method; yielding RE of 0.125 and MAPE of 0.008% compared to intensity adjustment technique yielding maximum RE of 0.286 and MAPE of 0.027%. Meanwhile detection without image enhancement had resulted maximum RE of 0.250 and MAPE is 0.024%.

PATTERNS OF NUTRIENT AVAILABILITY AND EXCHANGEABLE ALUMINUM AFFECTED BY COMPOST AND DOLOMITE IN RED ACID SOILS IN LAMPUNG, INDONESIA

ABSTRACT: Planting in red acid soils, widely distributed in Indonesia, is generally related to limited crop productivity due to their initially low nutrient-supplying potential and soil erosion. Dolomite is commonly used to raise the soil pH in acid soils in Indonesia, where it has been beneficial as a fertilizer comprising calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg). Compost is also commonly used to improve the chemical and physical properties of these soils. To prepare a piece of land to be cultivated as a pineapple plantation, dolomite and compost are applied to improve the soil properties and to decrease the aluminum toxicity. A greenhouse-scale experiment was conducted in this study to determine the patterns of changes in the soil nutrients due to dolomite and compost applications during the land preparation which generally takes 12 weeks. The experiment was done with soil incubation in a polybag, and the aim was to learn the effects of the dolomite and compost applications on increasing the soil pH, the availability of nutrients, and the decrease in exchangeable aluminum (Al) in the soil. The results showed that the applications of dolomite and compost could significantly increase the soil pH. The patterns of changes in the soil nutrients, such as Ca and Mg, showed strongly positive correlations with changes in the soil pH, but a good relationship was not seen for K and Na. The exchangeable Al in the soil showed a good quadratic correlation with the soil pH and decreased as the soil pH increased due to the applications of dolomite and compost.

Keanekaragaman Serangga Polinator Pada Tanaman Nanas (Ananas comosus (L.) Merr.) Di Desa Bincau

Pollinator insects is an animal that moves pollen from the male anther of a flower to the female stigma of a flower. The purpose of this study was to determine the diversity of insects pollinators in the pineapple (Ananas comosus (L.) Merr.) plantation of Bincau Village, Martapura District, Banjar Regency, South Kalimantan. Sampling was done by purposive sampling using a yellow sticky trap. The customer observations are made in visual control. Observation starts at 07.00-18.00 WITA which is divided into 3 time periods, namely: 07.00-10.00 WITA, 11.00-14.00 WITA and 15.00-18.00 WITA. The data obtained were analyzed using the diversity index Shannon-Wiener (H'). The results showed that the total individual of pollinator insects in pineapple plantations was 517 individuals, consisting of 4 order and 8 family. The highest abundance of insects is dominated by the Formicidae Family, while the lowest abundance is the Syrpidae Family. Value insect pollinator diversity found among the sites that H' = 1.760 which indicates that the level of diversity of insect pollinators on plantations Pineapple (Ananas comosus (L.) Merr.) in the Bincau Village, Martapura District, Banjar Region, South Kalimantan in the medium category.
 
 Keywords: Diversity, Pollinator Insects, Pineapple, Bincau District

Agro-Climatic factors required for the correct development of pineapple (Ananas comosus (L.) Merr.) cultivation

Objective: To compare the agro-climatic factors: soil, rainfall, sunshine duration (sun-hours) and temperature existing in the municipality of Tecomán, Colima, Mexico, to some optimum values, in order to determine the development of theMD2 pineapple (Ananas comosus (L.) Merr.) plantation crop.Design/Methodology/Approach: For the soil factors, texture and pH, data were obtained in laboratory to determine soil physical and reaction analyses. For temperature and rainfall, data were obtained from the Sistema Meteorológico Nacional (SMN), and to obtain the optimal values, different authors cited in the bibliography were considered.Results: the soil factor presented a sandy loam texture with a pH of 7.9. From January to June and from October to December, a monthly precipitation deficit (mm) in percentage was evidenced respect that required by pineapple cultivation; and a percentage of excess in monthly precipitation (mm), from July to September. For monthly sunshineduration, an excess between 200 and 300% of sun-hours was evidenced with respect to that required by pineapple. For minimum, maximum and average temperature, monthly variations were evidenced, but within acceptable ranges according to those determined for cultivation development.Limitations of the study/Implications: No scientific information was available regarding pineapple cultivation evaluated at the research area.Findings/Conclusions: It was determined that the evaluated pineapple plantation crop will be able to develop in theproduction area, by adjusting monthly precipitation deficit through an irrigation system and the excess of sunshineduration, through the use of a shade cloth.

Realising the Human Right to Water in Costa Rica through Social Movements

This article examines human rights from the perspective of social constructions and as the result of historical processes. This means that human rights, as we know them today, are the result of dynamic and historical struggles. This is no different with regard to the human right to water. In particular, this article addresses the following research question: how interwoven are social movements with the realisation of the human right to water? While answering this question the article brings to the discussion some relations between the human right to water and the idea of sustainable development. This article focuses on Costa Rica because it is a country that has long been celebrated as a leader in sustainable development, environmental policy, and protection of natural resources. Recently, however, Costa Rica became the world’s number one exporter of pineapple. The shocking growth of pineapple plantations in recent years has caused innumerable socio-environmental problems including that of water pollution. The article concludes that demanding the realisation of the human right to water through social struggles, and especially through social organisation and pressuring the government, is the way forward to accomplish this right and the ultimate goal of sustainable development.

“Bungkalan” and the Manobo-Pulangihon tribe’s resistance to corporate land-grab in Bukidnon, Mindanao

The island of Mindanao, dubbed as the “Land of Promise” is home to more than half of natural and mineral resources in the country. It hosts the largest rubber, banana and pineapple plantations as well as huge mining explorations. These big agri-plantations and mining corporations encroach peasant communities and Indigenous Peoples or Lumads in Bukidnon, South Cotabato, Sarangani, Compostela Valley and Davao provinces. Around 500,000 hectares of land in the five regions of Mindanao are planted with crops primarily for export. Ethnographic data were collected during fieldwork in the province of Bukidnon from May to October 2017. Raw data were obtained through formal and informal interviews, direct observation and collective discussions. Field research was carried out mostly with the Manobo-Pulangihon tribe in the municipality of Quezon. This article explores how corporate land-grabbing generates Lumad resistance, thus creating emancipatory politics. First, I briefly lay down the basis of “development programs” of the government within the framework of the neoliberal economic system and contextualize the issue of land-grabbing in Lumad communities in Bukidnon. I rely heavily on the theories provided by David Harvey in crystallizing the neoliberal economic paradigm. I then propose that this market-driven economic model inevitably results in accumulation by dispossession as experienced by the Manobo-Pulangihon tribe. Third, I describe how big landlords and agro-corporations encroach the Manobo-Pulangihon Tribe ancestral lands and explore a novel form of Lumad resistance against corporate land-grab.

Assessing the Impacts of Agriculture and Its Trade on Philippine Biodiversity

Many Philippine species are at risk of extinction because of habitat loss and degradation driven by agricultural land use and land-use change. The Philippines is one of the world’s primary banana and pineapple producers. The input-intensive style of plantation agriculture for these typically exported crops has many adverse effects on the environment. While global studies have attempted to understand the biodiversity impacts of agricultural goods, there are few studies that have investigated the Philippines specifically. In this study, Philippine policies and data are investigated to better characterize the nexus between agriculture, biodiversity, and trade. An analysis of key national policies highlights that more stringent definitions and protections for biodiversity are needed to recognize the increasing roles that agricultural production, and importantly, its global trade, have on threatened Philippine species. A geographical analysis shows that many banana and pineapple plantations in Mindanao and their surrounding agricultural impact zones overlap with ecologically important areas, such as Protected Areas and Important Bird Areas. Overlaps of recorded species occurrence are observed within the immediate zones surrounding 250 plantations for banana and pineapple in Mindanao, with 83 threatened species of Philippine fauna and tree at risk of exposure to the impacts of intensive agriculture.

Ananas comosus crown image thresholding and crop counting using a colour space transformation scheme

The implementation of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology having image processing capabilities provides an alternative way to observe pineapple crowns captured from aerial images. In the majority of pineapple plantations, an agricultural officer will physically count the crop yield prior to harvesting the Ananas Comosus, also known as pineapple. This process is particularly evident in large plantation areas to accurately identify pineapple numbers. To alleviate this issue, given it is both time-consuming and arduous, automating the process using image processing is suggested. In this study, the possibilities and comparisons between two techniques associated with an image thresholding scheme known as HSV and L*A*B* colour space schemes were implemented. This was followed by determining the threshold by applying an automatic counting (AC) method to count the crop yield. The results of the study found that by applying colour thresholding for segmentation, it improved the low contrast image due to different heights and illumination levels on the acquired colour image. The images that were acquired using a UAV revealed that the best distance for capturing the images was at the height of three (3) metres above ground level. The results also confirm that the HSV colour space provides a more efficient approach with an average error increment of 47.6% when compared to the L*A*B*colour space.

The effect of the insecticide diazinon on the osmoregulation and the avoidance response of the white leg shrimp (Penaeus vannamei) is salinity dependent

Diazinon is one of the insecticides that represent a high risk for Costa Rican estuarine environments due to its widespread use in pineapple plantations. In estuaries, organisms are frequently submitted to stress caused by natural factors (e.g., continuous changes in salinity levels) and, additionally, to stress due to contamination. Therefore, the driving question of this study was: will organisms be more susceptible to suffer the deleterious effects caused by diazinon because of the stress resulting from the salinity changes? The estuarine shrimp Penaeus vannamei was used as the model organism and two responses were measured: osmoregulation (the physiological effect after a forced and continuous 24 h-exposure) and avoidance [the behavioural effect after a short (3 h) non-forced, multi-compartmented exposure]. Juveniles were exposed to diazinon (0.1, 1, 10 and 100 μg/L) at three different salinities (10, 20 and 30). Disruption in the capacity to regulate the haemolymph osmotic pressure was observed at a salinity of 30 in individuals exposed to diazinon and methanol (used as vehicle). At that salinity, the ability of shrimps to detect and avoid the highest diazinon concentrations was impaired. P. vannamei juveniles inhabit environments with a high variation in salinity, but with an optimum osmotic point close to a salinity of 20; therefore, the higher the salinity, the greater the vulnerability of shrimps to the effects of diazinon. From an ecological point of view, this combined effect of salinity and contamination might also limit the spatial distribution of the organisms.

Production of renewable fuel and value-added bioproducts using pineapple leaves in Costa Rica

Pineapple, Ananas comosus, is one of the most important cash crops in Costa Rica with more than 44,500 ha of plantation. The pineapple industry contributes approximately 1.7% of the gross domestic product (GDP) of Costa Rica. Pineapple cultivation generates a large amount of plant residues (250 metric tons per hectare of wet plant residues mainly leaves). Current practices of the field residue handing include direct burning, in situ decomposition and removal of residue before planting, which are neither economically sound nor environmentally friendly. New approaches are urgently needed to utilize the residues and improve sustainability of pineapple production in Costa Rica. This study developed a simple, efficient process to convert the pineapple plant leaves into bioethanol, spent yeast proteins, and fibrous material (pulp). The residue was first treated by a mechanical extruder to generate juice and fibrous material. The juice was fermented by a yeast, Kluyveromyces marxianus, to produce ethanol and spent yeast proteins. Under the selected process conditions, the plant leaves (125 tons fresh weight per year) from 1 ha can generate 2.1 tons of bio-ethanol, 1.55 tons of spent yeast biomass, and 11.65 tons of dry fibrous material. The mass and energy balance analysis concluded that using the studied process, the pineapple plant leaves from 44,500 ha of pineapple plantation in Costa Rica can produce 93,043, 68,975, and 518,425 tons of bioethanol, spent yeast, and fibrous material per year, respectively. The amount of bioethanol is able to replace approximately 8.51% of transportation fossil fuel consumption in Costa Rica.

Can employment empower women? Female workers in the pineapple sector in Ghana

The transformation of global agri-food systems has led to the increased establishment of export-oriented horticultural plantations in developing countries. These labor intense production sites are associated with feminized employment patterns and therefore can provide more paid work opportunities for women in rural areas. The social implications of these developments for women's empowerment remain hardly understood; which is why we investigate empowerment among female workers in the pineapple sector in Ghana, in this paper. Our data set contains primary survey data of 420 married households in Ghana, living in areas of large-scale pineapple plantations. We apply entropy balancing, a new re-weighting technique, and combine this with regression analysis. Our regression results show that female employment has a statistically significant and positive effect on overall household income, female income share, female income and asset ownership and a negative effect on female reproductive workload. We also assess the effect of sole male employment and find that it has a negative effect on female household income share, female income and the female spouse's ability to sell assets and a positive effect on reproductive workload. Neither female nor male employment alone but only joint horticultural employment of both spouses seems to lead to female spouses having more input into household decision-making. Our findings for the pineapple sector in Ghana suggest that large-scale, export-oriented horticultural plantations can contribute to women's empowerment through employment creation for both male and female workers. • Horticultural production sites provide jobs in rural areas, particularly for women. • Female horticultural employment has a positive effect on female economic resources. • Male horticultural employment has a negative effect on female economic resources. • Only joint employment leads to more household decision-making for women.