We attempt to solve the current problems of high impurity content and the poor reliability of chain harrow type residual film recovery machines when picking up residual film. This study makes a device for picking up residual film with a hook-and-tooth chain rail. First, we conducted an analysis of the trajectory of the tip movement of the hooked teeth in the designed picking device, with the condition that the residual mulch does not miss the picking, and the force conditions of the residual mulch in the conveying process and the collection process are presented. Secondly, to determine the optimal working parameters of the picking device, a three-factor, three-level response surface optimization test was conducted with the machine forward speed, hook tooth entry depth, and chain harrow input speed as the test factors and the residual film picking rate and the impurity rate of residual film as the test indexes. In addition, a response surface regression model was developed to analyze the effects of the selected factors on the picking device. When the forward speed of the machine was 1.62 m/s, the hook tooth entry depth was 38.51 mm, and the input speed of the chain harrow was 241.42 rpm, the pickup rate and the impurity rate of the residual film were 88.27% and 9.96%, respectively. Finally, the simulation test was carried out under optimal working conditions, with the maximum force of the hook teeth being 60.7 N, the maximum deformation being 31.42 mm, and the maximum stress being 215.33 Mpa. This study can be used as a guide to further improve the design of the residual film recovery machine. Full article

Aimed at solving the problem of the incidence of large film-breaking holes in the current sweet potato boat-bottom-shaped transplant, a boat-bottom-shaped up-film transplanting device was designed. Starting from the agronomic requirements of sweet potato up-film transplanting with a boat-bottom posture, an arc-shaped gripping mechanism was designed. In order to avoid further tearing and breaking the film hole during the movement of the clamping mechanism under the membrane, a transposition mechanism and a positioning cam were designed to jointly control the movement of the clamping mechanism. In order to ensure the stability of the transplanting plant spacing during the operation of the machine, a rotary encoder was used to collect the forward speed of the machine and adjust the speed of the power shaft in real time. Field experiments were carried out in order to verify the reliability and stability of the operation of the above-mentioned design mechanism. In the field test, the advance speed was used as the test factor, and the test indexes included three indexes of the seedlings after transplanting and three indexes of the film holes. The test results showed that the qualified rate of node depth in the middle of the seedling (QRNDMS) is between 95.67% and 86.79%, the qualified rate of root depth at the base of the seedlings (QRRDS) is between 94.00% and 90.11%, and the qualified rate of seedling length into the soil (QRSLS) is between 97.89% and 91.67%. The film hole spacing is between 240.33 mm and 245.32 mm, the film hole length is between 37.01 mm and 42.10 mm, and the film hole length variation rate is between 1.05% and 7.48%. This study can serve as a reference for up-film transplantation, particularly for boat-bottom-shaped up-film transplantation devices. Full article

In recent years, there has been an increase in consumer interest in functional foods enriched with health-promoting ingredients, which include dietary fiber. Therefore, the present study investigated the functional properties of fruit fiber preparations, i.e., cocoa, chokeberry, and apple fiber preparations, then designed wheat bakery products, kaiser rolls, with these fibers and evaluated the designed products. The fiber preparations selected for the study were evaluated for water binding properties (WHC), solubility (WSI), total polyphenol content, and antioxidant activity using a spectrophotometric method. In the designed bakery products, the weight losses occurring during baking were determined, specific mass, and hardness were evaluated, and sensory evaluation was carried out using a descriptive method. The tested fiber preparations showed varying water solubility, ranging from approximately 17% for cocoa fiber to approximately 30% for chokeberry one. The highest values, both in polyphenol content and antioxidant properties, were characteristic for chokeberry fiber, at 7.0 mg GAE/1 g and 10.1 Trolox/100 g, respectively, while the lowest values were for apple fiber (1.6 mg GAE/1 g, 3.6 Trolox/100 g). Baked products, kaiser rolls, with the proportion of the tested preparations at a lower addition level (3% flour replacement) had more favorable sensory characteristics than those containing a higher proportion of fiber (6% flour replacement). Considering all the tested fiber preparations, the rolls with the addition of chokeberry fiber preparation were the most favorable in terms of sensory characteristics. As the proportion of apple and cocoa fiber preparations in the rolls increased, the hardness and intensity of the bitter taste also increased. The designed bakery products could be a valuable addition to the assortment of semi-confectionery breads (yeast doughs), where the unfavorable bitter taste could be masked by the addition of, e.g., dried fruits (cranberries, raisins), nuts, sunflower seeds, or fruit filling. Full article

Bacterial wilt caused by the soil-borne pathogen Ralstonia solanacearum is one of the most devastating diseases in solanaceous plants. No agrochemicals are available to manage bacterial wilt effectively. A Bacillus amyloliquefaciens strain designated PMB01 was recovered from the cabbage rhizosphere and was found to be capable of inhibiting the growth of R. solanacearum. The PMB01 strain was highly resistant to extreme pH, heat, high salt salinity, and various fungicides. In contrast, PMB01 was sensitive to copper-based compounds, streptomycin, and tetracycline. The efficacy of the PMB01 strain in suppressing R. solanacearum and bacterial wilt in tomatoes was significantly improved when the culture medium was supplemented with 1% (w/v) soybean meal. PMB01 was in a 500-liter tank for the pilot production, and the resultant broth could effectively reduce the severity of tomato bacterial wilt in greenhouse trials. The PMB01 fermentation broth was mixed with 10% corn starch and 30% maltodextrin to make a wettable powder (WP). PMB01 could survive in the wettable powder for more than two years without losing its antagonistic activity. In ten field trials, tomato plants treated with 50, 100, or 200-fold dilutions of PMB01 WP reduced bacterial wilt severity by more than 67% compared to the mock (water control) treatment. This work revealed that the effectiveness of the rhizobacterium PMB01 to antagonize R. solanacearum was greatly improved when the culture medium was supplemented with 1% (w/v) soybean meal, indicating that PMB01 is an ideal bio-agent candidate. A durable format suitable for storage was also developed. Similar concepts may be applied to other bio-agent candidates to improve their effectiveness in disease management. Full article

Many of the important traits of livestock are complex or quantitative traits controlled by thousands of variants in the DNA sequence of individual animals and environmental factors. Identification of these causal variants would be advantageous for genomic prediction, to understand the physiology and evolution of important traits and for genome editing. However, it is difficult to identify these causal variants because their effects are small and they are in linkage disequilibrium with other DNA variants. Nevertheless, it should be possible to identify probable causal variants for complex traits just as we do for simple traits provided we compensate for the small effect size with larger sample size. In this review we consider eight types of evidence needed to identify causal variants. Large and diverse samples of animals, accurate genotypes, multiple phenotypes, annotation of genomic sites, comparisons across species, comparisons across the genome, the physiological role of candidate genes and experimental mutation of the candidate genomic site. Full article

The supplementation of different ω-6/ω-3 ratio to the diets of the laying hens has been studied to evaluate the effects on performance, egg quality, egg health indices, egg fatty acid profiles, and immune response. One-hundred and twenty, 50-weeks-old hens were divided into three groups fed diets with different ω-6/ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) at ratio: 16.7:1, 9.3:1, and 5.5:1, respectively. Each group contained eight replicates of five hens. Hens fed the diet with the highest ω-6/ω-3 ratio had significantly increased weight gain compared to those fed the 5.5:1 and 9.3:1 ω-6/ω-3 ratios. In contrast, hens fed the 9.3:1 ω-6/ω-3 ratios laid significantly more eggs, had increased egg mass, greater livability, and a better FCR than the control group. However, hens fed a ratio of 5.5:1 ω-6/ω-3 PUFA showed improved thrombogenic, atherogenic, hypocholesteremia, and hypocholesteremia/hypercholesteremia indices. In conclusion, laying hens of the 9.3:1 ω-6/ω-3 PUFA group showed improved laying performance, while a ratio of 5.5:1 enriched the ω-3 PUFA in eggs and boosted the immune response of hens. Full article

Due to long-term excessive fertilization, the fruit quality of the Guanxi pomelo (Citrus grandis) has been declining. The classification of fruit quality and its relationship with nutrients in soils and trees were studied to declaim the characteristics of nutrients in Guanxi pomelo orchards, ultimately guiding the fertilization for high-quality fruit production. By cluster analysis, 281 samples were grouped into four clusters. High-quality fruit (HF) showed a gourd shape with moderate weight size, high sweetness, edible rate (ER) up to 73%, and vitamin C content over 40 mg/100 g. Compared to sub-quality fruit (SF), common fruit (CF), and inferior fruit (IF), the content of magnesium (Mg) in the leaves of HF was 11.76, 11.76, and 18.75% higher, while the content of iron (Fe) was 6.45, 5.76 and 10.97% higher, respectively. Meanwhile, the contents of Zinc (Zn, 8.51, 6.44, and 11.22% higher than SF, CF, and IF, respectively) and Boron (B, 13.47, 13.83, and 25.40% higher than SF, CF, and IF, respectively) were also found to increase. However, the contents of Mn (35.34, 27.51, and 25.53% higher) and Cu (31.90, 31.99, and 5.64% higher) in IF were significantly higher than in HF, SF, and CF. Acid soils (4.24–4.40) with low OM content (23.00–26.71 g kg⁻¹) led to an imbalance uptake of nutrients of citrus, ultimately resulting in poor quality. These results indicated that farmers should reduce the application of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and K fertilizer and pesticides and increase micronutrient and organic fertilizer, which provides a theoretical basis for scientific fertilization to improve the fruit quality of Guanxi pomelo (Citrus grandis) of Pinghe County. Full article

‘Huahong’ is a popular apple cultivar because of its anti-browning properties and appealing aroma and flavor. It is mainly planted by grafting on dwarf interstocks in Northeast China. We investigated the different aroma profiles of apple fruits grown from six dwarf interstocks (‘CG24’, ‘SH38’, ‘SH3’, ‘MD001’, ‘Mac9’, and ‘CX5’) and from no interstocks (CK). A total of 55 VOCs were detected, including esters (25), aldehydes (14), alcohols (8), ketones (3), alkane hydroxyls (3), and acids (2). Among the VOCs, 48 were detected in the skin and 21 in the pulp. The skin of ‘Huahong’ apples had a strong sweet aroma, and the pulp was green with a subtle aroma. The dominant compounds (>5% of total content) in the skin were 2-methyl butyl acetate, hexyl 2-methyl butyrate, caproic acid butyl ester, hexanal, (Z)-2-heptene aldehyde, and 6-methyl-5-heptene-2-ketone, while in the pulp, they were 2-methyl butyl acetate, methanol, 2-methyl-1-butanol, hexanol, and hexane. Compared with CK, ‘SH38’, ‘MD001’, and ‘SH3’ interstocks had increased total aroma content, and ‘CX5’ and ‘CG24’ had suppressed aroma. The effects of interstocks on aroma were mainly reflected in skin. The VOC content ranged from 3297.52 to 9895.75 µg·kg⁻¹ in skin, and from 748.62 to 1369.21 µg·kg⁻¹ in pulp. PCA revealed that use of interstock ‘SH38’ mainly affected esters. ‘MD001’ affected hexane and 4-pentene-1-acetate; ‘Mac9’ and ‘SH3’ affected octanoic acid-2-methyl butyl ester, hexyl butyrate, and 2-methyl-1-butanol; and ‘CX5’ and ‘CG24’ had a greater impact on isoamyl propionate and 1-pentene-3-ol. Finally, ‘SH38’ had the highest principal comprehensive score. ‘SH38’ and ‘SH3’ interstocks resulted in significantly increased apple VOC content. Full article

Navua sedge is a difficult-to-control perennial sedge in north Australian farming systems, including fallow fields, pastures, and along roadsides and fencelines. A set of pot trials were conducted to evaluate the performance of different herbicides when used alone or in mixtures on different sizes of Navua sedge plants, and the performance of different adjuvant treatments on the rainfastness of halosulfuron-methyl. Glyphosate at 1080 g·ha⁻¹, halosulforon-methyl at 49 g·ha⁻¹, and paraquat at 600 g·ha⁻¹ provided complete control of Navua sedge at the 6-leaf stage. Azimsulfuron at 20 g·ha⁻¹ resulted in 18% and 39% survival of the 14 to 18 leaf stage and 60–70 leaf stage plants, respectively. Compared with the nontreated, this herbicide treatment suppressed plant biomass by 99.6% and 93%, respectively, and the surviving plants did not produce seed heads. A sole application of azimsulfuron, glyphosate, or halosulfuron-methyl was not effective on very large plants (140–150 leaf stage; 40–42 cm tall) of Navua sedge. However, a mixture of any two herbicides resulted in the complete control of Navua sedge. Compared with the currently used adjuvants at 0.5 to 1% concentrations, the use of non-ionic adjuvants at high concentrations (i.e., 2% ActivatorTM, HastenTM, and UptakeTM) improved the rainfastness of halosulfuron-methy when applied at 49 g·ha⁻¹ on Navua sedge. This study identified effective herbicide treatments (e.g., azimsulfuron-based combinations) for the management of large plants of Navua sedge. Full article

Aneuploids are valuable materials of genetic diversity for genetic analysis and improvement in diverse plant species, which can be propagated mainly via in vitro culture methods. However, somaclonal variation is common in tissue culture-derived plants including euploid caladium. In the present study, the genetic stability of in vitro-propagated plants from the leaf cultures of two types of caladium (Caladium × hortulanum Birdsey) aneuploids obtained previously was analyzed morphologically, cytologically, and molecularly. Out of the randomly selected 23 and 8 plants regenerated from the diploid aneuploid SVT9 (2n = 2x − 2 = 28) and the tetraploid aneuploid SVT14 (2n = 4x − 6 = 54), respectively, 5 plants from the SVT9 and 3 plants from the SVT14 exhibited morphological differences from their corresponding parent. Stomatal analysis indicated that both the SVT9-derived variants and the SVT14-originated plants showed significant differences in stomatal guard cell length and width. In addition, the variants from the SVT14 were observed to have rounder and thicker leaves with larger stomatal guard cells and significantly reduced stomatal density compared with the regenerants of the SVT9. Amongst the established plants from the SVT9, two morphological variants containing 3.14–3.58% less mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) lost one chromosome, and four variants containing 4.55–11.02% more MFI gained one or two chromosomes. As for the plants regenerated from the SVT14, one variant with significantly higher MFI gained two chromosomes and three plants having significantly lower MFI resulted in losing four chromosomes. Three, out of the twelve, simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers identified DNA band profile changes in four variants from the SVT9, whereas no polymorphism was detected among the SVT14 and its regenerants. These results indicated that a relatively high frequency of somaclonal variation occurred in the in vitro-propagated plants from caladium aneuploids, especially for the tetraploid aneuploid caladium. Newly produced aneuploid plants are highly valuable germplasm for future genetic improvement and research in caladium. Full article

Yield estimation using remote sensing data is a research priority in modern agriculture. The rapid and accurate estimation of winter wheat yields over large areas is an important prerequisite for food security policy formulation and implementation. In most county-level yield estimation processes, multiple input data are used for yield prediction as much as possible, however, in some regions, data are more difficult to obtain, so we used the single-leaf area index (LAI) as input data for the model for yield prediction. In this study, the effects of different time steps as well as the LAI time series on the estimation results were analyzed for the properties of long short-term memory (LSTM), and multiple machine learning methods were compared with yield estimation models constructed by the LSTM networks. The results show that the accuracy of the yield estimation results using LSTM did not show an increasing trend with the increasing step size and data volume, while the yield estimation results of the LSTM were generally better than those of conventional machine learning methods, with the best R² and RMSE results of 0.87 and 522.3 kg/ha, respectively, in the comparison between predicted and actual yields. Although the use of LAI as a single input factor may cause yield uncertainty in some extreme years, it is a reliable and promising method for improving the yield estimation, which has important implications for crop yield forecasting, agricultural disaster monitoring, food trade policy, and food security early warning. Full article

Controlled-release Nitrogen Fertilizers (CRNFs) are an effective fertilization technique by minimizing nutrient loss and making Nitrogen (N) available to plants as they grow. Biochar-based CRNF (BCRNF) technologies have been demonstrated very promising in increase of corn yield. Despite the beneficial effects of BCRNFs, their impacts on prokaryotic and fungal soil communities are not well evaluated. Different formulations of BCRNF were developed to investigate their effects on corn productivity. We analyzed the soil microbes and their functional potential under different BCRNF regimes using amplified V₃–V₄ region of 16s rRNA for determining prokaryotic, and ITS genes for fungal communities. The soil prokaryotic diversity was similar across the treatments, with differences in prokaryotic genera with relative abundance of 0.1% or less in the soil (p < 0.05). In contrast, the fungal community diversity was different only for unfertilized soil. It had a high relative abundance for Aspergillus. Genus level comparison showed that Pseudofabraea was higher in Bioasphalt-based BCRNF compared to other treatments. Moreover, the N-fixing communities in soil were also similar across the treatments. At genus level, Microvirga, Azospirillum, and Methyloprofundus were highest in no-fertilizer control. The functional potential predictions using PICRUSt2 portrayed a consistent N-cycling functions across the treatments. However, the predicted gene functions related to nitrous-oxide reductase (nosZ) and hydroxylamine reductase (hcp) were significantly lower in soil receiving BCRNF containing biosolid. Overall, BCRNF treatments previously identified to increase corn yield displayed minimal shifts in the soil microbial communities. Thus, such novel fertilization would enable increased crop yield without affecting soil communities leading to sustainable crop production. Full article

Studies carried out in different parts of the world and in different climatic conditions have made it clear that it is very important to use smart technologies in solving the problems experienced in the field of agriculture globally and locally. Another important aim of the studies is to ensure that agricultural products are grown in smart greenhouse environments outside of arable lands. For this reason, growing agricultural products in greenhouses controlled by smart systems by creating suitable soil and climatic conditions and facilitating people’s access to these products has been an important research and application subject. In this paper, the topics of “Smart Agriculture” and “Smart Greenhouse” were worked on. Therefore, a prototype of a smart greenhouse was constructed. Then, it was programmed according to the decided climatic conditions. Consequently, the main aim of this study was to improve the project according to the collected data by the sensors. One of the most important aims of our study was to question the possibility of growing different plants in the same greenhouse. In this context, in our study, a flower and three different vegetables with close growing conditions were grown in the same greenhouse in the same environment. These plants were grown individually both in the smart greenhouse prototype and in the pots outdoors in a natural environment. The differences between the two environments and the differences in the development of the plants were examined and the necessary results were obtained based on the findings. Based on the results obtained, it has been discussed what can be done if the plants grown in the greenhouse, of which we have created a small-scale prototype, are grown in a large-scale smart greenhouse. According to the results obtained, the smart greenhouse made a positive difference in the development of begonia, tomato and pepper. Although, the cucumbers grew more in the pots. In the study, it was observed that the plants were healthier in the smart greenhouse. The cucumbers in the greenhouse grew to 132 mm, the peppers to 61 mm and the tomatoes to 70 mm. The cucumbers in the pot grew to 163 mm, the peppers to 37 mm and the tomatoes to 60 mm. This shows that the yield was positively affected in the smart greenhouse. According to the collected results, the smart greenhouse system saved approximately 16.5% of water compared to the pot. The fact that the system can work both manually and autonomously provides a great convenience for the person controlling the greenhouse. Full article

The ridge–furrow rainwater harvesting (RFRH) planting mode is widely used in arid and semi-arid areas to solve the problems of agricultural water shortage and low productivity. However, the impact of film mulching on the stability of soil carbon pools makes this planting mode vulnerable to the risk of increased soil carbon emissions and carbon pool losses. In order to clarify the relationship between soil carbon emissions and hydrothermal factors, as well as the regulatory effect of biochar application on soil carbon sequestration and reduced emissions under this planting mode, we set up a biochar application experiment. The effects of the biochar application (at 10 Mg ha⁻¹ biochar and 20 Mg ha⁻¹ biochar) on the soil water dynamics, soil temperature changes, CO₂-C and CH₄-C flux dynamics, grain yield, carbon emission efficiency, and the net ecosystem carbon budget in wheat fields under the RFRH planting mode were investigated, with no biochar application as the control. The results showed that applying biochar increased the soil water content, soil average temperature, cumulative CH₄-C uptake, wheat grain yield, and carbon emission efficiency by 3.10–12.23%, 0.98–3.53%, 59.27–106.65%, 3.51–16.42%, and 18.52–61.17%, respectively; reduced the cumulative CO₂-C emissions by 7.51–31.07%; and increased the net ecosystem carbon budget by 2.91 Mg C ha⁻¹ to 6.06 Mg C ha⁻¹. The results obtained by equation fitting showed that in wheat fields under RFRH, the CO₂-C emission fluxes had negative and positive exponential relationships with the soil water content and soil temperature, respectively, while the CH₄-C uptake fluxes had no significant correlation with the soil water content and had an inverse U-shaped quadratic function relationship with soil temperature. Overall, these results suggest that the application of biochar to wheat fields under RFRH can improve grain yield, farmland carbon emission efficiency, and the net ecosystem carbon budget, and change wheat fields from a carbon source to a carbon sink. These results can provide a theoretical basis and technical support for efficient, green, and sustainable production in farmland in arid and semi-arid areas. Full article

By introducing network game theory, this paper analyzes the internal relationship and interaction mechanism among environmental governance, local government competition, and agricultural carbon peak level. On the basis of theoretical analysis, a spatial panel model is constructed using panel data from 30 provincial-level regions in China for empirical analysis. The research finds that local governments have positive competition with respect to the agricultural carbon peak, they adopt complementary carbon peak competition strategies, and they are more inclined to take geographical distance to adjacent regions as the yardstick in the competition with respect to the agricultural carbon peak strategy. That is, when the carbon peak level of surrounding provinces increases, the carbon peak level of the region will also increase. Thus, there is a phenomenon of mutual imitation and convergence between neighboring provinces. Environmental governance has a significant positive direct effect and a positive spatial spillover effect. From the perspective of coefficient, its direct effect is significantly greater than the spatial spillover effect. Therefore, more attention should be paid to local environmental governance to promote the improvement of the agricultural carbon peak level. Furthermore, the agricultural industrial structure, fiscal decentralization, agricultural public investment, regional industrial structure, and the proportion of the rural population have significant spatial spillover effects. The agricultural industrial structure and fiscal decentralization are significantly positively correlated with the peak level of agricultural carbon while the proportion of the rural population is significantly negatively correlated with the peak level of agricultural carbon. The research results have important theoretical value for expanding the research in the field of agricultural carbon emissions and provide important practical reference for China to successfully achieve the goal of agricultural carbon peak and promote the high-quality development of agriculture Full article