With the development of the internet in China, information asymmetry in traditional agriculture production has been alleviated, and the information on modern agricultural technologies and production factor mobility has been widely disseminated, significantly impacting the country’s grain productivity and output. The pertinence and effectiveness of food security system arrangement can be ensured by revealing the influence of the internet on grain production. Based on the panel data of 30 provincial administrative regions in China from 1997 to 2018, a mediation model and a moderation model were used to evaluate the effect of internet development on grain output and constraints. The results showed that grain output could be promoted as internet penetration directly increases, and can also be boosted by enhancing technology usage and promoting operation scale expansion through the internet. However, the positive effect of this cycle could be inhibited by rural population aging, as there are many barriers faced by the elderly using information and communication technology (ICT). Strengthening agricultural technology utilization and promoting large-scale operation can encourage the development of rural internet, consequently improving the national food security guarantee capacity. It is equally important to simplify internet usage to alleviate the adverse impact of population aging on grain output. This study contributes to three sections of literature on (i) the factors influencing grain output, (ii) the mediating effects of the information transmission function of the internet, (iii) and the potential impact of aging in the information era. Exploring agricultural growth from an innovative perspective of the internet can provide a reference for ensuring food security and agricultural informatization. Full article

Although its mechanism of action, particularly under wetland condition, is not clearly understood, vermicompost, a good source of humus and plant nutrients, has been used as organic manure in many parts of the world in order to increase crop production. Here, an anaerobic incubation study and a field study were conducted to observe the nutrient release pattern from vermicompost and its influence on performance and nutrient uptake in wetland rice. Two contrasting soils, viz. highly weathered terrace soil and very young floodplain soil, were subjected to anaerobic incubation, while the field trial was conducted in the terrace soil with control (no amendments), mineral fertilizer, vermicompost (10 t ha⁻¹) + mineral fertilizer, cow dung (10 t ha⁻¹) + mineral fertilizer, vermicompost (20 t ha⁻¹) + mineral fertilizer and vermicompost (local farmer’s practice) + mineral fertilizer treatments. Results showed that there were significant increases in nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P) release in floodplain soil but not in terrace soil, suggesting that nutrient release from vermicompost is soil-dependent. The performance of Boro rice in terms of yield and yield attributes improved significantly in the case of the integrated application of vermicompost with mineral fertilizer. Specifically, combined application of mineral nutrients and vermicompost (10 t ha⁻¹) significantly increased grain yield by 25% compared to the control treatment. We believe that this occurred due to an improvement in supply and subsequent uptake of nutrients, especially N and P. Altogether, our results suggest that vermicompost could increase crop performance under field conditions, and, although these effects may not be significant in short-term incubation studies, they may be even larger in floodplain soil. Full article

The aim of this paper is to assess the economic viability of two different bedding materials used in broiler chicken farming processes. The materials considered are wood shavings and slice-dedusted straw. The slice-dedusted straw is considered an alternative type of bedding material produced by a company from Slovenia. While the technological and economic assessment of this type of bedding material has already been researched in the case of horse breeding, it is something new in the case of broiler chicken farming. Data collection is structured from two trials. Trial one (T1) is also known as daily observations, and trial two (T2) involves obtaining input data at the end of the fattening period. During T1, daily observations are focused on collecting data from technical characteristics, and in T2, the percentage of death proportions and average increments are observed, calculated, and considered as economic input data. The cost calculation model is used for the calculation of several different technical-economic indicators, which denote the influence of different bedding materials no economic production viability. Favorable economic results were found for slice-dedusted straw, which shows that this kind of alternative bedding material could be the better option. Full article

The poisoning of heavy metals and their accumulation in food chains are major environmental and health risks. There have been several reports that determined that pumpkins tend to collect small amounts of nitrate or heavy metals. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to investigate the effect of organic matter (humic acid) on the germination and activity of antioxidant enzymes, glycosylate cycle enzymes, and utilization of lipid and protein reserves of pumpkin seeds under cadmium stress conditions. An experiment was conducted to quantify the germination response and biochemical change of pumpkin seeds to the use of humic acid under cadmium stress conditions. The treatments were cadmium at three levels (0 (control), 100, and 200 mg.L⁻¹) and humic acid at five levels (0 (control), 100, 200, 300, and 400 mg.L⁻¹). Linear and sigmoidal models were used to investigate the trend of trait changes. The results show that changes in the germination percentage and seed vigor were affected by applying humic acid and cadmium stress. The highest germination percentage for pumpkins was observed without stress and cadmium stress at a concentration of 200 mg.L⁻¹. The results of quantification for the germination and seed vigor also showed that the model of germination changes by the use of humic acid was sigmoidal in non-stress and cadmium stress conditions of 100 mg.L⁻¹, but it was linear for seed vigor in the stress conditions of 200 mg.L⁻¹. The activity of superoxide dismutase, catalase, peroxidase, isocitrate lyase, and malate synthase was also affected by the simultaneous use of humic acid and cadmium stress, and the trend of their changes was linear. Full article

Leaf spot disease caused by Lasiodiplodia theobromae is one of the most serious fungal diseases of kiwifruit production. In this work, the co-application of isopyrazam·azoxystrobin and chitosan against leaf spot disease in kiwifruit and its effects on disease resistance, photosynthesis, yield, quality, and amino acids of kiwifruit were investigated. The results show that isopyrazam·azoxystrobin exhibited a superior bioactivity against L. theobromae with an EC₅₀ value of 0.1826 mg kg⁻¹. The foliar application of chitosan could effectively enhance isopyrazam·azoxystrobin against leaf spot disease with a field control efficacy of 86.83% by spraying 29% isopyrazam·azoxystrobin suspension concentrate (SC) 1500 time + chitosan 100-time liquid, which was significantly (p < 0.05) higher than 78.70% of 29% isopyrazam·azoxystrobin SC 1000-time liquid. The co-application of isopyrazam·azoxystrobin and chitosan effectively enhanced soluble protein, resistance enzymes’ activity in kiwifruit leaves, and reduced their malonaldehyde (MDA), as well as reliably improved their photosynthetic characteristics. Simultaneously, their co-application was more effective in promoting growth, quality, and amino acids of kiwifruit fruits compared to isopyrazam·azoxystrobin or chitosan alone. This study highlights that the co-application of isopyrazam·azoxystrobin and chitosan can be used as a green, safe, and efficient approach for controlling leaf spot disease of kiwifruit and reducing the application of chemical fungicides. Full article

The potential value of the efficient utilization of rural lands to cultivate indigenous fruits and vegetables to improve the livelihood of farming households cannot be overemphasized. Using primary data from 400 randomly selected rural farming households in Ondo State, Nigeria, this study applied probit regression, principal component analysis (PCA), and propensity score matching (PSM) models to investigate the factors that determine the decisions of households to utilize their lands to cultivate indigenous fruits and vegetables. The impact of their cultivation on the livelihood of the participants was assessed, and the result revealed that they were profitable (NGN19,187.8/USD 42.60/Ha; Nigerian Naira = NGN, USD = United States Dollar). The farmers who cultivated indigenous fruits and vegetables (n = 277) made an additional 29.40% average total farm revenue than those (n = 123) who did not. Based on the probit regression analysis, factors such as educational attainment, access to government subsidies, and knowledge of the nutritional benefit of the indigenous fruits and vegetables influenced the decision of farmers to cultivate indigenous fruits and vegetables. The PSM model established that the cultivation of indigenous plants increased farm revenue and livelihood outcomes by NGN17,604.85 and NGN2265.00, respectively. In this context, the cultivation of indigenous fruits and vegetables in the selected rural communities is important for improving the livelihoods of households and suggests the need to rethink the present dominant policy narrative that neglects these indigenous plants. A concerted effort needs to focus on increasing their productivity and commercialization as a primary pathway to improve rural livelihood and transformation. Full article

Bacterial communities play an important role in maintaining stable functioning of soil ecosystems, participating in decomposition of plant residues, accumulation of organic matter, formation of soil aggregates and in the cycle of nutrients. For agroecosystems, maintaining the diversity of microbiocenosis is especially critical because they are essentially less stable and are dependent on external control. The agricultural practices used today (plowing, application of synthetic fertilizers) can negatively affect the richness and diversity of the soil bacterial communities. The solution to this problem may be the application of alternative farming methods to preserve the structural and functional richness of soil (reduced tillage, conservation tillage, no tillage, organic farming). Data on composition and diversity of soil microbiocenosis are important for further forecasting the impact of agriculture and development of effective methods on preserving and increasing soil fertility. This review presents the results of recent studies on the impact of agriculture on the soil bacterial communities. Attention is mainly paid to the effects of applying inorganic and organic fertilizers on the structure and diversity of soil microbiocenosis; the influence of the farming system (different methods of soil cultivation, organic and traditional systems); the influence of cover crops and crop rotation on the microbial community of agricultural soils. Full article

The study aims to fully explicate the bending behavior of tea stalks under the condition of large deflection, which is crucial to improve the working performance of mechanized harvesting equipment. The mechanical model of the stalk was assumed to be a non-prismatic beam with virtual internodes that could differ from actual internodes. With the model, the stalk can be freely divided into multiple virtual internodes, whose flexural rigidities can be determined by solving an optimization problem, and deflection curves can be predicted after determining the positions of virtual nodes under given loads. Moreover, a novel method was proposed to obtain the deflection curve of the stalk based on the techniques of binocular vision and non-uniform rational B-spline (NURBS) curve fitting. The results show that R-squared values of fitted 2nd-degree NURBS curves of bending shape of tea stalks range from 0.9576 to 0.9964, with an average of 0.9797. The results indicate that flexural rigidity decreases from the bottom to the top of the tea stalk, and the deflection curve could be predicted more precisely with the model of piecewise flexural rigidities than that of average flexural rigidity. The study could be applied to the optimization design of the cutter and adaptive adjustment techniques of operational parameters for tea picking machines. Full article

Resveratrol and its dimethoxylated derivative, pterostilbene, are produced by several plant species, including a few edible crops such as peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.), grapes (Vitis spp.), and blueberries (Vaccinium spp.), as well some plants used in traditional medicine. Both compounds are inducible, antimicrobial compounds with activity against both plant pathogenic bacteria and fungi, an activity apparently not directly related to their strong antioxidant activity. An amazing number of nutraceutical properties have been claimed for both compounds, including antioxidant, antiaging, anti-cholesterol, anticancer, antidiabetic and other beneficial activities. Most evidence supports the view that pterostilbene is more active for most of these effects, due in part to its greater biological availability. However, the amount of these compounds in most diets is insufficient to provide these health benefits. Dietary supplements of formulated pure compounds can now provide sufficient dietary levels for these effects, as transgenic crops in the future might also do. Full article

Stabilization was applied as a remediation option for immobilizing lead (Pb) in contaminated mine soil. Four types of waste materials were used as stabilizing agents, namely waste oyster shells (WOS), calcined oyster shells (COS), natural starfish (NSF), and spent-coffee-grounds-derived biochar (SCGB). The Pb-contaminated mine soil was treated with the stabilizing agents ranging from 0 to 10 wt% and a curing period of 28 days. The toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP) was employed for evaluating the effectiveness of the remedial process. The Pb immobilization mechanism in the treated mine soil was investigated using scanning electron microscopy–energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX) analyses. The obtained results showed that the TCLP Pb levels decreased as the stabilizing agent dosage increased. The WOS and COS stabilizing agents immobilized Pb effectively in the contaminated mine soil. Application dosages of 4 wt% and 2 wt% for WOS and COS, respectively, were sufficient for compliance with the TCLP regulatory level of 5 mg/L. For the NSF and SCGB treatments, 4 wt% and 10 wt%, respectively, were necessary to meet the TCLP regulatory limit. The effectiveness of Pb immobilization was found to increase in the following order: SCGB < NSF < WOS < COS. The chemical fraction analyses showed that the lower F2 (weak acid soluble) fraction and higher F3 (reducible) and F4 (oxidizable) fractions were most likely associated with the high level of Pb immobilization. Moreover, the SEM-EDX analysis results showed that the most effective Pb immobilization could be strongly associated with the pozzolanic reaction products. Full article

The nondestructive discrimination model based on near-infrared is usually established by detected spectra and chemometric methods. However, the inherent differences between instruments prevent the model from being used universally, and calibration transfer is often used to solve these problems. Standard-sample calibration transfer requires additional standard samples to build a mathematical mapping between instruments. Thus, standard-free calibration transfer is a research hotspot in this field. Based on near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), the new combined strategy of wavelength selection and standard-free calibration transfer was proposed to transfer the model between two portable near-infrared spectrometers. Three transfer learning (TL) algorithms—transferred component analysis (TCA), balanced distribution adaptation (BDA), and manifold embedded distribution alignment (MEDA)—were applied to achieve standard-free calibration transfer. Moreover, this paper presents a relative error analysis (REA) method to select wavelength. To select the optimal model, the parameters of accuracy, precision, and recall were examined to evaluate the discriminatory capacities of each model. The findings show that the MEDA-REA model is capable of higher prediction accuracy (accuracy = 94.54%) than the other transferring models (TCA, BDA, MEDA, TCA-REA, and BDA-REA), and it is demonstrated that the new strategy has good transmission performance. Moreover, REA shows the potential to filter wavebands for calibration transfer and simplify the transferable model. Full article

Effective irrigation strategies are of great significance for improving crop yields. There is an increasing concern that short-season corn hybrids are gradually being encouraged to plant in the North China Plain (NCP) with the development of mechanized grain harvesting, but the photosynthetic characteristics and productivity of short-season hybrids are not well documented. The objective of the study was to investigate the effects of different irrigation treatments on photosynthetic characteristics, dry matter accumulation (DMA) and photo-assimilate translocation (PAT/PT), grain yield (GY) and water productivity (WP) of two corn hybrids differing in maturity. In the experiment plots under the rainout shelter facility, short-season hybrid Denghai518 (DH518) and medium- and full-season hybrid Denghai605 (DH605) were grown under three irrigation levels (severe water stress, T1; mild water stress, T2; and non-stress, T3) by two irrigation methods (flood irrigation, FI; surface drip irrigation, SDI) in 2020 and 2021. The results indicated that non-stomatal limitation (NSL) was the main factor leading to the reduction in photosynthesis during the reproductive stage. Severe water stress significantly decreased net photosynthetic rate (P_n) and chlorophyll soil-plant analysis development (SPAD) value, resulting in lower DMA and GY. The contribution rate of vegetative organ photosynthate before flowering (CRP) decreased with the irrigation levels increasing. DMA, GY and WP of SDI increased by 16.23%, 21.49% and 51.31%, respectively, compared to FI. The yields of DH518 were 7.22% lower than those of DH605. The WP penalty for DH605 was attributed to a relatively larger ET. It suggested that applying the optimum irrigation level (T3) under SDI could increase DMA, GY and WP of summer corn in the NCP. Full article

Prospero Alpini was an Italian physician, botanist and scientist. Born in Marostica, in the Republic of Venice, in his youth he served in the Milanese army, but in 1574 he decided to study medicine at the University of Padova, where he graduated in 1578. After a short period as a doctor in Camposampiero (Padova, Italy), he became the personal doctor of Giorgio Emo, the appointed consul in Cairo in Egypt. In this way, he was able to devote himself to the study of botany. In this country, from the cultivation practices of the date palm, he described for the first time the sexual dimorphism in plants, later adopted as the basis of Linnaeus’ scientific classification system. Since then, this behavior, termed dioecy, has been described in other plant species, and many advances have been made in understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying this phenomenon, especially with the advent of genomics. Starting from a brief description of Prospero’s life and his pioneering scientific contribution, we illustrated the two main models explaining dioecism. This was achieved by taking a cue from two plant species, grapevine and poplar, in which genomics and single molecule sequencing technologies played a pivotal role in scientific advance in this field. Full article

The government’s lockdown and restriction measures on the COVID-19 pandemic adversely altered livelihoods, commodity/food prices as well as food security status in Nigeria, especially for rural farming households. A multistage sampling technique was used to collect data from 480 rural farming households across three selected states of the SouthWest geopolitical zone of Nigeria. This research entailed rapid evaluation of the determining factors of rising food expenditure, implications for food security as well as households’ coping strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic. A structured questionnaire was used to obtain data that were analyzed using the following descriptive and inferential statistics: double-logarithmic analysis, Foster–Greer–Thorbecke (FGT) and probit regression analysis. The results showed that 60% of respondents were married, mean years spent in school was 17, mean age was 49 years, household size was 7 people and monthly income less than $200. The FGT model results for head count ratio showed that 78% of households were food insecure. The depth of food insecurity and severity before COVID-19 were 18.4% and 9.9% respectively, and 27.1% and 13.0% during the pandemic. The double-logarithmic regression revealed that household income, size, age and occupation significantly influenced the household’s food expenditure. Probit regression showed that households’ income, size, amount spent on food, and the household’s head, gender and educational level influenced its food security status. The research concluded that food security was indeed influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic among rural farming households in Nigeria. Intervention policies are needed to promote and enable sustainable livelihoods to eradicate hunger and food insecurity due to high food prices and high household sizes in relation to their low average income to enable rural farming households to economically recover and have the capacity to sustain themselves against future shocks. Full article