Peach fruit quality is dependent on preharvest treatments and orchard practices. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of preharvest potassium silicon fertilization on fruit postharvest quality. Two peach cultivars (“Early Bomba” and “Plagold 17”) were sprayed with three concentrations of potassium silicon (K-Si) at fruit set, stone hardening, and physiological maturity stages. The applied treatments corresponded to control (T0 = 0% K-Si) pulverized with distilled water and two K-Si treatments (T1 = 3% K-Si and T2 = 4.5% K-Si). The blooming and harvesting dates, vegetative growth and agronomical parameters were analyzed over two growing seasons (2021–2022). Peach fruits were stored at 5 °C and 95% RH during two cold storage periods (2 and 4 weeks) followed by 2 days at room temperatures. The fruit weights (FW), color, firmness, soluble solids content (SSC), titratable acidity (TA), pulp stone ratio (P/S) and fruit weight loss (FWL) were evaluated. The anthocyanins, flavonoids, total phenolics, carotenoids and antioxidant capacity (DPPH) were determined. Vitamin B5 and vitamin C were analyzed by HPLC. The ethylene rate and the chilling injury symptoms (CI) were analyzed after two cold storage periods (2 and 4 weeks). Results showed that the applied potassium silicon treatments (3% K-Si and 4.5% K-Si) enhanced the FW, SSC, TA, FWL, fruit composition and CI. Anthocyanins and total phenolics increased after cold storage period under K-Si treatments. The nectarine cultivar (cv) Early Bomba showed low sensibility to chilling injury symptoms as compared to the cv Plagold 17. Full article

A new non-destructive index of absorbance difference (I_AD), calculated with different wavelengths as references, near the chlorophyll absorbance peak or that for anthocyanin, has been used to determine the fruit ripening of several fruit species using portable devices such as Standard DA-Meter^® and Kiwi-Meter^®. In this study, for the first time, the application of the I_AD was evaluated on single, intact olives of the Leccino cultivar, as a single non-destructive maturity index to follow ripening in the field, directly on the tree. The I_AD determined by both devices was found to be useful for monitoring the olive ripening, however, better performance was achieved with the Kiwi-Meter^®. In fact, the I_AD determined by this device was more effective at measuring all the studied olive ripening parameters in the calibration and validation datasets with acceptable accuracy. Specifically, better performance of the I_DA by Kiwi-Meter^® was observed in estimation of the color index (R² = 0.817, DRMSEC = 0.404 and RPIQ = 3.863 for calibration and R² = 0.752, DRMSECV = 0.574 and RPIQ = 3.244 for validation), confirming its potential for evaluating the degree of olive ripeness. This novel index has significant applicative possibilities, since it would allow rapid, on-site screening of the best harvesting time to improve the olive production in terms of both yield and quality. Full article

New intensive farming systems have resulted in a narrowing of the genetic diversity used in breeding programs. Breeders are looking for new sources of variation of specific traits to make genetic progress in adaptation to changing environmental conditions. Genomics-based plant germplasm research seeks to apply the techniques of genomics to germplasm characterization. Using these new methods and obtained data, plant breeders can increase the rate of genetic gains in specific breeding programs. Due to the complexity of heterogeneous sources of information, it is necessary to collect large quantities of referenced data. Molecular platforms are becoming increasingly important for the development of strategic germplasm resources for more effective molecular breeding of new cultivars. Following this trend in plant breeding, the AgroGenome portal for precise breeding programs was developed based on data collected for accessions stored in the Polish Genebank. It combines passport data of genotypes, phenotypic characteristics and interactive GWAS analysis visualization on the Manhattan plots based on GWAS results and on JBrowse interface. The AgroGenome portal can be utilized by breeders or researchers to explore diversity among investigated genomes. It is especially important to identify markers for tracking specific traits and identify QTL. The AgroGenome portal facilitates the exploitation and use of plant genetic resources stored in the Polish Genebank. Full article

Treated water use for agriculture will promote sustainable irrigation development and food sovereignty. The aim of this study is to assess the feasibility of subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) compared to drip irrigation (DI) and of reclaimed water (RW) versus conventional groundwater (CW), to produce forage sustainably in a warm arid region. A sorghum experiment was conducted in a field on Santiago Island (Cape Verde). A forage yield of 200 t fresh matter·ha⁻¹·year⁻¹, irrigated by RW, was obtained. Considering Cape Verde regulations, it is possible to irrigate sorghum using a drip system and RW without adding fertilizers. Soil fertility (OM and Ntot) increased, while risk parameters (EC, nitrate, and Na) returned to their initial values after the rainy season. The best irrigation water use efficiency was obtained by RWSDI (200 L·kg⁻¹ DM) compared to RWDI, which needed 34% more water. According to the results, a high nitrate elimination rate in treatment plants might not be desirable if agricultural reuse is planned to irrigate high-N-demanding species. Establishing new salinity tolerance levels under reuse conditions with SDI, and irrigating in rainy months to promote the lixiviation of salts in arid regions are also necessary. Full article

Contemporary agriculture is characterized by a highly intensive nature and productivity [...] Full article

Wild chrysanthemum has a high medicinal value. Its mechanized harvest can improve harvesting efficiency, reduce labor costs and improve planting benefits, which is an important way to promote artificial planting. However, one of the difficulties in mechanized harvesting is the large diameter and hardness of the stem, leading to high cutting resistance and power consumption. In order to reduce cutting resistance and power consumption, a bionic cutting blade is designed in this paper by employing the bionics principle and the contour of the cricket’s upper jaw incisor lobe instead of the sharp triangular teeth of the standard harvester blade. Using the finite element method, the cutting-edge angle, cutting angle, and reciprocating speed were taken as test factors. The maximum shear force and power consumption were taken as evaluation indexes. At the same time, the center combination simulation test was carried out to optimize the cutting body and to determine the optimal cutting speed. When the cutting-edge angle was 21°, the cutting angle was 66°, the reciprocating speed was 1.29 m/s, and the maximum shear force and power consumption were minimal. The results showed that the maximum shear force of the bionic cutter was reduced by 18% and the power consumption by 15.8%. The bench test showed that the maximum shear force and power consumption of the bionic cutter were reduced by 10.5% and 10.8%, respectively, when the entire wild chrysanthemum stem was cut. The results can provide a reference for the mechanical harvesting of wild chrysanthemum stems. Full article

The technology of the divider and lifter mechanisms of a garlic harvester using the depth limit, straw divide, and straw lift modes was studied in Lanling County, Shandong Province, China, according to the characteristics of high hardness, good uprightness and narrow row spacing of garlic planting. A test prototype of the divider and lifter mechanisms of the garlic harvester was designed and manufactured. Single-factor experiments and orthogonal regression experiments were carried out using the experimental factors of working speed, the angle of the divider, the height of the tip of the divider’s tooth from the ground, the ratio of the lifter’s speed to working speed and the length of the lifter’s tooth. The index was the success rate of feed. The results showed that the working speed, the angle of the divider and the length of the lifter’s tooth had a significant influence on the success rate of feed (p < 0.05), but the experimental factors of the height of the tip of the divider’s tooth from the ground and the ratio of the lifter’s speed to working speed did not have a significant influence on the success rate of feed (p > 0.05). The effects of the angle of the divider, the working speed, and the length of the divider’s tooth on the success rate of feed decreased in significance. When the working speed was 0.72 km·h⁻¹, the length of the lifter’s tooth was 343.5 mm and the angle of the divider was 20°, the success rate of feed was the highest (98.18%). The research results are conducive to promoting high-quality and efficient combined harvesting of garlic in Lanling County, Shandong Province, China. Full article

The agricultural organization based on digital platforms in C2F (Company–Platform–Farmers) may be an effective way to reduce the increased risk of green production caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the specific mechanism and impact involved are unclear. Applying risk cognition and decision theory, we built the theoretical framework on platform organization, pandemic risk, perception value, and green production continuity, and ascertained the impact effects and path using the PLS-SEM method. We found that the risk of COVID-19 overflow had a significant impact on farmers’ green production continuity by mediating perception value, especially regarding reduced green technology adoption intention and increased cost of living. Utilizing perfect platform value cognition, participation co-operation, access and benefit distribution, and safeguard and restraint measures of platform organization in C2F, we offered a new approach to reduce the green production risks caused by COVID-19, such as material and labor shortages, financial pressure, sales channel blockages, and price volatility. We explained the behavior-moderating motivation of farmers with different risk preferences and subjective norms in relation to tackling COVID-19. We should aim to perfect the functions of digital platform organizations to optimize the benefit linkages in C2F, accelerate farmers’ digitization ability cultivation to increase the cognitive risk level, and strengthen the policy guidance of COVID-19 prevention to reduce the influence of farmers’ subjective norms. Full article

Intercropping is a sustainable, eco-friendly, and economically beneficial cropping system. Elephant foot yam (EFY), a multifarious long-duration vegetable, takes 60 days or more to spread its canopy. Hence, this research assessed the impact of intercropping short duration vegetables, viz., cluster bean, radish, Amaranthus, and fenugreek, in elephant foot yam for two seasons (2021 and 2021/22). It included the analysis of parameters such as carbon accumulation, soil chemical properties, nutrient, enzyme, and microbial activities. The findings revealed that for both the seasons there was a significant (p < 0.01) rise in all the parameters examined in the intercropping patterns. Cluster bean (legume) outperformed the other intercrops utilised. Overall, carbon accumulation was improved by 54.40% when cluster beans were intercropped in EFY. Cluster bean intercropping increased the microbial and enzyme activities in the soil rhizosphere and improved soil organic carbon, microbial biomass carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium by 31, 42, 28, 37, and 11%, respectively, compared to the sole crop. A positive correlation was observed between the soil microbes and enzyme activity with the soil chemical properties. As a result, the research concludes that intercropping cluster bean in EFY promotes carbon accumulation, soil nutrients, enzymes, and microbial community, which, in turn, favour the productivity of the elephant foot yam. Full article

Most climate change mitigation scenarios rely on the incremental use of biomass as energy feedstock. Therefore, increasing the share of alternative sustainable energy sources as biomass is crucial to provide both peak and base electricity loads in future scenarios. The bioenergy potential of Ecuador has been addressed for agricultural by-products but not for dedicated bioenergy crops. Agricultural zoning studies have been developed for food crops but not for energy crops. Currently, the bioenergy share of electricity produced in Ecuador (1.4%) comes mainly from the use of sugar cane bagasse from sugar production. This study aims to identify potential sustainable bioenergy resources for continental Ecuador using agroecological zoning methodologies and considerations regarding land management, food security, in-direct land use change and ecological and climate change risks. The results identified 222,060.71 ha available to grow dedicated bioenergy crops and potential electricity production of 8603 GWh/year; giant reed ranks first with a potential net energy yield of 4024 GWh per year, and Manabí province presents the highest potential with 3768 GWh/year. Large-scale deployment of bioenergy in Ecuador would require the study of sustainability considerations of each project. The species studied are traditional bioenergy crops; research on novel species is encouraged. Full article

Molecular germplasm characterization is essential for gathering information on favorable attributes and varietal improvement. The current study evaluated the genetic divergence and population structure of 80 potato genotypes collected from Punjab, Pakistan, using polymorphic retrotransposon-DNA-based markers (iPBS). A total of 11 iPBS primers generated 787 alleles with a mean value of 8.9 alleles per primer, of which ~95% were polymorphic across the 80 genotypes. Different variation attributes, such as mean expected heterozygosity (H = 0.21), mean unbiased expected heterozygosity (µHe = 0.22), and mean Shannon’s information index (I = 0.32), showed the existence of sufficient genetic diversity in the studied potato genotypes. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) showed that genetic variation within the population was higher (84%) than between populations (16%). A neighbor-joining tree was constructed based on the distance matrices that arranged the 80 genotypes into five distinct groups, and the genotypes FD61-3 and potato 2 had the highest genetic distance. A STRUCTURE analysis corroborated the dendrogram results and distributed the 80 genotypes also into five clusters. Our results determined that retrotransposon-based markers are highly polymorphic and could be used to evaluate genetic diversity between local and exotic potato genotypes. The genotypic data and population structure dissection analysis reported in this study will enhance potato varietal improvement and development. Full article

Blockchain technology has brought about profound revolutions in supply chain management. Notably, in the agricultural sector, blockchain-based traceability has become an essential tool to maintain the safety and quality of farm commodities. However, the implementation of blockchain technology in agricultural traceability is not prevalent. In this paper, mathematical modeling and simulation methods were used to investigate the decision making regarding the adoption of blockchain traceability in agriculture, which comprises producers, processors, and governments. This paper provides further analysis of the optimal blockchain-based traceability strategies of the members of the agricultural product supply chain in different scenarios. The results reveal the following: (1) Producers and processors should manage the traceability costs for adopting blockchains to improve their brand image and gain more benefits. (2) The government should encourage supply chain agents to participate in traceability by establishing an effective reward-and-punishment mechanism. In addition, the research will help agricultural supply chain agents to design strategies to implement traceability in agriculture and create a transparent and efficient data-driven agricultural products supply chain. Furthermore, these findings provide guidance to policymakers to develop policies to accelerate the implementation of blockchain-based traceability systems to guarantee fraud-free and sustainable agricultural supply chains. Full article

Proanthocyanidins (PAs) are major phytochemicals in rice, and accumulate abundantly in red pericarp (RP) rice. Consumers and rice breeders are increasingly showing interest in PAs because of their beneficial health effects; however, PA biosynthesis in rice is not well-understood. Therefore, to gain insights into this process, we performed comparative transcriptome analysis of grains harvested at 14 days after flowering (DAF; i.e., the stage at which active PA biosynthesis occurs without pericarp color change) and 28 DAF (the stage of late seed development with pericarp color change) from RP and white pericarp rice. In RP rice at 14 DAF, the expression levels of six structural genes (OsCHS, OsF3H, OsF3′H, OsDFR, OsANS, and OsLAR), one modification gene (OsUGT), and one transport gene (OsGSTU34) were significantly upregulated, along with the activation of Rc, the key regulator of PA accumulation in the pericarp. Functional enrichment analysis of 56 differentially expressed genes specifically upregulated in RP rice at 28 DAF revealed the presence of three laccase genes known to cause the browning reaction through oxidation. These results expand our understanding of PA biosynthesis in rice, and provide a genetic basis that will lead to further studies on the genes and underlying molecular mechanisms associated with this process. Full article

The problem of small and multi-object polished rice image segmentation has always been one of importance and difficulty in the field of image segmentation. In the appearance quality detection of polished rice, image segmentation is a crucial part, directly affecting the results of follow-up physicochemical indicators. To avoid leak detection and inaccuracy in image segmentation qualifying polished rice, this paper proposes a new image segmentation method (YO-LACTS), combining YOLOv5 with YOLACT. We tested the YOLOv5-based object detection network, to extract Regions of Interest (RoI) from the whole image of the polished rice, in order to reduce the image complexity and maximize the target feature difference. We refined the segmentation of the RoI image by establishing the instance segmentation network YOLACT, and we eventually procured the outcome by merging the RoI. Compared to other algorithms based on polished rice datasets, this constructed method was shown to present the image segmentation, enabling researchers to evaluate polished rice satisfactorily. Full article

The sustainability of dairying has been questioned, yet cattle exploit non-food resources (especially forages) and provide key nutrients for consumers’ health. This study, using different forage types, considered milk’s nutritional quality, focusing on fatty acid profiles alongside methane emissions—investigating whether methane can be predicted from milk fatty acids (FAs). Compared with grass/clover/maize silage, cows grazing grass/clover pasture produced milk 70% higher in beneficial omega-3 FAs, which increased by an additional 15% when grazing more diverse pasture. Milk from grazing also had less omega-6 FAs (compared with silage diets), and their ratio with omega-3 FAs fell from 2.5:1 on silage to 1.2:1 when grazing grass/clover and 1.1:1 on diverse pasture. Measured methane emissions (at 8.7 g/kg energy-corrected milk) were lower than published values, and existing models for estimating methane from lactating cows were poor predictors for this dataset. The multiple regression of methane against milk FAs in this study provided predictions with an R² of 0.56 for daily emissions and 0.65 relative to milk output. Grazing quality and a diverse pasture with productive cows were potentially beneficial to milk nutritional quality, and our results reinforce the theory that milk fat composition could be an accessible tool for methane prediction; however, they also suggest that more work is needed for alternative production systems. Full article