Agriculture

In order to explore the changes in biochemical components and mechanical properties of cucumber seedlings with dwarfing characteristics under airflow disturbance treatment, ‘Jinyou No. 1’ cucumber seedlings were used as experimental materials and the split-plot design was used. The cucumber seedlings were treated with airflow disturbance with two airflow temperatures of 25 ± 5 °C and 35 ± 5 °C as the main factors and four airflow velocities of 1, 3, 6 and 9 m/s as the secondary factors. At the same time, cucumber seedlings without airflow disturbance were used as controls to study the effects of airflow temperature and velocity on the biochemical components and mechanical properties of cucumber seedling stems. The results showed that with the increase in airflow velocity, the content of the stems’ biochemical components increased to varying degrees, and the bending load, shear load, elastic modulus, bending strength and shear strength of the seedling stems also increased. Under the same airflow velocity, the biochemical component content and the accepted load of seedlings under the 25 ± 5 °C airflow temperature treatment were larger than those under the 35 ± 5 °C airflow greenhouse treatment, but the elastic modulus, bending strength and shear strength of seedlings under the 25 ± 5 °C airflow temperature treatment were lesser than those under the 35 ± 5 °C airflow temperature treatment. Using the grey relational analysis method, the correlation degree between the biochemical components of the stem and the mechanical properties of the stem was different. The correlation degree between the biochemical components of the seedling stem and the mechanical properties under different airflow temperature treatments was significant. The correlation degree between the biochemical components of the seedling stem and the mechanical properties under different airflow velocity treatments was greater than 0.60, indicating that the biochemical components of the seedling stem under airflow velocity treatments had a greater influence on the mechanical properties. In summary, airflow disturbance significantly affected the biochemical components and mechanical properties of cucumber seedlings. The biochemical components and mechanical properties of seedlings were negatively correlated with airflow temperature and positively correlated with airflow velocity. With a decrease in airflow temperature and an increase in airflow velocity, the biochemical components and mechanical properties of seedlings increased. Full article

The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of the hexane fraction of the crude extract of the fruits and seeds of Ricinus communis (HFFSRC) on eggs of Spodoptera cosmioides and Spodoptera frugiperda and on caterpillars of Spodoptera eridania, S. frugiperda, and S. cosmioides, under laboratory conditions through topical application and ingestion, as well as to identify the compounds in the hexane fraction through high-performance chromatography (HPLC-ESI-Q-TOF-MS/MS). To do so, three bioassays were conducted: (1) the effect of HFFSRC at 2% (20,000 mg·mL⁻¹) on eggs of S. cosmioides and S. frugiperda, (2) the lethal effect of HFFSRC at 2% applied topically, and (3) the lethal effect of HFFSRC at 2% applied to soybean-leaf discs on first-, second-, third-, and fourth-instar caterpillars of the three insect species. It was found that 2% HFFSRC had an ovicidal effect on S. frugiperda and S. cosmioides, completely reducing larvae hatching and the insecticidal effect for the four instars of the three insect species when applied topically and on food. Five compounds were identified in the HFFSRC: three flavonoids, one ricinoleic acid, and one cinnamic acid. HFFSRC at 2% had an acute ovicidal and insecticidal effect on caterpillars of the studied species, configuring itself as a potential insecticide. Full article

Mitigating heavy metals (HMs) contamination and ensuring the safe production of crops is of paramount importance for sustainable agriculture development. The purpose of the current field plot study was to select maize varieties with low HMs and metalloids in their edible parts but high accumulation in other parts. The cadmium (Cd), arsenic (As), lead (Pb), and chromium (Cr) contents of 11 maize varieties were measured by atomic absorption spectrometry, and the plant growth and bioconcentration factors (BFs) were examined. Furthermore, the average daily intake (ADDi) of HMs in maize grains was calculated to assess the associated health risks. The results revealed that the growth of variety TZ23 was minimally impacted HMs and metalloids. The grains of all of the tested maize varieties contained Cr, As, and Pb contents in accordance with National Food Safety Standards (NFSSs, GB2762-2017, ≤0.1 mg·kg⁻¹), while the Cd concentration in grains of varieties QJN1, LSCR, and JN20 were 0.084 mg·kg⁻¹, 0.094 mg·kg⁻¹, and 0.077 mg·kg⁻¹, respectively, in accordance with NFSSs. The translocation factor (TF) of As, Pb and Cr in the grains of 11 maize varieties were found to be less than 1. However, the TF of grain Cd in varieties LYN9, JYN9, and QJN3 exceeded 1. For varieties HNY21, TZ23, and LYN9, the TF of Cd, As, Pb, and Cr in the stems/leaves was less than 1. Cluster analysis revealed that the grains of variety HNY21 had the lowest accumulation capacity of all four HMs. Importantly, the variety JN20 exhibited a high accumulation capacity for Pb and a low capacity for As, while both varieties SKN11 and QJN3 had high accumulation capacities for Cd and low capacities for As. Health risk (HR) indices of the different age groups displayed an overall trend of children > elderly > young adult. Among the HMs and metalloids, Cd and Cr pose the greatest health risks of maize intake. Variety QJN3 posed a significant HR due to chronic toxicity. This study provides a scientific basis for multi-element pollution control and screening of maize varieties suitable for cultivation in mining areas and the remediation of HMs-contaminated soils. Full article

Most green plums need to be processed before consumption, and due to personal subjective factors, manual harvesting and sorting are difficult to achieve using standardized processing. Soluble solid content (SSC) of green plum was taken as the research object in this paper. Visible near-infrared (VIS-NIR) and shortwave near-infrared (SW-NIR) full-spectrum spectral information of green plums were collected, and the spectral data were corrected and pre-processed. Random forest algorithm based on induced random selection (IRS-RF) was proposed to screen four sets of characteristic wavebands. Bayesian optimization CatBoost model (BO-CatBoost) was constructed to predict SSC value of green plums. The experimental results showed that the preprocessing method of multiplicative scatter corrections (MSC) was obviously superior to Savitzky–Golay (S–G), the prediction effect of SSC based on VIS-NIR spectral waveband by partial least squares regression model (PLSR) was obviously superior to SW-NIR spectral waveband, MSC + IRS-RF was obviously superior to corresponding combination of correlation coefficient method (CCM), successive projections algorithm (SPA), competitive adaptive reweighted sampling (CARS), and random forest (RF). With the lowest dimensional selected feature waveband, the lowest VIS-NIR band group was only 53, and the SW-NIR band group was only 100. The model proposed in this paper based on MSC + IRS-RF + BO-CatBoost was superior to PLSR, XGBoost, and CatBoost in predicting SSC, with R²_P of 0.957, which was 3.1% higher than the traditional PLSR. Full article

Wheat is the cereal most susceptible to lodging, particularly during the flowering period and at the early ripening stage. The use of plant growth retardants (PGRs) is especially recommended when intensive nitrogen (N) fertilisation is applied, which increases the susceptibility of plants to lodging. This paper presents the results of tests into the effects of PGRs (PGR0—control; PGR1—chlormequat chloride (CCC) + trinexapac-ethyl (TE); PGR2—chlormequat chloride (CCC) + ethephon (ET)), and N dose—N0, N20, N40, and N60 [0, 20, 40, and 60 kg N ha⁻¹] on the content of selected plant secondary metabolites (PSM) in the Indian dwarf wheat (Triticum sphaerococcum Percival) of the Trispa cultivar, and on the abundance of insect pests. In the developmental stage of wheat (BBCH 39), insects were collected with an entomological net. The study also investigated the effect of experimental factors on the physicobiochemical properties of the soil (pH in KC, granulometric composition, total organic carbon TOC, total nitrogen TN, fractional composition of humus, and the activity of enzymes). An increase in the plant secondary metabolite (PSM) and FRAP (ferring reducing ability of plasma) contents following the application of PGRs and N fertilisation already from as low a rate as 20 kg ha⁻¹ was demonstrated. A significant positive correlation was noted between the abundance of Oulema spp. and the contents of total polyphenols, chlorogenic acid, and FRAP. No such relationship was noted for Aphididae or Thysanoptera. TOC content was higher on the plots on which N fertilisation was applied at the highest rate and after the application of PGRs. The factor determining the TN content was N fertilisation. Soil samples of the PGR0 N0 treatment were characterised by the greatest proportion of carbon in the humic and fulvic acid fractions and by the smallest proportion of carbon in the humin fraction. N fertilisation increased the proportion of carbon in the humin fraction on the plots on which no PGRs were applied. The study demonstrated an increase in the activity of oxidoreductive enzymes following the application of higher N rates. The application of PGRs resulted in no inhibition of enzymes in the soil compared to the control (PGRs0). Full article

A study conducted over three consecutive years examined the effects of using biochar, organic fertilizer and microorganisms on soil pH and the concentrations of macro and microelements in the soil. A tendency to increase soil pH was seen where biochar was used. The highest concentration of phosphorus was found in the soil after the application of organic fertilizer with the addition of microorganisms. The most potassium was found in the soil treated with biochar together with organic fertilizer, while the most magnesium was in the soil fertilized with organic fertilizer alone and organic fertilizer together with microorganisms. All the fertilization combinations resulted in an increase in boron and copper levels in the soil. The accumulation of iron in the soil was promoted by organic fertilization alone and organic fertilization together with microorganisms. The highest amount of manganese in the soil was found after fertilization with biochar together with organic fertilizer. In the combination where organic fertilizer was applied, the soil contained the most sodium, while the highest zinc content was found in the soil fertilized with biochar and organic fertilizer. The greatest increase in the carbon content in the soil occurred after the use of biochar together with microorganisms and biochar with organic fertilizer. The same treatments also resulted in the highest amount of organic matter. The study shows that the use of biochar, organic fertilization and the combined use of biochar and organic fertilization improved the quality of the soil. Full article

Plant proteases are well known for their various industrial applications. Papain, present in papaya latex (Carica papaya) and pineapple bromelain (Ananas comosus), is undoubtedly the most studied and widely used vegetable protease in the food and pharmaceutical industry worldwide. However, its potential as a biopesticide has been little explored. The objective of this study was to evaluate the activity of proteases from Carica papaya latex and peel and crown of Ananas comosus fruits on agricultural pests. To evaluate proteolytic activity on nematodes, extracts, and approximately 50 juveniles of Panagrellus sp. were placed in microtubes. To evaluate the insecticidal effect, larvae and pupae of Tenebrio molitor L. were submerged in active and denatured extracts. Additionally, larvae of T. molitor were fed an artificial diet at doses of 0, 100, 250, and 500 mg/g of wheat bran. The weight and number of dead larvae were recorded, and feeding behavior was evaluated. The proteases of papaya latex and papain caused reduction (p < 0.05) on Panagrellus sp. The extracts showed a toxic effect (p < 0.05) against the larvae of T. molitor. Active papain resulted in the absence of wings in 53.3% of adults from the pupae, and no malformation caused by denatured papain was observed. No mortality was observed in larvae fed an artificial diet. However, there was a strong feed reduction, reduction in the relative rate of consumption, reduction in growth and feed conversion efficiency caused by papaya latex. The results of this study show that plant proteases have the potential for the development of sustainable alternatives for the control of arthropod pests and parasitic nematodes. Full article

Phosphorus (P) unavailability in agricultural soils is a primary cause of the poor development and yield of field crops in arid and semiarid regions. The primary goal of this research project was to investigate the influence of integrated management of beneficial microbes or biofertilizers (BF), organic P-fertilizers, and inorganic P-fertilizers on wheat productivity in a wheat–maize cropping system. Field experiments were carried out during the two consecutive seasons of 2020/2021 (Y1) and 2021/2022 (Y2) according to the two-factorial randomized complete block design with three replications. Factor one consisted of twenty-one treatments of organic and inorganic P-fertilizer combinations, while factor two consisted of two different BF (PSB and Bioaab). One overall control where no P or BF was applied was also included in each replication for comparison. The experiment consisted of six treatments of sole P sources (sheep manure (SM), cattle manure (CM), legume residues (LR), non-legume residues (NLR), single super phosphate (SSP) and rock phosphate (RP)), each applied at a rate of 90 kg P ha⁻¹. Different combinations of organic and inorganic P sources (giving 15 treatments) were applied at a rate of 50% P from each source (i.e., 45 kg P ha⁻¹ applied from different sources in combination). The results revealed that the combined application of SSP+SM produced a significantly higher number of grains spike⁻¹ (23.9%), spikes m⁻² (4.5%), and grain yield (40.9%) over the control. Application of PSB produced the maximum number of grains spike⁻¹ (23.9%), spikes m⁻² (4.5%), thousand-grain weight (8.3%), grain yield (40.9%), and biological yield (17%) in the wheat crop as compared to Bioaab. It was concluded from the two-year study that integrated use of organic P-fertilizers (animal manures) plus inorganic P-fertilizer (SSP) along with PSB ranked first in terms of higher wheat productivity in a wheat–maize cropping system. Full article

Depth estimation is one of the bottleneck parts for harvesting robots to determine whether the operation of grasping or picking succeeds or not directly. This paper proposed a novel disparity completion method combined with bilateral filtering and pyramid fusion to improve the issues of incorrect outputs due to the missed or wrong matching when achieving 3D position from 2D images in open-world environments. Briefly, our proposed method has two significant advantages in general. Firstly, occlusion between leaves, branches, and fruits is a universal phenomenon in unstructured orchard environments, which results in the most depth estimation algorithms facing great challenges to obtain accurate outputs in these occluded regions. To alleviate these issues, unlike other research efforts that already exist, we optimized the semi-global matching algorithm to obtain high accuracy sparse values as an initial disparity map; then, an improved bilateral filtering algorithm is proposed to eliminate holes and discontinuous regions caused by occlusion to obtain precise and density disparity outputs. Secondly, due to taking the practical high-efficiency requirements of the automated harvesting robot in its working status into consideration, we attempted to merge multiple low-resolution bilateral filtering results through the pyramid fusion model which goes beyond the trade-off mechanism to improve the performance of both accuracy and time cost. Finally, a prototype harvesting robot was designed to conduct experiments at three kinds of different distances (0.6~0.75 m, 1~1.2 m, and 1.6~1.9 m). Experiment results showed that our proposed method achieved density disparity maps and eliminated holes and discontinuous defects in the disparity map effectively. The average absolute error of our proposed method is 3.2 mm, and the average relative error is 1.79%. In addition, the time cost is greatly reduced more than 90%. Comprehensive experimental results demonstrate that our proposed algorithm provides a potential possibility for designing harvesting. Full article

The advancement of technology associated with the field, especially the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) coupled with multispectral cameras, allows us to monitor the condition of crops in real time and contribute to the field of machine learning. The objective of this study was to estimate both productivity and above-ground biomass (AGB) for the corn crop by applying different vegetation indices (VIs) via high-resolution aerial imagery. Among the indices tested, strong correlations were obtained between productivity and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) with a significance level of p < 0.05 (0.719), as well as for the normalized difference red edge (NDRE), or green normalized difference vegetation index (GNDVI) with crop productivity (p < 0.01), respectively 0.809 and 0.859. The AGB results align with those obtained previously; GNDVI and NDRE showed high correlations, but now with a significance level of p < 0.05 (0.758 and 0.695). Both GNDVI and NDRE indices showed coefficients of determination for productivity and AGB estimation with 0.738 and 0.654, and 0.701 and 0.632, respectively. The use of the GNDVI and NDRE indices shows excellent results for estimating productivity as well as AGB for the corn crop, both at the spatial and numerical levels. The possibility of predicting crop productivity is an essential tool for producers, since it allows them to make timely decisions to correct any deficit present in their agricultural plots, and further contributes to AI integration for drone digital optimization. Full article

The heat stress response of broilers will adversely affect the large-scale and welfare of the breeding of broilers. In order to detect the heat stress state of broilers in time, make reasonable adjustments, and reduce losses, this paper proposed an improved Cascade R-CNN (Region-based Convolutional Neural Networks) model based on visual technology to identify the behavior of yellow-feathered broilers. The improvement of the model solved the problem of the behavior recognition not being accurate enough when broilers were gathered. The influence of different iterations on the model recognition effect was compared, and the optimal model was selected. The final average accuracy reached 88.4%. The behavioral image data with temperature and humidity data were combined, and the heat stress evaluation model was optimized using the PLSR (partial least squares regression) method. The behavior recognition results and optimization equations were verified, and the test accuracy reached 85.8%. This proves the feasibility of the heat stress evaluation optimization equation, which can be used for reasonably regulating the broiler chamber. Full article

Soil amendments (e.g., compost) require uniform incorporation in the soil profile to benefit plants. However, machines may not mix them uniformly throughout the upper soil layer commonly explored by plant roots. The study focuses on using image texture analysis to determine the level of mixing uniformity in the soil following the passage of two kinds of harrows. A 12.3-megapixel DX-format digital camera acquired images of soil/expanded polystyrene (in the laboratory) and soil/compost mixtures (in field conditions). In the laboratory, pictures captured the soil before and during the simulated progressive mixing of expanded polystyrene particles. In field conditions, images captured the exposed superficial horizons of compost-amended soil after the passage of a combined spike-tooth–disc harrow and a disc harrow. Image texture analysis based on the gray-level co-occurrence matrix calculated the sums of dissimilarity, contrast, entropy, and uniformity metrics. In the laboratory conditions, the progressive mixing resulted in increased image dissimilarity (from 1.15 ± 0.74 × 10⁶ to 1.65 ± 0.52 × 10⁶) and contrast values (from 2.69 ± 2.06 × 10⁶ to 5.67 ± × 1.93 10⁶), almost constant entropy (3.50 ± 0.25 × 10⁶), and decreased image uniformity (from 6.65 ± 0.31 × 10⁵ to 4.49 ± 1.36 × 10⁵). Using a tooth-disc harrow in the open field resulted in higher dissimilarity, contrast, entropy (+73.3%, +62.8%, +16.3%), and lower image uniformity (−50.6%) than the disc harrow, suggesting enhanced mixing in the superficial layer. Full article

The purpose of this research is to capitalise on the potential of non-traditional plant species in the Republic of Moldova from the families Asteraceae (cup plant Silphium perfoliatum; cardoon Cynara cardunculus), Fabaceae (fodder galega Galega orientalis, sand sainfoin Onobrychis arenaria), Hydrophylaceae (phacelia Phacelia tanacetifolia), Malvaceae (curly mallow Malva crispa; Virginia mallow Sida hermaphrodita) and Poaceae (perennial sorghum Sorghum almum, pearl millet Pennisetum glaucum). The study presents the research results on the seed properties (dimensional parameters, structure, friability, apparent specific mass, mass of 1000 seeds) and on the phytomass quality of the above-mentioned plants. The obtained results demonstrate that the criterion of dimensional proportionality K_dp, proposed in this paper, effectively reflects the structure of the seeds; the seeds of new crops (except phacelia) have high friability (angle of repose α ≤ 33° and angle of static friction on steel α₁ ≤ 27.8°, on wood α₁ = 34.7°, on enamelled surface α₁ = 30°). The natural fodder from the researched species is characterised by a crude protein content of 9.0–23.4%, dry matter digestibility of 56.0–66.5%, digestible energy load of 11.16–12.95 MJ kg⁻¹, metabolizable energy of 9.16–10.63 MJ kg⁻¹, net energy for lactation of 5.18–6.76 MJ kg⁻¹, and relative feed value RFV = 74–129. The biochemical biomethane potential from studied vegetal substrates is 297–353 l kg⁻¹ VS. Full article

Nowadays, large areas of agricultural land are contaminated with chemical plant-protection products. Agricultural soils are also susceptible to oil pollution as a result of accidents on oil pipelines. Bioremediation of such soils from oil with the help of hydrocarbon-oxidizing bacteria is hindered by the presence of additional pollutants such as herbicides. In this work, seven strains of Pseudomonas were isolated and identified, which showed differences in ability of oil biodegradation (32.7–77.3%). All strains showed resistance to herbicides based on 2,4-D and substances from the class of imidazolinones, possessed phosphate-solubilizing and nitrogen-fixing activity, and produced indolyl-3-acetic acid (305–1627 ng/mL culture liquid). They stimulated the growth of barley and clover in soil with oil, as well as the growth of clover in soil with herbicide. In a vegetative experiment (duration 30 days, initial oil content in soil 2% wt., herbicide based on imazethapyr 0.002% wt.) of barley plants and P. alcaligenes UOM 10 or P. frederiksbergensis UOM 11, oil degradation was 48.1–52.7%, the same strains and clover plants, 37.9–38.6%. The studied bacteria have the potential to be used in the bioremediation of oil-contaminated agricultural soils, including in combination with phytomeliorant plants. Full article

Accurate detection of key body parts of cattle is of great significance to Precision Livestock Farming (PLF), using artificial intelligence for video analysis. As the background image in cattle livestock farms is complex and the target features of the cattle are not obvious, traditional object-detection algorithms cannot detect the key parts of the image with high precision. This paper proposes the Filter_Attention attention mechanism to detect the key parts of cattle. Since the image is unstable during training and initialization, particle noise is generated in the feature graph after convolution calculation. Therefore, this paper proposes an attentional mechanism based on bilateral filtering to reduce this interference. We also designed a Pooling_Module, based on the soft pooling algorithm, which facilitates information loss relative to the initial activation graph compared to maximum pooling. Our data set contained 1723 images of cattle, in which labels of the body, head, legs, and tail were manually entered. This dataset was divided into a training set, verification set, and test set at a ratio of 7:2:1 for training the model proposed in this paper. The detection effect of our proposed module is proven by the ablation experiment from mAP, the AP value, and the F1 value. This paper also compares other mainstream object detection algorithms. The experimental results show that our model obtained 90.74% mAP, and the F1 value and AP value of the four parts were improved. Full article

The root-knot nematode (Meloidogyne incognita) is a plant pathogen that causes significant economic damage to important food crops. The nematicidal and insecticidal effects of the essential oil and extract of the root and stem of different species of Eupatorium have been studied in several countries. We investigated the impact of root stems and leaves of the E. adenophorum on the second-stage juveniles (J2s) of M. incognita. Nematode mortality decreased by root-stem treatment and increasing temperature and time. Nematodes (J2) were more sensitive to root-stem treatment than leaf treatment at all tested conditions. For example, the half maximal effective concentration (EC₅₀) root-stems at 35 °C was estimated as 10.3 mg/g and in the 8th week as 7.8 mg/g, while the maximal effective concentration (EC_max) in leaf treatment is 20.3 and 10.1 mg/g, respectively. The E. adenophorum 40 mg/g concentration of root stems also produced the highest height of the cucumber stem and the highest cucumber fresh weight in the greenhouse. (E)-beta-farnesene, α-pinene and D-limonene, as the main identified components in fumigant plants, increased the mortality rate of J2s in root-stems treatment. We conclude that E. adenophorum dried root stems added to the soil in greenhouses have the potential as a bio-fumigant for M. incognita management. Full article

A new satellite-enabled interoperable service has been developed to provide high spatiotemporal and continuous time series of Growing Degree Days (GDDs) at the field. The GDDs are calculated from MSG-SEVIRI data acquired by the EUMETCast station operated by IAASARS/NOA and downscaled on-the-fly to increase the initial coarse spatial resolution from the original 4–5 km to 1 km. The performance of the new service SENSE-GDD, in deriving reliable GDD timeseries at dates very close to key phenological stages, is assessed using in situ air temperature measurements from weather stations installed in Gerovassiliou Estate vineyard at Epanomi (Northern Greece) and an apple orchard at Agia (Central Greece). Budburst, pollination, and the start of veraison are selected as key phenological stages for the vineyards, whilst budburst and pollination for the apple orchard. The assessment shows that SENSE-GDD provided uninterrupted accurate measurements in both crop types. A distinct feature is that the proposed service can support decisions in non-instrumented crop fields in a cost-effective way, paving the way for its extended operational use in agriculture. Full article

In recent years, eco-efficiency assessment has proven to be an effective tool to reduce the environmental damages of agricultural activities while preserving their economic sustainability. Hence, this paper aims to assess the eco-efficiency of a sample of 148 beef cattle farms operating in the extensive livestock system of Central Italy. The analysis is based on Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) economic data in the year 2020 and includes, as environmental pressures, farm expenditure for the use of fuels, electricity and heating, and fertilizers. A two-stage approach was implemented: in the first stage, an input-oriented DEA model including slack variables was used to quantify farm eco-efficiency scores and determine the polluting inputs’ abatement potentials. In the second stage, the influence of possible influencing factors on eco-efficiency scores was tested using a regression model for truncated data. The analyzed farms were found to be highly eco-inefficient, as they could abate their environmental pressures, on average, in a range from 56% to 60% while keeping the value of their global production constant. Fertilizers and fuel consumption were identified as the least efficiently operating inputs, with potential reductions in terms of the related expenditures fluctuating between 9% and 42%. Farms showing a high-intensity livestock system, a low labor intensity, and a larger farm area were recognized as the most eco-efficient. Environmental and animal welfare subsidies were found to not affect eco-efficiency, while a negative influence was estimated for a single farm payment, which does not seem to be an incentive mechanism for farms to operate efficiently. Full article