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Sustainable Agriculture Through Technological Intervention
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Sustainable Agriculture Through Technological Intervention

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 20972

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Lisa Lobry de Bruyn

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia
Interests: soil health indicators; soil condition; soil biota and soil function; soil knowledge sharing; local soil knowledge; land assessment and governance; soil education
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
1. Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
2. PMAS Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi, Punjab , Pakistan
Interests: agronomy; agroecosystems modeling; cropping systems; farm modeling; crop physiology; nutrients cycling; climate change; impact assessments; adaptation and mitigation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Sustainable increases in agricultural production are needed to feed the world’s growing population. Similarly, by adopting sustainable agricultural production methods, we can minimize greenhouse gas emissions, food losses and wastes, improve crop productivity and the global supply chain, and can provide nutritive food to world communities suffering from hunger and malnutrition. Sustainable agriculture ensures food security, quality, and safety. It also considers environmental health, economic profitability, and social equity. The researchers and the practitioners working in the field of sustainable agriculture integrate principles of environmental sustainability, economic profitability, and equity in their workplace. Sustainable agriculture provides a solid foundation for food safety, security, and environmental quality. Furthermore, it can contribute to economic growth at the national and global scale. However, to establish a sustainable agricultural system, we need to connect diverse stakeholders with real-time information on the functioning of their resources system through a number of metrics—social, economic and environmental. These stakeholders include farmers, agricultural researchers, economic experts, policy makers, distributors, consumers, food processors and waste managers.   

Technological interventions such as the use of the geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing (RS) in the agricultural system offers great opportunity to provide real-time data on system performance and functioning. The generation of big data and its role require further exploration, as does the questions of how it can be further utilized by advanced modelling tools to generate informative results and answers to the why, what and how questions relevant to stakeholders. Ultimately, this will all inform efforts and guide strategies for improving sustainable agriculture from a global, national and local perspective.

The aim of this Special Issue is to present original research articles and review work on all aspects of digital data and its role in sustainable agriculture. In this Special Issue, we seek original work focused on addressing new research and development challenges, innovative techniques, GIS and RS, artificial intelligence and simulation solutions for sustainable agriculture. Specific topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Resource management and optimization for sustainable agriculture;
  • Evolving trends in sustainable agriculture;
  • Precision agriculture;
  • Artificial intelligence for sustainable agriculture;
  • Modern GIS and RS techniques in agriculture;
  • Internet of Things (IOT) for sustainable agriculture;
  • Smart sensors for sustainable agriculture;
  • Green computing for sustainable agriculture;
  • Green energy and systems for agriculture;
  • Real-time monitoring in smart agriculture;
  • Data mining and statistical issues in precision agriculture;
  • Decision support systems for precision agriculture;
  • Emerging tools and techniques for precision agriculture;
  • Role of big data in sustainable agriculture;
  • Big data innovation in sustainable agriculture;
  • Environmental big data integration;
  • Smart farm and its application in big data;
  • Big data in agricultural disaster management;
  • Cloud-enabled techniques and innovation for sustainable agriculture;

Knowledge discovery in agriculture databases

Dr. Lisa Lobry de Bruyn
Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Sustainable agriculture
  • Precision agriculture
  • Decision support systems
  • Smart sensors
  • Big data
  • Sustainability indicators

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 3135 KiB  
Article
Impact of Nitrogen Application Rates on Upland Rice Performance, Planted under Varying Sowing Times
by Tajamul Hussain, Nurda Hussain, Mukhtar Ahmed, Charassri Nualsri and Saowapa Duangpan
Sustainability 2022, 14(4), 1997; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14041997 - 10 Feb 2022
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 3389
Abstract
Application of suitable nitrogen (N) fertilizer application rate (NR) with respect to sowing time (ST) could help to maximize the performance and productivity of upland rice in Southern Thailand. The 2-year experiments were conducted in the sheds to evaluate the agronomic responses of [...] Read more.
Application of suitable nitrogen (N) fertilizer application rate (NR) with respect to sowing time (ST) could help to maximize the performance and productivity of upland rice in Southern Thailand. The 2-year experiments were conducted in the sheds to evaluate the agronomic responses of the upland rice genotype, Dawk Pa–yawm, under various combinations of NR and ST between 2018–2019 and 2019–2020 aimed at obtaining sufficient research evidence for the improved design of long-term field trials in Southern Thailand. As with the initial research, four NR were applied as N0 with no applied N, 1.6 g N pot−1, 3.2 g N pot−1 and 4.8 g N pot−1, and experiments were grown under three ST including early (ST1), medium (ST2) and late sowing (ST3). Results from the experiments indicate that the application of 4.8 g N pot−1 resulted in maximum grain yield under all ST in both years. However, a maximum increase in grain yield was observed under ST2 by 54–101% in 2018–2019 and by 276–339% in 2019–2020. Maximum grain N uptake of 0.57 and 0.82 g pot−1 was also observed at NR 4.8 g N pot−1 under ST2 in both years, respectively. Application of NR 4.8 g N pot−1 resulted in the highest N agronomic efficiency (NAE), nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) and water use efficiency (WUE). However, the performance of yield and yield attributes, N uptake, N use efficiencies and WUE were declined in late sowing (ST3). Significant positive association among yield, yield attributes, N uptake and WUE indicated that an increase in NR up to 4.8 g N pot−1 improved the performance of Dawk Pa–yawm. The results suggest that the application of 4.8 g N pot−1 (90 kg N ha−1) for upland rice being grown during September (ST2) would enhance N use efficiencies, WUE and ultimately improve the yield of upland rice. However, field investigations for current study should be considered prior to general recommendations. Moreover, based on the findings of this study, the importance of variable climatic conditions in the field, and the variability in genotypic response to utilize available N and soil moisture, authors suggest considering more levels of NR and intervals for ST with a greater number of upland rice genotypes to observe variations in field experiments for the precise optimization of NR according to ST. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Agriculture Through Technological Intervention)
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13 pages, 1749 KiB  
Article
Potential Impacts of Water Stress on Rice Biomass Composition and Feedstock Availability for Bioenergy Production
by Nurda Hussain, Mukhtar Ahmed, Saowapa Duangpan, Tajamul Hussain and Juntakan Taweekun
Sustainability 2021, 13(18), 10449; https://doi.org/10.3390/su131810449 - 19 Sep 2021
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3403
Abstract
Bioenergy from rice biomass feedstock is considered one of the potential clean energy resources and several small biomass-based powerplants have been established in rice–growing areas of Thailand. Rice production is significantly affected by drought occurrence which results in declined biomass production and quality. [...] Read more.
Bioenergy from rice biomass feedstock is considered one of the potential clean energy resources and several small biomass-based powerplants have been established in rice–growing areas of Thailand. Rice production is significantly affected by drought occurrence which results in declined biomass production and quality. The impact of water stress (WS) was evaluated on six rice cultivars for biomass quality, production and bioenergy potential. Rice cultivars were experimented on in the field under well–watered (WW) and WS conditions. Data for biomass contributing parameters were collected at harvest whereas rice biomass samples were analyzed for proximate and lignocellulosic contents. Results indicated that WS negatively influenced crop performance resulting in 11–41% declined biomass yield (BY). Stability assessment indicated that cultivars Hom Pathum and Dum Ja were stress–tolerant as they exhibited smaller reductions by 11% in their BY under WS. Statistics for proximate components indicated a significant negative impact influencing biomass quality as ash contents of Hom Chan, Dum Ja and RD-15 were increased by 4–29%. Lignocellulosic analysis indicated, an increase in lignin contents of Hom Nang Kaew, Hom Pathum, Dum Ja and RD–15 ranging 7–39%. Reduced biomass production resulted in a 10–42% reduction in bioenergy potential (E). Results proved that cultivation of stress-susceptible cultivars or farmer’s choice and occurrence of WS during crop growth will reduce biomass production, biomass feedstock availability to biomass-based powerplants and affect powerplant’s conversion efficiency resulting in declined bioenergy production. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Agriculture Through Technological Intervention)
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22 pages, 3852 KiB  
Article
Physio-Chemical Characterization of Biochar, Compost and Co-Composted Biochar Derived from Green Waste
by Ghulam Mujtaba, Rifat Hayat, Qaiser Hussain and Mukhtar Ahmed
Sustainability 2021, 13(9), 4628; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13094628 - 21 Apr 2021
Cited by 56 | Viewed by 7395
Abstract
Organic wastes are naturally biodegradable, but they contribute to environmental pollution and management issues. Composting and pyrolysis are widely used technologies for recycling these wastes into valuable organic products for soil health and crop production. In the current study, fruits vegetables waste (FVW) [...] Read more.
Organic wastes are naturally biodegradable, but they contribute to environmental pollution and management issues. Composting and pyrolysis are widely used technologies for recycling these wastes into valuable organic products for soil health and crop production. In the current study, fruits vegetables waste (FVW) was converted to biochar, compost, and co-composted biochar. The microcrystal structure, functional groups, surface morphology, and nutrient contents of organic materials were investigated by XRD, FTIR, SEM-EDS, AAS, multi C-N analyzer, and ICP-OES techniques. Heavy metals contamination was not detected in the biomass used for pyrolysis and compost preparation. FVW had an acidic pH (5.92), while biochar, compost, and co-composted biochar had an alkaline pH. Total macronutrient (K, Na, S) and micronutrient (Cu, Fe) concentrations were higher in compost and co-composted biochar, with the exception of K, which was higher in biochar. Biochar had the highest surface area (4.99 m2g), followed by FVW, compost, and co-composted biochar. Co-composted biochar had a porous structure. Si, Ca, and Al contents were common in all organic materials, while P, K, Mg, and S were found with lower concentrations in both biochar and compost. Iron was only found in compost and co-composted biochar. Quartz, sylvite, and calcite were common minerals found in all organic treatments. Biochar contained more aromatic carbon ring structure C=C/C=O and aromatic C-H bending as compared to FVW and compost, thus, making biochar a stable carbon rich material suitable for soil carbon sequestration. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Agriculture Through Technological Intervention)
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15 pages, 7591 KiB  
Article
Development of a Spatial Model for Soil Quality Assessment under Arid and Semi-Arid Conditions
by Mohamed S. Shokr, Mostafa. A. Abdellatif, Ahmed A. El Baroudy, Abdelrazek Elnashar, Esmat F. Ali, Abdelaziz A. Belal, Wael. Attia, Mukhtar Ahmed, Ali A. Aldosari, Zoltan Szantoi, Mohamed E. Jalhoum and Ahmed M. S. Kheir
Sustainability 2021, 13(5), 2893; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13052893 - 7 Mar 2021
Cited by 36 | Viewed by 4882
Abstract
Food security has become a global concern for humanity with rapid population growth, requiring a sustainable assessment of natural resources. Soil is one of the most important sources that can help to bridge the food demand gap to achieve food security if well [...] Read more.
Food security has become a global concern for humanity with rapid population growth, requiring a sustainable assessment of natural resources. Soil is one of the most important sources that can help to bridge the food demand gap to achieve food security if well assessed and managed. The aim of this study was to determine the soil quality index (SQI) for El Fayoum depression in the Western Egyptian Desert using spatial modeling for soil physical, chemical, and biological properties based on the MEDALUS methodology. For this purpose, a spatial model was developed to evaluate the soil quality of the El Fayoum depression in the Western Egyptian Desert. The integration between Digital Elevation Model (DEM) and Sentinel-2 satellite image was used to produce landforms and digital soil mapping for the study area. Results showed that the study area located under six classes of soil quality, e.g., very high-quality class represents an area of 387.12 km2 (22.7%), high-quality class occupies 441.72 km2 (25.87%), the moderate-quality class represents 208.57 km2 (12.21%), slightly moderate-quality class represents 231.10 km2 (13.5%), as well as, a low-quality class covering an area of 233 km2 (13.60%), and very low-quality class occupies about 206 km2 (12%). The Agricultural Land Evaluation System for arid and semi-arid regions (ALESarid) was used to estimate land capability. Land capability classes were non-agriculture class (C6), poor (C4), fair (C3), and good (C2) with an area 231.87 km2 (13.50%), 291.94 km2 (17%), 767.39 km2 (44.94%), and 416.07 km2 (24.4%), respectively. Land capability along with the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) used for validation of the proposed model of soil quality. The spatially-explicit soil quality index (SQI) shows a strong significant positive correlation with the land capability and a positive correlation with NDVI at R2 0.86 (p < 0.001) and 0.18 (p < 0.05), respectively. In arid regions, the strategy outlined here can easily be re-applied in similar environments, allowing decision-makers and regional governments to use the quantitative results achieved to ensure sustainable development. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Agriculture Through Technological Intervention)
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