Search Results (1,072)

Drying conditions and grain moisture content (MC) before milling are important factors that influence rice milling quality and economic value. Two Egyptian rice cultivars, Sakha 108 and Egyptian Yasmine, as short and long grains, respectively were used in hot-air drying experiments in two successive growing seasons. In the present study, three initial grain moisture-content (MC) levels were evaluated for each cultivar. For Sakha 108, the first, second, and third initial average MC levels were 29.89 ± 0.30%w.b, 23.03 ± 0.14%w.b, and 20.37 ± 0.19%w.b, respectively. The corresponding values for Egyptian Yasmine were 30.57 ± 0.85%w.b, 23.12 ± 1.11%w.b, and 20.05 ± 0.74%w.b, respectively of rough rice, and were dried in three hot-air treatments at temperatures of 50 °C, 60 °C, and 70 °C to a final MC suitable for milling, around 14%w.b. After drying, we analyzed some milling-quality parameters, including husk percentage, brown rice percentage, bran and germ percentage, total milled rice percentage, broken rice percentage, and head rice yield percentage. Multiple-factor effect analysis found that the milling-quality parameters significantly differed as impacted by cultivar types, growing seasons, and initial grain moisture, while hot-air drying temperature only had significant effect on the head rice and broken rice percentage. The highest average percentage for head rice was produced by Sakha 108 (64.31%), with a mean of 55.71 ± 6.12%, while Egyptian Yasmine was only 55.05%, with mean of 44.40 ± 7.58%, during the first growing season. Reducing the initial grain MC from 29.89%w.b to 20.37%w.b (a 31.86% reduction) could increase the head rice percentage by 21.68% for Sakha 108; similarly, the Egyptian Yasmine head rice percentage could be increased by 43.59% by reducing the initial grain MC from 30.57%w.b to 20.37%w.b (a 34.41% reduction). The results provide useful information with the aim of improving the rice milling quality of Egyptian rice cultivars. This work combined initial grain moisture and hot-air drying temperatures to evaluate rice milling-quality variables with different rice cultivar kernel morphologies. This integrated comparison framework provides both practical drying assistance and essential data for rice-processing activities. Full article

The level of salt tolerance of rice varies with the developmental stage. The information on the tolerance of rice at each stage is valuable for breeding and planning in cultural management to obtain the optimal growth and yield in salt-affected areas. The objectives of this study were to compare the salt tolerance and physiological- and yield-related responses at three growth stages of the salt-sensitive Thai jasmine rice, KDML105, with its genetically improved variety RD73 (a registered commercial variety) and TSKC1-144 (a breeding line), both containing Pokkali-derived salt-tolerant QTL. The young hydroponically grown seedlings of TSKC1-144 treated with 150 mM NaCl were highly tolerant, while KDML105 was highly sensitive and RD73 was moderately tolerant. At the vegetative stage, KDML105 exhibited more growth and leaf physiological damage, showing the highest percentage reductions in the net photosynthesis rate (Pn), leaf relative water content (RWC), and shoot and total plant dry weight, but the highest increase in leaf electrolyte leakage (EL) and the highest leaf Na⁺/K⁺ ratio. During the reproductive phase, salt stress did not significantly induce physiological damage to the flag leaves, except for Pn, which was significantly reduced, particularly for KDML105. Both RD73 and TSKC1-144 exhibited lower biomass reductions and higher yields and yield components than KDML105. Compared with TSKC1-144, RD73 produced a lower grain number panicle⁻¹, grain weight panicle⁻¹, and lower 100-grain weight but 34% more panicles; therefore, it yielded a higher grain weight plant⁻¹ (27.57 cf. 20.93 g). The most prominent trait that conferred a greater salt tolerance to RD73 and TSKC1-144 compared with KDML105 was the more efficient Na⁺ exclusion. Taking their tolerance at all growth stages into consideration, RD73 and TSKC1-144 are deemed suitable for growing under rain-fed conditions where the intensity of the soil salinity fluctuates throughout the growing season. Full article

The incorporation of Chinese milk vetch (CMV, Astragalus sinicus L.) and rice straw is a common strategy to reduce chemical fertilizer in Chinese southern paddy fields. However, the effect of replacing part of the chemical fertilizer with organic material on greenhouse emissions is still a subject of controversy. Therefore, a field experiment initiated in 2009 was conducted to investigate the effects of different organic material return on greenhouse emissions, soil microbial community and soil fertility. There were five treatments, including CK (no chemical fertilizer, no CMV, no straw); NPK (chemical fertilizer alone); MF40 (CMV plus 40% of NPK); MS (CMV plus rice straw return); and MSF40 (CMV plus straw return plus 40% of NPK). The results showed that, compared with CK, all fertilization treatments significantly increased rice yield, with MSF40 treatment achieving a yield 19.98% ± 1.57% higher than that of NPK. Relative to NPK, the application of organic material significantly increased soil organic matter (SOM), total nitrogen (TN), and available phosphorous (AP) contents, and the available potassium (AK) content under MSF40 increased by 25.87% ± 2.15%. Compared with NPK, although MSF40 significantly increased cumulative CH₄ emissions and global warming potential (GWP), it exhibited a comparable yield-scaled GWP with that of NPK. The cumulative N₂O emissions were negative across all treatments with −8.54 ± 0.67 to −3.61 ± 0.27 kg ha⁻¹, indicating that the paddy field acted as a sink for N₂O, with MSF40 treatment showing the strongest absorption capacity. Organic material return enriched microbial taxa involved in soil element cycling which may result in improved soil fertility and rice yield, e.g., MS enriched Zavarzinella, Polyangia, Apiosordaria, and Lecythophora; MSF40 enriched Bacteroidales, Clonostachys and Junghuhnia. Redundancy analysis showed that soil OM, TN and AP were significantly positively correlated with rice yield and CH₄ emission. In conclusion, MSF40 represents a suitable fertilization strategy for balancing high rice yield, soil fertility improvement, and GHG per unit yield equivalent to NPK in the Fuzhou rice region. However, these findings are based on a single-season field experiment, and therefore require validation across multiple growing seasons. Full article

Whether and how Agricultural Socialized Services (ASS) are associated with grain-growing smallholders’ general self-reported subjective well-being (SWB) remains unclear. Using 894 survey records collected in Sichuan Province, China, from 21 to 31 August 2023, we estimate ordered probit and instrumental variable two-stage least-squares models. ASS Adoption Breadth is positively associated with SWB. One additional service category is associated with a 2.73-percentage point increase in the probability of reporting the highest SWB category. The IV estimate remains positive and statistically significant (0.077, p < 0.05), conditional on the maintained instrument assumptions. ASS Adoption Breadth is also positively associated with Relative Income Comparison, Log Hired Labor Expenditure, and Plant-protection Drone Adoption. These measured behavioral indicators provide evidence consistent with the hypothesized channels of Perceived Relative Economic Gain, Market-based Labor Substitution, and technology-enabled reduction in direct occupational exposure. They do not directly measure physical workload, pesticide exposure, or health outcomes. The findings inform policies that expand smallholders’ access to agricultural services, but the mechanism interpretations remain provisional. Full article

The growing focus on environmental sustainability in construction has driven advancements in the design and production of masonry materials, including bricks and concrete blocks. A major development is the incorporation of agricultural and industrial waste, such as fly ash, rice straw ash, bagasse ash, and other by-products, to reduce dependence on non-renewable resources and lower the carbon footprint of traditional manufacturing processes. This systematic review examines the potential of waste materials in masonry unit production by analysing Scopus-indexed studies published between 2015 and 2025. After screening, 30 studies were selected, covering fired bricks, unfired bricks, and concrete blocks, with emphasis on physical, mechanical, thermal, and durability properties. The findings show that industrial wastes typically improve mechanical strength through pozzolanic reactions, while agricultural wastes contribute to lower density and improved thermal insulation. However, performance depends on waste type, replacement level, and production conditions. Optimal incorporation levels are generally below 20%. Despite promising results, challenges remain, including the absence of standardised testing methods, limited durability evaluations, and insufficient evidence for large-scale industrial adoption. This review highlights current research trends and future opportunities for integrating waste materials into sustainable construction products. Full article

Population growth is increasing food demand, while watershed food systems face intense pressure from land-use/land-cover (LULC) change. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the critical threshold for food sufficiency in the Cimanuk Watershed. The methods used include dynamic analysis and prediction of LULC changes in line with four scenarios using Support Vector Machine (SVM)–Markov model, ecosystem service-based food production modeling through Crop Production module in Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Trade-offs (InVEST) model, food demand estimation based on population projections, and calculation of Food Sufficiency Index (FSI) to identify the critical threshold at which the food system shifts from surplus to deficit. The results showed that paddy rice production is projected to continue meeting food demand across all scenarios through 2042. However, food demand is expected to increase as the population grows, specifically in the Accelerated Population Growth (APGS) scenario. FSI analysis indicated that the Cimanuk Watershed remained in food surplus (FSI > 1) up to 2042. The watershed may transition to a food-deficit condition after 2062 in the absence of intervention measures. Therefore, this study recommends protecting productive paddy fields, conserving forests, and managing population growth to maintain long-term food sufficiency. Full article

Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) is a major cereal in Kazakhstan, where diverse breeding material supports crop improvement. We characterized 86 two-row spring barley accessions from six breeding organizations using the Illumina Infinium 50K Barley SNP Array. Analysis of 29,920 high-quality SNPs revealed moderate diversity (H_e = 0.346, PIC = 0.278, Shannon = 0.752), with 80.84% of molecular variation occurring within and 19.16% among breeding organizations. A minor allele frequency-free (MAF-free) analysis showed that 95.61% of marker–allele combinations at polymorphic loci were shared by at least two organizations. Although PCA, kinship, and neighbor-joining analyses indicated extensive overlap, discriminant analysis of principal components (DAPC) cluster membership was significantly associated with breeding origin (χ² = 106.38, Monte Carlo p = 1 × 10^–5; bias-corrected Cramér’s V = 0.513), demonstrating substantial but incomplete differentiation among breeding programs. Phenotypic differentiation was evaluated using environment-adjusted genotype BLUPs. All seven traits differed significantly among five DAPC clusters. In a reduced six-trait linear discriminant analysis (LDA) excluding vegetation period, LD1 was associated most strongly with number of kernels per spike, followed by heading time, spike length, and heading-to-maturity time. Leave-one-out cross-validation (LOOCV) accuracy was 36.47%, exceeding the permutation mean of 19.83% but indicating considerable phenotypic overlap. The examined materials therefore constitute a diverse, interconnected breeding panel that may support germplasm management and parent selection and provide a genomic and phenotypic framework for future GWAS, genomic selection, and targeted validation of molecular markers within the represented collections. Full article

The growing demand for gluten-free products has increased the need for a better understanding of the rheological behavior of alternative flours and their suitability for bakery applications. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of different hydration levels on the rheological properties of gluten-free flours and compare their behavior with that of wheat flour. Rice flour, corn flour, chickpea flour, buckwheat flour, and wheat flour were analyzed using Mixolab 2 at hydration levels of 55%, 58%, and 60%. The resulting torque curves were examined to assess dough development, stability, and behavior during mixing and heating. Differences among flour types were observed throughout dough development and protein weakening. One-way ANOVA identified significant flour-type effects for all 19 Mixolab variables at 55% and 60% hydration and for 17 of 19 variables at 58%, where T(C4) and γ-slope were not significant. Across the three common hydration levels, two-way ANOVA showed significant main effects of flour type and hydration for every variable and significant flour × hydration interactions for all variables (p ≤ 0.035), confirming flour-specific hydration responses. Among the gluten-free flours, buckwheat maintained the most stable and comparatively robust torque profile, rice was particularly sensitive at 60% hydration, and corn and chickpea showed pronounced structural weakening during heating, most notably chickpea. A focused principal component analysis (PCA) of the five directly measured torque points (C1–C5), using the hydration levels common to all flour types, identified a dominant first component that explained 76.9% of the total variance. The first two axes together accounted for 94.3% and provided a concise two-dimensional representation of flour-specific and hydration-dependent differences. These findings highlight the importance of hydration management in gluten-free formulations and provide useful information for optimizing bakery processes involving alternative flours. Full article

In Amazonian Spodosols, soil acidity and nutrient constraints limit the cultivation of cutleaf groundcherry. One sustainable alternative for cultivating this species is the use of Trichoderma inoculants, but studies on their use in this crop are scarce. This study evaluated whether rice-based inocula of Trichoderma harzianum (TH) CCB-LA101 and T. viride (TV) CCB-LA103 improved growth and fruit production of cutleaf groundcherry and whether the responses varied with the application dose. Plants were grown in a randomized complete block design with a 2 × 3 factorial arrangement: two Trichoderma species and three inoculum doses applied to the soil (0, 4, and 8 g plant⁻¹; Trichoderma concentration of 3.2 × 10⁹ CFU g⁻¹). Species and dose affected fruit width, length, number, and yield, with TH more effective than TV at increasing fruit number and yield. The contrast between inoculated and non-inoculated plants was significant for all traits. The 8 g plant⁻¹ dose significantly increased fruit number and yield by 22.8% and 17.7%, respectively, relative to the non-inoculated control, whereas fruit width and fruit length decreased by 8.3% and 7.3%, respectively. Considering the six treatment combinations, the 8 g plant⁻¹ TH inoculum (TH8) was the only treatment to significantly increase fruit yield, with net returns for smallholders estimated at USD 1104.46 ha⁻¹. Therefore, under the tested conditions, TH8 could be used to grow cutleaf groundcherry in Amazonian Spodosols. Full article

The growing demand for more sustainable construction materials has driven the development of composites incorporating industrial and agricultural residues, contributing to the reduction in virgin raw material consumption and the valorisation of by-products. In this context, the present study investigated the influence of incorporating rice husk subjected to different chemical treatments and the partial replacement of commercial gypsum with recycled gypsum on the flexural strength, compressive strength and microstructural characteristics of gypsum-based composites. Initially, formulations containing 5 wt.% and 10 wt.% rice husk in three different conditions, untreated, treated with calcium hydroxide, and treated with acetic acid, were produced and evaluated in terms of compressive strength and flexural strength. The formulation containing 5 wt.% rice husk treated with acetic acid exhibited the best overall performance and was therefore selected for the subsequent stage of the study. In the second phase, mixtures incorporating 20 wt.%, 30 wt.% and 40 wt.% recycled gypsum, with and without the addition of 5 wt.% treated rice husk, were investigated. Furthermore, particle size distribution, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) analyses were performed. The results demonstrated that the acetic acid treatment resulted in higher flexural and compressive strength compared with the other treatment conditions evaluated. Partial replacement with recycled gypsum also yielded promising results, with the formulation containing 70 wt.% commercial gypsum and 30 wt.% recycled gypsum exhibiting the highest mechanical strength among the composites without lignocellulosic reinforcement. Microstructural characterisation revealed the preservation of the principal mineralogical phases following the recycling process, and SEM micrographs showed the incorporation of rice husk within the gypsum matrix. Overall, the combination of 30 wt.% recycled gypsum and 5 wt.% rice husk treated with acetic acid represents a technically viable alternative for the development of gypsum composites intended for non-structural applications in the construction industry, while promoting the beneficial utilisation of waste materials. Full article

Although rice paddies are agricultural land, they also serve as artificial wetlands that deliver essential ecosystem services. Yet how farming systems affect their fish communities—and which metrics best capture those effects—remains poorly quantified in Asia. We compared fish assemblages between eco-friendly and conventional rice paddies in South Korea across the 2015 rice growing season (May–September), sampling 94 events by fyke net in Dangjin City (2704 individuals; 13 species) and analyzing the data with generalized linear mixed models and multivariate methods. Eco-friendly paddies supported 2.3-fold higher abundance and 2.6-fold higher biomass; differences were negligible in May (Cohen’s d ≈ 0) but large from June onward (d > 1.0), with a moderate-to-large pooled effect (d = 0.76–0.89). Community composition differed significantly (PERMANOVA), and eco-friendly assemblages were more consistent among fields (PERMDISP). Carassius auratus and Misgurnus anguillicaudatus were 10.8- and 2.7-fold more abundant under eco-friendly management, whereas α-diversity indices (richness, Shannon, Simpson, evenness) showed no differences, as three taxa comprised over 90% of the catch. In these species-poor, dominance-skewed systems, abundance-based and species-specific metrics detected management effects more sensitively than α-diversity indices, complementing rather than replacing them. Because these results derive from a single growing season in one region, however, they should be regarded as specific to comparable systems and require multi-year, multi-region validation before their use in biomonitoring and eco-friendly agricultural policy can be generalized. Full article

Accurate crop-growth estimation from unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) imagery is important for precision agriculture, but image-only models can struggle to represent seasonal context. This study evaluates whether combining UAV imagery with weather variables and elapsed time improves continuous rice growth-rate prediction in a single-site, publicly available rice-seedling dataset spanning multiple growing seasons. A Time-Aware Late Fusion (TALF) model is introduced in which a convolutional branch encodes image features, a multilayer perceptron encodes contextual features, and the two streams are merged only at the regression head. Relative humidity, wind speed, and elapsed time are used as contextual inputs after season-aware preprocessing. Evaluation is reported on a chronological multi-season split using internal ablations rather than external generalization claims. TALF achieved a mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.031, compared with 0.1455 for the optimized image-only baseline and 0.0890 for an early-fusion image-and-weather baseline. A secondary tolerance-based metric reached 94.9% under the reported threshold. The results indicate that weather and elapsed-time context improve prediction on this dataset and that separating image and tabular encoders until the final layers is a competitive multimodal learning design under the reported protocol. Full article

The growing demand for low-carbon building materials and the challenges of handling agroforestry waste and discarded EPS particles have spurred research toward developing novel building composites that utilize solid waste. Therefore, this study aims to develop a lightweight geopolymer composite incorporating these recycled materials to balance thermal insulation, mechanical strength, and waterproofing properties. In this work, geopolymer served as the binder, with various types of raw biomass (sawdust, rice husk, rice straw, and coconut fiber) as the primary aggregates and EPS particles as an additive to create a closed-pore structure. The microstructure of the raw biomass was characterized by SEM, while its specific surface area and average pore diameter were determined by BET analysis. Furthermore, the prepared composites were comprehensively evaluated in terms of their microstructure, pore structure (MIP), density, thermal conductivity, compressive strength, total water absorption, capillary water absorption, surface wettability, and UV aging behavior. The results showed that the prepared composites exhibited a porosity of 59.9–65.7%, a density of 492.9–586.3 kg/m³, a compressive strength of 7.3–10.9 MPa, a thermal conductivity of 0.115–0.142 W/(m·K), a total water absorption of 35.2–42.2%, capillary water uptake coefficients of 4.9–11 kg/m², and a water contact angle exceeding 140° (after modification). In addition, the developed composites offered significant environmental and economic benefits, with a low carbon footprint and an estimated cost of 100.6–150.3 USD/m³, making them more competitive compared to traditional insulation materials. Meanwhile, this study provides a scientific basis for developing high-strength building insulation materials from agroforestry waste, thus outlining a promising direction for future research and industry development. Full article

Vegetation indices (VIs) are widely used as efficient proxies for canopy structure and pigment dynamics, whereas solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) provides a direct indicator of photosynthetic activity. Accurate monitoring of these variables is essential for ecosystem assessment, agricultural management, and satellite product validation. However, long-term field spectroscopy is often influenced by instrument aging and environmental variability, altering radiometric calibration coefficients and introducing uncertainty. In this study, we systematically evaluated the impact of interannual calibration coefficients derived in 2023 and 2024 on six commonly used VIs and SIF. These variables were retrieved from ground-based hyperspectral observations acquired continuously using FLAME-T and QEPRO+ spectrometers over a full rice-growing season. Furthermore, MODIS-like broadband indices were simulated through spectral convolution with sensor response functions. Results revealed clear interannual differences in calibration coefficients, particularly in the blue (450–500 nm) and red-edge (700–800 nm) regions. PRI exhibited the highest sensitivity to calibration changes. SIF also showed pronounced sensitivity due to its intrinsically weak signal and strong channel dependence. Conversely, NDVI and ARVI were highly robust, with the calibration-induced bias of NDVI remaining near zero, benefiting from its normalized formulation and strong near-infrared reflectance. Broadband simulation modified the propagation of uncertainty in an index-dependent manner. Compared with narrowband counterparts, broadband EVI, SAVI, and PRI showed reduced sensitivity, whereas NDVI exhibited a slight sensitivity increase. These findings demonstrate a hierarchy of calibration sensitivity governed by signal strength, spectral band selection, and algorithm design. They emphasize the necessity of frequency-dependent calibration strategies for reliable products in satellite validation studies. Full article

The timing of microbial inoculant application may influence nutrient availability, plant nutrient acquisition, and grain quality in flooded rice systems. This study investigated the effects of the application timing of a ginger-fermented microbial inoculant (GFMI) on soil and floodwater nutrient dynamics, plant performance, grain yield, and grain quality of KDML105 rice under flooded cultivation. The GFMI significantly affected soil pH, soil organic carbon (SOC), ammonium (NH₄⁺-N), available phosphorus (P), soil MRS-culturable presumptive lactic acid bacteria (presumptive LAB) populations, and floodwater NH₄⁺-N concentrations. Although GFMI application before plowing (GFMI-PL) maintained the highest soil presumptive LAB populations throughout the growing season, GFMI application at transplanting (GFMI-TP) produced the strongest agronomic responses. Soil NH₄⁺-N concentrations were generally greater in GFMI-treated plots than in the non-inoculated control (CT) during the active growth period, with peak concentrations reaching 98.1 mg kg⁻¹ under GFMI-TP compared with 76.0 mg kg⁻¹ in the control at 69 days after transplanting. These responses were accompanied by greater shoot N, P, and K concentrations and the highest paddy rice yield (6.40 Mg ha⁻¹), representing a 15.5% increase over the CT (5.54 Mg ha⁻¹). GFMI-TP also produced the highest crude protein (7.62%) and crude fat (0.63%) concentrations and increased the abundance of several amino acids, particularly glutamic acid (0.61 g 100 g⁻¹ protein), aspartic acid (0.29 g 100 g⁻¹ protein), and proline (0.24 g 100 g⁻¹ protein). GFMI application also influenced grain mineral composition, although responses varied among individual elements. In contrast, cooking quality characteristics were not significantly affected by treatment. Sensory evaluation indicated greater consumer preference for GFMI-treated rice, with GFMI-TP receiving the highest scores for aroma, taste/flavor, and overall acceptance. Overall, these findings demonstrate that synchronizing GFMI application with transplanting maximized the benefits of the fermented microbial inoculant, resulting in improved nutrient availability, grain yield, and grain quality in KDML105 rice under flooded cultivation. These results highlight the potential of ginger-fermented microbial inoculants as a biologically based strategy for improving nutrient management and sustainable rice production. Full article