Search Results (5)

Understanding the agronomic interventions that ensure higher crop yields and minimize their chances of failure is critical for meeting global nutritional demands. Rice is a staple food crop that is prone to lodging risk, particularly when higher yields are desired. The potential role of a combined application of Zinc (Zn) and Silicon (Si) in determining the grain yield and lodging resistance has been rarely investigated under field conditions. Thus, field trials were carried out to evaluate the grain yield and lodging resistance of rice at two different locations i.e., Qionghai and Wuzhishan, under three levels of Zn (0, 40, and 80 kg ha⁻¹) and Si (0, 120, and 240 kg ha⁻¹). The results showed that Zn application at the rates of 40 and 80 kg ha⁻¹ increased rice yield by 9% and 5% at Qionghai, and by 5% and 6% at Wuzhishan, respectively. The improved grain yield due to Zn application could be attributed to the increased panicles m⁻², splikelets m⁻², and aboveground biomass. Meanwhile, Zn failed to show any remarkable impact on stem and root lodging susceptibility. Conversely, no significant influence of applying Si on grain yield was observed, while its application at the rates of 120 and 240 kg Si ha⁻¹ enhanced the stem and root lodging resistance (denoted by their respective safety factors, for stem (SF_s) and for root (SF_r) by 32% and 22% at Qionghai, and by 11% and 34% at Wuzhishan, respectively, compared to zero Si application. The improved lodging resistance in terms of SF_s and SF_r could be ascribed to the increased stem bending strength and anchorage strength, while self-weight moment of whole plant decreased. In summary, a beneficial role of Si in lodging resistance and Zn in yield enhancement were evidenced in the present study across the two sites. It can be concluded that by combining 40 kg Zn ha⁻¹ with 120 kg Si ha⁻¹, both grain yield and lodging resistance could be simultaneously improved in rice crops. Full article

Millions of people around the world rely on rice (Oryza sativa) for a significant portion of daily calories, but rice is a relatively poor source of essential micronutrients like iron and zinc. Rice has been shown to accumulate alarmingly high concentrations of toxic elements, such as cadmium. Cadmium in foods can lead to renal failure, bone mineral density loss, cancer, and significant neurotoxicological effects. Several strategies to limit cadmium and increase micronutrient density in staple food crops like rice have been explored, but even when cadmium concentrations are reduced by a management strategy, total cadmium levels in rice grain are an unreliable means of estimating human health risk because only a fraction of the minerals in grains are bioaccessible. The goal of this work was to assess the influence of cadmium and zinc supplied to plant roots on the bioaccessibility of cadmium and essential minerals from grains of three rice lines (GSOR 310546/low grain Cd, GSOR 311667/medium grain Cd, and GSOR 310428/high grain Cd) that differed in grain cadmium accumulation. Treatments consisted of 0 μM Cd + 2 μM Zn (c0z2), 1 μM Cd + 2 μM Zn (c1z2), or 1 μM Cd + 10 μM Zn (c1z10). Our results revealed that an increased grain cadmium concentration does not always correlate with increased cadmium bioaccessibility. Among the three rice lines tested, Cd bioaccessibility increased from 2.5% in grains from the c1z2 treatment to 17.7% in grains from the c1z10 treatment. Furthermore, Cd bioccessibility in the low-Cd-accumulating line was significantly higher than the high line in c1z10 treatment. Zinc bioaccessibility increased in the high-cadmium-accumulating line when cadmium was elevated in grains, and in the low-cadmium line when both cadmium and zinc were increased in the rice grains. Our results showed that both exogenous cadmium and elevated zinc treatments increased the bioaccessibility of other minerals from grains of the low- or high-grain cadmium lines of rice. Differences in mineral bioaccessibility were dependent on rice line. Calculations also showed that increased cadmium bioaccessibility correlated with increased risk of dietary exposure to consumers. Furthermore, our results suggest that zinc fertilization increased dietary exposure to cadmium in both high and low lines. This information can inform future experiments to analyze genotypic effects of mineral bioavailability from rice, with the goal of reducing cadmium absorption while simultaneously increasing zinc absorption from rice grains. Full article

Field application of organic slurries contributes considerably to emissions of ammonia (NH₃) which causes sever environmental damage and can result in lower nitrogen (N) fertilizer efficiency. In recent years, field acidification systems have been introduced to reduce such NH₃ emissions. However, combined field data on ammonia emissions and N use efficiency of acidified slurries, in particular by practical acidification systems, are scarce. Here, we present for the first time a simultaneous in situ assessment of the effects of acidification of five different organic slurries with a commercial acidifications system combined with different application techniques. The analysis was performed in randomized plot trials in winter wheat and spring barley after two applications to each crop (before tillering and after flag leave emergence) in year 2014 in Denmark. Slurry types included cattle slurry, mink slurry, pig slurry, anaerobic digestate, and the liquid phase of anaerobic digestate. Tested application techniques were trail hose application with and without slurry acidification in winter wheat and slurry injection and incorporation compared to trail hose application with and without acidification in spring barley. Slurries were applied on 9 m × 9 m plots separated by buffer areas of the same dimension. Ammonia emission was determined by a combination of semi-quantitative acid traps scaled by absolute emissions obtained from Draeger Tube Method dynamic chamber measurements. Experimental results were analysed by mixed effects models and HSD post hoc test (p < 0.05). Significant and almost quantitative NH₃ emission reduction compared to trail hose application was observed in the barley trial by slurry incorporation of acidified slurry (89% reduction) and closed slot injection (96% reduction), while incorporation alone decreased emissions by 60%. In the two applications to winter wheat, compared to trail hose application of non-acidified slurry, acidification reduced NH₃ emissions by 61% and 67% in cattle slurry, in anaerobic digestate by 45% and 57% and liquid phase of anaerobic digestate by 58%, respectively. Similar effects but on a lower emission level were observed in mink slurry, while acidification showed almost no effect in pig slurry. Acidifying animal manure with a commercial system was confirmed to consistently reduce NH₃ emissions of most slurry types, and emission reductions were similar as from experimental acidification systems. However, failure to reduce ammonia emissions in pig slurry hint to technical limitations of such systems. Winter wheat and spring barley yields were only partly significantly increased by use of ammonia emission mitigation measures, while there were significant positive effects on apparent nitrogen use efficiency (+17–28%). The assessment of the agronomic effects of acidification requires further investigations. Full article

The number of raspberry plants dying from a sudden outbreak of gray mold, verticillium wilt, anthracnosis, and phytophthora infection has increased in recent times, leading to crop failure. The plants suffer tissue collapse and black roots, symptoms similar to a Botrytis–Verticillium–Colletotrichum–Phytophthora disease complex. A sizeable number of fungal isolates were acquired from the root and rhizosphere samples of wild raspberries from different locations. Subsequent in vitro tests revealed that a core consortium of 11 isolates of selected Trichoderma spp. was the most essential element for reducing in phytopathogen expansion. For this purpose, isolates were characterized by the efficiency of their antagonistic properties against Botrytis, Verticillium, Colletotrichum and Phytophthora isolates and with hydrolytic properties accelerating the decomposition of organic matter in the soil and thus making nutrients available to plants. Prebiotic additive supplementation with a mixture of adonitol, arabitol, erythritol, mannitol, sorbitol, and adenosine was proven in a laboratory experiment to be efficient in stimulating the growth of Trichoderma isolates. Through an in vivo pathosystem experiment, different raspberry naturalization-protection strategies (root inoculations and watering with native Trichoderma isolates, applied separately or simultaneously) were tested under controlled phytotron conditions. The experimental application of phytopathogens attenuated raspberry plant and soil properties, while Trichoderma consortium incorporation exhibited a certain trend of improving these features in terms of a short-term response, depending on the pathosystem and naturalization strategy. What is more, a laboratory-scale development of a biopreparation for the naturalization of the raspberry rhizosphere based on the Trichoderma consortium was proposed in the context of two application scenarios. The first was a ready-to-use formulation to be introduced while planting (pellets, gel). The second was a variant to be applied with naturalizing watering (soluble powder). Full article

Climate change will increase simultaneous crop failures or too abundant harvests, creating global synchronized yield change (SYC), and may decrease stability in the portfolio of food supply sources in agricultural trade. This study evaluated the influence of SYC on the global agricultural market and trade liberalization. The analysis employed a global computable general equilibrium model combined with crop models of four major grains (i.e., rice, wheat, maize, and soybeans), based on predictions of five global climate models. Simulation results show that (1) the SYC structure was statistically robust among countries and four crops, and will be enhanced by climate change, (2) such synchronicity increased the agricultural price volatility and lowered social welfare levels more than expected in the random disturbance (non-SYC) case, and (3) trade liberalization benefited both food-importing and exporting regions, but such effects were degraded by SYC. These outcomes were due to synchronicity in crop-yield change and its ranges enhanced by future climate change. Thus, SYC is a cause of systemic risk to food security and must be considered in designing agricultural trade policies and insurance systems. Full article