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Population dynamics of stubby root nematodes (Trichodorus and Paratrichodorus spp.) associated with ‘Docking disorder’ of sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.), in field rotations with cover crops in East England
Get PDFStubby root nematodes (SRN)—(Trichodorus and Paratrichodorus spp.) are economically important plant parasitic nematodes (PPNs) in east England and have been reported to cause up to 50% root yield reduction in sugar beet (Beta vulgaris). The banning of nematicides such as Vydate (oxamyl) due to environmental concerns limits the management options available to farmers for the management of this nematode. Cover crops (CCs) present a practical option for farmers to manage nematodes whilst enhancing other soil properties such as structure, organic matter content and soil biodiversity, which contributes to the overall soil health. This study evaluated the population dynamics of SRN in field rotations with cover crops. The effect of cover cropping on the yield and quality of follow-up crop, sugar beet, was also evaluated. Field experiments were initiated at two sites in England: Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk (site 1) and Docking, Norfolk (site 2). The cover crops evaluated were—Indian mustard (Brassica juncea), oilseed radish (Raphanus sativus), daikon radish (Raphanus sativus var. longipinnatus), Festuca-lolium hybrid grass (Festulolium loliaceum) with endophyte (E+) and without (E−), Italian rye grass (Lolium multiflorum), phacelia (Phacelia tanacetifolia) and opium poppy (Papaver somniferum). At site 1, plots drilled with brassica cover crops, Indian mustard and oilseed radish, had significantly lower SRN reproduction factor (Rf) (p < .05) compared to the fallow control and daikon radish. In site 2, plots drilled with the cover crops—Italian rye grass, Indian mustard, grass without endophyte (E−) or left fallow and undisturbed had a significantly higher Rf (p < .05) compared to plots with phacelia, opium poppy, and disturbed or sterile fallows. Sugar beet root fanging (%) and root soil tare (%) were lower in plots that had lower SRN reproduction, that is, phacelia, opium poppy, sterile fallow, and disturbed fallow. Environmental variables such as rainfall and soil temperature also influenced SRN densities at different sampling points where SRN increased with increasing rain and decreasing soil temperatures. Results from this study indicate that under field conditions the population dynamics of SRN are influenced by multiple factors such as the host status of the CCs grown, weed occurence which serve as alternative hosts as SRN are polyphagous in nature, soil temperature, rainfall, and soil disturbance. It was also clear that multiplication rate of SRN in CCs such as phacelia and opium poppy was lower despite SRN being able to multiply in all cover crops tested in this study
Effects of a synthetic analog of the bovine appeasing pheromone on the overall welfare of dairy calves from birth through weaning
Get PDFEnvironmental enrichment in the form of synthetic
analogs of appeasing pheromones have shown promising
results in improving the welfare of domestic animals, including dogs, pigs, horses, and cattle. The main objective
of this study was to determine if the use of the bovine
appeasing pheromone (BAP) would improve the welfare
of dairy calves; therefore, in this randomized controlled
trial, 72 Holstein Friesian dairy calves were housed in individual hutches after birth and were randomly allocated
to receive BAP or a placebo once every 2 wk from birth
through weaning. After weaning, calves were moved to
group hutches according to treatment for 4 additional
weeks. It was hypothesized that dairy calves treated with
BAP would display fewer signs of stress compared with
calves receiving the placebo during the weaning process.
To operationalize stress, calves were fitted with triaxial
accelerometers on the hind leg after birth, and activity
levels were monitored throughout the experiment. Data
on live weight gain (ADG) and cortisol levels in saliva
and hair were also obtained. Calves were fitted with heart
rate monitors every week for at least 24 h to assess heart
rate variability (HRV). The use of BAP had a positive effect on ADG after weaning and during group housing and
resulted in increased resting time after weaning. Moreover, BAP was associated with a reduction in the activation of the neuroendocrine system evidenced by higher
HRV parameters after weaning, including increased
standard deviation of beat to beat of normal sinus beats
and root mean squares of successive differences. These
results suggest a potential welfare benefit of the use of
BAP during the artificial rearing of dairy calves
Non-invasive prediction of sweet cherry soluble solids content using dielectric spectroscopy and down-sampling techniques
Get PDFThe soluble solid content (SSC) in fruits significantly influences consumers’ taste, aroma, and flavor preferences.
It also plays a crucial role for farmers and wholesalers in determining the optimal harvest period for marketing.
Dielectric spectroscopy, an innovative and non-invasive technique, has shown promise for various applications in
the food and agriculture sectors. This study introduces an open-ended coaxial line probe measurement system to
non-invasively determine the SSC of sweet cherries at different radio and microwave frequencies. Key parameters
such as the dielectric constant (ε′), loss factor (ε′′), loss tangent (tan δ), and SSC of sweet cherries were measured across different harvest periods. The dielectric property frequency ranges were down-sampled from 300 MHz to
15 MHz. Using dielectric spectroscopy, we implemented predictive models: support vector regression (SVR) and
multilayer perceptron (MLP), that demonstrated extremely low MAE and RMSE, with correlation coefficients (R) exceeding 0.97 for SVR and 0.96 for MLP. The down-sampled frequency ranges for dielectric properties yielded consistently high performance across all subsets, demonstrating comparable results. These findings suggest that a dielectric measurement system designed for SSC estimation using fewer frequencies could effectively reduce costs while maintaining accuracy
Potato plant phenotyping and characterisation utilising machine learning techniques: A state-of-the-art review and current trends
Get PDFGlobally, potatoes are the fourth most produced food crop, and in the United Kingdom alone, they generated approximately £705 million in 2022. However, to achieve the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), potato farmers need to sustainably increase yields to address the growing demand for both food and land. Crop yield can be affected by various factors, including disease, pests, and nutrient deficiencies. To tackle these challenges and optimise yields, researchers have leveraged remote sensing platforms for high-throughput non-destructive phenotyping. Data collected from these platforms can be used to develop machine learning (ML) models aimed at addressing the aforementioned issues. To summarise recent developments in ML models applied to potato plant phenotyping, a systematic review of journal articles from the last seven years was conducted. This review underscored the advantages of Deep Learning (DL) approaches and the rising trend of Convolutional Neural Network (CNN)-based architectures, while also noting the limited availability of data for training these models. This review is intended to benefit researchers and farmers by providing an up-to-date review of ML models in potato plant phenotyping
Assessment of Non-Cereal Products Gluten Cross-Contamination Exposure Risk in a Polish Female Population of Patients Diagnosed with Coeliac Disease
Get PDFBackground/Objectives: Following gluten-free diet is challenging, due to risk of gluten cross-contamination. The study aimed to assess the non-cereal products gluten cross-contamination exposure risk in patients with coeliac disease. Methods: The study was conducted in a population of 699 Polish female members of the Polish Coeliac Society purchasing gluten-free products on-line (445 patients, 254 relatives). Participants were asked about frequency of buying and availability of gluten-free alternatives of non-cereal products characterized by the gluten cross-contamination risk (‘hidden’ gluten sources). Results: The most frequently bought non-cereal gluten-free alternatives of the ‘hidden’ gluten sources were baking powders, spices, side dishes, ice cream, chocolate and chocolate products, snack bars and candies. The caregivers often declared buying ‘often’ gluten-free baking powder, snack bars, chocolate and chocolate products, candies, ice cream, as well as often declared problems with the availability of gluten-free spices, chocolate and chocolate products, while patients often declared buying ‘often’ gluten-free beer, as well as often declared problems with its availability. The older respondents often declared buying ‘often’ gluten-free baking powder, while younger respondents often declared buying ‘often’ gluten-free chocolate and chocolate products, as well as often declared problems with the availability of gluten-free instant soups, and beer. The respondents living in small towns/villages often declared problems with the availability of gluten-free powder sauces. The respondents not purchasing in hypermarkets often declared buying ‘often’ gluten-free baking powder, spices, candies. The respondents who most often purchased gluten-free products often declared problems with the availability of gluten-free side dishes, chocolate and chocolate products. Conclusions: The majority of patients diagnosed with coeliac disease do not buy a number of gluten-free alternatives of the ‘hidden’ gluten sources, so they may be prone to gluten exposure, due to non-cereal products’ gluten cross-contamination risk
Role of livestock in circular bioeconomy systems
Get PDFImplications
A circular bioeconomy integrates both bioeconomy principles and circular principles to create sustainable, low-impact solutions that ensure efficient use of biological resources.
Livestock play an important role in a circular bioeconomy as they enable the upcycling of agricultural products unsuitable for consumption by humans into nutritionally rich animal-sourced foods, and their excrements serve as valuable organic fertilizer.
Understanding positive and negative environmental impacts of livestock production systems is the key to establishing a sustainable circular bioeconomy
Stomatal Blocker Delays Strawberry Production
Get PDFStrawberries have a short shelf-life leading to food loss and waste when production unexpectedly exceeds demand. PGRs may have potential to delay production and reduce food loss and waste, but no PGRs are available for delaying strawberry production. The aim of this preliminary study was to investigate re-purposing a stomatal blocking film antitranspirant polymer as a PGR to temporarily delay production. Poly-1-p-menthene or water was applied during early fruit ripening in two glasshouse experiments, one on a June-bearer cultivar and one on an everbearer cultivar. Ripe strawberries were harvested during the next 23 days, the cumulative yield was recorded, and the production curves were fitted using polynomial regression in groups. The statistical analysis showed that cubic polynomial regression curves could be fitted separately to each treatment. Application of the blocker delayed the production of both cultivars by 1–2 days during the period of rapid berry production. The delay diminished and cumulative yield returned to the water-treated value by 13 and 18 days after application in the June-bearer and everbearer cultivars, respectively. At 23 days after application, the blocker gave 8% greater cumulative yield in the June-bearer, but not in the everbearer. It was concluded that, if a greater delay could be achieved, there may be potential to use stomatal blockers as PGRs in some cultivars of strawberry to delay production and reduce food loss and waste when unanticipated lower demand occurs
The development of a silage-based biorefinery to deliver the maximum nutritional benefit for human consumption from UK grasslands
Get PDFIn this work we aimed to increase the food potential of UK pasture by coupling targeted mechanochemical processing and novel biotechnology to convert silage into edible protein and lipid fractions. To this end, the water-soluble protein and vitamins were extracted from silage using a twin-screw extruder at room temperature. The extrusion of the silage was optimized in water with no additional chemicals. Under optimal conditions, 22 wt% of the silage was solubilized, with this fraction containing 52% of the protein present from the original material. The protein contained key essential amino acids with a profile similar to soy protein. Vitamins B 1 , B 2 , B 3 (nicotinamide and nicotinic acid) and B 6 (pyridoxine, pyridoxal and pyridoxamine) were also extracted. The resulting solids from the extruder, which contained further insoluble protein and the carbohydrates from the silage, were then depolymerized and used to culture the oleaginous yeast Metschnikowia pulcherrima producing further mycoprotein and lipid from the system. The mycoprotein contained a balanced amount of vital amino acids, while the yeast lipid had a fatty acid profile containing high levels of monounsaturated lipids. The silage was also found to contain high value lipids, rich in omega-6 linolenic acid. The work presented here represents a preliminary study but highlights the possibility of extracting edible nutrients from grass feasibly, with the potential to make UK agriculture far more resilient and sustainable.
This article is part of the theme issue ‘Transforming terrestrial food systems for human and planetary health’
An economic, environmental, and social analysis of autonomous mechanical weeding in sugar beet farming
Get PDFWeeding robots are expected to decrease herbicide use on conventional farms and reduce manual labor on organic farms. A multi-objective linear programming model was used to compare the economic, environmental, and social performance of robotic and non-robotic weed control in conventional and organic sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) production in Bavaria, Germany. On the conventional farm, the weeding robot generated a mean gross return of €58,612 year−1 compared to €57,728 year−1 when using herbicide spraying. However, the mean return on total costs for the weeding robot was negative (€−2750 year−1) and substantially lower than the €8663 year−1 achieved with herbicide spraying. In organic farming, this technology was more profitable than non-robotic mechanical weeding, generating a mean gross return of €73,098 year−1 and a mean return on total costs of €10,373 year−1. The corresponding figures for non-robotic mechanical weeding were € 59,176 and €7,577 year−1. The carbon emission intensity of sugar beet was comparable between weed control strategies on the conventional farm and marginally lower for robotic weeding on the organic farm. On both farms, autonomous mechanical weeding used more skilled labor due to routine supervision, field-to-field transport, and human intervention requirements. Higher skilled labor time with robotics negatively affected farmers’ work–life balance. Investment cost, supervision and human intervention requirements, technology specialization, and logistics of field operations were identified as the main barriers to adoption of the tested weeding robot. These barriers should be prioritized when developing future autonomous farm equipment
Understanding young urban Chinese consumers’ preferences for food goods endorsed by celebrities: a behavioural approach
Get PDFPurpose
The construction industry faces a significant challenge because of the lack of digital tools and collaborative platforms for managing recycled materials and fostering a circular economy (CE) throughout a building’s life. This study aims to mitigate the environmental impact of the construction industry by integrating building information modelling (BIM) with CE principles.
Design/methodology/approach
In this research, Python and Microsoft Visual Studio were used to introduce a bidirectional data-sharing process and integrate material passports (MPs) within the Autodesk Revit framework. A case study was conducted to check the efficacy of the developed prototype in a real-world project of NEOM City. A total of 12 industry experts have validated the developed prototype named BIM-circular economy system (BIM-CES) through a demonstration, followed by a semi-structured interview, and further analysed using importance-performance analysis (IPA).
Findings
The prototype demonstrated a framework for using wood material-related MP within a BIM model. IPA revealed that BIM-CES effectively addresses key issues of lack of collaboration, technological solutions, technical skills and circular design, ranking high in importance and performance.
Originality/value
Unlike previous studies that primarily focus on celebrity attributes in the food sector, this research integrates socio-psychological factors, providing a broader perspective on how these attributes influence consumer behaviour