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1.
Review: Shaping a sustainable food future by rediscovering long-forgotten ancient grains.
Cheng, A
Plant science : an international journal of experimental plant biology. 2018;:136-142
Abstract
Genetic erosion of crops has been determined way back in the 1940s and accelerated some twenty years later by the inception of the Green Revolution. Claims that the revolution was a complete triumph remain specious, especially since the massive production boost in the global big three grain crops; wheat, maize, and rice that happened back then is unlikely to recur under current climate irregularities. Presently, one of the leading strategies for sustainable agriculture is by unlocking the genetic potential of underutilized crops. The primary focus has been on a suite of ancient cereals and pseudo-cereals which are riding on the gluten-free trend, including, among others, grain amaranth, buckwheat, quinoa, teff, and millets. Each of these crops has demonstrated tolerance to various stress factors such as drought and heat. Apart from being the centuries-old staple in their native homes, these crops have also been traditionally used as forage for livestock. This review summarizes what lies in the past and present for these underutilized cereals, particularly concerning their potential role and significance in a rapidly changing world, and provides compelling insights into how they could one day be on par with the current big three in feeding a booming population.
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2.
Revitalization of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria for sustainable development in agriculture.
Gouda, S, Kerry, RG, Das, G, Paramithiotis, S, Shin, HS, Patra, JK
Microbiological research. 2018;:131-140
Abstract
The progression of life in all forms is not only dependent on agricultural and food security but also on the soil characteristics. The dynamic nature of soil is a direct manifestation of soil microbes, bio-mineralization, and synergistic co-evolution with plants. With the increase in world's population the demand for agriculture yield has increased tremendously and thereby leading to large scale production of chemical fertilizers. Since the use of fertilizers and pesticides in the agricultural fields have caused degradation of soil quality and fertility, thus the expansion of agricultural land with fertile soil is near impossible, hence researchers and scientists have sifted their attention for a safer and productive means of agricultural practices. Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) has been functioning as a co-evolution between plants and microbes showing antagonistic and synergistic interactions with microorganisms and the soil. Microbial revitalization using plant growth promoters had been achieved through direct and indirect approaches like bio-fertilization, invigorating root growth, rhizoremediation, disease resistance etc. Although, there are a wide variety of PGPR and its allies, their role and usages for sustainable agriculture remains controversial and restricted. There is also variability in the performance of PGPR that may be due to various environmental factors that might affect their growth and proliferation in the plants. These gaps and limitations can be addressed through use of modern approaches and techniques such as nano-encapsulation and micro-encapsulation along with exploring multidisciplinary research that combines applications in biotechnology, nanotechnology, agro biotechnology, chemical engineering and material science and bringing together different ecological and functional biological approaches to provide new formulations and opportunities with immense potential.
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3.
Effects of lily/maize intercropping on rhizosphere microbial community and yield of Lilium davidii var. unicolor.
Zhou, L, Wang, Y, Xie, Z, Zhang, Y, Malhi, SS, Guo, Z, Qiu, Y, Wang, L
Journal of basic microbiology. 2018;(10):892-901
Abstract
Continuous cropping of lily (Lilium davidii var. unicolor) or any other crop seriously affects yield and quality. In this study, we compared continuous cropping with lily/maize intercropping. We also examined the lily rhizosphere microbes community in both sole lily cropping and lily/maize intercropping systems, by the llumina Miseq platform. Here we refer to data of recent years field experimentation of a lily/maize intercrop system in different planting configurations in the Gaolan Ecological and Agricultural Research Station. Treatments included sole crops of lily and maize, an intercrop consisting of strips of four lily rows alternating with one maize rows. The land equivalent ratio (LER) of intercrops was 1.294. The results showed that compared to sole cropping, the yield of lily in the first year of planting increased when lily was intercropped with maize. The species annotation of the high-throughput sequencing experiment showed that there was no difference in the diversity of the lily rhizosphere soil microbes on phylum taxonomic level, but the relative abundance of some genus changed obviously. The relative abundance of harmful fungus Fusarium spp. and, Funneliformis spp., decreased, and the relative abundance of beneficial bacteria Sphingomonas spp. and, Nitrospira spp., increased. In addition, we found that Lecanicillium spp., appeared only in the intercropping lily rhizosphere soil and sole cropping maize rhizosphere soil. In conclusion, the findings indicated that lily/maize intercropping could change soil microenvironment, and affect the diversity and structure of microorganism community in lily rhizosphere, with further beneficial effect on the yield of lily.
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4.
Boron: Functions and Approaches to Enhance Its Availability in Plants for Sustainable Agriculture.
Shireen, F, Nawaz, MA, Chen, C, Zhang, Q, Zheng, Z, Sohail, H, Sun, J, Cao, H, Huang, Y, Bie, Z
International journal of molecular sciences. 2018;(7)
Abstract
Boron (B) is an essential trace element required for the physiological functioning of higher plants. B deficiency is considered as a nutritional disorder that adversely affects the metabolism and growth of plants. B is involved in the structural and functional integrity of the cell wall and membranes, ion fluxes (H⁺, K⁺, PO₄3−, Rb⁺, Ca2+) across the membranes, cell division and elongation, nitrogen and carbohydrate metabolism, sugar transport, cytoskeletal proteins, and plasmalemma-bound enzymes, nucleic acid, indoleacetic acid, polyamines, ascorbic acid, and phenol metabolism and transport. This review critically examines the functions of B in plants, deficiency symptoms, and the mechanism of B uptake and transport under limited B conditions. B deficiency can be mitigated by inorganic fertilizer supplementation, but the deleterious impact of frequent fertilizer application disrupts soil fertility and creates environmental pollution. Considering this, we have summarized the available information regarding alternative approaches, such as root structural modification, grafting, application of biostimulators (mycorrhizal fungi (MF) and rhizobacteria), and nanotechnology, that can be effectively utilized for B acquisition, leading to resource conservation. Additionally, we have discussed several new aspects, such as the combination of grafting or MF with nanotechnology, combined inoculation of arbuscular MF and rhizobacteria, melatonin application, and the use of natural and synthetic chelators, that possibly play a role in B uptake and translocation under B stress conditions.
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5.
Co-existence of GM, conventional and organic crops in developing countries: Main debates and concerns.
Azadi, H, Taube, F, Taheri, F
Critical reviews in food science and nutrition. 2018;(16):2677-2688
Abstract
The co-existence approach of GM crops with conventional agriculture and organic farming as a feasible agricultural farming system has recently been placed in the center of hot debates at the EU-level and become a source of anxiety in developing countries. The main promises of this approach is to ensure "food security" and "food safety" on the one hand, and to avoid the adventitious presence of GM crops in conventional and organic farming on the other, as well as to present concerns in many debates on implementing the approach in developing countries. Here, we discuss the main debates on ("what," "why," "who," "where," "which," and "how") applying this approach in developing countries and review the main considerations and tradeoffs in this regard. The paper concludes that a peaceful co-existence between GM, conventional, and organic farming is not easy but is still possible. The goal should be to implement rules that are well-established proportionately, efficiently and cost-effectively, using crop-case, farming system-based and should be biodiversity-focused ending up with "codes of good agricultural practice" for co-existence.
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6.
[Effects of straw returning on maize yield and root system spatial distribution under water stress].
Wang, F, Wang, MJ, Su, SH, Wang, YY, Su, YH, Meng, GX, Sun, Y, Qi, H, Jiang, Y
Ying yong sheng tai xue bao = The journal of applied ecology. 2018;(11):3643-3648
Abstract
To investigate the effects of straw amendments on the yield and root spatial distribution of maize under water stress, an experiment with rainproof shelter was conducted in the field experimental station of Shenyang Agricultural University in 2016 and 2017. The drip irrigation facilities were used to perform water stress treatments. Straw burying (T1) and straw incorporation (T2) as two approaches of straw amendments were conducted combined with three depths of 15 cm (D1), 30 cm (D2), and 45 cm (D3) for straw returning, ploughing tillage at above three depths without straw presence as control in this study. During seedling and silking stages of maize, drought and water logging stresses were introduced respectively to the plants. Our results showed that the yield of maize under S1T1D2 treatment in 2016 was significantly increased by 5.7%-7.1%. Compared with all the rest treatments, the dry weights of lateral roots and deep roots under S1T1D2 treatment were increased by 67.3%-149.9% and 17.9%-116.4%, respectively. The dry matter accumulation in shoot of maize observed from S1T1D2 treatment was significantly lower than those under other treatments, with 2.1%-35.8% reduction. Our results indicated that S1T1D2 could significantly promote the growth and spatial distribution of maize root, accounting to release water stress and keep yield stabilization or promotion. Therefore, 30 cm of straw burying could be used as a suitable approach of straw returning for maize production in northeastern China, where the climate is with a pattern of drought first and waterlogging in later stage.
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7.
Emerging microbial biocontrol strategies for plant pathogens.
Syed Ab Rahman, SF, Singh, E, Pieterse, CMJ, Schenk, PM
Plant science : an international journal of experimental plant biology. 2018;:102-111
Abstract
To address food security, agricultural yields must increase to match the growing human population in the near future. There is now a strong push to develop low-input and more sustainable agricultural practices that include alternatives to chemicals for controlling pests and diseases, a major factor of heavy losses in agricultural production. Based on the adverse effects of some chemicals on human health, the environment and living organisms, researchers are focusing on potential biological control microbes as viable alternatives for the management of pests and plant pathogens. There is a growing body of evidence that demonstrates the potential of leaf and root-associated microbiomes to increase plant efficiency and yield in cropping systems. It is important to understand the role of these microbes in promoting growth and controlling diseases, and their application as biofertilizers and biopesticides whose success in the field is still inconsistent. This review focusses on how biocontrol microbes modulate plant defense mechanisms, deploy biocontrol actions in plants and offer new strategies to control plant pathogens. Apart from simply applying individual biocontrol microbes, there are now efforts to improve, facilitate and maintain long-term plant colonization. In particular, great hopes are associated with the new approaches of using "plant-optimized microbiomes" (microbiome engineering) and establishing the genetic basis of beneficial plant-microbe interactions to enable breeding of "microbe-optimized crops".
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8.
Assessing uncertainties in crop and pasture ensemble model simulations of productivity and N2 O emissions.
Ehrhardt, F, Soussana, JF, Bellocchi, G, Grace, P, McAuliffe, R, Recous, S, Sándor, R, Smith, P, Snow, V, de Antoni Migliorati, M, et al
Global change biology. 2018;(2):e603-e616
Abstract
Simulation models are extensively used to predict agricultural productivity and greenhouse gas emissions. However, the uncertainties of (reduced) model ensemble simulations have not been assessed systematically for variables affecting food security and climate change mitigation, within multi-species agricultural contexts. We report an international model comparison and benchmarking exercise, showing the potential of multi-model ensembles to predict productivity and nitrous oxide (N2 O) emissions for wheat, maize, rice and temperate grasslands. Using a multi-stage modelling protocol, from blind simulations (stage 1) to partial (stages 2-4) and full calibration (stage 5), 24 process-based biogeochemical models were assessed individually or as an ensemble against long-term experimental data from four temperate grassland and five arable crop rotation sites spanning four continents. Comparisons were performed by reference to the experimental uncertainties of observed yields and N2 O emissions. Results showed that across sites and crop/grassland types, 23%-40% of the uncalibrated individual models were within two standard deviations (SD) of observed yields, while 42 (rice) to 96% (grasslands) of the models were within 1 SD of observed N2 O emissions. At stage 1, ensembles formed by the three lowest prediction model errors predicted both yields and N2 O emissions within experimental uncertainties for 44% and 33% of the crop and grassland growth cycles, respectively. Partial model calibration (stages 2-4) markedly reduced prediction errors of the full model ensemble E-median for crop grain yields (from 36% at stage 1 down to 4% on average) and grassland productivity (from 44% to 27%) and to a lesser and more variable extent for N2 O emissions. Yield-scaled N2 O emissions (N2 O emissions divided by crop yields) were ranked accurately by three-model ensembles across crop species and field sites. The potential of using process-based model ensembles to predict jointly productivity and N2 O emissions at field scale is discussed.
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9.
Recycling organic residues in agriculture impacts soil-borne microbial community structure, function and N2O emissions.
Suleiman, AKA, Lourenço, KS, Pitombo, LM, Mendes, LW, Roesch, LFW, Pijl, A, Carmo, JB, Cantarella, H, Kuramae, EE
The Science of the total environment. 2018;:1089-1099
Abstract
Recycling residues is a sustainable alternative to improve soil structure and increase the stock of nutrients. However, information about the magnitude and duration of disturbances caused by crop and industrial wastes on soil microbial community structure and function is still scarce. The objective of this study was to investigate how added residues from industry and crops together with nitrogen (N) fertiliser affect the microbial community structure and function, and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions. The experimental sugarcane field had the following treatments: (I) control with nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (NPK), (II) sugarcane straw with NPK, (III) vinasse (by-product of ethanol industry) with NP, and (IV) vinasse plus sugarcane straw with NP. Soil samples were collected on days 1, 3, 6, 11, 24 and 46 of the experiment for DNA extraction and metagenome sequencing. N2O emissions were also measured. Treatments with straw and vinasse residues induced changes in soil microbial composition and potential functions. The change in the microbial community was highest in the treatments with straw addition with functions related to decomposition of different ranges of C-compounds overrepresented while in vinasse treatment, the functions related to spore-producing microorganisms were overrepresented. Furthermore, all additional residues increased microorganisms related to the nitrogen metabolism and vinasse with straw had a synergetic effect on the highest N2O emissions. The results highlight the importance of residues and fertiliser management in sustainable agriculture.
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10.
Nanofertilizer for Precision and Sustainable Agriculture: Current State and Future Perspectives.
Raliya, R, Saharan, V, Dimkpa, C, Biswas, P
Journal of agricultural and food chemistry. 2018;(26):6487-6503
Abstract
The increasing food demand as a result of the rising global population has prompted the large-scale use of fertilizers. As a result of resource constraints and low use efficiency of fertilizers, the cost to the farmer is increasing dramatically. Nanotechnology offers great potential to tailor fertilizer production with the desired chemical composition, improve the nutrient use efficiency that may reduce environmental impact, and boost the plant productivity. Furthermore, controlled release and targeted delivery of nanoscale active ingredients can realize the potential of sustainable and precision agriculture. A review of nanotechnology-based smart and precision agriculture is discussed in this paper. Scientific gaps to be overcome and fundamental questions to be answered for safe and effective development and deployment of nanotechnology are addressed.