| 1. |
- Li, Zichuan, et al.
(författare)
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Impacts of silicon on biogeochemical cycles of carbon and nutrients in croplands
- 2018
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Ingår i: Journal of Integrative Agriculture. - : Elsevier. - 2095-3119. ; 17:10, s. 2182-2195
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Crop harvesting and residue removal from croplands often result in imbalanced biogeochemical cycles of carbon and nutrients in croplands, putting forward an austere challenge to sustainable agricultural production. As a beneficial element, silicon(Si) has multiple eco-physiological functions, which could help crops to acclimatize their unfavorable habitats. Although many studies have reported that the application of Si can alleviate multiple abiotic and biotic stresses and increase biomass accumulation, the effects of Si on carbon immobilization and nutrients uptake into plants in croplands have not yet been explored. This review focused on Si-associated regulation of plant carbon accumulation, lignin biosynthesis, and nutrients uptake, which are important for biogeochemical cycles of carbon and nutrients in croplands. The tradeoff analysis the supply of bioavailable Si can enhance plant net photosynthetic rate and biomass carbon production (especially root biomass input to soil organic carbon pool), but reduce shoot lignin biosynthesis. Besides, the application of Si could improve uptake of most nutrients under deficient conditions, but restricts excess uptake when they are supplied in surplus amounts. Nevertheless, Si application to crops may enhance the uptake of nitrogen and iron when they are supplied in deficient to luxurious amounts, while potassium uptake enhanced by Si application is often involved in alleviating salt stress and inhibiting excess sodium uptake in plants. More importantly, the amount of Si accumulated in plant positively correlates with nutrients release during the decay of crop biomass, but negatively correlates with straw decomposability due to the reduced lignin synthesis. The Si-mediated plant growth and litter decomposition collectively suggest that Si cycling in croplands plays important roles in biogeochemical cycles of carbon and nutrients. Hence, scientific Si management in croplands will be helpful for maintaining sustainable development of agriculture.
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| 2. |
- Andreasson, Erik, et al.
(författare)
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Botanicals and plant strengtheners for potato and tomato cultivation in Africa
- 2020
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Ingår i: Journal of Integrative Agriculture. - 2095-3119 .- 2352-3425. ; 19, s. 406-427
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- This review provides a summary of botanicals and plant strengtheners that have potential uses for disease and pest management in potato and tomato cultivation in African. We discuss their possible use to prevent major diseases and pests which infest potato and tomato, such as early and late blight, bacterial wilt, potato tuber moth, and tomato leafminer. There are several examples of the successful uses of botanicals for pathogen and pest control relevant for different African climatic conditions; however, most of these studies have been conducted in vitro and often lack field verification. Plant strengtheners (substances that induce and improve crop resistance, yield, and quality) are little studied and used in Africa in comparison to North America and Europe. The possible benefits of using botanicals and plant strengtheners instead of conventional pesticides are discussed here in relation to human health and the environment as well as their modes of action and accessibility to farmers. Lack of knowledge of the composition and active ingredients of extracts, environmental concerns, uncertainties regarding stability and formulation, lack of legislation and limited support from governments, hamper the development of botanicals and plant strengtheners for use in sustainable African agriculture.
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| 3. |
- Moritz, Matilda S. M., et al.
(författare)
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Alternatives for large-scale production of cultured beef: A review
- 2015
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Ingår i: JOURNAL OF INTEGRATIVE AGRICULTURE. - : Elsevier. - 2095-3119. ; 14:2, s. 208-216
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Cultured beef is a method where stem cells from skeletal muscle of cows are cultured in vitro to gain edible muscle tissue. For large-scale production of cultured beef, the culture technique needs to become more efficient than todays 2-dimensional (2D) standard technique that was used to make the first cultured hamburger. Options for efficient large-scale production of stem cells are to culture cells on microcarriers, either in suspension or in a packed bed bioreactor, or to culture aggregated cells in suspension. We discuss the pros and cons of these systems as well as the possibilities to use the systems for tissue culture. Either of the production systems needs to be optimized to achieve an efficient production of cultured beef. It is anticipated that the optimization of large-scale cell culture as performed for other stem cells can be translated into successful protocols for bovine satellite cells resulting in resource and cost efficient cultured beef.
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| 4. |
- Ngobese, Bongekile, et al.
(författare)
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Molecular detection of virulence genes in Campylobacter species isolated from livestock production systems in South Africa
- 2020
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Ingår i: JOURNAL OF INTEGRATIVE AGRICULTURE. - : ELSEVIER SCI LTD. - 2095-3119. ; 19:6, s. 1656-1670
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Campylobacter species are a major cause of foodborne bacterial infections in both developed and developing countries worldwide. Campylobacter jejuni is responsible for the majority of infections. This study was conducted to identify virulence associated genes in Campylobacter species isolated from livestock production systems in South Africa. A total of 250 fecal samples consisting of cattle (n=50), chickens (n=50), goats (n=50), sheep (n=50) and pigs (n=50) were randomly collected from livestock in Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces of South Africa between April and October 2018. The samples were analyzed for the presence of virulence genes in Campylobacter species using molecular PCR-based methods. It was found that 77 and 23% of Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli respectively were isolated from all the livestock samples. There were positive significant (P<0.05) correlations amongst all the virulence genes that were investigated. Chisquare and Fisher's exact tests were implemented to test for the effect of livestock species on the presence or absence of virulence genes. The study demonstrated that most of livestock species can potentially cause zoonotic infections and food poisoning due to the high prevalence of Campylobacter. The high prevalence of virulence genes highlights the significance of Campylobacter in livestock production systems in South Africa. This requires the implementation of one-health approaches to reduce the impact of foodborne and zoonotic diseases for the welfare of human and animal health.
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| 5. |
- Zhan, Jiasui
(författare)
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Triple bottom-line consideration of sustainable plant disease management: From economic, sociological and ecological perspectives
- 2021
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Ingår i: Journal of Integrative Agriculture. - 2095-3119 .- 2352-3425. ; 20, s. 2581-2591
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Plant disease management plays an important role in achieving the sustainable development goals of the United Nations (UN) such as food security, human health, socio-economic improvement, resource conservation and ecological resilience. However, technologies available are often limited due to different interests between producers and society and lacks of proper understanding of economic thresholds and the complex interactions among ecology, productivity and profitability. A comprehensive synergy and conflict evaluation of economic, sociological and ecological effects with technologies, productions and evolutionary principles as main components should be used to guide sustainable disease management that aims to mitigate crop and economic losses in the short term while maintaining functional farm ecosystem in the long term. Consequently, there should be an increased emphasis on technology development, public education and information exchange among governments, researchers, producers and consumers to broaden the options for disease management in the future.
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| 6. |
- Gong, Haiqing, et al.
(författare)
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Integrating phosphorus management and cropping technology for sustainable maize production
- 2024
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Ingår i: Journal of Integrative Agriculture. - : Elsevier BV. - 2095-3119. ; 23:4, s. 1369-1380
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Achieving high maize yields and efficient phosphorus (P) use with limited environmental impacts is one of the greatest challenges in sustainable maize production. Increasing plant density is considered an effective approach for achieving high maize yields. However, the low mobility of P in soils and the scarcity of natural P resources have hindered the development of methods that can simultaneously optimize P use and mitigate the P-related environmental footprint at high plant densities. In this study, meta-analysis and substance flow analysis were conducted to evaluate the effects of different types of mineral P fertilizer on maize yield at varying plant densities and assess the flow of P from rock phosphate mining to P fertilizer use for maize production in China. A significantly higher yield was obtained at higher plant densities than at lower plant densities. The application of single super-phosphate, triple super-phosphate, and calcium magnesium phosphate at high plant densities resulted in higher yields and a smaller environmental footprint than the application of diammonium phosphate and monoammonium phosphate. Our scenario analyses suggest that combining the optimal P type and application rate with a high plant density could increase maize yield by 22%. Further, the P resource use efficiency throughout the P supply chain increased by 39%, whereas the P-related environmental footprint decreased by 33%. Thus, simultaneously optimizing the P type and application rate at high plant densities achieved multiple objectives during maize production, indicating that combining P management with cropping techniques is a practical approach to sustainable maize production. These findings offer strategic, synergistic options for achieving sustainable agricultural development.
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