Bio & Twitter

Jantineke Hofland-Zijlstra (Twitter: @JantinekeHof)

Current position: Researcher Plant health NovaCropControl

Experience: Blgg Naaldwijk (now Eurofins) - Product manager Riscover (2 yrs), Wageningen UR Greenhouse Horticulture - Applied researcher Plant health & Control of airborne diseases (10 yrs), SMK Stichting Milieukeur - Project leader Groen Label Kas/On the way to PlanetProof (2 yrs).

Education: MSc Crop protection & Plant breeding at Wageningen University, PhD Wageningen University in Plant ecology with heaths and mycorrhiza.

Sjoerd Smits (Twitter: @SmitsSjoerd)

Current position: Co-owner and Consultant at HortiNova Group BV (13 yrs), Co-owner NovaCropControl (11 yrs) & Team lead Plant health.

Experience: R&D Van Iersel (6 yrs), Consultant Lucel (2 yrs)

Education: BSc at HAS Den Bosch

Bart Vromans

Current position: Co-owner and consultant soft fruit at HortiNova Group BV (13 yrs), Co-owner NovaCropControl (11 yrs), Owner TerraVie (13 yrs)

Experience: Consultant Vos Capelle (4 yrs), Consultant ZLTO (3 yrs), Consultant LUCEL (3 yrs)

Education: BSc at HAS Den Bosch

Marieke Jongeleen

Current position: Researcher Plant health NovaCropControl

Education: BSc at HAS Den Bosch

Sabine Robben

Current position: Researcher Plant health NovaCropControl

Education: BSc at HAS Den Bosch

Tim Weijs

Current position: Researcher Plant health NovaCropControl

Education: BSc at HAS Den Bosch

Joan Timmermans

Current position: General manager & Consultant NovaCropControl (11 yrs)

Education: Bsc at HAS Den Bosch

Experience: Van Iersel Compost & Soiltech, Researcher & Consultant (7 yrs)

Koen van Kempen

Current position: Consultant NovaCropControl (12 yrs)

Education: Prinsentuin College Breda, BSc Aeres Hogeschool Wageningen

Background and Aims

Obligate parasites like powdery mildew can cause severe losses in greenhouse crops. In the shift towards more sustainable agriculture practises, developing of new fertilisation strategies becomes more important as plant resilience against foliar pathogens can be partly manipulated by adjustion fertilisation levels. In the literature, different mineral fertilisers with nitrogen, potassium, sulphur, zinc, calcium, silicium or fosfate are reported to have an effect on powdery mildew in different crops.

The laboratory of NovaCropControl aims to contribute to the understanding of the role of nutrition in plant resilience. By using plant sap analyses a rapid method of nutrition status of a plant is achieved and growers are able to adjust their fertilisation rates within 24 hours. For example, in recent years lowering nitrate levels in fertilisation schemes has already improved crop resilience in greenhouse crops (e.g. tomato, gerbera). However, a solid disease monitoring system of powdery mildew is not present in most greenhouses. Therefore, reports of direct effects of altered fertilisation schemes and the effect on increased resilience against pathogens at the level of commercial production sites are not available.

The aim of new trials is to gain more insight in the interaction of the genetic background of cultivars and the way they are able to respond to the uptake of nutrition levels and to which extent this contributes to powdery mildew resistance levels.

Methods

In a greenhouse experiment, six commercial tomato cultivars will be screened for the uptake of mineral elements. The cultivars vary in their resistance level to powdery mildew under commercial greenhouse conditions (field resistence). In a short experiment of 6 weeks plants will be screened for their nutrient levels with plant sap analyses. In addition, leaves will be collected and infected with powdery mildew spores under controlled climate conditions in an in vitro test. Statistical analyses will be performed to screen for correlations between the amounts of nutrients in plant sap samples and infection rates of powdery mildew.

Results / Outcomes

The poster will present the results of the cultivar trial and discuss the practical implications for alternative fertilisation schemes to stimulate plant resilience against powdery mildew in commercial greenhouse conditions and how horticulture advisory services can be improved.

Conclusions

Conclusions towards practical implications will be drawn for alternative fertilisation schemes to stimulate plant resilience against powdery mildew in commercial greenhouse conditions and how horticulture advisory services can be improved.

Bio & Twitter

Weixiao Liu, PhD. Associate professor. The research interests is the safety evaluation of genetically modified crops and their products. In recent years, several papers have been published in EMBO J., EMBO Rep.,Sci Rep., Nat Commun., Cell Res., Autophagy and other international academic journals.

Background and Aims

Cry proteins are produced by Bacillus thuringiensis as parasporal crystals at the time of sporulation and are toxic to a wide range of lepidopteran pests. Cry1C has been successfully used in genetically modified (GM) crops to confer a higher level of protection. Here, we describe a sensitive double-antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) developed to detect Cry1C in GM crops and their products.

Methods

The His-Cry1C protein was over-expressed and purified. Monoclonal antibodies were raised against the purified His-Cry1C protein from mouse ascites, purified by saturated ammonium sulfate precipitation and protein A-sepharose columns, and then characterized.

Results / Outcomes

A sandwich ELISA was developed using the 5E10-1C6 monoclonal antibody for capture and the biotin-labeled 3H3-1D2 monoclonal antibody for detecting the Cry1C protein. The linear detection range of the method was approximately 0.2ng/mL-12.5ng/mL, with a sensitivity of 0.792ng/mL.

Conclusions

This newly developed ELISA method provides a sensitive technique for determining the Cry1C content in GM crops and their products.

Bio & Twitter

Dr. Kazam Ali, Biocontrol Research Officer, CABI - Pakistan

Abdul Rehman, Deputy Director Programme, CABI - Pakistan

Dr. Philip Weyl, Weed Biological Control Scientist, CABI - Switzerland

Background and Aims

Invasive alien species (IAS) pose a serious threat to food security, biodiversity, human and animal health and economic development. To combat the issues of IAS CAB International (CABI) has launched a unique, global programme “Action on Invasives”. Parthenium is invasive in Asia, eastern and southern Africa and Australia, causing severe economic losses.

Methods

Under AoI programme, CABI Centre in Rawalpindi, Pakistan are targeting the invasive plant Parthenium hysterophorus, using imported natural enemy Listronotus setosipennis (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), a stem boring weevil. The weevil oviposits in flowers of P. hysterophorus and developing larvae tunnel in the stems, causing structural damage and wilting of weed. This weevil was imported to quarantine facility newly established at CABI Pakistan centre from Agriculture Research Council, South Africa for host range testing against the selected common crops of the asteraceae family.

Results / Outcomes

The host specificity tests of weevil are under studies against non-target plant species. The preliminary studies indicates that the weevil is safe for non-target plants as it reported no ovi-position in Cosmos, Merigold and Chrysanthemum plant species and a non-significant ovi-position in 10 hybrids of sunflower was noticed. The plants in which non significant ovi-position of tested bio-control agent were noticed are under larval development tests, which will be followed by risk assessment tests.

Conclusions

Based on these and other host range tests, permission will be obtained from relevant authorities for field releases of L. setosipennis in Pakistan. The release of stem boring weevil for the management of P. hysterophorus will prove an ecofriendly approach and will strengthen the bio-control programme in Pakistan.

Bio & Twitter

Prof. Alfred Holzwarth is a biophysicist specialized on optical spectroscopy and stress analysis of plants.

Chen Hu is a PhD student at the Biophysics of Photosynthesis department of VU Amsterdam studying primary processes in plants

Prof. Roberta Croce is the Head of the Biophysics of Photosynthesis department at VU Amsterdam and specializes on primary processes and optical spectroscopy on plants

Background and Aims

Monitoring the health and stress level of crop and energy plants is of fundamental importance for the optimization of growth and quality conditions in all areas of precision agriculture, energy crop production, as well as in advanced forestry. In greenhouse crop cultures all growth parameters should be monitored, optimized and controlled in order to achieve optimal

results. Chlorophyll fluorescence in general is a very sensitive early reporter of various kinds of abiotic as well as biotic stresses on plants that adversely affect their optimal growth conditions.

Methods

So far the JIP test is the most widely used method to characterize photosynthetic status and stress conditions. This is because Chl fluorescence is a highly sensitive and specific reporter of almost all kinds of variations in the photosynthetic apparatus and the underlying stress factors. However, it is also clear that these so far widely used parameters are not fully sufficient to distinguish unequivocally between different types of stress and they also have substantial shortcomings in their ability to precisely define the degree and severity of such stress factors. Thus the development of further advanced methods for non-invasive stress detection on crop plants growing under a variety of different conditions are in great need.

Results / Outcomes

In this contribution we will present novel advanced detection methods for chlorophyll fluorescence thus improving non-invasive stress detection on plants. Novel methods for signal analysis and characterization will also be presented.

Conclusions

We show that novel spectrally and temporally resolved methods for plant stress detection are superior to presently widely used methods like JIP test etc.

Bio & Twitter

Angélica Bianchini Sanchez holds a Bachelor of Environmental Chemistry and a Doctor of Science from the University of São Paulo (USP). She is currently a postdoctoral student in Biotechnology at the Federal University of Ouro Preto (UFOP) and a founding member of BEAS. @angelisanchez9 *

Rosilene Matos is is an agronomist graduated from the Federal University of Viçosa (UFV) and is currently a masters student at the Graduate Program in Biotechnology at the Federal University of Ouro Preto (UFOP).*

Washington is a pharmacist with a master's and doctorate degree by the Graduate Program in Biotechnology at the Federal University of Ouro Preto (UFOP).

Isabella Ferreira Cordeiro is a Biologist and Master in Ecology from the Federal University of Ouro Preto (UFOP). She is currently a doctoral student in Biotechnology and a founding member of BEAS.

Izadora Tabuso Vieira is a biologist graduated from the Federal University of Ouro Preto (UFOP) and has an MBA in Quality Assurance from the UNA University Center. She is currently a founding member of BEAS.

Rosilene Matos is is an agronomist graduated from the Federal University of Viçosa (UFV) and is currently a masters student at the Graduate Program in Biotechnology at the Federal University of Ouro Preto (UFOP).

Washington is a pharmacist with a master's and doctorate degree by the Graduate Program in Biotechnology at the Federal University of Ouro Preto (UFOP).

Leandro Marcio Moreira is a Biologist, with a Masters and Doctorate in Biochemistry from the University of São Paulo (USP). He is currently a professor of biochemistry and coordinator of the Graduate Program in Biotechnology at the Federal University of Ouro Preto (UFOP) and founding member of BEAS.

*These authors contributed equally to this work.

Background and Aims

Conventional agriculture is heavily dependent on chemical fertilizers and pesticides that are harmful to human health and the environment. Alternatively, organic agricultural inputs have emerged as an attractive alternative for land conditioning, promotion of plant growth and pest control. The market of biological inputs is growing in Brazil, but still incipient when compared to other countries with agricultural potential. Therefore, seeking sustainable alternatives for agricultural improvement for the segment is a key point for the growth of the sector. Anthracnose (Colletotrichum lindemuthianum) is one of the most important diseases of common bean crop and can cause losses of up to 100%. It is a cosmopolitan disease, occurring in places of low to moderate temperature and high humidity. For this reason, it is more problematic in temperate and subtropical regions. The symptoms of anthracnose can be observed throughout the shoot. When the disease affects seedlings, small brown or black lesions on the cotyledons are observed. However, the typical symptoms of this disease are dark brown necrotic lesions on the ribs on the underside of the leaf. The Iron Quadrangle (IQ), a mineral province formed by old, geologically complex lands, distributed over an area of approximately 7200 km² in southeastern Brazil presents high temperature variations, low water availability, low nutrient concentration and a high concentration of heavy metals. Despite this, the region presents a great diversity of living organisms, whose adaptation may be possible by the presence of specialized microbiota. From these environmental sources of microbiota, bacteria with various biotechnological potentials, especially associated with agricultural interests, have been isolated from plants, animals, soil and caves of the IQ and its antagonistic against Colletotrichum lindemuthianum activity was studied in order to discover the biocontrol potential of these isolates and develop a new product for crops worldwide.

Methods

The isolates were grown for 24 hours in liquid LB medium under agitation of 180 rpm. The optical densities were adjusted to 0.5 and the isolates were then confronted with C. lindemuthianum previously grown for 10 days on PDA in the dark at 26 °C ± 2 °C by the following assays: direct inhibition, indirect inhibition by volatile compounds, inhibition mediated by non-volatile compounds; and inhibition after thermostability assay. For direct inhibition assays, the bacterial isolates were transferred to the center of petri plates containing PDA forming a square with 3 cm edge. Next, a mycelial disc of 6 mm diameter was placed at the central portion of the bacterial square. To analyze the antagonist potential of volatile compounds by indirect inhibition, plates with three septa were used, the mycelial discs were inoculated into one of the septa, 10 µl of the isolates in another septa and one remained empty. The plates were conditioned with the lid upwards. To test inhibition by indirect non-volatile compounds, 200 µl of sterile strains were inoculated on cellophane previously positioned above the PDA medium in Petri plates. After growth, the cellophane containing bacterial colonies was removed and mycelial disc was added on the surface of the culture medium. For the thermostability assay, 200 µl of the isolates were subjected to heat treatment 80 °C for 5 min and then inoculated in the cellophane in the same conditions described above. For all assays the plates were sealed and placed in BOD in the dark at 26 °C ± 2 °C for 10 days and mycelial growth was measured with a digital pachymeter at the end of this period using a control as reference.

Results / Outcomes

Of the 65 investigated isolates, several were distinguished by inhibiting between 75 and 90% of C. lindemuthianum growth by the direct inhibition method. Moreover, one of these bacterial isolates demonstrated thermostability of the inhibitory compound inducing a 90% reduction of the phytopathogen mycelial growth. In addition, other isolates showed inhibition between 85 and 90% by direct contact. In all cases, the antagonism mediated by volatile compounds were insignificant (12%).

Conclusions

This study shows that environmental isolates from the IQ can be efficient controllers of C. lindemuthianum growth in vitro, allowing to establish a proof of concept for biological control tests of this phytopathogen in the field. The identification of the isolates was preserved for the purpose of intellectual property protection. Based on this biological potential, a Biostartup named BEAS (Bacteria for Environment and Agriculture Solutions) was created and accelerated. This is the first time that ecosystem services have been attributed to bacteria isolated from different environments and species of IQ, allowing the establishment of a startup and highlighting the importance of a genetically unknown heritage.

Bio & Twitter

Evance Ochieng Jowi is a teacher of Biology and Agriculture and a part time lecture at the University of Nairobi.

Background and Aims

Although experiences from pioneer plant clinic areas around the world reveal that plant clinics have the prospective to take on some serious threats to African agriculture, the awareness about them remains low among smallholder farmers. The communication-channels supposed appropriate in creating awareness that have been adopted to create awareness about the clinics seem inefficient as they have had minimal impact. This study strove to evaluate the effectiveness of the communication channels used in creating awareness about plant clinics particularly in Kiambu County, Kenya

Methods

Probability proportional to size sampling method was used to sample 130 farming households for interviews. Seven Focus Group Discussions (FDGs) and four Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) were also conducted. Quantitative data obtained from the household interviews were analyzed to derive summary statistics. These statics were reinforced with qualitative data from the FGDs and KIIs to address the study objectives.

Results / Outcomes

Due to logistic challenges only 123 (94.6%) of the sampled farmers for household interviews were surveyed.

4.1. Socio-demographic characteristics of household interview respondents

Most of the respondents were male (54.5%). Their ages ranged from 18-86 years, with a mean, mode and standard deviation of 46.9, 40.0 and 17.6 years respectively. Only 12.2% had no education, 64.2% had primary education, 18.7% had secondary education, while 4.9% had tertiary education. About 36.6% had less than ten years of farming experience, 33.3% had between eleven to twenty years, while 31.1% had over twenty years of farming experience. Over 83.7% of the respondents had agricultural group membership. Majority (69.1%) were farmers for income; of which 37.4% of them received the information through mass media channels. About 18.7% of the respondents who do farming for food received the information through interpersonal channels. The most and least disseminative channels were plant doctors (27.4%) and agro-dealers (5.7%) respectively (Table 1).

Table 1| Proportion (%) of respondents by major communication channels used

Communication channel

Proportion

Plant doctors

27.6

Fellow-farmers

10.6

Agro-dealers

5.7

Plant health rallies,

12.2

Plant clinic sessions

14.6

Church announcements

17.1

Plant clinic banners, umbrella

5.9

Brochures, posters, leaflets

6.5

Note. N=123. Source: Author 2018.

However, no respondent recorded receiving the information about plant clinics through newspapers, magazines, radio, television, social media blogs or text messages.

Table 2| Summary of mean rating of parameters of communication channels

Communication channels

Familiarity

Authenticity

Interactivity

Likability

Credibility

Reliability

Technical quality

Usefulness

Acceptability

ECC

Plant Doctors

2.96

3.12

3.26

2.88

3.70

2.94

3.33

3.35

3.76

3.24

Fellow-farmers

2.23

1.84

3.12

2.77

3.56

2.69

2.38

3.85

3.08

2.88

Agro-dealers

2.89

2.86

3.55

1.71

2.57

2.86

1.98

4.62

2.83

2.93

Plant-health rallies

2.40

3.27

4.01

3.23

2.33

2.60

2.98

3.81

3.61

3.03

Plant-clinic sessions

2.74

2.95

3.02

2.95

2.89

1.72

1.95

3.21

2.79

2.73

Church announcements

3.52

3.56

3.35

3.63

3.11

4.07

1.61

2.95

2.84

3.02

Banners and umbrellas

2.49

3.44

1.86

2.31

2.26

1.32

1.89

2.12

2.52

2.39

Brochures, leaflets, posters

3.32

3.11

3.18

3.02

1.74

3.45

3.09

3.58

3.36

2.74

Note. N=123, ECC=Effectiveness of communication channel, =Mean rating index for parameters of effective communication channel.

Scale of effectiveness: Not effective at all 1; not effective2; less effective 3; effective 4; very effective 5. Source: Author; 2018

Table 2 displays the mean parameter rating of the communication channels by the household interview respondents. The average mean rating for effectiveness of interpersonal channels was 2.97 i.e. { } while the average mean rating for effectiveness of mass media channels was 2.94 i.e. { }. The threshold for most effective communication channel was 5.0 i.e. } (sum of total maximum likert scale rating divided by the number of parameters)

Conclusions

The finding of this study has highlighted existing gaps in effectiveness of the communication channel used in creating awareness about plant clinics. It has established that most of the communication channels used to create awareness about plant clinics are less effective with plant clinic banners and umbrellas least effective. In Kenya the plant clinic approach may still be novel to majority of smallholder famers, therefore the overreliance on interpersonal channels may not be sufficient enough; most are not very disseminative.

In as much as there is coherence in selection of the channels to use in creating awareness about plant clinics as stated by CABI, in Kiambu County broader partnership is still needed to exhaustively utilize all the available channels. There is still a derisory usage of phones and their auxiliary services in creating awareness about plant clinics. Both CABI and the county government of Kiambu have websites, social media pages and blogs with information about plant clinics. However, they are yet to fully engage the farmers through such media. Likewise the little consideration put in the use of television, radio programmes and most print media is costing the awareness creation about the clinics a great deal. Utugi TV was at one point used by Plantwise Kenya to create awareness; however its 0.01% national viewership (Mbuba, 2015) meant that it was not effective in terms of popularity.

Plant clinics have a role to reinforce plant-health care. There exist goodwill already shown by CABI and the Kenyan government through MoAFL. The county governments can use this as leverage; create more awareness and encourage clinic attendance to improve crop productivity.

Bio & Twitter

I'm Dr.Yacine Torche a new teacher at the University center of Mila in the north-east of Algeria.

Background and Aims

Salinity is one of the major abiotic stress factors limiting plant growth, metabolism and productivity. In the arid and semi-arid areas, it is mainly caused by the irrigation water which contains considerable amounts of soluble salts; the accumulation of salts into the top layer of the soil causing by over-irrigation; proximity to the sea and the capillarity rise of salts from underground water into the root zone due to excessive evaporation. In addition, high evaporation rate, poor water management and low rainfall could increase salinity levels in these areas. Salinity affects almost every aspects of the physiology and the biochemistry of plants and significantly reduces yield.

Common bean is one of the most important legume crops; it contains considerable amounts of protein, fiber, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals, and represents nearly half of the consumed grain legumes worldwide. Being a glycophyte species, common bean sees its productivity drastically reduced at soils salinity levels more than 2 dSm⁻¹. Thus, finding resistant genes and producing new tolerant varieties will significantly increase crop yield and food safety.

Methods

A one-way diallel cross excluding reciprocals was made between four parents of common bean commonly cultivated in Algeria; the four parents and their six F₁ hybrids were planted in a randomized complete block design at the Tennessee State University greenhouse, USA. where three salinity levels were applied for all the genotypes (0; 50 and 100 mmol/L of NaCl) until the fructification stage. the phenotypic data for days to green and dry maturity; Leaf area; shoot, root, seed and total biomass weight were recorded.

DNA extraction was processed and 57 SSRs were used for the genotypic data, they cover the entire genome of our genotypes (2n = 22), 5 SSRs are located on each linkage group, except linkage groups 1 and 11 where 6 SSRs were deployed, the two chromosomes contain several loci linked to abiotic stress (water deficit) discovered in other studies. The analysis of polyacrylamide gels after electrophoresis of the different PCR products was carried out; the presence of the fragments was determined visually and entered into a binary data matrix: presence (1) or absence of bands (0). Using the matrix, a phylogenetic tree was constructed by Neighbor-Joining algorithm with 3000 bootstrap, and factorial analysis of the genetic matrix was proceed. In addition, a principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) was carried out to highlight the dissimilarities of the matrix. For each locus, the composition of the SSR alleles was determined for all the genotypes. The values ​​of the Polymorphism Information Content (PIC) was calculated, as well as the genetic diversity using the F-statistics which group together: the Shannon's diversity index, genetic diversity and the genetic distance of the population by Nei. These analyzes were performed through the Darwin version 6 genetic analysis program. The relation between phenotypic and genotypic data was quantified using the single marker analysis (SMA).

Results / Outcomes

All the statistical analyzes were highly significant for all traits studied and under saline and non-saline conditions. The Polymorphism information content (PIC) gives an estimate of the polymorphism within a locus by taking into account the number of alleles and the frequencies of these alleles; the average of the PIC was 0.41; the highest value (0.50) was recorded by six SSR markers. Furthermore, the major allelic frequency gives us good information on the mutations (or variations to a lesser extent) for the population studied with our SSRs. The highest major allelic frequency was noted by the microsatellite BM143 (0.79). The gene diversity index was between 0.34 and 0.5; whereas three populations show high polymorphisms.

Our results were highly significant, indeed for the parental genotypes, 14 SSRs were associated to the traits: days to green maturity and leaf area, while 5 SSRs showed a strong association to salinity tolerance in general, explaining up to 22% of the phenotypic variation in the offsprings. The markers identified in our study suggested a large number of QTLs associated with the traits under study and salinity tolerance, more, these results demonstrate the presence of significant genetic variability between the different parental genotypes and their hybrids. This variability can facilitate genetic improvement and generate salinity-tolerant hybrids; using such genetic material will significantly increase yield in saline regions.

Conclusions

In our study we noticed that where the two parents (Coco Nain) and (Améliore Roza) were involved in a cross, the resulting hybrids exhibit a relative tolerance, sometimes even greater than that of their respective parents, displaying highly significant heterosis; these hybrids are very promising for developing new salt-tolerant varieties.

Genetic analysis results demonstrated the significant genetic diversity of the populations resulting from diallel crosses, this diversity is essential for the emergence of resistant genes not only for salinity but for any other form of stress. Several SSRs were highly associated with the different traits of our study, this indicates that one or more QTLs are located on the part where the SSRs are located. The present results have revealed that several of the hybrids and populations obtained are very promising for use in breeding programs for common bean cultivars, and which have strong genetic potentials for salinity tolerance. In addition, the SSRs identified are very promising for other subsequent studies investigating in more depth the location and the extent of the QTLs associated with these traits.

Bio & Twitter

Gopi Ramasamy heads the CABI center for South Asia as the Regional Director. As a development professional with over 20 years of experience in various institutions, he has been responsible for designing and implemeting development projects accorss the country

Vinod Pandit is a plant pathologist and leads the Plantwise Programme for South Asia. Previosly he has worked with premier trade insitutions in India including APEDA.

Kritika Khanna is a development professional with over 10 years of experience, having wokred in various institiuions including the World Bank and CIMMYT. Currently she works in the project development team of CABI and was also coordinating the ICT work mentioned in the abstract

Background and Aims

Agriculture continues to be an important sector and a major growth driver in India with a majority of the rural population dependent on it. Despite a five-fold increase in food grain production in the last 6 decades, India still shoulders a quarter of the global hunger burden. New challenges such as climate change induced uncertainty and new pests and diseases (incuding invasives such as Fall armyworm) continue to emerge and hamper the overall agriculture growth. Further, factors such as a declining natural resource availability, and increasing population burden continue to add to the complexity. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) in agriculture have the potential to increase the efficiency, productivity and sustainability of agriculture through provision of timely and cost-effective information at scale to a variety of stakeholders involved in the productionand trade pf agriculture commodities.

In this paper, we seek to illustrate the potential role of ICTs in food safety and connecting smallholder farmers to agriculture value chains. We argue that developing solution architecture, leveraging and innovating existing well established programmes can play a strong role to expose farmers to the much-needed agricultural information (i.e., preharvest and post-harvest information, pricing, weather conditions etc.) and improve transaction efficiencies. Information on quality aspects and market information is another lacuna currently faced by the Indian farmers that can be resolved by correct use of ICTs. Establishing a food traceability system is also crucial to bolster market /consumer level confidence and address the documentation and compliance requirements (including SPS) required under multinational and bilateral trade agreements. As a part of a small pilot, CABI tested an ICT platform that captured comprehensive geo-tagged information of farms and farmers and attempted to understand the potential of amalgamating ICT based platforms in an existing programme with an objective to ultimately strengthen value chains of safe food.

Methods

The approach was tested with 7 Farmer Producer Organizations each having a member base of approximately 1000 farmers each, with atleast 30% representation of women farmers in Kancheepuram district of Tamil Nadu, India. A batch of 25 plant doctors were trained on the use of the tools, including field data collection and geo-tagging. The Plant Doctors then pilot tested the app in the field with 512 representative farmers selected through purposive random sampling, capturing detailed and geo-tagged farm and farmer information. This included comprehensive details of the farmer including socio-economic indicators. Farm details such as size, crops grown (past and current), soil information, varieties grown, cultivation practices, crop management practices (sowing dates, fertigation schedule etc.), details on livestock, use of implements etc. were captured. Post-harvest practices and product logistics were also analysed to understand the various transactions in the value chain and scope of digitization. Further, Plant clinics were also used for ground truthing and validation. The initiative provided useful insights on the potential of an auxiliary and complementary platform to an existing global programme - Plantwise as a central component to strengthen food safety and traceability at the field level on one hand and virtual aggregation and market access opportunities on the other.

Results / Outcomes

The study demonstrated the potential and role of ICTs backed by a robust field advisory system for facilitating market responsive production of safe food. The challenges and opportunities impacting trade on three major areas were identified: production of safe and quality food; supply continuity and logistics; and market responsiveness and alignment to demand. In terms of production of safe food and food quality, owing to low levels of awareness on food safety aspects and compliances; and the target market being only domestic, a demonstrated need for safe food was not existing. Thus, awareness creation by Plant Doctors was undertaken extensively. This also highlighted the role of Plantwise programme beyond pest and disease management and demonstrated its importance and relevance in promoting the production and trade of safe food. It is envisaged that the learnings would be incorporated in future projects. The logistics and current supply chains were also analyzed using geo-tagged data based on actual crops sown and current point of sales, showing real time data on crops at various stages for proper harvest planning and planned marketing. This also facilitated a map view of the harvested produce and facilitated logistic planning for the markets. Market confidence through establishment was also attempted through the establishment of a basic QR code based and FPO level traceability system. With the platform having both static and dynamic data, and through onboarding of various kinds of stakeholders, a preliminary connect between producers (FPO level) and buyers was also established.

Conclusions

ICT holds a strong potential in delivering development impacts at scale and bringing together the various stakeholders in agriculture value chains. While several barriers exist such as ICT illiteracy and willingness for adoption and information sharing, especially when there is no tangible incentive to do so; innovative mechanisms such as community-based approaches and high levels of youth involvement offer a promising solution for ICTs to function more effectively and deliver development impacts and transformations.

Bio & Twitter

All of the authors of this poster work for CABI and are involved in the Action on Invasives Programme. Lucinda Charles, Laura Doughty, Hannah Fielder, Claire Curry, Katherine Cameron, Martin Parr, Lesley McGillivray and Gareth Richards all work on Knowledge and Data products and projects and are based at CABI, Wallingford, in the UK. Mary Bundi and Mary Lucy Oronje are based at CABI, Nairobi. Mary Bundi is a monitoring and evaluation specialist and Mary Lucy is Plantwise Knowledge Bank coordinator for East Africa. She gained extensive experience in Pest Risk Analysis through her previous employment with the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS). Mike Frewin, also based at CABI, Wallingford, is a business analyst, specializing in eliciting and analysing user requirements to inform IT systems design. Norbert Maczey is a project scientist based at CABI, Egham, UK. Norbert has expertise in risk and impact assessment, with a background in entomology and grassland ecology.

Background and Aims

Increased globalization, trade and, specifically, international movement of plant commodities are associated with greater risk of the spread of plant pests. Pest Risk Analysis (PRA) of plant commodity imports is a process that provides the technical justification for phytosanitary decisions that affect trade and is a means by which trade can be supported whilst ensuring that appropriate management procedures are put in place to prevent cross-border introductions of plant pests. Nominated organizations, National Plant Protection Organizations (NPPOs), are responsible for carrying out plant commodity PRAs. It may also be part of an NPPO’s remit to carry out pest-initiated PRAs, which focus on individual pests to determine the likelihood of their introduction (through various pathways), establishment, spread and potential impact.

The objectives of this work are to improve the quality and efficiency of compiling plant commodity pathway- and pest-initiated PRA reports by NPPOs to both facilitate safe trade and improve biosecurity.

Methods

The CABI Pest Risk Analysis (PRA) Tool was launched in 2019. It is a module of the Crop Protection Compendium (CPC, a comprehensive knowledge base on crops and plant pests). CPC data is used to generate pest lists associated with plant commodity pathways, and risk assessment reports may be compiled in an on-line system using information from the CPC and other sources. Reports follow a format adhering to the standards set out by the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC, ISPMs 2 and 11). Costs of updating, maintaining and improving the tool and the datasets in the CPC are off-set by user subscription fees. However, in an initiative launched at the IPPC Commission on Phytosanitary Measures (CPM) meeting in April 2019, both the CPC and PRA Tool are made available for free to 97 registered NPPOs in lower income countries. Eligible organizations have been actively contacted and supported in gaining access to the knowledge base and workflow tool.

Results / Outcomes

Since its launch as a prototype in December 2018, there have been over 2000 users of the PRA Tool and it is being used in over 136 countries (Google Analytics, January 2020). It is now in use, as a service provided for free, in over 25 NPPOs. However, further action is required in both improving the tool and in supporting its application to maximize the benefit to CABI’s targeted users.

Conclusions

This poster describes the experiences of NPPO risk assessors in using the new tool and the steps that CABI has taken to meet the challenging requirements of a demanding working environment. Plans for further developing the tool and for increasing its impact and meeting its objectives are also discussed.

The PRA Tool was developed as part of CABI’s Action on Invasives programme, which is supported by UK Aid (Department for International Development) and Directorate-General for International Cooperation (DGIS), Netherlands.

Bio & Twitter

Cambria Finegold

Cambria is CABI's Global Director, Knowledge Management and is responsible for the strategic direction and technical oversight of the Knowledge Management theme. Cambria's work focuses on digital development to support the Sustainable Development Goals, and leads CABI’s work on harnessing the power of data, information, and ICTs for international development. Projects within the Knowledge Management theme fall into the “pillars” of: Information and Evidence (e.g. knowledge portals like the Plantwise Knowledge Bank or the Invasive Species Compendium, mobile phone services, apps and systematic reviews), Data Driven Development (e.g. PRISE pest forecasting system, GODAN secretariat), and Digital Tools (e.g. digital data collection to support project work).

Prof Katherine Denby

Katherine Denby is Academic Director of the N8 AgriFood Resilience Programme and Chair of Sustainable Crop Production in the Biology Department at the University of York. She is also a member of York’s Centre for Novel Agricultural Products. Katherine’s research focuses on plant disease resistance and using interdisciplinary approaches to enhance crop improvement strategies. She has extensive experience in plant-pathogen interactions, elucidating regulatory networks underlying disease resistance and manipulation of these by pathogens. Katherine’s group integrates genomics and transcriptomics data to breed crops with enhanced disease resistance. Katherine is Chair of the Plant Section at the Society for Experimental Biology, Associate Editor at the Journal of Experimental Biology and Guest Editor at The Plant Cell. Katherine represents SEB at the Federation of European Societies of Plant Biology and sits on the Executive Board of the Global Plant Council.

Prof Sarah Gurr

Sarah Gurr holds the Chair in Food Security at Exeter University. She studied at Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine (BSc, ARCS, DIC and PhD (Plant Pathology), where she was awarded The Huxley Medal for her outstanding record of achievement. She was a post-doctoral Fellow in Fungal Biology at St Andrews University and thence an independent Royal Society University Research Fellow. She was appointed, firstly as Lecturer, then Reader and Professor at Oxford University (and Fellow of Somerville College), where she also held a Leverhulme Trust Royal Society Senior Research and a NESTA (Science, Technology and the Arts) Fellowship. She was a curator of the Oxford Botanic Garden for 21 years. Sarah was appointed to the Chair in Food Security, at Exeter University in 2013 and was Head of School (2015 - 2017). She was formerly President of The British Society of Plant Pathology (2011) and sat on Biotechnology and Biosciences Research Council UK (2012 - 2018). She was recently appointed to The International Advisory Board at SLU University, Uppsala and as an advisor to The Scottish Government on Plant Health (RESAS).

Dr Jeff Ried

Jeffrey Ried received his MS and PhD in plant pathology and conducted research as a post-doctoral associate on seed dormancy and drought tolerance in wheat. He brings over 15 years of experience in building partnerships and catalyzing change in complex, multicultural settings where sensitivity, consideration, and action are called for. He was a partnership specialist at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation where he helped policy makers in developing and developed countries understand the Global Burden of Disease. He has held leadership positions in non-profit, philanthropic, and government organizations in the US and Africa including developing and managing projects for the Gates Foundation and as a member of the Senior Leadership team of the Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency within the Government of Ethiopia. He has been director of a health center in Ethiopia and co-founded the Ethiopian Education Fund, an NGO supporting disadvantaged and marginalized youth in rural Ethiopia

Dr Richard Shaw

Dick Shaw is the Regional Coordinator for CABI’s invasive species activities for Europe and the Americas as well as being Country Director for CABI’s UK Centre in Egham.

Dick has worked on the biological control of many weeds for CABI for 22 years and is an experienced applied entomologist having carried out fieldwork in more than 20 countries.

Dr Roger Day

Roger has 25 years’ experience of living and working in tropical agriculture in Africa and Asia covering research, development and capacity building. He has a broad knowledge of agricultural development issues in CABI’s three themes, namely Invasive Species, Commodity Crops and Knowledge for Development. Roger's specialist areas of expertise includes biological control, phytosanitary systems and international standards, integrated pest management and entomology. Roger has experience of information and knowledge systems including participatory and community based approaches such as Farmer Field Schools, national systems of innovation and also communication and knowledge management strategies.

Dr Laura Doughty

Laura is postdoctoral scientist, working on the Global Burden of Crop Loss initiative at CABI. She joined CABI in September 2017 as a Content Editor on the Invasive Species Compendium and then become a thacnical product owner specializing in the development of decision support tools. Prior to joining CABI, Laura was a postdoctoral researcher at Oxford Brookes University, working on landscape scale land cover changes and wild ungulate dynamics in the Maasai Mara ecosystem, Kenya.

Background and Aims

The Global Burden of Crop Loss initiative aims to provide rigorous, authoritative evidence on impacts, causes, and risk factors of crop loss to help direct funding, policy, and research efforts to reduce crop loss at the farm level.

Worldwide, pests (herbivores, pathogens, weeds) significantly impact food security, livelihoods and economies. However, accurate, comprehensive and timely data on the scale, scope, and trends of the problem are sparse, hindering the effectiveness of planning and response systems.

As part of a Grand Challenges Call to Action project, we are driving an innovative program that will bring together people, data, and ideas to work collaboratively on developing a data-driven system to help answer pressing questions on the scale, scope and impact of crop loss.

Inspired by the Global Burden of Disease for human health, this initiative requires high-quality data gathering mechanisms, analytical methods that “crosswalk” data from different sources and the creation of new metrics that are globally recognised. The Global Burden of Disease initiative, led by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, has transformed the health agenda over the past 25 years. The system provides comprehensive, authoritative data on the impact of hundreds of health problems and risk factors.

Methods

The Global Burden of Crop Loss will gather data and produce similarly transformative outputs to improve our ability to predict the impact of emerging threats, provide accurate and relevant information for decision makers, allocate resources between pests, understand likely plant health impacts of climate change, and systematically develop investment in, and capacity of, plant health systems.

The delivery of the Global Burden of Crop Loss will be an iterative process, closely following the framework adopted by the human health community to deliver the Global Burden of Disease.

The Global Burden of Crop Loss will aim to answer: how many of the world’s crops are lost to insects, disease, weeds or abiotic factors? How does this differ by geography, or by crop? And, what is the economic impact of crop loss, and where is it most damaging?

Results / Outcomes

Here, we present outputs from a 17-month effort to lay the foundations for this initiative. An extensive assessment of the data landscape has informed our proposed delivery framework and analytical methods, which in turn has fed into the development of metrics that encompass the complexity of the problem and that can be widely interpreted and used. The collaborative network developed includes a variety of subject matter experts in the fields of crop pest and disease research, modelling, agricultural economics, data science and earth observation modelling. Employing a user-centred approach, we have engaged with key stakeholders to define scope and focus. This includes non-exclusively: funders, policymakers, regulators, agricultural research institutions, extension and advisory services.

Conclusions

Outputs from this Call to Action project will be formally launched in October 2020, with a view to publish initial estimates for crop loss in the next 3 to 4 years. Ensuring that the initiative meets the expectations of all stakeholders, and achieves the aims set out in the proposed implementation framework, requires continuous input and agreement from the plant health community on the scope, methodology and deliverables produced by the Global Burden of Crop Loss.

The Global Burden of Crop Loss is a Grand Challenges, Call to Action, project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Project partners

Prof Katherine Denby, University of York and N8 Agrifood

Prof Sarah Gurr, University of Exeter

Dr Jeff Ried, Luma Consulting

Bio & Twitter

Sally Pinhey MSc FLS. SGM. FCPGFS. Is a water-colour botanical illustrator, tutor at Kingston Maurward College, Dorset, and author of The Botanical Illustrator’s Handbook. She is co-tutor for "Botany for Artists" courses at Sir Harold Hilliers Arboretum, Hampshire and Dorset Wildlife centre at Kingcombe, Dorset, UK.

Margaret Tebbs is a botanical illustrator with over 25 years of experience working for the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK., and has numerous published plates in many floras and botanical journals. She holds the Jill Smythes medal for botanical art (Linnean Society). She is co-tutor for "Botany for Artists" courses at Sir Harold Hilliers Arboretum, Hampshire, and Dorset Wildlife centre at Kingcombe, Dorset, UK.

Background and Aims

This study addresses the need to restore natural resilience to our soils at a time when food producers want to reduce the high financial and environmental cost of artificial fertilisers. It explores ways in which plants may be used to fix or build cultivable earth, restore impoverished soil, maintain soil in good condition, decontaminate polluted soil, and protect it from extreme weather. While not the apparent quick fix that chemical applications might give, plant cover is cheaper, safe, natural, and protects against run off and soil erosion. Plants do not need to be mined, or need vast factories or distribution networks. With a little help and judicious planting they just get on with doing what they do best in relationship with microorganisms and elements of air and minerals. All living things alter their own environment by taking sustenance from it and discharging their waste matter. A cycle of beneficial co-dependence between compatible organisms can be destroyed or enhanced.

Methods

Information on the plants has been gathered from seed merchants, farmers, horticulturalists, academic papers and case studies. Certified seeds have been sown and plants grown on to provide specimens for the Illustrations, Information on soil health, microbes and mychorrhizae has been taken from the latest researches published on those topics. Whilst respecting scientific accuracy, lay terms are used in a narrative flow conducive to reading. The study examines plants under several headings: soil stabilising plants, green manures, herbal lays and cover crops, nitrogen fixing plants, and phytoremediators. Soil health and microbial activity, while not illustrated, explores the part that microorganisms play in maintaining soil and plant health. All the plants are suitable for a temperate climate. The list is not exhaustive, and many plants fall into more than one category, but the information is accessible from any starting point, and accurate.

Results / Outcomes

The outcome of the study will be a published book called Plants for Soil Regeneration - an illustrated Guide. In choosing to solve agricultural and horticultural problems with planting, knowledge of the plant habits and function is essential . This study should help.

Conclusions

The study will bring attention to the vital action of plants in the environment, and promote soil health.

Bio & Twitter

Juniper Kiss (@GOESbyJuniper):

Juniper is a first-year PhD student at the University of Exeter working on controlling Fusarium wilt (Tropical Race 4) of bananas in Latin America with biocontrols. Prior to her PhD, she worked at CABI (Egham, UK) as a summer intern in 2013 and 2015 and visited CABI's Plantwise program in Nepal and Costa Rica. She gained her Plant Biology BSc (Hons) from Aberystwyth University in June 2019 and has worked for the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) as a Social Media Intern. She is interested in disease-suppressive soils and optimising biocontrols in the field using experiments and modelling against plant diseases and pests.

Dr Daniel Bebber (@DanBebber):

Dan is an ecologist, mainly working on fungal plant pathogens. He is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Exeter and the Director of the MSc course in Food Security and Sustainable Agriculture. Prior to working at Exeter, he was the Head of Climate Change Research at Earthwatch based in Oxford. He joined Exeter in 2013, studying the global distributions of crop pests and pathogens in collaboration with Prof. Sarah Gurr and CABI. He is particularly interested in abiotic and biotic threats to tropical crops, currently focusing on bananas and coffee as those receive less research attention than major grains.

Background and Aims

Biological controls are viewed as environmentally friendly alternatives to chemical controls of plant diseases and pests. While publications report 60-90% disease or pest reductions in the greenhouse, biocontrols are considered to be unreliable in the field. Our aim is to identify sources of variation in experimental outcomes due to different setups and using different biocontrol groups. Here, we focus on biocontrols used against banana diseases and pests as regulations are becoming stricter on allowed chemical residues. A meta-analysis allows the comparison of multiple studies investigating the effect of biocontrols to identify different sources of variation (e.g. experimental setups, experiment length, biocontrol types) in experimental outcomes.

Methods

We conducted an English literature search on Web of Science and Scopus on 1 November 2019. The following two searches were used: banana AND (biological control OR biocontrol), and banana AND (pest OR disease) control within the title and abstracts of articles published from 2000. Articles reporting experiments using biological controls against banana pests and diseases were accessed to assess if the authors have reported standard deviations (S) of the mean measurements (X) of treatment and control groups and their sample sizes (N). Information on the banana cultivar, pest or disease name and pathovar name, experimental setup (in vitro, in vivo, greenhouse, field), name of biocontrol species and strain, biocontrol type (endophyte, mycorrhiza, plant growth-promoting rhizobacterium, PGPR and other), number of biocontrol strains, inoculum concentration, length of the experiment measurements were recorded. The online, free WebPlotDigitizer software was used to extract measurements from graphs with 0.01 accuracy. Hedges d was calculated in metafor R package for publication reporting S, X and N whilst for publications without S, we calculated response ratios which were not included in the quantitative meta-analysis. Weighted fixed and random effects along with Bayesian multi-level meta-analysis were carried out in metafor and brms R packages to understand the sources of heterogeneity in experimental outcomes.

Results / Outcomes

In total, we identified 91 publications with 1,093 observations on biocontrol experiments against banana pests and diseases from 26 countries. Most observations were reported for using Bacillus amyloliquefaciens (11.3%), Pseudomonas fluorescens (8.5%), B. subtilis (5.8%), Glomus mosseae (4.6%), and non-pathogenic Fusarium oxysporum (3.8%) biocontrol stains against 21 different banana diseases and pests. Most observations were from the greenhouse (40.5%) and in vitro experiments (33%) while field trials were rarer (22%) and only a few detached leaf or fruit essays were reported (4.6%). In total, 62 publications with 516 observations reported mean values with standard errors or variances which could be included in the quantitative meta-analysis.

The random-effects models with biocontrol types and experiment setups allowing residual heterogeneity to vary between publications explained a large amount of heterogeneity (56.95 – 78.42%). Experiment length was the only moderator which was not significant (Q_M = 1.63, P = 0.65, I²=69.6%). The Bayesian meta-analytic model found that overall, PGPR with mycorrhiza had the largest effect (95% CI 1.46 – 1.92) against all banana pests and diseases while endophytes had the smallest effect (0.6 – 1.01). Biocontrol field trials had smaller effects (0.47 – 0.69) compared to greenhouse setups (1.07 – 1.27) and experiments which recorded measurements after four months also showed much smaller effect sizes (0.35 – 0.6) than experiments which lasted for one to four months (1.01 – 1.22). Lastly, when banana plants were drenched with biocontrols, the effect sizes were larger (1.64 – 2.65) compared to dipping (0.68 – 1.07) and in vitro methods (0.25 – 0.6).

The multi-level Bayesian meta-analytic model investigated if biocontrol types had different effect sizes against different pests or diseases. Against nematodes, PGPR (0.5 – 1.16) and mycorrhiza (0.88 – 1.29) had smaller effect sizes compared to entomopathogens (1.43 – 2.69), endophytes (1.5 – 2.48). Against FOC, the mixture of PGPR with mycorrhiza (1.58 – 2.09) and mycorrhiza alone (1.13 – 1.62) had larger effects compared to PGPR (0.89 – 1.25), endophytes (0.39 – 0.81) and Chinese leek extract (0.22 – 0.46). Egger’s regression test found individual observations to be highly biased (z = 27. 368, P < .0001) as almost all publications reported significant results. Influence diagnostics were normal.

Conclusions

Our meta-analysis found that PGPR with mycorrhiza and mixtures of biocontrols generally have greater effects against banana pests and diseases while endophytes had the smallest effect in terms of diseases reduction or plant health promotion. The biocontrol’s effects were larger in controlled environments and in relatively shorter experiments, when the plants were drenched with biocontrol inoculums, suggesting that greenhouse experiments might be over-optimistic for predicting biocontrol efficiency under field conditions.

The inconsistent performance of biocontrols could be due to the loss of ecological competence (i.e. competition and survival), asynchrony between host and natural enemy, the presence of a non-target organism, poor dispersal or poor root colonisation. Mixtures of different biocontrol species had overall the largest effect against banana pests and diseases. Co-inoculating with biocontrol strains can allow multiple modes of action during the different stages of disease or pest life cycle and may increase consistency under different abiotic conditions.

We had to discard over half of the reported observations from 92 publications due to the lack of standard error or variance reporting. Publication bias was highly prominent across biocontrol studies, showing the need for increased transparency and an open-access database of non-significant biocontrol results.

Although the use of biocontrols provides an alternative means to control plant diseases and pests, it is clear that experimental designs need to be re-considered. This review focused on an intensively monocropped crop, bananas, which desperately need the development of alternative disease and pest controls. The review discussed what factors might lead to the unreliable nature of biocontrols in the field as the meta-analysis highlighted fundamental problems with controlled experiments. Standardised protocols of biocontrol experiments and a comprehensive online database of experimental outcomes need to be established which could provide a platform for transparency about non-significant results.

Bio & Twitter

Abdul Rahman Nurudeen is a Postdoctoral Fellow - Agronomy for Africa Research into Sustainable Intensification for the Next Generation (Africa RISING) project with International Institute of Tropical Agriculture. He is a Ghanaian and has a PhD (2018) and MSC (2011) in Soil Science from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology - Ghana. He has published in major agronomy journals such Agronomy Journal, Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems Journal, Agronomy-Basel Journal, Agriculture and Natural Resource Journal, Journal of Agricultural Science, African Journal of Agricultural Research. His research focus is on soil fertility and plant nutrition management.

Background and Aims

Maize is major stable crop in Ghana which is replacing millet and sorghum in northern Ghana. However, average yield of maize is low due to low and declining soil fertility. A two-year study was conducted in the northern savanna of Ghana to determine the effect of interceding cowpea in maize-based cropping system on maize grain yield, weed biomass and soil quality index during 2017 and 2018 cropping seasons.

Methods

A factorial treatment combination of time of interceding cowpea as living mulch and maize maturity-types were laid in randomized complete block design with four replications. The time of interceding the cowpea were: control, maize with cowpea planted on the same day, maize with cowpea planted at 1 week after maize and maize with cowpea planted at 2 weeks after maize. The maize maturity-types include: extra-early (Abontem; 80-day), early (Omankwa; 90-day) and medium (Obatanpa; 120-day). We measured maize grain yield, weed biomass and used principal component and correlation analysis to select minimum data set from the total data set of soil properties measured to calculate soil quality index in both cropping seasons.

Results / Outcomes

Interceding cowpea in maize-based cropping system significantly increased maize grain yield by 35% in 2017 and 37% in 2018 cropping seasons than the control. It also reduced (P < 0.01) weed biomass by 71% and 85% relative to the control in 2017 and 2018 cropping seasons respectively. The soil quality index for interceding cowpea as living mulch in maize-based cropping system increased by 50% and 100% compared with the control during both seasons respectively. The maize maturity-type had significant effect on grain yield in 2017 cropping season with the early maturity-type producing the highest grain yield.

Conclusions

The results suggest that small scale maize farmers should consider interceding cowpea as mulch in maize-based cropping system to increased maize grain yield, improve weed suppression and soil quality in northern savanna of Ghana and similar agro-ecologies in West Africa.

Bio & Twitter

Dr. Vishal Prasad working as Assistant Professor in the Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development, Banaras Hindu University, is working in the area of microorganisms mediated management of environmental problems.

Shivani Chaudhary is working for her doctoral research on problems of plant health with reference to availabilty of phosphate in salinity impaired soils using plant growth promoting microorganisms.

Background and Aims

Excess salinity inhibits plant growth, limiting crop production. Salinity suppresses phosphorus uptake by plant roots and reduces the available phosphorus by sorption processes and low solubility of Ca-P minerals. Since phosphorus is a critical nutrient limiting plant growth, the adverse effects on plant growth in saline soil are multiplied. Salinity tolerant bacteria having ability of phosphate solubilization are a promising solution for a sustainable mitigation of the above problem. The present work reports isolation and screening of rhizobacterial isolates having properties of salinity tolerance and phosphate solubilization from its insoluble forms.

Methods

Two different rhizospheric soil samples were collected. Isolation of bacteria was carried out from these soil samples. The bacterial isolates obtained were further tested for their salinity tolerance in media amended with NaCl upto 500 mM. The salinity tolerant isolates were further tested for phosphate solubilization on Pikovskaya agar media. The isolates showing phosphate solubilization were then quantified for amount of phosphate solubilization using NBRIP broth media using NaCl amendments. A consortia of three isolates was also prepared and tested for phosphate solubilization using NaCl amendments.

Results / Outcomes

A total of 18 rhizobacterial isolates were obtained from 2 rhizospheric soil samples. Amongst these, 15 isolates were found to tolerate salinity upto 500 mM under culture conditions. Further investigation showed that only 5 out the 15 isolates exhibited significant potentials for phosphate solubilization. These 5 isolates labelled as PSB-1, PSB-2, PSB-3, PSB-4 and PSB-5 were used further. Under non-saline conditions the amount of solubilized phosphate by the isolates ranged from 18.27 µg/ml to 3.49 µg/ml, and the maximum was by PSB-1. Under impact of 250 mM salinity the amount of solubilized phosphate by the isolates ranged from 27.27 µg/ml to 7.77 µg/ml and again the highest was by PSB-1. Further exposure of 500 mM exhibited a solubilization ranging from 24.73 µg/ml to 7.57 µg/ml by the isolates and here again for the second time PSB-1 exhibited maximum. A combination of PSB-1+PSB-4+PSB-5 was formulated and evaluated. Under non-saline condition the consortium produced 29.09 µg/ml of soluble phosphate, while under the impacts of 250 mM and 500 mM salinity the amount of soluble phosphate was 25.54 µg/ml and 23.12 µg/ml respectively by the consortium.

Conclusions

These results indicate for possible application of tested isolates for increasing yield and profits of agricultural productions in saline soil either singly or as a consortia.

Bio & Twitter

Appa Rao Podile is an Indian scientist, educator and currently the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hyderabad. Research Areas include Biological Control, Chitinases, Chitooligosaccharide Elicitors, Induced Resistance, Non-Host Resistance, and Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR).

PVSRN Sarma pursuing PhD at the University of Hyderabad, India. currently working on the Enzymatic approach for the production of higher chain length chitooligosaccharides and their evaluation for elicitor response in rice seedlings. Impact of chitin and High-CHOS on rice root and seed microbiome is studying currently. More than five generations of rice seeds have been collected to study the inheritance pattern of the seed microbiome. Different experiments have been conducted on rice seed and root microbiome

Background and Aims

Plants are able to sense evolutionarily conserved general elicitors of pathogens called pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs), and activate immune responses, a process that known as pathogen-triggered immunity. Chitooligosaccharides (COS), released during plant-fungal interaction, and elicit plant defense upon recognition.

The chitooligosaccharides (COS) is of interest to the food, agriculture, and medicine-related biotechnology industries in light of the diverse applications for these molecules. Production of higher chain length COS is a daunting task, as the available methods including chemical hydrolysis, direct synthesis, and enzyme-catalyzed processes result in COS with low degree of polymerization (DP), while most biological activities require COS (DP≥4).

In the present study to produce longer chain length COS by enzymatic means using Transglycosylation (TG) enzyme (SpChiDY28A). To optimize DP5 substrate followed by purification of higher chain length COS [DP6, DP7] using semi-prep HPLC. To study elicitor response of purified DP5, DP6 and DP7 on rice seedlings by root dip treatment and foliar spray method. To evaluate the elicitation response of the purified COS at the molecular level using semi qRT-PCR, expression of defense genes like PR genes (PR-1B, PR-10), MAP kinase pathway genes, WRKY, chitinase, glucanase, POD, PAL, etc). Root and seed microbiome upon application of longer chain length COS and various chitin amendments to rice has been unexplored objectives included in the current study.

Methods

In the present study to produce longer chain length COS we followed enzymatic means using Transglycosylation (TG) enzyme (SpChiDY28A). Optimizations were carried out and bulk reactions were set up using DP5 substrate followed by purification of higher chain length COS [DP6, DP7] using semi-prep HPLC. Further, we tested for elicitor response of purified DP5, DP6 and DP7 on rice seedlings by root dip treatment and foliar spray method. Different concentrations of alpha, beta chitin along with chitosan has been amended in the soil to improve the yield of rice. Various High Chain length CHOS has been sprayed to rice during various stages for improved crop yield. Metagenomic DNA extracted from the bulk soil , rhizosphere soil samples (0.5 g for each), root samples using the NucleoSpin® Soil Kit (Machery Nagel, Germany) according to the manufacturers’ instructions. Finally, the DNA quality and quantity evaluated using NanoDrop 2000 spectrophotometer and 1.0% agarose gel electrophoresis. Metagenomic DNA extracted from the bulk soil , rhizosphere soil samples (0.5 g for each), root samples using the NucleoSpin® Soil Kit (Machery Nagel, Germany) according to the manufacturers’ instructions. Finally, the DNA quality and quantity evaluated using NanoDrop 2000 spectrophotometer and 1.0% agarose gel electrophoresis. The hypervariable V4-V5 region of the 16S rRNA gene will be amplified using primers F515 (5’-GTGCCAGCMGCCGCGGTAA-3’) and R926 (5’-CCGYCAATTYMTTTRAGTTT-3’). All samples were commercially sequenced using the Illumina Miseq platform. The downstream analysis was done with the Qiime2 v 2018.11 and the “moving pictures” tutorial. Briefly, we used dada2 to detect and correct Illumina amplicon sequence data. We assigned taxonomy to the sequences using the Small Subunit (SSU) rRNA Database from Silva release 132.

Results / Outcomes

Production of higher chain length COS is a daunting task, as the available methods including chemical hydrolysis, direct synthesis, and enzyme-catalyzed processes result in COS with a low degree of polymerization (DP), while most biological activities require COS (DP≥4). The generation of H2O2 was maximum at 3h and then decreased gradually. However, Salicylic acid (SA) recorded higher H2O2 levels followed by DP7, DP6, and DP5 respectively. In foliar application, oxidative burst response was quick, reached a maximum at 6h and declined after 24h. Of the two modes of application, foliar treatment of oligomers elicited an oxidative burst response for a longer time. To evaluate the elicitation response of the purified COS at a molecular level using semi qRT-PCR, the expression of defense genes was monitored by foliar application of COS on rice seedlings. Expression of PR genes (PR-1B, PR-10), MAP kinase pathway genes, WRKY, chitinase, glucanase, POD, PAL etc) were monitored to understand the elicitation effect of purified COS. Improved yield towards chitin applications has been observed. culture-dependent studies of rice seed endophytes confirmed the microbial diversity followed by metagenomic analysis. The effect of chitin amendments on rice root microbiome in soil has altered the root microbiome when compared with untreated.

Conclusions

Plants are able to sense evolutionarily conserved general elicitors of pathogens called pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs), and activate immune responses, a process that known as pathogen-triggered immunity. Chitooligosaccharides (COS), released during plant fungal interaction, and elicit plant defense upon recognition.

The chitooligosaccharides (COS) is of interest to the food, agriculture, and medicine-related biotechnology industries in light of the diverse applications for these molecules. Production of higher chain length COS is a daunting task, as the available methods including chemical hydrolysis, direct synthesis, and enzyme-catalyzed processes result in COS with low degree of polymerization (DP), while most biological activities require COS (DP≥4).

In the present study to produce longer chain length COS we followed enzymatic means using Transglycosylation (TG) enzyme (SpChiDY28A). Optimizations were carried out and bulk reactions were set up using DP5 substrate followed by purification of higher chain length COS [DP6,DP7] using semi-prep HPLC.

In root-dip treatment, the oxidative burst response pattern was same in all treatments. The generation of H2O2 was maximum at 3h and then decreased gradually. However, Salicylic acid (SA) recorded higher H2O2 levels followed by DP7, DP6, and DP5 respectively. In foliar application, oxidative burst response was quick, reached maximum at 6h and declined after 24h. Of the two modes of application, foliar treatment of oligomers elicited an oxidative burst response for a longer time. To evaluate the elicitation response of the purified COS at molecular level using semi qRT-PCR, expression of defence genes was monitored by foliar application of COS on rice seedlings. Expression of PR genes (PR-1B, PR-10), MAP kinase pathway genes, WRKY, chitinase, glucanase, POD, PAL etc) were monitored to understand the elicitation effect of purified COS. Chemical agriculture is widely practiced in the world which causes an imbalance in soil microbial communities. it's important to look for alternative sources like chitin amendments for improved yield.

Bio & Twitter

As the Senior Strategy Coordinator for the Pesticide Risk Reduction Program, of Canada’s Pest Management Centre (PMC), Cezarina Kora collaborates with industry stakeholders, researchers, crop specialists and extension experts to identify priority pest issues and coordinates federal support for research, development and grower adoption of reduced risk pest management solutions, including IPM (Integrated Pest Management). Cezarina is the PMC’s lead in issues associated with technology and information gaps surrounding IPM and grower adoption of IPM systems. Cezarina represented AAFC in the international organizing committee for the OECD’s IPM workshop held in Berlin, Germany in October 2011 and actively participated in the activites during and following the workshop. Also, along with Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency representatives, Cezarina represented AAFC as part of the Canadian delegation in the OECD’s Expert Group on IPM for two years and now she is serving as a co-chair of the upcoming International IPM symposium to be held in the United States in 2021. Since 2019, Cezarina has been actively involved with promoting awareness about the 2020 International Year of Plant Health across the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada as well as provincial government levels in Canada and also organizing special activities to mark the event and raise attention to the importance of plant health among agriculture sector stakeholders. Cezarina holds a doctorate degree in plant pathology from the University of Guelph, Canada specializing in the epidemiology and integrated management of plant diseases. She is the lead author of 6 publications and co-author of 3 publications.

Background and Aims

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Pest Management Centre (PMC) is at the core of plant health protection in the Canadian agriculture sector. Established since 2003, its mission is to deliver innovative, viable and sustainable pest management solutions to address evolving crop protection needs of Canadian growers.

Methods

The PMC builds upon its unique partnerships with many key stakeholders including national and international counterparts to improve Canadian growers’ access to new, effective and sustainable management tools and practices against crop pests. Partners include grower groups, federal and academia scientists, regulators, provincial specialist, and the crop protection industry. Uniquely, the PMC addresses grower-identified priority pest issues and strives to develop sustainable solutions to top pest problems for the Canadian agriculture sector. The work focuses on various scientific areas covering all pest disciplines such as insect pest management, plant disease management, weed management and overall Integrated Pest Management (IPM). The PMC provides crop protection tools, knowledge and support for Canadian growers through its Minor Use Pesticides and Pesticide Risk Reduction teams. The members of these teams specialize in crop pest management and possess strong research capacity and expertise in field trials, regulatory affairs, analytical laboratory, and IPM. The Minor Use Pesticides team facilitates research trials and registration submissions to allow growers access to the newest and safest control products to address their pest control needs. The Pesticide Risk Reduction team supports the development and adoption of sustainable non-chemical pest control tactics (such as physical, mechanical, biological and agronomic approaches), and tools (such as decision making systems, biopesticides) which lead to the reduction of the risks to human health and the environment associated with pesticide use in agriculture.

Results / Outcomes

Some successful solutions since 2003 include: registration of more than 850 new uses of 33 different biopesticide products, including first time registration of over 20 new biopesticide active ingredients in Canada; over 850 regulatory submissions for minor uses of pesticides resulting in over 3000 new uses available to growers; eighteen Pesticide Risk Reduction Strategies targeting important pest management issues and crops, resulting in numerous IPM tools developed and made available to growers; innovative biopesticide application technologies such as bumblebee delivery – the first of its kind in the world, lowering labour and biopesticide costs for greenhouse growers; a Dynamic Action Thresholds (DAT), spray decision systems which takes into account the pest control by naturally occurring beneficial species within the crop; 32 crop profiles focusing on pest management issues in Canadian production systems posted online as reference documents; Sustainable Crop Protection factsheet series published on the PMC website and various events focussing on sharing knew knowledge on pest issues of particular interest such as a four-part webinar series on Spotted-wing drosophila, and other technology transfer activities for integrated pest management innovations.

Conclusions

The PMC has successfully increased the availability of new pest control products to growers, which have contributed to increased competitiveness, improved crop protection results and better management of pesticide resistance. Further, when combined with improved access to innovative decision making tools and non-chemical crop protection alternative practices, as a result Canadian growers now have access to a variety of low-risk, environmentally and economically viable pest management tools and practices which are agriculturally sustainability and aid in the competitiveness of the Canadian growers.

The poster will highlight PMC activities taking place to raise awareness about the importance of plant health and some initiatives to mark the International Year of Plant Health in Canada

Bio & Twitter

IM Calha - PhD in Plant protection (ISA/University of Lisbon), Weed Scientist working on herbicide resistance, weed management and weed bioecology. For the moment belongs to the scientific staff as senior researcher of the National Institute of Agronomic and Veterinary Research (INIAV I.P.), working on the Plant Protection Research Unit (UEIS SAFSV).

A Amaral - PhD in Plant production (ISA/University of Lisbon),Assistant Professor at the Polytechnic Institute of Santarém. Practice in the area (s) of Natural Sciences with emphasis on Earth and Environmental Sciences and Agrarian Sciences

J Santos - Master Student in Agronomy at ISA/ University of Lisbon. Graduated in Agronomy by ISA/ University of Lisbon. Research fellow in project HortInf (EPI-AGRI, Operational Group Project)

I Romão - Graduated in Biotechnology at the Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo. Research fellow in project HOrtInf (EPI-AGRI, Operational Group Project)

M Godinho - MSci in Agronomy (ISA/University of Lisbon). Assistant Professor at the Polytechnic Institute of Santarém. Practice in the area (s) of Natural Sciences with emphasis on Plant protection and Food Security

J Cachado - Graduated in Agronomy (Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra) . Agriculture Engenier from Torriba ( Association of producers) responsible for technical advise in industrial crop production such as tomato and maize.

S Matos - Graduated in Agronomy (Polytechnic Institute of Santarém). Agriculture Engenier from AgroMais ( Association of producers) responsible for technical advise in industrial crop production such as potato and maize.

AP Nunes - Graduated in Agronomy (ISA/University of Lisbon). Agriculture Engenier from COTHN ( Technologic Center for Vegetables and fruits) responsible for coordination of technical advise on vegetables crops from Ribatejo and Oeste (center Portugal) .

Background and Aims

The weed control, in particular perennial and parasitic species, such as Cyperus rotundus/ Cyperus esculentus and Phelipanche ramosa, is one of the main problems that affect the industrial crops of the Tagus valley (Portugal). To deal with this challenge has been created a operacional group HORTINF, a partnership between production, research, extension and promotion, gathered three production associations and four farmers, two scientific and technological institutions (ESAS/IPSANTAREM and INIAV), industrial tomato competence center (CCTI) and COTHN-CC as coordinator. In this project preventive measures and direct methods are being integrated with the obejctive of reduce the use of herbicides.

Methods

In 2018, the first experimental fields have been installed in farmers properties, to demonstrate sustainable strategies in weed management. The strategies include technologies of: 1) bioherbicides for perennial weed control and 2) integration of cultural methods (cover crops) and direct methods (physical and chemical) for weed control. Biomass and cover were evaluated for both crop and weeds.

Results / Outcomes

The application of bioherbicide (pelargonic acid) was effective on annual weeds but for Cyperus rotundus only burn effect was registed, envised the need for split applications. In next trials growth stage, interval between aplication and number of applications will be studied. Cover crop strips (Lolium rigidum x Trifolium sp.) were more effective in controlling weeds than tillage alone.

Conclusions

In this work the preliminar results of first year of field experiments, were presented. The results of HORTINF Project are very important to hinder the incorporation of IWM techniques by farmers in diferente crops and soil types

Bio & Twitter

Norma Soledad Erazo Sandoval was born in Riobamba, Ecuador, in 1962. She is a professional researcher and principal professor at Escuela Superior Politecnica de Chimborazo (ESPOCH), Ecuador. She holds a bachelor degree in agronomy, a Master's degree in Sciences, mention in Sustaible Agriculture at at ESPOCH; in 2017 Dr. Erazo got a PhD degree on Environmental Sciences from the National University of San Marcos, UNMSM, Peru. She has been the Head of the Agronomy Engineering Department at ESPOCH since November 2016.

Magdy Mileni Echeverría Guadalupe was born in Riobamba, Ecuador, in 1963. She is a professional researcher and principal professor at Escuela Superior Politecnica de Chimborazo (ESPOCH), Ecuador. She holds a bachelor degree in Chemistry at ESPOCH; a Master's degree in Sciences, mention in Environmental Management at UNACH; she got a PhD degree on Environmental Sciences from the National University of San Marcos, UNMSM, Peru. She has been the President of Research and Development Group for the Environment and Climate Change (GIDAC).

Juan Carlos Manzano Ocaña was born in Riobamba, Ecuador, in 1993. He is an engineer graduated in Agronomy at ESPOCH. Since 2017, he has been working as a Researcher Technician in the Research and Development Group for the Environment and Climate Change (GIDAC) in the Faculty of Natural Resources at ESPOCH.

Gabriela Rosero Obando was born in Esmeraldas, Ecuador, she is an engineer graduated in Environmental Biotechnology at ESPOCH. She has been working as a researcher since 2017 in the Research and Development Group for the Environment and Climate Change (GIDAC); she was an international student in Biological Sciences at Brock University, Canadá under the ELAP 2017.

Background and Aims

Tomato is one of the most important agricultural items in Chimborazo Province, it is grown in greenhouses in Chambo and San Luis; and in open fields in Pallatanga, due to different climatic zones. However, intensive monoculture and the application of agrochemicals have caused alterations in soil microbiota; it's reflected in the high rates of pests, diseases and reduction of natural enemies. The rhizosphere is considered the area of greatest activity and microbial diversity, where microorganisms guarantee the stability and productivity of different ecosystems.

The 1.5 million species of fungi constitute the second most diverse microbiota portion yet to be discovered. Fungal metabolic activities depend on the surrounding conditions, determined by the physicochemical properties of the soil and by the other organisms that share the habitat. Several research works have been conducted in recent years to learn about the different microbiomes associated with different plants in different places around the world.

In Ecuador, molecular studies for the identification of microscopic fungi with potential for biological control associated with the rhizosphere of crops are considered a relatively new issue. In this paper, the functions of all fungi species molecularly characterized in nine tomato agroecosystems were determined through an exhaustive collection of information from recent years, also determining the population relationship present in each agroecosystem.

Methods

Composite samples of 500 g soil were taken to the first 30 cm deep from each of the 9 agroecosystems. For the next generation sequencing (NGS) the soil sample was homogenized and 200 mg were taken for DNA extraction, following the 16S Metagenomic Sequencing Library Preparation Part # 15044223 Rev. B protocol and mass sequencing on Illumina's MiSeq platform.

From the taxonomic profiles a general list of the fungal species were characterized in each agroecosystem, which were properly investigated, based on the literature reported to date, using scientific articles, books and postgraduate theses.

Results / Outcomes

In nine tomato agroecosystems, 86 beneficial fungi were identified with potential applications in the areas: agriculture, food, environment, biotechnology, industry and medicine; 112 pathogenic fungi for animals, humans and plants and 97 non-defined use species. Fungi with biological control in the nine agroecosystems are shown in the next table.

TABLE 1. Fungi to biological control molecularly characterized at the species level

In Ecuador, this is the first review within the context of the molecular characterization of fungi associated with the tomato rhizosphere, expanding knowledge and offering alternatives to the use of native beneficial fungi that can be isolated by defined methodologies, the vast majority of fungi found in the rizosphere are culturable.

All agroecosystems show a population imbalance of fungi, with the prevalence of pathogens. Tthe greatest proportional imbalance appears in PG03, which may be related to the excessive application of agrochemicals for tomato production.

TABLE 2. Number of phyla, species and percentage of beneficial, pathogens and non-defined use fungi.

Conclusions

In the nine agroecosystems, pathogenic fungi prevailed with an average percentage of 40.37%, beneficial fungi with 31.14% and non-defined use species with 28.48%. Among the phytopathogens of economic importance associated with the tomato rhizosphere Fusarium oxysporum, Fusarium solani, Pyrenochaeta lycopersici, among others were highlighted. Thirty two species of fungi adapted to anthropogenic pressure were used in crop-farming activities as a biological control. The PG01 strain caused 100% nematode mortality under in vitro conditions; it shows enhanced performance as the most promising nematophage fungus for the formulation of a bionematicide.

Bio & Twitter

Abdul Rehman

Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International. Street 1A, Data Gunj Bakhsh road Rawalpindi, Pakistan. 46300

Background and Aims

A geospatial based study of the phenological behavior of Parthenium hysterophrous is obligatory to cope with its hazard and proliferation in the environment. This study was done in order to improve the methods for mapping the Parthenium using remote sensing technology.

Methods

Parthenium hysterophorus was sown in 6 phases with the interval of 2 weeks in order to capture the different phenological stages at the same time. A custom designed Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) deployable multispectral camera capable of capturing high spatial resolution dataset and mid-range spatial resolution Sentinel 2 satellite were utilized to acquire multispectral imagery. The Sentinel-2 Satellite has a resolution of 10m x 10 m at best; therefore, the custom sensor was used to capture higher resolution dataset. The center wavelength of this sensor is aligned to the Sentinel-2 satellite thus we were able get high resolution images in the same frequency bands. Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) were used to process the multispectral data from the UAV mounted sensor to produce the time series phenological maps. A correlation model was used to link the produced phenological maps with satellite based vegetation trends.

Results / Outcomes

As compared to a Support Vector Machine (SVM), a CNNs produced more accurate results.

Conclusions

The basic purpose of our study is to provide improved methods for mapping and monitoring the distribution of Parthenium in crops. Parthenium distribution data collected during the study will be available for use by policy makers for decision making in agriculture, livestock, and health.

Bio & Twitter

Juma Mfaume (BSc Agronomy, MSc Life Sciences). I am a junior scientist in the Cereals and Legumes Research Programme at Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI) Naliendele based in the Mtwara region, Tanzania. As an Agricultural Research Officer with specialization in Plant Breeding, his major expertise includes planning and conducting both on-station and on-farm research trials, formation and working with Farmer Research Groups (FRG`s) on groundnut, mung bean and Bambara groundnut breeding involving participatory screening of Virginia, Spanish and Valencia materials for disease resistance, high yield, and acceptable market traits.

I managed to publish the following publications/ writings:

Juma Mfaume, Ernest R. Mbega, and Athanasia Matemu. (2019). Distribution and occurrence of indigenous strains of atoxigenic and toxigenic Aspergillus section Flavi in groundnut producing areas of Southern Tanzania. Journal of Biodiversity and Environmental Sciences. Volume 14 (4): 14-20, April 2019.

Omari Mponda, Juma Mfaume, Phillipo Mashamba, Patrick Okori, and Emmanuel Monyo. Grain legumes strategies and seed road maps for Tanzania. (2014). Tropical Legumes II Project Report; Pantacheru, 502 324. Andhra Pradesh, India; International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid and Tropics (ICRISAT).

Juma R. Mfaume, Happy Daud and John J. Tenga. (2019). Post-harvest Losses: A case study of oilseed and cassava in Southern Tanzania. Paper presented at the proceedings of A 2-Day Regional Workshop on Climate-Smart Innovative Food Preservation And Processing Technologies Applied By Women In Rural Areas in Sub-Sahara Africa

Background and Aims

In Tanzania, groundnut is amongst the most important crops for smallholder farmers, providing both food and income for households (Sibuga et al., 1992). Groundnut is very nutritious with several useful ingredients like fats, protein, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals all of which are important in human and livestock feed (Katundu et al., 2014). Due to the multiple uses of groundnut plants, this makes it an important food and cash crop for domestic consumption and export in many developing and developed countries including Tanzania (Strosnider et al., 2006). Despite its importance, Aflatoxin contamination is among key factors that can affect the quality of the crop, especially among food-insecure households.

Ingestion of contaminated food and feed is the main source of exposure to aflatoxins, which adversely affect the health of both humans and animals (Kowalska et al., 2016). (Kumar et al., 2017) reported the related symptoms of acute aflatoxicosis as edema, hemorrhagic necrosis of the liver and profound lethargy. The chronic effect symptoms reported include immune suppression, growth retardation, and liver cancer (Gong et al., 2012). Report by (Lewis et al., 2005) in Kenya, indicated that aflatoxicosis accounted for the death of 125 out of several hundred people who became severely ill from the consumption of food contaminated with aflatoxins. The first reported case of acute aflatoxin in Tanzania occurred in the year 2016 when 65 cases reported from two districts (Chemba and Kondoa); where 19 people died (Mohamed, 2017). Since aflatoxins are potential carcinogens, their quantity in food and feed must be closely monitored and regulated in most countries worldwide.

Methods

Sampling techniques

For the purpose of this study, a multi-stage sampling procedure was used during data collection. Three districts; Masasi, Nanyumbu, and Mtwara were purposively selected with fifteen households from each village making total samples to be fourty five, and the selected villages included Mpeta, Mnanje, and Naliendele respectively.

Sample collection

A total of fourty five (45) samples of dried groundnut kernels comprised of 0.5 to 1 kilogram (kg) each were collected from farmer’s household storage facilities. This represented fifteen dried groundnut kernel samples from each village which were collected and packed in sterile khaki envelopes.

Reagents and consumables (protocol will be appended)

Aflatoxin analysis

Determination and identification of aflatoxins B1, B2, G1, and G2 in dried groundnut kernel samples were carried out by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) protocol as prescribed by (Scott, 1995), (AOAC method, 2008), with some recommended modifications.

Extraction of Aflatoxin (protocol will be appended)

Derivatization (protocol will be appended)

Aflatoxin Standard (protocol will be appended)

Results / Outcomes

There was a significant difference in the total levels of aflatoxins in the three villages (H=12.059, p=0.0024). Post hoc analysis using Dunn's Test of Multiple Comparisons with Rank Sums revealed the difference existed between all pairs tested except Mnanje and Naliendele sites (Fig. 2). Typical levels of aflatoxins determined in dried groundnut kernel samples of Naliendele, Mnanje and Mpeta villages containing all the aflatoxins (AFB1, AFB2, AFG1, and AFG2) are summarized in Figure 3. Limits of quantification (LoQ) for the AFB1, AFB2, AFG1, AFG2 was 0.05 μg·kg-1 for each toxin, as determined by the minimum amount of toxin that could generate a chromatographic peak three times over the baseline standard deviation. The mean coefficient of determination (r) values obtained for AFB1, AFB2, AFG1, and AFG2 standard curves were 0.992, 0.943, 0.995 and 0.991 respectively.

Frequency and occurrence of contamination and mean recovery percentage of aflatoxins in the validation assay for Naliendele, Mnanje and Mpeta dried groundnut kernels spiked with 2 and 20 μg·kg-1 are summarized in Tables 1. The number of groundnut kernel samples from three villages of Naliendele, Mnanje, and Mpeta that contained at least one of the AFB1, AFB2, AFG1 or AFG2) at levels equal to or higher than the limit of quantification (0.05 μg•kg-1) shown in Table 2.

Mnanje village site had the greatest number of positive samples for AFG1 which was 14 and a total aflatoxin occurrence (AFB1+AFB2+AFG1+AFG2) of 19, followed by Naliendele village (6) with a total aflatoxin occurrence (AFB1+AFB2+AFG1+AFG2) of 19. Mpeta village had the lowest number of positive samples for AFB2 (2) with a total aflatoxin occurrence (AFB1+AFB2+AFG1+AFG2) of 7. Eleven groundnut kernel samples (24.4%) of the total analyzed samples had levels above 10 μg•kg-1, with a mean total aflatoxin concentration (B1+B2+G1+G2) equal to 9.25 μg•kg-1. These total aflatoxin (TAF) concentration included 5 groundnut kernel samples with AFB1, 5 groundnut kernel samples with AFB2, 25 groundnut kernel samples with AFG1 and 10 groundnut kernel samples with AFG2 that had mean concentrations of total aflatoxins of 6.1 μg•kg-1, 0.2 μg•kg-1, and 9.4 μg•kg-1 respectively.

Conclusions

This study has demonstrated that samples of dried groundnut kernels have an alarming rate of aflatoxin contamination. The highest aflatoxin levels were observed in samples of groundnut kernels from Mnanje and Naliendele villages. Mnanje and Naliendele villages showed the highest number of samples having a positive value for AFB1 and AFG2 respectively. This possesses a high health risk to consumers of dried groundnut kernels and other foodstuffs prepared from grounded flour of dried groundnut kernels. Aflatoxin contamination is among causes of health problems to human and has not been adequately addressed in groundnut production value chain in Tanzania

Bio & Twitter

SHARATH CHANDRAN. U. S

Junior Research Fellow (Legume Pathology)

Institute: - International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics

Project: - DST-ICRISAT CoE CCRPP: Pest and disease management for climate adaptation

Twitter: - https://twitter.com/SharathC_US

Dr. AVIJIT TARAFDAR

Visiting Scientist (Legume Pathology)

Institute: - International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics

Department - Integrated Crop Management

H. S. MAHESHA

Scientist (Plant Pathology)

Institute: - ICAR-Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute

Department: - Crop Improvement

Dr. MAMTA SHARMA

Theme Leader & Principal Scientist

Institute: - International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics

Department - Integrated Crop Management

Background and Aims

Dry root rot (DRR) caused by Rhizoctonia bataticola (Taub.) Butler [Synonym: Macrophomina phaseolina (Tassi.) Goid] is an emerging threat to chickpea production in India. The disease is highly prevalent in semi-arid tropics of the world where it coincides with high soil temperatures and low soil moisture content (SMC). In the near future, elevated average temperatures and inconsistent rainfall patterns resultant of changing climatic scenario are strongly believed to exacerbate DRR of chickpea to epidemic proportions. The present study aims to quantify the roles of temperature, SMC and Rhizoctonia bataticola together as combined stress for infection and disease progression in chickpea.

Methods

The experiment was conducted under simulated environmental conditions of Conviron plant growth chambers. The experimental setup comprised of two chickpea genotypes (BG 212 and JG 11); two temperature regimes (25°C and 35°C); two SMC (60% and 80%); and sick soil prepared using a virulent isolate of Rhizoctonia bataticola. Record of disease severity data and root tissue sampling were conducted on 14, 21 and 28 days after sowing. Genomic DNA was isolated from samples and used to assess the fungal colonization of root tissues through real-time qPCR based absolute quantification. Similarly, total RNA was isolated from the root samples and used for differential expression studies of several chickpea host defence-related genes.

Results / Outcomes

In our study, the effect of temperature, SMC and their combination on the disease severity was found to be statistically significant (P < 0.001). As per the disease severity index (DSI), a combination of high temperature (35°C) and low SMC (60%) was found to elicit the highest disease severity in chickpea roots; while combinations having either low temperature (25°C) or higher SMC (80%) or a combination of both were found to lower the same. A significant colonization was realized in all time-points irrespective of genotype, temperature and SMC; however, no or very low disease severity was recorded in the roots with no visible symptoms on foliage during the initial time-points. For each time-point, the colonization was slightly higher at 35°C than 25°C; while the same did not vary significantly with respect to SMC. Furthermore, the differential expression study revealed the involvement of host defence-related genes like endochitinase, PR-3 type chitinase (CHI III), lipoxygenase (LOX) and chalcone synthase (CHS) in delaying the DRR disease progression in chickpea. Such genes were found to be highly active during the early stages of infection especially under low SMC.

Conclusions

Climatic factors are key drivers for DRR expression in chickpea, especially in semi-arid tropics. High temperature renders chickpea plants susceptible to infection and colonization; whereas low SMC dictates the extent of rotting in the root system. Substantial changes in the expression of defence-related genes occurred in chickpea in-response to combined stress. Significant in planta overexpression was observed in genes coding for endochitinase, PR-3 type chitinase, lipoxygenase and chalcone synthase enzymes. The role of these genes in the chickpea defence system against Rhizoctonia bataticola could be further established using functional validation and deployed in resistance breeding programmes. While an economically viable chemical control measure is yet to be instigated, our study indicates that life-saving irrigation towards flowering and podding stages of the crop could arrest the DRR development and reduce disease severity to a great extent.

Bio & Twitter

1. Fatiha polin,

Dirctor,

PERCEIVE, House 40, Road 1, Banani DOHS (old), Dhaka

Fatiha completed her Bachelor in Architecture from Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology in 2007 and MS in Disaster Management from the department of Geography and Environment under the University of Dhaka this year.

In her professional life, she has designed, executed and published a vast array of architectural, urban and regional development projects that involved background analysis, preparing research methodology, mobilizing team members, community engagement for participatory planning, conduct workshops, project management and landscape planning. From October 2015 to February 2019, she was working in Bengal Institute as a Senior Research Associate. Her passion for work for humanity created attachment with a Voluntary organization called New Earth UK(NEUK) and they paired to design and built Earthquake Resilient Shelter in Nepal after the devastating earthquake in 2015. This awakening experience leads her to the field of Disaster Management and eventually she prepares her thesis on the topic Influence of Geographical Factors on Rural Dwellings: A Study in Search of Disaster Resilient Bangladesh. Apart from her professional engagement, she avails every opportunity that connects her to humanitarian works like she has been a consultant in the workshop arranged by BIED to develop Child Friendly Space in Rohingya camp, she actively participated in Jhenaidaha Town Development workshop and many others . Furthermore, she become the Dirctor of PERCEIVE for the betterment of the company’s accountabilities this year.

2. Nusrat Ahmed,

Head of Design & Development,

PERCEIVE, House 40, Road 1, Banani DOHS (old), Dhaka

Architect Nusrat Ahmed has started her career with Anwar & Associate and now surveying as PERCEIVE’s Head of Design & Development and looks after design and development department. She completed her B.Arch. from American International University- Bangladesh (AIUB) with the second highest score and completed her Masters of Science on Disaster Management from the University of Dhaka. She holds very critical thought and optimum functional solution for designing any space. Her creative thinking makes her success in her carrier. Beside she works in different architectural firm at her early career and as her interest grow to work for humanitarian sector she also makes her steps there.

Background and Aims

Dhaka city is one of the most densely populated city in the world which is expanding day by day. In the name of development each and every day the city losses a number of its plant community. Moreover, increasing number of paved area, scarcity of soil or land, different kind of pollution, lacking of available surface water, digging of roads for installing utility lines all around, high land price, mismanagement reduces the plant statistics each year. Global drivers such as climate change, global trade etc. also adds another point on the threat of reduction. The city in its recent past had a practice of having trees in its each dwellings front yards, court yards or back yards. Even various kinds of plantsand trees were found to see in the street or in the parks. But day by day the plants are just vanished. The new apartment practice does not put spaces for trees like before. Now Dhaka City counts less than 1 square metre of green space per resident. So, the losses of plant are high and the impact of urbanization is seen each year. As a result, different kind of pollution increases like air pollution, water pollution, degradation of fertile land etc which directly impacted on sustainable development of city and a threat to life on earth (SGD 11,15)

The aim of the paper is to examine the effect of urbanization on plants health in Dhaka city. The approach may include make a list of missing plants of Dhaka city and generating a plant lap for last 20 years (in 4 segments) compared with urban growth of Dhaka city, so that the effect of urbanization on plants and plants health in Dhaka city can be tracked and examined. Mapping the elements which are harmful to the plants of the city and create a suggestion to build the capacity to protect the plant in urban area of Dhaka city will also be addressed through this paper.

Methods

Different methods are applied for the data collection for this paper which includes primary data and secondary data. During the collection of primary data surveys, mapping and interview has taken at different level of the community. For secondary data, Literature from available source has been collected.

Results / Outcomes

Major outcome of this paper is to build the capacity through strengthen non- structural and structural aspects of plant health of Dhaka city to have a better urban environment and social life. The non- structural parts may engage communities of different age, sex and profession at different scale to raise awareness about plant as well as plant health, create nature club in neighborhood who will responsible to take care of the plant management of their surroundings, arrange plant workshop at school level, free advocacy about plantation to encourage different group of people. Different non- structural engagements may include create nature club in neighborhood who will responsible to take care of the plant management of their surroundings, arrange plant workshop at school level, free advocacy about plantation to encourage different group of people. Major structural parts may include developments of soil health, raise the quantity of land area in urban parts to plant different kind of flora, minimize pollution, make maximum availability of surface water etc.

Conclusions

The effect of urbanization on plants in Dhaka city is alarming. So, it is important to have the involvement of different categories of people at different level in different scale to have a better improved health and quantity of plant in the city.

Bio & Twitter

1. Dr. Sushanta Saha

Assistant Professor (Agril. Chem. & Soil Science)

Directorate of Research, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya,

Kalyani, Nadia,West Bengal-741 235, India

2. Ms. Samanyita Mohanty

Research Scholar (Agril. Chem. & Soil Science)

Dept. of Agril. Chem. & Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture,

Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya,

Mohanpur, West Bengal- 741 252, India

3. Dr. Bholanath Saha

Assistant Professor cum Junior Scientist (Soil Science & Agril. Chem.)

Dept. of Soil Science & Agril. Chem.,

Dr. Kalam Agricultural College, Bihar Agricultural University,

Kishanganj, Bihar- 855 107, India

4. Dr. Swapan Kumar Mukhopadhyay

Professor (Agronomy)

Directorate of Research, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya,

Kalyani, Nadia,West Bengal-741 235, India

Background and Aims

Rice–wheat cropping system (RWCS) is the central agricultural production system occupies about 13.5 million hectares of prime agricultural land over the Indian subcontinent consisting of countries namely, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Bhutan and accounting for one-fourth to one-third of total food grain production (Abrol et al. 1997; Ladha et al. 2003). This particular cropping system covers about one-third of the total rice cultivation and two-fifths of the total wheat cultivation in the Indian subcontinent (Sharma et al. 2019). Measuring soil quality index (SQI) would be helpful for the interpretation of data from different soil parameters (physical, chemical and biological) and manifest whether crop management and land use are having the desired effects on system productivity, environmental protection as well as health (Granatstein and Bezdicek 1992). Therefore, in the present study an attempt has been made to (i) quantify the long-term chemical fertilization and organic amendments addition on soil quality and crop productivity, (ii) screen physical, chemical and biological indicators of soil quality in a 30 years old long-term rice–wheat cropping system and (iii) establish an overall SQI by using these indicators relevant to rice-wheat cropping systems.

Methods

The long-term experiment was started in1986 on an Inceptisols at Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, West Bengal, India (23°40’ latitude, 89°52’ longitude and 9.5 m above mean sea level) under the new alluvial soil zone. The experiment involving rice var. IET 4094 (IET 1444 upto 1997) and wheat var. UP-262 (Sonalika up to 1994) was laid out in randomized block design (RBD) with four replications and consisted of the following six treatment combinations viz. T₁ – fallow, T₂ – control, T₃ – 100% RDF to both rice and wheat, T₄ – 75% recommended dose of fertilizers (RDF) + 25% N through FYM to rice and 75% RDF to wheat, T₅ – 75% RDF + 25% N through paddy straw (PS) to rice and 75% RDF to wheat, T₆ – 75% RDF + 25% N green manure (GM) to rice and 75% RDF to wheat. The soil samples were collected from each of the six plots and analysis were made for the biological attributes (microbial biomass carbon and N, mineralisable C and N, activities of dehydrogenase, aryl sulfatase, acid and alkaline phosphatise, urease enzymes), chemical attributes (pH, EC, soil organic C and total C, available N, P and K, available Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu and B) and physical attributes (bulk density, water holding capacity and water stable aggregates. Saturated hydraulic conductivity was computed by using a pedo-transfer function as proposed by Naskar et al. (2010). Following the analysis, the soil quality index (SQI) was assessed following three steps: (1) optimizing appropriate indicators for a minimum data sets (MDS) using principal component analysis (PCA), (2) scoring and weighting assignment of the indicators, and (3) integrating the indicator scores and weight to form a SQI.

Results / Outcomes

Results indicated that application of NPK fertilizers in combination with organic amendments particularly FYM significantly increased the rice equivalent yield (REY) as well as sustainability (sustainable yield index or SYI) of the system along with substantial improvement in the soil physical, chemical and biological properties compared to the control and other combinations. The value of the dimensionless SQI varied from 1.95 in the control plot to 3.13 in the NPK+FYM. A greater SYI and SQI in the NPK+FYM treatment suggested that organic amendment particularly FYM in combination with chemical fertilizers has an edge over GM and PS. Among all the indicators (thirty) under study, the four soil quality indicators selected as the minimum data set (MDS) i.e. available-N, soil organic carbon, available-B, aryl-sulfatase which contributed 23.9, 29.4, 24.3, 22.4 per cent, respectively to the SQI in NPK+FYM treatment. While for the control plot, the corresponding contributions for those indicators were 22.7, 36.5, 15.5 and 25.3% respectively. Considering the NPK+FYM as ideal treatment, then SQI would decline to the tune of 23.3% when FYM was excluded from the treatment; consequently without the addition of NPK fertilizers and organics, it was further observed that the SQI would decline by 37.7%. This indicates that conjoint applications of NPK fertilizers along with organics like FYM are very crucial for maintaining and improving soil quality of the long-term rice-wheat system. It was further observed that Avail-N, SOC and Avail-B together contributed substantially to the SQI and ranged from 74.8 to 77.7% in control and NPK+FYM, respectively. It is well established that Avail-N plays a pivotal role in controlling the yield of both rice and wheat. It helps to maintain plant vigour by encouraging the vegetative growth as well as root biomass (Shahid et al. 2013), which in turn increases the SOC level and influences a broad range of physical, chemical and biological soil properties and is considered the most critical soil quality indicator (Carter et al. 1999). Accordingly B is the most important micronutrient limiting growth and yield of rice-wheat system of the Indo-gangetic plains of India (Saha et al. 2019) and wheat is one of the highly sensitive crops to its deficiency. The enzyme Aryl sulfatase also significantly contributed to SQI which ranged from 25.3% in control to 22.4 and 26.7% in NPK+FYM and NPK treatments, respectively. According to Frankenberger and Dick (1983) and Dick (1994) soil enzyme activity is regarded as a key contributor to overall soil microbial activity and soil quality.

Conclusions

The study indicated that PCA and multiple regression analysis based MDS selection can be used to obtain a set of variables relevant to soil quality determination which had direct relationships with management goal i.e. yield. Chemical and biological attributes were more sensitive than physical attributes in indicating differences in soil quality index and system yield. Among all the organics, inclusion of FYM with chemical fertilizers proved to be most efficient in maintaining higher SQI and for enhanced sustainability and productivity of the system. Out of the 30 attributes, available-N, soil organic carbon, available-B and aryl-sulfatase were screened as key indicators for assessment of soil quality of the rice-wheat cropping system in the Lower-gangetic plains of India.

Bio & Twitter

Aditi Joshi is a PhD student in Nutrition at Kadi Sarva Vishwavidyalaya, LDRP - ITR. She is also working as the Assistant Professor in Swarrnim startup and innovation university. Her work consists in providing Food and Agriculture department to support Economic growth of country. she looks forward to learning more about sustainable smart Agriculture system with Deep Learning approaches and on other country practices, to get a better understanding of the international situation and be able to share the experience and knowledge.

Background and Aims

One of the greatest strength of the Indian Economy is Agriculture. According to the report of the Food and Agriculture department, approximately 70 percent of the population from rural India is totally dependent on Agriculture. Every year, India produces average 275 million tonnes of the food grain. One of the main sectors of Agriculture is Crops. The main purpose of this research is to develop an effective method for crop protection through technology.

Plant diseases often lead to crop damage. Some of the common causes of plant diseases are pathogenic agents. Some of the microorganisms responsible for the plants diseases are Fungi, Bacteria, Mycoplasmas, and Nematodes. While some of the common plants diseases are Anthracnose, Apple Scab, Black Knot, Bacterial Canker, Blossom End Rot, Brown Rot, Cedar Apple Rust, Clubroot, Corn Smut, Crown Gall, Damping off, Early Blight, Gray Mold, Leaf Curl & Spots, Rust, Powdery Mildew and etc. Some of the methods used to analyze the plant diseases are Polymerase Chain Reaction, Fluorescence in Situ Hybridization, Immunofluorescence, Flow Cytometry, Thermography and Fluorescence Imaging.

Research Objectives :

To design general-purpose model or optimum flow for the problem statements.

Design Crop Analysis algorithm

Plant extraction by analyzing the leaf colour

Pest identification & control treatment

To evaluate plant extraction based on colour indices.

Design plant nutrition and water level maintenance algorithm

To develop a novel Algorithm for insect pest identification in the various crop.

To provide a learning agent that can aid in taking decisions to make farming more efficient and profitable through technology.

Methods

Problem Analysis

Step 1: Plant Classification

Step 2: Health Analysis of the Plant through the photograph

Step 3: Water level of the plant and requirement

Step 4: Requirement of micronutrients for suitable Crop

Step 5: Types of possible diseases (It may vary based on the type of plants and also the season)

Step 6: Identification of Insect Pest infection in various crops

Agriculture is very important to the human continued existence and remains a key driver of many economies worldwide,
especially in underdeveloped and developing economies. There is an increasing demand for food and cash crops, due to the
increase in world population and the challenges enforced by climate modifications, there is an urgent need to increase plant
production while reducing costs.

To solve the above problems, Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) algorithms, a deep learning technique extensively applied for crop image recognition, Identification of Insect Pest infection in various crops.

Results / Outcomes

Deep learning approach to learn discriminative features from crop images with classifiers for crop identification. From the experimental results, we justified that learning the features through CNN can provide better feature representation for crop images compared to hand-crafted features.

Conclusions

However, most of the farmers are unaware of those scientific method and often adopt naked eye method. Naked Eye approach is based on the telescopic or microscopic visual perception to determine the overall health of the plant. The downside of Naked Eye Approach is, it is often too late or hard to determine the disease at early stage and take appropriate action. In my opinion, through Artificial Intelligence approach it will be easier for farmers to determine the health of the crop, Pest insect identification in crops and they will also save time going through all the procedures and may save extra money. In addition, it is very expensive as it requires continuous monitoring by the experts. Hence, machine learning. A reliable prediction methodology is used for detecting various diseases of plant leaves caused by fungus, bacteria and virus. However, disease prediction using classification algorithms appears to be a difficult task as the accuracy varies for different input data.

Bio & Twitter

I'm a young Freelancer and Independent Researcher with Electronic engineering background working for problems statements with environmental and social impacts.I had availed grants for validation and protyping of my research, collaborated with research experts to gain deeper insights for better solutions and currently incubated with grants for commercialization of this concept.The concept won few accolades internationally, selected for International Space Station R&D conference(ISSR&D),2018,CASIS,NASA,USA and won XPRIZE future of forests contest [ https://go.xprize.org/future-of-forests/ ] as GREENWARRIOR for Decoupling land from Food production.I aspire to bridge the Micro/Nano era with plant engineering to promote environmental sustainability.I'm also an amature writer and poet to propagate social,philosophical and scientific facts to people.

Background and Aims

Plant Hack

The main concept beneath this application is hacking of plant anatomy by mimicking physiology of plants with M/NEMS.The plant hack system is where the minerals and water absorbed from soil are fed through Nano/Micro systems stented into Xylem tissue. The concept is to hack and Biomimick the plant hydraulic physiology of xylem with BioNEMS/MEMS which transports water and minerals from root to leaves without effecting plant metabolisms.The xylem sap flow mechanism is replicated by MICRO actuator or Motor pumps stented to using micro/nano tubes to inlet valve and is pumped through outlet valve with controlled diaphragm to transfer fluids with precision. Maximum flow rates, back pressure, pump power, etc are evaluated to maintain water column in xylem with the help of micro scale hydrodynamics. Micro-physiological systems(organ on a chip) are already trending in human anatomy replication, to take plant study and controllability to higher level similar systems are to be modeled for plant.

Tree Infusion

Tree health is most crucial for horticulture and commericial crops of timber, rubber etc.These are limited by seasonal nature of tree,growth and maturation and other aging effects, threatened by wildly spread pests and other diseases.Tree injection is most used method to induce fertilizers, biocides, growth regulators etc for quick and less pollution results.Average cost of treating a tree is 20-30$/year for average height of trees. Foliar spray , Paint patches, Soil Mixing are close alternatives available but sprays and paints are less effective and cause serious air pollution. Soil mixing is restricted by tree absorbing index of root hairs , symplastic path and osmotic physiology constraints ,cortex abosorption and the fertilizer composition.

Tree Injection limitations

Disrupt Functional transport: Columns of occluded xylem and killed barks are wounded resulting upto 40% of transport system blockage. Different species ability to restore from wounds and most cases causes many xylem vessels are damaged and trees metabolisms are affected.
Infections: More prone to diseases in wound area as easily effected by bacteria ,fungi and insects.
Food contamination: The injection is pressurized to pass through entire vascular bundles which consists of food transporting phloem and absorbs into food resulting in fruit/crop poisoning.
Invasive method: Lack of expertise for procedure can result in death of tee which have high impacts considering the resources and years spent on the tree.

Aims:

Tree infusion aims to be a non threatening way of tree health treatment with more effective results than injection method.Promote mostly non invasiveness and no phloem contamination.Does not effect the transportation system of tree and no pollution effects.This method bypasses the natural screening process of tree intakes like tonicity, casparian strips and various microfibirils which can create a revolution in tree health by pumping more effective biocides ,growth harmones to prolong the age of tree etc if used in an ethical way.It can also create new work opportunities with little equipment and training.

Methods

Tree Infusion method

The root anatomy of various trees are studied and lateral roots,nodal roots and shoot born roots are examined and large xylem vessel LXV is considered the main point of interest to intercept for current application.The anatomy is studied under confocal microscope and xray tomography and image processing are done to identify LXV diameter,stele diameter,distance from tip of root to LXV, length of LXV, etc.Since a well grown tree has many roots and deeply grown, the roots near the surface of soil are carefully shovelled and hacked with device which pumps the fluids which are to be injected and are transported to entire tree.The physiology of conduits are replicated avoiding embolisms and do not disrupt water column.The Micro hydro dynamics concepts are studied well to design the system at low Reynolds number[0.01-0.23],Micro structure of xylem vessels[1-500um],negative pressure[-0.5 - 2MPa],Viscosity[1mPa S],low flow rates[1-10 m/hr] of various species of tree for accurate modeling. The flow in xylem can be regulated using these microfluidic parameters which influence micro hydrodynamic properties.The MEMS Motor and actuator are stentend at one end of micro tubes/pipes which are stented into the LXV and pumping of the fluid is done providing all hydraulic pressures mimicking actual xylem transport.This fluid is pumped for several hours to days as per dosage and various roots are selected based on topology of tree for even distribution.

[http://sites.environment.yale.edu/brodersen/Brodersen/3D_Data_Portal.html]

Results / Outcomes

The concept is in initial stages of testing and protypes for various species are being designed and design is to be optimised.But the scope of this method opens door for a new approach for not only tree health diagnosis but also supplimenting tree minerals and get hands on yield.The root adaption to micro tubes designed with organic carbons and MEMS pumping models are under testing phase.The pumping rates for this micro motors are few milliliters/hr and viscocity of the fluids that can be pumped is few mPas which aligns with tree sap and mineral intakes.The current stage of the method projects promising results to become effective and future for tree health.

Conclusions

With adaption to more species and most advancing sector of Micro/Nano enineering this method becomes more feasible and easy technique for maintain tree health.The briding of plant enineerin with Nano engineering can solve many problems of argiculture sector.Since it is in the early stages of development one can consider the novelity of concept and vision of the research involved.

Bio & Twitter

The forests of eastern Cameroon are home to a wealth of relatively unknown fungal species including the basidiomycete group. This study is rightly based on the knowledge deficit that is subject to polyporals of this branch that contribute to wood degradation from oxidation reactions of lignin and lignin cellulose using enzymes (phenoloxidases) including mainly laccases, tyrosinases and peroxidases. Establishing a precise profile of its species of Polypores, with specificities or polyvalences to the substrates that mark them, is to characterize the diversity in this forest biome.

The specimens studied were collected by means of standardized and random sampling in the plots and then along the forest transect, followed by their identifications established by the classification according to Ryvarden (1980). There are 23 species in 07 families including Corticiaceae, Ganodermataceae, Hymenochaetaceae, Meripilaceae, Phanerochaetaceae, Polyporaceae and Serpulaceae. The singularity of this exploration is illustrated by the species Serpula eurocephalus (Berk & Blume) Cooke and Phylloporia chrystata (Berk.) Ryvarden which are undoubtedly the first collections of Central Africa.

The profile of 13 forest species marked by the association of their secretory fungal structures of these polypore species is established. A great heterogeneity of substrates emerges with, in particular, Terminalia superba (Fraké) and Erthrophleum guineense (Tali) which respectively specifically mark 06 and 03 species of Polypores. Substrate versatility emerges with Trametes lactinae (Berk) Pat, which is a versatile brand of 03 tree species. But even more, the realization of its enzymatic activity by means of the spot test on cultivated mycelium made it possible to record a variability in white and brown rot between two distinct forest species, but also on the same footing; testifying to the versatility of T. lactinae (Berk) Pat to the substrates that mark it.

However, T. lactinae (Berk) Pat proved to be hypersecreting laccase; an enzyme that bleaches paper pulp at the expense of the chlorinated and polluting products used, thus contributing to the ecological treatment of paper. This lignin degradation capacity must be used in the industrial processes of textiles, paper, bioremediation of environmental waste ... in favor of the Cameroonian economy.

Keywords : Polypores, Forest species, Phenoloxidases, Fungal rot.

Background and Aims

The forests of East Cameroon are home to biological diversity, among which the plant species, most of which consist of timber composed of cellulose (around 50%), lignin (20 to 30%), hemicellulose ( 15 to 25%), of mineral elements and of a variable moisture content (from 1 to 1.5%) then the fungal species made up of several groups among others the Chytridiomycetes; Oomycetes; Zygomycetes; Ascomycetes, Myxomycetes and Basidiomycetes. The Basidiomycetes phylum is composed mainly of polypore fungi; a relatively little known order that breaks down wood by degrading it thanks to the enzymes they produce. This is how they are called forest cleaners (Mossebo, 2018). They are responsible for the decomposition of wood, because they attack lignin and cellulose using enzymes (phenoloxidases) including mainly laccases, tyrosinases and peroxidases affecting its sanitary quality via different rots inflicted (White rot; Brown rot, etc.), inducing financial deficits for the government and loggers (Djeugap et al., 2017). Secret Polyphenoloxidases can be used in the paper, textile, and bio-mediation of environmental waste industries. They constitute a group which enjoys an incomparable importance in the regeneration, evolution and maintenance of ecosystems, (Njouonkou, 2011). This study is rightly set up with regard to the deficit of knowledge subject to species of this order to inform the state of biodiversity in order to fill the deficit of information on the species of Polypores of Cameroon to ensure the development of ecological management policies which are evidence for the paradigm shift on the conservation of forest ecosystems.

In light of all of the above, one is tempted to ask whether there is any specificity or versatility between Polypore species and timber species (substrates) in forests. This work should make it possible to establish a precise profile of Polypore species with specificities or versatility to the substrates that mark them to better characterize the biodiversity in the forest biome in Cameroon.

Methods

The carpophores were collected from the trunks and tree stumps according to a randomized and standardized sampling in the FMU. The collected specimens are dried in an artisanal dryer then packaged and transported to the laboratory where they are dried again in an electric dryer of the Dres type and stored in the refrigerator at an average temperature of 18 ± 2 ° C.

The spore was carried out on microscope slides marked according to a process creating a sufficiently high relative humidity which naturally triggers the mechanism of ejection of the spores of the hymenophore Mossebo (2019). The particles were extracted using glycerol water (12%), previously swollen with KOH (5%). Amyloidity or dextrinoids are developed using the Melzer reagent and flocin B.

The description and the illustration of the spores related to the shape and the color of the basidiome, their dimensions (L1 - L2 x l1- l2, and ϑ) where L1 represents the shortest length of the basidiome, L2 the longest length , l1 the smallest width, l2 the largest width and ϑ the thickness. The extreme values ​​are put in brackets. The colors are identified using the color chart (Kornerup, J. H. Wanscher, 1978).

The identification of Polyphenolxydases consisted in determining on pure cultures the different types of enzymes that lignivorous polyporal fungi secrete to contribute to the oxidation reactions of wood components, contributing to the identification of the different types of rots on culture medium (MEA) in Petri dishes previously sterilized at 120 ° C for 60 minutes. The process carried out consisted of carrying out tests using several reagents on the mycelium as a function of the intensity of the coloring.

The identification was carried out using the Ryvarden key (1980), then the website http://www.indexfungorum.org/Names/Names.asp. The means of the different parameters are calculated using the Excel spreadsheet.

Results / Outcomes

There are 23 species distributed in 07 families including Corticiaceae, Ganodermataceae, Hymenochaetaceae, Meripilaceae, Phanerochaetaceae, Polyporaceae and Serpulaceae. The singularity of this exploration is illustrated by the species Serpula eurocephalus (Berk & Blume) Cooke and Phylloporia chrystata (Berk.) Ryvarden which are undoubtedly the very first collections in Central Africa.

The profile of 13 forest species marked by the association of their secretions with the fungal structures of these polypore species is established. A great heterogeneity of substrates emerges with in particular Terminalia superba (Fraké) and Erthrophleum guineense (Tali) which mark respectively 06 and 03 Polypore species. As for the versatility of the substrate, it emerges with Trametes lactinae (Berk) Pat, which marks three forest species in a versatile manner. But even more, the achievement of its enzymatic activity by means of the spot tests on cultivated mycelium made it possible to note a variability in white and brown rot between two distinct forest species, but also on the same footing; sufficient evidence of the versatility of T. lactinae (Berk) Pat to the substrates which mark it.

Furthermore, T. lactinae (Berk) Pat has been shown to be hypersecretory of laccase; enzyme which bleaches paper pulp to the detriment of the chlorinated and polluting products used, thereby contributing to the ecological treatment of paper. This capacity to degrade lignin must be used in industrial processes for the benefit of the Cameroonian economy.

Conclusions

CONCLUSION
At the end of our study where it was a question of establishing a precise profile of the Polypore species with specificities or versatility to the substrates which mark them, 23 Polypore species are identified, described and stored in the herbarium of the Cryptogamy laboratory of the University of Ydé 1.
The specific fungal richness indicates the presence of two (02) new collections from Central Africa. Phylloporia chrystata (Berk.) Ryvarden and Serpula eurocephalus (Berk & Blume) Cooke.
Several species have proved to be versatile to substrates, notably Rigidiporus ulmarius (Sow. Fr.) Imazeki, Ganoderma australe (Fr.) Pat, Phellinus pachyphoeus (Pat.) Pat, T. lactinae (Berk.) Pat. The substrate specificity was revealed for Terminalia superba Engl. & Diels (Fraké) and Erthrophleum guineense (Guill. & Perr.) Brenan (Tali).
Enzymatic Activities T. lactinae (Berk.) Pat has revealed a high capacity for degrading lignin which must be used in industrial processes (pulp) for the benefit of the Cameroonian economy.

Bio & Twitter

Dr Shilpi Jain received her PhD degree in Environmental Science from CSIR- Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (under JNU-CIMAP PhD programme), Lucknow, U.P., India. She has vast research expertise in the conversion of solid biomass waste into biochar and its application for remediation in acidic soils, phytoremediation by aromatic and medicinal plants in mine spoils. She has good knowledge of plant metal interaction, metal toxicity and enzymatic reactions in plants and soils. She has published her work in reputed and high impact SCI journals such. Dr Shilpi Jain is presently working as an Assistant Professor of Environmental Science at The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Gujarat, India.

Dr Puja Khare is Senior Principal Scientist in CSIR-Central Institute of Medicinal aromatic plants. She has more than ten years of research experience in environmental chemistry, soil chemistry, plant metal interaction, bioremediation and solid waste management. She has published more than 60 peer-reviewed paper in a high impact SCI journal. She was awarded Environmentalist of the year award by NESA (National Environmental Science Academy).

Background and Aims

Background

Acidic mine wastes are considered as the largest and continuously increasing hazardous waste which jeopardizes the nearby environmental conditions worldwide (Migaszewski et al., 2019). Many of these mine wastes enriched in sulfide-bearing minerals (e.g. pyrites), which on oxidation generate the acid, leading to an increase in mobility of the toxic metals. Phytostabilization of acid-generating wastes in the mine site is considered as a promising option for inhibition of aqueous run-off and spreading of the acidic generating minerals (such as pyrites) and toxic metals. The natural plant growth is not favourable in these areas due to several abiotic stresses such as extreme pH, soil nutrient and organic matter deficiency, and presence of toxic metals. As a new soil amendment, biochar is now the in-vogue amendment for mine-site refurbishment. The additional benefits of biochar are an increase of soil organic matter levels, sequestration of heavy metal; neutralization of the soil acidity; improvements in microbial activities and nutrient cycling (Yadav et al., 2019a). The aromatic crops considered as an excellent candidate for phytoextraction or phytostabilization and have more potential due to better adaptability to stress environment (Chand. S et al., 2016). Geranium (Pelargonium graveolens L.) is an economically important aromatic crop and its oil is widely used in the aromatherapy, perfumery, cosmetic, food and pharmaceutical industries. Hence, plantation of geranium can be used not only for the amelioration of the acidic mine waste but also for the generation of extra revenue.

The aim of this research work is to develop the protocols for reclaiming highly acidic mine spoils using biochar amendments and aromatic crop cultivation for long term self-sustainable systems in acidic mine waste affected areas.

Methods

The soil samples and mine waste were collected from Makum coalfield, Margherita, Assam situated in the North-Eastern part of India. the biochar was prepared from the distilled waste of lemongrass (Cymbopogon flexuosus) at 450°C, for 1h in a fixed bed reactor

Treatment detail for: T1: soil, T1A: soil+ biochar (1 %), T1B: soil+ biochar (2 %), T1C: soil+ biochar (4 %) T2: mine waste; T2A: mine waste+ biochar (1 %), T2B: mine waste+ biochar (2 %), T2C: mine waste+ biochar (4 %), T3: Soil: mine waste (25:75), T3A: Soil: mine waste (25:75)+ Biochar (1 %), T3B: Soil: mine waste (25:75)+ biochar(2 %), T3C: Soil: mine waste (25:75)+ biochar(4 %), T4 Soil: mine waste, T4A Soil: mine waste (50:50) + biochar(1 %), T4B Soil: mine waste (50:50) + biochar (2 %), T4C: Soil: mine waste 50:50) + biochar (4 %). Geranium (Bourbon) seedlings were transplanted in earthen pots (1 plant per pot). The soil samples were collected after one week of planting (0 day) and at the time of harvesting (90 days)

The pH measurement of the Biochar, soil, and mine waste samples was done with Mettler pH meter. Cation exchange capacity (CEC) and water holding capacity (WHC), were determined according to Major et al., (2010) and Jaggi et al., (1976). ICP-OES (was used for the elemental and metal analysis. Banker's method (Bankar et al., 2010) and (Walky and Black, 1934) were used for available inorganic sulfur and organic carbon (OC), respectively. Bray's method (Bray and Kurtz, 1945), and Indophenol Blue method were used for the available phosphorus, exchangeable ammonium. Microbial biomass carbon was determined by fumigation extraction method (Vance et al., 1987). The phosphomonoesterases (acidic and alkaline), arylsulfatase dehydrogenase and urease activity analysis was done by (Egamberdieva et al., 2011) and (Tabatabai and Bremner, 1972).

The essential oil was extracted by the hydro-distillation method. Total chlorophyll content, the lipid peroxidase, catalase and superoxide dismutase were determined by the method given by Arnon (Arnon, 1949), Heath and Packer, 1968; Luck, 1974, and Beauchamp & Fridovich, 1971. The metal tolerance index (MTI) and pollution load index were calculated according to (Wang et al., 2014) and (Nannoni et al., 2016). The SPSS software (version 21) was used for the statistical evaluation of the data.

Results / Outcomes

The amendment with biochar as well as geranium planting had a significant impact on acidic soil properties by increasing the soil pH and available plant nutrients, MBC. Biochar amendment as well as geranium cultivation in these treatments reduced acidic phosphates and arylsulphatase activity but enhanced alkaline phosphatase, urease and dehydrogenase activity at 0 days as well as 90 days in a dose-dependent manner.

The highest biomass and oil yield were recorded in 50:50 ratios of mine spoil and soil with 4% biochar amendment. Biochar application in mine spoil treatments significantly increased chlorophyll, SOD and catalase activity and decreased MDA content (malondialdehyde, a final product of lipid peroxidation) in a dose-dependent manner. The MTI of geranium was enhanced with biochar dose and found maximum in 4% biochar amendment. The highest PLI value was observed in mine spoil but declined with increase biochar rate.

The present study revealed that biochar addition effectively neutralizes the acidic mine waste and immobilized the heavy metals. due to the presence of carbonates as well as –COO- and –O- functional groups (Ippolito et al., 2017) in biochar and release of the exchangeable cations (K, Ca, Mg and Na) contributed to acidity reduction. The complexation of metals with functional groups present on biochar’s surface or their precipitation at higher pH may be the reason for the reduction in phytoavailability after biochar addition.

The biochar amendments reduced the metal accumulation, RAC and PLI values and oxidative stress in the plant and enhanced soil nutrient content, soil enzymatic activity, crop productivity and MTI values because of factors such as liming of acidic mine waste, mineralization, retention of nutrients and reduced metal phytoavailability was the reason for the high yields of geranium (Zhang et al., 2019). The yield of essential oil after phytoremediation could play an important role in the sustainability of this technology.

Conclusions

The biochar enhanced the desirable properties of spoil, such as pH, CEC, soil organic matter, and plant nutrients as well as enzymatic activity of mine spoil. It can be concluded that the 4% biochar amendment is suitable with 50:50 ratio of mine spoil and soil with planting geranium for phytostabilization of acidic mine spoils.

Bio & Twitter

Face book (Mian salman Ghaffar)

Background and Aims

Alternaria fruit rot (ALR) caused by Alternaria alternata is a serious threat to grape market values in Pakistan during post-harvest stages, such as during handling, storage, transportation and distribution respectively. The objective of this study is to determine the anti-fungal activities of plant essential oils against Alternaria alternata causing fruit rot of grapes. For this purpose, three selected plant essential oils (EOs) viz. Thyme (Thymus vulgare), Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) and Ginger (Zingiber officinale) essential oils at 0.06, 0.08 and 0.1 % concentrations were investigated by using different methods both under in vitro condition as well on grapes bunches against previously isolated culture of A. alternata designated as (Isolate ID. AA4PL1). Results showed that Plant (EO) of Thyme oil at all concentrations showed significant result to inhibit the mycelial growth (89.4, 92 and 96.2 percent) in contact assay method as well as 96.2, 97 and 98.2 % growth inhibition regarding fungal culture transfer (FCT) experiment while, in case of well diffusion method 32%, 41% and 48% growth inhibition was recorded at 7th day of incubation followed by Fennel (EO) and Gimger (EO) as compared to control that showed 0 % growth inhibition was measured. Moreover, results related to spore germination assay revealed that Thyme essential oil at 0.06, 0.08 and 0.1 % showed significant inhibition of germ tube length of A. alternata (140.8 µm, 77.5 µm and 34.1 µm) as compared to control in which germ tube length was recorded 250 µm respectively. Thyme (EO) was further evaluated for the presence of anti-fungal compounds viz. terpene, alkaloids, phenolic and saponins using standard protocols and found positive due to presence of all compounds. During the application of Thyme essential oil at 0.1 % concentration on fruit bunches for the determination of decaying percentage. The result showed 12.53% decay caused A. alternata on treated bunches up to six days of storage and control was 85.14% calculated. It was concluded that Thyme (EO) has a great potential to inhibit the growth of A. alternata and can be further used as a strong antifungal agent against this pathogen under in situ condition.

Methods

Materials and Methods

Collection of pathogenic fungal culture

In vitro screening of Aternaria alteranta by using Plant essential oils (EOs) Extraction of Plant Essential oils (EOs) through Soxhlet’s apparatus

In Vitro Contact Assay

Fungal culture transfer Experiment

Well diffusion technique

Spore Germination Assay

Qualitative phytochemical analysis of plant essential oils

Application of plant essential oil on grapes against A. alternata

Statistical analysis

Results / Outcomes

Results/ Outcomes

showed that Plant (EO) of Thyme oil at all concentrations showed significant result to inhibit the mycelial growth (89.4, 92 and 96.2 percent) in contact assay method as well as 96.2, 97 and 98.2 % growth inhibition regarding fungal culture transfer (FCT) experiment while, in case of well diffusion method 32%, 41% and 48% growth inhibition was recorded at 7th day of incubation followed by Fennel (EO) and Gimger (EO) as compared to control that showed 0 % growth inhibition was measured. Moreover, results related to spore germination assay revealed that Thyme essential oil at 0.06, 0.08 and 0.1 % showed significant inhibition of germ tube length of A. alternata (140.8 µm, 77.5 µm and 34.1 µm) as compared to control in which germ tube length was recorded 250 µm respectively. Thyme (EO) was further evaluated for the presence of anti-fungal compounds viz. terpene, alkaloids, phenolic and saponins using standard protocols and found positive due to presence of all compounds. During the application of Thyme essential oil at 0.1 % concentration on fruit bunches for the determination of decaying percentage. The result showed 12.53% decay caused A. alternata on treated bunches up to six days of storage and control was 85.14% calculated.

Conclusions

Plant essential oils (EOs) has an important role in the management of post-harvest diseases The results obtained in the current work illustrated that Thyme (EO) has anti-fungal activity against Alternaria alternata under in vitro as well as application on grapes So, it is interested to state that we can use Thyme oil as less harmful to environment and less expensive for controlling the A.alternata under field conditions.

Bio & Twitter

Author 1. Dr. Bholanath Saha, Asstt. Prof. (Soil Science), Dr. Kalam Agricultural College, Bihar Agricultural University, Kishanganj, Bihar - 855 107, India

Author 2. Dr. Sushanta Saha, Asstt. Prof. (Soil Science), Directorate of Research, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Kalyani, West Bengal - 741 235, India

Author 3. Dr. Susmit Saha, Asstt. Prof. (Soil Science), College of Agriculture, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Burdwan Sadar, West Bengal - 713 101, India

Author 4. Dr. Vidya Bhushan Jha, Assoc. Prof. (Plant Breeding & Genetics), Dr. Kalam Agricultural College, Bihar Agricultural University, Kishanganj, Bihar - 855 107, India

Author5. Prof. Gora Chand Hazra, Professor (Soil Science), Directorate of Research, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Kalyani, West Bengal - 741 235, India

Background and Aims

Widespread Zn and Fe deficiency in lowland rice fields not only hamper crop yield but also produce Zn starved food products derived from the grains. Such situation drives the population to poor Zn nutrition. Zinc deficiency in humans caused by inadequate dietary intake is a global health problem particularly in developing countries. Screening suitable cultivars with low phytic acid content may be the option to secure Zn bioavailability in human diets. Zinc loading in the cereal grains, however, can succeed through agronomic biofortification of Zn with some subsequent changes in other parameters like a possible depletion in Fe content, a reduction in phytate content and an increase in protein content. Our present study, therefore, hypothesized that application of Zn fertilizer in rice through basal and/or foliar is able to produce Zn dense grain associated with some alterations in Fe, phytic acid and crude protein. Furthermore, we premised a loss of Zn on processing of brown rice to milled rice (white rice) due to removal of aleurone and a part of embryo in the form of bran.

Methods

Field experiments were conducted during wet seasons of the consecutive two years (Kharif 2011and 2012) on an Aeric Endoaquept (pH 6.73) aimed to investigate the possibility of increasing Zn and Fe bioavailability in twenty six popularly grown rice cultivars (viz. locals, aromatics, HYVs and hybrids) in Indian Inceptisol by external application of Zn though soil and/or foliar means. The soil was clay loam in texture with i) neutral pH i.e. 6.73 (soil:water :: 1:2.5), ii) higher in oxidizable organic carbon i.e. 8.9 g kg^-1, iii) higher in DTPA extractable Fe, Cu and Mn content i.e. 215.8, 6.0 and 16.0 mg kg^-1 respectively, but iv) marginally deficient in DTPA extractable Zn content i.e. 0.7 mg kg^-1. The seeds of twenty six rice varieties with a wide genetic variation including two locals, four aromatic, seventeen high yielding varieties (HYVs) and three hybrids Harvested whole grains of rice cultivars were processed to brown rice and analysed for Zn, Fe, phytic acid and crude protein contents.

Results / Outcomes

Results showed that the concentration of native Zn in brown rice was higher in aromatic cultivars (32.0 mg kg^-1) followed by HYVs (29.3 mg kg^-1), locals (29.0 mg kg^-1) and hybrids (25.9 mg kg^-1). On an average, Zn concentration in brown rice of the tested cultivars varied from 22.9 mg kg^-1 to 79.7 mg kg^-1 with a mean value of 40.3 mg kg^-1. Results also showed that Zn content in brown rice varied significantly not only among the cultivars but also within the selected categories (local, aromatic, high yielding and hybrid). Application of Zn showed a significant variation within the categories and the enrichment of Zn was higher on its application through soil plus foliar than only soil. On an average, Zn concentration in brown rice increased to the tune of 17% and 95% upon Zn application through only basal and soil+foliar application respectively over control across the tested cultivars. Results showed that Zn application caused a decrease in phytic acid:Zn molar ratio to the magnitude of 64% upon soil plus foliar application of Zn, whereas 23% upon only soil application of Zn. Such decrease in phytate Zn molar ratio in brown rice was higher in HYV followed by locals, aromatics and hybrids thus increased the bioavailability of Zn in brown rice. It has been observed that such decrease was maximized with the cultivars GB2, GB1, PHB 71 and KRH 2 and PA 6444. Application of Zn fertilizers reduced the level of phytic acid in brown rice with a concomitant increase in Zn content. This, in turn, reduced the P/Zn molar ratio on Zn fertilization below 15:1 in all the rice cultivars tested to improve Zn bioavailability in human. An antagonistic effect was observed on the iron content in brown rice upon application of Zn. The decrease in iron concentration in brown rice was higher with soil plus foliar application of Zn than with only soil application.

Conclusions

Enrichment of rice with Zn through agronomic biofortification can be a good choice to overcome the problem. The aromatic and local rice cultivars are inherently rich in Zn. Zinc fertilization is an effective tool to increase grain Zn concentration and productivity of rice, particularly in the areas deficient in plant available Zn. Zinc application through soil and foliar caused a significant decrease in phytate/Zn as well as phytate/Fe molar ratio in brown rice with a few exception to improve Zn and Fe bioavailability in human.Thus it can be opined that application of Zn through soil plus foliar means could be a useful strategy to reduce the phytate:Zn molar ratio in brown rice and thus enhancing its bioavailability to the ultimate end users.

Bio & Twitter

Mr. Anirban Basu is a graduate student pursuing his Ph.D. in Plant Sciences at the University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, India, under the supervision of Prof. Appa Rao Podile. His doctoral thesis work focuses on studying the interactions of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria with pigeon pea rhizosphere microbiome. He has qualified and received several national level fellowships, including CSIR-UGC NET/JRF (2013), ARSB-NET (2016), DST-INSPIRE Scholarship (2010) & Fellowship (2015), IASc-INSA-NASI Summer Research Fellowship (2014). He has participated and presented papers in several national and international level conferences and has been awarded thrice for the best poster presentation (2015, 2017, 2019). During summer 2019, he visited the UK on a fully-funded student exchange program to undertake a short period of research at the University of Oxford, Oxford and James Hutton Institute, Dundee.

Ms. Daanteswari Chalasani is a graduate student pursuing her Ph.D. in Plant Sciences at the University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, India, under the supervision of Prof. Appa Rao Podile. Her doctoral thesis work focuses on unravelling the pigeon pea core root microbiome.

Mr. Sarma PVSRN is a graduate student pursuing his Ph.D. in Plant Sciences at the University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, India, under the supervision of Prof. Appa Rao Podile. His doctoral thesis work focuses on developing bioprocess to synthesize higher chain chitooligosaccharides (COS) from chitin or smaller COS and testing their biological activity.

Prof. Appa Rao Podile is currently Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hyderabad, which is one of the top-ranking universities in India. He has been working in one of the best Departments of Plant Sciences in the country with a special focus on molecular plant-microbe interactions. His research group focuses on molecular interactions of rhizosphere bacteria with plants, domain shuffling/swapping of recombinant bacterial chitinases, bioprocess development for the production of chitooligosaccharides by enzymatic methods, mechanism of elicitor (harpin) induced cell death, nanotechnology for crop protection, and proteomic approach in understanding non-host resistance. Podile has made significant contributions in three closely related areas of research that revolve around the recognition of pathogen-derived molecules by plants that activate defence response and contribute to improved health/yield. The early contributions are on the use of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) for improving plant growth and yield besides controlling diseases, while the others are on non-host resistance (NHR) and pathogen-associated molecular pattern (PAMP) triggered immunity (PTI) in plants. Podile’s group has published ~ over 100 papers in refereed journals including Molecular Plant Microbe Interactions, Journal of Biological Chemistry, Bioresource Technology, BBA General Subjects, FEMS Microbial Ecology, Phytopathology, Physiologia Plantarum, Journal of Plant Physiology, etc. that are highly cited (>3400 citations) by researchers all over the world (Google Scholar Profile). Podile remained focused in molecular plant-microbe interactions and combined his experience of PGPR, non-host resistance and effector-triggered immunity in plants where the mutually complementary expertise in each of these areas has been studied with support with national and international funding agencies like DBT (several projects and Tata Innovation Fellowship), DST, CSIR and EU (under FP6 on “NanoBioSaccharides’ and under FP7 on “Nano3Bio”). In India, Podile’s approach to study and explore PAMP-triggered immunity is unique, including the development of chitin-supplemented formulations.

Background and Aims

Pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan) is one of the most important rainfed pulse crops cultivated in the drylands of India. It supplies a significant proportion of the protein requirement of the vegetarian populace of India. Pigeon pea is grown by thousands of poor farmers on marginal lands with minimal inputs for domestic consumption, fuelwood and to sustain their economic needs. India is the largest producer of pigeon pea, accounting for about 82% of global production. Despite being the largest producer, India is the largest net importer of pigeon pea in the world as the national productivity of pigeon pea is low. The crop often suffers from inconsistent yields due to various reasons including the use of less productive land, waterlogging or low rainfall during critical stages of crop growth and poor nodule formation by ineffective rhizobia (the nitrogen-fixing bacteria associated with this plant). There is a need to identify efficient strains of rhizobia that can tolerate drought stress, forms effective nodules throughout the root system with high leghaemoglobin content and exhibit high nodulation competitiveness even under drought and high-temperature stress. The present study thus aimed to identify optimal combinations of pigeon pea cultivars and specific rhizobial inoculants that could improve nodulation, symbiotic nitrogen fixation, growth and grain yield of pigeon pea for use in the drought-stressed Alfisols of South India.

Methods

Surface soil samples from pigeon pea fields were collected and analyzed from more than 150 localities covering eight districts from the Indian states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh (Ranga Reddy, Medak, Warangal, Khammam, Krishna, Prakasham, Guntur and Chittoor). The most probable number (MPN) count of rhizobia was estimated in the representative soil samples by plant infection method during vegetative and post-harvest stages of crop growth. Rhizobia were isolated from the nodules of freshly uprooted pigeon pea roots from the fields as well as from the field soils by using a trap plant (pigeon pea var. ICPH 2740). The rhizobial isolates were characterized based on their nodulation efficiency, biochemical and molecular features and the ability to promote plant growth. Eight pigeon pea genotypes were also screened in parallel for identifying optimal plant lines exhibiting superior nodulation traits.

Results / Outcomes

So far, a total of 93 isolates have been obtained, of which 42 were directly isolated from the field nodules, while the 51 isolates were obtained from plant trap nodule samples. Among these, 71 isolates were Gram-negative, while 22 were Gram-positive. Of the 71 Gram-negative and nod+ (nodulation positive) isolates, 40 were nif+ (positive for nifH gene) and 31 were nif- (negative for nifH gene). Of the 22 Gram-positive nod+ isolates, 6 were nif+ and 16 were nif-. All isolates exhibited multiple in vitro plant growth-promoting traits. The sequencing of 16S rRNA gene revealed the phylogenetic affiliation of each isolate. Pigeon pea root nodules were colonized not only by rhizobia (Rhizobium, Bradyrhizobium, Ensifer, Burkholderia and Cupriaviridis) but also by several non-rhizobial genera (Paenibacillus, Citrobacter, Bacillus, Acinetobacter, Pantoea, Chryseobacterium, Mycobacterium, Kocuria, Cohnella, Serratia, Microbacterium, Cronobacter and Kosakania). A significant decrease in total soil rhizobial MPN count was observed during the post-harvest stage of pigeon pea crop cycle. Soil pH, organic carbon content and phosphorous level likely to affect MPN count of the rhizobial load in soils. Black soils being richer in organic carbon content and alkaline in nature exhibited higher MPN counts than red soils. The pigeon pea varieties Mannem Konda Kandi (ICPH-2740), Asha (ICPL-87119) and Durga (ICPL-84031) were found to be most suitable for the agroclimatic conditions of South India.

Conclusions

Efficient rhizobial strains specific to pigeon pea cultivars were identified in the present study. Filed studies indicated the pigeon pea cultivars Mannem Konda Kandi, Asha and Durga to be most suitable for increased yields in Alfisols of South India. The majority of the soil samples from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana were either sandy loam or sandy clay loam type. Most of the soils can’t hold significant amounts of water due to more sand, moderate silt, less clay. Based on the soil analysis results, crops would require more frequent irrigation and fertilizer application.

Bio & Twitter

Agricultural Entomology MSc Student at Kenyatta University

Co-Founder, Food Security for Peace and Nutrition-Africa.

https://twitter.com/andrewabonyo1

Background and Aims

Acacia is a vast genus of shrubs and trees in the family Fabaceae and subfamily Mimosoideae. The species Acacia xanthophloea, is readily occurring and native to East and Southern Africa. The variety of acacia has been of economic importance to locals of the areas in which it occurs, and in Kenya it has been used in the furniture industry. It has also been used to make fence posts, cages, pens and house constructions as dry wood. Several beetles have been observed to attack and reduce the value of timber and dry wood from this acacia species. The beetles bore holes on the wood as they feed and tunnel through. Production of these trees is adversely affected by occurrence of the beetles which are a major pest, and also a threat to the forest resource in Kenya. The study was therefore conducted to document the abundance, composition, species diversity and damage, of the wood boring beetles infesting Vachellia xanthophloea in Nakuru county, Kenya.Acacia is a vast genus of shrubs and trees in the family Fabaceae and subfamily Mimosoideae. The species Acacia xanthophloea, is readily occurring and native to East and Southern Africa. The variety of acacia has been of economic importance to locals of the areas in which it occurs, and in Kenya it has been used in the furniture industry. It has also been used to make fence posts, cages, pens and house constructions as dry wood. Several beetles have been observed to attack and reduce the value of timber and dry wood from this acacia species. The beetles bore holes on the wood as they feed and tunnel through. Production of these trees is adversely affected by occurrence of the beetles which are a major pest, and also a threat to the forest resource in Kenya. The study was therefore conducted to document the abundance, composition, species diversity and damage, of the wood boring beetles infesting Vachellia xanthophloea in Nakuru county, Kenya.

Methods

Infested wood samples of acacia were collected by cutting sections of dead acacia wood samples with signs of infestation, and taken to Kenyatta University Agricultural laboratories for incubation at temperatures of 23±2^oC, 60±10% RH, 12L:12D photoperiod. Data was collected twice a week for a period of six months, for three seasons, from June 2018 to November 2018. The different species of xylophagous beetles were counted and recorded. Identification was done to the genus level where possible. Specimens of the collected species were taken to the Natoinal Museums of Kenya for confirmation.

Results / Outcomes

A total of 1429 specimens were collected during the study accounting for 17 species, with 8 species belonging to the family Bostrichidae. Other species belonged to family Bothrideridae, Buprestidae, Cleridae, Histeridae and Scolytidae. A total of 8 species of parasitoids were also collected during the study.

Conclusions

The high abundace of the xylophagous beetles on Vachellia xanthophloea indicates to a high threat posed on this tree species, and could point to other tree species playing host to these beetles. The high number of natural enemies (parasitoids) retrived during the study points to a possibility of a gap for further research on host specificity, which could be harnessed for classical or augmentative biological control.