GROUNDNUT GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT IN CONTRASTING ENVIRONMENTS. 2. HEAT UNIT ACCUMULATION AND PHOTO-THERMAL EFFECTS ON HARVEST INDEX

1998 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. BELL ◽  
G. C. WRIGHT

When the same cultivars of groundnuts (Arachis hypogaea) were grown under a wide range of environmental conditions, temperature and irradiance played a major role in determining crop duration and partitioning of dry matter to pods, the latter assessed by harvest index. Utilizing published data for the Virginia groundnut cultivar Early Bunch under non-limiting conditions, we show that accumulation of thermal time using three cardinal temperatures (Tb=9 °C, To=29 °C and Tm=39 °C) has considerable potential for predicting crop maturity. In sixteen sowings ranging from the wet tropics in Indonesia to the elevated subtropics in Australia, harvest date for Early Bunch corresponded to the accumulation of 1808 (±23) degree-days after sowing. In all sowings except one in the semi-arid tropics, this value of thermal time was within eight calendar days of actual harvest maturity. Harvest index varied greatly with both location and sowing date, ranging from 0.31 (Indonesia) to 0.58 (subtropical Australia). Using total short-wave solar radiation incident during the growing season and calculated values of thermal time, the growing season for each sowing in each location was described in terms of a photo-thermal quotient (PTQ, MJ m−2 degree-day−1). Values for PTQ ranged from 0.99 (Indonesia) to 2.11 (subtropical Australia). Variation in harvest index could be explained largely by a curvilinear function of PTQ (R2=0.98), provided data were not confounded by the effects of photoperiod. In the semi-arid tropical environment, decreases in photoperiod associated with delayed sowing were the dominant factor controlling harvest index.

2008 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 449-455 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nereu Augusto Streck ◽  
Isabel Lago ◽  
Luana Fernandes Gabriel ◽  
Flavia Kaufmann Samboranha

The objective of this study was to adapt a nonlinear model (Wang and Engel - WE) for simulating the phenology of maize (Zea mays L.), and to evaluate this model and a linear one (thermal time), in order to predict developmental stages of a field-grown maize variety. A field experiment, during 2005/2006 and 2006/2007 was conducted in Santa Maria, RS, Brazil, in two growing seasons, with seven sowing dates each. Dates of emergence, silking, and physiological maturity of the maize variety BRS Missões were recorded in six replications in each sowing date. Data collected in 2005/2006 growing season were used to estimate the coefficients of the two models, and data collected in the 2006/2007 growing season were used as independent data set for model evaluations. The nonlinear WE model accurately predicted the date of silking and physiological maturity, and had a lower root mean square error (RMSE) than the linear (thermal time) model. The overall RMSE for silking and physiological maturity was 2.7 and 4.8 days with WE model, and 5.6 and 8.3 days with thermal time model, respectively.


Author(s):  
H.E. Brown ◽  
S. Maley ◽  
D.R. Wilson

Gruner kale showed a linear increase (8.0 kg DM/ha per °Cd) in biomass with sowings on 1 October, 3 November and 1 December producing 23, 19 and 17 t DM/ha (respectively) by the 29 May. Regrowth following mid season defoliation was slow (5.3 kg DM/ha per °Cd) reducing total production (relative to undefoliated) by 7.5 and 5.5 t DM/ha for treatments defoliated on the 29 January and 14 March, respectively. Keyworks: defoliation, kale, quality, regrowth, sowing date, thermal time, yield


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis Anunciacao ◽  
janet squires ◽  
J. Landeira-Fernandez

One of the main activities in psychometrics is to analyze the internal structure of a test. Multivariate statistical methods, including Exploratory Factor analysis (EFA) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) are frequently used to do this, but the growth of Network Analysis (NA) places this method as a promising candidate. The results obtained by these methods are of valuable interest, as they not only produce evidence to explore if the test is measuring its intended construct, but also to deal with the substantive theory that motivated the test development. However, these different statistical methods come up with different answers, providing the basis for different analytical and theoretical strategies when one needs to choose a solution. In this study, we took advantage of a large volume of published data (n = 22,331) obtained by the Ages and Stages Questionnaire Social-Emotional (ASQ:SE), and formed a subset of 500 children to present and discuss alternative psychometric solutions to its internal structure, and also to its subjacent theory. The analyses were based on a polychoric matrix, the number of factors to retain followed several well-known rules of thumb, and a wide range of exploratory methods was fitted to the data, including EFA, PCA, and NA. The statistical outcomes were divergent, varying from 1 to 6 domains, allowing a flexible interpretation of the results. We argue that the use of statistical methods in the absence of a well-grounded psychological theory has limited applications, despite its appeal. All data and codes are available at https://osf.io/z6gwv/.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 3069
Author(s):  
Yadong Liu ◽  
Junhwan Kim ◽  
David H. Fleisher ◽  
Kwang Soo Kim

Seasonal forecasts of crop yield are important components for agricultural policy decisions and farmer planning. A wide range of input data are often needed to forecast crop yield in a region where sophisticated approaches such as machine learning and process-based models are used. This requires considerable effort for data preparation in addition to identifying data sources. Here, we propose a simpler approach called the Analogy Based Crop-yield (ABC) forecast scheme to make timely and accurate prediction of regional crop yield using a minimum set of inputs. In the ABC method, a growing season from a prior long-term period, e.g., 10 years, is first identified as analogous to the current season by the use of a similarity index based on the time series leaf area index (LAI) patterns. Crop yield in the given growing season is then forecasted using the weighted yield average reported in the analogous seasons for the area of interest. The ABC approach was used to predict corn and soybean yields in the Midwestern U.S. at the county level for the period of 2017–2019. The MOD15A2H, which is a satellite data product for LAI, was used to compile inputs. The mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of crop yield forecasts was <10% for corn and soybean in each growing season when the time series of LAI from the day of year 89 to 209 was used as inputs to the ABC approach. The prediction error for the ABC approach was comparable to results from a deep neural network model that relied on soil and weather data as well as satellite data in a previous study. These results indicate that the ABC approach allowed for crop yield forecast with a lead-time of at least two months before harvest. In particular, the ABC scheme would be useful for regions where crop yield forecasts are limited by availability of reliable environmental data.


Helia ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 23 (33) ◽  
pp. 97-104
Author(s):  
F.M. Khalifa ◽  
A.A. Schneiter ◽  
E.I. El Tayeb

SUMMARY Seed germination of six sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) hybrids was investigated across a range of eleven constant temperatures between 5°C and 45°C. Large temperature differences in germination rate 1/t (d-1), cardinal temperature (°C) and thermal time θ (°cd) were observed among hybrids. Base temperatures (Tb) varied between 3.3°C and 6.7°C whereas maximum germination temperatures (Tm) varied between 41.7°C and 48.9°C. Final germination fraction was attained at 15°C - 25°C whereas the maximum rate of germination was attained at 30.4°C - 35.6°C. The maximum germination rate of hybrid USDA 894, the cultivar with the slowest germination rate, was only 50% of that of hybrid EX 47. The low Tb and high Tm of sunflower appear to be one of the factors which explain the successful adaptation of sunflower to a wide range of temperature. These findings are discussed in relation to the origin of the crop and its wide adaptations in diverse habitats and climatic zones.


Weed Science ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Muhammad Javaid Akhter ◽  
Per Kudsk ◽  
Solvejg Kopp Mathiassen ◽  
Bo Melander

Abstract Field experiments were conducted in the growing seasons of 2017 to 2018 and 2018 to 2019 to evaluate the competitive effects of rattail fescue [Vulpia myuros (L.) C.C. Gmel.] in winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and to assess whether delayed crop sowing and increased crop density influence the emergence, competitiveness, and fecundity of V. myuros. Cumulative emergence showed the potential of V. myuros to emerge rapidly and under a wide range of climatic conditions with no effect of crop density and variable effects of sowing time between the two experiments. Grain yield and yield components were negatively affected by increasing V. myuros density. The relationship between grain yield and V. myuros density was not influenced by sowing time or by crop density, but crop–weed competition was strongly influenced by growing conditions. Due to very different weather conditions, grain yield reductions were lower in the growing season of 2017 to 2018 than in 2018 to 2019, with maximum grain yield losses of 22% and 50% in the two growing seasons, respectively. The yield components, number of crop ears per square meter, and 1,000-kernel weight were affected almost equally, reflecting that V. myuros’s competition with winter wheat occurred both early and late in the growing season. Seed production of V. myuros was suppressed by delaying sowing and increasing crop density. The impacts of delayed sowing and increasing crop density on seed production of V. myuros highlight the potential of these cultural weed control tactics in the long-term management programs of this species.


Cells ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 1346
Author(s):  
Icksoo Lee

Numerous naturally occurring molecules have been studied for their beneficial health effects. Many compounds have received considerable attention for their potential medical uses. Among them, several substances have been found to improve mitochondrial function. This review focuses on resveratrol, (–)-epicatechin, and betaine and summarizes the published data pertaining to their effects on cytochrome c oxidase (COX) which is the terminal enzyme of the mitochondrial electron transport chain and is considered to play an important role in the regulation of mitochondrial respiration. In a variety of experimental model systems, these compounds have been shown to improve mitochondrial biogenesis in addition to increased COX amount and/or its enzymatic activity. Given that they are inexpensive, safe in a wide range of concentrations, and effectively improve mitochondrial and COX function, these compounds could be attractive enough for possible therapeutic or health improvement strategies.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (17) ◽  
pp. 2760
Author(s):  
Gourav Misra ◽  
Fiona Cawkwell ◽  
Astrid Wingler

Remote sensing of plant phenology as an indicator of climate change and for mapping land cover has received significant scientific interest in the past two decades. The advancing of spring events, the lengthening of the growing season, the shifting of tree lines, the decreasing sensitivity to warming and the uniformity of spring across elevations are a few of the important indicators of trends in phenology. The Sentinel-2 satellite sensors launched in June 2015 (A) and March 2017 (B), with their high temporal frequency and spatial resolution for improved land mapping missions, have contributed significantly to knowledge on vegetation over the last three years. However, despite the additional red-edge and short wave infra-red (SWIR) bands available on the Sentinel-2 multispectral instruments, with improved vegetation species detection capabilities, there has been very little research on their efficacy to track vegetation cover and its phenology. For example, out of approximately every four papers that analyse normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI) or enhanced vegetation index (EVI) derived from Sentinel-2 imagery, only one mentions either SWIR or the red-edge bands. Despite the short duration that the Sentinel-2 platforms have been operational, they have proved their potential in a wide range of phenological studies of crops, forests, natural grasslands, and other vegetated areas, and in particular through fusion of the data with those from other sensors, e.g., Sentinel-1, Landsat and MODIS. This review paper discusses the current state of vegetation phenology studies based on the first five years of Sentinel-2, their advantages, limitations, and the scope for future developments.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 607
Author(s):  
Tommy R. Powell ◽  
James P. Szybist ◽  
Flavio Dal Forno Chuahy ◽  
Scott J. Curran ◽  
John Mengwasser ◽  
...  

Modern boosted spark-ignition (SI) engines and emerging advanced compression ignition (ACI) engines operate under conditions that deviate substantially from the conditions of conventional autoignition metrics, namely the research and motor octane numbers (RON and MON). The octane index (OI) is an emerging autoignition metric based on RON and MON which was developed to better describe fuel knock resistance over a broader range of engine conditions. Prior research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) identified that OI performs reasonably well under stoichiometric boosted conditions, but inconsistencies exist in the ability of OI to predict autoignition behavior under ACI strategies. Instead, the autoignition behavior under ACI operation was found to correlate more closely to fuel composition, suggesting fuel chemistry differences that are insensitive to the conditions of the RON and MON tests may become the dominant factor under these high efficiency operating conditions. This investigation builds on earlier work to study autoignition behavior over six pressure-temperature (PT) trajectories that correspond to a wide range of operating conditions, including boosted SI operation, partial fuel stratification (PFS), and spark-assisted compression ignition (SACI). A total of 12 different fuels were investigated, including the Co-Optima core fuels and five fuels that represent refinery-relevant blending streams. It was found that, for the ACI operating modes investigated here, the low temperature reactions dominate reactivity, similar to boosted SI operating conditions because their PT trajectories lay close to the RON trajectory. Additionally, the OI metric was found to adequately predict autoignition resistance over the PT domain, for the ACI conditions investigated here, and for fuels from different chemical families. This finding is in contrast with the prior study using a different type of ACI operation with different thermodynamic conditions, specifically a significantly higher temperature at the start of compression, illustrating that fuel response depends highly on the ACI strategy being used.


2007 ◽  
Vol 122 (3) ◽  
pp. 221-229
Author(s):  
V C Cousins

AbstractThe management of lesions of the lateral skull base is a highly sophisticated branch of surgery generally performed by otolaryngology–head and neck surgeons as part of a multi-disciplinary team. Assessment of patients with diseases affecting the lateral skull base can be complex, as can the application of the various treatment modalities and the management of the expected and unexpected side effects of that treatment.A wide range of pathological conditions occur in the lateral skull base. Many operations and procedures have been described for dealing with them. There is not necessarily one correct solution to the management of any particular problem in the skull base, with multiple factors to be considered in planning and intervention.As surgeons, we need to know how our own results and outcomes compare with pooled, published data concerning the implications and complications occurring as a result of intervention, in order to better advise our patients on their management.


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