scholarly journals Microbial Diversity in the Phyllosphere and Rhizosphere of an Apple Orchard Managed under Prolonged “Natural Farming” Practices

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 2056
Author(s):  
Ying-Hong He ◽  
Charith Raj Adkar-Purushothama ◽  
Tsutae Ito ◽  
Asuka Shirakawa ◽  
Hideki Yamamoto ◽  
...  

Microbial diversity in an apple orchard cultivated with natural farming practices for over 30 years was compared with conventionally farmed orchards to analyze differences in disease suppression. In this long-term naturally farmed orchard, major apple diseases were more severe than in conventional orchards but milder than in a short-term natural farming orchard. Among major fungal species in the phyllosphere, we found that Aureobasidium pullulans and Cryptococcus victoriae were significantly less abundant in long-term natural farming, while Cladosporium tenuissimum predominated. However, diversity of fungal species in the phyllosphere was not necessarily the main determinant in the disease suppression observed in natural farming; instead, the maintenance of a balanced, constant selection of fungal species under a suitable predominant species such as C. tenuissimum seemed to be the important factors. Analysis of bacteria in the phyllosphere revealed Pseudomonas graminis, a potential inducer of plant defenses, predominated in long-term natural farming in August. Rhizosphere metagenome analysis showed that Cordyceps and Arthrobotrys, fungal genera are known to include insect- or nematode-infecting species, were found only in long-term natural farming. Among soil bacteria, the genus Nitrospira was most abundant, and its level in long-term natural farming was more than double that in the conventionally farmed orchard.

Author(s):  
Andrea Lorenzo Capussela

This chapter lays out one part of the theoretical framework of the book, drawn from institutional economics. This literature maintains that institutions are the main determinant of long-term growth, and that to remain ‘appropriate’ institutions must evolve in synchrony with an economy’s progress through the stages of its development. Their evolution depends on a society’s openness to political creative destruction. Limited-access social orders tend to constrain it, to safeguard elites’ rents, and typically undermine progressive institutional reforms, breaking that synchrony. The transition from that social order to the open-access one is an endogenous and reversible process, in which inefficient institutions, which allow elites to extract rents, coexist with appropriate ones, which constrain their power and make it contestable. The hypothesis is advanced that Italy has not yet completed this transition, and that the tension between its efficient and inefficient institutions can endogenously generate shocks, which open opportunities for equilibrium shifts.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abhishek Kumar ◽  
Hardik Pathak ◽  
Seema Bhadauria ◽  
Jebi Sudan

AbstractMycotoxins are secondary metabolites produced by several fungal species and molds. Under favorable conditions like high temperature and moisture, they contaminate a large number of food commodities and regional crops during pre and post-harvesting. Aflatoxin is the main mycotoxin that harm animal and human health due to its carcinogenic nature. Aflatoxins are mainly released by Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus. AFB1 constitutes the most harmful type of aflatoxins and is a potent hepato-carcinogenic, mutagenic, teratogenic and it suppresses the immune system. To maintain food safety and to prevent aflatoxin contamination in food crops, combined approaches of using resistant varieties along with recommended farming practices should be followed. This review concentrates on various aspects of mycotoxin contamination in crops and recent methods to prevent or minimize the contamination.


Chemosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 272 ◽  
pp. 129618
Author(s):  
Amir E. Kaziem ◽  
Zongzhe He ◽  
Lianshan Li ◽  
Yong Wen ◽  
Zhen Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 501
Author(s):  
Zhimin Zhang ◽  
Qinghui Deng ◽  
Lingling Wan ◽  
Xiuyun Cao ◽  
Yiyong Zhou ◽  
...  

Aquaculture is among the most important and fastest growing agriculture sectors worldwide; however, it generates environmental impacts by introducing nutrient accumulations in ponds, which are possibly different and further result in complex biological processes in the sediments based on diverse farming practices. In this study, we investigated the effects of long-term farming practices of representative aquatic animals dominated by grass carp (GC, Ctenopharyngodon idella) or Chinese mitten crab (CMC, Eriocheir sinensis) on the bacterial community and enzyme activity of sediments from more than 15 years of aquaculture ponds, and the differences associated with sediment properties were explored in the two farming practices. Compared to CMC ponds, GC ponds had lower contents of TC, TN, and TP in sediments, and similar trends for sediment pH and moisture content. Sediment bacterial communities were significantly different between GC and CMC ponds, with higher bacterial richness and diversity in GC ponds. The bacterial communities among the pond sediments were closely associated with sediment pH, TC, and TN. Additionally, the results showed profoundly lower activities of β-1,4-glucosidase, leucine aminopeptidase, and phosphatase in the sediments of GC ponds than CMC ponds. Pearson’s correlation analysis further revealed strong positive correlations between the hydrolytic enzyme activities and nutrient concentrations among the aquaculture ponds, indicating microbial enzyme regulation response to sediment nutrient dynamics. Our study herein reveals that farming practices of fish and crab differently affect bacterial communities and enzymatic activities in pond sediments, suggesting nutrient-driven sediment biological processes in aquaculture ponds for different farming practices.


Author(s):  
Roberto Costa ◽  
Martino Martinelli Filho ◽  
Wagner T. Tamaki ◽  
K�tia R. Silva ◽  
Luiz F. P. Moreira ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 289-299
Author(s):  
Md Arafat Islam ◽  
Nazmul Ahsan Khan ◽  
Raisa Bashar

Inorganic farming is the norm in most areas of Bangladesh today, especially at croplands near Bangladesh’s capital - Dhaka. However, several recent studies have shown that such practices cause soil degradation overtime, consequently leading to long-term harm to the environment and economic profits. This long-term cost is often avoided by most farmers as inorganic farming is believed to fetch increased productivity/monetary gains, than its environmentally friendly, organic counterpart: the primary aim of this research was to find out the validity of this belief. The research used literature review and analysis of primary data collected about input costs, returns, crop yields, environmental effects, etc., from sixty respondents (mostly farmers and consumers involved in both types of farming), using one-on-one structured interviews, and three focus group discussions at the selected areas of Savar, Sreenagar and Rupganj, focusing primarily on two popular crops – tomato and corn; graphical and tabular analyses were conducted using MS Excel to propose interpretations and record findings. Keeping all other things constant and internalizing environmental externalities, while organic farming was found to produce around 50% and 33% less tomatoes and corns in net terms, respectively, than inorganic farming, the input costs and returns from one cycle of production were found to be lower (50%) and higher (around 200USD), respectively. Hence, from a long-run perspective, organic farming was concluded as the more cost-effective choice both in economic and environmental terms, given that the Dhaka market for organic products are managed better by the producers, consumers and government, alike. Res. Agric., Livest. Fish.6(2): 289-299, August 2019


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document