scholarly journals Low density-microplastics detected in sheep faeces and soil: A case study from the intensive vegetable farming in Southeast Spain

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas Beriot ◽  
Joost Peek ◽  
Raul Zornoza ◽  
Violette Geissen ◽  
Esperanza Huerta Lwanga
Keyword(s):  
Crop Production ◽  
Agricultural Soils ◽  
Plastic Pollution ◽  
Plastic Mulch ◽  
Visual Identification ◽  
Plastic Mulching ◽  
Vegetable Farming ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Plastic Content

<p>One of the main sources of plastic pollution in agricultural fields is the plastic mulch used by farmers to improve crop production. The plastic mulch is often not removed completely from the fields after harvest. Over time, the plastic mulch that is left of the fields is broken down into smaller particles which are dispersed by the wind or runoff. In the Region of Murcia in Spain, plastic mulch is heavily used for intensive vegetable farming. After harvest, sheep are released into the fields to graze on the vegetable residues. The objective of the study was to assess the plastic contamination in agricultural soil in Spain and the ingestion of plastic by sheep. Therefore, three research questions were established: i) What is the plastic content in agricultural soils where plastic mulch is commonly used? ii) Do livestock ingest the microplastics found in the soil? iii) How much plastic could be transported by the livestock? To answer these questions, we sampled top soils (0–10 cm) from 6 vegetable fields and collected sheep faeces from 5 different herds. The microplastic content was measured using density separation and visual identification. We found ~2 × 10<sup>3</sup> particles∙kg<sup>−1</sup> in the soil and ~10<sup>3</sup> particles∙kg<sup>−1</sup> in the faeces. The data show that plastic particles were present in the soil and that livestock ingested them. After ingesting plastic from one field, the sheep can become a source of microplastic contamination as they graze on other farms or grasslands. The potential transport of microplastics due to a herd of 1000 sheep was estimated to be ~10<sup>6</sup> particles∙ha<sup>−1</sup>∙y<sup>−1</sup>. Further studies should focus on: assessing how much of the plastic found in faeces comes directly from plastic mulching, estimating the plastic degradation in the guts of sheep and understanding the potential effects of these plastic residues on the health of livestock.</p>

scholarly journals Identifying coastal saline soil management practices to reduce land degradation and increase crop production in Bangladesh

2021 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-159
Author(s):  
Mohammad Asadul Haque
Keyword(s):  
Crop Production ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Soil Moisture Content ◽  
Saline Soil ◽  
Fruit Yield ◽  
Control Treatment ◽  
Plastic Mulch ◽  
Salt Accumulation ◽  
Plastic Mulching ◽  
Academy Of Sciences

A consecutive three year duration field experiment was carried out to identify which of a suitable mulch material and a planting bed or their combinations potentially reduce salt accumulation in soil and increase snake gourd yield in coastal saline soils. There were nine treatment combinations having three kinds of mulch materials: no mulch (control), rice straw mulch and plastic mulch, and three kinds of planting beds: convex bed, flat bed and concave bed. Plastic mulch reduced electrical conductivity of soil by 32% and increased soil temperature by 23% and gravimetric soil moisture content by 25% over control treatment. Plastic mulch had a fruit yield of 30.73, 28.06 and 26.32 t ha-1, which was 72, 237 and 268 % higher than control treatment in 2018, 2019 and 2020, respectively. The convex bed planting had significantly higher fruit yield than flat bed and concave bed planting. Plastic mulching and convex bed planting may therefore be recommended for reducing soil salinity and improving snake gourd yield in coastal saline regions. Journal of Bangladesh Academy of Sciences, Vol. 44, No. 2, 145-159, 2020

Evaluation of maize-based intercropping on runoff, soil loss, and yield in foothills of the Indian sub-Himalayas

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Rajeev Ranjan ◽  
N.K. Sharma ◽  
Ambrish Kumar ◽  
Monalisha Pramanik ◽  
Harsh Mehta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Loss ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Block Design ◽  
Himalayan Region ◽  
High Yield ◽  
Plastic Mulch ◽  
Randomized Block Design ◽  
Plastic Mulching ◽  
Cropping Seasons

Summary Soil and nutrients losses due to soil erosion are detrimental to crop production, especially in the hilly terrains. An experiment was carried out in three consecutive cropping seasons (2012–2015) with four treatments: sole maize; sole maize with plastic mulch; maize and cowpea under plastic mulching; and maize and soybean under plastic mulching in randomized block design (RBD) to assess their impact on productivity, profitability, and resource (rainwater, soil, and NPK nutrients) conservation in the Indian sub-Himalayan region. The plot size was 9 × 8.1 m with 2% slope, and runoff and soil loss were measured using a multi-slot devisor. The results showed that mean runoff decreased from 356 mm in sole maize with plastic mulch plots to 229 mm in maize + cowpea intercropping with plastic mulch, representing a reduction of 36% and corresponding soil loss reduction was 41% (from 9.4 to 5.5 t ha−1). The eroded soil exported a considerable amount of nitrogen (N) (13.2–31.4 kg ha−1), phosphorous (P) (0.5–1.7 kg ha−1), and potassium (K) (9.9–15.6 kg ha−1) and was consistently lower in maize + cowpea intercropping. The maize equivalent yield (MEY) was significantly higher in maize + cowpea with plastic mulch intercropping than the other treatments. These results justify the need to adopt maize with alternate legume intercrops and plastic mulch. This strategy must be done in a way guaranteeing high yield stability to the smallholder farmers of the Indian sub-Himalayan region.

scholarly journals Initial Experimental Experience with a Sprayable Biodegradable Polymer Membrane (SBPM) Technology in Cotton

Agronomy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 584 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael V. Braunack ◽  
Raju Adhikari ◽  
George Freischmidt ◽  
Priscilla Johnston ◽  
Philip S. Casey ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Biodegradable Polymer ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Water Productivity ◽  
Polymer Membrane ◽  
Innovative Technology ◽  
Plastic Pollution ◽  
Plastic Mulch ◽  
Stage Of Development

Preformed biodegradable and next generation sprayable biodegradable polymer membrane (SBPM) formulations, which biodegrade to non-harmful products (water, carbon dioxide and microbial biomass), have been introduced as an alternative to plastic mulch films in order to mitigate plastic pollution of the environment. In this preliminary field study on cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.), a novel SBPM technology was compared to preformed slotted oxo-degradable plastic (ODP) mulch film and no mulch control (CON) in terms of yield, crop water productivity (CWP), and soil temperature. The first results showed higher CWP and crop yield, and increased soil water content under the SBPM cover. This study indicates that SBPM technology could perform at similar level as ODP or comparable films under field conditions and, at the same time, provide environmentally sustainable agricultural cropping practices. Additionally, the fully treated, non-replicated SBPM plot had a wetter soil profile throughout the entire crop season. This innovative technology has shown a high potential even at this early stage of development, indicating that advances in formulation and further testing can lead to significant improvements and thus increased use in crop production systems.

scholarly journals Large Scale Agricultural Plastic Mulch Detecting and Monitoring with Multi-Source Remote Sensing Data: A Case Study in Xinjiang, China

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (18) ◽  
pp. 2088 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuankang Xiong ◽  
Qingling Zhang ◽  
Xi Chen ◽  
Anming Bao ◽  
Jieyun Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
General Pattern ◽  
Temporal Analysis ◽  
Classification And Regression Tree ◽  
Plastic Mulch ◽  
Temporal And Spatial Distribution ◽  
Plastic Mulching ◽  
Multi Temporal

Plastic mulching has been widely practiced in crop cultivation worldwide due to its potential to significantly increase crop production. However, it also has a great impact on the regional climate and ecological environment. More importantly, it often leads to unexpected soil pollution due to fine plastic residuals. Therefore, accurately and timely monitoring of the temporal and spatial distribution of plastic mulch practice in large areas is of great interest to assess its impacts. However, existing plastic-mulched farmland (PMF) detecting efforts are limited to either small areas with high-resolution images or coarse resolution images of large areas. In this study, we examined the potential of cloud computing and multi-temporal, multi-sensor satellite images for detecting PMF in large areas. We first built the plastic-mulched farmland mapping algorithm (PFMA) rules through analyzing its spectral, temporal, and auxiliary features in remote sensing imagery with the classification and regression tree (CART). We then applied the PFMA in the dry region of Xinjiang, China, where a water resource is very scarce and thus plastic mulch has been intensively used and its usage is expected to increase significantly in the near future. The experimental results demonstrated that the PFMA reached an overall accuracy of 92.2% with a producer’s accuracy of 97.6% and a user’s accuracy of 86.7%, and the F-score was 0.914 for the PMF class. We further monitored and analyzed the dynamics of plastic mulch practiced in Xinjiang by applying the PFMA to the years 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2015. The general pattern of plastic mulch usage dynamic in Xinjiang during the period from 2000 to 2015 was well captured by our multi-temporal analysis.

Multilingualism in eastern Indonesia: linguistic evidence of a shift from symmetric to asymmetric multilingualism

2021 ◽  
pp. 136700692110231
Author(s):  
Francesca Romana Moro
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Modelling Language ◽  
Apparent Paradox ◽  
Eastern Indonesia ◽  
Communicative Strategies ◽  
Linguistic Evidence ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Bilingual Communities

Aims and Objectives/Purpose/Research Questions: The Alorese in eastern Indonesia are an Austronesian community who have inhabited two Papuan-speaking islands for approximately 600 years. Their language presents a paradox: contact with the neighbouring Papuan languages has led to both complexification and simplification. This article argues that these opposite outcomes of contact result from two distinct scenarios, and formulates a hypothesis about a shift in multilingual patterns in Alorese history. Design/Methodology/Approach: To formulate a hypothesis about the discontinuity of multilingual patterns, this article first sketches the past and present multilingual patterns of the Alorese by modelling language contact outcomes in terms of bilingual optimisation strategies. This is followed by a comparison of the two scenarios to pinpoint similarities and differences. Data and Analysis: Previous research shows that two types of contact phenomena are attested in Alorese: (a) complexification arising from grammatical borrowings from Papuan languages, and (b) morphological simplification. The first change is associated with prolonged child bilingualism and is the result of Papuan-oriented bilingual strategies, while the latter change is associated with adult second language (L2) learning and is the result of universal communicative strategies. Findings/Conclusions Complexification and simplification are the results of two different layers of contact. Alorese was first used in small-scale bilingual communities, with widespread symmetric multilingualism. Later, multilingualism became more asymmetric, and the language started to undergo a simplification process due to the considerable number of L2 speakers. Originality: This article is innovative in providing a clear case study showing discontinuity of multilingual patterns, supported by linguistic and non-linguistic evidence. Significance/Implications: This article provides a plausible explanation for the apparent paradox found in Alorese, by showing that different outcomes of contact in the same language are due to different patterns of acquisition and socialisation. This discontinuity should be taken into account by models of language contact.

scholarly journals Describing Phosphorus Sorption Processes on Volcanic Soil in the Presence of Copper or Silver Engineered Nanoparticles

Minerals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 373
Author(s):  
Jonathan Suazo-Hernández ◽  
Erwin Klumpp ◽  
Nicolás Arancibia-Miranda ◽  
Patricia Poblete-Grant ◽  
Alejandra Jara ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Agricultural Soils ◽  
Ph Value ◽  
Consumer Products ◽  
Soil Samples ◽  
Engineered Nanoparticles ◽  
P Availability ◽  
Agricultural Crop ◽  
Phosphorus Sorption

Engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) present in consumer products are being released into the agricultural systems. There is little information about the direct effect of ENPs on phosphorus (P) availability, which is an essential nutrient for crop growthnaturally occurring in agricultural soils. The present study examined the effect of 1, 3, and 5% doses of Cu0 or Ag0 ENPs stabilized with L-ascorbic acid (suspension pH 2–3) on P ad- and desorption in an agricultural Andisol with total organic matter (T-OM) and with partial removal of organic matter (R-OM) by performing batch experiments. Our results showed that the adsorption kinetics data of H2PO4− on T-OM and R-OM soil samples with and without ENPs were adequately described by the pseudo-second-order (PSO) and Elovich models. The adsorption isotherm data of H2PO4− from T-OM and R-OM soil samples following ENPs addition were better fitted by the Langmuir model than the Freundlich model. When the Cu0 or Ag0 ENPs doses were increased, the pH value decreased and H2PO4− adsorption increased on T-OM and R-OM. The H2PO4− desorption (%) was lower with Cu0 ENPs than Ag0 ENPs. Overall, the incorporation of ENPs into Andisols generated an increase in P retention, which may affect agricultural crop production.

scholarly journals Predicting Shifts in Land Suitability for Maize Cultivation Worldwide Due to Climate Change: A Modeling Approach

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 295
Author(s):  
Yuan Gao ◽  
Anyu Zhang ◽  
Yaojie Yue ◽  
Jing’ai Wang ◽  
Peng Su
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Land Suitability ◽  
Large Scale Assessment ◽  
Scale Assessment ◽  
Maize Cultivation ◽  
Large Scale Screening ◽  
Selection Of

Suitable land is an important prerequisite for crop cultivation and, given the prospect of climate change, it is essential to assess such suitability to minimize crop production risks and to ensure food security. Although a variety of methods to assess the suitability are available, a comprehensive, objective, and large-scale screening of environmental variables that influence the results—and therefore their accuracy—of these methods has rarely been explored. An approach to the selection of such variables is proposed and the criteria established for large-scale assessment of land, based on big data, for its suitability to maize (Zea mays L.) cultivation as a case study. The predicted suitability matched the past distribution of maize with an overall accuracy of 79% and a Kappa coefficient of 0.72. The land suitability for maize is likely to decrease markedly at low latitudes and even at mid latitudes. The total area suitable for maize globally and in most major maize-producing countries will decrease, the decrease being particularly steep in those regions optimally suited for maize at present. Compared with earlier research, the method proposed in the present paper is simple yet objective, comprehensive, and reliable for large-scale assessment. The findings of the study highlight the necessity of adopting relevant strategies to cope with the adverse impacts of climate change.

scholarly journals Augmenting Crop Detection for Precision Agriculture with Deep Visual Transfer Learning—A Case Study of Bale Detection

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 23
Author(s):  
Wei Zhao ◽  
William Yamada ◽  
Tianxin Li ◽  
Matthew Digman ◽  
Troy Runge
Keyword(s):  
Object Detection ◽  
Transfer Learning ◽  
Precision Agriculture ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Domain Adaptation ◽  
Training Data ◽  
Detection Accuracy ◽  
Detection Model ◽  
Agriculture Products

In recent years, precision agriculture has been researched to increase crop production with less inputs, as a promising means to meet the growing demand of agriculture products. Computer vision-based crop detection with unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-acquired images is a critical tool for precision agriculture. However, object detection using deep learning algorithms rely on a significant amount of manually prelabeled training datasets as ground truths. Field object detection, such as bales, is especially difficult because of (1) long-period image acquisitions under different illumination conditions and seasons; (2) limited existing prelabeled data; and (3) few pretrained models and research as references. This work increases the bale detection accuracy based on limited data collection and labeling, by building an innovative algorithms pipeline. First, an object detection model is trained using 243 images captured with good illimitation conditions in fall from the crop lands. In addition, domain adaptation (DA), a kind of transfer learning, is applied for synthesizing the training data under diverse environmental conditions with automatic labels. Finally, the object detection model is optimized with the synthesized datasets. The case study shows the proposed method improves the bale detecting performance, including the recall, mean average precision (mAP), and F measure (F1 score), from averages of 0.59, 0.7, and 0.7 (the object detection) to averages of 0.93, 0.94, and 0.89 (the object detection + DA), respectively. This approach could be easily scaled to many other crop field objects and will significantly contribute to precision agriculture.

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