Application of multivariate analysis to identify relationships among useful agronomic characters of cowpea and differentiation of cultivars for vegetable and grain uses

Background. Сowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) is a thermophilic crop; in most countries it is grown for grain and vegetable uses. Positive results of open-field cowpea production in the southern regions of Russia and the possibility of its cultivation on infertile soils in hot and dry climate imply the need to develop new cultivars suitable for wider introduction into Russian agriculture. It is of paramount importance for cowpea breeders to know the patterns of variability in the relationships among agronomic traits and their characteristics in cultivars grown for different uses (grain and vegetable). Besides, acceleration of the breeding process to a large extent depends on the knowledge of the traits that make it possible to differentiate the source material according to its intended purpose.Materials and methods. For three years, 315 cowpea accessions of various origin from the VIR collection were studied in Astrakhan Province, Russia. Eight useful agronomic characters were examined. The variability and relationships of these characters were assessed in cultivars grown for grain and vegetable purposes using multivariate statistical analyses.Results and discussion. The characters that differentiate grain and vegetable cowpea accessions were identified: the type of seed coat surface, the presence of fiber in ventral and dorsal pod sutures and a sclerenchyma layer in pods valves, and pod length. Discriminant functions were calculated for identification and classification of accessions according to their grain and forage uses. The character (presence of depressions or longitudinal striae on the seed coat surface) diagnosing vegetable cowpea cultivars was pinpointed. Characters associated with high seed yield were identified. For grain cultivars such character is the weight of 1000 seeds, while for vegetable cultivars it is a large-seeded and long-fruit pod.

Are Grasses Really Useful for the Phytoremediation of Potentially Toxic Trace Elements? A Review

The pollution of soil, water, and air by potentially toxic trace elements poses risks to environmental and human health. For this reason, many chemical, physical, and biological processes of remediation have been developed to reduce the (available) trace element concentrations in the environment. Among those technologies, phytoremediation is an environmentally friendly in situ and cost-effective approach to remediate sites with low-to-moderate pollution with trace elements. However, not all species have the potential to be used for phytoremediation of trace element-polluted sites due to their morpho-physiological characteristics and low tolerance to toxicity induced by the trace elements. Grasses are prospective candidates due to their high biomass yields, fast growth, adaptations to infertile soils, and successive shoot regrowth after harvest. A large number of studies evaluating the processes related to the uptake, transport, accumulation, and toxicity of trace elements in grasses assessed for phytoremediation have been conducted. The aim of this review is (i) to synthesize the available information on the mechanisms involved in uptake, transport, accumulation, toxicity, and tolerance to trace elements in grasses; (ii) to identify suitable grasses for trace element phytoextraction, phytostabilization, and phytofiltration; (iii) to describe the main strategies used to improve trace element phytoremediation efficiency by grasses; and (iv) to point out the advantages, disadvantages, and perspectives for the use of grasses for phytoremediation of trace element-polluted soils.

Origins of Food Production in the High Andes

Vertical topography, high altitude, infertile soils, and an arid climate make the Andes of South America a difficult region for agriculture. Nonetheless, archaeologists have found that potatoes, oca, quinoa, and kañawa were first domesticated by ancient famers in and near a region known as the Altiplano. Research indicates that approximately 6,000 years ago hunter-gatherers began to cultivate wild ancestors of these crops. Shortler thereafter, llama and alpaca herders played an important role in developing crop cultivation strategies; potatoes were uniquely adapted to a mobile pastoral lifestyle. By about 1,500 bce there is archaeological evidence that these crops were fully domesticated and supported early village life. Eventually tubers and chenopods were foundational sustenance for civilization and cities across the pre-Hispanic Andean highlands. Breeding over the last four millennia by generations of Indigenous Andean farmers in the diverse environments and climatic conditions of the Andes has resulted in a hugely diverse array of these crops. The outcome of these efforts is that hundreds of varieties of quinoa and over 5,000 varieties of potatoes are grown by Andean farmers in the 21st century. Potatoes in particular are a unique case of domestication for two reasons: (a) ancient farmers figured out how to store them long term through a freeze-drying process; (b) chemicals that are toxic to humans were not bred out of all varieties; rather, ancient people figured out that eating particular clays made the toxic potatoes less bitter and edible. Through paleoethnobotanical and genetic research, archaeologists have begun to shed light on the tangled history of Andean peoples and their crops.

Coping with catastrophe: contributing to food security through crop diversity and crop production in Tigray National Regional State in northern Ethiopia

Tigray, the most northerly of Ethiopia’s ethnic based Regional States, covers an area of 53 386 km sq and has a population exceeding 5.17 million of whom some 24.3% are urban dwellers. Wide agroclimatic variations result from altitudinal differences (600–3000 + meters) and rainfall patterns. The area is a center of origin of many cultivated and wild plants. The mainly agricultural rural population, farming small areas of non-contiguous plots, makes wide use of these conditions to ensure its livelihood. Crops grown include ten species of cereals, seven pulses legumes), six oilseeds, and numerous fruits, vegetables and spices. Within these groups and species several varieties or landraces are recognized and used to advantage. Wild species are exploited for food, especially at times of crop failure, and for medicines. Crop production is beset by many biotic (weeds, pests, diseases), abiotic (infertile soils) and anthropic (government policy, civil strife, military actions) constraints. Drought is a frequent occurrence and leads to crop failure and famine. In normal times crop yield are low but some of the production is marketed to provide cash for other necessities. Tigray’s population is poverty stricken and often in need of food aid.

Fortuna Forest Reserve, Panama: Interacting Effects of Climate and Soils on the Biota of a Wet Premontane Tropical Forest

The Fortuna Forest Reserve and adjacent upland areas of the Palo Seco Reserve in western Panama support some of the most extensively studied lower and premontane tropical forests in the world. The forests of Fortuna are among the most diverse in Central America and are therefore of exceptional significance for the preservation of regional biodiversity. This volume brings together more than 50 years of research on the climate, geology, soils, and major plant groups of Fortuna. Spanning the Continental Divide at around 1,000 m above sea level, some parts of the reserve receive more than 6,000 mm of annual rainfall, although there is considerable variation in cloud cover and seasonality. Soil fertility also varies markedly, reflecting the complex regional volcanic geology. The resulting gradients of climate and fertility across the reserve shape the composition, structure, and diversity of plant communities. A network of 12 one-hectare plots at Fortuna contains more than 400 species of trees greater than 5 cm diameter at breast height and reveals extensive compositional turnover across the reserve. One tree species, <i>Oreomunnea mexicana</i>, forms monodominant stands in otherwise species-rich forests, while forests on extremely infertile soils are dominated by the canopy palm <i>Colpothrinax aphanopetala</i> and include the tropical conifer <i>Podocarpus oleifolius</i>. There are also almost 400 species of bryophytes, almost 300 species of ferns and lycophytes, 31 species of palms, 80 species of bromeliads, and more than 200 species of orchids. Many species of ectomycorrhizal fungi identified from fruiting bodies are new to science. Overall, results from Fortuna highlight the remarkable diversity of plants that occur in montane forests and the extent to which their communities are structured by gradients of climate and soil fertility. The chapters in this volume provide a foundation for further research and exploration in this fascinating region.

Fortuna Forest Reserve, Panama: Interacting Effects of Climate and Soils on the Biota of a Wet Premontane Tropical Forest

The Fortuna Forest Reserve and adjacent upland areas of the Palo Seco Reserve in western Panama support some of the most extensively studied lower and premontane tropical forests in the world. The forests of Fortuna are among the most diverse in Central America and are therefore of exceptional significance for the preservation of regional biodiversity. This volume brings together more than 50 years of research on the climate, geology, soils, and major plant groups of Fortuna. Spanning the Continental Divide at around 1,000 m above sea level, some parts of the reserve receive more than 6,000 mm of annual rainfall, although there is considerable variation in cloud cover and seasonality. Soil fertility also varies markedly, reflecting the complex regional volcanic geology. The resulting gradients of climate and fertility across the reserve shape the composition, structure, and diversity of plant communities. A network of 12 one-hectare plots at Fortuna contains more than 400 species of trees greater than 5 cm diameter at breast height and reveals extensive compositional turnover across the reserve. One tree species, <i>Oreomunnea mexicana</i>, forms monodominant stands in otherwise species-rich forests, while forests on extremely infertile soils are dominated by the canopy palm <i>Colpothrinax aphanopetala</i> and include the tropical conifer <i>Podocarpus oleifolius</i>. There are also almost 400 species of bryophytes, almost 300 species of ferns and lycophytes, 31 species of palms, 80 species of bromeliads, and more than 200 species of orchids. Many species of ectomycorrhizal fungi identified from fruiting bodies are new to science. Overall, results from Fortuna highlight the remarkable diversity of plants that occur in montane forests and the extent to which their communities are structured by gradients of climate and soil fertility. The chapters in this volume provide a foundation for further research and exploration in this fascinating region.

Indication of Natural Boreo-Continental Pine Sites Through Discrimination Analysis of the Soil Biochemical and Water-Holding Properties

Natural pine site differentiation is instrumental in the modification of Scots pine cultivation to environmental change. The aim of this study was to distinguish azonal pine sites in prevailing beechwood conditions by the means of soil property interrelationships. The study aimed at verifying assumptions (i) that intrinsic soil properties suggest differences at naturalness among various communities in the same mesoclimate, relief or on same soil group and (ii) whether pines differ from beechwoods uniformly or unevenly among different regional population areas. The verification was carried out by discrimination analysis of the H- and A-horizon forest soil properties at selected pine and beech stands in the Czech Republic between 2006 and 2015. Homogeneous pines were confirmed either on poorly developed or very infertile soils. Mixed pines were found on Cambisols. Complete separability was found between pines and beechwoods on Podzols due to inverse proportions of correlations among acid phosphomonoesterase (APMEA) and urease (UA) activities, Corg, Cmic, base saturation, bulk density and aeration. The inverse proportions among UA, Ntot, Cmic and soil hydrophysical properties conditioned the separability of pines on different soil groups than beechwoods. Soil indications of natural pines are related to phosphorus release by APMEA and site resistance to drought due to soil organic matter and water-holding capacity.