Irrigation quality and management determine salinization in Israeli olive orchards

Olive (Olea europaea L.) orchard brackish water irrigation with incorrect irrigation management reduces soil fertility and degrades soil health through soil salinization. This study was conducted in the Beit She'an Valley, one of the main agricultural regions in Israel, in an olive orchard in which a combination of soil salinization and poor drainage conditions impedes plant development and causes severe economic damage. By combining various research methods, including soil salinity monitoring, field experiments, remote sensing (frequency domain electromagnetic – FDEM), and unsaturated soil profile saline water movement modeling, the salinization processes were quantified. Irrigation water conductance of 3.13 dS m−1 points to salinization within the tree upper root zone, whereas the modeling results suggest that salinization danger is greater with brackish treated wastewater rather than with lower-salinity brackish irrigation groundwater and that irrigation with potable water can help reduce salt accumulation and recover damaged plots.

Transfer of Metal(loid)s from Soil to Leaves and Trunk Xylem Sap of Medicinal Plants and Possible Health Risk Assessment

The objective of the present study was to investigate metal(loid)s in soils, in the trunk xylem sap and in the leaves of the Dipteryx alata plant located near the highway with high vehicle traffic in agricultural regions and near landfills, and to assess the transfer of metal(loid)s from soil to plant and possible health risk assessment. Trunk xylem sap, leaves and soil samples were collected at three sites near the highway. The analysis of trace elements was carried out using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP OES). In the three soil sampling sites far from the highway edge, 15 elements were quantified. The concentrations of elements in the soil presented in greater proportions in the distance of 5 m in relation to 20 and 35 m. The metal(loid)s content in the study soil was higher than in other countries. The concentrations of Al, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, P, Se and Zn in the xylem sap were much higher than the leaves. The values of transfer factor of P, Mg and Mn from soil to the xylem sap and transfer factor of P from soil to leaf were greater than 1, indicating that the specie have a significant phytoremediation and phytoextraction potential. This plant has a tendency to accumulate As, Cd and Cr in its leaf tissues. The chronic hazard index (HI) values recorded in this study were above 1 for adults and adolescents. It is concluded that the soil, the trunk xylem sap and leaves of this plant are contaminated by heavy metals. Ingestion of the trunk xylem sap of this plant can cause toxicity in humans if ingested in large quantities and in the long term; therefore, its consumption should be avoided.

Middle School Students From China’s Rice Area Show More Adaptive Creativity but Less Innovative and Boundary-Breaking Creativity

The present study aimed to conduct a cross-cultural comparison of creative thinking among Chinese middle school students from the rice- and wheat-growing areas in China through the lens of the rice theory, which postulates that there are major psychological differences among the individuals in these agricultural regions. Differences in cultural mindsets and creativity between the rice group (n = 336) and the wheat group (n = 347) were identified using the Chinese version of (1) the Auckland Individualism and Collectivism Scale (AICS) and (2) the Test for Creative Thinking–Drawing Production (TCT–DP), respectively. Interesting findings were obtained. The results of latent mean analyses indicate that the rice group showed significantly more collectivism and adaptive creativity than the wheat group but less individualism and innovative and boundary-breaking creativity. However, the two groups showed no significant differences in their overall creative performance, as reflected in the TCT–DP composite score. Moreover, results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that collectivism was positively related to adaptive creativity but negatively related to innovative and boundary-breaking creativity; however, a reverse pattern was found for individualism. These findings enrich the discourse regarding the rice theory and shed important light on the effect of culture on creativity.

THE ASSESSMENT OF POTENTIAL ELECTRICITY PRODUCTION FROM SURPLUS CROP RESIDUES IN THE SON RIVER WATERSHED

The article explores potential energy production quantity from surplus crop resides in the son river watershed. A special focus on the agricultural regions of the Son watershed through an analysis of the real potential of surplus crop residues resource. The emphasis on residues energy greatly significant in current practices and future expectation. The United Nations Development Programme, for example, refers to sustainable development as a fundamental question of our generation's development, which challenges the aspiration to enlighten humanity's collective journey towards a better future. National and international development agencies whose actions are commonly combined in the context of the development of clean renewable energy under the sustainable and clean development mechanism goals. These concerns are based on consensus among scientific and development approaches that global climate change triggers profound shifts in power/energy resources associated with ecological systems that will significant transformation in local and global environment. The most serious impacts of fossil fuel are generally seen to be concentrated among the world's poor and especially those living in the global south. The article also attempts to emphasize the importance of regional perspective and production of crop residue quantities. Crop -based residues resource has several distinct advantages such as wide periodically availability that puts it ahead among the renewable energy options.

Accurate Segmentation for Low Resolution Satellite images by Discriminative Generative Adversarial Network for Identifying Agriculture Fields

Agricultural field identification is still a difficult issue because of the poor resolution of satellite imagery. Monitoring remote harvest and determining the condition of farmlands rely on the digital approach agricultural applications. Therefore, high-resolution photographs have obtained much more attention since they are more efficient in detecting land cover components. In contrast, because of low-resolution repositories of past satellite images used for time series analysis, wavelet decomposition filter-based analysis, free availability, and economic concerns, low-resolution images are still essential. Using low-resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite photos, this study proposes a GAN strategy for locating agricultural regions and determining the crop's cultivation state, linked to the initial or harvesting time. An object detector is used in the preprocessing step of training, followed by a transformation technique for extracting feature information and then the GAN strategy for classifying the crop segmented picture. After testing, the suggested algorithm is applied to the database's SAR images, which are further processed and categorized based on the training results. Using this information, the density between the crops is calculated. After zooming in on SAR photos, the crop condition may be categorized based on crop density and crop distance. The Euclidean distance formula is used to calculate the distance. Finally, the findings are compared to other existing approaches to determine the proposed technique's performance using reliable measures.

Reference crop evapotranspiration in distinct agricultural regions of Southern Brazil: a comparison of improved empirical models

The FAO56 Penman-Monteith model is globally accepted for the accurate determination of reference evapotranspiration (ETo). However, a lack of appropriate data encouraged the improved model’s approach to estimate ETo. This study compared the performance of 10 empirical models of ETo estimation (Penman, Priestley & Taylor, Tanner & Pelton, Makkink, Jensen & Haise, Hargreaves & Samani, Camargo, Benevides & Lopes, Turc, and Linacre) contrasted with the FAO56 model in two regions in Southern Brazil. Data were collected from automatic stations of the Brazilian National Institute of Meteorology (INMET) from December 21, 2019, to February 28, 2021. The determination coefficient (R²), mean square error (nRMSE), mean bias error (MBE), Willmott index (d), and Pearson’s correlation coefficient (r), clustering, and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) were performed. For the different regions, the radiation-based model proposed by Penman was the best alternative for estimating ETo. The model showed the most appropriated values for R2 (0.9015) and r (0.9494). The clustering and PCA analyses indicated the interrelations of the meteorological data and the combination of the models according to the parameters used for the determination of ETo.

Small and medium-sized enterprises in Russia: In search of the employment growth factors

During crises, discussions about the sources of employment intensify, including that of entrepreneurship. The growth of employment in the entrepreneurial sector is one of the national goals, which should be achieved up until 2030. However, the selection and verification of support measures requires the determination of the underlying growth factors. The paper proposes an econometric model, where the dependent variable is the growth of employment in the SME sector in the Russian regions over the previous decade. According to the results of the estimations, the creation of new companies is significant: one new enterprise creates on average 10 new jobs in small and medium-sized businesses, while a technological startup creates 60 new jobs next year. Employment growth in the last decade is higher in regions with growing incomes of the population, with good access to banking capital and large markets, and with low criminal risks. Increasing Internet accessibility contributes to the growth of the business sector; whereas nationalization of the economy is an obstacle. Employment is growing in SMEs in agricultural regions and decreasing in the centers of production. The efforts of the authorities should aim at lowering the barriers to market entry for the new companies, increasing access to capital, markets and the Internet, and stimulating the digitalization of the economy.

Small and medium-sized enterprises in Russia: In search of the employment growth factors

During crises, discussions about the sources of employment intensify, including that of entrepreneurship. The growth of employment in the entrepreneurial sector is one of the national goals, which should be achieved up until 2030. However, the selection and verification of support measures requires the determination of the underlying growth factors. The paper proposes an econometric model, where the dependent variable is the growth of employment in the SME sector in the Russian regions over the previous decade. According to the results of the estimations, the creation of new companies is significant: one new enterprise creates on average 10 new jobs in small and medium-sized businesses, while a technological startup creates 60 new jobs next year. Employment growth in the last decade is higher in regions with growing incomes of the population, with good access to banking capital and large markets, and with low criminal risks. Increasing Internet accessibility contributes to the growth of the business sector; whereas nationalization of the economy is an obstacle. Employment is growing in SMEs in agricultural regions and decreasing in the centers of production. The efforts of the authorities should aim at lowering the barriers to market entry for the new companies, increasing access to capital, markets and the Internet, and stimulating the digitalization of the economy.