The mental map as an instrument to define indicators in complex systems: an application on the environmental knowledge of local horticultural farmers

The reductionist and disciplinary paradigm of the Green Revolution coexists with the emerging paradigm of complexity, which values the holistic and the interdisciplinary. Agroecology promotes the need to understand the multiple biophysical relationships that exist in agroecosystems, and this calls for the development of new methodological tools. Sustainability indicators are an example of this. However, their implementation is not simple, as this requires an instrument to simplify the construction of such indicators. The objective of this work is to use the “mental map” as a guide for the development and application of indicators. The graph follows the conceptual path that facilitates the understanding of the variable and its breakdown into smaller and measurable units of analysis, i.e. the indicators. The created mental map has two stages: the development of indicators and their application. Its utility is presented in a case study that addresses local environmental knowledge (LEK). The results of this work show that complexity can be translated into quantifiable, measurable, and comparable variables, without this representing the loss of its characteristics. In addition, it proves that the created tool facilitates the evaluation and understanding of the functioning of agroecosystems, which contributes to decision-making.

Introduction

India has come a long way from being a food scarce nation in the 1960s to a food surplus nation thereafter. The remarkable transformation of the agricultural sector was the result of massive improvements in productivity level owing to the Green Revolution in the case of cereals and the breakthrough that followed in few other agricultural commodities, most notably, dairying. Today, India is the largest producer of milk, pulses, banana, mango, pomegranate, papaya, lemon, okra, ginger and non-food crops like cotton and jute; the second-largest producer of rice, wheat, fruits and vegetables, tea and one of the leading producers of eggs and meat in the world. India produced 281.8 million tonnes of food grains, 307.7 million tonnes of horticulture crops, 176.5 million tonnes of milk, 96 billion eggs and 7.7 million tonnes of meat during TE 2018–19.

Agriculture 4.0 for a Sustainable Food System

This chapter aims to analyse the concept and implementation strategies of Agriculture 4.0 within the framework of the study of disruptive technologies and eco-innovation, which allows facing the needs derived from a sustainable food system. To do this, it strategically reflects on the design requirements of a holistic model for the transformation of agricultural holdings, aimed at the implementation of sustainable agrotechnology. The Third Green Revolution, its antecedents, orientations, and purposes, as well as the concept and functional aspects of sustainable food systems are analysed. Finally, a model of transformation of agricultural holdings towards the implementation of Sustainable Agriculture 4.0 is proposed, as well as a generic methodology applicable to specific projects located in specific areas, through formula for change and cost-benefit analysis.

EVALUASI DINAMIKA KERENTANAN LINGKUNGAN BERDASARKAN KERAPATAN VEGETASI DI DAERAH ALIRAN SUNGAI TABUNIO

A Watershed is an ecosystem whose first component consists of natural resources vegetation, land, water, and human resources. Tabunio watershed covering an area of 62,558.56 hectares consists of 10 sub-watersheds. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) is used in vegetation density analysis. Vulnerability of environmental damage is the condition of a region that has the potential for environmental damage due to human activities and or activities that have the potential to cause environmental impacts.The purpose of vegetation density analysis is carried out for the evaluation of environmental vulnerability dynamics in Tabunio watershed, i.e: 1). Knowing changes in land cover; 2. Knowing the classification of vegetation density; 3. Determine efforts to increase vegetation density. The benefits of this analysis are to obtain directives that can have a positive impact on the control of flood suppliers' vulnerability and environmental vulnerability by determining forest and land rehabilitation techniques.Based on the results of mapping and analysis obtained: 1) changes in land cover in 2005-2020 are dominant in forest land cover, open land, settlements, plantations, swamp farming, shrubs, and mining; 2) Vegetation density in the upstream sub-watershed is dominated by the classification of dense and very tight vegetation density; 3) The green revolution of the upstream watershed is dominated for ecological purposes with dense and very close vegetation, the central part of the watershed is dominated for ecological, economic and social with tight vegetation, downstream green revolution watershed dominated for economic and social interests with dense and sparse vegetation

Identifying mutations in sd1, Pi54 and Pi-ta, and positively selected genes of TN1, the first semidwarf rice in Green Revolution

Background: Taichung Native 1 (TN1) is the first semidwarf rice cultivar that initiated the Green Revolution. As TN1 is a direct descendant of the Dee-geo-woo-gen cultivar, the source of the sd1 semidwarf gene, the sd1 gene can be defined through TN1. Also, TN1 is susceptible to the blast disease and is described as being drought-tolerant. However, genes related to these characteristics of TN1 are unknown. Our aim was to identify and characterize TN1 genes related to these traits. Results: Aligning the sd1 of TN1 to Nipponbare sd1, we found a 382-bp deletion including a frameshift mutation. Sanger sequencing validated this deleted region in sd1, and we proposed a model of the sd1 gene that corrects errors in the literature. We also predicted the blast disease resistant (R) genes of TN1. Orthologues of the R genes in Tetep, a well-known resistant cultivar that is commonly used as a donor for breeding new blast resistant cultivars, were then sought in TN1, and if they were present, we looked for mutations. The absence of Pi54, a well-known R gene, in TN1 partially explains why TN1 is more susceptible to blast than Tetep. We also scanned the TN1 genome using the PosiGene software and identified 11 genes deemed to have undergone positive selection. Some of them are associated with drought-resistance and stress response. Conclusions: We have redefined the deletion of the sd1 gene in TN1, a direct descendant of the Dee-geo-woo-gen cultivar, and have corrected some literature errors. Moreover, we have identified blast resistant genes and positively selected genes, including genes that characterize TN1's blast susceptibility and abiotic stress response. These new findings increase the potential of using TN1 to breed new rice cultivars.

Production of Succinic Acid From Basfia succiniciproducens

Basfia succiniciproducens is a facultative anaerobic capnophilic bacterium, isolated from rumen, that naturally produces high amounts of succinic acid by fixing CO2 and using fumarate as final electron acceptor. This metabolic feature makes it one of the ideal candidates for developing biotechnological industrial routes that could eventually replace the polluting and environment unfriendly petrochemical ones that are still main sources for the production of this value-added compound. In fact, due to the large number of applications of succinic acid that range from the more traditional ones as food additive or pharmaceutical intermediate to the most recent as building block for biopolymers and bioplastic, increasing demand and market size growth are expected in the next years. In line with a “green revolution” needed to preserve our environment, the great challenge is the establishment of commercially viable production processes that exploit renewable materials and in particular preferably non-food lignocellulosic biomasses and waste products. In this review, we describe the currently available literature concerning B. succiniciproducens since the strain was first isolated, focusing on the different renewable materials and fermentation strategies used to improve succinic acid production titers to date. Moreover, an insight into the metabolic engineering approaches and the key physiological characteristics of B. succiniciproducens deduced from the different studies are presented.

The Application of Pomegranate, Sugar Apple, and Eggplant Peel Extracts Suppresses Aspergillus flavus Growth and Aflatoxin B1 Biosynthesis Pathway

Even though the green revolution was a significant turning point in agriculture, it was also marked by the widespread use of chemical pesticides, which prompted severe concerns about their influence on human and environmental health. As a result, the demand for healthier and more environmentally friendly alternatives to control plant diseases and avoid food spoilage is intensifying. Among the proposed alternatives, food by-product extracts, especially from the most consumed fruits in Egypt, eggplant, sugar apple, and pomegranate peel wastes, were largely ignored. Hence, we chose them to evaluate their antifungal and antiaflatoxigenic activities against maize fungus, Aspergillus flavus. All the extracts exhibited multiple degrees of antifungal growth and aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) inhibitory activities (35.52% to 91.18%) in broth media. Additionally, diethyl ether 50% eggplant, ethanol 75% sugar apple, and diethyl ether 25% pomegranate extracts exhibited the highest AFB1 inhibition, of 96.11%, 94.85%, and 78.83%, respectively, after one month of treated-maize storage. At the same time, Topsin fungicide demonstrated an AFB1 inhibition ratio of 72.95%. The relative transcriptional levels of three structural and two regulatory genes, aflD, aflP, aflQ, aflR, and aflS, were downregulated compared to the infected control. The phenolic content (116.88 mg GAEs/g DW) was highest in the 25% diethyl ether pomegranate peel extract, while the antioxidant activity was highest in the 75% ethanol sugar apple extract (94.02 µg/mL). The most abundant active compounds were found in the GC-MS analysis of the fruit peel extracts: α-kaurene, α-fenchene, p-allylphenol, octadecanoic acid, 3,5-dihydroxy phenol, hexestrol, xanthinin, and linoleic acid. Finally, the three fruit peel waste extracts could be a prospective source of friendly ecological compounds that act as environmentally safer and more protective alternatives to inhibit AFB1 production in maize storage.

A new green revolution or agribusiness as usual? Uncovering alignment issues and potential transition complications in agri-food system transitions

Agri-food system transitions are a considerable challenge requiring stakeholder alignment on what changes need to be made and how. When stakeholders do not agree on the goals or methods of a transition, this can be a serious obstacle to success. This paper analyzes 42 vision documents for the future of Dutch agriculture from a broad range of stakeholders to determine stakeholder alignment using an inductive coding approach. We identified 23 issues as the main challenges for the transition in these documents. We are the first to categorize them according to a recently proposed problem-solution space for wicked problems. Stakeholders were fully aligned in recognizing the problem for the majority of issues, but showed agreement on solutions for less than a quarter. For the issues of international orientation, sector size, and farm business models, we found a lack of consensus on the problem, indicating fundamental disagreement about the type of agricultural sector desired by stakeholders. The apparent consensus on environmental and social issues provides clear societal expectations for agronomic development and innovation, while the divergence on economic issues highlights the rift between growth-oriented paradigms and more holistic paradigms like agroecology. The crucial empirical novelty of this paper is that progress on environmental and social matters is restricted by divergent views on the economic characteristics of a future agri-food system, adding further complexity to mission-oriented transition and innovation policies.