Diverse non-crop vegetation assemblages as banker plants for predatory mites in strawberry crop

Non-crop plant diversity plays a fundamental role in the conservation of predatory mite (PM) and can be proposed as a banker plant system (BPS). BPSs provide plants that host natural enemies in greenhouses or field crops and may improve the efficiency of biological control. The aim of this study was to investigate if a diverse plant composition could be a suitable BPS for PMs in strawberry crops. A plant inventory characterized 22 species of non-crop plants harboring PMs. The most abundant PMs, in decreasing order, were Neoseiulus californicus, Neoseiulus anonymus, Euseius citrifolius, and Euseius concordis. PMs were randomly distributed among plants. We also found specific associations of Phytoseiidae species and phytophagous or generalist mites on plants. Due to this, four species were deemed suitable as banker plants: Capsicum sp., Leonurus sibiricus, Solanum americanum, and Urochloa mutica. Moreover, these plants combined a high PMs density and a low occurrence or absence of pest-mites. This study suggests shifting the traditional view that BPSs are composed of a limited number of species to use plant assemblages. This contributes to both conservation and augmentative biological control.

Inventarisasi Tumbuhan Akuatik Berpotensi Fitoremediator Air Limbah Industri di Waduk Bunder Gresik

The Bunder Reservoir Ecosystem is composed of various components, both biotic and abiotic. One of the components contained in the reservoir is aquatic plants as phytoremediator for wastewater. The aquatic plant inventory in the Bunder Reservoir aims to determine the diversity of aquatic plant species that have the potential to phytoremediate industrial waste. The research design was descriptive qualitative exploratory. Aquatic plant species were collected using a subjective estimates method with visual techniques. In the waters of the Bunder Reservoir, 17 species of aquatic plants from 13 families were found, including 11 emergent types, 1 free floating, 4 rooted floating, and 1 submersed. Types that have the potential to act as phytoremediators for inorganic waste in the metal categories are A. philoxeroides, A. sessilis, Cyperus sp. Hygrophila sp., I. carnea, I. aquatic, L. perpusilla, N. nucifera, Nymphaea sp., N. indica, P. barbata, and T. latifolia. The aquatic plant that has the potential for phytoremediator of pesticide waste is L. adscenden. While S. sesban tends to remove oil pollutants. Organic waste degrading species consist of T. latifolia, L. perpusilla, I.aquatica, Cyperus sp., And Brachiaria sp

RFID and Drones: The Next Generation of Plant Inventory

Collection of plant inventory (i.e., count, grade, plant size, yield) data is time-consuming, costly, and can be inaccurate. In response to increasing labor costs and shortages, there is an increased need for the adoption of more automated technologies by the nursery industry. Growers, small and large, are beginning to adopt technologies (e.g., plant spacing robots) that automate or augment certain operations, but greater strides must be taken to integrate next-generation technologies into these challenging unstructured agricultural environments. The main objective of this work is to demonstrate merging specific ground and aerial-based technologies (Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), and small Unmanned Aircraft System (sUAS)) into a holistic systems approach to address the specific need of moving toward automated on-demand plant inventory. This preliminary work focuses on evaluating different RFID tags with respect to their distance and orientation to the RFID reader. Fourteen different RFID tags, five distances (1.5 m, 3.0 m, 4.5 m, 6.0 m, and 7.6 m), and four tag orientations (the front of the tag (UP), back of the tag (DN), tag at sideways left (SL), and tag at sideways right (SR)) were assessed. Results showed that the tag upward orientation resulted in the highest scanning total for both the laboratory and field experiments. Two orientations (UP and SR) had significant effect on the scan total of tags. The distance between the reader and the tags at 1.5 m and 6.0 m did not significantly affect the scanning efficiency of the RFID system in horizontally fixed (p-value > 0.05) position regardless of tags. Different tag designs also produced different scan totals. Overall, since most of the tags were scanned at least once (except for Tag 6F), it is a very promising technology for use in nursery inventory data acquisition. This work will create a unique inventory system for agriculture where locations of plants or animals will not present a barrier as the system can easily be mounted on a drone. Although these experiments are focused on inventory in plant nurseries, results for this work has potential for inventory management in other agricultural sectors.

Strategic analysis & recommendations for Southwest Garden Supplies's nursery operations

Southwest Garden Supplies is a garden centre which is undergoing growth in its sales in both of its departments: nursery and bulk garden/landscape materials. With the increasing quantity, and sales of plants, the company requires strategic analysis and recommendations to improve its nursery operations. Some factors which require improvement are: a lack of enough employees, and two, a lack of systematic processes required in the maintenance, and sale of plants. Because only family members work at the nursery, and maintain the rest of the enterprise, there are more tasks which need to be accomplished than there are hands. Southwest Garden Supplies is in the process of hiring new employees, and approximately three new employees shall commence work in the foreseeable future. As of now, tasks like fertilizing, efficient watering, weeding, and pruning are not being executed in a systematic manner. Therefore, a lot of the plants are not optimally maintained. Due to a lack of organization, and time, pricing is a complex matter of hardship. As of now, there are minimal price tags placed on plants. Only the administrator in charge of the nursery knows the prices. Therefore, if she is not around for whatever reason, the remaining staff do not know how to price the plants. During the summer, watering by hand takes a minimum of three hours per day, that too after office hours; meaning the family leaves work close to 9:00pm, only to start again at 7:00am the next morning. This watering process leaves the other tasks of plant maintenance incomplete. As discussed, the nursery division of the garden centre needs to be run optimally. The purpose of this paper is to undertake research on how the nursery can be maintained efficiently, including how plant inventory can be best managed, and how the administration staff can maintain healthy relationships with the new employees. Human resource management will be discussed due to the importance of increased employee loyalty and decreased employee attrition. Results/Recommendations shall be made as to what steps need to be taken in order to streamline the nursery maintenance processes for the staff, and make shopping at Southwest Garden Supplies more fluid, and straightforward.

Method of decryption and inventory of forest plantations by means of GIS AutoCad Map

The authors' article discusses the proposed methodology for the inventory of woody plants using the tools of geographic information systems. The tasks of the study included a tree inventory of plantations in the city, this task is of practical interest in the management and development of economic activities in an urbanized territory. To conduct sub-river decryption, the authors carried out work on creating thematic layers for each of the identified trees. The article describes a step-by-step methodology for formalizing the features of plantations within the framework of the system under consideration and the possible transition from classical taxation of woodlands to partially automated methods for decrypting plantations at the level of separately considered tree species for the benefit of garden and park farming. The article indicates the necessary characteristics for creating a database of plantings features using the Autocad Map GIS. Key words: GIS, plant inventory, remote methods, decryption of woody plants.