Typical engineering design of potato micro-sprinkler irrigation in Northern Shanxi

The Loess Plateau in the northern part of Shanxi Province has uneven rainfall and large evaporation, so droughts often occur. The drought has restricted the development of the local planting industry and the economy. Micro sprinkler irrigation has the advantages of strong adaptability, saving water, saving labor and land, increasing production, and preventing salinization, which is very suitable for this area. This micro-sprinkler irrigation design is carried out in typical plots, based on potato plant characteristics, rainfall data over the years, combined with corresponding specifications and actual conditions. This article uses a refraction micro-sprinkler with a spray diameter of 2.4 m. In the water transmission and distribution network, underground pipelines share 1,860 m of main pipes and sub-main pipes; surface pipelines share 1,200 m of branch pipes and 90,000 m of capillary pipes. The design meets the verification indicators of all irrigation groups, conforms to local actual conditions.

Successive crops of broccoli, green corn and pea after taro (Colocasia esculenta)-sunn hemp (Crotalaria juncea) consortium

Aiming to assess the residual effect of the biomass of the taro-sunn hemp consortium on the performance of the successive crops of broccoli, green corn and peas, an experiment, with 11 treatments, corresponding to the cutting of Crotalaria juncea in the taro-sunn hemp consortium (55, 70, 85, 100, 115, 130, 145, 160, 190 and 220 days after sowing - DAS) plus a control treatment (Colocasia esculenta), was performed. Soil samples were collected and chemical analysis was performed before crop establishment. Plant characteristics and productivity of broccoli, green corn and pea pods were assessed. There were no major changes in soil chemical composition. Higher values of inflorescence fresh matter and broccoli yield were observed in the treatments in which cuts of Crotalaria juncea occurred 145 DAS. The residual effect of Crotalaria juncea cuttings provided higher corn plants and a greater fresh matter of spikes with straw and productivity of commercial ears, compared to the control. There was no residual effect on the characteristics evaluated for pea. The residual effect of Crotalaria juncea cropped in a consortium with Colocasia esculenta increases broccoli yield when cut from 145 DAS and corn cropped in succession.

A Study of the Plant Folk Nomenclature of the Yi People in Xiaoliangshan, Yunnan Province, China, and the Implications for Protecting Biodiversity

BackgroundFolk plant nomenclature is a part of knowledge of indigenous people often used to distinguish plant species. This study aimed to document the folk botanical nomenclature of the Yi people in Xiaoliangshan, north-west Yunnan Province, which has not been systematically investigated to date. The results of this study will assist in conserving biodiversity and the language of the Yi people and will promote the transmission of ethnobotanical knowledge. MethodsAn ethnobotanical survey of plants used by the Yi people in Xiaoliangshan, Yunnan Province, was conducted from September 2019 to August 2021. Semi-structured Interviews and Key Informant Interviews were conducted to collect and document ethnobotanical information, which was then used to analyse the folk botanical nomenclature of the Yi people. In addition, the folk names of plants used by the Xiaoliangshan Yi community were compared with those of the Yi people living in the Daliangshan, where the environment is considerably different.ResultsIn this study, 266 informants were interviewed, and the names of 228 indigenous plants were extracted from 3088 use reports. The nomenclature used by the local Yi people is based on plant characteristics, plant habitat, plant-use, and the local culture. The folk names and the plant species have three types of correspondence. Moreover, some plant names are related to animals or Chinese loanwords. The comparison between the folk botanical names used by the Yi people in Xiaoliangshan and those used by the Yi people in the Daliangshan shows that 55 names are identical and the Yi people in both locations use 41 identical plants.ConclusionsThere are certain similarities and differences between the folk nomenclature of the Yi people in Xiaoliangshan and those in the Daliangshan. The findings are an example of how language evolves when people from the same ethnic group live in different geographical environments for extensive periods. In addition, the numerous Chinese loanwords in the folk botanical names of the Yi people in both locations indicate that a loss of traditional knowledge may be one of the greatest challenges to preserving the cultural heritage of the Yi people and to the conservation of biodiversity.

Fabrication and performance evaluation of vertical farming structures

This study was undertaken to fabricate Vertical Farming Structures (VFS) suitable for homestead and evaluate the performance of fabricated vertical farming structures. The experiment was conducted in Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology (KCAET), Tavanur, in Malappuram district, Kerala. Two vertical farming structures DVFS 1 (Developed vertical farming structure 1) and DVFS 2 (Developed vertical farming structure 2) were designed and fabricated. The drip irrigation system was adopted to irrigate the plants to reduce the wastage of water. Amaranthus seedlings of variety ‘Kannara local’ was taken for the trial. Climatic parameters and biometric observations were analyzed to compare and evaluate the performances of vertical farming structures. Correlation analysis was done using IBM SPSS statistics 25 software. The analysis of trials revealed that DVFS 1 showed better performance in every aspect compared to DVFS 2. The biometric observations like plant height and number of leaves were more in T1 at the right side and followed by T3 at the right side of DVFS 1. The plant characteristics are highly correlated with the light intensity. This was the reason for more growth was observed on the right side of DVFS 1. The maximum yield was obtained from the DVFS 1 (58%) than DVFS 2 (42%). The study recommended that usage of the platform like structure with triangular cross-section was more advantageous than the structure with tiers one over the other with Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC) splits.

Allelopathic Mechanisms in Fire-Prone Ecosystems

Understanding the fire-prone arid-zone pine species and maquis vegetation's response to fire is very important to reveal the ecology and evolution of these species. During the succession of vegetation, there are complex relationships between allelopathic metabolites and fires. Many plant communities such as pines, maquis, savannas and woodlands are known to play a critical role in the development of succession. However, studies revealing the relationship between succession processes and allelopathic mechanisms in fire-prone ecosystems are quite limited. Most evergreen maquis vegetations are one of the most studied fire ecosystems. In maquis vegetation, fire causes the formation of plant communities that continue with allelochemicals produced by plants, as well as shaping the climate of the region. The event of a living species inhibiting another species by secreting toxic compounds is expressed as allelopathy. These toxic compounds are generally referred to as allelochemicals. Many maquis species that grow in fire-prone ecosystems excrete their allelochemicals, preventing the development of herbaceous species around them and invade their habitats. These chemicals, which accumulate in the soil during the dry season, affect the succession processes in vegetation in the event of a fire and determine which species will follow each other. Considering these relationships, it can be said that allelopathic plants have the potential to change plant diversity in vegetation by changing their functional plant characteristics. The purpose of this review is to determine the relationship between allelochemicals and fire of plant species in fire-prone ecosystems, and to reveal how this affects the succession processes.

Relationship between phenological and morphological characteristics of plant with popcorn races of a diversity microcenter in southern Brazil

The far west region of Santa Catarina (FWSC) state in southern Brazil was indicated as a microcenter of diversity of the Zea genus. In this region, local popcorn varieties are grown in small areas, but in a significant number of farms. The present study aimed to characterize the diversity of 41 local populations from that region, based on phenology and morphological characters of plant, ear and grain. Therefore, an experimental design of complete randomized blocks with two replications was conducted. The data allowed to identify a rich diversity of popcorn in the FWSC for the characteristics of plant, ear, and grain, as well as for the phenology. For the color, 20 populations presented white grain, nine black, nine yellow, two red and one orange. Regarding the cycle, all varieties of yellow and round grains were considered hyper early/early and the varieties of white grains, intermediate/late. Average plant height varied from 1.8 to 3.2 m, while the weight of one thousand kernels varied from 80.9 to 200.4 g. The accumulated day degrees for tasseling ranged from 689.05 to 1,090.57. Based on the cluster analysis of qualitative and quantitative characters, three groups were formed, and five populations were isolated. The inclusion of plant characteristics and phenology can be an important and complementary tool for studies in popcorn races. Trends in some plant characteristics were observed within popcorn varieties with the same grain features. This result is important information for popcorn genetic breeding strategies.