Integrative analysis in toxicological assessment of the insecticide Malathion in Allium cepa L. system

For many centuries human populations have been suffering and trying to fight with disease-bearing mosquitoes. Emerging and reemerging diseases such as Dengue, Zika, and Chikungunya affect billions of people around the world and recently has been appealing to control with chemical pesticides. Malathion (MT) is one of the main pesticides used against mosquitoes, the vectors of these diseases. This study aimed to assess cytotoxicity and mutagenicity of the malathion for the bioindicator Allium cepa L. using a multivariate and integrative approach. Moreover, an appendix table was compiled with all available literature of insecticides assessed by the Allium cepa system to support our discussion. Exposures during 48h to 0.5 mg mL-1 and 1.0 mg mL-1 MT were compared to the negative control (distilled water) and positive control (MMS solution at 10 mg L-1). The presence of chromosomal aberrations, micronuclei frequency, and mitotic index abnormalities was evaluated. Anaphase bridges were the alterations with higher incidence and presented a significantly elevated rate in the concentration of 0.5 mg mL-1, including when compared to the positive control. The integrative discriminant analysis summarizes that MT in assessed concentrations presented effects like the positive control, corroborating its potential of toxicity to DNA. Therefore, it is concluded that MT in its pure composition and in realistic concentrations used, has genotoxic potential in the biological assessment of A. cepa cells. The multivariate integrative analysis was fundamental to show a whole response of all data, providing a global view of the effect of MT on DNA.

Characteristics of Three Organic Fertilizers and Their Influence on the Mobility of Cadmium and Arsenic in a Soil-Rice (Oryza Sativa L.) System

The properties and effects of organic fertilizers are different, including the ability to improve soil fertility and the potential of stabilizing heavy metals in soils that have not been explored in depth. In this study, three organic fertilizers from different raw materials were characterized and evaluated. The mushroom residue organic fertilizer (MO) had higher C, H, and O contents and more functional groups (-OH, C-H, and C=O), and its application significantly increased pH (1.00~1.32 units), organic matter (OM) content (26.58%~69.11%) and cation exchange capacity (CEC) (31.52%~39.91%) of soil. MO treatment also reduced the toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP)-Cd (24.21%) and TCLP-As (18.44%) concentration in the soil. That inhibited the mobilization of Cd and As from soil to plant, especially to plant shoots, and positively affected the plant growth and biomass. Redundancy analysis (RDA) showed that 40.09 % of total plant variation was related to soil properties (pH, OM, and CEC). Furthermore, the heavy metal risk assessment for all organic fertilizers was at safe levels. This study provides a valuable reference for the selection of organic fertilizers. Besides, it recommends organic fertilizers as economic and multi-effect amendments with safe use and provides a new option for the ‘simultaneous production and remediation’ of farmlands with low pollution.

Beef cattle behavior in integrated crop-livestock systems

ABSTRACT: Temperament often depends on the animals’ reaction to people, social and environmental conditions. However, little is known about the influence of changes in the pasture environment on cattle temperament. Thus, this study was designed to evaluate if an animals’ temperament changes in response to being kept in a silvopastoral system. This study evaluated the effect of the tree components in a pasture environment on the temperament of any grazing cattle in integrated crop-livestock systems. A total of thirty-two Angus steers were allocated to either a livestock (L) or livestock-forest (LF) system and observed from December 2019 to February 2020. Each animal was evaluated for their reactivity score, flight speed, and number of vocalizations. The statistical model established that the animals were random effects and that the treatments and periods were fixed effects using the MIXED procedure, and the means were compared using LSMeans. The flight speed and number of vocalizations were similar in both production systems, while the reactivity score was lower for animals kept in the LF system when compared to those in the L system. This suggested that the LF system interferes positively with the animal’s temperament in relation to the L production system. However, additional research is needed to understand the influence of the production system on animal temperament.

3D Structural Model and Visualization of Blood Vessels Based on L-System

The insight in structures of the blood vessels is a basis for study of blood flows to help understanding the abnormalities of blood vessels that can cause vascular diseases. Basic concept used for constructing structures of blood vessels in organs is arterial branching, which is usually characterized by fractal similarity in the bifurcation pattern. In this work, the concept of Lindenmayer system (L-system) is modified for three-dimensional (3D) tree-like structures to model structures of blood vessels in organs, and then, applied to construct and visualize structural blood vessels via our software created based on openGL and Lazarus program. The structure of blood vessels is constructed based on the physiological law of arterial branching proposed Murray (Murray’s law) under additional assumptions and constraints such as the spreading of blood vessels to cover all directions, the angle condition and the non-overlapping vessels condition. The concept is applied to simulate structures of blood vessels in 3 study cases, including symmetric arterial branching, non-symmetric arterial branching and structure of blood vessel on different domains. The results of structures of blood vessels generated from all cases are measured based on the number of segments, the total blood volume and the fractal dimension. The results of modeling and simulation in this work are illustrated by comparing with other results appeared literature. Moreover, the constructed structures of the blood vessels based on this 3D L-system could be useful for future research such as blood flow, pressure and other properties involving in structures of blood vessels in different organs of human and animals. HIGHLIGHTS A new 3D L-system is developed based on directional vectors for construction of 3D tree-like structures such as structures of blood vessels The model of structures of blood vessels is constructed based on the physiological laws of arterial branching (Murray’s law) with additional assumptions on the spreading of blood vessels, the angle condition, and the non-overlapping of blood vessels Algorithm and software are developed based on L-system to simulate and visualize 3D structures of blood vessels GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

L-system models for image-based phenomics: case studies of maize and canola

Artificial neural networks that recognize and quantify relevant aspects of crop plants show great promise in image-based phenomics, but their training requires many annotated images. The acquisition of these images is comparatively simple, but their manual annotation is time-consuming. Realistic plant models, which can be annotated automatically, thus present an attractive alternative to real plant images for training purposes. Here we show how such models can be constructed and calibrated quickly, using maize and canola as case studies.

Morphogenesis Analysis for Digital Image Production with L-System

The process of forming an image requires a correct color composition, location and distance between the lines to produce a good image. Human abilities in both creativity and high imagination are very limited, especially in forming new images by utilizing existing image patterns or images that resemble old images. Here we showed the implementation of L-System to generate new image generations with additional flame as a fire effect/glow on images for image transformation. This research used the L-System algorithm, Iterated Function System, and Voronoi Diagram to improve the result of image transformation. The results of this study indicated that mathematical calculations can be applied in the formation of images and the resulting images can be abstract and symmetrical. The next generation of images produced in this research can be in unlimited numbers as the generation of morphogenesis processes. The process of generating images is carried out randomly by merging the two existing images with morphogenesis analogy. The resulting images can be exported into jpg, png, and svg formats. Furthermore, this research showed that the implementation of the calculation for the variation reach the value of 99.48% while the image variation composition has a value of 99.29%.

Innovative Land Arrangement in Combination with Irrigation Methods Improves the Crop and Water Productivity of Rice (Oryza sativa L.) Grown with Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L.) under Raised and Sunken Bed Systems

The underground water and water storage reservoirs are rapidly depleting due to nominal recharging by the rainfalls making water a scarce resource for irrigation resulting in poor crop growth and production. Irrigation water application should focus on the proficient use of each drop of water. Water productivity (WP) in agriculture can be improved through crop diversification, proper land and water management techniques. Considering this, a field investigation was carried out during 2013–2014 and 2014–2015 to study the crop response of rice (Oryza sativa L.) + okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L.) system to land configurations and irrigation regimes. Three raised-sunken beds (RSB) having width (m) ratios of 1:3, 2:3, 3:3 and two irrigation schedules viz. continuous standing water (CSW) of 5 ± 2 cm depth and alternate wetting and drying (AWD) at 3 ± 1 days interval for rice in sunken bed were tested. Rice yield was more (4.36 and 4.89 Mg ha−1) under CSW irrigation than AWD irrespective of raised bed width. The highest okra yield was noted by 14.09 and 15.43 Mg ha−1 with AWD in 1:3 RSB systems, whereas the lowest yield was recorded in CSW 1:3 RSB systems. Rice equivalent yield (REY) was found as the maximum in AWD than CSW irrespective of raised and sunken bed configurations. The AWD in 3:3 RSB systems exhibited the highest WP of 1.02 and 1.01 kg m−3 during the first and second year of study, respectively. Wider RSB system of land configuration ratio of 3:3 saved about 40–45% of irrigation water. Such information will help in the planning of an innovative intercropping system of summer rice + okra in the field by changing the land configuration to the raised bed and sunken bed with the AWD irrigation system.

Fruit tree crop models: an update

Functional structural plant models of tree crops are useful tools that were introduced more than two decades ago. They can represent the growth and development of a plant through the in silico simulation of the 3D architecture in connection with physiological processes. In tree crops, physiological processes such as photosynthesis, carbon allocation, and growth are usually integrated into these models although other functions such as water and nutrient uptake are often disregarded. The implementation of the 3D architecture involves different techniques such as L-system frameworks, pipe model concepts, and Markovian models to simulate branching processes, bud fates, and elongation of stems based on the production of metamers. The simulation of root architecture is still a challenge for researchers due to a limited amount of information and experimental issues in dealing with roots because root development is not based on the production of metamers. This review aims to focus on functional-structural models of fruit tree crops, highlighting their physiological components. The potential and limits of these tools are reviewed to point out the topics that still need more attention.