The Bioactivity and Phytochemicals of Pachyrhizus erosus (L.) Urb.: A Multifunctional Underutilized Crop Plant

Pachyrhizus erosus (L.) Urb. is an underutilized crop plant belonging to the Fabaceae family. In recent years, the plant received huge attention and was introduced in different countries owing to properties such as a high nutritional content, its nitrogen-fixing abilities, and different biological activities such as its antioxidant, immune modulation, anticancer, anti-diabetes, anti-osteoporosis, antiviral, and antiaging affects, among others. In this review, an attempt has been made to comprehensively compile the biological activities of the plant to provide a panoramic view of the current efforts and further directions, which may lead to the development of pharmacological applications. This information will be helpful in creating interest towards P. erosus and it may be useful in developing the plant for medical applications and/or as a functional food. More than 50 phytochemicals have been reported from the plant, which belong to different chemical classes such as triterpenoids, organic acid, flavonoids, and fatty acids. Numerous biological activities were reported from the plant through in vivo, in vitro, ex vivo, and human studies. However, well-defined clinical studies are still lacking for the establishment of any biological properties that could be further developed. Suggestions for the further development of P. erosus, according to current knowledge about the different biological properties, has also been provided.

​Defoliants Harvest-aid Chemicals: Cost Effective Technology to Facilitate Synchronized Maturity for Mechanical Harvesting in Cotton: A Review

In the recent years, increasing labour cost and shortage of labour being the major constraints to follow manual harvesting in cotton in staggered manner. Further, it is very expensive and farmers would like to increasingly opt for mechanical harvesting. In this context, it is suggested that research should focus to reduce cost of cultivation substantially by promoting the use of synchronized maturity in cotton and use of defoliants to encourage mechanical harvesting. In agriculture, defoliants are used to eliminate the leaves of a crop plant so that they do not interfere with the harvesting by machinery. Early harvesting with good boll opening can also be achieved by use of defoliants. The use of defoliants also reduces the trash content in picked cotton which will also help in improving the quality of cotton. There is a need to identify suitable defoliant with suitable dose and time of application so as to facilitate mechanical harvesting in rainfed cotton. Some of the successful defoliants for uniform boll bursting and higher yield of cotton such as rthrel, rthepon, mepiquat chloride (MC), sodium salt and DU (Dropp Ultra) are the hormonal defoliants and TDZ thidiazuron butifos, merphos, tribufos and tribufate are the herbicidal defoliants. The best combination of thidiazuron + diuron (DCMU), pyraflufen ethyl, thidiazuron + diuroncellular isozyme, Ethephon + AMADS, ethephon + cyclanilide ethephon + tribufos Mepiquat chloride (MC) + cyclanilide may be recommended to facilitate mechanical harvesting in cotton.

A Fuzzy Inference System for Maize Plant Yield Prediction

Ascertaining infections in maize plants is through observation of the crop plant for visual indications which a farmer is able to relate to specific diseases. The perception of the farmer is prone to human error which may sometimes link some symptoms to the wrong disease and could impact the application of suitable preventive and curable routines to combat the identified diseases. Hence, accurate identification of crop plant disease is of high importance to a farmer to aid response to diseases. The objective of this article is to apply fuzzy set and interpolation technique to develop an expert system to carry out field-based identification and yield forecast for the maize plant. For this study, some associated factors were recognized for maize plant diseases and confirmed by a professional Botanists. For this study, a number of associated factors were identified for maize plant diseases and validated by experienced Botanists. Further to this, triangular membership functions was used to develop the fuzzy inference system model following the preprocessing of identified factors and related output. 32 inferred rules were formulated using IF-THEN statements which adopted the values of the factors as antecedent and the yield of maize plant as the consequent part of each rule for classification of the yield of maize plant. The Fuzzy model was simulated for each of the identified five factors. The simulation results showed that the risk factors identified; black moldy growth on kernels and ears, blights on leaves, rotten cobs, infected husks and black kernels and seed decay have noticeable influence on the maize plant yield if timely remedy is not administered. The study established that the utilisation of fuzzy technique is helpful to appraise the yield of maize such that the lesser the manifestation of identified associated features then the higher the yield of the maize plant.

Seed Priming Technology as a Key Strategy to Increase Crop Plant Production under Adverse Environmental Conditions

Farmers and seed companies constantly require high-quality seeds with excellent agronomic performance. However, faced with environmental adversity, limited natural resources and increasing food demand around the globe, more attention has turned to improving crop plant production by implementing efficient strategies. Seed priming technology has shown promising biological improvements leading to suitable agronomic performance in crop plants under adverse environmental conditions. Seeds are subjected to controlled conditions that are conducive to complex physiological, biochemical, and molecular changes, conferring specific stress tolerance to subsequent germination and growth conditions. In this review paper, we aimed to study the recent approaches in the efficiency of hydropriming, osmopriming, chemopriming, hormopriming, nanopriming, matrix priming, biopriming, physical priming and hybrid priming procedures in the production of crop plants under environmental adversity, as well as their biological mechanism changes. All priming methods demonstrated relevant changes in the biological mechanism related to crop plant production by mitigating salinity effects, heavy metals, and flooding stress and enhancing chilling, heat, drought and phytopathogen tolerance. We strongly recommend that researchers combine multiple priming methods, known as hybrid priming, in their investigations to provide novel technologies and additional biological approaches to enhance the knowledge of crop plant science. Thus, the findings shed light on the use of seed priming technology as a key strategy to increase crop plant production under environmental adversity by acquiring stress tolerance and enhancing agronomic traits to meet the global food demand.

Drought and Competition With Ivyleaf Morningglory (Ipomoea hederacea) Inhibit Corn and Soybean Growth

Agricultural impacts of climate change include direct effects on crop plants and indirect effects, such as changes to the distributions and competitiveness of weed species. In the northeastern United States, warming temperatures are likely to result in periods of soil moisture deficit and changes to weed communities. Ivyleaf morningglory (IMG, Ipomoea hederacea Jacq.) is a summer annual vine that competes with field crops and interferes with harvesting. Climate change may increase the competitive effects of IMG on northeastern U.S. field crops. We conducted a greenhouse study to evaluate the effects of IMG on corn (Zea mays L.) and soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] under drought and non-drought conditions. The drought treatment was crossed against an IMG competition treatment with five levels: one crop plant without IMG plants, one crop plant with one, two, or three IMG plants, and one IMG plant without crop plants. Both drought and IMG (presence or biomass) reduced the biomass of corn and soybean (P < 0.05). Drought and IMG (presence) reduced soybean pod production (P < 0.001). IMG biomass was reduced by drought and the presence of corn (P < 0.001). Across all competition treatments, drought reduced IMG biomass by 71% in the corn experiment and 79% in the soybean experiment, compared with a corn biomass reduction of 50% and a soybean biomass reduction of 58%. Well-designed management programs should mitigate the risks associated with stressors such as IMG and drought, which may threaten northeastern U.S. field crop production under climate change.

Harvest Techniques: Hand-Pulling and Its Potential Impact on the Archaeobotanical Record Vis a Vis Near Eastern Plant Domestication

A “cultivation prior to domestication”, or a “pre-domestication cultivation” phase features in many reconstructions of Near Eastern plant domestication. Archaeobotanists who accept this notion search for evidence to support the assumption regarding a wild plant’s cultivation phase, which in their view, preceded and eventually led to plant domestication. The presence of non-crop plant remains in the archaeobotanical record interpreted as arable weeds, i.e., weeds of cultivation, is viewed as a strong argument in support of the pre-domestication cultivation phase. Herein, we show that the simple practice of harvest by hand-pulling (uprooting) has the potential to secure an almost weed-free harvest. Indeed, rather clean (weed-free) Neolithic seed caches from a range of relevant sites were documented in archaeobotanical reports. These reports, alongside ethnographic observations suggest that (in certain cases) ancient harvest may have been carried out by selective hand-pulling. Hence, one has no reason to view archaeobotanical assemblages from occupation sites as fully representative of cultivated fields. Therefore, the concept of “arable—pre-domestication weeds”, its logic, and its potential contribution to the prevailing reconstructions of Near Eastern plant domestication need be reconsidered.