Feasibility assessment of Brassica carinata bioenergy systems in Southern Europe

A detailed reliability assessment was made of electricity generation systems in Spain that are based on Brassica carinata cultivation. The assessment considers the following chain of energy generation: biomass cultivation and harvesting, transportation and electricity generation in biomass power plants (10, 25 and 50 MW). Flue gas desulphurisation systems have been included for larger plants following the criteria of the Spanish legislative framework. Six scenarios were analysed in accordance with the following aspects: two crop distributions around the power plant and three power plant sizes. The results show that the cost of biomass delivered at the power plants ranges from 107.81 to 112.54 € Mg⁻¹ dry basis.Sensibility analysis shows that variation in biomass production in the field demonstrates that biomass cost delivered at the plant is notably affected and consequently so is the system's feasibility.Furthermore, the increase of the price of CO₂ emission credits, also considered in sensibility analysis, can help to improve the reliability of systems because of the increase of gross profit for each scenario.This study clears up the Economic uncertainty of B. carinata biomass energy systems based on the single use of this renewable energy resource. Higher crop productivities are needed to ensure an economic reliability of the analysed systems. On the other hand biomass mix can solve SO₂ emission cleaning cost for large power plants, improving the reliability of B. carinata application as fuel.     

Mycotoxin occurrence and Aspergillus flavus soil propagules in a corn and cotton glyphosate-resistant cropping systems

The effects of cotton-corn rotation and glyphosate use on levels of soil-borne Aspergillus flavus, aflatoxin and fumonisin contamination in corn and cotton seed were determined during 2002-2005 in Stoneville, Mississippi (USA). There were four rotation systems (continuous cotton, continuous corn, cotton-corn and corn-cotton) for both glyphosate-resistant (GR) and non-GR cultivars-herbicide system arranged in a randomized complete block design with four replications. Aspergillus flavus populations in surface (5-cm depth) soil, sampled before planting (March/April), mid-season (June) and after harvest (September), ranged from 1.47 to 2.99 log (10) cfu g^-1 soil in the four rotation systems. Propagules of A. flavus were higher in the continuous corn system compared to the continuous cotton system on three sample dates, and cotton rotated with corn decreased A. flavus propagules in three of nine sample dates. Propagules of A. flavus were significantly greater in plots with GR cultivars compared to non-GR cultivars in three samples. In cotton seed, aflatoxin and fumonisin levels were similar (≤4 µg kg^-1 and non-detectable, respectively) regardless of rotation and glyphosate. In corn grain, aflatoxin was above the regulatory level (≥20 µg kg^-1) only in GR cultivar in 2004 and 2005. Fumonisin was higher in non-GR cultivar (4 mg kg^-1) regardless of rotation in 2004; however, in 2002, 2003 and 2005, aflatoxin and fumonisin levels were similar regardless of rotation and glyphosate. These results indicate the potential for increased aflatoxin and fumonisin levels (1 of 4 years) in corn; however, climatic conditions encountered during this study did not allow for mycotoxin production. In laboratory incubation studies, fairly high concentrations of glyphosate were required to inhibit A. flavus growth; however no short-term effect of soil treatment with glyphosate on A. flavus populations were observed. These data suggest that altered populations of A. flavus or higher aflatoxin concentrations in corn grain were due to indirect effects of the GR cropping system.     

广东特色农业波谱数据库设计与开发

自20世纪70年代以来,国际和国内波谱数据库的发展虽然如火如荼,但是都存在不同层次的缺陷,不能满足现阶段我国遥感基础研究和应用的需要,对华南特色农业遥感应用来说差距更远,该研究以建立波谱知识实用型库为目标,集成了华南农作物波谱、环境参数、应用模型,试建立了基于WEB的广东荔枝、龙眼、甘蔗等特色农作物波谱数据库,实现了特色农作物波谱数据库的概念设计、数据的组织、功能和界面设计等方面,为多样的华南特色农作物波谱数据库的建立提供了一个示范。     

基于支持向量机与多特征选择的农作物彩色病斑边缘检测

为正确提取作物病害图像病斑,提出了一种基于支持向量机与多特征选择的作物彩色病斑边缘检测方法。该方法用（2d＋1）×（2d＋1）大小的窗口遍历图像,计算图像亮度和色度通道的方差、均值差、最大梯度,以及空间位置特征和均值色差作为特征向量,实现支持向量机对病斑边缘识别。为提高检测病斑边缘的效率,提出了在遍历过程中,若特征值都小于阈值时,则跳过d行, d列再遍历。实验表明,该方法比传统的边缘检测算子具有更好的病斑边缘识别能力。     

Oil crops for biodiesel production in Italy

There is an energy advantage in methylester production using sunflower, rapeseed and soybean as crop suppliers of energy, the process being practicable in terms of technique and energy gain. The three oilseed crops considered in this work are suitable for considerable reduction of inputs with consequent energy savings and low environmental impact. Nevertheless, because of its low arable surface area, the number of available hectares being static, Italy is oriented towards intensive management. As a consequence, optimisation of cropping techniques is the main strategy to be pursued for higher crop yields for methylester production.     

油料作物内标准基因研究与应用

内标准基因（Endogenous reference gene）是指具有植物物种专一性且拷贝数恒定、不显示等位基因变化的保守DNA序列。可用于对基因组中某一目的基因进行定量分析和验证PCR反应体系中是否存在抑制物质。基于其物种特异性,内标准基因还能用于食品搀假使杂的判定。油料作物涉及我们日常生活的方方面面,油料制品的鉴别和转基因油料作物的检测急需使用内标准基因,目前,油料作物内标准基因的研究与应用取得了长足进展,但是还没有对它们进行综合比较和分析的报道。本文根据国内外有关油料作物内标准基因的研究,阐述了各物种已开发的内标准基因,并对这些基因从引物位置、扩增片段的大小、拷贝数等特征进行比较和分析。本文综述了油料作物内源特异参照基因的研究概况和存在问题,有助于对油料作物及其它作物内源特异参照基因的进一步开发和深入研究。     

Proteomic Approaches to Uncover Salt Stress Response Mechanisms in Crops

Salt stress is an unfavorable outcome of global climate change, adversely affecting crop growth and yield. It is the second-biggest abiotic factor damaging the morphological, physio-biochemical, and molecular processes during seed germination and plant development. Salt responses include modulation of hormonal biosynthesis, ionic homeostasis, the antioxidant defense system, and osmoprotectants to mitigate salt stress. Plants trigger salt-responsive genes, proteins, and metabolites to cope with the damaging effects of a high salt concentration. Enhancing salt tolerance among crop plants is direly needed for sustainable global agriculture. Novel protein markers, which are used for crop improvement against salt stress, are identified using proteomic techniques. As compared to single-technique approaches, the integration of genomic tools and exogenously applied chemicals offers great potential in addressing salt-stress-induced challenges. The interplay of salt-responsive proteins and genes is the missing key of salt tolerance. The development of salt-tolerant crop varieties can be achieved by integrated approaches encompassing proteomics, metabolomics, genomics, and genome-editing tools. In this review, the current information about the morphological, physiological, and molecular mechanisms of salt response/tolerance in crops is summarized. The significance of proteomic approaches to improve salt tolerance in various crops is highlighted, and an integrated omics approach to achieve global food security is discussed. Novel proteins that respond to salt stress are potential candidates for future breeding of salt tolerance.     

转基因作物及其安全性评价

从地理分布、物种、性状三方面概述了世界上转基因作物的种植分布情况 ,分析了转基因作物的巨大商机和发展前景 ,评价了转基因作物的安全性 ,包括食品安全性、生态安全性、转基因逃逸防御安全性、生物物种界定安全性等。认为对转基因作物进行安全性鉴定 ,并在有效监控下适当发展转基因作物而非放任或禁止才是较为负责任的态度。     

Reuse of treated municipal wastewater in irrigation: a case study from Lebanon and Jordan

In this study, we present the results of scenarios where secondary‐treated municipal wastewater was used for table grapes irrigation in the region of Ablah, Bekaa valley in Lebanon, and fodder crops irrigation (vetch and barley) in the region of Ramtha in Jordan. In Lebanon, we carried out experiments to assess the response of drip‐irrigated table grapes grown under two water quality regimes (Freshwater (FW) and treated wastewater (TW) and two water levels (100% of evapotranspiration (ETc) and 75% of ETc). While in Jordan, we carried out experiments to assess the response of drip‐irrigated fodder crops considering 4 irrigation levels (Q1: Rain fed; Q2: 80% of ETc; Q3: 100% of ETc; Q4: 120% of ETc) and three crop patterns (C1: Barley 100%; C2: Vetch 100%; C3: Mix 50% barley and 50% vetch). Based on the production and quality components, table grapes were successfully grown on plots that are supplied with TW. Fodder crops were successfully grown using TW with remarkable increase in biomass and grain yield production for the irrigated treatments.     

Development of nanocolloidal gold based immunochromatographic assay for rapid detection of transgenic vegetative insecticidal protein in genetically modified crops

Vegetative insecticidal protein (Vip) is now being used for transgenic expression in several crops; conferring resistance against lepidopteron pests. A rapid, single step, sensitive and specific immunochromatographic (IC) strip test for the detection of recombinant Vip-S protein in the transgenic samples was developed. Polyclonal rabbit anti-Vip-S IgG conjugated to nanocolloidal gold served as a probe to detect Vip protein in test samples. The detection limit for the developed IC strip was 100 ng/ml (100 ppb) and on addition of gold enhancer the sensitivity increased to 1 ng/ml (1 ppb) of Vip-S protein. The assay was validated with transgenic brinjal samples. The assay time was less than 10 min, suitable for rapid on-site testing. No cross-reactivity was observed with other transgenic plant proteins employed for pest and weed management, i.e. Cry1Ac, Cry1Ab, and CP4-EPSPS. This on-site test offers rapid screening for a genetically modified crops having relatively new transgene (vip) entering the global market.