Napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum Schumach.) is a fast-growing perennial grass native to Sub-Saharan Africa that is widely grown across the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. It is a ...multipurpose forage crop, primarily used to feed cattle in cut and carry feeding systems. Characterization and diversity studies on a small collection of Napier grasses have identified a moderate level of genetic variation and highlighted the availability of some good agronomic traits, particularly high biomass production, as a forage crop. However, very little information exists on precise phenotyping, genotyping and the application of molecular technologies to Napier grass improvement using modern genomic tools which have been applied in advancing the selection and breeding of important food crops. In this review paper, existing information on genetic resources, molecular diversity, yield and nutritional quality of Napier grass will be discussed. Recent findings on characterizing disease resistance and abiotic stress (drought) tolerance will also be highlighted. Finally, opportunities and future prospects for better conservation and use arising from the application of modern genomic tools in Napier grass phenotyping and genotyping will be discussed.
Der Begriff urbane Landwirtschaft bezieht sich auf jede Art von Tätigkeit in oder um eine Stadt, die Ökosystemleistungen erbringen soll. Angesichts des raschen Bevölkerungswachstums und der ...Verstädterung wird die urbane Landwirtschaft als möglicher alternativer Weg zu einem nachhaltigeren städtischen Ernährungssystem gesehen. Diese Übersicht beantwortet die Hauptfrage: Welchen Nutzen haben nicht-kommerzielle Formen der städtischen Landwirtschaft (NCUA) und welchen Beitrag leisten sie zur Lebensmittelproduktion? anhand einer systematischen Literaturübersicht. Die Methodik umfasste die Erfassung von 1355 neueren Artikeln aus qualifizierten Suchmaschinen unter Verwendung von Schlüsselbegriffen entsprechend der definierten Fragestellung, die dann auf Relevanz und den definierten Umfang dieser Übersichtsarbeit geprüft wurden, was zu einer endgültigen Auswahl von 40 Artikeln für die Analyse führte. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Umsetzung von Praktiken der urbanen Landwirtschaft vielfältige soziale, wirtschaftliche und ökologische Vorteile hat, wie z. B. die Verbesserung der Gesundheit der Menschen, die Verringerung der Ausgaben für Lebensmittel und die Schaffung nachhaltiger Städte, was die Notwendigkeit unterstreicht, die vielfältige Rolle der urbanen Landwirtschaft bei der Förderung eines nachhaltigeren Lebensstils und der Stärkung lokaler Gemeinschaften und des Engagements zu erkennen. Darüber hinaus ist das Bewusstsein für die urbane Landwirtschaft in den Industrie- und Entwicklungsländern unterschiedlich ausgeprägt, ebenso wie die Anerkennung und Wertschätzung ihrer Vorteile. Weitere Forschungsarbeiten sind erforderlich, um die Faktoren und Hindernisse zu untersuchen, die die Einführung von NKUA in verschiedenen städtischen Kontexten begünstigen, sowie die Auswirkungen auf die Ressourcen und die langfristige Nachhaltigkeit dieser Praktiken.
Urban agriculture refers to any type of activity located within or around a city designed to provide ecosystem services. Given the rapid population growth and urbanization, urban agriculture is seen as a potential alternative route to a more sustainable urban food system. This review answers the main question: What are the benefits of non-commercial of Urban Agriculture (NCUA) forms and its contribution towards food production? using a systematic literature review approach. The methodology involved capturing 1355 recent articles from qualified search engines, using key terms according to the defined question, then screened for relevance and the defined scope of this review, resulting in a final selection of 40 articles for analysis. The results show that implementing NCUA practices has multifaced social, economic, and environmental benefits, such as improving people’s health, reducing expenditure on food and creating sustainable cities, highlighting the need to recognize the multifaceted role of NCUA in promoting a more sustainable lifestyle and strengthening local communities and engagement. Moreover, awareness of urban agriculture differs between developed and developing countries, as does the recognition and valorization of its benefits. Further research is needed to examine the enabling factors and barriers to NCUA adoption in different urban context, the resource implications, and the long-term sustainability of these practices.
L'agriculture urbaine fait référence à tout type d'activité située à l'intérieur ou autour d'une ville et destinée à fournir des services écosystémiques. Compte tenu de la croissance rapide de la population et de l'urbanisation, l'agriculture urbaine est considérée comme une voie alternative potentielle vers un système alimentaire urbain plus durable. Cette étude répond à la question principale : Quels sont les avantages des formes non commerciales d'agriculture urbaine (NCUA) et leur contribution à la production alimentaire ? en utilisant une approche d'analyse systématique de la littérature. La méthodologie a consisté à capturer 1 355 articles récents à partir de moteurs de recherche qualifiés, en utilisant des termes clés en fonction de la question définie, puis à les examiner en fonction de leur pertinence et du champ d'application défini pour cette étude, ce qui a abouti à une sélection finale de 40 articles pour l'analyse. Les résultats montrent que la mise en œuvre des pratiques d'agriculture urbaine présente des avantages sociaux, économiques et environnementaux multiples, tels que l'amélioration de la santé des personnes, la réduction des dépenses alimentaires et la création de villes durables, soulignant la nécessité de reconnaître le rôle multiforme de l'agriculture urbaine dans la promotion d'un mode de vie plus durable et dans le renforcement des communautés locales et de leur engagement. En outre, la sensibilisation à l'agriculture urbaine diffère entre les pays développés et les pays en développement, tout comme la reconnaissance et la valorisation de ses avantages. Des recherches supplémentaires sont nécessaires pour examiner les facteurs favorables et les obstacles à l'adoption de l'agriculture urbaine non conventionnelle dans différents contextes urbains, les implications en termes de ressources et la durabilité à long terme de ces pratiques.
High temperatures significantly affect rice grain yield and quality. However, little information is known about the response of indica cultivars, especially Vietnamese cultivars, to high temperature. ...In this study, field experiments were conducted in 2015 and 2016 to evaluate the response of Vietnamese cultivars under high temperatures during the grain filling period. The high temperature was applied after the first cultivar started anthesis, by opening two sides of a plastic chamber that housed the cultivar when the temperature reached above 36 °C under field conditions. The difference in the maximum temperature between the control and the high temperature treatment was about 1.3 °C to 10.1 °C in 2015, and 0.73 °C to 10.2 °C in 2016. Decreases in crop growth rate (CGR) and yield were correlated with increased temperature conditions during the grain filling period. The grain yield of 14 Vietnamese cultivars fell to 81.5 and 79.4% of the control in 2015 and 2016, respectively. The variable with the greatest impact on grain yield was spikelet sterility induced by high temperature. Under high temperature conditions during the grain filling period, the percentage of grain chalkiness in the high temperature-treatment group increased compared to the control. Our study showed that Vietnamese rice yield and quality were significantly affected by high temperature.
Plant secondary metabolites (SMs) play important roles in plant survival and in creating ecological connections between other species. In addition to providing a variety of valuable natural products, ...secondary metabolites help protect plants against pathogenic attacks and environmental stresses. Given their sessile nature, plants must protect themselves from such situations through accumulation of these bioactive compounds. Indeed, secondary metabolites act as herbivore deterrents, barriers against pathogen invasion, and mitigators of oxidative stress. The accumulation of SMs are highly dependent on environmental factors such as light, temperature, soil water, soil fertility, and salinity. For most plants, a change in an individual environmental factor can alter the content of secondary metabolites even if other factors remain constant. In this review, we focus on how individual environmental factors affect the accumulation of secondary metabolites in plants during both biotic and abiotic stress conditions. Furthermore, we discuss the application of abiotic and biotic elicitors in culture systems as well as their stimulating effects on the accumulation of secondary metabolites. Specifically, we discuss the shikimate pathway and the aromatic amino acids produced in this pathway, which are the precursors of a range of secondary metabolites including terpenoids, alkaloids, and sulfur- and nitrogen-containing compounds. We also detail how the biosynthesis of important metabolites is altered by several genes related to secondary metabolite biosynthesis pathways. Genes responsible for secondary metabolite biosynthesis in various plant species during stress conditions are regulated by transcriptional factors such as WRKY, MYB, AP2/ERF, bZIP, bHLH, and NAC, which are also discussed here.
The information that crops offer is turned into profitable decisions only when efficiently managed. Current advances in data management are making Smart Farming grow exponentially as data have become ...the key element in modern agriculture to help producers with critical decision-making. Valuable advantages appear with objective information acquired through sensors with the aim of maximizing productivity and sustainability. This kind of data-based managed farms rely on data that can increase efficiency by avoiding the misuse of resources and the pollution of the environment. Data-driven agriculture, with the help of robotic solutions incorporating artificial intelligent techniques, sets the grounds for the sustainable agriculture of the future. This paper reviews the current status of advanced farm management systems by revisiting each crucial step, from data acquisition in crop fields to variable rate applications, so that growers can make optimized decisions to save money while protecting the environment and transforming how food will be produced to sustainably match the forthcoming population growth.
This review deals with the adaptive mechanisms that plants can implement to cope with the challenge of salt stress. Plants tolerant to NaCl implement a series of adaptations to acclimate to salinity, ...including morphological, physiological and biochemical changes. These changes include increases in the root/canopy ratio and in the chlorophyll content in addition to changes in the leaf anatomy that ultimately lead to preventing leaf ion toxicity, thus maintaining the water status in order to limit water loss and protect the photosynthesis process. Furthermore, we deal with the effect of salt stress on photosynthesis and chlorophyll fluorescence and some of the mechanisms thought to protect the photosynthetic machinery, including the xanthophyll cycle, photorespiration pathway, and water-water cycle. Finally, we also provide an updated discussion on salt-induced oxidative stress at the subcellular level and its effect on the antioxidant machinery in both salt-tolerant and salt-sensitive plants. The aim is to extend our understanding of how salinity may affect the physiological characteristics of plants.
Abiotic stresses strongly affect plant growth, development, and quality of production; final crop yield can be really compromised if stress occurs in plants’ most sensitive phenological phases. ...Additionally, the increase of crop stress tolerance through genetic improvements requires long breeding programmes and different cultivation environments for crop performance validation. Biostimulants have been proposed as agronomic tools to counteract abiotic stress. Indeed, these products containing bioactive molecules have a beneficial effect on plants and improve their capability to face adverse environmental conditions, acting on primary or secondary metabolism. Many companies are investing in new biostimulant products development and in the identification of the most effective bioactive molecules contained in different kinds of extracts, able to elicit specific plant responses against abiotic stresses. Most of these compounds are unknown and their characterization in term of composition is almost impossible; therefore, they could be classified on the basis of their role in plants. Biostimulants have been generally applied to high-value crops like fruits and vegetables; thus, in this review, we examine and summarise literature on their use on vegetable crops, focusing on their application to counteract the most common environmental stresses.
Among the plant nutrients, potassium (K) is one of the vital elements required for plant growth and physiology. Potassium is not only a constituent of the plant structure but it also has a regulatory ...function in several biochemical processes related to protein synthesis, carbohydrate metabolism, and enzyme activation. Several physiological processes depend on K, such as stomatal regulation and photosynthesis. In recent decades, K was found to provide abiotic stress tolerance. Under salt stress, K helps to maintain ion homeostasis and to regulate the osmotic balance. Under drought stress conditions, K regulates stomatal opening and helps plants adapt to water deficits. Many reports support the notion that K enhances antioxidant defense in plants and therefore protects them from oxidative stress under various environmental adversities. In addition, this element provides some cellular signaling alone or in association with other signaling molecules and phytohormones. Although considerable progress has been made in understanding K-induced abiotic stress tolerance in plants, the exact molecular mechanisms of these protections are still under investigation. In this review, we summarized the recent literature on the biological functions of K, its uptake, its translocation, and its role in plant abiotic stress tolerance.
Grain cereals such as wheat, barley, rice, and maize are the nutritional basis of humans and animals worldwide. Thus, these crop plants are essential in terms of global food security. We conducted a ...bibliometric assessment of scientific documents and patents related to wheat and barley through the Scopus database. The number of documents published per year, their affiliation and corresponding scientific areas, the publishing journals, document types and languages were metricized. The main keywords included in research publications concerning these crops were also analysed globally and clustered in thematic groups. In the case of keywords related to agronomy or genetics and molecular biology, we considered documents dated up to 1999, and from 2000 to 2018, separately. Comparison of the results obtained for wheat and barley revealed some remarkable different trends, for which the underlying reasons are further discussed.
Microalgae are attracting the interest of agrochemical industries and farmers, due to their biostimulant and biofertiliser properties. Microalgal biostimulants (MBS) and biofertilisers (MBF) might be ...used in crop production to increase agricultural sustainability. Biostimulants are products derived from organic material that, applied in small quantities, are able to stimulate the growth and development of several crops under both optimal and stressful conditions. Biofertilisers are products containing living microorganisms or natural substances that are able to improve chemical and biological soil properties, stimulating plant growth, and restoring soil fertility. This review is aimed at reporting developments in the processing of MBS and MBF, summarising the biologically-active compounds, and examining the researches supporting the use of MBS and MBF for managing productivity and abiotic stresses in crop productions. Microalgae are used in agriculture in different applications, such as amendment, foliar application, and seed priming. MBS and MBF might be applied as an alternative technique, or used in conjunction with synthetic fertilisers, crop protection products and plant growth regulators, generating multiple benefits, such as enhanced rooting, higher crop yields and quality and tolerance to drought and salt. Worldwide, MBS and MBF remain largely unexploited, such that this study highlights some of the current researches and future development priorities.
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