Global climate change is anticipated to have a profound impact on drought occurrences, leading to detrimental consequences for the environment, socioeconomic relations, and ecosystem services. In ...order to evaluate the extent of drought impact, a comprehensive study was conducted in the Hyderabad–Karnataka region, India. Precipitation data from 31 stations spanning a 50-year period (1967–2017) were analyzed using the standardized precipitation index (SPI) based on gamma distribution. The findings reveal that approximately 15% of the assessed years of experienced drought conditions, with a range of influence between 41% and 76% under SPI_3, and between 43% and 72% under SPI_6. Examining the timescale magnitude frequency provided insights into variations in the severity of drought events across different locations and timescales. Notably, the Ballari (−8.77), Chitapur (−8.22), and Aland (−7.40) regions exhibited the most significant magnitudes of drought events for SPI_3 with a 5-year return period. The heightened risk of recurrent droughts in the study area emphasizes the necessity of integrating SPI in decision-making processes, as such integration can markedly contribute to the development of reliable and sustainable long-term water management strategies at regional and national levels.
The drainage channel network in Vojvodina, northern part of the Republic of Serbia, in total length of around 20,000 km, transfers excessive （under）ground waters from around 2.15 million ha of ...lowlands. Channels are mostly in direct connection with the surrounding arable agricultural land and are exposed to different run-off, leaching and/or wind erosion processes. Close to urban areas, some channel sections serve as recipients of unrefined sewage and industrial waste waters. Water flows and velocities, as well as the transportable capacity of fluvial materials （sediments） are relatively low. This, in combination with other natural and anthropogenic impacts, contributes to sediment generation in the drainage channel network. Based on around 100 sediment samples from 46 channels, concentrations of primary nutrients （N, P and K） were elaborated in this study. Detected concentrations of macronutrients in the channel sediments （e.g. N 1-1.2%, P 100-265 and K 100-380 mg 100 g-l） exceeded their content in surrounding arable land by a few fold, Also, significantly higher nutrient concentrations （in average by 50%） were detected in downstream （vs. upstream） channel sections. An excessive presence of observed elements in channel sediments, due to interactive processes between water and sediment material, can adversely influence the water quality and life conditions for channel biota and caused other negative environ- mental impacts such as eutrophication. These results clearly confirm that the processes of nutrient accumulation in channel sediments are greater than those in the surrounding, mostly intensively arable land areas. The erosion of unprotected agricultural areas and sediment transport as the most important pollution pathways from the drainage basin to channel network may be essential factors responsible for detected condition of nutrient accumulation.
In our rapidly growing and changing world, the sustainable management of Earth’s resources has become an urgent global priority. Resource Management in Agroecosystems provides a compass for ...navigating this complex terrain. It offers a multifaceted exploration of resource management from sustainable agricultural practices to water and energy optimization, soil conservation, and biodiversity preservation. This book delves deep into the strategies needed to harmonize food production with environmental stewardship. Beyond addressing challenges, this book also spotlights opportunities, inviting readers to embark on a transformative journey. With profound gratitude to our authors, reviewers, and publishers, we invite you to join us in this intellectual odyssey. Let Resource Management in Agroecosystems guide you toward a more sustainable and resilient future, where the needs of humanity harmonize with the well-being of our planet.
The greatest environmental problem facing the world today is climate change, with a rise in sea level being one of the most important consequences, especially in low-lying coastal areas, such as ...river deltas where changes are exacerbated by human impacts, leading to increased seawater intrusion into coastal aquifers and the degradation of water quality. Water quality monitoring systems are being developed and deployed to monitor changes in the aquatic environment. With technological progress, traditional sampling-based water monitoring has been supplemented with sensors and automated data acquisition and transmission devices, resulting in the automation of water quality monitoring systems. This paper reviews the recent development and application of automated continuous water quality monitoring systems. It also draws on the results of our own experience in implementing such a system in the Neretva River Delta on the Croatian Adriatic coast. The installed system provides (near) real-time data on parameters such as temperature, pH, EC, TDS, and DO in the water, as well as a number of soil and weather variables, with data available at a high frequency through a developed database and web portal for various stakeholders. Continuous monitoring enables the collection of big data that can be used to develop models for predictions of water quality parameters and to develop guidelines for future management.
This study’s objective was to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on tomato supply and prices in Gudimalkapur market in Hyderabad, India. The lockdown imposed by the government of India from ...25 March 2020 to 30 June 2020 particularly affected the supply chain of perishable agricultural products, including tomatoes as one of the major vegetable crops in the study area. The classical time series models such as autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) intervention models and artificial intelligence (AI)-based time-series models namely support vector regression (SVR) intervention and artificial neural network (ANN) intervention models were used to predict tomato supplies and prices in the studied market. The modelling results show that the pandemic had a negative impact on supply and a positive impact on tomato prices. Moreover, the ANN intervention model outperformed the other models in both the training and test data sets. The superior performance of the ANN intervention model could be due to its ability to account for the nonlinear and complex nature of the data with exogenous intervention variable.
Lignocellulosic biomass needs attention as an alternative energy source to overcome the adverse impacts of fossil fuels. Diversified Galiyat forests of Lower Himalaya may represent the potential ...source of lignocellulose degrading microbiota, particularly the lytic bacteria. Therefore, soil and wood samples were collected from different sites of Nathiagali and Thandiani of Galiyat forests. The soil samples collected were clayey, with a pH between 6.7 and 7.0, and with an organic matter of 2.8%–2.9% in Nathiagali and 2.1%–2.2% in Thandiani. The soils were enriched with more diversified cultivable bacteria (9 Log CFU/g) than the respective wood samples (7.4–8.6 Log CFU/g). Out of 90 bacteria, 22 isolates were efficient for cellulose degradation, 14 for xylanase activity, and 10 for laccase production. Cluster analysis showed that lignocellulolytic bacteria were grouped based on the sample medium (soil–wood) rather than the sampling site (Thandiani–Nathiagali). Efficient bacteria were also sequenced, and we found that cellulase production was prevalent in Pseudomonas spp. while laccase activity was diverse among taxonomically varied bacteria. Moreover, Stenotrophomonas sp. TS2B1 performed the best for corncob xylose degradation. Overall, the results suggest that Galiyat forests represent diverse lignocellulolytic microbial populations which should be further evaluated for applications in lignocellulosic waste management and for potential consequent fuel production.
To test an assumption that organic soil can ameliorate nutritional disorders associated with metal and salinity stresses, we exposed salt-sensitive strawberry and lettuce to four salinity (0–60 mM ...NaCl) and three contamination (0.3–5 mg Cd/kg) rates in peat (pHH2O = 5.5). The results showed that, even at 20 mM NaCl, salinity stress exerted a dominant effect on rhizosphere biogeochemistry and physiological processes, inducing leaf-edge burns, chlorosis/necrosis, reducing vegetative growth in crops; at ≥40 mM, NaCl mortality was induced in strawberry. Signifiacntly decreased K/Na, Ca/Na and Mg/Na concentration ratios with raising salinity were confirmed in all tissues. The combined CdxNaCl stresses (vs. control) increased leaf Cd accumulation (up to 42-fold in lettuce and 23-fold in strawberry), whereas NaCl salinity increased the accumulation of Zn (>1.5-fold) and Cu (up to 1.2-fold) in leaves. Lettuce accumulated the toxic Cd concentration (up to 12.6 mg/kg) in leaves, suggesting the strong root-to-shoot transport of Cd. In strawberry Cd, concentration was similar (and sub-toxic) in fruits and leaves, 2.28 and 1.86 mg/kg, respectively, suggesting lower Cd root-to-shoot translocation, and similar Cd mobility in the xylem and phloem. Additionally, the accumulation of Cd in strawberry fruits was exacerbated at high NaCl exposure (60 mM) compared with lower NaCl concentrations. Thus, in salinized, slightly acidic and organically rich rhizosphere, pronounced organo- and/or chloro-complexation likely shifted metal biogeochemistry toward increased mobility and phytoavailability (with metal adsorption restricted due to Na+ oversaturation of the caton exchange complex in the substrate), confirming the importance of quality water and soils in avoiding abiotic stresses and producing non-contaminated food.
Conserving clean and safe freshwater is a global challenge, with nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) as frequent limiting factors affecting water quality due to eutrophication. This paper provides a ...critical overview of the spatiotemporal variability in both nutrient concentrations and their total mass ratio (TN:TP) in the canal network of the Hydro system Danube–Tisza–Danube at 21 measuring locations monitored by the Environmental Protection Agency of the Republic of Serbia over a length of almost 1000 km, collected once a month during the last decade. A spatiotemporal variation in nutrient concentrations in the tested surface water samples was confirmed by correlations and cluster analyses. The highest TN concentrations were found in winter and early spring (non-vegetation season), and the highest TP concentrations in the middle of the year (vegetation season). The TN:TP mass ratio as an indicator of the eutrophication pointed out N and P co-limitation (TN:TP 8–24) in 64% of samples, N limitation (TN:TP < 8) was detected in 27% and P limitation (TN:TP > 24) in the remaining 9% of water samples. Such observations indicate slow-flowing, lowland water courses exposed to the effects of non-point and point contamination sources as nutrient runoff from the surrounding farmlands and/or urban and industrial zones, but further investigation is needed for clarification. These results are an important starting point for reducing N and P runoff loads and controlling source pollution to improve water quality and underpin recovery from eutrophication in the studied watershed.
Increase in the concentration of atmospheric greenhouse gases significantly contributes to global warming, representing a substantial challenge for crop production. The study was conducted to ...determine the growth competition between rice (Oryza sativa) and barnyardgrass (Echinochloa oryzicola) under (i) different cropping patterns and (ii) elevated air temperatures in phytotrons under field condition, at two plant densities (4 and 16 plants per pot). Rice and barnyardgrass were planted with varying cropping patterns (rice: barnyardgrass mixture proportions); 100:0, 75:25, 50:50, 25:75 and 0:100. Air temperatures were maintained in phytotrons as follows: Ambient–A (Control), A +0.8 °C, A +1.9 °C and A +3.4 °C. Plant attributes such as plant height, number of effective tillers, shoot dry weight and grain yield of rice were recorded in this study in the rice/barnyardgrass mixture proportions in the order of 100:0 > 75:25 > 50:50 > 25:75. The highest rice grain yield (37.7 g/pot) was recorded in the monoculture (100:0 rice/barnyardgrass) under ambient temperature, whereas the lowest rice grain yield (0.3 g/pot) was recorded at the 25:75 rice/barnyardgrass mixture proportion under ambient +3.4 °C. The increase in temperature had a significant impact on growth, number of tillers and shoot dry weight of both rice and barnyardgrass plants and followed the order of ambient +3.4 °C > ambient +1.9 °C > ambient +0.8 °C > ambient. However, higher temperature negatively affected the yield of rice and resulted in a substantial decrease in the grain yield. Barnyardgrass showed the highest plant characteristics when grown alongside rice compared to the growth in monoculture. This indicates that barnyardgrass was highly competitive when grown under interspecific competition compared to an intraspecific competition. In contrast, rice grew better in monoculture than in mixture with barnyardgrass.
Recently, nanomaterials have received considerable attention in the agricultural sector, due to their distinctive characteristics such as small size, high surface area to volume ratio, and charged ...surface. These properties allow nanomaterials to be utilized as nanofertilizers, that can improve crop nutrient management and reduce environmental nutrient losses. However, after soil application, metallic nanoparticles have been shown to be toxic to soil biota and their associated ecosystem services. The organic nature of nanobiochar (nanoB) may help to overcome this toxicity while maintaining all the beneficial effects of nanomaterials. We aimed to synthesize nanoB from goat manure and utilize it with CuO nanoparticles (nanoCu) to influence soil microbes, nutrient content, and wheat productivity. An X-ray diffractogram (XRD) confirmed nanoB synthesis (crystal size = 20 nm). The XRD spectrum showed a distinct carbon peak at 2θ = 42.9°. Fourier-transform spectroscopy of nanoB's surface indicated the presence of C=O, C≡N-R, and C=C bonds, and other functional groups. The electron microscopic micrographs of nanoB showed cubical, pentagonal, needle, and spherical shapes. NanoB and nanoCu were applied alone and as a mixture at the rate of 1000 mg kg
soil, to pots where wheat crop was grown. NanoCu did not influence any soil or plant parameters except soil Cu content and plant Cu uptake. The soil and wheat Cu content in the nanoCu treatment were 146 and 91% higher, respectively, than in the control. NanoB increased microbial biomass N, mineral N, and plant available P by 57, 28, and 64%, respectively, compared to the control. The mixture of nanoB and nanoCu further increased these parameters, by 61, 18, and 38%, compared to nanoB or nanoCu alone. Consequently, wheat biological, grain yields, and N uptake were 35, 62 and 80% higher in the nanoB+nanoCu treatment compared to the control. NanoB further increased wheat Cu uptake by 37% in the nanoB+nanoCu treatment compared to the nanoCu alone. Hence, nanoB alone, or in a mixture with nanoCu, enhanced soil microbial activity, nutrient content, and wheat production. NanoB also increased wheat Cu uptake when mixed with nanoCu, a micronutrient essential for seed and chlorophyll production. Therefore, a mixture of nanobiochar and nanoCu would be recommended to farmers for improving their clayey loam soil quality and increasing Cu uptake and crop productivity in such agroecosystems.
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