Despite its heritage importance and its involvement with the culture and economic production of Chiloé since colonial times, the apple tree does not have a baseline of information that allows the ...valorization of this heritage. A disciplinary cross between history and agronomy is proposed in this work. The objective is to determine the presence and distribution patterns of current apple tree cultivations according to and in relation to information collected in AHN and ARNAD. Results and discussion: abundance of very small cultivations (0.12 ha. Average) with higher density in localities of Putemún, Yutuy and Dalcahue, while Putemún, Yutuy,
Tenten-Llaullau and Quilquico have a higher proportion of cultivation units per study area. A certain correspondence is observed between the identified localities and historical archives and hot spots of proposed cultivations. Conclusions: although there is no full coincidence between the archive information and what was researched in the field, the relationship that is established shows coherence with its results when verifying maintenance of the type and size of cultivations since XIX century, together with locations of greater coincidence of them.
A pesar de su importancia patrimonial y su imbricación con la cultura y producción económica de Chiloé desde tiempos coloniales,el manzano no cuenta con una línea base de información que permita la valorización de este patrimonio. En este trabajo se plantea un cruce transdisciplinar entre historia y agronomía. El objetivo es determinar la presencia y patrones de distribuciónactuales de cultivo de manzano de acuerdo a información recogida en AHN y ARNAD. Se observó una abundancia de unidades de cultivo muy pequeñas (0,12 ha en promedio) con mayor densidad en las localidades de Putemún, Yutuy y Dalcahue, mientras
que Putemún, Yutuy, Tentén-Llaullau y Quilquico presentan mayor proporción de superficie del cultivo por área de estudio. Se encuentra cierta correspondencia entre las localidades identificadas en los archivos históricos y los núcleos o hot spot de cultivo de manzano propuestos. Aunque no existe coincidencia plena entre la información de archivo y lo pesquisado en terreno, la relación que se establece muestra coherencia con sus resultados al constatar mantención de tipo y tamaño de cultivos de manzano desde el siglo XIX, junto con localidades de mayor correspondencia del cultivo.
Orchard operations such as mechanical pruning and spraying are heavily affected by tree architectures. Quantified inputs (e.g., cutting locations for mechanical pruning, and canopy distribution and ...density for variable-rate precision spraying) are necessary information for achieving precise control of these orchard operations. Even in planar orchard systems, trees grow differently. Therefore, it is essential to measure the canopy at the individual tree level. A three-dimensional (3D) light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensor imaging system was developed to estimate the main canopy specifications. The LiDAR sensor was installed on a utility vehicle and driven alongside tree rows in an apple orchard. A total of 1,138 frames of point cloud data were acquired from 69 apple trees in a tall spindle architecture. An algorithm was developed in the MATLAB environment to segment trellis wires, support poles, and tree trunks in these point cloud images. The results indicated that the proposed algorithm achieved overall accuracy values of 88.6%, 82.1%, and 94.7%, respectively, in identifying the corresponding three objects. Furthermore, canopy density and depth maps were created with the distribution of points in the point cloud images. The outcomes from this study provide baseline information for precision orchard operations such as mechanical pruning and precision spraying.
•Estimating the shape/structure of apple tree canopies using a 3D Lidar sensor system.•Segmenting trellis wire, support pole, and tree trunk with 82%–95% accuracies.•Generating the canopy density and depth maps using point cloud data.
•Shortening rotation time can improve efficiency and reduce economic losses.•Planting Allium fistulosum, Brassica juncea and Triticum aestivum can enhance the effects of rotation.•Soil microbial ...environment (especially Fusarium) affect ARD at the level of plant-rhizosphere-soil microbes.
The aim of this experiment was to explore the effects of Allium fistulosum-Brassica juncea-Triticum aestivum rotation on the soil microbial environment and the growth of young apple trees under field conditions. After rotation with A. fistulosum-B. juncea-T. aestivum a year, the β-diversity of soil fungi differed, and there were significant differences in fungal community structure. In addition, cultivable fungi decreased, the ratio of bacteria to fungi increased, and the maximum value was achieved after rotation with B. juncea. The percentage of Fusarium spp. decreased to 1.82%, 1.61%, and 3.32% in Dashaling, Feng Maozhai, and Wantou Village, respectively. The gene copy number of Fusarium oxysporum and Fusarium solani was reduced by 20–50%; the content of phenolic acids, which was mostly phloridzin, decreased significantly by 64.24%, 58.59%, and 71.67% in Dashaling, Feng Maozhai, and Wantou Village, respectively, and the rotation with A. fistulosum resulted in the greatest reduction. The root extracts of A. fistulosum, B. juncea, and T. aestivum inhibited the mycelial growth of four Fusarium species; the root extract of A. fistulosum showed the largest degree of inhibition, followed by B. juncea and T. aestivum. Compared with continuous cropping, the yield was significantly increased under crop rotation, and fruit quality was also enhanced. Thus, A. fistulosum-B. juncea-T. aestivum rotation within a year can promote the growth and yield of young apple trees, reduce the copy number of harmful Fusarium, and changed the structure of the soil microbial community.
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•Effect of fan settings and nozzle size on leaf coverage in a treatment was studied.•The higher the airflow rate and droplet size, the bigger the homogeneous coverage.•The finest droplets ...distribution showed a large dependence on initial fan setup.•Canopy resistance behavior was related with the turbulence intensity of air currents.•A larger turbulence intensity did not imply a better spray coverage on the trees.
Air assistance and droplet’s characteristics influence on the pesticide deposit and its distribution over the intended target during the spray application process. The present research work is focused on the characterization of the leaf coverage and the overall spray distribution within the whole canopy by combining different settings of air assistance with different nozzles, generating different droplet’s sizes. A new designed air-assisted orchard sprayer was tested, presenting a wireless remote-regulation system to control the airflow rate from the fan by adjusting the blade pitch. In this way, five airflow rates were obtained by combining the gearbox position and the blade pitch. For each one of these five air settings, three droplet sizes (F-Fine, M−Medium, and C-Coarse) were combined and evaluated over a set of artificial apple trees. The evaluation was divided in two parts: a) a whole characterization of the airstream generated by the five air settings was performed for the two sprayer’s sides using a 3D-ultrasonic anemometer and placing the sprayer in front of the artificial trees and b) a coverage tests for each nozzle-air settings combination by using water sensitive papers (WSP) placed at different heights and depths evenly distributed across the canopy, the WSP’s were analyzed by a processing image software. The results demonstrated that ultrasonic anemometers were helpful to characterize the airstream and to analyze its effect on leaf coverage. Experimental data showed that a higher airflow rate and a larger droplet size generated a more homogeneous coverage on both sides of the sprayer. In this line, the turbulence intensity data suggest that larger variations in the air velocities increase the drag coefficient. Which meant that the canopy resistance to the air stream increased. In addition, an increase of turbulence intensity generated higher spray coverage. Therefore, a higher turbulence intensity did not imply a better spray coverage. It was also observed that the droplet size was critical on regulating the airflow influence on spray coverage. Coarse droplet size did not present any relation with the airflow changes. While the fine droplet size presented a high dependency on airflow conditions.
The excess sludge produced by sewage treatment plants can be recycled into energy through pyrolysis, and the byproduct biochar can be used for soil remediation. However, the heavy metals in sludge ...are retained in biochar after pyrolysis and may cause secondary pollution during its soil application. Herein, a fast copyrolysis method of activated sludge (AS) and apple branches (AT) was proposed to immobilize heavy metals while improving bio-oil yield. The results showed that the heavy metal release from the copyrolyzed biochar was markedly reduced compared with that from the biochar produced through the pyrolysis of AS alone (78% for Cr and 28% for Pb). The kinetic behavior of ion release from different biochars could be described by a first-order kinetic model. The excellent fixation of heavy metals was attributed to complexation by abundant oxygen-containing surface functional groups (–O–, =O, and –CHO) that were mainly donated by AT. Furthermore, high-temperature pyrolysis was conducive to the fixation of metals, and the release of Pb2+ and Cr3+ from the biochar pyrolyzed at 600 °C was approximately 2/3 and 1/10 of that from the biochar pyrolyzed at 400 °C, respectively. A growth experiment on Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli revealed that the toxicity of the copyrolyzed biochar was greatly reduced. This work can provide a method for heavy metal fixation and simultaneous resource recovery from organic wastes.
•The typical heavy metals (Pb2+/Cr3+) were immobilized by copyrolysis of AT and AS.•High-temperature pyrolysis was conducive to the fixation of metals.•The copyrolysis of AT and AS could promote the production of bio-oil.•The metallic ion release kinetics conformed to the first-order kinetic model.•The biotoxicity of AT:AS = 1:2 biochar was obviously reduced.
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•AMF occurrence, diversity and community composition were investigated in apple roots.•High levels of mycorrhizal colonization were found in 21 South Tyrol apple orchards.•Two ...molecular methods, PCR cloning and sequencing and PCR-DGGE, were used.•For the first time native AMF in apple roots were identified at the species level.•Geographical area, management and altitude affected AMF diversity in apple roots.
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are beneficial microrganisms which establish mutualistic symbioses with the roots of most food crops, improving plant performance, nutrient uptake and tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses. A better understanding of the factors affecting AMF occurrence and diversity is fundamental to implement sustainable agricultural managements effectively profiting from beneficial plant symbionts. Here, we investigated AMF occurrence, diversity and community composition in the roots of apple trees from 21 orchards in South Tyrol, as affected by location, management (organic vs integrated) and altitude, by PCR cloning and sequencing and PCR-DGGE of partial 18S rRNA gene. The screening of 448 clones from 21 clone libraries allowed the identification of 6 native AMF at the species level: Glomus indicum, Sclerocystis sinuosa, Funneliformis mosseae, Rhizoglomus irregulare, Septoglomus constrictus and Claroideoglomus lamellosum. The most abundant genera were represented by Glomus (29.7% of the sequences), Paraglomus (19.4%), Claroideoglomus (17.2%), Sclerocystis (16.1%) and Rhizoglomus (12.3%). Septoglomus, Diversispora and Funneliformis sequences corresponded to less than 4% of total sequences. Although the degree of root colonization was unaffected by treatments, ANOSIM analysis of PCR-DGGE clusters revealed significant differences in apple root AMF diversity between sites and agricultural managements. Species richness was significantly higher in organically managed orchards than in integrated ones. Our findings provide insights into important factors affecting native AMF communities of apple trees, which could be exploited in sustainable fruit production systems, where beneficial soil biota boost biogeochemical cycles, energy fluxes and crop productivity.
We propose a 3D colour point cloud processing pipeline to count apples on individual apple trees in trellis structured orchards. Fruit counting at the tree level requires separating trees, which is ...challenging in dense orchards. We employ point clouds acquired from the leaf-off orchard in winter period, where the branch structure is visible, to delineate tree crowns. We localise apples in point clouds acquired in harvest period. Alignment of the two point clouds enables mapping apple locations to the delineated winter cloud and assigning each apple to its bearing tree. Our apple assignment method achieves an accuracy rate higher than 95%. In addition to presenting a first proof of feasibility, we also provide suggestions for further improvement on our apple assignment pipeline.
•A 3D point cloud processing pipeline to count apples on individual apple trees.•Alignment of point clouds of apple trees obtained in winter and harvest periods.•A novel segmentation method to detect tree trunks, trellis wires and support poles.•Delineation of trees in 3D point clouds of apple orchards.•The use of a calibration object for correct scaling and aligning point clouds.
Biological fertilizers improve fruit quality; for instance, organomineral, or activated mixes are known to increase consumer qualities of apples. This article describes the effect of a new activated ...complex (non-root treatment) on the yield, chemical composition, and physiological disorders, e.g., scald and brown spot, of commercial apples after long-term storage. The research featured the natural activated complex of the Beliy Zhemchug (White Pearl) brand. The apple trees were divided into two groups: 1 – untreated control trees; 2 – trees that underwent a non-root treatment with the activated complex (1% solution of its Antifreeze variant + 1% solution of the Drip Ca + Mg variant). The trees belonged to the Sinap Orlovskiy cultivar, which is highly susceptible to brown spot and scald, both in the orchard and during long-term storage. The apples were studied for chemical composition and consumer qualities after long-term storage in a CV114-S refrigerator at +2°C and a relative humidity of 85–90%. The non-root treatment of apple trees with the Beliy Zhemchug activated complex had no significant effect on the content of soluble solids, total sugars, titrated acids, and ascorbic acid in ripe apples. Weather conditions affected the chemical composition 30 days before harvesting. The non-root treatment increased the yield of commercial apples by 1.62 times after long-time storage. The scald, brown spot, and moniliosis damage decreased by 1.9, 2.6, and 1.9 times, respectively. The activated fertilizers of the Beliy Zhemchug brand proved highly efficient as additional techniques in common apple cultivation and could be recommended to improve the quality and yield of commercial fruits after long-term storage.
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