scholarly journals NEW PLANT BREEDING TECHNOLOGIES FOR A SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE

Author(s):  
Martin Kater

Agriculture has a 10,000-year history. During this period, humans selected natural mutants that were found to be useful for cultivation and human consumption. However, the selected characteristics are not always favorable for the plants themselves, often compromising their ability to survive and adapt to the natural environment. In this way, cultivated plants have become dependent, for their survival, on man as man is dependent on plants to survive. The increase in agricultural production was notable during the green revolution and even afterwards new genetic knowledge made it possible to drastically increase food production. However, now with the rapid growth of the world population, the selection of new cultivars has become necessary, not only capable of producing more but also able to do so with less water, fertilizers, insecticides etc. Plants that are more resistant to biotic and abiotic stresses, which are increasingly frequent in a world where climate change is becoming a major challenge for the future. Studying the genomes of plants and the functions of their genes is the only way to accelerate the genetic improvement of plants while protecting the environment. A very important technology to try to solve these problems is "genome editing", using the CRISPR-Cas system. Unfortunately, in Europe the use of this new technology in agriculture has found it is not easy to apply not so much for scientific reasons but for political ideologies contrary to this type of innovation in agriculture.

1956 ◽  
Vol 145 (920) ◽  
pp. 337-347 ◽  

The cultivated plants when considered in terms of numbers, territory or adaptation, represent a most successful group of species. Their success, however, has been achieved at the expense of the ability to survive under all those natural conditions over which man’s protection does not extend. It is, moveover, one of the essentials in a cultivated crop that it should survive only when allowed to do so, otherwise it becomes troublesome to eradicate, and under all systems of husbandry, excepting monoculture, it attains the lowly status of a weed. Success in the wild and in cultivation represent therefore two different end-products, derived from the exploitation by selection, of a common genetic system. Evolutionary progress and population changes occur partly as a result of fundamental changes in the constituent parts of the genetic system, and partly as a result of the assortment of the existing parts to form new combinations which must either possess a high survival value under given circumstances or perish. Cultivated plants must necessarily possess combinations of genes which bear little or no relationship to those which are successful in the wild, but the genes themselves, as well as their functions and interactions, will be unchanged. Observations on the genetics of such specialized populations will therefore allow of extrapolation to illuminate the functional properties of the gene, while generalizations concerning the architecture of the genotype can only be made with reference to the particular selection trends that have been in operation. It is necessary to add here that this latter limitation to the interpretation of results applies equally to comparisons within, as well as to those between, groups of wild and cultivated populations.


1975 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 805-826 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edith Brown Weiss

In the past few decades we have been improving our understanding of the weather system and exploring ways to modify it. Over sixty countries have experimented with modifying the weather. The new technology of weather and climate modification will raise important political problems which will demand new responses from the international community. Whether states will be able to establish the cooperative measures necessary to develop and manage new technology depends upon whether there are sufficient incentives to do so. This article analyzes the historical patterns of international cooperation in meteorology, and then plots against several time horizons projected developments and capabilities in weather modification technology and the potential problems emerging from using the technology. It derives a tentative picture of the responsibilities demanded, compares the likely responses with those needed, and assesses whether they will be adequate for the problems projected.


Author(s):  
S. Vadde ◽  
J. K. Allen ◽  
F. Mistree

Abstract Catalog design is a procedure in which a system is assembled by selecting standard components from catalogs of available components. Selection in design involves making a choice among a number of alternatives taking into account several attributes. The information available to a designer to do so during the early stages of project initiation may be uncertain. The uncertainty in information may be imprecise or stochastic. Under these circumstances, a designer has to balance limited resources against the quality of solution obtained or decisions made by accounting for uncertainty in information available. This complex task becomes formidable when dealing with coupled selection problems, that is problems that should be solved simultaneously. Coupled selection problems share a number of coupling attributes among them. In an earlier paper we have shown how selection problems, both coupled and uncoupled can be reformulated as a single compromise Decision Support Problem (DSP) using a deterministic model. In this paper, we show how the traditional compromise DSP can be extended to represent a nondeterministic case. We use fuzzy set theory to model imprecision and Bayesian statistics to model stochastic information. Formulations that can be solved with the same solution scheme are presented to handle both fuzzy and stochastic information in the standard framework of a compromise DSP. The approaches are illustrated by an example involving the coupled selection of a heat exchanger concept and a cooling fluid for a specific application. The emphasis in this paper is placed on explaining the methods.


Author(s):  
Y Widodo ◽  
S Wahyuningsih ◽  
JS Utomo ◽  
A Subagio

Green revolution started at mid of twentieth century was the answer of anxiousness reminded by Malthusian that food scarcity problems in relation with population growth. In concurrence with exploitation of fossil fuel for agriculture mechanization as well as agrochemicals in the form of inorganic fertilizer and pesticide, green revolution by introducing high yielding varieties of cereals and grains was able to nourish the world population by increasing productivity. Indeed, from beginning of mechanization with fossil fuel based as advised by Rudolf Diesel then Arrhenius would be affected to the release of CO2 to the atmosphere and consequently exaggerating climate change as suffered by current and future generations. Under green revolution based on cereals and grains affected forest conversion into open agricultural land, because both commodities are sun-loving crops, which are hate to the shade. On the other hand, to slow the severity of climate change natural forest must be conserved tightly. Entering third millennium demand of food production with ecologically friendly is stronger. Hence, green revolution needs to be amended into greener perspectives. Thus, implementation of agro-forestry into wide range of agro-ecological zone is urgently innovated. Fortunately, shade tolerant of root crops has significant advantage to be developed under agro-forestry. Under shade of forest canopy at basal forest strata, root crops are able to sequester CO2 to be converted into carbohydrate and other compounds to provide food for the dweller. Back to nature is not only a slogan, with root crops under agro-forestry is a reality; fresh root up to 30 t ha-1 can be harvested yearly as the source of food and renewable fuel as well. This potential is very worthy to improve and greening the existing green revolution to be more sustainable.Int. J. Agril. Res. Innov. & Tech. 8 (1): 26-37, June, 2018


Author(s):  
О. А. Примаков

Розкривається питання обґрунтування раціональ-ної схеми збирання льону-довгунця із застосуван-ням сільськогосподарських машин загального при-значення. Проведено вибір необхідних та достат-ніх технологічних операцій для збирання льону-довгунця за новою технологією з аналізом кожного окремого елемента. При виборі технічних засобів для збирання льону акцент зроблено не на спеціа-льні льонозбиральні машини, а на техніку, що за-стосовується для збирання інших культур; це ро-бить технологію більш доступною для широкого кола сільгоспвиробників. На основі обґрунтування обраного комплексу технічних засобів складено первинну модель технологічної схеми збирання посіву льону-довгунця. The article reveals the issues of a rational scheme of harvesting flax with the use of agricultural machines for general use. The adequate selection of the necessary and sufficient technical operations for flax harvesting on new technology has been done. When choosing machines for the harvesting of flax a great attention is paid not to special flax pullers but to equipment that is used to harvest other crops, making the technology more accessible to a wide range of manufacturers.


Nafta-Gaz ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 77 (3) ◽  
pp. 208-214
Author(s):  
Michał Pajda ◽  
◽  
Wojciech Mazela ◽  

The aim of the work was to present the issue of eco-efficiency, based on the PN-EN ISO 14045:2012 standard in relation to the production of fatty acid methyl esters (FAME). The ecoefficiency analysis takes into account economic and environmental aspects in the improvement of products and processes / technologies. Eco-efficiency considers the product and technology throughout the life cycle, from the construction phase, through use to decommissioning. The impact on the natural environment is assessed on the basis of: consumption of energy, materials, dust and gas emissions, waste and sewage. Total costs include: production costs, raw material costs, costs during the use phase including maintenance, repair and operating costs, product disposal or recycling. The eco-efficiency analysis is helpful in making decisions regarding the selection of a new product or designing a new technology, and enables the selection of the variant that is the most economical and has the least possible impact on the natural environment. These issues are particularly important in the case of biofuels. The rapid growth of their production and the European Union’s policy, which aims to increase the share of energy from renewable sources, cause concerns of many experts regarding the threats related to the production of biofuels, both for the environment and food security. In particular, efforts are made to minimize the amount of waste and residues by implementing the idea of a circular economy. This approach promotes the development of new technologies that are more environmentally friendly. Due to the regulations set out in the RED and RED II Directives, there is a chance that the biofuels will have a less negative impact on the environment. This results from the obligation to certify compliance with the sustainability criteria, which is carried out by voluntary systems recognized by the European Commission, such as the KZR INiG System.


Author(s):  
Stacy Moreland

This article asks the question: how do judges know what rape is and what it is not? The statutory definition contained in the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act1 (SORMA) guides courts in adjudicating rape cases, and as such the definition is theirs to interpret and implement. This article analyses a small selection of recent judgements of the Western Cape High Court2 (WCHC) for answers. The article begins by establishing why judgements are an important source for understanding what rape means in society at large; it then discusses the relationship between power, language, and the law. This is followed by specific analyses of cases that show how patriarchy still defines how judges express themselves about rape. It concludes by looking at the institutional factors that discourage judges from adopting new ways of talking about rape, and their constitutional mandate to do so.


Author(s):  
Milena Vukić ◽  
Snežana Milićević ◽  
Ksenija Vukić

Purpose of this paper is to determine how students perceive the image of their faculty on social networks, but also to analyse their experience and attitudes towards faculty social media strategy. The research was implemented using descriptive statistic techniques, as well as non-parametric tests such as Mann-Whitney U Test, Kruskal-Wallis H Test and Spearman’s Rho. The most common source of information when it comes to enrolment to faculty is word of mouth, while social media have a signifi-cantly lower credibility. During their schooling the respondents have most confidence in the official website, and far less in social networks. Such findings signalize the necessity of creating an adequate digital marketing strategy that can significantly improve the perceived faculty image. Positive perception of the image is fundamental for understanding the process of searching for and selection of the faculty, especially since the results have shown that the students do not value highly the image their faculties have on social networks. Positive perception of faculty image mostly depends on promotion strategy on Facebook and Insta-gram, and far less on LinkedIn and Twitter. In addition, students value more the image of the faculty whose social network pro-file they follow and, in a case, when they are followed back. No correlation was found between faculty image and gender, age or average grade. Therefore, we can conclude that social networks are very important in creating positive image and thanks to new technology, they are a promising solution for differentiation from competition in digital space.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 245
Author(s):  
Adriana Silva Santos ◽  
Juliana Formiga Almeida ◽  
Marcio Santos da Silva ◽  
Jackson Silva Nóbrega ◽  
Thais Batista de Queiroga ◽  
...  

The salinity in irrigation water is one of the most important causes to decline cultivated plants yield. The H2O2 application has shown efficiency as a stimulator and activator for antioxidative defense system in plants submitted to biotic and abiotic stresses. The objective of this study was to evaluate methods for hydrogen peroxide application as a strategy to minimize the effects of saline stress on melon plants. The experiment was designed in complete randomized blocks and set in 2 × 4 factorial scheme, consisting two levels for irrigation water salinity (S1 = 0.3 and S2 = 2.0 dS m-1) and four methods for hydrogen peroxide application (15 mM), (T1 = no peroxide application, T2= imbibition of seeds, T3 = at sowing, T4 = Foliar spraying), with five repetitions. It was evaluated the following variables at 58 days after transplanting: plant height, stem diameter, number of leaves, number of flowers, shoot dry mass, root dry mass and total dry mass. The results showed that salinity affected the growth, biomass accumulation and plant quality severely, with the highest losses promoted by the electrical conductivity of 2.0 dS m-1.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nur Shuhadah Mohd Saad ◽  
Anita A. Severn-Ellis ◽  
Aneeta Pradhan ◽  
David Edwards ◽  
Jacqueline Batley

Meeting the needs of a growing world population in the face of imminent climate change is a challenge; breeding of vegetable and oilseed Brassica crops is part of the race in meeting these demands. Available genetic diversity constituting the foundation of breeding is essential in plant improvement. Elite varieties, land races, and crop wild species are important resources of useful variation and are available from existing genepools or genebanks. Conservation of diversity in genepools, genebanks, and even the wild is crucial in preventing the loss of variation for future breeding efforts. In addition, the identification of suitable parental lines and alleles is critical in ensuring the development of resilient Brassica crops. During the past two decades, an increasing number of high-quality nuclear and organellar Brassica genomes have been assembled. Whole-genome re-sequencing and the development of pan-genomes are overcoming the limitations of the single reference genome and provide the basis for further exploration. Genomic and complementary omic tools such as microarrays, transcriptomics, epigenetics, and reverse genetics facilitate the study of crop evolution, breeding histories, and the discovery of loci associated with highly sought-after agronomic traits. Furthermore, in genomic selection, predicted breeding values based on phenotype and genome-wide marker scores allow the preselection of promising genotypes, enhancing genetic gains and substantially quickening the breeding cycle. It is clear that genomics, armed with diversity, is set to lead the way in Brassica improvement; however, a multidisciplinary plant breeding approach that includes phenotype = genotype × environment × management interaction will ultimately ensure the selection of resilient Brassica varieties ready for climate change.


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