Knowledge Management and Innovation in Agricultural Organizations:

Agricultural activity in the rural sector has been studied mainly in terms of technical questions regarding cultivation; however, the organizational aspects that generate added value, such as knowledge, have rarely been addressed. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between knowledge management and innovation in rural agricultural organizations in northwestern Mexico. A questionnaire with composed of 36 items and a thorough interview was applied to seven leading organizations of the Yaqui Valley (YV). The results reveal a positive and significant relationship between knowledge management and innovation.

Water regime and osmotic adjustment under warming conditions on wheat in the Yaqui Valley, Mexico

An experiment was carried out to evaluate the effect of increased temperature on roots and leaf water and osmotic potential, osmotic adjustment (OA) and transpiration on Triticum durum L. (CIRNO C2008 variety) during growth (seedling growth), tillering and heading phenophases. Wheat was sown under field conditions at the Experimental Technology Transfer Center (CETT-910), as a representative wheat crop area from the Yaqui Valley, Sonora México. Thermal radiators were placed at 1.20 m from the crop canopy. Treatments included warmed plots (2 °C) and ambient canopy temperature with five replicates. Temperature treatment was controlled using a (proportional, integrative, derivative) feedback control system on plots covering a circular area of r = 1.5 m. Results indicated a significant decrease in the osmotic potential of roots and leaves for the warmed plots. Water potential, under warming treatment, also experienced a significant reduction and a potential gradient was observed in both, roots and leaves, while the phenophases were delayed. Such results demonstrate that, under warmer conditions, plants increase water absorption for cooling. Hence, transpiration experienced a significant increase under warming in all phenophases that was related to the low root and leaf water potential. CIRNO C2008 also experienced OA in all phenophases with glycine betaine as the osmolyte with major contribution.