Search results for: agricultural and biosystems engineering

Authors: Maria Toader, Gheorghe Valentin Roman

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The importance of fruit trees and bushes growing for Romania is due the concordance that exists between the different ecological conditions in natural basins, and the requirements of different species and varieties. There are, in Romania, natural areas dedicated to the main trees species: plum, apple, pear, cherry, sour cherry, finding optimal conditions for harnessing the potential of fruitfulness, making fruit quality both in terms of ratio commercial, and content in active principles. The share of fruits crops in the world economy of agricultural production is due primarily to the role of fruits in nourishment for human, and in the prevention and combating of diseases, in increasing the national income of cultivator countries and to improve comfort for human life. For Romania, the perspectives of the sector are positive, and are due to European funding opportunities, which provide farmers a specialized program that meets the needs of development and modernization of fruit growing industry, cultivation technology and equipment, organization and grouping of producers, creating storage facilities, conditioning, marketing and the joint use of fresh fruit. This paper shows the evolution of fruit growing, in Romania compared to other states. The document presents the current situation of the main tree species both in terms of surface but also of the productions and the role that this activity may have for the development of rural communities.

Keywords: fruit growing, fruits trees, productivity, rural development

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Authors: George N. Zaimes, Valasia Iakovoglou, Paschalis Koutalakis, Konstantinos Ioannou, Ioannis Kosmadakis, Panagiotis Tsardaklis, Theodoros Laopoulos

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The advancements in technology allow the development of a new system that can continuously measure surface soil erosion. Continuous soil erosion measurements are required in order to comprehend the erosional processes and propose effective and efficient conservation measures to mitigate surface erosion. Mitigating soil erosion, especially in Mediterranean countries such as Greece, is essential in order to maintain environmental and agricultural sustainability. In this paper, we present the Automated Soil Erosion Monitoring System (ASEMS) that measures surface soil erosion along with other factors that impact erosional process. Specifically, this system measures ground level changes (surface soil erosion), rainfall, air temperature, soil temperature and soil moisture. Another important innovation is that the data will be collected by remote communication. In addition, stakeholder’s awareness is a key factor to help reduce any environmental problem. The different dissemination activities that were utilized are described. The overall outcomes were the development of an innovative system that can measure erosion very accurately. These data from the system help study the process of erosion and find the best possible methods to reduce erosion. The dissemination activities enhance the stakeholder's and public's awareness on surface soil erosion problems and will lead to the adoption of more effective soil erosion conservation practices in Greece.

Keywords: soil management, climate change, new technologies, conservation practices

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Authors: Cornelius Michael Ekenta

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The study determined institutional and technological factors that influence the adoption of tenera oil palm production practices with a gender dimension among smallholder farmers in Edo State, Nigeria. Primary data were generated with use of questionnaire administered to 155 males and 137 female respondents. Results show that the level of adoption of tenera oil palm production practices was low for both male and females. Tobi regression result shows that land ownership structure and affordability at 1% significance influenced male adoption of tenera oil palm production practices while age and level of income at 1% significance influenced female in the adoption. The major roles of male as reported in adopting process were purchase of seedlings, clearing of bush for planting and selling of cut bunches while the major roles of female were periodic weeding, gathering of cut bunches and mulching of palm field. The major constraint faced by male in adoption process were high cost of labour while for females is drudgery nature of the work. The study recommended that the Land Use Act of 1978 should be enforced to help women and non-indigenes to have sizeable farm lands, Government should empower Agricultural Development Programme (ADP) by employing more extension personnel to increase their contacts with the farmers.

Keywords: gender, adoption, variety, oil, tenera, Edo

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Authors: Seung-Seok Bak, Chang-Mu Jung

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An enough amount supply of industrial complexes is an important national policy in South Korea, which is highly dependent on foreign trade. A development process of the industrial complex can distinguish between the planning stage and the construction stage. The planning stage consists of the process of consulting with many stakeholders on the contents of the development of industrial complex, feasibility study, compliance with the Regional policies, and so on. The industrial complex planning stage, including licensing procedure, usually takes about three years in South Korea. The government determined that the appropriate supply of industrial complexes have been delayed, due to the long licensing period and drafted a law to shorten the license period in 2008. The law was expected to shorten the period of licensing, which was about three years, to six months. This paper attempts to show that the shortening of the licensing period does not positively affect the appropriate supply of industrial complexes. To do this, we used Interrupted Time Series Designs. As a result, it was found that the supply of industrial complexes was influenced more by other factors such as actual industrial complex demand of private sector and macro-level economic variables. In addition, the specific provisions of the law conflict with local policy and cause some problems such as damage to nature and agricultural land, traffic congestion.

Keywords: development of industrial complexes, industrial complexes, interrupted time series designs, simplification of licensing procedures for industrial complexes, time series regression

Procedia PDF Downloads 284

Authors: Da Kuang

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Resilience is a hotly debated topic in many research fields (e.g., engineering, ecology, society, psychology). In flood management studies, we are experiencing the paradigm shift from flood resistance to flood resilience. Flood resilience refers to tolerate flooding through adaptation or transformation. It is increasingly argued that our city as a social-ecological system holds the ability to learn from experience and adapt to flood rather than simply resist it. This research aims to investigate what kinds of adaptation knowledge the frequently flooded village learned from past experience and its advantages and limitations in coping with floods. The study area – Xinnongcun village, located in the west of Wuhan city, is a linear village and continuously suffered from both flash flood and drainage flood during the past 30 years. We have a field trip to the site in June 2017 and conducted semi-structured interviews with local residents. Our research summarizes two types of adaptation knowledge that people learned from the past floods. Firstly, at the village scale, it has formed a collective urban form which could help people live during both flood and dry season. All houses and front yards were elevated about 2m higher than the road. All the front yards in the village are linked and there is no barrier. During flooding time, people walk to neighbors through houses yards and boat to outside village on the lower road. Secondly, at individual scale, local people learned tacit knowledge of preparedness and emergency response to flood. Regarding the advantages and limitations, the adaptation knowledge could effectively help people to live with flood and reduce the chances of getting injuries. However, it cannot reduce local farmers’ losses on their agricultural land. After flood, it is impossible for local people to recover to the pre-disaster state as flood emerges during June and July will result in no harvest. Therefore, we argue that learning from past flood experience could increase people’s adaptive capacity. However, once the adaptive capacity cannot reduce people’s losses, it requires a transformation to a better regime.

Keywords: adaptation, flood resilience, tacit knowledge, transformation

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Authors: G. Sridevi, Amalendu Jyotishi, Sushanta Mahapatra, G. Jagadeesh, Satyasiba Bedamatta

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Climate change is a main challenge for agriculture, food security and rural livelihoods for millions of people in India. Agriculture is the sector most vulnerable to climate change due to its high dependence on climate and weather conditions. Among India’s population of more than one billion people, about 68% are directly or indirectly involved in the agricultural sector. This sector is particularly vulnerable to present-day climate variability. In this contest this paper examines the Socio-economic and climate analytical study of the vulnerability index in Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Using secondary data; it examines the vulnerability through five different sub-indicator of socio-demographic, agriculture, occupational, common property resource (CPR), and climate in respective states among different districts. Data used in this paper has taken from different sources, like census in India 2011, Directorate of Economics and Statistics of respective states governments. Rainfall data was collected from the India Meteorological Department (IMD). In order to capture the vulnerability from two different states the composite vulnerability index (CVI) was developed and used. This indicates the vulnerability situation of different districts under two states. The study finds that Adilabad district in Andhra Pradesh and Chamarajanagar in Karnataka had highest level of vulnerability while Hyderabad and Bangalore in respective states have least level of vulnerability.

Keywords: vulnerability, agriculture, climate change, global warming

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Authors: Pijush Roy, Vinay Kumar Rai

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The present study highlights the estimation of soil loss and identification of critical area for implementation of best management practice is central to the success of soil conservation programme. The quantification of morphometric and Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) factors using remote sensing and GIS for prioritization of micro-watersheds in Asan River catchment, western Doon valley at foothills of Siwalik ranges in the Dehradun districts of Uttarakhand, India. The watershed has classified as a dendritic pattern with sixth order stream. The area is classified into very high, high, moderately high, medium and low susceptibility zones. High to very high erosion zone exists in the urban area and agricultural land. Average annual soil loss of 64 tons/ha/year has been estimated for the watershed. The optimum management practices proposed for micro-watersheds of Asan River basin are; afforestation, contour bunding suitable sites for water harvesting structure as check dam and soil conservation, agronomical measure and bench terrace.

Keywords: erosion susceptibility zones, morphometric characteristics, prioritization, remote sensing and GIS, universal soil loss equation

Procedia PDF Downloads 293

Authors: Vadood Mobini, Mansoreh Agazadeh Shahrivar, Parvin Hashemi Gelenjkhanlo, Hassan Vazifah

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Seed number is a function of dry matter accumulation, crop growth rate (CGR), photothermal quotient (PTQ) and temperature during a critical developmental period, which is around flowering in canola (Brassica napus L.). The objective of this experiment was to determine factors such as dry matter, CGR, temperature, and PTQ around flowering which affect seed number. The experiment was conducted at Agricultural Research Station of Gonbad, Iran, between 2005 and 2007. Two cultivars of canola (Hyola401 and RGS003), as subplots were grown at 5 sowing dates as main plots, spaced approximately 30 days apart, to obtain different environmental conditions during flowering. The experiment was arranged in two conditions, i.e., supplemental irrigation and rainfed. Seed number per unit area was a key factor for increasing seed yield. Late sowing dates made the critical period of flowering coincide with high temperatures, decreased days to the flowering, seed number per unit area and seed yield. Seed number was driven by the availability of carbohydrates around flowering. Seed number per unit area was maximized for the cultivars when exposed to the highest PTQ, and to the lowest temperature between the beginning of flowering to that of seed filling. The relationship of seed number with aboveground dry matter, CGR, temperature, and PTQ around flowering, over different environmental conditions, showed these variables were generally applicable to seed number determination.

Keywords: flowering, cultivar, seed filling, environmental conditions, seed yield

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Authors: Hasan Kalyoncu, Füsun Kılçık, Hatice Gülboy Akyıldırım, Aynur Özen, Mehmet Acar, Nur Yoluk

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For evaluation of water quality of the river systems in Antalya Basin, macrozoobenthos samples were taken from 22 determined stations by a hand net and identified at family level. Water quality of Antalya Basin was determined according to Biological Monitoring Working Party (BMWP) system, by using macrozoobenthic invertebrates and physicochemical parameters. As a result of the evaluation, while Aksu Stream was determined as the most polluted stream in Antalya Basin, Isparta Stream was determined as the most polluted tributary of Aksu Stream. Pollution level of the Isparta Stream was determined as quality class V and it is the extremely polluted part of stream. Pollution loads at the sources of the streams were determined in low levels in general. Due to some parts of the streams have passed through deep canyons and take their sources from nonresidential and non-arable regions, majority of the streams that take place in Antalya Basin are at high quality level. Waste water, which comes from agricultural and residential regions, affects the lower basins of the streams. Because of the waste water, lower parts of the stream basins exposed to the pollution under anthropogenic effects. However, in Aksu Stream, which differs by being exposed to domestic and industrial wastes of Isparta City, extreme pollution was determined, particularly in the Isparta Stream part.

Keywords: Antalya basin, biomonitoring, BMWP, water quality

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Authors: Magdeline Pakeng Mohlala, R. L. Molatudi, M. A. Mofokeng

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Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp) is an important annual leguminous crop in semi-arid and tropics. Most of cowpea grain production in South Africa is mainly used for domestic consumption, as seed planting and little or none gets to be used in industrial processing; thus, there is a need to expand the utilization of cowpea through industrial processing. Agronomic traits contribute to the understanding of the association between yield and its component traits to facilitate effective selection for yield improvement. The aim of this study was to evaluate cowpea genotypes using grain yield and canning quality traits. The field experiment was conducted in two locations in Limpopo Province, namely Syferkuil Agricultural Experimental farm and Ga-Molepo village during 2017/2018 growing season and canning took place at ARC-Grain Crops Potchefstroom. The experiment comprised of 100 cowpea genotypes laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Designs (RCBD). The grain yield, yield components, and canning quality traits were analysed using Genstat software. About 62 genotypes were suitable for canning, 38 were not due to their seed coat texture, and water uptake was less than 80% resulting in too soft (mushy) seeds. Grain yield for RV115, 99k-494-6, ITOOK1263, RV111, RV353 and 53 other genotypes recorded high positive association with number of branches, pods per plant, and number of seeds per pod, unshelled weight and shelled weight for Syferkuil than at Ga-Molepo are therefore recommended for canning quality.

Keywords: agronomic traits, canning quality, genotypes, yield

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Authors: G. A. Adamu, M. S. Sallau, S. O. Idris, E. B. Agbaji

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Drinking water is supplied to Danbatta, Makoda and some parts of Minjibir local government areas of Kano State from the surface water of Thomas Reservoir. The present land use in the catchment area of the reservoir indicates high agricultural activities, fishing, as well as domestic and small scale industrial activities. To study and monitor the quality of surface and drinking water of the area, water samples were collected from the reservoir, treated water at the treatment plant and potable water at the consumer end in three seasons November - February (cold season), March - June (dry season) and July - September (rainy season). The samples were analyzed for physical and chemical parameters, pH, temperature, total dissolved solids (TDS), conductivity, turbidity, total hardness, suspended solids, total solids, colour, dissolved oxygen (DO), biological oxygen demand (BOD), chloride ion (Cl^-) nitrite (NO₂^-), nitrate (NO₃^-), chemical oxygen demand (COD) and phosphate (PO₄^3-). The higher values obtained in some parameters with respect to the acceptable standard set by World Health Organization (WHO) and Nigerian Industrial Standards (NIS) indicate the pollution of both the surface and drinking water. These pollutants were observed to have a negative impact on water quality in terms of eutrophication, largely due to anthropogenic activities in the watershed.

Keywords: surface water, drinking water, water quality, pollution, Thomas reservoir, Kano

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Authors: U. Schmidt, D. Dannehl, I. Schuch, J. Suhl, T. Rocksch, R. Salazar-Moreno, E. Fitz-Rodrigues, A. Rojano Aquilar, I. Lopez Cruz, G. Navas Gomez, R. A. Abraham, L. C. Irineo, N. G. Gilberto

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The integration of agricultural production systems into urban areas is a challenge for the coming decades. Because of increasing greenhouse gas emission and rising resource consumption as well as costs in animal husbandry, the dietary habits of people in the 21st century have to focus on herbal foods. Intensive plant cultivation systems in large cities and megacities require a smart coupling of information, material and energy flow with the urban infrastructure in terms of Horticulture 4.0. In recent years, many puzzle pieces have been developed for these closed processes at the Humboldt University. To compile these for an urban plant production, it has to be optimized and networked with urban infrastructure systems. In the field of heat energy production, it was shown that with closed greenhouse technology and patented heat exchange and storage technology energy can be provided for heating and domestic hot water supply in the city. Closed water circuits can be drastically reducing the water requirements of plant production in urban areas. Ion sensitive sensors and new disinfection methods can help keep circulating nutrient solutions in the system for a longer time in urban plant production greenhouses.

Keywords: semi closed, greenhouses, urban farming, solar heat collector, closed water cycles, aquaponics

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Authors: Sadhana Shukla, Pushplata Singh, Nidhi Didwania

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Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are a highly advantageous and versatile group of fungi that significantly contribute to the formation of soil organic matter by creating a demand for plant carbon (C) and distributing it through below-ground hyphal biomass, regardless of their substantial contribution in enhancing net primary productivity and accumulating additional photosynthetic fixed C in the soil. The genetic role of AM fungi in carbon cycling is largely unexplored. In our study, we propose that AM fungi significantly interact with the soil, particularly: the provision of photosynthates by plants. We have studied the expression of AM fungi genes involved in CO₂ sequestration during host-plant interaction was investigated by qPCR studies. We selected Rhizophagus proliferus (AM fungi) and Oryza sativa (Rice) (inoculated with or without 200ppg AMF inoculums per plant) and investigated the effect of AM fungi on soil organic carbon (SOC) and rice growth under field conditions. Results thus provided faster SOC turnover, 35% increased nutrient uptake in plants and pronounced hyphal biomass of AM fungi which enhanced soil carbon storage by 15% in comparison to uninoculated plants. This study will offer a foundation for delving into various carbon-soil studies while also advancing our comprehension of the relationship between AM fungi and the sustainability of agricultural ecosystems.

Keywords: arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi, carbon sequestration, gene expression, soil health, plant development.

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Authors: Fatimh Alshahri, Muna Alqahtani

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The specific activities of 238U, 226Ra, 40K and 222Rn in chemical fertilizers were measured using gamma ray spectrometer and Cr-39 detector. In this study 21 chemical fertilizers were collected from Eastern Saudi Arabia markets. The specific activities of 238U ranged from 23 ± 0.5 to 3900 ± 195 Bq kgˉ¹, 226Ra ranged from 5.6 ± 2.8 to 392 ± 18 Bq kgˉ¹ and 40K ranged from 18.4 ± 3 to 16476 ± 820 Bq kgˉ¹. The radon concentrations and the radon exhalation rates were found to vary from 3.2 ± 1.2 to 1531.6 ± 160 Bq mˉ³ and from 1.6 to 773.7 mBq mˉ² hˉ¹, respectively. Radium equivalent activities (Raeq) were calculated for the analyzed samples to assess the radiation hazards arising due to the use of these chemical fertilizers in the agriculture soil. The Raeq for Six local samples (NPK and SSP) and one imported sample (SOP) were greater than the acceptable value 370 Bq kgˉ¹. The total air absorbed doses rates in air 1 m above the ground (D) were calculated for all samples. All samples, except one imported granule sample (DAP), were higher than the estimated average global terrestrial radiation of 55 nGy hˉ¹. The highest annual effective dose was in TSP fertilizers (2.1 mSvyˉ¹). The results show that the local TSP, imported SOP and local NPK (sample 13) fertilizers were unacceptable for use as fertilizers in agricultural soil. Furthermore, the toxic elements and trace metals (Pb, Cd, Cr, Co, Ni, Hg and As) were determined using atomic absorption spectrometer. The concentrations of chromium in chemical fertilizers were higher than the global values.

Keywords: chemical fertilizers, 238U, 222Rn, trace metals, Saudi Arabia

Procedia PDF Downloads 583

Authors: Deepak Loura

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Production and productivity of several crops in the country continue to be adversely affected by biotic (e.g., Insect-pests and diseases) and abiotic (e.g., water temperature and salinity) stresses. Over-dependence on pesticides and other chemicals is economically non-viable for the resource-poor farmers of our country. Further, pesticides can potentially affect human and environmental safety. While traditional breeding techniques and proper- management strategies continue to play a vital role in crop improvement, we need to judiciously use biotechnology approaches for the development of genetically modified crops addressing critical problems in the improvement of crop plants for sustainable agriculture. Modern biotechnology can help to increase crop production, reduce farming costs, and improve food quality and the safety of the environment. Genetic engineering is a new technology which allows plant breeders to produce plants with new gene combinations by genetic transformation of crop plants for improvement of agronomic traits. Advances in recombinant DNA technology have made it possible to have genes between widely divergent species to develop genetically modified or genetically engineered plants. Plant genetic engineering provides the strength to harness useful genes and alleles from indigenous microorganisms to enrich the gene pool for developing genetically modified (GM) crops that will have inbuilt (inherent) resistance to insect pests, diseases, and abiotic stresses. Plant biotechnology has made significant contributions in the past 20 years in the development of genetically engineered or genetically modified crops with multiple benefits. A variety of traits have been introduced in genetically engineered crops which include (i) herbicide resistance. (ii) pest resistance, (iii) viral resistance, (iv) slow ripening of fruits and vegetables, (v) fungal and bacterial resistance, (vi) abiotic stress tolerance (drought, salinity, temperature, flooding, etc.). (vii) quality improvement (starch, protein, and oil), (viii) value addition (vitamins, micro, and macro elements), (ix) pharmaceutical and therapeutic proteins, and (x) edible vaccines, etc. Multiple genes in transgenic crops can be useful in developing durable disease resistance and a broad insect-control spectrum and could lead to potential cost-saving advantages for farmers. The development of transgenic to produce high-value pharmaceuticals and the edible vaccine is also under progress, which requires much more research and development work before commercially viable products will be available. In addition, molecular-aided selection (MAS) is now routinely used to enhance the speed and precision of plant breeding. Newer technologies need to be developed and deployed for enhancing and sustaining agricultural productivity. There is a need to optimize the use of biotechnology in conjunction with conventional technologies to achieve higher productivity with fewer resources. Therefore, genetic modification/ engineering of crop plants assumes greater importance, which demands the development and adoption of newer technology for the genetic improvement of crops for increasing crop productivity.

Keywords: biotechnology, plant genetic engineering, genetically modified, biotic, abiotic, disease resistance

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Authors: Mahua Banerjee, Debtanu Maiti

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Zero-tillage cultivation is a farming practice that reduces costs while maintaining harvests and protecting the environment. Innovative partnerships among researchers, farmers, and other actors in the agricultural value chain have enabled the adoption of zero-tillage to sow rice in the Indo-Gangetic Plains, increasing farmers' incomes, fostering more sustainable use of soil and water, and providing a platform for cropping diversification and the introduction of other resource-conserving practices. A field experiment was conducted in the farmer’s field of Ausgram I Block, Burdwan, West Bengal, India under sandy loam soil with soil pH of 5.2, which is low in Nitrogen, medium in Phosphorus and Potassium. There were three techniques of tillage-T1: Zero tillage in Rice, T2: conventional tillage in Rice, T3: Rice grown with Drum seeder and three varieties namely V1: MTU 7029 V2-MTU 1010, V3: Pratikha thus making nine treatment combinations which were replicated thrice and the experiment was laid out in Factorial Randomised Block Design. Among the three varieties, rice variety MTU 7029 gave higher yield in all the tillage techniques. The highest yield was obtained under Zero tillage followed by conventional tillage. From economic analysis it was revealed that the benefit:cost ratio was higher in Zero tillage and rice cultivation by drum seeder. Zero-till is increasingly being adopted because it gives more yield at less cost, saves labour and farmer time. Farmers will be interested in this technology once they overcome their tillage biases.

Keywords: economics, Indo-Gangetic plain, rice, zero tillage, yield

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Authors: A. M. Omoare, E. O. Fakoya

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This study sought to determine the use of indigenous knowledge for selected arable crops production in Ondo Sate. A multistage sampling method was used and 112 arable crops farmers were systematically selected. Data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The results showed that majority of the sampled farmers were male (75.90%). About 75% were married with children. Large proportion of them (62.61%) were within the ages of 30-49 years. Most of them have spent about 10 years in farming (58.92%). The highest raw scores of use of indigenous knowledge were found in planting on mound in yam production, use of native medicine and scare crow method in controlling birds in rice production, timely planting of locally developed resistant varieties in cassava production and soaking of maize seeds in water to determine their viability with raw scores of 313, 310, 305, 303, and 300 respectively, while the lowest raw scores was obtained in use of bell method in controlling birds in rice production with raw scores of 210. The findings established that proverbs (59.8%) and taboos (55.36%) were the most commonly used media in transmitting indigenous knowledge by arable crop farmers. The multiple regression analysis result revealed that age of the farmers and farming experience had a significant relationship with the use of indigenous knowledge of the farmers which gave R2 = 0.83 for semi log function form of equation which is the land equation. The policy implication is that indigenous knowledge should provide basis for designing modern technologies to enhance sustainable agricultural development.

Keywords: crop production, extent of use, indigenous knowledge, arable crops

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Authors: Aman Guru, Chiron Singhi

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The Earth’s climate is being changed at an unrivalled rate since beginning of the evolution of the Earth, 4–5 billion years back, but presently it gained pace due to unintentional anthropogenic disturbances and also increased global warming since the mid-20th century, and these incessant changes in the climatic pattern may bring unpropitious effect on global health and security. Today, however, it is not only the air, or water that are polluted, but the whole atmosphere is prone to pollution and this resulted in other cascading ramification in the form of change in the pattern of rainfall, melting of ice, the rise in the sea level etc. Human activities like production, transport, burning of fuels are adding umpteen dangerous pollutants to the atmosphere which in turn gives rise to global warming. Agriculture plays an imperative part in India's economy. Agriculture, along with fisheries and forestry, is one of the largest contributors to the Gross Domestic Product in India. Research on the effect of climate change and vulnerability of agriculture is a high need in India. A steady increase of CO2 is a primary cause of climate change and global warming and which in turn have a great impact on Indian agriculture. The research focuses on the effect of climate change on Indian agriculture and the proceedings and legal control of legislative measures on such issues and the ways to implement such laws which can help to provide a solution to these problems which can prove beneficial to Indian farmers and their agricultural produce.

Keywords: agriculture, climate change, global warming, India laws, legislative measures

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Authors: Shekh Shadi Rahaman

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In Bangladesh, basic human rights more specifically right to food and right to shelter are being adversely affected by the consequences of climate change. Over the last two decades, a considerable number of environmental studies revealed that basic human rights, more specifically, the right to food and right to a shelter are going to be seriously affected by climate change. Agriculture, forestry, and fisheries and livestock, which are most sensitive to climate change, are key sources interconnected with food security and the security of shelter. Consequences of climate change affecting these key sources, and with the change of time, climate change is turning into a gigantic challenge towards ensuring basic human rights in Bangladesh. This study was carried out by employing a general review of literature on climate change, focusing on effects of climate change on basic two major human rights in Bangladesh. Upon analysis of existing researches, it is found very few researches focused on correlating climate change and right to food and right to shelter. This study shows how the consequences of climate change affects food production and abode of people of Bangladesh. This study recommends that tree plantation, floating agricultural practice, co-operation with international organization, developing environment friendly institutions, increased use of renewable energy, proper management of wetlands and forests, shelter for climate induced migrated people, encouraging research and public awareness are key issues to be followed for combating climate change and protecting basic human right to food and shelter.

Keywords: achievements, agriculture and forestry, fisheries and livestock, renewable energy

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Authors: N. J. Shanono, J. G. Ndiritu

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The poor performance of water resource systems (WRS) has been reportedly linked to not only climate variability and the water demand dynamics but also human behaviour-driven unlawful activities. Some of these unlawful activities that have been adversely affecting water sector include unauthorized water abstractions, water wastage behaviour, refusal of water re‐use measures, excessive operational losses, discharging untreated or improperly treated wastewater, over‐application of chemicals by agricultural users and fraudulent WRS operation. Despite advances in WRS planning, operation, and analysis incorporating such undesirable human activities to quantitatively assess their impact on WRS performance remain elusive. This study was then inspired by the need to develop a methodological framework for WRS performance assessment that integrates the impact of human behaviour with WRS performance assessment analysis. We, therefore, proposed a conceptual framework for assessing the impact of human behaviour on WRS performance using the concept of socio-hydrology. The framework identifies and couples four major sources of WRS-related values (water values, water systems, water managers, and water users) using three missing links between human and water in the management of WRS (interactions, outcomes, and feedbacks). The framework is to serve as a database for choosing relevant social and hydrological variables and to understand the intrinsic relations between the selected variables to study a specific human-water problem in the context of WRS management.

Keywords: conceptual framework, human behaviour; socio-hydrology; water resource systems

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Authors: Azita Behbahaninia

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This research has been carried out to determine the water quality and physico-chemical properties Polour River, one of the most branch of Haraz River. Polour River was studied for a period of one year Samples were taken from different stations along the main branch of River polour. In water samples determined pH, DO, SO4, Cl, PO4, NO3, EC, BOD, COD, Temprature, color and number of Caliform per liter. ArcGIS was used for the zoning of phosphate concentration in the polour River basin. The results indicated that the river is polluted in polour village station, because of discharge domestic wastewater and also river is polluted in Ziar village station, because of agricultural wastewater and water is contaminated in aquaculture station, because of fish ponds wastewater. Statistical analysis shows that between independent traits and coliform regression relationship is significant at the 1% level. Coefficient explanation index indicated independent traits control 80% coliform and 20 % is for unknown parameters. The causality analysis showed Temperature (0.6) has the most positive and direct effect on coliform and sulfate has direct and negative effect on coliform. The results of causality analysis and the results of the regression analysis are matched and other forms direct and indirect effects were negligible and ignorable. Kruskal-Wallis test showed, there is different between sampling stations and studied characters. Between stations for temperature, DO, COD, EC, sulfate and coliform is at 1 % and for phosphate 5 % level of significance.

Keywords: coliform, GIS, pollution, phosphate, river

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Authors: Farid Eltom A. E., Mustafa Abdul-Halim, Abdalla Markaz, Sami Atta, Mohamed Azhari, Ahmed Rashed

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Smart environment sensors integrated with ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) technology can provide a new concept in tracking, sensing, and monitoring objects in the environment. The aim of the study is to evaluate the farm environmental monitoring system based on (IoT) and to realize the automated management of agriculture and the implementation of precision production. Until now, irrigation monitoring operations in Sudan have been carried out using traditional methods, which is a very costly and unreliable mechanism. However, by utilizing soil moisture sensors, irrigation can be conducted only when needed without fear of plant water stress. The result showed that software application allows farmers to display current and historical data on soil moisture and nutrients in the form of line charts. Design measurements of the soil factors: moisture, electrical, humidity, conductivity, temperature, pH, phosphorus, and potassium; these factors, together with a timestamp, are sent to the data server using the Lora WAN interface. It is considered scientifically agreed upon in the modern era that artificial intelligence works to arrange the necessary procedures to take care of the terrain, predict the quality and quantity of production through deep analysis of the various operations in agricultural fields, and also support monitoring of weather conditions.

Keywords: smart environment, monitoring systems, IoT, LoRa Gateway, center pivot

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Authors: Xue Wu

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Since the 1980s, a series of policies and practices have been implemented in China in response to the unprecedented rate of ageing population. The paper provides a detailed narrative of what later-life learning policy discourses have been advocated and gives a description on relevant practical issues during the past three decades. The research process based on the discourse approach with a systematic review of the government-issued documents. It finds that the main practices taken by central government at various levels were making University of the Aged (UA) available in all urban and rural regions to consolidate the newly student enrollments; focusing social-recreational, leisure and cultural activities on 55-75 age group; and utilizing various methods including voluntary works and tourism to improve older adults’ physical and mental wellness. Although there were greater achievements with 30 years of development, many problems still exist. Finding reveals that the curriculum should be modified to meet the needs of the local development, to promote older adults’ contact and contribution to the community, and to enhance technical competences of those in rural areas involving in agricultural production. Central government should also integrate resources from all sectors of the society for further developing later-life learning in China. The result of this paper highlights the value to promote community-based later-life learning for building a society for active ageing and ageing in place.

Keywords: ageing population, China, later-life learning, policy, University of the Aged

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Authors: Muhammad Younis Laghari

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Global climate change has had many effects on the aquatic environment, and the major issue is pollution. Along with the other pollutants, there are a significant number of human microbial pathogens that pollute the water bodies. Another concern about the water quality is that the major aquatic resources bring water-borne pathogens and other related diseases. These resources include industrial effluent, untreated domestic sewage, acid mine drainage, etc. However, these water discharges through various routes may have treatment to eliminate the pathogenic microbes. Therefore, it is essential to control the leakage from sewer systems, residential discharge, and agricultural run-off. These pathogenic microbes have been implicated in the lives of water health (fishes), which is harmful and causes diseases. Mostly, the mortality of aquatic species results because of catastrophic floods due to poor water waste treatment and sanitation that introduce pathogenic bacteria into rivers. Pathogens survive in rivers and remain poorly known but essential to control water-borne diseases. The presence of bacteria in watercourses is diverse and constitutes a complicated subject. Many species are autochthonous and play an important role in aquatic ecosystems, while many others arise from untreated or poorly treated waste from industrial and domestic sources. Further, more investigation is required to know the induction of water-borne pathogens in various water resources and the potential impacts of water resource development on pathogen contamination.

Keywords: microbial pathogens, contamination, water resources, river water body

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Authors: Bindu Kumari, Bindu Kumari Singh

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Endosulfan is known to be one of the highly toxic agricultural pesticides commonly used in our societies. With the widespread use of Endosulfan in agriculture, human beings are most likely to be exposed to it, either orally by eating Endosulfan-contaminated foods or by nose and whole body inhalation in the farms during its application. The present study was conducted to observe the changes in the serum uric acid level of the Swiss albino rats due to the administration of Endosulfan. 3.0 mg Endosulfan/kg body weight was daily administered orally to albino rats for 28 days period. Alterations in their K.F.T. parameters were recorded at a regular interval of 7 days within this 28 days period and were compared with those of control rats. All rats were monitored for any observable toxic symptoms throughout the experimental period and they also were weighted weekly to monitor body weight gain. Alteration recorded in K.F.T. parameters within the groups were due to Endosulfan exposure and serum uric acid level was significantly elevated in the 3mg/kg dose group. Pathological changes of rats treated with Endosulfan were observed with typical signs of toxicity. Uric acid is a heterocyclic compound formed as an end product of metabolism of purine nucleotides. It forms ions and salts known as urate and acid urate which are harmful to our health. Uric acid clearance is one of the numerous important functions of the kidney. Defects in this process resulted in Gout, kidney stone or Kidney failure.

Keywords: KFT parameters, blood uric acid level, endosulfan, eat

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Authors: Grzegorz Swiderski, Agata Jablonska-Trypuc, Natalia Popow, Renata Swislocka, Wlodzimierz Lewandowski

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Doxorubicin belongs to the group of anthracycline antitumor antibiotics. Because of the wide spectrum of actions, it is one of the most widely used anthracycline antibiotics, including the treatment of breast, ovary, bladder, lung cancers as well as neuroblastoma, lymphoma, leukemia and myeloid leukemia. Antitumor activity of doxorubicin is based on the same mechanisms as for most anthracyclines. Like the metal ions affect the nucleic acids on many biological processes, so the environment of the metal chelates of antibiotics can have a significant effect on the pharmacological properties of drugs. Complexation of anthracyclines with metal ions may contribute to the production of less toxic compounds. In the framework of this study, the composition of complexes obtained in aqueous solutions of doxorubicin with metal ions (Cu2+ and Zn2+). Complexation was analyzed by spectrophotometric titration in aqueous solution at pH 7.0. The pH was adjusted with 0.02M Tris-HCl buffer. The composition of the complexes found was Cu: doxorubicin (1: 2) and a Zn: doxorubicin (1: 1). The effect of Dox, Dox-Cu and Dox-Zn was examined in MCF-7 breast cancer cell line, which were obtained from American Type Culture Collection (ATCC). The compounds were added to the cultured cells for a final concentration in the range of 0,01µM to 0,5µM. The number of MCF-7 cells with division into living and dead, was determined by direct counts of cells with the use of trypan blue dye using LUNA Logos Biosystems cell counter. ApoTox-Glo Triplex Assay (Promega, Madison, Wisconsin, USA) was used according to the manufacturer’s instructions to measure the MCF-7 cells’ viability, cytotoxicity and apoptosis. We observed a decrease in cells proliferation in a dose-dependent manner. An increase in cytotoxicity and decrease in viability in the ApoTox Triplex assay was also showed for all tested compounds. Apoptosis, showed as caspase 3/7 activation, was observed only in Dox treatment. In Dox-Zn and Dox-Cu caspase 3/7 activation was not observed. This work was financially supported by National Science Centre, Poland, under the research project number 2014/13/B/NZ7/02 352.

Keywords: anticancer properties, anthracycline antibiotic, doxorubicine, metal complexes

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Authors: Samia Khadhar, Anis Chekirbene, Nouha Khiari, Amira Mabrouki

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The persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in aquatic environments are one of the most worrying problems for environmental sustainability and human health because of their carcinogenic and toxic characteristics. Human anthropogenic actions (wastewater discharges, agricultural and industrial activities) without prior treatment are the main cause of this organic pollution. Oued Madjerda is considered the most important river in Tunisia, hence the importance of assessing the level of organic pollution of water and sediments, taking into account the anthropogenic stress exerted on this river. Water and sediment samples were taken from the middle and lower valley of the Medjerda to determine the state of contamination by 7PCBs, priority 15PAHs, and pesticides. The analysis was performed by gas chromatography (GC) and liquid phase coupled to HPLC MS-MS mass spectroscopy. The results showed that for the waters, the total PAH and PCB contents vary respectively from 0.0023 to 7.72 mg/l and from 0.0001 to 0.179 mg/l. In surface sediments 0 to 15 cm, 7PCB levels vary from 1,112 to 110,062 µg/kg-1. In this study, we tried to determine the concentration of 96 pesticides in surface sediments; analyzes showed the presence of Buprofezin, propamocarb-HCl, hexaconazole, flutriafol, quinalphos, and tebufenpyrad with concentrations varying from 1.06 to 2.388 µg/kg-1. The pace of the spatial variation confirms the impact of wastewater discharged on the quality of water and sediments despite the perennial aspect of the river.

Keywords: Wadi Madjerda, organic pollution, water and sediments surface, anthropics stress

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Authors: Federica Di Marcantonio, Antoine Leblois, Wolfgang Göbel, Hervè Kerdiles

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Weather-related shocks can threaten the ability of farmers to maintain their agricultural output and food security levels. Informal coping mechanisms (i.e. migration or community risk sharing) have always played a significant role in mitigating the negative effects of weather-related shocks in Ethiopia, but they have been found to be an incomplete strategy, particularly as a response to covariate shocks. Particularly, as an alternative to the traditional risk pooling products, an innovative form of insurance known as Index-based Insurance has received a lot of attention from researchers and international organizations, leading to an increased number of pilot initiatives in many countries. Despite the potential benefit of the product in protecting the livelihoods of farmers and pastoralists against climate shocks, to date there has been an unexpectedly low uptake. Using information from current pilot projects on index-based insurance in Ethiopia, this paper discusses the determinants of uptake that have so far undermined the scaling-up of the products, by focusing in particular on weather data availability, price affordability and willingness to pay. We found that, aside from data constraint issues, high price elasticity and low willingness to pay represent impediments to the development of the market. These results, bring us to rethink the role of index insurance as products for enhancing smallholders’ response to covariate shocks, and particularly for improving their food security.

Keywords: index-based insurance, willingness to pay, satellite information, Ethiopia

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Authors: A. M. Omoare, E. O. Fakoya

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This study sought to determine the use of indigenous knowledge for selected arable crops production in Ondo Sate. A multistage sampling method was used and 112 arable crops farmers were systematically selected. Data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The results showed that majority of the sampled farmers were male (75.90%) About 75% were married with children. Large proportion of them (62.61%) were within the ages of 30-49 years. Most of them have spent about 10 years in farming (58.92%). The highest raw scores of use of indigenous knowledge were found in planting on mound in yam production, use of native medicine and scare-crow method in controlling birds in rice production, timely planting of locally developed resistant varieties in cassava production and soaking of maize seeds in water to determine their viability with raw scores of 313, 310, 305, 303, and 300 respectively, while the lowest raw scores was obtained in use of bell method in controlling birds in rice production with raw scores of 210. The findings established that proverbs (59.8%) and taboos (55.36%) were the most commonly used media in transmitting indigenous knowledge by arable crop farmers. The multiple regression analysis result revealed that age of the farmers and farming experience had a significant relationship with the use of indigenous knowledge of the farmers which gave R2=0.83 for semi-log function form of equation which is the land equation. The policy implication is that indigenous knowledge should provide a basis for designing modern technologies to enhance sustainable agricultural development.

Keywords: Arable Crop Production, extent of use, indigenous knowledge, farming experience

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Authors: Ajai Singh

Abstract:

Simulation of hydrological processes at the watershed outlet through modelling approach is essential for proper planning and implementation of appropriate soil conservation measures in Damodar Barakar catchment, Hazaribagh, India where soil erosion is a dominant problem. This study quantifies the parametric uncertainty involved in simulation of stream flow using Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), a watershed scale model and Radial Basis Neural Network (RBNN), an artificial neural network model. Both the models were calibrated and validated based on measured stream flow and quantification of the uncertainty in SWAT model output was assessed using ‘‘Sequential Uncertainty Fitting Algorithm’’ (SUFI-2). Though both the model predicted satisfactorily, but RBNN model performed better than SWAT with R2 and NSE values of 0.92 and 0.92 during training, and 0.71 and 0.70 during validation period, respectively. Comparison of the results of the two models also indicates a wider prediction interval for the results of the SWAT model. The values of P-factor related to each model shows that the percentage of observed stream flow values bracketed by the 95PPU in the RBNN model as 91% is higher than the P-factor in SWAT as 87%. In other words the RBNN model estimates the stream flow values more accurately and with less uncertainty. It could be stated that RBNN model based on simple input could be used for estimation of monthly stream flow, missing data, and testing the accuracy and performance of other models.

Keywords: SWAT, RBNN, SUFI 2, bootstrap technique, stream flow, simulation

Procedia PDF Downloads 351