Current Issue : April-June Volume : 2026 Issue Number : 2 Articles : 5 Articles
Current research predominantly focuses on the microbial-driven processes of soil organic nitrogen mineralization, often overlooking the significant contributions of abiotic pathways mediated by reactive minerals. While manganese oxides are known to promote the abiotic mineralization of organic nitrogen, the influence of key environmental factors on this process remains poorly understood. This study established a simulated system to investigate the effects of dissolved oxygen and pH on the γ-MnO2-mediated abiotic nitrogen mineralization of peptone. The results showed that under an air atmosphere at pH 5.0–8.0, the rate of nitrogen mineralization from peptone catalyzed by γ-MnO2 initially increased and then subsequently decreased. Dissolved oxygen was identified as a major electron acceptor in the peptone nitrogen mineralization process, playing a critical role in its rate and extent. Direct oxidation by Mn (IV) and Mn (III) within γ-MnO2 accounted for 72.5% of the peptone nitrogen mineralization, and reactive oxygen species generated on the mineral surface accounted for 27.5% through a catalytic oxidation mechanism. This study provides a preliminary analysis of how key environmental factors influence the abiotic mineralization of protein-derived organic nitrogen, which is expected to deepen the understanding of soil organic nitrogen mineralization mechanisms, enrich the knowledge of nitrogen cycling in agricultural ecosystems, and provide a theoretical basis for efficient nitrogen management in farmland....
Fruit quality plays an important role in the agricultural economy. However, low efficiency and inaccurate detection in manual fruit grading has led to reduced fruit quality assurance. To solve these problems, an automatic fruit grading system for several kinds of fruits based on ML is proposed. In this research, four kinds of fruit are rapidly divided into three grades, depending on this automatic fruit grading system, through three steps. Firstly, the features with a large impact on fruit grading are extracted from fruit—the texture, shape, color, size, and defects. Then, the extracted fruit features are input into a Random Forest algorithm to train the fruit grading model. Finally, the grades of four kinds of fruit are predicted by this fruit grading model. The dataset contained 666 images from Kaggle of purchased fruit, including 270 images of apples, 170 images of pomegranates, 114 images of oranges, and 112 images of loquats. A 70% training set and 30% testing set split was used, and a ten-fold cross-validation (ten-fold CV) strategy was employed to evaluate the model. The experimental results show that the RF algorithm demonstrates the best stability and accuracy in classifying the four types of fruit, with accuracies of 98.6%, 95.3%, 98.1%, and 99.1% for apples, loquats, pomegranates, and oranges, respectively. Compared with other ML methods, RF performed the best in the multi-fruit classification task....
This research evaluated deficit irrigation effects on tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) growth, yield, and quality in semi-arid Pakistan during 2023–2024. Four treatments were applied: 100% ETc (control), 80% ETc, 60% ETc, and 40% ETc used a randomized complete block design. The treatment with 80% ETc maintained similar yields as full irrigation. It improved water use efficiency from 1.25 kg/m3 to 1.39 kg/m3. Plant height, SPAD values, and leaf area decreased with increasing water stress. Fruit quality parameters, including total soluble solids, improved under moderate deficit conditions. Moderate deficit irrigation (80% ETc) represents an optimal strategy for sustainable tomato production in waterscarce environments....
Paclobutrazol (PBZ) is extensively used to modulate plant architecture in rice. However, its comprehensive effects on grain yield and aroma in aromatic rice have not been thoroughly investigated. This study used the local aromatic rice cultivars (Meixiangzhan 2 and Xiangyaxiangzhan) as experimental materials to evaluate the impacts of foliar-applied PBZ at three concentrations (0 (CK), 150 (T1), and 300 (T2) mg L−1) on grain yield, photosynthetic characteristics, fragrance formation, and radiation use efficiency (RUE). Field experiments revealed that T1 significantly reduced the leaf area index (LAI) by 10.12% and intercepted photosynthetically active radiation (IPAR) by 10.74%, meanwhile significantly increasing SPAD values by 12.94% and net photosynthetic rate (Pn) by 9.95%, leading to improved RUE up to 25.21%. These changes contributed to a larger number of grains per panicle and increased 1000-grain weight, ultimately enhancing grain yield. In contrast, T2 resulted in a sharp reduction by 24.84% in IPAR and a significant decline in Pn by 10.07% during the late grain-filling stage, thus limiting the supply of photosynthetic assimilates, eventually reducing grain yield. PBZ application also significantly elevated 2-acetyl-1- pyrroline (2-AP) content by 28.74% under T1 and 17.51% under T2, compared to the control. The increase in 2-AP was mainly associated with elevated levels of key precursors, including proline, Δ1-pyrroline-5-carboxylic acid, and Δ1-pyrroline. In spite of differences in traits between cultivars, the traits responded to PBZ in the same pattern. These results indicate that foliar application of PBZ at 150 mg L−1 can effectively improve both yield and aroma of aromatic rice, offering a promising cultivation strategy for high-quality aromatic rice production....
In Mediterranean drylands, where year-to-year climatic variability and soil constraints (e.g., compaction or shallow profiles) often limit the feasibility of strict no-tillage (NT), strategic tillage (ST) has emerged as a pragmatic support tool within conservation agriculture. To evaluate its short-term effects, multi-country field trials were established in Morocco, Tunisia, Türkiye, and Spain across a rainfall gradient (250–580 mm). We assessed soil water content (SWC), crop biomass, and yield under ST compared with NT systems. Results were context-dependent. SWC responses varied: largely unchanged in Morocco and Tunisia, slightly increased in Morocco in 2023, and significantly reduced in Spain in 2022. Biomass generally showed no significant change, with modest decreases in Morocco and modest increases in Tunisia. Yield effects were more pronounced: pooled data from Morocco indicated a significant reduction under ST, and Tunisia showed a significant yield loss in 2021. Türkiye exhibited non-significant declines in both SWC and yield, while Spain experienced yield-neutral but SWC-reducing outcomes. Overall, ST did not have negative effects across sites. Instead, its impacts were strongly conditioned by local soils, rainfall distribution, and crop context. These findings highlight that ST can be considered as a pragmatic tool to overcome some of the agronomic difficulties in the Mediterranean region with little or no negative effects on productivity of soil moisture....
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