Month: June 2022

Food waste from household consumption contributes largely to food loss as demonstrated in the study of Garcia-Herrero et al. . Besides measures for reducing production of food waste, methods for its valorisation is important. Urban farming is an example of alternative food production systems that provides locally produced food, thereby contributing to a reduction in long-distance transportation of foodstuffs into cities. However, for effective food production in cities, where possibilities for cultivation in soil are scarce, alternative production systems with low area requirements are needed. One solution to this constraint is to turn to hydroponic farming, where the food crop is grown directly in a nutrient solution , minimizing the space needed for cultivation. These production systems enable the possibility of farming in varying system designs such as horizontal, vertical or in several layers, and in diverse locations such as in basements, on rooftops and in containers, are thus attractive and promising systems to explore further in an urban context. Hydroponics have been used in traditional large-scale production of vegetables over the last three to four decades, however the nutrient supply is almost exclusively based on industrially manufactured, mineral  fertilizers that challenge the pursuit for sustainable and renewable nutrient and resource loops . In Sweden, selected organic wastes, including food waste, are largely used for biogas production, with a nutrient-rich liquid digestate remaining as the by-product after the anaerobic digestion process. Using this anaerobic digestate as the nutrient solution in hydroponic cultivation systems could pave the way for a circular urban food production system as well as valorising food waste. Evidently, the use of recycled and biobased fertilizers constitutes an advantage from an environmental perspective compared to the mineral fertilizers used in conventional hydroponic production.

One major point of attention is however the close contact between the crop and the nutrient solution in hydroponic production systems. It is therefore paramount to primarily investigate and establish whether the anaerobic digestate is microbiologically safe to use for food production . In Sweden,flood and drain tray anaerobic digestate based on selected waste originating from the food and/or feed chain can be certified as biofertilizer according to SPCR 120 , a Swedish national regulation that needs to meet the criteria of the EU-regulation EC No. 1069/2009 regarding the treatment of biowaste . In order to fulfil the requirements for this certification, the feedstock used in the biogas process is initially hygienized by heat treatment . Previous studies have concluded that the combination of thermal pre-treatment followed by anaerobic digestion is successful in reducing Salmonella, Enterococci and Escherichia coli to acceptable/non-detectable levels as required by EU-regulation . However, while the presence and survival of these specific bacteria have been closely investigated, more in-depth studies into the overall biosecurity and pathogen content in anaerobic digestate from biowaste are encouraged . Regarding extended utilization in shorter nutrient cycles such as a hydroponic setup, which omits the natural processes occurring in contact with organic compartments such as soil, a thorough risk assessment becomes even more relevant. In a pilot study preceding the present work, three different, geographically distributed biogas plants in Sweden were sampled and the microbiological quality of the biofertilizer studied. In addition to the requirements in the certification, control of spore-forming species and presence of antibiotic resistance were conducted. The results confirmed that all formal criteria were met, however, biofertilizer from all plants had unsanitary levels  of the food-borne spore-forming pathogen Bacillus cereus . This is in agreement with a previous study conducted on the hygiene aspects of biofertilizers where high levels of Bacillus spp. were detected , and it was deduced that neither the hygienization treatment nor the following anaerobic digestion affected the number of Bacillus spp. The overall scope of this study was to assess microbial risks related to the use of SPCR120 certified anaerobic digestate as a nutrient source in the hydroponic production of vegetables. The microbial viability and activity in the biofertilizer, before use in a hydroponic system, was initially studied over time with cultivation-based viable count, and cultivation-independent isothermal calorimetry.

Challenge testing with the three major food-borne pathogens B. cereus, Salmonella enterica ser. Typhimurium, and Listeria monocytogenes was also performed to investigate the biofertilizer’s susceptibility to contamination and ability to support microbial survival and growth. For assessment in hydroponic production settings, samples of circulating nutrient solution, based on either biofertilizer or inorganic fertilizer, were collected during a growth cycle in a greenhouse experiment and 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing was used to study the bacterial community composition over time. IC was utilized to measure the heat developed over time in samples with  or without supplementation  of nutrients. The heat developed is a result of metabolic activity of the organisms in the sample, and it was thus utilized as a cultivation-independent method of investigating microbiological viability and/or growth, an asset when assessing complex samples that may contain viable but not culturable cells. It also has the advantage of monitoring microbiological viability and growth without the introduction of bias that the agar plates selected in traditional standard plate count may account for, and the calorimetric measurement also gives an on-line and continuous output. At the same time, VC analysis was performed. Obtained VC results of samples without supplementation indeed pointed towards an actively growing microflora present, since a rich number of colonies was obtained on the plates at each sampling point. Contradictory to these results, there was no heat generation detected within the same samples  when utilizing IC. The IC thus provided a presentation of the microbiological state of the biofertilizer without the bias that the introduction of nutrients from an agar plate may introduce. Fig. 2A and B shows the analyses from VC and FC after supplementation of BHI broth, and from IC after supplementation of BHI broth and glucose to the biofertilizer during the full duration of the accelerated microbial activity assessment experiment. As can be seen in Fig. 2B, the supplementation of glucose generates no metabolic activity. Regarding the supplementation of BHI broth, the first supplementation generates a heat production of around 100 J, with the following two supplementations generating a heat production of around 50 J, and the last two supplementations generating around 25 J. If it is assumed that the headspace of the vials is filled with air each time a vial is opened, the first supplementation generates more than the 50 J that aerobic metabolism can give, so this part does include anaerobic processes, but the lower heats indicate that the processes may be mainly aerobic.

Since the last two supplementations do not reach 50 J of heat produced, it is hypothesized that maximum growth capacity in the matrix has been reached, possibly due to restrictions in water activity or antagonistic behavior within the microbial community. The corresponding VC  shows a 2.5 log increase in CFU mL− 1 after the first supplementation, and the following supplements induce no substantial increase in growth with either VC or FC . When performing microbial food safety risk assessments, not only presence/absence but also levels or concentrations of microorganisms, are valuable pieces of information needed to be able to evaluate food safety risks. From these results it appears however that the heat produced from metabolic activity is challenging to correlate with the number of CFU mL− 1 and cell count mL− 1 . According to a review by Braissant et al., the heat production of creating a cell should be rather constant, and it is also stated that if cell lysis takes place, this will cause a discrepancy between the heat generated and cell count . The fact that the sample contains a complex, mixed microbial community complicates the interpretation of the heat flow and heat generated after multiple supplementations, as the metabolism of different bacteria will generate different heat flows, and also there might be a succession of bacteria or a decline in some species caused by metabolites produced by the predecessor. This hypothesis was further hinted at when the visual inspection of the agar plates from the VC indeed revealed varying colony morphology and appearance after the different supplementations, andalso revealed some colonies exerting antimicrobial behaviour on their surroundings . This study has highlighted the difficulties of correlating VC with calorimetric data, which has already been observed in studies of other complex natural matrices . However, it can be stated regarding both the calorimetric data and the VC that while bacteria are indeed present in the biofertilizer, no metabolic activity is generated until the supplementation of an external complex nutrient source. As seen in Fig. 2A, the supplementation of glucose did not lead to subsequent metabolic activity while BHI broth did, indicating that an accessible source of carbon was not the  limiting factor for microbiological activity, but potentially a combination of a carbon source and necessary trace elements that the BHI broth provides. In terms of the microbiological safety of utilizing this biofertilizer for hydroponic vegetable production, it is thus essential to avoid the addition of a nutrient source that can allow for the establishment of pathogenic bacteria. Although cultivation-based VC is a commonplace method of evaluating food safety in a matrix, it may allow for the introduction of false negative results when viable but not culturable cells remain undetected. As presented in this study, it might also produce false positive results when the agar plates provide the nutrients necessary to allow for microbial growth, nft hydroponic while the biofertilizer on its own does not provide the necessary factors for growth, rendering its natural microflora dormant. Studying the microbial community of complex natural matrices is in general difficult as several parameters of the matrix and its microbial processes are unknown.

As pointed out by Wads¨ o in a work using IC for studying the microbial activity in soil , IC is useful due to heat measurements being non-specific, and might thus be a preferable tool when investigating the total sum of complex microbial activities within a natural sample. Although IC is insufficient on its own for determining the microflora, separating the processes of one microorganism from the other, or separating microbial metabolic activity from microbial growth, IC and VC are excellent complementary tools when investigating the presence, viability and activity of complex microbial communities in their natural matrix. Microbial contamination of biofertilizer in hydroponics could cause serious consequences as the biofertilizer is recirculated and the plants are exposed to it during their entire growth cycle. A previous review, assessing the internalization ability of bacteria present in nutrient solution in hydroponic setups, concluded that present pathogenic bacteria and viruses internalize readily and more frequently compared to soilbased systems . This endorses the need for a deeper and more systematic understanding of how pathogenic bacteria would behave in the biofertilizer, in case of a contamination scenario, to assess the risks of using biofertilizers from anaerobic digestate for food production in hydroponic systems. As Bacillus cereus occurs naturally in the biofertilizer, and Salmonella and Listeria are able to internalize into growing crops , a challenge test experimental setup was performed to simulate contamination with the food-borne pathogens S. enterica serovar Typhimurium, L. monocytogenes and B. cereus, and assess their establishment, survival and growth in the nitrified biofertilizer over time. Fig. 3 shows the outcome of the inoculation of the food-borne pathogens B. cereus, S. enterica and L. monocytogenes in the biofertilizer. In the two biological replicates performed, S. enterica and L. monocytogenes were no longer detectable through selective plating within 48 h of incubation. Throughout the two biological replicates, B. cereus was steadily present in the control of non-inoculated biofertilizer and estimated at 1 log10 CFU mL− 1 . The biofertilizer inoculated with B. cereus decreased to these levels within 24 h after incubation. Previous microbiological controls at three Swedish biogas production plants had shown that the biofertilizer product after hygienization and anaerobic digestion contained up to 4.3 log10 CFU B. cereus per gram of biofertilizer . This level should be given attention, since the majority of food-borne outbreaks caused by B. cereus have been implicated with concentrations of 5–8 log10 CFU g− 1 of food of emetic toxin producing B. cereus. Occasional outbreaks of both emetic and diarrhoeal B. cereus illnesses with even lower levels have also been reported.

In fact, the stage of the growing period seems to be an influencing variable. In a study involving the hydroponic growth of tomato , wilt due to Fusarium was reported to be most severe in the intermediate or late growth stage of the growing period . For this reason, the duration of the trial was longer than initially expected, so the size of the plants increased and with it their nutritional requirements. This situation led to an imbalance in the aquaponic systems which were unable to provide adequate levels of nutrients to the plants. As a consequence, these plants suffered a nutritional deficit that made them more sensitive to Fusarium wilt . Hence, the hydroponic plants being better nourished, could be more resistant to biotic or abiotic stresses. This effect was also observed by the fact that the disease severity was lower in the plants near the entrance of the water with the nutrients , despite being closer to the inoculated plants . As is the case of Pythium aphanidermatum. This produced 100% mortality in spinach that was grown in water at 30 ◦C, but 0% of mortality was observed in crops that were in water at 20 ◦C . As another example, Pythium dissotocum caused the wilting of 100% of the plants when the water was at 30 ◦C compared to the 69% that wilted when the water was at 20 ◦C . These differences in disease prevalence and severity are likely related to optimal growth temperatures for these pathogens, with higher infection and mortality rates as a result of water temperatures being more favourable for pathogen development . In our study, the maximum values of water temperature reached 25.1 ◦C in the aquaponic system and 26.8 ◦C in the hydroponic system, therefore below 30 ◦C. However, neither Fol nor P. cactorum were harmful to goldfishes in our tests since no mortality or disease symptoms were observed. In relation to the water chemical parameters, aquaponic systems remained within the limits recommended by the FAO ,ebb and flow table with a pH between 6 and 7 and a nitrate concentration between 5 and150 mg L− 1 , in order to maintain the well-being of the plants, fish and bacteria.

The electrical conductivity was kept close to 1500 μS cm− 1 in the hydroponic systems, not exceeding 1700 μS cm− 1 . Though the recommended pH in which the plants have a greater availability of nutrients is between 5.5 and 6.5 , it was kept slightly over those values in order to maintain conditions similar to aquaponic systems. Further studies are required to confirm higher suppressiveness in aquaponic systems compared to hydroponic systems, trying to maintain an adequate balance in the contribution of nutrients in each system. The study of several pathosystems could help to confirm the potential suppressiveness in aquaponic systems. Likewise, it would be interesting to take into account different types of fish, such as tilapia, which is fequently employed in aquaponic systems. Sustainable production of quality food under premises of circular economy reducing the flow of resources out of the system is crucial for ensuring food security while maintaining non-renewable resources such as phosphorus and reducing environmental impacts of agricultural practices . This is particularly relevant in areas of increasing population such as part of the Mediterranean basin.In this sense, initiatives that urge the development of policies, missions and incentives to spread circular economy practices, in particular in food production, throughout the world are increasingly abundant and insistent . Intensive early production of horticultural products is not only important for providing quality food out of the typical growing seasons but also crucial for ensuring economical sustainability of horticultural farmers due to the high prices of these early products. A paradigmatic example is early production of strawberry which, in the European Union, is mainly located in Southern Spain, concretely in the province of Huelva. This crop is a powerful economic engine for this area, comprising about 94% of total production in Spain . The total area dedicated in Spain to strawberry production in 2018 was 6603 ha, yielding 334,767 t of fruit, most of the production being destined to the international markets . In 2018, this exportation generated a value of 461.3 million €. The progression of the prices of the fruit shows a decline throughout the campaign, so that the initial values  condition the subsequent prices. According to this, early production in these agrosystems is critical in order to guarantee their profitability.

In conventional horticulture, strawberry is usually produced in a monocropping system, i.e. it is consecutively grown in the same field plots year after year, which increases the risk of soil borne diseases , making soil disinfection a necessary practice . Hydroponic production has demonstrated to be an interesting option due to its independence from soil microbiological status, while required minerals are applied to plants with fertigation. In this context, the soilless production, as in other intensive horticultural areas, in Spain is progressively increasing and currently amounts to near 6% of the total production surface in the main strawberry production region. However, other authors report that the influence of substrates on fruit quality and yield is less relevant than the effect of strawberry cultivars . Although soilless production may enhance the resource efficiency, horticultural systems demand high rates of external inputs, in particular, water and nutrients. In this regard, the EIP-AGRI Focus Group on Circular Horticulture concluded that aquaponics is emerging as one of the most important areas of sustainable agriculture which meets the philosophy of circular economy . These systems not only decrease the need of external nutrient supply but also reduce the overall water discharge and increase water use efficiency in agricultural products. Aquaponics is a production system that synergistically combines the simultaneous growing of plants in soilless media  and fish in recirculating aquaculture systems . Plants improve their growth by using metabolic waste from fish and unconsumed feed, which are transformed by a bacterial community into easily assimilated nutrients , reducing discharge to the environment and extending water use. Aquaponics has less environmental impact than conventional aquaculture and agriculture.This production system may have higher productivities and less resource consumption than conventional land-based systems . Therefore, aquaponics is a production system aimed at reducing inputs as well as minimising pollution whilst maximising production efficiency and stability, hence increasing revenues . Strawberry cropping in aquaponic systems may be an interesting alternative since it is a profitable crop when early produced which can be managed under soilless conditions.

In fact, soilless production is gaining interest as mentioned above to avoid the risks ascribed to monocrop production on soil. Nevertheless, very few studies about strawberry aquaponic production are available, flood table and mainly focus on operational factors such as substrates used or fish densities employed . Both the early strawberry production and the quality of the fruit, which are crucial factors affecting crop profitability, have not been assessed in previous research. In this regard, it is crucial to know how the root anchoring system , whether bare roots or inert growing media such as the widely used rockwool may affect crop traits. Thus, this work aimed at the evaluation of the yield and quality of the combined early production of strawberry and tench , by means of coupled aquaponic systems. In them, commercial hydroponic bands were employed, and the differences of using or not a rockwool substrate were assessed as a relevant aspect which may affect crop performance, quality, and precocity, as well as resource consumption in the system.For this study, three identical coupled aquaponic systems were installed inside a greenhouse located at the School of Agricultural Engineering , encompassing a total surface of 36 m2 . Each system was composed of a 1 m3 cylindrical fish tank, where water was aerated using a 400 L⋅h− 1 air pump for ensuring a correct level of oxygen dissolved in the water for the fish. Water temperature was controlled by means of a 300 W heater . From the fish tank, water was conducted by gravity to a handmade PVC biofilter of 50.26 L capacity , filled with ceramic rings as filter media. Then, water was divided into two NGS  multilayer channels with 1.5 m length and 0.8 m separation, with 12 holes per channel to hold plants . The NGS is a modification of the nutrient film technique  hydroponic system, consisting of a series of interconnected layers, which favour small cascades that support the increase of oxygen availability and elude length limitations in NFT channels . NGS’ multi-layer DUO is specially designed for strawberry crops, and it is composed of 3 polythene bands forming a superior level, with 2 lines of holes following a zigzag pattern to hold the plants, and two inner levels to room the root system and to collect the nutritive solution while favouring aeration . At the end of both hydroponic lines, water flowed down into a 100 L sump tank, where a single submerged water pump was located  in order to return the water to the fish tank, closing the loop. With the aim of facilitating the growth and colonization of nitrifying bacteria inside aquaponic components, the systems remained in operation, without fish or plants, for a period of six weeks. During this time, ammonia was artificially introduced in the tanks to speed up the process. Tench  was chosen as fish species for this aquaponic prototype, since it is fully adapted to the Iberian Peninsula’s climate and is recognized for its great resistance to changes in water quality in extensive and intensive regimes , being an adequate candidate for aquaponics production systems in this area .

The study was started with an initial population of 366 tench fingerlings, counting up a total biomass of about 2100 g. The fish were provided by the Regional Aquaculture Center “Las Vegas del Guadiana”, a public company belonging to the Junta de Extremadura, located in Villafranco del Guadiana . The acclimatization phase began at the end of November and consisted in the introduction of a fish biomass of 700 g in each tank. The number of specimens in each system was homogenized, leaving 122 fish  in each tank. Low density of fish was selected according to the recommendations of Villarroel et al.  and to simplify systems management. The cultivar of strawberries used was ‘Primoris FNM’, a short day cultivar, which begins fruit production about eight or ten days before most of medium cycle varieties. Runners were acquired from Fresas Nuevos Materiales, S.A. , after having gone through a high-altitude nursery to meet the low temperature requirements for the start of flowering, in the same conditions as theseedlings that are usually planted in crops in southern Spain. Half of the runners were placed in a seedbed with perlite and the other half in rockwool blocks. Once the first three leaves appeared, the seedlings were transplanted to the hydroponic lines, after elimination of perlite with running water. The study started from a total of 72 strawberry seedlings, of which 36 plants did not use any substrate and 36 were established on rockwool’s blocks. The strawberries were transplanted into the aquaponic two days after the introduction of fish, in order to ensure adequate nutrients contents for plants. Distribution of plants according to the substrate type followed a random blocks pattern, as it can be observed in Fig. 2. Each of the fish tanks was connected to two hydroponic lines and each of the lines contained two blocks of 6 plants with different substrate types . The development of the plants was monitored throughout the crop cycle, weekly recording different parameters regarding leaves, flowers and fruits. The width and length of the leaves were measured, as well as the chlorophyll content in old and new leaves using a SPAD-502 chlorophyll meter . In addition, a count was made of the flower buds, number of flowers and fruits and weight of fruits per plant. Regarding strawberry quality parameters, immediately after harvest, the firmness of the fruit was analysed using a PCE-PTR 200 Forge Gauce penetrometer ; and soluble solids were measured using a hand-refractometer RHC-200ATC applied to fruit juice.

Matuschke and Quaim  analyzed the impact of social networks on the adoption of hybrid wheat in India and concluded that the results from a social network study could also provide extension agencies and agents with a new set of diagnostic tools that could fit well with the new extension emphasis on participatory and demand-driven extension approaches. However, research on the role of social networking in seed and information exchange on stress-tolerant rice varieties among rice farming households/individuals and also through a gender perspective is scant. By gaining awareness of existing information on exchange routes, information providers can act on information opportunities and make changes to information routes to improve the delivery of information services . It is now increasingly recognized that information on agricultural innovations diffuses through social networks rather than being freely available in the village. We adhere to this view in studying the role that social capital may play in facilitating information exchange among rural households. Moreover, the roles of other end users of technologies, especially poor women farmers and their potential roles as key agents of change, can be tapped to accelerate the dissemination of rice and rice-related technologies. In 2009, the International Rice Research Institute  in collaboration with national agricultural research and extension semination of submergence-tolerant varieties” in six Southeast Asian countries frequently affected by typhoons and severely affected by floods, namely, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Lao PDR. Within this project, a case study on “Seed and information exchange through social networks among men and women rice farmers” was conducted. This case study explored and compared the structure of information exchange among men and women farmers who were involved in PVS on submergence-tolerant varieties in pilot communities in Lao PDR and Indonesia.

The study also investigated social networks by gender in order to gain greater insights into how gender differences influence the effectiveness of social capital in facilitating information exchange. In particular, dutch buckets this study examined the factors that affect the intensity of acquired social networks at the household level, while accounting for gender differentiation. Social concepts such as social networks and social capital have received a lot of interest when exploring the potential contribution of personal relationships in technology uptake. Social capital is deemed as important as other forms of capital such as financial, human, or natural. Networks facilitate communication, coordination, and the provision of information on the trustworthiness of individuals. Social networks can serve as a form of social capital—an important intangible component of individuals’ and households’ asset portfolios. Gender analysis in Asian rice farming reveals that women in Southeast Asia contribute significantly in rice production and post harvest operations. Although labor participation in rice production varies by country, production systems, and other factors, women contribute about 46% and 60% in Indonesia and Laos, respectively . In Laos, women took over the traditional roles of men in rice farming, in which more than half of the rice farming activities such as transplanting, weeding, harvesting, and post harvest are dominated by women . Similarly in Indonesia, women do most of the transplanting, weeding, and harvesting work . Thus, women are seen to have a crucial role in shaping the rice economy of Laos and Indonesia. Moreover, women do not just contribute to the physical assets of production but more importantly they seek new information and technology. Due to gender differences in roles and needs, men and women have differences in their selection criteria for rice varieties in the specific submergence prone areas . Although returns to men’s and women’s social capital may be identical, the responsiveness of household welfare to women’s social capital is higher . Rural women usually have less access than men to information and new technologies . They suffer from limited access to resources, markets, training, and decision-making opportunities. As a result, women seek formal and informal networks to cope with the shocks and to make sure that their views are represented, particularly if formal rules limit their participation . Their lack of access to information and formal networks deprives them of their potential capacity to make informed decisions in effectively managing their farms and selling their farm products. Identifying the role of social networks and the factors affecting them has been investigated in the literature under various methods. This type of research is placed under the umbrella of social network analysis . The recent literature on social network analysis supports evidence that social networks play a crucial role in information and innovation dissemination. Hence, knowing more about networks and their role will be beneficial for policy formulation.

When an individual decides to join a network, he/she has an expected utility that depends on some of his/her socioeconomic characteristics. This expected utility is assumed to be positive, which motivates individuals to join a network. Each individual has the choice of being connected to one, two, three, and more relatives or friends who constitute his/her “acquired social network.” The intensity of the acquired network is therefore represented by a series of discrete household choices that could follow a Poisson or negative binomial distribution. Following Katungi et al.  in a similar study, we consider that the intensity of acquired social networks can be modeled as a series of discrete household decisions that sum across an aggregation of choices to a Poisson or negative binomial distribution. While the Poisson distribution assumes equality between the conditional mean and variance, the negative binomial is more suited to data exhibiting over-dispersion. Identifying the role of social networks and the factors affecting them has been investigated in the literature under various methods. The recent literature on social network analysis supports evidence that social networks play a crucial role in information and innovation dissemination. Hence, knowing more about networks and their role will be beneficial for policy formulation. When an individual decides to join a network, he/she has an expected utility that depends on some of his/her socioeconomic characteristics. This expected utility is assumed to be positive, which motivates individuals to join a network. Each individual has the choice of being connected to one, two, three, and more relatives or friends who constitute his/her “acquired social network.” The intensity of the acquired network is therefore represented by a series of discrete household choices that could follow a Poisson or negative binomial distribution. Following Katungi et al.  in a similar study, we consider that the intensity of acquired social networks can be modeled as a series of discrete household decisions that sum across an aggregation of choices to a Poisson or negative binomial distribution. While the Poisson distribution assumes equality between the conditional mean and variance, the negative binomial is more suited to data exhibiting over-dispersion. This SNA study uses cross-sectional data gathered through focused household surveys of rice farming households involved in the PVS trials under the project “Dissemination of submergence-tolerant rice varieties in Southeast Asia” implemented by IRRI in 2009. Data were collected by social scientists from farmer-cooperators in Indonesia  and Lao PDR  who were also cooperators of PVS at key sites. These key sites are located in the province of West Java, Indonesia, and in the provinces of Khammouane and Champassak in Laos. In this particular study, accumulation of social capital through social networks received much attention as most of the seed and information exchange in studied areas are produced in an informal mode.

To measure the intensity of participation in social networks of the farmers, the dependent variable is defined as the number of trusted friends to whom the household can talk closely or approach for any problem. This definition of a social network excludes relatives because they constitute a “given social capital whose formation may be beyond the influence of the decision maker” . Instead, the number of relatives of a farmer in the village was included as an independent variable to serve as a proxy for social capital endowment. Household characteristics such as age, gender, education, and household size are factors that might affect farmers’ social networking behavior. The size of social networks and frequency of engaging in different kinds of information exchange and village activities largely influence the social capital of an individual. Social capital among men and women varies for the two countries as the accumulation of social capital is also dictated by gender roles and culture for each country. As shown in Table 4, grow bucket social networking and information exchange in Indonesia and Lao PDR are done mostly with friends within the village, where male farmers for both countries have a larger social network than female farmers. Lao men and women also rely heavily on their relatives within the villages. The number of relatives and friends of the farmers outside the village are generally higher in Indonesia than in Lao PDR, especially among women. These results reveal that male farmers are more mobile than female farmers in Indonesia. Because of customs, Indonesian women farmers do mostly reproductive activities, which limit them in having contact with other people outside their village. In contrast, in Lao PDR, there seem to be no differences between males and females in terms of mobility. Seed information exchange. During the survey interviews, male and female farmers were also asked about their seed information exchange. In Indonesia, both men and women farmers rely on their friends and neighbors within the village for seed information. Male farmers also mentioned co-farmers within the village, extension agents, and formal groups as their other main sources of information. None of the male Indonesian farmers received any information from their wives. Eleven percent of the female farmers mentioned their spouses as additional sources of information . Membership in formal organizations. Most of the farmers in Indonesia and Lao PDR belong to a formal group. Women are surprisingly actively involved in organizations, which are mainly farmers’ organizations, credit groups, and women’s groups. This means that women are now recognized as part of the workforce in the community. However, trends in civic engagement still show that few women are privileged to have access to different sources of information such as newspapers, printed publications, agricultural programs on radio and television, attendance at training events or seminars, and communication with extension agents. In some civic activities such as the use of modern technology such as the Internet and cellular phones, women in Lao PDR more frequently use them than men. However, it is important to note that these women are few in number and are mainly female household heads and wives of village leaders who have somewhat the same access as men farmers.

Involvement in social activities. Involvement in social activities of men and women farmers is still based on gender roles. Indonesian male farmers are expected to be in their mosque more frequently than women. In Lao PDR, where women are expected to give alms to the monks and offer prayers, women are seen in their temples more frequently  than men. Moreover, since market places are where the households sell and buy food and other items, more women are seen in these places than men. Women’s role within the households consumes most of their time; thus, they do not have much time compared with men to go to hang around places to chat and drink with their friends and neighbors after work. Also, more men attend village meetings as they are traditionally the decision-makers in their households and in their communities, particularly in Indonesia; whereas, in Lao PDR, both men and women farmers have the privilege to attend village meetings . Flow of information. Aside from sources of information, farmers were also asked whether they were passing along the information they received about new varieties. Male and female farmers from both countries usually pass along the information they receive to their friends and neighbors within the village with whom they can regularly talk because of their proximity to one another. In Indonesia, where women are more constrained to their houses to do more reproductive activities, the information they receive is passed along only to the members of their households, friends, and neighbors within the village.

The 6-MV beams used in this study had been commissioned for stereotactic radiosurgery dosimetry. Although the VMAT plans were optimized with a 2-mm dose grid to speed up the optimization process, the final dose distributions were calculated in a 1-mm dose grid to ensure comparable accuracy to that of the GK dose calculations.In this study, we generated comparison VMAT and IMPT plans for patients with skull-base or large intracranial lesions that had been treated with GKE to a median dose of 24 Gy in 3 fractions. Our goals were to meet the critical OAR dose constraints of the GKE plans and to quantitatively evaluate VMAT and IMPT plan quality for SRT. To the best of our knowledge, no such findings have been published comparing GK, VMAT and IMPT for FSRS of the head and neck. We found that VMAT and IMPT plans could achieve similar or lower doses to critical OARs compared with the GKE plans, with comparable target coverage. VMAT and IMPT offered more dose-homogeneous plans and significantly shorter delivery time . By contrast, the GKE plans had a higher GI and less low-dose spillage than did VMAT or IMPT, indicating less irradiation of normal tissues.This difference in favor of GKE compared with VMAT and IMPT was the most pronounced for the treatment of smaller tumors. In instances where the dose for single-session radiosurgery would exceed the tolerance of a nearby critical structure, FSRS is preferred. Before the wide availability of LINAC-based SRT systems, the Extend system was used on a GK unit to avoid the need for repeated head frame placement. The measurement system consists of a repositioning digital check tool attached to the Extend frame , which can position a patient to within 1.0 mm of the reference position. With a calculated mean interfractional radial setup difference of 0.64 ± 0.24 mm and an intrafractional positional difference of 0.47 ± 0.3 mm, the overall setup and immobilization uncertainty of GKE is between 1.0 and 2.0 mm. Use of the Extend system on a LINAC with only a reposition check tool confers a mean 3D positional displacement of 1.3 mm for patient setup, and so a 2-mm uncertainty margin for patients treated with the GKE system is typically used to ensure adequate coverage.

Today, LINACs such as the TrueBeam STx are used for frameless FSRS and can achieve sub-millimeter imaging setup accuracy, comparable to that of the GKE system. Advantages of LINAC systems are their integrated volumetric imaging system, easy verification of daily patient treatment positioning before and during treatment,flood tray and their ability to detect and correct setup errors before and during treatment. Thus for VMAT, use of a 2-mm PTV should ensure adequate target coverage while still accommodating machine uncertainties. Indeed, several studies have shown that a practical margin of <1.5 mm on the TrueBeam STx is sufficient because of the accuracy of measured isocenter and multi-leaf collimator positioning, a coincidence of kV and MV imaging isocenters that is within 1.0 mm, and geometric margins that are within ~1.2 mm. Two dosimetric studies have compared GK with LINAC-based VMAT for single-session treatment of intracranial lesions; in these studies, McDonald et al. and Thomas et al. found comparable target coverage and conformity for treating patients with multiple brain metastases. Our results for FSRS for skull base tumors demonstrate that VMAT can achieve the same or even steeper dose drop-off towards priority critical organs such as the brainstem and optic apparatus compared with the GKE . This was typically achieved by placing the isocenter between the target volume and the critical OAR , axial image for VMAT plan and subsequently using a half-beam block technique with a non-coplanar arc. Proton beam therapy may also be well suited for skull base FSRS. Published dosimetric comparisons of IMRT/VMAT and IMPT for patients with head and neck tumors treated with conventional fractionation have suggested that IMPT has better conformity. To our knowledge, studies evaluating proton-based FSRS for skull-base or head and neck tumors have not been reported. Here, we used a 2-mm PTV for VMAT and a 2-mm “optimization target volume” for IMPT. Although our results indicate that proton beam therapy for skull base FSRS is feasible, uncertainties in addition to patient setup and machine mechanical limitations should be considered. Of particular importance are particle beam range uncertainties, which are influenced by factors such as CT artifacts, conversion of Hounsfield units to stopping powers, or changes in patient geometry . Thus, a limitation not addressed in this study is the potential requirement for a relatively larger “PTV” margin for proton SRT. An uncertainty of 3.5% + 1 mm is often considered during proton treatment planning for conventionally fractionated treatments. We observed that IMPT plans showed excellent sparing of normal tissues, with a sharp gradient index and minimal low-dose bath for larger and superficially located targets . Improved CT image quality, accurate patient setup verification, and high-quality treatment plans that are less sensitivity to the aforementioned uncertainties continue to be sought for proton radiotherapy to minimize overshoot.

A clear advantage of VMAT and IMPT over GKE is the significantly shorter delivery time. The typical treatment time for each fraction with VMAT on a TrueBeam machine was less than 10 minutes, including the delivery time from the first beam to end of treatment, gantry and couch setup, and imaging verification between beams. The delivery time for IMPT was mainly based on total number of the spot and layers. The overall treatment time  may be up to 20 min when 3 – 4 beams are used. A marked difference between the GKE and the VMAT or IMPT plans was observed in dose heterogeneity, in that the HI of GKE plans  was significantly greater than that for VMAT  or IMPT . The difference in the HI between GKE and VMAT/IMPT was not influenced by tumor size or location. GKE plans showed a superior GI and better low-dose-volume index , indicating a sharper dose falloff outside the target. In fact, the R20-50 for GKE was only about half that of VMAT and IMPT plans, because the GK unit produces less lateral scattering of lower energy radiation  and has shorter distances from source and collimator to focus. Despite these differences in machine capabilities, we found that with inverse planning, VMAT could achieve similar or lower doses to OAR without loss of coverage; moreover the dose gradient at the OAR-target boundary can be further optimized for steeper drop-off if necessary. By contrast, IMPT achieved slightly lower coverage with similar OAR constraints, and the dose gradient was often not as favorable as that of VMAT, perhaps because the spot size of the proton system at our institution is larger than 1 cm; this could also explain the marked increase in the low-dose bath and higher GI for small and centrally located lesions for IMPT plans . Currently, stereotactic application of protons may be more appropriate for superficial targets if the same radiation treatment and plan quality can be maintained. The Extend involves use of a vacuum-sealed, custom prosthesis that locks onto the teeth and can be challenging to tolerate. At our institution, use of this system requires that the patient have good performance status, at least 3 intact teeth, and no gag reflex. We did not use the Extend frame for LINAC- or IMPT-based FSRS. If we had, the repositioning check tool would have been used before each treatment to correct interfractional setup error. Thus use of our current thermoplastic head and neck immobilization system with LINAC- or IMPT-based FSRS may have involved setup differences. Further comparisons of the two systems are needed with regard to intrafractional translational and rotational restriction of patients, particularly for skull base targets, which are often adjacent to the neuro-optic apparatus. In addition, it is unclear if the differences in low-dose bath we observed among VMAT, IMPT, and GKE are clinically significant for FSRS.

A previous study of 130 patients with head and neck cancer treated with conventionally fractionated IMRT indicated that radiation-induced nausea and vomiting were significantly associated with mean doses to particular nausea-associated regions. Clinical studies are needed to determine the clinical impact, if any, of the low-dose bath and differences in the other dosimetric variables found in this study for FSRS for head and neck tumors.Microwave irradiation may be helpful in this context. Microwave irradiation has recently been a very active research due to the many advantages of nonthermal effects such as reaction promotion, nucleation induction, and diffusion facilitated by the molecular vibration of polar molecules. We hypothesized that the precipitation reaction and diffusion characteristics through semipermeable membrane of chemical garden could be modulated or explained via various microwave properties. In addition, precipitation of chemical garden may suggest a new application of microwave irradiation and suitable operating conditions for highly functional inorganic materials of hollow tubes. The concentration of aqueous solution is essential for solving the diffusion and precipitation challenges of chemical garden phenomena. In this study, we varied the concentration and microwave power to understand the microwave effect. We used a microwave reactor equipped with an in-situ observation system to capture the dynamic growth behavior of the tree-like pattern.Lead  is a naturally occurring heavy metal that exists at low concentrations  in the environment. Throughout human history, Pb’s prolific use has facilitated its relocation, concentration, and subsequent threat to human health. Through the phase-out of Pb use in products such as gasoline and paints, the amount of Pb used in the United States has generally declined since the mid-1970’s.However, the residual effects of the Pb use in these and other industries have increased the levels of environmental Pb to which the average person is exposed. Leaded gasoline emissions and Pb paint peeling in older buildings can result in suspension and further deposition of Pb on nearby surfaces. Though Pb exists in various compounds, ebb and flow tray as a basic element it does not readily degrade in the environment and binds tightly to soils, therefore, contributing to its persistence as an environmental human health risk. Drinking, eating, and breathing particles containing Pb in any concentrations can result in acute or chronic Pb poisoning.

Many urban area soils are disproportionately contaminated with Pb from particulate dispersal via leaded gasoline emissions and Pb paint on older buildings. Older homes  and neighborhoods adjacent to heavily trafficked roads are often historically associated with marginalized and low-income communities. In these communities and others, urban gardening is experiencing a resurgence in neighborhoods and schools as an educational tool for food, environmental, and nutrition literacy and self-sufficiency; therefore, an understanding of the state of soil contamination is vital to reduce or eliminate unnecessary food chain transfer of soil Pb to urban communities. Unfortunately, garden produce such as leafy greens and root vegetables have heavy-metal tolerance traits and can grow uninhibited by Pb and subsequently accumulate the heavy metal in their tissues. The United States does not regulate Pb and other contaminants in produce. However, China released a standard for maximum levels of contaminants in foods in 2018. Per this regulation, the maximum concentration of Pb allowed for Brassica vegetables and leafy greens is 0.3 ppm of total fresh weight. For reference of “acceptable” soil Pb limits, The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency  set maximum bare soil Pb concentrations in federally funded project sites. Bare soil play areas and high-contact areas for children are limited to 400 ppm Pb. The rest of the yard is allowed 1200 ppm Pb. Various Cooperative Extension publications cite the 400 ppm EPA value of as the maximum soil Pb concentration considered safe to grow vegetables in soil. At any concentration above 400 ppm, an expensive remediation solution is excavation and removal of contaminated soils. Alternatively, the University of Connecticut Extension Service recommends growing vegetables in raised beds as a reasonable reduced risk option for avoiding Pb accumulation in garden vegetables particularly leafy greens and root vegetables. These recommendations are consistent with those presented by other extension services throughout the country, specifically from Kentucky State, Oregon State, UMass Amherst and the University of Delaware.

The Hazara University, Mansehra, Pakistan is situated 14 km to the north of Mansehra town on the right side of Karakurum highway in a serene, peaceful, rural and pollution-free environment. The vast plain of Pakhal with its agricultural wealth irrigated by the river Siran and tea gardens surrounds the University. The ladybird beetles  are bright in colors. Female is larger than males. The haemolymph is repellent by having a repulsive smell with containing various alkaloid toxins. The bright red on black or black on red color of some adults is aposematic. Both are defensive mechanisms against predators. They are associated with good fortune in many myths and legends. Scientists increasingly prefer the names of ladybird beetles or lady beetles, as they have great economic importance as predators to many pests and environmental or bio-indicator. They may be entomophagous or phytophagous and expose both potential and real effects on the life of their hosts. Cannibalism of eggs, larvae and pupae are common, especially when prey is scarce. They have several generations in a year and reproduction is slowed in winter, when adults may hibernate. They require 190.3 ± 10.2 days to complete a generation under laboratory conditions. The adonis ladybird, Hippodamia variegate  completes 4 generations per season on the alfalfa crop, Medicago sativa L. . There have typical differences in their behavior between 2 trophic groups. First one is feeding on aphids; development, age and movement will be faster, and is also typically larger and lays their eggs in clusters. Second one is feeding on scale insects which develops more slowly, lives longer, moves more slowly, and is typically smaller and lays their eggs singly .During the present survey, the study area was divided into 3 quadrated, i.e., residential area, administration area and main campus, and visited 2 h in each morning and evening. In total 300 individuals, 7 species from 6 genera belonging to subfamily Coccinellinea and tribe Coccinellini were collected.

Different species of the ladybird beetles were reported by Gilani from Faisal Abad, Shah from Peshawar, Irshad and Rehman et al.from Pakistan. The present study reported them from Hazara University, Pakistan. Trehan and Malhotra had reported from India and Zhang and Han from China. Therefore, these studies showed that their species are cosmopolitan. However, no new species was collected. At the present, the distributions of these insects were different in three quadrants of the study sites, however, ecological conditions of these areas were more or less the same, and moreover, human activities were the highest in administration area and the lowest in residential area than main campus. When comparing the vegetation, mobile vertical grow tables we found that in residential area, the ladybird beetles were the densest, but in administration area, they were sparsely grown compared with main campus. There might be possibility that residential area was the most frequently visited and administration area was the most rarely visited. During the present study, the most encountered species was C. septempunctata whose in which 220 individuals were collected: 150 were from residential area and 70 were from main campus. Rahatullah et al. reported total 50 specimens of C. septempunctata collected during a survey was conducted in district Dir Lower over a period of 2 years. This species was previously reported by Rehman et al., Gilani, Shah and Irshad from Pakistan. Due to their broad habitat range and voracity, there has been concern that C7  may pose a threat to native Aphidophagous coccinellids. Sometimes C. septempunctata has been used as a model for polyphagous predators. Habitat choice and foraging behaviour have attracted considerable interest in studies of the ecology and life history of C. septempunctata. Since it is a polyphagous species, Vet and Dicke hypothesized it, as a capacity for learning. Therefore, the present studies provide us awareness, education and learning. At the present, the second most encountered species was the H. variegate, in which 32 individuals were collected: eight were from residential and 24 were from administration area of Hazara University. Gilani, Shah and Irshad also reported it from Pakistan. Therefore, this species is common in Pakistan. An extensive survey of predatory Coccinellid beetles  was conducted in the Chitral district, Pakistan, over a period of 7 months .

Total 2600 individuals of Coccinellids were collected from 12 different localities having altitudes from 1219.40 – 2651.63 m. Twelve different species belonging to 9 genera of 3 tribes and 2 sub-families were recorded. Two sub-families, viz., Coccinellinae and Chilocorinae were identified. However, the present survey was conducted in terms of short duration , limited study area  and no finding, moreover, a total 300 specimens, 7 species from 6 genera belonging to subfamily Coccinellinea and tribe Coccinellini were collected. Further, only 4 more species were found by Khan et al. If an extensive survey will be done in the present study area, it will provide more information about the ladybird beetles. Sathe and Bhosale reported 21 species of ladybird beetles feeding on aphids and several soft-bodied homopterous pests of agricultural and forest plants from Maharashtra. Kandibane et al. reported 7 species of predatory ladybird beetles in an irrigated rice ecosystem at Madurai, Tamil Nadu. Fish et al. stated globally invasive hemipteran pests have adversely affected the production of many food, fiber and ornamental crops. The globalization and the concomitant increase in international travel and commerce are directly-correlated to the resultant enhancement in introduction and spread of exotic invasive species, which cause loss of biodiversity, modify the habitat and cause extensive environmental and economic harm. While predatory species are often used as biological control agents, introduced species of ladybirds such as Coccinella septempunctata in North America was outcompeted, displaced native coccinellids, and became pests in their own right. The present results suggested that the ladybird beetles community structure in 3 study sites with different vegetation differs greatly as described above. The number of species found in the administration area was minimum compared to main campus and residential area because of more construction with greater number of people there. The diversity of ladybird beetles seen at 3 sites in the current study was in accord with Omkar and Bind that reported only 6 – 7 species of the ladybird beetles from agricultural and horticultural plants of Utra Pradesh. Most species of ladybirds are considered beneficial because they are predators of Homoptera, many of which are considered to be pests. These predatory ladybirds contribute to the regulation of populations of their prey, and in some situations contribute a high level of regulation.

Many insect groups are important mutualistic partners of plants, mostly due to their roles as pollinators. Volatiles from plant flowers attract nectar-seeking and pollen-collecting pollinators to visit and pollinate by supplying rewards. Meanwhile, volatiles from floral branches prevent flower-robbers from foraging and pollinating . Components from floral scents and herbivore induced flower-volatiles include alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, organic acids, ester, terpenes, nitrogen compounds, hydrocarbons, as well as other chemicals varying with plant species and volatile collection types. Floral scents from 4 cultivated varieties Prunus persica were analysed , but the effect of these volatiles on pollinator attraction is unknown. The evolution of floral traits in the context of attracting mutualist or antagonist pollinators may place conflicting selection pressures on plant traits, and the effect of these volatiles on pollinator attraction is indeterminate. Many flowers produce volatiles at times when pollinators are most active; VOCs such as a kind of muurolene are characteristics of the syconium pollen receptive diurnal phase, and may attract the diurnally-active pollinating wasps. In some specialized pollination context, only one or a few specific floral volatiles mediate communication with specific pollinator species, and pollinators are attracted by a blend of widespread volatiles.Pollinator visitation is influenced by composition and quantity of flower volatile in long distance, dependent on the pollinator rewards, i.e., pollen and nectar in short distance, and volatile emission by flowers changed upon feeding by herbivores on the leaves when Pieris brassicae caterpillars were allowed to feed only on the leaves of Brassica nigra plants. The volatile composition of floral scents is not static, spatiotemporal variability in the identity and complexity of scent bouquets could provide critical information for the mediation of plant-insect communication because floral visitors can use subtle difference involatiles to make foraging choices. Floral scents have the advantage in that they can supply pollinators a species-specific identity to flowers with their potentially infinite composition and diversity. That Prunus persica fruits need flower-visiting insects, and floral scents play a key role in pollinating. We investigated the floral scent volatile bouquets of Prunus persica, and tested VOCs composition, similarity of different trees, dominant floral volatile dynamic, floral scents correlation with flower-visiting insect community richness, mobile vertical farm abundance and diversity before, on or after volatiles sampled day with dividing sampled insects visiting floral branches by odd or even method. We report the use of living flowers captured by closely and circularly head space way in adsorbent tubes and ATD-GC/MS analysed 20 VOCs from Prunus persica flowers, and floral scents correlation with flower-visiting insect richness, abundance and diversity, which are special and dominant floral scents and what the similarity from Prunus persica in different spatial and temporal branches.

Are the dominant floral odors temporal dynamic varied differently, and floral odors with difference from temporal trees. We expected that get the special and dominant floral odors from different sampled branches, which led us to hypothesize the potential attractive floral odors that insects locating on trees. Does VOCs correlate with floral insect richness, abundance and diversity, we want to know that the insects visiting odd or even flower branches correlated with floral odor closely, so that definite the branches kept when pruning Prunus persica, and promote harvest to get economic benefit.Sample sites that the 1280.0 m altitude of sunny and shady slope habitats in Wan Bailin Ecological Garden, Shanxi Province, China , with temperature 9˚C – 31˚C, humidity 27% – 48%, precipitation probability 5% – 90%, sunshine duration 2 – 12 h, 2 – 3 level wind, UV intensity weak-strong, atmospheric pressure 1002 – 1016 Pa, 05:00-5:52 sunrise, 19:06-19:53 sundown. 186 plants Prunus persica are surrounded by the Sophora japonica in the West, Berberis thunbergii cv. Atropurpurea pruning balls in the South, and Malus micromalus in the Northeast. On shady slope, 169 plants of Prunus persica are surrounded by Armeniaca vulgaris in the West, Salix matsudana in the South, and garden road in the North . Volatile collections were conducted from 2 trees of Prunus persica on sunny and shady slope on 29 April 2016, respectively. Two fully blooming floral branches of each tree were sampled. Food grade polythene bag  was used to include the branches with inlet and outlet glass tube with absorbent carbasus . QC-1S Atmospheric sampling instrument  was used to generate the air flow of 1.5 L/min filtered with activated carbon. Each collection was done 10 min. Volatiles analysis were conducted by Turbo Matrix 50 ATD  and Clarus GC /Clarus 600 T MS   with Turb oMass 5.4.2 recognition pattern were used for chemical analysis of collected volatiles. Carrier gas velocity was 2.0 ml/min. First stage thermal desorption temperature  was 260˚C, keeping for 10 min. Cold trap temperature in the first stage thermal desorption process was −30˚C. From first stage to second stage thermal desorption process heat-up speed was 40˚C/s. The second stage thermal desorption temperature was 300˚C, maintaining for 5 min. Thermal desorption mode was import diversion, general dry for 10 min. Desorption flow rate 25.00 ml/min, import diversion flow rate 10.00 ml/min, export diversion flow rate 20.00 ml/min. Chromatographic separation condition that chromatographic column was Elite-5 MS capillary column . Temperature was programmed from 40˚C  to 180˚C at 6˚C/min , then increased to 270˚C at 15˚C/min that hold 3 min. Mass spectrometric detection condition was 220˚C ion source temperature, 250˚C interface temperature and 29 – 600 amu m/z scan range. Constituents were identified by peak area normalization method that calculate relative percentage content of each volatile compound from Prunus persica flower in comparison with standard spetral library NIST08 and combined with the retention time and related chemical experience, according to ATD-GC/MS get TIC effective peak.

Amount of agronomical valuable structure was the highest on biofarm and varies from 42% in the depth 0 – 20 cm, 55% in 20 – 40 cm to 69% in the depth 40 – 60 cm. In comparison the traditional cultivation shows 40% in the depth of 0 – 20 cm, 31% in 20 – 40 cm and 47% in the depth of 40 – 60 cm. Amount of microaggregates  shows that soil with traditional cultivation has the highest portion of such aggregates in the depth from 20 to 40 cm. All these results can be evaluated as lower aggregates stability, which is direct effect of ploughing in comparison with the soil on organic farm, which is cultivated without ploughing.Our results showed that land use connected with specialised management practices directly influence the spatial distribution as well as functioning ecology of earthworms in land. The earthworms density in soil monoliths from ecological farm recalculated per square meter shows that the amount of individuals was  249 – 246 – 7 for 5 years ecological farming, 3 years ecological farming and conventional farming respectively. Ploughing contributes to a reduction in the population size and diversity of species of earthworms, as it physically disturbs the environment of earthworms and causes mechanical damage to earthworms, especially epigeic and anecic ones. These conclusions were clearly confirmed also in our study. In organic farm, where the amount of earthworms’ individuals exceeds several times the respective number in conventional soil cultivation, the soil is not ploughed, not turned, just cultivated by spade. Concerning biomass, these results show significant positive effect of organic farming on the amount of earthworms in comparison to conventional cultivation . The biomass was the highest in 3 years ecological farming comparing with 5 years. Experimental farm Borovce Microbial activity expressed as CO2 productivity and dehydrogenase activity shows positive effect of soil saving technologies—good agricultural practices on its development . Soil saving cultivation practises increase dramatically the CO2 productivity in comparison with conventional cultivation.

The best results are in soil with mulch. Dehydrogenase activity is an accelerator of biological oxidation of organic substances in soil. It is influenced by several soil factors as soil type, pH and organic carbon. According to Mucha the dehydrogenase activity is influenced by complex of agrotechnical measures focused on increase of biological potential. This is in accordance with our findings. The dehydrogenase increases together with humus content, hydroponic bucket which can be visible from Figure 3 and Figure 4 respectively. In comparison with conventional cultivation was always higher for alternative technologies, where also the highest humus content was determined.Concerning soil moisture, the increase in it was the highest in mulch type of cultivation  followed with minimum and no-till. Except the depth 0.10 – 0.20 m the mulch had higher soil moisture content in comparison with the other soil saving cultivation technologies. From the depth of 0.4 m the minimum till field had the second highest soil moisture content. It can be the reason of better soil permeability after minimum till in comparison with no-till. Soil moisture content was always the lowest in the field with conventional cultivation but this can be also influence of plants uptake as the yield was high here.The yield was not always the highest on soil with soil saving technologies applied . In case of winter wheat and corn the trend has been balanced but in case of soybean and mainly in case of spring barley the trend was declining for the yield average in soils with alternative cultivation in comparison with traditional one.Anyhow, the positive environmental effect is considerable and it is possible to expect in prolonged time also its positive effect on soil fertility as well. At present time, it is important to consider the soil cultivation not only according to yields but also according to its influence on soil properties development from long timeline and according to the principles of sustainability. Cultivation of soil without ploughing—turning the soil can have several positive effects. It influences soil aggregates stability and biodiversity—reflected as development of rich earthworms population. All these influences are complex processes including soil physical, chemical and biological regimes. Dehydrogenase activity  is influenced by the presence of readily degradable organic substances but humus content as well. It reflects the level of microbiological settlement of the soil as well as the supply of soil with organic matter. It is part of the metabolism of all microorganisms.

Even if several external agents can influence it, DHA can be used as a general indicator of soil biological activity. DHA increases together with CO2 production in soil and shows positive effect of soil saving cultivation technologies. Increase of stable humus content is also complex, time demanding process. Soil as CO2 sink has an important role in climate change mitigation. The yield on the farm in Borovce shows that not always the good agricultural practises have to lead immediately to the increase of soil fertility but from environmental point of view and with respect to cultivation of soil in sustainable way are these practises a good and achievable solution.Forest is defined as an area occupied by ecosystems where the minimum density of tree cover is 10 percent, with a height of more than 3 meters, usually associated with flora and fauna, on natural soils. From a botanical point of view, a forest is a plant formation, characterized by the importance of the tree layer, but also includes shrubs, low plants, climbers and epiphytes. Many forest trees live in symbiosis with fungi and other microorganisms, and many depend on animals for the transport of pollen, seeds or propagules. From an ecological point of view, the forest is a complex and rich ecosystem, offering many habitats to many species and populations of animals, plants, fungal and microbial maintaining, for the most part, interdependence relationships. Forest degradation is defined by changes that negatively affect forest population, particularly reducing production capacity . Therefore, forest degradation is not to be confused with deforestation. Tropical ecosystems are the main source of emissions due to land-use change and the greatest uncertainty is that emissions come from African rainforests . More than 99% of the forest area in the Congo Basin area is made up of primary or regenerated as opposed to plantations. Today, these forests, like many others around the world, are being de-deeded and degraded resulting in a fragmentation of the landscape, and the consequences of which are not only for ecosystems but also for the way of life of local people are becoming increasingly critical. This loss is also one of the causes of climate change that currently threatens the survival of the human species on the planet. Deforestation and forest degradation are two phenomena that under the basis of the implementation of a new economic incentive instrument adopted at the 13th Conference of the Parties  of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, held in Bali in 2006.

DRC is firmly committed to reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, there is still no national consensus on the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation. Changes in land use, such as deforestation and forest degradation, are a major source of global carbon dioxide emissions after the burning of fossil fuels. Deforestation in Africa and mainly in the Democratic Republic of Congo is a poorly measured phenomenon. Forest ecosystems in the Democratic Republic of Congo contain nearly half of Africa’s dense, wet tropical forests. This resource is under increasing pressure from commercial or artisanal logging, slash-and-burn itinerant agriculture, firewood harvesting, mining and urban centre expansion. Deforestation, which leads to a reduction in forest cover in favour of other land use and use, is the result of multiple causes. These causes are often controversial, and impacts, depending on local conditions, can be more or less intense depending on the area. It is also worth noting the difficulty of assessing the direct factors of deforestation, and indirect factors related to other underlying issues may be in fact responsible for deforestation. Thus, logging can be carried out according to principles of sustainable management but generate indirect effects; for example, opening forest trails can eventually lead to their permanent or itinerant use by farmers seeking land to be cleared for their livelihoods. The attribution of deforestation to direct or underlying causes can, if not taken precautions, stackable planters produce double-counting in the overall estimate of deforestation. Deforestation corresponds to a clear conversion of forest land to other uses with a reduction in forest cover to a density of less than 10 percent. Deforestation and degradation are not evenly distributed throughout the country, and it is worth noting the existence of “hot spots” of deforestation, particularly on the edge of major cities in the Savanicole strip  as well as in the Bowl , in the North of the Province of Ecuador as well as in the Albertin Rift area. The Democratic Republic of Congo  is the border of deforestation in Africa where 22 billion metric tons of carbons are stored in living biomass its forests and forested savannahs. Rapid deforestation here will not only lead to loss of local ecosystem services and goods, but it can also lead to significant carbon emissions. The consequences of deforestation are many. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the plundering of the forest and the clear cuts caused by the increase in logging roads and the devastation of the forest could lead to the loss of 40% of the forest cover. The three main drivers of deforestation and degradation cited by the study are agriculture commercial  and food crops  and the cutting of firewood . Failure to act quickly, the study asserts that around 10% of the forest land of the Democratic Republic of Congo is at risk of disappearing by 2030, and 15% – 20% by 2050. Study says deforestation is expected to reduce DRC’s forest heritage from 12 to 13 million ha by 2030.The Democratic Republic of Congo  is one of the largest countries in Africa, covering 2,345,409 km2 . Located straddling Ecuador, it shares nearly 9000 km of borders with nine countries . Stretching across Ecuador, the Democratic Republic of Congo enjoys a warm and humid equatorial climate all year round in the Central, and tropical in the south and north with alternating dry and rainy seasons. Rainfall is plentiful and the DRC has 52% of the continent’s total fresh water reserves. It has an extensive, dense and well-distributed water system throughout its territory. It is dominated by the Congo Basin, a 4670-m long river with a flow of 30,000 m3 per second at the mouth, making it the second largest in the world after the Amazon.

The relief of the Democratic Republic of Congo is very diverse with a large bowl to the centre and west, bordered to the east and south by high plateaus. The east of the country is dominated by a volcanic chain interspersed with lakes. Vegetation defines three major natural regions: the dense rainforest in the central basin and to the west; dry forests and savannahs in the southern part and on the northern fringe; and mountain ecosystems along the eastern border. The forest, which covers 155 million hectares of the national territory, makes the DRC one of the largest forest countries in the world, with more than half of the forest in the Congo Basin.  The Democratic Republic of Congo has 155 million hectares  of forests divided between 4 major ecosystems: dense rainforest, mountain forests, clear forest  and forest-savannah mosaic. All Congolese forests currently sequester a carbon stock that can be estimated at 40 Gigatonnes , the equivalent of 140 Gt of potential CO2 emissions . The historical deforestation rate has fluctuated between 0.2% and 0.3% in the DRC over the last 20 years, which is relatively low compared to the global average  over the same period . DRC has 19.441 million tonnes of carbon stocks in live forest biomass . The Democratic Republic of Congo has 155 million hectares of forest.

The length of the shoots of the second order is up to 80 – 100 cm. In the phase of mass flowering, the plant forms from 35 to 40 flowers on one bush. At the same time, the fruiting phase began. This month, the simultaneous formation of buds, flowers and fruits was observed on one plant. The flowering process depends on the climatic conditions. With an increase in air temperature and a decrease in relative humidity, the number of opened flowers increases. The caper’s need for high temperature, both during seed germination and during growth and development, once again confirms its thermophilic nature. In the summer months, there is a very intensive growth and development of capers. In mid-July, the length of annual shoots reached up to 4 m. The length of the leaves is 4 × 4.5 × 5 cm, the length of the fruit is 4 cm, the width is 2 – 3 cm. the drying of the leaves was not noted. In August-September, the growth and development of the plant continues, in October at a temperature of +16˚C – 17˚C, the leaves dry out and the aboveground part dies off completely.People that were living in large and dense cities, a good quality of life depend largely on the quality of the urban environment. Nearly four out of five European citizens live in urban areas where existing environmental quality limits are breached. Public parks and private gardens play a critical role in supporting biodiversity and providing important ecosystem services in urban areas. Especially, green areas outside hospitals are considered not only to be necessary but also beneficial. Renewed interest in nature within the hospital environment has resulted in research documenting the benefits of nature for reducing stress, improving mood, and increasing healthcare satisfaction.

Studies described that even a few minutes of visual exposure to nature can significantly reduce patients stress. The benefits that individuals can derive from plants and contact with nature have been discussed for thousands of years. Historical accounts suggest that this belief was an organizing principle for the exemplary hospitals of the past, where a primary goal was making patients more comfortable. The main goal of this study was to investigate users’ attitudes towards landscape design regarding the existing and future improvements to outdoor grounds and spaces,stacking pots by using a case study in order to collect data from the hospital users. The objectives of the study were: to develop an understanding of users experience within the landscape surrounding the hospital buildings; to investigate users considerations of landscape design in the improvement and maintenance of the landscape; to recognize and estimate the characteristics that the users who were surveyed felt they had contributed towards a sustainable friendly environment; to outline a set of recommendations to improve the landscape that surrounds the hospitals; and to consider users’ needs in the planning and design of hospitals.Findings from several studies of non-patient groups suggest that even brief visual encounters with real or simulated natural settings can elicit significant psycho-physiologic restoration within as little as 3 – 5 min. This restoration is manifested as reduced negative effects, and heightened positive effects and changes in physiologic systems that are indicative of reduced arousal or stress mobilization. Accordingly, Sherman et al. focused on the activities of the users in the hospital, and found that 66% of staff garden usage was in the form of “walk-throughs” from one place to another. Although this activity does not fully exploit the gardens to their full capacity, research such as Kaplan’s on micro-restorative experiences suggests that even these brief encounters may enhance staff’s well-being and job satisfaction, both of which are predictors of patient healthcare satisfaction. Furthermore, Douglas and Douglas investigated patients’ perceptions based on qualitative and quantitative methodologies. The results from a questionnaire survey provide suggestions for radical improvements, and found a sustainable health care environment to be supported of the patients’ health and recovery. A number of studies have discussed the relationship between mental stress and the healing effect of the natural and urban environment.

One study supports the view that the hospital environment is stressful because it is considered to be complex and not friendly. The authors believe that continuous exposure to such an environment leads to mental  exhaustion. In such cases, they recommend exposure to a less complex natural environment, which would enable them to rest, develop companionship and burden them with a smaller amount of information. Humans have a natural tendency to prefer the natural landscape rather than the built-up environment, particularly when the latter presents an absolute lack of vegetation and water. Many people who are under stress seek solace in the natural environment, which they believe could make them feel better. Cooper-Marcus and Barnes evaluated four hospital gardens in the US with the use of observations and interviews of patients, visitors and staff. Their findings showed that from those interviewed 95% experienced a positive change of mood in the garden. During an investigation conducted by Cooper-Marcus, a sample of students in California was asked to describe where they go when they wish to escape from a stressful situation. The majority  answered that they go outdoors to a natural or designed environment. Ulrich, of the University of Texas, found that patients’ views towards natural settings are associated with shorter hospital stays. Examining medical records, he found that patients who viewed trees during their recovery period needed fewer strong painkillers and their recovery was quicker compared with patients who had a view of a wall. Furthermore, patients who were able to view trees more frequently received positive written comments from staff about their condition in their medical records . Those patients with views of a wall, however, had far more negative evaluative comments . The hospital staff can also benefit from it by having access to windows that make it possible to view garden spaces. Indirect proof of the aforementioned is the satisfaction that patients and staff express when they find themselves in a natural environment, compared with being inside the hospital building.This research was carried out using a method referred as ‘stratified sampling’. The total population was divided into homogeneous, non-overlapping sub-population groups, called ‘strata’. This stratified sampling method is indicated for similar research, because it presents smaller losses in the evaluation of the various parameters compared with the ‘simple random sampling’ method. People were divided into four strata on the basis of their specialty in the hospital. The strata were as follows: stratum Α: doctors; stratum Β: nurses; stratum C: administrative Staff; stratum D: medical students. Responders were selected to provide diversity both in terms of their length of experience and the type of specialty area across the major clinical divisions of the hospital. Thus, the researchers sought to interview a variety of responders comprising the young and middle-aged as well as males and females.EU Habitats Directive 92/43 identified the species of European Community  interest whose conservation requires strict protection .

Preservation, protection and improvement of the quality of the environment, including the conservation of natural habitats and flora, represent a fundamental general interest objective of the EC. Conservation of endemic species requires a thorough knowledge of their biological and morphological features in order to define an appropriate strategy. The case study presented herein highlights how conventional strategies of propagation, such as the germination of seeds, do not prove to be efficient without the use of germplasm ex-situ conservation techniques. Androsace mathildae Levier is a glacial relict present on a few stations in the Gran Sasso and Majella Mountains, so it is classified as a rare plant according to the Red List of Plants of Italy, it is further included in Appendix I of the Bern Convention, in Annex II and IV of Habitats Directive 92/43 CEE and it is protected under Regional Law n. 45/79 of the Abruzzo Italian Region. A noteworthy aspect in plant survival at high altitude relates to the snow cover, that determines the distribution of plant species in the alpine zone. The snow cover has protective effects for the plants, consisting in the prevention of exposure to low temperatures, winter desiccation, ice blast and solar radiation . However, prolonged life under the snow requires resistance to physico-chemical stresses and snowbed pathogens. In particular, the snow cover affects the phenorhythm of the plants, which need to have sufficient carbon reserves to overcome the prolonged winter and for clonal or reproductive propagation. Vegetative shoot apices and leaf meristems in most alpine plants are buried several centimeters below the ground and thus are not exposed to low and high temperature extremes. The snow cover and the paucity of humus present in the cracks where Androsace mathildae lives cause water stress due to reduced water availability. Alpine plants acquire water and mineral resources from substrates which differ in many respects from those common at lower altitudes. The grain size distribution found in alpine soil depends strongly on parent material. By avoiding nucleation, a process called supercooling allows leaf and stem tissues to cool below freezing point without freezing. This process is favored by compartmentalization of plant water into cells and vessels, by cell wall impregnation with lignin and by the absence of particles which could initiate the crystallization process. The high capacity of clonal propagation in these high altitude species is due to the adjustments that the plants have developed to protect themselves from frost. In fact, strawberry gutter system the late frosts at high altitudes endanger the blooms and thus the possibility of sexual reproduction. The compression of live zone and the small scale patterns of life conditions in steep alpine terrain represent natural experiments which provide unbeaten opportunities to study the plant adaptation and the mechanisms for survival of physical stress conditions.

The potentially most climate change-susceptible taxa are those of mountain peaks, with limited distribution areas, such as rare or endemic species. The alpine flora is at risk of extinction in the European mountains, especially where there is no possibility of moving to a higher altitude . Species occurring in isolated populations at the highest peaks of the Apennines, such as A. mathildae, are also at risk. For conservation purposes, the plant is currently maintained as a small number of individuals in the flower beds in the Alpine Botanical Garden of Campo Imperatore. This garden is located in the Gran Sasso massif, within the “Gran Sasso e Montidella Laga” National Park, at 2117 m asl; thus its peculiar location makes it ideal for in situ conservation of Central Appennine high altitude species. The living plant collections and, increasingly, seed banks and cryopreserved tissue cultures maintained by botanic gardens, form a significant ex situ reservoir of endangered plants. Today several botanical gardens use in vitro techniques in germplasm conservation, and long-term storage of material in culture for potential applications of cryopreservation. Androsace mathildae can be found in the cracks of limestone at an altitude between 2500 and 2900 m asl. Its discovery dates back to 1875 and it is ascribed to the Swiss naturalist E. Levier while he was hiking on the Gran Sasso Mountain. He dedicated the plant to his wife Mathilde, since she saw it first, and he performed the early studies on its iconography and botanical characteristics. The genus Androsace L.,  comprises about 150 species distributed in extra-tropical mountain ranges of the Northern hemisphere. They are particularly common in the temperate-cold regions of the Arctic and in Asia, North America and Europe. A. mathildae, a European member of Aretia, is a nano-chamaephyte present in the higher peaks of the Central Appennines; it is a perennial cushion plant, up to 3 cm high, with single rosettes or forming a cushion with a diameter no larger than 3 – 5 cm. The leaves are basal, lanceolate, shiny green and glabrous except for a few hairs at the leaf tips. The flowers are axillary, single, and the pedicel is often curved when fruiting. The calyx is green, with a stellate pubescence, and the corolla has white petals with a yellow eye. The fruit ripens in late summer and contains from three to seven seeds , which upon falling end up inside the leaves of the basal rosette or slightly away from it; the flowering time occurs in June-July. Until recently, it was believed that Androsace mathildae was also present in the mountains of the Balkan peninsula.

In the individual development of each individual, its genetic program is embodied. Ontogenetic or age-related changes include all aspects of development: metabolic processes, organogenesis, reproduction, aging or rejuvenation.Comprehensive land improvement in the whole region can effectively protect cultivated land resources, realize centralized contiguous cultivated land, and thus carry out large-scale management of rural cultivated land, accelerate the pace of agricultural modernization, improve rural ecological environment, and promote the development and construction of green villages in China, which plays a vital role in the coordinated development of urban and rural areas in China. The remediation of inefficient garden land and defective forest land is one of the important remediation types in the comprehensive land remediation of the whole region, the research on the remediation potential of inefficient garden land and defective forest land can effectively broaden the ways of supplementing cultivated land, provide strong support for solving the problem of balance between occupation and compensation of cultivated land , and have extremely important significance for promoting the scientific development of land resources in China and improving the use value of land resources. At present, there are many researches on the analysis of land remediation potential , for example, Li Quanbao  discussed the key problems and suggestions in the development of garden land and defective forest land as new cultivated land sources on the basis of exploring the development practice of garden land and defective forest land , Jiang Changsheng  explored some methods about the development of remediation potential of garden land and defective forest land, which provided methodological guidance for the analysis of remediation potential of inefficient garden land and defective forest land .

Li Quanbao  focused on the problems encountered in the actual development of garden land and defective forest land, while Jiang Changsheng  only studied the technical methods needed for the development of garden land and defective forest land. Neither scholar discussed the problems and methods together. In this paper, analytic hierarchy process is used to analyze the remediation potential of inefficient garden land and defective forest land in Zhemu Town, not only the technical methods but also the remediation potential were studied, nft growing system it is suggested that the local people’s government can make reasonable arrangements for the land remediation project in Zhemu Town with reference to the analysis results and the wishes of the villagers, so as to contribute to improving the income of the villagers in Zhemu Town, promoting the coordinated development of economy, society and ecology in the project area, and realizing the rural revitalization strategy in China.It is not only necessary but also urgent to renovate inefficient orchards. By selecting suitable crops and improving planting methods according to local conditions, the output of orchards can be effectively improved, and it is also conducive to improving the living standards and happiness of local villagers. Using ArcGis10.3 analysis and calculation, the total area of remediation area of low-efficiency garden in Zhemu Town is 785.62 hectares, of which the first-class potential area covers an area of 394.19 hectares, accounting for 50.17% of the total area of remediation area of low-efficiency garden; The secondary potential area covers an area of 305.65 hectares, accounting for 38.91%; the third-level potential area covers an area of 61.84 hectares, accounting for 7.87%; the fourth-level potential area covers an area of 23.94 hectares, accounting for 3.05%. The remediation potential of low-efficiency garden in Zhemu Town is mainly the first-class potential area and the second-class potential area, while the third-class potential area and the fourth-class potential area are small .

From the potential distribution map of inefficient garden in Zhemu Town , it can be seen that the primary and secondary potential areas of remediation potential in Zhemu Town are concentrated, mainly distributed in the central and western parts of Zhemu Town and the southeast, and sporadically distributed in the northern region; the third and fourth potential areas are mainly distributed in the south of Zhemu Town and a few in the southeast. The reason for this situation is that the Lijiang River passes through the north of Zhemu Town, the Xiangsi River, a tributary of the Lijiang River, flows through the central and western parts of Zhemu Town from northeast to southwest, and there is Baizhujing Reservoir in the southeast, which makes the water resources in the north, central and western parts of Zhemu Town abundant; moreover, the farmland infrastructure in the central and western parts of Zhemu Town is relatively perfect and the traffic conditions are good, and the slope in the central and western parts of Zhemu Town is relatively low, which makes the inefficient garden remediation potential in the central and western parts of Zhemu Town great; because the distribution of inefficient gardens in northern China is less, the first and second potential areas are only sporadic; the steep slope in the middle and east of Zhemu Town makes the renovation potential of inefficient garden in the middle and east of Zhemu Town small. It is suggested that the government of Zhemu Town can refer to the research results and combine the wishes of local villagers to scientifically arrange inefficient garden remediation projects, and should focus on remediation of inefficient gardens in the central, western and southeastern regions of Zhemu Town.Defective forest land refers to forest land which is destroyed by natural or human intervention, with low coverage rate, low economic value and low ecological value. The development and remediation of defective forest land will effectively improve the quality of local cultivated land, enhance the economic value of land, increase the income of villagers, and maintain and adjust the local ecological environment. According to the analysis and calculation of ArcGis10.3, the total area of remediation area of residual forest land in Zhemu Town is 1002.94 hectares, of which the first-class potential area covers 554.27 hectares, accounting for 55.27% of the total area of remediation area of residual forest land; the secondary potential area covers an area of 289.65 hectares, accounting for 28.88%; The third-level potential area covers an area of 54.88 hectares, accounting for 5.47%; the fourthlevel potential area covers an area of 104.14 hectares, accounting for 10.38%.

The largest potential area of low-efficiency garden remediation in Zhemu Town is the first-class potential area, followed by the second-class potential area, the fourth-class potential area again, and the third-class potential area is the smallest . From the potential distribution map of defective forest land in Zhemu Town , it can be seen that the primary and secondary potential areas of remediation potential in Zhemu Town are concentrated, mainly distributed in the northern, central and western regions of Zhemu Town and the southeast region; the third-level potential areas are scattered in Zhemu Town, while the fourth-level potential areas are mainly distributed in the south and southeast border areas of Zhemu Town. The reason for this situation is that the Lijiang River passes through the north of Zhemu Town, Xiangsi River, a tributary of Lijiang River, flows through the central and western parts of Zhemu Town from northeast to southwest, there is Baizhujing Reservoir in the southeast, which makes the water resources in the north, midwest and southeast of Zhemu Town abundant. In addition, in the north, vertical hydroponic nft system central and western regions of Zhemu Town, the farmland infrastructure is relatively perfect, the traffic accessibility is good, the slope in the central and western regions is relatively low, and the distribution of residual forests in the northern region is relatively concentrated, which makes the first-class potential area in the north of Zhemu Town the widest distribution and the greatest remediation potential, followed by the central and western regions and the southeast region; the southern and central eastern parts of Zhemu Town have a large slope and high terrain, which makes the remediation potential of the defective forest land in the central and eastern parts of Zhemu Town small. In the southeast boundary of Zhemu Town, it is mainly a four-level potential area with small remediation potential due to its far distance from the water source and large slope. It is suggested that the government of Zhemu Town can refer to the research results and combine the wishes of local villagers to scientifically arrange the remediation projects of defective forest land, and should focus on the remediation of defective forest land in the north, central and western regions of Zhemu Town, especially the defective forest land concentrated in the north.This is because climate is multivariate and ecological transitions and transformations are all related to climate. However, the rapid change in the global climate may cause unprecedented disruption of the biological processes. One of the implications of a novel shift in the climate system is that species may currently or in the future be relegated to climates that are sub-optimal for growth and survival. Also, shrinkage in the coverage of the boreal forest and extinction of some important members of the forest is anticipated. Boreal forest is an important component of the global carbon sink system that is sensitive to temperature. There are predictions concerning the migratory pattern of trees in response to climate change. However, some of the predictions were made from coarse scale observations which may not take into consideration the intraspecific genetic responses. Some tree species comprises of populations that are physiologically attuned to different climates. In addition, there are factors  other than climate that may influence the migratory pattern of a species. It is therefore important to assess trees’ responses at individual species level. One proposed strategy to offsetting potentially negative impacts of climate change on forest systems is to match genotypes with the future climates. This idea is based on the provenance trials traditionally used to introduce seed sources to a new climate.

The provenance trials have been combined with a statistical model  to predict species response to climate change . The underlying hypothesis for the model is that geographic variables are surrogate for elusive climate that governs micro-evolution and adaptation at local scale. However, the resulting predictions are often complex. In addition, implementing this approach requires a long-term provenance study and populations are necessarily planted in multiple sites. With the bourgeoning availability of climate data, climate-transfer function was developed to estimate the climatic distance to which populations may be transferred. It is based on the view that organismal distributions are primarily controlled by climate with other factors being secondary. Its advantage is that populations may not necessarily be planted in more than one site to generate a reliable result. This approach has been popularly used to assess species level response to climate change. In this paper, we present preliminary data of a study where we used transfer functions to assess the transferability of 25 populations of white birch to a test site in Northern Ontario. White birch  is a widely distributed species in North America and the most prevalent of all the birches. It is an ecologically important hardwood species in the Canadian boreal forest. There is a rising commercial interest in its products and its inclusion in hardwood-conifer stand management. Although there is an increased silvicultural knowledge base for the species, information about local populations, transfer potentials and climatic guidelines for its transfer in order to take advantage of its genetic diversity is still limited. Previous studies have reported variations in climatic response between seed sources from its southern and northern limits. The northern seed sources appear to germinate at low temperatures compared with the southern sources. Such variation has been reported for some other temperate species but caution is sounded against any generalization without first testing the seed sources in a uniform environment . So far, no such testing exists for white birch. Although one seed source testing of white birch was done, the sources used in the study and the test sites were only restricted to the interior of British Columbia. The objective of this study was to investigate how variations in seed source determine the success of white birch in the field and to understand the underlying climatic factors that may influence the transfer potential of the species. In this study we were able to directly relate the influence of the seed sources to the outcomes of the transfer functions.What is striking in this study is the direct relationships between the greenhouse growth performances and the first year field data, especially the correlation between the initial height and survival. Indeed, seedling growth investment guarantees survival and it may also be a requisite for resource acquisition and resource balance of seedlings.

The metrological data show that the average maximum and minimum temperatures are 30˚C and 19˚C respectively. June, July and August are the warmest months  while January, February and December are the coldest months . It should be mentioned, however, that about 10 days a year the temperature is equal or below 0˚C. As far as the humidity of the area is concerned, it is considered a humid area  where the humidity reaches its maximum in winter  and the minimum in summer  with a mean value of 40% – 45%. The total annual radiation reaches 525 milliwatt/hour where it reaches its maximum in June and July and its minimum in December and January. Eight to nine hours is the sunshine duration as an average during the day, this is equivalent to 69% – 74%. In summer sunshine duration reaches 80% – 90% while in winter it does not exceed 70%. The prevailing wind direction is northwesterly and westerly. During spring, a south-easterly wind present refereed to as “khansin”. This wind comes from Saudi Arabia and usually brings sand storms. Mean annual wind velocities are ranging from 3.6 to 5.7 m/sec with the highest mean monthly wind velocities taking place in the period June to August. Potential evapotranspiration  map  shows that the rate is higher in the south relative to the north. The average annual ETo is higher than 2000 mm. ETo reaches its maximum values from May to September and its minimum during January. During summer, 50% of ETo annual amount occurs while it is 22% – 23% during spring and autumn, and it reaches its minimum  during winter. The average annual day with fog is 27 days, and the maximum number of fog days occurs in December and January. As far as thunderstorms are concerned, its mean annual number of days is 7 usually occurring during the period October to May. The average annual dust days are of the range 36 – 53 days, and they usually occur from April to August with the peak in June and July. The western parts suffer more than other parts from the dust storms.The marshland is located in a very flat area. It rises gently toward the southwestern plateau with an elevation of 940 m and from the northeast toward Zagros Mountains, which reaches 3000 m. The area is featureless and very plain.

The widest portion is about 200 km while the narrowest portion is about 45 km near Basrah . There are some areas, which are below sea level. Within the area, the Tigris and Euphrates separate in many sub branches,grow table hydroponic which disappear in the large marshland that occupies 15,000 – 20,000 square kilometers depending on the availability of water. The main marches in the area are Hammar, Huwaeizah and Qurnah or Central marches .This marsh is located south of the Euphrates River and extends from Nasiriyah in the west to the outskirts of Basrah on Shatt Al-Arab in the east. Toward the south, saline lakes and sand dune belt of the Southern Desert border it. It occupies and area of 2800 square kilometers as a permanent lake before the 1970’s which is about 120 km long and 25 km wide. During the flood, it can extend to 4500 square kilometers. The maximum water depth in this marsh is within a range of 1.8 to 3 m. During summer; parts of the wet area dry along its shoreline and banks, and islands emerge. These islands are usually used for agricultural purposes. The main source of water is by flooding and tributaries of the Euphrates River. Another source is the overflowing from the Qurnah Marsh, also nourished the Al Hammar Marsh. Groundwater recharge was another source of replenishment.These marshes lie between the Tigris River to the east and the Euphrates River to the south; the area is roughly delimited by a triangle between Nasiriyah, Qalat Saleh and Qurnah. During seventies of last century, the Qurnah Marshes covered an area of about 3000 square kilometers bounded by the Tigris River east and the Euphrates River from the south. These marshes receive water from Tigris’s distributaries, namely the Shatt al-Muminah and Majar al-Kabir south of Amarah. The water depth in some areas reaches 3 m. The area consists of reed beds and several permanent lakes including, Umm al Binni Lake. The Al-Zikri and Hawr Umm Al-Binni lakes are two of the notable lakes and are 3 m deep.This marsh area is partly located to the east of the Tigris River and some parts in Iran, which is referred to as Hawr Al-Azim. The source of water is by the Karkheh River from Iran, while from Iraq, the Tigris distributaries Al-Musharrah and Al-Kahla supply the marsh. This marsh covers an area of about 3000 square kilometers, and it is 80 km wide at the north and 30 km from the south. The southern part is usually seasonal while the central and northern parts are permanent having 6 m depth of water in some parts. This marsh is characterized by moderately dense vegetation that can be found in the permanent areas. Hydraulic structure built during the 20th century; construction of major hydraulic works played an essential role in controlling the floods. Al-Hindiya Barrage was inaugurated in 1913 on the Euphrates River while Al-Kut Barrage was constructed in 1938, which directed more water flow towards the Gharraf River to supply irrigation for field agriculture, thereby decreasing the amount of water flowing from the Tigris into the Qurnah  and Huweizah marshes.

All these factors reduced the flow of the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers. Furthermore, many oil fields were discovered within the area that meant drying 1000 square kilometers of the marshes.After the 1990s, the Iraqi Government started to drain the marshes for military and security reasons and 63% of the marshes disappeared in 1992 compared to 1985. To enable the army to move inside the marshes, the central government started to execute five major drainage projects to prevent water from the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers from reaching the marches that were constructed to drain the marshes are discussed in details by. Later, the army launched a major attack against marsh dwellers using artillery, mortar and ground attacks. Two third of the marshes were not receiving water inputs in 1993 and in 2000 less than 10% remained. The population of marsh’s dwellers before 1990 was about 500,000 and due to the military activities’ 120,000 marsh dwellers left to Iran. Later, in 1997, 192,000 marsh dwellers were still living southern Iraq, and 200,000 remained in all Iraq. Some local dwellers turned to farming to survive. This caused a number of negative environmental implications. One of the implications is poor water quality. It should be mentioned, however, that the area was highly contaminated by army munitions and poison gas. Later, after 2003, people living near the marshes started to break down the diversions’ structures to let water entering the marsh lands. The Iraqi Government and the International community started to restore the marshes. Vegetation and wetland increased by 58% and the marshland was covering an area of 44,950 square kilometers in 2008. Then, the area was reduced to 3420 square kilometers in April 2009 and to 2313 square kilometers in July 2009. The area increase and decrease variations are due to water availability and shortages. For this reason, this phenomenon continued with time .The volume of water required to restore 75% of the marshes is about 13 BCM. To find out this; we have to look at the whole water availability in Iraq. Water resources in Iraq mainly depend on the volume of water of the Tigris and Euphrates and their tributaries that enter in Iraq from other riparian countries.The two rivers rise in Turkey while some of the tributaries of the Tigris rise in Iran. Any activity within Turkey and Iran affects the quantity and quality of the water entering Iraq. Long-term average quantity of water entering Iraq from main Tigris and its tributaries are about 21.2 and 24.78 BCM while the Euphrates long average annual flow that is received by Iraq is about 30 BCM. Since the 1970s, the flow of the two rivers and their tributaries started to decrease. The flow of the Tigris River and its tributaries at Baghdad was 1207 cumecs for the period 1931-1960 and it dropped to 927 and 522 cumecs for the periods 1961-2000 and after the year 2000 respectively. The average annual flow of the Euphrates started to decrease from 30 BCM to about 4.4 BCM. This decrease of the flow of the rivers is due to the projects executed in Turkey, Iran and Syria and climate change.Turkey, Iran and Syria started to build dams in the upper parts of the catchment .

Turkey started to execute what is known as the GAP project. This project involves 22 dams and 19 power generation plants. Iran blocked the Karoon River which supplies about 50% of the flow of Shat Al-Arab River. In addition, other dams were constructed and all the valleys entering Iraq from Iran were diverted. Syria constructed 4 dams  only, and this is due to the security situation in that country. All these projects caused a decrease in the flow of the rivers and decrease in the water quality of the river too. Furthermore, climate change also affected the flow of the two rivers. All research carried out concerning the Middle East indicates that this area is suffering more than other areas in the world due to climate change, and this caused decrease of precipitation and increase of the temperature. Prediction models indicate that there will be 15% – 25% reduction in precipitation, and that will cause a reduction of surface water flow about 29% to 73%. This situation will cause grave depletion of groundwater resources. Water scarcity will affect agriculture, municipal water supply, sanitation industry and life quality. It is expected that Iraq will suffer from water shortages where it will reach −20.6 BCM in 2040.In addition, in case the situation remains as it is, all future predictions suggest that all riparian countries will be under water shortage stress. Bilateral talks and/or agreements are not sufficient to begin discussions for a regional solution. Therefore, such negotiations and discussions require a third party to intervene to bring all riparian countries together. To reach a final solution and sign an agreement between riparian countries this requires an external mediator that can highlight and frame the issues in such a way that each country believes that it is gaining by joining the discussion and will lose something by avoiding the discussions. The third party  should be influential on the international political level,grow table has the capability of financial support and has high technical skills that can be used. In such a case, all parties will be seriously involved in the discussions. Furthermore, it is believed that such negotiations between Iraq and others should include commercial, agricultural, industrial, military and security, trade and water. This is because Turkey is the dominant regional power and will not take the discussion seriously unless there are incentives. In this context, it is believed that if this plan is put into practice, the water can be made available to restore the marshes.Old age is a common phenomenon across the world and over time. It includes the proportion of older population aged sixty years and above. It is an emerging issue in Bangladesh. With the improvement in health care and increased life expectancy it is becoming a vital problem in Bangladesh. Over the last one decade, in Bangladesh the proportion of older population has been significantly increased. In Bangladesh, population ageing is viewed as a natural outcome of demographic transition from high fertility and mortality to low fertility and mortality due to the years of successful family planning  and public health programs that have changed the population growth of the country. The developed countries evolved policy instruments in the form of social security as well as care for the older people through institutions like old age homes, geriatric hospitals, old age recreation center and many other public and private care systems for the aged but in Bangladesh these facilities are not sufficient for older people specially for the tea garden older people. Bangladesh, as a developing country, has a long cultural tradition of looking after the older and families and communities are expected to take care of their own older members.

It has been reported that the priming of cotton seeds decreased mean germination and emergence time, thereby playing a key role in improving the measured parameters of the seedlings in laboratorial conditions and of the greenhouse-grown plants . Indeed, priming shortened this phase of plant life, helping them to exploit the environmental resources for the growth and salinity adaptation more quickly. Also in unstressed conditions, seed hydropriming can be a good strategy to improve initial growth of the cotton plants due to its inexpensiveness and availability in different conditions. However, in case of the salinity stress, priming with the appropriate dosages of potassium nitrate  can be a suitable method to make the cotton plants cv. “Sahel” and the resulting seedlings stress resistant. The salinity induced loss of plant growth may be caused by the disruption of the uptake of the nutrients, disturbance of ion balance or the loss of water potential in soil and osmotic stress, or may be caused by the variation of the availability of the enzymes effective on photosynthesizing system. Stem and root length are the main parameters to monitor the impact of environmental stresses, especially salinity and drought because root is in a direct contact with soil absorbing water and minerals and stem mobilizes them towards other parts. Therefore, the longitudinal variations of these two parameters  signal the plant responses to drought stress . The desirable impact of seed priming on germination percentage and rate has been reported by many studies. For example, Demir Kaya et al.  observed higher germination percentage and rate in sunflower seeds primed with potassium nitrate under salinity stress . Farooqh et al.  related germination improvement of two rice cultivars to priming with potassium chloride and calcium chloride . Germination rate has been reported to be improved by hydropriming in plants like corn and cotton . Some researchers suggest that higher water uptake in the primed seeds vs. unprimed seeds positively affected germination percentage and rate . Some studies have revealed the improvement of radicle and plumule length in primed seeds. It has been shown that seed priming with potassium nitrate increased radicle and plumule length of seedlings grown from the seeds of different plants under salinity conditions .

Kattimani et al.  reported higher seed vigor due to priming with nitrate solutions  and Artola et al.  noted the favorable impact of hydropriming on the seed vigor of Melilotus officinalis . Soleimani et al.  concluded that salinity reduced germination percentage and rate, plumule and radicle length, seedling fresh weight, and seed vigor . The species did not show similar responses to different pre-treatments, so that priming of Nigella sativa with potassium nitrate, distilled water, and potassium chloride improved germination and seedling features under salinity but priming with calcium chloride and sodium chloride did not have any positive effects.Anthropogenic disturbances from local communities securing their livelihoods and basic subsistence needs have continuously fragmented natural ecosystems . Due to their legitimacy, the dependency of local farming communities on natural resources will likely increase in the coming years without any suitable alternatives. The burden and the pressure of the surrounding populations on the forest resources arise from poverty and lack of appropriate management systems,mobile vertical grow tables such as those that use participatory methods. The efficiency of participatory management in other areas has been demonstrated for monitoring bush fires, agricultural production, green plant growth and combating forest degradation. Therefore, PA systems based on reductionist principles often become degraded through normal anthropogenic pressure, which could be remediated by providing appropriate solutions based on sustainable development models. The foundational principles of sustainable management encourage economic development without interrupting the capacity for future generations to enjoy the natural resources. African forests are mostly natural forest which supports the needs of the surrounding households, particularly the rural population . Protected areas benefit greatly from sustainable management programs for many activities like controlled burning and other restoration efforts that can improve the conditions of natural forests . However, there is a lack of systematic vegetation monitoring in African forests and protected areas directed towards understanding the social dynamics of the surrounding populations.

Studies that examine which social factors are associated with disproportionate utilization of natural forest products would be useful, for example, to address the potential natural resource ramifications of low education and household income. There is a pressing need to manage forests and green spaces through the implementation of specific management programs and programs structuring alternative livelihoods from the results of such social research. Protected areas are a globally recognized structure for natural resources conservation, and make effective contributions towards natural resource management and restoration . The total expanse of the protected area was estimated by UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre  at 21 million square kilometers, an area similar to that of the sum of the surfaces of three major countries, including India, Russia, and Afghanistan. The total area accounts for 12.9% of all continental land and 6.3% of the marine area. Initially, the purpose of protected areas  was purely subjective, without taking into account securing basic survival needs that populations extracted from natural resources. Then, socio-economic factors and ecosystem service provisions appeared as instruments of sustainable development. The overarching goal of the concept of the protected area is the protection of biodiversity. However, natural resources objectives encounter enormous difficulties in the local and national sphere for ensuring practical efficacy in simultaneously serving the population’s needs. Conflicts about protection mandates often arise between the local population and the policymakers -. Due to the regulations and application of management in the field, conflicts ensue where there is a lack of support for the interests of the local population who live at the expense of protected areas. Protected area establishment often drafts management objectives, without prior consultation with local populations  that prevent the use of the resources for the area on which they depend. Among several global PA, especially in Africa, conflicts arise from the imbalance between resource use and preservation of nature . The solution to this challenge is often to administer levels or zones of restriction to the access to the protected area  to balance the need for resource use and preservation of nature .

Other research has also shown that this challenge links to land ownership issues. The local communities do not always have the rights of landowners in certain countries. Furthermore, the state holds the land ownership and can apply PA management policies according to the needs of the government and their perceptions of the local population. In countries where local communities hold land ownership, the application of protected area management techniques inevitably depends on the collaboration between the PA agents and the social party . Zimbabwe and Kenya are among the countries that have successfully implemented community-based protected area management . Applications have been proven effective through sharing revenues earned among the communities.  showed that by enacting similar management techniques in Namibia then increased wild animal biodiversity and improved the tourism sector. In West Africa, especially in Sahelian countries such as Togo, there is a paucity of research attention on the topic of protected areas. Originally, traditional protected areas consisted of community-based management by sacred forest designations with no formal boundaries , which changed from periods during the colonization period and after the independence. Three-time periods can be historically distinguished related to protected areas in Togo. The first period includes the colonial and postcolonial periods characterized by the use of military force to protect natural resources. The second period extended from 1990 to the 21st century with less natural resource management and uncontrolled resource extraction due to socio-economic and political troubles during the democratization era. The third period, from 2000 to the present, sought the need to protect natural resources through strategies including establishing artificial visible or invisible boundaries. According to a survey conducted by the Ministry of Environment and Forest Resources of Togo,mobile vertical farm more than 80 protected areas established between 1938 and 1958 had the purpose of biodiversity preservation. However, they originated without collaboration with the residents. In the 1990s, after the democratization, different forms of human occupation  became the main cause of protected area degradation. Thus, due to conflicts and dismissal by residents of previous designations of protected areas in Togo, additional research is needed to address challenges hindering the successful implementation of natural resources protections going forward. There is no previous research focusing on assessment of the management plans, socio-economic dependence and anthropogenic activities of the surrounding population, or the preservation of the natural resources in the Protected Areas of Oti-Keran, Togodo, and Abdoulaye fauna reserve  in Togo. The current study aims to fill this gap by assessing the protected areas strategy in Togo under sustainable management models through the case study of Oti-Keran, Togodo, and Abdoulaye faunal reserve.Four eco-floristic areas divide Togo according to the vegetation type of each area. Two main regimes characterize the tropical climate type from the south to the north. Two types characterize the rainfall rhythm. In the northern areas, there is one rainy and one dry period. In the southern area, there are two rainy and two dry periods. There is an annual average temperature of around 27.8 degrees Celcius. The vegetation of Togo reported more than four thousand plant species and high species richness mainly from the forest species, as discovered by. Human activities threaten this rich flora by supplying basic needs for those who depend directly on forest resources for firewood energy and charcoal  and also for animal grazing and hunting. The selected research areas are among the ten top protected areas of Togo: Abdoulaye faunal reserve managed by an international NGO  and covers 30,000 hectares; Oti-Keran National Park decreased from 163,643 hectares to 69 hectares after being subjected to ongoing revision projects. Since 2002, Togodo National park revision projects resulted in a total decreased from 310,000 to 25,500 hectares, although dedicated to natural resources management.

In Togo, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry Resources  is in charge of the environment and natural resources management, including protected areas through the Department of Fauna and Hunting .At the national level, the socio-economic data was available from Indexmundi and UNEPWCMC  database . The national data included time-series GDP, rural area population, terrestrial protected areas, and agriculture area surfaces. Local-level data was obtained from secondary data from the field trips to assess the state of protected areas in Togo by interviewing local populations and doing surveys on the degree of degradation, vulnerability, and management of these protected areas. As part of this analysis, we randomly sampled the protected areas of Oti-Kéran, Togodo, and Abdoulaye national parks  for comparative analysis at the local level  during August 2019. We surveyed villagers living near the protected areas using questionnaires designed to obtain information related to the villager’s implications in the management systems of these protected areas and to determine needs supplied by the protected areas. These questions included the presence and the absence of certain particular plants and animals, the presence or absence of management agents, and the importance of the protected areas for the villagers. The villager’s national identity and phone numbers were notified and verified before engaging the questions. The interview captured at least 70% of the villagers of at least 18 years old per village across the adjacent villages around OTA national parks with a yes or no access to the protected areas questions giving a total of 210 interviews of villagers across the 9 adjacent villages.While terrestrial areas are showing an upward trend ), forest areas are decreasing alarmingly . Anthropogenic disturbances related to agricultural demands  and Figure 5 have risen to meet the food needs and extractive wood demands of the population .These populations are not only growing but also dominated by the younger generation. A large part of this country’s income comes from the agricultural sector, where the need to grow more food to feed this population effectively has been proportional to the increase of croplands and fallows. The degradation of forest lands and savannahs relates to the economic and financial survival of each household.