Horticulture

Therefore, based on those experiments, and taking into account the highest recommended doses of the selected products according to their labels, ground losses for each selected formulation were estimated as indicated in Table 2 and applied using a manual sprayer to each soil column. After application, a rainfall event of 120 mm was immediately simulated during a period of 2 h to imitate an average rainfall event from the Tarragona region for the treatment months. 2 L of rain water were supplied to each soil column. The leachate water from each column was collected in consecutive 200 mL samples, and the water leaching time was recorded. A second experimental process was repeated one week later, only in the sandy soil columns, increasing the time between fungicide application and rain event simulation to 24 h, to study the interaction of the pesticides with the rhizosphere. In this case, leachate water samples were collected every 500 mL, as a lower concentration of the fungicides was expected. As in the previous study, the time between water sample collection was recorded. The mass balance of the leached PPPs was calculated for each soil column condition, taking into account the amount of fungicide losses and the concentration contained in each active ingredient. The experimental results were statistically analysed using RStudio .

The Shapiro–Wilk test was used to check the normal distribution of the variables and their homoscedasticity. ANOVA test was performed to compare differences between the different hypotheses. HSD Tuckey test was conducted to find the group means that are different from each other. The same procedure was applied to analyse the statistical differences between the soil leaching flowrates and the hydroponic study results. Although 6 fungicides were applied on the soil surface,indoor garden only 3  were detected in the leached water from the sandy soil columns, and only one  was leached through the loam soil columns. Oxathiapiprolin, laminarin, and acibenzolar-S-methyl were not detected in the leaching water from any of the studied soil columns and conditions. The absence of these compounds in the leachates could be due to the low calculated ground losses taking into account the recommended application dose,but also to the high soil sorption coefficient in the case of oxathiapiprolin  and the high biodegradation rates described for laminarin and acibenzolar-S-methyl in aquatic and soil environments . Fig. 2 indicates that copper shows a linear increasing trend for the three column types  in both soils, whereas dimethomorph and zoxamide behave differently in bare soil columns than in vegetation covered soil columns. Both accumulated leached synthetic fungicide products continued to maintain the linear trend in cover cropped soil while bare soil columns showed a sigmoid curve for dimethomorph and an exponential curve for zoxamide. This may indicate that at the beginning, the bare soil columns were capable of retaining greater amounts of these fungicides, but later on, the retention capacity of cover cropped columns were greater.

The mass balance assessment shows that fungicides  leached through the cover cropped sandy soil columns by a range of 7–64% . Specifically, dimethomorph was leached from 37 to 64%, whereas these leaching values were 16–21% for zoxamide and 7–15% for copper. These results are in agreement with pesticide leaching values found by Singh et al.  in packed soil columns  for metolachlor and terbuthylazine . The greatest leaching of dimethomorph in comparison to zoxamide is in accordance with the reported sorption coefficient for these compounds.Although our results show a high dependence on soil texture, no significant differences were observed between covered soil columns and bare soil columns in sandy soil. These results are in disagreement with Dousset et al.  who found that lower amounts of pesticides leached through cover cropped soil columns  than bare soil columns . These differences can be explained due to the soil composition. While our sandy soil has a sandy-loam texture, the soil used by Dousset et al. had a sandy texture, and as it has been seen in Table 3, the texture of the soil affects the water leaching rates, thus the leaching of the fungicide products. Futhermore, differences in cover species types or water loading rates employed in each study can explain fungicide mass leaching differences. However, mass balance studies performed on loam soil columns show that fungicide leaching was much lower than that from sandy soil columns, probably due to the longer soil interaction time  as well as the higher organic matter and clay content of the loam soil, except for Cu which showed greater mass leaching in the loam soil columns. It is important to notice that loam soil had a very high concentration of copper , whereas it was low in sandy soil , so copper leaching was strongly affected by copper soil composition. The greater retention of fungicides by loam soil is in agreement with different studies that have found that organic matter and clay play a relevant role in enhancing the soil retention of pesticides and copper . Furthermore, our results show that the use of covers on loam soils significantly reduced the amount of copper leached through the columns  probably due to the longer water soil contact time in these columns .

Since no differences on fungicide leaching between cropped and uncropped columns were found when a rain event was simulated immediately after fungicide application in sandy soil columns ,we tried to observe if the same behaviour occurred with a 24 h elapsed between application and rainfall, as this is conventionally done as a cultural practice in a real vineyard. The sandy soil columns were chosen because they resulted in the highest fungicide leaching rates . Fig. 3 shows that the leaching of fungicides in bare soil columns is greater after 24 h of application than when the rain event was produced immediately after the application . This is mainly due to the accumulation of fungicides in the soil, as the second study was performed only one week after the first one. Even so, the fungicide mass leaching in the covered soil columns were lower than in the first study. In fact, our findings show that applying fungicides 24 before rain event resulted in a significant reduction in the amount of leached fungicides  between covered soil columns  versus bare soil columns . Despite this, no statistical differences were observed for dimethomorph, most likely due to the compound’s very high overall leached amount . Furthermore, results show that although there are no statistical differences between covered cropped strategies  for the leaching of zoxamide, monoculture covered columns resulted in a greater reduction of copper leaching than those observed in polyculture covered columns. This is in agreement with the fact that raygrass is a metal-accumulating plant , but also due to the fact that MC columns had greater root biomass than PC columns . Overall, our study demonstrates that the presence of cover crops significantly reduce the quantity of fungicides leached through the soil.

This can be explained by the positive effect of the plant rhizosphere in biodegradation as well as the plant uptake of synthetic and ecological organic fungicides . Therefore, since covers do not act as a physical resistance against product leaching, it seems that the attenuation of potential groundwater contamination occurs when the fungicide-rhizosphere interaction time is as long as possible prior to a rainfall event to allow phytoremediation to take place. Different hydroponic studies were performed to assess the direct impact of vegetation on the attenuation of fungicides without taking into consideration soil interaction. The concentration decay of fungicides in hydroponic containers followed a first-order kinetic with concentration decay rates ranging from 0.06 to 0.63 d− 1 and half-lives from 1 to 21 days . These kinetic rates are in the range of those found in other hydroponic studies that explored the impact of rooted crops on the attenuation of pesticides . Fungicides can be classified as highly degradable , moderately degradable  and poorly degradable . Acibenzolar-s-methyl was the fungicide with the highest kinetic decay rate  in any of the studied hydroponic conditions, indicating that this is a highly degradable compound as it was suggested in previous soil leaching studies where it was not detected . Similarly, oxathiapiprolin and laminarin showed kinetic rates of between 0.2 and 0.5 d− 1 for rooted hydroponic containers, indicating moderate biodegradability. In this regard, for laminarin, the presence of roots enhanced the concentration decay from 0.06 d− 1 in the control containers to 0.22 and 0.34 d− 1 for the rooted MC and PC containers, respectively. This positive effect of roots may be explained by the increase in biodegradation due to the root exudates or the plant uptake of this highly polar compound . Finally, dimethomorph and zoxamide were only poorly removed. These findings are consistent with results from leaching studies where these two fungicides and copper were the only ones that leached through soil columns. Overall, hydroponic farming studies show that dimethomorph, zoxamide, and laminarin are highly affected by the presence of rooted crops , indicating that covering has a highly positive impact on enhancing concentration decay, either by biodegradation, sorption, and/or plant uptake.

These results are in agreement with previous hydroponic studies carried out by Lv et al. , who found that the concentration decay of fungicides such as tebuconazole and imazalil is enhanced by the use of highly rooted plants like Phragmites australis. Furthermore, our studies show that using a mixture of cover spices  enhances the reduction of dimethomorph under hydroponic conditions. This last finding suggests that plant biodiversity may aid in enhancing soil bioremediation . The removal of fungicides in the hydroponic studies after 10 incubation days ranged from 36 to 98%, so that at least 36% of all tested fungicides degrade after that time. Similarly, the findings for kinetic rates in removal results show that vegetation has a significant positive effect on all tested fungicides, with the exception of oxathiapiprolin. The reduction in concentration of zoxamide, dimethomorph and acibenzolar-s-methyl due to the presence of vegetation increased by 27–51%, 108–148% and 42–50%, respectively. For laminarin, elimination is gathered with the root action, practically reaching total elimination after 10 days , but with a low degradation in the control containers . Overall, hydroponic results indicate that cover crops roots are capable of enhancing the removal of almost all studied fungicides, whereas increasing plant biodiversity can play a relevant role in improving the attenuation of dimethomorph.Furthermore, fungicide application practices are very relevant for enhancing the crop covering effectiveness. Therefore, our results suggest that fungicide spraying should be performed at least 24 h before rain forecasting. This is in line with the European strategy to reduce the use of pesticides and soil pollution. According to Chapagain et al. , covers minimize soil disturbance and erosion, improve soil structure and water-stable aggregates, and support pollinators and beneficial insects, among other things. However, Sharma et al.  noticed that over crops can be problematic in some points, including the method of killing, host for pathogens, regeneration, and not immediate benefits of using them.

There is also a concern about water competition concerns between the main crop and the cover crop. But according to Delpuech and Metay , even in the Mediterranean region, where most vineyards are located, the implementation of a cover crop strategy is feasible. The growth of the human population places an ever-increasing demand on freshwater resources and food supply. The nexus of water and food is now well recognized. One promising strategy to sustain food production in the face of competing water demands is to increase the reuse of treated human wastewater. Municipal wastewater reuse for food production has been successfully adopted in some regions of the world. For example, Israel uses ~84% treated wastewater in agriculture production . However, Southern California, a region that suffers from a similar degree of water shortage, currently uses less than ~3% of municipal wastewater in agriculture, while discharging ~1.5 million acre-feet effluent per year into the Pacific Ocean . Secondary municipal wastewater effluent for ocean discharge is often sufficient to support both the nutrient and water needs for food production.

Some weeks later, as no clinical improvement was noted, the lemur was anesthetized to perform a more detailed examination. A big firm mass was revealed in the epigastrium by the abdominal palpation and it was confirmed by radiographs: a large radiopaque mass about 3 – 4 cm in diameter. Two days later a laparotomy was performed: the mass completely occluded the intestinal wall and was removed through intestinal resection and anastomosis . Consequently to this surgery, the subject showed a slight recovery from the illness  then it became again anorexic and did not accept fragmented/homogenized food. Therefore the lemur was submitted to a second surgery , to which it did not survive. In this occasion internal organs  were collected. Macroscopic evaluation of organs revealed: thickening and hypertrophy of the intestinal wall; presence of whitish sclerotic areas on the liver surface. The other organs did not show gross lesions.The intestine sample collected at first surgery revealed heavy changes of the intestinal wall in the area of the ring inspissation. The luminal surface was widely ulcerated, the tonaca propria was completely absent. There was a massive degeneration of the submucosal tonaca and a strong and exuberant connective new growth as well as a partial destruction of the muscular tonaca. The intestinal wall was heavily compromised and showed an intense lymphoid infiltrate, displaying a multifocal round and dense pattern. Sometimes these lymphocyte aggregates were perivascular. The cellular infiltrate involved a hyperplastic reactive stroma, composed of immature connective tissue, strongly vascularized.

The lymphoid cells were morphologically homogeneous. The nuclei were small , euchromatinic,round plastic pots with polygonal shape, and often presented indented membrane. They contained multiple, medium sized nucleoli and chromatin aggregates. The cytoplasm tent to be diaphanous and slightly reticular. The mitotic index was high. At the edge of the ring-shaped lesion there was a peculiar inflammatory feature.Plasma cells and lymphocytes infiltration in the lamina propria; impressive villous atrophy and crypt hyperplasia with decreased villous height-to-crypt depth ratio; pronounced increase in the number of intraepithelial lymphocytes and Figure 3. The primary lesion was identified as media cells intestinal lymphoma associated with enteritis, and the peripheral inflammatory pattern was similar to that described in the case of grade 4 Marsh-Oberhuber human coeliac disease . In this occasion the main internal organs were collected and processed for histology. The macroscopic evaluation of organs revealed: thickening and hypertrophy of the intestinal wall; presence of whitish sclerotic areas on the liver surface. The other organs did not show gross lesions. The histological evaluation of the intestine Haematoxylin-Eosin sections collected at two different levels at necroscopy, pointed out inflammatory alterations similar to those observed at the edge of the neoplastic lesion found in the first intestinal sampling. Intestinal specimens collected at two different levels of the intestine were similar. The villi were strongly atrophic and flattened  and the mucosa assumed peculiar colonic-like features.

The epithelial cells showed a karyorectic multi-focal necrosis and intraepithelial lymphocytes were abundant. The tonaca propria displayed an intense lymphocyte/plasma cells infiltrate, as well as areas of necrosis. At the base of the muscularis mucosae a slight lymphocyte infiltration was detectable. The tunica muscularis and tunica serosa presented foci of lymphocyte infiltration. The histopathological data concerning the intestine could suggest the presence of a malabsorption related-enteritis similar to the human coelic disease . The intensity and the pattern of lymphocyte recruitment suggested the possible neoplastic progression of the lesion. The liver parenchyma presented an evident architecture destructuration of the lobules. Moreover, the lobules showed areas of multi-focal necrosis . Sometimes the necrotic areas were adjacent to the thickened Glisson membrane. An intense and diffuse infiltration of lymphoid cells was detectable, resembling those invading the tonaca propriaof the intestine. Associated to these features there were also evident areas of hemosiderin accumulation, considered as a common finding in zoo lemurs. Lung parenchyma presented a diffuse oedema associated to areas of destructive emphysema. The apical part of the lung revealed an area of acute pneumonia, with infiltration of neutrophilgranulocytes, involving the apical part of the lung. The spleen was morphologically intact but it was involved in the recruitment of a strong infiltrate composed by lymphoid cells similar to those observed in gut and liver.In order to identify the lineage of the neoplastic lymphocyte population and the inflammatory infiltrating lymphocytes, the histological sections were submitted to an immunoperoxidase based staining, using the following antibodies: polyc-lonal rabbit anti-human CD3 ; monoclonal mouse anti-human CD79α ; monoclonal mouse anti-human CD20 .

The CD3 antibody is specific for T cells and allows the immune detection of T lymphocytes derived neoplasms. The CD79α antibody is specific for B cells and allows the immune detection of neoplasms deriving from B lymphocytes at all stages of maturation. The CD20 antibody is specific for B cells precursors and mature B cells, excluding plasma cells. As positive controls, sections of human healthy lymph node, human skin characterized by lymphocyte infiltration and healthy lemur skin, were submitted to the same immuno histochemical procedure, using anti CD3, anti CD79α and anti CD20 as markers.In the intestine sections a relevant part of infiltrating lymphocytes  was immuno reactive for the T-lymphocyte marker CD3  and Figure 3, revealing inflammatory features. Also numerous IELs were positive and a slight positivity was found also in the marginal part of the Auerbach plexus . The B-lymphocyte marker CD20 did not identify positive cells among the infiltrating lymphocytes. Only few granular cells localized in the epithelium were positive. The anti CD79 antibody was ineffective on lemur healthy spleen  and due to this lack of cross-reactivity was not considered suitable to evaluate the immunophenotype of infiltrating cells. The intestine sections of the neoplastic lesion, when treated with the CD3 antibody, revealed the positivity of all the neoplastic lymphocytes, becoming more intense in the cells localized marginally to the main lesion. The CD20 antibody provided only a slight staining of some granular cells, as observed in the inflammatory lesions. The liver sections revealed a strong positivity of infiltrating cells to CD3, suggesting the presence of a T-lymphocyte population. IHC confirms the diagnosis of T-cells intestinal lymphoma and a peripheral coeliac-like enteritis.Few studies have been investigating lymphoma in primates and reports of this tumor in lemurs are extremely rare.

Findings from the current study are important as they provide useful information on lymphoma in the Lemur catta,highlighting an association between this tumor and coeliac disease. Basing on previous literature, humans with coeliac disease have been found to be at higher risk to develop small-bowel non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. This study highlighted that similar association may exist also in lemurs, which are the most phylogenetically distant primates from our species. In particular, in human pathology enteropathy-type T-cell lymphoma is a recognized complication of gluten-sensitive enteropathy. Tumour cells probably derive from a subset of intraepithelial lymphocytes , as suggested by their ability to invade crypt epithelium. The routine application of immunohistochemical staining for lymphocyte markers such as CD3 has been proposed as a mean to better evaluate the number and distribution of IELs and the lymphocytes composing the lymphoma associated to the enteropathy. The immunophenotyping approach has been already proposed by Pye et al. in a lemur affected by intestinal lymphoma, resulting as a B cell  lymphoma enriched with a T cell  infiltrate. In our experience a relevant part of infiltrating lymphocytes in the intestine, most of the lymphocytes composing the intestinal neoplasm, and the liver lymphoid infiltrate, were immunoreactive for the T-lymphocyte marker CD3. These findings reinforce the diagnostic hypothesis proposed by the authors. In comparative terms, the role of dietary related disorders in captive lemurs should be considered as possible aetiology. Although the causative agent is still uncertain, a gluten-sensitive enteropathy should be considered. The possible sources of dietary gluten in captivity are biscuits, flours and other accidental foods. In 2005, although not allowed in the zoo, interactions between visitors and lemurs were frequent, due to the enclosure design. Although the lemur diet was made of fruits and vegetable and no gluten-food was provided, uncontrolled food items were given to the lemurs by the visitors. In 2010, all lemur groups were moved in a new area, in large naturalistic enclosure with no possibility for visitor-animal interactions.

Globally wheat  is cultivated to meet the consumable food demand of the humanity . Being a primary source of nutrition for millions of individuals, wheat contributes 30% of the total grain production of the world. However, annual yield gain in crop productivity is prolonged to meet the future demands for plant-based products for the projected global population in 2050 . Globally, different kinds of stresses are the main threats for production of crops . Plants are immobile, for their growth and for survival they need nutrients and water from the soil. Previously it has been reported that around 20% of the world cultivated area is being pretentious by salinity . Soil salinity adversely affects crop production up to 60%, and its drastic effect is more pronounced in the perspective of climate change scenario . Deposition of more salts in the upper layer of soil poses highly stressful environment for plant development, which ultimately causes reduction in yield or plant death . In Pakistan, salinity affected the 6.3  106 ha of irrigated land . This makes the circumstance disturbing and it represents a danger of deficiency of food. Recently, much consideration is given to wheat improvement by joining both new and traditional crop breeding approaches along with advances in management practices to cope with salinity problem . Improvement through conventional breeding requires the exploitation of the existing genetic variation in the wheat crop for salt tolerance. Past examinations  have uncovered large variation for salt resilience in wheat. Genetic diversity is also high in local and/or exotic material, hydroponic bucket which might be valuable for the improvement of salt-tolerance in future breeding plans. For this purpose, different methods were used which includes solution, sand, and pot cultures, saline raised beds, and field screening . Field evaluation may be sometime misleading or inaccurate as salinity intermingles with drought. In solution culture, supplements are promptly accessible to plant in differentiating with soil, where filtering or chelation of supplements to soil ruins their accessibility to plants. This strategy is reasonable due to the lower climatic variation , and it has been used by several researchers for genotype screening, especially under salinity .

Within the field evaluation, different elements  create problems inside the assurance of salt tolerant genotypes which are lenient in one climate may not be lenient in another climate . Additionally, soil features like pH, sodicity and harmful components i.e., boron change from zone to region indeed from land to land . Changing field and climates, genotype  climate associations should be analyzed cautiously for prevalent and trustworthy outcomes in salt affected regions. In wheat crop, root, shoot, and their biomass have moreover been detailed as principal characteristics which bestow salt resistance. Wheat researchers concluded that shoot biomass and plant biomass might be utilized for choice of salt-tolerant genotypes . Salt stress created a huge decrease in wheat plant biomass, and this decline was more clear at high levels of salt stress as compared to low levels . Since salt-tolerant genotypes had the option to hold their growth and had more biomass than the salt-susceptible ones. Increased biomass of resistant genotypes might be connected with their cap-potential to keep a preferable photosynthesis rate over the susceptible genotypes . In light of association and heritability, it transformed into presumed that lengths of root and shoot, their fresh and dry weights, have positive associations and high heritability, so these might be exceptionally gainful norms for settling on salt tolerant genotypes . Identification of hereditary variation is an essential of any breeding plan pointed toward creating salt-tolerant genotypes. This study was directed to portray the relationship of considered seedling parameters and to choose reasonable determination standards under both control and saline climates. The present study will provide novel breeding material to develop a salt tolerant genotype suitable for saline conditions.The current research was directed in the experimental area of University of Agriculture, Faisalabad , 31 260 N, 73 060 E, and 184.4 m above sea level .

The USEPA has identified the excess release of nutrients as one of the top 5 causes of water quality “impairment” of rivers and streams in the U.S. along with pathogens, habitat alteration, organic enrichment, and unknown-impaired biota. Phosphorus enters natural waters as a result of point source and non-point source pollution. Point sources are primarily discharges from wastewater treatment plants , and non-point sources come from diffuse, difficult-to-identify, intermittent sources of pollutants such as urban and agricultural runoff. Agricultural soils obtain P from livestock, mineral fertilizers, and municipal sludges and waste waters resulting in a decrease of the soil’s capacity to retain P. The decreased P retention capacity of the soil can accelerate the loss of P into the watershed when there is heavy rainfall and runoff. Unlike point source P loads which are typically treated through physical, chemical, and biological processes including adsorption and precipitation using alum, ferric chloride, and lime at wastewater treatment plants, non-point source P loads are largely controlled through “Best Management Practices ”, economical and technically feasible ways to minimize P movement. Because of the tendency for phosphorus to sorb to soils, P usually moves with the soil or sediment during significant rainfall events. Research has shown that within a landscape, 50 to 95 percent of P transports through moving sediments, recognized as the largest pollutant in our waters by volume and mass. Sediments are released into water bodies via bed and bank erosion,aeroponic tower garden system and overland erosion and therefore erosion control is a key method for decreasing non-point source P inputs to water bodies.

However, erosion control by itself will not be completely effective since a significant fraction of P is still in a colloidal or dissolved form particularly when high source loads decrease or eliminate the adsorption capacity of the soils and sediments. River bank stabilization  and reactive stream stabilization  are both effective BMPs for reducing and preventing phosphorus from entering the watershed. RBS can be installed alone or installed with RS2 to achieve additional amounts of phosphorus and nitrogen removal. The RS2 is a system that is designed to stabilize the stream and minimize release of agricultural non-point pollutants from farms, waste sites, and animal feed lots to the stream through erosion. The RS2 diverts groundwater and surface water runoff through materials in the reactive barrier that enhance microbial and physical nutrient removal. The nutrient removal efficiency of the RS2 system has been demonstrated by Watson’s 2003 to 2006 study at the Colorado State University Engineering Research Center . Watson et al.  found that the RS2 structure utilizing water treatment residual  as the reactive barrier material had the best phosphorus removal efficiency among the 3 evaluated materials; sawdust, WTR, and zero-valent iron . WTR is an aluminum based media that is the residual from the coagulation and settling processes in a water treatment system and it has the capability of adsorbing large amounts of phosphorus.When sand amended with 15% WTR was used as the reactive barrier, 98% phosphorus removal and greater than 90% nitrate reduction was measured. Based on the results of the field study at CSU, a RS2 structure was installed at a site along a stream bank of the Little Bogue Creek in Elliott, Mississippi in November 2008 . The scope of the research was to assist in design and installation of a field scale RS2 structure and to conduct assessment of the initial nutrient removal performance of the system. For this research, the objectives that were established given the time frame of the project were: 1) Assist in design and installation of field scale RS2 structure. 2) Document construction of RS2 structure and evaluate adherence to construction design parameters. 3) Provide initial data collection and evaluation of RS2 performance for limiting P and N transport to stream.

To evaluate design parameters of RS2, concentrations of alum and total organic carbon  in the RS2 test barrier and surrounding areas were analyzed to determine if enough of them are in the barrier to remove nutrients as it was designed. After RS2 installation, soil and water samples were collected to begin understanding the structure’s nutrient removal effectiveness. Sampled soils were classified and total phosphorus , Mehilch-3 P, TOC, total nitrogen  and aluminum  were measured for soil concentrations and TP, dissolve reactive phosphorus , TN, nitrate and TOC were determined for water concentrations. A schematic diagram of the sampling sites is shown in Figure 2. Two sampling campaigns were conducted in 2009  with soil and water samples being collected along the Little Bogue Creek in Elliot, Mississippi . Little Bogue creek is a well-suited place to study a RS2 system because it is surrounded by agricultural areas and the only expected source of nutrients in the stream is the nearby agricultural lands since there are no upstream WWTPs. For the first sampling campaign, five soil samples  were collected from both the lower bank of the barrier , upper bank of the barrier near the agricultural field  and ten additional soil samples were taken from the reactive barrier  at two different depths; 16 inches and 36 inches to observe differences and accumulation of P. For the second sampling, five soil samples were collected from the lower bank of the barrier , upper bank of the barrier near the field  and the 16 inches deep reactive barrier . Each soil sample was collected in a labeled plastic zip bag. A well sampler was used to collect water samples from previously installed observation wells. The well sampler used was a rod-shape device 5 feet long that could be lengthened by 10 feet to reach ground water in the monitoring well. A volume of 0.5 L was taken from the monitoring wells LB2, LB3, LB4, LB5 and LB6, and four surface water samples were collected from upstream, adjacent to RS2 and downstream of the testing sites. Stream samples were collected from the center of the stream in clean, one liter Nalgene bottles. After sampling, all of the samples were placed in ice bags to maintain low temperature  while they were transfered to the laboratory for analysis. Soil samples were air-dried, ground and passed through a 2-mm sieve before being transferred to a freezer. Water samples were filtered through Whatman No.42 filter paper then preserved in a refrigerator to avoid further reactions that could affect later measurement of the samples. All samples were measured within 28 days. The RS2 was designed according to previous field tests at the ERC of CSU from 2003 to 2006.

For these tests, a mixture of 15% of WTR with sand was used in the reactive barrier and 98% phosphorus removal was achieved through the barrier. From the result of the test, 10 to 20 % volume fraction  of WTR and 15 to 20 % of volume fraction  of mulch were targeted for the RS2 reactive barrier in the Little Bogue watershed.Eucalyptus mulch was applied as a source of organic matter  to provide electron donors for denitrification in the 150 ft long reactive barrier. A 75 ft long area adjacent to the barrier was used as a control section and it had no added aluminum or organic matter. Construction of the RS2 was completed in November, 2008 in a location where bank stabilization in the form of longitudinal peak stone toe protection  already existed. A 150 foot long, 4 foot deep and 1 foot wide trench was dug with a mini-excavator. Each 1.5 cubic foot bag of eucalyptus mulch was mixed with two 0.81 cubic foot bags of aluminum sulfate and native soils in the trench . Since the weight fraction of aluminum was the main design criterion of the RS2 design for P adsorption, calculating the weight concentration of aluminum in the barrier was critical. Since the volume of trench was approximately 600 cubic feet, the volume percentage of OM and alum in trench were 18.7% and 20.2%, respectively, and the corresponding weight percentage of aluminum should be 1.7%. This weight percentage of aluminum was equivalent to 18% v/v of WTR since the weight fraction of aluminum in WTR is 0.094. After mixing alum and mulch with the native soils in the trench, poles of river birch, sycamore and willow were planted in increments of each 25 feet along the test trench and the rest of 75 feet of the trench remained without pole planting. To enhance infiltration of rain and surface runoff into the barrier, dutch buckets for sale a small berm was built stream-side of the trench and a gully on the top bank was restored. Excessive soils on the barrier, the berm and the repaired gully were removed and top soils were flattened and then seeded with winter rye grass and mulched hay. Six monitoring wells were installed in January, 2009. Three of them were placed on the stream-side bank and three on the field side of the reactive barrier to monitor nutrients in the ground water passing through the barrier. Five months after the RS2 construction, the first sampling campaign was conducted in the test and control areas. Water samples were collected from the installed monitoring wells and the up-, mid- and down-stream sections of the creek. Soil samples were taken from the barrier and the stream bank on both the field-side and stream-side of the barrier.

The second sampling campaign was carried out in July, 2009. Public signs refer to all characters and figures used to inform, instruct, compel or warn something that is closely related to our ordinary life and production. Usually, public signs are short and brief, normative, unified, conspicuous, with simple structure, plain meaning and proper style. Due to their specific functions , public signs act as a carrier of a city’s image and have great impact on the tourists’ experience. Researches on the public signs boomed after 2003, featured by a hurried start, sharply increasing demand, short history and lacking of precedent. With the development and prosperity of tourism industry in China, cites at different scales are striving to explore their knock-out tourism product with marked local features. Meanwhile, most famous scenic areas have provided bilingual or multilingual translations of the public signs to improve their service, facilitate the tour and attract more foreign tourists. Yibin is located in the south of Sichuan Province, lying to Yunnan and Guizhou to its south, where Jinshajiang, Minjiang and Yangtze River meet. It is considered the richest southwestern city in ancient China and the first city on the Yangtze River. Yibin is both rich in natural tourism resource and human culture resource, and therefore is honored as one of the famous national historic and cultural cities and the favorable tourist cities. As the birthplace of Luzhou-flavor liquor and one of the world famous liquors—Wuliangye, Yibin is hailed as the Capital of Liquor in China. The majestic Wuliangye Ten-Mile City is built due to the rapid development of liquor industry, which is not only filled the gap of enterprise architecture culture but also became the invaluable treasure of the Chinese architecture art. Thousands of admiring tourists from home and abroad were attracted every year. However, flaws still exist in the Chinese-English translation of public signs, which will not only bring inconvenience to foreign tourists but also have negative impact on the images of the scenic area, the enterprise and even the city. Thus, it is an urgent and non-negligible task to remove those flaws in the translation of public signs in order to promote the transmission of Wuliangye’s liquor culture.Translation principles refer to the rules a translator should abide by, and they are regarded a necessary basis to generate qualified translation and meanwhile to restrict over-translation. Chinese scholars have conducted in-depth research on the translation of the public signs, and proposed several principles from different views or based on several theories, which provided guidelines for translators. The following principles have been universally accepted by domestic scholars: 1) Accurate Being accurate and unified means that there should be no mistakes and flaws in the translation, and the translation should convey all the information provided by original text. Only accurate translation can play its informing, indicating, compelling, warning and servicing functions.

However, interviews with some key informants suggested that the owners in Sukapura associated the economic benefits of bamboo-tree gardens with the land itself rather than the products of the bamboo-tree garden. They also stated, prior to the 1970s, when inputs for agricultural production were not as intensive as they are now and the land-use was not as fragmented, bamboo-tree gardens played an important income-generation role for the owners.Although Sukapura respondents ranked the importance of the garden as an income source higher , the difference between the villages was not significant . In contrast, even though respondents from both villages had positive responses to questions B1-2 and B1-3, which were related to the garden’s importance as an economic asset as an inheritance to descendants, Wangisagara respondents’ rankings were significantly higher . In accordance with perceptions on the general meaning of owning a garden, the economic function of the garden was perceived as an important family asset and heritage rather than as an income source in both villages. Respondents also displayed positive perceptions about the social functions provided by their own garden. Although there was no significant difference between the two villages in the perceptual rankings of allowing other villagers to collect dead trees and branches for fuelwood , the answers did vary. This tendency was not observed in Sukapura. That the respondents of Wangisagara rejected their garden’s social function of providing fuel wood for others was noteworthy since they also perceived that the owners of gardens hold positions of respect within the village community.

Figure 3 shows that most respondents in both villages perceived the ecological functions of bamboo-tree gardens very positively. Although there were no significant differences between the two villages in the answers to questions B3-1 to B3-4, stacking pots the strength of positive perception seen in the responses to all four questions was slightly higher in Wangisagara. The tangible ecological benefits of bamboo-tree gardens, such as preventing soil erosion and water storage , were perceived more positively in both villages. These functions may be important in bamboo-tree garden patches located in steeper areas or near water springs. Therefore, the majority of respondents saw it as important to plant new trees in the bamboo-tree garden . However, in response to a supporting question about planting new trees, most owners admitted that they only do it when space is available, usually after a tree has fallen.The respondents of both villages indicated that they perceived the area of gardens in the village to be decreasing , and this perception was significantly stronger in Wangisagara ; more than 90% of respondents ranked this perception above 4, whereas only 70% of Sukapura respondents ranked the perception above 4. Of the respondents who answered that the area of gardens is decreasing, about 30% in Wangisagara and about 44% in Sukapura perceived that the decline had occurred in the past 10 years, but a majority in both villages believed that the decline had been occurring for more than 15years . The key informants in Sukapura indicated that the decline was caused by the rapid adoption of modern agricultural practices that provided farmers with the opportunity to gain higher crop yields and income. Various extension programs by government agencies and the introduction of high yielding varieties resulted in a high rate of conversion of bamboo-tree gardens to cash-crop gardens.

Sukapura respondents believed that land conversionhad been to cash-crop gardens  more than to settlements , and their perceptual intensity was significantly higher than that of Wangisagara respondents for D1-1 . The decline in garden area from more than 10 years hence until the time of the survey indicated that the conversion process was still occurring despite the limited extent of bamboo-tree garden patches in the area. In Wangisagara, the respondents perceived that the gardens were converted to settlements rather than to cash-crop gardens . Additionally, the key informants for this village said that the decline was particularly a result of expansion of the industrial sector  and human settlement. The expansion of the textile industry attracted labor from outside the area, leading to an increase in settlers. A few respondents mentioned that conversion to other agricultural systems such as kebun palawija  had also occurred. As seen in the responses to question D2, the main perceived causes of the decline in bamboo-tree gardens in the study areas were economic. The respondents of both Wangisagara and Sukapura strongly perceived that they could obtain greater economic benefit from converting their gardens to other agricultural systems or selling them for non-farm uses . In addition, based on our interviews with some informants, converting the bamboo-tree gardens to cashcrop gardens can also provide job and income to the local people. Economic reasons were also the main answer given by ex-owners when asked why they sold their bamboo-tree gardens. In general, the ex-owners had similar perceptions to current owners with regard to the ownership and functions of gardens . The respondents in both villages strongly perceived a lack of concern and support from government agencies as a cause of garden decline . Replies to a supporting question showed that all respondents, regardless of village, believed that the decline would have been slowed if the government or other institutions supported the garden owners, for example, by giving an insentive to the garden owners who maintained their gardens and by providing good quality seedlings of tree species with high economic value.

Respondents in both villages exhibited strongly positive perceptions that bamboo-tree gardens were still needed  in the upper Citarum basin, and the intensity was significantly higher in Wangisagara . Almost all respondents perceived that improving economic returns from the garden, particularly by increasing the market value of the products , was a very important step for the future existence of bamboo-tree gardens. However, the intensity of the perception was higher in Wangisagara . In addition, respondents from both villages also perceived that the involvement of government and/or other institutionswould be crucial to improve economic returns , and the intensity of these two perceptions was again significantly higher in Wangisagara . About 50% of respondents in Wangisagara answered supporting questions to suggest that they believe that unless economic returns are improved and more support is provided, the conversion of gardens, particularly to settlements, would continue and they would almost certainly disappear from the upper part of the Citarum basin.Overall, bamboo-tree garden owners in the two study villages have positive perceptions of the socioeconomic, cultural, and ecological roles of the bamboo-tree garden as an element of the landscape. Differences in the intensity of perceptions are influenced by the frame of reference for the perception, grow lights such as factual knowledge and emotional experiences. The more coherent the factual knowledge and emotional experiences, the more likely the influence on the perception of people. In general, the bamboo-tree garden owners in Wangisagara have more positive perceptions of the gardens than those of Sukapura. This was seen very clearly in perceptions of the economic function of bamboo-tree gardens; the owners in Sukapura exhibited less positive perceptions. This is because most of the owners in Sukapura village have other, more productive sources of income, for example, vegetable crops. With capital-intensive agricultural practices, they are able to obtain higher incomes than they can from their bamboo-tree garden. Therefore, they consider bamboo-tree gardens not as their primary source of incomeand consequently have a lower intensity of desire to maintain their garden.The respondents in Sukapura perceived their bamboo-tree gardens as an asset that indicated socioeconomic status but not as a primary source of income. The perceived value of the bamboo-tree garden derives from the land itself or its potential to be converted to a more productive vegetable garden. The difference in perception intensities between the two villages with regard to the social function of bamboo-tree gardens is presumably related to the local dynamics in livelihoods experienced by the people in the two villages. Although the people in Sukapura are likely to be more market oriented, since capital-intensive agricultural activity is more predominant there than in Wangisagara, they still allow other villagers to freely collect branches, medicinal plants, or raw vegetables for their own use.

It is therefore not necessarily the case that engagement in a market-oriented livelihood overrides perceptions of the social function an owner’s bamboo-tree garden. Our finding was concomitant to other studies which were carried out by Okubo et al. and Muhamad et al.in other villages in West Java. The respondents in Sukapura who practice capital-intensive agriculture still retain a sense of community sharing. This finding contrasts with the condition in capital-intensive agricultural practices in developed countries, e.g. Petrzelka mentioned that among conventional farmers in Iowa USA, nature is viewed as a resource to be used and controlled, and farmers usually do not hold a sense of community but see farming primarily as a business. Even though the owners in Wangisagara rejected their garden’s social function in terms of providing fuel wood freely for others, but this does not mean that the bamboo-tree gardens in Wangisagara do not have a social function. They limited access for other villagers to collect fuel wood, but they still shared certain products like fruits from their bamboo-tree garden to neighbors as an important part of maintaining social relationships, meaning that the social role of the gardens was to supply excess fruit to villagers. Respondents in the two study villages exhibited a more or less similar positive perception to the ecological functions of their bamboo-tree garden. Nevertheless, there was some inconsistency between what they perceived to be important and what was actually happening. Despite their perception about the ecological importance of the bamboo-tree garden for the village, such as preventing soil erosion, storing water, and providing habitat for wildlife, the conversion of this land-use type to less environmentally desirable systems was still occurring. Although no quantitative data estimates have been made on the rate of conversion bamboo-tree gardens, our interviews and visual observations clearly indicate that such conversions continue unabated up to the present time. This suggests that positive perceptions do not always correlate with positive behavior, and sometimes the connection between farmer perception and practice is weak. This is similar to the results of a number of previous studies. In many cases, farmers’ practices diverge from their perceptions because the way individual farmers act is not only influenced by their own perceptions but also by cultural and socioeconomic forces and the suitability of the bio-physical environment. The development of a strong commitment leading to positive behavior of rural people towards the sustainability of bamboo-tree gardens is essential for their continued existence.

The perceptions of owners of the ecological functions of their bamboo-tree gardens were somewhat in concordance with a study of bird communities in fragmented bamboo-tree gardens reported by Erawan et al. and Parikesit et al.. The diversity of bird species found in bamboo-tree garden patches is presumably related to the structural pattern of vegetation layers and food abundance. Therefore, ecological concern exhibited by bamboo-tree garden owners is an encouraging sign for conservation efforts. Unfortunately, no other studies concerning the ecological functions of bamboo-tree gardens in the upper Citarum basin have been carried out. It would be important to investigate the role of bamboo-tree gardens as a filter or sink for soil nutrients exported from neighboring cultivated land in the changing agricultural landscape of the Citarum basin. The role of this land-use type in relation to pest outbreaks and predator-prey interactions in vegetable crop gardens are other challenging topics that need to be addressed.Compared with other types of agricultural land , bamboo-tree gardens receive the lowest levels of management inputs for production purposes. The number of non-cultivated plants, which were found to grow naturally in bamboo-tree gardens including forest species such as Ficus spp., Sterculia oblongata, Arctostaphylos glauca, and Neonauclea lanceolata, was higher than that of domesticated species in both villages . Therefore, it is not surprising that the economic productivity of these gardens is lower than that of other agricultural lands. Management of bamboo-tree gardens without high external energy inputs as practiced by the owners in the two study villages is an example of traditional subsistence agriculture that was presumably predominant in the upper Citarum basin prior to the introduction of capital-intensive agricultural practices in the 1970s.

The government offers subsidies to encourage farmers to adopt PV systems, while farmers determine the optimal PV system type and capacity, as well as the crops to grow throughout the planning horizon. Nevertheless, whether farmers invest in solar energy systems depends on both electricity demand from the optimal crop outputs and the economic profitability of the investment in the PV system. Thus, the effects of the subsidies should be examined explicitly to produce the most profitable SAHF design. This work addresses the effects of PV system subsidy policies on the development of multi-period, electricity-intensive hydroponic crop production systems. Distributed photovoltaic  generation is typically less commercially attractive than the alternatives because it entails higher capital costs and longer payback periods. It is essential for the government to offer subsidies for PV system adoptions to bridge its environmental goals and farmers’ commercial success. Among them, the electricity tariff, Feed-in tariff , and the investment co-funding  are the most popular tools to induce the individual entities’ installation. Thus, to develop SAHF, the farmers not only needs to make the investment decisions, such as the profitability for adopting the PV system and its optimum capacity, but also need to optimize crops production by making the best use of solar energy. Moreover, the governments also need to evaluate and select the most effective and efficient subsidy schemes to promote the adoption of the PV system with a lower subsidy expenditure.

The following research questions are tried to investigate in this paper:  How to optimize the decisions when developing SAHF ?  Under what subsidy levels the farmers can be induced by the government?  How the performances of the SAHF are affected by the aforementioned subsidy schemes? A few previous studies have explored the impacts of various subsidy policies on the distributed PV adoption and its capacities, like Chen and Song, Zhu, Liao, Xin-gang and Yi-min, Xu and Ma. However, most of them focus on the effectiveness and efficiency of the subsidies and failed to address their impacts from the perspective of individual residents or firms. Furthermore, hydroponic nft channel a quantitative analysis of the effects of the subsidy schemes on SAHS is still absent. To bridge the two aforementioned research gaps, we have developed a quadratic programming model to assess the costs and benefits of installing PV systems in hydroponic farms. We have focused on the incentives in improving electricity tariff , FIT, and ICF subsidy policies. The IET scheme can be regarded as a negative incentive policy that affects entities’ decisions by increasing the current electricity tariff or reducing the existing subsidy to the electricity price. The proposed method considers various factors that impact PV system efficiency, including environmental factors, the type of PV system used, and the electricity demand from the SAHF. A set of experiments was conducted based on the case of SAHF development in Qatar. The results indicate the potential to enhance PV system installation capacity via small governmental subsidy expenditures and suggest an opportunity to develop a profitable SAHF. The contributions of this study are threefold. First, to the best of our knowledge, this is one of the first efforts to evaluate the effects of distributed PV system subsidy schemes on hydroponic farm design and planting decisions. Second, a quadratic programming model is built to determine simultaneously whether a PV system should be installed, which type of PV panel should be selected, and the optimal capacity.

The proposed model can be solved by most commercial solvers using the linearization approach proposed in this study. Third, the minimum effective incentive levels of the three subsidy policies, namely the IET, FIT, and ICF schemes, are identified in the SAHF design. The subsidy conditions that lead to optimum benefits for hydroponic farmers and the government are recognized. Our method helps policymakers to optimize their subsidy policies and therefore reduces subsidy inefficiency. The paper is split into five sections. The research problem is presented in Section 2. In Section 3, we formulate the quadratic programming model for SAHF design and planning under various subsidy schemes. In Section 4, a case study including a set of experiments is performed to provide policy and managerial insights. Finally, in Section 5, we provide the relevant conclusions and suggestions for future research directions.Solar energy is abundant, free, and clean. It has no noise nuisance or contributes any kind of direct pollution to the environment. However, a photovoltaic  system is less economically competitive than the alternative electricity sources present in most countries, such as China and Austria. Thus, a wide variety of policy incentives have been used to reduce the costs incurred by end-users. The feed-in tariff  scheme is one of the most popular subsidies in the world. A given feed-in tariff is used to boost the installed PV capacity. The FIT is a fixed price level that an energy producer is guaranteed to receive per unit of energy produced when surplus electricity is forwarded to the grid. FITs can be applied to all PV electricity  or only to surplus PV electricity. A net-metering system requires a customer’s local utility to purchase energy produced by a customer-sited PV system at the retail price charged to the customer for energy consumption. In contrast, investment co-funding  schemes allow investors to receive an initial one-time cash subsidy for a PV system.

Furthermore, the electricity tariff design can also be regarded as a positive or negative incentive for renewable energy adoption. A higher electricity tariff may force the industry to use solar energy to reduce energy costs while a low electricity tariff may constrain the firms’ ambition of renewable energy adoption. For the benefit of both governments and investors, these subsidy schemes should be carefully selected and designed to provide the social and economic benefits of PV system adoption. Several previous studies have been devoted to evaluating the effectiveness of these subsidies on PV energy adoption. Based on a dynamic generation cost simulation, He, Pang established dynamic subsidy models that targeted emission reduction benefits. Dong, Zhou investigated China’s PV capacity using a difference-in-difference framework that considered China’s zonal feed-in tariff policy design and the various changes that it has undergone over time. Bakhshi and Sadeh introduced a dynamic FIT strategy where the FIT is updated based on the prices of retail goods and the Euro exchange rate rather than the retail electricity cost to attract foreign investment in Iranian PV systems. Similarly, Hayat, Shahnia used fuzzy logic to convert the parameters, including the value of electricity, hosting capacity, ambient temperature, and time of day, into a time-varying FIT. Ramírez, Honrubia-Escribano developed an economic model that could evaluate the profitabilities of PV projects that combined FIT and net-metering schemes in European countries. Jia, Du assessed the effectiveness of China’s net-metering subsidies for household distributed PV systems. The results show that net-metering scheme effectiveness is a function of solar radiation and electricity demand. Using a system dynamics simulation, the study performed by Castaneda, Zapata revealed that cutting subsidies to PV users could result in a reduction in the number of PV installations in the UK. The net present value model was used by Firozjaei, Firozjaei to evaluate optimum FIT levels for PV electricity production.Yamamoto examined combinations of FIT schemes and capital subsidies using a microeconomic model. Xu and Ma investigated a nonlinear dynamic PV system to study long-term operation strategies under FIT and tax-rebate regulations.

The results showed the types of PV systems, locations, and minimum tariff prices that should be used to promote PV system adoption. The tripartite evolutionary game model is used by Zhu, Liao to analyze the decisions of the government, banks, and PV investors in China’s distributed PV market. This investigation reveals that a larger capacity PV system is preferred by both the government and banks. Szeląg-Sikora, Sikora conducted a comparative verification analysis of two micro-power installations in Poland and recommend the ranges between 27.20 and 19.10% as the best net subsidy level for the total investment costs. To summarize, most existing studies evaluate subsidy scheme effectiveness based on the installed PV system capacity on a macro level. Only a very limited number of articles, like Yamamoto and Xu and Ma, nft growing system have addressed the subsidy implications regarding distributed PV system adoption and analysis of economic returns. Thus, it is still not clear which policy design is better from the both perspectives of investors and the government, respectively. In addition, although quantitative models have often been used in the field of agriculture to help manage operation and production plans, we are not aware of any published studies that attempt to quantitatively optimize hydroponic farm design and planning. The decisions on the adoption of PV electricity in energy-intensive hydroponic farm provides a novel but untouched research area, where the government designs the subsidy schemes and farmers take advantage of subsidies to optimize the solar-assisted hydroponic farm  design and planning. Sensitivity analysis is an indeterminate analysis technique that examines the degree of influence of a certain change on a certain key or a set of key indicators from the perspective of quantitative analysis. The sensitivity analysis tests are often incorporated in the model validation processes to ensure that changing the values of the relevant parameters creates the circumstances in which the strategy should be changed. In order to verify the reliability of the results, it is essential to perform sensitivity analysis to understand how the proposed model responds to changes in the subsidy levels. In this investigation, the ‘one-factor-at-atime’  method is adopted by changing the value of one input factor at a time while keeping the others constant. It not only assistants the policy makers to identify the sensitivity factors whose small change could result in a large change in the performance indicator of the SAHF, but also offers the farmers ‘‘how’’ and ‘‘how much’’ changes in the subsidy levels of the SAHF modify the expected profit and the point how the optimum can be achieved. The investment co-funding  scheme can be combined with net metering to improve subsidy effectiveness and efficiency.

The total profit and capacity of a PV system with an available area of 3000 m2 is presented in Fig. 7. Once the subsidy level exceeds 15% of the PV system investment, the total profit and system capacity are higher under net metering than without net metering. The analysis shows that the lowest effective ICF subsidy level is 14.9% regardless of the area available. The subsidy is the main reason for the increase in the total profit in Fig. 7. Additional revenue is gained by selling excess energy via the netmetering system. When the subsidy level increases from 19% to 21%, the type-3 PV system is replaced by a type-2 system for reasons similar to those mentioned in Scenario 2. As a result, the PV system capacities change due to the different energy-conversion efficiencies of the two types of systems . However, further analysis shows that the quantity of electricity generated can be improved by more than 10.6% using a type- 2 PV system. The capacity of the PV system does not vary when the subsidy level is lower than 19% or higher than 21%. With net metering, the vegetable output is stable when the available area is between 600 m2 and 3000 m2 and the subsidy is lower than 25%. However, the total output increases by 12.1% when net metering is not implemented. Fig. 9 shows that cucumbers provide the main contribution to this increase. It is also observed that the quantities of lettuce and pepper grown decline to zero as the subsidy level rises. Without the netmetering system, the ICF subsidy reduces the cost of the electricity consumed by the vegetables, making lettuce and peppers less profitable. The net-metering system allows the farm to sell surplus electricity. Consequently, the cost of the electricity consumed by the vegetables is higher than without net metering. The implementation of PV systems in hydroponic farms creates opportunities for farmers to enhance their profits but poses little effects on the vegetable outputs. When an available area of 600 m2 is considered, 345,200 kWh/year of grid energy can be saved. If all of the energy consumption is satisfied by the PV system, more than 941,000 kWh of clean electricity is generated per year.

Early strawberry production in commercial NGS hydroponic multilayer troughs showed a correct performance under a continuous irrigation regime, despite the fact that they are designed to work with irrigation pulses, and not for a continuous flow of water. The earliness of the productions was evaluated by studying the evolution of parameters such as the number of flower buds, number of flowers, number of fruitsand accumulated weight of fruits over time. Those treatments presenting higher values in these variables in the first stages can be considered better for early production of strawberries. The evolution of time in these variables was different between bare roots and rockwool, which explains the significant interaction between substrate type and time . Both the number of flower buds and the number of flowers started from a situation in which they were equalled and, after 28 days, there was a greater increase for bare root plants, while the values for those of rockwool decreased . Once 63–69 days had passed, this situation was reversed, in such a way that at the end of the study the system that presented the greatest number of flower buds and flowers was rockwool. It is possible that these changes were related to the variations in the parameters of water quality in that period, motivated by a faster growth of the plants and by an increase in the water replacement rate that reduced the nitrate content, the pH and the electrical conductivity values.

These are crucial factors in strawberry production. It should be remarked that strawberry is very sensitive to high pH values and to salinity in the soil or growing media. In addition, it is well-known that high nitrogen concentration in the growing media enhances vegetative over reproductive growth and reduces the precocity of fruit production. However,4x8ft rolling benches the number of flowers and fruits increased faster for bare root than for rockwool plants. The number of fruits in strawberry is known to increase with higher ratios of ammonium to nitrate in growing media . An improved aeration in rockwool, which is a media with a very high porosity, may enhance nitrification in the rhizosphere, and consequently this may decrease the ammonium to nitrate ratio. In addition, rockwool promotes a basic reaction and the high content in Ca may promote the precipitation of insoluble Ca phosphates, which may decrease P availability relative to bare root system . This may affect initial root development and growth precocity. The high porosity of rockwool may lead to lower thermal inertia than bare roots and thus to faster heating of root zone during day. This effect on average temperatures in the root growing media may also have effects on the initial development and precocity. In this sense, Duchein et al.  pointed out that the ratio of the absorption rates of nutrients  to the transpiration rate decreased during the warmer months for a rose crop grown in rockwool, which seems to indicate that substrate temperature affected nutrient absorption more than water absorption. It is possible that the latter explains why the precocity that the plants in rockwool initially showed for the accumulated fruit weight ended up being equal at the end of the test with that of the plants with bare roots.

Furthermore, a higher number of fruits for the bare root system amplified the sink effect for fruit development, with an increased competition between fruits for photoassimilates that may affect their ripening speed and the total weight that was harvested. In addition, the potential supply of additional K from rockwool  may also have a positive effect on the increased fresh fruit weight at the beginning of the harvest season. As a consequence of all those interactions, at the end of the trial no significant differences were found in the total production between bare root and rockwool, confirming in this regard the results obtained by Palencia et al. , who indicated as more important the effects of the strawberry variety than those of the type of substrate used. However, the effect of the substrate type was significantly affecting the precocity of flowering and the initial number of flowers. This may be of interest for early production, which is crucial for ensuring benefits. Taking this into account, the recommendation for this case would be the choice of the bare root cultivation system, since it entails lower production costs  and involves fewer potential environmental problems derived from the elimination of waste from the same . The results obtained in our study may be compared with those of the trials for commercial strawberry varieties carried out in the province of Huelva during the same season , where the yields and quality of the fruits were evaluated for the most widely used varieties in this area . In that study, in farms with conventional cultivation systems , extra-early productions  of 60–150 g plant− 1 were obtained for Primoris cultivar, while for soilless cultivation systems  productions of 50–120 g plant− 1 were reported, with highest values corresponding to the earliest planting date  and the lowest values to the latest . In our study, the mean values for fruit weights produced up to February 28 were 31.9 and 33.6 g plant− 1 for rockwool and bare root substrates, respectively. Although the obtained values were lower than those reported for this variety, it must be taken into account that the planting date had a significant effect on the reported yields and, in our study, it took place one month later .

The existing scientific literature on the differences in early production and quality of strawberries in conventional field crops using plants in plugs or barerooted shows highly variable results . Thus, earlier and higher yields were obtained in Florida for plug plants than for bare roots , while in Queensland  these differences were not found.Both firmness and soluble solids content were similar for the two types of substrates evaluated, again justifying the option for the bare root culture system. Regarding fruit quality parameters, differences were found with those described in the report by Medina Mínguez et al. . Thus, for example, average weights of fruits were lower, with values of 16.4 and 17.4 g for rockwool and bare root, respectively, compared to the 25–28 g described for conventional crops and the 28 g for soilless crops. The soluble solids contents were 6.9 and 8.4 ºBx for bare root and rockwool, respectively, slightly lower than those obtained for conventional and soilless crops with 7.5–8 and 9 ºBx, respectively. In contrast, firmness of the fruit was higher, with values of 571 and 638 g for bare root and rockwool, respectively,flood and drain table compared to the 350–400 and 380 g reported for conventional and soilless crops, respectively. These stated differences lead us to think that the fruits were probably harvested in this trial before their optimum ripening point. The substrate type did not significantly affect the SPAD values measured in old or new leaves, so it is assumed that there were no significant differences in the nutritional status of the plants. However, SPAD values are sensitive to the status of nutrients related to chlorophyll content, such as N, Mg, or Fe. It should be mentioned that potential differences in P availability between both cropping systems cannot be assessed with SPAD.

Nevertheless, it was observed an effect of the elapsed time, which could be related to the variations in the water quality parameters previously mentioned, in particular nitrate concentration, or to the larger size of the plants and, therefore, greater nutritional needs of the plants in the final stage of the study. Urban agriculture  has the potential to significantly increase food security in cities . Increasing green areas in urban landscapes have been gaining popularity, and with new technologies, greening and food production have been taken to building roofs, facades and even indoors . In particular, soilless agriculture is highly attractive in urban settings because of the reduced weight load on building structures, inert substrate conditions, and overall control of plant nutrition and health , as well as because it provides an alternative to contaminated soils. Soilless production can also be a beneficial system to improve water savings since a more controlled environment can be ensured with more accurate irrigation systems as well as water recirculation depending on the installation . As shown by Appolloni et al.  among 92 cases of urban agriculture identified from 2011 to 2019 a 46% produced with a soilless system. In addition to increasing food sovereignty, UA can promote biodiversity, CO2 capture and pollination  but can also have negative effects, such as the extensive use of mineral and synthetic fertilizers . Soilless agriculture does not contemplate the addition of nutrients through the substrate but through a nutrient solution given with the irrigation system . Previous work on life cycle assessment of hydroponic production systems shows that,while these fertilizers secure direct nutrient uptake by the plant, their production, extraction, use and disposal are known to have adverse consequences for the surrounding natural ecosystems . Alternatives for the fertilization in soilless agriculture are gaining interest being aquaponic systems most know for the efficient use of fish debris as nutrient for crop production reducing the potential impact of the production system . However, aquaponic installations can entail a great initial investment and call for an additional production fish and therefore a greater need for maintenance and skill . The extraction of phosphate rock, the main source of phosphorus  for fertilizer use, has become a necessity for modern agriculture and is an indispensable nutrient for plant growth and animal feed . However, phosphate rock deposits are limited due to the slow regeneration rate of their cycle compared to carbon or nitrogen, already generating supply shortages due to increasing prices and unequal distribution . In recent decades, estimations have been made regarding imminent depletion if extraction continues at the present rate , which can be drastically shortened by soil erosion caused by unsustainable production practices .

All the P extracted is mostly “lost” from agricultural lands and livestock management through surface and underground runoff . This one-way nutrient flow has increased fourfold since preindustrial times  and contributes to great ecosystem damage, such as eutrophication, especially in freshwater environments . While this ever-growing thread demands better management of P sources, there is possible recovery from an ongoing loss of nutrients occurring daily in our wastewater treatment plants  . These nutrients contained in wastewater sludge are disposed and managed mostly in complex processes due to the high content of heavy metals, pathogens and other compounds, making it a toxic residue . While direct application of sewage sludge to the soil is practiced in several countries, it’s application can entail a bad management of the soil, due to over application for P fertilization as well as the increase of pathogens and heavy metals into the soil, and the potential problematic of social acceptance of this practice due to the emitting odors . Countries like Sweden have seen a reduction of the unwanted toxic metals since the 1970 and have started to regard sewage sludge as a potential nutrient provider and soil amendment, still only 20% of the sludge is applied in arable land . In recent decades, research has been conducted on the shift from a removal to a recovery approach in urban water cycles in terms of nutrients, not only for their further use in other production sectors but also to prevent their environmental damage in their disposal . One of the byproducts in these sewage treatment plants is magnesium ammonium phosphate , a crystal commonly called MAP struvite or just struvite. Struvite is not a new material; its precipitation was first documented in Los Angeles , but it was approached as a great problem since its precipitation occurs spontaneously at a 1:1:1 molar ratio of magnesium , ammonium  and phosphate  and under suitable pH conditions  . The purging of this uncontrolled struvite precipitation can be the cause of additional expenses due to damaged equipment that needs replacement or increased labor costs . Since then, technologies aimed at struvite removal through induced precipitation in WWTPs have unveiled a product with great fertilizer potential.

They see and are aware of these shortcomings, and they try to explore the technique of structural equivalence in social networks as a means to combine geographic information in social network analysis, social theory integrates geography and spatial analysis techniques. In particular, they discuss how an actor’s position in geographical space can be analyzed simultaneously with the position in the social network. In their study, they compared the relationship and competition among criminal street gangs in Los Angeles with the intercomnectedness gang geographically, to identify the gang by geography and competitive position in the network, which helps in understanding the overall context of gang violence. Data samples of respondents are taken under consideration for representativeness of the sample to the population on the implementation of the Rural Agribusiness Development Program , obtained information relating to the composition of the 95 respondents. Based on the results of questionnaires and interviews were selected on the implementation of the program in the district PUAP Rejang Lebong Bengkulu province. All data sample of respondents who becomes the object of this study, a combination of the implementation of the Rural Agribusiness Development Program  Rejang Lebong district, as shown in Table 1, all respondents have age between 28 years to 59 years, of the 95 respondents who gave information at the district/city consists of 10 respondents among 3 people interrupters Mitra Tani  conducting supervision and advocacy Gapoktan institutional growth process,7 person staff and institutional development programs BP4K .

While working at the regional district/village staff and respondents are agricultural extension in 10 BPP  consists of 61 Extension Companion , 14 Staff BPP , hydroponic bucket and 10 head of BPP . In line with the respondent sample taken under certain considerations to representativeness of the sample to the population PUAP stakeholders, obtain information related to the composition of the respondent. The epigraph to this paper was not chosen by chance. Despite this, even the stoutest narrow-minded person preserved the information about glaciation periods on the Earth at the back of his or her mind. Continuously repeating glaciation periods of icing followed by periods of warming with significant consequences for flora and fauna . Continuously repeating glaciation periods of icing and followed periods of warming existed on Earth even before the appearance of Homo sapiens. The spread of the malaria vector and consequently the malaria parasite from Africa to Asia and Europe occurred because of a warming period at the end of the Würm glaciation 6000 years ago. Somewhat earlier, Homo neanderthalensis became extinct  because of the deglaciation of Europe and invasion of the Cro-Magnon man  who possibly brought with them new infectious diseases or simply cannibalized the H. neanderthalensis population as easy prey. “Neanderthal populations  in Europe endured many environmental changes, including large shifts in climate between glacial and interglacial conditions, while living in a habitat that was colder overall than settings where most other hominin species lived. Some of the environmental shifts they endured involved rapid swings between cold and warm climate… H. sapiens during his existence always was exposed to climatic stress”. Climatic stress was a major factor driving the progress of human intelligence. “Despite many climatic fluctuations, modern humans were able to expand their range over Europe and Asia, and into new areas such as Australia and the Americas”. “Since the beginning of time the world’s climate has been subject to change. Periods of intense heat followed by periods of intense cold that have had a profound effect on the lives and development of the planet’s flora, and fauna”. From Figure 1, it is obvious that a temperature fluctuation was registered in Europe and on a global scale every 100,000 years.

As mentioned, during this time the global temperatures never rose above the critical level to destroy the protein or genetic molecules. It appears that only powerful events can trigger dramatic temperature fluctuations worldwide, e.g., volcanic eruptions or collision with bolides. The lunar influence on the Earth is one of the possible causes of climate changes and is more probable than human activities.A “supermoon” is an astrological and popular term for the full moon at perigee when it is at its closest approach to the Earth . Sometimes the Sun, Earth, and Moon or the Earth, Moon, and Sun are aligned. At the time of lunar perigee, the gravitational effect of the Moon on Earth is quite strong; it is especially strong when the Earth, Moon, and Sun are aligned and the Moon and the Sun are on the same side of the Earth. The gravitational attraction of the Moon and Sun in this case can trigger earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunami, and other natural disasters. In recent history, several major disasters were connected to the supermoon occurred. For example, the Turkmenistan earthquake on October 6, 1948, the Mount Pinatubo volcanic eruption, and earthquake and tsunami in Japan the March 11, 2011. On March 19, 2011, the distance between the Earth and the Moon was the closest in the past 18 years. The Moon was just 356,577 kilometers away from the Earth. “At least two major quakes may support Berkland’s theory. The earthquake December 26, 2004, magnitude 9.1 in Sumatra, Indonesia, occurred on the day of a full moon. Likewise, the earthquake March 27, 1964, magnitude 9.2 earthquake in Alaska occurred on the day of maximum high tide”. These events are possibly connected to “syzygy,” i.e., the three celestial objects, the Earth, Moon, and Sun were in alignment. It is groundless to believe that all disasters will happen only during one day when the Earth, Moon, and Sun are in alignment. Similar disasters can also happen several days, weeks, or month before and after the celestial alignment.Even the narrow-minded person knows that almost all warmth on Earth comes from the Sun, and only a small fraction from the Earth’s hot core, which is at about 5960˚C ± 500˚C, and from the explosions of nuclear and hydrogen bombs. Thousands of nuclear and hydrogen bombs were exploded on Earth in the atmosphere, underground, and underwater. Personally, I have no doubt that these explosions had only some small effect on the temperature balance; however, they have had a greater significant influence on tectonic activity , however, significant effect was inflicted on the population of humans and other living creatures on the Earth, i.e., by the initiation of a broad spectrum of related diseases.

Prognoses about the thermal activity of the Earth’s core are mostly transparent, i.e., it is slowly cooling down. Therefore, the Earth will slowly cool down during billions of years to be like the Moon . Over a long term of billions of years, the prognoses for the Sun are similar to those for other stars of insignificant mass; it will cool down. However, over the short term of several thousand years, stackable planters the Sun will alternate between high activity with significant solar winds released into space and rising temperatures in the Sun’s protuberances and on the superficiality of the Sun. As a consequence of this, there will be disruptions to electronic devices on the Earth and rising temperatures. There will also be periods of low activity on the Sun, which will result in low temperatures on the Earth and possible glaciation of parts or the total surface of the Earth. Some “power-holding” communities are in a hurry to bind the global population with obligations to pay higher taxes for “global warming” before the end of 2020s. Why? The answer is simple. The coolest period in our time on Earth is expected to approach during approximately the 2030s. Dr. Theodor Landscheidt from the Schroeter Institute for Research in Cycles of Solar Activity has said: “I do not expect that the effects of man-made greenhouse gases will eliminate the sun’s predominance”. Dr. Theodor Landscheidt has presented a paper titled “New Little Ice Age Instead of Global Warming?” which is based on his research data and conclusions. He makes a realistic prediction based on real scientific facts. On August 5, 2017, the BBC disseminated a statement that said the present era has been the warmest in Europe for the last 40 years. They apparently have not understood that by making this statement that they by this also testified that there was a period of higher temperatures more than 40 years ago, when the level of CO2 was not as high as today. Why were the temperatures 40 years ago, higher than today? Forty years ago, the global society was not yet exposed to the vigorous and false ideas about the necessity to stifle the developed countries’ industries with a duty to pay CO2 taxes. On the same day, “prominent scientists from the EU committee” used the BBC as a loudspeaker announced that up to 150,000 people will die in Europe per year to the end of the 21st century from high temperature. I would like to propose a different scenario: “… by the end of 21st century, Europe will be inhabited by a high temperature-resistant population from Syria, Iraq, Turkey, Pakistan and Eritrea, and no temperature harm will be observed in this population.” Solar activity can be partially predicted using the Gleissberg cycle and the Sun’s oscillatory motion around the center of mass of the solar system. If this should be considered, the coolest period should be expected in the 2030s. The Sun is a major provider of warmth on Earth. A slight drop in the Sun’s activity will cause a significant drop in global temperature. This is the reason for the need of authorities to strike the taxation deal for climate change from the global population as soon as possible and obligatory before the 2030s.

During ancient times and in the Middle Ages, the “End of the World” was pronounced by the Catholic Church many times for the same purposes, i.e., the taxation of the parish.London was well-known for its smog. London’s smog was even immortalized by Joseph Mallord William Turner , who was an English Romantic landscape painter. Through his paintings, he preserved evidence of the heavy London smog during the 19th century. Today, in 21st century in London, nothing like this is happening despite the incomparable higher level of exhaust gases  from transport and industry. It is difficult to compare the level of today’s exhaust gases and the level of CO2 produced by transport and industry in London with exhaust gases which were produced in the 19th century. What is the reason? The first reason is the geographic location and characteristics of many cities such as London. These cities were situated where Roman military camps were originally sited and these locations were mainly chosen from a military perspective, instead of for their good natural ventilation. Beijing, Delhi, Bergen, and many other cities have bad natural ventilation as a result of the lack of or insufficient strength of wind. Wind is a provider of natural ventilation. In the present era, unrestricted use of wind power became very popular by building wind pow-er stations. The former French president Valéry Marie René Georges Giscard d’Estaing  dislikes the destruction of natural views by the ugly silhouettes of wind power stations. Disturbance of views can be important; however, it should be kept in mind that for every 1 kW of power received by the user as electricity, about 10 kW of wind power is taken from the wind. At present, it does not do much harm to wind as a natural ventilator; however, if the development in this direction will progress further in future, it will be necessary to build huge ventilation power-stations to restore the good ventilation in cities. The second reason for London’s smog in the 19th century was the lack of accountability and ignorance of city dwellers. In London, for warming, households burned a massive amount of coal and chimneys were poorly constructed. As soon as these practices were abolished and construction of chimneys was improved, the famous London smog disappeared. The significant producers of bad sanitation and bad air in Beijing are “Street kitchens” which are using poor-quality cooking oil, and which also contribute to the significant pollution and poisonous smog to the city air.

Algal blooms often release toxins into the water column which may cause irritation of the skin and eyes, respiratory problems and even paralyze or kill fish and deplete oxygen levels. In the current study we created small patches of partially restored native plant communities along several small tributaries in the lower St. Johns River basin to investigate their effects on local water quality and biodiversity. Biodiversity was assessed across multiple taxa including algae, plants, as well as both aquatic and terrestrial invertebrates. Lastly, the ability of these semi-restored patches of native plant communities to ameliorate nutrient concentrations in both the soil and water was compared to non-manipulated urban tributaries. We found that even modestly restored riparian plant communities resulted in substantial increases in both terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity while decreasing nutrient loading for small tributaries of the lower St. Johns River. Increased plant biodiversity and the presence of rare species may have resulted from facilitation; this effect may have been enhanced because we purposely utilized plants that varied greatly in size, structure and habitat requirements. For instance, pickerelweed, which is an aquatic emergent species, likely aids in stabilization of the edges of the streambed and increases substrate accumulation around its stems while providing refugia for aquatic invertebrates and juvenile fish. Complementarily, shrub and tree species such as Virginia willow and river birch respectively, which are structurally much more complex and located at higher elevation along the stream banks, likely create microhabitats that have higher degrees of shading, lower temperatures and higher soil moisture.

The increase in structural complexity of partially restored riparian communities, results in increased spatial heterogeneity and creates more niches within the overall landscape. Although within-trophic level community composition is a composite of positive  and negative  interactions; facilitation has been hypothesized to be more important in stressed or highly disturbed conditions. Indeed, studies of plant communities have found that colonization of new sites, especially in stress habitats with high levels of light and elevated temperatures, ebb flow tray is restricted to shady microhabitats created by the canopy shade of “nurse plants” or, in the case of stream habitat, emergent species provide stabilization of lotic substrate which reduces mortality for other plants. Our study supports the general contention by Bertness & Callaway that plant communities in open, sunny, highly disturbed sites  are more likely to be influenced by facilitation rather than shaded later successional stages. However, aquatic emergents and shoreline specialists such as pickerelweed and golden Canna respectively are also unlikely to compete strongly with plants at higher elevations along the stream banks .Because of the importance of the riparian zone to the stream and entire watershed, assessments of anthropogenic effects on lotic freshwater systems should include the banks as well. This is especially true if restoration of native vegetation is to be used to ameliorate damaged or disturbed stream ecosystems because the success of this technique depends upon long-term sustainable uptake of nutrients or pollutants while maintaining terrestrial biodiversity and ecosystem function. It has been shown that soil nutrient levels can have strong effects on plant and arthropod community composition, but these effects can be positive or negative. Therefore, terrestrial plant and arthropod community assessments should be conducted in order to determine whether or not native riparian buffer zones would be a viable method for reducing nutrient loading in a stream.

In the present study, experimental gardens absorbed more nutrients  than did non-manipulated riparian zones, resulting in an increase in plant and arthropod diversity . The increase in arthropod richness resulted primarily from an increase in phytophagous Coleoptera  and Lepidoptera . This was likely attributable to the concomitant increase in plant species diversity which has been shown in previous studies to affect the diversity of phytophagous insects and is supported by the strong positive correlation between plant and arthropod diversity measures reported in this study. Interestingly, however, there were also more species of insects with aquatic larval stages, primarily Odonata and Ephemeroptera, at sites with experimental gardens, suggesting increased recruitment of adults for mating and oviposition. It has been suggested that terrestrial arthropods are good indicators of a river system’s health. Therefore, the increase in terrestrial arthropod diversity observed in this study indicates that restoration of native riparian zones not only improves stream ecosystem health, but also improves riparian ecosystem health and may be a viable and sustainable restoration option. Algae are considered excellent indicators of the health of aquatic ecosystems and algal biodiversity, especially that of diatoms, has been correlated with nutrient levels, the presence of contaminants and temporal variability. In our study, Shannon algal biodiversity within the garden sites was significantly greater at the start and end of the monitoring period, but not significantly different during the most active growing season . While some researchers have also noted that nutrient additions do not necessarily elicit a significant change in algal biodiversity, others have reported that confounding factors may mask significant effects of nutrient additions. In the St. Johns River, changes in lotic algal diversity have been correlated with varying nutrient levels and seasonality over a two-year period. Our study, which examined similar factors in smaller tributary streams showed similar trends, but utilized much shallower tributaries and, therefore, was subject to different ecological parameters than previous studies.

The percent coverage of macroalgae was also more variable both spatially and temporally in garden sites, while non-garden sites exhibited significantly less visible cover and variability. The majority of the taxa composing macroalgal mats were filamentous greens , which is common in low-order, oligo-mesotrophic streams. Macroalgal mats support a diverse epiphytic algal and invertebrate community, which may account for the aquatic insect community we observed. An introduced species may behave invasively in the new range because it already possesses traits that confer invasiveness , or alternatively, it may evolve invasiveness in situ in the new range. Moreover, the introduction history of a species can affect the likelihood that it will become invasive. While many plant species suffer a genetic bottleneck when introduced in the new range, multiple introductions of a plant species may make it more likely that a species becomes invasive in part because multiple introductions can inflate genetic diversity. In addition, multiple introductions may result in the admixture of genomes that have never come into contact with each other creating novel, invasive genotypes that may express different traits and enhanced fitness. A successful introduction can also depend upon the relationship between the introduced individuals and the new environment. Introduced individuals may have different climatic tolerances than their native counterparts and/or wider climatic tolerances and this may contribute to their success. Testing whether invasive genotypes have a wider climatic tolerance than native genotypes requires planting clones of both known native and invasive genotypes in their home climate and in a different climate to test whether invasive genotypes have greater ability to survive and grow under a new climatic condition. The increased growth of invasive genotypes found under controlled conditions may not be observed under field conditions. Disentangling whether the reason is due to the traits of the introduced individuals or environmental factors in the field is difficult because traits favored in the new range may incur a cost in the native range. For example, reduced herbivore loads in the new range may have selected for genotypes that have reallocated resources from defense to growth resulting in invasive genotypes having faster growth than native ones. But, if these genotypes are transported back to the native region in which herbivores are more abundant, flood and drain tray they may experience higher levels of herbivore damage than their native counterparts and this can negate any increases in growth.

Yet, if invasive genotypes are superior, then invasive genotypes may still experience greater growth even if they are preferentially preyed upon. Documenting higher growth following herbivore damage is difficult in a common garden because of variability in herbivore prevalence and local conditions. To document such a pattern requires simulating herbivore damage experimentally. In this paper, we examine the performance of invasive genotypes when compared to that of native genotypes in the native’s own range in the invasive wetland plant, Phalaris arundinacea. The invasive grass Phalaris arundinacea is a good model system to address the issues of the emergence of novel and superior invasive genotypes. Invasive genotypes of Phalaris arundinacea have been shown to be the product of multiple introductions and subsequent admixture and in common greenhouse conditions, invasive genotypes were shown to have faster growth rate, to be taller, have more tillers and greater final biomass. Additionally, invasive genotypes were also shown to have a smaller genome size and had no consistent differences in genetic architecture. However, in order to test whether these invasive genotypes are superior requires that native and invasive genotypes be compared in the native range to determine if the invasive genotypes created in the new range are superior  to native genotypes even under conditions in which native genotypes have evolved. In this way, we can determine if the superior performance of invasive genotypes results in overall greater performance under conditions in which the native genotypes should be favored. In addition, by planting genotypes in a field common garden, we can assess in situ herbivore damage to determine if invasive genotypes suffer more herbivore damage than native ones. However, greater herbivore damage may not necessarily result in reduced growth and/or biomass as greater herbivore damage may be compensated for by a faster growth rate. We test this idea in an experimental common garden in which the same genotypes are subject to biweekly biomass removal to simulate grazing by large herbivores. Finally, by planting genotypes collected from northern and southern populations into both northern and southern gardens, we can determine if differences in performance are due to genotypes having adapted to a similar climate rather than native and invasive differences.

e selected 18 invasive genotypes  and 18 native genotypes . Fewer French genotypes were chosen because one French population contained only hexaploids, while all other populations contained tetraploids; we thus, eliminated hexaploid individuals from our study. Chosen genotypes were transplanted into pots in the University of Vermont greenhouse, where they were maintained, and then sequentially propagated prior to experimentation to remove any maternal environmental effects. Selected tillers of the chosen genotypes were placed into greenhouse flats, placed on their side and allowed to produce replicate tillers. In this way, we created identical copies of all genotypes used in the experiments. We chose garden sites in the Czech Republic  and France  . Because we were interested in whether introduced genotypes could outperform native genotypes under conditions where natives should be favored, we planted the native and invasive genotypes back into gardens near their original sampling location ensuring that climatic conditions in the garden were most similar and therefore favorable for the native genotypes. Our garden sites were within 50 km of the original collection of genotypes, ensuring that climatic conditions would be similar to the genotypes collection location. Each garden site was a wet meadow and characterized by a mix of herbaceaous perennial plants and also had large stands of Phalaris arundinacea. Specific site measurements were not collected at either site. However, at each site we planted nine replicate blocks designed to span the range of conditions found in the wet meadow. Our only criteria for eliminating a potential location for a plot was that it could not contain native Phalaris sincethe presence of established Phalaris might have made it difficult to locate our transplants. In our statistical models, we treated the nine blocks as a random factor to incorporate local unexplained environmental variation. After planting, the plots were left to regrow and we did not remove any of the native vegetation. Plant quarantine rules prevented us from bringing tillers into Europe. Therefore, all plants were transported in moist paper towels as rhizome pieces without any soil present. In both Trebon and Moussac, rhizome pieces were transplanted into the common gardens approximately one week after they were prepared. Some early mortality may have resulted because of the lag between plant preparation and planting into the gardens.

Although the Brazilian flora is well represented, a large part of the collection constitutes non-native species. For example, the collection includes some exotic species of Myrtaceae, a botanical family that characteristically accumulates volatile compounds in the leaves. The goal of the present study was to assess the composition of leaf essential oil of three exotic species of Myrtaceae species growing in the BGRJ: Melaleuca leucadendra , Lophostemon confertus Peter G. Wilson & J. T. Waterh. , and Ugni molinae Turcz. The former two are woody-fruited species native to Australia, while the latter is native to Chile and is characterized by its production of pleasant tasting berries, as most South American Myrtaceae species are. The Melaleuca genus comprises nearly 300 species, most of which are endemic to Australia. Species of Melaleuca thrives in many kinds of environments, including swampy or temporarily inundated lands, poor or degraded soils. Popularly known as tea tree, the leaves of these species produce an abundance of essential oils that possess medicinal properties and are useful as flavor ingredients in the food industries. Melaleuca leucadendra  grows up to 40 m in height and has a thick trunk that may reach 1.5 m diameter in its original habitat. This species is conspicuously distinguished by its white, very thin bark that much resembles sheets of paper. Three chemotypes have been identified for M. leucadendra based on the essential oil composition. They are characterized by a high content of eugenol-type phenylpropanoids or terpenoids, of which γ-terpinene and terpinolene predominate among the monoterpenes.

Different chemotypes of the leaf essential oil have also been correlated with the geographical location of plants. Under specific agroforest conditions and depending on the geographic locale, 1,8-cineole or a combination of 1,8-cineole/α-terpineol/limonene may be present and characterize the chemotype. Several parts of the plant M. leucadendra are traditionally used for their anti-parasitic, antiseptic,mobile grow rack and insect repellent activities, and the leaf essential oil is used as an antifungal. The 1,8-cineole chemotype  of M. leucadendra leaf oil has been found to be active against Bacilus cereus and Staphylococcus aureus and a series of four other fungi while the methyl eugenol chemotype is an effective virucide against Herpes simplex virus type 1. Mild antioxidant and anti-hyaluronidase abilities have been observed for the former oil chemotype. The ethanol extract from the branches of M. leucadendra is highly selective against Tripanosoma brucei. The essential oil of M. leucadendra, pure or mixed with other oils, is ineffective in inducing mortality in Aedes, Anopheles, and Culex larvae, but significant irritant and repellent properties against Aedes aegypti females have been observed in experiments using the excito-repellency test chamber . An anti-feeding assay using gypsy moth larvae and the leaf ethanol extract of M. leucadendra led to the isolation of -nerolidol as the active component. Lophostemon confertus  is a large to very large evergreen tree native to open forest and rainforest ecotones on the east coast of Australia that may reach 25 to 40 m in height . Due to its pest resilience, tolerance to pollution, and excellent shade-providing capacity, it has been used as street tree in the cities of various countries. Leaves of L. confertus collected in Queensland have been shown to afford low yields of volatile oil that contained up to 33% α-pinene plus 20% limonene; with aromadendrene and spathulenol being relevant among the sesquiterpenes. Ugni molinae is an evergreen shrub that is native to temperate rain forests in Chile .

Apart from exceptional cases, this species grows to around 2 m in height. It is cultivated as an ornamental shrub and produces an excellent berry suitable to use in jelly, jam, cakes, liqueurs, etc.. It was eventually introduced in some Pacific British colonies, and thereafter being popularized as the New Zealand cranberry. The leaves of U. molinae exhibit astringent and stimulant properties and have been used in folk medicine to treat several kinds of diarrhea. Additionally, the leaves contain triterpenes that exhibit topical anti-inflammatory activity. To the best of our knowledge, no reports exist describing the leaf volatile compounds of this species.As a result of population growth and agricultural expansion, few forests are remaining and they are highly degraded, causing losses in traditionally important nutritious foods, medicines and other useful products leading to food insecurity. Furthermore, soil fertility has drastically fallen with fallow shortening and steadily disappearing to make room for continuous farming. There is a need to develop emerging plants like Moringa. Moringa oleifera, also known as horse radish, benzolive tree or drumstick tree  is one of the world’s most useful and nutritious plants. Moringa has both therapeutic and nutritional values. It is also used in animal forage, biogas, domestic cleaning, biopesticide and water purification. In fact, almost all parts of the tree are useful and have long been consumed by humans. It is the only genius of the family Moringaceae and is grown mainly in the semi-arid, the tropical and subtropical regions . It is adapted to a wide range of soil types but grows best in well drained loam to clay loam, neutral to slightly acidic soils, but cannot withstand prolonged water logging . It does best where temperatures range from 26˚C – 40˚C and annual rainfall totals at least 500 mm. Moringa is propagated sexually through seeds, and vegetatively through stem cuttings. Its recent introduction as a field crop has required propagation through seeds which are usually planted in the nursery using a light media , mixture of soil and sand, respectively.

The germination of M. oleifera is hypogeal, meaning that the cotyledons remain beneath the soil surface suggested that the use of garden/topsoil substrate leads to a germination percentage above 70% after three weeks. Germination occurs within 5 – 30 days, depending on the age of the seed, soil or media type and pretreatment method used, which might include: cracking the shells, soaking seeds with shells, dehulling seeds, and soaking seeds for 24 hours then putting in a plastic bag and storing in a warm place. Some authors indicate the necessity of soaking or priming the seeds for 24 hours before sowing.When factors like substrate quantity, hydric availability, thermal properties and absence of physical obstacles for the emergence of some species are improved, the seeds have better conditions for germination and emergence, and the seedlings better conditions for initial development. Frequently, farmers are limited by the use of one or few commercial substrates, usually of high cost and not easily accessible, often not very common in the western highland regions of Cameroon, where there is a weak technical and commercial support for horticultural activities. However, in the above area, it is possible to find many byproducts from the traditional agriculture and livestock activities, which could be used in the formulation of competitive alternative substrates, of low cost. Knowledge on the optimum manure requirements would significantly assist in scaling up M. oleifera production as an edible vegetable. Previous works focused mainly on nutritional values and uses whilst research on establishment and growth has not received much attention despite the growing awareness that M. oleifera production can be adversely affected by nutrient status of soil or media. Often during germination and growth of Moringa seeds, seedlings show symptoms of stunted growth and yellowing of leaves, resulting in death or reduced growth. This has been attributed to low initial soil nutrition and water logging in some cases. There is therefore a need to use locally available soil fertility amendment resources such as poultry manure to improve the establishment and growth of Moringa in resource constrained soils of the Western highlands of Cameroon have shown that poultry manure can serve as a soil amendment to improve soil nutrient status.

It is a source of carbon and nitrogen for microorganisms in the soil, improves soil structure, lowers the temperature at the soil or media surface, helps in seed germination and increases water holding capacity particularly in sandy soils, stabilizes soil pH, increases soil organic matter and ultimately improves plant growth and yields. In Cameroon, there is little technical information on the production of quality seedlings of the Moringa plant except those of. The latter authors discussed some aspects of germination but none addressed the influence of soaking and substrate composition with poultry manure on germination and seedling growth in the western highlands agro ecological zone. Considering the importance of Moringa, the present study was carried out with the objective of assessing the effect of four soaking durations and eight substrate compositions on the germination and initial seedling growth of Moringa in polyethylene bags in the nursery.The soil used was the topsoil of a Hapli-skeletic Cambisol of the YWHRGP. The sand was collected from the crossing German trench where it is equally fetched by the local populations for constructions. The poultry manure was obtained from a local farmer in Bamenda. The different substrate mixes were obtained from a number of buckets of soil,ebb and flow table sand and PM depending upon the amount required. A 10 liter bucket was used to measure the different materials in their different proportions as indicated above and was properly mixed with the hands as is customary with the farmers in the field. These substrates  were chosen because of their availability to farmers. Equally some of these substrates are widely used in the production of seedlings of different annual plants, fruit and forestry species. The soaked seeds were obtained by soaking 3 lots of 96 seeds for 12 days, 8 days, and 4 days, respectively. The soaked seeds with the 96 unsoaked seeds  were planted the same day. The sowing was conducted on the 18th of August 2013 in filled polyethylene bags  at 3 cm depths  and the top of the bags were covered with hashed dry grass to prevent splash soil loss.Seed germination is initiated through rapid water uptake, followed by the activation of metabolic mechanisms leading to the first visual signs of germination known as the protrusion of the radical. Thus, water plays a fundamental role in understanding seed biology, particularly germination and plant development.

The principal factors influencing seed germination are temperature, water, oxygen and light. Temperature is the most important, as it affects both the germination percentage and germination rate. At 25 DAS, soaking durations of 0 day  and 8 days  showed the highest germination percentages, while seeds soaked for 12 days occupied the least position . The highest germination percentage of 68.7% is in agreement with the results obtained by in the sudano-sahelian zone of Cameroon, where 69.6% of seeds had germinated at 25 DAS. The average percentages of germination of this plant in India, West Africa and other zones of Cameroon, were all above those obtained in this study. Different pretreatments  and differences in the agro ecological zones are likely responsible. Although, some scientific results show that soaking is an option for improving the Moringa seed germination, other reports consider it unnecessary. Seed priming improves germination and stand establishment and induces tolerance against adverse conditions like abiotic stress, especially during emergence and early seedling growth. Moringa seeds are not an exception, and it was reported that 12 h of soaking increased the germination of moringa seeds in the western highlands of Cameroon. Our results demonstrate that long duration  pre-hydration negatively influences the germination process as well as the post germination behavior which probably affects the establishment in the field. Besides, it was demonstrated that pregermination for 48 h affects the percentage of seed germination negatively. This could be due to the fact that seeds soaked for a long time, can undergo putrefaction due to fungi attack. The results obtained in this study when soaking duration reached 12 days is in conformity with those of the latter investigators. When the germination percentage was analyzed, the control  attained 68.7%. This confirms that seeds of this plant achieve high germination in spite of pre-germination treatments. Watering of the germination bags every day by rain until field capacity was attained could be another factor influencing germination. stated that the excess of humidity on the substrate may provoke germination losses and diminishing of the root growth and the aerial part of some tree species like moringa.

The higher organic matter content upstream may be attributed to a higher accumulation of organic matter due to high inputs from root biomass . Variability in total nitrogen is linked to difference in soil organic matter content, intensities in cultivation and erosion, application of manures, pesticides and fertilizers rich in nitrogen content in the soils . The mean values and standard deviation of soil physico-chemical variables at different sampling sites along the two rivers of Chemosit and Kipsonoi are presented in Table 3. In this study , soil pH ranged between 4.42 and 5.56, implying the soils are strongly acidic and suitable for tea production which was consistent with previous studies carried out in tea plantations . Soil pH was lowest in soils obtained Upstream on both rivers, with significant differences across the sampling sites. Tukey’s test showed that soil pH at upstream differed significantly from soil pH recorded midstream and downstream of Chemosit and Kipsonoi rivers.The low soil pH at the upstream corresponded with a high soil organic carbon at the same site Total organic carbon did not show significance difference, however the levels varied across sampling sites along the Chemosit and Kipsonoi rivers.

Variability in total organic carbon along the two river systems is linked to the reduction in organic material being returned to the soil system due to decreasing vegetation cover downstream and oxidation of soil organic matter as a result of continuous cultivation along the riverbanks, uncontrolled grazing and browsing,tower garden loss of organic matter by water erosion and removal of green materials. These results are in agreement with other studies that reported that the soil organic content differed with different land use types . The higher organic matter content upstream along Chemosit river may be attributed to a higher accumulation of organic matter due to high inputs from root biomass . Nitrogen and posphorous are categorized as essential nutrients in the soil for growth and development of plants. Soil nitrogen at the upstream sampling site along Kipsonoi river differed significantly from that of Midstream and downstream sampling sites. There was no significant difference in total nitrogen along Chemosit river. Variability in total nitrogen on both rivers is linked to difference in soil organic matter content, intensities in cultivation and erosion, application of manures, pesticides and fertilizers rich in nitrogen content in the soils .

For example, it is possible that nutrient uptake by crops, leaching during heavy down pours or further removal during plant harvest time could have contributed to the relatively low soil nitrogen content at the midstream  of the two rivers compared to other sampling sites .Variability in total phosphorous is related to the application of animal manure and application of diammonium phosphate  fertilizer on the adjacent farmlands. Lower phosphorous content in the soil along Kipsonoi river as compared to Chemosit river could be related to phosphorous fixation especially in forested areas, crop harvest in agricultural farms and erosion by water . Highest content of phosphorous was recorded at the Midstream of Chemosit river majorly dominated by large scale tea production and lowest downstream of Kipsonoi river. According to Matano et al. , land use has a significant effects on soil chemical properties. The levels of soil nutrients  can be used to deduce the degree at which a given site is degraged. Potassium levels could be attributed to the relative pumping of potassium from the subsoil by vegetation in the forest land. Lower potassium levels downstream could be attributed to soil degradation and losses by leaching due to reduced vegetation cover . Figure 3 and Figure 4 report the amount of Cadmium, copper and lead in soils along Chemosit and Kipsonoi river. Cadmium showed lowest concentration as comparedto copper and lead. However, considering the Canadian soil quality guidelines, all the metals were within the maximum allowable values for agriculture soil; 50 – 60 mg/kg; 1.4 mg/kg and 70 mg/kg ranges for copper, cadmium and lead, respectively .

Our dependent variable, age at initial diagnosis of CLL, may or may not carry implications for long term management of diagnosed CLL but is presumably strongly correlated with the age at which CLL is initiated. CLL is assumed to be initiated by a mutagenic event which fails to be lysed by cellular or subcellular maintenance/repair or immunological processes. Thus association of a potential risk factor with early AAID-CLL may reflect increased: 1) likelihood of early detection , 2) greater exposure to mutagenic risk , or 3) failure of cellular monitoring/ maintenance/repair/proliferative processes, or all three. The last of these possibilities is the most exciting because the independent predictors of AAID-CLL may reflect controllable events with the possibility of influencing the onset of the illness. Present results replicate previous studies in finding that farming/pesticide exposure and ASA use may have beneficial effects for the onset of CLL. While early life pesticide exposure is not reversible, ASA use clearly is for most patients. It is difficult to conceive of a well executed controlled clinical trial of ASA since it is universally available and patients agreeing to participate in such a trial would be tempted to dose themselves. None the less, naturalistic studies of patients who are “spontaneously” taking ASA and following disease progression seem feasible and potentially enlightening. Exercise has not previously been investigated as a factor in onset of illness for CLL. Our patients who reported themselves as having always been “Fit” had later diagnosis of CLL, but reported Hours of Exercise per Week was negatively related to age at initial diagnosis—an apparent paradox and, perhaps, an artifact of our sample sources. Like ASA, naturalistic observation of “spontaneously” occurring exercise and course of illness seems feasible, while a controlled clinical trial would also be difficult to execute because of patient compliance. Perhaps most impressive among our findings is the observation that multiple measures of emotional distress are associated with earlier onset CLL. It has been known for several decades now that some measures of ED are associated with suppression of some immune parameters. More recently, ED has been implicated as a cause of diminished telomerase levels, telomere shortening and diminished DNA repair capacity. Because of the complexity of both the psychoneuroendocrine and immunological systems, other possible mechanisms may remain to be discovered. Because knowledge of mechanisms is unnecessary, although reassuring, for the clinician, advancements in clinical research can proceed unimpeded by the mechanism conundrum. Our results may imply four new avenues for delaying the onset of CLL: ASA use, being “Fit”, smoking avoidance and treatment of ED.

Given the widely recognized safety of these potential therapies, we believe prospective clinical observation studies and, stacking flower pot tower more credibly, clinical trials should be considered. Present results must be interpreted in the context of the limitations of our methods. For practical reasons , our patient sources were mixed, with one source  not permitting independent checking of records to affirm the patient’s report. It is likely some error was introduced into our dataset by this method, although we cannot determine how much. But is it likely to be systematic error that would have biased our results in favor of our findings? We think not. Future work should strive to independently ascertain CLL diagnosis and WBCs. In addition, present results need confirmation in a prospective study or, better still, intervention study. The latter is the only true experiment in risk factor research and the “gold standard” for determining causality. Sub-Saharan Africa region, especially the Sahel area, experienced a constantly growing degradation of its environmental characteristics since several decades. This degradation is characterized by the deterioration of the major components of the ecosystems such as soil, vegetation and water. Among these components, soil degradation or land degradation affects lives and income of millions of people, especially those living in rural areas. This degradation results from climate-induced drought and a variety of unsustainable agricultural and forestry management. In the Far North region of Cameroon, it results in the appearance and expansion of bare and crusted spaces unable to sustain agricultural and pastoral activities. These degraded lands, widespread throughout Sub-Saharan Africa region in general, are known as hardé in the Far North region of Cameroon, a term borrowed from Fulfulde language of the Maroua region, equivalent to naga in Chad and zippelé in Burkina Faso. Around 13% of the total land area in the Maroua region is degraded due mainly to mechanized cotton mono-cropping by hundreds of local farmers with fertilizer inputs supplied by the cotton industry, shifting cultivation, overgrazing, over-harvesting of fuelwood, uncontrolled forest fires and high population pressure. According to the level of land degradation, many initiatives have been undertaken for soil rehabilitation. Among them, the most significant initiatives include those of national and international institutions , government programs and projects, and at last civil society organizations and national or international NGOs. Those initiatives are mainly improvement of traditional techniques, including bunds, earth dikes, small dams, half-moon, Zaï method or planting holes, mineral fertilizer booster, herbicides, selected seeds and mechanization of hard work and today direct-seeding mulch-based cropping systems . Despite the robustness of financial and material resources used in the implementation of these initiatives, it is clear that they have localized and ephemeral efficiency, but also inconclusive results. To cope with this problem, farmers further develop skills learned from their ancestors. Very few studies have been devoted to the role of villager activities, their contributions to the dynamics of hardé soils rehabilitation, whether individual or collective actions. However, some studies on the characterization and rehabilitation trial of these hardé soils have been carried out. However, the question is whether farming communities in the Maroua region can develop actions promoting hardé soils rehabilitation through their own efforts, since modern technologies have inconclusive results.

The present work proposes to analyze local initiatives of hardé soils rehabilitation in the Maroua region. That is to identify and describe the local initiatives of hardé soils rehabilitation, to assess the impact of local initiatives on the hardé soils rehabilitation process and finally to evaluate the different constraints related to the implementation of various local techniques of hardé soils rehabilitation across the study area. To do this, two study sites have been selected, Mizileng and Zokok, all located in the Maroua region, in the Far North Region of Cameroon.Fieldwork consisted of conducting observations and surveys beside farmers in the two study sites, Mizileng and Zokok . Approaches used were essentially based on semi-direct interviews. Semi-direct interviews  allow respondents to speak freely on the subject with a minimum intervention of the person conducting the interview. Individuals subjected to the interview were randomly selected. In order to obtain more reliable information, heads of household or individual of age equal or greater than 25 years were chosen. In each site, structured questionnaires, administrated to a sample of 100 farmers, were used to collect qualitative information on the different aspects of hardé soils rehabilitation. The administration of each questionnaire took about one hour for men and more for women. The total survey in both sites was completed after three months. The information collected include perceptions of farmers on land degradation, local knowledge on hardé soils rehabilitation, actions carried up and changes observed, impacts of local initiatives and constraints, knowledge of national and international organizations working for the rehabilitation of hardé soils and their views on the possible role of local actions in the regeneration process of hardé soils in their area. To complete information provided by the local population, visits were undertaken in the rehabilitated plots and plots being rehabilitated in order to observe the various actions taken by farmers in the different study sites. After data collection, Excel software was used to type and analyse data. All the respondents participated in each questionnaire. In the counting phase, responses were classified and corresponding percentages were calculated, based on the number of respondents. In this study, it is about descriptive statistics .In the localities surveyed, people are unanimous that land resources in their region are deteriorating day after day.