The current reliance on pesticides and synthetic fertilizers has been vital to sustain and even increase agricultural production. The continuous, excessive use of these traditional practices has negatively affected consumers’ health and burdened the ecosystem. The use of plant extracts has the ability to improve plant growth and agricultural productivity. This study was, therefore, conducted to determine the effect of foliar plant extract application on potato growth, as well as on certain physiological and yield attributes. Treatments included extracts of the seaweed Ascophyllum nodosum, aloe vera leaves, garlic bulbs and moringa leaves. From four weeks after planting onwards, five healthy, equal-sized potato plants received 50 mL of the above-mentioned plant extracts as foliar application. These treatments were repeated weekly until harvesting. Data on growth and physiological parameters were collected weekly. Pre-harvest foliar application of various plant extracts significantly enhanced (p ≤ 0.05) plant growth and yield attributes of potatoes. Best growth and yield responses were observed following ANE and MLE application. A positive influence of various foliar plant extract applications on growth and yield of potatoes was demonstrated. Further validation of the response of other crops is still necessary to promote the adoption of this approach.

The rapid advancements in digital technologies have ushered in a new era of agriculture, transforming traditional farming practices into a dynamic and data-driven discipline known as digital farming. This paper delves into the profound impact of digital farming on agricultural engineering practices, shedding light on the revolutionary changes it has brought to the agricultural landscape. By integrating cutting-edge technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Big Data analytics, and remote sensing, digital farming has empowered agricultural engineers with unprecedented opportunities to optimize farming operations. Harnessing the power of real-time data collection, analysis, and predictive modeling, agricultural engineers can now make informed decisions, enabling precise and sustainable resource management. Moreover, the adoption of digital farming practices has elevated the efficiency and productivity of agricultural engineering endeavors. From autonomous farm machinery and smart irrigation systems to precision application of inputs, digital farming has redefined agricultural engineering practices, driving efficiency and sustainability to new heights. Through a systematic review of recent studies and case studies, this paper aims to showcase the transformative potential of digital farming in revolutionizing agricultural engineering practices. The implications of these advancements on resource utilization, environmental sustainability, and global food security are also explored. This research seeks to inspire stakeholders in the agricultural sector to embrace digital farming as a transformative force, shaping the future of agricultural engineering practices for a more efficient, resilient, and prosperous agriculture sector.

The world wine sector is a multi-billion dollar industry with a wide range of economic activities. To be able to compete in domestic and global markets, wine producers must reduce operational and production costs, and optimise production cycles, aiming to improve crop yields and quality. Yield forecasting is of immeasurable value in modern viticulture to optimise harvest scheduling and quality management. Traditionally, this task is carried out through manual and destructive sampling of vineyard yield components and their accurate assessment is expensive, time-consuming, and error-prone. Therefore, yield estimation is based on a low number of samples, resulting in erroneous projections as the yield variation is very high and unevenly distributed across the vineyard. The number of inflorescences and flowers per vine is one of the main yield components and serves as an early predictor of vineyard productivity. The adoption of new non-invasive technologies can automate this task and drive viticulture yield forecasting to higher levels of accuracy. In this study, a digital phenotyping approach, based on Deep Learning (DL) models, is proposed for grapevine inflorescence detection and segmentation, with the aim of validating and subsequently implementing the solution for counting the number of inflorescences and flowers. Different Single Stage Instance Segmentation models from the state-of-the-art You Only Look Once (YOLO) family, such as YOLOv5, YOLOv7, YOLOv8 and YOLOACT, will be benchmarked on a dataset of RGB images, collected under field conditions by a mobile device in a vineyard.

Twenty-seven F4 progenies of individual selections and unselected bulks were evaluated in early and late summer plantings either irrigated normally or stressed. The objectives were to elucidate the efficiency direct and indirect individual selection in some Egyptian cotton segregating populations for reliable performance under harsh environmental conditions. The cotton plants of F4 produced higher lint yields under early sowing either normal or stress watering regimes (EN and ES) than those planted under late sowings or combined across all environments. Direct selection is better than indirect selection for improving lint yield and boll weight under normal watering regimes and for seed index and lint index under stress watering regimes either early or late sown. Maximum expected gain for F4 progenies was obtained for lint % trait from indirect selection to ES for the relative to correlated response under practiced under EN environment.

Heavy metals accumulation in the ecosystem can have potentially toxic effects and is one of the most prominent consequences of anthropogenic developments, which threaten biodiversity and environment. Industrial effluents and urban waste contain a large number of heavy metals (Cadmium, Lead, Copper, Zinc) highly toxic to the biological system. The present study investigated the status of heavy metals, including Zinc (Zn), Manganese (Mn), Lead (Pb), Copper (Cu), Cadmium (Cd), and Cobalt (Co), in the bones, feathers, hearts, muscles, and lungs of the cattle egret (Bubulcus ibis). Samples of the cattle egret were collected from the Faisalabad division with the help of the concerned wildlife department. Heavy metals were assessed using atomic absorption spectrophotometry and the protocols supplied by Perkin-Elmers Corp. The results revealed that trend of heavy metals in bones was Zn>Pb>Cu>Mn>Cd>Co, and the same trend was followed in the case of feathers and hearts. However, the trend of heavy metals in muscles and lungs was in the order Zn>Mn>Cu>Co>Cd. Heavy metals were present in the bones, feathers, hearts, muscles, and lungs of the cattle egret. The contamination levels were ascertained from the study, which indicated that the cattle egret is useful in biomonitoring heavy metals. The present study will serve as baseline data that could be further compared with data from other locations for monitoring heavy metal pollution. These investigations will be helpful for assessing heavy metal accumulation under semi-arid climates.

Gujarat is one of India's top potato-producing regions, making it one of the world's top producers of potatoes. The demand for potatoes is driven by the food processing industry, domestic consumption, and export opportunities. While potato production in India has been growing, there are several issues that affect the industry. The availability of high-quality potato seeds as well as post-harvest losses due to improper handling and storage are major challenges. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of various culture systems, and nutrient supplements to establish and optimize a suitable system for in vitro shoot growth, microtuberization, and storage conditions. In vitro cultures of locally adapted six different potato cultivars have been initiated and the shoot multiplication protocol has been standardized. The microtubers protocol was optimized using four-week-old shoots and a mean of 4 microtubers per shoot was observed on the Murashige and Skoog medium supplemented with 6-benzylaminopurine (0.88 µM) and sucrose (8%). Harvested microtubers were used for storage conditions and shoot growth was evaluated from microtubers under in vitro as well as ex vitro conditions. All microtubers developed healthy shoots after 18 days of storage at 4 ℃ both in vitro and ex vitro, and the resulting plantlets showed > 90% survival in the greenhouse. The distribution of high-quality potato seeds in Gujarat, which are in high demand, may benefit from the optimal microtubarization protocol. This study confirms the potential of long-term germplasm preservation and microtuber based cultivation practices in the Gujarat.

Agrivoltaics is an approach that integrates agriculture and photovoltaics on the same land, offering a range of benefits. These include improved profitability for farmers and local areas, increased efficiency in land and water use, and the promotion of electrification and decarbonization in the agricultural sector. However, to ensure the long-term sustainability of the area, it is critical to address the issue of overly industrialized "pseudo-agriculture" and the potential conflicts that may arise between power generation and agriculture, depending on the design of the power generation facilities. This requires a comprehensive understanding of the region's specific agricultural, agroecology and energy situations, as well as designing appropriate institutional arrangements. In this study, we assess the feasibility of implementing agrivoltaics in Japan's Kinki region, encompassing 7 prefectures and 227 municipalities, with the aim of gaining insights into the region's current situation. To achieve this, we employ an original methodology utilizing a geographic information system that incorporates considerations of safety and profitability. By evaluating multiple scenarios, we examine electricity generation, agricultural production, and various indicators related to agroecology. The results show that even in scenarios that prioritize the preservation and improvement of agricultural production, 13 municipalities have the potential to generate surplus electricity beyond their annual consumption. Overall, the results of this study provide valuable insights into the regional potential of agrivoltaic systems, supporting informed policy-making and facilitating appropriate strategies for sustainable development.

Barley is one of the economically important crop species and net blotch caused by Pyrenophora teres f. teres has a significant impact on the quantity and quality of grain yield. This disease occurs every year on barley in Central Europe including many areas of Poland.

The current study aimed to identify sources of resistance to barley net form of net blotch in the collection of 431 European barley accessions. They were evaluated phenotypically under field conditions scoring resistance to net blotch at heading and miky-waxy stages. Next, they were genotyped by Diversity Arrays Technology (DArT), a method utilizing Genotyping-By-Sequencing (GBS). Disease severity scored under field conditions was sufficient to differentiate the collection and to find marker-trait associations (MTAs) with resistance to the disease.

GWAS for net blotch resistance at the heading stage identified 10 marker-trait associations (MTAs) (2 on 1H, 2 on 3H, 2 on 5H, 2 on 6H, 1 on 7H, and 1 on Un). For net bloth resistance at the milky-waxy stage, 11 MTAs were identified (1 on 1H, 2 on 2H, 1 on 3H, 1 on 5H, 2 on 6H, 4 on 7H).

This preliminary work will be continued in the pre-breeding process. Next, these newly identified sources of resistance to net form of net blotch will be used by Polish breeders in barley breeding for resistance.

Salinization and sodification of agricultural lands in arid and semi-arid regions of the world are two limiting factors in the crop production. In India, about 6.72 million ha area is salt affected of which 3.77 million ha is sodic soil. To evaluate the reclamation potential of soil amendments, laboratory incubation study was conducted at Agricultural College and Research Institute, Tiruchirappalli (2022). Different soil amendments viz., T₁- Pongamia GLM @ 6.25 t ha^-1, T₂ -Pressmud @ 10 t ha^-1, T₃- CSR GROMOR 25 kg ha^-1, T₄-Marine gypsum 50% GR, T₅-Marine gypsum @ 50 % GR + Pongamia GLM 6.25 t ha^-1, T₆-Marine gypsum 50% GR + Pressmud 10 t ha^-1, T₇-Marine gypsum 50% GR + CSR GROMOR 25 kg ha^-1 and T₈-Control (No amendments) were used for incubation. After 90 days of incubation, pot culture using post-incubated soil was raised to study the seedling parameters of green gram which was laid out in randomized block design with three replications. Analysis of post-incubated soil using ICP-MS shows, higher cations viz., Ca (+67%), Mg (+65%) and K (+66%) was found in marine gypsum @ 50% GR + CSR GROMOR @ 25 kg ha^-1 with lower values of pH (-15%), EC (-63%), ESP (-39%) and Na (-58%) compared to control. The same treatment recorded higher chlorophyll, relative water content and seedling vigour index I & II of green gram. The results indicated that marine gypsum + CSR GROMOR had a positive impact on reducing soil sodicity and improving soil fertility.

Citrus tristeza virus (CTV) is the most emerging damaging disease of citrus and is the major cause of reduction in citrus yield particularly in Punjab and KPK provinces of Pakistan. It is the most challenging virus due to efficient (vector) transmission system and unavailability of resistant cultivars. Thus, present investigations were carried out to find the source of resistance against CTV. In this regards, fourteen citrus cultivars were evaluated against CTV. Among all the cultivars highest infection was recorded in Mangal Singh i.e 85.90% and lowest in early fruiter i.e., 20%. Early fruiter has a maximum level of tolerance against Citrus tristeza virus. For the management of Citrus tristeza virus disease four chemical (nutrients) i.e., micro mix (Zn, Fe, Cu, Mn), NPK, Zinc and Leufenoron at three concentrations (3, 5, 7g/liter of water) were used. Among all the chemicals micro mix showed maximum disease control 42%. CTV is one of the most challenging viruses to handle and as it is transmitted by Aphid (Aphis gossypi). Thus, in present study chemicals were also tested against the population of Aphis gossypi. It was found that Leufenoron showed maximum inhibition of vector population. These results are helpful for farmers, researchers and scientist for the management of citrus tristeza virus disease to save their citrus field from the harms of CTV.