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Avocado production has boomed worldwide in recent years, and Spain, including the Canary Islands, has been no exception. The number of avocado growers in the region has increased significantly as growers recognize the potential of this crop. However, several species of spider mites (Tetranychidae) pose a risk to this crop, with the genus Oligonychus being the most diverse and having the greatest economic impact. In particular, Oligonychus perseae (Tuttle, Baker and Abbatiello) has been reported as the one mainly responsible for the economic damage in major avocado-producing regions worldwide. In this paper, we aim to present an overview of the studies conducted and the measures implemented to mitigate the impact of O. perseae after its arrival in the Canary Islands. Our objective is to provide a detailed description of the current status of this pest (O. perseae), with special attention to its situation 17 years after its first appearance in avocado crops in the Canary Islands. In doing so, we aim to provide valuable insights and knowledge to understand and manage better the challenges posed by O. perseae in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Black polyethylene (PE) is the most common mulching material used in horticultural crops in the world but its use represents a very serious environmental problem. Biodegradable films and paper mulches are available alternatives but farmers are reluctant to adopt them because of their high market prices. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the economic profitability of eight biodegradable mulching materials available for open-air pepper production. The economic evaluation is based on a four-year trial located in a semi-arid region of Spain. Three scenarios of PE waste management are examined: (i) absence of residues management, (ii) landfill accumulation, and (iii) total recycling. The inclusion of the costs of waste management and recycling under the current Spanish legislation only reduced the final net margin by 0.2%. The results show that an increase in subsidy rates of up to 50.1% on the market price would allow all biodegradable films to be economic alternatives to PE. The study supports the mandatory measures for the farmers to assume the costs of waste management and recycling. Despite savings in field conditioning costs, high market prices of biodegradable materials and papers are not compensated by the current level of subsidies, hampering their adoption in the fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The flowering period of plants is a critical time since it determines their reproductive success. Flowering is controlled by different factors including genetic regulation and environmental conditions. In the Mediterranean area, favourable conditions usually occur in spring, when most plant species flower including those of the Mediterranean Quercus genus. This paper reveals and analyses an unusual and lesser-known phenomenon occurring in the two main Mediterranean agroforestry ecosystems of South Europe, the Mediterranean forest and "dehesa", that is, a second flowering occurring in autumn for the species Quercus ilex subsp. ballota (holm oak). The continuous pollen monitoring of the atmosphere in the city of Cordoba (southern Spain) for 25 years, together with field phenological observations in the area, has indicated that, apart from the main pollination period in spring, secondary flowerings also occasionally occur in this area, specifically in autumn. The present work examines these uncommon pollination events detected in the autumns of certain years with the aim of determining the main environmental factors that influence and control them. During the 25-year study period, there were 7 years in which a secondary Quercus flowering was detected in the area from the second half of October until the end of November. The univariate statistical analysis of the influence of environmental variables determined that the meteorological conditions in September were the most influential. Low mean temperatures, together with record rainfall in that month, led to autumn flowering events. The phenological characteristics of the spring pollen season were also influential. In the years with a shorter spring, the Quercus pollen season tended to present autumn flowerings. A multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS) model was built to explain the effects of the different variables on the occurrence of autumn pollination. The results indicated that the combined effect of three predicting variables, September rainfall, the length of the spring pollen season, and the end of the spring pollen season, explained 92% of the variance. The validation showed a strong relationship between the expected and the observed autumn pollen concentrations. Therefore, the present analysis of a long-term pollen database revealed that the main causes of this unusual second flowering in autumn were strongly related to climate change, i.e., strong dry summers and warm autumns. In addition, the results showed that the phenomenon was more frequent in the years with low pollination during spring due to different meteorological events potentiated by climate change, such as dryness or heavy rain episodes, as a way of ensuring acorn crops. The results explain how this unusual and lesser-known phenomenon in agroforestry dynamics is related to the adaptation to climate change and the main factors that are driving it, as well as the potential consequences for these important and endangered Mediterranean ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the aerial biomass of citrus plantations in Spain was evaluated using destructive methods. Before cutting down the trees, their geometric variables were measured: trunk diameter at 10 cm from the ground (Dt), trunk perimeter at 10 cm from the ground (Pm), mean crown diameter (Dc), canopy height (Hc), and maximum crown height (Hmax). After geometric characterization of the tree, it was felled. This was performed with a chainsaw about 10 cm above the ground. After cutting down, trees with and without leaves were weighed, and biomass variables such as moisture, calorific value, elemental composition, and proximate analysis were measured. The predictive models obtained showed an r2 of 0.78. According to our analysis, in plantations in Spain, where the average plantation pattern is 4 × 4 m, the amount of carbon stored in a plot is 15 t of C per hectare. If leaves and wood are counted, the energy density in citrus plots can be estimated at 900 MJ/tree. However, if only wood is included in the calculation, the accumulated energy per tree is 750.3 MJ/tree, which represents 5.6 × 105 MJ/ha. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

World agriculture is facing a great challenge since it is necessary to find a sustainable way to increase food production. Current trends in advancing the agriculture sector are based on leveraging remote sensing technology and the use of biostimulants. However, the efficient implementation of both of these on a commercial scale for the purposes of productivity improvement remains a challenge. Thus, by proposing a crop monitoring strategy based on remote sensing data, this paper aims to verify and anticipate the impact of applying a Glycinebetaine biostimulant (GB) on the final yield. The study was carried out in a rice-producing area in Eastern Spain (Valencia) in 2021. GB was applied by drone 33 days after sowing (tillering phase). Phenology was monitored and crop production parameters were determined. Regarding satellite data, Sentinel-2 cloud-free images were obtained from sowing to harvest, using the bands at 10 m. Planet data were used to evaluate the results from Sentinel-2. The results show that GB applied 33 days after sowing improves both crop productive parameters and commercial yield (13.06% increase). The design of the proposed monitoring strategy was based on the dynamics and correlations between the visible (green and red) and NIR bands. The analysis showed differences when comparing the GB and control areas, and permitted the determination of the moment in which the effect of GB on yield (tillering and maturity) may be greater. In addition, an index was constructed to verify the crop monitoring strategy, its mathematical expression being: NCMI = (NIR − (red + green))/(NIR + red + green). Compared with the other VIs (NDVI, GNDVI and EVI2), the NCMI presents a greater sensitivity to changes in the green, red and NIR bands, a lower saturation phenomenon than NDVI and a better monitoring of rice phenology and management than GNDVI and EVI2. These results were evaluated with Planet images, obtaining similar results. In conclusion, in this study, we confirm the improvement in rice crop productivity by improving sustainable plant nutrition with the use of biostimulants and by increasing the components that define crop yield (productive tillers, spikelets and grains). Additionally, crop monitoring using remote sensing technology permits the anticipation and understanding of the productive behavior and the evolution of the phenological stages of the crop, in accordance with crop management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents and reviews the soil salinity data provided by a rescued vintage agronomic report on an irrigated area of 35,875 ha located in the center of the Ebro River basin, in the NE of mainland Spain. These data come from a soil sampling campaign conducted from May to the first half of July 1975 for the purpose of delineating saline and non-saline soils. The agronomic report was produced in response to demands from farmers to combat soil salinity, and represents the state of the art in those years for salinity studies. Our paper presents the scrubbed soil salinity data for this year, checking their consistency and locating the study sites. The main finding is the unearthing of this heritage report and the discussion of its soil salinity data. We show that the report supplies an assessment and a baseline for further soil salinity tracking by conducting new measurements either by direct soil sampling or by nondestructive techniques, providing an estimate of soil salinity at different locations. This task is feasible, as shown in our previously published articles involving nearby areas. A comparison of the salt amount in the soil over the years would provide a means to evaluate irrigation methods for sustainable land management. This comparison can be conducted simultaneously with analysis of other agricultural features described in the report for the irrigation district in 1975. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beekeeping is an ancient activity that is gaining interest among practitioners and society in general. It is as an activity with positive impacts in the environmental, social and economic spheres, with the potential to reconnect these dimensions and contribute to sustainable development. Thus, it is important to determine the profiles of beekeepers across the world, and to understand the main social, economic or ecological drivers that shape their activities. Hofstede cross-cultural dimensions were used to better explain differences between countries. A survey was undertaken of beekeepers in different countries (Croatia, Estonia, Finland, Italy, Norway, Portugal, and Spain) in the native language of each nation. A total of 313 questionnaires, using an online platform or in paper form, was delivered face-to-face during training or dissemination events in 2019. Norway and Finland were the countries with the highest percentage of respondents with a university degree (>80%), while Spain (42%) and Croatia (48%) presented the lowest percentages. Most participants were experienced beekeepers (59% had more than five years of experience) with more than 50 colonies. With the exception of Italy, beekeeping appears to be a hobby or an additional professional activity. The main beekeeping products for these beekeepers were honey, wax, colonies and propolis, with an average honey production per season of 24.5 kg/hive. Crossing socio-demographic characteristics and Hofstede cross-cultural dimensions showed a relation among countries with higher Power Distance Index (PDI; this value expresses how society accepts and expects a certain inequality of power) and lower annual income and educational level (Croatia, Portugal, and Spain). A strong correlation appeared between Masculinity Femininity Index (MFI; this value refers to gender effects in society, with feminine societies meaning that the dominant values are caring for others and quality of life, as opposed to masculine societies, which are driven by competition, achievement and success) and age, income and education, with Norway presenting the most feminine society, with more educated and older beekeepers. The Uncertainty Aversion Index (UAI; this value explains how members of a society feel when dealing with unknown situations) was strongly associated with education. The results showed that increasing beekeepers' income will contribute to balancing the distribution of power among members of society, and that this might be achieved by training, especially in Croatia, Portugal, Spain, and Italy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pig slurry is considered a high-risk effluent that causes several environmental problems if it is not adequately managed and treated. White Iberian pig farms in the southeast of Spain treat their slurry in situ using separation, double filtration, decantation, and constructed wetland treatments. However, the pretreatment process does not successfully reduce solids, which leads to clogging in the constructed wetlands (CWs). The main objective of this research paper is to reduce the turbidity and chemical oxygen demand (COD) from the effluent to make it appropriate for CW treatment. Optimization of the coagulation–flocculation (CF) process using iron chloride and a cationic flocculent DKFLOCC-1598 was investigated by a central composite design method (CCD). The effects of coagulant concentration, pH, and flocculent on the COD and turbidity removal were evaluated. The best results were found using 0.024 mol L−1 iron chloride and 0.164 mL L−1 flocculent at pH 7.5, which reduced COD by 96% and delivered turbidity removal of 97%. Therefore, the results indicate the high efficiency of the treatment method in reducing the COD and suspended solids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conflicts of Interest The authors declare no conflict of interest. Reference 1 Torra J., Royo-Esnal A., Romano Y., Osuna M.D., León R.G., Recasens J. Amaranthus palmeri a New Invasive Weed in Spain with Herbicide Resistant Biotypes. The authors would like to make the following correction to the published paper [[1]]: Revise the content in Section 2.4 from "All mutations conferring ALS resistance in I A. palmeri i in positions Ser653, Trp574, Pro197, Pro197, Ala122 and Ala122 of CAD and BE domains" to "All mutations conferring ALS resistance in I A. palmeri i in positions Gly654, Ser653, Trp574, Ala205, Pro197 and Ala122 of CAD and BE domains". [Extracted from the article]

This paper concerns an old soils report produced using an agronomical approach. The territory studied spans continuous parts of Spain's Huesca and Zaragoza provinces and includes the Violada area. The Spanish Ministry of Agriculture collected the data from 1975 to 1978 through its now-defunct agency, the National Institute for Agrarian Reform and Development (IRYDA), which was in charge of irrigation works in Spain. The surface area studied was 19,393 ha, with 67% irrigated by inundation and 33% rainfed at the time of the study. The survey and the related investigations were conducted using state-of-the-art procedures for agronomical research. The purpose was to rate the potential of the lands for irrigated agriculture. The document provides a unique snapshot of the soils and agriculture in the 1970s that can provide a baseline for multitemporal comparisons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving water efficiency in farming systems is one of the major challenges of these decades. Water scarcity due to climate change, together with the increasing demand of food, is leading experts from around the world find appropriate indicators for water-use efficiency. In this paper we propose and test different indicators for service delivery performance, productive efficiency, and economic efficiency. Since the characteristics of the studied area and the citrus cropping system in the East of Spain are particular, we include in our analysis two other variables which are key to understanding the changes in the indicators: the obtained productivity, and the applied irrigation. The indicators and these two variables are tested with the information provided by farmers of citrus orchards belonging to an irrigation community from the East of Spain. The effect of different factors, such as cultivated varieties, type of farmer (professional or non-professional), or plantations' size, are evaluated against the productivity and irrigation performance of the evaluated orchards. The effect of excess of irrigation on the indicators is also studied with the previous factors. Finally, an artificial intelligence system is used to predict productive efficiency of an orchard, based on the size and the water supply. Among the proposed indicators, the service delivery performance indicators came out to be the least useful and might provoke overirrigation due to the lack of accuracy of the data used for its calculation. The productive and economic efficiency indicators have been useful to illustrate the remarkable effect that excess of irrigation has on water efficiency, since a reduction of 66% of productive efficiency is found for some of the analysed varieties. On other cases, a reduction of 50% in economic efficiency is detected due to the excess of irrigation. Moreover, the excess of irrigation implied higher economic efficiency in only one of the evaluated varieties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers an exploratory microeconomic analysis of water use in the cultivation of almonds when water is considered a limiting production factor. When a crop is subjected to water limitation, the microeconomic principles behind irrigation decisions are based upon the water-yield relationship. The analysis is applied to an estimated water-yield response function for irrigated almond trees in southern Spain; our research focuses on determining the optimal irrigation dose when deficit irrigation is applied, as it is usual in water-scarce contexts. The situation in Spain is compared to that of other countries where water rights are less constrained. The economic analysis of the water production function is crucial, since it determines farmers' income and helps them make appropriate management decisions, such as simultaneous decisions regarding the allocation of limited water to crops and the size of the irrigated area for almond production. Furthermore, public institutions need this basic information for the allocation of water in times of increasing water demand and of limited and decreasing resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Risk management in agriculture is at the heart of major reforms in many OECD countries and European agricultural policies. Price risks, which are generally not insurable per se, have been covered by the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which has been shaped as a system of protection against market shocks and an instrument for income stabilization. However, there is an increasing propensity to combine the use of public and private risk management tools as well. In Spain, revenue insurance has not yet developed in the same way as other risk coverage insurance, although it is an upcoming target of agricultural insurance policies with the aim of ensuring income stability for agricultural producers. This paper presents the results of the methodology used to draw up a composition index or model of the average price for the season or representative market field price to be used for revenue insurance purposes in citrus fruit. High explanatory power regression models and the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) were used. The results show that the average price for the season obtained reliably represents the market field prices in the country's various producer areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is growing interest within the peach and nectarine markets in obtaining and selling ready-to-eat fruits. For this, pre-ripening protocols are being applied, which do not always result in sufficiently juicy fruits. Therefore, the aim of this study is the development of objective instrumental procedures for quantification of the juiciness attributes of these fruits. In this work, we evaluated the juiciness of more than 2000 fruits belonging to 20 of the varieties of greatest interest in the southeast of Spain. An instrumental mechanical procedure based on the confined compression of a pulp specimen of known volume was designed and optimized. Instrumental juiciness was defined as the wet area (cm2) on an absorbent paper located under the compression probe. This test allowed for the defining of objective thresholds for the identification of juicy fruits; 90% of the fruits with areas higher than 5.4 cm2 were considered to be juicy. Complementarily, non-invasive supervision by near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy, based on pulp structural changes during ripening, allowed for estimation of the instrumental juiciness with coefficients of correlation above 0.83. The results of these instrumental procedures contribute to supporting decision tools in the logistics chain of stone fruits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spain is the world's leading producer of olive oil, with the largest number of olive agro-systems in the Andalusia region. However, rural migration, low profitability, and biophysical limitations to production have compromised their sustainability. Soil erosion is the main cause of declining production and must be controlled to sustain production and keep soil loss below a threshold (soil loss tolerance, SLT). In this paper, the Soil Loss Tolerance Index (SLTI) for non-specific crops was calculated, theoretically, in different Andalusian olive-growing areas. A new Soil Loss Tolerance Index specifically for olive groves was developed (SLTIog) using soil variables related to erosion corresponding to the Estepa region. This index and the Soil Productive Index (SPI) were estimated. Andalusian olive groves with severe erosion were unsustainable for a 150-year period according to SLTI. However, applying the SLTIog in olive groves of Estepa, soil loss was not unsustainable. Although no statistically significant differences were detected between the two SLT indices, the consideration of specific soil variables in the SLTIog made it more accurate and reliable for the assessment of potential long-term sustainability. The use of specific indices for olive groves can inform the adoption of management measures to maintain productivity and support conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]