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Sustainable pest management requires growers and regional land managers to consider the relationships among pest management practices, pest and natural enemy communities, crop loss, and multi-scalar habitat complexity. However, the causal links among these variables, in particular potential interactions between landscape and local-scale habitat complexity, remain underexplored. In the context of organically managed strawberry crops in California's Central Coast, we tested the independent effects of landscape and local habitat complexity gradients on arthropod communities and crop loss using a piecewise structural equation model (PSEM). We found that landscape-scale woody habitat proportion indirectly decreased crop loss through its positive effect on natural enemy abundance, while grassland proportion had the opposite effect due to its association with an important strawberry pest (Lygus spp.). We detected a pattern suggesting that on-farm diversification practices are most effective at reducing crop loss at an intermediate level (26%) of woody habitat proportion. Both organic-compliant insecticide application and tractor vacuuming negatively impacted natural enemies, and therefore had qualified effects on crop loss. Our study shows the key roles of native woodlands and natural enemy communities in reducing crop loss and highlights the importance of managing habitat complexity at both landscape and local scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land snails, including some economically important species, are commonly found in forests and mountainous regions of Türkiye. Türkiye"s large geomorphological region and four surrounding seas, which offer a variety of malacofauna, help Türkiye achieve an endemism grade of over 65%. Despite extensive research over the past few decades, we still lack a sufficient understanding of the species identification of land snails in Türkiye, particularly in areas like forested mountain regions, and it is assumed that there are more than 1000 taxa in total. This review emphasizes the existence of invasive non-native snail species in Türkiye, such as Arion ater (Linnaeus, 1758) and Arion vulgaris Moquin- Tandon, 1855, which have a negative impact on agricultural and horticultural output. In addition to these species, Theba pisana, Cornu aspersum, Xeropicta derbentina, Xeropicta krynickii, Cernuella virgata and Eobania vermiculata are also found in Türkiye as nonnative land snail species. Moreover, it also places a strong emphasis on the necessity of managing invasive species to reduce their detrimental effects on natural ecosystems by giving examples from the world and covers the predictions about the possible threats that the presence of non-native invasive land snail species in Türkiye may pose in the future.

Land snails, including some economically important species, are commonly found in forests and mountainous regions of Türkiye. Türkiye's large geomorphological region and four surrounding seas, which offer a variety of malacofauna, help Türkiye achieve an endemism grade of over 65%. Despite extensive research over the past few decades, we still lack a sufficient understanding of the species identification of land snails in Türkiye, particularly in areas like forested mountain regions, and it is assumed that there are more than 1000 taxa in total. This review emphasizes the existence of invasive non-native snail species in Türkiye, such as Arion ater (Linnaeus, 1758) and Arion vulgaris Moquin-Tandon, 1855, which have a negative impact on agricultural and horticultural output. In addition to these species, Theba pisana, Cornu aspersum, Xeropicta derbentina, Xeropicta krynickii, Cernuella virgata and Eobania vermiculata are also found in Türkiye as non- native land snail species. Moreover, it also places a strong emphasis on the necessity of managing invasive species to reduce their detrimental effects on natural ecosystems by giving examples from the world and covers the predictions about the possible threats that the presence of non-native invasive land snail species in Türkiye may pose in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction[1]Root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne spp.) are among the most important soil-borne pathogens that cause serious economic damage to orchards and agricultural products. Over 2000 plant species are attacked by root-knot nematodes. Root-Knot Nematodes limit the absorption of water and nutrients, and create favorable conditions for infection by root-pathogenic microorganisms in many crops, resulting in the formation of giant cells. Due to their high reproductive rate, RKN management is challening. Meloidogyne species can be controlled using various methods, including agricultural practices, resistant cultivars, and chemical nematicides, which are easier and more effective to use. The use of chemical nematicides has decreased due to health and environmental concerns. The agricultural community needs new and alternative management strategies, especially those that are environmentally acceptable. The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of several combinations of chicken manure, liquid chicken manure, vermicompost, vermiwash, cabbage and broccoli waste in the management of root-knot nematodes in kiwi orchards. Materials and MethodsInspection and sampling were carried out in kiwi orchards in the western province of Guilan (Talesh and Astara) to determine the infected orchards for planned treatments. The nematode species were identified by using morphological characteristics of faineal pattern, and second-stage juveniles. Three orchards located in Asalem, Lisar, and Lavandevil were selected based on their high similarity in terms of contamination level and other characteristics such as tree age, row distance, irrigation, slope, and soil type. Nine treatments were applied using a complete randomized block design for three months. The treatments consisted of 40 tons of chicken manure, vermicompost, and cabbage waste fa hectare, planting of broccoli, vermiwash, and liquid chicken manure (one liter fa tree). Ragbi was also used as a nematicide at a rate of 10 g/m3 alongside other treatments. For the application of chicken manure, vermicompost, and cabbage waste, the area of the plant's nutrient root expansion was first determined. Then, the desired amount of treatments was mixed with the soil at a depth of 3 to 30 centimeters. After preparing the designated plots, broccoli seedlings were planted around the damaged trees. Results and DiscussionBased on the morphological and histological characteristics, the studied species was identified as M. incognita. The results showed that all treatments had a significant difference compared to the control and were able to reduce nematode infection indices. The best treatment in nematode control was chicken manure which decreased the number of galls, the number of egg masses, the number of larvae and eggs fa gram of root, the number of second stage juveniles fa hundred grams of soil and the reproduction factor by 86.7%, 76.7%, 89.8%, 90.3% and 91%, respectively, compared to the control. The results revealed that vermicompost was the least effective treatment which reduced the number of galls and egg masses fa root system, the number of larvae and eggs fa gram of root, the number of second stage juveniles fa hundred grams of soil, and the reproduction factor by 78.8%, 36%, 65.4%, 64.7% and 65.1%, respectively, compared to the control. The results suggest that the use of organic amendments as an alternative to chemical nematicides can be effective in reducing nematode populations in kiwi orchards. In addition, the use of organic amendments may improve soil fertility and plant growth, which can have a positive impact on overall crop yield and quality. ConclusionBased on the findings of this study, all treatments were successful in reducing nematode indices. However, comparisons of the treatments showed that chicken manure had the most significant effect in reducing the indices compared to other treatments. Following chicken manure, vermiwash and liquid chicken manure treatments were the next most effective. Additionally, all treatments successfully increased production. These results may be attributed to effective nematode control and improved plant nutrition. Application of chicken manure, vermicompost, and vegetable waste as organic amendments have been reported to have positive effects on soil health and plant growth, as they improve soil fertility and increase the population of beneficial soil microorganisms. In this study, these organic amendments were effective in reducing nematode infection indicators, such as the number of galls, egg masses, and larvae fa gram of root, as well as the reproduction factor. It's important to conduct further research to confirm the effectiveness of these treatments in different environmental conditions and on different crops. It's also important to consider the potential for nutrient leaching and other environmental impacts associated with the use of organic amendments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The climate change that has occurred in the last decade has seriously impacted food availability and price pressures from the macro side, as well as the sustainability of farming activities and the welfare of farmers from the micro side. One form of climate change is crop failure; thus, to anticipate crop failure, farming households implement coping strategies to survive well. This study aimed to analyse the coping strategies used by farm households to deal with crop failures. The data used in this study were sourced from the Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS) conducted in 2007 and 2014. There were 3338 samples of farming households in a panel data format that could be used in the analysis. The analytical method used in this study uses a fixed effects approach at the household and rural levels to avoid potential bias from endogeneity and heterogeneity problems. The results showed that the coping strategies adopted by farming households were more likely to sell livestock and household assets and increase the number and frequency of loans. Reducing consumption has not been statistically proven as a coping strategy chosen by farming households facing crop failure.

Relevance. Among the factors of increasing the productivity and quality of cultivated plants, the correct organization and timely implementation of the fight against harmful organisms is of great importance. At the same time, a special place is occupied by quarantine measures. No less important is the timely detection and destruction of quarantine organisms, their localization and elimination in isolated centers of infection.Methods. The methods for registration testing of pesticides in terms of biological effectiveness (VIZR) and of studying the bioecological features of the tomato leaf miner, adopted by the Scientific Council of the National Institute of Plant Protection and Technical Cultures of the Republic of Azerbaijan, was applied.Results. In the conditions of the South Caucasus in the Republic of Azerbaijan, the biology of the tomato leaf miner, the degree of development, the prevalence and the harmfulness of the insect pest have been studied in detail for the first time. The reasons for the rapid spread of the pest are indicated, the conditions are favorable to it. Listed agrotechnical measures that reduce the population of the pest and measures of biological and chemical control. Employees of the Institute of plant protection and technical crops and the Azerbaijan State Agrarian University have developed a set of measures for monitoring, prevention and pest control, thanks to which it is possible to control the number of pests.

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Flooding is one of the main natural disasters that affect agricultural production. The loss assessment of crop flood damage is an important basis for guiding the prevention and mitigation of agricultural disaster, which is of great significance for maintaining the stability of agricultural production and ensuring food security. Firstly, we briefly reviewed the research advances on the formative mechanism in crop flood damage, sorted out the main methods of loss assessment of crop flood damage, and pointed out the advantages and limitations of these methods in various application scenarios. Secondly, based on the comments above, we proposed an integrated framework for dynamic assessment of crop flood damage. This framework is supported by multi-source data, powered by hydrodynamic model, based on the combination of numerical simulation and machine learning, and oriented towards disaster events. Finally, we proposed some practical suggestions and research directions for further study, including (1) constructing multi-parameter loss function and model libraries for different exposures and vulnerability environments, (2) strengthening the application of multi-source data to improve assessment accuracy, and developing parallel computing and artificial intelligence algorithms to improve computational efficiency, (3) constructing comprehensive platform for flood disaster assessment and changing to intelligent applications.

Results of long-term research have shown that the cabbage moth Plutella xylostella poses a serious threat to spring rape crops in Leningrad Province. Several outbreaks of the pest resulting in heavy injury to the rape leaves and buds were recorded during the last decade. Mass reproduction of the moth was observed under the conditions of forward and warm spring, when the adults infested the crops earlier and simultaneously, and the larvae fed on rape plants during the initial stages of their development. The yield was strongly reduced in such cases, especially in the crops damaged previously by Phyllotreta flea beetles, as well as in hot and dry weather, when the moth larvae fed more actively. Due to damage caused by the larvae, the yield of spring rape decreased by 4.7% (0.65 dt/ha) on average over the entire period of research, by 84% in the outbreak years, and by 2.5% in the years of low population density of the pest. The harmfulness of cabbage moth larvae increased by 2.3 and 4.5 times when they damaged 26–50% and more than 50% of the leaf surface area, respectively, as compared with damage not exceeding 25% of the leaf area. Application of full dosage of mineral fertilizers increased the ability of spring rape plants to recover from damage and reduced injury to the leaves and buds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plant disease management has not significantly changed in the past 50 years, even as great strides have been made in the understanding of fungal biology and the etiology of plant disease. Issues of climate change, supply chain failures, war, political instability, and exotic invasives have created even more serious implications for world food and fiber security, and the stability of managed ecosystems. underscoring the urgency for reducing plant disease-related losses. Fungicides serve as the primary example of' successful, widespread technology transfer. playing a central role in crop protection, reducing losses to both yield and postharvest spoilage. The crop protection industry has continued to improve upon previous fungicide chemistries, replacing active ingredients lost to resistance and newly understood environmental and human health risks, under an increasingly stricter regulatory environment. Despite decades of advances, plant disease managetnent continues to be a constant challenge that will require an integrated approach. and fungicides will continue to be an essential part of this effort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing gap between the demand and productivity of maize crop is a point of concern for the food industry, and farmers. Its' susceptibility to diseases such as Turcicum Leaf Blight, and Rust is a major cause for reducing its production. Manual detection, and classification of these diseases, calculation of disease severity, and crop loss estimation is a time-consuming task. Also, it requires expertise in disease detection. Thus, there is a need to find an alternative for automatic disease detection, severity prediction, and crop loss estimation. The promising results of machine learning, and deep learning algorithms in pattern recognition, object detection, and data analysis motivate researchers to employ these techniques for disease detection, classification, and crop loss estimation in maize crop. The research works available in literature, have proven their potential in automatic disease detection using machine learning, and deep learning models. But, there is a lack none of these works a reliable and real-life labelled dataset for training these models. Also, none of the existing works focus on severity prediction, and crop loss estimation. The authors in this manuscript collect the real-life dataset labelled by plant pathologists. They propose a deep learning-based framework for pre-processing of dataset, automatic disease detection, severity prediction, and crop loss estimation. It uses the K-Means clustering algorithm for extracting the region of interest. Next, they employ the customized deep learning model ‘MaizeNet’ for disease detection, severity prediction, and crop loss estimation. The model reports the highest accuracy of 98.50%. Also, the authors perform the feature visualization using the Grad-CAM. Now, the proposed model is integrated with a web application to provide a user-friendly interface. The efficacy of the model in extracting the relevant features, a smaller number of parameters, low training time, high accuracy favors its importance as an assisting tool for plant pathology experts.The copyright for the associated web application ‘Maize-Disease-Detector’ is filed with diary number: 17006/2021-CO/SW.

Breeding of multi-resistant varieties to reduce yield loss due to disease damage and lodging, and reduction of input intensity are of high importance for a more sustainable cereal production. The aim of this study was to evaluate (i) yield reduction caused by diseases and lodging and (ii) impact of input intensity and soil fertility in cereal variety trials grown under two intensities. Intensity 2 was treated with and intensity 1 without fungicides and growth regulators. We applied multiple regression approaches based on mixed linear models. First, we estimated relative yield reduction in intensity 1 compared to intensity 2 as a function of severity scores of diseases and lodging. High yield reductions occurred in winter wheat and winter triticale, moderate in winter rye and winter barley and low in spring barley. The damage potential was highest for yellow rust, followed by brown rust, lodging and Septoria tritici blotch. Medium damage potential was identified for dwarf leaf rust and low for powdery mildew, Septoria nodorum blotch, Rhynchosporium as well as for stem and ear buckling. Second, differences in input intensity did not affect yield in intensity 2 across the range of nitrogen and fungicide application rates while higher yield occurred at higher growth regulator rates and soil fertility. Growth regulator was strongly related with higher yield in winter rye and winter barley, however in spring barley, a negative relation was found. Soil fertility showed the strongest yield impact in all crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, tropospheric ozone has become a national air pollution problem that has caused reductions in yield and quality of crops and a generally negative impact on vegetation. Here, we estimate ozone impacts on the production of two vital staple crops (maize and wheat) and consequent economic losses in the growing season (May to August) of 2019 in Mexico resulting from a scenario of the ozone (O3) produced by total emissions and those formed by the emissions of biomass burning scenario, simulated with the WRF-Chem model. The simulated ozone fields from the WRF-Chem are converted to accumulated ozone above a threshold of 40 ppbv (AOT40) for the crop-growing season in Mexico, and crop yield losses are estimated using maize and wheat specific ozone concentration–response functions based on field studies. Our results show that in 2019, relative yield losses range from 0.1 to 2.4% for maize, and between 0.5 and 40% for wheat, with the losses concentrated in central and northern Mexico. The national maize production losses totaled 545 thousand metric tons and 1100 metric tons for the wheat, valued at 120 million USD and 230 thousand USD. The damage caused by ozone to maize production due to emissions from biomass burning represents only 1% of the national total; however, it reaches up to 8% in Chiapas. This research highlights the need to expand monitoring networks in Mexico to make strategic ozone observations, especially in rural areas, to adopt effective ozone precursor mitigation measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The simultaneous existence of two interrelated forms of state aid - subsidizing classical agricultural insurance and compensation for damage to affected regions from the federal budget - requires understanding the basic principles of interaction and assessing the mutual impact of these areas of support. The purpose of the study is to identify the problems of the development of crop insurance and planting of perennial crops against the risks of natural emergencies. The research was carried out in the context of insurance statistics of Russian regions using generally accepted methods. The conducted research revealed the negative dynamics of a significant decrease in the volume of crop insurance of agricultural crops in 2016-2020. Regional authorities in the conditions of a single subsidy are not interested in the independent distribution of funds allocated by the state for the development of agricultural insurance. This is due to the fact that when the agricultural sector has significant losses as a result of the impact of natural disasters, the practice of introducing an emergency regime by the region is widespread. Which gives grounds for receiving compensation for half of the amount of damage directly from the federal budget. This determines the main problem of the development of classical agricultural insurance - the lack of expediency and material interest in this mechanism of protection of property interests both on the part of producers of agricultural products and on the part of regional authorities. In this regard, a brief justification was given for the feasibility of transforming the mechanism for providing direct assistance to the regions from the federal budget into a separate area of crop risk insurance in case of a natural emergency. This line of support will complete the classic multi-risk agricultural insurance.

Inevitability of climate change and stressors such as insects, pests, scarcity of water resources, and poor socio-economic condition of farmers have led to a substantial reduction in crop yield across the Indian subcontinent. The farming community follows adaptation measures to deal with these multiple stressors. Sometimes following the adaptation measures leads to a detrimental impact on crop yield, land, and soil quality. This raises the question of the effectiveness of these adaptation measures, that is, whether these strategies have enough potential to deal with the multiple stressors (climate, insects, water scarcity) or not. It requires a closer examination of the negative consequences of these adaptation measures, which is missing in the literature. To fill this gap, the current study assesses the success or failure of an agricultural adaptation strategy followed by identification of the relative importance of each strategy from the crop-loss perspective. We used logit model to evaluate the effectiveness of adaptation measures i.e., crop diversification, sowing drought resistant, short duration crop varieties, drip irrigation, livestock rearing, crop insurance, use of groundwater for irrigation, increase in cropped area, and change in planting/harvesting dates towards crop loss of 400 farmers surveyed across Vidarbha and Marathwada regions of Maharashtra, India. Evaluation of adaptation strategies reveals that the highly practiced adaptation strategies, namely, crop diversification, sowing short duration, and drought resistant crop varieties turned out to be detrimental for crop productivity, while migration and increase in the cropped area benefit the farmers by reducing the crop loss. Findings emphasize that a thorough understanding of the repercussions of an adaptation strategy is required before implementation. Outcome of the study can facilitate the government and other decision-making agencies in prioritizing one strategy over another. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Louisiana is one of the most hazard-prone states in the U.S., and many of its people are engaged directly or indirectly in agricultural activities that are impacted by an array of weather hazards. However, most hazard impact research on agriculture to date, for Louisiana and elsewhere, has focused on floods and hurricanes. This research develops a method of future crop loss risk assessment due to droughts, extreme low and high temperatures, hail, lightning, and tornadoes, using Louisiana as a case study. This approach improves future crop risk assessment by incorporating historical crop loss, historical and modeled future hazard intensity, cropland extent, population, consumer demand, cropping intensity, and technological development as predictors of future risk. The majority of crop activities occurred and will continue to occur in south-central and northeastern Louisiana along the river basins. Despite the fact that cropland is decreasing across most of the state, weather impacts to cropland are anticipated to increase substantially by 2050. Drought is by far the costliest among the six hazards, accounting for $56.1 million of $59.2 million (∼95%) in 2050-projected crop loss, followed by extreme cold ($1.4 million), extreme heat ($1.0 million), tornadoes ($0.4 million), hail ($0.2 million), and lightning ($0.05 million), respectively. These findings will assist decision-makers to minimize risk and enhance agricultural resilience to future weather hazards, thereby strengthening this economically-important industry in Louisiana and enhancing food security.

Desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria (Forskål) (Orthoptera: Acrididae), swarms during outbreaks, and plagues can invade many countries across vast regions of Africa and Asia, consuming substantial quantities of crops and rangeland vegetation. In the most recent desert locust episode, which originated in Saudi Arabia's remote interior in June 2018, and swarms entered Pakistan in March 2019, devastating important crops, such as cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L.; wheat, Triticum aestivum L.; and maize, Zea mays L. in >60 districts of Baluchistan, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Sindh provinces. A national emergency was declared on 1 February 2020. A national emergency was declared on 1 February 2020 and the Department of Plant Protection responded by conducting surveillance and control operations with the assistance of other Pakistani organizations, and multilateral and bilateral international aid agencies. Surveillance and control operations were performed by ground and by air, applying mostly oil-based ultra-low volume insecticide formulations combined with some nonconventional control tactics. The Pakistan government also established a detailed multi-phased locust control policy and a National Locust Control Center with rapid response units deployed to vulnerable districts. To prevent or mitigate desert locust-associated agricultural damage, additional improvements to surveillance and control approaches are needed. The desert locust's unique behaviors, and the magnitude and intermittency of swarming episodes, pose challenges to the development and implementation of coherent integrated pest management strategies. The status of a possible integrated approach to desert locust management, including proactive and preventive intervention strategies, is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The South American tomato pinworm, Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) is a major invasive pest of tomato. • The weight and percentage of infected fruits was negatively related to different initial infestation levels of Tuta absoluta. • Investigating crop loss of T. absoluta in the farm is essential for enhancing integrated pest management programs. The South American tomato pinworm, Tuta absoluta Meyrick (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae), a devastating pest of tomato plants, originates from South America but it has been considered an invasive pest for Iran since 2010. To assess crop loss caused by this pest, a study was conducted in a 600 m2 field under a randomised complete block design. The impact of different initial densities of T. absoluta , including control (without infestation), one, two, four, and eight T. absoluta eggs on each host plant in the first and second year was investigated with an additional treatment (16 pinworm eggs per host plant) used in the second year. Yield attributes including length and width of fruits, numbers of infested and intact fruits along with their weights were sampled and assessed on a weekly basis. In addition, the correlation between the number of galleries and these characteristics was also investigated. Crop loss data demonstrated that the effect of different infestation levels on fruit size and the weight of intact fruits was not significant over both years. However, the effect of treatment on the percentage and weight of infested fruits was shown to be significantly different in 2014 and 2015. Furthermore, there was a negative significant correlation between the number of galleries and weight of infested fruits in both years. Collectively, these results will be useful for enhancing pest management programs of T. absoluta in Iran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering the anticipated rise in wet extremes due to climate change, effective management of flood risks in global agriculture necessitates an initial assessment of the impact of floods on crop production. Such estimation can inform the development of strategies to enhance the resilience of the global agricultural system against floods, particularly in the face of growing demand for food. To this end, a worldwide calculation of inundation areas’ return periods was conducted using a global river and inundation model output. This information was then linked to a global historical yield map, allowing for the identification of flood-induced crop yield changes. The findings revealed that for return periods over ten years, global average yield losses were estimated to be 4% for soy, 3% for rice, 2% for wheat, and 1% for maize. These losses amounted to a total production loss of 5.5 billion United States dollars during the 1982–2016 period. This first global estimation of flood impacts on crop production contributes to the advancement of flood risk management in agriculture, although the limitations identified in this study need to be addressed in future research.

Food systems comprise interconnected webs of processes that together transform inputs (land, labour, water, nutrients and genetics, to mention just a few) into outputs such as nutrition and revenue for human societies. Perfect systems do not exist; rather, global food systems operate in the presence of hazards, biotic and abiotic alike, and under the constraint of limited resources to mitigate these hazards. There are, therefore, inefficiencies in these systems, which lead to losses in terms of monetary, nutritional, health and environmental values and create additional negative externalities in the health, social and environmental spaces. Health hazards in the food system do not respect arbitrary distinctions between the crop and livestock sectors, which are highly interconnected. These linkages exist where one sector provides inputs to another or through substitution effects where supply in one sector influences demand in another. The One Health approach advocates investigating the intersectoral hazards in a highly interdisciplinary manner. This article provides a conceptual framework for integrating the methodologies developed by the Global Burden of Crop Loss and Global Burden of Animal Diseases initiatives to generate burden estimates for hazards in food systems that better account for interconnectivity and foster an improved understanding of food systems that is aligned with the interdisciplinary nature of the One Health approach. A case study related to maize and poultry sector linkages in the wider context of public and environmental health is presented.

Flacherie is a major bacterial disease causing >40% loss during Muga summer crops. For finding the root causes of the diseases, relationships were established between rearing and production data corresponding to land use/land cover, land surface temperature and meteorological parameters. Adverse affects were found in farms associated with anthropogenic activities, in contrast to forest cover which shows a negative trend. Muga disease early warning system, a mobilebased application and dashboard has been developed to predict rate of flacherie infestation at least 5-10 days in advance, for proper precautionary measures by the farmers to avoid disease outbreak and crop loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change will affect numerous crops in the future; however, perennial crops, such as tea, are particularly vulnerable. Climate change will also strongly influence fungal pathogens. Here, we predict how future climatic conditions will impact tea and its associated pathogens. We collected data on the three most important fungal pathogens of tea (Colletotrichum acutatum, Co. camelliae, and Exobasidium vexans) and then modeled distributions of tea and these fungal pathogens using current and projected climates. The models show that baseline tea-growing areas will become unsuitable for Camellia sinensis var. sinensis (15 to 32% loss) and C. sinensis var. assamica (32 to 34% loss) by 2050. Although new areas will become more suitable for tea cultivation, existing and potentially new fungal pathogens will present challenges in these areas, and they are already under other land-use regimes. In addition, future climatic scenarios suitable range of fungal species and tea suitable cultivation (respectively in CSS and CSA) growing areas are Co. acutatum (44.30%; 31.05%), Co. camelliae (13.10%; 10.70%), and E. vexans (10.20%; 11.90%). Protecting global tea cultivation requires innovative approaches that consider fungal genomics as part and parcel of plant pathology.

Climate change will affect numerous crops in the future; however, perennial crops, such as tea, are particularly vulnerable. Climate change will also strongly influence fungal pathogens. Here, we predict how future climatic conditions will impact tea and its associated pathogens. We collected data on the three most important fungal pathogens of tea (Colletotrichum acutatum , Co. camelliae , and Exobasidium vexans) and then modeled distributions of tea and these fungal pathogens using current and projected climates. The models show that baseline tea-growing areas will become unsuitable for Camellia sinensis var. sinensis (15 to 32% loss) and C. sinensis var. assamica (32 to 34% loss) by 2050. Although new areas will become more suitable for tea cultivation, existing and potentially new fungal pathogens will present challenges in these areas, and they are already under other land-use regimes. In addition, future climatic scenarios suitable range of fungal species and tea suitable cultivation (respectively in CSS and CSA) growing areas are Co. acutatum (44.30%; 31.05%), Co. camelliae (13.10%; 10.70%), and E. vexans (10.20%; 11.90%). Protecting global tea cultivation requires innovative approaches that consider fungal genomics as part and parcel of plant pathology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: In New York and the Northeastern USA, the northern root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne hapla , is an important soil-borne pathogen of potato. The economic threshold for M. hapla in potato production has been 100 second-stage juveniles (J2) (100 g soil)−1, and is often used to dictate the need for prophylactic nematicides. However, the response of newer, popular potato cultivars under field conditions to M. hapla is unknown. The relationships between initial and final M. hapla populations and potato yield components in the popular cultivars 'Genesee', 'Eva' and 'Lamoka' were evaluated in three commercial production fields in New York, in 2016 and 2017. Following manual extraction from soil samples, M. hapla populations were quantified. Additionally, a glasshouse bioassay was performed to estimate M. hapla populations and correlate tuber yield. Populations of M. hapla over both years ranged from 0 to 519 J2 (100 g soil)−1 at the initial sampling, and from 0 to 10 294 J2 (100 g soil)−1 at the final sampling time. No significant correlation was observed between initial M. hapla populations and tuber yield, or between bioassay plant galling severity and tuber yield, among the cultivars included in the study in either year of the study. Yet correlations between bioassay plant galling severity and M. hapla populations were significant in both years, indicating the bioassay was adept at estimating M. hapla populations. These results will aid in directing future investigations into tolerance to M. hapla and nematode management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To provide food security with quality crops for exponentially growing population brought intense pressure on the limited land and natural resources among developing countries. Abiotic stresses such as continuously rising temperature as consequences of global warming is adding pressure to existing problems by adversely affecting crop productivity through physiological changes in plants. Hence there is need of qualitatively potential vegetable crops that can withstand changing environmental conditions such as Okra (Abelmoschus spp.) holding high level of nutrients along with economic importance. But requirement of high temperature and humidity for its cultivation make the plant prone to several phytopathogens that ultimately leads to severe qualitative and quantitative losses depending upon the plant growth stage getting affected. Due to the unenviable problems of chemical fertilizers, biocontrol agents were applied as auxiliary treatments either single or in combination that possess fewer consequences on the environment. But due to increasing environmental and soil temperature, activities of these formulations are getting hindered. Therefore, there is an urgent requirement to procure high temperature stress tolerant strains along with antagonistic and plant growth promoting abilities. In the current study, we mainly focused on isolation of high temperature tolerant Trichoderma harzianum (BHU P4) strain with antagonistic abilities against fungal pathogen Sclerotium rolfsii causing collar rot disease. The strain was also studied for plant growth promoting attributes in okra plant which resulted in increased fresh weight, dry weight, chlorophyll content and nutrient content in comparison to control and pathogen challenged plants. This study was associated with an improvement in the level of total phenol, SOD, PO and PAL enzymes in order to regulate the host defense mechanism against its confrontation with S. rolfsii. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Observations carried out in 2012–2019 showed that cruciferous flea beetles constituted a serious threat to spring oilseed rape crops at early stages of their development in Leningrad Province. Six species of the genus Phyllotreta were found, of which Ph. undulata Kutsch. and Ph. striolata (Illiger) were the most abundant while the remaining species were far less numerous. Considerable morphological variability of Ph. atra (F.) and Ph. vittula (L. Redt.) may lead to misidentifications. The recent record of Ph. erysimi Ws. from Leningrad Province was not confirmed. The harmfulness of cruciferous flea beetles was so considerable that the presence of 1 ind./m2 at the rape seedling stage reduced the yield by 0.010 to 0.040 dt/ha, or by 0.05 to 0.15%. With the actual pest densities of 12 to 30 ind./m2 at the seedling stage and with the rate of leaf surface damage not exceeding 25%, the rapeseed yield loss was 0.12 to 1.20 dt/ha (0.6 to 4.5%). Cruciferous flea beetles were the most harmful in hot dry weather during the seedling stage of rape and in sparse crops; in such cases the leaf surface damage exceeded 25% and the yield loss reached 45%. Improved mineral nutrition of plants increased the damage to seedlings by flea beetles, while the sowing time did not affect the damage rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing recognition of the environmental and health issues associated to pesticide use requires to investigate how to manage weeds with less or no herbicides in arable farming while maintaining crop productivity. The questions of weed harmfulness, herbicide efficacy, the effects of herbicide use on crop yields, and the effect of reducing herbicides on crop production have been addressed over the years but results and interpretations often appear contradictory. In this paper, we critically analyze studies that have focused on the herbicide use, weeds and crop yield nexus. We identified many inconsistencies in the published results and demonstrate that these often stem from differences in the methodologies used and in the choice of the conceptual model that links the three items. Our main findings are: (1) although our review confirms that herbicide reduction increases weed infestation if not compensated by other cultural techniques, there are many shortcomings in the different methods used to assess the impact of weeds on crop production; (2) Reducing herbicide use rarely results in increased crop yield loss due to weeds if farmers compensate low herbicide use by other efficient cultural practices; (3) There is a need for comprehensive studies describing the effect of cropping systems on crop production that explicitly include weeds and disentangle the impact of herbicides from the effect of other practices on weeds and on crop production. We propose a framework that presents all the links and feed-backs that must be considered when analyzing the herbicide-weed-crop yield nexus. We then provide a number of methodological recommendations for future studies. We conclude that, since weeds are causing yield loss, reduced herbicide use and maintained crop productivity necessarily requires a redesign of cropping systems. These new systems should include both agronomic and biodiversity-based levers acting in concert to deliver sustainable weed management.

The desert locust remains a major threat to global food security. Control operations are a crucial tool to manage crisis; this research investigated the nature of control operations conducted between 2019–2021. Historical data on desert locust and control operations were obtained from the survey reports at the FAO Locust Hub and analysed with respect to survey reports, land cover types, cropland/rangeland extent and crop productivity data. We found that 16.1% of the grid cells with locust presence and 14.9% of the grid cells with control operations had a proportion of rangeland higher than 0.75; while 13.3% of the grid cells with locust presence and 13.2% of the grid cells with control operations had a proportion of croplands higher than 0.75, highlighting that locust presence and control operations were reported in both rangeland and cropland. Control operations continue to be used both to reduce overall locust numbers and to protect crops. Furthermore, through identifying which crops were most at risk, our analyses indicate that wheat production was under the highest strain during periods of increased locust infestations.

Tea (Camellia sinensis (L.) O.Kuntze) is an industry-oriented economical crop in India. Among the sap sucking pests, tea mosquito bug (Helopeltis theivora) is one of the most serious pests causing heavy crop loss in tea plantation. Continuous use of chemical pesticides causes environmental pollution and health hazards besides developing pesticide residues in tea powder. The control of pests by bacterial metabolite is an alternative that may contribute to reduce or eliminate the chemical pesticide use. The use of chitinase as a biological control is an emerging field of research. In the present study, Chitinase (~ 25 kDa) was purified from Bacillus cereus C-13 strain using gel-filtration chromatography and further characterized for its optimum pH, temperature and substrate specificity. Bioefficacy of chitinase from B. cereus C-13 was compared with our previously reported Pseudomonas fluorescens MP-13 chitinase against H. theivora. Result concluded that, 100% and 78% mortality was observed by using P. fluorescens MP-13 chitinase and B. cereus C-13 chitinase, respectively. In future, bacterial chitinase can be utilized in eco-friendly pest management strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plant pathology must contribute to improving food security in a safe operating space, which is shrinking as a result of declining natural resources, climate change, and the growing world population. This review analyzes the position of plant pathology in a nexus of relationships, which is mapped and where the coupled dynamics of crop growth, disease, and yield losses are modeled. We derive a hierarchy of pathogens, whereby pathogens reducing radiation interception (RI), radiation use efficiency (RUE), and harvest index increasingly impact crop yields in the approximate proportions: 1:4.5:4,700. Since the dawn of agriculture, plant breeding has targeted the harvest index as a main objective for domesticated plants. Surprisingly, the literature suggests that pathogens that reduce yields by directly damaging harvestable plant tissues have received much less attention than those that reduce RI or RUE. Ecological disease management needs to target diverse production situations and therefore must consider variation in attainable yields; this can be achieved through the reengineering of agrosystems to incorporate built-in dynamic diversity of genes, plants, and crop stands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has long been hypothesized that there is a relationship between pigment content of host plant and pest densities. This study aimed to assess the amount of tomato carotenoid, chlorophyll content and leaf area damage in response to different levels of damage caused by the South American tomato pinworm, Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) (Lepodoptera: Gelechiidae). The results confirmed the effect of pest density on chlorophyll a, b, a+b, and carotenoids contents were all significant in the first year of study. During the second year, the effect of T. absoluta treatments on chlorophyll "a", "b", "a+b" and on carotenoids was significant. The highest and lowest values of pigment content were recorded in control and plant treatments of eight T. absoluta eggs in the first year and plant treatments of sixteen eggs in the second year, respectively. The results of leaf loss assessment demonstrated a significantly different consumed leaf area across the different densities of T. absoluta eggs in both years. The results are useful in gaining an oversight of pest density influences on tomato pigment content. By estimating the reduction of the pigments content and or reducing the green tissue of the plant and its relationship with the pest density, damage can be prevented before it reaches the economic injury level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) including black carbon (BC), methane (CH4), and tropospheric ozone (O3) are major climate forcers after carbon dioxide (CO2). These SLCPs also have detrimental impacts on human health and agriculture. Studies show that the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region, which includes Nepal, has been experiencing the impacts of these pollutants in addition to greenhouse gases. In this study, we derive a national-level emission inventory for SLCPs, CO2, and air pollutants for Nepal and project their impacts under reference (REF) and mitigation policy (POL) scenarios. The impacts on human health, agriculture, and climate were then estimated by applying the following: (1) adjoint coefficients from the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS)-chemical transport model that quantify the sensitivity of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and surface O3 concentrations in Nepal, and radiative forcing in four latitudinal bands, to emissions in 2 × 2.5° grids, and (2) concentration–response functions to estimate health and crop loss impacts in Nepal. With the mitigating measures undertaken, emission reductions of about 78% each of BC and CH4 and 87% of PM2.5 could be achieved in 2050 compared with the REF scenario. This would lead to an estimated avoidance of 29,000 lives lost and 1.7 million tonnes of crop loss while bringing an economic benefit in present value of 2.7 times more than the total cost incurred in its implementation during the whole period 2010–2050. The results provide useful policy insights and pathways for evidence-based decision-making in the design and effective implementation of SLCP mitigation measures in Nepal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]