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The objective of the research was to determine the effect of biochar enriched with worm humus and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) on growth and galling of yam plants and M. incognita reproduction. The study was developed under semi-controlled conditions in a biological isolator of the Instituto de Investigaciones de Viandas Tropicales (INIVIT), Santo Domingo, Villa Clara Province, Cuba, in 2022. A completely randomized design with seven replicates was used. The treatments consisted of different combinations of soil, biofertilizers, and biochar, with and without inoculation of a pure population of M. incognita established at the institute. The best development of yam plants was obtained in the treatment where, in the absence of M. incognita, the plants were grown in a substrate containing a mixture of biochar + humus and mycorrhizae as inoculant. It was evident that M. inognita parasitism affected the development of the cultivar 'INIVIT Ñ-2008' because of the decreases produced in plant stem length and fresh and dry matter of the foliar part. The potentialities of incorporating AMF, humus, and biochar in the production technology of D. alata were evidenced by the positive effects on plant growth and development and reduction of M. inognita galling index and reproduction on this cultivar, which was cataloged as a good host and susceptible to this nematode; results which will be corroborated in subsequent field studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effective and regular remote monitoring of agricultural activity is not always possible in developing countries because the access to cloud-based geospatial analysis platforms or expensive high-resolution satellite images are not always available. Herein, using paid high-resolution satellite images first and then free medium-resolution satellite images, we aimed to develop a cost-free, affordable method for regularly mapping the spatial distribution of sicklebush (Dichrostachys cinerea), an archetypal allochthonous invasive plant in Cuba that is becoming impossible to control owing to its rapid growth in areas planted with sugar cane in the Trinidad-Valle de los Ingenios area (Cuba), a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Two types of images were used (WorldView-2 and Landsat-8); these were subjected to supervised classification, with accuracy values of 88.7% and 93.7%, respectively. Vegetation cover was first derived from the purchased WorldView-2 image, and this information was then used as the training field to obtain spectral signatures from the Landsat-8 free image so that Landsat images may be regularly used to monitor D. cinerea infestations. The results obtained in the spatial distribution map for sicklebush in the Landsat-8 images had an overall reliability of 93.7% and a Kappa coefficient reliability of 91.9%. These values indicate high confidence in the results, which suggests that sicklebush has invaded 52.7% of the total 46,807.26-ha area of the Trinidad-Valle de los Ingenios. This process proved extremely effective and demonstrated the benefits of using high-resolution spatial images from which information can be transferred to free satellite images with a larger pixel size.

The effective and regular remote monitoring of agricultural activity is not always possible in developing countries because the access to cloud-based geospatial analysis platforms or expensive high-resolution satellite images are not always available. Herein, using paid high-resolution satellite images first and then free medium-resolution satellite images, we aimed to develop a cost-free, affordable method for regularly mapping the spatial distribution of sicklebush (Dichrostachys cinerea), an archetypal allochthonous invasive plant in Cuba that is becoming impossible to control owing to its rapid growth in areas planted with sugar cane in the Trinidad-Valle de los Ingenios area (Cuba), a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Two types of images were used (WorldView-2 and Landsat-8); these were subjected to supervised classification, with accuracy values of 88.7% and 93.7%, respectively. Vegetation cover was first derived from the purchased WorldView-2 image, and this information was then used as the training field to obtain spectral signatures from the Landsat-8 free image so that Landsat images may be regularly used to monitor D. cinerea infestations. The results obtained in the spatial distribution map for sicklebush in the Landsat-8 images had an overall reliability of 93.7% and a Kappa coefficient reliability of 91.9%. These values indicate high confidence in the results, which suggests that sicklebush has invaded 52.7% of the total 46,807.26-ha area of the Trinidad-Valle de los Ingenios. This process proved extremely effective and demonstrated the benefits of using high-resolution spatial images from which information can be transferred to free satellite images with a larger pixel size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]