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Abstract Fodder for feeding pork and poultry requires a large amount of cultivated and processed agricultural crops, which are often related to greenhouse gas emissions from land-use change (LUC). Given the rapid growth in meat production in Brazil for domestic consumption and international export, the link between LUC emissions and consumption of pork and poultry meat is central to evaluating the role of Brazilian meat production and the implications for international climate policies. In this paper, we first estimate LUC emissions from soybean production destined to feed pork and poultry in Brazil during the period 2008–2012. Second, we allocate such emissions to domestic and international consumption of pork and poultry meat. Concerning international consumption, Brazilian export of meat to 189 countries is evaluated. Although the majority of the LUC emissions from soybean production are tied to the domestic consumption, 17% and 39% of the emissions embodied in Brazilian pork and poultry, respectively, are exported to other countries. The most prominent destinations of Brazilian pork and poultry in terms of embodied LUC emissions are Eastern Europe, Asia and South America. In the case of pork, the fluxes of emissions from Brazil to Ukraine (1.28 Mt CO2-eq) and Russia (1.18 Mt CO2-eq) are particularly large. In the case of poultry, the largest transfers of embodied emissions are from Brazil to developing countries and especially the Middle East. These results are relevant to environmental policies and international agreements aimed at achieving the sustainability of Brazil's meat sector.

This chapter aims to evaluate energy flows in the life cycle of biogas utilization (i.e., production of thermal energy, cogeneration, traffic, and production of hydrogen), starting from feedstock and anaerobic digestion, up to the digestate as fertilizer for agricultural production. The analysis is based on the out-turn of a bio­gas plant on the dairy farm Mirotin Vrbas, Republic of Serbia. Life Cycle Energy Assessment (LCEA), presented in this chapter, has demonstrated that three scenar­ios – biogas for heat production, biogas in cogeneration, and biomethane in trans­portation have positive energy balances, which indicate that in terms of replacement of fossil fuel consumption, these energy systems are promising alternatives. In the fourth scenario, where biogas is used for hydrogen production, the energy balance is negative, therefore socio-economical factors should be considered for overall consideration to ensure sustainability.

Grazing by large ungulates often increases plant species richness in grasslands of moderate to high productivity. In a mesic North American grassland with and without the presence of bison ( Bos bison), a native ungulate grazer, three non-exclusive hypotheses for increased plant species richness in grazed grasslands were evaluated: (1) bison grazing enhances levels of resource (light and N) availability, enabling species that depend on higher resource availability to co-occur; (2) spatial heterogeneity in resource availability is enhanced by bison, enabling coexistence of a greater number of plant species; (3) increased species turnover (i.e. increased species colonization and establishment) in grazed grassland is associated with enhanced plant species richness. We measured availability and spatial heterogeneity in light, water and N, and calculated species turnover from long-term data in grazed and ungrazed sites in a North American tallgrass prairie. Both regression and path analyses were performed to evaluate the potential of the three hypothesized mechanisms to explain observed patterns of plant species richness under field conditions. Experimental grazing by bison increased plant species richness by 25% over an 8-year period. Neither heterogeneity nor absolute levels of soil water or available N were related to patterns of species richness in grazed and ungrazed sites. However, high spatial heterogeneity in light and higher rates of species turnover were both strongly related to increases in plant species richness in grazed areas. This suggests that creation of a mosaic of patches with high and low biomass (the primary determinant of light availability in mesic grasslands) and promotion of a dynamic species pool are the most important mechanisms by which grazers affect species richness in high productivity grasslands.

AbstractBACKGROUND: Bioethanol produced from renewable biomass, such as corn meal, is a biofuel that is both renewable and environmentally friendly. Significant scientific and technological investments will be needed to achieve substitution of conventional fossil fuels with alternative fuels. The ethanol fermentation of enzymatically obtained corn meal hydrolyzates by free and immobilized cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. ellipsoideus yeast in a batch system was studied. The initial glucose and inoculum concentration and the time required for the efficient ethanol production were optimized taking into account parameters such as ethanol concentration, ethanol yield, percentage of the theoretical yield of ethanol and volumetric productivity in both immobilized and free cell systems.RESULTS: The yeast cells were immobilized in Ca–alginate by an electrostatic droplet generation method. An optimal initial inoculum concentration of 2% (v/v) and optimal fermentation time of 38 h for both immobilized and free yeasts were determined. An optimal initial glucose concentration of 150 g L−1 for free system was achieved. At the initial glucose concentration of 176 g L no substrate or product inhibition were achieved with immobilized yeast.CONCLUSION: By immobilization of the yeast into Ca–alginate using the method of electrostatic droplet generation a superior system was realized, which exhibited lower substrate inhibition and higher tolerance to ethanol. The cells of S. cerevisiae var. ellipsoideus yeast entrapped in Ca–alginate showed good physical and chemical stability, and no substrate and product diffusion restrictions were noticed. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry

Agroforestry is considered a sustainable form of land management that optimizes the use of natural resources (nutrients, radiation, water). Agroforestry is defined as the deliberate integration of woody vegetation with agricultural activities in the lower story. It provides a higher biomass production per unit of land, while providing more ecosystem services than woody-less agricultural lands, such as the reduction of soil erosion and nitrogen leaching, and increase carbon sequestration and landscape biodiversity. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the past and current European Union Common Agricultural policies aiming at promoting the afforestation or reforestation of lands, as the introduction of trees can be seen as a first step to carry out agroforestry practices in former agricultural or forest lands. Agroforestry was a traditional land use system in Europe before modern times. However, before the sixties land intensification and consolidation destroyed millions of trees all over Europe. On the contrary, some good examples of agroforestry promotion are found in Eastern European countries in order to reduce the effect of extreme events such as winds, flooding at the beginning and mid of the last century. In Western European countries, the introduction of trees in the land has been promoted by agroforestry, afforestation and reforestation at the end of the last century. Afforestation of agricultural lands have been the most successful CAP measure (over 1 million hectares) while agroforestry measures were not extensively adopted which may be explained by the funds associated to afforestation measure which compensated the losses of income 15 or 20 years in afforested lands. Agroforestry was poorly adopted in the CAP 2007-2013, having a better success in the CAP 2014-2020 due to the recognition of woody vegetation and the compensation of 5 years given for maintenance once agroforestry is established. However, policy rules ensuring Pillar I payment when agroforestry measure is adopted such as a management plans ensuring that maximum tree density (100 trees per hectare) is not reached, should be pursued.

Yield and morphological traits of soybean depend on the variety, soil fertility, cultivation practice as well as the weather conditions in certain years. The aim of this research is to test the influence of different plant densities on yield, biomass, pod height and a number of mainstem nodes for three different soybean varieties. Variety Valjevka has achieved the highest yield with crop canopy of 500,000 plants, variety Sava at 450,000 plants and the variety Rubin with 400,000 plants per hectare. By increasing the density of crops the biomass is reduced and the first pod on the plant is higher in these three varieties. Prinos i morfološke osobine soje zavise od sorte, plodnosti zemljišta, agrotehničkih mera, kao i od vremenskih uslova u pojedinim godinama. Cilj ovih istraživanja je da se sagleda uticaj različitih gustina setve na prinos, masu biljaka, visinu mahuna i broj kolenaca na stablu za tri različite sorte soje. Sorta Valjevka je najviši prinos ostvarila pri sklopu od 500000 biljaka, sorta Sava pri 450000 biljaka, a sorta Rubin pri sklopu od 400000 biljaka po hektaru. Povećanjem gustine useva kod sve tri sorte soje smanjuje se masa biljaka i povećava se visina prvih mahuna na stablu soje.

Abstract Climate change and rapid adaption of invasive pathogens pose a constant pressure on the fruit industry to develop improved varieties. Aiming to accelerate the development of better-adapted cultivars, new breeding techniques have emerged as a promising alternative to meet the demand of a growing global population. Accelerated breeding, cisgenesis, and CRISPR/Cas genome editing hold significant potential for crop trait improvement and have proven to be useful in several plant species. This review focuses on the successful application of these technologies in fruit trees to confer pathogen resistance and tolerance to abiotic stress and improve quality traits. In addition, we review the optimization and diversification of CRISPR/Cas genome editing tools applied to fruit trees, such as multiplexing, CRISPR/Cas-mediated base editing and site-specific recombination systems. Advances in protoplast regeneration and delivery techniques, including the use of nanoparticles and viral-derived replicons, are described for the obtention of exogenous DNA-free fruit tree species. The regulatory landscape and broader social acceptability for cisgenesis and CRISPR/Cas genome editing are also discussed. Altogether, this review provides an overview of the versatility of applications for fruit crop improvement, as well as current challenges that deserve attention for further optimization and potential implementation of new breeding techniques.

Due to its ability to grow in different agroecological conditions and its moderate drought tolerance, sunflower may become the oil crop of preference in the future, especially in the light of global environmental changes. In the field conditions, sunflower crop is often simultaneously challenged by different biotic and abiotic stresses, and understanding the shared mechanisms contributing to two or more stresses occurring individually or simultaneously is important to improve crop productivity under foreseeable complex stress situations. Exploitation of the available plant genetic resources in combination with the use of modern molecular tools for genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and application of genomic selection (GS) could lead to considerable improvements in sunflower, especially with regard to different stresses and better adaptation to the climate change. In this chapter we present a review of climate-smart (CS) traits and respective genetic resources and tools for their introduction into the cultivated sunflower, thus making it the oil crop resilient to the extreme climatic conditions and well-known and emerging pests and diseases.