Integration of breeding innovations and epigenetic modifications offers the potential to boost productivity and promote sustainable agricultural practices, particularly in tomato production, which accounts for 16 % of global vegetable production. They are susceptible to various stress factors, Both abiotic (light, temperature, water, humidity, nutrients) and biotic (pests, diseases), which can impact fruit quality and reduce yield quantity by 50-70 %leading to food insecurity and economic losses. Climatic factors impact the traditional farming of tomatoes in the open field; innovative technologies aim to tackle the adverse effects of both abiotic and biotic stress factors. It highlights advancements in crop productivity and stress tolerance, including increased phytochemicals biosynthesis, improved water use efficiency, and soil salinity tolerance. However, challenges like photooxidative damage and downregulation of anthocyanin biosynthetic genes persist. This review provides highlights of promising technologies to mitigate the impact of stress factors on open field tomato production, highlighting both qualitative and quantitative losses. Besides sustainable systematic solutions, such as agroforestry systems, the advantages of using beneficial microbial endophytes, nanomaterials, and exogenous phytohormones in agriculture are discussed.
Context. The incorporation of trees into integrated crop-livestock systems (ICLS) has been encouraged because of their role in climate change mitigation through plant and soil carbon sequestration. One challenge is to minimize competition (especially for light) and the damage caused by cattle to trees. Aim. This study sought to evaluate the performance of beef heifers grazing on cool-season grasses in two ICLS, crop-livestock (CL) and crop-livestock with immature Eucalyptus grandis trees (CLT), at two nitrogen (N) rates (50 and 150 kg/ha) on pasture. Because these were the first stocking seasons after tree planting, the physical impact of animals (e.g. debarking) on the trees was also evaluated. Methods. The experimental design was randomized blocks with treatments arranged in a 2 x 2 factorial scheme (2 systems x 2 N fertilization rates), with three replicates. Forage production (as dry matter, DM) and animal performance were evaluated for 2 years. Key results. Total forage production and liveweight (LW) gain per area over 117 days of grazing were on average higher for CL (6736 +/- 565 kg DM/ha and 505 +/- 58.6 kg LW/ha respectively) than for CLT (5455 +/- 372 kg DM/ha and 364 +/- 42.3 kg LW/ha), regardless of N rate, and even at similar sward heights (similar to 24 cm). The damage caused by heifers to the bark of the trees was classified as high intensity in 91.1% of the trees, even after the trees had reached a diameter at breast height of 9.9 cm. Conclusions. The interaction between livestock and trees was detrimental to the system's productivity, affecting pasture growth, animal performance and the quality of trees as sawn wood. This finding underscores the importance of selecting appropriate tree species, plant density and species arrangement in ICLS. Implications. Lower tree densities (<237 trees/ha) and preventive measures regarding the use of E. grandis in CLT systems with cool-season grasses are necessary in subtropical regions.
Climate change and extreme weather events are threatening agricultural production worldwide. The anticipated increase in atmospheric temperature may reduce the potential yield of cultivated crops. Agroforestry is regarded as a climate-resilient system that is profitable, sustainable, and adaptable, and has strong potential to sequester atmospheric carbon. Agroforestry practices enhance agroecosystems' resilience against adverse weather conditions via moderating extreme temperature fluctuations, provisioning buffers during heavy rainfall events, mitigating drought periods, and safeguarding land resources from cyclones and tsunamis-type events. Therefore, it was essential to comprehensively analyze and discuss the role of agroforestry in providing resilience during extreme weather situations. We hypothesized that integrating trees in to the agro-ecosystems could increase the resilience of crops against extreme weather events. The available literature showed that the over-story tree shade moderates the severe temperature (2-4 degrees C) effects on understory crops, particularly in the wheat and coffee-based agroforestry as well as in the forage and livestock-based silvipasture systems. Studies have shown that intense rainstorms can harm agricultural production (40-70%) and cause waterlogging. The farmlands with agroforestry have been reported to be more resilient to heavy rainfall because of the decrease in runoff (20-50%) and increase in soil water infiltration. Studies have also suggested that drought-induced low rainfall damages many crops, but integrating trees can improve microclimate and maintain crop yield by providing shade, windshield, and prolonged soil moisture retention. The meta-analysis revealed that tree shelterbelts could mitigate the effects of high water and wind speeds associated with cyclones and tsunamis by creating a vegetation bio-shield along the coastlines. In general, existing literature indicates that implementing and designing agroforestry practices increases resilience of agronomic crops to extreme weather conditions increasing crop yield by 5-15%. Moreover, despite its widely recognized advantages in terms of resilience to extreme weather, the systematic documentation of agroforestry advantages is currently insufficient on a global scale. Consequently, we provide a synthesis of the existing data and its analysis to draw reasonable conclusions that can aid in the development of suitable strategies to achieve the worldwide goal of adapting to and mitigating the adverse impacts of climate change.
The West Bogor area experienced a landslide disaster, causing extensive damage to secondary forest areas, plantations, and residential homes. Despite evacuations, the community persists in using the affected land for agriculture. This study aims to develop a land management model based on agroforestry for post-landslide restoration, to prevent landslide reactivation, and to provide benefits for the local community. Introducing an agroforestry system that includes deep-rooted trees and perennial crops on landslide-prone slopes can improve slope stability by enhancing soil structure and water retention, minimising erosion and landslides. The study examines unexplored aspects of landslide characteristics and zoning as a novel approach to improve mitigation strategies. We classify the post-landslides area into depletion, transition, and accumulation zones. The lithology comprises Breccia with pumice and Andesite gravels, a sandy tuff matrix, and Claystone underneath, acting as the slip surface. The northern landslide has depletion, transition, and accumulation zones ranging from 743 to 710 m above sea level (masl), 710 to 694 masl, and 694 to 676 masl. In the southern landslide, these zones range from 783 to 720 masl, 720 to 705 masl, and 705 to 676 masl. Based on the characteristics of those zones, we develop an agroforestry model in a vertical pattern with species strata, fast-growing local plants, strong and deep roots, and a relatively high evapotranspiration rate. The depletion zone is managed as a complex agroforestry system (forest type) consisting primarily of forest plants and plantation crops. The transition zone is a complex agroforestry (garden type) with plantation crops and some forest plants. The accumulation zone is a simple agroforestry system with seasonal crops. On almost flat land in an accumulation zone suitable for Oryza sativa cultivation, we apply Cocos nucifera as a protective plant. Soil fertility in all zones is improved with organic and inorganic fertilization, and it also increases the mycorrhizal population through the planting of leguminous plants. The multistrata agroforestry model, created and adapted to the specific characteristics and zoning of landslide-prone areas, is expected to significantly enhance landslide restoration and erosion mitigation and reduce the risk of future landslides. Such approaches can be extended to regions with comparable characteristics.
Tree windbreaks have multifunctional benefits including wind damage reduction, soil erosion control, and biodiversity conservation. The removal and low adoption of tree windbreaks due to agricultural expansion are issues in many regions despite their critical role in improving agricultural sustainability. Farmers' and landowners' recognition of the benefits of windbreaks in their cultivation environments is necessary to preserve windbreaks. To visualize the benefits of windbreaks using remote sensing techniques, we focused on the top-tobottom height of soil ridges, which are created homogeneously throughout the field using a machine. In this paper, we propose the use of soil ridge height as a remote sensing indicator to evaluate the spatial distribution of wind erosion. We tested two different remote sensing approaches at a potato field: one was an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and the other was an Apple iPad Pro with a built-in light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensor. Based on geographic information systems (GIS), the digital elevation model (DEM) was divided into grids with one ridge-furrow pair, with the ridge height given by the difference between the maximum and the minimum elevations in each grid element. The grid-based analysis of the differences in ridge heights between two periods was less affected by the positioning error than the DEM of difference. In a year with large erosion of up to 0.07 m, the spatial pattern of the wind erosion was identified from a single post-erosion survey. Structure-from-motion (SfM) and multiview stereo (MVS) photogrammetry from real-time kinematic-UAV identified smaller wind erosion in an area sheltered by the windbreak and just leeward of a grass-covered road. The iPad LiDAR exhibited higher accuracy in reproducing the ridge height than UAV-SfM-MVS and successfully visualized the windbreak effects by scanning plots at different distances from the windbreak. The iPad LiDAR system is considerably less expensive than UAV-SfM-MVS. In addition, compared to UAV techniques, it is easier to create DEMs with the iPad LiDAR system. Thus, this technique would be beneficial for the spatial evaluation of wind erosion in various fields with different site conditions. This approach is also expected to contribute to the effective visualization of windbreak benefits through three-dimensional printing of DEMs. It provides rapid and innovative method to send a clear message to stakeholders about the importance of windbreaks. To extend smart device applications to remote sensing, our findings emphasize the importance of devising measurement targets to improve detectability and simplify survey designs.
Falcataria falcata, until recently known as Falcataria moluccana and commonly known as albizia, is a large, fast-growing tree native to the Malaysian peninsula, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and Solomon Islands. It has been introduced to, and become naturalized in, continental Africa, Asia, and many Caribbean and Pacific Islands. F. falcata is an early successional pioneer species that typically establishes via purposeful plantings. It readily spreads and outcompetes other tree species as a function of its symbiotic nitrogen-fixing capacity, copious long-lived seedbanks, and rapid growth rates. Due to their large stature at maturity (>30 m in height) and unstable architecture, F. falcata stands have the capacity to substantively alter the composition, structure, and function of lowland wet forests, and they pose a potent threat to both native forests and human communities across the Pacific. Despite negative aspects associated with its invasion, F. falcata has been harnessed for commercial profit and to increase soil fertility, particularly in its native range. F. falcata can be a component of productive agroforestry systems; the wood is used for firewood, as energy for industry, and timber in light construction. The nutrient-rich biomass of the tree is also used as mulch to increase crop production. However, given that mature stands were primarily responsible for millions of dollars of damage resulting from catastrophic tree fall during Tropical Storm Iselle on Hawai'i Island, and the potential interactions with climate change and development, managing this tree for its benefits as well as expanding research for its control is warranted.