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Topic Review
Agricultural Production in Qatar
Starting in the 1970s, Qatar had almost entirely based its economic growth on resource exploitation of the hydrocarbon sector, with agriculture being considered only as a ‘’hobby’’, rather than an important economic activity. The real driver of change affecting Qatar’s agricultural sector is the issue of food security, after the 2017 embargo (imposed by neighboring countries that made Qatar’s government critically aware that it cannot rely on other countries to secure its food basket), and thus highlighted the need to produce in the country.The factor that has most hindered the development of productive agricultural and horticultural systems in the past has been the availability of land, with suitable soils. This is a consequence of Qatar’s harsh climate; it is in a hot arid zone characterized by sparse precipitation; high summer temperatures; together with high humidity in the late summer months that makes working outside very difficult; very high solar radiation; strong winds; and limited freshwater availability for irrigation causing dependency on desalinated abstracted groundwater, and/or (more recently) on desalinated sea-water.
  • 9.7K
  • 24 Apr 2021
Topic Review
Organic Potatoes and Conventional Potatoes
Interest in organic foods is increasing at a moment when humanity is facing a range of health challenges including the concern that some conventionally produced foods may pose possible adverse effects on human and livestock health. Consumers are showing increasing interest in organically grown potatoes due to their nutritional quality and health protection value.
  • 7.3K
  • 28 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Climate Change on Tea
Even though climate change is having an increasing impact on tea plants, systematic reviews on the impact of climate change on the tea system are scarce. This study was undertaken to assess and synthesize the knowledge around the impacts of current and future climate on yield, quality, and climate suitability for tea; the historical roots and the most influential papers on the aforementioned topics; and the key adaptation and mitigation strategies that are practiced in tea fields.
  • 4.0K
  • 14 Apr 2021
Topic Review
Taro in West Africa
Taro [Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott] is the most commonly cultivated species in genus Colocasia and is the fourth most consumed tuber crop globally. It is a member of family Araceae, sub-family Aroideae, and is a tropical monocotyledonous, vegetatively propagated, perennial crop grown primarily for its starchy corm or underground stem. Taro is one of the world’s oldest food crops, with its domestication dating back over 9000 years. It was probably first domesticated in Southeast Asia and thereafter spread across the world, to become one of the most important staple food crops in the Pacific Islands. It is widely distributed across Africa, Oceania, Asia, and the Americas. The crop has been largely maintained by smallholder farmers, and the species’ genetic resources have remained largely within local communities. In many societies, taro is considered a sacred plant of strong cultural importance and is used in religious festivals, domestic and agricultural rituals, and as bride price.
  • 3.4K
  • 19 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Maize Breeding
Maize or corn (Zea mays L.), a plant species particularly generous in its production potential and in its wide diversity of uses, is fundamental for the development of a modern and efficient agriculture. Globally, maize ranks third in area and first in production, ahead of wheat and rice. Due to the large areas corn occupies, but especially to its yielding performance, maize is a major source of food for the world’s population. In addition to its nutritional importance for humans, corn is also basic food for animal feed and valuable raw material for industrial processing. The importance of corn for human health results from the fact that it is a food rich in nutrients, especially energy of 355 kcal per 100 g flour with 15% moisture, compared to 352 kcal for wheat flour, 348 kcal for rye flour, and 346 kcal for hulled barley. As food, maize also has some shortcomings, of which that the low amount of some essential amino acids was noted, such as lysine and tryptophan. Maize is also a valuable raw material for industry, extracting oil, starch, alcohol, glucose, and other products such as syrup, pectin, dextrin, plastics, lactic acid, acetic acid, acetone, dyes, and synthetic rubber from its grains. Paper, cardboard, and nitrocellulose can be made from corn stalks. Every part of the maize plant has economic worth, including the grain, leaves, stalk, tassel, and cob, which can be used to make a variety of food and non-food goods. Maize breeding research has traditionally concentrated on enhancing productive potential in newly created maize varieties because this criterion ensures a crop’s economic efficiency. Nowadays, genomics tools are essential for a precise, fast, and efficient breeding of crops especially in the context of climate challenges, but also may in the future represent a way to accelerate the processes of de novo domestication of the species.
  • 3.2K
  • 24 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Nitrogen Compounds in the Soil
Soil is an important environment in which nitrogen is transformed. The nitrogen cycle in the soil depends on microorganisms, without them, nitrogen transformation processes cannot occur. They determine the continuity of the circulation of this element in the environment and ensure the renewal of its resources. The presence of microorganisms involved in nitrogen transformation in the soil, their activity and the intensity of the reactions taking place are influenced by many factors, including the type of soil, moisture, oxygenation, pH, vegetation and fertilization. 
  • 3.1K
  • 31 May 2021
Topic Review
Purple Non-Sulfur Bacteria
Photosynthetic bacteria (PSB) are procaryotes capable of carrying out photosynthesis by converting light energy into chemical energy. These photosynthetic bacteria can either grow in the presence or absence of oxygen (aerobic and anaerobic conditions) and can either use organic or inorganic substances as an electron donor to fix the atmospheric nitrogen (N2) and carbon dioxide (CO2). The purple non-sulfur bacteria belong to the anoxygenic group of PSB, and their major groups include Rhodopseudomonas spp. and Rhodobacter spp. They are naturally present in wastewater ponds, lagoons, lakes, sediments, wetland ecosystems, moist soils, hypersaline systems, and marine ecosystems. They possess versatile metabolic pathways and, therefore, are widely used in the livestock and fisheries industries , in bioremedial methods for heavy metals and sewage, and in biofuel production (electricity or photohydrogen). Studies have also shown that purple non-sulfur bacteria (PNSB) help boost soil fertility when applied directly to the soil, whereas PNSB applied to plants help improve crop growth and yield.
  • 2.8K
  • 14 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Salt Stress on Plant Growth
Climate change is causing soil salinization, resulting in crop losses throughout the world. The ability of plants to tolerate salt stress is determined by multiple biochemical and molecular pathways. Here we discuss physiological, biochemical, and cellular modulations in plants in response to salt stress. Knowledge of these modulations can assist in assessing salt tolerance potential and the mechanisms underlying salinity tolerance in plants. Salinity-induced cellular damage is highly correlated with generation of reactive oxygen species, ionic imbalance, osmotic damage, and reduced relative water content. Accelerated antioxidant activities and osmotic adjustment by the formation of organic and inorganic osmolytes are significant and effective salinity tolerance mechanisms for crop plants. In addition, polyamines improve salt tolerance by regulating various physiological mechanisms, including rhizogenesis, somatic embryogenesis, maintenance of cell pH, and ionic homeostasis. 
  • 2.7K
  • 08 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Coffee Leaf Miner Leucoptera coffeella
The coffee leaf miner (CLM) Leucoptera coffeella moth is a major threat to coffee production. Insect damage is related to the feeding behavior of the larvae on the leaf. During the immature life stages, the insect feeds in the mesophyll triggering necrosis and causing loss of photosynthetic capacity, defoliation and significant yield loss to coffee crops. Chemical control is used to support the coffee production chain, though market requirements move toward conscious consumption claiming for more sustainable methods.
  • 2.5K
  • 22 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Nutritional Values of Dabai (Canarium odontophyllum)
Dabai (Canarium odontophyllum) is a fruit-bearing plant native to Borneo. Its fruit is an indigenous seasonal fruit that is considered to be underutilized due to its short shelf life.
  • 2.4K
  • 25 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Non-Native Guinea Grass
Guinea grass (Panicum maximum Jacq., renamed Megathyrsus maximus Jacq.) is a native forage plant in Africa of great economic value, but it was introduced in almost all tropical countries as a source of animal forage.
  • 2.4K
  • 30 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Granular Organic Fertilizers
Granular organic fertilizers' production has recently become more popular, with the main aim of converting high-moisture organic matter, such as manure, manure mixtures, meat and bone waste or other organic matter, into pellets that are convenient to spread in the field. The pellets are usually produced with the diameter of 4 or 6 mm so that they can be easily spread with mineral or organic fertilizer spreaders. Once in the soil, organic fertilizer pellets become wet, decompose and release nutrients.
  • 2.3K
  • 11 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Packaging Materials for Postharvest Conservation of Table Grapes
Table grapes are one of the leading fruit species cultivated in several countries due to their distinguishing sensory and nutritional properties. However, grapes are a non-climacteric fruit with relatively low physiological activity after harvest, and they are highly perishable due to gray mold caused by Botrytis cinerea as well to mass loss, berry softening, color degradation, and dehydration and darkening of the stem. To avoid all these difficulties, several packaging materials are used during cold storage to keep table grapes fresh and healthy for consumers. Proper packaging and cold storage combined can extend the shelf life of high-quality bunches by protecting them from mechanical injuries and decays during transportation and storage.
  • 2.2K
  • 30 Jun 2023
Topic Review
Dual-Purpose Crops
Competition over land between food and fodder production, along with recurrent droughts and increasing population, has put mixed crop–livestock farming systems in the drylands of sub-Saharan Africa under pressure. Dual-purpose crops hold huge potential to ease this pressure and simultaneously improve food and fodder availability in these systems.
  • 2.0K
  • 25 May 2021
Topic Review
Cherry Silverberry
The cherry silverberry (Elaeagnus multiflora Thunb.) is a lesser-known plant species with high nutritional and therapeutic potential. Cherry silverberry contains numerous biologically active compounds. The cherry silverberry is a shrub growing up to 3 m. Its drupe-like fruit is ellipsoidal, up to 1 cm long, and set on stems. It is red in color, juicy, and sour, and its taste resembles that of red currants.
  • 2.0K
  • 11 May 2022
Topic Review
Lighting Strategy in Plant Factory with Artificial Light
A plant factory with artificial light (PFAL) is defined as an advanced agricultural production system with a precisely controlled environment, playing an important role in vertical farming and urban food supply. Artificial light is one of the core technologies in PFALs and accounts for a large part of energy consumption; elevating the light utilization efficiency of plants is vital for the sustainable development of PFALs. Meanwhile, the enclosed structure of the plant factory resulted in the independence of its light environment, indicating that the light environment in PFALs can be custom-made. Lighting strategy is an attempt to reprogram the light environmental parameters in unconventional ways, resulting in innovative lighting modes for energy-saving, high-yield, and high-quality production in PFALs. 
  • 1.7K
  • 30 May 2022
Topic Review
Sweet Potatoes
Sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas L.) are part of the largest food crops in many countries. It has good nutritional value because, in addition to containing vitamins, minerals, carotenoids, and anthocyanins in varied contents, due to the existence of various colors of their pulps, they have starch as their major constituent. 
  • 1.7K
  • 20 May 2021
Topic Review
Biological Nitrogen Fixation in Agriculture
Biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) is a natural process of changing atmospheric nitrogen (N2) into a simple soluble nontoxic form (NH4+ primarily) which is used by plant cell for synthesis of various biomolecules. Nitrogen fixation is one of the major sources of nitrogen for plants and a key step distributing this nutrient in the ecosystem. Optimization of BNF is critical to sustain both food production and environmental health. 
  • 1.6K
  • 17 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Bio-Organic Mineral Fertilizer
This entry discusses about Bio-Organic Mineral Fertilizer  for Sustainable Agriculture.
  • 1.6K
  • 31 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Antifungal/Antibacterial Activity of Peppermint Oil and Cornmint Oil
The genus mint (Mentha) belongs to the Lamiaceae family and includes 42 species, 15 hybrids, and hundreds of subspecies, varieties, and cultivars, which potentially crossbreed when in proximity. Different mints are known for a reasonably high content of essential oils (EO), which are deposited in the glandular trichomes, mostly located on the adaxial surface of their leaves. There are two well-known, so-called menthol mints in cultivation: Mentha x piperita L. (Hudson): peppermint—MP, and Mentha arvensis L., (syn. M. canadensis L., Japanese mint): cornmint—MA.
  • 1.6K
  • 30 Jun 2022
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