https://lirias.kuleuven.be/retrieve/78844

Deficit irrigation as an on-farm strategy to maximize crop water productivity in dry areas

Pollination improves the yield of most crop species and contributes to one-third of global crop production, but comprehensive benefits including crop quality are still unknown. Hence, pollination is underestimated by international policies, which is particularly alarming in times of agricultural intensification and diminishing pollination services. In this study, exclusion experiments with strawberries showed bee pollination to improve fruit quality, quantity and market value compared with wind and self-pollination. Bee-pollinated fruits were heavier, had less malformations and reached higher commercial grades. They had increased redness and reduced sugar–acid–ratios and were firmer, thus improving the commercially important shelf life. Longer shelf life reduced fruit loss by at least 11%. This is accounting for 0.32 billion US$ of the 1.44 billion US$ provided by bee pollination to the total value of 2.90 billion US$ made with strawberry selling in the European Union 2009. The fruit quality and yield effects are driven by the pollination-mediated production of hormonal growth regulators, which occur in several pollination-dependent crops. Thus, our comprehensive findings should be transferable to a wide range of crops and demonstrate bee pollination to be a hitherto underestimated but vital and economically important determinant of fruit quality.

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Bee pollination improves crop quality, shelf life and commercial value.

Pollination is a well-studied and at the same time a threatened ecosystem service. A significant part of global crop production depends on or profits from pollination by animals. Using detailed information on global crop yields of 60 pollination dependent or profiting crops, we provide a map of global pollination benefits on a 5′ by 5′ latitude-longitude grid. The current spatial pattern of pollination benefits is only partly correlated with climate variables and the distribution of cropland. The resulting map of pollination benefits identifies hot spots of pollination benefits at sufficient detail to guide political decisions on where to protect pollination services by investing in structural diversity of land use. Additionally, we investigated the vulnerability of the national economies with respect to potential decline of pollination services as the portion of the (agricultural) economy depending on pollination benefits. While the general dependency of the agricultural economy on pollination seems to be stable from 1993 until 2009, we see increases in producer prices for pollination dependent crops, which we interpret as an early warning signal for a conflict between pollination service and other land uses at the global scale. Our spatially explicit analysis of global pollination benefit points to hot spots for the generation of pollination benefits and can serve as a base for further planning of land use, protection sites and agricultural policies for maintaining pollination services.

/pdf/spatial-and-temporal-trends-of-global-pollination-benefit-2av1wemz5f.pdf

Spatial and Temporal Trends of Global Pollination Benefit

Background Recombinant DNA technology has the potential to produce allergen-specific immunotherapy vaccines with defined composition. Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of a new recombinant birch pollen allergen vaccine in patients with birch pollen allergy. Methods A multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was undertaken to compare the following 3 vaccines in 134 adults with birch pollen allergy: recombinant birch pollen allergen vaccine (rBet v 1a), licensed birch pollen extract, natural purified birch pollen allergen (nBet v 1), and placebo. Patients received 12 weekly injections followed by monthly injections of the maintenance dose containing 15 μg Bet v 1 for 2 years. Results Significant reductions (about 50%) in rhinoconjunctivitis symptoms (rBet v 1, P = .0002; nBet v 1, P = .0006; birch extract, P = .0024), rescue medication (rBet v 1, P = .0011; nBet v 1, P = .0025; birch extract, P = .0063), and skin sensitivities ( P Conclusion The rBet v 1–based vaccine was safe and effective in treating birch pollen allergy, and induced a highly specific immune response.

Efficacy of recombinant birch pollen vaccine for the treatment of birch-allergic rhinoconjunctivitis

/pdf/the-physiology-of-adaptation-and-yield-expression-in-olive-21ordq9cgz.pdf

The Physiology of Adaptation and Yield Expression in Olive

A major challenge of the Sustainable Development Goals linked to Agriculture, Food Security, and Nutrition, under the current global crop production paradigm, is that increasing crop yields often have negative environmental impacts. It is therefore urgent to develop and adopt optimal soil-improving cropping systems (SICS) that can allow us to decouple these system parameters. Soil salinization is a major environmental hazard that limits agricultural potential and is closely linked to agricultural mismanagement and water resources overexploitation, especially in arid climates. Here we review literature seeking to ameliorate the negative effect of soil salinization on crop productivity and conduct a global meta-analysis of 128 paired soil quality and yield observations from 30 studies. In this regard, we compared the effectivity of different SICS that aim to cope with soil salinization across 11 countries, in order to reveal those that are the most promising. The analysis shows that besides case-specific optimization of irrigation and drainage management, combinations of soil amendments, conditioners, and residue management can contribute to significant reductions of soil salinity while significantly increasing crop yields. These results highlight that conservation agriculture can also achieve the higher yields required for upscaling and sustaining crop production.

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A Review of Soil-Improving Cropping Systems for Soil Salinization

In this work we establish theoretical daily pollen variation grains for the 24 taxa most frequently occurring in the atmosphere of Cordoba (Spain) during three consecutive years, namely Alnus glutinosa, Broussonetia papyrifera, Casuarina equisetifolia, Chenopodiaceae, Amaranthaceae, Cupressaceae, Cyperaceae, Ericaceae, Fraxinus, Gramineae, Mercurialis, Morus, Myrtaceae, Olea europaea, Palmae, Pinaceae, Pistacia, Plantago, Platanus hybrida, Populus, Quercus, Rumex, Typha domingensis, Ulmus minor and Urticaceae. Sampling was carried out using a Burkard spore-trap and the data collected were used to establish theoretical patterns of daily variation represented by an ideal day with accounts for the daily behaviour of each taxon. The application of centred-data analysis (CDA) allowed two groups of taxa to be established, namely (a) those with a homogeneous variation pattern and small differences between the times of maximum and minimum occurrence, and (b) those with a heterogeneous variation pattern a...

Theoretical daily variation patterns of airborne pollen in the southwest of spain

The role of staminate flowers in the breeding system of Olea europaea (Oleaceae): an andromonoecious, wind-pollinated taxon.

We investigated pollination and fruit set parameters in 'Manzanillo' olive (Olea europaea L.) following self-pollination and pollination with 'Sevillano', 'Ascolano', and 'Mission' pollen. Results of analyses and experiments conducted over 2 years in central California indicated that 'Manzanillo' behaves as a self-incompatible cultivar (index of self-incompatibility = 0.22 to 0.24). Pollination with 'Sevillano' resulted in a more than 4-fold increase in fruit set over self-pollination. When 'Mission' or 'Ascolano' pollen was used, there was no increase over self-pollinated samples. Analyses of pollen tube growth, fertilization, initial fruit set, and final fruit set were consistent with 'Manzanillo' being considered as a self-incompatible cultivar cross-incompatible with 'Mission' and 'Ascolano'. Our results indicate that 'Manzanillo' is likely to be more productive when interplanted with 'Sevillano' rather than when planted without a pollinizer or with 'Mission' or 'Ascolano'.

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Julián Cuevas

Papers

A Review of Soil-Improving Cropping Systems for Soil Salinization

Theoretical daily variation patterns of airborne pollen in the southwest of spain

The role of staminate flowers in the breeding system of Olea europaea (Oleaceae): an andromonoecious, wind-pollinated taxon.

Compatibility Relationships in `Manzanillo' Olive

Crop load effects on floral quality in olive