Russian State Agricultural University

About: Russian State Agricultural University is a(n) education organization based out in Moscow, Russia. It is known for research contribution in the topic(s): Population & Soil carbon. The organization has 80 authors who have published 61 publication(s) receiving 446 citation(s).

Urban soil organic carbon and its spatial heterogeneity in comparison with natural and agricultural areas in the Moscow region.

Abstract: Soils hold the largest carbon stock in terrestrial ecosystems. Soil organic carbon (SOC) is formed under a combination of bioclimatic and land-use conditions. Therefore, one would expect changes in SOC stocks with land use changes like urbanization. So far, the majority of regional studies on SOC stocks exclude urban areas. The urban environment has a unique set of specific features and processes (e.g., soil sealing, functional zoning, settlement history) that influence SOC stocks and its spatial variability. This study aims to improve our understanding of urban SOC in comparison with agricultural and natural areas for the Moscow region (Russia). SOC content was studied in different land use types, soils, and urban zones through stratified random sampling. Samples of topsoil (0–10 cm) and subsoil (10–150 cm) were taken at 155 locations. SOC contents were significantly higher in urban areas compared with non-urban areas (3.3 over 2.7%). Further analyses proved that the difference can be explained by the so-called “cultural layer”, which is the result of human residential activity and settlement history. SOC contents in the urban environment presented a very high spatial heterogeneity with standard deviations of urban SOC considerably higher than those for agricultural and natural areas. Soil depth, soil type and land-use factors had a significant influence on SOC variability determining more than 30% of the total variance. SOC contents in urban topsoil were mostly determined by soil type. In natural and agricultural areas soil type and land-use determined SOC contents. The results confirm the unique character of urban SOC and the need to reconsider established scientific and management views on regional SOC assessment, taking into account the role of urban carbon stocks.

The long and winding road leading to the successful introgression of downy mildew resistance into onion

Abstract: Downy mildew resistance originating from Allium roylei Stearn provides a complete resistance to onions and is based on one, dominant gene. Since A. roylei can successfully be hybridized with onion (A. cepa L.), a breeding scheme aimed at the introgression of this gene was initiated ca. 20 years ago. Several setbacks in this programme were encountered, firstly the identified molecular marker linked to the downy mildew resistance locus became increasingly difficult to use and finally lost its discriminating power and secondly the final step, making homozygous introgression lines (ILs), turned out to be more difficult then was hoped. GISH analysis showed that the chromosomal region harbouring the resistance locus was the only remaining piece of A. roylei in the nuclear background of onion and it also confirmed that this region was located on the distal end of chromosome 3. It was hypothesized that some factor present in the remaining A. roylei region was lethal when homozygously present in an onion genetic background. The identification of an individual with a smaller and more distally located introgression fragment and homozygous ILs in its progeny validated this hypothesis. With the help of these nearly isogenic lines four AFLP® markers closely linked to the resistance gene were identified, which can be used for marker-aided selection. The introduction of downy mildew resistance caused by Peronospora destructor into onion is a significant step forward in the development of environmentally-friendly onion cultivars.

Comparative Analysis of Formation of Industry 4.0 in Developed and Developing Countries

Abstract: The purpose of the article is to perform comparative analysis of formation of Industry 4.0 in developed and developing countries. As peculiarities of formation of Industry 4.0 in developed countries have been studied in this book in the process of studying successful experience of formation of Industry 4.0 in the countries of the world, the authors focus on determining the specifics of formation of Industry 4.0 in developing countries. In order to ensure compatibility of data for developed and developing countries, the similar methods are used—which are based on the authors’ methodological recommendations for monitoring the process of formation of Industry 4.0 in developing countries in 2017 and evaluating effectiveness of Industry 4.0 from the point of view of stimulation of development of knowledge economy in developing countries. During comparison of results of research of the essence and peculiarities of formation of Industry 4.0 in developed and developing countries, the method of comparative analysis is used. For determining the barriers on the path of formation of Industry 4.0 in developing countries, the authors use the method of systemic and problem analysis. For complex study of specifics of formation of Industry 4.0 in developing countries, the objects are the countries that are peculiar for various levels of socio-economic development and belonging to various geographical regions of the world: the South African Republic, China, India, and Brazil. As a result of the research, it is substantiated that the process of formation of Industry 4.0 in developing countries has its peculiarities and is different than in developed countries. As compared to developed countries, in which the process of formation of Industry 4.0 was started earlier and aimed at marketing and social results, developing countries face institutional (absence of state policy of formation of Industry 4.0) and financial barriers and seek economic goals. At the same time, the initiative approach to formation of Industry 4.0 in developing countries, within which the initiators of this process are economic subjects (companies), envisages larger flexibility and effectiveness as compared to the directive approach (state initiative), which is applied in developed countries.

How to map soil organic carbon stocks in highly urbanized regions

Abstract: Urbanization is among the most impetuous current land-use change trends, resulting in a permanently increasing role of urban ecosystems in regional and global environments. Urban soil organic carbon (SOC) is probably the least understood stocks because of the lack of appropriate methodology to analyze and map it. Cities represent a small-scale patchwork of very contrasting soil features. This creates high short-term spatial variability. Urban-specific factors including size and age of the city, soil sealing and cut-off profiles dominate the anthropogenic soil forming factors. Considering these specific urban environments, our study aimed to adapt the digital soil mapping (DSM) approach to map topsoil and subsoil SOC stocks in a highly urbanized region. Field SOC data collected for different environmental conditions in the Moscow region (five soil types and five land-use types of 244 mixed samples for topsoil and subsoil) were linked to available auxiliary data, including both traditional (relief, climate, vegetation etc.) and urban-specific (functional zoning, size and history of the settlements) factors. Separate general linear models (GLM) were developed for the three different cases: i) excluding urban areas from the analysis (non-urban model); ii) including urban areas but only considering traditional soil forming factors (conventional model); and iii) including urban factors (urban-specific model). Total and specific carbon stocks, spatial variability represented by coefficient of variance (CV %) and the determination coefficient with a validation dataset were compared for the three models. The conventional model dramatically overestimated carbon stocks and underestimated of SOC's spatial variability. Total and specific carbon stocks estimated by non-urban model were 10–15% less than ones given by urban-specific model. The urban-specific performed best and explained more than 30% of total variability. Urban areas showed the highest spatial variability and specific carbon stocks, 90% of which was stored in subsoils. Even when the high uncertainty of the absolute values is considered, urban areas contributed to regional carbon stocks. Considering urban-specific factors to estimate carbon stocks and their spatial variability is thus necessary.

Use of buckwheat seed protease inhibitor gene for improvement of tobacco and potato plant resistance to biotic stress.

Abstract: The possibility to use agrobacterial transformation of leaf discs to produce resistance to bacterial infections in tobacco and potato plants by introduction of a single gene encoding the serine proteinase inhibitor BWI-1a (ISP) from buckwheat seeds is shown. All studied PCR-positive transgenic plants exhibited antibacterial activity in biotests. It was shown that the presence of just a single gene of serine proteinase inhibitor provides sufficient protection at least against two bacterial phytopathogens, Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato and Clavibacter michiganensis sbsp. michiganensis. The biotest including tobacco plant infection by the white wings butterfly in the green house has also demonstrated the existence of protective effect in transgenic tobacco plants. Significant genotypic variations in the protection efficiency were found between members of different genera of the same family (potato and tobacco) as well as between different lines of the same species. Northern blot analysis of four transgenic potato lines and three tobacco lines transformed by a vector plasmid containing the ISP gene of serine proteinases BWI-1a from buckwheat seeds has shown the presence of the expected size mRNA transcript.