Valorization of sulfide rich tailings with nature-based solutions for pasture lands

Soil degradation caused by the mining activities is one of the major impacts and challenges for society. Nature-based solutions, such as Technosols, are an alternative for their recovery, which can be accelerated by the use of microorganisms. The objective of this study was to evaluate the viability of implementing risk-free grazing land on sulfide-rich tailings recovered with a Tecnosol with/without a fungal inoculum (Rhizoglomus irregulare and Trichoderma sp.). A mesocosm assay was carried out, under greenhouse and controlled conditions, with sulfide-rich tailings from the Aznalcóllar mine and a Technosol designed with alkaline and eutrophic properties for eight months. Three treatments were established (Tailing + Technosol with fungal inoculation (YM), Tailing + Technosol without fungal inoculation (NM), and Tailing with fungal inoculation (Control)) and a commercial pasture was sown. Several parameters related to the materials collected in each treatment, plant development and multielemental composition of the shoots in two growth cycles were determined. The single application of the fungal inoculum was not sufficient to improve the sulfide-rich tailings and to allow plant germination. Independently of the inoculum application, the Technosol improved the physico-chemical characteristics of the tailings (e.g., increased pH, fertility and decreased the availability of potentially toxic elements). Shoots from the YM and NM treatments showed no significant differences in yield and development and no any risk to animal consumption. The results confirmed that sulfide-rich tailings can be environmentally recovered and socio-economically valorized through the application of a Technosol and pasture land.This work was funded by national funds through FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., under the project UIDB/04129/2020 of LEAF-Linking Landscape, Environment, Agriculture and Food, Research Unit (project Non-foodCropMine) and LA/P/0092/2020 of Associate Laboratory TERRA.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

The Land Surface Interactions with the Atmosphere over the Iberian Semi-Arid Environment (LIAISE) field campaign

One of the greatest challenges facing environmental science is to better understand the impacts of predicted future changes in the terrestrial hydrological cycle. It has been recognized that human activities play a key role and must therefore be considered in future climate simulations. The representation of anthropization in land surface schemes within global earth system models is at a relatively nascent stage and must be improved for more accurate future projections of water resources. The understanding of the impact of anthropogenic processes has been hampered by the lack of consistent and extensive observations. Here, we present the Land surface Interactions with the Atmosphere over the Iberian Semi-arid Environment (LIAISE) project field campaign which brought together ground-based (surface energy budget estimated at 7 sites, 269 radio soundings made at 2 sites and multiple remote sensing instruments for profiling the lower atmosphere), airborne measurements (3 airplanes and numerous drones measuring surface and atmospheric properties) and satellite data (to derive estimates of irrigation timing, soil moisture, evapotranspiration and surface temperature) to improve our understanding of key natural and anthropogenic land processes and boundary layer feedbacks. The study area is in the Ebro basin of northeastern Spain in a hot, dry Mediterranean climate, with a sharp demarcation between a vast intensively irrigated region and a much drier rainfed zone to the east. Analysis of the observations reveal strong surface heterogeneities of evapotranspiration within the irrigated zone (differences upwards of approximately 7 mm day-1 between fields), linked to the crop type, vegetation phenology and soil moisture, all of which were modulated by irrigation. The significant surface flux differences between the irrigated and rainfed zones were found to result in strongly contrasting atmospheric boundary layer properties (between 2 supersites​ separated by 14 km) extending upwards through the lowest several km of the atmosphere.We wish to acknowledge the financial support of the French National Agency for research (grant number ANR-19-CE01-0017 in support of the project ”HILIAISE : Human imprint on Land surface Interactions with the Atmosphere over the Iberian Semi-arid Environment”) which funded the ATR42 flights, field work by numerous French laboratories and overall project support. The Service des Avions Français Instrumentés pour la Recherche en Environnement (SAFIRE) team is also acknowledged for the excellent execution of the air campaign. J. Cuxart, D. Martínez-Villagrasa, B. Martí, J.R. Miró and Burkhard Wrenger acknowledge projects WISE-ET (RTI2018-098693-B-C31) and WET-ARID (PID2021-124006OB-I00) funded by Spanish MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF A way of making Europe). J. Groh is funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) - project no. 460817082. J. Bellvert and J. Cristóbal acknowledge the support by the Project ET4DROUGHT (No. PID2021-127345OR-C31) funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN-AEI) of Spain and PRIMA ALTOS [No. PCI 2019–103649]. M. Le Page and P. Fanise acknowledge the support by project WINEO funded by the European Space Agency. A. Rouchon acknowledges funding from École Nationale de la Météorologie, Météo-France. B. Martí was supported during the campaign by the grant FPI-CAIB (FPI/2165/2018) of the Vicepresidència i Conselleria d’Innovació, Recerca i Turisme del Govern de les Illes Balears and the Fons Social Europeu (European Social Fund). We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the European Space Agency (ESA) for developing the HyPlant processing pipeline in the frame of the FLEXSense campaign (ESA Contract No. 4000125402/18/NL/NA) and the Photoproxy project (ESA contract No. 4000125731/19/NL/LF). Additionally, we want to acknowledge the financial support by the ‘Strukturwandel-Projekt Bioökonomie REVIER’, which is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (project identification number 031B0918A) and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany Excellence Strategy – EXC 2070–390732324. The authors would like to acknowledge the Observation-based Research Boundary Layer Measurement Facility staff at the Met Office including Tony Jones, Robert Clark, Martyn Pickering, Bernard Claxton, and Jenna Thorton. The authors are very grateful to local actors for their support: Josep Berenguer and the ensemble of the involved IRTA personnel, Carme Bernat of Canal Segarra-Garrigues and the team of SAF-sampling at Els Plans site, the Catalan Firefighters of the Catalan Government for their help with the setting of the scintillometers, the Pla d’Urgell county for the access to the Ivars-Vilasana Lake, and Josep Maria Tribó for allowing the use of the alfalfa field at La Cendrosa. We wish to thank the Ajuntament de Preixana for their assistance in hosting a measurement site. M. Udina and J. Bech acknowledge support from the Water Research Institute of the University of Barcelona , and the Spanish projects MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 (PID2021-124253OB-I00 ARTEMIS and RTI2018-098693-B-C32 WISE-PreP). Finally, we wish to thank the AERIS data center for hosting and providing user support of the LIAISE database (https://liaise.aeris-data.fr/). The LIAISE project webpage is supported by Météo-France and can be accessed at https://www.hymex.fr/liaise/.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Microbiological hazards associated with the use of water in the post-harvest handling and processing operations of fresh and frozen fruits, vegetables and herbs (ffFVH). Part 2 – A dynamic mass balance model for handling and processing operations in ffFVH using water

A dynamic mass balance model was developed to simulate contamination dynamics in the process water of fresh and frozen fruits, vegetables and herbs (ffFVH) during processing and handling operations. The mass balance relates to the flux of water and product in a wash tank and the number of microbial cells released in the water, inactivated by the water disinfectant or transferred from the water back to the product. Critical variables describing microbial dynamics in water are: (i) the chemical oxygen demand (COD), as an indicator of the concentration of organic matter; (ii) free chlorine (FC) and particularly its antimicrobial fraction, hypochlorous acid (HOCl); and (iii) the microbial population levels. Model parameters include: (i) the dilution rate of the process water, representing the speed of system saturation, equal to the water flux divided by the tank volume; (ii) the transfer rates of total bacterial counts (TBC) and COD from product to water; and (iii) the specific inactivation rate of microorganisms due to HOCl. The protective effect of COD on microbial cells against FC is encompassed in the inactivation rate. HOCl is expressed as a function of temperature, pH and total chlorine. The model can simulate ‘what if scenarios’, based on user-defined process-specific and product/microorganism-specific parameters through a web R-based application. This model can help food business operators when selecting intervention strategies and conditions to maintain the microbiological quality of the process water or identify conditions that represent poor or proper water management practices. Testing alternative model structures and collecting data about operational conditions of handling and/or processing operations, microbial dynamics and the magnitude of the product-specific protective effect on microorganisms are recommended to improve the application of the model.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Enhancing the sustainability of rabbit production from the perspective of animal genetics

The concept of sustainability, originating from the late 1980s, emphasises the ability to maintain processes over time without compromising future generations’ needs. It encompasses social, environmental and economic dimensions, although controversies persist regarding the latter’s inclusion. In the case of rabbit production, the economic dimension is paramount to ensure the future sustainability of the sector, given the large number of threats, mainly economic, it is facing. The major challenge when considering social and environmental sustainability plans in breeding programmes is how to properly include these dimensions in the functions defining the relevance of the different traits to be considered during the development of specialised lines. Note however that the key drivers of the current economic sustainability of the sector: prolificacy, feed efficiency and some functional traits such as resilience and survivability, are also the most likely levers of the environmental and social components of sustainability. In this context, the development of specialised lines is the most valuable contribution to sustainability by animal geneticists, the maternal lines specialised in producing large amounts of healthy weaned kits and the terminal sire lines specialised in efficiently transforming feed into meat. Regarding feed efficiency, important milestones have been achieved in recent years, many of them related to the fact that kits are raised in collective cages, and under these rearing conditions, tools have been developed to measure feed intake at the individual level, as well as to explore the role that one individual imposes on their cage-mates. Despite the fact that genomic tools have been developed and used to explore the role of genomic regions of different traits of interest, this information is still far from being used in applied breeding programmes. In the near future, we could predict that breeding programmes for enhanced sustainability will still mainly rely on pedigree records and phenotypic information for prolificacy and feed efficiency; but enriching the list of available phenotypes with additional traits, most likely obtained under automatic recording systems, to explicitly account for the social and environmental sustainability plans. In this framework, omic tools will perform a valuable role for further investigation of the biological basis controlling the major drivers of rabbit production sustainability, and hopefully in the future this information could be directly incorporated into breeding programmes.These research activities were funded by research projects from the Spanish research plan (PID2021- 128173OR-C21, RTI2018-097610-R-I00, RTA2014-00015-C02-00, RTA2011-A0064-00-00) as well as from the H2020 Feeda- Gene programme (grant nº633531)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Urban yellow-legged gull (Larus michahellis) and peri-urban Audouin's gull (Larus audouinii) as a source of Campylobacter and Salmonella of public health relevance

Campylobacter spp. and Salmonella spp. are the leading cause of human enteric infections in the European Union. Some gull species act as reservoirs and play an important role in the epidemiology of these zoonotic agents. To gain insight into Campylobacter and Salmonella epidemiology we studied colonies of Audouin's gull (Larus audouinii) and yellow-legged gull (Larus michahellis) in Barcelona metropolitan area, Catalonia (north-eastern Spain). We assessed the occurrence, genetic diversity, virulence potential, and antimicrobial susceptibility of Campylobacter and Salmonella isolates recovered from gull faeces in different time periods within 2009–2018. The occurrence of Campylobacter was higher compared to Salmonella in both gull species. Also, the occurrence of both pathogens was significantly higher in Audouin's gull (45 % for Campylobacter, 20 % for Salmonella), than in yellow-legged gull (13 % and 7 %, respectively). All but one individual carried C. jejuni; the remaining positive yellow-legged gull carried C. lari. Salmonella serovar Typhimurium (including its monophasic variant) was the most frequent in both hosts followed by ser. Bredeney. Other serovars frequently associated with human salmonellosis (Infantis, London, Virchow) were only isolated from yellow-legged gulls. Multilocus Sequence Typing analyses showed that yellow-legged gull and not Audouin's gull carried several Campylobacter genotypes associated with human enteritis. Campylobacter isolates from both gull species revealed a high virulence potential, as opposed to Salmonella isolates which showed a lower prevalence of virulence-associated genes, particularly in Audouin's gull. Overall, a moderate to high frequency of antimicrobial resistance (including multidrug resistance) was found in both pathogens from both gull species. Campylobacter and Salmonella from yellow-legged gull showed a higher frequency of isolates resistant to antimicrobials of relevance in human medicine. Overall, our results highlight the potential public health threat associated with these gull species, particularly yellow-legged gull, in densely human populated areas.The legal permissions for the fieldwork were obtained from the Dept. d'Agricultura, Ramaderia, Pesca, Alimentació i Medi Natural of Generalitat de Catalunya, with reference number SF/743. Colomba Control S.L. collaborated in the sampling carried out. Ricard Gutiérrez (Head of the Wildlife Conservation Section of the Generalitat de Catalunya) is acknowledged for the information provided on the census of Audouin's gull in Barcelona. A. M. P. has a pre-doctoral fellowship FPI 2019 from the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities from the Spanish Government (PRE2019-087435). The authors are also grateful to the Centres de Recerca de Catalunya (CERCA) Programme from the Generalitat de Catalunya.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Long-Term Effects of Early Low-Phosphorous Nutritional Conditioning on Broiler Chicken Performance, Bone Mineralization, and Gut Health Under Adequate or PhosphorousDeficient Diets

Phosphorous is essential for many metabolic functions and the constitution of bones. Poultry have limited ability to use phosphorous from diets, which is mainly excreted and causes environmental concern. For this reason, diets are commonly supplemented with inorganic phosphorus and phytases. It has been suggested that chickens can adapt to an early nutrient restriction by increasing its efficiency of utilization, an adaptation that has been defined as nutritional conditioning. The aim of this study was to investigate a strategy of phosphorous nutritional conditioning by feeding low phosphorous diets during the first week of life as a strategy to improve the efficiency of phosphorous utilization later in life. To test this, 600 male broiler chickens were fed either a standard (control group) or a phosphorous-deficient diet (conditioned group) during the first week of life. Later in life, the effect of conditioning was tested using standard or P-deficient diets during the finishing phase (21–43 d). Conditioning did not affect overall performance, despite finding evidence for reduced relative phosphorous excretion between days 19 to 21, increased duodenal gene expression for the phosphorous transporter SLC34A2 at day 30 (−6% and +17%, respectively), and tendencies for improved phosphorous digestibility (+7%) and tibia mineralization (+6%) at the end of the trial. It is concluded that phosphorous nutritional conditioning early in life can increase subsequent dietary phosphorous utilization and bone mineralization in poultry, although it may not be able to counteract severe phosphorous deficiencies. Further research is required to assess the extent to which phosphorous supplementation in post-conditioning diets may be reduced with this strategy without compromising performanceinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

L’olivicultura i els olis a Catalunya

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Impact of industrial shelling and blanching on almond kernel integrity and color

Spanish almond industry expressed concerns over increasing kernel breakage during processing, particularly with the new almond cultivars introduced since 2005. This research aimed to (i) evaluate kernel breakage across different almond cultivars during shelling and blanching in Spanish industrial machines; (ii) identify the main factors contributing to breakage; and (iii) assess the impact of blanching on kernel color. Shelling breakage was lower in ‘Belona’ (2%) than ‘Guara’ (7%), potentially attributed to its higher water absorption and round shape. However, blanching, drastically increased breakage in ‘Belona’ (42%) compared to ‘Guara’ (29%). A large variability among cultivars (‘Carmel’ 12%, ‘Belona 2’ 32% significantly similar to ‘Guara’ 29%, and ‘Lauranne’ 43% significantly similar to ‘Belona’ 42%), was observed, but also between different batches of the same cultivar (‘Belona’ 42% and ‘Belona 2’ 32%), probably due to different growing conditions. ‘Lauranne’ and ‘Belona’ exhibited a higher tendency to produce halves, whereas ‘Guara’ produced more pieces. Kernel breakage during blanching was significantly correlated with kernel width (r = 0.57***), protein, (r = − 0.83***), and fat content (r = 0.67***). Blanching significantly affected kernel color (‘Carmel’, ‘Belona 2’, ‘Guara’, ‘Lauranne’, ‘Belona’; ΔE = 19, 14, 12, 11, 10, respectively) and was identified as a critical control point for breakage across the processing lineFunded by European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) and “Departament d'Agricultura, Ramaderia, Pesca i Alimentació, Generalitat de Catalunya” through Operational Group “Operation 16.01.01 of Cooperation for Innovation of the Rural Development Program of Catalonia 2014–2020, QUALINUT project. Author Leontina Lipan has been funded by “Ministerio de Universidades” and the European-Union Next Generation EU within the frame of Grants for the Requalification of the Spanish University System, modality ‘Margarita Salas’. Pilot plant sample managing at IRTA was done by Magdalena Duran, Grant PTA 2022-022594-I funded by “Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades”/“Agencia Estatal de Investigación” (MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033) and by European Social Fund Plus (ESF+). Authors knowledge “Almendras Martí” for housing the industrial experiments, samples supplying and personnel helping for the management of processing units.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Farmed fish welfare research status in Latin America: A review

Latin America (LATAM) plays an important role in the world's production of aquatic animals and is the second most productive region in the world. Chile, Ecuador, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, and Perú contribute 87% of LATAM aquaculture production. The fish welfare in aquaculture is of increasing public concern globally, and LATAM is no exception, growing in importance for fish farmers, authorities, and scientists. Although the topic is somewhat controversial, the welfare status of farmed fish has direct implications for their production and the sustainability of the industry. Therefore, this study analyses scientific papers on animal welfare in farmed fish, from the six countries in LATAM with the highest aquaculture production. The main objectives were to quantify the number of papers published between 2000 and 2023 on fish welfare by using scientific databases. A total of 285 papers were found for the period analysed. The country with the largest number of publications was Brazil (75.79%), followed by Chile (13.33%), Mexico (7.02%), Peru (1.75%), Ecuador, and Colombia (1.05%). Nile tilapia was the most studied species, appearing in 30.18% of the publications, with most of the studies mainly dealing with nutrition (32.28%). The growth of aquaculture is leading to joint efforts to generate knowledge on welfare issues, especially in poorly studied species with high production, to create policies that help minimize welfare risks. Given this, the insights generated by this review could be a useful addition to approaches investigating the trends and concepts of fish welfare in LATAM.This work was supported by the Mexican Council of Humanities, Science and Technology (Project CONAHCYT-SEP-CB-2016-284167) coordinated by Zohar Ibarra Zatarain. We also thank the Mexican Council of Science and Technology (CONAHCYT) for supporting the PhD studies for Joel Fitzgerald Linares Cordova (19597525).info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Color of Wine: Development of Reference Grids/Templates for Sensory Analysis With Trained Assessors

Color of wine gives information on many aspects of the product, and it is one of the main parameters defining wine quality. Consequently, color is an important attribute described in the Designations of Origin (PDO)'s technical specifications. In this paper, color reference grids for color sensory evaluation of white, rosé and red wines (linked to a specific methodology and controlled illumination) are developed, presented, and validated. The color intensity and color hue parameters of 2353 wines of different types have been analyzed using these reference grids during the period 2021–2023. Considering the results obtained, the usefulness of having a double color measurement (color intensity and color hue) is questioned and discussed.This work was supported by Catalan Institute of Vine and Wine (INCAVI). Generalitat de Catalunya.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio