Seed bacterial microbiota in post-submergence tolerant and sensitive barley genotypes

: Flooding is a predominant abiotic stress for cultivated plants, including barley. This cereal crop shows a large adaptability to different environmental conditions, suggesting the presence of key traits to tolerate adverse conditions. During germination, genetic variations account for dissimilarities in flooding tolerance. However, differences in the seed microbiota may also contribute to tolerance/sensitivity during seedling establishment. This work investigated differences in microbiome among the grains of barley accessions. Two barley phenotypes were compared, each either tolerant or sensitive to a short submergence period followed by a recovery. The study used a metataxonomic analysis based on 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing and subsequent functional prediction. Our results support the hypothesis that bacterial microbiota inhabiting the barley seeds are different between sensitive and tolerant barley accessions, which harbour specific bacterial phyla and families. Finally, bacteria detected in tolerant barley accessions show a peculiar functional enrichment that suggests a possible connection with successful germination and seedling establishment

The origins of Italian human capital divides: new evidence from marriage signatures, ca. 1815

This paper provides new evidence on the geography of literacy rates in pre-unitary Italy. I provide direct estimates based on a novel and balanced random sample of marriage certificates in 1815. The new figures are disaggregated by gender, area, and skill levels, and are compared to the relevant alternative estimates available. Lit- eracy rates are generally low, and North versus South difference in 1815 literacy was as low as 13.7 percentage points, with the Southern literacy rate of about 50% that of Northern Italy. The North–South gap is much smaller for women than for men, and the average female literacy rate across Italy is a lower 9%. Literacy rates in Central Italy were almost identical to that of Southern Italy, arguably because the schooling systems of Central and Southern Italy were more elitist than the Northern Italian one. This evidence suggests that, although partially present also before 1815, the wide magnitude of North–South gaps in literacy which characterized the country on the eve of the political unification (1861) originated after the Napoleonic period. Primary school centralization reforms might have helped women to rapidly improve literacy rates, leading to a first, regionally unequal, ‘Silent Revolution’ (Cappelli and Vasta in Cliometrica 15:1–27, 2020a)

Regulatory frameworks and standards for agricultural robotics in the European Union

Agricultural robotics is profoundly shaped by existing regulation, in particular relating to product safety certification, civil liability, and data access and usage. The chapter provides an overview of said topics, taking into account existing proposal for future regulation, namely the so-called AI Act, and the proposal for a regulation of civil liability for AI-based applications