Manual on prototyping methodology and multifunctional crop rotation

This VEGINECO manual is one of a series of publications resulting from the VEGINECO project. VEGINECO specialises in producing tested and improved multi-objective farming methods for key farming practices – e.g. crop rotation, fertilisation and crop protection – to facilitate the integration of potentially conflicting objectives like economy and ecology. This report consists of two parts. The first part describes the prototyping methodology and how it was used in the VEGINECO project (Chapters 2 - 5). The second part describes the methodology for developing crop rotation strategies with examples of its application under different conditions in Europe (Chapter 6 - 11)

Translanguaging business: Unpredictability and precarity in superdiverse inner city Leeds

The Leeds business case study focuses on Klára, a Czech-speaking community interpreter and her work with advocates providing interpreting services on an hourly-paid basis for a number of organizations. Klára’s business is her interpreting work with advocates who are primarily concerned with assisting Czech and Slovak Roma migrants in Leeds with the problems they face with life in a new country, principally the complex business of claiming benefits. Our work with Klára allows an insight into the lives of these new migrants, living in precarious conditions, on the borderline between low pay employment and benefit claiming. We examine in detail the role of the different languages in these migrants’ interpreter-mediated interactions. We examine translanguaging in four different areas: English/Czech/Slovak interlingual translanguaging, intralingual translanguaging in English, intralingual translanguaging in Czech and Slovak, and interdiscursive translanguaging. Our study extends into Klára’s home life, where we see that Klára works hard to ensure that her children have access to the Czech language. We also examine her electronically-mediated communication, much of which exemplifies the blurring of boundaries between work and social interaction in online communication. The study took place in the Leeds suburb of Harehills. In the process of collecting data with Klára, we gained an insight into the lives of new migrants, living in precarious conditions, on the borderline between low pay employment and benefit claiming. We examine in detail the role of the different languages in these migrants’ interpreter-mediated interactions, using the notion of translanguaging. Klára’s work as a community interpreter means that language is crucially her business. Our study also extends into Klára’s home life, and we see that Klára also makes language her business there, working to ensure that her children have regular and consistent access to the Czech language. This report comprises eight sections overall. Following this introduction we provide background on the Roma in Leeds, the population who Klára has most contact with in her professional life. In Section 3 we discuss the foundational literature relevant to our study: superdiversity and neoliberalism; the employment and also exploitation characteristic in early stage migration; how linguistic ethnography can afford rich insights that it does into the events and practices we observe; a focus on the interpreting event from a literacy studies perspective; the site of interpreting as a contact zone; translanguaging at work and at home; and the use of social media in superdiverse multilingual environments. Section 4 on methodology details our overall approach, gives an overview of data collection, and describes the individual data sets, and how our analysis enables them to work in combination. The two central analysis sections (5 and 6) cover respectively interaction at work and translanguaging in the home, and we include a short section (7) on mediated discourse which straddles the work/life boundary

Feature Papers in Horticulturae

Several of the 17 papers in this volume represent diverse strategies for improving sustainability in crop production systems. The maintenance of soil quality and the reclamation of marginal soils, improving tolerance to saline irrigation water, biodegradable alternatives to black plastic mulch, use of natural plant extracts against bacterial disease, and development of cultivars resistant to herbivorous arthropods address urgent priorities in sustainable systems. Two papers examine the driving forces and effects of adopting innovative agricultural technologies in food value chains in underdeveloped regions of the world, and identification of new Asian vegetable crop species for European environments and markets. Three papers reported on managing fruit set and ripening in important fruit crop species like orange, apple, and plum. Postharvest techniques to reduce disease and maintain fruit nutraceutical content were reported in separate papers. Classification techniques, conservation and utilization of unique plant species, and in vitro propagation techniques of species with potential horticultural value were described in four papers

Ugly Food for Thought: Ripple Effects from a New Food Movement

In 2015, the Ugly Food Movement started by companies and campaigns to market and sell aesthetically suboptimal fruits and vegetables. The movement began in response to an increasingly visual culture in which many customers and retailers reject produce on the basis of visual cues and unrealistic expectations influenced by the media. In order to reestablish the value of imperfect produce, ugly food start-ups including Misfits Market, Imperfect Foods, and Hungry Harvest emerged to promote the fruits and vegetables others ignore and now deliver to many major metropolitan areas throughout the United States. These companies partner with growers and customers to expand access to fresh food at affordable prices, conveniently ship produce boxes to doorsteps, and reduce “ugly” food waste. However, the ripple effects of this millennial movement are far-reaching and complex. Food-justice advocates argue that these profit-based solutions are disingenuous and ill-equipped to combat food waste and inaccessibility. Instead, they may take away from local services such as Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs. This thesis unpacks the context in which the movement sprouted and its national positionality. It argues that while the Ugly Food Movement has benefitted some farmers, executed exemplary marketing, and performed effective social outreach, it is limited. However, through fruitful and noncompetitive collaboration between local food communities and ugly food efforts, imperfection could feed more communities

Integrated nematode management

This book outlines the economic importance of specific plant parasitic nematode problems on the major food and industrial crops and presents the state-of-the-art management strategies that have been developed to reduce specific nematode impacts and outlines their limitations. Case studies to illustrate nematode impact in the field are presented and future changes in nematode disease pressure that might develop as a result of climate change and new cropping systems are discussed.illustrato

Short term effects of pre-fermentative hyperoxygenation on Chardonnay white wines

Vinifera Euromaster - European Master in Viticulture and Oenology Engineering / Instituto Superior de Agronomia. Universidade de Lisboa / Stellenbosch UniversityHyperoxygenation is a pre-fermentative technique used to eliminate the major fraction of phenols, the main substrate of oxidation, to reduce the risk of future colour browning. The current study was aimed to assess the effect, in a short term evaluation period, of must hyperoxygenation on a non-aromatic cultivar such as Chardonnay, in order to further research into a topic not deeply investigated so far. Attention was focused not only on the total phenolic content and the effects on colour, but also on the aromas, their stability and especially the perceived typicality of the grape variety considered. Two batches of Chardonnay, harvested in SA, were submitted to conventional vinification and vinification with the addition of the hyperoxygenation technique. Oxygen was added throught manual aeration until the must’s color reached an intense brown tone. Juices and wines were evaluated chemically and sensorially. Finally, the results were statistically analysed. Juices and wines showed differences according to the treatment. Phenolic compounds were successfully removed and phenolic acids were the most affected by the treatment. Browning susceptibility was found to be reduced in the treated wines of both batches. Chardonnay typicality was not lost due to the treatment while the aromatic profile showed slight differences between both batches and treatments. Must composition and the level of grape ripeness played an important role in the evolution of the parameters chemically analysed and on the sensory perception. Hyperoxygenation proved to be a successful technique in reducing colour browning susceptibility and aroma predisposition towards oxidation-related aromas while maintaining the cultivar typicality and reducing the use of sulphur dioxide during vinification. It could be a valid technique also in case of press juices, white musts with high phenolic content and base wine for sparkling wine productionN/

Hormetic UV treatments for control of plant diseases on protected edible crops

Hormesis is a dose response phenomenon where low doses of a stress bring about a positive response in the organism undergoing treatment. UV-C hormesis has been known for over three decades and has a broad range of benefits on postharvest produce. Benefits include increased nutritional content, delayed chlorophyll degradation and disease resistance. The beneficial effects have been observed on many varieties of fresh produce including climacteric and non-climacteric fruit, tubers, salads and brassicas. The majority of previous studies have used low-intensity (LIUV) UV-C sources. LIUV sources require lengthy treatment times, which are in the region of 6 minutes for tomato fruit. This has, in part, prevented the commercial application of this technique. High-intensity, pulsed polychromatic light (HIPPL) sources, however, have recently been developed. HIPPL sources may have the potential to drastically reduce treatment times and increase their commercial viability. It was shown, here, that the use of HIPPL can control disease (reduce disease progression) caused by Botrytis cinerea and Penicillium expansum and also delay ripening on tomato fruit. Both disease control and delayed ripening were at similar levels for LIUV and HIPPL treatments on mature green fruit. The HIPPL treatments used in these studies can reduce treatment times for tomato fruit by 97.3%. Both HIPPL and LIUV treatments elicit local responses irrespective of the treatment orientation and tomato fruit, therefore, require full surface irradiation. Furthermore, UV-C in the HIPPL source is not required for disease control or delayed ripening. It does, however, contribute approximately 50% towards the total observed effects. Investigations into the mechanisms underpinning postharvest HIPPL and LIUV hormesis, on tomato fruit, identified that the expression of genes involved in plant hormone biosynthesis, defence, secondary metabolism and ripening were affected. This indicates that disease control is achieved through induced resistance. Changes to expression, following treatment, were highly similar for both HIPPL and LIUV treatments and were mediated by salicylic acid, jasmonic acid and ethylene. This may lead to broad range resistance against necrotrophic and biotrophic pathogens as well as abiotic stresses and herbivorous pests. Recently, the exposure of foliage to UV-C has been shown to induce resistance against B. cinerea on Arabidopsis thaliana. The horticultural applications of such treatments, however, have not been explored. Pre-harvest treatments of lettuce in the glasshouse showed variation in damage threshold and optimal treatment to control disease following LIUV and HIPPL treatment. Further sources of variation included the cultivar, pathogen of interest and the point that treatment was applied during the year. Using a controlled environment allowed seasonal variation to be mitigated and both HIPPL and LIUV treatments controlled disease against B. cinerea. For pre-harvest treatments to be a success in the glasshouse, further studies into how both biotic and abiotic factors influence treatment is required. To circumvent the problems associated with pre-harvest treatments and environmental variation in the glasshouse, LIUV seed treatments were performed on tomato. Control of B. cinerea was established with an approximately 10% reduction in incidence and disease progression with a 4 kJ/m2 treatment. When monitoring the effect of treatment on germination and early seedling development it was also identified that an 8 kJ/m2 treatment led to biostimulation of germination and root and shoot growth