New data to the mite fauna of Hungarian bamboo plantations

Five different bamboo plantations were investigated on the basis of the leaf litter inhabiting mites. 11 Mesostigmata and 10 Oribatida are listed from the leaf litters, of which three species, e.g. Vulgarogamasus kraepelini (Berlese, 1905), Nothrus parvus Sitnikova, 1975, Metabelba paravulverosa Moritz, 1966 are new to the Hungarian fauna

Nenteria lii sp. n. (Acari: Mesostigmata: Nenteriidae) a New Bamboo Leaf Litter Dwelling Uropodina Species (Acari: Mesostigmata) from Xinxiang (Henan, China) with Notes to the Bamboo Associated Mites in Henan (China)

A new species Nenteria lii sp. n. is described on the basis of adults and deutonymphs collected in bamboo (Phyllostachys sp.) leaf litters in Xinxiang (Henan Province, China). The new species is very similar to the species Nenteria japonensis Hiramatsu, 1979, but the apical process of the female genital shield rounded and smooth in the new taxon, but serrate in the previously described Japanese species. A new key to the Eastern-Palearctic Nenteria species is given. A list of the collected bamboo leaf litter associated mites is presented

Can we use the predatory mites against the invasive bamboo pest spider mites?

Two invasive spider mite species (Stigmaeopsis nanjingensis Ma and Yuan, 1980 and Schizotetranychus bambusae Reck, 1941) were spotted on bamboo collections in Hungary. The possibilities of biological control were investigated on these mites with two different predatory mite species (Phytoseiulus persimilis Athias-Henriot, 1957 and Hypoaspis miles Berlese, 1892 [Stratiolaelaps scimitus Womersley, 1956]). The species Phytoseiulus persimilis consumed larger amount of S. bambusae mites than Stratiolaelaps scimitus mites and none of the predatory mite species could consume the S. nanjingensis species with its special nets

Effects of soil compaction on cereal yield

This paper reviews the works related to the effect of soil compaction on cereal yield and focuses on research of field experiments. The reasons for compaction formation are usually a combination of several types of interactions. Therefore one of the most researched topics all over the world is the changes in the soil’s physical and chemical properties to achieve sustainable cereal production conditions. Whether we are talking about soil bulk density, physical soil properties, water conductivity or electrical conductivity, or based on the results of measurements of on-line or point of soil sampling resistance testing, the fact is more and more information is at our disposal to find answers to the challenges. Thanks to precision plant production technologies (PA) these challenges can be overcome in a much more efficient way than earlier as instruments are available (geospatial technologies such as GIS, remote sensing, GPS with integrated sensors and steering systems; plant physiological models, such Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT), which includes models for cereals etc.). The tests were carried out first of all on alteration clay and sand content in loam, sandy loam and silt loam soils. In the study we examined especially the change in natural soil compaction conditions and its effect on cereal yields. Both the literature and our own investigations have shown that the soil moisture content changes have the opposite effect in natural compaction in clay and sand content related to cereal yield. These skills would contribute to the spreading of environmental, sustainable fertilizing devoid of nitrate leaching planning and cereal yield prediction within the framework of the PA to eliminate seasonal effects

Application of spatio-temporal data in site-specific maize yield prediction with machine learning methods

In order to meet the requirements of sustainability and to determine yield drivers and limiting factors, it is now more likely that traditional yield modelling will be carried out using artificial intelligence (AI). The aim of this study was to predict maize yields using AI that uses spatio-temporal training data. The paper has advanced a new method of maize yield prediction, which is based on spatio-temporal data mining. To find the best solution, various models were used: counter-propagation artificial neural networks (CP-ANNs), XY-fused Querynetworks (XY-Fs), supervised Kohonen networks (SKNs), neural networks with Rectangular Linear Activations (ReLU), extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), support-vector machine (SVM), and different subsets of the independent variables in five vegetation periods. Input variables for modelling included: soil parameters (pH, P2O5, K2O, Zn, clay content, ECa, draught force, Cone index), micro-relief averages, and meteorological parameters for the 63 treatment units in a 15.3 ha research field. The best performing method (XGBoost) reached 92.1% and 95.3% accuracy on the training and the test sets. Additionally, a novel method was introduced to treat individual units in a lattice system. The lattice-based smoothing performed an additional increase in Area under the curve (AUC) to 97.5% over the individual predictions of the XGBoost model. The models were developed using 48 different subsets of variables to determine which variables consistently contributed to prediction accuracy. By comparing the resulting models, it was shown that the best regression model was Extreme Gradient Boosting Trees, with 92.1% accuracy (on the training set). In addition, the method calculates the influence of the spatial distribution of site-specific soil fertility on maize grain yields. This paper provides a new method of spatio-temporal data analyses, taking the most important influencing factors on maize yields into account

Takecallis arundinariae (Essig 1917) new record for the Hungarian aphid fauna on Phyllostachys iridescens (C. Y. Yao and S. Y. Chen) bamboo species

Takecallis arundinariae (Essig 1917) is a new record for the Hungarian aphid fauna was collected from Phyllostachys iridescens (C. Y. Yao and S. Y. Chen 1980) bamboo species. All adult specimens collected in October and November were alatae or L3–L4 nymphs bearing wing initiatives. Takecallis arundinariae is a medium-sized pale yellow aphid with a series of imbricate, conspicuous, elongate dark spots on the abdominal tergites, antennae are longer than body. Takecallis taiwanus (Takahashi 1926) nymphs were present on P. iridescens, in Debrecen on the beginning of June. By mid June the nymphs developed alatae. T. taiwanus is medium-sized green aphid. Nymphs are dark green with rows of black spines. Alatae bear on abdominal tergites I–II pair of larger imbricated tubercles with setae. Tubercles on abdominal tergites III–IV are smaller. From tergite V and on the following segments tubercles are small, inconspicuous, but pair of setae is present

The simultaneous effect of elevated CO2-level and nitrogen-supply on the fruit components of tomato

A two-year open field experiment was carried out to study the effect of elevated carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrogensupply on fruit components of tomato. Korall determinate growth type processing tomato cultivar plants were planted and cultivated for the entire growing season in open top chambers (OTC) in years 2007 and 2008. Compared with the control (350 ppm) CO2 enrichment (700 ppm) significantly decreased the lycopene content at all three harvest dates in both years, but higher supply of nitrogen and 700 ppm CO2 resulted in significantly higher lycopene values in second year. Elevated nitrogen concentration combined with 700 ppm CO2 significantly increased the ○Brix, sugar content, total phenolics, and total antioxidant status (TAS) of tomato fruits