Instalación de sistemas de silvopastoreo con productores ganaderos de Colonia Gestido (Uruguay)

Located north of Uruguay, Colonia Gestido occupies 3000 hectares distributed in 55 farms devoted to crops and fruit production diversified with livestock and dairy. In the frame of a PhD thesis in Agroecology (Colombia),“the poor global performance of these production systems”is identified as a problem because of “inadequate animal-vegetal integration” and “scarcity of multipurpose trees and shrubs”, among other reasons. To overcome these restrictions, the assessment of local alternatives in the design of production systems that integrate animals, crop and trees is proposed as general objective. The integration of trees in intensive tree-pasture systems, allows the generation of fooder banks with high dense fodder shrubs combined with grass of high productivity, and trees for shade and wood. Fodder shrubs provide food in times of drought by extracting water from deeper layers than those explored by herbaceous species, produce high quality forage biomass, allow increases in stocking rate and productivity, reduce the heat stress of the animals, favor the regulation of hydrological cycle, enhance the natural pest control by increased biodiversity, and mitigate the effects of climate change. This article presents the design and management of two modules of intensive tree-pasture systems in the first year of installation, their behaviors are evaluated with biophysical indicators, and learning achievements and areas to be improved are outlined.Ubicada al norte de Uruguay la Colonia Gestido ocupa 3000 hectáreas, distribuidas en 55 predios dedicados a cultivos y frutales diversificadas con ganadería y lechería. Enmarcado en una tesis del Doctorado en Agroecología (Colombia), este trabajo define como problema "el pobre desempeño global de estos sistemas productivos" dado entre otros aspectos por una “inadecuada integración animal-vegetal” y “escasa presencia de árboles y arbustos multipropósito”. Para levantar estas restricciones se propone como objetivo general evaluar alternativas locales en el diseño de sistemas de producción que integran animales, cultivos y árboles. La integración de árboles en sistemas intensivos de silvopastoreo, permite generar bancos de forraje con alta densidad de arbustos forrajeros combinados con pastos de alta productividad, y árboles para sombra y madera. Los arbustos forrajeros proveen alimento en períodos de sequía por la extracción de agua desde capas más profundas que las que exploran especies herbáceas, producen biomasa de alta calidad forrajera, permiten incrementos en la carga animal y en la productividad, reducen el estrés por calor de los animales, favorecen la regulación del ciclo hidrológico, potencian la regulación natural de plagas debido al incremento de la biodiversidad, y mitigan los efectos del cambio climático. Este trabajo presenta el diseño y manejo de dos módulos de silvopastoreo intensivo en el primer año de instalación, se evalúan sus comportamientos con indicadores biofísicos, y se mencionan los aprendizajes logrados así como los aspectos a mejorar

Soybean (Glycine max Merril) leaf pieces are used in brood nesting of Apidae: Megaquilineae, native bee species in Uruguay.

Las abejas de la genero Megachile cortan hojas y pétalos para construcción de sus nidos. Se encontró en el borde del cultivo de soja, cortes de al menos dos especies de estas abejas, mostrando la flexibilidad que poseen para utilizar especies vegetales exóticas.Bees of the Megachile genus cut leaves and petals to build their nests. Cuttings of at least two species of these bees were found on the edge of the soybean crop, showing the flexibility they possess to use exotic plant species

Diversity of vegetable landraces in the Pampa biome of Brazil and Uruguay: utilization and conservation strategies

The historical meeting between originally American people, European colonizers, and slaved peoples from Africa in the biome Pampa in South Brazil and Uruguay involved a cultural syncretism and a great genetic diversity of landraces of cultivated species. Genetic richness evolved by selection and cultural processes in response to different environments, cultural backgrounds, and needs. This review summarized the knowledge on vegetable and maize landraces in South Brazilian and Uruguayan Pampa biome, to design a strategy towards the rediscovery, conservation, and sustainable use. Landraces diversity maintained in situ and ex situ is described, specific case studies are presented, and the main problems and tools towards landraces re-valorization are discussed. We show that traditional family farming systems maintain diverse vegetable species, mainly squashes (Cucurbita spp.), sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas), beans (Phaseolus spp.), onion (Allium cepa), peppers (Capsicum spp.), tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), next to leafy vegetables and maize, among others. We propose the priority of systematic surveys as a basis for monitoring genetic erosion, increasing complementariness between in situ and ex situ conservation, and implementing sustainable conservation and utilization. The case studies highlight genetic diversity within each cultivated species, with different crop physiological responses; disease resistances, different quality traits and associated uses, from animal feeding in maize to a range of culinary uses linked to traditional culture in maize and vegetable species, and ornamental uses of specific Capsicum and Cucurbita. Some landraces were the basis for breeding, where improved cultivars allowed the competitiveness of landrace germplasm in the markets. Renewed industrialized products allowed the competitive and sustainable use of Capsicum landraces in Brazilian farmers communities. Strategies towards in situ conservation improvements and valorization are discussed; emphasizing the role played by agroecology, community seed banks and custodian farmers, participatory plant breeding, promotion of landraces specialties among consumers, and the need of research and capacity building, among others. Farmers’ participation in the decisions is a key factor, along with the academia and the public sector. Landraces and associated knowledge are treasures to be used to benefit from farmers to consumers, directing the course of agriculture towards sustainable directions

Influence of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear accident on Spanish environmental radioactivity levels

This paper presents measurements of the effect of the atmospheric radioactive release from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power station at three sites belonging to the Spanish environmental monitoring system. Measured values varied depending on the locations of the sites in Spain and their respective climatic characteristics. 134Cs, 136Cs, 137Cs, 131I, and 132Te activity concentrations in filter samples were studied and associated levels of 131I fallout were estimated from wet and dry deposition. Particulate aerosol activity concentrations ranges, in μBq/m3, were 1.63–3080 (131I), 2.8–690 (137Cs), 1.3–620 (134Cs) and 3.6–330 (132Te), while the associated 131I fallout was roughly estimated to be less than 20 Bq/m2, Gaseous 131I was also detected and the 131I-gaseous/131I-total ratio increased at the three stations from approximately 0.75 at the end of March to 0.85–0.9 during the first few days of April. Finally, the presence of 131I in some crucial parts of the food chain was also studied. 131I was detected in samples from goat's and cow's milk (maximum levels of 1.11 Bq/L) and in broadleaf plants (maximum level 1.42 Bq/kg).The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Spanish Nuclear Security Council (Consejo de Seguridad Nuclear) within the framework of the Environmental Radiological Surveillance Program which operates in Spain under its control and responsibility.Peer reviewe

WordCluster: detecting clusters of DNA words and genomic elements

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Many <it>k-</it>mers (or DNA words) and genomic elements are known to be spatially clustered in the genome. Well established examples are the genes, TFBSs, CpG dinucleotides, microRNA genes and ultra-conserved non-coding regions. Currently, no algorithm exists to find these clusters in a statistically comprehensible way. The detection of clustering often relies on densities and sliding-window approaches or arbitrarily chosen distance thresholds.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We introduce here an algorithm to detect clusters of DNA words (<it>k-</it>mers), or any other genomic element, based on the distance between consecutive copies and an assigned statistical significance. We implemented the method into a web server connected to a MySQL backend, which also determines the co-localization with gene annotations. We demonstrate the usefulness of this approach by detecting the clusters of CAG/CTG (cytosine contexts that can be methylated in undifferentiated cells), showing that the degree of methylation vary drastically between inside and outside of the clusters. As another example, we used <it>WordCluster </it>to search for statistically significant clusters of olfactory receptor (OR) genes in the human genome.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p><it>WordCluster </it>seems to predict biological meaningful clusters of DNA words (<it>k-</it>mers) and genomic entities. The implementation of the method into a web server is available at <url>http://bioinfo2.ugr.es/wordCluster/wordCluster.php</url> including additional features like the detection of co-localization with gene regions or the annotation enrichment tool for functional analysis of overlapped genes.</p

Genetic analysis of the interaction between Allium species and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi

The response of Alliumcepa, A. roylei, A. fistulosum, and the hybrid A. fistulosum × A. roylei to the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus (AMF) Glomus intraradices was studied. The genetic basis for response to AMF was analyzed in a tri-hybrid A. cepa × (A. roylei × A. fistulosum) population. Plant response to mycorrhizal symbiosis was expressed as relative mycorrhizal responsiveness (R′) and absolute responsiveness (R). In addition, the average performance (AP) of genotypes under mycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizal conditions was determined. Experiments were executed in 2 years, and comprised clonally propagated plants of each genotype grown in sterile soil, inoculated with G. intraradices or non-inoculated. Results were significantly correlated between both years. Biomass of non-mycorrhizal and mycorrhizal plants was significantly positively correlated. R′ was negatively correlated with biomass of non-mycorrhizal plants and hence unsuitable as a breeding criterion. R and AP were positively correlated with biomass of mycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizal plants. QTLs contributing to mycorrhizal response were located on a linkage map of the A. roylei × A. fistulosum parental genotype. Two QTLs from A. roylei were detected on chromosomes 2 and 3 for R, AP, and biomass of mycorrhizal plants. A QTL from A. fistulosum was detected on linkage group 9 for AP (but not R), biomass of mycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizal plants, and the number of stem-borne roots. Co-segregating QTLs for plant biomass, R and AP indicate that selection for plant biomass also selects for enhanced R and AP. Moreover, our findings suggest that modern onion breeding did not select against the response to AMF, as was suggested before for other cultivated species. Positive correlation between high number of roots, biomass and large response to AMF in close relatives of onion opens prospects to combine these traits for the development of more robust onion cultivars