Influence of Management Practices on Economic and Enviromental Performance of Crops. A Case Study in Spanish Horticulture

This article assesses the effect of management practices on the environmental and economic performance of tigernut production. Tigernut is a horticultural crop grown in a very limited and homogeneous area. Results show that the environmental variability among farms was greater than variability in costs. A selection of practices can reduce impacts per kilogram tigernut by factors 252.5 (abiotic depletion), 33 (aquatic ecotoxicity), or 6 (global warming) and costs by factors of between 2 and 3. The analysis shows a positive relationship between economic and environmental performance. Results highlight how proper management leads to both relatively low environmental impacts and costs.The authors acknowledge the support of the Conselleria d'Empresa, Universitat i Ciencia de la Generalitat Valenciana (GV/2007/211) and the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (PAID05-08-316).Fenollosa Ribera, ML.; Ribal Sanchis, FJ.; Lidón Cerezuela, AL.; Bautista Carrascosa, I.; Juraske, R.; Clemente Polo, G.; Sanjuán Pellicer, MN. (2014). Influence of Management Practices on Economic and Enviromental Performance of Crops. A Case Study in Spanish Horticulture. Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems. 38(6):635-659. https://doi.org/10.1080/21683565.2014.896302635659386De Backer, E., Aertsens, J., Vergucht, S., & Steurbaut, W. (2009). Assessing the ecological soundness of organic and conventional agriculture by means of life cycle assessment (LCA). British Food Journal, 111(10), 1028-1061. doi:10.1108/00070700910992916Basset-Mens, C., Anibar, L., Durand, P., & van der Werf, H. M. G. 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A distinct topology of BTN3A IgV and B30.2 domains controlled by juxtamembrane regions favors optimal human γδ T cell phosphoantigen sensing

Abstract Butyrophilin (BTN)–3A and BTN2A1 molecules control the activation of human Vγ9Vδ2 T cells during T cell receptor (TCR)-mediated sensing of phosphoantigens (PAg) derived from microbes and tumors. However, the molecular rules governing PAg sensing remain largely unknown. Here, we establish three mechanistic principles of PAg-mediated γδ T cell activation. First, in humans, following PAg binding to the intracellular BTN3A1-B30.2 domain, Vγ9Vδ2 TCR triggering involves the extracellular V-domain of BTN3A2/BTN3A3. Moreover, the localization of both protein domains on different chains of the BTN3A homo-or heteromers is essential for efficient PAg-mediated activation. Second, the formation of BTN3A homo-or heteromers, which differ in intracellular trafficking and conformation, is controlled by molecular interactions between the juxtamembrane regions of the BTN3A chains. Finally, the ability of PAg not simply to bind BTN3A-B30.2, but to promote its subsequent interaction with the BTN2A1-B30.2 domain, is essential for T-cell activation. Defining these determinants of cooperation and the division of labor in BTN proteins improves our understanding of PAg sensing and elucidates a mode of action that may apply to other BTN family members

LC-IMPACT: a regionalized life cycle damage assessment method

Life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) is a lively field of research, and data and models are continuously improved in terms of impact pathways covered, reliability, and spatial detail. However, many of these advancements are scattered throughout the scientific literature, making it difficult for practitioners to apply the new models. Here, we present the LC-IMPACT method that provides characterization factors at the damage level for 11 impact categories related to three areas of protection (human health, ecosystem quality, natural resources). Human health damage is quantified as disability adjusted life years, damage to ecosystem quality as global species extinction equivalents (based on potentially disappeared fraction of species), and damage to mineral resources as kilogram of extra ore extracted. Seven of the impact categories include spatial differentiation at various levels of spatial scale. The influence of value choices related to the time horizon and the level of scientific evidence of the impacts considered is quantified with four distinct sets of characterization factors. We demonstrate the applicability of the proposed method with an illustrative life cycle assessment example of different fuel options in Europe (petrol or biofuel). Differences between generic and regionalized impacts vary up to two orders of magnitude for some of the selected impact categories, highlighting the importance of spatial detail in LCIA. This article met the requirements for a gold - gold JIE data openness badge described at .Industrial Ecolog

Pesticide fate and exposure model validation with Captan residue measurements in greenhouse tomato plants

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