Evaluating the merits of climate smart technologies under smallholder agriculture in Malawi

The merits of three climate smart agriculture (CSA) technologies implemented by farmers were assessed in Machinga district of Malawi with respect to their soil quality and maize yield effects. Data were collected from farms implementing the three CSA technologies, namely conservation agriculture (CA), maize–pigeonpea (Maize-PP) intercrops and a local organic and inorganic soil amendment known as Mbeya fertilization (Mbeya-fert), from 2018 to 2019. With respect to resilience and adaptation, particulate organic matter, soil organic carbon (SOC), N, P, K, Ca and Mg all significantly improved while bulk densities were lowered under the three CSA systems. Higher annual biomass inputs and improved water infiltration from the Maize-PP intercrops were observed. With respect to productivity, CA and Mbeya-fert improved maize yields by 51 and 19%, respectively, compared to conventional farmer practices. With regard to climate change mitigation, increases in measured SOC in the top 20 cm depth compared to the conventional farmer practices amounted to 6.5, 12 and 10.5 t C ha−1 for CA, Mbeya-fert, and Maize-PP intercrops, respectively, over a period of 2–6 years. This suggests higher potential for carbon sequestration from CSA technologies. Furthermore, use of drought tolerant varieties, timely weeding and optimum plant populations, increased productivity. Improved gross margins from CSA practices were also apparent. Thus, employing these CSA technologies could enable farmers to be more resilient, productive and adapt better to climate change shocks leading to improved food security and livelihoods

Decidual-Secreted Factors Alter Invasive Trophoblast Membrane and Secreted Proteins Implying a Role for Decidual Cell Regulation of Placentation

Inadequate or inappropriate implantation and placentation during the establishment of human pregnancy is thought to lead to first trimester miscarriage, placental insufficiency and other obstetric complications. To create the placental blood supply, specialized cells, the ‘extravillous trophoblast’ (EVT) invade through the differentiated uterine endometrium (the decidua) to engraft and remodel uterine spiral arteries. We hypothesized that decidual factors would regulate EVT function by altering the production of EVT membrane and secreted factors. We used a proteomics approach to identify EVT membrane and secreted proteins regulated by decidual cell factors. Human endometrial stromal cells were decidualized in vitro by treatment with estradiol (10−8 M), medroxyprogesterone acetate (10−7 M) and cAMP (0.5 mM) for 14 days. Conditioned media (CM) was collected on day 2 (non-decidualized CM) and 14 (decidualized CM) of treatment. Isolated primary EVT cultured on Matrigel™ were treated with media control, non-decidualized or decidualized CM for 16 h. EVT CM was fractionated for proteins <30 kDa using size-exclusion affinity nanoparticles (SEAN) before trypsin digestion and HPLC-MS/MS. 43 proteins produced by EVT were identified; 14 not previously known to be expressed in the placenta and 12 which had previously been associated with diseases of pregnancy including preeclampsia. Profilin 1, lysosome associated membrane glycoprotein 1 (LAMP1), dipeptidyl peptidase 1 (DPP1/cathepsin C) and annexin A2 expression by interstitial EVT in vivo was validated by immunhistochemistry. Decidual CM regulation in vitro was validated by western blotting: decidualized CM upregulated profilin 1 in EVT CM and non-decidualized CM upregulated annexin A2 in EVT CM and pro-DPP1 in EVT cell lysate. Here, non-decidualized factors induced protease expression by EVT suggesting that non-decidualized factors may induce a pro-inflammatory cascade. Preeclampsia is a pro-inflammatory condition. Overall, we have demonstrated the potential of a proteomics approach to identify novel proteins expressed by EVT and to uncover the mechanisms leading to disease states

Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) scheme design in rural Tanzania: Famers’ preferences for enforcement and payment options

The forests of the East Usambara Mountains, Tanzania, are internationally recognized as one of the world's most biodiverse ecosystems. However, despite past conservation efforts they face an ongoing threat from clearing for smallholder agriculture. One potential solution is a „payments for ecosystem services' (PES) program, where farmers are paid to protect forest that lies on their farms. To determine the design of PES program most likely to attract participation, careful documentation of farmer's policy preferences is required. We quantify these preferences and determine willingness to accept values using a choice experiment approach. Notable results are that payment for manure fertilizer (representing an investment in farm productivity) was highly effective at motivating farmer support, a group payment was highly ineffective, and that minimal program conditionality was not always preferred

Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) scheme design in rural Tanzania: Famers’ preferences for enforcement and payment options

Replaced with revised version of paper 09/27/11.choice experiments, payment for ecosystem services, conditionality, willingness to accept, Tanzania, biodiversity, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Environmental Economics and Policy, International Development, Land Economics/Use,

Infrared multiple photon dissociation action spectroscopy of sodiated uracil and thiouracils: Effects of thioketo-substitution on gas-phase conformation

The gas phase structures of sodium cationized complexes of uracil and five thiouracils including 2-thiouracil (2SU), 5-methyl-2-thiouracil (5Me2SU), 6-methyl-2-thiouracil (6Me2SU), 4-thiouracil (4SU), and 2,4-dithiouracil (24dSU) are examined via infrared multiple photon dissociation (IRMPD) action spectroscopy and theoretical electronic structure calculations. The IRMPD spectra of all six sodium cationized complexes exhibit both characteristic and unique spectral features over the range from similar to 1000 to 1900 cm(-1) such that the complexes are easily differentiated. The intense band at similar to 1800 cm(-1) in the IRMPD action spectrum of Na(+)(U) indicates that, as expected, a free carbonyl group is present in this complex. Absence of an intense band at similar to 1800 cm(-1) in the IRMPD action spectra for Na(+)(2SU), Na(+)(5Me2SU), Na(+)(6Me2SU), and Na(+)(4SU) complexes suggests that either sodium cationization preferentially stabilizes a minor tautomer of the nucleobase, or that the sodium cation binds to the keto group in these complexes, such that no free carbonyl stretch is observed. Measured IRMPD action spectra are compared to linear IR spectra calculated at the B3LYP/6-31G(d) level of theory to identify the structures accessed in the experimental studies. Based on these comparisons and the energetic predictions from theory, sodium cations preferentially bind at the 4-keto position of the canonical 2,4-diketo or 2-thioketo-4-keto tautomer in the Na(+)(U), Na(+)(2SU), Na(+)(5Me2SU), and Na(+)(6Me2SU) complexes. In contrast, sodium cationization results in preferential stabilization of a minor tautomer of the nucleobase in the Na(+)(4SU) and Na(+)(24dSU) complexes, where proton transfer from the N3H group to the 4-thioketo group, facilitates strong binding of the sodium cation via chelation with the O2(S2) and N3 atoms. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved