Use of ICT tools for integration of energy in urban planning projects

Within the European collaboration project SUSREG a number of software tools for sustainable urban planning were applied and tested in the context of real case studies. Three types of ICT tools can be distinguished: Neighbourhood Sustainability Assessment Tools, Rating systems and LCA-LCC Tools. We discuss in more detail the Autodesk Ecotect Analysis tool, as applied in the case study of an old railway area in Burgos, Spain. The second tool is GPR Urban Planning, which was applied to a city expansion plan for the City of Nijmegen, The Netherlands. We conclude that ICT tools are often applied rather late in the planning process which neglects their potential advantages with respect to integral assessment and stakeholder communicationIntelligent Energy Europe Programme of the European Union. Basque Governmen

Cross the Best with the Best, and Select the Best: HELP in Breeding Selfing Crop

Hybrid-enabled line profiling (HELP) is a new integrated breeding strategy for self-fertilizing crops that combines existing and recently identified elements, resulting in a strategy that synergistically exceeds existing breeding concepts. Heterosis in selfing crops is often driven by additive and additive X additive gene action, the molecular basis of which is increasingly being revealed. Unlike nonadditive heterosis, additive forms can be relatively easily fixed in homozygous lines, meaning that their seed can simply be resown to express the same “heterosis.” Crossing diverse, complementary “selfing” parents to create the desired trait or allele line profile requires strict male sterility of the female; this can now be achieved relatively easily through present and emerging chemical, environmental, or genetic techniques. Fairly small amounts of hybrid seed are needed, with no need to scale up seed production, as it is not the hybrid that will be commercialized. After multilocation testing, homozygous lines from only the most superior hybrids, driven mainly by additive effects and additive X additive gene action, are rapidly derived using techniques such as doubled haploids. Multilocation testing and molecular confirmation of target line profiles then identify superior lines for release to farmers. The HELP strategy integrates modern high-throughput versions of existing and new concepts and methodologies into a breeding system strategy that focuses on the most superior crosses, <10% of all crosses. This focus results in significant increases in efficiency and can reverse the edible yield plateauing seen or feared in some of our major selfing food crops

Crop Updates 2000 - Cereals part 1

This session covers eleven papers from different authors: PLENARY PAPERS 1. New Wheat for a Secure, Sustainable Future, Timothy G. Reeves, Sanjaya Rajaram, Maarten van Ginkel, Richard Trethowan, Hans-Joachim Braun, and Kelly Cassaday, International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) 2. Managing Cereal Rusts - a National Perspective, R.A. McIntosh, University of Sydney Plant Breeding Institute, New South Wales 3. Managing Cereal Rusts in 2000 - a regional imperative, R. Loughman, Agriculture Western Australia 4. Is nutrition the answer to wheat after canola problems?Ross Brennan1, Bill Bowden1, Mike Bolland1, Zed Rengel2 and David Isbister2 1 Agriculture Western Australia 2University of Western Australia 5. Improved Sandplain Cropping Systems by Controlled Traffic, Dr Paul Blackwell, Agriculture Western Australia 6. Raised bed farming for improved cropping of waterlogged soils, Derk Bakker, Greg Hamilton, David Houlbrooke, Cliff Spann and Doug Rowe, Agriculture Western Australia 7. Banded Urea increased wheat yields, Patrick Gethin, Stephen Loss, Frank Boetel, and Tim O’Dea, CSBP futurefarm 8. Flexi N is as effective as Urea on wheat and canola, Frank Boetel, Stephen Loss, Patrick Gethin, and Tim O’Dea CSBP futurefarm 9. Why potassium may reduce cereal leaf disease, Noeleen Edwards, Agriculture Western Australia 10, Trace elements, Wayne Pluske CSBP futurefarm, and Ross BrennanAgriculture Western Australia 11. Historical Nutrient Balance at Paddock and Whole Farm scales for typical wheatbelt farms in the Dowerin - Wongan Hills area, M.T.F. Wong, K. Wittwer and H. Zhang Precision Agriculture Research Group, CSIRO Land and Wate

Drought preparedness and drought mitigation in the developing world׳s drylands

Drought is one of the major constraints affecting food security and livelihoods of more than two billion people that reside on dry areas which constitute 41% of the world׳s land surface. Drought is defined as deficiency of precipitation over an extended period of time resulting in water scarcity. Our best minds should be concentrated where the greatest challenges lie today – on discoveries and new solutions to cope with the challenges facing dry areas particularly drought and water scarcity. In addition to facing severe natural resource constraints caused by the lack of water in many of the developing world׳s drylands, we also have to cope with rapid growth of the younger segment of the growing population, and high levels of poverty. Coping with drought and water scarcity are critical to address major development challenges in dry areas namely poverty, hunger, environmental degradation and social conflict. Drought is a climatic event that cannot be prevented, but interventions and preparedness to drought can help to: (i) be better prepared to cope with drought; (ii) develop more resilient ecosystems (iii) improve resilience to recover from drought; and (iv) mitigate the impacts of droughts. Preparedness strategies to drought include: (a) geographical shifts of agricultural systems; (b) climate-proofing rainfall-based systems; (c) making irrigated systems more efficient; (d) expanding the intermediate rainfed–irrigated systems. The paper presents successful research results and case studies applying some innovative techniques where clear impact is demonstrated to cope with drought and contribute to food security in dry areas. The CGIAR Consortium Research Program (CRP) on “Integrated and Sustainable Agricultural Production Systems for Improved Food Security and Livelihoods in Dry Areas” (in short, “Dryland Systems”), led by ICARDA, was launched in May 2013 with many partners and stakeholders from 40 countries. It addresses farming systems in dry areas, at a global level, involving 80 partner institutions. The Dryland Systems Program aims at coping with drought and water scarcity to enhance food security and reduce poverty in dry areas through an integrated agro-ecosystem approach. It will also deliver science-based solutions that can be adopted in regions that are not yet experiencing extreme shocks, but will be affected in the medium to long-term. The approach entails shifting the thinking away from the traditional focus on a small number of research components to take an integrated approach aiming to address agro-ecosystems challenges. Such an approach involves crops, livestock, rangeland, trees, soils, water and policies. It is one of the first global research for development efforts that brings “systems thinking” to farming innovations leading to improved livelihoods in the developing world. The new technique uses modern innovation platforms to involve all stakeholders, adopting the value chain concept along a research-to-impact pathway for enhanced food security and improved livelihoods in dry areas

Why Self-fertilizing Plants Still Exist in Wild Populations: Diversity Assurance through Stress-Induced Male Sterility May Promote Selective Outcrossing and Recombination

Climate change creates challenges for wild species, but plants have survived and adapted to similar changes in their evolutionary past. Most plants were originally outcrossing, one theoretical genetic reason being that self-fertilization does not create novel recombinants that allow adaptation. Thus selfing seems an evolutionary &ldquo;dead end&rdquo;. Nevertheless, self-fertilizing plants make up 14% of seed plant species. We offer a new interpretation of a response by self-fertilizing wild species to extreme existential threats, which creates novel recombinant progeny. This proposed mechanism goes beyond reproductive assurance, the usual explanation of selfing. Extreme stress, such as excessive heat within a specific window, first makes plants male-sterile, while female organs remain functional and can receive wind-borne pollen from any of the few nearby stress-tolerant individuals. Thus stress-induced male sterility enables and/or enhances outcrossing in selfing plants. Although in practice this proposed mechanism requires very special circumstances and operates only in certain species with conducive floral traits, we posit that over evolutionary time even such rare events can make a significant lasting impact on a species&rsquo; survival in changing conditions. This proposed mechanism, which we call Diversity Assurance, allows a population subject to severe stress to sample preferentially those genes that underpin tolerance to that specific stress. These genes are then recombined in subsequent generations, along with the male-sterility-under-stress trait of the female parent. This contributes in part to explain the effective evolution and hence persistence of self-fertilizing species. Diversity Assurance, we propose, is an adaptive mechanism that has been selected under extreme stress, underpinned by a simple loss-of-function of the male reproductive system. It may be triggered not only by heat, but also by other stressors. This proposed mechanism helps to explain why even highly self-fertilizing plant species remain able to respond to environmental changes through triggered outcrossing

Wellhausen-Anderson Plant Genetic Resources Center Operations Manual 2004

Crop Production/Industries,