The Effects of Crop Type and Production Systems on the Activity of Beneficial Invertebrates

Beneficial invertebrate activity (13 groups) was assessed in five crop types on a split-plot experimental system in northern England using pitfall trapping and suction sampling in May-October 2005. Very significant differences were detected in activity between crop type, and in the preference of groups for individual crops. Within crop types, differences in fertiliser and crop protection approaches appeared to significantly affect activity, with preferences for either organic or conventional management differing between groups. In general, inorganic fertiliser application had more effect on activity than pesticide, herbicide and fungicide use

The influence of organic and conventional fertilisation and crop protection practices, preceding crop, harvest year and weather conditions on yield and quality of potato (Solanum tuberosum) in a long-term management trial

The effects of organic versus conventional crop management practices (fertilisation, crop protection) and preceding crop on potato tuber yield (total, marketable, tuber size grade distribution) and quality (proportion of diseased, green and damaged tubers, tuber macro-nutrient concentrations) parameters were investigated over six years (2004–2009) as part of a long-term factorial field trial in North East England. Inter-year variability (the effects of weather and preceding crop) was observed to have a profound effect on yields and quality parameters, and this variability was greater in organic fertility systems. Total and marketable yields were significantly reduced by the use of both organic crop protection and fertility management. However, the yield gap between organic and conventional fertilisation regimes was greater and more variable than that between crop protection practices. This appears to be attributable mainly to lower and less predictable nitrogen supply in organically fertilised crops. Increased incidence of late blight in organic crop protection systems only occurred when conventional fertilisation was applied. In organically fertilised crops yield was significantly higher following grass/red clover leys than winter wheat, but there was no pre-crop effect in conventionally fertilised crops. The results highlight that nitrogen supply from organic fertilisers rather than inefficient pest and disease control may be the major limiting factor for yields in organic potato production systems

Effect of Climate, Crop Protection, and Fertilization on Disease Severity, Growth, and Grain Yield Parameters of Faba Beans (<em>Vicia faba</em> L.) in Northern Britain: Results from the Long-Term NFSC Trials

\ua9 2024 by the authors. Faba beans are one of the most suitable grain legume crop for colder, maritime climates. However, there is limited information on the effect of changing from conventional to organic production methods and potential impacts of global warming on the health and performance of faba bean crops in Northern Europe. We therefore assessed the performance of faba beans grown with contrasting crop protection (with and without pesticides) and fertilization (with and without P and K fertilizer input) regimes used in organic and conventional production in seven growing seasons. Conventional crop protection and fertilization regimes had no effect on foliar disease severity, but resulted in small, but significant increases in faba bean yields. The overall yield gap between organic and conventional production regimes was relatively small (~10%), but there was substantial variation in yields between growing seasons/years. Redundancy analysis (RDA) showed that climate explanatory variables/drivers explained the largest proportion of the variation in crop performance and identified strong positive associations between (i) temperature and both straw and grain yield and (ii) precipitation and foliar disease severity. However, RDA also identified crop protection and variety as significant explanatory variables for faba bean performance. The relatively small effect of using P and K fertilizers on yields and the lack of a measurable effect of fungicide applications on foliar disease severity indicate that the use of these inputs in conventional faba beans may not be economical. Results also suggest that the yield gap between organic and conventional faba bean production is significant, but smaller than for other field crops

Improving Crop Health, Performance, and Quality in Organic Spring Wheat Production: The Need to Understand Interactions between Pedoclimatic Conditions, Variety, and Fertilization

Organic wheat production systems have lower yields compared with intensive conventional production and often do not achieve the grain protein content and quality thresholds set by millers and bakers. In contrast, organic production methods were reported to result in higher concentrations of nutritionally desirable micronutrients and lower concentrations of the toxic metal Cd in wheat grain and wholegrain flour. However, although N-availability and variety characteristics are known to affect both gain yields and bread-making quality, the exact reasons for the yield gap and differences in grain processing and nutritional quality between organic and conventional spring wheat production in the UK are poorly understood. The overall aim of this study was therefore to determine to what extent changes in variety choice and fertilization regimes may reduce the yield gap and improve processing quality without affecting nutritional quality in organic spring wheat production. To achieve this aim, we compared crop health, yield, grain processing, and nutritional quality parameters in spring wheat produced using (i) six contrasting spring wheat varieties grown with a standard fertilization regime and (ii) one variety widely used by organic farmers (Paragon) with nine different fertilization regimes in (iii) three UK sites/farms with contrasting pedoclimatic conditions. Significant differences in foliar disease severity, grain yield, and quality parameters were detected between six contrasting spring wheat varieties when grown under organic management regimes. Specifically, the varieties Paragon and Tybalt were identified as the best-performing varieties with respect to foliar disease resistance and grain yield under organic farming conditions and also produced high processing and nutritional quality across the three UK sites. However, the highest grain yields were obtained by Paragon at the Gilchester site and Tybalt at the Sheepdrove and Courtyard sites, while the highest protein contents were produced by Tybalt at the Gilchester site and Paragon at the Sheepdrove and Courtyard sites, which suggests that there is a need for site-specific wheat variety selection in the UK organic sector. Although organic fertilizer input type and level also affected wheat performance, differences between fertilization regimes were smaller than those observed between the five contrasting varieties, which suggests that improvements in spring wheat breeding/selection have a greater potential for increasing crop yield and quality in the organic sector compared with changes to fertilization practices. Overall, results suggest it is feasible to breed/select spring wheat varieties that combine high protein, vitamin E, and micronutrients with low toxic metal (Cd, Pb) concentrations when produced under organic farming conditions. These findings also support the hypothesis that differences in variety choice by organic and conventional farmers have contributed to the differences in nutritional quality between organic and conventional wheat products reported in previous studies

Profile of MicroRNAs following Rat Sciatic Nerve Injury by Deep Sequencing: Implication for Mechanisms of Nerve Regeneration

Unlike the central nervous system, peripheral nerves can regenerate when damaged. MicroRNA (miRNA) is a novel class of small, non-coding RNA that regulates gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. Here, we report regular alterations of miRNA expression following rat sciatic nerve injury using deep sequencing. We harvested dorsal root ganglia tissues and the proximal stumps of the nerve, and identified 201 and 225 known miRNAs with significant expression variance at five time points in these tissues after sciatic nerve transaction, respectively. Subsequently, hierarchical clustering, miRNA expression pattern and co-expression network were performed. We screened out specific miRNAs and further obtained the intersection genes through target analysis software (Targetscan and miRanda). Moreover, GO and KEGG enrichment analyses of these intersection genes were performed. The bioinformatics analysis indicated that the potential targets for these miRNAs were involved in nerve regeneration, including neurogenesis, neuron differentiation, vesicle-mediated transport, homophilic cell adhesion and negative regulation of programmed cell death that were known to play important roles in regulating nerve repair. Finally, we combined differentially expressed mRNA with the predicted targets for selecting inverse miRNA-target pairs. Our results show that the abnormal expression of miRNA may contribute to illustrate the molecular mechanisms of nerve regeneration and that miRNAs are potential targets for therapeutic interventions and may enhance intrinsic regenerative ability

Rasd1 Modulates the Coactivator Function of NonO in the Cyclic AMP Pathway

All living organisms exhibit autonomous daily physiological and behavioural rhythms to help them synchronize with the environment. Entrainment of circadian rhythm is achieved via activation of cyclic AMP (cAMP) and mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathways. NonO (p54nrb) is a multifunctional protein involved in transcriptional activation of the cAMP pathway and is involved in circadian rhythm control. Rasd1 is a monomeric G protein implicated to play a pivotal role in potentiating both photic and nonphotic responses of the circadian rhythm. In this study, we have identified and validated NonO as an interacting partner of Rasd1 via affinity pulldown, co-immunoprecipitation and indirect immunofluorescence studies. The GTP-hydrolysis activity of Rasd1 is required for the functional interaction. Functional interaction of Rasd1-NonO in the cAMP pathway was investigated via reporter gene assays, chromatin immunoprecipitation and gene knockdown. We showed that Rasd1 and NonO interact at the CRE-site of specific target genes. These findings reveal a novel mechanism by which the coregulator activity of NonO can be modulated

Early phase of plasticity-related gene regulation and SRF dependent transcription in the hippocampus

Hippocampal organotypic cultures are a highly reliable in vitro model for studying neuroplasticity: in this paper, we analyze the early phase of the transcriptional response induced by a 20 \ub5M gabazine treatment (GabT), a GABA-Ar antagonist, by using Affymetrix oligonucleotide microarray, RT-PCR based time-course and chromatin-immuno-precipitation. The transcriptome profiling revealed that the pool of genes up-regulated by GabT, besides being strongly related to the regulation of growth and synaptic transmission, is also endowed with neuro-protective and pro-survival properties. By using RT-PCR, we quantified a time-course of the transient expression for 33 of the highest up-regulated genes, with an average sampling rate of 10 minutes and covering the time interval [10 3690] minutes. The cluster analysis of the time-course disclosed the existence of three different dynamical patterns, one of which proved, in a statistical analysis based on results from previous works, to be significantly related with SRF-dependent regulation (p-value<0.05). The chromatin immunoprecipitation (chip) assay confirmed the rich presence of working CArG boxes in the genes belonging to the latter dynamical pattern and therefore validated the statistical analysis. Furthermore, an in silico analysis of the promoters revealed the presence of additional conserved CArG boxes upstream of the genes Nr4a1 and Rgs2. The chip assay confirmed a significant SRF signal in the Nr4a1 CArG box but not in the Rgs2 CArG box

Olive fly (Bactrocera oleae) activity, fruit infestation and temperature in an organic table olive orchard in southern Crete

Olive fly activity and olive fruit infestation was monitored in a table olive orchard in southern Crete throughout most of 2006 using McPhail traps. Flies were trapped weekly for 40 weeks, starting at the beginning of February. The fly data was split into 10 four-week periods. Male, female and total fly activity was significantly related to sampling period, maximum temperature and relative humidity but the pattern of catches was not consistent. Activity increased from February until July but declined in August and was very low in September, October and November. The low activity in the last three months was reflected in low fruit infestation levels, with a maximum of 3.6% in October which contrasts with infestation levels usually around 30%. Olive fly mortality is high above 31oC and the average mean maximum temperature in the four months June-September was above 34oC. High summer temperatures, with low humidities, appear to have considerably limited olive fly activity and fruit infestation and pest control measures may have to be adapted to these conditions

Control of enteric pathogens in ready-to-eat vegetable crops in organic and ‘low input’ production systems: a HACCP-based approach

Risks from pathogens such as Salmonella, Yersinia, Campylobacter and Escherichia coli O157 have been identified as a particular concern for organic and ‘low input’ food production systems that rely on livestock manure as a nutrient source. Current data do not allow any solid conclusions to be drawn about the level of this risk, relative to conventional production systems. This review describes six Risk Reduction Points (RRPs) where risks from enteric pathogens can be reduced in ready-to-eat vegetables. Changes can be made to animal husbandry practices (RRP1) to reduce inoculum levels in manure. Outdoor livestock management (RRP2) can be optimized to eliminate the risk of faecal material entering irrigation water. Manure storage and processing (RRP3), soil management practices (RRP4) and timing of manure application (RRP5), can be adjusted to reduce the survival of pathogens originating from manure. During irrigation (RRP6), pathogen risks can be reduced by choosing a clean water source and minimizing the chances of faecal material splashing on to the crop. Although preventive measures at these RRPs can minimize enteric pathogen risk, zero risk can never be obtained for raw ready-to-eat vegetables. Good food hygiene practices at home are essential to reduce the incidence of food-borne illnesses