Study Of Mass Losses Of Cauliflower At Storage Depending On A Packing Way

Tissues of fresh vegetables are characterized by the high quantity of moisture (80…96 %), active metabolism, low resistance to mechanical lesions, are spoiled fast. Metabolism in cells of tissues, so mass losses, depends on the content of water and dry substances.It is impossible to manage abiotic factors under conditions of open soil. So, there appears a necessity to study the influence of abiotic factors on the process of mass decrease at cauliflower storage that gives a possibility to prognosticate its mass losses and aptitude to storage.The aim of the study was to analyze the influence of weather conditions of the vegetation period of cauliflower, volume, specific mass and porosity of heads and packing methods on the intensity of natural mass losses of cauliflower at storage. The research gives a possibility to decrease natural losses of cauliflower heads and to prolong the storage duration of it. Cauliflower mass losses at the expanse of water evaporation depend on weather conditions of the vegetation period of the plant. It has been established, that there is a middle force reverse connection with the coefficient correlation r=–0,465 between the intensity of water evaporation at cauliflower heads storage and GTC, middle force connection with the coefficient correlation r=0,437 – with the average day temperature, and strong reverse connection r=–0,776 with the relative air humidity. There was elaborated the regression equation that gives an understanding about mass losses of cauliflower heads, packed in PF, at the expanse of water evaporation.The intensity of water evaporation of cauliflower at storage depends on package method. At packing in a stretch-film (SF), the intensity of moisture decrease, % a day, was the least, equal to 0,30–0,31. The ratio between moisture losses to ones of dry substances was 0,45–0,68. At packing in a performed stretch-film (PSF), the intensity of moisture decrease, % a day, was higher a little – 0,37–0,43.The more storage duration of cauliflower of late ripeness was provided by individual packing of heads in a polyethylene stretch-film. This packing type provided less total natural losses of products: in Skywoker F1– 6,0 %, in Kasper F1 and Santamaria F1 – 6,3 %. Natural losses for a day in variants with using a stretch-film were within 0,05–0,06 % depending on hybrid

Phenological shifts of abiotic events, producers and consumers across a continent

Ongoing climate change can shift organism phenology in ways that vary depending on species, habitats and climate factors studied. To probe for large-scale patterns in associated phenological change, we use 70,709 observations from six decades of systematic monitoring across the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Among 110 phenological events related to plants, birds, insects, amphibians and fungi, we find a mosaic of change, defying simple predictions of earlier springs, later autumns and stronger changes at higher latitudes and elevations. Site mean temperature emerged as a strong predictor of local phenology, but the magnitude and direction of change varied with trophic level and the relative timing of an event. Beyond temperature-associated variation, we uncover high variation among both sites and years, with some sites being characterized by disproportionately long seasons and others by short ones. Our findings emphasize concerns regarding ecosystem integrity and highlight the difficulty of predicting climate change outcomes. The authors use systematic monitoring across the former USSR to investigate phenological changes across taxa. The long-term mean temperature of a site emerged as a strong predictor of phenological change, with further imprints of trophic level, event timing, site, year and biotic interactions.Peer reviewe

Chronicles of nature calendar, a long-term and large-scale multitaxon database on phenology

We present an extensive, large-scale, long-term and multitaxon database on phenological and climatic variation, involving 506,186 observation dates acquired in 471 localities in Russian Federation, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Belarus and Kyrgyzstan. The data cover the period 1890-2018, with 96% of the data being from 1960 onwards. The database is rich in plants, birds and climatic events, but also includes insects, amphibians, reptiles and fungi. The database includes multiple events per species, such as the onset days of leaf unfolding and leaf fall for plants, and the days for first spring and last autumn occurrences for birds. The data were acquired using standardized methods by permanent staff of national parks and nature reserves (87% of the data) and members of a phenological observation network (13% of the data). The database is valuable for exploring how species respond in their phenology to climate change. Large-scale analyses of spatial variation in phenological response can help to better predict the consequences of species and community responses to climate change.Peer reviewe

Studying the Loss of Mass by Cauliflower Depending on Agrobiological Factors, Varietal Features, and Package Technique

The aim of this study was to scientifically substantiate influence of weather conditions during vegetation season of cauliflower, the content of some components of the chemical composition, physical properties, as well as packaging techniques, on the intensity of loss of cauliflower heads during storage. We established that the following types of loss occur during storage of cauliflower: weight loss due to a decrease in dry matter, weight loss due to partial evaporation of water, development of microorganisms and physiological disorders.Weather conditions over the years of study were very variable. The sum of average daily temperatures ranged from 1,743.4 to 2,544.3 °C over the years of study, it exceeded the upper limit of the optimal amount by 58.9–380.3°C. HTC (hydrothermal coefficient) was 0.58–1.10. Humidity was sufficient during the vegetation period. Conditions of the vegetation period affected weight loss of late-ripening cauliflower heads during storage in the following way: the greatest loss was 12.8–16.9 % in control in 2015, it was less in 2016 ‒ 11.7–13.8 %, depending on a hybrid. The difference between hybrids over the years of study was significant. The natural decreases in weight loss of cauliflower heads during unpacked storage were for Casper F1 hybrid ‒ 13.7 %, for Santamaria F1 ‒ 12.7 %, for Skywalker F1 ‒ 15.5 % in 2015–2017.The intensity of moisture reduction when cauliflower was stored at a temperature of 1±0.5°C ranged from 0.27 to 9.3 %, depending on the packaging technique. The intensity of moisture evaporation in all hybrids was the same and it was 0.3 % per day under packaging by stretch film. Perforated stretch film increased the moisture evaporation slightly, from 0.37 % in Casper F1 hybrid to 0.43 in Skywalker F1 hybrid. The ratio of moisture loss to the loss of dry matter ranged from 11.2 in heads of Santamaria F1 to 13.2 in heads of Casper F1 during storage without packaging. And it was 0.23–0.23 when stored under SF, and 0.35–0.43 during storage under PSF.We found out the correlation between cauliflower weight loss during storage on HTC, average daily temperature, and relative humidity of air in the vegetation period and on dry matter content, volume, and porosity of a head. The regression equations made it possible to forecast cauliflower weight loss during storage, depending on weather conditions of the vegetation period and on the dry matter content and physical indicators of heads

Differences in spatial versus temporal reaction norms for spring and autumn phenological events

For species to stay temporally tuned to their environment, they use cues such as the accumulation of degree-days. The relationships between the timing of a phenological event in a population and its environmental cue can be described by a population-level reaction norm. Variation in reaction norms along environmental gradients may either intensify the environmental effects on timing (cogradient variation) or attenuate the effects (countergradient variation). To resolve spatial and seasonal variation in species' response, we use a unique dataset of 91 taxa and 178 phenological events observed across a network of 472 monitoring sites, spread across the nations of the former Soviet Union. We show that compared to local rates of advancement of phenological events with the advancement of temperature-related cues (i.e., variation within site over years), spatial variation in reaction norms tend to accentuate responses in spring (cogradient variation) and attenuate them in autumn (countergradient variation). As a result, among-population variation in the timing of events is greater in spring and less in autumn than if all populations followed the same reaction norm regardless of location. Despite such signs of local adaptation, overall phenotypic plasticity was not sufficient for phenological events to keep exact pace with their cues-the earlier the year, the more did the timing of the phenological event lag behind the timing of the cue. Overall, these patterns suggest that differences in the spatial versus temporal reaction norms will affect species' response to climate change in opposite ways in spring and autumn

Early stage litter decomposition across biomes

Through litter decomposition enormous amounts of carbon is emitted to the atmosphere. Numerous large-scale decomposition experiments have been conducted focusing on this fundamental soil process in order to understand the controls on the terrestrial carbon transfer to the atmosphere. However, previous studies were mostly based on site-specific litter and methodologies, adding major uncertainty to syntheses, comparisons and meta-analyses across different experiments and sites. In the TeaComposition initiative, the potential litter decomposition is investigated by using standardized substrates (Rooibos and Green tea) for comparison of litter mass loss at 336 sites (ranging from −9 to +26 °C MAT and from 60 to 3113 mm MAP) across different ecosystems. In this study we tested the effect of climate (temperature and moisture), litter type and land-use on early stage decomposition (3 months) across nine biomes. We show that litter quality was the predominant controlling factor in early stage litter decomposition, which explained about 65% of the variability in litter decomposition at a global scale. The effect of climate, on the other hand, was not litter specific and explained <0.5% of the variation for Green tea and 5% for Rooibos tea, and was of significance only under unfavorable decomposition conditions (i.e. xeric versus mesic environments). When the data were aggregated at the biome scale, climate played a significant role on decomposition of both litter types (explaining 64% of the variation for Green tea and 72% for Rooibos tea). No significant effect of land-use on early stage litter decomposition was noted within the temperate biome. Our results indicate that multiple drivers are affecting early stage litter mass loss with litter quality being dominant. In order to be able to quantify the relative importance of the different drivers over time, long-term studies combined with experimental trials are needed.This work was performed within the TeaComposition initiative, carried out by 190 institutions worldwide. We thank Gabrielle Drozdowski for her help with the packaging and shipping of tea, Zora Wessely and Johannes Spiegel for the creative implementation of the acknowledgement card, Josip Dusper for creative implementation of the graphical abstract, Christine Brendle for the GIS editing, and Marianne Debue for her help with the data cleaning. Further acknowledgements go to Adriana Principe, Melanie Köbel, Pedro Pinho, Thomas Parker, Steve Unger, Jon Gewirtzman and Margot McKleeven for the implementation of the study at their respective sites. We are very grateful to UNILEVER for sponsoring the Lipton tea bags and to the COST action ClimMani for scientific discussions, adoption and support to the idea of TeaComposition as a common metric. The initiative was supported by the following grants: ILTER Initiative Grant, ClimMani Short-Term Scientific Missions Grant (COST action ES1308; COST-STSM-ES1308-36004; COST-STM-ES1308-39006; ES1308-231015-068365), INTERACT (EU H2020 Grant No. 730938), and Austrian Environment Agency (UBA). Franz Zehetner acknowledges the support granted by the Prometeo Project of Ecuador's Secretariat of Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation (SENESCYT) as well as Charles Darwin Foundation for the Galapagos Islands (2190). Ana I. Sousa, Ana I. Lillebø and Marta Lopes thanks for the financial support to CESAM (UID/AMB/50017), to FCT/MEC through national funds (PIDDAC), and the co-funding by the FEDER, within the PT2020 Partnership Agreement and Compete 2020. The research was also funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, FCT, through SFRH/BPD/107823/2015 (A.I. Sousa), co-funded by POPH/FSE. Thomas Mozdzer thanks US National Science Foundation NSF DEB-1557009. Helena C. Serrano thanks Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (UID/BIA/00329/2013). Milan Barna acknowledges Scientific Grant Agency VEGA (2/0101/18). Anzar A Khuroo acknowledges financial support under HIMADRI project from SAC-ISRO, India

Early stage litter decomposition across biomes

[Departement_IRSTEA]Territoires [TR1_IRSTEA]SEDYVINInternational audienceThrough litter decomposition enormous amounts of carbon is emitted to the atmosphere. Numerous large-scale decomposition experiments have been conducted focusing on this fundamental soil process in order to understand the controls on the terrestrial carbon transfer to the atmosphere. However, previous studies were mostly based on site-specific litter and methodologies, adding major uncertainty to syntheses, comparisons and meta-analyses across different experiments and sites. In the TeaComposition initiative, the potential litter decomposition is investigated by using standardized substrates (Rooibos and Green tea) for comparison of litter mass loss at 336 sites (ranging fro