Root Zone Sensors for Irrigation Management in Intensive Agriculture

Crop irrigation uses more than 70% of the world’s water, and thus, improving irrigation efficiency is decisive to sustain the food demand from a fast-growing world population. This objective may be accomplished by cultivating more water-efficient crop species and/or through the application of efficient irrigation systems, which includes the implementation of a suitable method for precise scheduling. At the farm level, irrigation is generally scheduled based on the grower’s experience or on the determination of soil water balance (weather-based method). An alternative approach entails the measurement of soil water status. Expensive and sophisticated root zone sensors (RZS), such as neutron probes, are available for the use of soil and plant scientists, while cheap and practical devices are needed for irrigation management in commercial crops. The paper illustrates the main features of RZS’ (for both soil moisture and salinity) marketed for the irrigation industry and discusses how such sensors may be integrated in a wireless network for computer-controlled irrigation and used for innovative irrigation strategies, such as deficit or dual-water irrigation. The paper also consider the main results of recent or current research works conducted by the authors in Tuscany (Italy) on the irrigation management of container-grown ornamental plants, which is an important agricultural sector in Italy

Plasticised regenerated silk/gold nanorods hybrids as sealant and bio-piezoelectric materials

Manual and mechanical suturing are currently the gold standard for bowel anastomosis. If tissue approximation fails, anastomotic leaks occur. Anastomotic leaks may have catastrophic consequences. The development of a fully absorbable, biocompatible sealant material based on a bio-ink silk fibroin can reduce the chance of anastomotic leaks. We have produced a Ca-modified plasticised regenerated silk (RS) with gold nanorods sealant. This sealant was applied to anastomosed porcine intestine. Water absorption from wet tissue substrate applied compressive strains on hybrid RS films. This compression results in a sealant effect on anastomosis. The increased toughness of the hybrid plasticised RS resulted in the designing of a bio-film with superior elongation at break (i.e., ≈200%) and bursting pressure. We have also reported structure-dependent piezoelectricity of the RS film that shows a piezoelectric effect out of the plane. We hope that in the future, bowel anastomosis can be simplified by providing a multifunctional bio-film that makes feasible the mechanical tissue joint without the need for specific tools and could be used in piezoelectric sealant heads

Panethnic Differences in Blood Pressure in Europe: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

BACKGROUND: People of Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) and South Asians(SA) ethnic minorities living in Europe have higher risk of stroke than native Europeans(EU). Study objective is to provide an assessment of gender specific absolute differences in office systolic(SBP) and diastolic(DBP) blood pressure(BP) levels between SSA, SA, and EU. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies conducted in Europe that examined BP in non-selected adult SSA, SA and EU subjects. Medline, PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Scopus were searched from their inception through January 31st 2015, for relevant articles. Outcome measures were mean SBP and DBP differences between minorities and EU, using a random effects model and tested for heterogeneity. Twenty-one studies involving 9,070 SSA, 18,421 SA, and 130,380 EU were included. Compared with EU, SSA had higher values of both SBP (3.38 mmHg, 95% CI 1.28 to 5.48 mmHg; and 6.00 mmHg, 95% CI 2.22 to 9.78 in men and women respectively) and DBP (3.29 mmHg, 95% CI 1.80 to 4.78; 5.35 mmHg, 95% CI 3.04 to 7.66). SA had lower SBP than EU(-4.57 mmHg, 95% CI -6.20 to -2.93; -2.97 mmHg, 95% CI -5.45 to -0.49) but similar DBP values. Meta-analysis by subgroup showed that SA originating from countries where Islam is the main religion had lower SBP and DBP values than EU. In multivariate meta-regression analyses, SBP difference between minorities and EU populations, was influenced by panethnicity and diabetes prevalence. CONCLUSIONS: 1) The higher BP in SSA is maintained over decades, suggesting limited efficacy of prevention strategies in such group in Europe;2) The lower BP in Muslim populations suggests that yet untapped lifestyle and behavioral habits may reveal advantages towards the development of hypertension;3) The additive effect of diabetes, emphasizes the need of new strategies for the control of hypertension in groups at high prevalence of diabetes

A decision support system to optimise fertigation management in greenhouse crops.

Optimal operation of greenhouse crops requires an appropriate management of fertigation, especially when the availability and/or the quality of irrigation water are limited and/or there are environmental constraints, such as those derived from Nitrate Directive in Europe. The paper illustrates the main features of a decision support system (DSS) for the fertigation management in soilless culture, which is still under development in the framework of the European research project EUPHOROS. The DSS modules provide information on the optimal irrigation regime (based on the static hydrological properties of the growing medium) and on crop water and nutrients requirements (including both plant uptake and leaching requirement in open and semi-closed growing systems). An easy-to-use nutrient solution calculator and an extendable crop database have been integrated in the DSS. The DSS can assist the grower in daily operational management of fertigation as well as for off-line (prior-to-planting) simulation, for instance to compare - in terms of water and nutrients use efficiency - different fertigation strategies, growing system layouts, water qualities and/or crop species (analysis of the scenario). An example of such simulation is provided for tomato grown under saline conditions

A system for fertigation management in closed-loop soilless culture of tomato

The actual development of greenhouse cultural systems is characterized by an increase in economic engagement, with a more high demand of advances techniques to optimize all productivity factors. Social and environmental constraints force growers to use lower impact systems and to adopt specific technologies for the reduction of resource exploitation: energy, water, etc. Electronics and computer science support this process, mainly by means of innovative sensors and efficient modeling that have become irreplaceable tools for the integration of knowledge and innovative technologies. The analysis of current experiences reveals a dual approach for controlling plant nutrition, called by Le Bot et al. (1998) “inductive or deductive regulations”. The first approach is applied to the actual practice of fertigation in open or closed types of soilless cultures and it is a posteriori regulation. In this case, nutrient solution with pre-set values of both pH and electrical conductivity (EC) is delivered to the crop with frequent or continuous EC measurements in the drain water. According to EC values of the drainage a modification of nutrient solution can be estimated, determining the intervention of the grower. In recirculating-water (closed-loop) growing systems, in order to reduce the use o