Effects of rake angle of chisel plough on soil cutting factors and power requirements: A computer simulation

A computer simulation was conducted to predict the effects of rake angle of a chisel plough and soil bulk density on angle of soil failure plane, rupture distance, width of side crescent, frictional, overburden, cohesion and adhesion soil cutting factors, draft forces and drawbar power requirements. The experimental work was carried out in two locations. Soil of the first location was sandy clay with the soil bulk densities of 1.75 and 1.70 g/cm³ for firm and loose soil conditions, respectively, with an angle of internal friction of 30° and a surface friction angle of 20°, cohesion of 2.5 kN/m² and adhesion of 1.2 kN/m². Soil of the second location was clay loam with the soil bulk densities of 1.65 and 1.50 g/cm³ for firm and loose soil conditions, respectively, with an angle of internal friction of 34° and a surface friction angle of 23°, cohesion of 2.4 kN/m² and adhesion of 1.14 kN/m². The prediction showed that the angle of failure plane found to decrease with the rake angle. The rupture distance decreased with the rake angle from 15° to 55° and then increased as the rake angle increased over 55°. The width of the side crescent increased as the rake angle increased and the maximum value and the minimum value were recorded at 75° and at 15°. Values of frictional and overburden factors decreased as rake angle increased. The maximum and minimum values were recorded at 15° and 75°, respectively. The values of cohesion factor increased as rake angle increased. The maximum value was recorded at rake angle of 75° and the minimum value was recorded at rake angle of 15°. Adhesion factor was found to change inversely with the rake angle from 15° to 55° and then to change directly with the rake angle over 55°. The draft force decreased with the rake angle and reached its minimum value at 45° rake angle. Over 45°, the draft force increased and reached its maximum value at 75° rake angle. The draft increased with soil bulk density. The power required for moving the plough recorded the maximum value at rake angle of 15°, while the minimum value was recorded at 55° rake angle. The values of power increased with decrease of soil bulk density. The predicted values demonstrated some deviations from the experimental values of the draft force and the drawbar power.     

Drying Enhancement of Rough Rice by an Electric Field

Corona discharge produced by a multiple point-to-plate high-voltage electric field (HVEF) was used to investigate the enhancement of rough rice drying and its effect on rice fissuring and germination. The HVEF consisted of a 16 needle point cathode with a direct current power supply, and a grounded stainless steel plate anode. The drying rate of the treated rough rice was notably greater than that of the control, and the drying rate was described by an exponential model. There was a good agreement between the predicted and experimental results (coefficient of determination R²=0·98). The electric field treatment significantly enhanced drying but had no effect on rice fissuring at a lower temperature. The average drying rate of the treated rice increased 2·83, 1·59 and 1·63 times at 25, 40 and 50°C, respectively, compared to the corresponding control. The drying rate also increased with increasing electric field strength. The electric field treatment did not have significant effects on the percentage of kernels having heavy fissures or the germination rate of rough rice (probability P>0·05). The total number of fissured kernels in the treated sample was increased compared to the control.     

Distribution of light and heavy fractions of soil organic carbon as related to land use and tillage practice

Mass distributions of different soil organic carbon (SOC) fractions are influenced by land use and management. Concentrations of C and N in light- and heavy fractions of bulk soils and aggregates in 0–20 cm were determined to evaluate the role of aggregation in SOC sequestration under conventional tillage (CT), no-till (NT), and forest treatments. Light- and heavy fractions of SOC were separated using 1.85 g mL⁻¹ sodium polytungstate solution. Soils under forest and NT preserved, respectively, 167% and 94% more light fraction than those under CT. The mass of light fraction decreased with an increase in soil depth, but significantly increased with an increase in aggregate size. C concentrations of light fraction in all aggregate classes were significantly higher under NT and forest than under CT. C concentrations in heavy fraction averaged 20, 10, and 8 g kg⁻¹ under forest, NT, and CT, respectively. Of the total SOC pool, heavy fraction C accounted for 76% in CT soils and 63% in forest and NT soils. These data suggest that there is a greater protection of SOC by aggregates in the light fraction of minimally disturbed soils than that of disturbed soil, and the SOC loss following conversion from forest to agriculture is attributed to reduction in C concentrations in both heavy and light fractions. In contrast, the SOC gain upon conversion from CT to NT is primarily attributed to an increase in C concentration in the light fraction.     

BUILDING CLIMATE-RESILIENT FOOD SYSTEMS IN EAST AND SOUTHEAST ASIA: VULNERABILITIES,RESPONSES AND FINANCING

Food system resilience to climate change is uniquely imperative for bringing Sustainable Development Goals within reach and leaving no one behind. Food systems in East and Southeast Asia are interacting with planetary boundaries and are adversely affected by extreme weather-related events. A practical question for East and Southeast Asian stakeholders is how to foster climateresilient food systems in the face of lingering food system vulnerabilities and policy gaps. This paper reviews food syste...     

Occurrence of prophage and historical perspectives associated with the dissemination of huanglongbing in mainland China

Huanglongbing (HLB), associated with a non-culturable bacterium ‘Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus’ (CLas), is a highly destructive citrus disease with a long but poorly documented history in China. No effective treatment for HLB is available. The identification of new prophages in abundant CLas genomic sequence data provides new insights into both the diversity of CLas strains and HLB management. In this study, CLas populations from nine provinces were surveyed for the presence of prophage. Two major prophage typing groups (PTGs) were discovered to be associated with two different altitude regions: strains of CLas in PTG1 from high altitude regions (HAR) mainly contained prophage Type 1 only or Types 1 and 3, whereas strains of CLas in PTG2 from low altitude regions (LAR) mainly contained prophage Type 2. The discovery of these CLas population patterns provides evidence for independent origins of HLB in HAR and LAR. Guangdong province is the generally recognized domestic region of origin for HLB and is primarily responsible for the dissemination of HLB in LAR through transport of seedlings. Both Yunnan and Sichuan provinces are the probable regions of origin for HLB in HAR. PTG2 was further divided into two subgroups: PTG2-1, found in Guangdong, Fujian and Guangxi and PTG2-2, found in Jiangxi, Zhejiang and Hunan. These regions and prophage types are correlated with early and late introductions of HLB in LAR. These molecular analyses were supported by studying the history of the dissemination of HLB in historical documents.     

Paraphoma root rot of alfalfa (Medicago sativa) in Inner Mongolia,China

Root rot symptoms were observed in fields of alfalfa in Chifeng city, Inner Mongolia, China in 2016. Disease incidences of seven alfalfa varieties planted in 2014 ranged from 56% to 95%, while incidence of Gongnong No. 1 planted in 2016 was 8%, 31% and 76% in 2016, 2017 and 2018, respectively. Paraphoma isolates were consistently recovered from black necrotic root tissues of diseased plants with a frequency of 77.1%. Based on morphological characters and phylogenetic analysis of rDNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS), elongation factor 1-α (EF1-α) and β-tubulin (TUB), this fungus was identified as Paraphoma radicina. Glasshouse pathogenicity experiments showed that P. radicina significantly reduced above- and below-ground biomass of alfalfa plants 2 months after inoculation. Paraphoma radicina infected 70% of the plants inoculated with a root dip in conidia, and these symptoms were consistent with the symptoms in the field. Paraphoma radicina was successfully reisolated from disease roots of the inoculated alfalfa plants. This is the first report of P. radicina as the causal agent of alfalfa root rot in China.     

浙江衢州毛竹林低改后害虫种群变动分析

自20世纪80年代始，衢州市各县(市、区)逐渐推广毛竹低产林改造技术，为竹林增产增效打下了基础。但是，由于改制后的毛竹林地被挖锄，天敌资源锐减，竹林中年年有笋，立竹上终年披叶，使竹子害虫食物条件改善，致使竹子害虫种类、数量增加，危害逐年加重。通过害虫种群变动分析，可以为开展竹林病虫害综合防治提供有效的应对措施。     

Applied data for modeling the behavior in cyclic torsion of beams in glued-laminated wood: influence of amplitude

 We present some applied data concerning the torsional behavior of glued-laminated wood beams under several loading programs. These data can contribute to adequate modeling of such behavior. We review the theory of the structure and rheology of the wood material and the torsion of beams, particularly those that are anisotropic, and we describe the test device and the experimental environment that led to the data in question. We show the failure characteristics of the studied beams in monotonous torsion and the influence of the loading amplitude in cyclic torsion on their behavior. Received: May 21, 2001 / Accepted: January 9, 2002 Correspondence to:M. Araar     

Isolation of Mycoplasma salivarium from swine

Mycoplasma salivarium, a common human oropharyngeal mycoplasma, was isolated from nasal and pharyngeal secretions of 14 of 284 swine in a barrier-maintained, disease-free herd. M. salivarium was recovered from one boar 6 times over a 26-month period and one time only from 13 other swine. Human isolates of M. salivarium were compared with the swine isolates by DNA-DNA hybridization and SDS-PAGE of the cell proteins and the strains were shown to be closely related. One of eight of the swine from which M. salivarium was isolated had complement-fixing antibodies and another culture-positive animal had metabolic-inhibiting antibodies to M. salivarium. Overt disease was not associated with the organism. These results support previous findings that mycoplasmas closely related to M. salivarium may be isolated from the nasopharynges of swine and they further indicate that the organism can establish persistently in swine without evidence of overt disease.     

The effects of age, environmental temperature and relative humidity on the bacterial flora of the upper respiratory tract in calves

The effects of age, environmental temperature and relative humidity on the bacterial flora of the nose and trachea of calves were investigated by sequential sampling of three groups each of eight Friesian-Holstein male calves kept in three different environmental conditions. All calves were vaccinated with a live attenuated vaccine against infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR) when they were 12 weeks old. Nasal and tracheal swabs were collected at 14-day intervals for bacteriological examinations. The upper respiratory tract of calves started to be colonized by various species of bacteria within the first day of life. Although they were born at different periods of the year, the calves in all three groups had similar bacterial loads in their noses and tracheas when they were 1 day old (P greater than 0.05). The total bacterial colony forming units (BCFU) were highly variable from calf to calf and from one time of sampling to another. Despite these variations, there were age-related increases in the total BCFU in nasal and tracheal swabs in all experiments. These increases were influenced by environmental temperature. Vaccination of the calves with a live IBR vaccine appeared to enhance the bacterial colonization of the upper respiratory tract.