Nano/Micro-Structural Supramolecular Biopolymers: Innovative Networks with the Boundless Potential in Sustainable Agriculture

Sustainable agriculture plays a crucial role in meeting the growing global demand for food while minimizing adverse environmental impacts from the overuse of synthetic pesticides and conventional fertilizers.In this context,renewable biopolymers being more sustainable offer a viable solution to improve agricultural sustainability and production.Nano/micro-structural supramolecular biopolymers are among these innovative biopolymers that are much sought after for their unique features.These biomaterials have complex hierarchical structures,great stability,adjustable mechanical strength,stimuli-responsiveness,and self-healing attributes.Functional molecules may be added to their flexible structure,for enabling novel agricultural uses.This overview scrutinizes how nano/micro-structural supramolecular biopolymers may radically alter farming practices and solve lingering problems in agricultural sector namely improve agricultural production,soil health,and resource efficiency.Controlled bioactive ingredient released from biopolymers allows the tailored administration of agrochemicals,bioactive agents,and biostimulators as they enhance nutrient absorption,moisture retention,and root growth.Nano/micro-structural supramolecular biopolymers may protect crops by appending antimicrobials and biosensing entities while their eco-friendliness supports sustainable agriculture.Despite their potential,further studies are warranted to understand and optimize their usage in agricultural domain.This effort seeks to bridge the knowledge gap by investigating their applications,challenges,and future prospects in the agricultural sector.Through experimental investigations and theoretical modeling,this overview aims to provide valuable insights into the practical implementation and optimization of supramolecular biopolymers in sustainable agriculture,ultimately contributing to the development of innovative and eco-friendly solutions to enhance agricultural productivity while minimizing environmental impact.

Sustainable Development of Agriculture in Northwestern Ecologically Fragile Desert Oasis——A case study of Guazhou County of Gansu Province

Guazhou County of Gansu Province is a typical ecological fragile area lying in the transition area of desert and oasis.The development of its agricultural economy is highly dependent on natural resources and environment.Contradiction of resources characterized agriculture and the fragile ecological environment has become one of the main barriers to log the impact of local agriculture to achieve sustainable development.Aiming at fragile ecological environment and limiting factors of agricultural sustainable development,thoughts and countermeasures of realizing agricultural sustainable development have been proposed.

Research on Climate Change and Countermeasure of Agriculture Sustainable Development

Based on the Fourth Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC) Assessment Report and meteorologists' research results of climate change in China,the influences of climate change on agricultural production were analyzed from the aspects of temperature,precipitation,sea-level rise and so on.Concrete measures were put forward to reply to climate change.According to the climate change trends,defensive measures were established to enhance the capacity of agriculture coping with climate change,making full use of advantages while avoiding disadvantages,in order to achieve sustainable development.

Agricultural intensity for sustainable regional development:A case study in peri-urban areas of Karawang Regency,Indonesia

Peri-urban areas are playing an increasingly crucial role in the agricultural development and intensification in Indonesia.Peri-urban agriculture is highly vulnerable to change compared with urban and rural agriculture,due to its location in transitional areas.Indicators of peri-urban agricultural intensity can help guide regional development.In this study,we assessed the sustainability of peri-urban areas based on agricultural intensity in Karawang Regency,Indonesia.We developed a village-based index to assess the region’s agricultural intensity by rescaling the village agriculture index(VAI)and combining the local sustainability index(LSI)with factor analysis.Since the unit of analysis is the village,we modified the LSI to the village sustainability index(VSI).In addition,we also developed a logical matrix analysis to determine the level of agricultural sustainability(LoAS)of each village.The combined results of the three indices(VAI,VSI,and LoAS)generated information about agricultural sustainability.The results indicated that peri-urban villages with high agricultural intensity tended to exhibit low levels of social welfare,economic development,and disaster risk.Moreover,high agricultural intensity did not necessarily ensure the prosperity of the people.Instead,there was the economic disparity among the villages in the study area.Encouraging diversity of agricultural intensity seems to be more critical than promoting agricultural intensity itself.Overall,this study highlights the distinctive characteristics and dynamic of peri-urban areas.New approaches,variables,and information regarding the combination of agricultural intensity and sustainability need to be developed as valuable tools for regional planning.

Sustainable Agriculture Evaluation for Red Soil Hill Region of Southeast China

Agricultural sustainability for economic development is important and a complex issue throughout the world; however,it is difficult to synthetically evaluate its use in the policy making process. The objective of this study was to evaluate sustainable agriculture in the red soil hill region of Southeast China through a newly proposed method combining four separate sub-systems: regional population (P), resource (R), environmental (E), and socio-economic (S). This new index system was proposed to appraise synthetically the agricultural sustainability of the red soil hill region from 1988 to 1996 with a two-step method assessing: a) the agricultural sustainability in each province independently and b) the relative sustainability of each province to the whole region. The first step only provided a development trend for each province based on its original situation, while the second step provided additional information on the comparative status of each province in agricultural development to the region as a whole. Higher index scores were found for the economy and resource categories denoting improvement. However, lower scores in the environment category indicated the improvement was achieved at the cost of deteriorating ecological surroundings due to an increasing population that demanded more from the agro-ecosystem and put heavier pressures on it. Results also showed that water and soil losses in this region were the major obstacles encountered in sustainable agriculture development. The assessment results were verified when compared with results from another method. This suggested that the new assessment system was reliable and credible in evaluating agricultural sustainability on a regional scale.

The Role of Cover Crops towards Sustainable Soil Health and Agriculture—A Review Paper

Cover crops are the plants which are grown to improve soil fertility, prevent soil erosion, enrichment and protection of soil, and enhance nutrient and water availability, and quality of soil. Cover crops provide several benefits to soils used for agriculture production. Cover crops are helpful in increasing and sustaining microbial biodiversity in soils. We summarized the effect of several cover crops in soil properties such as soil moisture content, soil microbial activities, soil carbon sequestration, nitrate leaching, soil water, and soil health. Selection of cover crops usually depends on the primary benefits which are provided by cover crops. Other factors may also include weather conditions, time of sowing, either legume or non-legume and timing and method of killing of a cover crop. In recent times, cover crops are also used for mitigating climate change, suppressing weeds in crops and increasing exchangeable nutrients such as Mg2+ and K+. Cover crops are also found to be economical in long-term experiment studies. Although some limitations always come with several benefits. Cover crops have some problems including the method of killing, host for pathogens, regeneration, and not immediate benefits of using them. Despite the few limitations, cover crops improve the overall health of the soil and provide a sustainable environment for the main crops.

SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE DEVELOPMENT IN SALINE-ALKALI SOIL AREA OF SONGNEN PLAIN,NORTHEAST CHINA

There is great potential for agriculture in saline-alkali soil area in Songnen Plain, Northeast China. But the sustainable crop production in this area has been restricted by a few of main factors, such as less precipitation, h igher evaporation and frequent drought, high salinity and alkalinity, high excha ngeable sodium content and poor infiltration of the soil, and insufficiency and low availability in nutrition. It is also considered that there are a few of fav orable conditions for agricultural development in this region, such as sufficien t light and heat resources, rich ground water resources, plenty of manure produc ed by livestock, and so on. At the same time, scientific management and measurem ents have been employed; rational irrigation and drainage system has been establ ished; reclamation, amendment and fertilization of soil, and suitable strategies of cropping practices have been made for the sustainable development of agricul ture. Great progress has been made during 1996-2000.

The Discussion on the Interaction and Integration of Modern Agriculture and Rural Tourism Sustainable Development

The thesis summarizes the connotation of rural tourism and divides it into six types,including rural sight-seeing,rural body-building activity,rural folk culture,rural experience of farm work,rural business affairs,and study and development.It outlines the theory of sustainable development of rural tourism and points out that what sustainable development of tourism concerns is the coordination of ecology,economy,and society centering on human and nature.On the basis of introducing the connotation of modern agriculture,it divides modern agriculture into six types,including sightseeing agriculture,leisure agriculture,green agriculture,characteristic agriculture,factory agriculture,and three-dimensional agriculture.And by concluding,it obtains the combination model of modern agriculture and rural tourism.Based on the introduction of the above related theories,the thesis discusses the interaction and integration model of the sustainable development of modern agriculture and rural tourism.It emphatically analyzes the integration model of modern agriculture and rural tourism,including pastoral agriculture tourism model(sightseeing village,leisure farm,citizen farm),and science education tourism model(agricultural science and technology education base,tourism and leisure education agricultural park,children's,agricultural education base,agricultural exposition).Based on the interaction and integration relationship between modern agriculture and rural tourism,the thesis puts forward corresponding countermeasures so as to promote their positive development and realize the maximum of ecological,social and economic benefits.

Sewage Sludge: An Important Biological Resource for Sustainable Agriculture and Its Environmental Implications

Intensive farming generally needs large addition of organic matter to maintain fertility and enhance crop yields. Sewage sludge/biosolids are by-products of municipal and industrial wastewater treatment and a rich source of organic nutrients. Sewage sludge having high content of organic matter, macro- and micro-nutrients, can be used as fertilizer/soil conditioner for food, vegetable crop, horticultural plants and pasture, which in most cases can be beneficially recycled. In the past sewage sludge was regarded as a waste product due to expected high level of contaminants such as pathogens, pollutants and synthetic materials discharged in sewer from homes and industries, which were often incinerated, dumped in occasion or land fill. As a result of rapidly increasing population, urbanization and industrialization, wastewater production and sewage sludge generation have increased manifold. Due to high cost of mineral fertilizers and escalating trends in their prices, there is an increasing trend of using sewage sludge in agriculture, especially under intensive cropping in arid and semi arid regions of the country. Therefore, application of sewage sludge to agricultural soils may be sustainable and economical due to nutrient cycling and disposal of sewage sludge. However, there may be a risk in use of sewage sludge due to potentially harmful contents present in the sludge such as heavy metals and pathogens. This paper, therefore, presents a review on various aspects of sewage sludge used in agriculture.

COMPLEX ECOLOGIC－ECONOMIC SYSTEM OF AFFORESTATION－AN EXAMPLE OF SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE

The paper deals with a transformation model of a backward distric into a prosperous one. The district is geographically located in Lixiahe region, Jiangsu Province. The region had long ben known as one of the poorest area in China, and had been alternatively attacked by flood, waterlogging, drought, salinzation, and plague of insect. Since the seventies of this centruy efforts to open up trenches on lowland and to level up the shoaly land have been made. A kind of tree, which is tolerable to high watertable, was used to afforest the land. Cereal crop, vegetable and beaus are grown. In some cases, the shoaly land is used for sheep grazing and fishery. A favorable combination of forestry, agriculture, animal husbandry and fishery has been set up in the region. There are five type of managements in the system: 1) forestry-agriculture comPlex management. 2) forestry-fishery complex management, 3) forestry-aquatic plan-fishery complex management, 4) forestry-animal husbandry complex management, and 5) forestry-edible mushroom complex management. The principles and ecological benefits of this system can be identitied: 1) Increase soil fertility by piling mud from marsh land on top soil, and thicken the arable layer. 2) Enhance the utilization rate of sunlight and energy, due to the change of microclimate in field. 3) As a result of multiple layer cultivation and multi-cropping, the production has been greatly increased. 4) Accelerate the cycling of matter and conversion of energy and nutrient of the system. 5) Decrease the consUmption of soil fertility and increase the capability of controlling insect pests. 6) Improve ecological environment by afforestationl. 7) Raise income and provide jobs for local peasants, even some ones from other part of this province.

Agriculture in Hilly and Mountainous Landscapes: Threats, Monitoring and Sustainable Management

Agricultural landscapes cultivated in hilly and mountainous areas,often with terracing practice,could represent for some regions historical heritages and cultural ecosystem services.For this reason,they deserve to be protected.The complex morphology that characterises them,however,makes these areas intrinsically susceptible to hydrogeological instability,such as soil loss due to surface erosion or more severe mass movements.We can identify three major critical factors for such landscapes.The first is related to the socio-economic evolution of contemporary civilization,that increased the land abandonment of several rural regions,leading therefore to a lack of maintenance.A second element is the unsustainable agricultural practices,such as excessive heavymechanization that cause soil compaction thus accelerating degradation.Finally,the climate change forcing,with the increasing of the extreme rainfall.In this complex framework,it is necessary to find innovative solutions for the mitigation of hydrogeological risk and to respond in a well-prepared way to the possible future critical scenarios.Therefore,the use of sustainable agricultural practices,which allow the production of quality agricultural products in perfect harmony with the surrounding environment,becomes crucial.Suitable solutions must respond to the criterion of multidisciplinary,where the various stakeholders collaborate by offering their specific knowledge in a shared intention of problem-solving.The discipline of geography may become a valuable asset in this framework.In particular,thanks to the recent technological advances in the topographic survey(e.g.innovative remote sensing techniques such as drones and airborne laser scanning),it is possible to exploit digital terrain analysis to synthesize key information for decision-makers,in order to plan sustainable interventions.Moreover,thanks to the high-resolution and accuracy offered by digital topography and the advanced morphometric algorithms,it is possible to tackle the problem of hydrogeological risk from a unique and privileged perspective:that of prevention.

Best soil managements from long-term field experiments for sustainable agriculture

Global food production is expected to double by 2050 for feeding 9 billion people（Godfray et al.2010）,but yields had stagnated or even collapsed in 24–39%of crop-growing areas over the period 1961–2008（Ray et al.2012）,

Agro-ecological engineering in China: a way towards sustainable agriculture

Sustainable development, as a “hot topic”, concerns not only economic development but also environmental protection. Agriculture, the base of other economic activities, has faced many difficulties that include over growth population, land decrease, and land degradation and so on. Therefore, how to increase the food supply, to meet the over\|growth population demands, is the main task all over the world at present, especially in the developing countries, such as China, but we also must protect agricultural environment for medium\| and long\|term development simultaneously. Hence, sustainable development in agriculture is the most important estate that we must concern. Its sustainable development determines the sustainability of other economic development to a great extent. Despite Chinese government has paid much attention to develop agricultural production and obtained great successions, there are also many shortcomings in Chinese agriculture. Therefore, China must seek new approaches for its development and environmental protection that suit local conditions and are based on local resources. Agro ecological engineering, the application of ecological engineering in agriculture, is very thriving in China in recent decades. In this paper, the ecological, economic and social benefits of agro\|ecological engineering are analyzed. The principles are discussed. The results indicated that agro\|ecological engineering can meet the farmer′s short\|, medium\| and long\|term benefits. In the meanwhile, it also concerns not only economic benefits but ecological and social benefits. Therefore, agro\|ecological engineering is a way that leads to sustainable agriculture in the future in China.

Closing crop yield and efficiency gaps for food security and sustainable agriculture

The world population is estimated to reach 10 billion by 2050. The rise in population coupled with improving living standards will require a doubling of the crop yield to fulfill food demand and livestock feed, which means crop yield will need to increase by 60–110% between 2005 and 2050(Tilman et al. 2011).

Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria(PGPR)and its mechanisms against plant diseases for sustainable agriculture and better productivity

Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria(PGPR)are specialized bacterial communities inhabiting the root rhizosphere and the secretion of root exudates helps to,regulate the microbial dynamics and their interactions with the plants.These bacteria viz.,Agrobacterium,Arthobacter,Azospirillum,Bacillus,Burkholderia,Flavobacterium,Pseudomonas,Rhizobium,etc.,play important role in plant growth promotion.In addition,such symbiotic associations of PGPRs in the rhizospheric region also confer protection against several diseases caused by bacterial,fungal and viral pathogens.The biocontrol mechanism utilized by PGPR includes direct and indirect mechanisms direct PGPR mechanisms include the production of antibiotic,siderophore,and hydrolytic enzymes,competition for space and nutrients,and quorum sensing whereas,indirect mechanisms include rhizomicrobiome regulation via.secretion of root exudates,phytostimulation through the release of phytohormones viz.,auxin,cytokinin,gibberellic acid,1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate and induction of systemic resistance through expression of antioxidant defense enzymes viz.,phenylalanine ammonia lyase(PAL),peroxidase(PO),polyphenyloxidases(PPO),superoxide dismutase(SOD),chitinase andβ-glucanases.For the suppression of plant diseases potent bio inoculants can be developed by modulating the rhizomicrobiome through rhizospheric engineering.In addition,understandings of different strategies to improve PGPR strains,their competence,colonization efficiency,persistence and its future implications should also be taken into consideration.

Explaining farmers'reluctance to adopt green manure cover crops planting for sustainable agriculture in Northwest China

Green manure cover crops(GMCCs)planting has a potential for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions(GHG)in agroecosystems and provides important ecosystem services,thereby achieving the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs)stipulated by the United Nations.However,the advantages of cultivating GMCCs on arable land are not widely recognized.For example,in the whole of China,the GMCCs planting area is less than 3.5%of total arable land.The aim of this study is to explore reasons for the low adoption rate of GMCCs planting.Using best–worst scaling(BWS)approach,farmers ranked their preferred conservation practices including three types of GMCC cropping systems.Taking Gansu Province in Northwest China as a case study,a survey with 276 farmers was conducted.The findings indicated that three factors are related to the low adoption rate of GMCCs:1)farmers preferred improving farmland irrigation facilities and substituting chemical fertilizers with organic rather than planting GMCCs;2)lack of awareness and understanding of government policy on GMCCs and limited access to training courses;3)financial support and subsidies from the government are insufficient.This study provides insights and strategic implications for policymakers on how to further promote GMCCs in the future.

Research on layout of China leisure agriculture based on sustainable development

Leisure agriculture is a new form of agricultural production and management in the course of agricultural structure adjustment.It is an aggregation of agricultural production and tourism,high-tech and traditional agriculture,agricultural value and regional cultural values.There is the inseparable relationship between Leisure agriculture and sustainable development.Four agricultural areas of China have rich but different agricultural and tourist resources,by which different types of leisure agriculture can be layed out.It is important to make a right orientation for leisure agriculture in various agricultural areas for sustainable development of agriculture in China.

On sustainable development of agriculture in oasis: a case study of Hexi Corridor, Gansu, China

Hexi Corridor is one of the most potential areas in the China’s Western Development in 21st century. However, the problems - the sustainable development of oasis agriculture, the ecosystem of the oasis edge, the landscape structure, the population density in oasis, water resources and land resources in oasis are deteriorating and have restricted the sustainable development of society and economy in this area. This paper summarizes the problems at present, and puts forward the concept of protecting and constructing the oasis environment and sustainable development for the sustainable development of the oasis agriculture in the Hexi Corridor.

Impacts of Climate Variability on Sustainable Agriculture in Imo State,Nigeria

Rainfall and Temperature are important factors in agriculture especially in Nigeria where rain-fed agriculture is practiced extensively and agriculture contributes to food security and provides employment for urban and rural dwellers.Therefore,climate variability represents a major danger to agriculture by modifying the rainfall and temperature pattern,thereby resulting to a big peril in the sustainability of agriculture.This is the reason all countries of the world are concerned about the effects of climate variability on agriculture.This work therefore,examined the impact of climate variability on rainfall and temperature in Imo State,South Eastern Nigeria.The rainfall and temperature data were gotten from Nigerian Meteorological Agency(NIMET)for a period of 30 years which was analyzed by using descriptive statistics,decadal distribution,trend graph anomalies and 5 year moving average.The analysis showed increasing trend pattern in yearly maximum,minimum temperature and decrease in annual rainfall,The third order polynomial trend shows a decrease in the anomaly of annual mean rainfall(y=-0.0002x4)and a persistent increase in the mean temperature anomaly especially in the second decade(1996-2007).The discoveries show that there is a notable variability in temperature and rainfall pattern which revealed an increase in temperature and decrease in annual rainfall.This calls for serious attention as people in this part of Nigeria critically depend on rainfall for agricultural practices.It is recommended that government should support the agricultural sector by providing mechanized farming systems such as irrigation and drilling of water borehole in farm sites for agriculture,especially for the rural farmers and create awareness to the farmers on recent trends in climate issues to achieve sustainable agriculture.

Sustainable tourism development of globally important agricultural heritage sites:a case study of "traditional rice-fish agriculture system"

Traditional rice-fish agricultural heritage site in Qingtian County, China, one of the pilot sites of Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems （GIAHS）, is of great value in tourism development. This paper aims to explore how to realize sustainable tourism development in agricultural heritage site through identifying current problems in GIAHS site. and making constructive recommendations for coupled development of heritage preservation and economic development. Field survey was carried out and data was collected through field questionnaire surveys of tourists and residents in Longxian Village of Qingtian County, as well as interviews of residents with semi. structured questionnaires for their perceptions and attitudes to tourism development. The following results are got： （1） the tourism industry is still at its early state of Non, tale tourism （enjoy and experience authentic country life- style）, under very limited administrative management; （2） what attracts visitors most are delicious.fish and beautiful natural environment, but not agricultural heritage itself; （3） most tourists eome from adjacent areas and stay. only half day, many of whom pay their visits twice or more; （4） a few local residents take part in the activities of tourism industry, but in very limited manners even if they do. Current patterns of tourism development are casting negative impacts on agricultural heritage. Conservatton of agricultural heritage should be put in the first place for sustainable tourism development.Agricultural heritage, as a key attraction, should be taken as the focus for tourism development. The important thing is to change the present Nongjiale tourism into real heritage tourism, to establish a cooperative mechanism among different stakeholders. and to increase local residents＇ income through engaging in tourism industry.