Scheme of Weather-Based Indemnity Indices for Insuring Against Freeze Damage to Citrus Orchards in Zhejiang,China

We design a weather-based indemnity index for the insurance against freeze damage to citrus orchards so as to provide technological support for the development of policy-based agriculture. The indices are prepared by separating a relative meteorological yield from the yield that is dependent on tree age, high-yield and low-yield years, and environmental factors, and then using a risk assessment scheme to determine the percentage yield reduction due to the meteorological hazard. We thus develop a set of indices associated with cold temperature damage with which to construct more severe weather indices in conjunction with the yield percentage decrease. We then combine the insured regional citrus yield index with the insured meteorological counterpart to obtain a weather-based indemnity index for the varying degree of freeze damage to crops. When the freeze damage index （FDI） is greater than -7.0℃ for the coastal belt of Zhejiang Province, China, or greater than -9.0℃ for other regions of Zhejiang, weather-based indemnity index （WBII） is zero, meaning there is no compensation; when the FDI is from -7.0 to -7.9℃ for the coastal belt or from -9.0 to -9.9℃ for other regions, the WBII is 1 with 50% compensation; when the FDI is from -8.0 to -8.9℃ for the coastal belt or from -10.0 to -10.9℃ for other regions, the WBII is 2 with 70% compensation; and when the FDI is less than -9.0℃ for the coastal belt or less than -11.0℃ for other regions, the WBII is 3 with 90% compensation. The weather indemnity indices of insured orchards are developed in the interest of owners, thereby eliminating adverse selection and moral hazard issues and providing timely recompense from the insurer, and resolving the problem of high indemnity cost in agricultural insurance.

Analysis of the Freezing Damage to Biennial Eucalyptus dunnii and Eucalyptus smithii in Haikou Forest Farm

In winter of 2013,cold weather occurred in Kunming,and biennial E. dunnii and E. smithii in Haikou Forest Farm suffered different degrees of freezing damage. The freezing damage to them was analyzed here. The results showed that in the families of E. dunnii,families suffering severe and especially severe freezing damage accounted for 7. 7%,while 92. 3% of families suffered moderate and below freezing damage; in the families of E. smithii,56. 7% of families suffered severe and especially severe freezing damage,while families suffering moderate and below freezing damage accounted for 43. 3%. There was significant difference between two species of eucalyptuses in tree height（ P 〈0. 05）,while there was extremely significant difference in freezing damage grade and index（ P 〈0. 01）. There was significantly negative correlation between the tree height and freezing damage grade of E. dunnii and E. smithii,with the correlation coefficients of- 0. 374 and- 0. 234. That is,the freezing damage grade would decrease with the increase of tree height.

Agricultural Water Footprint of Southern Highbush Blueberry Produced Commercially with Drip Irrigation and Sprinkler Frost Protection

A study was conducted from 2010 to 2017 to determine the water footprint for producing blueberries in the Entre Ríos province of Argentina. Three cultivars of southern highbush blueberry (hybrid cross of Vaccinium sp.) were evaluated in the study, including “Star”, “Emerald”, and “Snowchaser”. In each case, the plants were irrigated by drip and protected from frost using overhead sprinklers. Water requirements for irrigation and frost protection varied among the cultivars due to differences in the timing of flowering and fruit development. The annual water footprint for fruit production in each cultivar is expressed in units of cubic meters of water used to produce one ton of fresh fruit and ranged from 212 - 578 m3∙t−1 for “Star”, 296 - 985 m3∙t−1 for “Emerald”, and 536 - 4066 m3∙t−1 for “Snowchaser”. “Snowchaser” flowered earlier than the other cultivars and, therefore, needed more water for frost protection. “Star”, on the other hand, ripened the latest among the cultivars and required little to no water for frost protection. Frost protection required a minimum of 30 m3∙h−1 of water per hectare and in addition to drip irrigation was a major component of the water footprint.

Salt freezing resistance improvement of cement-based materials incorporated with calcined layered double hydroxide

Salt freezing damage has severe impacts on durability of cement-based materials(CBMs).Calcined layered double hydroxide(CLDH),as an efficient environmental-friendly adsorption material,can impart excellent salt freezing resistance to CBMs.In this work,salt freezing resistance improvement of CBMs incorporated with CLDH was experimentally evaluated by chloride binding capacity,mass loss rate,relative dynamic elastic modulus,setting time,compressive strength,and micro structure tests.Beside these,the salt freezing damage model was established to effectively express the quantitative relationship between influencing factors and evaluation indexes of the salt freezing resistance of CBMs.Results show that CLDH can reconstruct its original layered structure to form reconstructed layered double hydroxide(RLDH).RLDH combines with chloride ions to form RLDH-Cl recrystallization,which can improve chloride binding capacity and pore structures of CBMs to relieve the salt freezing damage.The salt freezing damage model indicates that the suitable CLDH content can evidently alleviate the salt freezing damage,which facilitates the quantitative analysis of the effect of CLDH on the salt freezing resistance of CBMs.