Developing Ecological Agricultural Engineering to Promote Rural Revitalization in China

Ecological agricultural engineering is a necessary innovation and expansion of China’s agricultural engineering science and technology that aims to meet the overall, the whole chain and the coordinated development needs of the whole system for rural revitalization. Focusing on ecological agricultural engineering, this paper introduces its development and early practice and technology, and also discusses its development direction, development path, and important role in boosting rural revitalization. The development of ecological agricultural engineering will play an important role in China’s agricultural production practice, agricultural engineering discipline construction and agricultural and rural modernization.

Biochemistry and transcriptome analysis reveal condensed tannins alleviate liver injury induced by regulating cholesterol metabolism pathway

Free cholesterol has been considered to be a critical risk factor of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease(NAFLD).It remains unknown whether dietary intake of condensed tannins(CTs)have distinguishable effects to alleviate liver damage caused by a high cholesterol diet.Male C57BL/6 mice were fed a high cholesterol diet for 6 weeks,and given CTs treatment at a dosage of 200 mg/(kg·day)at the same time.The results indicated that compared with mice fed a normal diet,a high cholesterol diet group resulted in significant weight loss,dysregulation of lipid metabolism in blood and liver,and oxidative stress in the liver,but CTs treatment dramatically reversed these negative effects.Hematoxylin and eosin(H&E)staining and frozen section observation manifested that CTs treatment could effectively reduce the deposition of liver cholesterol and tissue necrosis caused by high cholesterol intake.CTs alleviated liver injury mainly by regulating the expression of related genes in cholesterol metabolism pathway and AMPK phosphorylation.Our results confirmed that CTs have remarkable cholesterol lowering and anti-liver injury effects in vivo.

Risk Analysis of the Development of Sustainable Dongtan

Dongtan is set to be developed as a sustainable urban-rural integration,aiming to attract a wide range of commercial and leisure investments.The Shanghai Industrial Investment Corporation(SIIC),the largest international investment group owned by the Shanghai municipal government,is leading the Dongtan project in partnership with Arup.The project’s risks are categorized into eight major groups:(1)Force majeure,(2)people-related risks,(3)financial and economic risks,(4)political and country risks,(5)environmental risks,(6)completion-related risks,(7)design-related risks,and(8)technology risks.Among these,political risk is particularly notable for its high probability and significant impact.Effective project risk management is essential to foresee and address uncertainties that could jeopardize the project’s objectives and timelines.Appropriate strategies must be implemented to manage and mitigate these risks.

Experience in New Socialist Countryside Planning and Construction and Recommendations: A Case Study of Haotang Village in Xinyang City of Henan Province

Taking Haotang Village in Xinyang City of Henan Province as an example,this paper analyzed experience of this village in development of new socialist countryside construction. The new socialist countryside planning and construction should attach importance to research on original spatial pattern of villages,really respect and bring into play subject function of farmers,and deeply explore rural financial services. It is expected to provide reference for future new socialist countryside planning and construction.

Exploration on Innovation in Planning and Design of Pastoral Complex

Based on the background and development of the pastoral complex,it is believed that the pastoral complex is an inevitable trend of the development of modern agriculture and it is the product of agriculture developing to a higher stage following agricultural industrial park,beautiful countryside,characteristic town,and whole area tourism. Combined with many years of planning and design practice of Wuhan Modern Urban Agriculture Planning and Design Institute,this paper summarized ideas of construction and operation of the pastoral complex,and discussed the construction of pastoral complex planning system,in the hope of providing certain reference for planning of pastoral complex in the whole country in the new period. Finally,through the overview of development history and highlight of urban agriculture in Wuhan,it came up with measures and recommendations for development of pastoral complex in Wuhan City.

Soil Fertility Self-development Under Ecological Restoration in the Zhuxi Watershed in the Red Soil Hilly Region of China

Current methods that utilize simple data or models to judge whether soil fertility can selfdevelop are not sufficiently rigorous. A new framework has been set up using catastrophe theory, laboratory experiment, field work, and 3S(Geographic information system, Global positioning system, and Remote sensing) to explore soil fertility catastrophe under ecological restoration, discriminate whether soil fertility can self-develop, and propose adjustment of ecological restoration measures in the Zhuxi watershed of Changting County, Fujian Province, China, which is a typical representative of the red soil hilly region of China. The results show that: 1) the soil fertility is obviously improved through the four ecological restoration measures, which impels soil fertility catastrophe. Among 89 soil samples, catastrophic soil samples and stable soil samples account for 26(29.21%) and 63(70.79%) of the samples, respectively. The four ecological restoration measures are listed in the order lowquality forest improvement > arbor–bush–herb mixed plantation > orchard improvement > closing measures according to the proportions of catastrophic soil samples. A typical soil sample in Bashilihe that can self-develop is selected as the criterion to judge the upper lobe and lower lobe of soil fertility in the process surface of the Cusp catastrophe model. Twenty-six(29.21%) were in the middle lobe, 10(11.24%) were in the upper lobe, and 53(70.79%) were in the lower lobe. The catastrophic direction of 26 catastrophic soil samples is to the upper lobe according to soil and water loss change as well as fieldwork. There is a significant positive correlation of Δ with soil and water loss change, and the lower soil and water loss relates to higher catastrophic probability. 2) Soil fertility self-development could be regionalized as "Soil fertility can self-develop" whose area was 12.74 km2(28.33%) distributed mainly in the leftmost and rightmost parts, "Soil fertility tends to self-develop" whose area was 11.63 km2(25.89%) distributed mainly in the middle part, and "Soil fertility cannot self-develop" whose area was 20.58 km2(45.78%) distributed mainly between the above two types. 3) There is no need to take ecological restoration measures and excessive human interference should be avoided in the future in regions of "Soil fertility can self-develop" and "Soil fertility tends to self-develop," and ecological restoration measures should be taken in region of "Soil fertility cannot self-develop." 4) We suggest withdrawal and implementation of ecological restoration measures should be incorporated into the evaluation criteria of ecological restoration to avoid misuse of funds.

Leapfrog and Inheritance of New Rural Construction in Urbanization——A Case Study of Haiyang Village of Jiangxia District of Wuhan City in China

The paper has introduced characteristics and study status of new rural construction, illustrated the connotation of leapfrog development of new rural construction, and considered that new rural construction is an important measure to solve "three rural" problems. How to conduct new rural construction in urbanization is a critical issue in social and economic development in China. Based on the favorable condition and development mode of current new rural construction, by taking new rural construction of Haiyang Village in Jiangxia District of Wuhan City for example, it has analyzed the leapfrog development in terms of traditional agriculture, villagers' life quality and rural concept, and the inheritance in terms of culture and rural appearance, so as to give enlightenments to new rural construction in the future.

Mating System of Tricholoma giganteum

Microscopical examination demonstrated that Tricholoma giganteum basidia bear 4 basidiospores. Mating tests revealed that T. giganteum has a tetra-polar, heterothallic mating system. New types of factor B (Br) occurred as a result of recombination within the B-type mating factor.

Study on Connotations and Development Strategies of Creative Agriculture

Creative agriculture is a new agricultural type with originality as a key element, integrating agricultural production activities into creative activities such as culture and art, broadening functions of agriculture and improving added value of agricultural products. Creative agriculture is characterized by external economy, technology integration, art appreciation, high efficiency and value, and it is significant for promoting inheritance of traditional culture, optimal allocation and regeneration of resources, optimal distribution of elements, expansion of agricultural functions, construction of beautiful countryside, cultural construction of rural areas, transformation of agricultural and rural economic growth mode. With agricultural resources as the foundation, sightseeing and leisure agriculture as the breakthrough point, by means of science and technology, many regions in China have explored products of creative agriculture and presented several typical cases of creative agriculture. However, these projects are mostly restricted by problems such as poor development concept, lack of supportive policies, and ineffective industrial integration. Taking Zhejiang Province as an example, we proposed path choice, supportive system and relevant policy suggestions for the development of creative agriculture.

The puzzle of the missing meat: Food away from home and China's meat statistics

From 1985, an increasing gap has emerged between the official statistical measures of meat production and meat consumption in China, which has raised concerns from many researchers using such data. In this paper we report the results of 428 observations（survey of 107 urban and rural households×4 quarters） from 7 provinces conducted in 2010, and compare them with the official statistical data from the National Bureau of Statistics of China（NBSC）. We conclude that the main reason for the discrepancy is due to the underreporting of consumption, which is due mainly to the omission of consumption away from home.

Climate Change and Food Price: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies, 1990-2021

Climate extreme events have threatened food security and the second Sustainable development goals (SDGs) “zero hunger” both directly via agricultural food loss and indirectly through rising food prices. We systematically searched and used a combination of results from various models, which play a crucial role in predicting the potential impact of climate change on agricultural production and food price. Therefore, we searched online databases including EMBASE, Web of Science, Scopus, Google Scholar, and grey literature. Then observational studies were included from January 1990 to August 2021, which reported food price proportion under climate disturbances. Results showed that 22 out of 26 studies from 615 articles, identified in the meta-analysis predicted the food price ratio would be fluctuated up to 28% before 2020, while the ratio will be marked up at 31% from 2020 to 2049 and then will scale down during 2050-2100. The compiled ratio was estimated at 26% in the long period between 2000 until 2100 under climatic weather events. Drought was a significant weather disturbance with a 32% increase in food prices. Consequently, the Food price increase will significantly affect food accessibility in lower-income countries, primarily until 2050. Policymakers should prioritize and act through redesigning food security policies according to climatic extremes in their settings.

Analysis of journal content characteristics and metrics reported in the Clarivate Analytics Journal Citation Reports and Web of Science Core Collection Agricultural Engineering categories

The Clarivate Analytics Journal Citation Reports(JCR)and Web of Science(WoS)platforms are arguably the most influential journal citation/metric databases worldwide.Journals must first be indexed in the WoS Core Collection(CC)before being indexed in the JCR.The JCR and WoS platform are separate Clarivate Analytics products,but the JCR is included in the WoS platform for organizations that purchase both databases.The analysis for this study focused on citation data reported in the 2017 JCR(based on 2016 citation data)and other data reported in the WoS CC up to 2016.A total of 14 journals are indexed in the 2017 JCR agricultural engineering category;however,only 13 journals are analyzed in this because one journal was listed by mistake.Six of the 13 journals are published by large for-profit publishers(i.e.,Elsevier B.V.or Springer Verlag)and the other seven are published by respective professional societies.The journals were analyzed as a function of type(specialty versus comprehensive),type of publisher and publication frequency,metrics such as the Journal Impact Factor(JIF),volumes of articles published by year and journal,and the source institutions and countries of published articles.Bioenergy-and industrial crop-focused journals included in the 2017 JCR agricultural engineering category manifest the strongest overall metrics,as evidenced by relatively high JIF scores:Bioresource Technology(4.917),Biomass and Bioenergy(3.219)and Industrial Crops and Products(3.181).In contrast,the highest JIF reported in the 2017 JCR for a comprehensive agricultural engineering journal was 2.044 for Biosystems Engineering.During 2006 to 2016,the number of articles indexed in the Core Collection for the JCR agricultural engineering category rose from 1,124 to 4,078,an increase of 263%.Over 70% of the total articles published in 2016 were published in the three bioenergy-or industrial-crop focused journals.The top three countries that published the highest levels of WoS Core Collection agricultural engineering articles in 2016 were China(1132),United States(669)and Brazil(474).The similar top publishing institutions were the United States Department of Agriculture(USDA;136),Chinese Academy of Sciences(CAS;136)and Indian Council for Scientific and Industrial Research(CSIR;79).The results of the study also show that publishing by Chinese scientists in the 13 journals indexed in the JCR Agricultural Engineering(AE)category is rapidly increasing,with seven research institutions ranked in the global top 20 in 2016,based on studies published in journals indexed in the JCR agricultural engineering category.The analysis also reveals that the specialty journals(e.g.,the three bioenergy-focused journals)are not directly comparable with the comprehensive agricultural engineering journals and should potentially be excluded from future versions of the JCR and WoS CC AE categories.

Design and implementation of international agricultural and biological engineering expert management system based on WEB mode

Agriculture and biological engineering are the foundation of agricultural modernization,and related countries have also issued relevant policies to guide the development of agriculture and biotechnology.Agricultural and biological engineering experts are the intellectual resources in the field.At present,there is less research on the management and maintenance of agricultural and biological engineering experts,and there is a lack of software systems in this area.In order to realize the management and maintenance of agricultural and biological engineering expert information,a service platform for the international agricultural and biological engineering expert system based on the B/S framework has been developed.The background of the system used C#as the development language,and the foreground used JavaScript technology and Bootstrap.The software adopted ASP.NET MVC as the web development framework and used the Entity Framework to operate the SQL Server background database.The system has the function of searching and querying agricultural and biological engineering expert information according to keywords,and implements the functions of adding,deleting,and modifying data records,and the function of generating spreadsheets and importing spreadsheet data.The development of this system provides effective management tools for the maintenance and construction of agricultural and biological engineering expert databases and lays a good foundation for the construction of agricultural and biological engineering think tanks.

Catalytic conversion of biomass-derived compounds to various amino acids: status and perspectives

Amino acids are important nitrogen-containing chemicals that have a variety of applications.Currently,fermentation is the widely employed method to produce amino acids;however,the products are mostly limited to natural amino acids in the L-configuration.Catalytic synthesis is an alternative approach for the synthesis of amino acids with different types and configurations,where the use of renewable biomass-based feedstocks is highly attractive.To date,several lignocellulose and triacylglycerol-derived intermediates,typicallyα-keto acids andα-hydroxyl acids,have been transformed into amino acids via the amination reaction in the presence of additional nitrogen sources(i.e.,NH3·H2O).Making full use of inherent nitrogen in biomass(i.e.,chitin and protein)to produce amino acids avoids the use of extra nitrogen sources and meets the requirements of green chemistry,which is attracting increasing attention.In this review,we summarize different chemical-catalytic systems for the transformation of biomass to amino acids.An outlook on the challenges and opportunities for more effective production of amino acids from biomass by catalytic methods is provided.

Optimization of Chinese solar greenhouse building parameters based on CFD simulation and entropy weight method

The building parameters of Chinese solar greenhouse(CSG)directly affect the front roof lighting and indoor thermal environment.In order to obtain the optimal parameter combination,a building parameter optimization method based on computational fluid dynamics(CFD)simulation and entropy weight method was proposed.Firstly,a three-dimensional thermal and humidity environment model of CSG was constructed considering the coupling effect of soil,crop,and back wall based on CFD.The reliability of the model was validated through experiments in a CSG of Yongqing County,Hebei Province of China.Then,the indoor air temperature rise rate,air temperature and humidity uneven coefficient,and average air temperature and humidity were selected as the evaluation indicators of CSG thermal and humidity environment.The ridge height,back wall height and the horizontal projection of back roof of CSG were selected as the three factors of the orthogonal test plan,and a three-factor and four-level plan was designed,resulting in 16 different parameter combinations.By use of CFD simulation,the thermal and humidity environment evaluation indicators under different parameter combinations were calculated.The entropy weight method was used to assign weights to the evaluation indicators,and the comprehensive evaluation indicators of CSG thermal and humidity environment were obtained based on the linear weighting principle.By comparing comprehensive evaluation indicators,the optimal combination of building parameters was obtained with a ridge height of 5.72 m,a back wall height of 3.2 m,and a horizontal projection of 2.1 m on the back roof.The research results can provide a practical and feasible method for optimizing the building parameters of CSG,and provided theoretical guidance for the structural design and optimization of CSG.

Review of smart robots for fruit and vegetable picking in agriculture

The fruit and vegetable picking has posed a great challenge on the production and markets during the harvest season.Manual picking cannot fully meet the rapid requirements of each market,mainly due to the high labor-intensive and time-consuming tasks,even the aging and shortage of agricultural labor force in recent years.Alternatively,smart robotics can be an efficient solution to increase the planting areas for the markets in combination with changes in cultivation,preservation,and processing technology.However,some improvements still need to be performed on these picking robots.To document the progress in and current status of this field,this study performed a bibliometric analysis.This analysis evaluated the current performance characteristics of various fruit and vegetable picking robots for better prospects in the future.Five perspectives were proposed covering the robotic arms,end effectors,vision systems,picking environments,and picking performance for the large-scale mechanized production of fruits and vegetables in modern agriculture.The current problems of fruit and vegetable picking robots were summarized.Finally,the outlook of the fruit and vegetable picking robots prospected from four aspects:structured environment for fruit planting,the algorithm of recognition and positioning,picking efficiency,and cost-saving picking robots.This study comprehensively assesses the current research status,thus helping researchers steer their projects or locate potential collaborators.

Effects of different biochars on antibiotic resistance genes during swine manure thermophilic composting

Elimination of antibiotic resistance genes(ARGs)in animal manure from concentrated animal feeding operations by thermophilic composting has drawn increasing attention.This study investigated the effects of sawdust biochar,corn stover biochar and peanut hull biochar with three spiked levels on ARGs in swine manure during thermophilic composting.Thirteen ARGs corresponding to four classes of antibiotics(tetracyclines,sulfonamides,macrolides and quinolones)were determined in the composting piles.Results indicated that the ten tested composting groups became fully mature after 30-day thermophilic composting process.tetM,tetO and ermB were reduced in all tested groups;tetC and tetG,tetX,sul1,sul2,ermF,qnrD and aac(6’)-Ib were mostly reduced under low level biochar addition but increased under higher level biochar addition;gyrA increased under medium biochar addition and reduced in other groups;oqxB remained comparatively stable throughout the composting process.The addition levels of spiked biochar are more important than types of spiked biochar on the removal of ARGs in the composting pile.The average removal rates of ARGs in the control group,low,medium and high level biochar addition groups were 0.24 logs,0.52-0.72 logs,-0.52-0.18 logs and-0.19-0.21 logs,respectively.In summary,low level biochar addition could enhance the elimination of studied ARGs in swine manure during the composting process,while medium level biochar addition to the composting piles would increase the risk of ARGs’propagation.

Investigation of a root zone heating system for greenhouse seedling and its effects on micro-environment

Under the extremely cold climatic condition,crops have to survive severe heat stress conditions,even if they are being kept in greenhouses.In the winter and spring of North China,the air and soil temperature is low inside the greenhouse,and when using a traditional heating system,the energy consumption is high.This paper reports on a study of different design solutions for a root zone heating system based on a kind of low temperature radiation material.Root zone heating systems offer increasing crop quality and productivity.A novel type of heat preservation and root zone heating system was applied in greenhouse seedling.And through multiple experiments,the effect of the root zone heating system on the ambient environment and seedbed surface was studied,and the heat preservation effect and heating uniformity were discussed.Results show that single-layer film covering on the root zone heating system can make the average temperature at night increase 1°C.And the average seedbed surface and substrate temperature can increase 11.3°C and 5.2°C,respectively.In conclusion,the root zone heating system can effectively improve the environmental temperature of seedling and the uniformity of heating is high,which provides a strong guarantee for high-quality seedling cultivation.

Investigation and analysis of the linkage mechanism and whole process cost of livestock manure organic fertilizer

In recent years,the utilization of manure resources for livestock and poultry farming has attracted a widespread attention,and manure resources utilization models suitable for different regional characteristics have formed gradually.Among them,the production of organic fertilizer from animal manure is a vital utilization method.However,there are still some problems such as high production costs,difficult sales,and the unwillingness of farmers to use organic fertilizers which have affected the breeding cycle and the sustainability of manure treatment in livestock and poultry breeding.This article selected 371 organic fertilizer plants,related farms and farmers in China,focusing on the main links of the entire process of livestock manure-organic fertilizer-farm application,and studied the mode of animal manure collection by organic fertilizer plants.The costs of organic fertilizer production and farmland application were discussed.Moreover,suggestions were made for the promotion and implementation of large-scale organic fertilizers to make good utilization of manure resources in livestock and poultry farming.

Soil physical properties,nutrients,and crop yield with two-year tillage rotations under a winter wheat-summer maize double cropping system

Winter wheat and summer maize were planted from 2015-2017 to study the effects of different rotational tillage patterns on soil physicochemical properties,crop yield,water content,and fertilizer utilization.The tillage treatments were designed as wheat subsoiling-maize no tillage(WS-MN),wheat rotary tillage-maize subsoiling(WR-MS),wheat subsoiling-maize subsoiling(WS-MS),and conventional wheat rotary tillage-maize no tillage(WR-MN)as a control.Among the four treatments,WS-MN and WR-MS were single-season subsoiling treatments,and WS-MS was a two-season subsoiling treatment.The average soil bulk density decreased by 7.6%in the single-and double-season subsoiling groups compared to the WR-MN group,and the total porosity and noncapillary porosity increased by 10.7%and 12.2%,respectively.Single-or double-season subsoiling treatment was not conducive to water storage in the 0-20 cm soil layer but increased the water content of the 20-140 cm soil layer,and the average soil water content of the 0-140 cm layer was increased by 11.6%in the two-growing season treatment groups compared with the WR-MN group.In WS-MS and WS-MN groups compared with the WR-MN group,the soil ammonium nitrogen content was increased by an average of 18.6%in 0-20 cm soil and 16.8%in 20-100 cm soil;soil nitrate-nitrogen content was decreased by 13.5%in 0-100 cm soil;total organic carbon and microbial carbon contents in the 15-30 cm soil were increased by 18.1%and 12.7%,respectively;and soil urease,catalase,and alkaline phosphatase activities were increased by 46.1%,15.2%,and 23.1%,respectively.Annual crop yield and water use efficiency increased by 8.9%and 15.0%,respectively,in both the single-and double-season subsoiling treatment groups.This study demonstrated the advantages of subsoiling tillage and suggested that it is suitable for crop cultivation in the Haihe Plain,China.