Artificial Intelligence for Maximizing Agricultural Input Use Efficiency: Exploring Nutrient, Water and Weed Management Strategies

Agriculture plays a crucial role in the economy,and there is an increasing global emphasis on automating agri-cultural processes.With the tremendous increase in population,the demand for food and employment has also increased significantly.Agricultural methods traditionally used to meet these requirements are no longer ade-quate,requiring solutions to issues such as excessive herbicide use and the use of chemical fertilizers.Integration of technologies such as the Internet of Things,wireless communication,machine learning,artificial intelligence(AI),and deep learning shows promise in addressing these challenges.However,there is a lack of comprehensive documentation on the application and potential of AI in improving agricultural input efficiency.To address this gap,a desk research approach was used by utilizing peer-reviewed electronic databases like PubMed,Scopus,Goo-gle Scholar,Web of Science,and Science Direct for relevant articles.Out of 327 initially identified articles,180 were deemed pertinent,focusing primarily on AI’s potential in enhancing yield through better management of nutrients,water,and weeds.Taking into account researchfindings worldwide,we found that AI technologies could assist farmers by providing recommendations on the optimal nutrients to enhance soil quality and deter-mine the best time for irrigation or herbicide application.The present status of AI-driven automation in agricul-ture holds significant promise for optimizing agricultural input utilization and reducing resource waste,particularly in the context of three pillars of crop management,i.e.,nutrient,irrigation,and weed management.

Impact of Organic Vegetable Production System in Kiambu and Kajiado Counties of Kenya

Though there are many documented reasons that make farmers to adopt organic farming system, economic benefits present a major motivation. The study was conducted to evaluate the impact of organic production system on profitability of smallholder vegetable production systems in the two counties so as to appraise its contribution to improvement of rural livelihoods. The study collected data on costs and returns for a sample of 208 smallholder vegetable farmers who were composed of 78 organic and 130 conventional farmers. Impact of organic production system was evaluated using propensity score matching technique. Organic vegetable production system was found to have a positive significant impact of increasing farm gross margin by US$0.58 representing 89.5% among smallholder producers in Kiambu and Kajiado Counties of Kenya. The study recommended promotion of organic production system as a tool that can be used to improve livelihoods especially in the rural areas.

Market Disease Pathogens Detection of Imported Fruits in Shanghai

A tremendous amount of imported fresh fruits has been delivered to Shanghai markets, increasing the risk of invasion by harmful plant pathogens. Therefore, it is important to establish an effective detection and supervision system to survey the outbreak of the market diseases of the imported fruits during marketing. The samples were regularly surveyed in different markets to examine varieties, prices, localities, selling conditions, and diseases of the imported fruits from 2004 to 2008. The survey showed that 58 species of 30 different fruits were imported to Shanghai from 16 countries with more expensive price. The larger products were bananas, grapes, apples, and oranges. During the investigation, we found that the imported fruits frequently brought about the relatively serious market diseases. On the basis of morphology and the nuclear internal transcribed spacer （ITS） of ribosomal DNA （rDNA） analysis, 151 isolates of 15 fungi genera, which shown to be pathogenic after the inoculation assay, were finally identified. Among the identified fungi, Alternaria was the most frequent one with the highest detection rate （47.68%）, followed by Penicillium （14.57%） and Fusarium （11.92%）, respectively. Additionally, Pestalotiopsis microspora （detected in grapes Red-Globe coming from the USA） and Botrytis sp. （detected in black-plums coming from the USA） were first reported in China market. The present study summarized the selling situation of the imported fruits in Shanghai markets and constructed a library of the pathogens detected in the imported fruits during the selling period. The results obtained are useful to offer technical parameters for Chinese quarantine in order to prevent an invasion of the foreign harmful micro-organisms.

Salinity Stress in Wheat:Effects,Mechanisms and Management Strategies

Salinity stress is a major threat to global food production and its intensity is continuously increasing because of anthropogenic activities.Wheat is a staple food and a source of carbohydrates and calories for the majority of people across the globe.However,wheat productivity is adversely affected by salt stress,which is associated with a reduction in germination,growth,altered reproductive behavior and enzymatic activity,disrupted photosynthesis,hormonal imbalance,oxidative stress,and yield reductions.Thus,a better understanding of wheat(plant)behavior to salinity stress has essential implications to devise counter and alleviation measures to cope with salt stress.Different approaches including the selection of suitable cultivars,conventional breeding,and molecular techniques can be used for facing salt stress tolerance.However,these techniques are tedious,costly,and labor-intensive.Management practices are still helpful to improve the wheat performance under salinity stress.Use of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi,plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria,and exogenous application of phytohormones,seed priming,and nutrient management are important tools to improve wheat performance under salinity stress.In this paper,we discussed the effect of salinity stress on the wheat crop,possible mechanisms to deal with salinity stress,and management options to improve wheat performance under salinity conditions.

Identification of functional tumor necrosis factor-alpha promoter variants associated with Helicobacter pylori infection in the Sudanese population: Computational approach

BACKGROUND Helicobacter pylori(H.pylori)is a ubiquitous bacterium that affects nearly half of the world’s population with a high morbidity and mortality rate.Polymorphisms within the tumor necrosis factor-alpha(TNF-A)promoter region are considered a possible genetic basis for this disease.AIM To functionally characterize the genetic variations in the TNF-A 5’-region(-584 to+107)of Sudanese patients infected with H.pylori using in silico tools.METHODS An observational study was carried out in major public and private hospitals in Khartoum state.A total of 122 gastric biopsies were taken from patients who had been referred for endoscopy.Genomic DNA was extracted.Genotyping of the TNF-A-1030 polymorphism was performed using PCR with confronting two-pair primer to investigate its association with the susceptibility to H.pylori infection in the Sudanese population.Furthermore,Sanger sequencing was applied to detect single nucleotide polymorphisms in the 5’-region(-584 to+107)of TNF-A in H.pylori-infected patients.Bioinformatics analyses were used to predict whether these mutations would alter transcription factor binding sites or composite regulatory elements in this region.A comparative profiling analysis was conducted in 11 species using the ECR browser and multiple-sequence local alignment and visualization search engine to investigate the possible conservation.Also,a multivariate logistic regression model was constructed to estimate odds ratios and their 95%confidence intervals for the association between TNF-A-1030,sociodemographic characteristics and H.pylori infection.Differences were statistically significant if P<0.05.Statistical analyses were performed using Stata version 11 software.RESULTS A total of seven single nucleotide polymorphisms were observed in the TNF-A 5’-region of Sudanese patients infected with H.pylori.Only one of them(T>A,-76)was located at the in silico-predicted promoter region(-146 to+10),and it was predicted to alter transcription factor binding sites and composite regulatory elements.A novel mutation(A>T,+27)was detected in the 5’untranslated region,and it could affect the post-transcriptional regulatory pathways.Genotyping of TNF-A-1030 showed a lack of significant association between-1030T and susceptibility to H.pylori and gastric cancer in the studied population(P=0.1756)and(P=0.8116),respectively.However,a significant association was detected between T/C genotype and H.pylori infection(39.34%vs 19.67%,odds ratio=2.69,95%confidence interval:1.17-6.17,P=0.020).Mammalian conservation was observed for the(-146 to+10)region in chimpanzee(99.4%),rhesus monkey(95.6%),cow(91.8%),domesticated dog(89.3%),mouse(84.3%),rat(82.4%)and opossum(78%).CONCLUSION Computational analysis was a valuable method for understanding TNF-A gene expression patterns and guiding further in vitro and in vivo experimental validation.