Improving knowledge and practices in fresh produce chains

A successful supply chain must delivery the right product, value and satisfaction to the end customer, and profitability for its participants. Critical to getting the product right is the practices used to produce and maintain product quality through the supply chain from production to sale to the end customer. This paper describes the approach used by a R&D team to add value to supply chains through improving knowledge and practices. The desired outcome is better produce quality for consumers and more control and less wastage for chain participants. The team worked with specific supply chains to identify areas for improvement and to develop, test and implement improved practices. The knowledge gained was communicated to the industry to gain wider adoption of results. Three conditions were identified as critical for practice change - motivation, knowledge, and capacity for change. For improvement in practices to occur, a business must be motivated and have the knowledge and capacity to improve. Two case studies of working with Australian supply chains (mango and melons) are presented to illustrate our participatory methodology. A key activity is monitoring produce quality and handling practices and conditions to demonstrate to participants the points where quality deterioration occurs in the supply chain. This participatory approach is successful because working with supply chain participants generates knowledge and solutions to real problems. It enables the participants to observe the effect of handling practices and conditions on produce quality, gain knowledge and assess the benefits of improvements. Where existing knowledge is not present, research is conducted to fill the knowledge gaps. IV International Conference on Managing Quality in Chains - The Integrated View on Fruits and Vegetables Quality

Phosphorus nutrition and tolerance of cotton to water stress: II. Water relations, free and bound water and leaf expansion rate

In previous experiments, increased leaf-Phosphorus (P) content with increasing P supply enhanced the individual leaf expansion and water content of fresh cotton leaves in a severely drying soil. In this paper, we report on the bulk water content of leaves and its components, free and bound water, along with other measures of plant water status, in expanding cotton leaves of various ages in a drying soil with different P concentrations. The bound water in living tissue is more likely to play a major role in tolerance to abiotic stresses by maintaining the structural integrity and/or cell wall extensibility of the leaves, whilst an increased amount of free water might be able to enhance solute accumulation, leading to better osmotic adjustment and tolerance to water stress, and maintenance of the volumes of sub-cellular compartments for expansive leaf growth. There were strong correlations between leaf-P%, leaf water (total, free and bound water) and leaf expansion rate (LER) under water stress conditions in a severely drying soil. Increased soil-P enhanced the uptake of P from a drying soil, leading to increased supply of osmotically active inorganic solutes to the cells in growing leaves. This appears to have led to the accumulation of free water and more bound water, ultimately leading to increased leaf expansion rates as compared to plants in low P soil under similar water stress conditions. The greater amount of bound and free water in the high-P plants was not necessarily associated with changes in cell turgor, and appears to have maintained the cell-wall properties and extensibility under water stressed conditions in soils that are nutritionally P-deficient.

Phosphorus nutrition and tolerance of cotton to water stress I. Seed cotton yield and leaf morphology

Seed cotton yield and morphological changes in leaf growth were examined under drying soil with different phosphorus (P) concentrations in a tropical climate. Frequent soil drying is likely to induce a decrease in nutrients particularly P due to reduced diffusion and poor uptake, in addition to restrictions in available water, with strong interactive effects on plant growth and functioning. Increased soil P in field and in-ground soil core studies increased the seed cotton yield and related morphological growth parameters in a drying soil, with hot (daily maximum temperature >33°C) and dry conditions (relative humidity, 25% to 35%), particularly during peak boll formation and filling stage. The soil water content in the effective rooting zone (top 0.4 m) decreased to -1.5 MPa by day 5 of the soil drying cycle. However, the increased seed cotton yield for the high-P plants was closely related to increasing leaf area with increased P supply. Plant height, leaf fresh mass and leaf area per plant were positively related to the leaf P%, which increased with increasing P supply. Low P plants were lower in plant height, leaf area, and leaf tissue water in the drying soil. Individual leaf area and the water content of the fresh leaf (ratio of dry mass to fresh mass) were significantly dependent on leaf P%.

Modeling chickpea growth and development: Nitrogen accumulation and use

Quantitative information regarding nitrogen (N) accumulation and its distribution to leaves, stems and grains under varying environmental and growth conditions are limited for chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.). The information is required for the development of crop growth models and also for assessment of the contribution of chickpea to N balances in cropping systems. Accordingly, these processes were quantified in chickpea under different environmental and growth conditions (still without water or N deficit) using four field experiments and 1325 N measurements. N concentration ([N]) in green leaves was 50 mg g-1 up to beginning of seed growth, and then it declined linearly to 30 mg g-1 at the end of seed growth phase. [N] in senesced leaves was 12 mg g-1. Stem [N] decreased from 30 mg g-1 early in the season to 8 mg g-1 in senesced stems at maturity. Pod [N] was constant (35 mg g-1), but grain [N] decreased from 60 mg g-1 early in seed growth to 43 mg g-1 at maturity. Total N accumulation ranged between 9 and 30 g m-2. N accumulation was closely linked to biomass accumulation until maturity. N accumulation efficiency (N accumulation relative to biomass accumulation) was 0.033 g g-1 where total biomass was -2 and during early growth period, but it decreased to 0.0176 g g-1 during the later growth period when total biomass was >218 g m-2. During vegetative growth (up to first-pod), 58% of N was partitioned to leaves and 42% to stems. Depending on growth conditions, 37-72% of leaf N and 12-56% of stem N was remobilized to the grains. The parameter estimates and functions obtained in this study can be used in chickpea simulation models to simulate N accumulation and distribution.

Beyond chemical dependency for managing plant-parasitic nematodes: Examples from the banana, pineapple and vegetable industries of tropical and subtropical Australia

Plant-parasitic nematodes are important pests of horticultural crops grown in tropical and subtropical regions of Australia. Burrowing nematode (Radopholus similis) is a major impediment to banana production and root-knot nematodes (predominantly Meloidogyne javanica and M. incognita) cause problems on pineapple and a range of annual vegetables, including tomato, capsicum, zucchini, watermelon, rockmelon, potato and sweet potato. In the early 1990s, nematode control in these industries was largely achieved with chemicals, with methyl bromide widely used on some subtropical vegetable crops, ethylene dibromide applied routinely to pineapples and non-volatile nematicides such as fenamiphos applied up to four times a year in banana plantations. This paper discusses the research and extension work done over the last 15 years to introduce an integrated pest management approach to nematode control in tropical and subtropical horticulture. It then discusses various components of current integrated pest management programs, including crop rotation, nematode monitoring, clean planting material, organic amendments, farming systems to enhance biological suppression of nematodes and judicious use of nematicides. Finally, options for improving current management practices are considered.

Patterns of release of the secondary conidia of Claviceps africana, the sorghum ergot pathogen in Australia

Trials were conducted in southern Queensland, Australia between March and May 2003, 2004 and 2005 to study patterns of hourly and daily release of the secondary conidia of Claviceps africana and their relationships with weather parameters. Conidia were trapped for at least one hour on most (> 90%) days in 2003 and 2004, but only on 55% of days in 2005. Both the highest daily concentration of conidia, and the highest number of hours per day when conidia were trapped, were recorded 1-3 days after rainfall events. Although the pattern of conidial release was different every day, the highest hourly conidial concentrations occurred between 10.00 hours and 17.00 hours on 73% of all days in the three trials. Hours when conidia were trapped were characterized by higher median values of temperature, windspeed and vapour pressure deficit, lower relative humidity, and leaf wetness values of 0%, than hours when no conidia were recorded. The results indicate that fungicides need to be applied to the highly ergot-susceptible male sterile (A-) lines of sorghum in hybrid seed production blocks and breeders' nurseries as soon as possible after rainfall events to minimize ergot severity.

Phylogenetic relationships of graminicolous downy mildews based on cox2 sequence data

Graminicolous downy mildews (GDM) are an understudied, yet economically important, group of plant pathogens, which are one of the major constraints to poaceous crops in the tropics and subtropics. Here we present a first molecular phylogeny based on cox2 sequences comprising all genera of the GDM currently accepted, with both lasting (Graminivora, Poakatesthia, and Viennotia) and evanescent (Peronosclerospora, Sclerophthora, and Sclerospora) sporangiophores. In addition, all other downy mildew genera currently accepted, as well as a representative sample of other oomycete taxa, have been included. It was shown that all genera of the GDM have had a long, independent evolutionary history, and that the delineation between Peronosclerospora and Sclerospora is correct. Sclerophthora was found to be a particularly divergent taxon nested within a paraphyletic Phytophthora, but without support. The results confirm that the placement of Peronosclerospora and Sclerospora in the Saprolegniomycetidae is incorrect. Sclerophthora is not closely related to Pachymetra of the family Verrucalvaceae, and also does not belong to the Saprolegniomycetidae, but shows close affinities to the Peronosporaceae. In addition, all GDM are interspersed throughout the Peronosporaceae s lat., suggesting that a separate family for the Sclerosporaceae might not be justified.

Remote sensing of nitrogen and water stress in wheat

Nitrogen (N) is the largest agricultural input in many Australian cropping systems and applying the right amount of N in the right place at the right physiological stage is a significant challenge for wheat growers. Optimizing N uptake could reduce input costs and minimize potential off-site movement. Since N uptake is dependent on soil and plant water status, ideally, N should be applied only to areas within paddocks with sufficient plant available water. To quantify N and water stress, spectral and thermal crop stress detection methods were explored using hyperspectral, multispectral and thermal remote sensing data collected at a research field site in Victoria, Australia. Wheat was grown over two seasons with two levels of water inputs (rainfall/irrigation) and either four levels (in 2004; 0, 17, 39 and 163 kg/ha) or two levels (in 2005; 0 and 39 kg/ha N) of nitrogen. The Canopy Chlorophyll Content Index (CCCI) and modified Spectral Ratio planar index (mSRpi), two indices designed to measure canopy-level N, were calculated from canopy-level hyperspectral data in 2005. They accounted for 76% and 74% of the variability of crop N status, respectively, just prior to stem elongation (Zadoks 24). The Normalised Difference Red Edge (NDRE) index and CCCI, calculated from airborne multispectral imagery, accounted for 41% and 37% of variability in crop N status, respectively. Greater scatter in the airborne data was attributable to the difference in scale of the ground and aerial measurements (i.e., small area plant samples against whole-plot means from imagery). Nevertheless, the analysis demonstrated that canopy-level theory can be transferred to airborne data, which could ultimately be of more use to growers. Thermal imagery showed that mean plot temperatures of rainfed treatments were 2.7 °C warmer than irrigated treatments (P < 0.001) at full cover. For partially vegetated fields, the two-Dimensional Crop Water Stress Index (2D CWSI) was calculated using the Vegetation Index-Temperature (VIT) trapezoid method to reduce the contribution of soil background to image temperature. Results showed rainfed plots were consistently more stressed than irrigated plots. Future work is needed to improve the ability of the CCCI and VIT methods to detect N and water stress and apply both indices simultaneously at the paddock scale to test whether N can be targeted based on water status. Use of these technologies has significant potential for maximising the spatial and temporal efficiency of N applications for wheat growers. ‘Ground–breaking Stuff’- Proceedings of the 13th Australian Society of Agronomy Conference, 10-14 September 2006, Perth, Western Australia.

Influence of food supplementation on the fitness of two biological control agents: a predatory nabid bug and a bollworm pupal parasitoid

Many arthropod predators and parasitoids exhibit either stage-specific or lifetime omnivory, in that they include extra-floral nectar, floral nectar, honeydew or pollen in their immature and/or adult diet. Access to these plant-derived foods can enhance pest suppression by increasing both the individual fitness and local density of natural enemies. Commercial products such as Amino-Feed®, Envirofeast®, and Pred-Feed® can be applied to crops to act as artificial-plant-derived foods. In laboratory and glasshouse experiments we examined the influence of carbohydrate and protein rich Amino-Feed UV® or Amino-Feed, respectively, on the fitness of a predatory nabid bug Nabis kinbergii Reuter (Hemiptera: Nabidae) and bollworm pupal parasitoid Ichneumon promissorius (Erichson) (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae). Under the chosen conditions, the provision of either wet or dry residues of Amino-Feed UV had no discernable effect on immediate or longer-term survival and immature development times of N. kinbergii. In contrast, the provision of honey, Amino-Feed plus extrafloral nectar, and extrafloral nectar alone had a marked effect on the longevity of I. promissorius, indicating that they were limited by at least carbohydrates as an energy source, but probably not protein. Compared with a water only diet, the provision of Amino-Feed plus extrafloral nectar increased the longevity of males and females of I. promissorius by 3.0- and 2.4-fold, respectively. Not only did female parasitoids live longer when provided food, but the total number of eggs laid and timing of deposition was affected by diet under the chosen conditions. Notably, females in the water and honey treatments deposited greater numbers of eggs earlier in the trial, but this trend was unable to be sustained over their lifetime. Egg numbers in these treatments subsequently fell below the levels achieved by females in the Amino-Feed plus extrafloral nectar and cotton extrafloral nectar only treatments. Furthermore, there were times when the inclusion of the Amino-Feed was beneficial compared with cotton extrafloral nectar only. Artificial food supplements and plant-derived foods are worthy of further investigation because they have potential to improve the ecosystem service of biological pest control in targeted agroecosystems by providing natural enemies with an alternative source of nutrition, particularly during periods of prey/host scarcity.

A near Optimal Cane Rail Scheduler under Limited and Unlimited Capacity Constraints

Australia is the world’s third largest exporter of raw sugar after Brazil and Thailand, with around $2.0 billion in export earnings. Transport systems play a vital role in the raw sugar production process by transporting the sugarcane crop between farms and mills. In 2013, 87 per cent of sugarcane was transported to mills by cane railway. The total cost of sugarcane transport operations is very high. Over 35% of the total cost of sugarcane production in Australia is incurred in cane transport. A cane railway network mainly involves single track sections and multiple track sections used as passing loops or sidings. The cane railway system performs two main tasks: delivering empty bins from the mill to the sidings for filling by harvesters; and collecting the full bins of cane from the sidings and transporting them to the mill. A typical locomotive run involves an empty train (locomotive and empty bins) departing from the mill, traversing some track sections and delivering bins at specified sidings. The locomotive then, returns to the mill, traversing the same track sections in reverse order, collecting full bins along the way. In practice, a single track section can be occupied by only one train at a time, while more than one train can use a passing loop (parallel sections) at a time. The sugarcane transport system is a complex system that includes a large number of variables and elements. These elements work together to achieve the main system objectives of satisfying both mill and harvester requirements and improving the efficiency of the system in terms of low overall costs. These costs include delay, congestion, operating and maintenance costs. An effective cane rail scheduler will assist the traffic officers at the mill to keep a continuous supply of empty bins to harvesters and full bins to the mill with a minimum cost. This paper addresses the cane rail scheduling problem under rail siding capacity constraints where limited and unlimited siding capacities were investigated with different numbers of trains and different train speeds. The total operating time as a function of the number of trains, train shifts and a limited number of cane bins have been calculated for the different siding capacity constraints. A mathematical programming approach has been used to develop a new scheduler for the cane rail transport system under limited and unlimited constraints. The new scheduler aims to reduce the total costs associated with the cane rail transport system that are a function of the number of bins and total operating costs. The proposed metaheuristic techniques have been used to find near optimal solutions of the cane rail scheduling problem and provide different possible solutions to avoid being stuck in local optima. A numerical investigation and sensitivity analysis study is presented to demonstrate that high quality solutions for large scale cane rail scheduling problems are obtainable in a reasonable time. Keywords: Cane railway, mathematical programming, capacity, metaheuristics

Temporal variation in arthropod sampling effectiveness: The case for using the beat sheet method in cotton

Predatory insects and spiders are key elements of integrated pest management (IPM) programmes in agricultural crops such as cotton. Management decisions in IPM programmes should to be based on a reliable and efficient method for counting both predators and pests. Knowledge of the temporal constraints that influence sampling is required because arthropod abundance estimates are likely to vary over a growing season and within a day. Few studies have adequately quantified this effect using the beat sheet, a potentially important sampling method. We compared the commonly used methods of suction and visual sampling to the beat sheet, with reference to an absolute cage clamp method for determining the abundance of various arthropod taxa over 5 weeks. There were significantly more entomophagous arthropods recorded using the beat sheet and cage clamp methods than by using suction or visual sampling, and these differences were more pronounced as the plants grew. In a second trial, relative estimates of entomophagous and phytophagous arthropod abundance were made using beat sheet samples collected over a day. Beat sheet estimates of the abundance of only eight of the 43 taxa examined were found to vary significantly over a day. Beat sheet sampling is recommended in further studies of arthropod abundance in cotton, but researchers and pest management advisors should bear in mind the time of season and time of day effects.

Crop and environmental attributes underpinning genotype by environment interaction in synthetic-derived bread wheat evaluated in Mexico and Australia

Synthetic backcrossed-derived bread wheats (SBWs) from CIMMYT were grown in the north-west of Mexico (CIANO) and sites across Australia during 3 seasons. A different set of lines was evaluated each season, as new materials became available from the CIMMYT crop enhancement program. Previously, we have evaluated both the performance of genotypes across environments and the genotype x environment interaction (G x E). The objective of this study was to interpret the G x E for yield in terms of crop attributes measured at individual sites and to identify the potential environmental drivers of this interaction. Groups of SBWs with consistent yield performance were identified, often comprising closely related lines. However, contrasting performance was also relatively common among sister lines or between a recurrent parent and its SBWs. Early flowering was a common feature among lines with broad adaptation and/or high yield in the northern Australian wheatbelt, while yields in the southern region did not show any association with the maturity type. Lines with high yields in the southern and northern regions had cooler canopies during flowering and early grain filling. Among the SBWs with Australian genetic backgrounds, lines best adapted to CIANO were tall (>100 cm), with a slightly higher ground cover. These lines also displayed a higher concentration of water-soluble carbohydrates in the stem at flowering, which was negatively correlated with stem number per unit area when evaluated in southern Australia (Horsham). Possible reasons for these patterns are discussed. Selection for yield at CIANO did not specifically identify the lines best adapted to northern Australia, although they were not the most poorly adapted either. In addition, groups of lines with specific adaptation to the south would not have been selected by choosing the highest yielding lines at CIANO. These findings suggest that selection at CIMMYT for Australian environments may be improved by either trait based selection or yield data combined with trait information. Flowering date, canopy temperature around flowering, tiller density, and water-soluble carbohydrate concentration in the stem at flowering seem likely candidates.

High subsoil chloride concentrations reduce soil water extraction and crop yield on Vertosols in north-eastern Australia

Salinity, sodicity, acidity, and phytotoxic levels of chloride (Cl) in subsoils are major constraints to crop production in many soils of north-eastern Australia because they reduce the ability of crop roots to extract water and nutrients from the soil. The complex interactions and correlations among soil properties result in multi-colinearity between soil properties and crop yield that makes it difficult to determine which constraint is the major limitation. We used ridge-regression analysis to overcome colinearity to evaluate the contribution of soil factors and water supply to the variation in the yields of 5 winter crops on soils with various levels and combinations of subsoil constraints in the region. Subsoil constraints measured were soil Cl, electrical conductivity of the saturation extract (ECse), and exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP). The ridge regression procedure selected several of the variables used in a descriptive model, which included in-crop rainfall, plant-available soil water at sowing in the 0.90-1.10 m soil layer, and soil Cl in the 0.90-1.10 m soil layer, and accounted for 77-85% of the variation in the grain yields of the 5 winter crops. Inclusion of ESP of the top soil (0.0-0.10 m soil layer) marginally increased the descriptive capability of the models for bread wheat, barley and durum wheat. Subsoil Cl concentration was found to be an effective substitute for subsoil water extraction. The estimates of the critical levels of subsoil Cl for a 10% reduction in the grain yield were 492 mg cl/kg for chickpea, 662 mg Cl/kg for durum wheat, 854 mg Cl/kg for bread wheat, 980 mg Cl/kg for canola, and 1012 mg Cl/kg for barley, thus suggesting that chickpea and durum wheat were more sensitive to subsoil Cl than bread wheat, barley, and canola.

Developmental and physiological traits associated with high yield and stay-green phenotype in wheat

Water availability is a key limiting factor in wheat production in the northern grain belt of Australia. Varieties with improved adaptation to such conditions are actively sought. The CIMMYT wheat line SeriM82 has shown a significant yield advantage in multi-environment screening trials in this region. The objective of this study was to identify the physiological basis of the adaptive traits underpinning this advantage. Six detailed experiments were conducted to compare the growth, development, and yield of SeriM82 with that of the adapted cultivar, Hartog. The experiments were undertaken in field environments that represented the range of moisture availability conditions commonly encountered by winter crops grown on the deep Vertosol soils of this region. The yield of SeriM82 was 6-28% greater than that of Hartog, and SeriM82 exhibited a stay-green phenotype by maintaining green leaf area longer during the grain-filling period in all environments where yield was significantly greater than Hartog. However, where the availability of deep soil moisture was limited, SeriM82 failed to exhibit significantly greater yield or to express the stay-green phenotype. Thus, the stay-green phenotype was closely associated with the yield advantage of SeriM82. SeriM82 also exhibited higher mean grain mass than Hartog in all environments. It is suggested that small differences in water use before anthesis, or greater water extraction from depth after anthesis, could underlie the stay-green phenotype. The inability of SeriM82 to exhibit stay-green and higher yield where deep soil moisture was depleted indicates that extraction of deep soil moisture is important.

Modelling climatic risks of aflatoxin contamination in maize

Aflatoxins are highly carcinogenic mycotoxins produced by two fungi, Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus, under specific moisture and temperature conditions before harvest and/or during storage of a wide range of crops including maize. Modelling of interactions between host plant and environment during the season can enable quantification of preharvest aflatoxin risk and its potential management. A model was developed to quantify climatic risks of aflatoxin contamination in maize using principles previously used for peanuts. The model outputs an aflatoxin risk index in response to seasonal temperature and soil moisture during the maize grain filling period using the APSIM's maize module. The model performed well in simulating climatic risk of aflatoxin contamination in maize as indicated by a significant R2 (P ≤ 0.01) between aflatoxin risk index and the measured aflatoxin B1 in crop samples, which was 0.69 for a range of rainfed Australian locations and 0.62 when irrigated locations were also included in the analysis. The model was further applied to determine probabilities of exceeding a given aflatoxin risk in four non-irrigated maize growing locations of Queensland using 106 years of historical climatic data. Locations with both dry and hot climates had a much higher probability of higher aflatoxin risk compared with locations having either dry or hot conditions alone. Scenario analysis suggested that under non-irrigated conditions the risk of aflatoxin contamination could be minimised by adjusting sowing time or selecting an appropriate hybrid to better match the grain filling period to coincide with lower temperature and water stress conditions.