Heavy Metals in Soil and Crops of an Intensively Farmed Area: A Case Study in Yucheng City, Shandong Province, China

lThe study was supported by the Knowledge Innovation Foundation of the institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resource, Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. 200906002) and Key Directional Project of Knowledge Innovation of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. KSCX2-YW-N-46-01). The authors would like to thank to Luke Driskell for his kind help and hard work on English language polishing of the article.

A review of spectral properties of plants and their potential use for crop/weed discrimination in row-crops

R. Zwiggelaar, 'A review of spectral properties of plants and their potential use for crop/weed discrimination in row-crops', Crop Protection 17 (3), 189-206 (1998)

Hypoallergenic legume crops and food allergy: factors affecting feasibility and risk.

Currently, the sole strategy for managing food hypersensitivity involves strict avoidance of the trigger. Several alternate strategies for the treatment of food allergies are currently under study. Also being explored is the process of eliminating allergenic proteins from crop plants. Legumes are a rich source of protein and are an essential component of the human diet. Unfortunately, legumes, including soybean and peanut, are also common sources of food allergens. Four protein families and superfamilies account for the majority of legume allergens, which include storage proteins of seeds (cupins and prolamins), profilins, and the larger group of pathogenesis-related proteins. Two strategies have been used to produce hypoallergenic legume crops: (1) germplasm lines are screened for the absence or reduced content of specific allergenic proteins and (2) genetic transformation is used to silence native genes encoding allergenic proteins. Both approaches have been successful in producing cultivars of soybeans and peanuts with reduced allergenic proteins. However, it is unknown whether the cultivars are actually hypoallergenic to those with sensitivity. This review describes efforts to produce hypoallergenic cultivars of soybean and peanut and discusses the challenges that need to be overcome before such products could be available in the marketplace.

When the key is integrate : introduction to development of dormancy behavior groups weeds in agricultural crops

p.153-169

Decreased weed emergence in different crops scenarios under no tillage

p.179-190

Isotopic composition of tropospheric and soil N2O from successive depths of agricultural plots with contrasting crops and nitrogen amendments

Agricultural soils are the dominant contributor to increases in atmospheric nitrous oxide (N2O). Few studies have investigated the natural N and O isotopic composition of soil N2O. We collected soil gas samples using horizontal sampling tubes installed at successive depths under five contrasting agricultural crops (e.g., unamended alfalfa, fertilized cereal), and tropospheric air samples. Mean d 15N and d 18O values of soil N2O ranged from -28.0 to +8.9‰, and from +29.0 to +53.6‰. The mean d 15N and d 18O values of tropospheric N2O were +4.6 ± 0.7‰ and +48.3 ± 0.2‰, respectively. In general, d values were lowest at depth, they were negatively correlated to soil [N2O], and d 15N was positively correlated to d 18O for every treatment on all sampling dates. N2O from the different agricultural treatments had distinct d 15N and d 18O values that varied among sampling dates. Fertilized treatments had soil N2O with low d values, but the unamended alfalfa yielded N2O with the lowest d values. Diffusion was not the predominant process controlling N2O concentration profiles. Based on isotopic and concentration data, it appears that soil N2O was consumed, as it moved from deeper to shallower soil layers. To better assess the main process(es) controlling N2O within a soil profile, we propose a conceptual model that integrates data on net N2O production or consumption and isotopic data. The direct local impact of agricultural N2O on the isotopic composition of tropospheric N2O was recorded by a shift toward lower d values of locally measured tropospheric N2O on a day with very high soil N2O emissions.