Decoupling EU farm support: Does the new single payment scheme fit within the green box?

Recent reform of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has led to a further decoupling of farm support. The EU believes that the new Single Payment Scheme, which replaces the former system of area and headage payments to farmers, tied to production, will qualify for green-box status in the WTO. We examine this contention, particularly in light of the recent WTO panel report on upland cotton.

Importance of mycotoxins in food and feed in India

Various food and feed samples including groundnut seed, maize, sorghum, soyabean cake, groundnut cake, cotton cake, poultry feed, buffalo milk, cow milk and milk powders were collected from farmers' fields, farmer's stores, oil millers storage, traders' storage, retail shops and supermarkets. More than 2000 samples were analysed by ELISA and most of the commodities, with the exception of sorghum seed, contained high levels of aflatoxin. Groundnut cake was one of the major cattle feed ingredients in the peri-urban area of Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh, India) and >75% of the samples contained >100 µg/kg aflatoxin, leading to a high level of aflatoxin M1, in milk samples. Strategies to reduce aflatoxin levels (especially in groundnut) by management interventions at preharvest, harvest and storage, are discussed.

Vertical distribution, size and composition of the weed seedbank under various tillage and herbicide treatments in a sequence of industrial crops

Investigations were conducted during the 2003, 2004 and 2005 growing seasons in northern Greece to evaluate effects of tillage regime (mouldboard plough, chisel plough and rotary tiller), cropping sequence (continuous cotton, cotton-sugar beet rotation and continuous tobacco) and herbicide treatment on weed seedbank dynamics. Amaranthus spp. and Portulaca oleracea were the most abundant species, ranging from 76% to 89% of total weed seeds found in 0-15 and 15-30 cm soil depths during the 3 years. With the mouldboard plough, 48% and 52% of the weed seedbank was found in the 0-15 and 15-30 cm soil horizons, while approximately 60% was concentrated in the upper 15 cm soil horizon for chisel plough and rotary tillage. Mouldboard ploughing significantly buried more Echinochloa crus-galli seeds in the 15-30 cm soil horizon compared with the other tillage regimes. Total seedbank (0-30 cm) of P. oleracea was significantly reduced in cotton-sugar beet rotation compared with cotton and tobacco monocultures, while the opposite occurred for E. crus-galli. Total seed densities of most annual broad-leaved weed species (Amaranthus spp., P. oleracea, Solanum nigrum) and E. crus-galli were lower in herbicide treated than in untreated plots. The results suggest that in light textured soils, conventional tillage with herbicide use gradually reduces seed density of small seeded weed species in the top 15 cm over several years. In contrast, crop rotation with the early established sugar beet favours spring-germinating grass weed species, but also prevents establishment of summer-germinating weed species by the early developing crop canopy.

Stability of plasmid profile of highly virulent races of Xanthomonas campestris pv. malvacearum during storage and subculturing

Four races of Xanthomonas campestris pv. mal-vacearum (Xcm) viz. races 23, 27 and 32 (isolated from Gossypium hirsutum) and race 23b (from Gossypium barbadense) were studied. The plasmid profile of the natural isolates showed four plasmids in races 23 and 23b (ca. 60, 40, 23, 8.2 kb), five in race 27 (ca. 60, 40, 23, 8.2 and 3.7 kb) and six in race 32 (ca. 60, 40, 23, 8.2, 3.7 and 1.6 kb). Continuously sub-cultured laboratory isolates of the Xcm races resulted in the loss of all but two plasmids, ca. 60 and 40 kb in size. When the laboratory isolates were passed through cotton (Gossypium hirsutum), they regained certain plasmids so that four plasmids were found in race 23 and 23b (ca. 60, 40, 23 and 8.2 kb), five in race 27 (ca. 60, 40, 23, 8.2 and 3.7 kb) and six in race 32 (ca. 60, 40, 23, 8.2, 3.7 and 1.6 kb), which was more or less similar to the original isolates. The isolates recovered from cotton maintained their plasmid profile (except for minor changes in the miniplasmids) after storage for six months at -70degreesC in 50% glycerol. It is suggested that plasmid profiles among highly virulent races of Xcm are unstable during repeated sub-culturing at room temperature, resulting in rapid loss of some plasmids. However, when the cultures were sub-cultured and stored at -70degreesC the plasmid profile was fairly stable except for the miniplasmids (ca. 3.7 and 1.6 kb).

Damage rate is a predictor of fatigue life and creep strain rate in fatigue of tensile human cortical bone samples

We present results on the growth of damage in 29 fatigue tests of human femoral cortical bone from four individuals, aged 53–79. In these tests we examine the interdependency of stress, cycles to failure, rate of creep strain, and rate of modulus loss. The behavior of creep rates has been reported recently for the same donors as an effect of stress and cycles (Cotton, J. R., Zioupos, P., Winwood, K., and Taylor, M., 2003, "Analysis of Creep Strain During Tensile Fatigue of Cortical Bone," J. Biomech. 36, pp. 943–949). In the present paper we first examine how the evolution of damage (drop in modulus per cycle) is associated with the stress level or the "normalized stress" level (stress divided by specimen modulus), and results show the rate of modulus loss fits better as a function of normalized stress. However, we find here that even better correlations can be established between either the cycles to failure or creep rates versus rates of damage than any of these three measures versus normalized stress. The data indicate that damage rates can be excellent predictors of fatigue life and creep strain rates in tensile fatigue of human cortical bone for use in practical problems and computer simulations.

Analysis of creep strain during tensile fatigue of cortical bone

During fatigue tests of cortical bone specimens, at the unload portion of the cycle (zero stress) non-zero strains occur and progressively accumulate as the test progresses. This non-zero strain is hypothesised to be mostly, if not entirely, describable as creep. This work examines the rate of accumulation of this strain and quantifies its stress dependency. A published relationship determined from creep tests of cortical bone (Journal of Biomechanics 21 (1988) 623) is combined with knowledge of the stress history during fatigue testing to derive an expression for the amount of creep strain in fatigue tests. Fatigue tests on 31 bone samples from four individuals showed strong correlations between creep strain rate and both stress and “normalised stress” (σ/E) during tensile fatigue testing (0–T). Combined results were good (r2=0.78) and differences between the various individuals, in particular, vanished when effects were examined against normalised stress values. Constants of the regression showed equivalence to constants derived in creep tests. The universality of the results, with respect to four different individuals of both sexes, shows great promise for use in computational models of fatigue in bone structures.

Transgenic soya beans: economic implications for EU livestock sector

World oilseed trade consists of many closely substitutable commodities, with canola and cottonseed as possible alternatives to soya beans for many purposes. Transgenic events in all three crops have been widely adopted, particularly in North and South America, for compelling economic or agronomic reasons. Despite the close attention from organizations concerned about the potential consequences of transgenic crop adoption, there appears to be no substantiated evidence of transgenic DNA in meat or milk products when such crops are fed to livestock. The global area of these transgenic crops continues to increase. No transgenic canola, cotton or soya bean crops are permitted for commercial cultivation in Europe, and although transgenic feed resources are permitted for import, importers risk shipments being denied entry if the traces of an unauthorized transgenic crop are detected. These tight controls can mean that livestock farmers in the EU are disadvantaged due to restricted access to cheaper feed or higher feed costs, and they are thus loosing a degree of competitive advantage. This paper reviews the extent to which transgenic soya beans have become the ‘conventional’ method of cultivation elsewhere, and notes implications this has for livestock nutrition, traceability and economics within the EU. The paper concludes with discussion regarding the implications for the EU of delayed acceptance of newly available transgenic traits.

Technologies for biological containment of GM and Non-GM crops

International Perspective The development of GM technology continues to expand into increasing numbers of crops and conferred traits. Inevitably, the focus remains on the major field crops of soybean, maize, cotton, oilseed rape and potato with introduced genes conferring herbicide tolerance and/or pest resistance. Although there are comparatively few GM crops that have been commercialised to date, GM versions of 172 plant species have been grown in field trials in 31 countries. European Crops with Containment Issues Of the 20 main crops in the EU there are four for which GM varieties are commercially available (cotton, maize for animal feed and forage, and oilseed rape). Fourteen have GM varieties in field trials (bread wheat, barley, durum wheat, sunflower, oats, potatoes, sugar beet, grapes, alfalfa, olives, field peas, clover, apples, rice) and two have GM varieties still in development (rye, triticale). Many of these crops have hybridisation potential with wild and weedy relatives in the European flora (bread wheat, barley, oilseed rape, durum wheat, oats, sugar beet and grapes), with escapes (sunflower); and all have potential to cross-pollinate fields non-GM crops. Several fodder crops, forestry trees, grasses and ornamentals have varieties in field trials and these too may hybridise with wild relatives in the European flora (alfalfa, clover, lupin, silver birch, sweet chestnut, Norway spruce, Scots pine, poplar, elm, Agrostis canina, A. stolonifera, Festuca arundinacea, Lolium perenne, L. multiflorum, statice and rose). All these crops will require containment strategies to be in place if it is deemed necessary to prevent transgene movement to wild relatives and non-GM crops. Current Containment Strategies A wide variety of GM containment strategies are currently under development, with a particular focus on crops expressing pharmaceutical products. Physical containment in greenhouses and growth rooms is suitable for some crops (tomatoes, lettuce) and for research purposes. Aquatic bioreactors of some non-crop species (algae, moss, and duckweed) expressing pharmaceutical products have been adopted by some biotechnology companies. There are obvious limitations of the scale of physical containment strategies, addressed in part by the development of large underground facilities in the US and Canada. The additional resources required to grow plants underground incurs high costs that in the long term may negate any advantage of GM for commercial productioNatural genetic containment has been adopted by some companies through the selection of either non-food/feed crops (algae, moss, duckweed) as bio-pharming platforms or organisms with no wild relatives present in the local flora (safflower in the Americas). The expression of pharmaceutical products in leafy crops (tobacco, alfalfa, lettuce, spinach) enables growth and harvesting prior to and in the absence of flowering. Transgenically controlled containment strategies range in their approach and degree of development. Plastid transformation is relatively well developed but is not suited to all traits or crops and does not offer complete containment. Male sterility is well developed across a range of plants but has limitations in its application for fruit/seed bearing crops. It has been adopted in some commercial lines of oilseed rape despite not preventing escape via seed. Conditional lethality can be used to prevent flowering or seed development following the application of a chemical inducer, but requires 100% induction of the trait and sufficient application of the inducer to all plants. Equally, inducible expression of the GM trait requires equally stringent application conditions. Such a method will contain the trait but will allow the escape of a non-functioning transgene. Seed lethality (‘terminator’ technology) is the only strategy at present that prevents transgene movement via seed, but due to public opinion against the concept it has never been trialled in the field and is no longer under commercial development. Methods to control flowering and fruit development such as apomixis and cleistogamy will prevent crop-to-wild and wild-to-crop pollination, but in nature both of these strategies are complex and leaky. None of the genes controlling these traits have as yet been identified or characterised and therefore have not been transgenically introduced into crop species. Neither of these strategies will prevent transgene escape via seed and any feral apomicts that form are arguably more likely to become invasives. Transgene mitigation reduces the fitness of initial hybrids and so prevents stable introgression of transgenes into wild populations. However, it does not prevent initial formation of hybrids or spread to non-GM crops. Such strategies could be detrimental to wild populations and have not yet been demonstrated in the field. Similarly, auxotrophy prevents persistence of escapes and hybrids containing the transgene in an uncontrolled environment, but does not prevent transgene movement from the crop. Recoverable block of function, intein trans-splicing and transgene excision all use recombinases to modify the transgene in planta either to induce expression or to prevent it. All require optimal conditions and 100% accuracy to function and none have been tested under field conditions as yet. All will contain the GM trait but all will allow some non-native DNA to escape to wild populations or to non-GM crops. There are particular issues with GM trees and grasses as both are largely undomesticated, wind pollinated and perennial, thus providing many opportunities for hybridisation. Some species of both trees and grass are also capable of vegetative propagation without sexual reproduction. There are additional concerns regarding the weedy nature of many grass species and the long-term stability of GM traits across the life span of trees. Transgene stability and conferred sterility are difficult to trial in trees as most field trials are only conducted during the juvenile phase of tree growth. Bio-pharming of pharmaceutical and industrial compounds in plants Bio-pharming of pharmaceutical and industrial compounds in plants offers an attractive alternative to mammalian-based pharmaceutical and vaccine production. Several plantbased products are already on the market (Prodigene’s avidin, β-glucuronidase, trypsin generated in GM maize; Ventria’s lactoferrin generated in GM rice). Numerous products are in clinical trials (collagen, antibodies against tooth decay and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma from tobacco; human gastric lipase, therapeutic enzymes, dietary supplements from maize; Hepatitis B and Norwalk virus vaccines from potato; rabies vaccines from spinach; dietary supplements from Arabidopsis). The initial production platforms for plant-based pharmaceuticals were selected from conventional crops, largely because an established knowledge base already existed. Tobacco and other leafy crops such as alfalfa, lettuce and spinach are widely used as leaves can be harvested and no flowering is required. Many of these crops can be grown in contained greenhouses. Potato is also widely used and can also be grown in contained conditions. The introduction of morphological markers may aid in the recognition and traceability of crops expressing pharmaceutical products. Plant cells or plant parts may be transformed and maintained in culture to produce recombinant products in a contained environment. Plant cells in suspension or in vitro, roots, root cells and guttation fluid from leaves may be engineered to secrete proteins that may be harvested in a continuous, non-destructive manner. Most strategies in this category remain developmental and have not been commercially adopted at present. Transient expression produces GM compounds from non-GM plants via the utilisation of bacterial or viral vectors. These vectors introduce the trait into specific tissues of whole plants or plant parts, but do not insert them into the heritable genome. There are some limitations of scale and the field release of such crops will require the regulation of the vector. However, several companies have several transiently expressed products in clinical and pre-clinical trials from crops raised in physical containment.

Stops making sense: translational trade-offs and stop codon reassignment

Background Efficient gene expression involves a trade-off between (i) premature termination of protein synthesis; and (ii) readthrough, where the ribosome fails to dissociate at the terminal stop. Sense codons that are similar in sequence to stop codons are more susceptible to nonsense mutation, and are also likely to be more susceptible to transcriptional or translational errors causing premature termination. We therefore expect this trade-off to be influenced by the number of stop codons in the genetic code. Although genetic codes are highly constrained, stop codon number appears to be their most volatile feature. Results In the human genome, codons readily mutable to stops are underrepresented in coding sequences. We construct a simple mathematical model based on the relative likelihoods of premature termination and readthrough. When readthrough occurs, the resultant protein has a tail of amino acid residues incorrectly added to the C-terminus. Our results depend strongly on the number of stop codons in the genetic code. When the code has more stop codons, premature termination is relatively more likely, particularly for longer genes. When the code has fewer stop codons, the length of the tail added by readthrough will, on average, be longer, and thus more deleterious. Comparative analysis of taxa with a range of stop codon numbers suggests that genomes whose code includes more stop codons have shorter coding sequences. Conclusions We suggest that the differing trade-offs presented by alternative genetic codes may result in differences in genome structure. More speculatively, multiple stop codons may mitigate readthrough, counteracting the disadvantage of a higher rate of nonsense mutation. This could help explain the puzzling overrepresentation of stop codons in the canonical genetic code and most variants.

Economic and agronomic impact of commercialised GM crops: a meta-analysis

The present paper presents a meta-analysis of the economic and agronomic performance of genetically modified (GM) crops worldwide. Bayesian, classical and non-parametric approaches were used to evaluate the performance of GM crops v. their conventional counterparts. The two main GM crop traits (herbicide tolerant (HT) and insect resistant (Bt)) and three of the main GM crops produced worldwide (Bt cotton, HT soybean and Bt maize) were analysed in terms of yield, production cost and gross margin. The scope of the analysis covers developing and developed countries, six world regions, and all countries combined. Results from the statistical analyses indicate that GM crops perform better than their conventional counterparts in agronomic and economic (gross margin) terms. Regarding countries’ level of development, GM crops tend to perform better in developing countries than in developed countries, with Bt cotton being the most profitable crop grown.

Optimal hedging with higher moments

This study proposes a utility-based framework for the determination of optimal hedge ratios (OHRs) that can allow for the impact of higher moments on hedging decisions. We examine the entire hyperbolic absolute risk aversion family of utilities which include quadratic, logarithmic, power, and exponential utility functions. We find that for both moderate and large spot (commodity) exposures, the performance of out-of-sample hedges constructed allowing for nonzero higher moments is better than the performance of the simpler OLS hedge ratio. The picture is, however, not uniform throughout our seven spot commodities as there is one instance (cotton) for which the modeling of higher moments decreases welfare out-of-sample relative to the simpler OLS. We support our empirical findings by a theoretical analysis of optimal hedging decisions and we uncover a novel link between OHRs and the minimax hedge ratio, that is the ratio which minimizes the largest loss of the hedged position. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark

Not all sigmodontine rodents in the sugarcane fields in costal Veracruz, Mexico, are pests

Rats and mice have traditionally been considered one of the most important pests of sugarcane. However, "control" campaigns are rarely specific to the target species, and can have an effect on local wildlife, in particular non-pest rodent species. The objective of this study was to distinguish between rodent species that are pests and those that are not, and to identify patterns of food utilization by the rodents in the sugarcane crop complex. Within the crop complex, subsistence crops like maize, sorghum, rice, and bananas, which are grown alongside the sugarcane, are also subject to rodent damage. Six native rodent species were trapped in the Papaloapan River Basin of the State of Veracruz; the cotton rat (Sigmodon hispidus), the rice rat (Oryzomys couesi), the small rice rat (O. chapmani), the white footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus), the golden mouse (Reithrodontomys sumichrasti), and the pigmy mouse (Baiomys musculus). In a stomach content analysis, the major food components for the cotton rat, the rice rat and the small rice rat were sugarcane (4.9 to 30.1 %), seed (2.7 to 22.9%), and vegetation (0.9 to 29.8%); while for the golden mouse and the pigmy mouse the stomach content was almost exclusively seed (98 to 100%). The authors consider the first three species to be pests of the sugarcane crop complex, while the last two species are not.

Tillage and herbicide treatments with inter-row cultivation influence weed densities and yield of three industrial crops

Field experiments were conducted in northern Greece in 2003 and 2004 to evaluate effects of tillage regimes (moldboard plowing, chisel plowing, and rotary tilling), cropping sequences(continuous cotton, cotton-sugar beet rotation,and continuous tobacco) and herbicide treatments with inter-row hand hoeing on weed population densities. Total weed densities were not affected by tillage treatment except that of barnyardgrass (Echinochloa crus-galli), which increased only in moldboard plowing treated plots during 2003. Redroot pigweed (Amaranthus retroflexus)and black nightshade (Solanum nigrum) densities were reduced in continuous cotton, while purple nutsedge (Cyperus rotundus), E. crus-galli, S. nigrum, and johnsongras(Sorghum halepense) densities were reduced in tobacco. A. retroflexus and S. nigrum were effectively controlled by all herbicide treatments with inter-row hand hoeing,whereas E. crus-galli was effectively reduced by herbicides applied to cotton and tobacco. S. halepense density reduction was a result of herbicide applied to tobacco with inter-row hand hoeing. Yield of all crops was higher under moldboard plowing and herbicide treatments. Pre-sowing and pre-emergence herbicide treatments in cotton and pre-transplant in tobacco integrated with inter-row cultivation resulted in efficient control of annual weed species and good crop yields. These observations are of practical relevance to crop selection by farmers in order to maintain weed populations at economically acceptable densities through the integration of various planting dates, sustainable herbicide use and inter-row cultivation; tools of great importance in integrated weed management systems. Keywords: cropping sequence, herbicide, integrated weed management, inter-row cultivation,tillage.