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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Agriculture".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2023) | Viewed by 20512

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Dr. Prashant Kaushik

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Department of Vegetable Science, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar 125004, India
Interests: plant biology; climate change; plant stress; crop wild relatives; crop modelling; agronomy; genomics; priming; rationing; salinity; transgenics; stability analysis; growth regulators
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Dear Colleagues,

The extensive deterioration of agricultural land as a consequence of contemporary industrial farming methods is well documented. Traditional crop production methods combined with climate-smart adoption strategies have a direct impact on agricultural production sustainability for an expanding population in a rapidly changing environment. It is possible to minimise the negative impacts of climate change while maintaining a sustainable crop output by using a variety of farm management techniques. Furthermore, climatic fluctuation and change are natural phenomena that have an impact on crop production and sustainability, and there are a variety of strategies for minimising the negative effects of climate change on agriculture. The purpose of this Special Issue is to provide an overview of the research on the variables that influence sustainable crop production. To generate compclimate change; plant stress; crop wild relatives; crop modelling; agronomy; genomics; priming; rationing; salinity; transgenics; stability analysis; growth regulatorsetent guidelines and suggestions for policymakers, more research using standardised surveys and analytic techniques is required. Researchers from across the world are encouraged to share their original research and review papers in this Special Issue, which is titled “Study on Influencing Factors of Sustainable Crop Production." In terms of submission, publishing, and the review process, this Special Issue closely follows the Sustainability rules; please study these policies prior to submitting an article to this Special Issue.

Dr. Prashant Kaushik
Guest Editor

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Keywords

climate change
plant stress
crop wild relatives
crop modelling
agronomy
genomics
priming
rationing
salinity
transgenics
stability analysis
growth regulators

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Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

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15 pages, 2379 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Impact of Environmental Stress on the Secondary Metabolites and the Chemical Compositions of the Essential Oils from Some Medicinal Plants Used as Food Supplements

by Abdelouahid Laftouhi, Noureddine Eloutassi, Elhachmia Ech-Chihbi, Zakia Rais, Abdelfattah Abdellaoui, Abdslam Taleb, Mustapha Beniken, Hiba-Allah Nafidi, Ahmad Mohammad Salamatullah, Mohammed Bourhia and Mustapha Taleb

Sustainability 2023, 15(10), 7842; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15107842 - 10 May 2023

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2519

Abstract

This study aims to study the impact of environmental stresses on the chemical compositions of essential oils and the content of secondary metabolites of the plants most used by the rural population: Thymus vulgaris, Mentha pulégium and Rosmarinus officinalis. The results of the study indicate that the percentage of secondary metabolites increased in the second year when temperature and water pressure increased by 50%. Specifically, coumarin increased from 3.94% to 9.23%, saponins increased from 6.17% to 7.78%, tannins increased from 2.90% to 6.12%, alkaloids increased from 6.72% to 15.95%, and flavonoids increased from 7.42% to 12.90%. However, in the fourth year, the temperature continued to increase, and water availability decreased by 75%, leading to a decrease in the rate of secondary metabolites. Coumarin decreased from 9.22% to 6.15%, saponin decreased from 7.80% to 6.79%, tannin decreased from 6.11% to 4.16%, alkaloids decreased from 15.95% to 10.45%, and flavonoids decreased from 12.90% to 9.70%. Similar results were observed for the essential oil yield, which increased in year two from 3.57% to 3.84% and decreased in year four to 1.04%. The same pattern was observed for Mentha pulégium and Rosmarinus officinalis. The gas chromatography analysis of the three essential oil samples showed that the majority of the compounds of the three plants were modified under the conditions of climate change. For Mentha pulégium, pulegone was found to represent the highest proportion in sample two (73.3%), followed by sample one (71.1%), and finally, sample three (61.8%). For Rosmarinus officinalis, the majority of compounds were cineole and camphor, with cineole representing 36% in sample two, 45.89% in sample one, and 43.08% in sample three, and camphor representing 21.44% in sample two, 21.56% in sample three, and 17.44% in sample one. For Thymus vulgaris, the majority of the compounds were Thymol and Carvacrol, which underwent approximately the same modifications as the majority of compounds in the other two plants. The results indicate that environmental stresses can lead to significant changes in these compounds, which can affect the medicinal and aromatic properties of these plants. The findings of this study highlight the need for more research to understand the impacts of climate change on plant species and the potential implications for human health and well-being. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Study on Influencing Factors of Sustainable Crop Production)

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17 pages, 7420 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Drought Stress Restoration Frequencies of Phenotypic Indicators in Early Vegetative Stages of Soybean (Glycine max L.)

by JaeYoung Kim, Chaewon Lee, Ji-Eun Park, Sheikh Mansoor, Yong Suk Chung and Kyunghwan Kim

Sustainability 2023, 15(6), 4852; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15064852 - 9 Mar 2023

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1497

Abstract

The damage to crops due to drought is severe, and it is further exacerbated by global warming. Therefore, efforts to breed drought-resistant cultivars are being actively conducted. Various research to develop drought-resistant and sustainable cultivars of soybean (Glycine max L.), the most popular legume crop worldwide, are conducted, but it is biased toward the reproductive stages that are most severely affected by drought. There are few studies on the effect of drought stress on the vegetative stages due to a relatively small effect on the final product, but it is an important factor. Therefore, plants were subjected to 5% soil moisture for 14 days to assess the effect of drought at three different vegetative stages, and we measured the number of nodes of the main stem, the total number of nodes, and the number of pods. Although most of the unstressed soybean plants were dominant against the drought-stressed plants in certain cultivars, side node formation or the total number of nodes and the number of pods were reversed. Our results suggested that investigated response of phenotypic traits might be used as a selection indicator for drought-resistant soybean cultivars with further research and sustainability. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Study on Influencing Factors of Sustainable Crop Production)

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16 pages, 850 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Factors Influencing the Chance of Inheriting the Family Farming Career among Heirs in the Upper Northern Region of Thailand in the Crisis of Farming Labor Decline

by Supannika Lursinsap, Ruth Sirisunyaluck, Suraphol Sreshthaputra and Juthathip Chalermphol

Sustainability 2023, 15(2), 1709; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15021709 - 16 Jan 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2228

Abstract

The aging society of farmers and lack of motivation to pursue a farming career among farmers’ young heirs could induce a severe labor shortage crisis in the farming sector in Thailand in the near future, especially in the upper northern region, which has been officially declared as the base of the organic agricultural production of the country. The main problem is the decision of farmers’ heirs to inherit or not inherit the farming career of their families. The relevant factors and their effects on the decision must be investigated and analyzed. A set of descriptive statistical tools were used to analyze the significance of each factor. A prediction model based on logistic regression was applied to analyze how sensitive of each factor is to the decision to inherit the family farming career. The discovered results could help the federal organization to plan and establish an appropriate strategy in order to cope with the crisis. Here, there are 519 surveyed samples referring to farmers’ heirs from five provinces in the upper northern region, which are Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Nan, Lamphun, and Mae Hong Son. The data were collected using a questionnaire. The following 10 relevant factors were found to have direct impacts on the decision to inherit the farming career: gender, increased age, marital status, increased yearly income, the chance to obtain advice from the Federal Department of Agricultural Extension, attitudes towards the farming career, an increase in the land size for farming per family, increase in the land size for farming in the rural area, the variety of agricultural products produced by the family, and an increased set of farming equipment and tools possessed by the family. However, an increase in the number of new family members could lead to unwillingness to inherit the farming career. All these factors in both the willing and unwilling groups had a statistical significance at the level of 0.05. Since the sample size of the willing group was considerably larger than the sample size of the unwilling group, a technique of minority oversampling was adopted to alleviate the problem of the imbalanced datasets. The classification accuracy obtained was 77.56. In addition to the federal planning and strategies applied to ease the crisis, the factors discovered in this study can be used as a stimulus for persuading and stimulating the young generation to inherit the farming career or become a skillful as well as knowledgeable professional farmer capable of producing high-quality agricultural products for the upper northern region of Thailand. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Study on Influencing Factors of Sustainable Crop Production)

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21 pages, 344 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Factors Influencing Farmers’ Willingness and Behaviors in Organic Agriculture Development: An Empirical Analysis Based on Survey Data of Farmers in Anhui Province

by Xiaohong Zhou and Donghong Ding

Sustainability 2022, 14(22), 14945; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142214945 - 11 Nov 2022

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2923

Abstract

Organic agriculture is currently the dominant method used for the sustainable development of modern agriculture. As the main component in agricultural production, farmers and their willingness and behaviors are important to the overall progress of the organic agriculture industry. Based on survey data from 306 farmers in the Anhui Province, we applied a bivariate probit model to analyze the relevant factors influencing farmers’ willingness and behaviors in organic agriculture. The findings showed that a correlation existed between farmers’ willingness to engage in organic agriculture and their behaviors. Factors such as farmer education level, political status, family disposable income, and their understanding of organic agriculture and environmental hazards considerably influenced the farmers’ willingness to engage in organic agriculture. The variables of age, no-agricultural employment, and other factors played a substantial inhibitory role. This conclusion has certain value for further understanding of farmers’ willingness to be engaged in organic agriculture and their behaviors and so contributed to the structural reform of the agricultural supply side and the implementation of the “Rural Revitalization” strategy. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Study on Influencing Factors of Sustainable Crop Production)

15 pages, 626 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Winter Tolerance Potential of Genetically Diverse Sugarcane Clones under Subtropical Climate of Northern India

by Ravinder Kumar, Mintu Ram Meena, Pooja Dhansu, R. Karuppaiyan, C. Appunu, Neeraj Kulshreshtha, Prashant Kaushik and Bakshi Ram

Sustainability 2022, 14(18), 11757; https://doi.org/10.3390/su141811757 - 19 Sep 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2060

Abstract

The low temperature (LT) conditions that prevail during winter in subtropical regions of India drastically affect the growth and yield of sugarcane. To identify low-temperature-tolerant agronomical acceptable genotypes for immediate deployment as donor parents in the subtropical sugarcane breeding program, 34 sugarcane clones belonging to 7 genetically diverse groups were evaluated under three crop environments, viz., spring planting, winter ratoon and spring ratoon, during 2015–2016 and 2016–2017. In the winter ratoon crop, commercial cane sugar and cane yield were reduced, whereas sucrose % was increased over the spring planted crop and the spring ratoon crop. The wild species and introgressed hybrid groups showed improvement for yield and quality traits in the winter ratoon crop, whereas commercial and near commercial groups showed reduction for these traits over the plant and spring ratoon crops. The tropical cultivars group was the poorest performer irrespective of the traits and crops. Yield per se under a stress environment was adjudged as the best selection criteria. For classification of sugarcane clones according to their low temperature tolerance, an index named winter tolerance index (WTI) is proposed which takes into account the winter sprouting index (WSI), winter growth and yield per se of the winter ratoon crop. The WTI had significant positive association with WSI, cane yield, millable cane population and cane length. As per the WTI ratings, the wild species of Saccharum complex and introgressed hybrid groups were rated as excellent WT clones. Subtropical commercial or advanced generation groups were poor WT clones, and tropical commercial cultivars group were winter sensitive clones. Clones such as AS04-635, AS04-1687, IK76-48, GU07-2276, IND00-1040, IND00-1038 and IND00-1039 had excellent tolerance, and GU07-3849, AS04-245, Co 0238, AS04-2097 and GU07-3774 had good WTI scores. The variety, Co 0238, may be continued for cultivation under LT regions with prophylactic measurers for red rot, while other clones listed above may be utilized in subtropical breeding programs. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Study on Influencing Factors of Sustainable Crop Production)

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12 pages, 910 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Rhizophagus irregularis and Nitrogen Fixing Azotobacter with a Reduced Rate of Chemical Fertilizer Application Enhances Pepper Growth along with Fruits Biochemical and Mineral Composition

by Meenakshi Sharma, Vandana Sharma, Anil Kumar Delta and Prashant Kaushik

Sustainability 2022, 14(9), 5653; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14095653 - 7 May 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2350

Abstract

Bell pepper is an important vegetable crop containing lots of bioactive compounds. The present study was designed to improve the productivity and quality of bell pepper with the application of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (Rhizophagus irregularis) and plant growth-promoting bacteria (Azotobacter chroococcum) in a combination of chemical fertilizer. Five treatments consisted of 75% chemical fertilizer (T1), 100% chemical fertilizer (T2), 75% chemical fertilizer + R. irregularis (T3), 75% chemical fertilizer + A. chroococcum (T4) and 75% chemical fertilizer + R. irregularis + A. chroococcum (T5). Out of 18 morphological parameters, 11 morphometric fruit parameters were recorded in detail by a tomato analyzer. The morphological and biochemical (TSS, ascorbic acid and capsaicin content) attributes of bell pepper were recorded higher in the case of a mixed consortium of chemical fertilizers having R. irregularis and A. chroococcum. Similarly, the amount of mineral content recorded was highest after 75% chemical fertilizer + R. irregularis + A. chroococcum, followed by the treatment with only 100% chemical fertilizer. The root mycorrhization (%) and the number of spores were observed highest in 75% chemical fertilizer + R. irregularis + A. chroococcum, and there was no mycorrhization and spore formation in 75% CF, 100% CF and 75% CF+AC. The treatment involving 75% chemical fertilizer + R. irregularis + A. chroococcum proved better for pepper’s growth, yield and yield-related traits. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Study on Influencing Factors of Sustainable Crop Production)

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Review

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25 pages, 1693 KiB

Open AccessReview

Mycorrhiza: An Ecofriendly Bio-Tool for Better Survival of Plants in Nature

by Mamta Dhiman, Lakshika Sharma, Prashant Kaushik, Abhijeet Singh and Madan Mohan Sharma

Sustainability 2022, 14(16), 10220; https://doi.org/10.3390/su141610220 - 17 Aug 2022

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 5917

Abstract

Modern agriculture is currently enduring rapid changes in defiance of the continuing increase of the global population and the various consequent environmental challenges. Crop quality is becoming as important as crop yield and can be characterized by several parameters. Extensive use of chemical fertilizers leads to food safety concerns globally; hence, the use of mycorrhizal symbionts have proven to be beneficial for the sustainable growth of the agricultural cropping system. Microflora inhabiting the soil entails various ecological interactions which are associated with agricultural performances. Amongst these microflora, mycorrhizal fungi are the critical suppliers of nutrients, with restricted diffusion capacities of minerals such as phosphorus, nitrate, zinc, sulfur etc. Mycorrhizae are the obligatory biotrophs that depend upon their host plant for the nutritional requirements. They act as the key contributors to sustainable agro-ecological enforcement and impact globally on the eco-systemic processes. These soil inhabitants devote themselves to the continuous nutrient flow and extemporize resistance against various environmental stresses like drought, flood, metal toxicity, salinity, etc. This review briefly highlights the taxonomic co-evolution, factors affecting mycorrhizal behaviors (phytohormonal regulation), and the concise mechanistic approach (improved water status, photosystems, stomatal conductance, ionic uptake, C & N fixation) to combat various environmental stresses (biotic/abiotic). Plant growth regulators play a crucial role in this symbiotic establishment with the plant roots. Auxins, brassinosteroids, and strigolactones are responsible for the establishment of mycorrhizal association. On the other hand, ethylene, abscisic acid, and jasmonic acids can promote or downregulate this process in the plants. Whereas, gibberellic acids and salicylic acids negatively impact on mycorrhizal association. The hormonal homeostasis (in response to fungal associations) leads to the activation of transcriptional and signaling cascades which ensues various physio-morphological changes for the benefit of the plant. The role of phytohormones in the regulation of plant-fungus mutualism, and the impact of mycorrhization on the activation of molecular and transcriptional cascades, have been described along with the potential applications of agricultural produce and soil rehabilitation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Study on Influencing Factors of Sustainable Crop Production)

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