Maize: The Native North American’s Legacy of Cultural Diversity and Biodiversity

Recent research has focused on establishing the values of preserving biodiversity both in agriculture and in less managed ecosystems, and in showing the importance of the role of cultural diversity in preserving biodiversity in food production systems. A study of the philosophy embedded in cultural systems can reveal the importance of the technological information for preserving genetic biodiversity contained in such systems and can be used to support arguments for the protection/preservation of cultural diversity. For example, corn or maize can serve as a paradigm of Native American thinking and can provide one of the few areas from which common philosophical conceptions can emerge. An examination of the cultivation of corn or maize as an agricultural activity and as a cultural activity in Native American literature reveals a philosophy that recognizes the importance of biodiversity and provides techniques for its preservation. Corn, and the food and the materials derived from it, is something thought out, not by specialists, but by the entire tribe and its ancestors, even if this thinking is done within what we might consider a framework of highly mythical notions. Importantly, this framework yields an understanding of both the genetics and nutrition of corn. A survey of these mythical notions (myths and stories) and agricultural practices makes this thought explicit and exemplifies the value of cultural diversity and biodiversity.     

Report on the fifth meeting of INRA’s national network of ecotoxicologists,ECOTOX

The fifth meeting of INRA’s national network of ecotoxicologists took place on 25 to 27 November 2014 in Biarritz, France. The main aim of the meeting was to bring together ecotoxicologists from INRA and associated partners, providing them ample opportunity to share and discuss their latest scientific results as well as the national policy of research in ecotoxicology and to precise perspectives for the network.     

Application of the QuEChERS method for the determination of organochlorine pesticide residues in Brazilian fruit pulps by GC-ECD

The Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged, and Safe (QuEChERS) method was applied to the extraction of 14 organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) residues from commercial fruit pulps available in supermarkets in Fortaleza, Northeastern Brazil. The analyses were carried out by gas chromatography (GC), coupled to an electron-capture detector (ECD), and were confirmed by GC-tandem mass spectrometry (MS). The parameters of the analytical method, such as accuracy, precision, linear range, limits of detection and quantification, were determined for each pesticide. The results showed good linearity (R² ≥ 0.9916) and the overall average recoveries were considered satisfactory obtaining values between 69 and 110%, RSD of 2–15 %, except for hexachlorobenzene (HCB) in açai, acerola and guava pulp samples. The OCPs were detected in guava (α–HCH; lindane) and soursop (α, β–HCH isomers) samples. The QuEChERS method and GC–ECD were successfully used to analyze OCPs in commercially available Brazilian fruit pulps and can be applied in routine analytical laboratories.     

Valorisation of used cooking oil sludge by codigestion with swine manure

The addition of lipid wastes to the digestion of swine manure was studied as a means of increasing biogas production. Lipid waste was obtained from a biodiesel plant where used cooking oil is the feedstock. Digestion of this co-substrate was proposed as a way of valorising residual streams from the process of biodiesel production and to integrate the digestion process into the biorefinery concept.Batch digestion tests were performed at different co-digesting proportions obtaining as a result an increase in biogas production with the increase in the amount of co-substrate added to the mixture. Semi-continuous digestion was studied at a 7% (w/w) mass fraction of total solids. Co-digestion was successful at a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 50 d but a decrease to 30 d resulted in a decrease in specific gas production and accumulation of volatile and long chain fatty acids. The CH₄ yield obtained was 326 ± 46 l/kg VS_feed at an HRT of 50 d, while this value was reduced to 274 ± 43 l/kg VS_feed when evaluated at an HRT of 30 d. However these values were higher than the one obtained under batch conditions (266 ± 40 l/kg VS_feed), thus indicating the need of acclimation to the co-substrate. Despite of operating at low organic loading rate (OLR), measurements from respirometry assays of digestate samples (at an HRT of 50 d) suggested that the effluent could not be directly applied to the soil as fertiliser and might have a negative effect over soil or crops.