Food 21: a research program looking for measures and tools to increase food chain sustainability

Food 21, an interdisciplinary research program encompassing the whole agro-food chain, was conducted in Sweden during 1997-2004. The challenges undertaken were to come up with environmental tools and solutions to existing nonsustainable practices along the entire food chain. This required close collaboration between the scientists and the food chain stakeholders. A set of goals characterizing sustainable food production is presented in this paper. Synthesis and systems analysis were the main tools used to analyze the sustainability of proposed changes. In this introduction we give an overview of the Food 21 concept and highlight some results. For example, we found that organic farming and organic products were not in general superior to conventional products and practices with respect to environmental impact and product quality. We also summarize the management experiences in this article, since we consider them to be rather unique and since they contributed to the overall success of the program.     

Nitrogen saturation induced during winter by experimental NH4NO3 addition to a forested catchment

To investigate the potential risk of 'nitrogen saturation' in Scandinavian boreal forests, the authors are experimentally adding 30-50 kg N ha(-1) year(-1) as NH4NO3 in precipitation to an entire 0.52-ha 80-year-old spruce forested catchment at G?rdsj?n, near Gothenburg on the Swedish west coast. NO3 concentrations in runoff increased from 0 to about 7 microeq liter(-1) (maximum pulse of 43 microeq liter(-1)). The increase occurred in winter; during the April-October growing season, NO3 concentrations were very low. The speed of the response suggests that these forests are already close to saturation.     

Rapid karyotyping in ectopic pregnancies

The aim of this study was to determine the feasibility of karyotyping ectopic Fallopian tube pregnancies utilizing dividing cytotrophoblast cells. Villi from 78 ectopic conceptuses were processed by the direct chromosome technique and cytogenetic diagnosis was successful in 60 cases (76-9 per cent). The amount of villi obtained, as well as villus morphology, was correlated with cytogenetic success rate. Histological examination of the Fallopian tube was also carried out. A total of 47 cases were chromosomally abnormal (78-3 per cent), which is the highest frequency of cytogenetic abnormalities reported to date.     

Foraging responses in the butterflies <Emphasis Type="Italic">Inachis io</Emphasis>, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Aglais urticae</Emphasis> (Nymphalidae), and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Gonepteryx rhamni</Emphasis> (Pieridae) to floral scents

Summary. For butterflies to be efficient foragers, they need to be able to recognize rewarding flowers. Flower signals such as colours and scents assist this recognition process. For plant species to attract and keep butterflies as pollinators, species-specific floral signals are crucial. The aim of this study is to investigate foraging responses to floral scents in three temperate butterfly species, Inachis io L. (Nymphalidae), Aglais urticae L. (Nymphalidae), and Gonepteryx rhamni L. (Pieridae), in behavioural choice bioassays. The butterflies were allowed to choose bet-ween flower models varying in scent and colour (mauve or green). Flowers or vegetative parts from the plants Centaurea scabiosa L. (Asteraceae), Cirsium arvense (L.) (Asteraceae), Knautia arvensis (L.) (Dipsacaceae), Buddleja davidii Franchet (Loganicaeae), Origanum vulgareL. (Lamiaceae), Achillea millefolium L. (Asteraceae), and Philadelphus coronarius L. (Hydrangiaceae) were used as scent sources. All visits to the models — those that included probing and those that did not — were counted, as was the duration of these behaviours. Both flower-naive and flower-experienced (conditioned to sugar-water rewards, the colour mauve, and specific floral scents) butterflies were tested for their preference for floral versus vegetative scents, and to floral scent versus colour. The butterflies were also tested for their ability to switch floral scent preferences in response to rewards. Flower-naive butterflies demonstrated a preference for the floral scent of the butterfly-favourable plants C. arvense and K. arvensis over the floral scent of the non-favourable plants Achillea millefolium (Asteraceae), and Philadelphus coronarius cv. (Hydrangiaceae). Most of the butterflies that were conditioned to floral scents of either C. arvense, K. arvensis, or B. davidii readily switched theirfloral scent preferences to the one most recently associated with reward, thus demonstrating that floral scent constancy is a result from learning. These findings suggest that these butterflies use floral scent as an important cue signal to initially identify and subsequently recognize and distinguish among rewarding plants. Received 2 September 2001; accepted 9 September 2002.     

Genomics meets ethology: a new route to understanding domestication, behavior, and sustainability in animal breeding

Animal behavior is a central part of animal welfare, a keystone in sustainable animal breeding. During domestication, animals have adapted with respect to behavior and an array of other traits. We compared the behavior of junglefowl and White Leghorn layers, selected for egg production (and indirectly for growth). Jungle-fowl had a more active behavior in social, exploratory, anti-predatory, and feeding tests. A genome scan for Quantitative Trait Loci (QTLs) in a junglefowl x White Leghorn intercross revealed several significant or suggestive QTLs for different traits. Some production QTLs coincided with QTLs for behavior, suggesting that pleiotropic effects may be important for the development of domestication phenotypes. One gene has been located, which has a strong effect on the risk of being a victim of feather pecking, a detrimental behavior disorder. Modern genomics paired with analysis of behavior may help in designing more sustainable and robust breeding in the future.     

The arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Glomus mosseae induces growth and metal accumulation changes in Cannabis sativa L

The effect of arbuscular mycorrhiza on heavy metal uptake and translocation was investigated in Cannabis sativa. Hemp was grown in the presence and absence of 100 microg g-1 Cd and Ni and 300 microg g-1 Cr(VI), and inoculated or not with the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Glomus mosseae. In our experimental condition, hemp growth was reduced in inoculated plants and the reduction was related to the degree of mycorrhization. The percentage of mycorrhizal colonisation was 42% and 9% in plants grown in non-contaminated and contaminated soil, suggesting a significant negative effect of high metal concentrations on plant infection by G. mosseae. Soil pH, metal bioavailability and plant metal uptake were not influenced by mycorrhization. The organ metal concentrations were not statistically different between inoculated and non-inoculated plants, apart from Ni which concentration was significantly higher in stem and leaf of inoculated plants grown in contaminated soil. The distribution of absorbed metals inside plant was related to the soil heavy metal concentrations: in plant grown in non-contaminated soil the greater part of absorbed Cr and Ni was found in shoots and no significant difference was determined between inoculated and non-inoculated plants. On the contrary, plants grown in artificially contaminated soil accumulated most metal in root organ. In this soil, mycorrhization significantly enhanced the translocation of all the three metals from root to shoot. The possibility to increase metal accumulation in shoot is very interesting for phytoextraction purpose, since most high producing biomass plants, such as non-mycorrhized hemp, retain most heavy metals in roots, limiting their application.     

Evaluation of solid sorbents for sampling nitroglycerin,ethylene glycol dinitrate and isopropyl nitrate in work-room air

Activated charcoal, Amberlite XAD-2, and Amberlite XAD-7 have been evaluated for the solid sampling of airborne nitroglycerin, ethylene glycol dinitrate and isopropyl nitrate. With the use of diethyl ether for solvent desorption, XAD-2 was found superior for sampling nitroglycerin and ethylene glycol dinitrate. Both XAD-7 and activated charcoal gave high recoveries for isopropyl nitrate; charcoal had a greater capacity than XAD-7 for this compound, however.     

Evaluation of solid sorbents for sampling aliphatic and aromatic nitro compounds in work-room air

Amberlite XAD-2 and XAD-7 porous polymers were evaluated for the solid sampling of aliphatic and aromatic nitro compounds in work-room air. With the use of solvent desorption, XAD-2 gave 80–100% recovery of nitroaromatics, and XAD-7 85–100% recovery of nitroaliphatics. The compounds studied were nitromethane, nitroethane, 2-nitropropane, nitrobenzene, $\text{m}$-dinitrobenzene and 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene. All six compounds gave very poor recoveries from activated charcoal.     

Farm cooperation to improve sustainability

In this paper, it is demonstrated that partnership arrangements between farmers might be a way to secure the economic viability of their farms as well as to increase profitability. The article discusses empirical analyses of three different forms of collaboration, with an emphasis on the environmental improvements associated with collaboration. Collaboration between a dairy farm and a crop farm is analyzed in the first case. The results show that potential gains from improved diversification and crop rotation are substantial, and even larger when the collaboration also involves machinery. The second analysis considers external integration between farrowing and finishing-pig operations. Gains from collaboration originate from biological and technical factors, such as improved growth rate of the pigs and better utilization of buildings. Finally, an evaluation of a group of collaborating crop farmers is performed. In this case, the benefits that arise are mainly due to reduced machinery costs and/or gains due to other factors, such as improved crop rotation and managerial/marketing strategies.