Differences in rural landscape perceptions and preferences between farmers and naturalists

A long history of human–nature interactions mediated by agriculture, resulted in high biodiversity in Japanese rural landscapes. This diversity faces drastic decline due to the changes following the socioeconomic circumstances regarding agriculture. Rural conservation will require cooperation among major stakeholders, and knowing how preferences for and perceptions of rural landscapes differ among them can help crafting and implementing effective conservation measures. This study investigated how perceptions of rural landscapes in the Arai-Keinan region, Niigata, Japan differ among people having very different relationships to them. In a photograph-based semantic differential survey, farmers and naturalists, major stakeholders in rural conservation, rated both rice paddy and woodland landscapes. In determining preferences for rice paddy landscapes, perceptions of stewardship and openness were significantly more important for farmers, whereas those of naturalness and biodiversity were significantly more important for naturalists. Such group differences were not found for woodland landscapes. Analysis of perceptions for landscape changes suggested that farmers may have higher normative criteria for rural landscapes than naturalists. Group preferences for intensified rice paddies on sloped topography may conflict, and any rural conservation planning effort should carefully consider that farmers and naturalists consider different aspects of landscapes as important.     

Uptake of selected PAHs from contaminated soils by rice seedlings (Oryza sativa) and influence of rhizosphere on PAH distribution

The uptake of selected polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) by rice (Oryza sativa) seedlings from spiked aged soils was investigated. When applied to soils aged for 4 months, naphthalene, phenanthrene, and pyrene exhibited volatilization loss of 98, 95, and 30%, respectively, with the remaining fraction being fixed by soil organic matter and/or degraded by soil microbes. In general, concentrations of the three PAHs in rice roots were greater than those in the shoots. The concentrations of root associated PHN and PYR increased proportionally with both soil solution and rhizosphere concentrations. PAH concentrations in shoots were largely independent of those in soil solution, rice roots, or rhizosphere soil. The relative contributions of plant uptake and plant-promoted rhizosphere microbial biodegradation to the total mass balance were 0.24 and 14%, respectively, based on PYR concentrations in rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere soils, the biomass of rice roots, and the dry soil weight.     

利用淀粉基共混物作为反硝化固体碳源的研究

合成了淀粉/聚己内酯(PCL)热塑性共混物(SPCL6),并对其性能进行了表征.研究了SPCL6作为反硝化碳源和生物膜载体用于固相反硝化工艺的可行性.结果表明,SPCL6可作为固体碳源用于去除低C/N水中的硝酸盐,在接种1 d后SPCL6就有明显的脱氮效果.进水硝氮质量浓度对反硝化速率没有明显影响,以SPCL6为固体碳源的反硝化过程符合零级反应.剪切力对反硝化速率具有显著影响,转速从70 r.min-1提高至140 r.min-1时,反硝化速率(以N计)从0.016 5 mg.(g.h)-1提升至0.0328 mg.(g.h)-1.红外光谱结果表明,微生物利用后的SPCL6中淀粉和PCL均发生了降解.     

Deficit irrigation: An option to mitigate arsenic load of rice grain in West Bengal, India

Farmers in arsenic (As) contaminated areas of West Bengal, India grow rice during dry months (January to April) and use underground water for irrigation with As concentration above WHO defined critical (0.01 mg l⁻¹) limit. In each season they add 50-150 mg As per m² soil area. Thus growing rice under deficit irrigation in these areas will reduce As load in soil-root-shoot-leaf-grain continuum of rice ecosystem. Suitable deficit irrigation system has to be screened so that As load will decrease with insignificant reduction in grain yield. With this objective, rice grown under four irrigation regimes (i) continuous ponding (CP), (ii) intermittent ponding (IP), (iii) saturation (SAT) and (iv) aerobic (AER) was tested to assess the arsenic load in soil and various parts of rice on 45 and 80 days after transplanting (DAT). Conditions described in treatments ii, iii and iv were imposed during 15-45 DAT. Highest value (18.18 and 18.74 mg kg⁻¹) of soil arsenic was attained under CP followed by IP, SAT and AER. Root arsenic content under AER at 45 and 80 DAT was at the lowest level (6.14 and 20.54 mg kg⁻¹) and this was 31 and 7.0% lower as compared to CP. As content in leaf and grain attained the lowest values under IP. Grain yield insignificantly differed under IP (4.33 Mg ha⁻¹) over CP (4.69 Mg ha⁻¹). Compared to soil As, As added through irrigation showed stronger relationship with As status of various plant parts. Imposition of IP only during vegetative stage was found to be optimum in terms of reduction of As content in straw and grain respectively by 23 and 33% over farmers irrigation practice with insignificant decrease in grain yield.     

Estimation of Southeast Asian rice paddy areas with different ecosystems from moderate-resolution satellite imagery

Multi-temporal satellite imagery from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) was used to map the different ecosystems of Southeast Asian (SEA) rice paddies. The algorithm was based on temporal profiles of vegetation strength and/or water content, using MODIS surface reflectance in visible to near-IR range. The results obtained from the analysis were compared to national statistics. Estimated SEA regional rice area was 42 × 10⁶ ha, which agrees with published values. The model performance was dependent on rice ecosystems. Good linear relationships between the model results and the national statistics were observed for rainfed rice. High linear coefficients of determination, R², were also found for irrigated rice and upland rice, but the model tended to underestimate irrigated rice and overestimate upland rice. However, these high R² values indicated that the model effectively simulated spatial distribution of these rice areas. These R² values were either of similar magnitude or larger than those reported in literature, regardless of the rice ecosystem. Poor correlation was observed for deepwater rice.     

内交联型淀粉改性水性聚氨酯固沙剂的制备

文章以甲苯二异氰酸酯(TDI)、聚氧化丙烯二醇(PPG)为基本原料,二羟甲基丙酸(DMPA)为亲水化改性单体、三羟甲基丙烷(TMP)为扩链剂通过预聚体法制备了淀粉改性水性聚氨酯环保型固沙剂,研究了淀粉用量对固沙剂乳液及其所成胶膜性能的影响。研究结果表明:在扩链聚合时加入可溶性淀粉,可以得到稳定的聚氨酯乳液;随着可溶性淀粉用量的增加,乳液的粘度增加,粒径呈增大趋势,胶膜拉伸强度减小;动态热力学分析显示胶膜储能模量E’随着淀粉含量的增加而减小,而玻璃化转变温度升高;保水实验显示保水效果随淀粉含量的增加而提高。当可溶性淀粉与纯聚氨酯的质量比为10%时,胶膜的拉伸强度和断裂伸长率分别为16.7 MPa和662%,而应用此配比固沙液的沙土在测试条件下10 h的失水率仅为55.7%,达到固沙剂保水性和胶膜力学性能之间较好的平衡。     

Describing and measuring ethno-entomological knowledge of rice pests: tradition and change among Asian rice farmers

The paper presents a methodology that guided several ethnoentomological research projects and goes on to examine and compare the results from two independent research locations in Asia. The first location is in the Philippines, a Green Revolution area that has been heavily impacted by extension messages and insecticide use. The second location is in Nepal which has a traditional subsistence orientation and has remained widely unaffected by agricultural modernization. The paper emphasizes the differences and similarities of the results from the two sites and discusses the role of the methodology and methods used in capturing ethnoentomological knowledge, particularly with regard to insect pests in rice. The results of both investigations share the importance of agronomic criteria among farmers in insect classification and sorting criteria, thus highlighting the relevance of functional criteria. Farmers at both research sites have difficulties in identifying the lifecycles of insects. We discuss the issues of tradition and change in farmer entomological knowledge and providing support to the knowledge base of farmers though programs like IPM-Farmer Field Schools as opposed to broad-based recommendations for crop pest management.Article type: MS-ENVI-SI ETHNOSCI MS04 Contribution to Environment, Development & Sustainability, special issue ‘Bridging the gap between natural resources and their human management for the future using ethnoscience’.     

Editorial: Effect of root anatomy and apoplastic barrier development on cadmium uptake in rice

<正>Cadmium (Cd) is a toxic metal with high mobility from soil and known translocation into plants (Song et al., 2015).Because the main source of human exposure to Cd is from food consumption, there has been increased research examining Cd uptake in agricultural plants (Li et al., 2014; Rizwan et al., 2016; Song et al., 2015). Rice (Oryza sativa L.) has been identified as a major crop that contains relatively high     

城市污泥的水稻肥用效果及环境影响的研究

用盆载试验研究城市污泥直接肥用对水稻生产及其产量的影响，并测定了污泥中重金属在稻米和土壤中的残留量，结果表明：污泥作水稻基肥施用有明显的增产作用和一定改土效果，但污泥带入农田的重金属大部分残留在土壤中，少部分被作物携带走，而在稻米中的残留量符合国家标准。