Desert locust (Schistocera gregaria) (Orthoptera: Acrididae) is an aggressive and voracious swarming grasshopper, a migratory pest that feeds on almost every vegetation on its way. In Nepal first desert locust incidence was reported in 1962 and major crop damage was reported in 1996. After 24 years, Desert locust was again reported on 27th June 2020 from Bara, Sarlahi, Parsa, and Rupendehi districts of Nepal. Until now, out of 77 districts, the incidence of locust has been reported from 55 districts and that had destroyed different crops in about 1118 hectares of land. This review highlights the biology of the pest species Schistocera gregaria and appropriate management practices and approaches that Nepalese farmers can afford and adapt. Mechanical measures like making a loud noise, generating smokes and fumes, digging trenches, net trapping could be done to control and monitor the pest for small scale farmers. Use of Nosema locustae, and combination of Paranosema locustae and Metarhizium anisopliae var. acridum were found as the best biological control agents. Neem, linseed oil, Allium cepa oil are effective botanicals whereas Malathion, chlorpyrifos, lamdacyhalothrin, and deltamethrin are effective chemical pesticides available now. The overall integration of mechanical, biopesticides, biological, chemical methods is the best combination of methods to reduce the impact of pest.

Global warming is currently considered a "planetary cataclysm" in full swing; it is the worst climate risk on Earth, whose causes, still unknown exactly, create important contradictions in the scientific world and among policy and economic decision-makers on a global scale. This article provides an analysis of research conducted in 2016-2019, with data obtained by monitoring the influence of climatic factors on soil moisture and productivity of field crops agroecosystems from Plop locality, Dondu?eni district, G? "Agro-Panfil". The authors underline the role and the great importance of the study conducted on climate change by assessment of climatic conditions (temperature and precipitation) through the HOBO station, providing us with data and concrete examples. This paper also describes agroecosystems were monitored practically from sowing to harvesting and post-harvesting throughout the agricultural year through the Station "HOBO - 01102025". Were investigated main agricultural ecosystems (autumn wheat, autumn barley, soybeans, rape, alfalfa) characteristic for the North area of the country. The characteristic of the climatic conditions of the agricultural years 2016-2019 for the researched agroecosystems are presented in figures 5 - 7. Research has shown that climatic conditions have influenced the harvest of field crops. The harvest structure for some research variants is presented in fig. 9 compared to the harvest obtained on the territory of the Republic of Moldova in fig. 8. The average harvest for autumn wheat (4.8 t/ha) and autumn barley (6 t/ha) was high, maize grains - very high (9 t/ha), sunflower (2.4 t/ha), rape (3.3 t/ha), sugar beet (60 t/ha), soybeans (1.8 t/ha) - low.

In this study, biomass yield and sugar content, and bioethanol potential of six sweet sorghum hybrids were considered to assess the potential role of the genotype in the performance of sorghum. Yield and sugar content values were investigated in relation to the climatic aspects according to the Ellenberg and the Pálfai drought indices, and the effect of drought on biomass yield and sugar content was evaluated to reveal the dominant factor determining the bioethanol yield. Results proved that sweet sorghum holds a significant potential in the semi-arid regions to enhance the amount of the produced bioethanol e.g. in the EU, even though, considering the climatic characteristics of each year, sometimes extreme differences have been found that had a significant impact on its production. However, considering the performance of the hybrids, significant differences were found for both the green yield (5.5 t ha-1 ) and the sugar content (0.79 Brix %) under similar weather conditions, but sugar content for any of the selected hybrids had no relationship with the drought indices, though, seasonal impact was proved. In contrary, biomass yield showed significant relationship with the Pálfai drought index, suggesting that annual water shortage results in lower sorghum yield in the investigated semi-arid region as the determinative factor. Hybrids of the sweet sorghum showed high but different biofuel potential under the same, extreme climatic conditions via their biomass production variation, thus their field specific experimental testing is advisable to find the best performing ones in this context.

Understanding the habitat is essential for economic production. As a result of rapidly changing processes, features of habitats may be modified, it may be affected by a wide variety of factors. Inundation caused by inland-excess water (IEW) is one of the most significant natural disasters but spatial and temporal targeting of it is also a problem in practice. Over half of Hungary’s territory is endangered by IEW. For the development of inland-excess waters a combination of several adverse natural and human activity is highly important. The formation of IEW is primarily determined by meteorological, soil and terrain conditions. During the research, the causes of the development of IEW were analysed based on the terrain conditions of the area in a grassland. Soil connections have been well explored according to the other studies, but not as terrain causes. Therefore the applicability of digital elevation models based on remote sensing (high density LiDAR) data and Sentinel 1 data in inland areas is a priority area of our research. To examine the relief, elevation data of conventional analog topographic maps with 1:10000 scale and an aerial LiDAR data were compared. Sentinel 1 data were used to validate the results based on the LiDAR data. Based on digital elevation model (DEM) derived from topographical map shows that there is no risk of IEW on the grassland. It is, however, contradicted by the reality, the inland marshes presents on grassland land during on-site visits and which can be identified by the LiDAR and Sentinel 1 images.

Stellaria media of the plant family Caryophyllaceae, is a promising herb due to its phytochemical composition and its biological effect, such antioxidant capacity and reduction of obesity.From the point of view of phytochemicals composition, the S. media is composed of phenols such as flavonoids and phenolic acids. The aim of our study was to find a method to encapsulate of S. media extract using alginate matrix beads and to monitor the released efficiency from the matrix in simulated gastric and intestinal fluids. Alginate is a polymer with a three-dimensional network resistant to acid pH but allows the penetration into the network of hydrophilic molecules at alkaline pH. The size, shape and procedure of the extract incorporation into the sodium alginate microcapsules were evaluated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and byoptical microscope images. Our results demonstrated that the method development for the encapsulation of S. media extract is a suitable method to obtain gastro-resistant microcapsules and controlled release in the intestine.

The objective of this study was to investigate the viability of microalgae biomass (Chlorella vulgaris) as a substrate for anaerobic digestion using synthetic wastewater as well as evaluate the biogas production improvement and the microalgae cultivation rate. The experimental procedure lasted for 700 hours, where a mixture of synthetic wastewater and microalgae were used in the BE4 anaerobic tank reactor. Based on the process parameters (pH and temperature), the degradation phases (hydrolysis, acidogenesis (fermentation acidification), acetogenesis, methanogenesis) were successfully separated from each other. A drop in pH was detected from 7 to 4.5 in the acidogenesis phase, which resulted in a delayed decrease in the total chlorophyll concentration and the microalgae activity rate. In the methanogenesis phase, the pH slightly returned to neutral and caused a relatively low biogas yield (0.15 L in total), which can be explained by the unbalanced carbon/nitrogen rate (C : N) in relation to the substrate. The increase in total chlorophyll concentration was observed by the end of the process as a result of the increasing pH. It was found, that the concentration of major chemical constituents and the COD can be described well by logarithmical curves according to the nutrient consumption of microalgae. The COD decreased from the initial value of 5077 mg·L-1 O2 to 1592 mg·L-1 O2 , which refers to an intensive anaerobic degradation process.

The integration of nanomaterials in conventional agricultural practices ensures an increase in efficiency. The use of nano-fertilizers can improve the plant’s state of vegetation with favorable effects on agricultural production. A systematic analysis of information regarding the impact of nanoparticles on plants is necessary to improve our understanding of the effects of metallic nanoparticles and oxides on the structure and functions of the photosynthesis systems of plants. Chlorophyll a, b and carotenoid contents varied depending on different concentrations of applied Se, Fe2O3 and MgO nanoparticles (NPs). In this paper, we have approached the impact of nanoparticles on plants in relation to the type and concentration of studied nanoparticles. In the case of treatment with Se NPs, proline shows statistically significant increase with P <0.05, and significant decrease in the case of treatment with Fe2O3 and MgO NPs. The decrease in proline content correlates with the increased recorded values of chlorophyll and carotenoids during treatment with Fe2O3 NPs, and increased values of carotenoids when applying MgO NPs. In the case of Fe2O3 NPs a stimulating effect was registered only at the concentration of 250 ppm.

Native sheep breed act as reservoirs of local environment adapted genes. They are vital for food security as they are adapted to the extreme production environments. Sheep farming is a potential profitable agricultural enterprise in lands unsuitable for other agricultural activities. However, climate change effects pose their existential challenge for it leads to genetic diversity within species. Available literature of implications of climate change effects on the genetic diversity of native sheep breeds is limited. In this study, therefore, we bridge this gap by discussing sheep selection for adaptation traits and its implication on genetic diversity. This review discusses the climate change trends and projections, the history and importance of sheep, sheep farming systems, importance of genetic diversity in sheep and adaptation mechanisms highlighting their selection signatures. Further, we also discuss the use of genomic tools for selection for adaptation. Finally, this paper highlights an effective way of maintaining genetic diversity and breeding for adaptation. The understanding of impacts of climate change on genetic diversity of native sheep breeds would help in developing directional breeding program encompassing adaptation traits, as well as trigger conservation efforts for already endangered sheep breeds.

Chayote is a multi-functional crop adapted to wide range of climate with the capacity of making its products in the market all the year round. Diversity determines the breeding and conservation strategies. Diversity of chayote was assessed on-farm, and on-station using 9 morphological and 20 random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers in addition to use values. Cluster and principal component analyses were done using both morphological and genotypic data separately. Five different fruits colors have been found in chayote fruits on-farm. Almost 80 % vegetable shops including foot path shops keep chayote fruits, tender shoots, and root on sale during chayote harvest season. Tuberous roots are used as an alternative to potato and are tastier than other root and tuber crops. One can harvest tender shoots, fruits and tuberous roots for more than 25 years from the same plant. About 100 kg tuberous root can be harvested from single plant at 3 years interval. It has the longest harvesting period among the vegetables within a year. Seto Ishkush (chayote with white fruit) formed a separate cluster, indicating unique accession. The highest genetic diversity was found between Hariyo Ishkush and Golkaade Ishkush. The total number of amplified DNA bands varied from 2 (OPC-20) to 10 (OPC-11) with an average of 5.7 bands per primer. The size of bands generated ranged from 100 bp to 3000 bp. A total of 85 amplified bands were found and all bands were polymorphism. The polymorphism information content (PIC) ranged from 0.22 to 0.46. Three major clusters were formed based on RAPD information. Among the five conservation methods, field genebank was found effective in Nepal.