Agricultural Research Knowledge
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11766/187
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- Context-specific agronomic solutions for achieving agronomic gains with reduced environmental footprints in irrigated drylands of EgyptAuthor(s): Devkota Wasti, Mina Kumari; Devkota, Krishna; Omar, Mohie; Attaher, Samar; Govind, Ajit; Nangia, Vinay (Elsevier Ltd.)Date: 2025-11-19Type: Journal ArticleStatus: Open accessyields of 8.4 t ha?1 and net profits of US$1097 ha?1, compared with 6.5 t ha?1 and US$675 ha?1 for medium- yield farmers. In the New Lands, the yield gap was more pronounced, with high-yield farmers achieving average yields of 7.5 t ha?1 compared to 4.63 t ha?1 for medium-yield farmers, highlighting a significant opportunity to increase productivity. Determinants for yield and profit varied across governorates, indicating need for governorate-specific strategies to sustainably close yield and profit gaps. Water productivity, NUE, and labor productivity were notably lower, while production cost showed no strong correlation with yield and was negatively correlated with greenhouse gas emission intensity (GHGI). Raised bed planting improved NUE by 29 %, increased water productivity by 18 %, and reduced GHGI by 15 % compared with conventional flat planting. SIGNIFICANCE: Adopting context-specific agronomic practices that combine integrated-fertilization, efficient irrigation, suitable varieties, and raised-bed planting can enhance agronomic gains while reducing environ mental footprints. When tailored to local yield-limiting factors, these solutions provide a sustainable pathway to narrow yield and profit gaps. Scaling data-driven solutions, supported by enabling policies and effective extension systems, offers viable option to strengthen wheat self-sufficiency in Egypt and similar irrigated drylands.
- Agroecological transitions of pastoralism: a discussion of key concepts and investigation of current dynamics using a political economy lensAuthor(s): Frija, Aymen; Carpentier, Irene; Alary, Veronique; Ouerghemmi, Hassen; Dhehibi, Boubaker (Taylor & Francis (Routledge), 2025-08-06)Date: 2025-08-06Type: Journal ArticleStatus: Open accessThe paper provides a historical review and a contemporary snapshot of pastoral systems in Tunisia, exploring the dynamics of change in pastoral landscapes and territories and their respective drivers and outcomes. The core idea is to recognize the emerging diversity of pastoral systems in terms of structure and transformation, and thus to approach them analytically from a perspective of dynamic transition. The paper utilizes an agroecological gradient of transformation to illustrate the inherent agroecological nature of pastoralism by examining the different trajectories of these systems. The ongoing “hybridization” of pastoralism in South Tunisia is characterized by the emergence of diverse forms of pastoral activities and contexts. These novel forms of pastoralism occasionally diverge from certain agroecological principles. The paper also elucidates key factors that propel these trajectories and divergences of certain forms of pastoralism from agroecology. To this end, key elements and attributes from the political economy framework, with a particular focus on market and labor dynamics in pastoral areas, social metabolism, organizational structures, policies, institutions, and natural resource management, were discussed. The analysis shows how some of these drivers have contributed to the formation of a novel configuration of pastoralism.
- Examining agricultural policy bias through the Kaleidoscope Model: a study of two strategic priorities in TunisiaAuthor(s): Ouerghemmi, Hassen; Frija, Aymen; Shiri, Zahra; Carpentier, Irene; M. Oumer, Ali; Gharbi, Ines; Rejeb, Hichem; Dhehibi, Boubaker (Taylor & Francis (Routledge), 2025-10-16)Date: 2025-10-16Type: Journal ArticleStatus: Open accessThis paper investigates Tunisia’s agricultural policy landscape by examining how national policies on wheat and forage contribute to or hinder agroecological transition. It maps policy actors, assesses their alignment with strategic priorities, and analyses policy development processes. The study employs the Kaleidoscope Model as a framework for analysis, drawing on its five key stages of the policy cycle. Qualitative and semiqualitative methods are used to identify actors, track policy changes, and analyze policy engagement and failure. The findings reveal that Tunisia’s wheat-focused policies prioritize short term stability over sustainable, diversified agriculture, marginalizing forages and threatening long-term ecological resilience.
- D1.1.1 Project portal established on MEL and BMS and kept updated: Pilot on Open Research Data (FAIR) - UPDATE 42MAuthor(s): Nidkazza, ZakariaDate: 2025-12-05Type: Internal ReportStatus: Open accessDeliverable report regarding the progress of the project portal establishment on MEL and BMS for 42 months
- Priorization of indicators by farmersAuthor(s): Rudiger, UdoDate: 2025-11-13Type: ImageStatus: Open accessThe picture shows individual exercises whereby farmers have to prioritize social, environmental indicators.
- Local food for lunch breakAuthor(s): Rudiger, Udo (International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA))Date: 2025-11-14Type: ImageStatus: Open accessThe picture shows the different types of local food, like local cheese, olive oil and bread, produced by the farmer organization.
- Moderate drought stress followed by re-watering enhances wheat starch biosynthesis, improving granule size distribution and physicochemical propertiesAuthor(s): Wen, Jialu; Feng, Jingyi; Yao, Jianfeng; Xiao, Jianke; Nangia, Vinay; Li, Juan; Liu, Yang (Elsevier (12 months))Date: 2025-11-21Type: Journal ArticleStatus: Timeless limited accessWheat growth is often restricted by drought, but crops have a water compensation effect. This study explored the effects of rewatering after different degrees of drought stress in the early stage of grain-filling (1–10 days post anthesis) on starch synthesis, yield, starch particle size distribution and physicochemical properties of two wheat varieties with different drought tolerance. Compared to the well-watered control (CK; soil relative moisture 70–75 %), mild drought followed by re-watering (MR; soil relative moisture 50–55 %) enhanced the activity and gene expression level of XN836 and XN979 starch synthases, increased the content of starch and sucrose, accelerated the conversion of sucrose to starch and thereby raised the wheat yield. Concurrently, MR increased starch granule size, swelling power, and water solubility, while decreasing relative crystallinity, short-range molecular degree of order, gelatinization temperature, and gelatinization enthalpy, ultimately improving starch quality. Dynamic rheology further revealed enhanced elastic behavior in starch under MR treatment. In contrast, severe drought followed by re-watering (SR; soil relative moisture 35–40 %) exhibited the opposite trends in both cultivars. Furthermore, XN836 demonstrated superior recovery capacity following drought and re-watering compared to XN979. These findings provide a theoretical basis for adaptive wheat management strategies under future climate change scenarios.
- Women practizing with a mowerAuthor(s): Rudiger, UdoDate: 2025-11-20Type: ImageStatus: Open accessDuring a small scale mechanization field day participating women from the farmer group Sers practized everal machines like a mower / grass cutter for their forages.
- Root‐Derived Trans‐Zeatin‐Type Cytokinins Increase Cold Tolerance in Rice Seedlings by Regulating Energy MetabolismAuthor(s): Yang, Yi; Luo, Jian; Feng, Jingyi; Li, HuiHui; Xiao, Jianke; Ding, Chengqiang; Nangia, Vinay; Liu, Yang (Wiley (12 months))Date: 2025-09-23Type: Journal ArticleStatus: Timeless limited accessRice seedlings are highly sensitive to low-temperature stress. Cytokinins are important endogenous signalling molecules in plants and play a critical role in regulating stress responses. However, the mechanism by which cytokinins mediate cold stress responses in rice seedlings remains unclear. In this study, we employed cold-tolerant and cold-sensitive rice cultivars, cytokinin-defective mutants and exogenous cytokinin supplementation to elucidate the mechanisms underlying cytokinin-mediated chilling adaptation. First, we compared the transcriptomic and metabolomic profiles of a cold-tolerant cultivar (HY73) and a cold-sensitive cultivar (WFY286) under low-temperature treatment (11°C for 8 h). The results revealed that cytokinins, along with energy metabolic pathways such as glycolysis and the tricarboxylic acid cycle, are closely associated with cold tolerance in rice seedlings. Compared with WFY286, HY73 presented higher levels of root-derived trans-zeatin (tZ)-type cytokinins in leaves, increased energy metabolism, elevated ATP content and increased energy charge. Furthermore, the tZ-type cytokinins transport-deficient mutant abcg18 presented reduced cold tolerance, lower energy metabolic activity and decreased ATP and energy charge levels, indicating that the transport of tZ-type cytokinins is crucial for cold stress responses. Leaf spraying with tZ significantly improved the energy metabolism and cold tolerance of WFY286 and abcg18. Taken together, our findings suggest that root-derived tZ-type cytokinins enhance low-temperature adaptation in rice seedlings by promoting energy metabolism and maintaining cellular energy homoeostasis. This study provides a theoretical basis for improving cold resistance in rice through manipulation of cytokinin signalling pathways.
- Resilience of conservation agriculture to rainfall deficits: A long-term study on durum wheat yield in TunisiaAuthor(s): M'hamed, Hatem Cheikh; Rezgui, Mohsen; Ferchichi, Nouha; Toukebri, Wael; Somrani, Olfa; Rezgui, Mounir; Bahri, Haithem; Barbouchi, Meriem; Frija, Aymen; Rinaldi, Michele; Annabi, Mohamed (PAGEpress, 2025-03-03)Date: 2025-02-07Type: Journal ArticleStatus: Open accessAdopting climate-smart agriculture innovations, such as Conservation Agriculture (CA), is necessary in Tunisia to mitigate the impacts of climate change. The present study assessed the impact of CA on the resilience of durum wheat yield and water use efficiency (WUE) in the context of current climate change. The study involved a comparison of durum wheat yield stability and resilience over 12 successive years (from 2010 to 2022), between no-till (NT), minimum tillage (MT), and conventional tillage (CT), as influenced by precipitation and temperature variations across the crop cycle and year. The effect of tillage treatments on phenological stages (days to heading and grain filling duration) and soil organic carbon and nitrogen were assessed. Weather variables analysis revealed a significant decrease in precipitation and a significant increase in the number of rain-free days and temperatures over the years. Results showed that durum wheat yield and above ground biomass decreased over time in all three tillage treatments, but the rate of grain yield decreased differed significantly between the treatments. NT showed the smallest decrease rate in yield, followed by MT and CT, as well as the smallest coefficient of variation, indicating better yield stability. A highly significant relationship between weather variables and yield response ratios was observed, where the NT-to-CT ratio increased as precipitation decreased. Analysis of yields, soil water content, and phenology revealed that NT did not significantly outperform CT across all experimental years but showed a significant advantage only during years with low precipitation. Analysis of the relationships between variability in yield and variability in weather variables revealed that the NT system was less sensitive (more resilient) to changes in weather variables, especially with regard to the autumn and late spring precipitations. This is of great importance in emphasizing the necessity of the adoption of NT. The study demonstrated that the benefits of CA are particularly pronounced in years with extreme drought events, highlighting the importance of adopting such agriculture innovation to mitigate the impacts of changes in weather variables on durum wheat yield.
- ‘Amina’, ‘Dioufissa’, and ‘Haby’: Heat tolerant durum wheatcultivars adapted to the Senegal River BasinAuthor(s): Sall, Amadou T.; Bassi, Filippo; Kabbaj, Hafssa; Gueye, Habibou; Cisse, Madiama; ould Ely Menoum, Sidi; Zaim, Meryem; Sagne, Felix; Kumar, Sapan; Ortiz, Rodomiro (Crop Science Society of America, 2025-08-01)Date: 2025-06-27Type: Journal ArticleStatus: Open accessSenegalese are consumers of pasta, couscous, and other semolina products, whichare obtained from durum wheat [Triticum turgidum L. durum (Desf)] grain imports.The Senegal River farming system offers a short dry winter season (harmattan) thatis suitable for the cultivation of heat tolerant durum wheat. Hence, delivering super-early high-yielding and heat tolerant durum cultivars was a major goal in this region.‘Amina’ (Reg. no. CV-1217, PI 708102), ‘Dioufissa’ (Reg. no. CV-1218, PI 708103),and ‘Haby’ (Reg. no. CV-1219, PI 708104) are durum wheat cultivars released in2020 for cultivation in Senegal and West Africa after 4 years of multi-locations test-ing. All three are elite lines field-selected at the research farms of Fanaye in Senegaland Kaedi in Mauritania, both of which are located along the Senegal River. Thesecultivars are released jointly by the Senegalese Institute for Agricultural Research(ISRA), National Center for the Agricultural Research and development (CNRADA)in Mauritania, and the International Center for the Agricultural Research in the DryAreas (ICARDA) in Morocco because of their adaptation to hot irrigated conditions,early maturity, higher grain yield and good grain quality.
- Understanding foodscapes for sustainable diets in rural localities in Tunisia: Integrating multiple methods and tools in a mixed-methods designAuthor(s): Ghazel, Sabir; Tennhardt, Lina M; Alary, Veronique; Frija, Aymen (Elsevier (12 months), 2025-09-01)Date: 2025-07-25Type: Journal ArticleStatus: Open accessThis foodscapes study presented the application of farming household survey, food market and costing, and restaurant observation data, and focus group discussion in a convergent parallel mixed methods design to efficiently assess foodscapes in rural Tunisia. The tools enabled the identification of eco-socio-cultural factors that can guide the designing of interventions for sustainable diets.
- A global dataset on agronomic and genetic biofortification of wheat for zinc, iron and protein concentrationDate: 2025-11-25Type: DatasetStatus: Open accessHidden hunger, caused by the insufficient intake of vitamins and essential micronutrients, along with the high concentrations of antinutritional factors, remains a pervasive global issue. A recent global analysis estimates that 65% and 46% of the global population suffer from inadequate iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) intake, respectively. Epidemiological studies indicate that at least one in five individuals is at risk of Zn deficiency, partially attributed to diets with low Zn and high phytate concentrations. Wheat provides ~35–40% of the caloric intake of the global population. However, it is inherently deficient in key micronutrients such as Zn and Fe. Wheat production on nutrient deficient soil further decreases micronutrient concentrations in grains. Excessive application of phosphorus (P) fertilizers in Zn-deficient soils exacerbate the problem by elevating grain phytate concentrations. Phytate, an antinutritional factor, binds to Zn and Fe, thereby reducing their bioavailability in human diet. Addressing the dual challenge of improving both grain yield and nutritional quality is thus a critical global priority. The data set presented here is derived from the systemic global literature search following the Preferred Reporting Items for SystematicReviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA-S) guidelines (See figure below). A comprehensive search was conducted using Web of Science, CAB Direct, Scopus, PUBMED, and Google Scholar from September 2023 to February 2024. The search terms for Web of Science, CAB Direct, Scopus, and PUBMED included: (“Micronutrient” OR “Zinc Application” OR “Iron Application” OR “Ferti*”) AND (“Wheat” AND “Grain Zinc” OR “Grain Iron” AND “Grain Yield” OR “Produ*”). In Google Scholar, the search string used was: “Bread Wheat” OR “Durum Wheat” AND “Grain Zn” OR “Grain Fe” OR “Mineral” AND “Grain Protein.” Boolean operators “AND” and “OR” were used to combine the keywords, and asterisks (*) were included to account for multiple keyword variants. An additional literature search was also conducted on genotype by environment (G×E) interactions and heritability to understand the genetic and environmental influence on grain Zn, Fe and protein concentrations in wheat. Data from tables were recorded directly, whereas figures such as bar charts and graphs were read using WebPlotDigitizer (https://automeris.io/WebPlotDigitizer/). Data on site characteristics including the site name, geographic coordinates, year of study, rainfall received in the season, soil clay, sand and silt, soil pH, soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen, available phosphorus and potassium, Zn and Fe concentrations in the soil were extracted from each study. Missing soil information was retrieved from Soil Grids (https://soilgrids.org/) using the reported GPS coordinates of experimental site. In addition, soil type data based on the World Reference Base (WRB) were also extracted from SoilGrid. Information on crop management including irrigation, inoculation, and the nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, Zn and Fe application rates, grain yield, grain concentrations of Zn, Fe, protein and phytate were also extracted from each study. Information on wheat varieties, their release dates, and habit were extracted from the Wheat Atlas http://wheatatlas.org/varieties. This information was verified by cross-checking with documents from each country. All the data were then organized in Microsoft Excel and processed to facilitate visualization and formal statistical analyses.
- Increased interest in cooperatives products by retailers and food caterersAuthor(s): Ben Salem, Mondher; Dhraief, Mohamed Zied; Ghanem, Hajer Ben (National Agricultural Research Institute of Tunisia (INRAT))Date: 2025-11-17Type: Internal ReportStatus: Open accessThis report aims to demonstrate how retailers and food caterers have become aware of and shown interest in traditional foods through the cooperatives’ digital and market activities.
- "Soil, Plant, and Environment" ConferenceAuthor(s): Zucca, ClaudioDate: 2023-09-12Type: ImageStatus: Open access"Soil, Plant, and Environment" Conference
- 2023 ASA, CSSA, SSSA International Annual MeetingAuthor(s): Zdruli, PandiDate: 2023-10-29Type: ImageStatus: Open access2023 ASA, CSSA, SSSA International Annual Meeting
- European Mission Soil Week 2023Author(s): Zucca, ClaudioDate: 2023-11-21Type: ImageStatus: Open accessEuropean Mission Soil Week 2023
- SOILS4MED Lunch symposium at IUSSAuthor(s): Zucca, ClaudioDate: 2024-05-16Type: ImageStatus: Open accessSOILS4MED Lunch symposium at IUSS
- MEL Platform Training for CapDev Reporting to SOILS4MED - Information SlideAuthor(s): AKÇA, ErhanDate: 2024-11-20Type: ImageStatus: Open accessInformation slide on MEL Platform Training for CapDev Reporting to SOILS4MED
- SOILS4MED - Multi-Stakeholder Workshop in SevillaDate: 2024-12-11Type: ImageStatus: Open accessFlyers in English and Spanish of the PRIMA funded SOILS4MED project Multi-Stakeholder Workshop taken place in Sevilla, Spain, on 11 December 2024.