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Recent Submissions
Modeling soil erosion and sediment yield under climate change: a comparison of RUSLE and MUSLE integrated with SDR using variable soil data resolutions.
Author(s): Lamane, Houda; Mouhir, Latifa; Zouahri, Abdelmjid; Baghdad, Bouamar; El Bilali, Ali; Moussadek, Rachid (Springer (part of Springer Nature))
Date: 2025-07-16
Type: Journal Article
Status: Timeless limited access
Climate change exacerbates soil erosion by intensifying extreme events, which weaken soil structure and increase surface runoff. In developing countries, resource limitations constrain mitigation efforts, accelerating land degradation, reducing agricultural productivity, and increasing reservoir sedimentation. The accuracy of erosion modeling under these conditions is also influenced by the resolution of input data, particularly soil data, which affects spatial representation and predictive reliability. The semi-arid Bouregreg Watershed in northwestern Morocco faces severe erosion-driven degradation, underscoring the need for advanced modeling for effective assessment and mitigation. The study first compared the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) and the Modified Universal Soil Loss Equation (MUSLE) using the high-resolution INRA soil dataset (1:50,000). RUSLE with INRA data (RUSLEINRA) was then compared to RUSLE with the global FAO soil map (1:1,000,000) (RUSLEFAO). RUSLEINRA yielded more accurate estimates, with average soil loss for the period 09/01/2016–08/31/2021 of 15.56 t ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹, versus 10.24 t ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ for RUSLEFAO, while MUSLEINRA estimated 11.40 t ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹. Sediment yield (SY) was calculated using a modified Sediment Delivery Ratio (SDR) of 20.62% and validated against observations at the Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdallah (SMBA) dam, showing strong alignment with RUSLEINRA. The study also projects erosion and SY for the period 09/01/2021–12/31/2040 under SSP126 and SSP585 scenarios, with future soil loss estimated between 31.54 and 37.04 t ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹, indicating a climate-driven increase. These findings highlight the urgent need for effective soil conservation and watershed management, offering key insights for decision-makers addressing reservoir sustainability, sediment control, and erosion in semi-arid regions.
Assessing sustainability in small dairy cattle farms: Pathways for improvement in northeastern Tunisia
Author(s): Ounali, Nadia; Dhraief, Mohamed Zied; Ben Salem, Mondher; Dhehibi, Boubaker; Gharbi, Ines; Rekik, Mourad; Mansouri, Mustapha; Riahi, Ferid (Università di Bologna)
Date: 2025-10-02
Type: Journal Article
Status: Open access
In Tunisia, rising costs, low productivity, and climate change have reduced cattle numbers in the last decade. This study evaluates the sustainability of small dairy cattle farms in northeastern Tunisia and explores pathways for improvement. A sustainability assessment was conducted on 109 dairy farms in Bizerte, using IDEA method to evaluate agroecological, socioterritorial, and economic dimensions. At the regional level, sustainability was highest in agroecology, moderate in economics, and lowest in socioterritorial aspects. Cluster analysis identified four groups. The first supports employment and resource use but struggles with organic farming and waste management. The second practices agroforestry with moderate biodiversity but faces economic challenges. The third excels in biodiversity and manure management. The fourth benefits from diversification and self-sufficiency, enhancing performance. For long-term sustainability, the dairy sector must adopt resilient systems with mixed forage crops, improve funding and subsidies, and invest in infrastructure, training, and cooperatives to boost productivity, reduce environmental impact, and integrate farmers into the value chain.
Metagenomic insight into drought-induced changes in the Egyptian wheat rhizosphere microbiome
Author(s): M. Abd-Elhalim, Haytham; El-Hadidi, Mohamed; Mahmoud, Nourhan Fouad; Hamed, Ranin R.; Megid, Islam A.; Taha, Manar H.; Radwan, Khaled (Springer Nature)
Date: 2025-08-12
Type: Journal Article
Status: Open access
Wheat is one of the most important cereal crops and an important source of food for billions of people worldwide. However, drought stress can pose a real threat to its productivity and lead to significant yield losses, especially in Egypt. The rhizospheric microbiome of wheat can play an important role in drought stress and help wheat to respond to this abiotic stress. Understanding this microbiome is therefore also important to improve drought stress resilience and productivity. In this study, a metagenomic analysis was performed to investigate how the composition and diversity of microbial communities associated with the wheat rhizosphere change under drought. Taxonomic and phylogenetic analyses revealed a shift in microbial abundance, with Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria and Verrucomicrobia being the four most abundant phyla of the ethnic microbiota. Remarkably, other classes, including Alphaproteobacteria and Cytophagia, were significantly enriched under drought, which could be a promising enhancement of plant stress altruism. Differential abundance analysis showed that the control samples had higher abundance of microbial taxa such as OD1, WS2, Chlorobi, ABY1 and SHA-109 compared to the drought-treated genotypes. Functional prediction analysis using PICRUSt showed that an uncharacterized ATP-binding protein within the AAA + superfamily is overrepresented under drought conditions. This suggests that these genes may play a role in stress adaptation, possibly via energy-dependent regulation of cellular processes involved in plant survival. Our results expand our understanding of the complexity of responses of the wheat rhizosphere microbiome to drought and have practical implications for the development of microbial target combinations to improve wheat tolerance and productivity in the context of climate change challenges.
Using the CLEANED tool in Tunisia to assess the environmental impact of dairy farming
Author(s): Notenbaert, An; Vander Hoek, Rein; Paul, Birthe; Frija, Aymen; Tebourbi, Ons; Hassan, Sawsan; Masmoudi, Ahlem; Gloy, Nele; Moujahed, Nizar (International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), 2024-12-30)
Date: 2024-12-30
Type: Brief
Status: Open access
In Tunisia, implementing partner ICARDA and its national partners have developed and validated several tools and technologies that align closely with Tunisian government priorities. By doing so, they have provided considerable support to ongoing technical and policy development and implementation. This Brief describes how the Comprehensive Livestock Environmental Assessment for Improved Nutrition, a Secured Environment and Sustainable Development along Livestock and Value Chains (CLEANED) is being used to assess the environmental impact and GHG emissions of dairy farming and has garnered interest for use by the National Agronomic Institute of Tunisia (INAT), and the Office de l’Elevage et des Pâturages (OEP). The Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT and ICARDA collaborated in this work with GIZ. The Alliance guided and enabled GIZ to carry out a CLEANED assessment of dairy systems in Northern and Central Tunisia in 2021.
Research for Development – Scaling Rhizobial Inoculation for Leguminous Forage Crops
Author(s): Rudiger, Udo; Hemissi, Imen; Frija, Aymen; Idoudi, Zied (CGIAR)
Date: 2025-06-05
Type: Blog
Status: Open access
To address Tunisia’s shortage of quality livestock feed, through CGIAR Research Initiative on Agroecology and the SWC@Scale-ProSol Project, ICARDA and national partners, the National Agronomic Research Institute (INRAT) and the Office of Livestock and Pasture (OEP), introduced rhizobial inoculation as an agroecological solution to boost the productivity of leguminous forage crops, particularly Sulla (Hedysarum coronarium). Trials in the Kef-Siliana transect showed that inoculating Sulla with Rhizobium sullae significantly increased plant emergence, biomass yield (by 66.3%), nitrogen content (by over 80%), and phosphorus uptake (by 21.75%), while eliminating the need for synthetic fertilizers. This innovation improves soil fertility and strengthens integrated crop-livestock systems. Supported by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) through the ProSol project, of which ICARDA was a partner, the establishment of Tunisia’s first rhizobial inoculum multiplication unit, led by OEP, marks a major step toward scaling this sustainable technology.