1,343 results match your criteria: "Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU)[Affiliation]"

Mosquito larvae of the genus Anopheles develop entirely in water, frequently visiting the surface for air. The aquatic environment plays a key role in shaping their microbiota, but the connection between environmental characteristics of breeding sites and larval microbiota remains underexplored. This study focuses on Anopheles arabiensis, which inhabits the surface microlayer (SML) of breeding sites, a zone with high particle density.

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Impact of climate change on the distribution of insectivorous bats: Implications for small-scale farming in southern Mexico.

PLoS One

December 2024

Departamento de Zoología, Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, México.

Bats provide important ecosystem services for agriculture, such as pest control, a function that is particularly relevant for small-scale farmers. However, climate change is causing a decrease in bat populations. To assess the potential impacts of climate change on insectivorous bats and the implications on small-scale farming of indigenous communities in the Chiapas Highlands in southern Mexico we developed a three-step protocol: (1) projecting distribution shifts of insectivorous bats under climate change scenarios using non-dispersal and limited-full dispersal assumptions, (2) using official information to estimate the average economic value of conducting chemical pest control in crops at a state level, (3) surveying small-scale farmers to estimate the local economic value of pest control and determine how bats are perceived by small-scale farmers.

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A comprehensive library of lifetime physiological equations for PBK models: Enhancing dietary exposure modeling with mercury as a case study.

Environ Res

January 2025

Department of Animal Biosciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Uppsala, Sweden; Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. Electronic address:

Dietary risk assessment of food contaminants requires a well-established understanding of the exposure in a heterogeneous population. There are many methods for estimating human exposure to food contaminants, such as intake calculations and internal biomarkers of exposure measured in individuals. However, those methods are expensive, partly invasive, and often provide a momentary exposure snapshot.

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One current challenge in sustainable agriculture is to redesign cropping systems to reduce the use and impacts of pesticides, and by doing so protect the environment, in particular groundwater, and human health. As a large range of systems could be explored and a wide number of pesticides used, field experiments cannot be carried out to study the sustainability of each of them. Thus, the objectives of this work were (1) to measure water flows and pesticide leaching in six contrasted low input cropping systems based on sunflower-wheat rotation, oilseed rape-wheat-barley rotation, and maize monoculture, experimented for three years in three different soil and climatic conditions, and (2) to assess and to compare the ability of three pesticide fate models (MACRO, PEARL, PRZM) to simulate the observed water flows and pesticide concentrations.

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Quantifying element fluxes using radioisotopes.

New Phytol

January 2025

Division of Terrestrial Ecosystem Research, Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science, Center of Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science, University of Vienna, A-1030, Vienna, Austria.

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Release of persistent and potentially toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and other halogenated compounds into the aqueous environment is an emerging issue and advanced treatment methods are needed for their removal from contaminated water. Destructive treatment methods for PFAS exist, but there is a risk of incomplete degradation, resulting in creation of transformation products during treatment. This study assessed the potential of electrochemical oxidation (EO) for destruction of PFAS and other halogenated compounds, and their transformation products.

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Article Synopsis
  • Phosphorus is essential for plants, significantly affecting growth and the nutritional quality of crops like sorghum.
  • The study assessed how different phosphorus fertilization levels, sorghum cultivars, and growing locations influence the phytochemical content and antioxidant activities in sorghum grains.
  • Results showed that phosphorus fertilization boosted phytochemical levels and antioxidant activities across the board, with the Hakeka cultivar performing the best in terms of total flavonoid and carotenoid content.
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Introduction: Sorghum anthracnose, caused by , is the most destructive disease of sorghum, which causes up to 80% grain yield loss in susceptible varieties. The use of resistance varieties is an effective, durable, and eco-friendly strategy for anthracnose control. Knowledge of the phenotypic and genetic variation in is vital for designing appropriate anthracnose management strategies.

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Root circumnutation, the helical movement of growing root tips, is a widely observed behaviour of plants. However, our mechanistic understanding of the impacts of root circumnutation on root growth and soil exploration is limited. Here, we deployed a unique combination of penetrometer measurements, X-ray computed tomography and time-lapse imaging, and cavity expansion modelling to unveil the effects of root circumnutation on the mechanical resistance to soil penetration.

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Article Synopsis
  • Statistical machine learning (ML) analyzes large volumes of genomic, phenotypic, and environmental data to uncover patterns and improve prediction models in plant breeding.
  • By investigating genotype-by-environment (G×E) interactions, ML helps identify genetic factors that influence performance in various environments.
  • This review emphasizes how big data and ML enhance prediction accuracy and streamline breeding strategies through comprehensive analysis of diverse datasets.
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Article Synopsis
  • * There is insufficient knowledge on which CECs to monitor and how to evaluate their environmental impact, highlighting the need for improved understanding to inform regulations and guidelines for wastewater reuse.
  • * This review identifies specific CECs hindering wastewater reuse and introduces a comprehensive methodology to assess and prioritize them based on their ecological and health hazards, revealing that several pharmaceuticals pose significant risks.
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Innovative tools suitable for chemical risk assessment are being developed in numerous domains, such as non-target chemical analysis, omics, and computational approaches. These methods will also be critical components in an efficient early warning system (EWS) for the identification of potentially hazardous chemicals. Much knowledge is missing for current use chemicals and thus computational methodologies complemented with fast screening techniques will be critical.

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Reverse zoonotic transmission of human seasonal influenza to a pig herd in Sweden.

Tierarztl Prax Ausg G Grosstiere Nutztiere

October 2024

Department of Microbiology, Swedish Veterinary Agency (SVA), Uppsala, Sweden.

In January 2023, a Swedish piglet-producing farm with 2800 sows in production (SIP) was diagnosed with IAV (Influenza A virus) and the isolates were shown to cluster with the human seasonal influenza (2022/2023). In December 2022, employees with flu like symptoms tended to the pigs and a few weeks later, respiratory signs appeared in different age groups; sows in farrowing units were anorectic and pyrectic. Lung and nasal swabs were tested positive for IAV and other respiratory infectious agents.

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Background: Physiologically relevant cell line-based models of human airway mucosa are needed to assess nanoparticle-mediated pulmonary toxicity for any xenbiotics expsoure study. Palladium nanoparticles (Pd-NP) originating from catalytic converters in vehicles pose health risks. We aimed to develop airway models to assess the toxic potential of Pd-NP in normal (Non-CB) and chronic bronchitis-like (CB-like) mucosa models.

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Sweet corn (Zea mays L.) seed performance enhanced under drought stress by chitosan and minerals coating.

BMC Plant Biol

October 2024

Department of Medicinal Plants, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Arak University, Arak, 38156-8-8349, Iran.

Sweet corn (Zea mays L.) var. Saccharata is a tropical and semitropical annual cereal with low germination, poor vigor, and weak seedling establishment in the soil.

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Agroforestry can improve soil conservation and overall farm productivity compared with sole-crop systems, but its benefits are limited by competitive interactions between tree and crop components. Studies on light competition have been performed on relatively flat land, but slope can influence light distribution. Little is known about optimizing light utilization and enhancing system productivity and/or income from agroforestry on sloping land.

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Unravelling the physiological and molecular mechanisms of leaf color change in Acer griseum through multi-omics analysis.

Plant Physiol Biochem

November 2024

College of Landscape Architecture and Art, Northwest A&F University (NWAFU), 712100, Yangling, China; Department of Biosystems and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), 234 56, Alnarp, Sweden. Electronic address:

Paperbark maple (Acer griseum), an endemic and endangered wild plant in China, has red-colored autumn leaves of high ornamental and garden application value. Leaf color change serves as a crucial indicator for evaluating garden tree aesthetics; however, research on A. griseum's leaf color change remains limited.

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Background: The domestic cat (Felis catus) is a newly evolved species in the family Felidae that has developed some great features among mammals. It is critical to conserve these species and prevent inbreeding from reducing their genetic diversity by understanding their genetic relationships and applying the information to breeding management. The diverse population was an excellent choice for studying genetic diversity and inbreeding phenomena.

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Cassava, a crop of importance for subsistence farming in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, has the potential to benefit from global economic integration as a versatile industrial resource. Enhancing cassava productivity is not just a matter of agricultural competitiveness but a crucial step toward ensuring many communities' food security and livelihoods. Given its high performance in marginal environments, where climate change poses threats, ensuring food security and livelihoods relies on rapidly adapting cassava.

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Keel bone damage, include deviations and fractures, is common in both white and brown laying hens, regardless of the housing system. Radiography for assessing birds' keel bones is was proposed by previous studies. However, radiographs show only 2 out of 3 dimensions of the dissected keel bones.

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Coprecipitation of Ce(III) oxide with UO.

J Synchrotron Radiat

November 2024

Nuclear Chemistry / Industrial Materials Recycling, Chalmers University of Technology, SE-412 96 Gothenburg, Sweden.

The neutralization of acidic solutions containing U (IV) and Ce (III) at room temperature in glove box atmosphere and in the presence of dithionite results in coprecipitation of these elements as amorphous solid solutions CeUO. The solubilities of the precipitates with different mole fractions (x) of Ce(OH) (x = 0.01 or 0.

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Historical land use changes lead to massive loss of soil carbon stocks in a recovering, semiarid mangrove.

Mar Pollut Bull

November 2024

Instituto de Ciências do Mar, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Av. da Abolição 3207, 60165-081 Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil.

Land use changes lead to substantial releases of carbon from the soil into the atmosphere. In carbon-rich ecosystems, like mangrove forests, this carbon loss may be more intense. This study evaluated soil carbon stocks in a mangrove area historically impacted by salt farming, which is under ecosystem recovery, in the semiarid coast of Northeastern Brazil.

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