A combination of conserved and diverged responses underlies Theobroma cacao's defense response to Phytophthora palmivora.

Background: Plants have complex and dynamic immune systems that have evolved to resist pathogens. Humans have worked to enhance these defenses in crops through breeding. However, many crops harbor only a fraction of the genetic diversity present in wild relatives.

Enteric Methane Emissions in Dairy Cows with Different Genetic Groups in the Humid Tropics of Costa Rica.

Enteric methane (CH) is one of the main greenhouse gases emitted in livestock production systems with ruminants. Among the options to reduce such emissions, animal genetics is one of the factors that is taking relevance in recent years. The aim of the present study was to assess the emission of enteric CH in dairy cows with different genetic backgrounds.

Somatic embryogenesis of Arabica coffee in temporary immersion culture: Advances, limitations, and perspectives for mass propagation of selected genotypes.

Culture in temporary immersion systems (TIS) is a valuable tool for the semi-automation of high frequency somatic embryogenesis of coffee. This system allows the intermittent exposure of explants to liquid medium in cycles of specific frequency and duration of immersion with renewal of the culture atmosphere in each cycle. TIS have revolutionized somatic embryogenesis of coffee plants as an alternative for scaling up and reducing costs associated with labor-intensive solid media culture.

Estimating crop parameters using Sentinel-1 and 2 datasets and geospatial field data.

Crop monitoring is essential for ensuring food security in a global context of population growth and climate change. Satellite images are commonly used to estimate crop parameters over large areas, and the freely available Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Sentinel-1 (S-1) and optical Sentinel-2 (S-2) images are relevant for that purpose combining high temporal resolution and high spatial resolution. For this data article, field surveys were conducted from January to July 2017 in France to sample wheat and rapeseed crop parameters during the entire crops cycle.

Agroecosystem diversification with legumes or non-legumes improves differently soil fertility according to soil type.

Plant diversification through crop rotation or agroforestry is a promising way to improve sustainability of agroecosystems. Nonetheless, criteria to select the most suitable plant communities for agroecosystems diversification facing contrasting environmental constraints need to be refined. Here, we compared the impacts of 24 different plant communities on soil fertility across six tropical agroecosystems: either on highly weathered Ferralsols, with strong P limitation, or on partially weathered soils derived from volcanic material, with major N limitation.

Community-based monitoring to facilitate water management by local institutions in Costa Rica.

Water scarcity is a global problem that can be compounded by inefficient water management, including underinvestment in infrastructure, underpricing of water use, and underenforcement of user rules. Here, we explore whether these inefficiencies can be reduced in rural Costa Rica via an externally driven community monitoring program (i.e.

Willingness to Pay for Gray and Green Interventions to Augment Water Supply: A Case Study in Rural Costa Rica.

Many rural communities in developing countries experience severe water shortages, limiting their capacity for self-sustainability. This study used contingent valuation and choice experiment methods and in-person interviews to estimate household willingness to pay (WTP) for gray and green interventions to augment water supply in rural Costa Rica. In particular, we examined residents' preferences for well construction, as a form of gray intervention, and reforestation, as a form of green intervention, aimed at alleviating water shortages.

Authentication of Coffea arabica Varieties through DNA Fingerprinting and its Significance for the Coffee Sector.

Background: Locating the optimal varieties for coffee cultivation is increasingly considered a key condition for sustainable production and marketing. Variety performance varies when it comes to susceptibility to coffee leaf rust and other diseases, adaptation to climate change and high cup quality for specialty markets. But because of poor organization and the lack of a professional coffee seed sector, most existing coffee farms (and even seed lots and nurseries) do not know which varieties they are using.

Development of an Open-Source Thermal Image Processing Software for Improving Irrigation Management in Potato Crops ( L.).

Accurate determination of plant water status is mandatory to optimize irrigation scheduling and thus maximize yield. Infrared thermography (IRT) can be used as a proxy for detecting stomatal closure as a measure of plant water stress. In this study, an open-source software (Thermal Image Processor (TIPCIP)) that includes image processing techniques such as thermal-visible image segmentation and morphological operations was developed to estimate the crop water stress index (CWSI) in potato crops.

A global synthesis reveals biodiversity-mediated benefits for crop production.

Human land use threatens global biodiversity and compromises multiple ecosystem functions critical to food production. Whether crop yield-related ecosystem services can be maintained by a few dominant species or rely on high richness remains unclear. Using a global database from 89 studies (with 1475 locations), we partition the relative importance of species richness, abundance, and dominance for pollination; biological pest control; and final yields in the context of ongoing land-use change.

Crop variety management for climate adaptation supported by citizen science.

Crop adaptation to climate change requires accelerated crop variety introduction accompanied by recommendations to help farmers match the best variety with their field contexts. Existing approaches to generate these recommendations lack scalability and predictivity in marginal production environments. We tested if crowdsourced citizen science can address this challenge, producing empirical data across geographic space that, in aggregate, can characterize varietal climatic responses.

The impact of protected area governance and management capacity on ecosystem function in Central America.

Protected areas (PAs) are a prominent approach to maintaining and enhancing biodiversity and ecosystem services. A critical question for safeguarding these resources is how PA governance processes and management structures influence their effectiveness. We conduct an impact evaluation of 12 PAs in three Central American countries to assess how processes in management restrictions, management capacity, and decentralization affect the annual change in the satellite-derived Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI).

Multiple-Disease System in Coffee: From Crop Loss Assessment to Sustainable Management.

Assessment of crop loss due to multiple diseases and pests (D&P) is a necessary step in designing sustainable crop management systems. Understanding the drivers of D&P development and yield loss helps identify leverage points for crop health management. Crop loss assessment is also necessary for the quantification of D&P regulation service to identify promising systems where ecosystem service provision is optimized.

Phenotypic Description of L. for Yield and Vigor Traits From 34 Hybrid Families in Costa Rica Based on the Genetic Basis of the Parental Population.

A comprehensive understanding of the genetic basis of target traits in any crop is critical to design breeding strategies for the development and release of new improved varieties. In this study, 34 cacao families were evaluated for vigor and yield related traits over the course of 6 years in Costa Rica. Linear mixed models provided the variance components for the partitioning of additive and non-additive effects.

Future climate change scenarios in Central America at high spatial resolution.

The objective of this work is to assess the downscaling projections of climate change over Central America at 8-km resolution using the Eta Regional Climate Model, driven by the HadGEM2-ES simulations of RCP4.5 emission scenario. The narrow characteristic of continent supports the use of numerical simulations at very high-horizontal resolution.

Moniliophthora roreri, causal agent of cacao frosty pod rot.

Unlabelled: Taxonomy: Moniliophthora roreri (Cif.) H.C.

Application of Genome Wide Association and Genomic Prediction for Improvement of Cacao Productivity and Resistance to Black and Frosty Pod Diseases.

Chocolate is a highly valued and palatable confectionery product. Chocolate is primarily made from the processed seeds of the tree species . Cacao cultivation is highly relevant for small-holder farmers throughout the tropics, yet its productivity remains limited by low yields and widespread pathogens.

Effects of microclimatic variables on the symptoms and signs onset of Moniliophthora roreri, causal agent of Moniliophthora pod rot in cacao.

Moniliophthora Pod Rot (MPR) caused by the fungus Moniliophthora roreri (Cif.) Evans et al., is one of the main limiting factors of cocoa production in Latin America.

Coupling of pollination services and coffee suitability under climate change.

Climate change will cause geographic range shifts for pollinators and major crops, with global implications for food security and rural livelihoods. However, little is known about the potential for coupled impacts of climate change on pollinators and crops. Coffee production exemplifies this issue, because large losses in areas suitable for coffee production have been projected due to climate change and because coffee production is dependent on bee pollination.

The database of the PREDICTS (Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems) project.

The PREDICTS project-Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems (www.predicts.org.

Towards a Collaborative Research: A Case Study on Linking Science to Farmers' Perceptions and Knowledge on Arabica Coffee Pests and Diseases and Its Management.

The scientific community has recognized the importance of integrating farmer's perceptions and knowledge (FPK) for the development of sustainable pest and disease management strategies. However, the knowledge gap between indigenous and scientific knowledge still contributes to misidentification of plant health constraints and poor adoption of management solutions. This is particularly the case in the context of smallholder farming in developing countries.

Intermediate tree cover can maximize groundwater recharge in the seasonally dry tropics.

Water scarcity contributes to the poverty of around one-third of the world's people. Despite many benefits, tree planting in dry regions is often discouraged by concerns that trees reduce water availability. Yet relevant studies from the tropics are scarce, and the impacts of intermediate tree cover remain unexplored.

Spatial and temporal contrasts in the distribution of crops and pastures across Amazonia: A new agricultural land use data set from census data since 1950.

Unlabelled: Amazonia holds the largest continuous area of tropical forests with intense land use change dynamics inducing water, carbon, and energy feedbacks with regional and global impacts. Much of our knowledge of land use change in Amazonia comes from studies of the Brazilian Amazon, which accounts for two thirds of the region. Amazonia outside of Brazil has received less attention because of the difficulty of acquiring consistent data across countries.