Sars-Cov-2 Vaccine from Infected Plant Attenuated Virus Using Acer Cincinatum (Vine Maple)

Purpose of study Proposal for an oral (or if required, parenteral) COVID-19 vaccination based upon this described technology. Investigational theory under study for the past 9 months of COVID-19 growing season. Coronavirus can attack and infect plant species. It was found that SARS-CoV-2 can infect various plant species. Others have found plants, for example tobacco as a good growth medium for Coronavirus and SARS-CoV-2. This current study has found various plants species infected with SARS-CoV-2 by rPCR. As the plants were located beside a well used hiking trail for humans, and were infected along the trail including various species with SARS-CoV-2, hypothesized that human airborne contact had caused infection in the bordering plants. Humans were observed to be coughing while walking on the trail, and were not wearing masks. The plant leaves developed small circular colonies of the virus, which became self-limited at several millimeters in diameter. All of the plants were clear of these lesions before the COVID-19 Pandemic. The plants 'immune' system produced antiviral agents, including lectins which limited the growth of the colonies and prevent death of the leaf and whole plant. The fungal cultures of the 'spots' were negative. The rPCR of all spots tested in the present series was positive for SARS-CoV-2. Hypothesis, that self-augmentation of the virus occurred by the natural culturing in plant leaves that produce antiviral agents as part of their 'immune system.' Hypothesis, a symbiotic type relationship developed between the plant using its chemical immune system, and the virus allowed to replicate in an augmented fashion to allow both the virus and the host to survive and grow. As the top candidates for the oral vaccine are nontoxic, hypothesis involves the maceration of the infected leaves, mixing with a nontoxic adjuvant and flavoring to promote assimilation and palatability, with the proposed route of entry being mastication, thus exposing the oral-nasal mucosa to the vaccine, with the probable best of immunity to usual exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, that is the oral-nasal mucosal and upper airway route. As many types of animals are now infected with SARS-CoV-2, it is further hypothesized that this oral vaccine could also be mass produced to add to various animals by feedstock and oral route. Methods used Hypotheses formed through observations. Testing of observations by pPCR, viral cell culture, fungal culture, light and electron microscopy. Summary of results pPCR SARS-CoV-2 positive, cell culture 'lysis experiment' positive, EM and light microscopy positive, fungal culture negative. Conclusions TABLE OF HYPOTHESES AND STUDY RESULTS (HYPOTHETICAL, OBSERVED, PROVEN) 1. The first hypothesis that the virus is attenuated by the plant, using its innate chemical immune system. Similarly, Pasteur used chemical such as phenol to attenuate viruses for wome of the first successful vaccines. Observed. 2. Hypothesis, the plants 'immune' system produced antiviral agents, including lectins, flavonoids, and others, which limited the growth of the colonies and prevent death of the leaf and whole plant. Proven. 3. Hypothesis is that the nontoxic plants, such as Vine Maple sp.(Acer cincinatum), could be used to produce and oral plant attenuated vaccine. Hypothesis. 4. Hypothesis involves the maceration of the infected leaves, mixing with a nontoxic adjuvant and flavoring to promote assimilation and palatability, with the proposed route of entry being mastication, thus exposing the oral-nasal mucosa to the vaccine, with the probable best of immunity to usual exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, that is the oral-nasal mucosa, upper airway. (Figure Presented).

Acceptability of zinc biofortified wheat and flour among farmers in Pakistan: experiences from the BiZiFED2 project

In Pakistan, 24.3% of women of reproductive age and 19.5% of children aged under five living in rural areas are zinc deficient(1). Zinc-biofortified wheat flour may be an effective approach to address zinc deficiency in i communities where access to zinc-rich foods is low(2). Key to successful scaling up of biofortified wheat and flour is its acceptability and adoption among its potential consumers and producers(3). A convergent mixed methods study(4) was conducted parallel to the BiZiFED2 cluster- randomised controlled trial(5) in the Peshawar region between November 2020- July 2021. Two semi- structured focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted with farmers who grew Zincol-2016 wheat for the RCT(5). FGDs were audio-recorded, transcribed, and translated into English. Transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis(6). In addition, a total of 686 farmers located in Pakistan's main wheat growing region, Punjab province, were invited to participate in a survey. These farmers were growing Zincol-2016 as part of a soil-mapping exercise within the broader BIZIFED programme. The survey was designed to capture the farmer's experiences of growing Zincol-2016 in the growing season 2019-2020 and whether they continued to grow it during the subsequent season.418 farmers participated in the survey (61% participation rate), and 12 in the FGDs. Survey data showed that 47% of participants reported growing Zincol-2016 in the subsequent season. Drivers of Zincol-2016 cultivation that were most frequently described as important were: availability of new seed (100%), grain yield (98%), growth and disease resistance (97%), quality of flour from the previous harvest (96.6%), and nutritional benefit (94.5%). Fewer farmers reported cost of the seed (71%) and market demand (57%) as important. A high proportion of farmers reported consuming Zincol-2016 within their own household (79%), and those who consumed Zincol-2016 flour claimed that it had better taste (90%) and texture (79%) than their usual flour. Qualitative analysis of the FGD data revealed that enablers for scaling up include: the value ascribed to the flour's health benefits, perceived improved quality of grain and production, and willingness to produce biofortified wheat if support is provided (i.e., resources and training). Challenges and considerations for scaling up include unfamiliarity with the biofortification process, production costs, external threats to the supply chain and production of wheat (i.e., COVID-19, weather, plant disease), and acceptance and support from the landlord. Results from this mixed-methods study suggest that farmers appeared to value biofortified wheat and flour and may be willing to produce and consume it if resources and training were provided.

First molecular confirmation of the fungus Leveillula taurica causing powdery mildew disease on sweet pepper in Iraq

A study was initiated to investigate powdery mildew disease on pepper during the growing season 2019/2020. Disease incidence scored 73, 85, 80 and 56% in Al-Mahmudiyah, Al-Yusufiyah and Al-Jadriya/Baghdad and Suwaira/Wasit, respectively. Morphological identification revealed L. taurica formed dimorphic conidia, lanceolate primary conidia and cylindrical to clavate secondary conidia. Conidiophores were straight, having short hyaline and unbranched baring single conidiospores. Sequence comparison of ITS region confirmed L. taurica shared 99% maximum nucleotide identity with sequences from South Korea (MH698492.1), Mexico (MG571545.1) and Australia (MT125857.1). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first molecular confirmation of L. taurica infecting pepper in Iraq. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Archives of Phytopathology & Plant Protection is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Dynamic Mapping of Paddy Rice Using Multi-Temporal Landsat Data Based on a Deep Semantic Segmentation Model

Timely, accurate, and repeatable crop mapping is vital for food security. Rice is one of the important food crops. Efficient and timely rice mapping would provide critical support for rice yield and production prediction as well as food security. The development of remote sensing (RS) satellite monitoring technology provides an opportunity for agricultural modernization applications and has become an important method to extract rice. This paper evaluated how a semantic segmentation model U-net that used time series Landsat images and Cropland Data Layer (CDL) performed when applied to extractions of paddy rice in Arkansas. Classifiers were trained based on time series images from 2017–2019, then were transferred to corresponding images in 2020 to obtain resultant maps. The extraction outputs were compared to those produced by Random Forest (RF). The results showed that U-net outperformed RF in most scenarios. The best scenario was when the time resolution of the data composite was fourteen day. The band combination including red band, near-infrared band, and Swir-1 band showed notably better performance than the six widely used bands for extracting rice. This study found a relatively high overall accuracy of 0.92 for extracting rice with training samples including five years from 2015 to 2019. Finally, we generated dynamic maps of rice in 2020. Rice could be identified in the heading stage (two months before maturing) with an overall accuracy of 0.86 on July 23. Accuracy gradually increased with the date of the mapping date. On September 17, overall accuracy was 0.92. There was a significant linear relationship (slope = 0.9, r2 = 0.75) between the mapped areas on July 23 and those from the statistical reports. Dynamic mapping is not only essential to assist farms and governments for growth monitoring and production assessment in the growing season, but also to support mitigation and disaster response strategies in the different growth stages of rice.

Long-Term Optimal Management of Rapeseed Cultivation Simulated with the CROPGRO-Canola Model

Rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) is an important oilseed crop grown worldwide with a planting area of 6.57 million ha in China, which accounts for about 20% of the world’s total rapeseed planting area. However, in recent years, the planting area in China has decreased by approximately 12.2% due to the low yield and economic benefits. Thus, to ensure oil security, it is necessary to develop high-efficiency cultivation for rapeseed production. Crop growth models are powerful tools to analyze and optimize the yield composition of crops under certain environmental and management conditions. In this study, the CROPGRO-Canola model was first calibrated and evaluated using the rapeseed planting data of four growing seasons in Wuhan with nine nitrogen fertilizer levels (from 120 to 360 kg ha−1) and five planting densities (from 15 to 75 plants m−2). The results indicated that the CROPGRO-Canola model simulated rapeseed growth well under different nitrogen rates and planting densities in China, with a simulation error of 0–3 days for the anthesis and maturity dates and a normalized root mean square error lower than 7.48% for the yield. Furthermore, we optimized the management of rapeseed by calculating the marginal net return under 10 nitrogen rates (from 0 to 360 kg ha−1 at an increasing rate of 40 kg ha−1) and 6 planting densities (from 15 to 90 plant m−2 at an increasing rate of 15 plant m−2) from 1989 to 2019. The results indicated that the long-term optimal nitrogen rate was 120–160 kg N ha−1, and the optimal planting density was 45–75 plants m−2 under normal fertilizer prices. The optimal nitrogen rate decreased with increasing fertilizer price within a reasonable range. In conclusion, long-term rapeseed management can be optimized based on rapeseed and nitrogen cost using long-term weather records and local soil information.

Reflecting on research produced after more than 60 years of exclosures in the Kruger National Park

Herbivores are a main driver of ecosystem patterns and processes in semi-arid savannas, with their effects clearly observed when they are excluded from landscapes. Starting in the 1960s, various herbivore exclosures have been erected in the Kruger National Park (KNP), for research and management purposes. These exclosures vary from very small (1 m2) to relatively large (almost 900 ha), from short-term (single growing season) to long-term (e.g. some of the exclosures were erected more than 60 years ago), and are located on different geologies and across a rainfall gradient. We provide a summary of the history and specifications of various exclosures. This is followed by a systematic overview of mostly peer-reviewed literature resulting from using KNP exclosures as research sites. These 75 articles cover research on soils, vegetation dynamics, herbivore exclusion on other faunal groups and disease. We provide general patterns and mechanisms in a synthesis section, and end with recommendations to increase research outputs and productivity for future exclosure experiments. Conservation Implications: Herbivore exclosures in the KNP have become global research platforms, that have helped in the training of ecologists, veterinarians and field biologists, and have provided valuable insights into savanna dynamics that would otherwise have been hard to gain. In an age of dwindling conservation funding, we make the case for the value added by exclosures and make recommendations for their continued use as learning tools in complex African savannas.