Alberta Food Security Inc.

IRON (Fe) availability & its function in plant nutrition 🍃🌱 🚩 KEY FACTS - Iron (Fe) is an essential micronutrient for plant growth and development. - Iron is the third most limiting nutrient for plant growth and metabolism, - Deficiencies in iron uptake cause retarded growth, interveinal chlorosis, and reduced fitness. - Sufficient iron levels in food crops are critical to combat iron deficiency-induced anemia, one of the largest nutritional disorders worldwide. 💪 FUNCTIONS -> Synthesis of chlorophyll and porphyrin -> Regulation of enzymatic and metabolic processes -> Electron transport & respiration -> Necessary for nitrogen-fixing bacteria -> Synthesis of defense-related compounds -> Antioxidant defense 🧱 AVAILABILITY - The typical range of Fe levels in soils is from 0.2% to 5.5%. - Availability to plant is very low. - In soils that are aerobic or of higher pH, Fe is readily oxidized. - Uptake rate is largely dependent on many soil factors, such as pH and bicarbonate concentration. - Excessive Fe levels are toxic for plants. Plants regulate the uptake of soil iron by strategies that increase its mobility and restrict its uptake when present in excess. 🦠 Microbial activity (e.g. release of siderophores) is an important factor in the mobilization of ferric iron. ↔️ In addition to facilitating cellular redox reactions, iron also modulates virulence-related functions in several microbial pathogens. Both hosts and pathogens have developed complex strategies to compete for iron resources. Image: functions of iron in plant physiology (credits: Lilay et al. 2024; DOI: 10.1111/nph19645). #soil #agriculture #farming

Agriculture Technology- Japanese Melon farm l Awesome Melon Harvesting

Fruit beauty standards?😳 50% 🍊 don't leave farms. Too small. Too big. Scratched. Or too interesting. "Oranges and Citrus Fruits are the Most Rejected Fruit on the Planet?!" 3 alarming facts: ➡️ 50% of all citrus fruits produced worldwide end up as waste.  ➡️ In Australia it's estimated that half the citrus never leave the farm. ➡️ A significant portion of citrus waste occurs at the consumer level due to factors like overbuying, improper storage, and confusion over best-by dates. Need to go circular here! 1️⃣ Change the mindset of consumers and retailers: A bit different - is not ugly. The taste is the same. 2️⃣ Promote consumer education on proper food handling, storage, and portion planning to reduce household citrus waste. 3️⃣ Foster collaboration among stakeholders across the citrus supply chain to minimise losses, and create closed-loop systems. 4️⃣ Encourage the development of innovative technologies and processes to upcycle citrus waste into value-added product Joshua Ball - great catch! Thanks to you and team for your relentless efforts. How can we support you? #circulareconomy #zerowaste Credit: FarmersPick/Harald Friedl

Calcium & tolerance to heat stress in plants 🌡️🌱 DID YOU KNOW❓ 💡 Calcium application can alleviate high-temperature stress and reduce heat damage in flower production. ⚙️ Calcium is required throughout the whole plant growth cycle, being a component of cell wall structure and an essential component for continuous cell division and formation. ⚡ Calcium serves as a secondary messenger in a variety of stress signal transduction pathways, including drought, salinity, cold, heat and heavy metal toxicity stress. 🌹 It has been shown that exogenous Ca application could improve the tolerance to high-temperature stress by regulating photosynthesis, the antioxidant system, and osmotic substances in roses. 🛡️ Higher Ca concentration in petals, stems, leaves, and sepals makes them also less susceptible to certain pathogens. Image: effects of Ca treatment during heat stress on chlorophyll fluorescence parameters and petals morphology in rose (credits: Wang et al. 2022; DOI: 10.3390/horticulturae8100980). #flowers #plants #horticulture

Technically, every food you eat is a GMO. Selective breeding of any organism leads to a GMO. This includes almost all of the fruits and vegetables we eat today. Corn. Bananas. Tomatoes. All of them were genetically modified to create what we know today. Selective breeding and artificial selection are legacy forms of genetic modification. Also called domestication, humans have been using modification methods like selective breeding and cross-breeding for thousands of years to improve plants and animals. Few topics in science, health and food elicit more fear and misconceptions than the phrase GMO, and most of it is based on intentional disinformation. Don't just take my word for it. Read this incredible article from Andrea C. Love, Ph.D. ⬇⬇⬇ https://lnkd.in/d-mEDdYs ♻ Repost and stop fear-based messaging from anti-science activist groups that are harming public health and our planet.

Fruits,

Decoding chemical signals in plant-plant rhizosphere interactions ⌬🌱 🧪 Specific plant allelochemicals produced by specialized metabolic pathways in both above- and belowground influence the way that plant interact with each other. 🌱 Root exudates refer to dynamic and growth condition-specific molecules produced by the roots and released in the rhizosphere, comprised of a variety of bioactive molecules, including: - soluble and volatile specialized metabolites (allelochemicals and hormones), - peptides, DNA and RNA molecules, - cells (defined as border cells). ↔️ Considering the fact that belowground metabolites involved in plant-plant interactions are largely generic, it is unlikely that a single metabolite could mediate intraspecific interactions. 1️⃣ PHENOLICS - originate from the shikimic acid pathway - induction of root growth inhibition in acceptor plants - some phenolics (i.e., ferulic acid and cinnamic acid) can inhibit protein synthesis and amino acid transport - protective agents against invading organisms, i.e. herbivores, nematodes, phytophagous insects, - mediate interspecific plant-plant interactions 2️⃣ FLAVONOIDS - originate from the shikimic acid pathway - chemoattraction of rhizobia towards the root - inhibition root pathogens - stimulation of mycorrhizal spore germination and hyphal branching - prevent oxygen radical formation - mediate interspecific plant-plant interactions 3️⃣ BENZOXAZINOIDS - synthesized by specific grasses such as maize, wheat, and a few dicots - effect on modulating rhizosphere microbial composition - enhancement of insect resistance 4️⃣ LOLIOLIDES - originate from the carotenoid biosynthesis pathway - induced by biotic and abiotic stresses - trigger jasmonic acid-related responses and the biosynthesis of defense metabolites - involved in interspecific interactions 5️⃣ STRIGOLACTONES - ubiquitous hormones that derive from carotenoids - regulate parasitic plant-plant interactions - involved in neighbor root detection - effect on shoot branching regulation in focal plants Image: cues, targets, and responses involved in plant-plant interactions (credits: Mathieu et al. 2024; 10.1016/j.pbi.2024.102547) #soil #microbiome #agriculture

Cucumber packing line

Humans domesticated watermelons over the past 4,000 years. Selecting fruits that were:- → Red. → Sweet. → Less bitter. Life never gave us melons; we gave it to ourselves.

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