Agriculture faces several challenges to use the available resources in a more environmentally sustainable manner. One of the most significant is to develop sustainable water management. The modern Internet of Things (IoT) techniques with real-time data collection and visualisation can play an important role in monitoring the readily available moisture in the soil. An automated Arduino-based low-cost capacitive soil moisture sensor has been calibrated and developed for data acquisition. A sensor- and soil-specific calibration was performed for the soil moisture sensors (SKU:SEN0193 - DFROBOT, Shanghai, China). A Repeatability and Reproducibility study was conducted by range of mean methods on clay loam, sandy loam and silt loam soil textures. The calibration process was based on the data provided by the capacitive sensors and the continuously and parallelly measured soil moisture content by the thermo-gravimetric method. It can be stated that the response of the sensors to changes in soil moisture differs from each other, which was also greatly influenced by different soil textures. Therefore, the calibration according to soil texture was required to ensure adequate measurement accuracy. After the calibration, it was found that a polynomial calibration function (R2 ≥ 0.89) was the most appropriate way for modelling the behaviour of the sensors at different soil textures.
The family Pachynomidae is recorded from Borneo as well as Southeast Asia for the first time. Camarochiloides gen. n. and its type species C. weiweii sp. n. is described. Dorsal habitus and various morphological characters of the new species are illustrated. Subfamily placement and affinities of the new genus are briefly discussed, a key to the genera of Pachynominae is provided. Body and wing polymorphism and nymphal morphology of the new species are documented.
Effects of elevated root-zone (RZ) CO2 concentration (RZ [CO2]) and RZ temperature (RZT) on photosynthesis, productivity, nitrate (NO3-), total reduced nitrogen (TRN), total leaf soluble and Rubisco proteins were studied in aeroponically grown lettuce plants in a tropical greenhouse. Three weeks after transplanting, four different RZ [CO2] concentrations (ambient, 360 ppm, and elevated concentrations of 2,000; 10,000; and 50,000 ppm) were imposed on plants at 20°C-RZT or ambient(A)-RZT (24-38°C). Elevated RZ [CO2] resulted in significantly higher light-saturated net photosynthetic rate, but lower light-saturated stomatal conductance. Higher elevated RZ [CO2] also protected plants from both chronic and dynamic photoinhibition (measured by chlorophyll fluorescence Fv/Fm ratio) and reduced leaf water loss. Under each RZ [CO2], all these variables were significantly higher in 20°C-RZT plants than in A-RZT plants. All plants accumulated more biomass at elevated RZ [CO2] than at ambient RZ [CO2]. Greater increases of biomass in roots than in shoots were manifested by lower shoot/root ratios at elevated RZ [CO2]. Although the total biomass was higher at 20°C-RZT, the increase in biomass under elevated RZ [CO2] was greater at A-RZT. Shoot NO3- and TRN concentrations, total leaf soluble and Rubisco protein concentrations were higher in all elevated RZ [CO2] plants than in plants under ambient RZ [CO2] at both RZTs. Under each RZ [CO2], total leaf soluble and Rubisco protein concentrations were significantly higher at 20°C-RZT than at A-RZT. Our results demonstrated that increased P Nmax and productivity under elevated [CO2] was partially due to the alleviation of midday water loss, both dynamic and chronic photoinhibition as well as higher turnover of Calvin cycle with higher Rubisco proteins. and J. He, L. Qin, S. K. Lee.