The goal of this study was to apply artificial neural networks to predict rain-fed wheat yield using meteorological data a few days to few months before harvesting. The climatic observation data used; were mean of daily minimum and maximum temperature, extreme of daily minimum and maximum temperature, sum of daily rainfall, number of rainy days, sum of daily sun hours, mean of daily wind speed,...

A plausible case of allochronic differentiation, where barrier to gene flow is primarily attributable to a phenological shift, was recently discovered in Portugal for the pine processionary moth Thaumetopoea pityocampa. Previous results suggested that the observed 'summer population' (SP) originated from the sympatric winter population (WP). Our objectives were to finely analyse these patterns ...

This paper investigates a simplified polarimetric decomposition for soil moisture retrieval over agricultural fields. In order to overcome the coherent superposition of the backscattering contributions from vegetation and underlying soils, a simplification of an existing polarimetric decomposition is proposed in this study. It aims to retrieve the soil moisture by using only the surface scatter...

The aim of this study is to investigate the total phenolic content, concentration of flavonoids and antioxidant activity in extracts of the plant Chelidonium majus L. during different phenological stages (stage of rosette, the initial flowering stage, the stage of fully formed flowers and stage of fruits formation). Five different extracts of the whole plant, for each phase, were obtained by ex...

Determination of forage quality of plant species in natural habitats such as rangelands and deserts is one of the most important factors for grazing management of these ecosystems. For this purpose, the nutritional values of Calligonum comosum in three phenological stages (vegetative growth, flowering, and seedling) were determined in desert habitats located in the northeast of Kashan, Iran (in...

Field studies have demonstrated mixed success in trap cropping to manage Crocidolomia pavonana ( binotalis) [F.], a major pest of cruciferous crops in Asia. A possible explanation for this is an inßuence of host plant phenology on oviposition preference. We tested this in simultaneous two-choice oviposition bioassays under laboratory conditions. In cylindrical cardboard experimental arenas, wit...

Microorganisms associated with Vitis vinifera (grapevine) can affect its growth, health and grape quality. The aim of this study was to unravel the biodiversity of the bacterial rhizosphere microbiota of grapevine in an integrated pest management vineyard located in Piedmont, Italy. Comparison between the microbial community structure in the bulk and rhizosphere soil (variable: space) were perf...