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  • Review of sewage sludge as a soil amendment in relation to current international guidelines: a heavy metal perspective
    Publication . Nunes, Nuno; Ragonezi, Carla; Gouveia, Carla S. S.; Carvalho, Miguel Â. A. Pinheiro de
    Overexploitation of resources makes the reutilization of waste a focal topic of modern society, and the question of the kind of wastes that can be used is continuously raised. Sewage sludge (SS) is derived from the wastewater treatment plants, considered important underused biomass, and can be used as a biofertilizer when properly stabilized due to the high content of inorganic matter, nitrate, and phosphorus. However, a wide range of pollutants can be present in these biosolids, limiting or prohibiting their use as biofertilizer, depending on the type and origin of industrial waste and household products. Long-term applications of these biosolids could substantially increase the concentration of contaminants, causing detrimental effects on the environment and induce hyper accumulation or phytotoxicity in the produced crops. In this work, some critical parameters for soils and SS agronomic use, such as organic matter, nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium (NPK), and heavy metals concentration have been reviewed. Several cases of food crop production and the accumulation of heavy metals after SS application are also discussed. SS production, usage, and legis lation in EU are assessed to determine the possibility of sustainable management of this bioresource. Additionally, the World Health Organization (WHO) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) guidelines are addressed. The opportunity to produce bioenergy crops, employing sewage sludge to enhance degraded land, is also considered, due to energy security. Although there are numerous advantages of sewage sludge, proper screening for heavy metals in all the variants (biosolids, soil, food products) is a must. SS application requires appropriate strict guidelines with appropriate regulatory oversight to control contamination of agricultural soils.
  • Contributo para o conhecimento da agrodiversidade no concelho de Santa Cruz, Madeira
    Publication . Carvalho, Miguel A. A. Pinheiro de; Ragonezi, Carla; Macedo, Fabrício Lopes de; Antunes, Gonçalo; Freitas, Gregório; Nóbrega, Humberto
    O presente trabalho procura analisar as alterações sofridas pela agrodiversidade no território do Santa Cruz. Este concelho localizado na costa sul da Madeira tem 81,5 km2, quatro patamares bioclimáticos e numerosas unidades agroecológicas (UAE). A evolução da agrodiversidade iniciou-se, com o povoamento do Arquipélago, descoberto inabitado em 1418. A agrodiversidade biofísica, específica e intraespecífica aumentou e diversificou-se, devido à construção de agrossistemas, introdução de culturas, sucessão de ciclos agrícolas, adaptação às condições agroecológicas, aparecimento de pragas e doenças e pela ação do homem. Os registos históricos indicam a introdução de um elevado número de culturas, bem como a utilização de 72 espécies agrícolas, no concelho. E, indicam como fundamentais no povoamento e economia as culturas do trigo e as cerealíferas (cevada, centeio), cana-sacarina, vinha e sumagre. Várias outras culturas desempenharam um papel importante na economia do concelho, sendo cultivadas para fins alimentares, comerciais, industriais, culturais ou religiosos. A adaptação destas espécies aos agrossistemas e às condições agroecológicas deu origem a um número indeterminado de variedades locais. Apesar das limitações da documentação disponível, foram encontradas referências a variedades locais cuja cultura remonta há 140 a 500 anos, nomeadamente o Trigo da Serra, castas Malvasia e Tinta Antiga de Gaula, pêra Caniça, Banana da terra, feijão Corno de carneiro e Couve de João Ferino, que podem ser relacionadas com o historial do concelho. Porém, desde meados do século XX, a agrodiversidade sofreu uma drástica redução com a diminuição das áreas cultivadas, o abandono de várias espécies agrícolas e a extinção de variedades locais. A análise desta agrodiversidade foi realizada, a fim de apurar as alterações históricas e geográficas ocorridas na agrodiversidade em onze culturas representativas do concelho, visando a sustentabilidade agronómica.
  • Prediction of the Potential Distribution of Drosophila suzukii on Madeira Island Using the Maximum Entropy Modeling
    Publication . Macedo, Fabrício Lopes; Ragonezi, Carla; Reis, Fábio; Freitas, José G. R. de; Lopes, David Horta; Aguiar, António Miguel Franquinho; Cravo, Délia; Carvalho, Miguel A. A. Pinheiro de
    Drosophila suzukii is one of the main pests that attack soft-skinned fruits and cause significant economic damage worldwide. Madeira Island (Portugal) is already affected by this pest. The present work aimed to investigate the potential distribution of D. suzukii on Madeira Island to better understand the limits of its geographical distribution on the island using the Maximum Entropy modeling (MaxEnt). The resultant model provided by MaxEnt was rated as regular discrimination with the area under the curve (AUC, 0.7–0.8). Upon scrutinizing the environmental variables with the greatest impact on the distribution of D. suzukii, altitude emerged as the dominant contributor, with the highest percentage (71.2%). Additionally, elevations ranging from 0 to 500 m were identified as appropriate for the species distribution. With the results of the model, it becomes possible to understand/predict which locations will be most suitable for the establishment of the analyzed pest and could be further applied not only for D. suzukii but also for other species that hold the potential for substantial economic losses in this insular region.
  • Structure and floristic composition associated with an endangered species Beta patula Aiton (Amaranthaceae) in the Islands of Madeira Archipelago
    Publication . Nóbrega, Humberto; Freitas, Gregório; Zavattieri, M. A.; Ragonezi, Carla; Carvalho, Miguel Â. A. Pinheiro de
    Twenty-two native Crop Wild Relatives (CWR) occur in specific dry environments of Madeira Archipelago, like Desembarcadouro islet in Ponta de São Lourenço and Chão islet in Desertas Islands. Nine of them share the same gene pool with crop species included in Annex I of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Amongst them, Beta patula Aiton, an IUCN Critically Endangered species, has been studied in detail for in situ and ex situ conservation. The present paper summarises the information recorded during the Beta patula population assessment. Valuable information on plant communities associated with this species was obtained.
  • Viral diagnosis in cultivars of Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam
    Publication . Andrade, Carlos G.; Silva, Emanuel M. da; Ragonezi, Carla; Carvalho, Miguel Â. A. Pinheiro de
    Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam. commonly known as sweet potato, is an important staple food worldwide, mainly due to its high nutritional value and yield. However, vegetative reproduction of sweet potato makes it more susceptible to viral infections, which threatens its productivity, quality, and difficult long-term preservation in germplasm banks. Also, it can act as a virus reservoir infecting the rest of the plant accessions in the bank collections. Hence, this work aimed to screen Begomovirus, Potyvirus, and Carlavirus infections in 16 traditional sweet potato cultivars from the germplasm collection of the ISOPlexis Germplasm Bank, Madeira, Portugal. The infection prevalence by these viruses among cultivars was 81.25%, 25.00%, and 6.25%, respectively; being ISOP1011 the only accession coinfected by Potyvirus and Carlavirus. The accessions ISOP1006, ISOP1010, and ISOP1047 were also coinfected by Begomovirus and Potyvirus, highlighting their vulnerability to viral infections. The ISOP1005 and ISOP1027 accessions were the only ones not infected by any of these viruses. The analysis of the partial sequence obtained from the Carlavirus detected in the accession ISOP1011, revealed the existence of an ORF that encodes for 93 amino acids of the catalytic domain of an RNA-directed RNA polymerase related to the Tymovirus protein family, as could be confirmed by comparison with proteins stored in UniProtKB. Multiple sequence alignment with these proteins showed that Motifs A and B of the catalytic domain were conserved. The search for sequence similarity with sequences deposited in GenBank reported a high sequence identity with Sweet potato yellow mottle virus (SPYMV) and Sweet potato chlorotic fleck virus (SPCFV). However, the 9-11% discrepancy in nucleotide sequence identity and a phylogenetic analysis carried out using the maximum probability method suggests the virus isolated from ISOP1011 is a new divergent strain of the SPCFV species.
  • Different seaweeds use for iodine deficiency overcome
    Publication . Ferraz, Sónia; Ragonezi, Carla; Nunes, Nuno; Valente, Sofia; Carvalho, Miguel A. A. Pinheiro de
    Iodine deficiency is one of the three most common nutritional deficiencies worldwide and is a global public health problem that affects particularly the young children, pregnant women and elderly. The consequences of iodine deficiency disorder (IDD) include goiter and cretinism. The traditional consumption of iodine via supplemented salt should be monitored to reduce population sodium intake due to hypertension problems and the uncertain bioavailability of iodine in the supplemented salt. One approach for an effective and cost-efficient iodine supplementation is the use of seaweeds in food intake. Seaweeds, among all foods, are the most famous and reliable source of natural iodine. In this minireview we pretend to explore the different uses of seaweeds to fill the iodine deficiency and improve life quality.
  • Zoneamento Agroclimático da cultura da videira para a Ilha da Madeira - Portugal
    Publication . Macedo, Fabrício Lopes; Ragonezi, Carla; Carvalho, Miguel Ângelo Almeida Pinheiro de
    A cultura da vinha possuiu uma elevada importância na produção de vinhos de qualidade na Ilha da Madeira. No entanto para que a produção da cultura venha a produzir de maneira mais satisfatória é extremamente necessário o conhecimento dos locais mais propícios para o desenvolvimento da cultura. O objetivo do presente trabalho foi realizar um Zoneamento Agroclimático para a cultura da videira na Ilha da Madeira, visando fornecer dados para a tomada de decisão de produtores e técnicos na seleção de novos locais para implementação da cultura. Para tanto, foram utilizados dados de 11 estações meteorológicas convencionais localizadas em toda a Ilha da Madeira com períodos de observação de 1961 a 1990. A obtenção do deficit hídrico foi obtida por meio do balanço hídrico proposto por Thornthwaite & Mather. Para o cultivo da videira na Ilha da Madeira, todo litoral Sul da Ilha, assim como boa parte do Norte, são áreas propicias para o desenvolvimento da cultura; no entanto no litoral sul, irrigação complementar é necessária para satisfazer as necessidades hídricas da cultura. Já no litoral Norte é necessário ter alguns cuidados com possível aparecimento de doenças fúngicas, devido aos grandes volumes de precipitação presentes na área.
  • Monitoring system and in situ conservation of endemic and threatened Beta patula Aiton populations in Madeira Region
    Publication . Nóbrega, H.; Freitas, G.; Zavattieri, M. A.; Ragonezi, C.; Frese, L.; Carvalho, M. A. A. Pinheiro de
    t Madeira Archipelago is a hotspot for crop wild relatives (CWR) of crop cultures. Some of these CWR are present in very specific environments, such as, in Ponta de Sa˜o Lourenc¸o or Desertas Islands. One such species is Beta patula Aiton, a Critically Endan gered species which belongs to the Gene Pool 1b of cultivated beets. A continuous effort has been devel oped for its ex situ conservation through the storage of accessions (ISOP2512 and ISOP1911) in the ISO Plexis GeneBank at the University of Madeira Simultaneously, a series of studies have been carried out to understand the species’ ecogeographic and ecological requirements, to validate populations’ boundaries and sizes, and to establish population dynamics. This study includes a complete floristic survey at the B. patula locations of, Desembar cadouro islet (DI) with 12 (DI1–DI12) sampling sites, and Cha˜o islet (CI) with 3 (CI1–CI3). Several Biodiversity indices were calculated for these loca tions. Plot DI3 exhibited the highest values for Corrected Evenness (E0 = 0.77 ± 0.07), Shannon– Weaver Diversity Index (H0 = 2.48 ± 0.12), and Hill’s Index (N2 = 4.47 ± 0.72), with a total sum of 306 individuals of B. patula. The demographic status of B. patula populations in DI and CI was determined yearly between 2014 and 2018. The results show an average population size of 16,906 and 2917 plants, respectively. These data will be used for the estab lishment of a protocol to monitor and manage a genetic reserve for B. patula and other CWR. By doing so, our work will contribute to the implemen tation of the European genetic reserve network.
  • Anticipating the Climate Change Impacts on Madeira’s Agriculture: The Characterization and Monitoring of a Vine Agrosystem
    Publication . Carvalho, Miguel Â. A. Pinheiro de; Ragonezi, Carla; Oliveira, Maria Cristina O.; Reis, Fábio; Macedo, Fabrício Lopes; Freitas, José G. R. de; Nóbrega, Humberto; Ganança, José Filipe T.
    Climate—Madeira Strategy (CMS) foresees two models to describe the climate scenarios for the Madeira region in 2050 and 2070. These scenarios anticipate an average temperature rise of 1.4 to 3.7 ◦C and a decrease in precipitation by 30 to 40%. Consequently, Madeira’s agriculture will suffer the impacts of climate change. To understand these impacts, a baseline of major agrosystem components needs to be established, with the ultimate goal to monitor its consequences in its functioning. CASBio project used the 1961–1991 and 2010–2020 meteorological data series to modulate climate conditions and characterize and monitor six agrosystems for 2 years. One of them was a vineyard, Quinta das Vinhas, representing a typical agrosystem in the Mediterranean climate. The annual and seasonal variation in climatic parameters, soil conditions, microbiological communities, floristic and insect diversity, and crop production was assessed, using a total of 50 parameters. The results were used to establish a baseline of the agrosystem components and their seasonal and annual variation. The major findings are: (i) winter and summer extreme events show a trend in temperature and precipitation supporting a fast change in climate; (ii) a critical imbalance between nitrogen fixing and denitrifying bacteria was identified, especially in summer, that could be determined by the rise in temperature and drought; (iii) among floristic diversity, the therophytes and geophytes confirm to be the most suitable indicators for the rise in temperature and reduction in precipitation in the agrosystems; (iv) an imbalance in favor of C. capitata plague was observed, associated with the summer rise in temperature and decrease in precipitation; (v) despite an increase in most of the grape varieties production, the Madeiran wine local varieties were shown to be less stable in productivity under observed climate conditions. The agrosystem baseline is a starting point for long term monitoring and allows for further quantifying the influence of climate change on agrosystem productivity, resilience, and sustainability.
  • Estimation of Productivity and Above-Ground Biomass for Corn (Zea mays) via Vegetation Indices in Madeira Island
    Publication . Macedo, Fabrício Lopes; Nóbrega, Humberto; Freitas, José G. R. de; Ragonezi, Carla; Pinto, Lino; Rosa, Joana; Carvalho, Miguel A. A. Pinheiro
    The advancement of technology associated with the field, especially the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) coupled with multispectral cameras, allows us to monitor the condition of crops in real time and contribute to the field of machine learning. The objective of this study was to estimate both productivity and above-ground biomass (AGB) for the corn crop by applying different vegetation indices (VIs) via high-resolution aerial imagery. Among the indices tested, strong correlations were obtained between productivity and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) with a significance level of p < 0.05 (0.719), as well as for the normalized difference red edge (NDRE), or green normalized difference vegetation index (GNDVI) with crop productivity (p < 0.01), respectively 0.809 and 0.859. The AGB results align with those obtained previously; GNDVI and NDRE showed high correlations, but now with a significance level of p < 0.05 (0.758 and 0.695). Both GNDVI and NDRE indices showed coefficients of determination for productivity and AGB estimation with 0.738 and 0.654, and 0.701 and 0.632, respectively. The use of the GNDVI and NDRE indices shows excellent results for estimating productivity as well as AGB for the corn crop, both at the spatial and numerical levels. The possibility of predicting crop productivity is an essential tool for producers, since it allows them to make timely decisions to correct any deficit present in their agricultural plots, and further contributes to AI integration for drone digital optimization.