Search results for "Agricultural Science"
showing 10 items of 901 documents
Mycorrhizae in crop production
2007
International audience; It has been a revelation that, strictly speaking, most plants do not have roots but rather mycorrhizae, a fact that has had tremendous consequences on the life of plants and the evolution of soil-plant systems. The research on arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbioses has been intensive over the past forty years and we have learned a lot on the physiology, biology, ecology, and genetics of the symbiosis and the fungi involved in it. Most important, it appeared that cropping systems could be more sustainable with the management of AM fungi and reduced reliance on agrochemicals. The extraradical mycelia of AM fungi are an essential link between the plants, which are the co…
Breeding annual legumes for sustainable agricultures must target for new and more complex variety ideotypes
2013
International audience; Although yield and total biomass produced by annual legumes remain major objectives for breeders, environment-friendly, resource use efficient including symbiotic performance, resilient production in the context of climate change, adaptation to sustainable cropping systems (reducing leaching and glasshouse gas emissions), adaptation to diverse uses (seeds for feeds foods, non-food, forage or green manures), and finally new ecological services such as pollinator protection, imply the development of innovative genotypes, definition of new ideotypes and acceptance of their commercialisation. Taken as a whole, this means more complex and integrated objectives for breeder…
Modéliser l'ancrage territorial de l'agriculture : application à l'étude de la durabilité d'une agriculture côtière sous pression touristique
2011
The territorial base of agriculture is a key to understand the sustainability of this activity, in hybrid territories like peri-urban areas or rural touristic ones. To this aim, the French method of the "agrarian systems" is improved by the concept of "territorial agrarian system": the territory is then a meta-system of the agrarian system that leads to understand the linkage between the individual trajectories of farmers and the global and collective expectations of the territorial stakeholders. This conceptual, methodological and practical approach is applied to the rural touristic area of Balagne, a seaside territory located at the Northwest Corsica. There, as a subject torn between land…
Evolutionary advantage conferred by an eukaryote-to-eukaryote gene transfer event in wine yeasts
2015
Although an increasing number of horizontal gene transfers have been reported in eukaryotes, experimental evidence for their adaptive value is lacking. Here, we report the recent transfer of a 158-kb genomic region between Torulaspora microellipsoides and Saccharomyces cerevisiae wine yeasts or closely related strains. This genomic region has undergone several rearrangements in S. cerevisiae strains, including gene loss and gene conversion between two tandemly duplicated FOT genes encoding oligopeptide transporters. We show that FOT genes confer a strong competitive advantage during grape must fermentation by increasing the number and diversity of oligopeptides that yeast can utilize as a s…
Use of translational genomics to identify genes important for legume seed filling
2013
International audience; Translational genomics, i.e., the transfer of genetic information from model species to cultivated crops, is on the brink of revolutionizing plant breeding. The recent publication of genomic sequences for several cultivated legumes is also accelerating this process. For pea, recent highthroughput RNA sequencing, and the prospect of a genome sequencing project, will further accelerate the transfer of information from the Medicago truncatula model to the cultivated crop. We have been using genomics approaches with Medicago as a tool to identify key genes determining seed yield and composition in closely related legumes. Analyses of the proteome and transcriptome of the…
Vins d’appellations et gastronomie régionale. La genèse bourguignonne d’un modèle novateur (années 1920-1930)
2016
Boire du vin au restaurant, le choisir ou le faire choisir en fonction du plat sélectionné, étudier la carte des boissons tout comme le menu, ou encore commenter les domaines et les millésimes, sont des actes totalement intégrés par les amateurs de gastronomie du XXIe siècle. Et même si les associations mets vins tendent à s’internationaliser, déguster un produit local avec un vin du cru reste un moment important pour nombre de personnes souhaitant visiter une région. Cette démarche, si commune aujourd’hui, résulte pourtant d’un processus historique finalement assez récent et dont l’évidence contemporaine n’a rien de manifeste historiquement. En France au début du XXe siècle seulement, et d…
Regional Farmers’ Perception and Societal Issues in Vineyards Affected by High Erosion Rates
2021
We explore the current situation in a viticultural region in Eastern Spain from a holistic and multifaceted research approach, which allowed us to understand the biophysical conditions, economic cost, social impact, and perception of the farmers’ community to the use of catch crops. A survey of the perception of the farmers, and an assessment of the biophysical impact of catch crops (CC) and tillage (C = Control plot) on soil organic matter, bulk density, infiltration capacity (single ring infiltrometer), and runoff generation and soil erosion (rainfall simulation experiments) was carried out. Two representative fields as study sites were selected in Les Alcusses valley, within Els Alforins…
Characterization of the "viable but nonculturable" (VBNC) state in the wine spoilage yeast Brettanomyces.
2012
Although the viable but not culturable (VBNC) state has been studied in detail in bacteria, it has been suggested that maintenance of viability with loss of culturability also exists in eukaryotic cells, such as in the wine spoilage yeast Brettanomyces. To provide conclusive evidence for the existence of a VBNC state in this yeast, we investigated its capacity to become viable and nonculturable after sulfite stress, and its ability to recover culturability after stressor removal. Sulfite addition induced loss of culturability but maintenance of viability. Increasing the medium pH to decrease the concentration of toxic SO(2) allowed yeast cells to become culturable again, thus demonstrating …
Essential oil crops for sustainable agriculture - A review
2009
Multifunctionality and diversification of farming systems, integration of agricultural practices both inter se and with the non-agricultural productive systems operating on the territory, biodiversity safeguards, and reduction in off-farm inputs, are key factors for all modern development strategies in agricultural areas. Such issues are valid worldwide, but are especially true in areas in which the cultivation of the more widespread and “classical” crops is constrained by factors of varying degree and importance. In Mediterranean areas, where many environmental and economic factors often reduce rural areas to marginal conditions, the search for new crop opportunities has become one of the …
Etude de l'évolution du potentiel génétique de populations bactériennes dégradant l'atrazine
2011
Atrazine, one of the most used herbicide to control the development of weeds in crop, has led to the contamination of the environment. Repeated exposure to this herbicide resulted in the emergence of microbial populations able to degrade atrazine and to use it as a nitrogen source for its growth. These microbial populations are responsible for accelerated biodegradation of atrazine (BDA), a key ecosystemic service diminishing the persistence of this herbicide in the environment. The aim of this PhD work was to study genetic and physiological mechanisms responsible for functioning and improving of this ecosystemic service. We applied an experimental approach starting from genes to communitie…