Assessing variability in carbon footprint throughout the food supply chain: a case study of Valencian oranges

The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment - This study aims to analyse the variability in the carbon footprint (CF) of organically and conventionally produced Valencian oranges (Spain),...     

Designing healthy,climate friendly and affordable school lunches

Purpose

This study aims to develop a model with which to build diets taking into account nutritional, climate change and economic aspects. A case study is used to test the proposed model, consisting of finding the optimal menus for school children in Spain from combinations of 20 starters, 20 main dishes and 7 desserts for a 20-day planning period.

Methods

An optimizing technique, specifically integer goal programming, is used as a means of designing diets which take into account the aforementioned aspects. Goal programming (GP) is used to design those menus that meet, or nearly meet, all the requirements with respect to caloric content, caloric share among macronutrients, nutrients to encourage and nutrients to limit, while reducing the carbon footprint (CFP) and the lunch budget. In order to have real, acceptable dishes, a school catering company provided information about the typical dishes they serve. The CFP of each dish was assessed, based on literature about life cycle assessment and CFP studies on food products. The nutritional value of each dish was obtained from databases, whereas prices were gathered from a wholesaler.

Results and discussion

After solving the goal programming model for several CFP and budget goals, the results show reductions with respect to the average CFP of between ?13 and ?24 %, and reductions with respect to the average budget between ?10 and ?15 % while maintaining the nutritional aspects similar to the average of the proposed menus. The results show that a wide range of budget is available, maintaining an almost constant CFP and meeting nutritional requirements to a similar degree; therefore, it is possible to avoid trade-offs between the CFP and the budget. The analysis of the dishes selected shows how the optimization model, in general, avoids the dishes which have a high CFP and high price and which are low in iron content, but high in protein and cholesterol.

Conclusions

Goal programming constitutes a suitable tool for designing diets which are economically, environmentally and nutritionally sustainable. Its flexibility enables specific issues to be studied, such as the existence of possible trade-offs between budget and CFP, attained by changing the budget and the CFP goals. By means of an iterative process, new dishes could be introduced or the existing ones could be improved, thus providing catering companies with useful information.

     

MoDEL (Molecular Dynamics Extended Library): a database of atomistic molecular dynamics trajectories

More than 1700 trajectories of proteins representative of monomeric soluble structures in the protein data bank (PDB) have been obtained by means of state-of-the-art atomistic molecular dynamics simulations in near-physiological conditions. The trajectories and analyses are stored in a large data warehouse, which can be queried for dynamic information on proteins, including interactions. Here, we describe the project and the structure and contents of our database, and provide examples of how it can be used to describe the global flexibility properties of proteins. Basic analyses and trajectories stripped of solvent molecules at a reduced resolution level are available from our web server.     

Does host adaptation of Tetranychus urticae populations in clementine orchards with a Festuca arundinacea cover contribute to a better natural regulation of this pest mite?

Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranychidae) is a key pest of clementine mandarins, Citrus clementina Tanaka (Rutaceae), in Spain. This mite is highly polyphagous and can be easily found in clementine orchards, both in the trees and in the associated flora. In a previous study we found that the use of a cover of Festuca arundinacea Schreber (Poaceae) offered a better regulation of T. urticae populations than either bare soil or the traditional wild cover, which included a mix of weed species. We hypothesized that the selection of two host races of T. urticae, specialized in F. arundinacea and C. clementina, could partly explain the results obtained (bottom‐up regulation). Reciprocal transplant experiments show that sympatric deme × host combinations had higher mean fitness values than the allopatric combinations in clementine, but not in F. arundinacea, for most of the fitness parameters evaluated in our study. Because local adaptation implies mean deme fitness to be systematically higher for the sympatric deme × habitat combinations than for the allopatric ones, these results can be taken as indicative of occurrence of local adaptation in T. urticae. Molecular genetic analyses with microsatellite markers support this conclusion and indicate that local adaptation of T. urticae found in our system may indeed contribute to a better natural regulation of this mite.     

Foliar Paclobutrazol Application Suppresses Olive Tree Growth While Promoting Fruit Set

In some agricultural practices, application of plant growth regulators is very useful as an efficient means to modulate olive tree vigour to optimize fruit production. However, the physiological mechanisms underlying these effects are still poorly understood. Here, we evaluated the effectiveness of paclobutrazol, chlormequat and prohexadione on the modulation of vegetative growth and fruit set, with a special emphasis on the underlying effects exerted by phytohormones, in one-year-old olive trees (Olea europea cv. Arbosana). Paclobutrazol and chlormequat were tested using both foliar spraying and soil irrigation, while prohexadione was applied by foliar spraying only, and all treatments were compared to a control. Among treatments, paclobutrazol and chlormequat were the most effective in promoting vegetative growth retardation, when applied through foliar spray. Growth retardation by foliar application of paclobutrazol was associated with proline accumulation and reduced gibberellin contents in leaves. Furthermore, hormonal profiling revealed that not only all treatments were effective in reducing the endogenous contents of gibberellins, but also that the entire hormonal profiling was altered upon treatments. It is concluded that (i) various plant growth regulators can be effectively used to control olive tree growth, and (ii) paclobutrazol seems to be more efficient on vegetative growth retardation than the other tested treatments, being foliar application more effective than soil treatment.

     

DNAlive: a tool for the physical analysis of DNA at the genomic scale

SUMMARY: DNAlive is a tool for the analysis and graphical display of structural and physical characteristics of genomic DNA. The web server implements a wide repertoire of metrics to derive physical information from DNA sequences with a powerful interface to derive 3D information on large sequences of both naked and protein-bound DNAs. Furthermore, it implements a mesoscopic Metropolis code which allows the inexpensive study of the dynamic properties of chromatin fibers. In addition, our server also surveys other protein and genomic databases allowing the user to combine and explore the physical properties of selected DNA in the context of functional features annotated on those regions. AVAILABILITY: http://mmb.pcb.ub.es/DNAlive/ ; http://www.inab.org/     

Measuring and Improving Eco‐efficiency Using Data Envelopment Analysis

The concept of eco‐efficiency can be defined with the “product value/environmental influence” ratio. Different models have been proposed to measure eco‐efficiency. The main difference among them is the weighting system used to aggregate the environmental results. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) permits this aggregation without requiring a subjective judgment about the weights. In this study, we applied a DEA model to Spanish Mahón‐Menorca cheese production to determine the most eco‐efficient production techniques. To this end, 16 scenarios of Mahón‐Menorca cheese production were built regarding technical (degree of automation) and cleaner production criteria. The environmental impacts were assessed by means of life cycle assessment. We carried out an economic assessment by determining the economic value added and the net income for each scenario. The results are referred to as 1 kilogram (kg) cheese ripened over 105 days. Through DEA, an eco‐efficiency ratio between 0 and 1 was obtained. Three scenarios were found to be eco‐efficient, with a high degree of automation (enclosed vat and molding and demolding machines) and accelerated cheese ripening. We used Monte Carlo simulation to carry out a sensitivity analysis to compare the influence of price changes on the eco‐efficiency ratio. The results emphasize the consistency and stability of the eco‐efficient scenarios.     

Ecobiology of Anaphothrips obscurus,a new dweller of citrus orchards brought in by more sustainable pest management practices

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