b"EXTRASCIGARETTE BUTTS HAMPER PLANT ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE HELPS BANANA GROWTHSTUDY GROWERS PROTECT THE WORLD'S MOST FAVOURITE FRUITNew research has discovered that cigarette butts - the most common form of litter on the planet - significantly reduce plantA new smartphone tool developed for banana farmers scans growth. plants for signs of five major diseases and one common pest. Led by academics from Anglia Ruskin University (ARU)In testing in Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and published in the journal Ecotoxicology and EnvironmentalIndia, Benin, China, and Uganda, the tool provided a 90 percent Safety, the study is the first to show the damage that cigarettesuccessful detection rate. This work is a step towards creating butts can cause to plants. a satellite-powered, globally connected network to control dis-The researchers found that the presence of cigarette buttsease and pest outbreaks, say the researchers who developed in the soil reduces the germination success and shoot lengththe technology. The findings were published this week in the (the length of the stem) of clover by 27% and 28% respectively,journal Plant Methods.while root biomass (root weight) reduced by 57%. For grass,Bananas are the world's most popular fruit and with the germination success reduced by 10% and shoot length by 13%. global population set to reach 10 billion in 2050, pressure is Most cigarette butts contain a filter made of cellulose ace- mounting to produce sufficient food. Many countries will con-tate fibre, a type of a bioplastic. Filters from unsmoked cigarettestinue depending on international trade to ensure their food had almost the same effect on plant growth as used filters, indi- security. It is estimated that by 2050 developing countries' net cating that the damage to plants is caused by the filter itself,imports of cereals will more than double from 135 million metric even without the additional toxins released from the burning oftonnes in 2008/09 to 300 million in 2050. An essential staple the tobacco. Control experiments contained pieces of wood offood for many families, bananas are a crucial source of nutrition identical shape and size as the cigarette butts. and income. However, pests and diseases - Xanthomanas wilt It is estimated that around 4.5 trillion cigarette butts areof banana, Fusarium wilt, black leaf streak (or Black sigatoka), littered every year, making them the most pervasive form of plas- to name a few - threaten to damage the fruit. And when a dis-tic pollution on the planet. As part of this study, the academicsease outbreak hits, the effects to smallholder livelihoods can be sampled locations around the city of Cambridge and found areasdetrimental.with as many as 128 discarded cigarette butts per square metre.The tool is built into an app called Tumaini - which means (Source: Anglia Ruskin University) hope in Swahili - and is designed to help smallholder banana growers quickly detect a disease or pest and prevent a wide out-break from happening. The app aims to link them to extension workers to quickly stem the outbreak. It can also upload data to GREEN CHEMISTS FIND A WAY TO TURNa global system for large-scale monitoring and control. The app's CASHEW NUT SHELLS INTO SUNSCREEN goal is to facilitate a robust and easily deployable response to support banana farmers in need of crop disease control.(Source: A team of international scientists has found an environmentallyInternational Center For Tropical Agriculture)friendly way of producing potential sunscreens by using cashew nut shells, a waste material.The team of green chemists from the University of the Witwatersrand, along with colleagues from Universities inCOMPOST KEY TO SEQUESTERING CARBON IN Germany, Malawi and Tanzania, are working on techniques toTHE SOILproduce useful compounds from wood and other fast growing non-edible plant waste, through a chemical process namedBy moving beyond the surface level and literally digging deep, xylochemistry (wood chemistry). By using cashew nut shells,scientists at the University of California, Davis, found that com-the team has produced new aromatic compounds that showpost is a key to storing carbon in semi-arid cropland soils, a good UVA and UVB absorbance, which may be applied to protectstrategy for offsetting CO2 emissions.humans, livestock, as well as polymers or coatings from harmfulFor their 19-year study, published in the journal Global rays from the sun. The research has just been published as theChange Biology, scientists dug roughly 6 feet down to com-cover article of the European Journal of Organic Chemistry. pare soil carbon changes in conventional, cover-cropped and UV rays are damaging to most materials, with its effectscompost-added plots of corn-tomato and wheat-fallow cropping leading to the discoloration of dyes and pigments, weathering,systems. They found that:yellowing of plastics, loss of gloss and mechanical properties, Conventional soils neither release nor store much carbon.while it can lead to sunburn, premature aging and even the Cover cropping conventional soils, while increasing carbon development of potentially lethal melanomas in both humansin the surface 12 inches, can actually lose significant amounts of and animals. To mitigate UV damage, both organic and inor- carbon below that depth.ganic compounds are used as UV filters. Ideal organic UV filters When both compost and cover crops were added in the display a high UV absorption of UVA rays (in the region rangingorganic-certified system, soil carbon content increased 12.6 per-from 315-400 nm) and UVB rays (280-315 nm). One importantcent over the length of the study, or about 0.07 percent annually. family of UV absorber molecules are derived from aromatic com- That's more than the international 4 per 1000 initiative, which pounds known as phenols, which contain a hydrogen-bondedcalls for an increase of 0.04 percent of soil carbon per year. It is hydroxyl group that plays an important role in the dissipationalso far more carbon stored than would be calculated if only the of the absorbed energy. surface layer was measured.The team has already filed a patent application in order to commercialise the process in South Africa. (Source: University Of The Witwatersrand)70IEUROPEAN SEEDIEUROPEAN-SEED.COM"