Increasing grain yields of food cereal crops is a major goal in future sustainable agriculture. We quantitatively analyzed the potential role of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi in enhancing grain yields of seven cereal crops with exceptional importance for human nutrition across the globe: corn, wheat, rice, barley, sorghum, millet and oat.We conducted a meta-analysis for three datasets including both English and Chinese language publications: the 'whole' dataset including both laboratory and field studies (168 articles); the 'field' dataset comprising only field studies (97 studies); and the 'field-inoculation' dataset including only AM fungal inoculation studies conducted in field conditions (70 articles).We found that the AM fungal effect on grain yield was less pronounced in field and noninoculation studies. AM fungal inoculation in field led to a 16% increase (overall effect) based on the 'field-inoculation' dataset; this effect was variable (77% trials had positive values), crop-specific, lower for new cultivars released after 1950 and further modulated by soil pH.Although there are neutral and negative effects of AM fungi on grain yields, we emphasize the importance of integrating AM fungi in sustainable agriculture to increase grain yields of cereal crops.
: In this study, effects of pretreatment of corn stover (CS) with sodium hydroxide (NaOH) combined with calcium oxide (CaO) on anaerobic co-digestion of swine manure and CS for biogas production were investigated. Different pretreated-CSs were prepared by adding different doses of NaOH and CaO to CS: Treat-CSA (0.10 g NaOH/g CS), Treat-CSB((0.075 g NaOH + 0.05 g CaO)/g CS), Treat-CSC ((0.05 g NaOH + 0.05 g CaO)/g CS), and Treat-CSD ((0.025 g NaOH + 0.1 g CaO)/g CS). Lignin removal rate, biomass recovery, reduced sugar, methane yield, DT80 (digestion time when biogas achieved 80% of the total biogas), composition of residues, and cost-efficiency were measured to characterize CS after pretreatment and to evaluate the performance of co-digestors fed with swine manure and differently-pretreated CS. The results showed that Treat-CSB showed an excellent lignin removal efficiency and biomass recovery, resulting in the highest methane yield in its co-digestion with swine manure. Since the net benefit of Treat-CSB was calculated to be the highest (i.e., $1.89/ton total solids), therefore, we believe the co-digestion of Treat-CSB and swine manure for biogas production be an effective valorization option for the wastes.
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