Caring toward cure

Monitoring Onion Crop “Cipolla Rossa di Tropea Calabria IGP” Growth and Yield Response to Varying Nitrogen Fertilizer Application Rates Using UAV Imagery

Remote sensing (RS) platforms such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) represent an essential source of information in precision agriculture (PA) as they are able to provide images on a daily basis and at a very high resolution. In this framework, this study aims to identify the optimal level of nitrogen (N)-based nutrients for improved productivity in an onion field of “Cipolla Rossa di Tropea” (Tropea red onion). Following an experiment that involved the arrangement of nine plots in the onion field in a randomized complete block design (RCBD), with three replications, three different levels of N fertilization were compared: N150 (150 kg N ha−1), N180 (180 kg N ha−1), and e N210 (210 kg N ha−1). The crop cycle was monitored using multispectral (MS) UAV imagery, producing vigor maps and taking into account the yield of data. The soil-adjusted vegetation index (SAVI) was used to monitor the vigor of the crop. In addition, the coverage’s class onion was spatially identified using geographical object-based image classification (GEOBIA), observing differences in SAVI values obtained in plots subjected to differentiated N fertilizer treatment. The information retrieved from the analysis of soil properties (electrical conductivity, ammonium and nitrate nitrogen), yield performance and mean SAVI index data from each field plot showed significant relationships between the different indicators investigated. A higher onion yield was evident in plot N180, in which SAVI values were higher based on the production data.

A Comparison of UAV and Satellites Multispectral Imagery in Monitoring Onion Crop. An Application in the ‘Cipolla Rossa di Tropea’ (Italy)

Precision agriculture (PA) is a management strategy that analyzes the spatial and temporal variability of agricultural fields using information and communication technologies with the aim to optimize profitability, sustainability, and protection of agro-ecological services. In the context of PA, this research evaluated the reliability of multispectral (MS) imagery collected at different spatial resolutions by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and PlanetScope and Sentinel-2 satellite platforms in monitoring onion crops over three different dates. The soil adjusted vegetation index (SAVI) was used for monitoring the vigor of the study field. Next, the vigor maps from the two satellite platforms with those derived from UAV were compared by statistical analysis in order to evaluate the contribution made by each platform for monitoring onion crops. Besides, the two coverage’s classes of the field, bare soil and onions, were spatially identified using geographical object-based image classification (GEOBIA), and their spectral contribution was analyzed comparing the SAVI calculated considering only crop pixels (i.e., SAVI onions) and that calculated considering only bare soil pixels (i.e., SAVI soil) with the SAVI from the three platforms. The results showed that satellite imagery, coherent and correlated with UAV images, could be useful to assess the general conditions of the field while UAV permits to discriminate localized circumscribed areas that the lowest resolution of satellites missed, where there are conditions of inhomogeneity in the field, determined by abiotic or biotic stresses.

The pathophysiology of undernutrition in the child with cancer

The physiologic consequences of malnutrition in children with cancer are reviewed. It is stressed that the child with cancer has a nutritional state that is no different from the average population from which the child comes. What little malnutrition is seen is calorie malnutrition. The physiologic consequences are those seen in any malnourished patient. Once the patient is being treated for cancer and the cancer course has progressed, the complications of chemotherapy and radiotherapy add to the difficulty in interpretation. However, the problem of decreased resistance to infection is one of the major problems that result from this malnutrition. The one nutrient found deficient in children with cancer is iron. Because transferrin is sensitive to prolonged protein malnutrition and because of the high level of ferritin in children with certain cancers, interpretation of laboratory values defining iron deficiency is difficult and iron homeostasis may well be very deranged.