The proliferation of food, feed and biofuels demands promises to increase pressure on water competition and stress, particularly for Thailand, which has a large agricultural base. This study assesses the water footprint of ten staple crops grown in different regions across the country and evaluates the impact of crop water use in different regions/watersheds by the water stress index and the indication of water deprivation potential. The ten crops include major rice, second rice, maize, soybean, mungbean, peanut, cassava, sugarcane, pineapple and oil palm. The water stress index of the 25 major watersheds in Thailand has been evaluated. The results show that there are high variations of crop water requirements grown in different regions due to many factors. However, based on the current cropping systems, the Northeastern region has the highest water requirement for both green water (or rain water) and blue water (or irrigation water). Rice (paddy) farming requires the highest amount of irrigation water, i.e., around 10,489 million m3/year followed by the maize, sugarcane, oil palm and cassava. Major rice cultivation induces the highest water deprivation, i.e., 1862 million m3H₂Oeq/year; followed by sugarcane, second rice and cassava. The watersheds that have high risk on water competition due to increase in production of the ten crops considered are the Mun, Chi and Chao Phraya watersheds. The main contribution is from the second rice cultivation. Recommendations have been proposed for sustainable crops production in the future.

China's rapid increase in food imports has repercussions for China's and global resources. This study reviews the recent literature on China's virtual water and land trade through food trade, presents updated results for 2000–2015, and makes projections for 2030. The results show that the increased imports of virtual water and land have significantly eased pressure on these resources in China. Soybean imports have been the main contributor towards China's domestic savings of virtual water and land. China's food trade has increasingly contributed towards global savings of virtual water and land. Our projections suggest that the trend in savings of domestic and global virtual water and land will continue, with significant variations due to changes in resource use efficiency.

Soybean import accounts for 90% of China's total domestic soybean supply. Such import has a substantial impact on how the country's resources are used as well as on its environment. In this study, we performed a national-scale assessment of the impact of soybean import on domestic cropland conversion, crop production, water use and nitrogen (N) fertilizer application. Results show that soybean production in China decreased by 26% (4.46 million tons) and sown areas were reduced by 25% (2.39 million ha) from the peak of 2004 to 2016. Of the areas taken out of the soybean production, 70% were converted to maize, 20% to rice, 3% to vegetables and 7% to fruits during this period. As a result of the cropland conversion, the production of maize, rice, vegetables and fruits increased by 10.42, 3.34, 2.49 and 3.26 million tons respectively. However, irrigation water use in the areas that were converted to the cultivation of the four types of crops increased by 96.42% (3.05 km³), with much of it coming from northern provinces where water is generally scarce. The application of N fertilizer increased by 256.65 thousand tons (almost 5 times) on the converted areas, partly due to the loss of the N-fixing soybean cultivation. Although a large quantity of virtual water and land were imported through soybean trade, the water use and N application were increased in reality. The analysis of the land-water-food-environment nexus in the context of soybean import provides comprehensive and useful information about the benefits and trade-offs associated with China's international soybean trade.

Agroforestry systems are widely promoted for their economic and environmental benefits. Food, energy, water and land resources in agroforestry systems are inextricably intertwined and expected to be severely impacted by climate change. Socioeconomic development and increasing populations have posed unique challenges for meeting the demand for food, energy, water and land, and the challenge will become more pressing under projected resource shortages and eco-environmental deterioration. Thus, a method of optimizing and sustainably managing the water-land-food-energy nexus in agroforestry systems under climate change must be developed.This paper develops an optimization model framework for the sustainable management of limited water-land-food-energy resources in agroforestry systems under climate change. The aims are to (1) quantify the interactions and feedbacks within water, land, food and energy subsystems; (2) provide trade-offs among water and energy utilization efficiency, economic benefits and environmental protection in agroforestry systems; and (3) generate optimal policy options among water and land resources for different crops and woodlands in different regions under different climate change patterns.The model framework is based on multiobjective fractional programming, and compromise programming is used to solve it. Climate change patterns are obtained from atmospheric circulation models and representative concentration pathways. The above aims are investigated through an actual nexus management problem in northeast China. Spatiotemporal meteorological and report-based databases, life cycle assessments, Pearson correlation analyses, data envelopment analyses and analytic hierarchy processes are integrated to realize practical application.The results show that climate variation will change the water and land allocation patterns and these changes will be more pronounced for major grain-producing areas. The optimized water allocation decreased (especially for rice, e.g., the optimal average value of the irrigation quota of rice was 4226 m³/ha, while the corresponding actual irrigation requirement of rice was [4200–7200] m³/ha) to improve the water use efficiency, and surface water allocation accounted for two-thirds. Maize had the largest planting area, although planting soybean generated the most greenhouse gases (greenhouse gas emissions from field activities for rice, maize, and soybean were 43.46%, 84.06% and 91.16%, respectively); However, these gases can be absorbed by forests. The model improved the harmonious degree of the resource-economy-environment system from 0.24 to 0.56 after optimization.Integrated models contribute to the sustainable management of water, food, energy and land resources and can consider the complex dynamics under climate change. It can be used as a general model and extended to other agroforestry systems that show inefficient agricultural production.

A synbiotic product of combined Lactobacillus plantarum TISTR 875 with water extracts and crude fibers from corn, mungbean, and soybean was formulated to investigate the survival of L. plantarum during freeze-drying and storage. The impacts of those water extracts and crude fibers on probiotic survival were determined in both a cultural medium and a freeze-drying medium. L. plantarum cultivated in de Man, Rogosa, and Sharpe (MRS) broth containing 2 % of water extract from soybean with 2 % mungbean fiber showed only 0.11 log CFU/ml cell reduction. The survival of L. plantarum harvested at the late log phase, mid stationary, phase and late stationary phase did not show statistical significance (P > 0.05), whereas an initial pH of 6.5 and growth temperature of 37 °C showed greater impact (P < 0.05). The addition of corn extract to the freeze-drying medium as a cryoprotectant had a similar effect on L. plantarum survival as sucrose, but it was better (P < 0.05) than fructo-oligosaccharide and exopolysaccharides from Weissella cibaria A2, soybean extract, mungbean extract, soybean, corn, and mungbean fibers. A protective coating of corn extract was revealed and observed using scanning electron microscopy. The freeze-dried L. plantarum, cultivated in MRS broth containing soybean extract and mungbean fiber with corn extract as a cryoprotectant, retained high viability of 7.21 and 6.88 log CFU/ml after 8-week storage in a vacuum-packed aluminum foil-laminated polyethylene sachet and a nitrogen-flushed glass vial, respectively. ©Springer Science+Business Media New York 2012.

With the implementation of the “Grain-for-Green” program, artificial vegetation was introduced on the Loess Plateau, which resulted in high soil water content (SWC) depletion. Currently, lack of soil water recharge is one of the most serious challenges on the Loess Plateau. Soil drying and wetting processes are critical for the sustainability of soil water recycling, but this has not been well studied. There is also a lack of physical definition of the upper bound SWC of dried soil layers (DSL). In this study, soil water dynamics – the change of SWC affected by precipitation and vegetation transpiration – were studied under converted vegetation. In-situ SWC measurements from the 0–5 m or 0–8 m deep profile over consecutive wet years (from 2016 to 2018 with an average precipitation of 660.9 mm) were analyzed to understand soil water depletion and restoration processes. Results showed distinct differences in soil water dynamics in the soil profiles and soil water balances under different vegetation types. SWC under continuous perennial alfalfa (Medicago sativa) had greater fluctuations between 0 and 300 cm than below 300 cm, and a DSL was observed below 300 cm. After converting from alfalfa to soybean (Glycine max), SWC increased greatly during the three wet years. Soil water storage (S) increased at an average rate of 35.8 mm year⁻¹ m⁻¹ within the top 500 cm of the soil profile, average evapotranspiration (ET) was 482.0 mm year⁻¹, and maximum restoration depth of soil water extended to 660 cm. However, SWC gradually decreased over time after replacing food crop with alfalfa. S declined at an average rate of 21.4 mm year⁻¹ m⁻¹ within the top 500 cm of the soil profile, average ET was 680.4 mm year⁻¹ and the maximum depth of soil water depletion extended to 360 cm. These results suggest that SWC in deep layers can be depleted and replenished quickly, and the processes were dominated by vegetation types and precipitation. Taking vegetation types and soil texture into consideration, the calculation of upper bound SWC of DSL was redefined. Given the long-term effects of high water demand from vegetation such as alfalfa on the soil water balance, ET of vegetation should be reduced through conversion to less water-intensive vegetation types or biomass control (i.e. reduced planting density appropriately) in arid areas of the Loess Plateau.

Concerns regarding sustainability have prompted the search of value in the by-products of food manufacturing. Such is the case of the cooking water (CW) of chickpeas, which has shown its potential as a vegan egg white replacement. This study aimed to characterize and compare the CW from three novel legumes (black soybeans, BSB; yellow soybeans, YSB; and small black beans, SBB) obtained from the processing of Korean soybean foods, and the widely used CW from chickpeas (CH), with regard to total polyphenol, total carbohydrate, and protein contents, and further compare their foaming and emulsifying abilities and stabilities. Compositional analysis revealed that all the studied legumes possessed higher values than CH for all parameters. Furthermore, the CW from these legumes exhibited enhanced functional properties, particularly foaming capacity and stability. Taken together, our results suggest that the CW from BSB, YSB, and SBB, sourced from the manufacturing of legume food products, has the potential of being revalorized as a plant-based functional ingredient for vegan product development.