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Curtovirusspp., a group of widely distributed geminiviruses, are among the most significant plant pathogens in the United States. Beet curly top virus (BCTV), vectored by the beet leafhopper [Circulifer(Neoaliturus)tenellusBaker], causes severe economic losses in crops such as tomatoes, peppers, dry beans, sugar beets, melons, and leafy greens, particularly in the western United States. In New Mexico, chile (Capsicum annuum) is vulnerable, with infected plants exhibiting symptoms such as stunting, chlorotic and curled leaves, misshapen fruits, reduced yields, and plant death. Yield losses can reach up to 50% in some years. Current management strategies, including pesticide applications, provide limited protection, leaving growers with substantial losses. Research indicates beet leafhoppers prefer full sun and avoid shaded areas, suggesting potential for innovative pest management strategies. Agrivoltaic systems (AVSs), which combine photovoltaic (PV) installations with agriculture, increase field shade and could potentially deter crop pests. However, the effect of AVS on pest management and chile crop yields remains underexplored. This study evaluated the impact of AVS shade on chile yield and plant growth, beet leafhopper abundance, and BCTV incidence. In 2023 and 2024, ‘NuMex Odyssey’, a New Mexico type chile cultivar, was grown in PV module–shaded and full sun replications at New Mexico State University’s Leyendecker Plant Science Research Center. PV modules provided shade to plants during the morning hours (0630 to 1330 HR), resulting in an 11% reduction in mean light intensity compared with the full sun replications. Full sun replications had more marketable green yield, while PV shaded replications exhibited significantly lower BCTV-affected fruit in 2024 and beet leafhopper abundance in both 2023 and 2024. These findings suggest that shading can reduce beet leafhopper abundance and BCTV incidence, offering potential benefits for chile cultivation. 

Global challenges such as soil degradation and water scarcity necessitate sustainable agricultural practices, particularly in regions where saline water is increasingly used for irrigation. This study investigates the effects of four compost treatments, including surface-applied mulch compost (MC), Johnson–Su biologically active compost incorporated into soil (JCI), mulch compost incorporated into soil (MCI), and no compost as control (NC), on soil fertility, microbial activity, and Capsicum annuum (chili pepper) growth. Greenhouse experiments were conducted using soil from two different sites (New Mexico State University’s (NMSU) agricultural research plots and agricultural field-testing site at the Brackish Groundwater National Desalination Research Facility (BGNDRF) in Alamogordo, New Mexico) and two irrigation water salinities (brackish at ~3000 µS/cm and agricultural at ~800 µS/cm). The Johnson–Su compost treatment demonstrated superior performance, due to its high soil organic matter (41.5%), nitrate (NO3−) content (82.5 mg/kg), and phosphorus availability (193.1 mg/kg). In the JCI-treated soils, microbial biomass increased by 40%, and total microbial carbon reached 64.69 g/m2 as compared to 64.7 g/m2 in the NC. Plant growth parameters, including chlorophyll content, root length, and wet biomass, improved substantially with JCI. For instance, JCI increased plant height by 20% and wet biomass by 30% compared to NC treatments. The JCI treatment also effectively mitigated soil salinity, reducing Na+ accumulation by 60% and Cl− by 70% while enhancing water retention and soil structure. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) revealed a distinct clustering of JCI treatments, demonstrating its ability to increase nutrient retention and minimize salinity stress. These results indicate that biologically active properties, such as fungi-rich compost, are critical to providing an effective, environmentally resilient approach for enhancing soil fertility and supporting sustainable crop production under brackish groundwater irrigation, particularly in regions facing freshwater scarcity. 

A robot's mechanical parts routinely wear out from normal functioning and can be lost to injury. For autonomous robots operating in isolated or hostile environments, repair from a human operator is often not possible. Thus, much work has sought to automate damage recovery in robots. However, every case reported in the literature to date has accepted the damaged mechanical structure as fixed, and focused on learning new ways to control it. Here we show for the first time a robot that automatically recovers from unexpected damage by deforming its resting mechanical structure without changing its control policy. We found that, especially in the case of "deep insult", such as removal of all four of the robot's legs, the damaged machine evolves shape changes that not only recover the original level of function (locomotion) as before, but can in fact surpass the original level of performance (speed). This suggests that shape change, instead of control readaptation, may be a better method to recover function after damage in some cases.