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Vegetable grafting is a practice employed worldwide since it helps prevent biotic and abiotic disorders, and watermelon is one of the most important species grafted. The objective of this study was to set critical limits for the characterization of quality categories for grafted watermelon seedlings. Specifically, watermelon (scion) seedlings were grafted onto squash (rootstock) seedlings, moved into a healing chamber for 7 days, and then transferred into a greenhouse for seven more days. At 7 and 14 days after grafting, experienced personnel assessed grafted seedling quality by categorizing them. The categories derived were Optimum and Acceptable for both time intervals, plus Not acceptable at 14 days after grafting. Optimum seedlings showed greater leaf area, and shoot and root fresh and dry weights at both time intervals. Moreover, they had greater stem diameter, root-to-shoot ratio, shoot dry weight-to-length ratio and Dickson’s quality index compared to the other category at 14 days after grafting. Therefore, Optimum seedlings would likely develop into marketable plants of high quality, with better establishment in the field. Not acceptable seedlings showed considerably inferior development, while Acceptable seedlings were between the other categories, but were still marketable.

Precision agriculture (PA) as an integrated information- and production-based farming system is designed to delivery high-end technology solutions to increase farm production efficiency and profitability while minimizing environmental impacts on the ecosystems and the environment. PA technologies are technology innovations that incorporate recent advances in modern agriculture providing evidence for lower production costs, increased farming efficiency and reduced impacts. However, the adoption of the precision agriculture technologies has encountered difficulties such as additional application or management costs and investment on new equipment and trained employees. Some of these PA technologies were proven efficient, providing tangible benefits with lower costs and as a result they quickly gained scientific interest. To investigate further the economic, agronomic, and environmental benefits from the adoption of PA technologies a systematic review was conducted, based on the systematic search and evaluation of related eligible articles.

While periodontitis deteriorates patients’ quality of life, non-surgical periodontal treatment seems to offer an improvement. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the impact of non-surgical and surgical periodontal treatment on the oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) utilizing patient-centered assessments and surrogate clinical measurements in Greek adults. Eighty-three individuals with chronic periodontitis were enrolled in the study. Assessment of OHRQoL with the use of the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14) questionnaire in conjunction with clinical measurements of pocket probing depth (PPD), plaque index (PI) and bleeding on probing (BOP) were performed at baseline (t0), after non-surgical therapy (t1) and after periodontal surgery (t2). A statistically significant reduction of OHIP-14 score was recorded at t1 and t2 examination compared to baseline (p < 0.001) and a statistically significant improvement in all clinical parameter at all time points was recorded (p < 0.05). No correlation between the clinical parameters and the total score of OHIP-14 was recorded at any time point. Non-surgical periodontal treatment seemed to improve OHRQoL in terms of OHIP-14 scores, whilst supplementary surgical periodontal therapy did not offer any additional benefit. No correlation was found between patients’ perception of quality of life expressed by OHIP-14 score and the surrogate clinical parameters.

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