This study explores the introduction and applicability of the Species Protection Index (SPI) as a tool to evaluate the effectiveness of biodiversity conservation. Specifically, the SPI was recalculated for amphibians in Korea and compared with the internationally provided SPI results. The pilot evaluation of SPI for amphibians showed an increase from 41.52, based on international data, to 44.25, indicating that SPI calculations using domestic data can reflect conservation status more accurately than international SPI results. The findings suggest that SPI can serve as an important scientific basis for formulating national biodiversity conservation policies and managing protected areas, contributing to the development of more effective conservation strategies.

This review examines the importance of measuring practical enteric methane emissions from ruminants, considering their significant impact on global warming. Global warming is significantly driven by an increase in greenhouse gases, with rising methane (CH4) emissions from ruminants accelerating global warming recently. To successfully mitigate CH4 emissions and establish effective strategies, it is essential to apply reliable measurement techniques. This will allow for an accurate assessment of on-farm CH4 emissions. The priority should be to gather CH4 emission data that reflects the actual state of CH4 emissions from ruminants. The review provides an overview of the methods used to measure CH4 emissions from ruminants by compiling existing researches. It introduces the concepts, principles, and limitations of these methods to facilitate comparisons between existing approaches. This review discusses methods for measuring enteric CH4 emissions from ruminants at the farm level, including the tracer technique, laser methane detector, GreenFeed, and sniffer system. These methods are highlighted as potential tools to accumulate substantial data on on-farm CH4 emission from domestic animals with provides examples of international cases. Among these, this review introduces the Sniffer method, a CH4 emission measurement techniques that are suitable for on-farm use under domestic conditions, and emphasizes the necessity of its application. In addition, by presenting international cases where predictive models were developed based on on-farm CH4 measurement techniques, it is projected that if predictive models for CH4 emissions are developed by accumulating data at the farm level, it can contribute to sustainable livestock industry in various promising ways.

Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.) is an essential crop in the Paraguayan diet. It plays a crucial role in food security. It is a source of income for family agriculture. It has a significant potential to adapt to various climatic and soil conditions in Paraguay, making it a promising crop for improving productivity. However, Paraguay faces a deficit in the development of sweet potato cultivation technology, resulting in a low productivity of 5.3 ton/ha. Efforts have been made to collect and characterize sweet potato genotypes, covering a diversity of native varieties. These efforts have laid the groundwork for future sweet potato research and development. Still, ongoing research and development of strategies are needed to address existing challenges of improving genetic resource traits and developing cultivation technology and to fully exploit growth opportunities in this sector. This review summarizes sweet potato cultivation in Paraguay, focusing on several key technical aspects. It analyzes current market situation and production conditions as well as the availability of genetic materials adapted to different ecoregions. Additionally, it explores prospects for the development of advanced sweet potato crops, including the production of high-quality, virus-free sweet potato plants with improved productivity.