Research@Lincoln
Research@Lincoln is an open access institutional repository collecting the research produced by Lincoln University staff and students. You may also be interested in Data@Lincoln or Lincoln University Living Heritage.
Students wishing to submit a thesis or dissertation should see the Depositing theses and dissertations guide.
Recent Submissions
Item The Scoop on SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast): Exploring consumer behaviours towards a novel ice cream(Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI), 2023-09)With the growing demand for sustainable practises, the food industry is increasingly adopting circular economy approaches. One example is recycling the symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast (SCOBY) used in kombucha fermentation to create value-added products. However, consumer acceptance of such novel products remains unclear. To address this, the present study examined consumer attitudes towards ice cream made with SCOBY as an ingredient and how this affected their intention to consume it. Drawing on the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and additional constructs such as emotions and food neophobia, an online survey was conducted with New Zealand consumers (N = 170). Results showed that the TPB constructs significantly predicted the intention to consume SCOBY ice cream. Moreover, by adding emotions to the constructs, the model’s explanatory power was enhanced. Attitudes, subjective norms, and emotions were the main predictors of intention, which in turn was found to be the main predictor of behaviour. Participants’ beliefs about the safety and taste of SCOBY ice cream were significantly correlated with their intention and behaviour, as were the opinions of nutritionists/dietitians, friends, and family. The model accounted for 21.7% of the variance in behaviour and 57.4% of the variance in intention. These findings can be used to plan marketing strategies related to waste-to-value-added products such as SCOBY ice cream.Item Review and guidance for integrated management of economically significant weeds, pests and diseases in a range of horticultural and other edible field crops(Agricultural And Horticultural Development Board (AHDB), 2022-03)Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is widely used to reduce chemical inputs for pest, disease and weed control in many horticultural and arable crops. Strategies include cultural control techniques, monitoring and forecasting methods and the use of bioprotectants (invertebrate biocontrols, semiochemicals, microbials and natural substances). This review highlighted key non-chemical methods that growers are currently using but could be more widely adopted, such as decision support tools and cultural control methods including variety choice and crop hygiene. In addition, the review identified a wide range of crop and pest specific approaches that with further development, may also provide alternative and sustainable solutions. The review identified where more knowledge exchange is needed to facilitate adoption of effective practices and where further research is needed to further understand and develop new strategies.Item Designing grazing systems that enhance the health of New Zealand high-country grasslands : A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Lincoln University(Lincoln University, 2023)Grazing management enabling pastoral livestock-production systems to deliver multiple ecosystem services is key to assure the long-term health and stability of grasslands. In the context of designing multi-functional grazing systems to enhance grassland health, systems thinking emerges as a useful tool to understand, modulate and enhance the resilience of those systems. The objective of the outlined research was to apply systems thinking and design theory to design alternative grazing systems that enhance grassland health using high-country stations in New Zealand as a model and Lincoln University Mount Grand Station (LUMGS) as the case study. This was conducted over five modelling exercises described as the design method to design scenarios representing distinct grazing management that enhance grassland health in different ways. The first design step applied spatial analysis to create a modern rich picture for grassland health diagnostic which determined that 97.7% of LUMGS grassland has a moderate health condition. Then, a geospatial modelling approach was used to assess the current capability of LUMGS in delivering ecosystem services. It was determined that LUMGS has a spatially variable potential for agriculture productivity, a high flood mitigation capacity, a high capacity of C sequestration, an extreme risk of erosion, a capacity to reduce sediment delivery to streams, and overall, a low to moderate nitrogen and phosphorus accumulation. Those ecosystem services were negatively affected by farming activities. Next, a geospatial modelling approach was used to understand the spatiotemporal impacts of different stock densities, grazing occupation periods, and stock types on soil susceptibility to erosion. Increases in the occupation period were more detrimental to soil loss than increases in stock density, and losses were greater for cattle than for sheep and deer. Those effects were spatially and temporally variable. In the following chapter, we applied a spatial-chemical analysis to grassland ecosystems for the illustration of chemoscapes and the creation of healthscapes. We created maps that show an extra perspective of plant nutritional value by illustrating their distribution over LUMGS according to their medicinal effects. Finally, by integrating all those design tools, three alternative grazing system scenarios were created and evaluated, from which a multi-criteria evaluation defined that the ‘best-compromise’ scenario to enhance grassland health is the scenario with lower soil erosion, the lower total emission of greenhouse gases, and greater profitability compared to the parsimonious approach of the ‘status quo’. The design methodology proposed in this thesis demonstrates that grasslands need to be managed as context-adjusted, adaptive, and complex systems to be multifunctional and continually deliver multiple ecosystem services to enhance grassland health.Item Housing markets and the wider economy under global shocks: 1970-2021(2021-07-18)Several previous papers have detected the effects of a global crisis on an economy or a certain market, while the world has experienced several global financial crises since 1970 and their impacts on the economy leave behind a big question ‘Which Global Shock makes the world economy worst in a comparison with the other ones?”. On the other hand, housing affordability has been a chronic problem in several big cities and countries especially its trend over several global crises in conjunction with the wider economy plus other critical factors such as social-economic, educational, poverty, inequality, and country governance effectiveness. Given this motivation, this study aims to investigate the effects and interactions of housing markets and the wider economy in the pre-, during, and post-periods of main global shocks over the last five decades. Using a global sample of 48 countries for the period 1970-2020, the sample allows the study to include the main 6 global crises including the oil price shock of 1973-1975, the global recession of 1982-1983, the global recession of 1990-1991, the global financial crisis of 2007-2009, and the health pandemic of 2019-2020. Not surprisingly, the preliminary empirical results show the housing markets, affordability, and the wider economy are significantly affected during the main world crises since 1970, however, those effects and their divergence between housing markets and the economy are changed across countries given their differences in demographic, social, and economic determinants throughout the world. The study provides important findings, policy implications, and backgrounds to policymakers, economists, and governments based on the empirical evidence from the past global crises for more sustainable development in the future.Item Towards the development of a management information system for glasshouse tomato growers : A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Horticultural Science(Lincoln College, University of Canterbury, 1982)Since the early seventies, glasshouse tomato growers have faced severe cost-price pressures due mainly to the sharply increased cost of heating oil. If growers are to maintain or improve their profitability, on-property changes need to take place to increase yield and returns and/or reduce costs. Formal management information systems (MISs) are interpreted as a basis for assisting growers in their decision making, including the evaluation of alternative strategies. The development and use of MISs was considered using an interdisciplinary approach and drawing upon the experiences of non-agricultural firms and MISs that have been successfully developed for glasshouse cropping firms. Key factors to success were identified. A computer based "mail in" MIS was developed with a group of Auckland glasshouse tomato growers selected for their economic motivation and common information requirements. The MIS was developed closely with growers to determine their information requirements, the scope of the system, the recording of data and input/output form design. A horticultural advisory officer (HAO) from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAF) collected grower data for processing and helped growers interpret and effectively use the new information in their decision making. After two seasons operation, the MIS was evaluated by the growers and the HAO. The MIS project was successful from a number of aspects. Improvements were also suggested, particularly in relation to the design of the output form and the role performed by the HAO. If the HAO had carried out more timely and frequent data collection and interpretation, it was likely that growers would have seen a greater use within the season for information provided by the MIS. The evaluation also highlighted growers' limited perception of the systems over which they have control. seen as an area for discussion between the HAO and the grower. To meet the likely demand for formal planning models within the MIS in the future, an assessment was made of the feasibility of developing a bio-technical simulation model of the glasshouse tomato production system. Temperature was identified as the main factor influencing tomato plant response in New Zealand. A glasshouse climate sub-model based on regression equations was developed to predict daily glasshouse minimum and maximum temperatures using external weather data as input to the model. A glasshouse tomato crop sub-model was developed to predict the date of harvest onset, the pattern of yield throughout the season and total yield using temperature data as input to the model. Ontario heat units were used as a time course for the model and as an indicator of tomato plant response. A harvest threshold of 2206 Ontario units was more effective than calendar days in predicting harvest onset. The model was validated. Crop yield was successfully modelled using Ontario units and regression analysis. The model was validated. However this basic model was only applicable to well managed crops. Factors reducing the yield potential need to be incorporated into the model to broaden its applicability. Other suggestions are made to improve the usefulness of the model. The simulation model can be used by itself or linked with an economic model to compare alternative strategies between seasons or to predict crop development and production part-way through a season using actual weather data, likely future weather and details of any factors reducing yield potential. The future development and use of MISs are discussed.
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