Comparative Study of Biostimulant Properties of Industrially and Experimentally Produced Humic Substances

Demand for new biological technologies in agriculture is ever growing, particularly with respect to the need of restoring the soil organic matter and soil fertility. Products of natural origin are developed to stimulate plant growth and productivity. Humic substances (HS) are the decay products of living matter, with high molecular weight and complex structure. Nowadays, HS are industrially produced from various materials like peat, lignin, soil and compost. The objective of this study is to make a comparison of the impact of HS of different origin on plant development. In total, eight different HS were used; four were extracted from various materials and four were commercially available products. To evaluate the stimulating effect, three different species of plants were used (Triticum aestivum, Sinapis alba, Lepidum sativum). The tests were carried out on Phytotestkit plates, germinating the seeds in different solutions of HS in various concentrations in dark, with or without added nutrient solution. Then, the growth parameters were measured. All tested products showed increase in at least some concentrations compared with the control sample. Significant differences in the stimulating effect of HS depending on their origin were found.

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Use of a Pulsed Electric Field to Improve the Biogas Potential of Maize Silage

Energies ◽

10.3390/en14010119 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 14 (1) ◽

pp. 119

Author(s):

Dawid Szwarc ◽

Karolina Szwarc

Keyword(s):

Electric Field ◽

Retention Time ◽

Lignin Content ◽

Complex Structure ◽

Control Sample ◽

Pulsed Electric Field ◽

Cellulolytic Enzymes ◽

Maize Silage ◽

Conversion Rates ◽

The Impact

Some types of biomass require great inputs to guarantee high conversion rates to methane. The complex structure of lignocellulose impedes its penetration by cellulolytic enzymes, as a result of which a longer retention time is necessary to increase the availability of nutrients. To use the full biogas potential of lignocellulosic substrates, a substrate pretreatment is necessary before the proper methane fermentation. This article discusses the impact of the pretreatment of maize silage with a pulsed electric field on biogas productivity. The experiment showed a slight decrease in cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin content in the substrate following pretreatment with a pulsed electric field, which resulted in a higher carbohydrate content in the liquid substrate fraction. The highest biogas production output was obtained for the pretreated sample at the retention time of 180 s for 751.97 mL/g volatile solids (VS), which was approximately 14% higher than for the control sample. The methane production rate for the control sample was 401.83 mL CH4/g VS, and for the sample following disintegration it was 465.62 mL CH4/g VS. The study found that pretreatment of maize silage with a pulsed electric field increased the biogas potential.

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Impact of Pseudomonas putida on the Growth Parameters of Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum- graecum L.): A Traditional Herbal Boon for Rural Areas

Science & Technology Journal ◽

10.22232/stj.2017.05.02.04 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

pp. 93-96

Author(s):

Shashi Kant Shukla ◽

◽

Awadhesh Kumar ◽

Anupam Dikshit ◽

◽

...

Keyword(s):

Pseudomonas Putida ◽

Rural Areas ◽

Growth Parameters ◽

Leguminous Plant ◽

Food Protein ◽

Botany Department ◽

Medicinal Value ◽

Randomized Design ◽

Trigonella Foenum Graecum L ◽

The Impact

The present study aims the impact of Pseudomonas putida on different growth parameters of Trigonella sp., a leguminous plant to support the requirement of food, protein along with their medicinal value in the rural areas of India. A pot experiment was arranged based on completely randomized design with four replications at Biological Product Laboratory, Botany Department, University of Allahabad. Treatments were given at the seed level with one of control. Results indicated that application of P. putida significantly improved vegetative growth and showed an edge on the growth of the fenugreek as compared to the control.

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Alternative Control of Phragmidium rubi-idaei Infecting Two Rubus Species

Plants ◽

10.3390/plants10071452 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (7) ◽

pp. 1452

Author(s):

Raluca-Maria Pârlici ◽

Aurel Maxim ◽

Stefania Mirela Mang ◽

Ippolito Camele ◽

Lucia Mihalescu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Organic Farming ◽

Plant Pathogens ◽

Field Experiments ◽

Control Sample ◽

Field Tests ◽

In Vitro Tests ◽

Rust Disease ◽

Conidia Germination ◽

The Impact

Organic berry plantations have been gaining popularity among farmers during recent years. Even so, farmers experience serious challenges in disease control management, which is a concern in organic farming. Phragmidiumrubi-idaei (DC) P. Karst is the pathogen responsible for blackberry and raspberry rust disease, one of the most present and active diseases in plantations. The antifungal certified products found on the organic farming market offer the opportunity for an efficient control strategy over plant pathogens in fruit shrub plantations. In this study, 5 natural based products—namely Altosan, Mimox, Canelys, Zitron, and Zeolite—were tested for their fungistatic effect over P. rubi-idaei. The experiments were carried out under laboratory conditions, performing observations over the impact of organic products, used at different concentration levels, on rust conidia germination. Moreover, field experiments were conducted in order to evaluate the efficiency of different treatments for rust control on raspberry (‘Polka’, ‘Veten’ and ‘Heritage’) and blackberry (‘Thorn Free’, ‘Chester’ and ‘Loch Ness’) varieties. Data analysis based on ANOVA tests showed significant differences between the tested variants and the control sample at p < 0.001. Furthermore, LSD test confirmed differences between all substances tested (p < 0.005). The natural products Canelys (formulated with cinnamon) and Zytron (based on citrus extract) have proven the highest inhibitory capacity for conidia germination during in vitro tests registering values of 80.42% and 78.34%, respectively. The same high inhibitory rates against rust pathogen were kept also in the field tests using the same two natural-based products mentioned earlier. In addition, outcomes from this study demonstrated that Zeolite is not recommended for raspberry or blackberry rust control.

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Aquatic Toxicity of Photocatalyst Nanoparticles to Green Microalgae Chlorella vulgaris

Water ◽

10.3390/w13010077 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

pp. 77

Author(s):

Cristina Adochite ◽

Luminita Andronic

Keyword(s):

Chlorella Vulgaris ◽

Advanced Oxidation Process ◽

Growth Parameters ◽

Aquatic Toxicity ◽

Basal Medium ◽

Inhibitory Effect ◽

Synthesis Methods ◽

Potent Inhibitory Effect ◽

Density Surface ◽

The Impact

In the last years, nanoparticles such as TiO2, ZnO, NiO, CuO and Fe2O3 were mainly used in wastewater applications. In addition to the positive aspects concerning using nanoparticles in the advanced oxidation process of wastewater containing pollutants, the impact of these nanoparticles on the environment must also be investigated. The toxicity of nanoparticles is generally investigated by the nanomaterials’ effect on green algae, especially on Chlorella vulgaris. In this review, several aspects are reviewed: the Chlorella vulgaris culture monitoring and growth parameters, the effect of different nanoparticles on Chlorella vulgaris, the toxicity of photocatalyst nanoparticles, and the mechanism of photocatalyst during oxidative stress on the photosynthetic mechanism of Chlorella vulgaris. The Bold basal medium (BBM) is generally recognized as an excellent standard cultivation medium for Chlorella vulgaris in the known environmental conditions such as temperature in the range 20–30 °C and light intensity of around 150 μE·m2·s−1 under a 16/8 h light/dark cycle. The nanoparticles synthesis methods influence the particle size, morphology, density, surface area to generate growth inhibition and further algal deaths at the nanoparticle-dependent concentration. Moreover, the results revealed that nanoparticles caused a more potent inhibitory effect on microalgal growth and severely disrupted algal cells’ membranes.

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Oil and Flower Production in Rosa damascena trigintipetala Dieck under Salinity Stress in Taif Region, Saudi Arabia

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13084547 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (8) ◽

pp. 4547

Author(s):

Mohamed E. El-Sharnouby ◽

Metwally M. Montaser ◽

Sliai M. Abdallah

Keyword(s):

Essential Oil ◽

Essential Oils ◽

Salinity Stress ◽

Growth Parameters ◽

Industrial Applications ◽

Rosa Damascena ◽

Flower Production ◽

Survival Percentage ◽

The Impact ◽

Tolerance To Salinity

The flower industry depends on oil and fragrance, which is addressed in the current work. Different concentrations of NaCl (0, 250, 500, 1000, and 1500 ppm) were applied to Taif rose plants (Rosa damascena var. trigintipetala Dieck) to evaluate their effects on growth and essential oil content. Results clearly indicated the highest survival percentage (98.3%) was seen in untreated plants compared to plants under salinity stress. Moreover, increasing the NaCl levels induced an adverse effect on the growth parameters of Taif rose plants, while some essential oil contents were increased to the maximum degree of their tolerance to salinity stress. The extracted essential oils were analyzed using GC/MS. The essential oils of Taif rose plants treated with 500 ppm NaCl recorded the highest values of citronellol, geraniol and phenylethyl alcohol contents (16.56, 8.67 and 9.87%), respectively. NaCl at 250 ppm produced the highest values of heneicosane (13.12%), and then decreased to the lowest value (7.79%) with the increase of NaCl to 1500 NaCl, compared to the control and other NaCl levels. The current results could highlight the impact of salinity stress on Rosa damascena Miller var. trigintipetala Dieck for better economic and industrial applications.

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Deep Neural Network and Polynomial Chaos Expansion-Based Surrogate Models for Sensitivity and Uncertainty Propagation: An Application to a Rockfill Dam

Water ◽

10.3390/w13131830 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (13) ◽

pp. 1830

Author(s):

Gullnaz Shahzadi ◽

Azzeddine Soulaïmani

Keyword(s):

Polynomial Chaos ◽

Complex Structure ◽

Uncertainty Propagation ◽

Surrogate Models ◽

Polynomial Chaos Expansion ◽

Soil Parameters ◽

Chaos Expansion ◽

Rockfill Dam ◽

Parametric Studies ◽

The Impact

Computational modeling plays a significant role in the design of rockfill dams. Various constitutive soil parameters are used to design such models, which often involve high uncertainties due to the complex structure of rockfill dams comprising various zones of different soil parameters. This study performs an uncertainty analysis and a global sensitivity analysis to assess the effect of constitutive soil parameters on the behavior of a rockfill dam. A Finite Element code (Plaxis) is utilized for the structure analysis. A database of the computed displacements at inclinometers installed in the dam is generated and compared to in situ measurements. Surrogate models are significant tools for approximating the relationship between input soil parameters and displacements and thereby reducing the computational costs of parametric studies. Polynomial chaos expansion and deep neural networks are used to build surrogate models to compute the Sobol indices required to identify the impact of soil parameters on dam behavior.

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Searching for signatures of positive selection in cytochrome b gene associated with subterranean lifestyle in fast-evolving arvicolines (Arvicolinae, Cricetidae, Rodentia)

BMC Ecology and Evolution ◽

10.1186/s12862-021-01819-4 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Olga V. Bondareva ◽

Nadezhda A. Potapova ◽

Kirill A. Konovalov ◽

Tatyana V. Petrova ◽

Natalia I. Abramson

Keyword(s):

Amino Acid ◽

Oxidative Phosphorylation ◽

Adaptive Evolution ◽

Complex Structure ◽

Subterranean Rodents ◽

Amino Acid Sequence Variation ◽

Tertiary Protein Structure ◽

Metabolic Performance ◽

The Impact ◽

Subterranean Species

Abstract Background Mitochondrial genes encode proteins involved in oxidative phosphorylation. Variations in lifestyle and ecological niche can be directly reflected in metabolic performance. Subterranean rodents represent a good model for testing hypotheses on adaptive evolution driven by important ecological shifts. Voles and lemmings of the subfamily Arvicolinae (Rodentia: Cricetidae) provide a good example for studies of adaptive radiation. This is the youngest group within the order Rodentia showing the fastest rates of diversification, including the transition to the subterranean lifestyle in several phylogenetically independent lineages. Results We evaluated the signatures of selection in the mitochondrial cytochrome b (cytB) gene in 62 Arvicolinae species characterized by either subterranean or surface-dwelling lifestyle by assessing amino acid sequence variation, exploring the functional consequences of the observed variation in the tertiary protein structure, and estimating selection pressure. Our analysis revealed that: (1) three of the convergent amino acid substitutions were found among phylogenetically distant subterranean species and (2) these substitutions may have an influence on the protein complex structure, (3) cytB showed an increased ω and evidence of relaxed selection in subterranean lineages, relative to non-subterranean, and (4) eight protein domains possess increased nonsynonymous substitutions ratio in subterranean species. Conclusions Our study provides insights into the adaptive evolution of the cytochrome b gene in the Arvicolinae subfamily and its potential implications in the molecular mechanism of adaptation. We present a framework for future characterizations of the impact of specific mutations on the function, physiology, and interactions of the mtDNA-encoded proteins involved in oxidative phosphorylation.

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A Study of the Effects of Rain, Snow and Hail on the Atmospheric Electric Field near Ground

Atmosphere ◽

10.3390/atmos12080996 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (8) ◽

pp. 996

Author(s):

Athanasios Karagioras ◽

Konstantinos Kourtidis

Keyword(s):

Frequency Distribution ◽

Complex Structure ◽

Potential Gradient ◽

Weather Conditions ◽

The Other ◽

Fair Weather ◽

Northern Greece ◽

Rain Events ◽

The Impact ◽

Bounce Back

The purpose of the present study is to investigate the impact of rain, snow and hail on potential gradient (PG), as observed in a period of ten years in Xanthi, northern Greece. An anticorrelation between PG and rainfall was observed for rain events that lasted several hours. When the precipitation rate was up to 2 mm/h, the decrease in PG was between 200 and 1300 V/m, in most cases being around 500 V/m. An event with rainfall rates up to 11 mm/h produced the largest drop in PG, of 2 kV/m. Shortly after rain, PG appeared to bounce back to somewhat higher values than the ones of fair-weather conditions. A decrease in mean hourly PG was observed, which was around 2–4 kV/m during the hail events which occurred concurrently with rain and from 0 to 3.5 kV/m for hail events with no rain. In the case of no drop, no concurrent drop in temperature was observed, while, for the other cases, it appeared that, for each degree drop in temperature, the drop in hourly mean PG was 1000 V/m; hence, we assume that the intensity of the hail event regulates the drop in PG. The frequency distribution of 1-minute PG exhibits a complex structure during hail events and extend from −18 to 11 kV/m, with most of the values in the negative range. During snow events, 1-minute PG exhibited rapid fluctuations between high positive and high negative values, its frequency distribution extending from −10 to 18 kV/m, with peaks at −10 and 3 kV/m.

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The impact of bars and interactions on optically selected AGNs in spiral galaxies

Astronomy and Astrophysics ◽

10.1051/0004-6361/201832796 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 618 ◽

pp. A149 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Sol Alonso ◽

Georgina Coldwell ◽

Fernanda Duplancic ◽

Valeria Mesa ◽

Diego G. Lambas

Keyword(s):

Spiral Galaxies ◽

Control Sample ◽

Sloan Digital Sky Survey ◽

Blue Color ◽

Nuclear Activity ◽

Internal Process ◽

Two Samples ◽

Accretion Rates ◽

The Galaxy ◽

The Impact

Aims. With the aim of performing a suitable comparison of the internal process of galactic bars with respect to the external effect of interactions on driving gas toward the inner most region of the galaxies, we explored and compared the efficiency of both mechanisms on central nuclear activity in optically selected active galactic nuclei (AGNs) in spiral galaxies. Methods. We selected homogeneous samples of barred AGNs and active objects residing in pair systems, derived from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). In order to carry out a reliable comparison of both samples (AGNs in barred hosts in isolation and in galaxy pairs), we selected spiral AGN galaxies with similar distributions of redshift, magnitude, stellar mass, color and stellar age population from both catalogs. With the goal of providing an appropriate quantification of the influence of strong bars and interactions on nuclear activity, we also constructed a suitable control sample of unbarred spiral AGNs without a companion and with similar host properties to the other two samples. Results. We found that barred optically selected AGNs show an excess of nuclear activity (as derived from the Lum[OIII]) and accretion rate onto a central black hole (ℛ) with respect to AGNs in pairs. In addition, both samples show an excess of high values of Lum[OIII] and ℛ with respect to unbarred AGNs in the control sample. We also found that the fractions of AGNs with powerful nuclear activity and high accretion rates increase toward more massive hosts with bluer colors and younger stellar populations. Moreover, AGNs with bars exhibit a higher fraction of galaxies with powerful Lum[OIII] and efficient ℛ with respect to AGN galaxies inhabiting pair systems, in bins of different galaxy properties. Regarding AGNs belonging to pair systems, we found that the central nuclear activity is remarkably dependent on the galaxy pair companion features. The Lum[OIII] for AGNs in pairs is clearly enhanced when the galaxy companion exhibits a bright and more massive host with high metallicity, blue color, efficient star formation activity and young stellar population. The results of this work reveal an important capacity of both mechanisms, bars and interactions, to transport material towards the galaxy central regions. In this context, it should also be noted that the internal process of the bar is more efficient at improving the central nuclear activity in AGN objects than that corresponding to the external mechanism of the galaxy–galaxy interactions.

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Comparison of the impacts of thermal pretreatment on waste activated sludge using aerobic and anaerobic digestion

Water Science & Technology ◽

10.2166/wst.2018.458 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 78 (8) ◽

pp. 1772-1781 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Hyungjun (Brian) Jo ◽

Wayne Parker ◽

Peiman Kianmehr

Keyword(s):

Anaerobic Digestion ◽

Activated Sludge ◽

Oxygen Demand ◽

Waste Activated Sludge ◽

Thermal Pretreatment ◽

Decay Products ◽

Anaerobic Biodegradability ◽

Pretreatment Conditions ◽

The Impact ◽

Aerobic And Anaerobic

Abstract A range of thermal pretreatment conditions were used to evaluate the impact of high pressure thermal hydrolysis on the biodegradability of waste activated sludge (WAS) under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. It was found that pretreatment did not increase the overall extent to which WAS could be aerobically biodegraded. Thermal pretreatment transformed the biodegradable fraction of WAS (XH) to readily biodegradable chemical oxygen demand (COD) (SB) (16.5–34.6%) and slowly biodegradable COD (XB) (45.8–63.6%). The impact of pretreatment temperature and duration on WAS COD fractionation did not follow a consistent pattern as changes in COD solubilization did not correspond to the observed generation of SB through pretreatment. The pretreated WAS (PWAS) COD fractionations determined from aerobic respirometry were employed in anaerobic modeling and it was concluded that the aerobic and anaerobic biodegradability of PWAS differed. It was found that thermal pretreatment resulted in as much as 50% of the endogenous decay products becoming biodegradable in anaerobic digestion. Overall, it was concluded that the COD fractionation that was developed based upon the aerobic respirometry was valid. However, it was necessary to implement a first-order decay process that reflected changes in the anaerobic biodegradability of the endogenous products through pretreatment.

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