scholarly journals Long Term Application of Fertilizers in Eastern Amazon and Effect on Uranium and Thorium Levels in Soils

Minerals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 994
Author(s):  
Anderson Martins de Souza Braz ◽  
Marcondes Lima da Costa ◽  
Sílvio Junio Ramos ◽  
Roberto Dall’Agnol ◽  
Antonio Rodrigues Fernandes

In recent years, the use of fertilizers has increased in the Amazon. Phosphate fertilizers, which are commonly used, can present high concentrations of radioelements. In the present study, the activity concentrations of uranium (U) and thorium (Th) in Oxisols and Ultisols cultivated with citrus (Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck), oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) and black pepper (Piper nigrum L.), with 26, 10 and 5 years of implantation, respectively, were evaluated. The potential risk of contamination was estimated by the enrichment (EF) and bioaccumulation (BAF) factors. Pearson’s correlation coefficients indicated a significant relationship between the concentrations of U and Th in soil and plant and the soil properties pH, Ca2+, Mg2+, K+ and P. The enrichment (EF < 2) and bioaccumulation (0.01 < BAF < 0.05) factors were low. In plant tissues, the concentrations of 238U followed the order: citrus > black pepper > oil palm, and the concentrations of 232Th followed the sequence: black pepper >> citrus > oil palm. The activity concentrations of 238U and 232Th in the soil cultivated with black pepper, as well as in the soil of the reference area close to the citrus plantation, were higher than the world average values of 35 and 30 Bq kg−1, respectively, established by the United Nations Scientific Committee on Effects of Atomic Radiation. Perennial crops that are fertilized annually must be monitored by environmental agencies due the accumulation of elements that can promote potential risks to human health.

Minerals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 990
Author(s):  
Anderson Martins de Souza Braz ◽  
Marcondes Lima da Costa ◽  
Sílvio Junio Ramos ◽  
Roberto Dall’Agnol ◽  
Antonio Rodrigues Fernandes

The Amazon soils demand high rates of fertilizer application to express high agricultural potential, making it necessary to carry out frequent monitoring of ecological functions and biogeochemical processes in this important biome. The concentrations of As, Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb and Zn and contamination indexes were studied in Oxisol and Ultisols cultivated with citrus (Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck), oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) and black pepper (Piper nigrum L.), at 26, 10 and 5 years of implantation, respectively. The potential risk of contamination was estimated by the enrichment (EF) and bioaccumulation (BAF) factors. Moderate enrichment of Ba, Pb and Zn (2 < EF < 5) and significant enrichment of As and Cu (5 < EF < 20) were observed. In addition, the following orders of bioaccumulation were found: oil palm—Cu > Zn > Hg > Ni > Ba > Co > As > Cr > Cd ≈ Pb; black pepper—Zn > Hg > Cu > Ba > Ni > Co > Pb >> As > Cr > Cd; and citrus—Hg > Ni > Ba > Zn > Co > Cu > As > Pb >> Cr > Cd. However, all elements are in concentrations below the prevention and investigation values established by Brazilian legislation, that is, the management practices in the crops studied are not contributing with damage to soil and human health risks.


Planta Medica ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 85 (03) ◽  
pp. 185-194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mei Wang ◽  
Amar Chittiboyina ◽  
Jon Parcher ◽  
Zulfiqar Ali ◽  
Paul Ford ◽  
...  

AbstractThe growing demand and commercial value of black pepper (Piper nigrum) has resulted in considerable interest in developing suitable and cost-effective methods for chemical characterization and quality evaluation purposes. In the current study, an extensive set of oil samples (n = 23) that were extracted by steam distillation from black pepper seeds was investigated to compare the chemical profiles of samples originating from nine major producing countries, as well as to identify potential chemical markers for quality evaluation. The twenty-two most abundant volatile compounds, mainly terpenes, in these oils were determined by conventional GC/MS analysis. Principal component analysis with this set of data revealed distinct clusters for samples that originated from China and Malaysia. Relatively low concentrations of sabinene (< 0.2%) and high concentrations of 3-carene (10.9 – 21.1%) were observed in these samples, respectively, compared to oil samples from other countries. The enantiomeric distributions of key terpene markers, viz., β-pinene, sabinene, limonene, and terpinen-4-ol, were determined by chiral GC/MS analysis. Interestingly, for these four monoterpenes, levo-isomers were found to be predominant, emphasizing the highly conserved enzymatic processes occurring in P. nigrum. Moreover, consistent enantiomeric ratios ((−) isomer/(+) isomer) of 92.2 ± 3.0% for β-pinene, 94.8 ± 2.8% for sabinene, 60.7 ± 1.1% for limonene, and 78.3 ± 1.3% for terpinen-4-ol were observed, independent of geographical location. These results demonstrate the potential of using stereospecific compositions as chiral signatures for establishing the authenticity and quality of black pepper oil.


Proceedings ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 56
Author(s):  
Mudge ◽  
Rama ◽  
Pilotti ◽  
Godwin

Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) is a long-term perennial crop of great economic importance to [...]


2003 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 225-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. DE FRANQUEVILLE

In South and Central America, tens of thousands of hectares of oil palms (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) are affected by bud-rot types of disease. Having destroyed entire estates in Panama, Colombia, Suriname, Brazil and Ecuador, they are holding back the development of oil palm cultivation in Latin America. The cause is unknown. Indeed, 30 years after these diseases first wreaked havoc on a large scale, it is still not known whether we are dealing with one or more diseases of infectious origin, or with a physiological disorder. Despite lengthy research launched in the early 1980s, no pathogens or insect vectors have been clearly identified. At present, genetics look likely to offer a solution in the medium- to long term, using traits of resistance transmitted by the native species on the American continent, Elaeis oleifera, to the interspecific hybrid E. oleifera×E. guineensis.


Author(s):  
Thalita M. M. Ferreira ◽  
André P. Leão ◽  
Carlos A. F. de Sousa ◽  
Manoel T. Souza Júnior

ABSTRACT RNA-seq is a technique based on the large-scale sequencing of transcript-derived cDNAs using next-generation sequencing platforms mostly used today to characterize an organism’s transcriptome. The analysis of RNA-seq data allows for identifying genes differentially expressed in a given condition, such as salt stress. This study aimed to search and characterize genes from the African oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) highly up-regulated during salt stress, with a long-term goal of gene promoter prospection and validation. The apical leaves from the control (electrical conductivity of ~2 dS m-1) and salt-stressed (~40 dS m-1) young oil palm plants, collected at 5 and 12 days after the beginning of the stress, were subjected to extraction of total RNA, with three plants (replicates) per treatment. The complete genome ofE. guineensis, available at the National Center for Biotechnology Information, was used as the reference genome - BioProject PRJNA192219. The differential expression analysis led to the selection for further characterization of seven genes, which had increased expressions of 37-84 times under salt stress. The strategy used in this study enabled the selection of seven salt-responsive genes highly up-regulated during salt stress, and some of them coded for proteins already reported as responsible for salinity tolerance in other plant species through over-expression or knockout.


2015 ◽  
Vol 1113 ◽  
pp. 223-229
Author(s):  
Siti Nor Izuera Nor-Azemi ◽  
Farah Aimi Fuadi ◽  
Syed Shatir A. Syed-Hassan

The objective of this study is to investigate the ability of Elaeis guineensis fruit fiber or known as oil palm mesocarp fiber (OPMF) to adsorb nickel from aqueous solution. As one of the major oil palm producer, Malaysia has abundantly oil palm waste that potentially be used as biosorbent. Limited studies used OPMF as biosorbent to remove nickel, thus it was used in this study. The effects of pH, initial metal concentration and contact time on nickel uptake were studied. The OPMF was soaked in nickel nitrate aqueous solution and the Ni-loaded OPMF being digested to analyse the nickel concentration by using ICP-OES. The adsorption was investigated in the pH range of 2.0-8.0 and the optimum pH for nickel removal was found to be 7.0. The contact time was varied between 5 to 120 mins and the nickel adsorption was found to achieve equilibrium in a very short time (i.e.<5 mins). The percentage of nickel removal decreased from 3.3 to 1.7 % with increasing nickel concentration from 505 to 1683 mg/L. The adsorption isotherm was fitted well using Langmuir model with correlation coefficient, R2 of 0.98. The kinetic studies showed that the pseudo-second order model is the best model with the correlation coefficients of > 0.99 for all concentrations. Overall, the adsorption of nickel by OPMF gave positive results and the used of OPMF as biosorbent has great potential to be applied in the future.


2020 ◽  
pp. 111-119
Author(s):  
S.C. Paul ◽  
G.C. Acharya ◽  
R. Chakraborty ◽  
H.P. Maheswarappa ◽  
M. Hussain ◽  
...  

The North-Eastern part of India contains seven states out of which, Assam is the major producer of arecanut. An attempt was made to study the impact of arecanut based multiple cropping system with proper utilization of recyclable resources on the long-term sustainability of acid soil at Kahikuchi. A long term arecanut based High-Density Multispecies Cropping System garden comprised of two models viz., Model-1 (M1): arecanut (Areca catechu), black pepper (Piper nigrum), banana (Musa spp.), citrus (Citrus limon) and clove (Syzygium aromaticum) and Model-2 (M2): arecanut, black pepper, banana, citrus and nutmeg (Myristica fragrans) as component crops was used. Both the models were sub-divided into three treatments viz., Full dose of recommended fertiliser (T1), 2/3rd of the recommended dose (T2) and 1/3rd of the recommended dose (T3) combined with treatment-wise recycling available biomass in the form of vermicompost and each treatment was replicated thrice. The results indicated that the quantity of recyclable biomass generated ranged between 8.27 to 12.23 t ha-1 year-1 and 8.11 to 12.38 t ha-1 year-1 in model-1 and model-2, respectively and revealed that the T2 treatment in both models improved the soil properties with respect to soil pH, organic carbon, available N, P and K status. Economics of the cropping system revealed that the maximum return was obtained from both Models under T2. The average benefit:cost ratio of T1, T2 & T3 was 3.38, 4.42 & 3.47 under model-1 and 3.34, 4.08 and 3.40 under model-2, respectively. Sustenance of soil pH above 5.0 over the years in the arecanut rhizosphere in both the models were found under T2, but T1 and T3 treatments showed a slow declining of pH towards increasing soil acidity.


Flora ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 250 ◽  
pp. 52-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nara Helena Tavares da Ponte ◽  
Rodolfo Inacio Nunes Santos ◽  
Wagner Romulo Lima Lopes Filho ◽  
Roberto Lisboa Cunha ◽  
Marcelo Murad Magalhães ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oil Palm ◽  

3 Biotech ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharrmila Rengeswari Palanyandy ◽  
Saikat Gantait ◽  
Sreeramanan Subramaniam ◽  
Uma Rani Sinniah

AbstractThe current report assesses the efficiency of encapsulation–desiccation protocol to cryopreserve oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) polyembryoids. Specifically identified polyembryoids, comprising of haustorium and torpedo-shaped structures, were encapsulated [comprising 3% (w/v) sodium alginate and 100 mM CaCl2]. Calcium alginate-encapsulated and sucrose-precultured polyembryoids were subjected to different spans of desiccation in a laminar air-flow cabinet, followed by freezing in liquid nitrogen. The effect of sucrose preculture (with gradual exposure to 0.3, 0.5, 0.75 and 1 M for 7 days) and dehydration periods (0–10 h) under sterile air-flow on post-freezing survival and regrowth of encapsulated polyembryoids were studied. Cryopreserved and thawed polyembryoids (initially precultured in sucrose, followed by 9 h air-desiccated to 23.3% moisture content) displayed the highest survival percentage (73.3%) and regeneration (of shoot, root and secondary somatic embryo) on Murashige and Skoog regrowth medium containing sucrose (0.3–1 M) and 0.2 mg/l 2,4-dichlorophenoxy acetic acid. In addition, ultrastructural study using scanning electron microscopy exhibited successful revival of cryopreserved polyembryoids, owing to retention of cellular membrane stability through optimized and protected (encapsulated) desiccation. The present study thus substantiates the potential of this encapsulation–desiccation procedure in cryopreservation of oil palm polyembryoids for long-term conservation programs.


Plant Disease ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 100 (9) ◽  
pp. 1889-1893 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. Domfeh ◽  
G. A. Ameyaw ◽  
H. K. Dzahini-Obiatey ◽  
L. A. A. Ollennu ◽  
K. Osei-Bonsu ◽  
...  

A field trial was conducted at the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana from 1992 to 2004 to investigate the prospects of using Cacao swollen shoot virus (CSSV)-immune crops as a barrier to prevent the spread of the virus from existing outbreaks into newly established cacao plantings. The treatments consisted of four crops—citrus (Citrus spp.), oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.), kola (Cola nitida Vent.), and cacao (Theobroma cacao L.)—planted as a barrier between cacao trees serving as test plants on one side and as source of CSSV strain 1A infection on the other. Over a 7-year period post CSSV 1A inoculation, the citrus and oil palm barriers were the most effective in protecting test cacao trees from cacao swollen shoot virus disease (CSSVD) spread. The two crops gave comparable results (P = 0.9766) in terms of the cumulative number of visibly infected trees (1 and 5 of 522, respectively). The kola barrier, on the other hand, had a significantly (P < 0.000l) higher number of symptomatic trees (89 of 522) than citrus and oil palm. All three crops (citrus, oil palm, and kola) provided better protection than the control (cacao), which had 134 visibly infected trees out of 522. As shown by economic analyses, growing citrus, oil palm, or kola as barrier crops was as profitable as growing cacao. The implications of the results on the management of CSSVD in Ghana are discussed.


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