Azolla as Waste Decomposer and Bio-fertilizer: A Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 108-116
Author(s):  

In modern-day agriculture, we are well aware of the utilization of artificial fertilizers in the soil to supply major soil nutrients for plant growth and development. The most common used nutrients in agroecosystem are nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), and sulfur (S). These fertilizers cause an increase in crop production, but the excess use of these fertilizers has several health hazards for the plants and animals feeding on them. Presently the consumer's preference has been shifted from synthetic fertilizer-based food to organic food. This paper aims to review the results of the research work done in the past few decays on the environment detoxification and beneficial effects of Azolla (aquatic fern) on plants and soil health. Hopefully, it will help the collaborative research on this “green gold” in the future.Azolla fixes the free-living atmospheric N as they have symbiotic Cyanobacterium Anabaena Azolla. Azolla adds organic matter and provides natural mulch to the soil because of these benefits is known as bio-fertilizer. Azolla remediates industrial and sewage water by accumulating heavy metals in their body and plays an active role in the reclamation of salt-affected soil by accumulating heavy metals and salts and by increasing the soil organic matter

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 108-116
Author(s):  

In modern-day agriculture, we are well aware of the utilization of artificial fertilizers in the soil to supply major soil nutrients for plant growth and development. The most common used nutrients in agroecosystem are nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), and sulfur (S). These fertilizers cause an increase in crop production, but the excess use of these fertilizers has several health hazards for the plants and animals feeding on them. Presently the consumer's preference has been shifted from synthetic fertilizer-based food to organic food. This paper aims to review the results of the research work done in the past few decays on the environment detoxification and beneficial effects of Azolla (aquatic fern) on plants and soil health. Hopefully, it will help the collaborative research on this “green gold” in the future.Azolla fixes the free-living atmospheric N as they have symbiotic Cyanobacterium Anabaena Azolla. Azolla adds organic matter and provides natural mulch to the soil because of these benefits is known as bio-fertilizer. Azolla remediates industrial and sewage water by accumulating heavy metals in their body and plays an active role in the reclamation of salt-affected soil by accumulating heavy metals and salts and by increasing the soil organic matter


Author(s):  
M.B. O'Connor ◽  
A.H.C. Roberts ◽  
R.D. Longhurst ◽  
M.F. Hawke

Estimates of the wastes produced in the Bay of Plenty region indicate that 22 million m' (tonnes) is produced annually. The main contributors to waste production are the dairy industry (shed, factory),municipal sewage, pig, poultry, meatworks, kiwifruit, fishing and pulp and paper industries. In fertiliser terms these wastes are valued at $7.7 million. In addition the timber industry produces > 1 million tonnes of timber residues (sawdust, bark, woodchips) approximately 20% of which is currently dumped. Wastes, when recycled back on to the land, offer a potential source of nutrients to enhance pasture and crop production. In addition organic wastes provide a source of organic matter which may have beneficial effects on the physical properties of soils. Research results indicate that pumice soils are well suited to the application of wastes. Some general recommendations are given for the use of wastes in dairying, orcharding and cropping situations. Three factors are considered important for the successful utilisation of wastes (a) application rates need to be balanced to the nutrient needs of the soil-plant system (b) safeguards in the form of regular chemical monitoring of the effluent, soil, plant and animal need to be implemented, and(c) the economics of using the waste materials must be favourable to the farmer and orchardist. The principle of the producer of the waste paying for its safe disposal or utilisation needs to be adopted in New Zealand as it has in many overseas countries. Keywords nutrients, organic matter, waste recycling, pumice soils, fertiliser value


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 65-71
Author(s):  
Israt Jahan ◽  
AKM Abul Ahsan ◽  
MMR Jahangir ◽  
Mahmud Hossain ◽  
Md Anwarul Abedin

Soil physico-chemical properties are an important phenomenon for sustainable crop production and maintenance of optimum soil health. Hence, a laboratory measurement was conducted with soil samples of three years long experimental field of the Department of Soil Science, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh to assess the changes in five selected soil physico-chemical properties viz. soil texture, bulk density, soil pH, total nitrogen and organic matter. The experiment was laid out in a split plot design with two water regimes (continuous flooding and alternate wetting & drying) in the main plots and five fertilizer treatments (N0 - control, N1- 140 kg N/ha as PU, N2- 104 kg N/ha as USG (2× 1.8 g/ 4 hills), N3 - 5 t CD + PU @ 140 kg N /ha on IPNS basis and N4- 5 t CD + USG (2× 1.8 g/ 4 hills @ 104 kg N/ha)) in the subplots under rice-rice cropping pattern with three replications. After three years, soil samples were collected at 0-5 and 5-10 cm soil depths for measuring bulk density and at 0-10 cm depth for other soil properties and analyzed. Results found that % sand, % silt, % clay, bulk density and soil pH was not changed significantly compared to initial status. Percentage of total nitrogen and organic matter was significantly affected by irrigation and fertilization. Total nitrogen (%) was higher in AWD whereas organic matter (%) was higher in CF practice. The highest total nitrogen (%) and organic matter (%) was found in N4 treatment in which USG was applied in combination with cowdung as organic manure. It can be suggested that N4 treatment was formed good combination for sustaining chemical properties of soil. Further long- term experimentation will be needed to know the changes in soil properties for sustainable crop production and improving soil health. Asian Australas. J. Biosci. Biotechnol. 2020, 5 (2), 65-71


Soil Systems ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 35
Author(s):  
Iftikhar Ahmad ◽  
Saeed Ahmad Malik ◽  
Shafqat Saeed ◽  
Atta-ur Rehman ◽  
Tariq Muhammad Munir

A challenging task in urban or suburban agriculture is the sustainability of soil health when utilizing city wastewater, or its dilutes, for growing crops. A two-year field experiment was conducted to evaluate the comparative vegetable transfer factors (VTF) for four effluent-irrigated vegetable crops (brinjal, spinach, cauliflower, and lettuce) grown on six study sites (1 acre each), equally divided into two soil textures (sandy loam and clay loam). Comparisons of the VTF factors showed spinach was a significant and the best phytoextractant, having the highest heavy metal values (Zn = 20.2, Cu = 12.3, Fe = 17.1, Mn = 30.3, Cd = 6.1, Cr = 7.6, Ni = 9.2, and Pb = 6.9), followed by cauliflower and brinjal, while lettuce extracted the lowest heavy metal contents (VTF: lettuce: Zn = 8.9, Cu = 4.2, Fe = 9.6, Mn = 6.6, Cd = 4.7, Cr = 2.9, Ni = 5.5, and Pb = 2.5) in response to the main (site and vegetable) or interactive (site * vegetable) effects. We suggest that, while vegetables irrigated with sewage water may extract toxic heavy metals and remediate soil, seriously hazardous/toxic contents in the vegetables may be a significant source of soil and environmental pollution.


2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 2438-2448 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheeja K Raj ◽  
Elizabeth K Syriac

Soil microbial population, earth worms in soil, soil enzyme activity and organ carbon content in soil are considered as the bio indicators of soil health. They are used as indicators of soil health because of their active role in soil organic matter production, decomposition of xenobiotics and cycling of nutrients, ease of measurement and rapid response to changes in management practices. The assessment of soil health can be used to develop more sustainable crop production system. A number of herbicides have been introduced as pre and post emergence weed killer. The impact of herbicides on soil health depends on the soil type, type and concentration of herbicide used, sensitivity to non-target organisms and environmental conditions. The review elaborates the impact of herbicidal application on the biological indicators of soil health.


2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 81-84
Author(s):  
AHMM Morshed ◽  
MA Farukh ◽  
MA Sattar

A study was carried out to determine the status of heavy metals in farm and urban soils from intensively growing areas of Mymensingh. Sixty three soil samples were collected from 11 upazillas of Mymensingh. From these samples total amount of heavy metals like Pb, Cd, Ni, Cr, Fe and Mn were tested. The soils were also analyzed for texture, pH and organic matter content. The mean concentrations of Pb, Cd, Ni, Cr, Fe and Mn in farm soils were 19.64, 0.32, 39.80, 14.10, 1800.40, 135.66 ?g g-1, respectively and the mean concentrations of above metals in urban soils were 20.93, 0.37, 36.90, 28.85, 1810.08, 127.05 ?g g-1, respectively. The heavy metal concentrations in farm soils were within the limit allowed for maximum acceptable concentration for satisfactory crop production. Heavy metals in urban soils were also below the limit considered as contaminated soil. Most of the heavy metals in both farm and urban soils were negatively correlated with sand and positively correlated with silt. There was no significant correlation between heavy metal content and soil pH or organic matter in both farm and urban soils with very few exceptions. Most of the heavy metals did not show any significant correlation with each other expect Fe which showed significant correlation with Pb, Ni, Cr, Mn and Cd for both farm and urban soils.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jesnr.v5i2.14798 J. Environ. Sci. & Natural Resources, 5(2): 81-84 2012


Author(s):  
Andrey ilinsky ◽  
Alexander Nefedov ◽  
Konstantin Evsenkin

Global climatic changes, technogenic pollution by pollutants, violations of technologies of exploitation of reclaimed land lead to a decrease in fertility and soil degradation of agricultural land. Adverse weather conditions, resulting in a lack of adequate flood water, and economic difficulties in agriculture make it difficult to fill the deficit of organic matter and macronutrients in reclaimed alluvial soils. The monitoring of agrochemical properties of alluvial meadow medium-loamy soil of the stationary site (reclaimed lands of JSC «Moskovskoye» of Ryazan region), located in the floodplain of the Oka river, conducted by the Meshchersky branch of Vniigim, showed the presence and intensification of degradation changes in the soil. Thus, comparing the agrochemical indicators in the layer 0–20 cm, carried out in 1995, with the indicators of 2019, it should be noted a decrease in soil fertility. The decrease in soil quality was expressed in a decrease in the amount of mobile phosphorus by 37.6 %, mobile potassium by 53.3 %. Also, during this time there was a decrease in organic matter by 9.1 %, and an increase in soil acidity was 0.6 pH. As a result of such changes, soils lose ecological stability and become more vulnerable to adverse weather and negative anthropogenic impacts. In such a situation, advanced agricultural techniques should be actively used to obtain guaranteed, environmentally safe crop yields and restore the fertility of degraded reclaimed soils. In this regard, there is a need to develop innovative methods of fertility restoration of degraded alluvial soils in reclaimed lands using multi-component organic-mineral ameliorants. Meshchersky branch performs research work in addressing this issue.


Author(s):  
Mahmud Mohammed Imam ◽  
Zahra Muhammad ◽  
Amina Zakari

In this research work the concentration of zinc, copper, lead, chromium, cadmium, and nickel in cow milk samples obtained from four different grazing areas   (kakuri, kudendan, malali, kawo) of Kaduna metropolis. The samples were digested by wet digestion technique .The trace element were determined using bulk scientific model VPG 210 model  Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS).. The concentration of the determined heavy metal were The result revealed that Cr,  Ni and Cd were not detected in milk samples from Kawo, Malali  and Kudendan whereas lead (Pb) is detected in all samples and found to be above  the stipulated limits of recommended dietary allowance (NRC,1989) given as 0.02mg/day. Cu and Zn are essential elements needed by the body for proper metabolism and as such their deficiency or excess is very dangerous for human health. However, they were found in all samples and are within the recommended limits while Cd (2.13 – 3.15 mg/kg) in milk samples from Kakuri was found to be above such limit (0.5mg/day). Cow milk samples analyzed for heavy metals in this research work pose a threat of lead and cadmium toxicity due to their exposure to direct sources of air, water and plants in these grazing areas, thereby, resulting to a potential health risk to the consumers.


1993 ◽  
Vol 32 (4II) ◽  
pp. 1225-1233
Author(s):  
Sabur Ghayur

The barani (rain-fed) region accounts for about a fifth of the cultivated area in Pakistan. It has the potential to significantly increase crop production levels. Similarly, considerable scope exists in this area for the development of forests, fruit and vegetable gardening, pasture and stock rearing. Most of the natural resources are also found in this tract. Its hilly areas possess a vast potential for tourism. Besides, significant opportunities exist for irrigation and hydroelectric power generation. An optimum utilisation of all this potential, obviously, is employmentgenerating and income-augmenting. Despite all such realisations this region as a whole, unfortunately, is identified as the least attended to area in terms of provision of socio-physical infrastructure, other development programmes and, even, research work. This led to a deterioration of the employment situation in the barani region as a whole. A poor information base and analysis thereof on employment and manpower related variables is also the consequence of such a treatment to this area. I This paper, using the data of a field survey, tries to fill, though partly, the vacuum on employment and related variables in the rural barani region. An attempt is made here to record and analyse the labour force participation rates, employment pattern (main economic activities) and unemployment/underemployment levels prevailing in the rural baran; areas of the provinces of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province (NWFP).


1990 ◽  
Vol 22 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 85-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingemar Karlsson ◽  
Gunnar Smith

Chemically coagulated sewage water gives an effluent low in both suspended matter and organics. To use chemical precipitation as the first step in waste water treatment improves nitrification in the following biological stage. The precipitated sludge contains 75% of the organic matter in the sewage and can by hydrolysis be converted to readily degradable organic matter, which presents a valuable carbon source for the denitrification process. This paper will review experiences from full-scale applications as well as pilot-plant and laboratory studies.


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