Influence of Sodium Humate on the Growth Performance, Diarrhea Incidence, Blood Parameters, and Fecal Microflora of Pre-Weaned Dairy Calves

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of the administration of sodium humate (NaH) on the growth performance, diarrhea incidence, and fecal microflora of pre-weaned Holstein calves. In a 53-day experiment, forty healthy newborn female calves were randomly allocated to the following four treatment groups: (1) control (basal diet); (2) 1-gram NaH (basal diet extra orally supplemented with 1 g of NaH dissolved in 100 mL of milk or milk replacer daily); (3) 3-gram NaH (basal diet extra orally supplemented with 3 g of NaH dissolved in 100 mL of milk or milk replacer daily); and (4) 5-gram NaH (basal diet extra orally supplemented with 5 g of NaH dissolved in 100 mL of milk or milk replacer daily). NaH was mixed with milk (d 2–20) or milk replacer (d 21–53). Calves in the 5-gram NaH group had a higher ADG during d 1 to 21 and d 21 to 53 than the other groups did (p < 0.05). Fecal scores and diarrheal incidence were significantly lower in the 3-gram and 5-gram NaH groups than the 1-gram NaH and control groups during d 1 to 20 (p < 0.05). The serum IgA, IgG and IL-4 concentrations, and T-SOD and T-AOC activities were higher, and the serum IL-6, TNF-α, D-lactic acid, and MDA concentrations were lower in the 5-gram NaH group than the control group (p < 0.05). Furthermore, NaH supplementation increased the abundances of Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus but decreased the abundance of Escherichia coli in feces (p < 0.05). These encouraging findings indicated that supplementation with 5 g of NaH effectively improved the immune status, antioxidant capacity, and intestinal beneficial bacteria, and further improved the growth performance and reduced the diarrhea incidence of the pre-weaned dairy calves.

Development of a technology for producing organic fertilizers based on catalytic processes

The article is devoted to the development of a technology for obtaining organic fertilizers from poultry waste based on biocatalytic processes. Currently, many poultry farms have become sources of environmental pollution, thereby causing serious environmental problems and economic and social damage. The problem of reliable protection of the natural environment from pollution by bird droppings is currently relevant. In the area of operation of large poultry farms, air pollution by microorganisms, dust, foul-smelling organic compounds, which are decomposition products of organic waste, as well as nitrogen, sulfur, and carbon oxides, is possible. Bird droppings contain acids, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, heavy metals. The content of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium changes dramatically depending on the quantity and quality of the feed. Humic substances isolated from brown coal have a sufficiently high sorption activity and are used as cheap sorbents for solving a number of environmental problems in industry. These studies are aimed at minimizing the main disadvantage of the anaerobic digestion process, the low reaction rate, which leads to the need to create large-volume bioreactors. On the basis of the research carried out, a technology has been developed for obtaining organic fertilizers from poultry waste by the method of anaerobic fermentation of chicken manure with humidity at a temperature of 27 °C - 50 °C with the addition of sodium humate. The resulting fertilizer is intended for use in agricultural production, horticulture, floriculture, forestry, municipalities, in household plots in order to increase the yield and quality of crop production. For the developed technology, an application has been submitted for obtaining a Patent for the invention of the Republic of Kazakhstan «Method for producing organic fertilizers» (priority No. 2021-22818, dated July 13, 2021). The invention allows to significantly reduce the time of fermentation, to enrich the product with organic and mineral products contained in sodium humate, to convert the salts of heavy metals into an insoluble state, to improve the environmental friendliness of the method.

STUDY OF THE EFFECT OF FEED ADDITIVE OF SODIUM HUMATE FOR STERLET BY THE CAGE METHOD OF GROWING

The article presents the results of an experiment to assess the effect of feed additive of humates on the growth rate and survival of different age groups of sterlet (Acipenser ruthenus L., 1758) and the conversion of fish feed for keeping in aquaculture. Based on the analysis of sources of scientific and technical information, it was found that humic drugs have long been used in crop production as growth stimulants and microfertilizers, and in animal husbandry - to normalize metabolism, treatment of digestive diseases and general stimulating effect on the body as a whole. Analysis of data on the use of humates in aquaculture indicated the presence of a positive effect of these compounds on individual cultivation objects. The small amount of information on the use of humates in fish farming has led to the conclusion that this direction of fish farming intensification is still insufficiently studied, and that studies of the impact of humic substances on aquaculture objects are not comprehensive and mainly concern the assessment of individual effects of biologically active action of the compounds on fish. The available information gave grounds to speculate about the prospects for the use of humates in sturgeon farming. To test this assumption, a series of experiments was conducted on the feeding of sterlet feed with the addition of sodium humate. The research was conducted in 2018, 2020 and 2021, in the production conditions of the cage fishery, located on the Kaniv Reservoir. The effect of different concentrations of sodium humate feed additives on one- and two year old sterlet was evaluated. It was found that the addition of sodium humate to fish feed in concentrations of 60, 100, 120 and 200 mg / kg of feed did not significantly affect the growth rate of sterlet. Thus, the advantage of experimental variants over the control for this indicator was insignificant, in the range of 1.0-1.6%. The effect of sodium humate on the survival of this year sterlet, for their cultivation in gardens. At the same time, the best, by 6.7-17.4%, feed conversion with the addition of humates by one- and two-year-old sterlet was noted. According to the results of the experiments, the best result was obtained in the variant using a feed additive of humates at a concentration of 200 mg / kg of feed. It is considered promising to continue the study of the impact of feed additives of humates on the growth and survival of valuable aquaculture objects under different housing conditions, in particular in closed recirculation aquasystems (RAS), as well as finding the optimal concentration of these additives in feed for different species and age groups of fish.

OBTAINING HUMATE-CONTAINING NEW COMPOSITE PRODUCTS

The influence of various factors on the process of interaction in the systems "sodium humate-mixture of phosphoric and nitric acids" and "phosphorite-mixture of acids-sodium humate" has been investigated. The influence of the ratios of the initial components, the amount of sodium humate introduced, the rate of the acid reagent, the temperature and duration of the reaction on the interaction process in the systems under study was studied, and the optimal process conditions were determined. The methods of chemical and physicochemical analysis revealed that as a result of interaction in the studied heterogeneous systems, ammonium humate, sodium acid phosphates, as well as sodium and ammonium nitrates are formed. Based on the studies carried out, it was found that the introduction of sodium humate prevents the inhibition of the decomposition of phosphate raw materials and the retrogradation of P2O5, i.e. the sparingly soluble calcium hydrogen phosphate formed as a result of the interaction of the initial components under the influence of sodium humate transforms into a readily soluble dihydrogen phosphate. A basic technological scheme for obtaining new types of humate-containing composite products has been developed. A basic technological scheme for obtaining new types of humate-containing products has been developed, which allows obtaining two types of products: fertilizers and compositions. When sodium humate interacts with an acidic reagent, the finished product is a humate composition, and if phosphorite is added to the system, a humate-phosphate fertilizer. The resulting products have a high content of P2O5, nitrogen and humic substances.

Enhanced SO2 Absorption Capacity of Sodium Citrate Using Sodium Humate

A novel method of improving the SO2 absorption performance of sodium citrate (Ci-Na) using sodium humate (HA–Na) as an additive was put forward. The influence of different Ci-Na concentration, inlet SO2 concentration and gas flow rate on desulfurization performance were studied. The synergistic mechanism of SO2 absorption by HA–Na and Ci-Na was also analyzed. The consequence shows that the efficiency of SO2 absorption by Ci-Na is above 90% and the desulfurization time added with the Ci-Na concentration rising from 0.01 to 0.1 mol/L. Both the desulfurization efficiency and time may increase with the adding of HA–Na quality in Ci-Na solution. Due to adding HA–Na, the desulfurization efficiency of Ci-Na increased from 90% to 99% and the desulfurization time increased from 40 to 55 min. Under the optimum conditions, the desulfurization time of Ci-Na can exceed 70 min because of adding HA–Na, which is nearly doubled. The growth of inlet SO2 concentration has little effect on the desulfurization efficiency. The SO2 adsorption efficiency decreases with the increase of inlet flow gas. The presence of O2 improves the SO2 removal efficiency and prolongs the desulfurization time. Therefore, HA–Na plays a key role during SO2 absorption and can dramatically enhance the SO2 adsorption performance of Ci-Na solution.

Experimental study on the ratio model of similar materials in the simulation test of coal and gas outburst

To obtain the similar materials with specific physical and mechanical parameters and adsorption and desorption indexes used in coal and gas outburst simulation tests, pulverized coal was selected as aggregate, and sodium humate was selected as cementing agent and river sand was selected as auxiliary materials. Based on this, orthogonal tests with 6 factors and 5 levels were designed, and the tests of weighing, uniaxial compression, firmness, adsorption and desorption were carried out. The parameters such as density, uniaxial compressive strength, elastic modulus, firmness coefficient and adsorption–desorption index of similar materials with different ratios were obtained, and the sensitivity of each factor was analyzed by range analysis. The influence of various factors on the similar materials was studied, and the ratio model of similar materials was obtained. The reliability of the model was verified, and a complete method for determining the ratio model of similar materials of outburst coal was put forward. The results show that the density of the similar materials increases with the river sand content, and the uniaxial compressive strength and elastic modulus increase significantly with the pulverized coal ratio and sodium humate content, and the firmness coefficient increases linearly with the pulverized coal ratio. The adsorption constant increases linearly with the sodium humate content, while the adsorption constant b decreases linearly with the sodium humate content. The initial elution rate Δp of similar materials increases at first and then decreases with the increase of sodium humate content.

Application of chelated fertilizers on irrigated vegetable crops in the Saratov Zavolzhye

The effect of chelated fertilizers that produced by the NPO "Power of Life" on the productivity of the main vegetable crops was studied in field experiments on irrigated terraced dark chestnut soils of the Saratov Zavolzhye (Trans-Volga region). It was established that the yield of the vegetable crops under study increases with the use of fertilizers based on humic acids. The increase in yield due to reasil micro hydro mix was: 35.8% of cucumber, 28.3% of red beet roots, 22.6% of tomato, 20.9% of late white cabbage, 9.1% of onion, 6.8% of carrot roots. The reasil micro hydro mix was more effective than potassium-sodium humate with trace elements, for all the studied vegetable crops under study. The average increase in productivity was 20.6% versus 16.0%. The effect of chelated microfertilizers on the yield of vegetable crops was ambiguous. A significant reliable increase in yield due to all the studied chelated microfertilizers, used both together with reasil micro hydro mix, and together with potassium-sodium humate with trace elements, was established only when growing onions. An additional increase in the yield of red beet roots 4.42 t / ha was obtained only when treated with reasil humic N on the background of potassium-sodium humate with trace elements. An additional increase in the yield of late white cabbage was 9.23 and 8.15 t / ha when treated with reasil Mg, respectively, against the background of reasil micro hydro mix and potassium-sodium humate with trace elements. On tomatoes, chelated microfertilizers were effective only against the background of potassium-sodium humate with trace elements. Cucumber responded positively to all chelated microfertilizers on the background of potassium-sodium humate with trace elements, as well as to reasil humic N and reasil Ca/Mg/B on the background of reasil micro hydro mix. On carrots, a significant increase in yield was obtained when treated with reasil Ca, reasil Ca/ Mg/ B and reasil humic N against the background of reasil micro hydro mix.

Assessment of Ecological Condition of Haplic Chernozem Calcic Contaminated with Petroleum Hydrocarbons during Application of Bioremediation Agents of Various Natures

Petroleum hydrocarbon contamination disrupts ecological and agricultural soil functions. For their restoration, bioremediation agents of various natures are used (nonorganic or organic fertilizers, bacterial preparations, adsorbing agents) featuring different remediation mechanisms (adsorption or biostimulation of petroleum hydrocarbon decomposition). The objective of this research is the assessment of the ecological condition of petroleum hydrocarbon-contaminated Haplic Chernozem Calcic after the application of bioremediation agents of various natures. The influence of glauconite, nitroammophos, sodium humate, the bacterial preparation “Baikal EM-1”, and biochar on the intensity of petroleum hydrocarbon decomposition and the ecological condition of Haplic Chernozem Calcic was analyzed. The ecological condition of Haplic Chernozem Calcic was assessed based on the residual content of petroleum hydrocarbons in soil and the following biological parameters: changes in the number of soil bacteria, activity of catalase and dehydrogenases, soil respiration (CO2 emission), germinating ability, lengths of roots and shoots, and integrated index of the biological state. The minimum concentrations of residual petroleum hydrocarbons in soil were observed after the use of biochar (44% from initial content) and glauconite (49%). The biological properties of soils were affected in different ways. Soil respiration was stimulated by 3-6-fold after adding nitroammophos. Indices for the intensity of the early growth and germination of radish in soil with glauconite, sodium humate, and biochar were increased by 37–125% (p < 0.01) compared with the reference value. After the application of biochar, sodium humate, and “Baikal EM-1”, the number of soil bacteria was 66–289% higher (p < 0.01) than the reference value. At the same time, the activities of catalase and dehydrogenases were inhibited by up to 35% in variants with bioremediation agents and petroleum hydrocarbons relative to the reference values. The maximum stimulation of the biological activity (as the integrated index of the biological state (IISB)) of Haplic Chernozem Calcic was observed after applying sodium humate and biochar, with 70 and 66% (p < 0.01) increases from the reference value, respectively. Considering the net cost of bioremediation agents, the maximum cost efficiency is achieved with “Baikal EM-1”, sodium humate, and biochar: 110, 527, and 847 USD·103/ha, respectively. After using Baikal EM-1”, sodium humate, and biochar, the ecological state of Haplic Chernozem Calcic was restored.