Effect of Organic Manures and Inorganic Fertilizer on the Leaf Characters of Banana

A field experiment was carried out at Instructional cum Research Farm, Department of Horticulture, Biswanath College of Agriculture, AAU, Biswanath Chariali to study the effects of organic manures and inorganic fertilizer on leaf characters of banana cv. Amritsagar (AAA) during 2016-2017. The research work was carried out with the treatments as follows T1: FYM (Farm Yard Manure) + Microbial Consortia, T2: Enriched Compost, T3: Vermicompost, T4: Microbial Consortia, T0: RDF (FYM + NPK). Healthy suckers were planted in each plot with spacing of 2.1m x 2.1m on 27th May 2016. The treatments T1, T2, T3 and T4 were laid out in certified organic block in RBD with 5 replications while the treatment T0 was laid out outside the organic block with five replications. In the organics, T1 recorded the highest number of functional leaves (7.97, 12.46 and 5.37) in vegetative stage, shooting stage and harvesting stage respectively. Highest leaf area of 2.69 m2 at vegetative stage and 11.17 m2 at shooting stage were recorded in T1 while lowest leaf area of 2.41 m2 at vegetative stage and 8.89 m2 at shooting stage were recorded in T4. Leaf area index was highest in T1. Chlorophyll content index in both vegetative stage (45.29) and shooting stage (65.56) was also highest in T1. Comparing the leaf characters (number of functional leaves, leaf area, leaf area index and chlorophyll content index) under organic treatments with that of T0 treated plants, it was found that plants treated with inorganic fertilizer had more number of functional leaves and better leaf character than that of the plants treated with organics.

Leaf functional traits differentiation in relation to covering materials of urban tree pits

Background Understanding the ecological strategies of urban trees to the urban environment is crucial to the selection and management of urban trees. However, it is still unclear whether urban tree pit cover will affect plant functional traits. Here, we study the response of urban trees to different tree pit covers, analyzed the effects of different cover types on soil properties and their trade-off strategies based on leaf functional traits. Results We found that there were obvious differences in the physical properties of the soil in different tree pit covers. Under the different tree pit cover types, soil bulk density and soil porosity reached the maximum under cement cover and turf cover, respectively. We found that tree pit cover significantly affected the leaf properties of urban trees. Leaf thickness, chlorophyll content index and stomatal density were mainly affected by soil bulk density and non-capillary porosity in a positive direction, and were affected by soil total porosity and capillary porosity in a negative direction. Leaf dry matter content and stomata area were mainly negatively affected by soil bulk density and non-capillary porosity, and positively affected by soil total porosity and capillary porosity. Covering materials of tree pits promoted the functional adjustment of plants and form the best combination of functions. Conclusion Under the influence of tree pit cover, plant have low specific leaf area, stomata density, high leaf thickness, chlorophyll content index, leaf dry matter content, leaf tissue density and stomata area, which belong to “quick investment-return” type in the leaf economics spectrum.

Changes of soil moisture during apple growth based on TVDI index

Based on MODIS data, soil moisture data and field survey data from 2014 to 2018, the consistency of temperature vegetation drought index (TVDL), normalized vegetation water content index (NDWL), vegetation water supply index (VSWI) and soil moisture at 15cm depth (SM) in apple growth in Fuxian county was investigated. Results showed that the spatial and temporal consistency between VSWI and SM calculated by the enhanced vegetation index (EVI) was best; the sensitivity of remote sensing indexes to soil moisture was different in different apple growth stages. The sensitivity of VSWI was the most obvious in different growth stages, and the sensitivity of soil moisture was higher than that of germination, flowering, fruit expansion and maturity. The research findings were consistent with the law of water demand in different growth stages of apple in Fuxian county and the characteristics of precipitation and drought in Fuxian county. The present results could provide a reference for soil moisture monitoring of apple growth by remote sensing. Bangladesh J. Bot. 50(3): 955-961, 2021 (September) Special

Morphometry of Tabebuia aurea (Manso) Benth. & Hook. f. ex S. Moore subjected to different substrates

The morphometry and quality of seedlings of tree species is of fundamental importance to achieve success in reforestation or commercial exploitation project. Due to the lack of information about the ideal substrate for the production of craibeira seedlings and taking into account the diversification of the use of Tabebuia aurea production of native seedlings for the recovery of degraded areas, this work was conducted with the objective of evaluating the development of seedlings of this species produced with bovine manure and coconut fiber. The present work was carried out at the plant ecophysiology laboratory at the Agrarian Engineering and Sciences Campus (CECA), in Rio Largo, north-region of the state of Alagoas. Four treatments were used, which consisted of a mixture of soil + organic material, in the proportion 3:1. The materials used were tanned bovine manure (ESCB), coconut fiber (CFS) and control (soil). Whose proportions of the treatments were: T1: soil + 0% coconut fiber; T2: soil + 11% coconut fiber; T3: soil + 22% coconut fiber; T4: soil + 33% coconut fiber and T5: soil + 33% cattle manure. Macro and micronutrient analyses of the substrates used were performed. To meet the work objective, the following parameters were evaluated: plant height, stem diameter, number of leaves and leaf dry matter, stem and root and chlorophyll content index. It can be concluded that the substrates chosen for evaluation showed few significant differences in relation to seedling development; the mixture of treatment 2 (soil+coconut fiber 11%) provided a higher percentage of survival and the quality of seedlings were higher; The substrate treatment 4 (soil+coconut fiber 33%) showed much lower results in all evaluated results. However, statistically there were no significant differences in relation to the other treatments and the presence of bovine manure (soil+bovine manure 33%) results in benefits such as greater nutrient supply and possible reduction of seedling costs.

Effect of Se-Enriched Irrigation Water on the Biomass Production and Elemental Composition of Green Bean, Cabbage, Potato and Tomato

Additional Selenium (Se) intake may be recommended in areas of Se deficiency to prevent various human diseases. One possibility for this is biofortification. In this experiment, the effect of irrigation water containing 100 and 500 µg L−1 Se, in the form of Na2SeO4, on green bean, cabbage, potato and tomato was investigated in a greenhouse pot experiment with sand, silty sand and silt soils. The chlorophyll content index was usually improved by Se and was significantly higher in potato in sand and silty sand and in tomato in silty sand and silt soils. The Se content of edible plant parts increased 63-fold in the 100 µg L−1 Se treatment and almost 400-fold in the 500 µg L−1 Se treatment, averaged over the four species and the three soils. Irrigation water with a Se content of 100 µg L−1 may be suitable for the production of functional food in the case of green beans, potatoes and tomatoes. However, due to its greater Se accumulation, cabbage should only be irrigated with a lower Se concentration. The use of Se-enriched irrigation water might be a suitable method for Se biofortification without a significant reduction in plant biomass production and without a remarkable modification of other macro- and microelement contents.

Analysis of Burnout Indices and Components of Organizational Climate among Female Factory Workers

Introduction. With the growing number of females employed as factory workers, it is important to look into the phenomenon of burnout and related organizational climate affecting these workers. Objectives. The study's objectives were: 1) to come up with the indices of burnout among Filipino female factory workers and; 2) to come up with indices of organizational climate components of job autonomy, the content of the job, and nature of management through exploratory factor analysis. Methods. The secondary data used for this study were from a cross-sectional study involving 344 female factory workers. The indicators of the organizational climate were derived through exploratory factor analysis of items in the dataset. Exploratory Factor Analysis was used to reduce the variables into a fewer set of “Component Variables.” The technique explored the relationship of each indicator and then grouped them according to which component they were highly correlated. Using the factor loadings as weights, the index score was generated. The organizational climate indices were derived from the factor loading scores. Burnout Score was derived from respondents’ answers on nine items relating to burnout. The organizational climate indexes were also generated using factor analysis with these components- job autonomy, content of the job, and nature of management. Cronbach alpha was generated for all the items under each index to show the internal consistency and scale reliability. Results. There were 344 female respondents with a mean age of 26 (SD=5.02), and the majority were single (69.21%). Nine items were measured with the lowest average response “work is boring” (0.259 ± .560) for burnout indices. The highest mean answer for the item “work requires new skills or upskilling regularly” at 1.619 ± .762, suggesting that most respondents were required to upskill regularly. “Salary is not enough to meet worker’s needs” also has a high average response, suggesting that most respondents felt that their salary was insufficient to sustain their daily needs. The total burnout score indicates that workers experienced moderate burnout. The indices for burnout have good internal consistency and scale reliability (Cronbach alpha= 0.712). The organizational climate was grouped into Indexes through factor analysis, namely, Autonomy on Quality Index, Autonomy on Rest Index, Skilled work content Index, Physical work content Index, Hazardous work content Index, Health, Safety, and Compensation Index, and Training Index. Autonomy on Quality Index has a mean of 66.877 ± 31.934, suggesting that the autonomy on quality for respondents was moderately high, while Autonomy on Rest Index was 24.159 ± 30.788, suggesting that respondents have low autonomy on rest. The skilled work content index was high at an average of 70.801 ± 22.87, while physical work content and hazardous work content index were low at 29.398 and 25.377, respectively. Health, Safety, and Compensation index average was very low at 8.891 ± 8.524. Conclusion. This study came up with indices of burnout unique to female factory workers. The indexes were boredom/boring work, repetitious tasks, fast-paced work, work pressure, not sufficient compensation, work-home conflicts, upskilling, physically tiring, mentally tiring, and salary is not sufficient to meet basic needs. This study also came up with the indexes of organizational climate relating to job autonomy, content of job, and nature of management. The several items under each of these components were subjected to Factor Analysis to come up with indexes of organizational climate. Thus, the contribution of this study is coming up with a burnout index unique to the Filipino factory worker, not just based on subjective expert opinion, but data-driven and statistically derived.

Intraspecific differences in plant functional traits are related to urban atmospheric particulate matter

Background Functional trait-based ecological research has been instrumental in advancing our understanding of environmental changes. It is still, however, unclear how the functional traits of urban plants respond to atmospheric particulate matter, and which trade-off strategies are shown. In order to explore the variation of plant functional traits with the gradient of urban atmospheric particulate matter, we divided atmospheric particulate matter into three levels according to road distance, and measured the variation of six essential leaf functional traits and their trade-off strategies. Results Here, we show that the functional traits of plants can be used as predictors of plant response to urban atmospheric particulate matter. Within the study, leaf thickness, leaf dry matter content, leaf tissue density, stomatal density were positively correlated with atmospheric particulate matter. On the contrary, chlorophyll content index and specific leaf area were negatively correlated with atmospheric particulate matter. Plants can improve the efficiency of gas exchange by optimizing the spatial distribution of leaf stomata. Under the atmospheric particulate matter environment, urban plants show a trade-off relationship of economics spectrum traits at the intraspecific level. Conclusion Under the influence of urban atmospheric particulate matter, urban plant shows a “slow investment-return” type in the leaf economics spectrum at the intraspecific level, with lower specific leaf area, lower chlorophyll content index, ticker leaves, higher leaf dry matter content, higher leaf tissue density and higher stomatal density. This finding provides a new perspective for understanding the resource trades-off strategy of plants adapting to atmospheric particulate matter.

PLANT HEIGHT CONTROL OF HYACINTHUS ORIENTALIS BY GIBBERELLIN INHIBITORS

In this study, effect of gibberellin inhibtors as preplant bulb soaks on plant height of Hyacinthus orientalis cv. ‘Jan Bos’ grown in pots were investigated. Bulbs of hyacints were soaked in flurprimidol at 0, 10, 20 ppm and paclobutrazol at 0, 100, 200 ppm before planting. Effect of gibberellin inhibitors on the flowering time, flower diameter and length, leaf length, plant height, flower life, chlorophyll content of leaves were determined. In addition, after hyacints grown in pots in the greenhouse arrived at the sales stage to determine the changes that occur in the plant height, plants were taken to the laboratory where temperature was held constant at 20 °C. The shortest plant height was obtained from the 200 ppm paclobutrazol and 20 ppm flurprimidol treatment as given bulb soaks. In this treatments, plant heihgt was 7.33 and 8.61 cm and were 49% , 41% shorter than untreated control. The lower dose of 10 ppm flurprimidol and 100 ppm paclobutrazol were also effective on height control with 9.11 and 9.71 cm plant height, respectively. Gibberellin inhibitors also shortened leaf lenght. Flurprimidol and paclobutrazol treatments resulted in higher chlorophyll content per unit area in the leaves than untreated controls. The highest chlorophyll contetnt was obtained from the plants treated 200 ppm paclobutrazol with 83.36 CCI (Chlorophyll content index), while the control was 50.56 CCI. The effects of treatments on plant height were maintained in lab conditions (home-office). The shortest plant height was obtained from 200 paclobutrazol treatment with 9.75 cm, while the control was 21.5 cm during post production period.

Design of a Prototype of Smoke Exhaust Control System in an Enclosed Room with the Fuzzy Sugeno Method

Cigarette smoke can contaminate indoor air that causes some health risks. Smoke control in enclosed rooms is necessary to reduce the thick smoke in them by controlling the CO content index to the desired point. The purpose of the study, knowing the grouping of the density of smoke and the time in disposing of smoke to the point of a predetermined setpoint value of 60 ppm. This research applied the Fuzzy Logic Sugeno Method and hardware design using a prototype in the form of an acrylic box with a ratio of 1:10 of the actual size as a tool test site; LCD to display information, namely, in the form of smoke density, fan, setpoint value, and smoke value; MQ2 sensors for CO smoke detection; Arduino Nano as a microcontroller; and relay and fan as output. The experiment results resulted in 3 categories of smoke: low, medium, and high. Besides, the results of this study also showed that the time required to emit smoke in a closed room to the point of a setpoint value of 60 ppm with the help of 3 fans on each fan 12v / 0.14A is 2 minutes 05 seconds.

Sub-Auroral and Mid-Latitude GNSS ROTI Performance during Solar Cycle 24 Geomagnetic Disturbed Periods: Towards Storm’s Early Sensing

Geomagnetic storms—triggered by the interaction between Earth’s magnetosphere and interplanetary magnetic field, driven by solar activity—are important for many Earth-bound aspects of life. Serious events may impact the electroenergetic infrastructure, but even weaker storms generate noticeable irregularities in the density of ionospheric plasma. Ionosphere electron density gradients interact with electromagnetic radiation in the radiofrequency domain, affecting sub- and trans-ionospheric transmissions. The main objective of the manuscript is to find key features of the storm-induced plasma density behaviour irregularities in regard to the event’s magnitude and general geomagnetic conditions. We also aim to set the foundations for the mid-latitude ionospheric plasma density now-casting irregularities. In the manuscript, we calculate the GPS+GLONASS-derived rate of TEC (total electron content) index (ROTI) for the meridional sector of 10–20∘ E, covering the latitudes between 40 and 70∘ N. Such an approach reveals equatorward spread of the auroral TEC irregularities reaching down to mid-latitudes. We have assessed the ROTI performance for 57 moderate-to-severe storms that occurred during solar cycle 24 and analyzed their behaviors in regard to the geomagnetic conditions (described by Kp, Dst, AE, Sym-H and PC indices).