Effect of irrigation levels and foliar application of fertilizers on some agronomic and oil characteristics of castor bean (Ricinus communis L.)

To study the effect of irrigation levels and foliar application of fertilizers on some agronomic and oil characteristics of castor bean, an experiment was conducted at the East Azarbaijan Agricultural Research and Education Center, Tabriz, Iran in 2017-2019 cropping seasons. The experiment was laid out as a split-plot design based on a completely randomized block design with three replications. In the present study, main cluster length, number of branches, number of capsules per plant, number of seeds per capsule, 100-grain weight biological yield, grain yield, oil percent and oil yield were measured. Irrigation intervals (normal irrigation (irrigation after 60 mm), irrigation after 80 mm and 140 mm of evaporation) was established as main plots and the foliar applications of fertilizers (N, K, S, N + K, and N + S, K + S, N + K + S and control) input as sub-plots. The results showed that, except for the oil percentage, all the examined traits were decreased by water limitation. The highest values of the traits, other than the 100-grain weight, were obtained for foliar application of N + K + S. This treatment improved the grain yield per unit area under normal irrigation and moderate irrigation and severe stresses by 62.76%, 41.46% and 28.98% respectively. Thus, the foliar application of S (2000 ppm) + N (3000 ppm) + K (3000 ppm) fertilizer is the best treatment for mitigating some harmful effects of water deficit on castor bean.

Conversion of Whey Protein Aerogel Particles into Oleogels: Effect of Oil Type on Structural Features

Protein aerogel particles prepared by supercritical-CO2-drying (SCD) of ground whey protein (WP) hydrogels (20% w/w, pH 5.7) were converted into oleogels by dispersion in selected edible oils (castor, cod liver, corn, flaxseed, MCT, peanut and sunflower oil). The obtained oleogels were analysed for oil content, microstructure, rheological properties, and ATR-FTIR spectra. Except for castor oil, solid-like, plastic materials with comparable composition (80% oil, 20% WP) and rheological properties (G′~3.5 × 105 Pa, G″~0.20 × 105 Pa, critical stress~800 Pa, tanδ~0.060) were obtained. Optical and confocal microscopy showed that the generated structure was associated with the capillary-driven absorption of oil into the porous aerogel particles interconnected via particle-particle interactions. In this structure, the oil was stably entrapped. Results evidenced the reduced role of edible oil characteristics with the exception of castor oil, whose high polarity probably favoured particle–oil interactions hindering particle networking. This work demonstrates that WP aerogels could be regarded as versatile oleogel templates allowing the structuring of many edible oils into solid-like materials.

Temporal Distribution and Characteristic Analysis of Oil Spill in Balikpapan Bay

Balikpapan Bay has an oil spill case that attracts many people because it is considered a serious environmental problem and is detrimental to the environment. One of the cases that occurred was the leak of an oil pipeline in Balikpapan Bay due to the wrong anchorage of a ship that occurred on March 31, 2018. Detection of oil spills for three months using Sentinel 1-A satellite data to determine the distribution and analysis of the same oil characteristics from the source of pipe leaks in the Gulf of Balikpapan. The multi-temporal distribution of oil spills in Balikpapan Bay in March, April, and May 2018 has a significant difference in the upstream and mouth of the bay due to a pipe leak on March 31, 2018. Characteristics of upstream oil spills represented by stations 4 and 5 have the anisotropy value is lower than at the mouth of the bay which is represented by stations 1 and 2. The characteristics of the oil spill in Balikpapan Bay have differences before and after the oil spill due to pipe leakage as indicated by the decrease in the anisotropy value.

Effects of Various Nutrient Sources on Growth and Essential Oil Characteristics of Salvia Officinalis L. in Greenhouse

The agronomic and chemical characteristics of aromatic plants are affected by nutritional sources. Salvia officinalis (common sage) is an aromatic plant extensively used in food, popular medicine, and many pharmacological research studies. In this study, the effects of NPK, vermicompost and two types of microbiological fertilizer were investigated on the agronomic parameters and volatile oil characteristics of S. officinalis grown in the greenhouse. The plants were harvested two times (1st and 2nd cuttings) during the growing season. The consumption of NPK has the highest effect on stem number (54 no plant-1), fresh and dry herb weight (96.8 and 27.2 g p-1), fresh and dry leaf weight (74.6 and 19.6 g p-1), and volatile oil percentage (1.64%). While the herb weight at the 1st cutting (74.3 g p-1) was higher than the 2nd cutting (70.2 g p-1), the fresh (58.2 g p-1) and dry (16.6 g p-1) leaf weights and the leaf ratio (80.5 %) at the 2nd cutting were higher than the 1st cutting. Moreover, the volatile oil contents at the 1st cutting (1.44%) were higher than the 2nd cutting (1.18%). In total, 31 compounds were identified in the volatile oils by using GC/FID-MS. The percentages of α-Thujone (22.4-31.4%) and Camphor (21.0-25.4%) were found higher than other compounds. The content of α-Thujone was higher in NPK and vermicompost treatments. Based on the results, the application of different nutritional sources improved the yield and chemical properties of S. officinalis. Among the non-chemical nutrient sources, vermicompost had high efficiency.

Analysis of flow regimes and associated sources of dissipation in splash lubricated planetary gear sets

Planetary gears are used in several applications given that they provide high reduction ratio in a compact size. Two kind of lubrication are used in this applications: injection or splash lubrication. In case of splash lubrication, the authors already highlighted the importance of the centrifugal effects leading to the formation of an oil ring inside the reducer, therefore giving a method to compute churning power losses. In this paper, another flow regime is underlined when centrifugal forces are not sufficient to turn the oil sump into a ring. In addition to this observation, an in-depth analysis is given regarding the dependence of the churning power losses with operating conditions and oil characteristics.