The Effects of Foliar Vermicompost Applications on Yield and Some Yield Components in Triticale Varieties

Vermicompost fertilizers have started to attract attention in agriculture last years. Various liquid vermicompost fertilizers are produced and used in agriculture and some of them known as vermiliquer, vermi leachate, vermi tea or vermicast with little differences. This study is aimed to determine the effects of foliar application of liquid vermicompost fertilizer on yield and some yield components on some Turkey triticale varieties under Central Anatolian conditions in Kırıkkale province during the growing period 2014-15 and 2015-16. Six different (control, 75, 150, 250, 350 and 450 cc da-1) liquid vermicompost fertilizer doses were applied by the foliar spraying method at the beginning and end of March in both years to the five Turkey triticale varieties (Alperbey, Mikham 2002, Tatlıcak 97, Karma 2000 and Ümranhanım). According to the results, plant height, grain number and grain yield in spike, grain yield per decare, harvest index and protein content results were found to be significant in fertilizer × variety × year interaction. There is also a statistically significant difference between thousand-grain weight and the variety x fertilizer doses interaction, and between varieties and fertilizer doses in terms of spike length. The positive effects of liquid vermicompost fertilizer doses, except 450 cc da-1, were determined in varieties. It was observed that a satisfactory yield can be obtained from 250 cc da-1 in the absence of nitrogen fertilizers as the top fertilizer. It could be deduced that 250-350 cc da-1 doses of vermicompost fertilizer can be applied in triticale based on varying ecological conditions and varieties in Central Anatolian ecological conditions.

Multiple Ion Scaffold-Based Delivery Platform for Potential Application in Early Stages of Bone Regeneration

Bone has the intrinsic capacity to regenerate itself, as long as the damage is small, through the sequential stimulation of specific phases, such as angiogenesis followed by osteogenesis. However, when the damage is extensive it is unable to regenerate and bone tissue engineering is used as an alternative. In this study, we developed a platform to allow the triple ion delivery with sequential delivery capacity to potentially stimulate antibacterial, angiogenic and osteogenic processes. The scaffold-based platform consisted of alginate/hydroxyapatite (HA) microparticles embedded in alginate fibers. Firstly, microparticles were developed using different ratios of alginate:HA using the spraying method, resulting in a high reproducibility of the technique. Microparticle size between 100–300 µm and ratio 1:40 resulted in a more spherical morphology and were selected for their incorporation into alginate fiber. Different amounts of copper and cobalt were added with the microparticles and alginate fiber, respectively, were used as model ions which could eventually modulate and mimic antimicrobial and angiogenic processes. Moreover, calcium ion was also incorporated in both, in order to provide the system with potential osteogenic properties together with HA. The multiple delivery of copper, cobalt and calcium released were in the therapeutic range as measured by induced coupled plasma (ICP), providing a promising delivery strategy for tissue engineering.

Uji Efektivitas Metabolit Sekunder Jamur Simplicillium sp. terhadap Spodoptera frugiperda J.E. Smith di Laboratorium

This research aims to determine the effect of the secondary metabolites of the fungi Simplicillium sp. on mortality, larval feeding capacity, larval growth, percentage of pupae and imagos, fecundity and fertility, secondary metabolites of the fungi Simplicillium sp. which effectively kills Spodoptera frugiperda. This research was conducted in the Plant Protection Laboratory of Agriculture Faculty, Jenderal Soedirman University, Purwokerto from October 2020 until January 2021. The method used in this research was a factorial randomized block (RBD) with two factors. The first factor is the concentration of secondary metabolite of the fungi Simplicillium sp. consisting of control (K0), 10% concentration (K1), 20% concentration (K2), 30% concentration (K3); and a synthetic insecticide with an active ingredient Emmamectin benzoate and Lufenuron 1 ml/l (K4). The second factor is the application method which consists of the spraying method on the larvae (A1) and the feed immersion method (A2). The observed parameters were mortality, feeding capacity, growth time, percentage of pupae and imagos formed, fecundity and fertility, and effective concentration. The result showed that: 1) secondary metabolite of the fungi Simplicillium sp. with a concentration of 20 percent larvae spraying method caused larvae mortality by 36.67 percent and the food immersion method caused larvae mortality by 45.00 percent, and decreased feeding activity by 26.12 percent; 2) secondary metabolite of the fungi Simplicillium with a concentration of 20 percent was able to inhibit the growth of larvae by 3.83 percent, pupae by 5,40 percent and imagos by 14.19 percent, reduced the number of pupae and imagos formed by 49.17 percent and 37.33 percent, and reduced fertility at a concentration of 10 percent by 11.30 percent; 3) secondary metabolite of the fungi Simplicillium sp. has not been effectively used as a control for S. frugiperda since it has an efficacy value of less than 80 percent.

The Study of Chitosan Solution Coating on Water Barrier Property of Seedling Paper Bag Made from Water Hyacinth

Seedling bags are low cost and light weight containers used by farmers to germinate and sprout seeds into seedlings before transplanting into the ground. However, cutting and removing seedling bags before the transplantation can damage the plant roots and cause losses in their productivity. In addition, plastics used in conventional seedling bags contribute to more plastic waste during this process. This study offers a solution to these problems with alternative biodegradable materials; i.e. modified papers made from an invasive alien aquatic plant species—water hyacinth—and enhanced with Chitosan solution coating. Papers were made from water hyacinth and dipped or sprayed with Chitosan solution in acetic acid at concentrations of 1% wt., 1.5% wt., and 2% wt. The dipping method showed better water barrier properties than the spraying method in every concentration, with 2% wt. concentration having the best barrier properties. The 2% wt. concentration of Chitosan coating by dipping method changed the water contact angle of the water hyacinth paper from a hydrophilic to a hydrophobic surface. This enhancement in water resistance was confirmed by water absorption time, which reached over 1.5 hours—3 times longer than the spraying method.

One-Step Fabrication of a Functionally Integrated Device Based on Polydimethylsiloxane-Coated SiO2 NPs for Efficient and Continuous Oil Absorption

The construction of superhydrophobic surfaces necessitates the rational design of topographic surface structure and the reduction of surface energy. To date, the reported strategies are usually complex with multi-steps and costly. Thus, the simultaneous achievement of the two indispensable factors is highly desired, yet rather challenging. Herein, we develop a novel structure engineering strategy of realizing the fabrication of a functionally integrated device (FID) with a superhydrophobic surface via a one-step spraying method. Specifically, silica nanoparticles are used to control the surface roughness of the device, while polydimethylsiloxane is employed as the hydrophobic coating. Benefitting from the adopted superhydrophobicity, the as-fabricated FID exhibits a continuous, excellent oil-water separating performance (e.g., 92.5% separating efficiency) when coupled with a peristaltic pump. Notably, a smart design of incorporating a gas switch is adopted in this device, thereby effectively preventing water from entering the FID, realizing thorough oil collection, and avoiding secondary pollution. This work opens up an avenue for the design and development of the FID, accessible for rapid preparation and large-scale practical application.

Fanwing Aircraft- Scope as an Agricultural Aircraft

The objective of this paper is to apply the concept of fan wing to agricultural aircrafts which are conventionally fixed wings aircrafts or multi-rotor drones. Fan wing is capable of producing good amount of lift at a sufficiently low speed without stalling, thus is apt for agricultural processes of irrigation, spraying pesticides, etc. Fan wing has a special ability that it doesn’t stalls (for the practical range of AOA), making this spraying method reliable. A fanwing aircraft is modelled using CATIA V5 and the flow visualizations for the same are performed on the ANSYS. This aircraft is then compared with three different existing agricultural aircrafts on different parameters, namely payload capacity, work efficiency and ease of operation. The comparison shows that such fanwing vehicle is a good substitute over the conventional fixed wings and multi-rotor drones.