Search results for: biological fertilizer

Authors: Luís Miguel Estevão Cristóvão, Constâncio Augusto Machanguana, Fernando Chichango, Salvador Grande

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Sub-Saharan African nations depend greatly on agriculture, a sector mainly marked by low production. Most of the farmers live in rural areas and employ basic labor-intensive technologies that lead to time inefficiencies and low overall effectiveness. Even with attempts to enhance farmers’ welfare through improved seeds and fertilizers, meaningful outcomes are yet to be achieved due to huge amounts of post-harvest losses. Such losses significantly endanger food security, economic stability, and result in unsustainable agricultural practices because more land, water, labor, energy, fertilizer, and other inputs must be used to produce more food. Drying, as a critical post-harvest process involving simultaneous heat and mass transfer, deserves attention. Among alternative green-energy sources, solar energy-based drying garners attention, particularly for small-scale farmers in remote communities. However, the intermittent nature of solar radiation poses challenges. To address this, energy storage solutions like rock-based thermal energy storage offer cost-effective solutions tailored to the needs of farmers. Methodologically, three solar dryers were constructed of metal, wood, and clay brick. Several tests were carried out with and without energy storage material. Notably, it has been demonstrated that soapstone stands out as a promising material due to its affordability and high specific energy capacity. By implementing these greener technologies, Sub-Saharan African countries could mitigate post-harvest losses, enhance food availability, improve nutrition, and promote sustainable resource utilization.

Keywords: energy storage, food security, post-harvest, solar dryer

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Authors: Sameh Abu El-Soud, Zahra Zayed, Safwan Khedr, Adel M. Belal

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The population increase in Egypt is urging for horizontal land development which became a demand to allow the benefit of different natural resources and expand from the narrow Nile valley. However, this development is facing challenges preventing land development and agriculture development. Desertification and moving sand dunes in the west sector of Egypt are considered the major obstacle that is blocking the ideal land use and development. In the proposed research, the sandy soil is treated biologically using Bacillus pasteurii bacteria as these bacteria have the ability to bond the sand partials to change its state of loose sand to cemented sand, which reduces the moving ability of the sand dunes. The procedure of implementing the Microbial Induced Carbonate Precipitation Technique (MICP) technique is examined, and the different factors affecting on this process such as the medium of bacteria sample preparation, the optical density (OD600), the reactant concentration, injection rates and intervals are highlighted. Based on the findings of the MICP treatment for sandy soil, conclusions and future recommendations are reached.

Keywords: soil stabilization, biological treatment, microbial induced carbonate precipitation (MICP), sand cementation

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Authors: Asnakew Mulualem Tegegne, Tarun Kumar Lohani, , Abunu Atlabachew Eshete

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Groundwater quality has become deteriorated due to natural and anthropogenic activities. Poor water quality has a potential risk to human health and the environment. Therefore, the study aimed to assess the potential risk of groundwater quality contamination levels and public health risks in the Gunabay watershed. For this task, seventy-eight groundwater samples were collected from thirty-nine locations in the dry and wet seasons during 2022. The ground water contamination index was applied to assess the overall quality of groundwater. Six major driving forces (temperature, population density, soil, land cover, recharge, and geology) and their quantitative impact of each factor on groundwater quality deterioration were demonstrated using Geodetector. The results showed that low groundwater quality was detected in urban and agricultural land. Especially nitrate contamination was highly linked to groundwater quality deterioration and public health risks, and a medium contamination level was observed in the area. This indicates that the inappropriate application of fertilizer on agricultural land and wastewater from urban areas has a great impact on shallow aquifers in the study area. Furthermore, the major influencing factors are ranked as soil type (0.33–0.31)>recharge (0.17–0.15)>temperature (0.13–0.08)>population density (0.1–0.08)>land cover types (0.07– 0.04)>lithology (0.05–0.04). The interaction detector revealed that the interaction between soil ∩ recharge, soil ∩ temperature, and soil ∩ land cover, temperature ∩ recharge is more influential to deteriorate groundwater quality in both seasons. Identification and quantification of the major influencing factors may provide new insight into groundwater resource management.

Keywords: groundwater contamination index, geographical detectors, public health · influencing factors, and water resources management

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Authors: K. Cartelier, D. Aime, V. Vernoud, J. Buitink, J. M. Prosperi, K. Gallardo, C. Le Signor

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Legumes can produce protein-rich seeds without nitrogen fertilizer through root symbiosis with nitrogen-fixing rhizobia. Rich in lysine, these proteins are used for human nutrition and animal feed. However, the instability of seed protein yield and quality due to environmental fluctuations limits the wider use of legumes such as pea. Breeding efforts are needed to optimize and stabilize seed nutritional value, which requires to identify the genetic determinism of seed protein plasticity in response to the environment. Towards this goal, we have studied the plasticity of protein content and composition of seeds from a collection of 200 Medicago truncatula ecotypes grown under four controlled conditions (optimal, drought, and winter/spring sowing). A quantitative analysis of one-dimensional protein profiles of these mature seeds was performed and plasticity indices were calculated from each abundant protein band. Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) from these data identified major GWAS hotspots, from which a list of candidate genes was obtained. A Gene Ontology Enrichment Analysis revealed an over-representation of genes involved in several amino acid metabolic pathways. This led us to propose that environmental variations are likely to modulate amino acid balance, thus impacting seed protein composition. The selection of candidate genes for controlling the plasticity of seed protein composition was refined using transcriptomics data from developing Medicago truncatula seeds. The pea orthologs of key genes were identified for functional studies by mean of TILLING (Targeting Induced Local Lesions in Genomes) lines in this crop. We will present how this study highlighted mechanisms that could govern seed protein plasticity, providing new cues towards the stabilization of legume seed quality.

Keywords: GWAS, Medicago truncatula, plasticity, seed, storage proteins

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Authors: Roberta Guerra, Juan Pablo Pozo Hernandez

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Surface sediments from the coastal lagoon of Pialassa Piomboni in the NW Adriatic Sea were collected and analysed and the potential ecological risks in the area were assessed based on the acid-volatile sulphide (AVS) model. The AVS levels are between 0.03 and 8.8 µmol g-1, with the average at 3.1 µmol g-1. The simultaneously extracted metals (∑SEM), which is the molar sum of Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn, range from 0.3 to 6.6 µmol g-1, with the average at 1.7 µmol g-1. Most of the high ∑SEM concentrations are located in the southern area of the lagoon. [SEM]Zn had the comparatively high mean concentration (1.4 µmol g-1), and a maximum value of 6.1 µmol g-1, respectively. Concentrations of [SEM]Cd, [SEM]Cu, [SEM]Ni, and [SEM]Pb were consistently lower, with maximum values of 0.007 µmol g-1, 1.4 µmol g-1, 0.3 µmol g-1 and 0.2 µmol g-1, respectively. Compared to other metals, [SEM]Zn was the dominant component in all samples and accounted for approximately 31 - 93% of the ∑SEM, whereas the contribution of Cd – the most toxic metal studied – to ∑SEM was no more than 1%. According to the USEPA evaluation method, the sediment samples can be divided into the three following categories: category 1, adverse biological effects on aquatic life may be expected when ([SEM]–[AVS])/fOC > 3000; category 2, adverse effects on aquatic life are uncertain when ([SEM]–[AVS])/fOC = 130 to 3,000; and category 3, no indication of adverse effects when ([SEM]–[AVS])/fOC < 130. Most of the surface sediments of the Pialassa Piomboni lagoon (>90%) had no adverse biological effects according to the criterion proposed by the USEPA; while adverse effects were uncertain in few stations (~2%).

Keywords: sediment quality, heavy metals, coastal lagoon, bioavailability, SEM, AVS

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Authors: V. K. Srivastava

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The chemistry of compounds containing transition metals bound to sulfur containing ligands has been actively studied. Interest in these compounds arises from the identification of the biological importance of iron-sulfur containing proteins as well as the unusual behaviour of several types of synthetic metal-sulfur complexes. Metal complexes (C₆H₅)₄P)₂ Pt(Mos₄)₂, (C₆H₅)₄P)₂ Pd(MoS₄)₂, (C₆H₅)₄P)₂ Ni(MoS₄)₂ of bioinorganic relevance were investigated. The complexes [M(M'S₄)₂]²⁻ were prepared with high yield and purity as salts of the variety of organic cations. The diamagnetism and spectroscopic properties of these complexes confirmed that their structures are essentially equivalent with two bidentate M'S₄²⁻ ligands coordinated to the central d⁸ metal in a square planer geometry. The interaction of the complexes with CT-DNA was studied. Results showed that metal complexes increased DNA's relative viscosity and quench the fluorescence intensity of EB bound to DNA. In antimicrobial activities, all complexes showed good antimicrobial activity higher than ligand against gram positive, gram negative bacteria and fungi. The antitumor properties have been tested in vitro against two tumor human cell lines, Hela (derived from cervical cancer) and MCF-7 (derived from breast cancer) using metabolic activity tests. Result showed that the complexes are promising chemotherapeutic alternatives in the search of anticancer agents.

Keywords: anti cancer, biocidal, DNA binding, spectra

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Authors: Ali. Marjani, M. Farsi, M. Rahimizadeh

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Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is one of the important grain legume crops in the world. However, drought stress is a serious threat to chickpea production, and development of drought-resistant varieties is a necessity. Field experiments were conducted to evaluate the response of 8 chickpea genotypes (MCC* 696, 537, 80, 283, 392, 361, 252, 397) and drought stress (S1: non-stress, S2: stress at vegetative growth stage, S3: stress at early bloom, S4: stress at early pod visible) at different growth stages. Experiment was arranged in split plot design with four replications. Difference among the drought stress time was found to be significant for investigated traits except biological yield. Differences were observed for genotypes in flowering time, pod information time, physiological maturation time and yield. Plant height reduced due to drought stress in vegetative growth stage. Stem dry weight reduced due to drought stress in pod visibly. Flowering time, maturation time, pod number, number of seed per plant and yield cause of drought stress in flowering was also reduced. The correlation between yield and number of seed per plant and biological yield was positive. The MCC283 and MCC696 were the high-tolerance genotypes. These results demonstrated that drought stress delayed phonological growth in chickpea and that flowering stage is sensitive.

Keywords: chickpea, drought stress, growth stage, tolerance

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Authors: I. Chebbi, L. Boudaya, L. Neifar

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The bogue, Boops boops is an economically important fishery resource and commonly captured in the Mediterranean, and its diversity in parasites has been used as a tool to differentiate between stocks along with Tunisia since it is widely acceptable in fisheries management. In this study, a total of 90 fish are investigated from three localities off Tunisia, including Kelibia, Mahdia, and Zarzis. Fifteen species of parasites totaling 1270 individuals were harvested from B. boops, whereas ten parasites were used as biological tags. Based on Mahalanobis distance, each parasite species shows a great importance in the discrimination between groups. Tetraphyllidea larvae are the most influential parasites in determining the position of samples belonging to Kelibia. Monogenean species and Hysterothylacium sp. are the most important species for determining the position of samples from Mahdia. Specimens from Zarzis are characterized by the absence of the four Monogenean species and the Tetraphyllidea larvae. Parasites allocate B. boops population correctly to their origin communities with an accuracy of 83.3%. These results were corroborated by the discriminant analyses, highlighted the presence of three stocks, and improved that the parasitological method can be considered as a reliable key to provide imperative information for discriminating among B. boops stocks in Tunisian waters.

Keywords: biological marker, Boops boops, parasite, population structure

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Authors: Rochelyn Dona, Mohamed F. Nur, Serdar Satar

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The biological response of Aphis gossypii Glover (Hom. Aphididae) was investigated on the effects of seven cucumber varieties (Cucumis sativus L.) such as Kitir, Muhika, Ayda, Beit, 14-F1, Ruzgar, and Ptk in the laboratory condition at 24±1°C, 65±5% relative humidity (RH) and a photoperiod of 16:8 (L:D) hour. The results were related that the developmental time of A. gossypii at the nymphal stages was presented a significant difference only on the first instar stage. From the lowest to the highest respectively, 0.98 days on ruzgar to 1.18 days on Kitir, the second nymphal stage 0.98 days to Beit alfa, 1.08 days on Muhika, the third from 0.94 days to Kitir, from 1.16 days to 14-F1, and the last instar 1.22 days on Ptk, 1.48 days on Kitir were investigated. The total development time was evaluated at 4.46 days Beit on alfa 4.72 days on Kitir. The offspring number was 60.42 aphids on ayda and 83.72 aphids on muhika, the significant differences between varieties were based on one-way ANOVA (Tukey test). The lifetime of A. gossypii was recorded 19.10 days on Kitir, 27.64 days on Ptk. The results showed that cucumber cultivars were affected by the biological life of A. gossypii. The combination of this study with the other methods of the IPM tactics can serve as the best strategy for controlling this pest on cucumber varieties into the greenhouse.

Keywords: cucumber cultivars, fecundity, intrinsic rate, mortality, resistance

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Authors: Neeraj Kumar Mishra, In Su Kim

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The isoindoline, indazole and indole heterocycles are ubiquitous structural motif found in heterocyclic compounds as they exhibit biological and medicinal applications. For example, isoindoline motif is present in molecules that act as endothelin-A receptor antagonists and dipeptidyl peptidase inhibitors. Moreover, isoindoline derivatives are very crucial constituents in the field of materials science as attractive candidates for organic light-emitting devices. However, compounds containing the indazole motif are known to exhibit to a variety of biological activities, such as estrogen receptor, HIV protease inhibition and anti-tumor activity. The prevalence of indazoles and indoles has led to the development of many useful methods for their preparation. Thus, isoindoline, indazole and indole heterocycles can be new candidates for the next generation of pharmaceuticals. Therefore, the development of highly efficient strategies for the formation of these heterocyclic architectures is an area of great interest in organic synthesis. The past years, transition-metal-catalyzed C−H activation followed by annulation reaction has been frequently used as a powerful tool to construct various heterocycles. Herein, we describe our recent achievements about the transition-metal-catalyzed tandem cyclization reactions of N-benzyltriflamides, 1,2-disubstituted arylhydrazines, acetanilides, etc. via C−H bond activation to access the corresponding bioactive heterocylic scaffolds.

Keywords: biologically active, C-H activation, heterocyclic compounds, transition-metal catalysts

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Authors: Cleiton Pons Ferreira, Diana Francisca Adamatti

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Advancements in computers technology have allowed to obtain information for research in biology and neuroscience. In order to transform the data from these surveys, networks have long been used to represent important biological processes, changing the use of this tools from purely illustrative and didactic to more analytic, even including interaction analysis and hypothesis formulation. Many studies have involved this application, but not directly for interpretation of data obtained from brain functions, asking for new perspectives of development in neuroinformatics using existent models of tools already disseminated by the bioinformatics. This study includes an analysis of neurological data through electroencephalogram (EEG) signals, using the Cytoscape, an open source software tool for visualizing complex networks in biological databases. The data were obtained from a comparative case study developed in a research from the University of Rio Grande (FURG), using the EEG signals from a Brain Computer Interface (BCI) with 32 eletrodes prepared in the brain of a blind and a sighted individuals during the execution of an activity that stimulated the spatial ability. This study intends to present results that lead to better ways for use and adapt techniques that support the data treatment of brain signals for elevate the understanding and learning in neuroscience.

Keywords: neuroinformatics, bioinformatics, network tools, brain mapping

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Authors: Imen Abid, Rachel Calvet, Michel Baltas

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Flavonoids are secondary metabolites that belong to a polyphenolic class, present in fruits and vegetables, playing a significant role in biological systems. The structural variations of these flavonoids are associated with many biological and pharmacological activities (antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, and antimalarial). Given their importance in plants and health-promoting roles in humans, significant efforts have been devoted towards their isolation of flavonoids and chemical elaboration (organic synthesis). But with the increasing public concern over environmental degradation and future resources, it is of great importance for chemists to come up with different approaches, less hazardous to human health and the environment. Being employed in large amounts, the solvents used in organic synthesis are high on the list of environmental pollutants. To overcome these problems, our approach is to develop unconventional processes involving solvent-free conditions. The application of mechanical forces to solvent-free or solvent-less reaction mixtures through the use of ball mills offers many advantages over traditional solvent-based strategies. It is one of the unconventional activation methods, which makes it possible to overcome the use of solvents, in the context of green chemistry and more respectful of the environment.

Keywords: organic synthesis, green chemistry, mecanochemistry, pharmaceutical molecules

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Authors: Mpho Mokoatle, Darlington Mapiye, James Mashiyane, Stephanie Muller, Gciniwe Dlamini

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Great advances in high-throughput sequencing technologies have resulted in availability of huge amounts of sequencing data in public and private repositories, enabling a holistic understanding of complex biological phenomena. Sequence data are used for a wide range of applications such as gene annotations, expression studies, personalized treatment and precision medicine. However, this rapid growth in sequence data poses a great challenge which calls for novel data processing and analytic methods, as well as huge computing resources. In this work, a machine and statistical learning approach for DNA sequence classification based on $k$-mer representation of sequence data is proposed. The approach is tested using whole genome sequences of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) isolates to (i) reduce the size of genomic sequence data, (ii) identify an optimum size of k-mers and utilize it to build classification models, (iii) predict the phenotype from whole genome sequence data of a given bacterial isolate, and (iv) demonstrate computing challenges associated with the analysis of whole genome sequence data in producing interpretable and explainable insights. The classification models were trained on 104 whole genome sequences of MTB isoloates. Cluster analysis showed that k-mers maybe used to discriminate phenotypes and the discrimination becomes more concise as the size of k-mers increase. The best performing classification model had a k-mer size of 10 (longest k-mer) an accuracy, recall, precision, specificity, and Matthews Correlation coeffient of 72.0%, 80.5%, 80.5%, 63.6%, and 0.4 respectively. This study provides a comprehensive approach for resampling whole genome sequencing data, objectively selecting a k-mer size, and performing classification for phenotype prediction. The analysis also highlights the importance of increasing the k-mer size to produce more biological explainable results, which brings to the fore the interplay that exists amongst accuracy, computing resources and explainability of classification results. However, the analysis provides a new way to elucidate genetic information from genomic data, and identify phenotype relationships which are important especially in explaining complex biological mechanisms.

Keywords: AWD-LSTM, bootstrapping, k-mers, next generation sequencing

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Authors: Darlington Mapiye, Mpho Mokoatle, James Mashiyane, Stephanie Muller, Gciniwe Dlamini

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Great advances in high-throughput sequencing technologies have resulted in availability of huge amounts of sequencing data in public and private repositories, enabling a holistic understanding of complex biological phenomena. Sequence data are used for a wide range of applications such as gene annotations, expression studies, personalized treatment and precision medicine. However, this rapid growth in sequence data poses a great challenge which calls for novel data processing and analytic methods, as well as huge computing resources. In this work, a machine and statistical learning approach for DNA sequence classification based on k-mer representation of sequence data is proposed. The approach is tested using whole genome sequences of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) isolates to (i) reduce the size of genomic sequence data, (ii) identify an optimum size of k-mers and utilize it to build classification models, (iii) predict the phenotype from whole genome sequence data of a given bacterial isolate, and (iv) demonstrate computing challenges associated with the analysis of whole genome sequence data in producing interpretable and explainable insights. The classification models were trained on 104 whole genome sequences of MTB isoloates. Cluster analysis showed that k-mers maybe used to discriminate phenotypes and the discrimination becomes more concise as the size of k-mers increase. The best performing classification model had a k-mer size of 10 (longest k-mer) an accuracy, recall, precision, specificity, and Matthews Correlation coeffient of 72.0 %, 80.5 %, 80.5 %, 63.6 %, and 0.4 respectively. This study provides a comprehensive approach for resampling whole genome sequencing data, objectively selecting a k-mer size, and performing classification for phenotype prediction. The analysis also highlights the importance of increasing the k-mer size to produce more biological explainable results, which brings to the fore the interplay that exists amongst accuracy, computing resources and explainability of classification results. However, the analysis provides a new way to elucidate genetic information from genomic data, and identify phenotype relationships which are important especially in explaining complex biological mechanisms

Keywords: AWD-LSTM, bootstrapping, k-mers, next generation sequencing

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Authors: Sali Chinsathit, Haruthai Kaenla

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Organic agriculture has become a major policy theme for agricultural development in Thailand since October 2005. Organic farming is enlisted as an important national agenda, to promote safe food and national export, and many government authorities have initiated projects and activities centered on organic farming promotion. Currently, Thailand has the market share of about 32 million US$ a year by exporting organic products of rice, vegetables, tea, fruits and a few medicinal herbs. There is high potential in organic crop production as there is the tropical environment promoting crop growth and leader farmer in organic farming. However, organic sector is relatively small (0.2%) comparing with conventional agricultural area, since there are many factors affecting farmers’ adoption and success in organic farming. The objective of this project was to get the organic production technology for at least 3 organic crops. The treatment and method were complied with Thai Organic Standard, and were mainly concerned on increase plant biodiversity and soil improvement by using organic fertilizer and bio-extract from fish, egg, plant and fruits. The bio-logical control, plant-extracts, and cultural practices were used to control insect pests and diseases of 3 crops including mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana L.), longkong (Aglaia dookoo Griff.) and banana (Musa (AA group)). The experiments were carried out at research centers of Department of Agriculture and farmers’ farms in Rayong and Chanthaburi provinces from 2009 to 2013. We found that both locations, plant biodiversity by intercropping mangosteen or longkong with banana and soil improvement with composts and bio-extract from fish could increased yield and farmers’ income by 6,835 US$/ha/year. Farmers got knowledge from these technologies to produce organic crops. The organic products were sold both in domestic and international countries. The organic production technologies were also environmental friendly and could be used as an alternative way for farmers in Thailand.

Keywords: banana, longkong, mangosteen, organic farming

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Authors: M. A. Ojo, O. A. Ojo, A. I. Odine, A. Ogaji

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The study examined marginal productivity analysis of small scale yam and cassava farmers in Kogi State, Nigeria. Data used for the study were obtained from primary source using a multi-stage sampling technique with structured questionnaires administered to 150 randomly selected yam and cassava farmers from three Local Government Areas of the State. Description statistics, data envelopment analysis and Cobb-Douglas production function were used to analyze the data. The DEA result on the overall technical efficiency of the farmers showed that 40% of the sampled yam and cassava farmers in the study area were operating at frontier and optimum level of production with mean technical efficiency of 1.00. This implies that 60% of the yam and cassava farmers in the study area can still improve their level of efficiency through better utilization of available resources, given the current state of technology. The results of the Cobb-Douglas analysis of factors affecting the output of yam and cassava farmers showed that labour, planting materials, fertilizer and capital inputs positively and significantly affected the output of the yam and cassava farmers in the study area. The study further revealed that yam and cassava farms in the study area operated under increasing returns to scale. This result of marginal productivity analysis further showed that relatively efficient farms were more marginally productive in resource utilization This study also shows that estimating production functions without separating the farms to efficient and inefficient farms bias the parameter values obtained from such production function. It is therefore recommended that yam and cassava farmers in the study area should form cooperative societies so as to enable them have access to productive inputs that will enable them expand. Also, since using a single equation model for production function produces a bias parameter estimates as confirmed above, farms should, therefore, be decomposed into efficient and inefficient ones before production function estimation is done.

Keywords: marginal productivity, DEA, production function, Kogi state

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Authors: T. Schilirò, S. Bonetta, S. Bonetta, E. Ceretti, D. Feretti, I. Zerbini, V. Romanazzi, S. Levorato, T. Salvatori, S. Vannini, M. Verani, C. Pignata, F. Bagordo, G. Gilli, S. Bonizzoni, A. Bonetti, E. Carraro, U. Gelatti

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Air pollution is one of the most important worldwide health concern. In the last years, in both the US and Europe, new directives and regulations supporting more restrictive pollution limits were published. However, the early effects of air pollution occur, especially for the urban population. Several epidemiological and toxicological studies have documented the remarkable effect of particulate matter (PM) in increasing morbidity and mortality for cardiovascular disease, lung cancer and natural cause mortality. The finest fractions of PM (PM with aerodynamic diameter <2.5 µm and less) play a major role in causing chronic diseases. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has recently classified air pollution and fine PM as carcinogenic to human (1 Group). The structure and composition of PM influence the biological properties of particles. The chemical composition varies with season and region of sampling, photochemical-meteorological conditions and sources of emissions. The aim of the MAPEC (Monitoring Air Pollution Effects on Children for supporting public health policy) study is to evaluate the associations between air pollution and biomarkers of early biological effects in oral mucosa cells of 6-8 year old children recruited from first grade schools. The study was performed in five Italian towns (Brescia, Torino, Lecce, Perugia and Pisa) characterized by different levels of airborne PM (PM10 annual average from 44 µg/m3 measured in Torino to 20 µg/m3 measured in Lecce). Two to five schools for each town were chosen to evaluate the variability of pollution within the same town. Child exposure to urban air pollution was evaluated by collecting ultrafine PM (PM0.5) in the school area, on the same day of biological sampling. PM samples were collected for 72h using a high-volume gravimetric air sampler and glass fiber filters in two different seasons (winter and spring). Gravimetric analysis of the collected filters was performed; PM0.5 organic extracts were chemically analyzed (PAH, Nitro-PAH) and tested on A549 by the Comet assay and Micronucleus test and on Salmonella strains (TA100, TA98, TA98NR and YG1021) by Ames test. Results showed that PM0.5 represents a high variable PM10 percentage (range 19.6-63%). PM10 concentration were generally lower than 50µg/m3 (EU daily limit). All PM0.5 extracts showed a mutagenic effect with TA98 strain (net revertant/m3 range 0.3-1.5) and suggested the presence of indirect mutagens, while lower effect was observed with TA100 strain. The results with the TA98NR and YG1021 strains showed the presence of nitroaromatic compounds as confirmed by the chemical analysis. No genotoxic or oxidative effect of PM0.5 extracts was observed using the comet assay (with/without Fpg enzyme) and micronucleus test except for some sporadic samples. The low biological effect observed could be related to the low level of air pollution observed in this winter sampling associated to a high atmospheric instability. For a greater understanding of the relationship between PM size, composition and biological effects the results obtained in this study suggest to investigate the biological effect of the other PM fractions and in particular of the PM0.5-1 fraction.

Keywords: airborne PM, ames test, comet assay, micronucleus test

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Authors: Ihcen Khacheba, Amar Djeridane, Abdelkarim Kamli, Mohamed Yousfi

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Plant materials constitute an important source of natural bioactive molecules. Thus plants have been used from antiquity as sources of medicament against various diseases. These properties are usually attributed to secondary metabolites that are the subject of a lot of research in this field. This is particularly the case of phenolic compounds plants that are widely renowned in therapeutics as anti-inflammatories, enzyme inhibitors, and antioxidants, particularly flavonoïds. With the aim of acquiring a better knowledge of the secondary metabolism of the vegetable kingdom in the region of Laghouat and of the discovering of new natural therapeutics, 10 extracts from 5 Saharan plant species were submitted to chemical screening.The analysis of the preceding biological targets led to the evaluation of the biological activity of the extracts of the species Genista Corsica. The first step, consists in extracting and quantifying phenolic compounds. The second step has been devoted to stugying the effects of phenolic compounds on the kinetics catalyzed by two enzymes belonging to the class of hydrolase (the α-amylase and α-glucosidase) responsible for the digestion of sugars and finally we evaluate the antiantioxidant potential. The analysis results of phenolic extracts show clearly a low content of phenolic compounds in investigated plants. Average total phenolics ranged from 0.0017 to 11.35 mg equivalent gallic acid/g of the crude extract. Whereas the total flavonoids content lie between 0.0015 and 10.,96 mg/g equivalent of rutin. The results of the kinetic study of enzymatic reactions show that the extracts have inhibitory effects on both enzymes, with IC50 values ranging from 95.03 µg/ml to 1033.53 µg/ml for the α-amylase and 279.99 µg/ml to 1215.43 µg/ml for α-glucosidase whose greatest inhibition was found for the acetone extract of June (IC50 = 95.03 µg/ml). The results the antioxidant activity determined by ABTS, DPPH, and phosphomolybdenum tests clearly showed a good antioxidant capacity comparatively to antioxidants taken as reference the biological potential of these plants and could find their use in medicine to replace synthetic products.

Keywords: phenolic extracts, inhibition effect, α-amylase, α-glucosidase, antioxidant activity

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Authors: K. Abdul Halim, E. L. Yong

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Palm oil industry is a major revenue earner in Malaysia, despite the growth of the industry is synonymous with a massive production of agro-industrial wastewater. Through the oil extraction processes, palm oil mill effluent (POME) contributes to the largest liquid wastes generated. Due to the high amount of organic compound, POME can cause inland water pollution if discharged untreated into the water course as well as affect the aquatic ecosystem. For more than 20 years, Malaysia adopted the conventional biological treatment known as lagoon system that apply biological treatment. Besides having difficulties in complying with the standard, a large build up area is needed and retention time is higher. Although anaerobic digester is more favorable, this process comes along with enormous volumes of sludge and methane gas, demanding attention from the mill operators. In order to reduce the sludge production, denitrifiers are to be removed first. Sulfate reducing bacteria has shown the capability to inhibit the growth of methanogens. This is expected to substantially reduce both the sludge and methane production in anaerobic digesters. In this paper, the effectiveness of sulfate reducing bacteria in minimizing sludge and methane will be examined.

Keywords: methane reduction, palm oil mill effluent, sludge minimization, sulfate reducing bacteria, sulfate reduction

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Authors: Tarek Elnimr, Reda Morsy, Assem El Fert, Aziza Ismail

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Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver. The condition can be self-limiting or can progress to fibrosis, cirrhosis or liver cancer. Disease caused by the hepatitis virus, the virus can cause hepatitis infection, ranging in severity from a mild illness lasting a few weeks to a serious, lifelong illness. A growing body of evidence indicates that many trace elements play important roles in a number of carcinogenic processes that proceed with various mechanisms. To examine the status of trace elements during the development of hepatic carcinoma, we determined the iron, copper, zinc and selenium levels in some biological samples of patients at different stages of viral hepatic disease. We observed significant changes in the iron, copper, zinc and selenium levels in the biological samples of patients hepatocellular carcinoma, relative to those of healthy controls. The mean hair, nail, RBC, serum and whole blood copper levels in patients with hepatitis virus were significantly higher than that of the control group. In contrast the mean iron, zinc, and selenium levels in patients having hepatitis virus were significantly lower than those of the control group. On the basis of this study, we identified the impact of natural supplements to improve the treatment of viral liver damage, using the level of some trace elements such as, iron, copper, zinc and selenium, which might serve as biomarkers for increases survival and reduces disease progression. Most of the elements revealed diverse and random distribution in the samples of the donor groups. The correlation study pointed out significant disparities in the mutual relationships among the trace elements in the patients and controls. Principal component analysis and cluster analysis of the element data manifested diverse apportionment of the selected elements in the scalp hair, nail and blood components of the patients compared with the healthy counterparts.

Keywords: hepatitis, hair, nail, blood components, trace element, nutrition therapy, multivariate analysis, correlation, ICP-MS

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Authors: L. C. Sánchez, L. C. Corrales, A. G. Lancheros, E. Castañeda, Y. Ariza, L. S. Fuentes, L. Sierra, J. L. Cuervo

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The importance of environment friendly alternatives in agricultural processes is the reason why the research group Ceparium, the Colegio Mayor de Cundinamarca University, Colombia, investigated the genus Bacillus and its applicability for improving crops of economic importance in Colombia. In this investigation, we presented a study in which the genus Bacillus plays a leading role as beneficial microorganism. The objective was to identify the biochemical potential of three indigenous species of Bacillus, which were able to carry out actions for biological control against pathogens and pests or promoted growth to improve productivity of crops in Colombia. The procedures were performed in three phases: first, the production of biomass of an indigenous strain and a reference strain starting from culture media for production of spores and toxins were made. Spore count was done in a Neubauer chamber, concentrations of spores of Bacillus sphaericus were prepared and a bioassay was done at the Laboratory of Entomology at the University Jorge Tadeo Lozano of Plutella xylostella larvae, insect pest of crucifers in several Colombian regions. The second phase included the extraction in the liquid state fermentation, a secondary metabolite that has antibiosis action against fungi, call iturin B, and was obtained from strains of Bacillus subtilis. The molecule was identified using High Resolution Chromatography (HPLC) and its biocontrol effect on Fusarium sp fungus causes vascular wilt in economically important plant varieties, was confirmed using testing of antagonism in Petri dish. In the third phase, an initial procedure in that let recover and identify microorganisms of the genus Bacillus from the rhizosphere in two aromatic herbs, Rosmarinus officinalis and Thymus vulgaris L. was used. Subsequently, testing of antagonism against Fusarium sp were made and an assay was done under greenhouse conditions to observe biocontrol and growth promoting action by comparing growth in length and dry weight. In the first experiment, native Bacillus sphaericus was lethal to 92% Plutella xylostella larvae in 10 DDA. In the second experiment, iturin B was identified and biological control of Fusarium sp was demonstrated. In the third study, all strains demonstrated biological control and the B14 strain identified as Bacillus megaterium increased root length and productivity of the two plants in terms of weight. It was concluded that the native microorganisms of the genus Bacillus has a great biochemical potential that provides a beneficial interactions with plants, improve their growth and development and therefore a greater impact on production.

Keywords: genus bacillus, biological control, PGPRs, biochemical potential

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Authors: Madhalasa Iyer

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The increase in sustainable practices have encouraged the research and production of alternative fuels. New techniques of bio flocculation with the addition of yeast and bacteria strains have increased the efficiency of biofuel production. Fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) analysis in previous research has indicated that yeast can serve as a plausible enhancer for microalgal lipid production. The research hopes to identify the yeast and microalgae treatment group that produces the largest algae biomass. The mass of the dried algae is used as a proxy for TAG production correlating to the cultivation of biofuels. The study uses a model bioreactor created and built using PVC pipes, 8-port sprinkler system manifold, CO2 aquarium tank, and disposable water bottles to grow the microalgae. Nannochloropsis sp., and Isochrysis galbanawere inoculated separately in experimental group 1 and 2 with no treatments and in experimental groups 3 and 4 with each algaeco-cultured with Saccharomyces cerevisiae in the medium of standard garden stone fertilizer. S. cerevisiae was grown in a petri dish with nutrient agar medium before inoculation. A Secchi stick was used before extraction to collect data for the optical density of the microalgae. The biomass estimator was then used to measure the approximate production of biomass. The microalgae were grown and extracted with a french press to analyze secondary measurements using the dried biomass. The experimental units of Isochrysis galbana treated with the baker’s yeast strains showed an increase in the overall mass of the dried algae. S. cerevisiae proved to be an accurate and helpful addition to the solution to provide for the growth of algae. The increase in productivity of this fuel source legitimizes the possible replacement of non-renewable sources with more promising renewable alternatives. This research furthers the notion that yeast and mutants can be engineered to be employed in efficient biofuel creation.

Keywords: biofuel, co-culture, S. cerevisiae, microalgae, yeast

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Authors: Pinki Sharma, Himanshu Joshi

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Distillery spentwash contains high chemical oxygen demand (COD), biological oxygen demand (BOD), color, total dissolved solids (TDS) and other contaminants even after biological treatment. The effluent can’t be discharged as such in the surface water bodies or land without further treatment. Reverse osmosis (RO) treatment plants have been installed in many of the distilleries at tertiary level. But at most of the places these plants are not properly working due to high concentration of organic matter and other contaminants in biologically treated spentwash. To make the membrane treatment proven and reliable technology, proper pre-treatment is mandatory. In the present study, ultra-filtration (UF) as pre-treatment of RO at tertiary stage was performed. Operating parameters namely initial pH (pHo: 2–10), trans-membrane pressure (TMP: 4-20 bars) and temperature (T: 15- 43°C) used for conducting experiments with UF system. Experiments were optimized at different operating parameters in terms of COD, color, TDS and TOC removal by using response surface methodology (RSM) with central composite design. The results showed that removal of COD, color and TDS by 62%, 93.5% and 75.5%, with UF, respectively at optimized conditions with increased permeate flux from 17.5 l/m2/h (RO) to 38 l/m2/h (UF-RO). The performance of the RO system was greatly improved both in term of pollutant removal as well as water recovery.

Keywords: bio-digested distillery spentwash, reverse osmosis, response surface methodology, ultra-filtration

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Authors: Andi Ismanto

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Indonesia is the largest palm oil producer in the world. The increasing number of palm oil extensification in Indonesia started on 2000-2011. Based on preliminary figures from the Directorate General of Plantation, palm oil area in Indonesia until 2011 is about 8.91 million hectares.On 2011 production of palm oil CPO reaches 22.51 million tons. In the other hands, the increasing palm oil production has impact to environment. The Empty Bunch of Palm Oil (EBPO)waste was increased to 20 million tons in 2009. Utilization of waste EBPO currently only used as an organic fertilizer for plants. But, it was not a good solution, because TKKS that used as organic compost has high content of carbon and hydrogen compound. The EBPO waste has potential used as fuel by gasification because it has short time of decomposition. So, the process will be more efficient in time. Utilization of urban wastehas been created using an incinerator used as a source of electrical energy for household.Usually, waste burning process by incinerator is using diesel fuel and kerosene. It is certainly less effective and not environment friendly, considering the waste incineration process using Incinerator tools are continuously. Considering biomass is a renewable source of energy and the world's energy system must be switch from an energy based on fossil resources into the energy based on renewable resources, the "Gurza Incinerator": Design Build Powerful Biomass Incinerator Empty Bunch of Palm Oil (EBPO) as Elecrical Biomass Base Development, a renewable future technology. The tools is using EBPO waste as source of burning to burn garbage inside the Incinerator hopper. EBPO waste will be processed by means of gasification. Gasification isa process to produce gases that can be used as fuel for electrical power. Hopefully, this technology could be a renewable future energy and also as starting point of electrical biomass base development.

Keywords: incinerator, biomass, empty bunch palm oil, electrical energy

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Authors: Samina Sarwar, Hajra Khalil

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Mycoremediation is emerging as a potential approach for eco-friendly and cost-effective remediation of polluted effluents collected from the dyeing unit of the textile industry was examined. This work dealt with the analyses of the bio remedial capability of some potential indigenous six fungal isolates viz., Aspergillus alliaceus, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus fumigatus Aspergillus niger, Penicillium sp. and Rhizopus oryzae were identified and selected for studies. All fungal species were known to bring bioremediation, which had been confirmed by measuring the percentage reduction potential in different parameters, i.e., pH, Electrical Conductivity (EC), Total Suspended Solids (TSS), Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD). Rhizopus oryzae showed the highest reduction in pH, EC, and BOD, while Aspergillus fumigatus showed the highest reduction in TDS and TSS, and COD under the optimal conditions of this study. The biodegradation potential of these fungal species was confirmed, evidenced by excellent evaluation of experimental data to propose Rhizopus oryzae and Aspergillus fumigatus as a cost-effective solution to treat the effluents from the dyeing unit of the textile industry.

Keywords: biological reduction, fungal isolates, micromycetes, mycoremediation

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Authors: Samina Sarwar, Hajra Khalil

Abstract:

Mycoremediation is emerging as a potential approach for eco-friendly and cost-effective remediation of polluted effluents collected from the dyeing unit of the textile industry was examined. This work dealt with the analyses of the bio remedial capability of some potential indigenous six fungal isolates viz., Aspergillus alliaceus, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus fumigatus Aspergillus niger, Penicillium sp. and Rhizopus oryzae were identified and selected for studies. All fungal species were known to bring bioremediation, which had been confirmed by measuring the percentage reduction potential in different parameters, i.e., pH, Electrical Conductivity (EC), Total Suspended Solids (TSS), Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD). Rhizopus oryzae showed the highest reduction in pH, EC, and BOD, while Aspergillus fumigatus showed the highest reduction in TDS and TSS, and COD under the optimal conditions of this study. The biodegradation potential of these fungal species was confirmed, evidenced by excellent evaluation of experimental data to propose Rhizopus oryzae and Aspergillus fumigatus as a cost-effective solution to treat the effluents from the dyeing unit of the textile industry.

Keywords: biological reduction, fungal isolates, micromycetes, mycoremediation

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Authors: Archana Soni, Arvind Mittal, Manmohan Kapshe

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Energy has been recognized as one of the key inputs for the economic growth and social development of a country. High economic growth naturally means a high level of energy consumption. However, in the present energy scenario where there is a wide gap between the energy generation and energy consumption, it is extremely difficult to match the demand with the supply. India being one of the largest and rapidly growing developing countries, there is an impending energy crisis which requires immediate measures to be adopted. In this situation, the concept of Energy Intensity comes under special focus to ensure energy security in an environmentally sustainable way. Energy Intensity is defined as the energy consumed per unit output in the context of industrial energy practices. It is a key determinant of the projections of future energy demands which assists in policy making. Energy Intensity is inversely related to energy efficiency; lesser the energy required to produce a unit of output or service, the greater is the energy efficiency. Energy Intensity of Indian manufacturing industries is among the highest in the world and stands for enormous energy consumption. Hence, reducing the Energy Intensity of Indian manufacturing industries is one of the best strategies to achieve a low level of energy consumption and conserve energy. This study attempts to analyse the factors which influence the Energy Intensity of Indian manufacturing firms and how they can be used to reduce the Energy Intensity. The paper considers six of the largest energy consuming manufacturing industries in India viz. Aluminium, Cement, Iron & Steel Industries, Textile Industries, Fertilizer and Paper industries and conducts a detailed Energy Intensity analysis using the data from PROWESS database of the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). A total of twelve independent explanatory variables based on various factors such as raw material, labour, machinery, repair and maintenance, production technology, outsourcing, research and development, number of employees, wages paid, profit margin and capital invested have been taken into consideration for the analysis.

Keywords: energy intensity, explanatory variables, manufacturing industries, PROWESS database

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Authors: Arun Dhakal, Geoff Cockfield

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This paper examines the emission potential of different farming practices that the farmers have adopted in Dhanusha District of Nepal and scope of these practices in climate change mitigation. Which practice is more climate-smarter is the question that this aims to address through a life cycle assessment (LCA) of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The LCA was performed to assess if there is difference in emission potential of broadly two farming systems (agroforestry–based and traditional agriculture) but specifically four farming systems. The required data for this was collected through household survey of randomly selected households of 200. The sources of emissions across the farming systems were paddy cultivation, livestock, chemical fertilizer, fossil fuels and biomass (fuel-wood and crop residue) burning. However, the amount of emission from these sources varied with farming system adopted. Emissions from biomass burning appeared to be the highest while the source ‘fossil fuel’ caused the lowest emission in all systems. The emissions decreased gradually from agriculture towards the highly integrated agroforestry-based farming system (HIS), indicating that integrating trees into farming system not only sequester more carbon but also help in reducing emissions from the system. The annual emissions for HIS, Medium integrated agroforestry-based farming system (MIS), LIS (less integrated agroforestry-based farming system and subsistence agricultural system (SAS) were 6.67 t ha-1, 8.62 t ha-1, 10.75 t ha-1 and 17.85 t ha-1 respectively. In one agroforestry cycle, the HIS, MIS and LIS released 64%, 52% and 40% less GHG emission than that of SAS. Within agroforestry-based farming systems, the HIS produced 25% and 50% less emissions than those of MIS and LIS respectively. Our finding suggests that a tree-based farming system is more climate-smarter than a traditional farming. If other two benefits (carbon sequestered within the farm and in the natural forest because of agroforestry) are to be considered, a considerable amount of emissions is reduced from a climate-smart farming. Some policy intervention is required to motivate farmers towards adopting such climate-friendly farming practices in developing countries.

Keywords: life cycle assessment, greenhouse gas, climate change, farming systems, Nepal

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Authors: Kanduru Lokesh, Venkitasamy Kesavan

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The unique structural features of spiro-oxindoles with diverse biological activities have made them privileged structures in new drug discovery. The key structural characteristic of these compounds is the spiro ring fused at the C-3 position of the oxindole core with varied heterocyclic motifs. Structural diversification of heterocyclic scaffolds to synthesize new chemical entities as pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals is one of the important goals of synthetic organic chemists. Nitrogen and oxygen containing heterocycles are by far the most widely occurring privileged structures in medicinal chemistry. The structural complexity and distinct three-dimensional arrangement of functional groups of these privileged structures are generally responsible for their specificity against biological targets. Structurally diverse compound libraries have proved to be valuable assets for drug discovery against challenging biological targets. Thus, identifying a new combination of substituents at C-3 position on oxindole moiety is of great importance in drug discovery to improve the efficiency and efficacy of the drugs. The development of suitable methodology for the synthesis of spiro-oxindole compounds has attracted much interest often in response to the significant biological activity displayed by the both natural and synthetic compounds. So creating structural diversity of oxindole scaffolds is need of the decade and formidable challenge. A general way to improve synthetic efficiency and also to access diversified molecules is through the annulation reactions. Annulation reactions allow the formation of complex compounds starting from simple substrates in a single transformation consisting of several steps in an ecologically and economically favorable way. These observations motivated us to develop the annulation reaction protocol to enable the synthesis of a new class of spiro-oxindole motifs which in turn would enable the enhancement of molecular diversity. As part of our enduring interest in the development of novel, efficient synthetic strategies to enable the synthesis of biologically important oxindole fused spirocarbocyclic systems, We have developed an efficient methodology for the construction of highly functionalized spirocarbocyclic oxindoles through [4+2] annulation of phthalides via Hauser annulation. functionalized spirocarbocyclic oxindoles was accomplished for the first time in the literature using Hauser annulation strategy. The reaction between methyleneindolinones and arylsulfonylphthalides catalyzed by cesium carbonate led to the access of new class of biologically important spiro[indoline-3,2'-naphthalene] derivatives in very good yields. The synthetic utility of the annulated product was further demonstrated by fluorination Using NFSI as a fluorinating agent to furnish corresponding fluorinated product.

Keywords: Hauser-Kraus annulation, spiro carbocyclic oxindoles, oxindole-ester, fluoridation

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Authors: Abdullah Alhajoj, Bassam Alowaiesh

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This work aims to reduce the risks of discharging olive mill waste directly to the environment without treatment in Sakaka City, KSA. The organic loads expressed by chemical oxygen demand (COD) and biological oxygen demand (BOD) of the produced wastewater (OMWW) as well as the solid waste (OMW) were evaluated. The wastes emitted from the three-phase centrifuge decanters was found to be higher than that emitted from the two-phase centrifuge decanters. The olive mill wastewater (OMWW) was treated using advanced oxidation combined with filtration treatment. The results indicated that the concentration of COD, BOD, TSS, oil and grease and phenol was reduced by using complex sand filtration from 72150, 21660 10256, 36430, and 1470 mg/l to 980, 421, 58, 68, and 0.35 mg/l for three-phase OMWW and from 150562, 17955, 15325, 19658 and 2153 mg/l to 1050, 501, 29, 0.75, and 0.29 mg/l, respectively. While, by using modified trickling filter (packed with the neck of waste plastic bottles the concentration of the previously mentioned parameters was reduced to 1190, 570, 55, 0.85, and 0.3 mg/l, respectively. This work supports the application of such treatment technique for reducing the environmental threats of olive mill waste effluents in Saudi Arabia.

Keywords: two-phase, three-phase, olive mill, olive oil, waste treatment, filtration, advanced oxidation, waste plastic bottles

Procedia PDF Downloads 153