Manipulation of stomatal density was investigated as a potential tool for enhancing drought tolerance or nutrient uptake. Drought tolerance and soil water retention were assessed using Arabidopsis epidermal patterning factor mutants manipulated to have increased or decreased stomatal density. Root nutrient uptake via mass flow was monitored under differing plant watering regimes using nitrogen-...

the  present study was aimed  at comparing the ability of three crop plants for phytoremediation of zinc (zn) and nickel (zn) from soils. a factorial (3×2×3) experiment based on rcbd was  used to compare the treatments,  and was repeated three times. the first factor was crop type (wheat, clover and rapeseed), the second factor was heavy metal types (zinc (zn) and nickel (ni)) and the third fac...

[1] Correct representations of root functioning, such as root water uptake and hydraulic redistribution, are critically important for modeling the responses of vegetation to droughts and seasonal changes in soil moisture content. However, these processes are poorly represented in global land surface models. In this study, we incorporated two root functions: a root water uptake function which as...

Experiments were conducted to determine the ability of citrate to enhance the plant uptake of weathered 2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)1,1-dichloroethylene (p,p'-DDE) from soil. Plots containing three rows of clover, mustard, hairy vetch, or rye grass were constructed in soils containing p,p'-DDE. On 11 occasions, the rows of each crop received water or sodium citrate (0.005 or 0.05 M). For each crop, ...

Tobermorite was synthesized successfully from the ash, which was produced and detoxified from asbesto-containing disaster waste in great east Japan earth quake, by alkali hydrothermal treatment. Tobermorite synthesis was examined as a function of reaction temperature and NaOH concentration. The formation of tobermorite was identified in the product treated with 1-4 M NaOH solution at 130 and 18...

Although clouds are the most recognisable and defining feature of tropical montane cloud forests, little research has focussed on how clouds affect plant functioning. We used satellite and ground-based observations to study cloud and leaf wetting patterns in contrasting tropical montane and pre-montane cloud forests. We then studied the consequences of leaf wetting for the direct uptake of wate...

In plants, water deficiency can result from a deficit of water from the soil, an obstacle to the uptake of water or the excess water loss; in these cases, the similar consequence is the limitation of plant growth and crop yield. Silicon (Si) has been widely reported to alleviate the plant water status and water balance under variant stress conditions in both monocot and dicot plants, especially...

Gelatin is considered as a partially degraded product of collagen and it is a biodegradable polymer which can be used to produce scaffolds for tissue engineering. Three-dimensional, porous gelatin scaffolds were fabricated by thermally induced phase separation and freeze-drying method. Their porous structure and pore size were characterized by scanning electron microscopy. Scaffolds with differ...

Coating performance is greatly influenced by the properties of the wood substrate. This study was focused on evaluating the performance of coatings on both preservative- and thermally-treated wood. A number of commercially formulated semi-transparent stains Alkyd, Alkyd-Acrylic and PU were applied on four different types of preservative treated and heat-treated wood and their performances were ...