An alkaline protease-producing fungus was screened from potato grown soil fields of Bangalore and identified as Aspergillus terreus gr. based on morphological and microscopic features. The selected growth medium contained casein (1%) as a sole source of carbon and nitrogen. The pH of the medium was adjusted to 10.0 using sodium carbonate in order to isolate alkalophilic fungi. The best process ...

Many environmental contaminants are amenable to degradation by alkaline hydrolysis. This project explored the use of ammonia gas to raise soil pH in order to stimulate alkaline hydrolysis. When ammonia gas dissolves in water, it forms ammonium ion, which consumes hydrogen ions (H+), thereby increasing pH. This study established that 5% ammonia in air can increase soil pH from 7.5 to 10.3. Batch...

When incubated with acid, alkaline, and neutral soils, a variety of synthetic sulfate esters representing the various classes of these compounds was hydrolyzed by enzymes, probably of microbial origin. The appearance of sulfate in the soil water occurred immediately after introduction into the soils with some esters, whereas with others it occurred only after lag periods. Heat treatment destroy...

With the rapid development of the petroleum industry, a large number of oil contaminants leaked into the soil in the petrochemical complex areas, gas stations, automobile factory and other places, which resulted in serious soil contamination. Micro-Biological degradation of oil pollution was the focus of the present study. Many hydrocarbon-contaminated environments were characterized by low or ...

Trichoderma sp., a well known biological control agent against several phytopathogens, was tested for its phosphate (P) solubilizing potential. Fourteen strains of Trichoderma sp. were isolated from the forest tree rhizospheres of pinus, deodar, bamboo, guava and oak on Trichoderma selective medium. The isolates were tested for their in-vitro P-solubilizing potential using National Botanical Re...

Air quality in Setapak district of Kuala Lumpur was studied by analysing the rainwater chemical composition using ion chromatography method. Twelve sampling sites were selected and 120 rainwater samples were collected in the period of 10 weeks. The results of this study were compared to the earlier published data and the evaluation showed that the NO3 ion concentration increased from 0.41 to 3....

Grafting is a technique that may affect plant tolerance to iron chlorosis in plants cultivated for their fruit. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the tolerance of non-grafted quince seedlings and pear grafted onto quince plants cultivated in pots with alkaline soil. The experiment was conducted in a greenhouse at the University of Cordoba, Spain, in pots (3 L) filled with a...

Residue management in cropping systems is useful to improve soil quality. However, the studies on the effects of residue management on the enzyme activities and microbial community of soils in South China are few. Therefore, the effects of incorporating winter cover crop residue with a double-cropping rice (Oryza sativa L.) system on soil enzyme activities and microbial community in Southern Ch...

The aim of this microcosm study was to determine influence of the antibiotic 2,4 diacetylphloroglucinol (DAPG) on the effect of wild type and functionally modified Pseudomonas fluorescens F113 strains in a sandy loam soil of pH 5.4 planted with pea (Pisum sativum var Montana). The functional modification of strain F113 was a repressed production of DAPG, useful in plant disease control, creatin...

The experiment of artificial afforestation combining with soil amendment was carried out to investigate the effects of soil amendment on antimony (Sb) chemical forms, and its bioavailability in Chinese antimony mining. This research provides the technical basis for ecological remediation of Sb contaminated soils. The results showed that the soil pH values increased with the increasing of discha...