Abstract Biochar as an eco-friendly and low-cost product has the potential for modification to improve its functionality. The application of modified biochar is a new approach that can soil properties, quality, productivity plants, thereby helping sustainable agriculture. focus recent studies dealt with methods improving function biochar. be enhance physicochemical properties (such bulk density...

We investigated the variation in leaf nitrogen to phosphorus ratios of tropical tree and liana seedlings as a function of the relative growth rate, whole-plant water-use efficiency, soil water content and fertilizer addition. First, seedlings of 13 tree and liana species were grown individually in 38-l pots prepared with a homogeneous soil mixture. Second, seedlings of three tree species were g...

BACKGROUND Wastewater use in urban agriculture is common as a result of rapid urbanisation, and increasing competition for good quality water. In order to minimize risks to farmers and consumers of wastewater irrigated produce the World Health Organization (WHO) has developed guidelines for the safe use of wastewater in agriculture. These guidelines are based on a Quantitative Microbial Risk As...

Over 4.5 billion people are at risk of infection with soil transmitted helminths and there are concerns about the development of resistance to the handful of frontline nematocides in endemic populations. We investigated the anti-nematode efficacy of a series of polypyridylruthenium(II) complexes and showed they were active against L3 and adult stages of Trichuris muris, the rodent homologue of ...

Sugar beet waste has potential value as a soil amendment and this work studied whether fermentation of the waste by Aspergillus niger would influence the growth and P uptake of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi. Plants were grown in compartmentalised growth units, each with a root compartment (RC) and two lateral root-free compartments (RFC). One RFC contained untreated soil while the other RFC...

Soil loss is not limited to change from forest or woodland to other land uses/covers. It may occur when there is agricultural land-use/cover modification or conversion. Soil loss may influence loss of carbon from the soil, hence implication on greenhouse gas emission. Changing land use could be considered actually or potentially successful in adapting to climate change, or may be considered mal...

Soil-dwelling organisms are exposed to metals in different ways. Evidence exists for predominant pore water uptake of metals by soft-bodied oligochaete species. In the present research, uptake kinetics of metals and the metalloid As by the semi-soft-bodied springtail Folsomia candida were studied, for which uptake via the pore water is less obvious. Springtails were exposed in 16 field soils an...

Present study was undertaken to examine the extent of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) contamination in neighbourhood lithospheric environment of landfill site situated in eastern outer edge of Kolkata metropolitan city in West Bengal, India, along with its sources identification, spatial distribution and probabilistic cancer risks to residents. The collection and analytical tests were p...