Soil alkalinisation generally constitutes a major threat to irrigated agriculture in the semiarid regions of West Africa. The improvement of sodic soils is generally difficult and expensive. However, a recent study in the Niger valley in NIGER, reveals that a natural dealkalinisation is possible under natural conditions in a semi-arid climate. Transformation of non-saline sodic soil into brown ...

Continuous axenic culture of Pneumocystis carinii has been achieved. A culture vessel is used that allows for frequent medium exchange without disturbance of organisms that grow attached to a collagen-coated porous membrane. The growth medium is based on Minimal Essential Medium with Earle's salt supplemented with S-adenosyl-L-methionine, putrescine, ferric pyrophosphate, N-acetyl glucosamine, ...

The effect of 10-year continuous saffron cultivation on physical and chemical properties of a silty clay loam soil was investigated in a research farm of College of Agriculture, Shiraz University, Shiraz (52 º 33ʹ E Longitude and 29º 36ʹ N latitude), Iran. This farm was irrigated with different regimes (100% of saffron's potential evapotranspiration (ETp), 75%ETp, 50%ETp) including rain fed tre...

To fabricate a virtual shape into the real world, the physical strength of the shape is an important consideration. We introduce a framework to consider both the strength and complexity of 3D frame structures. The key to the framework is a stress-oriented analysis and a semi-continuous condition in the shape representation that can both strengthen and simplify a structure at the same time. We f...

Cicer arietinum L. (chickpea) is the world's fourth most widely grown pulse. Chickpea seeds are a primary source of dietary protein for humans, and chickpea cultivation contributes to biological nitrogen fixation in the soil, given its symbiotic relationship with rhizobia. Therefore, chickpea cultivation plays a pivotal role in innovative sustainable models of agro-ecosystems inserted in crop r...