ruffling is a practice through which the mycelia containing casing soil will be thoroughly mixed. to evaluate the effects of ruffling of different casing soils in button mushroom production, an experiment was conducted comprised of three levels of ruffling; no ruffling, deep ruffling vs. superficial scratch and eight different types of casing soils, namely: holland peat (c1), north peat (c2), s...

Data obtained by independent tests on each of 483 batches of Rhizobium inoculants for Glycine max, Medicago sativa, and Arachis hypogaea, manufactured commercially in South Africa, are reported and discussed. Whereas the average cell count per gram per batch was well in excess of 10, inoculants for G. max and M. sativa manufactured with peat treated with gamma irradiation at a dose of 50 kGr co...

Branched Glycerol Dialkyl Glycerol Tetraethers (GDGTs) are membrane spanning lipids synthesised by as yet unknown bacteria that thrive in soils and peat. In order to obtain more information on their ecological niche, the stable carbon isotopic composition of branched GDGT-derived alkanes, obtained upon ether bond cleavage, has been determined in a peat and various soils, i.e. forest, grassland ...

Zoltai, S.C. 1995. Regional variations in peatland ecosystems of west-central Canada through time. Gunneria 70: 35-42. Peatland ecosystems respond to major changes in their environment induced by prolonged changes in climate. In the western boreal region of Canada, permafrost occurs only in Sphagnum-dominated peatlands. In the north, the palsas and peat plateaus are associated with well-defined...

We examined production of ADP-ribosyltransferase C3 in 11 strains of Clostridium botldinum type C and D and their nontoxigenic derivatives. Antisera to C3 proteins of type C organisms divided C3 proteins roughly into at least two groups, bearing no relation to their bacterial types. The C3 gene of type D strain South African was isolated from a toxigenic phage library, and the complete sequence...

Studies of the last decades have shown that peat and peat-bogs function as an important factor for environment protection. Due to good take-up and filtering qualities, peat-bog deposits perform to absorb petroleum products, different natural and human-made chemical and radioactive pollutants. Due to low salinity of bog water and turf humic acids, the peat-bed is capable to extract cations of ca...

The addition of a bed of peat, approximately 600 mm deep, as a treatment mechanism for reducing the impact of septic tank effluent (STE) on the receiving environment (land or water) has been shown to be significant. By regular dosing of a Biogreen peat filter through a pressurised distribution system to maintain an aerobic environment, reductions in typical STE contaminants can be achieved. At...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Complement components are emerging risk factors for cardiovascular disease. In this study, we examined the relation among C3, C-reactive protein (CRP), factor B, and features of the insulin resistance (IR) syndrome in 143 first-degree relatives of South Asian subjects with ischemic stroke, 141 South Asian controls, and 121 white controls. METHODS C3, CRP (high-sensitivi...

casing material or soil (casing) is used in mushroom (agaricus bisporus) culture to cover a nutritional composted substrate colonised with mycelium, and has an essential function in stimulating and promoting the development of sporophores (fruit bodies). in order to use the agricultural by products (different wastes) to reduce peat consumption of casing soil in button mushroom production, an ex...

Wetlands are important providers of ecosystem services and key regulators of climate change. They positively contribute to global warming through their greenhouse gas emissions, and negatively through the accumulation of organic material in histosols, particularly in peatlands. Our understanding of wetlands' services is currently constrained by limited knowledge on their distribution, extent, v...