Compositional changes of a fuel oil from an oil spill due to natural exposure

The purpose of this work was to determine the degree of oil retention from an oil spill area in view of natural physical weathering, and to evaluate the compositional changes of the natural oil retained in the soil material. The percentage of oil retained over the 1 yr period of weathering was determined at various intervals, and the compositional changes were studied by G.L.C. and I.R. The results of G.L.C. indicated the loss of low molecular weight n-paraffins, and that of I.R. indicated the formation of sulfones and ether groups as a result of oxidation reaction due to natural exposure. It was established that up to 4% oil was retained in the soil material after 6 mo of exposure, and that about 3.5% remained after a year.     

First report of 16Sr II‐C subgroup phytoplasma association with Acacia mangium in Tripura,India

Leaf yellowing symptoms were observed on Acacia mangium in the Sipahijala district of Tripura, India, during June 2017. Symptomatic and asymptomatic leaf samples (three of each) were collected from roadside trees of A. mangium for DNA extraction using the CTAB method. Amplicons of ~1.25 kb and ~480 bp were detected in all the symptomatic samples using the phytoplasma‐specific universal 16S rRNA and secA gene primers. Pair wise sequence analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences, virtual RFLP and phylogenetic analysis revealed that the phytoplasma strain associated with A. mangium belonged to phytoplasma subgroup 16SrII‐C. This is the first report of an association between the 16SrII‐C subgroup and A. mangium leaf yellowing.     

Cloning and Sequence Analysis of the Gene Encoding LipL32 of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Leptospira interrogans</Emphasis> Serovar Sejroe

Leptospira, a member of the order Spirochaetales, is the causative agent of leptospirosis, an important zoonosis encountered worldwide. The Leptospira interrogans serovar Sejroe was grown in EMJH medium and its DNA was isolated using standard techniques. The LipL32 gene was amplified using the reported primer of Kirschneri of LipL32. The amplified product was found to comprise 756 base pairs. This amplified gene fragment of LipL32 lipoprotein was cloned in E. coli (DH5α) cells using pDrive plasmid as a vector. The recombinant cells were selected on LB agar medium containing ampicillin, X-gal and isopropyl-β-d-thiogalactopyranoside. Plasmid was extracted from the recombinant white colonies, and restriction endonuclease (RE) analysis was carried out using PstI and SalI. On partial sequence analysis, the product exhibited 756 base pairs, corresponding to 251 amino acids. The cloned gene could be further used for expression of recombinant protein for serodiagnosis of leptospirosis.     

Effect of distillery effluents on plant and soil enzymatic activities and groundnut quality

A field experiment was conducted during the rainy season 2000 to examine the effect of distillery effluents, i.e., biomethanated spent wash (BSW), raw spent wash (RSW), and lagoon sludge (LS) versus recommended NPK+FYM (farmyard manure) on nutritional quality of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) and enzyme activities of plant and soil. The distillery effluents did not affect the oil content (%), crude and true protein contents (%) in groundnut but increased the seed yield and the contents of methionine by 44 % (1.15 g (16 g N)^–1 vs. 0.80 g (16 g N)^–1 in control) and of cysteine by 24 % (1.36 g (16 g N)^–1 vs. 1.10 g (16 g N)^–1 in control). BSW produced the highest seed yield (619 kg ha^–1) followed by RSW (557 kg ha^–1) and LS (472 kg ha^–1). LS recorded the highest total chlorophyll content (2.94 mg (g FW)^–1) in groundnut leaves. Application of BSW and RSW significantly increased the activity of plant peroxidase whereas the plant polyphenol oxidase was higher in BSW only. The application of distillery effluents did not affect the nitrate reductase activity but BSW significantly increased the nitrate content in the rhizosphere soil. The three effluents significantly increased the dehydrogenase and alkaline phosphatase activity more than recommended NPK+FYM.     

Growth,sporulation and germination of Verticillium alfalfae on media

European Journal of Plant Pathology - Verticillium wilt of alfalfa (Medicago sativa) caused by Verticillium alfalfae was first reported in 2016 in China. To determine the characteristics of...     

Erratum to: Chemical quality of leachates and enzimatic activities in Technosols with gossan and sulfide wastes from the São Domingos mine

Journal of Soils and Sediments -     

Maize production under risk: The simultaneous adoption of off-farm income diversification and agricultural credit to manage risk

Farmers in Pakistan continue to produce maize under various types of risks and adopt several strategies to manage those risks. This study is the first attempt to investigate the factors affecting the concurrent adoption of off-farm income diversification and agricultural credit which the farmers use to manage the risk to maize production. We apply bivariate and multinomial probit approaches to the primary data collected from four districts of Punjab Province in Pakistan. The results show that strong correlations exist between the off-farm diversification and agricultural credit which indicates that the use of one risk management strategy leads to another. The findings demonstrate that education, livestock number, maize farming experience, perceptions of biological risks and risk-averse nature of the growers significantly encourage the adoption of diversification as a risk management tool while farm size inversely affects the adoption of diversification. Similarly, in the adoption equation of credit, maize farming experience, farm size, perceptions of price and biological risks and risk attitude of farmers significantly enhance the chances of adopting agricultural credit to manage farm risks. These findings are important for the relevant stakeholders who seek to offer carefully designed risk minimizing options to the maize farmers.     

Mechanical and thermo-mechanical analysis based numerical simulation of granite powder filled polymer composites for wind turbine blade

In present article fabrication and characterization of unfilled and granite powder filled carbon epoxy composites are reported. Addition of carbon fiber shows positive effect on mechanical performance of the composites. However, incorporation of granite powder has negative hybridizing effect on the properties such as tensile strength, flexural strength and inter-laminar shear strength. The storage modulus evaluated at 30 °C is in close agreement with flexural modulus of composites. Further, successful attempt is made for numerical simulation of actual geometry of wind turbine blade. The results obtained from numerical analysis are comparable with experimental results.