REAL-TIME MEASUREMENT AND INTERPRETATION OF THE CONDUCTIVITY AND pH OF PRECIPITATION SAMPLES

A microprocessor-based acid rain monitor was used to make real-time measurements of conductivity and pH of rainwater within individual storms. The automated measurements were compared with laboratory analyses of a subset of the samples taken. The laboratory measurements tended to overestimate the pH because of temperature induced changes in dissociation and Henry's Law constants affecting ionic compounds in the rainwater. The measurement artefact due to these effects may result in average hydrogen ion concentrations being underestimated by approximately 10 to 15% at UK sites. The greatest systematic discrepancies would be anticipated at highly polluted sites and during low temperature acidic episodes. The concept of a rainwater acid fraction was investigated and found to be useful fro quality control and interpretative purposes. The field measurement of conductivity of low ionic strength samples was slightly lower than the corresponding laboratory measurement, possibly caused by limited resolutio nof the conductivity probe or dissolution of fine particulate material.     

Effect of potential bioinoculants and organic manures on root‐rot and wilt,growth, yield and quality of organically grown Coleus forskohlii in a semiarid tropical region of Bangalore (India)

Based on earlier results obtained in pot experiments, 2‐year field experiments were conducted with five bioinoculants and neem cake under organic field conditions (with vermicompost as a nutritional supplement) to evaluate their potential to control root‐rot and wilt (a complex problem involving Fusarium chlamydosporum and Ralstonia solanacearum) of the medicinal plant Coleus forskohlii. Plants treated with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus (Glomus fasciculatum), neem cake or Pseudomonas fluorescens showed significantly increased plant height (15–31%), plant spread (25–33%), number of branches (63–67%) and dry root (129–200%) yields, and reduced disease incidence (47–50%) compared to controls. Increases in yields were reflected by increases in N (51–81%), P (17–76%) and K (44–74%) uptake. The forskolin content of the roots was found not to be affected by any of the bioinoculants, but forskolin yield (calculated) was increased significantly by treatment with G. fasciculatum (227%), neem cake (222%) or P. fluorescens (159%).