Primary sulfates in atmospheric sulfates: estimation by oxygen isotope ratio measurements

The relative amounts of primary and secondary sulfates in atmospheric aerosols and precipitation can be estimated from measurements of the stable oxygen isotope ratios. The oxygen-18 content of sulfates formed in power plant stack gases before emission into the atmosphere is significantly higher than that of sulfates formed from sulfur dioxide after emission. Results show that 20 to 30 percent of the sulfates in rain and snow at Argonne, Illinois, are of primary origin.     

Effect of conservation agriculture on soil organic and inorganic carbon sequestration and lability: A study from a rice–wheat cropping system on a calcareous soil of the eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains

Increasing soil carbon (C) in arable soils is an important strategy to achieve sustainable yields and mitigate climate change. We investigated changes in soil organic and inorganic carbon (SOC and SIC) under conservation agriculture (CA) in a calcareous soil of the eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains of India. The treatments were as follows: conventional-till rice and wheat (CT-CT), CT rice and zero-till wheat (CT-ZT), ZT direct seeded rice (DSR) and CT wheat (ZT-CT), ZTDSR and ZT wheat without crop residue retention (ZT-ZT), ZT-ZT with residue (ZT-ZT+R), and DSR and wheat both on permanent beds with residue (PB-PB+R). The ZT-ZT+R had the highest total SOC in both 0–15 and 15–30 cm soil layers (20% and 40% higher (p < .05) than CT-CT, respectively), whereas total SIC decreased by 11% and 15% in the respective layers under ZT-ZT+R compared with CT-CT. Non-labile SOC was the largest pool, followed by very labile, labile and less labile SOC. The benefits of ZT and residue retention were greatest for very labile SOC, which showed a significant (p < .05) increase (~50%) under ZT-ZT+R compared with CT-CT. The ZT-ZT+R sequestered ~2 Mg ha⁻¹ total SOC in the 0–15 cm soil layer in 6 years, where CT registered significant losses. Thus, the adoption of CA should be recommended in calcareous soils, for C sequestration, and also as a reclamation technique.     

Molecular characterization of Ascaridia galli from Bangladesh and development of a PCR method for distinguishing A. galli from Heterakis spp.

We analyzed the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) 1 and ITS2 sequences for Bangladesh isolates of Ascaridia galli, and we determined that the sequences were unreliable as molecular markers for distinguishing A. galli from other Ascaridia species, because the sequences showed high identity with that of A. columbae. However, the ITS1 sequences were available for designing PCR primers distinguishable between Ascaridia galli and Heterakis spp. Bangladesh isolates of A. galli constituted a monophyletic clade along with other geographical isolates in the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) phylogenetic tree, however, we could not clarify the phylogenetic relationships between A. galli and other Ascaridia spp., because their available sequences in GenBank were very few. The developed PCR method using DNA from A. galli and Heterakis spp. eggs would enable differential diagnosis of the individual infections in the future.     

Chitosan nanoparticles enhance developmental competence of in vitro-matured porcine oocytes

Oxidative stress is inevitable as it is derived from the handling, culturing, inherent metabolic activities and medium supplementation of embryos. This study was performed to investigate the protective effect of chitosan nanoparticles (CNPs) on oxidative damage in porcine oocytes. For this purpose, cumulus–oocyte complexes (COCs) derived from porcine slaughterhouse ovaries were exposed to different concentrations of CNPs (0, 10, 25 and 50 µg/ml) during in vitro maturation (IVM). Oocytes treated with 25 µg/ml CNPs showed significantly higher levels of GSH, along with a significant reduction in ROS levels compared to control, CNPs10 and CNPs50 groups. In parthenogenetic embryo production, the maturation rate was significantly higher in the CNPs25 group than that in the control and all other treated groups. In addition, when compared to the CNPs50 and control groups, CNPs25-treated oocytes showed significantly higher cleavage and blastocyst development rates. The highest concentration of CNPs reduced the total cell number and ratio of ICM: TE cells in parthenogenetic embryos, suggesting that there is a threshold where benefits are lost if exceeded. In cloned embryos, the CNPs25 group, as compared to all other treated groups, showed significantly higher maturation and cleavage rates. Furthermore, the blastocyst development rate in the CNPs25-treated group was significantly higher than that in the CNPs50-treated group, as was the total cell number. Moreover, we found that cloned embryos derived from the CNPs25-treated group showed significantly higher expression levels of Pou5f1, Dppa2, and Ndp52il genes, compared with those of the control and other treated groups. Our results demonstrated that 25 µg/ml CNPs treatment during IVM improves the developmental competence of porcine oocytes by reducing oxidative stress.     

Spatial Distribution of Surface Soil Acidity,Electrical Conductivity,Soil Organic Carbon Content and Exchangeable Potassium,Calcium and Magnesium in Some Cropped Acid Soils of India

Land degradation is a global problem. Best management of degraded land can be done by evaluating the spatial variability of soil properties including chemical properties of degraded land and mapping such variations. Since, a significant portion of arable land in India is chemically degraded due to soil acidity; the present study was conducted to study the spatial variability of soil acidity (pH), electrical conductivity (EC), soil organic carbon (OC) content, exchangeable potassium (K⁺), calcium (Ca²⁺) and magnesium (Mg²⁺) contents in some cropped acid soils of India. A total of four hundred (one hundred from each series) representative surface (0–0.15 m depth) soil samples were collected from arable soils representing four soil series namely Hariharapur, Debatoli, Rajpora and Neeleswaram situated in Orissa, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh and Kerala states of India, respectively, and were analyzed. Soil acidity (pH between 3.90 and 6.45) showed a low variability, in contrast to other soil properties, which showed moderate variability. The coefficients of variation varied from 32.4 to 74.3, 31.2 to 50.9, 45.6 to 100, 71.9 to 93.0 and 59.0 to 79.8% for EC (mean between 0.05 and 0.09 dS m⁻¹), OC (mean between 0.29 to 1.86%), exchangeable K⁺ (mean between 39.1 and 77.7 mg kg⁻¹), Ca²⁺ (mean between 148 and 293 mg kg⁻¹) and Mg²⁺ (mean between 111 and 191 mg kg⁻¹), respectively. Soil pH and OC content were positively and significantly correlated with exchangeable K⁺, Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ content. Geostatistical analysis revealed that the best fit models were gaussian, exponential and spherical for different soil properties with moderate to strong spatial dependency. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.