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In this study, we developed a new electrochemical process to remove the salts from food wastes. The primary removal mechanisms are washing and electromigration. The screw speed and current were selected as the primary factors influencing the removal of salts. An experimental design was applied in order to determine the optimum conditions for the removal of salts and 82.7% of the salts were removed under some of these conditions. Based on the continuous operation of the apparatus, the criteria for the removal of salts in the food composts could be achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Elementology is the property of Journal of Elementology - issued by Polish Magnesium Society and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Elementology is the property of Journal of Elementology - issued by Polish Magnesium Society and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Deleterious and toxic organic compounds that are introduced into the environment during crude oil extraction, gas flares and several other forms of wastes, change the geochemical composition of the soil as well as other components of the environment resulting in environmental pollution. Several methods or means have been used to remove crude oil including application of chemicals, inorganic fertilizers, incineration methods, phytoremediation, and abandoning the soil etc. But these methods have an environmental or economic draw-back that limits their uses. The use of compost, however, offers the possibility of remediation and enhancing the fertility of degraded soil. Studies were carried out on this field. Poultry manure (PM), sawdust (S), crop residue (CR), cow dung (C) and market wastes (MW), equal proportions of materials, were used as compost materials, and NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium; 15:15:15) was applied as inorganic fertilizer. A Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with four replicates involving three compost treatments and inorganic fertilizers (NPK), T1 (PM + S + CR), T2 (CD + S + CR), T3 (MW + S + CR) and T4 (NPK, 15:15:15) was adopted. Laboratory analyses were conducted on polluted and unpolluted soils. On the field, 5.0 t/ha of composts and 0.2 t/ha of NPK were applied two weeks after addition of crude oil. The two experiments were left for two weeks after amendment before planting maize. Crude oil hydrocarbon-tolerant microbes in the soil were estimated using dilution plate technique, and the CO2 evolution from the soil was also determined. It was observed that the quantities of carbon dioxide evolved from polluted soils (860 mg 100 g-1) being higher than 520 mg 100 g-1 in unpolluted soil. In general, polluted soils continued to evolve significantly higher quantities of CO2, relative to unpolluted soils till the end of the study. Highest microbial population occurred in T1-treated soil with a range of 2.1 x 106 to 1.2 x 107 cfu/g in polluted soil, followed by T2 ranging from 2.2 x 106 to 1.1 x 107 cfu/g, but significantly different (P <0.05) from T1 in unpolluted soils ranging from 1.6 x 106 cfu/g to 8.2 x 106 cfu/g and T2 (1.4 x 106 to 7.8 x 106 cfu/g) in unpolluted soils. The trend of increase in microbial population was T1 > T2 > T3 > T4. Organic composts due to significant activities of microbes enhanced degradation of crude oil with evolution of carbon dioxide. However, crude oil polluted soils treated with poultry composts performed significantly better than other composts or NPK fertilizer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Biotechnologie, Agronomie, Societe et Environnement is the property of Les Presses Agronomiques de Gembloux and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Abstract: An investigation was conducted to evaluate the potential of antagonistic cyanobacteria/bacterial cultures amended compost and compost tea preparations for suppressing diseases caused by plant pathogenic fungi Fusarium oxysporum, Pythium debaryanum, Pythium aphanidermatum and Rhizoctonia solani in tomato. Two types of microbe-fortified composts and the compost tea preparations, along with the recommended biological control (Trichoderma formulation) and chemical control (Thiram-Carbendazim), were used for inoculating the potting mixture. Comparative performance of the treatments revealed the superiority of both the composts/compost tea preparations in enhancing seed germination, seedling length and biomass in the fungi challenged treatments. The most effective control of the diseases was obtained by the composts amended with Anabaena oscillarioides C12 and Bacillus subtillis B5 and the compost tea preparations. Both treatments provided significantly better control than the other treatments in terms of reduction in disease severity, reduction of fungal load and enhancement of plant parameters. Our study reveals the efficacy of microbe-fortified composts for use in control of the studied root diseases caused by phytopathogenic fungi. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The aim of this research was to study the potential utilization of containerized substrates developed from cattle manure compost (CMC) and synthetic aggregates (SA) on the growth and nutrition composition of ornamental French marigold (Tagetes patula). Unconventional SA were produced from low productive acidic red soil with paper waste and starch waste. CMC was prepared from cattle manure and wood chips. Growth substrates were prepared by mixing CMC at the rates of 0%, 20%, 40%, 60% and 100% with SA at 100%, 80%, 60%, 40% and 0%, respectively. Peat only was used as the control. The physical and chemical characteristics of all containerized substrates were analyzed. CMC–SA based substrates showed adequate physical and chemical properties compared to peat for their use as containerized substrates in horticulture. In relation to the plant growth in peat control, plants grown in the CMC–SA based substrates reached better growth and nutrition. The highest plant height, number of flowers per plant, shoot fresh weight, shoot dry weight, root length, root fresh weight and root dry weight obtained from the mixture of CMC and SA at 40% and 60% treatment were increased by 27.01%, 42.86%, 37.09%, 67.29%, 5.14%, 45.58% and 34.26%, respectively compared to peat control. The concentration of trace elements in plant tissues was far lower than the ranges considered phytotoxic for plants. Utilization of CMC and SA can be considered as alternative substrates to substitute the widely using expensive peat in horticulture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Elementology is the property of Journal of Elementology - issued by Polish Magnesium Society and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)