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In order to investigate the response of soil respiration, soil microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen, and hydrothermal factors to the addition of biochar and straw, we used an LI-8100 soil carbon flux meter (LI-COR, Lincoln, USA) to study changes in soil respiration and microbial biomass under four treatments:conventional fertilization (CK), conventional fertilization +2.25t·hm -2 biochar-C (T1), conventional fertilizer +2.25t·hm -2 straw-C (T2), and conventional fertilizer +2.25t·hm -2 (biochar-C+straw-C), biochar-C:straw-C=1:1 (T3). The results showed that:① the addition of biochar and straw significantly increased the soil respiration rate and total CO 2 emissions, with the largest increase in T3 and the smallest increase in T1. The effect of T1 on soil respiration was promoted in the early stage and later inhibited. ② The microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen and the number of functional bacterial colonies increased significantly with biochar and straw amendments. T1 had a significant promotion effect on nitrogen-fixing bacteria, while T2 had no significant effect on the number of fungi, and T3 showed a positive interaction effect. Soil respiration rates were significantly and positively related to soil microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen as well as to the number of bacteria and actinomycetes. ③ The 5 cm soil temperature of T3 significantly increased by 4.53%. The soil respiration rate and soil temperature showed a significant exponential correlation. To sum up, adding straw and biochar with equal carbon content can significantly increase the soil respiration rate and microbial biomass, and the interaction effect between biochar and straw is positive. Compared with that of the straw treatments, the application of biochar can reduce carbon mineralization to a certain extent, and the effect of carbon sequestration is better.

The paper used the method of iron copper catalyst reduction to degrade low concentrations of bromochloracetonitrile (BCAN) to lighten the damage to human being, which is a kind of disinfection by-products (DBPs) produced during the chlorination process of drinking water. The removal efficiency of BCAN and its influencing factors were investigated. The mechanism of degradation and kinetics were also explored. The results indicated that iron copper had a greater degradation ability towards BCAN, and the degradation rate of iron copper (mass ratio of 10:1) was 1.5 times that of the zero-valent iron. The removal of BCAN increased obviously with the increase of Fe/Cu dosage. When the initial concentration was set at 20 microg x L(-1), after a reaction time of 150 min, removal of BCAN was improved from 51.1% to 89.5% with the increase of iron copper (mass ratio of 10:1) dosage from 5 g x L(-1) to 10 g x L(-1). The temperature also had great impact on BCAN removal and the removal increased with the increase of temperature. However, BCAN removal did not change a lot with the variation of the initial concentration of BCAN when it was at a low level. The BCAN degradation by iron copper catalytic-reduction followed the first-order kinetics model.

Changes of nutrient contents and heavy metal pollutions in composted sewage sludge from different municipal wastewater treatment plants (as represented by CSS-A and CSS-B, respectively) in Beijing region were investigated. The results showed that the pH values, nutrient contents, trace elements and heavy metals in CSS-A and CSS-B depended on the sludge resources and particular years. The average of organic matter content in different years (203 338.0 mg x kg(-1)) from CSS-A met both the requirement of sludge quality standard for agricultural use (CJ/T 309-2009) and land improvement (GB/T 24600-2009) in China except the permitted limit of sludge quality standards for garden or park use (GB/T 23486-2009) in China. Moreover, the average of organic matter in different years (298531.5 mg x kg(-1)) from CSS-B and the averages of pH values (7.1 and 7.2, respectively) and NPK concentrations (41 111.7 mg x kg(-1) and 65 901.5 mg x kg(-1), respectively) in different years from CSS-A and CSS-B all met the requirements of sludge quality standards for the above-mentioned disposal types of sewage sludge from municipal wastewater treatment plants. The contents of heavy metals in CSS-A and CSS-B except Hg and Ni were below the permitted limits of the A-class sludge quality standard for agricultural use (CJ/T 309-2009) , being the most stringent standards in China. It was suggested that composted sewage sludge from different municipal wastewater treatment plants in Beijing region use as a fertilizer in agriculture, land improvement, and garden or park, but the top concern about potential environmental pollution of Hg and Ni should be considered.

Cu2+ is an essential element for plant growth, and is one of the major elements in the environment. In order to investigate the physiological characteristics and geno-toxicity effects of foxtail millet (Setaria italica (L) Beauv) under different Cu2+ stress, four genotypes of foxtail millet (Zhaogu, Huangmi, An06, D2-8) from Shanxi, China were cultivated for 30 days in a pot filled with soil of with different mass concentrations of Cu2+ (0, 50, 100, 200, 400 mg.kg-l). Effects of Cu2+ stress on DNA damage of genome in foxtail millet were studied using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) , and the contents of soluble sugar, proline and MDA were tested. The result showed that the content of soluble sugar had a trend of initial increased followed by decline in all four foxtail millet seedlings in response to the rising Cu2+ concentration, and the maximum value was 50 mg.kg-1. At Cu2 concentrations of 200 mg. kg-1 or more, the soluble sugar content in the four kinds of millet showed an average reduction of 32.44% to 56.5% compared to that of the control group. The result showed that proline synthesis was enhanced at low concentrations (less than 50 mg.kg-1) , but inhibited at high concentrations (more than 100 mg.kg-1), and the contents of MDA in the four genotypes of foxtail millet were significantly increased compared with the control group (P <0. 05). The changes occurring in random amplified polymorphic DNA profiles of the four genotypes of foxtail millet following Cu' treatment included loss of normal bands, appearance of new bands and variation in band intensity compared to the plantlet without treatment, showing that Cu2+ significantly affected the stability of the genomic DNA in the cells of millet seedlings. Additionally, the effect of DNA polymorphism changes was dose-dependent with the Cu2+ concentration. The different genotypes of millet showed different response in the physiological and genetic damage under Cu2+ stress. The change of DNA polymorphism using RAPD technique could be used as the biomarkers to find genotoxic effects of Cu2+.

A novel method is described in this paper, which uses methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) as extractant and 1,2-dibromopropane as internal standard for the determination of nitrogenous disinfection byproduct trichloronitromethane (TCNM) by gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The formation process of TCNM and its influencing factors were evaluated with methylamine as the precursor during chlorination. The results indicated that the TCNM amount produced under alkaline condition was higher than those produced under the neutral and acidic conditions, and the TCNM amount increased with the increase of pH value. It was found that the TCNM amount increased with the increase of chlorine addition when the chlorine dosage was in the range of 2-8 mmol x L(-1). However, the TCNM amount was reduced when the chlorine dosage was enhanced from 8 mmol x L(-1) to 12 mmol x L(-1), under which conditions the concentration of free chlorine was higher and methylamine was turned into nitriles and aldehydes through other reactions. It was also found that the TCNM amount increased with the increase of methylamine addition when the methylamine dosage was in the range of 0.5-4 mmol x L(-1). Temperature was another important factor that affected the TCNM formation from methylamine especially in the range of 10-30 degrees C and the higher the temperature, the more the TCNM amount produced. The formation process of TCNM from methylamine by chlorination was in accordance with the mechanism of an electrophilic reaction, in which HClO and ClO(-) could be used as the electrophilic reagents to attack methylamine and then to form TCNM.