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The goals of this paper are to study the frost resistance of steel slag concrete (SSC), research the damage mechanisms, and predict the service life of SSC in cold regions. First, the stability of steel slag (SS) was tested, and then SS samples with different treatment dosages were used as aggregates to replace natural aggregates of equal volumes in the preparation of C40 concrete. The microstructures of concrete and micro properties of cement hydration products were investigated in nanospace in this research. In addition, rapid frost resistance durability tests were carried out under laboratory conditions. The results revealed that the ordinary concrete (OC) exhibited a more serious damage phenomenon, and the mass loss and relative dynamic elastic modulus of OC were changed by 5.27 and 62.30%, respectively. However, with increases in the SS content, the losses in mass were lowered. Furthermore, the relative dynamic elastic modulus decreased less, and the frost resistance of the specimens was stronger. The range of mass loss rate was between 2.233 and 3.024%, and the relative dynamic elastic modulus range was between 74.92 and 91.09%. A quadratic function with a good fitting degree was selected to establish a freezing-thawing damage calculation model by taking the relative dynamic elastic modulus as the variable. Then, the freezing-thawing durability lifespan of concrete in the colder regions of northern China was successfully predicted by using the damage calculation model. The results of SSC20–60 showed the better frost resistance durability when the content of SS sand was 20% and the dosage of SS stone was 60%. Its frost resistance lifespan was more than twice that of OC, which demonstrated that SS as an aggregate could effectively improve the frost resistance lifespan of concrete to a certain extent.

Purpose: Forests play a critical role in terrestrial ecosystem carbon cycling and the mitigation of global climate change. Intensive forest management and global climate change have had negative impacts on the quality of forest soils via soil acidification, reduction of soil organic carbon content, deterioration of soil biological properties, and reduction of soil biodiversity. The role of biochar in improving soil properties and the mitigation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions has been extensively documented in agricultural soils, while the effect of biochar application on forest soils remains poorly understood. Here, we review and summarize the available literature on the effects of biochar on soil properties and GHG emissions in forest soils. Materials and methods: This review focuses on (1) the effect of biochar application on soil physical, chemical, and microbial properties in forest ecosystems; (2) the effect of biochar application on soil GHG emissions in forest ecosystems; and (3) knowledge gaps concerning the effect of biochar application on biogeochemical and ecological processes in forest soils. Results and discussion: Biochar application to forests generally increases soil porosity, soil moisture retention, and aggregate stability while reducing soil bulk density. In addition, it typically enhances soil chemical properties including pH, organic carbon stock, cation exchange capacity, and the concentration of available phosphorous and potassium. Further, biochar application alters microbial community structure in forest soils, while the increase of soil microbial biomass is only a short-term effect of biochar application. Biochar effects on GHG emissions have been shown to be variable as reflected in significantly decreasing soil NO emissions, increasing soil CH uptake, and complex (negative, positive, or negligible) changes of soil CO emissions. Moreover, all of the aforementioned effects are biochar-, soil-, and plant-specific. Conclusions: The application of biochars to forest soils generally results in the improvement of soil physical, chemical, and microbial properties while also mitigating soil GHG emissions. Therefore, we propose that the application of biochar in forest soils has considerable advantages, and this is especially true for plantation soils with low fertility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low temperature is the primary factor to affect maize sowing in early spring. It is, therefore, vital for maize breeding programs to improve tolerance to low temperatures at seed germination stage. However, little is known about maize QTL involved in low-temperature germination ability. 243 lines of the intermated B73×Mo17 (IBM) Syn4 recombinant inbred line (RIL) population was used for QTL analysis of low-temperature germination ability. There were significant differences in germination-related traits under both conditions of low temperature (12°C/16h, 18°C/8h) and optimum temperature (28°C/24h) between the parental lines. Only three QTL were identified for controlling optimum-temperature germination rate. Six QTL controlling low-temperature germination rate were detected on chromosome 4, 5, 6, 7 and 9, and contribution rate of single QTL explained between 3.39%~11.29%. In addition, six QTL controlling low-temperature primary root length were detected in chromosome 4, 5, 6, and 9, and the contribution rate of single QTL explained between 3.96%~8.41%. Four pairs of QTL were located at the same chromosome position and together controlled germination rate and primary root length under low temperature condition. The nearest markers apart from the corresponding QTL (only 0.01 cM) were umc1303 (265.1 cM) on chromosome 4, umc1 (246.4 cM) on chromosome 5, umc62 (459.1 cM) on chromosome 6, bnl14.28a (477.4 cM) on chromosome 9, respectively. A total of 3155 candidate genes were extracted from nine separate intervals based on the Maize Genetics and Genomics Database (). Five candidate genes were selected for analysis as candidates putatively affecting seed germination and seedling growth at low temperature. The results provided a basis for further fine mapping, molecular marker assisted breeding and functional study of cold-tolerance at the stage of seed germination in maize. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]