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The Malaysian government has been challenged with handling unmarketable vegetables and fruit waste that pollutes the environment and emits greenhouse gases, mainly methane and nitrous oxide. These greenhouse gases have been contributing to climate change. In contrast, these wastes consist of high moisture and readily biodegradable nutrients that can serve as the perfect substrate rate for fermentation. The valuable nutrients contained in these wastes can produce liquid organic fertilizers (LOF), which help improve the soil’s physical, chemical, and biological characteristics and reduce the demand for inorganic fertilizers and costs to farmers. In this regard, a study was conducted to produce and characterize LOF derived from unmarketable vegetables and fruit waste. The waste was identified from the nearest wet market, collected, and incubated in containers with a ratio of 1: 2: 0.1 (10 kg unmarketable vegetable and food waste: 20 L water: 1 kg inducer) for 30, 45, and 60 days. The unmarketable vegetables and fruits were fermented using three different types of inducers: yeast (Y), brown sugar (BS), and shrimp paste (SP). Unmarketable vegetables and fruit waste with no inducer were also included as a control. Samples from the produced LOF were taken after 30, 45, and 60 days of fermentation, filtered, and subjected to analysis for pH, electrical conductivity (EC), macro-, and micronutrients. These experiments were laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. The highest nitrogen (0.95%), phosphorus (0.31%), potassium (1.68%), copper (0.23 ppm), and manganese (9.03 ppm) were obtained from LOF fermented for 60 days using yeast, indicating that it improved the nutrient availability of agricultural waste. Moreover, this treatment provided optimum pH and EC values for the growth and development of plants. Thus, LOF derived from unmarketable vegetable and fruit waste can be considered an attractive alternative for supplementing chemical fertilizers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phosphorus (P) enrichment of soil due to the intensification of P fertilizer usage in crop production has resulted in eutrophication and serious economic consequences. Further, rapidly decreasing P reserves have renewed interest in improving more sustainable soil P management through monitoring diverse soil P reactions in contrasting soils. Therefore, the study was conducted to (i) characterize P sorption and desorption capacities related to soil properties and (ii) determine the added P availability and distribution among the different pools of P over the period concerning P sorption capacity of the soils. Three soils, namely Ultisols, Entisols, and Inceptisols, were equilibrated with a series of P concentrations to study P sorption–desorption using Langmuir isotherms. These soils were subjected to a sequential extraction procedure to study fractions in different pools after incubating with added P for 120 days. Maximum P sorption for Ultisols, Entisols, and Inceptisols were 1,428.6, 1,666.7, and 3,333.3 mg kg−1 soil, respectively. Phosphorus desorption by Ultisol was about 1.7- and 4.2-fold higher than Entisols and Inceptisols. The maximum P sorption showed a negative and significant correlation with soil pH (r = −0.88), whereas P des % has a significant and positive correlation (r = 0.98). Exchangeable Al, Al-ox, Al-cD, and Fe-ox showed a significant positive correlation with maximum P sorption and a negative correlation with P des %. During incubation, 93.3% of added P became non-extractable in Inceptisols, and in contrast only 64.3% for Ultisols. A greater increase in labile NaHCO3-P fraction was found in Ultisols from 66.96 to 135.6 mg/kg at the end of the incubation. Accordingly, the soils with lower sorption capacity consist of more labile P pools, which indicates a higher risk of the loss of P from the soil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the need for an integrative literature review on Information Visualization for exploratory search particularly in handling data overload. The paper analyses many applications and web sites across disciplines. Certain search engines incorporate visualization to allow for better understanding of the information and at the same time reduce information overload. Current search engines use the query and response (lookup) process. Exploratory search allows for open-ended search. Visual representation is one feature in exploratory search that can be used to improve the overall search. The main contribution of this paper is the review of previous exploratory-search-based works, the utilised features as well as its existing applications, visualizations as the mechanism for developing filters to narrow down the results of searching. Many studies have shown that replacing traditional search engines with exploratory search by using the features of exploratory search can reduce the data overload.

Bokashi is an organic fertilizer fermented with organic waste, beneficial microbes, and sugar. Bokashi improved soil's physical, chemical, and biological properties and eventually enhanced plant growth and yield production. Bokashi enhances the plant's initial and later growth performance, including seed germination, seedling survival rate, fruit diameter, fruit size, fresh and dry matter, chlorophyll content, leaves the area, leaves number, plant nutrient, sugar, total soluble solid, organic acid, and ascorbic acid. No doubt, plant growth performance is closed related to soil properties. Bokashi is proper organic waste management and is easy to be implemented by household size. Bokashi can turn waste into the next food nutrient and ensure food security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]