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Intensive tillage, removal or burning of crop residues, limited organic manure use, declining irrigation water resources and scarcity of labour are the major causes of soil degradation and unsustainability of rice (Oryza sativa L.) wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) system (RWS) in South Asia.Resource conservation technologies (RCTs) such as zero tillage (ZT), dry direct seeded rice (DSR) and crop residues retained as mulch have shown promise to increase the productivity and profitability of RWS in South Asia. Effects of RCTs on soil biological parameters are unclear and contradictory. We evaluated the effects of conservation agriculture practices on changes in soil biochemical properties at different growth stages of wheat grown as the fifth crop in RWS. Twelve treatment combinations of tillage, crop establishment and crop residue management included four main plot treatments in rice: (1) conventional tillage (CT)-DSR, (2) ZT-DSR, (3) DTR, ZT machine transplanted rice and (4) PTR, conventional puddled transplanted rice. The three subplot treatments were: (i) CTW-R, CT wheat with both rice and wheat residues removed, (ii) ZTW-R, ZT wheat with residues of both the crops removed and (iii) ZTW+R, ZT wheat with rice residue retained as surface mulch in subsequent wheat. Irrespective of rice establishment methods, mean wheat grain yield under ZTW+R was 6% and 10% greater than CTW-R and ZTW-R respectively. Soil enzyme activities increased (5-18%) under ZTW+R compared with ZTW-R and CTW-R at different growth stages of wheat. The residual effect of rice establishment methods was significant on soil enzyme activities during wheat cropping, which were highest under ZT-DSR followed by CT-DSR, DTR and PTR. Soil organic carbon content in the 0-7.5 cm layer was significantly higher (7-9%) under the ZTW+R treatment compared with all the other treatments. Principal component analysis (PCA) identified three enzyme activities (dehydrogenase, fluorescein diacetate and phosphatase), and soil organic carbon content as the most sensitive indicators for assessing soil quality for RWS based on conservation agriculture. The PCA discriminated rice establishment systems with rice residue as surface mulch from rice establishment systems without rice residue and the maximum tillering stage from the other stages of wheat. The present study provided reliable biochemical indicators to monitor soil biological quality changes in response to conservation agriculture practices in RWS. Additional keywords: Conventional tillage, rice establishment methods, rice straw retention, soil enzymes, wheat growth stages., Introduction Rice-wheat system (RWS) is an important cropping sequence for food security, employment, income and livelihood for millions of people in Asia (Singh et al. 2014). This system occupies ~13.5 [...]

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Byline: H.S. Sidhu (1), M.I. Nelson (1), G.N. Mercer (1), R.O. Weber (1) Keywords: exothermic reaction; bifurcation; flammability limits; flow reactor Abstract: This paper investigates the bifurcation behaviour of a model oxidation reaction in a continuously stirred tank reactor (CSTR). We assume that two gaseous chemical species are pumped separately into the CSTR, at constant total pressure, reacting to produce an inert product. The reaction is assumed to be a single step reaction that is described by Arrhenius kinetics. It is capable of producing oscillatory behaviour as well as steady state multiplicity in certain parameter regions. Bifurcation diagrams in various control parameter spaces are presented. We show that the system always possesses a globally attracting invariant region. The equivalence of a CSTR having n feed streams and the one pipe version, by appropriate rescaling, is also discussed. Author Affiliation: (1) School of Mathematics and Statistics, University College, University of New South Wales, Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra, 2600, Australia Article History: Registration Date: 08/10/2004