Abstract
Conservation agriculture (CA) practices are getting space world-wide to answer many emerging challenges like; declining factor productivity, deteriorating soil health, water scarcity, ...climate change, and farm profitability and sustainability. Oilseed brassica (Indian mustard,
Brassica juncea
L.), a winter oilseed grown under rainfed agro-ecosystem is vulnerable to low yields, high production cost, degrading soil and water quality, and climatic vagaries. The present study was undertaken on CA-based sustainable intensification of Indian mustard for enhancing inputs efficiencies, farm profitability and sustainability. Permanent beds with residue retention (PB + R) improved mustard equivalent yield (11.4%) and system grain yield (10.6%) compared with conventional tillage without residue (CT − R). Maize–mustard rotation (Mz–M) increased system grain yield (142.9%) as well as mustard equivalent yield (60.7%) compared with fallow-mustard (F-M). Mz–M system under PB + R increased sustainable yield index (376.5%), production efficiency (177.2%), economic efficiency (94%) and irrigation water productivity (66%) compared with F-M under CT − R. PB + R increased soil organic carbon (SOC) stock at 0–15 cm (17.7%) and 15–30 cm (29.5%) soil depth compared with CT − R. Addition of green gram in rotation with mustard improved SOC at 0–15 cm (27.4%) and 15–30 cm (20.5%) compared with F-M system. CA-based cluster bean-mustard/GG-M system increased N productivity, whereas, P and K productivity improved with Mz–M system compared with F-M under CT − R. Thus, CA-based Mz–M system should be out-scaled in the traditional rainfed fallow-mustard system to improve the farm production and income on holistic basis to make the country self-sufficient in edible oils.
It is hypothesized that groundwater major ions chemistry can be employed to determine the interaction between groundwater (GW) and saline water/seawater (SW) in costal aquifers, and that there exists ...a relationship between total dissolved solids with chloride, sodium, magnesium and sulphate concentrations of groundwater. This hypothesis was tested on a watershed located along the southeastern coast of India. From empirical data collected twice during pre- and post-monsoon seasons, it was found that in both seasons, out of 99.9% of the electrical conductivity (EC) variability due to the combined effect of Na
+, Ca
2+
+
Mg
2+,
SO
4
2
-
, Cl
−,
HCO
3
-
and
NO
3
-
, 54.0% was due to Cl
− alone in pre-monsoon, and 43.1% in post-monsoon. Results of factor analysis highlighted the multi-scale control of the fluid exchange and the influence of mixing zones between groundwater and saline water. Hydrochemical processes that accompany the intrusion of seawater were identified using ionic changes. It was observed during the sampling periods that the mixing due to seawater intrusion varied from 4.82% to 7.86% throughout the watershed. Negative values of ionic change (
e
change) for Na
+ and K
+ decreased with the increasing fraction of seawater.
Entropy Theory and its Application in Environmental and Water Engineering responds to the need for a book that deals with basic concepts of entropy theory from a hydrologic and water engineering ...perspective and then for a book that deals with applications of these concepts to a range of water engineering problems. The range of applications of entropy is constantly expanding and new areas finding a use for the theory are continually emerging. The applications of concepts and techniques vary across different subject areas and this book aims to relate them directly to practical problems of environmental and water engineering.The book presents and explains the Principle of Maximum Entropy (POME) and the Principle of Minimum Cross Entropy (POMCE) and their applications to different types of probability distributions. Spatial and inverse spatial entropy are important for urban planning and are presented with clarity. Maximum entropy spectral analysis and minimum cross entropy spectral analysis are powerful techniques for addressing a variety of problems faced by environmental and water scientists and engineers and are described here with illustrative examples.Giving a thorough introduction to the use of entropy to measure the unpredictability in environmental and water systems this book will add an essential statistical method to the toolkit of postgraduates, researchers and academic hydrologists, water resource managers, environmental scientists and engineers. It will also offer a valuable resource for professionals in the same areas, governmental organizations, private companies as well as students in earth sciences, civil and agricultural engineering, and agricultural and rangeland sciences. This book:Provides a thorough introduction to entropy for beginners and more experienced usersUses numerous examples to illustrate the applications of the theoretical principlesAllows the reader to apply entropy theory to the solution of practical problemsAssumes minimal existing mathematical knowledgeDiscusses the theory and its various aspects in both univariate and bivariate casesCovers newly expanding areas including neural networks from an entropy perspective and future developments.
Groundwater is an important source for drinking water supply in hard rock terrain of Bundelkhand massif particularly in District Mahoba, Uttar Pradesh, India. An attempt has been made in this work to ...understand the suitability of groundwater for human consumption. The parameters like pH, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids, alkalinity
,
total hardness, calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, bicarbonate, sulfate, chloride, fluoride, nitrate, copper, manganese, silver, zinc, iron and nickel were analysed to estimate the groundwater quality. The water quality index (WQI) has been applied to categorize the water quality viz: excellent, good, poor, etc. which is quite useful to infer the quality of water to the people and policy makers in the concerned area. The WQI in the study area ranges from 4.75 to 115.93. The overall WQI in the study area indicates that the groundwater is safe and potable except few localized pockets in Charkhari and Jaitpur Blocks. The Hill-Piper Trilinear diagram reveals that the groundwater of the study area falls under Na
+
-Cl
−
, mixed Ca
2+
-Mg
2+
-Cl
−
and Ca
2+
-
HCO
3
-
types. The granite-gneiss contains orthoclase feldspar and biotite minerals which after weathering yields bicarbonate and chloride rich groundwater. The correlation matrix has been created and analysed to observe their significant impetus on the assessment of groundwater quality. The current study suggests that the groundwater of the area under deteriorated water quality needs treatment before consumption and also to be protected from the perils of geogenic/anthropogenic contamination.
Growth and productivity of crop plants worldwide are often adversely affected by anthropogenic and natural stresses. Both biotic and abiotic stresses may impact future food security and ...sustainability; global climate change will only exacerbate the threat. Nearly all stresses induce ethylene production in plants, which is detrimental to their growth and survival when present at higher concentrations. Consequently, management of ethylene production in plants is becoming an attractive option for countering the stress hormone and its effect on crop yield and productivity. In plants, ACC (1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate) serves as a precursor for ethylene production. Soil microorganisms and root-associated plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) that possess ACC deaminase activity regulate growth and development of plants under harsh environmental conditions by limiting ethylene levels in plants; this enzyme is, therefore, often designated as a "stress modulator." TheACC deaminase enzyme, encoded by the
gene, is tightly controlled and regulated depending upon environmental conditions. Gene regulatory components of
are made up of the LRP protein-coding regulatory gene and other regulatory components that are activated
distinct mechanisms under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. ACC deaminase-positive PGPR strains can intensively promote growth and development of crops being cultivated under abiotic stresses including salt stress, water deficit, waterlogging, temperature extremes, and presence of heavy metals, pesticides and other organic contaminants. Strategies for combating environmental stresses in plants, and improving growth by introducing the
gene into crop plants
bacteria, have been investigated. In the recent past, some rapid methods and cutting-edge technologies based on molecular biotechnology and omics approaches involving proteomics, transcriptomics, metagenomics, and next generation sequencing (NGS) have been proposed to reveal the variety and potential of ACC deaminase-producing PGPR that thrive under external stresses. Multiple stress-tolerant ACC deaminase-producing PGPR strains have demonstrated great promise in providing plant resistance/tolerance to various stressors and, therefore, it could be advantageous over other soil/plant microbiome that can flourish under stressed environments.
The chemistry of organoselenium reagents provides an asset for organic synthesis. The versatility of these reagents as electrophiles and nucleophiles makes them one of the key components of organic ...synthesis. Various synthetic transformations such as oxyselenenylations, selenocyclization and selenoxide elimination have been successfully achieved using organoselenium reagents under mild reaction conditions. The presence of selenocysteine in a few mammalian enzymes was the key information for selenium chemists to explore the biochemistry of selenium compounds. Glutathione peroxidase (GPx), a mammalian selenoenzyme, is well known for maintaining redox equilibrium by detoxifying reactive oxygen species.
The aim is to critically analyze the recent development and prospects of synthesis and antioxidant properties of organoselenium compounds.
In this review, we summarised research and review papers from the PubMed and Scopus databases. The primary themes were linked to the synthesis of organoselenium compounds and their capacity to maintain cellular redox equilibrium when exposed to oxidative stress.
The study reveals that diselenide compounds synthesised by various methods showed a better antioxidant activity profile compared to selenides. In a few cases, the activity was found better than the standard compound ebselen. Moreover, the synthesis and antioxidant activity of Selenium-based nanoparticles have been also included.
In the past two decades, various biological properties of organoselenium compounds have been extensively studied, including the antioxidant properties. This review article will give insight into the synthesis of different types of recently synthesised organoselenium compounds. The review would be helpful to the researchers working in the field of medicinal chemistry in directing the synthesis of new organoselenium compounds as antioxidants.
Inverse association between dietary intake of cruciferous vegetables and cancer risk observed in population-based case-control studies is partly attributable to structurally simple but ...mechanistically complex phytochemicals with an isothiocyanate (-N=C=S) functional group. Cancer protective role for dietary isothiocyanates (ITCs) is substantiated by preclinical studies in rodent models. A common feature of many naturally occurring ITCs relates to their ability to cause growth arrest and cell death selectively in cancer cells. At the same time, evidence continues to accumulate to suggest that even subtle change in chemical structure of the ITCs can have a profound effect on their activity and mechanism of action. Existing mechanistic paradigm stipulates that ITCs may not only prevent cancer initiation by altering carcinogen metabolism but also inhibit post-initiation cancer development by suppressing many processes relevant to tumor progression, including cellular proliferation, neoangiogenesis, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, and self-renewal of cancer stem cells. Moreover, the ITCs are known to suppress diverse oncogenic signaling pathways often hyperactive in human cancers (e.g. nuclear factor-κB, hormone receptors, signal transducer and activator of transcription 3) to elicit cancer chemopreventive response. However, more recent studies highlight potential adverse effect of Notch activation by ITCs on their ability to inhibit migration of cancer cells. Mechanisms underlying ITC-mediated modulation of carcinogen metabolism, growth arrest, and cell death have been reviewed extensively. This article provides a perspective on bench-cage-bedside evidence supporting cancer chemopreventive role for some of the most promising ITCs. Structure-activity relationship and mechanistic complexity in the context of cancer chemoprevention with ITCs is also highlighted.
In view of rising prices of crude oil due to increasing fuel demands, the need for alternative sources of bioenergy is expected to increase sharply in the coming years. Among potential alternative ...bioenergy resources, lignocellulosics have been identified as the prime source of biofuels and other value-added products. Lignocelluloses as agricultural, industrial and forest residuals account for the majority of the total biomass present in the world. To initiate the production of industrially important products from cellulosic biomass, bioconversion of the cellulosic components into fermentable sugars is necessary. A variety of microorganisms including bacteria and fungi may have the ability to degrade the cellulosic biomass to glucose monomers. Bacterial cellulases exist as discrete multi-enzyme complexes, called cellulosomes that consist of multiple subunits. Cellulolytic enzyme systems from the filamentous fungi, especially Trichoderma reesei, contain two exoglucanases or cellobiohydrolases (CBH1 and CBH2), at least four endoglucanases (EG1, EG2, EG3, EG5), and one β-glucosidase. These enzymes act synergistically to catalyse the hydrolysis of cellulose. Different physical parameters such as pH, temperature, adsorption, chemical factors like nitrogen, phosphorus, presence of phenolic compounds and other inhibitors can critically influence the bioconversion of lignocellulose. The production of cellulases by microbial cells is governed by genetic and biochemical controls including induction, catabolite repression, or end product inhibition. Several efforts have been made to increase the production of cellulases through strain improvement by mutagenesis. Various physical and chemical methods have been used to develop bacterial and fungal strains producing higher amounts of cellulase, all with limited success. Cellulosic bioconversion is a complex process and requires the synergistic action of the three enzymatic components consisting of endoglucanases, exoglucanases and β-glucosidases. The co-cultivation of microbes in fermentation can increase the quantity of the desirable components of the cellulase complex. An understanding of the molecular mechanism leading to biodegradation of lignocelluloses and the development of the bioprocessing potential of cellulolytic microorganisms might effectively be accomplished with recombinant DNA technology. For instance, cloning and sequencing of the various cellulolytic genes could economize the cellulase production process. Apart from that, metabolic engineering and genomics approaches have great potential for enhancing our understanding of the molecular mechanism of bioconversion of lignocelluloses to value added economically significant products in the future.
•Ultrasonic shot peening (USSP) successfully developes nanostructure at the top surface of the alloy Ti-13Nb-13Zr.•Compressive residual stress at the top surface increases with duration of USSP ...treatment.•All the USSP treated samples showed improvement in corrosion resistance.•Titanium oxide was identified as main corrosion product.
The near-β Ti-13Nb-13Zr alloy was processed by ultrasonic shot peening (USSP) for different durations of 15–120 s to develop surface nanostructure. The effect of the USSP was studied on its corrosion behaviour in Ringer's solution, by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and potentiodynamic polarization tests. The electrochemical study revealed reduction in corrosion of the USSP treated samples. There was maximum passivation in the 30 s of USSP treatment, while it decreased with an increase in USSP duration. The improvement in the corrosion resistance from USSP was due to grain refinement and the associated compressive residual stresses in the surface region.
Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) is a synthetic, semi-crystalline, biodegradable and water soluble polymer having moderate mechanical properties. In the present investigation, restriction in water absorption ...of PVA is achieved by cross-linking with hydrochloric acid (HCl) which is confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and water uptake test. Results suggest that due to the formation of cross-linked bonds thermal and mechanical properties of PVA based cross-linked composite are improved as compared to pristine PVA. Further improvement in physical, mechanical and thermal properties is achieved by reinforcing basalt fibers. Tensile test results show that ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of basalt fiber reinforced composites increased by 79.4% as compared to the cross-linked PVA. Dynamic mechanical analysis of fabricated composites has been carried out to determine the storage modulus, glass transition temperature and activation energy. Effect of stress and temperature on creep and recovery behavior of cross-linked PVA and basalt fiber reinforced composite are studied and burger model is used to study the creep data.
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