Agricultural Utilization Research Articles

Long-range real-time monitoring strategy for Precision Irrigation in urban and rural farming in society 5.0

Urbanization is the biggest challenge as by 2050 it is projected that more the 60% of the world population will inhabit cities. This will present stress to the available city’s resources like transportation, health system, economy including agricultural products importantly safe food supply. For these concerns, advanced solutions are required with a human-centric approach for sustain- able development. Society 5.0, smart cities, and urban agriculture are the latest concepts with the objective of sustainable development. Most of the article on smart cities fails to put focus on different aspects, objectives, and importance of urban agriculture. This article disclosed various aspects and objectives of Society 5.0, a smart city, and the concept and importance of urban agriculture. Agriculture other than facing the challenge of huge urbanization also faces inefficient utilization of scarce resources with inefficient agricultural practices particularly irrigation water. The present article discloses the importance of efficient agricultural resource utilization particularly irrigation water and provides a design for Precision Irrigation for field monitoring. The discussed design offers a Long Range, Real-Time, and scalable solution for field irrigation requirement monitoring based on soil and weather conditions and addresses most of the challenges facing in-field monitoring such as range coverage of sensor nodes and scalability, data recording, power, and cost.

Agricultural Water Utilization Efficiency in China: Evaluation, Spatial Differences, and Related Factors

Agricultural water utilization efficiency (AWUE) reflects the rational utilization of water resources in agricultural production. Improving AWUE is important for both improving the levels of agricultural production and reducing consumption of water resources, and it is significant to explore the spatial differences between different cities and regions and the various factors related to AWUE, both theoretically and practically. The AWUE of totally 281 cities at the prefecture level or above in China between 2003 and 2018 was evaluated using the super-efficiency slacks-based measure (SBM). The spatial differences in AWUE were simulated by exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA), and the various factors affecting AWUE were simulated using the graphical statistical tool, Geodetector. The results of this study are as follows: (1) The mean value of AWUE across the country was merely 0.23 when it registered a record high in 2018, indicating that the AWUE in China was low; (2) AWUE showed significant spatial differences judging from the results of ESDA, and the low-low type was the principal spatial type, which was distributed mainly in the North China Plain and the Loess Plateau; and (3) agricultural technology was the main factor affecting AWUE.

Responses of Soil PhoC and PhoD Gene Microbial Communities to the Combined Application of Biochar with Chemical Fertilizers and Organic Fertilizers

Soil microorganisms have an important influence on the transformation of soil nutrients. As functional genes encoding phosphatase, phoC and phoD provide effective means for detecting the types, abundance, and community structure of microorganisms in the environment, and studying the changes in the diversity of phoC and phoD gene microbial communities in the rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere soil of the plant rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere soil under the treatment of chemical fertilizer and organic fertilizer combined with biochar can provide a scientific basis for the agricultural utilization of biochar. In this study, corn stalks and rice husk stalks were used as test materials, and the pot experiment method was used to set the following treatments:control (CK), traditional fertilization (F), chemical fertilizer+20 t·hm-2 rice husk biochar (FP), chemical fertilizer+10 t·hm-2 rice husk biochar+10 t·hm-2 corn biochar (FPM), organic fertilizer+20 t·hm-2 rice husk biochar (PP), and fresh organic fertilizer+20 t·hm-2 rice husk biochar (NPP). The community structure of phoC and phoD genes in rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere soil was analyzed by using T-RFLP and fluorescence quantitative PCR technology to clarify the response characteristics of phoC and phoD genes to the addition of biochar. The results showed that:① In rhizosphere soil and non-rhizosphere soil, the phoD gene community structure was more complicated than that of phoC, and the number of end restriction fragments of the phoC gene increased after chemical fertilizer and organic fertilizer were combined with biochar. ② The combined application of biochar with chemical fertilizer and organic fertilizer reduced the copy number of the phoC gene in non-rhizosphere soil compared with that in the CK. Compared with that in the CK, the copy number in the FP, FPM, PP, and NPP treatments decreased by 9.18%, 11.46%, 10.97%, and 13.76%, respectively. Organic fertilizer combined with biochar increased the copy number of the phoD gene in rhizosphere soil by 2.48% and 5.16% in the PP and NPP treatments, respectively, compared with that in the CK. ③ Total phosphorus in the soil was the main factor affecting the phoC gene microbial community structure in non-rhizosphere soil (P<0.01), whereas the phoC gene microbial community structure in rhizosphere soil was regulated by a variety of environmental factors. pH was the most critical factor affecting the phoD gene copy number, and the copy number of phoD gene was significantly correlated with soil nitrate nitrogen and pH. The combined application of biochar with chemical fertilizers and organic fertilizers can promote the growth and reproduction of microorganisms that function in soil phosphorus conversion, which is of great significance for improving the utilization of phosphorus fertilizers.

The asymmetric effects of crops productivity, agricultural land utilization, and fertilizer consumption on carbon emissions: revisiting the carbonization-agricultural activity nexus in Nepal.

Agriculture plays an integral part in facilitating socioeconomic development in Nepal. However, it is also associated with environmental concerns which need to be controlled for the sake of ensuring environmental and agricultural sustainability in tandem. Against this backdrop, this current study aims to check whether shocks to the levels of agricultural productivity, land utilization for crop production, and fertilizer consumption influence the carbon dioxide emission figures of Nepal over the 1965-2018 period. The long-run associations between these variables are confirmed from the cointegration analysis. Besides, the outcomes from the asymmetric non-linear autoregressive distributed lag regression analysis show that crop productivity does not influence the emission levels in Nepal. However, a decline in the land area used for crop production purposes is evidenced to trigger higher emissions of carbon dioxide both in the short- and long run. On the other hand, higher fertilizer consumption is found to boost the short- and long-run carbon dioxide emission levels in Nepal. Accordingly, considering the objective of reducing agriculture-based emissions, this study recommends the Nepalese government to adopt policies that can enhance the productivity of low energy-intensive crop production, stimulate green agriculture and non-agriculture activities, and minimize the use of chemical fertilizers in arable lands.

Chemical properties of acid soil after amelioration of dolomite, coal, and microbes

Soil acidity and issues with aluminum (Al) toxicity are typically limiting concerns for agricultural soil utilization. Liming can be used to solve problems with acidic soils. Another option for dealing with acid soil problems is to use coal enriched with sulfate-reduced bacteria (SRB) or Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans (AF). In a sustainable agriculture system, including coal enriched with SRB or AF into organic fertilizer might increase added value as a source of organic material for plantations. The goal of this research was to see if adding an ameliorant, microbial, or ameliorant enriched microbial to organic fertilizer can boost the added value as a source of organic material for plantations in a sustainable agriculture system. Two acid soils (Ultisols) were investigated, with variances in exchangeable Al concentration. The results showed that the use of a dolomite ameliorant or dolomite enriched AF ICBB 8789 raised pH, Ca, and Mg in the soil. In the soils of Jasinga and Lebak, the treatment of coal enriched with AF ICBB 8789 was more effective in increasing the CEC value. In acid soil from Jasinga West Java and Lebak Banten, a coal or lime ameliorant enriched with SRB could increase the availability of P. In a sustainable agriculture system, coal or coal enriched SRB or AF can potentially increase added value as a source of organic material for agricultures

Trend assessment in climate variable by Mann Kendall test of Bastar district of Chhattisgarh

Climate change is a natural phenomenon but in present decades its variability of change mainly due to anthropogenic activities is alarming. Agriculture of Chhattisgarh state is mainly dependant on monsoon rain and its distribution. Considering this fact, the present study has been tried to analyze the most important climatic variables, viz., precipitation and temeperature for analyzing their trend in the area. The trends of maximum atmospheric temperature, rainfall and rainy days are analysed statistically for meteorological data of Jagdalpur station of Bastar district, over last three decades stretching between years 1980 to 2014. The long term change in temperature, rainfall and rainy days has been analysed by correlation and linear trend analysis. The annual MMAX temperature has decreased at a rate of -0.465 °C per year during this period at Jagdalpur station and decreasing trend for rainy days during monsoonal season (June to September) is also found and is confirmed by Mann-Kendall trend test. Very weak increasing trend is observed in total month rainfall (TMRF) during season June to September. There are decreasing trends of mean monthly rainfall and south west (June - September) rainfall observed in Bastar district of Chhattisgarh. The agricultural planning and utilization of water is dependent on monsoon rainfall and more than 75% of rainfall occurring during the monsoon season is uneven both in time and space. Therefore its analysis is important for crop planning.&#x0D;

Effect of Combined Application of Biochar with Chemical Fertilizer and Organic Fertilizer on Soil Phosphatase Activity and Microbial Community

To study changes in phosphatase activity, we examined the diversity of phoC and phoD gene microbial communities in the rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere soil of plants under the treatment of chemical fertilizer and organic fertilizer combined with biochar. These results can provide a certain theoretical guidance for the conversion of insoluble phosphorus in the soil phosphorus pool to the inorganic phosphate ion that can be absorbed by plant roots and also provide a certain experimental basis for the improvement of the availability of phosphorus in the soil and the agricultural utilization of biochar. In this study, corn stalks and rice husk stalks were used as test materials, and the pot experimental method was adopted using the following treatments:set control (CK), traditional fertilization (F), chemical fertilizer+20 t·hm-2 rice husk biochar (FP), chemical fertilizer+10 t·hm-2rice husk biochar+10 t·hm-2 corn biochar (FPM), organic fertilizer+20 t·hm-2 rice husk biochar (PP), and fresh organic fertilizer+20 t·hm-2 rice husk biochar (NPP). We determined the rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere soil acid phosphatase (ACP) activity and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and used T-RFLP technology to analyze the diversity of phoC and phoD genes in order to clarify the impact of biochar on the micro-ecosystem formed by the plants, soil, and microorganisms. The results showed that:① the ALP and ACP activities of each treatment in the non-rhizosphere soil were lower than that of CK. In the rhizosphere soil, the ALP activity was significantly increased after the combined application of chemical fertilizer and organic fertilizer with biochar, and the ACP activity in the rhizosphere soil was higher than that in the non-rhizosphere soil. ② The combined application of biochar with chemical fertilizers and organic fertilizers significantly increased the diversity of phoC and phoD genes communities in rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere soils (P<0.05); the diversity and richness of microbial communities in rhizosphere soil were higher than that in non-rhizosphere soils. ③ ACP activity was negatively correlated with phoC gene microbial community, and most ALP activity was positively correlated with phoD microbial community.

Efficient removal of Cd(II) by phosphate-modified biochars derived from apple tree branches: Processes, mechanisms, and application

Phosphate (P)-modified biochar is a good material for cadmium (Cd) immobilization, and the pore-forming effect of potassium ions (K+) can favor the P loading on biochar. However, few studies have been done specifically on Cd(II) removal by composites of potassium phosphates with biochar, and the removal potential and mechanisms are not clear. Herein, apple tree branches, a major agricultural waste suitable for the development of porous materials, were pyrolyzed individually or together with KH2PO4, K2HPO4·3H2O, or K3PO4·3H2O to obtain biochars to remove Cd(II), denoted as pristine BC, BC-1, BC-2, and BC-3, respectively. The results showed that the orthophosphates containing more K+ enlarged the specific surface area, total pore volume and phosphorus loading of biochar. Co-pyrolysis of apple tree branches and P promoted the thermochemical transformation of P species. Only weak signal of orthophosphate was observed in the pristine BC, while the presence of orthophosphate, pyrophosphate and metaphosphate were detected in BC-1, and BC-2 and BC-3 showed the presence of orthophosphate and pyrophosphate. The maximum Cd(II) adsorption capacities of pristine BC, BC-1, BC-2 and BC-3 were 10.4, 88.5, 95.8, and 116 mg·g−1, respectively. Orthophosphate modification enhanced the Cd(II) adsorption capacity due to the formation of Cd-P-precipitates, namely Cd5(PO4)3Cl, Cd5(PO4)3OH, Cd3(PO4)2, Cd2P2O7, and Cd(PO3)2. Furthermore, higher cation exchange efficiencies between Cd(II) and K+ in P-modified biochars also contributed to their high Cd(II) adsorption capacity. Cd(II) removal by BC-3 from artificially polluted water bodies showed more than 99.98% removal rates. Application of BC-3 also reduced the diethylene triamine pentaacetic acid-extracted Cd(II) in soil by 69.1%. The co-pyrolysis of apple tree branches and potassium phosphates shows great prospect in Cd(II) wastewater/soil treatment and provide a promising solution for agricultural waste utilization and carbon sequestration.

Comprehensive evaluation of 20 pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) cultivars in China

Recent investigations on pomegranate products have significantly increased and successfully drawn consumers’ attention to nutritional and medicinal values, promoting the pomegranate industry's development worldwide. However, little information on pomegranates grown in China is available. Morphological and chemical characterizations of fruits and arils from 20 pomegranate cultivars in six regions of China were investigated. Combined with overall scores by principal component analysis, ‘Yushiliu No. 1’, ‘Taishanhong No. 2’, ‘Tunisia’ and ‘Mollar’ were promising cultivars, and Chinese researchers bred the first two. It was surprising that ‘Mollar’ had bigger fruit size and more aril moisture grown in China than in Spain. Cultivars with higher anthocyanin content in arils were ‘Turkey’, ‘Moyu’ and ‘Red Angel’, which might be used as the source of natural red food colourants. While red husk ‘Hongruyi’ and ‘Hongshuangxi’ with higher vitamin C, aril moisture and lower titratable acid in arils, might also be promising cultivars for further various utilization. Furthermore, the comparison of ‘Tunisia’ fruits from four regions revealed that cultivation locations had more influence on fruit traits than genotypes. Maturity index classification was established for Chinese pomegranate cultivars. Therefore, the results would provide a valuable guide for agricultural cultivation, industrial utilization, and breeding.

The implication of intra-rural migration on crop output commercialization in Ethiopia

ABSTRACT Migration as part of the livelihood of the rural farm household has got a recognition for its developmental effect. Currently, bringing smallholder farmers to the market through better agricultural productivity and market integration is the critical element for agricultural transformation in particular and rural transformation in general. To this effect, improving smallholder farmers’ tendency towards commercialization through better technology adoption and input utilization has been seen to play significantly in various studies. However, in developing countries like Ethiopia, where low level of credit facilities and poor institutional arrangements are installed, adoption of productive agricultural technologies and input utilization is very low. Thus, among the various alternative livelihood diversification strategies for poor farmers, migration is the one which helps to bridge the financial gap and input requirements of the rural farmers and ‘asset accumulation’. This study focused on intra-rural migration which is still dominant in size as well as a research segment which is buried in migration study. Cognizant to the interplay between migration and agriculture, this study had an attempt to examine the impact of intra-rural labour migration on crop output commercialization using primary first-hand original data with support of stringent econometric models.

Beef cattle-based farming pattern in dry land, Tanah Laut Regency, South Kalimantan

A cropping pattern is an effort to plant things on a plot of land by arranging the layout and order of plants for a certain period of time. Cropping patterns and or intercropping can be done with the aim of utilizing resources optimally and to avoid the risk of crop failure and market risk. Diversified cropping patterns are farming diversification with the aim of increasing agricultural yields so that income is maintained. The purpose of this research is to determine the types of farming patterns based on beef cattle, the impact of farming patterns on business objectives, and the income generated from the Decent Living Needs (KHL) that applies on dry land. Decent Living Needs (KHL) is the standard of needs of a single worker/labor to be able to live physically decently in 1 month. KHL is also the basis for determining the Minimum Wage. The study was carried out in Takisung District, Tanah Laut Regency, South Kalimantan. A survey and focus group discussions were used as research methods. Income, livestock waste for fertilizer, agricultural waste for feed, utilization of agricultural land, forage area, and livestock weight gain are the business objectives that are determined and analyzed. The analysis used is analysis of variance (ANOVA), and the Duncan test will be used to determine the contribution of income to the KHL. The research found six dominant cattle-based farming patterns. Farming patterns have a significant impact on business objectives such as income, agricultural waste utilization for animal feed, and agricultural land utilization. The conclusion of this research is that there are 6 dominant farming patterns in the research location, namely paddy and cattle; paddy, rubber and cattle; paddy, rubber, soybeans and cattle; Paddy, soybeans and cattle; paddy, soybeans, peanut and cattle; paddy, corn and cattle. The pattern of business that produces the highest income is the pattern of rice, rubber and cattle and the second is rice, soybean, rubber and cattle. The recommended business is business diversification with several commodities so that the necessities of life can be achieved and sustainable.

Linking farm production diversity to household dietary diversity controlling market access and agricultural technology usage: evidence from Noakhali district, Bangladesh

Background and objectiveDiversified agricultural production is considered a means to enhance food diversity at the household level, particularly in developing countries where subsistence farming is common. Given the importance of a diversified diet for human health and the persistent malnutrition problem in Bangladesh, a pressing issue is how different crops and livestock production affect household food diversification, and this study sought to answer that question. MethodsUsing a multistage sampling procedure, data were collected from 190 small farm holder households from Hatiya (a coastal rural sub-district of Noakhali, Bangladesh). Farm production diversity (FPD) is measured using the household biodiversity index (HBI), a simple count of all crops and livestock produced on the farm. The household dietary diversity score (HDDS) is calculated, according to Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) guidelines, by counting 12 food groups consumed by the households in the last 24 h preceding the survey. ResultsOn average, households consumed 6.49 food groups during the reference day, according to the household biodiversity index (HBI). The generalized Poisson log-linear regression results indicated that farm production diversity had a positive association with HDDS; one group of farm production increased the household dietary diversity (HDD) by 0.084 unit [β: 0.084, 95% CI: 0.064, 0.106; Exp (B): 1.087], an 8.7% increase in dietary diversity. Total land size, less time to reach the district market, and improved irrigation process affect dietary diversity in bivariate analysis. Farmer's reliance on production diversity reduces when the market is more accessible and improved irrigation is used for production. ConclusionSmallholder farm households in Bangladesh could benefit from context-specific, food-based nutrition-sensitive agriculture policies that focus on triangulation of diversified production, greater market access, and updated agricultural technology utilization.

Effect of Organic Ecological Soilless Culture Substrate on Tomato Fruit

Based on agricultural biomass resources and utilization in Shaanxi province, this experiment used decomposing mushroom residues, pine needles, and peanut shells compounded with river sand as organic cultivation substrates, compared with garden soil, and carried out pot experiments to study the effect of different soilless cultivation substrates on tomato yield, size and number. The results show that compared with CK1 (garden soil) and CK2 (decomposed fungus residue: river sand = 1:1, volume ratio), the yield of greenhouse tomato of T5 (decomposed fungus residue: pine needles: peanut shells: river sand = 1:1:1:1, volume ratio) can be significantly improved; under the same amount of decomposed fungus residue and river sand, adding peanut shells has a better effect on tomato yield than adding pine needles; different treatments have little effect on the average height of tomato fruit, but have a greater effect on the cross diameter of the fruit.

Reconstruction of the depletion process of lake water resources in semi-arid areas under strong human activities—Taking Lake Daihai as an example

湖泊水资源持续损失已经成为影响半干旱地区经济社会发展的主要问题之一.然而，由于缺少长期连续的湖泊动态监测数据，该地区湖泊水资源损失过程及其与气候变化和经济社会发展之间的关系没有得到详细的评估.针对此问题，本文以位于半干旱地区的岱海为研究对象，利用改进型归一化差异水体指数从1986—2020年258景Landsat遥感影像中提取湖泊水体边界，结合湖泊水位数据，重建了近60 a岱海水资源量动态变化过程.结果表明：1961—2019年期间，岱海急剧萎缩，湖泊水量共减少9.88×10⁸ m³.同时水量变化趋势分段函数拟合结果表明，岱海水量变化可分为3个阶段：1961—1978年，水量损失速率为0.726×10⁷ m³/a的缓慢损失阶段；1979—2004年，水量损失速率为2.10×10⁷ m³/a的快速损失阶段；2005—2019年，水量损失速率为3.39×10⁷ m³/a的加速损失阶段.相关分析表明：岱海水量损失与流域经济社会发展密切相关.其中，改革开放后流域农业开发利用规模和强度的提高是导致岱海水量损失的主要原因；“西部大开发”战略实施后工业经济的兴起则加速了岱海水量的损失.据此，本研究建议干旱半干旱地区湖泊流域经济社会的发展应与其水资源承载力相协调.;The continuous loss of lake water resources has become one of the main problems affecting the economic and social development in semi-arid areas. However, due to the lack of long-term continuous monitoring data of lake dynamics, the process of lake water resources loss and its relationship with climate change and economic and social development in this area have not been evaluated in detail. To solve this problem, this paper takes Lake Daihai, which is located in a semi-arid area, as the research object, using the improved normalized difference water body index to extract the boundary of lake water body from 258 Landsat remote sensing images from 1986 to 2020, and reconstructs the dynamic change process of water resources in Lake Daihai for last 60 years by integrating lake water level data. The results show that from 1961 to 2019, the Lake Daihai shrank sharply, and the lake water volume decreased by 9.88×10⁸ m³. At the same time, the fitting results of the piecewise function of the water volume change trend show that the water volume change of Lake Daihai can be divided into three stages:from 1961 to 1978, the slow loss stage with the water loss rate of 0.726×10⁷ m³/a; from 1979 to 2004, the rapid loss stage with the water loss rate of 2.10×10⁷ m³/a; from 2005 to 2019, the accelerated loss stage with the water loss rate of 3.39×10⁷ m³/a. Correlation analysis shows that the loss of water volume of Lake Daihai is closely related to the economic and social development of the river basin. Among them, the increase in the scale and intensity of agricultural development and utilization in the watershed after the reform and opening-up is the main reason for the loss of water volume of the Lake Daihai; the rise of the industrial economy after the implementation of the Western Development strategy accelerated the loss of water volume of the Lake Daihai. Accordingly, this study suggests that the economic and social development of lake basins in arid and semi-arid regions should be coordinated with their water resource carrying capacity.

Model study on bioremediation process for the treatment of polluted river through effective microorganisms

The problem of fresh water deficiency is of worldwide impact. The increased population in addition to various human activities has led to a drastic and continuous shortage of freshwater resources. This leads to urge the scientific community to find radical and cheap solutions. Enzyme Microorganisms (EMs) are very effective in different types of waste water treatment process. Inoculants of EMs from Bannari Amman Sugars Industries, Bannari Amman Group (BAG), Sathyamangalam and Bint Biotech Pvt. (BINT), New Delhi are used for this present study to treat the polluted water from Noyyal river. The results indicated that the microbial agents play an important role in reducing the chemical oxygen demand (COD) and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD). The microorganisms present in the inoculants of BAG and BINT are highly effective in the treatment of waste water with high load of organic pollutants. Further the treated water analysis indicates the quality meets for agricultural utility.

Effects of land use/cover change (LUCC) on the spatiotemporal variability of precipitation and temperature in the Songnen Plain, China

Understanding the effects of land use/cover change (LUCC) on regional climate is critical for achieving land use system sustainability and global climate change mitigation. However, the quantitative analysis of the contribution of LUCC to the changes of climatic factors, such as precipitation & temperature (P&T), is lacking. In this study, we combined statistical methods and the gravity center model simulation to quantify the effects of long-term LUCC on P&T in the Songnen Plain (SNP) of Northeast China from 1980–2018. The results showed the spatiotemporal variability of LUCC. For example, paddy field had the largest increase (15 166.43 km2) in the SNP, followed by dry land, while wetland had the largest decrease (19 977.13 km2) due to the excessive agricultural utilization and development. Annual average precipitation decreased at a rate of –9.89 mm per decade, and the warming trends were statistically significant with an increasing rate of 0.256°C per decade in this region since 1980. The model simulation revealed that paddy field, forestland, and wetland had positive effects on precipitation, which caused their gravity centers to migrate towards the same direction accompanied by the center of precipitation gravity, while different responses were seen for building land, dry land and unused land. These results indicated that forestland had the largest influence on the increase of precipitation compared with the other land use types. The responses in promoting the temperature increase differed significantly, being the highest in building land, and the lowest in forestland. In general, the analysis of regional-scale LUCC showed a significant reduction of wetland, and the increases in building land and cropland contributed to a continuous drying and rapid warming in the SNP.

Risk factors for musculoskeletal problems in paddy field workers in northern iran: A community-based study.

Paddy cultivation of rice requires substantial physical strength, perseverance and manual labor. During the manual harvesting of paddy rice in Iran, laborers are exposed to several work-related physical risks. Paddy cultivation has been reported as one of the most important causes of nonfatal occupational injuries and accidents among farmers. With the aim of identifying which parts of the musculoskeletal structure are mostly affected as a result of working on paddy rice fields, the present study aimed to investigate the potential risk factors for musculoskeletal problems in paddy field workers in Mazandaran Province, Iran. A cross-sectional, analytical study was conducted among paddy field workers via multistage sampling in 2019. Prior to the interviews based on the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire, the participants were briefed about the objectives of the research and their consent was obtained for voluntary participation. Through interviews, data were collected on demographics, agricultural utilization systems, use of paddy tractors, frequency of tiller and tractor use, injuries sustained during the daytime, and outcomes of injuries by paddy field working. Responses were obtained from 384 workers using structured interviews. The respondents were asked to describe problems and pain in their neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists and hands, upper back, hip and lower back. Logistic regression models were used to identify potential risk factors for musculoskeletal problems in specific body regions. The most commonly reported ailments were back pain (n = 29; 7.6%), cardiovascular disease (n = 25, 6.5%) and hypertension (n = 22, 5.7%). The results of logistic regression analysis indicated that the odds of back and shoulder injuries was higher among workers who used tillers and combine harvesters (2.85 and 1.66), transplanting machine (3.68), and those who did not use safe footwear (7). Knee injury risk was higher among those who cultivated rice manually (odds ratio [OR] = 1.35) and who used safety footwear (OR = 1.93), but was lower among those who used tractors (OR = 0.53). There was a small increase in the risk of knee injury with age (OR = 1.03). Confirming earlier works, musculoskeletal problems were found to be highly prevalent among rice workers. Disorders in certain body regions could be explained by specific individual and work-related factors. While the prevalence of work-related injury was high, mostly due to ignorance and disregard for personal convenience of the workers, the findings call for improvements in mechanization and division of labor time and force. Another highlight is that social worth is not given sufficiently to the health of paddy field workers. These should be worked on in future research to find ways of allocating machinery and worth to the workers.

Effects of different soil amendments on physicochemical property of soda saline-alkali soil and crop yield in Northeast China

Soil amendment is one of the most effective methods to improve saline-alkali soil. In this study, laboratory experiments were conducted to verify the effect of 13 kinds of amendments and their combinations (Citric acid (NM), Phosphogypsum (LS), Aluminum sulfate+citric acid (AL+NM), Aluminum sulfate+phosphogypsum (AL+LS), Aluminum sulfate+citric acid+phosphogypsum (HH), Zeolite (Z), Acidified zeolite (ZH), Aluminum sulfate (AL), Aluminum sulfate+zeolite (AL+Z), Aluminum sulfate+acidified zeolite (AL+ZH), Poly Aluminum chloride (ALCL), Polyaluminium chloride+zeolite (ALCL+Z), Polyaluminium chloride+acidified zeolite (ALCL+ZH)) on soil pH, metal cations content, exchangeable Na+, exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP) in the lab. And then the five most effective amendments (Z, ZH, AL, AL+Z, and AL+ZH) were chosen applying both in dry field (maize field) and paddy field to evaluate their improvement on soda saline-alkali soil and crop yield in the northeast Songnen Plain, China. The lab results showed that AL, AL+Z and AL+ZH treatments could significantly reduce the pH in soil solution and increase the content of metal cations. Z and ZH treatments could adsorb metal cations in soil. Both in dry and paddy fields, all five treatments could increase the soil saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks), increased from 9.63 to 60.02 mm/d and 0.18 to 33.25 mm/d, respectively, of which the AL treatment was the best; all five treatments could reduce the content of exchangeable Na+ in soil, and decrease by 38.62%-61.33% and 25.24%-71.53%, respectively, of which the AL+ZH treatment was the best; all treatments could reduce soil exchangeable sodium percentage, and decrease by 0.14-0.22 and 0.14-0.41, respectively, of which the AL+ZH treatment was the best; AL, AL+Z and AL+ZH treatments could improve soil organic matter content; all treatments could effectively improve the yield of crops, and increase 23.98%-60.75% and 52.51%-260.21%, respectively, of which the AL treatment was the best in dry field and the AL+ZH treatment was the best in paddy field. The effect of AL treatment was the best in dry field and AL+ZH treatment was the best in paddy field of soda saline-alkali soil. This study could provide instructive information for the chemical improvement and agricultural utilization of soda saline-alkali soils in the world. Keywords: soil amendments, soda saline-alkali soil, aluminum sulfate, zeolite, maize, rice DOI: 10.25165/j.ijabe.20221501.6252 Citation: Xiao F, Zhou B B, Wang H B, Duan M L, Feng L. Effects of different soil amendments on physicochemical property of soda saline-alkali soil and crop yield in Northeast China. Int J Agric & Biol Eng, 2022; 15(1): 192–198.

Diversity of Myco-flora associated with plants of Dumna Nature Park and their antimicrobial potential

Fungi play an important role in the daily life besides their utilization in industry, agriculture, medicine, food industry, textiles, bioremediation, biogeochemical cycling, as bio-fertilizers, bio-pesticides and many other ways. Total number of 14 fungal isolates were belonging to different genera. Antibacterial activity was performed by well diffusion method against pathogenic bacteria through cell free culture filtrates of isolated fungi. Sclerotium rolfsii FCN#13 showed maximum antibacterial activity against all selected bacteria.

Future nutrient recovery from sewage sludge regarding three different scenarios - German case study

Agricultural sewage sludge utilization becomes less important in Germany. In 2017, new fertilizer and waste laws caused the agricultural sewage sludge utilization to collapse by more than a quarter. From 2029, German wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) must recover phosphorus (P) from sewage sludge if it contains more than 2 wt % P. Agricultural utilization will be prohibited for large WWTPs >100,000 population equivalents (pe) from 2029 and > 50,000 pe from 2032. In Germany, each federal state must annually report amounts and quality of agriculturally utilized sewage sludge which was 16% of the total disposal in 2019. The reports of 10 states were evaluated for 2016 and 2017 representing approx. 60% of the total agriculturally used sludge volume. In 2016, 60% of the WWTPs’ sludges exceeded the recovery limit of 2 wt % P which is 70% of the amount of sludge and 85% of the phosphorus load. Other nutrients are not affected by the recovery obligation. However, many P recovery processes recover other nutrients, too. Considering three different scenarios for future German sewage sludge disposal shows that 70–77% of the P load in sewage sludge will probably be recovered in the future. At the same time, this applies for about 0–16% nitrogen, 36–52% of calcium, 31–53% of potassium, and 40–52% of magnesium. However, these recovered nutrients loads can substitute only 1% or less of the commercial fertilizer demand except from phosphorus which is up to 43% of the demand.