Economic Usages Research Articles

Comparative Assessment of Physico-chemical Characteristics of Two Grassland Soils Subjected to Different Uses in Delta State, Nigeria

In this study, physico-chemical properties of 2 differentially located grassland soils which were subjected to different economic usages, were assessed. The study was carried out for grassland soils of Ogbole-Ogume (excavation) and Abbi (Cultivation), both in Ndokwa West LGA of Delta State, Nigeria. The soils were collected at the road margin (0m), 30m into the grasslands and 10m away from the end of the grasslands at a depth of about 10.30m each from the soil surfaces. Soil characteristics as pH, Mg, Ca, Na, K, EC, CEC, SO₄, P, N, clay, silt and sand contents were analyzed following standard procedures and methodologies. At margins, soils from Ogbole-Ogume and Abbi contained 94.5% and 91.0% sand; at 30m into the grasslands, both were 93.0% sand while at 10m beyond the grassland soils, 93.0% and 90.0% sand were recorded for Ogbole-Ogume and Abbi, respectively. Comparatively, physico-chemical parameters investigated in this study showed variations between both sampled sites as parameters like pH, Mg, Ca, K, CEC, P and N were generally higher in Abbi than in Ogbole-Ogume grassland soils. This clearly indicated that crop cultivation at Abbi grassland soils must have significantly impacted more on the physico-chemical properties of the soils than excavation activities as practiced at Ogbole-Ogume grassland soils. This has strong indications for food security and environmental health.

Germination and recovery responses of heteromorphic seeds of two co-occurring Arthrocnemum species to salinity, temperature and light

Arthrocnemum macrostachyum and A. indicum are succulent halophytes found in the coastal marshes of southern Pakistan and many other countries, where they act as primary producers and also have many potential economic usages. They produce large quantities of heteromorphic seeds every year. Many aspects of the seed biology of these congeneric plants are not known. This comparative study was conducted to determine the germination and subsequent recovery of ungerminated seeds on distilled water of heteromorphic seeds of these halophytes to salinity (0, 200, 400, 600, 800 and 1000 mM NaCl), thermoperiod (15/25, 20/30 and 25/35 °C), photoperiod (12 h light/12 h dark and 24 h dark) and their interactions. Seeds of A. macrostachyum were of two colors (i.e. black and brown), while seeds of A. indicum differed in size (i.e. small and large). Seeds of the two species lacked primary/innate dormancy and germinated quickly in distilled water at low to moderate thermoperiods, while 25/35 °C was more inhibitory. Seeds were positively photoblastic and failed to germinate in dark. Seeds of A. macrostachyum showed higher tolerance to salinity (germinating at 600 mM NaCl, equivalent to sea water salinity) than those of A. indicum (not germinating above 400 mM NaCl). Germination of black but not brown seeds of A. macrostachyum was higher in 200 mM NaCl compared to control at 25/35 °C. Whereas in case of A. indicum, large seeds showed higher germination in distilled water than small seeds but were sensitive to salinity. Ungerminated seeds from high salinity and dark, when transferred to distilled water and 12 h photoperiod respectively, showed recovery of germination. Hence, our data indicate many similarities and differences in the germination responses of heteromorphic seeds of A. macrostachyum and A. indicum.

Seeds of Halopeplis perfoliata display plastic responses to various abiotic factors during germination

Halopeplis perfoliata is a coastal marsh halophyte with several ecological and economic usages. Information about seed germination ecology of Halopeplis species is limited. Germination and recovery responses to NaCl (0, 0.1–0.6molL−1), light (12h light/12h dark and 24h dark), alternating temperature regimes (10/20, 15/25, 20/30 and 25/35°C), NaCl exposure time (20, 40 and 60days) and dormancy regulating chemicals (DRCs) were therefore studied. Fresh seeds were non-dormant and showed highest germination (≈90%) in distilled water, irrespective of incubation temperature. Seeds germinated better in 12h photoperiod than 24h dark. Salinity increment decreased germination; however some seeds could germinate in 0.6molL−1 NaCl under 12h photoperiod. High salinity (≥0.3molL−1 NaCl) and 24h dark enforced dormancy in seeds and they showed high recovery when transferred to distilled water and to light respectively. Seeds showed enforced dormancy under hyper-salinity (up to 2.0molL−1 NaCl) at all temperature regimes except at 25/35°C where seed mortality was high. All DRCs (except proline) alleviated enforced dormancy due to dark but were generally ineffective in reversing inhibitory effects of salinity. Our data indicate that seeds of H. perfoliata are sensitive to variations in different abiotic factors, which may thus act as possible cue for germination in its habitats. Results of DRC application indicate that germination inhibition under high salinity and dark might be due to osmotic and biochemical reasons respectively.

Desmostachya bipinnata manages photosynthesis and oxidative stress at moderate salinity

Desmostachya bipinnata is a C4 grass distributed in arid-saline lands of the subtropical region. There are many economic usages of this perennial grass ranging from folk-medicine to cattle-fodder. However, information regarding the mechanism of salinity tolerance of this species is rare. This study examines the effects of salinity (0, 200 and 400mM NaCl) on growth, osmotic relations, photosynthesis and antioxidant defense. Salinity caused progressive decrease in fresh weight; however, dry weight decreased only at 400mM NaCl. Leaf sap osmotic potential and xylem pressure potential decreased while quantities of ash, proline and sugars increased in response to salinity increments. Stomatal conductance, photosynthetic CO2 gain and transpiration decreased with increasing salinity, while intercellular CO2 levels remained unaffected. Maximum and actual quantum yield of PS II and electron transport rate were inhibited with enhanced non-photochemical quenching under high salinity. Levels of superoxide dismutase and total phenols increased, those of guaiacol peroxidase and ascorbate peroxidase remained unaltered and catalase increased transiently at 200mM NaCl. Leaf hydrogen peroxide and malondialdehyde content increased with salinity. Our data suggest that D. bipinnata could maintain photosynthesis and manage oxidative stress at moderate salinity but a further increase in salinity compromised both photosynthesis and the antioxidant system.

AB İLE BÜTÜNLEŞME SÜRECİNDE TÜRKİYE'DE SANAYİLEŞMEDEKİ SEKTÖR ÖNCELİKLERİ ÜZERİNE EKONOMETRİK BİR DENEME (1985, 1990, 1995 YILLARI KİLİT SEKTÖRLERİ)

Industrialization from the interindustries perspective is to make stronger the structural connections between the industries, also to improve lack of connections between industries and to lessen the dependencies on other foreign economies. In the development strategies, to reach the purpose and the goal, what kind of information and criterion are chosen for the sectoral decisions? The answers given for these questions bring us to the concept of leading sectors. The economic usages of scarce resources and the consistency between the sectors can be provided when the precedence has been given to the leading sectors. The process opened to membership of the European Union through the membership of Customs Union may provide some advantages for industrial sector in Turkey. The market entering facilities, easy access to foreign capital and rising standart of competition may increase the efficiency by the way of providing effective usage of resources directed to the industrial sector. In case of Turkey's accession to the European Union and direction of the foreign capital to the industrial sector, especially to the leading sectors, the developmentoftheeconomywillgetfaster. Certainly,providingprecedence to the investment in the leading sectors is the basic economic principle to be obeyed, not only because of foreign competition but also of causing of producing more value added and getting more output per capita investment.

The sustainable utilization of saline resources for livestock feed production in arid and semi-arid regions: A model from Pakistan

Degraded land area is increasing in many arid and semi arid countries (UNEP, 2010). Additionally, fresh water resources are becoming limited and routine irrigation practices in conventional agriculture are causing a steady increase in soil salinity. This will lead to further desertification of affected areas in the future with concomitant reduction in the yield of crops known for human and animal consumption. Consequently it has become imperative to search for suitable alternatives and develop ecologically sustainable and economically sound biological systems that can use low quality water and drought affected saline lands to produce plants of economic importance. A large number of halophytes could be used as animal forage/fodder without encroaching upon arable lands and irrigation water. This paper emphasizes the agricultural importance of these salt tolerant plants in a world where most of the water is saline at any given moment. However, the economic use should be in accordance with the ecological demands suited to particular biomes. Pakistan for example, is spread over an area of 800,000 square kilometers with varied climatic conditions ranging from temperate to sub-tropical desert, eventually displaying a high biodiversity in local flora including halophytes. About 16% of the world halophytic flora is distributed in Pakistan with more than 410 species and among them >100 have potential economic usages as cattle feed. A number of these species are also distributed in the regions between the Atlantic coasts of Africa to western India. The Sindh/Balochistan coast of Pakistan extending from Seer Creek to Jiwani and from coast to mountains including Indus basin are rich sanctuaries for many of these plants. There is a need to conduct systematic survey of this flora, ascertain their chemical characteristics for nutritive value and subsequently identify the species suited to particular conditions through animal feeding trials. Some of these trials have already indicated a promise for ecologically sustainable use of perennial grasses such as Panicum antidotale, formerly identified as Panicum turgidum and Desmostachya bipinnata that may be taken to commercial scale. The system that was developed in Pakistan may serve as a model to other semi-arid sub-tropical countries of the region.

Salt tolerance of a cash crop halophyte Suaeda fruticosa: biochemical responses to salt and exogenous chemical treatments

Suaeda fruticosa Forssk is a leaf succulent obligate halophyte that produces numerous seeds under saline conditions. Seeds are a good source of high quality edible oil and leaves are capable of removing substantial amount of salt from the saline soil besides many other economic usages. Little is known about the biochemical basis of salt tolerance in this species. We studied some biochemical responses of S. fruticosa to different exog- enous treatments under non-saline (0 mM), moderate (300 mM) or high (600 mM) NaCl levels. Eight-week- old seedlings were sprayed twice a week with distilled water, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2, 100 lM), glycine betaine (GB, 10 mM), or ascorbic acid (AsA, 20 mM) for 30 days. At moderate (300 mM) NaCl, leaf Na ? ,C a 2? and osmolality increased, along with unchanged ROS and antioxidant enzyme activities, possibly causing a better plant growth. Plants grew slowly at 600 mM NaCl to avoid leaf Na ? buildup relative to those at 300 mM NaCl. Exogenous application of distilled water and H2O2 improved ROS scavenging mechanisms, although growth was unaffected. ASA and GB alleviated salt-induced growth inhibition at 600 mM NaCl through enhancing the antioxidant defense system and osmotic and ion homeo- stasis, respectively.

Biodiversity of Halophytic Vegetation in Chott <i>Zehrez</i> Lake of Djelfa (Algeria)

Mediterranean large lakes play an important role in providing a range of ecosystem functions and supporting biodiversity. The conservation and management of these lakes require more detailed knowledge of their ecology and environment-vegetation relationships. Chotts are probably the most poorly understood lake ecosystems. Chott Zehrez (Djelfa) as a large, shallow lake ecosystem in Algerian steppes, where wetlands are important part of their productivity. Despite the status of chott Zehrez lake as a Ramsar site, the main threat to its conservation is the private nature of surrounding land holdings in addition to the lack of knowledge and awareness by the local population of the importance of lake ecosystems. A wealth of halophytic flora exists which can be exploited for an array of uses like fodder, fuel wood, oilseed, medicines, landscaping, and environment conservation through carbon sequestration. A total 112 species belonging to 26 families and 39 genera were recorded. The sabkha flora includes 9 endangered and endemic species such as Avena bromoides, Cutandia divaricata, Herniaria mauritanica and Salicornia arabica. In this paper we mainly discussed characteristics and importance of Chott Zehrez lake ecosystem, its vegetation potentialities and economic usages will be also presented and discussed. Finally conservation strategy and restoration of this ecosystem are suggested.

The Betic Ophiolitic Association: A Very Significant Geological Heritage That Needs to be Preserved

The Betic Ophiolitic Association (BOA) forms part of the Mulhacen Complex and crops out discontinuously along some 250 km in the central and eastern sectors of the Betic Cordillera (SE Spain). It comprises numerous metre- to kilometre-sized lenses of metamorphic rocks, deriving from basic, ultrabasic and/or sedimentary rock types, representing very important relics of the westernmost end of the Jurassic Tethys ocean floor, which almost completely disappeared by subduction during the collision of the European and African plates. Nevertheless, some rare slices of this ocean floor were exhumed and incorporated into the continental margin, forming the BOA. Therefore, we propose that the Betic Ophiolitic Association should be recognised as a very valuable Spanish geological framework, worthy of being protected against exploitation for economic usages, in which the following three outcrops could be selected as its main geosites: the Cobdar metabasalts and metagabbros, the Lugros eclogites, and the Almirez meta-ultramafic and rodingite rocks.

The invention of homo oeconomicus: A reading of John Stuart Mill's “on the definition of political economy”

This essay argues that the modern humanist critique of homo oeconomicus, far from originating outside the field of political economy, as is commonly assumed, actually appeared first within the precincts of existing economic usages and doctrines. Through an examination of John Stuart Mill's seminal early essay, “On the Definition of Political Economy,” it seeks to show how the initial conceptualization of homo oeconomicus and its critique emerged simultaneously out of the same methodology that produced the transition from the classical political economy of Smith and Ricardo to the neoclassical economics of Jevons, Walras, and Menger.

Radioecological state of lakes in the southern Ural impacted by radioactivity release of the 1957 radiation accident

This paper is concerned with the distribution of 90Sr and 137Cs in lake ecosystems in the southern Urals which were affected by the 1957 radiation accident. In 1992, the levels of 90Sr in the most highly contaminated lakes, which were removed from economic usages, were as follows: 17–120 Bq l −1 in water, 70–110kBq kg −1 in fish and 2.9–5.2 kBq kg −1 in aquatic plants. In the lakes which are used in the fishery, the levels of 90Sr are 0.05–0.5 Bq l −1 in water and 4–550 Bq kg −1 in fish. The levels of 137Cs in these lakes are 0.03–0.6 Bql −1 in water and 2–33 Bq kg −1 in fish. In the first few years following the accident, a dose rate level of 10 −2 Gy day −1 to molluscs, bottom-dwelling fish and aquatic plants could be exceeded in the most highly contaminated lakes of Uruskul' and Berdyanish. In 1992, the background exposure level for fish from these lakes was still exceeded by a factor of 1000. In the other lakes, the doses to aquatic organisms were considerably lower. Doses to the population from lake fish consumption do not exceed 10 −3 Sv year −1.

Ethnobotany in North America: an historical phytogeographic perspective

In 1855 Alphonse de Candolle challenged his contemporaries to describe and to explain the geographical and historical distribution of economic plants. It was only in the 20th century, however, that ethnobotany, the direct interrelationships between human populations and their plant environment, and paleoecology and archaeology could combine to delineate from antiquity the history of economic plant usages, to describe the ecological changes introduced by humans, and to detail the cultural determinants of new plant evolution.The prehistory of plant uses depends upon paleoecological and archaeological data. Pollen and plant macroremains have demonstrated that only during the past 2000 years in North America have humans expanded the number of taxa they used. Ecologically humans have become important agents for transforming the landscape during the same time period in areas where plant food production was practiced. Fire was the principle agent for clearing the land and plant husbandry intensified the disjunction of plant species. Humans, then, became significant ecological and evolutionary factors in the landscape with the introduction of domesticated cucurbits from Mexico in the eastern United States about 5000 years ago. It was not until 3000 years ago that indigenous North American Helianthus and Iva were domesticated and other plants were cultivated and introduced beyond their known ranges. In the Southwest com cultivation started 3000 years ago and spread rapidly as a staple and source of phytogeographical changes. Com-field farming in the past 1000 years by prehistoric Americans created new habitats and had the greatest effect on the geographical distribution of plants. Ethnobotany and its associated discipline, archaeobotany, have brought an indispensible complement to paleoecology and a new dimension to historical phytogeography.

Job’s-tears (coix lacryma-jobi)—a minor food and fodder crop of northeastern India

Job’s-tears—a cultigen of great antiquity—is grown in South Asia mainly by the natives of various ethnic groups of Mongolian origin. The plant is used as a minor cereal and fodder. The northeastern region of India is a centre of variability for the genus Coix. It is considered that this plant was introduced here either by the pestoral Aryan invaders, who grew it on the slopes of the Himalayas or during Mongolian conquests when the crop got distributed from the eastern Himalayas to lower subtropical terrains. During plant explorations conducted since 1970 in the northeastern region of India, much variability has been recorded for this crop. The various soft-shelled races now grown in this tract by the tribes are the result of conscious folk domestication and must have been selected for easy hulling and good kernel type. Based on this, and on information on domestication, cultivation and economic usages of this plant among the natives, some findings are presented in this paper.

Polar Institutions throughout the World

The folowing notes on the work of the Arctic Institute at Leningrad have been received from Professor R. Samoilovitch.The size of the territory of the northern part of the U.S.S.R., the different characteristics of its natural wealth, its climatic peculiarities, its economic usages, the difficult approach of many of its districts, and, finally, the almost complete absence of means of communication, together with the specific navigation conditions of the waters that wash it—all these involve the use of special methods for studying the European and Asiatic parts of the Soviet Arctic.