Field In Bangladesh Research Articles

Techno-economic performance of 4-row self-propelled mechanical rice transplanter at farmers field in Bangladesh

Mechanical transplanting is an emerging technology in Bangladesh agriculture. Deadong DP480 rice transplanter was used to conduct the experiment which is imported from South Korea and China. The performance of this machine needs to be thoroughly investigated in local condition. This experiment was conducted in Boro (2015) season in the farmers’ field at Gosaidanga in Shailkupa upazila under Jhenaidah district and at Rashidpur in Mithapukur upazila under Rangpur district. Two treatments, i.e. T1 = Hand transplanting (HT) and T2 = Mechanical transplanting (MT) were used in the experiment. The experiment was carried out in randomized complete block design (RCBD) and replicated in six plots in each location. Rice variety BRRI dhan28 was used to conduct the experiment in both locations. Fuel consumption of 4-row walking type mechanical transplanter obtained 5.25 L/ha. The field capacity and field efficiency of rice transplanter obtained 0.11-0.12 ha/hr and 64-70 percent, respectively. Conventional seedbed preparation required 37-55 man-hr/ha whereas 71-77 man-hr/ha required in mat type seedling suitable for mechanical transplanting. Labor requirement in hand and mechanical transplanting ranged from 123-150 and 9.0-10.5 man-hr per hectare which was 19-22 and 1.65-2.00 percent of total labor requirement in rice cultivation, respectively. Number of seedling tray requirement ranged from 215-230 per hectare. Calibration should be done on space and seedling density setting before operation in each plot to get optimum plant spacing and seedling tray requirement. Missing hill obtained 1-2 percent in mechanically transplanted plot. Mechanically transplanted plot showed significantly the higher grain yield (9-14%) than hand transplanted method due to use of infant seedling. The input cost in the form of labor and material was found similar in hand transplanting whereas in mechanical transplanting, labor cost found 12 percent lower than material cost. The cost of growing mat type seedling for mechanical transplanter found 53 percent whereas the cost of raising traditional seedbed found 34 percent of the cost of hand transplanting. Mechanical transplanting reduced 1.8 percent input cost than hand transplanting in crop cultivation. BCR of MT and HT showed 1.18-1.19 and 1.03-1.06, respectively. Mechanical intervention in crop production drastically reduced the labor requirement which can offset the peak labor demand. Mechanical transplanting systems increased yield, improved labor efficiency, ensured timeliness in operation and faster transplanting.Progressive Agriculture 27 (3): 369-382, 2016

Changes in hematological parameters and gill morphology in common carp exposed to sub-lethal concentrations of Malathion

Malathion is an organophosphorous insecticide widely used in the agricultural field in Bangladesh and reach in the aquatic environment through rain wash. In the present study, we examined the effects of Malathion on hematological parameters and gills morphology in common carp exposed to two sub-lethal concentrations (1.5 and 3.0 mg/L) for a period of 192h (8 days). For hematological parameters fish were sacrificed at 24, 48, 72, and 96h after start of exposure. Gills were collected at 192h after start of exposure. The blood glucose level was significantly elevated with increasing the concentration of Malathion. Red blood cells (RBCs), hemoglobin (Hb) and hematocrit (Hct) values were significantly decreased after the exposure of Malathion. Significant increments were observed in case of the mean corpuscular volume (MCV) and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), while no distinct changes were noted for mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH). Interestingly, white blood cells (WBCs) count was significantly increased with toxicity of Malathion. Several morphological changes, such as telangiectasia, blood lamellar congestion, hypertrophy of filaments, lamellar fusion were observed in the gills of fish exposed to Malathion. The present study revealed that the insecticide had adverse effects on various blood parameters and gills morphology in common carp. Thus, the use of insecticide in the agriculture field may be a threat to fauna and flora of the aquatic environment.Asian J. Med. Biol. Res. September 2016, 2(3): 370-378

Organic matter in coal seam-VI of the Barapukuria coal field in Bangladesh

Organic matter sources and depositional environments of Permian Gondwana coals in the coal seam-VI, Barapukuria coal field, northwestern Bangladesh have been investigated using CHNS elemental analysis. A total of 8 coal samples were collected from the coal seam-VI within depth range between 118 and 509 m. Total organic carbon (TOC), hydrogen, nitrogen and sulfur contents range from 48 to 75 (average 61 wt.%), 3.89 to 5.80 (average 4.59 wt.%), 2.87 to 3.87 (average 3.28 wt.%), and 0.19 to 0.37 wt.% (average 0.30 wt.%), respectively. C/N ratio range between 14 and 21 (average 19), and a positive correlation between TOC and TN (r = 0.51) suggested that organic matter in the coals was derived largely from terrestrial plants. However, C/S ratio values (up to 376) and scatter distribution between TOC and TS indicates the coal seam-VI was deposited in fresh water dominated inland lake environments.Bangladesh J. Sci. Ind. Res. 51(3), 221-230, 2016

Streamline simulation study on recovery of oil by water flooding: A real case study on Haripur field

Haripur field is the first oil producing field in Bangladesh. The field produced approximately 0.53 MMSTB of oil from the well No. SY-7. The oil production began in 1987 and terminated in 1994. All of the oil was produced by the reservoir own energy from the depth of 2030 meter. Recent investigation and study have revealed that approximately 31 MMSTB Oil is remaining in that formation as validated by the reservoir performance based study i.e. oil production rate and tube head pressure history matching. At present condition, the reservoir has no pressure energy to lift the oil to surface as it requires minimum 1500 psi pressure, so it needs pressure energy to lift the oil to surface. Among the recent developed technologies water injection is one of the best methods to sweep oil towards the production well from the injection well as well as to provide sufficient pressure for lifting. In this study we proposed design for optimum waterflooding pattern and defined optimum number of injection and production wells. In addition the production and injection rates are optimized along with selection of the best placement of production and injection wells and their life.Bangladesh J. Sci. Res. 28(1): 61-72, June-2015

Complete Genome Sequence of Southern tomato virus Naturally Infecting Tomatoes in Bangladesh.

The complete genome sequence of a Southern tomato virus (STV) isolate on tomato plants in a seed production field in Bangladesh was obtained for the first time using next-generation sequencing. The identified isolate, STV_BD-13, shares a high degree of sequence identity (99%) with several known STV isolates worldwide.

P14.22 To prevent hiv/aids through awareness raising and social behaviours change of sex worker in bangladesh - an experience from kandapara brothel, tangail, bangladesh

Issues Nari mukti Sangha (NMS) is a Self Help Group (SHG). We can awareness build up of SWs by (i) One-to-One Session (ii) Group discussion (iii) Peer education training (iv) HIV Test by ICDDRB Bangladesh (v) STI Clinic and (vi) Support services. Description NMS is a social service organisation, Government Registration no. TA-1333/2000. It is purely non-political and solely sex workers’ organisation. Its aim is to establish the social, legal and human rights in the society and also women empowerment. We are directly involved to reduce STD/HIV/AIDS through awareness development and other intensive support services like STD clinic inside and outside of the brothel. Now we are working in trafficking field in Bangladesh. Before working in the field we do base line survey and post survey. Lesson learned After completion the work the result one is SWs can encourage to use condom for protecting HIV/AIDS to the client. Another one is to establish the social and human rights in the society. Conclusion SWs will develop capacity which will carry out the important benefit to prevent the HIV/AIDS program of our organisation. Nari Mukti Sangha is a fully committed to work with HIV/AIDS.

Using DET and DGT probes (ferrihydrite and titanium dioxide) to investigate arsenic concentrations in soil porewater of an arsenic-contaminated paddy field in Bangladesh

Arsenic concentration in the pore water of paddy fields (Csoln) irrigated with arsenic-rich groundwater is a key parameter in arsenic uptake by rice. Pore water extracts from cores and in situ deployment of DET and DGT probes were used to measure the arsenic concentration in the pore water. Ferrihydrite (Fe) and titanium dioxide (Ti) were used as DGT binding agents. Six sampling events during different growing stages of the rice, inducing different biogeochemical conditions, were performed in one rice field. A time series of DGT experiments allow the determination of an in situ arsenic diffusion coefficient in the diffusive gel (3.34×10−6cm2s−1) needed to calculate the so-called CDGT(Fe) and CDGT(Ti) concentrations. Over 3days of a given sampling event and for cores sampled at intervals smaller than 50cm, great variability in arsenic Csoln concentrations between vertical profiles was observed, with maxima of concentrations varying from 690 to 2800μgL−1. Comparisons between arsenic measured Csol and CDET and calculated CDGT(Fe) and CDGT(Ti) concentrations show either, in a few cases, roughly similar vertical profiles, or in other cases, significantly different profiles. An established iron oxyhydroxide precipitation in the DET gel may explain why measured arsenic CDET concentrations occasionally exceeded Csoln. The large spread in results suggests limitations to the use of DET and type of DGT probes used here for similarly representing the spatio-temporal variations of arsenic content in soil pore water in specific environmental such as paddy soils.

Evaluation of natural gas production optimization in Kailashtila gas field in Bangladesh using decline curve analysis method

Decline curve analysis of well no KTL-04 from the Kailashtila gas field in northeastern Bangladesh has been examined to identify their natural gas production optimization. KTL-04 is one of the major gas producing well of Kailashtila gas field which producing 16.00 mmscfd. Conventional gas production methods depend on enormous computational efforts since production systems from reservoir to a gathering point. The overall performance of a gas production system is determined by flow rate which is involved with system or wellbore components, reservoir pressure, separator pressure and wellhead pressure. Nodal analysis technique is used to performed gas production optimization of the overall performance of the production system. F.A.S.T. Virtu Well™ analysis suggested that declining reservoir pressure 3346.8, 3299.5, 3285.6 and 3269.3 psi(a) while signifying wellhead pressure with no changing of tubing diameter and skin factor thus daily gas production capacity is optimized to 19.637, 24.198, 25.469, and 26.922 mmscfd, respectively.Bangladesh J. Sci. Ind. Res. 50(1), 29-38, 2015

External shock, monetary policy and the domestic economy: A structural VAR approach for Bangladesh

Economies around the world are interdependent with one another in the present era of globalization. While some global shocks may affect the countries of the world together, domestic policies of a country sometimes can hardly work independent of external factors. Keeping these in view, a large body of literature has developed to address the impact of external shock on domestic economy as well as examining effectiveness of domestic policy in the context of an open economy. While effectiveness of monetary policy has been well studied in the context of both developed world as well as in the developing countries, only a few studies have been conducted in this field in Bangladesh and all these studies are made in a closed economy framework. Moreover, there is no study to formally examine the impact of external shock in Bangladesh. On this backdrop, the present paper makes an attempt to simultaneously assess the impact of external shock and that of monetary policy on the economy of Bangladesh. It builds up a structural vector autoregression (SVAR) model of Bangladesh in an open economy set up. Contemporaneous restrictions are set based on the spirit of the existing literature and the specific condition of Bangladesh economy. The SVAR model is estimated with quarterly data ranging from the year 1989 to 2013. Impulse response function and the variance decomposition analysis are used in exploring the importance of monetary policy and external shocks in explaining variation in domestic price level and output. Estimated Impulse response functions show that innovation in reserve money has a positive impact on price and output, although impact on price level is less significant. On the other hand external shocks seem to have more prominent impact on the domestic economy. Innovation in OECD GDP also has significant positive impact on domestic output of Bangladesh. Shocks in foreign price have an immediate positive impact on domestic prices. Variance decomposition exercise shows that external shocks weight more in explaining variation in domestic price and output compared to the monetary policy. Furthermore, effectiveness of monetary policy in the open economy model of Bangladesh economy seems to be lower compared to that in a closed economy version of the economy, implying that exposure to the rest of the world dilutes the effectiveness of domestic policy of Bangladesh. The findings have important implications. First, as monetary expansion has positive impact on price level, monetary tightening would be the right policy in controlling inflation. However, this may not always bring high success if the external factors are not favorable as the study finds importance of external factor affecting both price level and GDP. On the other hand, as innovation in OECD GDP has positive impact on GDP of Bangladesh, global recovery may have a positive stimulus to GDP growth of the country.

Promoting Resilience in ‘Sex Worker’ Children: The Role of Residential Childcare Institutions in Bangladesh

Brothel children are the most marginalised within society. They are shunned by mainstream society and thus denied opportunities to mix with other groups of children. They carry a sense of shame regarding their origin, whether as a result of their direct involvement in the world of prostitution or merely by association – often, they are seen as ‘dirty’, ‘uncouth’, ‘unwanted’, ‘jaroj’ (bastards), ‘harami’ (whore kids). They suffer greatly from social stigma and discrimination. Sex worker mothers, on the other hand, due to the nature of their work, have little time to devote to their children. Residential childcare research is a relatively new area in the social work field in Bangladesh. Unfortunately, much negative publicity has been heaped on residential childcare institutions–their operational systems, practices and outcomes have often been found to be at fault. Although in large part this may be true, my study, interestingly, found institutional care in some part, to be rather more positive, and thus potentially useful to childcare social work practitioners in Bangladesh and elsewhere. This paper, broadly descriptive, explores the experiences of care, leaving care and after care from the perspective of a group of sex workers’ children and young people who lived in NGO-run residential homes in Bangladesh. It tries to understand the preparation process that enabled them to adjust better into wider society. The findings show that along with food, shelter and education, residential care staff actively created opportunities for them to develop safe relationships that fostered friendship and commitment with others, including the wider communities in which they lived. The findings show that crucial lessons for the minority world could be learned from this study, namely the notion that the whole community needs to take responsibility for these vulnerable children if resilience is to become entrenched in them; and that attention needs to be paid to building relationships with adults, peer groups, parents, and the community at large.

Using Soil Science to Remove Arsenic from Water in Asia: A Day in the Life of Matt Polizzotto

Using Soil Science to Remove Arsenic from Water in Asia: A Day in the Life of Matt Polizzotto

Elusive Partnerships: Gas extraction and CSR in Bangladesh

This paper examines Chevron's programme of CSR at a gas field in Bangladesh. Whilst apparently building partnerships in the villages that surround the Bibiyana Gas Field, we suggest that the corporation remains detached from the local population via their community development programmes and employment policies. This contradiction is submerged by ideas and practices within global development discourse which celebrate the disconnection and disengagement of donors via the rhetoric of sustainability. Chiming with development praxis and the neo-liberal values which underscore it by stressing self-reliance, entrepreneurship and ‘helping people to help themselves’, the corporation's Community Engagement Programme does little to meet the demands of local people who hoped for employment and long term investment, a form of connection that is discordant to discourses of self-reliance and sustainability.

Selection of Shaft Sinking Method for Underground Mining in Khalashpir Coal Field, Khalashpir, Rangpur, Bangladesh

Khalashpir coal field is the 3 rd largest coal field in Bangladesh, where coal occurs at depths of 257m to 483m below the surface. Considering the Geological, Geo-environment and other related geo- engineering information, underground mining have been selected there to extract the deposit. In this paper, our concern is about shaft sinking method for underground mining. Depths of the coal seams reveal the necessity of a vertical shaft underground which again needs deep excavation. The problem arises with the excavation because of nearly 138m thick Dupitila Sandstone Formation just 6m below the surface in the area. It is loose, water bearing, containing dominantly porous and permeable sandstone and experiences massive water flow. So, the major concern is that any excavation through this will readily collapse and suffer massive water inrush. This will totally disturb the whole mining work progression and cause economic loss as well. By analyzing the ground condition of the Khalashpir cola field, artificial ground freezing has been identified most appropriate as shaft sinking method to control the ground water and to stabilize the loose soil during excavation. Lawfulness of the method and reason of neglecting other two common shaft sinking methods has been pointed out in this paper.

Environmental incidents in a developing country and corporate environmental disclosures

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the environmental disclosure initiatives of Niko Resources Ltd – a Canada‐based multinational oil and gas company – following the two major environmental blowouts at a gas field in Bangladesh in 2005. As part of the examination, the authors particularly focus on whether Niko's disclosure strategy was associated with public concern pertaining to the blowouts.Design/methodology/approachThe authors reviewed news articles about Niko's environmental incidents in Bangladesh and Niko's communication media, including annual reports, press releases and stand‐alone social responsibility report over the period 2004‐2007, to understand whether news media attention as proxy for public concern has an impact on Niko's disclosure practices in relation to the affected local community in Bangladesh.FindingsThe findings show that Niko did not provide any non‐financial environmental information within its annual reports and press releases as a part of its responsibility to the local community which was affected by the blowouts, but it did produce a stand‐alone report to address the issue. However, financial environmental disclosures, such as the environmental contingent liability disclosure, were adequately provided through annual reports to meet the regulatory requirements concerning environmental persecutions. The findings also suggest that Niko's non‐financial disclosure within a stand‐alone report was associated with the public pressures as measured by negative media coverage towards the Niko blowouts.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper concludes that the motive for Niko's non‐financial environmental disclosure, via a stand‐alone report, reflected survival considerations: the company's reaction did not suggest any real attempt to hold broader accountability for its activities in a developing country.Originality/valueThis is the first known paper that investigates a multinational company's disclosure behavior in relation to environmental incidents which occurred in a local community.

Surface energy partitioning and evapotranspiration over a double‐cropping paddy field in Bangladesh

AbstractThe eddy covariance technique was used to measure surface energy balance and evapotranspiration in a double‐cropping paddy field in Mymensingh, northern Bangladesh (24·73°N, 90·42°E, 18 m above sea level). Because irrigation in dry season and frequent rainfall in the summer monsoon season kept the field flooded most of the year, most of the radiant energy was converted to latent heat flux except for the drained fallow period in winter. The ratio of the latent heat flux to the available energy, or evaporative fraction (EF), was 71–74% on average for two growing seasons and the flooded summer fallow period in rainy season. The evapotranspiration rate (ET) ranged from 0·2 to 6·6 mm d−1. The seasonal accumulated ET from transplanting to harvest in dry‐season rice (Boro rice) and wet‐season rice (Aman rice) was 370 and 307 mm with seasonal average of 3·3 and 2·9 mm d−1, respectively. In addition, 283 mm was lost as ET during the flooded summer fallow period, which characterized the seasonal variation of ET in this study site. The canopy conductance (Gc) showed a wide range from 1·0 to 20·2 mm s−1, but larger Gc values were found at higher leaf area index (LAI) periods for both Boro and Aman rice. Gc was closely related to the ratio of ET to equilibrium evaporation (Eeq), suggesting seasonal variability of ET is control by Eeq and Gc. Partitioning of ET by applying an empirical equation indicated that about 70 and 64% of seasonal ET came from transpiration in the Boro rice and the Aman rice, respectively. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Arsenic Dynamics in Porewater of an Intermittently Irrigated Paddy Field in Bangladesh

In Bangladesh, irrigation of dry season rice (boro) with arsenic-contaminated groundwater is leading to increased As levels in soils and rice, and to concerns about As-induced yield reduction. Arsenic concentrations and speciation in soil porewater are strongly influenced by redox conditions, and thus by water management during rice growth. We studied the dynamics of As, Fe, P, Si, and other elements in porewater of a paddy field near Sreenagar (Munshiganj), irrigated according to local practice, in which flooding was intermittent. During early rice growth, As porewater concentrations reached up to 500 μg L(-1) and were dominated by As(III), but As release was constrained to the lower portion of the soil above the plow pan. In the later part of the season, soil conditions were oxic throughout the depth range relevant to rice roots and porewater concentrations only intermittently increased to ∼150 μg L(-1) As(V) following irrigation events. Our findings suggest that intermittent irrigation, currently advocated in Bangladesh for water-saving purposes, may be a promising means of reducing As input to paddy soils and rice plant exposure to As.

Biogeochemical processes and arsenic enrichment around rice roots in paddy soil: results from micro-focused X-ray spectroscopy

The spatial distribution and speciation of iron (Fe), manganese (Mn) and arsenic (As) around rice roots grown in an As-affected paddy field in Bangladesh were investigated on soil sampled after rice harvest. Synchrotron micro-X-ray fluorescence spectrometry on soil thin sections revealed that roots influence soil Fe, Mn and As distribution up to 1 mm away from the root–soil interface. Around thick roots (diameter around 500 µm), Mn was concentrated in discrete enrichments close to the root surface without associated As, whereas concentric Fe accumulations formed farther away and were closely correlated with As accumulations. Near thin roots (diameter < 100 µm), in contrast, a pronounced enrichment of Fe and As next to the root surface and a lack of Mn enrichments was observed. X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy suggested that (i) accumulated Fe was mainly contained in a two-line ferrihydrite-like phase, (ii) associated As was mostly As(V) and (iii) Mn enrichments consisted of Mn(III/IV) oxyhydroxides. The distinct enrichment patterns can be related to the extent of O2 release from primary and lateral rice roots and the thermodynamics and kinetics of Fe, Mn and As redox transformations. Our results suggest that in addition to Fe(III) plaque at the root surface, element accumulation and speciation in the surrounding rhizosphere soil must be taken into account when addressing the transfer of nutrients or contaminants into rice roots.

Challenging social enterprise debates in Bangladesh

PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to highlight key issues for the social enterprise field in Bangladesh, which are not sufficiently addressed in current social enterprise debates and discourse.Design/methodology/approachThe paper reviews key economic and political debates in the current social enterprise literature. It then attempts to demonstrate how these are insufficient for critical analysis of social enterprise in Bangladesh. The paper draws on field research and literature on the Grameen social enterprises to inform this argument.FindingsThe paper finds that this review of the main debates in a Bangladeshi context raises many pertinent and urgent questions about the role of social enterprise in addressing: complex market failures; the boundaries of the field in the informal and formal sectors; the conflicts caused by contending political objectives and donor/creditor expectations; and broader development issues.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper focuses on the economic and political factors, which differ between Western and developing world environments. It does this with the specific example of the Grameen Energy and Grameen Bank social enterprises from Bangladesh. Whilst this is sufficient to support the paper's aim, it limits the scope of the findings.Originality/valueThis paper highlights a gap in the literature which has had little attention in academic or practitioner fields of social enterprise.

Relative density of weed species in transplanted aman rice field in Bangladesh

Relative density of weed species in transplanted aman rice field in Bangladesh

Absolute Density, Dry Matter Weight and Intensity of Weed Infestation in Transplanted Aman Rice Field in Bangladesh

Absolute Density, Dry Matter Weight and Intensity of Weed Infestation in Transplanted Aman Rice Field in Bangladesh