Sesame Straw Research Articles

Non-composted and blended agro-industrial by-products an as alternative soilless substrate affect potted zonal geranium (Pelargonium x hortorum) and murva (Murraya paniculata) production

Due to their hiking prices and import restrictions, peat moss and coco coir are not readily available in many developing countries including Pakistan. Therefore, it is necessary to explore alternative soilless substrates having low cost and comparable physico-chemical properties with peat moss and coco coir for local and global market. For this purpose, indigenous agro-industrial by-products, viz., sesame straw, date palm coir, sugarcane pressmud, sugar beet waste and pine bark were collected, cleaned, crushed (where needed) and blended for physico-chemical analyses. Zonal geranium ‘Pinto White’ and murva (Murraya paniculata Kaneh.) were used to evaluate the efficacy of various combinations of substrates on plant growth and production. Three experiments were conducted with six treatments of each experiment replicated three times. Blending of sesame straw with sugarcane pressmud and pine bark (4:4:2 by volume) yielded best results and marketable plants were produced with tallest height (35.8 cm), canopy diameter (20.8 cm), leaf area (29.2 cm2), leaf total chlorophyll contents (62.1 SPAD) and flowers per plant (5.0 No.) along with shortest production time (103 days). Same results were recorded when murva plants were grown in 4:4:2 blending of sesame straw, sugarcane pressmud and pine bark. Zonal geranium and murva plants did not perform well when sesame straw was blended with date palm coir and sugar beet waste. Blending of sesame straw with sugarcane pressmud and pine bark had low pH (7.0), electrical conductivity (1.37 mS cm-1), bulk density (0.29 g cm-3) while high water retention (34.7 %) as compared to other blended substrates. However, shrinkage of substrates in containers was highest (7.7 %) when sesame straw was blended with sugarcane pressmud and pine bark in 5:3:2 followed by 4:4:2. pH value of all blended substrates decreased at termination except when sesame straw, sugarcane pressmud and pine bark were blended in 4:4:2 and 5:2:3, which was increased from 7.0 to 7.1. Electrical conductivity of all blended substrates was decreased at termination of the experiments. It can be concluded that blending of sesame straw, sugarcane pressmud and pine bark in 4:4:2 (v/v/v) significantly improved physico-chemical characteristics of substrates as well as plant growth and production attributes of zonal geranium and murva. Therefore, this indigenous soilless substrate, which is cheaper and readily available to nurserymen can be used as alternative of peat moss and coco coir for containerized plant production.

Effects of different precursors on the structure of lignin-based biochar and its ability to adsorb benzopyrene from sesame oil

Agricultural by-products of sesame are promising bioresources in food processing. This study extracted lignin from the by-products of sesame oil production, namely, the capsules and straw of black and white sesame. Using acid, alkali, and ethanol methods, 12 distinct lignins were obtained to prepare biochar, aiming to investigate both the structural characteristics of lignin-based biochar (LBB) and its ability to remove benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) from sesame oil. The results showed that white sesame straw was the most suitable raw material for preparing biochar. In terms of the preparation method, acid-extracted lignin biochar was more effective in removing BaP than alkaline or ethanol methods. Notably, WS-1LB (white sesame straw acid-extracted lignin biochar) exhibited the highest BaP adsorption efficiency (91.44 %) and the maximum specific surface area (1065.8187 m2/g), characterized by porous structures. The pseudo 2nd and Freundlich models were found to be the best fit for the adsorption kinetics and isotherms of BaP on LBB, respectively, suggesting that a multilayer adsorption process was dominant. The high adsorption of LBB mainly resulted from pore filling. This study provides an economical and highly efficient biochar adsorbent for the removal of BaP in oil.

The characteristics of adsorption Cr(VI) by iron-modified and iron-doped phosphorus-based biochar biochar

ABSTRACT In this study, we evaluated the effect of the modification of biochar on the adsorption of Cr(VI) under weakly acidic conditions. Sesame straw biochar (BC) was modified by treatment with ferric chloride to produce iron-modified biochar (FBC) and ferric chloride and chlorapatite to produce iron-doped chlorapatite-modified biochar (FBCP). Analysis by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) showed that the adsorption mechanism of Cr(VI) by FBC and FBCP was reduction, physical adsorption, ion exchange, and functional group complexation. Experiments were performed to evaluate the kinetic, isothermal, and thermodynamic characteristics of adsorption, demonstrating that the adsorption of Cr(VI) by FBC and FBCP was a spontaneous endothermic reaction, consistent with the pseudo-second-order kinetic model and Langmuir model, and the process was dominated by monolayer chemical adsorption. The Langmuir model revealed maximum saturated adsorption capacities for Cr(VI) of 7.907 and 12.625 mg/g by FBC and FBCP, respectively, equating to 4.06 and 6.48 times the maximum saturated adsorption capacity of BC, respectively. Compared with FBC, the phosphate ions in FBCP also co-precipitated with Cr(III), further improving the removal efficiency of pollutants.

Fabricating modified carbon sesame straw for adsorption of acetaminophen and ibuprofen from aqueous media: isotherm and kinetic models.

As acetaminophen (ACT) and ibuprofen (IBP) have serious environmental impacts, despite their widespread use inmanycountries, the present research examined the effectiveness of activatedcarbonmadefromstraw and sesame stubble in removing ACT and IBPfromwater.To that end, the as-synthesized adsorbent was functionalized using zinc chloride. The maximum adsorption capacitieswere found to be51.7mg g-1 for ACT and 63.7 mg g-1 for IBP. Theadsorptionkineticsandisotherm results showedthatthepseudo-second-order (PSO) kinetics and Langmuir isotherm fit the data obtained from this study betterthanthe otherexperimentalmodels do. Also, the adsorption reached equilibrium within 120 min, and the optimal adsorbent dose and temperature were obtained as 1.0 mg and 25 °C, respectively. The mechanisms involved in the adsorption process would include acid-base, hydrogen bonding, electrostatic forces, and π-π interaction. Reusability studies revealed that the adsorbent still preserved about 89% and 82% of the adsorption performance for ACT and IBP, respectively, after seven repeated adsorption cycles. As the findings indicated, CSS/Zn could be accepted as a hopeful adsorbent to be used in pharmaceutical treatment.

VOC emission profiles from typical solid fuel combustion in Fenhe River Basin: Field measurements and environmental implication

This study examined volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from the combustion of seven typical biomass fuel types in a traditional stove, elevated kang, and biomass furnace and from the combustion of three types of coal in coal furnaces. The results revealed that emission factors (EFs) of VOCs emitted from combustion processes ranged from 48.8 ± 29.1 mg/kg (for anthracite combustion in an outdoor boiler) to 5700 ± 6040 mg/kg (for sesame straw combustion in a traditional stove). Changing the fuel type engendered a more significant EF reduction (82.7%) than changing the stove type (51.8%). The emitted VOCs (including oxygenated VOCs, OVOCs) can be ordered as follows (in descending order) in terms of proportion: OVOCs > alkenes > aromatic VOCs > alkanes > halo hydrocarbons > alkynes. These results indicate solid fuel combustion processes warrant attention because they produce high OVOC emissions. The ozone formation potential (OFP) values derived for VOCs emitted from solid fuel combustion ranged from 5.83 ± 0.72 to 1910 ± 1750 mg/kg. Clean fuel and clean stove technologies both exhibited >80% efficiency levels in reducing OFP emissions (e.g., 80.6% reduction for the optimal fuel; 89.4% reduction for a clean stove). Therefore, the difference between VOC emission profiles from different combustion technologies should not be ignored. This study also noted substantial differences between VOC emissions from residential combustion and industrial combustion. Accordingly, attention should be paid to the local characteristics of fuels and stoves and to VOC emissions from residential combustion.

Efficiency of Soil Amendments for Copper Removal and Brassica Juncea (L.) Growth in Wastewater Irrigated Agricultural Soil.

Wastewater irrigation is becoming a massive challenge for sustainable agriculture. Particularly, copper (Cu) presence in wastewater poses a great threat to the food chain quality. Thus, scientists need to address this issue by using chemical and organic soil amendments to restore the soil ecosystem. Therefore, this study aims to examine the efficacy of sulphur, compost, acidified animal manure and sesame straw biochar for Cu immobilization, adsorption and Brassica growth in wastewater irrigated soil. The current findings presented that all the soil amendments prominently improved brassica yield and significantly minimized the Cu uptake by Brassica shoots and roots in sesame straw biochar (SB) (64.2% and 50.2%), compost (CP) (48% and 32.5%), acidified manure (AM) (37% and 23.2%) and Sulphur (SP) (16% and 3.1%) respectively relative to untreated soil. In addition, Cu bioavailability was reduced by 51%, 34%, 16.6%, and 7.4% when SB, CP, AM, and SP were incorporated in wastewater irrigated polluted soil. The Cu adsorption isotherm results also revealed that SB treated soil has great potential to increase Cu adsorption capacity by 223mg g- 1 over control 89mg g- 1. Among all the treatments, SB and CP were considered suitable candidates for the restoration of Cu polluted alkaline nature soil.

A novel amorphous porous biochar for adsorption of antibiotics: Adsorption mechanism analysis via experiment coupled with theoretical calculations

High-performance activated carbons are crucial for adsorbing antibiotics in water environment. In this work, amorphous porous biochars (APBCs) with high specific surface area (935 m2·g-1) were achieved by using sesame straw. Compared with the conventional biochars precursor, sesame straw with the advantages of rich resources and low price is more economical and environmentally friendly. Moreover, KOH and Ca(OH)2 were selected as co-activators, which characterization results revealed that co-activators significantly increased the coarseness of activated carbon surface and enlarged pore structure. In addition, the adsorption mechanism of norfloxacin (NOR), ciprofloxacin (CIP) and enrofloxacin (ENR) on APBCs were further investigated by experiments and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The results discovered that pseudo second-order kinetics and Sips model followed the adsorption experiment data, implying that the adsorption process was heterogeneous and multilayer. And the interactions between APBCs and antibiotics were electrostatic interaction, hydrogen bond and π-π interaction, which were conducive to chemical adsorption.

Effects of Sesame Straw Ash as a Substitute for Cement on Strength Characteristics of Concrete

Concrete is broadly used as a building material across the globe, and its use is raising the need of cement in the construction industries. High price of cement and environmental debasement are the driving problems forcing the researchers to come up with alternative materials from large volumes of agricultural wastes as a partial replacement for cement. This study aims at recycling agricultural waste ash (i.e. Sesame straw ash) as a substitute for cement in the production of sustainable and environmentally friendly greener concrete. Preliminary tests on constituent materials were conducted in order to find out their physical properties. Influences of sesame straw ash (SSA) on cement paste were looked into for addition of 0, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 % by weight of cement. The Compressive and flexural strengths as well as the slump of concrete made with different portions of SSA (i.e. 0 – 25 %) were investigated. A 100 mm cubes and 100 mm X 100 mm X 450 mm beams of SSA-concrete were tested for compressive and flexural strengths at 3, 7, 28, 56 and 90 days of curing in line with procedure outlined in BS 1881-116: (1983) and BS 1881-118: (1983) respectively. The outcomes of the workability test show that as the portion of SSA increases the workability a fresh concrete decreases, but consistency, setting times, and soundness of SSA-cement paste increase as the portion of SSA increases. However, the strengths of SSA-concrete increase as the duration of curing increases, and decrease as the portion of SSA increases. It was detected that strength of concrete produced with 10 % SSA content was beyond the designed strength of 20 N/mm2 at 28 days of curing. Finally, it was concluded that maximum amount of SSA to be used should not exceed 10 % replacement in concrete production.

Syngas Production from Agriculture Residues: Sudan

The study is aimed at evaluating the availability of agriculture residues for syngas production, a case study for Sudan. 10 types of biomass are investigated: sugarcane (bagasse), cotton stalks, sesame straw, groundnut shells, maize straw, sorghum straw, millet straw, sunflower husks, wheat straw, and banana leaves. The available biomass is about 11 Mt/year (3.68 Mtoe). Aspen plus software is applied to simulate the gasification process. The study covered a wide range of operating conditions of steam to biomass ratio (0<SB<2) and equivalent ratio ( 0>ER>0.5). For all types of syngas characteristics, H2 is 0.32-0.42 (mole fraction), CO is 0.13 to 0.16 (mole fraction), LHV is 5.0 to 8.0 MJ/kg, and the yield is ≥1.5. Wheat, groundnut, and sunflower have the best characteristics, while millet and bagasse yield the poorest characteristics. In addition, all types of syngas haveH2/CO>2except Millet. These characteristics make all types of syngas except millet suitable for both energy and industry applications. The potential syngas production is 14.17 Mt/year.

Performance of sesame straw cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin biochars as adsorbents in removing benzo(a)pyrene from edible oil

The safety problems related to the occurrence of benzo(a)pyrene in edible oil have been a major threat to human health, and now significant attention has been to remove benzo(a)pyrene. So in this work, cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin biochars were prepared, and then were used to remove benzo(a)pyrene from contaminated oil. Based on the nitrogen adsorption/desorption isotherms and the scanning election micrographs, the modified biochars had a huge specific surface area of 983.50-1915.55 m2/g and a well-developed porous structure. The modified biochars showed higher removal rate for benzo(a)pyrene than unmodified biochars. The highest adsorption (95.79%) of benzo(a)pyrene was achieved using the modified lignin biochar, which was therefore selected for evaluation of adsorptive capacity. The ability of the modified lignin biochar to adsorb benzo(a)pyrene was consistent with the pseudo-second order kinetic equation indicating mainly chemisorption, and it fit the Freundlich isotherm (R2 > 0.999), thereby revealing the occurrence of multilayer adsorption. The effect of π-π conjugation interaction and pore-filling together promoted the high adsorption performance of the modified lignin biochar. This work demonstrates that the modified lignin biochar could be a promising adsorbent for the removal of benzo(a)pyrene from edible oils.

Study of Bio-fertilizer Produced from Agro-waste (Sesame Straw) and Cow Dung Using Eisenia fetida and Perionyx sansibaricus in Arid Environment

In this study, an analysis of organic fertilizer of an agro-waste (Sesame straw) plus cow dung was carried out using an epigeic earthworm species Eisenia fetida and Perionyx sansibaricus. Sesame straw is abundantly produced after each harvesting of the crop in Kharif season in arid region of tropical India. The compost produced in presence and absence of earthworm exhibit significant (P<0.001) and non-significant (P>0.05) changes in physicochemical properties respectively. In control bedding, the values of water holding capacity enhanced significantly (P<0.05) by 1.28 fold, while organic carbon and C/N ratio decreased significantly (P<0.05) by 19.93% and 31.25% respectively after 60 days of composting.Working of E. fetida in the bedding material showed significant (P<0.001) difference in the level of pH, electrical conductivity, water holding capacity, organic carbon, total nitrogen, C/N ratio, available phosphorous and available potassium. After 60 days of working of P. sansibaricus, these physicochemical properties of the bedding substrate also changed significantly (P<0.001). Analysis of vermibed showed a gradual increase in electrical conductivity, water holding capacity, total nitrogen, available phosphorus and available potassium by 1.51, 1.86, 1.95, 1.78 and 1.75 fold respectively. While the values of pH, organic carbon and C/N ratio declined by 9.30%, 41.80% and 71.48% respectively within 60 days of decomposition. Thus, E. fetida and P. sansibaricus can be applied for production of organic fertilizer of sesame chaff plus cow dung to fulfill the requirement of bio-fertilizers for organic farming and agro-waste management in arid environment.

Kinetics and optimization of microwave-assisted lignin fractionation with Protic low transition temperature mixture of Sesamum indicum straw for enhanced bioethanol production

Six novel low transition temperature mixtures were synthesized as two groups of ternary protic (tpLTTM) and binary amphiphilic (aLTTM) mixtures. The thermophysical assessment of these LTTMs was evaluated as a function of temperature. Sustainable delignification for sesame straw and Hansen solubility using kraft lignin was determined as a function of relative energy difference (RED). CLG exhibited lowest RED (0.86) implying elevated lignin affinity (63.2%). Pretreatment kinetics and optimization for lignin removal was defined as a function of time. The samples were observed prior to and after treatment under SEM. The treated biomass (78.3%) was subjected to enzymatic digestion with immobilized cellulase (Cellic CTec2) and fermentation was accomplished with the same (68.3%) to produce bioethanol (81.3%).

The Effect of Husbandry and Management System on Sudan Desert Sheep Leather Production and Quality

This trail is aimed to demonstrate the effect of husbandry and management system on Sudan desert sheep performance and skin quality. For this purpose a questionnaire was designed and distributed randomly for 20 sheep breeders in each of the five chosen sheep breed area’s (Total of 100 ques.). The questionnaire include beside the personal data, twenty two (22) questions mainly about; system of feeding and application methods in each season, husbandry systems in each season , the main effective treatments on skins quality and common skin diseases and external parasites. The results revealed that, most of Sudan desert sheep owners or breeders were illiterate and most of them were herder 48.0%, while 37.5% were herder and farmer at the same time. All respondents confirmed that the open system depending on natural grazing was the main h usbandry and management system in all study target area. In autumn sheep depends totally on natural pasture grazing, while in winter sheep partly fed on natural grazing and the breeders complete it's feeding depending on the litter that remained from food crops after harvesting. Sudan desert sheep breeder in summer are using their stock of forage hay that collected either during the rainy season from good growing autumn pastures or from agricultural byproducts such as sorghum and sesame straw or groundnut r esiduals. The additional diets is varies by the variation of Sudan desert sheep locations. sometimes when forage are limited and for marketing purposes Sudan desert sheep breeders adding little amount or uncountable amount of sorghum grains, cotton seed ca kes, groundnut seed cake as finisher diet concentrate beside agricultural byproducts such as groundnut byproduct hay, sorghum byproduct hay and sesame byproduct hay for the herd that offered for sale or for fleshing or steaming up ewes during lambing seaso n. Branding is the most common and known damage in skins generally. Also some animal breeder's belief that by means of hot iron branding some animals may acquire immunity against certain diseases. The respondents attributed causes of mechanical damages of skins of animals on range land mainly to the domination of thorny bushes and grass with hairy and spiny seeds in pastures. External parasites and skin diseases cause most of skins damages and wastages in Sudan generally. Sheep pox spreads on sheep skins wi th high rates (88%). On the other hand, mange are resulting in (8%) of sheep skins infections. However, ticks infect most of sheep skins (80%), when Lice infection estimated at 20% of sheep skins.

Humic substances from green waste compost: An effective washing agent for heavy metal (Cd, Ni) removal from contaminated sediments.

In this study, humic substances (HS) selected from 8 composting groups (peanut straw, sesame straw, corn straw and deciduous leaves, with or without grape marc) were used to remove Cd and Ni from artificially contaminated sediments. Sesame straw compost appeared to have the highest removal capacity for heavy metals through a series comparison on Cd removal efficiency, yield of HS and fulvic acids (FA), and seed germination index. The selected sesame HS was further used to wash two contaminated sediments of varying properties (a clay type for sediment 1 and a silty loam for sediment 2). Batch desorption experiments were conducted to determine the optimum HS concentration, equilibrium time, pH, solid-to-liquid ratio, and washing frequency. Under optimum conditions, a triple washing removed 74.16% of Cd and 42.91% of Ni from sediment 1, and 86.88% of Cd and 43.84% of Ni from sediment 2, respectively, whereas a commercial FA only achieved half of the efficiency. After washing, both sediments were identified with increased contents of total organic matter total nitrogen and phosphorus. Therefore, HS from the sesame straw compost is a cost-effective, efficient and environmental-friendly washing agent to remove heavy metals from contaminated sediments.

Phosphate and ammonium adsorption of sesame straw biochars produced at different pyrolysis temperatures.

The adsorption of [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] by sesame straw biochars (C-300, C-500, and C-700) prepared under different temperatures (300, 500, and 700°C) was investigated in this study. The physicochemical properties of the biochars were characterized using Brunauer-Emmett-Teller method, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectrometry. In batch experiments, C-300 showed the best [Formula: see text] adsorption capacity of 3.45mg/g because of its abundant surface functional groups at low pyrolysis temperature. C-700 achieved the optimal [Formula: see text] adsorption capacity of 34.17mg/g because of its high Ca, Mg, and Al contents and high surface area at high pyrolysis temperature. The isothermal study showed that the Langmuir-Freundlich model could sufficiently describe the [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] adsorption values, indicating the multiple adsorption processes of nutrients on biochars. The maximum [Formula: see text] adsorption capacity was 93.61mg/g on C-300, whereas the maximum [Formula: see text] adsorption capacity was as high as 116.58mg/g on C-700. Kinetic study showed that [Formula: see text] adsorption on C-300 was mainly controlled by intraparticle diffusion, and the pseudo-second-order model could well describe [Formula: see text] adsorption on C-700.

English

Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) is one of the exportable commodities in Ethiopia, though its productivity is threatened by moisture stress. This research aims to study effect of organic mulches and land preparation methods on sesame productivity and in-situ moisture conservation. The experiment was carried out in Humera, Western Tigray during 2015/16 growing season. The experimental design was factorial randomized complete block design with three replications. There were four type of organic mulches (rice straw, sorghum straw, sesame straw and “Sudan grass”) compared with control (no mulching) and two land preparation methods (ridge and flat land preparation). Sesame, variety Setit-1 was used in the experiment. The organic mulching rate of application was 10 ton ha-1 and this was applied evenly to the soil immediately after emergence. Soil water content, phonological characteristics, yield and yield components of sesame were collected. Partial budget analysis was computed to evaluate the economic visibility of both factors. The data collected was analyzed with Genstat15 software and treatment showed that significant difference was subjected to mean comparison test. The analyzed results indicated that land preparation methods with organic mulching had significant effect on soil moisture content at different soil depth and grain yield. The highest yield (750 kg ha-1) was recorded under flat land preparation with “Sudan grass” while the lowest yield (140 kgha-1) was recorded under no mulch with flat land preparation methods. The economic analysis showed that flat land preparation with “Sudan grass” produces the highest net benefit (9,499 Birr) and marginal rate of return (223.3%). The overall result showed that investing 1.0 Birr on flat land preparation method mulched with “Sudan grass” earns 2.23 birr. Thus, using flat land preparation with “Sudan grass” as mulch could be an advantage to obtain highest yield and profit for the farmers in dry land areas. Key words: Organic mulch, land preparation method, soil moisture, Sesame yield.

Carboxylic acid functionalized sesame straw: A sustainable cost-effective bioadsorbent with superior dye adsorption capacity

This study prepared a carboxylic functionalized bioadsorbent that met the “4-E” criteria: Efficient, Economical, Environmentally friendly, and Easily-produced. Sesame straw (Sesamum indicum L.) was functionalized through treatment with citric acid (SSCA) and tartaric acid (SSTA). The products were examined for adsorption capacity and mechanisms. Langmuir model gave the best fit for the isotherm data, and the maximum monolayer adsorption capacity of SSCA was 650mgg−1 for methylene blue (MB). The excellent dye adsorption capacity of SSCA can be attributed to the introduction of ester groups during citric-acid modification and the tube-like structures (i.e., sesame straw cell wall remnants). At last, the cost of carboxylic acid functionalized bioadsorbents was evaluated, which showed that SSCA would be the most cost-effective bioadsorbent. Additionally, this study presents a thermo-decomposition methodology for contaminant-loaded bioadsorbent. Results showed that SSCA is probably one of the few bioadsorbents that can be produced and applied in industrial scale.

Effect of Organic Mulch Materials on Growth and Yield Performance of Rice

The study was conducted at the Agronomy Farm, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka-1207, Bangladesh, during the period from August to December 2013 to evaluate the weed suppression efficacies of six mulch materials applied with BRRI dhan 56 experimented in a randomized complete block designed plots. The mulch materials used were maize stover; mustard straw; rice straw; sesame straw; water smart weed (Bishkathali) and no mulch as also designated T1, T2, T3, T4, T5 and T6 respectively. The plant height not influenced by mulch materials but the number of tillers hill-1 (25.33) was increased with maize stover. The mulch materials has no significant effect on plant dry matter. It was observed that mulch materials has significant effect on production of tillers hill-1 at 20 DAT, 40DAT, 60 DAT and 80 DAT, also in number of effective and non-effective tillers. Panicle length and number of rakish panicle-1 also pointedly influenced by mulch materials but not to number of rakish panicle-1 and number of filled grains panicle-1. The highest number of unfilled grains panicle-1 (31.22), 1000-grain weight (23.84 g), grain yield observed with rice straw mulch where the straw yield (5.75 t ha-1) with maize mulch and harvest index (50.02%) with mustard straw mulch. The result indicated that mulch materials had influence on rice grain production.

Effect of Organic Mulching on Soil Moisture, Yield, and Yield Contributing Components of Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.)

Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) is one of the chief foreign exchange earning oil crops in Ethiopia. However, its productivity remains low due to lack of appropriate agronomic practices. The aim of this research was to study the effect of organic mulches on sesame productivity and in situ moisture conservation. This experiment was carried out in Humera Agricultural Research Center, Western Tigray, during 2015 growing season. The experimental design was Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. There were four types of organic mulches; rice straw, sorghum straw, sesame straw, and Sudan grass were compared with control. Sesame, variety Setit-1 was used in the experiment. The organic mulching rate of application was 10 ton ha−1and this was applied evenly to the soil immediately after germination. Soil water content, phonological characteristics yield, and yield components of sesame were collected. The analyzed results indicated that organic mulching had significant effect on soil moisture content at 0–0.2 m, 0.21–0.4 m, and 0.41–0.6 m in every two-week interval after sowing and grain yield of sesame. Sesame straw conserved highest soil moisture content as compared with respective mulch material. The highest yield (664 kg ha−1) was recorded with Sudan grass while the lowest grain yield (190 kg ha−1) was recorded with no mulch.

Effect of Sesame Straw Biochar Application on Soil Physics and Nitrous Oxide Emission in Upland Soil

The effect of biochar application on soil physics and nitrous oxide (<TEX>$N_2O$</TEX>) emission from upland soil for broccoli cultivation was investigated. Sesame straw biochar (SB) was applied at amounts 0 (IF), 50 (SB50), 100 (SB100), 200 (SB200) kg <TEX>$10a^{-1}$</TEX>, respectively. SB addition to the upland soil decreased bulk density, and increased porosity and soil respiration. The <TEX>$N_2O$</TEX> emission rates in all treatments were higher in the order of IF <TEX>$${\geq_-}$$</TEX> SB50 > SB100 <TEX>$${\geq_-}$$</TEX> SB200 treatments. Global warming potential in SB200 treatment decreased by 15.1% compared to IF treatment. Therefore, SB application in upland soil can improve soil physics and reduce <TEX>$N_2O$</TEX> emission.