Stalk Of Corn Research Articles

Potential applications for eco-friendly wood preservative of the extracts of thermally degraded cobs and stalks of corn

Potential applications for eco-friendly wood preservative of the extracts of thermally degraded cobs and stalks of corn

Behaviour assessment of diesel engine operated using Butanol-Methyl Ester of Water Hyacinth blends

The rapid diminution of conventional fuel is steering the research towards non replenishing fuels. Alcohols, which are formed out of farming products like stalks of corn and sugarcane bagasse seems to be a encouraging non replenishing fuels. Out of various alcohol fuels, butanol has longer chain alcohol is deliberated in this attempt. This experimental attempt concentrates on the pollution and performance constraints of a Direct Injection Compression Ignition power train which uses different Butanol/Methyl Ester of Water Hyacinth (MEWH) mixtures. Trials were made with various Butanol/MEWH blends, having Butanol quantity in the mixture changing from 0 to 40% (10%, 20%, 30% and 40%-by vol. proportion mentioned as BU10, BU20, BU30, and BU40). The power train performance with various Butanol/MEWH mixtures were equated to that of Diesel. The output’s exposes that as the quantity of Butanol in mixture enhanced, emission parameters like CO, HC and Soot reduced, but the NOx emanations raised substantially. Eventually, the Thermal Efficiency (BTE) of engine minimally raised with rise with butanol proportion in mixture when equated to diesel. For Diesel the BTE was found to be 29.5%, for Methyl Ester of Water Hyacinth(MEWH) the BTE was found to be 28.5%, for MEWH with 10% Butanol the BTE was 28.7%, for 20% Butanol addition, the BTE was found to be 29%, for 30% Butanol addition, the BTE was found to be 29.3% and for 40% Butanol addition the BTE is found to be 28%. The engine delivers power almost equivalent to Diesel when operated at 30% Butanol mixture.

Occurrence of Nine Antibiotics in Different Kinds of Sewage Sludge, Soils, Corn and Grapes After Sludge Spreading

The huge worldwide use of antibiotics triggers the accumulation of these substances in sludge from wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) and the possible contamination of soils amended with it, as well as of crops growing in these soils. In this work we analyzed the presence of the antibiotics amoxicillin (AMO), cefuroxime (CEF), ciprofloxacin (CIP), clarithromycin (CLA), levofloxacin (LEV), lincomycin (LIN), norfloxacin (NOR), sulfadiazine (SUL), and trimethoprim (TRI), in sludge from different WWTPs in Galicia (NW Spain), as well as in sludge technically treated by waste-managers, in soils where treated sludge was applied, and in crops (corn and vineyard) growing in the amended areas. The antibiotics were quantified by means of high resolution HPLC-mass-chromatography. The results indicate that almost all the sludge samples contained antibiotics, being ciprofloxacin and levofloxacin the most abundant reaching maximum values of 623 and 893 ng/g, respectively. The sludge treatment significantly reduced the number and the concentrations of antibiotics. In 12% of the soil samples where sludge was applied, some antibiotics were detected, but always in small concentrations. Regarding the crops, no antibiotic was detected in the roots, stalk, leaves and grain of corn, neither in grapes sampled in vineyards. It can be concluded that the treatments currently applied in the WWTPs under study are not totally effective in removing antibiotics from the sludge, although the findings of this research suggest that the additional specific treatment of the sludge derived from these WWTPs is effective in reducing the risk of environmental pollution due to a variety of antibiotics, and specifically in the case of soils amended with these organic materials and crops growing on it.

Arthropod diversity and corn stem borer Ostrinia furnacalis Guenee population in corn endophytes

Corn (Zea mays L.) is a strategic commodity that plays an important role in the development of agriculture and the Indonesian economy because corn has a multipurpose function that can be used for food and feed purposes. Obstacles in corn cultivation that cause low corn productivity include the attack of plant pests. The use of entomopathogenic fungi as endophytes is an alternative to chemical insecticides but can also be used to decrease the use of fertilizers. The research has been carried out at the Department of Food Crops and Horticulture Agriculture, Bontomarannu District, Gowa Regency, South Sulawesi, and the Laboratorium of Plant Pests and Diseases, Faculty of Agriculture, Hasanuddin University. Observation of larvae population of O. furnacalis was started when the plant was 35 days after planting (DAP) by observing the presence of grinding marks on the leaves and stalks of corn. The larvae found in the field are reared in the laboratory. Arthropod exploration in the field used 4 methods, namely visual observation, pitfall traps, yellow traps and using nets. The results obtained in this study were the arthropods found in the land of endophytic corn using the pitfall trap method, found as many as 48 insects. Using a net, 150 insects were found. Using the yellow trap, 243 insects were found and with visual observation found as many as 95 insects. The number of larvae of O. furnacalis infected with the fungus B. bassiana in corn female parents were 20 with an infection percentage of 83.3% and 11 male parents with an infection percentage of 91.7%.

Navigation line extraction based on root and stalk composite locating points

The presence of weeds undermines the accurate algorithmic detection of navigation lines in cornfields, which plays a pivotal navigational role in the operation of intelligent agricultural machinery for tasks such as weeding and spraying. A method was proposed for extracting navigation lines by using the composite locations of the root and stalk of corn in the 6th- to 14th-leaf stages growing in a complex environment. The positional and area features were first used to eliminate the interference regions and obtain the root locations. The white pixel percentage index was used to filter the line segments obtained through the Hough transform and thereby determine the stalk locations. Experiments showed that the navigation lines were detected at an accuracy of 93.8%, an improvement of 10.2% over that achieved using conventional methods.

The green energy industry: current challenges and trends in the development of professional qualifications in agricultural specialists

Human activities require energy. However, widely used non-renewable sources are becoming exhausted. Currently, Russia does not have an acute shortage of energy resources; therefore, the issue of renewable energy is rarely discussed. However, in Russia one of the urgent problems is urban and agricultural waste management. Agriculture, like other industries, produces products and waste (crop and livestock wastes). Straw, stalks of corn and sunflower, dung – dried manure were used to produce thermal energy. Today, there are technologies used to extract energy from agricultural illiquid assets. Producing energy from agricultural waste allows us to solve two problems – to get rid of some of waste and help the mining industry. The green energy industry is becoming a major employer. To provide it with personnel, qualitative changes in the training system are required

Development chopper device that chops baled rough fodders

Livestock in Uzbekistan is one of the main sectors of agriculture and it is based on family livestock farms. In family farms, animals are fed with rough fodder, including corn stalks, alfalfa hay, camel-thorn, and pressed straw. However, households, due to the lack of small shredders, provide compressed feed to animals without chopping. As a result, 25-30% of the feed goes to waste, and losses increase. Therefore, a small installation was developed for chopping compressed coarse feeds and mixing them with concentrated feeds, and its chopping apparatus and type of knives were experimentally investigated. The density of stalks of alfalfa, corn, camel thorns, and wheat straw was 81.9 kg/m3; 81.3 kg/m3; 82.5 3 kg/m3 and 78.4 kg/m3 and their main part 76.2-94.4% were stems, and the rest of the leaves, branches, and panicles. When the rotor speed increased from 1200 to 1350 rpm, the stems are chopped qualitatively, i.e. fully comply with the original requirements. At the same time, the splitting of the stems is 83.5 - 94.0%, which also corresponds to the initial requirements. Depending on the type of knives, the cutting fraction with a length of 30-50 mm is 68.6-82.0%, the fractions with a length of more than 50 mm - 3.3-26.3%, and the fractions with a length of less than 30 mm - 5.1-14.7%. The splitting of the stems varies from 78.9% to 94.7%.

Effect of municipal wastewater irrigation and well water on plant and soil characteristics

In order to investigate the effect of treated wastewater on forage yield, nutrient elements and heavy metals in corn plants (Zea maize, 704 single cross), a field experiment was conducted in RCBD with three treatments in four replications in 2017. Irrigation with well water as first treatment, irrigation with wastewater as second treatment and irrigation with well water and wastewater was alternately applied as a third treatment. The results showed that the highest amount of forage corn yield, stalk and ear dry weight, plant height and leaf number and spade index were obtained in irrigation with wastewater. The highest nitrogen content of leaf and stalk and corn grain was obtained in irrigation with wastewater treatment and the least amount in irrigation with well water treatment was obtained. The amount of phosphorus and potassium measured in leaf and stalk of corn in all three treatments were not significantly different. Also, the highest amount of iron and zinc in leaf and stalk of corn was obtained in irrigation with wastewater treatment. The results showed that the amount of heavy metals including lead, cadmium and nickel in soils were not significantly different in all three treatments. According to the results, the use of urban wastewater not only does not cause soil and plant pollution to heavy elements, but also increases plant yield and nutrition.

First Report of Binucleate Rhizoctonia AG-F Causing Stalk and Root Rot of Corn (Zea mays) in Turkey

First Report of Binucleate <i>Rhizoctonia</i> AG-F Causing Stalk and Root Rot of Corn (<i>Zea mays</i>) in Turkey

Characterization of a Double Deletion Mutant of Fusarium verticillioides Lacking Two Putative Trehalose‐6‐Phosphate Phosphatase Genes

Fusarium verticillioides is a fungal pathogen that commonly infects the stalk, ear, and kernels of corn and can produce fumonisins, a family of mycotoxins linked to disease in livestock and humans. Our goal is to characterize the role of the disaccharide trehalose in growth and stress response in F. verticillioides. Trehalose synthesis in fungi occurs via two steps, the first catalyzed by trehalose‐6‐phosphate synthase (TPS), and the second by trehalose‐6‐phosphate phosphatase (TPP). Previously, we found that trehalose synthesis is completely abolished in a strain lacking TPS, encoded by the TPS1 gene. We report here that mutant strains lacking either one (ΔTPS2) or both (ΔTPS2/ΔTPS3) of the putative TPP genes in F. verticillioides retain the ability to produce trehalose, albeit at reduced levels. The effects of osmotic and thermal stress on these mutants are being investigated.

Tibullus: Elegies by A. M. Juster

250 BOOK REVIEWS Tibullus:Elegies.TranslatedbyA.M.JUSTER.WithanIntroductionandNotesbyROBERT MALTBY. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2012. Reprinted withcorrections,2013.Pp.xxxiv+142.Paperback,£9.99/$14.95.ISBN978-0-19960331 -2. This welcome edition of Tibullus’s elegies contains a 20-page introduction, an en face bilingual text and translation of the elegies of Tibullus (Books 1 and 2 of the CorpusTibullianum),a33-page sectionofexplanatorynotesfor hissixteenelegies, a 6-page section of textual notes listing readings used in this edition, and a 3-page selectbibliography. Maltby’sintroductionexamines(1) Tibullus’slifeandwork,basedonthetestimonia ;(2)hisplaceinthehistoryofLatinelegiacpoetry;(3)hisaddressees,with emphasisonDelia,Nemesis,andMarathus;(4)hisbooksaspoeticunits,withreference to structure, character, and theme; and (5) his influence on later poets, from classical times through the nineteenth century. Maltby regards Tibullus’s elegies , appropriately so, “as a mixture of fact and fiction” (vii), consistent with a genre “which combines real life with literary convention” (xvi–xvii)—where (I would add) Tibullus may touch on the contemporary world and refer as well to real individuals outside the poem’s web of self-reference, such as the historical figures Messalla and Messalinus. As Maltby shows, some characters may be real or imaginary:1.4.73Titius=theconsulMarcusTitiusorafictitious‘JohnDoe’(98); 2.2.9 Cornutus = the quindecimvir M. Caecilius Cornutus (115) or (I would add) Sulpicia’sCerinthus,thetraditionalchoiceofmanyclassicalscholars;4 2.6.1Macer = AemiliusMacer or PompeiusMacer or a pseudonym for a ‘thin’ lover (123). The text used is based on a new investigation of the manuscripts, especially the Ambrosian (= A), for which Maltby substitutes later readings to correct obvious errors in it (see xxvii for a note on the text used and 124–129 for a list of the departures from A)—in which regard one misses a reference to the value of the standard Teubner text edited by Georg Luck. Verse form presents a serious challenge foranyoneattemptingto translate classical poetryinto English,inasmuchas classical meters are quantitative whereas English verse is accentual; although translationsofclassicalversesinto the originalmetersmaywellresult ina metrical tour de force, they tend to have a jingly sound, which can obscure and overshadow 4 See R. J. Ball, Tibullus the Elegist: A Critical Survey (Göttingen: Hypomnemata 77, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1983) 166–67. BOOK REVIEWS 251 the poet’s artistry. Philip Dunlop translated some of Tibullus’s elegies into free verseandothersintoheroiccouplets—anapproachconflictingwiththepoet’suse of a single verse form, i.e. the elegiac couplet. Guy Lee translated all Tibullus’s elegies into free verse, with units resembling elegiac couplets, although the rhythms seem inconsistent and the short lines often too short and lacking in content. MichaelPutnamrecentlyrevised /published(posthumously)librarianRodneyDennis ’s translation, conveying excellently the sense of the couplet through accentual six-beat and five-beat lines. A. M. Juster (= pseudonym of lawyer Michael Astrue) has now produced a translation conveyingextremelywell the sense ofthe couplet through alternatingiambichexametersand pentameters. Tib.2.1.1–10,theopeningversesoftheelegyabouttheAmbarvalia,thecountry festival celebrating the lustration of the fields, exemplify how faithfully and gracefullyJuster hasrendered Tibullus’s coupletsin English: Quisquis adest, faueas: fruges lustramus et agros, ritus ut a prisco traditus extat auo. Bacche, veni dulcisque tuis e cornibus uua pendeat, et spicis tempora cinge, Ceres. luce sacra requiescat humus, requiescat arator, et grave suspenso uomere cesset opus. solvite uincla iugis: nunc ad praesepia debent plena coronato stare boues capite. omnia sint operata deo: non audeat ulla lanificam pensis imposuisse manum. Be quiet, everyone! We’re cleansing crops and fields, a rite still done as forebears passed it on. Come, Bacchus, and from your horns let sweet grapes hang and, Ceres, wreath your brow with stalks of corn. Let farmland rest in sacred light; let farmhands rest. Hang up the plough and stop the heavy work. Take straps from yokes; the oxen in full mangers ought to stand now and their heads be crowned with garlands. Let everything be for the gods; let no one dare suggest a spinner touch her piles of wool. In general, Juster’s translation reproduces Tibullus’s verses in simple yet polished language, and it contains many creative and appealing turns of phrase, of 252 BOOK REVIEWS which the followinginclude only a selection: 1.2.3 percussum tempora Baccho (“my brow isBacchus-bludgeoned”);1.3.38 effusum uentis praebueratque sinum(“or give the wind their puffed...

Toxigenicity of Fusarium Species in Gibberella fujikuroi Species Complex (GFSC) Associated With Stalk and Ear Rot Disease of Corn

Fusarium stalk and ear rot disease did not only cause significant losses of yield but also produced mycotoxins that are harmful to animals and human. This study was conducted to elucidate three major mycotoxins i.e. fumonisin B1 (FUMB1), moniliformin (MON), and beauvericin (BEA) produced by the Fusarium spp. isolated from corn showing typical stalk and ear rot symptoms in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. Twenty selected strains of Fusarium species in Gibberella fujikuroi species complex i.e. F.verticillioides, F. proliferatum, F. subglutinans, and F. konzum were analyzed for production of the three mycotoxins by using an Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography (UPLC). All strains of F. verticillioides and F. proliferatum produced FUMB1 at high levelsand MON at low levels. Many strains of F. verticillioides (67%) and F. proliferatum (50%) did not produce BEA while the others produced BEA at low levels. Two strains of F. subglutinans did not produce FUMB1 but produced MON at low levels. One strain of F. subglutinans produced BEA and the other one did not produce the toxin. Two strains of F. konzum produced both MON and BEA at low levels but only one strain produced FUMB1 at a low level. These mycotoxins have not been reported from Fusarium spp. in Gibberella fujikuroi species complex isolated form stalk and ear rot diseases of corn in these areas. Therefore, concerted efforts must be made to educate all stake holders about the presence and health hazards of these mycotoxins.

Notes from the Field: Planting, Nurturing, and Watching Things Grow

Editors' Note: We invited a sample of AJPM's Editorial Board, supplement guest editors, and longtime colleagues and contributors to share their experiences and impressions of the impact of AJPM on their respective domains. We were particularly fond of Ken Powell's analogy to being "tenders of the planted seed"--as planters, weeders, and harvesters--watching and nurturing the growth of AJPM, and have elected to lead with his commentary.

Spectroscopic studies of vanadium biosorption on different types of carbohydrate biomass

The biosorption potential of different types of carbohydrate biomass is investigated to evaluate their application to purify water contaminated by vanadium in environmentally relevant oxidation states (VIV and VV). Spectroscopic studies were done by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), vanadium nuclear magnetic resonance (51V NMR), circular dichroism (CD), and electronic absorption in the visible range (vis). Both d-galacturonic and d-glucuronic acids are major components of plant cellular wall polysaccharides. The interaction of VIV with the model ligands d-galacturonic and d-glucuronic acids showed that complexation starts at low pH values (pH 3) and that carboxylate and sugar–OH groups, as well as water molecules, are involved in the coordination. At pH &gt; 4.5, coordination promotes the sugar–OH deprotonation and new species form with the ligand chelating the metal ion via oxygen atoms of carboxylate and of adjacent sugar–O− donors. The studies with pectin and citric acid show the ability of both compounds to partially reduce VV to VIV in solution and the EPR parameters suggest coordination of carboxylate, sugar–OH, and water molecules. The interaction of VV with biomass from different sources shows that grapefruit, orange peel, and plane tree fruit are the most suitable candidates for the biosorption of vanadium. Studies with VV and grapefruit (or the grainless stalk of corn) indicate that the reduction takes place at the “surface” of the solid. EPR studies on the interaction of VIV with different carbohydrate biomass show their ability to complex high amounts of VIV. We propose that the biosorption mechanism, when the biomass is in contact with VV species, involves sorption, reduction, and retention at the surface level of VIV coordinated by oxygen donors of the biomass. When the interaction starts with VIV, the main process just involves the uptake of the metal ion at the surface level.

Terra Ignota

Terra Ignota Jennifer Sinor (bio) Click for larger view View full resolution We awake to a skiff of snow still on the ground, the temperature barely above ten. Outside our window, darkness conceals the newly bare branches of the maple in front of our house, and stars linger in the sky. Michael, my husband, is sick with a stomachache. He has been up all night, [End Page 198] tossing and turning, flipping his pillow every so often to find the cool side. Nothing seems to help. Around three in the morning, I found him curled into a ball on the bathroom floor, the terra-cotta tiles surrounding him like a field aflame. Now, I leave him in bed wrapped to his chin in the down comforter and head out for a run. It is Tuesday, two days before Thanksgiving, a day we teach at the university thirty-five miles from our house. We are up early. My running route takes me along the foothills of the Bear Mountains under a sky threaded with falling stars. Because we live in the country, well away from even the small city of Logan, Utah, the darkness is complete. I have no idea where each footfall will land and trust the road is beneath me. As I run, I think of Michael home in bed in our house which winks across the fields. Growing up, my mother told me I could will away sickness. “Just tell yourself you’re not sick,” she would say, standing over my bed in the morning, her eyes on me but her mind chasing down the day. It was the same tone she used when she would tell me to imagine a field of flowers when I awoke from a nightmare. That a monster inevitably burst from the dancing poppies, jaw open, mouth drooling, and seized my seven-year-old body suggested a lack of control on my part. “You’re not trying hard enough.” The body, my body, was something I could master. Which is why, thirty-some years from childhood, I push my body hard. It is the reason I rise every morning, even now, four months pregnant, and run six miles along country roads long before the sun crowns the mountains and illuminates the broken stalks of corn. Instead of checking on Michael when I return from my run, I head straight for the bathroom, gloves still on, frost melting at the tips of my hair. The furnace ignites when I flip the light switch, pushing warm air to my feet. At the toilet, I pull down my underwear. They are clean, no blood. Every baby book I have read indicates you can continue your regular exercise routine while pregnant. However, when listing what those activities might include, the authors name walking, yoga, or swimming, never a six-mile run every morning at an elevation where oxygen is scarce. The absence of pregnant women running across the pages of the baby books suggests I am already a bad mother before I have even become one. On morning runs, I have taken to wearing Michael’s jacket to hide my growing belly from the neighbors. The worry that I could lose the baby through such strenuous exercise does not trump the need to test my strength. Pregnancy has become just one more factor that proves my dedication to endurance, not unlike running in below-zero weather or while lightning strikes nearby. On the drive south, Michael at home, a bottle of Pepto-Bismol within reach, I imagine running this stretch of highway, cresting this hill, feeling the road curve beneath me. The lack of a shoulder means that few run this [End Page 199] four-laned road. Cars speed past at close to sixty. One slip and death, especially in the winter when snowplowed mounds of muddied snow narrow the road. When I was a child, I ran without fear. I used to head out every night after dinner with my father to run a long, slow loop that circled our military housing area. We met soldiers in white T-shirts and jangling dog tags who nodded to my father as we passed. At the end of...

Biohydrogen production using corn stalk employing Bacillus licheniformis MSU AGM 2 strain

Stalk of corn (Zea mays L.), a commonly available crop residue in tropical and subtropical countries and found in plenty. In this study, we demonstrated that the pretreated corn stalk waste could be used to produce hydrogen. The isolated Bacillus licheniformis MSU AGM 2 strain (HM214759) from the pretreated paper mill effluent produced hydrogen under optimized conditions: carbon source (1 g/l), nitrogen source (12.5 g/l), temperature (35 °C) and pH (6.0). Alkaline pretreatment with 2% NaOH removed lignin by 48% from the corn stalk waste. Pretreated corn stalk ranges from 1 to 5 g/l were tested for the effective bacterial growth and hydrogen production. Kinetic parameters analyzed in 1 l bioreactor showed the maximum hydrogen production and hydrogen yield with 185 ml/l and 82.5 ml/g substrate, respectively. Growth profile and modified Gompertz model at the above mentioned condition fitted well (R2, 0.93). Hence the anaerobic fermentation by the isolated strain had increased the hydrogen evolution rate with formic acid, acetate and butyrate concentrations at the end of the fermentation.

Removal of Chromium(VI) and Chromium(III) from Aqueous Solution by Grainless Stalk of Corn

Grainless stalk of corn (GLSC) was tested for removal of Cr(VI) and Cr(III) from aqueous solution at different pH, contact time, temperature, and chromium/adsorbent ratio. The results show that the optimum pH for removal of Cr(VI) is 0.84, while the optimum pH for removal of Cr(III) is 4.6. The adsorption processes of both Cr(VI) and Cr(III) onto GLSC were found to follow first-order kinetics. Values of k ads of 0.037 and 0.018 min−1 were obtained for Cr(VI) and Cr(III), respectively. The adsorption capacity of GLSC was calculated from the Langmuir isotherm as 7.1 mg g−1 at pH 0.84 for Cr(VI), and as 7.3 mg g−1 at pH 4.6 for Cr(III), at 20°C. At the optimum pH for Cr(VI) removal, Cr(VI) reduces to Cr(III). EPR spectroscopy shows the presence of Cr(V) + Cr(III)-bound-GLSC at short contact times and adsorbed Cr(III) as the final oxidation state of Cr(VI)-treated GLSC. The results indicate that, at pH ≈ 1, GLSC can completely remove Cr(VI) from aqueous solution through an adsorption-coupled reduction mechanism to yield adsorbed Cr(III) and the less toxic aqueous Cr(III), which can be further removed at pH 4.6.

The Embryo as Person

The Embryo as Person

Biochemical Properties of Decomposing Cotton and Corn Stem and Root Residues

Maintaining soil C is especially difficult in hot climates. Information is needed regarding the influence of residue biochemical properties on decomposition in hot, semiarid climates so that management practices can be developed that improve organic matter retention. Litterbags containing stalk or root tissues of senescent cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) or corn (Zea mays L.) were placed on the surface or 10 cm below the surface of a fallow Hidalgo sandy clay loam (fine‐loamy, mixed, hyperthermic Typic Calciustoll) near Weslaco, TX, USA (26°9′ N lat., 97°57′ W long.), and were monitored quarterly for 1 yr for changes in mass, water‐extractable C (WEC), water‐ and alcohol‐extractable polyphenolics (WEP and AEP, respectively). Surface‐placed cotton residues retained more mass than when buried, from approximately 80% (surface) to &lt;50% (buried). For corn, retention ranged from approximately 60 to approximately 70% for surface residues to approximately 40% for buried residues. Most mass loss occurred within the first three months. The greatest increases in WEC (approximately 1500 μg C g−1 for corn; approximately 500 μg C g−1 for cotton) and WEP (approximately 175–325 μg g−1) for corn also occurred within the first 3 months. Water‐extractable polyphenolics peaked (about 100 μg g−1) in cotton residues at 6 mo, while corn residues reached a maximum (approximately 300 μg g−1) at 3 months. Over a year, AEP decreased in cotton stem residues, from approximately 5 to 8 to approximately 2 μg g−1 Surface cotton roots maintained approximately 6 μg g−1 after three months. Results illustrated the importance of residue moisture content during decomposition, and indicate that different residues may have different capacities to hold moisture, which may affect the biochemical characteristics and kinetics of decomposition.

A wooden substitute

As natural reserves of resources become threatened, entrepreneurs are always on the look out for alternatives. Poo Chow of the Wood Engineering Laboratory at the University of Illinois (USA) is examining the use of non-wood fiber crops that would reduce the demand for tree-fibers. In addition to promoting the value of stalks of corn (Zea mays) as a fiber-crop, he is encouraging local farmers to grow kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus), a native of East-Central Africa, on their set-aside land. Kenaf produces fibers that are similar to those of trees, with the added attraction that it is harvestable in only 150 days compared with several years for a tree. [http://www.eurekalert.org/releases/uiuc-apc030101.htm] NC