Towards saving freshwater: halophytes as unconventional feedstuffs in livestock feed: a review

Water represents 71% of all earth area and about 97% of this water is salty water. So, only 3% of the overall world water quantity is freshwater. Human can benefit only from 1% of this water and the remaining 2% freeze at both poles of earth. Therefore, it is important to preserve the freshwater through increasing the plants consuming salty water. The future prosperity of feed resources in arid and semi-arid countries depends on economic use of alternative resources that have been marginalized for long periods of time, such as halophytic plants, which are one such potential future resource. Halophyte plants can grow in high salinity water and soil and to some extent during drought. The growth of these plants depends on the contact of the salted water with plant roots as in semi-desert saline water, mangrove swamps, marshes, and seashores. Halophyte plants need high levels of sodium chloride in the soil water for growth, and the soil water must also contain high levels of salts, as sodium hydroxide or magnesium sulfate. There are many uses for halophyte plants, including feed for animals, vegetables, drugs, sand dune stabilizers, wind shelter, soil cover, wetland cultivation, laundry detergents, and paper production. This paper will focus on the use of halophytes as a feed additive for animals. In spite of the good nutritional value of halophytes, some anti-nutritional factors as nitrates, nitrite complexes, tannins, glycosides, phenolic compounds, saponins, oxalates, and alkaloids may be present in some of them. The presence of such anti-nutritional agents makes halophytes unpalatable to animals, which tends to reduce feed intake and nutrient use. Therefore, the negative effects of these plants on animal performance are the only objection against using halophytes in animal feed diets. This review article highlights the beneficial impact of considering halophytes in animal feeding on saving freshwater and illustrates its nutritive value for livestock from different aspects.     

Temporal variation in total phosphorus concentrations revealed from a multidecadal monitoring program on Big Platte Lake,Michigan

Effective water quality management depends on enactment of appropriately designed monitoring programs to reveal current and forecasted conditions. Because water quality conditions are influenced by numerous factors, commonly measured attributes such as total phosphorus (TP) can be highly temporally varying. For highly varying processes, monitoring programs should be long-term and periodic quantitative analyses are needed so that temporal trends can be distinguished from stochastic variation, which can yield insights into potential modifications to the program. Using generalized additive mixed modeling, we assessed temporal (yearly and monthly) trends and quantified other sources of variation (daily and subsampling) in TP concentrations from a multidecadal depth-specific monitoring program on Big Platte Lake, Michigan. Yearly TP concentrations decreased from the late 1980s to late 1990s before rebounding through the early 2000s. At depths of 2.29 to 13.72 m, TP concentrations have cycled around stationary points since the early 2000s, while at the surface and depths ≥?18.29 concentrations have continued declining. Summer and fall peaks in TP concentrations were observed at most depths, with the fall peak at deeper depths occurring 1 month earlier than shallower depths. Daily sampling variation (i.e., variation within a given month and year) was greatest at shallowest and deepest depths. Variation in subsamples collected from depth-specific water samples constituted a small fraction of total variation. Based on model results, cost-saving measures to consider for the monitoring program include reducing subsampling of depth-specific concentrations and reducing the number of sampling depths given observed consistencies across the program period.     

Food nitrogen footprint reductions related to a balanced Japanese diet

Dietary choices largely affect human-induced reactive nitrogen accumulation in the environment and resultant environmental problems. A nitrogen footprint (NF) is an indicator of how an individual’s consumption patterns impact nitrogen pollution. Here, we examined the impact of changes in the Japanese diet from 1961 to 2011 and the effect of alternative diets (the recommended protein diet, a pescetarian diet, a low-NF food diet, and a balanced Japanese diet) on the food NF. The annual per capita Japanese food NF has increased by 55% as a result of dietary changes since 1961. The 1975 Japanese diet, a balanced omnivorous diet that reportedly delays senescence, with a protein content similar to the current level, reduced the current food NF (15.2 kg N) to 12.6 kg N, which is comparable to the level in the recommended protein diet (12.3 kg N). These findings will help consumers make dietary choices to reduce their impacts on nitrogen pollution.     

Minimizing irrigation water demand: An evaluation of shifting planting dates in Sri Lanka

Climate change coupled with increasing demands for water necessitates an improved understanding of the water–food nexus at a scale local enough to inform farmer adaptations. Such assessments are particularly important for nations with significant small-scale farming and high spatial variability in climate, such as Sri Lanka. By comparing historical patterns of irrigation water requirements (IWRs) to rice planting records, we estimate that shifting rice planting dates to earlier in the season could yield water savings of up to 6%. Our findings demonstrate the potential of low-cost adaptation strategies to help meet crop production demands in water-scarce environments. This local-scale assessment of IWRs in Sri Lanka highlights the value of using historical data to inform agricultural management of water resources when high-skilled forecasts are not available. Given national policies prioritizing in-country production and farmers’ sensitivities to water stress, decision-makers should consider local degrees of climate variability in institutional design of irrigation management structures.     

Efficiency of Reovirus Concentration from Water with Positively Charged Filters

This study examined the efficacy of reovirus concentration from large volumes of water using two positively charged filters: Zeta Plus 1MDS and NanoCeram. The results indicated that an average of 61 and 81% of input reoviruses were effectively recovered, respectively, from recycled water and tap water using NanoCeram filtration.     

HCHs and DDTs in Yellow River of Henan section—a typical agricultural area in China: levels,distributions and risks

The levels, potential sources and ecological risks of hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs) and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethanes (DDTs) in Yellow River of Henan section, a typical agricultural area in China, were investigated. Surface water samples and suspended particulate matters (SPMs) were collected from 23 sites during two seasons. In wet season, the residues of ∑HCHs (α-HCH, β-HCH, γ-HCH and δ-HCH) and ∑DDTs (p,p′-DDT, o,p′-DDT, p,p′-DDE, p,p′-DDD) ranged from 41.7 to 290 and 4.42 to 269 ng/L in surface water, while those varied from 0.86 to 157 and 1.79 to 96.1 ng/g dw in SPM, respectively. Moreover, in surface water, the levels of HCHs and DDTs in wet season were much higher than those in dry season. The reverse was true for residues of HCHs and DDTs in SPM. Compared with the large rivers in other regions, the levels of HCHs and DDTs in the studied area ranked at high levels and the residual concentrations might cause adverse biological risk, especially for ∑HCHs during wet season. Distributions of HCHs and DDTs delineated that the input of tributaries made a significant effect on the residue of HCHs and DDTs in the mainstream. ∑HCHs in surface water were consist of 26.7 % α-HCH, 30.0 % β-HCH, 37.9 % γ-HCH and 5.45 % δ-HCH and those in SPM contained 5.16 % α-HCH, 22.1 % β-HCH, 60.5 % γ-HCH and 12.2 % δ-HCH on average. Combined with ratios of α-HCH/γ-HCH in surface water (0.70) and in SPM (0.09), the results strongly indicated that lindane was recently used or discharged in the studied area. The mean percentage of DDTs′ isomers were 28.7 % p,p′-DDT, 29.8 % o,p′-DDT, 28.1 % p,p′-DDE and 13.4 % p,p′-DDD in surface water, while those were 12.5 % p,p′-DDT, 31.8 % o,p′-DDT, 30.5 % p,p′-DDE and 25.1 % p,p′-DDD in SPM. The ratios of (DDE + DDD)/∑DDTs and o,p′-DDT/p,p′-DDT revealed that the DDTs in the studied area mainly derived from long-term weathering of technical DDTs residue and the input of dicofol.     

Chemical composition of Eurasian lynx urine conveys information on reproductive state,individual identity,and urine age

In mammals, the chemical profiles of individuals are complex and variable mixtures, and animals perceive information based on variation in the overall quality of these mixtures. A variety of compounds potentially involved in chemical communication have been characterized in the urine of different felid species, but little is known about the information content of felid scent marks. In this study, we investigated whether chemical composition of Eurasian lynx Lynx lynx urine was related to sex, reproductive state, and individual identity. We further analysed if elemental sulphur in lynx urine could serve as a dietary cue or as an indicator for the freshness of a scent mark. We collected urine from captive and wild Eurasian lynx, and analysed volatile constituents of urine by means of solid phase microextraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Our results show that lynx scent profiles contain sex-specific information on reproductive state, as well as individual identity cues. Urine marks are, therefore, well-suited to fulfil a role in reproductive behaviour and social organisation of wild lynx populations. Relative sulphur content was unrelated to time since last feeding, but decreased with age of the urine sample. The influence of diet and body condition on scent profiles should be further investigated by means of experimental studies, and may shed more light on the messages encoded in carnivore scent-marks.     

Shoreline shifting and its prediction using remote sensing and GIS techniques: a case study of Sagar Island,West Bengal (India)

The shoreline position is difficult to predict but the trend of erosion or accretion can be determined by geospatial and statistical techniques which may help in reducing the loss of property. The study aims to assess the shoreline changes and prediction in Sagar Island, a delta of the Ganges, situated in West Bengal, India. Shorelines have been delineated by using Tasseled Cap Transformation techniques from the Landsat MSS (1975), Landsat TM (1989, 1991) and Landsat ETM+ (1999, 2002, 2005, 2008, and 2011) images. The uncertainty was calculated for every year for assessing the positional error related to shoreline extraction. Total shoreline change rate/year has also been calculated and the uncertainty of total shoreline change rate was found ±3.20 m/year. In the present study, End Point Rate (EPR) and Linear Regression (LR) methods have been used for shoreline change rate calculation and prediction of shoreline. Long term (1975–2002) and short term (2002–2011) erosion and accretion rates were calculated for the study area. Sagar is the biggest island of the Sundarban region; so, it was divided into three segments in order to analyze the change on a segment basis. It was observed that the most of erosion occurred in the Segment B (south Sagar). The rate of erosion was ?7.91 and ?7.01 m/year for the periods 1975–2002 and 2002–2011 respectively. The mean shoreline change rate was high in Segment B (South Sagar) with values of ?6.46 m/year (1975–2002) but the rate was decreased into ?5.25 m/year during the later period (2002–2011). The study reveals that most of the southern part of Sagar Island is vulnerable to high rate of shoreline erosion.     

Measurements of fog water interception by shrubs on the California central coast

Fog water deposition may be an important component of the water budget of herbaceous-shrub ecosystems on the central and southern coastal regions of California. This paper presents the first analysis of measured fog water drip rates and meteorological controls in shrublands of Big Sur, California. Seasonal totals of 1255 mm and 306 mm of fog water drip were recorded in 2014 and 2015 (respectively), for averaged fog deposition rates of 0.02–0.08 l m² hr.^?1 to the soil under shrub canopy cover. The diurnal patterns of fog water drip showed that the majority of all trough water collected under shrubs on no-rain days occurred between the hours of 11 PM and 9 AM. During the study period from June 1 to October 31 of both 2014 and 2015, soil water content decreased significantly from average levels of 4–6 % at the shrub canopy center and middle locations, through 2–3 % VWC at the shrub edge locations, to levels at or below 2 % at 2-m distance locations from the shrub edge in open grass cover. Based on these results, we conclude that detectable rates of shrub canopy fog interception help sustain elevated soil water levels under shrubs and aid woody vegetation survival through periods of low rainfall.