Mapping farmers’ vulnerability to climate change and its induced hazards: evidence from the rice-growing zones of Punjab,Pakistan

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - In developing countries like Pakistan, agriculture constitutes the primary source of support for the majority of rural and the adjacent urban...     

Quantification of triazine herbicides in soil by microwave-assisted extraction and high-performance liquid chromatography

A method for the determination of herbicides residues, triazine (atrazine, metribuzin, ametryn, and terbutryn), in soil samples with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)?CUV detection is described. The proposed method is based on microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) of soil samples for 4 min at 80% of 850-W magnetron outputs in the presence of mixture of solvents (methanol/acetonitrile/ethylacetate). Related important factors influencing the MAE efficiency, such as the solvent type and volume, irradiation energy, and time, were optimized in detail. Calibration curve ranges established using HPLC for metribuzin, atrazine, ametryn, and terbutryn are 1.0?C19.0, 0.9?C18.0, 0.6?C11.0, and 0.7?C11.0 µg mL^???1, respectively. The limits of detection of metribuzin, atrazine, ametryn, and terbutryn are 0.30, 0.24, 0.16, and 0.20 µg mL^???1 while limits of quantification are 1.0, 0.80, 0.50, and 0.60 µg mL^???1, respectively. A Plackett?CBurman factorial design was used as a screening method in order to select the variables that influence MAE extraction. The recoveries of the method at three different spiked levels were assessed by analyzing real soil samples and were found to be in the range of 83.33 ± 0.12?C96.33 ± 0.23 with good precision (<8%).     

Parameters effect on heterogeneous photocatalysed degradation of phenol in aqueous dispersion of TiO_2

In this study, photocatalytic degradation of phenol selected as model compound of organic pollutant had been investigated in aqueous titanium dioxide (TiO2) dispersion under UV irradiation. The effects of various parameters such as pH, catalyst concentration, phenol concentration, anions, metal ions, electron acceptors, and surfactants on the photocatalytic degradation of phenol were investigated. The degradation kinetics was determined by the change in phenol concentration employing UV-Vis spectrometry as a function of irradiation time. The degradation kinetics of phenol follows pseudo first-order kinetics. The results showed a significant dependence of the photocatalytic degradation of phenol on the functional parameters. The probable promising roles of the additives on the degradation process were discussed.     

Water quality in rice-growing watersheds in a Mediterranean climate

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) agriculture is estimated to cover 161 million ha of land on Earth, with 10% grown in temperate regions. Currently there are strong concerns about surface water nutrient pollution, and the purpose of this study was to determine the impacts of temperate rice cultivation on nutrient dynamics at the small watershed scale. Over the course of the 2008 growing season (May through September), bi-weekly grab samples were collected from outlets of 11 agricultural subwatersheds in California. Samples were analyzed for NO₃-N, NH₄-N, PO₄-P, K, and dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) concentrations, and the average values across all subwatersheds and sampling dates were 0.22, 0.031, 0.047, 1.36, and 0.32 mg L⁻¹, respectively. Linear mixed effects analysis was used to evaluate the magnitude of relationships between nutrient concentration and flux and subwatershed characteristics (i.e. percent soil clay and organic matter, percent rice area, irrigation water reuse, subwatershed discharge, irrigated area, and time, measured as the day in the growing season). For all nutrients, flux decreased over time and increased with discharge. Concentrations of K and DON were highest at the start and end of the growing season. Concentrations of NH₄-N were near non-detect levels, with the exception of a peak in mid-July, which corresponds to when many growers top-dress rice fields with N fertilizer. Nitrate-N concentration and flux decreased with percent rice area, whereas PO₄-P concentrations increased with percent rice area, indicating that rice area should be considered in future watershed-scale studies of nutrient discharge. In all subwatersheds, the discharge loads of K were smaller than surface water input loads, while NO₃-N, NH₄-N, PO₄-P, and DON discharge loads exceeded input loads when total growing season discharge was greater than 3500-6600 m³ ha⁻¹. This implies that the management of subwatershed discharge can be used to control nutrient export from rice-growing areas.     

Impacts of continuously regenerating trap and particle oxidation catalyst on the NO2 and particulate matter emissions emitted from diesel engine

Two continuously regenerating diesel particulate filter (CRDPF) with different configurations and one particles oxidation catalyst (POC) were employed to perform experiments in a controlled laboratory setting to evaluate their effects on NO₂, smoke and particle number emissions. The results showed that the application of the after-treatments increased the emission ratios of NO₂/NO_x significantly. The results of smoke emissions and particle number (PN) emissions indicated that both CRDPFs had sufficient capacity to remove more than 90% of total particulate matter (PM) and more than 97% of solid particles. However, the POC was able to remove the organic components of total PM, and only partially to remove the carbonaceous particles with size less than 30 nm. The negligible effects of POC on larger particles were observed due to its honeycomb structure leads to an inadequate residence time to oxidize the solid particles or trap them. The particles removal efficiencies of CRDPFs had high degree of correlations with the emission ratio of NO₂/NO_x. The PN emission results from two CRDPFs indicated that more NO₂ generating in diesel oxidation catalyst section could obtain the higher removal efficiency of solid particles. However this also increased the risk of NO₂ exposure in atmosphere.     

Exploring the potential effect of Achnatherum splendens L.–derived biochar treated with phosphoric acid on bioavailability of cadmium and wheat growth in contaminated soil

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Biochar remediation efficiency could be enhanced through numerous treatments such as acids treatment. Still, there has little work done on...     

Agricultural factor endowment differences and relative poverty nexus: an analysis of macroeconomic and social determinants

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Poverty is a significant global ongoing issue that influences a substantial amount of people despite all efforts to eliminate or lessen it. Although...     

The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on air pollution: a global research framework,challenges, and future perspectives

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - As a result of extreme modifications in human activity during the COVID-19 pandemic, the status of air quality has recently been improved. This...     

Anthropogenic climate change drives melting of glaciers in the Himalaya

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The Himalayan glaciers provide water to a large population in south Asia for a variety of purposes and ecosystem services. As a result, regional...     

A review on geothermal energy resources in India: past and the present

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - By 2040, India hopes to have completed its energy supply to fulfill the country’s rising energy demands. Renewable and conventional sources must...