Interaction effect of sewage and duration of consumption on the production response of pullets

A study was carried out to evaluate the interaction effect of sewage and duration of consumption on the production traits of pullets. Intake of the test waters was a function of their degree of acceptability when intake was voluntary at periods of low ambient temperatures. The intiation of egg production in all groups began after five weeks of treatment and differences in egg weight of the groups was slight and not significant (P > 0.05). The effect of the sewage waters on growth was pronounced only when the birds were in lay and the alum-treated sewage promoted higher body weight gain. The feed conversion ratio and the feed intake were not affected significantly (P > 0.05) by the interaction, and both had the same trend. The eggshell thickness was sensitive to changes in ambient temperature.     

DETERMINATION OF BEST TIMING FOR POULTRY WASTE DISPOSAL: A MODELING APPROACH1

ABSTRACT: Confined production of poultry results in significant volumes of waste material which are typically disposed of by land application. Concerns over the potential environmental impacts of poultry waste disposal have resulted in ongoing efforts to develop management practices which maintain high quality of water downstream of disposal areas. The timing of application to minimize waste constituent losses is a management practice with the potential to ensure high quality of streams, rivers, and lakes downstream of receiving areas. This paper describes the development and application of a method to identify which time of year is best, from the standpoint of surface water quality, for land application of poultry waste. The procedure consists of using a mathematical simulation model to estimate average nitrogen and phosphorus losses resulting from different application timings, and then identifying the timings which minimize losses of these nutrients. The procedure was applied to three locations in Arkansas, and three different criteria for optimality of application timing were investigated. One criterion was oriented strictly to water quality, one was oriented only to crop production, and the last was a combination. The criteria resulted in different windows of time being identified as optimal. Optimal windows also varied with location of the receiving area. The results indicate that it is possible to land-apply poultry waste at times which both minimize nutrient losses and maximize crop yield.     

Miscibility and Biodegradability of Poly(Butylene Succinate)/Poly(Butylene Terephthalate) Blends

As one of the biodegradable polymers, the blend of poly(butylene succinate) and poly(butylene terephthalate) is dealt with in this study. In our previous work, it was demonstrated that PBS and PBT are immiscible not only from the changes of T _g but also from logG–log G plots. It is expected that the biodegradability of the blends could be improved by enhancing the miscibility. We tried to induce the transesterification reaction between two polyesters with various time intervals to enhance the miscibility of the blends. The extent of transesterification reaction was examined by ¹H-NMR. We utilized a dynamic mechanical thermal analyzer and a rotational rheometer to investigate the changes in miscibility. We also verified the biodegradability of PBS/PBT blends after the transesterification reaction by the composting method.     

Phenogenetic Analysis of Pygmy Wood Mouse (Apodemus uralensis Pall.) Populations in the Zone of the Eastern Ural Radioactive Trace (EURT)

Monitoring of A. uralensis populations in Kamenskii raion, Sverdlovsk oblast, in 1992–2002 and in Kaslinskii raion, Chelyabinsk oblast, in 2000–2001 revealed an increase in the proportion and diversity of minor morphogenetic aberrations and abnormalities in the structure of the cranium along the axis of the Eastern Ural Radioactive Trace (EURT). The samples from the southern and northern parts of the EURT (contaminated with ⁹⁰Sr to 500 and 4 Ci/km², respectively) were characterized by directed deviations from the control with respect to the frequencies of phenes of nonmetric cranial traits and an increase in the level of their fluctuating asymmetry in young females, which is indicative of epigenetic rearrangements in populations living in a radioactive environment.     

Natural uranium and thorium distributions in podzolized soils and native blueberry

Plant uptake of radionuclides is one of many vectors for introduction of contaminants into the human food chain. Thus, it is critical to understand soil-plant relationships that control nuclide bioavailability. Our objectives in this study were to (i) determine the extent of U and Th uptake and cycling by blueberry (Vaccinium pallidum Aiton) in native habitat and (ii) identify the soil properties and processes that contribute most to U and Th bioavailability in this system. We collected composite samples of plant leaves and stems, and samples from surface (AE) horizons and from the upper part of the Bs horizon at two sites. Concentration ratios (CRs) for U and Th were calculated for all plant tissues, using both the AE and Bs horizons as the base. Soil concentrations of U ranged from 16 to 25 microg g(-1), with a mean of 21.1 microg g(-1). Soil concentrations of Th ranged from 14 to 97 microg g(-1), with a mean of 41.8 microg g(-1). Mean U concentrations were 8.65 x 10(-3) microg g(-1) in leaf tissue, and 7.95 x 10(-3) microg g(-1) in stem tissue. Mean Th concentrations were 1.59 x 10(-1) microg g(-1) in leaf tissue, and 9.10 x 10(-2) microg g(-1) in stem tissue. Blueberry plants are cycling both U and Th in this system, with Th cycling occurring to a greater extent than U. In addition, Th was translocated preferentially to plant leaves while U concentrations showed little preferential translocation. Uranium uptake, however, seemed more sensitive than Th uptake to soil properties.     

Critical remarks on the use of terrestrial moss (Hylocomium splendens and Pleurozium schreberi) for monitoring of airborne pollution

Duplicate samples of the two terrestrial moss species Hylocomium splendens and Pleurozium schreberi, which are widely used to monitor airborne heavy metal pollution, have been collected from eight catchments spread over a 1,500,000 km2 area in northern Europe. These were analysed for a total of 38 elements by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry, inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry and cold vapour-atomic absorption spectometry techniques. Results show that the moss species can be combined without interspecies calibration for regional mapping purposes. For the majority of elements the observed within-catchment variation is large--big composite samples over a large area should thus be collected when moss is to be used for monitoring purposes. For the majority of elements the input of dust governs moss chemistry. For a reliable 'contamination' signal over a sizeable area a major source is needed. Some elements show a dependence on climate/vegetation zone. In coastal areas the input of marine aerosols will alter the chemical signal obtained from moss samples.     

Anthropogenic radionuclides in the Japan Sea: their distributions and transport processes

The anthropogenic radionuclides, (90)Sr, (137)Cs and (239+240)Pu, were measured in the water column of the Japan Sea/East Sea during 1997-2000. The vertical profiles of radionuclide concentrations showed: exponential decrease with depth for (90)Sr and (137)Cs, and surface minimum/subsurface maximum for (239+240)Pu. These results do not differ substantially from results reported previously. The area-averaged concentrations of radionuclides in the Japan Sea are higher than those found in the Northwest Pacific Ocean below surface layer showing the accumulation of the radionuclides in the deep waters in the Japan Sea. Concerning spatial distributions, the area of high (137)Cs inventory extends from the Japan Basin into the Yamato Basin. It is suggested that wintertime convection of water, occurring mainly in the Japan Basin, causes the radionuclides to sink. The nuclides then advect into the Yamato Basin after detouring around the Yamato Rise.     

Sorption of polycyclic aromatic compounds to humic and fulvic acid HPLC column materials

Two different humic acids (HA) and a fulvic acid (FA) were chemically immobilized to a high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) silica column material. The immobilization was performed by binding amino groups in HA/FA to the free aldehyde group in glutardialdehyde attached to the silica gel. The HPLC column materials were compared with a blank column material made by applying the same procedure but without immobilizing HA or FA. Also, a column was made by binding carbonyl groups in HA to amino groups attached to the silica gel. The humic substances were selected to secure appropriate variation of their structural features. The retention factors of 45 polycyclic aromatic compounds (PAC) to the four columns were determined by HPLC. The advantage of the technique is a large number of compounds can easily be studied. The binding procedure does not appear to cause a drastic selection between the HA molecules. The k' values obtained for the two Aldrich HA columns agree in general reasonably. The retention or sorption of the compounds increased with the size of the PAC and the number of lipophilic substituents, but decreased when polar substituents were present. The PAC retention was much stronger to the two HA columns than to the FA and blank column, both for hydrophobic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and the polar PAC. Other factors impacting the PAC binding may be specific interactions with HA and the ionic strength of the aqueous phase. The technique has been applied to do direct determinations of Koc.     

Bioremediation of residual fertilizer nitrate: II. Soil redox potential and soluble iron as indicators of soil health during treatment

The prospect of using wastewater containing high loads of soluble organic matter (OM) for removing residual agricultural chemicals (fertilizer, pesticide, or herbicide) in farm soil, although promising, could have adverse effects on soil agricultural quality as a result of development of redoximorphic features in the soil profile. In this study, the effect of organic carbon supplement for bioremediation of residual fertilizer nitrate on soil properties, redox potential (Eh), pH, and metal ion mobilization was studied using sandy soils packed in columns. The study was included in a general project, described elsewhere (Ugwuegbu et al., 2000), undertaken to evaluate use of controlled water table management (WTM) systems to supply organic carbon for creating a reduced environment conducive to denitrification of residual fertilizer nitrate leaching from the farm to subsurface water. The columns were subjected to subirrigation with water containing soluble organic carbon in the form of glucose. The work was carried out in two experimental setups and the long-term effect of a range of glucose concentrations on the Eh, pH, and soluble levels of Fe and Mn was investigated. From the results obtained, it could be concluded that excessive organic carbon supplement to soil can have adverse effects on soil quality and that Eh and soluble Fe are the two most practical parameters for monitoring soil health during treatment of farm chemicals.     

Environmental indices in irrigation management

Irrigation management calls for objective criteria capable of representing the economy, reliability, and productivity of irrigation systems. These criteria must be compatible with long-term sustainability and conservation goals. The criteria representing the above goals are the economic effect of management on yield reduction, economic effect, and reliability referring to plant growth and operation of the network. In this study environmental indices are introduced to express the above criteria in quantitative terms. The inclusion of these indices at the farm and network level create a multicriteria framework for decision-making based on composite programming. An experimental study was conducted during the irrigation periods of 1989 and 1990 in Chania, Greece, concerning water delivered to 40 experimental plots, soil moisture content at the rootzone, and irrigation system operational failures. The data collected in real time were used for the calculation of the corresponding environmental indices. The variation in time and space is high and resulted in up to 62% of yield loss and low system performance (up to 7% of system temporal reliability). The study indicated that environmental indices could be incorporated to select alternatives and also to develop policies on water delivery. The final decision involves a trade-off analysis between cost of application and desired system performance. Measures of both primary objectives can be obtained using environmental indices that represent system operation aggregation at its basic levels (on farm and network).