Allelopathic potential of oil seed crops in production of crops: a review

Agricultural production enhancement has been realized by more consumption of fossil energy such as fertilizer and agrochemicals. However, the production provides the present human with sufficient and diversified commodities, but at the same time, deprives in some extent the resources from the future human as well. In the other hand, it is known that synthetic herbicides face worldwide threats to human’s health and environment as well. Therefore, it is a great challenge for agricultural sustainable development. The current review has been focussed on various oilseed crop species which launch efficient allelopathic intervention, either with weeds or other crops. Crop allelopathic properties can make one species more persistent to a native species. Therefore, these crops are potentially harmful to both naturalized as well as agricultural settings. On the other side, allelopathic crops provide strong potential for the development of cultivars that are more highly weed suppressive in managed settings. It is possible to utilize companion plants that have no deleterious effect on neighbor crops and can be included in intercropping system, thus, a mean of contributing to agricultural sustainable development. In mixed culture, replacement method, wherein differing densities of a neighbor species are planted, has been used to study phytotoxic/competitive effects. So, to use alternative ways for weed suppression has become very crucial. Allelochemicals have the ability to create eco-friendly products for weed management, which is beneficial for agricultural sustainable development. Our present study assessed the potential of four oilseed crops for allelopathy on other crops and associated weeds.     

Succinate-bonded pullulan: An efficient and reusable super-sorbent for cadmium-uptake from spiked high-hardness groundwater

Chemically modified pullulan was evaluated for its sorption efficiency and selectivity to remove cadmium(Cd) from spiked high-hardness groundwater(GW). Pullulan esterified with succinic anhydride using dimethylaminopyridine showed a fairly high degree of substitution value as confirmed by1 H NMR spectroscopy. Pullulan succinate(Pull-Suc) was converted into the sodium salt(Pull-Suc-Na). The effect of contact time(5–200 min) and p H(2–8) on Cd-uptake by the sorbent(Pull-Suc-Na) was investigated. The sorbent showed more than 90% Cd-removal in first 15 min from distilled water(DW) and GW solution,respectively. Comparison of Pull-Suc-Na with other polysaccharidal sorbents suggested its high efficiency(DW 476.2 mg/g and GW 454.5 mg/g) and selectivity for the removal of Cd by an ion exchange mechanism, which is further supported by the negative Gibbs free energy values calculated from Langmuir isotherms. A Langmuir isotherm kinetic model provided the best fit for the sorption of Cd using Pull-Suc-Na. The sorbent showed a negligible decrease in Cd-uptake over three regeneration cycles. The thermal stability testing of the sorbents indicated that Pull-Suc-Na(sorbent) is more stable than Pull-Suc.     

Novel Pretreatment Performance Evaluation for Cellulose Nanofibrils Extraction from Ficus natalensis Barkcloth

Recently, nanosized cellulose materials extraction is extensively interesting from the sources of sustainable materials. Cellulose nanofibrils (CNF) extraction through green bio-based materials featured as promising interest in the field of science. In this study, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) was applied to examine its effectiveness in pretreating the Ficus natalensis barkcloth cellulose (FNBC) for CNF production before 2,2,6,6,-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl (TEMPO) oxidation. The pretreatment performance of DMSO was evaluated based on the structural and morphological changes. DMSO pretreated FNBC attained the most dramatic morphological changes as compared to untreated cellulose samples. The results of the scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) shows that there is an extensive structural disruption of FNBC during the pretreatment process, which could be because of outstanding ability to eliminate non-cellulosic materials and amorphous regions from the FNBC, confirmed by the X-ray diffractometry (XRD) showing higher crystallinity values, as well as higher thermal stabilities values of pretreated FNBC samples, were also noted. Overall, this study revealed a tremendously effective and pioneer pretreatment method for fractionating FNBC, to stimulate the successive extraction of cellulose nanofibrils. Furthermore, based on the cellulose and CNF characterizations, this study showed that F. natalensis barkcloth could be considered as an alternative source of cellulose for potential value-added industrial applications such as the food industry, paper making, and biomedicines.

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Evaluating pollution damage function through carbon pricing,renewable energy demand,and cleaner technologies in China: blue versus green economy

Climate change and increased greenhouse gas emissions boost the global average temperature to less than 2°C, which is the estimated breakeven point. The globe is moving into blue pollution economies as the environmental sustainability objective becomes more distorted. The study looked at three United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, namely (i) affordable and clean energy; (ii) industry, innovation, and infrastructure; and (iii) climate change, to see how far the Chinese economy has progressed toward green and clean development strategy. In the context of China, the “pollution damage function” was intended to refer to carbon damages related to carbon pricing, technological variables, sustained economic growth, incoming foreign investment, and green energy. The data was collected between 1975 and 2019 and analyzed using various statistical approaches. The results of the autoregressive distributed lag model suggest that carbon taxes on industrial emissions reduce carbon damages in the short and long run. Furthermore, a rise in inbound foreign investment and renewable energy demand reduces carbon damages in the short term, proving the “pollution halo” and “green energy” hypotheses; nonetheless, the results are insufficient to explain the stated results in the long run. In the long run, technology transfers and continued economic growth are beneficial in reducing carbon damages and confirming the potential of cleaner solutions in pollution mitigation. The causal inferences show the one-way relationship running from carbon pricing and technology transfer to carbon damages, and green energy to high-technology exports in a country. The impulse response estimates suggested that carbon tax, inbound foreign investment, and technology transfers likely decrease carbon damages for the next 10 years. On the other hand, continued economic growth and inadequate green energy sources are likely to increase carbon pollution in a country. The variance decomposition analysis suggested that carbon pricing and information and communication technology exports would likely significantly influence carbon damages over time. To keep the earth’s temperature within the set threshold, the true motivation to shift from a blue to a green economy required strict environmental legislation, the use of green energy sources, and the export of cleaner technologies.

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Source: Authors’ self-extract