Phosphorus fractions in manure from growing pigs receiving diets containing micronized peas and supplemental enzymes

Different livestock feeds manipulations have been reported to reduce the total P concentration in manure. Information on the influence of these dietary manipulation strategies on the forms of P in manure is, however, limited. This study was, therefore, conducted to investigate the effect of diet manipulation through feed micronization and enzyme supplementation on the forms of P in swine manure. Eight growing pigs were fed four diets: barley-raw pea (BRP), barley-micronized pea (BMP), barley-raw pea with enzyme (BRPE), and barley-micronized pea with enzyme (BMPE) in a 4 x 4 Latin square design. Because we are interested in the effect of enzyme cocktail and pea micronization on manure P, we did not reduce the non-phytate P with enzyme addition in this study. The fecal material and urine were collected and analyzed for total P. Fecal material was fractionated to determine the total P in H2O-, NaHCO3-, NaOH-, and HCl-extractable fractions. The total P in the residual fractions was also determined. About 98% of the total P excreted by the pigs was found in the fecal material. Inclusion of micronized pea in pig diet did not have any significant effect (p > 0.1) on either the total P or the different P fractions in the manure. The labile P (the sum of H2O-P and NaHCO3-P) was significantly reduced (p < 0.05) by the addition of enzyme to swine diets. Pigs fed the BRPE and BMPE had 14 and 18% lower labile P, respectively, compared with pigs fed the BRP. Enzyme addition to pig diets reduced not only the total P in manure, but also the labile P fraction, which is of great environmental concern. Thus, the potential of P loss to runoff and the subsequent eutrophication can be reduced by enzyme addition to pig diets.     

Phosphorus and nitrogen in rainfall simulation runoff after fresh and composted beef cattle manure application

Fresh beef cattle (Bos taurus) manure has traditionally been applied to cropland in southern Alberta, but there has been an increase in application of composted manure to cropland in this region. However, the quality of runoff under fresh manure (FM) versus composted manure (CM) has not been investigated. Our objective was to compare runoff quality under increasing rates (0, 13, 42, 83 Mg ha(-1) dry wt.) of FM and CM applied for two consecutive years to a clay loam soil cropped to irrigated barley (Hordeum vulgare L.). We determined total phosphorus (TP), particulate phosphorus (PP), dissolved reactive phosphorus (DRP), total nitrogen (TN), NH4-N, and NO3-N concentrations and loads in runoff after one (1999) and two (2000) applications of FM and CM. We found significantly (P < or = 0.05) higher TP, DRP, and NH4-N concentrations, and higher DRP and TN loads under FM than CM after 2 yr of manure application. The TP loads were also higher under FM than CM at the 83 Mg ha(-1) rate in 2000, and DRP loads were higher for FM than CM at this high rate when averaged over both years. Application rate had a significant effect on TP and DRP concentrations in runoff. In addition, the slope values of the regressions between TP and DRP in runoff versus application rate were considerably higher for FM in 2000 than for FM in 1999, and CM in both 1999 and 2000. Significant positive relationships were found for TP and DRP in runoff versus soil Kelowna-extractable P and soil water-extractable P for FM and CM in 2000, indicating that interaction of runoff with the soil controlled the release of P. Total P and DRP were the variables most affected by the treatments. Overall, our study found that application of CM rather than FM to cropland may lower certain forms of P and N in surface runoff, but this is dependent on the interaction with year, application rate, or both.     

Mapping ground water vulnerability to pesticide leaching with a process-based metamodel of EuroPEARL

To support EU policy, indicators of pesticide leaching at the European level are required. For this reason, a metamodel of the spatially distributed European pesticide leaching model EuroPEARL was developed. EuroPEARL considers transient flow and solute transport and assumes Freundlich adsorption, first-order degradation and passive plant uptake of pesticides. Physical parameters are depth dependent while (bio)-chemical parameters are depth, temperature, and moisture dependent. The metamodel is based on an analytical expression that describes the mass fraction of pesticide leached. The metamodel ignores vertical parameter variations and assumes steady flow. The calibration dataset was generated with EuroPEARL and consisted of approximately 60,000 simulations done for 56 pesticides with different half-lives and partitioning coefficients. The target variable was the 80th percentile of the annual average leaching concentration at 1-m depth from a time series of 20 yr. The metamodel explains over 90% of the variation of the original model with only four independent spatial attributes. These parameters are available in European soil and climate databases, so that the calibrated metamodel could be applied to generate maps of the predicted leaching concentration in the European Union. Maps generated with the metamodel showed a good similarity with the maps obtained with EuroPEARL, which was confirmed by means of quantitative performance indicators.     

Application of two organic amendments on soil restoration: effects on the soil biological properties

One method for recovering degraded soils in semiarid regions is to add organic matter to improve soil characteristics, thereby enhancing biogeochemical nutrient cycling. In this paper, we studied the changes in soil biological properties as a result of adding a crushed cotton gin compost (CCGC) and a poultry manure (PM) for 4 yr to restore a Xerollic Calciorthid located near Seville (Guadalquivir Valley, Andalusia, Spain). Organic wastes were applied at rates of 5, 7.5, and 10 Mg organic matter ha(-1). One year after the assay began, spontaneous vegetation had appeared in the treated plots, particularly in that receiving a high PM and CCGC dose. After 4 yr, the plant cover in these treated plots was around 88 and 79%, respectively, compared with 5% for the control. The effects on soil microbial biomass and six soil enzymatic activities (dehydrogenase, urease, BBA-protease, beta-glucosidase, arylsulfatase, and alkaline phosphatase activities) were ascertained. Both added organic wastes had a positive effect on the biological properties of the soil, although at the end of the experimental period and at high dosage, soil microbial biomass and soil enzyme activities were generally higher in the PM-amended soils compared to the CCGC-amended soils. Enzyme activity from the PM-amended soil was 5, 15, 13, 19, 22, 30, and 6% greater than CCGC-amended soil for soil microbial biomass, urease, BBA-protease, beta-glucosidase, alkaline phosphatase, arylsulfatase, and dehydrogenase activities, respectively. After 4 yr, the percentage of plant cover was > 48% in all treated plots and 5% in the control.     

Analysis of metabolic changes in Trichoderma asperellum TJ01 at different fermentation time-points by LC-QQQ-MS

Trichoderma spp. are among the most widely recognized biocontrol fungi used to inhibit pathogens and promote plant growth. These functions are related to primary and secondary metabolites. This study investigated the different metabolites in Trichoderma asperellum TJ01 cultured for 24 and 72?h using liquid chromatography with triple-quadrupole mass spectrometry. Compared to the 24?h culture of T. asperellum TJ01, the 72?h culture with amino acid metabolism tended to decrease while sugar and lipid metabolisms tended to increase. Furthermore, the 72?h culture had a higher proportion of upregulated flavonoids, in combination with a higher proportion of downregulated alkaloids, and equal proportions of upregulated and downregulated polyphenols and hormones. This study also identified a few valuable medicinal substances such as trigonelline and 5-hydroxytryptophan in T. asperellum TJ01 fermentation cultures.     

Framing of Geoengineering Affects Support for Climate Change Mitigation

The growing recognition that climate change mitigation alone will be inadequate has led scientists and policymakers to discuss climate geoengineering. An experiment with a US sample found, contrary to previous research, that reading about geoengineering did not reduce conservatives’ skepticism about the existence of anthropogenic climate change. Moreover, depending on how it is framed, geoengineering can reduce support for mitigation among both conservatives and non-conservatives. When geoengineering is framed as a major solution, people worry less about climate change, leading to reduced mitigation support. When framed as disastrous, people perceived geoengineering as riskier, also leading to a decrease in mitigation support. A more moderate framing of geoengineering as a partial solution is less susceptible to moral hazard effects. Overall, results suggest that geoengineering will not lessen political polarization over anthropogenic climate change, and could undercut support for mitigation efforts. Instead, framing geoengineering as a small piece to solving a big puzzle seems to be the best strategy to weaken this potential moral hazard.     

Psychological Reactance From Reading Basic Facts on Climate Change: The Role of Prior Views and Political Identification

Scholars continue to search for solutions to shift climate change skeptics’ views on climate science and policy. However, research has shown that certain audiences are resistant to change regarding environmental issues. To explore this issue further, we examine the presence of reactance among different audiences in response to simple, yet prominently used, climate change messages. Our results show that emphasizing the scientific consensus of climate change produces reactance, but only among people who question the existence of climate change. Moreover, adding political identification to the model as an additional moderating variable shows the increases in reactance occur among Republicans who question the existence of climate change. Finally, our results show that reactance to climate change messaging may lead to backfiring effects on important outcomes tied to climate change such as risk perceptions, climate change beliefs, and support for mitigation policies.     

Factors of Dynamics of Plankton Crustacean Communities under Eutrophic Conditions

Russian Journal of Ecology - It has been shown that the main drivers of the dynamics of cladoceran and copepod abundances can be predators (fish), the quantity and/or quality of food in terms of...     

The Effect of Vaccinium vitis-idaea on Properties of Mountain-Meadow Soil under Alpine Lichen Heath

Russian Journal of Ecology - Abstract—The study of the effect of mycorrhiza symbiosis on the transformation of carbon and nitrogen compounds in soils is important in view of the necessity to...     

Synthesis of functionalized mesoporous material from rice husk ash and its application in the removal of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The rice husk ash (RHA) was used as an alternative source of silica for the synthesis of the functionalized mesoporous material, which was used in the...