Increasing land pressure in East Africa: The changing role of cassava and consequences for sustainability of farming systems

Increasing land pressure during the past three to four decades has transformed farming systems in the mid-altitude zone of East Africa. Traditional millet-, cotton-, sugarcane- and/or banana-based farming systems with an important fallow and/or grazing component have evolved into continuously cultivated cassava or cassava/maize-based systems. Within three to four decades, cassava cultivation increased from 1–11 to 16–55% of cropped fields in our six study sites. Declining soil fertility, and not labour or food shortage, was apparently the primary trigger for this transformation. The land use changes have increased nutrient offtakes and reduced nutrient recycling rates. Cassava and maize now account for 50–90% of nutrient removal. Whereas single-season fallows were the most important source of nutrient recycling on cropped fields in the past, currently cassava litterfall and maize stover contribute roughly 70% of nutrient recycling, with 50–70% of N, P and K recycled in cassava litterfall. This may explain why many farmers reason that cassava ‘rests’ the soil. With increasing land use pressure farmers progressively use cassava as an ‘imitation fallow’ throughout their farm. Farmers increasingly target cassava to poor fertility fields characterized by low pH and available P. High cassava intensities are nonetheless maintained on more fertile fields, probably to guarantee regeneration of soil fertility on all fields. Once cassava is targeted to poor fertility soils, farmers have run out of low-input management options and need to intensify management to maintain system productivity. As cassava is now used by more farmers and on a larger acreage than fallowing in the studied farming systems, cassava cropping could perhaps serve as an excellent entry point to strengthen system sustainability.     

白腐真菌发酵中胞外蛋白酶对MnP的产生及其稳定性的影响

在摇瓶试验中通过投加4种对应不同蛋白酶的抑制剂,研究了白腐真菌 Phanerochaete chrysosporium 固定化发酵过程中所产的胞外蛋白酶对其MnP的产生以及稳定性的影响.在培养1d后投加 Pepstatin A 可使MnP峰值提高且提前1d出现,而投加PMSF、EDTA后MnP峰值出现时间不变但峰值皆下降;培养4d后投加 PMSF 和Pepstatin A可使MnP酶活提高且稳定性增强;培养过程中投加 HgCl2 均会抑制菌体生长,使 MnP酶活水平较低.在培养1d后直接补人初级蛋白酶浓缩液.MnP 峰值酶活稍有提高.且第3d补入初级蛋白酶浓缩液会使MnP提前1d出现.在离体条件下,EDTA 和 HgCl2均可抑制MnP酶活;初级蛋白酶和次级蛋白酶均会导致MnP不稳定,但投加 PMSF 和 Pepstatin A 后,MnP稳定性增强.以上结果表明,在培养过程中初级蛋白酶部分组分对MnP的产生过程具有促进作用;初级蛋白酶和次级蛋白酶会导致离体MnP迅速失活,且证实其中2种组分--丝氨酸蛋白酶和天冬氨酸蛋白酶--可导致离体MnP不稳定.     

周丛藻类水质处理系统中氮、磷污染物去除效果研究

为了评价周丛藻类系统对受污染景观河道水体氮、磷污染物处理效果,以及最佳污染物去除浓度,通过设置周丛藻类水质处理系统,并模拟藻类自然生长条件,于2006年夏秋之季,对该周丛藻类系统的水质处理效果进行了研究.结果表明,①相对于标准培养液条件下20%的平均去除率,周丛藻类水质处理系统中TN、NH4 -N去除率分别可达30%和50%以上,其中TP平均去除率则相对较低(＜10%);②系统最大氮污染物去除率(TN＞65%,NH4 -N＞80%)出现在进水TN浓度约11.0mg·L-1条件下,而TP去除率则随进水浓度增加呈下降趋势;③试验期间,系统中周丛藻类生物量增加54%,Chl-a浓度增加58.2%,同时藻类群落由试验初期的颗粒态硅藻、绿藻为主,演替为以丝状和颗粒状蓝、绿藻为主.     

AB工艺污水厂A段不同溶解氧运行效果

对AB工艺城市污水处理厂A段不同溶解氧工况下的实际运行效果进行了监测分析。结果表明:A段按设计参数兼氧运行对BOD5、COD、SS的去除率最高,平均分别达到59.4%、77.2%、73.2%;总氮的去除率随A段溶解氧含量影响不大,平均为46.8%;总磷的去除率随溶解氧含量的增大而升高,最高可达80.2%。     

Coupling catalytic hydrolysis and oxidation for CS2 removal

CS2 removal was Obtained by coupling catalytic hyidation on bi-functional catalyst.On the hydrolysis active sites,CS2 is hydrolyzed to H2S,while on the oxidation active sites,H2S is oxidized to elemental S or sulfuric acid deposited on the porous support.The above process can be expressed as followsCS2→H2O COS →H2O H2S→O2 S/SO2- 4.H2S oxidation eliminates its prohibition on CS2 hydrolysis so that the rate of coupling removal CS2 is 5 times higher than that of CS2 hydrolysis.The same active energy of hydrolysis and coupling reaction also indicates that H2S oxidation does not change the reaction mechanism of CS2 hydrolysis.Temperature has obvious effect on the process while the mole ratio of O2 concentration to CS2 concentration (O/S) does not,especially in excess of 2.5.The formation of sulfuric acid on the catalyst surface poisons hydrolysis active sites and causes the decrease of left OH-1 concentration on the catalysts surface.Lower temperature is suggested for this bi-functional catalyst owing to the low yield ratio of S/SO4 2-.     

Effects of glucose on the decolorization of Reactive Black 5 by yeast isolates

The cometabolic roles of glucose were investigated in decolorization of an azo dye, Reactive Black 5, by yeast isolates, Debaryomyces polymorphus and Candida tropicalis. The results indicated that the dye degradation by the two yeasts was highly associated with the yeast growth process and glucose presence in the medium. Color removal of 200 mg dye/L was increased from 76.4% to 92.7% within 60 h to 100% within 18-24 h with the increase of glucose from 5 to 10 g/L, although the activity of manganese dependent peroxidase （MnP） decreased by 2-8 times in this case. Hydrogen peroxide of 233.3 μg/L was detected in 6 h in D. polymorphus culture. The cometabolic functions of glucose and hydrogen peroxide could be also confirmed by the further color removals of 95.8% or 78,9% in the second cycle of decolorization tests in which 7 g glucose/L or 250 μg H202/L was superadded respectively together with 200 mg dye/L.     

Enhanced biological nutrient removal by the alliance of a heterotrophic nitrifying strain with a nitrogen removing ecosystem

Nitrogen removal from synthetic wastewater was investigated in an airlift bioreactor （ALB）, augmented with a novel heterotrophic nitrifier Pseudonocardia ammonioxydans H9^T under organic carbon to nitrogen ratios （Corg/N） ranging from 0 to 12. Effect of the inoculated strain was also determined on the settling properties and the removal of chemical oxygen demand （COD）. Two laboratory scale reactors were set up to achieve a stable nitrifying state under the same physicochemical conditions of hydraulic retention time （HRT）, temperature, pH and dissolved oxygen （DO）, and operated under the sequencing batch mode. The level of DO was kept at 0.5- 1.5 mg/L by periodic stirring and aeration. Each specific Corg/N ratio was continued for duration of 3 weeks. One of the reactors （BR2） was inoculated with P ammonioxydans H9^T periodically at the start of each Corg/N ratio. Sludge volumetric index （SVI） improved with the increasing Corg/N ratio, but no significant difference was detected between the two reactors. BR2 showed higher levels of nitrogen removal with the increasing heterotrophic conditions, and the ammonia removal reached to the level of 82%-88%, up to10% higher than that in the control reactor （BR1） at Corg/N ratios higher than 6; however, the ammonia removal level in experimental reactor was up to 8% lower than that in control reactor at Corg/N ratios lower than 2. The COD removal efficiency progressively increased with the increasing Corg/N ratios in both of the reactors. The COD removal percentage up to peak values of 88%-94% in BR2, up to 11% higher than that in BR1 at Corg/N ratio higher than 4. The peak values of ammonia and COD removal almost coincided with the highest number （18%-27% to total bacterial number） of the exogenous bacterium in the BR2, detected as colony forming units （CFU）. Furthermore, the removal of ammonia and COD in BR2 was closely related to the number of the inoculated strain with a coefficient index （R2） up to 0.82 and 0.85 for ammonia and     

污泥龄对LSP ＆ PNR污泥减量新工艺运行效能的影响

通过研究分析污泥龄（SRT）对富磷污水除磷的LSP＆PNR污泥减量新工艺运行效果的影响,结果发现,延长污泥龄有利于提高系统的厌氧释磷能力,但不影响其总的除磷率,同时磷的回收比例增大,当SRT=50 d时,磷回收率取得最大值70.4%;LSP＆PNR系统污泥龄增加,还有利于污泥产率的降低。试验还发现,排富磷污水除磷的长污泥龄LSP＆PNR系统的除磷效率与污泥产率之间不存在制约关系,即系统可以同时获得优异的污泥减量与生物除磷效果,当SRT=50 d时,每降解1 kg COD仅产生0.143 kg污泥,而除磷率达最高值92.8%;LSP＆PNR系统中SRT、DO与SVI之间存在一定的相关性,在供氧充足（DO=0.8-1.5 mg/L）条件下,SRT增加,SVI越高,但对于SRT为50 d的LSP＆PNR系统,稳定运行时没有污泥膨胀之虞。     

强化水旋澄清池技术处理黄河高浊度水的试验研究

由于兰州段夏季黄河水的浊度较高,直接影响了自来水厂的正常运行,而目前水厂所用工艺无法满足高浊度水的处理要求,因此,采用自主研究开发的具有特殊结构的水旋澄清池对黄河高浊度水进行了强化处理的试验研究。研究结果表明：在多点投药混合方式下,强化水旋澄清池可提高浊度的处理效果;若在投加无机絮凝剂PAC后,再投加有机絮凝剂PAM进行复配作用,不仅可降低无机絮凝剂的用量,节约制水成本,而且提高了自来水厂的出水水质;结果也表明该水旋澄清池技术能够推广应用于黄河高浊度水的强化处理工艺中。