Potential reduction in water consumption of greenhouse evaporative coolers in arid areas via earth-tube heat exchangers

This study aimed to explore the potential of developing a novel cooling system combining a greenhouse and an earth-tube heat exchanger(ETHE).In this system,greenhouse air is circulated through the underneath soil mass to use the deep-soil cooling effect.This was achieved through the following steps.First,soil temperature profile inside and outside the cultivated greenhouse was monitored for almost one year to study the possibility of using deep-soil coldness for cooling the greenhouse air.Second,a prototype ETHE was built to practically investigate the potential reduction in air temperature as the air flows inside the deep earth pipes.Third,a prototype greenhouse was erected to study the ETHE concept.Results from the first experiment revealed that soil temperature at a soil depth of 2.5 m inside the greenhouse offers good conditions to bury the ETHE.The soil temperature at this soil depth was below the maximum temperature(32℃)that most greenhouse crops can withstand.Results from the prototype ETHE showed a slight reduction in air temperature as it passed through the pipes.From the prototype of the integrated greenhouse and ETHE system,reduction in air temperature was observed as the air passed through the ETHE pipes.At night,the air was heated up across the ETHE pipes,indicating that the ETHE was working as a heater.We concluded from this study that greenhouses in arid climates can be cooled using the ETHE concept which would save a large amount of water that would otherwise be consumed in the evaporative coolers.Further investigations are highly encouraged.

Pre-Breeding Genetic Diversity Assessment of Tomato(Solanum lycopersicum L.)Cultivars Based on Molecular,Morphological and Physicochemical Parameters

Appropriate knowledge of the parental cultivars is a pre-requisite for a successful breeding program.This study characterized fruit yield,quality attributes,and molecular variations of ten tomato cultivars during three consecutive generations under greenhouse conditions.Peto 86,Castle Rock,and Red Star cultivars showed the highest fruit yield(kg/plant),total phenolic compounds(TPC),and sap acidity.Principal component analysis categorized the evaluated fruit yield into three groups based on their quality attributes.A robust positive correlation appeared among traits inside each group.A positive correlation was likewise noticed between the first and the second groups.However,a negative correlation was detected between the first,the second and the third group.Molecular profiling,using seven inter-simple sequence repeat(ISSR)primers,produced 60 loci,including 49 polymorphic loci.The molecular analysis also pinpointed the highest genetic similarity(0.92)between P73 and Moneymaker,while the lowest genetic similarity(0.46)was observed between Castle Rock and Moneymaker.The cultivars P73 and Moneymaker showed the lowest genetic distance(2.24),while the highest genetic distance(5.92)was observed between Super Marmand and Peto86,on the one hand,and between Castle Rock and Moneymaker,on the other hand.The chemical analysis of fruit sap indicated the highest levels of TPC,total flavonoids,anthocyanin,ascorbic acid and total soluble solids in Peto 86 and Castle Rock cultivars.Phylogeny analysis of tomato cultivars based on morphological and molecular attributes indicated four distinct clades.Peto 86,Castle Rock,and Red star cultivars can be recommended for the tomato hybridization breeding programs in the future,with other tomato cultivars as potentially high-yielding parents.

Influence of two different dietary zinc sources in freshwater prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii post larvae

A feeding experiment was conducted to evaluate the ef fects of bulk zinc(B-Zn) and zinc nanoparticles(Zn-NPs) on survival, growth, compositions of amino acid and fatty acid, and nonspeci?c immune responses of the freshwater prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii post larvae. The B-Zn(size 10 μm)and Zn-NPs(size 50 nm) were supplemented separately with the basal feeds of M. rosenbergii at 60 mg/kg and feed without supplementation of any Zn source was served as a control. M. rosenbergii were fed these feeds for 90 days and the results showed that signi?cant( P <0.05) improvements in survival, growth, feed intake,speci?c growth rate, essential amino acids, unsaturated fatty acids, nonspeci?c immune responses(total haemocytes and dif ferential haemocytes count) of M. rosenbergii fed with B-Zn and Zn-NPs supplemented feeds when compared to control. Among these Zn sources, Zn-NPs supplemented feeds fed prawns showed signi?cantly( P <0.05) better performance than that of B-Zn and control. Hence, present study suggests that the 60 mg/kg Zn-NPs can be supplemented with basal feeds of M. rosenbergii for regulating better survival and growth.

Studies on the Molecular Phylogeny of Coleoptera： Curculionidae, Staphylinidae and Carabidae Based on the Mitochondrial Cytochrome oxidasel Gene

Phylogenetic relationships among 146 species of Coleoptera （Families： Curculionidae, Staphylinidae and Carabidae） were estimated based upon mitochondrial Cytochrome Oxidase 1 gene sequences. The monophyletic of the polyphaga and Adephaga was not supported in our study using COlgene sequences, as family Carabidae （Adephaga） was grouped with family Staphylidae （Polyphaga） with Staphylinidae paraphyletic. The subfamily Scolytinae is the most common ancestor for the subfamilies： Ceutorhynchinae, Curculioninae and Dryophtborinae and hence the oldest. The subfamily Cryptorhynchinae is the oldest among the five tested Curculionidae families. At the family level, the genetic distances and phylogenetic analysis obtained in this study showed that the family Carabidae was more related to family Staphylinidae than to family Curculionidae with the topology Staphylinida-Carabidae-Curculionidae. The topology was the same when Micromus igorotus from order Neuroptera was used as an outgroup taxon as it was Staphylinida, Carabidae, Curculionidae/Neuroptera. An alternative topology was obtained when Acytolepis puspa from order Lepidoptera was used as an outgroup that was Carabidae, Staphylinida, Curculionidae-Neuroptera/Lepidoptera. where the species of order Neuroptera placed within family Curculionida. According to the estimated genetic distances and to the standard mitochondrial DNA clock estimated at 2.3% MYA, family Curculionidae separated from family Staphylinidae and Carabidae approximately 112 and 115 MYA, respectively.

Preliminary Study on Geographical Variation of Cytochrome b gene and ITS2-rDNA among Populations of Rhynchophorus ferrugineus

The Red Palm Weevil （RPW）, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus （Olivier）, （Coleoptera, Curculionidae, Rhynchophorinae）, is an invasive species that is originated from Southeast Asia. It has invaded Middle East, several countries of the Mediterranean Basin, Caribbean （Island of Curacao, Netherland Antilles）, Lebanon and United States of America （Laguna Beach, Orange County, California） during the last three decades where it attacks palm trees. This study investigated the geographical variation among geographic populations of RPW collected from twelve invaded countries using cytochrome b （Cytb） and ITS2 partial sequences. The comparison among the Cytb sequences resulted in three different haplotypes designated as HB 1 to HB3. The three haplotypes were subdivided into two phylogenetic groups according to their geographic positions： （1） the ＂Multi-Continent＂ group containing HB 1 haplotype detected in eight populations belonging to three different Continents such as Africa-Egypt, Asia-Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Turkey and Europe-Spain, Italy, Greece, Cyprus and France, and （2） the ＂Asian＂ group includes four populations from Iran （harboring HB2 haplotype）, Pakistan, UAE, and Oman （harboring HB3 haplotype）. This mitochondrial pattern of genetic diversity suggests that the tested RPW populations subdivided genetically into different sub-populations under the influence of genetic drift. According to these results we concluded that the twelve studied RPW populations are originating from different source populations in the RPW area of origin.

Impact of Quebracho Tannins Supplementation on Productive and Reproductive Efficiency of Dairy Cows

This study was conducted to investigate effects of supplementing two doses of quebracho tannins (QT;100 or 200 g/cow/d;QT100 or QT200) pre and post parturition to thirty Holstein dairy cows on Dry Matter Intake (DMI), milk yield and composition, blood metabolites and reproductive performance for 12 weeks. There were no significant changes in DMI due to QT at transition period of dairy cows. QT supplementation at either level decreased (P 0.05) the total number of ovarian follicles, number of large follicles, diameter of largest follicle, number of small follicles, number and diameter of corpus luteum, and progesterone concentration. The inclusion of QT increased days open and number of services per conception, which consequently decreased conception rate, compared to the control cows. QT100 decreased (P

Effects of Paclobutrazol Seed Priming on Seedlings Quality,Physiological and Bakanae Disease Index Characteristics of Rice(Oryza sativa L.)

Rice(Oryza sativa L.)is one of the most important cereal crops in the world.Bakanae disease is a significant rice disease widely distributed in rice-growing regions worldwide.Therefore,the present investigation aimed to assess the optimal concentrations of paclobutrazol(PBZ)as a treatment for rice grains(cv.Sakha 108)to control bakanae disease,also evaluating its impact on grain germination,seedling growth parameters as well as disease index.Paclobutrazol concentrations had no significant impact on seed germination,regardless of whether the seeds were incubated with Fusarium fujikuroi or not.Application of PBZ,either alone or in combination with fungal pathogens,negatively impacted the rice seedlings’height.Paclobutrazol at 25,50 and 100 mg/L,combined with the fungal pathogen positively impacted root length.Paclobutrazol at 3 and 6 mg/L mitigated the adverse impact on chlorophyll pigments content in infected seedlings.The highest proline contents were achieved by 100 mg/L PBZ alone or in combination with fungal pathogens.It has been observed that the application of PBZ,either alone or in combination with a fungal pathogen,leads to the enhancement of catalase,peroxidase,and polyphenol oxidase activities.The median lethal concentration of PBZ was 0.874 mg/L;applying low concentrations of paclobutrazol effectively increased the percentage of fungal growth suppression.Application of PBZ,at higher concentrations(50 and 100 mg/L),decreased infection percentage and disease severity index(DSI)significantly.These findings suggest that PBZ can be an effective treatment for controlling bakanae disease and enhancing resistance in rice plants.

Genetic Comparison among Rhynchophorus ferrugineus and Four Rhynchophorus Species

Genetic comparison between Rhynchophorus ferrugineus （Coleoptera： Curculionidae： Rhynchophorinae） and other four Rhynchophorus spp. such as R. bilineatus, R. phoenicis, R. cruentatus and R. palmarum was investigated using partial sequences of Cytochrome c oxidase subunit I （COl） mitochondrial gene. The number ofpolymorphic sites ranged from 79 to 102 while the genetic distances ranged from 0.058 to 0.095. The number of polymorphic sites, genetic distances and phylogenetic relationships among R. ferrugineus and the other four tested species revealed that R.ferrugineus was more closely related to R. bilineatus while it was distantly related to R. palmarum. It is possible to rank the five tested species as follows： R.ferrugineus, R. bilineatus, R. phoenicis, R. cruentatus and R. palmarum. The result of this study is the first step of the revision of the uncertain taxonomic status and phylogenetic relationships among the Rhynchophorus genus. Further analysis should be performed using other Rhynchophorus species as well as other molecular markers.

Red Palm Weevil, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus （Olivier）： Economic Importance, Biology, Biogeography and Integrated Pest Management

The Red Palm Weevil （RPW）, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus （Olivier）, （Coleoptera, Curculionidae, Rhynchophorinae）, is an invasive species that is originated from Southeast Asia. It has.invaded Middle East and several countries of the Mediterranean Basin during the last three decades where it attacks palm trees. During the last three decades, multiple introductions of RPW to the Middle East, Europe and Caribbean （Island of Curacao, Netherland Antilles）, Lebanon and United States of America （Laguna Beach, Orange County, California） （USA） have occurred and the RPW is now a serious pest of many palm species. Duration of all life parameters varies significantly where the entire life cycle takes about 45 to 298 days. Different artificial diets were developed and were tested for mass rearing of RPW. Control of RPW is difficult due to the concealed nature of the life cycle of the pest. Integrated Pest Management （IPM） strategy has been applied successfully to deal with RPW problem. The IPM strategy consists of various preventive and curative methods; those methods were categorized in nine categories in this review. The main objective of this work was to review the existing knowledge on RPW＇s different aspects, with an ultimate aim of revealing the actual situation of the research on RPW.

Variations of soil organic carbon fractions in response to conservative vegetation successions on the Loess Plateau of China

Land use changes profoundly affect the equilibrium of soil organic carbon(soC)sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions.With the current global climatic changes,it is vital to understand the influence of ecological restoration and conservation management on the dynamics of soC under different land uses,especially in erosion-endangered Loess soils.Therefore,we investigated changes in soc through a suit of labile fractions,namely:light fraction organic C(LFOC),heavy fraction organic C(HFOC),coarse particulate organic C(CPOC),fine particulate organic C(FPOC),and dissolved organic C(DOC),from two forests i.e.,Robinia pseudoacacia(RP)and Platycladus orientalis(PO),with different ages,in comparison with farmland(FL).The SOC and STN contents significantly increased over 42 years in the RP forest where the contents of CPOC and FPOC were significantly higher than in the FL.Moreover,total SOC and its labile fractions,in the studied land use types,significantly correlated with soil CacO3,pH,and STN contents,indicating their key roles in SoC sequestration.The results reported here from different vegetation with different ages provide a better understanding of sOC and STN alterations at different stages of vegetation restoration.Our findings suggest that long-term natural vegetation restoration could be an effective approach for SoC sequestration and soil conservation on the Loess soil.

Effect of corn pre-puffing on the efficiency of MgO-engineered biochar for phosphorus recovery from livestock wastewater:mechanistic investigations and cost benefit analyses

To improve the phosphorus(P)recovery efficiency from livestock wastewater,a novel MgO doped mildewed corn biochar with thermal pre-puffing treatment(Mg-PBC)and without pre-puffing(Mg-BC)was synthesized and tested.The thermal-puffing pretreatment improved the effectiveness of metal soaking and MgO dispersion.P recovery time with Mg-PBC(7 h)was significantly shorter than that with Mg-BC(12 h).Moreover,Mg-PBC showed significantly higher P recovery capacity(241 mg g^(−1))than Mg-BC(96.6 mg g^(−1)).P recovery capacity of the Mg-PBC fitted to the Thomas model was 90.7 mg g^(−1),which was 4 times higher than that of Mg-BC(22.9 mg g^(−1))under column test conditions.The mechanisms involved in P recovery included precipitation,surface complexation,and electrostatic interaction.After adsorption,both Mg-BC and Mg-PBC showed relatively low regeneration abilities.The P loaded Mg-BC(Mg-BC-P)and Mg-PBC(Mg-PBC-P),the later particularly,obviously increased the available P content and promoted plant growth.The release of P increased with time in the Mg-PBC-P treated soil,while it decreased with time in the P fertilizer treated soil.A cost-benefit analysis revealed that thermal-puffing pretreatment greatly increased the profit of MgO doped biochar from−0.66 to 5.90 US$kg^(−1).These findings highlight that biomass pre-puffing is a feasible treatment to produce MgO modified biochar and to recover P from livestock wastewater,and that the Mg-PBC-P can be used as a slow-release P fertilizer.

Removal of toxic elements from aqueous environments using nano zero-valent iron-and iron oxide-modified biochar:a review

Biochar(BC)has gained attention for removal of toxic elements(TEs)from aqueous media;however,pristine biochar often exhibits low adsorption capability.Thus,various modification strategies in BC have been developed to improve its removal capability against TEs.Nanoscale zero-valent iron(nZVI)and iron oxides(FeOx)have been used as sorbents for TE removal.However,these materials are prone to agglomeration and also expensive,which make their usage limited for large-scale applications.The nZVI technical demerits could be resolved by the development of BC-based composite sorbents through the loading of nZVI or FeOx onto BC surface.Nano zero-valent iron modified BC(nZVIBC),FeOx-modified BC(FeOxBC)have attracted attention for their capability in removing pollutants from the aqueous phases.Nonetheless,a potential use of nZVIBC and FeOxBC for TE removal from aqueous environments has not been well-realized or reviewed.As such,this article reviews:(i)the preparation and characterization of nZVIBC and FeOxBC;(ii)the capacity of nZVIBC and FeOxBC for TE retention in line with their physicochemical properties,and(iii)TE removal mechanisms by nZVIBC and FeOxBC.Adopting nZVI and FeOx in BC increases its sporptive capability of TEs due to surface modifications in morphology,functional groups,and elemental composition.The combined effects of BC and nZVI,FeOx or Fe salts on the sorption of TEs are complex because they are very specific to TEs.This review identified significant opportunities for research and technol-ogy advancement of nZVIBC and FeOxBC as novel and effective sorbents for the remediation of TEs contaminated water.

Bio-assembled MgO-coated tea waste biochar efficiently decontaminates phosphate from water and kitchen waste fermentation liquid

Crystal morphology of metal oxides in engineered metal-biochar composites governs the removal of phosphorus(P)from aqueous solutions.Up to our best knowledge,preparation of bio-assembled MgO-coated biochar and its application for the removal of P from solutions and kitchen waste fermentation liquids have not yet been studied.Therefore,in this study,a needle-like MgO particle coated tea waste biochar composite(MTC)was prepared through a novel biological assembly and template elimination process.The produced MTC was used as an adsorbent for removing P from a synthetic solution and real kitchen waste fermentation liquid.The maximum P sorption capacities of the MTC,deduced from the Langmuir model,were 58.80 mg g^(−1) from the solution at pH 7 and 192.8 mg g^(−1) from the fermentation liquid at pH 9.The increase of ionic strength(0-0.1 mol L^(−1) NaNO_(3))reduced P removal efficiency from 98.53%to 93.01%in the synthetic solution but had no significant impact on P removal from the fermentation liquid.Precipitation of MgHPO4 and Mg(H_(2)PO_(4))_(2)(76.5%),ligand exchange(18.0%),and electrostatic attraction(5.5%)were the potential mechanisms for P sorption from the synthetic solution,while struvite formation(57.6%)and ligand exchange(42.2%)governed the sorption of P from the kitchen waste fermentation liquid.Compared to previously reported MgO-biochar composites,MTC had a lower P sorption capacity in phosphate solution but a higher P sorption capacity in fermentation liquid.Therefore,the studied MTC could be used as an effective candidate for the removal of P from aqueous environments,and especially from the fermentation liquids.In the future,it will be necessary to systematically compare the performance of metal-biochar composites with different metal oxide crystal morphology for P removal from different types of wastewater.

Arsenic removal from water and soils using pristine and modified biochars

Arsenic(As)is recognized as a persistent and toxic contaminant in the environment that is harmful to humans.Biochar,a porous carbonaceous material with tunable functionality,has been used widely as an adsorbent for remediating As-contaminated water and soils.Several types of pristine and modified biochar are available,and significant efforts have been made toward modifying the surface of biochars to increase their adsorption capacity for As.Adsorption capacity is influenced by multiple factors,including biomass pyrolysis temperature,pH,the presence of dissolved organic carbon,surface charge,and the presence of phosphate,silicate,sulfate,and microbial activity.Improved As adsorption in modified biochars is attributed to several mechanisms including surface complexation/precipitation,ion exchange,oxidation,reduction,electrostatic interactions,and surface functional groups that have a relatively higher affinity for As.Modified biochars show promise for As adsorption;however,further research is required to improve the performance of these materials.For example,modified biochars must be eco-friendly,cost-effective,reliable,efficient,and sustainable to ensure their widespread application for immobilizing As in contaminated water and soils.Conducting relevant research to address these issues relies on a thorough understanding of biochar modifications to date.This study presents an in-depth review of pristine and modified biochars,including their production,physicochemical properties,and As adsorption mechanisms.Furthermore,a comprehensive evaluation of biochar applications is provided in As-contaminated environments as a guide for selecting suitable biochars for As removal in the field.