Elevation, Slope Aspect and Integrated Nutrient Management Effects on Crop Productivity and Soil Quality in North-west Himalayas, India

On farm bio-resource recycling has been given greater emphasis with the introduction of conservation agriculture specifically withclimate change scenarios in the mid-hills of the north-west Himalaya region（NWHR）. Under this changing scenario, elevation, slope aspect and integrated nutrient management（INM） may affect significantly soil quality and crop productivity. A study was conducted during 2009-2010 to 2010-2011 at the Ashti watershed of NWHR in a rainfed condition to examine the influence of elevation, slope aspect and integrated nutrient management（INM） on soil resource and crop productivity. Two years of farm demonstration trials indicated that crop productivity and soil quality is significantly affected by elevation, slope aspect and INM. Results showed that wheat equivalent yield（WEY） of improved technology increased crop productivity by -20%-37% compared to the conventional system. Intercropping of maize with cowpea and soybean enhanced yield by another 8%-17%. North aspect and higher elevation increased crop productivity by 15%-25% compared to south aspect and low elevation（except paddy）. Intercropping of maize with cowpea and soybean enhanced yield by another 8%-15%. Irrespective of slope, elevation and cropping system, the WEY increased by -30% in this region due to INMtechnology. The influence of elevation, slope aspect and INM significantly affected soil resources（SQI） and soil carbon change（SCC）. SCC is significantly correlated with SQI for conventional（R2 = 0.65＊）, INM technology（R2 = 0.81＊） and for both technologies（R2 = 0.73＊）. It is recommended that at higher elevation.（except for paddy soils） with a north facing slope, INM is recommended for higher crop productivity; conservation of soil resources is recommended for the mid hills of NWHR; and single values of SCC are appropriate as a SQI for this region.

In vitro Biological Evaluation of Graphene on Neuronal Cells

We prepared graphene（GE） with a mean size of 3087 nm.The transition of graphene oxide（GO） to GE was confirmed by UV-visible spectroscopy,Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy（FTIR） and X-ray diffraction（XRD）.The experimental results of optical microscopic observation indicated that the GE ranged from 5 to 20 μg/mL did not affect the cell morphologies of the PC12 cells.The results of cell viability and membrane integrity assay supported that of optical microscopic observation and demonstrated that the GE ranged from 5 to 20 μg/mL presented no obvious cytotoxicity.However,reactive oxygen species（ROS） assay suggested that an elevation of ROS level could be detected when the GE ranged from 20 to 100 μg/mL.These results showed that the GE ranged from 5 to 10 μg/mL presented an excellent in vitro biocompatibility and was one kind of potential biomaterials for neural tissue engineering.