Osmoregulators proline and glycine betaine counteract salinity stress in canola

Salt inundation leads to increased salinization of arable land in many arid and semi-arid regions. Until genetic solutions are found farmers and growers must either abandon salt-affected fields or use agronomic treatments that alleviate salt stress symptoms. Here, field experiments were carried out to study the effect of the osmoregulators proline at 200 mg L-1 and glycine betaine at 400 mg L-1 in counteracting the harmful effect of soil salinity stress on canola plants grown in Egypt. We assessed growth characteristics, yield and biochemical constituents. Results show first that all growth characters decreased with increasing salinity stress but applied osmoregulators alleviated these negative effects. Second, salinity stress decreased photosynthetic pigments, K and P contents, whilst increasing proline, soluble sugars, ascorbic acid, Na and Cl contents. Third, application of osmoregulators without salt stress increased photosynthetic pigments, proline, soluble sugars, N, K and P contents whilst decreasing Na and Cl contents. It is concluded that the exogenously applied osmoregulators glycine betaine and proline can fully or partially counteract the harmful effect of salinity stress on growth and yield of canola.© INRA and Springer-Verlag, France 2012

Ultrafine grained plates of Al-Mg-Si alloy obtained by Incremental Equal Channel Angular Pressing : microstructure and mechanical properties

In this study, an Al-Mg-Si alloy was processed using via Incremental Equal Channel Angular Pressing (I-ECAP) in order to obtain homogenous, ultrafine grained plates with low anisotropy of the mechanical properties. This was the first attempt to process an Al-Mg-Si alloy using this technique. Samples in the form of 3 mm-thick square plates were subjected to I-ECAP with the 90˚ rotation around the axis normal to the surface of the plate between passes. Samples were investigated first in their initial state, then after a single pass of I-ECAP and finally after four such passes. Analyses of the microstructure and mechanical properties demonstrated that the I-ECAP method can be successfully applied in Al-Mg-Si alloys. The average grain size decreased from 15 - 19 µm in the initial state to below 1 µm after four I-ECAP passes. The fraction of high angle grain boundaries in the sample subjected to four I-ECAP passes lay within 53-57 % depending on the examined plane. The mechanism of grain refinement in Al-Mg-Si alloy was found to be distinctly different from that in pure aluminium with the grain rotation being more prominent than the grain subdivision, which was attributed to lower stacking fault energy and the reduced mobility of dislocations in the alloy. The ultimate tensile strength increased more than twice, whereas the yield strength - more than threefold. Additionally, the plates processed by I-ECAP exhibited low anisotropy of mechanical properties (in plane and across the thickness) in comparison to other SPD processing methods, which makes them attractive for further processing and applications

Wplyw terminu stosowania wywaru ziemniaczanego oraz nawozenia mineralnego na plon roslin w 3-letnim doswiadczeniu wazonowym

The fertilization value of potato slop was evaluated as affected by application terms, addition of straw, mineral fertilization and liminig of the soil. Dry matter yield of tested plants harvested from objects with liminig application was higher that these from objects without liminig. The yielding effectiveness of particular objects with the same fertilizer used was higher at spring application term than at the autumn term of application. Supplementary fertilization with P and K fertilizers as well as the application of potato slop with the straw increased the fertilization value of investigated potato slop.W przeprowadzonych badaniach określono wartość nawozową wywaru ziemniaczanego w zależności od terminu jego stosowania, dodatku słomy, nawożenia uzupełniającego i wapnowania gleby. Większą ilość suchej masy roślin testowych zebrano z obiektów wapnowanych w porównaniu z obiektami bez wapnowania. Porównując efekt plonotwórczy tych samych nawozów stosowanych jesienią i wiosną stwierdzono, że jest on większy na obiektach nawożonych wiosną. Uzupełniające nawożenie P i K, a także stosowanie wywaru ziemniaczanego razem ze słomą zwiększyło jego wartość nawozową

Grain refinement in technically pure aluminium plates using incremental ECAP processing

Ultrafine grained materials are capable of superplastic elongation at strain rates approximately two orders of magnitude faster than those currently employed for commercial superplastic forming operations. However, such operations require the material in the form of thin sheets. Therefore, in this work, a new approach to produce ultrafine grained plate samples using a modified equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) method, namely incremental ECAP, was proposed. Unlike conventional ECAP, incremental ECAP works in small steps in which deformation and feeding are associated with two different tools acting asynchronously. Eight passes were applied to technically pure aluminium, with the sample rotation by 90° around the Z axis, which resulted in two full rotations and accumulated strain equal to 9.2. It was demonstrated that grain refinement under these conditions occurs very efficiently. Eight passes resulted in grain size reduction to below 500 nm and very high fraction of high angle grain boundaries of about 80%. This was attributed to the activation of different slip systems in consecutive passes (thanks to sample rotation) and the lack of redundant strain, which results in early establishment of equiaxial grain structure. These two features confirm incremental ECAP to be one of the most effective severe plastic deformation methods in terms of grain size refinement and high angle grain boundaries formationreduction to below 500nm and very high fraction of high angle grain boundaries of about 80%. This was attributed to the activation of different slip systems in consecutive passes (thanks to sample rotation) and the lack of redundant strain, which results in early establishment of equiaxial grain structure. These two features confirm incremental ECAP to be one of the most effective severe plastic deformation methods in terms of grain size refinement and high angle grain boundaries formation