Impact of jute retting on physicochemical profile of Chhariganga oxbow lake in Nadia district, West Bengal, India

The present study was carried out to assess the ecosystem of the Chhariganga, an oxbow lake in eastern India to assess the pollution due to jute retting and trophic status on broader aspects for its sustainable management. The physicochemical analyses of the studied oxbow lake showed the range with annual mean values of surface water temperature in ºC (11-37, 27.64±6.56), water transparency in cm (16-106, 45.82±23.39), water pH (7.4-8.8, 8.17±0.34), DO (2.60-7.85, 4.65±1.52 ppm), BOD (1.10-6.40, 2.98±1.59ppm), COD (70-90, 79±7.38ppm), NH4-N (0.026-0.093, 0.05±0.02ppm), NO2-N (0.008-0.08, 0.03±0.02ppm), NO3-N (0-2.459, 0.81±0.69ppm), OP (0.067-0.62, 0.26±0.18ppm), total alkalinity (82-165, 120±24.03ppm), total hardness (70-138, 102.62±19.60ppm), GPP (0.30-1.80, 1.25± 0.47mgC/l/day), NPP (0.15-1.38, 0.95± 0.40mgC/l/day); sediment pH (6.8-7.9, 7.53±0.34) and sediment organic carbon in % (1.87-2.89, 2.17±0.28). The highest mean values of BOD (4.59ppm), COD (86.67ppm), OP (0.50ppm), sediment organic carbon (2.29%) were observed during monsoon whereas the lowest values of oxbow lake water’s transparency (27.00cm), pH (7.84), DO (3.63ppm) and NO2–N (0.01 ppm) contents were found during monsoon when jute retting process intensified in the oxbow lake. Compared to their values in pre-monsoon, mean values in monsoon showed an increase in BOD (182.57%) and OP content (167.64%) unlike reduction in water transparency (62.54%), GPP and NPP (both reduced by about 50%); The highest concentration of NH4-N and NO3-N were noticed during post-monsoon and OP during monsoon. The water transparency mean values showed sharp fall during monsoon from pre-monsoon. Physico-chemical analyses revealed that almost all parameters in oxbow lake did not show significant changes throughout the year unlike water transparency, BOD, NO2 and especially OP content of water which otherwise showed significant changes throughout the year.  The present semi-closed oxbow lake water was of poor to moderate quality and it was classified as oligo-mesotrophic in nutrient status with high to moderate organic pollution due to jute retting process which needs to be controlled and regulated for sustainable aquaculture in oxbow lake ecosystem

Fish productivity: Assessing sustainability in a tropical oxbow lake of Nadia district, West Bengal, India

Fish productivity in oxbow lake is impacted severely due to varied unsustainable anthropogenic practices like over exploitation, indiscriminate use of fine meshed fishing gears, jute retting etc. This particular study was conducted in a semi closed oxbow lake ecosystem in eastern India to assess both the present and sustainable fish productivity based on the data collected through direct catch assessment survey, fishing effort survey and catch per unit effort calculation. Hike in relative abundance values like numbers of fish catch (>3.78 times), catch per gear effort (>2.6 times), fish density (>2.65 times) and fall in relative biomass values like catch per gear effort, catch per unit effort and fish standing biomass (>41%) were observed during monsoon compared to premonsoon due to flooded turbid water from the river Ganga and jute retting processes during monsoon. Jute retting and indiscriminate over fishing of the monsoon made fish production reduced by >50% during post monsoon. The current fish productivity was estimated at 1146.64kg/ha/year supporting only 23.33% livelihoods of enlisted fishers and about 97.67% of fish production remains unreported every year in the official records of the cooperative society based on the oxbow lake ecosystem indicating inefficient management. Total sustainable production of 285MT (@5MT/ha/year) with total operating capital need of INR 1.00 crore (@INR 0.01716 crore/ha/year) with benefit cost ratio of 4.28 was estimated as the sustainable and replicable basis for promotion of organic aquaculture supporting 100% livelihoods of all fishers and rejuvenating the management of the present oxbow lake ecosystem

Impact of aeration on the removal of organic matter and nitrogen compounds in constructed wetlands treating the liquid fraction of piggery manure

The increasing demand for sustainable, robust and cost-efficient wastewater treatment techniques strengthen the implementation of constructed wetlands (CWs) in the agricultural sector. In countries like Belgium (Flanders), the compliance of strict water quality standards and surface area requirements have hindered considerably their application. New wetland designs such as aerated CWs, could help to overcome these challenges. This study evaluated the capacity of artificially aerated mesocosm systems to decrease chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentrations below the 125 mgO(2)/L limit imposed on installations treating animal manure. The treatment of this high-strength wastewater has been slightly studied via aerated CWs. A three-stage experiment investigated the effect of constant, intermittent and non-aeration regimes on: ammonium volatilisation, the evolution of organic and nitrogen compounds concentrations, and denitrification. The results were assessed through a mixed modelling procedure using SAS 9.4 software. A COD removal between 65% and 58% in constantly and intermittent aerated systems, versus 27% COD removal in the non-aerated system indicated the effectiveness of aeration. However, a dissimilarity was encountered in the removal of nitrogen compounds, resulting in an 82% decrease of nitrate concentrations in the non-aerated system, versus 0.5% and 11% in the aerated ones. Based on the results, this experimental set-up adjusted to field operational conditions can prove that aerated CWs can treat the liquid fraction of piggery manure

Influence of Soil Water Content and Soil Amendments on Trace Metal Release and Seedling Growth in Serpentine Soil

This study was conducted to evaluate the synergistic effects of organic amendments and soil water status on trace metal release from serpentine soil

A wastewater bacterium 'Bacillus' sp. KUJM2 acts as an agent for remediation of potentially toxic elements and promoter of plant ('Lens culinaris') growth

This study investigated the role of an allochthonous Gram-positive wastewater bacterium (Bacillus sp. KUJM2) selected through rigorous screening, for the removal of potentially toxic elements (PTEs; As, Cd, Cu, Ni) and promotion of plant growth under PTE-stress conditions. The dried biomass of the bacterial strain removed PTEs (5 mg L−1) from water by 90.17–94.75 and 60.4–81.41%, whereas live cells removed 87.15–91.69 and 57.5–78.8%, respectively, under single-PTE and co-contaminated conditions. When subjected to a single PTE, the bacterial production of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) reached the maxima with Cu (67.66%) and Ni (64.33%), but Cd showed an inhibitory effect beyond 5 mg L−1 level. The multiple-PTE treatment induced IAA production only up to 5 mg L−1 beyond which inhibition ensued. Enhanced germination rate, germination index and seed production of lentil plant (Lens culinaris) under the bacterial inoculation indicated the plant growth promotion potential of the microbial strain. Lentil plants, as a result of bacterial inoculation, responded with higher shoot length (7.1–27.61%), shoot dry weight (18.22–36.3%) and seed production (19.23–29.17%) under PTE-stress conditions. The PTE uptake in lentil shoots decreased by 67.02–79.85% and 65.94–78.08%, respectively, under single- and multiple-PTE contaminated conditions. Similarly, PTE uptake was reduced in seeds up to 72.82–86.62% and 68.68–85.94%, respectively. The bacteria-mediated inhibition of PTE translocation in lentil plant was confirmed from the translocation factor of the respective PTEs. Thus, the selected bacterium (Bacillus sp. KUJM2) offered considerable potential as a PTE remediating agent, plant growth promoter and regulator of PTE translocation curtailing environmental and human health risks

Attitude of Tribal Parents Towards the Higher Education of Girls in India

The paper focuses on the attitude of tribal parents regarding the education of girls. This review paper intends to understand the attitudes of tribal parents towards the education of girls in India and West Bengal, according to their gender, educational level, and socioeconomic position. We determined that tribal parents have a positive mindset for their daughters’ education. They realize the importance of education, however they cannot control certain situations, such as migration and the negligence of the girls towards their coeducation. The essential point in all these instances is that tribal parents in India desire to educate their daughters; the majority of them face severe challenges due to a lack of schools or lack of basic infrastructure within the area’s current schools

Proučavanje raspodjele mnogostrukosti u cijelom faznom prostoru pri relativističkim nuklearnim sudarima

A comparative study has been made among three distributions - the negative binomial distribution (NBD), the generalised multiplicity distribution (GMD) and the distribution followed by the two mechanism model (TMM), in order to describe the multiplicity distribution of charged secondary particles produced in 200 200 A GeV 32S – AgBr interaction.Načinili smo usporedbu triju raspodjela: negativne binomijalne raspodjele, poopćene raspodjele mnogostrukosti i raspodjele prema modelu dvaju mehanizama, radi opisa raspodjela mnogostrukosti nabijenih čestica koje su bile proizvedene u sudarima iona 32S energije 200 A GeV u AgBr emulziji