Response of nutrient management practices through organic substances on rice var. GR-11 in North Konkan Coastal zone of Maharashtra

The management of soil organic matter is crucial to maintain a productive organic farming system. No one source of nutrient usually fulfills to maintain productivity and quality control in organic system.In addition, the inputs to supplement nutrient availability are often not uniform presenting additional challenges in meeting the nutrient requirements of crops in organic system.With this concept, a field experiment was conducted at the research farm of ASPEE Agricultural Research and Development Foundation, Tansa Farm, At Nare, Taluka Wada, Dist. Palghar, Maharashtra, during Kharif 2016-17 in rice.Different treatments comprising organic amendments such as Azotobacter, Banana Pseudostem sap 2%, Vermiwash 2% and Panchgavya 2% each applied alone or in all possible combinations were tried in organic crop production.These treatments were compared with absolute control (No biofertilizer+ No Spray). Recommended dose of chemical fertilizer 100:50:50 kg NPK ha-1. A Rice variety ‘GR-11\u27 was taken.Results revealed a significant enhancement in grain yield of rice over absolute control due to the application of different organic amendments applied alone or in combinations. Rice grain yield increased by 35.5% over absolute control when organic amendments viz., Seedling deep in Azotobacter + Vermiwash 2% + Banana Pseudostem Sap 2% were applied together.The rice grain yield (5.7 t ha-1) obtained under combined application of above three organic amendments was at par with the yield recorded under seedling deep in Azotobacter + Vermiwash 2% + Panchgavya 2%.An interesting observation recorded was that there was no serious attack of any insects pest or disease in organically grown crop.The study revealed that addition of four organic amendments viz. seedling deep in Azotobacter, vermiwash 2%, Panchgavya 2% and Banana Pseudostem Sap 2% could give the optimum yield of organic rice var. GR-11

Microwave Hydrothermal Carbonization of Rice Straw: Optimization of Process Parameters and Upgrading of Chemical, Fuel, Structural and Thermal Properties.

The process parameters of microwave-induced hydrothermal carbonization (MIHTC) play an important role on the hydrothermal chars (hydrochar) yield. The effect of reaction temperature, reaction time, particle size and biomass to water ratio was optimized for hydrochar yield by modeling using the central composite design (CCD). Further, the rice straw and hydrochar at optimum conditions have been characterized for energy, chemical, structural and thermal properties. The optimum condition for hydrochar synthesis was found to be at a 180 °C reaction temperature, a 20 min reaction time, a 1:15 weight per volume (w/v) biomass to water ratio and a 3 mm particle size, yielding 57.9% of hydrochar. The higher heating value (HHV), carbon content and fixed carbon values increased from 12.3 MJ/kg, 37.19% and 14.37% for rice straw to 17.6 MJ/kg, 48.8% and 35.4% for hydrochar. The porosity, crystallinity and thermal stability of the hydrochar were improved remarkably compared to rice straw after MIHTC. Two characteristic peaks from XRD were observed at 2? of 15° and 26°, whereas DTG peaks were observed at 50?150 °C and 300?350 °C for both the materials. Based on the results, it can be suggested that the hydrochar could be potentially used for adsorption, carbon sequestration, energy and agriculture applications

Kinetic analysis of N-alkylaryl carboxamide hexitol nucleotides as substrates for evolved polymerases

Six 1′,5′-anhydrohexitol uridine triphosphates were synthesized with aromatic substitutions appended via a carboxamide linker to the 5-position of their bases. An improved method for obtaining such 5-substituted hexitol nucleosides and nucleotides is described. The incorporation profile of the nucleotide analogues into a DNA duplex overhang using recently evolved XNA polymerases is compared. Long, mixed HNA sequences featuring the base modifications are generated. The apparent binding affinity of four of the nucleotides to the enzyme, the rate of the chemical step and of product release, plus the specificity constant for the incorporation of these modified nucleotides into a DNA duplex overhang using the HNA polymerase T6G12_I521L are determined via pre-steady-state kinetics. HNA polymers displaying aromatic functional groups could have significant impact on the isolation of stable and high-affinity binders and catalysts, or on the design of nanomaterials

Oxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde by tert-butyl hydroperoxide over nanogold supported on TiO2 and other transition and rare-earth metal oxides

Liquid-phase oxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde by tertiary butyl hydroperoxide (at 95 °C) over nanogold supported on TiO2 and other transition-metal oxides (viz, MnO2, Fe2O3, CoOx, NiO, CuO, ZnO, and ZrO2) or rare-earth oxides (viz, La2O3, Sm2O3, Eu2O3, and Yb2O3) by the homogeneous deposition-precipitation (HDP) method has been investigated. The Au/TiO2 catalyst, prepared using the HDP method, showed high activity and selectivity in the reaction. The ZrO2-supported nanogold catalyst (HDP) also showed very good performance. The Au/TiO2 catalyst that was prepared using the deposition-precipitation (DP) method, however, showed poor catalytic activity, mostly because of its much-lower gold loading and/or lower Au3+/ Au0 ratio. Irrespective of the catalyst preparation method, the catalytic activity increased as the gold loading increased. The gold deposition method strongly influenced the amount of gold that was deposited on TiO2, the gold particle size distribution, and also the surface Au3+/Au0 ratio; using the HDP method, the gold deposition was much larger, the gold particle size was smaller, the gold particle size distribution was much narrower, and the Au3+/Au0 ratio was higher. Both the metallic and ionic gold species (Au0 and Au3+) are present in the Au/TiO2 catalyst. However, the Au3+ species are mostly responsible for the high catalytic activity in the oxidation process

Thermally decomposed Ni-Fe-hydrotalcite: a highly active catalyst for the solvent-free N-acetylation of different amines by acid chlorides

A composite Ni-Fe catalyst obtained from the thermal decomposition of Ni-Fe-hydrotalcite at 600 ° C shows very high activity in the solvent-free N-acylation of amines by different acid chlorides with high product yields under very mild reaction conditions (viz. room temperature, short reaction period and small amount of catalyst). The catalyst also shows excellent reusability in the reaction. The crystalline phases present in the catalyst are mixed oxides and hydroxides of nickel and iron. The high catalytic activity of the decomposed Ni-Fe-hydrotalcite is attributed to the formation of uniformly distributed Ni-Fe metal oxides and hydroxides

Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reaction between aryl halides and phenylboronic acids over gold nano-particles supported on MgO (or CaO) and other metal oxides

Gold nano-particles-supported alkaline earth metal oxides, particularly MgO or CaO, show high catalytic activity in the Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reaction in the presence of K2CO3 and DMF (as a solvent). The catalytic activity is strongly influenced by the nature or type of metal oxide support (viz. alkaline earth oxide, Group IIIA metal oxide, transition metal oxide, or rare earth oxide actinide oxide). It is also strongly influenced by the nature of aryl halide (aryl iodide, bromide, chloride, or fluoride), amount of K2CO3 in the reaction mixture and catalyst calcination temperature. Influence of reaction parameters viz. temperature and time and different substituents in aryl halides and/or phenylboronic acids on the biphenyl product yield in the reaction over Au/MgO catalyst has also been investigated. The catalyst showed excellent reusability in the reaction. Moreover, it is ligand-free and also has much lower cost than the commonly used homogeneous and heterogeneous Pd catalysts

Low level quantification of two potential genotoxic impurities in rilpivirine hydrochloride drug substance by HPLC technique

The goal of the research work was to develop new specific analytical method for the determination of potential genotoxic impurities 4-Iodo-2,6 Dimethyl aniline and 3-Iodo-2,6 Dimethyl aniline in Rilpivirine hydrochloride drug substances. The method was developed by using reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography technique. The comprehensive method development was done to accomplish right combination of chromatographic conditions and validated as per ICH guidelines. The method utilizes L1-octadecyl chemistry (250 millimeter (mm) x 4.6 mm ID, 5.0 micrometer (μm), HPLC column. Both impurities were detected by ultra violet detector at 210nm. The separation of both impurities was attained with 0.1% Ortho Phosphoric Acid in water and acetonitrile at 1.2 ml/min. The calibration curve exhibited good linearity over the concentration range of 0.12-0.45 μg/ml with coefficient of correlation value greater than 0.999. The accuracy in terms of % recovery of the added known amount was found in the range of 97-100 %. Based on experimental results, developed analytical method can be applied for the low level quantitation of both potential genotoxic impurities in Rilpivirine hydrochloride

Thermally decomposed Cu-Fe-hydrotalcite: A novel highly active catalyst for o-arylation of naphthol and phenols by aryl halides

A novel, efficient and environmentally benign method has been reported for the synthesis of diaryl ethers by the o-arylation of napthol or phenols with aryl halides in dimethylformamide (as a solvent) under reflux, using a novel heterogeneous catalyst (having redox properties), obtained from thermal decomposition of Cu-Fe at 600. °C in the absence of externally added base. The catalyst comprises Cu(II) and Fe(III) species (oxides and hydroxides), which are uniformly distributed during the catalyst formation. The catalyst can be easily separated from the reaction mixture, simply by filtration and reused several times without a significant loss of its activity

Epoxidation of styrene by t-butyl hydroperoxide over gold nanoparticles supported on Yb2O3: Effect of gold deposition method, gold loading, and calcination temperature of the catalyst on its surface properties and catalytic performance

Surface properties and epoxidation performance of Au/Yb2O3 catalyst are influenced by the method of gold deposition [viz. deposition-precipitation (DP), homogeneous deposition-precipitation (HDP) or impregnation], gold loading (0.9-6.6 wt%), and the catalyst calcination temperature (400-900 °C)]. The catalyst showed the best epoxidation performance when it was prepared by the HDP method and calcined at 500 °C. The Au/Yb2O3 catalyst even after calcination at 900 °C showed good activity and epoxide selectivity. Both Au0 and Au3+ surface species were found in the catalyst calcined at 800 °C, but only Au0 species were observed at the lower calcination temperatures (<600 °C). The selectivity for styrene oxide increased continuously with the reaction temperature (from 75 °C to 97 °C) and time (1-5 h), indicating that styrene oxide did not undergo secondary reactions under these conditions