Soil respiration rate in summer maize field under different soil tillage and straw application

Demanding for food security and current situation of global warming give a high and strict request to North China Plain in food production and inhibition of agricultural carbon emission. To explore the effective way to decrease CO2 emission and remain high grain yield, in 2012 summer maize growing season from a long term project in North China Plain, soil organic carbon, soil CO2-C evolution rate, soil temperature, grain yield, and ratio of soil respiration to grain yield in different soil tillage and straw application treatments were invested. The results showed that in 0-20 cm soil layer, the organic carbon in no tillage was significantly higher than that in conventional tillage. Both in no tillage and conventional tillage, straw application could enhance the soil organic carbon concentrations at ma¬turity. The mean soil CO2-C evolution rate in no tillage was significantly lower than that in conventional tillage; how¬ever, straw application could significantly increase soil CO2-C evolution rate, no matter in no tillage or conventional tillage. This result was mainly due to the changes in soil organic carbon, soil total porosity, and soil temperature. No tillage and straw application result in a significantly increase in grain yield and ratio of soil respiration to grain yield of summer maize. The result obtained in field crop conditions support the idea that both no tillage and straw application affect CO2 emissions in North China Plain

Direct observation of the formation and stabilization of metallic nanoparticles on carbon supports

Direct formation of ultra-small nanoparticles on carbon supports by rapid high temperature synthesis method offers new opportunities for scalable nanomanufacturing and the synthesis of stable multi-elemental nanoparticles. However, the underlying mechanisms affecting the dispersion and stability of nanoparticles on the supports during high temperature processing remain enigmatic. In this work, we report the observation of metallic nanoparticles formation and stabilization on carbon supports through in situ Joule heating method. We find that the formation of metallic nanoparticles is associated with the simultaneous phase transition of amorphous carbon to a highly defective turbostratic graphite (T-graphite). Molecular dynamic (MD) simulations suggest that the defective T-graphite provide numerous nucleation sites for the nanoparticles to form. Furthermore, the nanoparticles partially intercalate and take root on edge planes, leading to high binding energy on support. This interaction between nanoparticles and T-graphite substrate strengthens the anchoring and provides excellent thermal stability to the nanoparticles. These findings provide mechanistic understanding of rapid high temperature synthesis of metal nanoparticles on carbon supports and the origin of their stability

High-throughput, combinatorial synthesis of multimetallic nanoclusters

Multimetallic nanoclusters (MMNCs) offer unique and tailorable surface chemistries that hold great potential for numerous catalytic applications. The efficient exploration of this vast chemical space necessitates an accelerated discovery pipeline that supersedes traditional “trial-and-error” experimentation while guaranteeing uniform microstructures despite compositional complexity. Herein, we report the high-throughput synthesis of an extensive series of ultrafine and homogeneous alloy MMNCs, achieved by 1) a flexible compositional design by formulation in the precursor solution phase and 2) the ultrafast synthesis of alloy MMNCs using thermal shock heating (i.e., ∼1,650 K, ∼500 ms). This approach is remarkably facile and easily accessible compared to conventional vapor-phase deposition, and the particle size and structural uniformity enable comparative studies across compositionally different MMNCs. Rapid electrochemical screening is demonstrated by using a scanning droplet cell, enabling us to discover two promising electrocatalysts, which we subsequently validated using a rotating disk setup. This demonstrated high-throughput material discovery pipeline presents a paradigm for facile and accelerated exploration of MMNCs for a broad range of applications

Flash heating process for efficient meat preservation

Maintaining food safety and quality is critical for public health and food security. Conventional food preservation methods, such as pasteurization and dehydration, often change the overall organoleptic quality of the food products. Herein, we demonstrate a method that affects only a thin surface layer of the food, using beef as a model. In this method, Joule heating is generated by applying high electric power to a carbon substrate in ~2000 K. The beef surface in direct contact with the heating substrate is subjected to ultra-high temperature flash heating, leading to the formation of a microbe-inactivated, dehydrated layer of ~100 µm in thickness. Aerobic mesophilic bacteria, Enterobacteriaceae, yeast and mold on the treated samples are inactivated to a level below the detection limit and remained low during room temperature storage of 5 days. Meanwhile, the product quality, including visual appearance, texture, and nutrient level of the beef, remains mostly unchanged. In contrast, microorganisms grow rapidly on the untreated control samples, along with a rapid deterioration of the meat quality. This method might serve as a promising preservation technology for securing food safety and quality.This article is published as Mao, Y., Ma, P., Li, T. et al. Flash heating process for efficient meat preservation. Nat Commun 15, 3893 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-47967-1. Works produced by employees of the U.S. Government as part of their official duties are not copyrighted within the U.S. The content of this document is not copyrighted

Responses of photosynthesis, chlorophyll fluorescence, and grain yield of maize to controlled-release urea and irrigation after anthesis

Controlled-release urea (CRU) is a new type of urea, which may increase crop nitrogen (N)-use efficiency compared with conventional urea (CU), but the conditions where it outperforms urea are not well defined. A field experiment assessing responses of plant growth and grain yield of maize to CRU and irrigation was conducted on a typical agricultural farm in Shandong, China. Five treatments of the two types of urea (75, 150kg N ha(-1), 0kg N ha(-1)) were applied as basal fertilizer when sowing maize, and two water treatments (W-0 and W-1) were used 23 d after anthesis. Net photosynthetic rate (P-N) and chlorophyll concentration as well as leaf-area index (LAI) increased significantly by both CRU and CU application, with the increases being larger in CRU-treated plants than in CU-treated plants at grain filling and maturing stages. CRU significantly enhanced the maximum photochemical efficiency (F-v/F-m), PSII coefficient of photochemical fluorescence quenching (q(P)), and actual quantum yield of PSII electron transformation (phi(PSII)) but decreased the nonphotochemical quenching (NPQ). Cob-leaf N concentration of CRU-treated plants was significantly higher than that of CU-treated plants under no irrigation, but not in the irrigation treatment 30 d after anthesis. Significant positive correlations were found between cob-leaf N concentration and P-N both with and without irrigation. Grain yield of maize was significantly higher in the CRU treatment than in the CU treatment under both irrigation conditions. In conclusion, CRU as a basal application appeared to increase the N-use efficiency for maize relative to CU especially by maintaining N supply after anthesis

Synthesizing Carbon‐Supported, High‐Loading, Ultra‐Small Pt3Ni Nanoparticles via Tuning the Surface Electrostatic Effect

Carbon‐supported nanoparticles (NPs) are widely used as catalysts in fuel cells and electrolyzers. While it is well known that NPs with smaller size and higher loading often lead to better catalytic activity, they remain challenging to synthesize due to the weak control over the surface properties of the support. Herein, a facile approach to synthesize carbon‐supported, high‐loading, and ultra‐small Pt3Ni NPs via applying thermal shock on strongly interacted carbon support with metal salt is reported. Specifically, sodium citrate is introduced into the precursor solution and substrate mixture, which induces strong electrostatic effect between metal salts and carbon particles that markedly improves precursor anchoring and dispersion, thereby achieving high particle loading as well as small size and distribution. As a proof‐of‐concept, the synthesis of Pt3Ni NPs supported on carbon black with particle size of 1.56 ± 0.36 nm at 30 wt% loading and 1.66 ± 0.56 nm at 40 wt% loading is reported, where the sizes are among the smallest while the loadings are among the highest in the literature. This approach can be readily extended to many compositions and substrates, with tunable particle size and loading, thereby substantially expanding the synthesis space for NP catalysts in various electrochemical applications

Climate-Smart Tillage Practices with Straw Return to Sustain Crop Productivity

Climate change seriously threatens global crop production. However, there are few reports on field crop yield and yield components based on long-term different climate conditions. The objectives of this study were to identify and compare the differences in crop yield and yield components in long-term tillage and straw returning under different climate regions. Conventional tillage (CT) and rotary tillage (RT) in combination with no straw return and whole straw return (S) were conducted under a wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)–maize (Zea mays L.) cropping system in cool-wet and warm-dry regions from 2010 to 2019. We hypothesized that long-term suitable tillage under warm-dry or cool-wet regions can increase the yield and components of wheat and maize, and temperature and precipitation had significant effects on crop yield and yield components. Conventional tillage with straw return (CTS) in the warm-dry region and rotary tillage with straw return (RTS) in the cool-wet region can increase the yield and yield components of wheat and maize, respectively, compared with CT. The yield stability of wheat was higher than that of maize under the two climate conditions. Compared with tillage practices, the effects of experimental sites and straw return on crop yield and yield components were more remarkable. The combination of mean temperature, annual precipitation, and yield components explained 75% and 100% of the variance in the wheat yield and maize yield, respectively. The thousand-kernel weight was the key factor in regulating wheat yield, and kernel number was the key factor in regulating maize yield. In conclusion, the combination of rotary tillage in cool-wet regions or conventional tillage in warm-dry regions with straw return is a good technique for increasing crop security

Sensitivities of Physical and Chemical Attributes of Soil Quality to Different Tillage Management

Tillage management is a direct factor in affecting soil quality, which is a key factor in sustainable agriculture. However soil quality evaluation needs significant manpower, material resources and time. To explore the sensitive indicators of soil quality affected by tillage management, eight soil physical and chemical properties under three tillage managements, including plow tillage, subsoiling tillage and rotary tillage, were determined under a long-term experiment in North China Plain. The results showed that subsoiling tillage management had the highest soil organic carbon and total nitrogen in the 0–20 cm layer and the lowest soil bulk density in the 30–40 cm layer. Rotary tillage management had the highest soil water content in the 0–40 cm layer. Meanwhile, compared to 2002, the soil organic carbon, total nitrogen and soil bulk density had varied greatly in 2012, but there was no significant difference between 2012 and 2018. However, other property concentrations tended to increase in 2002, 2012 and 2018. In addition, there was a significant linear relationship between soil quality index and grain yield. Subsoiling tillage management had the highest soil quality index and gain yield both in 2012 and 2018. The soil quality can be evaluated through the sensitive indicator of soil organic carbon, total nitrogen, soil bulk density, total phosphorus and soil water content, which provides a scientific basis for selecting reasonable tillage management and evaluating soil quality in this agricultural production area or other similar areas