Potential Role of Foliar Application of Azotobacter on Growth, Nutritional Value and Quality of Lettuce under Different Nitrogen Levels

Vegetables can be treated with biofertilizers as an alternative to chemical fertilizers because of their low toxicity. We investigated the effects of foliar spraying of Azotobacter under different levels of nitrogen (100, 150 and 200 mg/L in nutrient solution) on the growth, nutritional value, nitrate accumulation and antioxidant enzyme activities of hydroponically grown lettuce. The experiment was laid out in a completely randomized design with four replicates in a factorial combination. Plants treated with Azotobacter and 200 mg/L nitrogen had greater leaf area and photosynthetic pigments than plants treated with 200 mg/L nitrogen without spraying with Azotobacter. Increasing nitrogen levels increased leaf number, fresh and dry weights, leaf area and nitrate accumulation in lettuce plants. Peroxidase (POD) activity increased by 95.4% at a nitrogen level of 200 mg/L compared to a nitrogen level of 100 mg/L. Ascorbate peroxidase (APX) activity and leaf phosphorous (P) and potassium (K) concentrations were the highest in plants treated with a nitrogen source of 100 mg/L without foliar application of Azotobacter. As nitrogen levels increased in all treatments, nitrate reductase (NR) activity decreased and reached a minimum at the 200 mg/L nitrogen level. In general, foliar application of Azotobacter sp. can be used to promote plant growth and reduce nitrate accumulation in lettuce

Late Cretaceous changes in oceanic currents and sediment sources in the eastern Tethys: insights from Nd isotopes and clay mineralogy

18 pagesInternational audienceThe Late Cretaceous is marked by geodynamical changes including Africa-Eurasia convergence that resulted in the narrowing of the Tethys Ocean and in ophiolite obduction along the southern margin of the various continental blocks in eastern Tethys. Geochemical and mineralogical analyses were performed on the Shahneshin section (Zagros Basin - eastern Tethys), to explore the consequences of this evolution on oceanic circulation, and to estimate the role of ophiolite weathering that can impact climate through atmospheric CO2 drawdown. [Ni] and [Cr] sharply increase in the uppermost Campanian – Maastrichtian interval and are not coeval with an increase in the Nd isotope composition (ɛNd) of the detrital fraction of the sediments. This is interpreted as reflecting weathering of the mantellic, ultramafic part of the ophiolite sequence at that time, implying that ophiolites were exposed on the continents as soon as the Coniacian in the vicinity of the Zagros Basin. Hence their weathering could have contributed to the Late Cretaceous climatic cooling. Clay mineralogy reveals an alternation of kaolinite-rich humid periods (Coniacian/Santonian and late early Campanian to latest Campanian) and kaolinite-depleted arid periods (early Campanian and the latest Campanian to late Maastrichtian). The ɛNd(t) of bathyal waters (carbonate leached fraction) appears quite radiogenic, in the range of -3.4 to -5.2 ɛ-units, about 2 to 4 ɛ-units higher than the detrital fraction. Changes in the ɛNd(t) of detrital material delivered to the Zagros Basin appear to control the ɛNd(t) of the local bottom waters from the Coniacian to the middle Campanian. By contrast, decoupling of detrital ɛNd(t) from that of the local bottom waters from the middle Campanian to the Maastrichtian points to increasing fluxes of westward flowing Pacific radiogenic water masses into the eastern Tethys at that time. These results support an intensification of the Tethyan Circumglobal Current, likely related to the narrowing of the Tethyan seaway