Fertimetro, a Principle and Device to Measure Soil Nutrient Availability for Plants by Microbial Degradation Rates on Differently-Spiked Buried Threads

A novel patented method (PCT/IB2012/001157: Squartini, Concheri, Tiozzo, University of Padova) and the corresponding application devices, suitable to measure soil fertility, are presented. The availability or deficiency of specific nutrients for crops is assessed by monitoring the kinetics of progressive weakening of cotton or silk threads due to in situ microbial activity. The method is based on a nutrient-primed incremented substrate degradation principle. Threads are buried as is or pre-impregnated with N or P solutions, and the acceleration of the degradation rate for the N-supplemented or P-supplemented thread, in comparison to the untreated thread, is proportional to the lack of the corresponding nutrient in that soil. Tests were validated on corn crops in plots receiving increasing fertilizer rates in a historical rotation that has been established since 1962. The measurement carried out in May significantly correlated with the subsequent crop yields recorded in October. The analysis allows an early, inexpensive, fast, and reproducible self-assessment at field level to improve fertilization rates. The device is envisaged as a user-friendly tool for agronomy, horticulture, and any environmental applications where organic matter cycling, soil quality, and specific nutrients excess or deficiency are critical considerations

Toxicidade do inseticida Organofosforado Abate® em alevinos de Poecilia reticulata.

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Adubação NPK do algodoeiro adensado de safrinha no cerrado de Goiás.

Esse estudo foi realizado com dois experimentos de campo conduzidos na safra 2009/10 com o objetivo de definir doses e níveis de adubação NPK para o algodão de safrinha adensado, nas condições do Cerrado de Goiás. O primeiro experimento constou de um fatorial NPK 3x3x3+3 resultante da combinação de três doses de nitrogênio (40, 80 e 120 kg/ha de N), três doses de fósforo (30, 60 e 90 kg/ha de P2O5) e três doses de potássio (40, 80 e 120 kg/ha de K2O), mais três tratamentos adicionais (0-0-0 N-P-K, 60-60-60 N-P-K, e 60-0-60 N-P-K). O outro experimento foi disposto no campo em esquema fatorial 4x4: 4 densidades de plantas (8, 10, 12 e 14 plantas por metro) e 4 níveis de adubação NPK (50, 75, 100 e 125 % da adubação recomendada para a cultura de algodão safra). Utilizou-se delineamento de blocos ao acaso com 4 repetições. Concluiu-se que: 1) Não há influência de população de plantas na resposta da cultura à adubação; e 2) A adubação de manutenção com 60 a 90 kg/ha de N, 60 kg/ha de P2O5 e 60 kg/ha de K2O garantem produtividade de até 3.500 kg/ha de algodão em caroço, em solos com a fertilidade corrigida

Microbial assisted phytodepuration for water reclamation: Environmental benefits and threats

Climate changes push for water reuse as a priority to counteract water scarcity and minimize water footprint especially in agriculture, one of the highest water consuming human activities. Phytodepuration is indicated as a promising technology for water reclamation, also in the light of its economic and ecological sustainability, and the use of specific bacterial inocula for microbial assisted phytodepuration has been proposed as a further advance for its implementation. Here we provided an overview on the selection and use of plant growth promoting bacteria in Constructed Wetland (CW) systems, showing their advantages in terms of plant growth support and pollutant degradation abilities. Moreover, CWs are also proposed for the removal of emerging organic pollutants like antibiotics from urban wastewaters. We focused on this issue, still debated in the literature, revealing the necessity to deepen the knowledge on the antibiotic resistance spread into the environment in relation to treated wastewater release and reuse. In addition, given the presence in the plant system of microhabitats (e.g. rhizosphere) that are hot spot for Horizontal Gene Transfer, we highlighted the importance of gene exchange to understand if these events can promote the diffusion of antibiotic resistance genes and antibiotic resistant bacteria, possibly entering in the food production chain when treated wastewater is used for irrigation. Ideally, this new knowledge will lead to improve the design of phytodepuration systems to maximize the quality and safety of the treated effluents in compliance with the 'One Health' concept

Novel PCB-degrading Rhodococcus strains able to promote plant growth for assisted rhizoremediation of historically polluted soils

Extended soil contamination by polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) represents a global environmental issue that can hardly be addressed with the conventional remediation treatments. Rhizoremediation is a sustainable alternative, exploiting plants to stimulate in situ the degradative bacterial communities naturally occurring in historically polluted areas. This approach can be enhanced by the use of bacterial strains that combine PCB degradation potential with the ability to promote plant and root development. With this aim, we established a collection of aerobic bacteria isolated from the soil of the highly PCB-polluted site \u201cSIN Brescia-Caffaro\u201d (Italy) biostimulated by the plant Phalaris arundinacea. The strains, selected on biphenyl and plant secondary metabolites provided as unique carbon source, were largely dominated by Actinobacteria and a significant number showed traits of interest for remediation, harbouring genes homologous to bphA, involved in the PCB oxidation pathway, and displaying 2,3-catechol dioxygenase activity and emulsification properties. Several strains also showed the potential to alleviate plant stress through 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxyl-ate deaminase activity. In particular, we identified three Rhodococcus strains able to degrade in vitro several PCB congeners and to promote lateral root emergence in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana in vivo. In addition, these strains showed the capacity to colonize the root system and to increase the plant biomass in PCB contaminated soil, making them ideal candidates to sustain microbial-assisted PCB rhizoremediation through a bioaugmentation approach

Resposta do algodoeiro à adubação fosfatada comparando fertilizante de liberação lenta com fertilizante convencional.

A baixa recuperação pelas culturas do fósforo (P) aplicado nas adubações tem despertado o interesse por produtos que anunciam o aumento da eficiência de fertilizantes convencionais. Esse estudo foi realizado em condições de campo na safra 2008/2009, em área de Latossolo Vermelho argiloso com teor médio de P, no município de Perolândia, Goiás. O objetivo foi comparar fertilizante fosfatado revestido com polímero de liberação lenta com fertilizante fosfatado convencional para a adubação do algodoeiro. O experimento foi constituído por 9 tratamentos resultantes da combinação de duas fontes (MAP e MAP recoberto com polímero de liberação lenta) e quatro doses de fósforo (40, 80, 120 e 160 kg/ha de P2O5), além de um tratamento testemunha (sem fósforo). Os tratamentos foram dispostos no campo em esquema fatorial 2x2+1, utilizando-se o delineamento experimental de blocos ao acaso com quatro repetições. No primeiro ano de avaliação, o fertilizante fosfatado revestido com polímero de liberação lenta apresentou desempenho semelhante ao fertilizante fosfatado convencional na adubação do algodoeiro cultivado em solo argiloso com 5 mg/dm3 de P. Independente das fontes usadas, houve resposta em produtividade de algodão em caroço até a dose de 115 kg/ha de P2O5

Root Bacteria Recruited by Phragmites australis in Constructed Wetlands Have the Potential to Enhance Azo-Dye Phytodepuration

The microbiome associated with plants used in phytodepuration systems can boost plant growth and services, especially in ecosystems dealing with recalcitrant compounds, hardly removed via traditional wastewater (WW) treatments, such as azo-dyes used in textile industry. In this context, we aimed to study the cultivable microbiome selected by Phragmites australis plants in a Constructed Wetland (CW) in Morocco, in order to obtain candidate inoculants for the phytodepuration of azo-dye contaminated WW. A collection of 152 rhizospheric and endophytic bacteria was established. The strains were phylogenetically identified and characterized for traits of interest in the phytodepuration context. All strains showed Plant Growth Promotion potential in vitro and 67% of them significantly improved the growth of a model plant in vivo compared to the non bacterized control plants. Moreover, most of the isolates were able to grow in presence of several model micropollutants typically found in WW, indicating their potential use in phytodepuration of a wide spectrum of effluents. The six most promising strains of the collection were tested in CW microcosms alone or as consortium: the consortium and two single inocula demonstrated to significantly increase the removal of the model azo-dye Reactive Black 5 compared to the non bacterized controls

Microbial oil-degradation under mild hydrostatic pressure (10 MPa): which pathways are impacted in piezosensitive hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria?

Oil spills represent an overwhelming carbon input to the marine environment that immediately impacts the sea surface ecosystem. Microbial communities degrading the oil fraction that eventually sinks to the seafloor must also deal with hydrostatic pressure, which linearly increases with depth. Piezosensitive hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria are ideal candidates to elucidate impaired pathways following oil spills at low depth. In the present paper, we tested two strains of the ubiquitous Alcanivorax genus, namely A. jadensis KS_339 and A. dieselolei KS_293, which is known to rapidly grow after oil spills. Strains were subjected to atmospheric and mild pressure (0.1, 5 and 10?MPa, corresponding to a depth of 0, 500 and 1000?m, respectively) providing n-dodecane as sole carbon source. Pressures equal to 5 and 10?MPa significantly lowered growth yields of both strains. However, in strain KS_293 grown at 10?MPa CO2 production per cell was not affected, cell integrity was preserved and PO43- uptake increased. Analysis of its transcriptome revealed that 95% of its genes were downregulated. Increased transcription involved protein synthesis, energy generation and respiration pathways. Interplay between these factors may play a key role in shaping the structure of microbial communities developed after oil spills at low depth and limit their bioremediation potential

Using olive mill wastewate to improve performance in producing electricity from domestic wastewater by using single-chamber microbial fuel cell

Improving electricity generation from wastewater (DW) by using olive mill wastewater (OMW) was evaluated using single-chamber microbial fuel cells (MFC). Doing so single-chambers air cathode MFCs with platinum anode were fed with domestic wastewater (DW) alone and mixed with OMW at the ratio of 14:1 (w/w). MFCs fed with DW + OMW gave 0.38 V at 1 kO, while power density from polarization curve was of 124.6mW m 2. The process allowed a total reduction of TCOD and BOD5 of 60% and 69%, respectively, recovering the 29% of the coulombic efficiency. The maximum voltage obtained from MFC fed with DW + OMW was 2.9 times higher than that of cell fed with DW. DNA-fingerprinting showed high bacterial diversity for both experiments and the presence on anodes of exoelectrogenic bacteria, such as Geobacter spp. Electrodes selected peculiar consortia and, in particular, anodes of both experiments showed a similar specialization of microbial communities independently by feeding used