Why short-term biochar application has no yield benefits; evidence from three field-grown crops

This study determines the impact of biochar, as a supplement, on soil nutrient availability and yields for three crops within commercial management systems in a temperate environment. Central to the suggestion of biochar benefits is an increase in soil nutrient availability and here we test this idea by examining crop nutrient uptake, growth and yields of field-grown spring barley, strawberry and potato. Biochar produced from Castanea sativa wood, was incorporated into a sandy loam soil at 0, 20 and 50 t ha-1 as a supplement to standard crop management practice. Fertiliser was applied normally for each of the three crops. The biochar contained substantial concentrations of Ca, Mg, K, P, but only K occurred at high concentration in water soluble analysis. The large concentration of extractable K resulted in a significant increase of extractable K in soil. The increased availability of K in biochar-treated soil, with the exception of spring barley grain and the leaves of strawberry during the second year, did not induce greater tissue concentrations. In general, biochar application rate had little influence on the tissue concentration of any nutrient, irrespective of crop or sampling date. There was, however, evidence of a biochar-induced increase in tissue Mo and a decrease in Mn, in strawberry, which could be linked to soil alkalinisation as could the reduction in extractable soil P. These experiments show a single rotational application of biochar to soil had no effect on the growth or harvest yield of any of these field-grown crops. Heavy metal analysis revealed small concentrations in the biochar (i.e. <10 µg g-1 biochar), with the largest levels for Ni, V and Cu

Time-Dependent Subcellular Distribution and Effects of Carbon Nanotubes in Lungs of Mice

BACKGROUND AND METHODS:Pulmonary deposited carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are cleared very slowly from the lung, but there is limited information on how CNTs interact with the lung tissue over time. To address this, three different multiwalled CNTs were intratracheally instilled into female C57BL/6 mice: one short (850 nm) and tangled, and two longer (4 μm and 5.7 μm) and thicker. We assessed the cellular interaction with these CNTs using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) 1, 3 and 28 days after instillation. RESULTS:TEM analysis revealed that the three CNTs followed the same overall progression pattern over time. Initially, CNTs were taken up either by a diffusion mechanism or via endocytosis. Then CNTs were agglomerated in vesicles in macrophages. Lastly, at 28 days post-exposure, evidence suggesting CNT escape from vesicle enclosures were found. The longer and thicker CNTs more often perturbed and escaped vesicular enclosures in macrophages compared to the smaller CNTs. Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) showed that the CNT exposure induced both an eosinophil influx and also eosinophilic crystalline pneumonia. CONCLUSION:Two very different types of multiwalled CNTs had very similar pattern of cellular interactions in lung tissue, with the longer and thicker CNTs resulting in more severe effects in terms of eosinophil influx and incidence of eosinophilic crystalline pneumonia (ECP)

The demise of corporate insolvency law in India : the role of the courts

The subject of this thesis is the operation of corporate insolvency law in post-colonial India. Indian corporate insolvency law has been widely condemned as dysfunctional, critics complaining of extreme delays and a series of associated nartns to creditors in the disposal of formal proceedings. Surprisingly little is known, however, about why the law has 'failed' creditors in this way - why the law operates as it does. That is the question that motivates this thesis. The thesis reports the results of an in-depth study of the introduction and development of India's two principal insolvency procedures for corporate debtors: liquidation (under the Companies Act 1956) and rescue (under the Sick Industrial Companies (Special Provisions) Act 1985, for industrial companies). The most significant contribution made by the thesis is the reporting of new evidence of the influence of judges on the development of these two insolvency procedures over time, drawn from an original analysis of a large body of Indian case law. This evidence suggests that the role of the courts (or more specifically, the role of judges) has been significantly underestimated in previous attempts to explain the demise of corporate insolvency law in post-colonial India. WORD COUNT: 99,939 (including footnotes and appendices)EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo