Search Results (6)

This study was undertaken to address how near-surface soil water content (SWC) patterns have varied across diverse agroecological regions (AERs) of mainland India from 1979 to 2022 (44 years) and how these variations relate to environmental factors. Grid-wise trend analysis using the Mann–Kendall (MK) trend test and Sen’s slope was conducted to determine the trends and their magnitudes. Additionally, we used Spearman’s rank correlation (ρ) to explore the relationships of ESA CCI’s near-surface SWC data with key environmental variables, including rainfall, temperature, actual evapotranspiration, and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). The results revealed significant variations in SWC patterns and trends across different AERs and months. The MK trend test indicated that 17.96% of the area exhibited a significantly increasing trend (p < 0.1), while7.6% showed a significantly decreasing trend, with an average annual Sen’s slope of 0.9 × 10⁻⁴ m³ m⁻³ year⁻¹ for mainland India. Areas with the highest decreasing trends were AER-16 (warm per-humid with brown and red hill soils), AER-15 (hot subhumid to humid with alluvium-derived soils), and AER-17 (warm per-humid with red and lateritic soils). In contrast, increasing trends were the most prominent in AER-5 (hot semi-arid with medium and deep black soils), AER-6 (hot semi-arid with shallow and medium black soils), and AER-19 (hot humid per-humid with red, lateritic, and alluvium-derived soils). Significant increasing trends were more prevalent during monsoon and post-monsoon months while decreasing trends were noted in pre-monsoon months. Correlation analysis showed strong positive correlations of SWC with rainfall (ρ = 0.70), actual evapotranspiration (ρ = 0.74), and NDVI (ρ = 0.65), but weak or negative correlations with temperature (ρ = 0.12). This study provides valuable insights for policymakers to delineate areas based on soil moisture availability patterns across seasons, aiding in agricultural and water resource planning under changing climatic conditions. Full article

The present investigation evaluated the effect of continuous application (>43 years) of organic and inorganic fertilisers on soil aggregate stability, aggregate size distribution, aggregate-associated carbon and its fractions, and total macro-nutrient content under the soybean–wheat cropping system in vertisols of the semi-arid region. Seven contrasting treatments consisted of T₁ (50% NPK), T₂ (100% NPK), T₃ (150% NPK), T₄ (100% NP), T₅ (100% N), T₆ (100% NPK + FYM) and T₇ Control (crop raised without addition of any nutrient). The highest and lowest percentage of large macroaggregates (11.3%) was found in T₆ and T₇ treatments. The NPK + FYM (T₆) treatments substantially increased the proportion of the macroaggregate fractions (>2 mm and 2–0.25 mm) than other treatments. However, different manure and fertilisation treatments did not affect the proportion of silt + clay aggregates. Long-term application of 100% NPK + FYM increased mean weight diameter (MWD) and stable water aggregates (WSA) by 35.7 and 6.01% over control. The aggregate-associated SOC followed the trend of large macroaggregates > microaggregates > small macroaggregates > silt + clay fractions. Application of long-term manure plus inorganic fertiliser (T₆) has also increased Walkley Black soil organic carbon (WBSC), permanganate oxidisable carbon (KMnO₄-C), soil microbial biomass carbon (SMBC), carbon mineralisation (CM), total soil carbon (TSC), total soil N (TSN), total soil phosphorus (TSP) and total soil potassium (STK) by 82.1, 71.6, 182, 42.4, 23.9, 41.6, 117 and 18.4%, respectively, over control (T₇). The lowest metabolic quotient (MetQ) value of 5.13 mg CO₂–C mg⁻¹ MBC h⁻¹ was obtained in the control treatment (T₇). The lowest MetQ was recorded in the integrated application of manure + inorganic fertiliser, i.e., 100% NPK + FYM (T₆). Similarly, microbial quotient (MiQ) was also higher in treatment T₆ (100% NPK + FYM) and lower in T₇ (control). It is concluded that the application of inorganic fertiliser alone is insufficient to maintain soil health and sustainability so, combined application of manure plus inorganic fertilisation is the most important nutrient management practice for long-term soil sustainability because it maintains SOC levels in soils for long periods and ultimately ensures the soil health of soybean–wheat cropping systems in the vertisols of semi-arid regions. Full article

A bacterial strain S-51^T was isolated from rhizospheric forest soil at Kyonggi University during the study of previously uncultured bacterium. The phylogenetic analysis was based on 16S rRNA gene sequences that indicated that strain S-51^T belonged to the genus Rhizobium within the family Rhizobiaceae. The closest members of strain S-51^T were Rhizobium naphthalenivorans TSY03b^T (98.2% sequence similarity) and Rhizobium selenitireducens ATCC BAA-1503^T (98.1%). The sequence similarities of other members were <97.7%. The sole respiratory quinone was Q-10 and the major polar lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine, diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylcholine, and unidentified glycolipid. The principal fatty acids were summed feature 8 (C_18:1ω7c and/or C_18:1ω6c), cyclo-C_19:0ω8c, and C_18:0. The DNA G+C content was 63.1 mol%. The genome was 4930044 bp long and contained N₂-fixing genes, such as fixF, ntrC, and ptsN, in addition to respiratory nitrate reductase genes, such as narC, narG, narH, narI, and narJ. The average nucleotide identity (ANIu), average amino acid identity (AAI), and digital DNA-DNA hybridization (dDDH) relatedness between strain S-51^T and phylogenetically related species were ≤82.6, ≤83.6 and ≤25.3%, respectively, much lower than the species delineation thresholds. Based on the polyphasic taxonomic study, strain S-51^T represents a new species in the genus Rhizobium, for which the name Rhizobium terricola is proposed. The type strain is S-51^T (=KACC 19117^T = KEMB 9005-539^T = NBRC 112711^T). Full article

Coffee pulp, mucilage, and beans with mucilage were used to develop alcoholic beverages. The pulp of 45.3% pulp, 54.7% mucilage with seed, and 9.4% mucilage only were obtained during the wet processing of coffee. Musts were prepared for all to TSS (Total soluble solid) 18 °Bx and fermentation was carried out for 12–16 days until TSS decreased to 5 °Bx at 30 °C. Phenolic characteristics, chromatic structures, chemical parameters, and sensory characteristics were analyzed for the prepared alcoholic beverages. Methanol content, ester content, aldehyde, alcohol, total acidity, caffeine, polyphenols, flavonoids, chromatic structure, and hue of the alcoholic beverage from the pulp was 335 mg/L, 70.58 ppm, 9.15 ppm, 8.86 ABV%, 0.41%, 30.94 ppm, 845.7 mg GAE/g dry extract, 440.7 mg QE/g dry extract, 0.41, and 1.71, respectively. An alcoholic beverage from the pulp was found superior to an alcoholic beverage from mucilage with beans and a beverage from mucilage in sensory analysis. There is the possibility of developing fermented alcoholic beverages from coffee pulp and mucilage. However, further research is necessary for quality of the beans that were obtained from the fermentation with the mucilage. Full article

A total of 100 fresh-raw vegetable samples were collected from the Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur districts of Nepal to evaluate microbial and parasitic contamination, presence of Extended Spectrum Beta Lactamase (ESBL)-producing Escherichia coli and detect the bla_TEM and bla_CTX-M genes among the Escherichia coli isolates. This study revealed that the prevalence of Giardia cysts was highest (100%) and Hookworm and Entamoeba coli were lowest (1% each). Coliforms were isolated from every raw vegetable sample. A total of 178 bacterial isolates were isolated among which 57 isolates were identified as E. coli, out of which 33 were Multi-drug resistant (MDR) isolates. The high rate of resistance was found towards amoxicillin/clavulanate, tetracycline and cotrimoxazole. The 10 E. coli isolates tested positive in an ESBL screening, out of which 4 were confirmed as ESBL producers by a combined disc test. Out of these 4 confirmed ESBL E. coli, one was found to carry both the bla_TEM gene and bla_CTX-M genes by the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) technique. One isolate has only the bla_TEM gene, while other isolate harboured only bla_CTX-M genes. Full article

Pectinases are the group of enzymes that catalyze the degradation of pectic substances. It has wide applications in food industries for the production and clarification of wines and juices. The aim of this study was to isolate, screen and characterize pectinase from fungi isolated from various soil samples and evaluate its application in juice clarification. Fungal strains were isolated and screened primarily using 1% citruspectin incorporated potato dextrose agar (PDA) and secondarily using pectinase screening agar medium (PSAM) for pectinolytic organisms. The enzyme was produced by submerged state fermentation and assayed using the dinitro salicylic acid (DNS) method. From 20 different soil samples, 55 fungal isolates were screened primarily and, among them, only 14 isolates were subjected for secondary screening. Out of 14, only four strains showed the highest pectinolytic activity. Among four strains, Aspergillus spp. Gm showed the highest enzyme production at a 48-h incubation period, 1% substrate concentration, and 30 °C temperature. The thermal stability assessment resulted that the activity of pectinase enzyme declines by 50% within 10 min of heating at 60 °C. The optimum temperature, pH, and substrate concentration for the activity of enzyme was 30 °C (75.4 U/mL), 5.8 (72.3 U/mL), and 0.5% (112.0 U/mL), respectively. Furthermore, the yield of the orange juice, the total soluble solid (TSS), and clarity (% transmittance) was increased as the concentration of the pectinase increased, indicating its potential use in juice processing. Overall, the strain Aspergillus spp. Gm was identified as a potent strain for pectinase production in commercial scale. Full article