Recent phosphorus (P) pollution in the United States, mainly in Maine, has raised some severe concerns over the use of P fertilizer application rates in agriculture. Phosphorus is the second most limiting nutrient after nitrogen and has damaging impacts on crop yield if found to be deficient. Therefore, farmers tend to apply more P than is required to satisfy any P loss after its application at planting. Several important questions were raised in this study to improve P efficiency and reduce its pollution. The objective of this study was to find potential reasons for P pollution in water bodies despite a decrease in potato acreage. Historically, the potato was found to be responsible for P water contamination due to its high P sensitivity and low P removal (25–30 kg ha−1) from the soil. Despite University of Maine recommended rate of 56 kg ha−1 P, if soil tests reveal that P is below 50 kg ha−1, growers tend to apply P fertilizer at the rate of 182 kg ha−1 to compensate for any loss. The second key reason for excessive P application is its tendency to get fixed by aluminum (Al) in the soil. Soil sampling data from UMaine Soil Testing Laboratory confirmed that in Maine reactive Al levels have remained high over the last ten years and are increasing further. Likewise, P application to non-responsive sites, soil variability, pH change, and soil testing methods were found to be other possible reasons that might have led to increases in soil P levels resulting in P erosion to water streams.
Epithelial‐mesenchymal transition (
Welcome to International Journal of Research in Social Sciences & Humanities (IJRSSH). It is an international refereed journal of Social Sciences, Humanities & Linguistics in English published quarterly, both print and online.
The growing water demand has raised serious concerns about the future of irrigated agriculture in many parts all over the world, changing environmental conditions and shortage of water (especially in Iraq) have led to the need for a new system that efficiently manages the irrigation of crops. With the increasing population growing at a rapid pace, traditional agriculture will have a tough time meeting future food demands. Water availability and conservation are major concerns for farmers. The configuration of the smart irrigation system was designed based on data specific to the parameters concerning the characteristics of the plant and the properties of soil which are measured once i
Abstract
At any moment, the continuous usage of medications can accompanied by DNA damage and the accumulation of such damages can cause serious consequences. Antidepressants are long-term used drugs and the incidence of their genotoxic impacts cannot be excluded. Therefore, this work was designed to investigate the possible genotoxic effects of the commonly used antidepressants (fluoxetine and amitriptyline) in adult male rats.
Detection of DNA damage in individual cells was assessed by comet and micronucleus assays in three different cell populations i.e. liver, testis and bone marrow tissues of 24 swiss albino adult male rats. The animals were randomly allocated into three groups of 8 rats ea
... Show MoreToxoplasmosis is a widespread infection usually caused by Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) parasite. It occurs in humans and other warm blooded animals, causing severe problems. It was found that there is an alteration in the trace elements concentrations levels associated with some human diseases. This study aimed to investigate the changes in the concentrations of some trace elements (Mg, Fe , Zn, and Cu) in the sera of 60 immunocompetent patients with chronic toxoplasmosis and 82 healthy individuals as a control group. Measuring the serum level of seropositivity rate of anti-T. gondii antibodies was done by Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) Kit, while the concentrations of trace elements were measured by absorption spectrophotometry
... Show MoreBiodiesel production from microalgae depends on the biomass and lipid production. Both biomass and lipid accumulation is controlled by several factors. The effect of various culture media (BG11, BBM, and Urea), nutrients stress [nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), magnesium (Mg) and carbonate (CO3)] and gamma (γ) radiation on the growth and lipid accumulation of Dictyochloropsis splendida were investigated. The highest biomass and lipid yield of D. splendida were achieved on BG11 medium. Cultivation of D. splendida in a medium containing 3000 mg L−1 N, or 160 mg L−1 P, or 113 mg L−1 Mg, or 20 mg L-1 CO3, led to enhanced growth rate. While u
... Show MoreShallow foundations have been commonly used to transfer load to soil layer within the permissible limits of settlement based on the bearing capacity of the soil. For most practical cases, the shape of the shallow foundation is of slight significance. Also, friction resistance forces in the first layers of soils are negligible due to non-sufficient surrounding surface area and compaction conditions. However, the bearing capacity of a shallow foundation can be increased by several techniques. Geocell is one of the geosynthetic tool applied mainly to reinforce soil. This study presents a numerical approach of honeycombed geocell steel panels reinforcing the sandy soil under shallow foundation, and several parameters are investigated such as th
... Show MoreGypseous soils are widely distributed and especially in Iraq where arid area of hot climatic is present. These soils are considered as problematic soils; therefore this work attends to improve the geotechnical properties of such soil and reduce the dangers of collapse due to wetting process. In this research, undisturbed soil sample of 30 % gypsum content from Karbala city is used. The Single Oedometer collapse test is used in order to investigate the collapse characteristics of natural soil and after treatment with 3%, 6%, 9%, 12% and 15% of Cutback Asphalt. Moreover, two selected additive percentages (9% and 12%) are used to evaluate the suitability of using the Cutback Asphalt for improvement of the bearing capacity o
... Show MoreThe planning, designing, construction of excavations and foundations in soft to very soft clay soils are always difficult. They are problematic soil that caused trouble for the structures built on them because of the low shear strength, high water content, and high compressibility. This work investigates the geotechnical behavior of soft clay by using tyre ash material burnt in air. The investigation contains the following tests: physical tests, chemical tests, consolidation test, Compaction tests, shear test, California Bearing Ratio test CBR, and model tests. These tests were done on soil samples prepared from soft clay soil; tyre ash was used in four percentages (2, 4, 6, and 8%). The results of the tests were; The soil samples which
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