The World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Climate in Asia 2024 report warns that the region is warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, driving more extreme weather and posing serious threats to lives, ecosystems, and economies. In 2024, Asia experienced its warmest or second warmest year on …
a research team has stumbled upon a bug that feasts on arsenic. Present in the root nodules of black gram, the bacteria increases soil fertility and fixes nitrogen. It could be an effective way of bioremediation of arsenic from contaminated soil, says a team of researchers from iit Kharagpur and …
Tannin degrading microbes isolated from tannery effluents were tested for their ability to degrade vegetable tannins in tannery effluents, along with other polluting parameters in the effluents like Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and Total Dissolved Solids (TDS).
Effect of application of biofertilizers, Azospirillum, phosphate-solubilising bacteria (PSB) and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi was studied in a factoral experiment on production of planting propagules (stumps) of teak in nursery. Seed germination was maximum in Azospirillum treatment followed by its combination with AM and PSB after two months.
Animals reared in natural, outdoor conditions without nasty modern drugs yield healthier meat, right? Not necessarily. Wondwossen Gebreyes and colleagues at Ohio State University in Columbus tested US pigs for antibodies - telltale signs of infection - to pathogens that can also affect humans. They found traces of Salmonella in …
fungi gel well with uranium, says a recent study from the uk. Depleted uranium, a radioactive by-product of uranium enrichment process in nuclear reactors, is used widely in ammunition. Being radioactive, there are concerns about its effect on the health of people exposed to it. The study says depleted uranium …
Not just humans, climate change will also impact the microscopic world of bacteria, fungi and other microbial populations that support life on earth. "Microbes perform a number of critical functions for ecosystems... we are only starting to understand the impact that global climate change is having on them," said Kathleen …
A pot experiment was conducted to study the toxic effect of nematicides: carbofuran, carbosulfan alone and their combination on soil microbial population and soil respiration with cotton as a test crop. The total bacterial population and free living diazotrophs population was reduced initially by nematicides application. With progress of time …
To help understand different viewpoints on the effectiveness of EM (Effective Micro-organism), LEISA asked two professionals for their opinion. Dr. Narayana Reddy is a prize-winning organic farmer (who made the transition from conventional agriculture in 1980), writer and trainer from Bangalore, India. Dr. Ken Giller is professor of Plant Production …
Litter production and decomposition are important in nutrient cycling and detritus based food chain. Litter production in mangrove varies widely with species, forest type, stand age, geographical location and environmental parameters.
Soil is often viewed as a physical substrate that performs a wide range of functions that also go beyond agriculture. It regulates water, sustains plant and animal life, recycles organic wastes, cycles nutrients, filters out pollutants, and serves as a physical support for structures. Yet, soil is also a living …
Although the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has a long history of using risk-based approaches for regulatory purposes, pollutant limits for pathogens in biosolids are not currently based on quantitative risk assessments. The researchers developed and demonstrated a risk-based methodology for assessing the risk to human health from exposure to pathogens …
Recycled treated or untreated wastewater represents an important health challenge in developing countries due to potential water related microbiological exposure. The aim of the study was to assess water quality and health implications in a Mexico City periurban agricultural area.
RAPD analysis of DNA isolated from soils under Ker and associated open areas of Bikaner, Kodamdesar and Nagaur regions of western Rajasthan was carried out using six primers to find out the effect of Ker (Capparis deciduas) plants on microbial diversity.
Total heterotropic plate count (HPC), fecal coliform (FC), Escherichia coli (EC), Salmonella and Shigella were estimated in water samples collected from 21 bore wells and 15 hand pumps in and around Kanpur district, during early and post monsoon which revealed the unsanitary condition of water sources.
The study was conducted to assess the physico-chemical and bacteriological quality of stored rain water in the ferrocement tanks of Alappuzha District, Kerala. Representative water samples were collected on random basis from ten stations with rain water harvesting facility during the periods January 2006 and April 2006. The present study …
Bioremediation seems to be a good alternative to conventional clean-up technologies. Bioremediation has advantage over conventional physical and chemical methods such as precipitation, adsorption, electrodialysis and reverse osmosis. The aim of this work was to remove ammonia, nickel and hexavalent chromium from synthetic solutions by bioremediation technique.
Lead from paints, plumbing materials,waste crankcase oil, batteries, etc. pollute the environment and become available to animals as contaminated forage and water.Effective pollution mitigation requires an understanding of the sources and quantities of heavy-metal inputs.In the present study, a lead-responsive biosensor has been made by placing the green fluorescent protein …
