Browse
Abstract
We tested several sample pre-treatment protocols for the study of oxygen isotope ratios in the phosphate phase of mammalian enamel of ten different fossil samples. We investigated the effect of different pre-treatment methods and the duration of the hydrogen fluoride treatment on enamel samples from skeletal phosphate with known δ18O values. The samples had been measured previously, so we could compare the ratios measured in our laboratory with the previous values to choose the best chemical preparation procedure. Four pre-soaking methods and two different time intervals of 2 mol dm−3 hydrogen fluoride treatment were compared during our experiments. In our experimental conditions, the distilled water wash and the 6 h of soaking in hydrogen fluoride gave the closest results to the expected δ-values. The steps of the tested preparation processes were repeated at least three times on each sample, so the reproducibility of the process could be also investigated.
Az azbesztszálak kimutatására szolgáló vizsgálatok középpontjában a levegőszennyezettségi értékek álltak, de a 21. században felmerült az igény a problémakör kiterjesztésére. Az elmúlt években megjelent nemzetközi tudományos szakirodalmak megcáfolták az évtizedeken át fennálló feltételezést, miszerint az azbeszt csupán a levegőterheltség révén vált ki kockázatot. Vízminőségi és talajminőségi kutatások által teret nyert az azbesztszálak, különösen a krizotilszálak alternatív transzportútjainak vizsgálatát célzó kutatásterület. Annak ellenére, hogy mind a települési, mind pedig a mezőgazdasági vízgazdálkodás potenciálisan érintett a krizotil-azbeszt jelenléte kapcsán, nincs nemzetközi szinten egységes és elfogadott módszer vagy küszöbérték az egyes vízforrások biztonságára vonatkozóan. A kutatások nyilvánvaló korlátja, hogy csekély mennyiségű és minőségű tudás érhető el. Az azbesztszálak megjelenése az egyes vízbázisokban jelentősen megváltoztatja mind a mezőgazdasági, mind a települési vízgazdálkodás környezeti hatásoknak való kitettségéről alkotott eddigi ismereteinket. Az öntözővizzel és a gyűjtött csapadékkal kijuttatott azbesztszálak hatásainak palettája mára túlhaladta a humán- és állategészségügyi hatásokat, immár figyelmet kell fordítani a vegetációs hatásokra is. Annak érdekében, hogy nagyobb betekintést nyerjünk az azbeszttoxicitás növényekre gyakorolt hatásaiba, sokkal több tudományos eredményre van szükség.
Jelen összefoglaló tanulmányban bemutatjuk az azbeszt, különös tekintettel a krizotil azbeszt legfontosabb tulajdonságait, humán-, állat- és növényegészségügyi kockázatait. Rávilágítunk arra, hogy ismereteink rendkívül hiányosak, valamint felhívjuk a figyelmet a települési és mezőgazdasági vízgazdálkodás érintettségének egyes faktoraira, közvetlen és közvetett kockázati tényezőire, valamint arra, hogy ezek miként hatnak az élőlényekre, kiemelt tekintettel a növényekre.
Abstract
A high-temperature pyrolysis/gas chromatography/isotope ratio mass spectrometry system was established at the Institute for Geological and Geochemical Research in 2013. A dedicated field of application of the system is the simultaneous measurement of stable carbon and oxygen isotope ratios in the cellulose of modern, relict and subfossil plant tissues and sediments. The measurement protocol was fine-tuned during the first year of operation and documented in detail in this report. To quantify the long-term reproducibility of the simultaneous measurement of stable isotopes of oxygen and carbon in cellulose, a 2σ range inferred from repeated measurements of a Quality Assurance standard can be recommended: 0.16 and 0.20‰, for δ13C and δ18O, respectively. An extensive set of samples with known pyrolysis-based δ13C data was analyzed in combustion mode and the paired results were used to assess the necessity of adjustment of the pyrolysis-based δ13C measurements. The variances of the two datasets were not significantly different; the slope (intercept) of the regression was indistinguishable from unity (zero), suggesting that probably owing to the relatively frequent cleaning of the pyrolysis furnace, pyrolysis-based δ13C data neither suffer from a variance bias nor require a specific adjustment.
Rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum) production is growing worldwide so the treatment and utilization of Rambutan by-products has become a concern of manufacturers. The objective of this study was to evaluate the potential application of rhizobacteria to decompose Rambutan peel for organic fertilizer production. After the rhizospheric soil samples were selectively proliferated and preadded on agar medium containing only Rambutan peel, the rhizobacterial colony isolates were screened based on their ability to grow on this agar medium and then to degrade cellulose in Rambutan peel. The LD7.3 isolate from the Rambutan rhizosphere showed the highest efficiency in degrading Rambutan peel with 5.6% degraded cellulose content and was identified by the MALDI-TOF technique as belonging to Klebsiella. Klebsiella sp. LD7.3 grew well and maintained the same degrading activity after three times of subculturing in liquid medium. Notably, the supplementation of grinded Rambutan fruit peel to the liquid medium had a positive effect on the growth and the degrading activity of Klebsiella sp. LD7.3. This was the primary report on the application of rhizobacteria to degrade Rambutan peel and the results showed that this was a potential approach to reuse this waste source.
The experiment was conducted within a framework of a two-factor long-term trial at the Research Institute for Fisheries, Aquaculture and Irrigation, in Szarvas, Hungary. This was a special field experiment, in which lysimeters have been installed in the middle of 32 m2 field plots. The main factor was the water supply with 4 levels: i1: non-irrigated control; i2: irrigated with one third of the optimal water supply; i3: irrigated with two thirds of the optimal water supply; i4: optimum irrigated plot, according to the requirement of sweet corn test plant. The amount of released irrigation water was 0, 54, 106 and 158 mm per year on average over 5 years. Within every water supply treatment there were 4 nutrient supply rates (N): N1, N2, N3, N4 = 100, 200, 300 and 400 kg ha−1 NPK fertiliser substance in ratio 2:1:1. The number of replications was 4, and the experiment was arranged in split-plot design. In the studied years, the amount of precipitation varied between 92 and 264 mm from sowing to harvesting.
The effect of fertiliser was less in the non-irrigated treatments compared to that of the irrigated ones, and the yield was increased only up to 200 kg ha−1 NPK treatment level. The NPK dose of 300 kg ha−1 proved to be optimal in the irrigated treatments in which the utilization of fertilizer doses increased parallel to the improving water supply. In addition, the ratio of first class products (cobs longer than 20 cm) increased to a greater extent than the yield as a result of irrigation and fertilization. Water requirement of sweet corn proved to be between 400–450 mm resulting in an average yield of 20–24 t ha−1, of which 18–20 t ha−1 came from marketable cobs. The amount of evapotranspiration fluctuated between 270–440 mm during the five years, depending on the quantity of water supply, but it changed to a lesser extent than the amount of the yield. Increasing the fertilizer dose practically did not affect ET in non-irrigated plants, but increased it by 20–30 mm in irrigated ones. The change was not significant.
The productivity of ET was only 30–45 kg ha−1 mm−1 in the non-irrigated treatment, while it was 50–55 kg ha−1 mm−1 in the irrigated treatments, with higher values at the higher fertiliser rates. The productivity of irrigation water exceeded far over the productivity of ET at adequate nutrient supply. The yield increase per 1 mm of irrigation water was on average 60 kg ha−1 mm−1, which was considerably higher than the productivity of ET of non-irrigated plants (39 kg ha−1 mm−1). There was a positive correlation between the yield and ET, and a negative correlation between the yield and specific water consumption. Irrigation and fertilization increased the average yield to a greater extent than evapotranspiration, so as the average yield increased, the ET per unit of yield decreased, i.e. the productivity of evapotranspirated water increased.
