Gasification biochar from horticultural waste: An exemplar of the circular economy in Singapore.

Organic waste, the predominant component of global solid waste, has never been higher, resulting in increased landfilling, incineration, and open dumping that releases greenhouse gases and toxins that contribute to global warming and environmental pollution. The need to create and adopt sustainable closed-loop systems for waste reduction and valorization is critical. Using organic waste as a feedstock, gasification and pyrolysis systems can produce biooil, syngas, and thermal energy, while reducing waste mass by as much as 85-95% through conversion into biochar, a valuable byproduct with myriad uses from soil conditioning to bioremediation and carbon sequestration.

Biochar industry to circular economy.

Biochar, produced as a by-product of pyrolysis/gasification of waste biomass, shows great potential to reduce the environment impact, address the climate change issue, and establish a circular economy model. Despite the promising outlook, the research on the benefits of biochar remains highly debated. This has been attributed to the heterogeneity of biochar itself, with its inherent physical, chemical and biological properties highly influenced by production variables such as feedstock types and treating conditions.

Getting to the roots of it: Genetic and hormonal control of root architecture.

Root system architecture (RSA) - the spatial configuration of a root system - is an important developmental and agronomic trait, with implications for overall plant architecture, growth rate and yield, abiotic stress resistance, nutrient uptake, and developmental plasticity in response to environmental changes. Root architecture is modulated by intrinsic, hormone-mediated pathways, intersecting with pathways that perceive and respond to external, environmental signals. The recent development of several non-invasive 2D and 3D root imaging systems has enhanced our ability to accurately observe and quantify architectural traits on complex whole-root systems.

Three-dimensional root phenotyping with a novel imaging and software platform.

A novel imaging and software platform was developed for the high-throughput phenotyping of three-dimensional root traits during seedling development. To demonstrate the platform's capacity, plants of two rice (Oryza sativa) genotypes, Azucena and IR64, were grown in a transparent gellan gum system and imaged daily for 10 d. Rotational image sequences consisting of 40 two-dimensional images were captured using an optically corrected digital imaging system.