Flooding by sea and brackish waters enhances mobility of Cd, Zn and Pb from airborne dusts in coastal soils.

Sea level rise and extreme weather conditions caused by climatic changes enhance the frequency and length of submersion events in coastal soils, causing deposited airborne dusts to get in contact with marine salts. The behaviour of Cd, Zn and Pb from pedogenetic minerals and from dusts from mining and smelting activities, added to two soils under different agricultural management (arable and grassland) was examined after soil flooding for 1, 7 and 30 days with waters of increasing salinities (0, 4.37, 8.

Potential of herbaceous plant species for copper (Cu) accumulation.

The removal of copper (Cu) in soils by green technology is less treated with urgency, as it is a plant micronutrient. We examined the efficiency of Cu shoot accumulation by herbaceous plants in Cu-contaminated and non-contaminated soils in Trhové Dusniky and Podles, respectively, in the Czech Republic. The total soil Cu content of 81 mg kg in Trhové Dusniky indicated a slight contamination level compared to 50 mg kg, the permissible value by WHO, and < 35 in Podlesí, representing a clean environment.

Sunflower ( L.) Seed Hull Waste: Composition, Antioxidant Activity, and Filler Performance in Pectin-Based Film Composites.

L. seed hull is an abundant waste of the edible oil industry. To envisage potential applications of this waste, here, we aimed to analyze the chemical composition of milled sunflower hulls (SP), constituted mainly by 210 μm (51.

Proteome Changes in Stem Tissues of Sunflower Lines Inoculated with Culture Filtrate of .

Background: (Lib.) de Bary cause a deleterious disease on sunflower plants. Oxalic acid is the main pathogenicity factor of .

Kinetics of electron transfer reactions by humic substances: Implications for their biogeochemical roles and determination of their electron donating capacity.

Humic substances (HS) possess redox active groups covering a wide range of potentials and are used by facultative anaerobic microorganisms as electron acceptors. To serve as suitable electron shuttles for anaerobic respiration, HS should be able to re-oxidize relatively quickly to prevent polarization of the surrounding medium. Mediated electrochemical oxidation and decolorization assays, based on the reduction of the radical ion of 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonate) (ABTS) allow to determine the electron donating capacity (EDC) of HS, but uncertainties remain about the reaction time that should be allowed to obtain environmentally meaningful EDC values.

Changes in organic matter composition caused by EDTA washing of two soils contaminated with toxic metals.

Two soils contaminated with potentially toxic metals (PTMs) contrasting in pH and mineralogy were remediated with CaEDTA, and changes in soil organic matter (SOM) composition were investigated. Previous studies showed no significant loss of SOM from CaEDTA-treated soils, but the results of our study reflected significant decreases (from 46 to 49%) in the free fraction of humic acids (HAs). Remediation affected the composition of the free HA fraction via disturbance of intermolecular bonds - an increase in phenolic and aromatic groups with a simultaneous decrease in carbohydrates - which was confirmed by FTIR spectroscopy in both soils.

Combined forest and soil management after a catastrophic event.

Unlabelled: At the end of October 2018, a storm of unprecedented strength severely damaged the forests of the eastern sector of the Italian Alps. The affected forest area covers 42,500 ha. The president of one of the damaged regions asked for help from the University of Padua.

Biostimulant Action of Dissolved Humic Substances From a Conventionally and an Organically Managed Soil on Nitrate Acquisition in Maize Plants.

Conversion of conventional farming (CF) to organic farming (OF) is claimed to allow a sustainable management of soil resources, but information on changes induced on dissolved organic matter (DOM) are scarce. Among DOM components, dissolved humic substances (DHS) were shown to possess stimulatory effects on plant growth. DHS were isolated from CF and OF soil leacheates collected from soil monolith columns: first in November (bare soils) and then in April and June (bare and planted soils).

Soil Organic Carbon and Carbonates are Binding Phases for Simultaneously Extractable Metals in Calcareous Saltmarsh Soils.

The ability of the simultaneously extracted metals/acid volatile sulfides (∑SEM/AVS) index to ascertain environmental risk from potentially toxic elements in calcareous saltmarsh soils was tested using structural equation modeling. This technique allows the detection of both direct and indirect relationships among AVS, SEM, and other soil variables, representing results in a graphical view. The dataset included 90 soil samples from 21 different sites belonging to 6 different saltmarshes and featured a wide range of soil chemicophysical properties.

A new paper sensor method for field analysis of acid volatile sulfides in soils.

Monitoring of biogenic sulfide is important because acid volatile sulfides (AVS) represent a reactive pool responsible for immobilization of toxic metals. We propose a new sulfide paper sensor method for semiquantitative determination of AVS in which developed color is compared to a reference chart. The method was validated against the ion-selective microelectrode and the purge-and-trap methods.

Pectin-based composite film: Effect of corn husk fiber concentration on their properties.

Considering the polysaccharide composition and 32% of crystallinity of the water insoluble fiber extracted from corn husk (CHF) agricultural residue, its filler performance as water vapor permeability (WVP) and mechanical modifier in edible films based on commercial low methoxyl pectin (LMP) was evaluated (0, 1, 3, 5, 8% concentrations). The 53-μm-CHF carried phenolics and carotenes, and composites showed antioxidant capacity. Homogeneous films with a continuous LMP matrix were obtained.

Carrot fiber (CF) composite films for antioxidant preservation: Particle size effect.

The effect of particle size (53, 105 and 210 μm) of carrot fiber (CF) on their hydration properties and antioxidant capacity as well as on the performance of the CF-composite films developed with commercial low methoxyl pectin (LMP) was studied. It was determined that CF contained carotenoids and phenolics co-extracted with polysaccharides (80%), rich in pectins (15%). CF showed antioxidant activity and produced homogeneous calcium-LMP-based composites.

Iron allocation in leaves of Fe-deficient cucumber plants fed with natural Fe complexes.

Iron (Fe) sources available for plants in the rhizospheric solution are mainly a mixture of complexes between Fe and organic ligands, including phytosiderophores (PS) and water-extractable humic substances (WEHS). In comparison with the other Fe sources, Fe-WEHS are more efficiently used by plants, and experimental evidences show that Fe translocation contributes to this better response. On the other hand, very little is known on the mechanisms involved in Fe allocation in leaves.

Land application of aerobic sewage sludge does not impair methane oxidation rates of soils.

The aim of this study was to measure and compare methane oxidation rates of arable and grassland soils that received 7.5t ha⁻¹ y⁻¹ of noncontaminated aerobically treated sewage sludge for ten years. Arable soils showed generally lower methane oxidation rates (from 6 to 15∗10⁻³ h⁻¹) than grassland soils (from 26 to 33∗10³ h⁻¹).

Organic polyanions act as complexants of prion protein in soil.

The persistence of prions, the causative agents of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, in soil constitutes an environmental concern and substantial challenge. Experiments and theoretical modeling indicate that a particular class of natural polyanions diffused in soils and waters, generally referred to as humic substances (HSs), can participate in the adsorption of prions in soil in a non-specific way, mostly driven by electrostatic interactions and hydrogen bond networks among humic acid molecules and exposed polar protein residues. Adsorption of HSs on clay surface strongly raises the adsorption capacity vs proteins suggesting new experiments in order to verify if this raises or lowers the prion infectivity.