Rotary drums enable rapid composting compared to static systems. Residence times (RT) of 3-5 days are commonly applied to fulfill sanitary requirements and ensure the initial stabilization of organic matter. Practically, RT distribution (RTD) implies that a portion of the feed is discharged earlier than the mean RT, which may not guarantee safe application of the end product.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFComput Struct Biotechnol J
May 2023
Organic amendment, and especially the use of composts, is a well-accepted sustainable agricultural practice. Compost increases soil carbon and microbial biomass, changes enzymatic activity, and enriches soil carbon and nitrogen stocks. However, relatively little is known about the immediate and long-term temporal dynamics of agricultural soil microbial communities following repeated compost applications.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOne of the problematic outcomes of soil erosion is sedimentation in stream channels adjacent to agricultural areas. Excess sediments routinely dredged are subsequently dumped in the riparian zone, where the prolonged presence of dredged sediment piles threatens the eco-hydrological balance of the agricultural-riverine environments. Reusing dredged sediments as an amendment for adjacent agricultural fields may serve as an alternative solution.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTo address the grand challenge of increasing the sustainability of wastewater treatment plants, hydrothermal carbonization was studied as a nutrient recovery platform, transforming sludge into a valuable hydrochar. Carbonization was achieved at different temperatures (200-300 °C) and durations (30-120 min). The highest mass recovery (73%) was observed in the lowest temperature, while the lowest (49%) was obsereved at the highest temperature.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCover crops and precision fertilization are two core strategies to advance sustainable agriculture. Based on a review of proven achievements in remote sensing of vegetation, a novel approach is proposed to use remote-sensing of cover crops to map soil nutrient availability and to produce prescription maps for precision basal fertilization prior to sowing the following cash crop. The first goal of this manuscript is to introduce the concept of using remote-sensing of cover crops as 'reflectors' or 'bio-indicators' of soil nutrient availability.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFComposting poultry carcasses and the infected litter is considered feasible during mass depopulation events in response to disease outbreaks. We demonstrate the effect of temperature (40, 50, 60 °C) and aerobic/anaerobic conditions on the degradation of broiler carcasses and broiler litter (BL) and the elimination of pre-inoculated Avian flu and Newcastle viruses and SalmonellaInfantis (3.3 × 10 EID, 7 × 10 EID and 2 × 10 CFU g-dry matter (DM), respectively).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFComput Struct Biotechnol J
November 2021
Farmers apply broiler chicken litter to soils to enrich organic matter and provide crops with nutrients, following varying periods of stockpiling. However, litter frequently harbors fecal-derived microbial pathogens and associated antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), and may be a source of microbial contamination of produce. We coupled a cutting-edge Loop Genomics long-read 16S rRNA amplicon-sequencing platform with high-throughput qPCR that targeted a suite of ARGs, to assess temporal (five time points over a 60-day period) and spatial (top, middle and bottom layers) microbiome and resistome dynamics in a broiler litter stockpile.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Residual herbicides are an important component in many weed control strategies. Their herbicidal activity depends on their fate in soil, with respect to the required concentration for weed control in space and time. In this study, the effect of weather conditions on sulfosulfuron fate in soil, following pre-planting incorporation, and the predicted control efficacy of Egyptian broomrape in tomato, were analyzed for two sites using simulations in Hydrus-1D modeling software.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAerial emissions of odorous volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are an important nuisance factor from livestock production systems. Reliable air sampling and analysis methods are needed to develop and test odor mitigation technologies. Quantification of VOCs responsible for livestock odor remains an analytical challenge due to physicochemical properties of VOCs and the requirement for low detection thresholds.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFControlled land spreading of untreated olive mill wastewater (OMW) has been widely practiced as a means of its disposal. However, potential phytotoxic effects are critical for the selection of sites and crop types and for proper synchronization between land application and cropping. This study traced the fate of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), total phenols (TP), electrical conductivity, pH, microbial counts, and phytotoxicity to cress ( L.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFField odor assessors are required to rate or describe several odor parameters, such as intensity, duration, offensiveness, and character. Ideally, their assessments should reflect the average odor perception of a specific community. The authors developed a three-part screening test for recruiting odor assessors: (1) distinguishing between different odorants by means of a triangular forced-choice test; (2) evaluating odor intensity; and (3) describing hedonic tone and odor character.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMalodor emissions limit public acceptance of using municipal biosolids as natural organic resources in agricultural production. We aimed to identify major odorants and to evaluate odor concentrations associated with land application of anaerobically digested sewage sludges (Class B) and their alkaline (lime and coal fly ash)-stabilized products (Class A). These two types of biosolids were applied at 12.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFConcentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and total phenols (TP), and the phytotoxicity to cress (Lepidium sativum L.) were determined for three molecular-sized fractions of olive mill wastewater (OMW), <1000, 1000-5000, and >5000 Da, before and after incubation with Pleurotus ostreatus. The <1000-Da fraction contained 82% of the total DOC and 48% of the TP, and was the most phytotoxic.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIsothermal microcalorimetry is a sensitive non-invasive analytical tool that can become useful in research on compost and other biosolids. The aim of the present study was to address several methodological aspects that are critical to the use of microcalorimetry to assess the dynamics of microbial activity in such systems. The results show that: (1) The calorimetric baseline is strongly influenced by the run temperature in the range relevant to composting systems (20-60 degrees C), and is also affected by addition of the water that is required to maintain or optimize microbial activity, presumably because some water evaporates through ampoule gaskets.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) is one of the major water resources in Israel. The origin and characteristics of natural organic matter (NOM) in the lake and its tributary rivers were studied using fluorescence excitation emission matrices (EEM) and parallel factor analysis. Two humic-like and one proteinous components were sufficient to describe EEM variability among 167 water samples collected between 2/2005 and 9/2006.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLivestock operations are associated with emissions of odor, gases, and particulate matter. The majority of previous livestock odor studies focused on swine operations whereas relatively few relate to dairy cattle. Identifying the compounds responsible for the primary odor impact is a demanding analytical challenge because many critical odor components are frequently present at very low concentrations within a complex matrix of numerous insignificant volatiles.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUsing fluorescence intensity measurements, pyrene interactions with different types of effluent dissolved organic matter (EDOM) originated from treated municipal wastewater are examined. Multiple observations show that fluorescence intensity of pyrene-EDOM solutions is non-linearly related to pyrene concentration, with distinct concave-up dependence. Testing the effect of pyrene concentration on fluorescence intensity of pyrene-EDOM solutions provides a tool to examine whether binding of an organic compound to EDOM follows linear or non-linear isotherm.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExtremely high organic load and the toxic nature of olive mill wastewater (OMW) prevent their direct discharge into domestic wastewater treatment systems. In addition to the various treatment schemes designed for such wastewater, controlled land spreading of untreated OMW has been suggested as an alternative mean of disposal. A field study was conducted between October 2004 and September 2005 to assess possible effects of OMW on soil microbial activity and potential phytotoxicity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe potential of effluent DOM to undergo microbial degradation was assessed in batch experiments. Effluent samples from Haifa wastewater treatment plant and Qishon reservoir (Greater Haifa wastewater reclamation complex, Israel) were incubated either with effluent or soil microorganisms for a period of 2-4 months and were characterized by dissolved organic carbon contents (DOC), UV(254) absorbance and by fluorescence excitation-emission matrices. Three main fluorescence peaks were identified that can be attributed to humic/fulvic components and "protein-like" structures.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe purpose of this study was to test in the laboratory the performance of a passive multilayer sampler (MLS) for obtaining detailed profiles of gas-phase volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in unsaturated sediments. The MLS is essentially a chain of isolated, cylindrical stainless steel dialysis cells filled with distilled water and closed with membranes at both ends. The sampling principle is based on passive equilibration of the unsaturated zone gas phase with water in the cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBinding of pyrene, fluoranthene, and phenanthrene to dissolved humic acids (HA) was determined by the fluorescence quenching (FQ) and complexation-flocculation (CF) methods. Determinations by the CF method, using varying contaminant concentrations and a constant HA concentration, yielded nonlinear Freundlich-type isotherms (n = 0.65-0.
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