Calcium deficiency and its implications for cardiovascular disease and cancer: Strategies for resolution via agronomic fortification.

Calcium (Ca) is a vital nutrient essential for structural development and signal transmission in both plants and animals. In humans, inadequate calcium intake has been correlated with various diseases, including osteoporosis, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, and cancer. In areas where plants serve as a main dietary source, calcium intake is significantly lower than the recommended adequate intake, notably in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

Water dispersible carbon nanomaterials reduced N, P, and K leaching potential in sandy soils: A column leaching study.

Carbon nanomaterials (CNMs) - amendments with carbon in nanoscale form -could potentially enhance fertilizer delivery efficiency in agriculture, but their interaction with soil properties and nutrient co-mobility, especially in coarse-textured soils, remain poorly understood. We conducted a column leaching study in repacked soil columns to compare the co-leaching of novel water-dispersible CNMs and soil nutrients across two levels of CNMs applications (200 & 400 mg kg), two fertilization rates (low:80 mg kg of N, P and K and high: 200 mg N kg, 100 mg P kg, 200 mg K kg, applied as ammonium nitrate, potassium phosphate, and potassium nitrate) and two soils (Spodosol with pH = 5.1, Alfisol with pH = 6.

Functional biochar accelerates peroxymonosulfate activation for organic contaminant degradation via the specific B-C-N configuration.

Functional biochar designed with heteroatom doping facilitates the activation of peroxymonosulfate (PMS), triggering both radical and non-radical systems and thus augmenting pollutant degradation efficiency. A sequence of functional biochar, derived from hyperaccumulator (Sedum alfredii) residues, was synthesized via sequential doping with boron and nitrogen. The SABC-B@N-2 exhibited outstanding catalytic effectiveness in activating PMS to degrade the model pollutant, acid orange 7 (K = 0.

Mitigating cadmium exposure risk in rice with foliar nano-selenium: Investigations through Caco-2 human cell line in-vivo bioavailability assay.

The contamination of paddy fields by cadmium and lead is a major issue in China. The consumption of rice grown in heavy metals contaminated areas poses severe health risks to humans, where bioavailability and bioaccessibility remains the critical factor for risk determination. Selenium nanoparticles (Se-NPs) can mitigate the toxicity of heavy metals in plants.

Enhancing the phytoextraction efficiency of heavy metals in acidic and alkaline soils by Sedum alfredii Hance: A study on the synergistic effect of plant growth regulator and plant growth-promoting bacteria.

Plant growth regulators (PGR) and plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB) have the potential in phytoremediation of heavy metals (HMs) contaminated soils. However, their sole application may not yield the optimal results, thus necessitating the combined application. The present study aimed to enhance the phytoremediation efficiency of Sedum alfredii Hance (S.

Comparative effectiveness of carbon nanoparticles and biochar in alleviating copper stress in corn (Zea mays L.).

The application of carbon nanoparticles (CNPs) and biochar in agriculture for improving plant health and soil quality and alleviating metal stress offers alternative approaches to meet the ever-increasing demand for food. However, poor understanding of their roles in improving crop production under Cu stress represents a significant obstacle to their wide application in agriculture. To clarify how CNPs and biochar affect corn (Zea mays L.

Varietal responses to a soil amendment: Balancing cadmium mitigation and mineral biofortification in wheat production.

The application of soil amendment (SA) and the cultivation of low Cd-accumulating varieties have been a widely favored strategy to enable the safe utilization of Cd-contaminated arable land. However, little has been reported on the reciprocal effects of SA on the Cd mitigation and nutritional quality of different wheat varieties. In this study, we evaluated the impact of an SA on agronomic traits, Cd accumulation, translocation and mineral nutrition of 12 wheat varieties in an acidic field with a Cd concentration of 0.

Co-foliar application of zinc and nano-silicon to rice helps in reducing cadmium exposure risk: Investigations through in-vitro digestion with human cell line bioavailability assay.

Foliar application of zinc (Zn) or silicon nanoparticles (Si-NPs) may exert regulatory effects on cadmium (Cd) accumulation in rice grains, however, their impact on Cd bioavailability during human rice consumption remains elusive. This study comprehensively investigated the application of Zn with or without Si-NPs in reducing Cd accumulation in rice grains as well to exactly evaluate the potential risk of Cd exposure resulting from the rice consumption by employing field experiment as well laboratory bioaccessibility and bioavailability assay. Sole Zn (ZnSO) or in combination with Si (ZnSO +Si and ZnO+Si) efficiently lowered the Cd concentration in rice grains.

Foliar application of plant growth regulators for enhancing heavy metal phytoextraction efficiency by Sedum alfredii Hance in contaminated soils: Lab to field experiments.

The phytoremediation efficiency of plants in removing the heavy metals (HMs) might be influenced by their growth status and accumulation capacity of plants. Herein, we conducted a lab-scale experiment and a field try out to assess the optimal plant growth regulators (PGRs) including indole-3-acetic acid (IAA)/brassinolide (BR)/abscisic acid (ABA) in improving the phytoextraction potential of Sedum alfredii Hance (S. alfredii).

Cytokinin-mediated shoot proliferation and its correlation with phytoremediation effects in Cd-hyperaccumulator ecotype of Sedum alfredii.

The phytohormones cytokinins (CKs) are known to regulate apical/auxiliary meristems, control shoot growth and are associated with nutrient uptake and high biomass production. In this study, different cytokinins were tested on Sedum alfredii (S.alfredii) for shoot proliferation and growth performance as well as their correlation with phytoextraction efficiency.

Residual effects of composted sewage sludge on nitrogen cycling and plant metabolism in a no-till common bean-palisade grass-soybean rotation.

Introduction And Aims: In the context of increasing population and decreasing soil fertility, food security is one of humanity's greatest challenges. Large amounts of waste, such as sewage sludge, are produced annually, with their final disposal causing environmental pollution and hazards to human health. Sludge has high amounts of nitrogen (N), and, when safely recycled by applying it into the soil as composted sewage sludge (CSS), its residual effect may provide gradual N release to crops.

Key factors influencing arsenic phytotoxicity thresholds in south China acidic soils.

Arsenic (As) toxicity threshold values (TTVs) for plants are fundamental to both establishing regional As reference values in soil and performing risk assessment. However, TTVs vary with plant species and soil types. In this study, a hydroponic experiment with 16 plant species was conducted to screen the most As-sensitive plant species.

Carbon nanomaterials are a superior soil amendment for sandy soils than biochar based on impacts on lettuce growth, physiology and soil biochemical quality.

A significant bottleneck of current agricultural systems remains the very low agronomic efficiency of conventional agrochemicals, particularly in sandy soils. Carbon nanomaterials (CNMs) have been proposed to address this inefficiency in sandy soils, which could potentially improve soil fertility and enhance crop growth and physiological processes. However, the effects of different rates of CNMs on crop physiological and soil biochemical quality in sandy soils must be compared to other carbon sources (e.

Soil water stress alters differentially relative metabolic pathways affecting growth performance and metal uptake efficiency in a cadmium hyperaccumulator ecotype of Sedum alfredii.

Modeling plants for biomass production and metal uptake from surrounding environment is strongly dependent on the moisture content of soil. Therefore, experiments were conducted to find out how soil moisture affects the phenotypic traits, photosynthetic efficiency, metabolic profile, and metal accumulation in the hyperaccumulating ecotype of Sedum alfredii (S. alfredii).

Chinese sapindaceous tree species (Sapindus mukorosii) exhibits lead tolerance and long-term phytoremediation potential for moderately contaminated soils.

Heavy metal pollution in metropolitan soils poses significant risks to human health and the entire ecosystem. Effective mitigation strategies and technologies are crucial for addressing these environmental issues. Fast-growing trees are an essential part of phytoremediation projects all over the world and provide long-term ecological benefits to mankind.

The role of pores in micro-zone distribution of Cd in a tropical paddy soil: Results from X-ray computed tomography combined energy dispersive spectroscopy analysis.

Accurate description of Cd micro-zone distribution and accumulation is the prerequisite for revealing Cd transfer and transformation processes. However, to date, the role of soil pores in the Cd micro-zone distribution characteristics in undisturbed soil is still unclear. In this study, the obvious heterogeneous distribution of Cd in and around the soil pores at the cross-sectional surface of the tropical undisturbed topsoil was visualized by the combination of X-ray micro-computed tomography and scanning electron microscope-energy dispersive spectroscopy.

Hierarchical iron-nickel oxyhydroxide nanosheets directly grown on porous TiFe-based intermetallics for robust oxygen evolution.

Rationally designing highly active oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalysts with robust stability is critical for industrial electrochemical water splitting. Hierarchical iron-nickel oxyhydroxide nanosheets directly grown on porous TiFe-based intermetallics are designed and prepared as OER catalysts. The best-performing nanosheets only need 295 mV to achieve 100 mA cm, along with exceptional durability at a high current density of 1000 mA cm.

Trade-offs between fertilizer-N availability and Cd pollution potential under crop straw incorporation by N stable isotopes in rice.

Application of crop residues and chemical nitrogen (N) fertilizer is a conventional practice for achieving high yield in a rice system. However, the fallacious combination of N fertilizers with crop straw not only significantly reduces the N use efficiencies (NUEs) but also leads to serious environmental problems. The present study employed five treatments including no N fertilization and no straw incorporation (ck), N fertilization incorporation only (S0), N fertilization with 40% straw (S), N fertilization with 60% straw (S), and N fertilization with 100% straw (S) to improve N use efficiency as well as reduced Cd distribution in rice.

Soil properties drive the bacterial community to cadmium contamination in the rhizosphere of two contrasting wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) genotypes.

Cadmium (Cd) bioavailability in the rhizosphere makes an important difference in grain Cd accumulation in wheat. Here, pot experiments combined with 16S rRNA gene sequencing were conducted to compare the Cd bioavailability and bacterial community in the rhizosphere of two wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) genotypes, a low-Cd-accumulating genotype in grains (LT) and a high-Cd-accumulating genotype in grains (HT), grown on four different soils with Cd contamination.

Baseflow estimation based on a self-adaptive non-linear reservoir algorithm in a rainy watershed of eastern China.

Accurate baseflow estimation is critical for water resources evaluation and management, and non-point source pollution quantification. Nonlinear reservoir algorithm (NRA) has been increasingly applied to baseflow separation because of its good approximation to the real groundwater discharge (commonly dominated by the unconfined aquifer) in most watersheds. However, in the rainy regions, large uncertainties may remain in the traditional NRA-separated baseflow sequences due to its empirical transition function for the rising limb of discharge process, and the evident variations of baseflow recession in the initial period of the falling limb caused by the disturbance from surface flow or rainfall events.

Cadmium mobility and health risk assessment in the soil-rice-human system using in vitro biaccessibility and in vivo bioavailability assay: Two year field experiment.

Humans are mainly exposed to cadmium (Cd) due to the rice consumption, however there exist considerable differences across rice cultivars in terms of Cd absorption and accumulation in the grains, and subsequent release after digestion (bioaccessibility), as well as uptake by Caco-2 cells of humans (bioavailability). This study comprised of field and lab simulation trials where in the field, firstly 39 mid-rice cultivars were screened for their phytoremediation potential coupled with safe production in relation to uptake and translocation of Cd. Lower Cd concentrations (˂0.

An integrated physiology, cytology, and proteomics analysis reveals a network of sugarcane protoplast responses to enzymolysis.

The protoplast experimental system eis an effective tool for functional genomics and cell fusion breeding. However, the physiological and molecular mechanisms of protoplast response to enzymolysis are not clear, which has become a major obstacle to protoplast regeneration. Here, we used physiological, cytological, proteomics and gene expression analysis to compare the young leaves of sugarcane and enzymolized protoplasts.

Porous TiNi-based intermetallics as active and robust monolith catalysts for hydrogen evolution.

Electrochemical water splitting offers an appealing method to produce hydrogen as we attempt to achieve global carbon neutrality. However, the lack of earth-abundant, low-cost, active, and stable catalysts at large current densities severely hinders its industrial applications. TiNi-based intermetallics as porous monolith catalysts (PMCs) exhibit an efficient hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) performance (an overpotential of 244 mV to afford 200 mA cm) and excellent stability in 1 M KOH.

Interactions of microplastics and soil pollutants in soil-plant systems.

In recent years, increasing studies have been reported on characterization and detection of microplastics (MPs), and their interactions with organic pollutants (OPs) and heavy metals (HMs) in soils. However, a comprehensive review on the characteristics and factors that influence MPs distribution in soils, the sorption characteristics and mechanisms of soil contaminants by MPs, especially the interactions of MPs and their complexes with pollutants in the soil-plant systems remains rarely available at present. This review focuses on the sorption features and mechanisms of pollutants by MPs in soil and discussed the effects of MPs and their complexing with pollutants on soil properties, microbe and plants.

Phosphorus fractions and iron oxides responsible for the variations in the Cd retention capacity in tropical soil aggregates under different cropping patterns.

The environmental behavior of Cd in soil has been widely studied because of its close relationship with food security and soil environmental pollution. In this study, the roles of P fractions and Fe oxides in the retention of Cd in typical tropical soil from five cropping patterns were investigated. Although there was no evident relationship between the Cd adsorption capacity and soil aggregate particle sizes, strong spatial associations of P, Fe, and Cd at the soil aggregates were observed via energy dispersive spectroscopy analysis.