Unveiling microbial diversity in slightly and moderately magnesium deficient acidic soils.

Magnesium (Mg) an essential plant nutrient is widespread deficient in the acidic soils of Nilgiris of Tamil nadu, India. The vegetable yield and quality is especially affected due to deficiency of nutrients like Mg. This study investigates soil characteristics and bacterial diversity in the Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu, India, with respect to Mg deficiency.

Uncovering mercury accumulation and the potential for bacterial bioremediation in response to contamination in the Singalila National Park.

Several recent investigations into montane regions have reported on excess mercury accumulation in high-altitude forest ecosystems. This study explored the Singalila National Park, located on the Singalila ridge of the Eastern Himalayas, revealing substantial mercury contamination. Particular focus was on Sandakphu (3636 m), the highest peak in West Bengal, India.

Unexpected species diversity in the understanding of selenium-containing soil invertebrates.

Yutangba, situated in Enshi City, Hubei Province, is globally noted for its high selenium (Se) content. Soil invertebrates are essential to the functionality and services of terrestrial ecosystems, yet their community composition in this region remains under-explored. This study utilized environmental DNA metabarcoding to investigate the interrelations among environmental factors, soil invertebrate diversity, and community characteristics concerning soil Se content, pH, and moisture content in the region.

Agricultural Practices and Environmental Factors Drive Microbial Communities in the Mezcal-Producing Agave angustifolia Haw.

Mezcal, a traditional Mexican alcoholic beverage, has been a vital source of livelihood for indigenous and rural communities for centuries. However, increasing international demand is exerting pressure on natural resources and encouraging intensive agricultural practices. This study investigates the impact of management practices (wild, traditional, and conventional) and environmental factors on the microbial communities associated with Agave angustifolia, a key species in mezcal production.

Fine-tuning gibberellin improves rice alkali-thermal tolerance and yield.

Soil alkalinization and global warming are predicted to pose major challenges to agriculture in the future, as they continue to accelerate, markedly reducing global arable land and crop yields. Therefore, strategies for future agriculture are needed to further improve globally cultivated, relatively high-yielding Green Revolution varieties (GRVs) derived from the SEMIDWARF 1 (SD1) gene. Here we propose that precise regulation of the phytohormone gibberellin (GA) to optimal levels is the key to not only confer alkali-thermal tolerance to GRVs, but also to further enhance their yield.

Contrasting drought sensitivity of Eurasian and North American grasslands.

Extreme droughts generally decrease productivity in grassland ecosystems with negative consequences for nature's contribution to people. The extent to which this negative effect varies among grassland types and over time in response to multi-year extreme drought remains unclear. Here, using a coordinated distributed experiment that simulated four years of growing-season drought (around 66% rainfall reduction), we compared drought sensitivity within and among six representative grasslands spanning broad precipitation gradients in each of Eurasia and North America-two of the Northern Hemisphere's largest grass-dominated regions.

Maize monoculture supported pre-Columbian urbanism in southwestern Amazonia.

The Casarabe culture (500-1400 CE), spreading over roughly 4,500 km of the monumental mounds region of the Llanos de Moxos, Bolivia, is one of the clearest examples of urbanism in pre-Columbian (pre-1492 CE) Amazonia. It exhibits a four-tier hierarchical settlement pattern, with hundreds of monumental mounds interconnected by canals and causeways. Despite archaeological evidence indicating that maize was cultivated by this society, it is unknown whether it was the staple crop and which type of agricultural farming system was used to support this urban-scale society.

Factors contributing to helminth prevalence after repeated mass administration of medicines in Anambra State, Nigeria.

Over the past decade, Mass Administration of Medicines (MAM) has been a key strategy for controlling schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminthiasis (STHs) in Anambra State, Nigeria. This longitudinal study, conducted from 2017 to 2019, evaluated the impact of interventions for controlling schistosomiasis (SCH) and STHs in recipient communities. A total of 1,046 pupils aged 5 to 16 years were enrolled, with Kato-Katz and urine filtration methods used for faecal and urine sample analysis.

Salicylic acid confers cadmium tolerance in wheat by regulating photosynthesis, yield and ionic homeostasis.

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) productivity and quality can be threatened by soil cadmium (Cd) contamination, posing a concern to food security. Salicylic acid (SA) is an endogenously produced signaling molecule that activates the defense system imparting abiotic stress tolerance in plants.

A novel interval sparse evolutionary algorithm for efficient spectral variable selection.

In spectral analysis, selecting the right spectral variables is crucial for effective modeling. It reduces data dimensionality, removes irrelevant wavelength points, and improves both the generalization ability and computational efficiency of the model. However, the number of available samples often falls short of the total possible combinations of wavelengths, making variable selection a non-deterministic polynomial-time (NP) hard optimization problem.

Precipitation changes reshape desert soil microbial community assembly and potential functions.

Understanding the responses of desert microbial communities to escalating precipitation changes is a significant knowledge gap in predicting future soil health and ecological function. Through a five-year precipitation manipulation experiment, we investigated the contrasting eco-evolutionary processes of desert bacteria and fungi that manifested in changes to the assembly and potential functions of the soil microbiome. Elevated precipitation increased the alpha diversity and network complexity of bacteria and fungi, proportion of non-dominant phyla, and abundance of carbon- and nitrogen-fixing bacteria and saprophytic, symbiotic, and pathogenic fungi.

Plant-microbiome interactions for enhanced crop production under cadmium stress: A review.

Cadmium (Cd) is a toxic heavy metal that has detrimental effects on agriculture crops and human health. Both natural and anthropogenic processes release Cd into the environment, elevating its contents in soils. Under Cd stress, strong plant-microbiome interactions are important in improving crop production, but a systematic review is still missing.

Antimicrobial biodegradable packaging films from phosphorylated starch: A sustainable solution for plastic waste.

This study focused on developing biodegradable packaging films based on starch as an alternative to non-biodegradable such as petroleum-derived synthetic polymers. To improve its physicochemical properties, potato starch was chemically modified through phosphorylation. Starch phosphorylation was carried out using cyclic 1,3-propanediol phosphoryl chloride (CPPC), produced phosphorylated starch (PS), and analyzed using Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA).

Phosphorus release under short-term submergence of pasture soils in critical source areas.

Critical source areas (CSAs) can act as a source of phosphorus (P) in surface waters by releasing soil P to porewater during frequent rainfall events. The extent of P release under short-term, frequent submergence has not been systematically studied in CSAs in New Zealand. A study was conducted to explore the potential of three contrasting dairy and sheep/beef farm soils (Recent, Pallic and Allophanic soils) to release P to porewater and pondwater under short-term and frequent submergence.

Optimizing nano-sized oxygen bubble application for prolonged aerobic degradation of BTEX in contaminated groundwater.

This study investigates the use of nano-sized oxygen bubbles (NOBs) to enhance BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene) biodegradation in groundwater. Optimized NOBs, averaging 155 nm and at a concentration of 6.59 × 10⁸ bubbles/mL, were found to provide sustained oxygen release with a half-life of approximately 50 days.

Genome-wide identification of the bZIP family in Eutrema salsugineum and functional analysis of EsbZIP51 in regulating salt tolerance.

The halophyte Eutrema salsugineum is naturally distributed in saline-alkali soil and has been proposed as a model plant for understanding plant salt tolerance. As one of the largest and most diverse TF families, basic leucine zipper motif (bZIP) TFs perform robust functions in plant growth and environmental response, however the generalized information of EsbZIP genes and its regulatory role in salt tolerance has not been systematically studied to date. Here, we identified and characterized the bZIP members in E.

Synthetic phenolic antioxidant contamination in farmland soils induced by mulching films: Distribution and transformation pathways.

The occurrence and distribution of synthetic phenolic antioxidants (SPAs) originating from mulch film in farmland soils, along with their transformation characteristics and pathways, remain largely unknown. This study is the first to investigate nineteen SPAs and four transformation products (TPs) in farmland soils across China. In film-mulching soils, concentrations of SPAs (median, range: 83.

Debromination of decabromodiphenyl ether (BDE-209) and bacterial community responses in aerobic and anaerobic soil microcosms.

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are a class of persistent organic pollutants that may pose risks to human health and environmental biota, including soil microbial communities. These risks are further affected by a multitude of factors, including environmental conditions encountered in real-world settings. A comprehensive understanding of how PBDEs transform and microbial communities respond to the exposure under varying environmental conditions is paramount for assessing the ecological risks or identifying potential degraders.

Reconstruction of a microbial TNT deep degradation system and its mechanism for reshaping microecology.

This study is the first to use synthetic biological omics technology to analyze the molecular mechanism underlying deep degradation of TNT, to construct an artificial transformation system to create engineered Escherichia coli bacteria, and to use Bacillus subtilis as an expression host to explore the mechanism driving the reshaping of the deep degradation platform on microecology. Nitroreductase family protein, 2-oxoacid:acceptor oxidoreductase, NADPH-cytochrome P450 reductase, monooxygenase, ring-cleaving dioxygenase, and RraA family protein significantly participated in the reduction-hydroxylation-ring opening cleavage of TNT, achieving deep transformation of TNT to produce pyruvic acid and other products that entered the cellular metabolic cycle. The key toxic metabolic pathways of TNT, 2,4-diamino-6-nitrotoluene, 2,4,6-triaminotoluene, and 2,4,6-trihydroxytoluene are pantothenate and CoA biosynthesis.

Effects of polylactic acid microplastics on dissolved organic matter across soil types: Insights into molecular composition.

Increasing evidence has highlighted the effects of biodegradable microplastics (MPs) on soil organic matter (SOM), but the role of soil type and incubation time remains unclear. This study investigated the effects of polylactic acid microplastics (PLA-MPs) on the amount and molecular composition of dissolved organic matter (DOM) across three paddy soil types (Ferralsol, Alfisol, and Mollisol) and incubation times, revealing soil-specific patterns in DOM transformation: PLA-MPs reduced DOM content in Ferralsol and Alfisol by 29.3-68.

A new in situ fracturing-enhanced oxidative remediation for various low-permeability phenanthrene-contaminated soils: Oxidation effectiveness and kinetics of potassium permanganate.

A new in situ fracturing-enhanced oxidative remediation approach was recommended in this study to achieve rapid and efficient remediation of low-permeability contaminated sites. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of permeability and potassium permanganate (KMnO) concentration on the oxidation effectiveness and kinetics of KMnO in phenanthrene (PHE)-contaminated soil through rigid-wall hydraulic conductivity tests and a series of laboratory experiments. The results indicate that for various low-permeability contaminated soils, there was a critical KMnO concentration to significantly reduce the remediation time and a critical Darcy velocity to meet remediation goals.

Intercomparison of in-well, depth profile and online soil gas measurements for estimating petroleum natural source zone depletion rates: Will in-well gas samples suffice?

Natural Source Zone Deletion (NSZD) is a viable long-term management option for sites impacted by petroleum hydrocarbon fuels. NSZD rate estimation methods for petroleum mass losses often use soil gas gradients of oxygen, carbon dioxide, methane or vapour concentrations through the vadose zone. Seeking greater efficiencies, we investigated if existing short-screened wells are reliable for representative sampling of soil gases in a vadose zone undergoing NSZD.

Manure application increases soil doxycycline and zinc levels and resistance gene abundance.

Doxycycline (DOX) and zinc (Zn), are frequently detected in livestock manure. Untreated excrement carries a sizable load of DOX and Zn into the soil, exacerbating agricultural nonpoint source pollution. However, research on the effects of DOX and Zn on soil microbial diversity and the prevalence of resistance genes is limited.

Assessment of viable Enterobacteriaceae and Enterococcus spp. across the agro-ecosystem of an antibiotic-free swine farm.

Agricultural practices, specifically the use of antibiotics and other biocides, have repercussions on human, animal and plant health. The aim of this study was to evaluate the levels of Enterobacteriaceae and Enterococcus, as antibiotic resistant marker bacteria, in various matrices across the agro-ecosystem of an antibiotic-free swine farm in Quebec (Canada), namely pig feed, feces, manure, agricultural soil, water and sediment from a crossing stream, and soil from nearby forests. Samples were collected in fall 2022, spring and fall 2023 and spring 2024.