Invasive plant species have the potential to damage crops, industries, environment and public health, hence scientists, academicians, leaders of industry and land managers are realizing that invasive species are serious environmental threats for the 21st century. Parthenium weed is an annual herb in the family Asteraceae which is native to northern Mexico and southern USA. It is spreading across the length and breadth of our country. It gets easily established in almost all the places such as wasteland, roadsides, forests, railway tracks, crop fields, etc. Its high germination ability throughout the year, an enormous seed bank, rapid spread, colonization and extreme adaptability in a wide range of habitats is responsible for its wide spread occurrence. Parthenium hysterophorus L. was reported to be one of the seven most dangerous weeds of the world. It has achieved a major weed status in India and Australia within a relatively short period due to its fast multiplication, rapid growth and its ability to compete with other native flora. There are many ways like mechanical, chemical, cultural and biological to control it, but it cannot be controlled by using a single approach. Integrated approach should be the better way to manage this noxious weed. The aim of this review is to provide general information about the physiology, distribution, ill effects and management of Parthenium.

Every day, millions of agricultural workers are exposed to noise at work and all the risks this can entail. The World Health Organization (WHO) states “noise-induced hearing loss is insidious, permanent and irreparable”. By using power tiller, more than the permissible exposure limit to noise may cause serious health problems to the agricultural workers. This paper examines the noise propagation of popular and most commonly used power tillers having a power rating of 11kW, 9.5kW and 4.4 kW. It was observed that all three power tillers produced the noise above 93 dB(A) in the working zone of the operator. The density of noise contour and SPL is proportional to the engine rpm or load. The working radius around PT-I, PT-II and PT-III of 3.5 m, 2 m and 5.6 m was found noisy [>90 dB(A)] and not suitable to work 8 h per day as per recommendation of ISO and OSHA. The permissible duration of exposure to noise for operator for PT-I, PT-II and PT-III varies from 7.8 h to 3.6 h, 13 h to 5.1 h and 5.3h to 2.1h, respectively for different engine rpm.

Frequent oil spills in the Niger Delta have severely influenced the environment in oil production and transportation areas. Vegetation degradation is one of the remarkable results of oil spills in the region. Hence, GIS was used to build an Oil Spill Risk Assessment Model for Vegetation (OSRAMV) in the southern part of the Rivers state, mainly in the Bonny district to define areas under high levels of oil spill hazard and vegetation areas under high oil spill risk. Oil Spill Hazard Model (OSHM) was examined to ensure its accuracy by recorded oil spill impacted areas | 71.6% of impacted areas pixels were in severe hazard areas. Whereas none of impacted areas were located in very low, or low oil spill hazard areas. The final OSRAMV showed that 66.5% of the examined oil spill sites were located in high risk areas.

This study was aimed to investigate the growth characteristics of Oxyrrhis marina and Chattonella marina in co-culture to provide experimental evidences for discussing successions of harmful algal blooms (HABs) and coastal biological communities. The colour changes of culture media of C. marina and growth characteristics of O. marina and C. marina in co-culture were analysed by the combined methods of macroobservation, microscopic examination and counting. In co-culture, the colours of culture media of C. marina had changed and their transparencies had increased with increasing elapsed incubation time after inoculated by O. marina under different initial cell densities. With the increase of the initial density of O. marina (0.17×104 cells/mL, 0.50×104 cells/mL and 0.64×104 cells/mL in C. marina culture media), the time required, that the populations of O. marina reached the stationary phases, was shorter i.e. 6d, 5d and 3d after inoculated by O. marina, respectively, and the death time of all cells of C. marina became shorter, i.e. 7d, 6d and 4d after inoculated by O. marina, respectively. During the 15 days culture period, all C. marina populations were evolved to O. marina populations. Residues of C. marina adhering to precipitates and chromatophores scattering in the culture media could strengthen the colour of culture media, C. marina populations were evolved to O. marina populations respectively within the concentrations designed in co-culture in this experiment. Disturbance feeding was one of the reasons for successions, and the results provide experimental evidences for discussing successions of red tides and coastal biological communities.

In this present study, the effect of salinity and photoperiod on the growth of Nannochloropsis sp. and Tetraselmis sp. was examined to optimize microalgal growth. Different salinities (5, 10, 15 and 20‰) for Nannochloropsis sp. and (10, 15, 20 and 25‰) for Tetraselmis sp. were studied. Both microalgae were cultivated at two different photoperiod cycles (24:0 and 12:12 h light:dark). Maximum growth rates and cell concentrations for Nannochloropsis sp. and for Tetraselmis sp. were achieved at salinities of 10 and 15‰, respectively. In terms of photoperiod, the maximum growth rates and cell concentrations for both microalgae were obtained at photoperiod of 24:0 h light:dark. This study shows that the cell concentrations and growth rates of both microalgae are highly dependent on salinity and photoperiod.

A comprehensive evaluation index system is established in this study, and evaluation and comparison of resource and environmental carrying capacity from 2005 to 2012 are conducted from four aspects, namely, land, water resource, transportation and environment. Research results show that from 2005 to 2012, the carrying capacity of the 10 main urban agglomerations increased, except for the wing of Beijing and Tianjin urban agglomeration. A significant difference in carrying capacity was observed. Among the top 10 urban agglomerations, the resource and environmental carrying capacity of the eastern region is the highest, followed by that of the central region. The resource and environmental carrying capacity of the western region is the lowest. Traffic capacity, circular economy development level, water resource consumption, and industrial pollution emission are the main reasons for the difference in resource and environmental carrying capacity.

Ecological base flow is a basic requirement of water flow for a healthy river ecosystem. But in Weihe River the ecological flow is not guaranteed because of the water shortage, high sediment concentration and considerable agricultural water use along the river. In this study, Baojixia under-tableland irrigation area was selected as a representative area to which a mathematical model of one-dimensional steady water non-uniform sediment regulation was applied, to analyse the impact of channel desilting on guaranteeing the ecological base flow of Weihe River. The results indicated that scouring and silting of the channel was significantly correlated with the channel water capacity and sediment content in water flows. In addition, channel desilting contributed to 55.9×104m3 and 79.2×104m3 water saving in the irrigation area in January and December which belonged to the dry season. Their contribution rates to basic flow were 3.5% and 4.9%, respectively.

A field experiment on direct-seeded rice was conducted during kharif 2011 and 2012 at the College Farm, ANGRAU Hyderabad, to study the influence of different doses of bispyribac sodium 10% SC (10, 15, 20, 25 and 40 g a.i/ha) on physical, physico-chemical and fertility properties of the soil. Persistence of the herbicide in soil from application to harvest of the crop and the residues in plant samples at harvest were also studied. No significant changes in physical (texture, bulk density, particle density, pore space, maximum water holding capacity), physico-chemical (pH, EC, CEC, organic carbon) and fertility properties of the soil (available N, P2O5 and K2O) were noticed at any of the applied doses. Bispyribac sodium dissipation in soil followed a first-order decay process. Half-life (DT50) of bispyribac sodium was 13.10 days, 10.21 days and 9.93 days at 40 g/ha, 25 g/ha and 20 g/ha doses respectively. DT90 values were also calculated. No detectable residues of bispyribac sodium were found in the straw or grain at the time of harvest.

Geospatial technology was utilized in this study to specifically delineate groundwater potential zones. IRS-LISS III data in conjunction with Survey of India toposheet (1:50,000) and extensive field data were used for the preparation of various thematic maps. Various thematic maps have been prepared for geology, geomorphology, slope, relative relief, land use, drainage density, lineament density, transmissivity, storativity and water table fluctuation. Thematic maps have been integrated in GIS by assigning suitable rank and weightage to each parameter based on their respective significance. Integrated groundwater potential map is a genuine tool decidedly resourceful for sustainable groundwater development and management. The charisma of this innovative method is that, this model can be used in any other area to functionally demarcate groundwater potential zones, and hence will be of immense societal significance.

Cracks are the main cause for structural failure. One way to circumvent costly manual maintenance and repair is to incorporate an autonomous self-healing mechanism in concrete. This study exploited the potential to apply calcite-precipitating bacteria as a crack-healing agent in concrete. These bacteria were prepared in different cell concentrations and incorporated in the concrete mix. Compressive strength tests were performed at the stage of 28th day of curing. The effects of different cell concentrations of Bacillus sphaericus on concrete, reducing the crack, were studied. We used mortar cubes with 30mL of bacteria/mortar cube and sequentially increased up to 50mL (10, 20, 30, 40 and 50mL) in the ratio of mortar cubes in 1:6. The concrete grade used for the study was M25. At last, we had made concrete blocks of size 150×150×150 mm with concrete of grade M25. For those blocks, the compressive strength and non-destructive tests such as, rebound hammer and ultrasonic pulse velocity tests were performed. The results obtained in the work are that the compressive strength of blocks of size 150×150×150 mm is good when compared to control concrete. When load is applied to control concrete, the crack gets developed earlier and when bacterial concrete is used, the crack does not develop at an early stage.