Feeding a growing population requires striking a balance between increasing production and decreasing environmental impacts in agricultural settings. We established 12 experimental mesocosms with silt loam atop a base of sand and examined the ability of three emergent aquatic plants common to the USA to remediate pesticides and nutrients in agricultural runoff. Mesocosms were planted in monocultures of Myriophyllum aquaticum, Polygonum amphibium, and Typha latifolia, or left unvegetated to serve as controls. All mesocosms were amended with target concentrations of 10 mg L⁻¹ (each) nitrate, ammonium, and orthophosphate; 20 μg L⁻¹ (each) of the pesticides propanil and clomazone; and 10 μg L⁻¹ of the pesticide cyfluthrin. After a 6-h-simulated agricultural runoff with amended water, mesocosms sat idle for 48 h before flushing with unamended water for another 6 h. Outflow water samples were collected and analyzed for contaminant concentrations. Most significant differences between vegetated mesocosms and controls occurred when comparing mean contaminant transfer/transformation rates post-amendment. Differences among plant species occurred regarding retention of dissolved nutrients orthophosphate, ammonium, and nitrate. Similarly, all three plant species retained more propanil than controls during post-amendment (8–48 h), but individual plant differences occurred with regard to clomazone and cyfluthrin retention. While variation in mitigation of specific dissolved components of nutrients suggests different mechanisms involved in nutrient cycling within our mesocosms, consistent overall total nutrient and pesticide reduction during the post-amendment period indicate that holding runoff in vegetated ditches may reduce transport of agricultural contaminants to downstream aquatic ecosystems.

Freshwaters are highly vulnerable to pollution since they act as immediate sinks for the consequences of human activity always associated with the danger of accidental discharges. Heavy metals constitute a core group of aquatic pollutants and additional concentrations of these metals accumulate in the aquatic ecosystems as a result of land-based activities. Fish mostly tend to bioaccumulate heavy metals, and humans can be at great risk, sometimes even lethal, through contamination of the food chain. An attempt has been made in the present investigation to determine the acute toxicity of lithium and its toxicological effects on survival, physiological, haematological and biochemical parameters of the widely consumed spotted sneak head Channa punctatus and Nile Tilapia Oreochromis niloticus. Short-term acute toxicity tests were performed by exposing the test species to different concentrations of lithium chloride. The results showed that the normal respiratory activity of the fish was significantly affected and there was a depression in the metabolic rate at the end of 24, 48, 72 and 96h exposure. Appreciable decline changes occur in haematological parameters and biochemical profiles of the fish. This study reflects the extent of the toxic effects of lithium and the metal-induced cumulative deleterious effects at various functional levels in the widely consumed freshwater fish, Channa punctatus and Oreochromis niloticus.

Cryptosporidium can transport from the soil to the water resulting in the contamination of the surrounding water bodies. However, there are few pieces of research on the transport of Cryptosporidium from the slope soil to the surrounding water. The experiment simulated the transport of Cryptosporidium surrogate, carboxylate YG polystyrene, influenced by the rainfall intensity, rainfall pattern, soil type, and land slope, from the soil to water, to understand the transport of Cryptosporidium surrogate under these different conditions. The results showed that the transport of Cryptosporidium surrogate was affected by the surface runoff factors, that is, the high rainfall intensity, high rainfall frequency, steep slope and high sand content soil that resulted in the high transport of the Cryptosporidium surrogate.

The present study was aimed to characterize the bacterial isolate DDI(I)1 isolated from the rhizospheric soil of Ocimum grown in New Delhi (India). The isolate exhibited multiple plant growth promoting activities namely ammonia production, production of phytohormones, hydrogen cyanide, solubilization of minerals, tolerance against heavy metals, etc. The isolate was morphologically and biochemically characterized and it was found that DDI(I)1 belongs to genus Pseudomonas. Further, 16S rRNA sequencing revealed that the isolate shared 99% homology with Pseudomonas fluorescens.

Recently, facing situations of insufficient energy and harsh environmental conditions, new-energy vehicles begin to enter people’s lives. But considering many factors such as price and market acceptance development of new-energy automobile market must not lack government incentives. In recent two years, the government’s subsidy for green technology development to new-energy automobile enterprises has entered the post-subsidy era. To explore the sustainable development of new-energy automobile enterprises, Foton automobile was selected as the research object and the scale of government subsidy for green technology development to Foton automobile was clearly defined, the performance was analyzed by using multiple regression method. Results show that government subsidy and tax return for green technology development have a positive effect on Foton automobile’s performance, environmental regulation stringency has a significant positive moderating effect. Referring to the conclusions, some suggestions were put forward for Foton automobile’s future development and the development of newenergy automobile industry.

The source region of the Yellow River, located in the north-eastern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, is an important water conservation region and ecological barrier of the Yellow River. In this paper, based on remote sensing technology, multi-period Landsat remote sensing images in the source region were taken as the main information source. With the assistance of field investigation, we monitored the spatial and temporal changes of desertification in the source region from 2000 to 2019. The results show that the area of desertification in the source region has accounted for 9.36% of the total area, of which the light desertification land is the major portion. The desertification is mainly distributed between the southern margin of Madoi Valley basin and the northern margin of Heihe Valley basin, and is distributed on the river valleys, lakesides, ancient rivers and piedmont proluvial fan, showing the form of patches, sheets and belts. The growth rate of desertification in the source region was 87.47% from 2000 to 2010. With a high growth rate, the process of desertification was represented by the rapid spread of desertification. From 2010 to 2019, the growth rate of desertification was 37.32%, which was relatively slow. But the moderate desertification land maintained a straight linear growth trend, showing an increasing trend of desertification degree. Through the analysis of the driving factors of desertification in the source region of the Yellow River, this paper argues that the special geographical location, climatic factors, rodent damages and human activities are the main causes of desertification.

The prosperity of the entire biotic community depends on two broad components of nature; land and water. The basaltic rock is known to have poor storage and transmission capability. It gets fully saturated during monsoon but a situation of rejected recharge results in post-monsoon and early summer months. These aquifers also drain naturally due to high water table gradient formed by sloping and undulating topography. The available and new groundwater recharge potential zones can better augment by adopting a scientific and multi-sectoral approach for making the future plan. The study area encompasses Manganga River basin, bounded between Lat. 17°54’ N to 17°00’ N and Long. 74°27’ E to 75°31’ E. The study area is in basaltic terrain with undulating topography. The spatial and non-spatial data generated based on various thematic maps such as geology, lineament density, geomorphology, slope, drainage buffer, land-use land-cover, soil texture and soil erodibility have been prepared using satellite data. The groundwater prospects maps generated by overlay analysis of the spatial thematic maps were grouped into five classes and their distribution are: very good/excellent, good, moderate, poor and very poor. The results show that a major portion of the study area falls in the category ‘poor’ followed by ‘very poor’. Based on the outputs derived from groundwater recharge potential zones, an action plan for watershed development in the study area has been suggested like the development of percolation/water retention ponds at the identified sites and tube/bore/open wells along the dense lineament zones. The aspect related to conjunctive use, groundwater legislation, the involvement of NGO’S, women and community participation, mass awareness, adoption of advanced irrigation system etc. will play an important role in conserving and developing the precious water resources.

The study was conducted to investigate the presence of antibiotic resistant bacteria in guava, sold in the local markets of Patna. A total of twenty five fresh samples of guava were collected from five different market places in Patna city. Several microbiological tests were performed to assess the growth and type of bacteria. The colonies were isolated and identified as isolate 1 and 3 (identical to Staphylococcus spp.), isolate 2 (identical to Escherichia spp.) and isolate 4 and 5 (identical to Bacillus spp.) based on their cultural, morphological, Gram’s staining and biochemical characteristics. Antibiotic susceptibility tests were conducted to detect their actual resistance capability. In the present study, S1 and S3 were found resistant to ampicillin, chloramphenicol, ofloxacin and intermediate to gentamycin while S2 was found resistant to ampicillin, chloramphenicol, gentamycin, ciprofloxacin, cephalexin and intermediate to ofloxacin. The isolates S4 and S5 were found sensitive to gentamycin, intermediate to chloramphenicol and resistant to ciprofloxacin. Results of this study showed that the guava samples obtained from different markets of Patna possess multidrug resistant bacteria.

This paper explores the macroscopic permeability characteristics, pore distribution, mineral composition, and microstructure changes in remoulded silty clay under different concentrations and different back pressures through flexible-wall triaxial permeability tests, nuclear magnetic resonance tests, X-ray diffraction tests, and scanning electron microscope tests. The results of the flexible-wall triaxial permeability tests indicate that the hydraulic conductivity of the landfill leachate with different concentrations increases to the peak value in 108-132 h period and then decreases to a stable value in 252–264 h period under the action of different back pressures. The nuclear magnetic resonance tests show that the pore distribution of the remoulded silty clay is macropore after it is corroded by the leachate. Increasing the concentration of landfill leachate and reducing the back pressures can reduce the overall development effect of pores. The X-ray diffraction tests show that the weakly acidic corrosive environment provided by remoulded silty clay and landfill leachate reduce respectively the contents of montmorillonite, muscovite, and illite by 33.52 %, 23.57 % and 63.51 %, while kaolinite and albite increase by 283.40 % and 188.64 %. Finally, scanning electron microscope tests show that the corrosion of landfill leachate and the plugging of organic pollutants in the infiltration process reduce the apparent pore ratio of the microstructure of remoulded silty clay and the hydraulic conductivity gradually decreases.

Silver nanoparticles of 22-40 nm size were synthesized using goat, cow and buffalo urine. These nanoparticles are conjugated with a fungicide (Mancozeb). The antifungal activity of these conjugated nanoparticles (Mc-AgNPs) was tested against Colletotrichum gloeosporioides which causes anthracnose disease in various fruits and vegetables. This fungus infects during pre and post-harvesting seasons causing a significant decrease in the quantity and quality of the product. The fungicide conjugated AgNPs were characterized by UV-Visible, FTIR, SEM and XRD analysis. The synthesis of AgNPs was confirmed by the UV-visible spectroscopy. The shape of AgNPs was found to be spherical. The Mc-AgNPs from goat, cow and buffalo urine exhibited 146.15%, 133.33% and 114.28% more antifungal activity than the fungicides alone respectively. The results indicate that the Mc-AgNPs from goat urine showed more efficacy than cow and buffalo urine. The fungicide-conjugated AgNPs drastically reduce the amount of fungicide to be applied against Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, which in turn reduce the hazardous effect caused by fungicides. Further, these can be tested to control other pathogenic fungi also.