Aerobic processing of organic waste into composts

The current achievements in the field of aerobic waste processing into composts are reviewed, with an emphasis on amelioration of the environment and targeted use for intensification of agriculture. The methods for obtaining microbiological transformation products of household, agricultural, and industrial waste and their characteristics are analyzed.     

森林凋落物对林地微生境的影响

评述了凋落物改变林地微生境的效应.凋落物减弱了林地地表及表层土壤(2mm厚)中的光照,改变了光谱特性,降低了PPFD和Pfr,缩小了日温差,提高了土壤湿度和肥力,增加了毒素和土壤动物的活动等,但凋落物改变生境的效应强度与凋落物组成、厚度、分解状态和周围生境(如植被、气候、地形和地貌等特性)等有关.在自然森林生态系统中,凋落物对林地微生境的效应因凋落物、植被、气候、地形和地貌的多样化变得更为复杂,而凋落物对植被天然更新的影响也因其对生境改变效应的复杂性而具有多样性和综合性.最后,对凋落物改变生境效应的复杂性和有关研究进行了展望.     

城市化对土壤环境的影响

城市化对土壤环境产生深刻影响,城市污水灌溉、工业废气和汽车废气、城市生活垃圾等都会改变土壤的理化性质。防治土壤污染、改善城市土壤环境,必须工业合理布局,治理工业污染源,加强农业环境的监测等。     

城市化对土壤环境的影响

城市化对土壤环境产生深刻的影响,城市污水灌溉、工业废气和汽车废气、城市生活垃圾等都会改变土壤的理化性质。防治土壤污染、改善城市土壤环境,必须工业合理布局,治理工业污染源,加强农业环境的监测等。     

中国传统农业中的生态观及其在技术上的应用

中国传统农业中蕴含着朴素的生态学思想,它以提倡“天人合一”的系统生态观为指导,以精耕细作为特征,以“地力常新壮”为理论,通过物质循环利用,保护自然资源和生物多样性,以及因地、因时、因物制宜地发展农业生产,有力地促进了农业生产力的维持与提高,保证了中华民族的生存与发展。本文对中国传统农业中的生态观及其在技术上的应用范例进行了剖析,并据此提出了中国当代农业在继承传统的基础上进一步发展的途径。     

大别山区谷底平原生态系统的特征及社会发展中的若干问题

分析了大别山区谷底平原生态系统的组成与功能 ,探讨了该区在社会发展中存在的水土流失、环境污染、耕地浪费和生物多样性单调等若干问题。建议通过适当外迁部分人口 ,发展现代有机农业 ,依靠科学技术 ,走农业综合化之路 ,以真正实现大别山区谷底平原的可持续发展。     

Plant growth-promoting oligosaccharides produced from tomato waste.

Tomato juice waste was hydrolyzed with acid. Tomato juice waste (500 g; wet weight) was heated with 0.5 N HCl (2.5 l) at 70 degrees C for 4 h. After neutralization, the growth-promoting extracts (300 g; dry weight) in the plants were produced from the tomato waste. The acid extract significantly promoted the growth of cockscomb (Celosia argentea L.) and tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L.) seedlings. We have recognized potent plant growth-promoting substances in the acid extract from tomato waste. The most effective components in the active fraction were almost all oligogalacturonic acids (DP 6-12). This paper is the first report that plant growth-promoting oligosaccharides can be directly produced from tomato juice waste. It is possible that the substances from the tomato waste can become useful plant growth regulators in the agriculture field in the future.     

中国1992-2016年农业废弃物管理研究——热点识别、路径演进与前沿探究

采用文献计量学的方法,运用CiteSpace信息可视化软件,首次对中国农业废弃物管理领域的研究热点、演进路径及研究前沿进行了系统梳理与归纳。研究发现,（1）1992年以来,农业废弃物管理领域的文献出版数量总体上呈增长趋势,经历了"平稳发展→快速增长→波动上升→波动下降"4个阶段。（2）中国农业废弃物管理研究的热点主要聚焦于农业废弃物资源化利用、农业废弃物对生态环境的影响、农业废弃物利用与畜牧业发展、农业废弃物资源化生态补偿等4个方面。（3）从演进路径来看,中国农业废弃物管理研究从第一阶段聚焦于畜牧业发展,到第二阶段以"污染防治"和"资源化利用"为核心议题,再到第三阶段细化为"畜禽养殖污染防控"与"能源化利用"两个方向,最后形成以"低碳农业约束下的农业废弃物利用"的跨学科研究。（4）农业废弃物管理前沿研究则表现出两种特征：一是研究重点正从农作物秸秆转为畜禽粪便;二是对于低碳农业约束下的农业废弃物利用（尤其是能源化利用）问题呈现出不断深化探索的趋势。     

Biorefining waste into nanobiotechnologies can revolutionize sustainable agriculture

Modern agriculture has evolved technological innovations to sustain crop productivity. Recent advances in biorefinery technology use crop residue as feedstock, but this raises carbon sequestration concerns as biorefining utilizes carbon that would otherwise be returned to the soil, thus causing a decline in crop productivity. Furthermore, biorefining generates abundant lignin waste that significantly impedes the efficiency of biorefineries. Valorizing lignin into advanced nanobiotechnologies for agriculture provides a unique opportunity to balance bioeconomy and soil carbon sequestration. Integration of agricultural practices such as utilization of agrochemicals, fertilizers, soil modifiers, and mulching with lignin nanobiotechnologies promotes crop productivity and also enables advanced manufacturing of high-value bioproducts from lignin. Lignin nanobiotechnologies thus represent state-of-the-art innovations to transform both the bioeconomy and sustainable agriculture.     

Retrospect and prospects of secondary agriculture and bioprocessing

Secondary agriculture plays a significant role in making a positive impact on the country’s economy. It has potential to increase the value of primary agriculture. It ensures better utilization of renewable agro-bioresources either through value addition or waste utilization. Nurseries, bio-fertilizers, bio-pesticides, compost, fruit-processed products, agro-tourism, weaving, flavours, and dyes are some of the avenues of secondary agriculture. By-products from agricultural crops like wheat and rice bran, corn gluten meal and germ, pulses meal and husk, and sugarcane bagasse, if processed appropriately for deriving industrial products could pave a way in getting better economic returns from agriculture rather using them as livestock feed. Among food crops, major post-harvest losses (30–40%) occurs in fruits and vegetables; their waste being rich in several bioactive compounds possess great potential to be added as a polyphenol rich and fibre source in food products or for the synthesis of food-grade industrial products like ethanol, citric acid and pectin etc. Wastes from floriculture industries can also be utilised for the production of several value-added products such as biofuels, bio-ethanol, compost, organic acids, pigments and dyes, incense sticks, handmade paper production, and sugar syrup. Around the world, 80% of population is dependent on traditional medicine for health care needs. The secondary metabolites from medicinal plants possess pharmaceutical properties and advancement in extraction techniques can lead to novel range of herbal products of high economic value. The market potential of agro-produce seems to be naïve but opportunistic in near future. The advancement in technologies, equipments, and processes would enable enhanced secondary agriculture practices giving range of materials of better quality, yield, nutrition, and convenience. Hence, the potential of secondary agriculture and bioprocessing could be strong boost to the economy, societal status and environmental protection. In this article we have made an effort to understand the secondary agriculture, its potential to uplift the economy and strategies for value addition in different agricultural domains such as horticulture, floriculture and medicinal plants.     

The role of algae in agriculture: a mathematical study

Synthetic fertilizers and livestock manure are nowadays widely used in agriculture to improve crop yield but nitrogen and phosphorous runoff resulting from their use compromises water quality and contributes to eutrophication phenomena in waterbeds within the countryside and ultimately in the ocean. Alternatively, algae could play an important role in agriculture where they can be used as biofertilizers and soil stabilizers. To examine the possible reuse of the detritus generated by dead algae as fertilizer for crops, we develop three mathematical models building upon each other. A system is proposed in which algae recover waste nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) for reuse in agricultural production. The results of our study show that in so doing, the crop yield may be increased and simultaneously the density of algae in the lake may be reduced. This could be a way to mitigate and possibly solve the environmental and economic issues nowadays facing agriculture.     

Biorefinery

The biorefinery produces fuels, solvents, plastics and food for human beings. In some countries, these biorefinery products are made from waste biomass. The main processes in the biorefinery involve ethanol fermentation and lactic acid fermentation. For the biorefinery, many hybrid technologies were developed from different fields, such as bioengineering, polymer chemistry, food science and agriculture.     

Production of compost from marine waste: evaluation of the product for use in ecological agriculture

The sea contains large amounts of resources that are sometimes considered as waste. Such material includes the waste generated by the fish-processing industry and seaweed that is washed up on shores. In this study, these waste products were windrow composted, along with pine bark as a source of carbon and aeration. The final mix proportions were 20 % seaweed, 20 % fish waste, and 60 % pine bark (v/v). After 10 weeks, stable, well-structured, hygienic compost, which was rich in organic matter and nutrients and had a low metal content, was obtained. Tests for maturity, hygiene, and phytotoxicity, along with a detailed physical and chemical characterization, showed that this compost can be used as an organic amendment and/or growth substrate for use in ecological agriculture. The only limiting feature was the high salinity, which could easily be lowered prior to composting the material.     

Management considerations for organic waste use in agriculture

Organic wastes are utilized in agriculture mainly for improving the soil physical and chemical properties and for nutrient sources for growing crops. The major source of organic waste used in agriculture is animal manure, but small amounts of food processing and other industrial wastes (along with municipal wastes) are also applied to land. In the last 35 years, and especially in the last 10 years, there have been increasing environmental regulations affecting farms that have resulted in more animal manure treatment options, and thus affecting characteristics of residues that are subsequently applied to land. Farms are being assessed for nutrient balances, with the entire nutrient and manure management system evaluated for best management alternatives. Because of inadequate available land on the animal farm in some cases, organic wastes must be treated and/or transported to other farms, or utilized for horticultural or other uses. This paper discusses the various factors and challenges for utilizing organic wastes in agriculture.     

Environmental issues in relation to agricultural practices and attitudes of farmers: A case study from Saudi Arabia

PurposeThe Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is continuously in search of environment-friendly farming practices since mass-scale agriculture was initiated. It is imperative to gauge to the level of awareness of the farmers on the agricultural practices causing environmental issue in order to devise new agricultural extension programs. This research aims to identify the attitudes of farmers towards agriculture and environment in Al-Ghat area of Saudi Arabia.MethodologyA simple random sample of 110 farms truly representing the farming community was drawn to meet the objectives of the study. Data were collected by using the pre-tested questionnaire during the face-to-face interviews. In order to understand the message of study, data were analyzed for percentages, arithmetic average and standard deviation in addition to the simple Pearson correlation coefficient.ResultsThe results showed that the high proportion (87.3%) of farmers was interested in continuing to work farm and 77.3% of farmers did not consider adopting agriculture their main occupation. The findings of the survey reveal that some 55.5% of the respondent farmers were aware of the agricultural practices and their relation to the environment. Some 57.3% of the surveyed farmers are aware of potential benefits of enhanced utilization of agricultural organic wastes. However, main profession, farm employment (as the independent variables) showed a significant positive correlation with the attitudes of farmers towards their working in agriculture (as a dependent variable). Also a significant negative relationship between the educational levels and the attitudes of the farmers towards working in agriculture was noticed. The study also indicated a significant correlation between education and the degree of awareness of agricultural practices related to the environment and maximizing the optimum utilization of agricultural waste i.e. organic residues.ConclusionsThe study suggested the need for new awareness and orientation programs to educate farmers and extension workers, highlighting the environment- friendly agricultural practices.Recommendation: There is need to offer incentives and facilities to keep the farmers stay in the farming business. Extension staff must keep educating them on beneficial features of organic farm waste and crop residues as organic fertilizers.     

Assessing the addition of mineral processing waste to green waste-derived compost: an agronomic, environmental and economic appraisal

The overall aim of this study was to evaluate the benefit of mixing two large volume wastes, namely mineral processing waste and source-segregated green waste compost, on the growth performance of plants targeted towards high (horticulture/agriculture) and low (amenity/restoration) value markets. The secondary aims were to evaluate the influence of mineral waste type on plant growth performance and to undertake a simple economic analysis of the use of mineral-compost mixtures in land restoration. Our results showed that in comparison to organic wastes, mineral wastes contained a low available nutrient content which reduces compost quality. This is supported by growth trials with tomato, wheat and grass which showed that, irrespective of mineral source, plants performed poorly in compost blended with mineral waste in comparison to those grown in green waste or peat-based compost alone. In terms of consumer confidence, unlike other wastes (e.g. biosolids and construction/demolition waste) the mineral quarry wastes can be expected to be free of potentially toxic elements, however, the production costs of compost-mineral waste mixtures and subsequent transport costs may limit its widespread use. In addition, handling of the material can be difficult under wet conditions and effective blending may require the purchase of specialist equipment. From our results, we conclude that mineral fines may prove useful for low quality, low value landscaping activities close to the source of production but are unsuited to high value markets.     

城市污泥处理处置技术及资源化利用研究

城市污泥的产量巨大并且成分复杂,如何对城市污泥处置与利用已成为人们所关注的问题.污泥是有用的生物资源,如能合理利用则不仅能变废为宝,还能增加经济效益,所以,探讨适合我国国情的有效处理处置和利用污泥的技术具有重要的现实意义.本文对城市污泥的特性、国内外处理、处置技术和污泥资源化技术的现状进行了分析,认为对污泥进行资源化利用是符合我国国情的一种经济、有效的途径,污泥的资源化利用尤其是农业利用不但可以节省大量的污泥终端处置费用,更可以为肥力低下的农田增添有机质、提高肥力,促进农业生产发展、实现农业生态环境的良性循环.     

里氏木霉和鸡腿菇利用秸秆共发酵产木质降解酶

为了更好地利用农业废弃物,提高其综合利用率,减少传统化学方法及秸秆焚烧过程造成的环境污染,实验对鸡腿菇、黑曲霉和里氏木霉3株产木质纤维素降解酶系的菌株进行混合平板产酶筛选,结果显示鸡腿菇和里氏木霉平板培养相容性良好,且产酶量高。在相容性实验的基础上,对鸡腿菇和里氏木霉的最优产酶条件进行了研究。在最优条件下:鸡腿菇和里氏木霉接种比例按5:2,接种时间间隔为12h,26oC、150r/min下,发酵3d产漆酶活力达3267.2U/mL,比单独发酵提高106%。     

Genetic modifications of pigs for medicine and agriculture

Genetically modified swine hold great promise in the fields of agriculture and medicine. Currently, these swine are being used to optimize production of quality meat, to improve our understanding of the biology of disease resistance, and to reduced waste. In the field of biomedicine, swine are anatomically and physiologically analogous to humans. Alterations of key swine genes in disease pathways provide model animals to improve our understanding of the causes and potential treatments of many human genetic disorders. The completed sequencing of the swine genome will significantly enhance the specificity of genetic modifications, and allow for more accurate representations of human disease based on syntenic genes between the two species. Improvements in both methods of gene alteration and efficiency of model animal production are key to enabling routine use of these swine models in medicine and agriculture.     

Farmland treatment and utilization of straw pulp mill effluents

Straw pulp production accounts for 74% of the total raw pulp production in China. The pulping waste, containing high contents of silicate and high pH, is difficult to treat. Instead of the conventional alkaline process, ammonia sulfite pulping discharges neutral effluent with nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, sulfur and organic matter which are potential fertilizers and water resources for agriculture. The effect of effluent from ammonia sulfite pulping on rice growth and yield, was studied in Baigezhuang farm, Hebei province. Diluted rice straw digester waste or composite waste were irrigated on a paddy field. In plot tests, rice output increased by 16.2–25.3% with 0.7–6% pulp digester waste and by 22.9–37.9% with 2.7–5.4% composite waste. In field tests, rice output increased by 8.6–15.9% with 2.7–4.1% composite waste. Due to clean water dilution and paddy purification, the removal efficiency of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), suspended solid (SS), sulfide and phenol can reach over 97%. Rice quality also tested had higher protein content than the control. The study suggests that the effluents from ammonia sulfite pulping can be widely used in the farming industry. The ammonia sulfite process is a good approach to overcome pulp pollution in rural areas.