Assessing the efficiency in assisted depuration of coffee processing wastewater from mixed wild microbial selected inoculum

Regulatory Small RNAs for a Sustained Eco-Agriculture

Small RNA (sRNA) has become an alternate biotechnology tool for sustaining eco-agriculture by enhancing plant solidity and managing environmental hazards over traditional methods. Plants synthesize a variety of sRNA to silence the crucial genes of pests or plant immune inhibitory proteins and counter adverse environmental conditions. These sRNAs can be cultivated using biotechnological methods to apply directly or through bacterial systems to counter the biotic stress. On the other hand, through synthesizing sRNAs, microbial networks indicate toxic elements in the environment, which can be used effectively in environmental monitoring and management. Moreover, microbes possess sRNAs that enhance the degradation of xenobiotics and maintain bio-geo-cycles locally. Selective bacterial and plant sRNA systems can work symbiotically to establish a sustained eco-agriculture system. An sRNA-mediated approach is becoming a greener tool to replace xenobiotic pesticides, fertilizers, and other chemical remediation elements. The review focused on the applications of sRNA in both sustained agriculture and bioremediation. It also discusses limitations and recommends various approaches toward future improvements for a sustained eco-agriculture system.

Soil characteristic changes and quality evaluation of degraded desert steppe in arid windy sandy areas

Grassland degradation has become a serious problem in some areas, making it necessary to quantitatively evaluate this process and its related factors. The study area was the arid windy sandy area in eastern Ningxia. The purpose of this study was to explore how soil properties and quality change during the process of grassland degradation in arid windy sandy areas. We looked at undegraded, lightly degraded, moderately degraded, and severely degraded desert steppe to study the physical, chemical, and biological changes at 0-5 cm, 5-15 cm, and 15-30 cm soil depths at different degradation degrees. We also analyzed the correlations across soil factors, established the minimum data set, and used the soil quality index (SQI) to evaluate the soil quality of grassland at different degradation degrees. The results showed that with grassland degradation, the soil bulk density increased; the soil clay, moisture, organic matter, total nitrogen, and available potassium content decreased; and the number of soil bacteria, actinomycetes, and fungi, as well as the activity of urease, polyphenol oxidase, protease, phosphatase, and sucrase, decreased. As soil depth increased, soil bulk density increased; the soil moisture, organic matter, available potassium, and available phosphorus content decreased; and soil microorganisms accumulated in the upper soil of undegraded, lightly, and moderately degraded grassland. There was also a positive correlation among the soil clay content, moisture content, organic matter content, total nitrogen content, available potassium content, microorganism quantity, and enzyme activity, while soil bulk density was negatively correlated with the above factors. The minimum data set for the soil quality evaluation of the degraded desert steppe was comprised of soil organic matter content, soil total nitrogen content, soil available phosphorus content, and phosphatase activity. Based on the minimum data set, we calculated the SQI of the grassland at different degradation degrees and found that the ranking based on overall soil quality was undegraded >lightly degraded >moderately degraded >severely degraded grassland. The results showed that the degradation of desert steppe in arid windy sandy areas had relatively consistent effects on the physical, chemical, and biological traits of the soil. The minimum data set can be used to replace the total data set when evaluating the soil quality of the desert steppe at different degrees of degradation.