Purpose Our study had considered some organic amendments to enhance nutrient level of marketed municipal solid waste (MSW) COMPOST for its potential use as fertilizer for growing crops in alluvial soils. Method We prepared three types of amended COMPOST by mixing 20% mustard oil cake (MOC), and 30% poultry manure (PM) or cowdung (CD) or sugarcane press mud (SPM) with 50% MSW COMPOST. The nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and SULPHUR (S) mineralization study was done in soil treated with three amended and one unamended COMPOSTs with three replications through an incubation experiment at a temperature of 25 ±,1°, C for 82 days under aerobic (field capacity) and anaerobic (submerged) conditions. The mineralization data were fitted to the first-order kinetic model. Results The soil NO3--N content was 2-3 times higher in aerobic condition than in anaerobic condition, while the NH4+-N was higher in anaerobic soils. The kinetic model reveals that poultry manure and sugarcane press mud had higher capability to supply N for use by the crops. The P release was the highest at day 15 with three-time higher availability in anaerobic condition. The S mineralization in soil was higher in field capacity than in submerged condition. Conclusion The COMPOST mixture comprising MSW, MOC and SPM in a ratio of 5: 2: 3 demonstrated the highest cumulative N, P and S mineralization in both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. The N and S availability decreased while the P availability increased in submerged soils which result has fertilizer management implications for wet land rice crop.

Background & Aims of the Study: This study was conducted to investigate effects of biofertilizers application and its interaction with organic manures on Scindapsus aureus performance.Materials & Methods: The experiment was performed in a randomized block design with factorial arrangement of two above mentioned factors at greenhouse of Municipality fertilizer production factory. Three different fertilizers (vermiCOMPOST, granular COMPOST fortified with SULPHUR and trash COMPOST) were applied at four levels of 5, 10, 15, and 20 percent of soil. The comparisons among means were made using the least significant difference test calculated at p-values<0.05.Results: Around leaves area index (LAI), performance of vermiCOMPOST (8.31) was better than other fertilizers. This increase can be related to more absorb nutrients, better nutrition and thus improve plant performance in the presence of vermiCOMPOST.Conclusions: Thus use of fertilizers and especially vermiCOMPOST in the Scindapsus aureus growth with 10% of soil, will achieve increase in all indicators of plant growth. Thus, the processes of biological conversion such as COMPOSTing in addition to economic value also have benefits for environmental protection.

Investigation of medicinal plants response to fertilizers is one of the main issues about their cultivation. In this regard in current experiments the response of isabgol (Plantago ovata) and black seed (Nigella sativa) to some fertilizer resources was evaluated in two separated experiments at research field of Sarayan faculty of agriculture, university of Birjand, Iran during 2015-16. In the first experiment the influence of vermiCOMPOST (2. 5 and 5 ton. ha-1), cow manure (10 and 20 ton. ha-1) and humic acid application (1 and 2 kg. ha-1) combined with control (no-fertilizer) was studied on some qualitative and quantitative indices of isabgol based on a randomized complete block design with three replications. In the second study the effects of SULPHUR (0, 150 and 300 kg. ha-1), Thiobacillus bacteria (50: 1 weight ratio of sulfur and bacteria) and cow manure (0 and 30 ton. ha-1) was evaluated on yield and yield components of black seed. Cow manure, Thiobacillus and SULPHUR were considered as main, sub and sub-sub factors, respectively. Results showed that the effect of fertilizer type was significant only on number of tiller, number of spike and SPAD reading in isabgol. The highest tiller and spike (5. 6 and 48. 5 number, respectively) was obtained by 2 kg. ha-1 humic acid application, while the lowest (3. 8 and 31. 6 number, respectively) was belonged to control treatment. Application of cow manure and humic acid were increased partially the swelling factor of seeds. In addition, the highest seed yield (3. 76 g per plant or 1038 kg. ha-1) was obtained at the rate of 2 kg. ha-1 humic acid usage. In the second experiment, the impact of soil fertilizer type was not significant on black seed medicinal plant growth indices. However, almost all of studied criteria were improved by cow manure consumption, so that finally the seed yield of the plant was 292 and 243 kg. ha-1 in application and no-application cow manure treatments, respectively. Thiobacillus had no significant effect on all of studied indices and only increased seed yield per hectare by 5 kg. Overall, our results revealed that isabgol and black seed are two low-input medicinal plants in terms of nutrients requirements.

Kamgar, A. & Ketabchi, S. (2023). The effect of three biofertilizers on growth indices of tomato and severity of bacterial wilt disease. Plant Pathology Science 12(1), 105-112.        Introduction: Bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacearum is one of the major diseases of tomato in the world. Today, new methods based on the use of biological products for the management of plant diseases have been considered to reduce the consumption of chemical toxins and damage to the environment, to provide an organic product for consumers. Materials and Methods: The effect of three biofertilizers: Nitro Kara (containing several nitrogen-fixing bacteria), effective microorganisms (EM®: containing several species of yeasts and bacteria), and COMPOST on tomato growth indices and severity of bacterial wilt disease were evaluated in a completely randomized design in greenhouse conditions. Results: Analysis of variance showed that, these three bio-fertilizers had significant effect on increasing tomato growth indices, but did not significantly reduce the disease severity. COMPOST among them had the greatest effect on tomato growth indices even in the presence of the pathogen. Conclusion: COMPOST can be considered as an improvement factor for tomato growth indices in the management program of bacterial wilt disease.

One of the most important emerging pollutants in human health, food safety, and environmental protection challenges is phthalate esters. Among these, the contamination of agricultural soils with the endocrine-disrupting chemical Di (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) has been confirmed globally. In this research, the DEHP-absorption potential of COMPOST enriched with Fe3O4 NPs was identified. The effects of the sorbent dose in the range of 2–5 g.L-1, 3–11 pH, and DEHP concentration at 5–10 mg.L-1 on absorption efficiency (%) were optimized via response surface methodology in design expert software. The kinetic equilibrium experiment results showed a two-step process, requiring 6 hours of equilibrium time for the exothermic adsorption process at 25ºC. The adsorption process of DEHP fitted best to the pseudo-second-order kinetic (R2 = 0.9932) and the linear form of the Freundlich isotherm models. In the central composite design, the significant quadratic model was validated and used to predict the interaction of variables (P-value <0.0001, adjusted R2 = 0.9753). The optimum conditions of absorption efficiency (74.173%) were obtained at a sorbent dosage of 4.157 g.L-1, pH 5.85, and a DEHP concentration of 4.88 mg.L-1 with a desirability of 0.987. The comparison of FTIR absorption spectra confirmed the active participation of O-H bands (functional groups of phenol, alcohol, and carboxyl) and primary amine (N-H) in the DEHP absorption through interaction with the oxygen atom of the phthalate ester group (C=O). As a result of its successful and acceptable efficiency, using COMPOST/Fe3O4 NP absorbent based on organic wastes is a low-cost and eco-friendly technique for DEHP removal from sensitive ecosystems and also to improve the efficiency of bioremediation in agricultural soils amended by COMPOST.

Flotation and leaching methods were used to remove ash and SULPHUR from bitumen by sulfuric acid. The bitumen samples had SULPHUR content of 9.6% (6.74% in the pyrite SULPHUR form) and 30% ash. All the experiments were done under aeration rate of 4L/min using pine oil and gasoline as frother and collector agents, respectively. The factors studied were including the amounts of collector and frother agents, pH, and the solid weight percentage in the pulp, stirrer speed, and particle size. The bitumen samples with dimensions less than 0.5 mm were crushed. The flotation experiments were performed in a 3-liter Denver laboratory flotation cell to ease the ash and SULPHUR removal. The optimum condistion obtaind from the results were; foaming amount of 50gr/t, collector amount of 1kg/t, impeller speed of 1200rpm, pH=7, pulp containing 5% of solid, particle size of 100mesh, and flotation time of 3 mins. In these circumstances, 52.9% of pyrite SULPHUR (e.g.; 36.45% of total SULPHUR) and 43% of ash were removed. With the approach of leaching with sulfuric acid, the organic and pyrite SULPHUR removal were 7% and 13%, repectively. Combination of these two methods (in optimal conditions), removed up 47% of the total SULPHUR and 61% of ash through bitumen sample.