Volume 25 - 2023

Agriculture is a major driver of sustainable development in developing countries. However, with the increase in the global population, the amount of waste generated by agriculture has also increased, leading to environmental pollution. The increase in agricultural activity is proportional to the increase in livestock activity. As livestock production increases globally, increasing amounts of manure are produced. Out of the many methods for processing agricultural waste, only a few prioritize aspects of soil quality in the agricultural environment and can be used to improve crop quality. This paper presents a utilization and recycling method using bokashi composting and silage animal feed, and the environmental impact of these methods. The analysis was performed using Material Flow Analysis (MFA) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The number of sites and site locations was calculated based on the number and location of existing farmer groups. Future bokashi composting and animal feed silage are expected to be utilized by more people, given their small environmental impact and improved soil and crop quality. In addition, further research needs to discuss this method to optimize the increased utilization of agricultural waste.

To investigate the combined toxic effects of microplastics and aluminum (Al) on ectomycorrhizal fungi, Lactobacillus delicious (Ld) was selected as the experimental subject to conduct research on monodisperse polystyrene microplastics (PS-MPs) (0, 20, 100, 200 mg L-1) and Al3+ (40 mg L-1) single pollution on Ld growth, the antioxidant system and organic acid secretion, followed by their combined effect. The results showed that the growth of Ld was inhibited and the biomass decreased significantly (P < 0.05) under single exposure to PS-MPs or Al3+, and the contents of superoxide anion radical (O2·-) and H2O2 in mycelia increased significantly (P < 0.05). Meanwhile, superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxidase (POD) activities were also significantly increased (P < 0.05), while catalase (CAT) activity was significantly decreased (P < 0.05), indicating that PS-MPs or Al3+ stress had different effects on antioxidant enzyme activities in Ld mycelia, which used highly active antioxidant enzymes to eliminate excess reactive oxygen species (ROS) and maintain their dynamic balance. In addition, the electrolyte leakage rate, proline and malondialdehyde (MDA) contents in Ld mycelia were significantly increased (P < 0.05). Under the combined exposure of PS-MPs and Al3+, compared with the control group, the combined exposure of high concentrations of PS-MPs and Al3+ (200+40 mg L-1) had a certain promoting effect on the biomass of Ld. In addition, the O2·-, H2O2, electrolyte leakage rate and malondialdehyde content in Ld mycelia increased significantly (P < 0.05), but these indices were significantly lower than those in the single PS-MPs exposure group at the same concentration. This indicates that the combined effect of PS-MPs and Al3+ could reduce the damage of single pollutants to the Ld biomass membrane and reduce the production of ROS to a certain extent. In addition, correlation analysis showed that H2O2 in Ld mycelia had a highly significant positive correlation with the oxalic acid and total hydrogen ion concentrations in the culture solution (P < 0.01). This indicates that strain Ld could respond to the oxidative damage caused by microplastics and Al by secreting oxalic acid and hydrogen ions into the culture medium.

Contamination of the food chain by toxic metals is one of the main concerns for human health. Milk is part of a balanced diet; essential for proper growth, but can also contains hazardous chemicals and contaminants including heavy metals which can be a risk for health. The aim of this study is to estimate the concentration of heavy metals in goat’s milk and to assess infants and children health risks related to milk consumption in Jijel province. Metals, namely Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn were determined by FAAS. In parallel, an online survey was carried out to estimate the daily consumption of milk. Then, non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic health risk values were calculated. The results indicated common to low levels of essential elements (Cu: 0.05 ± 0.001 mg/kg, Zn: 1.87 ± 0.069 mg/kg) in comparison with toxic elements (Cd: 0.018 ± 0.001 mg/kg, Pb: 0.38 ± 0.004 mg/kg). Cadmium content bordered its limit (0.01mg/kg), whereas, lead was higher twenty time the permissible limit. While, daily estimated intake of lead exceeds the limit value (282.35%), target hazard quotient and hazard index of the mixture were below one the safe limit, representing the absence of non-carcinogenic risk. Contrariwise, the carcinogenic risk of Pb and Cd, and their cumulative risk were observed higher than the acceptable limit (Pvalue < 0.001). Based on these results, the consumption of goat’s milk in Jije lprovince seems to be not safe for infants.

The research work's main objective is to correctly examine and find out the proper hydro-geochemistry of groundwater during the dry and wet seasons and hence evaluate it’s quality in India, Tamil Nadu state's Thirukkazhukundram Block. Data from two seasons-the "Pre-monsoon" in August 2016 and the "Post- monsoon" in February 2017-have just been used to do subjective assessments of the chemical composition of the underground water. The results of a thorough geochemical investigation of the subsurface zone are given. Gibbs emphasizes that the majority of samples in both seasons are dominated by evaporation and weathering mechanism sector. The majority of the sample's mixed water type is interpreted hydro-chemically in accordance with Piper's classification. According to the Wilcox diagram, the majority of PRM and POM samples fall into the group of "very good to good and good to permissible." The USSL diagram shows that just 23% of the samples for the C1-S1 type were collected during POM. 23% samples align under C2-S1 during PRM and 57% fall under C2-S1 during POM for. It was noted that 67% and 20% of the samples accounted under C3-S1type respectively, for POM and PRM. The C4-S1type is in PRM only, as of 13% of the samples. The irrigation quality of the groundwater samples showed that they were basically suitable for the very same purpose. Fluoride contamination in groundwater has nowadays become a slowly creeping issue in the study area. Steps need to be taken promptly to avert the resulting human health hazard on account of this pollution, in due course of time. Using ArcGIS 10.0, the groundwater quality chart was produced. Using inverse distance weighting, the regional distribution of groundwater quality measurements was interpolated. The findings of this study highlight the significance of creating techniques for managing aquifer systems.