Simulating soil carbon sequestration from long term fertilizer and manure additions under continuous wheat using the DailyDayCent model

Bangabandhu Fellowship on Science and ICT project, Ministry of Science and Technology, People’s Republic of Bangladesh. Open Access via Springer Compact AgreementPeer reviewedPublisher PD

Diagnosing nutrient limitations to lentil and chickpea in acid soils of Bangladesh

Lentil and chickpea are dietary staple crops in Bangladesh but their local production has been markedly declining in recent decades, mainly due to competition with irrigated cereals. However, in northern Bangladesh, an additional problem to their cultivation is acid surface soil conditions, potentially causing deficiencies of molybdenum (Mo) and boron (B), and toxicities of aluminium (Al), manganese (Mn) or hydrogen ion (H+). In an attempt to rehabilitate lentil and chickpea in northern Bangladesh on-farm trials were conducted to determine the response of these crops to Mo, B, and lime and Rhizobium inoculation. Despite earlier reports of widespread B deficiency in the region a response to B was only found in chickpea. Responses to Mo and Rhizobium, applied through seed priming, were found. There were responses to lime even after B, Mo, and Rhizobium had been applied, suggesting Al toxicity. Recommendations for fertilizer requirement, to fit into an overall integrated crop management package for lentil and chickpea, were modified accordingly

Baryonic Tully-Fisher Relation for Extremely Low Mass Galaxies

We study Tully-Fisher relations for a sample that combines extremely faint (M_B > -14.0) galaxies along with bright (i.e. L_*) galaxies. Accurate (~ 10%) distances, I band photometry, and B-V colors are known for the majority of the galaxies in our sample. The faint galaxies are drawn from the Faint Irregular Galaxy GMRT survey (FIGGS), and we have HI rotation velocities derived from aperture synthesis observations for all of them. For the faint galaxies, we find that even though the median HI and stellar masses are comparable, the HI mass correlates significantly better with the circular velocity indicators than the stellar mass. We also find that W$_{20}$ correlates better with mass than the rotation velocity, although the difference is not statistically significant. The faint galaxies lie systematically below the I band TF relation defined by bright galaxies, and also show significantly more intrinsic scatter. This implies that the integrated star formation in these galaxies has been both less efficient and also less regulated than in large galaxies. We find that while the faint end deviation is greatly reduced in Baryonic Tully-Fisher (BTF) relations, the existence of a break at the faint end of the BTF is subject to systematics such as the assumed stellar mass to light ratio. If we assume that there is an intrinsic BTF and try to determine the baryonic mass by searching for prescriptions that lead to the tightest BTF, we find that scaling the HI mass leads to a much more significant tightening than scaling the stellar mass to light ratio. The most significant tightening that we find however, is if we scale the entire baryonic mass of the faint (but not the bright) galaxies. Such a scenario would be consistent with models where dwarf (but not large) galaxies have a large fraction of dark or ``missing'' baryons (Slightly abridged)Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Interplanetary Consequences of a Large CME

We analyze a coronal mass ejection (CME) which resulted from an intense flare in active region AR486 on November 4, 2003. The CME propagation and speed are studied with interplanetary scintillation images, near-Earth space mission data, and Ulysses measurements. Together, these diverse diagnostics suggest that the internal magnetic energy of the CME determines its interplanetary consequences.Comment: 5 pages, 9 figures, To appear in "Magnetic Coupling between the Interior and the Atmosphere of the Sun", eds. S.S. Hasan and R.J. Rutten, Astrophysics and Space Science Proceedings, Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg, Berlin, 200

Evaluation of different stocking densities of two small indigenous fish, pabda (Ompok pabda) and gulsha (Mystus cavasius ) with Indian major carps in polyculture system

An experiment on the polyculture of carps with high valued small indigenous fish species (SIS) pabda (Ompok pabda) and gulsha (Mystus cavasius) was carried out in six months culture period to evaluate the production performance of carp with small indigenous fish pabda (Ompok pabda) and gulsha (Mystus cavasius) in the on-farm condition. Three stocking densities of pabda and gulsha were tested, keeping the carp species combination and stocking density similar. Each stocking density of pabda and gulsha was considered as treatment and replicated thrice. Fingerlings of pabda and gulsha were stocked at the rate of 5,000 (1:1), 7,500 (1:1) and 10,000 (1:1)/ha in treatments 1, 2 and 3, respectively. In all the treatments, carps (Catla catla, Labeo rohita, and Cirrhinus mrigala) were stocked at the rate of 5,000/ha. The production obtained were 2,986±78, 2,580±88 and 2,393±71kg/ha from treatments 1, 2 and 3, respectively, at harvesting. The production levels showed significant difference (P<0.05) among treatments. The contribution of pabda and gulsha to total production was 5.22% in treatment 1, while in treatments 2 and 3 were 7.86 and 9.40%, respectively. It was concluded that pabda and gulsha could be cultured in low input carp polyculture management

Dynamic of Two-phase Dusty Nanofluid Flow Past a Vertical Wavy Surface

An analysis is performed to study two-phase natural convection flow with heat transfer of nanofluid along a vertical way surface. The model includes equations expressing conservation of total mass, momentum and thermal energy for two-phase nano fluid. Primitive variable formulations (PVF) are used to transform the dimensionless boundary layer equations into convenient coordinate system and resulting equations are integrated numerically via implicit finite difference iterative scheme. The effects of the controlling parameters on the dimensionless quantities such as skin friction coeffcient, rate of heat transfer and rate of mass transfer are explored. It is concluded from present analysis, that the diffusivity ratio parameter, NA and particle-density increment number, NB has pronounced effect in reduction of heat transfer rate

Diagnosis and management of postpartum hemorrhage and intrapartum asphyxia in a quality improvement initiative using nurse-mentoring and simulation in Bihar, India.

BackgroundIn the state of Bihar, India a multi-faceted quality improvement nurse-mentoring program was implemented to improve provider skills in normal and complicated deliveries. The objective of this analysis was to examine changes in diagnosis and management of postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) of the mother and intrapartum asphyxia of the infant in primary care facilities in Bihar, during the program.MethodsDuring the program, mentor pairs visited each facility for one week, covering four facilities over a four-week period and returned for subsequent week-long visits once every month for seven to nine consecutive months. Between- and within-facility comparisons were made using a quasi-experimental and a longitudinal design over time, respectively, to measure change due to the intervention. The proportions of PPH and intrapartum asphyxia among all births as well as the proportions of PPH and intrapartum asphyxia cases that were effectively managed were examined. Zero-inflated negative binomial models and marginal structural methodology were used to assess change in diagnosis and management of complications after accounting for clustering of deliveries within facilities as well as time varying confounding.ResultsThis analysis included 55,938 deliveries from 320 facilities. About 2% of all deliveries, were complicated with PPH and 3% with intrapartum asphyxia. Between-facility comparisons across phases demonstrated diagnosis was always higher in the final week of intervention (PPH: 2.5-5.4%, intrapartum asphyxia: 4.2-5.6%) relative to the first week (PPH: 1.2-2.1%, intrapartum asphyxia: 0.7-3.3%). Within-facility comparisons showed PPH diagnosis increased from week 1 through 5 (from 1.6% to 4.4%), after which it decreased through week 7 (3.1%). A similar trend was observed for intrapartum asphyxia. For both outcomes, the proportion of diagnosed cases where selected evidence-based practices were used for management either remained stable or increased over time.ConclusionsThe nurse-mentoring program appears to have built providers' capacity to identify PPH and intrapartum asphyxia cases but diagnosis levels are still not on par with levels observed in Southeast Asia and globally

Evaluation of antifungal activity of seaweed extract (Turbinaria conoides) against Fusarium oxysporum

The purpose of the study was to determine the anti fungal activity of seaweed (Turbinaria conoides) extract against root rot pathogen Fusarium oxysporum. Seaweed extract was prepared from the species T. conoides collected from Rameswaram coastal area of Tamil Nadu during December was used for this study. Different concentrations of the extract viz., 5 %, 10 %, 15 % and 20 % was evaluated for their antifungal activity against F. oxysporum using poisoned food technique along with control and carbendazim (0.2 %) as check. No mycelial growth (0 cm) was observed in 15 % and 20 % sea weed extract weed extract treated plates even after 6 days ofincubation. Though the visible inhibition of mycelial growth was noticed in all the concentrations, the increased concentration of 15 and 20 % had shown 100 % inhibition. So, the lower concentration of 15 % can be best in controlling the F. oxysporum fungi. GC-MS analysis of seaweed extract showing the presence of several antimicrobial compounds in seaweeds may be the reason for such inhibition

Effects of iso-nitrogenous and iso-phosphorus fertilizers as nutrient sources on carp polyculture in Bangladesh

A 120 day long experiment was conducted to find out the effects of cow manure with urea and triple super phosphate (CUT), poultry manure with urea and triple super phosphate (PUT) and cow manure with poultry manure (CP) having similar quantities of nitrogen and phosphorus on pond productivity and fish yield. The stocking fish were rohu (Labeo rohita), catla ( Catla catla) and mrigal ( Cirrhinus mrigala) in each treatment pond at the rate of 10000/ha. All ponds were fertilized fortnightly at the rate of 4000 kg/ha cow manure with 62 kg/ha urea and 65 kg/ha TSP, 2700 kg/ha poultry manure with 62 kg/ha urea and 16 kg/ha TSP, and 4000kg/ha cow manure with 2700 kg/ha poultry manure for the treatment CUT, PUT and CP respectively. Each treatment contained an iso-nitrogen and iso-phosphorus of 56 kg and 46 kg respectively. Though the physico-chemical parameters were more or less similar in all ponds, the chlorophyll-a content and abundance of total plankton were significantly higher (P< 0.05) in the ponds receiving the fertilizer treatment of PUT than those of other treatments. Final growth as well as per unit production of fish of treatment PUT (1773 kg/ha) was significantly higher (P< 0.05) than that of treatment CP (1528 kg/ha) followed by that of treatment CUT (1336 kg/ha). The over all results showed that poultry manure with urea and triple super phosphate proved to be superior to cow manure with urea and triple super phosphate, and poultry manure with cow manure, even when nitrogen and phosphorus content was similar, in carp polyculture system under prevailing conditions