Municipal solid waste [MSW] has gained prominence in recent years as the rate of its generation has increased significantly. The serious problem of MSW management exists in almost all regions of India. \nThis study aims to generate energy from MSW by selecting a suitable MSWM technology with the help of MSW characterization of Haridwar city. The suitable technique chosen was anaerobic digestion (AD) by physical and chemical characterization of MSW. The organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) of 96 sub-samples with two different inoculums i.e., livestock dung and anaerobic sludge was used for AD experiments. A total of eight batch-type laboratory-scale anaerobic reactors were used in mesophilic conditions with different subtract-inoculum ratios (1/3, 1/2, 1/1, and 2/1). The S/I ratio of 1/1 was optimum for both the inoculums. In this situation, the average cumulative biogas and methane yields for livestock dung were 461 NmL/g OM and 440 NmL/g OM, respectively, compared to 628 NmL/g OM and 474 NmL/g OM for anaerobic sludge. The anaerobic sludge inoculum was found to be better than livestock dung, with cumulative biogas production and methane yield being 3.5% and 4.2% higher, respectively.

This study was carried out, to examine the effect of four doses of gamma irradiation (0.5,1,2,3 Krad) on production of Borage plant (Borago officinalis L). The effect of gamma irradiation conditions on chemical composition (total tannins, total phenols, and total alkaloids contents) and genetic behavior were determined and showed different changes affected by gamma irradiation. Exposing the explants of the Borage plants to gamma irradiation at the different doses decreased the average of shoots. The dose of gamma rays (3 Krad), significantly increased the average shoot length and leaf size after four months. The contents of total phenol, total tannins and total alkaloids were increased with increasing gamma irradiation to 1 or 2 Krad. The most effective band was number (6) with molecular weights 50 KDa., and was present with gamma irradiation at 1Krad plant while absent with control and other treated plants for that this band considered a negative marker associated with gamma irradiation.

The present research project was aimed to study the effect of foliar application of gibberellic acid, zinc, ascorbic acid and thiamine on growth and flowering of Dahlia variabilis L. The study was carried out at Floriculture Research Area, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan. There were thirteen treatment combinations comprising of three levels of each; gibberellic acid, zinc sulfate, ascorbic acid and thiamine. First foliar application was done after 45 days of transplanting and repeated after 25 days. Application of gibberellic acid @ 100 ppm significantly improved plant height (92.67 cm). Application of zinc @ 0.50% produced the maximum number of flowers (28.47), diameter of flower (100.19 mm) and fresh weight of flower (11.16 g). Foliar application of thiamine and ascorbic acid increased nutrient accumulation in leaves of dahlia. The nitrogen contents (4.43 %) increased to maximum in response to treatment comprising ascorbic acid whereas phosphorus content (1.41 mg g-1) and potassium contents (19.45 mg g-1) were recorded maximum in response to thiamine. The highest chlorophyll a contents (4.37 mg g-1) and chlorophyll b contents (2.04 mg g-1) was recorded in treatment comprising thiamine. The highest carbohydrate contents (35.14%) were recorded in the response of zinc application.

Monacha cartusiana (Müller) snail was used to evaluate the impact of sub-lethal concentration (LC25) of four pesticides on some vital enzymes such as Alanine transaminase (ALT), Aspartate transaminase (AST), Acetylcholinesterase (AChE), Phenol oxidase (PO), Acid phosphatase (ACP) and protease enzyme during two periods (activation and aestivation) by baits method. Inactive time, results expressed that, all pesticides elevated in the activities of ALT, AST, and PO enzymes. For, AChE enzyme, pestban was the most influential to inhibit AChE followed by methomyl, however, avaunt has been found to fluctuate in the level of AChE activity between rises and fall to record the lowest activity after 12hrs, whereas herbazed contribute to decreasing the inhibition at all time. Methomyl caused a high increase in the level of ACP which reached its maximum after 12hrs, followed by pestban and avaunt, but herbazed lead to decreasing at all active time. Meanwhile, all pesticides induced a depressing effect in the activities of protease enzyme. About aestivation periods is considering one of the most important characteristics that terrestrial snails possess, but the difference to be attributable to the months. In Egypt, the snails enter the summer hibernation phase from May to September. The activity of the pre-mentioned enzymes was evaluated for some treated snails during the aestivation period. Contrary, the results indicated that all pesticides had an effective role in reducing the level of those enzymes except the AChE enzyme, which remained elevated throughout this period as well as control compared to the active period.

Olive breeding program was started since 1993 in Tunisia in order to improve mainly the fatty acid composition of the most adopted cultivar ‘Chemlali Sfax’.‘Zeitoun Ennour’ is a new cultivar obtained from a cross between local olive oil cultivar ‘Chemlali Sfax’ and local dual-purpose use cultivar ‘Chemchali Gafsa’. The morphological study of this cultivar showed that ten characters dealing with fruit and endocarp differed from the typical of ‘Chemlali Sfax’ mainly regarding to their respective weights. This cultivar is with higher sensitivity to verticillium and earlier bearing than the original variety ‘Chemlali Sfax’. Its olive production was considered high as for ‘Chemlali Sfax’ but with partial self-compatibility and late maturity. The new cultivar realized a net improvement in comparison with the original cultivar particularly regarding the fatty acid composition with very high oleic acid content (>75 %) and low palmitic and linoleic acid contents (<10 %).

Achieving high yield is the cry of today globally. The farmers of Pakistan are psychologically short-term minded people, use chemical fertilizer taking a little bit advantage of it, ignoring its disadvantages like distribution in soil particulates and soil pollution etc. To develop trend of using organic fertilizers, the research study was performed. The factors contributing the result were i.e. fertilizers 50% compost equivalent to half dose of recommended fertilizer 130 Kg N ha-1 (EHDRF) + chemical fertilizer @ 50% of recommended dose (F1), 50% biogas plant slurry (EHDRF) + chemical fertilizer @ 50% of recommended dose (F2) and recommended chemical fertilizer sole (F3), sowing methods; raised bed (S1), ridge (S2) and flat (S3) and mulching (mulch and control). The treatments showed a significant effect on the yield maize and its components. Highest number of leaves per plant (13.67), stem diameter (2.43 cm), plant height (263.33 cm), cob length (18.21 cm), number of grain per cob (396) and biological yield (17304 kg ha-1) were found in the combination of compost and inorganic fertilizer in ridge planting method in mulching condition. Highest thousand grain weights (343 gm), grain yield (5952 kg ha-1) and harvest index (30.8 %) found in the interaction of biogas plant slurry + inorganic fertilizer, ridge sowing and mulching condition. It is concluded that biogas plant slurry under ridge sowing with mulching condition are the best combination among the factors applied to achieve high yield and harvest index of maize. While compost under ridge sowing with mulching showed best treatment results and is recommended for more biological yield.

The article is devoted to the study and development of methodology for assessing the environmental efficiency of the spatial organization of rural areas on the basis of a comprehensive analysis of the main indicators that allow making motivated managerial decisions on the optimization of land and the organization of agricultural landscapes. At the same time, it was established that ensuring sustainable land use is impossible without a comprehensive understanding of the situation on the spatial structure of territories, therefore, the initial stage of the model implementation is to analyze the current state and level of the research object. The methodology provides for taking into account the integral indicator of the spatial organization of rural areas, which is defined as the sum of normalized values of indicators (relative to their optimal level), taking into account the corresponding weighing coefficients. The advantage of the proposed approach is that it allows you to determine how to effectively or ineffectively optimize rural areas at the regional district level, which ensures relative comparability of the calculated environmental indicators. Approbation of the proposed methodology for assessing on the example of the Lviv region of Ukraine has proved that state authorities, as well as business entities can take adequate management decisions.

A major limitation in forage growing is seed dormancy, which can compromise the emergence of seedlings in the field and the establishment of pastures. Therefore, the objective was to assess the germination and vigor of buffel grass seeds, cv. Aridus, stored in environmental conditions. The experimental design used was the fully-randomized type, with assessment periods (0, 6, 12, 18 and 24 months after harvest) and four repeats. Soon after harvest, and in each assessment period, the seeds were assessed as to water content, germination and vigor. As a recommendation, buffel grass pastures, cv. Aridus, should be formed using seeds stored between 14 and 19 months in environmental conditions for greater germination and vigor.