Abstract: Nonylphenol is a metabolic intermediate from the microbial transformation of detergents used worldwide. While nonylphenol shows some acute toxicity, it is also able to mimic important hormones resulting in the disruption of several processes by interfering with the signals that control the overall physiology of the organism. This work perform a critical reviews on the origin, environmental fate, microbial transformation, ecosystems impact and endocrine disruption capacity of nonylphenol. Due to mass production of parent products and potential toxicity, nonylphenol is an example of a microbial decay product that may pose an environmental risk. The analysis supports the need for better tests to evaluate, model and monitor the potential long-term environmental impact of single compounds produced as a result of an environmentallymediated degradation.

Keywords: Nonylphenol, toxicity, Daphnia, transformation, ecosystem, environment, pollution

Abstract: Introduced Coregonus lavaretus L. and Coregonus peled Gmelin populations in the Robertville and Bütgenbach Reservoir lakes (Belgium) were studied in order to assess their adaptation to their new habitat. We considered the evolution of abundance, biomass, size distribution structure, growth parameters and diet. Maximal temperature values are acceptable for C. peled but slightly too high for an optimal development of C. lavaretus. In order to remain in their acceptable range for dissolved oxygen, the coregonids must stay in surface water during stratification, although water temperature is largely above their optimum in these water layers. Length frequency diagrams established for C. peled in both lakes show only older cohorts, which indicate that there is no natural reproduction. Slope coefficients for C. peled in both lakes indicate an allometric growth (b 3), length increasing proportionally more rapidly than weight. C. lavaretus shows a broad diet spectrum with 14 categories whereas C. peled seems to have a more narrow diet spectrum. In our case C. peled shows an essentially zooplankton oriented diet in both lakes. In conclusion, the Bütgenbach and Robertville reservoir lakes seem to meet the habitat requirements of C. lavaretus and C. peled in terms of growth capacities and diet composition. On the other hand, the conditions necessary for the natural reproduction of these two species do not seem to be totally fulfilled, probably due to the trophic status and the fluctuations of the water level as consequence of reservoir operations.

Keywords: abundance, biomass, size distribution structure, growth parameters, diet

Abstract: Four plant species viz. Hordeum vulgare, Triticum aestivum, Phaseolus vulgaris and Phaseolus mungo were examined for mass production of consortium of AM fungi present in the rhizosphere soil. Rhizosphere soil were collected from teak dominated forest and was used as a source of AM inoculum. Surface sterilized seeds of all the four selected plant species were raised in a mixture of sterilized soil and sand in 3:1 ratio. Mass production of AM fungi was observed in terms of (%) AM colonization, AM spore population, and effectiveness of AM consortia was recorded in terms of height and dry weight of inoculated and uninoculated plants. Out of four test species H. vulgare responded as the most suitable host. After 60 days, H. vulgare showed the highest colonization (92%) and 74 spores per 25 g soil. It was observed that plants having higher AM colonization showed higher AM spore production showing a positive correlation, however, it was not found in T. aestivum. Study indicates that H. vulgare is suitable for early colonization and mass production of AM fungi. After 90 days of pot culture, pot soil from all host were analyzed for AM flora. In all, eleven AM species were identified from the consortium. Maximum numbers of AM species (8 species) were found associated with H. vulgare. Three species of AM fungi i.e. Glomus aggregatum, G. fasciculatum and Sclerocystis pakistanica were found to dominate in the soil of H. vulgare.

Keywords: AM fungi, AM colonization, Glomus aggregatum, G. fasciculatum, Sclerocystis pakistanica, mass production

Abstract: The aim of our study was to assess the changes in ground-dwelling arthropod communities structure in wheat, potatoes and lucerne crops, with and without pesticides application. We estimated the impact of chemical control on species richness and propose several indicators for biodiversity assessment. The significant differences between agrosystem structure in control and pesticide-treated crops indicated that aboveground arthropod diversity can be used as an indicator of biological diversity reduction assessment. The best estimator indices for human induced impacts are taxa richness, the ratio between species richness and the number of individuals in control and pesticide treated samples, the changes in the ratio between primary–secondary consumers, and the proportion of spiders (Aranea). The use of diversity indices in impact assessment was misleading or inconclusive in some cases. Only the Shannon-Wiener index appears to perform relatively well, but sample sizes must be first equalized through rarefaction.

Keywords: bioindicator, pesticide, agrosystem, species richness

Abstract: The demographic study of Anthemis cotula L. revealed a protracted seedling recruitment pattern with peaks in autumn (pre-winter) and spring (post-winter). The major recruitment pulse in autumn contributes to the fecundity component of the life history while the minor recruitment pulse in spring aids in survival of the species. The total drymass accumulation shows striking variations between the pre-winter and post–winter populations. Compared to post-winter population, the pre-winter plants show higher drymass accumulation due to higher relative growth rate (RGR) and consequently higher number of seeds per plant. Allocation of dry matter to leaves was also higher. The present studies indicate that A. cotula tends to allocate a greater proportion of total biomass to above ground than to below ground parts which is characteristic of species invading disturbed habitats The extent of resource allocation to reproduction exhibited by the species is characteristic of the habitats that are less mature and are highly disturbed.

Keywords: Anthemis cotula, demographic trade-off, dry matter allocation

Abstract: Microbial properties have been reported to be useful indicators of soil quality and could possibly serve as assessment criteria of successful rehabilitation of ecologically disturbed areas. During this study, the application value of microbial enumeration techniques and enzymatic assays as a measure of the progress of rehabilitation of coal discard sites was evaluated. Each site was analysed for physical and chemical characteristics of the topsoil; vegetation cover; potential enzymatic activities (dehydrogenase, ß-glucosidase, urease, acid and alkaline phosphatase) and quantification of aerobic oligotrophic and copiotrophic bacteria and fungi (selective enumeration). The relationship between soil properties, vegetation cover and microbial properties was analysed using multivariate ordination techniques. Although the discard sites had different rehabilitation ages (1 – 8 years), no statistically significant difference existed between these sites based on physical and chemical characteristics or selective enumeration (p>0.05). Differentiation was possible based on enzymatic activities, where sites with relatively higher vegetation cover and organic carbon content had a positive association with enzymatic activities. Organic carbon content correlated significantly with β-glucosidase (r = 0.80, p 0.05), urease (r = 0.96, p 0.05), acid phosphatase (r = 0.76, p 0.05), dehydrogenase (r = 0.69, p 0.10) and microbial biomass (r = 0.73, p 0.10). The characterisation of microbial activity holds potential as complementary criteria for evaluating rehabilitation progress on mine discard sites.

Keywords: coal discard;enzymatic activity; rehabilitation; soil quality

Abstract: In view of the growing awareness about vermicomposting technology in recycling different types of organic wastes, this study was conducted to investigate the effect of initial substrate pH on vermicomposting. The substrate pH and ash content were evaluated as a function of time. The data showed an exponential relationship between substrate pH and time of vermicomposting while a phase Bode plot of a single zero system relationship between the ash content and time of vermicomposting. The model parameters of these relationships also had very good correlation with the initial substrate pH. On the basis of obtained correlation between model parameters and initial substrate pH, generalized predictive models for the substrate pH and ash content have been evolved in terms of the duration of vermicomposting and the initial substrate pH. Plots of the predictive and experimentally observed values indicated a high robustness of predictive models. The study also revealed that the earthworm species Perionyx excavatus performs well in a wide range of substrate pH. Near neutral initial substrate pH was found to be optimal for stabilization of waste with minimal processing time. The substrates having strong acidic initial pH were found to be less suitable for vermicomposting.

Keywords: earthworm, ash content, ph, vermicomposting, modeling

Abstract: Interannual and seasonal variability of the hydrographic parameters and distribution of Villorita sp. in the Cochin estuary was studied to assess the impact due to the construction of Thannermukkom bund. Results showed that periodical closing and opening of the bund had significant effect on different hydrographic parameters. Water temperature showed an increase during January to March and July to September; values showed a decrease from April to June and also during October to December. The study zones had a freshwater dominated environment with measurable salinity occurring only during pre-monsoon and zone south of bund (B) having significantly higher salinity than other. Salinity showed a significant negative correlation with dissolved oxygen (P0.05) at zone B. All the zones were predominantly acidic. The maximum dissolved oxygen concentration observed was during July. Dissolved oxygen concentration at zone north of bund (A) was higher in magnitude than zone south of bund (B) and at both zones (A and B) dissolved oxygen is highly correlated with most of the parameters (P0.05). Net productivity at all zones was highly fluctuating and significant differences were observed between zones (P0.05). Nitrate concentration was maximum during post-monsoon and minimum during pre-monsoon and significant difference between zone A and B (P0.05) were noted. Nitrite concentration decreased gradually from December to June and increased from July to November at both zones. The maximum phosphate concentration at all the zones was during May and there was no significant difference between zones at 5% level. At zone A the predominant nature of substratum was silty-sand and at zone B it was sand. In the case of sand, silt and clay there were significant difference between zones; P0.01 for sand and silt; P0.05 for clay. Nearly 85 genera of phytoplanktons could be identified with 20–30 non-identifiable types. Bray–Curtis similarity index for hydrographic parameters of non transformed and fourth root transformed data showed that transformation has only homogenized the data, which resulted in higher similarity between parameters than for non transformed data, but has not changed the linkage pattern. Similar analysis for different months resulted in the formation of three clusters with very high similarity within each cluster. These were: the first cluster representing the period of closure of the bund (December to May), second cluster of opening of the bund (June to November) and the third one of the months in between. This gives a clear-cut difference between closed and opened stages of the bund and leads to the conclusion that periodical opening and closing of bund affects all the hydrographic parameters in similar fashion in each month in every year. It can be concluded that construction, existence and periodical opening and closing of bund at Thannermukkom has been seriously deteriorating the ecology of the cochin estuary especially in the southern part of the bund with respect to clam beds.

Keywords: Thannermukkom bund, hydrographic parameters, water temperature, dissolved oxygen, nitrate concentration, phosphate concentration

Abstract: In Rajasthan state particularly, textile mills represent an important economic sector. Pali district in Rajasthan has got largest number of textile industries in the State i.e.989 units, mostly engaged in cotton and synthetic textile printing and dyeing. These industries liberate a variety of chemicals, dyes, acids and alkalis besides other toxic compounds like heavy metals, which are known for their hazardous properties. However, excessive and indiscriminate use of dyestuffs has become increasingly a subject of environmental concern. These dyes can enter the environment through the industrial effluents of dye manufacturing plants and from textile dyeing and printing operations, as wastewater effluents. Assessment of genotoxicity of dyes is therefore of utmost importance. Short-term genetic bioassays have proved to be an important tool in such studies because of their simplicity, sensitivity to genetic damage, speed, low cost of experimentation and small amount of sample required. A total of 7 dyes were tested for their mutagenicity, by Ames assay, using strain TA 100 of Salmonella typhimurium. Only 1 dye, Violet showed absence of mutagenic activity. The remaining 6 dyes were all positively mutagenic.

Keywords: Pali, textile industries, dyes, mutagenicity, Ames test

Abstract: In order to investigate whether a. Fischerella sp. colonizing Azadirachta indica (neem) bark is able to show, like neem derived extracts/products, bioactivity with respect to glucose metabolizing potential in animal models, laboratory cultivated neem colonized cyanobacterial biomass was fed to mice and its effects on liver lactate dehydrogenase (LDH: a key enzyme of glucose metabolism) vis a vis blood glucose level was monitored. Neem bark extract and purified azadirachtin (a bioactive neem product) were also tested simultaneously for comparison. As compared to the control, none of the samples could produce much variation in blood glucose levels except a transitory decline, 34% and 26% at 2nd and 12th h, in azadirachtin and Fischerella (isolated from neem) fed mice respectively. However, all the test samples showed significant increase in liver LDH activity after 2nd h of treatment (p 0.01) followed by a decline at 6th h. Thereafter, the enzyme activity increased progressively up to 24th h in mice fed with azadirachtin and neem colonized Fischerella only (p 0.001 at 24th h). Expression pattern of the enzyme was also studied using polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Liver specific M4-LDH (homo-tetramer of M sub-unit) was detected in all the cases and time-dependent changes in expression of the enzyme paralleled the alterations observed in its activities. To ascertain whether such a bioactivity is common with Fischerella sp. colonizing other trees also, liver LDH profile was compared between mice fed with Fischerella isolated from neem and jamun (Eugenia jambolana) barks separately. Though Fischerella from jamun did not alter liver LDH profile, Fischerella isolated from neem could produce significant increase in the enzyme activity (p 0.001) and corresponding changes in the expression of LDH isozymes. The results suggest that Fischerella sp. inhabiting neem bark, like bioactivity of its host plant products, modulates activity and expression of liver LDH in mice.

Keywords: Fischerella, Cyanobacterium, glucose metabolism, lactate dehydrogenase, azadirachtin

Abstract: The levels of several microbial groups of aerobic mesophilic flora, aerobic psychrotrophic flora, lactic acid bacteria, Micrococcaceae, enterococci, Enterobacteriaceae, and molds and yeasts were investigated during the manufacture of fresh white cheese of a Serbian craft variety without the addition of starter culture. This variety of cheese is made in farmhouses from cow, sheep and goat's milk. White fresh cheese from mountain villages of Serbia has economical importance for this area. The study of the microbial characteristics of this cheese constitutes the first step towards the establishment of a starter culture which would allow the making of a product both more uniform and safer. The total microbial counts were high in these variety of cheeses. Almost all the microbial groups reached their maximum counts in curd. Lactic acid bacteria were the major microbial group, reaching count similar to the total aerobic mesophilic flora at all sampling points. Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis dominated in milk (62,5%) of the isolates obtained in the Man Rogosa Sharpe (MRS) agar at these sampling points, while the Lactobacillus casei subs.casei was the most predominant species (83,5% of isolates obtained at these sampling points). The purpose of this study was to investigate the microflora of white cheeses with special emphasis on the autochthonous lactic acid bacteria involved in fermentation of this cheeses depending on the geographical location where the cheeses were manufactured.

Keywords: white soft cheese, farm manufactured, Serbian geographical location

Abstract: Based on the observation of more than 10 000 leaves of plane trees, four populations of Corythucha ciliata (Say, 1832) (Heteroptera: Tingidae) are investigated. After having introduced some parameters derived from the data, we draw spatial-temporal patterns and describe the seasonal population dynamics of Corythucha ciliata. Amongst others, the temporal change of the density of population, the state plane of larvae–adults, the inclination to accumulate, and the intraspecific competition are examined. Population and biomass dynamics is characterized for populations with and without limited nutrient source in case of different weather circumstances and effects.

Keywords: population dynamics, spatial-temporal patterns, state planes, seasonality, ecology

Abstract: The number of potential applications of microbial xylanases in the pulp and paper industry is gradually increasing and several are approaching commercial use. This industry needs a xylanase, which is free of cellulase. Twenty isolated Streptomycetes strains from Egyptian soils, which produce cellulase free-xylanase and are easily grown using a low-cost agriculture waste substrate, were investigated. The two most active strains have been identified as Streptomyces albus and Streptomyces chromofuscus. Their maximum xylanase activity was 13.25, 19.31 and 32.53, 43.01 on untreated rice straw pulp and pulp treated with TiO2 in both Streptomyces species respectively. The enzyme activity increased when both isolates were grown on yeast extract. Optimum production of xylanase was recorded after five days of fermentation. Xylanase produced with Streptomyces chromofuscus showed higher bleaching activity than that from Streptomyces albus. The enzyme enhanced the liberation of reducing sugars, which improved pulp bleachability.

Keywords: Streptomyces sp., cellulase- free xylanases, rice straw pulp, biobleaching