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This study compares the ambient air particulate matter (PM10) data of 15 different coal mine environments. For most of these mine environments, the monitoring was carried out by different researchers using respirable dust sampler (RDS) that separates PM10 by centrifugal inertial separation. At two sites - Padmapur and Ghugus (Chandrapur, Maharashtra, India) - mass inertial impaction-based sampler was used for PM10 monitoring. It is observed that the spatiotemporal average value of ambient air PM10 monitored using mass inertial impactor reports relatively higher values (240-372 μg/m) compared to those monitored using RDS (<227 μg/m). In order to realize the severity of mine area pollution, it is compared with PM10 values found in an urban area (Delhi, India). It is found that PM10 values in Delhi (using mass inertial impactor) are much higher (300-400 μg/m) than those reported for the mine environment. The data seems to indicate that the mine environment is relatively cleaner than urban air and therefore raises doubt about the appropriateness of using either mass impactor or RDS for PM10 sampling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present investigation, feasibility of dairy waste water (DWW) and distillery spent wash (DSW) effluents in increasing the growth and yield of two species of oyster mushroom, Pleurotus flabellatus (PF 1832) and P. sajor- caju (PS 1610) on abundantly available agro-waste, bagasse, was evaluated. Three different levels of treatments were applied for each effluent. The effects of amendments on the result were observed in terms of yield, biological efficiency (BE) and substrate dry-matter loss. BE was found to be the highest (66.63 ± 1.0 %) for P. sajor- caju grown on bagasse amended with 10 % DWW and lowest for Pleurotus controls. While P. sajor- caju performed better on bagasse amended with DWW, P. flabellatus was more suited to grow on DSW amended bagasse. Degradation of complex molecules was in accordance with substrate dry-matter loss and the respective yields. The biochemical analysis of mushroom fruit bodies showed them to be a rich source of protein (maximum 36.40 %) and sugars (maximum 41.58 %). The study thus proved to be beneficial for effective management of the waste by employing higher order fungi as well as obtaining nutrient-rich delicacy for the mass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]