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Due to higher atmospheric greenhouse gasses concentrations, global warming is undoubtedly the most critical environmental issue that needs an immediate solution. Agroforestry has attained worldwide...

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) was cultivated in a Cd-contaminated soils with rice straw biochar (BC) and water-washed rice straw biochar (W-BC) were applied to investigate the underlying mechanisms and possible reasons for biochar's weakening effects on the immobilization of Cd in soil-rice system. The results indicated that W-BC reduced the Cd concentration in pore water as well as in the roots and shoots of rice by 26.24%, 53.23% and 62.47% respectively. On the contrary, there was an increase in Cd contents by 50.27% in pore water, 2.32% in the roots, and 12.80% in the shoots of rice under BC treatment. Furthermore, Cd content in rice shoot was significantly and positively correlated with Cl− addition to the soil (P

Keeping in view the expanding environmental pollution and irrigation water deficit, a pot experiment was performed for the upland (Huyou2, Hanyou737) and paddy rice cultivars (Taigeng8; Yixiang2292), to study soil liming effects on methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) emission, bioavailability and accumulation of Cd, Pb in upland and paddy rice. Upland rice reduced 90% of soil CH4 emission as compared to paddy conditions. Soil CH4 emission decreased by 45% and 39% with dolomite, and it reduced by 35% and 33% with lime treatment both in upland and paddy conditions, respectively. Soil N2O emission decreased by 44% and 52% with dolomite, and with the lime application, it was reduced by 37% and 44% for both upland and paddy conditions respectively. Reduction in soil DTPA-extractable Cd was between 37-53% and 43–80% with dolomite and 16–37% and 24–72% Cd decreased with lime application in upland and paddy conditions respectively. Soil DTPA-extractable Pb reduced by 27–44% and 25–53% with dolomite and 16–40% and 11–42% with soil-applied lime in upland and paddy conditions, respectively. Cd accumulation in rice grain was decreased by 47–88% and 62–79% with dolomite and 31–86% and 45–52% reduction by lime application in upland and paddy rice respectively. Rice grain Pb reduced by 58–91% and 66–78% with dolomite application and 32–71% and 44–71% with lime in upland and paddy rice, respectively. Our results showed that soil liming significantly reduced soil N2O and CH4 emission and Cd, Pb accumulation in rice grain, but dolomite was more effective as compared to lime. Altogether, results of this study suggest that upland rice can be cultivated in Cd Pb polluted soils with least soil CH4 emission. Cd and Pb toxicity, accumulation, and N2O emission in upland rice can be minimized by soil liming of 3 g kg−1 and optimizing the nutrients composition of the soil.

COVID-19 now spreading in Pakistan, massive consequences to health and livelihoods are feared as lockdown impacted the food basket and triggered logistics and harvest crisis especially in Punjab and Sindh. Millions of farmers are at the edge of disaster due to shortage of means of transportation, absence of labor force and threat of COVID-19 transmission. We addressed the impact of lockdown on wheat harvesting season in Pakistan and food prices post-COVID-19 outbreak and agriculture supply chain management of vegetables, fruits and pulses. As reported cases increasing in agricultural bread baskets of Pakistan (Punjab and Sindh) in which approximately 70% of harvest of wheat depend on traditional farm laborers, who came from low-income and remote zones before the harvesting period. But this time due to prolonged and partial lock down in all remote and industrial zones of country they could not make it the right profit of the year. The Government announced finical support packages and partially lifted the ban on movement of carriage and equipment for harvesting, but the announcement packages shown to be not as much of useful because most of our machinery needs maintenances and repairing every year around the harvest season and the workshops continued in state of shutdown. It is imperative to keep an eye on the food situation in the country in the middle of this pandemic because keeping supply chains functioning well is crucial to food security. It should be noted that 2 to 3 million deaths in the Bengal famine of 1943 were due to food supply disruptions - not a lack of food availability. There have been information’s of certain anxiety and panic purchasing and interruptions in logistics. It is recommended that to safeguard food security and to reduce the impact of the lockdown, we need to review food policy and analyze how market forces will respond to the imbalanced supply and demand, storage facilities and capacity, price control of products.

Climate change due to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is one of the global environmental matters of the 21st century. Biochar (BC) amendments have been proposed as a potential solution for improving soil quality and to mitigate GHGs emissions. Therefore, we evaluated the influence of different BCs on soil CO

Immobilization is widely used to decrease the availability of heavy metals, such as Cd and Pb, in contaminated soils. However, the spatial and temporal changes in the immobilization of soil by amendments combined with planting effects have not been studied well. In this study, unplanted and planted (with rice plants) pot experiments were used to assess the spatial and temporal changes in water-soluble Cd, Fe, Mn, and Ca. Soil properties, such as pH, redox potential (Eh), and dissolved organic carbon (DOC), were continuously recorded in both the rhizosphere and bulk soil using non-invasive rhizon samplers and a microelectrode system (Unisense). In unplanted soil, pH and Eh varied with time, but showed little radial variation from the rhizosphere to the bulk soil. The addition of hydrated lime (Ca(OH)2) sharply increased the pH, DOC, and Ca content; decreased the Eh, Fe content, and Mn content; and gradually decreased the water-soluble Cd content in the soil profile. Hydroxyapatite showed no obvious effects in reducing Cd concentrations in different soil zones. The water-soluble Fe, Mn, Ca, and DOC content did not differ significantly between soil zones over time and a non-significant correlation with water-soluble Cd was shown. In planted soil, the pH increased while the Eh value decreased with an increase in the distance from the roots, regardless of the soil amendments used during the rice growth period. Hydroxyapatite gradually increased but hydrated lime decreased the water-soluble Cd in the rhizosphere. The concentration of water-soluble Cd in the rhizosphere was higher than that of the other soil zones during rice growth. These changes lead to more Cd uptake by roots and induced Cd accumulation in rice tissues. In addition, Cd and Fe concentration in iron plaque showed a significant positive correlation with Cd in rice, indicating that iron plaque promotes the uptake and accumulation of Cd in rice with soil amendments. Compared with the control, hydroxyapatite did not significantly affect the Cd content, while Ca(OH)2 significantly reduced the Cd content in iron plaque and rice tissues. In conclusion, the application of hydrated lime can significantly reduce the risk of Cd accumulation by rice in Cd-contaminated soils under flooding conditions.

Keeping in view the expanding environmental pollution and irrigation water deficit, a pot experiment was performed for the upland (Huyou2, Hanyou737) and paddy rice cultivars (Taigeng8; Yixiang2292), to study soil liming effects on methane (CH

An analysis of the Cd and mineral nutrients accumulation of upland rice was performed in an experimental field with hard-ridged plots containing three soils with exogenous Cd addition at rates of 0, 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 mg kg−1 five years prior to commence this experiment. Aims of this investigation were to study uptake, translocation, and accumulation of Cd by an upland rice (Huyou2) and effects of Cd addition on the accumulation of Fe, Zn, Ni, Ca, and Mg. The results demonstrate the mean Cd content in the plant parts, from highest to lowest, were as follows: root, stem, leaf, and brown rice. The Cd content in the brown rice of the upland rice was below the limit of Cd in rice (0.2 mg kg−1) from China (GB 2762-2017) when the amount of Cd added was ≤ 1 mg kg−1. This observation can be attributed to lower TFsoil-grain of Cd in upland rice. Significant differences were observed between Cd concentrations present in brown rice from the three soils which can be mainly attributed to the differences in DTPA-extractable soil Cd because of different soil pH. Addition of high concentrations of Cd to soil was found to reduce Fe, Zn, Mg, and increased Ni uptake by the roots and their accumulation in brown rice. Altogether, results of this study suggest that it may be possible to cultivate upland rice in slightly Cd-polluted soils and Cd toxicity and accumulation in upland rice can be minimized by optimizing the macro and micronutrient composition of the soil.

The aim of this study was to investigate the accumulation characteristics of tungsten (W) by different indica rice cultivars from the soil and to assess the potential risks to human health via dietary intake of W in rice consumption. A total of 153 rice (ear) samples of 15 cultivars and the corresponding surface soil samples were collected from 7 cities in Fujian Province of southeastern China. The available soil W were extracted using H2C2O4·2H2O-(NH4)2C2O4·H2O at pH 3.3). Results showed that the total soil W ranged from 2.03 mg kg−1 to 15.34 mg kg−1 and available soil W ranged from 0.03 mg kg−1 to 1.61 mg kg−1. The W concentration in brown rice varied from 7 μg kg−1 to 283 μg kg−1 and was significantly correlated with the available soil W. The highest mean TFavail (transfer factor based on available soil W) was 0.91 for Te-you 627 (hybrid, indica rice), whereas the lowest was 0.08 for Yi-you 673 (hybrid, indica rice). The TFavail decreased with the increase in available soil W, clay content, and...