Microbial use of organic substrates and maize growth, especially in saline and alkaline soils of Pakistani Punjab

This thesis consists of 4 main parts: (1) impact of growing maize on the decomposition of incorporated fresh alfalfa residues, (2) relationships between soil biological and other soil properties in saline and alkaline arable soils from the Pakistani Punjab, (3) decomposition of compost and plant residues in Pakistani soils along a gradient in salinity, and (4) interactions of compost and triple superphosphate on the growth of maize in a saline Pakistani soil. These 4 chapters are framed by a General Introduction and a Conclusions section. (1) In the first study, the effects of growing maize plants on the microbial decomposition of freshly chopped alfalfa residues was investigated in a 90-day pot experiment using a sandy arable soil. Assuming that the addition of alfalfa residues did not affect the decomposition of native soil organic matter, only 27% of the alfalfa residues were found as CO2. This suggests that a considerable part of alfalfa-C remained undecomposed in the soil. However, only 6% of the alfalfa residues could be recovered as plant remains in treatment with solely alfalfa residues. Based on d13C values, it was calculated that plant remains in treatment maize + alfalfa residues contained 14.7% alfalfa residues and 85.3% maize root remains. This means 60% more alfalfa-C was recovered in this treatment. (2) In the second study, the interactions between soil physical, soil chemical and soil biological properties were analysed in 30 Pakistani soils from alkaline and saline arable sites differing strongly in salinisation and in soil pH. The soil biological properties were differentiated into indices for microbial activity, microbial biomass, and community structure with the aim of assessing their potential as soil fertility indices. (3) In the third study, 3 organic amendments (compost, maize straw and pea straw) were added to 5 Pakistani soils from a gradient in salinity. Although salinity has depressive effects on microbial biomass C, biomass N, biomass P, and ergosterol, the clear gradient according to the soil salt concentration was not reflected by the soil microbial properties. The addition of the 3 organic amendments always increased the contents of the microbial indices analysed. The amendment-induced increase was especially strong for microbial biomass P and reflected the total P content of the added substrates. (4) The fourth study was greenhouse pot experiment with different combinations of compost and triple superphosphate amendments to investigate the interactions between plant growth, microbial biomass formation and compost decomposition in a strongly saline Pakistani arable soil in comparison to a non-saline German arable soil. The Pakistani soil had a 2 times lower content of ergosterol, a 4 times lower contents of microbial biomass C, biomass N and biomass P, but nearly a 20 times lower content of NaHCO3 extractable P. The addition of 1% compost always had positive effects on the microbial properties and also on the content of NaHCO3 extractable P. The addition of superphosphate induced a strong and similar absolute increase in microbial biomass P in both soils.

First results of experimental and theoretical investigations on sextet states of doubly-excited five-electron ions

In continuation of our previous work on doubly-excited ions with three and four electrons we present the first results on optical transitions in the term system of doubly-excited ions with five electrons. Transitions between such sextet states were identified in beam-foil spectra of the ions nitrogen, oxygen and fluorine. Assignments were first established by comparison with Multi-Configuration Dirac-Fock calculations. Later assignments were aided by Multi-Configuration Hartree-Fock calculations (see the contribution by G. Miecznik et al. in this issue). Decay curves were recorded for all six candidate lines. The lifetime results are compared to theoretical values which confirm most of the assignments qualitatively.

Information Exchange and Fusion in Dynamic and Heterogeneous Distributed Environments

Context awareness, dynamic reconfiguration at runtime and heterogeneity are key characteristics of future distributed systems, particularly in ubiquitous and mobile computing scenarios. The main contributions of this dissertation are theoretical as well as architectural concepts facilitating information exchange and fusion in heterogeneous and dynamic distributed environments. Our main focus is on bridging the heterogeneity issues and, at the same time, considering uncertain, imprecise and unreliable sensor information in information fusion and reasoning approaches. A domain ontology is used to establish a common vocabulary for the exchanged information. We thereby explicitly support different representations for the same kind of information and provide Inter-Representation Operations that convert between them. Special account is taken of the conversion of associated meta-data that express uncertainty and impreciseness. The Unscented Transformation, for example, is applied to propagate Gaussian normal distributions across highly non-linear Inter-Representation Operations. Uncertain sensor information is fused using the Dempster-Shafer Theory of Evidence as it allows explicit modelling of partial and complete ignorance. We also show how to incorporate the Dempster-Shafer Theory of Evidence into probabilistic reasoning schemes such as Hidden Markov Models in order to be able to consider the uncertainty of sensor information when deriving high-level information from low-level data. For all these concepts we provide architectural support as a guideline for developers of innovative information exchange and fusion infrastructures that are particularly targeted at heterogeneous dynamic environments. Two case studies serve as proof of concept. The first case study focuses on heterogeneous autonomous robots that have to spontaneously form a cooperative team in order to achieve a common goal. The second case study is concerned with an approach for user activity recognition which serves as baseline for a context-aware adaptive application. Both case studies demonstrate the viability and strengths of the proposed solution and emphasize that the Dempster-Shafer Theory of Evidence should be preferred to pure probability theory in applications involving non-linear Inter-Representation Operations.

Integrating top down policies and bottom up practices in Urban and Periurban Agriculture: an Italian dilemma

The paper deals with some relevant and contradictory aspects of urban and peri-urban agriculture in Italy: the traditional exclusion of agricultural areas from the goals of territorial planning; the separation between top-down policies and bottom-up practices; the lack of agricultural policies at local scale. In the first part the paper summarises the weak relation between urban planning and agriculture, showing how in Italy this gap has been only partially overcome by new laws and plans. Moreover the paper focuses on how, due to the lack of suitable solutions coming from regional and local planning, a large number of vibrant initiatives were started by local stakeholders. In order to show the limitations and the potentialities of these various approaches, three peculiar experiences based on Milan, Turin and Pisa are presented. They give a cross-section of the variegated Italian situation, demonstrating that a major challenge in Italian context affects the fields of governance and inclusiveness.

Heat stress response for physiological traits in dairy and dual purpose cattle populations on phenotypic and genetic scales

The main objective of this thesis was to determine the potential impact of heat stress (HS) on physiological traits of lactating cows and semen quality of bulls kept in a temperate climate. The thesis is comprised of three studies. An innovative statistical modeling aspect common to all three studies was the application of random regression methodology (RRM) to study the phenotypic and genetic trajectory of traits in dependency of a continuous temperature humidity index (THI). In the first study, semen quality and quantity traits of 562 Holstein sires kept on an AI station in northwestern Germany were analyzed in the course of THI calculated from data obtained from the nearest weather station. Heat stress was identified based on a decline in semen quality and quantity parameters. The identified general HS threshold (THI = 60) and the thermoneutal zone (THI in the range from 50 to 60) for semen production were lower than detected in studies conducted in tropical and subtropical climates. Even though adult bulls were characterized by higher semen productivity compared to younger bulls, they responded with a stronger semen production loss during harsh environments. Heritabilities (low to moderate range) and additive genetic variances of semen characteristics varied with different levels of THI. Also, based on genetic correlations genotype, by environment interactions were detected. Taken together, these findings suggest the application of specific selection strategies for specific climate conditions. In the second study, the effect of the continuous environmental descriptor THI as measured inside the barns on rectal temperatures (RT), skin temperatures (ST), vaginal temperatures (VT), respiration rates (RR), and pulse rate (PR) of lactating Holstein Friesian (HF) and dual-purpose German black pied cattle (DSN) was analyzed. Increasing HS from THI 65 (threshold) to THI 86 (maximal THI) resulted in an increase of RT by 0.6 °C (DSN) and 1 °C (HF), ST by 3.5 °C (HF) and 8 °C (DSN), VT by 0.3 °C (DSN), and RR by 47 breaths / minute (DSN), and decreased PR by 7 beats / minute (DSN). The undesired effects of rising THI on physiological traits were most pronounced for cows with high levels of milk yield and milk constituents, cows in early days in milk and later parities, and during summer seasons in the year 2014. In the third study of this dissertation, the genetic components of the cow’s physiological responses to HS were investigated. Heat stress was deduced from indoor THI measurements, and physiological traits were recorded on native DSN cows and their genetically upgraded crosses with Holstein Friesian sires in two experimental herds from pasture-based production systems reflecting a harsh environment of the northern part of Germany. Although heritabilities were in a low range (from 0.018 to 0.072), alterations of heritabilities, repeatabilities, and genetic components in the course of THI justify the implementation of genetic evaluations including heat stress components. However, low repeatabilities indicate the necessity of using repeated records for measuring physiological traits in German cattle. Moderate EBV correlations between different trait combinations indicate the potential of selection for one trait to simultaneously improve the other physiological attributes. In conclusion, bulls of AI centers and lactating cows suffer from HS during more extreme weather conditions also in the temperate climate of Northern Germany. Monitoring physiological traits during warm and humid conditions could provide precious information for detection of appropriate times for implementation of cooling systems and changes in feeding and management strategies. Subsequently, the inclusion of these physiological traits with THI specific breeding values into overall breeding goals could contribute to improving cattle adaptability by selecting the optimal animal for extreme hot and humid conditions. Furthermore, the recording of meteorological data in close distance to the cow and visualizing the surface body temperature by infrared thermography techniques might be helpful for recognizing heat tolerance and adaptability in cattle.