Iranica Journal of Energy and Environment (IJEE)

1-7

Authors: Rajasthan J.I. Nirmal Kumar, P.R. Sajish, Rita N. Kumar, Kanti Patel

The study was conducted to estimate the biomass and net primary productivity of different age grouped (5, 10 and 15-year-old) Butea monosperma forest ecosystems in western India , Rajasthan (located between 23º49′ to 25º28′ N latitudes and 73º0′ to 75º49′ E longitudes ) from June 2007 to May 2008. The vegetation biomass, forest floor biomass, tree litter fall and net primary productivity (NPP) of trees and shrubs were estimated and it is found that the tree biomass and net primary productivity increased with increasing age of the forest stand, whereas the herb biomass and net primary productivity decreased significantly (P < 0.01) with increase in the forest age. The biomass of trees increased with age from 183.7 ± 3.21 to 298.3 ± 3.57 t ha-1 while shrub biomass ranged from 4.9 ± 1.61 to 6.3 ± 1.38 t ha-1 and the herb biomass fluctuated from 1.7 ± 1.64 to 2.1 ± 1.81. The tree layer NPP varied from 17.2 to 29.3 t ha-1 year-1 where the NPP of the shrub layer was 0.88 to 1.6 t ha-1 year-1. The productivity of the herb layer was fluctuating from 2.3 to 3.1 t ha-1 year-1. The all values of biomass and NPP of trees, shrubs and herbs were low in 5-year-old, moderate in 10-year-old and high in 15-year-old forest stands. The total forest biomass increased from 190.7 t ha-1 in the 5-year-old to 306.3 t ha-1 15-year-old forest and net primary productivity from 21.1 t ha-1 year-1 in the 5-year-old to 33.2 t ha-1 year-1 in the 15-year-old forest.

18 - 23

Authors: Simeon O. Ayoola

A twelve week feeding trial was carried out in order to assess the effect of feeding poultry hatchery waste on haematological parameters of Clarias gariepinus juveniles as a bio-indicator of their health status. A control experiment was set up with fish fed with 37% crude protein. Fish fed with the poultry hatchery waste showed a slight decrease in haematological values of Parked Cell Volume(PCV,0.29±0.01), Haemoglobin (HB,98.66 ±5.13), Red blood cell (RBC,1.83±0.05), Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV,161.33±9.291), Mean Corpuscular Haemoglobin (MCH,58.83±2.96), Mean Corpuscular Haemoglobin Concentration MCHC, (33.57±0.65), White Blood Cell(WBC,23.66±2.5) compared to the values of fish fed the control diet, PCV (0.37±0.01), HB (12.33±5.03), RBC (1.9±0.1), MCV (19.66±16.44), MCH (66.14±5.37), MCHC (33.74±1.016) and WBC (22.33±2.51). It is concluded that using poultry hatchery waste as supplementary feed on Clarias gariepinus showed a slight decrease in the haematological parameters but it has no negative impact on the health status of the specie. Therefore direct use of poultry hatchery waste as sole supplementary feed should be encouraged.

32 - 46

Authors: A. Ganguly, S. Ghosh

This article presents a comprehensive review of the literature that deal with ventilation and cooling technologies applied to agricultural greenhouses. The representative application of each technology as well as its advantages and limitations are discussed. Advance systems employing heat storage in phase change materials, earth-to-air heat exchangers and aquifer-coupled cavity flow heat exchangers have also been discussed. For an agricultural greenhouse equipped with cooling and artificial ventilation system, availability of uninterrupted electric supply is important. To achieve grid independence, dedicated power generation and storage systems need to be integrated with the greenhouse. The relevant literature on such power generation system for greenhouse application has been reviewed and is discussed here. This review concludes by identifying some important areas where further research needs to be undertaken.

52 - 57

Authors: Abdur Rashid, Mohammad Ali, M. Haris, Asfandyar Rustam

The effect of zinc oxide (ZnO) on tree growth has been extensively investigated in this paper. The fillers are widely added in the insulation partly for reinforcement and also for suppression of tree initiation and their growth. The addition of zinc oxide (ZnO) as a filler into polymer insulation material also shows a non linear effect in dc conductivity when volume fraction of filler is above a certain level. In this work, zinc oxide (ZnO) employed in clear polyester resin as a barrier. High voltage 28kV rms is applied in the form of burst. The growth and nature of tree monitor on polariscope on regular interval. The life time of the specimen was filled with ZnO and ZnO as a barrier, is increased many fold. The results zinc oxide (ZnO) specimens are compared with Aluminium Oxide (Al O ) barrier. In the case of Aluminium oxide (Al O ) when tree was blocked by the barrier, the branches of the tree become wider because of discharge activity and no such activity was found in the case of zinc oxide (ZnO). Ten specimens of zinc oxide (ZnO) barrier were tested and none of them breakdown.

62 - 67

Authors: E.U. Onweremadu, J.U. Amaechi, B.N. Ndukwu

The authors investigated distribution of cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) in soil profile pits affected by municipal solid wastes in Avu dumpsite in Owerri, Southeastern Nigeria in 2010. Transect soil survey technique was used in aligning profile pits for field studies and sampling. Standard procedures were used in digging, describing and sampling from profile pits. Sieved soil samples were subjected to laboratory analyses and data were analyzed statistically using coefficient of variation measured in percentages. Results showed higher values of % CV in silt and clay contents. Variability of clay increased from dumpsite (CV=43.77 %) to moderately dumped site (CV=62.73%) decreased in slightly dumped side (20.98%). Highest mean values of organic matter (26.8 g/kg) and pH water (5.7) were reported in heavily dumped site. Organic Matter showed very significant positive relationship with Cd (r = 0.92; p = 0.01) and Pb (r=0.97; P = 0.97). There is need to include more soil attributes; results of which should be subjected to multi-variate techniques for more reliability and confidence especially in field applications.

74 - 78

Authors: Sunil Prasad Lohani

This paper reviews the status of biomass as a source of household energy and indoor air pollution in Nepal. The current statistics show that about 89% of total energy is consumed in residential sector is largely for cooking and heating purpose. The major sources of residential energy are fuel wood (86.5%), animal dung (6.5%) and agricultural residue (3.7%), which clearly indicates a huge demand for biomass as household energy in the country. Several studies have shown that particulate matter (PM10) concentration on cooking place was about 8000 μg/m³ against the national standard of 120 μg/m³ in 24 hours average time. Similarly, the total suspended particle (TSP) was about 8,800 μg/m³ against national standard of 230 μg/m³, 21 ppm of carbon monoxide (CO) against national standard of 9 ppm in 8 hour average was found where biomass was used as fuel. Moreover, these studies have also shown that mortality and morbidity rates among children and women are extremely high due to acute respiratory infection (ARI) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This clearly indicates that the major cause behind it is indoor air pollution.

87 - 91

Authors: Rabeah Mehravar, Mohsen Jahanshahi, Ghasem D. Najafpour, Naser Saghatoleslami

Protein nannoparticles fabrication as well as characterization have been extensively studied in our previous works as suitable carrier for drug delivery and food science, since they are biodegradable, non-toxic and non antigenic. The objective of the present study was to optimize the fabrication of alpha-lactalbumin nanoparticle by applying the Taguchi robust method which is a statistical approach to overcome the limitation of the factorial and fractional factorial experiments. The process variables were pH, temprature and agitation speed. The optimal levels of the different factors for the nanoparticle production based on coacervation method were pH 2.5, temperature 50 0C and 750 rpm for agitation speed. The nanoparticle size at the determined condition was less than 220 nm. The mechanistic of the optimum conditions for preparing alpha-lactalbumin nanoparticles and their characterization as a drug delivery vehicles are strongly discussed.