1,720,972 research outputs found
Myco-conversion of agro-waste into by-products
No full textRelevance and aim of the study
Agriculture is a productive activity producing a large volume of agro-waste, which, if mishandled, poses health,
food safety, and environmental risks. Adequate processing of agricultural waste has advantages in reducing
greenhouse gas emissions and reducing fossil fuels, as well as contributing significantly to the development of
new markets and job opportunities. In this context, fungi are an attractive resource for agro-waste
bioprocessing into value-added by-products. Fungal mycelium growth promotes the degradation of the most
recalcitrant macromolecules (e.g. lignin, hemicellulose and cellulose) and pollutants (e.g. pesticides, plastics),
allowing a significant reduction in the volume of residual waste. In addition, mycelium colonizing the substrate
reduces carbon losses and provides nutrients for a wide range of microorganisms that drive the diversity and
composition of microbial communities and, thereby, increase biodiversity on the reuse of transformed wastes
in soil.
This research aimed to exploit the potential of agro-wastes to create a new chain of products obtained through
technological innovation. Specifically, we sought to: i) evaluate the potential of waste for the production of
low-cost mushrooms; ii) bioconvert waste into new bio-based by-products (e.g. recovery of biopolymers,
nutrients, biofertilizers).
Materials and methodologies used
The experiment was performed on the solid fraction of corn digestate from a biogas plant located in
Malalbergo (Bologna, Italy). The high level of nitrogen and lignin in the solid digestate makes it a suitable
substrate for growing edible mushrooms. Cyclocybe aegerita, Pleurotus cornucopiae and Pleurotus ostreatus
were grown on both corn digestate and conventional substrates. The spent substrates after mushroom
production were analyzed in C and N content and structural composition using FT-IR spectroscopy. The mature
fruiting bodies were collected for 3 months; the fresh weight was recorded to evaluate biological efficiency.
The resulting fruiting bodies were processed to extract chitin, which was characterized by FT-IR and FT-Raman
spectroscopies.
Major results and findings
P. ostreatus showed the highest biological efficiency and fruiting body production on the corn digestate.
Pleurotus ostreatus and P. cornucopiae were both able to degrade lignin as detected by FT-IR analysis.
Conclusion of your research
These results confirmed the possibility of economic use of anaerobic digestate for mushroom production
Map of suitability for the spontaneous growth of Tuber magnatum in Emilia-Romagna (Italy)
Full text linkIn this work we used an inductive and deductive approach to produce the map of Suitability for the Spontaneous Growth of Tuber magnatum (white truffle) (SSGT) in Emilia-Romagna region (northern Italy). This map was produced in order to identify the environments where appropriate actions should be applied to protect this threatened truffle species.The steps used to define the map were: 1) surveying and mapping the actual productive areas (APAs) in two provinces of Emilia-Romagna (Bologna and Modena); 2) identification of some morphological, climatic, vegetational and pedological properties related to T. magnatum development; 3) production of digital maps representing the value that each property assumes in discrete land portions; 4) overlapping the map of APAs with each of the thematic maps and selection of the properties showing the strongest relationships with the presence of T. magnatum; 5) creating the map of SSGT, covering the whole hilly area of Emilia Romagna region; 6) assessing the reliability of the SSGT map, by overlapping the APAs map and the areas of the provinces of Parma and Piacenza where the mycelium of T. magnatum was found using specific PCR.The relationships found by means of the inductive approach (comparison between selected properties and observed frequency of truffle) demonstrated its effectiveness in predicting deductively the areas with distinct suitability for truffle
Degradative ability of mushrooms cultivated on corn silage digestate
Full text linkThe current management practice of digestate from biogas plants involves its use for land application as a fertilizer. Nevertheless, the inadequate handling of digestate may cause environmental risks due to losses of ammonia, methane and nitrous oxide. Therefore, the key goals of digestate management are to maximize its value by developing new digestate products, reducing its dependency on soil application and the consequent air pollution. The high nitrogen and lignin content in solid digestate make it a suitable substrate for edible and medicinal mushroom cultivation. To this aim, the mycelial growth rate and degradation capacity of the lignocellulosic component from corn silage digestate, undigested wheat straw and their mixture were investigated on Cyclocybe aegerita, Coprinus comatus, Morchella importuna, Pleurotus cornucopiae and Pleurotus ostreatus. The structural modification of the substrates was performed by using attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy. Preliminary in vitro results demonstrated the ability of P. ostreatus, P. cornucopiae and M. importuna to grow and decay hemicellulose and lignin of digestate. Cultivation trials were carried out on C. aegerita, P. cornucopiae and P. ostreatus. Pleurotus ostreatus showed the highest biological efficiency and fruiting body production in the presence of the digestate; moreover, P. ostreatus and P. cornucopiae were able to degrade the lignin. These results provide attractive perspectives both for more sustainable digestate management and for the improvement of mushroom cultivation efficiency
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
In vitro interactions between Bradyrhizobium spp. and Tuber magnatum mycelium
Full text linkTuber magnatum is the most expensive truffle, but its large-scale cultivation is still a challenge compared to other valuable Tuber species. T. magnatum mycelium has never been grown profitably until now, which has led to difficulties to studying it in vitro. This study describes beneficial interactions between T. magnatum mycelium and never before described bradyrhizobia, which allows the in vitro growth of T. magnatum mycelium. Three T. magnatum strains were co-isolated on modified Woody Plant Medium (mWPM) with aerobic bacteria and characterised through microscopic observations. The difficulties of growing alone both partners, bacteria and T. magnatum mycelium, on mWPM demonstrated the reciprocal dependency. Three bacterial isolates for each T. magnatum strain were obtained and molecularly characterised by sequencing the 16S rRNA, glnII, recA and nifH genes. Phylogenetic analyses showed that all nine bacterial strains were distributed among five subclades included in a new monophyletic lineage belonging to the Bradyrhizobium genus within the Bradyrhizobium jicamae supergroup. The nifH genes were detected in all bacterial isolates, suggesting nitrogen-fixing capacities. This is the first report of consistent T. magnatum mycelium growth in vitro conditions. It has important implications for the development of new technologies in white truffle cultivation and for further studies on T. magnatum biology and genetics
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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