Most cultivars of sorghum have low field emergence as common problem. Three experiments were carried out at Agriculture College, Baghdad University. First experiment was conducted in laboratory according to Complete Randomized Design (CRD) with four replicates. Second and third experiments were conducted at field according to Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) during the spring and the fall seasons of 2015, respectively, with four replicates for each one. Same two factors were studied at each experiment. First factor was seed priming by seed soaking for 10 hours in distilled water, solvents of GA3, KCl and thiamine (300, 40 and 30 mg*L-1, respectively) and non-primed seed. Second factor was three cultivars of sorghum (Inqath, Kafier and Rabeh). The aim was to improve field emergence and grain yield of sorghum under wide range of environmental conditions by using seed priming. Data were analyzed at P˂0.05. The results showed significant effects of seed priming, cultivars of sorghum and their interaction on most traits under this study. A significant superiority of interaction was found between thiamine and Rabeh on length of plumule and dry weight of seedling at laboratory experiment. A significant superiority of interaction was found between thiamine and Rabeh on percentage of field emergence and total grain yield during spring season. A significant superiority of interaction was found between KCl and Inqath on percentage of field emergence and total grain yield during fall season. It can be concluded that technique of seed priming is effective to improve field emergence and grain yield of sorghum under wide range of environmental conditions.
Due to their high nutritional value, richness in carbohydrates and good source of protein, legumes are considered essential for human diet. Legumes flours were used as fermentable material for lactic acid production. Hence, previously isolated lactobacilli strains were used in this study. The strains showed strong microbial growth and their survival in glucose-containing MRS medium and were described using a modified Gompertz equation. Lactobacilli exhibited the shortest latency phase in MRS-glucose medium. While the highest lactic acid produced was 15.40g/l by Lpb. pentosus U1 isolate after 48hours. Furthermore, these strains were evaluated in flours samples for acidification capacity. The results showed a decrease
... Show MoreOrganofluorines, as a pollutant, belongs to a group of substances which are very difficult to neutralize. They are part of many products of everyday use and for this reason they pollute the environment in large quantities. Perfluorinated carboxylic acids are entered into the list of the “Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants” in order to minimize the load on the environment by significantly reducing their use, up to their complete rejection. The DD4 strain was isolated from the soil by the enrichment method and identified using 16S rRNA method as Pseudomonas plecoglossicida. It is able to metabolize perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) as the only carbon source in Raymond nutrient medium with a concentration of 1000
... Show MoreBecause of inhalation of the volatile substances and unintended ingestion, the risk of health problems for fuelling employees exposed to gasoline vapours in gas stations is increased. Therefore, the goal of the study was to compare the oxidative stress state of healthy volunteers, who served as the control group, to Iraqi male fuelling staff, who served as the exposed groups. The levels of total oxidant status (TOS), total antioxidant status (TAS) and oxidative stress index (OSI), malondialdehyde (MDA), Uric acid (UA), and total peroxidase activity were measured. A total of 102 subjects divided into three groups according to the duration of fuel vapours exposure: 25 exposed for 1-10 years (G1), 50 exposed for 11-19 years (G2)
... Show MoreA green and low-cost method was used to prepare graphene oxide (GO) and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) by chemical exfoliation of graphite powder by modified Hummers method, followed by reduction using ascorbic acid. X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) were used to analyze the structure and morphology of the synthesized materials. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy were used to identify the formation of the GO and rGO
The present work concerns with simulating unsteady state equilibrium model for production of methyl oleate (biodiesel) from reaction of oleic acid with methanol using sulfuric acid as a catalyst in batch reactive distillation. MESHR equations of equilibrium model were solved using MATLAB (R2010a). The validity of simulation model was tested by comparing the simulation results with a data available in literature. UNIQUAC liquid phase activity coefficient model is the most appropriate model to describe the non-ideality of OLAC-MEOH-MEOL-H2O system. The chemical reactions rates results from EQ model indicating the rates are controlled by chemical kinetics. Several variables was studied such as molar ratio of methanol to oleic acid 4:1, 6:1
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In this study, optical fibers were designed and implemented as a chemical sensor based on surface plasmon resonance (SPR) to estimate the age of the oil used in electrical transformers. The study depends on the refractive indices of the oil. The sensor was created by embedding the center portion of the optical fiber in a resin block, followed by polishing, and tapering to create the optical fiber sensor. The tapering time was 50 min. The multi-mode optical fiber was coated with 60 nm thickness gold metal. The deposition length was 4 cm. The sensor's resonance wavelength was 415 nm. The primary sensor parameters were calculated, including sensitivity (6.25), signal-to-noise ratio (2.38), figure of merit (4.88), and accuracy (3.2)
... Show MoreThe present study aims to get experimentally a deeper understanding of the efficiency of carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) sheets applied to improve the torsional behavior of L-shaped reinforced concrete spandrel beams in which their ledges were loaded in two stages under monotonic loading. An experimental program was conducted on spandrel beams considering different key parameters including the cross-sectional aspect ratio (
In past years, structural pavement solution has been combined with destructive testing; these destructive methods are being replaced by non-destructive testing methods (NDT). Because the destructive test causes damage due to coring conducted for testing and also the difficulty of adequately repairing the core position in the field. Ultrasonic pulse velocity was used to evaluate the strength and volumetric properties of asphalt concrete, of binder course. The impact of moisture damage and testing temperature on pulse velocity has also been studied. Data were analyzed and modeled. It was found that using non-destructive testing represented by pulse velocity could be useful to predict the quality of asphalt c
... Show MoreThe optimal combination of aluminum quality, sufficient strength, high stress to weight ratio and clean finish make it a good choice in driveshafts fabrication. This study has been devoted to experimentally investigate the effect of applying laser shock peening (LSP) on the fatigue performance for 6061-T6 aluminum alloy rotary shafts. Q-switched pulsed Nd:YAG laser was used with operating parameters of 500 mJ and 600 mJ pulse energies, 12 ns pulse duration and 10 Hz pulse repetition rate. The LSP is applied at the waist of the prepared samples for the cyclic fatigue test. The results show that applying 500 mJ pulse energy yields a noticeable effect on enhancing the fatigue strength by increasing the required number of cycles to fracture the
... Show MoreCompaction curves are widely used in civil engineering especially for road constructions, embankments, etc. Obtaining the precise amount of Optimum Moisture Content (OMC) that gives the Maximum Dry Unit weight gdmax. is very important, where the desired soil strength can be achieved in addition to economic aspects.
In this paper, three peak functions were used to obtain the OMC and gdmax. through curve fitting for the values obtained from Standard Proctor Test. Another surface fitting was also used to model the Ohio’s compaction curves that represent the very large variation of compacted soil types.
The results showed very good correlation between the values obtained from some publ
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