Optimizing biochar application for enhanced cotton and sugar beet production in Xinjiang: a comprehensive study.

BACKGROUND: Optimizing biochar application is vital for enhancing crop production and ensuring sustainable agricultural production. A 3-year field experiment was established to explore the effects of varying the biochar application rate (BAR) on crop growth, quality, productivity and yields. BAR was set at 0, 10, 50 and 100 t ha-1 in 2018; 0, 10, 25, 50 and 100 t ha-1 in 2019; and 0, 10, 25 and 30 t ha-1 in 2020. Crop quality and growth status and production were evaluated using the dynamic technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution with the entropy weighted method (DTOPSIS-EW), principal component analysis (PCA), membership function analysis (MFA), gray relation analysis (GRA) and the fuzzy Borda combination evaluation method. RESULTS: Low-dose BAR (≤ 25 t ha-1 for cotton; ≤ 50 t ha-1 for sugar beet) effectively increased biomass, plant height, leaf area index (LAI), water and fertility (N, P and K) productivities, and yield. Biochar application increased the salt absorption and sugar content in sugar beet, with the most notable increases being 116.45% and 20.35%, respectively. Conversely, BAR had no significant effect on cotton fiber quality. The GRA method was the most appropriate for assessing crop growth and quality. The most indicative parameters for reflecting cotton and sugarbeet growth and quality status were biomass and LAI. The 10 t ha-1 BAR consistently produced the highest scores and was the most economically viable option, as evaluated by DTOPSIS-EW. CONCLUSION: The optimal biochar application strategy for improving cotton and sugar beet cultivation in Xinjiang, China, is 10 t ha-1 biochar applied continuously. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry.

A combined approach using slightly acidic electrolyzed water spraying and chitosan and pectin coating on the quality of the egg cuticle, prevention of bacterial invasion, and extension of shelf life of eggs during storage.

Slightly acidic electrolyzed water (SAEW) is often used on eggs to remove microorganisms, but the cuticle will be damaged, causing bacterial invasion and deterioration of egg quality during preservation. Therefore, a combination of SAEW disinfection with chitosan (CS) and pectin (PT) composite coating (CS + PT) was tried in preventing bacterial invasion and prolonging the shelf life of eggs. The results showed the order of decontamination effectiveness on contaminated eggs was SAEW > Electrolyzed reduced water (ERW) + SAEW > ERW > deionized water. The CS + PT coating used on SAEW-disinfected eggs inhibits the S. enteritidis invasion (reduced by 63.3%) and was successfully used to maintain the quality of eggs (Haugh unit 48.63, Weight loss 7.34%, Yolk index 0.29, pH 8.93) after 8 weeks storage at 25 ℃. The results revealed that the combination of SAEW and CS + PT was a very promising method for egg preservation.