[Effects of fermented cattle dung on the growth and development of Tenebrio molitor larvae].

In order to make use of and industrialize the animal dung from large cattle farms, this paper explored the feasibility of using Tenebrio molitor to digest and utilize cattle dung. Cattle dung was mixed with the conventional feed (65% wheat bran, 30% corn flour, and 5% bean pulp) of T. molitor in definite proportions, and fermented with effective microorganisms (EM). The fermented products containing 60% and 80% of cattle dung (FD1 and FD2, respectively) were selected to feed T. molitor larvae, and the effects of the fermented products on the growth curve, death rate, pupation rate, and antioxidant system of the larvae were compared. Compared with CK (conventional deed), the FD1 made the developmental duration of the larvae prolonged by 10 days and the larvae's death rate upraised somewhat, but made the single larva's total food intake, average body mass, crude fat content, and ratio of unsaturated to saturated fat acids increased by 49%, 28%, 26%, and 32%, respectively (P < 0.05), and the activity of larvae's antioxidant system improved significantly, showing a remarkable adaptability of the larvae to FD1. Unlike FD1, FD2 displayed definite disadvantages in most test growth indicators, as compared with CK, indicating that T. molitor larvae had weak adaptability to FD2. Our findings suggested that using FD1 to feed the 3rd instar of T. molitor larvae would have good practical prospects in industrializing cattle dung.

[Effects of high concentration ozone on soybean growth and grain yield].

By using open top chambers (OTCs), soybean plants were grown in pots, and exposed to charcoal-filtered air ([O3] < 10 microg x kg(-1)) and elevated O3 (80 microg x kg(-1)) after anthesis, aimed to investigate the responses of soybean' s agronomic characters, leaf area, chlorophyll content, antioxidant system, and grain yield to elevated O3. Under elevated O3, the leaf area and chlorophyll content decreased significantly (P < 0.05), and the leaf catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and peroxidase (POD) activities had a significant increase (P < 0.01) first but a gradual decrease then, compared with those under charcoal-filtered air. Elevated O3 decreased the leaf soluble protein and ascorbate content (AsA) contents while increased the leaf malonaldehyde (MDA) content (P < 0.05), suggesting that the leaf membrane lipid peroxidation was accelerated. The dry mass per plant, effective pod number, grain number, 100-grains weight, and grain yield under elevated O3 had somewhat decreased, among which, grain yield decreased significantly, with the decrement reached to 47% (P < 0.01).