Miscanthus × giganteus (M. × giganteus) is a perspective plant produced on marginal and contaminated lands with biomass used for energy or bioproducts. In the current study, M. × giganteus development was tested in the diesel-contaminated soils (ranged from 250 mg kg−1 to 5000 mg kg−1) and the growth dynamic, leaves quantity, plants total area, number of harvested stems and leaves, SPAD and NPQt parameters were evaluated. Results showed a remarkable M. × giganteus growth in a selected interval of diesel-contaminated soil with sufficient harvested biomass. The amendment of soil by biochar 1 (produced from wastewater sludge) and biochar 2 (produced from a mixture of wood waste and biohumus) improved the crop’s morphological and physiological parameters. Biochar 1 stimulated the increase of the stems’ biomass, while biochar 2 increased the leaves biomass. The plants growing in the uncontaminated soil decreased the content of NO3, pH (KCl), P2O5 and increased the content of NH4. Photosynthesis parameters showed that incorporating biochar 1 and biochar 2 to the diesel-contaminated soil prolonged the plants’ vegetation, which was more potent for biochar 1. M. × giganteus utilization united with biochar amendment can be recommended to remediate diesel-contaminated land in concentration range 250–5000 mg kg−1.

New technologies of reintroduction of plant species presuppose implementing both traditional and biotechnological methods for obtaining certain planting materials. However, plants cultivated in vitro exist in specific conditions that lead to changes in their structural and functional state. This explains why it is hard for them to adapt to ex vitro and in situ conditions. Therefore, there is a need for the development of a multistage method of cultivating in vitro plants that would make the influence on their adaptive mechanism in ex vitro and in situ conditions possible. One of its stages is the optimization of the light regime of cultivation which can both initiate the change of the state of the photosynthetic apparatus of plants and increase their bioproductivity stimulating the work of their protective system. This work studies changes in the morphogenesis, growth data and pigment composition of the rare species of Gentiana lutea L. of three populations in the Ukrainian Carpathian (mountains Pozhyzhevska and Sheshul-Pavlyk, plateau Lemska) in vitro focusing particularly on the cultivation light regime. The research has proved the inefficiency of using fluorescent lamps of daylight lamps (LD) type as source of illumination because the low intensity of luminous flux in the area of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), as well as high proportion of wavelength of blue (400–500 nm) and green (500–600 nm) range in the spectrum cause specific reactions of photomorphogenesis, which, despite the high content of pigments in plastids, lead to poor development of root systems, stretching the stems, formation of small leaves with thin leaflet plate, generally low productivity and low adaptive potential of G. lutea plants to ex vitro and in situ conditions. Complement of cold white light lamps to the fluorescent lamps LD type in the ratio of 1 : 1 enables one to increase the intensity of illumination in the field of PAR and raise the fraction of wavelength of red range (600–700 nm). Such light conditions both improve the bio-productivity of G. lutea plants of all three populations cultured in vitro in comparison to the LD type regimen, reducing the content of chlorophyll b and carotenoids in light-harvesting complexes of photosystems and facilitate an increase in the microclonal multiplication factor without using higher concentrations of exogenous growth regulators,which significantly reduces the cost of the process of obtaining planting materials. It was proved that a combination of LD type lamps, cold white light lamps and phytolamps in the ratio 1 : 1 : 0.6 should be used on the final stages of preparation of the planting material of G. lutea before transferring it to ex vitro and in situ conditions. This relates to the fact that the increase of the wavelength of the red range results in the widening of the active surface of the leaves, rise in the content of photosynthetic pigments, and the noticeable growth of the aboveground and underground parts of the plants. The article assumes that the use of such illumination mode will ensure a faster transition of cultured in vitro G. lutea plants from heterotrophic to autotrophic nutrition, improving their adaptive potential and enabling easier adaptation to non-sterile ex vitro and in situ conditions.

The article describes the cloud service ThingSpeak as a tool for monitoring and estimates the atmospheric air pollution. The main components of open instruments of environmental monitoring were implemented via microcontroller development system – Teensy 3.2, sensor module (temperature, humidity, pressure) BME280, SenseAir S8 carbon dioxide sensor module, PMS3003 air pollution sensor, Wi-Fi module ESP-01 and online ThingSpeak platform for storing and processing data. The prototype of an open source software system is developed, which, due to its openness, integration capabilities, ease of design and informativeness, provides monitoring of the human respiratory zone in two districts of the city of Ternopil on the content of suspended particulate matter PM10 and PM2.5. The estimation of the influence of sources of pollution on the level of content suspended particulate matter in the atmospheric air was carried out with the help of multidimensional statistical methods, in particular using statistical procedure by principal component analysis, which allowed to process a large set of data and to obtain information on quantitative indicators and the nature of pollution. The analysis of particulate matter contents in the context of the cloud computing concept reflects the real-time monitoring metrics through the ThingSpeak services, which serves as a place not only for collecting, analyzing data, but also for discussing the results, thereby training students-biologists to monitor the quality of the surface layer of the atmosphere.

No abstract

This article describes how to connect to PhotosynQ and some of the features of a cloud service. The focus is on organizing communication between the web service and the Internet of Things. An example and procedure for integrating a number of digital encoders that are not included in the list supported by the default platform through modification of the open-source base firmware is given. It has been suggested that in the future, a number of tools can be designed in the future, including for environmental monitoring, using basic digital sensors included in the so-called Arduino UNO Kit kits and more. It is emphasized that the PhotosynQ web platform, which is related to the SaaS cloud computing model, is an environment for collecting, analyzing, deriving and discussing results where research protocols and calculation procedures are open access. Its primary focus is only on working with a specific list of dashboards, offset by the openness of the software itself, which provides communication with the platform.