An increasing amount of sewage sludge requires reasonable management, whereas its storage might be environmentally hazardous. Due to the organic matter and nutrient presence in sediments, it may be used as organic fertilizer. However, beyond the valuable contests, sewage sludge can also contain toxic or dangerous ingredients like heavy metals. Therefore, there is a need to develop methods for rapid assessment of sediment ecotoxicity that will determine its possible applicability in agriculture. The Biolog® EcoPlate enables the metabolic profile diversity evaluation of microbial populations in environmental samples, which reflects the state of their activity. It is regarded as a modern technology that by means of biological properties allows quick characterization of the ecological status of environmental samples, such as sewage sludge.

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Waste exogenous organic matter, including spent mushroom substrate (SMS) and chicken manure (CM), can be used as the basis of a soil-improving cropping system in sustainable agriculture. However, there is—as yet—a lack of information about important quality indicators such as the fungal community relative abundance, structure and biodiversity in soils treated with these additives. In this study, the responses of the soil fungal community composition and mycobiome diversity to SMS and CM application compared to the control soil were evaluated using a combination of the following molecular approaches: quantitative polymerase chain reactions, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis, terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism, and next-generation sequencing. The most abundant phylum for both treatments was Ascomycota, followed by Basidiomycota. The application of SMS and CM increased the abundance of fungi, including Tremellomycetes and Pezizomycetes for the SMS additive, while the Mortierellomycetes, Pezizomycetes, and Leotiomycetes levels increased after CM addition. SMS and CM beneficially reduced the relative abundance of several operational taxonomic units (OTUs) which are potential crop pathogens. The results provide a novel insight into the fungal community associated with organic additives, which should be beneficial in the task of managing the soil mycobiome as well as crop protection and productivity.

A b s t r a c t. The aim of the study was to assess the differences in the bacterial community physiological profiles in soils contaminated with heavy metals versus soils without metal contaminations. The study's contaminated soil originated from the surrounding area of the Szopienice non-ferrous metal smelter (Silesia Region, Poland). The control was soil unexposed to heavy metals. Metal concentration was appraised by flame atomic absorption spectrometry, whereas the the community-level physiological profile was determined with the Biolog EcoPlates TM system. The soil microbiological activity in both sites was also assessed via dehydrogenase activity. The mean concentrations of metals (Cd and Zn) in contaminated soil samples were in a range from 147.27 to 12265.42 mg kg -1 , and the heavy metal contamination brought about a situation where dehydrogenase activity inhibition was observed mostly in the soil surface layers. Our results demonstrated that there is diversity in the physiological profiles of microorganisms inhabiting contaminated and colntrol soils; therefore, for assessment purposes, these were treated as two clusters. Cluster I included colntrol soil samples in which microbial communities utilised most of the available substrates. Cluster II incorporated contaminated soil samples in which a smaller number of the tested substrates was utilised by the contained microorganisms. The physiological profiles of microorganisms inhabiting the contaminated and the colntrol soils are distinctly different.K e y w o r d s: Biolog ECO plates, community-level physiological profiles, heavy metals

The aim of the study was to develop a method for early detection and identification of fungal contamination of building materials using an electronic nose. Therefore, the laboratory experiments based on the analysis of the air in the vicinity of fungal isolates potentially found in the building materials were performed. The results revealed that the employed gas sensors array consisting of MOS-type sensors enables the detection of the differences among the examined samples of fungi and distinguishing between the non-contaminated and contaminated samples, shortly after fungal contamination occurs. Electronic nose readouts were analysed using Principal Component Analysis and the results were verified with standard chromatographic analysis by means of SPME-GC/MS method, which proved that gas sensors array can be applied for early detection of fungal contamination.

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Regarding the unfavourable changes in agroecosystems resulting from the excessive application of mineral fertilizers, biopreparations containing live microorganisms are gaining increasing attention. We assumed that the application of phosphorus mineral fertilizer enriched with strains of beneficial microorganisms contribute to favourable changes in enzymatic activity and in the genetic and functional diversity of microbial populations inhabiting degraded soils. Therefore, in field experiments conditions, the effects of phosphorus fertilizer enriched with bacterial strains on the status of soil microbiome in two chemically degraded soil types (Brunic Arenosol – BA and Abruptic Luvisol – AL) were investigated. The field experiments included treatments with an optimal dose of phosphorus fertilizer (without microorganisms – FC), optimal dose of phosphorus fertilizer enriched with microorganisms including Paenibacillus polymyxa strain CHT114AB, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens strain AF75BB and Bacillus sp. strain CZP4/4 (FA100) and a dose of phosphorus fertilizer reduced by 40% and enriched with the above-mentioned bacteria (FA60). The analyzes performed included: the determination of the activity of the soil enzymes (protease, urease, acid phosphomonoesterase, β-glucosidase), the assessment of the functional diversity of microorganisms with the application of BIOLOGTM plates and the characterization of the genetic diversity of bacteria, archaea and fungi with multiplex terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism and next generation sequencing. The obtained results indicated that the application of phosphorus fertilizer enriched with microorganisms improved enzymatic activity, and the genetic and functional diversity of the soil microbial communities, however these effects were dependent on the soil type.

Arabinogalactan proteins (AGPs) are cell components implicated in plant-microbe interactions. Despite the significance of AGPs in response to stress factors, their distribution during development of fungal disease in fruit is unknown. In our work, in situ analysis of AGP arrangement in fruit inoculated with Penicillium spinulosum during the consecutive days of infection development was carried out. For immunolocalization of AGPs, samples were incubated with JIM13, MAC207, LM2, and LM14 antibodies recognizing the AGP carbohydrate moieties. To analyse cell walls without proper action of AGP, an experiment with β-glucosyl Yariv reagent specifically binding AGPs was performed. The results showed an increase of signal fluorescence in the fruit after 16 days of fungal disease. Higher amounts of the examined epitopes were observed in the infection-altered sites of the fruit, in close vicinity to a surface filled by fungal spores. The results indicate that the Yariv reagent treatment induced progress of the fungal disease. Changes in the AGP presence during the fungal disease confirmed their involvement in defence against pathogen attack in fruit.