Biochar (BC) properties and its influences within agricultural soil health and environmental ecosystems largely depend on feedstock, residence time and pyrolysis conditions. The organic and inorganic contaminants from soil can be removed using BC as an adsorbent. Additionally, soil amendment with BC is known to improve overall soil quality, microbial and enzymatic activities and soil organic carbon content with nutrient retention and availability. Moreover, one of the great impacts of BC is its capability to capture soil nutrients and sequestrate carbon. The physicochemical properties of biochar could be affected by the feedstocks and pyrolysis conditions (temperature, duration, activation method, etc.). This review paper summarizes the recent research studies on the composition of BC that controls carbon presence in soil, as well as BCs role in improving soil fertility and carbon sequestration, which has not been reported in detail yet. The main finding of the present work revealed that the high pyrolytic temperatures in BC production may have negative impacts on phyto-availability of essential nutrients. Depending on the feedstock raw material and pyrolysis process used for producing BC, it has different capacities for releasing nutrients in the soil. An economically feasible method of producing newly engineered biochar, with more controlled pyrolysis and C-based materials, for suitable agriculture needs to be developed. Further investigation should be carried out to optimize the production procedure and its application to local farming community for sustainable agriculture.
Phosphorus (P) is one of the six key elements in plant nutrition and effectively plays a vital role in all major metabolic activities. It is an essential nutrient for plants linked to human food production. Although abundantly present in both organic and inorganic forms in soil, more than 40% of cultivated soils are commonly deficient in P concentration. Then, the P inadequacy is a challenge to a sustainable farming system to improve the food production for an increasing population. It is expected that the whole world population will rise to 9 billion by 2050 and, therefore, it is necessary at the same time for agricultural strategies broadly to expand food production up to 80% to 90% by handling the global dilemma which has affected the environment by climatic changes. Furthermore, the phosphate rock annually produced about 5 million metric tons of phosphate fertilizers per year. About 9.5 Mt of phosphorus enters human food through crops and animals such as milk, egg, meat, and fish and is then utilized, and 3.5 Mt P is physically consumed by the human population. Various new techniques and current agricultural practices are said to be improving P-deficient environments, which might help meet the food requirements of an increasing population. However, 4.4% and 3.4% of the dry biomass of wheat and chickpea, respectively, were increased under intercropping practices, which was higher than that in the monocropping system. A wide range of studies showed that green manure crops, especially legumes, improve the soil-available P content of the soil. It is noted that inoculation of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi could decrease the recommended phosphate fertilizer rate nearly 80%. Agricultural management techniques to improve soil legacy P use by crops include maintaining soil pH by liming, crop rotation, intercropping, planting cover crops, and the consumption of modern fertilizers, in addition to the use of more efficient crop varieties and inoculation with P-solubilizing microorganisms. Therefore, exploring the residual phosphorus in the soil is imperative to reduce the demand for industrial fertilizers while promoting long-term sustainability on a global scale.
In this study, it is aimed to analyze the positive effects of pets on the market economy and people. The COVID-19 pandemic started with the virus outbreak that emerged in Wuhan City, the capital of Hubei Province of China, on December 1, 2019 [1], and the first case in our country was announced by the Ministry of Health on March 11, 2020. With the rapid spread of the epidemic in the world, closures in countries, travel restrictions, working from home and the introduction of the online education system, the rate of spending more time with pets, known as people's loyal friends, and the rate of adopting new animals have begun to increase. In this process, it has been seen that people are more interested in their animals and they are more sensitive in meeting their needs. It has been observed that they do not hesitate to allocate a significant part of their budgets in many subjects such as animal nutrition and veterinary care services, consumption expenditures such as pad shop products and purchasing new animals have increased, and this market has been dynamic. It is known that having a pet is good for blood pressure, greatly reduces the feeling of loneliness and depression in people, and always keeps their hopes warm. It can be said that taking care of furry friends after a long day helps people feel more optimistic and spending time with their pets helps them cope with stress, helps animals increase social relationships, and develops empathy, social skills, mutual love and sense of responsibility in children. It can be said that spending time with their pets is good for people's mood, and they even prefer their animals over other people in quarantine, and they gain social status. The trend of online shopping for pets also seems to become permanent. Pets are now more important than ever in our lives. The pandemic may ease in the near future, but the closeness of our pets will be permanent. It is seen that the tendency towards the adoption of pets and meeting their needs such as care and nutrition is increasing day by day. While various needs come to the fore in this trend, it is important to determine the economic role of consumption of these needs and their relationship with the reasons.
The aim of this study was to provide necessary agricultural extension support while carrying out agricultural activities by revealing the production patterns and farmer profiles in the villages of the Kartepe district of the Kocaeli province. The farmers registered in the Farmer Registration System (FRS) were taken into account. A total of 260 farmers participated in a two-month study, answering a questionnaire during face-to-face interviews, and the data obtained were evaluated through performing statistical analyses. The data were interpreted by applying frequency tables and the Kruskal–Wallis test. A total of 89.6% of the farmers are male, 10.4% are female, 40.8% are 56 years old and over, and 34.6% are between 45 and 55 years old. In terms of education levels, 61.9%, the highest proportion, graduated from primary school, followed by 15.8% who graduated from secondary and high schools, those who graduated from university with a Bachelor/Associate Degree, and, finally, those who graduated with a postgraduate degree as well as those who are illiterate. A total of 69.2% of the farmers are retired, and 24.7% are workers. The land of 68.8% of the respondents is their own property, and the land of 11.9% of them is common land. This land ranges as follows: 32.7% consists of 1–10 acres and 11–20 acres, and 17.3% consists of 21–30 acres. More than half of the participants (51.9%) produce 4 tons or more of their product annually. The social security coverage of the respondents is as follows: 42.7% SSK, 21.2% Bagkur, and 16.5% Pension Fund. The analyses show that the differences in terms of occupation, land size, property status, number of workers and worker status, social security, the fight against diseases and pests, and the relationships between them are important.
The transition of people from the nomadic life to the settled social life from the past to the present has also affected and further developed the relations of people in the settled life with animals. As people move from individual life to social life, they also experience some social and economic changes. These changes often affect behaviour patterns and lifestyles. Social changes have brought with them urban and rural differences. Along with this change, people’s perspectives on animals also changed over time, they domesticated some species defined as wild or wild animals and started to keep them as pets in their farms or homes. People benefit from various yields of animals such as offspring, meat, milk, eggs, wool, horns, nails, work, protection, life partner, guidance service. Although there are many reasons for this, the most important reason is the Covid-19 pandemic. It is clearly seen that animals provide economic, social and spiritual support to humans in this difficult period.
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