Potassium chlorate is widely used as an active substance for flower induction in longan plantation fields for off‐season production of longan fruits in northern Thailand. Contamination of groundwater with residual chlorate in soil is a cause for concern because of its toxicity to human health. Based on our previous finding that the addition of glucose or sucrose to soil was effective for accelerating the disappearance of residual chlorate in soil, the effect of the addition of molasses, which contains a high concentration of sucrose, as a substitute for glucose or sucrose was examined in laboratory and pot experiments. Under laboratory conditions, the addition of molasses to soil at the concentrations of 100 to 200 g kg−1 soil strikingly enhanced the rate of disappearance of chlorate applied at 341 mg kg−1 soil. Addition of diluted molasses was also effective for the accelerated disappearance of chlorate in soil when 33 g kg−1 soil of molasses was added repeatedly. The effect of repeated addition of diluted molasses to soil on the decontamination of residual chlorate in soil was also confirmed in an outdoor pot experiment. These results may lead to the development of a practical method of cleaning‐up chlorate‐polluted soil in longan plantation fields.
Potassium chlorate is widely used as an active substance for flower induction in longan plantation fields for the off-season production of fruits in northern Thailand. The effects of the application of chlorate on the mineralization of organic matter in soil, nitrification in soil and the number of culturable soil bacteria were examined. No effect or a very small effect of chlorate on the mineralization of organic matter and soil bacterial number was observed, whereas nitrification was significantly suppressed. Suppression of nitrification should be taken into consideration as a possible side-effect of potassium chlorate in longan plantation soil.
Low dose gamma irradiation was used to study stimulation effects on germination percentage and seedling growth of long period storage tomato seeds. Irradiation dose of Co-60 source ranging from 0 (control), 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 Gy were used to irradiated 2 yearsstorage tomato seeds. After irradiation, the seeds were planted in tissue paper. On the eight days of germination, germination percentage, seedling length and root length were measured. The result shows that the germination parameters of the tomato seedssignificantly increased when irradiated with 20 Gy of gamma rays. This study may be useful for stimulating the germination percentage of tomato seeds stored for a long period.
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