Sorghum has been widely used for liquor production and brewing, but how to make efficiently utilize sorghum straw (SS) has become an urgent problem. Meanwhile, the wastewater produced by winemaking is typical organic wastewater with a high ammonium concentration. To solve the problem of resource utilization of SS and remove ammonium from water, SS was used to prepare biochar as an adsorbent for ammonium adsorption. Batch adsorption experiments were carried out to study the influencing factors and adsorption mechanisms of ammonium onto sorghum straw biochar (SSB). The results showed that the adsorption capacity of SSB was much higher than that of SS. The SSB pyrolyzed at 300 °C had the highest adsorption capacity. The favorable pH was 6–10, and the optimal dosage was 2.5 g/L. The adsorption process and behavior conformed to the pseudo-second-order kinetic and Langmuir isotherm adsorption models. The maximum ammonium adsorption capacity of SSB at 45 °C was 7.09 mg/g, which was equivalent to 7.60 times of SS. The ammonium adsorption of SS and SSB was mainly chemical adsorption. The regeneration test indicated that SSB had good regeneration performance after three adsorption-regeneration cycles. This work suggests that SSB could be potentially applied to sewage treatment containing ammonium to achieve the purpose of resource recycling.

Crop-livestock systems are critical for global agricultural sustainability. Here we show for the first time a new crop-livestock system: farming Muscovy ducks in maize fields (FD). To test whether FD is a practicable crop-livestock system, we conducted a 3-year field experiment to explore the growth and weight performance of Muscovy ducks in FD and to compare the FD with conventional maize planting (CMP) and raising ducks indoors (RDI) regarding crop growth and yield, weed biomass and density, feed conversion ratio, and economic benefits. We found that Muscovy ducks could adapt and thrive in maize fields with grain supplementation. The average weight per duck in FD at the harvest stage of maize was 2.24-3.82 kg, which met the local market standard and was higher than in RDI with a lower feed conversion ratio. When compared to CMP, FD did not significantly reduce the maize production in terms of yield or biomass, although the ducks fed on or damaged an average of four maize leaves. Importantly, FD significantly reduced the weed biomass and density. In addition, the net present value (NPV) of FD was $ 6690.47 per ha or $ 10.993 per duck, which was three times and 22.8% greater than those of CMP and RDI, respectively. These results indicated that FD, as a new crop-livestock system on dry land at the field scale, can promote sustainable agricultural production and act as a potential crop-livestock system due to the large global maize area.

No abstract

Mu et al.: Respiratory Failure in Glufosinate PoisoningAcute glufosinate ammonium poisoning can cause neurological complications and respiratory failure, which are usually delayed and difficult to predict. Serum ammonia level might be an indicator of severe glufosinate poisoning, but it has not been confirmed. We aimed to investigate the potential predictors of respiratory failure after glufosinate poisoning. We conducted a retrospective review of 21 cases of glufosinate poisoning between 2010 and 2019. Patients were assigned to intubated due to respiratory failure and non-intubated groups. The following characteristics were compared between these two groups; age, sex and period from poisoning to hospital arrival, vital signs, Glasgow coma scale, laboratory parameters and electrocardiogram measurements. Furthermore, the outcomes of morbidity and mortality were analyzed. Totally, 12 cases were be intubated and the other 9 were not intubated. Leukocytosis, hyperglycemia, increased serum creatinine, peak ammonia level and decreased Glasgow coma scale score found at emergency visits were significantly different between these two groups. The white blood cell count (median: 9100 vs. 15 785, p=0.046) and serum creatinine (median: 0.88 vs. 1.20, p=0.019) and blood sugar (median: 114.0 vs. 138.5, p=0.032) levels were higher and the initial Glasgow coma scale score was lower in the intubated group than in the non-intubated group (median: 15 vs. 13, p=0.030). Moreover, six patients who presented with a decreased Glasgow coma scale score and an increased ammonia level developed respiratory failure. In cases of glufosinate poisoning, leukocytosis, hyperglycemia, impaired renal function and decreased Glasgow coma scale score initially can use to predict respiratory failure. Moreover, conscious change combined with an early increase in serum ammonia level implied that, intensive monitoring should be required to prevent lethal complications from delayed onset of respiratory failure.