An experiment was carried out at the field units of the north campus experimental areas in Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University, Yangling, Shaanxi Province, P. R. China. The experiment was conducted on summer season (June to September) to determine the effects of different planting patterns of maize and soybean intercropping in resource consumption on fodder yield and silage quality. The main treatments were one sole crop of maize (SM) and four maize-soybean intercropping patterns (1 row maize to 1 row soybean (1M1S), 1 row maize to 2 rows soybean (1M2S), 1 rows maize to 3 rows soybean (1M3S) and 2 rows maize to 1 row soybean (2M1S), respectively. The experiment was a randomized complete block design with three replications, and plot size of 12 m by 5 m. The crops were harvested when the maize reached at milk stage and soybean at R7 stage. The result indicated significant increase in fresh biomass and dry matter production of maize fodder alone as compared to maize intercropped with soybean fodder. It was correlated with a higher consumption of environmental resources, such as photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) and soil moisture by intercropping. After 45 days of ensiling period, silage samples were analyzed for pH, organic acids (Lactic, acetic, and butyric), dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), ether extract (EE), neutral detergent fibre (NDF), acid detergent fibre (ADF), calcium (Ca), sodium (Na), phosphorus (P), magnesium (Mg), and potassium (K). It was concluded that in all intercropped silages, crude protein (CP) values were 667higher (1M1S, 12.1%; 1M2S, 12.2%; 1M3S, 12.4%; 2M1S, 12.1%) than the monocrop maize (SM, 8.7%) silage. Higher organic acids (p < 0.05) were produced in the 1M3S silages as compared to others silages. The study indicated that among all intercropped silages, the 1M3S (1 row maize to 3 rows soybean) was preferable according to nutrient composition than other intercropped silages.

This study discusses microbial-enhanced oil recovery (MEOR) application in Unit Jian-12 in Huabei Oilfield, China. The pilot field was a heavy oil reservoir (50 • C, 204 mP.s) with high temperature (75.6 • C). Unit Jian-12 was undergoing a waterflooding pattern; however, ordinary waterflooding no longer recovered residual oil efficiently that the MEOR method was strongly recommended in the stripper wells in the unit. A series of laboratory studies was conducted prior to the pilot test. The selected microbial consortia exhibited a positive effect on enhanced oil recovery and potential for application. A two-cycle trial was conducted and the production performance of the unit was monitored. The characteristics of crude oil were modified by biodegradation and the fluidity was improved. The residual oil in the formation was stimulated by the metabolic activities and metabolites, which greatly enhanced the displacement efficiency. In addition, an injection profile improvement was also observed in one injector (J 12-14) after the trial, indicating that the MEOR method could improve the heterogeneity of the reservoir and enhance the sweep efficiency. The results in this study were of academic and theoretic significance to microbial-enhanced oil recovery applications in heavy oil reservoirs.