A careful control of the N nutritional status of grapevines can have a determining effect on wine characteristics; therefore a suitable management of N fertilization might allow some wine parameters to be modified, thereby improving product quality. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of foliar application of urea at different doses and different times of the growing season on the parameters of Sauvignon Blanc and Merlot grape juice. The research described herein involved Sauvignon Blanc and Merlot grapevines (V. vinifera L.) at a commercial vineyard and was conducted over 2 years. In the first year, N treatment involved a foliar application at a dose of 10 kg N ha -1 during veraison, whereas in the second year it involved a foliar urea application at two doses (10 and 50 kg N ha -1 ) and at three different times-3 weeks before veraison, during veraison and 3 weeks after veraison. In this second year, the urea applied at a dose of 10 kg N ha -1 was isotopically labelled with 1% 15 N. Chemical parameters, yeast assimilable N, amino acid content, amino acid profile and N isotopic composition were determined for all treatments. Grape and grape-juice parameters for Merlot were found to be more affected by N fertilization than for Sauvignon Blanc and were also more affected during the second year than during the first year, thus indicating that the climatic characteristics of each campaign could affect these parameters. The yeast assimilable N in grape juice was found to be higher for late applications of foliar urea, with application of the higher dose of urea during veraison increasing the amino acid and proline contents in both varieties. The isotopic analysis data showed that the urea applied to leaves was transferred to the berries, with the maximum translocation in Sauvignon Blanc occurring for the post-veraison treatment and in Merlot for the veraison treatment. We can therefore conclude that foliar application of urea could modify grape juice quality and could therefore be used as a tool for obtaining quality wines.

Use of N-based fertilisers in combination with nitrification inhibitors lengthens N presence in the ammonium form in soil (N-NH4+), with beneficial effects for agriculture and related ecosystems. The efficiency of these inhibitors depends on several factors, the most important being soil temperature. This paper studies the effects of soil temperature on the kinetics of N-NH4+ loss in the presence of the DCD and DMPP nitrification inhibitors. For a 105-day period, 3 chambers, each with 12 containers holding 500 g of dry soil, were incubated at 10, 20, and 30�C. Ammonium sulfate was applied to 4 containers in each chamber; in another 4 containers Basammon Stabil, a N fertiliser with DCD, was used; and Entec 26, a fertiliser with DMPP, was used in the remaining 4 containers. Soil ammonium content was periodically determined for each container. Both DCD and DMPP lengthened ammonium presence in soil in a similar manner. However, their effectiveness was drastically decreased at increased soil temperatures. Thus, when using these inhibitors, soil temperature should be taken into account, especially in warm climate areas.

The oxidation of dimethyl ether (DME) under flow reactor conditions has been studied experimentally and in terms of a detailed chemical kinetic model. The experiments were performed at atmospheric pressure in the temperature range 600-1500 K and at different aidfuel ratios. Of particular interest was the interaction of DME with nitrogen oxides. The results show that the oxidation of DME occurs readily at temperatures above 1000 K, largely independent of the stoichiometry. Addition of NO under stoichiometric and fuel-rich conditions does not affect the oxidation chemistry for DME, but above 1100 K a minor amount of the NO is reduced to HCN and N, in rebum-type reactions. Addition of NO or NO, under oxidizing conditions significantly enhances the oxidation rate of DME and shifts the temperature for onset of oxidation to lower values, a phenomenon similar to that of NOx-sensitized oxidation of hydrocarbons.The proposed chemical kinetic model provides a good description of DME oxidation in the absence of nitrogen oxides. Under the conditions of the present study, the conversion of DME proceeds mainly through the high-temperature mechanism, with little importance of the intermediate peroxy species. In the presence of NO or NO,, the reaction CH, + NO, + CH,O + NO, followed by dissociation of CH,O, readily provides H atoms and thereby promotes the oxidation. At lower temperatures the mechanism involves CH,OCH,O, and CH,O, radicals. While the effect of NOx generally is described satisfactorily by the model, deviations at lower temperatures may indicate inadequacies in the reaction subset for these peroxy species.

Home composting is a powerful tool, which is spreading in different parts of the world, to reduce the generation of municipal waste. However, there is debate concerning the appropriateness, in terms of domestic hygiene and safety, of keeping a composter bin in the household deputed to kitchen waste of animal origin, such as meat or fish scraps and pet droppings. The purpose of our work was to study how the addition of meat scraps to household waste influences the composting process and the quality of the final compost obtained. We compared four raw material mixtures, characterized by a different combination of vegetable and meat waste and different ratios of woody bulking agent. Changes in temperature, mass and volume, phenotypic microbial diversity (by Biolog™) and organic matter humification were determined during the process. At the end of the experiment, the four composts were weighed and characterized by physicochemical analysis. In addition, the presence of viable weed seeds was investigated and a germination bioassay was carried out to determine the level of phytotoxicity. Finally, the levels of pathogens (Escherichia coli and Salmonella spp.) were also determined in the final compost. Here we show that the presence of meat waste as raw feedstock for composting in bins can improve the activity of the process, the physicochemical characteristics and maturity of the compost obtained, without significantly affecting its salinity, pH and phytotoxicity. Pathogen levels were low, showing that they can be controlled by an intensive management and proper handling of the composter bins.