In order to find a more efficient, economical, and environmentally friendly chemical fertilizer alternative, we have developed a new type of microbial fertilizer. The reported types of functional microorganisms in biofertilizers are mostly single and concentrated in nitrogen-fixing bacteria and phosphate-solubilizing bacteria. Here we evaluate the effect of the compound microbial fertilizer with several kinds of functional bacteria. A field experiment was conducted with five treatments (no-fertilization control, regular fertilization 600 kg ha −1 , compound microbial fertilizer 750 kg ha −1 , compound microbial fertilizer 900 kg ha −1 , compound microbial fertilizer 1050 kg ha −1). The effects of the compound microbial fertilizer on wheat traits, grain yield, soil physical and chemical properties, and microbial community structure were investigated. The results showed that the compound microbial fertilizer as base fertilizer could not only enhance the contents of soil available phosphorus and available potassium but also enhance the grain yield markedly. The compound microbial fertilizer could affect the microbial community, and the change of the microbial community was more correlated with growth period of wheat. The results established that the compound microbial fertilizer which can reduce part of the amount of chemical fertilizer can enhance wheat yield and the recommended dose of the fertilizer is 750 kg ha −1 in the study area.

RNAi technology, known as a revolutionary technology in the history of pesticides, has been identified as a very promising novel approach for crop protection, which is of great significance for achieving the sustainable agricultural development of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. Although many studies have shown that RNA biopesticides have strong application prospects, its stability seriously restricts the commercial use. As the core component of RNAi, double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) is unstable in its natural form. Therefore, how to ensure the stability of dsRNA is one of the most significant challenges in realizing the commercial use of RNA biopesticides. Nanomaterials such as cationic polymers and lipofectamine can improve the stability of dsRNA in the environment, which has been proved. This paper reviews the recent research progress of nanomaterials that can be used to improve the environmental stability of dsRNA, and discusses the advantages and limitations of different nanomaterials combined with dsRNA, which provides reference for the selection of dsRNA nanoformulations.

In this work, the Pb adsorption and removal ability of biochar from simulated Pb(II)-contaminated wastewater, adsorption isotherms, kinetics, and thermodynamics were studied. Adsorption characteristics of biochar on Pb(II) were analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope with energy dispersive spectrometer (SEM-EDS). The influence of the pH of the solution, the contact time, and the biochar dose on the removal of Pb(II) were investigated by single-factor design and response surface analysis. With the increase in biochar dose from 2 g/L to 4 g/L in wastewater, the Pb(II) amount adsorbed on biochar reduced from 21.3 mg/g to 17.5 mg/g. A weakly acidic environment was more conducive to the ligand exchange between Pb(II) ions and biochar. Pb(II) adsorption kinetics of biochar showed that the Pseudo-first-order model was more suitable than other employed models to describe the adsorption process. During the isothermal adsorption process, Langmuir and Freundlich’s isotherms fitted the adsorption data very well (R2 > 96%). The Pb (II) adsorption onto biochar was spontaneous in the specified temperature range (298–318 K) and the process was exothermic. Simultaneously, the optimal conditions were a pH of 5, a contact time of 255 min, and a biochar dose of 3 g/L, under which the maximum predicted Pb(II) removal efficiency was 91.52%.

Lead (Pb)-contaminated wastewater is the most common source of heavy metal ion pollution. In this study, agricultural waste edible fungi residue (EFR) was used to adsorb Pb(II) ions in wastewater as a strategy to reduce environmental pollution and minimize poisoning by Pb. The influence of Pb(II) concentration, solution pH, and EFR concentration on the removal efficiency (R) of Pb(II) was investigated with single factor design and response surface analysis. The maximum predicted R for Pb(II) was 76.34% under optimal conditions of Pb(II) concentration of 483.83 mg/L, EFR concentration of 4.99 g/L, and pH of 5.89. The actual experimental value of R reached 76.97% under these conditions. The competition of Pb(II) ions for the available adsorption sites on EFR limited the maximum R. A comparison of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy before and after the adsorption of Pb(II), indicated that the functional groups of EFR significantly affected the effect of adsorption of heavy metals, and that the adsorption process was primarily affected by functional groups in the range of wavenumbers from 500 to 2,000 cm−1.

The discharge of wastewater containing hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) into the environment is very harmful to living things. Therefore, before effluent that contains Cr(VI) can be discharged into the environment, this toxin should be removed from the contaminated water. In this study, corn stalk biochar was investigated to evaluate the Cr(VI) removal efficiency from an aqueous solution. The effects of pH (2–10), biochar concentration (0.5 to 10 g/L), Cr(VI) concentration (10–500 mg/L), and contact time (10–1440 min) were studied. The actual experimental value of the Cr(VI) removal efficiency was 28.67%, largely consistent with the predicted model value of 29.31%, under the optimal conditions of a Cr(VI) concentration of 60 g/L, pH 4, contact time of 270 min, and a biochar concentration of 4.5 g/L. A significant interaction between the Cr(VI) concentration and pH was observed, along with significance in the interaction between Cr(VI) concentration and biochar concentration, which had a greater impact on the removal of Cr(VI). Biosorption onto corn stalk biochar is an affordable and economical adsorption process to treat wastewater contaminated with Cr(VI). The aim of this study is to provide data to serve as a basis for future studies on the use of raw agricultural waste to remove Cr(VI).