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Environmental health specialists, other onsite wastewater professionals, scientists, and homeowners have questioned the effectiveness of septic tank additives. This paper describes an independent, third-party, field scale, research study of the effects of three liquid bacterial septic tank additives and a control (no additive) on septic tank microbial populations. Microbial populations were measured quarterly in a field study for 12 months in 48 full-size, functioning septic tanks. Bacterial populations in the 48 septic tanks were statistically analyzed with a mixed linear model. Additive effects were assessed for three septic tank maintenance levels (low, intermediate, and high). Dunnett's t-test for tank bacteria (alpha = .05) indicated that none of the treatments were significantly different, overall, from the control at the statistical level tested. In addition, the additives had no significant effects on septic tank bacterial populations at any of the septic tank maintenance levels. Additional controlled, field-based research iswarranted, however, to address additional additives and experimental conditions.

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Five dual-flow fermentors (700 mL) were used to determine the effects of eastern gamagrass (Tripsacum dactyloides [L.] L.) diets on microbial metabolism by mixed rumen cultures. Fermentors were incubated with filtered ruminal contents and allowed to adapt for 4 d to diets followed by 3 d of sample collection. Five dietary treatments were tested: 1) gamagrass hay (GH) + no corn (GHNC), 2) gama grass silage (GS) + no corn (GSNC), 3) GS + low corn (GSLC), 4) GS + medium corn (GSMC); and 5) GS + high corn (GSHC). The experiment was conducted as a randomized complete block design with five treatments and three replications. Total VFA concentrations were not affected by diets. Corn addition linearly decreased (P < 0.001) molar proportion of acetate. In contrast, molar proportion of propionate was reduced in GSLC (cubic effect, P < 0.001) but remained similar across other diets. Corn supplementation linearly increased molar proportion of butyrate (P < 0.001). The acetate + butyrate-to-propionate ratio was highest in cultures offered GSLC (cubic effect, P < 0.001) but similar across other diets. Feeding GSNC resulted in a higher ruminal pH compared with GHNC (P < 0.03). Increasing the level of corn supplementation in GS linearly decreased culture pH (P < 0.001). All diets resulted in similar methane production, with the exception of GSMC, which lowered methane output (quadratic effect, P < 0.004). Total substrate fermented to VFA and gas tended to be greater with GHNC than with GSNC (P < 0.06) and linearly increased with the addition of corn (P < 0.004). Neutral detergent fiber digestibility was similar between GH and GS and was not affected by supplemental corn. Microbial N flow increased in cultures offered GSHC (quadratic effect, P < 0.02). Corn supplementation at the medium and high level linearly decreased C 18:0 (P < 0.02) and increased trans-C18:1 (P < 0.004). Including corn at the high level with GS did not have a detrimental effect on fermentation in dual-flow fermentors.

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This study evaluated the effects of dilution rate and forage-to-concentrate ratio on gas production by rumen microbes. Continuous cultures were used to monitor methane production at three liquid dilution rates (3.2, 6.3, or 12.5%/h) and three forage-to-concentrate ratios (70:30, 50:50, or 30:70). Filtered ruminal contents were allowed 6 d of adaptation to diets followed by 7 d of data collection. Forage consisted of pelleted alfalfa and the concentrate mix included ground corn, soybean meal, and a mineral and vitamin premix. The experiment was replicated in a split-plot design. Total volatile fatty acid production averaged 58.0 mmol/d and was not affected by treatment. Molar proportion of acetate increased with increasing forage-to-concentrate ratio. Molar proportion of propionate tended to decrease at dilution rate of 12.5%/h and increased with the medium and low forage-to-concentrate ratio. Culture pH tended to be greater at a dilution rate of 12.5%/h. Methane production that was calculated from stoichiometric equations was not affected by treatments. However, methane production based on methane concentration in fermentor headspace resulted in an interaction effect of treatments. Stoichiometric equations underestimated methane output at higher dilution rates and with high forage diets. Total diet fermentability was lowest at dilution rate of 3.2%/h. Increasing dilution rates increased microbial yield; increasing the proportion of concentrate improved microbial efficiency. Dilution rate and forage-to-concentrate ratio altered the partition of substrate by microbes. Methane production based on actual concentrations differed from values estimated using stoichiometry of end-product appearance.

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This study investigated the sensory and rheological properties of young cheeses in order to better understand perceived cheese texture. Mozzarella and Monterey Jacks were tested at 4, 10, 17, and 38 d of age; process cheese was tested at 4 d. Rheological methods were used to determine the linear and nonlinear viscoelastic and fracture properties. A trained sensory panel developed a descriptive language and reference scales to evaluate cheese texture. All methods differentiated the cheeses by variety. Principal component analysis of sensory texture revealed that three principal components explained 96.1% of the total variation in the cheeses. The perception of firmness decreased as the cheeses aged, whereas the perception of springiness increased. Principal component analysis of the rheological parameters (three principal components: 87.9% of the variance) showed that the cheeses' solid-like response (storage modulus and fracture modulus) decreased during aging, while phase angle, maximum compliance, and retardation time increased. Analysis of the instrumental and sensory parameters (three principal components: 82.1% of the variance) revealed groupings of parameters according to cheese rigidity, resiliency, and chewdown texture. Rheological properties were highly associated with rigidity and resiliency, but less so with chewdown texture.

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ABSTRACT The effect of components of primary inoculum dispersal in soil on the temporal dynamics of Phytophthora blight epidemics in bell pepper was evaluated in field and growth-chamber experiments. Phytophthora capsici may potentially be dispersed by one of several mechanisms in the soil, including inoculum movement to roots, root growth to inoculum, and root-to-root spread. Individual components of primary inoculum dispersal were manipulated in field plots by introducing (i) sporangia and mycelia directly in soil so that all three mechanisms of dispersal were possible, (ii) a plant with sporulating lesions on the soil surface in a plastic polyvinyl chloride (PVC) tube so inoculum movement to roots was possible, (iii) a wax-encased peat pot containing sporangia and mycelia in soil so root growth to inoculum was possible, (iv) a wax-encased peat pot containing infected roots in soil so root-to-root spread was possible, (v) noninfested V8 vermiculite media into soil directly as a control, or (vi) wax-encased noninfested soil as a control. In 1995 and 1996, final incidence of disease was highest in plots where sporangia and mycelia were buried directly in soil and all mechanisms of dispersal were operative (60 and 32%) and where infected plants were placed in PVC tubes on the soil surface and inoculum movement to roots occurred with rainfall (89 and 23%). Disease onset was delayed in 1995 and 1996, and final incidence was lower in plants in plots where wax-encased sporangia (6 and 22%) or wax-encased infected roots (22%) were buried in soil and root growth to inoculum or root-to-root spread occurred. Incidence of root infections was higher over time in plots where inoculum moved to roots or all mechanisms of dispersal were possible. In growth-chamber studies, ultimately all plants became diseased regardless of the dispersal mechanism of primary inoculum, but disease onset was delayed when plant roots had to grow through a wax layer to inoculum or infected roots in tension funnels that contained small volumes of soil. Our data from both field and growth-chamber studies demonstrate that the mechanism of dispersal of the primary inoculum in soil can have large effects on the temporal dynamics of disease.

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A second order rotatable design was used to obtain polynomial equations describing the effects of combinations of sulfur dioxide (SO(2)) and ozone (O(3)) on foliar injury and plant growth. The response surfaces derived from these equations were displayed as contour or isometric (3-dimensional) plots. The contour plots aided in the interpretation of the pollutant interactions and were judged easier to use than the isometric plots. Plants of ;Grand Rapids' lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.), ;Cherry Belle' radish (Raphanus sativus L.), and ;Alsweet' pea (Pisum sativum L.) were grown in a controlled environment chamber and exposed to seven combinations of SO(2) and O(3). Injury was evaluated based on visible chlorosis and necrosis and growth was evaluated as leaf area and dry weight. Covariate measurements were used to increase precision. Radish and pea had greater injury, in general, that did lettuce; all three species were sensitive to O(3), and pea was most sensitive and radish least sensitive to SO(2). Leaf injury responses were relatively more affected by the pollutants than were plant growth responses in radish and pea but not in lettuce. In radish, hypocotyl growth was more sensitive to the pollutants than was leaf growth.

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Live-oak plants (Quercus virginiana Mill.) were subjected to various levels of CO2, water stress or photosynthetic photon flux density to test the hypothesis that isoprene biosynthesis occurred only under conditions of restricted CO2 availability. Isoprene emission increases as the ambient CO2 concentration decreased, independent of the amount of time that plants had photosynthesized at ambient CO2 levels. When plants were water-stressed over a 4-d period photosynthesis and leaf conductance decreased 98 and 94%, respectively, while isoprene emissions remained constant. Significant isoprene emissions occurred when plants were saturated with CO2, i.e., below the light compensation level for net photosynthesis (100 µmol m(-2) s(-1)). Isoprene emission rates increased with photosynthetic photon flux density and at 25 and 50 µmol m(-2) s(-1) were 7 and 18 times greater than emissions in the dark. These data indicate that isoprene is a normal plant metabolite and not - as has been suggested - formed exclusively in response to restricted CO2 or various stresses.