Degradation of plant N in the rumen results in the formation of ammonia-N and NAN. Rumen bacteria utilise these breakdown products to synthesise their cell proteins. This study was carried out to investigate the in vivo degradation of N-labelled duckweed in the rumen and the utilisation of the degradation products by rumen bacteria. We found that duckweed protein was relatively resistant to rum...

The uptake of the nuclear waste product technetium-99 was studied in common duckweed (Lemna minor). In addition to measurements, a model involving two compartments in duckweed with different chemical forms of technetium was derived. The model was tested by chemical speciation, i.e. differentiating between reduced Tc-compounds and Tc(VII)O(4)(-). The TcO(4)(-) concentrations measured were in goo...

To assess the tolerance and effect of heavy metals pollution on the duckweed Lemna minor, the aquatic plants were exposed to different concentrations of copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), cadmium (Cd) and zinc (Zn) in a quarter Coïc and Lessaint solution at pH = 6.1 (± 0.1) and under a daily regime of 16 h light (101 μmol/m2.s1). Copper at 0.2 mg/L and nickel at 0.5 mg/L promoted the growth of Lemna fro...

Endoglucanase E1 from Acidothermus cellulolyticus was expressed cytosolically under control of the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter in transgenic duckweed, Lemna minor 8627 without any obvious observable phenotypic effects on morphology or rate of growth. The recombinant enzyme co-migrated with the purified catalytic domain fraction of the native E1 protein on western blot analysis, reveal...

Toxic effects of two heavy metals, cadmium (Cd) and copper (Cu), and a fungicide, diethyldithiocarbamate, have been evaluated, alone and in association, on Spirodela polyrhiza duckweed cultivated in a synthetic mineral medium and in a distilled water medium. The composition of the culture medium influenced the toxicity of the three compounds and the effects of their associations were clearly sh...

Landoltia punctata, a widely distributed duckweed strain with the ability to accumulate starch, was used as a novel feedstock for bioethanol production by Saccharomyces cerevisiae. To improve ethanol production, pectinase pretreatment was used to release much more glucose from L. punctata mash and the pretreatment conditions (enzyme loading, temperature and pretreatment time) for the duckweed w...

Methods For duckweed, growth rates of leaf area and leaf number were evaluated. For yeast, growth kinetics were determined by measuring slope, yield, and Et50 (point in time when yield was half maximum) of the sigmoid growth curve. The experiments with duckweed and yeast were performed in parallel (same day, same location and identical homeopathic preparations). After screening 17 substances, t...

Nitroaromatic compounds (NACs) are prominent soil and sediment contaminants that are strongly adsorbed by smectites at extents that depend on hydration properties of the exchangeable cation. Potassium smectites adsorb nitroaromatics much more strongly than calcium smectites, so that adjustment of K+ versus Ca2+ occupation on cation exchange sites in smectites can be used to modulate the retenti...

In this study duckweed (Lemna gibba) and waste activated sludge (WAS) were co-digested in different proportions with acclimatized anaerobic granular sludge (AAGS) in mesophilic conditions. The aim was to evaluate if the co-digestion could lead to an increased efficiency of methane production compared to digestion of waste activated sludge alone. Results indicate that co-digestion with both duck...

 Euglenophyte bloom is a common problem in most of the aquaculture ponds in Bangladesh. In the present study we conducted an experiment to control euglenophyte bloom for achieving better fish production using duckweed (Lemna minor) and lime. The experiment was carried out using four treatments, i.e., ponds were supplied with duckweed (T1), lime treatment (T2), both duckweed and lime (T3) and wi...