Publicaties
Piggery wastewater treatment with a Chlorella microalgae-bacteria consortium and static magnetic field Universiteit Hasselt
Wastewater discharges into the environment without adequate treatment is a problem still unresolved. That is why alternative technologies, such as applying static magnetic field (SMF), are currently being sought. The objective of this research was to evaluate the effect of a 47.23 mT SMF on the removal of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and the growth of a Chlorella microalgae-bacteria consortium grown in piggery wastewater under different ...
Impact of Heavy Metals on Cold Acclimation of Salix viminalis Roots Universiteit Hasselt
In nature, plants are exposed to a range of climatic conditions. Those negatively impacting plant growth and survival are called abiotic stresses. Although abiotic stresses have been extensively studied separately, little is known about their interactions. Here, we investigate the impact of long-term mild metal exposure on the cold acclimation of Salix viminalis roots using physiological, transcriptomic, and proteomic approaches. We found that, ...
Differentiation between chemo- and radiotoxicity of 137Cs and 60Co on Lemna minor Universiteit Hasselt
The uptake and effects of stable Cs and Co on L. minor were extensively studied, together with the effects of gamma radiation using a 137Cs or 60Co source. Innovative is that we combined external irradiation (from 137Cs or 60Co sources) with the direct uptake of certain amounts of stable Cs or Co to simulate the impact of the same mass of a radioisotope compared with that of the stable element. Such approach allows to differentiate between ...
Biochar improves the nutrient cycle in sandy-textured soils and increases crop yield: a systematic review Universiteit Hasselt Vrije Universiteit Brussel
BackgroundBiochar is a relatively new development in sustainable agricultural management that can be applied to ameliorate degraded and less fertile soils, especially sandy-textured ones, to improve their productivity with respect to crop production through improved nutrient availability. However, as the literature has shown, the response of sandy-textured soils to biochar varies in terms of effect size and direction. Therefore, the present ...
Application of biochar to anaerobic digestion versus digestate: Effects on N emissions and C stability Universiteit Hasselt Instituut voor Landbouw-, Visserij- en Voedingsonderzoek
Research attention is growing for biochar as amendment for anaerobic digestion (AD), as it may improve both the AD process and digestate properties. In this study, two biochars (from insect frass or the woody fraction of green waste, both pyrolyzed at 450 C) were added (5 % w/w) during semi-continuous AD of organic kitchen waste and chicken manure. Biochar was mixed either during the AD process or to the digestate post-treatment. The impact of ...
Sulfur metabolism: actions for plant resilience and environmental adaptation Universiteit Hasselt
Sugar and SPY(ce): Large-scale identification of SPINDLY-dependent O-fucosylation targets in Arabidopsis Universiteit Hasselt
Besides their essential roles as substrates for carbon and energy metabolism, sugars also act in signal transduction, coordinating developmental and metabolic processes with nutrient availability. In animals, posttranslational modifications of nucleocytoplasmic proteins with β-N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc; an amide derivative of glucose) by O-GlcNac transfer-ase (OGT) play a key role in nutrient sensing (Liu et al. 2015). The Arabidopsis ...
In the heat of the moment: The miR165/166-PHB module mediates thermotolerance in Arabidopsis Universiteit Hasselt
The increasing occurrence of heat waves due to climate change forms a major threat to global food security because high temperatures negatively impact plant growth and crop yield (Bailey-Serres et al. 2019). Hence, it is crucial to increase our knowledge of the molecular mechanisms underlying plant responses to heat stress to hasten the development of strategies to enhance plant thermotolerance. In Arabidopsis thaliana, class A1 heat stress ...