Search results for " Fertility."
showing 10 items of 130 documents
Unprotected sex among female Italian uni- versity students: A «Calculated Risk»
2022
Contraception is considered a rational strategy to prevent unwanted births. However, beyond the dichotomy of «planned» and «unplanned» pregnancy, behaviours are sometimes ambivalent or contradictory. The present paper inves tigates the reasons beyond the non-use of contraception in Italy by examining a large-scale survey of university students conducted in 2000 and 2017. The findings reveal a small but clearly defined group of young female students, cohabiting with their partner and residing in the South of the country, who have a high frequency of sexual intercourses and do not deliberately use any contra ceptive method. These findings offer population-based evidence about the ex istence o…
Nitrogen fertilisation in coriander (Coriandrum sativumL.): a review and meta-analysis
2009
Nitrogen (N) fertilisation is one of the most important external inputs in assessing coriander seed yield and plant growth. Recent concerns related to the misuse of N fertilisers in agricultural environments, however, stress the opportunity for a fine-tuning of N management in order to optimise the use of this element, avoiding losses and reducing environmental hazards. In this study, some results from the literature concerning N fertilisation in coriander are reviewed and, by means of statistical analysis, an attempt is made to derive from them some general suggestions about practices of N fertilisation. In most cases examined, N fertilisation allowed a 10–70% increase in seed yields in co…
Nutrient removal by rice–wheat cropping system as influenced by crop establishment techniques and fertilization options in conjunction with microbial…
2020
AbstractNutrient uptake by the rice–wheat cropping system (RWCS) is an important indicator of soil fertility and plant nutrient status. The hypothesis of this investigation was that the rate and sources of nutrient application can differentially influence nutrient removal and soil nutrient status in different crop establishment techniques (CETs). Cropping system yield was on par in all the CETs evaluated, however, there were significant changes in soil nutrient availability and microbiological aspects. The system nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K) and zinc (Zn) uptake in aerobic rice system followed by zero tillage wheat (ARS-ZTW) was 15.7–17.6 kg ha−1, 0.7–0.9 kg ha−1, 7–9.8 kg ha…
Relationship between N-cycling communities and ecosystem functioning in a 50-year-old fertilization experiment.
2009
The relative importance of size and composition of microbial communities in ecosystem functioning is poorly understood. Here, we investigated how community composition and size of selected functional guilds in the nitrogen cycle correlated with agroecosystem functioning, which was defined as microbial process rates, total crop yield and nitrogen content in the crop. Soil was sampled from a 50-year fertilizer trial and the treatments comprised unfertilized bare fallow, unfertilized with crop, and plots with crop fertilized with calcium nitrate, ammonium sulfate, solid cattle manure or sewage sludge. The size of the functional guilds and the total bacterial community were greatly affected by …
Identification of bacterial groups preferentially associated with mycorrhizal roots of Medicago truncatula
2007
ABSTRACT The genetic structures of bacterial communities associated with Medicago truncatula Gaertn. cv. Jemalong line J5 (Myc + Nod + ) and its symbiosis-defective mutants TRV48 (Myc + Nod − ) and TRV25 (Myc − Nod − ) were compared. Plants were cultivated in a fertile soil (Châteaurenard, France) and in soil from the Mediterranean basin showing a low fertility (Mas d'Imbert, France). Plant growth, root architecture, and the efficiency of root symbiosis of the three plant genotypes were characterized in the two soils. Structures of the bacterial communities were assessed by automated-ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis (A-RISA) fingerprinting from DNA extracted from the rhizosphere soil an…
Soil microbial biomass carbon and fatty acid composition of earthworm Lumbricus rubellus after exposure to engineered nanoparticles
2014
none 6 no First Online: 14 October 2014 The aim of this work was to investigate the effect of engineered nanoparticles (NPs) on soil microbial biomass C (MBC) and on earthworm Lumbricus rubellus. An artificial soil was incubated for 4 weeks with earthworms fed with vegetable residues contaminated by NPs, consisting of Ag, Co, Ni and TiO2. After the treatments, soils were analysed for MBC and total and water soluble metal-NPs, whereas earthworms were purged for 28 days and then analysed for fatty acids (FAs) and total metal-NPs. Longitudinal sections of earthworms were investigated by environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM), equipped with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS),…
Effects of dimethoate and benomyl on soil organisms and soil processes – a microcosm study
1998
Abstract Effects of two pesticides, dimethoate, an insecticide, and benomyl, a fungicide, applied singly or together, on soil organisms and plant growth were studied in microcosms containing agricultural soil and indigenous soil fauna together with introduced invertebrates and barley. Dimethoate reduced soil microarthropod populations and the reduction was stronger in the upper than in the lower soil layer. The collembolan community structure was affected by both pesticides. Populations of microarthropods in pesticide-treated microcosms recovered during the experiment but the community structures remained differentiated. Total numbers of enchytraeids and nematodes were not affected by eithe…
The effect of job displacement on couples' fertility decisions
2016
This paper analyzes the effects of job displacement on fertility using Finnish longitudinal employer-employee data (FLEED) matched to birth records. We distinguish between male and female job losses. We focus on couples where one spouse has lost his/her job due to a plant closure or mass layoff and follow them for several years both before and following the job loss. As a comparison group we use similar couples that were not affected by job displacement. In order to examine the possible channels through which job loss affects fertility we examine also the effect on earnings, employment and divorce. The results show that a woman?s own job loss decreases fertility mainly for highly educated w…
Persistent Employment Instability and Fertility Intentions: The Gender-Specific Effect within Couples in Italy
2014
Our paper adds to the growing literature on the measurement of employment instability and on that on its consequences on fertility dynamics. We argue that many of these studies disregard a crucial dimension of employment instability: its persistence (duration). It is the persistence in an unstable condition, more than the status itself, that may have the most severe consequences on subsequent family choices. In this paper, we propose an index of persistence in employment instability that synthesizes all the information inside the individual sequence of employment statuses in a single number accounting simultaneously for the duration, sequencing, intensity, and labour market circumstances. T…
Endometriosis and strategies of fertility preservation: a systematic review of the literature.
2019
Endometriosis is a common chronic inflammatory disorder, often causing both pain and infertility. It is estimated that 25-50 % of patients undergoing fertility treatments have had endometriosis as it involves an impairment of the ovarian reserve. For these reasons, endometriosis has been highlighted as a condition that may require a fertility preservation procedure, while being benign in nature. The aim of this review is to summarize the current evidence on fertility preservation techniques for patients affected by endometriosis, focusing on the main characteristics of the different approaches. A systematic review of literature was performed by searching in the main electronic databases (ME…