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Ginkgo Biloba: How This Herb Helps You Live Longer
Published | 5 min read
Ginkgo biloba outlived dinosaurs and inspired poetry. Read on to learn about how this resilient living fossil can help you maintain great health.
Have you heard about this powerful “memory” herb that comes from a tree with stinky fruits? The Ginkgo biloba tree is also known as the maidenhair tree. It has fascinated humans for a long time with its unique fan-shaped leaves and lustrous yellow foliage in autumn.
Native to China and one of Earth’s oldest living fossils, the Ginkgo biloba tree has remained the same for over 200 million years and is the last surviving species of its lineage. Its kernels and leaves have been used for hundreds of years as herbal medicine to prevent cognitive impairment, cardiovascular disease, and many other ailments.
A Plant-Based Powerhouse: Health Benefits of Ginkgo Biloba
The earliest reference to Ginkgo biloba was in poems written during the Song Dynasty in the 11th century, followed by more references in 13th and 14th century Chinese literature. The Ginkgo biloba tree subsequently found its way to other parts of Asia including Japan, thanks to a Dutch East India Company physician named Engelbert Kaempfe. He became fascinated by the tree and wrote about it in 1712.
The Chinese have been using Ginkgo biloba for many decades for culinary and medicinal purposes. In many Eastern cultures, it is considered a sacred tree. It has numerous health benefits, owing to two primary active compound groups: terpenoids and flavonoids. Today, both manufacturers in the East and West produce herbal supplements that use the standardised extracts of the plant.
An increasing number of meta-analytical and systemic reviews of smaller studies indicate that the herb has therapeutic action on neurodegenerative cognitive diseases, and cardiovascular diseases.
Historically used in the East to treat bronchitis, asthma, and renal dysfunction, Ginkgo biloba has great health benefits for modern-day illnesses.
Research has demonstrated the herb can help prevent or treat ageing-related neurodegenerative conditions such as dementia and Alzheimer’s. It is able to increase blood flow to the brain
, help brain cells utilise glucose and oxygen more efficiently.
In China, injections containing Ginkgo biloba extract are used to treat heart attacks. Animal studies have also shown that the herb extract has potent protective properties. It inhibits apoptosis (programmed cell death) of heart tissue cells, which is a precursor of heart failure. In addition, there is indication that the herb has a lot of potential in the treatment of strokes by improving blood plasma viscosity.
Research on Ginkgo biloba has also shown promising answers in the area of anti-cancer drug development. A 2019 study observed the actions of five active compounds within it against cancer cells. It found that two of them are particularly anti-proliferative.
Complications of diabetes
Animal studies have shown that Ginkgo biloba extract can improve renal (kidney) function. It reduces damage to the tubular structures within the kidney due to diabetic complications. It is also well-known as a prevention and treatment of glaucoma.
Ginkgo Biloba in TCM
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is no stranger to the medicinal powers of Ginkgo biloba. Roasted ginkgo seed kernel is a local delicacy in Eastern countries such as China, Korea, and Japan. In fact, paleobotanists who study the herb and its extinct relatives believe that its survival had something to do with the early consumption of its kernels by humans and other animals.
Since TCM is a robust medical philosophy and practice, TCM-based therapy includes Ginkgo biloba leaf extract for numerous ailments.
According to TCM physician Luke Yau Wai, this herb can present as sweet, bitter, and astringent in TCM terminology. It enters the Heart and Lung meridians.
“Ginkgo biloba helps in calming the nerves. It also eliminates Heat and is a diuretic, which helps promote fluid excretion from the body, removing Blood Stasis,” physician Luke states. It regulates qi by dredging collaterals, essentially clearing an obstruction from meridian pathways.
Other ailments that this herb can address include:
- dizziness caused by Liver yang (active energy)
- heart palpitations
- oliguria (abnormally small amounts of urine)
- neurasthenia (a general condition of neurotic disorders which include symptoms like fatigue and irritability)
- nephritis (an inflammatory kidney condition that prevents it from properly filtering blood)
- peripheral vascular disease (a circulation disorder)
“Ginkgo biloba is particularly beneficial for individuals who like eating meat, rarely exercise, or are have high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, memory loss or poor concentration,” physician Luke further shares.
Of course, a balanced diet and regular exercise should be a first resort to maintaining good health. However, it is good to know we have nature’s gift to help us get to better health along the way.
How to Safely Use Ginkgo Biloba
Most Western preparations of Ginkgo biloba supplements come in tablet form, which is easier to administer orally. On the other hand, TCM preparations include Ginkgo biloba extract as part of an existing TCM liquid essence, such as chicken essence. Although Ginkgo biloba is available for purchase in health stores and online shopping platforms, we strongly caution you from self-medicating with this powerful herb. Consult your physician first before consuming it.
Owing to its potency, extracts of Ginkgo biloba interact with other commonly used medicines. These include blood thinners like aspirin and warfarin, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) for pain and fever-like ibuprofen and naproxen.
Ginkgo biloba supplements can also interact with medication for blood disorders, antidepressants, and even other health supplements such as St. John’s wort, Panax ginseng, cedar leaf, folic acid, and melatonin.
“Patients with senile arteriosclerosis and fragile blood vessels should not consume it long term to avoid cerebral hemorrhage. It is advisable to consult a professional doctor or TCM physician before taking it. Individuals with low blood pressure should take it with caution,” cautions physician Luke.
A potent powerhouse plant with many great benefits, Ginkgo biloba remains a revered sacred tree in the spiritual practices of Eastern cultures. It adorns old temples, lines urban streets, and inspires poetry. While modern day sentiments may separate sacred knowledge from medical knowledge, it is not surprising that this herb holds the fancy of monks, poets, emperors, healers, scientists, and physicians alike. This living fossil is nature’s gift for the mind and body.
- myHEALTH, Ministry of Health Malaysia. 2014. Ginkgo Biloba. [online] [Accessed 8 March 2022].
- Plants People Planet. 2019. An evolutionary and cultural biography of ginkgo. [online] [Accessed 8 March 2022].
- Yale School of the Environment. 2013. The Life Story of The Oldest Tree on Earth. [online] [Accessed 8 March 2022].
- Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, United Kingdom. 2020. Ginkgo biloba: The tree that outlived the dinosaurs [online] [Accessed 8 March 2022].
- StatPearls, National Institute of Health. 2021. Ginkgo Biloba. [online] [Accessed 8 March 2022].
- Frontiers in Pharmacology. 2021. The Use of Ginkgo Biloba L. as a Neuroprotective Agent in the Alzheimer’s Disease. [online] [Accessed 8 March 2022].
- Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences. 2021. Cardioprotective Properties of Ginkgo Biloba Extract 80 via the Activation of AKT/GSK3β/β-Catenin Signaling Pathway. [online] [Accessed 8 March 2022].
- Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 2021. The Clinical Efficacy of Ginkgo biloba Leaf Preparation on Ischemic Stroke: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. [online] [Accessed 8 March 2022].
- Molecules. 2019. Anticancer Effects of Five Biflavonoids from Ginkgo Biloba L. Male Flowers In Vitro. [online] [Accessed 8 March 2022].
- BioMed Research International. 2021. Ginkgo Biloba Extract EGB761 Ameliorates the Extracellular Matrix Accumulation and Mesenchymal Transformation of Renal Tubules in Diabetic Kidney Disease by Inhibiting Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress. [online] [Accessed 8 March 2022].
- Asia Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology. 2020. Ginkgo Biloba Extract in Ophthalmic and Systemic Disease, With a Focus on Normal-Tension Glaucoma. [online] [Accessed 8 March 2022].
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WWE’s SmackDown Live this week was pre-recorded. Therefore the WWE Superstars weren’t really in action tonight because they already taped the episode. However, if you logged onto Becky Lynch’s Twitter account you probably couldn’t tell
The Man live-tweeted during the show this week claiming that she was backstage. We’re including the tweets below because they are all entertaining.
I’m live tweeting from backstage right now.
I just high-fived Jeff Hardy. Looked like he was going out into the arena.
I have make-up all over my hand now.
Might have been his face I high-fived. It’s dark back here.
I’m off to stretch now….
…everyone backstage. Cause that’s where I am.
The Man was obviously having a little bit of fun. It must be strange watching SmackDown when it’s not live after being used to being there when the show is going on. It looks like she’ll get her chance next week though as SmackDown is live once again in Pittsburgh.

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Article Assessing Reliability of Recycled Water in Wicking Beds for Sustainable Urban Agriculture 1 , 2 , 1 1 Niranjani P. K. Semananda * , James D. Ward and Baden R. Myers UniSA STEM, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, Adelaide 5095, Australia; email@example.com (J.D.W.); firstname.lastname@example.org (B.R.M.) Division of Civil Engineering Technology, Institute of Technology University of Moratuwa (ITUM), Diyagama, Homagama 10200, Sri Lanka * Correspondence: email@example.com or firstname.lastname@example.org Abstract: Urban agriculture requires sustainable solutions to secure its water resources. A wicking bed (WB) is a simple system that could provide high yield and water use efﬁciency. This single trial glasshouse study compares the performance of a WB and surface irrigation (SI) system for growing tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum L.) using fresh (FW) and recycled water (RW). The performance of both treatments was compared when irrigating 2 days per week and for two environmental conditions (indoor and outdoor). In addition, the reliability of using FW and RW at a 7-day irrigation interval was studied for WBs alone. Results showed that the irrigation water use efﬁciency (kg/m ) and the yield (kg/plant) are signiﬁcantly different only between WB (FW) and SI (RW) considering all conditions. The accumulation of salts and the sodium absorption ratio (SAR) were high in the surface layer of WBs compared to SI. This indicates that the use of RW affects the level of salinity and sodicity in soil, which in turn may decrease the yield. However, WBs perform similar to, if not better than, SI with FW. The WBs show the advantage of reducing the leachate of nutrients into groundwater, compared to SI systems. Further research into irrigation and nutrient management in WBs to reduce the effect of salinity at the surface is recommended to increase the efﬁciency of Citation: Semananda, N.P.K.; Ward, the system. J.D.; Myers, B.R. Assessing Reliability of Recycled Water in Wicking Beds for Sustainable Urban Agriculture. Earth Keywords: irrigation; salinity; urban agriculture; wicking bed; water use efﬁciency; yield; water 2021, 2, 468–484. https://doi.org/ quality; sustainable 10.3390/earth2030028 Academic Editor: R. Thomas Fernandez 1. Introduction Received: 14 June 2021 Countries must implement efﬁcient irrigation systems to promote environmental Accepted: 25 July 2021 sustainability and food security. Community, rooftop, and home gardens are widely Published: 29 July 2021 accepted and are becoming increasingly popular, even in many developed cities, as they provide environmental, economic, and social beneﬁts such as self-satisfaction, ﬁnancial Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral support, and healthy and safe foods. with regard to jurisdictional claims in Even though urban agriculture has great potential beneﬁts , it also faces numerous published maps and institutional afﬁl- challenges. These include availability of water, salinity in the soil, and soil contamination. iations. One study showed that some inner-city vacant lands are too contaminated due to past uses and are not usable to grow crops safely without incurring prohibitively high remediation costs . Another drawback in urban agriculture is the space availability . People who live in densely populated cities or in apartments and high rise buildings often do not have Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. the space and sunlight to grow edible plants. The space availability is further restricted Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. due to infrastructure and urban development projects. Accordingly, open residential yards This article is an open access article (front or back) offer potential plots to grow crops in most cities. distributed under the terms and Despite space limitations, researchers have shown that urban agriculture has great conditions of the Creative Commons potential to provide food production, contributing to self-sufﬁciency of city dwellers [1,4] Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// by increasing the intensity of local food supply through future planning, policy-making, creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ and proper management techniques [5,6]. Alternative farming methods such as community 4.0/). Earth 2021, 2, 468–484. https://doi.org/10.3390/earth2030028 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/earth Earth 2021, 2 469 gardens, greenhouses, vertical farms, roof gardens, or plant factories have been proposed as potential solutions for the land limitation issues [4,7]. Recent studies and experiments have taken place to develop hydroponic techniques to grow food vertically, which is known as vertical farming or sky farming . Season changes and extreme weather patterns may restrict plant growth throughout the year, limiting the availability of fresh produce during the winter season. One of the main restrictions to urban agriculture in dry climates is water availability. Potable water is the main source of water used in many cities for irrigating the crops. Recycled water is a supplement to municipal water, but it is not readily available in most cities or countries. Accordingly, it is crucial to develop best practice technologies and approaches to conserve water resources and to upkeep the environmental sustainability. Capillary irrigation systems have been investigated for some years as a method to deliver water to plants in container gardens. The wicking bed (WB) is not a new technology, but uses a new approach to deliver water to plants using capillary action. Although the concept is similar, the hydroponic and WB systems are different. The WB is comprised of a saturated media-ﬁlled reservoir beneath the unsaturated soil (root zone). Water is delivered by capillary action to the root zone in response to the rate of water uptake by the plant. Under this system, in theory, each plant should get precisely the right amount of water to meet its evapotranspiration (ET) needs over time. WBs are gaining popularity among the gardening community because they are relatively simple and scalable. WBs could also be installed in varied urban settings, even in places where space or soil quality is a restriction. Despite increasing enthusiasm and claims about the performance of WBs, there is no comprehensive study to investigate their efﬁciency in terms of water use, environmental impact and labour. Sullivan et al.  showed that capillary-based subirrigation systems may have a higher yield and lower maintenance than other container gardening systems. Accordingly, Semananda et al. [10,11], in their research, for the ﬁrst time, showed that WBs could provide high yield and water use efﬁciency (WUE). Further, an extensive literature review in this context was conducted  but was unable to ﬁnd any published research supporting the design or recommendations for WB systems. Accordingly, a substantial knowledge gap exists relating to the WBs, speciﬁcally the engineering design, irrigation water use efﬁciency (iWUE), and related environmental beneﬁts. The present paper addresses the knowledge gap by assessing, for the ﬁrst time, soil–water–plant relations in the WB system with the use of recycled water. Speciﬁcally, in this study, we assess the effect of water quality (fresh vs. recycled) and different irrigation treatments (SI vs. WB) on the soil health including accumulation of salt, as well as plant growth, iWUE, and crop yield. The WB’s performance is evaluated relative to corresponding surface irrigated (SI) treatments, in order to investigate the potential for WBs to improve urban agriculture’s contribution to environmental sustainability and food security. 2. Materials and Methods 2.1. Experimental Conditions The experiment was conducted under both glasshouse and open environment condi- tions at the University of South Australia’s Mawson Lakes campus located in Adelaide, South Australia (34.81 S, 138.61 E). In the glasshouse, air temperature (1 C) and relative humidity (3%) were recorded using a USB temperature/humidity data logger (LCD— QP6014, Jaycar Electronics, Adelaide, Australia). Outdoors, rainfall data were logged using a tipping bucket rain gauge (RIM8020) ﬁxed at the university premises. The accuracy of the rain gauge was 2% up to 200 mm/hr. Outdoor temperature and relative humidity (RH) were collected (daily data) from the nearest Australian Bureau of Meteorology weather station, Paraﬁeld Airport (Gauge 023013), located about 1 km from the study site. Earth 2021, 2 470 2.2. Experimental Design and Treatments The experiment was set up to compare the soil–water–plant relations between WBs and SI pots using two water qualities (freshwater (FW), recycled water(RW)), two soil areas (30 cm and 56 cm diameter), two irrigation water scenarios (2 days per week (2D) and 7-day intervals (7D)), and two environmental settings (indoor and outdoor). There were 11 irrigation setups, and each treatment was replicated four times, requiring a total of 44 pots. A randomized block design was followed when arranging the pots in each location. The experiment was started on 26 September 2015 and continued for 120 days. The plants were grown using plastic containers with diameters of 30 and 56 cm. WBs were fabricated as the typical arrangement shown in Figure 1. A previous study by the authors using different soil bed depths and reservoir depths showed that a 150-mm reservoir depth (using 10 mm aggregate) and a 300 mm soil bed depth is most suitable for achieving an optimal WUE of medium-rooted plants . Accordingly, the same soil and reservoir depths were used in this experiment. The WB reservoir was ﬁlled using 10 mm quartzite aggregate, and a geotextile material was laid as a separation material between the soil and the reservoir. Coarse material was chosen because it has a considerable void content with high permeability, and it is less resistant to water being pulled out from the layers above. Geotextile fabric is used as the separation material because it allows water to penetrate but prevents ﬁne particles from entering the reservoir. For conventional SI treatments, the same size and type of containers were used, but with holes drilled in the base for drainage. Figure 1. (a) Schematic arrangement of the wicking bed, (b) photograph of plants growing inside glasshouse during the experiment. Mulching is a soil water management technique to reduce the soil water evaporation, and some studies have shown that scoria can be highly effective as a landscaping mate- rial [13,14]. To evaluate the effectiveness of mulch on WBs, treatments were included with and without mulch, where the mulch used was 10 mm scoria gravel (50 mm thick). All outdoor pots (WB and SI) were mulched. In addition, large size WBs (56 cm diameter containers) were arranged to compare the effect of different soil volume on the iWUE and plant growth. The experimental soil, a commercial mix especially developed for gardening purposes, was purchased from a local supplier. The soil was a poorly graded sandy soil, according to the uniﬁed soil classiﬁcation system (90% sand and <5% ﬁnes). It had a ﬁeld capacity of 30%, porosity of 48%, and dry bulk density of 1.33 g/cm . One 4-week-old tomato seedling (Solanum lycopersicum L., var. ‘Mighty red’) was transplanted into each bed at the end of the initial growth stage, in accordance with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO 56) , on 26 September 2015. The tomato plants were irrigated with two different water qualities—FW and RW. The RW at this site was a mixture of recycled wastewater and stormwater delivered by the local RW supplier. The recycled wastewater was sourced from Bolivar wastewater treatment plant and stormwater was harvested and treated through Earth 2021, 2 471 wetlands to produce this high quality RW. Table 1 outlines chemical parameters of soil and each irrigated water type at the beginning of the experiment. Table 1. Initial chemical and physical characteristics of the experimental soil and waters. Soil Properties Water Properties Soil texture 90/5 Element FW RW pH (H O) 7.57 pH 7.55 7.67 EC (dS/m) 1.75 EC (dS/m) 0.38 1.42 1:5 Nitrate NO (mg/kg) 6.20 Cl (mg/L) 68.75 330.00 Ammonium NO (mg/kg) 1.23 Total N (TKN + NOx) 0.15 2.45 Ca (mg/kg) 4659.53 TC (mg/L) 9.50 30.00 Mg (mg/kg) 188.53 Ca (mg/L) 14.50 31.50 K (mg/kg) 376.48 Mg (mg/L) 7.25 24.25 P (mg/kg) 29.00 K (mg/L) 2.50 31.75 Na (mg/kg) 143.08 TP (mg/L) 0.02 0.05 Ca:Mg 15.00 Na (mg/L) 49.25 232.5 SAR 2.62 7.56 Note: Soil texture is expressed in percentage of sand/ﬁnes. FW = fresh tap water, RW = recycled water (a mixture of recycled and storm water). The irrigation water was directly applied to the subsoil reservoir via the vertical pipe to the WBs at a twice-weekly interval (denoted 2D in treatment codes) (Sunday and Wednesday) or at a weekly interval (denoted 7D) (Sunday only). The SI pots were hand irrigated with the same amount of water applied to the corresponding WB treatments. No SI pots were set up for the 7D interval. A water-soluble fertiliser (22.1N-6.2P-11.7K) was applied with irrigation water, at 5 g/L in 14 d intervals. Irrigation for the large-volume beds was based on the drop in moisture content and the water level in the reservoir. A portable moisture-measuring probe, Diviner 2000 , was used to measure the soil moisture content during the crop-growing period. The Diviner was calibrated gravimetrically for the experimental soil during the progress of the experiment. The amount of water applied to each irrigation type was recorded manually. The experiment was started by applying an equal amount of FW to the surface to all pots. Ten days after transplanting, watering from the surface was stopped for WBs, and different irrigation scenarios were started. These are listed in Table 2. Table 2. Different irrigation treatments and irrigation scenarios. Item No. Treatment Label Description 1 T1WF2D Wicking bed with fresh water, 2-day irrigation interval 2 T2WFM2D Wicking bed with fresh water, 2-day irrigation interval, surface mulched 3 T3WR2D Wicking bed with recycled water, 2-day irrigation interval Surface irrigation treatment with fresh water, same amount in treatment T1, 2-day 4 T4SF2D irrigation interval Surface irrigation treatment with fresh water, 20% extra of treatment T1, 2-day 5 T5SF1.22D irrigation interval Surface irrigation treatment with fresh water, same amount in treatment T3, 2-day 6 T6SR2D irrigation interval 7 T7WF7D Wicking bed with fresh water, 7-day irrigation interval 8 T8WR7D Wicking bed with recycled water, 7-day irrigation interval 9 T9WFO2D Sureface irrigation treatment with fresh water, outdoor, 2-day irrigation interval Sureface irrigation treatment with fresh water, same amount in T9, outdoor, 2-day 10 T10SFO2D irrigation interval 11 T11WFB Wicking bed with fresh water in large container Note: T1–T11—treatments. Earth 2021, 2 472 2.3. Soil, Water and Plant Tissue Analysis Water samples were collected from the two types of source water (FW and RW) for analysis at three different stages of the experiment: the beginning, middle, and in the ﬁnal week. Three soil samples were taken while ﬁlling the pots—at the beginning, middle, and end of ﬁlling—and were analyzed separately and the results averaged. Soil samples were collected from six treatment types (T1, T3, T4, T6, T7, and T8) and from four depths of each (0–75, 75–150, 150–225, and 225–300 mm) after harvesting to compare the soil salinity, sodicity, and residual nutrients in the soil at the end of the experiment. The most recently matured leaves were collected from each treatment for plant tissue analysis on 20 January 2016, taking three replicates from each treatment (total of 33 samples). Leaf samples were cleaned with deionized water and then dried in an air forced oven at 55 C. Water quality analysis was conducted according to the guidelines of the American Public Health Association (APHA) standards , which also comply with National Environment Protection Measure of National Environment Protection Council, Australia . Soil and plant tissue analysis was carried out according to Australian soil and plant analysis council codes. The accumulation of salt in the soil was measured in terms of electrical conductivity (EC ). The water, soil, and plant tissue analysis was carried out at the APAL Agricultural 1:5 laboratory, South Australia . The presence of a high proportion of sodium (Na+) ions relative to other cations in soil or water is termed as sodicity and is measured in two forms: sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) and the exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP). The SAR is + 2+ the ratio of the concentration of Na (meq/L) to the concentration of Ca (meq/L) and 2+ Mg (meq/L) ions. It is calculated using Equation (1) . + 2+ 2+ 1/2 SAR = Na /[(Ca + Mg )/2] (1) The ESP is usually calculated using Equation (2) , p. 36. ESP = (Na ) 100/CEC (2) + + where, Na is the ionic concentration of Na (meq/L), and CEC is the cation exchange capacity of the soil (meq/L). 2.4. Yield, Fruit Quality, Plant Growth and Water Use Efﬁciency Tomato plants were trained to produce one stem and trimmed at the top after six fruiting trusses were formed in each tree. Tomato fruit quality was evaluated using two parameters: fruit weight and diameter. Fruits were handpicked and graded into different marketable and non-marketable grades: small (40 to 55 mm), large (55 to 75 mm), and extra-large (>75 mm) . Fruits that did not ﬁt into the marketable grades above, as well as infected fruits (e.g., blossom end rot), were graded as unmarketable. The total fruit produced by each plant was weighed using a digital balance with an accuracy of 0.01 g, and individual fruit height and crosswise diameters were recorded using a Vernier caliper. Plant growth and performance were evaluated fortnightly in terms of plant height, plant stem diameter, and number of leaves. Plant height was recorded from the soil surface. Stem diameter measured 5 cm above the soil. The iWUE represents the ratio of total yield to the amount of water applied through irrigation. It was calculated using Equation (3) : iWUE = Y/I (3) where, iWUE is the irrigation water use efﬁciency in kg/m , Y is the yield (kg), and I is the irrigation water (m ). Earth 2021, 2 473 2.5. Statistical Analysis The effects of the different water quality; irrigation method; and irrigation scenarios on yield, iWUE, soil salinity, and sodicity were statistically analyzed using SPSS software Version 22. Levene’s test was used to examine the data for normality and homogeneity of variance. The mean differences between the groups were compared using one-way and two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) to examine the level of effect of water quality; irrigation method; and irrigation scenarios on marketable fruit yield, plant growth, iWUE, soil salinity, and sodicity. When the F-value was statistically signiﬁcant, a post hoc multiple comparison was performed using Tukey’s honest signiﬁcant difference test at a p-value of 0.05 to evaluate the statistical signiﬁcance of apparent differences between the groups. 3. Results 3.1. Yield, Plant Growth and Water Use Efﬁciency The results were compared between the two main treatment types (SI and WB), between identical indoor and outdoor pots, between different soil volumes, and between different water quality treatments. There was no signiﬁcant difference in plant height or number of leaves between different treatments within the indoor setting. A signiﬁcant difference (p < 0.05) was observed in plant height and number of leaves between indoor and outdoor settings, for a given irrigation treatment (i.e., WB or SI). However, no signiﬁcant difference in plant girth was found between the different irrigation settings or treatments. Table 3 compares the estimated marketable yield. There was a signiﬁcant difference in yield between treatments depending on a variety of parameters. A relatively high marketable yield was obtained in the large soil volume WB, followed by the outdoor, then mulch, no mulch 2D, no mulch 7D, recycled 2D, and recycled 7D. Table 3. Comparison of yield, total water, and iWUE between irrigation treatments. Marketable Total Water Crop Water Use Treatment iWUE (g/L) Yield (kg/plant) (L/plant) (L/kg) T1 WF2D 1.43 bcd 68.32 d 48.0 b 20.90 ab T2 WFM2D 1.54 abc 72.52 cd 47.5 b 21.20 a T3 WR2D 1.04 de 58.38 e 56.5 ab 17.80 abc T4 SF2D 1.16 cde 68.32 d 59.6 ab 17.00 bc T5 SF1.22D 1.42 bcd 81.98 b 58.0 ab 17.40 abc T6 SR2D 0.92 e 58.58 e 66.2 a 15.60 c T7 WF7D 1.05 de 53.70 e 51.7 ab 19.50 abc T8 WR7D 0.78 e 43.34 f 63.9 ab 18.10 abc T9 WFO2D 1.77 ab 86.22 b 48.8 b 20.50 ab T10 SFO2D 1.63 ab 86.26 b 53.0 ab 19.00 abc T11 WFB 1.96 a 103.36 a 54.4 ab 19.00 abc Note: Means within columns followed by different lower case letters are signiﬁcantly different for irrigation treatments (p 0.05). See Table 2 for treatment descriptions. Figure 2 compares the yield and number of fruits in each size group (deﬁned in Section 2.4) for different treatments. Extra-large fruits were found only in large soil volume WBs. The number of marketable fruits was higher in the small range, except for the large soil volume WB (Figure 2b). The number and weight of fruits in the small fruit grade were higher for RW irrigated treatment. The water uptake by plants with the RW treatment was lower than for the FW treatment and appears approximately correlated to the overall fruit yield. Earth 2021, 2 474 Figure 2. Comparison of (a) marketable yield and (b) number of fruits in each fruit grade. Error bars indicate standard error. See Table 2 for treatment descriptions. The amount of water applied was kept constant between WB and SI treatments; for example, the amount of water irrigated at each time was based on the water uptake by the plant in the corresponding WB treatment. The amount of rainfall during the growing period was about 3 L per pot and was counted towards the outdoor irrigation treatments. The daily record of temperature and RH at 1500 h for the period of fruiting and harvesting was shown in Figure 3. Earth 2021, 2 475 Figure 3. Daily indoor and outdoor air temperature ( C), relative humidity (RH) (%), and rainfall (mm). See Table 2 for treatment descriptions. Although the iWUE was always higher in wicking treatments than surface treatments, it was mostly not found to be signiﬁcantly different when comparing relevant pairs of treatments. The only relevant statistically signiﬁcant difference in iWUE was between a mulched WB (T2 WFM2D) relative to an unmulched surface treatment (T4 SF2D) in glasshouse conditions, where the difference was approximately 25%. In other cases, when comparing relevant treatments, the differences observed were not statistically signiﬁcant. However, a general pattern has emerged that tends to support higher iWUE in wicking treatments. For instance, in the outdoor treatments (both mulched), the average iWUE was 8% higher in wicking (T9 WFO2D) compared to surface (T10 SFO2D). Using recycled water, wicking (T3 WR2D) treatments gave iWUE on average 14% higher than SI treatments (T6 SR2D). When using RW in WBs (T3 WR2D), the iWUE was 5% higher compared to FW irrigated SI treatments (T4 SF2D). Although the yield was highest in the large soil volume WB (1.96 kg), the iWUE was not signiﬁcantly different between other FW irrigated WB treatments (Table 3). The percentage of unmarketable yield in each treatment was calculated as a percentage of the total yield produced (Figure 4). The percentage of rejected fruits was higher in RW and surface irrigated treatments than in wicking treatments. A signiﬁcantly lower percentage of rejected fruits was produced by large soil volume WBs. Figure 4. Percentage of unmarketable fruits within each irrigation treatment. RW = recycled water, FW = fresh water. See Table 2 for treatment descriptions. Although indoor 7D irrigated wicking treatments were irrigated at 7-day intervals during the initial and development stage, it was necessary to top up water to the reservoir Earth 2021, 2 476 one extra time per week, repeating over a number of weeks during the fruiting stage because the reservoir was observed to be empty. Irrigation scheduling to larger soil volume WBs was based on the drop in moisture content in the soil bed and the water level in the reservoir. Accordingly, the number of irrigation events was signiﬁcantly lower in WBs using large soil volume (12 events) compared to those using small soil volumes or a smaller reservoir (32 for 2D irrigation and 20 for 7D irrigation). Therefore, this study suggests that WBs with large soil volume are more practical than smaller volumes for growing tomatoes because they can hold a large amount of water, which helps to reduce irrigation frequency (particularly important for manually irrigated WB systems). Several other physical differences were observed during the experiment. Indoor plants grew faster and taller than outdoor plants, but outdoor plants appeared to be stronger. The distance between consecutive fruit trusses was also larger in indoor plants than outdoor plants, so while they were smaller, the outdoor plants still fruited quite well. Moreover, compared to outdoor plants, the fruit trusses on indoor plants were more prone to breaking under the weight of the fruits. Not surprisingly (given the generally higher maximum temperature and lower RH), outdoor pots used more water than indoor treatments, and reservoirs were mostly found to be nearly empty between 2-day intervals, especially during the harvesting period. 3.2. Salt Accumulation in Soil Layer Figure 5 shows the EC values in different soil layers of WB and SI treatments at the end of the harvest, taken as an indicator of salt accumulation. The difference in soil EC among the treatments was noticeable in the surface layer (0–75 mm), ranging from a minimum of 0.64 0.16 in FW surface irrigation to a maximum of 2.63 0.12 dS/m in the 2D RW wicking treatments, respectively. The trend changed with an increase in soil depth, as observed by the decreasing difference in soil salinity between the treatments. The difference in EC values in the bottom layer of FW irrigated treatments ranged from 1.4 0.17 to 2.17 0.06 dS/m. FW irrigated SI irrigation pots had signiﬁcantly lower EC levels in the surface layer; however, they gradually increased and exceeded the salinity of the WBs in the bottom layers. The EC values were always higher at the surface level of the WBs, with a tendency towards higher values when RW was applied. The same change was observed between SI irrigated pots where FW and RW was applied. Although there was a small difference in the EC value at the surface layer between 2D and 7D irrigated wicking treatments, the value was almost the same in the bottom layer for corresponding water qualities. Figure 5. Soil salinity (EC) at different soil depths for fresh water (FW) treatments (left) and recycled water (RW) treatments (right). See Table 2 for treatment descriptions. The frequent addition of water (2D irrigation) to the reservoir increased the salinity level at the soil surface in both FW and RW cases. Two-way ANOVA showed a signiﬁcant difference between the main irrigation methods. Tukey’s post hoc test showed that the effect of water source on soil EC was highly signiﬁcant (p < 0.05) and EC was always higher in RW irrigated treatments (Table 4). The difference between the main irrigation treatments Earth 2021, 2 477 decreased up to some distance and reversed at the bottom layer. Thus, the EC level of soil in the surface layer increased in WBs from the initial value by around 26% and doubled in the RW irrigated treatment (50%). The percentage decrease in surface irrigated treatments was 63% and 46% in FW and RW, respectively. Table 5 shows the descriptive statistics for each treatment method. The variation of EC in the mulched soil was not analyzed in this study. However, based on previous studies, we would expect mulch to have the effect of preserving water and reducing salinity and sodicity in the soil when compared to unmulched soils [23,24]. Table 4. Descriptive statistics of soil salinity (EC) between two different water qualities, six irrigation methods, and two irrigation scenarios (each value being a mean of three replicates standard deviation). Depth (mm) Water Quality Treatment Mean 0–75 75–150 150–225 225–300 T1WF2D FW 1.84 0.33 a 2.20 0.10 1.93 0.06 1.83 0.21 1.40 0.20 T3WR2D RW 2.11 0.36 b 2.63 0.12 2.10 0.00 2.07 0.06 1.63 0.06 T4SF2D FW 1.42 0.50 c 0.64 0.16 1.53 0.25 1.67 0.15 1.83 0.06 T6SR2D RW 1.77 0.53 a 0.94 0.16 1.83 0.06 2.13 0.12 2.17 0.06 T7WF7D FW 1.79 0.26 a 1.93 0.12 1.90 0.10 1.93 0.06 1.40 0.17 T8WR7D RW 2.03 0.28 b 2.30 0.30 2.03 0.06 2.13 0.06 1.67 0.15 Note: FW = fresh water, RW = recycled water. Means within columns followed by different lower case letters are signiﬁcantly different for irrigation treatments (p 0.05). See Table 2 for treatment description. Table 5. Descriptive statistics of soil sodicity (SAR) between two water qualities, six irrigation meth- ods, and two irrigation scenarios (each value being a mean of three replicates standard deviation). Depth (mm) Water Quality Treatment Mean 0–75 75–150 150–225 225–300 T1W 2D FW 0.70 0.18 a 0.95 0.16 0.66 0.04 0.62 0.10 0.58 0.06 T3W 2D RW 1.52 0.24 b 1.58 0.13 1.24 0.19 1.54 0.16 1.73 0.20 T4S 2D FW 0.47 0.13 c 0.37 0.17 0.39 0.08 0.53 0.06 0.60 0.07 T6S 2D RW 1.46 0.14 b 1.40 0.03 1.35 0.15 1.54 0.14 1.53 0.14 T7W 7D FW 0.63 0.13 a 0.73 0.23 0.64 0.04 0.60 0.05 0.57 0.10 T8W 7D RW 1.20 0.23 d 1.11 0.13 0.96 0.12 1.28 0.13 1.47 0.18 Note: FW = fresh water, RW = recycled water. Means within columns followed by different lower case letters are signiﬁcantly different for irrigation treatments (p 0.05). See Table 2 for treatment descriptions. 3.3. Soil Sodicity The SARs were signiﬁcantly different between RW and FW irrigation treatments (Figure 6). SAR was signiﬁcantly higher when irrigated with WBs compared to correspond- ing SI treatments. The SARs were similar between 2D and 7D irrigated WB treatments. There was no signiﬁcant difference between FW irrigated WBs for 2D and 7D irrigation scenarios; however, the mean difference was signiﬁcant for RW application. The results showed that the irrigation increased the SAR at the soil surface, and the difference was higher with RW application (Figure 7). The SAR difference between the treatments decreased when the depth of the soil increased. Table 5 shows the post hoc comparison of SARs between the treatments and soil depths. Earth 2021, 2 478 Figure 6. Estimated marginal means of sodium absorption ratio (SAR). FW = fresh water, and RW = recycled water. Error bars indicate standard error. See Table 2 for treatment descriptions. Figure 7. Soil sodium absorption ratio (SAR) at different soil depths for fresh water (FW) (left) and recycled water (RW) treatments (right). See Table 2 for treatment descriptions. 3.4. Total Nitrogen and Other Nutrients Figure 8 shows the average residual total nitrogen (TN) content per cm depth of each pot after harvesting. The TN was always higher in WB treatments compared to SI treatments. These results also suggest that frequent use of RW may increase the TN level in WBs. Moreover, compared with FW, the use of RW signiﬁcantly increased the soil TN by 70%, 34%, and 19%, respectively, under the wicking 2D, surface 2D, and wicking 7D treatments. Figure 8. Total nitrogen (TN) in soil under six treatments and two different water qualities. Error bars indicate standard error. FW = fresh water, RW = recycled water. See Table 2 for treatment descriptions. Retention of nitrogen was then investigated in each layer, and it was found that TN was comparatively high at the surface layer (Figure 9). 2D irrigation interval WBs had the highest TN at the surface layer, followed by the 7D irrigated WB and SI pots. TN distribution was fairly uniform throughout the bed for SI pots, while by comparison there Earth 2021, 2 479 was a signiﬁcant difference between the top and bottom layers of the WBs. The distribution of residual nutrient concentration between and within each layer of each treatment was evaluated for other major nutrients such as phosphorous (P) and potassium (K). The results showed that there was no signiﬁcant difference between the corresponding treatments and within each layer of the same treatment for the P concentration. However, a similar pattern as with TN was observed for the potassium levels among treatments—speciﬁcally a higher K at the surface of WB compared to SI pots. Figure 9. Total nitrogen (TN) level at different soil depths for fresh water (FW) treatments (left) and recycled water (RW) treatments (right). See Table 2 for treatment descriptions. 3.5. Tomato Plant Tissue The amount of major (N, P, and K) and minor nutrients (Ca, Mg, Na, S, B, Cu, Zn, Mn, Fe, Al, Co, and Mo) accumulated in the plant biomass was analyzed at the end of the harvest. The results showed that the percentage of Na was signiﬁcantly higher in the RW applied treatments. Further, accumulated B was signiﬁcantly higher in SI-treated plants, while Mn was relatively higher in the WBs. It should be noted that Boron is typically higher in RW than other irrigation waters . The concentration of major elements and some minor elements in different treatments are shown in Figure 10. The major elements—N, P, and K—were always higher in RW irrigated treatments than FW irrigated treatments, but these differences were not statistically signiﬁcant. Figure 10. Accumulated elements in plant tissues for different irrigation treatments. See Table 2 for treatment descriptions. Earth 2021, 2 480 4. Discussion An excessive accumulation of soluble salts in soil or high soil salinity may suppress a plant’s growth and yield if it exceeds the tolerable limit . High salt levels in soil may also affect the nutrient balance of a plant. As a result, plants have to use more energy to extract water due to the osmotic pressure effect in the soil, detracting from energy available for growth or fruiting. Irrigation water contains different amounts of salts and is one of the major sources of increased salt in soil. In this study, the EC level of RW was about four times higher than that of FW (Table 1), suggesting that RW irrigated plots should be expected to underperform. Other factors that result in the accumulation of salt in the root zone are evaporation from the soil surface, application of fertilizers, water uptake by plants, and levels of low leaching. The amount of water uptake by plants in RW irrigated treatments was lower than for FW irrigated plants; hence, a lower yield was produced. Thus, the combined effect of leaching, moisture, evaporation, and water quality may have led to higher levels of salt and a lower yield in RW irrigated pots. Generally, soil salinity tends to increase with an increase in water salinity or soil depth [27,28], and the present study observed a similar pattern (Figure 5). Soil salinity increased with the use of RW irrigation irrespective of the irrigation method, and the difference was signiﬁcant at the top layer (0–75 mm). Salt accumulation was higher in WBs with more frequent irrigation (2D compared to a 7D irrigation); however, the overall mean was not signiﬁcantly different (Table 4). The regular addition of water to the reservoir may have facilitated more capillary rise and hence greater evaporation from the soil surface. Accordingly, capillary rise, high evaporation, shallow soil bed depth, and water uptake by the roots may have combined to cause the observed high concentration of salts in the top layers. However, although the percentage of rejected fruits was higher in the 7D treatment, the marketable yield and iWUE were not signiﬁcantly different from the 2D treatment. Most interestingly, in contrast to the SI method (which exhibited increasing salinity with depth), soil salinity decreased with soil depth in WBs. This is likely due to the direction of vertical water movement; generally, the high inﬁltration rate of sandy soil and frequent irrigation in this study may have led to more salt percolating into the lower layers in SI-treated pots. The mean EC was higher in WB treatments than in SI treatments and was signiﬁcantly different (Table 4). A WB is a type of subsurface irrigation; however, no previous studies have compared the level of salinity that develops in the soil bed. The results of this study agree with previous studies stating that the salinity of soil is higher in the surface layers under subirrigation systems [29–31]. The tomato is a moderately sensitive plant, tolerating soil salinity up to 2.5 dS/m, and a yield reduction of about 9–11% has previously been observed for each 1 dS/m increase of water salinity above this level [32,33]. Shalhevet and Bernstein  reported that plants have some adaptive capacity, exhibiting higher water uptake from low salinity regions and lower uptake from high salinity regions, rather than relying on absolute salinity in the soil. Hence, the yield decrement will not always be signiﬁcant . The EC of the RW in this study was about 1.42 dS/m (Table 1). Although the highest salinity of 2.63 dS/m was reported in the surface layer of WBs with RW application, the average soil salinity in a pot was not greater than 2.11 dS/m in either of these cases (Table 4), and it was presumed that these pots were within the tolerance limit of salinity for tomatoes during the growing period. However, all RW applied treatments had the lowest marketable yield. The percentage yield decreases of 25%, 21%, and 17% were observed between FW and RW 2D irrigation WB pots, FW and RW surface irrigated pots, and FW and RW 7D irrigation WB treatments, respectively. The yield and iWUE between 2D FW irrigated SI and RW irrigated WB were not signiﬁcantly different, and the yield decrease was about 9% in WB. However, the percentages of rejected fruits in both these treatments were about 4 and 2%, respectively (Figure 4). This implies that RW may be used in WBs safely with a minimal yield reduction, at least over one growing season. Moreover, the combined effect of other unforeseen factors may have led to an inconsistent yield; careful fertilizer application, use of mulch, and intermittent leaching may be some strategies to further improve results. Earth 2021, 2 481 An increased soil volume may have led to an increase in root growth and water uptake. Studies have shown that container size and soil volume may have a signiﬁcant effect on plant growth, fruit yield, and the number of fruits harvested, but an increase in container size has no effect on fruit size [35–38]. In contrast, in this study, fruit yield and fruit size were found to increase with an increase in the area of WB. The yield of the larger area WB was always higher than that of other types of WB arrangements, but it was not signiﬁcantly different from WBs with mulch (both indoor and outdoor) (Table 3). However, it was found in separate experiments by the authors that an excessive increase of soil depth will decrease the WUE. The iWUE was signiﬁcantly higher in mulched WBs than the conventional surface irrigation treatment and the improvement could probably be further increased by selecting a more effective mulch type than scoria gravel. Interestingly, despite the harsh summer conditions, the yield was higher in outdoor WB and SI treatments than the corresponding indoor treatments. The inﬂuence of polli- nation on the yield of ﬂowering plants has been studied by several researchers [39–41], who observed that there is a positive effect of wind and insect pollination to increase the fruit yield and the quality. Accordingly, natural or self-pollination in the glasshouse may have resulted in comparatively less fruit yield in indoor treatments . A higher evapotranspiration in response to higher outdoor temperature (Figure 3) may have led to uptake of more water; however, this was compensated by a comparatively higher yield. Overall, a signiﬁcant difference in yield was observed between soil volume, location, and water quality. Accordingly, this study suggests that WBs in outdoor settings will not necessarily be outperformed by those in glasshouse conditions. It also highlighted that the frequency of irrigation in WBs depends on the area of the WB and environmental conditions. A small amount of intermittent rain was experienced during the growing period, but was not expected to have affected the leaching of excessive amounts of nutrients and did not lead to an observable yield decrease in the outdoor plants. Several studies have established leaching requirement guidelines to reduce salinity buildup in the root zone [42–44]. Studies have shown that most of the horticultural and landscaping plants are moderately sensitive to soil salinity . Accordingly, as soil salinity buildup was observed in even the FW irrigated plots, leaching is suggested as part of WB maintenance, at intermittent intervals of possibly a few days to a few weeks during the growing period, when salinity control is required. Careful leaching without overﬂowing the reservoir may actually help to re-mobilize (by percolation) the essential nutrients that are needed by plants, because they are not completely drained out from the WB. Similarly, applying mulch to the surface will help to reduce water evaporation and therefore should help to decrease the rate of salt buildup in the upper soil. This study shows that the iWUE and yield were high in the mulched WB compared to non-mulched WB and SI treatments. More detailed studies are required to determine optimal regimes for leaching and nutrient uptake in WBs. Other investigators have observed a similar pattern of increase in soil sodicity with the use of a high level of sodium-contained irrigation water, namely RW and desalinated sea water [46–48]. However, compared to salinity, sodium has the opposite effect on soil; for example, elevated amounts of sodium in the soil resulted in the dispersion of soil particles, which in turn led to a reduced inﬁltration rate, reduced hydraulic conductivity, and led to surface crusting . As a result, low yield and plant growth were prominent. Ganjegunte et al.  showed that the use of saline water in a drip irrigation system increased the EC and SAR at the surface layer. In the present study, the initial SAR of RW and soil were 232.5 mg/L and 143.08 mg/L, respectively. However, the mean SAR of the soil at the end of the harvest was a maximum of 1.52 in the RW irrigated 2D WB and was lower than the maximum tolerance level of 3. It is difﬁcult to study the effects of water stress on the uptake of nutrients and accumu- lation on a plant. However, several studies have shown that water stress levels decrease a plant’s nitrogen uptake [51,52]. Nahar and Gretzmacher  showed that N uptake in tomato plants may decrease up to 34% with 40% of ﬁeld capacity (FC) irrigation compared Earth 2021, 2 482 with 100% FC. The moisture content of the surface layer of WBs usually dropped around 4%, which may have reduced the nutrient uptake by the plant and resulted in the accumu- lation of salt on the surface layer. In contrast, a reliably high moisture content in the surface treatments may have promoted nutrient uptake (Figure 9). Moreover, the results of this study exposed that the frequent use of RW may increase the soil TN level signiﬁcantly. This result is consistent with previous observations of RW increasing soil TN such as Alrajhi et al. . A comparatively high Na in RW may have resulted in the accumulation of a high Na percentage in RW irrigated treatments. Boron (B) is a vital micronutrient for plant growth, and its uptake was higher in surface treatments compared to WBs. The amount of Mn was always high in WBs; this may have been due to the presence of Mn in the quartzite, which was used as the reservoir material. 5. Conclusions This study was conducted to investigate the soil–water–plant relations of a wicking bed (WB) using two water qualities (freshwater, recycled water), two soil areas (30 cm and 56 cm diameter), two irrigation water scenarios (2 days per week and 7-day intervals) and two environmental settings (indoor and outdoor). The results were compared with corresponding surface irrigated (SI) treatments. Irrigation water use efﬁciency (iWUE) was higher in WB treatments than SI treatments in both indoor and outdoor conditions. Less frequent irrigation was required in WBs, although it mainly depended on the area of the WB and the environmental conditions. WBs work in relation to the evapotranspiration rate of the plant, and accordingly, no water deﬁciency should occur in the system as long as the reservoir contains water. The yield was higher in WBs compared to SI pots, but the difference was most signiﬁcant when WBs incorporated the use of mulch. The EC, SAR, and residual nutrient concentrations were higher in the surface layer of the WBs. It is proposed that irrigation management including intermittent leaching may be undertaken to reduce salinity levels and re-mobilize beneﬁcial nutrients, potentially in- creasing the yield of WBs further, which we recommend should be investigated in future studies. Another way to view the accumulation of salt on the soil surface in the WB system is that it is easy to remove (by excavation of the upper level), thus reducing leachate of nutrients and salt to groundwater. This is a potentially added advantage when compared to SI systems. The structure of a WB is simple; hence, they can be rescaled to different sizes and installed in a variety of settings, including balconies, back gardens, parks, rooftop gardens or city landscaping. It may use as a simple glasshouse model by connecting multiple pots in series, and the reservoir can be ﬁlled manually or automatically. WBs show potential as a low-tech and high water- and labour-efﬁcient irrigation technique for urban settings using fresh or recycled water. They also show potential for reducing pollution through leaching, supporting overall environmental sustainability. Author Contributions: N.P.K.S., J.D.W. and B.R.M. conceived and designed the experiments; N.P.K.S. performed the experiments and analysed the data; J.D.W. and B.R.M. contributed to the analysis process; N.P.K.S. wrote the paper; J.D.W. and B.R.M. contributed to the manuscript. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. Funding: This research was conducted with the assistance of an Australian Government Endeavour Awards Scholarship. Funding was also provided by the Goyder Institute for Water Research, a partnership between the South Australian Government through the Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources, CSIRO, Flinders University, the University of Adelaide, and the University of South Australia. Institutional Review Board Statement: Not applicable. Informed Consent Statement: Not applicable. Data Availability Statement: The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. Earth 2021, 2 483 Acknowledgments: The authors would like to acknowledge the service provided by Tim Golding, the Lab Manager of the Civil Engineering lab and his team for their continuous support when setting up experiments. 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Bashir, M.A.; Alvi, A.M.; Khan, K.A.; Rehmani, M.I.A.; Ansari, M.J.; Atta, S.; Ghramh, H.A.; Batool, T.; Tariq, M. Role of Pollination in Yield and Physicochemical Properties of Tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum). Saudi J. Biol. Sci. 2018, 25, 1291–1297. [CrossRef] 41. Nazer, I.K.; Kasrawi, M.A.; Al-Attal, Y.Z. Inﬂuence of Pollination Technique on Greenhouse Tomato Production. J. Agric. Mar. Sci. JAMS 2003, 8, 21. [CrossRef] 42. Ayars, J.E.; Hoffman, G.J.; Corwin, D. Leaching and Rootzone Salinity Control. In Agricultural Salinity Assessment and Management; Wallender, W., Tanji, K., Eds.; American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE): Reston, VA, USA, 2012; pp. 371–403. 43. Kijne, J.W. Water Productivity under Saline Conditions. In Water Productivity in Agriculture: Limits and Opportunities for Improvement; Kijne, J., Barker, R., Molden, D., Eds.; CABI: Wallingford, UK, 2009; pp. 89–102. [CrossRef] 44. Letey, J.; Hoffman, G.J.; Hopmans, J.W.; Grattan, S.R.; Suarez, D.; Corwin, D.L.; Oster, J.D.; Wu, L.; Amrhein, C. Evaluation of Soil Salinity Leaching Requirement Guidelines. Agric. Water Manag. 2011, 98, 502–506. [CrossRef] 45. Blaylock, A. Soil Salinity, Salt Tolerance and Growth Potential of Horticultural and Landscape Plants; Co-operative Extension Service, University of Wyoming, Department of Plant, Soil and Insect Sciences, College of Agriculture: Laramie, WY, USA, 1994. 46. Ezlit, Y.D.; Smith, R.J.; Raine, S.R. A Review of Salinity and Sodicity in Irrigation; Cooperative Research Centre for Irrigation Futures: Murarrie, Australia, 2010; p. 79. 47. Laurenson, S.; Bolan, N.S.; Smith, E.; Mccarthy, M. Review: Use of Recycled Wastewater for Irrigating Grapevines. Aust. J. Grape Wine Res. 2012, 18, 1–10. [CrossRef] 48. Qian, Y. Urban Landscape Irrigation with Recycled Wastewater. 2006. Available online: https://mountainscholar.org/bitstream/ handle/10217/694/COMP204.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y (accessed on 25 July 2021). 49. Warrence, N.; Bauder, J.; Pearson, K. Basics of Salinity and Sodicity Effects on Soil Physical Properties; MSU Extension Water Quality Program: Bozeman, MT, USA, 2002. 50. Ganjegunte, G.; Leinauer, B.; Schiavon, M.; Serena, M. Using Electro-Magnetic Induction to Determine Soil Salinity and Sodicity in Turf Root Zones. Agron. J. 2013, 105, 836–844. [CrossRef] 51. Nahar, K.; Gretzmacher, R. Effect of Water Stress on Nutrient Uptake, Yield and Quality of Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) under Subtropical Conditions. Bodenkultur 2002, 53, 45–51. 52. Pessarakli, M. Soil Salinity and Sodicity as Particular Plant/Crop Stress Factors. In Handbook of Plant and Crop Stress; Pessarakli, M., Ed.; Marcel Dekker, Inc.: New York, NY, USA; Basel, Switzerland, 1999; p. 189. 53. Alrajhi, A.; Beecham, S.; Bolan, N.S.; Hassanli, A. Evaluation of Soil Chemical Properties Irrigated with Recycled Wastewater under Partial Root-Zone Drying Irrigation for Sustainable Tomato Production. Agric. Water Manag. 2015, 161, 127–135. [CrossRef]
Earth – Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
Published: Jul 29, 2021
Keywords: irrigation; salinity; urban agriculture; wicking bed; water use efficiency; yield; water quality; sustainable
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domain: agronomy


Local news for Durham, NC continually updated from thousands of sources on the web.
3 hrs ago | Business Journal
Startup platform AngelList has 11,737 registered startups in Silicon Valley, 1,180 in Austin, Texas, 1,748 in Boston and 809 in Atlanta, but only 322 in the Triangle.
4 hrs ago | HeraldSun.com
Artist Cathy McLaurin revisits her roots in Siler City from the distance of geography and time.
8 hrs ago | News Observer
She made the discovery on Jan. 17, 2008 when she looked outside and saw her Mercedes missing from the driveway.
11 hrs ago | News Observer
Derick Davis II, 23, of Scots Pine Crossing, Durham, was charged today with misdemeanor possession of stolen goods, felony common-law robbery and felony assault inflicting serious bodily injury, Chapel Hill Police reported.
11 hrs ago | HeraldSun.com
Chapel Hill police responded to a report of a serious assault and robbery on W. University Drive in Chapel Hill Wednesday.
13 hrs ago | News Observer
The fire in the split-level house was reported at 10:39 p.m., and the first firefighters to arrive found flames coming from the rear and left sides of the building on both levels, Deputy Chief Chris Iannuzzi said.
15 hrs ago | News Observer
Now that the business is located entirely off-campus at a single location on Durham-Chapel Hill Boulevard, she is working to continue that mission.
Food vendor Cristal Harrison of Wake County, NC set up her sign to 'Blessed to serve you!!' outside of her food truck Tuesday midday, July 22, 2014 just before the blessing of the trucks and prayer of thanks by local homeless men and Durham Rescue Mission staffers in front of the Rescue Mission's Men's Center for Hope building on the East Main ... (more)
A homeless, single mother of five in Durham says an ad she posted on Craigslist, in which she asked for someone to "take her five kids," was not what it seemed.
Judge Jim Hardin announced his decision Wednesday in the courtroom where Lovette is on trial for one of two murders he is accused of committing in 2008.
Living creatures aren't the only things capable of evolution. Airplane designs are constantly evolving, too, a new study suggests.
No serious injuries were reported Tuesday evening after a jug exploded on a bus on Main Street in downtown Durham, police reported.
No one was injured after a small container left by a man exploded on a Bull City Connector bus, but police blocked some downtown streets to investigate the incident, ABC11 Eyewitness News reported.
"I am disappointed that they're continuing to take away the tools we have at the local level," McFarlane said.
The James E. Shepard Alumni Association will host a scholarship banquet from 6 to 11 p.m. Saturday, July 26, at the Wendell Community Center, 601 W. Third St., Wendell.
Durham News, Events & Info
Updated: Thu Jul 24, 2014 03:59 pm
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FLINDERS ISLAND WALK
Lying above Tasmania is the fascinating Flinders Island famous for its tranquillity, unspoilt natural landscapes and abundance of wildlife. On this 5 day walking holiday you’ll witness breathtaking views from the top of Mt Strzelecki, and explore the pristine National Parks as we discover the island’s best walking trails. With 120 pristine beaches, more than 65 shipwrecks and rugged mountains rising from the sea, there are few places better to visit.
3 DAY ITINERARY – AVAILABLE FOR GROUPS. ENQUIRE FOR DETAILS.
Our 5 day Flinders Island walk is designed for those who want to walk without carrying heavy overnight bags and who are simply after a walk where we take care of you. Our all-inclusive package includes:
- 5 day guided walk – no carrying of overnight bags
- Accommodation: 4 nights at Mountain Seas Lodge
- Professionally guided – Our guides are Tasmania’s who are passionate, well trained and enthusiastic with the ability to bring to life a depth of information.
- 4 x delicious dinners
- 3 x full buffet breakfasts
- 4 x lunches to eat on the trail
- Fresh fruit and trail mix to enjoy during your walk
- National Park Fees
Flights to Flinders Island are in addition to the package cost listed. Return flights can be booked online, when you book your tour. Flights are available from Melbourne or Launceston to Flinders Island.

domain: geography


As the conversation around immigration, Dreamers, ICE raids and the repeal of DACA continue to swirl in all corners of the internet, #OriginalDreamers has emerged to remind us of why everyday people cross deserts, oceans, miles of jungles, and risk death in search of a better life in the United States. The media tends to portray the parents of Dreamers and DACA recipients as irresponsible criminals who came here to steal from the U.S., however the hashtag popping up across social media, #OriginalDreamers, humanizes the conversation by showing how many people have had a fighting chance because their family members sacrificed themselves for the next generation. Here are a few of the most heart-wrenching and thought-provoking responses by the children who honor their parent’s struggle and sacrifice.
The Original Dreamers 🌟my dad came from Michoacan Mexico since he was 16 years old and for several years he would come to the U.S to work and help provide for his 11 siblings. My mother came 30yrs ago when she married my dad. Both left Mexico with only the clothes on their backs, jumping fences, hiding in trucks, running away from la migra. All to chase ese sueño Americano. Day to day they continue to invest in that Dream, with the sweat of their backs, and the tears of their eyes my siblings and I were able to chase our own dreams. Thank you mom and dad #originaldreamers #dreamers #productofimmigrants #brownandproud
Crossing the border is often a traumatic experience, but we seldom hear about how traumatic living in constant fear of being arrested or separated from your family is.


20 sf adaptability
Can the 20 sf 10mm also shoot 40 S&W without any mods? Will this frame accept other barrels and mags, like to a 9 mm? Thanks to the glock gurus!!!
Re: 20 sf adaptability
To shoot .40 you will need a.40 cal barrel, the chamber dimensions therefore headspacing will be different and can cause issues.
Other barrels are available, not sure to what extent, the mag wells of the 20 and 21 are larger than thru 9mm and .40 counterparts, a conversion to .45 should be a snap, not sure about 9mm
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Team GB bobsleigh Winter Olympics 35 per cent of people watching the 23rd Winter Olympic Games are doing so online, while fans of the Games spend an average of 2 hours 24 minutes a day on social media, according to a survey of 30,755 Winter Olympics fans, conducted by GlobalWebIndex.
Select creators on Snapchat are getting access to analytics data about their audience. This includes insights such as story views, engagement, and demographics. Only those who are part of Snapchat's Official Stories program are getting access to this data.
Marketers can link to lead-generation forms from their respective email marketing software and boom, your email list is going off the roof. Currently, this feature is only available to business profiles with more than 10,000 followers. You can use the alternative of writing a short URL.
Weibo's powerful network effect combined with our continued user growth and user engagements as well as breadth of ad offerings have solidified Weibo as an essential element of mobile marketing in China further strengthens Weibo's leading position in the social media industry at large said Wang.
Sputnik has no active Facebook page, but has a significant number of Facebook shares for anti-EU content, does Sputnik have an active Facebook advertising account? Will Facebook and Twitter check the dissemination of content from these sites to check they are not using bots to push their content?
Team LeBron wins in a rout with $26.4 million in “earned media value” this season to date, twice as much as Team Curry, according to Hookit, which tracks sponsorship value in social and digital media. Credit captain James, who generates more than half of his team's total for his longtime shoe sponsor.
Facebook has long sought to appear politically neutral, despite executives personal leanings. With the platform so central to an investigation Trump has politicized, that image is complicated to maintain. The president using an executive's tweet to support his views may be even more uncomfortable for the company.
More older people will flock to Facebook even as teenagers leave it for other platforms, data from a British survey shows. It is projected that the number of British users older than 55 will increase by up to 500,000 this year, while some 700,000 users aged 24 and younger will leave the platform for Instagram and Snapchat.
On Friday, Twitter announced that it would abandon its lesser loved Mac app, directing users to Twitter.com instead. The company declared that it will refocus its efforts on “a great Twitter experience that is consistent across platforms” rather than continuing development for Twitter for Mac.
Despite a lot of backlash over a big redesign for the Snapchat app — which to be sure is a very big deal for a product-centric company like Snap — Snap CEO Evan Spiegel vigorously defended the redesign and basically said people need to get used to it.

domain: news


text:
Former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe begged people to “stop calling me” about the state election results, saying he believed that the Democrats would “win big” once the early ballots were counted.
“Please stop calling me about Virginia,” McAuliffe said on Twitter Tuesday night. “You have not counted the 2.7 million early ballots. They will all be there at 11:00, and we will win hands down.”
Please stop calling me about Virginia. You didn’t count the 2.7 million early votes. They’re all in office by 11 votes, and we are going to win big.
– Terry McAuliffe (@TerryMcAuliffe) November 4, 2020
The Associated Press called the presidential race for the Democratic presidential candidate, Joe Biden, shortly after 7:30 p.m. local time. The Virginia Department of Elections announced that it will continue to accept absentee ballots stamped from polling day until Friday noon, and warned that the state’s official election results will not be confirmed until 10 days later.
BREAKING: Joe Biden wins in Virginia. #Race track call at 7:36 p.m. EST. #Election2020
– AP Policy (@AP_Policy) November 4, 2020
More than 2.7 million early votes were cast in Virginia this election cycle, Christopher Piper, commissioner of the Virginia Department of Elections, said during a press conference on Tuesday evening. That figure – about 1.2 million votes less than the total number of votes cast during the 2016 presidential election – included nearly 1.8 million votes cast in person before polling day and more than 960,000 postal ballots, according to U.S. Elections Project data.
Piper praised the voters and election officials for helping the state report record voter turnout and said the department would count all ballots received by the deadline.
“Virginia will count every single vote,” Piper said.
In the run-up to election day, McAuliffe often campaigned for Biden and vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris. McAuliffe, a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, who chaired the 2000 party convention, worked with the committee again in late October to shoot a video spot asking voters to make plans on when and how they would vote if they had not already done so, and he told WCAV-TV on election day that he and other Democratic Party members were putting together more than 150 events on Biden’s behalf in the state to support the campaign of the former vice president.
After the AP announced its prediction for Virginia, McAuliffe celebrated the victory on Twitter. “The people of Virginia chose unity over division, and hope over fear by voting decisively for @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris,” he tweeted. “The Commonwealth has once again taken the lead. We are proud to have been part of the Biden-Harris for VA team!”
With election results expected in the coming days, the margin with which Biden won the 13 Virginia votes was unknown on Tuesday night. In 2016, then Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton won the state by more than 5 points.
Washington Newsday asked Biden’s campaign for a comment….

domain: politics


text:
What is Residential Treatment?
What Does a Residential Program Mean?
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, during residential treatment: “Addiction is viewed in the context of an individual’s social and psychological deficits, and treatment focuses on developing personal accountability and responsibility as well as socially productive lives. Treatment is highly structured and can be confrontational at times, with activities designed to help residents examine damaging beliefs, self-concepts, and destructive patterns of behavior and adopt new, more harmonious and constructive ways to interact with others.”
In other words, the residential addiction treatment experience is designed to be a highly structured social and therapeutic experience.
What is Residential Addiction Treatment?
Residential treatment is a live-in level of care in which the patient stays at a non-hospital facility for an extended period under 24-hour medical supervision. This level of care exists in both mental health and substance use disorder treatment protocol. This article is focused on residential addiction treatment. During residential treatment, a patient will stay at a facility that is more like home. These facilities are located in a neighborhood or urban setting that is also shared with other homes and businesses. A residential treatment facility is usually not a lockdown center and is designed for people who are non-violent, medically stable, and physically mobile.
How Long is Residential Treatment?
To be classified as a residential program a facility must provide 24-hour care in a non-hospital environment. While there is no length of stay that is specifically required to be considered residential, most programs are longer than 14 days and some last many months. For substance use disorders at The Ridge, the length of stay falls around 30 days, based on medical necessity. At The Ridge, as well as most residential programs, periodic clinical assessments are conducted to ensure the patient is at the best level of care for their needs. After the residential level of care is completed there is a step-down process in which a patient will transfer to a lower level of care such as Partial Hospitalization (PHP) or Intensive Outpatient (IOP). Often these levels of care will be conducted by the same organization in the same or a different facility based on the structure of the program and clinical/state guidelines. If the organization does not offer the recommended level of care clinical staff will refer the patient elsewhere.
What is Residential Treatment for Substance Abuse?
The residential level of care designation is broadly defined according to standards set by the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM). Residential is one level of care offered during The Ridge programming. What the patient needs to know is that they will be under 24-hour medical supervision with intensive daily therapeutic programming. This highly structured environment allows the patient to learn the necessary tools to begin a lifetime of recovery. Additionally, at The Ridge residential program, you will have all of your meals prepared for you by our chef. During the residential level of care, day to day needs are taken care of so the patient can focus solely on their recovery.
During the day a patient will have a busy schedule of therapeutic sessions. The Ridge programming is designed around a cognitive behavior therapy approach (CBT). During The Ridge residential program, the patient will receive group counseling, individual sessions, and one-on-one sessions with our staff physician or psychiatrist as needed. Both of our doctors are board-certified addictionologist and full-time employees of The Ridge. In addition to these treatment sessions, we offer exercise and nutrition as part of the recovery experience. Other ancillary services such as yoga, meditation, art therapy, and music therapy are part of the milieu.
Residential addiction treatment is an appropriate level of care for those clients who have had a hard time in other lower levels of care such as outpatient or intensive outpatient. Residential care is also recommended for those patients who experience high levels of cravings or have become physically dependent on their substance of choice. A thorough assessment with a licensed counselor or physician will always be conducted as part of The Ridge programming before admission to determine the appropriate care to best help the addicted patient.

domain: psychology


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text:
Gymnastics: Farmington’s Lord wins three at Red Wing
Published 12/19/2012, The Farmington Independent
Kiana Lord won three events and the all-around competition in leading the Farmington gymnastics team past Red Wing 126.04-122.075 in its first Missota Conference dual meet of the season last Tuesday at the Red Wing Gymnastics Center.Word count: 265
The full article is available to newspaper subscribers. If you are a subscriber please log in to continue reading.


text:
Small park, but lots of trails, and into the prairie. Many birds, deer, beautiful butterflies, snakes, and raccoons! Very peaceful quiet campground. Spectacular night sky. This is the place to stargaze. Many here taking pictures with their telescopes. We’ve been here four times, and definitely return. They definitely improved the road in!
We stayed 4 nights in December 2020. Site 60. We had a great time. Campground is clean and well maintained. Very friendly. Went hiking on a beautiful wide path along the water. Rode bikes to the dam. We’ve been there four times now, and just love it there!
We had so much fun at this park. Very friendly. Good site with excellent drainage. Unfortunately, at the time we were here, the dump station was not working! Will go back! Plus, Lake Anna Winery is close to the park, and the tastings are fantastic!!
All sites are pull thru’s and paved. Restrooms/showers very clean. On sides of rv are bushes that give you privacy. We were at site 301, close to the restroom, since we were taking my 93 year old Dad with us. Walked down to the water and dock. They pick up your garbage everyday. Very friendly. Definitely go back many times!
We stayed here for three nights in October. Sites are large and well shaded. Water drainage is great. A little uneven, but easy to handle. We had a great time hiking down to the river and biking around the campground. Very friendly and clean. We will definitely return!
Wow! Road to campground is horrible! Very narrow, trees hanging over it, dirt, but huge holes! Obviously needs to be graded. We booked a pull thru per map, but was not. Had to change to site 29. Loose dirt but fairly level. Very quiet and Lake Horton near us. Hosts very friendly. We were in a 38 foot coach.
Small park, beautiful trees entering. However, the campground has 32 sites. None of them have a tree! Normally, it would be ok, but it was 95 outside and a real feel of 110! Clean restrooms and spacious sites. Would come back, but only in the winter.
We booked three nights at this park. Shady, and wide sites. We have a 2020 Tiffin Allegro 36 LA. We had site 28 at first, couldn’t get any power! Ranger then moved us to site 13. Again no power. It was 95 degrees, and real feel 110. In other words, HOT! The only way we could stay the night was to REMOVE our surge protector and plug into 30 amp! In the morning, we told the Ranger we had to leave due to this problem with power. He then told us, many other people have complained about it! This SHOULD be properly represented in their page!
This campground has a beautiful big beach! Boat ramps also. Sites are very narrow, with a drop off. We had to change our site. We had pull thru, but way too narrow with a turn. We have a 36 LA Tiffin Open Road. Changed our site, and it was great!
Beautiful site! Full shade and very level. Water directly in front of our site. Road our bikes to the dam.
What a beautiful site we had! Shady and it was 96 degrees! Big site near a stream. Road our bikes to the springs, and they were spectacular! Definitely go back several more times!
Wonderful shady spot. Pull thru. Plenty of room on all sides. Very clean restrooms and laundry. Nice beach to walk to.
What a beautiful site! Nice and shady. Near the water, but higher up and hard to walk down. Went down to fishing area. Kinda hilly and turns.
Beautiful campground! Our site right on the water. Very clean and well kept. Very friendly.
Coastal GA resort is a very nice resort. Fishing is good, nice pool, and love sitting by the water. Spaces are very tight, and the stairs come down almost on top of the picnic table bench. Very clean.
Beautiful site and campground. Huge site, very clean, and restrooms were very clean! We rode our bikes to the river, gift shop, and restaurant. Had a great time! Very friendly.
We were at site 79. Very large and peaceful. Had a great time. Walked and biked around the campground.
Nice campground. Not very shady at all. If you love to use awesome bike trails, this is the place! Extremely noisy with trains running through all night, of course, blowing their whistles!
Nice campground. Clean and well maintained. Very shady site, but tons of mosquitoes. We went in late October. Nice preserve to walk or bike to. Observation tower. Saw wild horses in the prairie. Visitor’s Center very helpful with information.
Excellent campground. Very clean. Unfortunately, due to hurricane Michael last year, 80% of their trees were destroyed. Camp host, Art, was wonderful! Loved the park, near the water. Very peaceful.

domain: travel


text:
ROPE ME | Coffee table
Rectangular wooden coffee table with integrated magazine rack
With a surprising blend of reclaimed pallet wood and marine rope, the Rope Me collection brings our fantasy to the seaside. The collection speaks of the gentle murmur of waves hitting the shore, and seagulls circling above the water’s surface. The collection comes in soft pastel, darker pastel, brown or aged white colors to spark our memories of summer and fresh air. With space to hide secrets, the collection reveals the owner’s taste for playful living and longing for eternal youth.
The blend of materials that goes into the Rope Me collection especially adds soul to this coffee table. Ideally made to bring a tad of tranquility into the modern lifestyle, attention will naturally gravitate towards this piece. Comes in different color nuances.
Dimensions: 100 x 60 x 40 cm

domain: artistic


The Philippine government has allocated PHP 100 million funds to aid thousands of Filipino workers who have yet to be compensated by their former employers in Saudi Arabia. The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) have come together to provide individual cash assistance of PHP 10,000 each, amounting to an estimated 10,000 OFWs.
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. had raised the issue of unpaid Filipino workers during his meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at last year’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Bangkok, Thailand.
In response, the prince pledged that the Saudi government would shoulder wage claims for around 10,000 affected OFWs.
DMW, OWWA, DSWD to Distribute Cash Aid worth PHP 10,000 to Displaced OFWs in Saudi
OWWA Administrator Arnell Ignacio assured that there are sufficient funds allotted for this humanitarian initiative and they are prepared to assist claimants to receive their due payments as soon as possible. Upon OWWA’s release of its implementing guidelines, funds will then be released directly to the claimants.
DMW Secretary Susan “Toots” Ople expressed her gratitude towards DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian for supporting these OFWs during such difficult times. Recently, DMW and DSWD signed a Memorandum of Agreement allowing for the release of a total of PHP100 million as humanitarian assistance – broken down into PHP10,000 each – for claimants from 2015-2019 who have yet to receive their wages and benefits from their previous employers in Saudi Arabia.
This signing event was held at the Blas F. Ople Building in Mandaluyong City and is expected to be distributed within two weeks with DMW-OWWA leading distribution efforts.. Aside from providing humanitarian assistance, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s dialogue with the crown prince included discussing ways on which OFW families can also be helped during these trying times.
A digital or electronic portal has also been set up where beneficiaries may register and apply for aid packages while an appointed focal person is assigned to monitor compliance in disbursing public funds according to this agreement between DMW-OWWA and DSWD.
Please check the announcement as shared by the DMW official Facebook Page:


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Are you confused on which body fat burners to take? Do they seem truly safe? With so many weight loss supplements to pick from, deciding to have one should be addressed with utmost research and precaution. It is thus advisable to consult a physician first and be equipped to examine ones medical problem or perhaps tangible make up to determine which suits you or in other instances, in case you would really need one. Supporting the fat burner market would surely accelerate ones weight loss procedure, but making sure it is thus analyzed properly.
Fat loss supplements may perhaps are available in various forms; popular ones are protein shakes, fat-free chocolate bars or simply the pill type. You will find two methods to classify these fat loss supplements. One is available in the natural substance even though the other person is the artificial ones. On a single hand, natural fat burners such as the tea are well loved for its taste and smell which is pleasant. More than that, it’s this cleansing power which helps in quickly consuming fat within the body. The tea or even the amellia senensis additionally strengthens the immune system of yours and rapidly increase fat mobilization. Yet another interesting natural product is ma huang or perhaps ephedra which is seen to be a really intense herbal stimulant. Although it is pretty important in suppressing ones appetite and being hyperactive, it’s been globally recognized as also controversial.
Throughout 2005, a Utah judge rescinded the FDA’s ban on ephedra. Supplements that has ephedra should only incorporate 10mg or a lot less or different, it’ll be regarded as illegal already. On the contrary, artificial weight loss products may also come in handy like the famous Pyruvate and Hydroxycut. This stimulates burns and energy fast easily. The majority of which are also being put together with intense workout so as to increase metabolism and subsequently lose weight faster.
Additionally, there are carbohydrate and fat disablers which is an effective together with the standard idea of preventing these “unwanted” compound in the body of yours, best sellers are Ultimate Nutrition Carb Bloc and BSN Cheaters Relief, respectively. There are also appetite suppressants which could help you attain a more lucrative weight loss plan. Making your body think it’s not hungry is precisely what this kind of product does. Clearly, eating less would assist anybody lose weight fast fasting (Get More Information) weight. An illustration of this product is the VPX Meltdown and Gaspari Nutrition Cytolean.
Fat reduction supplements may seem to be the simplest way to obtain a “desirable” body and then cut down the pounds of yours. But, one will have to try the more natural ways first, like proportioning food consumption or maybe activity as this is less invasive than you taking in other substances in the body of yours. Besides that, even if these fat reduction supplement appear to work, in case you research more, one thing that they’ve in common is that you simply combine it with constant physical activity and proper food diet.

domain: health


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In celebration of my 1,000th blog post, I am giving away one copy of the Northern Colorado Writers Writing Planner. This excellent planning tool is designed by Kerrie Flanagan and illustrated by April Moore. Kerrie is the director of NCW, and April is the awesome author of the upcoming release of Folsom’s 93: The Lives and Crimes of Folsom Prison’s Executed Men (but you’ll be hearing lots more about that later on).
Back to the business at hand. This year the NCW writing planner has taken on a new look. It’s a smaller, more manageable size, designed to fit easily into a purse or small computer case. Here’s what the cover looks like:
Each month there’s a full-page monthly calendar for easy reference plus the weekly pages for your appointments, writing schedule, and goals.
I will be traveling again next week, so the entry period for this giveaway will extend until midnight Mountain time Saturday, December 8th. Leaving a comment on any post during the week will count as an entry, so this time you have the ability to earn several chances to win. I’ll announce the winner on Sunday, December 9th.

domain: literature


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Here’s a dangerous word combo: bored teenagers. With the arrival of summer, hordes of high school students are already in the process of driving their parents crazy. A struggling economy and a tight job market has made landing a summer gig at the local fast food emporium or big-box store tough -- and even those resume-building unpaid internships are hard to come by.
But rather than settling down for an endless marathon of “The Jersey Shore,” there are some things teens can do to help prepare themselves for the college application process. Here is some valuable advice culled from the experts:
Studies consistently show that students who engage in pro-active programs do better in the classroom and on standardized tests, are more confident, and have higher self-esteem. And those benefits just may outweigh picking up some spare cash flipping burgers or folding tee-shirts at the local mall.