Inlab expert pro ism

The pH values of a reaction suspensions’ medium were determined using a laboratory pH-meter Toledo SevenCompact S220 (Mettler-Toledo GmbH, Greifensee, Switzerland) equipped with an InLab Expert Pro-ISM electrode.

Silage homogenates were prepared as previously described [20 (link)] with some modifications. Briefly, 100 mL of distilled water was added to 10 g (fresh weight) of silage material. The resulting solution was homogenized by using a laboratory homogenizer (Pro·media SH-IIM, Elmex). After 5 min of extraction, the sample was filtered through 5A filter paper (Advantec). The resulting eluate was treated with Amberlite (Amberlite IR120H⁺, Tokyo Chemical Industry) and centrifuged at 20,000 × g for 5 min. The supernatant was filtered through a membrane filter (pore size 0.45 μm; Advantec) and analyzed with a high-performance liquid chromatograph (HPLC; JASCO Corporation) equipped with Shodex Raspak KC-811 column (8 mm × 300 mm; Showa Denko) and a UV spectrometer (detection wavelength was 450 nm). The column was maintained at 60 °C. The flow rate of the mobile phase (3 mmol L^•1 of HClO₄ aq.) was 1.2 mL min^•1. BTB solution (0.2 mmol L^•1 of bromothymol blue, 8 mmol L^•1 of Na₂HPO₄, and 2 mmol L^•1 of NaOH) was used as the reaction mixture.
The water content is 100 less the proportion of dry matter content (%). Dry matter weight of silage was determined with heating material at 60 °C for 48 h. The pH values of the silage extract were determined using a pH meter (Seven Excellence; Mettler-Toledo) attached to an electrode (InLab Expert Pro-ISM; Mettler-Toledo).

Soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) contents were determined by dry combustion in triplicate using a Vario EL III C/H/N analyser (Elementar, Hanau, Germany). Since the carbonate concentration of the soils was negligible (<2%), the total C concentration measured was considered to represent total organic carbon (TOC). Available soil phosphorus was determined after extraction with double lactate (pH 3.6, 90 min; [27 ]) using the molybdenium blue method [28 (link)]. Gravimetric soil moisture contents were determined using a fully automatic moisture analyzer (Kern DBS60–3, Kern & Sohn GmbH, Germany). Soil pH was measured with a pH electrode (Mettler Toledo InLab Expert Pro-ISM) after shaking the soil for 1 h in 0.01 M CaCl₂ (1:2.5 w/v).
At the time of soil sampling in June 2012, the average gravimetric soil moisture was 7.7% in the drought and 15.1% in the control samples and, in September, 6.7% in the drought and 11.1% in the control samples (Figure S2). Soil properties were comparable between seasons, plant community compositions and drought or control treatments. In addition, TOC increased from June to September, and P availability was higher in plots with drought compared to control treatment (Table S3).

The primary physicochemical parameters commonly used to evaluate semisolids include viscosity, osmotic pressure, and pH. The viscosity was determined using the CP41 spindle on a Wells/Brookfield™ cone plate Brookfield Model DVIII viscometer (Brookfield Eng. Lab., Inc., MA, USA). Data were collected using Rheocalc software (Brookfield Eng. Lab., Inc., MA, USA). To compare data from different samples, viscosity values obtained at 50 s−1 were used in the analysis. The shear stress (dyne/cm2) was best fitted by the Bingham equation using Rheocalc software. pH was determined using a Mettler-Toledo SevenExcellence™ Multiparameter pH meter (Mettler) with a Mettler-Toledo InLab^® Expert Pro-ISM (Mettler) probe calibrated using three points, pH 4.01, 6.86, and 9.18. Osmolality was determined using a SMC30D osmometer (TianJin TianHe Analytic Instrument Co., Ltd, Tianjin, China) calibrated using GBW(E) 198.5, 600.8, and 1000 mOsmol/kg calibration standards (National Institute of Metrology, Beijing, China).

In order to determine the concentration of photocatalytic suspensions before, after the experiment and after their centrifuging, their UV-vis spectra were recorded on the Thermo Scientific Genesys 10S UV-Vis spectrophotometer at the spectral range of 190–1,100 nm. If necessary, suspensions were diluted to achieve optical density A < 1 at the maximum of the most intense band. To determine their concentrations (mg/l) from UV-vis spectra, spectrophotometric calibration plots for suspensions of non-exfoliated (bulk) and exfoliated into nanoplatelets niobate were previously built as it is described in the Supporting Information S1.
pH values of the photocatalytic suspensions were determined using the Mettler Toledo S220 SevenCompact pH-meter equipped with the InLabExpert Pro-ISM before, after the experiment and also after their centrifuging after the experiment.

Incubation fluid from fermenters was collected daily with a syringe through the valve prior to feeding. This fluid was used to determine pH and redox potential using a pH meter (SevenMulti™, Mettler Toledo GmbH, Schwerzenbach, Switzerland) furnished with two electrodes (InLab Expert Pro-ISM for pH and Pt4805-DPA-SC-S8/120 for redox, respectively; Mettler Toledo GmbH, Schwerzenbach, Switzerland). On sampling days (d6–d10), an additional aliquot was taken for short-chain fatty acids (SCFA), and on d10, an additional aliquot was taken for archaea analysis. On d10, the feed bag incubated for 24 h was snap-frozen and preserved at -20°C for archaea analysis. Samples for archaea analysis were snap-frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored at -20°C for further DNA extraction and sequencing analysis. Residual feed bags collected during the sampling period were handwashed by running cold water until the water became clear, and preserved at -20°C for chemical analysis.