Soil Science Articles & Analysis
35 articles found
A interdisciplinary method to supporting future power systems in attaining low-carbon emission targets has been proposed by a collaborative research team led by the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Shanghai Advanced Research Institute and Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications. The findings were published in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews on May 19th, 2023. The researchers ...
One of the first customers to use DustIQ was Green Energy Park in Morocco, to support research field tests. Since February 2018, OTT HydroMet's DustIQ Soiling Monitoring System has been on their site and measuring the on-site soiling ratio. Green Energy Park (GEP) is a research center, a training platform and a testing facility located in the green city of Ben Guerir, mid-south of Morocco ...
Weindorf is at the Department of Plant and Soil Science at Texas Tech University. One main source of this calcium is limestone. ...
Because wild lines of the same species often represent a weedy constraint to cultivated crops in the field, any differential response to atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration, [CO2], may alter weed–crop competition and seed yield. We evaluated the growth and reproduction of cultivated rice (Oryza sativa L.; Clearfield, CL161) and red or weedy rice (Stuttgart, StgS) in monoculture, and at two ...
Received for publication March 24, 2009. The impact of elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration on plant communities is varied and strongly dependent on the dominant species response, as well as nutrient conditions. Responses of a dominant species (Leymus chinensis) to elevated CO2 and N application were examined with open-top chambers in a typical temperate grassland in northern China for 3 yr. ...
Conservation of soil water resulting from decreases in stomata conductance under atmospheric high vapor pressure deficit (VPD) conditions is a possible approach for enhanced tolerance of water deficit by crops. Water deficit is usually a concern in peanut (Arachis hypogea L.) since it is frequently grown on sandy soils with low water-holding capacity. Seventeen peanut genotypes were studied to ...
Received for publication August 25, 2008. The effects of nitrogen (N) across a deposition gradient on bacterial and fungal degradation pathways were studied in southern California coastal sage scrub soils to determine whether elevated N levels alter microbial community structure and organic matter accumulation. Three sites across an N deposition gradient having low, intermediate, and high levels ...
Research on how land suitability affects yields and breakeven prices for switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) grown as a bioenergy crop is lacking for the U.S. Southeast. Data from a 3-yr multilocation experiment at Milan, TN, were analyzed to determine the influence of soil drainage and landscape position on switchgrass yield and farm-gate breakeven price. Plots were seeded in 2004 with ‘Alamo’ at ...
Explosives in soils can present environmental problems for military installations. Fine, mobile particles represent the most reactive fraction of the soil and, therefore, are expected to adsorb explosives and potentially facilitate their transport. The objective of this study was to determine the relative significance of phyllosilicate clay, organic matter, and two forms of extractable iron in ...
Currently there is a trend for the expansion of the area cropped with sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.), driven by an increase in the world demand for biofuels, due to economical, environmental, and geopolitical issues. Although sugarcane is traditionally harvested by burning dried leaves and tops, the unburned, mechanized harvest has been progressively adopted. The use of process based models ...
Most methods to determine soil organic C (SOC) content are constrained by the time or equipment required, thereby limiting their use in determining the spatial variability of SOC across large areas. In this study, a new spectrophotometric method for the rapid determination of SOC was developed. The method is based on Beer's law, A = {varepsilon}lc, where A is absorbance, {varepsilon} is ...
The stabilization of soil organic matter (SOM) is an important process in the context of global change and is strongly affected by soil use and management. We investigated the mineralization and stabilization of 14C-labeled wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) straw and 14C-labeled farmyard manure under different cropping systems (crop rotation, monoculture, and bare fallow) in a long-term field ...
Received for publication May 10, 2008. We reviewed literature results from 42 determinations of the fraction of methane oxidized and 30 determinations of methane oxidation rate in a variety of soil types and landfill covers. Both column measurements and in situ field measurements were included. The means for the fraction of methane oxidized on transit across the soil covers ranged from 22 to 55% ...
Grasslands in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) in the USA may be converted to grain crops for bioenergy. The effect of no-till conversion of a smooth bromegrass (Bromus inermis Leyss) grassland to no-till corn (Zea mays L.) production on soil organic carbon (SOC) in the western Corn Belt was monitored for over 6 yr. A different 13C/12C isotope signature is imparted to SOC by C4 plants ...
Received for publication November 27, 2007. Although considerable effort is being spent studying exotic plant pests, little consideration has been given as to how invasive plants might react to the increasing concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere. Tropical spiderwort (Commelina benghalensis L.) is considered one the world's worst weeds and is becoming more of a problem in agricultural settings ...
Biosolids application to rangelands and pastures recycles nutrients and organic matter back to soils. The effects of biosolids (20 and 60 dry Mg ha–1) and N+P fertilizer on soil aggregate stability, bulk density, aeration porosity, and total C and N of stable aggregates were evaluated 4 and 5 yr after surface application to a crested wheatgrass [Agropyron cristatum (L.) Gaertn.] pasture in the ...
Maize (Zea mays L.) stover has been identified as an important feedstock for the production of cellulosic ethanol. Our objectives were to measure hybrid effect and combining ability patterns of traits related to cellulosic ethanol production, determine if germplasm and mutations used for silage production would also be beneficial for feedstock production, and examine relationships between traits ...
Conversions of Mollisols from prairie to cropland and subsequent changes in crop production practices in the Midwestern USA have resulted in changes in soil organic matter. Few studies have used archived samples, long-term resampling of soils to a depth of 1 m, and space for time studies to document these changes. We resampled soils by depth (0–100 cm) in fields at 19 locations in central ...
Hybrids between Medicago sativa subsp. sativa L. (hereafter 'sativa') and M. sativa subsp. falcata (L.) Arcang. (hereafter 'falcata') often express heterosis for yield. Yield generally declines when hybrids are inbred due to the loss of desirable dominant alleles or epistatic combinations. We hypothesized that inbreeding sativa–falcata hybrids may show more extensive yield loss than ...
Genetic improvement of sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] has traditionally focused on a single nonstructural carbohydrate, either grain starch or stem sugar. Sorghum starch and sugar may both be used as feedstocks for biofuel production. To investigate genetic tradeoffs between grain and stem sugar, a population derived from sweet sorghum cultivar Rio and grain sorghum ‘BTx623’ was evaluated ...