Soil property differences among high‐ and average‐yielding soya bean areas in Arkansas,USA

Soya bean [Glycine max (L.) Merr] yields >6719 kg/ha (100 bu/ac) have only recently and infrequently been achieved. Quantifying soil property differences between high‐ and average‐yielding areas can help to further identify non‐plant‐related properties contributing to soya bean yield potential. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of region and soil depth on soil property differences between high‐ and average‐yielding areas. In each of the seven regions of the ‘Grow for the Green’ yield contest in Arkansas, prior to or just after harvest in 2014 and 2015, soil samples were collected from the top 20 cm of one contest high‐yield (HY ) area that was in close proximity to an average‐yield (AY ) area. Across all regions and both years, soya bean yields differed (P  <  0.05) between yield areas, averaging 4701 and 5498 kg/ha in AY and HY areas, respectively. Averaged across soil depth and years, numerous soil properties differed (P  <  0.05) between HY and AY areas within at least one of seven regions. Total soil C content was at least 20.2% greater in the HY than in the AY area in three of seven regions. Extractable soil P content was, on average, 19.4 kg/ha greater in HY than in AY areas in three of the seven regions. Results from this study have the potential to help producers better understand soil properties that contribute to or hinder achieving ultra‐high (>6719 kg/ha) soya bean yields.     

Phosphorus availability and farm structural factors: examining scarcity and oversupply in north‐east Germany

Assessing factors influencing phosphorus (P) availability in soils is important in preventing its overexploitation and excessive application in agricultural systems. Despite high historical P applications in the federal state of Brandenburg (Germany), county data on soil test P (STP) reveal considerable disparities in soil available P. In addition, negative soil balances as a result of small mineral P and manure inputs have been observed, raising questions about the factors leading to this situation. Our work focused on identifying possible causes operating at the farm management level by conducting a letter survey in two administrative districts of Brandenburg, the counties Barnim and Uckermark, linking farm management factors (ownership type, farm size, land tenure, animal husbandry with or without grassland and its intensity, presence of a biogas plant and organic production) to farmers’ self‐indicated levels of STP. Small‐ to medium‐sized individual farms tended to have (very) high STP, while large partnership farms and companies/cooperatives were sensitive to factors resulting in low STP. Farms with low shares of land ownership, the presence of grassland, extensive cattle farming and stockless organic farming had lower STP. On the other hand, biogas plants, partly in combination with intensive livestock (cattle) farming, were associated with larger STP. It was concluded that more care should be devoted to the design of agricultural policies and that further (inter‐ and transdisciplinary) research on this topic is needed.     

Organic input quality is more important than its quantity: C turnover coefficients in different cropping systems

Annual C input to soil is a major factor affecting soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics. However different types of C-sources can have different behaviour, in relation to their chemical characteristics and how they interact with soil. Root-derived C, in particular, should be more efficient than other organic materials as a result of the physicochemical and biological characteristics of the surrounding environment, leading to a reduction in the C decomposition rate.To test this hypothesis, we considered a long-term experiment underway in Northern Italy since 1962, comparing permanent meadow and 6 different crop rotations over a wide range of nutrient inputs, in both organic and inorganic forms. C inputs from amendments were measured and those from crops were calculated using allometric functions and crop and residues yields. The time evolution of SOC was studied through a single-pool, first-order kinetic model, allowing the estimation of humification coefficients for residues, roots, farmyard manure and cattle slurries.The highest value of the humification coefficient was estimated for farmyard manure, which confirmed its high efficiency in stabilising SOC content. Root C presented a humification coefficient 1.9 times higher than above-ground plant materials while slurries were intermediate, with a humification coefficient roughly half that of farmyard manure and even lower that of roots.The quality of C input thus seems of fundamental importance for evaluating the sustainability of different cropping systems in terms of SOC dynamics.     

Strong functional stability of soil microbial communities under semiarid Mediterranean conditions and subjected to long-term shifts in baseline precipitation

We investigated the effect of soil microclimate on the structure and functioning of soil microbial communities in a Mediterranean Holm-oak forest subjected to 10 years of partial rain exclusion manipulations, simulating average drought conditions expected in Mediterranean areas for the following decades. We applied a high throughput DNA pyrosequencing technique coupled to parallel measurements of microbial respiration (R_H) and temperature sensitivity of microbial respiration (Q₁₀). Some consistent changes in the structure of bacterial communities suggest a slow process of community shifts parallel to the trend towards oligotrophy in response to long-term droughts. However, the structure of bacterial communities was mainly determined by short-term environmental fluctuations associated with sampling date (winter, spring and summer) rather than long-term (10 years) shifts in baseline precipitation. Moreover, long-term drought did not exert any chronic effect on the functioning of soil microbial communities (R_H and Q₁₀), emphasizing the functional stability of these communities to this long-term but mild shifts in water availability. We hypothesize that the particular conditions of the Mediterranean climate with strong seasonal shifts in both temperature and soil water availability but also characterized by very extreme environmental conditions during summer, was acting as a strong force in community assembling, selecting phenotypes adapted to the semiarid conditions characterizing Mediterranean ecosystems. Relations of climate with the phylogenetic structure and overall diversity of the communities as well as the distribution of the individual responses of different lineages (genera) to climate confirmed our hypotheses, evidencing communities dominated by thermotolerant and drought-tolerant phenotypes.     

Soil conditions and land use intensification effects on soil microbial communities across a range of European field sites

Intensive land use practices necessary for providing food and raw materials are known to have a deleterious effect on soil. However, the effects that such practices have on soil microbes are less well understood. To investigate the effects of land use intensification on soil microbial communities we used a combined T-RFLP and pyrosequencing approach to study bacteria, archaea and fungi in spring and autumn at five long term observatories (LTOs) in Europe; each with a particular land use type and contrasting levels of intensification (low and high). Generally, due to large gradients in soil variables, both molecular methods revealed that soil microbial communities were structured according to differences in soil conditions between the LTOs, more so than land use intensity. Moreover, variance partitioning analysis also showed that soil properties better explained the differences in microbial communities than land use intensity effects. Predictable responses in dominant bacterial, archaeal and fungal taxa to edaphic conditions (e.g. soil pH and resource availability) were apparent between the LTOs. Some effects of land use intensification at individual field sites were observed. However, these effects were manifest when land use change affected soil conditions. Uniquely, this study details the responses of different microbial groups to soil type and land use intensification, and their relative importance across a range of European field sites. These findings reinforce our understanding of drivers impacting soil microbial community structure at both field and larger geographic scales.     

Soil biodiversity and DNA barcodes: opportunities and challenges

Soils encompass a huge diversity of organisms which mostly remains to be characterized due to a number of methodological and logistical issues. Nonetheless, remarkable progress has been made in recent years toward developing strategies to characterize and describe soil biodiversity, especially thanks to the development of molecular approaches relying on direct DNA extraction from the soil matrix.Metabarcoding can be applied to DNA from any environment or organism, and is gaining increasing prominence in biodiversity studies. This approach is already commonly used to characterize soil microbial communities and its application is now being extended to other soil organisms, i.e. meso- and macro-fauna.These developments offer unprecedented scientific and operational opportunities in order to better understand soil biodiversity distribution and dynamics, and to propose tools and strategies for biodiversity diagnosis. However, these opportunities also come with challenges that the scientific community must face. Such challenges are related to i) clarification of terminology, (ii) standardisation of methods and further methodological development for additional taxonomic groups, (iii) development of a common database, and (iv) ways to avoid waste of information and data derived from metabarcoding. In order to facilitate common application of metabarcoding in soil biodiversity assessment, we discuss these opportunities and challenges and propose solutions towards a more homogeneous framework.     

甘肃民乐栽培当归的品质与土壤相关性分析

本研究通过对民乐县种植的当归药材和种植土壤分别进行采样测定,结果表明民乐县人工种植当归的质量稳定,受重金属污染的风险低,符合药典标准规定。相关性分析结果表明:浸出物与土壤pH值呈极显著正相关,与有机质呈极显著负相关;阿魏酸与土壤pH值呈极显著正相关,与全磷呈显著负相关。挥发油与测定的土壤因子之间无显著相关性。灰色关联度分析结果表明:土壤pH是影响当归浸出物、挥发油的重要因子,土壤有机质是影响当归阿魏酸含量的重要因子;且磷、全氮和有机质对浸出物、挥发油、阿魏酸的影响程度不同。综上所述,本研究结果揭示了土壤因子对民乐县种植当归品质的影响规律,可为民乐县规范化种植当归药材提供理论依据。     

Effects of Rice Variety and Growth Location in Cambodia on Grain Composition and Starch Structure简

The effects of variety and growth location on grain composition and starch structures were investigated using three rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivars (Phka Romduol, Sen Pidao and IR66) with different amylose contents. All the three cultivars were planted in three different agro-climatic zones (Phnom Penh, Coastal and Plateau) of Cambodia. The protein content of polished grains increased when rice was planted at a location with higher average temperature, but their lipid content decreased. The amylose content and degree of branching were not greatly affected by the minor temperature differences among the growing locations. Starch fine structures characterized by the chain-length distribution were significantly different among the cultivars, but not significantly among different locations. The results suggested that protein and lipid biosyntheses were more sensitive to the environmental temperature than that of starch in rice grains.     

离子交换纤维对麦田土壤铅污染的修复效果

为探讨土壤Pb污染的治理方法,通过盆栽试验,比较了离子交换纤维的两种不同放置方式(分层放置与混匀放置)对麦田土壤Pb污染的修复效果。结果表明,在土壤1 000 mg·kg~(-1) Pb污染水平下,Pb污染处理(T1:Pb胁迫;T2:Pb+在土壤中分三层放置纤维;T3:Pb+在土壤中混匀剪碎的纤维)的土壤pH值、总有机碳含量较对照(CK:未添加Pb和离子交换纤维)有所降低。在小麦成熟期,T2、T3处理下土壤和植株各部位的Pb含量均低于T1处理,其中T3处理变化显著;T2、T3处理中纤维吸附的Pb含量则分别达到115.01和128.26 mg·kg~(-1)。T2、T3处理的Pb富集系数低于T1处理及CK。由此说明,离子交换纤维能够有效吸附土壤中的Pb,降低Pb从土壤向植株的转运能力,且离子交换纤维混匀放置方式的修复效果较好。     

Effects of Oyster Shell Soil Amendmenton Fruit Auality and Soil Chemical Properties in Greenhouse Tomato Acidic Soils

[Objective]The aim was to explore the feasibility of applying oyster shell soil amendment for tomato production in order to determine proper quantity of the soil conditional.[Method]Field tests were performed to research effects of the soil conditioner on tomato yield,quality and soil p H.[Result]The results showed that tomato yield increased in the treatment groups with oyster shell soil amendment.The group SC50 increased the most by 16.5%than the control group.Based on normal fertilization,tomato growth was promoted by the soil amendment,and per tomato weight and lycopene content both improved during peak-fruiting period.Besides,soil p H value was enhanced by the soil amendment also.[Conclusion]It can be concluded that the effect was the best when soil conditioner was applied at 750 kg/hm2.