Wood density and carbon and nitrogen concentrations in deadwood of Chamaecyparis obtusa and Cryptomeria japonica

Estimating carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) stocks in deadwood in forests nationwide is required for understanding large-scale C and N cycling. To do so requires estimated values of wood density and C and N concentrations. Additionally, parameters that show variation should be examined. In this study, we clarified the estimated values and the variation in three parameters in each decay class of each of two tree species and examined whether dead log diameter and region contribute to variation in the parameters. Data were collected from 73 Chamaecyparis obtusa (Sieb. et Zucc.) Endl. plantations and 66 Cryptomeria japonica D. Don plantations throughout Japan. Wood densities decreased from 386 to 188?kg?m^?3 for C. obtusa and from 334 to 188?kg?m^?3 for C. japonica in decay classes 1–4. The variation in wood density increased with decay class, and the coefficient of variance increased from 13.9% to 46.4% for C. obtusa and from 15.2% to 48.1% for C. japonica. The N concentrations increased from 1.04 to 4.40?g?kg^?1 for C. obtusa and from 1.11 to 2.97?g?kg^?1 for C. japonica in decay classes 1–4. The variation in N concentration increased with decay class, and the coefficient of variance increased from 51.9% to 76.7% for C. obtusa and from 50.3% to 70.4% for C. japonica. Log diameter and region contributed to variations in wood density and N concentration in decay classes 1 and 2 for C. obtusa and C. japonica. However, no relationship was observed between regional climates and the two parameters. In contrast, C concentrations ranged from 507 to 535?g?kg^?1 and were stable with much lower coefficients of variance throughout the decay classes for both tree species. Thus, we recommend that the same C concentration can be adapted for all decay classes of both tree species.     

Soil respiration as affected by vegetation types in a semiarid region of China

There are variations in soil respiration across vegetation types; however, it is unclear which factors are mainly responsible for the variations. A field experiment was conducted in 2008 and 2009 in a semiarid region of China to investigate the daytime and monthly variation of soil respiration across vegetation types and to determine the factors controlling the variation. An automated portable soil carbon dioxide (CO₂) flux measurement system was used to measure the soil respiration in shrubland, grassland, fallow land, and cropland during the growing periods. The results showed that the relative daytime variation amplitude of soil respiration in the fallow land and cropland was as small as that of shrubland and grassland during July, but greater than that of shrubland and grassland during August and October. A hysteresis effect for the relationship between the daytime soil respiration and daytime soil temperature was observed for all four vegetation types. There was also a hysteresis effect for the relationship between the daytime soil respiration and daytime air temperature for the grassland. Over the study period, the monthly soil respiration rates of the fallow land and cropland were statistically comparable and significantly lower than those of the shrubland and grassland, with the exception of August, during which the monthly soil respiration of the cropland was as great as that of shrubland and grassland. The factors responsible for the monthly soil respiration variation across the vegetation types differed from month to month. In general, the soil temperature and soil water content were mainly responsible in August and September; however, the root biomass predominated in July and October. The results are valuable for accurately estimating regional carbon fluxes by considering the temporal variability of the soil respiration variation across vegetation types in the Loess Plateau of China.     

Aluminum and nutrient interplay across an age-chronosequence of tea plantations within a hilly red soil farm of subtropical China

Aluminum (Al) and nutrients are key factors to influence tea (Camellia sinensis L.) productivity and quality, while how they interplay in tea plantations under the pressure of global change and increasing fertilization is little studied. In this study, we selected the tea plantations along an age-chronosequence to study Al fractions using a sequential extraction procedure, and nutrient concentrations in topsoil and subsoil and various plant organs. Our results indicated that Al levels and nutrient concentrations in soils and plants generally increased with planting year (P < 0.05), and soil Al bioavailability was positively correlated with Al concentrations in most plant organs. Significant negative relations among pH and most extractable Al fractions in both soil layers suggested that decreased pH would directly alter soil-plant Al cycling due to exogenous nitrogen (N) fertilizer and atmospheric acid deposition. Topsoil total phosphorus (P) was positively correlated with most Al fractions, and root P was positively correlated with root Al concentration, both of which indicate that P and Al were synchronously absorbed by roots in acid tea soils. In addition, topsoil organic carbon was positively correlated with both active and inert Al fractions, indicating that above-ground organic litters would be the main source of elevated Al levels in older tea plantations. Clearly, Al enrichment in tea leaves with increasing planting year needs to be considered under management practices with heavy N and P fertilizers and increasing atmospheric acid deposition in subtropical China.     

Estimation of the amount of nutrients in livestock manure

(Jpn. J. Soil Sci.Plant Nutr., 77, 283–291, 2006)

Nutrient amounts in livestock manure management, including manure treatment and use, were estimated using published statistical data and other information. The eight categories for manure treatment were defined in this study as composting at facility, composting at stockyard, raw feces, dried feces, urine, slurry, purification and other. The three categories for use of manure were defined as application to farmland, sale and exchange and other.

The regional daily excretion units per head of dairy and beef cattle, including the amount of excreta, nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K), were calculated based on the quantities and qualities of feed in each region. There was found to be a difference in the values for Hokkaido and other regions.

Concerning manure treatment methods in the dairy sector, the sum of the proportion of raw feces and compost at stockyard was high in Hokkaido. On the other hand, the sum of the proportion of composting at facility and dried feces was high in Hokuriku, Tokai, Kinki and Shikoku. In Kyushu, the proportion of slurry production was higher than in any other region.

The amounts of N, P, and K in compost estimated in this study were compared with those calculated from published statistics. The results were as follows. The amounts of N, P, and K in dairy cattle compost, N and K in beef cattle compost, and N in poultry compost in this study were similar to the amounts cited in reported statistics. The amounts of P in beef cattle, swine, and poultry compost in this study were lower than those cited in reported statistics.

As for the use of manure, application to farmland is the most common use of manure in the dairy and beef cattle sector. The proportions of purification, and sale and exchange were high for the swine and poultry sectors, respectively.

Large amounts of liquid manure, such as urine and slurry, are applied to farmland. To clarify the nutrient load resulting from liquid manure, the usable amount of dairy slurry was calculated based on both the standard application rate of fertilizer and the area of grassland and forage crops. As a result, the amount of usable N was lower than the amount of liquid manure N in the Kanto-Tosan, Tokai and Kinki regions.     

Compared Phosphorus Efficiency in Soybean,Sunflower and Maize

ABSTRACT

A more comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms of phosphorus (P) efficiency is agronomically significant to advance in the design of crop management schemes that increase P efficiency and reduce the need of fertilizers. Phosphorus efficiency is defined as the ability of a plant to acquire P from the soil and/or to utilize it in the production of biomass or the harvestable organ. Because most parameters related to P efficiency vary according to the growth conditions and isolation of the individual effect of P efficiency is not straightforward; plants must be grown in uniform experimental conditions to obtain a fair comparison of their nutrient acquisition and utilization. In this work, we compare the ability of soybean, sunflower, and maize to utilize and acquire soil P. Field and greenhouse experiments including different P levels were conducted. The general observation was that the three species ranked differently according to the specific parameter of P efficiency considered. Maize clearly showed higher P utilization efficiency than soybean and sunflower, either expressed as biomass or as grain produced per unit of absorbed P. In turn, soybean and sunflower exhibited higher acquisition efficiency than maize. Soybean showed the shallowest root system: 69% of the total root length was concentrated in the top 20 cm of the soil. Phosphorus uptake per unit root length was rather similar among the three species, but soybean and sunflower had higher P uptake per unit of root weight. This can be explained by the higher specific root length (SRL) and specific root area (SRA) of both dicots. For example, SRL averaged 59, 94, and 34 m g^?1 in field grown soybean, sunflower, and maize, respectively. The more favorable root morphology determined that soybean and sunflower can explore more soil with the same belowground biomass and absorb more P per unit of carbon invested belowground. Since the three species exhibited similar values of P uptake per unit root length, we hypothesize that the capacity of each segment of root to deplete soil P fractions is similar.     

Boron nutrition for improving the quality of diverse canola cultivars

Abstract

Canola (Brassica napus L.), is the most important oilseed crop due to high oil contents and low concentration of erucic acid and glucosinolates. In Pakistan, oil seed production is not sufficient to fulfill the needs of the country. Thus, the planned experiment was aimed to evaluate the performance of different canola cultivars i.e. Faisal Canola, Pakola, PARC Canola hybrid and Rainbow at grown under various soil applied boron (B) levels viz., 0, 1, 2?kg ha^?1 under a rainfed environment. The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design with four replications. Among the canola cultivars, the maximum seed oil contents were recorded in cultivar ‘Pakola’ whereas, higher linolenic acid and protein were recorded in cultivar ‘Faisal canola’ as compared to other cultivars. A synergistic effect was found between various levels of B and quality parameters of the canola seed; as higher concentration of oil contents were found when B was applied 2?kg ha^?1. Conversely the linolenic acid showed the antagonistic behavior with the various B levels. On the other hand, protein contents, oleic acid and erucic acid revealed non-significant differences under different B application rates. In conclusion, the cultivar ‘Pakola’ provided the highest oil content when the B was applied at 2?kg ha^?1; the low concentration of unsaturated fatty acid was observed in ‘PARC canola’ cultivar in the Pothwar region of Punjab, Pakistan.     

Growth,nutrient uptake and yield parameters of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) enhance by Rhizobium and Azotobacter inoculations in saline soil

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted during two consecutive growing seasons (2013 and 2014) to evaluate the effects of inoculations with Rhizobium and Azotobacter on the growth and yield of two chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) varieties under saline (5.8 dS m^?1) arid condition. The single treatment of either Rhizobium or Azotobacter exhibited to promote the growth of chickpea to some level, however, co-inoculation produced more effects and increased the shoot dry weight (30.3 and 26.4%), root dry weight (17.5 and 26.3%), nodule number (79.1 and 43.8 piece per plant), nitrogen content in roots (9.62 and 10.9%), in shoots (12.6 and 8.3%) and seed protein (7.1 and 4.3%) in both Flip06-102 and Uzbekistan-32 chickpea varieties compared to the control. Our studies showed that the highest yield response of 429 (27.9%) and 538 (23.9%) kg?ha^?1 over the control was revealed by the co-inoculation with Rhizobium and Azotobacter inoculants in Flip 06-102 and Uzbekistan-32, respectively. A new introduced Flip 06-102 chickpea variety was more salt tolerant and had higher root nodulation than the local Uzbekistan-32 chickpea variety. Nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) contents in the shoots and roots were significantly (p?Rhizobium plus Azotobacter could be applied to improve the vegetative growth and yield of chickpea and to alleviate the effects of salt stress.     

Tree biomass,resource use and crop productivity in agri-horti-silvicultural systems in the dry region of Rajasthan,India

A combination of silvicultural species [Prosopis cineraria (L.), Ailanthus excelsa Roxb. and Colophospermum mopane (J. Kirk ex Benth.)] were planted with horticultural species [Ziziphus mauritiana (L.), Cordia myxa (Forster), and Emblica officinalis (Gaertn)] and intercropped with wheat (Triticum aestivum). Z. mauritiana +P. cineraria combination produced greater fruit, fodder and fuel wood and was less competitive to wheat crop. Crop yield reduced by 5% to 23% in the agroforestry systems than the yield in sole crop plot. Lowest yield was in C. mopane + C. myxa combination. Fodder yield was 0.53, 0.20 and 0.07 t ha^?1 from C. mopane (cursive), P. cineraria and A. excelsa, respectively, whereas utilizable biomass was 2.63 t ha^?1 from C. myxa (cursive) + P. cineraria, 2.21 t ha^?1 from C. myxa (cursive) + C. mopane and 2.18 t ha^?1 from Z. mauritiana + P. cineraria combinations. Soil organic carbon and NH₄–N increased (by 7% and 8%, respectively), whereas NO₃–N and PO₄–P decreased in agroforestry compared to the sole tree plots. Primary root attributes of P. cineraria, A. excelsa and C. mopane were higher in agroforestry and mostly concentrated in the top 0–25 cm of the soil layer. Z. mauritiana + P. cineraria were the best combination with minimum yield reduction and were found to be beneficial in enhancing soil fertility.     

红壤丘陵区生猪规模化养殖及其对土壤与水环境的影响——以江西省余江县为例

以南方红壤丘陵典型地区——江西省余江县为案例,研究了规模化养猪业发展现状及其对周边土壤和水环境的影响.结果表明,余江县2011年389家规模化养猪场出栏73.2万头,其中年出栏1 000～5 000头的猪场占规模化猪场总数50.6％.规模化猪场主要分布在中南部的低丘缓岗地带,尤其集中分布于320国道沿线.全县规模化养猪的粪、尿、污水年产生量分别约为2.96×105 t、4.64×105 t、1.09×106 t,COD、N、P、Cu、Zn污染物年排放量分别为1.96×104t、3.27 × 103t、1.25×103t、50 t和116 t.据估算全县110万头生猪养殖的粪、尿、污水年产生量分别约为4.47×105t、7.00×105 t和1.09×106t,COD、N、P、Cu、Zn污染物年排放量分别为2.96×104 t、4.94×103 t、1.89×103t、76 t和176 t.以总氮为指标,规模化猪场周边采样水体有90.9％山塘、66.6％水库、50％河流的水体水质属于劣Ⅴ类;土壤养分严重失衡,速效磷过量积累,重金属Cu、Zn在土壤中也有明显积累.因此,应加强区域生猪养殖业发展规划及规模养猪粪污无害化、资源化循环利用技术研究,以促进红壤丘陵区规模养殖业健康发展与生态环境保护.     

内陆干旱区不同灌溉制度对盐碱地滴灌土壤盐分离子分布的影响

通过田间试验研究覆膜滴灌条件下不同灌溉制度对土壤盐分分布的影响。试验通过控制滴头正下方20 cm处的土壤基质势下限进行灌溉,共设5个水平的土壤基质势处理:-5 kPa(S1)、-10 kPa(S2)、-15 kPa(S3)、-20 kPa(S4)和-25kPa(S5),每个处理重复3次,按随机区组布置。结果表明:不同土壤基质势控制对盐渍土中盐分分布有显著影响,不同土壤盐分离子的分布各不相同。其中Na+与Cl-容易被淋洗,两个生长季后,各处理土壤中Na+与Cl-含量有显著降低,并且土壤基质势控制越高淋洗效果越好。SO42-与HCO3-的淋洗效果主要受离子浓度影响,第一年淋洗效果较第二年明显。Mg2+与Ca2+不易随水移动,各处理无明显差异。经过两个生长季的灌溉淋洗,各处理土壤SAR值与全盐含量均有显著降低,根区内SAR值与全盐含量的降低幅度均在50%以上。研究结果对内陆干旱区盐碱地水盐调控和灌溉制度的制定具有理论意义和应用价值。