Effects of cropping systems on nitrogen,phosphorus and potassium forms and soil organic carbon in a Gray Luvisol

The effects of up to 23 years of agricultural cropping of a boreal forest soil on soil organic carbon (SOC) and N, P, and K pools were studied. The cropping systems studied were: (a) continuous barley, (b) continuous forage bromegrass, (c) continuous forage legume, and (d) barley/grass-legume forage rotation. Continuous bromegrass increased while other cropping systems decreased SOC in the surface soil. Kjeldahl N in soil approximately followed the trend in SOC. The net gain in N under continuous grass was attributed mostly to nonsymbiotic N fixation. Changes in SOC content appeared to be also influenced by cropping and tillage frequencies. Changes in fixed (intercalary) ammonium were small. There was no measurable change in total P, in part, because input was only slightly higher than crop offtake. Organic P increased under continuous bromegrass, and tended to decrease under continuous legume. The C/N and C/P ratios of soil organic matter decreased slightly with cropping. Exchangeable K (K_ex) was decreased by cropping systems containing a legume crop to a greater extent than those without a legume crop. Most of the decrease occurred in the 0–15 cm depth. Nitric acid extractable K was not affected by cropping. Since net loss of K_ex to 30 cm depth was substantially less than crop offtake, it is suggested that subsoil K reserves and matrix K were supplying a major portion of the crops' K requirement. It is concluded that the effects of cropping systems on SOC, N, P and K are influenced by crop type, and cropping and tillage frequencies.     

Microbial community and ovine host response varies with early and late stages of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Haemonchus contortus</Emphasis> infection

The interactions between gastric microbiota, ovine host, and Haemonchus contortus portray the ovine gastric environment as a complex ecosystem, where all factors play a pertinent role in fine-tuning each other and in haemeostasis. We delineated the impact of early and late Haemonchus infection on abomasal and ruminal microbial community, as well as the ovine host. Twelve, parasite-naive lambs were divided into four groups, 7 days post-infection (dpi) and time-matched uninfected-control groups; 50 dpi and time-matched uninfected control groups were used for the experiment. Six sheep were inoculated with 5000 H. contortus infective larvae and followed for 7 or 50 days with their corresponding uninfected-control ones. Ovine abomasal tissues were collected for histological analysis and gastric fluids were collected for PH value measurements, microbial community isolation and Illumina MiSeq platform and bioinformatic analysis. Our results showed that Haemonchus infection increased the abomasal gastric pH (P = 0.05) and resulted in necrotizing and inflammatory changes that were more severe during acute infection. Furthermore, infection increased the abomasal bacterial load and decreased the ruminal microbiome. A 7-day infection of sheep with H. contortus significantly altered approximately 98% and 94% of genera in the abomasal and ruminal bacterial profile, respectively (P = 0.04–0.05). However, the approximate altered genera 50 days after infection in the ovine abomasal and ruminal microbiome were about 62% and 69%, correspondingly (P = 0.04–0.05) with increase in some bacteria and decrease in others. Overall, these results indicate that Haemonchus infection plays a crucial role in shaping stomach microbial community composition, and diversity.     

Gastropod Assemblages as Indicators of Sediment Metal Contamination in Mangroves of Dumai, Sumatra, Indonesia

Impacts of heavy metal concentrations in sediments on the gastropod community structure were assessed in the coastal waters of Dumai, Sumatra, Indonesia. The objective of this study was to relate the levels of heavy metal pollution with the changes of gastropod community structure in the study area. Concentrations of Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn, Ni, and Fe in surface sediments collected from five sampling stations were analyzed and correlated with the abundance, species richness, and diversity of gastropod populations. Sediments at stations with more anthropogenic activities accumulated higher concentrations of heavy metals and consequently displayed lower abundances, lower species richness and diversity; while stations with lower heavy metal concentrations in sediments showed the opposite pattern in gastropod community metrics. The above findings are complemented by significant negative correlations p?<?0.05–0.01) between concentrations of Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn, and Ni in the sediments and gastropod abundance and species richness. Among the metals analyzed, Cu and Zn had strongest negative correlations with the gastropod diversity which suggests that these metals may be the most detrimental to gastropod populations in the mangrove area of Dumai coastal waters.     

Comparative effectiveness of organic and inorganic amendments on cadmium bioavailability and uptake by Pelargonium hortorum

Journal of Soils and Sediments - The aim of this study was to compare organic and inorganic amendments namely citric acid, ammonium nitrate, compost, and titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2 NPs)...     

Tillage practices improve rice yield and soil phosphorus fractions in two typical paddy soils

Journal of Soils and Sediments - This research was undertaken (I) to evaluate the status of phosphorus fractions in paddy soils in response to different tillage management practices under different...     

EVALUATING POTASSIUM-USE-EFFICIENT COTTON GENOTYPES USING DIFFERENT RANKING METHODS

Identification of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) genotypes efficient in potassium (K) uptake and utilization, under K-deficient conditions represents a cost-effective and environmentally friendly approach for low-K-input agriculture. It would reduce the costly input of K-fertilizers and manage K resources in agro-ecosystems. We ranked 25 cotton genotypes for their K use efficiency under deficient and adequate K regimes in hydroponics, using two different methods. K deficiency generally reduced cotton growth; however, K-efficient genotypes accumulated more biomass due to higher K uptake. Genotype NIBGE-2 exhibited excellent adaptation potential in terms of high shoot dry weight under both K regimes and ranked as the only most desirable, “efficient-responsive” genotype. Genotype CIM-506 produced low shoot dry weight under low K condition and ranked as “non-efficient.” Genotype Desi okra produced low shoot dry weight at adequate K level and ranked as “non-responsive.” Genotype ranking using two different methods ensured the validity of results.     

Water stress effects on biochemical traits and antioxidant activities of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) under In vitro conditions

Water stress is one of the major environmental stresses that affect agricultural production worldwide, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. This research investigated the effect of water deficit, induced by PEG-6000 on wheat genotypes (GA-2002, Chakwal-97, Uqab-2000, Chakwal-50 and Wafaq-2001) grown in modified MS medium solution. Osmotic stress caused a more pronounced inhibition in leaf relative water content and leaf membrane stability more sensitive (index in Wafaq-2001 and Uqab-2000) genotypes compared with the tolerant (Chakwal-50, GA-2002 and Chakwal-97) genotypes. Upon dehydration, an incline in proline, total soluble sugar, total soluble protein, superoxide dismutase, peroxidase, catalase and malondialdehyde activity content were evident in all genotypes, especially at osmotic stress of ?8 bars. The observed data showed that status of biochemical attributes and antioxidant enzymes could provide a meaningful tool for depicting drought tolerance of wheat genotypes. The present study shows that genotypic differences in drought tolerance could be likely attributed to the ability of wheat plants to induce antioxidant defense under drought conditions. In order to develop genotypes with stable, higher yields in dry farming conditions, it is necessary to characterise genetic resources based on drought adaptation, determine suitable genotypes, and then use them in breeding programmes.     

The distribution of important sero-complexes of flaviviruses in Malaysia

Tropical Animal Health and Production - Flaviviruses (FVs) are arthropod-borne viruses of medical and veterinary importance. Numerous species of FVs have been isolated from various host; mainly...     

Improving nodulation,growth and yield of Cicer arietinum L. through bacterial ACC-deaminase induced changes in root architecture

Bacteria containing ACC-deaminase in the vicinity of roots may influence plant growth by modifying root architecture through their potential to regulate ethylene synthesis in plant roots. Approximately 138 isolates capable of utilizing ACC as the sole source of N were isolated from the rhizosphere soil of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) plants. Under axenic conditions, some rhizobacterial isolates were highly effective in increasing root length (up to 2.08 fold), number (up to 3.7 fold) and length (up to 3.9 fold) of lateral roots, and root biomass (up to 83%) of chickpea as compared to uninoculated control. Serratia proteamaculans strain J119 was found to be the most effective plant growth promoting rhizobacterium (PGPR) in improving root and shoot growth, nodulation and grain yield of chickpea as compared to respective controls in growth pouches, pot and field trials. A highly significant direct correlation (r = 0.99) was observed between number of lateral roots under axenic conditions (jar trial) and number of nodules per plant in pot and field trials. Interestingly, S. proteamaculans J119 also exhibited highest ACC-deaminase activity in addition to root colonization compared to other tested strains. The results of this study demonstrated that changes in root growth and architecture (particularly lateral roots) as a result of inoculation with PGPR containing ACC-deaminase are crucial for improving growth, yield and nodulation of chickpea under field conditions.     

Estimation of simultaneous nitrification and denitrification in grassland soil associated with urea-N using 15N and nitrification inhibitor

 A low efficiency of use of N fertilisers has been observed in mid-Wales on permanent pasture grazed intensively by cattle. Earlier laboratories studies have suggested that heterogeneity in redox conditions at shallow soil depths may allow nitrification and denitrification to occur concurrently resulting in gaseous losses of N from both NH₄ ⁺ and NO₃ ^–. The objective of the investigation was to test the hypothesis that both nitrification and denitrification can occur simultaneously under simulated field capacity conditions (∼5 kPa matric potential). Intact soil cores were taken from grassland subjected to both grazing and amenity use. The fate of applied NH₄ ⁺ was examined during incubation. ¹⁵N was used as a tracer. Nitrapyrin was used as a nitrification inhibitor and acetylene was used to block N₂O reductase. More than 50% of N applied as NH₄ ⁺ disappeared over a period of 42 days from the soil mineral-N pool. Some of this N was evolved as N₂O. Accumulation of NO₃ ^––N in the surface 0–2.5 cm indicated active nitrification. Addition of nitrapyrin increased N recovery by 26% and inhibited both the accumulation of NO₃–N and emission of N₂O. When intact field cores were incubated after addition of ¹⁵N-urea, all of the N₂O evolved was derived from added urea-N. It was concluded that nitrification and denitrification do occur simultaneously in the top 7.5 cm or so, of the silty clay loam grassland topsoils of mid-Wales at moisture contents typical of field capacity. The quantitative importance of these concurrent processes to N loss from grassland systems has not yet been assessed. Received: 15 December 1998