Estimation of Crown Temperature of Winter Wheat and the Effect on Simulation of Frost Tolerance

Accurate estimation of winter wheat frost kill in cold‐temperate agricultural regions is limited by lack of data on soil temperature at wheat crown depth, which determines winter survival. We compared the ability of four models of differing complexity to predict observed soil temperature at 2 cm depth during two winter seasons (2013‐14 and 2014‐15) at Ultuna, Sweden, and at 1 cm depth at Ilseng and Ås, Norway. Predicted and observed soil temperature at 2 cm depth was then used in FROSTOL model simulations of the frost tolerance of winter wheat at Ultuna. Compared with the observed soil temperature at 2 cm depth, soil temperature was better predicted by detailed models than simpler models for both seasons at Ultuna. The LT50 (temperature at which 50 % of plants die) predictions from FROSTOL model simulations using input from the most detailed soil temperature model agreed better with LT50 FROSTOL outputs from observed soil temperature than what LT50 FROSTOL predictions using temperature from simpler models did. These results highlight the need for simpler temperature prediction tools to be further improved when used to evaluate winter wheat frost kill.     

Effects of organic matter addition on phosphorus availability to flooded and nonflooded rice in a P‐deficient tropical soil: a greenhouse study

Addition of organic matter (OM) to flooded soils stimulates reductive dissolution of Fe(III) minerals, thereby mobilizing associated phosphate (P). Hence, OM management has the potential to overcome P deficiency. This study assessed if OM applications increases soil or mineral fertilizer P availability to rice under anaerobic (flooded) condition and if that effect is different relative to that in aerobic (nonflooded) soils. Rice was grown in P‐deficient soil treated with combinations of addition of mineral P (0, 26 mg P/kg), OM (0, ~9 g OM/kg as rice straw + cattle manure) and water treatments (flooded vs nonflooded) in a factorial pot experiment. The OM was either freshly added just before flooding or incubated moist in soil for 6 months prior to flooding; blanket N and K was added in all treatments. Fresh addition of OM promoted reductive dissolution of Fe(III) minerals in flooded soils, whereas no such effect was found when OM had been incubated for 6 months before flooding. Yield and shoot P uptake largely increased with mineral P addition in all soils, whereas OM addition increased yield and P uptake only in flooded soils following fresh OM addition. The combination of mineral P and OM gave the largest yield and P uptake. Addition of OM just prior to soil flooding increased P uptake but was insufficient to overcome P deficiency in the absence of mineral P. Larger applications of OM are unlikely to be more successful in flooded soils due to side effects, such as Fe toxicity.     

Effect of cryogel on soil properties

Samples from the A1 and A1A2 horizons of sandy loamy gray forest soil containing 3.1% organic matter have been mixed with a 5% solution of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) at a ratio of 7 : 1 under laboratory conditions. The samples were frozen at ?20°C in a refrigerator; after a freezing-thawing cycle, the evaporation of water from their surface, their thermal conductivity coefficient, their elasticity modulus, and other properties were studied. It has been experimentally found that the thermal conductivity coefficient of cryostructured soil is lower than that of common soil by 25%. It has been shown that the cryostructured soil retains water for a longer time and that the water evaporation rate from its surface is significantly lower compared to the control soil. Cryogel has no negative effect on the catalase activity of soil; it changes the physical properties of soils and positively affects the population of indigenous soil microflora and the growth of the sown plants.     

Potential potassium buffer capacity of Kamchatka volcanic soils

The volcanic soils of Kamchatka are characterized by low and very low values of their potential potassium buffer capacity. The largest amount of readily exchangeable potassium (-ΔK ₀) is observed in the surface layers of the natural soils and is due to the active biogenic accumulation. The soddy horizons have a high content of strongly fixed potassium (K _X ). The main factors determining the content of the labile potassium and its mobility are the contents of physical clay, humus, and exchangeable potassium. The extremely nonuniform distribution of all the potassium status parameters throughout the soil profile reflects the discrete character of the volcanic pedogenesis. The low values of the potential buffer capacity for the potassium (PBC^K) at the high values of the equilibrium potassium potential (AR ₀) and the medium content of the labile potassium in the light-textured synlithogenic soils simultaneously indicate both the good potassium supply of the plants and the incapability of the soils to resist potassium exhaustion under agricultural production conditions for a long time.     

Do combined applications of crop residues and inorganic fertilizer lower emission of N2O from soil?

Emissions of N₂O were measured following addition of ¹⁵N‐labelled residues of tropical plant species [Vigna unguiculata (cowpea), Mucuna pruriens and Leucaena leucocephala] to a Ferric Luvisol from Ghana at a rate of 100 mg N/kg soil under controlled environment conditions. Residues were also applied in different ratio combinations with inorganic N fertilizer, at a total rate of 100 mg N/kg soil. N₂O emissions were increased after addition of residues, and further increased with combined (ratio) applications of residues and inorganic N fertilizer. However, ¹⁵N‐N₂O production was low and short‐lived in all treatments, suggesting that most of the measured N₂O‐N was derived from the applied fertilizer or native soil mineral N pools. There was no consistent trend in magnitude of emissions with increasing proportion of inorganic fertilizer in the application. The positive interactive effect between residue‐ and fertilizer‐N sources was most pronounced in the 25:75 Leucaena:fertilizer and cowpea:fertilizer treatments where 1082 and 1130 mg N₂O‐N/g residue were emitted over 30 days. N₂O (log_e) emission from all residue amended treatments was positively correlated with the residue C:N ratio, and negatively correlated with residue polyphenol content, polyphenol:N ratio and (lignin + polyphenol):N ratio, indicating the role of residue chemical composition in regulating emissions even when combined with inorganic fertilizer. The positive interactive effect in our treatments suggests that it is unlikely that combined applications of residues and inorganic fertilizer can lower N₂O emissions unless the residue is of very low quality promoting strong immobilisation of soil mineral N.     

A review of the role of excess soil moisture conditions in constraining farm practices under Atlantic conditions

The Less Favoured Area (LFA) scheme is a major element of the EU Rural Development Policy, aimed at supporting farming in areas with natural handicaps or low soil productivity. It has been in place since 1975 and accounts for 14% of total Community funding. In 2003, the European Court of Auditors recommended that the socio‐economic criteria on which the current scheme is based be replaced by biophysical criteria. Reviews of the proposals suggest that in Atlantic climates of Northwest Europe, the new criteria do not delineate adequately areas where agricultural productivity is constrained by the biophysical environment and that such areas are instead demarcated by the occurrence of excess soil moisture conditions. In this paper, we review the impact of excess soil moisture conditions on the sustainability of farming systems and their role in constraining strategic and tactical farm management practices. In particular, we review the scientific evidence on the impact of excess soil moisture conditions on herbage growth, herbage utilization, farm operations and environmental sustainability. On the basis of this, we propose an additional biophysical criterion for the new delineation of LFAs, namely the length of time that soil water is in excess of field capacity (‘field capacity days’). While there is no clear threshold for field capacity days above which agricultural sustainability is acutely constrained, the evidence reviewed in this paper suggests that the sustainability of intensive livestock farming and tillage systems is particularly challenging in scenarios where the 80 percentile of field capacity days exceeds 220–230 days.     

Larval development of Gilchristella aestuaria (Gilchrist, 1914) (Pisces: Clupeidae) from southern Africa

The larval development ol the southern African endemic clupeid Gilchristella aestuaria is described and illustrated from specimens collected in the Swartvlei and Sundays estuarine systems of the Cape Province. Free embryos have no visible gut, unpigmented eyes and bodies, and are dependent on the yolk sac contents for nutrition. This stage lasts until about 4 mm body length (BL) when the eyes become pigmented and a gut becomes visible. Between 4 mm and 7 mm BL melanophores on the ventral aspect of the body form, and the dorsal and caudal lin anlagen develop. Between 7 mm and 8 mm BL the swimbladder lorms, flexion occurs and the anal fin anlage develops. By the 10 mm BL stage most of the skeletal elements have begun to differentiate, with the vertebral centra already showing signs of ossification. General ossification commences between 12 mm and 13 mm BL. All unpaired fins have the adult complement of rays by 15 mm BL. Scalation starts between 16 mm and 17 mm BL and is complete by 20 mm BL. Body depth increases gradually, from about 5% of BL in the early larval stages to >14% of BL in the juveniles. The pre-anal length decreases from about 87% of BL in the larvae to approximately 69% of BL in the juveniles. Head length increases from approximately 11% of BL in the larvae to 24-29% of BL in the juveniles. The larval snoui is initially 2% of BL, increasing to 7% of BL in the juvenile stages owing to the development of jaw elements.     

The Alleviating Effect of Elevated CO2 on Heat Stress Susceptibility of Two Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Cultivars

This study analysed the alleviating effect of elevated CO₂ on stress‐induced decreases in photosynthesis and changes in carbohydrate metabolism in two wheat cultivars (Triticum aestivum L.) of different origin. The plants were grown in ambient (400 μl l^?1) and elevated (800 μl l^?1) CO₂ with a day/night temperature of 15/10 °C. At the growth stages of tillering, booting and anthesis, the plants were subjected to heat stress of 40 °C for three continuous days. Photosynthetic parameters, maximum quantum efficiency of photosystem II (PSII) photochemistry (F_v/F_m) and contents of pigments and carbohydrates in leaves were analysed before and during the stress treatments as well as after 1 day of recovery. Heat stress reduced P_N and F_v/F_m in both wheat cultivars, but plants grown in elevated CO₂ maintained higher P_N and F_v/F_m in comparison with plants grown in ambient CO₂. Heat stress reduced leaf chlorophyll contents and increased leaf sucrose contents in both cultivars grown at ambient and elevated CO₂. The content of hexoses in the leaves increased mainly in the tolerant cultivar in response to the combination of elevated CO₂ and heat stress. The results show that heat stress tolerance in wheat is related to cultivar origin, the phenological stage of the plants and can be alleviated by elevated CO₂. This confirms the complex interrelation between environmental factors and genotypic traits that influence crop performance under various climatic stresses.