Search results for " SOIL"
showing 10 items of 774 documents
Discussion of “Soil Water Retention Characteristics of Vertisols and Pedotransfer Functions Based on Nearest Neighbor and Neural Networks Approaches …
2013
Investigation of surface properties of lunar regolith: Part I
2007
This paper describes an initial investigation of the surface properties of three lunar soil samples from the Apollo 11, 12 and 16 missions, respectively. We report on density measurements using a helium pycnometer, adsorption isotherms of krypton applied for the determination of specific surface area of the samples and gravimetric measurement of the isotherms of water, heptane and octane. Electron-microscopic photographs are described and discussed.
Beerkan Estimation of Soil Transfer parameters (BEST) across soils and scales
2019
Abstract Theories and models used in soil hydrological sciences rely on the knowledge of the spatially and temporally variable soil hydraulic properties, i.e. the water retention and hydraulic conductivity curves. Obtaining reliable experimental information on these curves for an area of interest is not easy and it still remains a challenge for soil scientists. In 2006, a simple and physically based methodology was proposed to completely characterize the soil using a single ring infiltration experiment in the field and determination of soil particle size distribution, initial and final soil water content and dry soil bulk density. This methodology, named BEST – Beerkan Estimation of Soil Tr…
Proposal for a new diagnostic horizon for WRB Anthrosols
2009
Abstract To investigate man's role in the creation and evolution of soils in areas of large scale farming, and to investigate the main morpho-descriptive aspects of the related soils, a survey was carried out in south eastern Sicily, Italy, where, as common to other regions of the Mediterranean basin, there are wide areas with anthropogenic soils due to large scale farming activity. The complex genesis pattern of these anthropogenic soils, which shows a double sequence of man-made horizons, sideways oriented to the soil surface, does not allow their classification as Technosols, because their composition is not dominated or strongly influenced by artefacts or human-made materials as is the …
PLANTING DENSITY AND PRUNING METHOD AFFECT EGGPLANT SOILLESS CULTURE
2007
The aim of this research was to evaluate the effects of two planting densities (1.6 plants-m-2 or 2.5 plants-m-2) and two pruning methods (two or four stemmed plants) on eggplant cultivars Black Bell and Longo in soilless culture. The research was carried out in 2003-2004 in the Northern coast Sicily. Eggplant plug plants were transplanted in a heated glasshouse in polystyrene containers (80 cm in length, 25 cm in width, 20 cm in height) filled with coconut coir dust. The experimental design was a split-split plot. Fruit production from January to April increased significantly as planting density increased. Irrespectively of the cultivars, four stemmed plants gave higher yields than two ste…
EFFECTS OF PRE-PLANT SOIL TREATMENTS ON STRAWBERRY IN SICILY
2014
The 2005 ban by Italy of methyl bromide (MB) has resulted in significant crop management difficulties in pre-plant soil dis-infestation. We report two pre-plant soil treatment techniques and their effects on the performance of new cultivars and selections tolerant to the main root pathogens. The plants grown in soil treated with chloropicrin + 1,3 dichloropropene were the most productive. While neither treatment affected average berry weight, soluble solids content or titratable acidity, the treatment × cultivar interaction was significant and fruits from plants grown in treated soil were firmer than control s. Selection PA 260 and cultivar Florida Fortuna were the earliest, three selection…
EFFECTS OF SOIL SOLARIZATION WITH DIFFERENT PLASTIC FILMS ON YIELD PERFORMANCE OF STRAWBERRY PROTECTED PLANTATIONS IN SICILY
2014
The Landslide of Agrigento Hill (Sicily, Italy)
2018
This paper illustrated the geological, morphological and hydrogeological studies performed for the analysis and monitoring of the landslide involving the northern side of the hill of Agrigento (335 m a.s.l.) on which the ancient Cathedral was built during the 11th Century. The hill is made of a typical Plio-Pleistocene transgressive succession made of clays (M. Narbone formation), calcarenites, sands and clayey soils (Agrigento formation). The area has been unstable since 1315, involving both the little-welded, very porous and fractured calcarenitic sections (E-W) from Pleistocene and the clay layers interstratified within these sections. Since 1924, from time to time, various typologies of…
Isolation and characterisation of Nocardioides sp. SP12, an atrazine-degrading bacterial strain possessing the gene trzN from bulk- and maize rhizosp…
2003
International audience; We report the characterisation of Nocardioides sp. SP12, an atrazine-degrading bacteria isolated from atrazine-treated bulk- and maize rhizosphere soil. Based on 16S rDNA alignment, strain SP12 showed close phylogenic relationships with Nocardioides sp. C157 and Nocardioides simplex. Internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences of strain SP12 were longer than those of other Nocardioides sp. and present Ala- and Ile-tRNA unlike Actinomycetales. Nocardioides sp. SP12 presents a novel atrazine catabolic pathway combining trzN with atzB and atzC. Atrazine biodegradation ends in a metabolite that co-eluted in HPLC with cyanuric acid. This metabolite shows an absorption spe…
High resolution remote estimation of soil surface water content by a thermal inertia approach
2009
Summary The spatial distribution of soil surface water content in a bare soil was evaluated by a thermal inertia approach from high resolution visible/near infrared (VIS/NIR) and thermal infrared (TIR) airborne data. Given that the relationship between the thermal inertia and the soil water content strongly depends on the accurate estimation of the soil thermal conductivity, two different empirical models were applied to estimate it. Remotely estimated water contents were tested with time domain reflectometry (TDR) measurements collected on a 110 × 90 m 2 bare field in coincidence with airborne over-flights. The thermal conductivity model by Johansen (1975) produced more accurate estimates …