Search results for "040103 agronomy & agriculture"
showing 10 items of 794 documents
Soil conservation and sustainable development goals(SDGs) achievement in Europe and central Asia: Which role for the European soil partnership?
2021
Abstract Voluntary soil protection measures are not sufficient to achieve sustainable soil management at a global scale. Additionally, binding soil protection legislation at national and international levels has also proved to be insufficient for the effective protection of this non-renewable natural resource. In 2012, the FAO Members established the Global Soil Partnership (GSP) with the mission to facilitate and contribute exchange of knowledge and technologies related to soils, and develop dialogue and raise awareness for the need to establish a binding global agreement for sustainable soil management. Moreover, region-specific aspects of implementation are considered and strengthened th…
Determining hydraulic properties of a loam soil by alternative infiltrometer techniques
2015
Testing infiltrometer techniques to determine soil hydraulic properties is necessary for specific soils. For a loam soil, the water retention and hydraulic conductivity predicted by the BEST (Beerkan Estimation of Soil Transfer parameters) procedure of soil hydraulic characterization was compared with data collected by more standard laboratory and field techniques. Six infiltrometer techniques were also compared in terms of saturated soil hydraulic conductivity, Ks. BEST yielded water retention values statistically similar to those obtained in the laboratory and Ks values practically coinciding with those determined in the field with the pressure infiltrometer (PI). The unsaturated soil hyd…
Tillage intensity and pasture in rotation effectively shape soil microbial communities at a landscape scale
2018
International audience; Soil microorganisms are essential to agroecosystem functioning and services. Yet, we still lack information on which farming practices can effectively shape the soil microbial communities. The aim of this study was to identify the farming practices, which are most effective at positively or negatively modifying bacterial and fungal diversity while considering the soil environmental variation at a landscape scale. A long-term research study catchment (12 km2 ) representative of intensive mixed farming (livestock and crop) in Western Europe was investigated using a regular grid for soil sampling (n = 186). Farming systems on this landscape scale were described in terms…
Evolution of organic carbon pools and microbial diversity in hyperarid anthropogenic soils
2016
Abstract We investigated the organic carbon pools and the microbial diversity and activity in anthropogenic terraced soils in a desert area of Southern Peru to highlight how the introduction of agriculture influences carbon evolution and storage and genetic and functional diversity of soil microbiota over time. Five sites were selected considering soils cultivated since 5, 15, 20, 35 and 65 years, sampled along the profile depth (0–20 and 20–40 cm layer). Soil and microbial parameters comprised by organic carbon pools, microbial respiration, microbial community physiological profile (CLPP) and microbial diversity (PCR-DGGE) were determined. The results showed that the highest C concentratio…
Changes in soil mineral N content and abundances of bacterial communities involved in N reactions under laboratory conditions as predictors of soil N…
2016
Proper management of soil fertility requires specific tools for predicting N availability for crops as a consequence of different fertilization strategies. More information is required, especially for organic fertilizers, depending on their mineralization rate, composition, and processing (i.e., fresh or composted manure), as well as their effects on soil properties. Laboratory soil incubations were used as a proxy for understanding plant–soil N dynamics under field conditions. Chemical and microbiological measurements as contents of mineral N, potentially mineralizable N and the abundance of key genes regulating the overall N cycle were used as predictors of mineral N availability to maize…
THE ENVIROMENTAL PROBLEMS OF THE PIANA DEL SIGNORE (GELA, SICILY) FOR A CORRECT AGRONOMIC, CULTURAL AND LANDSCAPE UPGRADING AND ENHANCEMENT OF THE AR…
2017
In Sicily it is witnessing an environmental degradation that can be conducted to the human activity and the already known process of desertification. The present study had as object the c/da Piana del Signore in plain of Gela being an area characterized by an extreme aridity and salinity. Through consultation and study of the various researches realized on the area, the various environmental and territorial characteristics outlined, highlighting the issues and possible improvements. The objective was to outline the damages caused by man proposing possible routes for a correct requalification of the area in order to enhance a landscape of great agronomic and naturalistic interest. In fact to…
High microbial diversity promotes soil ecosystem functioning
2018
ABSTRACT In soil, the link between microbial diversity and carbon transformations is challenged by the concept of functional redundancy. Here, we hypothesized that functional redundancy may decrease with increasing carbon source recalcitrance and that coupling of diversity with C cycling may change accordingly. We manipulated microbial diversity to examine how diversity decrease affects the decomposition of easily degradable (i.e., allochthonous plant residues) versus recalcitrant (i.e., autochthonous organic matter) C sources. We found that a decrease in microbial diversity (i) affected the decomposition of both autochthonous and allochthonous carbon sources, thereby reducing global CO 2 e…
Tillage Changes Vertical Distribution of Soil Bacterial and Fungal Communities.
2018
Tillage can strongly affect the long-term productivity of an agricultural system by altering the composition and spatial distribution of nutrients and microbial communities. The impact of tillage methods on the vertical distribution of soil microbial communities is not well understood, and the correlation between microbial communities and soil nutrients vertical distributions is also not clear. In the present study, we investigated the effects of conventional plowing tillage (CT: moldboard plowing), reduced tillage (RT: rotary tillage), and no tillage (NT) on the composition of bacterial and fungal communities within the soil profile (0-5, 5-10, 10-20, and 20-30 cm) using high-throughput se…
How do microbial communities in top-and subsoil respond to root litter addition under field conditions?
2016
Abstract Contrasting microbial community composition and activity at different soil depths may affect root litter decomposition. These effects have up to now been investigated mainly in laboratory studies, which may not be able to take into account complex in situ conditions. Our study aimed to analyze the composition and activity of microbial communities after addition of 13 C labeled wheat root litter to a loamy soil under grassland at 30, 60 and 90 cm depths, during a three-year field experiment. We investigated the dynamics of bacterial and fungal abundances and community structures by DNA genotyping and pyrosequencing of 16S and 18S rDNAs. The genetic structures of bacterial and fungal…
Dominant Tree Species and Soil Type Affect the Fungal Community Structure in a Boreal Peatland Forest
2016
ABSTRACT Boreal peatlands play a crucial role in global carbon cycling, acting as an important carbon reservoir. However, little information is available on how peatland microbial communities are influenced by natural variability or human-induced disturbances. In this study, we have investigated the fungal diversity and community structure of both the organic soil layer and buried wood in boreal forest soils using high-throughput sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region. We have also compared the fungal communities during the primary colonization of wood with those of the surrounding soils. A permutational multivariate analysis of variance (PERMANOVA) confirmed that the co…