Search results for "Soil"

Relationship between N-cycling communities and ecosystem functioning in a 50-year-old fertilization experiment.

2009

The relative importance of size and composition of microbial communities in ecosystem functioning is poorly understood. Here, we investigated how community composition and size of selected functional guilds in the nitrogen cycle correlated with agroecosystem functioning, which was defined as microbial process rates, total crop yield and nitrogen content in the crop. Soil was sampled from a 50-year fertilizer trial and the treatments comprised unfertilized bare fallow, unfertilized with crop, and plots with crop fertilized with calcium nitrate, ammonium sulfate, solid cattle manure or sewage sludge. The size of the functional guilds and the total bacterial community were greatly affected by …

Assessment of the ecotoxicity of phytotreatment substrate soil as landfill cover material for in-situ leachate management

2019

Phytotreatment capping in closed landfills is a promising, cost-effective, in situ option for sustainable leachate treatment and might be synergistically coupled with energy crops to produce renewable energy (e.g.: biodiesel or bioethanol). This study proposes to use 0.30 m of soil as growing substrate for plants cultivated on the temporary cover of closed landfills. Once the leachate phytotreatment process is no longer required, 0.70 m of the same soil would be added to attain the final top cover configuration. This solution would entail saving the costs of excavation and backfilling. However, worsening of the initial soil quality due to potential contaminant transfer from the liquid to th…

Birch (Betula spp.) wood biochar is a potential soil amendment to reduce glyphosate leaching in agricultural soils

2015

Glyphosate (N-(phosphonomethyl) glycine), a commonly used herbicide in agriculture can leach to deeper soil layers and settle in surface- and ground waters. To mitigate the leaching of pesticides and nutrients, biochar has been suggested as a potential soil amendment due to its ability to sorb both organic and inorganic substances. However, the efficiency of biochar in retaining agro-chemicals in the soil is likely to vary with feedstock material and pyrolysis conditions. A greenhouse pot experiment, mimicking a crop rotation cycle of three plant genera, was established to study the effects of pyrolysis temperature on the ability of birch (Betula sp.) wood originated biochar to reduce the l…

Poplar rotation coppice at a trace element-contaminated phytomanagement site: A 10-year study revealing biomass production, element export and impact…

2019

Abstract Growing lignocellulosic crops on marginal lands could compose a substantial proportion of future energy resources. The potential of poplar was explored, by devising a field trial of two hectares in 2007 in a metal-contaminated site to quantify the genotypic variation in the growth traits of 14 poplar genotypes grown in short-rotation coppice and to assess element transfer and export by individual genotypes. Our data led us to conclusions about the genotypic variations in poplar growth on a moderately contaminated site, with the Vesten genotype being the most productive. This genotype also accumulated the least amounts of trace elements, whereas the Trichobel genotype accumulated up…

The carbon count of 2000 years of rice cultivation.

2013

More than 50% of the world's population feeds on rice. Soils used for rice production are mostly managed under submerged conditions (paddy soils). This management, which favors carbon sequestration, potentially decouples surface from subsurface carbon cycling. The objective of this study was to elucidate the long-term rates of carbon accrual in surface and subsurface soil horizons relative to those of soils under nonpaddy management. We assessed changes in total soil organic as well as of inorganic carbon stocks along a 2000-year chronosequence of soils under paddy and adjacent nonpaddy management in the Yangtze delta, China. The initial organic carbon accumulation phase lasts much longer a…

Polyethylene and Biodegradable Starch-Based Mulching Films Affect Winter Melon Production in a Mediterranean Area

2012

ALTERNATIVES TO METHYL BROMIDE IN STRAWBERRY CULTIVATION

2009

Case studies - Research and technological solutions to prevent sand production in the gas wells from the Getic Depression

2021

A frequent challenge encountered in the exploitation of mature gas fields located in the Getic Depression is sand production. Causes of sand production are mainly related to degree of rock consolidation, lithology, increasing water production and production rates. The effects of sand production are multiple such us low productivity of the gas wells, accumulation into the surface equipment, erosion of downhole and surface equipment, plugging the perforation zone and casing damage. The current paper will address the sand production- challenges and new perspectives in remedial work of wells which are producing from gas reservoirs located in Getic Depression. The article presents through some c…

Anomalous soil CO 2 degassing in relation to faults and eruptive fissures on Mount Etna (Sicily, Italy)

1998

The relationships between soil gas emissions and both tectonic and volcano-tectonic structures on Mt. Etna have been studied. The investigation consisted of soil CO2 flux measurements along traverses orthogonal to the main faults and eruptive fissures of the volcano. Anomalous levels of soil degassing were found mainly in coincidence with faults, whereas only 49% of the eruptive fissures were found to produce elevated CO2 soil fluxes. This result suggests that only zones of strain are able to channel deep gases to the surface. According to this hypothesis, several previously unknown structures are suggested. Based on our geochemical data, new structural maps of different areas of Etna are p…

Phosphorus NMR as a tool to study mineralization of organophosphonates—The ability of Spirulina spp. to degrade glyphosate

2007

Abstract A commercially available mixed culture of Spirulina spp. exhibited a remarkable ability to degrade the widely used organophosphorus herbicide glyphosate, that served as sole source of either phosphorus or nitrogen for cyanobacterial growth. 31P NMR analysis of spent media appeared to be an effective and simple technique to follow disappearance of the phosphonate and release of inorganic phosphate in biodegradation process(es).