Search results for "agricultural soil"
showing 8 items of 18 documents
Historical Perspectives on Soil Mapping and Process Modeling for Sustainable Land Use Management
2017
Basic soil management goes back to the earliest days of agricultural practices, approximately 9000 BCE. Through time humans developed soil management techniques of ever increasing complexity, including plows, contour tillage, terracing, and irrigation. Spatial soil patterns were being recognized as early as 3000 BCE, but the first soil maps did not appear until the 1700s and the first soil models finally arrived in the 1880s. The beginning of the 20th century saw an increase in standardization in many soil science methods and wide-spread soil mapping in many parts of the world, particularly in developed countries. However, the classification systems used, mapping scale, and national coverag…
Mulching practices for reducing soil water erosion: A review
2016
Abstract Among the soil conservation practices that are used, mulching has been successfully applied to reduce soil and water losses in different contexts, such as agricultural lands, fire-affected areas, rangelands and anthropic sites. In these contexts, soil erosion by water is a serious problem, especially in semi-arid and semi-humid areas of the world. Although the beneficial effects of mulching are known, further research is needed to quantify them, especially in areas where soil erosion by water represents a severe threat. In the literature, there are still some uncertainties about how to maximize the effectiveness of mulching to reduce the soil and water loss rates. Given the serious…
Differential Responses of Nitrate Reducer Community Size, Structure, and Activity to Tillage Systems
2009
ABSTRACT The main objective of this study was to determine how the size, structure, and activity of the nitrate reducer community were affected by adoption of a conservative tillage system as an alternative to conventional tillage. The experimental field, established in Madagascar in 1991, consists of plots subjected to conventional tillage or direct-seeding mulch-based cropping systems (DM), both amended with three different fertilization regimes. Comparisons of size, structure, and activity of the nitrate reducer community in samples collected from the top layer in 2005 and 2006 revealed that all characteristics of this functional community were affected by the tillage system, with increa…
Copper Dynamics and Impact on Microbial Communities in Soils of Variable Organic Status
2008
International audience; The effect of soil organic status on copper impact was investigated by means of a microcosm study carried out on a vineyard soil that had been amended with varying types of organic matter during a previous long-term field experiment. Soil microcosms were contaminated at 250 mg Cu kg−1 and incubated for 35 days. Copper distribution and dynamics were assessed in the solid matrix by a sequential extraction procedure and in the soil solution by measuring total and free exchangeable copper concentrations. Copper bioavailability was also measured with a whole-cell biosensor. Modifications of microbial communities were assessed by means of biomass-C measurements and charact…
Search for biological signature of the degradation of chlordecone in soil of the French West Indies
2015
The use of chlordecone (CLD) to eradicate the weevil populations in the banana plantations in the French West Indies (Guadeloupe and Martinique) between 1972 and 1993 led to the contamination of the soil and the environment. This very hydrophobic organochlorine insecticide persists in the soil where it slowly transfers not only to the water resources but also to terrestrial and aquatic biota (plants, animals, fishes, shellfishes). Deemed “non-degradable”, CLD is resistant to photolysis, hydrolysis and biodegradation. To date, there is no method to remediate the 20,000 hectares of polluted soil with this insecticide. Given the extent of CLD pollution, biological decontamination processes app…
Relationship between microbial diversity and soil organic matter turnover
2011
International audience
Spatial distribution of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria and archaea across a 44-hectare farm related to ecosystem functioning
2011
Characterization of spatial patterns of functional microbial communities could facilitate the understanding of the relationships between the ecology of microbial communities, the biogeochemical processes they perform and the corresponding ecosystem functions. Because of the important role the ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and archaea (AOA) have in nitrogen cycling and nitrate leaching, we explored the spatial distribution of their activity, abundance and community composition across a 44-ha large farm divided into an organic and an integrated farming system. The spatial patterns were mapped by geostatistical modeling and correlations to soil properties and ecosystem functioning in terms …
The Influence of Industrial Waste on the Magnetic Properties of Salt-Affected Soils from Two Soda Ash Manufacturing Sites
2021
The aim of this study was to characterize the impact of soda ash manufacturing on the magnetic properties of soils located in the agricultural landscape in north-central Poland. Two study sites were chosen: Mątwy (SM) and Janikowo (SJ). Highly saline soils with halophyte communities were selected in order to develop an understanding of the relationship between salinization of water–soil interface and the potential contamination risk of the environment. Basic chemical and physicochemical properties of topsoil (0–25 cm) and water (surface and groundwater) samples from five locations were characterized. The characteristics of soil contamination were based on the content of sel…