pectinases have multiple nature and various forms which are necessary for the hydrolysis of pectin in several conventional industrial and natural processes. in this investigation fourteen fungal strains which isolated from agricultural soils ,were screened for pectinase activity. pectinase activity were measured in vitro by assaying released reducing sugar from pectin as sole carbon source. asp...

background: heavy metals (hms) are one of the most important polluting substances emitted to the environment during cement production. tehran cement factory located in the southeastern of tehran, iran, closer to agricultural lands cultivates alfalfa, barley, and maize as feed. the objective of the study was to determine the concentration of hms in agricultural soils. methods: thirty six soil sa...

Citation: Staley C, Breuillin-Sessoms F, Wang P, Kaiser T, Venterea RT and Sadowsky MJ (2018) Urea Amendment Decreases Microbial Diversity and Selects for Specific Nitrifying Strains in Eight Contrasting Agricultural Soils. Front. Microbiol. 9:634. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2018.00634 Urea Amendment Decreases Microbial Diversity and Selects for Specific Nitrifying Strains in Eight Contrasting Agricult...

Despite constraining legislation and increasing efficiency of pesticides (with a decrease in the applied amounts), their use still cause a contamination of environment (air, soil and water). To conciliate agricultural and environmental interests, a better understanding of the fate of pesticides is needed, in particular because it will determine the exposure and consequently the impact of pestic...

Long-term contrasts in agricultural management can shift soil resource availability with potential consequences to microbial carbon (C) use efficiency (CUE) and the fate of C in soils. Isothermal calorimetry was combined with 13C-labeled glucose stable isotope probing (SIP) of 16S rRNA genes to test the hypothesis that organically managed soils would support microbial communities with greater t...

Based on these figures, it is no exaggeration to say that more than one-third of the Brazilian annual wealth is supported by a single natural resource: the soil. This justifies the impor‐ tance of studies on how to preserve and improve this valuable resource. According to [2], soils have natural limits to their ability to nourish plants and sustain crop productivity. The degradation of soil qua...

Histosols (also known as organic soils, mucks, or peats) are soils that are dominated by organic matter (OM > 20%) in half or more of the upper 80 cm. Forty two states have a total of 21 million ha of Histosols in the United States. These soils, when intensively cropped, are subject to wind erosion resulting in loss of crop productivity and degradation of soil, air, and water quality. Estimatin...

Driven by climate change and population growth, increasing human pressure on land forces conversion of natural landscapes to agricultural fields and pastures while simultaneously depleting land currently under agricultural use (Lal, 2009). Consequently, a vicious circle develops; further aggravating climate change, soil degradation, erosion, loss of soil organic matter (SOM) and leaching of nut...

Terra Preta soils of central Amazonia exhibit approximately three times more soil organic matter, nitrogen and phosphorus and 70 times more charcoal compared to adjacent infertile soils. The Terra Preta soils were generated by pre-Columbian native populations by chance or intentionally adding large amounts of charred residues (charcoal), organic wastes, excrements and bones. In this paper, it i...

There is a limited understanding of solute transport properties of degraded peat soils as compared to mineral substrates. A lower organic matter (OM) content is often the result of peat degradation and mineralization following artificial drainage. In this study, we aimed at deducing changes in solute transport properties of peat soils differing in OM content. Miscible displacement experiments w...