To provide a new way to increase water storage and retention of dryland wheat, a field study was conducted at Wenxi experimental site of Shanxi Agricultural University. The effect of subsoiling in fallow period on soil water storage, accumulation of proline, and formation of grain protein after anthesis were determined. Our results showed that subsoiling in fallow period could increase water st...

Relationships between soil characteristics, various forms of soil organic matter, microbial biomass and the structure of phytoparasitic nematode populations were investigated in six fallow fields aged from 1 to 26 years in the West African Savanna (WAS) belt in southern Senegal. Soil sampling was performed along two transects in each field. Herbaceous biomass and soil physical, chemical and bio...

Field observations indicated that Zn deficiency of beans (Plasscoins melons L.) was sometimes more severe than expected when grown on Mowed soil that was low to marginal in available Zn. The objectives of this study were to determine the effects of fallow, suprbeets (Beta Moods L.), and corn (Zea mays L.) on Zri availability to subsequent crops grown on a Portneuf silt loam (Durixerollic Calcio...

Soil microcosms were inoculated with Escherichia coli O157:H7 to test persistence in fallow soil, on roots of cover crops and in presence of manure. In fallow soils, E. coli O157:H7 persisted for 25-41 days, on rye roots for 47-96 days and on alfalfa roots, in a silt loam soil, for 92 days whereas on other legumes persistence ranged from 25-40 days, similar to fallow soil. Manure did not seem t...

Soil-dwelling insects are severe pests in many agroecosystems. These pests have cryptic life cycles, making sampling difficult and damage hard to anticipate. The management of soil insects is therefore often based on preventative insecticides applied at planting or cultural practices. Wireworms, the subterranean larvae of click beetles (Coleoptera: Elateridae), have re-emerged as problematic pe...

In dryland farming areas of Montana, annual precipitation is not sufficient for annual planting of cereal grains. Instead, a crop-summer fallow farming system is used to conserve soil moisture and increase available nitrogen for subsequent crop growth. Managing this summer fallow, either by mechanical means or with herbicides, is the highest variable cost associated with dryland grain productio...

BACKGROUND This paper describes liver cirrhosis in 35 fallow deer infected with the giant liver fluke, as well as the distribution, origin, and role of myofibroblasts in its development. RESULTS In liver of infected deer, stripes of connective tissue are wound around groups of degenerated and regenerated liver lobuli. In the connective tissue, lymphocytes and macrophages which often contain p...

Secondary fallow vegetation in parts of the Papua New Guinea lowlands is dominated by the shrub Piper aduncum L. that originates from South America. Here we report on its seed bank, growth rate and biomass accumulation. P. aduncum accounted for 69 % (408 m) of the seed bank in the forest and 53 % (1559 m) of the seed bank under fallow. About 90 % of the tree seed bank at the fallow site was dom...

The delineation of shifting cultivation landscapes using remote sensing in mountainous regions is challenging. On the one hand, there are difficulties related to the distinction of forest and fallow forest classes as occurring in a shifting cultivation landscape in mountainous regions. On the other hand, the dynamic nature of the shifting cultivation system poses problems to the delineation of ...

Agricultural production in the Koutiala region, southern Mali, is based on cash sources (cotton and groundnut), cereal sources (maize, sorghum, millet), and a store of wealth (livestock). In these low-input farming systems, crop production is seriously constrained by soil fertility decline. Research is being conducted in the region to investigate the potential of improved fallows planted to leg...