Water vapor diffusion through the soil is an important part in the total water flux in the unsaturated zone of arid or semiarid regions and has several significant agricultural and engineering applications because soil moisture contents near the surface are relatively low. Water vapor diffusing through dry soil is absorbed for both long and short terms. Long-term absorption allows more water to...

This article focuses on physical characteristics of snail soil from Ljubljana marsh and their influence on geomechanical characteristics. Mineral and chemical composition, visual appearance, specific surface and grain property of the snail soil were determined. The geomechanical characteristics were investigated for their dependence on the physical characteristics. These relationships are expre...

The efficacy of aluminum phosphide was tested on a total of 300 active black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) mounds and 68 active'yellow-faced pocket gopher (Pappogeomys castanops) tunnels during June-August, 1986 on the southern Great Plains in Lubbock County, Texas. Efficacy of aluminum phosphide was higher than controls (P < 0.001) for both species. Efficacy was higher for black-ta...

Both water movement and nitrate leaching in structured soils are strongly in ̄uenced by the nature of the macro-porosity. That macro-porosity can however also be manipulated by choice of tillage operations. In order to investigate the potential impacts of tillage on rates of nitrate leaching from structured soils, a model speci®c to these soils, CRACK-NP was developed. The model, its application...

This study was conducted to know cropping cycles required to improve OM status in soil and to investigate the effects of medium-term tillage practices on soil properties and crop yields in Grey Terrace soil of Bangladesh under wheat-mungbean-T. aman cropping system. Four different tillage practices, namely, zero tillage (ZT), minimum tillage (MT), conventional tillage (CT), and deep tillage (DT...

Tillage practices significantly influences soil physical characteristics and crop productivity. The infiltration characteristics, bulk density, porosity, penetration resistance, grain yield of rice and wheat were measured under no-till without residue (NT), roto-tillage (RT), and no-till with residue i.e. happy seeder (HS) in rice-wheat cropping system in sandy loam (SL) and loamy sand (LS) soi...

Studies were carried out in 2005 and 2006 raing seasons at four locations (Abakaliki, Ezzamgbo, Ikwo and Okposi) within the Abakaliki Agro-ecological zone of southeastern Nigeria, to determine their suitability for the production of lettuce. The measurements included weather elements, soil physico-chemical propertiesand crop growth and yield. The data collected were subjected to statistical ana...

In sustainable agricultural systems, recycling of nutrients is a major component of nutrient management. We conducted an experiment in Abakaliki South Eastern Nigeria in 2007 to investigate the effects of organic amendments (poultry droppings (PD), burnt rice husk dust, (BRHD), Unburnt rice husk dust (UBRHD) and inorganic fertilizer (NPK) on soil properties and their residual effect tested in 2...

In this study, we measure effective diffusion coefficients for trichloroethene in undisturbed soil samples taken from Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey. The measured effective diffusion coefficients ranged from 0.0053 to 0.0609 cm2/s over a range of air-filled porosity of 0.23-0.49. The experimental data were compared to several previously published relations that predict diffusion coefficients as ...

Several contrasting uses of the terms macro(large) and micro(small) pore can be identified in soil science literature. In some cases macropores are (i) considered to be pores > 15 (Marshall, 1959) or 100 /im in diam (Bouma et al., 1977) or (ii) implied to be even larger when described in terms of wormholes (Ehlers, 1975), root channels (Aubertin, 1971). and shrinkage cracks (Lewis, 1977). The s...