The growing number of biogas plants in Europe has resulted in increased production of nutrient-rich digestate, which has potential as fertiliser on arable land. Many different organic materials can be degraded in the anaerobic digestion process, with most macronutrients and micronutrients retained in the digestate. Depending on the ingoing organic substrate and management of the biogas process,...

Global support for Conservation Agriculture (CA) as a pathway to Sustainable Intensification is strong. CA revolves around three principles: no-till (or minimal soil disturbance), soil cover, and crop rotation. The benefits arising from the ease of crop management, energy/cost/time savings, and soil and water conservation led to widespread adoption of CA, particularly on large farms in the Amer...

Assessing effects of cropping systems on soil organic matter (SOM) and soil carbon (C) changes are necessary to make accurate projections regarding sequestration and emission of CO2 by agricultural soils. This process requires substantial annual management inputs and large outlays for soil sampling and analyses. Our objectives were (1) to evaluate and test an alternative method for soil organic...

Mishra G, Kumar N, Giri K, Pandey S, Kumar R. 2014. Effect of fungicides and bioagents on number of microorganisms in soil and yield of soybean (Glycine max). Nusantara Bioscience 6: 45-48. In field experiments, the effect of selected fungicides and bioagents on number of soil microorganisms and yield of soybean (Glycine max L. Merill) was investigated. The results showed that some of the crop ...

Due to increasing land-use pressures, soil-quality assessment is in growing demand, thus a standard set of procedures to assign a soil quality index (SQI) would be beneficial. In this study, the effectiveness of different managements in upholding soil quality (for crop productivity) was compared using soil quality indicators incorporated systematically to determine a SQI. The managements includ...

Long-term yield performance and yield stability of common cropping systems needs to be simultaneously assessed at various fertility regimes. Based on a consecutive 19-year field trial, including eight fertilization treatments with different combinations of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K) and recycled manure (RM), the effects of fertilization and crop rotation on corn (Zea mays L.) y...

Soil-borne diseases caused by pathogenic microorganisms are one of the main factors responsible for the decline in crop yields in farmlands. Pathogenic Fusarium oxysporum causes serious damage to various crops, and, thus, a feasible diagnostic method for soil-borne diseases is required. We herein examined a simple method to evaluate the suppressiveness of soil microorganisms against a pathogen ...