Developing the concept of soil quality may help identify the soil and crop management practices required for environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable agriculture. Objectives of this paper are (1) to review current efforts to define soil quality, (2) to discuss factors and processes which influence soil quality, (3) to identify, soil and crop management practices that affect proce...

The spatial distribution of plant-available mineral nutrients in forest soils is often highly heterogeneous. To test the hypothesis that local nutrient enrichment of soil leads to increased root proliferation in the nutrient-rich soil zone, we studied the effects of nutrient enrichment on the growth and nutrient concentrations of Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco), Scots pine (P...

Morphological and physiological characteristics of biological soil crusts (BSCs) enhance soil stability and fertility, and influence soil chemistry. However, the effect of BSCs on soil physico-chemical properties may vary depending on taxa (cyanobacteria, lichen, bryophytes) and species, and be susceptible to soil surface disturbance. We examined a wide variety of soil physico-chemical properti...

Incorporation of forest slash during stand establishment is proposed as ameans of increasing soil carbon and nutrient stocks. If effective, the increased soil carbon and nutrient status may result in increased aboveground tree growth. Eight years after study installation, the impact of forest slash incorporation into the soil on soil carbon and nutrient stocks, foliar nutrients and loblolly pin...

Against the background of increasing nutrient concentrations in Irish water bodies, this study set out to gain information on the potential of agricultural grassland to lose nutrients to water. Overland flow, flow from artificial subsurface drains and stream flow were gauged and sampled during heavy rainfall events. Dissolved reactive phosphorus (DRP), potassium (K), total ammonia (TA), and tot...

Grassland fire, as an important ecological factor, is quite influential in determining the structural and functional stability of ecosystem. In this work, the fire-induced changes on the vegetation and soil microbial community were studied in alpine meadow. Microbial community composition was assessed by phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis, and functional diversity was determined by Biolog ...

Soil salt content is a key factor that determines soil chemical quality together with soil reaction, charge properties and nutrient reserves (Lal et al., 1999). An adequate salt supply is essential for an optimum development of photosynthetic mechanism and other biochemical processes in plants (Sitte et al., 1994). Soil salt content constitutes an environmental problem when salt accumulation ge...

The nutrient elements uptake in many of soils, is a problem because of high pH and plenty of calcium ions in them. Some of these elements are phosphorus and microelements. It is possible to increase absorption of these nutrient elements by addition of sulfur in soil and biological oxidation. The rate of this reaction is very slow and Thiobacillus bacteria are the most important oxidators of sul...

Field experiments were conducted during 2002-2003 on clay loam, sandy loam and red loam soil at Sivapuri, Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, to evaluate the efficacy of vermicompost on the physico-chemical and biological characteristics of the soils and on the yield and nutrient content of blackgram Vigna mungo, in comparison to inorganic fertilizers nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium. Vermicompost had inc...

consumption of manure from livestock and human health aspect and their utilization as fuel, animal feed and fertilizer are important. due to the domination of livestock farming system, limited number of animals and lack of chemical fertilizer in the traditional agriculture, consumption of animal manure in the agricultural land of country was in an efficient way. introduction of   chemical ferti...