The benefits, costs and risk from introducing aluminium-tolerant lucerne (alfalfa) into a sheep grazing enterprise, consisting of a perennial ryegrass-based pasture, located in the high rainfall zone of Victoria, Australia, were estimated using a discounted cash flow analysis. Two ‘what if’ scenarios were compared for a modelled representative case study farm; 1) where aluminium toxicity occurr...

In an effort to study the possible effects of climate change on the behavior of atmospheric mercury (Hg), we built a temperature-controlled microchamber system to measure its emission from top soils. To this end, mercury vapour emission rates were investigated in the laboratory using top soil samples collected from an urban area. The emissions of Hg, when measured as a function of soil temperat...

Field populations of Xiphinerna americanum around roots of Syringa vulgaris 'President Lincoln' were larger in Marshall silty clay loam, a medially developed loess soil, than in Monona silt loam, a minimally developed loess soil. Most X. amerieanum occurred in the top 15 cm of soil, with few below 30 cm. Maximum numbers occurred in August of both years in the Marshall soil, and in August 1969 a...

The effect of agricultural practices on nitrate accumulation in soils of different farmland systems in the Jordan Valley (JV) is not yet documented. This study aims at quantifying nitrate concentrations in top-soil and investigating its spatial distribution in the JV in order to help developing a nitrogen management plan for the JV. Results showed that nitrate concentrations range from 88.2 to ...

A soil gas measurement method developed earlier, [Nucl Tracks Radiat Meas, 22(1-4) (1993) 468] was applied to boreholes drilled to below foundation depth. Radon concentration and permeability were measured at 50-cm intervals. In radon prone areas, permeability showed an increase with depth over several orders of magnitude, indicating a low permeability top layer with a thickness of 0.5 m and mo...

Soil moisture information is of critical importance to real-world applications such as agriculture, water resource management, flood, fire and landslide prediction, mobility, soil hydraulic parameter estimation etc. Many of these applications require soil moisture information at high resolution. While this may be estimated from land surface models, the predictions are often poor due to inadequa...

The extraction of nematodes from clay soil is difficult using flotation-sieving methods of soil-water suspensions. Aggregated soil particles trap nematodes and prevent them from passing through the top coarse sieves during decanting. Also, the soil aggregates clog the sieves which slows the decanting operation. In addition, clay particles are difficult to clean from centrifuge tubes that are us...

Soil erosion is a global challenge, seriously threatening soil and water resources andenvironmental qualities. One of the important factors to consider in the process of runoffgeneration and soil erosion is the physical and chemical properties of soils under differentland-uses. The aim of this study is to estimate soil erosion and runoff in rangeland, rain-fedand abandoned rain-fed agriculture ...

A field experiment was conducted during 2003/2004 to determine the effect of different cane portions/cuttings on per cent sprouting, subsequent growth and cane yield of sugarcane variety N-14. The trial was executed on a sandy soil at WonjiShoa Sugarcane Plantation. The experiment was laid in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with four replications and five treatments comprising setts fro...