Biochar additions to degraded soils have the potential to improve crop yield and soil quality. We hypothesize that the biochar production process can be tailored to form designer biochars that have specific chemical characteristics matched to selective chemical and/or physical issues of a degraded soil. We produced biochars from peanut hulls, pecan shells, poultry litter, and switchgrass at tem...

What is soil health? The objective of this presentation is to present information on the types of measurements of soil biological properties that might be useful as bio-indicators of soil health. First, however, it is necessary to discuss what soil health means. Scientists, farmers and land managers have long known that there is more to the productive capacity of soil than what can be predicted...

The potential health risk from exposure to chemically contaminated soil can be assessed from bioavailability studies. The aims of this research were: (a) to determine the dermal bioavailability of contaminants in soil for representatives of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon class of chemicals, namely, benzo(a)pyrene and naphthalene, and (b) to examine the relative contribution of soil matrix ...

The sustainability of land management was assessed for a sugar cane plantation using soil Ž . chemical and physical properties as indicators. The plantation 6000 ha was established in 1979 on a broad alluvial plain and the majority of the soils are classified as Eutric and Mollic Fluvisols Ž . Ž . 73% and Eutric Vertisols 23% . Average annual rainfall is about 2000 mm with a dry season Ž from M...

Question: How is tundra vegetation related to climatic, soil chemical, geological variables and grazing across a very large section of the Eurasian arctic area? We were particularly interested in broad-scale vegetation-environment relationships and how well do the patterns conform to climate-vegetation schemes. Material and Methods: We sampled vegetation in 1132 plots from 16 sites from differe...

Many soil functions depend on the distribution of macro(≥ 0.25 mm) and micro(< 0.25 mm) aggregates and open space between aggregates (i.e. soil structure). Despite the importance of macroaggregates in soil, little is understood about how they form and become stable. We hypothesize that biological activities, chemical reactions, and physical forces which help to form macroaggregates differ from ...

In this study, the natural Cu background concentration and Cu natural and anthropogenic contamination in soil, water and crop were investigated systematically in Huangshi area. The results show that regional geology is the dominant factor controlling the natural Cu background concentration in soil and water, and that pH is important to control the vertical distribution of Cu in soil under the s...

The effectiveness of chemical amendment of pig slurry to ameliorate phosphorus (P) losses in runoff is well studied, but research mainly has concentrated only on the runoff pathway. The aims of this study were to investigate changes to leachate nutrient losses, soil properties and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions due to the chemical amendment of pig slurry spread at 19 kg total phosphorus (TP), 9...

Based on descriptors of n-octanol/water partition coefficients (logKow), molecular connectivity indices, and quantum chemical parameters, several QSAR models were built to estimate the soil sorption coefficients (logKoc) of substituted anilines and phenols. Results showed that descriptor logKow plus molecular quantum chemical parameters gave poor regression models. Further study was performed t...

A field study was conducted at three sites (S1-S3) of 500m longitudinal transect along the drain, where soil was irrigated by toxic metal rich brass and electroplating industrial effluent in suburban area of Moradabad, India. Spatial and seasonal variations of total heavy metal content in soil and their effect on physico-chemical and biological properties were studied in soil samples taken from...