abstract incorporation of plant residues in soils is an important agricultural practice for maintaining soil fertility under organic management systems. plant residues quality, soil physical and chemical properties, and the microbial population diversity of soils are the most important factors influencing the decomposition of added organic matter to soils. decomposition rate of municipal wastes...

Urban agriculture has been recently highlighted with the increased importance for recreation in modern society; however, soil quality and public health may not be guaranteed because of continuous exposure to various pollutants. The objective of this study was to evaluate the soil quality of urban agriculture by soil microbial assessments. Two independent variables, organic and inorganic fertili...

Red mud is a highly alkaline (pH >12) waste product from bauxite ore processing. The red mud spill at Ajka, Hungary, in 2010 released 1 million m(3) of caustic red mud into the surrounding area with devastating results. Aerobic and anaerobic batch experiments and solid phase extraction techniques were used to assess the impact of red mud addition on the mobility of Cu and Ni in soils from near ...

This study investigates whether different intensities of organic matter removal associated with timber harvest influence decadal-scale storage of soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (TN) in the top 1 m of mineral soil 18 years postharvest in a Pinus taeda L. forest in the Gulf Coastal Plain. We quantified forest harvest-related changes in SOC, TN, microbial biomass carbon (MBC), and ni...

Aerial deposition of Ni from a refinery in Port Colborne, Ontario, Canada has resulted in the enrichment of 29 km of land with Ni concentrations exceeding the Canadian Ministry of the Environment’s remedial action level of 200 mg kg . Several studies on these soils have shown that making the soils calcareous was effective at reducing chemically extractable Ni, as well as alleviating Ni phytotox...

Effects of different levels of compost application on the amounts and percentage distribution of organic N forms in whole soils and particle size fractions were investigated. Soil samples were collected from three plots: a) F, only chemical fertilizers; b) F + LC, chemical fertilizers plus low level of compost; (c) F + HC, chemical fertilizers plus high level of compost. Each soil sample was di...

Maneb is a broad spectrum fungicide, often reported as a carcinogenic, teratogenic and neurodegenerative agent. Thus, the occurrence of maneb at non-targeted sites is a cause of concern. The present study investigates adsorption– desorption behaviour of maneb in the agricultural soils to know its fate, mobility and availability in the soil. The sorption study was carried out by batch equilibrat...

Accurate information on the chemical nature of soil phosphorus is essential for understanding its bioavailability and fate in wetland ecosystems. Solution phosphorus-31 nuclear magnetic resonance (31P NMR) spectroscopy was used to assess the conventional colorimetric procedure for phosphorus speciation in alkaline extracts of organic soils from the Florida Everglades. Molybdate colorimetry mark...

seasonal accumulation and incorrect disposal of olive mill by-products may be detrimental to the environment. conversely, their proper recycling as soil amendments may be a sustainable solution. therefore, the objectives of this three-year field trial were: (i) investigating the effects of olive mill wastewater (omw) and pomace compost (pc) on plant nutritional status and yield in an organic ol...

Newly created and restored wetlands play an important role in sequestering excess nutrients at the landscape scale. In evaluating the long-term efficacy of nutrient management strategies to increase wetland capacity for sequestering P, information is needed on the forms of P found across the upland-wetland transition. To assess this, we studied soils (0-10 cm) from four wetlands within cow-calf...