Decomposers provide an essential ecosystem service that contributes to sustainable production in rice ecosystems by driving the release of nutrients from organic crop residues. During a single rice crop cycle we examined the effects of four different crop residue management practices (rice straw or ash of burned straw scattered on the soil surface or incorporated into the soil) on rice straw de...

[1] Soil organic carbon (SOC) contents in many farmlands have been depleted because of the long-term history of intensive cultivation in China. Chinese farmers are encouraged to adopt alternative management practices on their farms to sequester SOC. On the basis of the availability of carbon (C) resources in the rural areas in China, the most promising practices are (1) incorporating more crop ...

Soil populations of plant-parasitic nematodes were monitored bimonthly for 18 months in irrigated and nonirrigated corn plantings using four production systems: conventional and minimum tillage with crop residue returned and minimum tillage with 60% or 90% of previous corn crop residue removed. Populations of Meloidogyne incognita, Scutellonema brachyurum, Pratylenchus scribneri, and Paratricho...

Soil organic carbon (SOC) is the most often reported attribute and is chosen as the most important indicator of soil quality and agricultural sustainability. In this review, we summarized how cultivation, crop rotation, residue and tillage management, fertilization and monoculture affect soil quality, soil organic matter (SOM) and carbon transformation. The results confirm that SOM is not only ...

The effects of tillage and residue input amounts on soil phosphatase (alkaline phosphomonoesterase ALP, acid phosphomonoesterase ACP, phosphodiesterase PD, and inorganic pyrophosphatase IPP) activities and soil phosphorus (P) forms (total P, organic P, and available P) were evaluated using soils collected from a three-year experiment. The results showed that no-till increased soil total and org...

different conservation tillage practices are nowadays suggested as the best solution for prevention of soil from erosion. this could be done by leaving the previous crop residue on the soil surface. a new idea to plant in the conservation tillage system is the use of punch planters by which one can plant through a heavy depth of previous crop surface residue. the study was conducted using a 2?3...