A laboratory study was conducted to study the effects of liming and different biochar amendments on N2O and CO2 emissions from acidic tea field soil. The first experiment was done with three different rates of N treatment; N 300 (300 kg N ha-1), N 600 (600 kg N ha-1) and N 900 (900 kg N ha-1) and four different rates of bamboo biochar amendment; 0%, 0.5%, 1% and 2% biochar. The second experimen...

Soil applications with poultry refuse, cocodust, vermicompost, ash, sawdust, khudepana, cowdung, solarized sand, Trichoderma harzianum and or with seed treatment by T. harzianum were evaluated against damping off disease complex of potato and chilli. All the treatments significantly reduced percent damping off over control. T. harzianum treated seed along with soil treatment with T. harzianum p...

Changes in soil microbiotic properties such as microbial biomass and community structure in response to alternative management systems are driven by microbial substrate quality and substrate utilization. We evaluated irrigated crop and forage production in two separate four-year experiments for differences in microbial substrate quality, microbial biomass and community structure, and microbial ...

Chemical amendment of dairy cattle slurry has been shown to effectively reduce incidental phosphorus (P) losses in runoff; however, the effects of amendments on incidental nitrogen (N) losses are not as well documented. This study examined P and N losses in runoff during three simulated rainfall events 2, 10 and 28 days after a single application of unamended/chemically amended dairy cattle slu...

Escherichia coli O157:H7 outbreaks associated with produce consumption have brought attention to livestock manures and manure-based soil amendments as potential sources of pathogens for the contamination of these crops. Procedures for enumeration of E. coli O157:H7 are needed to assess the risks of transmission from these manures and their by-products. A direct plating method employing spiral p...

We tested the hypothesis that amendments of two hydrophilic gels to a sand soil would reduce N leaching losses and increase growth of citrus seedlings. Three-month-old seedlings of ̒ Swingle ̓citrumelo [Citrus paradisi Macf. xPoncirus trifoliata (L.) Raf.] were transplanted into containers of steam-sterilized Candler sand, amended with a linear acrylamide/acrylate copolymer (PAM), and/or a cross...

A pilot-scale field demonstration was conducted at a Pb-contaminated site to assess the effectiveness of Pb immobilization using P amendments. The test site was contaminated by past battery recycling activities, with average soil Pb concentration of 1.16%. Phosphate amendments were applied at a 4.0 molar ratio of P/Pb with three treatments: T1, 100% P from H(3)PO(4); T2, 50% from H(3)PO(4)+50% ...