background: heavy metals (hms) are one of the most important polluting substances emitted to the environment during cement production. tehran cement factory located in the southeastern of tehran, iran, closer to agricultural lands cultivates alfalfa, barley, and maize as feed. the objective of the study was to determine the concentration of hms in agricultural soils. methods: thirty six soil sa...

Citation: Staley C, Breuillin-Sessoms F, Wang P, Kaiser T, Venterea RT and Sadowsky MJ (2018) Urea Amendment Decreases Microbial Diversity and Selects for Specific Nitrifying Strains in Eight Contrasting Agricultural Soils. Front. Microbiol. 9:634. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2018.00634 Urea Amendment Decreases Microbial Diversity and Selects for Specific Nitrifying Strains in Eight Contrasting Agricult...

Assessment of the content and sources of heavy metals in soils is required to identify agricultural areas affected by contamination on a regional level, according to the European Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection. The total content of Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn of 29 agricultural soils used to grow vegetable crops such as artichoke, broccoli, and potato, in the Segura River Valle...

Introduction One option for sequestering carbon in the terrestrial biosphere is to increase the carbon (C) stocks in agricultural soils. There is now an extensive literature on the amount of C that has been lost from soils as a consequence of humans disturbing natural ecosystems, and of the amount of C that might be returned to soils with improved management practices. Improvements in managemen...

Around the world, especially in semi-arid regions, millions of hectares of irrigated agricultural land are abandoned each year because of the adverse effects of irrigation, mainly secondary salinity and sodicity. Accurate information about the extent, magnitude, and spatial distribution of salinity and sodicity will help create sustainable development of agricultural resources. In Morocco, sout...

Although it is common to alternate between till and no-till practices, past research has considered farmers’ tillage options to be limited to the dichotomous choice of whether or not to switch to a long-term no-till regime. This paper expands farmers’ options and models their choices of tillage frequency. Less frequent tilling sequesters more carbon but permits a greater accumulation of weeds, ...

A study on natural radioactivity in virgin and agricultural soil samples collected from Sungai Petani was conducted using high-purity germanium. The mean activity concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th, and 40K in virgin soils were 51.06±5.83, 78.44±6.42, and 125.66±7.26 Bq kg−1, respectively, while those in agricultural soils were 80.63±5.78, 116.87±7.87, and 200.66±18.24 Bq kg−1, respectively. The co...

The volume of solid waste produced in the world is increasing annually, and disposing of such wastes is a growing problem. Fly ash (FA) is a form of solid waste that is derived from the combustion of coal. Research has shown that fly ash may be disposed of by using it to amend agricultural soils. This review addresses the feasibility of amending agricultural field soils with fly ash for the pur...

Heavy metal concentrations in agricultural soils of Zhejiang Province were monitored to indicate the status of heavy metal contamination and assess environmental quality of agricultural soils. A total of 908 soil samples were collected from 38 counties in Zhejiang Province and eight heavy metal (Cd, Cr, Pb, Hg, Cu, Zn, Ni and As) concentrations had been evaluated in agricultural soil. It was fo...

A study on natural radioactivity in virgin and agricultural soil samples collected from Sungai Petani was conducted using high-purity germanium. The mean activity concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th, and 40K in virgin soils were 51.06±5.83, 78.44±6.42, and 125.66±7.26 Bq kg−1, respectively, while those in agricultural soils were 80.63±5.78, 116.87±7.87, and 200.66±18.24 Bq kg−1, respectively. The co...