Humic substances are routinely applied to creeping bentgrass putting greens during times of stress to improve turf health. Confounding effects of added nutrients and other ingredients make it difficult to separate the effects caused by the organic material from additional effects of the supplemental ingredients. Claims made in advertising and marketing of the effectiveness of humic substance pr...

The effect of four triazinyl-sulfonylurea herbicides (cinosulfuron, prosulfuron, thifensulfuron methyl, triasulfuron) on soil microbial biomass, soil respiration, metabolic activity, metabolic quotient, and some enzymatic activities (acid and alkaline phosphatase, β-glucosidase, arylsulphatase, and fluorescein diacetate hydrolysis) were monitored under controlled conditions over 30 days. The he...

Ex situ soil washing with synthetic extractants such as, aminopolycarboxylate chelants (APCs) is a viable treatment alternative for metal-contaminated site remediation. EDTA and its homologs are widely used among the APCs in the ex situ soil washing processes. These APCs are merely biodegradable and highly persistent in the aquatic environments leading to the post-use toxic effects. Therefore, ...

We studied the suitability of municipal solid waste compost (MSWC) application to submerged rice paddies in the perspective of metal pollution hazards associated with such materials. Experiments were conducted during the wet seasons of 1997, 1998 and 1999 on rice grown under submerged condition, at the Agriculture Experimental Farm, Calcutta University at Baruipur, West Bengal, India. The treat...

Contamination of soil interstitial waters by labile heavy metals such as Cu(II), Cd(II), and Ni(II) is of worldwide concern. Carbonaceous materials such as char and activated carbon have received considerable attention in recent years as soil amendment for both sequestering heavy metal contaminants and releasing essential nutrients like sulfur. Information is currently lacking in how aging impa...

Alteration of the composition of soil organic matter (SOM) in Inner Mongolian grassland soils associated with the duration of grazing exclusion (GE) has been considered an important index for evaluating the restoring effects of GE practice. By using five plots from a grassland succession series from free grazing to 31-year GE, we measured the content of soil organic carbon (SOC), humic acid car...

The Bohemian Forest was exposed to high levels of sulfur and nitrogen deposition during the last century. The change in acid deposition caused a rapid decline in pH and increase in Al concentrations of soil solutions since the 1950s. A possible negative effect of soil chemistry on growth of Norway spruce tree has been studied using the 13C isotopic signal and chemistry of the tree rings. Tree r...

Evaluation of soil quality can be crucial for designing efficient farming systems and ensuring sustainable agriculture. The present study aimed at evaluating the quality of waterlogged purple paddy soils with different productivities in Sichuan Basin. The approach involved comprehensive analyses of soil physical and chemical properties, as well as enzyme activities and microbial community struc...

We determined the abundances and enantiomeric compositions of amino acids in Sutter’s Mill fragment #2 (designated SM2) recovered prior to heavy rains that fell April 25–26, 2012, and two other meteorite fragments, SM12 and SM51, that were recovered postrain. We also determined the abundance, enantiomeric, and isotopic compositions of amino acids in soil from the recovery site of fragment SM51....