In agro-ecosystems, fertilization practices are crucial for sustaining crop productivity. Here, based on a 50-year long-term experiment, we studied the influence of fertilization practices (inorganic and/or organic) and nitrogen (N) application rates on (i) soil physicochemical properties, (ii) microbial and earthworm communities and (iii) crop production. Our results showed that soil organic c...

background and objectives: this study is the first research on the physiochemical characteristics, microbial population and microstructure of poosti cheese over 90-days of ripening. the main difference between poosti cheese and other types of traditional cheese is the skin, which is used for its storage. materials and methods: physicochemical characteristics including moisture, salt, ph, acidit...

Maize (Zea mays L.) is the most important cereal crop in the world. However, soil salinity has become a major problem affecting plant productivity due to arable field degradation. Thus, transgenic maize transformed with a salinity tolerance gene has been developed to further evaluate its salt tolerance and effects on agronomic traits. It is necessary to analyze the potential environmental risk ...

Plant ecologists require spatial information on functional soil properties but are often faced with soil classifications that are not directly interpretable or useful for statistical models. Sand and clay content are important soil properties because they indicate soil water-holding capacity and nutrient content, yet these data are not available for much of the landscape. Remotely sensed soil r...

This study aims to evaluate the effect of different afforestation models on soil microbial composition in the Loess Plateau in China. In particular, we determined soil physicochemical properties, enzyme activities, and microbial community structures in the top 0 cm to 10 cm soil underneath a pure Hippophae rhamnoides (SS) stand and three mixed stands, namely, H. rhamnoides and Robinia pseucdoac...

abiotic factors, as topographic and physicochemical properties of soil, are the most important effective factor on vegetation in rangeland ecosystems which have the most important performances to forming and succession of plant vegetation. ecologic management of rangelands can be desired by better understanding of these effective factors. then, rangeland of javaherdeh (ramsar) in the northern a...

Pesticides are the important agrochemicals used for prevention of crops from pests. Their use has been largely increased in last few decades. The application of pesticides starts from the pre sowing stage. Different treatments include soil application, seed treatment, foliar spray, etc. Repeated applications of pesticides contaminate the soil. Soil is the most important site of biological inter...

Plant invasions often reduce native plant diversity and increase net primary productivity. Invaded soils appear to differ from surrounding soils in ways that impede restoration of diverse native plant communities. We hypothesize that invader-mediated shifts in edaphic properties reproducibly alter soil microbial community structure and function. Here, we take a holistic approach, characterizing...

Soil animals are considered as important contributors to soil fertility However, there is paucity of such information for harsh climatic conditions. Therefore, the below ground faunal density and frequency have been studied in relation to physicochemical properties of soil in Thar desert. The selected soil systems were Vigna radiata--Cuminum cyminum, grassland, flower garden and Zizyphus maurit...