Phosphomonoesterase activities were determined monthly during a seasonal cycle in three characteristic soil types of the English uplands that have been subject to long-term atmospheric nitrogen deposition. Activities (micromol para-nitrophenol g(-1) soil dry wt. h(-1)) ranged between 83.9 and 307 in a blanket peat (total carbon 318 mg g(-1). pH 3.9), 45.2-86.4 in an acid organic grassland soil ...

Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA), and other synthetic polycarboxylic acids have been shown to possess substantial capacity as washing agents of heavy metal-polluted soils, but they are environmentally problematic. Therefore, a sample of natural soluble humic substances (HS) was tested as a possible substitute. The efficiency of HS to extract cadmium (Cd), copp...

Adsorption and precipitation reactions often dictate the availability of phosphorus in soil environments. Tripolyphosphate (TPP) is considered a form of slow release P fertilizer in P limited soils, however, investigations of the chemical fate of TPP in soils are limited. It has been proposed that TPP rapidly hydrolyzes in the soil solution before adsorbing or precipitating with soil surfaces, ...

Iron availability in calcareous soils, and Fe uptake and translocation in plants are major factors limiting the agricultural use of land. The nutritional value of crops as Fe sources for humans is often reduced due to Fe-deficiency in plants. Agronomic approaches to overcome these shortcomings include: (i) methods aimed at increasing the availability of indigenous soil-Fe; (ii) soil and/or foli...

A procedure to determine the exchanger-phase composition (and thus the Na/Ca selectivity) of calcareous and gypsiferous soils was developed and tested on three soils and three phyllosilicate minerals. The procedure corrects for anion exclusion and mineral weathering by measuring the Cl, SO,,, and HCO3 in the soil solution and in the extracting solution. Anion exclusion was found to be significa...

European beech forests growing on marginal calcareous soils have been proposed to be vulnerable to decreased soil water availability. This could result in a large-scale loss of ecological services and economical value in a changing climate. In order to evaluate the potential consequences of this drought-sensitivity, we investigated potential species range shifts for European beech forests on ca...

The intensive use for over 100 years of copper sulfate (Bordeaux mixture) to fight against mildew in vineyard soils has led to an important, widespread accumulation of Cu (100 to 1500 mg Cu kg-1 soil). In Champagne vineyards, organic amendments are used currently to increase soil fertility and to limit soil erosion. Organic amendments may have a direct effect on the retention of Cu in the soil....

1731 Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 75:1731–1740 Posted online 11 Aug. 2011 doi:10.2136/sssaj2010.0424 Received 15 Nov. 2010. *Corresponding author (Kanika@ufl .edu) © Soil Science Society of America, 5585 Guilford Rd., Madison WI 53711 USA All rights reserved. No part of this periodical may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recor...

Iron deficiency is a serious problem around the world, especially in developing countries. The production of iron-biofortified rice will help ameliorate this problem. Previously, expression of the iron storage protein, ferritin, in rice using an endosperm-specific promoter resulted in a two-fold increase in iron concentration in the resultant transgenic seeds. However, further over expression o...