A comparison of the invasion of flowers, aerial pegs, and kernels by wild-type and mutant strains of Aspergillusflavas or A. parasiticus along with aflatoxin analyses of kernels from different drought treatments have supported the hypothesis that preharvest contamination with aflatoxin originates mainly from the soil. Evidence in support of soil invasion as opposed to aerial invasion was the fo...

Understanding the effects of stand age and forest type on soil respiration is crucial for predicting the potential of soil carbon sequestration. Thus far, however, there is no consensus regarding the variations in soil respiration caused by stand age and forest type. This study investigated soil respiration and its temperature sensitivity at three stand ages (5, 10, and 20 or 30 years) in two p...

Bringing together emerging lessons from biophysical and social sciences as well as newly available data, we take stock of what can be learned about the relationship among subjective (reported) and objective (measured) soil fertility and farmer input use in east Africa. We identify the correlates of Kenyan and Tanzanian maize farmers’ reported perceptions of soil fertility and assess the extent ...

Engineers often want to estimate profiles of soil permeability (hydraulic conductivity) as part of the site characterization process. Several methods have been proposed to estimate the coefficient of permeability (k) using CPT results. These methods are generally based on two approaches: (1) estimated soil type and (2) rate of dissipation during a CPTu dissipation test. This paper presents upda...

Degradation of agricultural land and the resulting loss of soil biodiversity and productivity are of great concern. Land-use management practices can be used to ameliorate such degradation. The soil bacterial communities at three separate arable farms in eastern England, with different farm management practices, were investigated by using a polyphasic approach combining traditional soil analyse...

The variability in the net ecosystem exchange of carbon (NEE) is a major source of uncertainty in quantifying global carbon budget and atmospheric CO2. Soil respiration, which is a large component of NEE, could be strongly influential to NEE variability. Vegetation type, landscape position, and site history can influence soil properties and therefore drive themicrobial and root production of so...

The Pampa biome is considered one of the main hotspots of the world's biodiversity and it is estimated that half of its original vegetation was removed and converted to agricultural land and tree plantations. Although an increasing amount of knowledge is being assembled regarding the response of soil bacterial communities to land use change, to the associated plant community and to soil propert...

The influence of soil type and management practices on P distribution in soils from Australian dairy and beef rearing pastoral systems has been investigated by chemical measurements and phosphorus-31 (31P) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The amount and forms of P within the soil profile varied with soil type, with the acidic red Ferrosols containing relatively high orthophosphate...

The effects of soil type, irrigation, and population density of Rotylenchulus reniformis on cotton were evaluated in a two-year microplot experiment. Six soil types, Fuquay sand, Norfolk sandy loam, Portsmouth loamy sand, Muck, Cecil sandy loam, and Cecil sandy clay, were arranged in randomized complete blocks with five replications. Each block had numerous plots previously inoculated with R. r...

The aim of the study was to compare the effects of stress (contamination trials) on the microorganisms in zinc-polluted soil (5,018 mg Zn kg(-1) soil dry weight) and unpolluted soil (141 mg Zn kg(-1) soil dw), measured as soil respiration rate. In the laboratory, soils were subjected to copper contamination (0, 500, 1,500 and 4,500 mg kg(-1) soil dw), and then a bactericide (oxytetracycline) co...