Agricultural soils are heterogeneous environments in which conditions affecting microbial growth and diversity fluctuate widely in space and time. In this study, the molecular ecology of the total bacterial and free-living nitrogen-fixing communities in soils from the Nafferton Factorial Systems Comparison (NFSC) study in northeast England were examined. The field experiment was factorial in de...

Agriculture resources reflected to be one of the most imperative renewable and dynamic natural resources. Agricultural sustainability has the premier priority in all countries, whether developed or developing. Cropping system analysis is indispensable for grinding the sustainability of agricultural science. Crop alternation is stated as growing one crop after another on the same piece of la...

A 2002 Prince Edward Island (PEI) Agricultural Crop Rotations (ACR) Act and other sustainable land use policies regulate what crops can be grown in rotation with potatoes, and the frequency and sequence of specific crops in such rotation systems. Given that there are alternative crops that may be rotated with potatoes and managed for various rotation lengths, the policies raise questions about ...

We studied management strategies for western corn rootworm, Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte, using transgenic corn, Zea mays L., from both a biological and an economic perspective. In areas with and without populations adapted to a 2-yr rotation of corn and soybean (rotation-resistant), the standard management strategy was to plant 80% of a cornfield (rotated and continuous) to a transge...

Root-knot nematodes, particularly Meloidogynejavanica (Treub.) Chitwood, 1949 and M. incognita (Kofoid and White) Chitwood, 1949, are among the most important pathogens of carrots (Daucus carota L.) in Brazil. They damage tap roots by galling, digitation, and constriction, resulting in lower market value (3). Even low soil densities of root-knot nematodes have been reported to reduce marketable...

We evaluated the effects of the amount and type of C compounds (labile/recalcitrant) of crop residues on the soil organic matter (SOM) components under no-tillage practices in semiarid region of Argentina, with the aim of establishing criteria for sustainable agriculture. Five agricultural situations were evaluated: soybean/wheat rotation (wheat crop and at bare fallow); soybean monoculture; so...

The soybean cyst nematode (SCN), Heterodera glycines Ichinohe (Phylum Nematoda), is a major pathogen of soybean. It causes substantial yield losses worldwide and is difficult to control because the cyst protects the eggs which can remain viable for nearly a decade. Crop rotation with non-host crops and use of biocontrol organisms such as fungi and bacteria offer promising approaches, but remain...