Appropriate management of animal waste is essential for guaranteeing good water quality. A laboratory leaching study with intact soil columns was performed to investigate the risk of phosphorus (P) leaching from a clay loam and a loamy sand. The columns (0.2 m deep) were irrigated before and after application of pig slurry on the surface or after incorporation, or application of mineral P, each...

It is widely recognized that global warming promotes soil organic carbon (SOC) decomposition, and soils thus emit more CO2 into the atmosphere because of the warming; however, the response of SOC decomposition to this warming in different soil textures is unclear. This lack of knowledge limits our projection of SOC turnover and CO2 emission from soils after future warming. To investigate the CO...

Both climate and plant species are hypothesized to influence soil organic carbon (SOC) quality, but accurate prediction of how SOC process rates respond to global change will require an improved understanding of how SOC quality varies with mean annual temperature (MAT) and forest type. We investigated SOC quality in paired hardwood and pine stands growing in coarse textured soils located along ...

The soybean cyst nematode (SCN), Heterodera glycines Ichinohe, is a severe pest of soybean, Glycine max (L.) Merr., in the United States. Nematode reproduction and the seed yield losses caused by this nematode are influenced by soil texture (3,5,6). Todd and Pearson (5) recovered higher numbers of SCN females and cysts from a sandy loam soil than from silty loams. Soybean yield also has been ne...

A controlled greenhouse experiment was conducted to study the fraction, uptake and fixation of phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) in three soils with contrasting characteristics. The experiment was carried out in two phases, viz., sorghum-Sudangrass depletion and test crop experiment with maize with three levels of fertility status (depleted, original and fertilized with 40 mg kg-1 P and K) and t...

General guidelines to reclaim saline or sodic soils do not adequately consider variables such as pH and the presence of organic matter that are known to affect soil stability. Poor structural stability of sodic, saline-sodic, and high-pH soils adversely influences crop yields; promotes piping, tunneling, and slope erosion; and can accelerate the failure of water conveyance systems. We evaluated...

The sequestration of carbon and nitrogen by clay-sized particles in soils is well established, and clay content or mineral surface area has been used to estimate the sequestration potential of soils. Here, via incubation of a sieved (<2 mm) topsoil with labelled litter, we find that only some of the clay-sized surfaces bind organic matter (OM). Surprisingly, <19% of the visible mineral areas sh...