As Earth's climate warms, the massive stores of carbon found in soil are predicted to become depleted, and leave behind a smaller carbon pool that is less accessible to microbes. At a long-term forest soil-warming experiment in central Massachusetts, soil respiration and bacterial diversity have increased, while fungal biomass and microbially-accessible soil carbon have decreased. Here, we eval...

objective: returning crop residue to the soil exerts favorable effects on physical and chemical properties of soil. in fact, the plant residues can affect soil conditions such as ph and important role in soil fertility and cycling of elements in the soil may have. in addition to the role of the organic matter from decomposition of crop residue in increasing the concentration of micronutrients i...

There were no signi®cant differences in the percent mortality and weight of earthworms (Lumbricus terrestris) after 40 days in soil planted with Bt (NK4640Bt) or non-Bt corn or after 45 days in soil amended with biomass of Bt or non-Bt corn. The toxin was present in the guts and casts of earthworms in soil planted with Bt corn or amended with biomass of Bt corn, but it was cleared within 2±3 da...

Increased poultry production has contributed to excess nutrient problems in Atlantic Coastal Plain soils due to land application of poultry litter (PL). Aluminum sulfate [alum, Al(2)(SO(4))(3).14H(2)O] amendment of PL effectively reduces soluble phosphorus (P) in the PL; however, the effects of these litters when added to acidic, sandy soils are not well understood. The objective of this study ...

We propose that microaerobic composting (MC) can be used to decompose vegetal matter with a short turnover time and large carbon (C) recycling potential. We used a novel method for measuring the degree of fragmentation of water-insoluble acid-soluble (WIAS) polysaccharides as a proxy in tracking their relative degree of degradation (i.e., fragmentation endpoint index). Oak leaves and food scrap...

Article history: Received 15 March 2016 Received in revised form 19 July 2016 Accepted 20 July 2016 Available online xxxx Three biochars (B1: pine wood, B2: paper-sludge, B3: sewage-sludge) produced under controlled pyrolysis conditions and one produced in kilns (B4: grapevine wood) were used as organic ameliorants in a Calcic Cambisol, which represents a typical agricultural soil of the Medite...

Previous research has shown that population densities of plant-parasitic nematodes are reduced when a legume crop is grown in rotation with sugarcane. However, this effect is only temporary, as nematodes usually return to high densities within 12 months of planting sugarcane. This rapid resurgence suggests that natural enemies that normally keep plant-parasitic nematodes under control in natura...