A computer-assisted laser scanning microscope equipped for confocal laser scanning and color video microscopy was used to examine Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts in two agricultural soils, a barnyard sediment, and calf fecal samples. An agar smear technique was developed for enumerating oocysts in soil and barnyard sediment samples. Enhanced counting efficiency and sensitivity (detection limit, ...

The relationship between plant roots and interrill soil erosion is important in dynamic soil erosion predictions. Rainstorm simulations of similar intensity (63.5 mm h-1) were conducted in the summer of 1989 on 1 by 1 m field plots of Cecil sandy loam (clayey, kaolinitic, thermic Typic Kanhapludult) to study the effect of different root length densities, L(v) (cm cm-3), of corn (Zea mays L.), d...