Since the 1960s, soil microbiology underwent major changes in methods and approaches and this review focuses on the developments in some selected aspects of soil microbiology. Research in cell numbers of specific bacterial and fungal groups was replaced by a focus on biochemical processes including soil enzyme activities, and flux measurements of carbon and nutrients. Ecologists focused on soil...

In higher plants, roots acquire water and soil nutrients and transport them upward to their aerial parts. These functions are closely related to their anatomical structure; water and nutrients entering the root first move radially through several concentric layers of the epidermis, cortex, and endodermis before entering the central cylinder. The endodermis is the innermost cortical cell layer t...

Fungi interact directly with trees as biotrophs (obtaining nutrients from living cells/tissues) either parasites or mutualistic mycorrhizas, and as necrotrophs (obtaining nutrition from cells/tissues that they kill). Mycorrhizas are crucial to the health of the vast majority of plants in nature, supplying them with water and mineral nutrients, and protecting against root pathogens. Fungi affect...

The object of the study is to analyze the spatial-temporal variability of soil nutrients in the winter wheat growing season, and try to reveal the dynamic change of soil nutrients in winter wheat field. Measurements of soil nitrate nitrogen (NN), total nitrogen (TN) and available potassium (AK) in wheat field were taken at 132 sample points in April and June, 2006. Classical statistical method ...

Soil fertility is a comprehensive reflection of soil properties, and its variation has been a central issue in the field of soil science. Most of current research on Variation of the soil fertility are most for a single time and place, and using expertise, simple mathematical model approach that can not effectively simulate the temporal and spatial variation of soil nutrients law. Therefore, th...

Agar medium (SME) prepared from aqueous soil extract was used to examine genetic transformation of Pseudomonas stutzeri JM302 (his-i) by homologous his' DNA in a plate transformation assay. Growth studies indicated that SME was strongly limited in carbon and nitrogen sources. Transformation was observed on SME supplemented with pyruvate, phosphate, and ammonium. A 25-fold increase of the transf...

Myrcia tomentosa (Aubl.) DC., Myrtaceae, found in Central Brazilian Cerrado and popularly known as "goiaba-brava", belongs to the Myrcia genus, which has several species with medicinal properties such as: hypoglycemic, diuretic, hypotensive, antidiarrheal, antimicrobial and antitumor. The present study aimed to analyzed the environmental infl uence on concentrations of phenolic metabolites in M...

Cropping systems in Western Australia (WA) are strongly dominated by cereals (wheat, barley and oaten hay) and are inextricably linked to soil quality and moisture supply. So a major research challenge is to devise cropping systems that improve soil health and maximise water-use efficiency. For a profitable and sustainable production system there is a clear need for ‘break crop’ to provide a pe...

Nutrient uptake by trees is determined by root interception, soil availability, and tree demand. Fruit trees have low rooting density, especially in the case of dwarfing rootstocks. Mobility in the soil is a key factor in determining nutrient availability, and good management of nutrients requires that supply is matched to demand, in terms of amount, timing and retention in the root-zone, and t...

Soil organic matter is critical to sustainable agriculture because it provides nutrients to crops as it decomposes and increases nutrient- and water-holding capacity when built up. Fast- and slow-cycling fractions of soil organic matter can have different impacts on crop production because fast-cycling fractions rapidly release nutrients for short-term plant growth and slow-cycling fractions bi...