SOIL ASSOCIATIONS The selenium content of most soils ranges from 0.1 to 2 parts per million. But in general soil selenium content by itself is not a good measure for the potential for occurrence of selenium deficiency in livestock grazing or consuming forages produced from it. Soil pH has a marked effect on the form of selenium present and its availability to the plant. In alkaline, well-aerate...

Considerable information on copper (Cu) ecotoxicity as affected by biological species and abiotic properties of soils has been collected from the last decade in the present study. The information on bioavailability/ecotoxicity, species sensitivity and differences in laboratory and field ecotoxicity of Cu in different soils was collated and integrated to derive soil ecological criteria for Cu in...

Two common manure storage practices are stockpiles and lagoons. The manure from stockpiles is applied to soils in solid form, while lagoon manure is applied as a liquid. Soil amendment with manure in any form introduces a significant amount of phosphorus (P) that exists in both organic and inorganic forms. However, little is known about P speciation in manure stored under different conditions, ...

Natural biological suppression of soil-borne diseases is a function of the activity and composition of soil microbial communities. Soil microbe and phytopathogen interactions can occur prior to crop sowing and/or in the rhizosphere, subsequently influencing both plant growth and productivity. Research on suppressive microbial communities has concentrated on bacteria although fungi can also infl...

The objectives of this study were to count and culture Azotobacter spp. in sampled soils, to determine the nitrogen (N) fixing capacity byAzotobacter spp. in pure culture and different soils, and to explore the relationships between N fixation capacity of Azotobacter spp. and microbiological properties of soils in Northern Anatolia, Turkey. Statistically significant relationships were found bet...

Alkaline extractions from humic material are used to risk assessment in soils. However, there questions about the type of extraction most suitable for this evaluation. Thus, work evaluated different soil search realistic environmental conditions (simulated rain). The parameters obtained revealed significant differences between levels and structural characteristics organic matter, depending on e...

The utilization of treated agro-industrial effluents has been recommended as sound option for agriculture irrigations practices and sustainable land management programme. This paper presents the impact of utilizing treated effluent form a distillery industry on physico-chemical properties of soils in an agriculture plot. The effluent was applied in 50 and 100% strength and a control plot receiv...

Soil fertility and crop production are affected by biological processes and these processes, including enzyme activites, are influenced by pH. We investigated the potential of using alkaline phosphatase (AlkP) and acid phosphatase (AcdP) activities, for determining the optimum soil pH for crop production and the amount of lime required to achieve this optimum. Five acid soils, which varied wide...