Soil water repellency (SWR) was studied in 64 surface soil samples from Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain), distributed over three different plant communities (natural and afforested Canarian pine forest, and high mountain legume scrub) and three types of soil parent materials (basaltic and salic rocks and basaltic tephra). Soils were studied for physicochemical properties (soil pH and salinity, ...

Several electrical methods have been introduced as non-invasive techniques to overcome the limited accessibility to root systems. Among them, the earth impedance method (EIM) represents the most recent development. Applying an electrical field between a cormus and the rooted soil, the EIM measures the absorptive root surface area (ARSA) from grounding resistance patterns. Allometric relationshi...

Cultivation of legume plants is well known to improve soil N level and net primary productivity; besides, it may deliver other ecosystem benefits such as increasing soil carbon sequestration and soil food web complexity. However, little is known about whether legumes can improve the resistance of soils to ecosystem disturbances. In the present study, we compared the resistance of soils to an ec...

A cone penetrometer is widely used in tillage and off-road mobility research as an indicator of soil strength and density characteristics. Light-weight, manually operated units are especially useful in recording cone index determination at remote field locations. An electronically hand-pushed soil penetrometer with a microcontroller-based data logging system was designed and fabricated to provi...

The peanut plant (Arachis hypogaea L.) produces flowers aerially, but buries the recently fertilized ovules in the soil in order for the fruit and seeds to mature underground. The organ that carries the seeds into the soil is called the gynophore. The growth of the peanut gynophore is regulated primarily by indole-3-acetic acid (IAA). A monoclonal antibody raised against IAA was used to success...

Nitrogen from fertilisers and crop residues can be lost as nitrous oxide (N2O), a greenhouse gas that causes an increase in global warming and also depletes stratospheric ozone. Nitrous oxide emissions, soil chemical status, temperature and N2O concentration in the soil atmosphere were measured in a ®eld experiment on soil compaction in loam and sandy loam (cambisols) soils in south-east Scotla...

soil quality is a necessary indicator of land management. different indices are applied to evaluate farming systems, soil types and land uses based on soil quality. the slope of retention curve at its inflection point has been defined as soil physical quality index (si) but the relationships between si and penetration resistance (pr), the least limiting water range (llwr), and available water c...