Root biomass is one of the most relevant root parameters for studies of plant response to environmental change, soil carbon modeling or estimations of soil carbon sequestration. A major source of error in root biomass quantification of agricultural crops in the field is the presence of extraneous organic matter in soil: dead roots from previous crops, weed roots, incorporated above ground plant...

This study aims to understand the spatial distribution of organic carbon and its sequestration potential in Tunisian soils. Soil organic carbon (SOC) stock was estimated in the 0-30 cm and to 0-100 cm soil depth for Tunisia using maps of soils and of the departments, combined with results from a soil database. The original soil classification was simplified to nine soils. Tunisia contains 24 go...

Radiocarbon data from soil organic matter and soil respiration provide powerful constraints for determining carbon dynamics and thereby the magnitude and timing of soil carbon response to global change. In this paper, data from three sites representing well-drained soils in boreal, temperate, and tropical forests are used to illustrate the methods for using radiocarbon to determine the turnover...

biological soil crusts (bscs) result from an intimate association between soil particles and cyanobacteria, algae, fungi, lichens and mosses in different proportions which live on the surface, or immediately in the uppermost millimeters of soil. therefore bscs cover the ground surface as a coherent layer, and influence primary processes such as carbon and nitrogen fixation and hydrologic status...

This study was conducted to evaluate soil fertility status in the eight major agro ecosystems viz., coconut, banana, rubber, paddy, arecanut, nutmeg, pepper and vegetables in Thrissur District, Kerala. For this, a total of 30 panchayats out of 92 were selected representing 6 agro ecological zones in the district. Surface soil samples (0-15 cm) @ one sample/ ha. were collected from dominant agro...

Composted sewage sludge (CS) is considered a rich source of soil nutrients and significantly affects the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of soil, but its effect on specific enzyme activity in soil is disregarded. The present experiment examined the absolute and specific enzyme activity of the enzymes involved in carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycles, the diversity of soil m...

Forest soils play a critical role in the sequestration of atmospheric CO2 and subsequent attenuation of global warming. The nature and properties of organic matter in soils have an influence on the sequestration of carbon. In this study, soils were collected from representative forestlands, including a subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest (EBF), a coniferous forest (CF), a subalpine dwarf ...