The non-target effects of Amistar (azoxystrobin) and Score (difenoconazole) were studied in terms of changes in the soil microbial populations, soil respiration and activity of soil enzymes. Both the fungicides significantly reduced the fungal population in the soils even at the lowest concentration used (0.44 g. (a.i.) g soil) and totally eliminated it at the recommended dose for field applica...

Red mud is a highly alkaline (pH >12) waste product from bauxite ore processing. The red mud spill at Ajka, Hungary, in 2010 released 1 million m(3) of caustic red mud into the surrounding area with devastating results. Aerobic and anaerobic batch experiments and solid phase extraction techniques were used to assess the impact of red mud addition on the mobility of Cu and Ni in soils from near ...

Oil palm fibres are easy to degrade, eco-friendly in nature and once composted, they can be categorized under nutrient-enriched biocompost. Biocompost is not only a good biofertilizer but also a good biocontrol agent against soil-borne pathogens. In this research, experimental works on the composting of empty fruit bunches (EFB) from the oil palm industry were conducted using two potential Tric...

Two polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH)-contaminated soils of pH 2 were successfully used as inoculum to enrich cultures growing on phenanthrene and pyrene at different pHs, including pH 3. Selected pyrene-utilizing cultures obtained at pH 3, pH 5, and pH 7 were further characterized. All showed rapid [14C]pyrene mineralization at pH 3 and pH 5 and grew on pyrene at pH values ranging from 2 t...

Urban agriculture has been recently highlighted with the increased importance for recreation in modern society; however, soil quality and public health may not be guaranteed because of continuous exposure to various pollutants. The objective of this study was to evaluate the soil quality of urban agriculture by soil microbial assessments. Two independent variables, organic and inorganic fertili...

Crop production is often restricted by the availability of essential mineral elements. For example, the availability of N, P, K, and S limits low-input agriculture, the phytoavailability of Fe, Zn, and Cu limits crop production on alkaline and calcareous soils, and P, Mo, Mg, Ca, and K deficiencies, together with proton, Al and Mn toxicities, limit crop production on acid soils. Since essential...

The main aim of this study was to determine, during extreme hydrological conditions, the source(s) of acids, sulphate and metals (alkali and alkaline earths) in the Munsala stream (western Finland) draining mainly acid sulphate soil, peat and till. Samples were collected at 6 sites along the main stem on 3 high-flow and 3 low-flow events, and were analysed for the required chemical and isotopic...

A laboratory study was conducted to investigate the mineralization of metsulfuron-methyl (MSM) in paddy soils in response to soil moisture, temperature and soil properties. The results indicated that MSM mineralization was relatively limited in the paddy soils when soil temperature was low. Only 2.2-6.0% of the applied (14)C mineralized after 84d of incubation at 15 degrees C. The mineralizatio...

Although it is well known that any material degrades faster when exposed to an aggressive environment as well as that "aggressive" cannot be univocally defined as depending also on the chemical-physical characteristics of material, few researches on the identification of the most significant parameters influencing the corrosion of metallic object are available.A series of ancient coins, coming ...

Understanding the effects of environmental factors on microbial communities is critical for microbial ecology, but it remains challenging. In this study, we examined the diversity (alpha diversity) and community compositions (beta diversity) of prokaryotes and fungi in hypersaline sediments and salinized soils from northern China. Environmental variables were highly correlated, but they differe...