ABSTRACT An air pressure cell, a laboratory tool that precisely controls soil matric potential, was utilized in a novel approach to investigate the epidemiology and management of soilborne disease. Matric potentials of -1, -5, -20, and -40 kPa were established in cores of field soil infested with Wheat soilborne mosaic virus (WSBMV) and its presumed vector Polymyxa graminis. Equilibrated soil c...

Water is arguably the most important constituent of microbial microhabitats due to its control of physical and physiological processes critical to microbial activity. In natural environments, bacteria often live on unsaturated surfaces, in thin (micrometric) liquid films. Nevertheless, no experimental systems are available that allow real-time observation of bacterial processes in liquid films ...

Fluctuations in numbers of Rhizobium leguminosarum biovar trifolii and its bacteriophages in two fields with different soil types were followed during a 17-month period in 1981 and 1982. Mean levels of both phage and rhizobia varied significantly (P < 0.05) on different occasions, with rhizobial levels varying from 1.6 x 10 to 2.0 x 10 cell per g of soil and phage from 0 to 1.7 x 10 PFU/g of so...

Root elongation in drying soil is generally limited by a combination of mechanical impedance and water stress. Relationships between root elongation rate, water stress (matric potential), and mechanical impedance (penetration resistance) are reviewed, detailing the interactions between these closely related stresses. Root elongation is typically halved in repacked soils with penetrometer resist...

Water dripping into subterranean cavities within fractured porous media is studied in order to improve estimates of dripping rates, drop sizes, and chemical composition of droplets that could affect long-term integrity of waste disposal canisters placed in caverns. Steady state liquid flux in fracture surfaces supported by flow in partially liquid-filled grooves and liquid films in adjacent pla...

The epidemiology of sclerotinia rot of carrot was investigated on carrot ‘Cellobunch’ during 1999 and 2000 in Ontario. Apothecia were first detected in the crop in early August to mid-September, after the carrot canopy closed and after 7–11 days with soil matric potentials between –0.1 and –0.4 bars and soil temperatures between 14 and 23 °C. Ascospores were first detected in mid-July to mid-Au...

abstract pedotransfer functions (ptfs) are useful means of prediction many properties of the soil, and especially the hydraulic characteristics of this porous media. the main advantages of this functions, as compare to conventional methods used to directly estimate soil hydraulic properties, is that they are not time-cost consuming. different approaches such as classic linear and non linear reg...