The term, biosolids, is generally used to refer to those waste products that have been stabilized by treatment of the sewage sludge for beneficial reuse through appropriate management (Davis, 2002). The agronomic and environmental benefits from the organic material and fertilizing elements contained in the biosolids are essential for maintaining soil fertility. This has been a major reason for ...

BACKGROUND To convert deserts into arable, green landscapes is a global vision, and desert farming is a strong growing area of agriculture world-wide. However, its effect on diversity of soil microbial communities, which are responsible for important ecosystem services like plant health, is still not known. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We studied the impact of long-term agriculture on deser...

Maintaining the soil chemical fertility is a key prerequisite to sustain crop productivity in the tropics. Several studies perceive that soil fertility decline is widely spread in tropical regions and that it is caused by inadequate nutrient replenishment and high losses as compared to natural ecosystems. Although this has been recognised for some decades, there is a need for hard data on soil ...

Soil compaction adversely influences most terrestrial ecosystem services on which humans depend. This global problem, affecting over 68 million ha of agricultural land alone, is a major driver of soil erosion, increases flood frequency and reduces groundwater recharge. Agricultural soil compaction has been intensively studied, but there are no systematic studies investigating the extent of comp...

Most studies on soil N2O emissions have focused either on the quantifying of agricultural N2O fluxes or on the effect of environmental factors on N2O emissions. However, very limited information is available on how land-use will affect N2O production, and nitrifiers involved in N2O emissions in agricultural soil ecosystems. Therefore, this study aimed at evaluating the relative importance of ni...

Synthetic polymer was exploited as water-superabsorbent hydrogel and helped to conserve water in the agricultural soil. The hydrogel polymers were synthesized the carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and starch in addition to SiO2 nanoparticles. Superabsorbent hydrogel polymer having 35% water retention ability was analyzed with three replicates. Hydrogel increased the water restoration capability of ...

B. B. Basak, Sharmistha Pal and S. C. Datta* Division of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 110 012, India Present address: Directorate of Medicinal and Aromatic Plant Research, Boriavi, Anand 387 310, India Present address: Central Soil and Water Conservation Research and Training Institute, Research Centre, Madhya Marg, Chandigarh 160 01...

A mechanistic model of N2O emission from agricultural soil (DeNitrification-DeCompositionFDNDC) was modified for application to the UK, and was used as the basis of an inventory of N2O emission from UK agriculture in 1990. UK-specific input data were added to DNDC’s database and the ability to simulate daily C and N inputs from grazing animals and applied animal waste was added to the model. Th...

Methane (CH4) flux from soil to the atmosphere is the result of two microbial processes, methanogenesis and CH4 oxidation. Land use may have a profound impact on the relative activities of these groups of organisms. In this study, the CH4 production and consumption potentials of soils from agricultural and nonagricultural ecosystems were assessed in laboratory incubations. Methane production po...

Tree-based intercropping (TBI) systems, consisting of a medium to fast-growing woody species planted in widely-spaced rows with crops cultivated between tree rows, are a potential sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). TBI systems contribute to farm income in the long-term by improving soil quality, as indicated by soil carbon (C) storage, generating profits from crop plus tree production a...