This paper describes the key system components of a team of three tractors in a peat moss harvesting operation. The behavior and actions of the tractors were designed to mimic manual harvest operations while maintaining a safe operating environment. To accomplish this objective, each of the three tractors was equipped with a bolt-on automation package, and a human operator (team leader) was giv...

Peatland ecosystem services include drinking water provision, flood mitigation, habitat provision and carbon sequestration. Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) removal is a key treatment process for the supply of potable water downstream from peat-dominated catchments. A transition from peat-forming Sphagnum moss to vascular plants has been observed in peatlands degraded by (a) land management, (b) ...

The specific objectives of this experiment were to investigate the effects of adding 10% or 30% corn dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) to the dairy cow diet and the effects of bedding type (wood shavings, straw or peat moss) in dairy slurry on fugitive CH₄ emissions. The addition of DDGS10 to the dairy cow diet significantly increased (29%) the daily amount of fat excreted in slurry ...

Water containing ultra-fine bubbles (UFB) may promote plant growth. But, as UFBs are too small to distinguish from other impurities in a nutrient solution, it is not known if UFBs survive transport from the water source to the rhizosphere. Here we use the freeze-fracture replica method and a transmission electron microscope (TEM) to observe UFBs in the nutrient solutions used in a crop-growing ...

Grass pea (Lathyrus sativus L.) is highly nutritious and protein rich legume crop; however, presence of ODAP (β-NOxalyl-L-α, β-diaminopropionic acid) has restricted its use for human and animal consumption. There is need for accelerated breeding of low or zero ODAP cultivars to ensure safer and wider use of grass pea through conventional and biotechnological approaches. The study investigated s...

Permafrost thaw in peat plateaus leads to the flooding of surface soils and the formation of collapse scar bogs, which have the potential to be large emitters of methane (CH4) from surface peat as well as deeper, previously frozen, permafrost carbon (C). We used a network of bubble traps, permanently installed 20 cm and 60 cm beneath the moss surface, to examine controls on ebullition from thre...

Northern and tropical peatlands represent a globally significant carbon reserve accumulated over thousands of years of waterlogged conditions. It is unclear whether moderate drying predicted for northern peatlands will stimulate burning and carbon losses as has occurred in their smaller tropical counterparts where the carbon legacy has been destabilized due to severe drainage and deep peat fire...

Peatlands play an important role in the global carbon (C) cycle due to their large C storage potential. Their C sequestration rates, however, highly vary depending on climatic and geohydrological conditions. Transitional mires are often characterised by floating peat with infiltration of buffered groundwater or surface water. Sphagnum mosses grow on top, producing recalcitrant organic matter an...