where they make those critical decisions that govern their lives. You who garden certainly know that plants have a mind of their own. Given that humans, and the majority of animals, solve many of their stressful problems (say, hunger) with a change in behavior (foraging for food), where are these decisions made in plants? An intriguing, and visually pleasing, example of such decision-making can...

Bay laurel is an evergreen, commercially grown and expensive ornamental pot plant, which is susceptible to different pests like aphids, scale and lerp insects, thrips, caterpillars of codling moth and sooty moulds. Recently, caterpillars of the Mediterranean carnation leafroller (Cacoecimorpha pronubana) cause more and more problems. These pests can lead to important financial losses for the gr...

The reproductive characteristics of plants are likely affected by climate change e.g., changes in precipitation patterns and nitrogen deposition, but few studies have examined the effects these ecological agents selection on seed yield germination perennial grasses. Here, we conducted a multiple-year pot experiment with Leymus chinensis , common grass eastern region Eurasian steppe zone, which ...

The effects of a superphosphate (SP) and a rock phosphate (RP), with equal total P contents, on the growth and mineral nutrition responses of mycorrhizal and nonmycorrhizal cowpea, pigeon pea and groundnut were investigated in a pot experiment using an air-dry gamma ray-sterilized (1.5Mrad) Andisol subsoil. Adequate amounts of micronutrients were added to the pot soils as supplements. The plant...

The response of kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.) to Zn/Cd contamination in soil was investigated using pot experiment. Plants were grown on soils containing increasing doses of two metals. Zn and Cd were applied alone or combined. Growth parameters as well as content of photosynthetic pigments, and photosynthetic performance were determined. Soil and plant tissue were analyzed by atomic absorptio...

one of the method to clean up contaminated soil is growing a hyper accumulator plant which is named phytoremediation. some of  hyper accumulator plants are proper host for mycorrhizal fungi.in this relationship, fungus, consume a part of organic carbon from the plant and by developing its mycelium network help plant to uptake more mineral nutrients from the soil. by doing a greenhouse research ...

Lygeum spartum is a native species in semiarid Mediterranean areas that grows spontaneously on acid mine tailings. We aimed to study the suitability of this plant for phytostabilization. L. spartum was grown from both seeds and rhizomes in acid mine tailings with various fertilizer and lime treatments. Untreated soils had a solution pH of 2.9 with high concentrations of dissolved salts (Electri...

The excessive use of nitrogen (N) fertilizers in sustaining high rice yields due to N dynamics in tropical acid soils not only is economically unsustainable but also causes environmental pollution. The objective of this study was to coapply biochar and urea to improve soil chemical properties and productivity of rice. Biochar (5 t ha(-1)) and different rates of urea (100%, 75%, 50%, 25%, and 0%...