To examine the effects of cultivation and grazing on evapotranspiration (ET), continuous measurements of ET were conducted over almost two years, from December 2005 to September 2007, using the eddycovariance technique in two paired ecosystems: a steppe and a cropland in Duolun and a fenced and a degraded steppe in Xilinhot, Inner Mongolia, China. The ET of the four ecosystems approached or exc...

Soil organic carbon (SOC) is the most often reported attribute and is chosen as the most important indicator of soil quality and agricultural sustainability. In this review, we summarized how cultivation, crop rotation, residue and tillage management, fertilization and monoculture affect soil quality, soil organic matter (SOM) and carbon transformation. The results confirm that SOM is not only ...

Tropical Africa is affected by intense land-use change, particularly forest conversion to agricultural land. In this study, the stream discharge of four small headwater catchments located within an area of 6 km in western Kenya was examined for 2 years (2007 and 2008). The four catchments cover a degradation gradient ranging from intact forest to agricultural land under maize cultivation for 5,...

BACKGROUND The natural ratios of carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and sulfur (S) stable isotopes can be varied in some specific living organisms owing to various isotopic fractionation processes in nature. Therefore, the analysis of C, N, and S stable isotope ratios in ginseng can provide a feasible method for determining ginseng authenticity depending on the cultivation land and type of fertilizer. ...

Microbial and biochemical analyses of soil under winter wheat in a field trial with various cultivation systems (organic, conventional and monoculture) were performed during 3 growing seasons: 2001, 2002 and 2003. The activities of the tested enzymes (dehydrogenase and phosphatases) and microbial biomass C and N contents in the monoculture soil were generally significantly lower than those in t...

One Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) and two stacked Bt and cowpea trypsin inhibitor (Bt + CpTI) cottons and their non-transgenic isolines were consecutively cultivated to investigate the soil persistence of Cry1Ac and CpTI proteins and their effects on microbial properties and enzyme activities involving C, N, P, and S cycling in soil. Results showed that there were the persistence of Cry1Ac and Cp...

We evaluated the effects of soil washing with ferric chloride (FeCl3) on cadmium (Cd) concentrations in soil solutions and Cd absorption by two spinach cultivars in pot experiments. Soil samples were collected from washed and unwashed plots of rice paddy fields in Fukuoka and Toyama, Japan. Spinach pot cultivation was performed with the above mentioned soil under oxidative conditions. Before an...

Study on characteristics of soil, to determine the types of crops suitable for cultivation in a particular region can increase the yield to greater extent, which minimizes the expenditures involved in irrigation and application of fertilizers. With the tested techniques available for calibrating the quality of soil and the crops suitable for cultivation in it, it is possible to determine the ex...

Nitrate (NO3) profiles in semiarid unsaturated zones archive land use change (LUC) impacts on nitrogen (N) cycling with implications for agricultural N management and groundwater quality. This study quantified LUC impacts on NO3 inventories and fluxes by measuring NO3 profiles beneath natural and rainfed (nonirrigated) agricultural ecosystems in the southern High Plains (SHP). Inventories of NO...