Iron (Fe) is an essential mineral that has low solubility in alkaline soils, where its deficiency results in chlorosis. Whether low Fe supply and alkaline pH stress are equivalent is unclear, as they have not been treated as separate variables in molecular physiological studies. Additionally, molecular responses to these stresses have not been studied in leaf and root tissues simultaneously. We...

Pedogenesis and clay mineralogy of soils and rock samples were studied in a transect of calcareous, gypsiferous, saline soils and sediments of Bakhtegan lake bank in southern Iran. The main objectives of study were to determine the occurrence of clay minerals and factors controlling their distribution pattern and relative abundance in soils and parent materials. The soil parent material is high...

Changes in microbial characteristics in soils with increasing salinity were measured in 30 soil samples belonging to Kattikhel and Dargai soil series occuring in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa of North West Pakistan during 2009. Microbial characteristics including microbial biomass C, microbial biomass N, C/N ratio in microbial biomass, N mineralization, nitrification, rate of CO2 evolution and cumulative ...

Soil salinity is a major abiotic stress adversely affecting plant growth and crop production worldwide. Increased salinization of arable land is expected to have destructive universal effects, resulting in 30 % land loss within the next 25 years and up to 50 % by the middle of twenty-first century (Porcel et al. 2012; Kapoor et al. 2013; Abdel Latef and Chaoxing 2014). The term ‘‘salinity’’ ref...

Ammonia (NH(3)) oxidation, the first and rate-limiting step of nitrification, is a key step in the global Nitrogen (N) cycle. Major advances have been made in recent years in our knowledge and understanding of the microbial communities involved in ammonia oxidation in a wide range of habitats, including Chinese agricultural soils. In this mini-review, we focus our attention on the distribution ...

The combustion of fossil fuels (eg coal, oil shale) to generate energy results in the production of alkaline solid wastes @y ash, clean coal technology (CCT) ash, spent shale etc). Reactions involving calcium (Ca) and carbon dioxide (C02) usually control the pH and mobility of inorganic contaminants such as Cd, P b and Se in alkaiine solid wastes. Samples offly ash, spent shale iutd CCT ash wer...

Rainfall monitoring programs were conducted in two industrial cities of China's Qinghai Province, Xining and Germu, in some periods of the 1980s and 1990s. The results show that the natural precipitation in this area is originally alkaline. Compared with the late 1980s records, pH values declined significantly from approximately 8 in the 1980s to below 7 in mid-1990s. Such rapid and drastic cha...

A study was conducted in the alluvial soils located in Oko-anala in Delta State, Nigeria. These alluvial soils are primarily used for intensive vegetable production for commercial purposes. The total land area of about 3.34 Square kilometer was divided into three consociations and composite soil samples collected from pre-determined depths of 0-15 and 16-30cm. The samples were routinely prepare...

1.1 Iron deficiency – The problem Iron (Fe) is an essential micronutrient for plants, humans and other animals. An adequate uptake of Fe is needed to ensure proper growth and development, as well as good health of organisms (Marschner, 1995; Vasconcelos and Grusak, 2007). When provided with insufficient quantities of Fe, organisms will suffer from Fe deficiency symptoms. Fe deficiency is a worl...

Little is known of the factors influencing soil archaeal community diversity and composition in the tropics. We sampled soils across a range of forest and nonforest environments in the equatorial tropics of Malaysia, covering a wide range of pH values. DNA was PCR-amplified for the V1-V3 region of the 16S rRNA gene, and 454-pyrosequenced. Soil pH was the best predictor of diversity and communit...