There is a continual drive to conserve water and improve irrigation efficiency in agriculture, especially in regions where water resources are limited and regulated. Mulching is one cultural practice which can be used to reduce water needs. Using certain agricultural byproducts as mulch is a sustainable practice which can provide other benefits as well such as improving soil. Wheat straw, grass...

Post-fire hillslope stabilization treatments aim to reduce runoff-erosion risks following forest fires by counteracting the impact of fire on key soil and hillslope properties. Here we evaluate the effectiveness of wood shred mulch, long-leaved pine needle mulch, and polyacrylamide (PAM) in reducing post-fire runoff and erosion in two volcanic soil types of contrasting wettability using rainfal...

Temporary skid trail stream crossings have repeatedly been identified as having considerable potential to introduce sediment to streams. Forestry Best Management Practices (BMPs) have proven to be effective for controlling erosion and subsequent sedimentation, yet few studies have quantified sedimentation associated with various levels of BMPs for skidder stream crossings. Three skid trail stre...

Machinery for sowing wheat directly into rice residues has become more common in the rice-wheat systems of the north-west Indo-Gangetic Plains of South Asia, with increasing numbers of farmers now potentially able to access the benefits of residue retention. However, surface residue retention affects soil water and temperature dynamics, thus the optimum sowing date and irrigation management for...

The most usual type of petroleum mulch, which has been successfully used to combat desertification in large areain Iran for more than thirty years, is produced by heavy residue petroleum cuts. The petroleum mulch consists of awide range of different heavy hydrocarbons such as Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs). PAHs are present atlow level in petroleum mulch, where there is contact with wa...

Development of insecticide resistance in onion thrips, Thrips tabaci Lindeman (Thysanoptera: Thripidae), populations in onion (Allium spp.) Þelds and the incidence of the T. tabaci transmitted Iris yellow spot virus have stimulated interest in evaluating alternative management tactics. Effects of strawmulch applied in commercial onion Þelds in muck areas of western New York were assessed in 200...

Okra was grown in field plots of Tifton loamy sand naturally infested with the nematodes Meloidogyne incognita and Criconemoides ornalus and the pathogenic fungi Fusarium oxysporum, F. solani, F. roseum, and Pythium spp. Plots were treated with various soil pesticides and left exposed or covered with biodegradable paper film mulch under trickle irrigation. Soil was assayed for nematodes and fun...

Organic mulch is a complex organic material that is typically populated with its own consortium of microorganisms. The organisms in mulch breakdown complex organics to soluble carbon, which can then be used by these and other microorganisms as an electron donor for treating RDX and HMX via reductive pathways. A bench-scale treatability study with organic mulch was conducted for the treatment of...