A 3-year field rotation study was conducted to assess the potential of switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) to suppress root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne arenaria), southern blight (Sclerotium rolfsii), and aflatoxigenic fungi (Aspergillus sp.) in peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) and to assess shifts in microbial populations following crop rotation. Switchgrass did not support populations of root-knot nem...

Stromatolites offer a unique window into 3.5 billion years of evolution of the microbial communities that built them within the context of an evolving Earth. Our interest is not in the microbial life or their external matrix as independent entities, but the appearance and evolution of complexity itself within this biogeological system. We adopt the canonical definition of complexity as the emer...

introduction: organic fertilizers are beneficial to maintain and improve structure of the soil nutrients; however, in case of presence of pathogenic microbial agents and pathogens inside them, it will result in health problems and disease transmission. therefore, present study aimed to determine microbial quality of produced vermicomposts in yazd city. methods: this study was a descriptive-anal...

softening and microbial activity are the most common problems of kiwifruit during storage. in order to improve these problems, pre- harvest treatments of putrescine and spermidine were studied on shelf life of kiwifruit cv. hayward. foliar spraying of different concentrations of purescine (0, 1 and 2 mm) and spermidine (0, 1 and 2 mm) has been done at 40 and 20 days before harvest. different ch...

Agricultural production can be limited by low phosphorus (P) availability, with soil P being constrained by sorption and precipitation reactions making it less available for plant uptake. There are strong links between carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) availability and P cycling within soil P pools, with microorganisms being an integral component of soil P cycling mediating the availability of P to p...

In most studies of fungal–bacterial communities in soils, single-value indices such as fumigation–extraction (FE) of microbe-derived organic carbon, measures of specific microbial cell chemical constituents, or activity-related measures have been used. These widely used single value indices, however, do not provide information on the physical structure of the filamentous fungal and bacterial co...

BACKGROUND A method that assesses bacterial spatial dissemination was explored. It measures microbial genotypes (defined by electrophoretic patterns or EP), host, location (farm), interfarm Euclidean distance, and time. Its proof of concept (construct and internal validity) was evaluated using a dataset that included 113 Staphylococcus aureus EPs from 1126 bovine milk isolates collected on 23 f...

Different forest types exert essential impacts on soil physical-chemical characteristics by dominant tree species producing diverse litters and root exudates, thereby further regulating size and activity of soil microbial communities. However, the study accuracy is usually restricted by differences in climate, soil type and forest age. Our objective is to precisely quantify soil microbial bioma...

Soil microbial communities can form links between forest trees and functioning of forest soils, yet the impacts of converting diverse native forests to monoculture plantations on soil microbial communities are limited. This study tested the hypothesis that conversion from a diverse native to monoculture ecosystem would be paralleled by a reduction in the diversity of the soil microbial communit...

Sewage-sludge may improve soil fertility but there is concern about effects of sludge metals on soil micro-organisms and microbial processes. In a series of laboratory incubations of soil–sludge mixes, effects of varying sludge metal (Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn) contents on respiration, biomass C and N, and N mineralization were measured. Individual metals were added to a standard sludge in separate...