The increasing demands for environmental protection and sustainable food production require an increase in the use of natural and non-toxic materials for agriculture. In this study, the feasibility of using surfactant-modified zeolite (SMZ) in comparison with zeolite clinoptilolite (Cp) application to reduce nitrate leaching and enhance crop growth was investigated. The effects of size (millime...

Objective: Returning crop residue to the soil exerts favorable effects on physical and chemical properties of soil. In fact, the plant residues can affect soil conditions such as pH and important role in soil fertility and cycling of elements in the soil may have. In addition to the role of the organic matter from decomposition of crop residue in increasing the concentration of micronutrients i...

Atrazine is a widely used herbicide and is often a contaminant in terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems. It is uncertain, however, how the activity of soil macrofauna affects atrazine fate and transport. Therefore, we investigated whether earthworms enhance atrazine biodegradation by stimulating herbicide degrading soil microflora, or if they increase atrazine persistence by facilitating herbic...

Translocation of micronutrients was investigated in Phaseolus vulgaris (var. Annapurna) grown on soil amended with paper mill sludge. The plants of P. vulgaris were grown in soil amended with 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, and 100% paper mill sludge to study the accumulation and translocation of iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), chromium (Cr) and lead (Pb) in plant parts (shoot, root, leave...

ABSTRACT Soil fertility amendments, including composted cotton-gin trash, swine manure, a rye-vetch green manure, or synthetic fertilizers, were applied to subplots and tillage on bare soil; or tillage followed by surface mulch with wheat straw were applied to main plots to determine the effect on the incidence of southern blight caused by Sclerotium rolfsii, yield of processing tomato, and soi...

Although considerable knowledge exists on the impact of crop residues soil N availability, information about their nitrification specifically is lacking. The unique physiologies ammonia oxidizing archaea (AOA) suggests activities might respond differently to residue amendment compared bacteria (AOB). An incubation study was conducted two widely distributed Oregon agricultural silt loam soils Wa...

Objective: Returning crop residue to the soil exerts favorable effects on physical and chemical properties of soil. In fact, the plant residues can affect soil conditions such as pH and important role in soil fertility and cycling of elements in the soil may have. In addition to the role of the organic matter from decomposition of crop residue in increasing the concentration of micronutrients i...

Diuron desorption and mineralisation were studied on an amended and artificially contaminated soil. The amendments used comprised two different composted organic residues i.e., sewage sludge (SS) mixed with pruning wastes, and urban solid residues (USR), and two different solutions (with inorganic salts as the micronutrients and hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HPBCD)). After applying micronutrien...

Biochar, the solid residual remaining after the thermochemical transformation of biomass for carbon sequestration, has been proposed to be used as a soil amendment, because of its agronomic benefits. The effect of amending soil with six biochars made from different feedstocks on the sorption and leaching of fluometuron and 4-chloro-2-methylphenoxyacetic acid (MCPA) was compared to the effect of...