The amount of biosolids recycled in agriculture has steadily increased during the last decades. However, few models are available to predict the accompanying risks, mainly due to the presence of trace element and organic contaminants, and benefits for soil fertility of their application. This paper deals with using data mining to assess the benefits and risks of biosolids application in agricul...

To determine the relationship between changes in soil physical properties due to tillage and growth of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) seedlings, we measured soil moisture and penetration resistance for a range of tillage treatments on two Upper Coastal Plain sites in Georgia and correlated these measurements to the growth of individual seedlings. The five tillage treatments were: no-till (NT), ...

Increasing the current precision of nutrient management will need analytical tools that aid in collecting site specific data. A technology with potential is hyperspectral remote sensing. Modern, portable spectroradiometers permit reflectance data in the spectral region between 350 and 2500 nm to be collected quickly. With the limited sampling, handling, and processing required the technology al...

but no difference in yields with increased N when the season was cool. Numerous factors that affect corn yield in the Northern Great Soil moisture status is also important in maintaining Plains are not considered in current N fertilizer recommendations. A maximum corn yields, and maintaining optimal soil moislinear model to describe the interactions of N fertility, weather, soil, ture is facili...

To guide soil fertility investment programmes in sub-Saharan Africa, better understanding is needed of the relative importance of soil and crop management factors in determining smallholder crop yields and yield variability. Spatial variability in crop yields within farms is strongly influenced by variation in both current crop management (e.g. planting dates, fertilizer rates) and soil fertili...

Mozambique includes 10 agroecological zones with distinct climate and cropping systems (INIA, 1980). Agricultural production is more intensively practiced in the central and northern parts of the country where agroecological conditions are favorable. As a result of 16 years of civil war and low funding for agricultural research few assessments of soil nutrient status have been possible. To asse...

Five treatments were compared using two half-highbush blueberry cultivars (cv Chippewa and Polaris) transplanted and grown for their first three growing seasons at a site in Boutiliers Point, N.S., a Gibraltar brown sandy loam (Ferro-Humic Podzol). The five treatments were as follows: Alfalfa meal + rock P + wood ash; NPK fertilizer; Municipal Solid Waste (MSWC) compost; Ruminant compost; food ...

abstract microbial contaminants transport to groundwater is a serious environmental problem that can result in large outbreaks of waterborne diseases. some of bacteria can travel from vadose zone and cause contamination of groundwater resources. thus, an accurate prediction of transport and fate of pathogenic microorganisms in unsaturated soil is needed to protect groundwater resources. the mai...

In the long-term absence of major disturbances ecosystems enter a state of retrogression, which involves declining soil fertility and consequently a reduction in decomposition rates. Recent studies have looked at how plant traits such as specific leaf mass and amounts of secondary compounds respond to declining soil fertility during retrogression, but there are no comparable studies for lichen ...