Abstract Aims Rural-urban dynamics are leading to agricultural intensification practices, which affect microbial ecosystem functions in a soil-specific way. This study aimed investigate what effects has on soil communities. Methods The of N fertilization level (low and high) crop type (maize finger millet) communities were investigated, using two-factorial split-plot design, at two fields (irri...

The impact of microbiological commercial products (PHC Biopak, Rhizatech and ECO-T) on the occurrence of mycorrhizae and Fusarium in the rhizosphere of tissue culture banana (Gros Mitchel cv.) was assessed. Tissue cultured banana plantlets were inoculated with PHC Biopak (Bacillus), Rhizatech (mycorrhiza) and ECO-T (T. harzianum) under greenhouse conditions using a completely randomized design ...

Low soil fertility and high weed infestation are the main culprits for the declining maize production inWestern Kenya. Technology packages to address these constraints exist, but their effectiveness is likely to be influenced by variability in soil types and farm management practices in the region. Trials were conducted during the 2008/2009 cropping seasons to investigate the nutrient use e...

Abstract Soil pH is one of the main drivers soil microbial functions, including carbon use efficiency (CUE), microorganisms in converting substrate C into biomass, a key parameter for sequestration. We evaluated liming effects after maize-litter addition on total CUE (including residues), biomass (CUE MB ), and fungal an acidic Acrisol with low C. established 6-week incubation experiment to com...

In this work TF values for Sr and Cs were measured for reference plants grown in lysimeters containing soils representative of large agricultural areas in Brazil: Ferralsol, Nitisol and Acrisol. These results were discussed in the light of pedological analyses and results from the follow sequential chemical extraction protocol: 1) slightly acidic phase containing readily bioavailable elements; ...

Sweet potato is a food and nutrition security crop in sub-Saharan Africa with low yields resulting from soil infertility. We examined the effects of nine fertilizer regimes on growth performance orange-fleshed (OFSP) white-fleshed (WFSP) sweet varieties two agro-ecological zones characterized by Andosol Nitisol soils. The treatments were: NPK20-10-10, NPK6-15-28, rice husk biochar (RHB), fast c...

Soil fertility depletion and the associated soil acidity has become a serious problem to crop production in most highlands of Ethiopia. Fortunately, such problems can be reclaimed by application biochar as amendments which sequestered for several years. A pot experiment was conducted investigate effects on growth response nutrient uptake faba bean nutrients. The design employed randomized compl...