In arid and semi-arid regions, soil surface warming is a considerable phenomenon causing a high thermal gradient which makes water flow intensely. The degree of soil temperature is effective on crop production, plant growth and soil microorganisms. In recent years, the ascending trend of temperature has been substantially noticed by researchers in the issues of pointwise climate change and at w...

Phenolic substances are synthesized in plants and in the soil. They exist in the form of polymers and monomers. The latter group of phenolics is assembled within the chloroplasts of plant cells, whereas soil phenolics are associated with the process of humus formation on the alumino-silicate matrix of the soil micelle. As plants grow, phenolics accumulate in cell vacuoles, or polymerize into li...

In his recent TREE news & comment, Watkinson1 drew attention to the role of soil microorganisms in plant population dynamics. In particular, he reported on the dynamical framework for the inter-relations between the composition of plant and soil communities, proposed last year by Bever et al.2 It is worth adding allelopathic interactions to this picture. Allelopathy has been defined by Rice3 as...

The majority of tallgrass prairie root biomass is located in the upper soil layers (0 25 cm), but species differences exist in reliance on soil water at varying depths. These differences have led to the hypothesis that resource partitioning belowground facilitates species co-existence in this mesic grassland. To determine if plant water relations can be linked to soil water partitioning as a po...

Most medicinal plants are flowering plants and they also serve as ornamental plants. Measurement of trace element content in medicinal plants, drugs and extracts may be relevant in view of e.g. human health, animal health and environmental relations. This fact has a great significance since about half of the plant drugs available in the trade originate from natural habitats and the element cont...

Recommendation, as we use the word here, means advice from a soil or crop specialist to those deciding how much of, what form of, and when to apply a fertilizer to a soil to benefit growth of a plant or crop. Recommendations of fertilizers and soil amendments must consider the interactions of all the factors discussed in this manual, including the soil, the crop, the climate, the beneficial eff...