Changes In Soil pH Research Articles

Effects of salinity on methane emissions and methanogenic archaeal communities in different habitat of saline-alkali wetlands.

The increase in temperature caused by global climate change has promoted the salinization of wetlands. Inland saline-alkaline wetlands have an environment of over-humidity and shallow water and are hot spots for CH4 emissions. However, there are few reports on the effect of salinity on CH4 emissions in inland saline-alkaline wetlands. This study conducted simulation experiments of increased salinity to investigate the impact of salinity, habitat, and their interactions on CH4 emissions, as well as to examine the response of methanogenic archaea to salinity. Overall, salinity inhibited CH4 emissions. But there were different responses in the three habitat soils. Salinity decreased the relative abundance of methanogenic archaea and changed the community structure. In addition, salinity changed soil pH and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and ammonium (NH4+) concentrations, which were significantly correlated with methanogenic archaea. Our study showed that salinity changed the soil physicochemical properties and characteristics of the methanogenic archaeal community, affecting CH4 emissions.

Identification of cadmium phytoavailability in response to cadmium transformation and changes in soil pH and electrical conductivity

Owing to complex changes in the soil environment, determining cadmium (Cd) phytoavailability is challenging. We devised a soil-wheat system to monitor alterations in soil pH, electrical conductivity (EC), and Cd transformation under various rates of calcium chloride and/or low-molecular-weight organic acids (LMWOAs) addition. The findings indicate that decreasing soil pH value, increasing soil EC value, and Cd transformation affect the phytoextraction of Cd. The exchangeable Cd and transformation of Cd under shifts in soil pH and EC contribute differentially to the phytoextracted Cd. The level of potentially phytoavailable Cd was identified through complete wheat cultivation in which the soil pH decreased by 0.47 unit and soil EC increased by 600-1000 μS cm−1, resembling the concentration of 0.01 M LMWOAs extractable Cd, when transitioning from paddy to dryland soil. Based on considering the phytoextracted Cd as the phytoavailable Cd throughout a complete wheat growth term, the threshold for phytoavailable Cd in soil, ensuring the safety of wheat grain (limit: 0.1 mg kg−1), is determined to be 2.90 μg kg−1. Maintaining control over Cd phytoavailability in soil emerges as the key factor in ensuring the safety of wheat grain cultivation.

Effects of maize straw and its biochar application on soil organic carbon chemical composition and carbon degradation genes in a Moso bamboo forest.

We investigated the effects of maize straw and its biochar application on soil organic carbon chemical composition, the abundance of carbon degradation genes (cbhI) and the composition of cbhI gene community in a Moso bamboo forest, to provide the theoretical and scientific basis for enhancing carbon sequestration. We conducted a one-year field experiment in a subtropical Moso bamboo forest with three treatments: control (0 t C·hm-2), maize straw (5 t C·hm-2), and maize straw biochar (5 t C·hm-2). Soil samples were collected at the 3rd and 12th months after the treatment. Soil organic carbon chemical composition, the abundance and community composition of cbhI gene were determined by solid-state 13C NMR, real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR, and high-throughput sequencing, respectively. The results showed that compared with the control, maize straw treatment significantly increased the content of O-alkyl C and decreased aromatic C content, while maize straw biochar treatment showed an opposite effect. Maize straw treatment significantly increased the abundance of cbhI gene and the relative abundance of Penicillium, Gaeumannomyces and Marasmius. However, maize straw biochar treatment reduced the abundance of this gene. The relative abundance of dominant cbhI in soils was positively correlated with the content of O-alkyl C and negatively correlated with the content of aromatic C. Results of redundancy analysis showed that maize straw treatment had a significant effect on the microbial community composition of cbhI gene by changing soil O-alkyl C content, while maize straw biochar affected the microbial community composition of cbhI gene by changing soil pH, organic carbon, and aromatic C content. Maize straw biochar treatment was more effective in increasing soil organic carbon stability and reducing microbial activity associated with carbon degradation in the subtropical Moso bamboo forest ecosystem compared with maize straw treatment. Therefore, the application of biochar has positive significance for maintaining soil carbon storage in subtropical forest ecosystems.

Effects of different grassland use patterns on soil bacterial communities in the karst desertification areas.

Soil bacteria are closely related to soil environmental factors, and their community structure is an important indicator of ecosystem health and sustainability. A large number of artificial grasslands have been established to control rocky desertification in the karst areas of southern China, but the influence of different use patterns on the soil bacterial community in artificial grasslands is not clear. In this study, three grassland use patterns [i.e., grazing (GG), mowing (MG), and enclosure (EG)] were used to investigate the effects of different use patterns on the soil bacterial community in artificial grassland by using 16S rDNA Illumina sequencing and 12 soil environmental indicators. It was found that, compared with EG, GG significantly changed soil pH, increased alkaline hydrolyzable nitrogen (AN) content (P < 0.05), and decreased soil total phosphorus (TP) content (P < 0.05). However, MG significantly decreased the contents of soil organic carbon (SOC), total phosphorus (TP), available nitrogen (AN), ammonium nitrogen (NH4+-N), β-1,4-glucosidase (BG), and N-acetyl-β-D-glucamosonidase (NAG) (P < 0.05). The relative abundance of chemoheterotrophy was significantly decreased by GG and MG (P < 0.05). GG significantly increased the relative abundance of Acidobacteria and Gemmatimonadota (P < 0.05) and significantly decreased the relative abundance of Proteobacteria (P < 0.05), but the richness index (Chao 1) and diversity index (Shannon) of the bacterial community in GG, MG, and EG were not significantly different (P > 0.05). The pH (R2 = 0.79, P = 0.029) was the main factor affecting the bacterial community structure. This finding can provide a scientific reference for ecological restoration and sustainable utilization of grasslands in the karst desertification areas.

Global patterns and controls of soil greenhouse gas fluxes and crop yield under biochar application

AbstractBiochar application has been proven to be a viable technique in mitigating soil greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and improving crop yield; however, the global patterns and responses of soil GHG fluxes, global warming potential (GWP), crop yield, and greenhouse gas intensity (GHGI) to biochar application, as well as the key drivers of biochar‐induced changes, are not fully synthesized. Hence, we conducted a meta‐analysis of 3883 paired observations from 220 studies. Overall, biochar application significantly increased carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions (7.4%) and yield (9.4%) and decreased soil methane (CH4, −13.0%) and nitrous oxide (N2O, −26.8%) emissions, as well as GWP (−7.7%) and GHGI (−14.3%). CH4 uptake was, however, not observed to change. The responses of soil GHG fluxes to the biochar application were more sensitive in the incubation and pot experiments compared to the field studies. In addition, increased CO2 emissions were mainly derived from incubation and pot experiments, whereas the biochar application did not significantly change CO2 emissions in the field studies. The climate, soil, and experimental conditions also affected the responses of soil GHG fluxes to biochar application, and the biochar‐induced change in soil pH was the most essential factor associated with the variations in soil GHG fluxes. Globally, biochar application boosted the soil carbon (C) pool (38.1% in upland and 33.4% in paddy) and decreased soil GHGI (−18.7% in upland and −14.5% in paddy). Our study highlights the role of the reduced CH4 and N2O emissions in the biochar‐induced mitigation of soil GHG emissions while exploring the relative importance of the influencing factors and providing crucial insights for the development of individualized biochar management measures.

Grazing regulates soil N cycling of annual pastures by enhancing soil N turnover in arid climate condition

AbstractNitrogen is the second limited factor in arid regions. Little information is available on soil N cycling and availability under grazing in arid regions, which is required to evaluate land‐use management with respect to soil N availability and dynamics. In 2011, we established a rotational grazing field experiment in arid grassland. We conducted experiments to explore the effects of herbivores grazing on soil net N mineralization and N processes via changes in soil temperature, moisture, pH, and microbial biomass nitrogen (MBN) in 2016 and 2017. Our results showed that grazing did not alter soil N mineralization because higher soil moisture and soil MBN under grazing had positive and negative effects on soil N mineralization, thereby balancing soil N mineralization. Plant N uptake at the grazing plots was, nevertheless, 23% higher than that at the non‐grazing plots. These demonstrated that grazing potentially improved soil inorganic N availability and alleviated soil N limitation in arid regions. Soil nitrification was main pathway of N transformation in arid regions. Grazing improved soil accumulation of NO3− content, resulting in environmental problems (such as N2O emission and N leaching); however, grazing had a little effect (~15% increase) on soil N leaching and (~7% decrease) on N2O emission. These N processes reflect important mechanisms of resilience and ecosystem stability under grazing in an N‐limited environment. Our results provide an important perspective for grassland management, aiming to maintain soil N supplying capacity in annual pasture sustainably. Overall, our study suggests that grazing is an effective management practice for the sustainable usage of local grasslands, as it improves soil physicochemical and biological properties, which, in turn, increases N supply.

Straw return exacerbates soil acidification in major Chinese croplands

Straw return has been widely recommended as a practice of climate-smart agriculture. It is generally conceived that straw return also alleviates soil acidification, though this assumption has not been tested over large geographical areas. Here, we assess its contributions to soil acidification based on three datasets across China. Unexpectedly, straw return was found to predominately aggravate soil acidification in 145 investigated field experiments. The magnitude of straw-induced soil pH change was negatively correlated with initial soil pH. The critical initial soil pH in dry and paddy lands, above which straw return caused further soil acidification, were 6.7 and 5.4, respectively. We estimated that straw return would exacerbate soil acidification in 77% and 80% of dry and paddy lands, respectively. Our analysis disclosed the first evidence of accelerated soil acidification by straw return at national scale, providing new insights into both sustainable straw utilization and soil acidification remediation.

Industrial and agricultural waste amendments interact with microorganism activities to enhance P availability in rice-paddy soils

Adding industrial and agricultural wastes to farmland can increase soil available phosphorus (P) pool and boost crop production, but the process affecting soil P transformation and bioavailability is still poorly understood. We studied the effects of straw (ST), biochar (BC) and Si-modified biochar (Si-BC) amendments on the available-P content and its fraction transformation in rice-paddy soils. Our results showed that these three soil amendments significantly increased the concentrations of both microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and microbial biomass-P (MBP) during the first rice season; by contrast, the effects of ST and BC application were relatively poor on acid-phosphatase (ACP) activity, which was increased by 24 % under ST and 14 % under BC. Soil total P concentrations did not differ significantly, although the concentration and percentage of each P-fraction were altered significantly among treatments. Although all three applications increase soil available-P concentration by promoting the transformation of organic-P (Po) components to inorganic-P (Pi), there are differences in the transformation efficiency of the soil P fraction between these amendments. Redundancy analysis results also showed significant clustering of soil P-fraction transformations after ST and BC treatments. Structural equation model analysis further indicated that all amendments regulated microbial processes by changing soil pH and dissolved organic carbon (DOC), thereby promoting soil P transformation and improving P efficiency. Sodium bicarbonate-extractable Po (NaHCO3-Po) contributed most to soil available-P under the different amendments. Compared to ST and Si-BC, BC application improved more soil microbial status and the transformation of soil unavailable-P into available-P, therefore the application of BC in rice fields is the most beneficial method to promote phosphorus use and production sustainability in rice. These findings helped to understand the effects of using industrial and agricultural waste (e.g. straw, biochar and Si-modified biochar) on soil P-fractions and so provided a reference for sustainable resource use and green production in rice-paddy ecosystems.

Improvement of soil acidification and ammonium nitrogen content in tea plantation by long-term use of organic fertilizer.

Soil acidification was common in Chinese tea plantations, which seriously affected the growth of tea trees, and it was of great significance to explore soil remediation in acidified tea plantations for the sustainable development of tea industry. We sought to determine how different fertilizers improve acidified soil and their nitrogen transformation in tea plantation. Different fertilizers were used to treat acidified soils in tea plantations for 4 consecutive years from 2017 to 2021, and the changes in soil pH, indexes related to soil nitrogen transformation and tea yield were analyzed to construct interaction networks of the above indexes and obtain the indexes with the greatest influence on the fertilization effect. Long-term use of sheep manure fertilizer in tea plantation improved soil acidification, increased the soil pH value, enhanced the number and intensity of nitrogen-fixing bacteria and ammonifying bacteria, urease, protease, asparaginase and N-acetamide glucose ribosidase activities, nifH gene expression, reduced the number and intensity of soil nitrifying bacteria and denitrifying bacteria, nitrate reductase and nitrite reductase activities, and the expressions of amoA-AOA, nirK, nirS, narG and nosZ genes, which in turn increased ammonium nitrogen content of the soil, reduced nitrate nitrogen content, and enhanced tea yield. Topsis index weight analysis showed that ammonium nitrogen content in soil had the greatest impact on the fertilization effect. Long-term use of sheep manure fertilizer was beneficial to restore the balance of micro-ecosystem of acidified soil. This study provided an important practical basis for soil remediation and fertilizer management in acidified tea plantation soils.

Effects of Long-Term Straw Returning and Nitrogen Fertilizer Reduction on Soil Microbial Diversity in Black Soil in Northeast China

Returning straw to the field, coupled with fertilizer application, is an effective means to improve the fertility of black soil in Northeast China. Previous studies have mainly focused on the physical and chemical properties of soil structure and fertility. However, few efforts have been made to study the impact of straw returning on the microbial community of black soil in Northeast China. Here, we studied the typical northeast black soil in Heilongjiang Province to characterize the effects of long-term chemical fertilizer application and straw returning on its bacterial community structure. High-throughput sequencing was conducted to characterize the bacterial community of northeast black soil under different agricultural fertilization treatments, and the main factors affecting the bacterial community of northeast black soil were revealed through bioinformatic analyses. The results of high-throughput sequencing analyses demonstrated that the main bacterial phyla in the black soil in Northeast China were Actinomycetes, Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria, Chloroflexus, and Bacteroidetes. Long-term application of chemical fertilizers significantly increased the fertility and crop yield of black soil in Northeast China but led to significant changes in bacterial community structure and a significant decrease in diversity. Although straw returning improved soil fertility, it did not alleviate the adverse effects of the long-term application of chemical fertilizers on soil bacterial communities. Furthermore, our results demonstrated that changes in soil pH were the main factor leading to variations in soil bacterial communities. Returning straw to the field based on fertilizer application can improve black soil fertility in Northeast China but fails to alleviate the adverse effects of fertilizer-induced soil acidification on the composition and diversity of soil bacterial communities. This suggests that returning straw to the field may not have a significant beneficial impact on the microbial ecology of the black soil of Northeast China. Therefore, further research is needed to establish new straw return strategies to maximize agricultural yields while minimizing ecological impacts.

Development of organic phosphorus vermicompost from raw phosphate rock using microorganisms and enzymes and its effect on tomato yield

Chemical phosphorus and other chemical fertilizers undergo certain changes in the soil. These changes cause crop yield loss because of changes in soil pH and EC. In addition, other toxic compounds accumulate. They also lead to serious soil contamination and threaten the environment. In this study, vermicompost was developed from raw phosphate rock by using microorganisms and phosphorus solubilizing enzymes (protease, lipase, dehydrogénase, hydrolase, urea, nitrogenesis, cellulose) to eliminate phosphorus deficiency in soil. Two-year greenhouse trials were conducted to determine the effectiveness of the organic phosphorus humus produced after six months of mineralization, and tomato plants were grown. As a result of these experiments, the effects on yield and physicochemical properties of the tomato plant were studied. Earthworm fertilizer at a rate of 4500 kg ha−1 increased the tomato yield of 22.12% compared to the control application, in the two-years means. In addition, the effect on nutrient content of tomato plants resulted in statistically significant increases (p < 0.05). When the macronutrient concentrations in the leaves of the plant were examined, they were considered to have reached the level of sufficiency. It was also found that the content of amino acids, chlorophyll and antioxidants in the tomato plant reached the highest levels compared to the control application. Based on our results, it was concluded that this organic fertilizer will contribute to higher crop yields in plants of cultural and commercial importance and to other plant growth parameters.

Driving factors of soil bacterial biogeographical distribution in three alpine grassland types

AbstractThe biogeographic distribution of plants and animals on the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau (QTP) has been extensively studied; however, the biogeographic patterns and factors affecting bacterial communities in alpine grassland ecosystems over large scales were not fully understood. In this paper, we explored the biogeographic patterns of soil bacterial communities in wet meadow, meadow, and steppe. The results showed that bacterial α‐diversity was similar in the three grassland types, while bacterial β‐diversity differed significantly. The dominant bacteria were Proteobacteria (29.86%), Acidobacteriota (17.76%), and Actinobacteriota (16.42%), which were caused by the changes in soil pH, C/N, and soil moisture. In addition, the significant distance–decay of bacterial communities was found across environmental and geographical distances. Partial Mantel test showed that the differences of bacterial community in wet meadow and meadow were influenced by environmental and geographical factors, while the difference of bacterial community in steppe was only affected by geographical distance. The MRM accounted for 38.7%, 37.2%, and 11.8% of the variability in wet meadow, meadow, and steppe, respectively. In wet meadow and meadow, geographic distance was the most powerful factor in explaining the similarity of bacterial communities, while soil moisture was the most critical factor in steppe. It was obvious that environmental and geographical factors played different roles in shaping structures of bacterial community in wet meadow, meadow, and steppe, which provided new insights for the effective management of alpine grassland.

Organic-inorganic fertilization promotes paddy soil macroaggregate organic carbon accumulation associated with key bacterial populations in the subtropical area of China

Macroaggregate organic carbon (Macro-OC) accumulation in paddy soil is of great significance in promoting multiple agroecosystem services. However, the effects of different fertilization practices on Macro-OC accumulation in paddy soil at the regional scale have not been comprehensively investigated. Here, we selected four long-term fertilization field experiments at Taoyuan, Wangcheng, Jinxian, and Suzhou in the subtropical area of China to reveal the effects of inorganic fertilization and organic-inorganic fertilization on Macro-OC accumulation and the relationships with important microbial traits in paddy soil. The results showed that long-term fertilization (particularly organic-inorganic fertilization) significantly increased the content of Macro-OC, which mainly consisted of particulate organic carbon (POC). Organic-inorganic fertilization decreased the percentage of O-alkyl C but increased the percentages of alkyl C, aromatic C, and phenolic C. Organic-inorganic fertilization promoted the abundance of bacterial cellulose-degrading gene retrieved from macroaggregate. At the order level, Anaerolineales, Bacillales, and Clostridiales were identified as keystone bacterial taxa in macroaggregate, and significantly correlated with the physical fraction and chemical structure of Macro-OC. Structural equation modeling revealed that fertilization-induced changes in soil pH and C:N ratio affected the richness of Anaerolineales, Bacillales, and Clostridiales, which was strongly associated with the increase of percentages of aromatic C and phenolic C and further facilitated Macro-OC accumulation. Together, these results suggested that organic-inorganic fertilization promotes Macro-OC accumulation associated with key bacterial populations in paddy soil. The results provide an important basis for boosting soil carbon accrual in the subtropical rice-growing areas.

Conversion of native grassland to coniferous forests decreased stocks of soil organic carbon and microbial biomass

AimsEncroachment of woody species into grasslands is a global phenomenon that affects ecosystem services, including soil organic carbon (SOC) storage and microbial community structure. We determined stocks of SOC and soil microbial biomass as affected by conversion of grasslands to coniferous forests.MethodsWe examined SOC and soil δ13C signatures under three vegetation covers: native grasslands, eastern redcedar (Juniperus virginiana), and ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), at six soil depths (0 − 10, 10 − 30, 30 − 100, 100 − 170, 170 − 240, 240 − 300 cm). Fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) were used to quantify soil microbial biomass (MB) and as biomarkers for bacteria, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), and saprophytic fungi (SF) which includes ectomycorrhizal fungi (ECM).ResultsNative grasslands had higher overall SOC and MB stocks in the top 300 cm soil depth (7.39 kg SOC m− 2 and 65.6 mmol MB m− 2) than converted cedar (6.80 kg SOC m− 2 and 38.4 mmol MB m− 2) or pine (5.87 kg SOC m− 2 and 39.9 mmol MB m− 2) forest. Losses of AMF biomass occurred on conversion of native grasslands to pine forest. Stocks of SF biomass only differed with vegetation type in topsoil.ConclusionsConversion of native grasslands to cedar or pine forest increased topsoil (0 − 10 cm) SOC storage due to needle litter accumulation. Conversion of native grasslands to forests decreased subsoil (10 − 300 cm) SOC stocks and had replaced, by increasing depth, 30 to 19% and 45 to 26% of grassland C with cedar and pine C, respectively. Changes in soil pH, nutrients, and soil microbial communities accelerated SOC turnover.

Response of Soil Microbial Communities and Functions to Long-Term Tea (Camellia sinensis L.) Planting in a Subtropical Region

Soil microbes are the key to revealing the mechanisms driving variation in soil biogeochemical processes. In recent decades, forests in Southeast China have been widely transformed into tea plantations due to the drivers of economic benefits. However, the changes in the soil microbial community and their potential function during the transition from a typical forest ecosystem to tea plantations remain poorly understood. This study investigated the soil microbial community in tea plantation soils with different planting ages, i.e., 6, 12, 23 and 35 years, and in an adjacent woodland control. We discovered that tea planting significantly increased soil bacterial richness (ACE and Chao1) and decreased fungal richness, the diversity of bacteria (Simpson and Shannon) show a trend of initially decreasing and then increasing while there was no significant effect on fungal diversity. After tea planting, the relative abundances of Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria increased by 180.9%–386.6% and 62.3%–97.5%, respectively; the relative abundances of Acidobacteria decreased by 11.4%–66.8%. However, the fungal phyla were not significantly different among different aged tea plantations and woodlands. FAPROTAX and FUNGuild revealed that the transition of natural woodland to tea plantations significantly increased the relative abundances of aerobic_chemoheterotrophy (14.66%–22.69%), chemoheterotrophy (34.36%–37.04%), ureolysis (0.68%–1.35%) and pathogenic fungi (26.17%–37.02%). db-RDA proved that the bacterial community structure was more strongly related to soil pH and available nitrogen (AN), while the main determinants of the fungal community composition were soil pH and soil organic matter (SOM). These findings indicate that tea planting has a strong effect on the soil microbial community and potential function. The change in soil pH during tea planting was the most important factor affecting the soil microbial community, while soil bacteria were more sensitive to tea planting than fungi.

Precipitation, rather than temperature drives coordination of multidimensional root traits with ectomycorrhizal fungi in alpine coniferous forests

Abstract The interactions between roots and mycorrhizal fungi are critical for our understanding of the multidimensional root economics space. Our knowledge on their relationships comes mainly from arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) plants, and less is known about how roots are coordinated with ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungal communities, especially in ECM‐dominated alpine forests that are highly sensitive to climate change worldwide. Here, we investigated the coordination between roots and ECM fungi and their drivers by measuring multiple root traits, ECM fungal composition and environmental factors of 47 coniferous populations across the alpine coniferous forests on the Tibetan Plateau. Our results reveal two independent fine‐root trait dimensions, that is root foraging dimension and root uptake dimension, which are represented by root diameter‐specific root length, root tissue density‐root N concentration. Importantly, the hyphal exploration type based ECM foraging correlated significantly with both root foraging and root uptake dimension. Further, in the low temperature plateau, it is precipitation‐induced changes in soil moisture, soil nutrients and pH that drive the proportion of longer‐distance hyphal exploration types to increase with higher root foraging by higher specific root length, and to decrease with higher uptake by higher root N concentration. Synthesis. The coordination of multidimensional root traits with ECM fungi differs greatly from the well‐recognized pattern in AM plants that mycorrhizal fungi connect predominantly with root foraging and that roots and mycorrhizal fungi are temperature sensitive. These findings provide a new insight for our holistic understanding of how roots and mycorrhizal fungi vary collaboratively and hence driving plant community assembly and responses to the changing climate.

Liming remediates soil acidity and improves crop yield and profitability - a meta-analysis

Soil acidity reduces base cations required for plant growth and may result in phytotoxic concentrations of soluble aluminum. Liming acidic soils is generally promoted as an effective management practice to increase soil pH, base cation concentrations, and ameliorate toxicity caused by aluminum and manganese. Through a global literature review using data published from field experiments on liming, the objective of this paper is to understand the effects of liming on soil pH, crop yields, and economic profitability. The results show that liming positively influenced crop yields and soil pH, implying that various lime sources can increase soil pH and crop productivity. The effect sizes of liming on crop yields when lime was incorporated into soils were higher than surface application irrespective of tillage practice. Liming under no-tillage (NT) compared to conventional tillage (CT) management showed higher effect sizes for crop yields. Liming increased effect sizes for crop yields in fertilized compared with unfertilized trials. Gypsum, calcium hydroxide and calcium carbonate showed higher effect sizes when compared with Cement Klin Dust (CKD), dolomite and wood ash. The results show that liming increased yields for all crops except potatoes and oats. Liming generally increases soil pH and changes in soil pH increased with higher lime application rates and yield increases were proportional to the magnitude of increases in soil pH. The profitability of liming differed with crop type and liming rate, being more profitable at lower liming rates. Overall, this meta-analysis shows that liming decreases soil acidity and improves crop yields. Attaining maximum gains from liming agricultural crops under acidic soil conditions requires an understanding of the appropriate lime rates required for specific crops and soil types to ensure overall profitability for producers and sustainable improvement of soil health.

Influence of Sagarika-Liquid with Inorganic Fertilizers for Enchaning the Soil Health and Yield of Green Gram (Vigna radiata L.)

An experiment was conducted on sagarika-liquid with inorganic fertilizers during Zaid season 2022 at the central research farm of Department of Soil science and Agricultural chemistry, to enhance the productivity. The design applied was 3x3 RBD having three levels of Sagarika-liquid @2ml, 3ml and 4ml L-1 and N P K @ 50, 75and 100%. The result obtained with treatment T9[N P K @100%+ 2 Spray of Sagarika 4ml l-1] that showed vermicompost in combination resulted in a slight change in soil pH at 0-15 cm and 15-30 cm were found 7.12 and 7.27and EC 0.35 and 0.32 dS m-1 respectively. The significant results were in pore space 47.90 and 45.52%, water holding capacity 46.10 and 43.60%, organic carbon 0.54%, 0.44%, and available nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium was found to be significant among other treatments in Green gram cultivation and soil quality improvement. The maximum yield regarding, gave the best results with respect to plant height 45.34 cm, number of pod plant-1 28.16, and number of seed pod-1 8.45. It gave highest yield 1.96 t ha-1. It was also revealed that the application with organic manures was excellent source for fertilization than fertilizers.

Integrated Nutrient Management in Green Gram (Vigna radiata L.) for Enhancing Soil Health

Integrated nutrient management (INM) is a holistic approach that involves the application of organic and inorganic fertilizers to improve soil health and crop productivity. The research study was conducted to demonstrate the effective use of INM on soil health in Green gram. We used a randomized block design (RBD) with four levels of poultry manure @ 0, 50, 75 and 100% ha-1, four levels of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium@ 0, 50, 75 and 100% ha-1 and rhizobium seed treatment. The revealed that treatment T9 (N20P40K40 kg ha-1 + PM @ 5 t ha-1 and Rhi @ 200g 10 kg-1 Seed) resulted in a slight change in soil pH 6.82, electrical conductivity (EC) 0.198 dS m-1. In post-harvest soil of fertilizers observations showed significant increase in pore space 49.20 %, water holding capacity 47.59 %, organic carbon 0.49 %, and available N 334.23 kg ha-1, P 34.58 kg ha-1, K 202.83 kg ha-1. The increase in NPK was found to be significant (P&lt;0.05) among other treatments in Green gram cultivation and soil quality improvement. The application of N P K with poultry manure was a magnificent source of fertilization.

Woodchips biochar versus bone char in a one‐year model soil incubation experiment: the importance of soil/char pH alteration on nutrient availability in soil

AbstractBACKGROUNDBiochars have become one of the most intensively and extensively investigated soil amendment materials in terms of their production, application and fate in the soil because of benefits such as increased soil quality and fertility. Biochar from woodchips and bone char from meat bone waste from a poultry slaughterhouse were prepared at 300 and 500 °C and then thoroughly mixed with two soils (cambisol and luvisol) that differed in their physicochemical parameters in ratios of 2% and 5% (w/w).RESULTSThe impact of bone and biochar amendments on nutrient availability was assessed during a one‐year model laboratory experiment. The feedstock origin and pyrolysis temperature affected the prepared materials’ physical properties and nutrient (Ca, Cu, K, Mg, Mn, P, S, Zn) availability. With increasing temperature, the structure of woodchip biochar changed from macroporous to microporous, and bone char changed from non‐porous to mesoporous. However, when mixed with soil, the biochar‐derived change in soil pH was revealed to be the most crucial parameter affecting soil nutrient mobility. Of all the tested elements, Only Cu, Fe and Zn were unaffected by biochar addition. Furthermore, temporal changes in element mobility during incubation were also elucidated.CONCLUSIONThe changes over time in element mobility indicated that soil properties were more important than bone and biochar characteristics. © 2023 The Authors. Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology published by John Wiley &amp; Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry (SCI).