Synthetic Soil Research Articles

Evaluation of Some Synthetic Soil Conditioners and Nitrogen Rates on Nitrogen Use Efficiency by Maize - Wheat Crops System in Calcareous Soil

The use of synthetic soil conditioners such as polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), bitumen (Bit.) and polyacrylamide (PAC) can be considered as a specific management to improve the efficiency of the use of nitrogen fertilizers and some chemical properties of calcareous soils that are reflected in crop productivity. Two rates of synthetic soil conditioners (PAV, Bit. and PAC) and three rates of nitrogen fertilizer (50, 75 and 100% N of recommended dose) were included in this study to evaluate their effects on some chemical properties, nutritional status and yield components of both maize and wheat crops along with nitrogen use efficiency. Field experiments were conducted in calcareous soil at Nubaria Agriculture Research Station farm during two successive seasons, summer season cultivated with maize (Zea mays L., cv Giza 10) and winter season cultivated with wheat ( Triticum aestivum L., cv Giza 168). Results showed that the highest significant yield components of maize and wheat crops along with their total content of the indicated macronutrients were observed when applied high rate of polyvinyl alcohol (0.2 %) accompanied with high rate of nitrogen fertilizer (100% N of recommended dose) as compared to other tested treatments. On the contrary, application of high rate polyacrylamide combined with low rate of nitrogen fertilizer generally was inferior for yield components of both maize and wheat plants. Also, data revealed that the nitrogen use efficiency was the highest (65.0 and 42.4) for maize and wheat plant, respectively, receiving 50 % nitrogen fertilizer rate in presence of 0.2 % polyvinyl alcohol. However, applied high rate of polyvinyl alcohol accompanied with low rate of nitrogen fertilizer was superior decreased pH values of soil as compared to either control or other tested treatments. An opposite trend for EC values which were superior increased in presences of all nitrogen fertilizer rates. Also, CaCO3 values were lower when applied high rate of polyacrylamide in two seasons. The highest values of available nitrate and ammonium in soil were due to applied 0.2 % of polyvinyl alcohol combined with 75 % of nitrogen fertilizer rate compared to the other tested treatments.

BEST‐2K Method for Characterizing Dual‐Permeability Unsaturated Soils with Ponded and Tension Infiltrometers

Core Ideas We present a new method for the hydraulic characterization of dual‐permeability soils. The BEST‐2K method was validated with synthetic soil data. The BEST‐2K method was also validated with real experimental data for contrasting soils. This study presents a new method (BEST‐2K) that extends the existing BEST methods for use in characterizing the water retention and hydraulic conductivity functions of matrix and fast‐flow regions in dual‐permeability soils. BEST‐2K requires input information from two water infiltration experiments that are performed under ponded (Beerkan) and unsaturated (tension infiltrometer) conditions at the surface. Other required inputs include water content measurements and the traditional BEST inputs (particle size distribution and bulk density). In this study, first, a flowchart of the BEST‐2K method was developed and illustrated with analytically generated data for a synthetic dual‐permeability soil. Next, a sensitivity analysis was performed to assess the accuracy of BEST‐2K and its sensitivity to the quality of the inputs (water contents and cumulative infiltrations, and the prior estimation of the volume ratio occupied by the fast‐flow region). Lastly, BEST‐2K was applied to real experimental data to characterize three soils that are prone to preferential flow. BEST‐2K was found to be a particularly useful tool that combines experimental and modeling approaches for characterizing dual‐permeability soils and, more generally, soils prone to preferential flows.

Biology and Management of Clover Root Curculio (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)

AbstractClover root curculio (Sitona hispidulus (F.)) (CRC) has become an economically important pest of alfalfa since the regulatory phase-out of carbofuran, methyl bromide, and other synthetic soil fumigants. Native to temperate Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, CRC was introduced to North America in the early 1900s and is now widespread across the U.S. Adult foliar herbivory is not typically economically important. However, severe root damage by larvae can result in secondary plant pathogen infections, leading to losses in forage quality, yield, and stand life. Monitoring efforts include sweep netting adults and soil sampling around the crown and roots of plants for eggs and larvae. Relationships between CRC densities and root damage as well as economic thresholds have yet to be established. Although several pyrethroids have been registered for use against CRC adults, they are not recommended due to potential non-target effects. Chemical controls have not been registered for use against the cryptic larval stage. This review discusses CRC identification, life history, biology, and ecology. Potential ecological management strategies (e.g., crop rotation, planting dates, resistant host varieties), biological control agents, and insecticide options are also described as key components of an integrated pest management program against CRC in U.S. alfalfa.

Defining a Trade-off Between Spatial and Temporal Resolution of a Geosynchronous SAR Mission for Soil Moisture Monitoring

The next generation of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) systems could foresee satellite missions based on a geosynchronous orbit (GEO SAR). These systems are able to provide radar images with an unprecedented combination of spatial (≤1 km) and temporal (≤12 h) resolutions. This paper investigates the GEO SAR potentialities for soil moisture (SM) mapping finalized to hydrological applications, and defines the best compromise, in terms of image spatio-temporal resolution, for SM monitoring. A synthetic soil moisture–data assimilation (SM-DA) experiment was thus set up to evaluate the impact of the hydrological assimilation of different GEO SAR-like SM products, characterized by diverse spatio-temporal resolutions. The experiment was also designed to understand if GEO SAR-like SM maps could provide an added value with respect to SM products retrieved from SAR images acquired from satellites flying on a quasi-polar orbit, like Sentinel-1 (POLAR SAR). Findings showed that GEO SAR systems provide a valuable contribution for hydrological applications, especially if the possibility to generate many sub-daily observations is sacrificed in favor of higher spatial resolution. In the experiment, it was found that the assimilation of two GEO SAR-like observations a day, with a spatial resolution of 100 m, maximized the performances of the hydrological predictions, for both streamflow and SM state forecasts. Such improvements of the model performances were found to be 45% higher than the ones obtained by assimilating POLAR SAR-like SM maps.

Interference between Organic Soil Conditioners Mixed with Synthetic Soil Conditioners to Improve Sandy Soil Productivity

Interference between Organic Soil Conditioners Mixed with Synthetic Soil Conditioners to Improve Sandy Soil Productivity

Biofunctool®: a new framework to assess the impact of land management on soil quality. Part B: investigating the impact of land management of rubber plantations on soil quality with the Biofunctool® index

Biofunctool® is a new framework for assessing the impact of land management on soil quality – defined as the capacity of the soil to function. Biofunctool® uses a set of twelve indicators to monitor changes in three key soil functions: carbon transformation, nutrient cycling and structure maintenance (part A). Information from all the indicators is integrated in a Soil Quality Index using multivariate analysis (PCA) weighting. We used Biofunctool® to assess the impact of land use, land use change and agricultural practices on soil quality. The Biofunctool® index was measured for soils in Thailand within rubber plantations, forests and intensive cash crops (cassava and sugar cane). The results demonstrate that the Biofunctool® index provides an aggregated synthetic soil functioning score that is sensitive to land management and is robust in various pedo-climatic contexts. Firstly, the index revealed the impact on soil of land conversion from annual cropping to rubber plantations and ranked the effect on soil with respect to a natural forest reference. Secondly, it showed the positive effect of legume cover-crops on soil functioning. Thirdly, it highlighted a trend of improving soil quality with increasing age of rubber plantations, in contrasted pedo-climatic contexts. It is concluded that the Biofunctool® index is a reliable and relevant descriptor of integrated soil functioning (i.e. soil quality) that could be useful for environmental impact assessment at regional to global scales.

Improvement of Clay and Sand Quantification Based on a Novel Approach with a Focus on Multispectral Satellite Images

Soil mapping demands large-scale surveys that are costly and time consuming. It is necessary to identify strategies with reduced costs to obtain detailed information for soil mapping. We aimed to compare multispectral satellite image and relief parameters for the quantification and mapping of clay and sand contents. The Temporal Synthetic Spectral (TESS) reflectance and Synthetic Soil Image (SYSI) approaches were used to identify and characterize texture spectral signatures at the image level. Soil samples were collected (0–20 cm depth, 919 points) from an area of 14,614 km2 in Brazil for reference and model calibration. We compared different prediction approaches: (a) TESS and SYSI; (b) Relief-Derived Covariates (RDC); and (c) SYSI plus RDC. The TESS method produced highly similar behavior to the laboratory convolved data. The sandy textural class showed a greater increase in average spectral reflectance from Band 1 to 7 compared with the clayey class. The prediction using SYSI produced a better result for clay (R2 = 0.83; RMSE = 65.0 g kg−1) and sand (R2 = 0.86; RMSE = 79.9 g kg−1). Multispectral satellite images were more stable for the identification of soil properties than relief parameters.

Influence of the β parameter of the Haverkamp model on the transient soil water infiltration curve

Soil water infiltration can be described with the quasi-analytical Haverkamp et al. (1994) equation, defined by the hydraulic conductivity (Ks), sorptivity (S) and the β parameter. Ks and S are commonly estimated from the transient cumulative infiltration curve, using a constant β value. The objective of this work was to study the influence of β on the estimation of Ks and S. The study was first performed on synthetic 1-D infiltration curves generated at different infiltration times for loam sandy, loamy and silty soils, and next extrapolated to a 3-D loam synthetic soil and on 10 infiltrations curves measured on the field with a disc infiltrometer on different types of soils. The infiltration measurements lasted between 600 and 900 s. The results showed that, while early infiltration times (i.e. 100 s) promoted good estimations for S, longer infiltrations (i.e. 1.000 s) were required to estimate accurately Ks. Only very long infiltration (i.e. 10.000 s) allowed defining the actual β value. A similar behaviour was observed for the 3-D infiltration measurements. Except for β, significant relationships (R2 = 0.99) were obtained between the Ks and S of the three theoretical soils and the corresponding values calculated by optimizing the three hydraulic parameters on 2.000 s 1-D infiltration curves. The large confidence interval observed in β (between 0.3 and 2.0) resulted from the fact that β had a small effect on the infiltration curve. A significant relationship (R2 = 0.99) was also obtained between the Ks and S optimized from the experimental curves using a β = 1.1 and the corresponding values obtained by simultaneous optimization of the three hydraulic parameters. These results demonstrated that S and Ks can be accurately estimated using a constant β and that downward infiltration is not an appropriate procedure to estimate β.

Development of an innovative approach for low-impact wastewater treatment: A microfluidic flow-through electrochemical reactor

In this work, a novel approach for the development of fast and low-consuming electrochemical reactors for wastewater treatment is studied. It consists in the use of a microfluid flow-through cell with a very narrow inter-electrode gap (to minimize ohmic drops) and flow-through electrodes (to maximize mass transport towards the electrodes). The ohmic drop was studied for different inter-electrode gap and electrolyte conductivities. A low ohmic drop of 6 Ω was measured using an inter-electrode gap of 400 µm in a liquid electrolyte with 0.7 mS cm−1 of conductivity. The mass transfer coefficient (km) was evaluated at different inlet flow velocities, obtaining 1.45 · 10−5 m s−1 at a velocity of 1.0 · 10−2 m s−1, considerably superior to the data reported for flow-by cells. Finally, the efficiency for wastewater treatment via anodic electro-oxidation with diamond anodes was evaluated. In this work, 100 ppm of clopyralid contained in a synthetic soil washing effluent were completely removed in this system using 2.71–8.54 Ah dm−3 and 12.5–115.0 kWh m−3 at 10 and 100 mA cm−2, respectively. Comparison with a commercial flow-by (Diacell® 101) shows that the novel approach requires between 4 and 10 times less electric charge and from 6 to 15 times less energy consumption. The microfluidic flow-through configuration stand as a promising approach to reduce the environmental impact of electrochemical wastewater technologies.

Transfer Learning from Synthetic Data Applied to Soil–Root Segmentation in X-Ray Tomography Images

One of the most challenging computer vision problems in the plant sciences is the segmentation of roots and soil in X-ray tomography. So far, this has been addressed using classical image analysis methods. In this paper, we address this soil–root segmentation problem in X-ray tomography using a variant of supervised deep learning-based classification called transfer learning where the learning stage is based on simulated data. The robustness of this technique, tested for the first time with this plant science problem, is established using soil–roots with very low contrast in X-ray tomography. We also demonstrate the possibility of efficiently segmenting the root from the soil while learning using purely synthetic soil and roots.

Efficiency of EDTA and TWEEN 80 for the Removal of Chromium using Soil Washing Technologies

The study on the efficiency of chelate and surfactant for the removal of chromium using soil washing technology of which the chelate is EDTA and surfactant is TWEEN 80 at concentrations of 8, 16 and 32 millimoles was separately conducted. The experiment soil was synthetic soil with chromium contamination for 2 years. In this study, 20 g of contaminated soil would be washed with 200 milliliters of EDTA and TWEEN 80 with pH values of 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 before being shaken at speeds of 90, 120 and 150 rpm for 15, 30, 60, 90, 120 and 180 min and at every 3 h until it reached its equilibrium point at room temperature. After that it was filtered with filter paper before digestion with acid whereupon the obtained solution would be further analyzed. The study result revealed that EDTA could remove chromium best at a concentration of 32 millimoles with pH of 10 and shaking speed of 120 rpm and it could eliminate chromium at the level of 38.54%. In the meantime, TWEEN 80 could remove chromium best at a concentration of 32 millimoles with pH of 10 and shaking speed of 150 rpm and it could eliminate chromium at the level of 9.86%. Therefore, when comparing efficiency between EDTA and TWEEN 80, the researcher concluded that EDTA had higher efficiency in removing chromium from soil than TWEEN 80.

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Electrochemical characterization of corrosion in materials of grounding systems, simulating conditions of synthetic soils with characteristics of local soils

The integrity of structures buried in earthing becomes relevant when analysing maintenance and replacement costs of these systems, as the deterioration is mainly due to two factors, namely: the failures caused in the electrical systems, which are due to the system. Failure in earthing due to corrosion at the interface cause an alteration in the structure of the component material and generates an undesirable resistivity that cause malfunction in this type of protection systems. Two local soils were chosen that were categorized as sandy loam and clay loam type, whose chemical characteristics were simulated by means of an electrolyte corresponding to the amount of ions present determined by a soil characterization based on the CICE (effective cation exchange coefficient), which allows us to deduce the percentage of chloride and sulphate ions present for the different levels established in the experimental matrix. The interaction of these soils with grounding electrodes is a complex problem involving many factors to consider. In this study, the rates and corrosion currents of the different soils on two types of electrodes, one copper and the other AISI 304 stainless steel, were approximated by electrochemical techniques such as potentiodynamic curves and electrochemical impedance spectra. Considerably higher speeds were determined for copper-type electrodes when compared to those based on steel. However, from the Nyquist diagrams, it was noted that copper electrodes have better electrical performance than steel ones. The soil with the highest ionic activity turned out to be the sandy loam. The clay loam soil presents a tendency to water retention and this may be the reason for the different behaviour with respect to ionic mobility. The diffusion control in the steel seems to alter the ionic mobility because its corrosion rates proved to be very similar regardless of the type of soil chemistry. In general, corrosion rates fell since tenths of a millimetre every year to the hundredths of a millimetre in the case of the steel-based electrode, which are relatively small corrosion rates.

Resolving Species Level Changes in a Representative Soil Bacterial Community Using Microfluidic Quantitative PCR.

Rapid advances in genome sequencing technologies enable determination of relative bacterial abundances and community composition, yet, changes at the species level remain difficult to detect despite importance for certain ecological inferences. We present a method for extraction and direct quantification of species composition of a predefined multispecies bacterial community using microfluidic-based quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR). We employ a nested PCR approach based on universal 16S rRNA gene pre-amplification followed by detection and quantification of absolute abundance of bacterial species using microfluidic array of parallel singleplex qPCR reactions. Present microfluidic qPCR supports 2,304 simultaneous reactions on a single chip, while automatic distribution of samples and reactants minimizes pipetting errors and technical variations. The utility of the method is illustrated using a synthetic soil bacterial community grown in two contrasting environments – sand microcosms and batch cultures. The protocol entails extraction of total nucleic acid, preparation of genomic DNA, and steps for qPCR assessment of bacterial community composition. This method provides specific and sensitive quantification of bacterial species requiring only 2 ng of community DNA. Optimized extraction protocol and preamplification step allow for rapid, quantitative, and simultaneous detection of candidate species with high throughput. The proposed method offers a simple and accurate alternative to present sequencing methods especially when absolute values of species abundance are required. Quantification of changes at the species level contributes to the mechanistic understanding of the roles of particular species in a bacterial community functioning.

BOF steel slag as a low-cost sorbent for vanadium (V) removal from soil washing effluent

Soil washing is an effective remediation method to remove heavy metals from contaminated soil. However, it produces wastewater that contains large amounts of heavy metals, which lead to serious pollution. This study investigated the removal of vanadium (V) from synthetic soil washing effluent using BOF steel slag. The effects of particle size, slag dosage, initial pH, and initial vanadium concentration on removal behavior were studied. Adsorption kinetics and isotherms were also analyzed. The results showed that the vanadium removal efficiency increased as the steel slag particle size decreased and as the amount of slag increased. The initial pH and vanadium concentration did not play key roles. At the optimum particle size (<0.15 mm) and dosage (50 g/L), the removal rate reached 97.1% when treating 100 mg/L of vanadium. The influence of the washing reagent residue was studied to simulate real conditions. Citric acid, tartaric acid, and Na2EDTA all decreased the removal rate. While oxalic acid did not have negative effects on vanadium removal at concentrations of 0.05–0.2 mol/L, which was proved by experiments using real washing effluents. Considering both soil washing effect and effluent treatment, oxalic acid of 0.2 mol/L is recommended as soil washing reagent.

Electrochemical Noise for Detection of Stress Corrosion Cracking of Low Carbon Steel Exposed to Synthetic Soil Solution

Summary of the mechanical properties obtained from SSRT of X52 steel. Environment YS (MPa) RS (MPa) UTS (MPa) E (GPa) Strain (%) EL (mm) TF (h) RA(%) PE (%) Air 368 243 450 245 19.1 4.85 52.31 78.95 17NS4 pH 5 330 212 422 259 15.7 3.99 45.28 72.72 15NS4 pH 8 463 273 545 279 15.5 3.94 45.24 67.90 14NS4 pH 10 372 153 462 209 15.6 3.95 45.44 68.16 15 Table 4. SCC index obtained from mechanical properties of SSRT. Environment RA (%) RAR TF (h) TFR PE (%) PER ELR (mm) ELR Strain (%) SR Air 78.95 - 52.31 - 17 - 4.85 - 19.1 -NS4 pH 5 72.72 0.92 45.28 0.87 15 0.88 3.99 0.82 15.7 0.82NS4 pH 8 67.90 0.86 45.24 0.86 14 0.82 3.94 0.81 15.5 0.81NS4 pH 10 68.16 0.86 45.44 0.87 15 0.88 3.95 0.81 15.6 0.82 was not observed. However, a decreases in YS, UTS, EL and deformation was observed, which can be attributed to diffusion of hydrogen atoms into the steel generating hydrogen embrittlement. 3.4 Surface fracture analysis Figure 5 shows the SEM images of the fracture surfaces of the X52 pipeline steel after carried out the SSRT in air and in the synthetic soil solution (NS4 solution). Measurements of final diameter of fracture were carried out in order to calculate the reduction area (RA). The SSRT of the X52 steel in air presented a ductile fracture, and it is characterized by extensive plastic (permanent) deformation of the material (figure 5a). One mechanism of ductile fracture is known as microvoid coalescence

Seismic response of pile groups supporting long-span cable-stayed bridge subjected to multi-support excitations

Long-span cable-stayed bridge is one of the main structures for highways and railways crossing wide rivers. Seismic response of an integral 1:70 scaled model for a long-span cable-stayed bridge was studied with multifunctional shake tables. The bridge model includes synthetic soil, pile groups and long span cable-stayed bridge structure. Seismic responses of pile groups supporting bridge structural systems of different stiffness, namely the floating system, the elastically constrained system and the supporting pier system are studied considering the seismic soil-pile-structure interaction (SSPSI). The accelerations, bending moments and displacements of piles supporting pylons, auxiliary piers and transition piers are discussed. The wave passage effect on pile foundation supporting long-span cable-stayed bridge is studied by tests for the first time. Results showed that compared with the floating system and the elastically constrained system, the bridge girder of long natural period has larger impact on pile foundations in the supporting pier system under uniform excitations. When subjected to non-uniform excitations, different seismic load generates from the superstructure and acts on the substructure. As a result, seismic response of pile foundation supporting long span bridge under non-uniform excitations is different from that under uniform excitations. The wave passage effect has little influence on seismic response of piles in the floating system and the elastically constrained system. However, in the supporting pier system, with shear wave velocity decreased from infinity to 1000m/s, the Fourier amplitudes of pile accelerations, bending moments and relative displacements at 3.50Hz decreased dramatically. The peak bending moments at the head of piles supporting auxiliary piles decreased about 50%.

Application of leaching tests on phosphogypsum by infiltration-percolation.

The phosphoric acid production obtained by attacking phosphate rock by sulphuric acid cogenerates considerable quantities of phosphogypsum. The world cogeneration is estimated about 100-280 Mt per year. In another context of sustainable development, the phosphate chemical industry develops different ways of phosphogypsum valorization, which makes its storage stack in a suitable way for its potential use as an industrial by-product. Although, this storage can cause an environmental impact largely due to the transfer of trace elements (TEs) to groundwater by leaching. It is therefore important to evaluate the impact linked to the storage in order to limit this transfer. The evaluation is usually performed through leaching tests in columns or reactor. In this work, leaching tests were performed in columns by infiltration-percolation on two filter mediums: phosphogypsum and synthetic sandy soils. The results showed that the phosphogypsum is acting as a filter, which retains and releases the TEs. Most of these TEs (Pb, Se, Ag, Zn and Cu) were highly retained in the synthetic soils surfaces and their contents in waters were considerably lower than the maximum contaminant levels (MCLs). Although As, Cd, Cr and Ni were strongly transferred to groundwater, their respective contents were higher than the MCLs.

Plastic Bag Derived-Microplastics as a Vector for Metal Exposure in Terrestrial Invertebrates.

Microplastics are widespread contaminants in terrestrial environments but comparatively little is known about interactions between microplastics and common terrestrial contaminants such as zinc (Zn). In adsorption experiments fragmented HDPE bags c. one mm2 in size showed similar sorption characteristics to soil. However, when present in combination with soil, concentrations of adsorbed Zn on a per mass basis were over an order of magnitude lower on microplastics. Desorption of the Zn was minimal from both microplastics and soil in synthetic soil solution (0.01 M CaCl2), but in synthetic earthworm guts desorption was higher from microplastics (40-60%) than soil (2-15%), suggesting microplastics could increase Zn bioavailability. Individual Lumbricus terrestris earthworms exposed for 28 days in mesocosms of 260 g moist soil containing 0.35 wt % of Zn-bearing microplastic (236-4505 mg kg-1) ingested the microplastics, but there was no evidence of Zn accumulation, mortality, or weight change. Digestion of the earthworms showed that they did not retain microplastics in their gut. These findings indicate that microplastics could act as vectors to increase metal exposure in earthworms, but that the associated risk is unlikely to be significant for essential metals such as Zn that are well regulated by metabolic processes.

Statistical Evaluation of Sprayed Synthetic Soils Amended with Four Additive Factors Used in High- and Cut Rock Slopes

There are many bare and cut rock slopes resulting from quarrying or highway engineering abandoned in China because of immature outside soil spray seeding (OSSS) engineering techniques. To improve properties of synthetic soil technique to spray on such slopes (gradient >50°), four components of OSSS, that is, cement, inorganic compound fertilizers (ICF), wood bits, and peat soil at four treatment levels for each were mixed into soil using orthogonal array designs OA16 (45). Relationships of each of four components with plant biomass, soil physicochemical and microbial features were explored to determine optimal synthetic soil combinations for OSSS techniques. Significant differences in plant biomass, soil physicochemical properties and microbial activities among 16 different OSSS synthetic soils with different contents of four components were identified. Optimal combination of N10 with higher nutrients (added with 0.8% ICF, 1.5% cement, 1.5% peat soil, and 2.0% wood bits) and N13 with highest viscidity (added with 0.4% ICF, 2.0% cement, 1.5% peat soil, and 2.0% wood bits) than other combinations were obtained to be used in OSSS sprayed soils to reconstruct the bare high- and cut rock slopes, which was supported by results of cluster analysis. On the other hand, based on canonical correlation analysis, redundancy analysis, and discriminant analysis, soil physicochemical properties explained 56.41% of the soil microbial activities and the cement is the most influential factor on soil properties. Among all tested indicators, soil NH4-N, total P, pH, organic C, phenol oxidase, invertase, CM-cellulase, acid phosphatase, alkaline phosphatase, and basal respiration were more responsive to OSSS synthetic soils. Our results have documented improvement of soil physicochemical and microbial features of the OSSS soil under the condition of 2.0% cement content.