Soil Systems, Volume 9, Issue 3

Assessing soil and water quality in irrigated farming is vital for sustainable agriculture management. Low-quality irrigation water, particularly in semi-arid regions, poses environmental challenges and leads to soil salinization. This study was cond...

Effective residue management is crucial for maintaining soil organic carbon (SOC) in upland rice systems, particularly under diverse fertilization and planting management practices. This study investigates the impacts of residue management in upland...

Conservation agriculture (CA) is widely recognized as the cornerstone of sustainable agriculture. It prioritizes minimizing soil disturbance, maintaining permanent soil cover, and diversifying crop species to restore soil health and ecosystem resilie...

This study explored how different sugarcane vinasses influence the structure and composition of soil bacterial communities in two tropical Oxisols with contrasting textures. In a controlled microcosm experiment with sugarcane seedlings, two concentra...

Soil CO₂ emissions, driven primarily by microbial respiration, represent a major component of terrestrial carbon flux and play a crucial role in global climate change. Although several soil physicochemical factors regulating microbial activity are we...

Environmental pollution by poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) can impact human health through drinking water and the ingestion of contaminated agri-food. Plants can take up PFAS from polluted soils or irrigation waters, and soil amended with...

Soil health and fertility are essential components of sustainable land management. In Bhutan, where agricultural practices range from organic to conventional systems, and natural vegetation areas persist across varied elevations. Understanding how th...

Soil moisture plays a critical role in the global water cycle, the exchange of matter and energy within ecosystems, and the movement of water in plants. Accurate monitoring of soil moisture is essential for drought early warning systems, irrigation d...

Monitoring the concentration of heavy metals in urban soils is of a paramount importance for several reasons. These inorganic pollutants can pose a significant health risk to living organisms, as they are toxic even at low concentrations and can be p...

Olive groves (Olea europaea L.) are highly susceptible to soil degradation, particularly water erosion, due to sparse canopy cover and wide inter-row spacing. This study evaluated the effect of different vegetation cover management practices on soil...

The high-elevation ecosystems of the Tibetan Plateau provide crucial ecosystem services including watershed protection and water provision for downstream human and wildlife communities. Thus, understanding the relationship between soil properties and...

Fertilizer integration is key for sustainable tea gardens, but the impacts of different plant- or animal-derived organic fertilizers on soil pH, nutrients, and carbon composition remain unclear. This study evaluated five fertilizer treatments: 50% ch...

Soil color has long been used as an indicator for soil properties such as soil organic carbon and soil moisture. Recent developments in citizen science have seen the increased use of smartphone cameras for soil color measurements. However, there are...

Soil reflects ecosystem processes and is influenced by gradual biospheric changes, which can affect its biotic components. In fairy rings, soil morphology, physicochemical properties, and biota are interconnected within a shared environmental space....

Molybdenum (Mo) is an important trace nutrient element in the soil and plays a significant role in maintaining plant growth. However, there are scarce studies on soil Mo content change and its driving factors based on historical soil samples. This pa...

Oil sands mining in northeastern Alberta, Canada, has disturbed large areas of the northern boreal forest which must be restored to pre-disturbance levels through reclamation. The oil sands tailings have high pH and elevated levels of Na⁺ which are h...

Efforts have been underway worldwide to reintroduce seawater to many historically diked salt marshes for restoration of tidal flow and associated estuarine habitat. Seawater restoration to a diked Cape Cod marsh was simulated using the computer progr...

This study investigated the impacts of land-use history and an episodic flood event on the soil quality of a riverine floodplain ecosystem, providing long-term and short-term disturbance perspectives. The study took place in the Saint Michael’s...

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) taxa, glomalin protein, and hyphal density are potential indicators of soil functionality of temperate grasslands in marginal environments subject to grazing over the years. This study evaluated how the AMF communit...

Land use conversion to perennial cropland often degrades the soil structure and fertility, particularly under Mediterranean climatic conditions. This study assessed spatial and temporal dynamics of soil properties and tree responses to 3-year repeate...

In the present work, six biochars were produced from the pyrolysis of poultry manure at 400 °C and 600 °C (PM-B-400 and PM-B-600), and their post-modification with, respectively, iron chloride (PM-B-400-Fe and PM-B-600-Fe) and potassium perma...

Desert plant communities play a vital role in sustaining the stability of arid ecosystems; however, they demonstrate limited resilience to environmental changes. A critical aspect of understanding community assembly mechanisms is determining whether...

Combining potassium-containing rocks with conventional KCl may improve the agronomic use of K rock and reduce leaching from high-soluble sources. The aim of this study was to evaluate K rocks (phonolite and alkaline) and the mixture with KCl at diffe...

This study aims to assess the ecological and human health risks associated with four heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, and Zn) in the soil of a dumpsite in Targuist city, Morocco. In total, 16 surface soil samples were collected from the dumpsite and its nea...

Soil compaction from mechanized agriculture is a major concern, as frequent machinery use degrades soil structure, reduces porosity, and ultimately impairs crop productivity. Among potential mitigation strategies to enhance soil resilience to machine...

There are discrepancies regarding the effectiveness of enhanced efficiency nitrogen (N) fertilizer (EENF) products on ammonia loss from unincorporated, surface applications of urea-based fertilizers. Soil properties and management practices may accou...

Protists represent a major component of eukaryotic diversity within the soil microbiome, playing critical roles in mediating carbon and nitrogen cycling and influencing nutrient availability and soil health. Their diversity is shaped by multiple fact...

The analysis of soil nematode communities provides information on their impact on soil quality and the health of different agricultural cropping systems and soil management practices, which is necessary to evaluate their sustainability. Here, we eval...

Green energy is expected to play an increasingly important role in the energy sector, so the volume of biogas production and the formation of anaerobic digestates is likely to increase in the future. A wide range of biodegradable organic materials ar...

Anne D [...]

Dragon fruit or pitaya (Hylocereus sp.) is an exotic tropical plant gaining popularity in the United States as it is a nutrient-rich fruit with mildly sweet flavor and a good source of fiber. Although high tunnels are being used to produce specialize...

A comprehensive paleoecological study of a forested bog located in the middle taiga subzone of northeastern European Russia was carried out. According to the ¹⁴C radiocarbon dating and botanical composition analysis, the bog began forming 8200 calibr...

The utilization of the widely distributed saline–alkali lands by planting forage grasses is a hot topic. However, the promotion of plant growth remains a great challenge during the exploration of this stressful soil. While halotolerant bacteria...

Mycorrhizal symbiosis in rice enhances drought adaptation but there are limited studies regarding the frequency and amplitude of mycorrhizae colonization in traditional landraces. This study investigates mycorrhizal colonization frequency (FMS) and i...

Biochar is a carbon-rich material produced through the pyrolysis of agricultural waste. It effectively enhances the physical, chemical, and biological properties of salinity-affected soils. Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is the world’s third mos...

Sediment fingerprinting was utilized to identify potential hotspots of soil erosion and sediment transport pathways in the Nile Nyabarongo Upper Catchment (NNYU) in Rwanda, where rivers and reservoirs are suffering from alarmingly high levels of sedi...

Although the benefits of rational grazing by polygastric animals are well known, little is understood about how chicken grazing affects soil biological health and its capacity to store organic matter. This study aimed to assess the impact of long-ter...

The main problem associated with mining is the release of heavy metals into the environment, impacting the soil and overall environment. Mercury is one of the most contaminating heavy metals. It is present in soils, sediments, surface water, and grou...

Soil organic carbon (SOC) monitoring is central to carbon farming Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV), yet high laboratory costs and sparse sampling limit its scalability. We present the first independent field validation of the Stenon Farm...

As land plastic pollution has piled up in recent decades, small products of its degradation, microplastics (MPs), have emerged as a rapidly growing problem in soil environments. The first step in MP evaluation from soils is the extraction of MP parti...

Soil microbial communities are essential for the natural attenuation of organic pollutants, yet their ecological responses under long-term contamination remain insufficiently understood. This study examined the bacterial community structure and the a...