Soil Systems, Volume 9, Issue 4

Soil conservation technologies are widely studied for their effects on soil organic carbon (SOC) preservation, yet their impact on the composition of soil organic matter (SOM) remains underinvestigated. This study evaluated the effects of two non-inv...

The increasing presence of microplastics (MPs) in terrestrial ecosystems, particularly when combined with organic pollutants and heavy metals, presents a considerable environmental challenge. This review examines the intricate interactions between MP...

Heavy metal contamination in agricultural soils poses serious threats to food safety, ecosystem integrity, and public health. This study investigates the concentrations, ecological risks, and human health impacts of nine heavy metals Cr, Mn, Co, Ni,...

Soil salinity imposes a critical constraint on plant productivity, highlighting the need for sustainable biological strategies to enhance stress tolerance. This study assessed the effects of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted by ten plant-grow...

Soil biodiversity is crucial for maintaining biological soil resilience, understood as a temporal property and as the ability of soils to uphold or recover their ecological functions under stress thanks to the diversity and complementarity of their b...

Soil maps are essential for managing Earth’s resources, but the accuracy of widely used global and pan-European digital soil maps in heterogeneous landscapes remains a critical concern. This study provides a comprehensive evaluation of two prom...

In arid regions, the soil degradation from salinization, low organic matter content, and compaction severely limits agricultural productivity. Leguminous perennials such as alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) have the potential to restore soil quality, but...

Accelerated water erosion is a major soil degradation process that affects soil and water quality. In Cuba, specifically, more than 40% of agricultural lands are affected by severe erosion problems. Estimating accurate erodibility values is a crucial...

Soil contamination by heavy metals poses serious risks to human health and the environment. This study investigates the removal of Pb, Cu, Zn, Cd, and Cr from heavily contaminated slightly acidic to neutral soil (pH 6.5) using organic washing agents...

Serpentinite soils represent extreme environments characterized by deficiencies in essential nutrients (Ca, K, P, N), an unfavorable Ca/Mg ratio, low water retention, and elevated concentrations of several geogenic potentially toxic elements (PTEs)....

De-sealing, or depaving, is increasingly adopted to restore soil permeability and support green infrastructure, yet its potential to recover soil functions remains insufficiently understood. This study reports one year of soil monitoring following th...

Acetochlor is a selective herbicide affecting weeds of cereal plants. Its analysis in soils allows accessing their suitability for crops and risks of contamination of agricultural products. The aim of this study was to develop a microplate enzyme imm...

The risk of soil compaction by agricultural machinery threatens the structure and productivity of tilled soils. However, a quantitative understanding of how specific compaction loads alter the three-dimensional (3D) macropore architecture of tilled s...

Sustainable soil management is crucial for balancing agricultural productivity and soil health in Mollisols under long-term tillage systems. This study evaluated the effects of no-tillage (NT), minimum conservation tillage (MCT), and conventional til...

Understanding soil variability supports improved land use and soil security. This study aimed to generate uniform geophysical classes by integrating data from three proximal geophysical sensors with synthetic soil and satellite images using machine l...

Current research predominantly focuses on the microbial-driven processes of soil organic nitrogen mineralization, often overlooking the significant contributions of abiotic pathways mediated by reactive minerals. While manganese oxides are known to p...

Variograms are a cornerstone of spatial analysis in geostatistics, traditionally applied to real-valued variables under the intrinsic hypothesis. Many soil properties, particularly when integrating magnetic and geochemical measurements, can be expres...

Optimizing fertilizer management is essential for reducing salinity-related risks and improving nutrient efficiency in ornamental plant production. Fertilization enhances plant performance; however, excessive nutrient inputs can disrupt substrate che...

Peatlands are natural reservoirs of organobromine compounds. Important advances have been made in unraveling the mechanisms involved in bromine (Br) retention in the peat but, to our knowledge, the temporal and spatial variation of the peat organic m...

Heavy-textured soils in monsoon-affected regions face challenges related to waterlogging and structural degradation, yet the long-term efficacy of biochar as a physical soil amendment under such conditions remains inadequately understood. This two-ye...

In Mediterranean semi-arid regions, rainfed olive groves are increasingly being abandoned due to drought, low profitability, and rural depopulation. The long-term impact of abandonment on soil conditions is debated, as it may promote vegetation recov...

In the original article [...]

Microorganisms are fundamental drivers of soil productivity, mediating nutrient cycling and pathogen suppression. In this study, we evaluated changes in the fungal community in the soil of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) in a field experiment involving t...

Phosphorus (P) is essential to life yet constrained by finite reserves, heterogeneous distribution, and strong chemical binding to soil minerals. Pedogenesis progressively alters the availability of P: in ‘young’ soils, P associated with...

Phosphorus deficiency and declining organic matter limit crop productivity in Northern Kazakhstan’s chernozem soils. This study evaluates whether the combined application of phosphorus fertilizer and an ash-carbon amendment from industrial by-p...

The Aloe vera industry discards large amounts of outer leaf tissue (“shavings”), creating an opportunity to repurpose this byproduct as a sustainable fertilizer. This study evaluated whether aloe shavings can serve as a plant-based altern...

Soil bacterial communities are vital for ecosystem functioning in the humid tropics, yet their response to land-use change remains poorly understood. This knowledge gap is exacerbated by the lack of long-term studies. We employed a space-for-time sub...

This study aims to understand the effects of wildfires in sagebrush ecosystem on soil properties by examining connections between Soil Water Repellency (SWR), reflectance, and chemistry. Ash and burned soil samples were collected after performing lab...

Potassium (K) is essential for grassland productivity, but soil K leaching can reduce fertiliser use efficiency, increasing environmental losses. International evidence suggests soil type and K fertiliser timing influence K leaching, yet limited data...

Understanding the temporal dynamics and spatial distribution of key soil properties is essential for sustainable land management and informed decision-making. This study assessed the spatial variability and decadal changes (2013–2023) of topsoi...

Biological control with beneficial bacteria offers a sustainable alternative to synthetic agrochemicals for managing plant pathogens and enhancing plant health. However, bacterial biocontrol agents (BCAs) remain underexploited due to regulatory hurdl...

Olive pomace (OP) contains phytotoxic compounds that can impair plant growth and soil quality. Composting provides an effective method for detoxifying olive pomace (OP) and improving its suitability for agricultural use. Therefore, this study investi...

Rice is one of the world’s most consumed foods, and the cereal that most efficiently uptakes and accumulates As, contributing to human health risk. Flooded rice fields alter Eh-pH conditions and, consequently, the proportion of As(III)/As(V), f...