The Role of Organic Fertiliser in Sustainable Agricultural Land Management (Soil Health) in the Context of Climate Change

A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Soil and Plant Nutrition".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2025 | Viewed by 1878

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Division of Crop Management Systems, Crop Research Institute, Drnovská 507/73, Ruzyně, 161 06 Prague, Czech Republic
Interests: agroecosystems; mineral and organic fertilization; soil; soil organic matter; humic substances; biogeochemistry; nutrient availability; near-infrared spectroscopy; sustainability; climate change
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Department of Nutrition Management, Division of Crop Management Systems, Crop Research Institute, Drnovská 507/73, Ruzyně, 161 06 Prague, Czech Republic
Interests: agroecosystems; plant nutrition; soil; soil chemical properties; crop quality; weather–crop relationship
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Nutrition Management, Division of Crop Management Systems, Crop Research Institute, Drnovská 507/73, Ruzyně, 161 06 Prague, Czech Republic
Interests: agroecosystems; plant nutrition; soil; soil chemical properties; crop quality
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Nowadays, agriculture, global food security, and animal nutrition are significantly affected and threatened by a wide range of variables, such as the lack of quality livestock manures, the overapplication of mineral nitrogen (while phosphorus and potassium are neglected), decreases in soil organic carbon, soil contamination, various tillage methods, soil erosion (wind, water, and chemical), and climate change (water deficiency). All of these variables significantly affect soil health, which is defined as the continued capacity of soil to serve as a vital living ecosystem sustaining plants, animals, and humans. Healthy soil can provide clean air and water, supporting diverse wildlife and beautiful landscapes. Maintaining and improving soil fertility, quality, and health is crucial for the overall sustainability of agriculture and ensuring food security. This involves stabilizing yields, reducing the negative environmental impacts of agriculture, and preserving soil quality and health amidst ongoing climate change.

In this Special Issue (SI), we aim to gather papers (original research articles and reviews) that describe the latest findings and new prospects from comprehensive research focused on soil health.

This Special Issue will welcome manuscripts that address the following themes:

  • Livestock manure and mineral fertilization: its crucial role in soil management (soil health);
  • Physical, chemical, and biological properties of soils;
  • The cycling of substances such as water and nutrients like nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), and magnesium (Mg);
  • Soil organic matter (SOM), humic substances (HSs), carbon sequestration, etc.;
  • Soil infiltration, water retention, soil moisture, etc.;
  • The effect of fertilization (manures, mineral fertilizers, compost, digestate) on yield stability;
  • Relationships between fertilization, crop production, and climate change (changing weather patterns).

We look forward to receiving your original research articles and reviews.

Dr. Ladislav Menšík
Dr. Lukáš Hlisnikovský
Dr. Eva Kunzová
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Agronomy is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • livestock manure
  • soil
  • soil health
  • physical, chemical, and biological properties of soils
  • carbon sequestration
  • agricultural land
  • agronomy
  • food security
  • climate change
  • yield stability

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

18 pages, 5197 KiB  
Article
Composting of Cow-Dung-Amended Soil by the Dung Beetle Catharsius molossus L. Improves Bacterial Ecological Functions Related to Nitrogen Mineralization and Human and Plant Pathogenesis
by Abdul Rasheed Kaleri, Jiahua Ma, Ali Murad Jakhar, Awais Ahmed, Yahya Faqir, Chengjia Tan, Slaviša Stanković and Martin Raspor
Agronomy 2024, 14(9), 2091; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy14092091 - 13 Sep 2024
Viewed by 1298
Abstract
The Asian dung beetle (Catharsius molossus L.; Coleoptera: Scarabeidae) has been shown to positively affect soil bacterial diversity and the agronomic features of crop plants. In this study, we used bioinformatic tools to investigate the differences in bacterial functional phenotypes and ecological [...] Read more.
The Asian dung beetle (Catharsius molossus L.; Coleoptera: Scarabeidae) has been shown to positively affect soil bacterial diversity and the agronomic features of crop plants. In this study, we used bioinformatic tools to investigate the differences in bacterial functional phenotypes and ecological functions between control soil, cow dung-amended soil (CD), and cow dung-amended soil composted by dung beetles (DB). The soil bacterial metagenomes were sequenced and analyzed with the bioinformatic packages BugBase, PICRUSt2, Tax4Fun, and FAPROTAX to evaluate the effects of dung beetle-mediated composting on bacterial functions such as human and plant pathogenicity, trophic strategies, and soil nutrient transformation. BugBase proved useful for the determination of differences in major functional phenotypes, whereas FAPROTAX was effective at identifying differences in bacterial ecological functions between the treatments. Both tools suggested a relative decrease in human pathogens in the DB soil. This was corroborated by the pairwise comparison of abundances in bacterial species, which showed a significant reduction in the abundance of the broad-host-range pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the DB soil. In addition, FAPROTAX suggested a decrease in plant pathogens and an increase in chitinolytic bacteria, meaning that the DB treatment might be beneficial to the plant-growth-promoting bacteria involved in biological control. Finally, FAPROTAX revealed an array of ecological functions related to trophic strategies and macro- and micronutrient metabolism. According to these results, the activity of C. molossus beetles enhanced methanotrophy, ammonification, nitrification, sulfate reduction, and manganese oxidation, whereas iron respiration was decreased in the DB-treated soil. Our results represent a collection of general insights into the effects of C. molossus beetles on soil bacterial functions, which also reflect on the nutrient composition of dung beetle-composted soil. Full article
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