Search Results (7)

Sustainable soil management through the use of an appropriate tillage system can positively change the edaphic parameters. The aim of the present study was to compare the effects that reduced tillage (RT) and conventional tillage (CT) systems have on changes in selected physical and chemical properties and enzymatic activity in various soil types. The study included the following soil types: Eutric Fluvisol, Mollic Fluvisol, Haplic Chernozem, Haplic Luvisol, Eutric Regosol, Eutric Gleysol, and Stagnic Planosol. Soil samples were collected in the Danubian Lowland and Eastern Slovak Lowland. The following parameters were determined in the soil samples: soil texture, pH, hydrolytic acidity and the sum of basic exchangeable cations, the contents of carbon (TOC), nitrogen (TN), and dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and the activities of dehydrogenases (DEH), catalase (CAT), peroxidases (PER), alkaline phosphatase (AlP), acid phosphatase (AcP), proteases, and β-glucosidase (BG). The reaction of the analysed soils, in the RT and CT cultivations alike, ranged from acidic to neutral, and the sorption properties differed between individual soil types. The TOC ranged from 16.53 to 42.07 g kg⁻¹ for conventional cultivation and from 15.51 to 38.90 g kg⁻¹ for reduced tillage. The values of enzymatic soil quality indices values correlated with TOC, DOC, and TN, as well as with pH, the sum of exchangeable base cations, cation exchange capacity, and degree of base saturation of the sorption complex. The tillage system determined changes in the activity of the studied enzymes, but the intensity and direction of these changes depended on the soil type. Based on the enzyme activity results, soil quality indices such as GMea and TEI were calculated. TEI proved to be a more sensitive indicator than GMea. It was shown that, of all studied soil types and regardless of the cultivation system, Eutric Gleyosols had the most variable properties. For conventional tillage, Haplic Luvisol and Eutric Regosol were characterised by the greatest uniformity. In general, the edaphic properties of soils under conventional tillage differed from those of soils under simplified tillage. Full article

Elevated carbon dioxide (eCO₂) levels can enhance crop yields but may simultaneously reduce quality, impacting both macronutrient and micronutrient concentrations, and potentially decreasing protein content in cereal grains. This study examined the effects of elevated CO₂ (eCO₂) and nitrogen (N) fertilization on crop growth, yield, and soil nitrogen cycling through a glass greenhouse experiment using Eutric Regosol soil. The experimental design incorporated two CO₂ gradients: ambient CO₂ (aCO₂) at approximately 410 ppm during the day and 460 ppm at night, and eCO₂ at approximately 550 ppm during the day and 610 ppm at night. Additionally, two nitrogen fertilization treatments were applied: no fertilizer (N0) and 100 mg N kg⁻¹ dry weight (DW) soil (N100). Crops were cultivated under two cropping systems: the monoculturing of fababean (Vicia faba L.) or wheat (Triticum aestivum Yunmai) and the intercropping of both species. The results demonstrated that eCO₂ significantly enhanced the growth and yield of both fababean and wheat, particularly when nitrogen fertilization was applied. Nitrogen fertilizer application did not always enhance crop yield, considering the complexity of nitrogen management under elevated CO₂ conditions. Furthermore, the intercropping of fababean and wheat presented multiple advantages, including improved crop yields, enhanced soil health, and increased ecosystem services. These findings suggest that intercropping can serve as a sustainable strategy to boost productivity and ecosystem resilience in the face of climate change. The changes in nitrogen application and CO₂ concentration affect the gene copy number of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria and archaea, which may affect the nitrogen cycling process in soil. There are complex interactions between crop biomass, nitrogen accumulation, transpiration rate, photosynthetic rate and stomatal conductance with soil properties (e.g., pH, organic matter, nitrogen content) and microbial community structure. The interaction between CO₂ concentration, nitrogen application level and crop intercropping pattern had significant effects on crop growth, soil properties and microbial communities. Future research should prioritize investigating the long-term effects of intercropping on soil productivity and the development of management strategies that optimize the benefits of this cropping system. Full article

Soil structure (SS) plays an important role in relation to climatic change, with the most important task the decreasing of CO₂ in the atmosphere by carbon sequestration in the soil and the prevention of floods by better water infiltration into the soil. However, the evaluation of its condition is very different because of the various parameters and their inappropriate uses. The aim of this study was to determine the responses of the parameters of SS on the soil type and tillage system as the most important factors that influence it through changes in the soil organic matter and soil texture. The soil factor, which was represented by seven soil types (EF, Eutric Fluvisol; MF, Mollic Fluvisol; HC, Haplic Chernozem; HL, Haplic Luvisol; ER, Eutric Regosol; EG, Eutric Gleysol; DS, Distric Stagnosol), should be included in all evaluations of SS because of the specifics of each soil type. The tillage factor (shallow non-inversion-reduced, RT; deeper with inversion-conventional, CT) was chosen because of a high sensitivity of SS to soil disruption by cultivation, which represents high potential for the mitigation of climate change. The study included 126 sampling places in different parts of Slovakia on real farms (7 soil types × 3 localities × 3 crop rotations × 2 tillage systems × 2 soil depths). The soils were analysed for the aggregate fraction composition, particle size distribution, and parameters of organic carbon. The data of different parameters of SS were calculated and evaluated. The most sensitive parameter of the tested ones was the coefficient of structure (K_st), which manifested up to the level of the fractions of humus substances and indicated a better condition of SS in more productive soils than less productive soils. The coefficient of soil structure vulnerability (K_v) and mean weight diameter in water-resistant macroaggregates (MWD_w) showed a worse condition of SS in the soils, which developed on Neogene sediments. A better condition of SS in RT was predicted particularly by the primary parameters (index of crusting, I_c; critical content of soil organic matter, S_t), and in CT, they were mainly the secondary parameters (K_st; water-resistant of soil aggregates, K_w). Overall, the suitability of the parameters of SS should be evaluated in relation to a specific soil type with its characteristics and should not be used universally. Full article

Tillage is a significant type of soil intervention and should be conducted based on the specific soil type. The aim of this study was to determine the influence of different tillage intensities (RT: reduced tillage; CT: conventional tillage), which are correlated with carbon sequestration, on soil properties. The study areas included fields on real farms in Eutric Fluvisol (EF), Mollic Fluvisol (MF), Haplic Chernozem (HC), Haplic Luvisol (HL), Eutric Regosol (ER), Eutric Gleysol (EG), and Stagnic Planosol (SP). The effects of tillage systems depended on the soil type and were more evident in soil aggregates of more productive soils. Agronomically, the most valuable fractions of aggregates were dominant in more productive soils (EF, MF, HC) in the CT system and less dominant in less productive soils (HL, ER, EG, SP) in the RT system. Smaller aggregates (<0.5 mm), which indicate deterioration of soil properties, were negatively correlated with clay (r = −0.364, p < 0.01), total organic carbon (r = −0.245, p < 0.05), and stabile carbon fractions (r = −0.250, p < 0.05). In the case of soil organic carbon, tillage system was mainly correlated with soil texture. Tillage had no influence on soils with lower proportions of silt. On the whole, the suitability of the tillage system for a specific soil type depended on soil productivity and soil texture; however, EG was an exception and showed no differences in response to the tillage system used. The results of this study show that the main factors influencing the choice of tillage system are soil type and genesis, soil texture, and soil production ability. Full article

Aggregate stability is a crucial factor in predicting the development of the erosion process, and it is particularly important in landscapes with high heterogeneity of soil cover, such as young hummocky moraine uplands. The objective of the presented work was to estimate the influence of erosion on the properties of aggregates and analyze the variation of aggregate stability under different erosion-related alterations of soil cover. The conducted research indicates that erosion has led to a deterioration of the quality of soil structure in the upper parts of the slopes, which in turn may intensify the slope processes leading to faster truncation of the pedons. Both the differentiation of the soils themselves and the stability of the aggregates were very strongly linked to erosive transformations. The tops of the hills and the upper parts of the slopes are covered with completely or strongly eroded soils in which the aggregates have the least favorable characteristics. Due to the smallest amount of humus and the highest clay content, the soils have the largest share of soil clods, which are aggregates larger than 7 mm that may have formed in dry conditions (soil drought). The plow horizons of most eroded Eutric Regosols and strongly eroded Luvisols have very poor water resistance, similar to that of the subsoils. The main factor determining the low aggregate stability of Eutric Regosols is the number of secondary carbonates that lead to a rise in soil dispersion. Strongly eroded Haplic Luvisols have a low resistance to water due to relatively high clay content (20–26 percent). The higher stability of aggregates in soils with colluvial materials (Albic Luvisols, Mollic Gleysols, Endogleic Phaeozems) depends mainly on soil organic carbon content. The results showed the necessity for adaptation of land management practices to real condition and heterogeneity of soil cover. Full article

Adoption of crop residue amendments has been increasingly recommended as an effective management practice for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions while enhancing soil fertility, thereby increasing crop production. However, the effect of biochar and straw on nitrous oxide (N₂O) and methane (CH₄) emissions in soils of differing pH remains poorly understood. Three treatments (control (i.e., no amendment), maize straw, and biochar derived from maize straw) were therefore established separately in soils with different pH levels, classified as follows: acidic, neutral, and alkaline. N₂O and CH₄ were investigated using a static chamber–gas chromatography system during 57 days of a mesocosm study. The results showed that cumulative N₂O emissions were significantly higher in acidic soils than in other experimental soils, with the values ranging from 7.48 to 11.3 kg N ha⁻¹, while CH₄ fluxes ranged from 0.060 to 0.089 kg C ha⁻¹, with inconclusive results. However, a weak negative correlation was observed between log N₂O and log NO₃-N in acidic soil with either biochar or straw, while the same parameters with CH₄ showed a moderate negative correlation, suggesting a likelihood that these amendments could mitigate GHGs as a result of the NO₃-N increase in acidic soils. It is also possible, given the alkaline nature of the biochar, that incorporation had a significant buffer effect on soil acidity, effectively increasing soil pH by >0.5 pH units. Our findings suggest that for the rates of application for biochar and straw used in this study, the magnitude of reductions in the emissions of N₂O and CH₄ are dependent in part on initial soil pH. Full article

Characterizing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and global warming potential (GWP) has become a key step in the estimation of atmospheric GHG concentrations and their potential mitigation by cropland management. However, the impacts of organic amendments on GHG, GWP, and yield-scaled GWP on cropland have not been well documented. Here, we investigate four amendment treatments (no amendment, mineral fertilizers, and pig slurry or crop residue combined with mineral fertilizers) during a two-year field experiment in rain-fed wheat-maize cropping systems. The results show that the average annual cumulative methane (CH₄) flux ranged from −2.60 to −2.97 kg·C·ha⁻¹ while nitrous oxide (N₂O) flux ranged from 0.44 to 4.58 kg·N·ha⁻¹ across all four treatments. N₂O emissions were significantly correlated with soil inorganic nitrogen (i.e., NH₄⁺-N and NO₃⁻-N), and soil dissolved organic carbon (DOC) during both the winter wheat and summer maize seasons. On average, organic amendments combined with mineral fertilizers increased the annual GWP by 26–74% and yield-scaled GWP by 19–71% compared to those under only mineral fertilizers application. This study indicates that the fertilization strategy for Eutric Regosols can shift from only mineral fertilizers to organic amendments combined with mineral fertilizers, which can help mitigate GHG emissions and GWP while maintaining crop yields. Full article