Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: J. Qin Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, P.R. China Author-Name: X. Wang Author-Workplace-Name: Nanjing Institute of Environment Science, MEP, Nanjing, P.R. China Author-Name: F. Hu Author-Workplace-Name: College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Author-Name: H. Li Author-Workplace-Name: College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Title: Growth and physiological performance responses to drought stress under non-flooded rice cultivation with straw mulching Abstract: A field experiment was performed to investigate the growth performance and the growth stage-dependent changes in activities of antioxidative enzymes and concentration of malondialdehyde (MDA) in leaves of rice subjected to treatment with (NF-M) or without straw mulching (NF-WM) under non-flooded conditions compared with continuously flooded treatment (CF). Compared with the NF-WM treatment, mulch application significantly increased the flag leaf area per plant before heading, tillers number and plant height at the early period of tillering stage. There was no significant difference between the yield of the NF-WM and CF treatment. However, the yield of NF-WM treatment was significantly lower than CF and NF-M treatments. Significantly higher activities of peroxidase (POD) and catalase (CAT) but lower concentration of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and malondialdehyde (MDA) were observed in straw mulching treatment than in treatment without mulching at elongation, heading and grain filling stages. The change tendency of antioxidant enzyme activity and MDA level was in line both with soil moisture status and rice yields of different treatments. Keywords: non-flooded rice, straw mulching, drought stress, antioxidant enzymes, yield Journal: Plant, Soil and Environment Pages: 51-59 Volume: 56 Issue: 2 Year: 2010 DOI: 10.17221/157/2009-PSE File-URL: http://pse.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/157/2009-PSE.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/pse-201002-0001.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlpse:v:56:y:2010:i:2:id:157-2009-PSE Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Y.E. Chen Author-Workplace-Name: Key Laboratory of Bio-resources and Eco-environment, College of Life Sciences, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, P.R. China Author-Name: S. Yuan Author-Workplace-Name: Laboratory of Plant Physiology, College of Life Sciences, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Author-Name: Y.Q. Su Author-Workplace-Name: Key Laboratory of Bio-resources and Eco-environment, College of Life Sciences, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, P.R. China Author-Name: L. Wang Author-Workplace-Name: Key Laboratory of Bio-resources and Eco-environment, College of Life Sciences, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, P.R. China Title: Comparison of heavy metal accumulation capacity of some indigenous mosses in Southwest China cities: a case study in Chengdu city Abstract: In order to evaluate the accumulation capacity of heavy metals in mosses, the total contents of eight elements (Cu, Zn, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, Cd, Cr) determined by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectrometry (ICP-AES) and Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry (AAS) methods were compared in four types of indigenous mosses (Brachythecium plumosum, Eurhynchium laxirete, Taxiphyllum taxirameum, Haplocladium strictulum), which were collected from different sampling sites in the Chengdu city, China. The study found that heavy metal concentrations showed significant differences in interspecies and intraspecies comparison, while the accumulation capacity of T. taxirameum was higher than others. ANOVA analysis indicated that the atmospheric pollution of heavy metals in Wangjiang Park was relatively more serious than that of Ta Zishan Park and Cultural Park. The data also showed that the concentrations of heavy metals in the Chengdu city were higher compared to some foreign cities. The results are coincident with the previous conclusions that the difference of heavy metal depositions in mosses was not only related to environment, but also to their biological features. Keywords: moss, accumulation capacity, interspecies, intraspecies, heavy metals Journal: Plant, Soil and Environment Pages: 60-66 Volume: 56 Issue: 2 Year: 2010 DOI: 10.17221/160/2009-PSE File-URL: http://pse.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/160/2009-PSE.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/pse-201002-0002.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlpse:v:56:y:2010:i:2:id:160-2009-PSE Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: M.H. Biglouei Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Irrigation Engineering, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran Author-Name: M.H. Assimi Author-Workplace-Name: Guilan Tobacco Research Center, Rasht, Iran Author-Name: A. Akbarzadeh Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Soil Science, Faculty of Water and Soil Engineering, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran Title: Effect of water stress at different growth stages on quantity and quality traits of Virginia (flue-cured) tobacco type Abstract: A field research was carried out in the years of 2005, 2006 and 2007 in order to determine the effect of irrigation and water stress imposed at different growth stages on quantity and quality traits of Virginia tobacco plants. A randomized complete block design with four treatments and three replications was applied at the Rasht tobacco research station. Treatments were: no irrigation (dryland farming) as the complete water stress (WS0), water stress till the end of flower bud forming stage (WS1), water stress till the end of flowering stage (WS2) and full irrigation (WS3) as control in each cropping season. The combined analysis of variance showed that the effect of water stress on all the traits related to yield, quality traits and all the traits related to yield components except number of leaves, was significant (P < 0.01). The interaction between year and water stress showed that the treatment of WS0 in all three experimental years significantly (P < 0.05) affected the fresh and dry leaf yield, plant height and sugar and nicotine percentage. The comparison of means of three years (average of three years) also revealed that the treatment of WS0 significantly (P < 0.05) affected all of the traits which were related to tobacco quantity and quality except for the number of leaves. Moreover, the level of water productivity in recognition of each water volume unit for three experimental years for the treatments of WS1, WS2 and WS3 were 1.223, 0.873 and 0.594 kg/m3, respectively, in the case of average dry leaf yield. Consequently, the results indicate that with optimizing irrigation application we can reach the higher level of productivity. Keywords: tobacco, water stress, quantity and quality traits Journal: Plant, Soil and Environment Pages: 67-75 Volume: 56 Issue: 2 Year: 2010 DOI: 10.17221/163/2009-PSE File-URL: http://pse.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/163/2009-PSE.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/pse-201002-0003.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlpse:v:56:y:2010:i:2:id:163-2009-PSE Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: R.K. Verma Author-Workplace-Name: R.B.S. College Bichpuri, Campus Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India Author-Name: D.V. Yadav Author-Workplace-Name: R.B.S. College Bichpuri, Campus Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India Author-Name: C.P. Singh Author-Workplace-Name: R.B.S. College Bichpuri, Campus Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India Author-Name: A. Suman Author-Workplace-Name: R.B.S. College Bichpuri, Campus Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India Author-Name: A. Gaur Author-Workplace-Name: R.B.S. College Bichpuri, Campus Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India Title: Effect of heavy metals on soil respiration during decomposition of sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) trash in different soils Abstract: An experiment was conducted to study the effect of heavy metals (Cd, Cr and Pb), soil texture (sandy, loam and clay) and incubation periods (7, 15, 30, 60, 90 and 120 days) on soil respiration (CO2 evolution) during sugarcane trash decomposition in laboratory conditions of the Indian Institute of Sugarcane Research, Lucknow, India. Surface soils (0-15 cm) were collected from agricultural fields and crop residue of sugarcane trash (Saccharum officinarum L.) was taken in the institute farm. Crop residue (10 t/ha) and heavy metals (10, 50, 100, 1000 μg/g) were mixed and incubated at 30°C ± 2°C in an incubator. The rate of soil respiration (CO2 evolution) decreased with increasing heavy metals concentration. During the 120 days, the toxicity decreased but still remained significant. Maximum soil respiration was recorded at 7 days of incubation period; further, it decreased with increasing incubation period. The highest drop of soil respiration rate was caused by addition of 1000 μg/g Cd, Cr and Pb levels. Clay soils evolved maximum CO2 followed by loam and sandy soil. Keywords: soil respiration, sugarcane trash, CO2 evolution, heavy metals Journal: Plant, Soil and Environment Pages: 76-81 Volume: 56 Issue: 2 Year: 2010 DOI: 10.17221/1773-PSE File-URL: http://pse.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/1773-PSE.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/pse-201002-0004.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlpse:v:56:y:2010:i:2:id:1773-PSE Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: V. Oslovičová Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Sciences, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Nitra, Slovak Republic Author-Name: Z. Gálová Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Sciences, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Nitra, Slovak Republic Author-Name: M. Chňapek Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Sciences, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Nitra, Slovak Republic Author-Name: Ž. Balážová Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Sciences, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Nitra, Slovak Republic Title: Identification of Triticum aestivum L., Triticum spelta L. and Triticum durum DESF. genotypes on the HMW-GS base Abstract: The main goal of this work was to identify genotypes of three wheat species Triticum aestivum L., Triticum spelta L., Triticum durum DESF.) on the basis of individual high-molecular-weight glutenin subunits (HMW-GS) and to predict their technological quality. Detection of HMW-GS was carried out by the standard reference method ISTA SDS-PAGE and the Glu-score was calculated according to the catalogue of alleles for HMW-GS. Among the common wheat varieties the highest Glu-score (10) was determined for the cultivars Axis, Istra and Solara. The most frequently occurring HMW-GS in genotypes of Triticum aestivum L. were 0; 7 + 9; 5 + 10. On the other hand, in the spelt wheat the highest frequency of HMW-GS was detected for 2*; 6 + 8; 2 + 12. The Glu-score for Triticum spelta L. genotypes ranged from 6 to 8. Among the Triticum durum DESF. cultivars, up to 71% were characterized by Glu-score 4, which predetermines them for special baking purposes. The most frequent combination of HMW-GS in durum wheat was 0 and 7 + 8. Thus, SDS PAGE of HMW-GS can be used for identification, differentiation and characterization of different species of wheat and for prediction of bread-making quality of wheat. Keywords: Triticum aestivum L., HMW-GS, Glu-score, SDS-PAGE Journal: Plant, Soil and Environment Pages: 82-86 Volume: 56 Issue: 2 Year: 2010 DOI: 10.17221/2435-PSE File-URL: http://pse.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/2435-PSE.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/pse-201002-0005.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlpse:v:56:y:2010:i:2:id:2435-PSE Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: X.B. Liu Author-Workplace-Name: Laboratory of Black Soil Ecology, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Harbin, P.R. China Author-Name: X.Y. Zhang Author-Workplace-Name: Laboratory of Black Soil Ecology, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Harbin, P.R. China Author-Name: Y.X. Wang Author-Workplace-Name: Heilongjiang Institute of Water and Soil Conservation, Harbin, P.R. China Author-Name: Y.Y. Sui Author-Workplace-Name: Laboratory of Black Soil Ecology, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Harbin, P.R. China Author-Name: S.L. Zhang Author-Workplace-Name: Laboratory of Black Soil Ecology, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Harbin, P.R. China Author-Name: S.J. Herbert Author-Workplace-Name: Center for Agriculture, College of Natural Sciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, USA Author-Name: G. Ding Author-Workplace-Name: Northern State University, Aberdeen, SD, USA Title: Soil degradation: a problem threatening the sustainable development of agriculture in Northeast China Abstract: Soil degradation that results from erosion, losses of organic matter and nutrients, or soil compaction are of great concern in every agricultural region of the world. The control of soil erosion and loss of organic matter has been proposed as critical to agricultural and environmental sustainability of Northeast China. This region is bread basket of China where the fertile and productive soils, Mollisols (also called Black soils), are primarily distributed. In this paper, we introduce the importance of Northeast China's grain production to China, and describe the changes of sown acreage and grain production in past decades. This paper also summarizes the distribution, area and intensity of water erosion, changes in the number of gullies and gully density, thickness of top soil layer, soil organic matter content, bulk density, field water holding capacity, and infiltration rates; the number of soil microorganism and main enzyme activities from soil erosion in the region are also summarized. The moderately and severely water-eroded area accounted for 31.4% and 7.9% of the total, and annual declining rate is 1.8%. Erosion rate is 1.24-2.41 mm/year, and soil loss in 1°, 5° and 15° sloping farmlands is 3 t/ha/year, 78 t/ha/year and 220.5 t/ha/year, respectively. SOC content of uncultivated soil was nearly twice that of soil with a 50-year cultivation history, and the average annual declining rate of soil organic matter was 0.5%. Proper adoption of crop rotation can increase or maintain the quantity and quality of soil organic matter, and improve soil chemical and physical properties. Proposed strategies for erosion control, in particular how tillage management, terraces and strip cultivation, or soil amendments contribute to maintain or restore the productivity of severely eroded farmland, are discussed in the context of agricultural sustainability with an emphasis on the Chinese Mollisols. Keywords: soil loss, erosion control strategies, agricultural sustainability, water erosion, organic matter, Mollisol Journal: Plant, Soil and Environment Pages: 87-97 Volume: 56 Issue: 2 Year: 2010 DOI: 10.17221/155/2009-PSE File-URL: http://pse.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/155/2009-PSE.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/pse-201002-0006.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlpse:v:56:y:2010:i:2:id:155-2009-PSE