Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Yun CAO Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing, P.R. China Author-Name: MA Yan Author-Name: Dejie GUO Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing, P.R. China Author-Name: Qiujun WANG Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing, P.R. China Author-Name: Guangfei WANG Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing, P.R. China Title: Chemical properties and microbial responses to biochar and compost amendments in the soil under continuous watermelon cropping Abstract: Biochar added to soil can improve crop growth and productivity. However, the mechanisms of crop growth improvement by biochar application are not well understood, particularly in the presence of soil-borne pathogens caused by continuous monocropping. Thus, a two-year field experiment was carried out to study the chemical and microbiological response of Lixisols (pH 5.8) to the amendment of biochar and its effect on watermelon productivity and Fusarium wilt disease incidence. Biochar was added alone or together with compost before watermelon transplanting. Mixed application of biochar with compost significantly increased watermelon yield as compared to adding compost or biochar alone. However, biochar had no effects on Fusarium wilt disease incidence in both years. Combined application of biochar with compost significantly increased contents of soil NH4+-N, available phosphorus (P) and available potassium (K). Soil Biolog data indicated that the Shannon-Weaver diversity index and evenness index were increased significantly in the combined application of biochar with the compost treatment. There was a significant positive correlation between watermelon yield and soil NH4+-N, available P, available K, microbial diversity or microbial evenness in the continuous watermelon monocropping system. Keywords: soil fertility, organic amendment, microbial community, fungal disease, crop productivity Journal: Plant, Soil and Environment Pages: 1-7 Volume: 63 Issue: 1 Year: 2017 DOI: 10.17221/141/2016-PSE File-URL: http://pse.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/141/2016-PSE.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/pse-201701-0001.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlpse:v:63:y:2017:i:1:id:141-2016-PSE Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Jan HORÁČEK Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Applied Plant Biotechnologies, Faculty of Agronomy, University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice, Czech Republic Author-Name: Pavel NOVÁK Author-Workplace-Name: Research Institute for Soil and Water Conservation, Prague, Czech Republic Author-Name: Peter LIEBHARD Author-Workplace-Name: Division of Agronomy, Department of Crop Sciences, BOKU University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria Author-Name: Eduard STROSSER Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Applied Plant Biotechnologies, Faculty of Agronomy, University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice, Czech Republic Author-Name: Mária BABULICOVÁ Author-Workplace-Name: Agricultural and Food Centre - Research Institute for Plant Production Piešťany, Piešťany, Slovak Republic Title: The long-term changes in soil organic matter contents and quality in Chernozems Abstract: For the purposes of assessment of long-term changes, two sets of Chernozems soil samples were analysed and compared in parallel: 'old' file samples obtained during the Soil Survey 1960-1970 in the former Czechoslovakia and a 'present' (2013) set of samples from exactly the same sites as the archive samples. The recently collected samples revealed worse qualitative parameters (lower humic acid to fulvic acid (HA/FA) ratios and higher colour quotient Q4/6 values) than the file samples, for all the localities. On the other side, the quantitative soil organic matter (SOM) parameters (oxidizable carbon (Cox) and all its determined components) showed contrary results. The amount of total SOM at the same sites is higher now than it was about 50 years ago. It can be concluded that the current decline in SOM quality in Chernozems is partly compensated for by higher accumulation of SOM in the soils. All the analysed Chernozem samples were found to have much worse qualitative SOM parameters than the values mentioned for this soil type in the older literature. However, a comparison of the current data and the file data of Chernozem SOM quality can still be considered an open issue and require more complex research. Keywords: soil organic matter quantity and quality, soil organic matter changes in time, organic substances Journal: Plant, Soil and Environment Pages: 8-13 Volume: 63 Issue: 1 Year: 2017 DOI: 10.17221/274/2016-PSE File-URL: http://pse.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/274/2016-PSE.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/pse-201701-0002.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlpse:v:63:y:2017:i:1:id:274-2016-PSE Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Shirley LAMPTEY Author-Workplace-Name: Gansu Provincial Key Lab of Arid Land Crop Science, Lanzhou, P.R. China Author-Workplace-Name: College of Agronomy, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou, P.R. China Author-Name: LI Lingling Author-Workplace-Name: Gansu Provincial Key Lab of Arid Land Crop Science, Lanzhou, P.R. China Author-Workplace-Name: College of Agronomy, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou, P.R. China Author-Name: Junhong XIE Author-Workplace-Name: Gansu Provincial Key Lab of Arid Land Crop Science, Lanzhou, P.R. China Author-Workplace-Name: College of Agronomy, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou, P.R. China Author-Name: Renzhi ZHANG Author-Workplace-Name: Gansu Provincial Key Lab of Arid Land Crop Science, Lanzhou, P.R. China Author-Workplace-Name: College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Gansu Agricultural University Author-Name: Zhuzhu LUO Author-Workplace-Name: Gansu Provincial Key Lab of Arid Land Crop Science, Lanzhou, P.R. China Author-Workplace-Name: College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Gansu Agricultural University Author-Name: Liqun CAI Author-Workplace-Name: Gansu Provincial Key Lab of Arid Land Crop Science, Lanzhou, P.R. China Author-Workplace-Name: College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Gansu Agricultural University Author-Name: Jie LIU Author-Workplace-Name: Gansu Provincial Key Lab of Arid Land Crop Science, Lanzhou, P.R. China Author-Workplace-Name: College of Agronomy, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou, P.R. China Title: Soil respiration and net ecosystem production under different tillage practices in semi-arid Northwest China Abstract: In semi-arid areas, increasing CO2 emissions are threatening agricultural sustainability. It is unclear whether different tillage practices without residue returned could help alleviate these issues while increasing crop productivity. This study aimed to quantify soil respiration under conventional tillage (CT); rotary tillage (RT); subsoiling (SS) and no-till (NT), all without residue returned in the Western Loess Plateau. The results showed that SS and NT significantly decreased soil respiration compared to CT, but the effects of SS was the greatest. As a result, SS decreased carbon emission by 22% in 2014 and 19% in 2015 versus CT. The trends of net ecosystem production under different tillage systems were as follows: CT > RT > NT > SS. No-till increased net ecosystem production by 33% in 2014 and 12% in 2015 relative to CT. The SS treatment increased average grain yield by 27% and 23% over CT and RT, and enhanced water use efficiency by an average of 43%. On average, SS increased carbon emission efficiency by 60% and 43% compared to CT and RT, respectively. Thus, subsoiling management strategy is a promising option for the development of sustainable agriculture in semi-arid areas. Keywords: greenhouse gas, no tillage, carbon sequestration, crop productivity Journal: Plant, Soil and Environment Pages: 14-21 Volume: 63 Issue: 1 Year: 2017 DOI: 10.17221/403/2016-PSE File-URL: http://pse.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/403/2016-PSE.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/pse-201701-0003.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlpse:v:63:y:2017:i:1:id:403-2016-PSE Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Yunqi WANG Author-Workplace-Name: College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, P.R. China Author-Name: Yinghua ZHANG Author-Name: Zhimin WANG Author-Workplace-Name: College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, P.R. China Author-Name: Hongbin TAO Author-Workplace-Name: College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, P.R. China Author-Name: Shunli ZHOU Author-Workplace-Name: College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, P.R. China Author-Name: Pu WANG Author-Workplace-Name: College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, P.R. China Title: Effects of winter wheat season tillage on soil properties and yield of summer maize Abstract: The North China Plain (NCP) serves as China's second most important maize production region. Rotary tillage, a popular method used in winter wheat/summer maize systems in the region, has adverse effects on maize production. The current study was conducted to determine whether rotary tillage after subsoiling in the winter wheat season (RS) improves the grain-filling rate and yield of summer maize by decreasing soil bulk density, when compared with rotary tillage (R), in the NCP. The RS treatment decreased soil bulk density and increased soil moisture in the summer maize season when compared with the R treatment. Root number under the RS treatment at 8 collar and silking stages was 22.4-35.3% and 8.0-11.7% greater than under the R treatment, respectively. The RS treatment significantly enhanced the grain-filling rate and grain weight as compared to the R treatment. Yield, thousand grain weight, biomass, and harvest index under the RS treatment were 7.7, 7.2, 2.3 and 5.3% higher than under the R treatment. Thousands grain weight was correlated with soil bulk density and soil moisture after silking. Consequently, the increase in grain weight and yield of summer maize resulted from the decrease in soil bulk density and a consequent increase in soil moisture, root number and grain-filling rate. Keywords: Triticum aestivum, Zea mays, cropping system, soil environment, degradation Journal: Plant, Soil and Environment Pages: 22-28 Volume: 63 Issue: 1 Year: 2017 DOI: 10.17221/692/2016-PSE File-URL: http://pse.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/692/2016-PSE.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/pse-201701-0004.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlpse:v:63:y:2017:i:1:id:692-2016-PSE Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Rodrigo Santos MOREIRA Author-Name: Marcio Koiti CHIBA Author-Workplace-Name: Agronomic Institute of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil Author-Name: Stefany Batista NUNES Author-Workplace-Name: Agronomic Institute of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil Author-Name: Isabella Clerici de MARIA Author-Workplace-Name: Agronomic Institute of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil Title: Air-drying pretreatment effect on soil enzymatic activity Abstract: Air-drying of soil samples is a common practice for all-purpose soil testing. However, it may cause the cessation of microbial activity changing the biochemical attributes. For this reason, field-moist samples are commonly used in the assessment of the enzyme activity in soils. This practice may, therefore, discourage the use of enzymes in soil quality evaluations. This study evaluated the effects of air-drying on cellulase, arylsulfatase and acid phosphatase activities in soil; the hypothesis was that the activities of these enzymes determined in air-dried soil samples are similar to those obtained at field-moist samples. Soil samples were collected (0-10 cm) in a long-term experiment that received two rates (10 and 20 t/ha) of sewage sludge and mineral fertilizer and was cropped with maize. Collected soil samples were split into two groups. In the first one, the enzymes were determined at field-moist samples, while in the second one, the samples were air-dried before enzymatic analyses. Acid phosphatase was significantly affected by air-drying while the arylsulfatase activity hardly changed. The results showed that the enzymes determined in air-dried soil samples hold the capacity to identify different organic management and can, potentially, be used as soil quality indicators. Keywords: soil enzymes, agroecosystems, biochemical parameter, soil fertility, moisture, microbial community Journal: Plant, Soil and Environment Pages: 29-33 Volume: 63 Issue: 1 Year: 2017 DOI: 10.17221/656/2016-PSE File-URL: http://pse.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/656/2016-PSE.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/pse-201701-0005.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlpse:v:63:y:2017:i:1:id:656-2016-PSE Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Branka KRESOVIĆ Author-Workplace-Name: Maize Research Institute Zemun Polje, Belgrade, Serbia Author-Name: Bosko Andrija GAJIC Author-Workplace-Name: University of Belgrade, Faculty of Agriculture, Belgrade, Serbia Author-Name: Angelina TAPANAROVA Author-Workplace-Name: University of Belgrade, Faculty of Agriculture, Belgrade, Serbia Author-Name: Goran DUGALIĆ Author-Workplace-Name: University of Kragujevac, Faculty of Agronomy Čačak, Čačak Title: Yield and chemical composition of soybean seed under different irrigation regimes in the Vojvodina region Abstract: The goal of the present research is to determine an effective sprinkler irrigation strategy for soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] in temperate climate conditions, in order to maximize yields and seed quality. A three-year field experiment with four different irrigation treatments was conducted on Calcic Chernozem in the Vojvodina region of Serbia. The irrigation regimes included: no irrigation; full irrigation (I100); and two deficit irrigation treatments - 65% of I100 (I65) and 40% of I100. The irrigation treatments generally had a statistically significant effect on the increase of soybean yield and protein content. Irrigation did not have a significant effect on the oil content. In general, irrigation increased K, P, Mg, Mn, Cu, Zn and B concentrations and decreased Ca and Fe concentrations in soybean seed. The results show that irrigation with the largest amount of water (treatment I100) provided no potential benefit in terms of soybean yield and chemical composition. Treatment I65, which exhibited the most favourable watering conditions, is the best choice to maximize yield and ensure a good chemical composition of soybean under these agroecological conditions. Keywords: water deficit, nutritional composition, micronutrient, macroelement, mineral content Journal: Plant, Soil and Environment Pages: 34-39 Volume: 63 Issue: 1 Year: 2017 DOI: 10.17221/673/2016-PSE File-URL: http://pse.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/673/2016-PSE.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/pse-201701-0006.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlpse:v:63:y:2017:i:1:id:673-2016-PSE Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Krystyna RYKACZEWSKA Author-Workplace-Name: Plant Breeding and Acclimatization Institute - National Research Institute, Department of Potato Agronomy, Research Centre in Jadwisin, Serock, Poland Title: Impact of heat and drought stresses on size and quality of the potato yield Abstract: Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is a plant typical mainly for temperate climate and develops best at about 20°C. Heat stress due to increased temperatures is an agricultural problem in many areas in the world. The aim of our work was to assess the response of selected new potato cultivars to heat and drought stress during the subsequent stages of plant growth starting from buds forming. The pot experiment was carried out over the course of two years with the following early cultivars: Lord, Miłek, Gwiazda, Hubal, Oberon and Tetyda. The impact of heat (38°C/25°C) and drought stress on potato plants was tested in four periods of two weeks. In these periods half of the plants were watered to a level close to optimal while the other half remained without irrigation. Our studies demonstrated that tested potato cultivars' response to heat stress depends on the growth stage, in which the temperature acts on the plants and on the soil moisture. Besides the decrease in yield and tubers' diminution, the biggest problem was the presence of tubers with physiological defects, particularly of immature tubers. The response of cultivars was differentiated. Keywords: global warming, period of high temperature, reduction in economic potato yield, second tuberization, chlorophyll a fluorescence Journal: Plant, Soil and Environment Pages: 40-46 Volume: 63 Issue: 1 Year: 2017 DOI: 10.17221/691/2016-PSE File-URL: http://pse.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/691/2016-PSE.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/pse-201701-0007.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlpse:v:63:y:2017:i:1:id:691-2016-PSE