The northern region of Piaui state is an important center of irrigated organic fruit farming, wherein sandy soils with low organic matter content are predominant, besides climate with high temperatures, long periods of water deficit and constant wind. Given this situation, it becomes necessary to investigate alternative management options able to meet the challenges of agricultural productivity. In this context, green manuring becomes an important practice, mainly when using fast-growing species and with great potential for biomass production. Thus, a study was carried out at Embrapa Meio-Norte to measure Crotalaria juncea biomass yield after thinning and at various sowing densities. The evaluated parameters were plant height, stem diameter, number of branches per plant, fresh and dry weight of shoots and roots. The results showed that sowing density had no influence on plant height; however, unthinned plants reached greater heights, which might have been due to reduced competition for light. Thinning had no effect on diameters of plant stem base; on the other hand, lower planting densities promoted larger diameters also due to less competition. Likewise, the number of branches per plant was not affected by thinning, being greater at lower planting densities on account of less competition. Thinned plants achieved higher averages of fresh shoot weight. Nevertheless, shoot dry biomass was greater at higher planting densities. Furthermore, both fresh and dry weight of roots were not influenced by any of the adopted treatments.

Climate change is expected to impact the water cycle and severely affect precipitation patterns across central Europe and in other parts of the world, leading to more frequent and severe droughts. Usually when projecting drought impacts on hydrological systems, it is assumed that system properties, like soil properties, remain stable and will not be affected by drought events. To study if this assumption is appropriate, we address the effects of drought on the infiltration behavior of forest soils using dye tracer experiments on six sites in three regions across Germany, which were forced into drought conditions. The sites cover clayey-, loamy- and sandy-textured soils. In each region, we compared a deciduous and a coniferous forest stand to address differences between the main tree species. The results of the dye tracer experiments show clear evidence for changes in infiltration behavior at the sites. The infiltration changed at the clayey plots from regular and homogeneous flow to fast preferential flow. Similar behavior was observed at the loamy plots, where large areas in the upper layers remained dry, displaying signs of strong water repellency. This was confirmed by water drop penetration time (WDPT) tests, which revealed, in all except one plot, moderate to severe water repellency. Water repellency was also accountable for the change of regular infiltration to fingered flow in the sandy soils. The results of this study suggest that the drought history or, more generally, the climatic conditions of a soil in the past are more important than the actual antecedent soil moisture status regarding hydrophobicity and infiltration behavior; furthermore, drought effects on infiltration need to be considered in hydrological models to obtain realistic predictions concerning water quality and quantity in runoff and groundwater recharge.

The management of agroecosystems plays a crucial role in the global carbon cycle with soil tillage leading to known organic carbon redistributions within soils and changes in soil CO2 emissions. Yet, discrepancies exist on the impact of tillage on soil CO2 emissions and on the main soil and environmental controls. A meta-analysis was conducted using 46 peer-reviewed publications totaling 174 paired observations comparing CO2 emissions over entire seasons or years from tilled and untilled soils across different climates, crop types and soil conditions with the objective of quantifying tillage impact on CO2 emissions and assessing the main controls. On average, tilled soils emitted 21aEuro-% more CO2 than untilled soils, which corresponded to a significant difference at P aEuro-3aEuro-%). Finally, nitrogen fertilization and crop residue management had little effect on the CO2 responses of soils to no-tillage. These results suggest no-tillage is an effective mitigation measure of carbon dioxide losses from dry land soils. They emphasize the importance of including information on soil factors such as texture, aggregate stability and organic carbon content in global models of the carbon cycle.

Karst rocky desertification occurs after vegetation deteriorates as a result of intensive land use, which leads to severe water loss and soil erosion and exposes basement rocks, creating a rocky landscape. Karst rocky desertification is found in humid areas in southwest China, the region most seriously affected by rocky desertification in the world. In order to promote ecological restoration and help peasants out of poverty, the Chinese government carried out the first phase of a rocky desertification control project from 2006 to 2015, which initially contained the expansion of rocky desertification. Currently, the Chinese government is prepared to implement the second phase of the rocky desertification control project, and therefore it is essential to summarise the lessons learned over the last 10 years of the first phase. In this paper, we analyse the driving social and economic factors behind rocky desertification, summarise the scientific research on rocky desertification in the region, and finally identify the main problems facing rocky desertification control. In addition, we put forward several policy suggestions that take into account the perspective of local peasants, scientific research, and China's economic development and urbanisation process. These suggestions include promoting the non-agriculturalization of household livelihoods, improving ecological compensation, strengthening the evaluation of rocky desertification control and dynamic monitoring, and strengthening research on key ecological function recovery technologies and supporting technologies.

This study aimed to evaluate the use of hydro polymer retainer in the quantitative growth of coffee plants at different levels of irrigation and soil types. The experiment was conducted in pots with seedlings bag in the greenhouse of the Setor de Cafeicultura, Universidade Federal de Lavras. The experimental design was in randomized blocks in factorial (2x4x2): absence or presence of hydro polymer retainer, four levels of irrigation (25%, 50%, 75% and 100%), two soil types (sandy soil and medium texture). At 150 days evaluated the stem diameter, plant height, leaf area, number of leaves, dry weight of shoots, plant dry mass, root dry weight, root dry weight ratio of shoot, leaf area ratio, absolute growth rate, relative growth rate, net assimilation rate and leaf area index. It was concluded that the polymer hydro retainer hydrated favored the growth of coffee plants and irrigation promoted greater growth of coffee in medium textured soil compared to soils with sandy texture.

Chemical composition of Egyptian Iphiona scabra (DC) essential oil has a very few studies, so, this present investigation was carried out to study the essential oil content and chemical composition of Iphiona scabra (DC) plants as a new natural source of essential oil. Plant material was collected from wild plant populations of Iphiona scabra (DC) [family Compositae (Astraceae)]: growing in sandy soils on Gebel Elba region approximately 1200 km south of Cairo. The essential oils obtained by water distillation from dry aerial parts of Iphiona scabra (DC). The percentage of essential oil was 0.2%. Seventeen constituents representing 86% of the Egyptian Iphiona scabra (DC) essential oil were identified. The major components of Egyptian Iphiona scabra (DC) essential are alpha-cadinol (29.0%), gamma-muurolene (23.5%), alpha-eudesmol (8.0%), beta-gurjunene (7.0%), cis-nerolidol (6.4%) and delta-cadinene (3.1%). Minor component is limonene (0.2%). It is evident that the oxygenated sesquiterpene reached its highest concentrations (49.7%), followed by sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (34.6%) in essential oil compared with the other chemical classes' monoterpene hydrocarbons (1.7) and oxygenated monoterpene (0.9%). It may report that the essential oil obtained from dry aerial parts of Egyptian Iphiona scabra (DC) belongs to the alpha-cadinol chemo-type. (c) All Rights Reserved

Five treatments were performed to examine the effects of biochar and compost, applied separately or in combination, on plant growth of mung bean (Vigna radiata) and soil properties in a semi-arid area of northeast China. The results showed that biochar and compost produced positive impacts on both the plants and the soil, with these effects dependent upon the biochar to compost ratios. In addition, the changes in biomass and growth indices vary according to the growing phases: with the medium to late growing phases showing more prominent responses than the early phase. The total organic carbon and electric conductivity were increased by the soil amendments, especially in the biochar-compost combination treatments (P<0.05). Addition of biochar-compost lowered the soil bulk density relative to the control (P<0.05). Also notably, the biochar-compost treatment enhanced the water holding capacity, which is highly desirable for sandy soils. In short, synergic effects of biochar and compost were documented in promoting plant growth, biomass accumulation, yield and in improving soil properties. (C) 2016 Friends Science Publishers

A new borehole in Rozce (SW Mazovian Lowland) drilled in 2012, combined with a wide variety of research methods (palaeomagnetism, palynological analysis, studies of plant macroremains and textural features of deposits) shed new light on the age and stratigraphic position of the Early Pleistocene deposits, formerly assigned as the Lower Pleistocene. The study focuses on the deposits from 50.7-104.0 m depth, between glacial till of the Nidanian Glaciation (ca. 0.9 Ma) and the Poznan Clays (ca. 5.322 Ma). The deposits situated directly underneath the till (50.7-60.2 m) are related to the Nidanian Glaciation and show a reversed polarity and correlate with the end of the Matuyama Epoch. The deposits from 60.2-104.0 m depth were accumulated during the Early Pliocene, i.e. approximately 5.332-4.6 million years ago. They appear to correlate with the middle part of the Gilbert Palaeomagnetic Epoch and thus they are considerably older than previously thought. The cored indicates a stratigraphic gap of about 3.5 Ma from the Lower Pliocene to the first advance of the Scandinavian ice sheets into Poland, which are thought to have occurred in the early Middle Pleistocene. The analysed deposits accumulated under variable climatic conditions showing two periods with significant aridity alternated with two periods of increased humidity. Deposits of the arid periods contain no pollen, but aeolian sand quartz grains are found. During periods of more humid climate the area was covered by various types of mixed forest.

The Saharan regions of Algeria are characterized by a hot and dry climate. The most used cement materials such as the concrete or the mortar blocks have bad thermal characteristic. However, these regions have several local materials: clay, dune sand and some natural fibers, which are formerly proved their thermal efficiency. The price of construction material used therefore depends on the international market constantly destabilized by the economic crisis coupled with the energy crisis in recent times. To produce a framework of life at a lower cost, it is important, therefore, to circumvent the influence of the cost of energy by upgrading the local materials of construction. In order to improve thermal performances in Saharan building materials this study was lanced. The aim of this research isthen to fabricate some bricks using three local materials: namely the clay, sand dune and the fibers of date palm. The percentage of sand and fibers varies from 0% to 40% and 0% to 3% by mass respectively. A sand dune of Ain El Beida of Ouargla of Algeria was used. Clay was extracted from BeldetAmer of TouggourtOuarglaAlgerie. The fibers used in this study were vegetable fibers from date palm of OuarglaAlgeria. The results showed that increasing in the mass fraction of sand and of fiber were beneficial for improving thermal properties. As function of increasing the percentage of sand dune and fibers there were: A decrease in: thermal conductivity, specific heat, heat capacity, thermal effusivity and thermal diffusivity and there were an increase in the thermal resistance.

Despite the large number of studies on biochar and soil properties, few studies have investigated the effects of biochar in contrasting soils. A study was conducted including four rice-husk biochar rates (0%, 0.1%, 0.5% and 1%) to understand the effects on selected soil properties of two Alfisols (sand and sandy loam) in Sri Lanka. Significant changes in soil properties including increases in pH, cation exchange capacity (CEC), organic carbon, water retention at field capacity and saturated hydraulic conductivity, and reduction in bulk density, were observed at higher rates of biochar (0.5% and 1%). Mean-weight-diameter increased only at 1% biochar application rate in sandy soil, whereas it significantly increased across all the rates in sandy loam soil over the control. Electrical conductivity showed no significant increase in either soil, indicating no threat of salinity. Biochar showed a potential for ameliorating acidity, especially in slightly acidic sandy soil. Soil aggregation and water flow improved markedly in sandy loam soil over sandy soil. Further, CEC and water retention of sandy soil had pronounced effects compared with sandy loam soil. Our study highlights the importance of soil type in determining the value of rice-husk biochar as a soil amendment to improve soil aggregation, water retention and flow and CEC.