soil bacteria News
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Antibiotic-eating bug unearthed in soil
It’s well known how bacteria exposed to antibiotics for long periods will find ways to resist the drugs—by quickly pumping them out of their cells, for instance, or modifying the compounds so they’re no longer toxic. Now new research has uncovered another possible mechanism of antibiotic “resistance” in soil. In a paper publishing this week in the Journal of ...
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Microbes play important role in soil’s nitrogen cycle
Under our feet, in the soil, is a wealth of microbial activity. Just like humans have different metabolisms and food choices, so do those microbes. In fact, microbes play an important role in making nutrients available to plants. A recent review paper from Xinda Lu and his team looks at different roles that various soil microbes have in soil’s nitrogen cycle. Lu is a researcher at ...
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Syngenta launches breakthrough seed treatment nematicide
Syngenta announced today the launch of CLARIVA, a proprietary seed treatment nematicide based on the Pasteuria technology acquired in 2012. CLARIVA consists of naturally occurring soil bacteria with a unique, direct mode of action on nematodes: microscopic worm-shaped soil organisms, which cause significant damage to all major agricultural crops. Syngenta Chief Operating Officer, John Atkin, ...
By Syngenta
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Nitrogen fixation helps double some African farm yields
A large-scale research and development project has shown that giving farmers resources and advice on nitrogen fixation through legume plants can double yields and boost incomes in Africa. But not all farmers are benefiting from this practice due to a lack of access to inputs, such as fertilisers says Ken Giller, the leader of the N2Africa project, as a second phase to widen access to the ...
By SciDev.Net
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Diversifying crops `could green African agriculture`
The biodiversity of crop fields could be key to a greener revolution in Africa, where ecosystems are degrading and crop yields are stagnating, says a study conducted in Malawi. African farmers could halve their fertiliser use and still get the same yields, the study found, with less year-to-year variation in yields and with as much as 70 per cent more protein in grains — by simply rotating ...
By SciDev.Net
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Desert bacteria could help boost crop yields
Desert soil microbes could help halt desertification and boost agriculture in arid regions of the Middle East and North Africa, according to a study. Scientists from the United Arab Emirates [UAE] have isolated local salt- and drought-tolerant strains of Rhizobia, soil bacteria that fix nitrogen when they become established inside the root nodules of legumes. Rhizobia bacteria establish a ...
By SciDev.Net
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World Soil Day hails symbiotic role of pulses to boost sustainable agriculture
Soil and pulses can make major contributions to the challenge of feeding the world's growing population and combating climate change, especially when deployed together, according to Soils and Pulses: Symbiosis for Life, a new report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization released on World Soil Day. "Soils and pulses embody a unique symbiosis that protects the environment, enhances ...
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Phosphorus-rich soils support larger invertebrates
In a recent study, researchers have defined the relationship between soil conditions and nutrients with the health of soil ecosystems. The results suggest that organic grassland, rich in phosphorus, is supportive of large populations of bigger invertebrates. All living things are made up of chemical elements in certain proportions and the availability of these elements in the environment can ...
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Trace elements, activate soil
Our company extracts small molecule fulvic acid from ore source humic acid, the content of fulvic acid is up to 40%, potassium oxide is 10%, it has full absorption, full water solubility, no flocculation, no precipitation, can be applied, drip irrigation, easy to apply. Etc. After application to crops, it has the following characteristics: Chelate trace elements and activate soil The active ...
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Soil microbes hold key to climate puzzle
Climate scientists puzzled by the traffic of carbon between soil and air may have to think more deeply about the role played by soil microbes − the planet’s smallest inhabitants. One research team has just found that soil microbes could actually lighten the colour of arid land soils, to reflect more light and bounce more radiation energy back into space. Another has identified an ...
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Soil microorganisms help prevent non-target effects of pesticides
A new study has investigated the properties of different types of soils which can cause pesticides to cling on to soil and prevent them from affecting non-target species. It demonstrates that microorganisms can play an important role in binding pesticides to soil. Microbial levels can therefore help indicate how much pesticide is freely available in soil. Pesticides applied during agricultural ...
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Arizona Company Bolsters Expertise In Soil Health
“We have spent the last 10 years at Heliae, working on solutions in microalgae, providing food to the bacteria in the soil, stimulating the microbiome. This relentless focus on researching soil microbiology has uniquely positioned Heliae capable of detecting and addressing soil concerns for the next 50 years. A feat only possible through the expertise and dedication of our people.” ...
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Controlled ‘reset’ for nematode-infested soil
Harmful nematodes that damage the soil can be controlled by creating an environment in which they are temporarily deprived of oxygen. Covering the soil with plastic film or a layer of water encourages anaerobic bacteria to produce fatty acids, which will kill most nematodes. “It does sometimes take a while,” says Leendert Molendijk, soil expert at Wageningen UR. Molendijk and his ...
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Preserve, promote, and utilise rich soil life
Healthy soil life can contribute to sustainable agriculture which, in addition to ensuring a good yield, keeps diseases under control and generates carbon and nitrogen retention. That is what Prof. Gerlinde De Deyn, Professor holding a personal chair in Soil Ecology, asserted in her inaugural address at Wageningen University & Research on 18 May. Life underground is richer in species than ...
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Method that cuts sugarcane emissions gets global prize
A Brazilian scientist who developed a method that reduces greenhouse gas emissions from sugarcane cultivation has been awarded a prize that each year recognises a researcher whose work has excelled in the area of fertiliser use. Heitor Cantarella received the International Fertilizer Association’s (IFA) Norman Borlaug Award on World Fertilizer Day, on 13 October — the date German ...
By SciDev.Net
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Restore Life to Your Soil With Vermaplex/Black Worm Castings
Farmers and gardeners alike are looking for ways to improve the health of their soil and ability to store water for drought relief. The United States Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service released its “Unlock the Secrets in the Soil” campaign, “leading the effort to get more farmers and ranchers to adopt soil health management systems for a ...
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Keeping a pulse on the soil
Leaving behind stubble is not ideal when shaving, but it’s a good practice to leave behind crop “stubble” after harvest. According to soil scientist Frank Larney, crop residue anchors the soil against wind and water erosion. Avoiding bare soils is one part of a soil conservation package he and his research team demonstrate in a 12-year experiment growing pulses in southern ...
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Southern soils mitigate manure microbes
That swine manure sprayed on to fields adds valuable nutrients to the soil is well known. But what is not known is whether all that manure is bringing harmful bacteria with it. A new study looks at the levels of nutrients and bacteria in soils of fields that have been sprayed with manure for fifteen years or more. The research team, composed of scientists from the USDA-ARS Crop Science Research ...
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Can Gardeners Catch Deadly Legionnaire’s Disease from Potting Soil?
Most gardeners consider their hobby to be a healthy one, but they maybe unknowingly exposed to Legionnaire’s disease, a serious pneumonia that often has long term effects after the pneumonia has cleared. Legionnaire’s disease can be caused by different species of Legionella bacteria Typically, the infection is caused by the inhalation of contaminated aerosolized water in air or ...
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Controlling resilient plant viruses with steam
Combining steam with heat-producing chemicals could control pathogenic viruses in soil, finds new research. The study examined how effective different forms of heat sterilisation of soil were at inactivating three plant viruses. While steam alone was enough to eradicate two of the viruses, the highly resilient tobacco mosaic virus required the addition of exothermic chemicals to reduce it by 97%. ...
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