soil diversity News
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African soil diversity mapped for the first time
A team of international experts has drawn up the Soil Atlas of Africa — the first such book mapping this key natural resource — to help farmers, land managers and policymakers understand the diversity and importance of soil and the need to manage it through sustainable use. They say that despite soil's importance, most people in Africa lack knowledge about it, partly because ...
By SciDev.Net
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Effect of afforestation on soil fungal community structure is greater than spatial distance
Afforestation is an important strategy to enhance terrestrial carbon sink. It alters regional landscapes and affects microbial processes in soil ecosystems. In particular, soil fungi, which play an important role in carbon and nitrogen cycling, could be greatly affected. However, at a watershed scale, the changes of soil fungal communities under afforestation could not only be influenced by host ...
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Be kind to soil - TerraIndex
In the 40’s in post-war Japan an agricultural scientist turned his back on conventional practices and started an interesting experiment. Masanobu Fukuoka wanted to try agriculture the natural way; without ploughing, without herbicides and pesticides, and even without excessive weeding of his fields. The result? The crops seemed to be stronger and more resilient, and his costs to produce ...
By TerraIndex
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Increasing diversity through crop rotation boosts soil microbial biodiversity and productivity
Planting a variety of crop species in rotation in agricultural fields increases the diversity of soil microbes below ground, recent research has found. This in turn positively affects soil organic matter, soil structure and aids the healthy functioning of the soil. The researchers say that rotational diversity can help farmers to grow crops in a more sustainable way that promotes soil stability. ...
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Grassy field margins enhance soil biodiversity
Grass strips at field margins are almost as valuable as hedgerows in encouraging diversity of soil creatures, according to new research. Six metre wide margin strips increase the number and variety of species such as earthworms, woodlice and beetles, and may act as corridors between isolated habitats. The study analysed the presence of invertebrates of three main feeding types - soil ingesters ...
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Rediscovering sound soil management
At the same time that demand for food is soaring along with the world’s population, the soil’s ability to sustain and enhance agricultural productivity is becoming increasingly diminished and unreliable. Fortunately, it’s not too late to restore our soil resources. What it will take, say the editors and contributors to a new book, Soil Management: Building a Stable Base for ...
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Agrinos To Open State-of-the-Art Microbial Crop Input Production Facility in Oregon
Agrinos, a leading biological crop input provider committed to improving the productivity and sustainability of agriculture worldwide, announces the construction of a new, state-of-the-art production facility in Clackamas, Oregon. The 28,000 square-foot facility near Portland, Ore., will accommodate increased production capacity for the Agrinos line of proprietary High Yield Technology® ...
By Agrinos Inc
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BioConsortia Adds New Wheat Seed Treatment to growing list of products moving to registration
BioConsortia, Inc., innovator of microbial solutions for plant trait enhancement and yield improvement, has added a wheat seed treatment to the growing list of new biological products moving to registration phase. The new wheat product has come from BioConsortia’s biostimulant pipeline. This seed treatment product, along with several others, has been tested on spring and winter wheat in at ...
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Soil Health from Local Farmers & Experts On Tap at Free SFA Cafe Chats
The Sustainable Farming Association is again hosting its series of popular Cafe Chats, free events featuring area farmers who are practicing soil health principles like cover crops, more diverse species, reduction in soil disturbance and adding livestock. At each Cafe Chat, area farmers share their soil health experience, followed by open questions and discussion. SFA Livestock & Grazing ...
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Effects of chemical fertiliser and animal manure on soil health compared
Fertilising crops with cattle manure can lead to better soil quality than when synthetic fertiliser is used, recent research indicates. The use of cattle manure in the study led to greater soil fertility by encouraging higher microbial activity, and the researchers suggest that it could potentially improve soil’s ability to cope with periods of difficult growing conditions. The complex ...
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SFA Soil Health Cafe Chat is April 1 in Amboy
As part of our popular event series, SFA is hosting a final spring Soil Health Cafe Chat from 3 to 6 p.m. Mon., April 1, at Amboy Cottage Cafe, 100 E Main St, Amboy. This free event features area farmer Scott Haase (above), who is practicing soil health principles like cover crops, more diverse species, reduction in soil disturbance and adding livestock. SFA Livestock & Grazing Specialist ...
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Identifying future soil science research needs
Soil is subjected to a growing number of human-caused dangers from contamination, urbanization, desertification, salinization, mismanagement, and erosion. The soil ecosystem provides services necessary to manage and maintain a healthy and stable planet. Soil is key to carbon sequestration, nutrient cycling, water purification, and waste treatment. The Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) has ...
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Creative BioMart Microbe Enables Agricultural Microbiome Analysis with a Wide Range of Services
Creative BioMart Microbe, a sub-brand of Creative BioMart, that offers microbiological services and products to multi-industry customers, now enables agricultural microbiome analysis with a wide range of services for scientists in the agricultural and botany fields. Plant microbial communities mainly include rhizosphere microbial community, phyllosphere microbial community and plant endophyte ...
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Healthy soils for a healthy planet
Healthy soils are vital in a world challenged by climate change. We need to decide how best to use land to provide food for a growing population and how it can be used to mitigate the effects of manmade emissions. The quality of soil must be maintained or restored if it is to provide its essential services: cycling nutrients, water and air, supporting biodiversity and acting as a substantial ...
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2012 Conservation Easement Applications Due February 15
Private landowners interested in protecting their grassland or farmland with this year's funding are encouraged get their applications in soon. The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in California has set Feb. 15, 2012, as the deadline for accepting applications for both the Grassland Reserve Program (GRP) and Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program (FRPP). "These programs ...
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Delta-T Devices soil sensors used by Rothamsted Research for the world`s oldest continuously-running agricultural field experiment
Rothamsted Research is the longest-running agricultural research institute in the world, with a history dating back to the middle of the 19th century. Sir John Bennet Lawes, an archetypal Victorian scientist, entrepreneur and benefactor, became interested in agricultural science after leaving Oxford University. On assuming responsibility for the family estate at Rothamsted (Harpenden, ...
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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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Soil nitrogen increased through greater plant biodiversity
Increased plant biodiversity improves grassland soil quality by boosting its nitrogen levels, even in the absence of nitrogen-fixing plants, recent research has found. Previous research has shown that grasslands with higher biodiversity had higher levels of carbon and nitrogen. However, in the case of nitrogen it has been suggested that this was purely a result of increased numbers of ...
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