Plant, Soil and Environment, 2010 (vol. 56), issue 6
Root distribution and yield responses of wheat/maize intercropping to alternate irrigation in the arid areas of northwest China
C.H. Yang, Q. Chai, G.B. Huang
Plant Soil Environ., 2010, 56(6):253-262 | DOI: 10.17221/251/2009-PSE 
A field experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of alternate irrigation (AI) on root distribution and yield of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)/maize (Zea mays L.) intercropping system during the period of 2007-2009 in an oasis of arid north-west China. Five treatments, i.e. sole wheat with conventional irrigation (W), sole maize with alternate irrigation (AM), sole maize with conventional irrigation (CM), wheat/maize intercropping with alternate irrigation (AW/M), and wheat/maize intercropping with conventional irrigation (CW/M). The results showed that root growth was significantly enhanced by alternate irrigation (AI),...
Sorbitol-induced changes in various growth and biochemici parameters in maize
M. Jain, S. Tiwary, R. Gadre
Plant Soil Environ., 2010, 56(6):263-267 | DOI: 10.17221/233/2009-PSE
Treatment of maize seedlings with different concentrations of sorbitol decreased the rate of germination substantially. Root and shoot length was also reduced by sorbitol treatment, however, decrease in root length was lower than shoot length. Incubation of leaf segments from maize seedlings grown in continuous light with sorbitol decreased the fresh weight and increased the dry weight in a concentration-dependent manner. Sorbitol treatment also reduced the total chlorophylls, chlorophyll a as well as chlorophyll b; the decrease in chlorophyll 'b' being more prominent than chlorophyll 'a', however, carotenoid content was declined marginally. Supply...
Effect of liming on microbial biomass carbon of acidic arenosols in pot experiments
T. Filep, T. Szili-Kovács
Plant Soil Environ., 2010, 56(6):268-273 | DOI: 10.17221/174/2009-PSE
In the paper we investigate the effect of liming on the microbial biomass carbon (MBC) in pot experiments during two vegetation periods. There was also another goal to get better understanding of the role of dissolved organic matter (DOM) and its quality on microbial processes. Pot experiments were carried out on two acidic soils. Liming material treatment was 0, 1, 2, 3 g CaCO3/kg soil (corresponding with 0, 1.4, 2.8, 4.1 t CaCO3/ha, respectively). On both soils, 3-3 soil samples were taken for two growing periods and the substrate-induced respiration (SIR), dissolved organic carbon and nitrogen (DOC and DON), and soil pH were...
The investigation of the alleviated effect of copper toxicity by exogenous nitric oxide in tomato plants
X.M. Cui, Y.K. Zhang, X.B. Wu, C.S. Liu
Plant Soil Environ., 2010, 56(6):274-281 | DOI: 10.17221/98/2009-PSE
As a bioactive signal, nitric oxide (NO) is involved in multiple plant physiological responses, especially under some abiotic stress. Here, we investigated the effects of exogenous nitric oxide on both the reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging metabolism and regulating functions of plasma membrane and tonoplast in tomato plants treated with 50µM CuCl2. Copper stress induced significant accumulation of H2O2, led to serious lipid peroxidation, and finally markedly decreased shoot height and fresh weight of tomato plants. The application of 100µM sodium nitroprusside (SNP - NO donor) promoted some antioxidant...
Spatial and vertical distribution and pollution assessment of soil fluorine in a lead-zinc mining area in the Karst region of Guangxi, China
C. Zhang, Z. Li, M. Gu, C. Deng, M. Liu, L. Li
Plant Soil Environ., 2010, 56(6):282-287 | DOI: 10.17221/10/2010-PSE
Soil pollution of fluorine is a serious environmental problem in the world, and the fluorine pollution evaluation of spatial and vertical distribution study in the Karst region is quite limited. In this study, the farmland around lead-zinc mine in the Karst region was chosen as the study area. Ninety-one upper layer soil samples and two soil profiles (one in paddy field, the other one in aerated field) samples were taken. The average concentration of total fluorine of topsoil in the paddy fields is 378 mg/kg, whereas in the aerated field it is 508 mg/kg. The concentrations of total fluorine in all paddy soil samples and 97.87% aerated field soils are...
Spatial distribution and mapping of risk elements pollution in agricultural soils of southern Tehran, Iran
A. Hani, E. Pazira, M. Manshouri, S. Babaie Kafaky, M. Ghahroudi Tali
Plant Soil Environ., 2010, 56(6):288-296 | DOI: 10.17221/16/2010-PSE
In order to evaluate risk elements and their spatial distribution in agricultural fields south of Tehran, statistics, geostatistics and geographic information system (GIS) were used. The content of Hg, As, Pb, Mo, and Be were determined in 106 samples. The results showed that primary inputs of As and Hg were due to anthropogenic sources, while Pb, Mo and Be were associated with pedogenic and anthropogenic factors. Ordinary kriging was carried out to map the spatial patterns of risk elements and disjunctive kriging was used to quantify the probability of risk elements concentrations higher than their guide value. The results show that As, Hg, Mo and...
Differences in available phosphorus evaluated by soil tests in relation to detection by colorimetric and ICP-AES techniques
J. Matula
Plant Soil Environ., 2010, 56(6):297-304 | DOI: 10.17221/23/2010-PSE
Differences in the evaluation of soil phosphorus status by three soil tests (Mehlich 3, extraction with NH4-acetate and water extraction) were tested on 63 agricultural soils with different agrochemical characteristics from the territory of the Czech Republic. Differences between the colorimetric determination of phosphorus and ICP technique were studied. The median of the values of phosphorus supply in soils determined by soil tests was considerably different. Compared to the colorimetric detection of water extraction of soils the median of the NH4-acetate test showed 2.2 times higher values and in Mehlich 3 test the values were...