Plant, Soil and Environment, 2013 (vol. 59), issue 1
Soil water cycle and crop water use efficiency after long-term nitrogen fertilization in Loess PlateauOriginal Paper
B. Wang, W. Liu, Q. Xue, T. Dang, C. Gao, J. Chen, B. Zhang
Plant Soil Environ., 2013, 59(1):1-7 | DOI: 10.17221/207/2012-PSE 
The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of nitrogen (N) management on soil water recharge, available soil water at sowing (ASWS), soil water depletion, and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) yield and water use efficiency (WUE) after long-term fertilization. We collected data from 2 experiments in 2 growing seasons. Treatments varied from no fertilization (CK), single N or phosphorus (P), N and P (NP), to NP plus manure (NPM). Comparing to CK and single N or P treatments, NP and NPM reduced rainfall infiltration depth by 20-60 cm, increased water recharge by 16-21 mm, and decreased ASWS by 89-133 mm in 0-300 cm profile. However,...
The influence of land use practices on earthworm communities in saline agriculture soils of the west coast region of China's Bohai BayOriginal Paper
Y. Tao, W. Gu, J. Chen, J. Tao, Y.J. Xu, H. Zhang
Plant Soil Environ., 2013, 59(1):8-13 | DOI: 10.17221/374/2012-PSE
The effects of land use practices on soil fauna, especially earthworms, are poorly known in coastal saline agricultural soils. Here we compare earthworm communities in six types of land use practice in the coastal region of China's Bohai Bay, namely uncultivated saline soil, two orchard (pear and winter jujube) lands, man-made forests (chinese ash), vegetable land and cropped land (maize). In addition, we recorded selected physicochemical properties of the soil. Soil organic matter content and total N were significantly higher under pear orchard and vegetable land than under the other land use practices, and their lowest values were observed from uncultivated...
Dynamics of methane fluxes from two peat bogs in the Ore Mountains, Czech RepublicOriginal Paper
L. Bohdálková, J. Čuřík, A.A. Kuběna, F. Bůzek
Plant Soil Environ., 2013, 59(1):14-21 | DOI: 10.17221/330/2012-PSE
Methane fluxes were studied at two high-elevation oligotrophic peat bogs in the Ore Mts., Czech Republic. The Bukova dolina Bog was drained 15 years ago and 2 years ago was partly restored, whereas the Brumiste Bog is an intact peatland. Draining led to a change of vegetation structure, dominated by Molinia caerulea, Carex sp., and forestation by Norway spruce. Methane fluxes were measured monthly from April to November 2011 using a closed chamber. Temperature and presence of Carex were significant controls on methane fluxes. Peat depth, water table and the presence of other plant species had no significant effect on CH4...
Environmental advantages of binary mixtures of Trifolium incarnatum and Lolium multiflorum over individual pure standsOriginal Paper
B. Kramberger, A. Gselman, M. Podvršnik, J. Kristl, M. Lešnik
Plant Soil Environ., 2013, 59(1):22-28 | DOI: 10.17221/223/2012-PSE
To investigate the environmental advantages of using grass-clover binary mixtures over pure stands as winter cover crops, a serial of five field experiments (each designed as randomized complete blocks with four replicates) was carried out in eastern Slovenia. Trifolium incarnatum L. and Lolium multiflorum Lam. were sown in late summer as pure stands and binary mixtures. Pooled data calculated from all the experiments revealed that the soil mineral N in spring and accumulation of N by plants decreased with decreasing proportion of T. incarnatum in the binary mixtures, while the C:N ratio of cover crop organic matter increased....
Effect of cropping strategies on the irrigation water productivity of durum wheatOriginal Paper
M.R. Khaledian, J.C. Mailhol, P. Ruelle, C. Dejean
Plant Soil Environ., 2013, 59(1):29-36 | DOI: 10.17221/370/2012-PSE
The importance of irrigation for durum wheat is often questionable because of possible spring rainfalls in the south-east of France. The cropping strategies i.e. plant density (PD), sowing date and irrigation management were analysed for improving irrigation water productivity (IWP). An experiment was carried out to calibrate and validate the PILOTE model. An adaptation of the potential harvest index to PD was implemented in PILOTE. The latter satisfactorily simulates different model outputs with coefficients of efficiency greater than 0.97. The model was employed for simulating the impact of cropping strategies on IWP for a long climatic series. According...
Drying of meadow fescue seeds of different moisture contents: Changes in dormancy and germinationOriginal Paper
R. Stanisavljević, J. Milenković, D. Djokić, D. Terzić, M. Petrović, L. Đukanović, D. Dodig
Plant Soil Environ., 2013, 59(1):37-43 | DOI: 10.17221/551/2012-PSE
In the past few years in Europe grass seed production declines. This tendency is especially pronounced in meadow fescue. Seed shedding and therefore yield losses are the problem in seed production. This can be reduced if seed of higher moisture contents is harvested. The impacts of drying temperatures of 70, 60, 50, 40 and 22°C on changes in dormancy and germination of seed harvested with moisture contents of 45, 35 and 25% were observed in the present study. The analysis was done immediately after seed drying, then three months later and eight months later. Seeds with the moisture content of 45% that were dried at 70°C were not dormant at all after...
Response of young apricot trees to natural zeolite, organic and inorganic fertilizersOriginal Paper
T. Milošević, N. Milošević
Plant Soil Environ., 2013, 59(1):44-49 | DOI: 10.17221/570/2012-PSE
The study focused on characterizing five apricot cultivars to acknowledge the impact of natural zeolite (Agrozel type), cattle manure, composite NPK (15-15-15) and calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN) on tree vigour, precocity, yield performance and fruit quality attributes. The results showed that Agrozel induced the highest tree growth in all cultivars, yield and cumulative yield in Vera, Harcot and Roxana and yield efficiency in Aleksandar, Vera and Roxana. The higher fruit weight of all cultivars was found after the manure application. Composite NPK plays a major role in soluble solids, total sugars and titratable acidity accumulation, whereas CAN and...