Plant, Soil and Environment, 2013 (vol. 59), issue 6
Evaluation of nitrogen availability indices and their relationship with plant response on acidic soils of India
L.J. Bordoloi, A.K. Singh, Manoj-Kumar, Patiram, S. Hazarika
Plant Soil Environ., 2013, 59(6):235-240 | DOI: 10.17221/675/2012-PSE 
Plant's nitrogen (N) requirement that is not fulfilled by available N in soil has to be supplied externally through chemical fertilizers. A reliable estimate of soil N-supplying capacity (NSC) is therefore essential for efficient fertilizer use. In this study involving a pot experiment with twenty acidic soils varying widely in properties, we evaluated six chemical indices of soil N-availability viz. organic carbon (Corg), total N (Ntot), acid and alkaline-KMnO4 extractable-N, hot KCl extractable-N (KCl-N) and phosphate-borate buffer extractable-N (PBB-N), based on their strength of correlation with available-N values...
Effects of chitinase-transgenic (McChit1) tobacco on the rhizospheric microflora and enzyme activities of the purple soil
B. Wang, H. Shen, X. Yang, T. Guo, B. Zhang, W. Yan
Plant Soil Environ., 2013, 59(6):241-246 | DOI: 10.17221/704/2012-PSE
In order to evaluate the bio-security of genetically modified (GM) plants in the purple soil, we carried out a pot experiment about rhizospheric microflora at different development stages of a chitinase-transgenic (McChit1) tobacco (T-Chit), a plasmid-transgenic tobacco (T-Vi), and a non-transgenic tobacco (Nt-X) that were grown in the same purple soil, and surveyed the growth of three tobaccos and the properties of soil (i.e. the dynamic changes of the cultivable rhizospheric bacteria and fungi, soil enzyme activity and pH). The results showed that, compared with Nt-X plant as a control, T-Chit and T-Vi at the stages of flowering and mature...
Effect of ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum L.) growth on degradation of phenanthrene and enzyme activity in soil
S.L. Liu, Z.H. Cao, H.E. Liu
Plant Soil Environ., 2013, 59(6):247-253 | DOI: 10.17221/69/2013-PSE
A 75-day pot experiment was carried out to study the effect of growth of ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum L.) on degradation rate of spiked phenanthrene (the concentration was 5, 50, 200 mg/kg) in soil. The results showed that ryegrass growth enhanced the degradation of phenanthrene spiked in the soil, thus making the content of extractable phenanthrene lower (P < 0.05) in the ryegrass planted pots than that of pots without ryegrass. In the treatments of 5, 50 and 200 mg/kg of phenanthrene, phenanthrene degradation rate reached 81.1, 90.4 and 85.0%, respectively, while in pots without ryegrass they were only 73.5, 86.2 and...
Cadmium accumulation and physiological response of sunflower plants to Cd during the vegetative growing cycle
S. De Maria, M. Puschenreiter, A.R. Rivelli
Plant Soil Environ., 2013, 59(6):254-261 | DOI: 10.17221/788/2012-PSE
The effects of soil cadmium (Cd) contamination on Cd accumulation and distribution, growth and physiological responses of sunflower plants were investigated. Plants were subject to six levels of soil contamination (from 2.5 to 15 mg Cd kg/soil) with an untreated control, from the emergence of the cotyledon leaves until the harvest, when plants were at the flower bud stage. An overall increase of Cd concentration was found in all tissues of the plants (roots, stem, young, mature and old leaves) by increasing the Cd contamination in the soil. Regardless of treatments, Cd concentration in roots always exceeded those in the aboveground dry matter with...
Rice grain Fe, Mn and Zn accumulation: How important are flag leaves and seed number?
R.A. Sperotto, F.K. Ricachenevsky, V. de A. Waldow, A.L.H. Müller, V.L. Dressler, J.P. Fett
Plant Soil Environ., 2013, 59(6):262-266 | DOI: 10.17221/841/2012-PSE
Flag leaves play an important role in synthesis and translocation of photoassimilates in the rice plant, affecting grain yield; similarly they were believed to be a major source of remobilized minerals for the seeds. At the same time, the seed's sink strength plays an important role in dry matter accumulation. To investigate the relative contribution of rice flag leaves and seed sink strength to seed mineral accumulation, field experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of flag leaf or half-seed removal on seed Fe, Mn and Zn concentration and content. Flag leaf or 50% of the seeds were removed at anthesis. Seed Fe, Mn and Zn accumulation were...
Market value assessment of hops by modeling of weather attributes
M. Pavlovic, V. Pavlovic, C. Rozman, A. Udovc, D. Stajnko, D. Wang, M. Gavric, S. Srecec
Plant Soil Environ., 2013, 59(6):267-272 | DOI: 10.17221/831/2012-PSE
The effect of major weather factors on the quality of hops in Slovenia from 1994 to 2009 is analyzed and discussed. For this purpose, the three main varieties, namely Savinjski golding, Aurora and Bobek were merged into a model variety which we called Virtual. Through assessment of correlation coefficients, we tried to find specific times of the year when the weather conditions affect the alpha-acid content with a view toward prediction. The most significant time periods of weather that influenced the alpha-acid contents of hops during the growing season are identified as attributes of air temperatures calculated during the interval from the 24th...
Inherent variability in structural and functional traits of xylem among three hop varieties
R. Jupa, M. Baláž, P. Svoboda, V. Gloser
Plant Soil Environ., 2013, 59(6):273-279 | DOI: 10.17221/32/2013-PSE
Intervarietal differences in xylem structure could significantly affect water transport as well as vulnerability to cavitations and thus crop yield. Evaluation of crop varieties with respect to the specific traits can be thus helpful in breeding and agricultural practice. In the present study we compared basic anatomical traits (vessel length and diameter) as well as theoretical and measured hydraulic conductivities (K) of xylem in stems of three hop varieties (Agnus, Saaz hop - Osvald's clone 31, Vital). There were no statistically significant intervarietal differences in measured K (overall mean 1.68 × 10-6 m4/MPa/s),...
Long-term effects of returning wheat straw to croplands on soil compaction and nutrient availability under conventional tillage
Z. Guo, D.Z. Wang
Plant Soil Environ., 2013, 59(6):280-286 | DOI: 10.17221/846/2012-PSE
To investigate the effects of returning wheat straw to croplands on soil compaction and nutrient availability, this trial was designed: (1) planted crops without fertilization (NF); (2) natural land without human activities (CT); (3) applied mineral fertilizers in combination with 7500 kg/ha wheat straw (WS-NPK); (4) applied mineral fertilizers in combination with 3750 kg/ha wheat straw (1/2WS-NPK); and (5) applied mineral fertilizers alone (NPK). It is found that, compared with NPK, the soil bulk density in 1/2WS-NPK and WS-NPK both decreased by more than 10% in the 0 cm to 15 cm layer, and by 6.93% and 9.14% in the 15 cm to 20 cm, respectively. Furthermore,...