Plant, Soil and Environment, 2021 (vol. 67), issue 9
Impact of hydropriming on germination and seedling establishment of sunflower seeds at elevated temperatureOriginal Paper
Rose L. Catiempo, Songsin Photchanachai, Emma Ruth V. Bayogan, Chalermchai Wongs-Aree
Plant Soil Environ., 2021, 67(9):491-498 | DOI: 10.17221/163/2021-PSE 
High temperature is a limiting factor in the seed germination of most crops. This study evaluated the effects of hydropriming at 6, 12 and 18 h on germination performance and seedling establishment of sunflower seeds under high air temperature. Results showed that germination of unprimed seeds was suppressed at an average elevated temperature of 44.3 °C (range of 39.3 °C to 53.3 °C) for eighteen days indicated by an increased lag time to onset of germination and decreased germination percentage. Conversely, priming seeds for 12 h to 18 h increased the germination percentage, time to 50% seedling emergence (T50),...
Is Mehlich 3 soil extraction a suitable screening method for determination of some risk elements?Original Paper
Stanislav Malý, Jiří Zbíral, Eva Čižmárová
Plant Soil Environ., 2021, 67(9):499-506 | DOI: 10.17221/228/2021-PSE
Legislation limits for risk elements (As, Be, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, V, Zn) in agricultural soil in the Czech Republic are given for the content of elements extracted by aqua regia. This extraction is time consuming and environmentally unfriendly. The regular soil survey is based on Mehlich 3 universal soil extractant and covers the simultaneous determination of macronutrients, sulphur, and micronutrients by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). Our study focused on the possibility to use Mehlich 3 extractant also for preliminary screening for the determination of the risk elements simultaneously with the other elements...
Effect of nitrogen and magnesium sulfate application on sugar beet yield and qualityOriginal Paper
Radosław Pogłodziński, Przemysław Barłóg, Witold Grzebisz
Plant Soil Environ., 2021, 67(9):507-513 | DOI: 10.17221/336/2021-PSE
Adequate nutrition of sugar beet with magnesium (Mg) and sulfur (S) has been assumed to be the key to increase fertiliser nitrogen (N) efficiency. This hypothesis was validated on two soils differing in textural class, i.e., sandy and loamy. The experiment consisted of three factors: (1) in-soil application of Kieserite (0, 24 kg Mg/ha); (2) foliar application of Epsom salt (0.2 kg Mg/ha); (3) N rates (0, 40, 80, 120, 160 and 200 kg N/ha). The following parameters were evaluated: (i) yield of storage roots (TY); (ii) qualitative features of storage roots, and (iii) yield of white sugar (WSY). Both yield characteristics, regardless...
Sewage sludge enhances tomato growth and improves fruit-yield quality by restoring soil fertilityOriginal Paper
Ebrahem M. Eid, Kamal H. Shaltout, Saad A.M. Alamri, Sulaiman A. Alrumman, Ahmed A. Hussain, Nasser Sewelam, Gehad A. Ragab
Plant Soil Environ., 2021, 67(9):514-523 | DOI: 10.17221/205/2021-PSE
Among the various disposal strategies for sewage sludge (SS), soil application is the most suitable. This study was conducted to evaluate soil amendment with SS (0, 10, 20, 30 and 40 g/kg) and its impact on soil fertility and tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) growth. The SS significantly improved the agromorphological attributes, the number of produced fruits, and the fruit biomass of tomato plants. The 30 g/kg application of SS led to the highest growth rate and fruit yield. Considering the fruits, the best safe enrichment of metal nutrients was recorded at 30 g/kg, with a significant increase in the micronutrient metals Mn, Zn, Ni, Cu, and...
Effects of irrigation schemes on the components and physicochemical properties of starch in waxy wheat linesOriginal Paper
Zhongmin Dai, Dongcheng Liu, Shengnan Qin, Rugang Wu, Yan Li, Juan Liu, Yuangang Zhu, Guangfeng Chen
Plant Soil Environ., 2021, 67(9):524-532 | DOI: 10.17221/231/2021-PSE
The waxy wheat shows special starch quality due to low amylose content. However, less information is available concerning the physicochemical properties of starch in different waxy wheat under different irrigation. In this study, two wheat near-isogenic lines (NILs) and a normal wheat cultivar were used to investigate the contents, size distribution and crystallinity of starch by biochemical methods, laser-diffraction and X-ray diffraction analysis. The amylose content in wheat grains was the lowest in waxy wheat lines, SJZ8-N, followed...
Phytoaccumulation of heavy metals in native plants growing on soils in the Spreča river valley, Bosnia and HerzegovinaOriginal Paper
Senad Murtić, Ćerima Zahirović, Hamdija Čivić, Emina Sijahović, Josip Jurković, Jasna Avdić, Emir Šahinović, Adnana Podrug
Plant Soil Environ., 2021, 67(9):533-540 | DOI: 10.17221/253/2021-PSE
This study evaluated the phytoremediation potential of eight native plant species on heavy metal polluted soils along the Spreča river valley (the northeast region of Bosnia and Herzegovina). Plants selected for screening were: ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.), common nettle (Urtica dioica L.), mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris L.), wild mint (Mentha arvensis L.), white clover (Trifolium repens L.), alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), dwarf nettle (Urtica urens L.) and yarrow (Achillea millefolium L.). All aboveground parts of selected native plants and their associated soil samples were collected...
Effects of nitrogen addition on root traits and soil nitrogen in the long-term restored grasslandsOriginal Paper
Guanghua Jing, Zhikun Chen, Qiangqiang Lu, Liyan He, Ning Zhao, Zhao Zhang, Wei Li
Plant Soil Environ., 2021, 67(9):541-547 | DOI: 10.17221/142/2021-PSE
Fine root traits are plastic and responsive to increased nitrogen (N) deposition. However, with the restoring of the ecosystem after grain for green, little research has been reported about the response of root traits in a long-term restored ecosystem to increased N deposition. Therefore, a successive N addition experiment was conducted in a long-term restored grassland on the Loess Plateau to analyse the effects of different N addition levels (0, 2.5, 5, 10, 20 g N/m2/year) on root morphological traits, soil carbon (C) and N. Our results showed that root morphological traits (except for root diameter)...