No-tillage and soil physical environment

A healthy soil acts as a dynamic living system that delivers multiple ecosystem services, such as sustaining water quality and plant productivity, controlling soil nutrient recycling decomposition, and removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. Soil health is closely associated with sustainable agriculture, because soil microorganism diversity and activity are the main components of soil health. Agricultural sustainability is defined as the ability of a crop production system to continuously produce food without environmental degradation. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), cyanobacteria, and beneficial nematodes enhance water use efficiency and nutrient availability to plants, phytohormones production, soil nutrient cycling, and plant resistance to environmental stresses. Farming practices have shown that organic farming and tillage improve soil health by increasing the abundance, diversity, and activity of microorganisms. Conservation tillage can potentially increase grower’s profitability by reducing inputs and labor costs as compared to conventional tillage while organic farming might add extra management costs due to high labor demands for weeding and pest control, and for fertilizer inputs (particularly N-based), which typically have less consistent uniformity and stability than synthetic fertilizers. This review will discuss the external factors controlling the abundance of rhizosphere microbiota and the impact of crop management practices on soil health and their role in sustainable crop production.

Soil Health and Sustainable Agriculture

The pomegranate, Punica granatum L., which can be found throughout the Mediterranean region, in Southeast Asia, California and Arizona in USA was in ancient times referred as possessing powers of fertility, abundance and good luck (fruit). The biological properties of extracts (antimicrobial, antioxidant, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, among other properties) obtained from several parts of pomegranate is reported in the present work. Due to such properties, the extracts have been used in therapeutics, such as in the prevention of infection, inflammation, cancer, among other applications. However, other aspects are also referred in the present work such as the good practices of culture and fruit preservation, search of new compounds, selection of cultivars through biotechnological techniques for obtaining juice or fruits ready to eat. Such compilation of information was based on the search in the ISI Web of Knowledge (Thomson Reuters) from 2009 up to the beginning of October 2010.

	 

	Key words: Punica granatum L., polyphenols, biological activities.

https://africaneditors.org/journal/JMPR/full-text-pdf/72518-129103

Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.): A medicinal plant with myriad biological properties - A short review

Grazing represents the most extensive use of land worldwide. Yet its impacts on ecosystem services remain uncertain because pervasive interactions between grazing pressure, climate, soil properties, and biodiversity may occur but have never been addressed simultaneously. Using a standardized survey at 98 sites across six continents, we show that interactions between grazing pressure, climate, soil, and biodiversity are critical to explain the delivery of fundamental ecosystem services across drylands worldwide. Increasing grazing pressure reduced ecosystem service delivery in warmer and species-poor drylands, whereas positive effects of grazing were observed in colder and species-rich areas. Considering interactions between grazing and local abiotic and biotic factors is key for understanding the fate of dryland ecosystems under climate change and increasing human pressure. 

/pdf/grazing-and-ecosystem-service-delivery-in-global-drylands-2el4xgcy.pdf

Grazing and ecosystem service delivery in global drylands

Selected primary and secondary metabolites in fresh persimmon ( Diospyros kaki Thunb.): A review of analytical methods and current knowledge of fruit composition and health benefits

In this research, several physical, pomological and nutritional properties that are important for the design of equipments for harvesting, processing, transportation, sorting, separation and packaging of kiwifruit cv. Hayward grown in the Black Sea region of Turkey were determined. The fruit characteristics ranged from 72.28 g for average fruit weight, 59.41, 46.28 and 42.87 mm for fruit length, width and thickness, 49.03 mm for the geometric mean diameter, 0.825% for sphericity and 66.52 cm(3) for the volume of fruit, respectively. The bulk density, fruit density and porosity were determined as 575.27 kg/m(3), 1,093 kg/m(3) and 47.13%. The highest coefficient of static friction was obtained on plywood as 0.190, followed by polyethylene, rubber and galvanized steel sheet as 0.173, 0.163 and 0.158, respectively. The total soluble solid content, acidity, vitamin C, ash and total nitrogen content of kiwifruit cv. Hayward were 7.32%, 1.64%, 108 mg/100g, 0.71 g/100 g and 0.84%, respectively. The fresh fruits have 1.09 mg/100g total chlorophylls and flesh color data represented as L, a and b were 57.18, 17.25 and 37.46, respectively.

Some physical, pomological and nutritional properties of kiwifruit cv. Hayward

The purpose of this study was to research the influence of four different tillage practices [T1: Conventional tillage (moldboard plow+disk harrow+combined harrows+precision seeder); T2: Reduced tillage-I (cultivator+combined harrows+precision seeder); T3: Reduced tillage-II (rotary power harrow+precision seeder) and T4: No-till (no-till seeder)] on bulk density, total porosity, penetration resistance, field capacity, field water content and the infiltration rate of a loamy soil in a semi-arid region with a cool climate and an annual mean temperature of 5.6 °C. In particular, the effectiveness of the no-till practice was investigated. Since 1999, the experimental field has been tilled by the above-mentioned tillage practices and also applied a crop rotation (vetch–winter wheat–fallow) in dry conditions. We made assessments of selected soil properties according to the data during the sowing–germination period of winter wheat only in 2012 autumn. Therefore, the number of germinated seedlings of winter wheat was also evaluated. The data of this study carried out in three replications were statistically analyzed using the ANOVA and the regression technique. The results indicated that the tillage treatments affected soil properties and wheat germination. The highest values in all examined parameters except for total porosity were obtained under the no-till practice for top soil layer of 30 cm. As was expected, the no-till treatment had the highest bulk density and provided the lowest total porosity. Generally, the plots tilled by conventional practice had the lowest values. Similar results were obtained for the top soil layer of 0–10 cm, which is seedbed. The penetration resistance measured to a depth of 30 cm in 5 cm increments increased as polynomial with increasing the soil depth in all treatments. The infiltration rate decreases as a function of elapsed time could be described by the Kostiakov equation. Also, significant linear relationships were obtained for penetration resistance–bulk density, field capacity–bulk density and field capacity–penetration resistance. Although no-till treatment improved the hydraulic properties of soil, it had no positive effect on the soil physical properties. However, the linear relations with high correlation coefficients between penetration resistance and bulk density with field capacity at the no-till showed that soil physical and hydraulic properties revealed that they are connected to each other. According to the results of our study it could be concluded that the no-till practice increased winter wheat germination due to higher water content.

Tillage effects on certain physical and hydraulic properties of a loamy soil under a crop rotation in a semi-arid region with a cool climate

The persimmon cv. Hachiya (Diospyros kaki) fruits were analysed for some physical properties (fruit dimensions, fruit mass, fruit volume, fruit density, aspect ratio, geometric mean diameter, sphericity, spread area, projected area, bulk density, skin and flesh firmness, skin and flesh colour as L, a and b values, coefficient of static friction on different surfaces and porosity), chemical properties (moisture, ash, pH, acidity, vitamin C, total soluble solids) and nutritional properties (phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, sodium, iron, manganese, copper and zinc). The fruit characteristics ranged from 169 g for average fruit mass, 65.97 mm for the geometric mean diameter, 1.03% for sphericity and 180 cm3 for volume of fruit. The bulk density, fruit density and porosity were determined as 5,817 N/m3, 9,300 N/m3 and 38.06%, respectively. The present study also revealed important nutritional values of persimmon fruits.

Persimmon cv. Hachiya (Diospyros kaki Thunb.) fruit: some physical, chemical and nutritional properties.

In this study, four different type seeders were evaluated for seed spacing, depth uniformity, and plant emergence at three forward speeds (3.6, 5.4, and 7.2 km h-1). The planter types were: no-till planter, precision vacuum planter, universal planter, and semi-automatic potato planter. The sowing uniformity of the horizontal distribution of seeds was described by using the multiple index, the miss index, the quality of feed index, and the precision in addition to the means and standard deviations of the sample methods. Uniformity of planting depth of seeds was described using the mean, standard deviation and the coefficient of variation of the sample methods. Plant emergence ratios were evaluated by mean emergence time, emergence rate indexes, and emergence percentage. The best seed spacing uniformity and seed emergence ratio were obtained with the no-till planter, and the best seed depth uniformity was obtained with the precision vacuum planter. Forward speed significantly affected only the mean emergence time (P < 0.05). As forward speed increased, mean emergence time decreased.

/pdf/effects-of-various-planters-on-emergence-and-seed-qk69vpuo2b.pdf

Effects of Various Planters on Emergence and Seed Distribution Uniformity of Sunflower

A two year-field experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of three tillage treatments and three intra-row compaction levels on physical properties of seedbed and red lentil emergence in dry soil condition. The tillage treatments were: (1) conventional tillage (moldboard plow + disk harrow + float - CT); (2) reduced tillage 1 (horizontal axis rotary tiller - RT1); (3) reduced tillage 2 (vertical axis rotary tiller with roller - RT2). Intra-row compaction levels were: (1) no compaction (C0), (2) 60 kPa compaction (C1) and (3) 90 kPa compaction (C2). Tillage systems and intra-row compaction levels had significant effects on seedbed properties and seed emergence. In both years, while the maximum aggregate size observed using the RT1 system was between 1 and 8 mm, the CT system caused the highest MWD. The RT1 tillage system and C2 compaction level had a tendency of giving higher water holding capacity and water availability. RT2 and C2 treatments caused higher cone indexes and bulk density values than RT1 and CT. CT and C0 levels tend to decrease the cone index and bulk density at the top layer of soil. The only factor affected by soil tillage systems in both years was the mean emergence time (MET). For both growing seasons, the highest MET was found in CT and the lowest in RT2 and RT1 tillage systems. However, soil tillage systems and intra-row compaction levels both affected the percentage of seedling emergence (PE). While plots tilled with RT2 produced the maximum PE, the CT tillage system illustrated the minimum. Intra row compaction clearly enhanced PE values.

The effects of tillage and intra-row compaction on seedbed properties and red lentil emergence under dry land conditions

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