Water‐repellent soils exhibit a positive water entry pressure head, hp The effects of imposing differing water pressure head values, by using differing water ponding depths, h0, on infiltration into water‐repellent soils was investigated. A sand, with particulate size between 0.05 and 2.0 mm, was treated with two concentrations of octadecylamine to create a sand with hp values of 8.4 and 3.5 cm. The hydraulic conductivity, K, of the water‐repellent sands increased with increasing values of h0 The K of the treated sand was equal to K of untreated sand when the ratio h0/hp was ≈3.1 for each treated sand. The infiltration rate increased with increased time for lower h0 values, but decreased with increased time for higher h0 values. The transition from increasing to decreasing infiltration rates with time occurred when h0/hp was approximately equal to 2.6. The infiltration rate behavior of an aqueous ethanol solution was consistent with theoretical relationships based on liquid surface tension. A positive hydraulic head was created at the interface of an overlying wettable and underlying water‐repellent layer that affected the infiltration rate consistent with the effects of h0 on a nonlayered water‐repellent sand. The following mechanism is proposed to explain the increase in infiltration rate with time. In water‐repellent materials, positive hydraulic heads can be created within the profile during infiltration, which can increase as the depth to the wetting front increases. The higher hydraulic head induces an increase in hydraulic conductivity, which contributes to increased infiltration rate. Alternatively, if the depth of ponded water is sufficient to cause a hydraulic conductivity equal to that of the wettable material, the infiltration rate behavior is the same as traditionally observed for wettable soils.

Exceedance of the US Environmental Protection Agency national ambient air quality standard for PM10 (particulate matter ≤10 μm in aerodynamic diameter) within the Columbia Plateau region of the Pacific Northwest US is largely caused by wind erosion of agricultural lands managed in a winter wheat-summer fallow rotation. Land management practices, therefore, are sought that will reduce erosion and PM10 emissions during the summer fallow phase of the rotation. Horizontal soil flux and PM10 concentrations above adjacent field plots (>2 ha), with plots subject to conventional or undercutter tillage during summer fallow, were measured using creep and saltation/suspension collectors and PM10 samplers installed at various heights above the soil surface. After wheat harvest in 2004 and 2005, the plots were either disked (conventional) or undercut with wide sweeps (undercutter) the following spring and then periodically rodweeded prior to sowing wheat in late summer. Soil erosion from the fallow plots was measured during six sampling periods over two years; erosion or PM10 loss was not observed during two periods due to the presence of a crust on the soil surface. For the remaining sampling periods, total surface soil loss from conventional and undercutter tillage ranged from 3 to 40 g m -2 and 1 to 27 g m -2 while PM10 loss from conventional and undercutter tillage ranged from 0·2 to 5·0 g m -2 and 0·1 to 3·3 g m -2 , respectively. Undercutter tillage resulted in a 15% to 65% reduction in soil loss and 30% to 70% reduction in PM10 loss as compared with conventional tillage at our field sites. Therefore, based on our results at two sites over two years, undercutter tillage appears to be an effective management practice to reduce dust emissions from agricultural land subject to a winter wheat-summer fallow rotation within the Columbia Plateau. Figure 1. Location of field sites in 2005 (triangle) and 2006 (circle) within the Columbia Plateau region (shaded area) of the Pacific Northwest United States. The larger image includes county boundaries in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington.

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Heavy-metal-tolerant bacteria, GIMN1.004T, was isolated from mine soils of Dabaoshan in South China, which were acidic (pH 2–4) and polluted with heavy metals. The isolation was Gram-negative, aerobic, non-spore-forming, and rod-shaped bacteria having a cellular width of 0.5−0.6 µm and a length of 1.3−1.8 µm. They showed a normal growth pattern at pH 4.0–9.0 in a temperature ranging from 5°C to 40°C.The organism contained ubiquinone Q-8 as the predominant isoprenoid quinine, and C16∶0, summed feature 8 (C18∶1 ω7c and C18∶1 ω6c), C18∶0, summed feature 3 (C16∶1 ω7c or iso-C15∶0 2-OH), C17∶0 cyclo, C18∶1 ω9c, C19∶0 cyclo ω8c, C14∶0 as major fatty acid. These profiles were similar to those reported for Burkholderia species. The DNA G+C % of this strain was 61.6%. Based on the similarity to 16S rRNA gene sequence, GIMN1.004T was considered to be in the genus Burkholderia. The similarities of 16S rRNA gene sequence between strain GIMN1.004T and members of the genus Burkholderia were 96−99.4%, indicating that this novel strain was phylogenetically related to members of that genus. The novel strain showed the highest sequence similarities to Burkholderia soli DSM 18235T (99.4%); Levels of DNA-DNA hybridization with DSM 18235T was 25%. Physiological and biochemical tests including cell wall composition analysis, differentiated phenotype of this strain from that closely related Burkholderia species. The isolation had great tolerance to cadmium with MIC of 22 mmol/L, and adsorbability of 144.94 mg/g cadmium,and it was found to exhibit antibiotic resistance characteristics. The adsorptive mechanism of GIMN1.004T for cadmium depended on the action of the amide,carboxy and phosphate of cell surface and producing low-molecular-weight (LMW ) organic acids to complex or chelated Cd2+.Therefore, the strain GIMN1.004T represented a new cadmium resistance species, which was tentatively named as Burkholderia dabaoshanensis sp. nov. The strain type is GIMN1.004T ( = CCTCC M 209109T =  NRRL B-59553T ).

a b s t r a c tGroundwater is an important factor that needs to be considered when evaluating the water balance of the soil-plant-atmosphere system and the sustainable development of arid oases. However, the impact of shallow groundwater on the root zone water balance and cotton growth is not fully understood. In this study, we have first analyzed the influence of the groundwater table depth on the seasonal maximum leaf area index of cotton, the average seasonal water stress, cotton yield, actual transpiration, actual evaporation, and capillary rise using experimental data collected at the Aksu water balance station, in Xinjiang, northwest of China and the Hydrus-1D variably-saturated soil water flow model coupled with a simplified crop growth model from SWAT. The coupled model has been first calibrated and validated using field observations of soil water content, leaf area index, cotton height, the above ground biomass, and cotton yield comparisons between measured and modeled variables have shown a reasonable agreement for all variables. Additionally, with a validated model, we have carried out numerical experiments from which we have concluded that groundwater is a major water resource for cotton growth in this region. The capillary rise from groundwater contributes almost 23% of crop transpiration when the average groundwater depth is 1.84 m, which is the most suitable groundwater depth for this experimental site. We have concluded that cotton growth and various components of the soil water balance are highly sensitive to the groundwater table level. Different positions of the groundwater table showed both positive and negative effects on cotton growth. Likewise, cotton growth has a significant impact on the capillary rise from groundwater. As a result, groundwater is a crucial factor that needs to be considered when evaluating agricultural land management in this arid region. The updated Hydrus-1D model developed in this study provides a powerful modeling tool for evaluating the effects of the groundwater table on local land management.