Objective: Biochar and a commercial humic acid-rich product, Humac (modified leonardite), represent soil amendments with the broad and beneficial effects on various soil properties. Their combination has been scarcely tested so far, although the positive impact of their interaction might be desirable. Materials and Methods: The dehydrogenase activity (DHA), microbial biomass carbon (Cmic), soil respiration (basal and substrate-induced), enzyme activities, total carbon (Ctot), and both shoot and root biomass yield were measured and compared in the short-term pot experiment with the lettuce seedlings. The following treatments were tested: the unamended soil (control), the Humac-amended soil (0.8 g·kg−1), the biochar-amended soil (low biochar 32 g·kg−1, high biochar 80 g·kg−1), and the soil-amended with biochar + Humac. Results: The effect of both amendments on the soil pH was insignificant. The highest average values of Ctot and Cmic were detected in high biochar treatment and the highest average values of basal and substrate-induced respiration (glucose, glucosamine, alanine) were detected in the low biochar treatment. The phosphatase activity and fresh and dry lettuce aboveground biomass were the highest in the low biochar + Humac treatment. Conclusions: Even though the combination of both biochar + Humac decreased the microbial activities in the amended soil (Cmic, DHA, enzymes, substrate-induced respiration) at the low biochar dose, they mitigated the detrimental effect of the high biochar dose on respiration (all the types) and the enzyme (phosphatase, arylsulphatase) activities. In contrast to the previously published research in this issue, the effects could not be attributed to the change of the soil pH.

A three-year experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of Z’Fix on soil physical properties and crop status. Z’Fix is an agent recommended as an addition to animal bedding to prolong its function and to lower ammonia emissions in stables. Concurrently, a positive effect on organic matter transformation in resulting manure is claimed. The experiment involved control, farmyard manure (FYM), and farmyard manure with Z’Fix (FYM_ZF) as variants. In-field sampling was conducted for cone index, water infiltration and implement a unit draft, where the latter two showed significant differences in favour of FYM_ZF. Also, concerning crop yields, FYM_ZF consistently attained the highest values, followed by FYM throughout all three seasons. Furthermore, remotely sensed data were analysed to describe crop status via normalised difference vegetation index where significant differences were found across all variants. Based on the study, FYM_ZF demonstrated positive effects both on soil properties and crop conditions.

Abstract:Measuring soil surface profile has many purposes in the field of agriculture and landscape management. For example, it concerns quantitative evaluation of work quality of soil cultivation implements, and related assessment of soil surface status prior sowing. For this purpose, a prototype of laser profilometer was produced whose key parts are a laser sensor Banner Lt3 fixed together with a control section, a converter etc. on a carriage that travels propelled by an electromotor along an aluminum girder. In 20 mm intervals determined by an optical sensor, the laser sensor measures a distance to a soil surface. The aim of the work is to verify some laser sensor properties such as a linearity of measurement, sensitivity to surface color, and furthermore to establish appropriate window limits of laser sensor measurement.

Dobek T.K., Šařec P., Kołosowski P., Šařec O. (2017): Effect of chopped maize straw on the quantity and quality of biogas produced. Res. Agr. Eng., 63 (Special Issue): S8-S12.The increase in production costs of maize silage intended for biogas has led the producers to look for alternative sources of raw material. One of such materials is straw of agricultural crops, including maize. The use of lignin-cellulose materials, such as straw, by bacteria in a biogas fermenter is limited by its polymer structure. Therefore, it is required to process the straw before it is introduced into the biogas fermenter, which may allow to increase the biogas potential of straw. The simplest way of straw processing is its chopping. On the basis of the obtained results, it can be said that cutting the straw did not help increase the amount of biogas produced, but even limited the potential of this raw material.

Physical properties of commercial fertilizers play important role from precision application point of view. Granulometric evaluation is usually performed by sieve separation according ČSN 01 5030 standard. The main subject of this work is the presentation of separation results when vertical airflow is used with NPK 20-8-8 and Dolophos fertilizers. The sample was divided into 8 individual specimens of 0.5 kg weight that was measured repeatedly. Every class of the specimen was than sieved on the sieves with holes 2 mm, 3.5 mm, and 5 mm resulting four new subclasses characterized by the sieve mesh dimension. It was achieved by statistical evaluation that relative frequencies are in agreement with N-distribution. It is clear from achieved values that in NPK 20-8-8 fertilizer samples there are 92.25 % of particles with dimension from 3.15 to 5 mm and 7.0 % with dimension from 2 to 3.15 mm. In fertilizer Dolophos there are 50.87 % of particles with dimension from 3.15 to 5 mm and 47.54% with dimension from 2 to 3.15 mm.

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This study was conducted to understand the long-term influence of biostimulator NeOsol in combination with different manure types on soil’s physical properties and crop status. NeOsol is a soil biostimulator that should stimulate the biological reactions of the soil profile and improve the soil’s physical and chemical properties. A six-year experiment was conducted with eight treatments: NPK, cattle manure, pig manure, poultry manure, and the same four treatments with the NeOsol added on top. The in situ sampling of soil properties provided data on unit draft (UD), bulk density (BD), and saturated hydraulic conductivity (SHC). Furthermore, remotely sensed data were analyzed to describe crop status via three selected vegetation indices (VI), and crop yields were assessed last. The variants treated with NeOsol demonstrated decreases in UD over time; BD, SHC, and VI did not significantly change. The impact on yield was significant and increased over time. When comparing the variants with manure application to those without one, the cattle manure led to significantly higher SHC; the pig manure led to significantly lower UD and BD but significantly higher SHC and yield; and the poultry manure led to significantly lower UD and BD but higher yield.

High proportion of arable land is typically for agriculture in Czech Republic. Nowadays there is a problem with decrease of livestock production and increase of biofuel production. This problems causes decrease in the level of soil carbon in the soil. Decrease in levels of organic carbon also leads to easier soil degradation by other negative factors (soil erosion, compaction). Organic matter application into soils is the only corrective action. Decomposition of applied organic matter is a problem in the decarburized soils. Organic matter can be supplemented by biological transformation’s activators. The objective of this paper is to demonstrate the efficacy activators of organic matter to improve the soil environment. Field trial has been established in this purpose at locality Sloveč in the Central Bohemia Region. Very heavy soil is located on the experimental field. Results of the six variants with application of manure are presented in this paper. PRP Sol (PRP Technologies) was used like soil activator. PRP Fix (PRP Technologies) was used like activator of the biological transformation of manure. Favorable effect on crop state of cereals was observed. This was confirmed by using vegetation indices (using satellite images). They suggest a beneficial effect of application of bio-activators.