Rhizosphere biology and crop productivity—a review

Watt, Michelle; Kirkegaard, John A.; Passioura, J. B.

doi:10.1071/sr05142

Cited by 113 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 123 publications

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“…Assuming wheat roots grow 1 cm deeper each day between sowing and flowering (e.g., Kirkegaard and Lilley, 2006;Tennant and Hall, 2001) earlier sowing in mid-April may result in roots which are 30 cm deeper than for a standard mid-May sowing in eastern Australia. Earlier sowing also results in more vigorous crop growth, as soil and air temperatures are warmer (Watt et al, 2006), and in significant improvements in water-use (Gomez-Macpherson and Richards, 1995) and phosphorus-use (Batten and Khan, 1987) efficiencies. Furthermore, until stem elongation, the roots do not have large competing sinks, such as stems and ears, for assimilates (Gomez-Macpherson et al, 1998).…”

Section: Extended Crop Durationmentioning

confidence: 97%

Physiological traits and cereal germplasm for sustainable agricultural systems

2006

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Plant breeding is not a discipline that readily comes to mind when agricultural sustainability is being considered. Sustainability is normally associated with farming practices such as stubble retention, direct-drilling, or amelioration practices such as contour farming or liming, or rotation practices for nutrient management and disease control. The contribution of plant breeding will be in providing germplasm for these changed practices and devising new methods of selection. This paper reviews opportunities where plant breeding can contribute to improvements in sustainable farming practices. The emphasis is on rainfed cropping systems and cereal improvement. The main contribution for breeding is to (i) increase crop water and nutrient use so that less escapes from the root profile; and (ii) preserve the soil resource with conservation farming systems by developing cultivars specifically adapted to changed farming systems and competitive cultivars that reduce herbicide use. To achieve these outcomes identification of desirable traits, suitable selection methods and development of appropriate germplasm are discussed.

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Section: Extended Crop Durationmentioning

confidence: 97%

Physiological traits and cereal germplasm for sustainable agricultural systems

2006

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“…Interactions between soil biological parameters, management practices and subsequent environmental quality effects are of great agricultural and ecological significance (Watt et al 2006). However, despite the important roles of the soil microbiota in agroecosystem functions (Verhoef and Brussaard 1990), very little is known of their activities, composition, and abundance under grazing pasture systems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil quality indicator responses to row crop, grazed pasture, and agroforestry buffer management

et al. 2011

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Soil enzyme activities and water stable aggregates have been identified as sensitive soil quality indicators, but few studies exist comparing those parameters within buffers, grazed pastures and row-crop systems. Our objective was to examine the effects of these land uses on the activities of selected enzymes (b-glucosidase, b-glucosaminidase, fluorescein diacetate (FDA) hydrolase, and dehydrogenase), proportion of water stable aggregates (WSA), soil organic carbon and total nitrogen content. Four management treatments [grazed pasture (GP), agroforestry buffer (AgB), grass buffer (GB) and row crop (RC)] were sampled in 2009 and 2010 at two depths (0 to 10-and 10 to 20-cm) and analyzed. Most of the soil quality indicators were significantly greater under perennial vegetation when compared to row crop treatments. Although there were numerical variations, soil quality response trends were consistent between years. The b-glucosaminidase activity increased slightly from 156 to 177 lg PNP g -1 dry soil while b-glucosidase activity slightly decreased from 248 to 237 lg PNP g -1 dry soil in GB treatment during 2 years. The surface (0-10 cm depth) had greater enzyme activities and WSA than sub-surface (10-20 cm) samples. WSA increased from 178 to 314 g kg -1 in row crop areas while all other treatments had similar values during the 2 year study. The treatment by depth interaction was significant (P \ 0.05) for b-glucosidase and b-glucosaminidase enzymes in 2009 and for dehydrogenase and b-glucosaminidase in 2010. Soil enzyme activities were significantly correlated with soil organic carbon content (r C 0.94, P \ 0.0001). This is important because soil enzyme activities and microbial biomass can be enhanced by perennial vegetation and thus improve several other soil quality parameters. These results also support the hypothesis that positive interactions among management practices, soil biota and subsequent environmental quality effects are of great agricultural and ecological importance.

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“…The impact of SOM on productivity is complex because it affects a range of soil properties, not a single property. It seems to relate very well to the overall effects of soil organic matter on productivity (Watt et al 2006). SOM can influence a number of soil properties and, therefore, potentially a wide range of soil functions.…”

Section: Sustainability Of Soil Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Qualitative and quantitative soil organic matter estimation for sustainable soil management

Kwiatkowska-Malina

2017

J Soils Sediments

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Purpose The aims of this paper were to review tools and methods for qualitative and quantitative evaluation of soil organic matter (SOM) coming from diverse egzogenic sources for effective soil management, and to introduce a new approach to predict dynamics of SOM transformations, especially humification, as a key process in the formation of humic substances (HSs). Materials and methods A review of existing literature is presented on tools and methods for qualitative and quantitative assessment of organic matter in soil originating from various sources for reasonable soil management, attempting to provide a better understanding of the advances in organic matter transformations and new research directions for modeling. Diverse tools and methods for qualitative and quantitative evaluation of organic matter in soil coming from diverse sources have been adopted so far to express transformation processes. Results and discussion For the qualitative analysis of SOM and humic acids (HAs), the analytical techniques are applied, e.g., HPSEC, NMR, and ESI-FTICRMS. The quantitative analysis is done through the following parameters: humification index (HI), humification degree (HD), and humification rate (HR). These analyses indicated that because of lack of reliable data from sufficiently long-term experiments, mathematical modeling may be applied as a numerical tool for quantitative estimation and prediction of humification of SOM. The effective soil management should include soil properties as well as different functions: food production, nutrient and water cycling, storage, filtrating, buffering, biological habitat, gene pool, source of raw materials, climate regulations, heritage, platform for man-made structure. The soil utility value should be evaluated through the SOM qualitative and quantitative analysis of organic carbon and total nitrogen. Knowledge about dynamics of SOM transformations is essential, particularly in the context of stability and efficiency of different sources of organic matter applied into soil. A qualitative understanding of SOM dynamics transformations along with modeling for quantitative assessment of HS formation should be used to develop sustainable soil management. The modeling may be considered as a tool for predicting SOM humification dynamics and consequently the formation of HSs from the diverse sources. The existing archival data from a long-term experiment may be used to build and calibrate the reliable mathematical model of SOM humification. Conclusions Managing of SOM remains a sound basis for maintaining soil in a good condition for optimizing productivity. The development of land management strategies to optimize both the increase of soil organic carbon levels and the recycling of nutrients from SOM needs to be a priority. This should include policy makers and other users as well.

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Rhizosphere biology and crop productivity—a review

Cited by 113 publications

References 123 publications

Physiological traits and cereal germplasm for sustainable agricultural systems

Physiological traits and cereal germplasm for sustainable agricultural systems

Soil quality indicator responses to row crop, grazed pasture, and agroforestry buffer management

Qualitative and quantitative soil organic matter estimation for sustainable soil management

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