Studies on the effects of bio-organic fertilizer on the physical and chemical characteristics of soil and the yield of cassava＊

Bio-organic fertilizer is a new type of fertilizer which have advantages of both organic manure and fertilizer. This study investigated the effects of bio-organic fertilizer on the growth and yield of cassava and the soil fertility. The study was carried out in the period of 2004-2005 and the material was cassava cultivar FUXUAN01. The bio-organic fertilizers were applied as basic fertilizers on four different levels of 450 kg/hm^2, 600 kg/hm^2, 750 kg/hm^2, 900 kg/hm^2 in this experiment. The growth of stem and leaf, the yield of earthnut and the starch content of tuber root of cassava and the unit weight, the hole percent, the content of organic matters, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, microbes, the activity of soil urease and invertase were analyzed during the experiment. The results showed that not only can the bio-organic fertilizer promote the growth of cassava stems and leaves, increase the chlorophyll content and the photosynthesis of leaves, improve the physiological metabolism of cassava, and strengthen physiological function of anti-senility, promote the transformation from photosynthetic organism to tuber root and increase the yield and starch content in the tuber root of cassava, but also decrease the soil unit weight, increase the hole percent of soil, promote microbe activity in the soil, increase the activity of soil urease and invertase, promote the availability of nutrients, increase the content of organic matters, available nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, and increase the utilization rate of fertilizer. It was an effective way to apply the bio-organic fertilizer to increase the yield and starch content in the tuber root of cassava, improving the physical and chemical characters of soil and increasing the soil fertility.

Effects of Irrigation on Soil and Wheat Yield under Drought Conditions in Sichuan

In order to study the effective water-saving cultivation of wheat in Sichuan under drought conditions to reduce grain loss,the effects of different irrigation methods（ natural rainfall,artificial irrigation,and infiltrating irrigation） on soil physical characteristics and main agronomic characters and yield of wheat were analyzed. The results showed that different irrigation treatments at different growth stages had different effects on soil physical characteristics and agronomic characters of wheat. At the seedling and jointing stage,there were small differences between the treatments in soil compactness,soil bulk density,and soil water content. At the flowering and maturation stage,different irrigation treatments had great impacts on soil compactness,soil bulk density,soil water content,and agronomic characters of wheat. In the hilly areas of Sichuan Basin,infiltrating irrigation at the jointing stage was the best,and wheat yield increased significantly,2 113. 46 kg/hm^2 higher than that in the control.

Soil-nitrogen net mineralization increased after nearly six years of continuous nitrogen additions in a subtropical bamboo ecosystem

In order to understand the effects of increasing atmospheric nitrogen （N） deposition on the subtropical bamboo ecosystem, a nearly six-year field experiment was conducted in a Pleioblastus amarus plantation in the rainy region of SW China, near the western edge of Sichuan Basin. Four N treatment levels---control （no N added）, low- N （50 kg N ha-1 a-l）, medium-N （150 kg N ha-1 a-l）, and high-N （300 kg N ha-1 a-1）--were applied monthly in the P. amarus plantation starting in November 2007. In June 2012, we collected intact soil cores in the bamboo plantation and conducted a 30-day laboratory incubation experiment. The results showed that the soil N net miner- alization rate was 0.96 4- 0.10 mg N kg-1 day-1, under control treatment. N additions stimulated the soil N net mineralization, and the high-N treatment significantly increased the soil N net mineralization rate compared with the control. Moreover, the soil N net mineralization rate was significantly and positively correlated with the fine root biomass, the soil microbial biomass nitrogen content and the soil initial inorganic N content, respectively,whereas it was negatively correlated with the soil pH value. There were no significant relationships between the soil N net mineralization rate and the soil total nitrogen （TN） content and the soil total organic carbon content and the soil C/N ratio and the soil microbial biomass carbon con- tent, respectively. These results suggest that N additions would improve the mineral N availability in the topsoil of the P. amarus plantation through the effects of N additions on soil chemical and physical characteristics and fine-root biomass.

The Effect of Humic Substances on Pomegranate Nursery Production in Nangarhar, Afghanistan

The efficacy and reliability to use humic substances for increasing crop yields have not been widely established in the scientific literature. The aim of the research isto increase pomegranate cutting survival rate and the number of quality saplings in nursery production through humic and fulvic acid application during the growing period. The application of humic substances in the pomegranate nursery resulted in a significant positive effect for the quality of the sapling increasing both diameter and height. The data about yield indicates that reducing fertilizer use is balanced by the humic acid through the increase of nutrient uptake by the plant. It also showed that organic matter decomposition and the mineralization processes in the soil increases. The humic substances also tend to regulate soil pH and soil salinity and help to retain organic matter in the surface layer, meanwhile the salt content is leaching out from the surface layer accumulating in the layers below.

Landform classification using soil data and remote sensing in northern Ordos Plateau of China

Landform classification is commonly done using topographic altitude only. However practice indicates that locations at a same altitude may have distinctly different landforms, depending on characteristics of soils underneath those locations. The objectives of this study were to： 1） develop a landform classification approach that is based on both altitude and soil characteristic; and 2） use this approach to determine landforms within a watershed located in northern Ordos Plateau of China. Using data collected at 134 out of 200 sampling sites, this study determined that D10 （the diameter of soil particles 10% finer by weight） and long-term average soil moisture acquired in 2010, which can be estimated at reasonable accuracy from remote sensing imagery, can be used to represent soil characteristics of the study watershed. Also, the sampling data revealed that this watershed consists of nine classes of landforms, namely mobile dune （MD）, mobile semi-mobile dune （SMD）, rolling fixed semi-fixed dune （RFD）, flat sandy land （FD）, grassy sandy land （GS）, bedrock （BR）, flat sandy bedrock （FSB）, valley agricultural land （VA）, and swamp and salt lake （SW）. A set of logistic regression equations were derived using data collected at the 134 sampling sites and verified using data at the remaining 66 sites. The verification indicated that these equations have moderate classification accuracy （Kappa coefficients K 〉 43%）. The results revealed that the dominant classes in the study watershed are FD （36.3%）, BR （27.0%）, and MD （23.5%）, while the other six types of landforms （i.e., SMD, RFD, GS, FSB, VA, and SW） in combination account for 13.2%. Further, the landforms determined in this study were compared with the classes presented by a geologically-based classification map. The comparison indicated that the geologically-based classification could not identify multiple landforms within a class that are dependent upon soil characteristics.