Management of a sodic soil for wine grape production

2002 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 333 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. D. Wheaton ◽  
B. M. McKenzie ◽  
J. M. Tisdall

Sodic soils, which are widespread in Australian wine growing regions, restrict plant performance through poor soil and water and soil and air relations. In the northern Goulburn Valley of Victoria, an experiment was conducted from 1995 to 1998 in a vineyard block established with Chardonnay on Ramsey rootstock in 1972. The experiment was to improve root growth and vine performance by minimising hardsetting and crusting of the surface soil and decrease its susceptibility to waterlogging by improving water flow into the sodic subsoil. The factorial combinations of gypsum or no–gypsum and wheat straw or ryegrass were applied to the vine line in a randomised block design. The improvement in grapevine performance was attributed to improved soil conditions for root growth and water movement. Soil electrical conductivity (EC) to 500 mm depth was increased by at least 36%, about 15 months after application of 12 t/ha gypsum, and the effect was maintained at least 40 months after application. The increase in EC was associated with a decrease in spontaneous dispersion at these depths. The application of wheat straw to gypsum–treated soil decreased EC by 52% at 200–300 mm depth but concentrations of water–soluble plus exchangeable Ca2+, Mg2+ and total cations were unaffected. The contributions of water–soluble plus exchangeable Ca2+, and water–soluble plus exchangeable Mg2+ by wheat straw to soil (not gypsum–treated) at 200–300 mm depth were apparent, as concentrations were similar to those in gypsum–treated soils without wheat straw. Forty months after application of gypsum, the exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP) was decreased by at least 26% at a depth of at least 500 mm depth. Spontaneous dispersion was greater in soil with wheat straw applied at 0–100 mm depth than in soil with ryegrass grown, and reflects the influence of organic anions from decomposing wheat straw and the ability of ryegrass to stabilise soil. The stabilising ability of gypsum and ryegrass is reinforced by the greater depth of soil maintained at less than 1 MPa penetration resistance in these treatments, as well as an increase in hydraulic conductivity.

Soil Research ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 29 (6) ◽  
pp. 935 ◽  
Author(s):  
P Rengasamy ◽  
KA Olsson

Sodic soils are widespread in Australia reflecting the predominance of sodium chloride in groundwaters and soil solutions. Sodic soils are subject to severe structural degradation and restrict plant performance through poor soil-water and soil-air relations. Sodicity is shown to be a latent problem in saline-sodic soils where deleterious effects are evident only after leaching profiles free of salts. A classification of sodic soils based on sodium adsorption ratio, pH and electrolyte conductivity is outlined. Current understanding of the processes and the component mechanisms of sodic soil behaviour are integrated to form the necessary bases for practical solutions in the long term and to define areas for research. The principles of organic and biological amelioration of sodicity, as alternatives to costly inorganic amendments, are discussed.


Author(s):  
Joseph Kinansua Laary

Garden egg (Solanum spp) growth and development is affected in varying drought and poor soil conditions in Ghana. A study was conducted to identify the response patterns of garden egg genotypes root growth and plants water status under varying moisture stressed conditions of the Coastal and Sudan Savannahs of Ghana. A two year experiment was conducted on sixteen genotypes of the crop in Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications at Manga Agricultural Research Station in the Upper East Region, and University of Ghana, Legon experimental farm in the Greater Accra Region. At the first fruit maturity stages of around 80-90 days after transplanting, genotypes roots and shoots dry matter and leaf relative water contents (LRWC) data were collected and analyzed using GenStat Statistical Software. The genotype x location interaction significantly affected the genotypes LRWC and root growth in the dry season and moisture-stressed conditions. The moisture stressed tolerant genotypes maintained relatively high LRWC and root-shoot dry matter across locations of Manga and Legon. There were varied and location specific genotypes in root growth and LRWC, with the conditions of Manga favouring higher root growth than Legon; and that of Legon favouring higher retention of LRWC than Manga. The genotypes under the moisture stressed conditions had their LRWC varying from 50.6% to 65% at Legon and from 47.4% to 56% at Manga. Their root-shoot ratios varying from 0.24-0.35 at Legon and from 0.39-0.52 at Manga. The contributions of roots to total plant dry matter also varied from 15.6% to 20.5% at Legon and 22.5% to 30.1% at Manga. The genotypes that sustained higher root growth and retained LRWC of 57% and above under the moisture stressed conditions across locations were A3, A6B, A7, A8, A9A, and A11. These are attractive genotypes for garden egg improvement under moisture stressed conditions of the Coastal and Sudan Savannah agro-ecologies of Ghana. 


AoB Plants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bin J W Chen ◽  
Li Huang ◽  
Heinjo J During ◽  
Xinyu Wang ◽  
Jiahe Wei ◽  
...  

Abstract Root competition is a key factor determining plant performance, community structure and ecosystem productivity. To adequately estimate the extent of root proliferation of plants in response to neighbours independently of nutrient availability, one should use a setup that can simultaneously control for both nutrient concentration and soil volume at plant individual level. With a mesh-divider design, which was suggested as a promising solution for this problem, we conducted two intraspecific root competition experiments one with soybean (Glycine max) and the other with sunflower (Helianthus annuus). We found no response of root growth or biomass allocation to intraspecific neighbours, i.e. an ‘ideal free distribution’ (IDF) norm, in soybean; and even a reduced growth as a negative response in sunflower. These responses are all inconsistent with the hypothesis that plants should produce more roots even at the expense of reduced fitness in response to neighbours, i.e. root over-proliferation. Our results suggest that neighbour-induced root over-proliferation is not a ubiquitous feature in plants. By integrating the findings with results from other soybean studies, we conclude that for some species this response could be a genotype-dependent response as a result of natural or artificial selection, or a context-dependent response so that plants can switch from root over-proliferation to IDF depending on the environment of competition. We also critically discuss whether the mesh-driver design is the ideal solution for root competition experiments.


1998 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 222-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Michael Aust ◽  
James A. Burger ◽  
William H. McKee ◽  
Gregory A. Scheerer ◽  
Mark D. Tippett

Abstract Wet-weather harvesting operations on wet pine fiats can cause soil disturbances that may reduce long-term site productivity. Site preparation and fertilization are often recommended as ameliorative practices for such disturbances, but few studies have actually quantified their effects on restoration. The purposes of this study were to quantify the effects of wet-weather harvest traffic in designated skid trails on soil properties and loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) growth, and to evaluate the ameliorative effects of site preparation. Study sites were established on wet pine flats of the lower Coastal Plain within the Francis Marion National Forest (Berkeley County, SC). Treatments were arranged in a split-split plot within a randomized complete block design. Treatments were two levels of traffic (nontrafficked, trafficked), four levels of mechanical site preparation (none, disking, bedding, disking + bedding), and two levels of fertilization (none, 337 kg /ha of 10-10-10 fertilizer). initially, the trafficking increased soil bulk densities and reduced soil water movement and subsequent growth of loblolly pine (years 1 and 2). Bedding combined with fertilization restored site productivity to non trafficked levels within 4 yr, but disking or fertilization treatments alone were not effective at ameliorating the traffic effects. The effectiveness of the bedding and fertilization treatments for amelioration of traffic effects was probably facilitated by the relatively small area of disturbed skid trails (<10%) found on these sites. Areas having more severe disturbance or higher percentages of disturbance might not be ameliorated as rapidly. South. J. Appl. For. 22(4):222-226.


2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 1062-1068
Author(s):  
Rayanne Maria Paula Ribeiro ◽  
José Ricardo Tavares de Albuquerque ◽  
Manoel Galdino dos Santos ◽  
Aurélio Paes Barros Júnior ◽  
Leilson Costa Grangeiro ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Sesame is a plant with high morphological and physiological complexity, with great variability in growth habit. Quantitative growth analysis is an accessible and accurate tool for evaluating plant development and the contribution of different physiological processes to plant performance. In view of this, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the growth of sesame cultivars in two cropping seasons in the conditions of Mossoró-RN. Two experiments were conducted in Horta Didactics of UFERSA. The experimental delineation in each time was a randomized complete block design with four replications. The treatments were arranged in split plots where each experimental plot contained different sesame cultivars, CNPA G2, CNPA G3 and CNPA G4, and the subplots represented seven collection times, 21, 35, 49, 63, 77, 91 and 105 days after sowing (DAS). The growth of the sesame cultivars was slow at the beginning of the crop cycle, intensifying at the beginning of flowering (after 35 DAS). Among the physiological indexes studied, CNPA G4 cultivar was more efficient in relation to growth and varied depending on the cropping season.


2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominic J. Udoh ◽  
Otobong B. Iren ◽  
Jeremiah E. Jonathan

<p class="1Body">Two field experiments were conducted from 2012 to 2013 cropping seasons to evaluate the efficacy and also determine the optimum rates of application for fish pond waste water in comparison with three other manures including one inorganic fertilizer and two organic manures under garden egg (<em>Solanum spp.</em>) crop.Garden egg was fertilized with pond waste water (PW), poultry manure (PM), pig manure (PG) and NPK15:15:15 at equivalent nitrogen (N) rates (0, 150, 300, 450 kg/ha). The treatments were arranged in a split plot under randomized complete block design (RCBD).The results obtained indicated a slight drop in soil pH but soil OM, total N, available P, exchangeable Ca and K increased generally with increasing rates of manures. The PW and PG treatments supported significantly (P&lt;0.05) the highest yields of the crop compared to PM and NPK with the 150 and 300 kg/ha treatments recording the highest increase. These results have shown that under the high rainfall and acidic soil conditions of Akwa Ibom State in Nigeria, PW is useful for the improvement of soil conditions and achievement of higher crop yields when applied at rates that supply N in the range of 150 – 300 kg/ha.</p>


2019 ◽  
Vol 97 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. 82-83
Author(s):  
Pornpim Aparachita ◽  
Scott Carter ◽  
Afton Sawyer ◽  
Jared Harshman ◽  
Zach Rambo ◽  
...  

Abstract Previously, we reported that supplementing a water soluble zinc via drinking water (0 to 80 mg/L) to nursery pigs improved ADG and G:F. To evaluate the efficacy of higher titrated levels of this water soluble zinc amino acid complex (ProPath®Zn LQ, Zinpro Corporation, Eden Prairie, MN) on growth performance, 280 crossbred pigs (5.5 kg BW; 19 d of age) were randomly allotted to four water treatments (7 pens/treatment; 10 pigs/pen). The water treatments were 0, 40, 80 and 160 mg Zn/L of water. Pigs were fed in 4 dietary phases with complex, nutrient-dense, corn-soybean meal-based diets: Phase 1 and 2 (2,500 and 1,750 mg Zn as ZnO/kg; d 1–7 and 7–14, respectively) and Phase 3 and 4 (200 mg Cu as CuSO4/kg; d 14–23 and 23–42, respectively). Pigs and feeders were weighed weekly to determine ADG, ADFI, and G:F. Water meters were used to record and calculate water disappearance and zinc intake. Data were analyzed as a randomized complete block design. Orthogonal polynomial contrasts were used to determine linear and curvilinear effects. Water and total zinc intake increased linearly (P < 0.001) with increasing water zinc concentration. From d 0–14 when high dietary zinc was fed, there were no differences (P > 0.10) in ADG, ADFI, or G:F. However, from d 14–42 when basal levels of zinc were fed, quadratic improvements in ADG (0.545, 0.561, 0.578, 0.546 kg; P < 0.05) and G:F (0.686, 0.706, 0.723, 0.702; P < 0.01) were observed with increasing zinc via water. Similarly for d 0–42, ADG (0.435, 0.440, 0.454; 0.434 kg; P = 0.07), G:F (0.726, 0.740, 0.763, 0.749; P = 0.05) and average ending wt (23.73, 23.97, 24.55, 23.70 kg; P = 0.07) improved quadratically with increasing zinc. In conclusion, supplementing ProPath®Zn LQ via water resulted in improvements in ADG and G:F for nursery pigs.


1983 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
pp. 1194-1198 ◽  
Author(s):  
John B. Sutherland ◽  
Anthony L. Pometto III ◽  
Don L. Crawford

Eighteen strains of fungi in the genus Fusarium, including varieties of F. episphaeria, F. lateritium, F. moniliforme, F. nivale, F. oxysporum, F. rigidiusculum, F. roseum, F. solani, and F. tricinctum, slowly degraded lignocelluloses from blue spruce (Picea pungens) and wheat (Triticum aestivum). When grown with [lignin-14C]lignocellulose from blue spruce, 15 of the Fusarium strains converted 2.2 to 4.3% of the [14C]lignin in 60 days to 14CO2 and 3.9 to 8.4% to labeled water-soluble products. When grown with unlabeled lignocellulose from wheat straw, the strains caused total weight losses in 60 days of 7 to 25%, acid-insoluble (Klason) lignin losses of 2 to 17%, and carbohydrate losses of 3 to 33%. Crude protein contents of degraded wheat-straw lignocellulose samples were 3.2 to 5.1%. Among the aromatic degradation products from wheat-straw lignocellulose degraded by different strains, as shown by gas chromatography, were p-coumaric acid, vanillic acid, vanillin, syringaldehyde, and p-hydroxybenzaldehyde.


2012 ◽  
Vol 550-553 ◽  
pp. 1293-1298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lin Huo Gan ◽  
Ming Song Zhou ◽  
Xue Qing Qiu

Water-soluble carboxymethylated lignin (CML) was synthesized using wheat straw alkali lignin (WAL) in aqueous medium. The process of carboxymethylation was optimized with respect to the NaOH concentration, monochloroacetic acid concentration, reaction temperature and time. The optimized product has a yield of 80.47% and a carboxyl group content of 2.8231 mmol•g-1, respectively. The optimum conditions for carboxymethylation are NaOH concentration of 20.0% (wt%), monochloroacetic acid concentration of 37.5% (wt%), temperature of 70 °C and time of 90 min. The optimized CML was characterized by FTIR spectroscopy, 1H NMR spectroscopy and interfacial tension apparatus. The result shows that the substitution reaction of carboxymethylation occurs simultaneously in the phenolic hydroxyl group and aliphatic hydroxyl group in WAL. CML has the surface activity in water for industrial application as dispersant.


Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 2058
Author(s):  
Iván P. Ordóñez ◽  
Ignacio F. López ◽  
Peter D. Kemp ◽  
Daniel J. Donaghy ◽  
Yongmei Zhang ◽  
...  

The increase in drought events due to climate change have enhanced the relevance of species with greater tolerance or avoidance traits to water restriction periods, such as Bromus valdivianus Phil. (B. valdivianus). In southern Chile, B. valdivianus and Lolium perenne L. (L. perenne) coexist; however, the pasture defoliation criterion is based on the physiological growth and development of L. perenne. It is hypothesised that B. valdivianus needs a lower defoliation frequency than L. perenne to enhance its regrowth and energy reserves. Defoliation frequencies tested were based on B. valdivianus leaf stage 2 (LS-2), leaf stage 3 (LS-3), leaf stage 4 (LS-4) and leaf stage 5 (LS-5). The leaf stage development of Lolium perenne was monitored and contrasted with that of B. valdivianus. The study was conducted in a glasshouse and used a randomised complete block design. For Bromus valdivianus, the lamina length, photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, tiller number per plant, leaf area, leaf weights, root growth rate, water-soluble carbohydrates (WSCs) and starch were evaluated. Bromus valdivianus maintained six live leaves with three leaves growing simultaneously. When an individual tiller started developing its seventh leaf, senescence began for the second leaf (the first relevant leaf for photosynthesis). Plant herbage mass, the root growth rate and tiller growth were maximised at LS-4 onwards. The highest leaf elongation rate, evaluated through the slope of the lamina elongation curve of a fully expanded leaf, was verified at LS-4. The water-soluble carbohydrates (WSCs) increased at LS-5; however, no statistical differences were found in LS-4. The LS-3 and LS-2 treatments showed a detrimental effect on WSCs and regrowth. The leaf photosynthetic rate and stomatal conductance diminished while the leaf age increased. In conclusion, B. valdivianus is a ‘six-leaf’ species with leaf senescence beginning at LS-4.25. Defoliation at LS-4 and LS-5 was optimum for plant regrowth, maximising the aboveground plant parameters and total WSC accumulation. The LS-4 for B. valdivianus was equivalent to LS-3.5 for L. perenne. No differences related to tiller population in B. valdivianus were found in the different defoliation frequencies.


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