The Biochar challenge in Mediterranean viticulture: results from 10 years of field experiment

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvia Baronti ◽  
Anita Maienza ◽  
Fabrizio Ungaro ◽  
Antonio,Antonello Montagnoli ◽  
Lorenzo Genesio ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Field Experiment ◽  
Water Relations ◽  
Soil Amendment ◽  
Field Experiments ◽  
Central Italy ◽  
Plant Water ◽  
Grape Quality ◽  
Mediterranean Countries

<p>There are extensive reports and scientific articles in literature on the applicability of biochar as soil amendment in agriculture and on the benefits that this practice can bring in terms of soil improvement and optimization of water resources. The use of biochar as a soil amendment in agriculture is a suitable option that helps to mitigate the effects of climate change. Biochar has an approximate mean residence time in the soil over 1,000 years and this long-term stability is a fundamental prerequisite for considering biochar as a suitable method for carbon sequestration. Unfortunately, most literature provides results based on one-year trials. Not enough for a soil amendment to be able to claim effectiveness for many decades and not enough for a soil treatment to be considered irreversible. An effective option to fill this knowledge gap is represented by long-term field experiments. In this study, we investigated the effect of biochar application on plant water relations and soil properties during 10 years in a field experiment in Central Italy on Vitis vinifera. Biochar was applied at a rate of 22 t ha-1 in two consecutive growing seasons: 2009 and 2010. The results obtained during these years on biochar treatment compared to the control treatment are exciting: we demonstrated an increase in grape production, up to 66%, without a decrease of the grape quality, an increase in plant-soil water relations, no effects on the concentrations of soil PAHs, no eco-toxicity soil effect and a positive effect on soil chemical and biological parameters. Surprisingly, after 10 years the biochar effect continued to demonstrate significant differences among treatments, in particular: a significant increase of soil biological quality, decrease in soil bulk density coupled with a corresponding increase in saturated hydraulic conductivity, an enhance in soil available water content and a significant improvement of plant water status. The modification of plant water availability induced by biochar application increase the resilience of vineyards to droughts, as demonstrated by the lower leaf potential and higher stomatal conductance. This effect has a significant impact on quantity and quality of grape production after 10 years. Moreover, in the long-term perspective the biochar demonstrates to have an effect on soil biological communities that resulted sensitive to biochar with positive increase of abundance of species related to soil moisture content and enhance of biodiversity index. According to these results, the viticulture is now in the position to provide an effective contribution to mitigate climate change and we expect that this will be an example for other Mediterranean countries.</p>

scholarly journals Phenotypic plasticity and adaptive evolution contribute to advancing flowering phenology in response to climate change

2012 ◽  
Vol 279 (1743) ◽  
pp. 3843-3852 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jill T. Anderson ◽  
David W. Inouye ◽  
Amy M. McKinney ◽  
Robert I. Colautti ◽  
Tom Mitchell-Olds
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Phenotypic Plasticity ◽  
Adaptive Evolution ◽  
Field Experiments ◽  
Flowering Phenology ◽  
Directional Selection ◽  
Major Life ◽  
Quantitative Genetic ◽  
Evolutionary Response

Anthropogenic climate change has already altered the timing of major life-history transitions, such as the initiation of reproduction. Both phenotypic plasticity and adaptive evolution can underlie rapid phenological shifts in response to climate change, but their relative contributions are poorly understood. Here, we combine a continuous 38 year field survey with quantitative genetic field experiments to assess adaptation in the context of climate change. We focused on Boechera stricta (Brassicaeae), a mustard native to the US Rocky Mountains. Flowering phenology advanced significantly from 1973 to 2011, and was strongly associated with warmer temperatures and earlier snowmelt dates. Strong directional selection favoured earlier flowering in contemporary environments (2010–2011). Climate change could drive this directional selection, and promote even earlier flowering as temperatures continue to increase. Our quantitative genetic analyses predict a response to selection of 0.2 to 0.5 days acceleration in flowering per generation, which could account for more than 20 per cent of the phenological change observed in the long-term dataset. However, the strength of directional selection and the predicted evolutionary response are likely much greater now than even 30 years ago because of rapidly changing climatic conditions. We predict that adaptation will likely be necessary for long-term in situ persistence in the context of climate change.

KMnO4 determination of active carbon for laboratory routines: three long-term field experiments in Austria

Soil Research ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 190 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Tatzber ◽  
N. Schlatter ◽  
A. Baumgarten ◽  
G. Dersch ◽  
R. Körner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Field Experiment ◽  
Field Experiments ◽  
Cropping Systems ◽  
Organic Amendments ◽  
Sodium Oxalate ◽  
Tillage Systems ◽  
Organic C ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Term Field

Recent studies show that a labile soil carbon (C) fraction determined with potassium permanganate (KMnO4) reflects the type of soil management. The present study combines the method for determining the active C (AC) pool with an alternative titration of the 0.02 m KMnO4 solution with sodium oxalate (Na2C2O4) for routine laboratory analyses. Three long-term field experiments investigated: (i) different cropping systems and 14C-labelled organic amendments, (ii) three different tillage systems, and (iii) the application of four different kinds of compost. The results showed the depletion of AC in the permanent bare-fallow system of the 14C-labelled field experiment. When calculating the ratio AC/total organic C (TOC), the depletion of the AC/TOC curve reflected a priming effect, in accord with previous work. We obtained significant positive correlations of AC with TOC, total nitrogen (Nt), humic acid-C and remaining 14C-labelled material. The AC in the tillage systems experiment was significantly (P < 0.05) different between all three tillage treatments at 0–10 cm depth, and the ratio AC/TOC also revealed a significant difference between minimum and conventional tillage treatments at 10–20 cm. For the compost field experiment, significant differences occurred between plots fertilised solely with N and plots receiving organic amendments. The AC/TOC ratio of the sewage sludge amendment was significantly lower than in all other systems. Correlations of AC with TOC for all samples of the different long-term field experiments revealed different behaviours in different soil types. The correlations of AC with Nt showed higher coefficients than with TOC. The applied methodology has a potential for sensitive and reliable detections of differences in soil organic matter characteristics.

scholarly journals Evaluating of soil sulphur forms changes in long-term field experiments of Látókép

2019 ◽  
pp. 71-76
Author(s):  
Evelin Kármen Juhász ◽  
Andrea Balláné Kovács
Keyword(s):  
Winter Wheat ◽  
Field Experiment ◽  
Field Experiments ◽  
Stem Elongation ◽  
Water Soluble ◽  
Research Station ◽  
Npk Fertilizers ◽  
Sulphate Content ◽  
Term Field

The aim of this work was to evaluate the changes of different sulphur forms (soluble, adsorbed) in chernozem soil in a long-term field experiment supplied with increasing doses of NPK fertilizers for a long time. In addition, other objective of this study included the examination of the applicability of recommended extractants of the different sulphate fraction in Hungarian soils. A long-term field experiment was established at the Research Station of Látókép of the University of Debrecen in 1984. In addition to control, two levels of NPK fertilizer doses have been used with irrigated and non-irrigated variants. Winter wheat and corn were cropped in a crop rotation on plots. Soil samples were collected in three different development stages of winter wheat, at the stage of stem elongation (April), flowering (May) and ripening (June of 2018) from the topsoil (0–20 cm) of experiment plots. Water-soluble inorganic sulphate was extracted with 0.01M CaCl2 solutions. The soluble plus adsorbed sulphate was extracted with 0.016M KH2PO4 solution. Sulphate was measured by turbidimetric method. 0.01M CaCl2-SO42— ranged between 0.293–1.896 mg kg-1 and the 0.016 M KH2PO4-SO42- varied between 5.087–10.261 mg kg-1. The values of KH2PO4 SO42- was higher than that of CaCl2-SO42-, because KH2PO4 extracted the adsorbed and soluble fractions of sulphate, while CaCl2 extracted the soluble sulphate fraction. The amount of absorbed sulphate was calculated by the differences of KH2PO4- SO4 and CaCl2-SO4. The KH2PO4 characterizes mainly the adsorbed sulphate fraction much more than the water-soluble fraction. KCl is the most widely used extractant for the determination of plant available sulphate content of soil in Hungary; therefore, KCl-SO42- fraction also was determined. The KCl-SO42- ranged between 0.328–2.152 mg kg-1. The CaCl2-SO42- and KCl-SO42- fractions were compared and based on Pearson's linear correlation, moderate correlation was established (r=0.511) between them. In all three extractant (0.01M CaCl2, 1M KCl, 0.016 M KH2PO4) higher sulphate fractions were measured in the fertilized plots where superphosphate had been supplied for ages until 2010. The arylsulphatase activity of soil also was determined and ranged between 9.284 and 26.860 µg p-nitrophenol g-1 h-1. The lowest value was observed in the treatment with highest NPK2 dose, both in irrigated and non-irrigated areas.

Monitoring agroecological transformation processes induced by climate and agricultural innovations over time and space

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heide Spiegel ◽  
Julia Miloczki ◽  
Bernhard Freyer ◽  
Andreas Surböck ◽  
Jürgen K. Friedel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Field Experiments ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Arable Land ◽  
Agricultural Management ◽  
Soil Tillage ◽  
Agroecological Zones ◽  
Long Term Ecological Research ◽  
Agricultural Innovations

&lt;p&gt;Sustainable agricultural production of food, feed, fibre and fuel with limited agricultural land to cover human demands and at the same time to secure natural resources is currently one of the biggest global challenges. Changes in agricultural management to ensure fertile soils, stable yields and product qualities and to avoid adverse environmental impacts, affect various soil and plant characteristics, agrobiodiversity and the micro-climate of agroecosystems.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Long-term field experiments (LTEs) are indispensable to detect and understand impacts of climate (drought, heat, floods, frost) and agricultural innovations on soils and plants. Amongst agricultural innovations are adaptions of crop rotations to climate change, efficient fertilisation systems with and without livestock, reduced soil tillage intensity, the conversion of a whole landscape section from conventional to organic farming and introducing landscape elements like flowering strips or hegdes that serve, e.g., as habitats for pollinators and beneficials.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;For the evaluation of impacts of climate change and agricultural innovations, researchers of agricultural long-term ecological research (LTER) sites in Austria have developed indicators to enable the systematic comparison of long-term trials impact on soil-plant systems in different agroecological zones of Austria and Europe, respectively, including different agro-ecosystems, e.g., arable land and grassland. Examples for soil indicators include soil characteristics like organic carbon, nutrients and contaminants, biological and physical (e.g., porosity, structure) indicators that have already been measured since many years in various field experiments. Embedded in long-term socio-ecological regions (LTSER), which allow analyzing long-term socio-economic and biophysical drivers of change in agricultural management, these agricultural LTER sites contribute crucial insights into the interaction between nature and society.&lt;/p&gt;

Importance and necessity of long-term field experiments

2010 ◽  
Vol 58 (Supplement 1) ◽  
pp. 7-11
Author(s):  
T. Kismányoki
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Field Experiments ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Nutrient Balances ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Term Data ◽  
Made In ◽  
Term Field

The importance and necessity of long-term field experiments lie in the fact that long-term effects can only be studied reliably over several decades. The agronomic advances made in recent decades, based on chemicals and genetic gains, can be measured using long-term data, which will also be important in the future. Nutrient balances can be estimated reliably from the results of these experiments. The effect of climate change can be estimated by comparing long-term data from different locations. Long-term databases also form the background for computer models, designed to promote the sustainable development of agriculture and the environment.

Elevated CO2increases soil moisture and enhances plant water relations in a long-term field study in semi-arid shortgrass steppe of Colorado

2004 ◽  
Vol 259 (1/2) ◽  
pp. 169-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jim A. Nelson ◽  
Jack A. Morgan ◽  
Daniel R. LeCain ◽  
Arvin R. Mosier ◽  
Daniel G. Milchunas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Field Study ◽  
Water Relations ◽  
Shortgrass Steppe ◽  
Plant Water Relations ◽  
Plant Water ◽  
Semi Arid ◽  
Term Field
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