Influence of soil treatment and mineral fertilizers on structural indicators of summer soybean crops

It has been established that on each variant oftillage use of mineral fertilizers have a positive effect on the structural indicators of the yield when sowing summer soybeans. When the soil was cultivated to a depth of 8–10 cm, the number of beans per plant was 3.0–10.2 pieces, the number of grains per plant was 5.7–21.8 pieces, the grain yield per plant was 1.0–3.6 g, the weight of 1000 grains was 7.0–7.4 g; when disking the soil to a depth of 13–15 cm these indicators reached, respecttively, 3.3–11.4 pieces, 6.0–22.5 pieces, 1.2–3.8 g, 3.5–8.0 g; when plowing to a depth of 20–22 cm these indicators increased and amounted to 3.8–13.3 pieces, 6.9–24.9 pieces, 1.7–4.5 g, 4.3–8.6 g and this contributed to an increase in yield compared to control. Thus, the highest structural indicators were obtained when plowing the soil to a depth of 20–22 cm and at a rate of mineral fertilizers N60P90K60 kg/ha of active substance.

Microwave Soil Treatment along with Biochar Application Alleviates Arsenic Phytotoxicity and Reduces Rice Grain Arsenic Concentration

Rice grain arsenic (As) is a major pathway of human dietary As exposure. This study was conducted to reduce rice grain As concentration through microwave (MW) and biochar soil treatment. Collected soils were spiked to five levels of As concentration (As-0, As-20, As-40, As-60, and As-80 mg kg−1) prior to applying three levels of biochar (BC-0, BC-10, and BC-20 t ha−1) and three levels of MW treatment (MW-0, MW-3, and MW-6 min). The results revealed that MW soil treatment alleviates As phytotoxicity as rice plant growth and grain yield increase significantly and facilitate less grain As concentration compared with the control. For instance, the highest grain As concentration (912.90 µg kg−1) was recorded in the control while it was significantly lower (442.40 µg kg−1) in the MW-6 treatment at As-80. Although the BC-10 treatment had some positive effects, unexpectedly, BC-20 had a negative effect on plant growth, grain yield, and grain As concentration. The combination of BC-10 and MW-6 treatment was found to reduce grain As concentration (498.00 µg kg−1) compared with the control (913.7 µg kg−1). Thus, either MW-6 soil treatment alone or in combination with the BC-10 treatment can be used to reduce dietary As exposure through rice consumption. Nevertheless, further study is needed to explore the effectiveness and economic feasibility of this novel technique in field conditions.

Analysis of Bacillus thuringiensis treatment impact on microflora and cellulosolytic processes in southern chernozem

When using insecticides based on B. thuringiensis in biocenoses, the issues of their influence directly on plants and soil fertility are particularly relevant. The aim of the research was to study the direction of microbiological processes in the soil after processing potato plants with liquid spore cultures of entomopathogenic B. thuringiensis 792, 800, 810, 815, 857, 888, 902, 989, 994 and 0371 strains. The nature and extent of insecticide exposure were assessed by the quantity of microorganisms in the main ecological and trophic groups. It has been shown that soil treatment with B. thuringiensis strains 792, 854 and 989 influences the intensity of southern chernozem CO2 emission most actively, by 5.7-6.0 times. The studies made it possible to establish that B. thuringiensis strains 810, 854, 888 and 902 are able to exert the most active effect on the decomposition of cellulolose, increasing its activity by 93.7; 85.6; 82.0-93.7% to control. The statistically significant relationships study of correlation dependences made it possible to conclude that the treatment of southern chernozem with strains of B. thuringiensis 792, 800, 810, 854, 888 and 0371 does not have a destructive effect on soil microbocenosis.

Intensification of nitrification processes in soil by ultraviolet (UV) irradiation

This study highlights the application of UV radiation for soil treatment with regard to agricultural plant growth intensification. The influence of the parameters of ultraviolet radiation (intensity and wavelength) on the value of the redox potential in the soil was quantified. The experimental tests carried out in soils, plants, seeds with ultraviolet radiation lamps for changing the accumulation of the most mobile nitrate forms of nitrogen were defined.