Effect of a legume cover crop (Mucuna pruriens var. utilis) on soil carbon in an ultisol under maize cultivation in southern Benin

Long term fallow is no longer possible in densely populated tropical areas, but legume cover crops can help maintain soil fertility. Our work aimed to study changes in soil carbon in a sandy loam Ultisol in Benin, which involved a 12-year experiment on three maize cropping systems under manual tillage: traditional no-input cultivation (T), mineral fertilized cultivation (NPK), and association with Mucuna pruriens (M). The origin of soil carbon was also determined through the natural abundance of soil and biomass C-13. In T, NPK and M changes in soil carbon at 0-40 cm were -0.2, +0.2 and +1.3 t C ha(-1) yr(-1), with residue carbon amounting to 3.5, 6.4 and 10.0 t C ha(-1) yr(-1), respectively. After 12 years of experimentation, carbon originating from maize in litter-plus-soil (0-40 cm) represented less than 4% of both total carbon and overall maize residue carbon. In contrast, carbon originating from mucuna in litter-plus-soil represented more than 50% of both total carbon and overall mucuna residue carbon in M, possibly due to accelerated mineralization of native soil carbon (priming effect) and slow mulch decomposition. Carbon originating from weeds in litter-plus-soil represented c. 10% of both total carbon and overall weed residue carbon in T and NPK. Thus mucuna mulch was very effective in promoting carbon sequestration in the soil studied

Earthworm management in tropical agroecosystems

Collaborative research in the Macrofauna project has enabled development of some techniques that presently are at different stages of advancement, from promising pilot experiments (tomato production and inoculation in plant nursery bags at Yurimaguas and in India) to the fully developed technique of massive worm production and biofertilization of tea gardens in Tamil Nadu (India) (patent deposited). Failures have also helped to gain better insight into the potential feasibility of techniques that had been considered in the objectives of this project. Endogeic earthworms (#Pontoscolex corethrurus$) may be produced in large quantities, i.e.about 12000 worms (1.6-2.8 kg live wt)/m2/year in specific culture beds using either sawdust (Yurimaguas, Peru) or a mixture of high and low quality materials (Tamil Nadu, India) mixed into soil as substrates. Cost of production of 1 kg of earthworm biomass through bed culture is about 3.6 Euro, much lower than the cost of hand collection of worms from pastures/grasslands where these species are abundant (6-125 Euro depending on the cost of labour and earthworm density). The theorical value of an active earthworm community with an average biomass of 400 kg live wt has been estimated at 1400 Euro, the price that it would cost to reintroduce an equivalent biomass produced in our culture units, indicating the cost of land restoration. Direct inoculation of earthworms in the field to improve production may only affect plant growth positively if a large biomass (greater than 30 g live wt/m2) is inoculated from the beginning. An alternative may be to concentrate the inoculum in small areas regularly distributed across the field... (D'après résumé d'auteur

Indicadores de qualidade do solo em sistemas de cultivo orgânico e convencional no semi-árido Cearense.

A qualidade do solo pode mudar com o passar do tempo, em decorrência de eventos naturais ou ações antrópicas. A adoção de práticas de cultivo orgânico reduz o revolvimento do solo, favorecendo a recuperação de suas propriedades físicas e químicas. Este trabalho teve como objetivo comparar propriedades físicas,químicas e biológicas de solos cultivados com algodão em bases orgânicas e no sistema convencional, assim como identificar as que possam ser utilizadas como indicadores de qualidade do solo. Selecionaram-se seis áreas submetidas ao cultivo orgânico e três ao cultivo convencional para coleta de amostras de solo deformadas e indeformadas, nas camadas de 0–10, 10–20 e 20–30 cm. Técnicas de estatística univariada e multivariada foram utilizadas para análise dos dados. Os resultados mostraram que os indicadores físicos e químicos testados individualmente não foram sensíveis para diferenciar as áreas sob sistema de cultivo orgânico daquelas sob cultivo convencional. No entanto, a aplicação de técnicas de análise multivariada – no caso, componentes principais e a discriminante de Anderson – permitiu a distinção entre algumas áreas cultivadas sob cultivo orgânico comparativamente às convencionais, até mesmo as que estavam em transição.Dos indicadores biológicos, a fauna edáfica mostrou-se mais precisa na avaliação da qualidade do solo, distinguindo de forma satisfatória as áreas sob sistema de cultivo orgânico das que estavam sob sistema convencional

Influence of Olfactory Epithelium on Mitral/Tufted Cell Dendritic Outgrowth

Stereotypical connections between olfactory sensory neuron axons and mitral cell dendrites in the olfactory bulb establish the first synaptic relay for olfactory perception. While mechanisms of olfactory sensory axon targeting are reported, molecular regulation of mitral cell dendritic growth and refinement are unclear. During embryonic development, mitral cell dendritic distribution overlaps with olfactory sensory axon terminals in the olfactory bulb. In this study, we investigate whether olfactory sensory neurons in the olfactory epithelium influence mitral cell dendritic outgrowth in vitro. We report a soluble trophic activity in the olfactory epithelium conditioned medium which promotes mitral/tufted cell neurite outgrowth. While the trophic activity is present in both embryonic and postnatal olfactory epithelia, only embryonic but not postnatal mitral/tufted cells respond to this activity. We show that BMP2, 5 and 7 promote mitral/tufted cells neurite outgrowth. However, the BMP antagonist, Noggin, fails to neutralize the olfactory epithelium derived neurite growth promoting activity. We provide evidence that olfactory epithelium derived activity is a protein factor with molecular weight between 50–100 kD. We also observed that Follistatin can effectively neutralize the olfactory epithelium derived activity, suggesting that TGF-beta family proteins are involved to promote mitral/tufted dendritic elaboration

Associations between eating speed, diet quality, adiposity, and cardiometabolic risk factors

Objective: To assess the associations between eating speed, adiposity, cardiometabolic risk factors, and diet quality in a cohort of Spanish preschool-children. Study design: A cross-sectional study in 1371 preschool age children (49% girls; mean age, 4.8 ± 1.0 years) from the Childhood Obesity Risk Assessment Longitudinal Study (CORALS) cohort was conducted. After exclusions, 956 participants were included in the analyses. The eating speed was estimated by summing the total minutes used in each of the 3 main meals and then categorized into slow, moderate, or fast. Multiple linear and logistic regression models were fitted to assess the β-coefficient, or OR and 95% CI, between eating speed and body mass index, waist circumference, fat mass index (FMI), blood pressure, fasting plasma glucose, and lipid profile. Results: Compared with participants in the slow-eating category, those in the fast-eating category had a higher prevalence risk of overweight/obesity (OR, 2.9; 95% CI, 1.8-4.4; P < .01); larger waist circumference (β, 2.6 cm; 95% CI, 1.5-3.8 cm); and greater FMI (β, 0.3 kg/m2; 95% CI, 0.1-0.5 kg/m2), systolic blood pressure (β, 2.8 mmHg; 95% CI, 0.6-4.9 mmHg), and fasting plasma glucose levels (β, 2.7 mg/dL, 95% CI, 1.2-4.2 mg/dL) but lower adherence to the Mediterranean diet (β, −0.5 points; 95% CI, −0.9 to −0.1 points). Conclusions: Eating fast is associated with higher adiposity, certain cardiometabolic risk factors, and lower adherence to a Mediterranean diet. Further long-term and interventional studies are warranted to confirm these associations

Global data on earthworm abundance, biomass, diversity and corresponding environmental properties

14 p.Earthworms are an important soil taxon as ecosystem engineers, providing a variety of crucial ecosystem functions and services. Little is known about their diversity and distribution at large spatial scales, despite the availability of considerable amounts of local-scale data. Earthworm diversity data, obtained from the primary literature or provided directly by authors, were collated with information on site locations, including coordinates, habitat cover, and soil properties. Datasets were required, at a minimum, to include abundance or biomass of earthworms at a site. Where possible, site-level species lists were included, as well as the abundance and biomass of individual species and ecological groups. This global dataset contains 10,840 sites, with 184 species, from 60 countries and all continents except Antarctica. The data were obtained from 182 published articles, published between 1973 and 2017, and 17 unpublished datasets. Amalgamating data into a single global database will assist researchers in investigating and answering a wide variety of pressing questions, for example, jointly assessing aboveground and belowground biodiversity distributions and drivers of biodiversity change

Global data on earthworm abundance, biomass, diversity and corresponding environmental properties

Publisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s).Earthworms are an important soil taxon as ecosystem engineers, providing a variety of crucial ecosystem functions and services. Little is known about their diversity and distribution at large spatial scales, despite the availability of considerable amounts of local-scale data. Earthworm diversity data, obtained from the primary literature or provided directly by authors, were collated with information on site locations, including coordinates, habitat cover, and soil properties. Datasets were required, at a minimum, to include abundance or biomass of earthworms at a site. Where possible, site-level species lists were included, as well as the abundance and biomass of individual species and ecological groups. This global dataset contains 10,840 sites, with 184 species, from 60 countries and all continents except Antarctica. The data were obtained from 182 published articles, published between 1973 and 2017, and 17 unpublished datasets. Amalgamating data into a single global database will assist researchers in investigating and answering a wide variety of pressing questions, for example, jointly assessing aboveground and belowground biodiversity distributions and drivers of biodiversity change.Peer reviewe

Global data on earthworm abundance, biomass, diversity and corresponding environmental properties

Earthworms are an important soil taxon as ecosystem engineers, providing a variety of crucial ecosystem functions and services. Little is known about their diversity and distribution at large spatial scales, despite the availability of considerable amounts of local-scale data. Earthworm diversity data, obtained from the primary literature or provided directly by authors, were collated with information on site locations, including coordinates, habitat cover, and soil properties. Datasets were required, at a minimum, to include abundance or biomass of earthworms at a site. Where possible, site-level species lists were included, as well as the abundance and biomass of individual species and ecological groups. This global dataset contains 10,840 sites, with 184 species, from 60 countries and all continents except Antarctica. The data were obtained from 182 published articles, published between 1973 and 2017, and 17 unpublished datasets. Amalgamating data into a single global database will assist researchers in investigating and answering a wide variety of pressing questions, for example, jointly assessing aboveground and belowground biodiversity distributions and drivers of biodiversity change