The Impact of Treatment of Organic Manures on Future Soil Carbon Sequestration Under Different Tillage Systems in Pakistan

Funds provided by Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan for carrying out this Ph.D. research work under “Indigenous 5000 Fellowship Program” and “International Research Support Initiative Program” are highly acknowledged.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Household energy and recycling of nutrients and carbon to the soil in integrated crop-livestock farming systems : a case study in Kumbursa village, Central Highlands of Ethiopia

Acknowledgements We are grateful to the farmers of Kumbursa village for their wholehearted cooperation in providing genuine responses to interview questions during the household survey. We are also thankful to the Development Agent of Kumbursa village, Mr Dinku Chala, for facilitating our relations with farmers of the study area and for participating in data collection. We are indebted to Addis Ababa University and AUC funded Afri-Flame project (Adaptation of small-scale biogas digesters for use in rural households in Sub-Saharan Africa) for their joint financial support. Our heartfelt gratitude also goes to the staff of Debre Zeit Agricultural Research Center for their cooperation in nutrient content analysis of crop residues and dung cakes. Finally, we owe our heartfelt indebtedness to the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments which greatly contributed to the improvement and final refinement of this paperPeer reviewedPublisher PD

Estimating the effect of nitrogen fertilizer on the greenhouse gas balance of soils in Wales under current and future climate

This work was supported by a Grant from the Welsh Government (Glastir Monitoring and Evaluation Project—GMEP).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

A New Approach Using Modeling to Interpret Measured Changes in Soil Organic Carbon in Forests : The Case of a 200 Year Pine Chronosequence on a Podzolic Soil in Scotland

Discounted APC via the Frontiers Open Access Agreement Acknowledgments: Andy Kennedy for teaching about the podzolic soil sampling and horizon recognition. Rothiemurhus estate owners and the forest manager–Piers Voisey. Forest Research agency Soil Sustainability Research and Forest Mensuration, Modeling and Forecasting Science groups for consultations, practical and financial support. Ron Summers and Samantha Broadmeadow for help with GIS maps. Dr Robert Wilson for the help with finding ancient pine woodland locations in Scotland. We acknowledge the E-OBS dataset from the EU-FP6 project ENSEMBLES (http://ensembles-eu.metoffice.com) and the data providers in the ECA&D project (http://www.ecad.eu). This work contributes to the UKRI-funded Soils-R-GRREAT project (NE/P019455/1). We thank to two reviewers for their insightful comments. Funding: The research was funded by the University of Aberdeen and Forest Research joint PhD training grant. James Hutton Institute provided help in kind. The NERC (Natural Environmental Resources Council) grant NE/P019455/1 was used to pay publishing fees.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Modelling SoilMAT-ters

Geophysical Research Abstracts Vol. 20Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Evaluation of Alternative Soil Amendments and Response to Bread Wheat (Triticum aestivum) Productivity in Ada’a District, Central Highlands of Ethiopia

Field experiment was conducted during 2014 main cropping season in Ada’a district, central highlands of Ethiopia to evaluate the impacts of soil fertility amendments on the productivity of bread wheat. Relevant agronomic traits were recorded from each plot. The amendments included solo and combined application of compost, bio slurry and inorganic fertilizers including control field with three replication. The wheat variety used for the study was Kekeba. The design was randomized complete block and to compute the numerical data, SPSS software was used. The agronomic analysis results revealed that there was a significant difference (P<0.001) in all the agronomic traits. The highest plant height, spike length, spikelet spike-1 and 1000 grain weight were obtained from the application of compost at the rate of 64.4 N & 46 kg P ha-1 along with inorganic fertilizer at the rate of 98.5 N & 46 kg P ha-1 while the highest grain yield and biomass yield were obtained from the application of 96 N & 69 kg P ha-1 inorganic fertilizers. The lowest grain yield and biomass yield were obtained from control field. Therefore, it can be concluded that combined application of dry matter compost along with inorganic fertilizers can be an option for wheat production in the study area. Keywords: Dry matter compost, Dry matter bio Slurry, Inorganic Fertilizers, Amendments, Wheat Productivity, Vertisols, Ada’a district, Central Ethiopi

How does replacing natural forests with rubber and oil palm plantations affect soil respiration and methane fluxes?

This research was conducted under the REDD-ALERT project (Grant Agreement # 226310) with financial support from the European Commission Seventh Framework Programme [FP7/2007-2013]. It was also generously funded by the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) (Grant Agreement # 46167) and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) (Grant Agreement #QZA-10/0468). This work is part of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) programs on Trees, Forests and Agroforestry (FTA) and Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). Authors extend their gratitude to staff from Brawijaya University in Malang, the Indonesian Soil Research Institute (ISRI) in Bogor, and Balai Lingkungan Pertanian in Jakenan for laboratory support. We also thank Robbin Matthews and John Hillier, whose insights, feedbacks and recommendations contributed to improve the quality of the manuscript and to the modeling team of the School of Biological and Environmental Science from the University of Aberdeen for constructive discussions. Furthermore, we are very thankful to all assistants and to the REDD-ALERT Indonesia team who supported field work in Jambi. Finally, we are very grateful to the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments which contributed to improve this manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Impacts of different treatment methods for cattle manure on the spread of faecal indicator organisms from soil to lettuce in Nigeria

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We are grateful for the funding provided by the Federation of European Microbiology Societies (FEMS) and the School of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen. Funding information Federation of European Microbiological Societies; University of Aberdeen Open Access via UoA Wiley agreement.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Changes in soil properties following the establishment of exclosures in Ethiopia : a meta-analysis

Acknowledgements This work is part of the RALENTIR (Reducing land degradation and carbon loss from Ethiopia's soils to strengthen livelihoods and resilience) project, funded by GCRF (Global Challenges Research Fund) and University of Aberdeen. We are grateful to Abeyou Wale for his assistance in developing the map of agroecological zones of Ethiopia.Peer reviewedPublisher PD