Soil and Water Management Options for Adaptation to Climate Change

Rapidly increasing atmospheric abundance of CO2 and other GHGs leading to an increase in mean global temperature of 1 to 4°C by the end of the 21st century necessitates identification and use of relevant adaptation strategies. Depending on land use and management, sustainable agricultural ecosystems can be an important part of the solution to ACC and other environmental issues. Appropriate species, rotation cycles, and soil- and water-management options must be carefully assessed. Sustainable soil-management options include conservation tillage with residue management, integrated nutrient management, and restoration of degraded soil

Physical Properties of an Alfisol Under Biofuel Crops in Ohio

There is an increasing need to develop renewable energy sources from biofuel crops to replace fossil fuels.  Biofuel crops may also enhance ecosystem functions such as soil quality, water availability, and nutrient reserves.  Therefore, the effects of four biofuel crops (corn (Zea mays), switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans) and willow (Salix spp.)) were evaluated on soil quality at three sites in Ohio to assess the effects of crop species on soil bulk density (ρb), soil moisture characteristics (SMC), water stable aggregate distribution (WSA), and aggregate tensile strength (TS) to 40 cm depth.  Overall, results were site-specific, with most differences occurring for the clayey soil at the Northwest site.  At the Jackson site, soil in the 0-10 cm layer under switchgrass had a higher moisture content (θ¸) between 0 and 100 kPa than that under indiangrass.  At the Western site, θ under corn at 1500 kPa was higher at 30-40 cm depth.  At the Northwest site, soils under corn in the 0-10 cm depth tended to have the lowest θ¸ at 0 and 3 kPa, while soils under switchgrass and willow had 50% more large macroaggregates and fewer small microaggregates than that under corn.  Soil TS in the 0-10 cm depth under corn was nearly 160%  more than that under other perennial crops.  These results suggest that management of perennial biofuel crops can improve soil physical quality.  Changes over seven years occur first in the surface soil layers, but further differences may evolve in subsoil layers with increase in time

Nanoenhanced Materials for Reclamation of Mine Lands and Other Degraded Soils: A Review

Successful mine soil reclamation facilitates ecosystem recovery, minimizes adverse environmental impacts, creates additional lands for agricultural or forestry uses, and enhances the carbon (C) sequestration. Nanoparticles with extremely high reactivity and deliverability can be applied as amendments to improve soil quality, mitigate soil contaminations, ensure safe land–application of the conventional amendment materials (e.g., manures and biosolids), and enhance soil erosion control. However, there is no report on using nanoenhanced materials for mine soil reclamation. Through reviewing the up-to-date research results on using environment-friendly nanoparticles for agricultural soil quality improvement and for contaminated soil remediation, this paper synthesizes that these nanomaterials with high potentials for mine soil reclamation include zeolites, zero-valent iron nanoparticles, iron oxide nanoparticles, phosphate-based nanoparticles, iron sulfide nanoparticles and C nanotubes. Transport of these particles in the environment and their possible ecotoxicological effects are also discussed. Additionally, this article proposes a practical and economical approach to applying nanotechnology for mine soil reclamation: adding small amounts of nanoparticles to the conventional soil amendment materials and then applying the mixtures for soil quality improvements. Hence the cost of using nanoparticles is reduced and the benefits of both nanoparticles and the conventional amendment materials are harnessed