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Biochar And Microbial Soil Amendment Effects On Post-Mined Soil For Pinus Echinata Restoration In A Changing Climate, Casey Iwamoto, Courtney Siegert, Joshua J. Granger, Krishna P. Poudel, Adam Polinko, Zachary Freedman Nov 2023

Biochar And Microbial Soil Amendment Effects On Post-Mined Soil For Pinus Echinata Restoration In A Changing Climate, Casey Iwamoto, Courtney Siegert, Joshua J. Granger, Krishna P. Poudel, Adam Polinko, Zachary Freedman

Forest & Wildlife Research Center Publications and Scholarship

In the face of climate uncertainty, there is a need to understand how the success of current restoration efforts may be impacted in the future. Combinations of biochar and microbial soil amendments were used in a greenhouse study to quantify potential benefits for soil health, water quality, and tree growth parameters in post-mined soil. This dataset represents a comprehensive 6-month greenhouse experiment for shortleaf pine restoration with consideration to climate change under dry, average, and wet moisture regimes. Soil amendments were applied to one year old seedlings replicated across moisture treatments including: biochar, microbial, mixture of biochar and microbial, unamended …


How Much Margin Is Left For Degrading Agricultural Soils? The Coming Soil Crises, Maheteme Gebremedhin, Mark S. Coyne, Karamat R. Sistani Feb 2022

How Much Margin Is Left For Degrading Agricultural Soils? The Coming Soil Crises, Maheteme Gebremedhin, Mark S. Coyne, Karamat R. Sistani

Plant and Soil Sciences Faculty Publications

Agricultural soils are in peril. Multiple lines of observational and empirical evidence suggest that we are losing the world’s fertile soils at an alarming rate, worsening the on-going global food crisis. It is increasingly clear that the risk of soil crises driven by erratic precipitation, warming air, and farming mismanagement is coming sooner rather than later. At this critical time, society cannot avoid looking for ways to curb soil crises. We argue that now is the right time for science-based mitigation strategies and new insights to protect soils. We offer four research priority areas that society needs to address. Arresting …


An Evaluation Of Carbon Indicators Of Soil Health In Long-Term Agricultural Experiments, D. Liptzin, C. E. Norris, S. B. Cappellazzi, G. Macbean, Andrew E. Suyker Et Al. Jan 2022

An Evaluation Of Carbon Indicators Of Soil Health In Long-Term Agricultural Experiments, D. Liptzin, C. E. Norris, S. B. Cappellazzi, G. Macbean, Andrew E. Suyker Et Al.

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


Evaluation Of A Novel Approach For Assessing Biological Activity In Agricultural Soils, Karla Melgar Dec 2021

Evaluation Of A Novel Approach For Assessing Biological Activity In Agricultural Soils, Karla Melgar

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations and Theses

Soil health is a key factor impacting soil resilience and fertility in crop production systems. Favorable soil physical and biological conditions facilitate plant nutrient absorption and nutrient cycling. Demonstrating to farmers the impacts and changes in soil biological activity under different soil management practices has been a challenge due to the limited availability of inexpensive tools for quantifying this component of soil health. The primary goal of this study was to present a simple and readily accessible tool for evaluating soil biological activity to promote the use of organic amendments in crop fields. Research plots were established in two studies …


Soil Health Beneath Amended Switchgrass: Effects Of Biochar And Nitrogen On Active Carbon And Wet Aggregate Stability, Priya Saini, Jason P. De Koff, Richard Link, Chris Robbins Jun 2021

Soil Health Beneath Amended Switchgrass: Effects Of Biochar And Nitrogen On Active Carbon And Wet Aggregate Stability, Priya Saini, Jason P. De Koff, Richard Link, Chris Robbins

Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Faculty Research

Perennial crops, like switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.), are important for bioenergy production and long-term carbon sequestration. Biochar, a byproduct of certain bioenergy production processes, is also identified as a potential tool for carbon sequestration and soil quality improvements, especially in marginal soils. Despite the focus on switchgrass, soil health characteristics under switchgrass production for biomass are unclear. This study focused on identifying the effects of four N rates (0, 17, 34, and 67 kg N ha−1) and biochar application (0 and 9 Mg ha−1) in a 3-year switchgrass field study on a silt loam soil. Soil active carbon (AC) and …


A Research Road Map For Responsible Use Of Agricultural Nitrogen, Michael Udvardi, Frederick E. Below, Michael J. Castellano, Alison J. Eagle, Ken E. Giller, Jagdish Kumar Ladha, Xuejun Liu, Tai Mcclellan Maaz, Barbara Nova-Franco, Nandula Raghuram, G. Philip Robertson, Sonali Roy, Malay Saha, Susanne Schmidt, Mechthild Tegeder, Larry M. York, John W. Peters May 2021

A Research Road Map For Responsible Use Of Agricultural Nitrogen, Michael Udvardi, Frederick E. Below, Michael J. Castellano, Alison J. Eagle, Ken E. Giller, Jagdish Kumar Ladha, Xuejun Liu, Tai Mcclellan Maaz, Barbara Nova-Franco, Nandula Raghuram, G. Philip Robertson, Sonali Roy, Malay Saha, Susanne Schmidt, Mechthild Tegeder, Larry M. York, John W. Peters

Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Faculty Research

Nitrogen (N) is an essential but generally limiting nutrient for biological systems. Development of the Haber-Bosch industrial process for ammonia synthesis helped to relieve N limitation of agricultural production, fueling the Green Revolution and reducing hunger. However, the massive use of industrial N fertilizer has doubled the N moving through the global N cycle with dramatic environmental consequences that threaten planetary health. Thus, there is an urgent need to reduce losses of reactive N from agriculture, while ensuring sufficient N inputs for food security. Here we review current knowledge related to N use efficiency (NUE) in agriculture and identify research …


Soil Health Effects And Stakeholder Perceptions Of Manure And Woody Biomass Application To Cropland In Nebraska, Linda R. Schott Dec 2018

Soil Health Effects And Stakeholder Perceptions Of Manure And Woody Biomass Application To Cropland In Nebraska, Linda R. Schott

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations and Theses

Organic products that have historically been viewed as waste products may improve soil health by adding carbon (C) and nutrients to soil. Two such products are woodchips, generated from forest or rangeland management activities, and livestock manure. In Nebraska, eastern redcedar (Juniperus virginiana L.) is a native but invasive tree species inhibiting rangeland productivity. Livestock manure that is underutilized while inorganic fertilizers are imported for crop production presents a water quality risk by contributing to local- and regional-scale nutrient imbalances. Increasing the responsible use of livestock manure in crop fertility programs to improve sustainability of both livestock and crop farms …