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Full-Text Articles in Soil Science

Diagnosing Excess Nitrogen In Rice Using Post-Season Tissue Samples, Kyle Hoegenauer Dec 2022

Diagnosing Excess Nitrogen In Rice Using Post-Season Tissue Samples, Kyle Hoegenauer

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Proper nitrogen (N) management in rice production can be difficult to achieve without the aid of tools such as soil and tissue tests. There are no tests currently available to rice producers that determine whether N has been managed properly throughout the season or that detect instances of over fertilization. Rice stalk samples were collected from N response trials within 3 days of harvest from the primary Arkansas rice growing region in 2016-2018. Stalk samples were analyzed for N concentration through a KCl extraction and spectrofluorometric quantification. Samples analyzed with leaf material intact contained statistically different N concentrations than samples …


Cover Crop Effects On Near-Surface Soil Aggregate Stability In The Southern Mississippi Valley Loess (Mlra 134), Chandler M. Arel Dec 2021

Cover Crop Effects On Near-Surface Soil Aggregate Stability In The Southern Mississippi Valley Loess (Mlra 134), Chandler M. Arel

Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Intensive agricultural cultivation within major land resource area (MLRA) 134, the Southern Mississippi Valley Loess, has led to soil erosion, soil compaction, and the overall destabilization of near-surface soil aggregates. The use of cover crops during the agricultural offseason has been shown to help alleviate soil compaction and provide stabilizing effects against soil erosion, which are particularly important as the silty soils of MLRA 134 have a large erosion potential. This study evaluated the effects of cover crop and no-cover crop treatment on silt-loam soils within MLRA 134. Treatments were implemented during Fall 2018 and Fall 2019 and consisted of …


Characterization Of Problematic Red Clay Soils In Arkansas For The Purpose Of Onsite Wastewater System Placement, Bailey Darnell May 2021

Characterization Of Problematic Red Clay Soils In Arkansas For The Purpose Of Onsite Wastewater System Placement, Bailey Darnell

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Distinguishing between red-clay soils that are non-expansive and can reduce and red-clay soils developing in problematic red parent material, which are expansive, but also non-reducing, is key for proper on-site wastewater system placement. The Arkansas Department of Health allows for the placement of on-site wastewater systems in certain red-clay soils that have the potential to reduce, but only in the Ozark Highlands [Major Land Resource Area (MLRA) 116A], which is referred to as the red-soil exception. There is currently little scientific data to support the geographic restriction of the red-soil exception. The objectives of this study were to: i) confirm …


Evaluation Of Nitrous Oxide Emissions From Furrow-Irrigated Rice On A Silt-Loam Soil In Arkansas, Jordan M. Slayden Jan 2021

Evaluation Of Nitrous Oxide Emissions From Furrow-Irrigated Rice On A Silt-Loam Soil In Arkansas, Jordan M. Slayden

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As the number one rice (Oryza sativa)-producing state in the United States, Arkansas also ranks fourth as the largest user of groundwater. Recently, due to the development of drought- resistant hybrid cultivars, the furrow-irrigated rice production system has become an increasingly popular alternative to traditional flood-irrigated production with respect to conserving groundwater and maintaining yield. However, other environmental parameters, like greenhouse gas emissions, specifically nitrous oxide (N2O), have yet to be evaluated under furrow-irrigated rice. The objectives of this study were to i) evaluate the effects of site position (i.e., up-, mid-, and down-slope) and tillage treatment [i.e., conventional tillage …


Wayne E. Sabbe Arkansas Soil Fertility Studies 2019, Nathan A. Slaton May 2020

Wayne E. Sabbe Arkansas Soil Fertility Studies 2019, Nathan A. Slaton

Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station Research Series

Rapid technological changes in crop management and production require that the research efforts be presented in an expeditious manner. The contributions of soil fertility and fertilizers are major production factors in all Arkansas crops. The studies described within will allow producers to compare their practices with the university’s research efforts. Additionally, soil-test data and fertilizer sales are presented to allow comparisons among years, crops, and other areas within Arkansas.


Nematode Populations As Affected By Residue And Water Management In A Long-Term Wheat-Soybean Double Crop In Eastern Arkansas, Lucia Emperatriz Escalante Ortiz Dec 2019

Nematode Populations As Affected By Residue And Water Management In A Long-Term Wheat-Soybean Double Crop In Eastern Arkansas, Lucia Emperatriz Escalante Ortiz

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Soybeans (Glycine max) are one of the major row crops in the United States, particularly in Arkansas. Soybean cyst nematode (SCN, Heterodera glycines) and southern root-knot nematode (RKN, Meloidogyne incognita) are two of the most damaging pests that cause major economic losses in soybeans. Little is known concerning the effects of common and alternative agronomic practices on nematodes in fields with nematode population densities below threshold levels. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of the combination of tillage (conventional tillage and no-tillage), irrigation (irrigated and non-irrigated), wheat (Triticum aestivum) residue burning (burned and no burned), …


Landuse And Soil Property Effects On Infiltration And Soil Aggregate Stability In The Lower Mississippi River Valley, Rebecca Lynn Anderson May 2019

Landuse And Soil Property Effects On Infiltration And Soil Aggregate Stability In The Lower Mississippi River Valley, Rebecca Lynn Anderson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Following European settlement of the Lower Mississippi River Valley (LMRV), agricultural expansion and unsustainable, agriculturally related practices have caused groundwater depletion, soil erosion, and surface water contamination by eroded sediments and sediment-bound nutrients to become major environmental threats to the region. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of common landuses [i.e., native prairie, deciduous forest, coniferous forest, Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) grassland, and conventional-tillage (CT) and no-tillage (NT) agriculture] on surface water infiltration and aggregate-stability-related properties [i.e., water-stable macroaggregate (WSA) size distribution, total water-stable macroaggregate (TWSA) concentration, and mean weight diameter (MWD)]. The overall infiltration rate …


Geophysical Assessment Of Subsurface Soil Conditions Using Capacitively Coupled Resistivity, Folaseye Coker Aug 2018

Geophysical Assessment Of Subsurface Soil Conditions Using Capacitively Coupled Resistivity, Folaseye Coker

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to explore the applicability of Capacitively-Coupled Resistivity (CCR) as an improvement on traditional drilling and sampling methods for subsurface soil investigations. The CCR method could be used to identify critical locations for drilling and sampling such as expansive clay layers and anomalies (sinkholes, unknown landfills, etc.) rather than uniformly sampling across a site. CCR surveys were performed at Alpena, Arkansas along a highway expansion project changing US 62 from a two lane to four lane highway, and at Alton, Illinois along the Mel Price Levee, a 5.2 mile levee along a portion of the …


Soil Properties That Influence The Occurrence Of Hydrogen Sulfide Toxicity In Rice Fields, Julia Marie Fryer May 2018

Soil Properties That Influence The Occurrence Of Hydrogen Sulfide Toxicity In Rice Fields, Julia Marie Fryer

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) producers face many challenges throughout each growing season. Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) toxicity is a physiological disorder where sulfate (SO42-) is excessively reduced to the toxic gas, H2S. This can reduce yield and, in severe cases, result in crop death. The main research objectives were to: i) understand chemical and physical characteristics in soils prone to H2S toxicity, ii) determine influential soil characteristics on the incidence of H2S toxicity, iii) determine ammonium sulfate ((NH4)2SO4) fertilizer additions influence on H2S toxicity, and iv) predict when and where H2S will occur. Three greenhouse experiments were conducted using Arkansas field …


Bacterial And Archaeal Nitrifier Communities After Seven Years Surface Ground Cover And Nutrient Management In An Orchard Soil, Mashael Albalawi Dec 2017

Bacterial And Archaeal Nitrifier Communities After Seven Years Surface Ground Cover And Nutrient Management In An Orchard Soil, Mashael Albalawi

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Nitrification is oxidation of ammonia to nitrite and subsequently to nitrate. The rate limiting step of nitrification, ammonia oxidation to nitrite, was thought for many years to be carried out primarily by ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB). However, using molecular techniques and investigating the amoA gene, ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) were discovered. Understanding how long-term application of surface ground covers and organic fertilizers to perennial systems affect microbial communities is critical for sustainable soil management. An organically managed experimental apple orchard soil received seven years (2006 – 2013) of annual, surface applications of poultry litter or commercial fertilizer compared to no fertilizer …


Long-Term Effects Of Alternative Residue Management Practices On Near-Surface Soil Properties And Soybean Production In A Wheat-Soybean, Double-Crop System In Eastern Arkansas, Christopher Ryan Norman Jul 2015

Long-Term Effects Of Alternative Residue Management Practices On Near-Surface Soil Properties And Soybean Production In A Wheat-Soybean, Double-Crop System In Eastern Arkansas, Christopher Ryan Norman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Adoption of management practices that maintain or increase soil organic matter (SOM), which contains 58% carbon (C) on average, may help to mitigate climate change by sequestering atmospheric C. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to determine the long-term trends in SOM, soil C and nitrogen (N), bulk density, various soil chemical properties (i.e., pH, electrical conductivity [EC], and Mehlich-3-extractable nutrients) in the top 10 cm, and soybean yield as affected by residue burning (burning and non-burning), tillage (conventional and no-tillage), irrigation (irrigated and non-irrigated), and N-fertilization/residue level (high and low) in a wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)-soybean [Glycine …


The Functional And Distributional Ecology Of Mycetozoans Under Changing Edaphic And Climatic Dynamics, Geoffrey Lloyd Zahn Jul 2015

The Functional And Distributional Ecology Of Mycetozoans Under Changing Edaphic And Climatic Dynamics, Geoffrey Lloyd Zahn

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Investigations into the distribution and ecosystem functions of fruiting amoebae revealed that local-scale environmental conditions can largely explain broad biogeographical patterns in species assemblage, the way in which amoeboid predators shape bacterial communities and how this top-down influence may affect global biogeochemical processes in a changing climate. The distribution and assemblage of protosteloid amoebae on the islands of New Zealand and Hawaii did not yield any expected patterns of island biogeography, and conformed to other global regions studied. The strongest predictor of species richness in a given region was sampling effort and these species do not appear to have any …


Soils Of Mississippi County, Arkansas, J. M. Mckimmey, B. Dixon, H. D. Scott, C. M. Scarlat Nov 2002

Soils Of Mississippi County, Arkansas, J. M. Mckimmey, B. Dixon, H. D. Scott, C. M. Scarlat

Research Reports and Research Bulletins

Along with air and water, soil contributes essential processes to the natural order of global cycles. With the exception of edibles from the sea, virtually everything we, and most other land-based animals, eat is derived from soil. Soil is a storage medium of essential minerals and nutrients for fulfilling our agricultural and nutritional needs. Humans work the soil to provide the basics of food, clothing, and shelter. We also use the soil as a medium to store and discard our waste. Virtually everything we do is in some way connected to soil


Land-Use Effects On Soil-Water Retention Characteristic, Naomi Colton, Kristofor Brye Jan 2002

Land-Use Effects On Soil-Water Retention Characteristic, Naomi Colton, Kristofor Brye

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

Tillage can negatively affect soil physical properties such as bulk density, organic matter content, and soil hydraulic properties, which in turn affect how plants grow. The objective of this study was to evaluate water retention characteristics of a Jay silt loam soil under cultivated agriculture and native tallgrass prairie in northwest Arkansas. Air-dry soil samples collected from 0-10 cm depth were re-wet with varying amounts of distilled water to create a range of water contents. After overnight equilibration, the water potential was measured on the re-wet soil samples using a dewpoint potentiameter. The relationship between water potential (Ψ) and water …


Survival Of Fecal Contamination Indicator Organisms In Soil, K. A. Teague, D. C. Wolf, P. F. Vendrell Sep 1995

Survival Of Fecal Contamination Indicator Organisms In Soil, K. A. Teague, D. C. Wolf, P. F. Vendrell

Technical Reports

Soils amended with human or animal waste may result in pathogen contamination of ground and surface water. Because temperature has been shown to affect pathogen survival, two laboratory studies were conducted to evaluate the impact of extremes in temperature on bacterial and viral pathogen indicator die-off in soil. A Captina silt loam was amended with broiler litter (0.1 g/g dry soil), septic tank effluent, or Escherichia coli (ATCC 13706) culture (both at 0.04 and 0.1 mL/g dry soil in the two respective studies), incubated at 5 and 35°C, and analyzed over time to determine the number of fecal coliform, E. …