Effects of straw biochar on microbial-derived carbon: A global meta-analysis.

Pyrolyzing biomass (e.g., crop straw) to produce biochar is a sustainable strategy in agricultural farmlands.

Organic fertilizer substitution benefits microbial richness and wheat yield under warming.

Climate warming poses a serious threat to soil biodiversity and crop yield. Application of organic fertilizer has been extensively practiced to improve soil health and crop productivity. However, information is limited about the effects of organic fertilizer on microbial communities and diversity (richness) under warming.

Changes in cropland soil carbon through improved management practices in China: A meta-analysis.

Recommended management practices (RMPs, e.g., manuring, no-tillage, crop residue return) can increase soil organic carbon (SOC), reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and maintain soil health in croplands.

Soil organic carbon regulates CH production through methanogenic evenness and available phosphorus under different straw managements.

Methane (CH) is the main greenhouse gas emitted from rice paddy fields driven by methanogens, for which methanogenic abundance on CH production has been intensively investigated. However, information is limited about the relationship between methanogenic diversity (e.g.

Effects of tillage and cropping sequences on crop production and environmental benefits in the North China Plain.

The ever-increasing trend of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is accelerating global warming and threatening food security. Environmental benefits and sustainable food production must be pursued locally and globally. Thus, a field experiment was conducted in 2015 to understand how to balance the trade-offs between agronomic productivity and environment quality in the North China Plain (NCP).

Improving soil aggregates stability and soil organic carbon sequestration by no-till and legume-based crop rotations in the North China Plain.

Conservation agriculture (CA) has been adopted worldwide on about 200 Mha to enhance soil organic carbon (SOC) for mitigating climate change. However, as a crucial mechanism to sequester SOC, how the protection of aggregates responds to the interaction between no-till and crop rotations (two principles of CA) remains unknown. Thus, a field experiment with six treatments [e.

Impacts of the components of conservation agriculture on soil organic carbon and total nitrogen storage: A global meta-analysis.

Conservation agriculture (CA) can be an important strategy for improving soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (TN). Numerous studies have examined SOC and TN dynamics in different cropping systems. However, there is some uncertainty regarding the relative impacts of some CA practices, and it is not always clear how other agricultural management, particularly nitrogen addition, interacts with these practices to influence SOC and TN sequestration.

Integrated application of plant bioregulator and micronutrients improves crop physiology, productivity and grain biofortification of delayed sown wheat.

Delay sowing of wheat is a common problem in Punjab that exacerbates serious yield loss. To reduce yield loss and improve yield, different combinations of foliar-applied bioregulator and micronutrients, control (CK), zinc (Zn), boron (B), thiourea (TU), Zn + B (ZnB), Zn + TU (ZnTU), B + TU (BTU), Zn + B + TU (ZnBTU) were applied at booting and grain filling stages in delayed sown wheat in 2017-18 and 2018-19. The results showed that ZnBTU treatment significantly increased leaf area index by 25.

Integrated Application of Thiourea and Biochar Improves Maize Growth, Antioxidant Activity and Reduces Cadmium Bioavailability in Cadmium-Contaminated Soil.

Cadmium (Cd) contamination of croplands jeopardizes sustainable crop production and human health. However, curtailing Cd transfer and mobility in the rhizosphere-plant system is challenging. Sole application of biochar (BC) and thiourea (TU) has been reported to restrain Cd toxicity and uptake in plants.

Greenhouse gas emissions from the wheat-maize cropping system under different tillage and crop residue management practices in the North China Plain.

With increasing attention being placed on mitigating global warming and achieving agricultural sustainable intensification, conservation agriculture practices have gradually been implemented in the North China Plain (NCP). However, there are still knowledge gaps on the effects of conservation practices on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in this area. In this study, a four-year field experiment was conducted from 2014 to 2018 to assess the effects of tillage and crop residue management practices on the emissions of nitrous oxide (NO) and methane (CH).

Biochar application for the remediation of trace metals in contaminated soils: Implications for stress tolerance and crop production.

In modern agriculture and globalization, the release of trace metals from manufacturing effluents hinders crop productivity by polluting the atmosphere and degrading food quality. Sustaining food safety in polluted soils is critical to ensure global food demands. This review describes the negative effects of trace metals stress on plant growth, physiology, and yield.

Potassium fertilization improves growth, yield and seed quality of sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) under drought stress at different growth stages.

Water scarcity is a major concern for sunflower production in the semi-arid and arid regions of the world. Potassium (K) application has been found effective to alleviate the influence of drought stress; however, the impact of drought stress on seed quality of sunflower has not been reported frequently. Therefore, a field experiment was performed to determine the optimum K requirement for mitigating the adverse effects of water stress and improving growth and seed quality of spring-planted sunflower.

Dynamics in soil organic carbon of wheat-maize dominant cropping system in the North China Plain under tillage and residue management.

A site experiment was conducted to assess temporal dynamics of soil organic carbon (SOC) and the drivers under no-tillage (NT) and residue retention (RR) in the North China Plain (NCP). The results indicated that NT and RR can significantly increase SOC up to a depth of 30 cm. On average, NT increased SOC by 8.