A Previously Undescribed Helotialean Fungus That Is Superabundant in Soil Under Maritime Antarctic Higher Plants.

We report a previously undescribed member of the Helotiales that is superabundant in soils at two maritime Antarctic islands under Antarctic Hairgrass ( Desv.). High throughput sequencing showed that up to 92% of DNA reads, and 68% of RNA reads, in soils from the islands were accounted for by the fungus.

Application of monoclonal antibodies in quantifying fungal growth dynamics during aerobic spoilage of silage.

Proliferation of filamentous fungi following ingress of oxygen to silage is an important cause of dry matter losses, resulting in significant waste. In addition, the production of mycotoxins by some filamentous fungi poses a risk to animal health through mycotoxicosis. Quantitative assessment of fungal growth in silage, through measurement of ergosterol content, colony-forming units or temperature increase is limiting in representing fungal growth dynamics during aerobic spoilage due to being deficient in either representing fungal biomass or being able to identify specific genera.

Meta-analysis of global livestock urine-derived nitrous oxide emissions from agricultural soils.

Nitrous oxide (N O) is an air pollutant of major environmental concern, with agriculture representing 60% of anthropogenic global N O emissions. Much of the N O emissions from livestock production systems result from transformation of N deposited to soil within animal excreta. There exists a substantial body of literature on urine patch N O dynamics, we aimed to identify key controlling factors influencing N O emissions and to aid understanding of knowledge gaps to improve GHG reporting and prioritize future research.

Metrics of biomass, live-weight gain and nitrogen loss of ryegrass sheep pasture in the 21st century.

This study argues that several metrics are necessary to build up a picture of yield gain and nitrogen losses for ryegrass sheep pastures. Metrics of resource use efficiency, nitrous oxide emission factor, leached and emitted nitrogen per unit product are used to encompass yield gain and losses relating to nitrogen. These metrics are calculated from field system simulations using the DAYCENT model, validated from field sensor measurements and observations relating to crop yield, fertilizer applied, ammonium in soil and nitrate in soil and water, nitrous oxide and soil moisture.