List of Titles

Long-term analysis of soil water regime and nitrate dynamics at agricultural experimental site : field-scale monitoring and numerical modeling using HYDRUS-1D

- Krevh, Vedran, Filipović, Lana, Petošić, Dragutin, Mustać, Ivica, Bogunović, Igor, Butorac, Jaminka, Kisić, Ivica, Defterdarović, Jasmina, Nakić, Zoran, Kovač, Zoran, Pereira, Paulo, He, Hailong, Chen, Rui, Toor, Gurpal, Versini, Antoine, Baumgartl, Thomas, Filipović, Vilim

Authors: Krevh, Vedran , Filipović, Lana , Petošić, Dragutin , Mustać, Ivica , Bogunović, Igor , Butorac, Jaminka , Kisić, Ivica , Defterdarović, Jasmina , Nakić, Zoran , Kovač, Zoran , Pereira, Paulo , He, Hailong , Chen, Rui , Toor, Gurpal , Versini, Antoine , Baumgartl, Thomas , Filipović, Vilim
Date: 2023
Type: Text , Journal article
Relation: Agricultural Water Management Vol. 275, no. (2023), p.
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Description: Intensive agricultural practices increase agrochemical pollution, particularly nitrogen (N) based fertilizers, which present an environmental risk. This study aims to evaluate long-term (2009–2020) data on soil water regime and nitrate dynamics at an agricultural experimental site on fine-textured soils and to better understand the implications of N management in relation to groundwater pollution. The field site is located in the Biđ field (eastern Croatia), in the proximity of the Sava river. Zero-tension lysimeters were installed at six selected locations. Lysimeters were used to monitor the water regime, i.e., outflows in which nitrate concentration was measured, while additional soil-water samples were collected via 4 and 15-meter-deep monitoring wells. Soil hydraulic parameters were estimated by combining the laboratory measurements, and estimation in RETC software. Water regime and nitrate leaching in lysimeters were simulated using HYDRUS-1D for each year to allow crop rotation and to evaluate their effects individually. The HYDRUS-1D model successfully reproduced lysimeter outflows and nitrate dynamics, which was confirmed with high R2 values (water: 93% above 0.7, and nitrate: 73% above 0.7) indicating the good performance of the model simulating nitrification chain reactions. Principal component analysis (PCA) was performed to identify the relationships among all soil properties and environmental characteristics. The results showed the complex interaction of soil hydraulic properties, precipitation patterns, plant uptake, and N application. All locations have a decreasing trend of nitrate leaching over the investigation period. Most of the lysimeter outflows and elevated nitrate concentrations were connected to the wet period of the year when the soil was saturated, and evapotranspiration was low. The results of this study show that it is important to optimize N fertilizer applications for each particular environmental condition to reduce nitrate loss. The study indicates the importance of long-term field studies, key for agro-hydrological modeling and the improvement of agricultural practices. © 2022 The Authors

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Seed germination ecology of Bidens pilosa and its implications for weed management

- Chauhan, Bhagirath, Ali, Hafiz, Florentine, Singarayer

Authors: Chauhan, Bhagirath , Ali, Hafiz , Florentine, Singarayer
Date: 2019
Type: Text , Journal article
Relation: Scientific Reports Vol. 9, no. 1 (2019), p.
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Description: It is now widely recognized that Bidens pilosa has become a problematic broadleaf weed in many ecosystems across the world and, particularly in the light of recent climate change conditions, closer management strategies are required to curtail its impact on agricultural cropping. In this investigation, experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of environmental factors on the germination and emergence of B. pilosa, and also on the response of this weed to commonly available post-emergence herbicides in Australia. The environmental factors of particular interest to this current work were the effect of light and temperature, salinity, burial depth and moisture on B. pilosa since these are key management issues in Australian agriculture. In addition, the effects of a number of commonly used herbicides were examined, because of concerns regarding emerging herbicide resistance. In the tested light/dark regimes, germination was found to be higher at fluctuating day/night temperatures of 25/15 °C and 30/20 °C (92–93%) than at 35/25 °C (79%), whilst across the different temperature ranges, germination was higher in the light/dark regime (79–93%) than in complete darkness (22–38%). The standard five-minute temperature pretreatment required for 50% inhibition of maximum germination was found to be 160 °C, and it was further shown that no seeds germinated at temperatures higher than 240 °C. With regard to salinity, some B. pilosa seeds germinated (3%) in 200 mM sodium chloride (NaCl) but all failed to germinate at 250 mM NaCl. Germination declined from 89% to 2% as the external osmotic potential decreased from 0 to −0.6 MPa, and germination ceased at −0.8 MPa. Seeding emergence of B. pilosa was maximum (71%) for seeds placed on the soil surface and it was found that no seedlings emerged from a depth of 8 cm or greater. A depth of 3.75 cm was required to inhibit the seeds to 50% of the maximum emergence. In this study, application of glufosinate, glyphosate and paraquat provided commercially acceptable control levels (generally accepted as >90%) when applied at the four-leaf stage of B. pilosa. However, none of the herbicide treatments involved in this study provided this level of control when applied at the six-leaf stage. In summary, B. pilosa germination has been clearly shown to be stimulated by light and thus its emergence was greatest from the soil surface. This suggests that infestation from this weed will remain as a problem in no-till conservation agriculture systems, the use of which is increasing now throughout the world. It is intended that information generated from this study be used to develop more effective integrated management programs for B. pilosa and similar weeds in commercial agricultural environments which are tending toward conservation approaches. © 2019, The Author(s).

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Development and governance of FAIR thresholds for a data federation

- Wong, Megan, Levett, Kerry, Lee, Ashlin, Box, Paul, Simons, Bruce, David, Rakesh, MacLeod, Andrew, Taylor, Nicolas, Schneider, Derek, Thompson, Helen

Authors: Wong, Megan , Levett, Kerry , Lee, Ashlin , Box, Paul , Simons, Bruce , David, Rakesh , MacLeod, Andrew , Taylor, Nicolas , Schneider, Derek , Thompson, Helen
Date: 2022
Type: Text , Journal article
Relation: Data Science Journal Vol. 21, no. (2022), p.
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Description: The FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, and re-usable) principles and practice recommendations provide high level guidance and recommendations that are not research-domain specific in nature. There remains a gap in practice at the data provider and domain scientist level demonstrating how the FAIR principles can be applied beyond a set of generalist guidelines to meet the needs of a specific domain community. We present our insights developing FAIR thresholds in a domain specific context for self-governance by a community (agricultural research). ‘Minimum thresholds’ for FAIR data are required to align expectations for data delivered from providers’ distributed data stores through a community-governed federation (the Agricultural Research Federation, AgReFed). Data providers were supported to make data holdings more FAIR. There was a range of different FAIR starting points, organisational goals, and end user needs, solutions, and capabilities. This informed the distilling of a set of FAIR criteria ranging from ‘Minimum thresholds’ to ‘Stretch targets’. These were operationalised through consensus into a framework for governance and implementation by the agricultural research domain community. Improving the FAIR maturity of data took resourcing and incentive to do so, highlighting the challenge for data federations to generate value whilst reducing costs of participation. Our experience showed a role for supporting collective advocacy, relationship brokering, tailored support, and low-bar tooling access particularly across the areas of data structure, access and semantics that were challenging to domain researchers. Active democratic participation supported by a governance framework like AgReFed’s will ensure participants have a say in how federations can deliver individual and collective benefits for members. © 2022 The Author(s).

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Remnant vegetation, plantings and fences are beneficial for reptiles in agricultural landscapes

- Pulsford, Stephanie, Driscoll, Don, Barton, Philip, Lindenmayer, David

Authors: Pulsford, Stephanie , Driscoll, Don , Barton, Philip , Lindenmayer, David
Date: 2017
Type: Text , Journal article
Relation: Journal of Applied Ecology Vol. 54, no. 6 (2017), p. 1710-1719
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Description: Managing agricultural landscapes for biodiversity conservation is increasingly difficult as land use is modified or intensified for production. Finding ways to mitigate the negative effects of agriculture on biodiversity is therefore critical. We asked the question: How do remnant patches, paddock types and grazing regimes influence reptile assemblages in a grazing landscape? At 12 sites, we surveyed reptiles and environmental covariates in remnant woodland patches and in four paddock types: (i) grazed pasture, (ii) linear plantings, (iii) coarse woody debris (CWD) added to grazed pasture and (iv) fences between grazed pasture. Each site was either continuously or rotationally grazed. Remnant vegetation and other vegetation attributes such as tree cover and leaf litter greatly influenced reptiles. We recorded higher reptile abundance and species richness in areas with more tree cover and leaf litter. For rare species (captured in ≤4 sites <70 captures), there were 5·7 more animals and 2·6 more species in sites with 50% woody cover within 3 km compared to 5% woody cover. The abundance and richness of rare species, and one common species differed between paddock types and were higher in linear plantings and fence transects compared to CWD and pasture transects. Synthesis and applications. Grazed paddocks, particularly those with key features such as fences and plantings can provide habitat for reptiles. This suggests that discrete differentiation between patch and matrix does not apply for reptiles in these systems. Management to promote reptile conservation in agricultural landscapes should involve protecting existing remnant vegetation, regardless of amount; and promote key habitat features of trees, leaf litter and shrubs. Establishing plantings and fences is important as they support high numbers of less common reptiles and may facilitate reptiles to move through and use greater amounts of the landscape. © 2017 The Authors. Journal of Applied Ecology © 2017 British Ecological Society

Response of soil dehydrogenase activity to salinity and cadmium species

- Filipović, Lana, Romić, Marija, Sikora, Sanja, Huić Babić, Katarina, Filipović, Vilim, Gerke, Horst, Romić, Davor

Authors: Filipović, Lana , Romić, Marija , Sikora, Sanja , Huić Babić, Katarina , Filipović, Vilim , Gerke, Horst , Romić, Davor
Date: 2020
Type: Text , Journal article
Relation: Journal of soil science and plant nutrition Vol. 20, no. 2 (2020), p. 530-536
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Description: Greater understanding of the microbial activity role in metal mobilization processes in soil is of major importance. The objective was to study the effect of major Cd species in solution of a saline soil on dehydrogenase activity (DHA). Hypothesis is that (i) under increased soil salinity, more mobile Cd species with diverse effect on DHA may be generated (i.e., CdCl n 2-n ) and that (ii) DHA may correlate to organically complexed Cd species. In a greenhouse pot experiment, NaCl salinity (50 and 100 mM) was applied to control soil and soil spiked with Cd (5 and 10 mg kg -1 ). Soil total and available (CaCl 2 extractable) Cd concentrations were measured, and DHA determined using 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) method. Speciation was calculated from results of soil solution ion analysis using geochemical equilibrium model Visual MINTEQ. DHA was reduced with increased soil salinity and Cd contamination, but only compared with control soil. Although weak, negative correlation between DHA and CdCl n 2-n complexes in soil solution suggested their higher inhibitory effect on DHA than other Cd species. Positive correlation between DHA and organically complexed Cd indicated that raised microbial activity may increase the proportion of organically complexed Cd in the soil solution. Cd toxicity to soil microorganisms can be accentuated in a saline environment, which may be an issue of great importance for agricultural production in coastal areas. Microbial activity may via releasing organic substances in soil solution significantly change cadmium complexation and mobility in soil, an aspect which has often been overlooked. Graphical Abstract

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