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Soil erosion is one of the crucial forms of land degradation; a menace caused by soil degradation and prevailing lithological feature in southern Nigeria. Several hectares of land area and properties worth about 2.5 million USD are lost annually due to soil erosion. Besides arable lands, the vegetation which serves as habitat to several species is rapidly disappearing leading to the extinction of the native plant species. The objective of the study was to evaluate the impacts of soil-gully erosion from 1986-2016 b...

Each building structure is rested on the foundation surface, so it is necessary to analyze these structures in interaction with subsoil. From the historical viewpoint, the most used is the Winkler model. Later two-parametric models of subsoil had been introduced, implementing the effect of shear forces and impact of subgrade around the foundation into the calculation. Other models are based on the theory of elastic half-space. The use of FEM introduced a lot of advantages to model structures in the interaction wit...

The article presents the study on the effect of thermal and acidic hydrolysis treatment on the antioxidant activity of humic acids. It clarifies the changes in macromolecule structure resulted from the variations in periphery/nucleus ratio. Using the differential-thermal analysis, kinetic parameters of humic acid thermal-oxidative destruction were determined. The studied samples of humic acids were divided into three groups: humic acids extracted from air-dried fen and terrestrial fuscum peat, humic acids subjecte...

Human activities as land use and management impact soil functioning. These are amplified also by stress factors as extreme climate events (drought, flood, heat waves) and meteorological anomalies, consequence of climate change. Although there are clues on how these challenging factors affect quality and functioning at its top surface (between 0 пїЅ 15 cm), there are minor information on how these impact soil in its depth profile. This study present obtained data from assessment studies performed on agricultural la...

The paper presents the results of standard plastic limit test and fall cone test also used to determine plastic limit. Tests were performed on three clay soils. Soils differed from each other various percentage of the sand fraction. Plastic limit is standardly determined by hand rolling soil specimen. A sample of soil has moisture on plastic limit when the roller of the soil of 3 mm diameter begins to break up (CSN EN ISO/TS 17892-12). The test results are highly dependent on access laboratory technicians which pr...

Saline soils do not play a leading role in human economic activity. At the same time, they occupy large areas in the world and perform important ecological functions пїЅ maintaining the biodiversity and sustainability of natural ecosystems. By the end of 2018, the road and rail bridge between Taman and Crimea will be built. The construction of the bridge, the operation of the road, and the development of the related infrastructure will strengthen the human impact on soil cover in the region. One of the negative ef...

Regarding to the situation in Romania, the country's total agricultural surface of 14.946 million ha, an area of 6.367 million ha (42.6%), with slopes greater than 5%, is prone to water erosion and other processes associated. Of these, over 900,000 ha are affected by very strong and excessive erosion. The study aims to quantify the soil loss by erosion process and to specify the main factor affecting the erosion development in the study area using geoprocessing techniques and the erosion predictive model Revised U...

The purpose of this work was to study specific features of the accumulation and distribution of the total content and mobile forms of heavy metals (HM) in soils and plants of the estuarine ecosystems of the Don river and the Taganrog bay coast (Russian Federation). The soil cover is represented by following soils types: Fluvisols, Haplic Chernozem, Arenosol, Solonchak. The following higher plants were sampled: Phragmites australis Cav., Typha angustifolia L., Carex riparia Curtis, Cichorium intybus L., Bolboschoen...

The objective of the paper was to investigate the presence of calcium oxalate crystals in the roots of grapevine Merlot/Kober 5BB from Murfatlar Vineyard, and their correlation to the high content of total and active calcium carbonate in soil, inherited from the parent material. Calcium oxalate is a bio-mineralization major product that formed in the superior plants (like the grapevine - Vitis vinifera), occurring as crystals of various shapes (druses, raphides, envelopes, etc.) and supposing to have also various ...

In recent years, the input of antibiotics into soils has sharply increased. The environmental behavior of antibiotics is not well known and the precise environmental risk assessment is not practical. Long-term studies have shown the efficiency of the diagnostics and monitoring of soils with biochemical methods, particularly with the help of the indices of soil enzymatic activity. We studied the impact antibiotics (benzylpenicillin, tilosin and nystatin) at different concentrations (100, 500 mg/kg) on hydrolase (ph...

Feedbacks of soil ecosystems to climate change depend on its dynamics, thus soil ecosystems can directly and indirectly respond to climate change. Literature proved that warming directly alters microbial communities by increasing their activity. Also, climate change may also alter plant community, which consequently will impact indirectly, thus altering the soil communities that depend on their inputs. Thus, soil microbial community is responsible for a variety of soil provided ecosystem services, given their role...

The study of the soils buried beneath the Bronze Age kurgan mounds in the desert steppe zone of the southeastern part of the Russian Plain allowed establishing the features of the soil evolution and climate dynamics in the 3rd millennium BC. According to calibrated 14C data, the kurgans were constructed during period 2800-2100 cal yr BC: (Catacomb and Lola archaeological cultures). Morphological and chemical properties of buried soils and modern surface soils indicate that during the previous period (the end of Ea...

The soil tillage system through the intensity of soil mobility influences its physical state, the capitalization of the fertilization system applied, and together they condition the water conservation in the soil, respectively the development of maize crop. The arable lands damaged by intensive conventional pratices are a cause of the loss of carbon and water in the soil, to a larger or smaller scale, according to soil, season and especially the stage of damage of soils. The purpose of the paper is the research of...

Evolution and development of landslides is influenced by a number of natural factors (soil, geological substrate, relief, climate, vegetation etc.) and anthropogenic factors (deforestation, overloading of land with constructions, inadequate meteoric waters drain, artificial undermining of slopes-embankments for roads etc.). In this paper we propose to analyze the causes of landslides that affected the county road DJ 585 located in Visag area, Caras-Severin county limit, and also to issuing technical solutions for ...

The determination of the geochemical fractions of heavy metals in soils of technogenic landscapes is a key issue in the study of their mobility. The current study aims to investigate of the accumulation and mobility of Cu in soils adjacent to the Karabash copper smelter at South Urals, Russia. Studies were performed in the plume zone of the Karabash smelter and in the floodplains of Ryzhii Brook and Sak-Egla River for the surface layer of soil (0-5 cm). The level of Cu pollution by soil located at a distance from ...

Thermo-electric power stations using coal are very important and complex polluters, due to the chimneys for burning gas evacuation which represent the main high sources of environmental pollution, while the ash dumps пїЅ are lower sources. The Doice?ti thermoelectric power station built in 1952 is located in the Subcarpathian hill area, on the Ialomi?a Valley, constituting a source of heavy metals pollution of this zone. From the geographical viewpoint, the studied territory can be included in the Subcarpathian Cu...

Petroleum and its derivatives are the main source of energy for industry and domestic consumption. Petroleum hydrocarbons are based on multiple carbon bonds that develop intense and raised complex structures when they bound with other characteristic molecules, hence the latest hydrocarbons have variety of forms and consist of short, medium and long aliphatics, aromatics and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons of different proportions. The accidental release of these hydrocarbons into the environment represents a majo...

The development of regional or local maximum permissible concentration (MPC) for a pollutant in the soil requires the field or laboratory simulation of pollution. The experimental design should include the control (uncontaminated soil with the background concentration of the pollutant) and at least three treatments with different pollutant concentrations in the range between 2 and 10 background values. Experiments are performed in at least three replicates. Soil samples are taken 30 days after contamination. In ea...

Drainage of agricultural land is a critical water management tool for the sustainability of cropping productivity systems considering the links between this sustainability and the control of water logging and salinization processes from root zone. Land drainage also provides environmental benefits when it is sustainable designed securing the conservation and improvement of soil resources quality. A key aspect of this problem is the correct determination of distance between drains based on a series of environmental...

Urban sprawl and land abandonment are the major threats to agricultural areas, as highlighted the European Environment Agency. Bucharest metropolitan area is a proposed metropolitan area project, aiming to reach 2700 km2 in an intermediate stage. This area would include Bucharest City and other 62 surrounding LAUs from Ilfov, C?l?ra?i and Giurgiu Counties. The paper aims to assess the dynamics of soil sealing and soil landscape patterns and to evaluate soil productivity lost due to the urban sprawl within the Buch...

The purpose of this study is to provide information about technical and fertility characteristics of soils for orchards conversion. Based on satellite images, there were calculate a series of normalized differential indexes resulting from some operations with the spectral bands, meaning they are obtained based on multispectral images (with several spectral bands). Through specific operations, it is aimed to amplify spectral signatures in the band where one particular object has the highest reflectance and diminish...

One of the important factors affecting nutrient uptake by the root system of the plants includes soil reaction. Increased soil acidity may adversely affect the use of biogenic nutrients, such as phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, sulphur and molybdenum. In soil, nutrients are immobilized to insoluble forms. Although their amount in soil may be sufficient, the plants cannot obtain the optimal quantities, causing a decrease in the yield or production quality. On the other hand, in the metabolism of plants, a...

Pesticides alter the biological properties of the soil, leading to a complete loss of their fertility. Chestnut soils (meadow brown, light brown) are resistant to contamination by pesticides and by fertilizers in particular. We have carried out studies on the effect of the examined soil pollution with high doses of fertilizers and pesticides on the soil mesofauna representatives. The work is based on studying influence of anthropogenic impacts on soil biological activity in comparison with its main indicators, whi...

Substrate, organic matter content, land use and cover may strongly affect soil properties having effect on soil water regulation services in ecosystems. Soil water holding capacity is function of specific physical, chemical, and biological soil parameters. The aim of this research was to understand the risks posed to soils and their water-holding capacities, in the face of changes in land use, land management and vegetation cover. This study was conducted in 2015, at two study sites, Tajov (TA on Haplic Cambisol) ...

Up to 50% of arable land is threatened by water erosion in the Czech Republic. Annually, water erosion causes billions of dollars of damage. It is especially reflected in the reduction in value of agricultural land and yield of the erosion damaged soil. In erosion affected areas, the soil is washed off and depleted of the finest particles binding nutrients and contributing to the formation of humus. In our study, we include five effects of water erosion on the content and quality of humus in chernozem, in topsoil,...

The influence of seven years of using the direct seeding technology on the eco-biological properties of black soils in the Rostov region has been comparatively studied. These soils are found in vast areas of the South of Russia, and are the most productive arable soils. Seasonal comprehensive studies have shown that, if compared to the traditional ways of tillage, direct seeding results in changes in the soils' physical and biological properties. The studied parameters of soils considerably depend on the cultivate...

The paper presents the results from studies carried out in the farming conditions. It has been found that with the application of rational norms of mineral and organic fertilizers used for growing various crops (barley, rape, flax, soybean), soil fertility could be stabilized and their effectiveness enhanced. The content of mineral nitrogen under rape crops was at the level of the control variant. Its content in the variant using liquid manure (biofertilizer) was somewhat lower than that of in the rotted manure - ...

Ensuring the stability of liquid rate represents a major requirement imposed for sprinkling machinery. This important objective can be materialized only by equipping sprayers with advanced automatic adjustment systems, in order to correlate the two work parameters: displacement velocity and liquid flow. An effective correlation of these parameters can be achieved using adjustment systems of the electronic type. A such adjustment system can not operate efficiently without an adequate comparator circuit. It is also ...

The article presents the material, both on theoretical and practical issues of rational use of agricultural land in the North Caucasus Federal District (NCFD), as well as an analysis of the main reasons that led to their degradation. Assess ongoing processes on agricultural lands with their heavy use. An important feature of the NCFD district is the high proportion of rural population (49.7%) is the highest in the Russian Federation. Revealed major shortcomings in the organization and use of land resources, which ...

Widespread use of electronic regulators, in order to correlate the working parameters at sprinkling machines imposes making a study to assess the performances of the regulation process in working conditions. To achieve this objective were pursued the following aspects: adequate choice of system components; the achievement in own conception of a electronic regulator for automatic correlation of liquid flow with displacement velocity; choosing and preparing a sprinkling machine on which will be installed the achieve...

Due to intensive use of pesticides in vegetable farming, especially in pepper crop, residues may be accumulated at levels higher than those permitted by their respective international maximum residue levels (MRLs). The objective of this study was to evaluate residue level of three insecticides belonging to different chemical groups: 1. Actara (a.i. Thiametoksam) which was used at the rate of 1gr and 2gr/10 L water respectively; 2. Dimetogal (a.i. Dimetoate) which was used at the dose of 10ml and 20ml/10L water res...

In order to assess the presence of different raspberry diseases experiments were established during the years of 2015 and 2016, at two locations (LlapashticпїЅ and Peran) in the municipality of Podujevo and two (Mramor and Barilevo) in the municipality of Prishtina. In the experiment were involved four raspberry cultivars (Polka, Autumn Bliss, Willamette and Meeker), which represents the most prevalent cultivars cultivated in our country, while the experiment was conducted according to the method of randomized blo...

Biochar is carbonized organic matter, which is prepared by pyrolysis and it content high amount of carbon. This material is currently very often mentioned in carbon sequestration and as an additive improving physicochemical and biological soil functions, especially soil aggregation, conductivity or pH. Thus biochar could be usefully toll for decreased erosion risk. The influence of biochar on soil microorganisms is still big question. Results of scientific work differ much. Problematic component of biochar is arom...

It is a well-known fact that a construction is as strong as its foundations are. Nowadays the constructions sites with good soils for foundations are fewer and fewer. One of the most encountered issue on sites, especially in road construction is the presence of highly cohesive soils, soils that are easily affected by the change of the water content. Active clay soils present a problematic challenge for civil and geotechnical engineers all over the world. Key aspects that need identification when dealing with expan...

We aimed at identifying the microbial response and associated release of CO2 and CH4 in/from thawing soil that has been permanently frozen. For that we performed an in situ field-based incubation experiment in a rim of ice-wedge polygon on Samoylov island, Lena Delta, Russia (72пїЅ22пїЅN, 126пїЅ28пїЅE). Frozen "buried' organic matter were taken from eroded Lena river bank and transferred to the soil surface in a rim of ice-wedge polygon. The principle includes that formerly frozen soil is moved to the active layer...

Evaluating geomorphologic conditions in the areas of gullies spreading represents an important step in the capitalization of land and spatial planning. The research was carried out in the Apold Depression (Southern Transylvania, Romania), a submontainous area of approximately 280 km2 characterized by homogeneous physical-geographical and anthropogenic conditions. Gullies (ravines) have been identified on an area of 33 km2 (11.79% of the depression). Morphometric assessment of the conditions of gullies spreading wa...

Humid and arid climatic cycles during Sub-Atlantic time in the forest-steppe area of the East European Plain were studied based on soils buried under archaeological sites of different time. The shift of the boundary between steppe and forest patches is recorded in the shift of the studied soils: Luvic Greyzemic Fhaeozems of the forest patches and Luvic Chernozems under steppe environment. The complex research is based on archaeological investigation, assemblages of morphological (marco-, meso- and micromorphologic...

Hydric soils, named as Gleysols and Stagnosols, have formed under conditions of saturation, flooding or ponding long enough during the growing season to develop anaerobic conditions in the upper part of soil profile. If microbes are active (>50C), if the soil is saturated with stagnant water, and there is a source of usable organic matter in the soil, then redox feauter will result. In the region Banat, situated in the north west of Romania, there is a large area with soils that have water excess: hydric soils, wi...

The ecological situation of the Arctic and sub-Arctic areas has been given special attention due to their extremely vulnerable environment. In comparison with other areas, the Arctic remains a clean environment, but heavy metals occupy a special place among priority pollutants. There are a lot of studies of heavy metals in the soil, but not enough information on the joint content and physicochemical factors that affect the metals accumulation in the Arctic soils. Therefore, this paper presents identification of co...

Water erosion is not only agricultural but also environmental problem. Water erosion washes off the finest particles that bind nutrients and other substances. These nutrients are piled up in the accumulation part of the slope. In the worst case, they are completely washed off the farmland, i.e. into water reservoirs and water courses. Additionally, damage to soil and its depletion of nutrients is reflected in lower yields. The aim of our study is to determine the effect of water erosion on total nitrogen content a...

Depletion of soil fertility due to decrease in soil organic matter content represents a considerable problem in both developed and undeveloped countries. This paper deals with the comparison of compost (Cp) and mineral nitrogen fertilizer (NF) application on selected soil parameters which indicate state of soil environment, its health and quality. The main objectives of this study were (a) to investigate influence of Cp and NF application on total nitrogen (TN) and carbon (TC) content in soil (b), to determine pos...

Tons of pharmacologically active substances are used by human annually in medicine, agriculture, and for farm-animal production. The influence of pharmaceutical antibiotics (benzylpenicillin, pharmazin, and nystatin) in different doses (100, 300, 450, and 600 mg/kg) on a number of microorganisms of the chernozem region has been studied. All tested doses of pharmaceutical antibiotics had a significant inhibitory effect on the abundance of soil microorganisms. Bactericidal drugs (benzylpenicillin) are most effective...

Study of soil cover is particularly important for solving the occurred problems from implementation of infrastructure works of the roads. The soil cover is at the upper part of the Earth's crust and has distinct properties morphological, mineralogical, physical and chemical differences due to climate, relief, waters. The interrelatedness of the various geomorphological, climatic, hydrological and soil factors and the human factor, resulted in a wide variety of soils with specific and constantly evolving. In Timi? ...

During the four years 2013 пїЅ 2016 structural changes in top-soil in silage maize monoculture were evaluated. Soil condition was evaluated according to the structure coefficient (SC) and the stability of soil aggregate, i.e. its ability to resist degradation. The experiment was established in sugar beet growing region of Czech Republic on Carbonate Chernozem, clay loamy textured. Monitoring was carried out in three variants with different dose of applied compost: Variant 1 пїЅ Control, without compost; Variant 2 ...

The pea production is influenced both by the soil tillage system and climate conditions during the vegetation period of the crop and by the degree of infesting with disease and pests of the crop. The control of pests and pathogenic agents in the case of pea crop is important in order to avoid production and quality losses produced by them, as it is known as a sensitive crop. The paper presents the influence of the soil tillage system (conventional, minimum tillage and no-tillage) applied to a phaeosiom from the Tr...

Different species of plant aphids can be found in greenhouses worldwide, depending on the crop and climatic condition. Aphids may occur in large colonies on new growth, the base of buds, or the undersides of mature leaves. The aphids damage the plants directly by sucking plant sap from the plant tissues and indirectly as a vector of different plant viruses. The aim of this paper was to identify the most abundant aphid species causing damages to pepper cultivated in greenhouses. The two year experiment (2015 and 20...

Tomato late blight (Phythophthora infestans), is among the most dangerous diseases of tomatoes grown in greenhouse conditions, but also in the open field. In Kosovo, this disease appears every year and poses a serious threat to tomato production in greenhouses. The purpose of this study was to investigate the spread of the disease in five tomato hybrids (Izmir, Amati, Shahmat, Jabuqar and Arigato) grown in greenhouse conditions. For these investigations, during vegetation period of 2015-2016 in a private greenhous...

Soil erosion is a naturally occurring process on all land. The agents causing soil erosion are water (especially on sloping land) and wind (especially on horizontally land), each contributing a significant amount of soil loss each year. These factors are responsible for about 84% of the global extent of degraded land, making excessive erosion one of the most significant environmental problems worldwide. Soil erosion is a slow process that continues relatively unobserved, or it may occur at an alarming rate causing...

This paper presents macro- and micromorphological, mineralogical and physicochemical characteristics of solonetzic processes that developed within a 14-cm-thick plough (P) layer of non-ameliorated Solonetz over a 50-year-long period of its post-agrogenic evolution. These processes have resulted in the formation of a microporofile with micromorphological features of eluvial-illuvial differentiation within the former plough layer. The mineralogical analysis of particle-size fractions (?1, 1пїЅ5, 5пїЅ10, >10 ?m) of t...

Due to the global problem of desertification, the demand in the diagnostics of the soil forming in the desert conditions is increased. The desert varnish and the vesicular (porous) crust horizon are distinctive morphological features of desert landscapes and, at the same time, generally recognized features of desert soil formation, being commonly referred to as the yermic horizons in different sub-groups within reference groups of desert soils. The objects of the present study were the surface horizons of vesicula...