Sudipto Bhowmik, Lilian O'Sullivan, David Wall, Réamonn M. Fealy, Rowan Fealy
{"title":"Evaluation of the DNDC Model for Estimating Growth of Perennial Ryegrass and Identification of Its Regulators","authors":"Sudipto Bhowmik, Lilian O'Sullivan, David Wall, Réamonn M. Fealy, Rowan Fealy","doi":"10.1111/ejss.70345","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ejss.70345","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Plant available nitrogen (N), typically supplied through organic and inorganic fertilisers for managed grazed grasslands, can be lost from the soil into the environment with negative impacts on ecosystems, human health and the economy. To optimise plant uptake and mitigate the potential negative impacts of N loss, while at the same time maintaining or enhancing grass yields, it is necessary to account for the impact of management and interactions between soil and atmospheric conditions. In this research, we investigated the scope of employing the DNDC (<i>DeNitrification-DeComposition</i>) model, a site-specific process-oriented biogeochemical model, as a tool to support more geographically refined N management, at field and farm scale, considering soil and atmospheric conditions. However, a key limitation in utilising the model in this context is associated with the input data requirements. To address this, we evaluated the model's performance in estimating the growth rate and yield of perennial ryegrass (PRG) at an intensively managed dairy farm. In recognition of the paucity of detailed site-specific soil information, model estimates of yield were generated using both directly measured and commonly available soil and management information as well as more generalised farm level information. The results indicated that DNDC could reliably simulate the growth rate and annual yield of PRG, at both paddock and farm level, using both detailed and more generalised model inputs for soil, when the model parameters relating to the crop phenology are specified, and using regional atmospheric chemistry measurements.</p>","PeriodicalId":12043,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Soil Science","volume":"77 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2026-05-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ejss.70345","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148024265","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Determination of Cation Exchange Properties of Calcareous Soil and Bentonite Using a 50% Ethanol [Co(NH3)6]Cl3 Solution","authors":"Jinhua Yuan, Shengzhe E","doi":"10.1111/ejss.70347","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ejss.70347","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Accurate determination of cation exchange capacity (CEC) and exchangeable (exch.) cations in calcareous soils and clays has long been a challenge in the field. The hexamminecobalt trichloride ([Co(NH<sub>3</sub>)<sub>6</sub>]Cl<sub>3</sub>) method is currently the most convenient approach for the simultaneous measurement of CEC and exch. cations in a single extraction process. Dissolution of CaCO<sub>3</sub> during the extraction process was inhibited by preparing a calcite-saturated [Co(NH<sub>3</sub>)<sub>6</sub>]Cl<sub>3</sub> solution. Preparation of this solution required 30 min of ultrasonic treatment, 30 min of stirring, and standing overnight. This procedure significantly reduced testing efficiency and required improvement. This study adopted effective measures to address this issue. Four standard calcareous soils and one standard calcareous bentonite were treated with varying amounts of quartz sand and CaCO<sub>3</sub>, and a 50% ethanol [Co(NH<sub>3</sub>)<sub>6</sub>]Cl<sub>3</sub> solution was chosen as the extraction agent to inhibit CaCO<sub>3</sub> dissolution. With magnetic stirring, the entire extraction process was completed within 5 min. This eliminated the need for 1 h of shaking and for preparing the calcite-saturated [Co(NH<sub>3</sub>)<sub>6</sub>]Cl<sub>3</sub> solution, greatly improving efficiency. The results showed that the CEC and exch. cation values for the four soils obtained using this method were all within the standard ranges. The determination of exch. cations in the bentonite also fell within the range of the standard values. Ethanol concentration was a major factor inhibiting the dissolution of CaCO<sub>3</sub>.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":12043,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Soil Science","volume":"77 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2026-05-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148024266","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jack A. Connolly, Francesco Del Carratore, Kamila Schmidt, Jeremy Chua, Maria Torras, Rainer Breitling, Eriko Takano
{"title":"Metabolomic Profiling of Soil Streptomyces: Open-Source Datasets for Microbial Interaction Studies","authors":"Jack A. Connolly, Francesco Del Carratore, Kamila Schmidt, Jeremy Chua, Maria Torras, Rainer Breitling, Eriko Takano","doi":"10.1111/ejss.70349","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ejss.70349","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The bacterial genus <i>Streptomyces</i> is renowned for its prolific production of bioactive secondary metabolites, playing a crucial role in soil microbial ecosystems. However, the molecular mechanisms underpinning interactions between these microbes remain poorly understood. With the aim of establishing a protocol for the characterisation of the molecular interplay between members of the same microbial community, we examine the molecular interplay between two model soil bacteria: <i>Streptomyces coelicolor</i> M145 and <i>Streptomyces avermitilis</i> MA-4680. We observed a distinct morphological response of M145 to the presence of MA-4680. To characterise the underlying signalling mechanism, we conducted metabolite profiling over a time course sampled at 3, 5 and 7 days. Samples were analysed with high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS), in both positive and negative ionisation mode, and converted into the open-source.mzML format. This resulted in 59 files for each ionisation mode. In addition, we examined knockout mutants deficient in primary signalling molecules—butyrolactones in M145 and avenolide in MA-4680. While butyrolactone deletion had no observable impact, the loss of avenolide production in MA-4680 altered the phenotype of M145 and corresponding metabolite profiles. The resulting HRMS datasets are presented here as 98 .mzML files (49 for each ionisation mode). All data were processed through our established computational pipeline for feature extraction and metabolite annotation, and the resulting data are made available as easily accessible files, together with the associated metadata. Co-culturing <i>Streptomyces coelicolor</i> with <i>Streptomyces avermitilis</i> leads to observable morphological changes, when compared with axenic cultures. Untargeted metabolomics data show clear metabolic changes in response to co-culture. The disruption of the intra-cellular signalling systems in the two species had different effects. While the disruption of <i>scbA</i> in <i>S. coelicolor</i> had no observable effect on the interaction, the disruption of <i>aco</i> in <i>S. avermitilis</i> changed the phenotype observed in the interaction plates and the associated metabolic signatures. The obtained datasets are publicly available in the Zenodo database [LINK once made public], adhering to the FAIR principles to support reanalysis, future compound identification, and benchmarking of untargeted metabolomics annotation workflows. For this purpose, the datasets include raw and processed data, including .csv files containing all the probabilistically annotated features as well as all the code used for the data processing, together with the instructions for the exploration of the datasets which have been made publicly available to support reusability. These datasets will serve as valuable resources for training and evaluating machine learning models in the context of microbial interactions in soil environments.</p>","PeriodicalId":12043,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Soil Science","volume":"77 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2026-05-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ejss.70349","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148174499","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Effects of Incorporated Straw Length on Runoff and Sediment Characteristics of a Cultivated Black Soil","authors":"Yingna Liu, Yang Yang, Guang-hui Zhang","doi":"10.1111/ejss.70354","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ejss.70354","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Straw incorporation is a tillage practice that has been increasingly adopted to sustain soil quality and combat soil erosion in the black soil region of northeast China. Most of the previous studies in this region focused on the impact of incorporation rate, yet the effects of straw length on runoff and sediment characteristics there remain obscure. In this study, maize straw segments of four different lengths (2, 5, 10, 20 cm) were incorporated at a constant rate of 6 t hm<sup>−2</sup> into the plow layer of a cultivated black soil, and a bare black soil without straw application was used as the control (CK). Simulating rainfalls at two intensities (60, 90 mm h<sup>−1</sup>) and two slopes (3°, 6°), straw incorporation was found to generally delay runoff generation, reduce surface runoff, decelerate surface flow, and impair soil erosion compared to CK. However, the runoff and sediment characteristics responded differently to straw length (<i>SL</i>). As <i>SL</i> increased, the runoff initiation time increased exponentially, the total runoff depth (<i>RD</i>) decreased linearly, but the mean flow velocity initially decreased and then increased. The mean sediment concentration (<i>SC</i>) also exhibited decreasing-then-increasing trends with <i>SL</i> except under the 90 mm h<sup>−1</sup> rainfall intensity and 6° slope combination (R90-S6). The relationships of the total sediment yield (<i>SY</i>) with <i>SL</i> basically followed those of <i>SC</i>, which were significantly fitted by the quadratic functions (<i>p</i> < 0.05) and the optimal <i>SL</i> corresponding to the least <i>SY</i> was estimated at ~12 cm. The only exception was spotted under R90-S6 presenting relatively consistent <i>SC</i>s, where similar to <i>RD</i>, <i>SY</i> exhibited a linearly decreasing trend with <i>SL</i>. In this case, the longest straw segments of 20 cm under investigation were believed optimal. These findings demonstrate the critical role of straw length and reveal its varying effects on runoff and sediment characteristics, and hold practical implications for agricultural management on local sloping farmlands.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":12043,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Soil Science","volume":"77 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2026-05-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148024503","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Soil Texture and Chemical Properties Influence Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Abundance, Diversity, and Richness in East African Rangelands","authors":"Lukelysia Mwangi, Solomon Kamau, Gladys Cheruto, Tor-Gunnar Vågen, Aida Bargués-Tobella, Annrose Mwangi, Leigh Ann Winowiecki","doi":"10.1111/ejss.70351","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ejss.70351","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Rangeland degradation in East Africa threatens soil biodiversity. Yet the diversity of native arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) remains underexplored in this region, despite their central role in nutrient cycling, soil aggregation, and ecosystem functioning. This study assessed AMF community composition across four rangeland sites located in Kenya (Chepareria and Lokiriama) and Uganda (Matany and Rupa) as influenced by three dominant native vegetation types (bushland, grassland and wooded-grassland) and soil texture and chemical properties. AMF spores were identified to genus level, and spore abundance, taxonomic richness and diversity were quantified. Relationships between AMF metrics and soil texture and chemical properties were examined using correlation analysis. Soil properties varied significantly among sites, with higher soil C, N and clay content in Matany and Rupa compared to Chepareria and Lokiriama. Differences among vegetation types were less consistent and site-dependent. AMF abundance, richness and diversity were higher in Matany and Rupa, and lowest in Lokiriama, and were positively correlated with soil C, N, and clay content, and negatively correlated with sand content and pH. <i>Glomus</i> was the most dominant genus across all sites and vegetation types, reflecting its broad ecological tolerance. AMF abundance, taxonomic richness, and diversity tended to be higher in grasslands and wooded-grasslands than in bushlands, although these differences were not consistent across sites. Overall, these findings highlight the importance of soil properties in shaping AMF community composition, abundance and diversity in semiarid rangelands, with vegetation-related patterns playing a secondary and context-dependent role. Promoting soil organic matter and favorable soil conditions may therefore be key for supporting belowground biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in East African rangelands.</p>","PeriodicalId":12043,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Soil Science","volume":"77 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2026-05-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ejss.70351","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148022855","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}