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Investigation of soils of stubbles of winter wheat and winter peas in conventional and reduced tillage systems
95-99Views:211The effect of reduced and conventional tillage on soil compaction, soil moisture status and carbon-dioxide emission of the soil was studied on a meadow chernozem soil with high clay content in the soil cultivation experiment started in 1997 at Karcag Research Institute. Our investigations were done on stubbles after the harvest of winter wheat and winter peas after the very droughty vegetation period of 2014/2015.
We established that the soil in both tillage systems was dry and compacted and the CO2-emission was very low. The positive effects of reduced tillage could be figured out only in the soil layer of 40–60 cm in the given weather conditions of that period.
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Long-term effect of soil management on the carbon-dioxide emission of the soil
515-527Views:135CO2 emission from soils is one of the most important elements of the global carbon cycle, thus it has crucial rule in climate change. Each soil cultivation operation intervenes in the microbiological life of the soil, hence tillage is a factor through that the processes taking place in soil can be controlled. During the last decades, the organic material content of agricultural soils decreased to the half due to the intensive management resulting in the degradation of natural soil fertility. While intensive, plough-based tillage can cause soil degradation and erosion, the physical, chemical and biological status of the soil can be significantly improved through the application of conservation tillage methods. The results of long-term experiments prove that soil protective tillage enhances the enrichment of organic matter in the top layer of the soil. In order to reveal the role of tillage systems in CO2 emission from the soil, regular measurements were carried out in the plots with conventional and reduced tillage of the soil cultivation experiment of Research Institute of Karcag. Anagas CD 98 and Gas Alert Micro 5w infrared gas analysers were used to measure CO2-concentrations, and a specially developed method (consisting of a frame and a bowl) was applied to delimitate the measuring area. Most of the measurements were done on stubbles after harvest in order to exclude root respiration. The weather conditions of the examined 10 years were very changeable providing a good chance to compare them to each other. We found the tillage operations resulting in higher emission values in both tillage systems. On stubbles higher and more even emission was characteristic to reduced tillage due to the lower degree of soil disturbance and higher soil moisture content.
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CO2 emission of the soil on barley stubble
95-102Views:143In the last decades the physical and biological status of the soils in Hungary significantly decreased. The degree and intensity of CO2-production of the soil is in close correlation to its structural status and organic matter content. In a complex soil tillage experiment at Karcag in situ measurements have been carried out since 2002 in order to determine the CO2-emission of the soil. Carbon-dioxide emission of the soil in the cases of conventional tillage and reduced cultivation system was analysed in a long-term cultivation experiment. The measurements were carried out after the harvest of the barley, thus root respiration was excluded. For the spatial delimitation of the measuring area a newly developed frame+bowl set was used. Based on measurements, significant differences between cultivation systems can be recognized due to the soil structure changes and its effects
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Effect of sufficient and deficit irrigation with different salt inputs on the yield of cucumber
19-25Views:111Soil salinisation is considered one of the major environmental hazards threatening agricultural productivity and can be accentuated by climate change as well as the use of low-quality water in irrigation. This is the case in our study area which is affected by secondary salinisation due to the use of saline irrigation water for horticultural production. Deficit irrigation technique is implemented especially in arid and semiarid regions due to its potential to optimise water productivity while maintaining or increasing crop yield. The main objective of this study was to compare the effect of irrigation with sufficient (SD) and deficit (DD) doses. This research was carried out in Karcag in 2020. Cucumber was grown on a meadow chernozem soil and was irrigated with SD and DD of two irrigation water qualities. Soil moisture was monitored and crop yields were recorded. Despite the differences in quality and quantity of water, the application of less water by DD maintained the same yield as SD. We found a non-significant difference between the average soil moisture contents under the treatments (15.5 v/v% for SD and 13.5 v/v% for DD). Deficit irrigation can be an efficient technique due to its potential for improving water use efficiency, maintaining sufficient soil moisture content favourable for proper crop development and yield.
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Mitigation of the effect of secondary salinization by micro soil conditioning
115-119Views:225This research has the general goal to meet the customization of agriculture in small scale farming. We are developing a technique using micro doses of soil conditioners and organic material applied in the root zone of vegetable crops. We expected to change the physical and chemical properties of the affected soil, which has been irrigated with salty water. Two different soil conditioners were tested. A lysimeter experiment including 8 simple drainage lysimeters was set up in the Research Institute of Karcag IAREF University of Debrecen in 2017. The main goal was to study the effect of different soil conditioners on the soil endangered by secondary salinization induced by irrigation with saline water. In order to compare the difference between the treatments, we collected soil samples, water samples, and determined the yields. Chili pepper (Capsicum annuum) was used as an indicator crop during one specific agricultural season. The technique called micro soil conditioning is rational because several reasons. The roles of the technique are various, for example it can serve as a source of carbon or a container for soil amendments and can minimize evaporation. We found this technique not to interfere with the chemical reaction or the interaction with the plants. However, the micro doses of soil amendments had the role to minimize the risk of soil degradation and do not significantly influence soil respiration. In addition, by improving soil properties, soil conditioning increases the leaching of the excess of salts from the root zone. In fact, this technique can decrease the cost of the inputs and improves the production of vegetables, and at the same time mitigates the effect of secondary salinization.
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Methodology adaptation and development to assess salt content dynamics and salt balance of soils under secondary salinization
199-206Views:227The effect of irrigation with saline water (above 500 mg L-1) is considered a problem of small-scale farmers growing vegetable crops with high water demand in the hobby gardens characteristic of the Hungarian Great Plain. In order to simulate the circumstances of such hobby garden, we set up an experiment including five simple drainage lysimeters irrigated with saline water in the Research Institute of Karcag IAREF UD in 2019. We regularly measured the electric conductivity (EC) of the soil referring to its salt content and the soil moisture content with mobile sensors. Before and after the irrigation season, soil samples from the upper soil layer (0-0.6 m) were taken for laboratory analysis and the soil salt balance (SB) was calculated. The actual salt balance (SBact) was calculated of the upper soil layer (0-0.6 m) based on the salt content of the obtained soil samples. The theoretical salt balance (SBth) was calculated by the total soluble salt content of the irrigation water and leachates. During the irrigation season, we experienced fluctuating EC in the topsoil in close correlation with the soil moisture content. Based on the performed in-situ EC measurements, salts were leached from the upper soil layer resulting in a negative SB. Combining SBact and SBth of the soil columns of the lysimeters, we estimated the SB of the deeper (0.6-1.0 m) soil layer. We quantified 12% increase of the initial salt mass due to accumulation. We consider this methodology to be suitable for deeper understanding secondary salinization, which can contribute to mitigating its harmful effect. By repeating our measurements, we expect similar results proving that saline irrigation waters gained from the aquifers through drilled wells in Karcag are potentially suitable for irrigation if proper irrigation and soil management are applied.
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Sight-specific development of the tools for the measurement of CO2-emission of the soil
53-58Views:97Soil is the main source and at the same time the potential sink of greenhouse gases (e.g. CO2, CH4). Measurements were carried out in the experimental sites (soil tillage experiments and an extensive pasture) of the Karcag Research Institute of University of Debrecen, Centre for Agricultural Sciences to determine the CO2-emission of the soil. The in situ CO2-emission of soil was measured by means of an ANAGAS 98 infrared gas analyser in plastic (PVC) chambers, but this previously applied method (cylinders) was not suitable for the soil surface covered with grass,
hence a new instrument was needed to be invented. In order to measure CO2-emission on a larger area without deep disturbance of the soil, a special metal frame was created with a matching bowl. The most problematic part was the spatial delimitation of the measurement area as the surface of the soil can be very various and proper isolation is a must. We consider the frame+bowl method we developed suitable for measuring CO2-emission of pastures as well as other crop-fields. -
Climatic water balance in Hamelmalo, Eritrea
69-76Views:211Agricultural production is an important sector for peoples to live, but it is highly affected by climate change. To have a good production we need to understand the climatic parameters which adversely affect production. Hamelmalo, which is located in the semi-arid area of Eritrea, is vulnerable to climate change and this is realised in the total production loss. Nevertheless, there is no concrete reference about the climate of the region due to lack of data for a long time. Changes in precipitation (P), evapotranspiration (ET) and, implicitly, in the climatic water balance (CWB), are imminent effects of climate change. However, changes in the CWB, as a response to changes in P and ET, have not yet been analysed thoroughly enough in many parts of the world, including Eritrea. This study also explores the changes of the CWB in the Hamelmalo region, based on a wide range of climatic data (P, relative air humidity and evaporation pan necessary for computing potential evapotranspiration (PET) with the pan evaporation method) recorded at Hamelmalo from 2015-2019. This analysis shows that the annual cumulative CWB for Hamelmalo is negative in 67% of the years. The dry season without precipitation leads to negative CWB and the change in CWB only starts from the raining or crop season. Based on this recent study, 2015 had the highest PET and lowest P, and this resulted in the lowest CWB in the investigated period. Opposite to this, 2019 had lower PET and highest P, which led to the highest CWB. However, the monthly values of CWB did not correlate with the annual P or ET. On the base of our study, it can be concluded that PET and P were very variable in the investigated years and P was the most influential elements of CWB.
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The effect of crop coverage on the daily dynamism of the soil’s CO2 emission
97-102Views:141Nowadays one of main goals of international ecosystem research the measurement of greenhouse gases (CO2, N2O and CH4) in different places. The fluctuation of these greenhouse gases – quantity and trend in the case of CO2 and CH4 – could be diverse with atmosphere because it depends on several effects of factors like climate, soil type, vegetation. In grassland out of the three greenhouse gases which fill a part in gas emission, in the case of CO2 soil and vegetation are the most important factors (Soussana et al., 2007).
In the aspect of global carbon balance grasslands are very important by their large area extension, total carbon content, organic content store (10% of the global carbon storage) (Lemmens et al., 2006). In this summer measurements were carried out to determine CO2 emission of the soil from different soil surfaces like grass covered and bare soil surface during a whole day. -
Examination of CO2 emission of different stubbles on a chernozem soil
53-59Views:95Applying alternative soil cultivation methods based on reduced disturbance of the soil more favourable conditions can be created in order to increase the organic matter content of the soil and the availability of the nutrients for the crops. In complex soil tillage experiment – in 1997 was set on – at Karcag, as the element of the investigation of soil reduced and conventional tillage systems. There is close correlation between the degree and intensity of CO2-emission from the soil and the structural state and organic matter content of the soil. In order to quantify the increased CO2-emission from soil due to soil preserving cultivation systems, in situ CO2-emission of soil was measured by means of an ANAGAS 98 infrared gas analyser. The soil type of the investigated plot is meadow chernozem solonetz in the deeper layers, a soil type that is characteristic
for the Trans-Tisza Region of Hungary. In this paper the results gained from the measurement on different stubbles are published, as we consider stubbles the most suitable state when the effects of different soil cultivation systems on the microbiological activity of the soil can be compared. Experimental data provided information about the length of the time period when CO2 emission increasing effects of soil cultivation are observable. Studying the effect of different soil cultivation methods on the CO2 emission from chernozem soil is indisputably actual and needs more efforts as it can contribute to develop a more environmental friendly agricultural production. The main goal of these measurements was to determine the effect of soil cultivation technologies and certain agrotechnical elements on the factors of the soil carbon cycle.