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The use of human urine as an organic fertilizer in the production of okra (Abelmoschus esculentus) in South Eastern Nigeria

Greenhouse and field experiments were conducted to evaluate the response of okra to different levels of human urine (0, 10,000, 15,000 and 20,000 L/ha) and 400 kg/ha NPK 15:15:15 inorganic fertilizer in five riverine communities of Cross River State, Nigeria. The soils of the communities are generally acid with low organic matter, total nitrogen, exchangeable [...]

Effects of soil water content and organic matter addition on the speciation and bioavailability of heavy metals

The mobility and bioavailability of cadmium, copper, lead and zinc were evaluated in three soils amended with different organic materials for two moisture regimes. Agricultural and reclamation activities impose fresh inputs of organic matter on soil while intensive irrigation and rainstorm increase soil waterlogging incidence. Moreover, scarcity of irrigation water has prompted the use of [...]

Can biochar amendment be an ecological engineering technology to depress N2O emission in rice paddies?—A cross site field experiment

Approaches to reduce N2O emission from crop ecosystems deserves urgent need for climate change mitigation in world agriculture. Yet, unique ecological measures to depress N emission while conserving crop productivity have not yet been well developed for wide ranges of crop ecosystems. In order to establish an ecological engineering option to mitigate N2O emission in [...]

Soil quality in Life Cycle Assessment: Towards development of an indicator

After presenting a general overview of the soil quality concept, we review the existing LCA approaches that consider soil quality in their inventory and impact-assessment phases, and outline the challenges to refining soil quality impacts in LCA. These challenges include estimation of complex soil quality impacts that depend on fluctuating soil characteristics, consideration of both [...]

Carbon Terra: Complete Line of Biochar Related Products

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Unexpected no-till management impacts on crop productivity, carbon input and soil carbon sequestration

The efficacy of no-till agriculture for increasing C in soils has been questioned in recent studies. This is a serious issue after many publications and reports during the last two decades have recommended no-till as a practice to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions through soil C sequestration. Our objective was to investigate the possibility that the [...]

Biochar influences the microbial community structure during manure composting with agricultural wastes

The influence of biochar derived from a hardwood tree (Quercus serrate Murray) on the dynamics of the microbial community during the composting of poultry manure (PM) and cow manure (CM) was evaluated by phospholipid fatty acid analysis (PLFAs). Changes in the PLFA patterns were related to key composting properties (C/N ratio, temperature, and bulk density) [...]