Consider the Anoxic Microsite: Acknowledging and Appreciating Spatiotemporal Redox Heterogeneity in Soils and Sediments

Reduction-oxidation (redox) reactions underlie essentially all biogeochemical cycles. Like most soil properties and processes, redox is spatiotemporally heterogeneous. However, unlike other soil features, redox heterogeneity has yet to be incorporated into mainstream conceptualizations of soil biogeochemistry. Anoxic microsites, the defining feature of redox heterogeneity in bulk oxic soils and sediments, are zones of oxygen depletion in otherwise oxic environments. In this review, we suggest that anoxic microsites represent a critical component of soil function and that appreciating anoxic microsites promises to advance our understanding of soil and sediment biogeochemistry. In sections 1 and 2, we define anoxic microsites and highlight their dynamic properties, specifically anoxic microsite distribution, redox gradient magnitude, and temporality. In section 3, we describe the influence of anoxic microsites on several key elemental cycles, organic carbon, nitrogen, iron, manganese, and sulfur. In section 4, we evaluate methods for identifying and characterizing anoxic microsites, and in section 5, we highlight past and current approaches to modeling anoxic microsites. Finally, in section 6, we suggest steps for incorporating anoxic microsites and redox heterogeneities more broadly into our understanding of soils and sediments.

Are service crops an alternative for mitigating N2 O emissions in soybean crops in the Argentinian Pampas?

Service crops (or cover crops) play an important role in simplified agricultural systems. Service crops reduce agricultural external inputs and increase ecosystem services but their ability to mitigate nitrous oxide (N2 O) emissions is still uncertain. The main objective of this study was to evaluate N2 O emissions in soybean-soybean (Glycine max [L.] Merr) rotations that included different service crops. Treatments included continuous soybean with winter fallow and soybean with three service crops: oat (Avena sativa L.), vetch (Vicia villosa Roth.), and a mixture of oat and vetch in a randomized complete block design. Service crops were sown 2 months after soybean harvest and were terminated 2 months before soybean planting. Nitrous oxide emissions were determined during the fourth year of the field experiment. We found that service crops did not significantly affect overall mean N2 O emission rates, with mean emission rates from the fallow, oat, vetch, and oat-vetch treatments of 1.82 ± 0.35, 1.95 ± 0.34, 2.71 ± 0.43, and 2.42 ± 0.42 kg N2 O-N ha-1 per year, respectively. Service crops with low C/N ratios (vetch and oat-vetch mixtures) significantly increased N2 O emissions in spring, after their termination. Overall, soil inorganic N content (NO3 - or NH4 + ) was the main driver that explained the N2 O emissions from different treatments, whereas water-filled pore space controlled the temporal variability of emissions. Our results suggest that service crops with a very short growing season may increase soil N availability for cash crops, but do not reduce N2 O emissions due to long periods of high N availability without crops.

Controlled release fertilizers (CRFs) for climate-smart agriculture practices: a comprehensive review on release mechanism, materials, methods of preparation, and effect on environmental parameters

Fertilizers play an essential role in increasing crop yield, maintaining soil fertility, and provide a steady supply of nutrients for plant requirements. The excessive use of conventional fertilizers can cause environmental problems associated with nutrient loss through volatilization in the atmosphere, leaching to groundwater, surface run-off, and denitrification. To mitigate environmental issues and improve the longevity of fertilizer in soil, controlled release fertilizers (CRFs) have been developed. The application of CRFs can reduce the loss of nutrients, provide higher nutrient use efficiency, and improve soil health simultaneously to achieve the goals of climate-smart agricultural (CSA) practices. The major findings of this review paper are (1) CRFs can prevent direct exposure of fertilizer granule to soil and prevent loss of nutrients such as nitrate and nitrous oxide emissions; (2) CRFs are less affected by the change in environmental parameters, and that can increase longevity in soil compared to conventional fertilizers; and (3) CRFs can maintain required soil nitrogen levels, increase water retention, reduce GHG emissions, lead to optimum pH for plant growth, and increase soil organic matter content. This paper could give good insights into the ongoing development and future perspectives of CRFs for CSA practices.

Nitrogen fertilization and conservation tillage: a review on growth, yield, and greenhouse gas emissions in cotton

Cotton is planted worldwide as a "cash crop" providing us fiber, edible oil, and animal feed as well. In this review, we presented a contemporary synthesis of the existing data regarding the importance of nitrogen application and tillage system on cotton growth and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission. Cotton growth and development are greatly influenced by nitrogen (N); therefore, proper N application is important in this context. Tillage system also influences cottonseed yield. Conservation tillage shows more promising results as compared to the conventional tillage in the context of cotton growth and GHG emission. Moreover, the research and knowledge gap relating to nitrogen application, tillage and cotton growth and yield, and GHG emission was also highlighted in order to guide the further studies in the future. Although limited data were available regarding N application, tillage and their interactive effects on cotton performance, and GHG emission, we also tried to highlight some key factors which influence them significantly.