Phosphate (P) is an essential macronutrient for plant growth. Roots employ adaptive mechanisms to forage for P in soil. Root hair elongation is particularly important since P is immobile. Here we report that auxin plays a critical role promoting root hair growth in Arabidopsis in response to low external P. Mutants disrupting auxin synthesis (taa1) and transport (aux1) attenuate the low P root hair response. Conversely, targeting AUX1 expression in lateral root cap and epidermal cells rescues this low P response in aux1.

The sub-humid Chaco region of Argentina, originally covered by dry sclerophyll forest, has been subjected to clearing since the end of the '70 and replacement of the forest by no till farming. Land use changes produced a decrease in aboveground carbon stored in forests, but little is known about the impact on soil organic C stocks.

Efforts have been made in recent years to improve knowledge about soil greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes from subSaharan Africa. However, data on soil GHG emissions from smallholder coffee-dairy systems have not hitherto been measured experimentally. This study aimed to quantify soil GHG emissions at different spatial and temporal scales in smallholder coffee-dairy farms in Murang'a County, Central Kenya.

Soil fertility has direct implications on the agricultural production scenarios of a region. Surface soil samples at 1 km grid were collected to assess the fertility status of Lakhimpur district (Assam) in North East India. Fertility parameters like soil organic carbon, available nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, iron, manganese, zinc and copper were determined using standard analytical procedure.

Original Source

Domesticated species are impacted in unintended ways during domestication and breeding. Changes in the nature and intensity of selection impart genetic drift, reduce diversity, and increase the frequency of deleterious alleles. Such outcomes constrain our ability to expand the cultivation of crops into environments that differ from those under which domestication occurred. We address this need in chickpea, an important pulse legume, by harnessing the diversity of wild crop relatives.

Inorganic phosphorus (P)-solubilizing bacteria (IPSB) and organic P-mineralizing bacteria (OPMB) were isolated from bacteria that were first extracted from the rhizosphere soil of a natural wetland and then grown on either tricalcium phosphate or lecithin medium. The solubilizing of inorganic P was the major contribution to P availability, since the isolated bacteria released much more available P from inorganic tricalcium phosphate than lecithin.

Original Source

Phthalate esters (PAEs) are commonly detected in agricultural soils of China, which can post potential threats to human health. Understanding their sorption to soils is important in assessing their transport and bioavailability in environment. Limited research focuses on the influence of soil organic carbon (SOC) on PAEs adsorption to soils at different depths and increased dissolved organic carbon (DOC) after adsorption.

It is a major challenge to achieve the goal of increasing grain yield, nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) and irrigation water productivity (IWP) in cereals. This study investigated if progressive integrative crop management technology in rice (Oryza sativa L.) could improve agronomic and physiological performances, and consequently, increase grain yield, NUE and IWP.