February 2015

Soil aggregate stability in a Tunisian semi-arid environment with reference to fractal analysis

Soils from semi-arid environments have traditionally been considered to have poorly stable aggregates. The use of aggregate stability methods for erosion research seems of particular interest. However, its use to predict crusting and erosion have yielded conflicting results. In this study, we investigate the possible relations between aggregate stability and soil physical properties, and soil water erosion parameters...

Author(s): Belaid H. and Habaieb H.

February 2015

Estimation of water requirements of early and late season maize in Umudike southeastern Nigeria, using Penman’s equation

The estimation of water requirements of early and late season maize was carried out based on 10 years meteorological data at Umudike, typical of the humid tropical zone using the Penman’s equation. The results obtained showed that the seasonal crop evapotranspiration (ETo) value for early season maize (April - July) was 450.66 mm while that of late season (June - September) was 369.72 mm. The irrigation water...

Author(s): Akinmutimi, A. L

February 2015

Changes in soil characteristics and fungal population dynamics in a pigeonpea field

The present study was done in October 2008 and March 2009 to explore the seasonal effects on soil physico-chemical properties and fungal population found at different depth (that is, 5, 10 and 15 cm) as well as on plant parts. Results indicate that in both seasons, organic carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium was higher in the top 5 cm followed by lower depths (10 and 15 cm). Fungal species isolated from different...

Author(s): Ankita Shukla and Rajeev K. Mishra