Institute for Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry

Abstract Peatlands store about one‐third of total global soil carbon. Vegetation composition strongly regulates peatland carbon dynamics. Global warming and climate‐driven ecohydrological changes are expected to alter peatland vegetation composition, necessitating accurate simulation of vegetation dynamics to predict future fate of peatland carbon. We incorporated six plant functional types (PFTs) into the ORCHIDEE‐PEAT model to represent bryophytes (mosses), C3 graminoids (sedges and grasses), boreal broadleaf deciduous shrubs, boreal needleleaf evergreen trees, tropical evergreen and raingreen (water‐driven deciduous) trees growing in peatlands. The introduction and elimination of each PFT in response to bioclimatic conditions, as well as sapling establishment, growth, mortality, and competition among PFTs, are explicitly modeled. Simulated vegetation distributions align well with site‐level observations from West Siberian wetlands, where extensive vegetation composition measurements are available for model evaluation. The model slightly overestimated gross primary productivity (GPP) across 60 sites. Evaluation using global satellite‐derived land cover, leaf area index and GPP data was encouraging, though challenges lie in the lack of observational data specific to peatlands. From 1901 to 2020, simulated tropical peatland vegetation composition remains relatively stable. In northern peatlands, as a result of warming and declining water table, bryophyte and C3 graminoid cover decrease by 0.2 (13%) and 0.1 (13%) million km 2 , respectively, while shrub and tree cover increase by 0.3 (75%) and 0.03 (2%) million km 2 , respectively. The impacts of these vegetation shift on peatland carbon balance can be explored in future studies using the model, which integrates peatland vegetation dynamics with peatland‐specific hydrology and carbon cycling.

This study investigated how major cropping systems (Rice-Wheat/RWCS, Legume-Based/LBCS, Vegetable-Based/VBCS, Horticulture-Based/HBCS, Salt-Affected/SAS, Pasture/Forest/P/FS) influenced soil physicochemical properties at 0–15 cm depth in Bhadaiya Block, Sultanpur, within India's Indo-Gangetic Plains. The findings revealed severe soil degradation in Salt-Affected Soils (SAS), characterized by the highest bulk density (1.39 Mg m⁻³), pH (8.55), electrical conductivity (1.09 dS m⁻¹), and significantly lower organic carbon (2.97 g kg⁻¹) and available nitrogen (186.64 kg ha⁻¹), phosphorus (12.85 kg ha⁻¹), and potassium (259.25 kg ha⁻¹). Conversely, the Pasture/Forest System (P/FS) demonstrated optimal soil health, exhibiting the lowest bulk density (1.30 Mg m⁻³), highest organic carbon (6.27 g kg⁻¹), and abundant available nutrients (N: 229.28, P: 22.71, K: 280.04 kg ha⁻¹). The study highlights that systems incorporating perennial cover or minimal soil disturbance, such as P/FS and LBCS, actively improve soil fertility and structure, emphasizing the critical need for sustainable land management practices to mitigate degradation in intensively farmed areas.

Fungi play a significant role in any ecosystem, and their detailed study is essential for understanding the functioning of all components of biogeocenoses and for conserving biodiversity. Discomycetes, a polyphyletic group of fungi of the Ascomycota phylum, are unevenly studied across the country; the analysis of the taxonomic diversity of these fungi in urban landscapes has not been previously conducted. The article presents the results of the taxonomic analysis and assessment of the biodiversity of discomycetes of the urban plant landscape Lisyi Gorki (Foxes’ Hills), a site of exceptional nature conservation value located within Novosibirsk Akademgorodok. A total of 26 species of fungi belonging to 2 classes, 3 orders, 11 families and 18 genera were identified. Within the taxonomic structure, representatives of the order Pezizales constituted the highest proportion. Differences in the biological diversity of operculate and inoperculate species were observed. In the group of operculate fungi, the species saturation for the genus is 1.6, for the family is 3.2, and generic saturation of the family is 2.0. In contrast, the group of inoperculate discomycetes exhibited lower saturation coefficients, measuring 1.2; 1.4; 1.2, respectively. Operculate discomycetes are characterized by greater taxonomic richness, but demonstrated less uniformity of species distribution by their abundance within the community, compared to inoperculate ones. A comparative analysis of the mycobiota of discomycetes in the studied area and the known mycobiota of anthropogenic plant landscapes of various Russian territories revealed the predominance of operculate species within the overall structure of discomycetes. Moreover, the analysis determined a taxonomic similarity of Lisyi Gorki with the mycobiota of the Central Siberian Botanical Garden of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, a protected area, which is related to biogeographical factors.

It has been shown that a long-term potassium deficiency in the agrocenosis reduces the ability of gray forest soil to desorb this element into the soil solution to a much greater extent than magnesium deficiency – magnesium desorption. It has been established that the mobility of potassium cations is greater than that of magnesium, regardless of the degree of soil depletion in relation to these elements: 0.1–0.5 M ammonium acetate solution extracted almost the entire soil stock of exchangeable potassium, whereas magnesium – only 65–90%. During fractional extraction of potassium with 0.001 M ammonium acetate solution, differences between soils with different potash content were noted only in the first 2–3 extracts; in the following extracts, the potassium content was equalized. The magnesium content in successive extracts decreased gradually and approximately equally in soils with its different initial content. It has been shown that the intensity and specificity of soil desorption of potassium and magnesium well reflects soil fertility in relation to these elements.

Soil is a major reservoir of terrestrial carbon and it plays an important role in the global carbon cycle. The soil organic carbon (SOC) is the fundamental factor for sustainable agriculture because of the ability in maintaining the soil fertility which is critical to soil productivity. Soil carbon pool has gained paramount importance in the recent decades owing to the alarming issues of climate change and global warming. Land use change was found to have a larger net effect on SOC storage than projected climate change. Depending on the land use management practices, soils can be a net sink or source for CO2. In this regard the present study was carried out to assess the impact of different land uses on carbon storage and mineralization in soils of selected agro-ecological units of south Kerala.The agro-ecological units (AEUs) of south Kerala namely, southern coastal plain (AEU 1), Onattukara sandy plain (AEU 3), southern laterites (AEU 8), south central laterites (AEU 9) and southern and central foothills (AEU 12) were selected. In each AEU, different agricultural land use categories as described by IPCC for the carbon inventory such as, garden land (coconut), wet land (rice), fallow (uncultivated) and plantation (rubber) were also selected for the study. The potential for carbon mineralization in soil was assessed by evaluating factors such as Total organic carbon, mineralizable carbon, particulate organic carbon, global warming potential, carbon distribution, and turnover. The total organic carbon and particulate organic carbon were higher in rubber land use and AEU 12. The mineralizable C content in soil varied from 1.40 to 3.45, 1.18 to 3.41, 1.04 to 3.04, 1.23 to 3.35 and 1.01 to 3.02 mg g⁻¹ in AEU 1, 3, 8, 9 and 12 respectively. The highest value was observed from AEU 1 and rice land use. Similar trend was obtained for global warming potential of soils based on CO2 evolution which varied from 31.82 to 78.41, 26.89 to 79.02, 22.89 to 69.02, 28.03 to 76.06 and 22.96 to 68.64 in AEU 1, 3, 8, 9 and 12 respectively. The C proportion and turnover rates were in the range of 0.25 to 0.77 and 0.04 to 0.17 respectively. The C proportion was the highest in AEU 12 and rubber land use whereas the C turnover was the highest in AEU 1 and rice land use.

The purpose of this article was to assess the participation of young soils of ash dump forest communities in carbon sequestration by soils of southern taiga forests, considering the physico-chemical properties of the ash substrate and forest litter (pH, TOC, TN, content of P and K mobile compounds, and exchangeable Ca and Mg ions). It was revealed that on three Middle Ural ash dumps (composed of fly ash from various brown coals) over 50–60 years, forest communities spontaneously formed according to the zonal type (with the dominance of Betula pendula Roth and Populus tremula L.) with poorly differentiated young soils—technosols. For the first time, as a result of using an integrated approach to assess the direction of forest ecosystem formation on fly ash dumps, a tendency to increase carbon stocks in technogenic soils that have not reached the level of zonal soils was revealed, as well as the dependence of C accumulation on some physico-chemical characteristics of ash was established. Carbon stocks in Technosols are on average equal to 44 t/ha but vary significantly. It was shown that there is a medium negative relationship between the content and stocks of organic carbon in soils formed on a technogenic substrate and the content of mobile phosphorus compounds in them (the correlation coefficient is −0.58 and −0.53, respectively). The average carbon stocks in the litter of technosols, which is the main source of organic carbon in forest soils, are 3.2 t/ha. It was revealed that the carbon stocks in the litter are most influenced by the content of exchangeable calcium cations and magnesium in it (the correlation coefficients are −0.68 and −0.69, respectively). Any correlation between the studied litter parameters and carbon accumulation in the soils of ash dumps was found. The study revealed that the carbon stocks in the technosols of ash dump forest communities are two times less than the carbon stocks in the zonal forest soils of the Middle Ural southern taiga. The stocks of this element in the litter of young soils are equal to 1/3 of the litter of zonal soils. The composition of the humus substance system formed in the soils of forest areas of ash dumps and zonal soils is similar. The results of this study can serve to fill gaps in the knowledge about carbon sequestration by soils and aim to draw attention to forest communities of technogenic ecosystems to consider the contribution of their components to carbon sequestration.

A field experiment to compare weed management practices on growth and yield of zero till chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) during rabi, 2022 at RARS, Jagtial, Telangana. Treatments include Pendimethalin 38.7 % CS @ 700 g a.i. ha-1 , Topramezone 33.6 % SC @ 20.6 g a.i. ha-1 , Quizalofop ethyl 7.5 % + Imazethapyr 15 % EC @ 100 g a.i. ha-1, T4- Propaquizafop 2.5 % + Imazethapyr 3.75 % (w/w) ME @ 125 g a.i. ha-1 , two hand weedings at 15 and 30 DAS , weed free (Season long) and Un-weeded (Check). Weed free treatment and hand weeded plots showed highest growth and yield attributing characters because of season-long weed-free conditions and better microclimate during critical period of crop respectively. Among different herbicides, Topramezone treated plot recorded higher growth parameters viz.; plant height (38.7 cm), dry matter accumulation (320.8 g m-2) and yield attributing characters viz.; total number of pods plant-1 (30.97), with seed yield (1397 kg ha-1), haulm yield (2518 kg ha-1) and harvest index (35.7 %). Post emergence herbicide topramezone can be effectively adopted for getting higher yield of chickpea in rice fallow zero tillage conditions.

Licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra) root has long been used in traditional medicine due to its various therapeutic properties. One of the main active components in licorice root is glycyrrhizin, which has been shown to possess numerous pharmacological effects. Glycyrrhizin, one of the major compounds present in licorice root, has been shown to possess anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anti-tumor propertiesas well as antiviral properties against influenza virus and coronavirus COVID-19. The demand for licorice root extracts is increasing, particularly for use in the food and pharmaceutical industries. However, the quality and consistency of licorice extracts can vary depending on the extraction method used. Therefore, the aim of this study was to optimise the technology for obtaining dry extracts from licorice roots and standardise the process for increased consistency and quality of the final product. In this study, two different methods for extraction were compared: ultrasound-assisted extraction using water and alcohol-water solvents. The extracted samples were then subjected to various quality control tests, including glycyrrhizin content and moisture content. The content of glycyrrhizin in the obtained dry extracts was determined using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The standardisation of the dry extract was performed according to the Pharmacopoeia of the Eurasian Economic Union. The results showed that the optimised technology for obtaining dry extracts from licorice roots was water extraction with ultrasound, as it yielded a higher content of glycyrrhizin compared to ethanol extraction with ultrasoundand the optimal conditions for ultrasound-assisted extraction were an extraction time of 60 minutes, frequency of ultrasound bath at 40 kHz, an extraction temperature of 30°C, and a solid-to-liquid ratio of 1:6. The standardisation process confirmed the presence of glycyrrhizic acid and purity of the obtained dry extract.

The organic source of nutrients would be a promising practice for Valeriana jatamansi cultivation which maintains its curative value. A set of experiments was conducted at Hill Zone of West Bengal, Kalimpong for two consecutive cycles to standardize organic nutrient management in V. jatamansi for optimum growth and economic yield. Different organic sources of nutrients such as farm yard manure (FYM), bio-fertilizer (BF), and vermicompost (VC) were applied at various doses along with a recommended dose. We applied the treatments as follows: T1= FYM (5 t.ha-1), T2= VC (2 t.ha-1), T3= FYM (5 t.ha-1) + VC (2 t ha-1), T4= FYM (5 t.ha-1) + PSB, T5= VC (2 t.ha-1) + PSB, T6= FYM (5 t.ha-1) + VC (2 t.ha-1) + PSB, T7= Control, T8= RDF through inorganic fertilizers (50:25:25 kg.ha-1 as N, P2O5, and K2O). The use of organic manures and PSB significantly (P<0.05) increased the rhizome yield and soil-available macronutrients in V. jatamansi due to the release of nutrients from the decomposition of organic manures. The addition of T6 resulted in a maximum canopy height (18.28 cm), plant fresh biomass (16.42 t.ha-1), dry biomass (3.19 t.ha-1), rhizome fresh weight (3.16 t.ha-1), and dry weight (1.16 t.ha-1), as well as highest organic carbon content (0.75%), nitrogen (221 kg.ha-1), phosphorus (46.70 kg.ha-1), and potassium (201 kg.ha-1). Applying FYM, vermicompost, and PSB combination would be a promising strategy for growing V. jatamansi.

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