Red soils and Yellow soils in Okinawa Island have the problem of severe hardening in dry conditions. It is important for the improvement and management of these soils to make the factors and mechanisms that affect the soil hardening clear. For this purpose, the properties and the degree of hardening of 43 topsoil samples in upland fields in the central area of Okinawa Island were determined. The results showed that the clay content and pH values were positively related to the degree of hardening. It is well known that clayey soils become very hard by air-drying because of the remarkable shrinkage, however, the pH-dependency of soil hardening has not been reported. Some investigations on the cause of the pH-dependency suggested that some physico-chemical conditions such as charge on the surface of soil particles in high-pH conditions, and the remarkable shrinkage of alkaline soils due to a large amount of calcium ions, enhance the hardening of these soils. The pH-dependency of hardening was also observed in the Red soils and Yellow soils in Kyushu Island, and this phenomenon probably occurs in soils with properties similar to the Red soils and Yellow soils in Okinawa, such as some Ultisols, Alfisols or Inceptisols in tropical, subtropical or temperate regions in the world.

Soils in the Kyushu Okinawa region with problematic properties for agriculture were studied and the following findings were obtained. 1) Mahji-soils in Nansei Islands became very hard with desiccation under high-pH conditions; therefore, soil treatments that cause alkalinization such as overliming should be avoided. 2) In contrast to the generally favorable effects of organic matter on the physical properties of soil, the application of manure compost at 100 Mg ha −1 to Mahji-soils increased the degree of hardening with desiccation. 3) Application of clinker ash (coarse fraction of coal ash) at 10% (wt/wt) mitigated the hardening and shrinkage of Jagaru, a heavy-textured gray soil found on Nansei Island. 4) Non-allophanic surface horizons with strong acidity were widely distributed in the Andosol area of central Kyushu, covering at least 340 km 2. These horizons showed a relatively large ratio of carbon per Al p (pyrophosphate extractable aluminum) and high content of allophane, and began forming around 2500 years ago. 5)Some Andosols in Kyushu showed remarkable hardness. They are divided into two types, according to the degree of weathering and hardening characteristics, and the different measures required to improve each type. 6) An experimental method for determining nitrate retention by soils was developed, and factors influencing the nitrate retention of Andosols were elucidated using this method. 7) A method for micromorphological observation of pelletized manure compost (PC) grains was developed. This method revealed that the internal microstructure of PC did not change in 18 months after compost application, whereas the volume of the grains decreased with the formation of voids around them. 8) As an indicator of soil acidity concerning the countermeasure for common scab, pH(KCl) can easily be used instead of exchangeable acidity y 1, which is laborious to determine. The maximally simplified pH(KCl) measurement method can be carried out by farmers in the field.

Previous reports indicated that the emission of nitrous oxide (N 2 O) when manure compost pellets (MCP) were applied to soil was greater than when ordinary manure compost or inorganic fertilizer was applied, but that applying pellets of nitrogen-enriched manure compost, a by-product of deodorizing manure during composting, resulted in N 2 O emission rates less than those from MCPs. To investigate the mechanism by which N 2 O emission rates and cumulative emissions were reduced in nitrogenenriched manure composts pellets (N+MCP), we studied the impact of pellet pH on N 2 O emission, because pH is different between MCP (pH 8.6) and N+MCP (pH 5.3). In an incubation experiment, the pH of pellets was adjusted to five levels (5.3, 6.0, 7.0, 8.0 and 8.6) with acid or alkaline solutions, and the pellets were incubated without soil in a beaker at 30°C for 90 d (MCP) or 42 d (N+MCP). A large peak in N 2 O emission rate was observed soon after beginning the incubation (within 1-3 d) in the neutral and alkaline treatments for both MCP and N+MCP, and these peaks corresponded to a rise in the pellet nitrite contents. Thus, this N 2 O emission peak might have been generated by the denitrification of nitrite in the pellets. In the acid treatments of MCP, the N 2 O emission was distributed more in the later incubation period (14-90 d), when the reduction of nitrate in MCP occurred. This led to a significant increase in cumulative N 2 O emission as compared with the alkaline treatments for MCP. Regarding the mechanism by which N 2 O emission was reduced in N+MCP, although larger cumulative N 2 O emission rates in the earlier stage (0-14 d for MCP and 0-7 d for N+MCP) were observed when the pellet pH was adjusted close to 7.0, lowering the pH of MCP to 5.3 (the pH of N+MCP) did not demonstrate a significant decrease in cumulative N 2 O emission as compared with the original pH treatment (pH 8.6). These results indicate that pellet pH might not relate directly to the mechanism by which N 2 O emission was reduced in N+MCP.

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