Impacts of Nitrogen Rate and Landscape Position on Soils and Switchgrass Root Growth Parameters

Abstract

Core Ideas Nitrogen rate did not affect soil properties for Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Virginia. Landscape position affected soil properties under higher slope. Nitrogen rate affected root N, surface area, and weight for the total profile. Landscape position affected the root C and N. Switchgrass roots can increase C accumulation and reduce risk of N loss in soils. ABSTRACT Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) has been recognized as a potential bioenergy feedstock, and can positively impact soils and the environment. The experimental sites were established in 2008 at three locations with each in Oklahoma (OK), South Dakota (SD), and Virginia (VA) to assess the impacts of N fertilization rate (N rate; low, 0 kg ha−1; high, 112 kg ha−1) and landscape position (shoulder, backslope, and footslope) on select soil properties and root growth parameters. Data indicate that N rate did not affect soil bulk density (BD), pH, electrical conductivity (EC), soil organic carbon (SOC), and total nitrogen (TN) for any of five depths. Landscape position impacted some of these properties by depth, depending on location. The N rate influenced root weight (RW), root surface area (RSA), and root total nitrogen (RTN) for the total profile (0–100‐cm depth) depending on local site conditions. The landscape position impacted RW, root total carbon (RTC), and RTN for total profile according to different site conditions. The interactions of landscape position by N rate on switchgrass root parameters were significant. The findings in this study indicate that the root system of switchgrass could improve soils and increase C accumulation and reduce the risk of N loss to benefit the environment.

Coupling Phosphate-Solubilizing Bacteria with Phosphorus Supplements Improve Maize Phosphorus Acquisition and Growth under Lime Induced Salinity Stress

“…Consequently, the bioavailable in such soils is usually less than 0.1 mg kg −1 [ 10 ]; therefore, to attain the P requirements of a high yielding crop, regular supplementation through the exogenous application of different fertilizers is required [ 11 ]. Moreover, when removal of plant biomass for bioenergy purposes is pursued, fertilizer application rates can be substantially higher [ 12 , 13 , 14 ] and more expensive [ 15 ] compared to the grain production systems. To fulfill global P demands, chemical P fertilizers are produced at a cost of four billion USD per year [ 16 ].…”

Negative impact of long‐term exposure of salinity and drought stress on native Tetraena mandavillei L.

“…Plants are typically exposed to a broad myriad of biotic and abiotic stresses, including feeding from wild animals and insects, weed infestation, hail, mechanical injury, diseases, low soil fertility, drought, salinity and others that can diminish the plant photosynthetic area, and thus, the attained total plant biomass or grain yield (Adeyemi et al, 2020; Adnan et al, 2020; Battaglia et al, 2018; Battaglia, Lee, Thomason, Fike, et al, 2019; Battaglia, Lee, Thomason, & Van Mullekom, 2019; Diatta, Fike, et al, 2020; Diatta, Thomason, et al, 2020; Farsad et al, 2019; Thomason & Battaglia, 2020) In the case of plants grown in a hot, arid or semi‐arid climate two of the main yield and biomass‐limiting stresses are salinity and drought (Saleem, Ali, Hussain, et al, 2020; Saleem, Ali, Rehman, Hasanuzzaman, et al, 2020; Zamin et al, 2019). In this context, the use of native and perennial C4 plant species, that can remain highly productive in environments with saline soils and recurrent drought periods, is an important strategy to cope against these predominant abiotic stresses in arid and semi‐arid climates (Battaglia, Fike, et al,2019; Khan, Zhang, Luo, Liu, Rizwan, et al, 2019b; Kumar, Lai, Battaglia, et al, 2019; Kumar, Lai, Kumar, et al, 2019; Mohamed et al, 2020). Recent research has shown that native plant species may exhibit stronger tolerance or better and faster mechanisms to adjust or withstand abiotic stress conditions such as drought and salinity stress compared to their cultivated relatives (Saleem, Ali, et al, 2019; Saleem, Rehman, et al,2020; Yaseen et al, 2020).…”

Sustainable Management with Mycorrhizae and Phosphate Solubilizing Bacteria for Enhanced Phosphorus Uptake in Calcareous Soils

“…The repeated use of chemical fertilizers at supra-optimum rates in modern agriculture is expensive [6] and has the potential to adversely affect the environment [7], soil microbial population [8] and soil health both in grain and bioenergy production systems [9][10][11]. However, there is also some risk of xenobiotic contaminated in manure used to fertilize agricultural soils [12][13][14].…”