Two New SoilCare Publications: Soil information sharing and knowledge building
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29th April 2019 - The SoilCare team from the University of Gloucestershire in UK has recently published two papers in a Special Issue of Soil Use and Management - Soil information sharing and knowledge building for sustainable soil use and management: insights and implications for the 21st Century which brings together a number of insights from Australia, USA and Europe about the generation, exchange and use of information and knowledge building for sustainable soil use and management, predominately in agriculture. The first paper, Are advisory services “fit for purpose” to support sustainable soil management? An assessment of advice in Europe, examines the extent to which advisory services are able to address current and emerging knowledge needs of practitioners (primarily farmers) about sustainable soil managementin Europe. The second paper, The use of Twitter for knowledge exchange on sustainable soil management, illustrates, through a content analysis of the SoilCare Twitter account and in-depth qualitative interviews with farmers, the extent and type of farmer-to-farmer knowledge sharing on Twitter in relation to sustainable soil management practices.
Ingram, J.A. and Mills, J., 2018. Are advisory services ‘fit for purpose’ to support sustainable soil management? An assessment of advice in Europe. Soil Use and Management, 35(1), pp. 21-31. doi: 10.1111/sum.12452
Mills, J., Reed, M., Skaalsveen, K. and Ingram, J., 2018. The use of Twitter for sustainable soil management knowledge exchange. Soil Use and Management, 35 (1), pp. 195-203. doi.org/10.1111/sum.12485
For more information about these papers, please contact either Julie Ingram This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or Jane Mills This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Official SoilCare movie released
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Wageningen, April 11th - The official SoilCare movie, that explains what the project is about, has been released and can be viewed below.
The movie has been made by partner 28: ScienceView Media. The movie is recorded in various SoilCare partner countries and is subtitled in English.
The version with various subtitle translations can be viewed using the following link: https://vimeo.com/331219095.
Third plenary meeting in Almeria successfully ended
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Almeria - April 5th, 2019 - The third plenary meeting of the SoilCare project has successfully ended on Friday, April 5th 2019. The meeting was hosted by local partner University of Almeria: partner representative Julián Cuevas and his team planned a perfect meeting and all 54 attendees had a wonderful time in Almeria, Spain.
The meeting program consisted of Work Package presentations, a poster session by the Study Sites, the usual information carousel, presentations by partner projects iSqaper and Landmark, and on Friday a visit to two field sites where Soil Improving Cropping System trials are implemented.
The meeting output, presentations, meeting notes and pictures will be made available soon on this website.
New SoilCare Publication: Hidden Miners: The role of cover crops and Soil microorganism in phosphorus cycling
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The SoilCare team from University of Hohenheim, Germany, has just published a meta-analysis of published field studies on cover crops and phosphorus cycling in the prestigious "Marschner Review" series.
Phosphorus (P) is often a limiting nutrient in agriculture and the use of P fertilisers can have negative impacts on the environment. There is increasing interest in the use of cover crops for the sustainable intensification of agriculture, however, their interactions with the soil microbial community, which is a key driver of P cycling, and their effects on the following crop, have not yet been systematically assessed.
The study found that decomposition dynamics, governed by P concentrations, are critical for the transfer of P from cover crop residues to the main crop. Also cover crops may enhance the soil microbial community by providing a legacy of increased mycorrhizal abundance, microbial biomass P, and phosphatase activity. Cover crops are generally most effective in systems low in available P, and may access 'unavailable' P pools. However, their effects on P availability are difficult to detect by standard soil P tests, except for increases after the use of Lupinus sp. Agricultural management (i.e. cover crop species selection, tillage, fertilization) can improve cover crop effects. They concluded that cover cropping has the potential to tighten nutrient cycling in agricultural systems under different conditions, increasing crop P nutrition and yield.
Hallama, M., Pekrun, C., Lambers, H., Kandeler, E. (2019) Hidden miners – the roles of cover crops and soil microorganisms in phosphorus cycling through agroecosystems, Plant Soil 434: 7.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-018-3810-7
For more information about the paper, please contact Moritz Hallama This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
