Sustainable vegetative management plays a significant role in improving soil quality in degraded agricultural landscapes by enhancing soil microbial biomass. This study investigated the effects of grass buffers (GBs), biomass crops (BCs), grass waterways (GWWs), and agroforestry buffers (ABs) on soil microbial biomass and soil organic C (SOC) compared with continuous corn (Zea mays L.)–soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] rotation (row crop [RC]) on claypan soils. The RC, AB, GB, GWW, and BC treatments were established in 1991, 1997, 1997, 1997, and 2012, respectively, and are located at Greenley Memorial Research Center in Missouri. Soil samples were collected in May 2018 from the 0‐ to

In this article, an efficient reliable method, which is the residual power series method (RPSM), is used in order to investigate the approximate solutions of conformable time fractional nonlinear evolution equations with conformable derivatives under initial conditions. In particular, two types of equations are considered, which are time coupled diffusion-reaction equations (CD-REs) and MKdv equations coupled with conformable fractional time derivative of order α. The attitude of RPSM and the influence of different values of α are shown graphically.

Cover crops (CC) improve soil quality, including soil microbial enzymatic activities and soil chemical parameters. Scientific studies conducted in research centers have shown positive effects of CC on soil enzymatic activities; however, studies conducted in farmer fields are lacking in the literature. The objective of this study was to quantify CC effects on soil microbial enzymatic activities (β-glucosidase, β-glucosaminidase, fluorescein diacetate hydrolase, and dehydrogenase) under a corn (Zea mays L.)–soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) rotation. The study was conducted in 2016 and 2018 in Chariton County, Missouri, where CC were first established in 2012. All tested soil enzyme levels were significantly different between 2016 and 2018

The objective of this study was to identify the locations sensitivity to land desertification based on the Mediterranean Desertification and Land Use (MEDALUS) approach by the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in the south of Maysan governorate at Iraq for mapping environmentally sensitive areas to desertification. Three indicators, which included climate, vegetation, and soil, were employed to estimate the ESAI and then to classify the land in critical, fragile potentially, and non-influenced sensitive areas. The results of the soil quality index (SQI) indicated that 25% of the studied area was classified as moderate quality and 21% was low quality while 54% was very low quality. Vegetation qualities were classified into mode

Soil water use and water storage vary by vegetative management practices, and these practices affect land productivity and hydrologic processes. This study investigated the effects of agroforestry buffers (AB), grass buffers (GB), and biofuel crops (BC), relative to row crops (RC) on soil water use for a claypan soil in northern Missouri, USA. The experiment located at the Greenley Memorial Research Center included RC, AB, GB, and BC established in 1991, 1997, 1997, and 2012, respectively. Soil water reflectometer sensors installed at 5‐, 10‐, 20‐, and 40‐cm depths monitored soil water from April to November in 2017 and 2018. Results showed significant differences in weekly volumetric water content (VWC) among treatments for all fou

The current study was conducted to find out the effect of the sediment source (sedimentary of Iraqi-Iranian borderline and Tigris River) on the content and distribution of feldspar minerals and their effect on the optical properties of these minerals in some soils of Wasit and Maysan province. Eight pedons were chosen to represent the study area, five of them represented sediments coming from the borderline, which included pedons of (Badra, Taj Al-Din, Al-Shihabi, Jassan, and Galat), while two of them represent the sediments of the Tigris River (Essaouira, Al-Dabouni). Finally, the pedon of Ali Al-Gharbi represented the mixing area of sediments of all the torrents coming from borderline and the sediments of the Tigris River. The diagnostic

This study was conducted on the effect of the sedimentary source (the sediments coming from both the Iraqi-Iranian borderline and the Tigris river) on the optical and textural features, especially sphericity and roundness of feldspar minerals (potassium and plagioclase types) in soils of the southern part of the alluvial plain. Eight pedons were selected to represent the study area, five of them represented sediments coming from the borderline, which included pedons of (Badra, Taj Al-Din, Al-Shihabi, Jassan, and Galati), while two of them represent the sediments of the Tigris River (Essaouira, Al-Dabouni), the pedon of Ali Al-Gharbi was represented the mixing area of sediments of all the floods coming from the borderline and the sediments o

Some modified techniques are used in this article in order to have approximate solutions for systems of Volterra integro-differential equations. The suggested techniques are the so called Laplace-Adomian decomposition method and Laplace iterative method. The proposed methods are robust and accurate as can be seen from the given illustrative examples and from the comparison that are made with the exact solution.

Perennial biofuel and cover crops systems are important for enhancing soil health and can provide numerous soil, agricultural, and environmental benefits. The study objective was to investigate the effects of cover crops and biofuel crops on soil hydraulic properties relative to traditional management for claypan soils. The study site included selected management practices: cover crop (CC) and no cover crop (NC) with corn/soybean rotation, switchgrass (SW), and miscanthus (MI). The CC mixture consisted of cereal rye, hairy vetch, and Austrian winter pea. The research site was located at Bradford Research Center in Missouri, USA, and was implemented on a Mexico silt loam. Intact soil cores (76‐mm diam. by 76‐mm long) were taken from the