Lower nitrogen losses with perennial biofuel crops

Perennial biofuel crops such as miscanthus, whose high yields have led them to be considered an eventual alternative to corn in producing ethanol, are now shown to have another beneficial characteristic–the ability to reduce ...

Antibiotic-eating bug unearthed in soil

It's well known how bacteria exposed to antibiotics for long periods will find ways to resist the drugs—by quickly pumping them out of their cells, for instance, or modifying the compounds so they're no longer toxic.

Char application restores soil carbon and productivity

Intensively tilled soils have lost up to 50% of their original C with the attendant degradation in soil properties and productivity. Restoring the C lost with current conservation practices (i.e., no-till, cover crops) often ...

23 years of water quality data from crop-livestock systems

Long-term research is important to understand how land management impacts runoff and erosion, which pose serious threats to soil and water quality worldwide. To better understand these processes in agricultural landscapes ...

Illinois study proposes circular phosphorus economy for Midwest

The U.S. Midwest produces at least a third of the world's corn and soybean supply each year. Feeding the world requires a lot of fertilizer, mostly in the form of nitrogen and phosphorus. While nitrogen can literally be pulled ...

Reduce, reuse, recycle: The future of phosphorus

When Hennig Brandt discovered the element phosphorus in 1669, it was a mistake. He was really looking for gold. But his mistake was a very important scientific discovery. What Brandt couldn't have realized was the importance ...

Pasture management and riparian buffers reduce erosion

Sediment is the number one pollutant in U.S. waterways. Over grazing can increase soil erosion from pastures as well as sediment loading into aquatic systems. Grazing management and buffer strips may reduce erosion, however, ...

Flushed resource restores ecosystem

Every city has abandoned industrial sites. Encouraging life to return to these barren areas is a challenge. It requires a healthy topsoil for plants and animals to flourish. Cities, with their heavily compacted and often ...

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