soil-science

A GIS and Remote Sensing Based Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) Approach Introduction Agriculture is one of the most important sectors supporting human life, food security, and economic development. Identifying suitable agricultural land is essential for sustainable farming practices, efficient resource management, and increasing agricultural productivity. Traditional land suitability anal…

Scientific Reports, Published online: 13 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41598-026-58282-8 Evaluating pXRF accuracy for predicting soil fertility: effects of moisture and soil properties

The remediation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon and lead co-contaminated soils in karst regions remains challenging because of strong soil buffering capacity, complex metal speciation, and the distinct transformation mechanisms of organic pollutants and heavy metals. Although urea and biochar are widely used as soil amendments, their interactive effects on plant-assisted remediation and the as…

Soil salinization is a silent, pervasive threat to global ecosystems. The Food and Agriculture Organization estimates over 424 million hectares of topsoil are salt-affected—more than 10% of global arable land—with climate change and unsustainable irrigation accelerating this degradation worldwide.

In arid regions, the conversion of deserts into agricultural land through irrigation is critical for food security but may intensify soil salinization processes. In this context, integrated and spatial soil quality assessment is essential for guiding sustainable management strategies. In this study, we developed a spatially explicit weighted Soil Quality Index (SQIw) and evaluated the effects of …

IntroductionSoil elemental stoichiometry is the bedrock of carbon dynamics, and its understanding is essential in promoting soil carbon sinking capacity.MethodsThis study examined the spatiotemporal variation of soil carbon-to-nitrogen and carbon-to- hydrogen ratios in agricultural farmlands at Prairie View A&M University. The soil C:N, C (%), and C:H were measured and quantified in three dif…

Bio-Based Fertilisers (BBFs) derived from nutrient recovery are increasingly promoted as sustainable alternatives to synthetic inputs. However, their effects on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions remain poorly understood, especially how carbon quality interacts with phosphorus (P) availability and soil moisture to influence CO2, N2O, and CH4 fluxes. A 28-day incubation experiment was conducted using …

Soil acidification severely constrains soil fertility and crop quality in tobacco-growing regions of southern China. Although biochar and beneficial microorganisms are widely used as soil amendments, their synergistic effects and underlying mechanisms remain insufficiently understood. In this field study, five treatments were established in acidified red soil: a control without biochar or microbi…

Post provided by Karen Dyson and Kayla Aburida When we first started using soil environmental DNA (eDNA) to understand how sustainable farming practices affect biodiversity, we thought the hard parts would be in the lab or the analysis. We were wrong. Instead, one of the biggest challenges came much earlier: in the field when collecting data. Soil eDNA is patchy, shaped by microhabitats, plant co…

Scientific Reports, Published online: 08 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41598-026-56356-1 Assessment of bentonite, zeolite, and sodium alginate for soil stabilization in dust hotspots

Nature Communications, Published online: 04 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-73958-5 The extent of fungicide resistance within the agricultural sector, specially across soil and river sediments, remains unclear. Here, the authors present a large-scale sampling effort, combined with transcriptomics, that identifies agricultural landscapes as reservoirs for multidrug-resistant fungal species.