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Impact of water availability on root growth of sugar beet varieties (2020)
Journal Article
Fitters, T. F., Mooney, S. J., & Sparkes, D. L. (2022). Impact of water availability on root growth of sugar beet varieties. Soil Use and Management, 38(1), 1033-1043. https://doi.org/10.1111/sum.12664

© 2020 The Authors. Soil Use and Management published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Society of Soil Science On average, sugar beet yield in the UK is reduced by 10% due to water limitation. The root system of a plant is responsible... Read More about Impact of water availability on root growth of sugar beet varieties.

Short-term impacts of different tillage practices and plant residue retention on soil physical properties and greenhouse gas emissions (2020)
Journal Article
Alskaf, K., Mooney, S. J., Sparkes, D. L., Wilson, P., & Sjögersten, S. (2021). Short-term impacts of different tillage practices and plant residue retention on soil physical properties and greenhouse gas emissions. Soil and Tillage Research, 206, Article 104803. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.still.2020.104803

© 2020 Elsevier B.V. Reducing tillage intensity and plant residue retention have the potential to mitigate climate change by reducing soil greenhouse gas emissions. Few comparative studies have explored the effects of different tillage practices and... Read More about Short-term impacts of different tillage practices and plant residue retention on soil physical properties and greenhouse gas emissions.

Challenges and approaches in assessing the interplay between microorganisms and their physical micro-environments (2020)
Journal Article
Harvey, H. J., Wildman, R. D., Mooney, S. J., & Avery, S. V. (2020). Challenges and approaches in assessing the interplay between microorganisms and their physical micro-environments. Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal, 18, 2860-2866. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csbj.2020.09.030

© 2020 The Author(s) Spatial structure over scales ranging from nanometres to centimetres (and beyond) varies markedly in diverse habitats and the industry-relevant settings that support microbial activity. Developing an understanding of the interpla... Read More about Challenges and approaches in assessing the interplay between microorganisms and their physical micro-environments.

Quantifying the influence of water deficit on root and shoot growth in wheat using X-ray Computed Tomography (2020)
Journal Article
Khalil, A. M., Murchie, E. H., & Mooney, S. J. (2020). Quantifying the influence of water deficit on root and shoot growth in wheat using X-ray Computed Tomography. AoB PLANTS, 12(5), https://doi.org/10.1093/aobpla/plaa036

© 2020 The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company. The potential increased frequency and severity of drought associated with environmental change represents a significant obstacle to efforts aim... Read More about Quantifying the influence of water deficit on root and shoot growth in wheat using X-ray Computed Tomography.

Soil as an extended composite phenotype of the microbial metagenome (2020)
Journal Article
Neal, A. L., Bacq-Labreuil, A., Zhang, X., Clark, I. M., Coleman, K., Mooney, S. J., …Crawford, J. W. (2020). Soil as an extended composite phenotype of the microbial metagenome. Scientific Reports, 10(1), Article 10649. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-67631-0

© 2020, The Author(s). We use a unique set of terrestrial experiments to demonstrate how soil management practises result in emergence of distinct associations between physical structure and biological functions. These associations have a significant... Read More about Soil as an extended composite phenotype of the microbial metagenome.

Loading and unloading of a thick-walled cylinder of critical-state soils: large strain analysis with applications (2020)
Journal Article
Zhuang, P. Z., Yu, H. S., Mooney, S. J., & Mo, P. Q. (2021). Loading and unloading of a thick-walled cylinder of critical-state soils: large strain analysis with applications. Acta Geotechnica, 16, 237–261. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-020-00994-w

© 2020, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature. Thick-walled cylinder (TWC) tests are widely used to obtain soil properties and investigate wellbore instability problems in laboratory-controlled conditions. This paper presents analytic... Read More about Loading and unloading of a thick-walled cylinder of critical-state soils: large strain analysis with applications.

Soil aggregates by design: Manufactured aggregates with defined microbial composition for interrogating microbial activities in soil microhabitats (2020)
Journal Article
Harvey, H. J., Wildman, R. D., Mooney, S. J., & Avery, S. V. (2020). Soil aggregates by design: Manufactured aggregates with defined microbial composition for interrogating microbial activities in soil microhabitats. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 148, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2020.107870

Differences in the structure of microbial communities are reported to exist between the inside and outside of soil aggregates, but the impacts of soil aggregation on microbial activity in soils, essential for soil health, have proven difficult to stu... Read More about Soil aggregates by design: Manufactured aggregates with defined microbial composition for interrogating microbial activities in soil microhabitats.

Root anatomical traits contribute to deeper rooting of maize under compacted field conditions (2020)
Journal Article
Vanhees, D. J., Loades, K. W., Glyn Bengough, A., Mooney, S. J., & Lynch, J. P. (2020). Root anatomical traits contribute to deeper rooting of maize under compacted field conditions. Journal of Experimental Botany, 71(14), 4243-4257. https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/eraa165

© The Author(s) 2020. To better understand the role of root anatomy in regulating plant adaptation to soil mechanical impedance, 12 maize lines were evaluated in two soils with and without compaction treatments under field conditions. Penetrometer re... Read More about Root anatomical traits contribute to deeper rooting of maize under compacted field conditions.

Impact of fruit orientation and pelleting material on water uptake and germination performance in artificial substrate for sugar beet (2020)
Journal Article
Blunk, S., Hoffer, J., Brosda, S., de Heer, M. I., Sturrock, C. J., & Mooney, S. J. (2020). Impact of fruit orientation and pelleting material on water uptake and germination performance in artificial substrate for sugar beet. PLoS ONE, 15(5), Article e0232875. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0232875

© 2020 Blunk et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are cred... Read More about Impact of fruit orientation and pelleting material on water uptake and germination performance in artificial substrate for sugar beet.

Detection and quantification of pore, solid and gravel spaces in CT images of a 3D soil sample (2020)
Journal Article
Ojeda-Magaña, B., Ruelas, R., Quintanilla-Domínguez, J., Robledo-Hernández, J. G., Sturrock, C. J., Mooney, S. J., & Tarquis, A. M. (2020). Detection and quantification of pore, solid and gravel spaces in CT images of a 3D soil sample. Applied Mathematical Modelling, 85, 360-377. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apm.2020.04.021

© 2020 Elsevier Inc. In this study, we scanned the core of a cylindrical soil sample (60mm diameter and 100mm height) by X-ray Computed Tomography (CT) producing 300 consecutive 2D digital images with 16-bit gray level depth and a resolution of 32 mi... Read More about Detection and quantification of pore, solid and gravel spaces in CT images of a 3D soil sample.

A comparison between water uptake and root length density in winter wheat: effects of root density and rhizosphere properties (2020)
Journal Article
Zhang, X. .., Whalley, P. A., Ashton, R. W., Evans, J., Hawkesford, M. J., Griffiths, S., …Whalley, W. R. (2020). A comparison between water uptake and root length density in winter wheat: effects of root density and rhizosphere properties. Plant and Soil, 451, 345-356. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-020-04530-3

© 2020, The Author(s). Background and aims: We aim to quantify the variation in root distribution in a set of 35 experimental wheat lines. We also compared the effect of variation in hydraulic properties of the rhizosphere on water uptake by roots. M... Read More about A comparison between water uptake and root length density in winter wheat: effects of root density and rhizosphere properties.

Biochar as a sustainable alternative to açaí waste disposal in Amazon, Brazil (2020)
Journal Article
de Freitas Maia, C. M. B., Silva Pedroso, A. J., Noronha Costa, A., de Lima, H. V., Sato, M. K., Rodrigues, S., …Clarke, M. (2020). Biochar as a sustainable alternative to açaí waste disposal in Amazon, Brazil. Process Safety and Environmental Protection, 139, 36-46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psep.2020.04.001

© 2020 Institution of Chemical Engineers The açaí palm (Euterpe oleracea Mart) is native to the floodplains of central and South America and is cultivated in Brazil for its berries, which are considered to be a ‘superfood’. The waste açaí fiber and s... Read More about Biochar as a sustainable alternative to açaí waste disposal in Amazon, Brazil.

Physiological and yield response in maize in cohesive tropical soil is improved through the addition of gypsum and leguminous mulch (2020)
Journal Article
Moura, E. G., Hallett, P. D., Mooney, S. J., Silva, F. R., Macedo, V. R., & Aguiar, A. C. F. (2020). Physiological and yield response in maize in cohesive tropical soil is improved through the addition of gypsum and leguminous mulch. Journal of Agricultural Science, 158(1-2), 57-64. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0021859620000192

Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2020. Tropical soils tend to harden during drying due to the generally low content of free-iron and organic carbon, combined with high fine sand and silt proportions. It was hypothesized that the change in soil... Read More about Physiological and yield response in maize in cohesive tropical soil is improved through the addition of gypsum and leguminous mulch.

Brachiaria species influence nitrate transport in soil by modifying soil structure with their root system (2020)
Journal Article
Rosolem, C. A., Pires, L. F., Hallett, P. D., Galdos, M. V., Brown, E., & Mooney, S. J. (2020). Brachiaria species influence nitrate transport in soil by modifying soil structure with their root system. Scientific Reports, 10(1), Article 5072. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-61986-0

Leaching of nitrate from fertilisers diminishes nitrogen use efficiency (the portion of nitrogen used by a plant) and is a major source of agricultural pollution. To improve nitrogen capture, grasses such as brachiaria are increasingly used, especial... Read More about Brachiaria species influence nitrate transport in soil by modifying soil structure with their root system.

Potential of geoelectrical methods to monitor root zone processes and structure: A review (2020)
Journal Article
Cimpoia?u, M. O., Cimpoiasu, M. O., Kuras, O., Pridmore, T., & Mooney, S. J. (2020). Potential of geoelectrical methods to monitor root zone processes and structure: A review. Geoderma, 365, 114232. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2020.114232

© 2020 Understanding the processes that control mass and energy exchanges between soil, plants and the atmosphere plays a critical role for understanding the root zone system, but it is also beneficial for practical applications such as sustainable a... Read More about Potential of geoelectrical methods to monitor root zone processes and structure: A review.

Ecosystem services for intensification of agriculture, with emphasis on increased nitrogen ecological use efficiency (2020)
Journal Article
Sena, V. G., de Moura, E. G., Macedo, V. R., Aguiar, A. C., Price, A. H., Mooney, S. J., & Calonego, J. C. (2020). Ecosystem services for intensification of agriculture, with emphasis on increased nitrogen ecological use efficiency. Ecosphere, 11(2), https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.3028

© 2020 The Authors. In weathered tropical soil, low nutrient use efficiency can lead to agricultural systems becoming unsustainable. Therefore, tropical agriculture is highly dependent on ecosystem services, such as nutrient recycling and carbon sequ... Read More about Ecosystem services for intensification of agriculture, with emphasis on increased nitrogen ecological use efficiency.

X-ray microtomography analysis of soil pore structure dynamics under wetting and drying cycles (2020)
Journal Article
Pires, L. F., Auler, A. C., Roque, W. L., & Mooney, S. J. (2020). X-ray microtomography analysis of soil pore structure dynamics under wetting and drying cycles. Geoderma, 362, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2019.114103

The soil water retention curve is one of the most important properties used to predict the amount of water available to plants, pore size distribution and hydraulic conductivity, as well as knowledge for drainage and irrigation modeling. Depending on... Read More about X-ray microtomography analysis of soil pore structure dynamics under wetting and drying cycles.