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Vertosols are widely used for cotton production globally. One main advantage of this soil type is its capacity to improve its structure gradually due to natural processes over time. However, Vertosols are highly susceptible to compaction, especially under wet soil conditions. This study investigated the change in characteristics of Australian Vertosols due to the impact of rainfall, seasonal variability, and John Deere 7760 cotton picker traffic. Soil cores were collected between October 2016 and May 2017. Measurements of soil physical properties (soil water content, dry bulk density, and soil penetration resistance) were carried out in the 0-80 cm depth profile during the study period. Increasing soil water content due to rainfall caused the Vertosol to swell, providing some degree of natural compaction alleviation and decreasing the dry bulk density and soil penetration resistance. Increased temperatures from October 2016 to January 2017 resulted in increased moisture evapotranspiration. This led to shrinkage of the Vertosol and resulted in increased dry bulk density and soil penetration resistance, particularly in the top 0-30 cm of soil. Traffic from the JD7760 cotton picker induced significant compaction throughout the depth profile. These findings have important implications for farmers intending to grow crops in Vertosols and managing the issue of soil compaction. Keywords: compaction, cotton picker, soil density, Vertosols., Introduction Vertosols are a collection of soils dominated by cracking clay soil (black earths and grey and brown clays) with clay texture (Eswaran et al. 1988; McKenzie 1998). Vertosols exist [...]

Pyrolysis of two types of pellets (T1: 100% wheat straw, and T2: 70% wheat straw; 10% sawdust, 10% biochar, and 10% bentonite clay) was performed in a pilot‐scale reactor under a nitrogen environment at 20°C to 700°C. This was to investigate slow pyrolysis yields and gas composition as a function of temperature and residence time. The experimental data were obtained between 300°C and 600°C, with a residence time of 90 min, a nitrogen flow rate of 50 cm3/min, and a heating rate of 20°C/min. The results indicated that the maximum pyrolysis temperature is 605°C with a residence time of 55 min. The product analysis showed that the proportion of gas was higher than that of biochar and bio‐oil. The conversion efficiency increased with higher temperatures and varied between 66% and 76%. The results showed that carbon dioxide was the main component in the produced gas, and the maximum gas concentration was 63.6% at 300°C for T1. The higher temperature and longer residence time increased the syngas (CO + H2) composition for both T1 and T2 treatments. Nevertheless, the produced biochar had a high carbon content and retained a high calorific value, indicating slow pyrolysis is the ideal utilization route of wheat straw pellet biomass for biochar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of the thermokinetics of two types of wheat straw pellets, T1 (100% wheat straw) and T2 (70% wheat straw, 10% each of bentonite clay, sawdust, and biochar), under a nitrogen atmosphere (31–800 °C and 5, 10, and 20 °C/min heating rates) using model-free and model-based approaches by TG/DTG data, revealed promising results. While model-free methods were not suitable, model-based reactions, particularly Fn (nth-order phase interfacial) and F2 (second-order) models, effectively described the three-phase consecutive thermal degradation pathway (A→B, C→D, and D→E). The activation energy (Eα) for phases 2 and 3 (Fn model) averaged 136.04 and 358.11 kJ/mol for T1 and 132.86 and 227.10 kJ/mol for T2, respectively. The pre-exponential factor (lnA) varied across heating rates and pellets (T2: 38.244–2.9 × 109 1/s; T1: 1.2 × 102–5.45 × 1014 1/s). Notably, pellets with additives (T2) exhibited a higher degradable fraction due to lower Eα. These findings suggest a promising potential for utilizing wheat straw pellet biomass as a bioenergy feedstock, highlighting the practical implications of this research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reducing postharvest losses offers a significant opportunity to enhance food availability without requiring extra production resources. A substantial portion of cereal grain goes to waste annually due to a lack of science-based knowledge, unconscious handling practices, suboptimal technical efficiency, and inadequate infrastructure. This article extensively reviews losses occurring during postharvest operations across various crops, examining diverse postharvest operations in different countries. Recent advancements in postharvest technology research are thoroughly discussed. The primary obstacles and challenges hindering the adoption and implementation of postharvest technologies are also explored. The appropriate postharvest technology relies on specific factors, including the kind of crops, production locales, seasons, and existing environmental and socioeconomic conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A controlled traffic no-till system is a cropping system that has a significant potential to improve soil health, sustainability and crop yield. A pilot experiment was conducted to compare soil chemical properties and crop yields between controlled traffic no-till and random traffic in an annual double-cropping area of the North China Plain from 2005 to 2010. The experiment was performed using three treatments: (1) controlled traffic no-till (NTCT); (2) random traffic no-till (NTRT); and (3) conventional tillage (CT). The NTCT treatment significantly improved soil organic matter and total N compared with both NTRT and CT treatments and remarkably increased available P compared with CT treatment in the surface soil layer (0-10 cm), but no significant differences were found in soil pH compared with both NTRT and CT treatments. However, in the 10-20- and 20-30-cm soil profiles, soil organic matter, total N and available P were reduced after NTCT treatment when compared with those obtained after CT treatment. At 0-10 cm soil depths, soil bulk density under NTCT and NTRT was higher than in CT, whereas the opposite was true at soil depths of 10-30 cm. Overall, it was found that the 6-year mean maize yield of NTCT and NTRT treatments was 10.9% and 1.1% higher respectively than the CT treatment, whereas the winter wheat yield was 1.1% and 3.0% higher respectively compared with the CT treatment. NTCT appears to be an improvement over current farming systems in an annual double-cropping area of the North China Plain. Additional keywords: available P, bulk density, C/N ratio, conventional tillage, pH, soil organic matter, total nitrogen. Received 29 August 2012, accepted 27 October 2015, published online 12 July 2016, Introduction Soil organic matter (SOM) represents the mineral and organic characteristics of soil (Alexandra and Jose 2005). It is also considered as a primary component of sustainable soil management and [...]