illite and vermiculite

Soil suppressiveness to disease is an intriguing emerging property in agroecosystems, with important implications because it enables significant protection of susceptible plants from soil-borne pathogens. Unlike many soils where disease suppressiveness requires crop monoculture to establish, certain soils are naturally suppressive to disease, and this type of specific disease suppressiveness is maintained despite crop rotation. Soils naturally suppressive to Thielaviopsis basicola-mediated black root rot of tobacco and other crops occur in Morens region (Switzerland) and have been studied for over 30 years. In Morens, vermiculite-rich suppressive soils formed on morainic deposits while illite-rich conducive soils developed on sandstone, but suppressiveness is of microbial origin. Antagonistic pseudomonads play a role in black root rot suppressiveness, including Pseudomonas protegens (formerly P. fluorescens) CHA0, a major model strain for research. However, other types of rhizobacterial taxa may differ in prevalence between suppressive and conducive soils, suggesting that the microbial basis of black root rot suppressiveness could be far more complex than solely a Pseudomonas property. This first review on black root rot suppressive soils covers early findings on these soils, the significance of recent results, and compares them with other types of suppressive soils in terms of rhizosphere ecology and plant protection mechanisms.

Topics: Aluminum Silicates; Antibiosis; Minerals; Nicotiana; Plant Diseases; Plant Roots; Pseudomonas; Rhizosphere; Saccharomycetales; Soil; Soil Microbiology; Switzerland

For understanding and predicting the Cs behavior in soils and groundwater, Cs adsorption properties of illite and vermiculite were investigated under various pH conditions and Cs concentrations. Cs adsorption and desorption experiments have been conducted with Ca-homoionic illite and Ca-vermiculite in CaCl

Topics: Adsorption; Aluminum Silicates; Minerals

The adsorption of thallium (Tl) onto phyllosilicate minerals plays a critical role in the retention of Tl in soils and sediments and the potential transfer of Tl into plants and groundwater. Especially micaceous minerals are thought to strongly bind monovalent Tl(I), in analogy to their strong binding of Cs. To advance the understanding of Tl(I) adsorption onto phyllosilicate minerals, we studied the adsorption of Tl(I) onto Na- and K-saturated illite and Na-saturated smectite, two muscovites, two vermiculites and a naturally Tl-enriched soil clay mineral fraction. Macroscopic adsorption isotherms were combined with the characterization of the adsorbed Tl by X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). In combination, the results suggest that the adsorption of Tl(I) onto phyllosilicate minerals can be interpreted in terms of three major uptake paths: (i) highest-affinity inner-sphere adsorption of dehydrated Tl

Topics: Adsorption; Aluminum Silicates; Cesium; Clay; Minerals; Silicates; Siloxanes; Soil; Thallium

The retention of radioactive cesium (Cs) in soil is significantly related to the types of clay minerals, while the weathering process affects the irreversible adsorption sites in clay minerals. In this study, the effect of weathering (exposure duration of Cs and repeated wetting and drying cycles) on fractionation of Cs in soils was investigated using fractionation analysis by the sequential extraction. The residual fraction of Cs increased slowly with exposure time but increased rapidly by repeated wetting and drying cycles. XRD analysis shows that a 1.43 nm of interlayer size for vermiculite is shortened to 1.00 nm, i.e., similar to that of illite. The change implies the potential that the structure of expandable clay minerals is transformed to the non-expandable structure by weathering process after Cs retention. Based on the result, the residual fraction of Cs, most stable form of Cs in the soil, reached relatively rapidly to a maximum. However, the process is much slower kinetically in the field because the bench-scale weathering process used in this study is more aggressive. This study implies that Cs fractionations in the soil are converted into a more stable fraction by weathering processes in the soil. Therefore, Cs removal should be conducted as soon as possible after accidental release of Cs in an environmental side.

Topics: Adsorption; Aluminum Silicates; Cesium Radioisotopes; Chemical Fractionation; Clay; Minerals; Soil; Soil Pollutants, Radioactive; Wettability

Radiocesium is well-known to be stabilized by clay minerals in soils, while volcanic soils could typically be poor in micaceous clays that fix

Topics: Aluminum Silicates; Cesium Radioisotopes; Clay; Forests; Fukushima Nuclear Accident; Japan; Minerals; Radiation Monitoring; Soil; Soil Pollutants, Radioactive

In response to addressing potassium (K) deficiency in soil and decreasing agricultural production costs, the potential of K-bearing phyllosilicate minerals that can be directly used as an alternative K source has been investigated using sodium tetraphenylboron (NaTPB) extraction and an intensive cropping experiment. The results showed that the critical value of K-release rate and leaf K concentration was 3.30 g kg(-1) h(-1) and 30.64 g (kg dry matter)(-1), respectively under the experimental conditions. According to this critical value, the maximum amount of released K that could be utilized by a plant with no K deficiency symptoms was from biotite (27.80 g kg(-1)) and vermiculite (5.58 g kg(-1)), followed by illite, smectite and muscovite with 2.76, 0.88 and 0.49 g kg(-1), respectively. Ryegrass grown on phlogopite showed K deficiency symptoms during the overall growth period. It is concluded that biotite and vermiculite can be directly applied as a promising and sustainable alternative to the use of classical K fertilizers, illite can be utilized in combination with soluble K fertilizers, whereas muscovite, phlogopite and smectite may not be suitable for plant growth. Further field experiments are needed to assess the use of these phyllosilicate minerals as sources of K fertilizer.

Topics: Agriculture; Aluminum Silicates; Ferrous Compounds; Fertilizers; Lolium; Minerals; Potassium; Silicates; Tetraphenylborate

The effect of different rice cultivation periods on the properties of selected soils in alluvial plain were studied in Mazandaran province (north of Iran) in 2004. Soils were sampled form 0, 6, 16, 26 and over 40 years rice cultivation fields. In each treatment three soil profiles and six nearby auger holes were studied. The present study results indicated that continuous rice cultivation have changed soil moisture regime from xeric to aquic, soil color from brown to grayish, surface horizons from mollic to ochric epipedon and soil structure changed from granular or blocky to massive. Therefore, the soil order has changed from Mollisols to Inceptisols. No illuviation and eluviation of clay minerals occurred as a consequence of rice cultivation. X-ray diffraction analysis showed that clay minerals in non-rice cultivated field were illite, vermiculite, montmorillonite, kaolinite and chlorite, but in rice field were illite, montmorillonite, kaolinite and chlorite, respectively. In contrast of montmorillonite, the amount of illite and vermiculite have been decreased by increasing periods of rice cultivation. The pH values of the saturated soil surface in six weeks past plantation have shifted toward neutrality. While Eh value of non-paddy soils were about +90 mv, surface horizons of paddy soils at field conditions had Eh value about +40, -12, -84, -122 mv, respectively. The amounts of organic matter and available Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu were increased whereas available K was decreased in paddy soils.

Topics: Agriculture; Aluminum Silicates; Bentonite; Chlorides; Clay; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; Iran; Kaolin; Minerals; Oryza; Potassium; Soil; Time Factors; Water; X-Ray Diffraction