publication

New achievements in the study of bacterial community structure and metabolic activity of soils in various alkali vegetation

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The researchers investigated the bacterial composition and microbial activity pattern in soils under four typical sodic grassland vegetation in Apaj, Kiskunság National Park, Hungary. They found that the genus-level bacterial composition and community-level physiological profiles differed significantly in soils with different alkaline vegetation. The results showed that the soil pH, together with salt content, and Na+ content of the soils were the main edaphic factors influencing both bacterial diversity and metabolic activity patterns in the investigated soils with different salinity and sodicity.

The article can be accessed at the following link:

Mucsi, M., Borsodi, A.K., Megyes, M., Szili-Kovács,T. Response of the metabolic activity and taxonomic composition of bacterial communities to mosaically varying soil salinity and alkalinity Sci Rep 14, 7460 (2024).
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-57430-2

A leap forward in soil hydraulic mapping: Version 1.0 of the HU-SoilHydroGrids 3D soil hydrology database has been released for the whole country

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Enhancements in the elaboration process of HU-SoilHydroGrids:

  • Pedotransfer functions (PTFs) were developed using advanced machine learning techniques, both independently and as part of ensemble models.
  • These models were trained on the Hungarian Detailed Soil Hydrophysical Database, ensuring the derivation of region-specific PTFs.
  • The set of predictors utilized in the PTFs was augmented by additional environmental variables with comprehensive spatial coverage, including DEM-derived geomorphometric indices, climatic parameters, OE provided surface reflectance and derived data products, LULC.
  • To spatially apply the resulting models, 100 m resolution information on primary soil properties was obtained from DOSoReMI.hu (Digital Optimized Soil Related Maps and Spatial Information in Hungary).
  • Finally, based on a detailed accuracy assessment, the spatial predictions (map products) were complemented with co-layers representing the 5% and 95% quantiles.

HU-SoilHydroGrids provides nationwide information on the most frequently required soil hydraulic properties (water content at saturation, field capacity and wilting point, saturated hydraulic conductivity and van Genuchten parameters for the description of the moisture retention curve) at a spatial resolution of 100 meters, up to 2 meters soil depth for six GSM standard layers. In comparison to EU-SoilHydroGrids, the description of soil moisture retention curves and hydraulic conductivity has significantly reduced squared error in the case of HU-SoilHydroGrids.

HU-SoilHydroGrids opens up possibilities for countrywide applications and research studies to analyze environmental problems. The further development of this dataset will be directed by its integration into environmental models and their subsequent practical application. The derived 3D soil hydraulic database (ver1.0) is presently available in the frame of National Laboratory for Water Science and Water Safety for project partners in order to test its functional performance in describing hydrological and ecological processes.

Analysis of different selenium species in vegetables

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Cabbage leaves and carrot roots contained inorganic selenium in the highest proportion. The highest proportion of organic species (selenomethionine) was found in tomato fruit and green pea seeds, in which elemental Se was also detectable. The selenium content found in 100 g of fresh edible plant parts was the highest in cabbage leaves, but tomatoes converted the inorganic selenium to organic in the highest ratio, while green peas had the highest amount of organic selenium in 100 g of fresh biomass. The selenium content of the investigated vegetables increased without a significant reduction in biomass, so they may be well adapted to soils with higher selenium content.

The results were published in the D1 journal Plant and Soil:

Ragályi P., Takács T., Soós Á., Kovács B., Dernovics M., Lončarić Z., Dobosy P., Záray G., Rékási M. 2023. Quantitative analysis of selenium species in the edible parts of cabbage, carrot, tomato and green pea treated with selenate-enriched irrigation water. Plant Soil. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-023-06365-0

Longer-term monitoring of a degrading sodic lake: landscape level impacts of hydrological regime changes and restoration interventions

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A kutatást összefoglaló cikk kivonata az alábbi helyen érhető el:

Ladányi Zs, Balog K, Tóth T, Barna Gy. 2023. Longer-term monitoring of a degrading sodic lake: landscape level impacts of hydrological regime changes and restoration interventions (SE Hungary), ARID LAND RESEARCH AND MANAGEMENT 37: 3 pp. 389-407. Paper: 2161970, 19 p., https://doi.org/10.1080/15324982.2022.2161970