BUSCADOR RECOLECTA

At the European scale, soil characteristics are needed to evaluate soil quality,
soil health and soil-based ecosystem services in the context of the European
Green Deal. While some soil databases exist at the European scale, a much larger wealth of data is present in individual European countries, allowing a
more detailed soil assessment. There is thus an urgent and crucial need to combine
these data at the European scale. In the frame of a large European Joint
Programme on agricultural soils launched by the European Commission, a survey
was conducted in the spring of 2020, in the 24 European participating
countries to assess the existing soil data sources, focusing on agricultural soils.
The survey will become a contribution to the European Soil Observatory,
launched in December 2020, which aims to collect metadata of soil databases
related to all kind of land uses, including forest and urban soils. Based upon a
comprehensive questionnaire, 170 soil databases were identified at local,
regional and national scales. Soil parameters were divided into five groups:
(1) main soil parameters according to the Global Soil Map specifications;
(2) other soil chemical parameters; (3) other physical parameters; (4) other
pedological parameters; and (5) soil biological features. A classification based
on the environmental zones of Europe was used to distinguish the climatic
zones. This survey shows that while most of the main pedological and chemical
parameters are included in more than 70% of the country soil databases,
water content, contamination with organic pollutants, and biological parameters
are the least frequently reported parameters. Such differences will have
consequences when developing an EU policy on soil health as proposed under
the EU soil strategy for 2023 and using the data to derive soil health indicators.
Many differences in the methods used in collecting, preparing, and analysing
the soils were found, thus requiring harmonization procedures and more cooperation
among countries and with the EU to use the data at the European
scale. In addition, choosing harmonized and useful interpretation and threshold
values for EU soil indicators may be challenging due to the different
methods used and the wide variety of soil land-use and climate combinations
influencing possible thresholds. The temporal scale of the soil databases
reported is also extremely wide, starting from the '20s of the 20th century, European Joint Program for SOIL “Towards climatesmart
sustainable management of agricultural soils” (EJP
SOIL), European Union Horizon 2020
research and innovation programme (Grant Agreement
No. 862695)

[EN] Overuse of N fertilizers in crops has induced the disruption of the N cycle, triggering the release of reactive N (Nr) to the environment. Several EU policies have been developed to address this challenge, establishing targets to reduce agricultural Nr losses. Their achievement could be materialized through the introduction of fertilizing innovations such as incorporating fertilizer into soils, using urease inhibitors, or by adjusting N inputs to crop needs that could impact in both yields and environment. The Murcia region (southeastern Spain) was selected as a paradigmatic case study, since overfertilization has induced severe environmental problems in the region in the last decade, to assess the impact of a set of 8 N fertilizing alternatives on crop yields and environmental Nr losses. Some of these practices imply the reduction of N entering in crops. We followed an integrated approach analyzing the evolution of the region in the long-term (1860-2018) and considering nested spatial- (from grid to region) and systems scales (from crops to the full agro-food system). We hypothesized that, even despite reduction of N inputs, suitable solutions for the abatement of Nr can be identified without compromising crop yields. The most effective option to reduce Nr losses was removing synthetic N fertilizers, leading to 75% reductions in N surpluses mainly due to a reduction of 64% of N inputs, but with associated yield penalties (31%-35%). The most feasible alternative was the removal of urea, resulting in 19% reductions of N inputs, 15%-21% declines in N surplus, and negligible yield losses. While these measures are applied at the field scale, their potential to produce a valuable change can only be assessed at regional scale. Because of this, a spatial analysis was performed showing that largest Nr losses occurred in irrigated horticultural crops. The policy implications of the results are discussed., Alberto Sanz-Cobena is grateful to the Comunidad de Madrid and the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid for the economic support through the Jovenes Doctores project (APOYO-JOVENES-NFW8ZQ-42-XE8B5K) as well as to the AgroGreen-SUDOE Project (SOE4/P5/E1059), the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (AgroSceNA-UP, PID2019-107972RB-I00), and the Comunidad de Madrid, Spain (AGRISOST-CM S2018/BAA-4330 project). Mohammad Zaman and Alberto Sanz-Cobena thank to the Coordinated Research Project (No. CRP D15020) of the Soil and Water Management and Crop Nutrition Section, Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture, for its support through the Technical Contract Development, Validation and Refining of New Ammonia Emission Method on Field Scale Using Nuclear' (No. 24236). BSG was also suppor-ted by the EJP-SOIL Program (Horizon 2020, Grant Agreement 862695). Luis Lassaletta is grateful to the President's International Fellowship Initiative (PIFI) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (2021VCA0012). Zhaohai Bai is grateful to National Natural Science Foundation of China (T2222016). E Aguilera is supported by a Juan de la Cierva research con-tract from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (IJC2019-040699-I). All co-authors are particularly grateful to the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture for permanent support and for providing data

Jornadas celebradas en Córdoba (España) el 18 de Marzo de 2022.-- Grabación: Clemente Trujillo Toro.-- Organizadores: Gómez Calero, José Alfonso; Lora, A.; Mora Jordano, José., Vídeo y audio de las jornadas, sin editar, que se celebraron de 11:30 a 15 horas con este programa., PID2019-105793RB-I00 (Agencia Estatal de Investigación, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación). TUdi (European Commission Grant Agreement number 101000224). SCALE (European Commission Grant Agreement number 862695 — EJP SOIL). Fondos FEDER., Programa: Bloque 1. Barreras vegetales, nueva PAC y un poco de historia. De 11:30 a 12:30. B1.1: Barreras vegetales, revegetación y la nueva PAC. Armando Martínez Vilela. Consejería de Agricultura, Pesca y Desarrollo Sostenible, Junta de Andalucía. B1.2: Ejemplos de revegetación en la región de Murcia. Dr. Gonzalo González Barberá. CEBAS-CSIC. B1.3: Las barreras vegetales desde la perspectiva de agricultores. Antonio Monclova. ASAJA Córdoba. B1.4: Una visión amplia de las barreras vegetales como técnica de control de erosión en zonas áridas y semi-áridas. Jose Antonio Muñoz, IAS-CSIC. Bloque 2. Discusión interactiva sobre posibilidades de actuación en un entorno como el de la campiña de Córdoba. De 12:45 a 15. José Mora Jordano. IMGEMA., Peer reviewed

22 páginas.- 2 figuras.- 3 tablas.- 57 referencias, Portable XRF spectrometry (pXRF) has recently undergone significant technological improvements and is being applied in a wide range of studies. Despite pXRF advantages, this technique has rarely been used to characterize organic amendments and residues. This article reviews those studies undertaken to date in which pXRF is used to characterize these products. Published studies show that pXRF correctly measures elements such as Fe, Pb, Zn, Mn, Ca, and K but gives conflicting results for elements such as Cr, Ni, and As. Among the reasons that may cause the low performance of the technique with certain elements or under certain measurement conditions would be the inadequacy of the analytical comparison procedures used (i.e., digestion with aqua regia), the lack of knowledge of the interfering effects of organic matter, and sample moisture on the XRF signals and the need for a standardized protocol for performing the measurements. However, the speed and low cost of the procedure forecast a greater future use of this technique, especially in cooperation with other fast spectroscopic techniques based on near-infrared (NIRS) or mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopies. Chemometric procedures based on one or more of these techniques will allow the prediction of elements below the detection limit of pXRF instruments (Cd, Hg), or other properties of organic amendments (organic matter, N, electrical conductivity, cation exchange capacity)., This research was funded by European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme: Grant agreement No 862695, Project EJP Soil ProbeField., Peer reviewed

Compost amendments, apart from improving fertility and the general characteristics of agricultural soils, have known implications for global C cycling and sequestration in soils. Their effects are usually assessed via the quantification of soil organic carbon (SOC) pools, usually labile (fast) and recalcitrant (slow) pools, with varying intrinsic decomposition rates and distinct resident times. However, the real C-sequestration potential of organic additions to soil is still under discussion. In this study, a field trial and a lab incubation experiment were designed to study the C-sequestration mechanism in an agricultural Mediterranean soil. Soil with a history of C3 photosystem crop was amended with two maize composts from maize harvesting surpluses (C4 photosystem) with different maturity stages (AC: aged compost; NC: new, less mature compost). The evolution of SOM was monitored for 6 months using complementary analytical techniques, including analysis of stable C isotopes (IRMS), thermogravimetry (TG) and C-stock and priming effect (PE) modelling. Based on the natural C-isotope labelling, the proportion of new C was calculated. More than 50% of the C added to the soil with the compost was incorporated into the SOM in only 6 months. However, the application of maize compost did not always enhance soil C-sequestration capacity. The addition of compost caused a general PE, enhancing SOM decay and reducing the fast (labile) SOM mean residence time (MRT) (11.2 days). This was more pronounced with the addition of a higher dose of AC, causing a PE up to a 718%. On the other hand, a higher MRT (54.4 days) occurred in soils with NC applied, likely due to its deleterious effects, limiting heterotrophic activity. Despite that, the average MRT of the slow (recalcitrant) SOM pool was lower than usually reported. The application of higher doses of both composts generally showed greater MRT values compared to control (1.7 years vs. 3.8 and 2.9 years for NC and AC, respectively), leading to an increase in this more stable C pool and effective soil C sequestration. The results described in this work may help readers to better understand SOM dynamics and may be of use in designing appropriate management strategies for improving OM quantity and quality and to optimize C storage in Mediterranean soils., Authors thank the 2nd call of the European Joint Programme “EJP SOIL” from the EU Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme for funding the subprojects EOM4SOIL, MIXROOT-C and MAXROOT-C (Grant agreement Nº 862695). L.M. San Emeterio thanks Ministerio de Ciencia Innovación y Universidades (MICIU) for INTERCARBON project (CGL2016-78937-R) and funding FPI research grants (BES-2017-07968)., Peer reviewed

12 páginas.- 4 figuras.- 3 tablas.- 97 referencias.- The followingfiles are available free of charge.The Supporting Informationis availablefree of chargeat https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.3c0181, Dehesas are Mediterranean agro-sylvo-pastoral systems sensitive to climate change. Extreme climate conditions forecasted for Mediterranean areas may change soil C turnover, which is of relevance for soil biogeochemistry modeling. The effect of climate change on soil organic matter (SOM) is investigated in a field experiment mimicking environmental conditions of global change scenarios (soil temperature increase, +2–3 °C, W; rainfall exclusion, 30%, D; a combination of both, W+D). Pyrolysis-compound-specific isotope analysis (Py-CSIA) is used for C and H isotope characterization of SOM compounds and to forecast trends exerted by the induced climate shift. After 2.5 years, significant δ13C and δ2H isotopic enrichments were detected. Observed short- and mid-chain n-alkane δ13C shifts point to an increased microbial SOM reworking in the W treatment; a 2H enrichment of up to 40‰ of lignin methoxyphenols was found when combining W+D treatments under the tree canopy, probably related to H fractionation due to increased soil water evapotranspiration. Our findings indicate that the effect of the tree canopy drives SOM dynamics in dehesas and that, in the short term, foreseen climate change scenarios will exert changes in the SOM dynamics comprising the biogeochemical C and H cycles., The authors thank the 2nd call of the European Joint Programme “EJP SOIL” from the EU Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme for funding the subprojects EOM4SOIL, MIXROOT-C, and MAXROOT-C (Grant agreement No.862695). L.M.S.-E. thanks Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (MICIU) for INTER-CARBON project (CGL2016-78937-R) & DECAFUN (CGL2015-70123-R). L.M.S.E. also thanks MICIU forfunding FPI research grants (BES-2017-07968). N.T.J.-M. was supportedby a “Ramón y Cajal” contract fundedby MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and the European Union “NextGeneration EU”/PRTR”.D. Monis, A. M. Carmona,and E. Gutiérrez are acknowledged for technical assistance., Peer reviewed

Resumen de la comunicación oral presentada en RENS 2023 XXXIII Reunión Nacional de Suelos. Pamplona, del 12-15 de septiembre 2023 .- El libro de resúmenes lo puede descargar en https://www2.unavarra.es/gesadj/seccionActualidad/congresos/rens2023_libro_resumenes.pdf, E n el contexto actual de cambio climático, las zonas del sur de Europa corren un elevado riesgo de verse afectadas por la desertificación. En particular España, con más de la mitad de su superficie cubierta por tierras de secano [1]. Por ello, la gestión sostenible del suelo agrícola es crucial para mantener no sólo la calidad del suelo sino también su potencial para actuar como sumidero de carbono (C). En este trabajo, se han estudiado suelos de un olivar ubicado en Benacazón (Sevilla, España) expuestos a diferentes sistemas de manejo para determinar la calidad y la cantidad de materia orgánica del suelo (MOS) y su microbioma. Se estudiaron tres tratamientos: líneas de árboles con regadío y tratadas con herbicida (LAHerb.), y calles entre árboles con laboreo convencional (LC) o con cobertura de vegetación natural mixta (CM). Se tomaron muestras compuestas de la capa superior del suelo (0-20 cm). Mediante espectroscopia de resonancia magnética nuclear (RMN) 13C CP/MAS en estado sólido para la caracterización de la MOS, no se observaron diferencias importantes entre las muestras de las calles interarbóreas, que presentaron un mayor grado de humificación (menor ratio alquil C / O alquil C) que las de las líneas de árboles tratadas con herbicida. Esto puede atribuirse al efecto del herbicida, que redujo la cantidad de biomasa vegetal que entraba en el sistema del suelo. Por otro lado, utilizando el análisis de ácidos grasos de fosfolípidos (PLFA), los suelos CM mostraron el mayor contenido de biomasa bacteriana y fúngica. Para una mejor comprensión de cómo estas diferencias están relacionadas con el secuestro de C, los datos obtenidos se compararán con las respectivas reservas de carbono de los suelos estudiados., Este trabajo está financiado por el proyecto EJP Soil/Energylink, a través del programa de investigación e innovación Horizonte 2020 de la Unión Europea bajo el acuerdo de subvención N° 862695 y Tudi, GA 101000224., No

Resumen de la comunicación oral presentada en RENS 2023 XXXIII Reunión Nacional de Suelos. Pamplona, del 12-15 de septiembre 2023 .- El libro de resúmenes lo puede descargar en https://www2.unavarra.es/gesadj/seccionActualidad/congresos/rens2023_libro_resumenes.pdf, El marcado natural de la materia orgánica del suelo (MOS) mediante alternancia de vegetaciones con distinto fotosistema (C3-C4) y distinta composición isotópica de C (δ13C) permite estimar tasas de renovación de C en suelos, tanto en el cómputo general como atendiendo a las fracciones lábil y recalcitrante. El análisis de perfiles de ácidos grasos de fosfolípidos (PLFA) se ha utilizado ampliamente para evaluar cambios rápidos en las poblaciones microbianas del suelo. En este estudio, evaluamos el efecto de un experimento de alternancia de vegetación C3-C4 junto a un cambio en el uso del suelo (laboreo vs adición de biomasa) sobre la estructura y calidad de la comunidad microbiana mediante el uso de PLFA y su composición isotópica de C. En septiembre de 2021, se tomaron muestras compuestas de suelo (Cambisol calcárico) cultivado en el sur de España, caracterizado por un alto contenido en carbonatos (~27%), baja fertilidad y bajo contenido de materia orgánica (<1.0 %). El ensayo experimental, activo desde febrero de 2017 (5 años y 7 meses) consistió en reemplazar la vegetación C3 con cultivo de maíz (planta C4), abarcando dos tratamientos diferentes: A) tras de la cosecha, los excedentes de maíz se picaron y se dejaron en el suelo junto a la raíz; B) se retiró la parte aérea de la planta de maíz y se dejaron las raíces. Además, se tomó como control un suelo sin tratar, “C” labrado y con el uso anterior de la tierra. Los perfiles de PLFA revelaron una gran abundancia de actividad bacteriana con predominancia de bacterias Gram positivas (G+) y Gram negativas (G-), junto con cadenas alquílicas ramificadas (i-14:0, i-&a- 15:0, i:16:0, i-&a- 17:0) mono y poliinsaturadas (16:1n7, 18:2n6, 18:1w9c y 18:1w7c). Se observó un aumento significativo en la abundancia de hongos en el tratamiento “B”, lo que puede indicar una disminución en la capacidad de descomposición de la hojarasca. El tratamiento “A” también incentivó dicha actividad microbiana en comparación con el control, aunque de forma intermedia en la mayoría de los grupos. Por último, en las parcelas control se observa una disminución significativa de bacterias G-, lo que se correlaciona bien con un menor contenido de C y con la baja cantidad de exudados radiculares, es decir, menor cantidad de C fácilmente
disponible (lábil), fuente preferida para este grupo microbiano. Por otro lado, el enriquecimiento significativo en 13C de PLFA varió entre los distintos grupos
microbianos. Las parcelas “B” mostraron una mayor contribución de 13C para los marcadores de hongos, mientras que la aplicación de biomasa aérea “A” contribuyó en gran medida a la proliferación de bacterias G+. El cálculo de los tiempos de residencia medios (MRT), estimados a partir de los datos de δ13C PLFA, indicó que las bacterias tienen un MRT mayor en comparación con el resto de grupos microbianos. Sin embargo, estos MRT presentan valores significativamente mayores para el tratamiento “B” que para el “A”, indicando que un aporte externo de materia orgánica favorece la pérdida de C por mineralización, probablemente relacionado con un efecto de cebado o “priming”. Los resultados indican que la adición de biomasa a suelos agrícolas empobrecidos en MOS resultó en un aumento de la biomasa microbiana, con actividad bacteriana predominante. Como resultado de la aplicación de biomasa al suelo, los hongos y las actinobacterias mostraron una utilización tardía de C o una mayor preferencia por otras fuentes de C. Tras 5 años del cambio de vegetación C3 a C4, los marcadores PLFA de hongos y actinobacterias mostraron tasa de renovación más rápidas en comparación con las bacterias, que parecían desempeñar un papel más relevante en fijación rápida de C procedente de la biomasa en la comunidad microbiana del suelo., Parte de estas investigaciones se enmarcan dentro del programa de Innovacion e Investigación del Horizonte 2020 “EJP SOIL” en los subproyectos, MIXROOT-C, MAXROOT-C y EOM4SOIL (GA Nº 862695). L.M. San Emeterio agradece al MICIU por el contrato FPI (BES-2017-07968) y a D. Monis y A.M. Carmona por su asistencia técnica, No

26 Pág., The European Commission has set targets for a reduction in nutrient losses by at least 50% and a reduction in fertiliser use by at least 20% by 2030 while ensuring no deterioration in soil fertility. Within the mandate of the European Joint Programme EJP Soil ‘Towards climate-smart sustainable management of agricultural soils’, the objective of this study was to assess current fertilisation practices across Europe and discuss the potential for harmonisation of fertilisation methodologies as a strategy to reduce nutrient loss and overall fertiliser use. A stocktake study of current methods of delivering fertilisation advice took place across 23 European countries. The stocktake was in the form of a questionnaire, comprising 46 questions. Information was gathered on a large range of factors, including soil analysis methods, along with soil, crop and climatic factors taken into consideration within fertilisation calculations. The questionnaire was completed by experts, who are involved in compiling fertilisation recommendations within their country. Substantial differences exist in the content, format and delivery of fertilisation guidelines across Europe. The barriers, constraints and potential benefits of a harmonised approach to fertilisation across Europe are discussed. The general consensus from all participating countries was that harmonisation of fertilisation guidelines should be increased, but it was unclear in what format this could be achieved. Shared learning in the delivery and format of fertilisation guidelines and mechanisms to adhere to environmental legislation were viewed as being beneficial. However, it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to harmonise all soil test data and fertilisation methodologies at EU level due to diverse soil types and agro-ecosystem influences. Nevertheless, increased future collaboration, especially between neighbouring countries within the same environmental zone, was seen as potentially very beneficial. This study is unique in providing current detail on fertilisation practices across European countries in a side-by-side comparison. The gathered data can provide a baseline for the development of scientifically based EU policy targets for nutrient loss and soil fertility evaluation., This research was developed in the framework of the European Joint Program for SOIL ‘Towards climate-smart sustainable management of agricultural soils’ (EJP SOIL) funded by the European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant Agreement NO. 862695)., Peer reviewed

Póster presentado en RENS 2023 XXXIII Reunión Nacional de Suelos. Pamplona, del 12-15 de septiembre 2023, El Proyecto ProbeField, ‘A novel protocol for robust in field monitoring of carbon stock and soil fertility based on proximal sensors and existing soil spectral libraries’, estudia el uso de técnicas de análisis de proximidad (que usan sensores portátiles de medición rápida y simple) para predecir propiedades de suelos agrícolas que son determinadas habitualmente mediante técnicas de laboratorio convencionales más lentas y laboriosas. Estos sensores proximales tienen el potencial para aumentar sustancialmente el número de muestras analizadas y permitir el análisis in situ. El enfoque principal es en espectroscopía visible y de infrarrojo cercano (Vis-NIR) para la predicción del contenido de materia orgánica del suelo (SOM) aunque la evaluación se extiende a otras técnicas y propiedades. Un objetivo es superar la interferencia que en el campo producen la variabilidad de la humedad y la estructura de los suelos, en contraste con las predicciones obtenidas mediante las técnicas espectroscópicas realizadas en laboratorio con muestras preparadas. ProbeField probará y sugerirá pruebas físicas y procedimiento matemáticos para gestionar estos problemas. Se elaborará un protocolo de mejores prácticas susceptible de ser aplicado a una amplia gama de suelos, se analizarán diversas propiedades y se realizará un mapeo 3D para las reservas de carbono del suelo., Este estudio está financiado por el proyecto ProbeField dentro del programa EJP SOIL ‘Towards climatesmart sustainable management of agricultural soils’ – 2nd Internal Call (https://ejpsoil.eu/about-ejp-soil), No

Póster presentado en XXII Meeting of the Spanish Society of Chromatography and Related Techniques 16-18 oct, 2023, Mayorca (España), Olive cultivation is a crucial driver of the economy in the European Mediterranean basin, particularly in Spain, where it occupies about 2.75 million ha [1]. In recent years, there has been an expansion of super-intensive olive farming, which ensures high productivity but requires irrigation and is expected to increase organic waste generation and water demand. Consequently, it is imperative to adopt more sustainable approaches to manage the agricultural waste generated during olive harvesting and agro-industrial processing. To tackle that challenge, there is a renewed emphasis on utilizing organic amendments derived from agricultural residues. Biochar (B), a highly aromatic carbon obtained through biomass pyrolysis, has the potential to sequester carbon in the soil for extended periods and its unique physical properties increase soil porosity [2]. Nevertheless, B effects on SOM composition and functionality in the medium and long term are largely unknown. Additionally, green compost (Cp) is rich in nutrients and labile organic carbon, making it a valuable soil amendment for improving soil fertility, structure, and moisture retention. The two main goals of this study are: i) To discern the effects of transforming traditional olive orchards into bushrow olive cultivation on soil organic matter (SOM) composition, which plays an essential role in the carbon cycle and on soil quality, and ii) To assess the effects of of B and Cp on SOM composition two years after application. With such purposes, soil samples were taken from super-intensive olive orchards (1650 trees/ha; irrigated 30% water needs) amended with (B), green compost (Cp), a combination of B+Cp, as well as control plots [3]. Soil samples were also collected from traditional olive orchards in the same farm (La Hampa, Coria del Río) for comparative purposes. The free lipid fraction and volatile SOM were studied by using GC/MS and analytical pyrolysis (Py-GC/MS) respectively. Control soils, particularly those from the traditional olive orchards, exhibited higher total and relative abundance of fatty acids (including unsaturated fatty acids) and sterols (including α-Tocopherol). In contrast, the chromatograms of soils amended with B and to a lesser extent with Cp showed higher relative abundance of linear n-alkanes. Preliminary analysis of analytical pyrolysis data also indicates a greater soil functionality in the soils from the traditional olive orchards, which also exhibited the greatest total C and N contents.
References
[1] MAPA. Superficie y Producción. Aceite de oliva. (2023) https://n9.cl/ktqax
[2] J.M. De la Rosa, S.M. Pérez-Dalí, et al., Agronomy 13 (2023) 1097. doi:10.3390/agronomy13041097
[3] J.M. De la Rosa, P. Campos, A. Diaz-Espejo, Agronomy 12 (2022) 2321. doi:10.3390/agronomy12102321, The Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MCIN) and AEI are thanked for funding the project RES2SOIL
(PID2021-126349OB-C22). The European Joint programme EJP SOIL from the EU Horizon 2020 R&I programme
is thanked for funding subprojects EOM4SOIL, MAXSoil-C and MIXSoil-C (Grant agreement Nº 862695)., No

Pdf de 20 páginas de la presentación de la comunicación oral en CONDEGRES2024 X Simposio Nacional sobre el Control de la Degradación y Recuperación de Suelos. 24-27 de junio, 2024 en Burgos (España), El carbono orgánico del suelo (SOC) desempeña un papel fundamental en el secuestro del CO2 atmosférico. El proyecto europeo ProbeField (A novel protocol for robust in field monitoring of carbon stock and soil fertility based on proximal sensors and existing soil spectral libraries) plantea técnicas innovadoras para determinar las reservas de SOC y otras propiedades relevantes en la salud de los suelos de la UE. En este estudio se analizaron 28 muestras de suelos de Andalucía mediante espectroscopía infrarroja (MIR-FTIR) (400–4000 cm-1). Un problema clásico en la cuantificación del SOC mediante FTIR en muestras completas de suelo, es que las bandas correspondientes a los grupos funcionales de la materia orgánica no son, por lo general, visibles en el espectro por su baja absortividad en relación con las bandas minerales. El protocolo aplicado incluye: i) optimizar modelos de predicción del SOC mediante regresión por mínimos cuadrados parciales (PLS) aplicados a espectros FTIR, ii) ensayar métodos para extraer trazas espectrales mostrando las bandas con mayor importancia en la predicción para iii) identificar los componentes minerales que actúan como descriptores subrogados. La mejor predicción mostró un R2 = 0.708 y RMSE = 0.40. Diferentes componentes del suelo (carbonatos, óxidos y silicatos hidratados, cuarzo, minerales de arcilla tipo caolinitas y esmectitas) influyeron en el modelo, donde los carbonatos (banda a 1425 cm-1) explicaban la mayor parte de la varianza del contenido en SOC. El centrado en la media y la corrección del efecto multiplicativo de dispersión (MSC) fueron los pretratamientos espectrales más satisfactorios., El proyecto ProbeField (Grant Agreement Nº 862695) se desarrolla en el marco del European Joint Programme on Agricultural Soil Management (EJP SOIL) (https://ejpsoil.eu/about-ejpsoil)., No

12 páginas.- 4 figuras.- 2 tablas.- referencias, Lignin is an abundant and recalcitrant biopolymer of major relevance as soil organic matter (SOM) component playing a significant role in its stabilization. In this work, a factorial field experiment was established, where three climatic treatments (W, warming; D, drought; W + D, warming + drought), mimicking future climate change scenarios were installed over five years in a Mediterranean savannah “dehesa”, accounting for its landscape diversity (under the tree canopy and in open grassland). A combination of analytical pyrolysis (Py-GC/MS) and the study of biogeochemical proxies based on lignin monomers is used for the direct detection of lignin-derived phenols and to infer possible shifts in lignin dynamics in soil. A total of 27 main lignin-derived methoxyphenols were identified, exhibiting different patterns and proportions, mainly driven by the effect of habitat, hence biomass inputs to SOM. An accelerated decomposition of lignin moieties –(exhibited by higher LG/LS and Al/K + Ac ratios)– is particularly exacerbated by the effect of all climatic treatments. There is also an overall effect on increasing lignin oxidation of side chain in syringyl units, especially under the tree canopy due to the alteration in biomass degradation and potential stimulation of enzyme activities. Conversely, in open grassland these effects are slower since the microbial community is expected to be already adapted to harsher conditions. Our findings suggests that climate change-related temperature and soil moisture deviations impact soil lignin decomposition in dehesas threatening this productive Mediterranean agroecosystem and affecting the mechanism of soil carbon storage., Authors thank the European Joint Programme “EJP SOIL” from the EU Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme for subprojects EOM4SOIL, MIXROOT-C and MAXROOT-C (Grant agreement N° 862695). L.M. San-Emeterio and M.D. Hidalgo Gálvez thank the Ministerio de Ciencia Innovación y Universidades (MICIU) for funding the predoctoral FPI research grants: BES-2017-07968 and BES-2016-078248, respectively. MICIU is also acknowledged for funding the INTERCARBON (CGL2016-78937-R) and DECAFUN (CGL2015-70123-R) projects., Peer reviewed

This study introduces a trade-off evaluation system, the Σommit index, which considers four components: crop yield, soil carbon stock changes, direct and indirect nitrous oxide emissions, and nitrate-nitrogen leaching across alternative agronomic case scenarios, i.e., combinations of management practices within specific pedo-climatic conditions. The four trade-off components have been estimated by combining standard equations and emission factors from the Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, complemented with Grey Water Footprint accounting Guidelines and other meta-analyses. The Σommit index has been developed using a harmonised dataset of ∼1.8 million agronomic case scenarios, leveraging fuzzy logic to aggregate the trade-off components into a value ranging from 0 (bad) to 1 (good). It has been tested under three narratives reflecting stakeholders' sustainability priorities (young farmers, agrochemical companies, EU Common Agricultural Policy paying agency), using alternative weighting schemes derived from expert opinion. Adding organic matter input, intermediate N fertilisation (50–150 kg ha−1), no-tillage, winter cereal cultivation, and irrigation for summer cereals have consistently achieved higher performance across all narratives. When assigning a higher weight to soil carbon stock changes, a broader range of Σommit index values emerged, while assigning higher importance to crop yield has led to a narrower evaluation. We openly release the dataset of agronomic case scenarios, along with the scripts to replicate the methodology and an interactive dashboard to inspect the results. These resources are meant to be used by different stakeholders (e.g., policymakers, Common Agricultural Policy payment agencies, farms, agrochemical industry) as a complement to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change methodology to improve current understanding and awareness of environmental trade-offs and synergies in agricultural management, This work is a part of the project ΣOMMIT: Sustainable management of soil organic matter to mitigate trade-offs between C sequestration and nitrous oxide, methane, and nitrate losses that received funding from the EJP SOIL (grant agreement ID: 862695), Peer reviewed

TUdi - Transforming Unsustainable management of soils in key agricultural systems in EU and China. Developing an integrated platform of alternatives to reverse soil degradation. Referencia del proyecto: 101000224. Partner/Coordinador principal: José Alfonso Gómez Calero – Instituto de Agricultura Sostenible IAS- CSIC., Soil erosion from agricultural fields is a persistent ecological problem, potentially leading to eutrophication of aquatic habitats in the catchment area. Often used and recommended mitigation measures are vegetated filter strips (VFS) as buffer zones between arable land and water bodies. However, if they are designed and managed poorly, nutrients - especially phosphorus (P) - may accumulate in the soil. Ultimately, VFS can switch from being a nutrient sink to a source. This problem is further aggravated if the field runoff does not occur as uniform sheet flow, but rather in concentrated form, as is usually the case. To assess the impact of concentrated flow on VFS performance, we have taken soil core samples from field-VFS transition zones at six sites in Lower Austria. We determined a multitude of physical and chemical soil parameters, focusing on P fractions and indices. Our results revealed that concentrated flow can lead to an accumulation of P in the VFS. P levels in the VFS inside the area of concentrated runoff can be equal to or higher than in the field, even though they receive no direct fertilization. However, the concentration and distribution of nutrients in the fields and VFSs were also site-specific and affected by local factors such as the age of the VFS, cropping, and fertilization. Accordingly, there is a need for more sophisticated, bespoke VFS designs that can cope with site-specific runoff volumes and movements of nutrients that occur., This paper was partly funded by the Province of Lower Austria under the project RIBUST (K3-F-130/005–2019), the EJP SOIL (European Joint Programme) project SCALE (grant agreement no. 862695), and the TUdi project (grant agreement no. 101000224 — TUdi — H2020-SFS-2018–2020 / H2020-SFS-2020–2) of the European Commission., Peer reviewed

12 páginas.- 4 figuras.- 77 referencias.- The online version contains supplementary
material available at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-024-02511-8, Soil health is expected to be of key importance for plant growth and ecosystem functioning. However, whether soil health is linked to primary productivity across environmental gradients and land-use types remains poorly understood. To address this gap, we conducted a pan-European field study including 588 sites from 27 countries to investigate the link between soil health and primary productivity across three major land-use types: woodlands, grasslands and croplands. We found that mean soil health (a composite index based on soil properties, biodiversity and plant disease control) in woodlands was 31.4% higher than in grasslands and 76.1% higher than in croplands. Soil health was positively linked to cropland and grassland productivity at the continental scale, whereas climate best explained woodland productivity. Among microbial diversity indicators, we observed a positive association between the richness of Acidobacteria, Firmicutes and Proteobacteria and primary productivity. Among microbial functional groups, we found that primary productivity in croplands and grasslands was positively related to nitrogen-fixing bacteria and mycorrhizal fungi and negatively related to plant pathogens. Together, our results point to the importance of soil biodiversity and soil health for maintaining primary productivity across contrasting land-use types., M.G.A.v.d.H. and F.R. acknowledge funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation through grant no. 310030-188799 and from the European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 862695 EJP SOIL-MINOTAUR. We also acknowledge J. Muñoz-Liesa for support with figure production. N.E. acknowledges funding by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft DFG (German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research, FZT118; and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize, Ei 862/29-1; Ei 862/31-1). M.D.-B. acknowledges support from TED2021-130908B-C41/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/NextGenerationEU/PRTR and from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation for the I + D + i project PID2020-115813RA-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033. The LUCAS survey is coordinated by Unit E4 of the Statistical Office of the European Union (EUROSTAT). The LUCAS soil sample collection is supported by the Directorate‐General Environment, Directorate‐General Agriculture and Rural Development and Directorate‐General Climate Action of the European Commission. M.L. works under the framework of the Collaborative Doctoral Partnership agreement no. 35594 between the European Commission Joint Research Centre and University of Zürich., Peer reviewed

Wetlands are crucial ecosystems that are increasingly threatened by anthropogenic activities. L'Albufera Natural Park, the second-largest coastal wetland in Spain, faces significant pressures from surrounding agricultural lands, industrial activities, human settlements, and associated infrastructures, including treated wastewater inputs. This study aimed at (i) establishing pathways of emerging pollutants entering the natural wetland using both target and non-target screening (NTS) for management purposes, (ii) distinguishing specific contamination hotspots through Geographic Information System (GIS) and (iii) performing basic ecological risk assessment to evaluate ecosystem health. Two sampling campaigns were conducted in the spring and summer of 2019, coinciding with the start and end of the rice cultivation season, the region's primary agricultural activity. Each campaign involved the collection of 51 samples. High-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) was employed, using a simultaneous NTS approach with optimized gradients for pesticides and moderately polar compounds, along with complementary NTS methods for polar compounds, to identify additional contaminants of emerging concern (CECs). Quantitative analysis revealed that fungicides comprised a substantial portion of detected CECs, constituting approximately 50% of the total quantified pesticides. Tebuconazole emerged as the predominant fungicide, with the highest mean concentration (>16.9 μg L−1), followed by azoxystrobin and tricyclazole. NTS tentatively identified 16 pesticides, 43 pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs), 24 industrial compounds, and 12 other CECs with high confidence levels. Spatial distribution analysis demonstrated significant contamination predominantly in the southwestern region of the park, gradually diminishing towards the north-eastern outlet. The composition of contaminants varied between water and sediment samples, with pharmaceuticals predominating in water and industrial compounds in sediments. Risk assessment, evaluated through risk quotient calculations based on parent compound concentrations, revealed a decreasing trend towards the outlet, suggesting wetland degradation capacity. However, significant risk levels persist throughout much of the Natural Park, highlighting the urgent need for mitigation measures to safeguard the integrity of this vital ecosystem., This study was supported by the Prometeo program for research groups of excellence (
CIPROM/2021/03
2) of the Conselleria d'Educació, Universitats i Ocupació (Generalitat Valenciana). Y. Soriano acknowledges her pre-doctoral contract by the grant
PRE2019-089042
funded by MCIN/AEI/
10.13039/501100011033
and by “ESF Investing in your future”. Also supported by the project SERENA (Soil ecosystem services and soil threats modelling and mapping) – EJP-SOIL (Horizon 2020-European Union-grant agreement 862695). We also thank the director and the staff of the Office of the Natural Park of L'Albufera for their continuous advice and support., Peer reviewed

The dataset comprises the information of the sampleset CSIC built in ProbeField-EJP Soil project on sampling date, site, crop, previous crop, depth (cm), latitude and longitude cooordinates, soil moisture (% dw), bulk density (g/cm3), labnumber, label, texture (%): coarse sand, fine sand, silt, clay, texture class. pH (Ext 1:2.5), EC (Ext 1:5) (mS/cm), carbonate (% CaCO3), orgánic-C (%), organic matter (%), total-N (%), avail-P (mg/kg), avail-K (mg/kg), elemental analysis (pXRF) and VisNIR spectra (350-2500 nm). As well as concerning the analytical methods., EJP Soil Horizon 2020 862695, European Union., Peer reviewed

This work aimed to evaluate the growth of two species of microgreens (mizuna and pak choi), using agro-industrial compost as growing media in two different mixes versus one hundred percent peat, under two different LED illumination spectra (LED 1 and LED 2) in a 14 h photoperiod. The experiment was carried-out for two times. Biomass yield, glucosinolates, and phenolic compounds, and nitrate (NO3-) content were analysed in leaf tissues. In both species, the highest fresh and dry biomass production was in compost:peat (50:50%) and LED 2 (Blue/Red/Far Red). In general, compost had a greater influence on nitrate content than light, but in the microgreen pak choi, the anthocyanin content was inhibited by the compost treatment. In the other hand both LED illumination had a positive effect on mizuna for glucosinolates and anthocyanins, and LED 2 also showed a positive effect on pak choi for anthocyanin. Therefore, the use of agri-food compost: peat (50:50%) with LED 2 (blue/red) lighting treatment to obtain microgreens in indoor crops is a plausible technology that provides nutritionally and phytochemically rich crops, Cinthia Nájera thanks the Ministerio de Universidades of Spain for the grant Margarita Salas belonging to the grants promoted for the requalification of the Spanish university system 2021–2023, funded by the European Union—Next Generation EU.
This study formed part of the AGROALNEXT programme and was supported by MCIN with funding from European Union NextGenerationEU (PRTR-C17.I1) and by Fundación Séneca with funding from Comunidad Autónoma Región de Murcia (CARM).
The authors would like to thank the EOM4SOIL (EJPsoil) H2020-FOOD/0648–862695 project for the support received for this work, Peer reviewed

BioCASH aims to create a modelling toolbox that enable scaling up site-specific case studies of biocircular supply chains of waste streams from local to landscape level and thereby creating capacity to assess the socio-economic, environmental and policy impacts on different soil functions and selected modified agricultural production systems and emerging agro-ecological production systems. From the soil perspective, the toolbox should consider the evaluation of indicators related to soil health (e.g. soil biodiversity, carbon sequestration, capacity of water retention, nutrient cycling) and safety (i.e. analysis of contaminants such as metals and plastics). In this regard, one of the objective of WP3 was the development of lab-scale experiments to gain insights into the impact of organic amendments on soil safety and soil health.
Accordingly, NIBIO provided samples for analysis to LAMMC and CSIC including composts and feedstocks. The concentration of heavy metals in the waste streams and their composts was determined by LAMMC, and the ecotoxicity of these materials was assessed through germination tests to evaluate the overall toxicity of selected waste streams, regardless of contaminant concentrations. In parallel, the presence of organic pollutants and microplastics in compost samples was evaluated by CSIC to obtain knowledge on the influence of different composting processes.
It was observed that heavy metals were generally concentrated through composting. Zinc appeared above the threshold value of 150 mg kg-1 dm (threshold limit for Norway) in only one sample, and all other metals were well below the threshold limits for soil amendment products. There were no significant differences in heavy metal content between the compost treatments, except for lead. Lead was higher in substrate-derived composts and much higher in composts as compared to the feedstocks, indicating that the wood shavings could have been the source (more wood shavings were used to balance the moist substrate in the composting mixtures).
Besides, the obtained results showed that organic contaminants are generally strongly bound to the matrix, suggesting a reduced potential for transfer to surrounding water or leaching to groundwater, and low bioavailability and adverse effects on soil organisms in the short term after compost application.
In all samples measured, there was a concentration of microplastics in the range 820-1340 fragments/Kg of dry sample. Fragments presented different shape, size and colour. Microplastics were identified by comparing FTIR spectra with open access databases and with our own database. Three polymers represented the totality of plastic items identified: polyethylene (including both low and high density), polyethylene terephthalate and polypropylene in order of abundance. These results confirm the persistent presence of plastics in this food waste compost and highlight one of the major challenges related to the potential for microplastics pollution when applying these wastes as organic fertilizer in agriculture.
Finally, according to the results obtained in the germination tests, it can be concluded that neither digestate nor substrate or their composts, with and without biochar additive, has not possessed phytotoxicity on spring wheat seed., This work is part of the project “BioCASH: Bio-economy and Circular Agriculture for Soil Health” in the framework of the European Joint Programme for SOIL “Towards climate-smart sustainable management of agricultural soils” (EJP SOIL) funded by the EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (Grant Agreement No. 862695)., Peer reviewed

This article presents a dataset on 71 pesticide levels and the identification of additional synthetic organic chemicals, including pharmaceuticals and industrial compounds, in L'Albufera Natural Park (Valencia, Spain). Sampling was conducted during May–June (spring) and end of September–October (autumn) 2019, timed to the rice cultivation cycle, the region's main agricultural activity. A total of 130 samples (100 water and 30 sediments) were collected from 51 strategically selected sites, including rivers, irrigation channels, Albufera Lake, and Mediterranean outlets, utilizing a combination of targeted and non-targeted screening (NTS) methods. The dataset encompasses physical-chemical parameters for both spring and autumn seasons. Advanced analytical techniques, such as high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS), were employed to detect contaminants beyond traditional methods, providing critical insights for environmental management and policy development. The findings contribute to addressing gaps in knowledge regarding contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) and their distribution across different environmental compartments. These data supplement the findings of the research article “Fingerprinting of Emerging Contaminants in L'Albufera Natural Park (Valencia, Spain): Implications for Wetland Ecosystem Health”., This study was supported by the Prometeo program for research groups of excellence (CIPROM/2021/032) of the Conselleria d'Educació, Universitats i Ocupació (Valèncian Generalitat). Y. Soriano acknowledges her pre-doctoral contract by the grant PRE2019-089042 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by “ESF Investing in your future”. Also supported by the project SERENA (Soil ecosystem services and soil threats modelling and mapping) – EJP-SOIL (Horizon 2020-European Union- grant agreement 862695)., Peer reviewed

Continuous agricultural activities lead to soil organic carbon (SOC) depletion, and agroecological intensification practices (i.e., reduced soil disturbance and crop diversification) have been suggested as strategies to increase SOC storage. The study aims to assess the effect of agroecological intensification levels (lower (T1) and highest (T2)) on the soil C pool and aggregate stability and validate the correlation between different variables compared to the control (lowest/none (T3), where agroecological intensification was not applied. The C-stock, soil microbial biomass carbon (SMB-C), SOC, water extractable organic carbon (WEOC) in bulk soil, fine and coarse soil aggregates, and water-stable aggregates (WSA) were measured during maximum nutrient uptake in plants under diversified agroecological practices across different environmental conditions (core sites: Italy (CS1), France (CS2), Denmark (CS4), Spain (CS5), Netherlands (CS6), Lithuania (CS7), Turkey (CS8), and Belgium (CS9)). The soil aggregate stability varied among the CSs and treatments. At sites CS7 and CS9, WSA was higher in T1 and T2 compared to the control; a similar trend was observed at other sites, except CS1. SMB-C differed among the core sites, with the lowest value obtained in CS5 (52.3 μg g−1) and the highest in CS6 (455.1 μg g−1). The highest average contents of SOC and WEOC were obtained in bulk soil at CS2 (3.1 % and 0.3 g kg−1 respectively). Positive and statistically significant (p < 0.001) correlations were detected among all variables tested with SOC in bulk soil and WSA. This study demonstrates the significance of agroecological practices in improving soil carbon stock and optimizing plant–soil–microbe interactions., This research was funded by the European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation program via the AGROECOseqC project, grant number 862695., Peer reviewed

Resumen de la comunicación oral presentada en EGU24, the 25th EGU General Assembly, held 11-19April, 2024 in Vienna, Austria and Online. Online at https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-221, The application of organic amendments, both traditionally utilized (e.g., compost) and more recent innovations (e.g., biochar), to degraded agricultural soils is being driven by international initiatives in the current context of global change, such as the "4 per mil initiative". The main goal is to
achieve sustainable soil quality restoration, contributing to carbon (C) sequestration, while also providing a practical use and value addition to agro waste products. Despite the generally recognized benefits of such applications on soil productivity and physical properties [1,2], their effects on soil C cycling and sequestration are not as comprehensively understood. Results exhibit considerable variability depending on the type of amendment and the specific soil, emphasizing the need for a more in-depth investigation in this area [3]. Therefore, the aim of this study was to
analyze the effects of contrasting organic amendments on soil carbon stability. To accomplish this, two soils commonly employed in humid grasslands of the northern region and rainfed agriculture in the southern region of the Iberian Peninsula, respectively, were amended in triplicate at 10% (w/w) with wastewater sludge biochar, olive pomace biochar , white poplar wood biochar, rice husk biochar, cow manure digestate, a mixture of cattle manure and straw digestate (CM&SD), green compost (GC), and a mix of GC and OPB. A control was also established for each
type of soil. After inoculating all the vessels with 1 mL of a standard microbial solution, respiration rates (CO2 emissions) were measured every 6 h over 100 days using an automated respirometer (Nordgren Innovations, Sweden) under controlled conditions (25°C; 60% water holding capacity). The data obtained were plotted against the incubation time by an exponential curve to discern the C stability through fast and slow C pools. Our findings revealed significantly enhanced stability of recalcitrant carbon (slow C pool) in both soils treated with biochars, particularly in the case of RHB and WB. These amendments substantially extended the mean residence time of the slow C pool (MRT2) by a factor of six to nine. The overall trend observed for the studied amendments was as follows: biochar >> green compost >> digestates > native soil carbon. In contrast, the alkaline rainfed soil exhibited a faster carbon turnover rate compared to the grassland soil, resulting in a lower C MRT2., The Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MCIN) and AEI are thanked for funding the project RES2SOIL (PID2021-126349OB-C22). The European Joint programme EJP SOIL from the EU Horizon 2020 R&I programme is thanked for funding the subproject EOM4SOIL (Grant agreement Nº 862695).

Harnessing agro-industrial residues through composting is gaining importance as a means of phosphorus recovery, as is its reutilization as plant available phosphorus. This research seeks to analyze various combinations of agroindustrial waste and observe the microbial communities contributing to the availability of this element for plants. Six composts were used with different proportions of agroindustrial waste. Phosphorus fractionation was carried out, and the available phosphorus was determined. The molecules involved in phosphorus mineralization and solubilization, alkaline phosphatase activity, organic acids, and microbial communities were also determined. Finally, the potential phosphorus genes (Inorganic P solubilization genes (gcd, ppx, ppqC), and Organic P mineralization genes (phoA, phoD, phnL, phnl, phnJ, phnP, phnH, and phnG)) present in the analyzed composts were established. Compost X2B, composed of vineyard and tomato residues, demonstrated superior performance in providing available phosphorus compared to other composts. This was determined by microbial communities harboring genes involved in the phosphorus cycle, facilitating phosphorus availability., This study formed part of the AGROALNEXT programme and was supported by Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MCIN) with funding from European Union NextGenerationEU (PRTR-C17.I1) and by Fundacion Seneca with funding from Comunidad Autonoma Region de Murcia (CARM). The authors would like to thank the EOM4SOIL (EJPsoil) H2020-FOOD/0648–862695 project for the support received for this work. This work has also been supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and with European Regional Development Funds in the framework of the project ‘’Compoleaf’’, project (AGL2017-84085-C3-1-R, C3-2-R, C3-3-R). Thank you to Laura Wettersten for English checking., Peer reviewed

External organic matter (EOM), particularly from municipal waste, can contaminate soil when used to amend it. This may limit the benefits of using such an EOM to improve soil health and mitigate climate change. However, certain treatments may reduce the initial contaminant load of EOM. This study aimed to evaluate whether EOM processing can reduce its cytotoxicity and the concentration levels of 34 persistent and emerging organic contaminants. Sewage sludge and a mixture of manure and straw, processed by pyrolysis and anaerobic digestion to generate biochar and digestate, respectively, were selected for this study. An in vitro fish cell cytotoxicity test was performed to assess the toxicity of organic and aqueous extracts from the EOMs. It was found that organic contaminants are generally highly matrix-bound, resulting in low availability, reduced potential for leaching to groundwater, and effects on soil organisms after EOM application. The pyrolysis of sludge resulted in the almost complete removal of bisphenol A, tris(2-chloroisopropyl)phosphate, and octylphenol (removal ≥95%), while the concentration of the other contaminants monitored was reduced, with the exception of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) of lower molecular weight. In contrast, anaerobic digestion of manure did not result in a reduction of the contaminant load monitored except for bisphenol A. Cytotoxicity was also observed in aqueous extracts of manure but was reduced by anaerobic digestion. This suggests that anaerobic digestion could reduce potential hazards to groundwater or surface water from manure amendments. Organic EOM extracts were cytotoxic, indicating the presence of toxic products strongly adsorbed to these EOMs and retained in the soil after amendment., This work is part of the project “EOM4Soil: External organic matters for climate mitigation and soil health” in the framework of the European Joint Programme for SOIL “Towards climate-smart sustainable management of agricultural soils” (EJP SOIL) funded by the EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (Grant Agreement No. 862695)., Peer reviewed

Increasing species diversity in agroecosystems appears as a promising venue to restore or increase soil organic carbon (SOC). It has been hypothesized that this effect is largely driven by the greater variation of root systems in plant mixtures, which may promote complementarity. However, the magnitude of this synergistic effect and the root traits driving it are uncertain. The objective of this study is to determine which root trait composition optimizes plant mixture effects on SOC. To do so, we combined a global meta-analysis of 407 paired SOC content observations under mixed species vs. monocultures across grasslands and croplands, and root traits extracted from the GRooT database. The results show that high root mycorrhizal colonization and root tissue density for the species in the mixture have higher positive effects on SOC content. Our analysis also indicates that combining species with high similarity for these traits represents a preferable trait combination to increase SOC with plant mixtures, challenging the current paradigm around plant trait complementarity effects. We observed that the positive response of SOC content to species mixtures was tightly associated with increased root biomass and soil microbial biomass carbon, indicating an important contribution of belowground and microbial residuals to SOC. Additionally, SOC enhancements by plant species mixtures were more likely to be realized in regions with high precipitation, clay-rich soils, and when legumes are present. Our meta-analysis lays out a root-trait framework to enhance SOC with plant mixtures, which can serve as a guide for species and variety selection for field experiments and on-farm applications., We thank the authors whose work is included in this meta-analysis. This project has received funding from the European Unions' Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 862695 EJP SOIL and was conducted as a part of the project MIXROOT-C. We also acknowledge the China Scholarship Council's support to SY (No. 202206600009) for her study at Aarhus University. DA thanks the Danish Council for Independent Research for funding via a Sapere Aude—DFF Research Leader grant, project “Redefining a plant ideotype to reduce nitrogen pollution” (Grant No. 1051-00060B)., Peer reviewed

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in Zenodo at https://zenodo.org/, https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13913151., This paper assesses the effect of long-term contrasting tillage practices on topsoil structural characteristics critical for nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions and carbon sequestration across a pedoclimatic gradient. The hypotheses tested are that: (i) aeration is greater in the topsoil of ploughed (to 0.20–0.30 m depth) than in no-till soils and (ii) the effect of tillage practice on soil functionality depends on the context, and thus varies between sites with different pedoclimatic conditions. We evaluated the topsoil characteristics of seven long-term tillage experiments, spread along a 2600-km transect in Europe. A total of 576 soil cores (100-cm3) were sampled from 0 to 0.10 and 0.10 to 0.20 m depths in mouldboard-ploughed and no-tillage treatments after harvest. The soil water content at −30, −60, and −100 hPa matric potential was measured as well as air permeability (ka) and relative gas diffusivity (Ds/Do) at −100 hPa, from which soil bulk and gas transport characteristics were derived. Despite large variations in the characteristics among sites, tillage did significantly affect the characteristics across sites. The degree of compactness was less and total pore volume was greater in the ploughed than in the no-till treatments. Still, thresholds indicating suitable conditions for root growth were largely met under both practices. The ploughed soils showed vertical stratification, with a better aeration of the 0–0.10 m soil layer compared to the 0.10–0.20 m layer. No differences were observed between the ploughed 0.10–0.20 m and no-till layers, which were attributed to soil settlement after ploughing. While the Ds/Do at 0.10–0.20 m depth was favourable for promoting N2O emissions, the water-filled pore space was below suggested thresholds. Impacts of tillage on soil structural and functional characteristics were both significant and generalisable but also deviated locally. For example, Ds/Do and ka generally increased with the air-filled pore volume (εa), yet sites with greater εa did not necessarily have higher Ds/Do and ka. Existing models explaining Ds/Do and ka with εa were fitted to the measured data and performed best when both depths and tillage practices were assessed altogether. Despite the limited differences at −100 hPa, anoxic conditions may in reality prevail for a longer period under no-till than ploughing., Funding: This work was financially supported by the European Joint Programme for Soil (EJP SOIL) (Grant agreement No 862695) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 programme., Peer reviewed

This article belongs to the Section Soil Conservation and Sustainability., This article presents a review of several non-exclusive pathways for the sequestration of soil organic carbon, which can be classified into two large classical groups: the modification of plant and microbial macromolecules and the abiotic and microbial neoformation of humic substances. Classical studies have established a causal relationship between aromatic structures and the stability of soil humus (traditional hypotheses regarding lignin and aromatic microbial metabolites as primary precursors for soil organic matter). However, further evidence has emerged that underscores the significance of humification mechanisms based solely on aliphatics. The precursors may be carbohydrates, which may be transformed by the effects of fire or catalytic dehydration reactions in soil. Furthermore, humic-type structures may be formed through the condensation of unsaturated fatty acids or the alteration of aliphatic biomacromolecules, such as cutins, suberins, and non-hydrolysable plant polyesters. In addition to the intrinsic value of understanding the potential for carbon sequestration in diverse soil types, biogeochemical models of the carbon cycle necessitate the assessment of the total quantity, nature, provenance, and resilience of the sequestered organic matter. This emphasises the necessity of applying specific techniques to gain insights into their molecular structures. The application of appropriate analytical techniques to soil organic matter, including sequential chemolysis or thermal degradation combined with isotopic analysis and high-resolution mass spectrometry, derivative spectroscopy (visible and infrared), or 13C magnetic resonance after selective degradation, enables the simultaneous assessment of the concurrent biophysicochemical stabilisation mechanisms of C in soils., Financial support from the European Union (EJP SOIL SANCHOSTHIRST Grant agreement N.862695.INCO-DC, PL-972698) is gratefully acknowledged., Peer reviewed

11 páginas.- 6 figuras.- 6 tablas.- referencias.-, Soil organic carbon (SOC) content plays an important role in modulating atmospheric CO2. Visible and near-infrared spectroscopy (VISNIRS) has been proven to be a suitable method for SOC prediction in the laboratory. However, several soil properties such as soil moisture (SM), bulk density, compactness, texture, and temperature affect the near-infrared spectra obtained under field conditions. Among these factors, SM variation is the most significant challenge for SOC measurement. Soil is a composition of fractions, especially minerals and organic matter, whose contents are expressed in relative and interdependent quantities, belonging to simplex spaces. These are known as compositional data (CoDa) and require specific mathematical methods. This study proposes methods to predict SOC along with other soil components, rather than using solely one soil feature. Several predictive models using VISNIRS by considering different soil compositions were evaluated. All models included SM to mitigate its interference in SOC prediction, which would otherwise occur when using only VISNIRS-based methods. The analyzed soil components included soil organic matter (SOM, calculated as SOM = 1.724 × SOC), SM, soil inorganic carbon (SIC), and the textural fractions: “Clay,” “Silt,” and the remainder of the soil sample classified as “Other.” The 4-parts model including the clay content provided SOM prediction with Lin's concordance correlation coefficient = 0.84 and Pearson r = 0.87. Important is to note that the predictions stated with the different CoDa approaches showed similar trends, from the 6-Parts to the 2-Parts compositions, this fact highlighting the consistency of the method. The performance of all the CoDa models obtained, and in particular the 4-part “Clay” model, was superior to that obtained with the traditional PLS calibration. The results highlighted that CoDa methods for estimating SOM or SOC provided an improvement over traditional partial least square (PLS) calibration. Future software solutions could integrate routines for using these methods in the field. © 2025 The Author(s). European Journal of Soil Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Society of Soil Science., The authors acknowledge the European Joint Programme Soil (EJP Soil) (European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme:Grant agreement No 862695), and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) for the funding allocated to the project ProbeField (Anovel protocol for robustness in field monitoring of carbon stock andsoil fertility based on proximal sensors and existing soil spectral librar-ies), within the framework of which the research presented in this studywas developed, Peer reviewed

Scenario analysis plays a central role in estimating how global changes affect the relationships linking ecosystem conditions and functioning to human needs. This is particularly true for agroecosystems, which are pivotal to ensure sustainable land planning, ecological management and food security strategies. Soils are key providers of multiple ecosystem services (ES) in agroecosystems but they are very sensitive to global drivers such as changes in climate, land use and cover. How agroecosystems should achieve sustainability, through optimizing soil capacity to supply ES while limiting the occurrence of threats, is a priority of EU policy agendas. Nevertheless, there is currently a lack of a comprehensive framework of scenario-based approaches to assess changes in soil ES (SES) and soil threats (ST). As a part of the project SERENA funded by the European Joint Program on Agricultural Soil Management, this study aims to: i) understand how drivers of global change are commonly studied in the scientific literature; ii) identify how some SES and ST are assessed in scenario-based approaches; iii) provide a preliminary discussion on how soil properties are represented in these approaches. Through a systematic review of 230 published articles related to seven SES and ten ST, this study highlights that not all SES and ST are considered with the same frequency and geographic distribution in scenario-based approaches. Despite a great methodological variability in the assessment and mapping of SES and ST, dominant methodological trends can be identified. SES are mapped more frequently than ST and, specific SES appear more disposed to spatially explicit assessments than others. Due to its novelty and complexity, research on this topic is limited to a small subset of ST or SES and projections of the combined impacts of climate, land use and management changes on multiple ST and SES should be a scientific priority to help policy makers., This research has been carried out within the framework of the SERENA project. SERENA (Soil Ecosystem seRvices and soil threats modElling aNd mApping) is a EJP SOIL internal project. EJP SOIL has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme: Grant agreement No 862695., Peer reviewed

Abstract of the Poster Presented at Advancing Soil Knowledge for a Sustainable Future: the VII EUROSOIL Meeting, September 8–12, 2025, Seville, Technological advances in the 21st century have enabled using both proximal and remote sensing for rapid estimation and high-resolution mapping of soil properties at different scales. While various soil sensing techniques are employed, a consistent framework to guide method selection and cost assessment remains lacking. To address this, a protocol was tested on several soil sensing techniques and covariates to select an appropriate combination of geospatial, multivariate, and machine learning techniques for the subsequent estimation and mapping of the physicochemical soil properties at different depths.. The protocol is based on an R script that integrates georeferenced soil information, field boundaries, remote sensing covariates (i.e., terrain, satellite, and UAV data), proximal on-the-go sensing (i.e., electromagnetic induction and gamma-ray spectroscopy), and point-based sensing (i.e., visible–near infrared spectroscopy
(Vis-NIR), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), and time-domain reflectometry (TDR) to produce field-scale soil maps at 5-meter resolution. The semi-automated workflow begins with the creation of baseline maps generated through spatial interpolation of measured values. Coarser-resolution open soil datasets, such as SoilGrids 2.0 and other continental or national products, were also used as alternative baselines. These maps were evaluated through stepwise comparisons to identify the best-performing models based on combinations of input data and modeling techniques (i.e., multiple linear regression (MLR), partial least squares regression (PLSR), and Random Forest (RF). Model performance was assessed using Leave-One-Out (LOO) cross-validation and evaluated with RMSE, RPD, and R² metrics.
The Relative Improvement Index (RI) was used to quantify performance gains across case studies. Applications were tested across diverse environmental conditions in Denmark, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Italy, and Türkiye. Outputs included soil property maps with associated uncertainty estimates. The proposed framework incorporates novel elements while also building established techniques. It evaluates how point-based data sources like XRF and TDR enhance spatial modeling and how Vis–NIR spectroscopy improves the predictive power of satellite data when co-registered with Sentinel-2 spectral bands. Results for organic carbon content at 0–30 cm depth show 10% to 25% of RI when combining remote and proximal inputs using RF or MLR , compared to simple interpolation (SI). Similar gains were observed for clay content, with RI increasing between 8% and 15%. More realistic spatial patterns were also obtained by proximal and remote sensing data compared to SI. Overall, the proposed framework offers a harmonized methodology and a practical roadmap for the precision agriculture sector, supporting informed decision-making through the integration of diverse data sources and modeling strategies., This research was funded by European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme: Grant agreement No 862695, Project EJP Soil ProbeField., No

In this study, seventeen hedgerows (4 × 20 m; composed of trees, shrubs and bushes) were established in an experimental agricultural field in southern Spain, combining different planting and management techniques: pre-planting tillage or no-tillage; irrigation or rainfed; use of anti-weed mesh or not, and use of tube shelters or not. The purpose of this study was to provide a technical and economic evaluation of these 17 design proposals for hedgerow implantation under Mediterranean conditions, using native species. Plant survival and growth were measured one year after planting, and the implantation costs of each hedgerow was calculated. Our results showed that a simple combination based on pre-planting tillage, rainfed conditions, and no mulching or tube shelters worked well, resulting in high plant survival rates (around 90%) and growth (0.32 m² yr⁻¹ increased plant cover), with one of the lowest hedgerow implantation costs (€16.5 m⁻¹, for 2024). Deficit irrigation only resulted in a slight increase in plant survival (9.4% on average). Using plastic mulch resulted in higher plant growth but had higher implantation costs and raised concerns about the hazard of plastic contamination. Under our conditions, without herbivory, the use of tube shelters had no significant effect on plant survival and growth. The most basic option, same as above but without tillage, had the lowest hedgerow implantation cost, but a plant survival rate below 50%. However, even using this latter option, the hedgerow implementation cost was higher than the financial support for implementing the biodiversity areas in farmland eco-scheme (which includes hedgerows) under the current CAP in Spain. Therefore, better financial incentives for these eco-schemes are needed to maximize their beneficial impact on agricultural landscapes., Funding for open access publishing: Universidad de Córdoba/CBUA. This work was funded by the project “Analysis of the effect of vegetated barriers on ecosystem services related to hydrological fluxes in semiarid agricultural landscapes” (PID2019-105793RB-I00). We also thank the projects TUdi (No. 101000224) and SCALE (No. 862695) for their collaboration., Peer reviewed

Implementing sustainable soil management practices to enhance soil health is a priority in research and policymaking across Europe. There is a need to identify the main soil challenges faced by different European stakeholders and the critical threats limiting the adoption of sustainable management of agricultural soils. The present study analyses stakeholders' perspectives on key soil challenges, knowledge gaps, and priorities for agricultural soil research across partner countries that participated in the European Joint Programme on Soil (EJP SOIL) 2020–2025. Two complementary stakeholder activities—a survey and a workshop—were conducted across 24 partner countries (divided into four regions: Central, Northern, Southern, and Western Europe) of the EJP SOIL consortium in 2024. Among 10 pre-identified soil challenges, the findings highlight that maintaining or increasing soil organic carbon, avoiding soil sealing, and avoiding soil erosion are the top three priorities across Europe. However, the perceived prioritisation of soil challenges differed both between and within regions, reflecting each country's specific soil health context. Divergences in perceptions between practitioners and other stakeholder groups underscore the need to develop actions aimed at better understanding the rationale behind such discrepancies and how to overcome them. In addition, other key challenges for achieving sustainable soil management across Europe include limited funding, policy incoherencies, poor knowledge dissemination and co-creation, and insufficient soil monitoring. Environmental factors influencing soil health, including climate change, together with governance and economic models, were perceived to be critical limitations to the adoption of sustainable management of agricultural soils. This study also emphasises the need for a diversity of engagement methods, policies, and system approaches to support a transition towards sustainable soil management. These findings underscore the need for future research agendas that focus on integrated knowledge and participatory approaches, and strategies involving societal awareness and policy alignment—key elements that have also informed broader strategies involving societal awareness and engagement towards sustainable soil management in Europe., This work was funded under the European Joint Program for SOIL (EJP SOIL), which has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme: Grant agreement No 862695., Peer reviewed