Due to climate change the productive agricultural sectors have started to face various challenges, such as soil drought. Biochar is studied as a promising soil amendment. We studied the effect of a former biochar application (in 2014) and re-application (in 2018) on bulk density, porosity, saturated hydraulic conductivity, soil water content and selected soil water constants at the experimental site in Dolná Malanta (Slovakia) in 2019. Biochar was applied and re-applied at the rates of 0, 10 and 20 t ha⁻¹. Nitrogen fertilizer was applied annually at application levels N0, N1 and N2. In 2019, these levels were represented by the doses of 0, 108 and 162 kg N ha⁻¹, respectively. We found that biochar applied at 20 t ha⁻¹ without fertilizer significantly reduced bulk density by 12% and increased porosity by 12%. During the dry period, a relative increase in soil water content was observed at all biochar treatments—the largest after re-application of biochar at a dose of 20 t ha⁻¹ at all fertilization levels. The biochar application also significantly increased plant available water. We suppose that change in the soil structure following a biochar amendment was one of the main reasons of our observations.

Nanotechnology offers new opportunities for the development of novel materials and strategies that improve technology and industry. This applies especially to agriculture, and our previous field studies have indicated that zinc oxide nanoparticles provide promising nano-fertilizer dispersion in sustainable agriculture. However, little is known about the precise ZnO-NP effects on legumes. Herein, 1 mg·L⁻¹ ZnO-NP spray was dispersed on lentil plants to establish the direct NP effects on lentil production, seed nutritional quality, and stress response under field conditions. Although ZnO-NP exposure positively affected yield, thousand-seed weight and the number of pods per plant, there was no statistically significant difference in nutrient and anti-nutrient content in treated and untreated plant seeds. In contrast, the lentil water stress level was affected, and the stress response resulted in statistically significant changes in stomatal conductance, crop water stress index, and plant temperature. Foliar application of low ZnO-NP concentrations therefore proved promising in increasing crop production under field conditions, and this confirms ZnO-NP use as a viable strategy for sustainable agriculture.

Ecosystem services (ES), as an interconnection of the landscape mosaic pieces, along with temporal rivers (IRES) are an object of research for environmental planners and ecological economists, among other specialists. This study presents (i) a review on the importance of IRES and the services they can provide to agricultural landscapes; (ii) a classification tool to assess the impact of IRES to provide ES by agricultural landscapes; (iii) the application of the proposed classification to the Caia River in order to identify the importance of this intermittent river for its surrounding agricultural landscape. The classification of the ES follows the Common International Classification of Ecosystem (CICES) classification that was adapted for the purposes of this study. Firstly, the list of ES provided by agricultural landscape was elaborated. In the next step, we assessed the potential of IRES to provide ES. Next, IRES impacts to ES within the agricultural landscape were evaluated according to observations from the conducted field monitoring in the study area. This study focuses on the relevance of the intermittent Caia River—a transboundary river in Spain and Portugal—and its ephemeral tributaries in the agricultural landscape. Our study estimates that each hydrological phase of IRES increases the ES provided by the agricultural landscape. However, the dry phase can potentially have negative impacts on several services. The intensification of the agricultural sector is the main provision of the water resource within the Caia River basin, but we were able to identify several other ES that were positively impacted. The present study is in line with the conclusions of other authors who state that IRES constitute a valuable resource which should not be underestimated by society.

Since biochar is considered to be a significant source of carbon, in this work we have evaluated the changes in soil organic matter (SOM) and soil structure due to application of biochar and biochar with N fertilization, and have considered the interrelationships between the SOM parameters and...

The paper presents the comparison of soil particle size distribution determined by standard pipette method and laser diffraction. Based on the obtained results (542 soil samples from 271 sites located in the Nitra, Váh and Hron River basins), regression models were calculated to convert the results of the particle size distribution by laser diffraction to pipette method. Considering one of the most common soil texture classification systems used in Slovakia (according to Novák), the emphasis was placed on the determination accuracy of particle size fraction <0.01 mm. Analysette22 MicroTec plus and Mastersizer2000 devices were used for laser diffraction. Polynomial regression model resulted in the best approximation of measurements by laser diffraction to values obtained by pipette method. In the case of particle size fraction <0.01 mm, the differences between the measured values by pipette method and both laser analyzers ranged in average from 3% up to 9% and from 2% up to 11% in the case of Analysette22 and Mastersizer2000, respectively. After correction, the differences decreased to average 3.28% (Analysette22) and 2.24% (Mastersizer2000) in comparison with pipette method. After recalculation of the data, laser diffraction can be used alongside the sedimentation methods.

The goal of this study was the spatial processing and showcasing selected soil properties (available water capacity, total organic carbon content and the content of clay fraction <0.001 mm) in the Nitra River Basin (Slovakia) via the usage and the subsequent evaluation of the quality of applied interpolation methods (Spline, inverse distance weighting (IDW), Topo to Raster). The results showed the possibilities of “conversion” of point information obtained by field research as well as research in the laboratory into a spatial expression, thus providing at least relevant estimation of the soil properties even in localities not directly covered by soil sampling. Based on the evaluation and mutual comparison of the accuracy of the used interpolation methods (by using the so-called cross-validation and trust criteria), the most favorable results were achieved by the Spline method in the GRASS GIS environment, and in the ArcGIS environment. When comparing the measured and estimated values of given soil properties at control points, the interpolated values classified as very accurate up to accurate prevailed in the verification dataset. Qualitatively less favorable (but still acceptable) were the results obtained with Topo to Raster (ArcGIS) interpolation method. On the contrary, the Spline method in the ArcGIS environment turned out to be the least accurate. We assume that this is most likely not only a consequence of insufficient density of points (resources), but also an inappropriate implementation of the method into the ArcGIS environment.