Publications

Bublitz T., Kemper R., Müller P., Kautz T., Döring T., Athmann M. (2021). Relating Profile Wall Root-Length Density Estimates to Monolith Root-Length Density Measurements of Cover Crops. Agronomy, 12(1), 48. doi:10.3390/agronomy12010048

Different methods have been proposed for in situ root-length density (RLD) measurement. One widely employed is the time-consuming sampling of soil cores or monoliths (MO). The profile wall (PW) method is a less precise, but faster and less laborious alternative. However, depth-differentiated functio…

Koch M., Boselli R., Hasler M., Zörb C., Athmann M., Kautz T. (2021). Root and shoot growth of spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) are differently affected by increasing subsoil biopore density when grown under different subsoil moisture. Biology and Fertility of Soils, 57(8), 1155-1169. doi:10.1007/s00374-021-01597-7

AbstractA column experiment with five different pore densities (0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 pores column−1) and two varying moisture regimes (comparatively dry and comparatively moist regime) in the subsoil part of the columns was established. In each pore, Lumbricus terrestris was introduced for 28 days befo…

Chiba A., Uchida Y., Kublik S., Vestergaard G., Buegger F., Schloter M., Schulz S. (2021). Soil Bacterial Diversity Is Positively Correlated with Decomposition Rates during Early Phases of Maize Litter Decomposition. Microorganisms, 9(2), 357. doi:10.3390/microorganisms9020357

This study aimed to investigate the effects of different levels of soil- and plant-associated bacterial diversity on the rates of litter decomposition, and bacterial community dynamics during its early phases. We performed an incubation experiment where soil bacterial diversity (but not abundance) w…

Hadir S., Gaiser T., Hüging H., Athmann M., Pfarr D., Kemper R., Ewert F., Seidel S. (2021). Sugar Beet Shoot and Root Phenotypic Plasticity to Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium and Lime Omission. Agriculture, 11(1), 21. doi:10.3390/agriculture11010021

In low input agriculture, a thorough understanding of the plant-nutrient interactions plays a central role. This study aims to investigate the effects of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) and liming omission on shoot growth as well as on topsoil root biomass, growth and morphology (tub…

Gocke M., Don A., Heidkamp A., Schneider F., Amelung W. (2021). The phosphorus status of German cropland—An inventory of top‐ and subsoils. Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science, 184(1), 51-64. doi:10.1002/jpln.202000127

Background: In search for more sustainable crop production, the subsoil has recently come into focus as considerable reservoir of nutrients and water. Aims: Dimensions of subsoil phosphorus (P) reserves are yet largely unknown but crucial for identifying regions suitable to include subsoil into sust…

Bauke S., Schnepf A., Sperber C., Orlowski N., Lewandowski H., Selzner T., Tamburini F., Amelung W. (2021). Tracing uptake and translocation of phosphorus in wheat using oxygen isotopes and mathematical modelling. New Phytologist, 230(5), 1883-1895. doi:10.1111/nph.17307

Understanding P uptake in soil–plant systems requires suitable P tracers. The stable oxygen isotope ratio in phosphate (expressed as δ18OP) is an alternative to radioactive labelling, but the degree to which plants preserve the δ18OP value of the P source is unclear. We hypothesised that the source …

Yi J., Krusenbaum L., Unger P., Hüging H., Seidel S., Schaaf G., Gall J. (2020). Deep Learning for Non-Invasive Diagnosis of Nutrient Deficiencies in Sugar Beet Using RGB Images. Sensors, 20(20), 5893. doi:10.3390/s20205893

In order to enable timely actions to prevent major losses of crops caused by lack of nutrients and, hence, increase the potential yield throughout the growing season while at the same time prevent excess fertilization with detrimental environmental consequences, early, non-invasive, and on-site dete…

Wang Y., Wu B., Berns A., Xing Y., Kuhn A., Amelung W. (2020). Magnesium isotope fractionation reflects plant response to magnesium deficiency in magnesium uptake and allocation: a greenhouse study with wheat. Plant and Soil, 455(1-2), 93-105. doi:10.1007/s11104-020-04604-2

Abstract Aims Magnesium (Mg) deficiency is detrimental to plant growth. However, how plants respond to Mg deficiency via regulation of Mg uptake and allocation is yet not fully understood. In this study, we tested whether Mg isotope compositions (δ26Mg) associated with Mg mass balance of the plants …

Sun Y., Wu B., Amelung W., Christensen B., Pätzold S., Bauke S., Schweitzer K., Baumecker M., Bol R. (2020). Non-critical uranium accumulation in soils of German and Danish long-term fertilizer experiments. Geoderma, 370(), 114336. doi:10.1016/j.geoderma.2020.114336

Phosphorus (P) fertilizers vary considerably in contents of uranium (U), thus raising concerns regarding U accumulation in agricultural soils. We examined U concentrations in soil from three long-term field experiments with different P fertilizer applications: Rengen (P fertilizer from basic slag, g…

Schneider F., Amelung W., Don A. (2020). Origin of carbon in agricultural soil profiles deduced from depth gradients of C:N ratios, carbon fractions, δ13C and δ15N values. Plant and Soil, (), . doi:10.1007/s11104-020-04769-w

Aims Agricultural soils in Germany store 2.54 Pg of organic carbon (C). However, information about how and when this C entered the soils is limited. This study illustrates how depth profiles of organic matter can shed light on different entry paths of organic C. Methods Machine learning was used to …