Browsing by Author "Weber, Jerzy"

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    Rational management of agricultural soils under climate change
    (Soil Science Society of Poland, 2024) Smreczak, Bożena; Hewelke, Edyta Aleksandra; Kowalik, Monika; Ukalska-Jaruga, Aleksandra; Weber, Jerzy
    Sustainable management of agricultural soils is crucial to improving their health, increasing food security, the quantity and quality of surface and groundwater, accumulating organic carbon, and improving the state of biodiversity. It also contributes to the mitigation of climate change and the adaptation of agriculture to these changes. The publication aims to present solutions for the sustainable use of agricultural soils in climate change conditions on the example of the European Common Soil Program (acronym EJP SOIL). The EJP SOIL project "Towards climate-smart sustainable development of agricultural soils" involving 26 scientific and research institutions from 24 European countries began its activity in 2020. The results of the undertaken activities, including surveys, meta-analyses, and extensive statistical research, as well as the effects of cooperation with officials, for five years initiated collaboration among over 400 scientists to improve knowledge about sustainable management of agricultural soils, taking into account the soil and climate zones of Europe. The publication presents the multi-threaded nature of the EJP SOIL project and related internal and external research projects, presents the scientific issues discussed, and makes recommendations for agricultural practice and shaping future European policy. In addition, it indicates the activities of the EJP SOIL project addressed to various stakeholder groups in the field of disseminating knowledge about soil health and the ecosystem services they provide, presenting the goals and scope of operation of the National Soil Hub, which was established in November 2023 on the initiative of the project.
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    The Significance of Herbicide–Humin Interactions in Sustainable Agroecosystems
    (MDPI, 2025) Jerzykiewicz, Maria; Ćwieląg-Piasecka, Irmina; Weber, Jerzy; Ukalska-Jaruga, Aleksandra; Jamroz, Elżbieta; Kocowicz, Andrzej; Dębicka, Magdalena; Bekier, Jakub; Mielnik, Lilla; Bejger, Romualda; Banach-Szott, Magdalena; Grabusiewicz, Agnieszka
    Humin, as the most stable fraction in soil organic matter, determines possibility of sustainable environmental development by influencing, among other things, the binding and migration of different chemicals in soil. The aim of this paper was to determine changes in the properties of humins after interaction with three selected active substances of herbicides differing in structure and chemical properties (pendimethalin, metazachlor, and flufenacet) and two different commercial products. In accordance with OECD 106 guidelines, humins isolated from eight different soils were saturated with herbicide compounds under study. As humin is a non-hydrolyzable organic carbon fraction, solid state research techniques (elemental analysis, NMR, FTIR, EPR, and UV-Vis) were applied. The results clearly showed that the interaction between humin and herbicides increases the concentration of oxygen-containing groups and the internal oxidation (ω) in humin. For all investigated humins, a reduction in radical concentration was observed. Radicals in humins were not completely quenched; a certain concentration of radicals with unchanged structure always remained in the samples. Other spectroscopic analyses showed no significant changes in the structure of pesticide-saturated and non-saturated humins. This suggests that sorption of the studied compounds occurs on the humins only as a result of the interaction of physical forces on the surface of the studied organic matter fraction. Thus, interaction with the studied herbicides occurs as a surface phenomenon, and the inner core remains protected by the condensed structure and/or strong binding to the clay minerals.