No-tillage and microbial fertilizer work together to build carbon in nutrient-poor albic soils

A field study in northeastern China shows that combining reduced soil disturbance with microbial organic fertilizer can increase soil organic carbon across both surface and deeper soil layers

Shenyang Agricultural University Collaborative Journals

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Tillage methods and microbial fertilizers synergistically enhance soil organic carbon concentration in albic soil

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Credit: Zhenlin Zhao, Song Cheng, Xiaolin Li, Chang Zhang, Ximing Liu, Jinyao Yan, Jingchao Yuan, Jianzhao Liu, Yao Liang, Wei Fan, & Hongguang Cai

Albic soils are often compact, acidic, and low in organic matter, making them difficult to cultivate and limiting their ability to store carbon. A new field study suggests that combining no-tillage management, retained crop straw, and microbial organic fertilizer may provide an effective way to improve these soils while increasing their soil organic carbon reserves.

“Our results show that improving carbon storage in albic soil requires both physical protection of the soil and sufficient organic inputs to support biological processes,” said corresponding author Hongguang Cai. “No-tillage combined with a high rate of microbial organic fertilizer produced the most consistent increase in soil organic carbon across the full 40-centimeter soil profile.”

Researchers conducted a one-year field experiment from 2023 to 2024 in Shulan City, Jilin Province, China. They compared three common tillage systems: no-tillage, plough tillage, and rotary tillage. Each system was combined with microbial organic fertilizer applied at rates of 600, 1,200, or 2,400 kilograms per hectare. The fertilizer was produced from composted livestock and poultry manure and contained beneficial microorganisms, including Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, and Trichoderma harzianum.

The research team measured soil organic carbon, bulk density, porosity, nutrient levels, microbial biomass carbon, soil aggregate stability, and the activities of four enzymes involved in carbon cycling. Measurements were taken from the topsoil at 0 to 20 centimeters and the subsoil at 20 to 40 centimeters.

The strongest overall carbon response occurred under no-tillage with the highest microbial organic fertilizer rate. Compared with the no-tillage control without straw return, this treatment increased soil organic carbon by 22 percent in the topsoil and 93.2 percent in the subsoil. Soil organic carbon reached 14.57 grams per kilogram in the topsoil and 8.75 grams per kilogram in the subsoil.

No-tillage also generally maintained a larger proportion of macroaggregates and greater aggregate stability. These larger soil aggregates can physically enclose organic matter, reducing its exposure to microorganisms and slowing decomposition. This process may help newly added carbon remain in the soil for longer periods.

However, the study also revealed an important trade-off. Plough tillage improved soil conditions at depth and produced relatively high subsoil carbon concentrations, but it reduced macroaggregate stability. Mechanical loosening can relieve compaction and improve aeration, root growth, and nutrient movement, yet greater disturbance may weaken the soil structures that protect organic carbon.

Rotary tillage produced strong responses in several carbon-cycling enzymes, but higher enzyme activity did not always lead to greater carbon accumulation. The researchers found that enzymes associated with the breakdown of sugars, cellulose, and hemicellulose were linked differently with soil carbon and aggregates depending on soil depth and tillage method. In some cases, greater decomposition activity may have accelerated carbon turnover without producing equivalent gains in stabilized carbon.

“The findings highlight that soil carbon storage is controlled not simply by how much organic material is added, but also by how effectively the soil protects that carbon from rapid decomposition,” said Cai.

The researchers conclude that conservation tillage, particularly no-tillage combined with adequate microbial organic fertilizer, has promising short-term potential for restoring albic soils and increasing carbon storage from the surface to 40 centimeters deep. Because the experiment lasted only one year, longer-term monitoring will be needed to determine whether these improvements persist and how they affect crop productivity and greenhouse gas emissions over time.

 

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Journal Reference: Zhao Z, Cheng S, Li X, Zhang C, Liu X, et al. 2026. Tillage methods and microbial fertilizers synergistically enhance soil organic carbon concentration in albic soil. Agricultural Ecology and Environment 2: e016 doi: 10.48130/aee-0026-0013  

https://www.maxapress.com/article/doi/10.48130/aee-0026-0013

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About Agricultural Ecology and Environment: 

Agricultural Ecology and Environment (e-ISSN 3070-0639) is a multidisciplinary platform for communicating advances in fundamental and applied research on the agroecological environment, focusing on the interactions between agroecosystems and the environment. It is dedicated to advancing the understanding of the complex interactions between agricultural practices and ecological systems. The journal aims to provide a comprehensive and cutting-edge forum for researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and stakeholders from diverse fields such as agronomy, ecology, environmental science, soil science, and sustainable development. 

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Journal

Agricultural Ecology and Environment

DOI

10.48130/aee-0026-0013 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Article Title

Tillage methods and microbial fertilizers synergistically enhance soil organic carbon concentration in albic soil

 

Climate pledges could shrink global cropland by 12.8% by 2100

Shenyang Agricultural University Collaborative Journals

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Ambitious climate pledges threaten global cropland: a 12.8% reduction projected by 2100 under a 1.5 °C pathway

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Credit: Xiaoqian Chen, Shaokun Li, Bin Tu, Lei Wang, Wenxi He & Hong Yang

Efforts to limit global warming to 1.5 °C could unintentionally place growing pressure on the world’s food supply, according to a new perspective published in Environmental and Biogeochemical Processes. The analysis warns that climate commitments relying heavily on afforestation and other land-based carbon removal strategies may reduce global cropland by 12.8% by 2100.

“Climate action is essential, but climate policies must not create a new crisis by weakening the land systems that support global food production,” said corresponding author Shaokun Li. “We need mitigation strategies that protect both the climate and food security, especially in vulnerable developing regions.”

The authors examined findings from recent integrated assessment and high-resolution land system modeling. They found that cropland losses would be unevenly distributed. Countries in the Global South could experience an average loss of 13.0%, while South America could face a decline of 23.7%. Europe may lose approximately 440,000 square kilometers of cropland, the largest absolute regional reduction.

The impacts could extend far beyond local farms. Major agricultural exporters are also projected to lose cropland, including Brazil, the United States, and Argentina. Reduced production and export capacity could increase food prices and leave import-dependent countries exposed to both domestic shortages and disruptions in international supply.

To address these risks, the authors recommend balancing ecological restoration with cropland protection, improving agricultural productivity without disadvantaging small farmers, reducing trade barriers, and establishing emergency food reserves and price stabilization mechanisms. They also call for more detailed land system models that account for national policies, dietary changes, extreme weather, and differences among local communities.

Most importantly, the paper argues that governments should avoid excessive dependence on land-based carbon removal. Faster decarbonization of energy systems offers a more secure path for meeting climate goals without intensifying competition between forests and farms.

 

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Journal reference: Chen X, Li S, Tu B, Wang L, He W, et al. 2026. Ambitious climate pledges threaten global cropland: a 12.8% reduction projected by 2100 under a 1.5 °C pathway. Environmental and Biogeochemical Processes 2: e015 doi: 10.48130/ebp-0026-0010  

https://www.maxapress.com/article/doi/10.48130/ebp-0026-0010  

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About the Journal:

Environmental and Biogeochemical Processes (e-ISSN 3070-1708) is a multidisciplinary platform for communicating advances in fundamental and applied research on the interactions and processes involving the cycling of elements and compounds between the biological, geological, and chemical components of the environment. 

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Journal

Environmental and Biogeochemical Processes

DOI

10.48130/ebp-0026-0010 

Method of Research

News article

Article Title

Ambitious climate pledges threaten global cropland: a 12.8% reduction projected by 2100 under a 1.5 °C pathway

 

Quartz particles reveal how reactor design can boost coal tar yield and quality

Internal baffles redirect hot vapors toward cooler reactor regions, increasing tar production, enriching light tar components, and improving the fuel value of pyrolysis gas

Shenyang Agricultural University Collaborative Journals

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Inert particle tracking of flow fields for selective tar enhancement in a fixed-bed reactor with internals

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Credit: Yongfu Zeng, Moshan Li, Erfeng Hu, Youcai Ma, Fan Xu & Run Dong

Researchers have developed a simple visual method for tracking how volatile products move inside a fixed-bed coal pyrolysis reactor. Their findings show that carefully designed internal structures can redirect these vapors, limit undesirable secondary reactions, and improve the production of valuable tar and fuel gas.

Coal pyrolysis heats coal without oxygen to produce solid char, liquid tar, and combustible gases. It is considered a promising route for converting low-rank coal into more useful products. However, vapors released during pyrolysis may remain in high-temperature regions for too long. This exposure can cause valuable tar molecules to crack into non-condensable gases or combine into heavier compounds, reducing tar yield and quality.

In the new study, researchers from Chongqing University and Monash University used quartz particles as inert tracers to reveal the dominant movement of coal-derived vapors inside the reactor. Quartz placed in different regions changed color when exposed to tar-rich vapors because of carbon deposition and tar coking on its surface.

“The color patterns on the quartz gave us a direct and intuitive picture of where the volatile products traveled inside the reactor,” said corresponding author Erfeng Hu of Chongqing University. “This helped us connect reactor flow behavior with changes in tar yield, tar composition, and gas quality.”

The team compared conventional fixed-bed reactors with reactors containing four heating plates and a central gas-gathering tube. These internal components altered heat and mass transfer, directing volatile products away from the hotter reactor wall and toward the cooler central region.

Without the internal structures, many vapors passed through high-temperature char, where they experienced strong cracking and condensation reactions. In contrast, the modified reactor allowed heavy tar vapors to enter the cooler core, where they condensed temporarily and were later released or mildly cracked as the central region warmed.

This controlled vapor pathway increased total tar yield by approximately 8.5 percent and raised the light tar fraction to as much as 74.42 percent. Light tar is generally more desirable because it contains a greater proportion of lower-boiling compounds and is easier to process than heavy tar.

The redesigned flow field also changed the composition of the pyrolysis gas. Reactors with internal components produced less hydrogen and preserved more methane, indicating that severe secondary cracking had been suppressed. Under one tested arrangement, the higher heating value of the gas increased from 20.60 to 21.69 megajoules per normal cubic meter.

Thermal analysis showed that the main release of coal volatiles occurred near 500 degrees Celsius. The apparent activation energies ranged from about 67 to 306 kilojoules per mole, reflecting the complex sequence of chemical bond breaking and product-forming reactions involved in coal pyrolysis.

The researchers also tested a larger reactor with a diameter of 200 millimeters. Differences in the volatile and ash contents of char collected from different locations supported the vapor pathways observed using quartz particles.

“Our results show that reactor geometry is not simply a structural consideration. It can actively control where vapors travel and which products are ultimately formed,” Hu said. “The approach provides a practical basis for designing more efficient fixed-bed systems for low-rank coal conversion.”

 

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Journal reference: Zeng Y, Li M, Hu E, Ma Y, Xu F, et al. 2026. Inert particle tracking of flow fields for selective tar enhancement in a fixed-bed reactor with internals. Sustainable Carbon Materials 2: e024 doi: 10.48130/scm-0026-0019  

https://www.maxapress.com/article/doi/10.48130/scm-0026-0019  

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About Sustainable Carbon Materials:

Sustainable Carbon Materials (e-ISSN 3070-3557) is a multidisciplinary platform for communicating advances in fundamental and applied research on carbon-based materials. It is dedicated to serving as an innovative, efficient and professional platform for researchers in the field of carbon materials around the world to deliver findings from this rapidly expanding field of science. It is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal that publishes review, original research, invited review, rapid report, perspective, commentary and correspondence papers.

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Journal

Sustainable Carbon Materials

DOI

10.48130/scm-0026-0019 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Article Title

Inert particle tracking of flow fields for selective tar enhancement in a fixed-bed reactor with internals

ABOLISH PRISON

Rising deaths in LA County Jail are tied to longer jail stays, study shows

University of California - Los Angeles

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Key takeaways

• Deaths in the Los Angeles County Jail have increased over the last 15 years, driven by longer periods of jail time and higher rates of substance abuse fatalities, a UCLA study has found. 
• Of those who died while in the county jail, the median time from arrest to death was 57.5 days.
• Findings indicated that only 4.1% of deaths occurred within one day of arrest, 16.7% within one week, and 24.4% within two weeks, contradicting the belief that most jail deaths occur shortly after a person is jailed and are the result of an overdose around the time of arrest or withdrawal from prescribed medications or illicit drugs.
• The data suggests that among the best ways to improve the survival of people in the LA County Jail are reducing the number of people detained, improving medical care, reducing the influx of drugs and shortening how long people stay.

The effects of stress, depression and inadequate healthcare in the Los Angeles County Jail — a blanket term widely used for the county’s eight facilities — build up into lethal risk, a new study led by UCLA researchers has found. The researchers discovered that most deaths in the LA County Jail occur after a person has been in jail for several weeks. This contradicts a common belief that most jail deaths occur shortly after a jail stay begins and are the result of a sudden overdose around the time of arrest or withdrawal from prescribed medications or illicit drugs.

The new research, which was just published in the journal PLOS One, found instead that deaths in the LA County Jail have increased over the last 15 years, driven by longer periods of jail time and higher rates of substance abuse-caused fatalities that occur deep into a person’s time behind bars. Chronic conditions, such as heart disease, for which effective interventions exist, are also a significant cause of mortality. 

“We found that most people are not dying at the transition to jail,” said corresponding author and UCLA environmental scientist Nicholas Shapiro. “The greatest mortality risk comes after longer in-jail [time] and is more likely to be caused by drug overdoses and preventable or treatable conditions like gastrointestinal bleeding, infections and heart disease.”

Additionally, of those who died in the LA County Jail, most were never convicted of anything. More than two-thirds were being held pretrial, researchers discovered.

Analysis of mortality data in the county jail found that mortality in general, and substance-related deaths specifically, increased from 2008 to 2023, peaking during the COVID-19 pandemic. The median time from arrest to death was 57.5 days. Only 21 (4.1%) of deaths occurred within one day of arrest, 85 (16.7%) within one week and 124 (24.4%) within two weeks. For people who died in custody, the median time from arrest to death was over five times longer (59 days vs. 11 days) than the median duration of stay for all arrest bookings. This means that most people are dying multiple months into their time in the county jail.

“Our findings tell a very different story concerning the timing of LA County Jail deaths than the prevailing understanding of jail deaths nationally,” said Sharon Dolovich, a professor of law at UCLA and co-author on the paper. “Since the pandemic, many people have died well into their stays in the LA County Jail from drug overdoses, suicides and other preventable causes, making the jail a site of countless deaths of despair.”

Previous studies have found that in jail, people die from overdoses early in their confinement, with federal data suggesting that the median time from arrest to overdose death nationally is a single day. Overall, the UCLA study found that, during the years studied, only about 17% of deaths in the LA County Jail occurred within the first week.

“People are dying of overdoses, not from substances they imbibed around the time of arrest, but from drugs they had access to in jail,” said Shapiro, who is an associate professor in the UCLA Institute for Society and Genetics. “To us, this suggests that people in the LA County Jail are self-medicating because of dismal conditions, and that they’re also a captive market for people who get drugs into the Jail.”

What factors are responsible for in-jail deaths?

The data suggested that the opioid crisis was responsible for much of the increase in mortality over the study period. Acute substance-related deaths accounted for just 4% of deaths in 2008 but nearly 26.5% in 2023 — a more than sixfold rise. 

Analysis of public records from the LA Sheriff’s Department, the LA Department of the Medical Examiner, the California Department of Justice, and the LA County Office of the Inspector General showed that of in-jail deaths, people are 13% more likely to die of any cause compared to the general California population after adjusting for differences in age. 

Death from drug overdose was 50% more likely in the county jail, while death due to heart disease was 86% more likely. But the highest relative risk condition was a surprise — in the LA County Jail, people suffering from pulmonary embolisms were 1,109% more likely to die. The risk of death from gastrointestinal bleeding, septicemia and suicide was also higher in the county jail. However, for some chronic conditions, such as cancerous tumors, diabetes and liver disease, the likelihood of death was lower.

Suicide was among the most striking risks. After adjusting for age, the risk of suicide in the LA County Jail was nearly three times that of California’s population as a whole, and suicide accounted for 15% of the deaths examined in the study.

“People are dying of preventable deaths. We know that people going into jail tend to have poorer health to begin with, but our study shows that, even though in jail people are more likely to have diabetes, for example, they’re less likely to die of it in the LA County Jail than is the general public, which shows that when the jail system invests in healthcare, it can reduce mortality,” Shapiro said. “Stronger measures to prevent drugs from entering the LA County Jail is also needed.”

What the findings reveal

The authors’ findings suggest that jail restrictions on free movement have led to a sedentary lifestyle that contributes to heart disease and makes pulmonary embolisms more common, while stress, despair and loneliness drive substance use. Surprisingly, the findings also suggested that the county jail healthcare manages some chronic conditions, such as diabetes, as well as or better than being uninsured or low-income in the free world.

Researchers’ recommendations to combat deaths in jail

The data, according to the research team, suggests that among the best ways to improve the survival of people in jail are:

• Reducing the number of people in jail
• Improving medical care
• Reducing the influx of drugs 
• Shortening how long people stay in jail

Reducing jail time may be especially urgent for those still awaiting their day in court: more than two-thirds of the people who died had not been convicted of the charges for which they were being held, underscoring the potentially lethal consequences of lengthy pretrial detention.

“There are alternatives, such as diversion,” Shapiro said. “These programs reduce exposure to dangerous jail environments and keep the public safer through reduced recidivism and often cost much less than jailing.”

Additionally, the researchers posit that reducing these deaths from drug overdoses will require both keeping deadly substances out of the jails and expanding access to evidence-based treatment for substance use disorder, including medications for opioid use disorder.

In 2025, the LA County Jail reported 46 deaths, more than all but the highest year examined in the study, 2021, when COVID-19 deaths spiked.

“These deaths have not receded since the end of the pandemic and still maintain near record levels. This study can help LA County decide how to better invest in public health to prevent these losses of life,” Shapiro said.

How researchers studied in-jail deaths

The UCLA Carceral Ecologies Lab, which Shapiro directs, scraped websites and requested public records to compile a database of mortality data from 2008-2023. Public records data came from local and state agencies. Web scrapers collected publicly available data from the LA Department of the Medical Examiner website, and abstracted data from autopsies were obtained via a pay-per-record fee. Information on deaths in the LA County Jail was also linked to death certificates via the National Death Index.

Shapiro, his UCLA colleagues, including members of the UCLA Law Behind Bars Data Project, and co-authors at Yale and the University of Washington analyzed this data and compared it to nationwide mortality data produced by the Department of Justice and with mortality data for the wider US and California populations. They compared the age profiles and causes of death that occurred in the LA County Jail to national and state deaths.

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Journal

PLOS One

 

GLP-1 drug linked to heart benefits for high-risk patients

Findings from clinical practice will help inform shared decision making

BMJ Group

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Adding the GLP-1 receptor agonist drug tirzepatide (marketed as Mounjaro) to standard care for patients with type 2 diabetes and heart disease is associated with a lower risk of a major cardiovascular event, such as a heart attack or stroke, finds a study published by The BMJ today.

Randomised trials and observational studies have shown non-inferior effects of tirzepatide compared to another GLP-1 receptor agonist, dulaglutide, for major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) - a combined measure of heart attack, stroke, and death from any cause. But evidence on the effects of adding tirzepatide to standard care is more limited, resulting in uncertainty for both regulators and clinicians.

To address this, researchers analysed clinical practice data from two US health insurance claims databases between May 2022 and May 2025. They aimed to estimate the cardiovascular effects of adding tirzepatide to standard care for patients with type 2 diabetes, a body mass index of at least 25, and established heart disease by comparing the outcomes to sitagliptin, another diabetes drug.

Sitagliptin was chosen as a neutral placebo proxy based on several studies showing no effect on cardiovascular outcomes. 

The main outcome of interest was a reduction in MACE, which was monitored from the first day of treatment up to one year, or until the individual stopped or switched treatment, or disenrolled from the health plan.

Factors including age, sex, race, body mass index, previous heart problems, other chronic conditions, and medication use were taken into account, and a technique called propensity score overlap weighting was used to balance out differences between the two groups to draw more reliable conclusions.

A total of 52,971 individuals were included in the analysis (average age 70 years; 51% female), of whom 35,353 started tirzepatide and 17,618 started sitagliptin.

At one year, the risk of MACE was 2.9% in the tirzepatide group and 4.4% in the sitagliptin group (a 32% relative reduction), and the researchers estimate that for every 70 patients starting tirzepatide, one case of MACE would be prevented.

For individual MACE components, tirzepatide was associated with a 33% lower risk of heart attack compared with sitagliptin, whereas ischaemic stroke showed no meaningful difference. 

Infections requiring hospital admission were also lower with tirzepatide (one admission prevented for every 48 patients), as was infection related death (one death prevented for every 200 patients) and death from any cause (one death prevented for every 122 patients).

This is an observational study, but the researchers previously benchmarked their design, data, and analytics infrastructure against a randomised controlled trial before drawing conclusions about cause and effect.

They also acknowledge several limitations including a relatively short follow-up period, which may underestimate long term cardiovascular and safety effects, possible misclassification of treatment duration or outcomes, and findings may not apply to other healthcare systems or patients without established cardiovascular disease.

However, they conclude: “This study shows how trial-anchored evidence from clinical practice can estimate the expected cardiovascular benefit of initiating tirzepatide beyond standard background treatment and inform shared decision making.”

A linked editorial notes that while this study provides an important, transparent estimate of what initiating tirzepatide might achieve in routine care, it does not establish a mortality indication or define the best sequence for cardiometabolic therapy.

The authors say longer follow-up, randomised and pragmatic comparisons, and more studies of additive benefit on contemporary background treatment are needed. Furthermore, cardiovascular efficacy cannot benefit a population if cost, authorisation barriers, supply, and discontinuation prevent sustained treatment, they add.

As such, they conclude: “The signal is compelling; the causal and clinical placement questions remain open.”

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Journal

The BMJ

DOI

10.1136/bmj-2026-100011 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Tirzepatide and the risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular events: population based cohort study

Article Publication Date

5-Aug-2026

COI Statement

All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form at www.icmje.org/disclosure-of-interest/ and declare: support from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the German Heart Foundation for the submitted work. NK reports support from the German Heart Foundation for the submitted work. SVW reports grants or contracts to Brigham and Women’s Hospital from the Food and Drug Administration and NIH; personal consulting fees from Cytel, Exponent, and MITRE, a Federally Funded Research and Development Center for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, for unrelated work; SS reports grants or contracts to the Brigham and Women’s Hospital institution from the Food and Drug Administration and NIH, Boehringer Ingelheim, Takeda, and UCB, and consulting fees from Aetion for unrelated work.