Journal of Water and Soil Science
Year:2007 | Volume:11 | Issue:40 (A)|Papers Count:23

Sedimentation and consolidation of cohesive sediments near the dam body can cause many problems such as clogging the bottom outlets and entering the sediments into the hydropower intakes. Flushing of these sediments through the bottom outlet will be successful only if the hydraulic conditions are designed according to the physical and mechanical properties of consolidated sediments. During the past decades many researches have been conducted on the distribution of non cohesive sediments in the reservoir, yet little information is available for cohesive sediments. Therefore the main purpose of this study is to conduct a physical model study to investigate the process of sedimentation and consolidation of cohesive sediments in the dam reservoir. The experimental tests were conducted in a settling column test with a height of 3.8 m and diameter of 0.3m. The sediment samples were collected from the Dez dam reservoir since it is predicted that in less than 5 years the sediment will reach to such an elevation that can enter into the hydropower intakes. The obtained results show that there is an algorithmic relationship between the time and changing of the sediment concentration during the sedimentation and self-weight consolidation processes. This process can be divided into four separate phases. It is also of note that in this paper the effective stress-void ratio and coefficient of permeability – void ratio relationship were obtained as a power relationship, which are in agreement with the results obtained by other investigators. These relationships can be used as primary data in the mathematical model of sedimentation and consolidation.

Poor performance of irrigation canals and its effect on decreasing of Agricultural water productivity require attention for their improvement. In this paper a new mathematical model is introduced which could present optimal operation considering downstream requirements of turnouts, canal inlet flow, actual constraints and real conditions of canal system. Four performance indicators of delivery including efficiency, adequacy, equity and stability are considered as an objective function in the process of optimization. Since this objective function is an implicit function of decision variables (regulation of turnouts and control structures) and hydraulic parameters, it is necessary to implement hydrodynamic model, using numerical optimization methods. SA (Simulated Annealing) technique is a numerical meta – heuristic intelligent search method which is used in combination with a hydrodynamic model (ICSS) (Irrigation Conveyance System Simulation.) for performance optimization of canal system. Theoretically it is proven that SA technique is capable of tending towards global optimum solution asymptotically. Taking short random steps in SA algorithm guarantees avoiding instability in hydrodynamic model. The developed model has been applied on E1R1 Distributaries canal of Dez irrigation network for ten days. The results indicated that optimal performance improved very well in comparison with the present situation. In this model the weighting coefficients of indicators are determined using sensitivity analysis in optimization process. Consistency test on the derived coefficients shows that proposed method is appropriate. Applying weighting coefficients for performance indicators in the processes of optimization has resulted in 7 to 21 percent improvement compared to the case of equal weighting coefficients. Also, the results indicate that the developed model (ICSS-DOM) (ICSS-Delivery Optimization Model) is an efficient tool for the evaluation and optimization of irrigation canal performance, producing good and valid results in a relatively short and suitable time.

The potential of artificial neural network models for simulating the hydrologic behaviour of catchments is presented in this paper. The main purpose is the modeling of river flow in a multi-gauging station catchments and real time prediction of peak flow downstream. The study area covers the Upper Derwent River catchments located in River Trent basin. The river flow has been predicted (at Whatstandwell gauging station) using upstream measured data. Three types of ANN were used for this application: Multi-layer perceptron, Recurrent and Time lag recurrent neural networks. Data with different lengths (1 month, 6 months and 3 years) have been used, and flow with 3, 6, 9 and 12 hours lead-time has been predicted. In general, although ANN shows a good capability to model river flow and predict downstream discharge by using only upstream flow data, however, the type of ANN as well as the characteristics of the training data was found as very important factors affecting the efficiency of the results.

A computer model (SprinklerMod) was developed to simulate hydraulics of sprinkler irrigation systems. The objective of this paper is to describe mathematical background of this model for simulating pressures and discharges of sprinklers along the laterals. The model is capable of designing two types of laterals: laterals with fixed sprinklers and laterals with portable sprinklers. The model shows the simulation results in the forms of tables and graphs. Laterals with one or two diameters on uniform or non-uniform slopes can be designed. The model provides graphical presentation of percentage of sprinkler pressure variations for different lateral inside diameters. The Hazen- Williams equation was used for the calculation of friction losses. The required input parameters for lateral simulation are lateral type, desired sprinkler operating discharge and pressure head, spacing between sprinklers, distance of first sprinkler from lateral inlet, number of sprinklers operating on the lateral, riser height, Hazen- Williams's pipe friction coefficient and lateral longitudinal slope or field elevations at each of the sprinklers on the lateral. Laterals are simulated such that average sprinkler pressures and discharges become equal to the values requested by the designer. Iterative procedures were implemented to simulate sprinkler pressures and discharges on laterals and the Newton- Raphson iterative method was used for calculating pressure of each of the sprinklers on the laterals with portable sprinklers. In order to evaluate the model, some example results of the model were compared with classical design results. Since there is no formula for the calculation of the required lateral inlet pressure in classical design of laterals with portable sprinklers in the scientific references, a new formula was developed. Averages of absolute percentage of variations of lateral inlet pressures for laterals with fixed sprinklers and with one or two-size diameters ranged from 0.3 to 0.7 percent, respectively. This value for laterals with portable sprinklers was 0.1 percent.

Certain microorganisms in soil have phosphate solubilizing ability. Phosphorus has an important role in plant nutrition and N2 fixation in legumes. The interactive effect of three phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB) and Bradyrhizobium japonicum on yield and N, P, K uptake and nodulation of soybean root (Glycin max L. CV. Harcor) was studied under greenhouse conditions. In greenhouse experiment treatments consisted of a factorial combination of four levels of PSB (without PSB M0, Pseudomonas putida M1, Aeromonas hydrophila M2, Pseudomonas fluorescens M3) and two levels of B. japonicum (without bacterium B0 and with bacterium B1) and three levels of P (P0 = 0 , P1=29, P2 = 58 mg triple superphosphate/Kg soil) in a randomized complete block design with four replications. At harvest, shoot dry weight, seed weight, nodule number, dry and fresh weight of nodules and concentrations of N, P, K in shoot dry matter were measured. PSB significantly increased shoot dry weight, N, P, K concentrations in shoot, fresh and dry weight and number of root nodules. B. japonicum had positive significant effect on these parameters as well as on seed weight. Dual inoculation of plants with PSB and B.japonicum had significant effect on shoot dry weight, P and N concentrations in shoot. Increasing phosphorus levels significantly increased plant dry weight, shoot P concentration and seed weight. Highest P concentration in shoot was obtained at P2 level but in plants inoculated with P.putida, dry weight at P1 level was not significantly different from P2 level.

In Iran, fertilizers are mainly applied directly to soil. In such conditions, the yield and fertilizer use efficiency are usually low. The simultaneous application of fertilizers and irrigation water (fertigation) is an appropriate alternative to increase the efficiency of applied water and fertilizers. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of various irrigation and fertilizer amounts on efficiency of applied fertilizers when used as fertigation in a Tape irrigation system. A field experiment was carried out with sunflower as a completely randomized design with 20 treatments and 3 replicates. The fertilizers were applied by fertigation. Four levels of the water (60, 80, 100 and 120% treatments I1 to I4) and five rates of the recommended fertilizers (0, 60, 80, 100, and 120% treatments F0 to F4) were applied. The recommended amounts consisted of 400 kg CO(NH2)2, 50 kg KCl, 30 kg FeSO4, 30 kg MnSO4, 50 kg ZnSO4, 30 kg CuSO4, and 30 kg H3BO3 per ha. Tape irrigation was used for every treatment. The results indicated that in fertigation method, there were significant differences (P£0.01) in fertilizer use efficiency (FUE) for the total dry matter and grain yield between treatments. The results showed that by increasing applied water, fertilizer use efficiency was increased and affected by fertilizers treatments. Thus due to higher availability of nutrients, fertilizer use efficiency increased. Was Fertilizer use efficiency also decreased by increasing fertilizer rate. The results also demonstrated there were significant differences in all the treatments. The results showed that fertilizer use efficiency of K is higher than N and N is higher than P.

Evaluating agricultural land management practices requires a thorough knowledge of soil spatial variability and understanding their relationships. This study was conducted at a traditionally operated wheat field in Sorkhankalateh district, located about 25 km northeast of Gorgan, in Golestan province, Iran. Soil samples of the 0-30 cm depth were collected right after planting at the end of autumn 2004 , 100 × 180m plot in a nested grid pattern (n=101). A 1 m2 plot of wheat was harvested at each of 101 sites previously sampled at the end of spring. Statistical results showed that frequency distribution of all data was normal. The highest and lowest CV was related to grain yield (20.40%) and pH (0.59%) respectively. Variogram analysis showed that all parameters had spatial structure and the range values showed considerable variability among the measured parameters. The ranges of spatial dependence showed a variation from 23.99m for total N up to 93.92m for K. Among the parameters, total N and ESP had stronger spatial dependence while P had the lower spatial dependence. Interpolated maps of Kriging demonstrated that crop and soil properties did not have a random pattern but had a spatial distribution. The spatial distribution of total N was similar to organic matter and also there was similarity between spatial distribution of harvest index and available P. The results demonstrated that, the spatial distribution and spatial dependence level of soil properties can be different even within similarly managed farms. Variography and Kriging can be useful tools for designing soil sampling strategies, characterizing management zones and variable application rates of inputs in the precision agriculture.

Improper use of natural resources, especially soil, causes its degradation and severe soil erosion. Water erosion is an important factor causing soil degradation. Land use change of pasture would result in severe soil erosion mainly due to the reduction of vegetation cover and also surface soil disturbance. The objectives of this study were to estimate the amount of sediment, runoff and nutrient loss in four different land uses including a pasture with good vegetation cover (> 20%), a pasture with poor vegetation cover (< 10%), a currently being used dryland farm and a degraded dryland farm which is not used. Soil samples were taken from the depth of 0–10 cm in a completely randomized design with four replications. A rainfall simulator was run for two hours to estimate the amount of sediment, runoff and nutrient loss. Organic matter, total N, available P and distribution of particles size in soil and sediment were measured. The results showed that a very high degradation has occurred in the area mostly due to water erosion created as a result of overgrazing in pasture, susceptibility of geological formations and more importantly, the change of land use pasture to inefficient dryland farming. Maximum and minimum runoff was observed in the abandoned dry landfarm and pasture with good vegetation cover, respectively. Maximum sediment content was observed in dryland farm. Sediment content in dryland farm, abandoned dry landfarm and pasture with poor vegetation cover were 54.5, 21 and 10.4 times more than that in the pasture with good vegetation cover, respectively. Enrichment ratio (ER) of soil particles in sediment was highest for fine silt (2-56m), followed by clay. A minimum of ER was obtained for sand fraction. Percentages of organic matter, total N and available P in sediment were higher in the first hour as compared to the second one. This is mainly due to the fact that fine particles are removed at the beginnings of the rainfall event. Total removal of these chemical factors was highest in dryland, intermediate in pasture with poor vegetation cover and bandoned dryland and lowest in pasture with good vegetation cover. In general, cultivation and disturbance of the pasture in the area land have caused a great decrease in soil quality and made the surface very sensitive to erosion.

A 4x4 factorial experiment with a completely randomized design with three replications was conducted separately on two major pistachio varieties, Ohady and Kaleghoochy, to investigate the effects of shaking amplitude and frequency on pistachio nut and cluster detachment. Four levels of shaking frequencies used for Ohady were 5, 7.5, 10 and 12.5 Hz, while those of Kaleghoochy were 7.5, 10, 12.5 and 15 Hz. Four levels of shaking amplitude for Ohady were 20, 40, 60 and 80 mm, while those of the Kaleghoochy were 40, 60, 80 and 100 mm. Analysis of variance and mean comparison showed that the effects of shaking amplitude and frequency on pistachio nut and cluster detachment were significant on both varieties. It was found that in Ohady, at frequency of 12.5 Hz and amplitude of 80 mm, the maximum effective nut detachment occurred. But considering the need to limit both yield loss and limb damage to 5% and minimizing the power requirement of the limb shaker, applying shaking amplitude of 60 mm and frequency of 10 Hz, which detaches 95% of the nuts, is considered as the most suitable combination of shaking amplitude and frequency. Also, at amplitude of 80 mm and frequency of 12.5 Hz, the highest percentage of cluster detachment occurred. Here again, by considering limb damage and power requirement, applying shaking frequency of 12.5 Hz at 60 mm amplitude with 69% cluster detachment was selected as the most suitable combination. In Kaleghoochi, at amplitude of 100 mm and frequency of 15 Hz, nut detachment was 100%, while the need to limit limb damage and power consumption, the combination of 60 mm amplitude and 15 Hz frequency with 97.2% nut detachment was selected as the most suitable one. For cluster harvesting of Kaleghoochy, shaking amplitudes of 60 and 40 mm and frequency of 12.5 Hz with cluster detachment of 75 and 69 percent respectively were selected as the most suitable ones. The average ratio of tensile force required for removing pistachio nut to its weight (F/W), and the ratio of tensile force required for removing pistachio cluster to its weight (V/W), which could be considered as an index of ease of detachment, were measured 6.2 and 37 for Ohady and 9 and 37.8 for Kaleghoochy, respectively. Finally, we may conclude that by applying the suitable combination of shaking amplitude and frequency, shake harvesting of pistachio could be practiced successfully.

Tractive efficiency and fuel consumption of Massey Ferguson (MF399) and John Deere (JD 4230) tractors during plowing with moldboard plow were evaluated and compared. The tests were conducted at the Experimental Station, College of Agriculture, Shiraz University, in a field with sandy clay soil at average moisture content of 18% d. b. from zero to 30 cm depth. A randomized complete block design with a 4× 3 factorial was used in three replications. The treatments consisted of two types of tractors, MF399 and JD 4230, each at two levels of axle load (standard and liquid ballasted) and three levels of plowing depth, shallow (15-20 cm), medium (20-25 cm) and deep (25-30 cm) using a semi-mounted 4-bottom moldboard plow. In all treatments, the tractor engine speed was set at rated rpm (2000 and 2200 for MF399 and JD 4230, respectively) and forward speed was kept constant at about 4.5±5 km/hr. The measured and calculated parameters included: drawbar pull, rolling resistance, wheel slip, tractive efficiency and fuel consumption. The results indicated that tractive efficiency of MF 399 in deep plowing increased from 36.5% to 53% with ballasting the drive wheels, even though the improved traction was not comparable to that of JD 4230 (64%) at the same plowing depth. However, at ballasted condition it is comparable to JD 4230 at shallow and medium depth plowing due to its lower fuel consumption. Using ballasted JD 4230 for shallow depth plowing is not economically justified due to the excessive fuel consumption and may cause soil compaction due to the lower than optimum wheel slippage. Generally, using MF399 is recommended for lower draft and JD 4230 for higher draft tillage operations. Otherwise, MF399 will encounter severe reduction in tractive efficiency and excessive increase in fuel consumption and JD 4230 will cause soil compaction.

Boston fern (Nephrolepis exaltata Schott cv. Bostoniensis) is an ornamental foliage plant considered today as one of the most marketable indoor pot plants. Due to the restriction of conventional propagation methods, mass propagation of this plant has increased through in vitro culture techniques. In the present study an attempt has been made to achieve the best medium for runner tip culture of Nephrolepis. At first, runner tips were disinfected by using 15% commercial bleach (5.25 % sodium hypochlorite) for 15 minutes. After that, explants were inoculated on 12 different initiation media using two concentrations of Murashige and Skoog (MS) mineral salts (1/2 MS and 1/4 MS), two concentrations of sucrose (20 or 30 g/l) and three concentrations of benzyladenine (BA), (2, 1 and 0.5 mg/l). The experiments were conducted in factorial arrangements in a completely randomized design with 4 replications. The number and height of shoots were measured after 6 weeks. During the experiment period, quality characters and time of leaf perimordia emergence and green globular body (GGB) formation were measured. The highest number of shoots with low height was achieved in media consisting half concentrations of MS mineral salts, 30 or 20 g/l sucrose and 1 or 2 mg/l BA. GGB formation also occured on media consisting 1 and 2 mg/l BA at all treatments. Microscopic investigations of GGB showed that they contain adventitious buds. Medium, containing ½ MS, 20 g/l sucrose and 1 mg/l BA was found to be the best.

Understanding the nitrogen remobilization by plant, in order to obtain cultivars with higher quality has specific importance in plant physiology. In this experiment, bread and a durum wheat cultivar, were treated with different rates and times of nitrogen application, by using split factorial on the basis of randomized complete block design with three replications at Shiraz region during 2001-2002. Main plots consisted of two levels of cultivars (Falat and Yavaros) and sub plots included nitrogen (40, 80 and 160 (kg ha-1) and times of nitrogen application (T1= all N fertilizer at planting, T2= 1/2 at planting + 1/2 during stem elongation and T3= 1/3 at planting + 1/3 during stem elongation + 1/3 at heading stage). The results showed that there was a significant difference between cultivars in flag leaf nitrogen content at maturity stage, N remobilization and its efficiency from flag leaf to grains and also grain protein percentage. Durum wheat was more efficient in nitrogen remobilization and therefore, had a higher grain protein percentage. Increase in rates and times of nitrogen application had significant effect on most of the measured traits. There were significant interactions between cultivars, rates and times of N application, indicating that durum wheat was more efficient in N remobilization from flag leaf to the grain. It appeared that N remobilization efficiency was the important factor affecting the grain protein percentage. Also increases in yield are associated with corresponding decreases in wheat protein.

Half diallel crosses of nine Iranian wheat cultivars were used to estimate the general and specific combining ability effects and other genetic parameters related to yield and its components. Parents with F2 generations were evaluated at Research Farm, College of Agriculture, University of Shahrekord, in a randomized complete block design with 3 replications. Partitioning of genotypes mean squares to GCA and SCA mean squares based on Griffing’s method 2 and mixed model indicated high significant differences among cultivars in their GCA values for all traits. There were significant differences among crosses in their SCA values for all traits except for flag leaf length, main spike length, plant height and grain yield per plant. The high ratio of GCA to SCA mean squares implied the importance of additive gene effects in the appearance of flag leaf length, main spike length, plant height and grain yield per plant. For flag leaf width, grain number per main spike and peduncle length, the contributions of additive gene effects and for peduncle weight, the contributions of non- additive gene effects were higher. According to the estimates of average degree of dominance, the gene actions for flag leaf length, flag leaf width, plant height, grain yield per plant, main spike length, peduncle length and peduncle weight were partial dominance. The GCA effects indicated that Sefid – Aliabad cultivar was the suitable general combiner for flag leaf length, flag leaf width, plant height, grain yield per plant , main spike length and peduncle length.

The effects of Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) varieties, and sowing dates on weed interference were investigated in a 2- year (2002-3 and 2003-4 growing season) field experiment in Agricultural Research Station of Kohdasht in Lorestan Province. The experimental design was a randomized complete block in factorial arrangement with 3 replications. The experiment had 3 factors: weed interference at 2 levels (weed free, and weed infested throughout the total growing season), planting date at 3 levels (autumn, winter, and spring) and Chickpea varieties at 3 levels (ILC482, Hasham, and Greet). Weed density in autumn sowing plots was more than 3 and 7 times greater in autumn chickpea than in winter and spring sowing plots, respectively. Weed biomass in autumn sowing was 2.5 times as much as winter or spring sowing. Wild safflower and volunteer barley were the most frequent among the weed species. Volunteer barley was mainly present in autumn and winter planting dates. Wild safflower was among the weed species that in addition to competition caused much difficulty to chickpea harvesting. Based on the hyperbolic curve fitted to the data, Chickpea maximum biomass reduction due to weed competition was estimated to be 91.8 %.

Inheritance of physiologicaly related salt tolerance traits including Na+ and K+ contents, K+/Na+ ratio of young leaves and biological yield (BY) in six basic generations (P1, P2, F1, F2, Bc1 and Bc2) and their reciprocal crosses derived from crosses between Kharchia × Niknejad and Shorawaki × Niknejad were studied in sand culture under high salinity treatment (EC = 22.5 dS m-1). Generation means analysis indicated that a simple genetic model (including additive and dominance effects) is sufficient for Na+ and BY in Kharchia × Niknejad cross and for Na+, K+/Na+ ratio and BY in Shorawaki × Niknejad cross but, for other traits digenic interactions (additive × additive and dominance × dominance) were important parameters in the expression of salt tolerance of the various generations. Dominance genetic effects were predominant genetic components in most of the models. Weighted generation variances analysis suggested that dominance variance component was more important for Na+ and K+ content in both crosses. This result was confirmed by significant differences between back cross generations. Results also showed negligible dominance for K+/Na+ ratio in both crosses, multidirectional dominance for BY in Kharchia × Niknejad cross and absence of dominance gene action in Shorawaki × Niknejad. Kharchia × Niknejad cross showed, in general, more genetic variation, broad-and narrow sense heritabilities than Shorawaki × Niknejad cross, indicating the important role of primary differences between parents. These results revealed that recurrent selection followed by pedigree breeding or a selective diallel mating system may prove useful in improving salinity tolerance of wheat plants. The involvement of dominance × dominance interactions for some traits indicates that it is necessary to postpone selection for salt tolerance of wheat to advanced generations, when sufficient epistatic interactions have become fixed.

The influence of Nitrogen (N) rates on mineral nutrient uptake in stem and seeds, proline and carbohydrate in flag leaves of Wheat (Triticum aestivum L. Var Chamran) under saline conditions was studied in a field experiment in 2003 and 2004. The experiment was conducted using a split plot design with three replications. The treatments comprised five levels of salinity: 1.5, 5, 10, 15 and 20 ds/m in main plot and three nitrogen levels: 50, 100 and 150 kg N/ha in sub plot. Salinity treatments were applied in a clay–loam soil by water with NaCl and CaCl2 (5:1 by wt). The results showed, the nutrient uptake was influenced by both salinity and N treatments. With the Exception of magnesium in seed, salinity increased nitrogen, calcium and magnesium concentrations in seed and stem in both years. By increasing salinity levels, the concentration of potassium in stem and seed decreased and Sodium concentration increased. In the stem the concentration of Sodium in the 20 ds/m was about 17 and 22 times more in the first and second year, respectively. In these experiments, by increasing salinity and nitrogen treatments, proline concentration in flag leaves increased in the two stages (flowering and milky stages) in both years. Salinity had similar effect on carbohydrate accumulation in both stages, but nitrogen treatment had two different effects on carohydrate concentration. In flowering stage, by increasing nitrogen application, carohydrate concentration increased but in milky stage decreased.

Sainfoin in believed as an important forage crop regarding its suitable agronomical characteristics and feeding livestock. Evaluation of general combining ability is a critical preliminary stage before selection of suitable parent and production of synthetic varieties. Thirty six sainfoin landraces which have been collected from different parts of Iran were grown in 2000 in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with 24 replications as a polycross nursery. The resulting polycrosses were sown in 2001 in a triple lattice design. Characters such as fresh forage yield per plot based on unit length, fresh forage yield per plant, and dry forage yield for each cutting stage and for the whole season were measured. Also a yield index for the two first cuttings and forage palatability for the second cutting were determined.Results showed that there was no significant difference between partial blocks within each replication and therefore data was analyzed based on RCBD. High heritability was observed for forage palatability, yield index, and fresh forage yield per plant. So selection can be made to improve forage yield and palatibility in sainfoin. In terms of general combining ability, six landraces for fresh forage yield, six landraces for dry forage yield, nine landraces for yield index, and ten landraces for palatibility showed high estimates. The lanraces having highest amounts of general combining ability for each variable can be used as suitable parents to produce synthetic varieties of sainfoin.

Sesame is an annual self-pollinated plant with a high seed oil and protein content. It is considered as an oilseed plant for human consumption. For a breeding purpore, quantitative and qualitative characteristics of seed total protein of different sesame varieties (Oltan, Zoodras, Yekta, Hendi, Varamin, Chini, Karaj 1, Moghan local, Nazok tak sakheh and Nazok chand shakheh) were evaluated. Protein extracts were analysed using Kejeldal and gel electrophoresis methods.Total average of 24.02% was observed for seed protein content of all varieties. Analysis of varieties revealed a significant variation at (p < 0.01) between varieties. The profile of seed storage proteins had a relative mobility from 0.20 to 0.94. The observed bands varied in intensity and scattered in three zones of the gel. All bands were monomorphic and no variation was observed between the varieties. It was concluded that this characteristic does not carry the necessary value for breeding purposes.

It is necessary to use organic fertilizers and decrease chemical fertilizers consumption to reach sustainable agriculture. Thus, to study the effects of manure incorporation methods, and integrated effects of poultry manure with chemical fertilizers on the grain yield and yield components of maize, an experiment was conducted in 2004 at the Agricultural Research Farm of Lorestan Weather Department, 30 kms northeast of Khorramabad. The treatments were arranged in a split plot layout based on randomized complete block design with four replications. The main plots consisted of incorporation of fertilizer with soil by furrower or disk. The subplots included T0: control (no consumption of fertilizer and poultry manure); T1: 200, 100, and 100 kg ha-1 of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, respectively; T2: 80% of T1+ 4 ton ha-1 of poultry manure; T3: 60% of T1+ 8 ton ha-1 of poultry manure; T4: 40% of T1+ 12 ton ha-1of poultry manure; T5: 20% of T1+ 16 ton ha-1 of poultry manure; and T6: 20 ton ha-1 of poultry manure. The results showed that incorporation of fertilizer by furrower, compared with disk, led to significant increase in plant height, 1000 seed weight and grain and biological yields. However, there were not significant differences in the number of seed per ear and harvest index between the two fertilizer incorporation methods. Fertilizer treatments caused significant increase of the treats mentioned except for the harvest index. The interaction effects were not significant for any traits. T5 treatment produced the highest grain yield, and was significantly different from T0, T1, T3 and T6 treatments. The differences between T1 (chemical nutrition system) and T6 (organic nutrition system) were not significant either. Effectiveness of integrated poultry manure and chemical fertilizers on maize yield components was higher than either poultry manure or chemical fertilizer. The results of this experiment indicated that incorporation of 16 ton poultry manure + 40, 20 and 20 kg ha-1 N, P and K with furrower might be appropriate for maize prodution under conditions similar to this experiment.

To determine the effects of different intensities of leaf removal at different reproduction stages of sunflower on seed yield and oil percentage, and the most sensitive stages to defoliation, an experiment was carried out by split-spilt plot design in randomized complete block with 3 replications at research farm, College of Agric. Urmia University, in 2004.The main factor, sub factor and sub-sub factor in our experiment were: 1. two cultivars, Uroflor and Alstar, 2. defoliation at four reproduction stages, star shape of inflorescence (R2), pollination stage (R5), seed setting initiation (R6) and final period of seed setting (R7), and 3. four defoliation intensities ( 0% as an undefoliated control, 25%, 50% and 75% ). Seeding was accomplished on May 23. Average triple factor interactions verified that different defoliations at R2 stage have significantly reduced seed yield and oil percentage of both Uroflor and Alstar cultivars. Out of this reduction, 75 percent defoliation at R2 was the most, while at R5 and R6 stages 50 and 75 defoliation caused significant reduction on seed yield in comparison with control. At R7 stage different defoliations had no significant effect on seed yield of Uroflor cultivar, while, on Alstar cultivar, 75 percent defoliation at R7 stage caused significant difference in relation to control. Also average triple interaction among factors showed that none of defoliation percentages had significant effect on oil percentage. In view of the fact that, seed development and filling occurred after defoliation at R2 and R5 , the most variation resulted from defoliation of valued traits like number of filled seed per head and weight of 1000 seeds, observed at R2 and R5 stages and consequently reduced seed and oil yields. On the bases of this experiment it could be concluded that sunflower cultivation with losses of 50 and 75 percent will be economically unprofitable and it will be more desirable to replace it with any other suitable crop in the region.