Journal of Water and Soil Science
Year:2007 | Volume:10 | Issue:4 (A)|Papers Count:23

In this paper, the effect of irrigation water salinity levels on seed germination, dry matter weight of seedlings at eight leave stage, and the salt tolerance of 8 rapeseed cultivars was investigated. Relative yield reduction in saline and non saline conditions, salt sensitivity index and Van Genuchten-Hoffman methods were used to determine the salt tolerance of the cultivars. Results showed that the effect of different salt levels, cultivars and their interactions on germination and dry matter weight of seedlings was significant at 0.01 (the higher the salt level, the lower the germination and dry matter). Also, using the Van Genuchten-Hoffman method, the irrigation water salinity corresponding to 10%, 25%, 50% and 90% reducts in germination and dry matter of seedlings were determined. Statistical analysis showed that a single cultivar gives different responses to salinity during growth stages; and it may be tolerant in one stage, but sensitive to salinity in another growth stage. In this research, ACSN1, Falcon, and Shirali in germination stage and ACSN1, Falcon, and Cobra in seedling growth stage were salt tolerant. The three cultivars Oyerka, Global, and Ceres and the next three Shirali, Global, and Oyerka were sensitive to salinity in germination and seedling growth stages, respectively. Finally, the ACSN1 and Falcon cultivars were introduced as salt tolerant, and Oyerka and Global were considered as salt sensitive.

Improper management of watershed land utilization has many ill effects on the available resources. Land use optimization is one of the proper strategies to achieve sustainable development and to reduce resource dissipation. Focusing on Brimvand watershed in Kermanshah province which comprises an area of 9572 ha, the present study was conducted to find out the most suitable land allocation to different land uses viz. garden, irrigated farming, dry farming and rangeland to achieve soil erosion minimization and benefit maximization. The soil erosion, net benefit and standard land capability maps were supposed as the inputs of the objective functions and to defined constraints. The multi-objective linear problem was then solved using simplex method with the help of ADBASE software package and ultimately the optimal solution was gained. Additionally, the results of the study revealed that the amount of soil erosion-could reduce by 7.78% whereas the benefit increases at the rate of 118.62%, in case of implementation of optimal solution. The above mentioned optimization led to dry farming decrease and garden increase over that area. The results of sensitivity analysis also showed that objective functions were strongly susceptible to the variation of maximum constraint of irrigated farming and garden areas.

Increased chemical compounds in soil are the most important results of irrigation with domestic wastewater and treated effluents which contain some nutrients such as phosphorous (P). This process could increase the soil fertility, leading to the decrease of chemical nutrient consumption and consequently the cost of agricultural production. A research project was carried out in Tehran region for two years in order to investigate the capabilities of soil and plant in absorption and storage of wastewater contaminants, namely, phosphorous, and also the transmission of them to drain depth as a result of irrigation practice. To do the research, a series of lysimeters based on a statistical factorial experiment in the form of randomized complete design (3x3x3) were used. Raw and treated domestic wastewater, obtained from Ekbatan Housing Complex, and well water (control) were used to irrigate raw edible vegetables including parsley, carrot and tomato. The results showed that the amount of phosphorous leaching through soil to drain depth was between 0.90% and 3.56%, and between 1.03% and 4.15% of the phosphorous concentration in raw wastewater and treated one entered into the soil, respectively. Also, mass balance analyses showed the average phosphorous reduction ranged from 97.2% to 99.9% of the phosphorous entered with wastewater. During two years of study, the maximum concentration of £04 measured in drained water was about 0.21 mg/L obtained from lysimeters irrigated with raw wastewater. This was much lower than the permissible P04 amount for discharging the effluents to the surface water resources (6 mg/L P04 is permitted by Iranian Environmental Protection Organization).

Irrigation water Scarcity is the major limiting factor for crop production in irrigated fanning. Therefore; optimal use of water is influenced by seasonal rainfall especially where the water price is high. Nitrogen also plays a key role in plant nutrition. In this study, wheat grain yield production as a function of applied water (irrigation plus seasonal rainfall) and nitrogen fertilizer (applied plus soil residual nitrogen) using existing data of a field experiment, were used. This function was obtained based on the data from the Maraghah Agricultural Experiment station. Based on this production function, maximum attainable yield can be 8.12 t/ha obtained by the consumption of 1.56 m of water (irrigation plus rainfall) and 193kg/ha of nitrogen. An economic analysis based on the Iso-Quant curve was conducted to optimize the application rates of production inputs (water and nitrogen). When land is limited, the optimum water and nitrogen use will be based on maximizing net returns from land unit area. The optimal levels of theseinputs were determined on the basis of farmer ability for paying the costs of water and nitrogen. Furthermore, optimum amounts of water and nitrogen were determined for different levels of wheat yield. The results indicated that despite low price of irrigation water and nitrogen fertilizer, at present market value, optimum values of water were more variable than those of nitrogen, for its high effective role in wheat production. The results also indicated that when there is no limitation of the source and use of water and nitrogen, and farmers are also able to pay their costs, application of 1.47 m of water (irrigation plus rainfall) and 190kg/ha of nitrogen (applied plus soil residual) will produce maximum profit per hectare, reaching Rls 12,207, 506.When water is limited, optimum levels of water and nitrogen will be based on the maximizing profit per unit of water. In this analysis, the use of 0.556 m of water (irrigation plus rainfall) and 190 kg/ha of nitrogen (applied plus soil residual) resulted in maximum net income per unit of applied water (irrigation plus rainfall) amounting to Rls/m3 1203. This amount of water use, which is 64.4 % lower than its amount under maximum yield condition, resulted in 181 % increase of cultivated area. Graphic expansion path on the isolines of yield showed more dependence of wheat production on water than nitrogen. Therefore, the optimum amounts of nitrogen in the three mentioned conditions are close to each other due to its subsidized price and lower effect on wheat production relative to water.

A field study was conducted at the Zabol Agricultural Research Center during the years (2003-2004) to investigate the effect of irrigation with treated municipal wastewater on the yield and quality of wheat and some soil properties. Irrigation treatments were: T1: Irrigation of wheat with well water during entire period of growing season; T2: Irrigation of wheat with well water until the begging of flowering stage, and irrigation with wastewater in every other turns of irrigation; T3: Irrigation of wheat with well water until the beginning of booting stage, and irrigation with wastewater in every other turns of irrigation; T4: Irrigation of wheat with well water until the begging of tilling stage, and irrigation with waste water in every other turns of irrigation; and T5: Irrigation of wheat with wastewater during entire period of growing season. A complete randornized block design with four replications was adopted for this experiment. The soil was sandy loam with no limitation for internal drainage. Chemical and physical aspects of soil were measured during the experiment. Grain yield, yield components and chemical composition of wheat grain were also measured. The results showed that yield of wheat and total biomass production were statistically significant in T3, T4 and T5 compared with the control treatment. Plant height, width and length of flag leaf, numbers of fertile tillers, length of panicle, numbers of grains per panicle and weight of 1000 grains were also statistically significant with the control treatment. Percentages of protein were statistically different among various irrigation treatments. No significant changes in accumulation of heavy metals in soil and plant grains were observed. The increase of SAR, ECe, O.C% and total nitrogen in the T4 and T5 were statistical significant compared with the control treatrnent. In summary, for sustainable use of Zabol municipal wastewater, the growth stages of wheat should be irrigated with municipal waste water and other growth stages should be irrigated with nonsalinty water, so that the maximum yield is obtained and soil salinitisation and sodication is prevented.

Heavy metals including cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) are entering agricultural soils from different routes and mainly due to human activities. Accumlulated Cd and Pb in the soil would eventually enter the human and animal food chains and pose threat to their health. Therefore, evaluating heavy metal accumulation is necessary to prevent soil and environmental pollutions and should be considered by researchers as well as policy makers. This study was conducted to model the accumulation rates of Cd and Pb in the agro-ecosystems of Isfahan, Mobarakeh, Lenjan, Borkhar, Najafabad, Khomeinishahr and Felavarjan. Cadmium and lead accumulation rates in the agro-ecosystems were computed using a stochastic mass balance model which uses Latin Hypercube sampling in combination with Monte- Carlo simulation procedure. Agricultural information including crop types, crop area and yield, the type and the number of livestock, application rate of mineral fertilizers, compost and sewage sludge and also metal concentration in plant and amendments were used to quantify Cd and Pb accumulation rates. Modeling Cd and Pb accumulation rates indicated that the metals are accumulating in the agricultural lands in the studied townships. The largest Cd (18 g ha-1 yr-1) and Pb (260 g ha-1 yr-1) accumulating rates were found in the township of isfahan but the minimum accumulation rates were found in township of Lenjan for Cd (3 g ha-1 yr-1) and Mobarakeh for Pb (10 g ha-1 yr-1). The major input route to agricultural soils is phosphate fertilizers for Cd but for Pb is manure on the regional scale. High application rates of sewage sludge and compost in agricultural lands in the township of Isfahan could result in considerable amounts of Cd and Pb entering the soils of this region.

In Iran, the development of cultivated areas becomes gradually impossible due to ever-increasing population growth and urban area development. Therefore, it is very important to use the existing cultivated lands more efficiently. Land suitability evaluation makes the sustainable use of the lands feasible. The objective of this study was qualitative, quantitative and economic assessment of land suitability in Talandahst area for rainfed wheat, barley and chickpea. Talandasht plain with a surface area of 4500 ha is located south west of Kermanshah city. The climate is semi-arid with cold winter and moderate summer. The successive stages of this research included soil survey in the field, soil analysis, qualitative and quantitative and economic evaluations of land suitability. In qualitative evaluation of land, climatic, topographic and soil suitability classes were determined according to the degree of the matching. Limitation and parametric methods were used in qualitative evaluation. Quantitative and economic evaluations made based on the observed yield and gross benefit, respectively. Based on qualitative evaluation, the studied area is marginally suitable for rainfed farming of wheat, barley and chickpea. This is due to water deficiency occurring during some stages of the growing cycle. The solution for this problem is supplementary irrigation. In addition to climate limitation, there are also topographic and soil restriction for the growth of the studied crops. On the basis of observed yield, the land units are moderately to highly suitable for rainfed wheat and barley production. Among the three named crops, the most and least profitable ones are chickpea and barley, respectively, and wheat ranks between them.

Hamadan province is one of the most important alfalfa (Medicago sativa) producing regions in Iran. However, little is known about P status in this region and no suitable extraction method has yet been introduced. This experiment was carried out to determine the available phosphorus by nine chemical extractants in some soils of the Hamadan region. The treatments consisted of 15 soils and 2 P levels (0 and 200 mg P kg-1 as Ca (H2PO4)2.H2O) in a factorial experiment in a randomized design with three replications. Alfalfa plant were harvested in three cutting. The results indicated that the amount of extractable phosphorus decreased in the following order: Collwell>Bray 2>0.1 N HC1>Bray I>Olsen>ABDTPA> Mehlich l>Mehlich 2 > 0.01 M CaCl2 The amounts of P extracted by all methods except that by 0.01 M CaCl2 method, showed significant correlation. The results of correlation studies showed that in the first cutting, Collwel method, in the second cutting AB-DTPA, Olsen, Collwel, Bray 1, Bray 2 and Mehlich 2 and in the third cutting, AB-DTPA, Olsen, Collwel, Bray 1, and Mehlich 2 methods seems to be suitable extractants for assessing available P of soils in Hamadan province.

Study of phosphorus reactions over time and the role of organic matter in the calcareous soils are important for the development of P fertilizer and manure management practices. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of applied manure on P availability and its chemical forms in the soil, over time. Eight samples were collected from semiarid calcareous soils of Mashhad plain. The samples were treated with two levels of inorganic P (0 and 300 mg P kg-1 soil as KH2PO4) and two levels of organic matter (0 and 1% cattle manure). The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with factorial arrangement. The treated soil samples were incubated for 2, 5, 10,30, 60, 90 and 150days, then analyzed for available P (Olsen-P). The result showed that only 17% of added phosphorus was available in P treatment at the end of experiment. In manure treated soils, this figure reached 34% for the same period of time. Application of manure along with P increased the recovery of applied P and CBD-P (Citrate-Bicarbonate- Dithionite). This may be due to the formation of P-organic complexes with Fe oxides. Application of manure in soil increased NaCl-NaOH-P considerably compared with P and P+OM treatments. It can be concluded that P originating from manure compared with inorganic-P may be more available for plants over the time.

To evaluate the effects of chemical and hand fruit thinning on pistachio flower bud retention, experiments were conducted during 1382 and 1383.In the first year, ethephon treatments at the concentrations of 100 and 200 mg L-1, urea at 2.5% and 5%, naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) 125 and 250 mg L-1 and naphthaleneacetamide (NAD) 250 and 500 mg Lo-1 were sprayed on. two branches of nine uniform trees with four replications. During the second year, hand fruit thinning treatments were used in addition to the previous treatments. Chemical treatments reduced flower bud abscission; among them ethephon treatments were the most effective on flower bud retention. As compared with other treatments, hand thinning treatments had also positive effect on flower bud retention. Fruit thinning also increased kernel weight, reduced the number of nuts per ounce and decreased blank fruits. Fruit thinning had no significant effect on the yield of branches during 'on' year.

In order to determine the most important quantitative and qualitative characteristics of pomegranate fruit and its components for categorizing the genotypes, a study was carried out using 24 genotypes. In this study 28 quantitative and qualitative characteristics of pomegranate fruit andseed were evaluated. Analysis of variance showed that all of the characteristics in examined genotypes were significant, showing high variability in characteristics. Results of simple correlation analysis showed the existence of significant, positive and negative correlations among some important characteristics. Also, factor analysis showed that most of fruit juice, aril and seed characteristics constituted the main factors. Effective characteristics categorized in seven factors accounted for 89% of total variance. For each factor, eigen value more than 0.7 was considered significant. Cluster analysis was performed using these seven factors and genotypes, in the distance of 9, were divided into 5 main clusters. These groups were mainly distinct in fruit flavor and soft seededness. Furthermore, by using three main factors, genotypes positions determined in 3-plot analysis, which distinguished sweeter genotypes from sweet-sour and sour genotypes.

Turfgrasses are the most important cover plants in the world. Quality evaluation of the turfgrasses is usually done by experienced evaluators using calor texture, density and uniformity. The results obtained by different evaluators may be different, leading to researcher's concern. Therefore, some quantitative methods have been used for increasing the aquracy and stability in results. In this study, three color evaluating methods including, spectrophotometery (chlorophyll content), chlorophyll meter SPAD-502, and evaluator person, as well as leaf texture by evaluator person compared with leaf width were used for 75 populations of Cynodol1 dactylon L.and Tifdwarf cultivar. The results showed that there were significant differences between populations for the calor and leaf texture. There were no significant corelations between measuring calor by using specterophotometery, chlorophyllmeter-502, and evaluator. Use of SPAD-502 instrument for measuring leaf color of Bermuda grass is not recommended due to small leaf width of this species. However, there was significant correlation between visual evaluation and leaf width in measuring leaf texture. Therefore, when no experienced evaluator is present, leaf width maybe used for measuring leaf texture.

Today, the production of disease-free and identical rootstock seedling in protected environments is a common practice in citrus industry. The process is time consuming, laborious and expensive. Shortening the period to reach suitable size for budding results in the reduction of the costs. It is possible to shorten the period for budding in citrus seedlings through the application of growth regulators. As lime is used widely as a rootstock in Southern Iran, this research attempted to study the effect of paclobutrozol (PP333), ethephon and pinching following gibberellic acid (GA3) treatment on height, diameter and budtake of lime seedlings. To do the research, seedlings with 4-6 leaves were sprayed with 100 mg/LGA3. After GA3 treatment, uniform seedlings 50 cm height were selected, potted and sprayed with PP333 (500 and 1000 mg/L), ethephon (150 and 300 mg/L) or pinched. All treatments, compared with control, increased height, diameter and fresh weight of shoot significantly. GA3 alone caused internode elongation. The effect of all treatments on the number of node, fresh and dry weights of root was not significant. Ethephon reduced chlorophyll content of leaf. And ethephon (300 mg/L) and PP333 (1000 mg/L) reduced bud take percentage of lime seedlings.

In order to study the effects of salinity of irrigation water on the growth and quality of 10 Bermuda grass cultivars under saline soil, a factorial plot experiment using a complete randomized block design with three replications was carried out at College of Agriculture, 1sfahanUniversity of Technology in 2002-2003. Ten cultivars under five levels of irrigation water salinity (3.30, 6.93, 10.2, 14.8, 17.8 dsm-1) were studied. During experiment, visual appearance of color (1 to 9, best 9), and leaf area, shoot and root dry weights and length and number of stolones were measured. Results showed that salinity of irrigation water affected color of different cultivars, such that with increase in the level of salinity, color decreased. Cultivars showed better color in August, but lower color in January. Annual mean indexes showed that ISF2 and Tifdwarf had highest and lowest color, respectively. Also, with increase in salinity levels, leaf area, foliage dry weight, length and number of stolones reduced. With increase in salinity of irrigation water from 3.30 to 10.2dsm-1 root dry weight increased, but reduced in higher salinity levels. Due to significant interaction effects between salinity and cultivars for most traits, the responses of cultivars were different. Large differences observed between cultivars for most of traits indicated high genetic variation among the studied Bermuda grass cultivars. Under high level of salinity conditions, JP2 and Tifway for foliage dry weight, 3200W18-4 and ISF2 for root dry weight, and cultivars Midlawn and 3200W18-4 for leaf area, were recognized as more tolerant than others.

To determine the role of endophytes in conferring valuable physiological characteristics on and induction inducing cold tolerance in two species of festuca, an experiment was done at Isfahan University of Technology in 2002. Endophyte-infected and non-infected clones from two genotypes of tall fescue and one meadow fescue were prepared and coded 75, 83 and 60 respectively. The clones were exposed to cold treatments at 6, -2 and -10 C and compared with control treatment at 20 C. After three weeks of cold treatments, relative water content of leaf and crown, cell membrane stability (electrolyte leakage), percentage of membrane damage and finally proline content of leaf were measured. The presence of endophyt caused an slight increase in relative water content of leaf and crown. There was considerably higher praline in endophyte-infected plants compared with non-infected ones in both stress and non-stress conditions. Endophytic fungi had strong effects on maintenance of membrane stability and on the decrease of electrolyte leakage at all temperature levels. Among plant genotypes, 83 preformed better for some characteristics, specially in the presence of endophyte, and showed higher cold tolerance.

Relationship between grain filling rate, grain filling duration, yield components and other physiological traits of rice was investigated in 93 genotypes of rice at Rice Research Institute of Iran (Rasht, Iran) during the growing season of 2001-2002. The experiment was performed without any statistical design. Panicles of main stem were tagged and taken at 3- day intervals during the grain filling period. A cubic polynomial model was used to fit the grain dry weight data (mean of R2= 0.98 for all genotypes) and the grain filling rate and duration estimated for the genotypes. Traits related to sink capacity such as grain weight, grain size and grain number per panicle correlated with grain filling rate but source capacity- related traits except chlorophyll content of flag leaf and secondary leaf did not correlate with grain filling rate. Stepwise regression showed that final grain weight, grain filling duration and flag leaf angle contributed to grain filling rate, however, path analysis showed that only final grain weight and grain filling duration had the greatest effect on grain filling rate. The results of stepwise regression irrespective of final grain weight showed that chlorophyll content of flag leaf, grain width, grain filling duration and grain length contributed to grain filling rate. Path analysis results showed that the final grain weight had the greatest direct positive effect on grain filling rate, while grain filling duration had negative effect on grain filling rate.

In order to evaluate endophyte effect on plant earliness, compatible host-endophyte combinations including four genotypes of tall fescue and two genotypes of meadow fescue were selected and used in this study. One tiller-part of each genotype was treated using a fungicide mixture of Propiconazole and Folicur. New tillers of endophyte-infected and entophyte-free plants were planted in the field according to a complete block design with three replications. The traits including days to head emergence, days to 50% anthesis, days to maturity initiation, number of heads (as a weekly measurement), total seed weight, net seed weight and empty seed weigh were measured. Results showed that endophytes can enhance head emergence, maturity initiation and periodical seed yield. Days to 50% anthesis, and days to maturity initiation were also reduced. Head numbers in some genotypes increased up to 2 times. Increase in net seed yield may show some physiological alterations in plant such as hormonal balance alteration which may provide better seed setting in infected plants. Based on this study, we concluded that entophytic fungi can induce earliness in infected host plants.

In order to evaluate the effect of row and plant spacings on the yield and yield components of three cultivars of forge sorghum, a field experiment was conducted in Isfahan University of Technology, Lavark, during spring, 2001. Experimental design was a split-factorial with three replications. Main plots consisted of three row spacings (45, 60, 75 cm) and subplots were combinations of three cultivars of forage sorghum(cultivars KFS1, IS722, IS3313) and three plant spacings (4, 6 and 8 cm). The results showed that the number of young and adult tillers, the number of leaf per square meter and shoot and leaf dry weight were influenced by row and plant spacings and significantly decreased with increasing row and plant spacings. Forage yield also decreased with increasing row and plant spacing. The highest dry forage yield was produced by 45 cm row spacing and 4 cm plant spacing. The KFS1 cultivar produced more forage yield than IS722 cultivar. The number of young and adult tiller per square meter and the number of leaf per square meter were significantly (p<0.01) influenced by the interaction between row spacing and cultivar, row spacing and plant spacing and plant spacing and cultivar in two cuts. Shoot and leaf dry weight (kg/m2) was also significant (p<0.01) influenced by the interaction between row spacing and cultivar, and between plant spacing and cultivar in the second cut. The density of 45 cm row spacing and 4 cm plant spacing produced the maximum forage yield.

The present experiment was aimed to evaluate the fteezing tolerance of two cold tolerant (MCC426 and MCC252) and a cold susceptible (MCC505) chickpea genotypes. The study was carried out in a split-plot factorial design with three replications. Factorial arrangement of genotype and acclimation (acc1imationand non acclimation) were imposed as main plot and temperatures (0, -4, -8, -12, 16, -20°C) as subplot. The effect of fteezing temperature (FT) on plant survival was significantly different among genotypes (p<0.05). According to the average effects of acclimation and FT, the plant survival in MCC426 and MCC252 was 40% and31% respectively more than in MCC505. Lethal temperature for 50% response (LT50) and temperature resulting in 50% lower dry matter (DMT50) in MCC426 were-10.8°C and -8.4°C, respectively and were lower than the other genotypes. Acclimation increased the fieezing tolerance such that MCC426 tolerated up to -12°C without any mortality, however, at this temperature, plant mortality rates in MCC252 and MCC505 were 25.7% and 67.7%, respectively. Plant regrowth was affected by the intensity of FT, such that plant dry weight (PDW) and stem height (SH) in -12°C decreased about 63% and 50%, respectively, compared with non - ftozen control plants. The most fteezing damage was observed in MCC505, -12°C treatment caused 90%decreases in PDW and SH, but at this temperature, PDW and SH in MCC425 decreased 55% and 49% an<;lin MCC252, the reduction was about 60%and 54%, respectively. It seems that the use of controlled experiments would contribute to the evaluation offieezing tolerance and screening programs in chickpea germplasm for the estimation of LT50 and DMT50.

The identification of potato cultivars is a recurrent objective of potato research. The research is prompted by the increasing number of potato cultivars and the importance of seed purity. In developing a reliable method for identification of the imported potato cultivars and determining their genetic relationship, the capacity of 10 polymorphic simple sequence repeat markers (SSRs) was evaluated for the analysis of 28 commercial cultivars of potato. The number of alleles detected at different loci ranged from 3 to 10 alle1es with a total of 57 for all loci and a mean of 5.7 alleles per locus. In the 28 potato cultivars analyzed, the number of heterozygous genotypes per locus varied between 6 to 28 with an average number of heterozygous genotypes per locus of 18, considering the 10 loci studied. Based on the resulting dendrogram of jacquard's similarity coefficient and UPGMA analysis, the potato cultivars were placed in two major groups. However, the results from similarity coefficient confirmed the close phylogenetic relationships among members in each cluster. The dendrogram derived from SSRs data clustered together Kenebek, Florida and Atlantic which are known as American potato cultivars, but Stanbuli, an old cultivar in Iran, was placed in concert with European cultivars. This finding might be an indication. that this cultivar along with other unidentified cultivars, growing in local fields, has been introduced from European countries to Iran. The results obtained illustrate the appropriate utility of SSRs to assess genetic relationships of potato cultivars and develop a PCR- based tool for evaluation of potato seed purity.