AGRICULTURE, ENVIRONMENT & SOCIETY
Year:2023 | Volume:3 | Issue:2|Papers Count:6

Recognizing potential areas based on agricultural potentials and determining the suitability of land for specific productivity allows for the planning of increased production and sustainable land use, and provides a suitable foundation for human activities and land development. Using the Geographical Information System (GIS) and the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), this study was conducted to identify areas susceptible to autumn safflower cultivation in Kermanshah province. Altitude, maximum, average, and minimum temperature, precipitation, slope, and slope direction were used as parameters. The ecological needs of safflower were extracted from scientific sources in order to determine the areas suitable for safflower cultivation based on the desired parameters. Then, the measurements-related maps were prepared and classified. Using hierarchical analysis, the weight of each variable was determined in the subsequent step. Finally, the safflower zoning map was extracted from the GIS environment by overlapping and combining the obtained maps. The rainfall gauge and then the maximum temperature had the highest coefficients based on the results of the hierarchical analysis procedure (0.295 and 0.219). 52%, 33%, 13%, and 2% of the total arable land in the Kermanshah province are classified as highly suitable, suitable, semi-suitable, and unsuitable, respectively. Based on the investigated climatic and topographical variables, 85% of the cultivated land in the Kermanshah province is suitable for safflower cultivation. They are predominantly regions with moderate and tropical climates, demonstrating the high potential of Kermanshah province for safflower cultivation as a suitable plant for crop rotation.

The science of meta-analysis provides a comprehensive summary of a set of researches whose results are more stable. Meta-analysis study of the planting date effects on sunflower grain yield quality and quantity were very important in obtaining of perdition results and improving of the economical yield. In this study, using meta-analysis, we want to investigate the effects of planting date on grain yield (GY), number of seeds per head (NS/H) and head diameter (HD) using 40 articles published in Iran and the world (between 1995 and 2018). According to the results, the correlation coefficient except for GY (R=0.2462), NS/H (R=0.2462) was not significant for HD trait. According to the table of average traits, the highest amount of GY (5173 kg. ha-1), NS/H (1818.35), HD (23.9 cm) was in basis of Julian days (JD) with planting date 1-170 JD range. The highest GY in the range of sowing date 80-170 JD, the highest NS/H under 1-80 JD, the highest HD in 17-180 JD, the highest of grain oil percentage (GOP) (52.16%) in 171-262 JD and the highest 1000-seed weight (TSW) (82.11 g) was observed in the treatment of 177-387 JD. According to the results of regression, except for TGW and GOP, other traits showed a negative slope by changing the planting date. Correlation coefficient was significant for GY (R=0.2462) and NS/H (R=0.364). Based on the intensity model of the effect of sowing date on NS/H, GY and TSW under 1-80 JD, the SOP in the range of 176-387 JD and HD in the range of 81-1701 JD were significant. According to the results of bias in the experiment based on funnel diagram, due to the large range of planting date, positive and negative effects of planting date on traits were observed. Based on the accumulation diagram and review of each study, the general results of meta-analysis show it based on the accumulation diagram and review of each study, the general results of meta-analysis show that the best spring planting time identified under mid-May to mid-June (80-170 JD) and under subtropical to tropical regions from mid-February to mid-march (1-80 JD). In these 25 studies, considering the results of meta–regression no negative correlation was seen in the traits of the NS/H and GY. But for other traits no correlation was seen. On the other hand, the results of the accumulation chart also showed that the minimum and the maximum effect size were related to the studies that in addition to the cultivation date had studied the cultivar and cultivation methods including density. So, it is recommended that meta-analysis be done on the other factors.

This study was conducted using the emergy analysis approach in wheat production systems in order to plan and manage the major challenges facing the Sistan region's wheat production. All inputs for wheat production, the most important crop in the region, were assessed in this study. These inputs include renewable inputs, such as sunlight, wind, and rain; nonrenewable inputs, such as soil erosion; and purchased inputs and services, such as machinery, fossil fuels, electricity, labor, nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus, and chemical fertilizers. According to the results of the study, the total emergy production of wheat was 1.061016 sej ha-1. The irrigation water consumed the most energy at 28.96%, followed by nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers at 20.75 and 16.5%, respectively. The emergy yield ratio index was 1.41, the emergy investment ratio index was 2.4, the environmental loading ratio was 2.41, and the emergy sustainability index was 0.585, which indicates the average sustainability and environmental load of this system relative to other researchers' reports. By increasing input efficiency by optimizing the consumption of irrigation water, nitrogen fertilizer, and phosphorus fertilizer, this production system can be made more sustainable and less taxing on the environment.

Sesame has valuable oil which is beneficial for human health. This plant has one capsule in each leaf node (the place where the leaf joins the stem), and by manipulating plant hormones, the number of capsules in each leaf node can increase, which leads to an increase in yield. To increase the number of capsules per leaf node, a factorial experiment was carried out in a randomized complete block design. The first factor was two types of seeds [seeds from one capsule per leaf node (CAP1) and seeds from triple capsule per leaf node (CAP2)], and the second factor was three concentrations of cytokinin (CK) (zero, 50, 100 ppm). The results showed that the maximum plant length (83.5 cm) was obtained from the 50 ppm CK treatment. The application of 50 ppm CK in CAP1 was increased the number of single capsule nodes about 48%. Compared with the control and 100 ppm treatments, the 50 ppm CK treatment had the greatest effect on the number of nodes with triple capsules (7.71), with increases of 38.6 and 72.8%, respectively. The greatest number of triple capsule nodes per plant (10.3) was obtained in the CAP2 treatment by using 50 ppm CK. The greatest amount of fresh and dry weight (84.5 and 30.7 g per plant, respectively) was obtained from the 50 ppm CK treatment group. The maximum number of capsules per plant and number of seeds per capsule were obtained from the 50 ppm CK×CAP2 treatment. Other results showed that the application of 50 ppm CK led to the highest number of seeds produced per plant (6.75 grams). In addition, the exogenous application of cytokinin to plants has the greatest effect on the areas to which it moves or the areas where cytokinin is synthesized, but to improve the effectiveness of this hormone and obtain an economic crop, it is necessary to use an appropriate ratio of other plant growth regulators.

One of the sources of water is air-water vapor. To evaluate water supply with air-water vapor, a study was conducted as a factorial experiment in a completely randomized design with three replications. The studied factors included irrigation method (irrigation by thermoelectric module and control) and plant species (wheat, foxtail millet, and radish). Analysis of variance showed that the interaction effect of plant species and irrigation method on all seed germination characteristics was significant. The mean comparison showed that irrigation by thermoelectric module germinated wheat, foxtail millet, and radish seeds. So that all the seeds germinated. Irrigation by thermoelectric module increased seed germination, caulicle length, radicle length, caulicle weight, radicle weight, seed vigor based on length, seed vigor based on weight, and root to shoot ratio compared to the control (without irrigation). Overall, irrigation by the thermoelectric module can germinate the seeds of wheat, foxtail millet, and radish and can be considered as a new method of irrigation in arid and semi-arid regions where farmers do not have access to water for growing plants.

Nowadays, managing the production of crops under rainfed conditions for achieving maximum growth potential and yield of plants for food supply is an undeniable necessity. Under rainfed condition, one of important variability in plant physiology is increase of ethylene biosynthesis up to stress ethylene that reduces plant growth. Stress ethylene cause to decline in vegetative period and decrease of yield. Mycorrhiza and ACC-deaminase producing bacteria decline the destructive effects of water deficit stress under rainfed condition. In order to determine the effectiveness of residue conservation and application of Glomus mosseae and ACC-deaminase producing bacteria in reducing the effects of water deficit stress in rainfed conditions, this study was conducted as split plots in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) in three replications from 2017 for two cropping years. The main plots include three different residue conservation treatments including residue removal, half residue conservation and total residue conservation and sub-plots at four levels including 1- control (no use of Glomus mosseae and ACC-deaminase producing bacteria), 2- application of Glomus mosseae 3- inoculation of ACC-deaminase producing bacteria (preparation of Bacillus simplex UT1 inoculation with 107 CFU ml-1 population or colony unit formed in ml and method of seed coating application 4- concomitant use of Glomus mosseae and ACC-deaminase-producing bacteria. Quantitative traits of chickpea such as grain and biological yield, 100-seed weight and number of seeds per square meter and quality traits as relative leaf water content (RWC), concentration and total uptake of potassium and zinc as two important elements in water relations were measured in plants. Data were analyzed by SAS v.9.2 software and the means were compared by LSD test. The results showed by keeping half of the residues, 1224 kg/ha of seeds of chickpea was obtained, which showed an increase of 7.81% compared to the control. The yield of chickpea seeds in the treatment of without Glomus mosseae and ACC-deaminase producing bacteria was 1097 kg ha-1, while the highest yield of chickpea in the treatment of Glomus mosseae and ACC-producing bacteria at the amount of 1294 kg ha-1, which was a statistically significant increase of 17.9% compared to the control. Under residue preservation condition, even the application of ACC-deaminase-producing bacteria alone and the application of Glomus mosseae alone showed an increase of 10.3% and 13.1%, respectively, compared to the control. In general, the combined application of Glomus mosseae and ACC-deaminase producing bacteria increased yield, yield components and improved nutrient concentration compared to the control treatment. Based on the results of this study, in treatments of residue preservation, the use of Glomus mosseae is recommended, especially in combination with inoculation of ACC-deaminase producing bacteria in order to stabilize the production of chickpeas.