JWSS - Journal of Water and Soil Science

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Soil structure maintenance and stability is an important index indicating sustainable soil management. In this regard, components such as soil moisture and organic matter affect soil compactibility during farm machinery trafficking. Soils in Central Iran are commonly very low in organic matter (OM) and thus susceptible to compaction. This study was conducted to measure the effects of soil moisture content and manure application on soil compactibility. A randomized complete block design with four blocks (replicates) with the treatments nested (split-block) into the blocks was used in the soil (Typic Haplargids), located in Isfahan University of Technology Research Farm (Lavark). One-year aged manure treatments 0, 50, and 100 t ha^-1 were incorporated into soil up to the tillage depth (20 cm) by a heavy disc. After five months (July-November), a two-wheel-drive tractor Universal Model U-650 was passed through the field at soil moisture contents of plastic limit (PL), 80% PL (0.8PL), and 60% PL (0.6L), either once (P1) or twice (P2). Bulk density (BD), cone index (CI), and soil sinkage (S) were measured as indices of soil compactibility and trafficability. Adding manure countered the effects of load and wetness on BD and CI, significantly. There was a significant difference between the effects of 50 and 100 t ha^-1 of manure on BD but not on CI. Manure application reduced soil sinkage at high moisture contents (PL) but increased it at low moisture contents (0.6PL). Adding manure also reduced the BD and CI of subsoil. Repeating the passage of tractor (P2) increased compaction significantly. The significant increase in BD and CI did no occur at 0.6PL. When no manure was applied even at 0.6PL, there were limitations for trafficability, whereas this limit for 50 t ha^-1 treatment was reached at 0.8PL. Results from this study indicate that the manure application at a rate of 50 t ha^-1 reduces soil compactibility and increases soil moisture trafficability range.

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To increase mechanized cotton planting in areas with saline irrigation water and crust forming soil in Isfahan Province, assessment of seeders in flatland planting method with or without crust breaking is essential. An experiment was conducted at the Kabootarabad Research Station of Isfahan Research Center to compare the performance parameters of planting equipment in a clay loam soil. Four planting equipment treatments using Bazrsazan and John Deere planters and Nordsten drill along with three crust breaking methods, including rolling cultivator, rolling-type crust breaker and no crust breaking, were laid out in a factorial experiment within a randomized complete block design with three replications. Planters’ performance was evaluated by measuring the number of plants and plant spacings in each treatment, and estimation of the mean and standard deviation, multiples index, miss index, quality of feed index, precision, and hill-dropping index. Although the plant spacings, and not the seed spacings, were measured in this experiment, the indices used in this research showed the planters’ performance to be very satisfactory. The suggested hill-dropping index showed the multiple seeds dropping characteristics of the seeders to be better than those of the multiples index regardless of the crust breaking methods. In the non-crust breaking method, the multiple seeds dropping tendency of Bazrsazan planter brought about a reduction in the mean and standard deviation of plant spacings. Crost breaking caused a reduction in plant spacings for all seeders, especially for the drill whose multiple seeds dropping tendency was negligible. The results indicated that the seed metering systems in Bazrsazan and John Deere planters were volumetric rather than single seed metering devices.

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Soil tilth is crucial to seedling emergence, plant growth, and crop yield. Soil tilth of unstable soil is very susceptible to change. Internal forces originating from matric suction can change soil physical properties. A laboratory study was conducted on pots of a surface silty clay loam soil of Khomeinishahr series (fine-loamy, mixed, thermic Typic Haplargids, USDA), located in Research Farm of Isfahan University of Technology. Soil surface subsidence, bulk density, cone index, and tensile strength were measured after first flood irrigation. Results showed that the seedbed (0-20 cm) with a bulk density of 1.2 Mg.m^-3 will be changed to a massive soil with high values of bulk density, cone index, and tensile strength after soil wetting. Slaking, slumping and coalescence of the soil caused soil surface to subside about 1.5 cm in 20 cm soil layer. After irrigation, cone index and tensile strength increased abruptly with decreasing of moisture content. It is shown that the dominant source of strength (cone index and tensile strength) gain during drying is the effective stress due to matric suction. In the absence of external loads, physical state (tilth) of the soil returned back to the original state. Therefore, soil slaking and slumping and rearrangement of particles along with the internal forces are the factors leading to soil hardness.

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Differential lock is a means of improving tractor performance. This system causes the revolution of the axles to become equal. It, improves traction, decreases abrasion of drive tires, improves fuel consumption, and increases tractor work rate. Despite advantages of the system, differential lock has not been optimized in Iran. Thus, a semi-automatic differential lock system for MF-285 tractor was designed and developed. First of all, the different parts of the system were designed, selected, assembled. Under critical conditions, the designed system should disengage the differential lock. Critical conditions for engaging this system are: using of independent brake pedals, high forward speed, and turning the steering wheel. For sensing and measuring the critical conditions, proper sensors were selected. Output signals of these sensors were sent to a micro controller to decide the continuous engaging or disengaging. Finally, a MF-285 tractor was equipped with the designed system. The tractor performance in primary tillage was evaluated using a mounted moldboard plow with a width of 110 cm and a working depth of 25 cm. These tests showed that unbalanced weight distribution on wheels and unequal traction capacity under drive wheels cause the slip of one wheel to be 6 percent higher thananother. This system improves the unequal slip problem and decreases fuel consumption by 0.5 L/ha.

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Studies show that excessive rotation of rice, when the grains revolve inside the milling chamber, increase the breakage. Ease of grain movement in the milling chamber could minimize this problem by utilizing screw conveyor at the first part of rotor. In this study the rotor of a conventional milling was equipped with a screw conveyor. The effects of two rotor types (modified and conventional rotors), three output rates (412, 654 and 915 kg/h) and three blade distances from the agitator (11, 12 and 13mm) were examined on indices of rice quality using a split-split plot design. In this experiment, the percentage of whole white rice and breakage, degree of milling and milling performance index were either measured or calculated. Results showed that only the effect of blade distance on percentage of breakage was significant whereas the effect of feed rate on all measured parameters was significant. In addition, the interaction effects of rotor type and blade distance, rotor type and feed rate on percentage of whole white rice and breakage were significant, respectively. The milling performance index showed that the best conditions for both rotors can be obtained at output rate of 412kg/hr and 11or 12mm blade distance from the agitator. For this adjustment, the average of percentage of breakage in the modified and conventional rotors were 20.5 and 23, respectively.

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For measuring draft force and drawbar power requirements for mounted implements, precise instruments such as three-point hitch dynamometers and tractor speed measurement devices are needed. In this research, a frame-type three-point hitch dynamometer was built and evaluated. Forces applied to dynamometer are measured by three separate load cells located on a frame which can be attached to tractor’s three-point hitch. Each dynamometer’s load cell measures load using a strain gauge bridge circuit. Each load cell was calibrated by applying a known load and measuring bridge circuit’s output voltage. Dynamometer was calibrated by the application of known forces and measuring the output voltage of the strain gauge bridges. The calibration showed a high degree of linearity between the applied forces and the bridge outputs (R² = 0.996). The hysteresis effect between loading and unloading as well as the effect of the position of the applied forces from the longitudinal axis of the dynamometer was small. For measuring actual tractor speed, a fifth wheel equipped with an encoder shaft was designed and built. The calibration on tarmac and soil surfaces showed a highly linear relation between measured forward speed and output of encoder’s rotation (R² =0.994). The errors in speed measurements at low speed in field and at high speed (up to 12.5 km/h) on tarmac surface were approximately 3 and 8%, respectively. The data acquisition system, not only could display the instantaneous force and speed, it could also show force-time and force-distance curves on the system’s monitor.

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Due to yield increase, some farmers in Iran plant sugarbeet in 50-cm row spacing instead of conventional 60-cm row spacing. Low row spacings force farmers to harvest three consecutive rows instead of two alternate rows. This would increase the amount of draft requirement to pull the lifter through the soil. In order to use common medium tractors for pulling the three-unit sugarbeet lifter and properly lifting the sugarbeet tubers out of the soil, applying vibration to the shanks of the lifter was taken into considertion. In this study, the effects of vibration frequency and share rake angle of a vibratory lifter on its performance were investigated. Draft, slippage, percentage of broken and non-harvested tubers were determined for four vibration frequencies (0, 9, 10 and 12 Hz) and three share approach angles (11, 24 and 36 deg.), using a factorial experiment arrangement in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The results showed that the variations in draft and slip with frequency and rake angle were similar. Although the minimum value of draft resistance was obtained at 24 deg. of share rake angle with non-vibrated shanks, 50 percent of tubers remained in the soil and were not harvested. However, the non-harvested tubers reduced to only 20 percent when vibration was applied to the lifter. So using the vibrating shanks improved the removal of the tubers out of the soil. A ratio (K) of draft to the harvested tubers (whole and broken tubers) was defined for selecting the optimum combination of the rake angle and vibration frequency. The K ratio was calculated and analyzed for different combinations of the rake angle and vibration frequency. K ratio comparison showed that, for minimizing percentages of broken and non-harvested tubers, the sugarbeet lifter should have share rake angle of 24 deg. and vibrate with frequency of 9 Hz.

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For prevention of soil compaction, knowledge of allowable compression stress limit (compaction strength) in soil is important. Pre-compaction stress ( σ_pc) was introduced as soil compaction strength and often used as a criterion for evaluation of soil susceptibility to compaction. In this research, pre-compaction stress was measured for a sandy loam soil with plate sinkage (PST) and confined compression (CCT) tests. To prepare soil samples with different initial compactness, two soil water contents (17 and 19%db) and six pre-loading stresses (0, 25, 50, 100, 150 and 200 kPa) were used. The effects of soil water content and pre-loading stress on estimated pre-compaction stress were studied using a factorial experiment in a completely randomized design with three replications. The σ_pcvalues were significantly influenced by loading combination and soil water content. For PST, pre-load increase and higher soil water content resulted in higher and lower values of σ_pc , respectively. However, predicted σ_pc value increased with higher soil water content for CCT. The results also showed that the σ_pc predicted with PST was accurate, whereas the values obtained with CCT were 4.5 (at 17 %db) and 8.5 (at 19 %db) times higher than the applied pre-loads. Overall, the findings indicated that σ_pc prediction depends on the compression test, and PST could be a suitable method for soil pre-compaction stress (compaction strength) determination in sustainable soil management, i.e., soil trafficability and tillage. The PST method is also suitable to assess the effect of managing factors on pre-compaction stress.

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Tillage systems and organic manures could affect soil physical and mechanical properties. This study was conducted to investigate the impacts of two tillage systems including conventional tillage by moldboard plowing (plowing depth, 30 cm) and reduced tillage by disk plow (plowing depth, 15 cm) and three rates (0, 30 and 60 ton ha-1) of farmyard manure (FYM) on the soil penetration resistance under corn cropping in a split block design with 3 replications. The cone index (CI) decreased with increase of the tillage depth. It is attributable to soil disturbing and loosening of the deeper layers under conventional tillage compared to reduced tillage. This trend, however, was observed only in the first (after treatments’ application and before cropping) and second (the highest rate of vegetative growth) samplings. In the third sampling (after harvest), there were not significant differences between the CI values under two tillage systems in different soil depths. It might be due to soil re-compaction (approaching the pre-tillage state) as well as disappearance of the tillage effects seven month after commencement of the experiment. In fact, the soil mechanical resistance increased with the time indicating soil re-compaction over the growing season. Adding FYM to the surface layer (i.e. 0-10 cm) of ridge soil resulted in significant decrease of soil mechanical resistance compared to control treatment. The CI decreased significantly in the 30 ton ha-1 treatment up to the stage of highest rate of vegetative grow, but the effect on CI was diminished after harvest. However, the decreasing effects of the 60 ton ha-1 treatment on the CI continued to the harvesting time. There were no significant effects of FYM in the soil deeper than 10 cm from the ridge surface and in all of the layers in furrow. The CI did not decrease significantly in the furrow due to negligible effect of manure application for the inter-row position.

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One important parameter in determining the allowable stress to prevent soil compaction is pre‌compaction stress (σpc). If the stress induced into the soil due to agricultural machinery traffic is lower than the σpc, the possibility of the irreversible (plastic) deformation is low. In this study, plate sinkage test (PST) and confined compression test (CCT) were used to determine the σpc of the disturbed soil samples obtained from the topsoil of a long-term organic amendment experiment. In the organic amendment experiment, organic manures (sewage sludgeو compost, farmyard manure) at three rates (25, 50 and 100 t ha-1) and one inorganic fertilizer combination (250 kg urea ha-1 and 250 kg ammonium phosphate ha-1) were added to a silty clay loam soil for seven years under wheat-corn rotation. The effect of organic and inorganic fertilizers and gravimetrical water contents (17.1 and 20.9% db) on the σpc values was determined using two statistical designs: 1) factorial design and 2) orthogonal contrasts in a completely randomized design with three replications. The σpc values were estimated by the following methods: 1) Casagrande, 2) maximum curvature and 3) intercept of virgin compression line (VCL) with the x-axis at zero strain. The results showed that in both tests, the σpc values for treatments amended with organic manures had over-estimations and the values of the over-estimation were increased as the manure application rate increased. The values of the over-estimations for CCT were higher than for PST. Therefore, it can be concluded that the results of the PST are more reliable. The σpc values estimated by any of the three procedures depend on the manure treatment as well as the initial water content of the soil. For determining the stress at the threshold of the compaction for the un-manure soils (control and inorganic fertilizer) or the treatments amended with low application rate (25 t ha-1) of the organic manures, the PST and the Casagrande procedure can be recommended. In contrast, for the soils amended with high application rates (50 and 100 t ha-1), the PST and the maximum curvature procedure can be used.

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Puddling is the most common method of land preparation for lowland rice cultivation. The purpose of this study was to assess the influence of various intensities of puddling on percolation rate, water retention by soil and the amount of water used for different puddling intensities in three dominant soil textures of paddy fields in Guilan province. Undisturbed soil samples were taken from 3 different soils including silty clay, clay loam and loam, with 3 replications. The soil samples were puddled by a laboratory apparatus with different intensities. The results showed that the low puddling intensity treatment caused a 29.3, 32.4 and 36% reduction of percolation rate in silty clay, silty loam and loam textures, respectively. Increasing puddling intensity from low to medium reduced percolation rate significantly, but high intensity was not effective. Soil moisture characteristic curves of all three soils showed that water retention was increased by puddling treatments. Water retention in silty clay was higher than the other two soils. The high intensity treatment needed more water than low intensity for puddling. Increasing puddling intensity from medium intensity to high intensity caused 15.4, 14.1 and 16.3% increase in the amount of water required for puddling in silty clay, silty loam and loam textures, respectively. Generally, in all the three studied soil textures, the amount of water used for high-intensity puddling was more than medium-intensity puddling, while it had no significant effect on water percolation rate and soil water retention.

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efficiency was investigated during a 2-year period (2009-2010) in a silty clay loam soil in Tajarak Research Station (Kaboudarahang Township), Hamedan. The experimental design was a strip-plot within a randomized complete blocks design. The horizontal band, the irrigation water rate after flowering, included full and deficit irrigation (100% and 75% potato water requirement) and the vertical band, kind of inter-planting row tillage including 1- subsoiling to 30-35 cm soil depth, 2- chiseling to 20-25 cm soil depth, 3- sweeping to 5 cm soil depth and 4- no-till. During the growing season, soil mechanical resistance (cone index) in two stages and water infiltration into the soil were measured. At the end of the growth season (harvesting time), potato yield quantity and quality were measured. Result showed that the effect of inter-row tillage on soil mechanical resistance was significant. Subsoiling and chiseling had lower soil mechanical resistance and higher water permeability between treatments, respectively. The effect of inter-row tillage on potato yield was significant so subsoiling and chiseling had a higher potato yield between treatments, respectively. The effect of irrigation water rate on potato yield was not significant. The effect of inter-row tillage on water use efficiency wasn’t significant.

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Flood irrigation after planting induces wetting and drying cycles in arable soils. For this reason, the effect of this process on load-bearing capacity (pre-compaction stress pc) of a fine textured soil (silty clay) was studied. In this research, large air-dry disturbed soil specimens were prepared and some of them were exposed to five wetting and drying cycles. Next, the large soil specimens with/without wetting and drying cycles were compressed under three preloads (0, 100 or 200 kPa) and then the centre section of the preloaded soil specimen was firstly submitted to a plate sinkage test (PST). Then immediately one cylindrical sample was cored for confined compression test (CCT). The results showed that for reconstructed soil samples without wetting-drying cycles, the predicted pc using PST didn't significantly differ from the applied preload. Therefore, the PST can be used to determine the load-support capacity of the tilled soils. In PST, with an increase in soil water content from 0.9PL to 1.1PL, the amount of over-prediction in pc decreased. However, wetting-drying process significantly increased over-prediction in pc at the same water content. Hence, soil compressibility does not simply depend on the actual soil water content but also on the previous history of water content changes (i.e., wetting-drying cycles).

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Considering soil compaction problem in sugarcane fields due to using heavy harvester and haulout equipment under unsuitable moisture conditions, this research aims to assess soil compaction in sugarcane fields located in Da'balKhazaei Plantation unitofSugarcane Development and By-product Company, Ahvaz. Undisturbed soil samples from the furrow (wheel tracks) were collected for measuring soil water content and bulk density. Considering the changes in soil texture of sugarcane fields, for expressing the degree of soilcompactness, in addition to soil bulk density (BD), relative bulk density (BD divided by reference BD) was also determined. The change in soil mechanical resistance with depth was determined by a cone penetrometer. Results showed that most of soil BD values measured in the sugarcane fields were in the range of small root development scale (high limitation). Comparingthe calculated RBD values with optimum value (0.85), it was observed that most of the values were higher than the optimum values recommended for root growth. This shows excessivesoil compaction in the sugarcane fields. The values of cone indices measured in soil profiles indicated that most of the values were higher than either limiting (2 MPa) or critical (3 MPa) values for root growth. Therefore, for improving soil physical fertility and achieving sustainability in crop production, management of farm machinery traffic in sugarcane fields, especially at the harvest time, needs to be reconsidered.

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In this study, two different approaches of infiltration parameters estimation in traditional, variable and fixed alternate furrow irrigation, with and without cutback inflow, were performed and compared. Four usual methods including two-point (Elliott and Walker), Valiantzas one-point, Mailapalli one-point and Rodriguez and Martos optimization methods, as approaches based on advance data, and multilevel optimization method as an approach based on the advance, storage and recession data, were considered. Surface irrigation model: WinSRFR was used to simulate irrigation phases and infiltration value in each method. 13 furrow irrigation field experiments, from two case studies: Karaj and Urmia, were used to perform different methods. Based on the results, the multilevel optimization method predicted the advance and recession phases and runoff-infiltration with high accuracy for traditional, variable and fixed alternate furrow irrigation. The multilevel optimization method for traditional furrow irrigation, showed more accuracy than variable and fixed alternate furrow irrigation in advance and recession phases and the average root mean square error (RMSE) for predicting advance phase for the three furrow irrigation methods was 1.37, 1.8, and 1.57 minutes and for the recession phase was 3.76, 5.0, and 3.03 minutes, respectively. Also the multilevel optimization method for cutback options indicated high performance to advance and recession prediction and the average RMSE of advance and recession prediction were obtained 3.57 and 2.13 minutes for cutback option and 3.8 and 1.3 minutes for no cutback option, respectively. The multilevel optimization method indicated high performance in storage phase, too. The average of relative error (RE) of runoff estimation for traditional, variable and fixed alternate furrow irrigation was calculated 0.5, 0.4 and 0.4 percent, respectively. The runoff average RE of multilevel optimization method with cutback and no cutback option were obtained 1.85 and 0.85 percent, respectively; that showed high performance of this method for no cutback option in comparison with the cutback option. Therefore, the use of data of all irrigation phases to estimate infiltration parameters shows better performance in the prediction of irrigation and water balance components. (run-off and infiltration).

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