JWSS - Journal of Water and Soil Science

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This study was conducted to evaluate the response of 18 rice (Oryza sativa L.) genotypes to callus induction and plant regeneration from immature embryo culture, using three media (MS, LS and N6). To evaluate callus induction rate, the following criteria were used: callus diameter, callus fresh weight and callus dry weight. Percentage of callus water content was also measured. After transferring the produced calli from the induction media to a regeneration medium (MSR), percentage of plant regeneration was evaluated.

A highly significant difference was observed among genotypes for both callus induction and plant regeneration (P<0.01). In callus induction phase, “Nemat” and “Cheram-2” cultivars were superior for callus diameter, having 4.83 and 4.6 mm callus diameter, respectively. “Nemat”, “Cheram-2”, “Sepidrood” and “Taroum” cultivars as well as “33IRCTN91” and “IRFAON-30” lines were significantly superior to other cultivars for callus fresh weight. Among the genotypes “Nemat”, “Zayandehrood”, “33IRCTN91” had the highest percentage of callus water contents. Based on plant regeneration, “33IRCTN91” line and “Anbarbo”, “Nemat”, “Cheram-2” and “Taroum” cultivars showed highest rate of plant regeneration from callus. Significant differences were observed among media. While MS and N6 media did not showed any significant differences for callus diameter, callus fresh weight and rate of plant regeneration, they were superior to LS medium (P<0.01). According to percentage of callus water content, MS and LS media ranked the best and the most inferior medium, respectively. In the present study, MS and N6 media were considered as suitable in vitro culture media of rice immature embryos. Among genotypes, “Nemat” and “Cheram-2” cultivars were ranked the best for both callus induction and plant regeneration. Also, the used Japonica rice cultivars were superior for percentage of plant regeneration. The calculated correlation coefficients between traits showed a non-significant correlation between callus induction and plant regeneration, which, in turn, indicated that these traits were independent.

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Cation exchange capacity (CEC) is one of the most important chemical characteristics which influences soil quality from different aspects. At the same time, CEC is an input parameter of many computer models being applied in soil science and agriculture. Methods of CEC determination are always time-consuming and laborious. Therefore, developing a model for CEC estimation from other soil properties is essential. The objective of this study was to understand the associations between CEC (as a dependent variable) and sand, silt, clay, organic matter and pH (as independent variables). In this study 464 soil samples from A, B, and C horizons of different soils were used. Results revealed that CEC is negatively correlated with sand (r=-0.389***) and is positively correlated with organic matter (r=0.772***), clay (r= 0.391***) and silt (r= 0.233***). No significant correlation was observed between CEC and pH. Stepwise regression analysis showed that both organic matter and clay enter the model and that coefficients of determination (r²) for the multiple models are higher than those of simple linear correlations. Other parameters could not increase the r² considerably. Correlation analysis on data from A, B, and C horizons revealed that the CEC of organic matter in different horizons are not the same. Separation of Aridisols could not increase the r² of the model and the accuracy of the estimations. Correlation studies in acid soils showed that the contribution of organic matter in CEC is much higher than that of clays.

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Application of sewage sludge on the farmland as a source of crop nutrient had recently received considerable attention. Some management practices may be required to control the accumulation of toxic elements including Pb, Ni and Cd. Sequential extraction gives useful information on plant bioavailability of the elements. The objective of this study was to investigate the cumulative and residual effects of sewage sludge application on the chemical forms and mobility factor of Pb, Ni and Cd. Zero, 25, 50 and 100 Mg ha-1 of sewage sludge were applied for 1, 2 and 3 consecutive years in a split plot design, with three replications. Soil samples were taken from 0-20 cm at the end of the third year of application. Different chemical forms of Pb, Ni and Cd were measured. Results revealed that the soluble form (SOL) of Ni and Cd increased whereas Pb soluble form decreased with increasing levels and years of application. Exchangeable (EXC), carbonate (CAR) and organic (ORG) forms of the three elements increased as levels and years of application increased. Occluded (OCC) form decreased for Pb, Ni and increased for Cd. Residual form (RES) of Pb increased while that of Ni and Cd decreased. A gereral increase was observed for available (DTPA-extractable) concentration of Pb, Ni and Cd. Relative distributions of different chemical forms were in the following order: Pb: OCC > RES> ORG> CAR> EXC> SOL, Ni: RES> ORG> OCC> CAR>EXC> SOL and Cd: OCC> CAR> RES> ORG> EXC> SOL. The comparison of different forms of the metals showed the following orders: soluble Ni>Pb>Cd, exchangeable, carbonate and occluded Pb>Ni> Cd, organic and residual Ni> Pb>cd. Increasing the available (DTPA-extractable) concentration of the elements in such a calcareous soil showed that consecutive application of sewage sludge may increase the available (DTPA-extractable) concentration beyond critical levels. A significant corretation was observed between organic form and available (DTPA-extractable) concentration of the elements.

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In order to examine the responses of proso millet (Panicum miliaceum) to drought stress at different growth stages, four breeded genotypes and a local one of proso millet were selected and planted in a split-plot design with five irrigation treatments and three replications.This experiment was conducted in two locations, Birjand and Sarbisheh. Irrigation treatments included well - watered, drought stress at vegetative stage, ear emergence stage, seed filling stage and vegetative and seed filling stages which were considered as main- plots. The first five mentioned genotypes were considered as sub-plots. Drought stress. caused a great reduction in grain yield and WUE at ear emergence stage. This reduction represented itself in the number of seed per ear and the weight of seeds, but it didn’t have any effects on the number of ear. At ear emergence stage, the drought stress increased the floret death and loss of weight of seeds which resulted in the reduction in the harvest index of both ear per plant and seed per plant. Comparison of genotypes indicated that since K-C-M.4 had a greater number of ears and K-C-M.9 had heavier seeds that had higher grain yield. These two genotypes had the highest WUE and their harvest indices were relatively higher. Due to the salinity of water and infertility of soil in Birjand, the grain yield was lower compared with Sarbisheh. In summary, it can be said that genotype K-C-M.4 proved to be more suitable for both areas.

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The increased potential for soil erosion and compaction due to continuous row crop production and intensive tillage is causing some concern and has led to the consideration of reduced tillage techniques as part of the solution. The objective of this study was to investigate the short-term (one-year) influences of different management practices on the physical properties of a sandy loam soil under corn crop. Treatments were the combinations of three tillage systems (no-till, NT chisel plow, CP and moldboard plow, MP) and three composted cattle manure rates [0, 30 and 60 ton (dry weight) ha^-1]. The experiment was carried out in a split-plot design. Three replicates of the treatments were applied in a randomized block design. Saturated hydraulic conductivity (K_s), total porosity (TP), macro-porosity (Macro-P), micro-porosity (Micro-P) of soil and mean weight diameter (MWD) of aggregates, were measured to a depth of 22.5 cm when 100 percent of the tassels appeared. Tillage and manure combination had significant effects on Log[ K_s], TP, Macro-P and Micro-P. The MP system increased pore space and continuity due to complete inversion and loosening, and as a result K_s, TP, Macro-P and Micro-P were higher than NT system. Higher Macro-P observed for CP might have caused higher K_s versus MP. Reduced tillage systems increased MWD and the increment of manure caused an increase in MWD over all tillage treatments. The results indicate short-term positive effects of manure application on soil pore size characteristics and aggregate stability under moldboard and chisel plowings in the region.

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The effect of overgrazing on vegetation changes in central Zagros has been studied by a few scientists, but there is no detailed information on the impact of such practices on soil properties. The objective of this study was to assess the effect of climate and grazing management on selected soil biochemical properties. Fourteen experimental range sites protected against grazing as well as their adjacent overgrazed sites in Chadegan, Pishkuh and Poshtkuh were selected. In each site, samples were collected from the depths 0-5 and 5-15 cm. Soil organic C (OC), microbial biomass C (MBC), total nitrogen (TN), organic C to total N ratio (C/N), microbial biomass C to organic C ratio (C_mic/C_oc) and metabolic quotient (qCO2) were measured and/or calculated. The results showed that the lowest SOC, MBC, TN and Cmic/Coc occur in Chadegan due to low fresh materials input. The above parameters in Pishkuh and Poshtkuh regions are 2.5 to 3 times greater than those in Chadegan area. Grazing intensity in Pishkuh is less than that in Poshtkuh region and there is no significant difference between grazed and protected sites in Pishkuh. But, there is a significant difference between grazed and protected plots in Poshtkuh due to a higher grazing intensity. Higher C_mic/C_oc and lower qCO2 suggest that the quality of organic matter is better in Poshtkuh and Pishkuh. In conclusion, highly degraded rangelands in Pishkuh and Poshtkuh seem to be able to recover very quickly with proper management, while Chadegan region needs a much longer period of time to restore.

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  In order to study the effects of different levels of irrigation, nitrogen and plant population on yield, yield components and reserved dry matter remobilization of seed corn (SC. 704 hybrid) a research was conducted at the experimental field in Khuzestan Natural Resources and Agricultural Science University in summer, 2004. This research was made based on three split-plot field experiments, RCBD. Each of the irrigation treatments implemented separately in each experiment have been as follows: Optimum irrigation, Moderate stress and Severe stress (irrigation after drainage 50%, 75% and 100% of available water based on 70%, 60% and 50% of field capacity, respectively). In each experiment three nitrogen levels consisting of 140(N ₁ ), 180 (N ₂ ) and 220(N ₃ ) Kg N ha^-1 were applied in main plots and subplots which consisted of three plant populations (D ₁ =6, D ₂= 7.5 and D ₃= 9 plant m^-2). There were three replications for each experiment. The results of the combined analysis of variance indicated that the effect of water deficiency stress, nitrogen and plant population on grain and biological yield was significant. With increasing severity of drought stress, the grain and biological yield decreased. The maximum grain yield was estimated to be 1017.04 gm ^-2 which was related to optimum irrigation treatment. Grain yield reduction was mainly due to reduction of grain per ear and 1000 seed weight. The increase of nitrogen consumption caused an increase in grain yield. The positive effect of nitrogen application on grain yield considerably decreased as a result of the increased water deficiency in soil. The response of grain yield to plant population was positive. The contrary to interaction effects of irrigation and nitrogen, and irrigation, nitrogen and plant population, the interaction effects of irrigation and plant population and also nitrogen and plant population on grain yield were significant. The results indicated that the difference between different levels of irrigation in the case of dry matter remobilization rate was significant. The least and the highest remobilization rate of reserved dry matter was related to optimum irrigation and drought moderate stress treatment, respectively. The efficiency and contribution of remobilization in grain yield increased in response to increasing severity of drought stress, but these traits significantly reduced as a result of nitrogen consumption. Remobilization rate and contribution of reserved materials to grain yield in the highest density (D₃) were significantly more than other densities. According to the results of this study, under drought stress conditions, the decrease of inputs consumption, in addition to the decrease of costs, will be followed by the increasing efficiency use of the resources.

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  Organic fertilization has been practiced in Iran due to the shortage of soil organic matter. In recent years, attention has been payed to the organic fertilizers because their commercial production has recently started and demands for their application have increased. The objectives of this study were to investigate the effects of organic fertilizer type, rates and times of application on the N mineralization potential (NMP) in a calcareous soil (fine loamy, mixed, thermic, Typic Haplargid) in Isfahan region. The soil samples were collected from a previousely established field experiment. The experiment design was split plot with three replications. Each main plot was split into subplots receiving 1, 2 and 3 annual consecutive applications of cow manure and sewage sludge at the rates of 0, 25 and 100 Mg ha^-1. The soil samples were taken from 0-15 cm depth, 6 months after the third application of the organic fertilizers. Nitrogen mineralization potential was measured by a long-term leaching-incubation procedure. Results indicated that NMP was similarly affected by cow manure and sewage sludge. Nitrogen mineralization potential in the treatments which received 100 Mg ha^-1 organic fertilizers, was 4 and 1.7 times greater than that of control and 25 Mg ha^-1 treatments, respectively. A significant increase was also observed in NMP in the treatments which received different times of application. The NMP in the three-year applied treatments was 5, 2.5 and 2.1 times greater than that of control, two- and one-year applied soils. Significant correlations were observed between NMP and corn yield (r=0.531**) and corn N uptake (r=0.568***). The product of NMP and N mineralization rate constant was also significantly correlated with corn yield (r=0.710***) and corn N uptake (r=0.734***). Different patterns were observed between the responses of total N and NMP in the treated soils.

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Determination of suitable species is the most important factor in success of forestation in unfavorable conditions. One of the least costly and the shortest ways for introduction of adaptable species in an area is recognition of the plants that grow naturally. The objective in this study was to find out the effects of protection and water spreading operations on the quantitative improvement of Greek Juniper seedlings. In this study, the areas of water spreading station (Research station of Poshtkoh Water spreading) and an area in western section of water spreading station (an area as control) along the Poshtkoh watershed were chosen. The research was performed on counting of Greek Juniper (Juniper excelsa) in each of two areas. The ratio estimation method was used in a randomized systematic design in strips with the width of 50 meters and 200 meters apart for registration of qualitative parameters of Greek Juniper (Juniper excelsa). The total surface of areas was 600 ha and inventory with intensity of 16 percent has been done. This study showed that in spite of the less number of Greek juniper trees per ha in the station (0/104) in relation to the number of Greek juniper trees per hectare out of the station (0/666), the number of the Greek juniper seedlings in the station was eight times (8.34) more than the number of the Greek juniper seedlings out of the station. As to the effect of protection and water spreading operations on natural growth and increase of number of Greek Juniper seedlings in the station, forestation using this species in this area is recommended.

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Water scarcity causes production losses in arid and semi arid regions. In this condition, deficit irrigation is one of the most important methods to minimize effects of water shortage. This research was conducted to evaluate the effects of two kinds of irrigation management (deficit irrigation and partial rootzone drying technique) on some of physiological and phenological characteristics and water use efficiency of tomato. The experiment was carried out in a completely randomized design with five treatments and four replications. The treatments consisted of DI75 and DI50 (supplying 75% and 50% water requirement) applied to the whole root system, PRD75 and PRD50 (supplying 75% and 50% water requirement) which was applied to one side of the root system, and alternated in every irrigation, and FI treatment, which supplied 100% water requirement, and was considered as control. The results showed that the highest water use efficiency was observed in PRD75 (6.28 kg/m3) and the lowest in DI50 (1.98 kg/m3). Water use efficiency was reduced 67% in DI50 and increased 4.6% in PRD75, as compared with full irrigation. Furthermore, plant water state showed that relative water content was higher in PRD treatments than DI treatments. The analysis of variance indicated that there was a significant difference in leaf diameter stomata among treatments at 5% level .The higher level of water increased stomata diameter. The opening of stomata in FI and DI treatments was higher than PRD treatments. FI had the highest numbers of stomata per unit of leaf area and PRD50 had the lowest (10509.04 and 6904.4, respectively). There was no difference among treatments in phenological characteristics in terms of growing degree-day to fruit yield and growing-degree day to harvesting.

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Most part of the applied phosphorus is fixed in the calcareous soil. Some part of residual phosphorus can be recovered by the plants of the following years. It is reported that organic matter is one of most important factors in phsphorus recovering. This expriment was designed in permanent plot to evaluate the effect of organic matter on residual phosphorus recovering in a calcareous soil. The expriment was conducted on randomized complete block design in a factorial manner with three replications in four years. Treatments were consisted of farm yard manure(FYM) in three levels ( 0, 15, and 30 ton ha-1) and three levels of phosphrus ( 0, 90 and 180 kg ha-1 as P2O5 from triple super phosphate (TSP). Phosphorus fertilizer was applied only in the first year of expriment, but FYM was used in all of the years. Onion, canola, bean and spinage were planted in the four years of experiment, respectively. Results showed that maximum yield, P concentratin in plant and soil phosphorus availability were followed by application of FYM and P(residual) together in all of the years. This increase was mainly by direct effect of P in the first year of expriment, but recovered phosphrus by FYM had maximum role in the later years. More than 53% of increase in phosphrus availability in soil and 21% of increase in yield resulted from recovered phosphprus by FYM in the treatment of 30 ton.ha-1 FYM and 180 kg.ha-1 P2O5 together in the last year.

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Studying the sustainability of farming systems entails the integrated assessment of the strong interdependence between their environmental, economic and social attributes. Optimum allocation of water resources in a farming system improves the conservation and sustainability status of resources in addition to reducing the socio-economical damages. In order to analyze and assess the different aspects of farm management and agricultural systems planning, a number of mathematical programming models have been developed in recent decades. The purpose of this article was to assess and analyse the sustanability and determine the appropriate pattern of cropping in a rural farming system, namely, south Baraan located in the east of Isfahan city. In order to incorporate environmental, economic and social dimentions, two criteria of maximum net return and employment creation per unit of agricultural water consumption were defined as system’s sustainability indicators. Thus, the ratios “net return / water consumption” and “employment / water consumption” were optimized by using single and multiple objective fractional programming models. The economic and social efficiency of each unit of agricultural water consumption was computed and compared in several single and multiple objective scenarios of linear and fractional programming models, and finally the most appropriate patterns of cropping for the region were determined based on the available land, water and human resources of the region.

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In recent years, surface water resources in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province have decreased and groundwater level has fallen down. Thus, groundwater must be strengthened by surface water resources. The objective of this search was identification of artificial recharge sites thorough Fuzzy Logic in Shahrekord Basin. Effective factors in ground water recharge such as slope, infiltration rate, thickness of unsaturated zone, surface water EC, land use and stream network were determined. They were classified, weighted in software packages Arc View 3.2a and Arc GIS 9.3 and they were integrated using multiplying operator in fuzzy model. The obtained results showed 4.79 % of all areas are suitable and 17.94 % are somewhat suitable in this method. To include the effect of land use parameter, it was overlaid on the final maps, showing a decrease in suitable areas up to 1/3. Generally about 30 points were introduced with priorities A, B, AB as having potential for artificial recharge.

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Electrical conductivity and acidity of soil are the most important chemical factors of soil for agriculture. The nature of soil is in such a way that its change has a continuous form. The method that can take into account this continuity will be able to show a better picture of change in soil characteristics. Objectives of this research are to investigate the relations between measured electrical conductivity and soil acidity of Qom plain, and clustering, compare the clustering methods, determine the optimum numbers of cluster, and to zone the clusters in the study area. Accordingly, two fuzzy clustering methods FCM and GK, were used for data mining and clustering of 465 measured data. For estimating the appropriateness and comparison of two methods, some criteria including Partition Coefficient, Classification Entropy, Partition Index, Separation Index and Xie and Beni's Index were used. Data mining results showed that the optimum number of clusters for FCM and GK method was 15 and 17, respectively. After investigating the results of clustering and based on the criteria of appropriateness, it was indicated that GK was the best clustering method. According to this method, 295 data from 465 measured samples had more than 40 percent of membership function. So, 9 clusters from 17 clusters had more than 20 members. Then salinity-alkalinity zoning based on GK method to show the clusters distribution better in the study area was prepared. This prepared fuzzy map explained that most of Northwest and west belonged to cluster 1 and eastern parts of study area include belonged to cluster 17. Based on this, salinity-alkalinity and the ensuing soil degradation in east of study area is more likely than the west of it.

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Soil erosion is one of the most important factors affecting soil quantity and quality and is environmental problems in developing countries like Iran. It can have deteriorating effects on ecosystems. This research was carried out in farm lands of the Chehel-Chai watershed, Golestan province to investigate the effect of soil properties on runoff and soil loss. Runoff and soil loss were measured in a completely randomized design in 36 plots with 10×10 m sizes in farm lands. For this reason, this study was conducted using rainfall simulator with 2 mm/min intensity and 15 min duration in 4 replicates. Soil samples were also taken in each plot. Sampling was conducted in October 2009. Results of the Pearson correlation showed that among soil properties, the contents of the lime, silt and fine sand had positive correlations with runoff at 1% confidence level. Also, soil surface resistance at 1% confidence level, the contents of the organic matter and nitrogen at 5% confidence level had negative correlations with soil loss. Finally, the results of multiple linear models showed that the content of lime is effective in estimating runoff and soil surface resistance, and organic matter is effective in estimating soil loss.

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In order to assess hydraulics of LNAPLs in soil, the soil retention curves of petroleum and water were both determined through hanging column method. And, the hydraulic conductivity of petroleum and water were determined by steady head method. The water and petroleum hydraulic conductivities were 7.27 and 57.84 cm.day-1, respectively. The soil retention parameters were obtained based on van Genuchten, Brooks-Corey and Campbell models. In addition, the soil hydraulic conductivity for both fluids was predicted based on Mualem- Brooks-Corey, Burdine- Brooks-Corey, Mualem-van Genuchten and Campbell models. The accuracy assessment of models was performed by ME, RMSE, CD, EF and CRM. The results indicated that the magnitudes of the pore-size distribution parameters and the bubbling pressure parameters were reduced in NAPL-air system compared to water-air system. Due to unusual hydraulic behavior of petroleum and soil-petroleum interactions leading to remaining substantial petroleum content in porous media, more matric potential is needed to drain out petroleum from soils compared to water. Thus, soil provides more retention for petroleum at a given quantity of fluid. Owing to high amount of petroleum kinematic viscosity, the saturated soil hydraulic conductivity of petroleum was lower than that of water. However, soil hydraulic conductivity for petroleum was larger than water at more than 100 cm matric head.

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Four partial root zone drying (FULL, 1PRD50, 2PRD50, 3PRD50) treatments were investigated on tomato characteristics and water use efficiency using completely randomized design with five replications. In the control treatment (Full irrigation), all water requirement of plant was met in the root area equally during the growing season. Roots in 1PRD50, 2PRD50 and 3PRD50 treatments were divided into two equal parts and each side of root was irrigated one, two and three times, respectively. Results showed that the highest (44.43 g) and lowest (24.57g) tomato mean weights were obtained at full irrigation and 3PRD50, respectively. Maximum of diameter (43.1 ml) and fruit number (46 No) was observed in the control and minimum of these traits (15.6 ml and 20 No, respectively) was observed in 3PRD50 treatment. There was a highly significant difference between fruit number in all treatments. Highest yield and marketable yield was obtained in the control and 1PRD50 treatment, respectively. The highest irrigation water use efficiency was obtained in 1PRD50 (48 percent more than the control) and the lowest value was in 3PRD50 (27 percent lower than the control). Based on results of this study, partial intermittent irrigation (1PRD50) is recommendable for tomato production.

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Usually, dry soil readily absorbs water .However, not all soils display such characteristics. Some soils (hydrophobic soils) show resistance to wetting. Because of the importance of this subject and lack of research, we evaluated the effect of heating on water repellency and some of soil physical and chemical characteristics. So soil was combined with compost and heated at deferent temperatures, 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 °C for 30 minutes in an oven or muffle furnace. The results showed that control treatment and heated soil at 300 °C had WDPT and MED 45 (s), 17% and 80 (s), 23% respectively. So, little water repellency was present prior to heating the soil. When soil was heated up to 300°C, intense water repellency resulted, but it was abruptly eliminated by increasing the heating. The soil texture was changed from loam to sandy loam at high temperatures (400 & 500 °C) and the sand percentage was increased. Organic matter decreased by increasing the temperature. Amount of pH decreased up to 200 °C and then increased at 500°C because of increasing ash in soils. Diminution of mineral and organic matter caused EC to decline in all the heated soils.

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Flood currents are considered threatening factors by creating local scour along bridge piers. One method for decreasing local scour is to strengthen the bed against imposed tensions. Among methods which can directly be appropriate in decreasing and controlling local scour of bridge piers is to employ geotextile around bridge piers. In the present study, the effect of geotextile layer in decreasing local scour of cylindrical single-pier was investigated with the purpose of proposing the best effective method of covering bridge pier. So, layers with circular and oval shapes were put around the pier, in proportion with pier diameter, and the performance of each was compared with the unprotected pier. Test results showed that with installing the oval geotextile layer, final scour depth around the pier reached to 1.25D. Also, comparing geotextile and collar with 2D diameter, the delay of scour process around geotextile was 40 times higher than the collar, but the collar decreased the ultimate scour depth further than geotextile.
 
 

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In this study, the trends of changes of the standardized precipitation index in a 12-month timescale (SPI-12) and seasonal and annual precipitation were investigated in 21 humid and semi-arid stations of Iran during the 1976-2014 time period. After removing the serial correlation of some series, the trend of precipitation and SPI-12 was detected using the Mann-Kendall nonparametric trend test. The results revealed that the trends of annual precipitation had been declining in all stations over the past 39 years.  The seasonal precipitation trend in winter, spring, autumn and summer was downward in approximately 90, 95, 47 and 37% of the studied stations, respectively. In addition, the descending trend of wintertime precipitation was significant in Sanandaj, Khoy, Urmia, Hamedan, Mashhad, Torbat-e-heydarieh, Nozheh and Qazvin. Also, the temporal trend of SPI-12 was decreasing in all surveyed stations except Shahrekord. Furthermore, SPI-12 showed a significant downward trend only in Sanandaj and Fasa. Moreover, the most severe meteorological drought occurred in the period 1999-2000, in Ramsar, Urmia and Hamedan, and in the period 2008-2009, in Tabriz, Sanandaj, Shiraz, Fasa, Qazvin, Mashhad, Torbat-e-heydarieh, Shahrekord, Gorgan and Kermanshah stations. Overall, the results of this study indicated that the trend of precipitation in most studied sites, particularly in semi-arid parts of the northeast and southwest of Iran, has changed due to the severe and long metrological drought that has occurred in the recent decade (2005-2015).