JWSS - Journal of Water and Soil Science

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This experiment was conducted to study the effects of using cotton-seed meal on the performance and carcass yield of broiler chickens at different ages. The experiment was performed in a completely randomized design with four treatments and five replicates for each treatment. The experimental treatments included the levels of 0, 3.5, 7, and 10.5% of cotton-seed meal in diets fed to chickens at 7-21 days of age. Except for the control group, these levels for grower (21-42 d of age) was increased to 7, 14, and 21% and for finisher (42-56 d of age) to 14, 21, and 21%, respectively. For the purposes of this study, 260 day-old chicks were reared in litter until 7 days of age. On day 7, chicks were divided into 20 pens with 13 chicks in each pen. NRC (1994) recommendation was used in balancing experimental diets. The chickens were weighed weekly throughout the experimental period (7-56 d). The main observations were body gain, feed intake and feed conversion ratio. Physical analysis of carcass was done at the end of the experimental period and percentages of carcass, abdominal fat, liver, pancreas and digestive tract to live body weight were calculated. The use of cotton-seed meal and the increase of the levels through different ages had no significant effects on body weight, daily gain, feed intake, feed conversion ratio, and carcass components. Increasing the level of cotton-seed meal in the diet at 7-21 days of age had significant effects on feed intake (P<0.05) and increased it. The results of this experiment indicate that we can use cotton-seed meal at levels of 7,14, and 21% of diets, respectively, in starter, grower and finisher stages without having any adverse effects on the performance and carcass yield of broiler chickens.

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Knowledge of the spatial dependency of soil properties, sensitive to grazing systems, is important from an ecosystem protection point of view. In the current study, geostatistical methods and fractal concepts have been used in order to characterize the impact of long-term grazing exclusion on the spatial variability of some soil chemical parameters including organic matter, total nitrogen, available phosphorous, and available potassium in both ungrazed and grazed sites located in Sabzkuh region, Chaharmahal Bakhtiari Province. The spatial pattern of different variables was studied using variogram. The results indicate that spatial variability of soil parameters depends upon grazing history. The variogram of organic matter in grazed areas shows a linear behavior without reaching the sill variance while organic matter in the ungrazed area established a strong spatial structure. Moreover, available phosphorous in the grazed area had pure nugget variation. Variograms of total nitrogen and available potassium in both grazed and ungrazed areas showed spatial structure approximated by spherical model. However, the range of variograms in exclusion sites was twice that of the grazed area. The results of applying the fractal theory show that soil properties have fractional behavior since increasing the scale of study reveals more details. Moreover, calculated fractal dimension values from variograms of different variables were close to 2.0 although this index was usually greater in the grazed area than in the exclusion sites. The calculated fractal dimensions can be used as a proper indicator of describing the pattern of spatial variability and its complexity.

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This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of different levels of energy and protein on the performance of male broiler breeder chicks. Three hundred and sixty day-old Arian male broiler breeder chicks were used in a 2×3 factorial experiment with two levels of metabolizable energy (3050 and 3200 Kcal/Kg) and three levels of protein and sulfur amino acids (110% NRC, NRC and 90% NRC) in a completely randomized design with four replicates per treatment. Results obtained from the whole of the experiment’s period (0-49 days of age) indicated that level of dietary energy had a significant effect on body weight and daily gain (P<0.05). Increasing of the energy levels from 3050 to 3200 kcal/kg increased body weight (2216g vs 2314g) and daily gain (45.2 vs. 47.2 g per day). Dietary energy level had no effect on feed intake, feed conversion and carcass components. Increasing of dietary protein significantly increased body weight and daily gain and decreased feed conversion and percentage of abdominal fat pad (P<0.05). The results of this study indicated that we can fed Arian male broiler breeder chicks by using diets containing 3200 Kcal ME/kg and protein and sulfur amino acid levels according to NRC recommendation or 10% higher during 0-21, 21-42 and 42-49 days of age and achieve suitable growth rate and body weight.

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Improvement of feed efficiency in dairy farming economically has a great importance. In this study, the genetic parameters of net energy efficiency and its relationships with milk yield, 3.2% fat corrected milk, body weight, gross income and income over feed costs were investigated, by the 2589 monthly records collected from the 723 lactating cows in the 3 herds. The different requirements of energy were estimated, by the National Research Council (NRC) models. A general linear model was employed for determining significant factors affecting each trait. The genetic parameters were estimated by a multivariate analysis with the derivative free approach of restricted maximum likelihood algorithm. The animal models contained the fixed effects of herd-year-season, parity number and stage of lactation, the regression coefficients of each trait on the dietary levels of rumen undegradable protein and metabolizable energy, and the random effects of animal additive genetic, permanent environment and residuals. The heritability of milk yield, 3.2 percent fat corrected milk, body weight, net energy efficiency, gross income and income over feed cost, were estimates 0.31, 0.32, 0.30, 0.34, 0.24 and 0.29 respectively. The results of this study indicated that the direct selection for net energy efficiency might genetically improve the feed efficiency. It also seems that the selection for fat corrected milk may be effective for the indirect improvement of feed efficiency and economic performance of dairy cows.

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The Two cultivars of kiwi fruit, Hayward and Abbot, with the desirable quality were harvested on time from Valiabad, a region in Tonekabon (Mazanddaran Provicnce). Fruits were graded and packed in the wooden boxes, cartons and low density polyethylene (LDPE) films, the fruits were cold stored in a proper and constant conditions (T= ±0.5 & RH=90-95%) for a period of 6 months. Samples were taken in completely randomised design from each package for intervals of 30±3 days and during storage (6 months). Chemical characteristics such as the total soluble solids(TSS), titratable acidity as citric acid, dry matter, vitamin C and the Physical characteristics such as yield point (Y.P.), yield point strength (Y.P.S.), penetration force (P.F.) and penetration stress (P.S.) were measured. Statistical analysis was performed with the factorial experiment in an unequal completely randomized design and the means compaired by Duncan multiple range test. The results indicated that, cv, Abbot has shorter shelf life, 4 months, compared to Hayward with 6 months storage period. Hayward contained more dry matter than Abbot throughout the storage period. Total soluble solids of cultivars increased and titrable acidity as citric acid decreased during storage. Vitamin C of Abbot was more than Hayward throughout the storage. Total factors in relation to texture and physical properties decreased by time such texture Hayward cv.after six month storage and in Abbot after four month storage was softer. As the final conclusion, wooden bins packaging for longer storage and plastic packaging for monotonous rippening of kiwifruit was the best in compared with other packaging.

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Wear is the most important problem of moldboard plowshares. Because of cutting the soil, intensity of wear at the front portion of share is large and the effect of its wear on plow performance is considerable. In this research wear of the front portion of moldboard plowshares with respect to distance worked was studied. Wear of cylindrical specimens which were attached to the front portion of plowshares of a semimounted four-bottom moldboard plow was determined in five equally distance interval. The soil was silty clay loam with 13-15% moisture content and the distance worked was 250 kilometers. Statistical analysis of the data indicated that there was no significant difference in the amount of wear of the four shares. In other words, they wore down simultaneously. The wear intensity of shares decreased with increasing distance worked i.e., the amount of weight reduction being highest during the initial period of operation. This may be attributed to “work hardening” due to severe plastic deformation during wear. Two mathematical models based on regression analysis were developed for predicting wear in the front portion of plowshare. The relationship of wear with respect to the distance worked can be expressed by an exponential function having a 0.75 exponent and the relationship of wear at the front edge of shares with respect to distance from point of share by a second order function with determination coefficient of 0.93 Nearly 75% of the total wear in the front edges occurred in the 1.3 length of shares from the tip.

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This research was carried out to investigate the heterogeneity of milk yield variance components in different production levels of holstein cattles. The first lactation milk yield records of 95945 Holstein cattles, which had calved in 651 herds through years 1991 to 2000, were used in this research. Data was collected by the Animal Breeding Center of Iran and adjusted for two-time milking per day. Records were classified into three classes: low (less than 5275 kg), average (5275-6874 kg), and high (more than 6874 kg) based on the level of production. Variance components and genetic parameters were estimated using single and three-trait animal models for each class and three classes with Derivative Free Restricted Maximum Likelihood methods (DF-REML). Bartlett test showed significant differences for variance components between classes. Milk yield heritability was estimated as 0.205, 0.276, and 0.196 for low, average, and high class, respectively, in both single and three-trait analysis. The gentic correlation coefficient between classes ranged from 0.80 to 0.85, Phenotypic correlation coefficients between classes were low and ranged from 0.17 to 0.19. The highest rank correlation coefficient between estimated breeding value by single and three-trait model was obtained in average class. The average changes in the rank of common animals in the top 1% of cows were greather than the top 5% of bulls. Adjustment for heterogeneity of variance components suggested selecting more top cows from herds with high level of production.

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In this study external fat-tail dimensions (upper, middle and lower width, length, length of gap, depth and upper circumference) and fat-tail weights collected on 724 Lori-Bakhtiari sheep were used to study external fat-tail dimensions and their relationships with fat-tail weights. Sheep were 3 months to 6 years old and slaughtered at the industrial slaughter house of Joneghan in Chaharmohal and Bakhtiari province in 2003. The mean of fat-tail dimensions were estimated as 15.83, 23.85, 24.73, 26.52, 14.96, 14.12 and 52.59 cm for upper width, middle width, lower width, length, length of gap, depth and upper circumference, respectively. Fat-tail weight varied from 0.10 to 20.60 with overall mean of 2.71 kg. Fat-tail percentage varied from 1.18 to 37.18 with overall mean of 11.87 percent. The effects of fixed factors of age, sex and body condition of sheep on all of traits were highly significant (p<0.0001). The least square means of all traits except fat-tail percentage were increased with increasing age of sheep. Lowest least square mean (± s.e) of 2.12 ± 0.25 kg fat-tail weight and 7.91 ± 0.72% fat-tail were observed for sheep having body condition score of 1 and the highest least square mean with fat-tail weight of 9.84 ± 0.56 kg and fat-tail percentage of 20.59 ± 1.63 were observed for sheep having body condition score of 5. Estimation of correlation coefficients among external fat-tail dimensions and fat-tail weight were positive and varied from 0.60 between upper fat-tail width and fat-tail weight to 0.83 between upper circomference of fat-tail and fat-tail weight. Upper circumference of fat-tail accounted for %69.5 of variation of fat-tail weight. This study showed that fat-tail weight in live sheep of Lori-Bakhtiari could be estimated using external fat-tail dimensions with very high accuracy (r = 0.904).

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To study the effects of terbutaline (a beta adrenergic agonist) on performance of broiler chickens, 21 d-old male and female Cobb broiler chicks (n=300) were randomly assigned to one of five dietary treatments containing 0 (control), 5, 10, 15 and 20 mg terbutaline per kg diet. The feed conversion ratio (FCR), feed intake and body weight gain were measuered after 3 weeks. At 42-d age, six males and six females were randomly selected from each treatment and their live weight and weights of carcass, breast, breast muscle, drumsticks, drumstick muscle and abdominal fat were determined. Terbutaline didn’t affect daily weight gain, but FCR of male chicks was reduced for 5 and 10 mg/kg terbutaline treatments comapared with the control group (p<0.05). Carcass weight and weight of drumsticks, drumstick muscle, breast, breast muscle and ratio of breast to live weight of female chicks reciving 5 mg/kg terbutaline were higher than for other treatments (p<0.05). In male chicks, the live weight and weight of carcass, ratio of carcass to live weight, drumsticks and drumstick muscle at 5 mg/kg terbutaline treatment were higher than for other treatments (p<0.05). This experiment also showed that the addition of 5 mg terbotaline per kg diet during growing period improved FCR and ratio of carcass to live weight of male chicks, increased the ratio of breast to live weight of female chicks, and increased the carcass weight of male and female Cobb chicks.

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Genetic variation within and between five Iranian sheep populations including Sanjabi (SAN), Kordi Kordistan (KKO), Kordi Khorasan (KKH), Mehraban (MEH) and Moghani (MOG) was assessed using six microsatellite markers (McMA2, McMA26, MAF64, OarAE64, OarCP26 and OarFCB304). The PCR reactions were successfully perfomed with all primers except OarAE64. All locus-population combinations were at Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium except McMA2 in MOG population (P<0.005). Polymorphism criteria showed that the five studied loci were polymorphic in all populations. The lowest D_A genetic distance (0.234) was observed between KKH and KKO and the highest (0.388) between SAN and MOG populations. The dendrograms based on D_A distances were drawn using unweighted pair-group method using an arithmetic average (UPGMA) and neighbor-joining (NJ) method. KKO, KKH and SAN were grouped together at one cluster and MEH and MOG at another by both methods. The average expected heterozygosity for each populations (as interpopulation variation) ranged from 0.744 to 0.847 for KKH and MEH, respectively. The estimated time of divergence for two Kordi populations (KKO and KKH) was 445 years that complies with historical evidences. The findings of this research confirmed that microsatellite variation could be a useful tool for screening of investigating biodiversity among domestic animals.

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  A factorial experiment, based on RCB design, with three replications was conducted to evaluate the effects of rhizobial inoculation, urea, and weeds on soybean performance in the field. The factors under study consisted of inoculation and non-inoculation, three levels of 0, 150, and 300 kg/ha urea, and weed-control and weed-infestation. Results showed that weed-control, inoculation and urea application increased biological and seed yield. The highest effect on yield was due to weed control, followed by inoculation and urea application. Inoculation, weed-control and urea application of 300 kg/ha enhanced protein percentage in soybean grains. In this case, inoculation had the highest effect on protein percentage, followed by urea application and weed control. In contrast, only weed-control significantly increased seed oil percentage. Seed filling rate increased as a result of inoculation, but, seed filling duration was not affected by inoculation. Weed-control improved seed filling rate and duration. Urea application induced seed filling duration, but had not any effect on seed filling rate.

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This experiment was carried out to determine the nutritional value and the effect of different levels of tomato seed and pomace on performance of broilers. Corn grains and soyabean meals were replaced by tomato seed at levels of 6, 12 and 18 % and tomato pomace at levels of 3, 9 and 12 %. At first, the metabolizable energy of tomato seed and pomace was determined by the Sibbald method. In this experiment, 504 commercial broiler chicks (Ross 308) were used for 8 weeks (from 7 to 56 days old ) in a completely randomized design in 7 treatments with 4 replications per treatment. After 21 days, protein digestibility of the ration in illeum was determined. Apparent metabolizable energy was 3394 kcal/kg for seed and 2329 kcal/kg for pomace and crude protein was 31, 22.7, respectively . The result showed that body weight, protein digestibility of rations in illeum and carcass characteristics were not significantly different . Best energy and protein conversion efficiencies were obtained at the level of 6 % seed and 9 % pomace, that were not significantly different from control treatment. Cheeks fed with seed and 12% tomato pomace had significantly (p<0.5) higher feed intake than control group.The difference between diets containing 6% seed and 3% pomace and control group was not significant regarding feed conversion ratio.

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Concerning the effects of increasing the species number on the maintenance of ecological stability and agricultural ecosystems sustainability, two field studies were conducted in 2002 and 2003 to evaluate the effects of plant population densities on soybean and sorghum intercropping at the Research Center, the Faculty of Agriculture, Tabriz University, Tabriz, Iran. Cultural pattern was an additive series. The factorial set of treatments was arranged within a randomized complete block design with three replications. The first factor comprised soybean densities of 20, 30, 40, and 50 plants/m², and the second factor consisted of sorghum densities of 0, 4, 8, and 12 plants/m². The results indicated that both soybean and sorghum yields were significantly affected by soybean and sorghum densities. Soybean yield increased as density increased up to 40 plants/m², and then decreased with increasing soybean density from 40 to 50 plants/m². With increasing soybean density, sorghum yield was decreased. Sorghum and soybean yields, respectively, increased and decreased as sorghum density increased. On the other hand, Soybean and sorghum densities of 20:4 (1.6) and 50:12 (0.8) had the highest and the lowest LER (Land Equivalent Ratio), respectively. It was, therefore, concluded that intercropping of Soybean and sorghum, is more advantageous, compared to their pure cultivation in the same conditions.

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In order to study yield component and determinate the contribution of stem reserves to corn yield under effect of different densities and interference periods of sorghum, a factorial experiment based on randomized complete block design with three replications was conducted in 2002 on the Research Farm of the Faculty of Agriculture Tabriz University. Experimental factors were sorghum interference at different periods (0,14,28,42 days after corn emergence and also during plant life corn) with three densities (4,8,12 plants m-2). Characteristics of study were yield, yield component and the contribution of stem reserves to corn grain yield. The results showed that with increasing sorghum density and interference, corn yield components (except the number of grain rows) were decreased, due to shading and competition between plants for using available resources. Maximum grain yield and grain number per ear was obtained at pure corn plantation. With increasing sorghum density and interference periods grain yield decreased, and maximum corn yield loss was 38%, which occurred at the highest sorghum density and interference. Dry matter remobilization and contribution of stem reserves were significantly influenced by sorghum densities and interferences in corn grain yield. The highest contribution of dry matter remobilization and stem reserves to corn yield was obtained at maximum density and complete interference of sorghum. The least contribution of reserves was shown in pure corn plantation. This might be related to shading and competition between plants for light and other resources.

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Dates of start and end of frost based on minimum shelter temperature equal to or less than 0°C were studied in Zanjan, Ghazvin and Tehran during 1961-2000. The cause of these frosts was determined by weather parameter values at observation hours and the aid of synoptic maps. Frost series based upon last spring or first fall advection are defined and found to be random and normally distributed. The "potential growing season", defined as the interval between spring last and first fall advection frosts, is found to be 29 days in Zanjan, 23 days in Ghazvin and 10 days in Tehran longer than the "growing season" defined by the interval from last spring to first fall occurrences of minimum shelter temperature of 0°C or less. The numbers of radiation frosts in the interval between first radiation frosts in fall or last radiation frost in spring and related advection frost were counted and found that this parameter is greater in Zanjan. Frostless days between the first two fall frosts and last two spring frosts show that the lengthening of spring season with one night protection is possible for 4 days in Zanjan, 6 in Gazvin and 4 in Tehran, providing that first fall and spring last frost is radiation. Results of this study permit estimating the practicality of frost protection for specialized crops in the area of study.

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Chlorine and sulfate toxicity in water and soils are the main factors limiting growth and yield of most plants. Tolerance and sensitive indexes related to Cl and SO4 in irrigation water and effect of nitrogen fertilizer on barley were evaluated in a completely randomized design with three replications, under greenhouse conditions. Quantity salinity tolerance and susceptibility indices such as Mean Productivity (MP), Tolerance Index (TOL), Geometric Mean Productivity (GMP), Stress Susceptibility Index (SSI), Reduction Yield Ratio (Yr) and Stress Tolerance Index (STI) on the basis of plant yield with stress (Ys) and without stress (Yp) conditions were determined. Results showed that STI had a positive and highest significant correlation with grain and straw yields, compared to other indexes. Study of Standard Beta contents in grain and straw with STI index showed that the impact of Cl had a greater effect on reduction of salinity tolerance than SO4. Also Cl/SO4 ratios of 1:3 and 1:2 for grain and 1:2 and 1:1 for plant straw brought about highest tolerance to salinity, compared to non stress conditions. The scatter plot also confirmed such findings.

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The contamination of soils with lead is a major environmental problem throughout the world. Phytoextraction of heavy metals from contaminated soils has the prospect of being a more economic in situ alternative. Chemically enhanced phytoextraction has been proposed as an effective approach to remove heavy metals from contaminated soil through the use of high biomass plants. Using a pot experiment, the effects of the application of three rates of EDTA at 0, 1.5 and 3 mmol/kg soil and sulfuric acid at 0, 0.5 and 1 mmol/kg soil with two rates of Pb at 0 and 200 mmol.kg-1 on the uptake of Pb by corn (Zea mays L. single cross 704 var.), sunflower (Helianthus annuus L. ajili var.), and cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L. varamin var.) plants were studied. The results showed that EDTA was more effective than sulfuric acid in increasing the concentration of Pb in shoots and roots for all plants studied. The maximum amount with application of EDTA to soil for shoots of corn, sunflower, and cotton were 4.07, 6.49 and 31.33 times higher than the control, respectively. EDTA also enhanced Pb content of roots of corn, sunflower, and cotton 3.38, 1.63 and 1.09 times higher than the control, respectively. DTPA-Pb was higher in soil treated with EDTA than sulfuric acid. The application of EDTA also significantly increased shoot-to-root ratio of Pb in plants examined. The results of this study showed that corn was able to phytoextract more Pb than sunflower and cotton.

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Information about potassium (K) release characteristics in the Chaharmahal-va-bakhtiari soils is limited. In this study, K release kinetics of fifteen calcareous soils was investigated. Soil samples were extracted using successive extractions with 0.01 M CaCl2 and citric acid solutions for 2-2017 h at 25±1 0C. Moreover, soil K was determined using 6 chemical extraction methods. The results showed that released K ranged from 111 to 411 mg kg-1in calcium chloride solution and from 177 to 1199 mg kg-1 in citric acid solution for 2017 h. Amounts of extracted K using any extraction methods were different. Result of kinetics study and chemical methods indicates that K supplying power of the soils is different. A plot of cumulative amounts of released K shows a discontinuity in slope at 168 h. Thus, two equations were applied to the total reaction time (2 to 168 and 168 to 2017 h). Moreover, results showed that release kinetics of K conformed fairly well to parabolic diffusion, simplified Elovich and power function models in two segments in 0.01 M CaCl2 and citric acid. In addition, results showed that correlation between released K by using 0.01 M calcium chloride and citric acid and extracted K using chemical methods was significant. The results of this research showed that kinetic studies and soil testing could be used for evaluating K fertility status of studied soils.

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Macrospore created by decaying plant root provides pathways for rapid transport of pollutants in soil profile. The main objective of this study was quantitative analysis of the effect of plant root (Zea mays L.) on bacterial and chloride transport through soil. Experiments were conducted in 9 soil columns packed uniformly with loamy sand. The treatments were bare soil, bare soil with corn (Zea mays L.) root and bare soil after decaying the corn root. The Breakthrough curves of Chloride were measured. Breakthrough curve (BTCs) of Escherichia coli and chloride were measured, too. The HYDRUS-1D one and two site kinetic attachment–detachment models were used to fit and forecast transport and retention of bacteria in soil columns experiment. The results indicated that the difference between soil hydraulic properties (saturated hydraulic conductivity and flow velocity) of the treatment was significant (p < 0.05). The result also showed that the two-site kinetic model leads to better prediction of breakthrough curves and bacteria retention in the soil in comparison with one-site kinetic model. Interaction with kinetic site 1 was characterized by relatively fast attachment and slow detachment, whereas attachment to and detachment from kinetic site 2 was fast. Most of the cells showed retention close to the soil column inlet, and the rate of deposition decreased with depth. Low reduction rate of bacteria of the soil columns with plant root and with void root channel indicated the presence of macrospores in the soil created by deep corn root system.

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The use of organic matter such as urban sewage sludge may help sustainable soil fertility via improving the physical, chemical and biological soil characteristics. The main purpose of this study was to determine the effect of urban sewage sludge on chemical properties, soil basal respiration and microbial biomass carbon in a calcareous soil with silty clay loam texture. Therefore, three levels of water repellency (zero, weak and strong) were artificially created in a silty clay loam soil by adding urban sewage sludge (S0=0:100; S50=50:50 and S80=80:20 sludge weight: soil ratio). Water repellency was determined by water drop penetration time (WDPT) method. Also some chemical properties such as soil acidity (pH) and Electrical Conductivity (EC), Soil Organic Carbon (OC), soluble sodium (Na⁺) and soluble potassium (K⁺) were measured. The samples were incubated at 23-25 ºC for 30 days and their moisture was maintained at 70-80 % under field capacity and soil basal respiration and microbial biomass carbon of incubation period were evaluated. The results showed that the effect of urban sewage sludge on chemical properties was significant (P ≤0.0001). The application of urban sewage sludge led to significant increase in basal respiration (16 and 27 times) and microbial biomass carbon (15.2 and 26.5 times) in the water repellency soils (S50 and S80) compared to control soil. The observed positive effect of sewage sludge might be due to a high content of organic carbon and nutrients in urban sewage sludge and decrease in the labile organic matter and nutrients during incubation period.