JWSS - Journal of Water and Soil Science

Soil quality is the permanent soil ability to function as a live system within ecosystem under different land uses. Investigating the impact of land use type on soil quality indicators could help to distinguish sustainable managements and therefore, to inhibit soil degradation. In order to evaluate the effect of different land uses on soil quality indicators, a research based on a randomized complete design in Rabor region, Kerman Province, Iran, was conducted. A total of 104 samples were taken from the soil surface (0-15 cm) of four land uses including: pasture (28 samples), forest (25 samples), agronomy (27 samples) and garden land use (24 samples). Soil quality indicators were measured as: soil organic matter, particulate organic matter, and bulk density, plant available water capacity, S index, cation exchange capacity (CEC), electrical conductivity (EC), soil pH, and phosphatase enzyme. According to the results, land use types had a significant effect on all indicators except S index at 1% probability level. The maximum amount of soil pH, bulk density and phosphatase enzyme was obtained from forest land use. On the other hand, the maximum amount of the other indicators was attained from the garden land use. Totally, garden land use, due to having high organic matter, could improve the soil quality. However, the pasture land use had the worst soil quality due to the weak cover and the low organic matter.

Sugarcane is cultivated in the wide area in Khuzestan province. In these areas, irrigated sugarcane cultivation consumes more than 30,000 cubic meters per hectare annually. This research was carried out to determine the effect of sugarcane cultivation on the soil development process and forms of iron oxides. Different sugarcane fields with different utilization times were selected and soil physico-chemical properties and different Fe forms were measured. The results showed that with enhancing the utilization time, the total amount of total iron oxides (Fe_d) and crystalline iron oxides (Fe_d-Fe_o) was increased. The average value of the Fe_d from 6958 mg/kg in the fields with a medium utilization history was decreased to 4560 mg/kg in fields with a short utilization history. Similarly, the average amount of crystalline iron oxide from 5888.3 mg/kg in the fields with a long utilization history was decreased to 5003.9 mg/kg in the fields with a short utilization hostory. This increase reflected the effect of sugarcane cultivation on the soil development process in the cultivated fields. The amount of non-crystalline iron oxides (Fe_o) was decreased from 443.9 mg/kg from the soil surface to 273.8 mg/kg to the subsurface. This increase was related to the more organic matter and the microbial activity in the surface soil. The amount of active iron (Fe_o/Fe_d) was dropped in all fields after the cultivation. Also, this ratio was dropped from 0.055 in the fields with a long cultivation history to 0.064 in the fields with a short utilized field. The results, therefore, showed that the increase of crystalline iron oxides was due to sugarcane and its heavy irrigation.

Due to the limited freshwater, farmers have to use exotic waters such as seawater. One of the management methods is the conjunction use of fresh and seawater. The goal of this study was to investigate the effect of conjunctive irrigation with seawater and fresh water on the yield and yield components of Dill (Anethum graveolens L.) in greenhouse conditions. The research was done based on a completely randomized design including 3 replications as pot planting in Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources during 2016. In this study, there were five irrigation regimes (Irrigation with one-third of the sea water with tsp water, Irrigation with half seawater and then one more half with fresh water, Alternate irrigation with seawater and tap water, and Conjunction irrigation). The results inducted that the effect of different irrigation regimes on Umbrellas per plant, umbels per umbrellas and thousand kernel weights was highly significant (P<0.01), but the number of leaves per plant, branches number, the number of seeds per plant, and the seed number in umbrellas were significant at 5 percent level (P<0.05). In this study, all parameters were decreased significantly with the increase at all levels of water salinity. The results showed that one-third seawater and tap water irrigation regime, as compared to other regimes after control regimes, had the highest Umbrellas per plant, umbels per umbrellas, the number of leaves per plant, branches number, the number of seeds per plant, and the seed number in umbrellas. One-third, half alternate, alternate and the mixture of sea water and tap water resulted in the decrease of thousand kernel weights, reaching ti 13.6, 19.0, 30.1 and 65.1 percent, respectively.

Exactly estimating of water requirement is essential for water balance studies, design and management of irrigation systems and water resources management. Because of limited soil and water resources in Iran, for optimal use of water resources in the agricultural sector, it is necessary to determine the amount of water requirement by different plants in different climatological conditions. In order to determine the water requirement and crop coefficients of Stevia, six lysimeter numbers were used in three replications for stevia and reference plant (grass). The reference Stevia plant evapotranspiration was measured on a daily basis. The results showed that during the 537 day period of Stevia cultivation, the maximum and minimum water requirement in the first and second year of cultivation was respectively 9.85 and 1.69 mm per day, and for the reference plant was obtained as 6.54 and 1.84 mm per day. In this study, the Kc coefficients in initial, development, intermediate and final stages of growth in 2016 were 0.76, 1.11, 1.46 and 1.05 and in 2017 at growth stages, were 0.76, 1.18, 1.52 and 1.29 respectively. The average of individual Stevia plant growth factors for four growth stages in two years of research was obtained as 0.76, 1.15, 1.49, and 1.17, respectively.

In the present study, the effects of different levels of irrigation, organic mulch and planting method on the mungbean yield in Badjgah were investigated. The experimental plan in the first year was full randomized block, while in the second year, it was full randomized split-split plot block design, in three repetitions. The results showed that in the FI treatments, the yield was increased up to 2% for the first year and 5% for the second year by changing the planting method from on over-ridge planting method to the in-furrow planting one. Also, the results of the first year showed that there was no significant difference between the yield in the fully-irrigated treatments without mulch and the treatment with mulch and 0.75 FI. The amount of the irrigation water could be decreased up to 25% by adding organic mulch in both planting methods, as compared to the fully-irrigated treatments without mulch. The maximum water productivity equal to 0.4 kg/m³ was observed in 0.5 FI, in-furrow planting method with mulch treatment. It can be, therefore, concluded that the water productivity may be maximized with the application of both deficit irrigation and mulching strategies.

In order to investigate the effect of the type drip of irrigation methods, subsurface irrigation and furrow irrigation on the domestication of Hedysarum criniferum Boiss., an experiment with a  randomized complete block design with three replications was implemented  at Isfahan University of Technology for two years (2016 to 2018) . For this purpose, clay pipes were made and the plant was cultivated on the sides of clay pipes and types. Also, furrow irrigation treatment was applied as the control. During the experiment, all treatments received the same water and finally, some growth parameters were measured. The results of the study showed improvement in height (0.43 and 0.34), canopy cover (0.66 and 0.52), stem number (0.44 and 0.85), chlorophyll index (0.45 and 0.45), seed emergence (0.75 and 0.30), plant survival (0.78 and 0.55), yield (0.23 and 0.35), and water use efficiency (0.25 and 0.25) under type drip irrigation treatment, as compared to subsurface and furrow irrigation, respectively (P<0.05). In general, the type drip treatment is recommended in the early years of planting; however, since the maximum production potential of this plant is in the third year onwards, it is necessary to examine the results in the following years to recommend the proper irrigation method, especially the use of subsurface irrigation. 

Today, many countries, including Iran, face natural hazards such as ground subsidence, drought, floods, and acute water shortage. Lack of correct management of underground water resources leads to many of these natural hazards. Artificial recharge of aquifers is one of the solutions proposed in the world to deal with these natural hazards, especially ground subsidence. The quantitative and qualitative effects of the effluent treatment plant on the Damaneh Daran Aquifer recharge were investigated in this research. The results showed that aquifer recharge through the distribution of effluents in the Damaneh Daran River has a positive effect on increasing the water level and releasing effluents in the river will enhance the water level in a larger radius regardless of the quality of the effluents. Based on the result of the present study, it is suggested that all the effluent treatment plants be allocated to aquifer balancing in the future. In the part of replacing wastewater with active wells, due to the lack of wells with industrial and green area use in this region, provided advanced wastewater treatment, all wastewater should be replaced with active wells in the agricultural area.