Showing 51 results for Carbon
Z. Fahim, M. A. Delavar, A. Golchin,
Volume 17, Issue 63 (6-2013)
Abstract
Organic carbon is the most important component of terrestrial ecosystems and any change in its abundance can have a major impact on the processes that take place in ecosystem. The aim of this study was to estimate carbon sequestration in three different elevations (200 to 1200 m from sea level) and according to vegetation type in the Khairoodkenar forest. The highest carbon sequestration was observed in the surface layer of a soil with Fig-Carpinus betulus vegetative cover and it was estimated to be 167.4 ton/ha. But when carbon sequestration was measured in soil solum, it was found that soils with Fagus orientalis-Carpinus betulus vegetation cover had the highest amount of organic carbon (514.4 ton/ ha). The results showed that clay fraction had the highest carbon content but the highest enrichment factor (1.59) was measured for sand fraction in soils with Fagus orientalis- Carpinus betulus vegetative cover. The highest organic carbon content (7.89%) and aggregate stability (MWD= 7.79mm) and lowest bulk density (1.21 g/cm3) were measured in soils with Figs- Carpinus betulus vegetative cover.
Hadis Feizi, Mostafa Chorom, Arsalan Heidari,
Volume 17, Issue 64 (9-2013)
Abstract
In order to describe soils polluted with hydrocarbons, the amount and distribution pattern of soil heavy metals (Ni, Cd) in soils were studied. Soil samples were taken from one of the western oil field of Iran. The field was naturally exposed to crude oil spillage into soil and consequently was environmentally polluted during the development, production, transportation and storage of crude oil. Sampling was started near the oil wells with maximum relative contamination and continued to the remote places based on grid sampling pattern. Samples were characterized by physicochemical analysis. The results revealed different levels of total hydrocarbons (from 0.12 to 2.99 mg/kg of dry soil), Ni (from 32 to 136 mg/kg. of dry soil) and Cd (from 0 to 4mg/kg of dry soil). In addition, the role of soil agents such as pH and EC and sedimentary indexes was considerable in controlling the pollution trend in the studied area. Finally, by interpolation module and prediction of unknown values via Kriging techniques, the expansion plans were created. The extracted plans obviously illustrated the decrease in the levels of pollution indexes with the increase in distance from the given centers of pollution
F. Maghami Moghim, A. Karimi, Gh. Haghnia, A. Dourandish,
Volume 17, Issue 65 (12-2013)
Abstract
The quantity and variability of soil organic carbon (SOC) is one of the most important indices to determine the effect of land use changes on the soil quality. Regarding long-term changes from rangeland to dry farming in the Roin area of North Khorasan, the objectives of this study were to investigate the effect of long-term land use changes on the SOC in different slope faces and use SOC as an index to make a proper decision about the future of land use in this area. 140 soil samples were taken from 0-15 cm soil depth of back slope position of north-, south-, west- and east-facing slopes of rangeland, dry farming, alfalfa dry farming and garden in 7 points. 14 soil samples were taken from irrigated farming, too. The results showed that garden and irrigation farming with averages of 2.03 and 0.78% have the maximum and minimum SOC content. The average of SOC content in rangeland was 1.40% that decreased by land use change to 1.04 and 1.27% in dry farming and alfalfa dry farming, respectively. SOC content in southern slope aspects showed a significant difference compared to other slope aspects. The most SOC content occurred in east aspects. It seems that after long-term land use changes, the SOC content have equilibrated to environmental and land use conditions. The average SOC content in different slope aspects except south one changed from 1.4% in rangeland to 1.11% in dry farming and 1.32% in alfalfa dry farming, which are a suitable value for semiarid regions. In conclusion, to protect land from degradation and considering this fact that dry farming is the main income of the people in the study area, it is recommended to stop dry farming on south aspects and continue on east, north and west aspects with conservation practices.
H. Mahmoudzadeh, M. Sheklabadi, A. A. Mahboubi,
Volume 18, Issue 68 (9-2014)
Abstract
Organic carbon pools and carbon lability directly affect soil biological, physical and chemical characteristics. Besides, capacity of self-organization of soil is related to the organic carbon pools. Sand size fraction (> 50 µm) organic matter is more labile than silt+clay size fraction organic matter. Assessment of this organic carbon variation can be a suitable index to determine soil quality. The aim of present study was to evaluate the impact of land use change on particle size fractions of organic carbon and carbon pool index. In September 2010, soil samples were collected from the three major land use types including wetlands around the lake, wetlands converted to wheat, and alfalfa cultivations. Soil samples were collected from the 0-30, 30-60 and 60-90-cm depths in each of land use. According to the results of particle size fractionation of organic carbon in 0-30-cm layer, the highest and lowest amounts of sand size fraction organic carbon were obtained in wetland (67.01 g.C.kg-1soil) and wheat land use (24.57 g.C.kg-1soil), respectively. Land use change from wetland to alfalfa and wheat caused a decrease of silt+clay size fraction organic carbon in 0-30-cm by 48.39 and 45.14 t.C.h-1, respectively. In the 30-60-cm layer of cultivated land, soil organic carbon storage in silt+clay size particle was more than sand size fraction organic carbon. Results showed that carbon pool index in alfalfa, and wheat land was decreased by 50 and 60% compared to wetland, respectively. And carbon management index in alfalfa and wheat was declined by 44.90% and 66.70%, respectively.
A. Esmaili Dastjerdipour, M. H. Farpoor, M. Sarcheshmehpour,
Volume 18, Issue 69 (12-2014)
Abstract
Organic substances produced by cyanobacteria and some polymeric compounds play a role in soil aggregation and increase soil structure stability in sandy soils. Effects of biological soil crusts and some polymeric compounds on some properties of a sandy soil were investigated in this research. Inoculation of three cyanobacterial treatments (Nostoc sp., Phormidium sp. and their combination) and four time intervals on crust formation, organic carbon and calcium carbonate contents, resistance to penetration and MWDD in soils below the crusts were studied in the first experiment. Combination of two cyanobacterial species in 60 days treatment with 2.2 % organic carbon, 0.2 Mpa resistance to penetration, and 96.7 % large aggregates was introduced as the superior treatment. Effect of superior cyanobacteria and time treatments on aggregate size distribution was studied in the second part of this experiment. Sixty-day treatment with 96.7 % of large aggregates was the most effective treatment. Structural stability of a sandy soil influenced by four concentration levels (0, 1, 2 and 4%) of anionic polyelectrolyte polymer at the depths of 1, 2 and 3 cm was investigated in the second experiment. Four percent concentration treatment of polymer with 0.6 Mpa resistance to penetration and 90.9 % large aggregates was the most effective one. A significant difference in resistance to penetration among three depth intervals was also observed
N. Parsamanesh, M. Zarrinkafsh, S. S. Shahoei, Weria Wisany,
Volume 18, Issue 70 (3-2015)
Abstract
Reduction of quality and soil productivity due to organic carbon losses is one of the most important consequences of land use changes, that creates irreparable effects on the soil. To evaluate the land use effect on the amount of soil organic carbon in Vertisols, Sartip Abad series with extent of 1850 hectare in south of Bilehvar area in Kermanshah province was studied by using the completely randomized block design in factorial experiment with 10 repeats in farmland and grassland, some soil physical and chemical properties in two Lands compared with each other. The results showed that the soil organic carbon in surface horizons of grassland has been more than farmland and accordingly increase the amount of sequestrated carbon in grassland. No significant differences were found in the amount of soil organic carbon in lower horizons of two lands. Due to land use change from grassland to farmland, noticeably increase in Bulk density, Nitrogen, Acidity, soil Electrical Conductivity and decrease the organic carbon percent and the soil organic material. Pedutorbation, clay amount (higher of 50%), numerous small subsoil, and stable structure are the important factors in saving the organic carbon of vertisols that can reduce the effects of land use changes on organic carbon amount. Generally, it can be conclude that: the land use changes not only can create the severe damage on soil physical and chemical properties but with the carbon losses and more release of greenhouse gases exacerbate the pollution of environment which endangers the life in a earth planet.
W. Zarei, M. Sheklabadi,
Volume 18, Issue 70 (3-2015)
Abstract
The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of land use on soil quality parameters using multivariate statistical analysis. Soil samples (0-25 and 25-50 cm depths) were taken from three land uses in forest area of Marivan including forest, rangeland, and cultivated land. Soil characteristics of pH, EC, sand, silt, clay and CaCO3 content, water-stable aggregates and their organic carbon content were measured. Principal component, cluster and discriminant analyses were used to evaluate the soil quality. Principal component analysis classified soil properties into five factors. The most important factors were soil aggregates organic carbon content and aggregate stability indices. Schematic distribution of factors and also cluster analysis showed the same pattern. Soil aggregates organic carbon content, water-stable aggregates and aggregate stability indices were the most sensitive factors to land use changes. These soil properties and factors had the same pattern in forest and rangeland, but significantly reduced in the cultivated land use. Land use change from forest to cultivated land resulted in significant decrease of aggregates organic carbon content, water-stable aggregates and also an increase of pH. The results showed the usefulness of multivariate statistical methods for integration of the soil properties and determination of different soil quality indices.
M. Mollaei, H. Bashari, M. Basiri, M. R. Mosaddeghi,
Volume 18, Issue 70 (3-2015)
Abstract
Soil aggregate stability is considered as a key indicator of soil quality and health assessments in rangelands. Many factors and properties such as soil texture, organic carbon, calcium carbonate, sodium adsorption ratio, and electrical conductivity might affect soil aggregate stability. The effects of these factors on aggregate stability of 71 soil samples collected from 4 rangeland sites (2 in semi-arid and 2 in arid lands) in Isfahan province were investigated. Aggregate stability was measured using the wet-sieving method. To optimize the trial conditions for the investigated soils, three shaking times (5, 10 and 15 minutes) were used to impose different hydromechanical stresses on the aggregates of ten soils selected out of the studied soils. The structural stability was assessed using mean weight diameter (MWD) and geometric mean diameter (GMD) of the water-stable aggregates. Significant differences of MWD were observed between the shaking times. The 10-min shaking was selected as best for structural stability assessment in the studied regions because it resulted in better differentiation of soils on the basis of structural stability. Among the intrinsic properties, soil organic carbon content had the most important role in aggregate stability in all zones. However, electrical conductivity (in addition to organic carbon content) had an important role in aggregate stability in the arid rangelands. Log-normal distribution and GMD could represent better the aggregate size distribution when compared with normal distribution and MWD in the studied regions. Overall, wet-sieving method with shaking time of 10 min is suggested to assess the soil structural stability in rangelands of Isfahan province. Therefore, soil aggregate stability and the factors affecting this vital indicator can be used efficiently for assessing and monitoring management effectiveness and rangeland functionality trend.
F. Khayamim, H. Khademi, B. Stenberg, J. Wetterlind,
Volume 19, Issue 72 (8-2015)
Abstract
Vis-NIR spectroscopy has been introduced as a non-destructive, fast, and cheap technique, with minimal sample preparation and no loss or damage to the environment. No investigation has yet been carried out to examine the ability of this method to estimate soil properties in Iran. The objective of this research was to investigate the capability of Vis-NIR spectroscopy to predict the amount of organic matter, carbonate and gypsum in surface soils of Isfahan province. A total of 248 surface soil samples were collected from the study area. Soil organic matter content, gypsum and carbonates percentages were measured by standard laboratory methods. Soil spectral analyses were performed by a field spectrometer using 350-2500 nm wavelength range. Different pre-processing methods were evaluated after recording the spectra. Partial least squares regression was used to predict soil parameters. R2 values for organic matter, carbonates and gypsum were 0.61, 0.45 and 0.8, respectively. Based on RPD (Ratio of Prediction to Deviation) values, the precision of prediction model for gypsum was quite good, and acceptable for organic matter, whereas the prediction of the model for soil carbonates was poor. Consequently, vis-NIR spectroscopy is capable of predicting some soil properties simultaneously and the model accuracy is acceptable.
M. Mir Mohammad Sadeghi, A. R. Sotoudehfar, E. Mokhtari,
Volume 20, Issue 77 (11-2016)
Abstract
Improvement of soils is among the major concerns in civil engineering, therefore a variety of approaches have been employed for different soil types. The annual budget of implementing the projects of this kind in countries clearly implies the importance of the subject. The loose granular soils and sediments have always imposed challenges due to their low strength and bearing capacity. Bio-mediated soil improvement has recently been introduced as a novel link of biotechnology (biotech) and civil engineering for improving the problematic soils, i.e. utilizing some bacteria to precipitate calcite on the soil particles. Bio-grouting is a branch of Bio-mediated soil improvement which is a method based on microbial calcium carbonate precipitation. In this regard, the soil samples were stabilized by injecting the bacterium Sporosarcina pasteurii in the first phase of the process and Urea and Calcium Chloride in the second phase of the process (two-phase injection) as the nutrients into the sandy soil columns and subjected to unconfined compressive strength test. In this research, Taguchi method was utilized for design of experience (DOE). Based on results obtained, the activity of the bacteria caused the precipitation of calcium carbonate in soil samples so that after 21 days, the unconfined compressive strength of the soil increased from 85 kPa in the control sample to 930 kPa at optimum condition.
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Volume 20, Issue 78 (1-2017)
Abstract
Due to water shortage in country, more accurate estimate of water reserve can be one of the most important guidelines on the optimal management of water resource and cycle for development of water productivity efficiency. Therefore, using artificial neural network techniques the water supply of 174 fallen trees from different species was simulated. From any part of each bole, components of constant volume were extracted and placed in 105ºC to be oven-dried to measure specific drought index and wood density. Three input layers of diameter at breast height, height and specific wood density were used to simulate the response variable. The method of trial and test were used for neural network topology architecture. The results showed that the use of only diameter as input layer based on the validation indices explained 65% of variance of test of data. Using the three layers in the neural network, optimized output including function of Tan-sigmoid in the designed architecture with the number of 15 neurons demonstrated the highest accuracy (R2=0/92, MSE= 0/001, RMSE=81/08). In order to save the costs and manpower and to avoid a destructive method, the optimized output in the form of black box has the wide applicability to predict the water reserve in the mixed-beech forests to manage water cycle in the studied ecosystem.
M. Nadi, A. Golchin, E. Sedaghati, S. Shafie, S. J. Hosseini Fard, G. Füleky,
Volume 21, Issue 1 (6-2017)
Abstract
Soil organic matter is the largest source of organic carbon in the soil surface which played an enormous role in restoring balance, environmental sustainability, soil elements and climatic conditions. Organic materials influence physical, chemical and biological properties of soil and thus soil fertility directly and indirectly. The amount, type and composition of organic matter are different in different soil and climatic conditions. Different soil components can hold different combination of soil organic matter. In this study soil samples were collected from virgin, Populus and Alnus forests from Guilan Province, Iran. The amount of organic matter in the original samples and sand, silt and clay fractions were measured and the quality of organic carbon (13C) and hydrogen (1H) were determined in fractions by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance. Based on the results the amount of organic carbon in the original samples of Alnus forest was highest. among fractions, clay had the highest amount of organic carbon. The result of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance showed presence of different aliphatic and aromatic carbons and hydrogen in different samples. Virgin forest had the highest proportion of alkyl to oxygenated alkyl carbon ratio and Alnus forest showed the highest ratio of aliphatic to aromatic carbon,. Both mentioned ratios was higher in clay fraction than other two fractions.
M. Rishcefid, N. Aliasgharzad, M. R. Neyshabouri,
Volume 21, Issue 1 (6-2017)
Abstract
Glomalin is a glycoprotein identified in and extracted from cell walls of hyphae and spores of Glomeral fungi. It deposites on soil particles and acts as a glue which leads to the formation and stabilization of soil aggregates. Water deficit stress by affecting mycorrizal symbiosis can alter glomalin production. This study was conducted as a factorial experiment arranged in a completely randomized design (CRD) with four replications using corn (Zea mays L. Single cross 704) under greenhouse conditions. The first factor was three levels of soil moisture including 10-30% (W0), 35-55% (W1), 60-90% depletion of available water (W2) and the second factor was three species of mycorrhizal fungi, Glomus versiforme (Gv), Glomus intraradices (Gi), Glomus etunicatum (Ge) and non mycorrhizal control (NM). At the end of vegetative growth, easily extractable glomalin (EEG) and total glomalin (TG) were measured using the Bradford method after extraction from soil. Shoot and root dry weights and root colonization decreased by declining soil moisture level. Water deficit significantly increased the amount of EEG and TG in soil. Also, a significant increase in glomalin production was observed at W2 level in all three fungal species compared to the W0 and W1 moisture levels. Moreover, by enhancing water deficit stress and decreasing root colonization, glomalin production per unit percent of root colonization was significantly increased.
Sh. Ghorbani Dashtaki, N. Karimian, F. Raeisi,
Volume 21, Issue 1 (6-2017)
Abstract
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.
Z. Bigdeli, A. Golchin, T. Mansouri,
Volume 21, Issue 4 (2-2018)
Abstract
To assess the effects of different levels of soil lead on mineralization of organic carbon and nitrogen, a factorial pot experiment was conducted using litter bag method. The factors examined were different levels of soil lead (0, 25, 50, 100, and 200 mg kg-1soil) and incubation periods (1, 2, 3 and 4 months) in three replications. At the end of incubation periods, the litter bags were pulled out of the pots and the weights of plant residues remained in bags were measured. The plant residues were also analyzed for organic carbon and nitrogen. Organic carbon and nitrogen losses were calculated by subtracting the remaining amounts of organic carbon and nitrogen in one incubation time interval from those of former one later incubation time interval. The results showed that the losses of organic carbon from wheat residues and carbon decomposition rate constant decreased as the levels of soil lead increased over than 25 and 50 mg/kg of soil respectively. The losses of organic nitrogen was more affected by lead pollution and decreased as the levels of soil lead increased, but nitrogen decomposition rate constant decreased as the levels of soil lead increased over than 25 mg/kg. The losses of organic carbon and nitrogen in 200 mg Pb/ kg of soil were 3.2 and 11.7 % lower than control treatment. The results of this research indicate that contamination of soil by lead increases residence time of organic carbon and nitrogen in soils and slows down the cycling of these elements.
S. Shakeri,
Volume 22, Issue 1 (6-2018)
Abstract
Potassium fixation is one of the most important factors influencing the availability of this ion for plants. This research was carried out to evaluate the relationship between potassium (K) fixation with some physical and chemical characteristics of soils and clay minerals and to investigate the effect of the dry and wet cycle on potassium fixation in Kakan Plain, in Kohgilouye & Boyerahmad Province. To measure the amount of Potassium fixation, four levels of K were added to the samples and the samples were shaken for 24 h and then dried in the oven at 50°C for 24 h. The drying and wetting cycle was repeated three times. Another set of soil samples was similarly incubated for a period similar to the previous treatment, but drying was performed at room temperature in an equilibrium state. The results showed that potassium fixation was increased with the potassium concentration increment, whereas K fixation percentage was reduced. Also, potassium fixation showed a positive significant relationship with cation exchange capacity (CEC) as well as clay content, in both normal and dry and wet treatments, and a negative significant relationship with organic carbon. Moreover, potassium fixation was enhanced with the increase of smectite content in both normal and dry and wet treatments. Besides, due to more organic carbon and less smectite, surface horizons fixed K less than the subsurface horizons.
F. S. Tarighat, Y. Kooch,
Volume 22, Issue 2 (9-2018)
Abstract
The effect of broad-leaved forest trees (Alnus glotinusa, Ulmus glabra, Popolus caspica and Parrotia persica) and their canopy position on soil C and N storage and mineraization in the plain forest areas of Noor was investigated. Soil samples were taken from two positions (near and away from the main stem) with the microplots of 30×30×15 cm. Litter (C and N), soil physical (bulk density, texture and water content), chemical (pH, EC, organic C, total N and available Ca), biochemical and biological (N mineralization and microbial respiration) characteristics were measured at the laboratory. Carbon mineralization rate (CMR) was calculated using the equation [incubation time period (hour) ×soil volume (gr) / CO2 amount (mol C)]. Soil C and N storage (ton/ha) was calculated by C and N contents, bulk density, and the soil sampling depth. The results showed that there was no significant difference between the C storage under the studied tree spcies, whereas N storage presented significantly greater amounts, under Alnus glotinusa (0.79 ton/ha) rather than Ulmus glabra, Popolus caspica and Parrotia persica (0.69, 0.45 and 0.21 ton/ha, respectively). The higher values of soil C (0.001 mol C/kg) and N (0.3 ml N/kg) mineralization were significantly recorded under Alnus glotinusa instead of tree species. Soil C and N storage and mineralization process were not affected by the sampling positions. According to the results, soil C and N storage and mineralization were influenced by litter quality and soil chemistry.
E. Esfandiary Ekhlas, M. Nael, J. Hamzei, A. A. Safari Sinegani, M. Sheklabadi,
Volume 22, Issue 2 (9-2018)
Abstract
Evaluation of the ecological sustainability of different cropping systems is crucial to achieve sustainable agriculture. This evaluation is accessible via soil quality assessment. Therefore, to study the mid-term effects of different conservation tillage systems (no tillage and minimum tillage) and cover cropping on the biological indicators of soil quality, a factorial experiment in a completely randomized block design was conducted in Dastjerd region (Hamedan). Three levels of tillage (NT: no tillage, MT: minimum tillage and CT: conventional tillage) and two levels of cover cropping (C1: Lathyrus sativus and C2: no cover crop) were applied for four consecutive years. Soil sampling was performed in the fourth year of experiment in two steps (1- before cover crop plantation, and 2- after harvesting main crop) with three replications. Most indices (total organic carbon, active carbon, basal respiration, phosphatase activity) were significantly affected by cover crop, tillage systems and sampling time, as the highest values were obtained in NT-C1 in time 2 and the lowest ones in CT-C2 in time 1. For instance, after four years application of treatments, the mean active carbon content was increased from 927 mg/kg in the conventional tillage + no cover crop to 1350 mg/kg in the conservation tillage systems + cover crop. Therefore, conservation tillage practices combined with Lathyrus sativus cover crop were shown to be the most appropriate management for soil quality maintenance and improvement.
S. Shakeri, S. A. Abtahi,
Volume 22, Issue 4 (3-2019)
Abstract
This research was carried out to assess the origin and clay minerals characteristics and their relationship with potassium forms in the calcareous soil of this region, with the humid climate conditions. Based on aerial photos and topographic maps, physiographic units were separated and soil sampling was done in each diagnostic horizon. The results showed that smectite was the main and dominant clay mineral in the study area. In well-drained pedons, the convincing process for smectite abundance seemed to be mainly the transformation of palygorskite and mica. According to the results, the exchangeable potassium in the surface horizon was higher than that of the subsurface horizons. The main reason for the higher level of exchangeable K in the soil surface, was more smectite and organic carbon. The results revealed that unlike exchangeable and non-exchangeable K, because of the suitable conditions like temperature and humidity in surface horizons, the relative mean of structural K in the surface soils was less than that in the subsurface. Also, since an increase in calcium carbonate resulted in a decrease in amount of clay and the amount of relative clay minerals (dilution effect), the amounts of exchangeable, non- exchangeable and structural K were decreased.
A. Foyouji Shahrezaei, M. A. Hajabbasi,
Volume 23, Issue 3 (12-2019)
Abstract
A well healthy environment can quietly affect the life quality and human community. In recent decades the need for and utilizing fossil had increased and thus the environmental pollutions including for soil has also increased. Petroleum contaminated soils are not suitable for agricultural, residential and social usage and cause economical, ecological and agricultural damage. To cope with this challenge, the use of additives such as carbon nanotubes has expanded to soil, but the use of these elements has raised concerns about their risk to biological processes and systems, such as effects on physiology and plant growth, and there have not been much studies on this issue. In order to investigate the interaction of soil petroleum pollution and carbon nanotubes on some plant characteristics such as wet mass, dry matter and plant length, seed and maize seedling were separately treated with 0, 10, 20 and 40 mg/l carbon nanotubes at the beginning. In pots containing soil with three levels of petroleum pollution, 2.43, 2.76 and 4.16% were cultivated with 3 replications. A completely randomized design was used in the form of factorial experiments. Wet mass, dry matter and length of shoot and root of plants were determined. The results showed that petroleum pollution had a negative effect on the growth characteristics. It was also observed that application of carbon nanotubes to maize (whether seed or seedling) depending on the concentration of these materials, could have different effects on plant growth parameters.
