JWSS - Journal of Water and Soil Science

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Gypsum is the most common sulfate mineral in soils of arid and semi-arid regions. Two hundred million hectares of the earth’s surface and about 28 million hectares of Iranian arid soils are covered by gypsiferous soils. The studied soils consist of alluvial plane and eolian plains in northern Iran. Soils were classified as Haplocambids, Aquisalids and Endoaquepts. In this study, genesis, formation and development of gypsum in soils were investigated. Study area includes different geomorphic surfaces from the upper watershed to alluvial plains. Gypsum crystals without considering their size, shape, arrangement are determined as pedogenic. In the weakly-developed horizons, in aridic moisture regimes, formation of euhedral pedogenic gypsum crystals and incomplete infilling of voids was dominant. In the well-developed soils, in xeric moisture regime, gypsum crystals are oriented and the perpendicular in arrangement of crystals along pores is dominants. Gypsum crystals occur in different shapes such as lenticular, tabular, and rosette-like and fan arrangement. Origin of gypsum in weakly-developed soils was weathered gypsiferous marls in upper Atrak basin. The source of gypsum in the soils with shallow ground water is high content of sulfate dissolved in soil solutions. In horizons affected by fluctuation of ground water contaning sulphur, euhedral tabular shape is dominant. In well-developed soils, based on Snowball morphology, gypsum is classified as stage II nodule. Results showed that there is no relationship between formation of the snowball morphology, b-fabric and kind of diagnostic horizons (A, B and C).

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Deficit irrigation is one of the irrigation management methods that is used to increase Water Use Efficiency. Considering the internal plant adaptability characteristic to water shortage, Partial Root Drying method has been introduced in recent years. In this field research improvement of Water Use Efficiency for Soybean was determined. This experiment which was conducted at four furrow irrigation treatments at the Research Field of Tehran University in Karaj in 2008, consists of full irrigation (100% soil moisture deficit compensation), conventional deficit irrigation at 50 and 75 percent soil moisture deficit compensation and Partial Root Drying at 50 percent soil moisture deficit compensation with three replications. The amounts of irrigation used were exactly compensation level (negligible loss). Results indicated that Water Use Efficiency according to Duncan's Multiple Range Test at the five percent level of probability there was a significant difference between partial root drying treatment (PRD50%) and conventional deficit irrigation treatment at fifty percent soil moisture deficit compensation (DI50%),. Water Use Efficiency in PRD50% compared with DI50%, DI75% and full irrigation increased by 48.3%, 61.9% and 70.1% respectively.

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An extensive data collection on precipitation and runoff is required for development and implementation of soil and water projects. The unit hydrograph (UH) is an appropriate base for deriving flood hydrographs and therefore provides comprehensive information for planners and managers. However, UH derivation is not easy job for whole watersheds. The development of UH by using easily accessible rainfall data is then necessary. Besides that, the validity evaluation of different statistical modeling methods in hydrology and UH development has been rarely taken into account. Towards the attempt, the present study was planned to compare the efficiency of different modeling procedures in hydrograph and 2-h representative UH relationship in Kasilian watershed with concentration time of some 10h. The study took place by using 23 storm events occurred during four seasons within 33 years and applying two and multivariable regression models and 36 variables. According to the results, the median of estimated errors in estimation of 2-h UH dependent variables for verification stage varied from 37 to 88%. The results verified the better performance of cubic and linear bivariate models and logarithm-transformed data in multivariable model as well. The efficiency of multivariable models decreased when they were subjected to principle component analysis. The performance of backward method was frequently proved for estimation of dependent variables based on evaluation criteria, whereas the forward was found to be more efficient for time-dependent factors estimation.

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Erosion plots are basically used for studying erosion processes and many related problems. However, the possibility to extend the results of experimental plots to surrounding watersheds is rarely taken into account. In the present study, an attempt was made to study on the accuracy of soil erosion plots in estimation of runoff and sediment yield from small watersheds. Towards this attempt, 12 experimental plots with length of 2, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 meter were installed on two north and south facing slopes in Sanganeh watershed, northeastern Razavi Khorasan Province with an area of ca. 1 ha. The performance of the plots in estimation of runoff and sediment was controlled by data collected at the main outlet associated with 12 storm events occurred during November 2006 to June 2007. The results showed that the accuracy of plot estimates on sediment and runoff improved while the plot length increased. The optimal length for estimation of sediment and runoff parameters was found to be equal to average slope length and more than 20m.

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Drought is among the most costly weather-related events and Iran is highly vulnerable to the economic, social and environmental impacts of drought In this study expected profit maximization model and utility efficient programming were applied to determine optimal crop pattern, expected gross margin and water use with and without, drought condition at representative farms of homogenous groups. This study was based on two databases. A sample of 180 farmers was selected for interview and collected necessary farm level data in 2007. The sample farms were drawn using two-stage stratified random sampling method. Results indicated that the largest reduction in expected profit is directed toward farmers who use surface water from river or canal. These groups of farms ultimately suffered a severe reduction in expected income (53%-64%) as a consequence of the drought, largely because their access to water was cut substantially. The least quantity of damage is directed toward homogenous groups of farms that use groundwater or conjunctive use of groundwater and surface water. Reduction in expected income of these groups is equal to 7 and 32 percent of expected income in the normal year, respectively. Finally, the results showed that the pattern of release water from gate of Drodzan have not been optimal in the planting years 2001-2002 and 2006-2007 based on the calculated shadow price of each cubic meter water in different deciles of year.

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Soil temperature is one of the important variables in hydrology, agriculture, meteorology and climatology studies. Owing to the fact that soil temperature is only measured at synoptic stations, reconstruction of this variable in other places is of great importance for many relevant agricultural surveys. Using 10-year (1996-2005) daily meteorological observations, including: air temperature, global solar radiation, precipitation, relative humidity, vapor pressure, wind speed and air pressure data, different empirical relationships are suggested. At statistically significant level (P<0.05), the suggested regressions are reliable for estimating soil temperature in various depths (5, 10, 20, 30, 50 and 100 cm) and different climate types. Using soil temperature as the dependent variable and the other meteorological parameters as the independent variables, the multivariable relationships are classified accordingly. The results indicate that the impact of meteorological parameters on soil temperature is not the same. At statistically significant level (P<0.05), the mean daily air temperature presented the highest correlation coefficients with soil temperature for all climate types (on average, from R2>0.91 for warm semi-arid, to R2>0.85 for humid climates). Other results highlighted that the correlation coefficients decreased as the soil depth increased. The behavior of statistical validation criteria of the suggested relations are also discussed for all the mentioned climates.

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The Clark method is one of the most applicable techniques for development of instantaneous unit hydrograph whose efficacy depends upon the accuracy in estimating storage coefficient. The present study was conducted in Kasilian watershed in Mazandaran Province to determine the efficiency of developed hydrograph using Clark's method and to compare the Muskingum storage coefficients obtained through graphical, Clark, Linsley, Mitchell, Johnstone-Cross and Eaton methods. To this aim, the time-area histogram of the study watershed was initially developed. The 3h-unit hydrograph was then derived using the data collected in Sangedeh climatological and Valikbon hydrometric stations. The efficiency of Clark’s instantaneous unit hydrograph developed based on 6 methods for calculation of Muskingum storage coefficient was ultimately compared with the observed average 3h-unit hydrograph of the study area. The results of the study revealed that the Clark’s instantaneous unit hydrograph obtained from graphical method for estimation of storage coefficient with estimation error of less than 33.33% and efficiency coefficient of 83% could suitably simulate different components of the observed average unit hydrograph for the study watershed.

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Nowadays in the world, soilless culture as a kind of technique is known to give vegetable crops higher yield and quality. This experiment was conducted at research greenhouse of Agriculture and Natural Research Center of Golestan province in spring 2005. The purpose of this research was to investigate the effects of irrigation frequency and substrates on yield and fruit quality of greenhouse tomato (CV. Hamra). Irrigation was carried out for 4, 8 and 12 times a day. The substrates were Perlite, Leca and Perlite + Leca (1:1, w/w). The experimental design was factorial in the form of randomized complete design with four replicates. The substrates used in the experiment had no effect on most factors. However, TA (0.43 mg/100 l) and fruit set (48%) were increased significantly by perlite and Leca substrates, respectively. The results indicated that higher and lower marketable yields were obtained from plants irrigated 12 (1830.5 g/plant) and four times (1156.7 g/plant) per day, respectively. Also increasing irrigation schedule decreased the Titratable acidity but didn't significantly affect the other factors. According to these results, Irrigation of 12 times per day and Leca substrate increased vitamin C and marketable yields, leading to optimum quality and quantity fruit set and the decreased TA (0.33 mg/100 l) in fruits in this treatment.

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Osmotic adjustment is generally regarded as an important adaptation of wheat to drought. Because it helps to maintain turgor and cell volume, osmotic adjustment is often thought to promote growth, yield, or survival, of plants in dry soils. However, a physiological rationale for such views is lacking. This study was conducted to determine the effect of osmotic adjustment and some of its components on the wheat yield. Ten bread wheat cultivars were grown in pots under different watering levels using a split plot design. During grain filling stage, RWC, leaf sugar content, proline content and osmotic regulation were estimated by sampling flag leaf under normal and stress conditions. Main stem was used for measuring sugar content of different parts of stem. Although there were some differences in osmotic regulation in wheat lines, there were no relationships between yield and osmotic regulation. It was shown that these components probably have a little share in wheat osmotic regulation.

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The purpose of this study was to compare the physical and chemical characteristics of soils covered with vegetation and soils without vegetation in Dagh-e- Sorkh Ardestan area.To achieve the goal, first the vegetation was classified using physiognomic method, and for each vegetation type, the distinctive area was specified for soil and vegetation sampling. Vegetation sampling was done by stratified random sampling. Alongside pursuing the case, twenty two soil physical and chemical factors were investigated also for each growth type and area without vegetation. In the next step, to investigate the similarities and dissimilarities of the soils of desert areas by means of PC-ORD software, the cluster analysis was performe. After simplifying the one-way ANOVA, the most important soil factors which were effective in causing differences in the area’s soils were identified. Results show that the soils of area covered with vegetation differed much from the soils without vegetation physically in such a way that, the soil texture became heavier and gravel percentage became less in the areas without vegetation. Regarding the chemical characteristics, the frequencies of sodium, magnesium, calcium and chlorines and electrical conductivity were highly different. Because of topographic condition of land without vegetation, runoff is directed to this place and deposits salts there. Also, high groundwater level and capillary flowing salts are the important reasons for the salinity of this place. These are the limiting factors for the vegetation establishment in the desert areas of Ardestan.

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In this research, logistic regression analysis was used to create a landslide hazard map for Sajaroud basin. At first, an inventory map of 95 landslides was used to preduce a dependent variable, which takes a value of 0 for absence and 1 for presence of landslides. Ten factors affecting landslide occurence such as elevation , slope gradient, slope aspect, slope curvature, rainfall, distance from fault, distance from drainage, distance from road , land use and geology were taken as independent parameters. The effect of each parameter on landslide occurrence was determined from the corresponding coefficient that appears in the logistic regression function. The interpretation of the coefficients showed that road network plays the most important role in determining landslide occurrence. Elevation, curvature, rainfall and distance from fault were excluded from the final analysis because these variables did not significantly add to the predictive power of the logistic regression. After transferring final probability function into Arc/view 3.2 software, landslide susceptibility map was prepared. The results of accuracy assessment showed that overall accuracy of produced map is 85.3 percent. Therefore, 53% of the area was located in very low hazard, 18.3% in low hazard, 21% in moderate hazard and 7.7 % residual area is located in high hazard regions. Model and then susceptibility map verity was assessed using -2LL, Cox and Snell R2, Nagelkerk R2, and was validated.

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Presence of petroleum contaminants in soil may be toxic to human and organisms and act as a source of ground water contamination hence, remediation of these compounds from environment is vital. In this study, first the feasibility of remediation of two petroleum-contaminated soil samples around Tehran Oil Refinery (oil refinery landfill and agricultural soils) was assessed using landfarming technique during a four month experimental period. The elimination of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs) from soils treated through landfarming technique was then investigated in the rhizosphere of agropyron and fescue. The results showed that microbial respiration increased due to landfarming processes in both soils. Urease activity in the landfarming treatment for agricultural soil was 21, 45, 26, and 23% higher than the control at the end of first to the 4th months of experiment, respectively. However, no significant differences were observed between the landfarming and control treatments for landfill soil at the end of experiment. Furthermore, about 50 and 57% reduction in TPH-concentration was observed in the landfarming treatment for landfill and agricultural soils at the end of experiment, respectively. In the phytoremediation study, presence of TPHs in both landfarming and control treatments reduced dry matter yield of the studied plants. Urease activity in the rhizosphere of fescue and agropyron was higher than in the unplanted soil. Degradation of petroleum-compounds in the landfill soil under landfarming treatment was more than 20 and 40% in the presence of fescue and agropyron, respectively. The influence of agropyron on TPH-removal from agricultural soil under the landfarming treatment was also higher than fescue.

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Heavy metals including cadmium produced as a result of urban, industrial and agricultural activities lead to the water pollution. Also, considering the growing need for silviculture in Iran, it is necessary to conduct a comprehensive research on fast growing and evergreen species of Eucalyptus and their role in heavy metals' absorption. To achieve this goal, Eucalyptus occidentalis seedlings were grown in pots containing silica and irrigated with a mixture of nutrient solution and cadmium chloride in 5, 10 and 15 m M for 10 months. Root and leaf samples were harvested and the amount of cadmium in stem, root and leaf organs was measured. Also, some morphological and physiological characteristics were determined including soluble sugar and praline. The analysis indicated that the cadmium concentrations of 15 mM treatment in the root, leaf and stem were 585, 142 and 87 mg/kg D.W., respectively. Proline content increased with the increase of Cadmium concentration while the content of pigments decreased. The result of this research shows that eucalypt has the potential of cadmium accumulation without any serious damage to its growth. Therefore, the plant can be used to decrease the environmental pollutions.

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Overexploitation of groundwater resource may result in lowering groundwater table at a faster rate due to an imbalance in the total recharge and total withdrawal. In order to make a balance between groundwater exploitation and recharge, the major remedial measures suggested are to strengthen groundwater management, adopt water demand policies, raise water use efficiency, and to increase water supply. Because there is a trade off between farmers’ income and sustainability of groundwater based farming, it is essential that a mathematical model be used to study the effects of withdrawal on farmers' income and sustainability of farm. Such a model can determine optimal crop pattern, suitable irrigation strategies and irrigation methods at different levels of available irrigation water. The relationship between farmers’ income and the withdrawal was then examined using multi-objective programming. The data were obtained from a systematic random sampling method through which 112 farmers were chosen. The percentage decrease in the profit was less than that of the withdrawal for all representative farmers, based on the results obtained from multi-objective method. For example, 8% reduction of groundwater pumping could be imposed without a serious impact on the farmers' income (farmers' income falls about 4%). Finally, the results of this study can help farmers to choose crop patterns, irrigation strategies and irrigation methods in such a way that both farmers’ income and withdrawal are simultaneously optimized and lead to a decrease in extracting groundwater compared to the current status.

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The temporal and spatial vegetation dynamics is highly dependent on many different environmental and biophysical factors. Among these, climate is one of the most important factors that influence the growth and condition of vegetation. Of the abiotic factors affecting the geographic distribution of vegetation type, climate is probably the most important. Ecological research has traditionally aimed to generalize vegetation types that are assumed to be homogenous. Most of climatic classifications related to bioclimate are focused on limited climatic factors such as temperatue, precipitation and combination of them. As climate is a compound phenomena using limited factors cannot show the climate of a region, and as a result most climatic factors must be considered in bioclimatic classification. Therefore, a climatic study using various climatic factors could reveal the effective factors in distribution of vegetation. In order to determine bioclimatic zones in Chahar-Mahal & Bakhtiari province using multivariate statistical method, 71 climatic variables, which were more important in plant ecological conditions, were selected and evaluated by the factor analysis. The factor analysis revealed that the first three factors which explain %91.8 of total variance among the selected variables were temperature, precipitation, and radiation. According to results and using hierarchical cluster analysis in Ward’s method, bioclimatic classification in Chahar-Mahal province was carried out and 5 bioclimatic zones were found. In addition, Chahar-Mahal province was classified by 4 traditional climatic classification methods (Koppen, Gaussen, Emberger and De Martonne) and those classes were compared to climatic classes obtained by multivariate statistical method. The latter comparison was suggestive of the fact that multivariate statistical method provides a more appropriate classification in comparison to the traditional methods, specially because more dominant vegetation species could be defined for each of the newly described climatic classes. Furthermore, dominant species were determined for each climatic region.

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The addition of organic and inorganic substrates to calcareous soils low in organic matter and nitrogen contents may change soil microbial biomass and activity. In order to investigate the effect of chemical and organic fertilizers on soil CO2 production and microbial biomass C, a field experiment was conducted under maize cultivation. The experimental design was split-plot arranged in randomized complete blocks with 7 treatments including 3.8, 7.6 and 11.5 ton ha-1 broiler litter and 100, 200 and 300 kg nitrogen ha-1 from urea and a control with 4 replications. The results showed that fertilizer, manure and sampling day had a significant effect (P<0.05) on soil CO2 fluxes. Mean soil CO2 emissions increased from 21.8 g C m-2 soil in control treatments to 24.1 in the second level of broiler litter. Furthermore, the CO2 fluxes in broiler litter treatments were significantly greater than those in urea-treated plots. Similar to CO2 fluxes, the amount of soil microbial biomass C was also affected significantly (P<0.05) by fertilizer and manure applications. Soil microbial biomass C was 28% higher in broiler litter-amended plots than that in urea-amended plots. In contrast, the microbial metabolic quotient (qCO2) in urea-treated soils was 10% higher than that in broiler litter-treated soils. In conclusion, broiler litter and urea fertilizer improved biological properties in this calcareous soil, but broiler litter, especially the highest litter loading, was more effective than urea fertilizer.

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This study was conducted to investigate nutritional status and some quality aspects of greenhouse cucumber in Qom province. After selecting 20 greenhouses, concentrations of macro- and micronutrients as well as lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) in soil and plant were measured. In addition, some fruit quality attributes were determined. Phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) concentrations in soils were much higher than their critical levels. The mean concentrations of soil DTPA-extractable iron (Fe), copper (Cu), and manganese (Mn) were 12.0, 1.98, and 14.5, respectively. The mean concentration of calcium (Ca) in cucumber leaf was high while in fruit was lower compared to its sufficiency level. Most fruit samples were deficient in K, Fe, Zn, Cu, and Mn. The mean nitrate (336 mg kg-1) and Pb (0.34 mg kg-1) concentrations in cucumber fruits were higher than their acceptable levels. Ascorbic acid concentration of fruits showed positive correlation with Fe concentration. Also, fruit Mg concentration had a positive correlation with the total dissolved solids and negative correlation with fruit moisture content. The results indicated that improper nutrition management in Qom cucumber greenhouses has caused micronutrients deficiencies and high nitrate and Pb concentration, which are important to consumers' health.

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The management and application of organic wastes in agricultural lands decreases environmental risks and increases utilization of these matters. The objective of this research was to investigate and compare the effect of polyacryl factory sewage sludge (PSS), municipal compost (MC) and cow manure (CM) on soil properties and on yield and growth of maize (single cross 704, Zea mays L.). The treatments were control (without any organic waste) and application of PSS, MC, and CM at two rates (15 and 45 t ha-1). This research was done in the research farm of Isfahan University of Technology (Lavark-Najafabad). The experimental design was a randomized, complete block with three replications. Treatments were incorporated into the soil before the maize planting (on 23 June 2008) and soil sampling was performed after 132 days (Simultaneously with maize harvesting). Application of the organic wastes resulted in significant increase soil organic matter (SOM), total nitrogen (TN) and saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks) and significantly decreased bulk density. However, saturated hydraulic conductivity was decreased by application of PSS. Application of 15 and 45 t ha-1 of PSS reduced Ks more than 14% and 42%, respectively, compared with control however, the reduction was significant only in the plots which received 45 t ha-1 of PSS compared with control. The results of plant yield and growth showed that leaf area index (LAI), plant length, biological yield, 1000 seed weight and seed yield increase due to the application of organic wastes.

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Many experiments have been carried out to decrease the negative effect of drought stress and obtain suitable growth under water deficit conditions. Application of plant growth regulators (especially growth retardants) is one of the proposed methods. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of Cycocel application on growth of two olive cultivars (Shengeh and Roghani) under water stress condition. The design of experiment was completely randomized with six replications (Factorial arrangement). Treatments included irrigation intervals (2, 4, 6, 8 weeks) and Cycocel concentrations (0, 500,1000,2000,4000 mg per litter). Some indices such as height, chlorophyll, leaf area, root, and shoot weight (fresh and dry) were measured. Results indicated that interaction of C.C.C treatment and irrigation intervals on height of olive cultivars was not significant, probably due to the response of these cultivars to concentrations of C.C.C. Although drought stress decreased the number of leaves in both cultivars, the application of CCC (500 mg per litter) thwarted the adverse effects of drought stress. Cycocel increased chlorophyll content significantly (500 mg per litter in Roghani and Shengeh and 6 weeks irrigation interval). Cycocel application decreased leaf area, but in Shengeh cultivar increased leaf area in 6 week irrigation interval. Overall, the results indicated that the application of Cycocel with concentration of 500 mg per litter in 6 week irrigation intervals in both cultivars (Roghani and Shengeh) was the best treatment for controlling the adverse effects of drought. Also, results indicated that such changes were dependent on Cycocel concentration and drought level.

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In this research, based on the observed data of Class A pan evaporation and application of non-linear regression (NLR), artificial neural network (ANN), neuro-fuzzy (NF) as well as Stephens-Stewart (SS) methods daily evaporation of Kerman region was evaluated. In the cases of NLR, ANN and NF methods, the input variables were air temperature (T), air pressure, relative humidity (RH), solar radiation (SR) and wind speed (U2) which were used in various combinations to estimate daily pan evaporation (Ep) defined as output variable. Performance of the methods was evaluated by comparing the observed and estimated data, using determination coefficient (R2), root mean square error (RMSE) and mean absolute error (MAE). Based on the observed data at Kerman meteorological station, the monthly and annual average evaporation values of the region were 272 and 3263 mm, respectively. The results of this study indicated that NF method is the most suitable method to estimate daily Class A pan evaporation. The statistics criteria of this model which is constituted based on the 5 input parameters were R2 = 0.85, RMSE=1.61 and MAE= 1.24 mm day-1. The sensitivity analysis of NF model revealed that the estimated EP is more sensitive to T and U2 (as the input variables), respectively. Due to weak accuracy of SS method, a new modification step of the model was also developed based on the SR and T in order to have a more exact daily evaporation estimation of the region. However, the result of the modified model was not acceptable