M. Kiani, M. Gheysari, B. Mostafazadeh-Fard, M. M. Majidi and E. Landi, , , , ,
Volume 18, Issue 67 (6-2014)
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to measure daily and seasonal evapotranspiration and daily crop coefficient of two common varieties of sunflower (Sirna and Euroflor) via drip-tape irrigation system. For this purpose, the sunflower water use was determined by daily monitoring of soil moisture at the depths of 10, 20, 30, 40 and 60 cm, and the crop evapotranspiration (ETC) was measured using volume balance method. According to the equation recommended by FAO, the obtained value of KC for Euroflor and Sirna varieties at the initial stage was 0.32. According to volume balance method, the Euroflor KC value for development, middle, and late stages were found to be 0.75, 1.18 and 0.9 and for Sirna were found to be 0.72, 1.15 and 0.84 respectively. Seasonal amount of evapotranspiration for Euroflor and Sirna varieties was equal to 601 and 575 mm, which was 26 and 30 percent less than seasonal ET0 in Isfahan. The average value of during the sunflower growing season was 0.77, which was greater than that offered by Doorenbose and Pruitt (0.55). As the crop coefficients of two varieties were different during the growing season and they were also different from FAO KC, measuring the actual amount of KC as a function of growing degree days can increase the accuracy of the estimated ETc and help develop the crop models in order to improve the irrigation management.
A. Hassanpour, M. Zahedi, A. H. Khoshgoftarmanesh,
Volume 18, Issue 68 (9-2014)
Abstract
In a pot experiment, the effect of soybeans, mung beans and beans on the corn and sunflowers in a cadmium contaminated soil was studied in a completely randomized design with three replications. The treatments consisted of intercropping of corn and mung bean corn and beans, corn and soybean, sunflower and mung bean, sunflower and beans, sunflower and soybean monoculture of corn, and monoculture of sunflower. There were significant effects of cocropping of companion crops on shoot dry weigh, the concentration of cadmium and zinc and the chlorophyll content of corn and sunflower. In this study the shoot weight of corn grown with bean and soybean and that of sunflower grown with bean plants was decreased as compared to the related monocultures. The concentration of cadmium was increased in the corn grown with soybean or mungbean and in sunflower grown with soybean. Co- cropping with bean plants had no significant effects on the concentration of cadmium in corn or sunflower. Among companion crops, the concentration of cadmium was higher in bean plants compared to those of soybean and mungbean plants. The chlorophyll content in the leaves of corn plants grown with mungbean was increased with an increase in cadmium concentration. However, this trend was not observed in other treatments. The results of this study show that co- cropping with either soybean or mungbean may increase cadmium uptake by corn and sunflower which in turn may increase the risk of inflowing of toxin cadmium into the food chain. However, further study needs to re-evaluate the effect of these companion crops on the distribution of cadmium in the edible parts of corn and sunflower.
