JWSS - Journal of Water and Soil Science

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This experiment was carried out to determine the relationship of plasma triglycerides and carcass dry matter with abdominal fat. One of the problems of broiler is carcass fatness, especially abdominal fat due to rapid growth of broilers which is not the consumer preference. Six hundred one-day-old commercial broiler chicks (Lohman) were divided into 40 groups, 15 chicks per group. Each one of the 10 experimental diets, in which barley was substituted for corn at levels of 0, 5, 10, 20 and 40%, was fed to 4 groups of chicks for 56 days. All diets were isoenergetic and isonitrogenous. Rice hulls was used to make diets isoenergetic. At days 42, 49 and 56, one male and one female were selected from each pen and after blood sampling, the birds were killed, eviscerated and percentages of carcass and amount of abdominal fats were measured. Blood samples were used to determine plasma triglycerides, cholesterol and total lipids. The results showed that increasing abdominal fat reduced carcass moisture content. Correlation between abdominal fat and plasma triglycerides was positive and significant (p<0.05). Correlation between abdominal fat and carcass moisture was negative and significant (P<0.01). The regression equations indicated that abdominal fat can be estimated from plasma triglycerides and carcass moisture content. The equations also indicated that using several parameters for estimating abdominal fat is better than single parameter estimation.

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Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the nutritional value of millet and tallow for broiler chickens. In the first experiment, the nitrogen corrected apparent metabolizable energy (AMEn) of millet and tallow were determined by the method of Sibbald. In the second experiment, a 3×5 factorial experiment was designed to evaluate the effects of 3 levels of tallow and 5 levels of substitution of corn with millet in broiler diets. Animal fat was included in the diets at levels of 0%, 3% and 6% and millet was replaced for corn at levels of 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%. Each diet was tested in 4 replicates including 12 chicks per replicate. Live body weights, feed consumptions and feed conversion ratios were determined weekly for all replicates. The AMEn of unground, ground, screened and ground and tallow were 3260, 3204, 3237 and 8166 Kcall/kg, respectively. Replacement of corn by millet at all levels did not have any adverse effect on body weight, feed consumption and feed conversion ratio at 56th day of age. Body weights, feed consumptions and feed conversion ratios were significantly increased (p<0.05) with increasing animal fat. The results indicated that millet has high energy value and appears to be at least equal to corn in promoting weight gains in broiler chickens.

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In a completely randomized design, 600 commercial day old broiler chickens were used to study the possibility of replacing corn with barley. Each of 10 experimental diets in which corn was replaced with barley at levels of 0, 5, 10, 20 and 40 percent, with and without tallow, were given to 4 replicates of 15 chickens each. At 42, 49 and 56th days of age, one male and one female from each pen were killed. Body weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion ratio were not affected by different levels of barley at 42th day of age. Increasing the level of barley had not effect on body weight gain at 56th day of age. Feed conversion ratio improved slightly due to addition of 4% tallow to the diets containing different levels of barley. Abdominal fat was increased due to added tallow in males and females. Increasing slaughter age increased abdominal fat in both sexes. Difference in abdominal fat in females was more than males.

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A total of adult leghorn roosters and 360 day-old broiler chicks were used in two completely randomized experiment to evaluate metabolizable energy (ME) and feeding value of faba beans in broiler rations. In a factorial arrangement with 10 treatments and 3 replicates chicks were fed isonitrogenous rations containing either 0, 10, 20 or 30 percent of raw, cooked or dehulled faba beans for 8 weeks. Data from sibbald procedure showed cooking had no significant effect on energy value of beans, while dehulled beans had a significantly (p < 0.05) higher energy value. Final body weights at 8th week of age were unaffected due to processing of beans. No significant differences were observed in liver weight, abdominal fat or feed efficiency ratio due to processing and/or percentage of beans in the ration. Raw, whole beans significantly (p < 0.05) increased percentage and weight of pancreas compared to those that had consumed dehulled beans. This indicates that trypsin inhibitor is located in hulls. Cooked beans reduced pancreas size to normal, indicating destruction of inhibitor due to cooking. One interesting point is that the control group which consumed more soybean meal had a pancreas weight of 4.67 grams comparable to 4.83 grams of pancreas weights of chicks consuming raw, whole beans. This last fact indicates that soybean meals might not have received enough heat treatments during processing, which requires further investigation.

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Twenty-two surface soil samples (0-20 cm) from Fars province were extracted by five extractants (i.e., DTPA, 1.5 M NH₄H2PO₄, 0.1 NH₃PO₄, 0.05 MNa2EDTA, and 1% Na₂EDTA) and used in a 7-week greenhouse experiment which was a 22 × 3 factorial with 22 soils (clay 16-63% pH 7.8-8.2 electrical conductivity 0.32-1.78 dS m^-1 calcium carbonate equivalent 28-63% organic matter 1.1-4.9% cation exchange capacity 9-27 cmol kg^-1 and DTPA-extractable Mn 4-24 mgkg^-1), 3 levels of applied Mn (0, 10, 20 mg Mn kg^-1 as manganese sulfate), 3 replications, and soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr., cv. Williams]. Application of Mn significantly increased top dry weight by 4 to 104%, averaging to about 12% over the control. But the increase in Mn concentration was not significant. Total Mn uptake also significantly increased but the apparent recovery of the applied Mn was very low (i.e., 0.05%). Soil pH, calcium carbonate equivalent, and clay content were found to be the properties influencing the extractability of Mn. The DTPA-extractable Mn, alone (with a critical level of 13 mg Mn kg^-1) or along with some soil properties, was the only form of Mn that could reasonably predict the plant responses.

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The effects of three levels of soil moisture content (10 - 12, 13 - 15 and 16 - 18% d.b.) and three levels of plowing depth (15, 20 and 25 cm) on draft, specific draft, and drawbar power requirements of a 3 - bottom disk plow and on soil pulverization and inversion in a clay loam soil were investigated. The experimental design was a randomized complete block design with a 3 × 3 factorial. Except in soil inversion, the effect of soil moisture on all of the performance parameters mentioned, was highly significant. Mean values of draft, specific draft and drawbar power requirements and clod mean weight diameter were minimized at 13 - 15% and 16 - 18% soil moisture contents, respectively. The effect of plowing depth was highly significant only on draft and drawbar power requirement of disk plow, in such a way that the mean values of these two parameters were significantly increased with plowing depth, while specific draft showed only a mild decreasing trend. In order to provide a quantitative index to express the degree of soil pulverization by tillage implements, a tractor-pulled rotary sieve was designed and fabricated. With this apparatus, in-field determination of soil clod mean weight diameter (MWD) following plowing was possible. The results showed that the effect of soil moisture content on MWD was highly significant, such that, plowing at 10-12% moisture content produced the largest clods, whereas the effect of plowing depth on MWD was not significant. The decreasing trend of MWD with soil moisture content persisted to the highest moisture level studied (16 - 18%), in which the average clod MWD (33.8 mm) was about 72% smaller than those formed at 10-12% moisture content. The effects of plowing depth and soil m. c. on soil inversion by disk plow were not significant and the overall soil inversion was about 54% which was in agreement with those reported by other researchers.

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Effect of different sources of fat on performance of broiler chicks was studied. Three hundred and thirty six chicks were divided into 42 groups of 8 chicks per group. Seven isoenergetic and isonitrogenous diets, mainly based on corn and soybean meal were prepared and fed. These treatments were as follows: corn + soybean meal + (5% tallow, 5% cotton seed crude oil, 5% cotton seed soapstock, 2.5% tallow + 2.5% crude oil, 2.5% tallow + 2.5% soapstock, or 2.5% crude oil + 2.5% soapstock). One control diet without any source of fat was also included. Results showed that average feed intake of diets with different sources of fat up to 56 days old, was not differed from control group. Different sources of fat and their combinations increased weight gain and improved feed conversion. But soapstock had no effect on performance. Added fats increased abdominal fat of chickens. Therefore, if is concluded that on the contrary to soapstock, tallow and crude oil enhanced performance of broiler chickens.

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Biological activity and making use of sage essential oil in different industries depend on the chemical composition of the essential oil which is itself affected by several factors. In order to study the quality and quantity of the essential oil during growth stages, samples of the plant were gathered. The essential oil was extracted through steam distillation from the different plant parts separately. Volatile parts were analyzed with GCMS instrument. The study showed that the quality and quantity of the chemicals from different parts of the plant were not the same: Alpha-thujone and Beta-thujone as two important compounds were the lowest in the leaves of sage at flowering stage (1.2%, 3%, respectively). The study also showed that the quantity of Camphor (2.9%), Cineole (2%), Alpha-thujone (6.4%) and Beta-thujone (1.6%) in the essential oil of aerial parts of the plant were lower than the international standards (33%, 10%, 16% & 2%, respectively).

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Barley consumption is limited in broiler chicken diet due to their β. glucanas polysaccharide content. The application of synthetic enzymes in poultry diet can increase the barley content. The purpose of this experiment is to study the effect of enzyme supplement-β-glucanas on the performance of broiler chickens, percentage of abdominal fat, intestine weight and economic evaluation of production of one kilogram of meat in diets including different levels of barley and corn. Five hundred forty-one-day-old commercial broiler chickens (Arian) were divided into 45 groups, 12 chickens per group Each one of the 15 experimental diets, in which barley was substituted for corn at levels 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100% with 2 levels of enzymes (0.025 and 0.05%) was fed to 3 groups of chickens for 49 days. All diets were isoenergetic and isonitrogenous. Plant oil was used to make diets isoenergetic. The results showed that the rate of weight increase of broiler chickens decreased as each level of free enzyme barley was replaced at 0.83, 6.08, 12.9, 16.1 %, respectively. The weight gain of the chickens fed with diets including a large amount of barley and 0.05% enzyme didn’t have any significant difference (P < 0.01) with the control group. The chickens fed with diet including barley and 0.025% enzyme didn’t have any significant difference either (except at 75% and 100% barley replacements). Enzyme supplementary at 0.025% and 0.05% levels (especially at 0.05%) caused significant improvement (P < 0.01) in food consumption and feed conversion ratio of chickens fed with diets including barley. Analysing the carcass of these chickens showed that the enzyme used at both levels, especially at 0.05 %, caused a significant decrease (P < 0.01) in abdominal fat (3.62% vs. 4%). It was also seen that the weight of chickens fed with enzyme decreased significantly (P < 0.01) in comparison with chickens fed with free enzyme barley diets (9.57% vs. 14.81 %). The economic calculation results of producing meat in this experiment pointed out that using barley and corn caused reduction in production expenses. The general results of this study showed that barley with enzyme is a suitable replacement for enzyme and further that 0.05% level of enzyme is better than 0.025% level due to its performance and better economic results.

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A two-year study (1996-97) was conducted to verify tillage effects on several soil properties and corn yield. The soil (fine loamy, Thermic, typic Haplargids) was treated by conventional (CT) and no-till (NT) systems. Soil organic matter (OM), mean weight diameter (MWD), penetration resistance (Cl), bulk density (BD), total nitrogen (TN) and aggregate size distribution at depths of 0-20 and 20-40 cm were measured.

No-till system caused the OM to be twice as much as that in the conventional tillage system. Total nitrogen in the NT and at depths of 0-20 and 20-40 cm were higher by 30% and 20%, respectively. No differences obtained in bulk density and penetration resistance, but MWD in the NT was 20% and 10% higher than CT in the 0-20 and 20-40 cm depths, respectively. Mean weight diameter of the aggregates in the CT was smaller than that in NT. Aggregates of less than 0.25 mm at 0-20 cm depths were almost 25% higher in CT compared to NT system. The yield in the NT system was significantly lower than CT. Although reduced cultivation could bring a better soil physical condition, low initial organic matter, weak structure and heavy-textured soil produced unsuitable conditions for the crop roots and, consequently, resulted in low yield. Therefore, no-till system in this region would not be recommended.

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Gypsiferous soils, as the most characteristic soil in arid and semi-arid regions, are widespread in Isfahan Province. The north-west region of Isfahan is a closed basin and is surrounded by geologic formations. This area is a part of Zayandehrood watershed. The origin of gypsum in this area was investigated in this study. Considering the geologic distribution of gypsum, twenty-two locations, suspected to have been affected by gypsum, were selected for sampling. Natural and artificial excavations were used to discover their relationships. To distinguish the differences between fresh and weathered shales, some fresh samples were taken from the depth of Shemshak formations (a lead mine).

Field observations showed that in Shemshak and Nayband formations, gypsic crystals were present within the layers of weathered shales, and pyrite was observed only in the mine shales. In weathered red conglomerates (Lower Cretaceous), considerable amounts of gypsum had accumulated. In the hydrothermal veins of Shemshak and Nayband formations, gypsic crystals were found in matrix or between rock layers. In some parts, the Qom formation (Evaporate sediments) contained plenty of gypsum.

From field observations and analytical data, such as mineralogy of untreated and floated rock powders, determination of residual sulfides in shales, and the examination of thin and polished sections of rocks, we conclude that the origin and main resources of gypsum in our study area are as follows:

1. Gypsum being released from Cretaceous limes particularly from red conglomerates

2. Oxidation of pyrite and any sulfidic minerals existing in shales

3. Gypsum being released from evaporates (Qom formation and Oligomiocenic Marls)

4. Gypsum formed through hydrothermal reactions during late Tertiary.

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Soil structure maintenance and stability is an important index indicating sustainable soil management. In this regard, components such as soil moisture and organic matter affect soil compactibility during farm machinery trafficking. Soils in Central Iran are commonly very low in organic matter (OM) and thus susceptible to compaction. This study was conducted to measure the effects of soil moisture content and manure application on soil compactibility. A randomized complete block design with four blocks (replicates) with the treatments nested (split-block) into the blocks was used in the soil (Typic Haplargids), located in Isfahan University of Technology Research Farm (Lavark). One-year aged manure treatments 0, 50, and 100 t ha^-1 were incorporated into soil up to the tillage depth (20 cm) by a heavy disc. After five months (July-November), a two-wheel-drive tractor Universal Model U-650 was passed through the field at soil moisture contents of plastic limit (PL), 80% PL (0.8PL), and 60% PL (0.6L), either once (P1) or twice (P2). Bulk density (BD), cone index (CI), and soil sinkage (S) were measured as indices of soil compactibility and trafficability. Adding manure countered the effects of load and wetness on BD and CI, significantly. There was a significant difference between the effects of 50 and 100 t ha^-1 of manure on BD but not on CI. Manure application reduced soil sinkage at high moisture contents (PL) but increased it at low moisture contents (0.6PL). Adding manure also reduced the BD and CI of subsoil. Repeating the passage of tractor (P2) increased compaction significantly. The significant increase in BD and CI did no occur at 0.6PL. When no manure was applied even at 0.6PL, there were limitations for trafficability, whereas this limit for 50 t ha^-1 treatment was reached at 0.8PL. Results from this study indicate that the manure application at a rate of 50 t ha^-1 reduces soil compactibility and increases soil moisture trafficability range.

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In order to study the effects of Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) in water on the performance of broiler chickens, preliminary data were obtained on water resources of Isfahan Province. Complementary tests and analyses were also performed including physical, chemical and microbial ones. Six different water qualities based on TDS contents of less than 1000, 1000-2000, 2000-3000, 3000-4000, 4000-5000 and more than 5000 ppm were selected. The main experiment lasted for 7 weeks (7-56 days), using 288 chickens in a completely randomized design, with 3 replications, while, the environmental and genetic factors were controlled in an identical broiler housing.

The results showed that using water with different TDS contents had the most negative effects on mortality rate (%) in the rearing period and up to 56.2% mortality was recorded at the highest TDS content. Water consumption showed high and positive correlation (P < 0.05) with TDS (r = +0.74). Correlation between TDS and bedding moisture was also high (r = +0.65) and significant (P < 0.05). The differences between final body weight of control chickens and highest level of TDS were significant (P < 0.05). Feed intake also was affected by different TDS contents and showed similar results as with body weight. Increasing the TDS level decreased the abdominal fat in the female chickens and ash content of tibia in the male chickens. It is concluded that water TDS should be considered for the development of broiler chicken farms. Therefore, it is recommended that higher quality waters (with a TDS content of 3000 ppm) must be used for this purpose. Otherwise, appropriate systems should be used to improve physical and chemical composition of the water.

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Different Extractants have been proposed to assess available P in different soils. Olsen method is widely used to determine available P in calcareous soils of Iran. However, it has not been compared adequately with other extractants. The main objective of this experiment was to compare this procedure with some other methods. Thirty nine calcareous soil samples from Fars Province with different physico-chemical characteristics were examined for available P by nine extractants. Furthermore, the effects of four P levels (0, 50, 100, 200 µgPg^-1 soil) on growth, P concentration and P uptake by corn were studied in a greenhouse experiment using 20 soil samples. The results indicated that the amount of extractable P decreased in the order, anion-exchange resin > Colwell > Morgan > Olsen > Bray P₁ (1:50) > Soltanpour & Schawb > EDTA > Bray P₁ (1:7) > Water. The amounts of P extracted by all methods, except that by Bray method, showed significant correlation. However, the correlation coefficients between resin, Olsen, Colwell and water were higher than the others. Regression analysis showed that P extracted by all methods, except Bray, was affected by organic matter and native Zn. Moreover, P removed by Bray method was decreased with an increase in calcium carbonate equivalent. Correlation between top dry weight, relative growth and P uptake and P extracted by resin, Colwell, Olsen and water were highly significant. Although the correlation coefficients between growth parameters and P extracted by Morgan and Soltanpour & Schawb were significant, they were of lower magnitude. Plant phosphorus concentration showed significant correlation with P extracted by Olsen and Colwell methods. In general, resin, Olsen and Colwell methods seem to be appropriate extractants for available P in the present study. However, to select the appropriate extractants, more research is needed.

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This experiment was carried out to study the effect of ionophore drugs (Salinomycin, Lasalocid and their combination) on the performance of broiler chicks. Also their relationship with methionine (three levels) was evaluated. 1215 one-day-old commercial broiler chicks (Arian) were divided into 81 groups, 15 chicks per group, and tested in a completely randomized design with a 3×3×3 factorial experiment and three levels (0/0, recommended and 1.5 times recommended) of drugs and three levels (0.0, 1% and 0.2%) of supplemental methionine.

The results indicated that these drugs reduced body weight gain significantly (p<0.05) at 21 and 56 days of the experiment. Decreasing feed consumption and increasing feed conversion was significant (p<0.05) due to Lasalocid supplementation. Increasing drug level significantly (p<0.05) reduced body weight gain and feed intake and feed conversion was increased at 21 to 42 and 0 to 56 days of the experiment. The effect of supplemental methionine on body weight of 42 days (P<0.05) and feed conversion at 21 to 42 and 0 to 56 days (p<0.01) were significant. The interactions between drug type and drug level on body weight gain, feed consumption and feed conversion were significant (p<0.05). Lasalocid significantly (p<0.05) increased water intake. Drugs did not affect litter moisture and mortality. The results showed that Salinomycin was better than Lasalocid. Also supplemental methionine was not effective in compensating for the growth depression caused by ionophore drugs.

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Obtaining high seed and oil yields of sunflower requires coincidence of vegetative and reproductive stages of growth of the plant with suitable environmental conditions via selecting appropriate planting date. Since the suitable date of planting for sunflower cultivars under Isfahan environmental conditions was not determined, this experiment was conducted in 1996 at the Agricultural Research Station, Isfahan University of Technology. In this study, five dates of planting (April 27, May 12 and 27 and June 12 and 29) and three open pollinated sunflower cultivars (Record, Vnimik 8931 and Armavirec) were evaluated using a randomized complete block design with split-plot layout in three replications. Date of planting was considered as the main plot and cultivars were randomized in the sub-plots.

Number of seeds per head (SH), l000-seed weight (SW), seed oil percent (SOP) and, consequently, yields of oil (OY) and seed (SY) were significantly reduced as planting was delayed. Reduction in these traits were considered to be related to the coincidence of vegetative and reproductive growth stages with higher temperatures prevailing at later plantings. Vnimik 8931 had higher SH and SW, and thus produced higher SY. This cultivar had lower SOP than Record, but produced higher OY than Record due to its higher SY. Armavirec was ranked the least for the measured traits, except for its SH that was slightly higher than that of Record. SH was the most contributing trait to the increase in SY, and SY was the most determining trait for the increase in OY. Date of planting by cultivar interactions for SH, SY and OY were significant. Nevertheless, the highest amount of the measured traits were obtained with Vnimik 8931 at the first planting date.

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The esterification process causes some desirable changes in physicochemical properties of fat by exchanging the acyl groups in triglyceride molecules. The aim of this study was to produce a suitable edible fat for industrial and home uses. In this study a mixture of 60 percent soybean oil and 40 percent edible tallow were inter-esterified, using 0.5 percent sodium methylate or ethylate as catalyst. The results obtained for solid fat contents and melting points indicated that the process of inter-esterification was accomplished in 30 minutes at 90°C. It was also observed that sodium methylate and. ethylate had similar effects on physical and chemical characteristics of the esterified blend. Iodine and saponification values indicated that the esterification process did not have any considerable effect on the degree of unsaturation or molecular weight of fatty acids. The peroxide values showed that the processing condition did not produce any peroxide. The esterified blend contained 1.10 percent trans fatty acids, which were originally present in the tallow. It is concluded that interesterification of soybean oil and edible beef tallow can be used as an alternative method to hydrogenation to produce a suitable plastic fat with low levels of trans fatty acids for the manufacture of different types of margarines and fats for home uses.

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Solarization of field soil through mulching with transparent polyethylene sheets alone and in integration with farm yard manure (40 T/ha) and/or metalayl (25 kg/ha) during summer 1994-95 for five weeks in Isfahan resulted in an increase in temperature of 10 °C (± 1) and moisture preservation of up to 82%. Solarization effectively reduced foot-rot of cucumber (Phytophthora drechsleri) in the above treatments up to 88%, 96% and 95%, respectively.

Solarization, farm yard manure and their integration reduced the infection of Meloidogyne javanica up to 50%, 57% and 83% while plant parasitic nematodes were also reduced to 72%, 75% and 86%, respectively. The populations of free living nematodes increased only in farm yard manure and in integration with solarization by 30% and 53%, respectively.

Solarization effectively reduced the populations of almost all weeds by around 100%, except for Cyperus rotundus and Sonchus asper which were reduced by 59% and 44%, respectively.

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Soil as the third major component of our environment is exposed to different kinds of pollution. Lead has been recognized as a factor in environmental pollution. Pollution of soil and plants along the highways and roads by Pb from automobile exhaust gases has extensively been reported as the most important pollutant source in the environment. This research was carried out to determine the degree of soil pollution along the following highways: Rasht-Anzaly (Anzaly area), Kelachay-Ramsar (Ramsar area), Tehran-Karaj (Karaj area) and Isfahan-Tehran (Delijan area). In each location a transect of 100 meters long, perpendicular to the highway axis, was selected for sampling. Soil samples at different depths were taken from different distances from the highway and analysed for some physical and chemical characteristics and total Ph content by 5M HNO3 extraction.

 Results indicated that the total Pb content of soil decreased exponentially with distance from the roadside. Total Pb content of soil decreased sharply with depth in all highways except in one area indicating that Pb was retained in the surface soil and that its movement down to the deep soil was slow. Total Pb content of soils was highly and directly related to the traffic volume.

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This experiment was conducted to determine the requirements of vitamin supplement and available phosphorus in broiler chickens from 42 to 56 days of age. In a completely randomized design, with a 3×3×3 factorial arrangement, 270 one-day-old commercial broiler chicks were divided into 27 groups (replicates) with 9 treatments, 3 replicates and 10 chicks in each group. Each of the nine diets was given to each treatment from 42 days of age. Levels of vitamin supplement were 0.5, 0.25, 0% and available phosphorus levels were 0.27, 0.22, 0.16%. Diets were isocaloric and isoprotein. Group weight and feed consumption of each replicate were determined after 42 and 56 days of age and daily gain, daily feed consumption and feed conversion were calculated. Percent of carcass components and tibia ash were determined.

Results indicated that removal of vitamin supplement from 42 to 56 days of age did not have any significant effects on daily gain, daily feed consumption, feed conversion, live weight, viscera, abdominal fat, carcass weight, wings, neck and back bone. Also, reduction of available phosphorus did not have any significant effect on daily feed consumption, feed conversion, live weight, viscera, abdominal fat, carcass weight, breast meat, femurs, wings, neck and tibia ash. Interaction between vitamin and phosphorus were significant for daily gain, daily feed consumption, live weight, wings, neck and tibia ash (P<0.005) and were highly significant for breast meat, femurs, and back bone (P<0.00l).