JWSS - Journal of Water and Soil Science

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Of all types of xenobiotics, pesticides such as herbicides play a significant role in soil and water pollution due to their widely usage all over the world. This study addresses the ability of organic amendments to enhance atrazine and metamitron degradation in two herbicide contaminated soils with contrasting textures under laboratory conditions. Soil samples were collected from surface soils with textures of sandy loam and silty clay, from northeastern part of Iran. Initial concentration of herbicides was 50 mgkg^-1 soil. Contaminated soil samples were treated by manure, compost and vermicompost at the rates of %0.5 and %2 (w/w). Residual concentrations of atrazine and metamitron were determined by HPLC at the end of incubation periods of 20,40 and 60 d. Residual concentrations of atrazine were 93, 77.8 and 72.4 % of the initial concentration after 20, 40 and 60d incubation, respectively. Residual metamitron concentrations were clearly lower than atrazine. After 20,40 and 60 d., the remaining concentrations of metamitron were 5.8, 2 and 1.2 %, respectively. Organic amendments at the rates of .5 and 2 % showed similar effects on the enhancement of herbicides degradation in soils. However, no significant effect was observed between types of organic amendments. Degradation was clearly affected by soil textures. Residual concentrations of herbicides were higher in sandy loam than in silty clay soil.

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Soil physical and chemical properties, and test conditions might affect soil structural stability. In this study, the effects of test conditions as well as intrinsic soil properties on structural stability were investigated for selected soils from Hamedan Province. Mean weight diameter (MWD) and tensile strength (Y) of aggregates were determined by wet sieving method and indirect Brazilian test, respectively. The soil samples were pre-wetted slowly to matric suction of 200 kPa before the wet sieving. The pre-wetted samples were wet-sieved for 5, 10 and 15 min in order to simulate different hydro-mechanical stresses imposed on soil structure. Tensile strength of soil aggregates were also measured at air-dry and 500 kPa matric suction conditions. Short duration shaking (i.e. 5 min) could effectively discriminate the Hamedan soils in terms of structural stability due to their fairly low aggregate stabilities. The soil organic matter content had the highest impact on MWD followed by both clay and CaCO₃ content. The same was true for the Y values i.e. OM played the highest role in mechanical strength of soil aggregates. The highest coefficient of determination (R²) was obtained between Y and the intrinsic soil properties for matric suction of 500 kPa. The organic matter content had an important role in water and mechanically stable soil aggregates. The results indicated that short-duration wet sieving (i.e. 5 min) and measurements of tensile strength at matric suction of 500 kPa could be recommended for aggregate stability assessment in Hamedan soils

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Organic matters are the most important factors that affect soil compactability and physical characteristics. In order to study the effect of pistachio waste on physical characteristics of two soils, a factorial experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with three replications in a greenhouse. The treatments included pistachio waste at 4 levels (0, 3, 6 and 9 w/w %) and two types of soil texture (silty clay loam and sand).The results showed that the bulk density of sandy soil was decreased at high levels of waste application before compaction but had no significant effect on the bulk density of clay soil. The penetration resistance of both soil types was decreased by pistachio waste application. Soil water holding capacity increased and moisture curves shifted up for higher levels of organic matter application, while compaction curve reciprocally shifted into the lower levels by incorporation of wastes into the soils. At higher levels of organic matters, maximum bulk density was decreased and critical moisture was increased specially in fine texture soil. After compaction, the application of pistachio waste significantly reduced penetration resistance in silty clay loam soil relative to control but in sandy soil its effect on penetration resistance was only significant at maximum level (9 %).

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Selecting an appropriate particle size distribution (PSD) model for a particular soil may be important for a precise estimation of soil hydraulic properties. Various models have been proposed for describing soil PSDs. The objective of this study was to compare the quality of fitting of eight PSD models (Fredlund, Gompertz, van Genuchten, Jaki, Logarithmic, Exponential, Logarithmic-Exponential and Fractal) in 71 soil samples collected from Lordegan and Saman in Charmahal-va-Bakhtiari province, Iran. Coefficient of determination ( ) and Akaike’s information criterion ( ) were used to compare the goodness-of-fit of the models to the experimental data. Results showed that Fredlund model is best for describing PSD of silt loam, silty clay loam, silty clay and sandy loam soil textures. While Fractal, Exponential and Logarithmic-Exponential models produced the poorest-fit in silt loam, silty clay loam and silty clay, they had the best performance in sandy loam texture. The performance of Fredlund and Gompertz models improved with an increase in clay and silt content from 25 and 40 percentage, respectively. The performance of Fractal, Exponential and Logarithmic-Exponential models improved by increasing the sand content. Reverse correlation was observed between silt content and the performance of the Fractal model.

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Calcareous and gypsiferous soils are restricting factors for uptake of some plant nutrient elements and plant production. Most soils in Iran are calcareous and gypsiferous. Therefore, the aim of this study was the evaluation of calcium carbonate (Caco3) and gypsum effect on availability of some nutrients and corn growth. This study was conducted in a greenhouse at Vli-e-Asr University of Rafsanjan. Treatments were arranged in a factorial manner as a completely randomized design with three replications. Treatments were three levels of Caco3 (0, 20 and 40 g/100g soil), gypsum at three levels (0, 15 and 30 g/100g soil) and two soil textures (Sand and Silt clay loam). Results indicate that irrespective of soil texture, Caco3 application significantly decreased leaf area (by 80% and 15% for sand and silty clay loam texture, respectively), dry weight (by 80% and 15% respectively), plant height (regressed on Caco3 percentage by slopes -0.7 and -0.15 for sand and silty clay loam respectively), and shoot Fe (-9.67 and -11.3) and Zn (-0.24 and -1) uptake, but had no significant effect on shoot Cu uptake. In sandy soil, application of gypsum, significantly decreased leaf area (80%), dry weight (62%), and shoot Cu uptake (slope= -1.93), but had no significant effect on plant height and shoot Zn uptake. Gypsum application significantly reduced shoot Fe uptake (slope= -24.86) in fine textured soil, but it had no significant effect in coarse textured soil.

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Usually, dry soil readily absorbs water .However, not all soils display such characteristics. Some soils (hydrophobic soils) show resistance to wetting. Because of the importance of this subject and lack of research, we evaluated the effect of heating on water repellency and some of soil physical and chemical characteristics. So soil was combined with compost and heated at deferent temperatures, 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 °C for 30 minutes in an oven or muffle furnace. The results showed that control treatment and heated soil at 300 °C had WDPT and MED 45 (s), 17% and 80 (s), 23% respectively. So, little water repellency was present prior to heating the soil. When soil was heated up to 300°C, intense water repellency resulted, but it was abruptly eliminated by increasing the heating. The soil texture was changed from loam to sandy loam at high temperatures (400 & 500 °C) and the sand percentage was increased. Organic matter decreased by increasing the temperature. Amount of pH decreased up to 200 °C and then increased at 500°C because of increasing ash in soils. Diminution of mineral and organic matter caused EC to decline in all the heated soils.

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Rill erosion is the detachment and transport of soil particles by concentrated flow of runoff. It is the most common form of water erosion in the hill slopes. Rill erodibility is the rate at which soil particle is detached and transported by shear force of the concentrated flow. The study was conducted to determine the rill erodibility in different soil textures in Zanjan province using a rainfall simulator. To this end, samples of eight soil textures consisting of clay, clay loam, silty loam, sandy clay loam, sandy loam, loamy sand, and sandy were collected from land surface and transported to small plots (120 cm  100 cm) on a sloped uniform land (10%). The plots were exposed to five simulated rainfalls with a constant intensity of 60 mm h-1 for one hour. Based on the results, there was a significant difference among the soil textures in the rill erodibility (p< 0.01). Rill erodibility of the soils significantly correlated with mineral fraction (sand, clay, gravel) and exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP). With an increase in sand and gravel percentage, soil infiltration rate strongly increased and consequently production of the concentrated flow steadily decreased. Multiple regression analysis indicated that the rill erodibility in the soils was remarkably related to ESP (R2= 0.85, P< 0.01). Clay soil showed to have the highest rill erodibility among the soil textures due to higher exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP= 13).

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