shahin oustan

The present study aimed to investigate the effects of rice straw, sewage sludge, and their hydrochars on some agronomic traits and chlorophyll index of rice plants in a sandy loam soil contaminated with lead (Pb) under greenhouse conditions. The research was conducted as a factorial experiment in a completely randomized design with three replications and two factors of organic matter at 11 levels (control, rice straw, rice straw hydrochar, sewage sludge, sewage sludge hydrochar, rice straw + rice straw hydrochar, sewage sludge + sewage sludge hydrochar, rice straw + sewage sludge, rice straw hydrochar + sewage sludge hydrochar, rice straw hydrochar + sewage sludge, sewage sludge hydrochar + rice straw), and Pb at two levels of 0 and 500 mg/kg as lead nitrate. The results showed that soil contamination with Pb significantly reduced leaf chlorophyll index, plant height, panicle dry matter, panicle length, leaf number, leaf width, and stem diameter. By application of sewage sludge and its hydrochar, agronomic traits of rice were significantly increased, and this increase was even higher in the presence of sewage sludge than its hydrochar. The application of rice straw decreased panicle dry matter and leaf number and increased the ratio of shoot dry matter to that of root and had no significant effect on other traits. The application of rice straw hydrochar reduced shoot and root dry matter, leaf number, and leaf length. The results showed that integration of sewage sludge and its hydrochar with rice straw and its hydrochar can reduce the negative effects of rice straw and its hydrochar and Pb toxicity.

In this research, two separate experiments were carried out as factorial on the basis of completely randomized design with three replications. In the first experiment, the effects of cultivation, salinity, and phosphorus (P) fertilizer on available-P and inorganic P fractions were investigated with three factors of cultivation type at six levels (No cultivation, wheat monoculture, lathyrus monoculture, vetch monoculture, wheat-Lathyrus intercropping, wheat-vetch intercropping), P fertilizer at two levels (zero and 80 mg P/kg) and soil salinity (ECe) at two levels (0.75 and 7.5 dS/m) under greenhouse conditions. The second experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of ageing, salinity, and P fertilizer on Olsen-P and inorganic P fractions with three factors of time at two levels (zero and 90 days), P at two levels (zero and 80 mg P/kg), and ECe at two levels (0.75 and 7.5 dS/m) under laboratory conditions. Results showed that the cultivation of wheat, lathyrus, and vetch in both monoculture and intercropping conditions decreased Olsen-P, NH4F-P, NaOH-P, H2SO4-P, and sum of P fractions. Under P using conditions, available-P in the rhizosphere soil was more than the one in bulk soil and in intercroping it was more than the one in monoculture. In 90 days after P using, NaCl salinity decreased NH4Cl-P, NH4F-P, and NaOH-P while increased Olsen-P and H2SO4-P compared to non-saline conditions. Aging after P using decreased NH4Cl-P and Olsen-P and increased NH4F-P, NaOH-P, and H2SO4-P. Under P using conditions, Olsen extractant may underestimate soil P availablity for wheat, lathyrus, and vetch plants at both monoculture and intercropping conditions. Generally, intercropping of wheat-Lathyrus and wheat-vetch and using 80 mg P fertilizer per kg of soil can be recommedded under similar conditions.

Microorganisms make changes to their lives, when they are exposed to contaminants; these changes include physiological and genetical changes. Antibiotics are used in the livestock industry as well as in medicine. Among several methods for assessing the risks of contamination of soil ecosystems; one of which is the pollution induced community tolerance. This study, the effects of different levels of OTC on microbial activity were investigated in a silty loam soil. Different levels of OTC (10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 mg.kg-1) were applied to the pots containing 2 kg of soil with three replications and kept at room temperature for 120 days. The soil moisture level was adjusted to 50-70% of field capacity. Soil Dehydrogenase activity as an indicator of soil microbial activity was measured at 3, 7, 15, 30, 60, 90 and 120 days of incubation. The ΔIC50 diagram was plotted against different soil OTC concentrations for each time point and the trend of microbial tolerance changes was evaluated. The results showed with increasing incubation time and concentration of OTC, induction of tolerance in the microbial population was gradually enhanced. Overall the increase of tolerance in microbial population started on day 15 and reached the highest values on days 30 and 60 at OTC concentration of 50 mg.kg-1 OTC. A marked change in the slope of ΔIC50 was occurred on day 30 at 30 mg.kg-1 OTC which can be regarded as critical level of OTC in soil at this time point which led to occurrence of microbial tolerance.

Sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (SDBS) as an anionic surfactant may be added to soil by the use of wastewater, sewage sludge and pesticides and affects its physical, chemical and biological properties. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impacts of SDBS on some chemical and physical attributes of a loam-textured soil.

In this study, the effect of SDBS as a between-subject factor at four levels (0, 0.01, 0.05 and 0.25 %) and the effect of time as a within-subject variable at eleven levels (0.25, 2, 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, 49, 63, 77 and 91 days) on soil pH, EC, available Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu, dissolved organic matter index and organic carbon were investigated in a repeated measures design with three replications. The effects of SDBS application on SAR, available sulfate, saturation percentage, bulk density and aggregate stability index were assessed in a completely randomized design after 95 days with three replications. For this purpose, 15 kg of the soil was placed in each of 12 polyethylene containers. Then, SDBS solutions at the aforementioned levels were sprayed on the soils, and the soils were incubated at room temperature for 95 days. The interior of the container was separated into two parts by a perforated wall to take undisturbed and disturbed soil samples for physical and chemical soil attributes, respectively. Finally, the properties of the sampled soils were determined at the above time points.

The pH and EC values decreased and increased over the incubation period, respectively.The pH of the soil at the 0.25% SDBS level was first lower and then higher than that of control.The final soil EC values at the 0.01%, 0.05% and 0.25% SDBS levels (543.3, 693.7 and 786 µS cm-1) were higher than control (513.3 µS cm-1).The concentration of available Fe at the 0, 0.01, 0.05 and 0.25% SDBS levels within the first 6 hours of incubation period (3.51, 3.88, 4.02 and 4.56 mg kg-1) decreased to a nearly constant concentration after 63 days (2.19 mg kg-1).From now on, an increase was observed only for 0.01 and 0.05 SDBS levels.The concentration of available Mn also decreased with time.However, the direct relationship between the available concentration of this metal cation and the SDBS level was observed only at the first week of incubation period and after that the changes were irregular.In contrast, such a direct relationship for Zn was absent at the beginning of the experiment but observed at the last month of the incubation period.The first decreasing and then increasing trend in available metal concentration was also observed for Cu but the interaction between the SDBS level and time was not significant.The available concentration of all four cationic metals increased with increasing the level of added SDBS and the observed order was Zn< Fe< Mn ≈ Cu, on average.Dissolved organic matter index showed the soil concentration changes of SDBS more regular than soil organic carbon.Furthermore, soil available sulfate and SAR significantly increased with increasing the SDBS added level.Among the soil physical attributes, only aggregate stability significantly decreased at the 0.25% SDBS level.

In general, results showed that the effect of SDBS addition on the temporal changes of soil available Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu was different for each metals. Therefore, changes in available forms of metal ions in the soils after addition of greywater may be not only due to their presence in greywater, but surfactant alone can be responsible for these changes. The soil EC and SAR significantly increased with increasing the SDBS level. However, aggregate stability decreased significantly only at the highest level of SDBS.

Nitrogen (N) plays a major role in maize growth and yield. Therefore, adequate supply of N is required ‎for successful maize production. However, application of chemical nitrogen fertilizers is associated with ‎some problems such as groundwater ‎pollution, nitrogen enrichment of surface waters, and nitrate ‎accumulation in agricultural products. ‎Accordingly, nowadays a great attention has been paid to the ‎slow-release fertilizers. Nitrogen-enriched humic acids ‎‎(NHAs) are considered as promising slow-release ‎nitrogen fertilizers in agricultural systems. However, the ‎effects of these types of fertilizers on plant growth ‎and physiological characteristics have not been well ‎understood. For this purpose, the present study ‎investigates the effectiveness of NHAs on the ‎morphological and physiological characteristics of maize as ‎well as nitrogen loss through leaching. ‎

‎The Nitrogen-enriched humic acids (NHAs) were prepared through the simple process of nitration, and ‎from the reaction of nitric acid with humic acid (HA) ‎extracted from leonardite of Yazd Golsang Kavir ‎Company as an organic carbon source. Then, a ‎greenhouse experiment in a completely randomized ‎design (CRD) with three replications was conducted ‎to determine the effects of 16 treatments, including ‎control, urea (U1, U2 and U3), humic acid ‎‎(HA1, HA2 and HA3), nitrogen-enriched humic acid (NHA1, ‎NHA2 and NHA3), urea-humic acid (U1HA1, U2HA2 ‎and U3HA3), and urea-nitrogen-enriched humic acid ‎‎(U1NHA1, U2NHA2 and U3NHA3) on the morphological ‎and physiological characteristics of maize plant ‎‎(Single cross-704). The levels of treatments were ‎determined as the quarter (50 mg N kg-1), half (100 mg ‎N kg-1) and equal (200 mg N kg-1) to the maize ‎fertilizer requirement. In the combined treatments of urea ‎and HA or NHA, an equal fraction of the total ‎nitrogen was considered. After the end of the experiment, ‎using the standard methods, some ‎characteristics including root length, leaf area, plant height, root ‎volume, wet and dry weights of shoot ‎and root, leaf chlorophyll index, concentrations of phosphorus, ‎potassium, nitrogen and nitrate, and ‎nitrate reductase activity in both shoot and root were determined. ‎Moreover, during the experiment and ‎on given days, the maize pots were leached and the obtained ‎leachate was collected for the nitrate ‎measurement.

‎Findings

According to the results, the nitrogen content of the produced NHA (3.3%) was about two times‏ ‏higher ‎than the HA (1.6%). In addition, the NHA had higher‎‏ ‏carboxyl and phenolic hydroxyl content than the ‎HA. The FT-IR analysis showed the characteristic peaks of nitro (NO2) groups at wavenumbers of 1541 ‎and 1336 cm-1 in the spectrum of NHA. Germination test indicated that the NHA was not toxic to the maize ‎seeds. The results showed that the NHA treatments had a much better influence on the plant ‎morphological characteristics than ‎the ‏HA treatments. This observation may be due to the negative effects ‎of HA application at high dosages. In comparision, the UNHA treatments were only slightly more efficient ‎than the urea treatments. Combining‏ ‏NHA with urea diminishes the adverse impacts of separate ‎application of these two fertilizers. On average, leaf chlorophyll index and concentrations of total ‎nitrogen, nitrate and nitrate reductase enzyme in shoot part of plants in the NHA treatments were 11.5, ‎‎17.0, 35.2 and 29.4% higher than the HA tratments. The nitrate reductase concentration in the roots was ‎‎40.4% lower than the shoots. However, the UNHA and urea treatments showed almost similar efficiency ‎in improving physiological characteristics. The U3NHA3 or U3 treatments, i.e. the highest level of ‎nitrogen, showed the highest efficiency which means the high nitrogen requirements of maize in pot ‎experiments. Based on the results, the nitrogen supply to the maize plant increased the shoot ‎concentration of potassium higher than that of phosphorus. Although the U3 treatment indicated ‎the ‎highest nitrogen and nitrate concentrations in both root and shoot, the highest nitrate leaching was ‎also ‎observed for this treatment. However, by using the U3NHA3 treatment, the mean concentration of ‎nitrate ‎in the leachate decreased by about 48.7% as compared to the U3 treatment. ‎

‎Findings of this research revealed that the combined fertilizer of UNHA can be ‎a good alternative for ‎urea. It could not only supply nitrogen for plants, but could improve plant vegetative ‎growth, and in turn ‎considerably reduce nitrate leaching, which has highly beneficial effects on nitrogen use ‎efficiency as well ‎as environmental issues.‎

This research was carried out to investigate effects of gypsum, cocopeat, and NaCl salinity on some physiological and growth characteristics of spinach cv. Virofly. The experiment was conducted in a factorial combination based on a CRD with three replications in greenhouse conditions. The experimental factors were: gypsum at four levels (0, 3, 9, and 27%), NaCl salinity at two levels (0 and 110 mM), and cocopeat at two levels (0 and 15%). The effect of gypsum on studied characteristics depended on the level of gypsum, cocopeat, and salinity. The use of 3% gypsum had no significant effect on root and shoot dry matters, plant height, and leaves number. Unexpectedly, use of 9 and 27% gypsum significantly reduced these characteristics under saline and non-saline conditions. The effect of salinity on studied characteristics was different regardless of presence or absence of cocopeat. The effect of cocopeat was significant on all studied characteristics, but its effect depended on the level of salinity and gypsum. The sensitivity of spinach plant root to NaCl salinity stress was greater than shoot. The use of cocopeat in perlite medium is not recommended for hydroponic cultivation of spinach. In treatments with cocopeat, high levels of gypsum decreased root and shoot dry matters, plant height, leaves number, leaf chlorophyll index, and leaf chlorophyll fluorescence. It is suggested to conduct more investigations with lower levels of gypsum, lower concentrations of calcium and sulfate in the nutrient solution, and application of other types of cocopeats under saline and non-saline conditions.

As a great reservoir of nutrients and pollutants, soil plays an important role in health and socio-ecological sustainability. Soil pollution increases as a result of the entry of heavy metals from operations such as agriculture, urbanization, and industrialization. Unlike organic pollutants, heavy metals cannot be decomposed and remain in the soil for more than 150 years. The continuous increase in the concentration of heavy metals in the soil due to wrong agricultural operations has had a serious effect on human health. Long-term use of wastewater in land irrigation often increases the amount of heavy metals in the soil. The present research aims to investigate the amount of heavy metals and pollution indicators.

The study area is located in agricultural soils irrigated with raw sewage in Barzil village of Meshginshahr city (38° 23′ 34″ N and 47° 1′ 7″ E). To perform this research, a regular griding method with a 250 m dimension was done and 97 surface soil samples (0 to 30 cm) were taken. After transferring to the laboratory, the samples were dried and passed through a 2 mm sieve. The physical and chemical characteristics of the soil including pH, EC, texture, organic carbon, and Calcium Carbonate Equivalent (CCE) are measured. The concentration of heavy metals Copper (Cu), Zinc (Zn), Cadmium (Cd), Nickel (Ni), Chromium (Cr), Lead (Pb), Iron (Fe), and Manganese (Mn) was measured by Aqua Regia digestion method and using Atomic Absorption Spectrometry. The spatial distribution of heavy metals was displayed using the Kriging interpolation method. Pollution indices of Enrichment Factor (EF), Geo-accumulation Index (Igeo), Contamination Factor (CF), and Pollution Load Index (PLI) were calculated.

The maximum values ​​of pH and electrical conductivity of the soil in some places irrigated with wastewater have reached 7.70 and 4.35, respectively, and their average values ​​have reached 6.69 and 1.45, respectively. The organic carbon of the studied soil samples varies from at least 0.59% to 3.50% an average of 2.14%. The relatively high amount of organic carbon can be attributed to the land use type of garden. Four texture classes of sandy loam (65%), loamy sand (23%), loam (10%), and sand (2%) have been observed. The average concentration of the three metals Zn (85.41 mg Kg-1), Cd (2.42 mg Kg-1), and Pb (17.38 mg Kg-1) was higher than the average of their continental reference values (0.7, 0.2 and12.50 mg Kg-1, respectively). The higher values rather than continental reference values indicate human intervention and its effect on increasing the concentration of these element contents. It means that irritating sewage caused increasing heavy metal concentration in the study area. The averages of Cu, Ni, Cr, Fe, and Mn were lower than continental references. Pollution indices indicate the state of accumulation of polluting elements in a place compared to the initial values ​​in the parent materials. The EF index of Cd (75.85) is the highest value among the eight metals and 99% of the the study area is classified as a very high enrichment class. The EF of Pb (8.68), Zn (7.42), and Cu (6.14) are in lower ranks. 56.7 % of study area classified as considerable enrichment by Cu and 46.4 % by Zn. The EF clearly indicates the involvement of human activities in the accumulation of four elements Cd, Pb, Zn, and Cu in the study area. Also, moderate enrichment class is caused by Mn, Cu, Zn, and Cr in 63.9, 42.3, 42.3, and 25.8% of the study area, respectively. The lowest and highest amount of the Igeo index is related to Ni (-6.90) and Zn (3.72), respectively. The average of Igeo varies as IgeoCd> Igeopb> IgeoCU> IgeoZn> IgeoMn> IgeoCr> IgeoFe> IgeoNi that introduces Cd as the most pollutant metal. The negative values ​​of Igeo indicate the absence of heavy metal pollution and so absence of pollution. The entire study area grouped as non-polluted or clean class according to Ni, Cr, Fe, and Mn but 86.6% of the area grouped as clean considering Cu and Zn. Cd placed 38.1% of the area in the medium pollution class and 59.8% of the area in the severe pollution class. 69.1% of the area was found to be clean and only 28.9% of the area was moderately polluted with Pb. According to this index, Cd is in the extremely polluted class in the whole study area. The lowest (0.01) and highest (19.72) value of CF belongs to Ni and Zn, respectively. The average of this index varies from 0.13 for Ni to 12.09 for Cd. Except for Cd, which placed 98% of the area in a very high pollution class, the rest of the metals had low or moderate pollution classes. Meanwhile, the low pollution classes had higher contributions than the medium pollution classes. 100% of the area was grouped in the low pollution class considering Ni, Cr, Fe, and Mn but according to Zn and Cu 71.1 and 60.8% of the area was placed in the low pollution class, respectively. Medium pollution class was observed only by three metals Pb (73.2%), Cu (39.2%), and Zn (24.7%). PLI values ​​less than 1 indicate ideal conditions where no pollution has occurred. The values of the calculated PLI index were less than 1 in the whole study area indicating the absence of pollution.

Among the four indices, the Igeo index has classified a larger extent of ​​the studied area in extremely polluted classes, while the PLI index does not show any pollution in the study area. Because Igeo, like the other two indices (EF and CF), is an individual index and considers the concentration of each metal separately, the PLI index is a cumulative index and shows the cumulative effects of all metals. In other words, high concentrations of metals disappear among low concentrations and individual effects of metals are not visible. This may mislead decision makers in dealing with the type and origin of pollution and cause negligent actions. Therefore, it is recommended that considering the harmful effects of each of the metals, individual indicators should be taken seriously.

Urmia Lake is the largest saltwater in the Middle East, which has been located in the northwest of Iran. Nowadays, various factors have exposed it to dryness and wind erosion, the result of which is the increase in soil salinity, the thinning of solute crystals, and the occurrence of dust storms. Identifying the nature of these dusts specially the mineralogy of them is important in providing solutions to deal with the crisis. Investigating the characteristics and mineralogy of dusts in the region are useful in predicting and controlling ways to reduce their damages, and dust mineralogy is a practical method to determine their origin. In other words, the deposition of dust in different areas can affect the nearby ecosystems by making changes in the texture, composition of elements and even the acidity of the soils of the affected areas. The source of dust is very important in the mineralogy of sedimentary particles and depends on various factors such as geology and soil characteristics as well as climatic conditions. Also, the height of atmosphere which the dusts are there can be useful in studying the affect of mineralogy in this height.

For this purpose, three flat sites without vegetation and prone to fine dust production were selected from the eastern shore of Urmia Lake, and each site was divided into 3 layers based on the height from sea level, but the first layer was omitted from the studying areas because of the high soil moisture due to low distance to lake, which results in decreasing dust production by this layer, and eventually 2 random samples (0-5 cm) were picked up from each layer. This research work carried out based on 12 selected soil samples from 3 sites and their layers. The soil samples from 0 to 5 cm depth as a surface soil of layers were transferred to trays with dimensions of 3 x 40 x 30 cm in the wind tunnel of agriculture faculty of Tabriz University, with 370cm length, 50cm width and 70cm height, and wind erosion was simulated by applying the maximum wind speed of 45 meters per second to it was done for 15 minutes at each height. Then, the dust particles released at 2 heights of the wind tunnel (10 and 30 cm from the floor of the device) and the control soil sample were subjected to XRD analysis and the obtained diffractions were interpreted using High Score software. Finally, statistical analysis was performed using a nested design to find the effect of factors such as the location, layer and height of the wind tunnel on the content of minerals in windblown dust.

The obtained results showed that the dominant minerals in the most dust samples, were quartz, calcite, halite and gypsum with the highest average percent of quartz, because of the widespread occurrences of this mineral in the earth crust. The statistical analysis results revealed the significant effect of layer on quartz at the p<0.01 level, but the effect of site on calcite was significant at the p<0.05 level. But the maximum amount of quartz appeared in layer 2 of site 2, while its minimum amount has observed in layer 2 of site 1. The maximum and minimum amount of calcite was found in site 2 and 3 respectively, but predominance of quartz in the dust samples can be attributed to the wind blow within a short distance. This differences can be related to the nature of the parent materials of sites from which soils were derived. The presence of calcite as the main mineral in samples is due to study area temperature and precipitation increase and decrease respectively, which cause lake dryness, while gypsum and halite are produced in result of chemical equilibrium process and distribute in salty soils. Gypsum also can be produced during the reaction of calcite and sulfates of sea salts. The dryness of the lake also results in rising the gypsum minerals from dried floor of lake. Also, the presence of halite is affected by Urmia Lake salts that remain after water evaporation in dried land as a main mineral in soil and dust samples of affected lands.Key Words: XRD analyze, Wind erosion, Mineralogy, Wind tunnel, Urmia Lake.

Tea is a permanent and evergreen plant that grows adeptly in acidic soils. The tea plant naturally absorbs aluminum and accumulates it in various shoot parts. Although aluminum is essential for tea growth, it is harmful to human health. Evaluating aluminum status in both soils and tea green leaves is necessary to better understand their relationships in order to improve the quality as well as quantity of tea yields. For this purpose, 38 samples of the soils and the third green leaves of tea (as an index leaf) were collected randomly from tea plantations of Guilan Province. In soil samples, besides the general properties, the values of pHw, pHCaCl2, exchangeable aluminum, calcium and magnesium, total nitrogen and available concentrations of phosphorus and potassium were determined. Concentrations of the aforementioned nutrients along with iron and zinc were also evaluated in the tea leaves. Based on the results, the mean values of pHw and pHCaCl2, and the mean concentrations of soil exchangeable aluminum and leaf aluminum were 4.51, 4.04, 256 mg/kg, and 1362 mg/kg, respectively. The soil exchangeable aluminum had inverse power relationships with pHw and pHCaCl2 with the coefficients of determination of 66% and 84%, respectively. This indicated that the pHCaCl2 was more valid than pHw. Leaf Al concentration showed no significant correlation with soil pH, but had significant relationship with soil exchangeable aluminum (r=0.69**). Furthermore, the total polyphenol content of the green tea leaves had no significant correlation with leaf Al concentration, but had significant relationship with (Al/(Fe+Zn)) ratio in tea leaves (r=0.64***). According to the lower limit of optimum pH for tea plantations (pH=4.5), the maximum permissible concentration of soil exchangeable aluminum was estimated to be 153 mg/kg. In order to control soil exchangeable aluminum and adjusting soil pH, it is recommended to use lime or dolomite, based on the soil buffering capacity.

Quinoa as halophyte plant has received more attention in recent years due to its nutritional value and high production potential in harsh environmental conditions. In this research was designed and implemented with the aim of investigating the effects of inoculation of some rhizosphere bacteria of halophyte plants on the growth of quinoa plant under salt stress.

The greenhouse test was carried out as factorial in the form of complete random design in three replications. First, quinoa seeds with selected bacteria (B1, B2, B3, B4, B5 and B6) were inoculated and then four salinity levels of 0, 7.5, 15 and 25 (dS/m) were applied in the pots. Finally some growth and nutritional related parameters were measured.

Growth indices (except chlorophyll index) and ionic composition (except sodium) of quinoa plant decreased with increasing salinity levels. The use of bacteria led to a significant increase in chlorophyll (up to 10.5%), height (up to 15.43%), root fresh weight (up to 20.27%), and fresh and dry weight of shoot (up to 10.27 and 11.36 %, respectively), biological yield (up to 10.41 %), total dry weight (up to 12 %), grain yield (up to 11.07 %) and sodium, potassium, phosphorus of shoot was up to 36.31, 22.11, and 10.52 % respectively compared to the control treatment.

In this experiment, PGPB led to a significant improvement in the tolerance of quinoa to salinity stress, and among them B3 was higher in improving the growth and yield indices of quinoa.

Magnetic susceptibility (χ) is a fast, non-destructive and simple method for determining soil properties and describing soil formation processes, which has been studied at different geomorphic levels, in order to investigate the effects of soil formation factors (elevation, elevation, and parent materials). This research aims to evaluate the changes of different forms of iron, drainage, land use and human activities (agriculture) on changes in soil magnetic receptivity and investigate CIW, CIA and CPA aeration indices in different geomorphic units in the year 2021 in Chaldaran study area in the northwest Iran and West Azarbaijan province. For this purpose, 9 test soils were excavated and evaluated in five dominant geomorphic units in the region, such as slope plain, covered pediment, alluvial cone, plain and flood plain. After dissection and sampling from the genetic horizons of the excavated rocks and transporting them to the laboratory, the physicochemical properties of the samples were measured along with their magnetic properties and aeration indices of CIW, CIA and CPA. The results showed that the range of magnetic receptivity of the soils of the region varied from 42.90 x 10-8 to 1053.20 m3 kg-1. Also, the average value of χlf of the studied soils in different geoforms was observed as flood plain > alluvial cone > covered pediment > plain > slope plain. Although the values of magnetic receptivity depending on the frequency of the examined soil samples were variable between 0.07% and 3.50%; But in most horizons, the value of χfd was less than 2%. This result indicates the presence of multi-domain coarse particles in the region that were added through parent material. Also, the results of CIA, CIW and CPA aeration indices indicate the stage of weak to moderate aeration in the region. Further, it was observed that the leaching of diamagnetic materials to the lower soil layers, ferrimagnetic minerals transferred by water and agricultural activities, has led to changes in the χlf trend with depth. Also, according to the A-CN-K curve and the chemical composition of the oxides of the studied elements, a moderate aeration process was observed in the region. On the other hand, the studied region is affected by water sediments and agricultural activities; It seems that carrying out the processes of sedimentation, soil formation, aeration and cultivation in this area has changed the chemical composition of the soils. Finally, it can be concluded that the equitic conditions caused a decrease in the acceptability and amount of Fed due to poor drainage in the studied soils.

Lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) is one of the most important leafy vegetable. Due to importance and high demand the greenhouse and hydroponically growing of lettuce is increasing. One of the key points in effectiveness of hydroponic production is the formulation of suitable nutrient solution. Nitrogen as an essential element could be provided by two form in nutrient solution, ammonium and nitrate. Although both form provide the nitrogen for plants but they can affect the growth and physiological aspects differentiatly. In other side open systems of hydroponic in addition to to high cost for nutrient solution preparation can cause soil and water pollution, so its need to use hydroponic systems that decrease the amount of nutrient solution consumation. In this study we assessed the effect of three different NH4+:NO3- ratio in nutrient solution in an easy and very low cost closed hydroponic system so called Kratky method on lettuce production.

The experiment was conducted in hydroponic greenhouse as a factorial based on completely randomized design. Three nutrient solutions with the same level of total nitrogen but with different ammonium to nitrate ratio (0.5:8, 1:8 and 2:8) were used for growing the three lettuce cultivars (Local Romain, French red and Salinas) in closed hydroponic system without the exchange of nutrient solution during the growing cycle and just water were added to substition the of the consumed solution. The seeds of lettuce cultivars at first were planted in cell try that were filled with coco peat-perlite with 1:1 ratio and after emergence and until reaching to suitable size for transplating seedling were fertigated with hoglnd nutrient solution. Two lettuce seedlings were transplanted via the small plastic small baskets and styrofom plate in pots with seven liters volum until the end of growing period. The characters like leaf and root fresh and dry weight, chlorophyll, carotenoid and anthocyanin content were assessed.

The results indicate that the ammonium:nitrate ratio had significant effect on the lettuce leaf and roots fresh and dry weight, chlorophyll index and anthocyanin contents. The cultivars had significantly difference effects on leaf and roots fresh and dry weight, collorophyl index, carotenoid and anthocyanin content. But the interaction between the ammonium:nitrate ratio and lettuce cultivars were not significant on the investigated characters. Between the cultivars Salinas and locally Romaine respectively had the highest and lowest yield. The highest and lowest root fresh and dry weights also were obtained from the 2:8 and 0.5:8 ammonium to nitrate ratios respectively while the 0.5:8 and 1:8 ammonium to nitrate ratio were not the significantly different from each other on the leaf fresh wight. The same rule also was for the leaf dry weight. The Salinas and French red had the highest dry weight and the localy romain significantly leaf lowest dry weight. On the roots fresh and dry weight characters there was significantly difference between the cultivars that was close to the results on leaf fresh and dry weight. So that Salinas withought the significantly difference with the French red had the highest root fresh weight and lowest root fresh weight belongs to locally romain. Result showed that lettuce being a vegetative crop satisfied by increasing the ammonium:nitrate ratio in nutrient solution. This is close to the results that previously has been reported by some authors.

The highest fresh and dry weights of lettuce were obtained by the solution with the 2:8 ammoniums:nitrate ratio, which indicate the superiority of the lettuce simultaneously feeding with nitrate and ammonium. In addition to quatitative characteristic like the yield the yield, simoultaneously feeding with ammonium and nitrate affected the qualitative characteristics like the anthocyanin and cartenoeid contents. Also providing the some parts of Nitrogen needs of plant as ammonium can reduce the nitrate accumulation. All of three nutrient solution with different ammonium to nitrate ratio but with the same level of total nitrogene and without any need to aeration also without the change of nutrient solution and only by substitution of consumed water were able to feed the lettuce plants without any visible disorders. This kind of hydroponic due to the drastic decrease of production costs would be suitable method specially for small scale hydroponic vegtable production greenhouse.

The current study was conducted to investigate the effect of homogeneous and heterogeneous soils on root distribution and yield of maize under irrigation without stress and with moisture stress under greenhouse conditions.

In this study, two soil types of clay (soil A) and silt loam (soil B) were used to prepare homogeneous substrates as single-layer (AA and BB) and heterogeneous substrates as double-layer (AB and BA) inside cylindrical PVC pipes with a length of 80 cm in the greenhouse. This research was performed as a factorial experiment in a completely randomized design (CRD) with three replications. So that the type of soil in the pots with 4 levels (AA, BB, AB and BA) and irrigation conditions with 2 levels (without moisture stress and with moisture stress) were the factors of this experiment. At the end of the growth period, the roots were photographed to evaluate the pixel density of the roots.

The results of the present study showed that in drought stress, maize root in homogeneous silt loam soil (BB) was less dense than that in clay homogeneous soil (AA)(15.0 g and 27.6 g, respectively),but in conditions without water stress, its growth was significantly improved (28.7 g). Also, in BA and AB pots, a better substrate for root growth was provided in irrigation conditions with stress and without stress, respectively. For all pots, there was a significant correlation between corn weight and lower half of the root dry weight at the 5% probability level.

Soil water repellency is an important physical phenomenon. In sub-critical water repellency conditions, many studies have reported positive repellency impacts. It seems that the presence of soil water repellency in a Specified range (Optimum water repellency) is not only a cause of destructive impacts in the soil but also is a positive factor in improving the soil physical quality. In this study, pre-treatment of organic matter (as a hydrophobic agent) was applied on 0, 1, 3, 5, 8 and 10% by weight of manure, on sandy loam and clay loam samples (In Kerman province; through 2020-2021). After three months incubation period and wetting and drying cycles of soils, soil water repellency was calculated using WDPT (Water drop penetration time), RI (Repellency index) and β methods. Then 21 soil quality indices (water availability and soil stability structure characteristics) were measured in the samples, and MDS (Minimum data set) indicator were selected using PCA (Principal component analysis). The Optimum water repellency, which is equal to 0.95 of the predicted values with the equation fitted to data, was calculated by plotting the data of MDS indicator and water repellency index. Considering the significant effect of manure on soil water repellency indices, and also the significant correlation of RI with most of the water availability and soil structure characteristics, RI was selected to determine the optimum water repellency. After checking the results of graph and 11 MDS indictors, it was determined that DC, TS and Ql indictors had a decreasing and then increasing trend with increasing water repellency, and the rest of indictors showed an increasing trend and then a decreasing trend. The Range of Optimum water repellency (0.95LL-0.95UL) is defined in an extensive range (4.40-4.86), when the soil structure indictors are investigated and in a limited range (3.72-4.28) when it is only affected by water availability. Finally, in unlimited conditions, the lower limit of 3.72 and the upper limit of 4.28 were considered for the optimum water repellency.

The time-dependent efficiency of zero-valent metals (ZVMs) including Al0 and Zn0 and their bimetals (Fe/Al and Fe/Zn, 0.1 g shell metal/g core metal) to reduce Cr(VI) in three contaminated soils (calcareous, non-calcareous near neutral and slightly acidic) was studied. The Cr(VI)-contaminated soils (100 and 500 mg/kg) were amended with the reductants (0, 5, and 10 g/kg) and the concentration of exchangeable Cr(VI) was determined after 0.5, 4, 24, 48 and 168 hours. It was found that the average reducing capacity of the bimetallic particles (11.4 mg Cr/g) was much higher than the ZVMs (3.3 mg Cr/g). The ZVMs showed rapid passivation within only a few minutes, while the bimetallic particles preserved their reactivity even up to one hour. In addition, the efficiency of ZVMs in the slightly acid soil was much higher than in two other soils. There was a good performance of Fe/Al in the calcareous soil with a higher hazard potential than the two other soils. The Cr(VI) reduction capacity of the bimetallic particles in non-calcareous near-neutral soil was two times more than in calcareous soil. The pseudo-first-order Cr(VI) reduction rate constant for the bimetals (0.248 h-1) was on average higher than those of the ZVMs (0.074 h-1).

In this study, the effect of potent zinc solubilizing bacteria on zinc supply of single cross cultivar 704 was evaluated.

Isolation of bacteria from rhizospheres of maize, wheat and sunflower was performed in different cities of East Azerbaijan province. The experiment was performed in two phases in vitro and in a greenhouse in a completely randomized statistical design with three replications.

A total of 20 bacterial isolates were obtained from the rhizosphere of the studied plants. In qualitative evaluation, the results showed that ZP13 isolates in zinc phosphate source, ZO11 in zinc oxide source and ZC10 in zinc carbonate source with HD / CD ratio with 1.74, 1.68 and 1.61, respectively, had the highest solubility. In quantitative evaluation of zinc solubility, ZP13 isolate (24.64 mg / L), ZC10 isolate in zinc carbonate (19.48 mg / L) and ZO11 isolate in zinc oxide (26.54 mg / L) had the highest solubility. The two isolates ZO11 and ZO14 in comparison with the negative control treatment led to an increase in zinc uptake of 179.7 and 62.37% in the root and 155.1 and 110.6% in the shoot part of maize, respectively. Identification of isolates ZO11 and ZO14 showed that they belong to Acinetobacter calcoaceticus and Agromyces italicus, respectively.

According to the results of this experiment, the potential of rhizobacteria of different plants can be used to provide the zinc required by plants as a healthy and eco-friendly solution.

Sustainable management of soil and land resources requires the identification of factors affecting their development or degradation. Accurate and reliable determination of the distribution of soil and landscape properties is the basis of such identification. In this regard, it is necessary to prepare continuous location maps. In soil surveying, soils are generally collected by a point-by-point sampling method and soil properties between these points are estimated by interpolation methods. Soil salinity is one of the most common challenges in arid and semi-arid regions of Iran, which leads to land degradation by declining soil quality. Therefore, monitoring soil salinity is needed to overcome the aforementioned problem. The accuracy and precision of Kriging, as one of the major geostatistical methods, depend on the size, distribution as well as density of soil samples. Due to the use of these maps in soil planning and management for the future, their accuracy and precision are of great importance. This study aims to evaluate the role of grid sampling patterns on the quality and efficiency of final soil salinity maps.

The study was conducted in Shamlou region with an area of about 155 ha. It is located in Heris County, East Azerbaijan Province comprising abandoned cultivated lands. The dominant soils across the study area were Inceptisols and Aridisols. Based on the main objective of this research, five sampling patterns were designed: I) uniform grids of 100 m; II) uniform grids of 200 m; III) offset grids of 200 m; IV) rectangular grids (100×200 m) with vertical direction; V) rectangular grids (100×200 m) with the horizontal direction. A total of 155 disturbed samples (0-20 cm) were taken in the study area. All the collected samples were transferred to the laboratory for analysis. After providing the soil extracts, ECe was measured. The Kriging method was also employed to predict the spatial distribution of soil salinity according to the above-mentioned patterns. The accuracy of prepared maps in a classified mode was also evaluated. Finally, the efficiency of each map was evaluated using the Average Size Delineation (ASD), Index of Maximum Reduction (IMR), and Delineation Density (DD) criteria.

The maximum ECe in the study area was reported to be 36.5 dS.m-1. The provided maps based on the use of various sampling patterns showed that the salinity of the west part of the area was higher than the east one. Geostatistical analysis revealed that the spherical model can be identified as the best-fitted model for a 100×200 m rectangular grid with vertical direction, while the exponential model was the best one for the rest patterns. The results demonstrated that the least and the highest values of nugget and range were observed for 100 and 200 m uniform grids, respectively. Since the index of nugget/sill illustrates the spatial dependence of soil salinity, it was found that management has no role in the spatial distribution of salinity using all studied patterns except 100×200 m rectangular grid with the vertical direction. The t-test results indicated that there is no significant difference between the predicted and actual values. According to the R2 values, the best sampling pattern was found to be uniform grids of 100 m, followed by, rectangular grids with horizontal direction, offset grids, rectangular grids with vertical direction and uniform grids of 200 m. The next step was to assess the maps (with a scale of 1:13337) efficiency indices. It was found that the maximum location accuracy, minimum legible delineation (MLD), optimum legible delineation (OLD) and optimum legible area (OLA) were 1.33 m, 7115 m2, 1.6 cm2 and 2.84 ha, respectively. The lowest average size delineation (ASD) was found for uniform grids of 100 m while the highest one was for rectangular grids with vertical directions patterns. A similar trend was also observed in terms of index maximum of reduction (IMR). Furthermore, the optimum delineation density (DD) was found to be 4.59 for the offset grids of 200 m pattern.

The results showed that sampling point distribution had a more important role than sampling point density in selection of the optimum model for interpolation. In terms of nugget and range, this role was demonstrated in an inverse manner. Since the nugget/sill index (taken by all studied sampling patterns in the same results) revealed that salinity has a strong spatial distribution, the density and distribution of sampling points did not play an important role. Although the distribution of sampling points had a role in the accuracy of interpolation, the sampling point density was more effective. The results showed that preparation of high resolution maps with many details does not always require a large density of sampling, but in patterns with the equal densities, the efficiency of maps depends on the distribution of sampling points. Also, there was no direct relation between optimum delineation density and specific density as well as distribution of sampling points. Therefore, prior to the selection of suitable distribution for soil sampling patterns, it is recommended to find the optimum sampling density for the project.

The present study aimed to assess both soil and tea plant responses to acidification induced by aluminum (Al). In this way, the effects of four levels of soil acidification by aluminum sulfate were examined (A1=0, A2=500, A3=1000, A4=2000 mg kg-1 soil) on five promising tea genotypes (G1=100, G2=440, G3=444, G4=591 and G5=703). The genotypes were originally from Lahijan Tea Research Center and were tested on split plots in a randomized complete block design with three replications. A breakpoint of 250 mg kg-1 of exchangeable Al was identified as critical for the severe release of Al into the soil solution. Both soluble and exchangeable fractions of soil Al showed strong power regression relationships with soil pH measured in water as well as 1M KCl solution. The genotype with the highest yield (G3) experienced a significantly greater decline in fresh yield following treatments with Al, compared with the genotype having low yield (G4) (22% vs. 6%, on average). Acidification adversely affected all morphological parameters but no significant impacts were detected on selected biochemical parameters (i.e. caffeine, total polyphenols, and chlorophyll index). Leaf Al concentration, followed by shoot weight and leaf thickness showed significant relationships (p<0.01) with soluble and exchangeable fractions of Al in the soil. The highest and the lowest leaf Al concentrations were obtained in G4 (837 mg kg-1 DM, on average) and in G3 (623 mg kg-1 DM, on average), respectively. Based on all morphological traits, the most tolerant genotype to soil acidification was G4, which is a low-yield tea with a relatively high Al accumulation affinity.

Soil evolution is the result of a combination of geomorphological and pedological processes. In this study to investigate the spatial variation of soil characteristics and determine the relationship between soil evolution and different geomorphic surfaces of epandage pediment, erosion pediment, slope surfaces, smooth surfaces, horst, lake deposits, alluvial fan, mountain ridge and circgue in an elevation-climatic profile in the Southeast of Ardabil 12 soil profiles were dug. After digging and field studies, physicochemical and clay mineralogical experiments were performed on the samples. The results showed that variations in weathering intensity and the types of soil forming processes at different geomorphic surfaces, had significant effects on soil properties and evolution and vertisols, mollisols, inceptisols, and entisols orders were identified. Smectite, vermiculite, kaolinite, and illite have formed the composition of evolved soil minerals, respectively and the relative amount of smectite varies from 78.5% at the epandage pediment to 12.3% at the mountain ridge. Also statistical comparison of the mean confidence interval of crystalline iron (Fed-Feo) by Bootstrap method showed that there were significant differences between geomorphic surfaces in terms of soil evolution and the highest amount of crystalline iron with mean of 6.372 g kg-1 was observed in epandage pediment with vertiolsols and the lowest value with average of 0.913 g kg-1 in alluvial fan with entiolsols. According to Spearman correlation test, crystalline iron had a direct relationship with clay percentage, calcium carbonate equivalent, pH and cation exchange capacity, but inversely with sand and organic carbon.

Zinc (Zn) is an essential element for plants growth at low concentrations and at high concentrations, it acts as a heavy metal and soil pollutant. Biochar is used to improve soil quality, plant growth and also to reduce the availability of heavy metals in contaminated soils. The biochar behavior in soil and its effect on Zn availability rely on the feedstock nature and pyrolysis temperature. This study aimed to investigate the effects of produced biochars on Zn bioavaiability in two acidic and alkaline soils with different levels of applied Zn, during one year-long incubation.

The experiment was conducted as a factorial split arrangement in a completely randomized design in two acidic and alkaline soils, with two factors including biochar types at 9 levels and extraction times at 12 levels with two replications. Four types of biochar were produced from rice straw (RB) and apple wood waste (WB) biomasses at two pyrolysis temperatures (300 and 600 °C). Two acidic (pH=5.8) and alkaline (pH=8.1) soils were collected and treated with 3 levels of Zn (0, 10, and 200 mg kg-1) from zinc sulfate (ZnSO4.7H2O) source. Biochars were added to soils in two doses (1 and 4 % w/w) and incubated at around FC moisture condition for 360 days at 25±2◦C. The pH, EC, moisture content and DTPA extractable-Zn were measured in the studied soils at 12 designated extraction times (0.25, 1, 3, 5, 15, 30, 60, 90, 120, 180, 270 and 360 day).

In acidic soil and Zn level of 200 mg kg-1, levels of 1 and 4 % biochars caused the significant decrease in DTPA-Zn concentration and the elapsing of time had a significant effect on the reduction of DTPA-Zn concentration and maximum decrease (48 %) was observed in the treatment of 4% RB600 and 360th day (p<0.05). At the Zn levels of 0 and 10 mg kg-1, in acidic soil, DTPA-Zn concentration was significantly increased in 4% RB300, 1% RB600, and 4% RB600 treatments, and passage of time had a decreasing effect on it and DTPA-Zn concentration significantly reduced with time in 4% WB300 treatment compared to the control (without biochar). A significant increase of pH in acidic soil was observed in 4% RB600 and 4% WB600 treatments during the 360 days of incubation while the significant decrease was showed in 4% WB300 treatment. In alkaline soil and under Zn=0, the maximum increment of DTPA-Zn concentration compared to the control (without biochar) was obtained in 4% RB600 treatment but the elapsing of time had a significant reduction effect on it. In alkaline soil at Zn level of 10 mg kg-1, only the 4% WB300 treatment could significantly decrease the concentration of DTPA-Zn over time, but in the same soil at the level Zn of 200 mg kg-1, the significant decrease of DTPA-Zn concentration was observed at the 4% RB300, 1% RB600, 4% RB600 and WB300 4% treatments. A significant decrease in alkaline soil pH was observed in the 4% RB300 and 4% WB300 treatments and an increase in electrical conductivity (EC) in both acidic and alkaline soils was observed in rice straw-derived biochars treatments.

Although the application of rice straw derived biochar (pyrolysis at 600 °C) decreased the availability of Zn in both acid and alkaline soils with the high level of Zn (200 mg kg-1), it did not have a negative effect on Zn availability in normal levels of Zn (0 and 10 mg kg-1) and even increased the concentration of DTPA-Zn in both acidic and alkaline soils under without Zn application conditions.

Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) is an herbaceous spring-annual plant and a pseudocereal, belonging to the Chenopodiaceae, and have high nutritional value. Studies have shown that the use of organic fertilizers such as vermicompost can reduce the negative effects of salinity stress on plants and improve their growth and yield. 

This experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with factorial arrangement with three replications in a sterile sandy loam soil under greenhouse conditions. Experimental factors included vermicompost levels of 0 and 2%, and sodium chloride salinity levels of 1.06 (soil initial electrical conductivity), 5, 10, 20 and 30 dS.m-1.

The results showed that the interaction between salinity and vermicompost was significant (p≤0.05) on all measured traits. The fresh and dry weight of roots decreased in the presence and absence of vermicompost with increasing salinity. At different salinity levels (except for 30 dS.m-1), vermicompost treatment increased roots fresh and dry weight. The negative effect of salinity on fresh and dry weight of shoots was less than roots and a significant decrease occurred at 30 dS.m-1. Chlorophyll index decreased with increasing salinity but it increased significantly at all salinity levels in vermicompost treated plants. Vermicompost treatment showed a positive effect on stomatal conductance at salinity levels of ≤10 dS.m-1. Electrolytes leakage decreased in vermicompost treated plants at salinity levels of ≤10 dS.m-1.

The vermicompost application had a positive effect on the biomass production, growth status and yield of quinoa under salinity stress.

In this study, digital mapping of the most important forms of soil Iron were done using two data mining techniques namely Decision Tree (DT) and Cubist (Cu) models. The study area includes 500 km2 of lands from two different sites located in the eastern shore of dried bed of Urmia Lake, northwest of Iran. 131 surface soil samples were taken from depth of 0-10 cm and three different forms of Iron including i): total iron (Fet); ii) pedogenic iron (Fed); and iii) amorphous iron (Feo) were measured. A total of 19 environmental covariates (auxiliary variables) derived from the Landsat-8 OLI imagery related to July 2017 were used in this study. It was found that Cu model has a higher precision than that of the DT model for predicting all three forms of  soil iron with the values R2=0.89 and RMSE= 2.25 g/kg , R2=0.85 and RMSE=0.57 g/kg and R2=0.88 and RMSE=0.09 g/kg for predicting Fet, Fed and Feo, respectively. In addition, the results of the importance and percentage of contribution of environmental covariates in both models indicated the high importance of some spectral indices such as Normalized Difference Moisture Index (NDMI) and Modified Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (MSAVI) in the prediction of Fet, Fed and Feo. Generally, the Cu model has a higher ability and performance in modeling and predicting the spatial distribution of different forms of soil iron in the study area compared to the DT model.

In this study, efficiency of humic acids (HAs) derived from various sources to reduce CrVI in aqueous solutions was compared. HAs were extracted from leonardite, peat moss, peat, cocopeat, coal, common char, biochar, vermicompost and sewage sludge. Some chemical and spectral characteristics of the extracted HAs were measured. Then, the reducing efficiency of HAs was measured and its relationship with the determined properties was investigated. To measure the reducing efficiency of HAs, a concentration of 0.1 mM CrVI (as potassium dichromate) in a sodium nitrate solution (0.03M) with a pH of 2 and in the presence of 100 mg of HA per liter was used. The experiment was conducted in three ways (symbolized by E1, E2 and E3). They differ from each other with respect to the method of phosphate buffer addition to release CrVI ions adsorbed by HA. This buffer was added to an aliquot of final extract, to the whole volume of final suspension and to initial solution containing CrVI in experiments E1, E2 and E3, respectively. According to the results, the CrVI reducing efficiency depends not only on the nature of HA but on the method of experiment. The minimum reducing efficiency was observed for common char using experiment E2 and the maximum value was for biochar and cocopeat in all three experiments. The results showed that the two factors of ΔlogK and maximum reducing efficiency in the format of a multiple regression had a significant relationship with CrVI reducing efficiency of HAs.

Spatial variability of the soil properties is related to the environmental factors such as climate, topography, parent material and vegetation. Topography causes significant differences in soil properties through the three factors of elevation, natural drainage and slope. This research was carried out to investigate the effect of elevation on some physical and chemical characteristics, type and content of the clay minerals, and finally on the evolution of soils of an elevation profile in Talesh Mountain in Ardabil province. Following excavation and description of five profiles on non-eroded surfaces, physical, chemical and clay mineralogy experiments were performed on the samples. The results showed that weathering intensity and type of pedological processes were different and hada significant effect on some soil characteristics such as clay content, different forms of iron, minerals and soil classification at the different surfaces of elevation. With decreasing the altitude, the amount of illite minerals was reduced but the amount of smectite minerals has increased, which is a reason for the improved weathering and evolution of the soils. The results show that toeslope lands have evolved soils of Vertisols and Mollisols, but highlands have Inceptisols with low degree of evolution. Addition, in the studied elevation profile, as the altitude decreases, the climate becomes warmer and consequently the intensity of pedogenic processes increases.The increase in the amount of crystalline iron (Fed-Feo), as an indicator of soil evolution, from 2303.9 mg kg-1 at the topslope to 7558 mg kg-1 at the toeslope of the mountain illustrates this evolutionary trend.

Layered double hydroxide functionalized biochar and hydrochar composites are environmentally friendly and low-cost adsorbents for the removal of phosphate from aqueous solutions. In the present study, Mg-Al layered double hydroxide functionalized apple wood biochar and hydrochar were prepared and their phosphate adsorption characteristics were examined through batch experiments. Moreover, important factors affecting adsorption including initial phosphorus concentration (25-200 mg/L), contact time (5-120 min), ionic strength (deionized water, and 0.001, 0.01, and 0.1 mol/L KCl), pH (3-10), and adsorbent dosage (1, 2, 3, and 4 g/L) were investigated. Based on the results, the phosphate adsorption by Mg-Al layered double hydroxide modified biochar and hydrochar were comparable with Mg-Al layered double hydroxide and were greater than biochar and hydrochar. As expected, phosphate adsorption was decreased by increasing solution pH and ionic strength. The highest phosphate removal was attained at pH 4, adsorbent dosage of 4 g/L, and in the presence of deionized water as a background solution. Determination of adsorption characteristics of the adsorbents revealed that the phosphate adsorption mechanism involved a combination of electrostatic attraction, interlayer anion exchange, and formation of surface complexes. The Mg-Al layered double hydroxide modified biochar and hydrochar composites as cost-effective and efficient adsorbents suggest alternative biochar- and hydrochar-based composites for the phosphate removal from contaminated waters that could be used as P-fertilizers.