مجله تحقیقات آب و خاک ایران
سال پنجاه و چهارم شماره 7 (پیاپی 91، مهر 1402)

Making management decisions for the quantitative and qualitative improvement of product production effectively begins with selecting the correct and appropriate set of physical and hydraulic characteristics in the form of a soil physical quality index. In order to investigate the physical quality of Shabaster Plain which were under wheat cultivation and to determine the role of the number and type of properties on the quality of the soils, 94 soils from these lands until the year 2022, were selected. To determine the soil physical quality index (SPQI), the minimum data set (MDS) was used by principal component analysis (PCA). 13 physical, chemical, and hydraulic properties (clay, silt, bulk density, aggregate size distribution, electrical conductivity, sodium adsorption ratio, pH, organic carbon, hydraulic conductivity (K_s), conventional plant available water (CPAW), integral energy (EI), dexter index (S_dex), Kirchhoff potential (M_h0)) were consciously entered into four stages in the principal component analysis so that the output is not only the minimum data set but also the best data set. EC appeared as one of the main components in all arrays. The first array was eliminated from the minimum data set. Comparing the mean soil physical quality index between the arrays with Duncan's test showed a significant difference at the 99% probability level (p<0.01) between the fourth array and the second and third arrays. The high sensitivity coefficient of the fourth array (9.78) with the second and third arrays (5.43) showed that the correct addition of the Kirchhoff potential to the data set, led to different results in terms of classifying soil physical quality. As a result, the quality of the soils decreased from 72% of very suitable and suitable soils and 28% of the soils with severe and very severe restrictions in the second and third arrays to 41% of very suitable and suitable soils and 59% of soils with restrictions in the fourth array. This data demonstrates using easily measured properties, to simplify the soil quality assessment system, does not always produce accurate results.

Sustainable soil management with a correct understanding of soil properties helps to maintain soil fertility and prevent soil degradation. This research was conducted to evaluate the potentional use of soil management zones (MZs) as an efficient method to improve the productivity of wheat cultivation. According to this, 140 soil samples were taken randomly from wheat fields. Physical and chemical properties, along with topographical and spectral indices, were used to delineate MZs. Topographic attributes were extracted from digital elevation model (DEM) map preapared in SAGA GIS 7.8.2 software from the study area. Mapping the applied variables, selecting the optimal variable using principal component analysis, and delineating the study area based on soil properties, topographic attributes and spectral indices by using cluster algorithms in combination with geostatistics are major steps for delineating management zones. The fuzziness performance index (FPI) and normalized classification entropy (NCE) were investigated for the number of MZs. The semivariogram and kriging prediction maps showed different spatial distribution patterns, with spatial autocorrelation ranging varies from weak to strong for most of the applied variables. Finally, six principal components (PCs) with an eigenvalue of more than 1 and a total variance of 76.3% were chosen for further analysis. Based on the lowest values of FPI and NCE, six MZs were identified. The mean values demonstrate the difference between the applied properties in the MZs. This study showed that the delineation of MZs can be effectively used in soil management for cultivation crops to maximise crop production.

The use of modifiers can reduce the effects of environmental stress in plants. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of salicylic acid and zeolite in reducing alkalinity stress in black seed (Nigella sativa L.). A factorial experiment was conducted based on a completely randomized design with three replications in 2022 in the greenhouse of Razi university, Kermanshah. The factors included alkalinity stress (at three levels of 0, 50 and 100 mM as NaHCO3), salicylic acid (at three levels of 0, 0.5 and 1 mM), and zeolite (at three levels of 0, 0.25 and 0.5 % by weight). The results showed that the effects of salicylic acid and zeolite on most of the plant growth characteristics under alkalinity stress were significant (P ≤ 0.01). The highest amount of proline (12.65 μmol/g) and soluble sugars (0.2 mg/g) were obtained under severe alkalinity stress without the use of salicylic acid and zeolite. Also, the highest shoot height (24.6 cm), root length (19.5 cm), shoot dry mass (0.78 g) and leaf area (22.47 cm2) were obtained without alkalinity and with application of 1 mM salicylic acid and 0.5 % zeolite. In general, the use of salicylic acid, as a plant hormone, and zeolite, as a soil amendment, is a suitable and cheap strategy to reduce the effects of alkalinity stress in black seed.

Maintaining the level of rivers bed, especially in a reach where their’s slope increased due to many reasons specifically sand and gravel mining is an essential issue to the conservation of rivers. Grade control structures are eco-friendly structures that are common to stabilize river’s beds and banks. Control and reduction of scour hole at the downstream basin is an important issue in the prevention of undercut and failure. In the current research, the effect of installation level of the apron on the variation of scour depth at downstream of the block ramp with slopes of 1:3 and 1:5 was considered experimentally under a range of flow discharges, the block ramp's surface roughness size and configuration. The comparison of the results indicated that there is a direct relationship between the level of the apron level and the scour depth so that by reducing the level of the apron to 1/10 and 1/6 of the block ramp height, the maximum scour depth increases in an average 36 and 41 for slope of 1:3 and 32 and 35 for slope of 1:5, respectively. By increasing the size of surface roughness such that the overpass flow regime changes to nappe flow, the reduction of installation of the level of block ramp does not noticeable effect on the increase of the scour depth.

One way to ensure food security is to produce strategic agricultural products on a large scale using industrial methods. Managing large-scale farms consistently and cohesively is a challenging task that requires the utilization of modern technologies. Crop anomalies refer to uncommon and limited factors during agricultural production, leading to localized differentiation in the crop cultivation process. Factors contributing to crop anomalies in agriculture include imbalances in soil nutrients and fertilizers, grazing during crop growth, pests, variations in soil texture and slope in pastures, weed growth, and drought. Detecting and remediating factors limiting crop growth in vast agricultural lands is difficult and these issues are often noticed at harvest time. This article suggests a solution for continuously monitoring of large agricultural fields by analyzing the time series of Sentinel-2 satellite images. The effectiveness of this solution in detecting various anomalies of farms, in agrarian areas has been demonstrated by the results. The proposed solution offers features such as timely diagnosis, the ability to monitor the continuation of irregularities, and the measurement of compensatory measures' effectiveness. The method has successfully identified over five types of anomalies in the selected farms, achieving a detection accuracy of 95.60%.

In order to investigate the effects of deficit irrigation and organic mulch on wet matter, dry matter, plant height, wet yield productivity, dry yield productivity and leaf area of corn forage (SC. 704) in Khorramabad region, an experiment based on the factorial experiment with a basic design of randomized complete blocks with three replications was conducted. The first factor of the experiment consisted of four levels of irrigation (100, 80, 60 and 40% of water requirements) and the second factor included three levels of organic mulch (no mulch (control), using 7.5 ton/hectare and 15 ton/hectare mulch). In this research, drip irrigation system (Tape) was applied and class A evaporation pan was used to determine the water requirement of the plant. The results showed that the mutual effects of deficit irrigation and organic mulch were significant at the 5% probability level. The maximum amount of wet matter (99.05 ton/ha), dry matter (31.15 ton/ha), plant height (2.38 m) and leaf area (7511cm2) were observed in the treatment of 100% water requirement and using mulch (15 ton/ha) which increased by 24.7%, 18.03%, 5.8% and 48.38% respectively compared to the control treatment. The maximum amount of water productivity for wet and dry matters were 14.56 and 4.57 kg/m3 which were obtained in the treatment of 80% water requirement and using mulch (15 ton/ha). The minimum amount of water productivity for wet and dry matters were 10.09 and 3.35 kg/m3 which were obtained in the treatment of 100% water requirement without using mulch.  Thus, in this region, irrigation based on 80% water requirement and using mulch (15 ton/ha) may cause improvement in corn forage yield.

In the agricultural sector, indicators of physical productivity (WPPa), economic productivity (WPEa), physical (WPGp) and economic productivity gap (WPGe) of water are used to evaluate the performance of farmers and gardeners. The WPPa index, does not consider the price and costs of the product. The WPEa index is not only affected by inflation and market regulation policy, but also does not take into account the effect of the region's soil and climate. The WPGP and WPGe indices do not provide an accurate evaluation of water productivity of plants due to the difference in the nature of the performance of different plants. In this study a new index is introduced that does not have any the aforementioned disadvantages. A relative economic water productivity index was introduced and evaluated using different data for each of the factors affecting agricultural production, including soil, plant, climate, management and inflation, and it was compared with the WPPa, WPEa, WPGP and WPGe indices. The results showed that unlike other indicators, the relative economic water productivity index evaluated water productivity in different plants compared to other indicators in proportion to the production capacity of the soil and the climate of the region for any type of agricultural management without being affected by the different nature of crop plants performance and inflation (economy). Because in the KWPe index, the water productivity of each plant is estimated based on the potential conditions and these conditions are unique for each plant and in each region and climate and under each agricultural management, therefore, the productivity of different plants in different regions can be compared only with this index. So that the WPGe index estimated the average value of water productivity for wheat and barley in different soils to be equal (3973 toman/m3), but the KWPe index estimated water productivity of wheat and barley at 0.67 and 0.33, respectively. Also, the KWPp index estimated the same value for water productivity of wheat and corn as 0.42, but the KWPe index estimated 0.36 and 0.4 for wheat and corn respectively due to the high price of corn compared to wheat.

Considering the environmental problems caused by heavy metals in surface and underground water, surface adsorption can be considered as a promising alternative to reduce heavy metal ions in water resources. In this study, cadmium absorption by pistachio pulp biomass and their produced biochars at 300 and 500 0C in 1401-1402 at Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman was investigated. The properties of biomass and the produced biochars were determined. The effect of pH (2-7), contact time (5-1440 minutes) and different initial concentrations (200-10 mg L-1) on cadmium absorption was evaluated. In addition, pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order kinetic models as well as Freundlich and Langmuir isotherm models were evaluated. The obtained results showed that the percentage of carbon increased and the percentage of hydrogen, nitrogen and sulfur decreased with pyrolysis of pistachio pulp biomass. SEM images showed that the surface of biochar is more irregular and rough than the biomass. Also, the optimal pH was 5 and the solution reached equilibrium in 120 minutes. Adsorption of cadmium by adsorbents showed a better fit with pseudo-second-order kinetic model and Langmuir isothermal model. The maximum cadmium absorption capacity by pistachio pulp biomass, biochar 300 and biochar 500 was 40.5, 58.2 and 72.5 mg g-1, respectively. The results of this study showed that the amount of cadmium absorption increased with the increase of pyrolysis temperature and pistachio pulp biochar has a high capacity to adsorb cadmium from aqueous solution.