EURASIAN JOURNAL OF SOIL SCIENCE

298-305

Authors: Belgin Doğan , Coşkun Gülser

This study was carried out to determine assessment of soil quality for olive groves areas of Akçaköy, Çatalca, Efemçukuru, Görece and Yeniköy villages in Menderes district of Izmir-Turkey. The surface soil samples (0-20 cm) were taken from 19 olive groves areas of Menderes District. Soil physical and chemical quality indicators were analyzed and classified in 4 suitability classes for olive production. In olive groves areas, soil reaction (pH) gave positive correlations with clay, exch. Ca, CaCO3 contents, and significant negative correlations with sand, available Fe, Mn and Zn contents. Soil organic matter (OM) content showed significant positive correlations with EC, P, exch. Ca and a significant negative correlation with bulk density. Electrical conductivity (EC) values gave significant positive correlations with clay, OM, exch. Ca contents. Soil quality index values for the olive groves areas ranged between 0.44 and 0.77 with a mean of 0.60. The olive groves areas at Akçaköy and Çatalca villages of Menderes District were generally suitable for olive production. According to the soil quality index (SQI) values, only one of the 19 olive groves areas was found in very suitable (S1:1.00-0.75) class, the other areas were classified as 8 in suitable (S2:0.75-060), 6 in marginal suitable (S3:0.60-0.50) and 4 in non-suitable (N:<0.50) for olive growth. The most restricting soil factors for olive growth generally became low OM, low nutrient contents and high clay and sand contents than that of suggested levels. The SQI values had significant positive relations with silt content of the soils while they gave negative correlations with clay and sand contents. It indicates that moderate or loamy soil textural classes are important for high olive production. The SQI values also gave a significant positive correlation with olive yields. Evaluation of soil physical and chemical properties with a SQI value is important for assessment of olive groves areas in sustainable soil management system.

314-320

Authors: Füsun Gülser , Salar Salem , Coşkun Gülser

In this study, the effects of reduced tillage (RT) and conventional tillage (CT) systems on some soil properties of wheat fields in Northern Iraq (Duhok Province) under a hot and dry climatic condition were investigated. This study was carried out in a randomized plot design with four replications at three locations (Bardrash, Sumail, and Zakho) in the seasons 2017-2018. Four fields in each location at Duhok Province were equally separated into two groups for CT and RT systems. A group of 24 soil samples for each tillage system were taken from the locations. Soil organic matter content, pH, EC, bulk density and total porosity values were significantly (p<0.05) affected by different tillage systems. Soil pH, EC and bulk density values generally significantly reduced with the RT compared with CT. On the other hand, soil OM content and total porosity were significantly increased with the RT system in all locations under a hot and dry climatic condition. In all locations, RT system decreased bulk density and increased total porosity with conserving soil OM due to preventing from rapid mineralization. However, rapid mineralization of soil OM in the CT system under dry climate condition caused increases in EC which indicated that there were high soluble ions in soil solution.

329-338

Authors: Leonard Chimaobi Agim , Igwe Charles Arinzechukwu , Adaku Felicia Osisi , Chinonso Milicent Chris-Emenyonu

Soils of Southeastern Nigeria like those of other humid tropical countries are prone to leaching due to high rainfall resulting in low fertility, nutrient status, and crop yield. Evaluating the effects of selected organic amendments on retention of nutrients in soils is of major concern and formed the purpose of the study. Soil samples were collected from Asu River Group, (ARG), Bende Ameki Group (BAG), Coastal Plain Sand (CPS) and Falsebedded Sand Stone (FBS) which were the four respective parent materials studied. Three replicates of 10 kg of prepared samples from each parent material were bagged and thereafter applied with 10 tons ha-1 each of poultry (PD) and goat droppings (PD, GD). The thoroughly mixed combinations laid in a completely randomized design (CRD) were allowed to blend for three months after which, samples were collected from each bag and analyzed. The remaining amended soils were subjected to a rainfall simulation which enabled the collection of sediment yield which was also analyzed to determine the nutrients in them. Generated soil data were analyzed with analyses of variance (ANOVA). Means were separated using the least significant difference (LSD) at 5% probability level. The result showed that soil organic carbon increased from 15.80 – 17.70, 6.90 - 14.20, 7.10 – 13.90 and 11.39 - 17.50 gkg-1 in ARG, BAG, CPS and FBS respectively before and after amendment and later decreased to 10.8, 11.30, 6.70, and 8.30 g kg-1 in the sediment yield following simulation. Similarly, there were significant losses of about 23.52, 60.85; 60.00 and 47.20 % of total nitrogen to detached soils in the respective lithologies. Total nitrogen and available phosphorus losses in the soils followed the order: CPS > FBS > BAG > ARG and FBS > CPS > BAG > ARG respectively.

349-355

Authors: Ayşen Akay , Durmus Sert

Whey is an industrial dairy by-product. Whey proteins present in whey are valuable functional ingredients with a variety of applications. Because of high investment and management costs, many medium and small-scale cheese manufacturing plants choose the way to waste whey by discharging it to land without refining while large companies prefer to evaluate it. In this experiment were investigated the effects of whey application on some growth parameters of test plant and soil biological properties. For this purpose, greenhouse experiment was conducted to determine the effects of different whey powder solution (6% dry matter) such as no demineralized whey powder (NDWP), 50% demineralized whey powder (50% DWP) and whey protein powder (WPP) on maize growth and biological properties of soils using increasing application rates (0, 50, 100, 150 and 200 ml/kg) as three replication. At the end of the study generally, all whey treatments influenced the soil microbiological properties in comparison with the control, indicating activation by microorganisms. The addition of different doses of different whey solutions caused a rapid and significant increase in microbial biomass C, soil respiration, dehydrogenase activity and catalase activity in soil; this increase was especially noticeable in soils treated with NDWP and 50% DWP. Similarly, addition of 50% DWP to the soil increased values of plant height, fresh plant weight and fresh root weight compared to the control and other whey. Whey has a positive effect on soil biological properties. In conclusion, we can say that this waste product, which has high nutrient element content, could be used in fertilization practices especially as a nitrogen source and multi-perspective studies need to be carried out on this topic.

362-367

Authors: Nutullah Özdemir

In this study, changes in the erodibility (sensitivity to erosion) values of soils under different land and plant managements (sunflower, wheat, vegetables, sugar beets, alfalfa fields as well as orchards, meadows and pastures) were examined in the Turhal district of Tokat province, Turkey. Physical and chemical properties of surface soil samples along with land management practices against erosion were investigated for their impact on sensitivity to erosion. The sensitivity of the soil samples were found to be in the following order: Meadows < orchards < wheat < sunflowers < pastures < sugar beets < alfalfa < vegetables. The findings show that fundamental soil characteristics, and especially clay and organic matter content, were effective in shaping the soil structure and therefore the erodibility, as well as the way the land was used. The most suitable parametric values in soil characteristics were observed in the meadows, and the worst values were observed in the soil where vegetables beets were planted.