EURASIAN JOURNAL OF SOIL SCIENCE

278-284

Authors: Coşkun Gülser , İmanverdi Ekberli , Füsun Gülser

The effects of deforestation on soil properties and soil organic C (SOC) stock in adjacent pasture and forest areas located on the same hillslope position were investigated. The soil properties measured in the forest site had higher coefficient of variation compared with pasture site. Deforestation made almost 50 years ago significantly increased bulk density (Db), soil pH, exch. Mg and significantly decreased total porosity (F), gravimetric moisture content (W), EC, exch. K, soil organic matter (OM), SOC stock in 0-15 cm soil depth in pasture site. Mean Db increased fom 1.24 g/cm3 in forest to 1.42 g/cm3 in pasture while mean values of OM and SOC stock depleted from 4.41% and 30.70 ton/ha in forest to 1.89% and 15.55 ton/ha in pasture, respectively. The reduction ratios in some soil properties by changing land use type from forest to pasture were determined in the following order; OM (57.14%) > exch. K (55.88%) > SOC (49.35%) > EC (45.65%) > W (28.96%) > exch. Na (18.75%) > F (11.32%) > exch. Ca (4.07%). The values of OM and SOC stock had significant positive relations with F, W, EC, exch. K, and significant negative relations with Db, pH, exch. Mg. After deforestation, abandoning cultivated land to pasture had negative impact on the soil properties and depleted SOC stock in 0-15 cm soil layer.

290-301

Authors: Sherif El-Gioushy , Ibrahim Dobiea , , Botir Khaitov , Aziz Karimov , Reda Zewail

Olive (Olea europaea) is an emblematic tree in the Mediterranean regions that grows an integral part of the area. The Mediterranean vegetation often undergoes challenging periods of severe drought stress, which causes significant impairment to olive trees' growth and production performance. The practical study was designed to follow up the effect of three irrigation regimes (50%, 75% and 100% ETc) in combination with four doses (0, 2, 4 and 6 g/L) of Lithovit (CaCO3+MgCO3, micronized calcium carbonate) on growth performance, yield, and fruit quality of two olive (Picual and Manzanello) varieties during 2017 and 2018 growing seasons. Regardless Lithovit doses, irrigation regime 100% of ETc exhibited the highest values of leaf water content, leaf relative water content, total chlorophyll and N, P, K, Ca and Mg concentrations of both olive varieties compared to the other watering regimes. Interestingly, proline content in the fruit was enhanced with increasing water deficit (50% of ETc) and Lithovit dose (6 g/L). However, the highest yield and fruit oil content were obtained by the combination of 75% ETc irrigation level and Lithovit treatment at a rate of 4 g/L in both olive varieties. This study contributes to developing olive production technologies, thereby ensuring sustainable olive culture farming with high-quality yield in hyper-arid zones.

308-319

Authors: Timur Nizamutdinov , Mikhail Andreev , Evgeny Abakumov

The study focuses on the ornithogenic factor of soil formation in Antarctic conditions. Since the traditional soil formation processes in Antarctic conditions are very limited, the relevance of studying the role of the ornithogenic factor is increasing. This article provides a comparative study of nutrient content and values of some physico-chemical parameters between ornithogenic and non-ornithogenic soils sampled at terrestrial ecosystems of the Antarctic oasis Bunger Hills (Knox Coast, Wilkes Land). The levels of key biogenic elements content have been estimated with special reference to ornitogenic factor of soil formation. A high content of available forms of phosphorus and potassium in ornithogenic and non-ornithogenic soils was found. According to the results of statistical analysis, we can see that the content of nutritional elements has a close significant correlation relationship (p<0.05). The analysis of variance showed that the content of available phosphorus and potassium varies weakly between soils of ornithogenic and non-ornithogenic genesis. The greatest variability depending on soil-forming processes is noted for basal respiration, pH and available forms of nitrogen.

327-331

Authors: Aliya Maxotova , Elmira Nurbayeva , Тemirzhan Aitbayev , Balseker Nurgaliyeva

The tomato is an important fruit, both fresh and processed, for human nutrition worldwide, and plays a significant role in agriculture. Especially in the intensive agricultural system where chemical fertilizers are used, little is known the impact of chemical NPK fertilizer applications on the yield of tomato under chestnut soil conditions. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of four types of NPK fertilizer applications (N120P90K60, N150P120K90, N180P150K120, N210P180K150) on the yield and yield parameters of 5 different tomato varieties (Ogonyok 777, Barin, Hybrid Shuruk, Hybrid SC-2121 and Hybrid Falcon) under chestnut soil conditions in in the Southeast of Kazakhstan. According to field experiment results, there were significant differences among the treatments in relation to yield and yield parameters (plant height, number of stems, number of leaves, and number of fetus after planting) of tomato varieties. In foothill zone of the southeast of Kazakhstan, Hybrid Shuruk and Hybrid SC-2121 tomato varieties significantly yielded higher than the other three varieties tested at the same time under chestnut soil conditions. And also, it was determined that the best outputs tended to be obtained with N210P180K150 fertilizer dose.

343-353

Authors: Anju Tanwar , Ajay Singh , Ashok Aggarwal , Esha Jangra , Sergio T. Pichardo

This experiment was carried out to assess the effect of soil amendment with different concentrations of municipal sewage sludge (SS) as a substrate on inoculum production of two selected arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) i.e., Glomus mosseae and Acaulospora laevis. The experiment was a 4 × 5 factorial design with four hosts including, maize (Zea mays L.), lemon grass (Cymbopogon nardus (L.) Rendle), palmarosa (Cymbopogon martini (Roxb.) Wats.) and Sesbania (Sesbania aculeata Poir.) and the following five SS concentrations 1) no substrate, 2) 25 g, 3) 50 g, 4) 75 g and 5) 200 g pot–1) with five replications. After 90 days, the host roots and its rhizosphere soil were examined for fungal mycorrhization in terms of percent of root colonization and AMF spore quantification. Furthermore, we calculated the response of each host in terms of increase in plant height (cm), root length (cm), root, fresh shoots, and dry weight (g). Mycorrhization pattern showed moderate to abundant intraradical mycelium, extraradical mycelium, vesicles, and arbuscules in all the host plants. This pattern varied with a change in the input level of SS. The 75 g treatment obtained the maximum mycorrhization of both the AMF, while the highest input level was detrimental to AMF and host plants' survival. Among the tested hosts, lemon grass and maize had a tremendous increment in G. mosseae and A. laevis inoculum respectively. Consequently, 75 g SS with lemon grass is the most compatible host–substrate combination capable of maximum G. mosseae and A. laevis spore production and root colonization and so far, highlights the significance of an alternative, cost–effective and affordable carrier medium that can be adopted by farmers as sustainable cultural practices for on farm AMF inoculum production.