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.

191-198

Authors: Marufa Sultana , M. Jahiruddin , M. Rafiqul Islam , M. Mazibur Rahman , Md. Anwarul Abedin

Composting is a good option of solid waste recycling, but its use by the farmers is limited because of its low nutrient status. Our study has considered organic amendments to increase nutrient status of MSW compost. We prepared three types of amended compost by mixing 20% mustard oil cake (MOC) and 30% poultry manure (PM) or cowdung (CD) or sugarcane press mud (SPM) with 50% MSW compost. Trichoderma viridi inoculum was used to accelerate the composting process. Different amendments improved the nutrient level of MSW compost. A field experiment was conducted to measure the performances of amended MSW composts alone and with fertilizers on yield and nutrient content of brinjal (Solanum melongena) and soil fertility. The experiment was carried out at Bangladesh Agricultural University research farm having silt loam texture, 6.7 pH and 2.79% organic matter; the soil was Aeric Haplaquept under the order Inceptisols. There were 10 treatments consisting of chemical fertilizers (urea, TSP, MoP, gypsum & zinc sulphate) and four types of MSW compost (3 enriched and 1 unenriched). The nutrient status of soil had increased due to application of composts. Based on the results of fruit (edible portion) yield and N, P, K and S concentrations of brinjal, and soil nutrient availability, the mixture 50% fertilizers +10 t ha-1 of enriched compost (MSW + MOC + SPM in a ratio of 5:2:3) was found as the best treatment. Results of this study have significant value in fertilizer management strategies for brinjal cultivation in sub-tropical countries.

207-214

Authors: Hanuman Singh Jatav , Satish Kumar Singh , Surendra Singh Jatav , Vishnu D. Rajput , Svetlana Sushkova

A field experiment was conducted to find out the effect of the conjoint application of sewage sludge (SS) and fertilizers on the yield of rice-wheat cropping system using a randomized block design. The grain yield ranged between 24.99 ± 4.24 to 66.32 ± 2.58 q ha-1 and 22.50 ± 0.55 to 50.37 ± 1.07 q ha-1 in Ist year grown rice and wheat, respectively. Among all the treatments, T3 (100% recommended dose of fertilizer (RDF) + 30 t ha-1 SS) recorded a significantly highest grain yield of rice crop (66.32 and 63.37 q ha-1) and wheat crop (50.37 and 46.91 q ha-1) during 2015-16 and 2016-17 years, respectively. The straw yield in Ist rice and Ist wheat ranged between 55.11 to 81.22 q ha-1 and 35.86 to 56.62 q ha-1, whereas straw yield in IInd rice and IInd wheat were noticed between 48.42 to 79.31 q ha-1 and 30.45 to 52.32 q ha-1, respectively. The finding clearly shows that the application of SS significantly enhances the yield of rice-wheat crops, and could be an option to a sustainable use of SS. However, the precautionary measure should be followed before use. In addition, the application of SS also indicates the improvement in soil health and sustainability.

222-235

Authors: İnci Demirağ Turan

Land degradation especially as a result of the rapid increase in demand and pressure in the population, have emerged as one of the most important problems. Many model approaches, especially regarding land degradation and desertification, have been developed and continue to be developed on the world. The MEDALUS (Mediterranean Desertification and Land Use) which is one of the famous models has been developed for an environment assessment program contributed to by 31 groups and 10 countries in 1999. This model includes the Environmental Sensitive Areas (ESA) index include climate, soil, land use-land cover, and management index. This current study aims to evaluate the soil quality indexes by using the total data set (TDS) and minimum data set (MDS) of the lands in Konya Basin, which is an arid and semiarid terrestrial ecosystem, with MEDALUS approach. The TDS consisted of nine soil quality parameters measured on 1019 samples: pH, Electrical Conductivity (EC), Organic Matter (OM), texture, CaCO3, depth, parent material, and slope. In addition, Principal components analysis (PCA) was used to determine which parameters were to be selected in the MDS. The MDS parameters consisted of slope, pH, OM, CaCO3. After those process, different interpolation models in order to create spatial distribution maps of parameters and SQI (Soil Quality Index). Results classified 13.59% of the total area has as low, while 84.110% of the study area’ soil indicated area moderate by the SQI in terms of. Accordingly MDS, it was determined that 80.41% of the study area was in the medium-quality category, while only 2.01% was in the high-quality category. In the study area, minimum data set is seen that similar to the soil quality distribution in the total data set.

243-250

Authors: Rida Khellouk , Ahmed Barakat , Aafaf El Jazouli , Hayat Lionboui , Tarik Benabdelouahab

Water availability to plants a significant role in agricultural areas, especially in arid and semi-arid areas. This research aimed to evaluate the potential of Water Cloud Model (WCM) for retrieving surface soil moisture, which is associated to water availability, in a semi-arid areas based on the combination between Sentinel-1B SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) and optical Sentinel-2B data. The performance of the applied model was assessed using ground observed soil moisture (0-5 cm). Accuracy evaluation was performed by the cross-validation method (k-fold), it showed a coefficients of determination (R2) of 0.65 and RMSE of 1.45%. The obtained results show a good concordance between retrieved model and ground observed surface soil moisture. In addition, this model was used for the mapping spatio-temporal variation of soil moisture at high spatial resolution in the study areas. This approach could be used by environmentalists and decision-makers as a practical tool for monitoring and estimating the change of surface moisture content.

259-268

Authors: Habib M. Mohamad , Adnan Zainorabidin , Baba Musta , M. Nursyahrain Mustafa , Adriana Erica Amaludin , Mohamad Niizar Abdurahman

It is known that peat soil is highly compressible. A constituent of peat soil from Klias, Sabah covering a wide range of index properties of fiber contents, specific gravity, organic contents and moisture contents were subjected to one-dimensional consolidation tests. This paper presents the engineering properties and compressibility behavior of sapric type of tropical peat soil. In this role, the high compressibility of Klias peat stands out as a most significant engineering property. With this intention, the purpose of this paper is to provide a simple and analytical means for predicting the consolidation settlement of sapric peat deposit under loading. The rate of primary compression, after a certain time. Increases with the logarithm of time. Loading applied from low stress to high stresses started from 2, 6.25, 12.5, 25, 50, 100 and 200 kPa resulting in high compression index, Cc and ratio, C’c. The Klias peat soil represented sapric type of tropical peat with organic content is 98.43% and lower fiber content which is about 18% of the specimen. Compressibility index Cc, Coefficient of consolidation Cv, and Compression index, Cc, was identified as a crucial component of parameters in determination of settlements behaviour of peat soil. The coefficient of consolidation, Cv, was determined within the range of 1.264 to 12.911 cm2/min and requires special considerations in laboratory testing procedures and interpretation of results.

96-104

Authors: Rajeev Joshi , Hukum Singh , Ramesh Chhetri , Saroj Raj Poudel , Sandip Rijal

Assessment of soil organic carbon (SOC) pool is an essential pace for understanding the carbon sequestration potential (CSP) of the soil system as a mitigation strategy and also investigate that they act as a source or sink for the atmospheric CO2 subject to the level of saturation. Improved CSP has been recognized as one of the possible solutions for mitigating climate change. The CSP of soil system for the community forests (CFs) in Nepal is not well recognized. Therefore, a study was conducted in two community-managed forests viz Ganesh (degraded) and Ramnagar (non-degraded) CFs situated in the Kanchanpur district of Nepal to quantify the SOC and Bulk density (BD). For determining SOC, systematic sampling with a sampling intensity of 0.5% was used for collecting altogether 189 soil samples from both the CFs. In addition, the soil samples from varying depths (0-10, 10-20, and 20-30 cm) of each soil profile were collected from each sampling plot. The mean SOC observed upto 30 cm soil depth in Ganesh and Ramnagar CF was 42.55 ± 3.10 t ha-1 and 54.21 ± 3.59 t ha-1 respectively. While, maximum SOC was noticed at 0-10 cm whereas minimum at 20-30 cm in both the CFs. Moreover, SOC decreased and bulk density increased with increasing soil depth in both the CFs. SOC and BD was negatively correlated in both CFs. The total SOC pool exhibited a significant (p<0.05) difference between the two CFs. Hence, the outcome of study shows that the both CFs has enormous potential to sequester the atmospheric concentration of CO2 into soil. With this concern, the participation of local people in sustainable management of community forests enhance the soil quality and meets strategy to mitigate the climate change.

111-122

Authors: Olufemi Emmanuel AyanfeOluwa , Olugbenga Oluseyi AdeOluwa , Kolapo Olatunji Oluwasemire , Rasheed Olufemi Awodoyin

Accelerated compost (AC) biotechnology that reduces composting time to less than one month is gradually finding its way to farmers. This study therefore evaluated the fertilizer potential of a brand of commercial AC (OBD-plus) on a degraded Alfisol in Ibadan (derived savannah) and Ultisol in Ikenne (rain forest) of Nigeria, using maize as a test crop. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. The treatments were AC at 0, 60, 90, 120, 150 and 180 kg N ha-1, mineral fertilizer (NPK 15-15-15) and conventional compost (CC), each at 60 kgN/ha. Data collected on biomass yield, maize grain yield (MGY, t ha-1) and post-cropping soil chemical properties were subjected to ANOVA at α0.05. The average highest MGY from Ibadan (3.90) and Ikenne (3.86) were obtained from AC (180 kg N/ha), but these were not significantly different from other AC rates and NPK. The least MGY was obtained from control (2.1 and 2.0) which was significantly less than the CC (3.16 and 2.90). The AC improved the post-cropping soil pH, N and K. The mean MGY obtained from the six levels of AC in Ibadan; 3.44 and 3.98 t ha-1 in 2013 and 2014 were not significantly different from Ikenne (3.41 and 3.84 t ha-1). However, maize in Ibadan gave significantly higher biomass yield (19.40 t ha-1) than that of Ikenne (17.74 t ha-1) in 2013, with similar trend in 2014. Accelerated compost at 60 kg N ha-1 improved maize grain yield and post cropping soil properties in Ibadan and Ikenne, Nigeria as much as conventional compost. The performance of the accelerated compost was not location dependent in terms of MGY, but resulted in higher biomass production in the derived savannah ecology.

132-141

Authors: Elizaveta Konstantinova , Tatiana Minkina , Dina Nevidomskaya , Saglara Mandzhieva , Tatiana Bauer , Marina Burachevskaya , Svetlana Sushkova

Large rivers and especially their deltaic parts and adjacent coastal zones are subjected to strong anthropogenic influence and are often considered as hotspots of environmental pollution. The Don River is one of the largest and most important rivers in the South of Russia. The Don River basin is a highly urbanized area with developed agriculture and industry which negatively affect water quality, aquatic ecosystems and soils. The main objectives of the proposed research were to determine the levels exchangeable form of PHEs in soils of various aquatic landscapes of the study area, as well as to reveal the relationships between the content of exchangeable PTEs and the physical–chemical properties of floodplain soils. The obtained results showed that soils of the Lower Don and Taganrog Bay coastal zone are rather contrast in terms of properties and metal contents, which indicates the variability of landscapes, natural and anthropogenic processes in the studied systems. High CV values for a number of metals such as Pb, Zn, Cd and Cr indirectly indicate strong anthropogenic influence on these environments. The group median values for extractable forms for most of the metals except for Cu and Ni were higher for urbanized areas. The results of PCA analysis showed that there are two association of metals in terms of geochemical behavior and sources. The first one included Cr-Zn-Pb-Cd, the elements of anthropogenic origin, the second Mn, Ni, and Cu, which are probably of mixed origin. The obtained results showed that the Lower Don and Taganrog Bay coastal zone is a diverse and complex system subjected to anthropogenic activities, which is pronounced in the enrichment of aquatic soils with a number of metals and higher proportions of exchangeable forms from different types of sources that likely can be of both local and whole basin scale.

150-160

Authors: Emmanuel Amoakwah , Mohammad A. Rahman , Kwabena A. Nketia , Rousseau Djouaka , Nataliia Oleksandrivna Didenko , Khandakar R. Islam

Deforestation for conventional farming has affected soil quality (SQ) worldwide. The goal of our study was to evaluate the impact of land use change, from forest to subsistence farming, on SQ in Benin. Composite soils from forest, horticultural, agricultural, fallow, and degraded lands were collected to analyze for chemical and physical properties. Using inductive additive approach and principal component analysis (PCA), generalized (SQIg) and minimum dataset SQ (SQIMDS) indices were calculated. Results showed that upon conversion of forest, total organic carbon (TOC) decreased by more than 2 folds in fallow and degraded soils. A similar impact was observed on total nitrogen (TN). Soil cation exchange capacity (CEC) and base saturation (BS) were significantly higher under horticulture than in degraded lands. In contrast, carbon protection capacity (CPC) was significantly higher by 12-41% in forest soils compared to the lowest in degraded soils. Among the land uses, aggregate stability index (ASI) was, by far, the lowest (3.2%) in degraded soils and highest (7.5%) in horticulture soils. Soils under fallow and degraded lands had SQIg decreased by 5 to 16%, when compared with forest, indicating a significant SQ degradation. In contrast, SQIg under horticulture increased by 5%, suggesting a similar or even an improvement in SQ comparable to the forest. The PCA-based SQIMDS significantly and positively accounted for 70% of the variability in SQIg with a non-significant biasness (6 ± 3.8% at p<0.12). The TOC and CPC contributed most (20.9% and 21.1%) followed by clay (14.1%) and Ca+2: (Mg+2 + K+1 + Na+) (13.7%), TOC (11%), and ASI (10.5%) compared to lowest by K+ (9.7%) to account for SQIMDS variability. Our results concluded that there was no significant difference between SQIg and SQIMDS, which justified our results to use SQIMDS detecting management-induced changes in SQ.

171-178

Authors: Kazem Hashemimajd , Shaghayegh Kochakpour , Naser Davatgar , Elham Sohrabi

One of the approaches for increasing of yield and reduction of rice production costs is precision agriculture. Complete and correct determination of nutrition status of paddy soils is necessary in precise agriculture. To compare fuzz y and Boolean methods and mapping of nutrition status of nitrogen and phosphorus, 370 compound samples were collected from 306 ha of paddy soils of Rice Research Institute in Rasht County from plots with the dimension of 50 × 100 m. Total nitrogen and available phosphorus contents were measured. Results showed that interpolation and mapping by fuzzy logic was more accurate and correct in comparison with Boolean method and had greater distinguishing power to indicate deficiency of nutrients. Evaluation of dependency of paddy soils using of fuzzy function and Boolean method, showed that the southwest of study area have nitrogen and phosphorus deficiency and the other parts have minor limitation for these elements.

9-16

Authors: Md. Zulfiker Ali , Mohammad Saiful Alam , GKM Mustafizur Rahman , Md. Mizanur Rahman , Md. Moshiul Islam , Md. Ziauddin Kamal , Md. Shahadat Hossain

The study was conducted at the experimental field of the Department of Soil Science of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University (BSMRAU), Gazipur, Bangladesh during July to November 2015 in transplanted aman (T. aman) season to evaluate the influence of rice straw application on growth and yield of rice (BINA dhan7) and soil fertility. The experimentation was established following a randomized complete block design (RCBD) using 3 treatments (T1= Inorganic fertilizer dose as per STB, T2= rice straw + inorganic fertilizer as IPNS basis and T3= Farmer’s practice). Results of the experiment showed that application of rice straw along with inorganic fertilizers as IPNS basis did not produce any significant (p<0.05) variation in yield and yield regulating parameters of T. aman rice but ensured higher filled grains panicle-1 (96.68), 1000- grain weight (23.23g), straw (6.97 t/ha) and grain yield (6.32 t/ha) as compared to other treatments. Short term addition of rice straw in soil did not create any significant influence on post harvest soil nutrient status except K which was found high. Significantly highest N contents in grain and straw were observed in straw added plots, which further contributed to higher nutrient uptake by grain and straw.

26-31

Authors: Shahab Ahmad Khosa , Kehinde O. Ernile , Khalid Saifullah Khan , Muhammad Akmal

Phosphorus deficient soil was amended with compost (C) (organic source of phosphorus) and inorganic P (KH2PO4 as inorganic phosphorus) at different rates and incubated for 28 days. Six treatments were used including i) Control ii) Inorganic P (0.79 mg per 30 g of soil sample) iii) 100 % C (0.13 g) iv) 75% C (0.1 g) + 25% P (0.2 mg) v) 50% C (0.065 g) + 50% P (0.4 mg) vi) 25% C (0.03 g) + 75% P (0.6 mg). Soil respiration was recorded using Infra-red CO2 gas analyzer. MBC was determined by using fumigation extraction method. Resin P and MBP extraction was carried out by anion exchange membranes and was determined colorimetrically. P pools were determined by using DeLuca method. Cumulative respiration microbial biomass significantly increased in organic amended soil with higher increase in soil emended with 75% C +25% P rate followed by 50% C and 50% P rate. It was concluded that compost amended with high inorganic P stimulated the formation of P labile pools which supply long term slow release of P for plants and microbes.

38-50

Authors: Rıdvan Kızılkaya , Zhainagul Yertayeva , Sagynbay Kaldybayev , Bolat Murzabayev , Aigul Zhapparova , Zhanybek Nurseitov

Vermicomposting of organic waste has an important part to play in an integrated waste management strategy. The aim of the present study was to investigate the ability of an epigeic earthworm Eisenia foetida to transform anaerobically digested sewage sludge (SS) amended with hazelnut husk (HH) and cow manure (CM) in different proportions under laboratory condition (in darkness at 25°C0,5 0C). Two approaches investigated in the study were: (1) to find the best medium for growth and reproduction of E. foetida in different feed mixtures, (2) to analyze the heavy metal concentrations in different feed mixtures of SS-HH-CM before and after vermicomposting, and (3) to explore heavy metals accumulation of earthworms in sewage sludge with different feed mixtures. Number and biomass of earthworms and heavy metal contents in feed mixtures and earthworms were periodically monitored. The results indicated that maximum earthworm biomass was attained in feed mixture of 20% SS + 40% CM + 40% HH while the earthworm number was highest in feed mixture of 30% SS + 35% CM + 35% HH during the vermicomposting period. Heavy metals concentration (Zn, Cu, Cd, Pb, Ni and Cr) in all feed mixtures decreased associated with the increasing vermicomposting time. The heavy metals’ content in the feed mixtures was lower than that of initial mixtures. Metal analysis of earthworms revealed considerable bioaccumulation of heavy metals in their bodies’ tissue. Heavy metal analysis of earthworm body showed that increasing proportion of SS in the feed mixtures promoted the heavy metal content of earthworm body.

61-68

Authors: Vasanthakumari Roshni , Variampally Sankar Harikumar

Fluoride contamination has now become an emerging concern in agroecosystems. A diagnostic survey was conducted across the fluoride (F-) contaminated wetlands of Kuttanad, India with an aim to examine the influence of edaphic factors on F- concentration in soils. The soils (Inceptisols) predominantly sandy had a substantial percentage of clay and the soil characteristics such as bulk density (BD), moisture, temperature, pH, electrical conductivity (EC), cation exchange capacity (CEC) and organic carbon (OC) varied with soils. Similarly, the soil nutrients (NPK) and the oxides of Fe and Al as well as total sesquioxide differed with soils. Principal component analysis (PCA) revealed that the first two components (PC1 and PC2) significantly explained the variability existed in the data while the third component (PC3) did not explain any variation compared to the first two components. PC1, PC2 and PC3 accounted for 52.2%, 12.7% and 11.3% of the variation in the profiles respectively. Out of soil samples, 53% had a similar distribution of soil characteristics and F- concentration and are grouped together in PC1 while, the remaining 47% of the samples had a similar distribution of characteristics and are grouped together in PC2. Among the soil characteristics examined, silt content, pH, EC, CEC, OC, N and P had a significant (P<0.001) positive association along PC1 indicating that these factors are contributing to the augmentation of F- concentration in the wetlands of Kuttanad.

77-86

Authors: Christianah Olubunmi Kayode , Gideon Olajiire Adeoye

Dry matter yield of okra with cocoa pod husk-based (CPH) compost was assessed in a pot experiment. Three CPH-based composts: CPH+Neem leaf (CPH+NL), CPH+Poultry manure (CPH+PM) and CPH+PM+NL at the rate of 25, 50, 75, 100 kg N ha-1 each and NPK fertilizer at 40, 50, 60 kg N ha-1 and control, were applied to 5 kg soil each with three replicates and arranged in a completely randomized design. Two varieties of okra (NH47-4 and LD88) were grown. Plant height, stem girth and number of leaves were measured at 6 weeks after sowing while dry matter yield (DMY) and nutrient uptake were determined. Pre- and post- cropping soil analyses were done. Data were analyzed using ANOVA and means separated by DMRT at α = 0.05. DMY for NH47-4 ranged from 6.5g (control) to 16.7g (NPK 60 kg N ha-1) and from 5.1g (control) to 7.5g (CPH+NL 100 kg N ha-1) while LD88 ranged from 8.3 g (control) to 19.1g (CPH+PM 75 kg N ha-1) and 4.0g (control) to 9.6g (CPH+PM75 kgNha-1 ) in main and residual planting respectively. The N, P and K uptake of NH47-4 and LD88 were significantly enhanced with fertilizer treatments compared to the control. After the residual planting, pH of soil ranged from 6.2 (control) to 7.0 (CPH+NL 50 kg N ha-1) with NH47-4 and 6.3 (control) to 6.9 (CPH+PM+NL 50 kg N ha-1) with LD88. Organic carbon ranged from 9.7 gkg-1 (control) to 22.7 gkg-1 (CPH+PM+NL 50 kg N ha-1) with NH47-4 and 13.9 gkg-1 (control) to 20.3 gkg-1 (CPH+PM+NL 50 kg N ha-1) with LD88. Total N ranged from 0.1 gkg-1 (control) to 0.8 gkg-1 (CPH+PM+NL 100 kg N ha-1) with NH47-4 and 0.1 gkg-1 (control) to 0.7 gkg-1 (CPH+PM+NL 75 kg N ha-1) with LD88. The P, Ca, Mg and Na were significantly increased with fertilizer compared to control. It could therefore be concluded that CPH-based compost could be a good fertilizer for okra growth and soil fertility improvement.

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.