8th International Soil Science Congress on "Land Degradation and Challenges in Sustainable Soil Management"

May 15-17, 2012 eme-zmir, TURKEY PROCEEDINGS BOOK http://www.soilcongress.ege.edu.tr

This book of proocedings has been prepared from different articles sent to the congress secretary only by making some changes in the format. Scientific committee regret for any language and/or aim-scope

Takm Numaras: 978-975-96629-6-7 ISBN:978-605-63090-1-4 (5.c)

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PREFACE I
The 8th International Congress o n Soil Science was held at the Altnyunus Hotel in eme, Izmir, Turkey, from May 15th to 17th, 2012. The theme for this year was Land Degradation and Challenges in Sustainable Soil Management. The congress was organized by Ege Universitys Department of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, (Agricultural Faculty), and The Soil Science Society of Turkey (SSST). The congress also hosted the 6th International Conference on Land Degradation (ICLD). The organization of International Soil Science Congresses is a long established custom for the SSST. The 8 congresses held so far are listed below: 1998, Izmir: 2000, Konya: 2002, anakkale: 2004, Erzurum: 2006, anlurfa: 2008, Aydn: 2010, Samsun: 2012, Izmir: 1st International Congress on Soil Science 2nd International Congress on Soil Science 3rd International Congress on Soil Science, organised by Onsekiz Mart University 4th International Congress on Soil Science, organised by Atatrk University 5th International Congress on Soil Science, organised by Harran University 6th International Congress on Soil Science, organised by Adnan Menderes University 7th International Congress on Soil Science, organised by Ondokuz Mayis University 8th International Congress on Soil Science, organised by Ege University

For this 8th International Congress we received more than one thousand abstracts from 54 countries worldwide. After a rigorous evaluation process, 655 of these were chosen for presentation either as seminars or posters during the congress. There were two plenary lecturers: Prof. Richard Dick from Ohio State University, spoke on soil microbiology and Prof. Dr. Sergei Shoba from the Faculty of Soil Science, Lomonosov Moscow State University, talked about the challenges of soil degradation in arid areas. The papers have been organized into five volumes according to topics for the Congress Proceedings Book The on-line version of these volumes is accessible at: http://www.soilcongress.ege.edu.tr. We would like to take this opportunity to express our thanks to all the authors for their efforts in the preparation of these excellent contributions. Yusuf KURUCU, Ph.D in Soil Science Chair, The 8th ISSC 2012

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PREFACE II
Today the world community has recognized the importance of sustainable use of soil, which is one of the key life-supporting components on the earth. As suggested in UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in 1992, soil degradation caused by over exploitation of fragile resources and misuse of marginal areas, degrease of potential agricultural areas by sealing, uneven distribution of potentially cultivable areas, declining trends in per capita food production, lack of adaptation of improved technologies by subsistence farmers, non-availability of essential off-farm input to resource poor farmers, and problems such as soilmining should be considered in soil resources management plans. Action programs are needed to protect and improve soil health by developing thematic strategies toward protecting soils from numerous of threads such as erosion, decline of organic matter content and biodiversity, sealing, soil salinizaiton, alkalinizitaion, flooding, and many others. Function of soils in environment in relation to human activates should be understood well to manage the soils without declining their quality. Unique role of a specific soil type for environment and human activities should be considered in managing soils to secure soil health, water quality, and food and fiber production for future generations. The evidence that we all depend on the thin layer of earth should be articulated to the people with no knowledge of soil and its importance. In addition, high quality technical information should be available and ready for growers, decision makers, government agencies, and so on for an effective use of science and technology in soil management. This congress was organized to discuss issues in land degradation and challenges in soil management. Interactions among soils, land degradation, and desertification were discussed and importance of soils for a better environmental quality and food security was stressed in the three-day congress. Poster and oral presentations covered a large spectrum of subject areas; including computer modeling, digital mapping, and new techniques and technologies used in data mining, decision making, and other related areas. I trust that this proceeding will make a vigorous contribution to theoretical and practical soil science, and generate a prolific interest for appreciation of soils importance to public well-being. I thank Organizing Committee and all worked and appreciate them for this high quality work. Sabit ERAHIN, Ph.D in Soil Physics President of Soil Sicence Society of Turkey President of The Eurasian Federation of Soil Science Societies

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INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE

Dr. LAL, Rattan Dr. CANO, Angel Faz Dr. DEXTER, Anthony R. Dr. EL NAHRY, Alaa Dr. FINE, Pinchas Dr. GABRIELS, Donald Dr. GYORI, Zoltan Dr. KELLING, Gilbert Dr. KOLEV, Nikola Dr. MALAKOUTI, Mohammad J. Dr. MATULA, Svatopluk Dr. MONTANARELLA, Luca Dr. MULLA, David Dr. NOORKA, Ijaz Rasool. Dr. PAGLIAI, Marcello Dr. PREVITALI, Franco Dr. RYAN, John Dr. SHEIN, Evgeny Victorivich Dr. ZAGRSKI, Zbigniew Dr. ZDRULI, Pandi Dr. ZUCCA, Claudio USA (Chair) Spain Poland Egypt Israel Belgium Hungary UK Bulgaria Iran Czech Republic Italy USA Pakistan Italy Italy Syria Russia Poland Italy Italy

NATIONAL SCIENTIFIC COMMITTE

Dr. ACA, Necat Dr. AKGL, Mesut Dr. AKSOY, Erturul Dr. ANA, Dilek Dr. ARCAK, Sevin Dr. AKIN, Tayfun Dr. AYDEMR, Salih Dr. AYDIN, Gnl Dr. AYDIN, Mehmet Dr. BAYRAMN, lhami Dr. BENDER ZEN, Damla Dr. BERBEROLU, Suha Dr. BEYAZGL, Mslm Dr. CANBOLAT, Mustafa Y. Dr. AYCI, Gkhan Dr. ELK, smail Dr. ULLU, Mehmet Ali Dr. DENGZ, Orhan Dr. DOAN, Orhan Dr. DORAN, lhan Dr. EKNC, Hseyin Dr. ERPUL, Gnay Dr. ERAHN, Sabit Dr. GEZGN, Sait Dr. GK, Mustafa Dr. GLSER, Cokun Dr. GNAL, Hikmet Dr. IILDAR, Ahmet Ali Dr. KAPLAN, Mustafa Dr. KARAMAN, Mehmet Rt Dr. KATKAT, Vahap Dr. KAVDIR, Yasemin Dr. KILI, Kenan Dr. MERMUT, Ahmet Dr. ORTA, brahim Dr. ZCAN, Hasan Dr. ZDEMR, Nutullah Dr. ZTA, Takn Dr. SALAM, Turgut Dr. SALTALI, Kadir Dr. SARI, Mustafa Dr. EKER, Cevdet Dr. ENOL, Suat Dr. TFENK, efik Dr. NVER lhami

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ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

Dr. KURUCU, Yusuf Chairman

SECRATARIES

Dr. ESETLL, M. Tolga

Dr. ONGUN, Ali Rza

MEMBERS

Dr. UYSAL, Huriye

Dr. OKUR, Blent

Dr. OKUR, Nur

Dr. KAPUR, Selim

Dr. BOLCA, Mustafa

Dr. DELBACAK, Sezai

Dr. ZEN, Fulsen

Dr. KAYIKIOLU, H. Hsn

Dr. YNTER, Gken

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ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
Dr. KURUCU, Yusuf (Chair)

Secretaries
Dr. ESETLL, M. Tolga Dr. ONGUN, Ali Rza

Members
Dr. BOLCA, Mustafa Dr. DELBACAK, Sezai Dr. KAPUR, Selim Dr. KAYIKIOLU, H. Hsn Dr. OKUR, Blent Dr. OKUR, Nur Dr. ZEN, Fulsen Dr. UYSAL, Huriye Dr. YNTER, Gken

Board of the Soil Science Society of Turkey

Dr. ERAHN, Sabit (Chair) Dr. BAKAN, Ouz Dr. KIZILKAYA, Rdvan Dr. NAMLI, Ayten Dr. OMAR, Bilge Dr. ZCAN, Hesna Dr. SREK, Derya EM (Republic of Turkey Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs, General Directorate of Combating Desertification and Erosion) TRGM (Republic of Turkey, Ministry of Food Agriculture and Livestock, General Directorate of Agrarian Reform) TEMA (The Turkish Foundation for Combating Soil Erosion, for Reforestation and the Protection of Natural Habitats)

Contact Addresses
Department of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition Faculty of Agriculture Ege University 35100 Bornova-zmir, TURKEY Tel: +90 232 311 26 82 Fax: +90 232 388 92 03 e-mail:soilcongress@mail.ege.edu.tr, yusuf.kurucu@ege.edu.tr Web: http://www.soilcongress.ege.edu.tr

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SPONSORS

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VOLUME V
Nutrient management for soil sustainability, food security and human health

EDITORS
Dr. Dilek ANA Dr. M. Tolga ESETLL Dr. H. Hsn KAYIKIOLU

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PLENARY LECTURES

Plenary Lectures

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PLENARY LECTURES

Native Shrubs Piliostigma reticulatum and Guiera senegalensis as Companion Plants: Rhizosphere Hydrology and Microbiology in Relation to Crop Productivity in the Sahel
R.P. Dick1, M. Sene2, M. Diack3, M. Khouma4, A. Badiane5, S. A.N.A Samba6, I. Diedhiou6, A. Lufafa7, E. Dossa8, F. Kizito9, S. Diedhiou10, J. Noller10, and M. Dragila10
1 2

School of Environment and Natural Resource, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA; Sciences du Sol, Institut Sngalais de Recherches Agricoles (ISRA)/ CERAAS, This, Sngal ; 3 Unversity of Gaston Berger, St. Louis, Sngal ; 4 UNOPS Dakar, Sngal ; 5 USAID/ Sngal, Dakar, Sngal ; 6 Unversity of This, This, Snga ; 7 World Bank, Washington, D.C. USA ; 8 International Fertilizer Development Center, Accra, Ghana ; 9 California Water Board, Davis California, USA ; 10 Oregon State University, Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Corvallis, OR USA

The Sahel is experiencing landscape and soil degradation that reduces food and economic security of rural, underprivileged communities that depend on ecosystem services. The Parkland system of randomly distributed trees is an approach to address these challenges, but trees are slow growing and can compete with crops for water and nutrients. Conversely, two native shrubs, Piliostigma reticulatum and Guiera senegalensis, coexist in farmers fields throughout the Sahel and until recently have largely been overlooked. It is well established that organic matter input to the soil is critical for improving soil quality and optimizing nutrient and water efficiencies, and ultimately crop productivity in the Sahel. Various non-indigenous vegetative systems have been proposed for the Sahel, but with limited adoption in cropped fields. Consequently, these two shrubs being indigenous and already found in farmers fields to varying degrees, hold potential to meet these challenges. Unfortunately, the current management of spring coppicing and burning prior to cropping, is not utilizing this organic matter effectively. There has been very little research on how to ecologically or agronomically manage these shrubs. Therefore, the global objective was to determine the unrecognized ecological function of these shrubs in agroecosystems of Senegal that are representative the Sahel. To test these hypotheses, our team over the last 5 years, has conducted extensive field based investigations in the Peanut Basin of Senegal that included: ground surveys and remote sensing to determine the landscape levels of shrub C and biomass; hydrology and water relations between shrubs and crops; rhizosphere microbiology; residue decomposition; N and P cycling in relation to crops; and crop productivity. The project, funded by US National Science Foundation, graduated 4 PhD students and 3 post docs. The major findings in Senegal are that: shrubs are by far the largest source of organic matter on the landscape in cropped fields shrubs increase soil quality decomposition rates are rapid enough to allow non-thermal residue management shrub roots perform hydraulic lift by moving water from wet sub- to dry surface-soils that appears to drive microbial processes year around and assist crops through drought periods
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shrub roots recharge groundwater in the rainy season, reducing runoff and conserving water shrub rhizospheres promote microbial diversity and may harbour beneficial microbes intercropped shrubs do not compete with crops and actually stimulate yield by >50% repeated application of these low quality residues (in absence of live shrubs) begins increasing yields after 2 years. Keywords: Piliostigma reticulatum, Guiera senegalensis, soil remediation, Sahel, crop productivity

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Soil Degradation Challenge in Arid Areas: The Role of Soil Databases and Soil Information Tools Sergey Shoba*a, Pavel Krasilnikovb, Alexander Makeevb, Alexander Ivanova, Varvara Kolesnikovaa, Irina Alyabinaa

Faculty of Soil Science, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Leninskie Gory, Moscow, Russia Eurasian Center of Food Security, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Leninskie Gory, Moscow, Russia *Corresponding Author: soil.msu@mail.ru
b

Abstract

Soil degradation is the biggest challenge to food security in the new millennium. Climatic change and increasing human pressure on ecosystems results in the extensive degradation of landscapes, especially in dry areas. Desertification is the major problem for agricultural development and for providing food for population in many regions of the world, including Eurasia. Both the south of Russia and neighboring suffer desertification, which consists of various complex processes, including the processes of soil degradation, such as salinization, compaction, organic matter loss etc. In the context of soil conservation and protection we should develop scientific tools for effective prognosis of short-term and long-term soil degradation under scenarios of different land use and different paths of climatic changes. A reliable prediction is possible only on the basis of the most complete information on actual soil resources. The first component of soil information is the presence of soil databases, which allow spatial interpolation, data mining, and spatial and temporal modeling. The necessary feature of these databases should be a user-friendly format of data storage that allows multiple data management. Our actual activities are aimed at the development of soil data storage system, the tools for effective soil data management, and the collection of legacy soil data. The main issues to be solved are poor compatibility of data in different regions, imprecise coordinates of soil pits in previous surveys, and low response from regional administrative bodies. However, with increasing desertification the attention to soil data should increase. Keywords: land resources, sustainable development, risk evaluation, Russia, Central Asia.

Introduction Despite of the impressive progress in technology, modern civilization is still completely based on agricultural production. The entire population of the Earth depends on the products obtained from soil either as crops or as forage. The development in agricultural technology is impressive, and now we can produce much more yields than few decades ago from the same area (Shoba, 2009). However, the population is growing rapidly, and we do not know, if the increase in productivity can compensate the increasing need in food and a loss of productive lands. The loss of productive arable lands is a widespread process that takes place all over the world due to various reasons, such as urbanization, soil erosion, desertification and many others. Some of these reasons are universal, and some of them are landscape-specific. One of the most vulnerable zones is the arid belt of Eurasia that is strongly affected by a complex of degradation processes associated with desertification. Desertification is the major challenge for land management in many Eurasian countries. In the most severe cases we have to make difficult decisions on land use change and even change the whole strategy of the development of national economy. Soil degradation leads to food insecurity, poverty, and thus social instability. Even if a state has stable economy based on industrial production or mining industry, agriculture is a life-spring for millions of people who inhabit dry areas. For their sustainable living we should maintain a certain level of soil productivity, even taking into account progressing climatic changes. For maintaining soil productivity and for successful planning of soil improvement and management we should have a complete set of data that characterize soil and water quality. In this short review we tried to show the state-of the art with soil resources information in Russia and neighboring Central Asian countries, and to outline the perspectives for future development.
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Soil information in Russian drylands Though Russia is traditionally considered to be a cold and humid country, its vast territory also possesses some areas with dry climates, where soils run the peril of drought (Fig. 1). These areas are localized mainly along the southern border of Russia, both in the European and Asian parts. The soils in these dry areas are affected by the degradation processes, which are common for most arid regions, such as salinization, alkalinization, wind erosion, and desertification (that is understood as a complex combined process). A comparison of the maps of drought probability and the distribution of the processes of soil degradation (Fig. 2) shows that there is a good agreement between dry soil regime and the distribution of the specific degradation processes mentioned above. Speaking more specifically, such process as salinization is widespread mostly in the southern part of European Russia, in Dagestan and Kalmyk Republics and in Volgograd region. In Asia most of saline soils are found in Novosibirsk, Omsk, and Altay regions. Alkaline soils are common in Kalmyk Republic and Volgograd region in European part of the country, and in Novosibirsk and Omsk regions in Siberia. Though desertification is not very common in Russia, being active only at 7% of the national territory, it strongly affects agricultural production. This negative process is especially dangerous in Kalmyk and Dagestan Republics, Astrakhan, Volgograd and Rostov regions (with lesser extent in Orenburg and Saratov regions) in European Russia, and in Altay and Omsk regions and Tuva, Khakassia, and Buryatia Republics in Siberia. The processes of wind erosion are very active in dry areas. Totally 8.4% of the agricultural lands in Russia are affected by deflation; these are localized mainly in Stavropol and Krasnodar regions and in Kalmyk and Dagestan Republics (European part of Russia) and in Altay region and Khakassia Republic (Siberia).

Fig.1. Schematic map of the probability of soil drought in Russian Federation. Red colour shows the probability of drought more than 50% (Shoba, 2011).

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The other negative process usually associated with desertification is the loss of soil organic carbon. In the arid regions of Russia the balance of soil organic carbon is strongly negative that shows that the organic matter decomposes quickly in these soils (Fig. 3). Though arid soils usually have a positive balance of carbon from the point of view of global carbon cycling due to accumulation of carbonates, the loss of organic matter is a negative process resulting in the degradation of soil physical and chemical properties and in the decline of soil fertility. In the context of soil conservation and protection we should develop scientific tools for effective prognosis of short-term and long-term soil degradation under scenarios of different land use and different paths of climatic changes. A reliable prediction is possible only on the basis of the most complete information on actual soil resources. During the second part of the 20th century the soils of Russian drylands have been extensively studied, that allowed the development of soil and land evaluation maps of various scales, starting from the most detailed (1:10,000) to the most general (Shoba et al., 2010). These maps are valuable sources of information, but they have certain disadvantages. First, particular soil profiles seldom have exact coordinates. Second, some data are already outdated after several decades of anthropogenic transformation of soils. Third, the major part of this information existed only in paper form, and some important blocks of information are already lost. Actually for successful soil data management, the first component of soil information is the presence of soil databases, which allow spatial interpolation, data mining, and spatial and temporal modeling (Panagos et al., 2012). Leaving apart an urgent need for updating soil data, the closest and the most reliable task is the development of soil database for Russia and possibly for neighboring countries. The necessary feature of this database should be a user-friendly format of data storage that allows multiple data management.

Fig.2. A schematic map of the processes of soil degradation in Russian Federation. Dark blue colour is for wind erosion, and yellow for desertification (Shoba, 2011).

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The development of such a soil geographical database started at the Faculty of Soil Science of Lomonosov Moscow State University several years ago (Shoba et al., 2008). The main blocks of the soil geographic database are the geographic database and the specialized attributive database (Rojkov et al., 2010). Relational Database Management (RDMS) System is used for data storage and processing. The Geographic Information Soil Database (GISD) forms the cartographic basis of the State Soil-Geographic Database of Russia. It consists of two digital coverages in MapInfo Professional. COVERAGE 1 is a digital map uniting the Soil Map of the RSFSR on a scale of 1: 2.5 M edited by Fridland (1988), and the digital map of the soil-ecological zoning of Russia. COVERAGE 2 is the digital map of the administrative division of Russia at a scale of 1:1 M. The soil profile (attributive) database of Russia is based on the concept of representative soil profiles (Kolesnikova et al., 2010). The database has a hierarchical structure ensuring soil description at several levels: SOILPITPROFILEHORIZONSAMPLE. The main object of the database is a specific soil profile with a set of soil horizons characterized by attributive data. The representative profiles should have an exact geographical location and be provided with a morphological description and a complete set of analytical data. The necessary conditions for the selection of representative profiles are: strict gridding of each soil profile, the most complete description of soil morphology, and the most extensive list of analytical soil characteristics (Shoba et al., 2011). The method of analysis, the units of measurement and the range of variation of each soil characteristic included in the database should be indispensably mentioned. For facilitating that, we developed uniform standards for soil information. The Program Soil-DB allows a provider of information to login in the site, to create and fill the soil description card, and to send it through Internet to the central server of the system (Anonimous, 2008). All necessary information on the properties and composition of soils is acquired by selecting representative soil profiles characterizing the main soil types in a generalized legend to the soil map on a scale of 1:2.5 M. Recently we started a joint project with neighboring countries for harmonizing the Russian, Ukrainian, and Belorussian soil databases.

Fig.3. A schematic map of the balance of soil organic carbon in Russian Federation. Dark brown colour indicates strongly negative balance (Shoba, 2011).

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Soil information in Central Asia In the USSR the Central Asian region was always one of the most important centers of agriculture, because the climate allowed mellow-growing and especially extensive cotton production, which was impossible in other parts of the country. This epoch was both a time of great achievements in agriculture and a period of major negative impact on soils, especially related to secondary salinization. Several big state institutions and companies worked on the development of maps and explanatory notes on the land and water resources of Central Asia, with an emphasis on land improvement (irrigation, irrigation with drainage, chemical amelioration etc.). These data are important sources of information. Actually the Eurasian Center for Food Security of Lomonosov Moscow State University works on digitizing and publishing these materials on the web. Apart from this effort, we are discussing the possibility to include the information available on soil profiles of Central Asian countries in the joint Soil Database of Russia, Ukraine and Belorussia. We suggest using Soil DB tools for uploading the available soil information in Central Asia. The advantage of Russian Soil Database is that it can be easily converted to other soil database. Thus, the information would be integrated in the international data storage. In Central Asia soil information obtained during the second part of the 20th century is of particular importance, because it can be used as a reference for soil monitoring, especially for irrigated areas suffering strong anthropogenic impact that have lead to soil salinization. The use of time series of remote sensing data may be also a good option for soil monitoring. Perspectives of the use of soil databases The perspectives for the future use and management of soil databases may be grouped in two main lines of research. Firstly, extensive soil information allows spatial modeling, and, secondly, it allows the prediction of the dynamics of soils on the basis of data mining, pedotransfer functions and dynamic models of the processes of soil degradation. These two lines are commonly interlinked, if we need to perform a spatial prediction of modeled variables. The development of pedotransfer functions is of major importance for successful development of the guidelines for soil monitoring, land management planning and soil improvement. Usually the final user of soil information needs data in a format completely different from the primary soil data. The decision-makers do not care about pH values or electrical conductivity, they have to know, if the productivity of crops will be high enough to cover the investments to soil amelioration and management. This information may be produced only on the basis of pedotransfer functions, which, in their turn, can be obtained by data mining. For successful data mining we need thousands of soil profiler, otherwise any prediction and modeling would be baseless. Thus, both the development of information tools and filling the databases with reliable data are important components for information support of agriculture in dry areas. Our task is to bring essential soil information to the decision-makers. Unfortunately, until now the response from regional administrative bodies is very low. However, now the situation changes slowly, because the governing bodies start to understand that soil degradation limits agricultural productivity, and, thus, the income of the population. Since increasing desertification leads to a drastic decrease in available soil resources and provides instability in agricultural production and food insecurity, the attention to soil data should increase.

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Acknowledgements We would like to express our gratitude to the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, which partly supported this research, project No. 11-04-90356-_. References Anonimous, (2008). Soil Geographic Database of Russia [SGDBR]. http://db.soil.msu.ru. Accessed 13 February 2011. Fridland, V.M. (Ed.), (1988). Soil map of the Russian Federation, 1: 2.5 M scale. Moscow, GUGK, 16 map sheets. Kolesnikova, V.M., Aliabina, I.O., Vorobiova, L.A., Molchanov, E.N., Shoba, S.A., Rojkov, V.A., (2010). Soil attribute database of Russia. Eurasian Soil Sci., 43(8), 839847. Panagos, P., Van Liedekerke, M., Jones, A., Montanarella, L., (2012) European Soil Data Centre: Response to European policy support and public data requirements. Land Use Policy, 29(2): 329-338. Rojkov, V.A., Aliabina, I.O., Kolesnikova, V.M., Molchanov, E.N., Stolbovoi, V.S., Shoba, S.A., (2010). Soil-geographic database of Russia. Eurasian Soil Sci., 43(1), 14. Shoba, S.A., (2009). Soil science horizons: progress and prospects. Eurasian Soil Sci., 42(5), 471-476. Shoba S.A. (Ed.), (2011). National Soil Atlas of Russia. Moscow, Astrel. 632 p. (In Russian) Shoba, S.A., Stolbovoi, V.S., Alyabina, I.O., Molchanov, E.N., (2008). Soil geographic database of Russia. Eurasian Soil Sci., 41(9), 907-913. Shoba, S.A., Aliabina, I.O., Kolesnikova, V.M., Molchanov, E.N., Rojkov, V.A., Stolbovoi, V.S., Urusevskaya, I.S., Sheremet, B.V., Konushkov, D.E., (2010). Soil resources of Russia. Soil-geographic database. Moscow, GEOS. (In Russian) Shoba, S.A., Rozhkov, V.A., Alyabina, I.O., Kolesnikova, V.M., Urusevskaya I.S., Molchanov, E.N., Stolbovoi, V.S., Sheremet, B.V., Konyushkov, D.E., (2011). Soil Geographic Databse of Russia. In Handbook of Soil Science, 2nd Edition. Vol. 2 Resource Management and Environmental Impacts, Section IV Soil Databases. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.

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CONTENTS
NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH ORAL PRESENTATIONS Genotypic Differences in Maize Profitability Hybrid vs. Local Cultivars Applied with Variable Rates of Different Nitrogenous Fertilizer Sources A. Khan .................................................................................................................................... Effect of Addition of Date Palm Wastes and Rice Hull to the Soil on Growing Indices of Cucumber in Greenhouse Culture A.M. Ghahsareh, M. Hematian, N. Mohammadi ..................................................................... Integrated Plant Nutrient Supply and Management Strategies for Combating Land Degradation and Sustaining Crop Productivity: Lessons from Long-Term Fertilizer Experiments A. Swarup ................................................................................................................................. Effect of Potassium Sulfate on Water Deficit Tolerance in Some Crops M. Yarnia, M.B. Khorshidi Benam, S. Khosravi Far, S. Rahimi, E. Mozaffari ....................... Vermicomposting of Sugarcane Bagasse and Rice Straw and Its Effect on Growth of (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) A.A. Ansari ............................................................................................................................... Screening for Zinc-Efficient and Zinc-Inefficient Barley Varieties Grown in ZincDefficient Calcareous Soil S.N. AL-Niemi, M.S. S.Dohuki ................................................................................................. Effects of Organomineral Fertilisers (OMF), Urea and Biosolids Granules on Crop and Soil Established with Rye Grass (Lolium Perenne L.) in Pots D.L. Antille, R. Sakraban, R.J. Godwin ................................................................................... Unbalaced Nitrogen Application Induced Short Storage Life and Rapid Fruit Softening During Storage in Kiwifruit in North of Iran M. Ashouri, R. Ebrahimi, M. Ghasemnezhad, A. Sabouri ....................................................... Water Use Efficiency of Alfalfa as Affected by Nitrogen Fertilizer in Salinity Stress A. Ebadi, Sh. F. Abbasi, S. Khomari, S. Sanayee..................................................................... Effect of Mineral Nitrogen on Compatible Ions of Alfalfa Under Water Deficit Condition A. Ebadi, S. Sanayee, M. Sedghi, A.Gh. Gholipori, Sh.F. Abbasi............................................ Effect of Leaves Defoliation and Boron Fertilization on Growth, Yield and Quality of Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L., Compositae) S.A. Mohamed, A.T. Shaker ..................................................................................................... Effect of Copper and Sodium Chloride on Photosynthetic Properties of Pistachio Seedlings (Cv. Ghazvini) Under Greenhouse Conditions S. Eskandari, V. Mozaffari, A. Tajabadi Pour ......................................................................... Effects of Zinc Fertilizer and Enriched Vermicompost on Zinc Uptake, Yield, Yield Components and Some Agronomic Characteristics In Barley H. Seyedashrafy, M. Majidian, A.H. Baghaie, N. Majidian, M. Gomarian ............................. Zn Availability of Two Wheat Cultivars in Soil Amended with Organic and Inorganic Zn Sources H. Tarighi, M. Majidian, A.H. Baghaie, M. Gomarian............................................................ Distribution Zinc in Calcareous Soils of Iran and Its Relation to Organic Matter H. Ghane, M. Araj Shirvani, J. Baharlouei, H. Amini ............................................................. Effect of Air Pollution on Some Biochemical Characteristics of Plant Species H. Ghane, M.A. Shirvani, H. Amini, A.A. Esfahani, M.M. Sadeghian ..................................... The Combined Effects of Super Absorbent Polymers and Manure on Availability of Macro and Micronutrients in A Calcareous Soil S.H. Khadem, M.J. Rousta, M. Tourtiz, S. Mohsen Siada, S.A. Khadem ................................
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Response of Durum Wheat to Nitrogen and Plant Density in Dry Matter Remobilization R. Zabihi-e-Mahmoodabad, S. Jamaati-e-Somarin ................................................................. Phosphorus Availability in Malagasy Ferralsols Under Vigna subterranea and Oryza sativa. A Perspective for a Tanety Valorization A. Andriamananjara, M.P. Razafimanantsoa, M. Dominique, L. Rabeharisoa....................... Effects of Native Rhizobium Bacteria on Yield Components of Dry Bean . Karaca, R. Uyanz .............................................................................................................. Response of Rice to Phosphate Solubilizing Pseudomonas Inoculation Under Phosphorus Deficiency Condition M.R. Ramezanpour................................................................................................................... Effects of Phosphate Solubilizing Microorganisms and Phosphorus Chemical Fertilizer on Yield and Yield Components of Wheat S. Ramzani Movafagh, A.R. Fallah .......................................................................................... Accumulation Rate of Heavy Metals (As, Cd, Cu, Zn, Cr, Hg, Se, Pb and Ni) in Soils of Hamedan Province, Iran and Most Affecting Factors on This Accumulation M. Yeganeh, M. Afyuni, A.H. Khoshgoftarmanesh, M. Amini, A. Soffyanian, R. Schulin...................................................................................................................................... Phosphate and Calcium Adsorption Interactions on Kaolinite: 1. Phosphate Adsorption as Function of Equilibrium Concentration, pH and Ionic Strength F. Aghamir, R. Rahnemaie, M.J. Malakouti ............................................................................ Effect of Phosphate Solubilizing Bacteria on Soil P, Phosphatase Activity, P Uptake and Yield of Sweet Corn (Zea Mays Var. Saccharata Sturt L.) in Ultisols and Andisols B.N. Fitriatin, D. Maulana....................................................................................................... Effect of Dolomite on Yields and Nutrient Availability in Wheat-Rice Cropping Pattern in Acid Soils of Northwest Bangladesh M. Bodruzzaman, J.G. Lauren, J.M. Duxbury, M. Jahiruddin, M.R. Islam............................. Effects of Merus Ring to Reduce Soil Salinity Under Furrow Irrigation B. Mostafazadeh-Fard, K. Barati, A.A. Sheikhbahaei, A.A. Ensafi ......................................... Mycorrhizae Inoculated Vegetable Seedling Production and Use for Field Experiments for Ecological Farming I. Ortas ..................................................................................................................................... Effects of Long-Term N, P, K Fertilization on Metal Transition From Soil to Plant and Determination of Pseudo Total Metal Contents by Different Microwave Assisted Extraction Procedures S. ztan, R.A. Dring............................................................................................................... Comparision of Soil Nitrate Analysis Methods M. Tepecik, N.T. Barlas, H. Hakerlerler.................................................................................. Evaluation of Fertility Status of Cotton Soils in the Soke Region N.T. Barlas, M. Tepecik ........................................................................................................... The Use of Some Organic and Inorganic Substances to Reduce Phosphorus Fixation C. Kaya, O. Sonmez, S. Aydemir, A.L. Tuna ............................................................................ Effects of Different Amounts of Nitrogen and Potassium Nutrition on Nutrient Content, Plant Growth and Quality of Limonium Sinuatum H. Akat, H. Altunlu, B. olak Esetlili, I. Yoka, R. Kln........................................................ Effect of Boron on Cell Wall Boron and Calcium Concentrations of Wheat S. Taban, M.A. Turan............................................................................................................... Interactions of Soil Organic Matter/Humic Substances with Pesticide Residues and Metal Ions in Soil N. Senesi................................................................................................................................... The Utilization of Agro-Clino as The Soil Amendment in the Seedling of Turkish Red Pine (Pinus Brutia Ten.) and its Effect in the Soil Characteristics and the Sapling Growth M. Sayman, M. Kilci, S. zaydin, G. Akbin .............................................................................
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156 157 162 168 169 175 179

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH POSTER PRESENTATIONS Role of Organic Additives and Inorganic Fertilizer in Combating Irrigation Water Salinity Stress S.M. Soliman, Y.G.M. Galal, R.A. Abou El-Khair, M.O. El-Mohtasem Bella, H.A. Abdel Aziz, E.A. Kotb, E.M. Abd El-Latteef ............................................................................. Impact of Intensive Cropping, N or NP Fertilizers on Micronutrients Depletion in Soil after Time under Middle Delta Region of Egypt M.S. Zeidan, M.F. El-Karamany, M.M. Tawifik, B.A. Bakry, T.A. Elewa .............................. Application of K-bearing Rock for Fertilization of Cowpea, (Vigna unguiculata) B.F. Labib, Th.K. Ghabour, M.M. Wahba, I.S. Rahim............................................................. Effect of Nitrogen Levels and Different Previous Crops on Canola Yield in Ahwaz Region of Iran S.A. Siadat, M.R. Moradi-Telavat, G. Fathi, M. Mazarei, K. Alamisaeid, S.H. Mousavi.................................................................................................................................... Canola (Brassica napus L.) Response to N Levels with Different Amounts of Wheat Residues in Ahwaz Region, Iran M. Dabirzadeh, G. Fathi, S.A. Siadat, M.R. Moradi-Telavat ................................................. Effect of Acidified Converter Sludge on Some Chemical Characteristics of a Calcareous Soil N. Karimian, M. Kalbasi, S. Hajrasouliha............................................................................... Using Fuzzy Clustering Algorithms to Describe the Distribution of Trace Elements in Arable Calcareous Soils M. Nourzadeh, S.M.Hashemy, J.A.R.Martin, H.A.Bahrami, S.Moshahsaei ............................ Internal Macronutrients Use Efficiency of Wheat Cultivars Under Water Stress Conditions M. Rezaei, N. Najafi, S. Zehtab Salmasi, K. Ghassemi Golezani, S. Razzaghi Miavaghi .................................................................................................................................. Micronutrients Uptake and Distribution by Bread Wheat Genotypes under Water Deficit M. Rezaei, S.R. Miavaghi......................................................................................................... Effects of Sulfur and Thiobacillus Bacteria on the Absorption of Phosphorus, Iron and Zinc in Calcareous Soils F. Heydarnezhad, P.Shahinrokhsar, H. Besharati................................................................... Nitrogen Use Efficiency of Spring Barley as Affected by Water Deficit A. Ebadi, S. Hajhossainloo ...................................................................................................... Effect of Water Deficit and Foliar Zinc Application on Nutrient Uptake and Yields of Chickpea A. Ebadi, N. Dadkhah Sufiani, E. Ghlipoori, S. Jahanbakhsh ................................................ Effect of Boron and Zinc Application on Yield and Quality of Sugar Beet (Beta Vulgaris L.) W. Al-Baddrani ........................................................................................................................ Responses of Some Leaf Nutrients Concentration of Pistachio Trees to Alternate Bearing and Foliar Spray of Zinc and Copper A. Soliemanzadeh, V. Mozafari, A.T. Pour, A. Akhgar ............................................................ Treatment of Pistachio Trees with Calcium Chlorite and Boric Acid at Time of Swollen Bud V. Mozafari, M. Moosavi, A.T. Pour, A. Soliemanzadeh ......................................................... Effects of Potassium and Salinity Application on Morphological and Physiological Parameters of Pistachio Seedling in Sand Culture V. Mozafari .............................................................................................................................. Interactive Effect of Salinity and Magnesium on Pistachio F.Z. Masouleh, V. Mozaffari, F.H. Nooghi ..............................................................................
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Evaluation of the Allelopathic Effects of Barley (Hordeum Vulgare L.) Biomass on Broad Leaves Weed Suppressing in Mung Bean (Vigna Radiata L.) R. Monem, S.M. Mirtaheri, A. Sarraf....................................................................................... Efficiency of the Different Fertilizing System in the Irrigative Meadow-Brown Soils of the Zone of Guba-Khachmaz and its Role in Soil Fertility G.M. Mammadov, V.I. Jafarov, R.A. Pashayev........................................................................ Management of Water and Nitrogen Fertilizer on Rice Ratooning P. Shahinrokhsar, H.S. Vahed, F. Heydarnezhad .................................................................... Spatial Variability of Zinc and Manganese in Two Agricultural Soils in Argentina Republic M. Beltrn, G. Cruzate, E. Rivero, S. Russo ............................................................................ Spatial Variability of the P and K Nutrients in Two Agricultural Soils in Argentina Republic E. Rivero, G. Cruzate, M. Beltran, S. Russo, R. Casas, A. Mallarino ..................................... Comparison of Interpolation Methods for Estimating N, P and K in Agricultural Lands of Golestan Province, North of Iran H.K. Poshtmasari, Z.T. Sarvestani, B. Kamkar, Sh. Shataei, S. Sadeghi................................. Effects of Zinc Rates and Application Forms on Protein and Micronutrients Accumulation in Common Bean H.K. Poshtmasari, E. Afshari, M.A. Bahmanyar ..................................................................... Investigation Chemical Characteristics and Effects of Industrial Water on Water ,Soil and Plant in Yazd Province H.R. Rahmani, M. Azad............................................................................................................ Nitrate pollution in vegetables (Esfahan, 2003) H.R. Rahmani........................................................................................................................... Amount Lability of Zinc and Sorption its by Different Soils at the Presence of Potassium and Sodium Cations and Phosphate, Nitrate, and Chloride S.S. Hashemi ............................................................................................................................ Using GIS to Map Soil Organic Matter and Nitrogen Content to Prevent Cultivation Effecs on Soil Quality M. Bidadi, M. Sardaghi, N. Meghdadi, B. Kamkar.................................................................. Recovery Kinetic of Available Phosphorus after Adding Triple Superphosphate in Soils A. Gholizadeh........................................................................................................................... Effectiveness of Mycorrhizae and Phosphate Rock on Soybean Yield M. Rezvani, A. Gholizadeh, B. Afshang, F. Zaefarian ............................................................. Bioenergetics Efficiency of Fertilizer for Barley V.Yu. Grebenshchikov, .. Ablov, S.O. Pankovets ............................................................... Soil Potential of Irkutsk Region in the Process of Barley Producing V.Yu. Grebenshchikov, V.V. Verhoturov, A.Yu. Puzyreva........................................................ Problems of Regulation of Oil Content in the Soils of Siberia A.Yu. Puzyreva, V.Yu. Grebenshchikov, .. Ablov................................................................ Effect of Sewage Sludge Application on Some Chemical Properties of Soil, Growth and Mineral Composition of Corn H.H.R. Al-Joubory ................................................................................................................... The Effect of Salt Stress on Flower Yield and Growth Parameters of Saffron (Crocus Sativus L.) In Greenhouse Condition M.E. Torbaghan ....................................................................................................................... Effect of Salt Stress on Germination and Some Growth Parameters of Marigold (Calendula officinalis L.) M.E. Torbaghan ....................................................................................................................... Estimating Leaf Area of Mango (Mngifera indica L.): A Comparison Between Destructive and Non-destructive Methods M. Ghoreishi, Y. Hossini, M. Maftoon .....................................................................................
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Nanotechnology and Advanced Practical Options to Improve Fertilizer Use Efficiency A. Danesh-Shahraki, M.R. Naderi ........................................................................................... Effect of Foliar Application of Zinc And Manganese on Physiological Parameters of Plant Growth and Growth Rate of Red Bean Pods Under Drought Stress A. Danesh-Shahraki, M. Jamshidi, G. Fathi, S.M. Hashemi-Jazi............................................ Seed Germination of Seven Varieties of Rice (Oryza Sativa) in the Presence of Salicylic Acid Under Salt Stress M. Tafvizi, H. Nouri, A. Tavakoli............................................................................................. Modifications in Phosphorus Forms in the Rhizosphere of Different Plant Species L.C. Gatiboni, E.L. Schoninger, P.R. Ernani........................................................................... Effects of Phosphate Biofertilizer on Yield and Morphological Characteristics of Wheat (Triticum aestivum) I. Mansoori............................................................................................................................... Investigation of N Uptake, Nitrate Accumulation and Yield of Potato Affected by Nitrogen and Plant Population S. Jamaati-e-Somarin, A. Tobeh, R. Zabihi-e-Mahmoodabad ................................................. Physiological Traits of Durum Wheat under Nitrogen and Plant Density Effects R. Zabihi-e-Mahmoodabad, S. Jamaati-e-Somarin ................................................................. Effect of Biological Fertilizer on Uptake of Micro & Macro Elements in Cucumber`s Shoots F.M. Isfahani, H. Besharati ..................................................................................................... The Relation between Iron Application and Manganese Contents of Two Peanut (Arachis Hypogaea L.) Varieties in the ukurova Region of Turkey S. Irmak, A. il, Y. Korkmaz .................................................................................................... Using Line Intersect Sampling to Estimate Hazel Production in Fandoqlou Shrub Land in Ardabil F.K. Behjou, S. Nabavi, R. Asiabi, R. Salar ............................................................................. Requirements of Phosphorus Fertilizers in Different Soil Phosphorus Levels in Wheats in Konya Y. Ik........................................................................................................................................ Effectiveness of Fluorescent Pseudomonads Able To Produce IAA and Utilize ACC on Growth of Pistachio Seedling A. Akhgar, G. Hasani ............................................................................................................... Molecular Characterization of ACC Deaminase-Containing Plant Growth Promoting Pseudomonas spp. associated with Canola Rhizosphere, Using Box PCR Profile and Partial Sequence of 16s rDNA A. Akhgar, M. Arzanlou ........................................................................................................... Mineral and Bacterial Fertilization Impact on Dehydrogenase Activity and Microbial Biomass in Acid Eutric Cambisol Under Winter Wheat A. Stanojkovi-Sebi, D.A. Djuki, L. Mandi, R. Pivi, D. Joi............................................ Response of Cotton to Boron Side Dressing as Affected by Phosphors Fertilization and Crop Residues Incorporation in Soil H.H. Gomah, H.M.A. Raghib, K.K. Atia, A.E. Hussein ........................................................... E ffect of Potassium and Calcium Application on the Fruit Yield of Tomato in A Hydroponics System with Unequal and Dynamic Distribution of Salt M.Koushafar, A.H. Khoshgoftarmanesh, A. Moezzi, M. Mobli ............................................... Eveluation of Rock Phosphate, Sulfur and Thiobacillus Application Affecting the Extractable P M. Jazaeri, A. Akhgar, A.H. Mohammadi, M.S. Poor.............................................................. Effect of Sulfur and Thiobacillus sp. on pH Reduction of Calcareous Soil M. Jazaeri, A. Akhgar, A.H. Mohammadi, M.S. Poor.............................................................. Nutritional Partitioning of Macro Nutrients (N, P, K, Ca and Mg) in Strawberry Plants Grown pn Different Medium S. Sonmez, S. Citak, N. Adak ....................................................................................................
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Distribution of Soil Manganese Fraction and Their Plant Availability A. Korkmaz, T. Kadiolu, A. Horuz ......................................................................................... 467 Efficiency of Pseudomonas and Bacillus and Phosphorus Chemical Fertilizer in Three Soils with different level of available phosphorous on Wheat S.R. Movafagh, A.R. Fallah, M. Alahgholipour....................................................................... 473 Effect of Zinc on Phosphorus Concentration in Two Cultivars of Wheat F.M.Shirazi, M. Ardalan, H.M. Hosseini ................................................................................. 478 Soil Quality Management and Productivity with Pig Slurry Applications in SE Spain A.B. Yanarda, .F. Cano, A.R. Mermut, M.G. Garrido, I.H. Yanarda............................... 482 Investigation of the Impact on Vegetative Growth of Saharan Desert Dust N. Ycekutlu ............................................................................................................................ 487 Plant Nutrient Contents of Some Vegetable and Stone Fruits T. Pekcan, H.S. Turan, E. Aydodu, B.. Esetlili, H. olakolu............................................ 493 Phosphate and Calcium Adsorption Interactions on Kaolinite: 2. Calcium Adsorption as Function of Equilibrium Concentration, Ph, and Ionic Strength F. Aghamir, R. Rahnemaie...................................................................................................... 500 Micronutrient Status of Cherry Plantations in Bayurdu (Izmir) Region M. iekli, H. Arslan, H. akici ............................................................................................. 501 Effects of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungus on Growth and Antioxidant Enzymes in Citrus aurantium Under Water Stress Condition Z. Pymaneh, M. Zareia, A.M. Ronaghi, A.A. Kamgar-Haghighi, A.R. Shahsavar ................. 505 Evaluation Water Use and Potassium Fertilization on Potato Yield and Quality to Overcome Problems of Food Security R. Razavi, H. Tabiezad, F.G. Shaieste .................................................................................... 509 Evaluation Nitrate Leaching of Wheat and Corn from Urea and SCU Sources on Lysimeter Condition R. Razavi, H. Tabiezad, A. Majidi........................................................................................... 513 Influence of Salinity and Supplementary Calcium on Growth, Uptake and Translocation of Nutrients in Tomato Plants in Hydroponic Culture Z. Ahmadi, A. Ronaghi, N. Karimian ...................................................................................... 518 Evalivation Edafical Traits of Wheat Agroecosystems (After Harvesting) Under Effect of Microorganisims (Thiobacillus thioparus and Pseudomonas fluorescens) S.C. Gasht, B. Abbaszadeh, M.R. Ardakani, K. Khavazi, S. Vazan, V. Malaki....................... 523 The Interaction of Different Zinc Application and Seed Density on Grain Yeild and Phytic Acid Concentration in Winter Wheat G. Vafaeia, M. Lotfollahi, V. Bayramzadeh, M.T. Nezami, S. Rezaei..................................... 530 Effect of Phosphorus and Zinc Fertilizer Application on Yeild and Decreasing the Rate of (PA/Zn) in Winter Wheat G. Vafaei, V. Maleki, Z. Akhavan, N. Jaafari ......................................................................... 534 Super Absorbent Hydrogels and Periods of Irrigation Reduce the Effect of Drought Stress on Turf N. Jaafari, H. Shahrod, V. Maleki, G. Vafaei ......................................................................... 538 Evaluating the Effects of Macro, Micro and Organic Matter on Crop Yield and Residual Effects of Fertilizers in a Crop Rotation E.O. Montazeri, H. Tabiehzad, F.G. SHayeste ....................................................................... 542 Evaluation of Soil Phosphorus Release by Oxalic Acid N. Moradi, M.H. Rasouli-Sadaghiani, E. Sepehr.................................................................... 546 The Effect of Microbial Inoculation on Growth and Essential Oil Content of Peppermint M.H. Rasouli-Sadaghiani, M. Mahmoudzadeh, A. Hassani ................................................... 550 Evaluation of Zinc Utilization and Acquisition Efficiency in Some Iranian Wheat Genotypes S. Baghban-Tabiat, M.H. Rasouli-Sadaghiani, E. Sepehr ...................................................... 554
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The Effect of Nitrogen Fertilizer (Biological, Chemical and Integrated) on Quantitative Characteristics of Forage in Sorghum and Fenugreek Intercropping S. Asadi, M.R. Chaichi, H. Abbasdokht, H.R. Asghari, M. Gholipour.................................... Comparison GIS and Almagra Models for Optimum Use of Land in the North-West of Iran H.R. Momtaz, A.P. Rabati....................................................................................................... Fertilizer Recommendations for Wheat Production, Using Soil Testing and GIS in Ahar Area, Iran Mj Vahidi, H.R. Momtaz, A.A. Jafarzadeh, R.M. Najafabadi, M.A. Sadeghzadeh ................. Chemical Forms Changes and Extractable Iron in Soils Treated With Slag and Convertor Sludge of Esfahan Iron Melting Factory A. Kazemi, H. Shariatmadari, M. Kalbasi .............................................................................. Potassium Release Kinetics from K-Feldspar in Comparison with Muscovite as Influenced by Different Extractants A. Mousavi, F. Khayamim, H. Khademi, H. Shariatmadari ................................................... Influence of Potassium Application Rates on Growth and Potassium Efficiency of Pepper Genotypes R. Kl, K. Korkmaz ............................................................................................................... Sources of sulfur for oil, protein and S contents of soybean (Glycine max cv. Sahar) grown in soils of Golestan province, Iran E. Dordipour, M. Ebrahimi..................................................................................................... Effect of Different Sources of Sulfur Fertilizers on Growth, Biomass and Seed Yield of Soybean (Glycine Max Cv. Sahar) n Golestan Province, Iran M. Ebrahimi, E. Dordipour..................................................................................................... Effect of Vermicompost Application on Soil Alkaline Phosphatase Activity and Available Phosphorus Content .E. Taval, . Uz...................................................................................................................... Effects of Hazelnut Husk Compost and Bacteria Inoculation on Soybean Growth and Nodule Formation M.A. Akgz, D.B. zen ....................................................................................................... Effects of Hazelnut Husk Compost and Tea Waste Compost on Growth of Corn Plant (Zea Mays L). S. Ylmaz, D. Bender zen .................................................................................................... The Effect of Broadcast and Band Applications of Different P Doses and Mycorrhiza Inoculations on Lettuce Growth and Nutrient Uptake A. Demirba, . Orta, . Akpnar, U. Turk, Z. Kaya.............................................................. The Effect of Mycorrhizal Inoculation and Phosphorus Doses on Leek Growth Under Field Conditions . Akpnar, . Orta, A. Demirba, M. imek ........................................................................ Effect of Organic and Inorganic Fertilizer on Yield and Quality of Onion Plant (Allium cepa var. Valencia) Cultivated with Directly Seed Sowing Method Ceylan, F. Yolda, N. Mordogan, B.. Esetlili, N.T. Barlas................................................ Manganase-Iron Interactioncs in Soil, Hazelnut Leaves and Nuts N. zen, D.B. zen, . Duyar, H. Erol............................................................................... Effects of Potassium, Salicylic and Humic Acid Applications on Plant Growth and Nutrient Uptakes in Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) F. Snmez, E. Glser, F. Glser ............................................................................................. Influence of Organic Fertilizers on the Improvement of Plant Nutrition under the Conditions of Irrigation by Water Charged In Salt O. Mabrouka, H. Md. Tahar ................................................................................................... Test the Valorization of Saline Groundwater to Improve Nutrition of Plants in Arid Regions O. Mabrouka, H. Md. Tahar ................................................................................................... Influence of Organic Fertilizers on the Effect of Organic Fertilizer on Some Physical and Chemical Properties of Saline Soils in Arid Regions (Case of Ouargla) O. Mabrouka, H. Md. Tahar ...................................................................................................
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 Response of pistachio seedlings to different levels of salinity (sodium chloride) and manganese in perlite medium Z. Asadollahi, V. Mozaffari, A. Tajabadipour......................................................................... Organic Agriculture important for Soil conservation toward Sustainability of Ecology S. Rahimi, S.M. Hosseini......................................................................................................... Evaluation of a Rhizobium Dry Granular Inoculant Using Effect on Bacteria Protection and Nitrogen Fixation Under Salinity Stress R. Barazandeh, H.A. Rahmani, A. Yousefzadeh...................................................................... Some Plant Nutritional Elements in Tobacco Production in Aegean Region and the Effects of Soil Properties on Yield and Quality S. Ekren, N. Mordoan............................................................................................................ Heavy Metal Contents of Aegean Region Tobaccos in Turkey According to Quality Groups and Stalk Position Sdka Ekren, idem Snmez, Adem Gkl ......................................................................... Effects of Some Solid Wastes from Medicinal and Aromatic Plant Factory used for Canola Growth on Soil Properties and Fertility M. Seer, .L. Elmac, . Ceylan............................................................................................ The Effects on Chlorophyll Content of CO2 Enrichment in Camarosa Strawberry Cultivar (Fragaria x ananassa Duch.var. Camarosa) Grown Under High Tunnel .N. Akarolu, S. Seferolu.................................................................................................... Effects on Plant Growth of Camarosa, Rubygem, Festival Strawberry Cultivars of Different Growth Cultures .N. Akarolu, S. Seferolu, V. Akay..................................................................................... The Effects of Oil Olive Waste and Lime Growth on Corn S. Seferolu, J. Frat, M.A. Kaptan......................................................................................... Effect of Different Fertilizing Systems Using Green Manure and Zeoponix on Sunflower Yield and Soil Biochemical Properties F. Daryaei, A. Ghalavand, A. Sorooshzadeh, M.R. Chaichi, F.S. Talebi ............................... Effects of Vermicompost Application on the Growth and NPK Contents of the Lettuce Plant (Lactuca sativa) Under the Different Soils S. ahin, C. Ylmaz, M.R. Karaman ........................................................................................ Effect of Salt Stress on Photosynthetic Pigments in Pistachio Leaves (Pistacia vera cv.Badami-Riz-zarand) inoculated with arbuscular mycorrhizae(glomus mosseae) M. H. Shamshiri, F. Pourizadi, H. R. Roosta, H. R. Karimi ................................................... Effect of Biofertilizer and Chemical Fertilizers on Iron Availability and Yield of Lentil M. Y. Sultan...........................................................................................................................

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH ORAL PRESENTATIONS

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Genotypic Differences in Maize Profitability Hybrid vs. Local Cultivars Applied with Variable Rates of Different Nitrogenous Fertilizer Sources Amanullah Khan
Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Crop Production Sciences, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Agricultural University, Peshawar, Pakistan Corresponding author: draman_agronomist@yahoo.com Nitrogen (N) is one the most important factor affecting maize (Zea mays L.) growth, yield and profitability. To investigate impact of N levels (50, 100, 150 and 200 kg ha-1) and sources [urea, calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN) and ammonium sulphate (AS)] on the economic analysis of maize genotypes (Azam, Jalal and Pioneer-3025), field experiment was conducted at the Agriculture Research Farm of KPK Agricultural University, Peshawar, during summer 2008. The results indicated that among the N-fertilizer sources, the highest net return (Rs.16262 ha-1) was obtained with CAN and the highest VCR (value cost ratio) of 3.7 was noticed with urea. Among the various N levels, the highest net returns (Rs.15219 ha-1) was obtained with 150 kg N ha-1 and further increase in N level decreased net returns. Among the genotypes, the highest net returns (Rs.20527 ha-1) and VCR (2.9) was calculated for maize hybrid Pioneer-3025. Application of urea at the two higher rates (150 and 200 kg N ha-1), CAN at the two medium (100 and 150 kg N ha-1) and AS at the two lower N rates (50 and 100 kg N ha-1) were more economical in terms of net returns. The hybrid, Pioneer3025 showed good response to all three sources of N-fertilizers as compared to the two local cultivars. The Pioneer-3025 had highest net returns when applied with CAN. At all the four levels of N, the performance of Pioneer-3025 was too good than Jalal and Azam. Application of the highest rate of 200 kg N ha-1 to both local cultivars (Jalal and Azam) was not economical. It is suggested that the prices of N-fertilizers should be fixed on the basis of amount of N present in a bag rather than the whole bag. It is injustice with the growers of to buy a bag of AS (21 % N) and CAN (26 % N) at a higher price than urea which contain more N (46 %). The decrease in the prices of AS and CAN in country will not only decrease farmers cost of production on one hand but it could definitely increase crop productivity and its quality as well profitability. Growing maize hybrid could increase maize productivity, reduce risk of food security and enhance growers income in the country. Keywords: maize, Zea mays L., genotypes, N levels, N source, economic analysis

Abstract

Introduction Maize (Zea mays L.) growth is very sensitive to nitrogen (N) application. Because of shorter growing season and fluctuation in the amount of rainfall every year in KPK (Northwest Frontier Province) the rate and timing of N application is considered the most important factors affecting maize growth (Amanullah et al., 2008), phenology and grain yield (Amanullah et al., 2009a). As the land for cultivation is contracting in Pakistan due to increasing population so the future increases in crop production must come from higher yield per unit area. Increased cropping intensity removes plant nutrients especially N from the soil, in addition to natural losses of N. Therefore, application of N at a higher rate and increased number of splits is a key factor in the wheat-maize cropping system of KPK for sustainable maize production and higher net returns (Amanullah and Almas, 2009). Maize is the second most important crop after wheat in KPK but its yield unit-1 area is very low (Amanullah et al., 2009b). Efficient use of N for maize production is important for increasing grain yield, maximizing economic return and minimizing NO3 leaching to ground water (Gehl et al., 2005). Site-specific N application to maize is a way of maximizing yield potential while minimizing fertilizer cost (Kahabka et al., 2004). The selection of fertilizers commonly depends upon price-the least costly fertilizer per kilogram of plant food is the one commonly selected (Plaster, 1992). Getting maximum profitability lies not in reducing rate of fertilizer per unit area but lowering costs per unit crop production through higher yields. Therefore, economic analysis is required for making recommendation for farmers from agronomic experiments. Farmers in Pakistan are profit-oriented, and therefore, they are interested in net returns than the gross returns. In practice, not all farmers, however, can aim for the largest net return because of the generally larger costs involved to other risks associated with farming (Saleem et al., 1986). According to Bhatti, (2006) the risk factors involved in agriculture, a VCR of 2 is recommended for farmers using high technology in Pakistan. A VCR of 2 represents 100 % return on

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH the money invested on N-fertilizer. For farmers with low technology, with no credit available to them or limited capital, a fertilizer rate giving a VCR grater than 2 should be recommended. To increase yields and profits, fertilizers, along with improved farming practices are the best investments farmers can make. Though the existing genotypes and hybrids of maize crop have a high yield potential, soil and climatic conditions of Pakistan are very ideal for its production, yet yield per hectare is very low as compared to many countries of the world. The causes of yield gap include injudicious use of N fertilizer by the farmers. In order to bridge this gap in maize productivity, the package of latest production technology involving the use of the low cost N fertilizer at appropriate level needs to be find out and used to increase maize production as well as net profit of the farmers. The preceding limited literature suggests that N application affect the yield and economics. However, research information is lacking on the interactive effects of genotypes, level and source of N fertilizer on maize in the various agro-ecological wheat-maize growing zones of the world. For sustainable high maize production, research on the interactive effect of genotypes into N-fertilizer source (G x S), genotypes into N levels (G x N) and N source into N levels (S x N) is indispensable. This experiment was therefore performed with an objective to investigate the impacts of different N fertilizer sources and levels on the economic analysis of maize hybrid Pioneer-3025 in comparison to the high yielding local cultivars i.e. Jalal and Azam as check. Materials and Methods Site Description Field experiment was conducted at the Agriculture Research Farm of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) Agricultural University, Peshawar during summer 2008. The experimental farm is located at 34.01o N latitude, 71.35o E longitude at an altitude of 350 m above sea level in Peshawar valley. Peshawar is located about 1600 km north of the Indian Ocean and has continental type of climate. The research farm is irrigated by Warsak canal from river Kabul. Soil texture is clay loam, low in organic matter (0.87 %), extractable phosphorus (6.57 mg kg-1), exchangeable potassium (121 mg kg-1), and alkaline (pH 8.2) and is calcareous in nature (Amanullah et al., 2009a). Experimentation A 4 x 3 x 3 factorial experiment was conducted in randomized complete block (RCB) design with split-plot arrangement using three replications. Factorial experimental treatments were four N (nitrogen) levels [N1 = 50 kg ha-1, N2 = 100 kg ha-1, N3 = 150 kg ha-1 and N4 = 200 kg ha-1] and three N-fertilizer sources [S1 = Urea (46 % N), S2 = Calcium Ammonium Nitrate (26 % N) and S3 = Ammonium Sulphate (21 % N)] applied to main plots, while three maize genotypes [G1 = Jalal, G2= Azam and G3 = Pioneer-3025] were kept in sub plots. One control plot (N not applied) was also used in each replication as check. A sub-plot size of 3.5 m by 3 m, having 5 rows, 3 m long and 70 cm apart was used. A uniform basal dose of 60 kg P ha-1 as single super phosphate and 60 kg K ha-1 as sulphate of potash was applied and mixed with the soil during seedbed preparation. Nitrogen was applied in two equal splits i.e. 50 % at sowing and 50 % at first irrigation (10 days after sowing). Statistical Analysis Data was subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) according to the methods described by Steel and Torrie (1980), and means between treatments was compared by least significant difference (P 0.05). Analysis of variance for different parameters studied is given in Table 8. Economic Analysis Net Return (the value of the increased yield produced as a result of P-fertilizers applied, less the cost of N) and Value-Cost Ratio (the ratio between the value of the additional crop yield and the cost of N) was determined according to the procedures described by Amanullah et al. (2010) and Bhatti (2006). Experimental Results Among the three sources of N, the highest net returns of Rs. 16262 ha-1 (1 USD = 85 Pakistani Rupees) was obtained from those plots applied with CAN, followed by urea (Rs. 14687 ha-1); while the minimum net returns of Rs. 7051 ha-1 was obtained with application of AS. On the other hand,

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH the highest value cost ratio (VCR) of 3.7 was noted for urea, followed by CAN (2.7); while the minimum VCR (1.4) was obtained with application of AS (Table 1). Among the four levels of N, the highest net returns of Rs. 15219 ha-1 was obtained from those plots applied with 150 kg N ha-1, followed by Rs. 14325 ha-1 with 100 kg N ha-1; while the minimum net returns (Rs. 10258 ha-1) was obtained when applied with 50 kg N ha-1. The highest value cost ratio 3.3 was obtained from those plots applied with the lowest rate of 50 kg N ha-1, followed by 100 kg N ha-1 (2.6); while the minimum value cost ratio of 1.6 was obtained with application of 200 kg N ha-1. Value cost ratio showed negative relationship with increase in the rate of nitrogen (Table 1). Among the maize genotypes, the highest net returns of Rs. 20527 ha-1 and the highest value cost ratio of 2.9 was obtained from the plots sown with the maize hybrid Pioneer-3025. The local cultivar, Jalal ranked second in terms of net returns (Rs. 9415 ha-1) and VCR (1.9), but another local cultivar Azam ranked at the bottom in terms of net returns (Rs. 8057 ha-1) and VCR (1.7) as compared to Pioneer-3025 and Jalal (Table 1). Application of urea at the two higher N rates (150 and 200 kg N ha-1) was economical in terms of net returns than applied at the two lower N rates (50 and 100 kg N ha-1) (Table 2). Application of CAN at the two medium N rates (100 and 150 kg N ha-1) was better in terms of net returns than applied at the lowest (50 kg N ha-1) and highest N rates (200 kg N ha-1). In contrast, application of AS at the two lower N rates (50 and 100 kg N ha-1) was more economical in terms of net returns than applied at the two higher N rates (150 and 200 kg N ha-1). The maize hybrid, Pioneer-3025 showed very good response to all the three sources of N as compared to the two local cultivars. However, the highest net return from Pioneer-3025 obtained when applied with CAN, followed by AS and urea. Azam was better than Jalal when both were applied with urea. But Jalal was too good than Azam when both were applied with CAN and AS (Table 3). At all the four levels of N, the performance of Pioneer-3025 was too good than Jalal and Azam. Jalal was better than Azam at three lower rates of N in terms of net returns. Application of the highest rate of 200 kg N ha-1 to both Jalal and Azam was not economical in terms of the lower VCR (Table 4).
Table 1.Comparison in the economic analysis of maize genotypes as affected by N-fertilizer source and their levels. Increase Value in in values Cost of N Source of N Grain yield Pak. over fertilizers Net Value Cost (kg ha-1) Rupees control applied Returns Ratio Urea 3593 53899 20122 5435 14687 3.7 CAN As N applied (kg ha-1) 50 100 150 200 Genotypes Azam Jalal P-3025 3284 3429 4769 49266 51441 71531 19026 20384 31496 10969 10969 10969 8057 9415 20527 1.7 1.9 2.9 3977 3912 59655 58685 25877 24908 9615 17857 16262 7051 2.7 1.4

3228 3792 4144 4146

48423 56877 62160 62193

14645 23100 28382 28415

4388 8775 13163 17551

10258 14325 15219 10864

3.3 2.6 2.2 1.6

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH
Table 2.Comparison in the economic analysis of maize as affected by interaction of N-fertilizer source and their levels (S x N). Source of N Urea N-rates (kg ha-1) 50 100 150 200 50 100 150 200 50 100 150 200 Grain yield (kg ha-1) 2773 3399 4077 4124 3337 4094 4224 4253 3575 3882 4131 4062 Value in Pak. Rupees 41590 50980 61161 61866 50057 61415 63357 63789 53621 58237 61961 60923 Increase in values over control 7813 17203 27384 28088 16280 27638 29580 30012 19844 24460 28183 27145 Cost of N fertilizers applied 2174 4348 6522 8696 3846 7692 11538 15385 7143 14286 21429 28571 Net Returns 5639 12855 20862 19392 12433 19945 18041 14627 12701 10174 6755 -1426 Value Cost Ratio 3.6 4.0 4.2 3.2 4.2 3.6 2.6 2.0 2.8 1.7 1.3 -

CAN

AS

Table 3.Comparison in the economic analysis of maize as affected by interaction of N-fertilizer source and genotypes (S x G). Source of N applied Urea CAN AS Genotypes Azam Jalal P-3025 Azam Jalal P-3025 Azam Jalal P-3025

Grain yield (kg ha-1) 3131 3153 4497 3388 3641 4902 3335 3494 4908

Value in Pak. Rupees 46958 47290 67450 50814 54619 73531 50028 52416 73613

Increase in values over control 16718 16232 27415 26622 29773 41503 25836 27570 41585

Cost of N fertilizers applied 5435 5435 5435 9615 9615 9615 17857 17857 17857

Net Returns 11283 10798 21980 17007 20157 31888 7979 9713 23727

Value Cost Ratio 3.1 3.0 5.0 2.8 3.1 4.3 1.4 1.5 2.3

Table 4. Comparison in the economic analysis of maize as affected by interaction of N-fertilizer rates and genotypes (N x G). N-rates applied (kg ha-1) 50 100 150 200 Grain yield (kg ha-1) 2775 2906 4003 3383 3450 4543 3499 3836 5097 3481 3526 5432 Value in Pak. Rupees 41622 43595 60052 50750 51743 68139 52484 57543 76453 52210 52886 81482 Increase in values over control 17430 18749 28024 26558 26897 36111 28292 32697 44425 28018 28040 49454 Cost of N fertilizers applied 4388 4388 4388 8775 8775 8775 13163 13163 13163 17551 17551 17551 Value Cost Ratio 4.0 4.3 6.4 3.0 3.1 4.1 2.1 2.5 3.4 1.6 1.6 2.8

Genotypes Azam Jalal P-3025 Azam Jalal P-3025 Azam Jalal P-3025 Azam Jalal P-3025

Net Returns 13042 14361 23636 17783 18122 27336 15129 19534 31262 10467 10489 31903

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH
Table 5.Comparison in the economic analysis of maize genotypes as affected by N-fertilizer source and their levels (N x S x G). Source of N applied Control Control Control UREA UREA UREA CAN CAN CAN AS AS AS UREA UREA UREA CAN CAN CAN AS AS AS UREA UREA UREA CAN CAN CAN AS AS AS UREA UREA UREA CAN CAN CAN AS AS AS N-rates applied (kg ha-1) 0 0 0 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 150 150 150 150 150 150 150 150 150 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 Genotypes Grain yield (kg ha-1) 2016 2071 2669 2361 2560 3398 2833 2970 4209 3130 3190 4404 3051 2817 4329 3680 3972 4632 3420 3560 4668 3459 3721 5053 3628 3997 5046 3409 3791 5192 3652 3514 5208 3409 3627 5722 3382 3437 5367 Value in Pak. Rupees 30240 31058 40035 35415 38393 50970 42501 44543 63128 46956 47850 66058 45758 42255 64928 55200 59573 69473 51293 53401 70018 51885 55808 75791 54427 59955 75690 51140 56865 77877 54780 52704 78113 51128 54405 85836 50723 51548 80498 Increase in values over control 5175 7335 10935 12261 13485 23093 16716 16793 26023 15518 11198 24893 24960 28515 29438 21053 22344 29983 21645 24750 35756 24187 44633 35655 20900 25808 37842 24540 21647 38078 20888 23348 45801 20483 20490 40463 Cost of N applied 2174 2174 2174 3846 3846 3846 7143 7143 7143 4348 4348 4348 7692 7692 7692 14286 14286 14286 6522 6522 6522 11538 11538 11538 21429 21429 21429 8696 8696 8696 15385 15385 15385 28571 28571 28571 Value Cost Ratio 2.4 3.4 5.0 3.2 3.5 6.0 2.3 2.4 3.6 3.6 2.6 5.7 3.2 3.7 3.8 1.5 1.6 2.1 3.3 3.8 5.5 2.1 3.9 3.1 1.2 1.8 2.8 2.5 4.4 1.4 1.5 3.0 1.4

Net Returns 3001 5161 8761 8415 9639 19246 9574 9650 18880 11170 6850 20545 17268 20823 21745 6767 8058 15697 15123 18228 29234 12648 33094 24117 -529 4379 16414 15844 12951 29382 5503 7963 30416 -8089 -8081 11891

Azam Jalal Pioneer-3025 Azam Jalal Pioneer-3025 Azam Jalal Pioneer-3025 Azam Jalal Pioneer-3025 Azam Jalal Pioneer-3025 Azam Jalal Pioneer-3025 Azam Jalal Pioneer-3025 Azam Jalal Pioneer-3025 Azam Jalal Pioneer-3025 Azam Jalal Pioneer-3025 Azam Jalal Pioneer-3025 Azam Jalal Pioneer-3025 Azam Jalal Pioneer-3025

Conclusions It is suggested that the government should fix the prices of N-fertilizers on the basis of amount of N present in a bag rather than the whole bag. It is injustice with the farmers to buy a bag of AS (21 % N) and CAN (26 % N) at a higher price than urea which contain 46 % N. There is a huge disparity in price of one kilogram N using different N-fertilizers which is 43, 77 and 143 rupees for urea, CAN and AS, respectively. The prices of both AS and CAN should be 50 percent less than the

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH price of urea. In other words the price of one kilogram N from different N sources should be the same. The decrease in the current high prices of both AS and CAN will not only decrease farmers cost of production on one hand but it could definitely increase the yield, seed quality as well as net returns. Moreover, the government of KPK should encourage the farmers to grow maize hybrids and should provide the hybrid seeds to the farmers on subsidized rate. Growing maize hybrids will at least double maize productivity and will enhance growers income. Yearly seasonal rainfall fluctuation every year in the diverse agro-ecological zones of KPK must be considered in development of technical recommendations. Further studies are underway to illustrate impacts of N rate and source as foliar and soil application using different maize genotypes to increase maize productivity and profitability in the study area. Acknowledgements Financial support from the Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Crop Production Sciences, KPK Agricultural University, Peshawar, is greatly acknowledged.
Ahmad, N. 2000. Fertilizer Scenario in Pakistan Policies and Development. In proceedings of the conference: Agriculture and Fertilizer Use. Planning and Development Division, Government of Pakistan, February 15-16, 1999, NFDC, Islamabad, Pakistan. Amanullah, R. A. Khattak and S. K. Khalil. 2009. Effects of plant density and N on phenology and yield of maize. Journal of Plant Nutrition 32: 245-259. Amanullah, H. Rahman, Z. Shah and P. Shah. 2008. Effects of plant density and N on growth dynamics, light interception and yield of maize. Archives of Agronomy and Soil Science 54: 401-411. Amanullah, L. K. Almas and P. Shah. 2010. Timing and rate of nitrogen application influence profitability of maize planted at low and high densities in Northwest Pakistan. Agronomy Journal 102: 575-579. Annonymus. 2007. Pakistan Statisyical Year Book 2007. Statistics Devision, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Statistics, Govt. of Pakistan, Islamaabad (www.statpak.gov.pk/depts/fbs/pub). Azeez, J.O., M.T. Adetunji, and S.T.O. Lagoke. 2006. Response of low-nitrogen tolerant maize genotypes to nitrogen application in a tropical Alfisol in northern Nigeria. Soil and Tillage Research 87:274-295. Chung, R. S., C. H. Wang, C. W. Wang and Y. P. Wang. 2000. Influence of organic matter and inorganic fertilizer on the growth and nitrogen accumulation of corn plants. Journal of Plant Nutrition 23: 297-311. Gardner. F.P., R.B. Pearce and R.L. Mitchell. 1985. Physiology of Crop Plants. Iowa State University Press. Ames. Iowa, USA. Gehl, R. J., J. P. Schmidt, L. D. Maddux, and W. B. Gordon. 2005. Corn yield response to nitrogen rate and timing in sandy irrigated soils. Agronomy Journal 97: 1230-1238. Greef, J. M., H. Ott, R. Wulfes, and F. Taube.1999. Growth analysis of dry matter accumulation and N uptake of forage maize cultivars affected by N supply. Journal of Agriculture Science 132: 31-43. Halvorson, A.D., F.C. Schweissing, M.E. Bartolo, and C.A. Reule. 2005. Corn response to nitrogen fertilization in a soil with high residual nitrogen. Agronomy Journal 97: 1222-1229. Jovanovic, Z., T. Djakovic, R. Stikic, I. J. Prokic, and V. H. Sukalovic. 2004: Effect of N deficiency on leaf growth and cell wall peroxidase activity in contrastin maize genotypes. Plant and Soil 265: 211-223. Kahabka, J. E., H. M. Van, E. J. McClenahan, and W. J. Cox. 2004. Spatial Analysis of Maize Response to Nitrogen Fertilizer in Central New York. Precision Agriculture 5: 463-476. Pandey, R. K., J. W. Maranville, and M. M. Chetima. 2000. Deficit irrigation and N effects on maize in a Sahelian environment II. Shoot growth, N uptake and water extraction. Agriculture and Water Management 46:15-27 Plenet, D., A. Mollier, and S. Pellerin. 2000. Growth analysis of maize field crops under deficiency. Radiation-use efficiency, biomass accumulation and yield components. Soil Science Journal 165: 259272. Shah, Z., S.H. Shah, M.B. Peoples, G.D. Schwenke, and D.F. Herriedge. 2003. Crop residue and fertilizer N effects on nitrogen fixation and yields of legume-cereal rotations and soil organic fertility. Field Crops Research 83: 1-11. Steel, R.G.D., and J.H. Torrie. 1980. Principles and Procedures of Statistics. McGraw-Hill, New York, USA.

References

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH

Effect of Addition of Date Palm Wastes and Rice Hull to the Soil on Growing Indices of Cucumber in Greenhouse Culture
Ahmad Mohammadi Ghehsareh1 and Maliheh Hematian2 and Narjes Mohammadi3
1,2

. Department of Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Islamic Azad University, Khorasgan Branch, Isfahan, Iran 3 Department of Breeding Science, Imam Khomeini International University of Ghazvin. Ghazvin, Iran Corresponding author: mghehsareh@yahoo.com Different substrates have several materials which could have direct and/or indirect effects on plant growth and development. The use of different organic and inorganic substrates allows that plants have best nutrient uptake and sufficient growth and development to optimize water and oxygen holding. This research was carried out using a completely randomized design with six treatments and seven replications. The treatments were including pure palm peat, pure rice hull, soil+5%(weight) palm peat, soil+5%(weight) rice hull, soil+5%(weight) palm peat+5%(weight) rice hull and pure soil. During plant growth Papadopolus formula with fertigation method used for nutrient solution. In this research the physiochemical characteristics of cultivation substrates were measured and some growth indexes were measured at the end of growth period. The results showed that amount of prosity, water holding capacity (WHC) and CEC in Date-Palm peat was higher than soil and rice hull but amount of bulk density in Date-Palm peat was lower than others. Also the results showed that many growth parameters were affected by the substrate and most amounts of yield, plant height, number of fruits in each plant and plant height related to palm peat (100%) and had significant differences at 5% level as compared with other substrates. Results of this investigation showed that plant growing indices for cucumber when cultured only in date Palm waste and Rice hull substrates were sufficient and when these materials added to the soil, although caused to amendment of physiochemical property of media but the plant growing indices were decreased. Keywords: palm peat, rice hull, yield, greenhouse cucumber, soil.

Abstract

Introduction Crop residues of common cultivated crops are an important resource not only as a source of significant quantities of nutrients for crop production but also affecting soil physical, chemical, and biological functions and properties and water and soil quality. When crop residues are returned to the soils, their decomposition can have both positive and negative effects on crop production and the environment. (Kumar and Goh1999). The use of different organic and inorganic substrates allows the plants the best nutrient uptake and sufficient growth and development to optimize water and oxygen holding (Verdonck et al., 1982). Soil organic matter is one of the most important constituents of soils due to its capacity in affecting plant growth indirectly and directly (Bongiovanni and Lobartini, 2006). Indirectly, it improves the chemical and physical conditions of soils by increasing cation exchange capacity, termed buffering effect, and enhancing aggregation, aeration and water retention. Improvement of soil biological properties affects soil microbial diversity and population, thereby creating a suitable environment for root growth of plants and soil microbes (Senesi and Loffredo, 1999). According to Aisueni and Omoti (1999), the palm oil industries are one of the significant sources of agricultural wastes which can be used as organic fertilizers. Solid wastes generated from agricultural activities such as crop residues, animal excreta etc. requires special attention for its disposal. Applications of these wastes into agricultural soil after bio-processing not only supplies nutrients to the plants, but also improve its physical, chemical and biological properties as well as fertility of the soil (Bansal and Kapoor, 2000). Solid wastes can be either directly added to the soil (Singh and Agrawal, 2007, 2009, 2010a,b; Silva et al., 2010) or sometimes require some treatment prior to its soil amendment (Hassen et al., 2001). When organic and nonorganic or their mix used as substrates, observed that growing indexes were sufficient. Hassan dokht (2009) used tea waste and bark as soil amendment and then cultured lettuce. They reported that the plants cultured in tea waste+ bark + soil treatment had more yield as compared with alone soil treatment, but amount of TSS and growth indices in tea waste+ soil treatment was

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH higher than bark + soil treatment. Investigations showed that addition of rice hull to soil in rice farm caused to increasing in yield in long time (Eagle 2000). The results of use of zeolite, vermiculite and some organic materials as media for hydroponic tomato production showed that the lowest yield was obtained from the rice hull and mixtures of rice hull with other materials. The highest of yield, shoot dry weight and number of cluster per pot were obtained from cocopeat and perlite+mica media (Saberi, 2006). Borji etal(2010) investigated the effect of some media include date-palm peat, perlite, cocopeat and mix of these materials on growing indices of tomato. Their results showed that fruit yield, fruit number, stem length, titrable acidity and ascorbic acid( in fruit) in different media had not any significant differences. Samiei and etal investigated effect of peat moss and date-palm wastes as substrates on growing of Aglaonema and his result showed that peat moss and date-palm peat were similar in some characteristics (Samiei et al, 2005). The effect of some culture substrates as Date-palm peat, Cocopeat and Perlite on some tomato growing indexes studied by Mohammadi Ghehsareh and et al (2011). The treatments include Coco peat + Perlite (v/v=50%) Date-palm peat + Perlite (v/v=50%) Perlite (100%) and Date-palm peat(100%). Higher amount of Total Soluble Solids (TSS) related to Coco peat + Perlite treatment that had not any significant difference with Date-palm peat + Perlite, Perlite and Date-palm peat treatments. Comparison of tomato growing indices in different substrates include Perlite, Datepalm1(without incubation time) and Date-palm2 (with 3 months incubation time) studied by Mohammadi Ghehsareh and et al( 2011) and results showed that fruit yield, plant height and fruit number of tomato in different substrates had not any significant differences at 5% level but stem diameter and biomass in Date-palm1was higher than other media and had significant differences at 5% level. According to present evidences original birthplace of date palm tree were in south of Iran and Iraq but today it cultivated in more areas of world. Total number of date palms around the world are about 100000000. More than 50% of palms in the world exist in the three countries include Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia and so 21% of date palms exist in Iran. Total of date palm wastes that annually were product in the world are about 4.5 million ton (Barreveld, 1993; FAO, 2002) that 900000 ton of these wastes belongs to Iran. So rice hull content that product in the Iran is about 0.5 million ton/year. Currently, appropriate management and optimize procure is not to use this material at now. It seems that residues and wastes of date-palm and rice hull can used as a substrate in greenhouse cultivation or it can add to soil for improve the chemical and physical conditions of soils. The objective of present research is study on effect of combination of data-palm waste and Rice hull on yield and quality of greenhouse cucumber. Material and Method This research was carried out in a research greenhouse of Islamic Azad University, Khorasgan branch, using a completely randomized design with six treatments and six replications. The treatments were including pure palm waste, pure rice hull, soil+5%(weight) palm waste, soil+5%(weight) rice hull, soil+5%(weight) palm waste +5%(weight) rice hull and pure soil. Cucumis Stativus cultivar was used for seed. Average temperature of day and night were 30 and 180C respectively and proportional humidity was 37.1-61.2 percent. During plant growth irrigation rate, temperature, humidity, pest control for all treatments were similar. During plant growth Papadopolus formula with fertigation method used for nutrient solution (Papadopolus 1991 and 1994; Benton Jones J 2005) that adjusted its pH until 5.5 to 6. According to plant water requirement, irrigation interval was done for 1-3 times per day. In this research the physiochemical characteristics of cultivation substrates like Bulk density, porosity, water holding capacity, OC, CEC, EC, total porosity and pH were measured. The physiochemical characteristics of treatments such as total porosity have measured by Baruah and Bartakor method (1998). Also EC, CEC and pH have measured by Rhoades method (1982) and OC by Walcky Black method (1934). EC and pH were measured in extraction with 1:2 ratios. Microorganism population was measured with counting procedure. Some growth indices including stem diameter, height of plant, dry mass of shoot, dry mass of root, TSS of fruit, weight single
10

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH fruit, index of leaf surface, fruit stiffness index, fruit length, fruit diameter, pedicel length, chlorophyll and fruit yield were measured at the end of growth period. The analysis of all data was done by SPSS statistical software and Duncan's multiple range test was used for comparison of treatment means when F values were significant at p<0.05. Result and Discussion Physiochemical property of media: Some physiochemical properties of substrates presented in table 1 and 2. The soil texture was sandy loam and its bulk density was higher than other substrates. Amount of bulk density in Palm waste was minima (0.04 g/cm3), therefore root media aeration in this treatment is better than others. Porosity percentage that is an index for root media aeration was high for Palm waste substrate (86%) and it was low for soil (37%). When root media aeration is sufficient, supply of water and nutrient elements for plants is easily. Amount of EC (Electric Conductivity) in soil was more than other substrates and this term in palm peat was lower than others but according to amount of leaching requirement (20%), it seems that difference of EC in substrates had not important effects. Amount of CEC in substrates very different and higher and lower amounts related to Palm waste and soil respectively, therefore the palm waste media had more capacity for supplement of nutrient elements for plant. Table 1- Some physiochemical properties of substrates. Substrate Palm waste Rice hull Loamy soil Porosity (%) 86 73 37 WHC % 92 88 78 bulk density (gr/cm3) 0.04 0.09 1.25 OM % 84.48 88.52 3.52 EC (ds/m) 1.28 2.24 2.34 pH 6.7 6.2 7.1 CEC (Cmol/kg) 95 72.6 43.1

Mohammadi Ghehsareh et al(2011), Mohammad Khiyami et al(2008) and Borji et al (2010) had similar results. Growing indices: Some growing indices of cucumber plant presented in tables 2. Amount of cucumber yield in different substrates had significant difference at 5% level as compared with other treatments. Higher and lower amount of fruit yield related to Palm waste and S+ Pa5%+Rh5% treatments respectively. Also most amount of plant height, stem diameter and shoot dry mass related to palm waste media that had significant differences at 5% level as compared with other treatments. Amount of bulk density, Porosity, WHC and CEC in Date Palm waste were maxima as compare with other media and these physiochemical properties were affected on plant growth indices and fruit yield. Sufficient conditions in the palm peat media caused to good support of water and nutrient elements for plant and leading to good growth (Olympious 1992; Kumar and Goh, 1999). Results of comparison means of the root weight in dry condition showed that high amount of root weight related to palm waste and rice hull media that had significant difference at 5% level with other treatments. The roots of cucumber plant had more growing in the Palm waste and rice hull because porosity in this substrate was higher than others and so bulk density in these media was lower as compared with other treatments and therefore resistance of substrate to root motion in these media was minima. As result root growing in the date palm waste and rice hull was higher than other treatments.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Table 2- Effect of media on yield and some growth indices of cucumber. Fruit Plant Stem shoot dry substrate yield height diameter (g)mass (Kg) (cm) (cm) Palm waste 3.67d 328.1c 1.8b 88.4c c b a Rice hull 2.12 260 0.9 55.4b Loamy soil 1.82c 258.9b 0.9a 41.9 a b b a 247.4 0.9 42.4a S+Pa5% 1.41 b a a 196.6 0.9 36.1a S+Rh5% 1.46 S+Pa5%+Rh5% 1.04a 234ab 0.9a 40.5a Chlorophyll % 50.94 63.24 35.13 48.12 47.13 45.25

Root dry mass (g) 3. 5b 3.9c 1. 8a 1.7 a 2.0a 2.7ab

* S= soil, Pa= Palm waste, Rh = Rice hull. **different letters in each row represent significant differences and same letters don't represent significant differences in 5% level.

Amount of Chlorophyll in the rice hull media was higher and had significant difference with other treatments and so soil substrate had lowest amount of Chlorophyll. The weight of single fruit in S+Pa5%+Rh5% treatment was highest and had significant difference as compared with other substrates. The lowest amount of TSS was observed in date palm waste, that had significant difference with other substrates. The lowest fruit stiffness index was related to loamy soil substrate and the highest amount of fruit stiffness index was related to S+5%Pa substrate, and it had significant difference as compared with other substrates. Fruit length in the palm waste substrate was lowest and had significant difference with other substrates although other substrates had not any significant difference together. Highest amount of fruit diameter related to S+5%Pa, S+5%Rh and S+Pa5%+Rh5% treatments and had significant difference with other substrates and so most amount of pedicel length related to S+Pa5%+Rh5%. These results were similar to Olympious (1992) and Kumar and Goh (1999) views about effect of physiochemical properties of media on plant growth and yield. Results of Mohammadi Ghehsareh et al( 2011) on tomato showed that fruit yield in Date Palm and Perlite had not any significant differences at 5% level. So Saberi( 2009) considered that lowest and highest amount of tomato yield obtained from rice hull and perlite media respectively. A lot of these results were similar to Mohammadi Ghehsareh et al (2011), Borji e tal (2010), Hessami (2010) investigations. So Tzortzakis (2008) showed that higher yield, higher total number of fruits per plant, fruit weight, fruit firmness and total soluble solid of tomato obtained from plants grown in organic media (Maize) as compared with inorganic media. Table 3. Some growing indexes of cucumber that cultivated in different media. substrate Palm waste Rice hull Loamy soil S+Pa5% S+Rh5% S+Pa5%+Rh5 % WSF(g) 85.1a 77.9a 82.9a 82.7a 89.4a 93.6b TSS (brix%) 2.67a 2.75ab 3.58b 3.58b 3.33ab 3.58b fruit stiffness index (Kg/cm2) 1.92ab 1.83ab 1.42a 2.25b 1.83ab 1.75ab Fruit length (cm) 12.5a 13.5b 13.6b 13.5b 13.8b 13.9b Fruit diameter (cm) 2.9ab 2.8a 2.9abc 3c 3c 3c Pedicel length (cm) 3.2b 2.9a 2.6a 2.7a 3.4bc 3.9d

*WSF= weight of single fruit. **different letters in each row represent significant differences and same letters don't represent significant differences in 5% level.

Some researchers reported that when organic wastes were added to the soil, it improves the chemical and physical conditions of soils and thereby creating a suitable environment
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH for root growth of plants (Senesi and Loffredo, 1999, Bongiovanni and Lobartini, 2006, Kay, 1998, Bansal and Kapoor, 2000, Hassan dokht 2009, Eagle 2000) but in this study observed when date palm waste and rice hull added to the soil, some growing indices decreased. Although addition of palm waste and rice hull to soil caused to improve of physiochemical properties of mix media but amount of cucumber yield in soil+5%(weight) palm waste+5%(weight) rice hull media was lowest and it was lower than soil media. This results may be related to micro organism population in different substrates because micro organisms population in the soil, Palm waste and rice hull were 830*107, 490*107 and 335*107 respectively before plant was cultured. Micro organism population in the soil was higher and when mixed with organic matter (Palm waste and rice hull), activity of micro organisms for organic matter mineralization increased and caused to competition between plant roots and micro organism for nutrient elements uptake. The organic wastes that were used in this study were fresh and have not passed fermentation period therefore mineralization process maybe lead to decreasing in fruit yield and number of fruit in the soil+5% (weight) palm waste+5% (weight) rice hull treatment. Conclusion Results of this study clearly showed that date palm waste has a great potential to be used as the culture media for plant growth in hydroponic systems. It is as good and in several aspect better than rice hull (an organic culture media). Date palm waste provided both better physical and chemical environment for plants growth and plants grown in this media produced more fruit and higher yield compared to the other media used in this research. When cucumber plant cultured only in date Palm waste and rice hull substrates the growing indices were sufficient and when this materials especially date Palm waste added to the soil, although caused to amendment of physiochemical property of media but the plant growing indexes decreased. It seems with mixing of organic wastes with soil, micro organism population and its activity in rizospher for organic wastes mineralization can affect on plant activity so that effect of physiochemical property of media that amended with mixing were neutralized. Therefore in mixing process with soil, we propose that will use date Palm waste after complete its fermentation and composting process. References Aisueni, N O., Omoti, U., (1999) The making of compost from empty oil palm bunch refuses. Books of abstracts. Soil Science Society of Nigeria Conference, Benin; 2125:489. Bansal, S., Kapoor, K K., (2000) Vermicomposting of crop residues and cattle dung with Eisenia fetida. Bioresource Technology ;73:958. Barreveld, W H., (1993) Date palm products. FAO, Agriculture Services Bulletin No. 101. Baruah, T C., Barthakur, H B., (1998) A Textbook of Soil Analysis. Vikas Publishing House PMT Ltd: New Dehli, India, pp: 282. Benton, Jones J., (2005) A Practical Guide For The Soilless Grower. CRC Press. Bongiovanni, M D., Lobartini, J C., (2006) Particulate organic matter, carbohydrate, humic acid contents in soil macro- and microaggregates as affected by cultivation. Geoderma 136, 660 665. Borji, H., Mohammadi Ghehsareh, A., Jafarpour, M., (2010) Effects of the Substrate on Tomato in Soilless Culture. Research Journal of agriculture and Biological Sciences, 6(6): 923-927. FAO., ( 2002) Date Palm Cultivation, FAO Plant Production And Protection Paper, No 156 Rev 1. Hassen, A., Belguith, K., Jedidi, N., Cherif, A., Cherif, M., Boudabous, A., (2001) Microbial characterization during composting of municipal solid waste. Bioresource Technology; 80:217 25. Hassan dokht, M., mostor,i F., Yadasht Dehkaei, M., ( 2001). The effect of tea waste and bark on culture media and qualitative and quantitative property of greenhouse lettuce. J of Hort Sci of Iran.40( In Persia).

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Hessami, A., Amini, F., Sarikhan,i S., Beiraghdar, A., (2010). The usage of date palm waste as replace with cocopeat in strawberry hudroponic culture. 2th national conference in agriculture and sustainable development. Shiraz, Iran ( in Persia). Kumar, K., Goh, K M., (1999) Crop Residues and Management Practices: Effects on Soil Quality, Soil Nitrogen Dynamics, Crop Yield, and Nitrogen Recovery. J Advances in Agronomy: Vol 68.P: 197-319. Mohammadi Ghehsareh, A., Borji, H., Jafarpour, M., (2011). Effect of some culture substrates (Date-palm peat, Cocopeat and Perlite) on some growing indexes in greenhouse Tomato.AJMR Mohammadi Ghehsareh, A., Samadi, N ., Borji, H., (2011). Comparison of date-palm wastes and perlite as growth substrates on some tomato growing indexes. African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 10(24), pp. 4871-4878. Mohammad Khiyami., Ibrahim Masmali., Mohammad Abu-khuraiba., (2008) Composting a Mixture of Date Palm Wastes, Date Palm Pits, Shrimp, and Crab Shell Wastes in Vessel System. Saudi Journal of Biological Sciences 15 (2) 199-205. Olympious, C M., (1992) Soilless media under protected cultivation rockwool, peat, perlite and other substrates. Acta Hort. 401: 443-451. Papadopolus, A D., (1991) Growing greenhouse tomatoes in soil and soilless. Communication Branch, Agriculture Canada. Ottawa. P:79. Papadopolos, A P., (1994) Growing Greenhouse Cucumbers in Soil and in Soilless Media.108p. Samiei, L., KHalighi, A., Kafi, M,, Samavat, S., Arghavani, M., (2005) An investigation of substitution of peat moss with palm tree celluloid wastes in growing aglaonema (Aglaonema Commutatum Cv. Silver Queen).Iranian Journal of Agriculture Science. 36(2):503-510.(in Persian). Rhoades, JD., (1982) Cation exchange capacity. In A.L. Page (ed.), Methods of soil analysis Saberi Z, Khoshgoftarmanesh AH, Kalbasi M, Mobli M .2006. Usage of Zeolite, Mica and some neutral materials as substrates for tomato cultured in hydroponic method. MS thesis, Isfahan University of Technology. p. 116. Silva, J D C., Tamara, LTB., Ademir, AS., Rau, M A., Regina, L F G., Wanderley, J M ., (2010) Effect of different tannery sludge compost amendment rates on growth, biomass accumulation and yield responses of Capsicum plants. Waste Management;30(10):197680. Singh, R P., Agrawal, M., (2010 b) Effect of different sewage sludge application on growth and yield of Vigna radiata L. field crop: metal uptake by plant. Ecological Engineering ;36:96972. Singh, R P., Agrawal, M., (2007) Effects of sewage sludge amendment on heavy metal accumulation and consequent responses of Beta vulgaris plants. Chemosphere 2007;67:2229 40. Singh, RP., Agrawal, M., (2009) Use of sewage sludge as fertilizer supplement for Abelmoschus esculentus plants: physiological, biochemical and growth responses. International Journal of Environment and Waste Management;3:91106. Singh, RP., Agrawal, M ., (2010 a) Variations in heavy metal accumulation, growth and yield of rice plants grown at different sewage sludge amendment rates. Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety;73:63241. Tzortzakis, N., Economaki,s G C D., ( 2008) Impacts of the substrate medium on tomato yield and fruit quality. Hort culture Science. 2:83-89. Verdonck, O., Vleeschauwer, D., De Boodt, M .(1982) The influence of the substrate to plant growth. Acta Hort. (ISHS) 126:251-258. Walkley, A., Black, I A., (1934). An examination of the Degtjareff method for determining soil organic matter and a proposed modification of the chromic acid titration method. Soil Sci.37:2938.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH

Integrated Plant Nutrient Supply and Management Strategies for Combating Land Degradation and Sustaining Crop Productivity: Lessons from Long-Term Fertilizer Experiments
Dept. of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India Land degradation is a major concern in agriculture because of non-judicious use of agricultural inputs and over exploitation of natural resources and has emerged as a great threat to enhance nutrient use efficiency and sustain crop productivity.The depletion of nutrient reserves from the soil is often a hidden form of land degradation. On the contrary, excessive application of nutrients or inefficient management leads to environmental problems, especially if large quantities of nutrients are lost from the soil plant system into water or air. The most important soil degradation processes in agricultural systems are nutrient supplying capacity, fertility depletion and loss of soil organic carbon. The decline in yield and fatigue in productivity have been noticed in various cropping systems of different agro-eco-regions. Soil organic carbon and the associated major and micronutrients are the critical components of soil fertility which determine the yield sustainability of cropping systems. The efficiency of fertilizer use depends on several factors including type of soil. Nutrient use efficiency and grain yield of crops depends upon the adequate and balanced fertilization. The results from several long term fertilizer experiments conducted in different agro-ecological regions involving diversified cropping systems and soil types have shown that the imbalanced fertilizer use, particularly N alone, had a deleterious effect on soil productivity and health and the damaging effects in the absence of P and K fertilizers varied in the order. Alfisols > Vertisols > Inceptisols > Mollisols. In a period of less than ten years crop productivity in N alone plots came to almost zero in Alfisols. Integrating organic manure (FYM @ 10-15 tons ha-1) with 100% recommended NPK fertilizer doses not only sustained high productivity but also maintained fertility in most of the intensive cropping systems and soil types. The results further revealed that soil type is one of the most important factor affecting fertilizer use efficiency and crop yields. Therefore, sustained efforts are needed to improve and maintain this most important natural resource base the soil through judicious integration of mineral fertilizers, organic and green manures, crop residues and bio-fertilizers so that it nourishes intensive cropping without being irreversibly damaged in the process. Development of site-specific integrated plant nutrient supply (IPNS) and management strategy is therefore, a viable option for enhancing nutrient use efficiency and sustaining the productivity of cropping systems. The basic concept underlying IPNS is the maintenance or adjustment of soil fertility and plant nutrient supply to an optimum level for sustaining the desired crop productivity through optimization of benefits from all possible sources of plant nutrients in an integrated manner. IPNS is an approach ecologically, socially and economically viable and environmentally un-hazardous.

Anand Swarup

Abstract

Introduction Improving and maintaining soil fertility for enhancing nutrient use efficiency and sustaining agricultural production is of utmost importance for Indias food and nutritional security. Though India is a food surplus nation at present with more than 200 mt food grains production per annum, it will require about 8-10 Mt additional food grains each year if the trend in rising population persists. This challenge can be met by greater and more efficient use of fertilizers particularly N,P and K and organic sources. With globalization, Indian agriculture is passing through a critical phase. It is confounded with increasing crop production, sustainability and long-term environmental quality issues. Answers to these questions can be sought by the long-term experiments which are valuable repositories of information regarding the sustainability of intensive agriculture. Many factors influence the complex chemical, physical and biological processes which govern soil fertility and productivity. Changes in fertility caused by imbalanced fertilizer use, acidification, alkalinity and declining soil organic matter (SOM) may take several years to appear. These properties in turn can be influenced by external factors such as atmospheric pollution, global climate changes or land use management practices. Long-term experiments provide the best possible means of studying changes in soil properties, nutrient dynamics and processes and identifying emerging trends in nutrient imbalances and deficiencies and to formulate future strategies for maintaining soil health. In fact, agricultural scientists have recognized the long-term sites as invaluable tools in the study of agro-ecosystem dynamics. But, the renewed emphasis on such studies has arisen from the growing notion that certain soil processes are long-term in nature

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and must be studied as such. In view of growing importance of long-term experiments for addressing current and future agricultural and environmental issues Dawe et al (2000), Powlson et al (1998), Swarup (2001,2002), Swarup and Wanjari (2000) and Swarup et al (1998, 2000) made extensive efforts to review and document available data on (i) yield trend analysis, soil properties and key sustainable indicators such as organic carbon and pH under long-term experiments which can not be measured from short- term studies and (ii) identified regional fertility constraints and opportunities to increase agricultural productivity through integrated plant nutrient supply (Swarup and Gaunt 1998; Swarup, 2004). These experiments have provided very valuable data which are highly relevant for farmers, scientists and policy makers. The outcome from these experiments is discussed herewith. Effects of Long-term Fertilizer Use on Crop Productivity 1. The responses to fertilizers were in the order of NPK>NP>N but the degree of response to individual nutrients varied with the locations. The rate of response declined in some cases sharply even after a few years whereas at some others the decline was gradual. The decline was more when high yields were obtained continuously for a number of years with high dose of NPK fertilizers, causing a severe drain from the soil of other essential plant nutrients which became limiting factors for crop production (Table 1). 2. Continuous use of N alone resulted in decline in yield at all the centers except at Coimbatore, Ludhiana and Pantnagar and had deleterious effect on long- term fertility and sustainability, indicating that other major and micro nutrients were becoming limiting factors and adequate response to N could not be obtained unless those factors limiting yield were taken care of. The decline in yield with N alone was most spectacular at Palampur, Ranchi and Bangalore. Incidentally, these are also the acid soils where there were severe deficiencies of both P and K. 3. Locations having Vertisols or Vertic Ustropept type of soils such as at Jabalpur and Coimbatore, P deficiency is so severe that without its application crop yields were extremely poor and the benefits of N and K application were not realized at all. 4. Super- imposition of treatments at Pantnagar showed beneficial effects of S, Zn and FYM application. Response to Zn is clearly evident at Ludhiana also. Thus the addition of Zn and S becomes essential after a few cycles of intensive cropping at most of the locations. Thus next to N,P and K, the deficiencies of Zn and S are also becoming the major yield limiting factors in most of intensive cropping systems and appropriate changes in fertilizer use policy are needed for sustaining high productivity. 5. Up to a number of years the responses to the treatment NPK +10/15t FYM/ha were as good as NPK at 100/150% alone but continuous use of these treatments after some years started showing less responses to NPK alone than to NPK+FYM treatment over the years. This indicates that some micro-nutrients or secondary nutrients like Zn and S were becoming yield limiting factors. These nutrients are provided by FYM besides supplying additional quantities of NPK and it has beneficial effect on the physical properties and biological condition of soil. It has to be recognized that 15 t FYM of an average quality can add annually 75-100 kg N, 50-75 kg P2O5 and 170-200 kg K2O per hectare, Farmyard manure helped in sustaining the yield over the years at all the locations and the results were spectacular in Alfisols at Palampur, Bangalore and Ranchi; in Mollisol at Pantnagar and in Vertisol at Jabalpur. 6. The effect of NPK+FYM treatment was most conspicuous on maize than on wheat in the maize-wheat system at Palampur and Ludhiana. In these cases the improvement of physical condition of the soil and additional nutrient supply effect (N, P, K, Zn and S) could have produced synergistic effects also. 7. The scheduling of P, K, Zn and S application to the more responsive crop in the sequence should receive attention. As for instance, in a rice-wheat system application of P to wheat and that of K, Zn and S to rice is more beneficial. Similarly in maize-wheat cropping system, Zn, S and FYM applications are more beneficial to maize than to wheat. However, the residual effect of FYM was more conspicuous in wheat at Palampur. 8. The residual and cumulative effect of FYM was also reflected in the enhanced production of subsequent crops. The effect of NPK (100% optimal) + farmyard manure (15 t/ha) on crop yields in acid soils (Ranchi and Palampur) was comparable to or often superior to that of NPK + lime
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indicating that to a certain extent the benefits of liming were met by the FYM which also has a buffering effect on soil acidity correction, as confirmed by changes in pH status of Palampur and Ranchi soils. For attaining high yield potential liming has to be accompanied with optimal doze of NPK. Recommended dose of NPK sustained high productivity of cassava than FYM alone treatment in an acid Ultisol at Trivandrum. NPK + FYM sustained high productivity of soybean and wheat over NPK or N+FYM treatment at Almora. 9. The results of the experiments at different locations have clearly brought out that Yield declines when imbalanced fertilization continued for long periods.Yield stagnates or declines when input levels are kept constant and/or sub-optimal. There are evidences of a downward shift in the entire fertilizer response function at all the levels of fertilizer applications which mean lesser increases due to application of same dose of plant nutrients. In other words there is a need for application of heavier doses of fertilizer to obtain same yield. Application of FYM over and above 100% of the recommended NPK invariably sustains high productivity over the years. Continuous cropping without adequate inputs decreases indigenous soil N, P and K supply. In case of acid soils, application of N alone aggrevates the problem of acidity. Application of lime helps in correcting acidity, but for attaining high yield potential liming has to be accompanied with optimal doze of NPK (Table 2). Similarly, application of gypsum based on gypsum requirement of soil is extremely important in attaining high yields and maximizing nutrient use efficiency in alkali soils of the Indo-Gangetic Plains and improving organic carbon status of the soil(Table 3) Long-term fertilizer experiments conducted over 25 years in different agro-ecoregions of India involving a number of cropping systems and soil types (Inceptisol, Vertisol, Mollisol and Alfisol) have shown a decline in SOC as a result of continuous application of fertilizer N alone (Swarup 1998). Balanced use of NPK fertilizer either maintained or slightly enhanced the SOC over the initial values. Application of farmyard manure (FYM) and green manure improved SOC which was associated with increased crop productivity. Considering the nutrient removal by crops and supply through different sources under intensive cropping systems, it is seen that removal is far greater than the supply. It is, therefore, extremely important to maintain SOC at a reasonably stable level, both in quality and quantity, by means of suitable addition of organic materials or crop residues. Maintenance of soil organic carbon is an important tool for crop productivity and sustainability. Other important benefits of SOC in low-input agro-ecosystems are retention and storage of nutrients, increased buffering capacity, better soil aggregation, improved moisture retention, increased cation exchange capacity. The addition of organic carbon improves soil structure, texture and tilth, activates a very large portion of inherent microorganisms and reduces the toxic effects of pesticides.

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Table 1.Average grain yield of crops (t ha-1) over the years in long-term experiments on yield stability and productivity Centre Crops Control N NP NPK NPK NPK+FYM NPK-S/ NPK 100% 150% 100% +S/lime +Zn INCEPTISOLS Barrackpore Rice 1.6 3.5 4.0 4.4 4.2 3.1 3.5 (1972-97) Wheat 0.8 2.1 2.3 2.4 3.0 2.5 2.4 2.4 Bhubaneswar Rice 1.6 2.1 2.2 2.8 3.0 3.5 2.4 2.8 (1973-94) Rice 1.4 2.1 2.8 3.0 3.3 3.7 3.0 3.1 Coimbatore Finger0.7 1.0 2.8 2.8 3.0 3.3 2.8 2.8 (1972-95) Millet Maize 0.6 0.8 2.7 2.9 3.1 3.4 2.9 3.0 Delhi Maize 1.2 1.6 1.8 2.1 2.4 2.3 2.1 2.2 (1994-96) Wheat 2.2 3.5 3.9 4.3 4.9 4.6 4.8 4.8 Hyderabad Rice 1.1 2.6 3.4 3.6 4.3 4.7 2.8 3.0 (1972-95) Rice 1.0 1.8 2.2 2.6 3.3 3.4 2.3 2.5 Ludhiana Maize 0.4 1.4 1.8 2.3 2.4 3.2 2.4 2.7 (1972-95) Wheat 1.0 2.7 4.1 4.8 4.9 4.9 4.9 4.9 VERTISOL Jabalpur Soybean 1.0 1.2 2.0 2.2 2.2 2.3 2.0 2.0 (1972-96) Wheat 1.1 1.4 4.0 4.3 4.5 4.7 4.3 4.0 MOLLISOL Pantnagar Rice 3.4 5.0 5.0 5.4 5.4 6.2 5.7 5.2 (1972-96) Wheat 1.6 3.8 3.8 3.9 4.2 4.6 4.2 3.8 ALIFISOLS Palampur Maize 0.3 0.6 2.0 3.2 4.0 4.6 4.0 3.6 (1973-97) Wheat 0.3 0.4 1.8 2.5 3.0 3.3 3.1 2.5 Ranchi Soybean 0.8 0.4 1.0 1.6 1.5 1.9 1.9 (1973-97) Wheat 0.9 0.5 2.4 2.8 2.9 3.1 3.0 Bangalore Finger0.6 0.9 1.4 4.0 4.8 4.6 3.9 4.0 (1986-95) Millet Maize 0.4 0.7 1.0 2.3 2.5 2.7 2.3 2.2 Table.2 Changes in soil properties in a permanent manurial experiment at Ranchi after 28 years of maize wheat cropping sequence Treatment PH Organic carbon (%) Grain Yield (t ha-1) Maize Wheat Control 6.1 0.54 0.50 0.76 N 3.3 0.56 0.11 0.12 NP 3.4 0.61 0.55 1.20 NPK 3.5 0.64 0.80 1.70 NPK+Lime 6.7 0.61 4.16 4.10 FYM 6.4 0.93 2.80 2.50 Initial 6.0 0.53 Source: Sarkar, A.K. (1998) Table 3. Effect of long-term sesbania green manuring on sustainability of rice-wheat and soil properties in a gypsum amended sodic soil. Treatment Average grain yield (t ha-1) Soil properties after 1992 Rice Wheat Org. Carbon Olsens P (1985-91) ( 1985-92) (g kg-1) (kg ha-1) pH Fallow-rice-wheat 5.4 2.7 2.3 13.5 8.8 Green manure- 6.8 3.6 3.8 36.7 8.5 rice-wheat CD ( P=0.05) 0.5 0.5 0.3 4.5 Source: Swarup,A( 1998)

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Enhancing Nutrient Use Efficiency for Maximizing and Sustaining Crop Production Efficient management of nutrients constitutes one of the most important factors to achieve agronomic and environmental targets of intensive crop production systems. Agricultural intensification requires increased uptake of nutrients by crops. The depletion of nutrient reserves from the soil is often a hidden form of land degradation. (Swarup and Ganeshamurthy, 1998; Swarup et al. 2000). On the contrary, excessive application of nutrients or inefficient management leads to environmental problems, especially if large quantities of nutrients are lost from the soil plant system into water or air. Enhancing and sustaining crop production by improving plant nutrient management together with a better use of other production factors is thus a major challenge. The Green Revolution in the sixties led to self-sufficiency in food production but still we require about 8-9 Mt tons additional food grains each year if the trend in rising population persists. Although fertilizer use has already increased tremendously, still Indian Agriculture is being budgeted at an annual deficit of about 8-10 Mt. Accomplishment of the enhanced rate of productivity requires that soil fertility be either enhanced or at least sustained at the present level. Recently, concerns have been raised regarding consequences of fertilizer use, more particularly of N fertilizers. This makes some sense as fertilizer recovery efficiency of N seldom exceeds 50 percent. A major portion of applied fertilizer is lost from soil plant system by leaching, run off, denitrification and volatilization and pollutes the soil, water and air. Overmining of Nutrients Intensive cropping invariably results in heavy withdrawal of nutrients from soils and its success largely depends upon the judicious application of inputs commensurate with the nutrient uptake. The nutrient uptake values generally provide a reliable estimate of the nutrient requirements under varying agro-ecological regions which would form the basis for the development of a sound fertilizer recommendation strategy for realizing higher productivity and maintaining soil fertility. The average uptake of major nutrients by the crops at 100 % NPK treatments of selected intensive cropping systems are presented in Table 4.
Table 4: Nutrient uptake in long-term fertilizer experiments under intensive cropping systems in India Nutrient uptake (kgha-1yr-1 Cropping Soil type Yield(t ha-1) -----------------------------------N P K Total Maize-wheat-cowpea (F) Inceptisols 6.8 0.6 240 45 250 535 Rice-wheat-jute fibre Inceptisols 6.5 1.5 250 50 275 575 Maize-wheat-cowpea (F) Mollisols 9.5 1.9 260 65 295 620 Rice-rice Inceptisols 6.2 150 40 175 365 Soybean wheat Vertisols 6.3 285 44 225 554 Soybean wheat Alfisols 4.2 220 35 170 425 Fingermillet maize Alfisols 6.5 210 42 215 467 Fingermillet maize Inceptisols 6.5 245 40 270 555 Groundnut-wheat Alfisols 2.9 106 18 65 189 Sorghum-Sunflower ybrids Vertisols 2.9 89 42 117 248 Source: Swarup (2006)

The uptake of any nutrient is a function of yield and nutrient concentration in the plant. It is apparent that nutrient removal (NPK) can be as high as 620 kgha-1yr-1. In general, the exhaustive cropping systems in respect of nutrient removals are rice-wheat, rice-rice, maize-wheat and soybean-wheat. A look at differences between the nutrients applied and the nutrient uptake with optimal 100 % NPK dose indicated a positive balance of N and P and negative in respect of K on almost all the soils with minor differences occurring in respect of cropping systems. At the national level it is estimated that annually 34-35 Mt of nutrients are removed from the soil, whereas only 24-25 Mt are supplied from fertilizers and organic sources thus leaving a negative balance of about 10 Mt. The continuous nutrient imbalance can become staggering when we consider the future needs for food. Thus food security is very much related to fertilizer use. For feeding a population of 1.4 billions by 2025, India will need to produce 311 Mt food grains. For producing this much food India will need at least 45 Mt plant nutrients, out of which at least 35 Mt should come from chemical fertilizer sources containing 5.6-8.8 Mt P2O5 + 2.3 to 4.7 Mt K2O and
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the rest nitrogenous fertilizers. At least 10 Mt nutrients should come from organic manures, crop residues and bio-fertilizers. Fertilizer Use Efficiency Fertilizer use efficiency refers to the proportion of applied nutrients recovered by the crop. It is commonly expressed as a percentage of fertilizer used by the crop or alternatively in terms of crop yield per unit of fertilizer (e.g. kg grain per kg of applied nutrient). Fertilizer use efficiencies very widely and usually decrease as fertilizer rates increase. Nitrogen efficiency based on grain yield, rarely exceeds 50 to 60 % and can be as low as 20 %. First year fertilizer efficiencies are normally 10 to 30 % for P and 20 to 60 % for K, although efficiencies can be greater over the long-term because of the residual properties of these immobile nutrients. Continuous use of N alone produced the greatest yield decline at a majority of sites. Responses to N declined with the passage of time, while responses to P and K improved due to increased soil P and K deficiency (Table 5, Swarup 2002). Fertilizer N, P and K use efficiency of crops improved considerably with balanced NPK fertilization Application of FYM in conjunction with 100% NPK further enhanced their use efficiency (Table6) A recent review of worldwide data on N use efficiency for cereal crops from researcher managed experimental plots reported that single year fertilizer N recovery efficiencies averaged 65% for corn, 57% for wheat and 46% for rice (Ladha et al., 2005). Nitrogen recovery in crops grown by farmers rarely exceed 50% and is often much lower. A review of best available information suggests that the average N recovery efficiency for fields managed by farmers ranges from about 20 to 30% under rainfed conditions and 30 to 40% under irrigated conditions. Cassman et al. (2002) found that the N recovery averaged 31% for irrigated rice grown by Asian farmers and 40% for rice under field specific management. In India, N recovery averaged 18% for wheat grown under poor weather conditions, but 49% under good weather conditions. The best management practice (BMP) for achieving optimum nutrient use efficiency is applying nitrogen (nutrient) at right rate, at right time and in the right place.
Table 5.Nutrient response ratio (kg grain/kg nutrient) in long-term fertilizer experiments: 1973-77 vs 199296. Location,soil and Nitrogen Phosphorus Potassium Crops 1973-77 1992-96 1973-77 1992-96 1973-77 1992-96 Palampur(Alfisol) Maize 14.6 Wheat 4.3 Ranchi (Alfisol) Soybean 10.4 Wheat 7.8 Coimbatore(Inceptisol) Finger millet 3.1 Maize 1.7 Bhubaneshwar(Inceptisol) Rice(kharif) 6.7 Rice(rabi) 11.2 Jabalpur(Vertisol) Soybean 26.0 Wheat 7.0 Source : (Swarup,A 2002) 1.6 3.1 8.1 1.4 5.4 1.3 2.6 3.2 8.4 0.5 13.9 13.4 6.1 29.9 35.3 32.7 1.05 1.8 7.9 20.2 20.6 21.2 10.6 38.2 43.9 28.6 5.5 14.1 7.7 41.1 2.4 3.6 4.1 1.0 11.4 1.3 6.9 2.7 2.9 8.4 20.0 13.2 20.6 15.9 13.4 14.5 8.2 5.5 13.7 6.0

20

Table 6: Apparent N, P and K use efficiency (100%) of crop under various treatments at Ludhiana Crops No.of Crops 100% N 100%NP 100%NPK 100%NPK+FYM N use efficiency Maize 25 Wheat 25 32.2 P use efficiency Maize 25 Wheat 25 K use efficiency Maize 25 Wheat 25 Source: (Brar and Pasricha ,1998)

51.4 10.0 21.0 -

64.0 17.6 30.4 43.0 93.0

68.2 28.4 34.2 59.0 108.0

Alleviation of nitrogen stress caused by waterlogging in salt affected soils Saturation and/or temporary flooding conditions often occur for short periods during the growing season of crops like wheat, barley, mustard pearlmillet, maize, sorghum and sunflower which are not adapted to wetland conditions. Such an occurrence is very common in alkali soils of the IndoGangetic plains. Nitrogen deficiency triggered by saturation was an important cause of low yields. Decrease in oxygen diffusion rates (ODR) of soils and in the uptake of P, K and Zn by the crop also occurred.These detrimental effects were overcome by supplementing extra dose of nitrogen at the time of first and second irrigation (top dressing) which alleviated N deficiency and enhanced the uptake of P, K and Zn by the crop (Swarup and Sharma 1993). Increasing the rate of N from 80 to 120 and 140 kg/ha under saturated conditions restored the green colour of the plants and significantly improved yield and N yuptake (Table 7). Table 7. Effect of water stagnation and topdressed N on wheat yield Treatment N(kg/ha) Top dressed Yield(T/ha) Total N uptake Kg/ha
Basal Ist Irrigation 40 40 40 40 40 Iind irrigation 40 40 50 60 70 Grain Straw Grain+ Straw

Water regime

Apparent N recovery(%) 87.8 40.9 46.1 66.5 97.3 -

T1 Drained T2 Undrained T3 Undrained T4 Undrained T5 Undrained LSD (P=0.05)

40 40 50 60 70 -

3.29 1.79 1.90 2.67 3.74 0.68

0.58 0.45 0.48 0.50 0.55 0.04

26.0 64.0 91.3

Source( Swarup and Yaduvanshi 2004)

Environmental Consequences Fertilizer N, P and K after their application in soil undergo transformation in physical, chemical and biological processes. For example, dynamics of N in the soil-plant-atmosphere system includes various soil processes (mineralization, immobilization, urea hydrolysis nitrification, volatilization, denitrification and N movement in soil), the processes pertaining to above ground plant growth, and nitrogen uptake by crops. Soil type is one of the most important factors in affecting fertilizer use efficiency and soil productivity (Kumar et al. 1995; Swarup 2002). Phosphorus after its application in soil is either removed by crop or gets immobilized into various insoluble forms (Fe and Al-phosphate and Ca-phosphate in alkaline soils) and gets fixed in soil clays or organic matter. The use efficiency of P does not exceed 20 percent. Significant amount of P is lost from the soil through surface run off and erosion resulting in eutrophication of water bodies. Potassium is the most abundant plant nutrient in soil having illitic type of clay mineral. It is more mobile than phosphate and is susceptible to loss by leaching, run off and erosion. The K use efficiency is about 70 %. Loss of K is a waste but carries no environmental concern. The major environmental consequences related to fertilizer use are: (i) nitrate pollution of ground water, (ii)

21

eutrophication, (iii) ammonia volatilization, (iv) acid rain, (v) green house affect, (vi) damage to crops and soil organisms, and (vii) trace element and heavy metals contamination (Swarup 2006). References Brar, B.S. and Pasricha,N.S. (1998) Long term studies on integrated use of organic and iorganic fertilizers in maize-wheat-cowpea cropping system on alluvial soil of Punjab. In:Long Term Soil Fertility Management through Integrated Plant Nutrient Supply. Eds. A.Swarup etal. Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal pp 154-168. Dawe, D., Doberman, A., Moya, P., Abdulrachman, S., Singh, Bijay, Lal, P.L., Lin, B., Panaullah, G., Sariam, O., Singh, Y., Swarup, A., Tan, P.S. and Zhen, Q-X.(2000). How widespread are yield declines in long term rice experiment in Asia. Field Crops Research. 66:175-193 Kumar, D., Swarup.A, and Kumar, V. 1995. Effect of N application and pre-submergence periods on ammonia volatilization losses from rice field in a sodic soil. Journal of Agriculture Science. (Cambridge.) 125: 95-98. Powlson, D.S.,Poulton, P. R. and Gaunt, John L. (1998) The role of long term experiments in Agricultural Developments. In: Long-Term Soil Fertility Management through Integrated Plant Nutrient Supply. A Swarup et al.(Eds) Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal pp 1-15. Ladha,J.K.,Pathak,H.,Krupnik,T.,Six,J. and Vankessel,C.(2005).Efficiency of fertilizer nitrogen in cereal production:retrospects and prospects.Advances in Agronomy. 87:85-156. Sarkar,A.K. (1998). Integrated Nutrient Management System for Sustainable Crop Production in Eastern Regions. In A.Swarup et al.(Eds) Long Term Soil Fertility Management through Integrated Plant Nutrient Supply. Pp 112-124, IISS, Bhopal Swarup, A. (1998).Emerging soil fertility management issues for sustainable crop production in irrigated eco-system. In: A.Swarup et al (Eds) Long Term Soil Fertility Management through Integrated Plant Nutrient Supply. Pp 54-68. IISS Bhopal. Swarup, A. (2001) Lessons from Long-Term Fertility Experiments, Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal pp 4. Swarup, A. (2002). Lessons from long-term fertilizer experiments in improving fertilizer use efficiency and crop yields. Fertilizer News 47(12): 59-73. Swarup, A. (2004). Chemistry of sodic soils and fertility management. In: Advances in Sodic Land Reclamation. U.P. Council of Agricultural Research, Lucknow. PP 27-47. Swarup, A. (2006). Fertilizer use In: Environment and Agriculture:K.L. Chadha and M.S. Swaminathan (Eds) pp 172-191. Malhotra Publishing House, New Delhi. Swarup,A and Sharma, D.P. (1993). Influence of top-dressed nitrogen in alleviating adverse effects of flooding on the growth and yield of wheat in a sodic soil. Field Crops Res. 35:93-100 Swarup, A. and Ganeshmurthy, A.N. (1998). Emerging nutrient deficiencies under intensive cropping systems and remedial measures for sustainable high productivity. Ferilizer News 43(7): 3750 Swarup, A. and Gaunt, John L. (1998). Working Group Discussions: Regional fertility constraints and strategies for improved crop productivity. In: Long-Term Soil Fertility Management through Integrated Plant Nutrient Supply. Eds.A. Swarup et al. Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal pp 326-332. Singh, G.B. and Swarup, A. (2000) Lessons from Long-Term Fertility Experiments Fertilizer News 45 (2), pp 13-18 & 21-24. Swarup, A. and Wanjari, R.H. (2000). Three decades of All India Coordinated Research Project on Long Term Fertilizer Experiments to Study Changes in Soil Quality. Crop Productivity and Sustainability. Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal pp 59. Swarup, A.and Yaduvanshi,N.P.S. (2004).Nutrient Stress Management for Sustaining Crop Production in Salt Affected Soils. CSSRI Bulletin No.1/2004, Central Soil Salinity Research Institute ,Karnal p 35. Swarup, A. Reddy, D and Prasad, R.N. (Eds.) (1998). Long-Term Soil Fertility Management through Integrated Plant Nutrient Supply. Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal pp 333. Swarup, A. Manna, M.C. and Singh, G.B. (2000). Impact of land use and management practices on organic carbon dynamics in soils of India. In: Advances in Soil Science. Global Climate Change and Tropical Ecosystems R. Lal et al.(Eds) pp 261-281. CRC/Lewis Publishers Boca Raton, FL (USA).

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH

Effect of potassium sulfate on water deficit tolerance in some crops

M. Yarnia1*, M.B.Khorshidi Benam2, S. Khosravi Far3, S. Rahimi3, E. Mozaffari3
1- Associate prof. Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, Tabriz Branch, Islamic Azad University. Tabriz, Iran. * Corresponding Author : Email: yarnia@iaut.ac.ir and m.yarnia@yahoo.com 2- Assistant Prof. East Azarbaijan Agricultural and Natural Research Center. Tabriz, Iran 3- Msc. Graduated Student, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz Branch. Iran.

One of agricultural extension ways, is crop management in water deficit regions, which not only decreased crop production, but also decreased crops production area. For studying the role of potash on yield and some physiologic attributes' changes of potato, corn and sunflower in water deficit conditions, three experiments were conducted in Islamic Azad University, Tabriz branch in 2008-2010 as RCBD based split plot. Water deficit range was from normal until 30% plant water need based on evaporation from pan A and potassium sulfate from 0 to 225 kg/ha. Water deficit led to lower water potential in plants and closed stomata that decreased leaf area and yield in potato, corn and sunflower more than 52.95% 81.01% and 36.92%, respectively. However, applying potassium sulfate increased these crops yield more than 29.44, 68.6, and 27.5%, respectively in compare to control. This was related to increasing photosynthesis by optimizing stomata efficiency with setting stomata number in leaf abaxial and adaxial, leaf relative water and chlorophyll content. Therefore, applying potassium sulfate to soil (generally in water deficit conditions) can regulate physiologic functions and improve plant growth and production by increasing plant efficiency from 20 to 70% that can extension crops to arid and semi arid region. Key words: Potash, water deficit, crop extension, potato, corn and sunflower

Abstract

Introduction

Drought is one of the most important factors that limits crops growth in all over the world, and is the most common environmental stress, which has limited nearly 45 percents of global cultivated areas (Burton et al., 1988). Potassium deficit has the most adverse effect in dry condition. Drought causes most problems in sufficient uptake of potassium by crops, because most amounts of potassium uptakes via the thin layers around the soil particles and they are going to thinner in drought condition. Higher potassium concentration in soil solute helps facilitate deliverance to roots. This subject represents importance of high application of potassium in dry areas (Anonymous, 1998). Plant reaction to potassium can be direct or indirect. Transpiration decreasing, increasing water uptake and/or inner resistance to drought are some of the direct reactions. Indirect reaction occurs when potassium application has no value to plant-water relation, but increases yield as an instance of nutritional cause (Goksoy et al., 2004). On the base of Johnson and Krauss (2003) estimation, diurnal uptake of five Kg potassium per hectare by plant, needs nearly 120 M of this element concentration in soil solution, this requirement increases in dry soils to about 4 times as 490 M in order to diurnal same uptake. Pre sowing application of potassium can increase soybean yield in drought condition. Application method is effective on the crop yield, so that foliar application of potassium may increase yield after potassium deficit (Wang et al., 2004). Potassium increases plant root growth in drought condition by decreasing osmotic potential and increasing turgor pressure in winter wheat. In water deficit condition, potassium increases leaf relative water content (RWC) and cell membrane stability in corn (White, 2003). In this paper, the role of potassium was evaluated on water deficit tolerance of three important crops (potato, corn and sunflower).

Materials and Methods

This study was conducted on potato (cv. Agria), corn (cv. JETA) and sunflower (cv. Euroflur) in three separated investigation in Islamic Azad University, Tabriz branch Agricultural Research Station in 2008-2010 as a RCBD based split plot design. On the base of soil test, soil textural class in research field was sandy loam. Other soil characteristics were as pH: 8.1-8.2, available potassium: 182-210 ppm, available phosphorous: 5-6 ppm, total nitrogen: 0.06-0.11% which indicated nitrogen deficit in the soil. Water application levels in potato were as irrigation after 35 (S0), 70 (S1), 105 (S2), 140 (S3) and 175 (S4) mm evaporation from class A pan, and in both of corn and sunflower were as irrigation after 50 (D0), 90 (D1), 130 (D2) and 170 (D3) mm evaporation
23

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH from class A pan. In study on potato, potassium application were: 0 (k0), 75(k1), 150 (k2) and 225(k3) kg potassium sulfate in hectare, these levels were changed as 0 (F0), 50 (F1), 100 (F2), 150 (F3) and 200 (F4) kg/ha in corn and sunflower. In all of the three, water and potassium application levels were arranged in main and sub plots, respectively. Potassium sulfate was applied as pre sowing in soil. In these researches, leaf area and chlorophyll content index were measured via leaf area meter (ADM- 100) and chlorophyll meter (CM-200), respectively. Adaxial and Abaxial stomata numbers were counted in view zone of microscopic with 40x magnification in objective glass. Leaf relative water content (RWC) was measured from the third top leaf of canopy in the flowering time through fallowing equation: RWC= [(Wf-Wd)/(Ws-Wd)]100. Where: Wf, Wd and Ws are fresh, dry and saturated weights of leaf, respectively (Pier and Berkowitz, 1987). Stomata resistance was measured and recorded by poremeter (AP4). Potato tuber yield and corn and sunflower grain yield were measured as ton per hectare (t/ha). Statistical analysis was done by MSATAC software and means were compared by Least Significant Difference Test (LSD) in the 5% probability level. Result of these studies showed that potato leaf chlorophyll content increased with irrigation intervals enhancement. In compared with S0, leaf chlorophyll content in S1, S2, S3 and S4 increased 38.28, 72.03, 81.49 and 92.37%, respectively (Table 1). Drought stress enhancement decreased cell volume as result of prevention of cell dimension increase, and consequently concentrate cell sap. These three factors increased leaf chlorophyll content (Marschner, 1995). But this attribute was decreased in corn and sunflower by irrigation intervals enhancement. Greatest leaf chlorophyll content index was observed in D0 as 54.49 in corn and 44.10 in sunflower, and its least was in D3 as 31.9 and 34.46 in corn and sunflower, respectively (Table 2). Egilla et al., (2005) reported that leaf chlorophyll content of Onobrychis radiata and Onobruchis viciifolia was decreased in drought stress. Leaf chlorophyll content decreasing in drought stress in comparing with non-stress condition is possibly due to acceleration of leaf chlorosis and senescence. Potassium applying increased leaf chlorophyll content in corn and sunflower. Maximum leaf chlorophyll content occurred in 200 kg/ha potassium sulfate as 54.43 and 42.51 in corn and sunflower, respectively, and its least was in non application of potassium sulfate as 32.23 in corn and 34.65 in sunflower. In compared with 0 kg/ha potassium sulfate, application of 50, 100, 150 and 200 kg/ha of potassium sulfate showed an ascendant increase in corn leaf chlorophyll content index as 10.15, 23.02, 31.93 and 39.27%, respectively, and 5, 12, 15 and 19 % in sunflower (Table 3). Potassium application increased leaf chlorophyll content through encourages of nitrate reductase activity and nitrate reduction in crops. In other hand, potassium as a main ion in company with nitrate, participate in long distance translocation inner the xylem. It also has a role in substance reservation into vacuole and increases leaf chlorophyll content with nitrate reduction in leaves (Havlin and Westfall, 2005). Drought decreased leaf area in this study. Decreasing leaf area by drought was prevented considerably with increasing potassium application, so the least potato leaf area was observed in S4K1 and its greatest was in S3K1. This subject represented that maximum and minimum of leaf area decreased 67.11% and increased 503.04%, respectively in compared with S0K0 (Table 1). Highest leaf area in corn and sunflower was occurred in D0 as 0.66 and 0.21 m2, respectively, and its least was in D3 as 0.355 m2 in corn and 0.08 m2 in sunflower. Corn leaf area in D0 was 23.1, 38.83 and 46.35% and sunflower leaf area was 22, 36 and 170% more than D1, D2 and D3, respectively (Table 2). Potassium sulfate application enhancement as 0 to 200 kg/ha increased leaf area in these two crops. Maximum leaf area was 0.66 m2 in corn and 0.18 m2 in sunflower in 200 kg/ha potassium sulfate and its least were 0.34 and 0.10 m2 in corn and sunflower in 0 kg/ha potassium sulfate, respectively. In compared with non application of potato, corn and sunflower, corn and sunflower leaf area increased 94.44 and 72% by application of 200 kg/ha potassium sulfate, respectively (Table 3). Wiebold and Scharf (2006) reported that, as a result of potassium application, corn leaf area in drought was even more than normal condition.

Results

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH As the same time with potassium sulfate application, number of abaxial and adaxial stomata number was increased with irrigation intervals enhancement. Minimum abaxial stomata number of potato was in S1K0 as 45.30 and its maximum was in S4K3 as 82.22, as well as, least adaxial stomata number of the crop was 9 in S0k3 and its maximum was 23.31 in S3k1 (Table 1). In the corn, maximum adaxial and abaxial stomata number in D3 were 17.65 and 25.43, respectively, and their minimum occurred in irrigation after 50 mm evaporation from the pan as 14.43 and 18.73, respectively (Table 2). Maximum adaxial and abaxial stomata number of sunflower were in 150 kg/ha potassium sulfate as 25 and 31, respectively, and their least occurred in 0 kg/ha potassium sulfate as 18 and 21, respectively (Table 3). Therefore, in these two crops stomata number enhancement in abaxial surface is more than adaxial one. Occurrence of this state may be a strategy to catch more atmospheric CO2 or increase CER in drought condition, in fact, the crops increase stomata number in abaxial surface to ignore passive closure of stomata (Hinton, 2001). Maximum adaxial and abaxial stomata number of corn was 18.6 and 26.6 in 200 kg/ha potassium sulfate, respectively, and their minimum were 13.51 and 18.16 in 0 kg/ha potassium sulfate. This enhancement in sunflower was observed as 18 to 23 in adaxial and 24 to 29 in abaxial stomata number (Table 3). With increasing water deficient intensity, stomata length and width were decreased in both of corn and sunflower. Greatest adaxial stomata length and width were observed in D0 as 2.149 and 1.127 m, respectively, and their least were 0.686 and 0.794 m in D3 (Table 2). Potassium application increased adaxial and abaxial stomata length and width. Maximum adaxial stomata length and width were in 200 kg/ha potassium sulfate as 2.127 and 1.06, respectively, and their least were 1.707 and 0.811 m in 0 kg/ha potassium sulfate. Consumption of 50, 100, 150 and 200 kg/ha potassium sulfate resulted to increasing 8.43, 12.77, 16.98 and 24.6% in adaxial stomata length and 12.23, 17.26, 22.4 and 30.73% in its width, respectively (Table 3). Changing in adaxial stomata dimensions was as same as abaxial ones, so that greatest abaxial stoma length and width of corn were 2.055 and 1.187 m in D0 and their least were in D3, respectively (Table 2). Maximum abaxial stomata length and width were observed in application of 200 kg/ha potassium sulfate as 1.978 and 1.167 m, respectively, and their least were 1.559 and 0.676 in non application of the fertilizer (Table 3). In attention to main role of potassium in changing stomata cells turgor pressure, potassium concentration enhancement in these cells results to water entrance from subsidiary cells to guard cells. This subject causes turgor pressure increase in guard cells and consequently stoma will be open and its dimension is going to increase (Marschner, 1995). Adaxial stomata length of sunflower in non application of potassium sulfate changed with drought development from D0 to D3 as 1.350, 1.200, 1.047 and 0.64, respectively. These observations were 1.607 to 0.98 in application of 200 kg/ha potassium sulfate. Thus, potassium application in drought condition has prevented intensive diminish of stomata length. With increasing water deficit stress from D0 to D3, abaxial stomata length was decreased significantly in all of potassium application levels. So that, abaxial stomata length in 0, 50, 100, 150 and 200 kg/ha potassium sulfate in compared with same application of potassium in D0 was decreased as 75%, 57%, 60%, 56% and 52%, respectively. Greatest adaxial and abaxial stomata width were observed in D0 as 0.83 and 0.79 m, respectively, and their least were 0.47 and 0.48 m in D3. Maximum adaxial and abaxial stomata width of sunflower were in application of 200 kg/ha potassium sulfate as 0.7 and 0.73 m and their minimum were 0.59 and 0.55 in non application of the fertilizer, respectively (Table 3). In order to prevent transpiration as a result of stomata number increasing, stomata number enhancement is accompanied with stomata dimensions decreasing in water deficit stress. Effect of stomata dimensions diminish on water exit is more than CO2 entrance. Water exit is occurred from stomata circumferential and CO2 enters from stomata area. Because main part of gas exchange is through abaxial stomata (Devaux et al., 2003). In all of three studied crops, RWC was decreased, as its minimum in potato was 44.87 in S4k0 and its maximum was 70.85 in S0k2. This matter represents that minimum and maximum of this attribute were decreased as 28.02% and increased as 13.63%, respectively in compare with S0k0. In all of potassium application levels minimum rate of RWC was observed in S4 as maximum water deficit stress, but decreasing of its intensity was diminished with potassium application (Table 1). Highest RWC in corn and sunflower were in D0 as 63.31 % and 72.46 %, respectively, but their least were observed in D3 as 53.68% in corn and 52.4% in sunflower (Table 2). Plant water uptake
25

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH is decreased with drought stress enhancement which causes diminish in plant RWC (Gupta, 2005). Wastgate (1994) and Boyer (1998) found that water movement into leaf depends on water potential gradient between xylem and leaf, so that water potential decrease in xylem causes decrease in water potential gradient. Maximum RWC in corn and sunflower were observed in F4 as 65.71% and 62.53%, respectively, and their minimum were 53.18% and 52.54% in non application of potassium. Leaf RWC enhancement with increasing potassium application is justifiable with increasing root surface, promotion of water uptake ability, stomata movement adjustment, evaporation coefficient diminish and osmotic pressure enhancement (Leigh, 1989). Potato tuber yield was decreased with increasing irrigation intervals, so that in compare with S0 tuber yield in S1, S2, S3 and S4 was decreased 36.3, 13.96, 46.32 and 52.97%, respectively. Tuber yield increased with potassium application, so that, its maximum and minimum was observed in K3 and k0, respectively. Tuber yield was increased in k1, k2 and k3 as 14.24, 23.32 and 29.44%, respectively in compared with k0 (Table 1). Highest corn and sunflower grain yield was in D0 as 1522 and 577.4 kg, respectively, and its least was observed in D3 as 288.1 and 364 kg (Table 2). This subject showed that corn yield is sensitive to water deficit stress more than sunflower. Corn grain yield was increased in 50, 100, 150 and 200 kg/ha potassium sulfate as 19.84, 34.64, 51.62 and 68.80%, respectively in compared with 0 kg/ha potassium sulfate, while this increase in sunflower was 8, 13, 20 and 27%, so that, potassium requirement of corn is more than sunflower (Table 3).
Table 1: Mean comparison of interaction between irrigation levels and potash application in potato Irrigation Level Potassium Application Leaf area (m2/plant) 0.318 0.165 0.144 0.089 0.048 0.089 0.126 0.172 0.156 0.871 0.111 0.206 0.304 0.471 0.356 0.378 0.138 0.131 0.130 0.113 0.1179 Adaxial stomata number 56.900 45.300 52.723 75.000 74.763 58.053 57.680 57.503 66.130 68.620 57.710 46.413 61.663 66.050 75.413 50.750 57.020 59.200 71.400 52.220 11.35 Abaxial stomata number 15.163 11.373 15.000 20.050 16.500 10.130 15.500 14.783 23.213 16.500 10.500 10.500 15.550 22.500 16.750 9.000 10.000 15.027 19.420 17.000 3.268 Leaf relative water content (%) 62.350 65.293 62.090 60.243 44.876 65.920 59.580 59.203 62.570 45.180 70.850 62.763 61.060 62.420 52.603 69.333 61.663 62.703 60.673 49.513 5.323

S0=35 K0 S1=70 K0 S2=105 K0=0 kg S3=140 K0 S4=175 mm K0 S0 K1 S1 K1 S2 K1=75 kg S3 K1 S4 K1 S0 K2 S1 K2 S2 K2= 150 S3 K2 S4 K2 S0 K3 S1 K3 S2 K3=225 S3 K3 S4 K3 LSD 1%

26

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH

Table 2- Mean comparison of water deficit stress effect on corn and sunflower attributes

Irrigation levels 50 90 130 170

Chlorophyll content Index Corn sunflower 54.49a 44.10a 40.87b 38.30b 35.84bc 36.71b 31.9c 34.46c

Leaf Area (m2.plant-1) corn sunflower 0.6612a 0.215a 0.5084b 0.166b 0.4044bc 0.136b 0.3547c 0.087c RWC (%) corn sunflower 63.31a 72.46a 61.27a 67.87b 58.33ab 60.30c 53.68b 52.4d

Grain Yield (g.m-2) Corn sunflower 1522a 577.4a 1196a 475.0b 576.1b 410.2c 288.7b 364.0c

Table 2: Continued

Irrigation levels

50 90 130 170

Adaxial stomata Length corn sunflower 2.055a 1.354a 1.93a 1.2b 1.686b 1.06b 1.546b 0.845c

Abaxial stomata width corn sunflower 1.127a 0.832a 1.020a 0.715b 0.838b 0.602c 0.795b 0.479d

Adaxial stomata No. corn sunflower 18.73c 21.92c 20.39bc 24.97b 23.26ab 27.82b 25.43a 31.91a

Abaxial stomata No. Corn sunflower 14.43b 18.15c 15.68b 20.25b 17.19a 22.05b 17.65a 24.26a

Abaxial stomata Length Corn sunflower 2.149a 1.434a 2.027a 1.258b 1.823b 1.112b 1.686b 0.66c

Adaxial stomata width Corn sunflower 1.09a 0.791a 0.987b 0.662b 0.778c 0.555c 0.744c 0.475c

Table 3- Mean comparison of Potash effect on corn and sunflower attributes

Chlorophyll content Index corn 31.23d 34.76cd 40.57bc 45.88ab 51.43a sunflower 34.65d 36.19cd 37.82c 40.78b 42.51a corn 53.18d 56.53c 59.16b 61.18b 65.71a RWC (%) sunflower 52.54d 55.32c 58.21b 60.11b 62.53a Grain Yield (g.m-2) Corn 663.5d 795.2c 893.4c 1006b 1120a sunflower 400.4c 432.9b 455.9b 484.3a 509.7a

K2SO4 (kg.ha-1)

27

0 50 100 150 200

Leaf Area (m2.plant-1) corn sunflower 0.342d 0.11c 0.421c 0.137bc 0.463c 0.159ab 0.520b 0.162ab 0.665a 0.187a

Table 3: Continued
Abaxial stomata width corn 0.811c 0.910b 0.951b 0.993ab 1.060a 0.731a 0.696b 23.38b 26.60a 0.647c 21.74c 0.619d 19.87d 0.593e 18.16e 24.13c 25.28bc 26.30b 28.30a 29.27a sunflower corn sunflower Adaxial stomata No. Abaxial stomata No. Corn 13.51c 15.23b 16.30b 17.55a 18.6a sunflower 18.63d 20.40c 21.33bc 22.23ab 23.30a Abaxial stomata Length Corn 1.71d 1.85c 1.93bc 1.99b 2.13a sunflower 1.058c 0.935d 1.135b 1.183b 1,268a Adaxial stomata width Corn 0.717c 0.841bc 0.930b 0.985b 1.029a sunflower 0.553d 0.583cd 0.613c 0.653b 0.700a

K2SO4

Adaxial stomata Length

(kg.ha-1)

corn

sunflower

1.56d

1.025c

50

1.72c

1.075bc

100

1.84b

1.113b

150

1.93a

1.155b

200

1.98a

1.21a

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Discussion It is most possible that available water decrease for crops is one of the main causes for yield diminishes in arid and semiarid years which are same with 130 (D2) and 170 (D3) mm evaporation from class A pan conditions in this study. In addition, the results of this study showed that application of 50, 100, 150 and 200 Kg/ha potassium sulfate increased crops yield in compared with non application of this fertilizer. In fact, yield enhancement was the result of yield components increase. Totally, it is concluded that potassium application results in drought tolerance enhancement in many of crops in water deficit condition and practically moderates adverse effect of water deficit on yield diminish. To deal with drought, potassium application can be a strategy for growers in conditions with different drought stresses.
References Anonymous. (1998). Potassium reduces stress from drought, cool stress and compaction. Better Crop. 82(3): 34-36 Boyer, J.S., (1998). Relationship of water potential to growth of leaves. Plant Physiol. 43: 1056 1062 Burton, G.W., Kvien, C.S. and Maw, B.W. (1988). Effect of drought stress on productivity of pearl millet. Crop Sci. 22: 802-811. Devaux, A., Camacho, M.R., Mamani, P. and Ledent, J.F., (2003). Effect of water shortage on six potato genotypes in the highlands of Bolivia (II): Water relations, physiological parameters. Agronomie, 23:181190. Egilla, N., Davies, F.T. and Boutton, T.W., (2005). Drought stress influences leaf water content, photosynthesis, and water use efficiency of Hibiscus rosa sinensis at three potassium concentrations. Biomedical and Life Sciences. 43(1): 135 140. Goksoy, A.T., Demir, A.O., Turan, Z.M. and Dagustu, N., (2004). Responses of sunflower (Helianthus annus L.) to full and limited irrigation at different growth stage. Filed Crop Res. 53: 167-178. Gupta. U.S., (2005). Physiology of stressed crops, pp: 105 109. Science Publishers. Enfield . USA. Havlin, J.L., and Westfall, D.G., (2005). Potassium release kinetics and plant response in calcareous soils. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 49: 366 370. Hinton, S., (2001). Fodder and cash crops- Irrigation requirements. 7 Crop and Fodder Needs, V2.doc. pp:11-12. Johnson, A.E. and Krauss, A., (2003). The essential role of potassium in diverse cropping system: Future research needs and benefits. In A.E. Johnson (ed.) Essential Role of potassium in Diverse Cropping System. International Potash Institute, Basel, Switzerland. pp: 101-120. Leigh, R.A., (1989). Potassium concentrations in whole plants and cells in relation to growth, In Methods of K Research in Plants, PP. 117 126 . International Potash Institute, Basel . Marschner, H., (1995). Mineral nutrition of higher plants. 2nd Ed., Academic Press, London. UK Pier, P.A., and Berkowitz, G.A., (1987). Modulation of water stress effects on photosynthesis by altered leaf K+. Plant physiol. 85(3): 655-661. Wang, J., Dustin, J., Harrell, L. and Faul, F., (2004). Potassium buffering characteristic of the three soils low in exchangeable potassium. SSSA. J. 68: 654-661 Westgate, M.E., (1994). Water status and development of the maize endosperm and embryo during drought. Crop Sci. 34: 76 83 . White, J., (2003). Potassium nutrition in Australian high yielding maize production system A Review. 5th Australian Maize Conference, 18-20th February 2003, Toowoomba, Queensland. 8 pages. Wiebold, B. and Scharf, P., (2006). Potassium deficiency symptoms in drought stressed crops, plant stress resistance and the impact of potassium application in South China. Agric. Water Management. 96:14601466.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH

Vermicomposting of Sugarcane Bagasse and Rice Straw and Its Effect on Growth of (Phaseolus Vulgaris L.)
Department of Biology, University of Guyana, Georgetown, Guyana (South America) *Corresponding author email:ansari_adil@hotmail.com

Abdullah Adil Ansari*

Abstract The present study was carried out during the year 2006-2007 at University of Guyana, Georgetown. Experiments were aimed at production and quantitative comparison and rate of production of vermicomposts from sugar cane bagasse, rice straw, and a combination of sugar cane bagasse and rice straw. Results indicated that the combination of bagasse and rice straw showed the highest percentage of production. The vermicomposts were assessed for nutrient value and subjected to studies on plant growth parameters of Phaseolus vulgaris L. and were compared with treatments using cow dung and chemical fertilizer. The results indicated that vermicompost is a competitive biofertilizer and showed better growth patterns in Phaseolus vulgaris L. than chemical fertilizers and can retain nutrients for longer period. Phaseolus vulagris L. with vermicompost had better fruit quality in terms of physical dimension, biochemical constituents. There was significant improvement in the soil quality in the experimental plots with treated with vermicompost produced from bagasse and rice straw [BV+RSV]. The combination treatment [BV+RSV] was the found to be better suggesting qualitative improvement in the physical and chemical properties of the soil, which is substantiated by T-test and composite index in comparison to control and chemical fertilizers.
Keywords: Vermicomposting; sugarcane bagasse; rice straw; earthworms; microbial interaction; Guyana;

INTRODUCTION Compost is becoming an important aspect in the quest to increase productivity of food in an environmentally friendly way. Vermicomposting offers a solution to tonnes of organic agro-wastes that are being burned by farmers and to recycle and reuse these refuse to promote our agricultural development in more efficient, economical and environmentally friendly manner. Both the sugar and rice industries burn their wastes thereby, contributing tremendously to environmental pollution thus, leading to polluted air, water and land. This process also releases large amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, a main contributor to global warming together with dust particles. Burning also destroys the soil organic matter content, kills the microbial population and affects the physical properties of the soil [1]. Organic farming system is gaining increased attention for its emphasis on food quality and soil health. Vermicompost and vermiculture associated with other biological inputs have been actually used to grow vegetables and other crops successfully and have been found to be economical and productive. [2,3,4]. The objective the study was to assess the plant productivity by the use of organic fertilizers in different combinations and the effect on soil physical and chemical parameters in comparison to control and chemical fertilizers. MATERIALS AND METHODS The present study was carried out during the year 2006-2007 at University of Guyana, Georgetown. The vermicomposting units were be set up at the University of Guyana compound. Vermicomposting units were set up using vermitech pattern [2]. Plastic crates (60 cm x 45 cm x 45 cm) were used as the container and placed in a shaded elevated area as to facilitate the effective water drainage. A basal layer of vermibed comprising broken bricks then a layer of sand to the thickness of 6 to 7.5 cm was set up to ensure proper drainage. This was then covered with a layer of loamy soil up to the height of 15 cm, after it was moistened. Into this soil, 50 locally collected earthworms, Eisenia foetida, were inoculated. Small lumps of fresh or dry cattle dung was then scattered over the soil. The soil was then covered with 10 cm of agro waste. The entire unit was kept moist by sprinkling of water twice weekly and turned once weekly up to the 7th week. Three units were set up as follows: Unit 1: 150 g Sugar cane bagasse + 1 kg of cow dung Unit 2: 150 g Rice straw + 1 kg of cow dung Unit 3: 75 g Rice straw + 75 g sugar cane bagasse + 1 kg cow dung The vermicompost was then harvested and placed to air-dry for chemical analysis together with untreated soil and raw sugar cane bagasse and rice straw using standard procedure for pH, organic

29

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH carbon, available nitrogen, available phosphate, calcium and magnesium [5]. The analysis of the compost samples was done at Central Laboratory, Research Center, Agriculture Department, LBI Compound, GuySuCo. The analysis of food components from the plants and plant products were done at Food and Drug Analysis Department. The pot experiments of Phaseolus vulagris L were placed using Randomized Block Design with replication for each treatment by using vermicomposts, cow dung, chemical fertilizers and chemical pesticide and a control. The pots were filled with sterilized dry soil (5 kg). Each pot was treated at the time of plantation, after three weeks and then just at the beginning of flowering period (4th week) as follows:
Treatment Soil Bagasse Vermicompost Rice Straw Vermicompost Bagasse + Rice Straw Vermicompost Cow Dung Chemical fertilizer (Urea) Symbol {CON} {BV} (RV} {BV + RSV} {CD} {CHM} Amount added/ g No addition 100 100 100 100 13.6

Growth parameters (number of leaves, plant height, number and distance between nodes) were taken after five week. Upon maturity the fruits were harvested, counted, weighed and preserved for analysis. Plants were then uprooted to record physical parameters. Fruits were subjected to quantitative estimation of protein and fat. Soil samples were subjected to chemical analysis (pH, ECw, Organic carbon, Available nitrogen, Available phosphate, Calcium and Magnesium [5]. The data was subjected to statistical tools (t-Test and composite index). RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The vermicomposts were harvested after a 50- day period for the first set. This period was reduced by 5 and 9 days, respectively for the other two harvests. There was consistent increase in the production of vermicomposts in each unit from each successive harvest (Table 1). This can be attributed to the increase in the population of the earthworms, each unit started with 300 earthworms. However, this increase was greater and even more consistent in the rice straw and bagasse + rice straw units. Composting of bagasse, rice straw and a combination of bagasse with rice straw were successful. However, the composting process of the combination was faster and the productivity was higher. For combination, the average productivity was 76 % followed by rice straw with 74 % and bagasse with 54 %. Earthworms preferred cow dung along with plant litter and other plant debris in combination thereby converting it into the organic matter rich vermicompost at faster rate [6, 2, 7, 8, 9]. Table 1: Productivity of Vermicomposts from the Different Materials
Organic Material Amount/ Kg Cow dung / Kg 0.6 0.6 0.6 Average harvests / Kg 0.54 0.14 0.74 0.02 0.76 0.02 Average productivity / % 54 74 76

Bagasse Rice Straw Bagasse + Rice Straw

0.4 0.4 0.2 + 0.2

The pH remains slightly alkaline for all the samples but the most alkaline was the vermicompost from the combination of bagasse and rice straw {BV +RSV} (Table 2). Carbon is higher in {CON} as it was in undecomposed state. C: N ratio was observed to be 5.46, 6.91, 7.09 and 9.43 for {RSV}, {BV + RSV}, {BV} and {CON}, respectively. The C: N ratio is an indication of litter degradation in soils and it is an indicator of efficient and effective composting, the final value is important to determine the value of the finished compost as a soil amendment for growing crops. Carbon provides the primary energy source and nitrogen in critical for microbial growth. As the composting process proceeds the carbon content is expected to decrease because of it
30

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH conversion to carbon dioxide while nitrogen is kept intact. Very high C: N ratio (above 80) greatly reduced the rate of natural composting. In this case, earthworms have effectively increased the rate and thus having a greater turnover [10]. Table 2: Physicochemical analysis of Cow dung and Vermicomposts (Mean SD)
Parameters pH(dSm ) EC Organic carbon% Nitrogen (%) Phosphate (ppm) Calcium (ppm) Magnesium (ppm) Potassium (ppm) Zinc (ppm) Iron (ppm) Copper (ppm) Manganese (ppm)
-1

{Con} 7.40 0.01 1733.33 24.09 17.95 0.73 1.90 0.03 190.78 5.37 5.65 0.21 17.29 2.11 62.10 0.46 62.90 0.21 36.32 1.74 1.23 0.05 251.38 4.89

{BV} 7.28 0.03 533.33 4.16 6.52 0.56 0.92 0.04 143.16 1.94 5.51 0.04 16.43 0.72 147.83 5.34 69.96 0.22 11.92 0.93 0.52 0.18 59.69 0.17

{RSV} 7.51 0.01 615.67 7.09 6.24 0.46 1.14 0.06 178.97 8.79 6.35 0.73 18. 27 2.02 25.47 2.27 79.64 0.36 12.17 0.68 0.55 0.07 83.01 0.45

{BV + RSV} 7.59 0.01 563.67 5.51 6.64 0.66 0.96 0.05 156.51 19.29 5.05 0.06 14.66 0.47 174.00 4.19 68.90 0.44 8.45 0.50 0.42 0.02 54.19 0.08

The greatest increase in plant height was observed with treatment {BV+RSV} followed by {RSV} then {CD} (Table 3). Vermicomposts contain more than just micro and macro nutrients; they also have essential growth promoter hormones like auxins, cytokinins, gibberllins, ethylene, and enzymes, vitamins that are microbially induced and excreted by earthworms along with useful microorganisms like bacteria [11, 12]. Chemical fertilizers on the other hand constitute mainly macronutrients and soluble salts with no hormones. Also these nutrient have a high solubility rate as such a great deal is lost through leaching. This results in fast growth in the initial stages of planting and reduces subsequently due to lack of nutrients [9, 10]. Treatment {CHM} had a significant increase in the number of leaves followed by {RSV}, {BV}, {BV + RSV} then {CD} (Table 3). The highest number of leaves in {CHM} is due to availability of nitrogen and phosphate in the chemical fertilizer. These fertilizers serve the purpose of quick fix with no regards for future consequences. The leaves had a higher surface area and were much greener. {CHM} treatment plant appeared healthier at the beginning but fade out to yellowing, evidence of lack of nutrients [13, 10]. The treatment {BV + RSV} had the thickest circumference because of its ability to retain nutrition for longer periods [13, 10]. As with the number of leaves, the nodal count was also highest in the {CHM} treated plants followed {BV + RSV}, {BV}, {RSV}, and then {CD} (Table 3). Leaf abscission was minimum in treatment {BV+RSV} (Table 3). Vermicomposts consisted of nutrient that would promote such growth or had microorganisms which made available the nutrients [13]. It is evident that chemical fertilizer disrupts natural biological activity in the soil. Activity of Rhizobium/ nitrifying bacteria is affected and inhibited [13, 10, 15]. Table 3: Plant morphometry (Mean SD)
Treatments {CON} {BV} {RSV} {BV + RSV} {CD} {CHM} Plant Height (cm) 175.00 15.72 215.33 14.64 247.67 42.77 250.67 44.43 227.67 31.13 224.00 73.78 Number of leaves/plant 67.00 15.39 92.00 9.64 93.33 1.53 90.33 8.62 79.67 8.62 111.00 8.66 Plant circumference (cm) 2.43 0.21 3.37 0.31 3.73 0.32 3.99 0.32 2.30 0.10 2.97 0.12 Number of nodes/plant 21.67 5.13 30.00 3.61 27.00 6.08 34.33 153 27.33 3.79 36.33 2.89 Leaf abscission/ plant 8.33 0.58 7.33 1.53 7.33 1.53 6.67 0.58 7.67 0.58 17.0 1.41

The highest marketable yield of fruit was observed with treatment {BV} followed by {RSV} and {BV + RSV} (Table 4). Organic fertilizers have been known to promote growth of nitrogen fixing and phosphate solubilising bacteria. These are critical in plant overall growth thus, influencing fruit development [13, 14, 15]. Protein content of the fruits was consistent for treatments {CON},
31

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH {RSV}, {BV + RSV} and {CD} while lower levels were observed in {BV} followed by {CHM} (Table 4). Phaseolus vulgaris L. is known to have high amount of protein content. The amount of fat present in the fruit was variable but consistent with all the treatments. Table 4: Biochemical analysis of fruit and marketable yield (Mean SD)
Treatments {CON} {BV} {RSV} {BV + RSV} {CD} {CHM} Protein / % 31.71 0.47 25.40 2.69 31.65 11.67 31.55 0.04 31.51 0.75 21.52 1.00 Fat /% 2.14 0.00 2.13 0.16 2.07 0.06 2.61 0.42 2.45 0.11 2.25 0.06 Marketable yield (g/plant) 9.32 0.94 12.57 1.61 11.30 1.52 9.90 3.32 6.15 5.66 7.05 1.94

Soil pH significantly increased for all the vermicomposts treatments while {CD} had increase but not significant (Table 5). {CHM} resulted in a decrease in the pH thereby making the soil more acidic. Soil pH is one of the most important soil properties that affect the availability of nutrients. Macronutrients tend to be less available in soils with low pH and micronutrients tend to be less available in soils with high pH. Treatments {BV + RSV}, {RSV} and {BV} indicated significant increase in organic carbon (Table 6). Vermicomposts are rich in organic carbon content and have the ability to release these in to the soil very slowly. Significant increases in nitrogen were observed in [BV} may be attributed to enhanced activity of nitrogen fixing bacteria [10, 13] (Table 7). Significant increase was observed for treatments {BV + RSV} and {RSV} with regards to phosphates (Table 8). It may be because of the presence of phosphate solubilizing bacteria, which increase the phosphate content of the soil. There were significant increases in magnesium concentration for {BV + RSV}, {RSV} and {BV} (Table 9). All the samples except {CHM} indicated an increase in calcium concentration though not significant. {CHM} had reduced amount because what ever little was there used up and there no replacement because it is highly soluble in Ca2+ form [10, 9] (Table 10). Thus vermicompost produced from combination of sugarcane bagasse and rice straw showed better results in terms of productivity of vermicompost and its subsequent application on Phaseolus vulgaris L in many plant growth parameters and productivity levels that is a result of nutrients available in vermicompost {BV + RSV} that played critical role in improving soil quality [16]. The treatment {BV + RSV} was highly significant with improvement of soil physical and chemical properties. This is established by paired t-test at P < 0.05 (Table 11) and composite index (Table 12). Generally, the physiochemical properties of the rice straw and the combinations were conducive and enhance growth and yield of Phaseolus vulgaris L. The final soil analysis also indicated signs of improvement in nutrient content.
Treatments {CON} {BV} {RSV} {BV + RSV} {CD} {CHM} Table 5: Soil pH (Mean SD) Initial soil Final soil 5.61 0.04 5.61 0.15 5.61 0.04 6.11 0.07 5.61 0.04 6.19 0.01 5.61 0.04 6.30 0.10 5.61 0.04 5.85 0.13 5.61 0.04 5.31 0.34 Increase in pH 0.00 0.50 0.58 0.69 0.24 -0.30

Table 6: Organic carbon % (Mean SD) Initial soil Final soil Increase in OC % 2.85 0.71 6.53 0.32 3.68 {CON} 2.85 0.71 8.97 0.69 6.12 {BV} 2.85 0.71 14.82 1.53 11.97 {RSV} 2.85 0.71 18.68 0.21 15.83 {BV + RSV} 2.85 0.71 9.45 2.67 6.60 {CD} 2.85 0.71 8.94 0.97 6.09 {CHM} Treatments

32

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH
Treatments {CON} {BV} {RSV} {BV + RSV} {CD} {CHM} Table 7: Available nitrogen % (Mean SD) Initial soil Final soil 0.90 0.04 0.90 0.04 0.90 0.04 0.90 0.04 0.90 0.04 0.90 0.04 2.47 0.3 3.52 0.86 2.38 0.02 2.13 0.41 1.87 1.00 1.94 0.69 Increase Available nitrogen % 1.57 2.62 1.48 1.23 0.97 1.04

Treatments {CON} {BV} {RSV} {BV + RSV} {CD} {CHM}

Table 8: Available phosphate (ppm) (Mean SD) Initial soil Final soil Increase in Available phosphate 155.17 26.15 20.17 3.63 -135 155.17 26.15 159.65 86.51 4.48 155.17 26.15 307.65 10.71 152.48 155.17 26.15 559.37 85.83 404.2 155.17 26.15 60.30 53.62 -94.87 155.17 26.15 317.68 106.29 -162.51 Table 9: Magnesium (ppm) (Mean SD) Initial soil Final soil 11.83 0.62 11.83 0.62 11.83 0.62 11.83 0.62 11.83 0.62 11.83 0.62 14.80 0.18 17.34 0.50 18.18 0.81 19.36 1.06 14.88 0.00 13.94 0.85

indicates decrease

Treatments {CON} {BV} {RSV} {BV + RSV} {CD} {CHM}

Increase in Mg 2.97 5.51 6.35 7.53 3.05 2.11

Treatments {CON} {BV} {RSV} {BV + RSV} {CD} {CHM}

- indicates decrease

Table 10: Calcium (ppm) (Mean SD) Initial soil Final soil 9.03 0.19 9.03 0.19 9.03 0.19 9.03 0.19 9.03 0.19 9.03 0.19 9.75 0.03 9.82 0.86 10.38 0.87 10.60 0.51 15.80 7.73 9.01 0.56

Increase Ca

in

0.72 0.79 1.35 1.57 6.77 -0.02

Table 11: Test of significance of treatments on soil parameters Treatments pH OC N P Mg N S N N S {CON} S S S N S {BV} S S N S S {RSV} S S S S S {BV + RSV} N N N N N {CD} N N N N N {CHM} P < 0.05 S- Significant N- Not significant Treatments {CON} {BV} {RSV} {BV + RSV} {CD} {CHM} Table 12: Composite index based on soil chemical analysis pH 5 3 2 1 4 6 OC 6 4 2 1 3 5 N 2 1 3 4 6 5 P 5 3 2 1 4 6 Mg 5 3 2 1 4 6 Ca 5 4 3 2 1 6 Composite index 28 18 14 10 22 34

Ca N N N N N N

Rank 5 3 2 1 4 6

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH
CONCLUSION It can be concluded that growth parameters for chemical grown crops and organically grown crops are comparable. Chemical fertilizers, especially nitrogen based, shown spectacular growth and productivity in the field but this is short lived. The high level of these chemical added to the soil are not usually absorbed completely by the plants. The balance cannot remain in the soil for the next season. They are either leached or formed complexes with high levels of metal ions to form undesirable complexes. Constant use of chemical fertilizer increases leaching because of depletion of organic carbon. On the other hand, a vermicompost form fine stable granular organic matter that assist in the aeration, released mucus that are hygroscopic absorbs water and prevents water logging and improves water holding capacity. Vermicompost added to the soil releases nutrient slowly and consistently and enables the plant to absorb these nutrients more readily. Soils enriched with vermicompost provide additional substances that are not found in the chemicals. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The author express gratitude to University of Guyana, and Central Laboratory, Guyana Sugar Corporation Inc for the facilities and support rendered. REFERENCES [1] Livan, M. A and W. Thompson. 1997. NARI Annual Report. [2] Ismail, S.A., 2005 The Earthworm Book. Other India Press, Mapusa, Goa. 101p. [3] Ansari and Ismail. 2008. Reclamation of sodic soils through vermitechnology. Pakistan Journal of Agricultural Research. 21: 1-4: 92-97. [4] Ansari, A. A and Sukhraj, K. 2010. Effect of vermiwash and vermicompost on soil parameters and productivity of Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus) in Guyana. Pakistan Journal of Agricultural Research, Vol. 23 (3-4): 137-142. [5] Homer, F. 2003. Soil Analysis Manuel. Central Analytical and Environmental Monitoring Services, Agriculture Research Department. LBI, Guyana. [6] Ansari, A. A. 2007. Urban Planning and Environment Strategies and Challenges. Macmillan India Ltd, New Delhi. pp: 277-279. [7] Ismail, S. A. 1997. Vermicology: The Biology of Earthworm. Calcutta: Orient Longman Press, Hyderabad. 92p. [8] Atiyeh, R. M., Dominguez, J., Subler, S. and Metzger, J. D. 2000. Earthworm-processed organic wastes as components of horticultural potting media for growing marigold and vegetable seedlings. Compost Science and Utilization. [9] Edwards, C.A. and Bohlen, P.J. 1996. Biology and Ecology of Earthworms. (3rd ed), Chapman and Hall, London. 426p. [10] Stoffella, P. J. and B. A. Kahn. 2000. Compost Utilization in Horticultural Cropping Systems. London. [11] Ansari, A. A and S. A. Ismail. 2001. Vermitechnology in Organic Solid Waste Management. Journal of Soil Biology and Ecology 21:21-24. [12] Edwards, C. A. 2004. The Use of Earthworms in the Breakdown and Management of Organic Wastes. Florida: CRC Press. [13] Lalitha R, Fathima K, and Ismail S A. 2000. The impact of biopesticide and microbial fertilizers on productivity and growth of Abelmoschus esculentus. Vasundara The Earth.1 & 2: 4-9. [14] Talashilkar, S.C. and Power, A.G. 1998. Ectocology for pollution control and environmental management. Enviro Media, Karad. [15] Ismail, S. A. 1995. Earthworm in soil fertility management. In Organic agriculture (Thampan, P.K. ed). Peekay Tree Crops Development Foundation, Cochin, India. pp:77-100. [16] Kale, R.D. 1998. Earthworm Cinderella of Organic Farming. Prism Book Pvt Ltd, Banglore, India. 88p.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH SCREENING FOR ZINC-EFFICIENT AND ZINC-INEFFICIENT BARLEY VARIETIES GROWN IN ZINC-DEFICIENT CALCAREOUS SOIL University of Mosul, College of Agriculture and Forestry, Department of Soil and water Sciences, MOSUL, IRAQ. University of Dohuk, College of Agriculture, Department of Soil Sciences and Water, DOHUK, IRAQ. ABSTRACT A greenhouse experiment was carried out to screen four barley varieties (El-kheir, Haddhar-465, local black and ACSAD-9) for zinc efficiency and inefficiency grown in Zn deficient salty clay soil which is characterized by high pH, high level of calcium carbonate and low organic matter. Elkheir variety showed better Zn efficiency among the other varieties and it was associated and reflected by higher leaf area, and good shoot dry matter and grain yield efficiencies El-kheir variety also had better ability to utilized and absorbed Zn for grain production (physiological efficiency).Our results strongly suggest that the improvement of Zn nutritional status of barley grown in calcareous, Zn- deficient soil in dry land farming region can be met by growing Znefficient variety. INTRODUCTION Zinc deficiency in soils is a widespread problem in crop plants, especially cereals grown particularly in calcareous soils of arid and semi-arid regions (Sillanpaa and Vlek 1985 ). Soil amendment of zinc fertilizers in calcareous soils are widely used as an agronomic practice for farmer but not a sustainable approach or easy measures for correction of Zn deficiency (Cakmak et al.,1996). There are significant and large differences between cereal varieties in their ability to grow where soil Zn availability is suboptimal. Zincefficient gramineous plants respond to Zndeficiency by releasing phytosiderophores into the rhizosphere to mobilize Zn (Rengel 1997). Screening for zinc-efficient variety for Zn-deficient soils is an important practical approach for the correction or avoidance of Zn deficiency in cereals and it is a sustainable approach to overcome Zn deficiency in plants. The aim of the present study was to evaluate and screen four promising and dominant varieties of barley in north part of Iraq for Zn-efficiency and Zn-inefficiency barley varieties in calcareous soils MATERIALS AND METHODS Soil collection and analysis: Zinc deficient soil was taken collected from the field of the experiment station at the College of Agriculture of Dohuk University, Northern Iraq. The soil was air-dried, passed through a 2-mm sieve and was analyzed for pH, CaCO3, organic matter, and texture (Table 1) using standard procedures (Page et al., 1982). Plant available concentration of Zn in soil were determined also according to the method stated by Tandon, (1999), by extraction with DTPA (diethylene tramline penta acetic acid) using a soil: solution ratio of 1:2 and shaking time of two hours. Micronutrient extracted was determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Greenhouse experiment: An equivalent of 6 kg air-dry soil was weighed and placed in plastic pots (diameter = 23cm, length =20cm). Four barley varieties( El-kheir, Haddhar-465, local black and ACSAD-9) were used in the experiment under greenhouse conditions. Fourteen seeds were sown in each pot. After germination plants were thinned to 7plants per pot. Plant were grown for 25 weeks with three levels of Zn ( +Zn= 5 and 10mg Zn Kg-1soil as ZnSO4.7H2O and with out(-Zn) ) Zn fertilization together, with basal treatment of 25 mg N Kg-1soil and 11.0 mg P Kg-1soil , using both urea and super phosphate .All the nutrients were mixed thoroughly with the soil before sowing. Each treatment was replicated three times.

Sadullah N.AL-Niemi

Mohammed Sedqi S.Dohuki

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH

______________________________________________________ pH 8.6 Total CaCO3 gm kg-1soil 201. 0 Organic matter gm kg-1soil 15.5 -1 Available Zn mg kg soil 0.55 Sand (g kg-1) 90.60 Silt (g kg-1) 487.50 Clay (g kg-1) 421.90 Soil texture Salty clay Moisture at Field capacity(%) 31.68 ______________________________________________________
Time of watering plants with distilled water was determined by weighing the pots daily and adding water to obtain the original wet weight (75% of field capacity). The plants were irrigated in a way that attempted to maintain uniform water distribution throughout the pot. PVC watering tube, one inch in diameter was installed in the pot at potting so that one end on the bottom of the pot and the upper end was connected to plastic cup. Half of the required water was applied through the cup, and the other half of the water was applied directly to the soil surface. At harvest the plants were cut at the soil surface, spikes were dried at 80 C for 48h, and weighed. Zinc concentration in root, shoot and grain were determined using the method described by Chapman and Pratt (1961). Total Zn content was calculated by multiplying root, shoot or grain Zn concentration with root, shoot or grain dry weights. The Zn efficiency in wheat varieties was calculated as the ratio of [grain (root or shoot) dry weight at Zn to the grain dry weight at +Zn at optimal rate] 100 (Cakmak et al., 1998). The physiological index of absorbed Zn (PE) (Isfan et al., 1991) was calculated as the ratio of grain produced per unit of Zn absorbed by above ground parts. The relative proportion of Zn transported to the grain was calculated by dividing the grain Zn content with total Zn content in the above-ground parts (shoot and grain). A factorial experiment with two factors (4 varieties X3Zn fertilization rates) and 3 replicates were used Physical and chemical characteristics of soil Various physicochemical properties of the soil are presented in (Table 1). Soil was calcareous which contained more than 200gm kg-1soil CaCO3 and characterized by very low organic matter content 15.5 gm kg-1soil and had high pH value 8.6. Concentration of DTPA-extractable Zn in soil was 0.55 mg kg-1soil which was less than the adequate amount of Zn in calcareous soils (1.0 mg kg -1 soil) as stated by Soltanpour and Schwab (1977), and it was marginal with the critical level for calcareous soils (0.5 mg kg -1 soil) obtained by ( Sims and Johnson 1991). The soil texture was salty clay with high fractions of both silt and clay and low fraction of sand.. High soil pH with high calcium carbonate resulted low availability of Zn in soil solution. The calcium carbonate can influence zinc reduction in the roots during Zn uptake which is associated with Zn deficiency in plants (Graham and Rengel 1993). In the present study the results strongly suggest that in a calcareous high pH soil plants suffer from Zn deficiency, and also cleared that barley plants grown in such soil containing less than (1.0 mg kg-1) DTPA- extractable Zn can significantly respond to Zn fertilizer application. Screening for Zn efficiency Zinc efficiency, defined as the ability of a plant to grow and yield well in Zn-deficient soils (Graham and Rengel, 1993). The results showed that barley varieties were different in their Zn efficiency ratio based on leaf area, shoot dry weight, Zn transported to grain and grain dry weight. Leaf area , shoot dry matter production and grain yield The first characteristics reaction of a plant to micronutrient deficiency is the reduction in shoot growth and leaf area (Cakmak et al., 1998). Zn efficiency based on leaf area (Table 2) was calculated as the ratio of leaf area at suboptimal Zn (Zn was applied at 0.0 mg Zn Kg-1 soil) to leaf
36

Table 1. Physicochemical properties of top soil sample (0-30) cm.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH area at optimal Zn (Zn was applied at 10 mg Zn Kg-1 soil). The barley varieties El-kheir and local black had higher Zn efficiency as compared to that of Haddhar -465 and ACSAD-9. The decrease in leaf area due to Zn deficiency were 1.55 in El-kheir, 21.83% in Haddhar-465, 16.06% in local black and 22.01% in ACSAD-9. The effect of Zn deficiency on shoot dry matter production (Table 2) was not similar to the effect on leaf area. The decrease in shoot dry matter production due to Zn deficiency were only in Elkheir(1.27%) and in local black (2.82 % ) . Zinc efficiency of barley varieties based on shoot dry matter production are shown in (Table 2 ).Haddhar-495 and ACSAD-9 varieties had the highest Zn efficiency ,while the local black variety had the lowest. The influence of Zn application on grain dry weight was evaluated (Table 2). An application of Zn to soil at rate (10 mg Zn Kg-1 soil) increased grain dry weight (Table 2) of all barley varieties except that of local black. Increases in vegetative growth and in grain yield with high Zn application were related to the function of zinc which is an essential plant nutrient. It is a consistituent of enzymes and is involved with the synthesis of indole acetic acid (Fox and Guerinot 1998). Studies on cereal crops showed similar results, were an increase in plant growth with the application of zinc fertilizer (Mengel and Kirkby 2001). El-kheir variety produced more grain dry weight than the other three varieties under 0.0 and 5.0 mg Zn Kg-1 soil rates applied. Zinc efficiency based on grain yield was the highest in both local black and El-kheir varieties. Zinc content in shoot and transported of Zn to grain No clear relationship was found between Zn application rates and shoot Zn content (Table 3 ). Under (-Zn) all barley varieties, except with El-kheir showed higher Zn content in shoot as compared with to that of 5.0 and 10.0 mg Zn application rates (Table 3 ). The relative proportion of Zn transported to grain in barley varieties was varied. This result was consistence with the finding of White et al., 1981,Longnecker and Robson 1993 with cereal crops. who stated that cereal species differ in their ability to load Zn into their grains. In haddhar-465 and local black varieties their plants grown in the present study increased Zn loading into grains when the Zn supply increased, while the plants of El-kheir and ACSAD-9 varieties reduced Zn loading into grains both at 0.0 and 10.0 mg Zn Kg-1 soil rates supply (Table 3). This results might be related to the assumption that seeds of both haddhar-465 and local black varieties were a strong sink for Zn,while the seeds of ACSAD-9 and El-kheir varieties were not This results also indicate that in the case of deficiency grain is not a sufficiently strong sink for Zn,while in the case of the highest supply there is a barrier preventing an excessive accumulation of Zn in grain. Similar results were was found by Rengel and Graham (1995 ). El-kheir variety plants showed the highest relative proportion of Zn transported to grain among the other three varieties . High micronutrient grain content (especially of Zn ) is considered a desirable quality factor in populations where a high dependence on grains for food , while the low Zn grain content may result in Zn deficiencies in susceptible humans (Welch and House,1995 ). Variety variation in physiological efficiency and yield response to Zn application : Physiological efficiency is defined as the ability of plants to utilize absorbed Zn for grain production (Rengel and Graham, 1995). Zinc utilization for grain production was the highest in Elkheir and ACSAD-9 varieties among the other varieties (Table 3 ). Generally speaking El-kheir variety showed better Zn efficiency among the other varieties and it was associated and reflected by higher leaf area, and good shoot dry matter and grain yield efficiencies El-kheir variety also had better ability to utilized absorbed Zn for grain production (physiological efficiency). The high Zn efficiency of El-Kheir may be related to its efficiency to release Zn mobilizing phytosiderophorse from roots to the rhizosphere. Barley is characterized as a strategy II plant, and responds to micronutrients-deficiency by synthesizing and releasing phytosiderophores which are able to form very stable complexes with micronutrients in the soil and increase its absorption and translocation from root to shoot (Von Wiren et al., 1996)). Similar results were found in simple field experiment. The four barley varieties (data not shown) were grown under the same Zn-deficient soil in the field experiment station (College of Agriculture University of Dohuk). The grain yield was greater in El-Kheir variety than with the other three varieties.

37

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH In conclusion our results strongly suggest that the improvement of Zn nutritional status of barley grown in calcareous, Zn- deficient soil in dry land farming region can be met by growing Znefficient variety. To our knowledge this is the first study and report of a large project in IRAQ dealing with screening for micronutrients efficient and inefficient varieties of cereals and its adaptive strategies in calcareous soil. Table (2) Effect of soil Zn application on leaf area, shoot dry matter, Zn efficiency, concentration and content of Zn in shoot of four barley variety.
Zn Supply (mg kg-1) 0 5 10 0 5 10 0 5 10 0 5 10 Leaf Area Cm2 17.77 17.55 18.05 15.33 15.19 19.61 10.09 9.98 12.02 12.58 12.26 16.13 Zn efficienc y % 98.45 78.27 83.94 77.99 Shoot dry matter (g pot-1) 13.18 11.97 13.35 15.90 13.84 15.35 12.72 12.47 13.09 11.71 10.46 11.43 Zn efficiency % 98.73 103.58 97.17 102.45 Zn efficiency % 99.78 93.53 103.07 90.79

Variety

Grain yield (g pot-1) 4.62 4.52 4.63 4.48 4.42 4.79 4.03 3.96 3.91 4.24 4.07 4.67

El-Kheir Haddhar-465 Local black ACSAD-9

Table (3) Effect of soil Zn application on relative transport of Zn to the shoot and grain, grain yield, Zn efficiency, and physiological efficiency of four barley variety. Zn Supply (mg kg1 ) 0 5 10 0 5 10 0 5 10 0 5 10 Zn Content in shoot (g shoot-1) 344.95 290.49 357.28 1089.05 755.82 878.13 597.00 557.99 494.30 343.53 328.10 339.26 Zn Conc. In Shoot (g kg-1) 26.17 24.33 26.83 69.00 54.67 57.17 47.00 44.33 37.50 29.33 31.50 29.83 Transport of Zn to shoot % 79.90 82.34 77.84 93.32 92.85 91.91 89.94 90.70 89.53 89.89 90.95 90.59 Transport of Zn to grain % 45.01 47.80 43.57 14.13 18.86 19.30 16.06 18.61 20.86 28.61 35.41 33.66

Variety

Physiological efficiency (PE) 13.39 12.96 4.12 5.45 6.75 8.91 12.34 13.77

El-Kheir Haddhar465 Local black ACSAD9

Acknowledgements This work was supported by the University of Mosul and the University of Dohuk.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH References CaKmak, I.; B. Torun; B. Erenoglu; L. Ozturk; H. Marschner; M. Kalayci; H. Ekiz and A.Yilmaz. 1998. Morphological and physiological differences in cereals in response to zinc deficiency. Euphytica 100:349-357. CaKmak, I.; A.Yilmaz; M. Kalayci; H. Ekiz; B. Torun; B. Erenoglu and H. J. Braun (1996). Zinc deficiency as a critical problem in wheat production in central Anatoila. Plant and Soil 180: 165-172. Chapman, H. D. and P. E. Pratt. 1961. Methods of analysis for soils, plant and water. Univ. Calif., Davis, Division of Agric. Sci. P: 309. Fox, T. C. and M. L. Guerinot (1998). Molecular biology of cation transport in plants. Annu. Rev. Plant Physiol. Plant Mol. Biol. 49: 669- 696. Graham, R. D. and Z. Rengel. 1993. Genotypic variation in zinc uptake and utilization by plants. In: Zinc in soils and plant, Ed. A. D. Robson, PP. 107- 118. Kluwer Academic publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands. Isfan, D., I. Cserni and M. Tabi. 1991. Genetic variation of the physiological efficiency index of nitrogen in triticale. J. Plant Nutr. 14:13811390. Longnecker, N. E. and A. D. Robson (1993). Distribution and movement of copper in plants. In: Copper in soils and plants, edited by Loneragan, J. F.; A. D. Robson and R. D. Graham. Academic press, London. P. 165- 188. Mengel, K. and E. A. Kirkby (2001). Principles of plant nutrion.5th ed.-Kluwer Academic publishers. Page, A. L. 1982. Methods of Soil analysis, Part 2. Amer. Soc. Agric. Pub. Madison, Wisconson U.S.A. Engel, Z. and R. D. Graham. 1995. Importance of seed zinc content for wheat growth on Zndeficient soil: II. Grain yield. Plant and Soil 173: 267- 274. Rengel, Z. (1997). Root exudation and microflora population in rhizosphere genotypes differing in tolerance to micronutrient deficiency. Proceeding of the X III International Plant Nutr. Colleguium, 243- 248, Tokyo, Japan. Sillanpaa, M. and P. L. G.Vlek (1985). Micronutrients and the agro-ecology -Mediterranean regions. Fertil. Res. 7: 151-167. Sims, J. T. and G. V. Johnson (1991). Micronutrient soil tests, In micronutr- -Mordvedt J. J. et al. PP. 427-476, The Soil Science Society of America Book Series NO. 4, Madison, WI,. USA. Soltanpour, P. N. and A. P. Schwab (1977). A new soil test for simultaneous extraction of Macro- and Micro- nutrient in alkaline. Communications in Soils Sci. and plant analysis. 8:195207. Tandon, H. L. S. 1999. Methods of Analysis of Soils, Plants, Waters and Fertilizers. (3rd Reprint). Fertilizer development and consultation organization. Delhi, India. Welch, R. M. and W. A. House (1995). Meat factors in animal product that enhance iron and zinc bioavailability: Implications for improving the nutritional quality of seeds and grains. Cornell Nutr. Conference for feed manufacturers. PP. 58-66. Cornell Univ. Agric. Exp. Station, Ithaca, NY. Dordrecht. The Netherlands. White, C. L.; A.D. Robson and H. M. Fisher (1981). Variation in nitrogen, Sulfur, selenium, cobalt, manganese, copper and zinc content of grain from wheat and two lupin species grown in arange of Mediterranen environments. Aust. J. Agric. Res. 32: 47-59. Von Warin, N.; H. Marschner and V. Romheld (1996). Roots of iron efficient Maize (Zea mays L.) take up also phytosiderophore-chelated zinc. Plant Physiol. 111: 1119-1125. Zhang, F.; V. Romheld and H. Marschner (1991). Diurnal rhythm of release phytosiderophores and uptake rate of zinc in iron-deficient wheat. Soil Sci. Plant Nutr. 37: 671-678.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH

Effects of organomineral fertilisers (OMF), urea and biosolids granules on crop and soil established with rye grass (Lolium perenne L.) in pots
1

School of Applied Science, Cranfield University, Cranfield, Bedfordshire, MK43 0AL, UK. Corresponding author: D.L. Antille. Email: d.l.antille@gmail.com

D.L. Antille1, R. Sakrabani1, R.J. Godwin1

Abstract

A novel technique reported in earlier studies was used for the production of organomineral fertilisers (OMF). This adds additional N and potash to biosolids granules to form a balanced NPK fertiliser. Two fertiliser products; OMF10 (10:4:4) and OMF15 (15:4:4), were formulated and tested in a glasshouse facility on pot-grown rye grass in comparison with urea and biosolids granules at N-application rates ranging from 0 to 300 kg ha-1. The aim of this research was to contribute to the understanding of nutrients management and dynamics when OMF were used in grass production. The study focused upon dry matter yield and crop responses to applied fertiliser, N use efficiency (NUE) and the effects of the fertilisers upon the fertility status of the soil. Results indicated that rye grass responded linearly to the application of OMF increasing dry matter yield by 2-27% compared with biosolids but to a lesser extent than urea (range 17-55%). NUE was related to the concentration of readily available-N in the fertiliser; urea and OMF showed, overall, significantly larger N-recoveries than biosolids (26-75%, and 19-29% respectively). There were increments in total-N in soil and SOM which were related to the concentration of organic-N in the fertiliser applied. Dry matter yield, although lower, was more sustained overtime in biosolids-treated pots. OMF application did not result in significant changes in soil extractable-P levels whereas for urea, it decreased significantly while it showed a significant increase in biosolids-treated pots where soil-P index changed from 5 to 6. In OMF-treated soil, soil-P index remained close to constant; thereby, supporting the purpose of the proposed formulations. Key words: organomineral fertilisers, rye grass, dry matter yield, soil-N, soil-P index.

Introduction In England and Wales, the disposal of sewage sludge (biosolids) follows a number of routes which include, most importantly, recycling to farmland (72%), incineration (18%), land reclamation and restoration (6%), and landfill (1%) with a total production (dry solids basis) estimated at 1.6 million tonnes per year (Defra, 2007). This is set to increase in response to population growth, the adoption of cleaner technology for the treatment of effluents and stringent legislation which restricts the opportunities for disposal. In most circumstances, the disposal route to farmland appears to be the least expensive available option, and it is widely accepted in Europe that recycling of organic materials, including biosolids, to land is the best practicable environmental practice (Edge, 1999). Recycling aims to complete the natural nutrients and carbon cycles (Taylor et al., 2009) while it mitigates the demand for finite resources such as rock phosphate (Weikard and Seyhan, 2009). A novel technique was proposed by United Utilities PLC in the UK for the production of organomineral fertilisers (OMF) from biosolids granules which adds additional nitrogen and potash to the biosolids nutrients to form a balanced NPK fertiliser (Antille, 2011). This new product concept would appear to be a sustainable approach to recycling biosolids to land; it has the potential to contribute significantly to overcome some of the problems commonly faced by land managers with regards to the use of organic materials in crop production; e.g. nutrients availability, concentration, fertiliser value, handling and storage, and, to some extent, issues associated with their field-spreading. The proposed technique was used to produce two OMF formulations; namely, 15:4:4 (OMF15) and 10:4:4 (OMF10) (Antille, 2011). The aim of this research was to contribute to the understanding of nutrients management and dynamics when OMF are used in grass production. The objectives of this work were to investigate dry matter yield and responses of rye grass (Lolium perenne L.) to the application of OMF in comparison with urea (46% N) and biosolids granules (range 4.0-5.5% N) under semi-controlled environmental conditions in a glasshouse. The effects of continuous application of OMF, urea, and biosolids granules on the fertility status of the soil were quantified to monitor the build-up/run-down of soil-N and -P. It was hypothesised that the formulated OMF products when applied at the rates used in this study should not induce significant changes soil-P index.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Materials and methods The studies were conducted in a glasshouse facility between 2007 and 2009; two different soil types were used: a sandy loam (67% sand, 13% clay, 20% silt), and a clay loam (46% sand, 25% clay, 29% silt) classified as Arenosol and Cambisol respectively. The experiment used pots of 10 litres capacity filled with 8 kg of air-dried soil previously ground to pass a 2 mm sieve. The fertilisers were mixed with the soil during the preparation of the pots to conform a layer of 50 mm beneath the rye grass seeds (Lolium perenne L.) to avoid their direct contact with the fertiliser. The seeds were spread on the soil surface at a rate equivalent to 4 g m-2. A drip irrigation system was installed and irrigation was adjusted to prevent water leaching. The following experimental design was used: two soil types (sandy loam and clay loam), four fertiliser materials (biosolids granules, OMF10, OMF15 and urea), and two N-application rates (150 & 300 kg [N] ha-1). A completely randomised design was used; all treatments were replicated three times and there were three control pots (zerofertiliser) for each soil type. In 2008 & 2009, the fertilisers were surface-applied by hand at a single dressing. A total of three cuts were performed annually throughout the main growing season (AprilOctober). The soils were sampled prior to the start of the experiment to determine the baseline level. Routine analyses on both crop and soil were conducted thereafter by means of standard laboratory techniques (MAFF, 1986) for determination of total N in soil, soil mineral N, soil extractable-P, soil pH, SOM, total above-the-ground biomass, total-N and total-P in harvested plant material. The grass was cut at 20 mm above the soil surface and the harvested plant material was subsequently oven-dried for determination of total above-the-ground biomass which is reported as dry matter yield expressed in kg [DM] ha-1. N use efficiency (NUE) was estimated by means of the apparent recovery of applied N (RN); i.e. the difference in N uptake between the fertilised and the unfertilised crops divided by the N application rate. The statistical analyses included ANOVA, the least significant differences to compare the means using a 5% probability level (LSD[5% level]), and repeated measurement of analysis of variance (used to compare annual yield data as well as that of individual cuts both within- and between-years). The same technique was applied to the data corresponding to the measured soil properties. Grass responses to N-fertiliser application were investigated using generalised linear models. The analyses were conducted using the statistical package GenStat Release 10.1 (2007). Results and discussion Dry matter yield of rye grass Figure 1 shows the mean values of DM yield obtained between 2007 and 2009 for the unfertilised control pots and the treatments on the two soil types. It is worth highlighting that in 2007 the fertilisers were incorporated during the preparation of the pots whereas in the following two years they were surface-applied. In the context of this experiment, it was of interest to determine if there was a residual effect of the fertiliser (N) applied in previous years by comparing DM yield in the first cut in subsequent years, prior to the fertiliser dressing. The differences in DM yield between the treatments, as recorded in the first cuts in 2008 and 2009, were not significant (P>0.05). Therefore, a distinctive residual effect of the fertiliser type on DM yield could not be observed up to the first cut. The regression analyses conducted indicated that the increments in DM yield for every additional unit of N added (kg [DM] ha-1 per kg of additional N) were in the range of c.7 to 12 (biosolids), c.8 to 16 (OMF10), c.8 to 20 (OMF15) and c.6.5 to 26 (urea), depending on the soil type and the year. These increments as well as the differences observed between the treatments, tended to be smaller in years two and three of the experiment compared with the year of establishment; possibly due to the surface-application of the fertiliser. In the first year (2007), DM yield was consistently higher in the clay loam soil than the sandy loam soil (by c. +1000 kg ha-1) whereas in the second and third years, biomass production reached approximately the same level in both soil types (c. 5800 and 5100 kg [DM] ha-1 for 2008 and 2009 respectively).

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH
10000 9000 8000 Yield (kg [DM] ha ) 7000 6000 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 0 Control Biosolids OMF10 Fertiliser treatment OMF15 Urea
-1

2007 Sandy loam 2007 Clay loam 2008 Sandy loam 2008 Clay loam 2009 Sandy loam 2009 Clay loam

Figure 1: Mean dry matter yield of rye grass in controls (zero fertiliser) and treated pots on the sandy loam and the clay loam soils between 2007 and 2009 for the two N rates used (n=6 except controls n=3). 2007: LSD-values [5% level]: 361.1 (min. rep.), 312.7 (max-min. rep.), 255.3 (max. rep.); P-value: 0.02. 2008: LSD-values [5% level]: 908.5 (min. rep.), 786.8 (max-min. rep.), 642.4 (max. rep.); P-value: 0.02. 2009: LSD-values [5% level]: 753.4 (min. rep.), 652.5 (max-min. rep.), 532.8 (max. rep.); P-value: 0.57.

When comparing the controls vs. the treatments, the sandy loam soil showed a higher overall increase in the production of DM (from 2278 to 6495 kg [DM] ha-1) than the clay loam soil (from 3713 to 7390 kg [DM] ha-1) which reflected the higher response to the applied fertiliser in the first soil (LSD[5% level] =270.8). This enhanced response in the sandy loam soil was expected given its overall lower (initial) fertility status compared with the clay loam soil. Significant differences in DM yield were also found with respect to the fertiliser type, the N-application rate and the interaction between the two factors (P-values <0.001). In 2007, on average, across the whole experiment, the use of OMF10 and OMF15 increased DM yield by c.12.5% and c.27.5% respectively compared with biosolids whereas for urea this increase was c.55%. Also, in 2007, DM yield was found to increase with the concentration of N in the fertiliser applied and, in particular, with the concentration of readily available N. These observations helped to explain the significant effect of the interaction between the fertiliser type and the N-rate indicated above. In 2008, there was no effect of the soil type (P=0.82) upon dry matter yield. However, a significant difference (P<0.001) in DM yield was encountered between the unfertilised controls and the treatments where the application of fertiliser increased DM yield by c.2500 kg ha-1 compared with the controls. Overall, in 2008, significant differences in DM yield were found with respect to the fertiliser type (P=0.002) and the N-application rate (P<0.001) but the interaction between the two factors was found to be nonsignificant (P=0.14). The differences in DM yield encountered as a result of the fertiliser type were observed in both soils (P=0.02) but this effect was mainly due to the use of urea on the clay loam soil at 150 kg [N] ha-1 which showed a relatively improved performance compared with the other fertilisers materials. On average, the use of OMF10 and OMF15 in 2008 increased the production of DM by c.8% respectively compared with biosolids whereas for urea this was c.17%. These differences in DM yield were substantially smaller than those obtained in 2007 for all treatments. Similarly, in 2009, the differences in DM yield between the two soil types were nonsignificant (P=0.32) but there was, overall, a significant effect of the treatments compared with the controls (P<0.001). There was, as expected, a significant effect of the N-rate upon grass yield (P<0.001) which was not observed for the fertiliser type (P=0.41) and the same was true when factoring in the effect of the soil type with respect to both the nitrogen rate and also the fertiliser type (P-values of 0.57 and 0.48 respectively). There was a progressive decline in biomass production overtime at a rate of c.15% year on year, on average, across the whole experiment. To a limited extent, this could have been due to a relatively small reduction in the plants population in the pots which was noticed in the periphery of the pots and in the proximity of the inner wall (20 mm). The repeated measurement analysis of variance indicated that, overall, there were significant differences (P<0.001) with respect to the fertiliser type and the same was observed when factoring in the time (P=0.045).

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH There was an overall decline in the production of DM overtime and the differences encountered between the fertiliser types became progressively smaller from the start of the experiment. Indeed, in 2009, all fertiliser materials resulted in very similar levels of biomass production (mean values across the whole experiment were in the range of 5178 to 5483 kg [DM] ha-1; LSD[5% level] =367.3). In biosolids-treated pots, however, it remained relatively stable ranging from 5613 to 5178 kg [DM] ha-1 between 2007 and 2009. The repeated measurement analysis of variance indicated that the interaction time soils was significant (P<0.001) but the effect was largely due to the results of DM yield obtained in 2007. Nitrogen in harvested plant material (TNplant), nitrogen uptake (TNuptake) and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) Nitrogen in plant material The results of TNplant indicated that, in both soils, the control pots showed significantly lower (P=0.01) TNplant than the treated-pots by c.13% (mean values of TNplant were 1.81% and 2.04% [w w-1] for the control and the treatments respectively; LSD[5% level] =0.06). There was also a significant effect of the fertiliser type (P<0.001), the N-application rate (P<0.001) and the interaction between the two factors (P=0.002). In general, TNplant was found to increase with the concentration of readily available N in the fertiliser with biosolids showing consistently lower TNplant levels than the other fertilisers materials used. OMF10 and OMF15 resulted in intermediate levels of TNplant between biosolids and urea (mean values of TNplant were 1.97%, 2.01% and 2.15% [w w-1] for biosolids, OMF10 and OMF15, and urea respectively; LSD[5% level] =0.06). The effect of the interaction between the N-rate and the fertiliser type was largely due to the increase in TNplant obtained with the use of urea applied at 300 kg [N] ha-1. The differences recorded between OMF10 and OMF15 were, on average, nonsignificant over the range of N application rates and soil types (mean values of 2.01% [w w-1]; LSD[5% level] =0.05). Both OMF products resulted in significantly higher levels of TNplant than biosolids at the two N-rates used (mean value for biosolids was 1.97% [w w-1]). The fertiliser type also showed a significant effect (P<0.001) with respect to the controls when factoring in the time; this implied that the various fertiliser types used resulted in different N concentrations in plant at different times of the year which can explain differences in the ability of the fertiliser to release N. Nitrogen uptake In 2007, significant differences in TNuptake were found between the two soil types, the control and the treatments, the fertiliser types, the N-application rates, and the interaction between the fertiliser type and the N-rate used (p-values <0.001). With respect to the fertiliser type, N uptake was related to the concentration of available N in the fertiliser. In both soil types, urea-treated grass showed the highest N uptake (232 kg [N] ha-1 mean value of TNuptake for the two soil types). The values of TNuptake obtained for OMF10 and OMF15 ranged from 148 to 170 kg [N] ha-1 (mean value for the two soil types) which were, approximately, 20% to 40% higher than that of the biosolids-treated grass respectively. With regards to the N-application rate, the regression analysis for 2007s data showed that TNuptake was significantly correlated (P<0.001) with the level of N-fertilisation and the effect was observed in all fertiliser treatments. The slope of the regression line was also increased with the use of a more concentrated N product; in particular, the uptake of urea-N applied a 300 kg [N] ha-1 was significantly enhanced compared with the rest of the treatments at the same level of fertilisation (c.1.7 and c.1.5 times higher than OMF10 and OMF15 respectively). TNuptake was also significantly higher (c.12-15%) in OMF15 than OMF10 despite the small difference in their N contents. Similarly, in 2008, significant differences in TNuptake were found between the control and the treatments (P<0.001), the fertiliser types (P=0.017) and the N application rates (P<0.001). Overall, however, the differences encountered between the two soil types were nonsignificant (P=0.118) and the same was observed for the interaction between the fertiliser type and the N rate (P=0.163). With respect to the fertiliser type, both OMF products showed, on average, intermediate levels of TNuptake (ranging from 110 to 135 kg [N] ha-1) between those of biosolids (range 97-128 kg [N] ha-1) and urea (126-140 kg [N] ha-1). It was also observed that TNuptake by the crop was increased markedly following the application of the fertiliser. The majority of the N was taken up between the date of fertiliser application and the subsequent cut.
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH However, for biosolids, N uptake between the second and the third cuts represented a larger proportion of the total uptake compared with the rest of the fertiliser treatments. It is suggested that the release of N from the biosolids required more time; hence, it progressed to a further extent into the season compared with the other fertilisers. The percentage of the TNuptake taken up in the 3rd cut represented, on average, 18.3% for biosolids (range 12.9-23.6%), 14.5% for OMF10 (range 12.516.4%), and 12.9% for OMF15 and urea (range 10.5-15.3%). In 2008, the level of N uptake recorded for all treatments up to the 1st cut (including the controls) was almost identical (ranging from 36 to 43 kg [N] ha-1). The regression analyses indicated that the expected increment in TNuptake for every additional unit of N-applied (kg [TNuptake] kg-1) tended to be higher in the products carrying a larger proportion of readily available nitrogen in its composition ranging from 0.24-0.82 (urea), 0.20-0.48 (OMF10 & OMF15), and 0.21-0.28 (biosolids granules). Nitrogen use efficiency NUE, as determined by the apparent recovery of applied N (RN), was statistically higher (P=0.007) in the sandy loam compared with the clay loam soil (mean values of 38.7% and 35.5% respectively; LSD[5% level] =2.23) possibly due to the relatively larger supply of SMN in the latter soil. There were also significant differences in RN with respect to the fertiliser type (P<0.001) which were observed in both soil types (P=0.035). There was no effect as a result of the N-rate or the interaction between N-rate and fertiliser type (P-values of 0.29 and 0.26 respectively). The differences in RN recorded between-years were significant (P<0.001) RN accounted for 49% in 2007 and 25.2% in 2008 mean values across the whole experiment respectively. Overall, the two OMF products resulted in intermediate levels of N recoveries (mean values in the range of 33.4% to 37.4%) between those encountered for biosolids- and urea-treated grass (mean values of 24.5% and 53.2% respectively; LSD[5% level] =3.16). The overall decrease observed in RN in 2008 compared with 2007 appeared to have been related to the concentration of urea-N in the fertiliser; e.g. in urea-treated pots Nrecovery decreased from c.75% on average in 2007 to c.31% in 2008 whereas for biosolids-treated pots the decrease was from c.29% in 2007 to c.20% in 2008. RN in OMF-treated grass decreased progressively between-years from c.41% to 26% for OMF10 and from c.51% to c.25% for OMF15. Hence, the apparent recovery of applied N was significantly affected by the surface-application of urea-containing fertilisers possibly linked to volatilisation of ammonia under the prevailing experimental conditions. The recorded decline in RN was proportional to both the N-application rate and the content of urea-N in the fertiliser. Soil analyses Total soil nitrogen (TNsoil) Overall, TNsoil levels were significantly different between the clay loam and the sandy loam soils (P<0.001). The former soil resulted in relatively higher TNsoil on average across all treatments (mean values of TNsoil of 0.21% and 0.17%, [w w-1] for the clay loam and the sandy loam soils respectively). There were also significant differences in TNsoil between the control and the treatments (P=0.001) and with respect to the fertiliser type used (P<0.001) which was observed in both soil types (P=0.02). The differences with respect to the N-application rate were nonsignificant (P=0.46) but there was a significant effect of the interaction between the fertiliser type and the Napplication rate (P=0.02) on the TNsoil values encountered. In addition, significant changes (increase) in TNsoil were observed overtime (P<0.001) which were also encountered with respect to the fertiliser type used (P<0.001). At the end of the experiment, the pots amended with biosolids, OMF10 and OMF15 reached approximately the same level of TNsoil (values in the range of 0.20% to 0.22% [w w-1]) which were statistically higher than that of urea (<0.18% [w w-1]) for an LSD[5% level] value <0.01. The similarity in the levels of TNsoil recorded in the final year of the experiment, to some extent, helps to explain the small variation in DM yield encountered in 2009 between the treatments since N-mineralisation from all pots would be approximately equivalent. The differences encountered in C:N were nonsignificant as a result of the fertiliser treatment (P=0.75), the N rate (P=0.30) and the interaction between the two factors (P=0.83). The pots treated with OMF10 and OMF15 resulted in intermediate levels of TNsoil (c.0.18% [w w-1] for both N-application rates).

44

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Soil mineral nitrogen With the exception of the year of grass establishment, the values of SMN recorded in the analyses were consistently very low (2.4 and 1.6 mg [N] kg-1 for the clay loam and the sandy loam soils respectively or 5.9 and 4.3 kg [N] ha-1 respectively) contrary to the values encountered at the start of the experiment; i.e. 57.8 and 35.2 kg [N] ha-1 equivalent for the clay loam and the sandy loam soils respectively. This, added to the N-applied with the fertilisers, helps explain the significantly higher levels of dry matter yields obtained overall in 2007. The differences recorded between the control and the treatments and with respect to the fertiliser type were found to be nonsignificant (P=0.10 and P=0.72 respectively). There was, however, a significant effect of the Napplication rate (p=0.02) with the treatments receiving 300 kg [N] ha-1 yielding a significantly higher SMN values compared with the controls and those fertilised at 150 kg [N] ha-1. These differences were very small and almost negligible when converted to kg [N] ha-1. Soil extractable phosphorus There was a small increase in soil extractable-P levels overtime, from an initial value of 77.7 to 79.3 mg [P] kg-1 at the end of the experiment (mean values across the whole experiment) which was found to be significant (P=0.01); this effect was observed in both soil types (P=0.01). It was also found that there were no significant differences between the control and the treatments (P=0.74) in none of the two soil types (P=0.18) but there was a significant effect of the fertiliser type (P<0.001) with respect to the controls which was due to the increase in soil extractable-P levels encountered in biosolids-treated pots and also to a small decrease recorded in urea-treated pots (mean values were 78.8, 83.4, and 75.3 mg [P] kg-1 for the controls, biosolids- and urea-treated pots respectively; LSD[5% level] =2.34). The effect of the fertiliser type was also significant when factoring in the time (P<0.001); i.e. the changes recorded in biosolids- and urea-treated pots were significant with respect to the initial values recorded at the start of the experiment. Overall, however, the effects of the fertiliser rate and the interaction fertiliser type the rate were nonsignificant (P=0.20 and P=0.06 respectively). The changes recorded in soil extractable-P levels compared with the controls in each soil type were of similar order of magnitude. A small increase in soil extractable P levels was recorded for the control soils (from 99.1 to 102 mg [P] l-1) which resulted in a change in soil-P index in the control soils from 5 to 6 (MAFF, 2000). The use of OMF10, OMF15, and urea did not induce significant changes in soil-P index with respect to the controls but they were all significantly different from the value encountered in biosolids-treated pots. The decrease in soil extractable-P observed in urea-treated pots was not sufficient to modify P-index. Soil pH There was an overall significant increase in soil pH after three years (from 6.6 to 7.2 mean values across the whole experiment recorded in 2007 & 2009 respectively; LSD[5% level] =0.02) which may be attributable to the deposition of Ca2+ and Mg2+ carried in water used for irrigation. Despite this, overall, there were not significant differences between the controls and the treatments (P=0.58), and the same was observed for comparisons between the fertiliser types used (P=0.09). There was a significant, although small, effect of the N-application rate (P<0.001) on soil pH. The pots fertilised at 300 kg [N] ha-1 showed a significantly lower value (pH=6.8) than those that received 150 kg [N] ha-1 year on year (pH=6.9) which should not be of importance in practice. Soil organic matter (SOM) SOM increased significantly at the end of the three years trial from 4.4% to 5.2% on average across the whole experiment. A significant increase in SOM was found for the treatments with respect to the controls from 4.6% to 4.8% (LSD[5% level] =0.095). Overall, significant differences in SOM levels were recorded for the control and the treatments with respect to the fertiliser type and also the N-application rate (P-values <0.001) whereas the interaction between these two factors showed a nonsignificant effect (P=0.29). SOM increased by approximately 3.2% and 5.9% for the treatments fertilised with 150 and 300 kg [N] ha-1 respectively at the end of the three years trial compared with the initial levels recorded in 2007. The largest increase in SOM was recorded in the pots treated with biosolids (by c.7%) compared with the controls whereas for urea and the two OMF, SOM levels were approximately between 2.3% to 4.8% higher than the controls respectively.
45

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH When analysing the data corresponding to each of the soil types individually, all fertilisers induced similar changes (increases) in SOM compared to the controls (P=0.91). The effect of the fertilisers within each soil type followed the same overall trend as biosolids which produced, consistently, the largest increase in SOM levels. CONCLUSIONS Grass responded linearly to the application of biosolids, OMF10, OMF15 and urea (N applications in the range of 0 to 300 kg [N] ha-1. The use of OMF increased DM yield by 2-27% compared with biosolids but the differences between the two fertiliser materials became smaller overtime as a result of the surface application of the fertiliser, possible losses of N by volatilisation of ammonia and enhanced N-mineralisation and uptake in biosolids-treated pots given the experimental conditions in the glasshouse, and the timing of the fertiliser application in relation to the maximum growth rate of the grass (late N-application). NUE was related to the concentration of readily available-N in the fertiliser with both urea and OMF showing consistently larger N-recoveries than biosolids granules (range 26-75% and 19-29% respectively). TNsoil showed a slight build up which was also related to the concentration of organic-N in the fertiliser (biosolids>OMF>urea). This effect and the recorded increase in SOM, help to support the fact that DM yield was more sustained overtime in biosolids-treated pots compared with the other treatments. The application of OMF to the soil in the pots did not induce a significant change in soil extractable-P levels whereas in ureatreated soil, it decreased significantly while it showed a significant increase in biosolids-treated soil. For the control soil and the soil treated with biosolids, soil-P index changed (+1 level); whereas the changes recorded in urea-treated pots were not sufficient to modify the index despite the significant decrease recorded in soil-P levels. In OMF-treated soil, the index remained close to constant overtime; hence, supporting the purpose of the proposed formulations. From the above, it provides evidence to suggest that the use of OMF in grass production is a sustainable approach to recycling biosolids to agricultural land. Acknowledgements The authors acknowledge the financial assistance of United Utilities PLC and the Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (UK). The technical assistance of P Bellamy and M RivasCasado and the members of the staff at the Soil and Water Laboratory at Cranfield University (UK) are appreciated.
Antille, D.L., 2011. Formulation, utilisation and evaluation of organomineral fertilisers. Unpublished Engineering Doctorate Thesis. School of Applied Science, Cranfield University, Cranfield, MK43 0AL, UK. Defra, 2007; Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs, 2007. Waste strategy for England 2007. PB12596. Accessed 16 March 2010. http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/waste/strategy/strategy07/documents/waste07-strategy.pdf Edge, D., 1999. Perspectives for nutrient removal from sewage sludge and implications for sludge strategy. Environmental Technology 20: 759-763. GenStat Release 10.1 [10th Edition PC/Windows XP] Copyright, 2007. Lewes Agricultural Trust (Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, AL5 2JQ, UK). Registered to Cranfield University at Silsoe, Silsoe, MK45 4DT, UK. MAFF, 1986; Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, 1986. The analysis of agricultural materials. Reference Book 427. 3rd Edition. The Stationery Office, London. MAFF, 2000; Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, 2000. Fertiliser recommendations for agricultural and horticultural crops (RB209). 7th Edition. The Stationery Office, London. Taylor, J.M., Newell-Price, J.P., and Chambers, B.J., 2009. Recycling organic resources to land: risk assessment for organic chemicals. Proceedings of the 14th European Biosolids and Organic Resources Conference and Exhibition. Aqua-Enviro Technology Transfer, Leeds, UK, 9-11 November 2009. [Paper No.: 033]. Weikard, H.P., and Seyhan, D., 2009. Distribution of phosphorus resources between rich and poor countries: the effect of recycling. Ecological Economics 68: 1749-1755.

References

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH

Ca2+Content Decreased in Root Symplast More Than Root Apoplast in Sunflower Plants Exposed to Moderate Salinity and Role of Supplemental Calcium
Reza Ebrahimi
Faculty Member, Department of Soil Science, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran. Cooresponding Author: rj_ebrahimi@yahoo.com

Abstract Little is known about how salinity affects ions distribution in root apoplast and symplast. Using xray microanalysis, ions distribution and the relative contribution of apoplastic and symplastic pathways for delivery of calcium to root xylem were studied in sunflower plants exposed to moderate salinity (EC=6). Cortical cells, provided a considerably extended Na+ and Cl- storage facility. Their contents are greater in cytoplasm (root symplast) as compare to intercellular spaces (root apoplast) in sunflower. Hence, in this level of salinity, salt damage in sunflower is not dehydration due to extracellular accumulation of sodium and chloride ions, as suggested in the Oertli hypothesis. On the other hand, reduction in calcium content due to salinity in intercellular space is less than reduction in the cytoplasm of cortical cells. It seems that sodium inhibit the radial movement of calcium in symplastic pathway more than apoplastic pathway. Cell wall seems to have an important role in providing calcium for apoplastic pathway. Redistribution of calcium from cell wall to intercelular space is because of its tendency toward xylem through apoplastic pathway. This might be a strategy to enhance loading of calcium to xylem elements and to reduce calcium deficiency in young leaves under salinity. This phenomenon may be able to increase salt tolerance in sunflower plants. Supplemental calcium has been found to be effective in reducing radial transport of Na+ across the root cells and their loading into the xylem but not sodium absorption. It enhanced Ca2+ uptake and influx into roots and transport to stele. Keywords: apoplastic pathway, calcium, symplastic pathway, sunflower, root.

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Unbalanced Nitrogen Application Induced Short Storage Life and Rapid Fruit Softening During Storage in Kiwifruit in North of Iran
Mahsa Ashouria, Reza Ebrahimib, Mahmoud Ghasemnezhadc, Atefeh Sabourid
a, c b

Department of Horticulture, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran ,Department of Soil Science, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran d Department of Agronomy, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran.

Abstract
Storage life of kiwifruit is decreasing but its cultivation area and yield is increasing in north of Iran. The rate of nitrogen application and its kind is one of the main factors affecting the yield, storage life, softening rate during storage, quality of kiwifruit and soil pH. In this research, 20 Hayward kiwifruit orchards with similar characteristics located in north of Iran, selected and were graded into two categories according to level of N application, which applied annually. Five trees selected in each orchard. Fruits were stored in normal atmosphere at 0C and 90-95% relative humidity. After 90 days of storage, one sample of each orchard consisting of 10 fruits from 85-105g size was taken to assess some quality parameters namely, flesh firmness, fruits water loss rate. The high level of nitrogen application without any calcium, increased fruit size, water and nitrogen content, and gardeners income while decreased calcium content, Ca/N ratio, flesh firmness and fruit storage life potential. Fruits feeded with high levels of ammonium fertilizers have higher N/Ca ratio because of competition between NH4+ and Ca2+ for uptake by root which induced shorter storage life potential. On the other hand, physiological disorders due to high ratio of N/Ca during fruit storage leading to important losses of marketable yield and can be strongly affected by the mineral composition of fruits. Therefore, N should be applied in proper level in order to guarantee high production of kiwifruit and maintenance of fruit quality during storage. Keywords: flesh firmness, kiwifruit, N/Ca ratio, storage life, unbalanced nitrogen.

Introduction Kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa cv. Hayward) is highly rich in vitamin C, minerals, carbohydrates and proteins (Rush et al., 2002). Iran is a country with the most significant increases in kiwifruit cultivation during previous decade. According to FAO report (2010), Iran produced 34200 tons of kiwifruit from 3100 ha orchard. Fertilization is one of the cultural practices with a great effect on kiwifruit yield and its mineral composition. Supply of nutrients usually results in yield increase, although excessive or unbalanced application has negative effects (Pacheco et al, 2008). Nitrogen fertilizers may have direct and indirect, positive and negative effects on availability of other nutrients in soil and their uptake by plant roots. Nitrogen application rate and the level of other macronutrients influence kiwifruit storage life (Johnson et al, 1997). Calcium plays an important role in many of the metabolic processes affecting fruit ripening and postharvest storage life (Barker and Pilbeam, 2007). Low calcium concentration in kiwifruit is associated with premature fruit softening, physiological pitting during storage (Prasad and Spiers, 1991; Thorp et al., 2003). Calcium is usually positively associated with quality of kiwifruit (Ferguson et al, 2003). Firmness is an important quality attribute of kiwifruit that has been linked with fruit storage performance and is considered the primary indicator of kiwifruit eating ripeness (Feng et al., 2003). Kiwifruit generally maintain firmness very well during cold storage for 4 to 6 months or even longer . Friut handlers have learned from experience to market those fruit quickly rather than holding them for long periods. Postharvest water loss can cause rapid deterioration in produce quality through shriveling (Burdon et al, 1994). In order to understand how the rate of N application and its kind, affect flesh firmness, storage life and water loss. This study has been undertaken with the following aims: 1. Determination of N and Ca2+ contents in fruits. 2. Finding out how N application in the growth medium alters storage life and rapid fruit softening. 3. Also the ratio of Ca2+/N in fruits has been investigated. Materials and methods The trial was conducted during 2011-2012 in 20 mature kiwifruit orchards with similar botanical characteristics located in Guilan province in north of Iran. Five vines were sampled in each orchard. Fruits from each orchard were harvested when the soluble solids concentration (SSC) of fruit was as close to the commercial minimum of 6.2% as practically possible. Eight fruits were
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH picked from each vine in November. After harvest, 30 fruits from each orchard in 3 replications were stored in normal atmosphere (at 0C and 90-95% hygrometry conditions) for 3 months. Ten fruits were transferred to the laboratory in Guilan University. At harvest time, firmness of fruits was measured using a penetrometer (5 Kgf) with an 8 mm head. Two measurements were made per fruit right angles to each other on pared areas on the equator of the fruit. Sample consisting 8 fruits were taken and fresh weight were measured. Samples were turned into oven at 75C for 72 hours to determine dry weight. Water content (WC) was calculated according to the following formula: WC (%) = 100 (fresh weight dry weight)/ fresh weight Sample consisting of 8 fruits including all marketable fruit size was taken and its mineral composition (N and Ca) was evaluated. Total N was determined by Oto-Kjeltak in dry samples. Calcium content was determined by titration of extract of the fruit dry ash with a 0.02 M EDTA solution (pH=9) and simultaneous, after dry ashes (500 C) were treated with HCl 3M. After 90 days of storage, one sample consisting of 10 fruits (80-105g) was taken from each experimental replication and flesh firmness, fruits weight and water content were measured. Results are referred to dry weight. Results 10 days after harvest fruit from vineyards that received the higher rate ammonium and urea fertilizers showed less fruit firmness. Also after 90 days storage, fruit from vineyards that received high rate of nitrogen fertilizer, showed a sharp decrease in fruit firmness. In fruits with 900 mg N/100g-fruit or more, firmness obtained less than 2 kgf after 90 days storage. Negative significant correlation between nitrogen content in fruit at harvest and fruit firmness in storage has been found. Fruit firmness decreased from harvest throughout storage (Table 2). Statistical analyses showed that nitrogen content significantly affected storage life in Hayward kiwifruit. The maximum flesh firmness (3.4 Kgf), after 90 days storage, obtained in the fruits of orchard No.4, which N content of fruits (339 mg/100g) and N/Ca ratio (= 67) are minimum among all fruits. N added to soil in the form of ammonium in 20 vineyards impaired calcium status (Table 1) and increased nitrogen content and decreased flesh firmness in fruits. In all orchards calcium content in fruits is low and N/Ca ratio is very high (Table 2). In most vineyards in the north of Iran, ammonium sulfate and urea fertilizers usually apply in high level, so flesh firmness and fruit quality decreased early in storage. In investigated orchards, farmers do not apply any calcium fertilizers in the soil, so fruits contain low calcium content and induced rapid fruit softening during storage. In investigated orchards, water content obtained around 82-85% at harvest time. Water loss of fruits was obtained 4 7 % in different vineyards after 3 months storage. Average fruit weight was positively affected by ammonium and urea fertilizers. Fruits that contain nitrogen content higher than 1000 (mg/100g fruit), average fruit weight obtained around 80- 105 g (Table 2).

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Table 1. Kinds and time of fertilizers application in Hayward kiwifruit orchards in north of Iran
O rchard N.

Type and time of fertilizer application 1 Ammonium sulfate and urea in February , March and May 2 Ammonium sulfate , potassium sulfate and urea in February, March and April 3 Potassium sulfate ,urea and super phosphate triple in March ; Ammonium sulfate and urea in early April ; Ammonium sulfate and urea in May. 4 potassium sulfate in February ; Ammonium sulfate in March 5 Ammonium sulfate and Ammonium phosphate or full fertilizer in March 6 Ammonium sulfate, Ammonium phosphate and Potassium Sulfate in March 7 Potassium sulfate , Ammonium sulfate and super phosphate triple in March; Ammonium sulfate in April and May. 8 Full fertilizer in February and April 9 Ammonium sulfate and Potassium sulfate in March and April 10 Ammonium sulfate ,super phosphate trip l ,Potassium sulfate and urea in March and May 11 Ammonium sulfate and urea in February and April 12 Ammonium sulfate , Ammonium phosphate and urea in February ; Urea in July 13 Ammonium sulfate and Ammonium phosphate and potassium sulfate in March ; Ammonium sulfate in May. 14 Ammonium sulfate , Ammonium phosphate, Urea and potassium sulfate in March ; 15 Ammonium sulfate , Ammonium phosphate, Urea and potassium sulfate in March ; 16 Ammonium phosphate in February ; Ammonium sulfate, Potassium sulfate and urea in March. 17 Potassium sulfate , Ammonium phosphate and urea in March, April and May. 18 Full fertilizer in February 19 Ammonium sulfate and Potassium sulfate in March, April and May

Table 2. Mean fruit weight (g), water content, flesh firmness, nitrogen and calcium content at harvest in November and flesh firmness and water loss after 90 days storage. Orchard number fruit weight (g) 84.5 96 93 82 90 93 82 95 80 103 102 104 81 86 70 82 80 92 85 78 Water content (%) 82.84 82.93 83.57 82.56 82.38 83.77 83.7 84.33 84.92 84.73 85.07 82.84 83.66 82.00 82.19 83.47 85.07 83.79 84.0 83.52 Water loss (%) 4.44 5.37 4.35 4.50 4.64 4.57 4.02 4.72 6.41 5.55 5.63 4.11 5.22 5.28 3.55 4.83 4.71 4.93 5.31 4.74 Firmness 10 days after harvest (Kgf) 4.64 3.38 2.61 4.80 3.63 3.03 2.13 2.75 2.52 3.00 3.36 3.78 4.12 4.40 4.54 3.10 4.19 3.04 3.24 4.26 Firmness 90 days after storage (Kgf) 1.76 1.63 1.65 3.40 2.00 1.96 1.63 1.02 0.85 0.87 0.90 2.23 1.99 2.53 1.58 1.81 1.90 1.70 1.53 1.10 Nitrogen content (mg/100g) 897 812 1093 336 1051 1009 1023 1233 1345 1093 1107 897 1065 630 953 833 953 995 1079 939 Calcium content (mg/100g) 4.40 5.08 5.04 5.04 6.16 5.68 4.00 2.90 4.56 5.40 5.20 5.08 4.68 4.68 4.72 5.36 6.36 4.72 4.96 5.52

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH

Fig. 1 Correlation between nitrogen content and flesh firmness (FF) in Hayward kiwifruit

Fig 2. Correlation between nitrogen content and water loss (WL) during 3 months in Hayward kiwifruit
FF ( kgf)

Calcium content (mg/ 100g)

Fig 3. Correlation between calcium at harvest time and flesh firmness (FF) 3 months after storage Discussion Soil order in kiwifruit orchards in Guilan province is usually Alfisol and their pH is less than 6 (data not shown). So, application of N in the form of NH4+ and S in the form of SO42- reduce soil pH and calcium uptake. Also NH4+ and Ca2+ competition for uptake will decrease calcium content
51

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH in fruits. Results obtained in this experiment indicate that ammonium and urea fertilizers influence both fruit quantity and quality. High nitrogen levels associated with more rapid fruit softening during storage (Johnson et al, 1997). Nitrogen content had a significant effect on the rate of kiwifruit softening during storage in this work. Among nutrients, high content of N were consistently associated with more rapid fruit softening during storage. The N/Ca ratio in fruit was generally correlated with firmness after storage, but was no better than N alone (Prasad and spires, 1991). The high rates of ammonium and urea reduced storage life, being associated with an earlier reduction in fruit firmness. Substantial quantities of ammonium and nitrate can be added to the soil together. Vineyards have indicated a consistent correlation between nitrogen content and firmness after long term storage. This experiment indicates that the management of nutrients, particularly nitrogen is important in relation to storage quality of kiwifruit. It could be suggested that calcium chloride can be used as sprays on developing kiwifruits to increase storage life. Application of calcium salts to kiwifruits just before harvest may also decrease N/Ca ratio and improve storage life. References Barker, A. V. and Pilbeam, D. J., (2007). Handbook of plant nutrition. Boca raton, CRC Press. Burdon, J.N., Dori, S., Lomaniec, E., Marinansky, R., Pesis, E. (1994). The post-harvest ripening of water stressed banana fruits. Hortic. Sci. , 69, 799-804. Feng, J., MacKay, B.R., Maguire, K., Benge, J.R., Jeffery, P.,(2003). Suggestions on rationalozed methodologiest to investigate kiwifruit storage life. Acta Horticulturae , vol. 628, pp. 591-598. Bibliography Ferguson, I.B., Throp, T.G., Barnet, A.M., Boyd, L.M. and Triggs, C.M., (2003). Inorganic nutrient concentrations and physiological pitting in Hayward kiwifruit. Hort. Sci. Biotechnol. 78:497-504. Johnson, R. S., Mitchell, F. G., Crisista, C. H., (1997). Nitrogen influences kiwifruit storage life. Acta Hort. 444:285-289. Mills, T., Boldingh, H., Blattman, P., Green, S., Meekings, J., (2008). Nitrogen application rate and the concentration of other macronutrients in the fruit and leaves of kiwifruit. Plant nutrition , 31: 1656-1675. Pacheco, C., Calouro, F., Vieira, S., (2008). influence of nitrogen and potassium on yield, fruit quality and mineral composition of kiwifruit. energy and environment , ISSUE 1, Volume 2. Patterson, K.J. & Currie, M.B. (2011). Optimising kiwifruit vine performancefor high productivity and superior fruit taste. Acta Horticulturae . Prasad, M. and Spiers, T.M., (1991). The effect of nutrition on the storage quality of kiwifruit (a review). Acta Hort. 297: 579-585. Throp, T.G., Ferguson, I.B., Boyd, L.M., Barnet, A.M., (2003). Fuiting position, moneral concentration and incidence of physiological pitting in Hayward kiwifruit. . Hort. Sci. Biotechnol 78: 505-511 .

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH

Water use efficiency of alfalfa as affected by nitrogen fertilizer in salinity stress

Ebadi, Aa. Abbasi, Sh. Fb., Khomari, Sa., Sanayee, Sb.
a b

Facuty of Agriculture, university of Mohaghegh Ardabili Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran Corresponding author: ebadi_ali2000@yahoo.com

Msc student of Agronomy, university of

Abstract: Effect of nitrogen on yield, water use efficiency, and accumulation of some ions in alfalfa were studied at saline condition. A factorial experiment was conducted based on completely randomized design with three replications in the educational and research greenhouse of University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran, at 2010. Alfalfa seeds (Hamedani cultivar) inoculated with the Rhizobium bacteria and grown in 5 kg pots. The amount of used water was recorded in each irrigation. Nitrogen fertilizer of 0, 30, 60 and 90 kg ha-1 was applied as urea at 4 to 6 leaf stage. After the establishment of seedlings, salinity was imposed at zero, 100 and 200 mM as NaCl. The amounts of sodium, potassium and calcium measured by flame photometer. Yield and water use efficiency also were measured. Results showed that salinity increased the amount of sodium and calcium, significantly but it had no effect on potassium concentration. Sodium to potassium ratio and the alfalfa yield also decreased significantly by salinity. Although, nitrogen fertilizer had no significantly effect on the amount of absorbed ions but increased alfalfa yield and water use efficiency. Key words: Alfalfa, Nitrogen, salinity, yield.

Introduction

Salinity stress is one of the important and common a biotic stresses that reduced crop production and productivity of arable lands in arid and semi-arid areas (Bybordi et al, 2010). It is estimated that over than 300 million hectares of all cultivated land and nearly half of irrigated land is saltaffected (Rahmani and Majidi, 2002). Osmotic adjustment is the most efficient mechanism that plants benefits under stress condition. Osmoregulation is a physiological phenomenon that plants maintained their turgor potential by increasing mineral and organic solutes for surviving and growth (Binzel et al, 1988). Sodium chloride accumulation in shoot organs of plants considered as a mechanism for osmoregulation. Such ions accumulate in vacuoles of resistant plants and osmotic balance between vacuoles and cytosol and apoplast obtained by accumulation of compatible solutes such as proline. But in susceptible plants sodium and chloride accumulation in cytosol is toxic and their accumulation in apoplast cause reduction in enzymes activity and cell water exertion and water deficit condition (Marschner, 1995 and Munns, 1993). Sodium prevents the absorption of other elements as: 1 - replacement of sodium in the cell membrane transporters such as potassium selective channels, 2 - reduction in root growth at high concentrations of sodium (Tester and Davenport, 2003). Yeo and Flowers (1983) stated that increasing sodium accumulation may change cell osmotic potential witch cause plasmolysis and losses of selective absorption of root cells. According to Munns (1993) plant growth in these conditions cause to accumulate higher amounts of chlorine and sodium ions in the shoot that will lead to earlier leaf senescence. Increasing sodium ion in the root zone reduce potassium uptake (Benlloch et al, 1994) and lower potassium to sodium ratio in various physiological and biochemical activities of the plant. Suhayda et al (1992) declared that there is a strong relationship between the ratio of potassium to sodium and salt tolerance in barley. Abdolzadeh et al (2006) reported that salinity affects the sodium, potassium and chloride concentration in roots and shoot parts of rapeseed. Ismaili et al (2008) studied the interaction of salinity and nitrogen on sorghum growth and composition and stated that sodium and calcium content in plant tissues significantly increases by increasing salinity stress. While the concentration of potassium and uptake of calcium, potassium and magnesium ions decreases. They stated that such an increase in calcium and magnesium content is as a result of calcium and magnesium ions high concentrations in saline water. Leigh and Wyn Jones (1984) reported that a decrease in

53

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH potassium ion concentration due to salinity inhibits the growth of the leaves through reduction in osmoregulation capacity or impact on the metabolic activities such as protein synthesis. The limitation in nutrient availability under saline conditions is the main limiting factor for crop production. Among the nutrient elements nitrogen is the important limiting factor in terms of saline and non-saline condition. Previous researches have shown that the use of fertilizers in saline soils may increase, reduce or improve plant tolerance to salinity, in other words, response of the plants for fertilizers depends on the severity of salinity in the root zone (Mass and Grattan, 1999) and the nutrient availability in the soil (Drihem and Pilbeam 2002). Understand relationship between salinity and fertilizer has economic importance and many studies have been done to evaluate the nitrogen and other nutrients absorption by plants under salinity conditions (Basal et al, 2006). In this study the effect of nitrogen was investigated on the absorption of some elements in the shoot, hay yield and water use efficiency in saline conditions. This study was conducted in a completely randomized design based on factorial experiment with three replications in greenhouse condition in 2011. Alfalfa seeds were sterilized and inoculated with the rhizobium and planted in 5 kg pots in soil .Pots irrigated to reach field capacity and used water recorded to calculate water use efficiency. After the plants grow and to 4-6 leaf stage nitrogen fertilizer was applied based on zero, 30, 60 and 90 kg ha-1 . Salinity induced at three levels of Zero 100 and 200 mM one week after nitrogen were applied. Water use efficiency was obtained using the following equation (Klasn, 2002). WUE= That DW was produced dry matter and UW was used water. To determine the elements one gram of shoot dry matter ashes at 500C. Then samples heated by adding 10 ml of 2N hydrochloric acid to boiling point. Then the samples filtrated and reachedto 100 ml with distilled water. Concentrations of elements were measured by Flame spectrometer. Standard of 0.5, 1.25, 2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10 ppm was used for obtaining standard curve (Burgan, 2006).

Materials and Methods

Results and discussion

The amount of sodium and calcium accumulation in shoots was affected by salinity ( = %1), while nitrogen fertilizer did not affect the accumulation of these elements. Potassium was not affected by nitrogen fertilizer (Table 1). None of the treatments had significant effect on potassium levels. Naidoo and Naidoo (2001), and Ismaili et al (2008) also reported that the ions concentration was significantly affected by salinity and nitrogen, but there was no significantly interaction between salinity and nitrogen application. Sodium was increased with increasing salinity levels in alfalfa leaves. Accumulation of Na in alfalfa at 100 mM Salinity was 23.74 mg in leaves, and at 200 mM salinity 32.79mg/g shoot dry weight, (Table 2). The highest ions accumulation belonged to 200 mM salinity level. Abdul-Zadeh et al (2008), Ismaili et al (2008), Naidoo and Naidoo (2001) and Baybordi et al (2010) have also reported that salinity increases the amount of sodium accumulation. Accumulation Na levels lead to changes in osmotic potential of cells that can cause plasmolysis and lower the potential of root cells in selective absorption (Yeo and Flowres, 1983). Sodium prevents the potassium absorption. Because the nitrate ions transports from roots to leaves by Xylem, and potassium stimulate this process, if Na and Cl ions to absorb large amounts of sodium ions, potassium ions can enter the vascular system to prevent, Reduce the amount of potassium nitrate transport is reduced, So instead of chlorine nitrate anion and transferred to the

54

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH leaves will accumulate in them (Siliberabush and Ben- Asher, 1987). With increasing salinity levels, calcium content also increased significantly (Table 1 and 2). High salinity is increased cytosol calcium from intracellular apoplast and departments are transferred. Enhance the calcium signal directed towards increasing stress of adaptation to salinity (Parida and Das, 2002). Ismaili and colleagues (2008), Baybordi (2011) have also pointed to the results of their research. Adverse effects of calcium ions will neutralize harmful (Bilski et al, 1988). Sodium and calcium may reduce the competition with its absorption or uptake of potassium (Cramer et al, 1989) will reduce the damage of salt stress. In this study, potassium levels were not affected by salinity (Table 1). Makus (2003) has reported similar results. But the ratio significantly decreased with increasing salinity. Ratio, an important indicator of salt sensitivity is crucial. Decrease in K /Na ratio in saline conditions and property by Jackson (1997) and Baybordi et al (2011) has also been reported. Salinity and nitrogen on water use efficiency showed significant differences (Table 1). This difference is more pronounced at 100 mM salt and was significant, That if the increase in salinity to 200 mM salinity level of water use efficiency than the 100 did not show significant differences. With increasing nitrogen levels also showed significant differences in water use efficiency (Table 2). Most efficient water use obtained from the 90 kg N ha-1. Water use efficiency in pepper plants significantly decreased with increasing salinity. Huez-Lpez et al, (2011) and Kutuk et al (2004) also decreased with increasing salinity of the water use efficiency have been reported. Effectiveness or efficiency of water use, water consumption is for product evaluation and marketable yield of the desired plant evapotranspiration rate is obtained. Thus, any factor that can increase performance or reduce the amount of evapotranspiration, water use efficiency increases (Sobhani, 2000). Goodroad and Jellum (1988) and Cavigila and Sadras (2001) reported increased nitrogen, water use efficiency increased. Nitrogen application development and increased leaf area receiving radiation and ghosting on the soil surface, reduces evaporation from the soil surface and thus increase water use efficiency in the plant (Alizadeh, 2002).
Tab.1 . Analysis of variance of nitrogen effect on elements concentration, yield and water use efficiency in codition of salt stress in alfalfa

s.o.v

Df

Warte use efficiency

yield

Ratio of Sodium to potassium Mean squire

calcium

potasium

sodium

nitrogen salinity salinity nitrogen error Cv%

3 2 6

4.16** 1.08** 3.10

ns

5.40 ** 14.87** 0.38

ns

0.0053 ns 0.097** 0.0056 ns

22.04** 48.56** 0.71 ns

0.60 ns 0.95 ns 0.12 ns

20.14 ns 1332.47** 27.05 ns

24 -

5.23 15.38

15.65 15.39

0.0023 18.32

2.89 23.36

0.44 10.91

35.84 26.29

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH
Tab. 2. Compration of means of nitrogen effect on elements concentration, yield and water use efficiency in coditionof salt stress in alfalfa

sodium

calcium

Potassium to sodium ratio Mg/g

Economical yield g 6.46 a 4.99 b 4.27 c 4.60 b 4.82 b 5.20 b 6.34 a

Water use efficiency s. o.v g/g 0.0018 a 0.0014 b 0.001 b 0.0013 b 0.0013 b 0.00014 b 0.0017 a Salinity Mm 0 100 200 0 30 60 90

11.78 a 23.74 b 32.79 c

5.22 a 7.37 b 9.24 c 5.21 b b 6.92 a 8.42 a 8.5 a

0.57 a 0.27 b 0.2 b

Nitrogen kg/ha

Results showed that factors (Salinity and Nitrogen) affected some traits. But Interactions had not significant effect on traits. Sodium and Calcium concentration increased by salinity, but Na/K, WUE and forage yield decreased by salinity. WUE reduced by Nitrogen application and forage yield increased, also.

Conclusion

Abdolzade, A., Malekjani, Z., Galeshi, S., Yaghmaei, F., (2007). Combined effect of salinity on growth and nitrogen nutrition of rapeseed, Journal of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. 13: 3-13. Alizade, A., (2002), Soil and water relations. publications, Astan Quds Razavi. P355. Basal, H., Hemphill, J. K., Smith C.W., (2006). Shoot and root characteristics of converted race stocks accesions of upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) grown under salt stress conditions. Journal of Plant Pathology, 1(1) P: 99106. Baybordi, A., Tabatabai, S., Ahmadaf, A., (2011). Effect of NaCl salinity induced physiological characteristics, quantity and quality of winter oilseed rape cultivars. Journal of Water and Soil (Science, Industry and Agriculture). 24: 334-346. Benlloch, M., Ojeda, M. A., Ramos, J., Rodriguesnanavarro, A., (1994). Salt sensitivity and llow discrimiation between potassiumand sodium in plants. Plant and soil, 166: 117-123. Bilski, J. J., Nelsin, D. C., Colon, R. L., (1988). The response of four potato cultivars to chloride salinity, sulphat salinity and calcum in pot experiment. Potato, Journal. 65, 85-90. Binzel, M. L., Hess, F. D., Bressan, R. A., Hasegawa, P. M., (1988). Intracellular compartmentation of ions in salt adapted tobacco cells. Plant Physiology, 86: 607614. Borgan, J. C., (2006). Flame Photometric determination of calcium in plants. Journal of the Science food and Agric. Vol.11(8): 446-449. Bybordi, A., Tabatabaei, S. J, Ahmadev, A ., (2010). Effect of salinity on fatty acid composition of Canola (Brassica napus L). Journal of Food and Agriculture Environmental, 8(1): 113-115. Cavigila, O. P., and Sadras, V.O., (2001). Effect of nitrogen supply on crop conductance, water and radiation use efficiency of wheat. Field crops, 69: 259-266.

Reference

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Claussen, W., (2002). Growth, water use efficiency, and proline content of hydroponically grown tomato plants as affected by nitrogen source and nutrient concentration. Plant and soil, 257: 199-209 Cramer, G. R., Epstein, E., Lauchi, A., (1989). Na-Ca interactions in barley seedling: relationship to ion transport and growth. Plant Cell Environmental, 12: 551-558. Drihem, K., and Pilbeam, D., (2002). Effects of salinity on accumulation of mineral nutrients in wheat grown with nitrate-nitrogen or mixed ammonium: nitrate-nitrogen. Journal of plant nutrition, 25(10): 2091-2113. Esmaili, E., Kapourchal, S. A., Malakouti, M. J., Homaee, M., (2008). Interactive effect of salinity and two nitrogen fertilizers on growth and composition of sorghum. Plant Soil Environmental, 54 (12): 537546. Goodroad, L., and Jellum, M. D., (1988). Effect of Nitrogen fertilizer rate and soil Ph on Nitrogen efficiency in corn. Plant and Soil, 106:85-89. HuezLpez,M.,Ulery,A.L.,Samani,Z.,Picchioni,G.,Flynn,R.P.,(2011).Respondeofchille pepper (capsicum annuum) to salt stress and organic and inorganic nitrogen dources. II. Nitrogen and water use efficiencies and salt tolerance. Tropical and Subtropical Agroecosystems,14:757763. Jackson, W. A., Volk, R. J., (1997). Role of potassium in photosynthesis and respiration. In: Madison, W.S. (Ed), The role of potassium in agriculture. American. Soc. Agronomy. 109188. Leigh, R. A. and Wyn Jones, R. G., (1984). A hypothesis relating critical potassium concentrations for growth to the distribution and functions of this ion in the plant cell. New Phytology. 97:1-13. Makus, D. J., ( 2003). Salinity and Nitrogen Level Affect Agronomic Performance, Leaf Color and Leaf Mineral Nutrients of Vegetable Amaranth. Subtropi. Plant Science, 55: 1-6. Marschner, H., (1995). Mineral nutrition of higher plants. Academic Press. Mass, E. V., Grattan, S. R., (1999). Crop yields as affected by salinity. In R. W. Skaggs and J. van Schilfgaarde (eds) Agricultural Drainage. Agron. Monograph 38. ASA, CSSA, SSA, Madison, WI. 55-108. Munns, R., (1993). Physiological process limiting plant growth in saline soil: some dogmass and hypotheses. Plant Cell and Environmntal, 16: 15-24. Naidoo, G. and Naidoo, Y., (2001). Effects of salinity and nitrogen on growth, ion relations and proline accumulation in Triglochin bulbosa. Wetlands Ecology and Management, 9: 491497. Parida, A. K., Das, A. B., Das, P., (2002). NaCl stress causes changes in photosynthetic pigments, proteins and other metabolic components in the leaves of a true mangrove, Bruguiera parviflora, in hydroponic cultures. Journal of Plant Biology, 45: 2836. Rahmani, M., Majidi, A., (2003), Effect of NaCl salinity stress on wheat enzymes. Seed and Plant Journal. 2: 241-251. Siliberabush, M., ben- Asher, J., (1987). The effect of salinity on parameters of potassium and nitrate uptake of cotton commun. In soil Science plant Anal. 18(1): 65-81. Sobhani, A., (2000). Investigation on physiologic aspects water deficit and potassium nutrition on potato. P. H. D. Thesis. Azad University science and Research Department. Tehran, Iran. Tester, M., and Davenport, R., (2003). Na+ tolerance and Na+ transport in higher plants. Annual Botany, 91: 503527. Yeo, A. R. and Flowers, T. J., (1983). Varital differences in the toxicity of sodium ions in rice leaves. Plant Physiology, 56: 543- 548.

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Effect of mineral nitrogen on compatible ions of alfalfa under water deficit condition
Ebadi, Aa. Sanayei, Sb., edghi, Ma., Gholipouri, A.Gha., Abbasi Shahmersi. Fb. S
Facuty of Agriculture, university of Mohaghegh Ardabili bMsc student of Agronomy, university of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran
a

Corresponding author: ebadi_ali2000@yahoo.com

Abstract: Effect of nitrogen was studied on some compatible ions accumulation of alfalfa (cv. Ghara Yonje) under water stress condition. A Factorial experiment based on randomized complete block design with three replications was conducted in the educational and research greenhouse of University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran, in 2010. Alfalfa Seeds were planted after inoculation with Rhizobium bacteria in four kg pots. After 4 to 6 leaf stage nitrogen was applied at 0, 30, 60 and 90 kg ha -1 as urea. After seedlings establishment water deficit was imposed at three levels of 35, 60 and 85% of field capacity. The amount of sodium, potassium, calcium was measured with a flame photometer. Accumulation of sodium, potassium and sodium to potassium ratio were increased significantly under water deficit while calcium amount has affected adversely. Nitrogen fertilizer had no significant effect on the amount of ions. A significantly interaction observed between water deficit and nitrogen on the sodium accumulation and nitrogen consumption enhanced it under severe stress condition. It seems that solutes accumulation is one of the main responses of alfalfa to water stress tolerance. Keywords: Alfalfa, Nitrogen, Potassium, Water deficit

Environmental stress are the most important factors of plant distribution patterns in the world wide and also drought stress is determinants of part of this distribution. The amount of available water in the soil has an optimal level for plant growth and if water of soil is more or less, it will reduce plant growth in vast parts of the word that located in the arid and semi-arid regions, water deficiency considers as the most important factor of plant growth limiting and crop production (Mirhosseinie dehabadi, 1994). on the suitable environments that there isnt any water deficiency, plant has high photosynthetic capability and provide large amounts of carbohydrate compounds to the roots and through this, sends required energy for nitrogen fixation, while in water deficiency, photosynthesis reduces due to stomata closure and in resulting of photosynthesis reduction, are send less carbohydrate compounds to the root and doesnt supply required energy for nitrogen fixation (Djekoun and Planchon, 1991).Biological nitrogen fixation in alfalfa is affected by various factors. Nitrogen levels in soil and type of nitrogen fertilizer that there is as nitrate or ammonium, may also has different on plant growth and nitrogen fixation (Golizade, 2007). One of the ways of tolerance to drought stress in plants is reduction of Na+ ion absorption, or in other words, a slight reduction are in the ratio of k+ to Na+ in water stress treatments than control. In most of salt tolerant plants, this ratio in water stress conditions in less than sensitive plants or absorbed Na+ is kept in the vacuoles of plant root and it is used for osmoregulation. Removing salt, being fleshy, and transpiration control through Na+ effects on stomata are the special secondary characters. That allow to tolerant plant against salinity and drought stress the use of sodium chloride as a low cast osmotic source, While sensitive plants wont be able to tolerate too much absorption of Na+ (Basra and Basra, 1997). Also increasing of ions concentration is generally a phenomenon that occurs in drought stress (Iannucci et al, 2002). Reports indicate that k+ has a basic role in plants osmoregulation (Kameli and Lsel, 1995; Khanna et al; 1995) Studies in recent years have shown that Ca2+ ion has had also a role in control of water use efficiency through stomatal closure in drought stress conditions (Atkinson, 1991). It is reported that increasing k+ concentration can have

Introduction

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH an important role in increasing of stomatal conductance (Patakas etal, 2002). K+ is one of the important elements in plant metabolism, this element activates several enzymes that involve in carbohydrates metabolism. Reduction of k+ on the photosynthetic activity is also effective. Osmoregulation has the important role in opening and closing of plant stomata under drought stress and K+ has a role in stomatal control mechanism. Thus, plants that have more K+, have shown more compatible with the water deficiency and in drought- resistant genotypes, at stress time, K+ increasing is evident in the aerial organs (Ashraf, 1998). Low drought stress causes increasing in Ca2+ level of aerial organs but high drought stress causes decreasing in Ca 2+ level of aerial organs (Meloni, 2001). Shabala et al (2000) have reported that stress caused by manitol increased K+, Ca2+ and Cl- absorption from beans mesophilic cells. Bohenert et al (1999) believe that at stress condition Na+ level increases and for preventing of its posoness, plant tries to exit or send it to vacuole. Recent studies have shown that Ca2+ ion has had also a role in control of water use efficiency through stomatal closure in drought stress conditions (Atkinson, 1991). Among nutritional element potassium is one of the most important cation Which is needed for a plant, There are so many reports when there is gathering of potassium on osmosic (Kidambi et al, 1990; Shabala et al, 2000). Bouteau et al (2001) by studying of effect of drought stress on potassium and anions of beans root hairs resulted that in water stress entrance of potassium causes cell swelling and growth of cell. Esechie and Rodriguez (1999) by studying effect of salty stress on alfalfa resulted that salt stress with reduction of important element in plant causes to decrease in the growth of leaf. Santos and Alejo (1994) with study of drought stress on pepper plant observed that drought stress causes increasing amount of potassium absorption that this matter is known because of osmosic pressure in a situation that level of accumulation of sodium percent in leaves are not significant and there is no sign of increasing. Because of effect of drought stress and because of booting of mineral solutions concentration in root environment and in the result of increasing in osmosic material of soil and decreasing in waters potassium of soil absorption of nutritional elements decreases remarkably. If ph of soil solution increases absorption of low-used elements compared to other element can be obruped (Grattan and Grieve, 1999). Based on Marschner (1995) low used element has positive effect on photosynthesis of plants. In this research effect of drought stress and nitrogen on some compatibility ion in alfalfa were investigated.

Material and Methods

This research has been carried out in green house condition in factorial 3 4 in Randomized complete block design in three replications. some inoculated seeds with bacteria in vase each weighting 4 kg soil were planted and after planting in each pots some bush were kept. Nitrogen fertilizer in form of urea in two times of planting and at early flowering step was used. field capacity of soil are determined by weighting method and land treatment are performed one week after fertilizer treatment for irrigation each time pots are weighted and with water are arrived to wanted field capacity. For measuring of level of elements of aeral organs amount of 1 gram of dry areal organ was added in to porcelain dish and was put in electrical oven with 500 c and became ashtray. After this time 10 ml of chloric acid 2 normal was added to each sample in balloon 100 ml was heated until its boiling point. Then sample in balloon 100ml was cleared determining level of potassium, 1.90 gram of carbonate potassium is weighted and put in 1liter balloon until 1000 ppm of potassium chloride solution can be concluded from this standard solution amount of 0.5 , 1.25, 2.5, 5, 7.5 , 10 ml were picked up and transferred into 1000 ml balloon for determining level of calcium amount of 2.5 ram of carbonate calcium in 1 litre balloon is mixed until 100 ppm of carbonate calcium solution can be concluded and standard solution like stages of potassium making are provided. For determining standard solution of t sodium from sodium chloride the

59

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH same method was used flame photometer was used for measuring concentration 0.5 , 1.25, 2.5, 5, 7.5 , 10 ppm for drawing curves were used (Borgan, 2006).

Result and discussion

There was a significant interaction effect between nitrogen and drought condition in absorbing of sodium element and the high stress condition and 60 kg consuming nitrogen in ha and the lowest amount of sodium (2.40 mg) was in low stress condition and 90 kg in ha (Fig.1). Santos and Alejo (1994) with searching of effect of drought stress on paper observed that water deficiency causes increasing in percent of potassium absorption that this matter is because of regulation of osmotic pressure. if the level of sodium accumulation in plant leaves are not significant and there is no sign of increase. Increasing of sodium ion in root environment causes reduction in potassium absorption (Fig. 2C) and reduction in level of potassium compared to sodium .in this research relative of potassium compared to sodium decreased. But level of sodium with increasing of stress in leaves absorption of cell (Yeo and Flowers, 1983). Drought stress had a significant effect on level of potassium in leaf. The lowest amount of potassium under low stress or subtle stress condition was concluded and the highest amount of this element under mid-level stress was extracted that in same group with high stress condition (Fig. 2a). With decreasing in water potential level of root potassium is decreased and this can be related to transfer of potassium ion to leaf and increase in osmotic potential for keeping cell turgor (Akhondi et al, 2007). It seems that significant increasing of osmotic potential ion and regulation of osmotic pressure research accords to Kameli and Lsel (1995) research on alfalfa and Khanna et al (1995) workers on rice and wheat. Also potassium ion has an effect on closing and opening of stomata and keeping balance of ion. It was reported that increasing in concentration of potassium can play an important role on increasing navigation (Patakas et al, 2002). Drought stress has a significant effect level of calcium was related to high stress condition that was same group of mid level stress (Fig. 2B). the highest amount of calcium in without stress or lower stress condition can be resulted Motavalli (1989) stated that absorption and recycle of nutritional element depends on place of experiment year of function or amount of fertilizer of use. Collusion in cell division can be used and plays an important role on keeping stability of membrane of cell. Accumulation of calcium around cell causes keeping stability in result exist of inner cell material can be reduced (Knight et al, 1997). Mid-level stress causes increasing in calcium of areal organ but low water stress causes decreasing amount of calcium of areal organ. Calcium plays an important role in regulation of entry of sodium and selection between sodium and potassium (Meloni et al, 2001).

Fig.1. Drought and nitrogen effects on Sodium uptake

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH

Fig.2. Effects of drought on Calcium, Potassium and ratio Potassium to Sodium

Reference

Akhondi, M., Safarnejad, A., Lahoti, M., (2007).Effect ofdrought stress on proline accumulation of elementsin the Yazdi, Nikshahrand Ranger.Journalof Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources.10:174-184. Ashraf, Y., Ala, S.A., Bhatti, A.S., (1998). Nutritional imbalance in wheat genotypes grown at soil water stress.Plant Physiology, 20: 307-310. Atkinson, C. J., (1991). The flux and distribution of xylem sap calcium to adaxial and abaxial epidermal tissue in relation to stomatalbehaviour, Jornal of ExperimentalBotany. 42: 987-993. Basra AS., Basra R K., (1997).Mechanism of environmental stress resistance in plants.Harward Academic Publisher.P:83-111. Benlloch, M., Ojeda, M. A., Ramos, J., Rodrigues nanavarro, A., (1994).Salt sensitivity and low discrinmiation between potassium and sodium in plants. Plant and Soil. 166: 117-123. Bohnert, H. J., Nelson, D. E., Jensen, R.G., (1999). Adaptation to environmental stresses.The Plant Cell. 7: 1099-1111. Borgan, J. C., (2006). Flame Photometric determination of calcium in plants. Journal of the Science of food and Agriculture. Vol.11(8): 446-449.
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Bouteau, F., Dauphin, A., Maarouf, H. E., Rona, J. P., (2001). Effect of desication on potassium and anion currents from young root hairs: Implication on tip growth. PlantPhysiol. 113: 79- 84. Djekoun, A.,Planchon, C., (1991). Water status effect on dinitrogen fixation and Photosynthesis in soybean.Agronomy Journal. 23(2), 316-392. Esechie, H. A., Rodriguez, V., (1999). Does salinity inhibit alfalfa leaf growth by reducing tissue concentration of essential mineral nutrients? Journal Agronomy and Crop Science.182: 273- 278. Iannucci, A., Russo, M., Arena, L., Fonzo, N. D., Martiniello, P., (2002).Water deficit effects on osmotic adjustment and solute accumulation in leaves of annual clovers.European.Journal Agronomy. 16: 111122. Grattan, S. R., Grieve, C. M., (1999). Salinity-mineral nutrient relations in horticultural crops.Journal.ScienceHorticulturae. 78: 127-157. Golizadeh, M., Galeshi, S., Latifi, N., Zeynali., A., (2008). The amount and type of fertilizer nitrogen on biological nitrogen fixation in alfalfa.Journal of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. 14: 78-95. Kameli, A., Lsel, D. M., (1995). Contribution of carbohydrates and other solutes to osmotic adjustment in wheat leaves under water stress. Journal Plant Physiology. 145: 363366. Knight, H., Trewavas, A.J., Knight, M.R., (1997).Calcium signaling in Arabidopsis thaliana responding to drought and salinity.JournalPlant. 12: 10671078. Khanna, C. R., Vasudev, S. M., Maheswari, M., Srivastava, A., Bahukhandi, D., (1995). K+ osmoregulation and drought tolerance: an overview. Proc. Indian Natuaral of Science.Academi. 61: 5156. Kidambi, S., Matches, P. A. G., Bolger, T. P., (1990). Mineral concentration in alfalfa and sainfoin as influenced by soil moisture level.Agronomy Journal.82: 229- 236. Marschner, H. (1995). Mineral Nutrition of Higher Plants.2nd Academic Press.Ltd. London. Meloni, D. A., Oliva, M. A., Ruiz, H. A., Martinez, C. A., (2001). Contribution of proline and inorganic solutes to osmotic adjustment in cotton under salt stress.Plant Nutrient. 24(3): 599612. Mir-Hosseini-Dehabadi, S.R.,(1994).The effect of water stress on water relations, Carbon isotope discrimination, and shoot and root growth of sainfoin(OnobrychisVisifolia scope) and Lucerne (Medicago Sativa L.). Ph.D. Thesis. Massey Univ. Newzealand. PP:367. Motavalli, P. P., Kelling, K.A., Converse, J.C., (1989). First year nutrient availability from injected manure.Journal of Environmental. Quality. 18: 180-185. Patakas, A., Nikolaou, N., Zioziou, E., Radoglou, K., Noitsakis, B., (2002). The role of organic solute and ion accumulation in osmotic adjustment in drought-stressed grapevines. Plant Science. 163: 361-367. Santos, M. S., Alejo, N. O., (1994). Effect of water stress on growth, osmotic potential and solute accumulation in cultivars from chili pepper.Plant Science. 96: 21- 29. Shabala, S., Babourina, O., Newman, L., (2000). Ion-specific mechanisms of osmo-regulation in bean mesophyll cells. Journal ofExperimental Botany. 51: 1243 - 1253. Yeo, A. R., Flowers, T. J., (1983). Varital differences in the toxicity of sodiu ions in rice leaves. Plant Physiology.56: 543- 548.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH

Effect of Leaves Defoliation and Boron fertilization on Growth , Yield and Quality of Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L., Compositae)
Saad Ahmed Mohamed, Ayad Talat Shaker
Department of Science, College of Basic Education,University of Mosul Department of Field Crops,College of Agricuture and Forestry,University of Mosul The study included two field experiments conducted during two successive spring growing seasons of 20082009 to determine the Effect of Leaves Defoliation and Boron fertilization on Growth , Yield and Quality of Sunflower cultivar Albena . Each experiment comprised of three lower Leaves Defoliation levels (0, 5, 10 Leaves) and three Boron fertilizers levels (0, 0.5 and 1 kg Boron hector1). It was conducted according to factorial experiment in a Randomized Completely Block Design with three replications. The results could be summarized as: Non Defoliation treatment gave a significant increases in plant high (162.80, 169.39 cm), Stem diameter (2.70, 2.57cm), weight of thousand seed (76.90,76.56),oil percentage and oil yield (1.49,1.35), while increasing Defoliation treatment to 5 Leaves cause a significant increase in protein yield (0.490,0.454 ton ha 1 ). The treatment Defoliation at 10 Leaves cause a significant increase in protein percentage of the seeds (16.01, 16.11%) in both seasons 2008-2009 respectively. Boron fertilizers levels had significantly affected on Plant height (173.65, 181.23Cm), Stem diameter (3.05, 2.85cm), leaf area (3645, 3839cm2), weight of thousand seed(76.90,76.56) and oil yield (1.53, 1.39 ton ha1). Boron 1 Kg. hector1 treatment gave highest seed weight (3.46,3.27ton ha1) and protein yield (0.55,0.52 ton.ha1),while increasing concentration of Boron to 1 Kg. hector1 cause a significant decrease in oil percentage of seed(44.44,42.69%) in the two seasons 2008-2009 respectively. The effect of the interaction between Leaves Defoliation and Boron fertilization was significant on some growth characters, yield and quality. Non Defoliation treatment with high fertilization level (1Kg Boron. hector1 ), yielded the highest means for, plant height(174.48,182.45cm), leaf area , weight of thousand seed, total seed yield(3.75,3.39 ton ha1) and oil yield (1.62, 1.48 ton ha1) in the two growing seasons, Stem diameter in only 2008 season.

Abstract

Introduction Sunflower has a maximum potential for bridging the edible oil gap in the world as its seeds Constituent (%) Protein 20.8, oil 54.8, Carbohydrates 18.4 and Ash 3.9 (Chatterjee and Nautiyal, 2000). Sunflower oil is primarily comprised of palmitic, stearic, oleic and linoleic acid. It contains more unsaturated fatty acids than other oil seeds such as soybean, peanut and cotton seed(Seiler, 1997). Linoleic acid is required for the cell membrane structure, cholesterol transportation in the blood and for prolonged blood clotting. Sunflower oil helps to reduce the serum cholesterol levels. The presence of trypsin inhibitor has been observed in Sunflower seeds. However, the activity of the inhibitor is extremely low. The inhibitor is heat labile and inactivated easily. The chemical composition of Sunflower seed is comparable to that of groundnut (Connor and Hall, 1997). However, the composition varies widely due to genetic and environmental factors. Most of oil in the seed are present in kernels (87%) followed by embryo (74%) and least in the hull. The dehulled seeds (kernels) contain more oil than the whole seed. Physiological changes in plants, which occur in response to Leaves Defoliation decrease photosynthesis and respiration (Rodrgues ,1978 and Steer et al ,1988) and as a result overall production of the crop is decreased. Although, Sunflower has good potential for drought tolerance because of its well developed root system, yet decrease in plant height, weight of thousand seed, head diameter and seed yield per plant when Leaves are Defoliation (Patil and Coswaml,1979; Muro et al,2001). The importance of Boron deficiency for Sunflower has been reported by Blamey and Chapman (1982). Yield increases of up to 5.7% (Armstrong and McGee, 1982) and 48% (Mould and Chapman, 1979) have been reported as a result of fertilization with Boron on deficient soils. Fertilization with Boron at planting has become a standard procedure for many farmers. Despite these fertilization practices, Boron deficiency symptoms are reported every year in the world. This is not surprising since Boron deficiency is unusual in that drought stress affects its incidence and severity, especially under low topsoil moisture conditions (Moraghan and Mascagni, 1991).
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH According to Batey (1971) turnip (Brassica rape) in Wales normally becomes Boron deficient on soils with less than 0.3 mg kg-1 of extractable Boron. However, deficiency in a dry summer was observed in fields with extractable Boron levels of 0.5 to 0.6 mg kg-1. On the other hand, fertilization with Boron sometimes suppresses seed yields. Apart from the effect of Boron on yield, seed oil content can also be affected by Boron supply (Blamey et al., 1979; Chatterjee and Nautiyal, 2000). The effect of Boron supply on the other seed quality characteristics is not known. As some of the Sunflower produced in the world may be affected by Boron availability, on the seed yield, the chemical seed characteristics and the potentially recoverable oil. The objective of the present study was to investigate the Effect of Leaves Defoliation and Boron fertilization on Growth, seed yield, the chemical seed characteristics and the potentially recoverable oil of Sunflower ( Helianthus annuus L. ) . Materials and Methods Tow Filed Experiments were carried out during 2008-2009 seasons at AL-Quba location which is far about (22km) to investigate the Effect of three levels of lower Leaves Defoliation (0 , 5 and 10 Defoliation before the budding stage) with three levels of Boron fertilizer (0,0.5 and 1 kg B ha1) on the Growth, Yield and Quality of Sunflower Cultivar (Albena).The mean number of Leaves for Albena Cultivar was 22 to attain a Defoliation percentage(0, 22.7 and 45.4% Leaves per plant respectively). AL-Quba is located in the west north region of Mosul city at Nineveh province. Each Experiment included twenty seven treatments comprising the combinations of three Leaves Defoliation and three levels of Boron fertilizer levels with three replications. The experimental design was factorial experiment in a Randomized Completely Block Design with three replications according to Steel and Torrie ,1980 .Then Duncans multiple range test (Duncan ,1955) was used to compare among means (SAS ,2001). A representative soil sample (0to30 cm depth) was taken before planting (Table1) with the mean properties as pH (8.90 ,9.42) , organic matter (12.68 ,12.40 %), available Boron(0.38 ,0.30), available N (47.62,41.22 ) , CaCO3 (288.00 ,296.00), available P (18.28,13.88 ) and available K (179.00 ,186.00) using The methods description by Black ,1965, Page et al, 1982 and Tandon ,1999 . Boron determined in HCl extract using curcumin and oxalic acid (Jackson, 1973)
Table 1. The physical and chemical characters of Soil Filed Experiments in both seasons
Seasons Sand (%) Silt (%) Clay (%) Texture O.M. % Available N Available P Available K Total CaCo3 Available B pH E.C. mmhos/ cm 2008 physical characters 64.00 20.00 16.00 Sandy Loom Chemical characters 12.68 47.62 18.28 179.00 288.00 0.38 8.90 2.62 2009 55.00 35.00 10.00 Sandy Loom 12.40 41.22 13.88 186.00 296.00 0.30 9.42 2.88

The seeds were sown by putting three seeds to hills by hand in April 3rd ,1st and Harvested in August 12th,15th for 2008-2009 seasons respectively. Super phosphate 150kg/hector (45%P2O5) and potassium (48%K2O) were applied(50 kg/hector) in two equal doses, to the soil during the sowing period and the second half was added after one and half of month after sowing, Nitrogen fertilizers was applied in the form of Urea 80kg hector (46%N) in two equal doses, half with sowing and the remaining half after thinning. Boron were applied to the soil surface in two equal doses, half with sowing and the remaining half at immediately after one of month after sowing at a rate of 0.5 and 1 kg/hector as boric acid (H3Bo3 17%B). Each plot 25.2 M2 included sex ridges 60cm apart and seven meters long and the distance between hills was 30 cm apart to attain a plant density of 55.555 plants/hector. Plants were thinned to one
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH plant per hill 20 days after sowing. The external two ridges were left as porder. Two of the remaining ridges were devoted for estimating plant Growth and some characteristics. The first irrigation was applied after three days from sowing and after wards irrigation was scheduled at about five days intervals. Normal cultural practices, control of insects and weeds of growing Sunflower were conducted in the usual manner followed by the farmers of the district .At heading period; the heads of the two inner ridges were bagged early seed development to avoid birds damage until maturity. The studied characters Growth characters Sample of ten guarded plants each was taken from each treatment at 105 days after sowing. The following data were record: Plant height (Cm), Stem diameter (Cm), Leaf area, and Head diameter (Cm). Yield, yield components and Quality At harvest, ten guarded plants were taken randomly from the two inner ridges of each experimental plot and left for two weeks until fully air dried ,then the following data were measured ; number of seeds/head , weight of thousand seed (g.) , fertility (%),Yield and oil Yield (Ton/Ha). Oil seed content was determined using Soxhlet method (A.O.A.C. ,1984), Nitrogen estimated after digesting seeds samples using Microkjeldahl method, then, Protein percentage was calculated by multiplying the nitrogen percentage by the converting factor 6.25 (Agrawal et al , 1980). Results and Discussion Effect of Leaves Defoliation Growth characters and yield components Data pertaining to Leaves Defoliation are presented in Table (2). All investigated characteristics were significantly affected by Defoliation treatment. When Leaves Defoliation was increased from 0 to 10, Plant height were decreased approximately 1.91 and 2.30 %, these results are true in the two growing seasons respectively. Rajan, 1982; Steer et al, 1988; Schneiter and Johnson, 1994 and Julio et al, 2001reported that the non Defoliation treatment was increased Leaf area, while protein(%) decreased. Similar observations were made by Cardinali , et al 1978 ; Patil and Coswaml, 1979 ; Beer 1984; Silva et al, 1985; Potdar and Pawar 1989; Agropol, 1998 ; Muro et al, 2001and Erbap and Baydar, 2007, who reported that Leaves Defoliation resulted in a significant decreased Plant height, Stem diameter, Leaf area and Head diameter.
Table 2. Effect of Leaves Defoliation on some Growth characters and yield components of Sunflower in both seasons.
seasons Leaves Defoliation 0 5 10 0 5 10 Plant Height (cm) 162.5a 162.64a 159.69b 169.39a 168.78b 165.48c Stem diameter (cm) 2.70a 2.69a 2.63b 2.57a 2.53b 2.55a Leaf area (cm2.plant) 3456.38a 3421.18b 3341.47c 3572.29a 3527.14b 3488.93c Head Diameter (cm) 22.07a 21.60b 20.98c 22.51a 21.91b 21.45c No. of seeds/head 1077.71a 1039.64b 984.65c 1101.28a 1064.96b 1013.29c Weight of thousand seed (g.) 76.90a 71.29b 66.46c 76.56a 71.73b 65.56c

2008 2009

Yield and Quality Data reported in table (3) indicate the effect of Leaves Defoliation on Sunflower attributes i.e. Fertility, total seed yield and Oil, protein Yield (ton/hector) and Oil, protein percent in two seasons. In the two growing seasons, the attributes of Sunflower exhibited significant differences for the different Defoliation treatment. With Defoliation at 10 Leaves, Fertility (%) generally tended to decrease. The total seed yield reductions in confection Sunflower at high Defoliation can be explained by lower Head diameter, number of total seeds Head1 (table 2). When Leaves Defoliation was increased from 0 to 10, total seed yield were decreased approximately 16.18 and 16.51%, these results are true in the two growing seasons respectively. Although the non Defoliation treatment produced the highest Fertility (92.39,90.27%); Yield (3.21,3.04 ton/hector); Oil (46.55,44.65%) ; Oil Yield (1.49,1.35 ton/hector), the treatment of 10 Leaves Defoliation gave the highest protein (16.01, 16.11%),This reduction in seed yield with Leaves Defoliation has been

* The means values within column followed by the different letter are significant at 5% level

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH verified in early field studies Cardinali , et al 1978 ; Rajan , 1982 ; Beer 1984; Silva et al, 1985; Steer et al, 1988; Potdar and Pawar 1989; Schneiter and Johnson, 1994; Agropol, 1998 ; Muro et al, 2001; and Erbap and Baydar,2007 working with Sunflower, also founded that Leaves Defoliation produced small Head. The increase in weight of thousand seed may be due to the increase in the dry matter accumulated in plants with non Leaves Defoliation which is may be increase the yield represented in Head and weight of thousand seed and also because of sufficient of environmental elements as light ,Co2 nutrients, which increase plant ability to build metabolites . The yield reductions in Sunflower at Leaves Defoliation can be explained by lower number of total seeds Head1 and weight of thousand seed (table 2). This reduction in seed yield by Leaves Defoliation has been verified in some studies ( Beer 1984; Silva et al, 1985; Schneiter and Johnson, 1994; Agropol, 1998 ; Julio et al, 2001 and Erbap and Baydar, 2007). Numerous research studies for different climates have shown that Leaves Defoliation influences the growth, seed yield and quality of Sunflower (Rodrgues, 1978; Patil and Coswaml, 1979 ; Beer 1984; Silva et al, 1985; Steer et al, 1988 and Erbap and Baydar, 2007). The present results were in a good agreement with the finding of Julio et al 2001, who reported that Leaves Defoliation resulted in a significant decrease in seed oil content and oil yield. The regression between Defoliation treatment and yield, quality (total seed yield, seed oil content, oil yield and seed protein content) in accumulation analysis for two seasons were linear with significant coefficient of determination (R2) illustrated in Figures 1-4 .
seasons 2008 2009

Table 3. Effect of Leaves Defoliation on Yield and Quality of Sunflower in both seasons
Leaves Defoliation 0 5 10 0 5 10 Fertility (%) 92.39a 91.75b 90.5c 90.27a 89.03b 87.74c Yield (Ton/Ha) 3.21a 3.16a 2.98b 3.04a 2.93b 2.81b Oil (%) 46.55a 45.53b 44.66c 44.65a 43.61b 42.85c Oil Yield (Ton/Ha) 1.494a 1.438b 1.330c 1.357a 1.277b 1.204c protein (%) 14.69c 15.52b 16.01a 14.69c 15.52b 16.11a

* The means values within column followed by the different letter are significant at 5% level .
y = 34.5788 - 0.18875 x S = 2.87977 R-Sq = 7.9 %

protein Yield (Ton/Ha) 0.471c 0.490a 0.477b 0.446b 0.454a 0.452a

y =44.3342 - 0.1845 x
38 5 37 36

50
45.5

S= 1.09466

R-Sq= 36.2 %

4 3

35 34 33 32

40
44.5

Y 30 20 10
0 1 2 3 4

2 31
30 1 29

y 43.5
42.5

Figure1.Effect of Leaves Defoliation (x) on Yield Ton/Ha (y) in accumulation analysis for two seasons.
y = 34.7975 + 1.6785 x - 0.0167 x**2 S = 6.94938 R-Sq = 51.3 %

9 10

41.5 0 1 2 3 4

Figure2.Effect of Leaves Defoliation (x) on seed oil content (y) in accumulation y = 274.510 0.419695 x analysis for -two seasons.
S = 5.27739 R-Sq = 73.2 %

9 10

25 20 Y 15 10 5

60

1.6 1.5

270

260

50

Y 1.4y
250

40

1.3 1.2
240

30 0 1 2 3 4

30

40

50

9 10

60

70

80

Figure3.Effect of Leaves Defoliation (x) on seed protein content (y) in accumulation analysis for two seasons.

Figure4.Effect of Leaves Defoliation (x) on oil yield (y) in accumulation analysis for two seasons.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Effect of Boron fertilization Growth characters and yield components Data presented in Table (4) showed that increasing Boron level from 0 to 1Kg Boron hector-1 significantly increased Plant height (173.65, 181.23Cm),Stem diameter (3.05,2.85cm),Leaf area (3645, 3829cm2); Head diameter (22.69,22.92Cm); No. of seeds/head (1081.35, 1108.94) and weight of thousand seed (77.18,76.40g.) at the both seasons .This could be attributed to the high concentration of total CaCo3 and pH which is reduced availability of Boron in the experimental site in the both seasons (Table1) .The beneficial effect of Boron on Plant height may be due to its role in enhancing photosynthesis .In this concern, increasing Boron fertilizer levels increased Plant height as was found by Quaggio et al , 1985; Ahmedkhan et al , 1990 ; Rani and Reddy ,1993; Bingham et al , 1997 ; Sharma et al , 1999 ; Mohammed Ateeque et al , 2001; EL-Sadek , et al 2004 . The Stem diameter, Leaf area were increased significantly with the addition of Boron fertilizer up to 1Kg Boron hector-1 compared to the check and the 0.5 level of Boron in the both seasons. However, increasing Boron level up to 0.5 Kg Boron hector-1 had low significant effect on those traits. When Boron was increased from 0 to 1, Plant height were increased approximately 11.92 and 14.03 % in the both seasons respectively. These results means that Boron application up to 1Kg Boron hector-1 was great enough to increase the Stem diameter and leaf blade area. These findings confirmed those obtained by Bidwell et al , 1960; Cancolon 1971; Cardinali , et al 1978; Aboushoba et al , 1985 ; Benjavan , 1986 ; Amadi and Lazium 1989 ; AL-Khafaji and Adil 1995 ; Harris and John, 1996 ;Mohammed Ateeque et al , 2001; Nel, 2001 who found that the application of 1.6 Kg Boron hector-1 increased Sunflower Stem diameter. It can be observed also that the weight of thousand seed was found in the plant fertilized with 1Kg Boron hector-1compared to the check and 0.5 Kg Boron hector-1 in the both seasons. The stimulatory effect of Boron in Sunflower plant may be due to its role in enhancing metabolic process .These results are in harmony with those obtained by Sharma et al , 1999 ; Connor et al , 2000.
Table 4. Effect of Boron fertilization levels on some Growth characters and yield components of Sunflower in both seasons.
seasons 2008 2009 B levels (kg.ha) 0 0.5 1 0 0.5 1 Plant Height (cm) 152.95c 158.52b 173.65a 155.5c 166.62b 181.23a Stem diameter (cm) 2.42c 2.54b 3.05a 2.24c 2.57b 2.85a Leaf area (cm2.plant) 3227.03c 3346.46b 3645.54a 3313.87c 3444.95b 3829.54a Head diameter (cm) 20.18c 21.79b 22.69a 20.89c 22.05b 22.92a No. of seeds/head 95.68c 1039.97b 1081.35a 1008.58c 1062.02b 1108.94a weight of thousand seed (g.) 67.15c 70.32b 77.18a 67.50c 69.59b 76.40a

* The means values within column followed by the different letter are significant at 5% level.

Yield and Quality Boron application treatments significantly increased Fertility (%), total seed yield and oil yield, protein (%), protein yield (Table 5). Boron rates had significant effect on total seed yield, seed and oil yield. These results are in line with those of various researchers reported that the Boron had significant effect on Fertility (Sharma et al , 1999 ; Connor et al , 2000) seed yield Head (Asad et al , 2002 ; EL-Sadek , et al 2004) and oil yield (Aboushoba et al , 1985). Maximum seed yield (3.46,3.27ton .hector) was produced when Boron was applied at the rate of 1 kg B hector1. The minimum values for investigated traits were generally recorded in check treatment (0 Boron) compared to the 1level of Boron in the both seasons. The increases in Yield through Boron application may be duo to the induction of nutrient absorption(especially potassium) by root system, the increase in the plant internal translocation capacity and hence and the transport of nutrients essential to metabolism in active areas and development of pollen tube. When Boron was increased from 0 to 1, total seed yield were increased approximately 16.18 and16.51 % in the both seasons respectively. This could be attributed to the low available of Boron in the experimental site in the both seasons (Table1) . Boron increases seed and oil yields by influencing a number of growth parameters such as seeds per Head and seed weight and by producing more vigorous growth and development (Mohammed Ateeque et al , 2001; Asad et al , 2002 ; EL-Sadek , et al

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH 2004). On the contrary ,The seed Oil percentage were decreased with increasing Boron application up to 1Kg B Ha.-1. However , The decrease in seed Oil contents by Boron Fertilizer may be duo to the increase in seed protein content at the expense of oil concentration (table 5). In this concern, Many researchers reported that the Boron application to Sunflower plant caused a reduction in seed Oil percentage (Rani and Reddy ,1993).In field trials done by the Fertilizer Society of Egypt (ELSadek , et al 2004), the lowering of Sunflower seed yields or a declining trend in yield due to Boron fertilization, were observed. Sillinpao,1982 found in North Iraq that the yield of a Boron fertilized treatment was the lowest at three out of four sites, and significantly lower than a treatment which was fertilized with Fe and S.
Table 5. Effect of Boron fertilization levels on Yield and Quality of Sunflower in both seasons
seasons B levels (Kg.ha) 0 0.5 1 0 0.5 1 Fertility (%) 90.03c 91.54b 93.37a 87.23c 88.77b 91.04a Yield (Ton/Ha) 2.90c 2.99b 3.46a 2.73c 2.77b 3.27a Oil (%) Oil Yield (Ton/Ha) 1.374b 1.343c 1.537a 1.248b 1.192c 1.395a protein (%) 14.63c 15.54b 16.05a 14.61c 15.53b 16.17a protein Yield (Ton/Ha) 0.424c 0.464b 0.555a 0.398c 0.430b 0.528a

2008 2009

* The means values within column followed by the different letter are significant at 5% level

47.39a 44.92b 44.44c 45.73a 43.05b 42.69c

Effect of interaction between Leaves Defoliation and Boron fertilization Growth characters and yield components The interaction effect between Leaves Defoliation and Boron fertilization levels reached the 5% level of significant for Plant height (Cm), Leaf area, weight of thousand seed (g.) in both seasons, Stem diameter in only 2008 season (table 6). The fertilization with 1 kg Boron. ha1 at non Defoliation treatment yielded the highest means for plant height(174.48,182.45 cm)in both seasons respectively. This result clearly indicated the importance of Boron and non Leaves Defoliation to hormonal chinches in plant tissues. Similar conclusion was reported by Muro et al, 2001; Julio et al, 2001 and Erbap and Baydar, 2007. Data obtained in table (6) indicated that non Defoliation treatment of Sunflower and fertilizing at the level of 1 Kg B. hector1 caused a significant increase in weight of thousand seed (84.16,83.29) in both seasons respectively. Such increase may be due to increasing the dry weight per plant when non Leaves Defoliation, and increase in the photosynthetic and transporting efficiency of the plant (Cardinali , et a 1978; Patil and Coswaml, 1979; Rajan, 1982; Beer 1984; Silva et al, 1985). The insignificant Effect between Leaves Defoliation and Boron fertilization levels on other characteristic showed that each of these two factors acted independently on these traits. Yield and Quality The interaction between the studying factors(Leaves Defoliation and Boron fertilization) showed significant effects on Yield (ton/ha) and Oil Yield(ton/ha) in both seasons as illustrated in tables (7). The interaction between the Leaves Defoliation and Boron fertilization for the other investigated traits were not statistically significant in both seasons, therefore the data were excluded. Data illustrated in tables (7) show generally that non Defoliation treatment of Sunflower and fertilizing at the level of 1 Kg B. hector1 caused a significant increase for Yield and Oil Yield(ton/ha), while they appeared to be little response to 0.5 Kg B Ha-1 for those traits. On the other hand, non Defoliation reflected the greatest response to Boron fertilization levels up to 1Kg k ha-1 for these traits, with this regard , EL-Sadek , et al 2004 found that fertilization with 2% borax produced maximum seed yield and Oil Yield.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH
Table 6. Effect of interaction between Defoliation and Boron fertilization levels on some Growth characters and yield components of Sunflower in both seasons
Leaves Defoliation B Levels (Kg.ha) 0 0.5 1 0 5 0.5 1 0 10 0.5 1 0 0.5 1 5 0 0.5 1 0 10 0.5 1 Plant Height (cm) Stem Leaf area Diameter (cm2 (cm) .plant) 2008 season 2.45f 2.57c 3.09a 2.44f 2.55d 3.08a 2.37g 2.52e 3.00b 2.23 2.58 2.92 2.24 2.56 2.81 2.25 2.57 3281.41f 3400.71d 3687.04a 3252.72g 3377.16e 3633.68b 3146.98h 3261.52g 3615.92c 2009 season 3343.52g 3490.31d 3883.06a 3314.79h 3453.76e 3812.88b 3283.31i 3390.79f Head Diameter (cm) 20.73 22.34 23.16 20.16 21.98 22.68 19.66 21.06 22.24 21.40 22.62 23.52 20.72 22.18 22.83 20.55 21.37 No. of seeds/head Weight of thousand seed (g.) 71.57d 74.99c 84.16a 66.49e 70.41d 76.99b 63.41f 65.57e 70.41d 71.62d 74.79c 83.29a 67.95f 70.87d 76.37b 62.95h 64.20g 69.54e

154.61e 159.33c 174.48a 154.00e 159.40c 174.53a 150.26f 156.85d 171.96b 157.28e 168.46c 182.45a 157.50e 168.00cd 15.85b 152.63f 163.41d

1029.06 1083.90 1120.17 988.29 1048.20 1082.44 924.69 987.82 1041.44 1052.15 1101.25 1150.45 1012.36 1072.83 1109.71 961.25 1011.98

180.41b 2.84 3792.69c 22.43 1066.66 * The means values within column followed by the different letter are significant at 5% level .

Table 7. Effect of interaction between Defoliation and Boron fertilization levels on Yield and Quality of Sunflower in both seasons
Leaves Defoliation B Levels (kg.ha) 0 0.5 1 0 5 0.5 1 0 10 0.5 1 0 0.5 1 5 0 0.5 1 0 10 0.5 1 Fertility (%) 90.98 92.32 93.89 89.97 91.82 93.47 89.16 90.48 92.77 88.49 89.98 92.35 87.44 88.66 90.99 85.77 87.68 89.79 Yield Oil (Ton/Ha) (%) 2008 season 2.98e 3.09d 3.57a 2.94e 3.04d 3.52b 2.78g 2.86f Oil Yield (Ton/Ha) 1.442c 1.414e 1.622a 1.397f 1.361g 1.558b 1.285h 1.263i 1.438d 1.304c 1.278e 1.482a 1.259f 1.152h 1.417b 1.163g 1.152h 1.299d protein (%) 13.91 14.76 15.41 14.74 15.68 16.16 15.26 16.18 16.59 13.92 14.78 15.37 14.70 15.55 16.33 15.23 16.27 16.83 protein Yield (Ton/Ha) 0.414 0.456 0.550 0.433 0.476 0.568 0.424 0.462 0.547 0.391 0.431 0.521 0.407 0.418 0.543 0.400 0.440 0.523

48.41 45.79 45.46 47.53 44.79 44.28 46.23 44.18

3.5c 43.58 2009 season 2.81e 2.92d 3.39a 2.77f 2.69g 3.33b 2.63h 2.71g 3.11c 46.43 43.78 43.74 45.46 42.83 42.56 44.23 42.54 41.78

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH
Aboushoba , L.M. ; N. , Shahin and M.M. , EL-Afry 1985 . Physiological response of Sunflower plants to foliar CCC application and boron . Trope land Wirt 85(1) : 32 40 . Ahmedkhan , T. ; K. , Venugopal ; C. , Devaiah and K., Seenappa 1990 . Effect of secondary nutrition's and boron on some growth characters and yield in Sunflower. Journal of Oil Seeds Resurge, 7 (1):136 139, 6 ref. Agrawal , S.C. ; M.S. , Jolly ; A.M. , Sinha 1980 . Foliar constituents of secondary food plants of tasar silk Antheraea mylitta . Indian Forester , 106 (12) : 847 851 . Agropol 1998 . Advantage for growing Sunflower in Egypt. Cairo . AL-Khafaji, A.Y. and T.E., Adil 1995 . Boron in soil and water in Iraq . Proceeding of Soil Fertility Workshop , 19 23 Nov. Aleppo , Syria John Ryan (ed) . Amadi , T.H. and I.T. , Lazium 1989 .A study on micronutrient distribution in tiorthestern . Iraqi Soil Zanco , 2 (4) : 19 38 . A.O.A.C. 1984. Official methods of analysis. 14th edition Association of official analytical chemists Washington, D.C, USA. Armstrong, D.I. and P.A.E., McGee, 1982.The response of sunflowers to boron containing fertilizers on boron deficient soils. Crop Production 11(1):122-124. Asad , A. ; F.P.C. , Blamey and D.G. , Edward 2002 . Effects of boron foliar application on vegetative and reproduction growth of Sunflower. Annals of Botany 92 (1): 1 6 . Batey, T., 1971. Manganese and boron deficiency. p. 137-149. In J. Webber (ed.) Trace elements in soils and crops. United Kingdom Ministry Agriculture, Fish., and Food Tech. Bull. 21. Her Majestys Stationary Office, London. (Cited by Moraghan & Mascagni, 1991). Benjavan , R.K. 1986 . Boron deficiency in Sunflower and gram . at Chiang Mai. Journal of Agriculture (Thailand) . Warasan Kaset . 2 (2) :163 172 . Beer, J.P.1984. Hail damage simulation by leaf area removal a different growth stage on Sunflower (H. annuus L.).Field crop abstract 32(1):8241-8249 . Bidwell , R.G.S. 1960 . Plant physiology . 2nd Edition Collier Macmillan . Canada L.T.D. , 726 p . Bingham , F.T. F.P.C. , Blamey and D.G. , Edward 1997 . Boron in cultivated soils and irrigation waters . 130 138 in E.L. Kothny . Ed. Trace elements in the environment . Advances in Chemistry . series . 123 , Am. Chemistry Society Washington D.C. Black , C.A. 1965 . Methods of soil analysis . Part 2. Chemical and microbiological properties .Amer. Society of Agronomy. Inc. publisher Madison . USA . Blamey , F.P.C. ; C.J. , Asher and D.G. , Edwards 1979 . Boron toxicity in Sunflower 145 149 in R.W. Bell and B. Rerkasem (eds.) . Boron in soils and plants proceedings of the International symposium on boron in soils and plants, Chiang Mai , Thailand , 7 11 September 1979 Kluwer Academic Publisher , Dordrecht , the Nether lands . Blamey, F.P.C. and Chapman, J.O., 1982. Differential response of two Sunflower cultivars to Boron fertilization. p. 92-94. In Proceedings of the 10th International Sunflower Conference, Surfers Paradise, Australia. 14-18 March 1982. International Sunflower Association. Paris, France. Cancolon , P. 1971 . Chemical composition of Sunflower seed hull . Journal of Am. Oil Chemistry Society 48(1) : 629 632 . Cardinali , F.J. ; G.A. , Orioli and V.R. , pereyra 1978 . Effect of defoliation during seed filling of Sunflower . 12 24 . In Proc. 10th Sunflower conf. surfers paradise , Australia . 14 18 Mar. Int. Sunflower As Society Toowoomba , Queensland , Australia . Chatterjee, C. and N., Nautiyal, 2000. Developmental aberrations in seed of boron deficient Sunflower and recovery. Journal of Plant Nutr. 23, 835-841. Connor , D.J. and A.J. , Hall 1997 . Sunflower physiology . p. 113 182 . In A.A. Schneiter (ed.) . Sunflower technology and production . ASA . CSSA and SSSA , Madison , Wis . Connor, D.J.; A.J., Hall and V.O., Sadras 2000. Physiology of yield expression in Sunflower. Field Crops Resurge 30(2): 333-389. Duncan , B.O. 1955 . Multiple range and multiple F test . Biometrics 11 (3): 31 42 . EL-Sadek , A.N.A. ; M.A. , Ashoub ; A.M. , Aboshetaia and M.T. , hegab 2004 . Response of Sunflower yield and its attr to sowing dates , boron foliar application and nitrogen fertilization under EL-Wadi ELGadeed conditions . Zagazig Journal Agriculture Resurge Vol. 31 No. 4A : 1257 1277 . Erbap, S.O. and H.Y. Baydar 2007. Differential Effect on Sunflower (H. annuus L.)seed yield and quality. Turkish Journal of biology.31(1)115-118. Harris , H.C. and B.B. , John 1996 . Comparison of Ca and boron deficiencies of plant .I physiological and yield deficiencies . Agronomy Journal 58(1) : 575 578 . Jackson , M.L. 1973 . Soil chemical Analysis . Prentice Hall of India, New Delhi .
70

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Julio ,M.I. ;I.A., Militino and C.U.,Lamsfus.2001.Defoliation on Sunflower yield reduction .Agronomy Journal 93(2):634-637. Mohammed Ateeque , G.U. ;U.R., Malewar and S.D. , More 2001 . Influence of phosphorus and boron on yield and chemical composition of Sunflower . Indian Journal Society of Soil Science 41 (1): 100 102 . Moraghan, J.T. and H.J., Mascagni, 1991. Environmental and soil factors affecting micronutrient deficiencies and toxicities. p. 371-426. In Journal Mortvedt (ed) Micronutrients in agriculture. Number 4 in the Soil Science Society of America Book Series. SSSA, Madison, Wisconsin, USA. Mould, C.M. and J.I., Chapman 1979. Leaf area profile of two Sunflower cultivars under different rates and timing of boron application . Pesgnisa Agropecuaria , Brasilia 29 (6) : 847 851 . Muro, J.; I. , Irigoyen ;A.F.Milition and C.Lamsfus 2001. Defoliation Effect on Sunflower yield reduction .Agronomy Journal 93(3):732-739. Nel , A.A. 2001 . Determinations of Sunflower seed quality for processing. Ph.D. Thesis, Faculty of Natural and Agriculture Science Univ. of Pretoria, Pretoria. Page , A.L. ; R.H. , Miller and D.R., Kenney 1982 . Methods of soil analysis. Part (2) Agronomy No. 9 Madison . USA . Patil,V.A. and R.D.,Coswaml 1979.Influence of Defoliation on the oil content of Sunflower yield.Indian Journal Agriculture Science 49(2):7-13. Potdar,M.V.and K.R.,Pawar 1989. Influence of leaf stripping on the grain yield of Sunflower (H. annuus L.).Field crop abstract 32(2):1148-1155 . Quaggio , J.A. ; P.B. , Ungaro ; H. , Gallo and B. , Cantarella 1985 . Sunflower response to lime and boron . Intern. Sunflower Conf. 11, Mar del Plant . Argentina Journal: 209 215 . Rajan , S.S. 1982 . Effect of Defoliation of Sunflower in Iraq . 10th Int. Sunflower Conf. , Australia , : 52 54 Rani , P.L. and T.M.M. , Reddy 1993 . Effect of nitrogen and boron on yield components , yield and oil content Sunflower (H. annuus L.) . Journal of Resurge APAU. 21 (1/2) :39 41 . Rodrgues, P.A.1978. Effect of leaf removal on the yield components of Sunflower (H. annuus L.).Neth. Journal Agriculture Science 26(1): 133-144. SAS 2001 .Statistical Analysis Systems . SAS Institute Inc. , Cary , NC , USA . Schneiter, A.A. and B.L. Johnson 1994.Respone of Sunflower plants to physical injury Can. Journal plant Science 47(1) :763-766 Seiler, G.J., 1997. Anatomy and morphology of Sunflower. p. 67-111. In A.A. Schneiter (ed.). Sunflower technology and production. ASA, CSSA and SSSA, Madison, Wis. Sharma , K.R.; P.C. , Srivastara; D. , Ghosh and M.S. , Gangwar 1999. Effect of boron and farmyard manure application on growth, yield and boron nutrition of Sunflower. Journal Plant Nut. 22 (4 and 5):633640. Sillinpao , M.A.1982. Micro nutrients and the nutrients status of soils global study . FAO Soil Bull. 48 Amer. Proc. 26 (4) : 344 345 . Silva, P.R.; D.A., Fleck and J.C., Heckler 1985.Artificial Defoliation during the budding stage in Sunflower ( H. annuus L. ). Field crop abstract 38(6):3182-3191 . Steel , R.G.D. and J.H. , Torrie 1980 . Principles and procedures of statistics . MC Graw-Hill , New York. Steer, B.T., P.J., Hocking; A.A., Kortt, and C.M., Roxburgh 1988. Effect of components between seed and Defoliation of Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.). Field Crops Resurge 18(2):71-85. Tandon , H. 1999 . Methods of analysis of soil , plants , water and fertilizers . Fertilizer Development and Consultation Organization, New Delhi , India , pp : 144 + vi .

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Effect of copper and sodium chloride on photosynthetic properties of pistachio seedlings (cv. Ghazvini) under greenhouse conditions
S. Eskandari1*, V. Mozaffari and A. Tajabadi Pour1
1 Department of Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Vali-e-Asr University of Rafsanjan, Iran *Corresponding author: samane.scandari@yahoo.com, Salinity is a major problem in particularly in arid and semi-arid areas. In these regions, arid climate in association with high amount of evaporation lead to salinity of soil and poor quality of irrigation water accelerates this problem. Pistachio (Pistacia vera L.) is one of the most important crops that grown in such conditions. In this experiment, the effects of five salinity levels [0, 800, 1600, 2400 and 3200 mg kg-1 soil NaCl] and four Cu levels [0, 2.5, 5 and 7.5 mg kg-1 soil Cu as CuSO4.2H2O] on photosynthetic properties of Ghazvini pistachio seedlings were studied under greenhouse conditions in a completely randomized design with three replications. Seedlings of pistachio were grown in 2016 cm plastic pots containing 5kg soil. Salinity was imposed, by adding salt (NaCl) to the pots at 6 leaf stage (about 5 weeks after planting). Pots were kept at field capacity by irrigating with distilled water every day. On 22th week after planting, photosynthetic characteristics (photosynthesis rate, transpiration rate, stomatal conductance and leaf surface temperature) were measured by infrared gas analyzer set. Results showed that salinity stress reduced transpiration rate and stomatal conductance, but increased leaf surface temperature. Cu application had no significant effect on transpiration rate and stomatal conductance, while decreased leaf surface temperature. Copper and salinity treatments had no significant effect on the photosynthetic rate, but salinityCu interaction was significant on it. Data obtained in present study emphasized that photosynthetic reactance of pistachio seedlings to salt stress is similar to tolerant plants to salinity. Keywords: copper, photosynthesis, pistachio, salinity

Abstract

Introduction Salinity is one of the most important environmental factors limiting crop production of marginal agricultural soils in many parts of the world. Photosynthetic activity decreases when plants are grown under saline conditions leading to reduced growth and productivity (Netondo et al. 2004). Iran is a country with a lot of saline soils (Zohary, 1973). The areas with saline and alkaline soils are expanding especially in arid and semiarid regions of Iran. In the arid and semiarid areas, salinity could be caused by (1) poor irrigation water which contains considerable amounts of salts, (2) accumulation of salts in the top layer of the soil due to over-irrigation, (3) proximity to the sea, and (4) the capillarity rise of salts from underground water into the root zone due to excessive evaporation. Also, low rainfall, high evaporation rate and poor water management could cause salinity related problems in these areas (Gama et al, 2007). Pistachio (Pistacia vera L.) is one of the most important commercial trees grown in Iran, Turkey, and recently in the USA. Pistachio is considered a potential crop for many arid and semi-arid regions (Karimi et al, 2009). Najmabadi (1969) stated pistachio can grow on land too saline for other crops, however Parsa and Karimian (1975) have shown that salt adversely affects the aerial and root growth of P. vera. Adverse effects of salinity on growth, photosynthetic rates, and morphological changes in the leaves of pistachio have been shown (Behboudian et al., 1986, Mozaffari, 2005). Nevertheless, pistachio plantations are on sodic soils and irrigated with low quality, saline water in Iran. In pistachio orchards, micronutrient uptake due to high pH, high amount of calcium carbonate and soil and water salinity is a serious problem. Therefore, pistachio trees are encountered with deficit micronutrient such as copper. Copper is an essential element for important cellular functions such as photosynthesis, pigment synthesis and plasma membrane permeability (Bernal et al, 2007). This element is a component of various proteins, and particularly those involved in both the photosynthetic (plastocyanin) and the respiratory (cytochrome oxidase) electron transport chains (Baron et al, 1995). Although, several workers have studied the influence of soil salinity on the photosynthesis of plants, information concerning the interaction between salinity and copper is still scarce especially in horticultural crops. Therefore, this study was aimed at investigating the effects of various

72

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH amounts of copper in different salinities on photosynthesis of pistachio seedlings in greenhouse conditions. Materials and methods In this experiment, adequate soil (Coarse Loamy, Mixed, Semi Active, Calcareous, Thermic, Typic Torrifluvents) with both low salinity and little available copper conditions was collected from the top 30-cm layer of a pistachio-culture region of Kerman province, Islamic Republic of Iran. After air drying and ground to passing a 2 mm sieve, some of the physico-chemical properties of this soil were determined (table 1). Table 1- Some physico-chemical properties of the soil used
Clay % 5/5 23/1 100 Silt K P (mgkg-1 soil) 5/35 Cu O.M FC % 0/4 0/5 18 12 7/5 CCE pH ECe (dSm-1) 1

Experiment was conducted at the greenhouse of agriculture college, Vali-E-Asr university of Rafsanjan, Kerman-Iran. Treatments were arranged in a factorial manner in a completely randomized design with three replications. Treatments consisted of four Cu levels (0, 2.5, 5, and 7.5 mg Kg-1soil as CuSO4.2H2O), and five salinity levels (0, 800, 1600, 2400, and 3200 mg NaCl Kg-1 soil). Plastic bags were filled with 5 kg of soil, to which nitrogen as urea [CO(NH2)2], phosphorus and potassium as potassium dihydrogen phosphate [K3PO4.3H2O] were applied uniformly at the rate of 50 mg kg-1 based on result of soil test. Copper was added to the bags according to the design plan. Each plastic bag was mixed thoroughly and transferred to plastic pots before planting. Pistachio seeds were placed in muslin sacks and pre-treated for 24 h. with 2 g.L-1 Benomil solution. Amount of 5 kg soil be poured in plastic pockets and primary nutrients including N as urea [CO(NH2)2] and P, K as potassium phosphate [k3PO4.3H2O] added to soil of pockets based on result of soil test. Furthermore, various copper levels added to soils as CuSO4.2H2O according to design plan. Each plastic bag was mixed thoroughly and transferred to plastic pots before planting. Pistachio seeds (cv. Ghazvini) were placed in muslin sacks and pre-treated for 24 h with 2 gL-1 Benomil fungicide solution. Eight germinated seeds were planted in each pot and irrigated with distilled water. After 5 weeks, seedlings were gradually exposed to salt stress during three weeks by irrigating with water containing required amount of NaCl. After which seedlings were thinned to five per pot at10th week. Pots were kept at field capacity by irrigating with distilled water every day. Photosynthetic characteristics and transpiration rate were measured on 22th week after planting by infrared gas analyzer model 4- LCA, ADC. Analysis of variance was done using MSTATC software (Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA) and means were compared by Duncan's multiple range test (P0.05). Results and Discussion Analysis of variance indicated that salinity had a significant effect on transpiration rate, but Cu treatment had no significant effect on it. As the salinity levels increased, transpiration rate was significantly reduced. For example by increasing salinity to 800, 1600 and 3200 mg NaCl kg-1 soil, transpiration rate reduced 59, 67, and 76 % compared to control, respectively (fig. 1). Mozaffari (2005) demonstrated with increasing salinity, transpiration rate of pistachio seedlings reduced significantly. Osmond et al (1980) indicated that C3 and C4 plants increased water use efficiency through diminishing of stomatal conductance in reply to salt and decreased transpiration consequently.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH
3

transpiration rate(mmol m s )

-2 -1

2,5 2 1,5 1 0,5 0 0 800 1600

-1

bc

bc

2400

3200

NaCl level (mg kg )

Fig.1. Effect of NaCl levels on transpiration rate Salinity various levels, had a significant effect on stomatal conductance, too. Comparative of means by duncans test showed that with increasing salinity, stomatal conductance decreased significantly (fig. 2). For example, increase of salinity to 800, 1600 and 3200 mg NaCl kg-1 soil, reduced stomatal conductance 77, 84, and 95 percent compared to control, respectively. The same results were obtained by Qiu et al (2007) on the Kandelia candel seedlings. They demonstrated that stomatal conductance was reduced with increasing salinity. These researches stated NaCl treatment caused a decrease in stomatal number, which might be responsible for decreased stomatal conductance under salt treatment.
stomatal conductance(mol m s )
-2 -1

0,1 0,09 0,08 0,07 0,06 0,05 0,04 0,03 0,02 0,01 0

bc

bc

c
3200

800

1600
-1

2400

NaCl level (mg kg )

Fig. 2. Effect of NaCl levels on stomatal conductance Result of analysis of variance showed that salinity and Cu treatment had a significant effect on leaf surface temperature, but salinityCu interaction was not significant. By increasing salinity, leaf surface temperature increased (fig. 3). It seems that increase of leaf surface temperature with increasing salinity be due to reduction of transpiration rate. Whereas transpiration is one of major component of energy balance of leaves, it has important effects on plants.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH

leaf surface temperature in C

33 32 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 0

a b b

800

1600
-1

2400

3200

NaCl level (mg kg )

Fig. 3. Effect of NaCl levels on leaf surface temperature Adding of Cu, decreased leaf surface temperature (fig. 4). For example, Application of 2.5, 5 and 7.5 mg Cu kg-1 soil, decreased surface temperature 1.5, 2.5, and 7% compared to control. In fact, copper by decreasing leaf surface temperature, has declined damage of salinity.

32

a leaf surface temperature in oC

31

b c

30

29

28 0 2,5
-1

7,5

Cu level (mg kg )

Fig. 4. Effect of Cu levels on leaf surface temperature Results of analysis of variance and comparative of means showed that copper and salinity treatments had no significant effect on the photosynthetic rate of pistachio seedlings, while salinityCu interaction was significant (table 2). At low salinity level (800 mg NaCl kg-1 soil), application of 5 mg Cu kg-1soil, increased photosynthesis rate compared to control, significantly. Behboudian et al (1986) indicated that salinity levels up to 225 mM Cl did not have any effect on photosynthetic rate or on stomatal and mesophyll resistances to the diffusion of CO2. Chlorophyll content and leaf water, osmotic and turgor potentials were also unaffected by this level of salinity despite significantly higher concentrations of Cl- and Na+ in the leaves. When the salinity level was raised to 400 mM Cl, a significant increase in leaf succulence diluted chloride and sodium concentrations (on a tissue-water basis) to values less than in leaves of plants treated with 225 mM Cl.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH
Table 2. Influence of salinity levels and Cu application on photosynthetic rate of pistachio seedlings

0 0 800 1600 2400 3200 Mean 2/660ab 0/283 cd 0/100d 1/067bcd 0/453cd 0/913

Cu level (mg kg-1) 2.5 5 7.5 photosynthetic rate (mol CO2 m-2 s-1) 1/153bcd 0/750bcd 0/187cd 0/100d 3/147a 1/287a-d 1/670a-d 1/523a-d 0/945a-d 2/203abc 0/475bcd 0/433cd 0/100d 1/080 a-d 0/433cd 1/045 1/395 0/657

Mean 1/188 1/204 1/060 1/045 0/517

Conclusion The result of this study showed that increasing salinity decreased transpiration rate and stomatal conductance. Probably, plants react to salinity and begin to close stomas and decrease of water exit, for reduction of stress secondary effects. It seems that salt treatments promote the synthesis of pigments and induce a reduction of mesophyll and stomatal conductance. Salt stress enhanced leaf surface temperature, while application of Cu reduced it. In other phrase, copper could partly suppress the salt injury. The present study showed that salinity had no significant effect on photosynthetic rate. This indicated that photosynthetic reactance of pistachio seedlings to salt stress is similar to tolerant plants to salinity, because investigations have proven that photosynthesis rate of pistachio seedlings under 3200 mg NaCl kg-1 soil, was similar or few lesser than control seedlings. While, such behavior was not observed in other tree plants (such as citrus or vine) that photosynthesis rate of them was measured in salinity various levels. References Baron M., Arellano J. B. and Gorge L. 1995. Copper and photosystem II: a controversial relationship, Journal of Plant Physiology, 94 :174-180. Behboudian M. H., Walker, R. R. and Torokfaivy, E. 1986. Effects of water stress and salinity on photosynthesis of pistachio. Scientia Horticulturae, 29 (3): 251261. Bernal, M., Cases, R., Picorel, R. and Yruela. I. 2007. Foliar and root Cu supply affect differently Fe and Zn uptake and photosynthetic activity in soybean plants. Enviro Exp. Botany. 60:145-150. Gama, P. B. S., Inanaga, S., Tanaka, K. and Nakazawa, R. 2007. Physiological response of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) seedlings to salinity stress, African Journal of Biotechnology, 6 (2): 079-088. Karimi, S., Rahemi, M., Maftoun, M., Eshghi, S. and Tavallali, V. 2009. Effects of longterm salinity on growth and performance of two pistachio (Pistacia vera L.) rootstocks. Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences 3(3):1630-1639. Mozaffari, V. 2005. The role of potassium, calcium and zinc in controlling Pistachio dieback. PhD Thesis, Soil Science Department, Agricultural college, Tarbiat Modarres university. Tehran, Iran (In Persian). Najmabadi, M. F., 1969. General pistachio culture. MSc Thesis, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran. Netondo, G. W., Onyango, J. C. and Beck. E. 2004. Sorghum and Salinity: II. Gas Exchange and Chlorophyll Fluorescence of Sorghum under Salt Stress. Crop Science Society of America. Crop Science, 44:806-811 . Osmond, C. B., Bjorkman. O. and Anderson. D. J. 1980. Physiological processes in plant ecology. Toward a synthesis with atriplex. Springer Verlag, New York. Parsa, A. A. and Karimian, N. 1975. Effect of sodium chloride on seedling growth of two major varieties of Iranian pistachio (P. vera L.). Journal of Horticulture Science, 50: 41-46. Qiu, D. L., Lin, P. and Guo, S. Z. 2007. Effects of salinity on leaf characteristics and CO2/H2O exchange of Kandelia candel (L.) druce seedlings. Journal of Forest Science, 53:13-19. Zohary, M. 1973. Geobotanical Foundation of the Middle East, 2 Vols. Amsterdam, Stuttgart, pp: 35-44.

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Effects of Zinc Fertilizer and Enriched Vermicompost on Zinc Uptake, Yield, Yield Components and Some Agronomic Characteristics in Barley
H. Seyedashrafya, M. Majidianb, A.H. Baghaiea , N. Majidianc and M. Gomariana
a

Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding, Arak Branch, Islamic Azad University, Arak, Iran Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding, College of Agriculture, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran c Department of Horticulture, College of Agriculture, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran Corresponding Author: ma_majidian@guialn.ac.ir
b

Application of organic residuals increases the organic matter and enables the recycling of valuable components. Metal availability in soil amended with these components is lower than amended with inorganic sources. The objective of this study was to investigate Zn (zinc) availability to barley in a clay loam soil amended with organic and inorganic Zn sources. Treatments were consist of applying 25, 50 and 100 t ha-1 Zn enriched vermi-compost (800 mg Zn kg-1) and control soil. To compare the effect of organic and inorganic sources, similar rates of Zn as ZnSO4 were also applied. Results showed that the application of Zn enriched vermi-compost increased the cation exchange capacity, organic carbon (%) and adsorption capacity of the soil that deceased the soil Zn extractable to that in Zn inorganic treatment as ZnSO4. Applying Zn enriched vermi-compost significantly increased plant Zn availability and thereby root Zn concentration relative to that in control soil. However, root Zn concentration in organic treatment than the soil treated with inorganic sources as ZnSO4. The greatest sign of possible Zn toxicity observed in Zn3 treatment. Applying the Zn3 treatment significantly decreased biological yield and grain yield. Despite significant difference in treatment Zn concentration between 50 and 100 t ha-1 vermi-compost no significant difference between grain yield, 1000-grain weight and ear weight were observed. The results of the this research showed that, with applying 50 t ha-1 Zn-enriched vermi-compost caused decreases the negative effects of applying ZnSO4 fertilizer with increasing the soil organic matter and improve soil fertility and soil quality. Keywords: Vermi-compost, ZnSO4, grain yield, cation exchange capacity, barley.

Abstract

Introduction The use of organic amendments as fertilizers and/or soil amendments is becoming increasingly widespread (Singh and Agrawal, 2007). These amendments contain large amounts of organic matter that can improve the structure of the soil and its water holding capacity. They are also a source of nutrients that improve the fertility and potential productivity of the soil (Logan et al., 1997). Nonetheless, concerns regarding their content in potentially hazardous heavy metals such as zinc still persist. If excessive loads of pollutants are introduced with the application of low-quality waste, soil fertility may be adversely affected, ground-water quality threatened, and the food chain contaminated (Keller et al., 2002; McBride, 1995). The introduction of heavy metals to soil and their transfer to crops, therefore, needs to be controlled. However, in arid ecosystems, the probability of nutrients or toxic elements leaching into ground-water is low (Rostagno and Sosebee, 2001). On the other hand, sustainable agriculture has become a major issue in the world. More and more farmers in different countries are now cultivating their land without using chemical products, pesticides, and herbicides (Gutirrez-Miceli et al., 2008). However, deficiency of nutrients such as N and P, are the principal constraints to crop production under low input agricultural systems. Agronomic practices aimed at reducing the dependence on chemical fertilizers need to incorporate crop residues or other forms of organic material, thus providing nutrients and thereby improving soil structure and fertility (Prasad, 1999). Metal bioavailability in soil from organic or inorganic amendments varies widely and is affected by many soil parameters such as pH and type of soil minerals (Basta, 2005). Evaluation of phytoavailability of organic amendment metals has illustrated that metals added to organic amendment are less phytoavailable than metal salts added to the soils without organic amendment (Brown, 1998; ; Li et la., 2001; Hettiarachchi et al., 2003). The amount of metals required to cause phytotoxicity or yield reductions are always less with salts as compared with organic amendment. The phytoavailability of metals is normally higher in the first year of organic amendment application, and then it decreases with time after application has ceased, and stays at a lower level for an extended time (Li et al., 2001). These results indicate that organic amendments add

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH adsorptive phases to soil, which may affect metal bioavailability to plants (Li et al., 2001). Addition of organic amendments to soil not only provides nutrients to crops but also improves soil physico-chemical properties and may affect metal bioavailability. Hence, there is an increasing interest in utilization of organic amendments (such as vermi-compost) as a fertilizer. This research was conducted to evaluate Zn availability to barley (cv. Makoei) in a clay loam soil amended with organic (Zn enriched vermi-compost) and inorganic (ZnSO4) Zn sources. The influence of various Zn sources and loading rates on the plant height, 1000-grain weight, grain yield and biological yield in barley cultivated in organic and inorganic amended soils was also investigated. Materials and Methods The field experiment was conducted at Arak University research farm, central Iran (34 05 21" N, 49 42 36" E), during 2009-2010 cropping seasons. The experimental soil of the plot was a fine, mixed, mesic, Typic Haploxerepts and had high pH, low organic carbon content, and low available Zn concentration. The mean annual temperature and rainfall were 13.8C and 324.3 mm, respectively. Vermi-compost with a low level of heavy metal (i.e. Pb, Cd) concentration was selected from Qom province, center of Iran. As in previous researches (Bucher and Schenk, 2000; Milner and Barker, 1989), the vermi-compost was enriched with ZnSO4 to 800 mg Zn kg-1 and incubated for two weeks. The concentration of the metals in the vermi-compost was less than their tolerable standard values. Three rates of Zn (12, 24, and 48 g Zn plot-1) in the form of vermicompost and ZnSO4 were used in the soil. Accordingly, three loading rates of Zn enriched vermicompost including 25, 50, and 100 Mg ha-1 (V1, V2 and V3, respectively) and three rates of ZnSO4 including 49.5, 99, and 198.1 kg ha-1 (Zn1, Zn2 and Zn3, respectively) were used. In addition, an untreated soil was considered as the control soil (V0). All of the treatments were replicated three times. After adding the vermi-compost, the soil moisture was kept at 80% water holding capacity during the incubation for two weeks. Seeds of barley (Hordeum vulgare L. cv. Makoei) were drillseeded on October 19, 2009 by hand at a seeding rate of 450 plants m-2. On May 29, 2010, after harvesting the plants, the roots, shoots, spikes, and leaves were sampled separately. The plants were oven-dried at 65C to a constant weight, for 24 h and the dry matter weight was recorded. Thereafter, plant samples were combusted overnight at 480C. The 1000-grain weight was calculated by measuring the weight of 100 seeds and multiplying it by ten. The ability of plants to transport heavy metals from roots to shoots was measured by calculating translocation factor (TF) as displayed in Equation (1) (Singh and Agrawal, 2007): TF= Hs/ Hr (1) Where Hs and Hr are heavy metal concentrations in shoot and root, respectively. A completely block randomized design in three replications was used. The statistical analyses of data were performed using the ANOVA procedure (SAS Institute. 2002). Differences between means were evaluated using the least significant difference (LSD). The 0.01 probability value was used to determine significant difference. Zn concentration in plant tissues Application of Zn as both vermi-compost and ZnSO4 significantly increased the tissue Zn concentration of barley plants compared to the plants cultivated in the control soil (V0) (Table 1). The root Zn concentration in plants grown in the plots treated with vermi-compost was lower than that of plants grown in the plots which received ZnSO4. Increasing the loading rate of Zn as ZnSO4 (Zn1, Zn2 and Zn3) significantly increased the root Zn concentrations by 2.1, 2.5, and 5.2 times, while the application of Zn enriched vermi-compost (V1, V2 and V3), significantly increased them by 1.6, 2.2, and 1.6 times compared to those grown in the control soil, respectively (Table 1). Similar to this result, other researchers have reported that the metals applied by inorganic salt are more phytoavailable than the equivalent quantity of metal applied by organic amendments (Basta et al., 2005; Hettiarachchi et al., 2003; Brown et al., 1998). These results have been interpreted as indicating that organic amendment adds adsorptive phases to soils, which reduce metal availability to plants (Basta et al., 2005). The root Zn concentrations in barley plants were much higher than those in aerial tissues. Partitioning and distribution of trace elements in different plant tissues depends on the plant species
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Result and Discussion

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH (Yang et al., 1995). Increasing the loading rate of ZnSO4 from 49.5 (Zn1) to 99 and 198.1 kg ha-1 (Zn2 and Zn3) significantly increased the shoot Zn concentrations by 3.4 and 3.9 times, while increasing the loading rate of Zn enriched vermi-compost from 25 to 50 and 100 Mg ha-1, significantly increased the shoot Zn concentrations by 1.5 and 2.1 times, respectively. Similar to the root Zn concentration, the shoot Zn concentration of the plants grown in organic amended soil (V2 and V3) was lower than that of plants grown in inorganic amended soil (Zn2 and Zn3), respectively (Table 1) . Table 1. The influence of various Zn sources and their loading rates on Zn concentration in barley tissues (mg kg-1). Treatment Shoot Root Spike Leaf V0 Nd ** 18.4f* Nd Nd Zn1 7.1e 38.6d 8.2f 14.1d Zn2 24.1b 45.8b 20.7b 16.0c a a c 27.8 96.4 18.0 25.1a Zn3 e e e V1 7.1 29.4 11.2 14.6d d c d V2 10.8 40.1 15.1 16.3c V3 15.0c 30.2e 22.4a 18.0b
* Means followed by the same letter in each column are not significantly different (p = 0.01). **Nd= not detectable. V1, V2, and V3 were Zn enriched vermi-compost at doses of 25, 50, and 100 mg ha-1. Zn1, Zn2, and Zn3 were the similar Zn content of Zn enriched vermi-compost (V1, V2 and V3, respectively) supplied from ZnSO4. V0 was considered as control.

Increasing the applied rate of ZnSO4 from 49.5 (Zn1) to 99 (Zn2) kg ha-1 significantly increased the spike Zn concentration by 2.5 times (Table 1), while decreased it at the greatest loading rate of Zn (Zn3). The significant decrease of the 1000-grain weight at the Zn3 treatment (Table 2) may be due to the significant decrease of the spike Zn concentration at the Zn3 treatment compared to Zn2 treatment. On the other hand, 2.5 times increasing in the spike Zn concentration of Zn2 compared to Zn1 treatment resulted in a significant increase in the 1000-grain weight of barley by 4.7 g (Table 2). Table 2. The influence of various Zn sources and their loading rates on the plant height and the 1000-grain weight in barley cultivated in organic and inorganic amended soils 1000-grain Grain yield Treatment Biological Kernel Plant height -1 -1 weight (Kg ha ) yield (kg ha ) number per (cm) (g) ear V0 66.1f* 33.5e 2972.1e 7344.2f 15.5e e d de e Zn1 72.0 36.7 3248.5 7978.9 18.1de b b c d Zn2 84.7 41.4 3797.1 9088.4 20.7cd d d d e Zn3 73.5 37.3 3388.9 8134.3 19.1cde c c b c V1 81.3 38.8 5062 11942.2 22.7bc V2 86.0b 44.6a 5577.4a 12838.1b 26.3b a a a a V3 94.3 44.0 5745.1 13398 30.3a
* Means followed by the same letter in each column are not significantly different (p = 0.01). V1, V2, and V3 were Zn enriched vermi-compost at doses of 25, 50, and 100 Mg ha-1. Zn1, Zn2, and Zn3 were the similar Zn content of Zn enriched vermi-compost (V1, V2 and V3, respectively) supplied from ZnSO4. V0 was considered as control.

Applying Zn enriched vermi-compost significantly increased the spike Zn concentration with the greatest increase at the V3 treatment (Table 1). The Zn spike concentration ratio of V3 to V2 treatment was significantly greater than that of V2 to V1 treatment. It may be concluded that applying the greatest loading rate of vermi-compost in the soil increased the solubility of Zn, thereby increased spike Zn concentration. Accordingly, the Zn concentration ratio of spike to shoot in the plants grown in vermi-compost treated soils was more than 1 (Table 3). Bourg (1992) and Stevenson (1982) reported that organic metal complexes in soil solution play an important role in

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH the soil Zn availability to plants (Bourg and Darmendrail, 1992; Stevenson, 1982). The greatest Zn spike concentration was found at the V3 treatment (Table 1). Except for the greatest loading rate of Zn (V3 and Zn3), at similar loading rates, leaf Zn concentration did not show any significant difference in the plants grown in the organic amended soil and those grown in the ZnSO4-treated soil (Table 1). The leaf Zn concentration in the plants grown in the soil treated with 100 Mg ha-1 vermi-compost was significantly lower than in those that received the same level of Zn from ZnSO4. Table 3. The Influence of various Zn sources and their loading rates on the Zn concentration ratios of spike to stem, spike to leaf, and spike to root Treatment Zn concentration Spike to leaf Spike to shoot Spike to root Zn1 0.58d* 1.16c 0.21d a d Zn2 1.29 0.86 0.45b c e 0.72 0.65 0.19e Zn3 c a V1 0.77 1.57 0.38c b b V2 0.93 1.40 0.38c V3 1.24a 1.50a 0.74a
* Means followed by the same letter in each column are not significantly different (p = 0.01) V1, V2, and V3 were Zn enriched vermi-compost at doses of 25, 50, and 100 Mg ha-1. Zn1, Zn2, and Zn3 were the similar Zn content of Zn enriched vermi-compost (V1, V2 and V3, respectively) supplied from ZnSO4.

Increasing the loading rate of ZnSO4 from 49.5 (Zn1) to 99 kg ha-1 (Zn2) significantly increased the Zn concentration ratios of spike to leaf and spike to root by nearly 2 times and decreased the Zn concentration ratio of spike to shoot by 1.3 times (Table 3). Applying the greatest loading rate of Zn as ZnSO4 (Zn3) caused a significant decrease in the Zn concentration ratios of spike to shoot, spike to leaf, and spike to root compared to the lower rate of Zn (Zn2) treatment. Accordingly, the 1000-grain weight of barley plants at the Zn3 treatment was significantly lower than the Zn2 treatment. Increasing the loading rate of the Zn in the form of vermi-compost caused a significant increase in the Zn concentration ratio of spike to leaf. Accordingly, the spike Zn concentration at the V3 was greater compared to the Zn3 treatment (Table 1). Effect of organic and inorganic Zn sources on growth and yield attributes Application of Zn from both organic and inorganic sources significantly increased the plant height, the 1000-grain weight, grain yield, biological yield and Kernel number per ear of barley plants (Table 2). Applying the greatest loading rate of Zn as ZnSO4 (Zn3) significantly decreased the plant height, the 1000-grain weight, grain yield, biological yield and Kernel number per ear compared to the lower rate of applied Zn (Zn2); that may be due to the Zn toxicity effect on plant growth (Kabata-Pendias and Pendias, 2000). However the assessment of toxic concentrations and the effects of trace elements on plants are very complex, because it depends on so many factors that cannot be measured on a linear scale (Kabata-Pendias and Pendias, 2000). Applying Zn enriched vermi-compost to the soil at the rates of 25 and 100 Mg ha-1 caused a significant increase in the plant height by 13% and 28.2% compared to the similar loading rate of Zn inorganic as ZnSO4, respectively (Table 2). Increasing the loading rate of Zn in the form of vermi-compost (V1, V2 and V3) caused a significant increase in the 1000-grain weight compared to Zn inorganic treatments (Zn1, Zn2 and Zn3) by 2.1, 3.2, and 6.7 g, respectively. It can be concluded that plant growth is positively affected by the soil organic carbon content. Speir et al. (2004) reported that increasing organic amendments caused a significant increase on soil biological characteristics such as soil respiration, biomass and increasing the enzyme activity (Speir, 2004). In addition to improving soil quality, land application of organic amendments enables recycling of valuable components such as organic matter (OM) and plant nutrients. Improvements in nutritional status of soil due to organic amendments have been reported widely (Singh and Agrawal, 2007; Moreno et al., 1997).

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Translocation factor (TF) of Zn The ability of plants to translocate heavy metals from roots to shoots is measured by calculating the translocation factor. TF values of more than 1, suggest that heavy metals are readily transported from root to shoot whereas values less than 1 signify more accumulation of heavy metals in root. Zn concentration in the aerial parts of the plants cultivated in the control soil (V0) was less than the detection limit of the atomic absorption spectrophotometry (Table 1). Regardless of the Zn source, the TF value of Zn was less than 1 for all treatments (Table 4). Singh and Sinha (2005) reported increased accumulation of Zn in tissues of B. Juncea with increasing rate of tannery sludge from 10 to 100%, although the greatest accumulation of Zn was found in roots (Singh and Sinha, 2005). The TF ranged from 0.18 to 0.53 with the greatest values of 0.53 and 0.49 for inorganic (Zn2) and organic (V3) treatments, respectively (Table 4). At the greatest loading rate of Zn as ZnSO4, the TF value significantly decreased. Accordingly, the plant height and 1000-grain weight of barley plants at the Zn3 treatment were significantly lower than those at the Zn2 treatment (Table 2). Increasing the loading rate of vermi-compost significantly affected the translocation factor. It can be concluded that applying enriched vermi-compost increased the plant growth and thereby increased the TF value. Table 4. The influence of various Zn sources and their loading rates on Zn translocation factor (TF). Treatment TF Zn1 0.18f* Zn2 0.53a Zn3 0.29c V1 0.24e V2 0.27d V3 0.49b
* Means followed by the different letter are significantly different (p = 0.01). V1, V2, and V3 were Zn enriched vermi-compost at doses of 25, 50, and 100 Mg ha-1. Zn1, Zn2, and Zn3 were the similar Zn content of Zn enriched vermi-compost (V1, V2 and V3, respectively) supplied from ZnSO4.

The results of the current study revealed that the Zn-phytoavailability in soils treated with vermicompost was significantly lower than those treated with the ZnSO4 salt. Greater decreases of soil DTPA-extractable Zn at the V3 treatment compared to the Zn3 treatment can be concluded that land application of vermi-compost increased the adsorption capacity of the soil and thus, decreased the soil DTPA-extractable Zn. Application of Zn from both organic and inorganic sources significantly increased the plant height and the 1000-grain weight of barley plants. However, the plant height and the 1000-grain weight of barley significantly decreased at the greatest loading rate of Zn as ZnSO4. Increasing the greatest loading rate of Zn from vermi-compost significantly increased the plant height and 1000-grain weight of barley compared to the lower rates of Zn. This indicated that plant growth in organic amended soil maybe affected by the soil organic carbon content and the plant nutrients that are available in vermi-compost. Therefore, it seems that applying the greatest loading rate of Zn enriched vermi-compost may have more significant effects on the plant growth and Zn spike concentration. References Basta, N.T., Ryan, J.A., Chaney, R.L., (2005). Trace element chemistry in residual treated soil: Key concepts and metal bioavailability. Journal Environmental Quality, 34, 49-63. Bourg, A.C.M., Darmendrail, D., (1992). Effect of dissolved organic matter and pH on the migration of zinc through river bank sediments. Environmental Technology, 13, 695-700. Brown, S.L., Chaney, R.L., Angle, J.S., Ryan, J.A., (1998). The phytoavailability of cadmium to lettuce in long-term biosolids-amended Soils. Journal Environmental Quality, 27, 1071-1078. Bucher, A.S., Schenk, M.K., (2000). Toxicity level for phytoavailable zinc in compost-peat substrates. Science Horticulture, 83, 339-352. Gutirrez-Miceli, F.A., Moguel-Zamudio, B., Abud-Archila, M., Gutirrez-Oliva, V.F., Dendooven, L., (2008). Sheep manure vermicompost supplemented with a native diazotrophic
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH bacteria and mycorrhizas for maize cultivation. Bioresource Technology, 99, 7020-7026. Hettiarachchi, G.M., Ryan, J.A., Chaney, R.L., La Fleur, C.M., (2003). Sorption and desorption of cadmium by different fractions of biosolids-amended Soils. Journal Environmental Quality, 32, 1684-1693. Kabata-Pendias, A., Pendias, H., (2000). Trace elements in soils and plants. Third edition, CRC Press, Bocaraton, New York. Keller, C., McGrath, S.P., Dunham, S.J., (2002). Trace metal leaching through a soil-grassland system after sewage sludge application. Journal Environmental Quality, 31, 1550-1560. Li, Z., Ryan, J.A., Chen, J.L., Al-Abed, S.R., (2001). Adsorption of cadmium on biosolidsamended soils. Journal Environmental Quality, 30, 903-911. Logan, T.J., Lindsay, B.J., Goins, L.E., Ryan, J.A., (1997). Field assessment of sludge metal bioavailability to crops: sludge rate response, Journal Environmental Quality, 26, 534-550. McBride, M.B., (1995). Toxic metal accumulation from agricultural use of sludge: Are USEPA regulations protective? Journal Environmental Quality, 24, 5-18. Milner, P., Barker, A.V., (1989). Factors affecting zinc concentrations in plants grown in sludge-amended soils. Commun. Soil Science Plant Anal, 20, 1-21. Moreno, J.L., Garcia, C., Hernandez, T., Ayuso, M., (1997). Application of composted sewage sludges contaminated with heavy metals to an agricultural soil: effect on lettuce growth. Soil Science Plant Nutrition, 43, 565573. Prasad, R., Gangaiah, B., Aipe, K., (1999). Effect of crop residue management in a ricewheat cropping system on growth and yield of crops and on soil fertility. Exp. Agriculture, 35, 427435. Rostagno, C.M., Sosebee, R.E., (2001). Biosolids application in the Chihuahuan desert: effects on runoff water quality. Journal Environmental Quality, 30, 160-170. [SAS Institute. 2002. SAS/STAT users guide. Version 8.2 for Windows. SAS Inst., Cary, NC. Singh, R.P., Agrawal, M., (2007). Effects of sewage sludge amendment on heavy metal accumulation and consequent responses of Beta vulgaris plants. Chemosphere, 67, 2229-2240. Singh, S., Sinha, S., (2005). Accumulation of metals and its effects in Brassica juncea (L.) Czern. (cv. Rohini) grown on various amendments of tannery waste. Ecotox. Environmental Safe, 62, 118-127. Speir, T.W., Horswell, J., Van Schaik, A.P., McLaren, R.G., Fietje, G., (2004). Composted biosolids enhance fertility of a sandy loam soil under darily pasture. Biological Fertilizer Soils, 40, 349-358. Stevenson, F.J., (1982) Humus chemistry: Genesis, composition, reactions. Wiley-Interscience, New York. Yang, X., Baligar, V.C., Martens, D.C., Clark, R.B., (1995). Influx, transport, and accumulation of cadmium in plant species growth at different Cd2+ activities, Journal Environmental Science Health, Part B, 30, 569-583.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH

Zn Availability of Two Wheat Cultivars in Soil Amended With Organic and Inorganic Zn Sources
H. Tarighia, M. Majidianb, A.H. Baghaiea and M. Gomariana
a

Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding, Arak Branch, Islamic Azad University, Arak, Iran. Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding, College of Agriculture, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran. Corresponding Author: ma_majidian@guilan.ac.ir
b

The nutrients and organic matter in organic amendments provide a valuable resource to agriculture, forestry, and remediation of degraded lands. The objective of this research was to investigate the effects of two wheat cultivars (cv. Backcross and Alvand) on Zn uptake in a loamy soil amended with organic and inorganic Zn sources. A factorial experiment using randomized complete blocks was used in three replications. A Zn enriched cow manure (800 mg Zn kg-1) was applied to the soil at three rates of 25 (V1), 50 (V2), and 100 Mg ha- 1 (V3). To compare the effects of organic and inorganic sources, similar rates of Zn as ZnSO4 were also applied (Zn1, Zn2 and Zn3, respectively). An untreated soil sample was also considered as control soil (V0). In general; cultivation of wheat plant (cv. Backcross) resulted in a lower Zn uptake relative to the Alvand cultivar. However, the plants Zn concentration of both cultivars depend on the rate and type of the applied manure (organic or inorganic sources). Both cultivars showed that plants grown in soil treated with ZnSO4 accumulated significantly greater Zn in their root tissue compared to those grown in soil treated with cow manure. A significant increase in the shoot, spike and root Zn concentrations were observed as the loading rate of cow manure increased. The results of this experiment point to the fact that the source of fertilizer, type of the plant, and the loading rate of Zn are important factors in determining Zn phyto-availability. Key words: Heavy metal, cow manure, ZnSO4, phyto-availability, seed yield.

Abstract

Introduction The application of organic amendments to agricultural land has become a common practice over the past several decades. Recycling of organic amendments to agricultural land is generally considered to be the most practicable environmental option because this practice is inexpensive, logical and easy to carry out (Jamali et al., 2006). Since organic amendments contain plant nutrients and organic matter, it may be used to supplement or replace commercial (inorganic) fertilizers for crop production (Cogger et al., 2001). The beneficial effects of using organic amendments in agriculture have been proven by numerous researchers (Edmeades, 2003; Gutierrez-Miceli et al., 2007; Reeves, 1997). It has been shown that organic amendments application improves the physical, chemical, and biological properties of soil. In addition, nutrients in organic amendments increase plant biomass and yield (Singh and Agrawal, 2007). Seyedashrafi et al., (2011) reported that applying 25, 50 and 100 Mg ha-1 Zn enriched vermicompost to the soil increased the plant height and 1000- grain weight of the barley plant. Pedreno et al., (1996) found that tomato yield was clearly favoured by sewage sludge fertilization. However, Reed et al., (1991) reported that sludge and nitrogen fertilizer applications as the source of applied N did not affect the grain yield of the corn. About 50% of the soils used for cereal production in the world contain low levels of plant-available Zn, which reduces not only grain yield, but also nutritional quality (Kinaci and Kinaci, 2005). Applying organic amendments in the soils not only provides nutrients to crops but also improves soil physico-chemical properties and may affect metal bioavailability. However, Metal availability is a chemical form function in which it is found in soil. Plant may change soil metal availability directly and indirectly by different mechanisms such as exudation of complexing agents, respiration roots, which accounts for pH changes, etc. (Hammer and Keller, 2002; Lin et al., 2004; Baghaie et al., 2010). Accordingly, this research was conducted to evaluate Zn availability to two wheat cultivars (cv. Alvand and Backcross) in a loamy soil amended with organic (Zn enriched cow manure) and inorganic (ZnSO4) Zn sources. The influence of various Zn sources and loading rates on the grain yield and grain Zn uptake in wheat cultivars in organic and inorganic amended soil was also investigated.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Materials and Methods The field experiment was conducted at Arak University research farm, central Iran (34 05 21" N, 49 42 36" E), during 2009-2010 cropping seasons. The experimental soil of the plot was a loamy, mixed, mesic, Typic Haploxerepts and had a nearly neutral pH, low organic carbon content, and low available Zn concentration. The eight-month decomposed cow manure with a low level of heavy metal (i.e. Pb, Cd) concentration was selected from Arak province, center of Iran. The cow manure was enriched with ZnSO4 to 800 mg Zn kg-1 and incubated for two weeks. Selected properties of the cow manure. The concentration of the metals in the cow manure was less than their tolerable standard values (U.S. Environmental protection agency, 1993). Three rates of Zn (12, 24, and 48 g Zn plot-1) in the form of cow manure and ZnSO4 were used in the soil. Accordingly, three loading rates of Zn enriched cow manure including 25, 50, and 100 Mg ha-1 (V1, V2 and V3, respectively) and three rates of ZnSO4 including 49.5, 99, and 198.1 kg ha-1 (Zn1, Zn2 and Zn3, respectively) were used. In addition, an untreated soil was considered as the control soil (V0). All of the treatments were replicated three times. After adding the cow manure, the soil moisture was kept at 80% water holding capacity during the incubation for two weeks. Seeds of wheat cultivars (cv, Alvand and Backcross) were drill-seeded on October 25, 2009 by hand at a seeding rate of 500 plants m-2. The plots were irrigated using well water (with pH range of 7.47.8 and EC nearly 1.5 dS m-1). On July 6, 2010, after harvesting the plants, the roots, shoots, and spikes were sampled separately. The plants were oven-dried at 65C to a constant weight, for 72 h and the dry matter weight was recorded. Thereafter, plant samples were combusted overnight at 480C. The experimental design of the experiment was randomized complete blocks with factorial arrangement with three replications. Data were analyzed by the ANOVA procedure from SAS 8.1 (SAS Institute, 1999). Differences between means were evaluated using the least significant difference (LSD). The 0.05 probability value was used to determine significant difference. Result and Discussion Organic amendment effects on soil properties The interaction of soil pH and wheat cultivars was significant (p=0.05), as; cultivation of Alvand relative to Backcross cultivar decreased the soil pH by nearly 0.2 units (Table 1). It may be related to the root exudate that changes the availability of the metals. Cultivation of Backcross cultivar did not show any significant effect on soil pH compared to the control soil. Zn sources and different loading rates of Zn had no significant effect on soil pH. This is in agreement with the research of Karami et al., (2009) that adding organic amendment to the soil had no significant effect on soil pH under wheat cultivation. The stability in pH in our research may be related to the buffer capacity of the soil used. The electrical conductivity (EC) of the Zn enriched cow manure was 17 dS m-1 (Table 1). Baghaie et al., (2011) reported an EC of 17 dS m-1 for cow manure in their research. However, the EC of the cow manure depends on many factors such as the raw materials in the food chain of the animal. The soil EC of control soil in this research was below the definition reported for saline soil (Aitken et al., 1984). The soil EC increased with increasing the loading rate of Zn enriched cow manure (Table 1). The wheat cultivars did not significant effect on soil EC. Greater increasing of soil EC in organic relative to inorganic amended soil is due to the high level of soluble salts in the cow manure. Increased soil EC may result in some detrimental effects on plants and microorganisms. Increasing the loading rate of Zn sources from 49.5 to 198.1 kg ha-1 (Zn1 to Zn3) as ZnSo4 significantly increased the soil EC by 0.6 units. However, adding cow manure in the rate of 25 to 100 Mg ha-1 increased the soil EC by 1.4 units (Table 1). A high correlation relationship (R2=0.9) was observed between the soil cation exchange (CEC) and soil organic carbon. Increasing the loading rates of Zn enriched cow manure (V1, V2 and V3) increased the CEC by 1.2, 1.8, and 2.6 units (Table 1) with increasing soil organic carbon by 0.3%, 0.5%, and 0.9% compared to the control soil, respectively (Table 2). Increasing the CEC of soil amended with cow manure increases the adsorption capacity of the soil, thereby, changes the solubility of the metal (Basta et al., 2005). Seyedashrafy et al., (2011) reported that adding 25, 50 ha-1 Zn enriched vermi-compost caused a significant increasing in the CEC of organic amended soil by 0.9, 1.4, and 2.2% respectively. Soil application of Zn enriched cow manure (V1, V2 and V3) increased the soil nitrogen by 0.02, 0.05, and 0.07% compared to the control soil, respectively

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH (Table 2). Table 3. Influence of various Zn sources, different loading rates and wheat cultivars on soil pH, Ec and soil CEC (cmol kg-1) Treatment Alvand Backcross Alvand Backcross Alvand Backcross pH pH EC EC CEC CEC V0 Zn1 Zn2 Zn3 V1 V2 V3 7.7a* 7.4b 7.5b 7.5b 7.4b 7.4b 7.5b 7.7a 7.7a 7.7a 7.7a 7.8a 7.8a 7.8a 2.1g* 2.3f 2.6e 2.9d 3.2c 3.9b 4.6a 2.1g 2.3f 2.6e 2.9d 3.1c 3.8b 4.5a 9.3d* 9.3d 9.3d 9.3d 10.5c 11.1b 11.9a 9.3d 9.3d 9.3d 9.3d 10.5c 11.1b 11.9a

V1, V2, and V3 were Zn enriched cow manure at doses of 25, 50, and 100 Mg ha-1, Zn1, Zn2, and Zn3 were the similar Zn content of Zn enriched cow manure (V1, V2 and V3, respectively) supplied from ZnSO4, V0 was considered as control soil, *Means followed by the same letter are not significantly different (p= 0.05).

Zn concentration in plant tissues In general; Zn efficiency in Alvand cultivar was greater than Backcross cultivar. In all treatments, root Zn concentration of Alvand cultivar was greater than Backcross cultivar even in control soil (Table 3). In addition, the root Zn concentration in both wheat cultivars grown in the plots treated with cow manure was lower than that of plants grown in the plots which received ZnSO4 that can be related to the sorption capacity of organic amendment that affected the soil Zn availability and thereby root Zn uptake of the wheat cultivars. However the role of the wheat cultivar on root Zn uptake cannot be ignored. Increasing the loading rate of Zn as ZnSO4 (Zn1, Zn2 and Zn3) significantly increased the root Zn concentrations of Alvand cultivar by 1.8, 2.0, and 4.36 times (Table 3). For Backcross cultivar, it increased by 1.75, 2.0, and 4.7 times, respectively. On the other hand, applying Zn enriched cow manure (V1, V2 and V3) significantly increased the root Zn concentrations of Alvand cultivar by 1.13, 1.31, and 1.72 times compared to those grown in the control soil, respectively (Table 3). For Backcross cultivar it increased by 1.25, 1.5, and 1.75 times compared to those grown in the control soil, respectively. Similar to this result, other researchers have reported that the metals applied by inorganic salt are more phytoavailable than the equivalent quantity of metal applied by organic amendments (Baghaie et al., 2011; Basta et al., 2005; Hettiarachchi et al., 2003; Seyedashrafy et al., 2011). These results have been interpreted as indicating that organic amendment adds adsorptive phases to soils, which reduce metal availability to plants. The root Zn concentrations in wheat plants were much higher than those in aerial tissues. However, partitioning and distribution of trace elements in different plant tissues depends on the plant species (Sharifi et al., 2010). Shoot Zn concentration showed significant differences between wheat cultivars (Table 3). Increasing the loading rate of ZnSO4 from 49.5 (Zn1) to 99 and 198.1 kg ha-1 (Zn2 and Zn3) significantly increased the shoot Zn concentrations of Alvand cultivar by 1.6 and 2.5 times, while for Backcross cultivar it increased by 2.2 and 2.7, respectively. On the other hand, with increasing the loading rate of Zn enriched cow manure from 25 to 50 and 100 Mg ha-1, the shoot Zn concentrations of Alvand wheat cultivar significantly increased by 1.5 and 2.2 times, respectively. Similarly, for Backcross cultivar it increased by 1.71 and 2.2, respectively. Similar to the root Zn concentration, the shoot Zn concentration of the plants grown in organic amended soil (V2 and V3) was lower than that of plants grown in inorganic amended soil (Zn2 and Zn3), respectively (Table 3). Shoot Zn concentration of both cultivars was not detectable by atomic absorption spectrophotometry.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Table 6. Influence of various Zn sources, different loading rates and wheat cultivars on soil organic carbon (%) and nitrogen (%) Treatment Alvand Backcross Alvand Backcross Organic carbon (%) Organic carbon (%) nitrogen (%) nitrogen (%) V0 Zn1 Zn2 Zn3 V1 V2 V3 0.5d* 0.5d 0.5d 0.5d 0.8c 1.0b 1.4a 0.5d 0.5d 0.5d 0.5d 10.5c 11.1b 11.9a 0.03d* 0.03d 0.03d 0.03d 0.05c 0.08b 0.10a 0.03d 0.03d 0.03d 0.03d 0.05c 0.08b 0.10a

V1, V2, and V3 were Zn enriched cow manure at doses of 25, 50, and 100 Mg ha-1, Zn1, Zn2, and Zn3 were the similar Zn content of Zn enriched cow manure (V1, V2 and V3, respectively) supplied from ZnSO4, V0 was considered as control soil *Means followed by the same letter are not significantly different (p= 0.05).

For Alvand and Backcross cultivars, Increasing the loading rate of ZnSO4 from 49.5 (Zn1) to 99 (Zn2) kg ha-1 significantly increased the spike Zn concentration by nearly 1.7 times, respectively (Table 3), while decreased it at the greatest loading rate of Zn (Zn3). The significant decrease of the grain yield at the greatest loading rate of inorganic Zn sources. may be due to the significant decrease of the spike Zn concentration at the Zn3 treatment compared to Zn2 treatment. On the other hand, 1.7 times increasing in the spike Zn concentration of Zn2 compared to Zn1 treatment in Alvand and Backcross cultivars resulted in a significant increase in the grain yield of by 496.59 and 205.15 kg ha-1, respectively. However, the role of genetic properties of the plants cannot be ignored, as, the grain yield of the Alvand was greater than Backcross cultivar in all of the organic and inorganic treatments even in the control soil. Table 8. Influence of various Zn sources, different loading rates and wheat cultivars on root, shoot and spike Zn concentration (mg kg-1) Treatment Alvand Backcross Alvand Backcross Alvand Backcross Root Root Shoot Shoot Spike Spike V0 Zn1 Zn2 Zn3 V1 V2 V3 22.0i* 40.0d 45.0c 96.0a 25.0h 29.0g 38.0e 20.0j 35.0f 41.2d 94.0b 25.0h 30.0g 35.0f Nd* 12.0f** 20.0c 30.0a 9.0g 14.0e 20.0c Nd 9.0g 20.0c 25.0b 7.1h 12.2f 16.0d Nd* 8f** 13b 11d 5i 9e 16a Nd 6h 11d 9e 4j 7g 12c

V1, V2, and V3 were Zn enriched cow manure at doses of 25, 50, and 100 Mg ha-1, Zn1, Zn2, and Zn3 were the similar Zn content of Zn enriched cow manure (V1, V2 and V3, respectively) supplied from ZnSO4, V0 was considered as control soil, *Nd: not detectable **Means followed by the same letter are not significantly different (p= 0.05).

Unlike of the inorganic sources, in Alvand and Backcross cultivars, increasing the loading rate of Zn enriched cow manure from V2 to V3 treatment, significantly increased the spike Zn concentration by 7 and 5 units, respectively (Table 3). It may be concluded that applying the greatest loading rate of cow manure in the soil increased the solubility of Zn, thereby increased spike Zn concentration. However, the role of Zn solubility as affected by soil pH cannot be ignored (Lindsay and Norvell, 1978). The results of the Seyedashrafi et al., (2011) confirm this matter clearly. They reported that applying 100 Mg ha-1 Zn enriched vermi-compost significantly increased the Zn spike concentration of barley plant relative to the lower rates (25 and 50 Mg ha-1) and applying the 100 Mg ha-1 Zn inorganic sources as ZnSO4 showed toxicity effect and thereby, decreased the grain yield or Zn spike concentration of the barley plant. Bourg and Darmendrail
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH (1992) reported that organic metal complexes in soil solution play an important role in the soil Zn availability to plants. A significant linear relationship (R2=0.83) was observed between the Zn spike concentration and grain Zn uptake. Considering the relationship between Zn uptake and Zn concentration, it may be concluded that Zn plays an important role on the grain yield of both wheat cultivars. However, the role of other nutrition and the genetic properties of the wheat cultivars cannot be ignored, as, the greatest grain yield was observed for Alvand cultivars that planted in soil received 100 Mg ha-1 Zn enriched cow manure (data was not shown). In both cultivars, the greatest grain Zn uptake was observed for the wheat cultivars that cultivated in the soil received 100 Mg ha-1 Zn enriched cow manure. However, grain Zn uptake was greater for the Alvand relative to Backcross cultivars. In general, applying organic relative to inorganic Zn sources caused a significant increasing in the grain Zn uptake for both cultivars. The results of the current study revealed that the Zn efficiency was greater for Alvand relative to Backcross cultivar. However, for both cultivars, the Zn-phyto-availability in soils treated with cow manure was significantly lower than those treated with the ZnSO4 salt. Greater decreases of soil DTPA-extractable Zn at the V3 treatment compared to the Zn3 treatment can be concluded that land application of cow manure increased the adsorption capacity of the soil and thus, decreased the soil DTPA-extractable Zn. For both cultivars, the soil DTPA-extractable Zn showed a positive correlation with the Zn root concentration and thereby its translocation to the aerial parts. In addition, A significant linear relationship (R2=0.83) was observed between the Zn spike concentration and grain Zn uptake. Except the greatest loading rate of inorganic Zn source, application of Zn from both organic and inorganic sources significantly increased the grain yield of wheat cultivars. This indicated that plant growth in organic amended soil maybe affected by the soil organic carbon content and the plant nutrients that are available in cow manure. Therefore, it seems that applying the greatest loading rate of Zn enriched cow manure may have more significant effects on the plant growth and Zn spike concentration. References Aitken, R., Campbell, D., Bell, L., (1984). Properties of Australian fly ashes relevant to their agronomic utilization. Australian Journal soil Research, 22, 443-453. Baghaie, A. H., Khoshgoftarmanesh, A. H., Afyuni, M., (2010). Crop effects on lead fractionation in a soil treated with lead organic and inorganic sources. Journal Residuals Science Technology, 7, 131-138. Baghaie, A. H., Khoshgoftarmanesh, A. H., Afyuni, M., Schulin, R., (2011). The role of organic and inorganic fractions of cow manure and biosolids on lead sorption. Soil Science Plant Nutrition, 57, 11 18. Basta N. T., Ryan, J. A., Chaney, R. L., (2005). Trace element chemistry in residual treated soil: Key concepts and metal bioavailability. Journal Environmental Quality, 34, 49-63. Bourg, A. C. M. and Darmendrail, D., (1992). Effect of dissolved organic matter and pH on the migration of zinc through river bank sediments. Environmental Technology, 13, 695-700. Cogger, C. G., Bary, A. I., Fransen, S. C., Sullivan, D. M., (2001). Seven years of biosolids versus inorganic nitrogen applications to tall fescue. Journal Environmental Qualality, 30, 2188-2194. Edmeades, D. C., (2003). The long-term effects of manures and fertilizers on soil productivity and quality: a review. Nutrition Cycle Agroecosys, 66, 165-180. Gutierrez-Miceli, F. A., Santiago-Borraz, J., Montes, Molina, J. A., Nafate, C. C., AbudArchila, M., Oliva Llaven, M. A., Rincon-Rosales, R., Dendooven, L., (2007). Vermicompost as a soil supplement to improve growth, yield and fruit quality of tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum). Bioresource Technolgy, 98, 2781-2786. Hammer D. and Keller, C., (2002). Changes in the rhizosphere of metal-accumulating plants as evidenced by chemical extractants. Journal Environmental Quality, 31, 1561-1569. Jamali, M., Kazi, T., Arain, M., Afridi, H., Jalbani, N., Adil, R., (2006). The correlation of total and extractable heavy metals from soil and domestic sewage sludge and their transfer to maize (Zea mays L.) plants. Toxicol. Environmental Chemistry, 88, 619-632.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Karami, M., Afyuni, M., Rezainejad, Y., Schulin, R. (2009). Heavy metal uptake by wheat from a sewage sludge-amended calcareous soil. Nutrition Cycle Agroecosys, 83, 51-61. Kinaci, G. and Kinaci, E., (2005). Effect of zinc application on quality traits of barley in semi arid zones of Turkey. Plant Soil Environmntal, 51, 328-334. Lin, Q., Chen, Y. X., He, Y. F., Tian, G. M., (2004). Root-induced changes of lead availability in the rhizosphere of Oryza sativa L. Agricultural Ecosystem Environmental, 104, 605-613. Lindsay, W. L. and Norvell, W. A., (1978). Development of a DTPA soil test for zinc, iron, manganese, and copper. Soil Science Socity American Journal, 42, 421-428. Pedreno, J. N., Gomez, I., Moral, R., Mataix, J., (1996). Improving the agricultural value of a semi- arid soil by addition of sewage sludge and almond residue. Agricultural Ecosystem Environmental, 58, 115-119. Reed, B. E., Carriere, P. E., Matsumoto, M. R., (1991). Applying sludge on agricultural land. Biocycle, 37, 58-60. Reeves, D., (1997). The role of soil organic matter in maintaining soil quality in continuous cropping systems. Soil Tillage Research, 43, 131-167. SAS Institute (1999) The SAS system for Windows. Release 8.1. SAS Inst., Cary, NC. Seyedashrafy, H., Majidian, M., Baghaie, A. H., Khoshgoftarmanesh, A. H., Gomarian, M., (2011). Influence of organic and inorganic zinc sources on zinc availability in soil and its uptake by barley. Journal Residuals Science Technology, 8, 29-35. Singh, R. P., Agrawal, M., (2007). Effects of sewage sludge amendment on heavy metal accumulation and consequent responses of Beta vulgaris plants. Chemosphere, 67, 2229-2240. Sharifi, M., Afyuni, M., Khoshgoftarmanesh, A. H., (2010). Effects of sewage sludge, animal manure, compost and cadmium chloride on cadmium accumulation in corn and alfalfa Journal Residuals Science Technology, 7, 219-225.

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Homa Ghane1, Maryam Araj Shirvani2, Jila Baharlouei3, Hossein Amini4

1,3,4: Department of soil science, Khorasgan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran 2 :Department of food science, Khorasgan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran Corresponding author: Homa.Ghane@yahoo.com

Distribution Zinc in calcareous soils of Iran and its relation to Organic matter

Abstract

The distribution of Zn among various chemical forms may important in response to soil properties. Therefore we determined distribution Zn in soil fractions for ten calcareous soils of Iran. Fractionation of Zn into different chemical forms was determined in soil samples. This method fractioned Zn into exchangeable (ExZn), adsorbed (Ad-Zn), organically bound (Om-Zn), carbonates bound (Car-Zn) and residual (Res-Zn) forms. Results showed that Res-Zn> Car-Zn> Ex-Zn> Om-Zn > Ad-Zn Therefore Zn concentration was highest in the residual fraction and lowest in the adsorbed fraction. The amount of Zn extracted in the EX-Zn, AD-Zn and OM-Zn fractions gave significant correlation with organic matter content in the soils. Keywords: Zn fractions, Calcareous soil, Distribution.

Introduction Zinc is an essential plant nutrient. It occurs in soils in different chemical forms. Metal fraction studies are needed: (i) to get an insight of the distribution pattern; (ii) to determine metal bioavailability and toxicity to plants, animals and man; (iii) to evaluate the efficiency of the soil as a medium for storing metals; and (iv) to explain the ways in which metals might be leached from the soil. Metal fractions can be studied in various ways. There is no single satisfactory procedure. The techniques generally employed are as follows: (i) mathematical models such as those applied for metal partitioning in solid phases (Luoma and Davis, 1983); however, the phenomena (physicochemical factors controlling the equilibrium processes in this medium) are complex and difficult to reproduce the conditions in the laboratory, and so it is difficult to determine the equilibrium constant (Tessier et al., 1984); (ii) measurement of metal in a given soil compartment, i.e., organic bound, exchangeable form or free ionic form. It is the most used in bioavailability studies (Gupta et al., 1988; Jing and Logan, 1992); and (iii) the partitioning of metals present in the solid phases into various operationally defined fractions by using chemical reagents of increasing strengths. This approach is a development of (ii), and seems to provide the most complete description of the general behavior of metals in soil and a good estimate of their potential mobility. Materials and Methods 1- Soil characterization Ten soil samples were collected from the surface layer ( 0-25 cm ) of Fars province, Iran. Soil samples were air-dried and ground to pass through 2-mm stainless steel screen. Particle size analysis was performed using Hydrometer method(Day,1965); pH was measured saturated paste; percentage of Calcium Carbonate Equivalent (CCE) was measured by the titration method; Organic Matter (OM) content was determined using Walkey and Black(1934); Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC) by equilibration with M NH4OAc (pH 7.0). Chemical and physical properties of soils are presented in Table 1. 2. Sequential extraction procedures The procedure of Sposito et al.(1982) is designed to partition zinc into five fractions: exchangeable(Ex), adsorbed (Ad), organic bound (Om),carbonate bound (Car) and residual (Res) fraction. 2-g portion of the prepared soil was placed in a 50 mL polyethylene centrifugation tube and sequentially extracted with the reagents to option the specific fractions of Zn as follow: Exchangeable fraction (Ex): 25 mL of 0.5M KNO3 was added to the centrifugation tube containing the soil samples and shaken for 16 h. Adsorbed fraction (Ad): Residue from (Ex) extraction was shaken with 25 mL of deionized water for 2h (3 times). Organic fraction (Om): Residue from (Ad) extraction was shaken with 25mL 0.5M NaOH for 16h.
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Carbonate fraction (Car): Residue from (Om) extraction was shaken with 25mL 0.05M Na2EDTA for 2h. Residual fraction (Res): Residue from (Car) extraction was shaken with 4M HNO3 for 16h in 80 C. The zinc content in every fraction was determined by atomic absorption spectrometry (Shimadzu AA-670) Results and Discussion The pH values of the soils ranged from 8-8.2, OM, clay, CCE contents and CEC varied from 7.7-24.6 (gKg-1), 175-510 (gKg-1), 255-640 (gKg-1) and 10.5-24.8 (Cmol+ Kg-1), respectively. 1. Distribution of Zn in different fractions Table 1 showed that total soil Zn varied from 46.37 to 81.22( mg Kg-1) soil. Lindsay (1972) showed that total soil Zn can range from 10 to 300 mg Kg-1 soils. Table 1. The distribution of soil Zn in individual fractions (mg/Kg soil) Total Res Car Om Ad Ex Soil No. 76.98 66.1 10 0.3 0.17 0.41 1 63.37 54.2 8.4 0.3 0.18 0.29 2 75.8 65.1 9.7 0.3 0.3 0.4 3 46.37 36.3 9.1 0.32 0.35 0.3 4 81.22 70.1 9.4 0.4 0.35 0.97 5 72.33 62.2 8.7 0.41 0.22 0.8 6 49.93 40.3 8.2 0.34 0.34 0.75 7 61.95 52 8.5 0.4 0.3 0.75 8 72.15 62 8.8 0.45 0.41 0.49 9 70.73 60 9.1 0.42 0.3 0.91 10 67.08 56.8 8.9 0.36 0.29 0.60 Mean . Most Zn was found in the Res fraction (56.8) and secondly in the Car fraction (8.9) which agrees with result of many researchers (Abollino et al., 2006; Ma and Uren, 1995; Mc Grath and Cegarra, 1992). The residual fraction would consist of Zn found in layer silicates. Yasrebi et al.(1994) reported that residual form of zinc in calcareous soils in Iran was 87%. Dhane and Shukla (1995) found that 95.5% of total zinc of soil was present in residual fraction. Tessier et al. (1979) showed that a high percentage of Zn (13-16%) in the carbonates fraction, like that found here. Only a small concentration of Zn was found in the Om and Ad fractions. This may be due to low organic matter content of the soil samples. The total of the three forms Om, Ex and Ad constituted less than 2% of the total zinc in the soils. The results are in agreement with observations of others. The concentration of Zn associated with soil components is in the following order: Res-Zn>> Car-Zn> Ex-Zn> Om-Zn > Ad-Zn

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Fig 1. Relative percentage of zinc fractions 2. Relationship between Zn forms and properties of soils Correlation coefficients between Zn forms and properties of soils obtained are shown in Table2. Table2.Correlation coefficients between Zn forms and properties of soils CEC(Cmol/kg) CCE (g/kg) Clay(g/kg) O.M(g/kg) pH Zn Forms *** ** * 0.05 0.56 0.83 0.47 0.16 Ex 0.27 0.22 0.33 0.07 Ad 0.47* 0.30 0.23 Om 0.80*** 0.58** 0.45* ** * * ** 0.11 Car 0.49 0.39 0.51 0.52 0.25 0.22 0.00 0.38 Res 0.14 *,**,*** significant at P<0.05, P<0.01 and P<0.001, respectively. As youcan seetheamount ofexchangeableZnwithorganic matter,clay contentand CECshowsa significant correlation.Hazraet al.(1993)thedistributionofdifferentforms ofZninIndiaLaterite soilsshoweda significant relationshipexistedbetweentheexchangeableZnandCEC. Zn adsorption by the soils showed a significant correlation with organic matter in the soil. Iwasaki et al. (1993) reported that the adsorption of Zn had a positive correlation with electrical conductivity and CEC. Organic form of Zn in soils with clay content, soil organic matter content and CEC had a significant correlation.Similar results by Prasd et al.(1995) obtained. Iyengar et al (1981) reported that organic forms of Zn in soil was correlated with the amount of soil organic matter. Singh et al.(1988) showed that Organic form of Zn had a positive relationship with clay soil. Carbonate forms of Zn in soils with CEC, the amount of lime, clay and soil organic matter has a significant correlation.The relationship between Carbonate forms of Zn and lime in the soil may indicate that zinc is preferentially absorbed by carbonates. The residual Zn in the soils did not show significant correlation with any soil property. References Day, P. R., ( 1965). Particle fractionation and particle size analysis. In: C. A. Black(ed.) Methods of soil analysis. Part 1. Agron. 9, 545-567. Am. Soc. Agron., Madison, WI. Dhane, S. S., and Shukla,L. M., ( 1995). Distribution of different forms of zinc in benchmark and other established soil series of Maharashtra. J. Indian Soc. Soil Sci, 43(4), 594-596.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Hazra, G. C., Saha ,J. K., Mete, P. K., Mandal, B., ( 1993). Distribution of zinc fractions in red and lateritic soils of Birbham, West Bengal, India. J. Indian Soc. Soil Sci, 41(3), 472-476. Gupta, S. K., Blatter, A., Hani ,H., ( 1988). Concentration of ionic copper in soil solution. Int. J. Environ. Anal. Chem, 34, 45-50. Iwasaki, K., Yoshikava ,G., Sakurai ,K., ( 1993). Fractionation of zinc in greenhouse soils. Soil Sci. Plant Nutr, 39, 507-515. Iyengar, S. S., Martens,D. C., Miller, W. P., ( 1981). Distribution and plant availability of soil zinc fractions. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J, 45, 735-739. Jing, J., and Logan, T. J., (1992). Effect of sewage sludge cadmium concentration on chemical extractability and plant uptake. J. Environ. Qual,21, 73-81. Ma, Y. B., and Uren, N. C., ( 1995). Application of a new fractionation scheme for heavy metals in soils. Commun. Soil Sci. Plant Anal, 26(19&20), 3291-3303. Mc Grath, S. P., and Cegarra, J., ( 1992). Chemical extractability of heavy metals during and after long-term application of sewage sludge to soil. J. Soil Sci, 43,,313-321. Abollino ,O. , Giacomino, A. , Malandrino, M., Mentasti, E., (2006). The Efficiency of vermiculite as natural sorbent for heavy metals. Water, Air, & Soil Pollution,181, 149-160. Prasad, R., Prasad ,B. L., Sakal, R., ( 1995). Effect of submergence on the transformation of zinc forms in old alluvial soils growing rice as related to soil properties. I. Transformation of native soil zinc. J. Indian Soc. Soil Sci, 43, 368-371. Singh, J. P., Karwasra, S. P. S., Singh,M., (1988). Distribution and forms of copper, iron, manganese, and zinc in calcareous soils of India. Soil Sci, 146, 359-366. Sposito, G., Lund, L. J., Chang, A. C., ( 1982). Trace metal chemistry in arid zone field soils amended with sewage sludge: I. Fractionation of Ni, Cd, and Pb in solid phases. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J, 46, 260-264. Tessier, A., Campbell, P. G. C., Auclair, J. C., Bisson, M.,( 1984). Relationships between the partitioning of trace metals in sediments and their accumulation in the tissue of the fresh water mollus Ellipto complanata in a mining area. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci, 41,1463-1472. Tessier, A., Campbell, P. G. C., Bisson, M., ( 1979). Sequential extraction procedure for the speciation of particular trace elements. Anal. Chem, 51, 844-851. Walkley, A., and Black, I.A., (1934). An examination of the Degtjareff method for determining soil organic matter and a proposed modification of the chromic acid titration method. Soil Sci, 37,29-38. Yasrebi, J., Karimian ,N., Maftoun, M., Abtahi, A., Sameni, M., ( 1994). Distribution of zinc forms in highly calcareous soils as influenced by soil physical and chemical properties and application of zinc sulfate. Commun. Soil Sci. Plant Anal, 25(11&12), 2133-2145.

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Effect of Air Pollution on Some Biochemical Characteristics of Plant Species Homa Ghane1, Maryam Araj Shirvani2, Hossein Amini3 , Abbas Abed Esfahani4,Mohhamad Mehdi Sadeghian5
1,3: Department of Soil science, Khorasgan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran 2 :Department of Food science, Khorasgan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran 4: Department of Chemistry, Khorasgan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran 5:Department of Agriculture, Khorasgan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran Corresponding author: Homa.Ghane@yahoo.com

Abstract

Biological research can be one of the cheapest and most important steps for decreasing the environmental pollutants, especially the air pollutants. Plants absorbed pollutants from the surrounding environment and accumulate the in their organs. Plant species based on the absorption and accumulation of the air pollutants has been classified in four groups. In this research work our main objective was to select the most active pollutant absorbing plant species planted in open areas of Esfahan ,Iran. Four plant species such as Fraxinus excesior, Cupressus sempervirens, ligustrum ovalifolium and Morus alba Were used and the Air Pollution Tolerance Index of each one were calculated. This index was determined based on the amount of Ascorbic acid content , pH, Chlorophyll content of the leaf extract and Relative water content of the leaves of plants species taken from a heavy traffic area (East Isfahan ) and from a light traffic area (Park Ghadier) as a reference. Results showed that the highest and the lowest amount of Air Pollution Tolerances Index were obtained from Morus alba tree (8.6) and the Cupressus sempervirens (7.6), respectively. We conclude that among plant species used for this study Morus alba trees are the most effective plant species for absorption and accumulation of air pollutants. Keywords: Air Pollution Tolerance Index (APTI), higher plants, Air pollution, Esfahan city

Introduction Most of the urban areas of the world today have high concentrations of air pollutants emanating from different sources viz, motor vehicle,traffic, power generation, residential heating and industry of adjoining areas (Lopez et al., 2005). These sources are basically resulting from rapid economic growth, industrialization, urbanization with associated increase in energy demands (Madhavi and Badarinath, 2005). These urban air pollutants not only represent a threat to human health and the urban environment but it can also contribute to serious regional and global atmospheric pollution problem. Among the air pollutants, air borne particulates specifically trace elements and heavy metals constitute the major pollutant burden in urban environment, which needs to be monitored, filtered and regulated (Kar et al., 2010).Plants remove air pollutants primarily by uptake via leaf stomata and once inside the leaf, gases diffuse into intercellular spaces and absorbed by water films. Plants, grown in such a way as to function as pollutants sinks are collectively referred to as greenbelts which have limits to their tolerance towards air pollutants (Kovacs, 1992).Increased urbanization, industrialization and heavy vehicular traffic have resulted in deterioration of air quality in the Esfahan city. However, no major attempt has been taken to asses about bioaccumulation of urban plant specifically to assess the tolerance of atmospheric pollutants in an appropriate manner. Hence, the present study is concerned with the establishment of air pollution biomonitoring capacity with special reference to biochemical and study in a critically polluted region of Iran. Study Area The study was conducted in East of Esfahan city, Iran, located at 3238N and 5129E. This region is under arid and semiarid climate. The highest temperature recorded during this study was 45oC during summer season, whereas lowest temperature recorded was 4oC during autumn. The average annual rainfall recorded was 120 mm, mostly occurring during the winter season. The present study was conducted at two different sites one in Ghadir garden (Site 1) and another in highway (Site 2).

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Materials and Methods Sampling and analysis The leaves were collected from selected plant species at a particular height of 0.5-2 meter from the ground from two sites (polluted site and control site). Nine plant species were selected during the spring and summer seasons of 2011. Samples were cleaned with distilled water and then refrigerated (22C) under suitable condition for further biochemical analysis. Various biochemical parameters such as leaf extracts pH (Sing and Rao., 1983), relative water content (Sen and Bhandari, 1978), total chlorophyll (Arnon, 1949), ascorbic acid (Keller and Schwager, 1977) were done from the collected leaf samples. The air pollution tolerance index was calculated using the formula:

APTI =

A(T + P ) + R 10

Where, A = Ascorbic acid content of leaf (mgg1 of fresh weight) T = Total chlorophyll of leaf (mgg1 of fresh weight); P = pH of leaf extract R = relative water content, in percentage. Results and Discussion Biochemical characterization of leaf extract The biochemical characteristics of selected plants for the seasons of spring are shown in the Tables 1. Ascorbic acid content in plant leaves shows variation from 0.8 to 1.32mg/g,. The maximum content of ascorbic acid was found in Morus alba (1.32) the lowest ascorbic acid content was observed in Ligustrum sp (0.8). Resistant plants contain higher portion of ascorbic acid, while sensitive plants possess a lower level of it and the level declines with exposure to pollutant (Keller and Schwager, 1977). Thus, plants maintaining high ascorbic acid level even under polluted conditions are considered to be tolerant to air pollutants. The relative water content in plant leaves ranges from 69% to 79% with maximum in Ligustrum sp (79%) and lowest in Fraxinus excesior (69%). Higher relative water content is reported to be advantageous for drought resistance (Dedio, 1975). Elevated levels of pH are observed in leaf extract of those plant species studied which shows the highest value for Ligustrum sp (6.74) and lowest in Cupressus sempervirens (6.54). Overall pH was ranged from 6.54 to 6.74. It is reported that, in the presence of an acidic pollutant, the leaf pH is reduced and the reducing rate is more in sensitive plants compare to that in tolerant plant species (Scholz and Reck, 1977). Total chlorophyll content (in mg/g of fresh weight) of plant species examined exhibits elevated levels in most of the plants ranging from 0.65 to 2.1. Chlorophyll is known as an important stress metabolites and higher chlorophyll content in plants might favour tolerance to pollutants (Joshi et al. 1993). Table 1. Results of the biochemical analysis of tree leaves from polluted site and control
Scientific Name pH Ascorbic Acid (mg/g F.W) Total Chlorophyll (mg/g FW) Relative water content (%) APTI

Fraxinus excesior Morus alba Ligustrum sp Cupressus sempervirens Fraxinus excesior Morus alba Ligustrum sp Cupressus sempervirens

Control site 6.86 1.21 6.82 1.48 6.89 1.1 6.59 6.54 6.58 6.74 6.54
**

1.31 1.66 0.70 2.25 1.29 1.45** 0.65** 2.10**

75.4 78.99 76.85 65.4 69** 75.4 79 69

8.52 9.15 8.52 7.78 7.7 8.6 8.5 7.6

1.41 Polluted site 1.12 1.32 0.8 1.27

*, **, n.s : Significant at 5%, 1% levels of probability and nonsignificant, respectively

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH APTI assessment The highest APTI value was scored by Morus alba (8.6), followed by Ligustrum sp (8.5), Fraxinus excesior (7.7), Cupressus sempervirens (7.6), respectively. The lowest APTI value was observed in Cupressus sempervirens (7.6). Values of APTI varied from 7.6 to 8.6. The APTI values obtained for different plants were compared to find out the sensitivity/tolerance of these plants. It was reported that plants with relatively low index value are generally sensitive to air pollutants and vice versa (Singh et al., 1991). The APTI determination provides a reliable method for screening large number of plants with respect to their susceptibility to air pollutants. The method is simple and convenient to adopt under field conditions without adopting any costly environmental monitoring gadgets. Among the six plant species studied Morus alba was considered as relatively resistant and Cupressus sempervirens as relatively sensitive to air pollution. The sensitive species can be used as bio-indicators and tolerant species can be used as a sink for air pollutants. Plants have been categorized into groups according to their degree of sensitivity toward and tolerance of various air pollutants on the basis of experiment and available data (Khan and Abbasi, 2002). Levels of tolerance to air pollution vary from species to species, depending on the capacity of plants to withstand the effect of pollutants without showing any external damage. Conclusion The use of vegetation samples as bioindicators of the degree of pollution through biochemical study in environmental monitoring is well known. In this study all the plant species showed considerable variation among the biochemical parameters like pH, ascorbic acid, relative water content, and chlorophyll content. Morus alba exhibited higher chlorophyll level compared to other species. The biochemical analysis, although not producing clear trends, will help in identifying pollution sources. Their magnitude was seemed to depend strongly as a function of the atmospheric availability of pollutants. The application of APTI techniques for tolerance species identification in vegetative samples has also another importance for emerging alternative method. This kind of biomonitoring study therefore provides the information of the greater level of atmospheric pollution load in urban region. References

Arnon, D.I., (1949). Copper enzyme in isolated chloroplasts. Polyphenoloxidase in Beta vulgaris. Plant Physiol, 24(1-15,. 165- 87. Dedio, W., (1975). Water relations in wheat leaves as screening tests for drought resistance. Can Plant Sci J, 55, 369378. Khan, F.I., Abbasi, S.A., (2001) .Effective design of greenbelts using mathematical models. J Hazard Mater,81, 3365. Kovcs, M., (1992). Trees as biological indicators. In: Kovcs, M. (Eds.), Biological indicators in environmental protection. Ellis Horwood, New York. Keller, T., Schwager, H., (1977). Air pollution and ascorbic acid. Eur J Forestry Pathol, 7, 338350. Lpez, J.M., Calln, M.S., Murillo, R., Garca, T., Navarro, M.V., De la Cruz, M.T., Mastral, A.M., ( 2005). Levels of selected metals in ambient air PM10 in an urban site of Zaragoza (Spain). Environ Res, 99(1), 5867. Madhavi ,L .K. and Badarinath, K.V.S, ( 2005). Spectral solar attenuation due to aerosol loading over an urban area in India. Atmos Res,75(4), 257-266. Sen, D.N., and Bhandari, M.C., (1978). Ecological and water relation to two Citrullus spp. In: Althawadi, A.M. (Ed.). Indian Arid Zone. Environ Physiol Ecol Plants, 203228. Singh, S.K., and Rao, D.N., (1983). Evaluation of plants for their tolerance to air pollution. In: Proceedings Symposium on Air Pollution Control, (Indian Association for Air Pollution Control, New Delhi, India), 1, 218224. Singh, S.K., Rao, D.N., Agrawal, M., Pande, J., Narayan, D., (1991). Air pollution tolerance index of plants. J. Env. Manag, 32, 45-55. Scholz, F., and Reck, S., (1977). Effects of acids on forest trees as measured by titration in vitro, inheritance of buffering capacity in Picea abies. Water, Air and Soil Pollut,8, 41-45.

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Seyed Hashem Khadem A, Mohammad Javad Rousta B, Mahboobeh tourtiz C, Seyed mohsen siadat D Seyed Ali Khadem E A Ms.c. in Soil Science, Science Manager of Soil Science laboratory of KHAKAZMA Pars. Email: Smkhadem@yahoo.com B Centre of Research Canter of Natural Resources of Iran. Email Rousta@Farsagres.ir C Teacher of physics in high school shiraz Iran, Email mtourtiz@yahoo.com D Faculty of Haseb Karaji consultant company Shiraz Iran, Email siadatmohsen486@yahoo.com E Ms.c. in Agronomy member of agricultural Engineering institute. Iran, Email Khadem2020@yahoo.com

The combined effects of super absorbent polymers and manure on availability of macro and micronutrients in a calcareous soil

Abstract

Keywords: Corn, Super Absorbent polymer, Manure, macronutrients availability.

In a field experiment, the simple and interactive impacts of super absorbent polymer (A200) and cow manure applications on availability of macro- and micronutrients (N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Zn, Cu) were studied. The experiment carried out as randomized complete block design (RCBD) with six treatments and four replications. Treatments were applied based on application of 45 t/ha of cow manure and super absorbent polymer (SAP) based on 200 kg/ha, including control (without using manure and SAP), use of 100% cow manure (45 t/ha), use of 100% SAP (200 kg/ha), application of 50% cow manure and 50% SAP, addition of 35% cow manure and 65% SAP, using 65% cow maure and 35% SAP to soil. After mixing the material with a soil at the depth of 30 cm, corn seeds were planted. After corn harvest, composite soil samples from plots at a depth of 0-30 cm were gathered and availability of mentioned nutrients was measured. The obtained data were analyzed by MSTATC software and means compared by Duncans test at 5% level. Results showed that all treatments increased the availability of nutrients. The significantly differences between treatments including amendments and control were shown as: 50% super absorbents polymer + 50% FYM, increased 70% in phosphorus availability and 65% super absorbents polymer + 35% cow manure, increased 13.5% availability of potassium and 35% of super absorbents polymer + 65% cow manure, increased 95% availability of Zinc and 100% super absorbents polymer increased 7% availability of copper in soil.

Introduction Iran is an arid region and crop production systems must adapt to this climate. Water is the main problem limiting yield improvement. In order to save soil moisture, some materials such as crop residue, mulch plants, waste, prelate, litter, straw and stubble, and other synthetic materials like Hydro plus, super absorbent polymers can be used. Super absorbent polymers are highly hydrophilic due to low cross-links in their structure, the threshold of dissolution, the swollen shape come and lots of water and to absorb, even under pressure, hold. Availability of nutrient for absorb by plant is an important factor that effected on yield. Soil of Fars province usually classified in calcareous soil that usually has more than 30 % CaCO3 so the pH of these lands is high and availability of some plant nutrient is low. We tried to improved availability of nutrient element in soil . so we designed this study to know relation between availability of nutrient and different combination of super absorbent polymers and cow manure. Commercial corn varieties have the highest level of Fars provinces cultivated farm. The third important crops after wheat and rice in the world are corn (Imam, 1970). Corn need to enough water to take economic yield. Super absorbent polymer is very expensive (12 to 15 US $ per kg) and soils of Fars are poor in organic matter. We designed this research to improve the water holding capacity of soil. Materials and Methods The effects of different levels of cow manure and super absorbent polymers on availability of macronutrient and micronutrients in soil were studied in an experimental field in Zarghan of Fars in southern Iran. The site is located at latitude of 52-43'N and longitude of 49-47'E and 1604 m height. The basic design was performed in a randomized complete block design with four replications and six treatments. Factors were included application of different levels of cow manure and super absorbent
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH polymer in six levels (based on addition of 40 t/ha of manure and super absorbent polymer based on addition 200 kg /ha (Imam, 2005 Alahdadi, et al., 2004). Treatments were: A1: control (without use manure and super absorbent polymer) A2: application 100% manure (40 tons per hectare) A3: application 100% super absorbent polymer (200 kg ha) A4: application of 50% manure and 50% super absorbent polymer A5: application of 35% manure and 65% super absorbent polymer A6: application of 65% manure and 35% super absorbent polymer. Table (1) Soil characteristics at the experimental site in Zarghan of Fars in southern Iran
Silt (%) 28.5 K 295 Clay (%) 22.5 Ca 120 O.C (%) 1.10 Mg 297 TNV (%) 41 Cu mg/kg 1.51 T. N (%) 0.95 Zn 0.6 pH 8.43 Mn 6.5

Sand (%) 49 P 11.5

EC(dS/m) 0.68 Fe 9.7

The EC of applied water was 750S/Cm (fresh water). The capacity of super absorbent polymer to absorption water was reported about 180 gram of water per 1 gram super absorbent polymer. The applied super absorbent polymer belonged to the type A200 products, of Nanoab e Iranian company (under license Polymer and Petrochemical of Iran). In total 24 experimental plots, including 4 rows with the width of 3m and the length of 10m. The distances between rows considered as 75 cm and distance between plants was 15 cm. Therefore, average plant density was respectively 8.8/m2. Based on soil analysis, the amounts of 100 kg/ha ammonium phosphate and 350 kg/ha urea fertilizers were applied in all treatments. The manure and super absorbent polymer were mixed completely with the soil of plots. Then, seed planting was carried out. The variety of corn was SC 704. Harvesting was done in late September after the completion of corn growing period and after the maturity (black layer formed by seed). Ten plants were taken from the middle of each 4.5 m2 plot to measure the performance level. Grains and the residues were weighted and then, completely mixed and the samples were analyzed in Soil science laboratory of Khakazma Company in Shiraz Iran for N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Zn, Mn, and Cu. The obtained data were analyzed by MSTATC software and the means compared by Duncans test at 5% statistical level and the graphs were drawn by Excel program. Results The ANOVA was briefly showed in table 1. According to this table, we can see the availability of P, K, Zn, Cu, have had significant at 1% level but availability of Ca, Mg, N, Fe and Mn have not had significant different. Table (2) Summary analysis of variance of availability of macro and micro nutrients in soil. S. O.V. M.S F value C.V. (%) P 88.02 118.7005** 6.26 K 1513.349 11.3683** 3.73 N 12022.2 1.7619ns 7.89 Ca 6.585 1.7411ns 1.64 Mg 13124.286 2624.857ns 9.06 Fe 0.288 1.2124ns 4.98 Zn 0.17 10.4938** 16.35 Cu 0.043 11.0981** 4.3 Mn 0.298 0.8662ns 8.95
*, ** and ns, mean significant at level of 1%, 5% and not statistically significant

Availability of phosphorus in treatment A4 and A5respectively increased 25.9% and 70% compared to control (Figure1).
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Availability of Potassium in treatment A5 increased 13.5% compared to control (Figure2). Livestock waste potassium through the soil forage harvest is out again return to the soil. Major potassium manure available to the consumer brings it back to the soil. Return livestock waste as a fertilizer to the soil potassium is any fundamental cycle (Kocheki et al., 1998).

Availability of Zn in treatment A6 increased 95% compared to control and also treatment A4 and A5 increased 45% compared to control (Figure3). A6 treatment had most of available Zn Because of organic matter with the appropriate water that increased chelating of Zn .this treatment in compare with A2 that is consuming 100% manure shows that has more manure but lower water content availability of Zn has not increased. The absorption is increasing with A1 to A6 And in treatments containing manure (A6) had increased to 95%. This leads to the existence of organic matter due to: 1 - contains some zinc 2 - Due to the release of organic acids and microbial activity, more given the amount to soil solution because of calcareous soil. 3 - Moisture requirements of this reaction is supplied by super absorbent polymer.

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Availability of Cu in treatment A3 increased 7% compared to control (Figure4) the highest chelating potential in micronutrients belong to copper that in treatment with cow manure content we can see and decrease availability of copper in soil. As we know, by creating complex organic matter and copper is more stable than other micro elements. This makes lower the amount of available copper treatments that containing manure in compare the control and A3 treatment due to increased water absorption capacity than we observed that doesnt containing manure The polymer increases the availability of copper in soil With increasing amounts of polymer to 65%, availability of elements have increased and after that decreased. The reason is increase of exchange point and thus increase nutrient availability and because of the lower absorption capability of organic matter decreased the availability of nutrients. Treatment A3 not only decreased K available but also decreased N, P, Ca and Mg. This is the belong to benefit of manure treatments that provide a source of nitrogen and phosphorus in the soil. This is a good reason to use a combination of super absorbent polymer, and manure.Most effects on availability of elements showed in use of combined of super absorbent polymers and manure. Significant amounts of free organic acids in soil, rotting manure, which of these can be pointed out carbonic acid and citric acid, these substances can solve a Large amounts of phosphorus and micronutrients from soil minerals and make available to the plant uptake (bungee Shafiee, 2004). Soil organic carbon has many significant roles in many biological, physical and chemical properties of soil and prepares macro and micro nutrients for plants (Arajy, 2001). In 2004 in the Education and Research Centre, University of Florida Citrus Research America by using sodium poly acrylic (PAM) and potassium poly acrylic (AGRO) and the seedling of citrus to evaluate the effect on the growth and nitrogen uptake by plants was performed effectively. The results showed that the polymer (PAM), slightly increased the amount of nitrogen in the soil but has no impact on plant growth. Nitrogen absorption from 11% effective 45% increase. Polymer (AGRO) clearly seedling growth and the increased effective absorption also increased nitrogen and nitrogen was wasted through leaching saline soils reduced (Martinez et al., 2004). Press et al. (1996) reported that addition of compost to the soil increased the uptake of phosphorus, potassium, calcium, zinc and manganese elements. Conclusion The general trend in connection with organic matter was increased absorption of potassium and phosphate. The general trend in connection with the super absorbent polymer was increased absorption of potassium phosphorus and nitrogen. The combined effects of cow manure and super absorbent polymer were increased nutrient uptake, CEC, and soil moisture supply capacity.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH The best combination for maximum yield, maximum availability was treated A6 that with compared to control 16.2% yield and 9.6% availability of elements for plant uptake has increased. This treatment contains 70 kg of super absorbent polymer and 26000 kg cow manure. Low organic matter and low moisture in soils of Iran is a big problem and with this combination we can help to solve problem. And result will be a sustainable agriculture. Suggestions This test should be repeated under different conditions. Better result might be expected with more experiments in organic fertilizers such as compost repeated dilatory. Considering the benefits highlighted here, these compounds show promise for use in gardens. References Alahdadi, A, B. Moazen gamsari. Gh. Akbari, Zohorian mehr, 2006. Influence of different amounts of super absorbent polymer A200 different level of irrigation water on growth performance and economical yield. third training seminar and specialized agricultural use Hydrgel super absorbent. Tehran. Polymer and Petrochemical Institute. Imam, y. 1970. Grain agronomy. Shiraz University. Press Page 175. Kocheki, e. E. Nakhforosh V. H. Zarif Ketabi 1998. Organic Farming. Ferdowsi University of Mashhad press . Yazdani, F, A. Alahdadi, Akbari, and M. R. Behbahani. 2008. Effect of Super absorbent polymer (Terawatt A200) and different levels of drought stress on soybean yield and yield components. Research in agriculture and horticulture and construction. No. 75. Pages 167-174 Araji, A.A., Z.O. Abdul., And P. Joyce. 2001. Efficient use of animal manure on croplandeconomic analysis. Bioresource technology, 79: 179191. Martinez, F.X., F. Contreras, N. Lopez. 2004. Influence of polyacrylamide on physical properties of a pet-perlite mix and on the growth of argynthemum coronopifollium. ISHS Acta Horticulture 554. http://www.actahort.org Press, c.m. 1996. organic by product effect on soil chemical properties and microbial communities. Compost Sci: util. 4:70-80.

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Response of Durum Wheat to Nitrogen and Plant Density in Dry Matter Remobilization
Roghayyeh Zabihi-e-Mahmoodabad1 and Shahzad Jamaati-e-Somarin1*
1- Young Researchers Club, Ardabil Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ardabil. Iran. *Corresponding author: rogizm@yahoo.com In order to investigate influence of different nitrogen levels and plant densities on phenology and dry matter remobilization of durum wheat Cv. Seymareh, a split plot experiment based on randomized complete block design whit three replications was conducted at agricultural research station, Islamic Azad University, Ardabil branch, Iran in 2011. Main plot included three densities (300, 350 and 400 seed m-2) and sub plots contained four nitrogen levels (0, 70, 140 and 210 kg ha-1 N). Results showed that whit increasing nitrogen levels, length of vegetative growth period increased and dry matter remobilization in to grain and its impact of grain yield was decreased. Also, the length generative growth and ripening period and grain yield were obtained using 140 kg ha-1 N and excess rates, decreased grain yield. Whit increasing plant density, all measured traits were increased. As results to increase remobilization and grain yield, prevent of environmental pollution and decrease in fertilizer application as excess cost, application of 140 kg ha-1 N in 400 plant m-2 density (whit conditions of this research), is recommended. Key words: remobilization, plant density, phenology, nitrogen and durum wheat.

Abstract

Introduction Wheat reaction to density a more than row plants. In cereals, low rate of seed is produced due to high competition for light and water in higher densities Amount of N distribution is effective on rate and assignment of it inside the plant (Koochaki and Sarmdnia, 2001). High soil fertility or increase in N application causes the higher plant growth and consequently, seed yield in maize (Sarmadnia and Kochaki, 1995). Plant density has the crucial impact on the length of different phonological stages in maize (Early, 1967). With increasing plant density, delay in flowering, earring and decrease in reproductive period length in deserved (Daynard and Muldoon, 1983). Lang et al. (1986) reported decrease in infertile plants number with increasing N and decreasing plant density. Rudha et al. (1978) found that increase in N application resulted in significantly decrease in the required time to flowering. Density can influence the leaves and shoots by impacting on the nutrient elements, waters solar radiation and plant phonological stages. Permanent cool-season grasses and small-seed cereals produce new complete leaves each 6 to 10 days of experience optimal environmental conditions while this time reaches 4 to 6 days in maize and warmseason cereals (Koochaki and Sarmdnia, 2001). Low temperatures may postpone vegetative and flowering period lengths via increase in the required time to leaf emerge and hence, limit the availability of nutrients for plant (MC Williams et al. 1999; Hill, 2007). Movement of photosynthelically substances from the sources to sinks or usage places depends on both the production of these matters and sinks capacity that may result in the yield loss if there is no balance between them. While source potential for assimilates decreases, share of the components moving again to the seeds, in creases (Barzegari and Postini, 1998). All vegetative organs may refer to as sink, at least in part of their growth period reserving photosynthetic substances. As there is close relation between photosynthetic are a and amount of reserved matters in plant, so, changes in the environmental conditions which affect photosynthesis, may influence making and replacement of the soluble carbohydrates. For example, if producing photosynthetic matters restricted dne to high density and shading, remobilization of stem reserves increases to compensate for photosynthesis decline (Hashemi Dezful and Marashi, 1994). Uhart and Andrade (1995) suggested that decrease in soluble carbohydrates remobilization as a result of, shading, may be attributable to growth decrease and lower physiological demand for assimilates. Part of seed carbohydrates of maize is supplied via remobilization from stem (Mc Cullough et al., 1994). Main sources for carbon in plants include current photosynthesis in leaves and other green organs such as items, spikes and awns. Also, this involves remobilization of stored matters in vegetative parts prior to anthesis (Borras et al., 2004). Przulj and Momcilovic (2003) showed in an experiment on barley that among plants, some cultivars under optimal conditions, lost a large amount of their
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH reserve substances stored in vegetative parts from flowering to ripening indicating that substantial part of dry matter prior to flowering, is assigned to other sinks except seeds. Also, those cultivars assign more matters reserved before flowering, caused lower yields, however, correlation between transferred dry matter and seed yields, however, correlation between transferred dry matter and seed yield was significant. The aim of this work was to evaluate impact of N and plant density on phenology, and dry matter remobilization in Durum wheat. Materials and methods In order to investigate influence of different nitrogen levels and plant densities on phenology and dry matter remobilization of durum wheat Cv. Seymareh, a split plot experiment based on randomized complete block design whit three replications was conducted at agricultural research station, Islamic Azad University, Ardabil branch, Iran in 2011. Main plot included three densities (300, 350 and 400 seed m-2) and sub plots contained four nitrogen levels (0, 70, 140 and 210 kg ha1 N). To determine chemical and physiological traits of the soil of the site, sampling was carried out from the depth of 0-30 cm. Results of the soil analysis has been shown in Table 1.
Soil type

Table 1: Results of the soil analysis

Soil structure Sand Silt Clay 31 41 28 K (ppm) 460

P (ppm) 4.8

Loamclay

Total N (%) 0.103

Organic Carbon (%) 0.97

Natural matter 4.8

Total acidity 7.8

E.C. (ds/m) 2.66

Saturation percent 48

Depth (cm) 0-30

After surface sterilization, seeds were planted at the depth of 3-4 cm a rows with a distance of 1520 cm apart. Sub-plots included 10 growing rows each 4 meters at which; different densities were adjusted by changing distances between the seeds. The first irrigation applied after planting and the rest, depending on the environmental circumstances and plant requires weed control was done mechanically and chemically. One third of N was applied pre-plant and the rest as top dress in spring at stem stage (Kazemi Arbt, 1999). To evaluate appearance dates of some organs, recounting were done as follows (Emam and Niknezhad, 2005): Length of the vegetative period: from planting to 50% flowering. Length of the reproductive period: from flowering to physiological ripening. Physiological ripening: from planting to being sot plants yellowish. To evaluate the rate of remobilization and share of it in seed yield, amount of transferring of dry matters to the seeds from preearring to physiological ripening stages was measured. So that, at preearring, in main rows of each plot, some alike plants were marked and from earring to physiological ripening, three plants in three or for day intervals were taken from each plot. Harvested plants then separated to stem leaf and read and after drying (in oven at 75.c for 72 hour more to constant weight) were weighed and eventually, dry matter remobilization and other traits, were calculated (Bunting and Drennan, 1966; Niu et al., 1993; Papakosta and Gagianas, 1991). In following equations, respiratory drop has not been considered and supposed that respiration in this work is same for the environmental conditions. Ehdaie and Wanies (1996) have accepted such suggestion in evaluation of genetic variation and dry matter remobilization in wheat. M Dm Ap H Dm Ap(ES) = DmR(S) Pr Where3 M = maximum, Dm = Dry matter, Ap = Aerial parts, H= Harvest Ap (ES) = Aerial part except seed, R(S) = Remobilization to seed, Pr = physiological ripening. Remobilization (seal yield) = Dry mater transferring to seed / seed yield*100 At the end of plant growth, while they ripped completely, crop of the 1.5 m-2 from each plot was clipped from the soil level, placed in the bags and transferred to the laboratory for yield measurement. Data were subjected to analysis by SAS, graphs were drawn in Excel and mean comparisons were done using Duncan's multiple range test software.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Results and discussion Length of the vegetation growth period Length of the vegetative growth period was affected by plant density, N level and N level*plant density interaction. Results showed that there was significant (P<0.01) difference between N level, plant densities and their interaction on the length of the vegetative growth period. The highest and lowest rates were observed in 400 and 300 seed m-2, respectively. As a result of N increment, this period was increased so that the highest rate vas achieved using 210 kg ha N. with increasing N amount and plant density, this period was prolonged (Tab 2). Based on the graph resulted for the interaction effect, treatment of 400 seed m-2 with no N (Control) resulted the lowest period. Excess rates of N by enhancing growth of aerial parts, prolongs this period (Jamaati-e-Somarin et al., 2009a). Also, Jamaati-e-Somarin et al. (2009b) reported the some results Lang et al. (1986) found that as a result of each plant more than optimal density, vegetative growth. Period delayed one day than normal which is in accordance with our results. Length of the reproductive growth period Results showed that N levels and interaction of N levels*plant densities had significant (p<0.01) effect on length of the reproductive growth period. Plant density did not show such effect. It was observed that using N up to 140 kg ha-1, increased this period but beyond this amount, reproductive growth period was decreased. The shortest time for this trait was achieved in control (Tab 2). In the treatment of 300 seed m-2 and control, the lowest, and in the 400 seed m-2 and 140 kg ha-1 N, the highest period length was observed. As with the findings of the researchers about decreasing reproductive growth period as a result of higher densities, it seems that in lower densities, branches tend to grow higher and consequently, amount of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation is increased and in turn, resulted in the enhancement of photosynthetically efficiency. Eventually, this lends to the fast flowering (Lang et al., 1986). Since reproductive period is initiated with flowering, it seems that with increasing plant density, length of the reproductive growth period would increase. Jamaati-e-Somarin et al. (2009b) reported the same findings, as well. Length of the ripening periods Only plant density and interaction of N levels*plant densities were significant (p<0.01) for the length of the ripening period and there and no significant difference for N Mounts increase in plant dainty prolonged this period so that, plant densities of 300 and 400 seed m-2 caused the shortest and longest period (Tab 2). For interaction effect it was observed that with increasing plant density and N level, this period was prolonged so that, by application of 140 kg ha-1 N and 400 seed m-2 the longest, and without N (Control) and application and density of 300 seed m-2, the lowest period was gained. Increase in N application appears to be cause of the plant growth increment and consequently, delays in plant sense cense and ripening the finding is in accordance with Jamaati-eSomarin et al. (2009b). Rate of dry matter remobilization into seed Results revealed that there was significant (P<0.01) differences among N levels, plant densities and their interaction for the rate of dry matter remobilization in to seed mean comparisons showed that the rate was increases with increasing plant density and decreased with increasing N application (Tab 2). Hokmalipour (2006) and Hokmalipour et al. (2007) reported increase and decreased in this trait with increasing plant density and N application, respectively. Treatment of 400 seed m-2 and no N application caused the highest amount and in higher rates of N along with the decrease in plant density, it was declined, remarkably. The same results also by Schussler and Westgate (1991) have been reported in maize as plant density was increased. Jones and Simmous (1988) believe that remobilization increases if plant density, shading and demand for sink is incensed in this work, likely high density has been led to the higher dry matter remobilization due to shading and increase in competition within the plants. Share of dry matter remobilization in seed yield Plant density and interaction of N levels*plant densities significantly (P < 0.1) affected share of dry matter remobilization in seed yield also, effect of N application was significant (P<0.05) on this traits dry matter remobilization reached from 15.39% in density of 300 seed m-2 to 2630% in density of 400 seed m-2. Such trend was observed by decreasing N application (Tab2). For the interaction effect, the highest value was gained without N application in the highest density of 36.17%. With incensing N levels and decreasing plant densities, decline in this trait was observed
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Hokmalipour (2006) and Hokmalipour et al. (2007) have reported the same results. Reserved matters prior to flowering contributed to seed filling up to 90% with an average of 20 to 40% (Rahimian and Zand, 1998). Yoshida (1972) has reported this value up to 50%. Grain yield Results showed that there was significant (P<0.01) difference between N levels and interaction of N levels*plant densities on grain yield. Plant density did not show significant effect, however, the highest and lowest grain yield was obtained from densities of 400 and 300 seed m-2, respectively. With increasing N levels grain yield was increased so that the highest yield was observed using 140 kg ha-1 N wile, other N levels statistically placed in the same group and increase in N amount more than 140 kg ha-1, led to yield lass with increasing N amount up to 140 kg ha-1 along with the plant density, the highest seed yield was achieved. (Tab 2). Hokmalipour (2006), Hokmalipour et al. (2007) and Jamaati-e-Somarin (2009b, 2008) have reported the same results. For the interaction effects it was found that in treatment of 140 kg ka-1 N in density of 400 seed m-2, the highest seed yield was resulted. Mazaheri (1994) reported that increase in N application leads to yield increase. Cuomo et al. (1998) found that with increasing plant density, grain yield is increased. Hamidi and Dabbagh Mohammadinasab (1995) illustrated that in higher densities, anthesis and tussel initiation take place in a long time from each other in maize and consequently, number of produced seeds per plant is decreased due to lower pollination but this decrease is compensated for the higher number of plants per unit area. Mengel (1992) described that the first effect of N application in the field, is increase in size and number of leaves per plant. By incensing number of mature leaves, N cause photosynthesis is increased relative to respiration, and hence, yield is increased but in excess rates, over the optimal range, expanding of the vegetative parts highly occurs. Therefore number of leaves placed in the shadow is increased, photosynthesis to respiration ration decreased, loss assimilates transferred to the seeds and more matters consumed by these laves (Emam and Niknezhad, 2005).
Table 2. Mean comparisons of N levels and plant densities on some traits at (P<0.05).
Treatments Vegetative growth period (DAP) Reproductive growth period (DAP) Ripening period (DAP) dry matter remobilization to grain (mg) Share of dry matter remobilization in grain yield (%) Grain yield per area (g)

Plant density (plant m-2)

300 180.25b 60.00a 240.25b 133.06b 15.39b 350 184.25ab 58.83a 243.08ab 196.08a 21.82a 400 185.16a 60.75a 245.95a 219.27a 26.30a Nitrogen 0 179.33c 57.55c 236.88a 230.22a 24.16a levels 70 183.11b 59.00bc 242.11a 135.83b 15.90b (kg ha-1) 140 184.44ab 63.33a 247.77a 187.74ab 22.47a 210 186.00a 59.55b 245.55a 177.41b 22.14a *Numbers with the same words in each column, have no significant differences to each other.

873.21a 878.03a 888.20a 835.04b 845.28b 986.15a 852.79b

References Barzegari, M., Postini. K., (1998). Effect of changing source-sink on some physiological traits and corn farming. Fifth Congress of Agronomy and Plant Breeding, Isfahan University of Technology. Borras, L., Slafer, G.A., and Otegui. M.E., (2004). Seed dry Weight response to source-sink manipulation in wheat, maize and soybean: a quantitative reappraisal. Field Crop Research. 86:131-146. Bunting, A.H. and Drennan. D.S.H., (1966). in the Growth of Crasses, ed. J. D. Ivins and F. L. Milthorpe. London: Butterworth. Cuomo, G.J., Redfearn, DD., and Blouin, DC., (1998). Plant density effects on topical corn forage mass, morphology, and nutritive value. Agronomy Journal.90: 93-96. Daynard, T. B. and Muldoon. J. F., (1983). Plant to plant variability of maize plants grown at different densities. Canadian Journal of Plant Science, 63: 45-59. Early, E. B., Mcllrath, W. D., Seif R. D., and Hageman R. H., (1967). Effects of shade applied at different stages of plant development on corn (Zea mays L.) Production. Crop Science, 7:151-1.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Ehdaie, B. and Wanies. J.G., (1996). Genetic variation for contribution of preanthesis assimilates to grain yield in spring wheat .J of Genetic and Breeding. 50:47-56. Emam, Y., Niknezhad. M., (2005). A introduction on Physiology of crop yield. Translation. Shiraz University Press. Second edition. 551 pp. Hamidi, A. and Dabbagh Mohammadinasab. A., (1995). Effects of plant density on agronomic nitrogen use efficiency in two corn hybrids. Journal of agricultural knowledge. Volume 10. No. 4. Page 43-58. Hashemi Dezful, A., Marashi. A., (1994). Changes of photosynthetic material in flowering time and its effect on grain growth, yield and yield components of wheat. Journal of Agricultural Industry. Volume 9 Number 1. Pages 16 to 32. Hill, J.H., (2007). How a corn plant develops. Iowa state university of science and Technology. Cooperative extension service Ames. Iowa. 641: 923-2856. Hokmalipour, S., (2006). Effects of plant density and nitrogen levels on yield, nitrogen use efficiency and remobilization of Photosantetical mater in corn. Master Thesis, Faculty of Agriculture, Urmia University, page 112. Hokmalipour, S., Seyedsharifi R., and ghadimzadeh. M., (2007). Effect of plant density and nitrogen fertilizer on grain yield and dry matter remobilization in corn. Journal of Soil and Water Sciences. Volume 21. Issue 1 Page 1-7 . Jamaati-e-Somarin, Sh., Tobeh, A., Hassanzadeh, M., Saeidi, M., Gholizadeh, A., and Zabihie-Mahmoodabad. R., (2008). Effects of different plant density and nitrogen application rate on nitrogen use efficiency of potato tuber. Pak. J. Biol. Sci. 11(15): 1949-1952. Jamaati-e-Somarin, Sh., Tobeh, A., Hassanzadeh, M., Hokmalipour, S., and Zabihi-eMahmoodabad. R., (2009b). Effects of plant density and nitrogen fertilizer on nitrogen uptake from soil and nitrate pollution in potato tuber. Res. J. Environ. Sci. 3(1): 122-126. Jamaati-e-Somarin, Sh., Hassanzadeh, M., Peyghami F., and Zabihi-e-Mahmoodabad. R., (2009a). Response of durum wheat growth and chlorophyll content to nitrogen rates and plant populations. Research Journal of Biological Sciences. 4(11): 1135-1141. Jones, R.J and Simmous. S.R., (1988). Effect of altered souce-sink ratio on growth of maize kernels. Crop Sci . 23:129-134. Kazemi Arbt, H., (1999). Private farming. First volume (Kernels). Markaz Nashr Daneshgahi Press. Page 253. Koochaki, A., Sarmdnia, Gh., (2001). Crop physiology. Translation. Printing ninth Jahad Daneshgahi Mashhad Press. page 426. Lang, A.L., Pendleton, J., and Dungan. G.H., (1986). Influence of population and nitrogen levels on yield and protein and oil content of nine corn hybrids. Agronomy Journal. 48: 284 289. Mazaheri, D., (1994). Mixed farming. Tehran University Publications. Page 262. Mc Cullough, D.E., Girardin, P.H., Mihajlovic M., and Tollenaar. M., (1994). Influence of N supply on development and dry matter accumulation of an old and a new maize hybrd. Canadian. Journal of Plant Science. 74: 471 477. MC Williams, D.A., Berglund, D.R., and Endres. G.J., (1999). Corn growth and management quick guide. North Dakota State University and University of Minnesota. NDSU, A-1173. Mengel, K., (1992). Nitrogen: Agricultural productivity and environmental problems. In Nitrogen Metabolism of plants. K. Mengel and D. J. Pillbeam. (Eds). PP.1-16. Oxford University press, Oxford. U. K. Niu, J.Y., Gan, Y.T., Zhang J.W., and Yang. Q.F., (1993). Post-anthesis dry matter accumulation and redistribution in spring wheat mulched with plastic film. Crop Sci. 38: 15621568. Papakosta, D.K., and Gagianas. A.A., (1991). Nitrogen and dry matter accumulation, remobilization, and losses for Mediterranean wheat during grain filling. Agron. J. 83: 864-870. Przulj, N. and Momcilovic. V., (2003). Dry matter and nitrogen accumulation and use in spring barley. Plant Soil Environ., 49: 36- 47.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Rahimian, A., Zand. A., (1998). Evolution, adaptation and yield of crops, (Translation). Nashr Azmoon Keshavarzi press. Page 326. Rudha, M. S., Al. and Al-younis. A.H., (1978). The effect of row-spacing and nitrogen levels on yield, yield components and quality of maize (Zea mayz L.) Iraqi Journal of Agricultural Science, 13:235-252. In: Field Crops Abstracts, 1981, 34(1): 51. Sarmadnia, Gh., and Kochaki. A., (1995). Physiological aspects of dryland farming. Jahad Daneshgahi Mashhad Press. Page 424. Schussler, J.R., and Westgate, M.E., (1991). Maize kernal setatlowwater potential: II Senility to reduced assimilate esatpollination. Crop Sci.31:1196-1203. Uhart, S.A., and Andrade, F.H., (1995). Nitrogen defoliation in maize. I: Effecton crop growth development, dry matter partitioning and kernal set.CropSci.35:1376-1383. Yoshida, S., (1972). Physiological aspects of grain yield. Annu. Rev. Plant Physiology. 23: 437-464.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH

Phosphorus availability in Malagasy Ferralsols under Vigna subterranea and Oryza sativa. A perspective for a tanety valorization.
A. Andriamananjaraa,*, M.P. Razafimanantsoaa, M. Dominiqueb, L. Rabeharisoaa
a

LRI-SRA, Laboratoire des Radio-Isotopes, Universit d'Antananarivo, Route d'Andraisoro, PO 3383, 101 Antananarivo, Madagascar b Institut de Recherche pour le Dveloppement, UMR Eco&Sols, Montpellier- France . * Corresponding Author: njaraandry@yahoo.fr Soil degradation in tropical zone as Madagascar involved to low nutrient availability such as phosphorus in which productivity is strongly limited. Valorization of less exploited highland of Madagascar was studied through integration of legume as voandzou (Vigna subterranea) in upland rice based-cropping system in order to increase the phosphorus availability in Ferralsol and then to improve the rice production. In this study, rotation cropping system as voandzou-upland rice versus rice monoculture system was tested during the long-term field trial. The experiment was carried out during three consecutive years in which the effectiveness of organic (manure), mineral (TSP) and organo-mineral (manure+TSP) fertilization at different dose were assessed. The rice yield recorded during the second year showed the effectiveness of rotation cropping system under low nutrient input. Otherwise, a great phosphorus mobilization in terms of exported P was observed with rotation cropping system compared to rice monoculture system. The efficiency of TSP was increased by organic input in terms of yield and P mobilization through protection of mineral P toward fixation reaction. According to the significant correlation between P budget and the stock of P availability of soil, the exogenous input was more effectiveness in rotation cropping system. The results highlighted the high potentiality of voandzou in the adaptation under a low nutrient and the mobilization of soil nutrient in particular the phosphorus in the malagasy highland. Then, legume via rotation cropping system in low nutrient input could be currently the way to secure farmers of the island. Keywords: legume, upland rice, phosphorus availability, low nutrient, rotation cropping system.

Abstract

Introduction The agriculture of Madagascar Island is dominated by rice cropping particularly in lowlands. Referring to the lowland saturation, new lands are required for rice cropping such as highland areas, which are still available and strongly requested beside farmers (Rasoamampionona et al., 2008). Nevertheless, these soils often Ferralsol types are marked by high total phosphorus (P) content which are strongly fixed by soil constituents, iron and aluminum hydroxide, limiting the phosphorus availability toward plants (Chapuis-Lardy et al., 2009; Sanchez et al., 1997; Kirk et al., 1998). The mean values of total phosphorus in malagasy soil is from 300 to 1200 mg P kg-1 of soil whereas available phosphorus assessed by the Olsen method is lower than 10 mg P kg-1 and the soil solution phosphate ions concentration is from 0.005 to 0.02 mg l-1 according to Rabeharisoa (2004). This available phosphorus deficiency is a factor limiting the agronomical production both in a farming system with low nutrient input. The integration of legume, known for its symbiotic nitrogen fixation (SNF) ability and to mobilize the soil phosphorus, presented a research interest for sustainable farming system in P-deficient soil (Vanlauwe et al., 2000, Pypers et al., 2005). The SNF leads to the improvement of the P availability of soil by the rhizosphere process change mobilizing the inaccessible phosphorus of soil (Pypers et al. 2005; Pypers et al. 2007). The legume plant as voandzou, sometimes used in the traditional farming systems, is proposed as an alternative to improve the rice production in Malagasy highland. The aim of the work was to assess the potentiality of voandzou as previous crop for the phosphorus mobilization and the rice productivity in rotation cropping system. Materials and Methods The experimental design was set up in the field trial of Laboratoire de Radioisotopes localized in Laniera (18 47 South et 47 30 East), at 1261 m of altitude with 1350 mm of annual precipitation and temperature from 17C to 25C. The studied soil was a ferralsol according to the soil classification system FAO (Wambeke 1974) uncultivated during the ten years later. The initial physical and chemical properties of soils were: Sand 44%, Silt 22%, Clay 33%, total P: 422 mg.kg1 , Olsen P: 3,7 mg.kg-1, Water-soluble P: 0,1 mg.kg-1, pH water: 5, Organic carbon 2%.
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Rotation cropping system, as Voandzou-upland rice, was tested with monoculture system of upland rice during two cultural cropping from 2007-2008 to 2008-2009 in order to assess the voandzou effect on upland rice. The crops tested were upland rice (Oryza sativa), Fofifa 154 variety, and a local variety voandzou (Vigna subterranea). The treatments tested were: - Organic input (manure) at 10, 20 and 30 kg P ha-1 - Mineral input (Triple Super Phosphate TSP) at 10, 20 and 30 kg P ha-1 - Mixed treatment (Manure+TSP) at 20 and 30 kg P ha-1 - Control: 0 kg P ha-1 All treatments were replicated three times under randomized distribution. Urea (46% of N) and potassium chloride (60 % of K2O) were supplied to avoid nutrient deficiency. The sowing density was 110 holes per plot with 40 cm x 40 cm of intercropping distance. At the harvest, rice yield was assessed on three plot squares corresponding to 12 plants per plot. Rhizospheric soil samples were collected from three plot squares for soil analysis. The soil available phosphorus as Olsen P, resin P and ion phosphate concentration in soil solution (Cp) was determined on rhizospheric soil samples. Olsen P and Cp was respectively measured after extraction by soil agitation with 0,5 M hydrognocarbonate of sodium at 8,5 pH (NF ISO 11263) and with water. Besides, the fraction of resin P was measured by shaking an aliquot of 1g of dry soil in 30ml of distilled water with an anion exchanging membrane (31x20mm, 55 164 2S, BDH Laboratory Supplies, Poole, England) previously converted in HCO3-. After 16 hours of agitation, the P adsorbed by the resins was desorbed in 20 ml of HCl 0,5M during 4 hours of agitation (50 revolutions per minute). The P in the HCl extract was analyzed colorimetrically by using the green malachite method. The soil pH was measured in 1:2,5 (v/v) soil diluted suspension in water. Data were analyzed by the variance analysis (threshold of significance retained p=0.05); the comparison of mean values is obtained by the Newman Keuls test. Linear regression method allowed establishing relation models between indicators and the P input. The factors analyzed were organic (M), mineral (TSP) or mixed (M+TSP) fertilizations and the quantities of contributed P (4 levels). Statistical analyses were carried out with XLSTAT software (Addinsoft). Results and discussion The phosphorus fertilizer input increased significantly the rice yields in both rotation and monoculture cropping system (Table 1).
Table 1. Rice yield (Mg ha-1), uptake phosphorus for rice grain (kg P ha-1) and phosphorus status of soil: Olsen P (mg P kg-1 of soil) during the second year of cropping. Values represent the means of four replications.
Treatment Control Manure Manure Manure TSP TSP TSP M + TSP M + TSP P dose (D) P from (F) DxF P dose
-1

Rice yield

exported P SM 0,05d 0,89c 1,97ab 2,30ab 1,58bc 1,82ab 2,11ab 1,92ab 2,88a < 0,0001 *** 0,012 * < 0,0001 ***

Olsen P SCR 0,27c 1,23b 1,14b 1,64ab 1,77ab 2,29ab 2,51a 1,63ab 1,86ab 0,0004 *** 0,0004 *** < 0,0001 *** SM 0,12c 0,90b 2,41a 2,40a 1,61ab 1,87ab 2,20a 1,86ab 2,90a < 0,0001 *** 0,693 ns < 0,0001 *** SCR 2,12b 2,77b 2,43b 2,67b 2,84b 5,42a 4,92a 4,66a 5,44a < 0,0001 *** < 0,028 * < 0,0001 *** SM 3,01c 3,45bc 2,58c 3,11bc 4,82ab 4,90ab 6,04a 3,95bc 5,07ab 0,004 ** < 0,002 ** < 0,0001 ***

(kg P ha ) SCR 0 0,28c 10 1,47b 20 1,50b 30 1,71b 10 2,08ab 20 3,01a 30 2,33ab 20 2,07ab 30 2,45ab <0,0001*** < 0,114 ns 0,0001 ***

Significant at probability level of *P<0.05, **P<0.01, *** P< 0.001.

In low nutrient input, rice yields under previous legume crop were higher compared to monoculture system. These results agree with the findings of Georg et al. (2001) and Toomsan et al. (1993)
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH where legume integration allowed increasing the rice yield (Toomsan et al., 1993). The improvement of cereal yield after legume as previous crop in low nutrient availability was well documented (Calegari 2003; Peoples et al., 2009; Shah et al., 2003). Numerous studies reported that legumes are able to improve nutrient availability as phosphorus in the rhizosphere scale for rice crop benefit. Through symbiotic nitrogen fixation, the bacterial reduction of uptake-N2 in nodules acidifies the rhizosphere by proton efflux (Hinsinger, 2001; Jaillard, 2001). Andriamananjara et al. (2010) showed the potentiality of voandzou in mobilization of phosphorus strongly fixed in soil by a strong re-supplying capacity of soil solution in diffusive phosphate ion under limiting phosphorus availability. The rhizosphere acidification controlled the solubilization of phosphorus precipitated form allowing the release of phosphorus in soil solution for the subsequent crop (Guppy et al., 2005; Hinsinger, 2001; Dakora and Phillips, 2002). These processes were confirmed by the low pH under rotation cropping system compared to monoculture cropping system (Fig. 1).

Figure 1. Soil pH under previous voandzou and upland rice. Error bars represent the standard errors of means. To: Control; F10: Manure at 10 kg P ha-1 of soil; M20: Manure+TSP at 20 kg P ha-1 of soil; T10: TSP at 10 kg P ha-1 of soil.

In addition, the high resin P content under previous voandzou significantly correlated to exported P in grain rice (r= 0,42 ; p-values < 0,013) highlighted the mobilization of phosphorus inaccessible for non-legume plant (Fig. 2A). This phosphorus availability enhanced the rice productivity marked by a significant relationship between Olsen P and rice yield (r=0.48 ; p-values<0.008) under rotation cropping system (Fig. 2B), which is in agreement with the findings of Van Reuler and Janssen (1989).

Figure 2. Relationship between rice yield - Olsen P (A) and uptake P from rice grain - resin P (B) under previous voandzou and upland rice.

Otherwise, a significant effect of phosphorus dose and interaction of dose-form of P was observed on rice yield and the exported P in both rotation and monoculture cropping system (Table 1). In rotation cropping system, rice yields under TSP and mixed organo-mineral fertilizer were significantly higher compared to the organic treatment. The manure mixed or not with TSP gave
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH the higher rice yield in monoculture cropping system. The efficiency of mineral treatment TSP could be explained by the residual quality of plant biomass and by residual effect of TSP. Rice yield under previous legume was higher than under previous rice in TSP probably because the legume residue has more nutrient content as nitrogen and P than rice residue. The decomposition through mineralization process of legume residue is faster than of rice residue marked by a low rate of lignin and C/N ratio optimum (Stevenson and Cole, 1999). The residual effect of TSP could be explained by the high Olsen P content observed on both previous legume and rice crops (Table 1). A pot experiment on voandzou and rice grown under TSP, manure and TSP mixed with manure revealed the immobilization of TSP marked by a strong Olsen P content in soil coupled with a low plant biomass (Andriamananjara et al., 2010). The hypothesis of residual effect for the subsequent crop was confirmed by the rice yield recorded in the second year in this field experiment. The annual phosphorus balance, which is the theoretical amount of soil phosphorus, is marked by surplus balance in treatments with phosphorus input compared to deficit balance in control plot without phosphorus input. This negative balance revealed the weakness of cropping system without exogenous phosphorus input leading to soil fertility impoverishment. The significant relationship between balance and available phosphorus (Olsen P, resin P and Cp) (Table 2) showed the precision and the effectiveness of balance as a phosphorus availability indicator in fertilized system and could be one of the way to the sustainable fertilization practices.
Table 2. Stock variation of P bioavailable according to cumulated balance in cropping system for 2009. r: correlation between P bioavailable (Olsen P, resin P, watersoluble P) and cumulated phosphorus balance. Significant at probability level of *P<0.05, **P<0.01, *** P< 0.001.

(r ; p value) Olsen P Rotation cropping (0,59 ; 0,0001)*** system Monocultural (0,44 ; 0,003)** system

Resin P (0,45 ; 0,003) ** (0,212 ; 0,17)

Cp (0,53 ; 0,0002)** (0,57 ; < 0,0001)***

Conclusion The legume effect on upland rice marked by the superiority of rice yield and the strong phosphorus mobilization under limiting phosphorus input, less than 20 kg P ha-1, revealed the rhizosphere functioning of crops. The integration of legume on farmer cropping system as monoculture allowed improving the phosphorus cycle for the plant benefit through the protection of phosphorus mineral input toward the soil fixation reaction. This study, performed on two years of season cropping, highlighted the interest of legume integration in rice-based cropping system at a low nutrient availability in Malagasy highland. Acknowledgements The previous study was supported by the Corus II Valagridus project. References Andriamananjara, A, Rabeharisoa, L, Morel, C, Drevon, JJ, (2010). Etude rhizosphrique de lgumineuse voandzou sur rhizotron avec la technique danalyse isotopique. Ecologie 2010. Montpellier, France. Andriamananjara, A., Razafimanantsoa, M.P., Rakotoson, T., Drevon, J.J., Masse D., Rabeharisoa, L. (2010) Is phosphorus use efficiency of voandzou higher than upland rice in the ferralsol of the Malagasy highland. In: Wery, J. (Ed.), AGRO 2010, the XIth ESA Congress Montpellier., Montpellier, France, pp. 255-256. Calegari, A., (2003). Crop rotation and cover crop on no-tillage. II World Congress On Conservation Agriculture. Iguau, Brsil: 11-15 Aot 2003. Chapuis-Lardy, L., Ramiandrisoa, R.S., Randriamanantsoa, L., Morel, C., Rabeharisoa, L., Blanchart, E. (2009) Modification of P avalaibility by endogeic earthworms (Glossoscolecidae) in Ferralsols of the Malagasy Highlands. Biological Fertilisations Soils 45, 415-422 Dakora, F.D., Phillips, D.A., (2002). Root exudates as mediators of mineral acquisition in lownutrient environments. Plant and Soil 245, 35-47.
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH George, T., Magbanua, R., Roder, W., Van Keer, K.G.T, Reoma, V., (2001). Upland Rice Response to Phosphorus Fertilization in Asia. Agronomy Journal 93, 1362-70. Guppy, C.N., Menzies, N.W., Moody, P.W., Blamey, F.P., (2005). Competitive sorption reactions between phosphorus and organic matter in soil: a review. Australian Journal of Soil Research 43, 189-202. Hinsinger, P., (2001). Bioavailability of soil inorganic P in the rhizosphere as affected by rootinduced chemical changes: a review. Plant and Soil 237, 173-95. Jaillard, B. (2001) Flux de protons dans la rhizosphre et acidification des sols. Colloque Acidification des sols, INRA Versaille. Kirk, G.J.D., George, T., Courtois, B., Senadhira, D., (1998). Opportunities to improve phosphorus efficiency and soil fertility in rainfed lowland and upland rice ecosystems. Field crops research. 56, 7392. Peoples, M.B., Brockwell, J., Herridge, D.F., Rochester, I.J., Alves, B.J.R., Urquiaga, S., Boddey, R.M., Dakora, F.D., Bhattarai, S., Maskey, S.L., Sampet, C., Rerkasem, B., Khans, D.F., Hauggaard-Nielsen, H., Jensen, E.S., (2009). The contributions of nitrogen-fixing crop legumes to the productivity of agricultural systems. SYMBIOSIS 48, 1-17. Pypers, P., Huybrighs, M., Diels, J., Abaidoo, R., Smolder, E., (2007). Does the enhanced P acquisition by maize following legumes in a rotation result from improved soil P availability? Soil Biology & Biochemistry 39, 1555-1566 Pypers, P., Verstraete, S., Thi, C.P., Merckx, R., (2005). Changes in mineral nitrogen, phosphorus availability and salt-extractable aluminium following the application of green manure residues in two weathered soils of South Vietnam. Soil Biology & Biochemistry 37, 163172. Rabeharisoa L., (2004). Gestion de la fertilit et de la fertilisation phosphate des sols frralitiques des hautes terres de Madagascar, Universit d'Antananarivo, Doctorat dtat 199. Rasoamampionona, B., Rabeharisoa, L., Andrianjaka, A., Duponnois, R., Plenchette, C., 2008. Arbuscular Mycorrhizae in Malagasy Cropping Systems. Biological Agriculture and Horticulture 25, 327-337. Sanchez P A, Shepherd K D, Soule M J, Place F M, Buresh R J, Izac A M N, et al. (1997). Soil Fertility replenishment in Africa : An Investment in Natural Resource Capital. In Replenishing soil fertility in Africa. (pp. 1-46). SSSA Special Books, No. 51. Madison, WI. Shah, Z., Shah, S.H., Peoples, M.B., Schwenke, G.D., Herridge, D.F., (2003). Crop residue and fertiliser N effects on nitrogen fixation and yields of legume-cereal rotations and soil organic fertility. Field Crops Research 83, 1-11. Stevenson FJ, Cole MA, 1999. Cycles of soil: carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, micronutrients. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Toomsan B., Limpinuntana V., Homchan J., Sunarlim N., McDonagh, J. F., Giller KE, (1993). Residual effects of grain legumes on following crops in northeastern Thailand. . In Soil Organic Matter Dynamics and Sustainability of Tropical Agriculture (pp. 361-366). IITA/K.U. Leuven: Wiley-Sayce Co-Publication. Van Reuler, H., Janssen, B.H., (1989). Nutrional constraints in secondary vegetation and replant rice in South-West Ivory Coast. In Mineral nutrients in tropical forest and savana ecosystems. British Ecological Society N special 9, 371-82. Vanlauwe, B., Nwoke, O.C., Sanginga, N., Diels, J., Carsky, R.J., Deckers, J., et al. (2000). Utilization of rock phosphate by crops on a representative toposequence in the Northern Guinea savanna zone of Nigeria: response by Mucuna pruriens, Lablab purpureus and maize. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 20632077.

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Effects of native rhizobium bacteria on yield and yield components of dry bean
1

Department of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, Faculty of Agriculture, Selcuk University, 42075 Konya, Turkey Corresponding author: ucetin@selcuk.edu.tr

mmhan Karaca , Refik Uyanz

Abstract Reducing the use of chemical (nitrogen) in the bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) cultivation areas of Konya could result in the prevention of pollution of soil and ground water, contributing to the national economy. Rhizobium sp. bacteria have been isolated from different beans cultivation areas of Konya region. By using the method Leonard, according to the result of bacteria isolated from bottle experiments, the reference (Rhizobium tropici CIAT 899) compared with bacteria (in terms of activity) 6 number strain was determined to be effective. According to the findings of greenhouse investigations on bean Yunus 90 and the results of bottle experiments of Leonard, greenhouse and field studies of the most effective isolates 6 Yunus 90 were conducted. With respect to the results, 3 number isolates were found more effective for yield, biomass and increment of protein contents in comparison to control plants with or without nitrogen and the reference (Rhizobium tropici CIAT 899), and such effects were statistically significant (P<0.05). Keywords: Rhizobium, inoculation, bean, nitrogen fixation, yield and yield components

Introduction Symbiotic nitrogen (N) fixation is important for the production of legumes and the sustainability of agriculture. Several environmental conditions limit the growth of the N2-fixing legumes. Adverse conditions can lead to important reductions in their productivity and their subsequent agronomic and environmental roles. Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is considered as a poor nitrogenfixer pulse in comparison to other grain legumes (Hardarson, 1993). Sparse nodulation and the lack of response to inoculation in field experiments had been frequently reported worldwide, raising questions about the benefits of inoculation (Graham, 1981; Buttery et al., 1987). This fact is attributed to intrinsic characteristics of the host plant, particularly the nodulation promiscuity (Michielis et al., 1998), as well as the great sensitivity to other nodulation-limiting factors, such as the high rate of N-fertilizer used in intensive agriculture, nutrient deficiency, high temperatures and soil dryness (Graham, 1981). Poor nodulation and lack of responses to inoculation in field experiments have been frequently reported worldwide, raising doubts about the efficiency of bean inoculation (Graham 1981; Pereira et al. 1984; Buttery et al. 1987; Ramos and Boddey 1987; Hardarson 1993). The explanation for the failure in some trials mainly cited a high but inefficient population of indigenous common bean rhizobia in both soils (Graham 1981; Thies et al. 1992) and seeds (Andrade and Hungria 2002). Furthermore, the common bean-rhizobia symbiosis is quite sensitive to environmental stresses, such as high temperatures and soil dryness, leading to low N2 fixation efficiency (Graham 1981; Hungria et al. 1997; Hungria and Vargas 2000). A two-year field experiment was conducted to determine if using mixed strains of Rhizobium inoculant and starter nitrogen (N) fertilizer could improve yield and nodulation of four common bean varieties on a Vertisol at Alemaya, Ethiopia. A granular mixed inoculant of CIAT isolates 384, 274, and 632 and a starter N fertilizer at a rate of 23 kg N ha-1 (50 kg urea ha-1) were applied separately at planting. Inoculation with mixed strains and starter N fertilizer gave a significantly higher grain yield, nodule number, and dry matter yield for most varieties used. Both grain yield and dry matter yield showed a significant correlation (r=0.93 and r=0.87; P<0.05 for grain yield and dry matter yield, respectively, for 1991 crop season and r=0.90 and r=0.86; P<0.05 for grain yield and dry matter yield, respectively, for 1992 crop season) with nodule number (Daba and Haile 2000). A pot experiment conducted on the effect of N fertilization of common bean for nodulation and yield (Mitiku, 1990) revealed that 23 kg N ha-1 is optimal for nodulation and yield of common bean. Moreover, the study suggested that owing to the relatively ineffectiveness of the local rhizobia strains, inoculation would be essential. The study further suggested that the importance of inoculating with mixed strains rather than single strain on nodulation and yield should be investigated as low input production strategy for common bean. Therefore, this study was conducted to compare using N as starter fertilizer versus inoculating common bean varieties with
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH mixed strains of Rhizobium for their effect on yield and nodulation on nodulation and yield. The soil temperature (monthly average) was 20.7C (range from 20.1 to 21.6C) from 10 cm to 100 cm depth. In order to evaluate the effect of different bacterial strains on common bean yield and its component and to estimate the best bacteria and cultivar's combination, field experiment was carried out at Shahrekord it Iran during May-October 2002 on a sandy-loam soil. The experiment was a spil plot in randomized complete block design with four bacterial strains L78, L47, L125, L109 and non-inoculated controls including application of nitrogen fertilizer treatment (100 kg N ha-1) and without application of nitrogen fertilizer (-N) as the main plots. The results revealed that high significant difference (p<0.01) in seed yield, seed and pod number per plant, LAI at 4050 % flowering (50 days after emergence), harvest index (HI) and dry matter yield among seed inoculated with different strain and non-inoculated controls (+N and -N treatment). Seeds inoculated with L125 showed higher seed yield than other strains, but similar was observed in seed inoculated with L109, L78 strains and non-inoculated control (+N) (Pirbalouti et al. 2006). The aims of this research was to evaluate the effect of native bacterial strains obtained from fieldgrown bean in Konya on common bean cultivars yield and it's components and to estimate the best Rhizobium/Phaseoli combination in field condition. Materials and Methods Nodule Sampling In the present study, the area was searched for root nodules of plants during flowering period. Rhizobium sp. isolated from nodules was compared with reference bacteria (Rhizobium tropici CIAT899) under field conditions in terms of their activities. The root nodule samples were randomly taken into sterilized polyethylene tubes from root per plant in each sampling site. Soil samples were also collected from root area of dry bean field where dry bean has been grown with no history of inoculation with rhizobia. Isolation of Native Bacteria Fresh and healthy root nodules, collected from dry bean plants, thoroughly washed with sterile distillated water and then were surface sterilized for 34 min with a sodium hypochlorite solution (0.5 % W/V) and again rinsed six times with sterile distilled water. The nodules were then crushed in a drop a sterile water on a sterile glass slide using a scalpel. The suspension obtained was streaked on petri-dishes containing Yeast Extract Mannitol Agar (YEM) composed of the following dissolved in 1000 ml of water: NaCl 0.1 g, Mannitol 10.0 g, MgS04.7 H2O 0.2 g, CaCO3 0.5 g, Yeast extract 0.5g, Agar 15.0 g, FeCl26H2O 0.002 M. The plates were incubated for 36 days at 28oC (Somasegaran and Hoben, 1994). After incubation for 34 days 28oC, single colonies were selected and re streaked on YEM agar for purity. The stock culture of pure Rhizobium was inoculated on YEM plate for 48 h at room temperature (26 2 oC ) and then stored at 46 oC (Vincent, 1970) for use in the experiments of the study. Test plant Yunus 90 cultivar, (obtained from Anadolu Agricultural Research Institute, Eskisehir, Turkey), was used as the plant material. This genotype is one of the most popular registered varieties currently grown in Central Anatolia, Turkey. Soil Analyses The pH and electrical conductivity were measured in soil water extract (1/5 w/v) (Richards, 1954). Available P was extracted with sodium bicarbonate and determined by using the method developed by Olsen et al. (1954). Available K (extracted with ammonium acetate) was measured by flame photometry (Knudsen et al., 1982). Total N was determined by the Kjeldahl method (Bremner, 1965), CaCO3 was determined using the method developed by (Hzalan and nal (1965) and organic matter was extracted as described by Smith and Weldon (1941). Texture was obtained by the hydrometer method (Bouyocous, 1951). In addition, Fe, Cu, Mn, Zn contents of the soil were determined using the samples treated with the DTPA by ICP-AES (Soltanpour and Workman, 1981).

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Properties pH EC (dSm-1) CaCO3% O.M. % Texture N P mg kg-1 K

Table 1. Some physical and chemical properties of soil for field experiment (0-30 cm)
Value 7.67 0.313 22.42 1.20 Loam 111.23 13.60 0.99 Properties Fe Cu Mn Zn B Ca Mg Na

mg kg-1

me100 g-1

Value 3.42 5.88 36.18 2.46 3.92 1.8 1.6 0.36

Experimental design 1 The first experiment was carried out under control to determine effective of Rhizobium strain. For this purpose ninety-four fresh root nodules were used. Dry bean seeds (Phaseolus vulgaris) were grown under greenhouse conditions for 8 weeks in Leonard jars. Surface sterilized seeds of dry beans were transferred aseptically to Leonard jars (five seeds per jar) and inoculated with 10 ml (105106 cfu ml-1) of bacterial culture of Rhizobium tropici CIAT899 and native Rhizobium strains. Uninoculated plants were also included in each plant test. Each jar contained three plants grown under supplemental lighting (14 h/10 h light/dark cycles) and temperatures were maintained at 24oC/20oC. According to the results of the experiment by Leonard bottle, in the 94 Rhizobium bacteria isolated from different parts of the Konya region, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 strains were determined to be effective compared with reference strain (Rhizobium tropici CIAT899). Then, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 strains and reference strain were kept refrigerator at + 4C to be used for the second experiment. Experimental design 2 This study was conducted during 20082009 growing season at the farm of the Research Station of the Rural Services Research Institute in Konya (Turkey). The experiment was set up as a randomized complete block experimental design with 4 replications. There were 10 treatments consisting of: 6 native Rhizobium strains, reference strain (Rhizobium tropici CIAT899), mix strain, uninoculated plants with and nitrogen control. The experiment field is located in Konya plain (Latitude 37 55 N, longititute 32 47 E and altitude 1010 m above sea level) where the climate varies from arid to semiarid. The weather is usually cool during winter months and rainfallis rare. According to long term data, the annual average temperature, relative humidity, evaporation and precipitation are 10.8oC, 61.3%, 1114 and 326 mm, respectively. During planting, mineral fertilizers were applied, namely; nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium (40 kg N, 60 P2O5, 50 kg K20 ha-1, respectively). In addition, Fe, Mn, Cu and Zn were applied as sulphates at 54, 100, 4.5 and 8.5 kg ha-1 doses, respectively. Physical and Chemical Analysis of Dry Bean Plant height, pods per plant and seeds per plant were measured on 10 randomly selected plants per plot at maturity so that grain yield and biological yield was determined using all of the plants in the harvested area. The thousand seed weight was calculated by mean of three separate 500 seed weight, multiplied by 2. Harvest index was calculated as grain yield/biomass x 100 (Akin, 1974). Seeds were cleaned to remove foreign material before protein analysis. Protein content was calculated using the Kjeldahl method, Nx6.25 as a percentage. Plant Measures Plant samples were taken at flowering period and seed samples were taken after harvesting. The dry leaf samples were dried at 70 oC. Then they of 0.3 g were digested overnight at room temperature in 50 mL volumetric flasks with 2.5 mL of concentrated H2SO4 and subsequently heated on a hot plate at 180C for 30 min. Analytical grade (30%) hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) was added drop-wise. This procedure was repeated until the flask content became colorless. The solution was diluted to 50 mL with distilled water. Nitrogen content of plant leaf and seed were obtained by means of the Kjeldahl method (Bremner 1965).

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Statistical analyses All data collected for various studies was subjected to the analysis of variance appropriate to the design. The test of significance of the treatment differences was done on the basis of the F-test. The significant differences between treatments were compared with the critical difference at 1 and 5 % level of probability by the Duncan's tests (Dzgne, et al., 1987). Results The effects of native bacterial inoculation on plant yield and yield components were given in table 2. We found significant different effects induced by native rhizobia on growth parameters of common bean. Inoculation with rhizobium significantly (P<0.01-P<0.05) increased pods per plant, yield, biological yield, protein content and total nitrogen (leaf+seed) in all native rhizobium. Seed yield character was examined in this experiment, results of seed yield were tested in variance analysis and means were grouped in Duncan Multiple Comparison Test that was given table 2. Seed yield per area was found to be similar the biological yield per area. Inoculations increased seed yield per area as compared with control plots. The highest seed yield was obtained from plants inoculant with native rhizobium3 which showed approximately a 100 % increase over control plants. Seed yield and 1000 seed weight were higher in inoculation with native rhizobium than control (Table 2). Generally plant factors we measured in the study were positively affected by inoculation with native rhizobium strains. All the inoculations increased plant heights compared to the control plots (Table 2). There were significant differences (P<0.01 and P<0.05) between inoculation and yield components. Rhizobia strains were able to increase seed yield, number of seeds per pod, weight of thousand seed, total nitrogen and protein content over uninoculated control plants. Amount of seed yield by inoculated plants was ranging from 1890 to 3571 kg ha-1 depending on the strains. All the inoculations also increased harvest index. The average harvest index changed between 38.85 and 53.32 %. The highest harvest index was obtained from native rhizobium2 (53.32%). The lowest harvest index was obtained from control plant (38.85%). Rhizobium strains significantly (P<0.01-P<0.05) increased % protein content comparison the noninoculated treatment. Discussion This research has shown the effects of native rhizobium with inoculation significantly (P<0.01P<0.05) increased yield and yield component of common bean. Common bean is believed to be a poor nitrogen fixer due to the genetic characteristics of symbiotic partners as well as soil and environmental conditions (Vessey, 2003). Beneficial effects of rhizobia on common bean have been described in several studies with different climatic and soil conditions (Mostasso et al., 2002; Asadi et al., 2005). All the plant factors measured in the study were positively affected by inoculation with native rhizobium strains. Rhizobia strains were able to increase seed yield, number of seeds per pod, weight of thousand seed, total nitrogen and protein content over uninoculated control plants. Baran et al. (1999) reported that inoculation of Rhizobium etli increased protein and nitrogen content of bean. This could probably be attributed to increase in the nitrojen fixing efficiency of inoculated plants and therefore more nitrogen is fixed and translocated to the seeds. Rhizobium spp. inoculation has been reported to increase seed protein range of soybean (Koutroubas et al., 1998) faba bean (Cordovilla et al., 1999) and bean (Mostasso et al., 2002; Uyanz, 2007; Uyanz et al. 2011). In conclusion, 3 number isolates were found more effective for yield, biomass and increment of protein contents in comparison to control plants with or without nitrogen and the reference (Rhizobium tropici CIAT 899), and such effects were statistically significant (P<0.05). The results showed that Rhizobium inoculation had significant effects in increasing yield components and ultimately the final seed yield. Acknowledgments This study is a part of Mrs. mmhan Karacas PhD. Dissertation, which was supported by Seluk University Research Funds, Turkey.

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Table 2. The effect of native rhizobium inoculation on yield and yield component of dry bean Pod Harvest Biological yield (kg ha-1) % 2.02 cD 2.85 abBC 3.51 aA 3.18 abA-C 3.49 aA 3.20 abA-C 2.64 bcC 3.19 abA-C 3.25 abAB 2.87 abBC 3.50 abCD 3.78 abA-D 4.19 aA 4.12 aAB 3.57 abB-D 4.20 aA 4.05 abAB 4.02 abA-C 4.09 aAB 3.32 bD % 20.78 bD 21.86 abCD 23.64 abA-D 26.19 aA 25.73 aAB 22.34 abB-D 26.27 aA 25.34 abAB 25.16 abA-C 25.53 aAB 486.66 C 638.52 BC 782.22 AB 680.00 AB 831.11 A 677.04 AB 630.37 BC 688.15 AB 594.07 BC 625.19 BC (Leaf) (Seed) % index % 1890 bB 2987 aA 3345 aA 3482 aA 3571 aA 3006 aA 3033 aA 3107 aA 2986 aA 3144 aA 51.17 50.80 45.22 48.10 43.77 43.40 53.32 42.70 46.78 38.85 N N Protein height (cm) 13.54 14.71 14.17 14.54 14.71 14.50 13.80 14.50 14.42 14.88 485.47 483.88 491.72 477.11 490.99 492.64 468.25 520.64 445.38 456.46 (g) seed weight (kg ha-1) Thousand Yield

Isolation

Plant

Pods per

number

height

plant

(cm)

(number)

Control

49.58

49.17 cC

With N control

55.75

78.25 abA

Native R1

54.67

69.67 abcAB

Native R2

57.58

83.50 aA

Native R3

58.42

55.50 bcBC

Native R4

59.08

78.08 abA

Native R5

49.08

67.58 abcAB

Native R6

56.92

73.42 abA

116

Reference

55.75

66.92 abcAB

strain

Mix strain

60.17

82.50 aA

Means followed with the same letter within each column are not significantly different Duncan's Multiple Range Test (a-e : P<0.0, A-E : P<0.05) R : Rhizobium, N : Nitrogen Reference strain: Rhizobium tropici CIAT899

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Pirbalouti, A. G. Golparuar, A. R. and Rostampoor, S. A., (2006). Evaluation of seed yield and yield components of common bean Iranian cultivars for inoculation with four strains of Rhizobium sp. leguminosarum biovar phaseoli. Journal of Agronomy 5(3): 382386. 2006. Ramos M. L. and Boddey R. M. (1987). Yield and nodulation of Phaseolus vulgaris and the competitivity of an introduced strain: Effects of lime, mulch and repeated cropping. Soil Biology & Biochemistry 19, 171177. Richards, L. A. (1954). Diagnosis and Improvement of Saline and Alkali Soils. Dept. Of Agriculture. No: 60. Washington. D.C. Smith, H.W. and Weldon, M.D. (1941). A comparasion of some methods for the determination of soil organic matter. Soils Sci. Soc. Amer.. Proc.. 5: 177182. Somasegaran, P. and Hoben, H. J. (1994). Handbook for Rhizobia. Springer-verlag. New York. USA. Soltanpour, P. N. and Workman, S.M. (1981). Use of inductively-coupled plasma spectroscopy for the simultaneous determination of macro and micro nutrients in NH4HCO3-DTPA extracts of soils. Developments in Atomic Plasma Analysis. In: Barnes R.M. (ed). USA. 673-680. Thies JE, Ben Bohlool B, Singleton PW (1992). Environmental effects on competition for nodule occupancy between introduced and indigenous rhizobia and among introduced strains. Can J Microbiol 38:493500. Uyanz, R. (2007). The effects of different bio-organic, chemical and their combination on yield, macro and micro nutrition content of dry bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), International Journal of Agricultural Research, Academic Journals Inc, USA, 2(2): 115-125. Uyanz, R. Karaca, . (2011). Effects of different salt concentrations and Rhizobium inoculation (native and Rhizobium tropici CIAT899) on growth of dry bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), European Journal of Soil Biology 47 (2011) 387391. Vessey JK. (2003). Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria as biofertilizers. Plant Soil 255: 571-586 Vincent, J.M. (1970). A manual for the practical study of the root-nodule bacteria. IBP. Handbook. No:15. Blackwell Scientific Publications. Oxford. England.

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Response of rice to phosphate solubilizing Pseudomonas inoculation under phosphorus deficiency condition
Mahmoud Reza Ramezanpour
Board scientific member of Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Center of Mazandaran, Iran,

mrramezanpour@yahoo.com Corresponding Author:

Abstract:
Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria can enhance growth and yield of different crops through direct and indirect mechanisms. In this experiment, effect of phosphate solubilizing pseudomonads strains on yield, growth parameters and phosphorus uptake of three rice cultivars was studied. The experiment was carried out in a randomize complete design (RCD) in factorial experiment with four replications. Three cultivars of rice and six strains of Fluorescent pseudomonads were used along with a control treatment. The collected data included weight of fresh shoot, weight of dry shoot and phosphorus uptake by plant at flowering stage, and yield of grain, 1000 seed weight, number of panicles, number of spikelets, number of grains per panicle and phosphorus uptake in grain at maturity. Results of the experiment showed that all the parameters according to Duncan test (P 0.05) were significantly affected in different cultivars. Maximum grain yield was obtained from Neda cultivar. Inoculation with strains increased all plant biometrical parameters - growth indices and yield of rice. Maximum grain yield (30.61g per pot) was obtained with P. fluorescens GO15 strain and showed a significant increase in comparison with the control, (24.5%.). Maximum grain yield and growth indices were obtained from inoculation seeds of Neda cultivar with P. fluorescens GO15. Maximum rates of P uptake in plant and grain of rice were obtained from interaction of P. fluorescens GO12 with Neda cultivar and Khazar cultivar respectively. Based on the obtained results, fluorescent pseudomonads could affect yield of rice and P uptake in plant and grain. Key words: Rice, Phosphorus uptake, Phosphate solubilization, Fluorescent pseudomonads and grain yield

Introduction:
Evidence of naturally occurring rhizospheric phosphorus solubilizing microorganism (PSM) dates back to 1903 (Khan et al., 2007). PSB are being used as biofertilizers since 1950s (Kudashev, 1956; Krasilinikov, 1957). Release of P by PSB from insoluble and fixed / adsorbed forms is an important aspect regarding P availability in soils. There are strong evidences that soil bacteria are capable of transforming soil P to the forms available to plant. The PSB and plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) together could reduce P fertilizer application by 50 % without any significant reduction of crop yield (Jilani et al., 2007; Yazdani et al., 2009). It infers that PSB inoculants / biofertilizers hold great prospects for sustaining crop production with optimized P fertilization. Number of PSB among total PSM in north Iranian soil was around 88 % (Fallah, 2006). Among the soil bacterial communities, ectorhizospheric strains from Pseudomonas and Bacilli, and endosymbiotic rhizobia have been described as effective phosphate solubilizers (Ramezanpour, 2011). Strains from bacterial genera Pseudomonas, Bacillus, Rhizobium and Enterobacter along with Penicillium and Aspergillus fungi are the most powerful P solubilizers (Whitelaw, 2000). Phosphate rock minerals are often too insoluble to provide sufficient P for crop uptake. Use of PSMs can increase crop yields up to 70 percent (Verma, 1993). Pseudomonas spp. enhanced the number of nodules, dry weight of nodules, yield components, grain yield, nutrient availability and uptake in soybean crop (Son et al., 2006). Phosphate solubilizing bacteria enhanced the seedling length of Cicer arietinum , while co-inoculation of PSM and PGPR reduced P application by 50 % without affecting corn yield (Yazdani et al., 2009). Inoculation with PSB increased sugarcane yield by 12.6 percent (Sundara et al., 2002). Rhizospheric microorganisms can interact positively in promoting plant growth, as well as N and P uptake (Zaidi and Khan, 2006).

Material and Methods: Efficiency of the phosphate solubilizing pseudomonads genotypes in pot experiment
Pot experiment was carried out to investigate the effects phosphate solubilizing producing pseudomonads strains on growth and yield of three cultivars (cultivars: Tarom, Neda and Khazar)

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH of rice (Oryza Sativa L.) in Agricultural Natural Resources Researches Center of Mazandaran, Iran. Four strains of P. fluorescens strains (MZ3, GO15, MZ16 and GO12) and two strains of P. putida strains (GU10, GO11) were used in this experiment. The experiment was carried out in a complete randomized design (CRD) in factorial experiment with four replications. Loamy sand soil for pot experiment has pH 7.9, determined by electrometer; total nitrogen - 0.05 % measured by Kjeldahl method; calculated OM (Organic Matter) 0.97%; and OC (Organic Carbon) 0.56%; Pav (phosphorus availability) - 6.6 mg kg-1 (Olsen method); Kav (potassium availability) 135 mg kg-1 (Flame Photometric Method); Fe, Zn, Cu and Mn - respectively 5 mg kg-1, 2.10 mg kg1 , 9.50 mg kg-1 and 11.60 mg kg-1 (Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer). A week before sowing, pots of 2535cm size were filled with 5 kg of sieved soil. In each pot 4.5 g urea and 4.5 g potassium sulphate were added. Urea and potassium sulphate fertilizers were applied tree times (1/3 before sowing, 1/3 at the end of tillering and 1/3 at the flowering stage). The soil was moistened with water and eight seeds were sown in each pot and inoculated with 1 ml of bacterial cultures to provide approximately 108 cells seed-1. One non-inoculated control was also included. The experiment was carried out in a complete randomized design (CRD) in factorial experiment with four replications. The concentration of each isolate was approximately 108 CFU/ml. The collected data included: weight of fresh shoot, weight of dry shoot and nutrient uptake in the shoots at flowering stage, and plant height, yield, its components nutrients uptake in grain of rice at maturity.

Statistical Analysis:

The data for yield, components of yield, and nutrients uptake were subjected to analysis of variance using MSTATC, computer software (Bricker, 1991) and by Duncans Multiple Range Test (Duncan, 1955).

Results and discussion:

Effect of interaction between rice cultivars and different fluorescent pseudomonad strains on yield and its components: According to Duncan test (P 0.05) the rice cultivars inoculated with different strains significantly surpassed the control in all parameters. Maximum rates for grain yield (36.28g pot-1), weight of 1000 rice grains (35.00 g), number of panicle (25.00), and fresh weight of plant at mature stage (118.90 g) were obtained from inoculation seeds of Neda cultivar with P. fluorescens GO15 strain. Maximum quantity obtained for number of spikelets per panicle was 27.50 for two treatments P. putida GO11 and P. fluorescens MZ3 strains with Neda cultivar, which showed statistically significant difference with other treatments except GO15 strain. These results indicate the importance of these isolates and their influence on colonization, adaptive, and competitive capacities in the rhizosphere of rice Neda cultivar.

Fig. 1. Effect of different strains on rice grain yield

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Influence of interaction between the inoculated rice cultivars and different strains of fluorescent pseudomonads on phosphorus uptake in plant and grain: According to Duncan test (P 0.05), P uptake significantly affected the interaction between some cultivars of rice and different strains used for inoculation (Table 5). Maximum rate P uptake in plant was obtained from interaction P. fluorescens GO12 strain with Neda cultivar. Minimum rate of nutrient uptake was observed from uninoculated Tarom cultivar (control). Seed inoculation with P. fluorescens GO12 strain increased P uptake in plant in comparison with control by 369%. In our earlier investigations, P. fluorescens GO12 strain affected the yield and components of yield more than other isolates. These results also demonstrated the importance of these isolates and their influence on colonization, adaptive, and competitive capacities in the rice rhizosphere. According to Duncan test (P 0.05), P uptake in grain was significantly affected in some cultivars of rice inoculated with different strains (Table 25). Maximum rate of P uptake in grain of rice was observed from interaction of P. fluorescens GO12 genotype with Khazar cultivar. In our earlier investigations these three strains also affected the yield and its components more actively than other isolates.

References:

Bricker, B.A., (1991). Micro Computer Programme for the Design, Manage and Analysis of Agronomic Research Expt. Crop and Science Department, AUS, Lansin USA. Duncan, D.B., (1955). Multiple ranges a. multiple F- test. Biometrics. 11, 1-42. Fallah, A., (2006). Abundance and distribution of phosphate solubilizing bacteria and fungi in some soil samples from north of Iran. 18th World Congress of Soil Science, July 9-15, 2006, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Jilani, G., Akram. A., Ali. R.M., Hafeez. F.Y., Shamsi. I.H., Chaudhry. A.N., Chaudhry. A.G., (2007). Enhancing crop growth, nutrients availability, economics and beneficial rhizosphere microflora through organic and biofertilizers. Ann. Microbiol. 57,177-183. Khan, M.S., Zaidi. A., Wani. P.A., (2007). Role of phosphate-solubilizing microorganisms in sustainable agriculture - A review. Agron. Sustain. Dev. 27, 29-43. Krasilinikov, N.A., (1957). On the role of soil micro-organism in plant nutrition. Microbiologiya. 26,659-72. Kudashev, I.S., (1956). The effect of phosphobacterin on the yield and protein content in grains of Autumm wheat, maize and soybean. Doki. Akad. Skh. Nauk. 8:20-23. Ramezanpour, M., Y. Popov., K. Khavazi., H. Asadi Rahmani., (2011). Molecular genosystematic and physiological characteristics of fluorescent pseudomonads isolated from the rice rhizosphere of Iranian paddy fields. African J. Agr Res. 6(1), 145-151. Son, T.T.N., Diep. C.N., Giang. T.T.M., (2006). Effect of bradyrhizobia and phosphate solubilizing bacteria application on Soybean in rotational system in the Mekong delta. Omonrice. 14:48-57. Sundara, B., Natarajan. V., Hari. K., (2002). Influence of phosphorus solubilizing bacteria on the changes in soil available phosphorus and sugarcane yields. Field Crops Res. 77:43-49. Verma, L.N., (1993). Biofertiliser in agriculture. p. 152-183.In: P.K. Thampan (ed.). Organics in soil health and crop production. Peekay Tree Crops Development Foundation, Cochin, India. Whitelaw, M.A., (2000). Growth promotion of plants inoculated with phosphate solubilizing fungi Adv. Agron. 69:99-151. Yazdani M., Bahmanyar. M.A., Pirdashti. H., Esmaili. M.A., (2009). Effect of Phosphate solubilization microorganisms (PSM) and plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) on yield and yield components of Corn (Zea mays L.). Proc. World Acad. Science, Eng. Technol. 37:90-92. Zaidi, A., and Khan. M.S., (2006). Co-inoculation effects of phosphate solubilizing microorganisms and Glomus fasciculatumon on green gram - Bradyrhizobium symbiosis. Turk. J. Agric. 30:223-230.

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Effects of Phosphate Solubilizing Microorganisms and Phosphorus Chemical Fertilizer on Yield and Yield Components of Wheat
Sara Ramzani Movafagh*, A.Reza Fallah
Soil and Water Research Institute of Iran, Meshkin Abad, Karaj, Iran Corresponding Author: sara.rm84@yahoo.com Abstract Highly calcareous soils are abundant in Iran .The calcium carbonate equivalent (CCE) of these soils reach up to 650 g kg-1. Although phosphorus (P) fertilizer is being widely used in these soils, little information, if any, is available about P status in such soils. The ability of a few soil microorganisms to convert insoluble forms of phosphorus (P) to an accessible form is an important trait in plant growth-promoting bacteria for increasing plant yields. The use of phosphate solubilizing bacteria as inoculants increases the P uptake by plants. The effect of seed inoculation by phosphate solubilizing microorganisms and different levels of phosphorus chemical fertilizer on yield and yield components of wheat was studied in greenhouse condition. The experimental treatments were arranged in split plot factorial based on a complete randomized block design with three replications. Five phosphorus fertilizer levels of 0 (control),25, 50, 75 and 100 kg/ha were allocated to the main plots, three levels of Phosphate solubilizing bacteria of 0 (control), Pseudomonas petida and Bacillus sircalmous and 2 levels of manure of 0 and 15 t/ha were assigned to the subplots in a factorial combination. Sole application of Pseudomonas petida produced the maximum biological yield, According to the results of this experiment; application of bacteria in absence of any chemical phosphorus fertilizer had an appropriate performance and could increase biomass production to an acceptable level, so it could be considered as a suitable substitute for chemical phosphorous fertilizer in organic agricultural systems. Key words: manure, phosphate solubilizing bacteria, triple super phosphate, wheat.

Introduction Phosphorus is one of the major essential macronutrients for biological growth and development (Ehrlich, 1990). Many soils throughout the world are P-deficient because the free phosphorus concentration even in fertile soils is generally not higher than 10 M even at 6.5 where it is most soluble (Arnou, 1953). Large amount of phosphorus applied as fertilizer enters in to the immobile pools through precipitation reaction with highly reactive Al3+ and Fe3+ in acidic, and Ca2+ in calcareous or normal soils (Gyaneshwar et al., 2002). Many types of microorganisms are known to inhabit soil, especially rhizosphere and play a key role in soil phosphorus dynamics and subsequent availability of phosphate to plants (Richardson, 2001). Phosphate solubilizing microorganisms refer to a group of soil microorganisms that as components of phosphorus cycle, can release it from insoluble sources by different mechanisms (Salehrastin, 1999), these microorganisms are effective in releasing P from inorganic and organic pools of total soil phosphorus through solubilization and mineralization (Hilda and Fraga, 1999). Phosphate solubilizing microorganisms secrete different types of organic acids e.g., carboxylic acid (Deubel & Merbach, 2005) thus lowering the pH in the rhizosphere (He & Zhu, 1988) and consequently dissociate the bound forms of phosphate like Ca (PO ) in calcareous soils. They could help increase the availability of accumulated phosphate (by solubilization), efficiency of biological nitrogen fixation and enhancing the availability of other trace elements such as Fe, Zn etc., and by production of plant growth promoting substances (Kucey et al., 1989). Application of phosphoresces along with phosphate solubilizing microorganisms (PSM) improved phosphorus uptake by plants and yields indicating that the PSM are able to solubilizing phosphates and to mobilize phosphorus in crop plants (Rogers, 1993). Phosphorus application and bacterial inoculation affect yield of soybean through their effects on phosphorus use efficiency (Shah, 2001) Also they are successful applied in the cultivation of barley and chick pea plants (RodriguezBarraeco, 2002). A phosphate solubilizing Rhizobium leguminosarum has been shown to increase the growth of maize and lettuce (Chabot et al., 1996). The phosphate solubilizing bacteria - plant inoculations resulted in 10-15% increases in crop yields in 10 out of 37 experiments (Tandon, 1987). Phosphate solubilizing bacteria enhanced the seedling length of Cicer arietinum (Sharma et al., 2007), while co-inoculation of PSM and PGPR reduced P application by 50% without affecting corn yield (Yazdani et al., 2009). This experiment was conducted to compare the efficiency of
3 4 2

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH phosphate solubilizing bacteria association with different amounts of chemical phosphorous fertilizer on yield and yield components of wheat. Materials and Methods A pot experiment was carried out in Soil and Water Research Institute of Iran, to investigate the effects of phosphate solubilizing bacteria (Pseudomonas and Bacillus) and phosphorus chemical fertilizer on yield and yield components of wheat (Triticum aestivum) variety Shiraz in greenhouse condition. Plastic pots (10 kg soil capacity) were used for trial. Soil having pH 7.97, P content 3.4 ppm, the soil properties before planting is shown in table1.
Table 1: Soil chemical properties of experimental area Sample pH EC T.N.V N depth dsm-1 % % mg/kg 0-30 7.97 0.92 5.9 0.037 K % 200 P mg/kg 3.4 Fe mg/kg 1.38 Zn mg/kg 1.46

Un-sterilized soil was air dried and filled in pots. Composite soil samples were collected and analyzed (analysis given above). These pots were placed under greenhouse conditions. Eight seeds were sown in each pot. The experimental design for the study was arranged as factorial on the basis of completely randomized block design with three replicates. Five levels of phosphorous chemical fertilizer (triple supper phosphate) consisting of P1 =25, P2 =50, P3 =75, P4 =100 kg-1 ha and control P0=no chemical fertilizer were allocated to the main plots and three levels of Phosphate solubilizing bacteria of B0 = control, B1= Pseudomonas potida, B2= Bacillus sircalmous and two levels of manure of 0 and 15 ton ha-1 were assigned to the subplots in a factorial combinations. Seedbed preparation was done in early autumn. Nitrogen fertilizer of 250 kg ha-1 was used in the form of urea. Nitrogen fertilizer was top dressed in three portions, one third at the time of planting, one third before flowering and the remain at the time of grain filling. The inoculants bacteria, Pseudomonas potida and Bacillus sircalmous have a good ability to facilitate phosphorus uptake and Auxine hormone secretion which effectively enhances the plant growth at 5108 cell g-1 population. To inoculate the seed by biological fertilizers, the seed were first covered by Arabic Gum solution and then bacteria were applied according to experimental treatments. All the seeds were sown soon after inoculation in experimental plastic plots. Weeds were removed by hand and plots were irrigated as required through the growing seasons. Grain yield and yield components were measured after plants reached their physiological maturity in late June. To measure the grain yields components, all the plants were cut from each plot, and all the yield components were measured on them. The data obtained in the study were subjected to analysis of variance using MSTATC, computer software (Bricker, 1991) and means were compared by Duncans Multiple Range Test (Duncan, 1955). Results and Discussion The results of analysis of variance and the comparison of the means of main effects of treatments are presented in Tables 2 and 3, respectively. In this study generally most of the parameters were significantly affected by inoculation treatments over control (Table 2).
Table 2: Analysis of variance of measured parameters
Variable Degree of freedom 2 2 1 2 4 8 4 8 58 DM N P K

Replication 2.150 0.006 ns 0.001 ns 0.009ns ** * ** Bacteria 24.002 0.033 0.007 0.090ns ** ns ** 0.003ns Organic Matter(OM) 190.62 0.000 0.104 Organic MatterBacteria 3.157** 0.044* 0.002** 0.665** 0.148* Triple Super phosphate(TSP) 26.042** 0.008ns 0.007** Bacteria TSP 14.447** 0.071** 0.003** 0.154** 0.147* OM TSP 22.317** 0.005ns 0.002** BacteriaOM TSP 3.113** 0.026* 0.001* 0.157** Error 0.618 0.009 0.0002 0.044 Coefficient of variation (%) 5.51 11.31 8.67 12.61 ** = Highly significant at 1% level of probability, * = Significant at 5% level of probability, NS= Non-significant

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Dry Matter: The analysis of variance (Table 2) showed significant effect of phosphorus fertilizers, bacterial inoculation and organic matter treatment and their interaction effects on dry matter. Phosphate solubilizing bacteria without any P fertilizer increased dry matter weight. However when PSB was used in conjunction with P fertilizer and organic matter, a much greater effect was observed. All the treatments involving P fertilizer+ PSB, Organic matter+ PSB improved and PSB+ organic matter+ P fertilizer improved dry matter weight. Under absences of chemical phosphorus -1 fertilizer, the most amount of dry matter of 15.10 g pot was obtained by Pseudomonas Poetida inoculation (Table 3). The interaction effect of bacteria and organic matter on dry matter was also -1 significant. The most amounts of dry matter weight of 16.30 and 16.70 g pot were obtained by coapplication of Pseudomonas Poetida organic matter and Bacillus sircalmous organic matter that were 39.5 and 36.2 percent more than control. The maximum amount of dry matter of 18.25 g -1 pot was obtained by Pseudomonas poetida 75Kg ha-1 TSP organic matter that was 140.5 percent more than control. The obtained results conclude that even the sole application of bacteria can considerably increase dry matter. Salehrastin (1999) reported the considerable increase in maize, soybean and wheat yield as a result of the use of bacterial fertilizer. %N: The effect of triple supper phosphate fertilizer and organic matter on %N was not significant (Table 2), the effect of phosphate solubilizing bacteria on N content was significant at 5% level of probability but The most amounts of N content of 0.8720 % was obtained by control. The maximum amount of N of 1.120% was obtained by interaction effect of no bacteria 100Kg ha-1 TSP organic matter that was 76 percent more than control. %P: The effects of phosphate chemical fertilizer, organic matter and phosphate solubilizing bacteria on P content were significant (Table 2). Due to the antagonistic effect of high amounts of chemical phosphorus fertilizer on bacteria the maximum amount P content of 0.277 % was obtained by interaction effect of no bacteria 75 Kg ha-1 TSP organic matter that was 197 percent more than control, and the minimum content of P of 0.093 % was obtained using no bacteria 0Kg ha-1 TSP no organic matter. These results are supported by other study in which phosphate solubilizing bacteria were used as inoculants. The maximum N and P uptake were observed in bacteria containing treatments. This suggests that there is a direct and positive synergic effect between fungus and bacteria on soil phosphorous availability (Kim, et al., 1989). Some agricultural practices like over application of chemical fertilizers, fungicides, herbicides and pesticides have negative effects on life and development of microorganisms (Arpana, et al., 2002). On the basis of this study, it seems that interaction of phosphate solubilizing bacteria and phosphorous fertilizer did not have many positive effects on P content. It can be also concluded that the initial soil phosphorus content was already adequate without phosphorus fertilizer application. It means that the adequate amount of phosphorus in the soil provided with enough resources for phosphate solubilizing bacteria to provide high levels of available phosphorous while application of high levels of chemical phosphorous fertilizer led to an antagonistic interaction with bacteria. Thus, to make a better result, under the conditions of present experiment, it is recommended to use the application of phosphate solubilizing bacteria without any chemical phosphorous chemical fertilizer. %K: The analysis of variance (Table 2) showed no significant effect of phosphorus solubilizing bacteria and organic matter on K content but their interaction was significant at 5% level of probability. Under absences of chemical phosphorus fertilizer, phosphate solubilizing bacteria were able to significantly increase the K content. The maximum amount of K of 1.830% was obtained by interaction effect of Pseudomonas poetida organic matter even it was in same level of Bacillus Sircalmous no organic matter. The results of this experiment showed that using phosphate solubilizing bacteria increases K content. In summary, the final results of phosphate solubilizing bacteria in our experiments show that phosphate solubilising bacteria can play an essential role in helping plants establish and grow in nutrient deficient conditions. PSB are able to mobilise more P into plants, where hard soluble phosphates are presented in soil and increased yield and growth.

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Table 3: Mean comparisons of the main effects N Treatments Dry Matter -1 % (g pot )
B0 B1 13.32 c 15.10 a

P %
0.2083 a 0.1922 b

K %
ns ns

0.8720 a 0.8547 ab

14.35 b 0.8083 b 0.1735 c ns B2 c ns 0.1602 b 1.647 ab 12.49 P0 14.30 b ns 0.1848 ab 1.758 a P1 ns 0.1917 ab 1.709 a 14.17 b P2 15.87 a ns 0.2114 a 1.516 b P3 b ab ns 0.2011 1.644 ab 14.46 P4 Values followed by different letters in a column were significantly different (P < 0.05); using Duncans multiple range tests. B0 = control, B1= Pseudomonas potida, B2= Bacillus sircalmous and P0=no chemical fertilizer, P1 =25, P2 =50, P3 =75, P4 =100 kg-1 ha

References Arnou, D.I.1953. In Soil and Fertilizer Phosphorus in Crop Nutrition (IV). Ed. WH Pierre. Noramn, AG. Acad. Press NY. Arpana, N., S.D. Kumar and T.N. Prasad, 2002. Effect of seed inoculation, fertility and irrigation on uptake of major nutrients and soil fertility status after harvest of late sown lentil. Journal of Applied Biology, 12(1/2): 23-26 . Bricker, B., 1991. A Micro Computer Programme for the Design, Manage and Analysis of Agronomic Research Expt. Crop and Science Department, AUS, Lansin USA. Chabot R., Antoun H., Cesas M.P. 1996. Growth promotion of maize and lettuce by phosphate solubilizing Rhizobium leguminosarum biovar phaseoli. Plant Soil 184, 311-321. Deubel, A. and W. Merbach, 2005. Influence of microorganisms on phosphorus bioavailability in soils. In: Buscot, F. and A. Varma (eds.), Microorganisms in Soils: Roles in Genesis and Functions, pp: 17791. Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg, Germany. Duncan, D.B., 1955. Multiple range and multiple F- test. Biometrics, 11: 142 Ehrlich HL. Mikrobiologische und biochemische Verfahrenstechnik. In: Einsele A, Finn RK, Samhaber W, editors. Geomicrobiology, 2nd ed. Weinheim: VCH Verlagsgesellschaft, 1990. Gyaneshwar, P., G. N. Kumar, L. J. Parekh and P. S. Poole. 2002. Role of soil microorganisms in improving P nutrition of plants. Plant Soil 245:83-93. He, Z. and J. Zhu, 1988. Microbial utilization and transformation of phosphate adsorbed by variable charged minerals. Soil Biol. Biochem., 30: 91723. Hilda, R., Fraga, R., 1999. Phosphate solubilizing bacteria and their role in plant growth promotion. Biotechnol. Adv. 17, 319359. Kim, K.Y., D. Jordan and G.A. McDonald, 1989. Effect of phosphate-solubilizing bacteria (PSB) and VAM on tomato growth and soil microbial activities. Biology of Fertility Soils, 26: 79-87. Kucey, R.M.N., H.H. Janzen and M.E. Leggett, 1989. Microbially mediated increases in plantavailable phosphorus. Ad. Agron., 42: 199228. Richardson, A. E. 2001. Prospects for using soil microorganisms to improve the acquisition of phosphorus by plants. Aust. J. Plant Physiol. 28:897-906. Rodriguez-Barraeco, C., Martinez-Molina, E. and E. Velazquez. 2002. Effect of inoculation of a phosphate solubilising strain from Pseudomonas jessenii on growth of barley and chickpea plants under growth chamber conditions. 170. In Proceedings of International Congress of Bacteriology and Applied Microbiology, Paris 27 July 1 August Rogers, R.D. and J.H. Wolfram. 1993. Phosphorus, Sulphur and Silicon Related Elements, 77, 1-4. 137-140. Salehrastin, N., 1999. Biological Fertilizers, Soil and Water Research Institute of Iran .Scientific Journal of Soil and Water, 12(3): 35-42. Shah, P., Kakar, K.M. and K. Zada. 2001. Phosphorus use efficiency of soybean as affected by phosphorus application and inoculation. 670-671. In. (W.J. Horst. Eds.). Plant Nutrition- Food Security and Sustainability of Agroecosystems.
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Sharma, K., G. Dak, A. Agrawal, M. Bhatnagar and R. Sharma. 2007. Effect of phosphate solubilizing bacteria on the germination of Cicer arietinum seeds and seedling growth. J. Herb. Med. Toxicol. 1:61-63. Tandon H.L 1987. Phosphorus Research and Production in India. Fertilizer Development and Consultation Organisation New Delhi, 160 pp. Yazdani M., M. A. Bahmanyar, H. Pirdashti and M. A. Esmaili. 2009. Effect of Phosphate solubilization microorganisms (PSM) and plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) on yield and yield components of Corn (Zea mays L.). Proc. World Acad. Science, Eng. Technol. 37:90-92.

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Accumulation rate of heavy metals (As, Cd, Cu, Zn, Cr, Hg, Se, Pb and Ni) in soils of Hamedan province, Iran and most affecting factors on this accumulation
Mojgan Yeganeh1, Majid Afyuni1, Amir Hosein Khoshgoftarmanesh1, Manouchehr Amini2, Alireza Soffyanian3, Rainer Schulin4
1 2

Department of soil science, College of agriculture, Isfahan university of technology, System Analysis, Integrated Assessment and Modeling, Eawag, Dbendorf Switzerland 3 Department of environmental science, Isfahan University of technology 4 ETH Zurich, Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems (ITES), Zrich, Switzerland

Abstract

Accumulation of heavy metals in soil reduces the soil fertility and quality; in addition it can disorder the ecological roles of soil. Then evaluating the concentration of heavy metals in arable soils, determination of accumulation rates and predicting their concentration in the future is necessary for agricultural lands management and decision making to prevent of reaching to critical status of metals pollution. One of the most popular methods to evaluate the accumulation rate of metals in soil is mass balance method. The objective of this study is to model the accumulation rate of heavy metals in Hamedan province, Iran using MFA model, using mass balance method. In this study we modified the model with considering the effect of all kind of livestock and adding the new input module for weathering in the structure of the model. It has not been considered in MFA model if the weathering rates of metals can be the important input of metals or not. We added this module using Zr depletion method. In all towns and for all metals weathering doesnt have any important effect on accumulation rates. In all towns and for all metals weathering doesnt have any important effect on accumulation rates. In all towns except Hamedan the mean effect of weathering on metals accumulation is less than 0.02 g ha-1y-1, in Hamedan the mean effect of weathering is about 0.04 g ha-1y-1 , the main bedrocks of this town is alluvium. In all cases the most important factor in metals accumulation is manure, pesticides and crop removal. Keywords: mass balance modeling, heavy metals accumulation

A sustainable society has been described by four system conditions (Azar et al., 1996; Robe`rt et al., 2002) that specify that nature should not be subjected to (i) systematically increasing concentrations of substances extracted from the earths crust; (ii) systematically increasing concentrations of substances produced by society; (iii) degradation by physical means and (iv) that human needs are met worldwide . Heavy metals enter the agricultural system via atmospheric deposition, feedstuffs, mineral fertilizers, industrial and domestic wastes, and via irrigation water. The calculation of element balances makes it possible to represent fluxes and flows of elements between individual system compartments using easy-to-understand accounting principles. The approach is flexible and transparent as it can be used for a wide range of commodities and applied across both natural and artificial boundaries and scales. Soil monitoring gives the current soil status, but is often not sufficiently sensitive to detect the slow rates of accumulation or depletion that occurs. These can, however, readily be detected by soil surface balances (e.g. Andersson, 1992; Keller and Schulin, 2003; Bengtsson et al., 2003). The latter require accurate data of inputs and outputs, and a weak point is that currently there is very little data available on both leaching below the plough layer and below the rooting depths, which can result in a large degree of uncertainty in field balances for Cd, Zn and other trace elements (McGrath, 2001). Many heavy metals are strongly retained by soils. Even small annual additions can lead to problematic concentrations for animal or human consumption. Models are often used to track this process. Most trace elements indicators used to garner a sense of the risk to continued trace elements application take the form of element balances, where inputs and losses are considered. A number of different element balances and indicators were reviewed for use (Keller and Schulin, 2003, Dragosits et al., 2002; Van Den Hout et al., 1999; Bengtsson et al., 2003). The element balance approach is a useful tool for evaluating the sustainability of a farming system (Janssen, 2003; Goodlass et al., 2003). For agriculture to be sustainable, it is essential to maintain

Introduction

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH soil fertility while minimizing any potential negative impacts on surrounding ecosystems. Longterm accumulation of heavy metals can affect soil quality and production. Heavy metals are key issues in environmental policy and management. They pose risks to human health and ecosystems and may become scarce. Accumulation of heavy metals in agricultural soils may cause serious problems for soil quality, groundwater and food chains. To sustain soil quality in the long-term, monitoring tools such as soil surveys and element balances are required. The former tool provides valuable information about current soil status regarding soil quality standards. However, accumulation of heavy metals in agricultural soils may occur at rather slow rates. Hence, it may take decades to detect accumulation trends in soil with statistical significance as shown by the Swiss Soil Monitoring Network (BUWAL, 2000). Therefore, to ascertain long-term soil quality, the concept of assessing soil quality criteria by means of soil surveys should be complemented by mass flux balances. Sustainable land use requires that zero accumulation rates of contaminants can be achieved over a long timescale. There is some studies about the effect of weathering on nutrient or pollutant elements. In some studies in K field balances for four organic farming systems on sandy soils which varied widely between 12 and 30 kg ha_1 per year. It has been suggested that in organic farming systems the weathering rate of K-containing minerals could be crucial in maintaining a positive K balance (Guinee et al., 1999). There is no module for considering weathering in metals accumulation rates in MFA and other models evaluating this rate. Then the objective of this study is adding the weathering module (using Zr depletion method) and model the accumulation rate of heavy metals in Hamedan province, Iran using MFA model considering the effect of different kind of livestock. Methods and materials This study was done in agricultural lands of Hamesan province because Hamedan province represents a typical situation for Iran and its geology is similar to other provinces, but this province has a wide variety of geology and is interesting in this aspect. At harvest time we took 149 samples from most important crops in the area, included: 28 potato, 39 wheat, 45 alfalfa, 21 barley, 12 corn samples. Also we took 35 samples of livestock (sheep and cow) and poultry manures and 290 soil samples from different horizons and 11 irrigation water samples. We used some data about area of the agricultural lands and, yield of crops, number of livestock, is published annually by agriculture ministry of Iran. After preparing samples we determine total concentration of Cu, Hg, Ni, Cd, Cr, As, Pb, Se in all samples using relevant methods (Shi et al. 2005, Burt et al. 2003, Han et al. 2006, Li et al. 2006, Demiraket al. 2006, Fu et al. 2008). Modeling We used MFA (Mass Flux Analysis), a mass balance model. This is a modified version of PROTERRA- S for Iran area, which has been done by Amini (2004). In this study we modified this model to consider weathering as an input module and also considering the effect of different livestock in total uncertainty of the model. Results and discussion In the study area compost and sewage sludge are not used and there is no information about the metals leaching and atmospheric deposition of metals in the study area, then we couldnt recognize the effect of these fluxes on the accumulations. The concentration of metals in pesticides is almost zero and we didnt consider the concentration of metals in pesticides, in the modeling. The results show that in all towns and for all metals the most important fluxes are: manure, chemical fertilizers and crop removal, Specially for nutrient metals such as Cu, crop removal flux is very important In all towns and for all metals the least important fluxes are: Irrigation, weathering and in the case of Hg, mineral fertilizers. In all towns and for all metals weathering doesnt have any important effect on accumulation rates. In all towns except Hamedan the mean effect of weathering on metals accumulation is less than 0.02 g ha-1y-1 , in this town the mean effect of weathering is about 0.04 g ha-1y-1 , the main
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH bedrocks of this town is alluvium which have a significant amount of Cr, Ni, Zn and V. Also this kind of bedrock can have almost fast weathering. We have the least effect of weathering in Malayer, Razan and Toiserkan towns. The main bedrock in Malayer is Igneous and metamorphic rocks (with a very slow rates of weathering), main bedrock in Razan and Toiserkan is Alluvium and Shale and Marl, Alluvium respectively, but the most agricultural lands are located on the Shale, marl and limestone bedrocks with a low amounts of heavy metals. Figure 1 shows the total accumulation rates for all metals. The most accumulation rate was observed for Zn andCu, because of their present in high amount in mineral fertilizers and manure and animal feeds. The least accumulation rate was observed for Se and Cd.

Figure 1-Total accumulation rates for all metals. In all cases the most important factor affecting the model uncertainty is manure, specially cow manures. It means that we can reduce the model uncertainty with working on manure data. References Amini, M. 2004. Modeling heavy metal accumulation and assessing its uncertainty in agroecosystems of Isfahan region. PhD thesis, Isfahan University of Technology. Isfahan. Iran. Andersson, A., 1992. Trace elements in agricultural soils_ fluxes, balances and background values. Swedish Environmental Protection Agency Report 4077. Azar, C., Holmberg, J., Lindgren, K., 1996. Socio-ecological indicators for sustainability. Ecol. Econ. 18, 89_/112. Bengtsson, H., .O born, I., Jonsson, S., Nilsson, S.I., Andersson, A., 2003. Field balances of some mineral nutrients and trace elements in organic and conventional dairy farming_ case study at O jebyn, Sweden. Eur. J. Agron., 20, 101_116. Burt, R., Wilson, M. A., Mays, M. D. S. 2003. Major and trace elements of selectedpedons in the USA. J. Environ Qual, 32,210921. BUWAL, 2000. Nationales Bodenbeobachtungsnetz: Veranderungen von Schadstoffgehalten nach 5 und 10 Jahren. Schriftenreihe Umwelt Nr. 320. Bundesamt fu r Umwelt, Wald und Landschaft (BUWAL), Bern, Switzerland. Demirak, A., Yilmaz, F., Tuna, A. L. 2006. Heavy metals in water, sediment and tissues of Leuciscuscephalus from a stream in southwestern Turkey. Chemosphere, 63,14518. Dragosits, U., Theobald, M.R., Place, C.J., Lord, E., Webb, J., Hill, J., ApSimon, H.M., and Sutton, M.A.. 2002. Ammonia emission, deposition, and impact assessment at the field scale: A case study of sub-grid spatial variability. Environ. Pollut., 117,147158.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Fu, J. J., Zhou, Q. F., Liu, J. M. 2008. High levels of heavy metals in rice (Oryza sativa L.) from a typical E-waste recycling area in southeast China and its potential risk to human health. Chemosphere, 71,126975. Goodlass, G., Halberg, N., Verschuur, G. 2003. Input_output accounting systems in the European community_an appraisal of their usefulness in raising awareness of environmental problems. Eur. J. Agron., 20, 17_24. Guinee, J.B., van den Bergh, J.C.J.M., Boelens ,J., Fraanje, P.J., Huppes, G., Kandelaars, P.P.A.A.H., Lexmond, Th.M., Lexmond, S.W. x, Olsthoorn, A.A., Udo de Haes, H.A., Verkuijlen, E., van der Voet, E. 1999. Evaluation of risks of metal flows and accumulation in economy and environment. Ecological Economics, 30, 4765. Han, F. X., Su, Y., Monts, D. L. 2006. Binding, distribution, and plant uptake of mercury in a soil from Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA. Sci Total Environ, 368,75368. Jansons, V., Busmanis, P., Dzalbe, I., Kirsteina, D., 2003. Catchment and drainage field nitrogen balances and nitrogen loss in three agriculturally influenced Latvian watersheds. Eur. J. Agron., 20, 173_179. Keller, A., Schulin, R., 2003. Modelling regional-scale mass balances of phosphorus cadmium and zinc fluxes on arable and dairy farms. Eur. J. Agron., 20, 181_198. Li, M. S., Luo, Y. P., Su, Z. Y. 2006. Heavy metal concentrations in soils and plant accumulation in a restored manganese mineland in Guangxi, South China. Environ. Pollut., 147,16875 McGrath, S.P., 2001. Element budgets on regional, catchment, farm and field scale: a useful tool toward sustainability. Food Chain 2001, 14_16 March 2001, Uppsala, Sweden (Programme Abstracts, 219_/225. SLU Service/Reproenhet, Uppsala, 2001). Pagee,,J.A. , Villars, M., Sliggers, C.J. 1999. The impact of atmospheric deposition of nonacidifying substances on the quality of European forest soils and the North Sea. Water Air Soil Pollut., 109,357396. Robe`rt, K.-H., Schmidt-Bleek, B., Aloisi de Larderel, J., Basile, G., Jansen, J.L., Kuehr, R., Price Thomas, P., Susuki, M., Hawken, P., Wackernagel, M. 2002. Strategic sustainable development_/selection design and synergies of applied tools. J. Clean. Prod. 10, 197_/214. Shi, A. B., Liang, L. N., Jiang, G. B. 2005. The speciation and bioavailability of mercury in sediments of Haihe River, China. Environ Internat, 31,35765. Van Den Hout, K.D., Sutton, D.J. x, Berdowski, J.J.M., Van Jaarsveld, J.A., Reinds, Bril ,G.J., Breeuwsma, J., A., Groenenberg, J.E., De Vries, W., Van born , I. O , Edwards, A.C., Witter, E., Oenema, O., Ivarsson, K., Withers, P.J.A, Nilsson, S.I, Richert Stinzing, A., Element balances as a tool for sustainable nutrient management: a critical appraisal of their merits and limitations within an agronomic and environmental context. Europ. J. Agronomy, 20 , 211_225.

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Phosphate and Calcium Adsorption Interactions on Kaolinite: 1. Phosphate Adsorption as Function of Equilibrium Concentration, Ph, and Ionic Strength
Fateme Aghamir*, Rasoul Rahnemaie and Mohammad Jafar Malakouti
Soil Science Department, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran *Corresponding Author: aghamir110@yahoo.com

Abstract Activity of phosphate ion in soil solution is simultaneously influenced by the adsorption-desorption and dissolution-precipitation reactions. These reactions control phosphorus availability for plants and microorganisms. Thus, study of these reactions is important from agricultural and crop production and also environmental point of view. In this study, phosphate ion adsorption on kaolinite mineral was measured as function of pH, equilibrium concentration, ionic strength and solid-solution ratio. Experimental data showed that phosphate adsorption is strongly influenced by the solution pH, and it is exponentially reduced with an increase in solution pH. In the studied pH range (4 to 8), phosphate adsorption maximum was found at pH about 4. Increase in the ionic strength enhanced phosphate adsorption. These findings indicate the importance of clay minerals in controlling phosphate equilibrium concentration with changes in pH and ionic strength. Keywords: Equilibrium concentration, ionic strength, phosphorus, soil pH.

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The effect of phosphate solubilizing bacteria on soil P, phosphatase activity, P uptake and yield of sweet corn (Zea mays var. saccharata Sturt L) in Ultisols and Andisols
Betty Natalie Fitriatin and Dickdick Maulana Department of Soil Science Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Padjadjaran, Indonesia E-mail : fitriatin@yahoo.com

Abstract
Phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB) has the capability of dissolving soil phosphorus which has been adsorbed and can mineralize organic P to become inorganic P, hence increasing the avalibility of P in the soil. Phosphate solubilizing bacteria produce organic acid and phosphatase which can hydrolize organic P to be inorganic P, ready for uptake by the plant. The research was conducted to determine the inoculation of PSB on phosphatase activity, soil P, P uptake and yield of sweet corn in two different soil types. The research was conducted in a green house using Randomized Block Design (RBD) in factorial pattern, consisting of two factors : the first factor consisted of phosphate solubilizing bacteria inoculants (A), which were ; without inoculants (a0), Bacillus mycoides (a1), Bacillus laterosporus (a2) and Flavobacterium balustinum (a3), and the second factor included different types of soil order (B), which were : Andisols from Lembang (b1) and Ultisols from Kentrong (b2). The variables identified in this research were soil phosphatase activity, available P, P uptake and yield of sweet corn. The results of this study indicated that inoculation of phosphate solubilizing bacteria on Andisols and Ultisols increased soil phosphatase activity, available P and yield of sweet corn. Phosphatase activity, available P, P uptake and yield of sweet corn on Andisols was higher than Ultisols. Key words : Andisols, phosphate solubilizing bacteria, phosphatase, Ultisols

Introduction Phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB) has important role in phosphorus (P) transformation process and an intergral component of P cycle in the soil which effectively released P of inorganic and organic form by dissolving and mineralization mechanism (Tate, 1984). Phosphate solubilizing bacteria produced an organic acid (Withelaw, 2000) which useful in P dissolving process in the soil and phosphatase enzyme and has fungtion in organic P mineralization to becoming inorganic P in the soil (George et al., 2002; Vespasalainen, 2002; Sarapatka, 2003; Zongqi et al., 2004). Phosphate solubilizing process by PSB highly affected by types of inoculants and soil characteristics. Phosphatase activities related to the soil physics and chemistry (Djordjevic et al., 2003), land cultivation (Dinesh et al., 2000), fertilization and planting pattern (Sarapatka, 2002). Research result by Djordjevic et al. (2003) explained that the depth of soil, humus content, and soil textures in eight types of soil affected to the phosphatase activity. His result showed that the soil with 13.66 % humus, has phosphatase activity was 129.59 g pNP g-1 soil sec-1, while soil with the humus content 6.05 %, has phosphatase activity was 33.54 g pNP g-1 soil sec-1. Soil with clay textures, has phosphatase activity was 32.5 g pNP g-1 soil sec-1, while in the soil with the sandy textures has 9.16 g pNP g-1 soil sec-1. Research result by Fitriatin et al. (2008) indicated that organic P substrates, medium level of pH and inorganic P content affected the activity of phosphatase. Furthermore, reported that the increasing amount of P organic substrates could also increasing phosphatase activity, on the contrary the addition of P anorganic could decreased the phosphatase activity. Indonesia were one of the country which had several of soil orders with varying physical, chemical, and biological characteristics, this soil characteristics depends on its parent materials form and decomposition process. Some of the soils with acidic condition spread all over the Java, Sumatera, Kalimantan regions and other islands, in example Andisols and Ultisols with both total coverage by almost 34.6 milion hectares. The problems that always appeard on both of soil orders, besides on Andisols with its alophan which one of the secondary clay minerals and also silica-alumunium clay minerals which unsructurized or amorphus, with low pH soil(Tan, 2008). The other soil orders like Ultisols posses other problems which is acidic soil reactions, high of Al, low of organic content and nutrient
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH compositions. The availability of phosphorus (P) nutrient on Andisols and Ultisols would affected the plant growth (Hardjowigeno, 2003). Exploration and isolations result from severeal of plant rhizosphere in the forest of Sanggabuana founded the best of phosphate solubilizing bacteria in producing phosphatase enzyme and dissolving P, that is Bacillus mycoides, Bacillus laterosporus and Falvobacterium balustinum (Fitriatin et al., 2011). Three isolates has capabilities to increased the activity of soil phosphatase, availability of P, and reducing the demands of P fertilizer on Andisols (Fitriatin et al., 2009). The applications of PSB on the different soil characteristics would given different effect of P dissolving process. This research purpose was to determine the effect of phosphate solubilizing bacteria inoculants on Andisols from Lembang and Ultisols from Kentrong to the soil phosphatase activity, available P, P uptake and yield of sweet corn. The research conducted in a Greenhouse at Botanical Research Garden Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Padjadjaran, Jatinangor, Indonesia, with placed at 782 meter above sea levels. The analysis conducted at Soil Biology and Fertility and Soil Nutrition Laboratory, Agriculture Faculty Universitas Padjadjaran. The treatment in this research consisting of two factors : the first factor consisted of phosphate solubilizing bacteria inoculants (A), which were: 1) a0 = without inoculants 2) a1 = Bacillus mycoides 3) a2 = Bacillus laterosporus 4) a3 = Flavobacterium balustinum The second factor from this research included different soil order (B) with two levels of treatment, which were : 1) b1 = Andisols from Lembang 2) b2 = Ultisols from Kentrong This research using Randomized Block Design (RBD) in factorial pattern with three time multiplication. Treatment pots consisted of two treatment units. First unit were to studied acid phophatase activity (acid phosphatase was measured spectrophotometrically by measuring the release of para-nitrophenol from para-nitrophenyl phosphate (PNPP) at 400 nm by the method as described by Margesin, 1996), Available P (Bray I), and plant P uptake on the latest vegetative periods. Second unit were to studied the yield of the plant harvest. The result of studied datas from this research analized by ANOVA with error level of 0.05. If the effect were significant, it continued to Duncan test by error level of 0.05. Soils that used in this research were Andisols from Lembang and Ultisols from Kentrong, which taken compositedly from cultivated land with the depth by 0 20 cm deep. The soil weight that used for this research were 10 kg for every treatmet pots. Soil were mixed with the cow manures ( 5 ton ha-1) which incubated as long as 2 weeks before seedling. The applications of PSB conducted at planting as much as 5 mL with 109 density. Characteristics of Andisols and Ultisols The result of soil analysis on Andisols before treatment indicated that the soil were acid criteria (pH H2O = 5.3 and pH = KCl 4.7). Nitrogen (N) nutrients in medium amount by 0.22 % and availabilty of P nutrients were in low amount or approximately 14.30 mg 100g-1 also K nutrients available in low amount (14.53 mg 100g-1). High P retention (67 %) caused the availability of P and P dissolving point became downgraded on those soils. Medium rate of C organic (2.64 %), which enough to affected the population level indegenous PSB with the result that more difficult to supported on the P availability for the plants. Soil textures formed by 47 % sand fractions, 23 % dust fractions, and 30% clay fractions, which means the those conditions indicated that roots interceptions and water infiltrations would be very easily that benefited either to microorganisme and also plant rhizospheres. The result of soil analysis on Ultiosls indicated that the this soil were acid criteria (pH H2O = 4.20 and pH KCl = 3.80) causing Al dissolved very high and low P availability for plant. Very high

Materials and methods

Results and Discussion

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH saturated alumunium level (71.54 %) and low saturated basis (20.43 %) effecting the P availability. In line with those conditions, available P in medium amount of level (18.33 mg 100g-1). Nitrogen nutrient contents in Ultisols which were 0.26 % (lower level) with low K nutrient availability (17.08 mg 100g-1). This soil has low amount of C organic by 1.73 % with comparison of C/N in range of 7 (lower level), with the result that the bacteria population on this soil were very low because unsuitable environment conditions. This soil textures indicates dominant clay fractions percentage by 60 % and the comparison between dust fractions by 36 % also sand fractions only 4 %, then the adsorption P by the clay minerals very high but also capable to absorb water in longer time compared with Andisols. Isolations result of Indegenous PSBs on Andisols indicates the abundances amount of populations (100 x 106 CFU (Colony Forming Unit) g-1), while on Ultisols as much as 150 x 106 CFU g-1. Indegenous PSB on Andisols posses higher populations if compared with Ultisols, because organic C content on Ultisols in low amount and available of P nutrient content in lower condition which less supported for the bacteria to grown. Andisols posses medium organic C content with P nutrient content available in medium amount which capable to supported the bacteria progression. Phosphatase Activity Application of PSB inoculants on different soil orders effected soil phosphatase activity. Phosphatase in Andisols were higher compared with Ultisols (Table 1). It suspected because of the Andisols chemical, physical, and humus contents more better compared with Ultisols. Refers to Djordjevic et al. (2003), the amount of phosphatase inside the soil has connectivities with soil orders, amount of humus in the soil and soil textures also P adsorptions in soil. The PSB inoculation on Andisols significant increased soil phosphatase. F. balustinum inoculation in Andisols given higher phosphatase activity. Its in line with the phosphate solubilizing bacteria population observation which higher on the soil that inoculated by F. balustinum also in the earlier of research were showed that this isolate produced higher phosphatase enzyme (data not been presented). Mashum et al. (2003), explained that the increased P mineralization along with the increasing of PSB population, so that increased of soil phosphatase in the soil. Tabel 1. The effect of PSB inoculant and different soil orders on soil phosphatase Treatment without inoculant B.mycoides B. laterosporus F.balustinum Soil Phosphatase (g pNP mL-1 hour-1) Andisols 0,08 a A 0,10 b B 0,10 b A 0,14 c B Ultisols 0,07 a A 0,08 a A 0,10 b A 0,07 a A

Different letters indicate significant differences among treatments according to The Duncan test (P0.05). Uppercase letters reads horizontally and lowercase letters reads vertically.

Soil Available P The result of expetiment showed that PSB inoculation on different soil order effected soil available P content (Table 2). Its indicated that this PSB inoculants capable to increase soil P dissolving. Caused by an organic acid which produced by the bacteria also increased the phosphatase activity resulting the increased of P availability. This supported by the result of Ponmurugan and Gopi (2006) reported that there were positive correlations between the capabilities of phosphate solubilizing with the phosphatase activity of PSB in an invitro conditions. Thus, with the the result of Sakurai et al. (2008) which reported that there were positive correlations between phosphatase activity with the P dissolved content in the soil.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH The soil available P of Ultisols after been inoculated by PSBs significantly higher than Andisols. Its caused by high P retention on Andislos which causing the available P contents lower compared with Ultisols. This low P availabilities were caused by highly adsorption of P substances on the soil colloids also with the high P retention presences by > 80 % (Hardjowigeno, 2003). Retention P was a problem, particularly in dry acidic soils with the clay textures contained a lot amount of Al and Fe (Tan, 2008). Table 2. The effect of PSB inoculant and different soil order on soil available P Treatment without inoculant B.mycoides B. laterosporus F.balustinum soil available P (mg kg-1) Andisols 6,33 a A 8,67 ab A 8,67 ab A 10,00 b A Ultisols 9,00 a A 12,00 a B 15,33 b B 15,67 b B

Different letters indicate significant differences among treatments according to The Duncan test (P0.05). Uppercase letters reads horizontally and lowercase letters reads vertically.

P Uptake The inoculation of B. mycoides, B. laterosporus and F. balustinum increased the P uptake by the plants. Phosphorus uptake by the sweet corns in Andisols significantly higher in Andisols compared with Ultisols (Table 3). The high organic substance (humus) and fine texture (dominated by sand and clay fractions) on Andislos suspected to made the rhizosphere easily absorbed available P while Ultisols were soil which possesed a low organic substance contents and its texture dominated by sand fractions which causing the rhizosphere in the soil difficult to absorb a phosphorus which normaly unavailable. The soil textures from Andisols consists of sandy and clay fractions which dominant caused the roots interceptions to the soil easier so the roots able to absorbing more nutrients compared with other soils (Hardjowigeno, 2003). Table 3. Sweet corn P uptake affected by PSB inoculant and different soil orders Treatments PSB Inoculants Without inoculats B. mycoides B. laterosporus F.balustinum Soil Orders Andisols Ultisols Average P Uptake (mg plant-1) 15.71 a 16.39 b 16.56 b 17.07 b 17.51 b 15.58 a

Different letters indicate significant differences among treatments according to The Duncan test (P0.05).

Yield of Sweet Corn F. balustinum inoculants given the best effect to yield of sweet corn (Table 4). Its suspected that the F. balustinum isolate known to be able to increased phosphatase activity and soil available P which would affected the yield of plants were higher compared to other of treatments. Andislos treatments resulted the best effect to the yield of sweet corn if compared to the Ultisols. The phosphate in Andisols more easier to be absorbed by plant because only part of it components which fixationed and also retentioned, while adsorbed bond (P retention) more easier to be absobed by the plants than which being adsobed (fixation P).

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Table 4. Yields of sweet corn affected by PSB and different soil orders Treatments Yield of Sweet Corn Plant (g plant-1) PSB Inoculants Without Inoculant 416 a 418 a B. mycoides 460 b B. laterosporus 498 c F.balustinum Soil Order Andisols 515 b Ultisols 381 a Different letters indicate significant differences among treatments according to The Duncan test (P0.05). Based on the result of experiment, we could be concluded that the applications of phosphate solubilizing bacteria (B. mycoides, B. laterosporus and F. balustinum) on different soil orders Andisols from Lembang and Ultisols from Kentrong increased the soil phosphatase activities, available P and yield of sweet corn. The phosphatase activity, available P, P uptake and yield of sweet corn on Andisols was higher than Ultisols. Acknowledgements This work was supported by Hibah Bersaing Programme. We thanks the Directorat of Higher Education Department of National Education Republic of Indonesia (DIKTI). We are grateful to staff laboratory Soil Biology and Biothechnology Agriculture Faculty Universitas Padjadjaran for their time and valuable advice at all steps of this work, and also to Chief of Greenhouse Agriculture Faculty Universitas Padjadjaran at Jatinangor which facilitaded this research.

Conclusion

References

Dinesh, R., R.P. Dubey, A.N. Ganeshamurthy, and P. Shyam. 2000. Organic manuring in ricebased cropping system: Effects on soil microbial biomass and selected enzyme activities. Current Sci. 79: 1716-1720. Djordjevic, S., D. Djukie, L. Mandic, M. Govedarica, N. Milosevic,, and M. Jarak. 2003. Effect of chemical and physical soil properties on activity phosphomonoesterase. Acta-Agricul. Serbica. VIII, 16: 3-10. Fitriatin, BN., B. Joy, and T. Subroto. 2008. The Influence od Organic Phosphorous Substrate on Phosphatase Activity of Soil Microbes. 2008. Proceeding International Seminar of Chemistry. 30-31 October, Indonesia. Fitriatin, BN., D.H. Arief, T. Simarmata, D.A. Santosa and B. Joy. 2011. PhosphataseProducing Bacteria Isolated from Sanggabuana Forest and Their Capability to Hydrolyze Organic Phosphate. Journal of Soil Science and Environmental Management Vol. 2(10), pp. 299-303, George., T.S., P.J. Gregory, M. Wood, D. Read and R.J. Buresh. 2002. Phosphatase activity and organic acids in the rhizosphere of potential agroforestry species and maize. Soil Biol. Biochem. 34: 1487-1494. Hardjowigeno, S. 2003. Ilmu Tanah. Akademika Pressindo, Jakarta. Mashum, M., S. Joedoro dan E.S. Lolita. 2003. Biologi Tanah. CPIU Pasca IAEUP Bagpro Peningkatan Kualitas Sumberdaya Manusia Direktorat Jenderal Pendidikan Tinggi Departemen Pendidikan Nasional. Jakarta. Margesin, R. 1996. Acid and alkaline phosphomonoesterase activity with the subtrate pnitrophenyl phosphate. p. 213-217. In: F. Schinner, R. Ohlinger, E. Kandeler, and R. Margesin (ed.). Methods in Soil Biology, Spinger-Verlag, berlin Heidelberg.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Ponmurugan, P., and C. Gopi. 2006. Distribution Pattern and Screening of Phosphate Solubilizing Bacteria Isolated from Different Food and Forage Crops. Journal of Agronomy. Asian Network for Scientific Information 5 (4): 600-604. Sakurai, M., J. Wasaki, Y. Tomizawa, T. Shinano and M. Osaki. 2008. Analysis of bacterial communities on alkaline phosphatase genes in soil supplied with organic matter. Soil Sci. Plant Nutr. 54: 62-71. Sarapatka, B. 2002. Phosphatase activity of Eutric cambisols (uppland, Sweden) in relation to soil properties and farming systems. Original paper published in Acta-Agric. Bohemica, 33: 1824 _________. 2003. Phosphatase activities (ACP, ALP) in agroecosystem soils. Doctoral thesis. Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. Uppsala. diss-epsilon.slu.se/archive/ 00000286/01/Agraria_396_Docutech_Tryckfil Accessed 20 July 2009. Tan, K.H. 2008. Soils in the Humid Tropics and Monsoon Region of Indonesia. CRC Press. Taylor and Francis Group. Boca Raton London New York. Tate, K.R. 1984. The biological transformation P in soil. Plant Soil. 76: 245-256. Vepsalainen, M. and R.M. Niemi. 2002. pH optima of enzyme activities in different soils. Presentation Poster in Symposium no. 12. 17th WCSS, 14-21 August 2002, Thailand. Whitelaw. 2000. Growth promotion of plants inoculated with phosphate solubilizing fungi. Adv. Agron. 69 : 99-151. Zhongqi He, S.G. Thimothy., and H. Wayne.,. 2004. Enzymatic Hydrolisis of Organic Phosphorus in Swine Manure and Soil. J. Environ.Qual. 33 : 367-372.

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Effect of Dolomite on Yields and Nutrient Availability in Wheat-Rice Cropping Pattern in Acid Soils of Northwest Bangladesh
M Bodruzzaman 1 , JG Lauren 2 , JM Duxbury 2, M Jahiruddin 3 and MR Islam 3
Senior Scientific Officer, Wheat Research Centre, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, Dinajpur-5200, Bangladesh 2 Professor, Department of Soil Science and International Agriculture, Cornell University, Bradfield and Emerson Halls, Ithaca, NY14853, USA 3 Professor, Department of Soil Science, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, Bangladesh Corresponding Author: bodruzzaman@gmail.com The aim of this investigation was to study the effect of different levels of dolomite on crops yields, soil pH, exchangeable K, Ca and Mg, available p, Zn, Cu, Mn and Fe content of acid soil in northwest Bangladesh. The experiment was conducted in six experimental sites following wheat-rice cropping pattern during 2005 to 2007. The lay-out was kept undisturbed throughout the experimental period to know the effect of applied lime on crops yields and nutrient availability. Prior to sowing 1st crop (wheat) liming was done once with 5 levels of dolomite 0, 1, 2, 4 and 6 t ha-1. Soil pH values were monitored at 1, 2, 3, 6, 12, 18 and 24 months after liming. Besides, the soils from individual plots of all sites were analyzed for nutrient status after 6, 12, 18 and 24 months of liming. Addition of 1 t lime ha-1 provided a yield increase of wheat by 35% (0.79 t ha-1) as direct effect and 31% (0.96 t ha-1) as residual effect over no lime. On an average (over the season and sites) the 1 t lime ha-1 as residual effect gave 13% (0.44 t ha1 ) yield advantage of rice compared to control. The reduced soil acidity and Al, Fe and Mn toxicity accompanied with enhancing P, Ca and Mg availability as a consequence of liming enhanced the crop growth and increased yield contributing characters which resulted in higher yield. Keywords: dolomite, soil pH, nutrient, wheat, rice
1

Abstract

Introduction Bangladesh has substantial areas of soil acidity with high levels of exchangeable Al and deficiencies of P, Mo, Mg and Ca which can limit productivity of many crops. The Soil Resource Development Institute (SRDI), Bangladesh estimated that 0.108, 3.383 and 1.114 mha lands across the country had both top and sub-soils very strongly acidic (pH<4.5), strongly acidic (pH=4.5-5.5), and moderately acidic (pH=5.66.5), respectively (SRDI, 1998). Thus, the acid soils may constrain crop production in more than 30% of land in Bangladesh. Liming is done to raise soil pH and to correct soil acidity. The optimum soil pH for production of the most of the crops is generally slightly acidic to slightly alkaline (pH 6.5 7.5). Liming eliminates the toxic effect of Al, Fe and Mn, and increases the availability of P, Mo, Ca and Mg (Mongia et al., 1998; Rahman et al., 2001). Liming of acid soil has been suggested as the most efficient practice to attain and maintain a suitable pH for the growth of a variety of crops (Slattery and Coventry, 1993; Moody et al., 1995). With the above points in view, the present piece of research was undertaken to know the impact of dolomite on soil pH, nutrient availability and yields of crop in some acid soils of Bangladesh. Materials and Methods The experiment was carried out for two consecutive years (2005-2007) in six experimental sites (Patgram-1, Patgram-2, Kaharol-1, Kaharol-2, Birganj and Panchagarh) following wheat-rice cropping pattern in acidic soil of northern Bangladesh. As USDA soil taxonomy, 3 sites belong to the Aeric Haplaquept (Kaharol-1, Kaharol-2 and Birganj), two sites belong to the Aquic-Dystric Eutrochrept (Patgram-1 and Patgram-2) and the rest one site belongs to the Entic Haplumbrept (Panchagarh). The soils were sandy loam to silt loam texture with pH ranged 4.43 to 5.42, effective cation exchange capacity

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH (ECEC) 1.19 to 2.44 cmol kg-1, exchangeable K, Ca, Mg and Al 0.03 to 0.07, 0.28 to 1.19, 0.12 to 0.68 and 0.40 to 0.97 and available P, Mn, Cu, Zn and Fe 13 to 33, 10-28 to 42.55, 1.05 to 2.45 and 107 to 235 mg kg-1, respectively. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with 3 replications and kept undisturbed for the 2 years experimental period. Prior to sowing 1st crop (wheat) liming was done once with 5 levels of dolomite 0, 1, 2, 4 and 6 t ha-1. Soil pH values from individual plot were monitored at 1, 2, 3, 6, 12, 18 and 24 months after liming. Besides, the soils from individual plots of all sites were analyzed for determining the exchangeable K, Ca and Mg and the extractable P, available Zn, Cu, Mn and Fe after 6, 12, 18 and 24 months of dolomite liming. Initial soils and soils from individual plots were analyzed for pH following 1:1 soil-water suspension by glass electrode pH meter (McLean, 1982), available P (Bray and Kurtz, 1945), exchangeable K, Ca and Mg (Knudsen et al., 1982) and available Zn, Mn, Cu and Fe (Lindsay and Norvell, 1978). The ECEC of the initial soils was measured as a sum of exchangeable Al, Ca, Mg and K contents. The initial soils of experimental sites were analyzed for Al after extraction with 1N potassium chloride (Thomas, 1982). Results Changes in soil pH Soil pH was significantly influenced by the interaction effect of lime levels and time for all sites (data are not shown). Liming increased soil pH with increasing levels of lime up to 6 t ha-1. All lime treatments gave significantly higher soil pH values over the lime control. Soil pH values significantly differed among lime treatments and it remained significant throughout the period of completion of 2 cropping cycles. A mean increase of soil pH over sites was measured as 0.65, 0.99, 1.47 and 1.73 units with the lime rates 1, 2, 4 and 6 t ha-1, respectively. The mean pH values of the soils was shifted from 4.64 to 5.29, 5.63, 6.11 and 6.37 with lime rates 1, 2, 4 and 6 t ha-1, respectively. Different soils behaved differently to change the soil pH. The highest soil pH change was in Kaharol-1 and the least was in Panchagarh site. After one month of liming the soil pH rose by 1.05 units at Patgram-1, 1.16 units at Patgram-2, 1.60 units at Kaharol-1, 1.05 units at Kaharol-2, 1.16 units at Birganj, and 0.99 units at Panchagarh at 6 t ha-1 dolomite application over control. Considering reaction time, soil pH increased with time mostly up to 2 months at 1-2 t ha-1 and up to 12 months at 4-6 t ha-1. After 12 months, the soil pH did not increase although it was sustained for 2 years in all sites indicating that lime had substantial residual effect on soil pH. However, at 12 months compared to 1 month, a mean unit increase of soil pH over 6 sites was 0.04, 0.39, 0.55, 0.79 and 0.88 with the lime rates 0-6 t ha-1, respectively. Changes in nutrients availability Phosphorus availability The interaction effect of lime and time was not significant on extractable P content in soil. Extractable P content was markedly changed by applying lime and it increased with increasing rates of lime up to 2 t lime ha-1 for Patgram-1, Patgram-2 and Kaharol-1 and up to 4 t lime ha-1 for Kaharol-2, Birganj and Panchagarh sites (data are not shown). With lime addition at 2 and 4 t ha-1, the soil extractable P content was similar for Patgram-1, Patgram-2 and Kaharol-1 sites. For the rest 3 sites i.e. Kaharol-2, Birganj and Panchagarh, soil extractable P value was significantly higher at 4 t lime ha-1 than at 2 t lime ha-1. The P content was consistently lower with addition of 6 t lime ha-1 than that of 2 and 4 t lime ha-1. However, consistently higher P availability was recorded at 6 t lime ha-1 over control. Lime @ 1 t ha-1 gave also higher concentration of P over control. On an average of 6 sites, the extractable P content was 36%, 59%, 64%, and 36% higher at 1, 2, 4 and 6 t lime ha-1, respectively compared to unlimed control. However, at 6 t lime ha-1, the P availability decreased by 15% compared to 2 t lime ha-1. Extractable P concentration was influenced significantly by time period for 3 sites viz. Patgram-1, Patgram-2 and Panchagarh, but for the other 3 sites (Kaharol-1, Kaharol-2 and Birganj) did not. With progress of time, the extractable P content was at par up to 12 months and thereafter the P availability decreased. The lowest amount of extractable P in soil was noticed at the end of 2 cropping cycles.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Potassium availability Exchangeable K was not responsive to interaction effect of lime and time. However, lime rates markedly influenced on exchangeable K content of soil (data are not shown). Concerning lime rates, the highest exchangeable K was found in unlimed plot and it was statistically similar up to 2 t lime ha-1 for 2 sites (Patgram-2 and Birgonj) up to 1 t lime ha-1 for 3 sites ( Kaharol-1, Kaharol-2 and Panchagarh) and up to 4 t lime ha-1 for Patgram-1. The lowest K content was obtained at 6 t lime ha-1 and it was significantly lower than the other treatments except in Patgram-1 where K content was similar with only 4 t lime ha-1. Liming @ 4 t ha-1 produced also significantly lower K content compared to the lower rates of lime application. However, the mean values (mean of 6 sites) of exchangeable K were found to be 0.151, 0.149 (1% lower than control), 0.146 (3% lower than control), 0.136 (10% lower than control) and 0.126 (17% lower than control) with the lime rates 0, 1, 2, 4 and 6 t ha-1, respectively. Considering time effect, the K content in the most of the sites was higher after 6 and 18 months of liming (1st and 2nd wheat harvest) compared to 12 months (1st rice harvest) and 24 months (2nd rice harvest) after liming.

Ca and Mg Availability
Interaction of dolomite rates x time period significantly influenced the Ca and Mg availability in soils for all experimental sites (data are not shown). Exchangeable Ca and Mg contents of soils, as expected, increased with increasing levels of lime and then increment for every lime rate was significant. An average increase of exchangeable Ca over 6 sites was 114%, 229%, 346% and 510% with the lime rates 1, 2, 4 and 6 t ha-1, respectively. Application of dolomite increased the Mg availability by 91%, 166%, 235% and 309% due to liming at 1, 2, 4 and 6 t ha-1, respectively. Considering interaction of dolomite x time, exchangeable Ca and Mg contents were declined with advancing time at 0-6 t lime ha-1 without maintaining definite trends. Exchangeable Ca and Mg availability were the lowest after 24 months in irrespective the treatments. There was no location variation in Ca and Mg availability. Availability of Zn, Cu, Mn and Fe After 6, 12, 18 and 24 months of liming, the available Zn and Fe contents for 3 sites and Cu content for 2 sites responded to lime x time interaction, but for Mn availability the interaction was not significant (data are not shown). However, the Mn availability was affected by liming levels for all sites and time span for 1 site (Kaharol-2). The Zn, Cu and Fe availability was reduced with increasing lime rates over the two crop cycles. Significantly higher availability of Zn, Cu and Fe was recorded with lower levels of lime addition. At unlimed control and at 1 t ha-1 dolomite rate, the Cu availability remained unchanged with progress of time. At 2-6 t lime ha-1, the Cu availability declined significantly at 12 months after liming compared to 6 months and thereafter it was at par with progressing time. Application of lime reduced the Mn availability significantly and thus, the Mn availability was higher with lower amount of lime applied. Availability of Zn decreased at 12 months (harvest of 2nd crop of the first cycle) compared to 6 months for all treatments. A significant increase of Zn availability was observed after 18 months (harvest of the 1st crop of the 2nd cycle) with all lime levels. After 24 months (harvest of the 2nd crop of the 2nd cycle) the Zn availability came down again. The lowest amount of micronutrient availability was found with the highest rates of lime although elements were found in sufficient level for all sites across the cropping patterns. The lowest reduction of micronutrients was detected with 1 t lime ha-1 and the highest reduction with 6 t lime ha-1. An average decrease in different micronutrients availability due to 1 t ha-1 lime application was found as 0.325 mg kg-1 for Zn, 0.287 mg kg-1 for Cu, 7.97 mg kg-1 for Mn, and 42.1 mg kg-1 for Fe, over the dolomite control. These values for the 2 t lime ha-1 were 0.585 mg kg-1 for Zn, 0.505 mg kg-1 for Cu, 11.0 mg kg-1 for Mn, and 57.6 mg kg-1 for Fe. The decrement was more for 6 t ha-1 dolomite rate, showing the concentrations of 1.04 mg kg-1 for Zn, 0.900 mg kg-1 for Cu, 14.0 mg kg-1 for Mn, and 84.9 mg kg-1 for Fe.

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Direct and residual effects of liming on crop yields Direct effect of liming on wheat yield The yield significantly increased due to lime (dolomite) application (data are not shown). The grain yield of wheat across the experimental sites ranged from 1950-2650 kg ha-1, 2892-3217 kg ha-1, 2817-3167 kg ha-1, 2728-3097 kg ha-1 and 2683-3120 kg ha-1 due to application of 0, 1, 2, 4 and 6 t lime ha-1, respectively. Compared to the no lime treatment (control), liming at the first dose i.e. 1 t ha-1 resulted in 35 % yield increase (average of 6 sites) over control. Application of lime @ 4 t ha-1 produced significantly lower yield from the peak in Kaharol-2 and Birganj, and at liming of 6 t ha-1 the yield was further reduced in those two sites. At the highest dolomite rate i.e. 6 t ha-1 the grain yield significantly decreased in Panchagarh. Virtually the grain yield reached a plateau at 1 t lime ha-1 in four sites and at 2 t lime ha-1 in two sites, however, the yield difference between the two lime rates was not significant, but both yields were significantly higher compared to control. Residual effect of dolomite on wheat yield Lime application to the 1st wheat crop had a residual effect on the 2nd wheat crop via rice in the wheat-rice cropping pattern (data are not shown) . All lime treatments produced significantly higher yield over no lime treatment and the yield produced by every lime treatment from 1 to 6 t ha-1 was statistically identical in all sites except Kaharol-1 where the yield due to 1 t ha-1 was significantly lower than that obtained with higher lime rates, but the yields with 2, 4 or 6 t ha-1 were identical in this site. The yields varied from 2633-3400 kg ha-1, from 3489-4378 kg ha-1, from 3978-4328 kg ha-1, from 3975-4389 kg ha-1 and from 3756-4311 kg ha-1 in 0, 1, 2, 4 and 6 t lime ha-1 treatments, respectively. Considering per cent yield increase over control (mean yield of 6 sites) lime @ 1 t ha-1 demonstrated a 31% (955 kg ha-1) yield increase. However, the highest per cent yield benefit was achieved as 46% (1344 kg ha-1) in Patgram and the lowest yield advantage was recorded as 15% (522 kg ha-1) in Kaharol-2, across the 6 experimental sites. Residual effect of dolomite on rice yields The grain yield in both 2006 (2nd crop of the 1st crop cycle) and 2007 (4th crop of the 2nd crop cycle) was significantly influenced by lime applied prior to sowing of the 1st wheat crop. In both 2006 and 2007, lime added treatments gave markedly higher grain yield against the lime control (data are not shown). There were no significant differences in yields among the lime treatments from 1-6 t ha-1. The top most grain yield over the sites was 4117 kg ha-1 that recorded with Patgram-1 from 2 t lime ha-1 treatment in 2006 and 4011 kg ha-1 obtained with Kaharol-2 at 1 t lime ha-1 in 2007. In both years, the no lime treatment (control) yielded the lowest, 2833 kg ha-1 in 2006 and 2853 kg ha-1 in 2007, both recorded with Birganj. Addition of lime @ 1 t ha-1 at the start of the cropping patter experiment resulted in 13% yield increase in 2006 and 14% (mean of 6 sites) in 2007 over no lime control. Discussion Application of lime increased crop yields. Addition of 1 t lime ha-1 provided a yield increase of wheat by 35% as direct effect and 31% as residual effect over no lime application (control). On an average (over sites) the 1 t lime ha-1 as residual effect gave 14% yield advantage of rice compared to control. The results revealed that one year lime addition may benefit the crops for at least 2 years (beyond 2 years period not investigated in the present study). Such yield increase due to liming has also been reported on wheat (Kaitibie et al., 2002; Tang et al., 2003) and on rice (Chang and Sung, 2004). Liming, as expected, increased soil pH values and reduced soil acidity. Lime reduced soil acidity by changing some of the H+ ions into water and carbon dioxide (CO2). Due to addition of 1 and 2 t lime ha-1, an average pH was increased by 0.65 and 0.99 units over the experimental sites, respectively. The

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH results support previous findings showing that lime is effective in alleviating soil acidity (Cifu et al., 2004; Caires et al., 2005; Mausumi and Kumar, 2002). A mean increase of extractable P was 36% and 59%, exchangeable Ca 114% and 229%, and Mg 91% and 166%, and a decrease of available Mn by 38% and 52%, and Fe by 23% and 34% for the lime rates 1 and 2 t ha-1, respectively relative to control. Thus, liming reduced soil acidity, decreased Mn and Fe availability, and increased P, Ca and Mg availability. The reduced soil acidity and higher nutrient availability as a consequence of liming enhanced crop growth and increased yield contributing characters which resulted in higher yield. Such reasons for increasing crop yields by liming have also been suggested by many other researchers (Cifu et al., 2004; The et al., 2006; Costa and Rosolem, 2007). Again, the soils of the experimental sites were saturated with Al by 30% or above. Reducing Al availability by liming probably was another cause of increased yield of the crops. Other workers also viewed that grain yield increase due to liming could be attributed to the resulting lower exchangeable Al (Costa and Rosolem, 2007; The et al., 2006). Acknowledgement The authors gratefully acknowledge the Soil Management CRSP Project (SM-CRSP), Cornell University USA and Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) authority for providing some financial support to carry out the research work. References Bray, R. H. and Kurtz, L. T., (1945). Determination of total, organic and available forms of phosphorus in soils. Soil Sci., 59, 39-45. Caires, E. F., Alleoni, L. R. F., Cambri, M. A. and Barth, G., (2005). Surface application of lime ameliorates subsoil acidity and improves root growth and yield of wheat in an acid soil under no-till system. Sci. Agricola, 63, 502-509. Chang, C. S. and Sung, J. M., (2004). Nutrient uptake and yield responses of peanuts and rice to lime and fused magnesium phosphate in an acid soil. Field crops Research, 89, 319-325. Cifu, M., Xiaonan, L., Zhihong, C., Zhengyi, H. and Wanzhu, M., (2004). Long-term effects of lime application on soil acidity ands crop yields on a red soil in Central Zhejiang. Plant and Soil, 265, 101-109. Costa, A. and Rosolem, C. A., (2007). Liming in the transition to no-till under a wheat-soybean rotation. Soil and Tillage Res, 97, 207-217. Kaitibie, S; Epplin, F. M.; Krenzer, E. G. and Zhang, H., (2002). Economics of lime and phosphorus application for duel-purpose winter wheat production in low pH soils. Agron. J., 94,1139-1145. Knudsen, D., Petterson, G. A. and Pratt, P. F., (1982). Lithium, Sodium and Potassium. In: Methods of Soil Analysis, Part 2, 2nd Ed. USA: Page, A.L. Miller, R.H. and Keeney, D.R. Amer. Lindsay, W.L. and Norvell, W.A., (1978). Development of a DTPA soil test for Zn, Fe, Mn and Cu. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., 42, 421-428. Mausumi, R. and Kumar, K., (2002). Direct and residual effects of lime on soil characteristics, yield and nutrient uptake of maize (Zea mays) and soybean (Glycine max) in an acid hill soil of Manipur. Indian J. Agril. Sci., 72(2), 67-9. McLean, E. O., (1982). Soil pH and lime requirement. In Methods of Soil Analysis. part 2. Chemical and Microbiological properties: Page, A.L., Miller, R.H., Keeney D.R. Eds. Am. Soc. Agron./Soil Sci. Soc. Am., WI.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Mongia, A. D., Singh, N. T., Mandal, L. N. and Guha, A., (1998). Effect of liming, super-phosphate and rock phosphate application to rice on the yield and uptake of nutrients on acid sulphate soils. J. Indian Soc. Soil Sci., 46, 61-66. Moody, P. W., Aitken, R. L. and Dickson T., (1995). Diagnosis of maize yield response to lime in some weathered acidic soils. In Plant-soil interactions at low pH. Proceedings of the 3rd International Symposium on Plant-soil interactions at low pH. (Eds. Date, R. A., Grundon, N. J., Rayment, G. E. and Probert, M. E.). Rahman, M. A., Duxbury, J. M., Meisner, C. A., Lauren, J. G. and Hussain, A. B. M., (2001).Yield response and change in nutrient availability by application of lime, fertilizers and micronutrients in acidic soil within a rice-wheat cropping system. Bangladesh J. Agric. Res., 26, 357-365. Slattery, W. J. and Conventry, D. R., (1993). Response of wheat, triticale, barley and canola to lime on four soil types in south-eastern Victoria. Aust. J. Soil Res., 33, 609-618. SRDI., (1998). Soil Reaction Map of Bangladesh. Soil Resource Development Institute, Dhaka. Tang, C., Rengel, Z., Diatloff, E. and Gazey, C., (2003). Response of wheat and barely to liming on a sandy soil with subsoil acidity. Field Crop Res., 80, 235-244. The, C., Calba, H., Zonkeng, C., Ngonkeu, E. L. M., Adetimirin, V. O., Mafouasson, H. A., Meka, S. S. and Horst, W. J., (2006). Responses of maize grain yield to changes in acid soil characteristics after soil amendments. Plant and Soil., 284, 45-57. Thomas, G. W., (1982). Exchangeable cations. In Methods of Soil Analysis, Part 2. 2nd Ed. USA: Page, A. L.; Miller, R. H. and Keeney, D. R. Amer. Soc. Agron. Inc.

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Effects of Merus ring to reduce soil salinity under furrow irrigation

Behrouz Mostafazadeh-Fard1, Khadijeh Barati2, Ali-Asghar Sheikhbahaei3, Ali-Asghar Ensafi4
Irrigation Department, College of Agriculture, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran; , Irrigation Department, College of Agriculture, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran. 3 Technical Manager of Merus Iran Company, Isfahan, Iran. 4 College of Chemistry, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran. E-mail: behrouz@cc.iut.ac.ir (Corresponding author)
2 1

The Merus ring is a new device which can be installed on a feed pipe line before water entering to the field in order to reduce soil salinity. This study was performed in a corn planted furrow irrigation field located at Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran, to investigate the effect of Merus ring on soil chemical characteristics. When the Merus ring is installed, it automatically starts to emit different kinds of oscillations to the water which flows in the pipe. Two main treatments of irrigation with Merus ring and irrigation without Merus ring were used. The soil salinity and irrigation water quality were the same for both treatments. For each treatment, soil samples were taken at six periods of time during 5 months experiment. The results showed that for first few irrigations, the electrical conductivity, sodium and sum of calcium and magnesium concentration of soil saturation extract is higher for furrows that are irrigated with Merus ring as compared to the furrows that are irrigated without Merus ring. At the end of the experiment, the soluble salts in the soil leached to the lower soil depths and this caused lower electrical conductivity, sodium and sum of calcium and magnesium concentration for the treatment of irrigation with Merus ring. The overall results showed that the use of Merus ring caused higher soluble salts in the soil and consequently higher salt leaching from the soil profile to the lower soil depths which this can cause better root zone environment for plant growth. Keywords: Merus ring, furrow irrigation, soil salinity.

Abstract

Introduction The worlds demand for food is increasing at such a rate that the ability to meet anticipated needs in the next several decades is becoming questionable. Irrigated agriculture presently accounts for about one-third of the worlds production of food and fiber. It is anticipated that it will need to produce nearly 50 percent by the year 2040 (FAO, 1988). This will likely be difficult, because extensive areas of irrigated land have been and is increasingly becoming degraded by salinization and waterlogging resulting from over-irrigation and other forms of poor agricultural management (Ghassemi et al., 1995). Soils may be naturally saline or become salinized because of irrigation mismanagement or inadequate drainage. Such soils require reclamation before irrigated agriculture can be profitable. Leaching is the only proven method of reclaiming salt-affected soils (Hoffman and Shannon, 2007). The amount of leaching required to reclaim saline soils is a function of the initial level of soil salinity, the depth of soil needed to be reclaimed which is largely determined by the crops to be grown, certain soil and field properties and the method of water application which influence leaching efficiency (Rhoades et al., 1999). Growing salt tolerant plants can accelerate leaching during the reclamation process. The addition of root channels and crop residue enhances water movement through the soil profile and thereby aids leaching. Reclaiming saline soils by harvesting plants with the salts they have taken up is not practical. Similarly, flushing water over the soil surface to remove visible crusts of salt is not effective. Adequate drainage and suitable disposal of the leaching water are absolute prerequisites for reclamation (Hoffman and Shannon, 2007). Soil salinity is one of the main problems of agriculture in Iran. High evaporation from soil, low rainfall, land topography, using poor quality irrigation water and finally bedrocks are the important reasons for soil salinity. High contents of soluble salts accumulated in the soil can significantly decrease the value and productivity of agricultural lands (Mostafazadeh-Fard et al., 2008). The Merus ring is a new device which can be installed on a feed pipe line before water entering to the field in order to reduce soil salinity of root zone. The Merus ring is consisting of two halves that can easily be installed on the outside of a pipe (Fig. 1).

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Fig. 1: Installing Merus ring on pipe The principle of how Merus ring works is new and hard to understand. Scientists still argue about such principles. Therefore, the theoretical background of this method relies on empirical research, assumptions and logical conclusions. In principle, there is a fundamental oscillation for every substance contained in fluids. The Merus ring effects on these oscillations. Fig. 2 shows the effect of Merus ring on substance fundamental oscillation.

(a)

(b)

Fig. 2: The effect of Merus ring on substance fundamental oscillation The green curve depicts the fundamental oscillation of the substance. Starting from these fundamental oscillations, Merus ring emits new active oscillations that have been depicted by blue curve. This occurs without any external energy addition, only energy supplied by environmental warmth is used. The water absorbs these active oscillations and spreads them in the direction of its flow faster than the actual flow velocity of the water. The carrier of active oscillations, which is actually the hardware of the Merus ring, is silica aluminum which is capable of storing as many active oscillations as possible, retaining them over a very long period of time and also emitting them again constantly. The mathematical result of fundamental oscillation and active oscillation interference will be zero, if they are 180 phase-delayed and both have the same amplitude (the resulting oscillations is depicted by the red line as shown in Fig. 2-a). If fundamental oscillation and active oscillation are in-phased, resonance occurs (the resulting oscillations is depicted by the red curve as shown in Fig. 2-b). In the water, the active oscillations interfere with the fundamental oscillations and alter the characteristics of substances. The active oscillations of Merus ring are subject to certain interferences caused by environmental influences such as electromagnetic pollution with substantial power. Depending on their intensity these influences are capable of reducing or even erasing the impact of Merus ring on water. Hence Merus ring has to be installed with a clearance of at least 50 cm to any electric conductor (4). The Merus ring has been installed in many factories in the world to prevent or reduce sedimentation in the pipes. But, to date, there is no study about the effect of Merus ring on soil salinity under furrow irrigation. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of Merus ring on soil chemical characteristics under furrow irrigation. Materials and Methods This study was performed in a corn planted furrow irrigation field located at Isfahan University of Technology (3232N, 5123E), with elevation of about 1630 m above sea level, Isfahan, Iran, during summer of 2010. Two main treatments of irrigation with Merus ring and irrigation without Merus ring were used. The experimental field had two plots, one of the plots was irrigated with Merus ring and another plot was irrigated without Merus ring. The feed pipe line that delivered water to each plot was polyethylene with diameter of 25 mm. For treatment of using Merus ring,

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH one Merus ring with size of inch was installed on the feed pipe line that delivered water to the plot. Irrigation interval was 7 days and the depth of each irrigation, was such that soil reaches to almost field capacity. The amount of water needed for each irrigation, was calculated based on soil moisture and was delivered to the plots through a regulated valve installed next to the water source. The experimental plots were irrigated for 5 months. The plant was harvested 3 months after planting but the irrigation was continued for 5 months to see better effects of Merus ring on soil chemical characteristics. The irrigation water quality and soil conditions were the same for both treatments. The chemical characteristics of irrigation water and some of soil chemical characteristics for before the start of experiments are given in Tables 1 and 2, respectively.
EC (dS/m) 0.47

Table 1: Chemical characteristics of the irrigation water

pH 7.80 Na+ (meq/lit) 0.96 Ca2+ (meq/lit) 3.4 Mg2+ (meq/lit) 1 HCO3(meq/lit) 3.8

Cl(meq/lit) 1

SAR 0.64

EC (dS/m) 6.20

Table 2: Some of soil chemical characteristics for before the start of experiments
pH 7.95 Na+ (meq/lit) 6.51 Ca2++ Mg2+ (meq/lit) 42 SAR 1.42

Before the start of experiment, soil samples were taken at depths of 0-30 cm for both treatments. After the start of experiment, at the end of each month, for period of 5 months, soil samples were taken at depths of 0-30 cm with 3 replications for both treatments. Soil samples were taken 24 hours after each irrigation. The saturated extract of soil samples were used to determine the soil chemical characteristics such as ECe, pH, Na+, Ca2++Mg2+. Then, the sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) was calculated using the above data (Rhoades et al., 1999). Results and Discussion Fig. 3 shows the variations of soil ECe for the experiment period for both treatments. This figure shows that for first few irrigations, the electrical conductivity of soil saturation extract becomes higher for furrows that were irrigated with Merus ring as compared to the furrows that were irrigated without Merus ring. Because, the Merus ring affects the substance fundamental oscillation of the irrigation water and caused higher soluble salts in the soil. At the end of the experiment, the soluble salts in the upper portions of soil depth leached to the lower depths and caused lower electrical conductivity of soil saturation extract for the treatment with Merus ring.

7 6
ECe (dS/m)

5 4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Sampling period
Fig. 3: The change of soil ECe during the experiments

WithoutMerusring WithMerusring

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Fig. 4 shows the variations of soil Na+ for the experiment period for both treatments. This figure shows that for first few irrigations, the Na+ of soil saturation extract becomes higher for furrows that were irrigated with Merus ring as compared to the furrows that were irrigated without Merus ring. Because, the Merus ring affects the substance fundamental oscillation of the irrigation water and caused higher Na+ in the soil. At the end of the experiment, the Na+ in the upper portions of soil depth leached to the lower depths and caused lower Na+ of soil saturation extract for the treatment with Merus ring. As shown in Fig. 5, similar results were obtained for change of sum of calcium and magnesium concentration (Ca2++Mg2+) of soil during the experiments.

7 6 5

Na+ (meq/l)

4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Sampling period
Fig. 4: The change of soil Na+ during the experiments

WithoutMerusring WithMerusring

45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 0 2 4 6 8 Sampling period

Ca2+ +Mg2+

(meq/l)

WithoutMerusring WithMerusring

The overall results showed that the use Merus ring caused higher soluble salts in the soil and consequently higher salt leaching from the soil profile to the lower soil depths which this can cause better root zone environment for plant growth.

Fig. 5: The change of soil Ca2++Mg2+ during the experiments

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH

Fig. 6 shows the variations of soil pH for the experiment period for both treatments. This figure shows that for first few irrigations, the pH of soil saturation extract is lower for furrows that were irrigated with Merus ring as compared to the furrows that were irrigated without Merus ring. Because, the Merus ring affects the acidity of soil saturated extract due to changes made in soil cations and anions. At the end of the experiment, the soluble salts in the upper portions of soil depth leached to the lower depths and caused higher pH of soil saturation extract for the treatment with Merus ring.
8.7 8.6 8.5 8.4

pH

8.3 8.2 8.1 8 7.9 1 3 Sampling period

Fig. 6: The change of soil pH during the experiments

WithoutMerusring WithMerusring

Fig. 7 shows the variations of soil SAR for the experiment period for both treatments. This figure shows that variations in soil SAR is irregular during the experiment. Both treatments showed similar results with the same trend of variations. For both treatments, the SAR is higher at the begging of the experiment and is lower at the end of the experiment.

1.60 1.40 1.20 1.00

SAR

0.80 0.60 0.40 0.20 0.00 1 2 3 4 5 6 Sampling period

Fig. 7: The change of soil SAR during the experiments

WithoutMerusring WithMerusring

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Acknowledgements This research was funded by Isfahan University of Technology and Merus Iran Company. This assistance is gratefully acknowledged. References [1] FAO., (1988). World Agriculture Toward 2000. Bellhaven Press, London. 338 pp. [2] Ghassemi, F., Jakeman, A. J., Nix, H. A., (1995). Salinization of Land and Water Resources: Human Causes, Extent, Management and Case Studies. CAB International, 526 pp. [3] Hoffman, G. J. and Shannon, M. C., (2007). Salinity. Microirrigation for Crop Production (pp. 141160). Elsevier B.V. [4] Merus, Green and Sustainable Water Treatment since 1996. Available at: http://www.merusonline.com. [5] Mostafazadeh-Fard, B., Heidarpour, M., Aghakhani, A., Feizi, M., (2008). Effects of leaching on soil desalinization for wheat crop in an arid region. Plant, Soil and Environment, 54(1), 2029. [6] Rhoades, J. D., Chanduvi, F., Lesch, S., (1999). Soil salinity assessment. FAO Irrigation and Drainage Paper 57.

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Mycorrhizae Inoculated Vegetable Seedling Production and Use for Field Experiments for Ecological Farming
Department of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, University of Cukurova, Adana, Turkey Corresponding author: iortas@cu.edu.tr

Ibrahim ORTAS

Under semi arid soil conditions, since soils are poor in availability of nutrients because of its high clay and lime content and high pH, mycorrhizal inoculation is seem to be a good strategy for sustainable agriculture. Since it is still very difficult to produce large quantity of mycorrhizal inoculum for large area, it is sound to produce mycorrhizal inoculated seedling and then transplanting to the field. Green pepper, bell pepper, eggplant, tomato, cucumber, honey melon, watermelon, marrow seedling were produced in different growth medium which are made from different composting material with several mycorrhizal species. Seedlings were produced with different techniques. Mycorrhiza inoculated and non inoculated seedlings were used under field conditions with different inoculation techniques. The experiments revealed that under field conditions, mycorrhiza inoculated seedlings are effectively established and given high response to plant growth and yield. The results showed that, mycorrhizal inoculated plants have high P and Zn content than not inoculated one. It has been concluded that seedling quality is much more dependent on growth medium and mycorrhizal spore effectiveness. Also it is important to indicate that using mycorrhiza inoculated seedling it is a good strategy for horticultural production. Keywords: Horticulture, Mycorrhiza, Nutrient Uptake, Tomato, Pepper, Eggplant, Marrow

Abstract

Introduction The majority of plant species are naturally arbuscular-mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). Plants neither benefit from this symbiosis nor the factors responsible for different degrees of mycorrhiza formation and host dependence are well-defined and understood (Ortas, 2012). AMF have been shown to improve crop productivity of numerous crop plants including horticulture plants in soils of low fertility (Jeffries, 1987; Ortas, 2010; Ortas et al., 2011a, b). Karagiannidis et al. (2002) and Ortas et al. (2011b) reported that inoculation with the AMF significantly increased dry shoot weight in tomato plants, compared to the control plants. Eggplant, tomato and pepper are among the most valuable vegetables grown for fresh-market production in the Eastern Mediterranean Region of Turkey. Field experiments evaluated the effect of mycorrhizal inoculation (Glomus mosseae) and phosphorus (P) fertilization (0 and 100 kg P/ha) on yield of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill), eggplant (aubergine) (Solanum melongena L.) and pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) under field conditions with and without methyl bromide (MBr). The experiment was carried out on the Menzilat soil series (Entic Chromoxerert), which is located on the Research Farm of the University of ukurova, (Eastern Mediterranean Region) Turkey. Plants were inoculated with 1000 spores per plant. Also leek, cucumber and marrow plant were used with several mycorrhizae species under same soil conditions. The experiments were carried out on Menzilat soil series (Entic Chromoxerert), which is located in Research Farm of the University of ukurova, Turkey. The soil chemical and physical properties are given on Table 1. The successful application of mycorrhizal inoculum for tomato, pepper and eggplant seedling production requires improved strategies to target field transplantation. In present experiment mycorrhizal inoculated several plant seedlings were produced and transplanted. Under the field conditions, mycorrhizal inoculation increased tomato, pepper and eggplant plant fruit yields, especially low levels of P. As can be seen in Figure 1. G. mosseae and G. etinicatinium inoculated plants yield increase is much higher than control treatments. In G. mosseae inoculated tomato plant increased P application significantly increased tomato yield compared with control treatment. Al-Raddad (1987), also grew eggplant, tomato and pepper inoculated plants with G. fasciculatum, G.monosporum and G. mossea under greenhouse conditions and found that the dry weight of eggplant increased significantly. Previously Ortas and Akpinar (2006); Ortas et al. (2011a) observed that mycorrhizae inoculated pepper and eggplant plants grown and have early flowered than non inoculated plants. It has been demonstrated that under salt conditions mycorrhiza

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH inoculated tomato plant became bigger than the control plants and the plants successfully grown under salt conditions (Ozdemir et al., 2010; Demir et al., 2011).

Figure 1. Under field conditions, the effect of mycorrhizal inoculation on tomato, pepper and eggplant yield

It has been shown that AM are more effective in increasing plant yield. The results of (Orta and Sari, 2003; Ortas and Varma, 2007; Ortas et al., 2011a) have shown that there was remarkable increased in yield under green house and field conditions of pepper plants pre-inoculated with mycorrhiza. Additionally also the results showed that pepper yield increased with P addition and mycorrhizal inoculation compared with non-inoculated ones. Edathil et al. (1999) reported that AM increased tomato plant tissue P concentrations. Isolate selection is vital for the successful application of mycorrhizal fungi (Sylvia et al., 1993). AMF significantly increased total P content of seedlings. Ren et al. (2010) and Nzanza et al. (2011) observed that the AM colonization increased root growth of tomato. Sylvia and Chellemi (2001) and Dennett et al. (2011) conclude that reduced P application may allow tomatoes to take advantage of their inherent responsiveness to mycorrhizae in a low to moderate soil-P environment. In the present study, since soil P level was average and plant P concentration was not affected by the mycorrhizal inoculation, soil P level must have been sufficient for both mycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizal plants. In the present experiment plant P% was not changed significantly (Table 1). Plant Zn and Cu content significantly increased as well (Table 1).
Table 1. The effect of phosphorus application on pepper. tomato and eggplant nutrient content under field conditions with two different mycorrhizal inoculations.
P % Zn Cu Pepper 18.9 1.9 23.3 5.6 18.9 0.8 22.7 4.4 24.1 0.3 20.9 3.4 Tomato 23.0 1.6 25.4 4.5 24.7 3.6 22.2 2.4 20.7 1.3 22.1 2.1 Eggplant 20.9 1.1 19.9 2.3 21.5 1.5 24.2 0.3 21.8 1.7 21.3 0.6 Mn Mg kg-1 DW 103.9 109.4 97.5 119.8 120.3 103.5 179.3 152.8 151.4 178.7 174.7 171.4 128.5 133.9 125.4 151.8 123.6 135.0 Fe

(-P) (+P)

Control G. mosseae G. etinicatinium Control G. mosseae G. etinicatinium Control G. mosseae G. etinicatinium Control G. mosseae G. etinicatinium

0.26 0.29 0.25 0.27 0.25 0.28 0.27 0.28 0.30 0.29 0.30 0.30

0.01 0.02 0.05 0.03 0.05 0.01 0.03 0.02 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.02 0.00 0.02 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01

9.0 11.7 12.2 16.8 11.9 10.6 23.7 22.6 17.3 20.7 22.7 20.3 16.5 17.1 25.5 24.9 22.9 21.8

2.0 2.9 2.3 4.1 1.3 1.4 2.8 4.2 7.7 1.8 8.2 2.3 4.5 3.7 11.6 8.2 7.1 10.2

7.4 9.2 19.6 5.6 6.9 6.8 30.8 69.6 40.1 28.7 35.7 49.2 12.9 12.5 21.6 10.6 19.0 8.9

176.0 231.2 270.4 240.9 244.8 184.9 210.3 361.4 221.0 313.3 306.5 238.5 298.5 207.8 218.5 359.8 276.8 229.7

44.1 38.0 139.2 28.0 49.9 69.2 22.9 137.5 27.6 109.4 89.7 30.7 173.7 30.9 58.9 126.3 57.5 49.9

(-P) (+P)

0.31 Control 0.31 G. mosseae 0.31 G. etinicatinium 0.31 Control 0.30 (+P) G. mosseae 0.29 G. etinicatinium -P= 0 kg ha-1. +P = 100 kg P kg ha-1 (-P)

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Effect of mycorrhizal inoculation on root colonization was determined. It has been shown that eggplant has high root colonization than tomato and pepper plants (Figure 2). In generally under field conditions since there is indigenous mycorrhiza root colonization is generally is high (Ortas, 2012).
Figure 2. Effect of mycorrhizal inoculation and phosphorus application on pepper, tomato

Leek is Mycorrhizal Dependent In present experiment it seems that plant are mycorrhizal. Mycorrhizal inoculation increased plant yield compared with non-inoculated plants (Table 2). The yield of mycorrhizal plants grown with no P was higher than that of plants to which P was applied. Leeks have shallow and less dense root systems devoid of root hairs and an early season P supply is important for such crops, especially at low spring temperatures (Grant et al., 2001). Pre-inoculation of leek seedlings are very important to increase the in-field P uptake and increase exploitation of the soil volume and reduce for P fertilizer application (Sorensen et al., 2008). Perner et al. (2006) reported that mycorrhizal colonization increased leek plant shoot Zn and K concentrations, but did not significantly affect shoot dry matter or shoot P concentrations. These facts show that mycorrhizal inoculation is necessary under field conditions to obtain healthy and well-grown horticultural plants (Ortas, 2012).
Table 2. Effect of several mycorrhizal inoculation on leek yeild under field condation (1998) Yield Yield increase P Zn Root colonization kg ha-1 (%) % (mg g-1 DW) (%) 24110 100 0.20 18.1 24 Control 33420 139 0.36 37.5 65 G. etinicatinium 32140 133 0.30 32.3 57 G. caledonium 29660 123 0.43 26.8 62 G. clarium 35210 146 0.35 30.9 59 G. mosseae 29420 122 0.45 29.1 60 Cocktail

Effect of P Fertilization on Mycorrhiza Dependency Horticultural many plants are strongly mycorrhizal dependent. Carrot plant is one of the mycorrhizal plants. In low and high P application carrot plant give high response to mycorrhizal inoculation (Figure 3). However Spanish plant did not response to the mycorrhizal inoculation. Mycorrhiza inoculated spinach plant did not increased plant yield under field conditions. It is well known that Spanish plant is not mycorrhizal, however carrot is mycorrhizal (Plenchette et al., 1983).

Figure 3. Effect of mycorrhiza and phosphorus application on carrot and spinach plants yield under field conditions.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH In some cases of P-deficient soils, the yields and quality of crops were found to be largely dependent on their mycorrhizal status (Ortas and Akpinar, 2006). Mycorrhizal inoculation significantly increased plant Zn content as well. An agreement with previous, mycorrhizal inoculation increases Zn uptake of plants (Kothari et al., 1991; Marschner, 1998; Ortas et al., 2011b). Pumpkin is Mycorrhizal Dependent Pumpkin (Cucurbita maxima) is used as a seeds and fruits. Field experiments were conducted in 1999 to investigate the effects of mycorrhizal inoculation and phosphorus application on yield and nutrient uptake. Pumpkin seedling produced in growth medium and transplanted to the field conations. At sowing time pumpkin seedling were receive the mycorrhizal inoculum and non mycorrhizal seedling were receive the same amount of mycorrhizae free inoculum. Two different mycorrhizae species were used such as G. Mosseae and G. Etinicatinium. Fruit yields were recorded for each harvest and crop yield was obtained. The data are shown that G. Mosseae and G. Etinicatinium inoculated plant yield significantly increased. It has been seen from Figure 4. P application also increased the yield as well. At harvest, root sample were taken for root colonization. Results are shown that pumpkin is inoculated by mycorrhizal inoculation. P application increased Pumpkin yield than non P application treatment.
Pumpkin 1999
25000 Yield (kg/ha) 20000 15000 10000 5000 0 Control G. mosseae Mycorrhizae species G. etinicatinium -P +P

Figure 4. Effect of mycorrhizae species and P application on pumpkin yield under field conditions.

Mycorrhizal Species Effect on Yield of Cucumber and Marrow In general, horticultural plants, such as cucumbers (Cucumis sativus L.), form the arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis (Chandanie et al., 2009; Ortas, 2010). During 2004 and 2005 marrow and cucumber plant were tested with several mycorrhiza species. Cucumber plant is significantly mycorrhizal dependent plant. In 2005, several mycorrhizae species inoculated marrow and cucumber seedling were grown under greenhouse field conditions and later on transplanted to the field. Indigenous mycorrhiza also was used compared to selected exotic mycorrhiza. In 2004, several mycorrhiza species inoculated cucumber seedling inoculated with several mycorrhizae species and tested under filed conditions. It has been found that cucumber yield significantly increased. Indigenous mycorrhiza inoculum was successful in colonizing plant roots and resulted in better plant growth and yield. Since mycorrhizae make plant roots stronger, inoculated seedling roots are more successful in recovery and uptake nutrient and water. AMF have potential affection on the growth of nursery seedling and yield of cucumber and marrow crops, this may be important for organic vegetable production as well. Previously it has been observed that mycorrhiza inoculated plant survived more than non mycorrhizal ones (Ortas and Varma, 2007). For efficient use of mycorrhizal inoculum in marrow and cucumber seedling production there is a need to know the effectiveness of AMF species. Since AMF species are different in their ability in colonization and plant growth, it is better to screen the effectiveness of species (Ortas, 2010). Previously it has been reported that inoculated and control non inoculated cucumber seedlings were established under field conditions in 1998, 2001, 2002 and 2004. Also it has been found that mycorrhiza inoculation significantly increased cucumber seedling survival, fruit yield, P and Zn shoot concentrations (Ortas, 2010). Also Cigsar et al. (2000) reported that G. mosseae and G. fasciculatum inoculated cucumber plants under sterile and non-sterile conditions increased higher uptake of P, Zn and Mn. Mycorrhiza species significantly increased marrow yield. Compare to control indigenous mycorrhiza increased yield (Figure 5). In generally G. Mosseae and G. Etinicatinium produced

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH higher marrow yield compared to others mycorrhizae species. Determining the potential effect of indigenous mycorrhizal infection and selected mycorrhizal inoculation on plant growth and nutrient uptake under field conditions was tested.

Figure 5. Several mycorrhizae species including indigenous mycorrhizae inoculation increased marrow and cucumber yield.

The results of several experiments shown that although mycorrhizal inoculation increased vegetable yield, this increase is not easily explained through better nutrient uptake by AMF plants than by uncolonized plants. Mycorhizal inoculation may have some other benefits to plants such as protection against soil-borne pathogens and environmental stress. In the next study the Authors will concentrate on these areas. It appears that there are some other benefits of mycorrhizae on horticultural plants such as controlling disease and increasing plant resistance. References Al-Raddad, A.M., 1987. Effect of VA mycorrhizal isolates on growth of tomato, eggplant and pepper in field soil. Dirasat (Jordan) 14, 161-168. Chandanie, W.A., Kubota, M., Hyakumachi, M., 2009. Interactions between the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Glomus mosseae and plant growth-promoting fungi and their significance for enhancing plant growth and suppressing damping-off of cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.). Applied Soil Ecology 41, 336-341. Cigsar, S., Sar, N., Ortas, I., 2000. Hyarda vesikler-Arbskler Mikorizann Bitki Bymesi ve Besin Maddeleri alm zerine Etkileri. J. Agriculture and Forestry 24, 571-578. Demir, K., Basak, H., Okay, F.Y., Kasim, R., 2011. The effect of endo-mycorrhiza (VAM) treatment on growth of tomato seedling grown under saline conditions. African Journal of Agricultural Research 6, 3326-3332. Dennett, A.L., Burgess, L.W., McGee, P.A., Ryder, M.H., 2011. Arbuscular mycorrhizal associations in Solanum centrale (bush tomato), a perennial sub-shrub from the arid zone of Australia. J. Arid. Environ. 75, 688-694. Edathil, T.T., Manian, S., Udaiyan, K., 1999. Interaction of multiple VAM fungal species on root colonization, plant growth and nutrient status of tomato seedlings (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.). Agriculture Ecosystem and Environment 59, 63-68. Grant, C.A., Flaten, D.N., Tomasiewicz, D.J., Sheppard, S.C., 2001. The importance of early season phosphorus nutrition. Canadian Journal of Plant Science 81, 211-224. Jeffries, P., 1987. Use of Mycorrhizae in Agriculture. Crc Critical Reviews in Biotechnology 5, 319-357. Karagiannidis, N., Stavropoulos, N., Tsakelidou, K., 2002. Yield increase in tomato, eggplant, and pepper using thermanox manganese soil amendment. Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis 33, 2247-2258.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Kothari, S.K., Marschner, H., Romheld, V., 1991. Contribution of the VA Mycorrhizal Hyphae in Acquisition of Phosphorus and Zinc by Maize Grown in a Calcareous Soil. Plant and Soil 131, 177-185. Marschner, H., 1998. Role of root growth, arbuscular mycorrhiza, and root exudates for the efficiency in nutrient acquisition. Field Crops Research 56, 203-207. Nzanza, B., Marais, D., Soundy, P., 2011. Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) seedling growth and development as influenced by Trichoderma harzianum and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. African Journal of Microbiology Research 5, 425-431. Ortas, I., 2010. Effect of mycorrhiza application on plant growth and nutrient uptake in cucumber production under field conditions. Spanish Journal of Agricultural Research 8, S116S122. Ortas, I., 2012. The effect of mycorrhizal fungal inoculation on plant yield, nutrient uptake and inoculation effectiveness under long-term field conditions. Field Crops Research 125, 35-48. Ortas, I., Akpinar, C., 2006. Response of kidney bean to arbuscular mycorrhizal inoculation and mycorrhizal dependency in P and Zn deficient soils. Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica Section BSoil and Plant Science 56, 101-109. Ortas, I., Sari, N., Akpinar, C., Yetisir, H., 2011a. Screening mycorrhiza species for plant growth, P and Zn uptake in pepper seedling grown under greenhouse conditions. Scientia Horticulturae 128, 92-98. Ortas, I., Sari, N., Akpinar, C., Yetisir, H., 2011b. Screening Mycorrhizae Species for Increased Growth and P and Zn Uptake in Eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) Grown under Greenhouse Conditions. European Journal of Horticultural Science 76, 116-123. Ortas, I., Varma, A., 2007. Field Trials of Bioinoculants. In: Oelmller, R., Varma, A. (Eds.), Modern Tools and Techniques. Springer-Verlag, pp. 397-413. Orta, I., Sari, N., 2003. Enhanced Yield and Nutrient Content of Sweet Corn with Mycorrhizal Inoculation Under Field Conditions. Agricoltura Mediterranea 3-4, 188-195. Ozdemir, G., Akpinar, C., Sabir, A., Bilir, H., Tangolar, S., Ortas, I., 2010. Effect of Inoculation with Mycorrhizal Fungi on Growth and Nutrient Uptake of Grapevine Genotypes (Vitis spp.). European Journal of Horticultural Science 75, 103-110. Perner, H., Schwarz, P., George, E., 2006. Effect of mycorrhizal inoculation and compost supply on growth and nutrient uptake of young leek plants grown on peat-based substrates. Hortscience 41, 628-632. Plenchette, C., Fortin, J.A., Furlan, V., 1983. Growth-responses of several plant-species to mycorrhizae in a soil of moderate P-fertlty .1. mycorrhizal dependency under field conditions. Plant and Soil 70, 199-209. Ren, L.X., Lou, Y.S., Sakamoto, K., Inubushi, K., Amemiya, Y., Shen, Q.R., Xu, G.H., 2010. Effects of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Colonization on Microbial Community in Rhizosphere Soil and Fusarium Wilt Disease in Tomato. Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis 41, 1399-1410. Sorensen, J.N., Larsen, J., Jakobsen, I., 2008. Pre-inoculation with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi increases early nutrient concentration and growth of field-grown leeks under high productivity conditions. Plant and Soil 307, 135-147. Sylvia, D.M., Chellemi, D.O., 2001. Interactions among root-inhabiting fungi and their implications for biological control of root pathogens. In: Sparks, D.L. (Ed.), Advances in Agronomy, Vol 73. Elsevier Academic Press Inc, San Diego, pp. 1-33. Sylvia, D.M., Jarstfer, A.G., Vosatka, M., 1993. Comparisons of Vesicular-Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Species and Inocula Formulations in a Commercial Nursery and on Diverse Florida Beaches. Biology and Fertility of Soils 16, 139-144.

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Effects of Long-Term N, P, K Fertilization on Metal Transition from Soil to Plant and Determination of Pseudo Total Metal Contents by Different Microwave Assisted Extraction Procedures
Sezin ztan*, Rolf-Alexander Dring
Institute of Soil Science and Soil Conservation, Interdisciplinary Research Center for Biosystems, Land Use and Nutrition (IFZ), Justus Liebig University, Heinrich-Buff-Ring 26-32, D-35392 Giessen, Germany *Corresponding Author: sezin.oeztan@umwelt.uni-giessen.de Abstract Metals of different toxicities occur in soils as a result of weathering, industrial processes, fertilization and atmospheric deposition. Badly adapted cultivation of the agricultural soils (declining pH-value, application of unsuitable fertilizers) can enhance the mobility of the metals and by the way increase their concentrations in agricultural products. Extraction is a consequential but also mightily time-consuming step. In recent years, new extraction techniques for extractable metals have been enhanced that will substitute the conventional procedures. Soil and plant (Lolio-Cynosuretum) samples were taken from four different locations (210, 260, 360, 620 m a. s. l) in Hesse-Germany. Aim of this study is to proffer a simple digestion procedure for soils and plants with microwave technology for pseudo total metal contents and to test the relations between available metal (As, B, Ba, Be, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, Tl, V, Zn) concentrations in the soil and metal load of the plants depending on the fertilization proportion. Heavy metal contents of plant and soil samples were determined by closed vessel microwave assisted extraction (MAE) and compared with a conventional aqua regia extraction to confirm the methodology by ICP-OES. Certified reference materials were used to compare the recovery rates from different extraction protocols. Furthermore, mobile and potentially available fractions were identified by EDTA and NH4NO3 extractions. It is also examined the use of a linear multiple regression analysis as a technique to find the dominant factors affecting metal transition to the plants, and for predicting metal concentrations in plants. Keywords: contamination, heavy metals, microwave assisted extraction, ICP-OES

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Compar s on Of Soil N trate Analys s Metdods

Mahmut Tepecik, Neriman Tuba Barlas, Hseyin Hakerlerler Ege University Agricultural Faculty Soil Sciences and Plant Nutrition Dept. Bornova / Izmir, Turkey Corresponding Author: mahmut.tepecik@ege.edu.tr
Abstract The aim of this research was to compare different extraction methods and analytical techniques for determination of soil nitrate. Twelve vineyards soils were used as material. Totally 6 extraction procedures and analytic techniques as xylenol, Nmin, HPLC, salicylic acid, modified salicylic acid, and nitrate selective ion electrode were used. Significant correlations were determined between used analysis methods. The highest correlation was found between salicylic acid and Nmin as 0.902** lowest was found between xylenol and nitrate selective on electrode methods as 0.682*. Key words: Nitrate, methods, soil

Introduction Total nitrogen analysis is commonly used in soil fertility laboratories due to simplicity and low cost. However, it is assumed that total nitrogen analysis is not a good indicator of soil nitrogen availability. Therefore, determination of inorganic nitrogen fractions (NH4-N and NO3-N) and especially nitrate content of soil is important criteria for preparation of fertilization programs. Nitrate content of soil affected by several factors (climate, soil properties, the amount, form and time of fertilizer application and soil microbial dynamism) and changes with time. For this reason, it is very important to fallow and determine the changes of nitrate concentration in soil during through of the growing season. Plant growth and crop production depend to a large extent on soil N supplying capacity (Li et al., 2009). Therefore, application of an adequate nitrogen rate is important not only for economic purposes but also for environmental concerns as well. Numerous chemical methods of nitrate in soils have been described in the literature and most were originally developed for analysis of water or very diluted solutions and suffer serious interferences when applied to soil extracts (Cruz and Louao, 2002).In this respect, several extraction and measurement (quantification) methods can be used for nitrate analysis in soil. Each method has some advantage and disadvantages (Sah, 1994). Soil extract has complex (matrix) characteristics as they contain several ions other than nitrate. The complex behavior of the soil extract some times can cause difficulties and interferences in nitrate analysis and limits the applicability. Simplicity, accuracy, interferences, equipment and cost generally taken into account for selection of the nitrate analysis methods.(Cruz and Louao, 2002).This study was carried out to compare some methods commonly used for soil nitrate analysis in respect to above mentioned selection criteria. Material and Methods Material: Twelve soil samples were collected from vineyards located in Salihli and Alaehir during the veraison period. Samples were taken from upper layer (0-30 cm). Methods: Fresh soil samples were passed through 5 mm sieve and prepared for analysis. Detail of extraction methods and analytical techniques used in the study are given as fallows (Table.1) 1-Xylenol :Fresh soil samples were extracted with 1% KAl(SO4)2.12H2O. Spectrophotometry was performed after colorization with addition of 1,2,4 Xylenol. Absorbance was measured at 433 nm (Balks et al.,1955). 2-Nmin : Soils were extracted 0.125 M CaCI2.2 H2O. After reduction of nitrate to nitrite with Cu covered Zn granules and measured sepectrophotometrically at 210 nm (Thun et al, 1991). 3-HPLC: The samples were vacuum filtered after water extraction.Tetrabutilamonnium hydrogensulphate + Na2H2PO4 (pH= 6.7) was used as mobil phase and meausurement was performed by UV dedector at 220 nm (Vilsmeier, 1984). 4-Salicylic Acid: Samples were extracted with 1% KAl(SO4)2 .12H2O and nitrate concentration of extracts were measured spectrophotometrically at 430 nm (Fabig et al., 1978).
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH 5-Modified Salicylic acid : Soil samples were extracted with water (Bingham, 1949). Nitrate was spectrophotometrically measured according to Cataldo et al. (1975). 6-Nitrate Selective Ion ELectrode (Ionmeter): Water extraction was used in the methods. 0.05 M (NH4)2SO4 solution was added to samples as stabilizer and measurement was performed with ionmeter (Milham et al.,1970).
Table1 Methods and extraction solution used in soil samples Methods Xylenol Nmin Salicylic acid Modified salicylic acid HPLC NSIE (Ionmeter) Extraction KAl(SO4)2 (%1) CaCl2 (0.125M) KAl(SO4)2 (%1) H2O H2O H2O Soil:Extract Ratio 1:5 1:4 1:5 1:5 1:10 1:10 Shaking time (min.) 15 60 25 5 30 30 References Balks et al., 1955 Thun et al.,1991 Fabig et al.,1978 Cataldo et al., 1975 Vilsmeier, 1984 Milham et al., 1970

Statistical analysis: The relations between methods were investigated with correlation analysis by TARIST packet software (Akgz et al., 1994). Results and Discussion Results of NO3-N concentration of soils determined by different methods was given Table 2.
Table2. NO3-N (ppm) determined with different NO3-N determination methods SA Samples Mod. SA HPLC XYLENOL NSIE Nmin 1 4.15 4.56 4.50 5.11 5.57 4.25 2 7.16 8.24 8.66 9.68 9.14 8.92 3 6.22 7.13 6.92 7.86 7.31 6.87 4 7.01 8.14 8.34 8.17 8.66 8.16 5 8.12 9.36 9.71 10.23 9.72 9.61 6 6.74 7.61 7.19 7.94 7.42 7.34 7 5.93 6.54 6.23 7.81 6.74 6.43 8 6.92 8.01 7.94 8.04 7.96 7.84 9 8.22 8.65 8.51 9.57 9.28 8.58 10 6.56 7.42 7.01 7.56 7.11 6.90 11 6.38 6.93 6.86 7.32 7.28 6.69 12 6.72 7.70 7.42 7.81 7.56 7.57 Min. 4.15 4.56 4.50 5.11 5.57 4.25 Max. 8.22 9.36 9.71 10.23 9.72 9.61 Mean 6.68 7.52 7.44 8.09 7.81 7.43

Nitrate-nitrogen (NO3-N) contents of soils were changed between 4.15-8.22 ppm with Modified salicylic acid (Mod. SA), 4.50-9.71 ppm with Xylenol , 4.56-9.36 ppm with HPLC, 5.11-10.23 ppm with nitrate selective ion electrode (Ionmeter), 5.57-9.72 ppm with Nmin , and 4.25-9.61 ppm with salicylic acid method (SA). Hoffman and Barbaick (1981) determined NO3-N content between 2-62 ppm with Cd reduction method, 1-55 ppm with phenoldisulfonic and 1-55 ppm with vapor distillation method. Yldz (1994). determined NO3-N between 9-17 ppm, 3-12 ppm and 19-34 ppm with 2 N KCl extraction, Standford & Hanway and Prasad-II method respectively. Yamur (1997) reported 0.23-36.13 ppm NO3-N for Xylenol and 3.33-22.58 ppm. In Nmin method. The relations between 6 different methods used to determine NO3-N in vineyard soils were investigated and the results are given in Table3.
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Table 3. Correlation coefficients between methods Methods SALICYLIC ACID (SA) XYLENOL Nmin Mod. SA NSIE HPLC SALICYLIC ACID (SA) 1.000 0.842** 0.902** 0.738** 0.765** 0.843**

XYLENOL 0.842** 1.000 0.772** 0.717** 0.682* 0.693*

Nmin 0.902** 0.772** 1.000 0.729** 0.856** 0.868**

Mod. SA 0.738** 0.717** 0.729** 1.000 0.855** 0.790**

NSIE 0.765** 0.682* 0.856** 0.855** 1.000 0.863**

HPLC 0.843** 0.693* 0.868** 0.790** 0.863** 1.000

In the investigation of the relations between the methods, the importance order of the methods is determined as follows: Nmin- SA (r= 0.902**) > HPLC Nmin (r=0.867**) >HPLC-NSIE (r=0.863**)> NISE-Nmin (r=0.856**) > NSIE- Mod. SA (r=0.855**) > SA - HPLC (r=0.843**) > SA -Xylenol (r=0.842) >HPLC Mod. SA (r=0.790**) >Nmin Xylenol (r=0.772**) > Mod. SA SA (r=0.738**) >Mod. SA Nmin (r=0.729**) > Mod.SA Xylenol (r=0.717**) > HPLC Xylenol (r=0.693*) > NISE Xylenol (r=0.682*). The strongest correlation in nitrate analysis methods was determined between NminSA (r=0.902**) methods, while the weakest correlation was between HPLCXylenol (r=0.693*) and NSEXylenol (r=0.682*) methods Figure 1 and 2.

12 10
Nmin NO3-N (ppm)

N min- Salicylic Acid (SA)

8 6 4 2 0 0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Salicylic Acid (SA) (NO3-N ppm)

Y=1.1294x-1.3931 R2 =0.9423

Figure 1. Relation between N min - SA Methods

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12 Xylenol NO3-N (ppm) 10 8 6 4 2 0 0 5

Xylenol - NSIE

y = 0.9271x + 1.1929 2 R = 0.8826

10

15

NSIE NO3-N(ppm)
Figure 2. Relation between Xylenol Salicylic Acid Methods

Milham et al. (1970) observed a significant relation between NO3-N levels determined by ionmeter and Devarda (vapor distillation) methods (r=0.99**). Haney et al. (2006) reported significant relations between new H3A method and water extraction (r=0.97**) and KCI extraction methods (r=0.95**) for 32 soil samples. Dimirkou et al. (1994) reported significant relations between Cd-reduction method and phenoldisulfonic acid methods used to determine NO3-N in 500 soil samples collected from tomato production fields (r=0.9358**). Hunt and Seymour (1985) determined a very significant correlation between HPLC method and vapor distillation (Devarda) methods in terms of NO3-N (r=0.9989**). Yamur (1997) determined significant relations between Xylenol and PrasadII (r=0.97**), Xylenol and vapor distillation (r=0.957**), and Xylenol and Nmin (r=0.863**) soils samples. The analysis of NO3-N in soil is quite important for preparing nitrogenous fertilization programs in vineyard and controlling the prepared nitrogenous fertilization program. From this regard, NO3N in soil samples collected from 12 different vineyards were analyzed with different methods in the present study. With the obtained results, the relations between the determination methods of NO3-N in soil and methods used for NO3-N were investigated. Significant relations were detected between 6 different determination methods of NO3-N in soils. Of these relations, the highest correlation was found between Nmin and SA methods (r=0.902**). The relations between total N in soils and different determination methods of NO3-N, and the highest correlation was provided by SA method (r=0.927**) and Nmin (r=0.902**) methods. The highest correlation between organic matter in soil and NO3-N determination methods was determined with Xylenol method (r=0.707**). In conclusion, all the methods used on soils could be used, or one of the relevant methods can be chosen with respect to easy applicability, accuracy and availability of methods. From this regard, Salicylic Acid Method stays one step ahead of other methods.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH References Akgz, N., Akba, M. E., zcan, K. ve Moghoddam, A. F.,1994. Tarmsal Aratrmalarn Deerlendirilmesi iin PC. Paketi TARST, Tarla Bitkileri Kongresi 25-29 Nisan 1994. E..Z.F.Bornova/zmir. Balks, R.und Reekers, I. ,1955. Bestimmung des Nitrat und Ammoniakstickstoffs im Boden. Landwirtsch. Forsch. 8: 7-13 Bingham, F. T, 1949. Soil Test for Phosphate. California Agri. 3: 11-14. Cataldo, D.A., Haroon, M., Schrader, L.E., and Youngs, V.L., 1975. Rapid Colorimetric Determination of Nitrate in Plant Tissue by Nitration of Salicylic Acid. Commun. Soil Sci. And Plant Analysis 6(1):71-80. Cruz, C., and Louao, M.A.M., 2002. Comparision of Methodologies for Nitrate Determination in Plants and Soils. Jour. of Plant Nutrition 25(6):1185-1211. Dimirkou, A., Ioannou, A., Gatzougianni and Christou, M., 1994. Best Method for Determination of NO3-N in Soil Where Lycopersicum esculentum (Tomato) is Cultivated. Acta Hort. 376: 419 426. Fabig, W., J.C.G. Ottow and F. Mler, 1978. Mineralization von 14C-Markiertem Benzoat mit Nitrat als Wasserstoff-Akseptor unter Vollstaendig Anaeroben Bedingungen Sowie bei Vermindertem Sauerstoffpartialdruck. Landwirtsch. Forsch, 35: 441-453. Haney, R. L., Haney, E. B., Hossner, L. R., Arnold, J. G., 2006. Development of a New Soil Extractant for Simultaneous Phosphorus, Ammonium and Nitrate Analysis. Communi. in Soil Sci. and Plant Analysis, 37:1511-1523. Huffman, S.A., and Barbarick, K.A., 1981. Soil Nitrate Analysis by Cadmium Reduction. Commun. Soil Sci. and Plant Anal. 12(1):79-89. Hunt, J., and Seymour, D.J., 1985. Methods for Measuring Nitrate-Nitrogen in Vegetables Using Anion-Exchange High-Performance Liquid Chromatography. Analyst, 110:131-133. Li, S. X., Z. H. Wrang, S. S. Malhi, S. Q. Li, Y. J. Gao, and X. H. Tian. 2009. Nutrient and water management effects on crop pruduction , and nutrient and water use efficiency in dryland areas of China. Advances in Agronomy 102:221-262 pp. Milham, P.J., Awad, A.S., Paul, .E.,and Bull, J.H.,1970. Analysis of Plants, Soils and Waters for Nitrate by Using Ion-selective Electrode. Analyst, Vol.95, pp. 751-757 Sah, R.N., 1994. Nitrate-Nitrogen Determination A Critical Review. Commun. Soil Sci. Plant Anal., 25 (17&18), 2841-2869. Thun, R. , Hermann, R. , Knickmann, E und Hoffmann, G.,1991. Di Unterschung von Boden Vierte Auflage, VDLOFA- Verley Darmstad Vilsmeier, K.,1984. Kurzmitteilung Bestimmung von Dicyandiamid, Nitrit und Nitrat in Bodenextrakten mit Hochdruckflssigkeitschromatographie. Z. Pflanzenernaehr.Boden.147: 264-268. Yamur, B., 1997. Gney Marmara Blgesi Sanayi Domates Alanlarnn Azot Durumu ve Bu Alanlarn Faydalanlabilir Azot Miktarnn Tayininde Kullanlacak Yntemler. E.. Fen Bil. Enst. Toprak ABD (Doktora Tezi), Bornova-zmir.137 pp. Yldz, N., 1994. Pasinler Ovas Topraklarnda Bitkiye Elverili Azotun Belirlenmesinde Kullanlabilecek Kimyasal Ekstraksiyon Yntemlerinin Seimi. A. . Fen Bil. Enst. Toprak ABD (Doktora Tezi), Erzurum.77 pp.

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Evaluation of Fertility Status of Cotton Soils in the Ske Region

Neriman Tuba BARLAS, Mahmut TEPECK
Ege University Agricultural Faculty Soil Sciences and Plant Nutrition Dept. Bornova / Izmir, Turkey Corresponding author: neriman.tuba.barlas@ege.edu.tr

Abstract
This study was conducted to evaluate the soil fertility status in cotton (Gossypium hirsitum) fields in the Ske region of Turkey, where cotton production is very widespread. Research material consisted of soil samples which were taken from a depth of 0-30 cm in 30 cotton fields as representative of the Ske region at the beginning of the flowering season. In the analysis, 82.8% of soils showed a mildly alkaline reaction, 10.3% were medium alkaline and 6.9% were neutral. While 93.1% of soils studied showed no problem with salt, 3.4% were mildly affected by salt, and the remaining 3.4% were affected at a medium level. It was shown that 55.2% of the soils were rich in lime, 24.1% were poor, and 20.7% were calcareous; 62.1% were high in humus, and the rest were poor in humus. In terms of structure, it was found that a silt loam structure dominated in 44.8% of soils. Nitrogen levels were good in 55.2% of the soils and at a medium level in 44.8%. For phosphorus, 65.5% of the soils were deficient, 20.7% were marginal and 13.8% were at an adequate level. Many of the soils (31%) were adequate in potassium, but 27.6% were found to be low, and 24.1% inadequate. A great excess of calcium was found in 44.8% of soils, an excess in 37.9%, and a good level in 10.3%. Mg levels were found to be adequate in 96.6% of soils. No deficiency of Fe, Cu or Mn was found in the soils, but for Zn, 37.9% were deficient, 34.5% showed a risk of deficiency, and 27.6% showed a good level. This study was planned to assess the content of plant nutrients in the soil, with the intention that fertilizer, an important input in production, be used more correctly and in a more balanced way, and in order to prevent the indiscriminate use of fertilizer. Keywords: Cotton, Ske region, soil fertility, plant nutrients

Introduction The cotton plant is a basic agricultural product used in the textile, animal feed and oil industries. In addition, it provides significant employment in Turkey (Dadelen et. al., 2006; rget et. al., 2010). Turkey has 4.8 million da of land under cotton, and produces about 2 million tones cotton. About 377 000 tonnes of this production comes from the Aegean region, with Ske providing a 149 000 tonnes share of this (TUK, 2010). Cotton production has seen new improved varieties and the use of new technologies and methods of production, which has meant an increase in production per unit of land and thus an increase in uptake of nutrient elements from the soil (rget et. al., 2010). It is therefore necessary to regularly monitor the fertility of the soil and to optimize fertilizer programs in accordance with changing conditions. In preparing fertilization programs, it is not only necessary to know the amounts of plant nutrients which plants take up from the soil; the fertility of the soil is also important. It has been stated that the most widespread, easiest and cheapest method of assessing soil fertility is chemical analysis (Atalay, 2010). It has been shown that the physical and chemical characteristics of the soil can have a significant effect on the effectiveness of factors in plant nutrition, especially pH, lime, organic matter and soil structure. Soil characteristics and thus soil fertility can vary over a short distance in the same field and at the same time (Smith et al., 1998). Volk (1942), determined that Alabama cotton growing soils were deficient with a value under 100 mg kg-1. olakolu and Atalay (1982) carried out a study of mineral nutrients in cotton grown in the Aegean region of Turkey and the relations between soil, plant and product, and found shortages of nitrogen in 63% of soils, of phosphorus in 68%, and of potassium in 37%. They also found that cotton took from the soil 107-236 kg N ha-1, 29.4-70.4 kg P2O5 ha-1, 96.3-232.4 kg K2O ha-1, 88346 kg Ca ha-1, and 39-120 kg MgO ha-1. The researchers also stated that the best time for taking samples to monitor nutrition in cotton in the Aegean region was at the beginning of the flowering period. Smith et al. (1998) performed a study with the purpose of relating the chemical characteristics of soil where cotton was grown in Milan, USA and the content of nutrient elements of these soils to cotton yield, and concluded that the concentration of Mg (Mehlich-3) varied between 34 and 242 mg kg-1, and that these values showed a negative correlation with soil P.
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Ycel (2001) studied the effects of different sowing times and potassium applications (control and 150 kg ha-1) on cotton fiber and quality characteristics. The results of their study showed that potassium provided an increase in ginning percentage and fiber yield. Hakerlerler et al. (2006) assessed the effects of different doses of sulfur at five different locations in the Ske area on soil characteristics and cotton yield and quality parameters, and found that the best dose of sulfur was 400 kg ha-1. They also stated that sulfur applications decreased soil pH, increased the total of salt dissolved in water, and affected the uptake of various macro and micro elements. rget (2010) carried out field experiments over two years at locations in Ske, Avar and Germencik in the Byk Menderes river basin to examine the effects on yield and plant nutrients of DAP, 15-15-15, 20-20-0 and 20-32-0 fertilizers. Results showed that different starter fertilizer applications could cause a variation in yield by as much as 14%. Nutrient uptake at various stages of development of cotton was greatest for all plant nutrients in the period between the 60th and 120th days after emergence. This period covers the time of square, the beginning of flowering, and the formation of bolls. For this reason they recommended the first top-dressing of cotton 60 days after emergence and the last top-dressing 90 days after emergence. When they studied the uptake of nutrients from the soil by cotton at different stages of development, they found that uptake of N and K was greatest, followed by Ca and P, while the least uptake was of Mg. Sawan et al. (2008) examined the effects on yield and fiber characteristics in cotton plants of K applied to the soil and P and Zn applied to the leaves. Two doses of K (control and 47.4 kg K ha-1) and two doses of chelated Zn (control and 57.6 kg Zn ha-1) were applied 70 and 85 days after planting. P was applied to the leaves at 0.0, 576, 1152 and 1728 g P ha-1 80 and 95 days after planting. Results of the study showed that fertilization of 47.4 kg K ha-1 to the soil, and 57.6 g Zn ha-1 and 1728 g P ha-1 to the leaves increased growth and yield in Egyptian cotton. The present study was planned to assess the content of nutrient elements in the soil, with the intention that fertilizer, an important input in production, be used more correctly and in a more balanced way, and in order to prevent the indiscriminate use of fertilizer. For this purpose, a total of 30 soil samples from different locations in the important cotton growing region of the Ske plain were analyzed and the general fertility of areas where cotton is grown was determined. Material and Methods This study was carried out on a total of 30 soil samples taken from cotton fields situated in 15 villages in Ske, Aydn. The soil samples were collected from a depth of 0-30 cm at the beginning of the flowering season. After being air-dried they were prepared for analysis, and soil reaction (pH) was determined by pH meter in saturation paste, total water-soluble salt was determined by the conductivimetric method, lime content was determined by the calcimetric method (Kacar, 2009), and texture was determined by the hydrometric method (Bouyoucos, 1962; Black, 1965). Total N was determined by the modified Kjeldahl method (Bremner, 1965), and available phosphorus by the Olsen method (Murphy and Riley, 1962; Olsen and Sommers, 1982). Available Na+, K+ and Ca++ was determined in a flamephotometer by the modified 1 N NH4OAc method, Mg++ by atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS) and available Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu by the DTPA method in an AAS (Kacar, 2009). Relations between the characteristics of the soil samples examined were evaluated by correlation analysis using the statistics program SPSS 15.0. Results Chemical characteristics of the soils are shown in Table 2. The pH of the soils varied between 6.53 and 8.03; 82.8% of the soils showed slight alkalinity, 10.3% medium alkalinity, and 6.9% a neutral reaction (Kellogg, 1952). In a study performed in the country as a whole, Eypolu (1999) found that 60.33% of soils in Turkey had a pH of between 7.5 and 8.5, and this proportion was 49.01% in the Aegean region. In the present study, the proportion of soils in this pH range was found to be 86.2%. Total water-soluble salt content varied between 0.02% and 0.48%. According to these results, 93.1% of the soils included in the study had no salinity problem, 3.4% were slightly affected by salinity, and the remaining 3.4% were affected to a medium extent (Soil Survey Staff, 1951). Lime content showed a variation of 0.44-6.91%, with 55.2% of soils examined rich in lime, 24.1% lime poor, and 20.7% limy (Evliya, 1960).
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH According to the results for organic matter, organic matter of the soils sampled varied between 0.93% and 2.19%, with an average value of 1.99%. According to these results, 62.1% of the soils were rich in humus, while the rest were poor in humus (Akalan 1965). When the structure values for the soils sampled were examined, it was seen that 44.8% had a predominantly silt loam structure. N contents varied between 0.06 and 0.15%, and 55.2% of soils were at a good level for nitrogen, while 44.8% were at a medium level (Kovanc, 1964). P content varied from 1.95 mg kg-1 to 18.06 mg kg-1, with an average value of 7.37. According to the FAO classification (1980), 65.5% of the soils examined were inadequate for phosphorus, 20.7% were marginal and 13.8% were at a sufficient level. K content ranged from 70.56 to 535.08 mg kg-1. A large proportion of the soils (31%), were at an adequate level for potassium; however, 27.6% were low and 24.1% were found to be at an insufficient level (Pizer, 1967). Ca content was between 1176.00 and 4645.20 mg kg-1, with 44.8% of soils very excessive for Ca, 37.9% excessive, and 10.3% at a good level. Mg content varied between 141.42 and 1182.84 mg kg-1. Mg content was found to be sufficient in 96.6% of the soils (Loue, 1968). Fe content of the soils varied from 6.14 to 14.98 mg kg-1, Cu from 0.86 to 3.06 mg kg-1, Mn from 3.70 to 8.04 mg kg-1, and Zn from 0.23 to 1.66 mg kg-1; 100% of soils examined were sufficient in Fe, Cu and Mn, but for Zn, 37.9% were insufficient, 34.5% carried a risk of showing deficiency, and 27.6% were seen to be at a good level (Table 1). It is reported that; Zn deficiency in crop production is also spread worldwide (Alloway 2008).
Table 1. Chemical characteristics of the studied soils
pH 6.53 8.03 7.69 Salt 0.02 0.48 0.07 % CaCO3 0.44 6.91 4.54 mg kg -1 O.M. N P K Ca Mg Na Fe Cu 0.93 0.06 1.95 70.56 1176.00 141.42 41.58 6.14 0.86 2.19 0.15 18.06 535.08 4645.20 1182.84 552.42 14.98 3.06 1.99 0.11 7.37 214.52 3456.21 807.18 194.85 11.51 1.52 Mn Zn 3.70 0.23 8.04 1.66 5.29 0.81

Min. Max. Mean

According to the results of the analysis, all plant nutrient contents except lime and P values were similar to the research results of the study of the Ske plain by Hakerlerler et al. (2006). It is thought that the higher finding for P content in this study may be due to different analytical methods and to the lime content. Correlation results are given in Table 2 and Table3. An antagonistic relationship was found between pH and P, Zn and Mn. A similar relationship between pH and Mn was found by Lindsay (1972) and a similar relationship was found between P, Zn and Mn by Hakerlerler et al. (2006). Malik et al. (1992) also stated that high pH showed a negative correlation as a reason for fixation in the soil.
Table 2. Pearson correlation coefficients for some chemical properties of soils based on combined data pH pH Salt CaCO3 N P K Ca Mg Na Fe Mn Zn Salt CaCO3 0.533** N P -0.422* -0.426* K

0.533** -0.422* 0.372* -0.426* 0.507** 0.536** 0.601**

0.372*

0.625**

0.492** 0.463*

0.388* 0.600**

-0.482** -0.463*

0.489**

** Significant at p= 0.01 ; *Significant at p= 0.05 respectively

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Table 3. Pearson correlation coefficients for some chemical properties of soils based on combined data (cont.) Ca pH Salt CaCO3 N P K Ca Mg Na Fe Mn Zn Mg 0.625** 0.536** 0.492** 0.463* 0.388* 0.400* -0.374* 0.375* 0.557** 0.557** 0.600** 0.400* -0.374* 0.375* Na 0.601** 0.507** Fe Mn -0.482** 0.489** Zn -0.463*

** Significant at p= 0.01 ; *Significant at p= 0.05 respectively

Discussion It has been stated that the most suitable pH for optimum use of plant nutrients is between 6.0 and 7.0 (Wolf, 1999). According to this, reducing the pH of the soils examined could increase the solubility of plant nutrients. It has been stated by many researchers that the application of sulfur may be effective in reducing pH (Yener, 1997; Hakerlerler, 2006). In this way, a positive effect can be expected from the promotion of solubility on the effectiveness of the application of fertilizer. A large number of researchers have stated that K is important for yield and quality of the cotton crop (Kacar and Katkat, 2009; olakolu and Atalay, 1982). Thus, including potassium in a fertilization program for cotton is as important as N and P. According to these results, when cotton producers in the Ske plain make a fertilization program, applying fertilizer in the light of these results based on soil and plant analyses will increase the yield and quality of the cotton. Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank to M. Kemal KOCABA, Sleyman TOYRAN, Jlide ABACI, Dilek ACAR and mit TOP for their help in the field studies. References Akalan, ., 1965. Toprak (Oluumu, Yaps ve zellikleri). A. . Ziraat Fakltesi Yaynlar: 241. Ders Kitab: 80. Ankara niversitesi Basmevi, p. 292-327. [ Soil (Genesis, Structure and Properties). Publ. of A.U. Agricultural Faculty, p. 292-327]. Alloway, B. J. 2008. Micronutrients and crop production: An introduction. In Micronutrient deficiencies in global crop production, ed. B. J. Alloway, pp. 139. New York: Springer. Atalay, ., 2010. Toprak verimlilii tehis yntemlerinin karlatrlmas. 5. Ulusal Bitki Besleme ve Gbre Kongresi. 15-17 Eyll 2010. Bornova-zmir. (Comparision of Soil Fertility Diagnostic Methods. 5th National Plant Nutrition and Fertilizers Congress. 15-17 Sept. 2010. Bornova-zmir / TURKEY). Black, C.A., 1965. Methods of soil analysis part-II. Amer. Soc. of Agronomy-Inc., Publisher Madison, Wisconsin, USA, 1372-1376 pp. Bouyoucos, G.J., 1962, A recalibration of the hidrometer method for making mechanical analysis of the soils. Agronomy Journal. 419:434 pp. Bremner, J.M., 1965. Total nitrogen, in Black, C. A. (Editor) Methods of soil analysis, Part 2, American Society of Agronomy Inc., Publisher, Madison, Wisconsin-USA. pp: 1149-1178. olakolu, H. and Atalay, .Z., 1982. Ege Blgesi koullarnda yetitirilen pamuun mineral besin maddesi kapsamlar ve bunlarn toprak-bitki ve rn ile olan ilikileri. (Mineral content

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH of cotton grown in Aegean Region and its relation with soil-plant and crop.) Doa 6(2). 1982. p.137-146. Dagdelen, N., Yilmaz, E., Sezgin, F., Gurbuz, T. 2006. Water-yield relation and water use efficiency of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) and second crop corn (Zea mays L.) in western Turkey. Agricultural Water Management 82 (2006) 6385. Evliya, H., 1960. Kltr bitkilerinin beslenmesi. A.. Ziraat Fakltesi Yaynlar No: 36,.p: 292-294. (Nutrition of cultivated plants. Publications of A.U. Agricultural Faculty, No:36, p: 292-294). Eypolu, F., 1999. Trkiye topraklarnn verimlilik durumu. T.C. Babakanlk Ky Hiz. Gen. Mg. Toprak ve Gbre Aratrma Enstits Yayn No. 220, Ankara. (The fertility status of Turkey soils. General Dept. Of Village Services of Prime Ministry of Rep. of Turkey. Soil and Fertilizers Research Institute . Pub. No: 22, Ankara /TURKEY. FAO, 1980. Soil testing and plant analysis. Bull.38/1, Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome, Italy. Hakerlerler, H., Yamur, B., zaktan, H., Yaa, ., Grel, A., Kln, R., Ana, D., rget, E., Bora, T., Skmen, ., Gle, I., Aslan, E., Bayram, S., Tutam, M., Krat, ., Erdal, ., Karabat, S., Ongun, A.R., 2006. Ege Blgesi pamuk tarm yaplan topraklara deiik seviyelerde uygulanan elementel kkrdn pamuk bitkisinin verim ve kalitesi zerine etkisi. TBTAK Proje No: TOGTAG-2919. (Effects of different doses of sulphur applied to Aegean Region cotton growing soils on quality and yield of cotton plant. TBTAK Project No: TOGTAG-2919). rget, M.E., Tepecik, M., akc, H., Ana., D., Atalay, .Z., olakolu, H. 2010. Farkl Taban Gbrelerinin Pamukta Verim ve Besin Maddesi Alnmna Etkisi. 5.Ulusal Bitki Besleme ve Gbre Kongresi. 15-17 Eyll 2010. Bornova-zmir. (Effect of different starter fertilizers on yield and mineral uptake of cotton). 5th National lant Nutrition and Fertilizer Congress. 15-17 Sept. 2010. Bornova-Izmir/TURKEY. Kacar, B., 2009. Toprak analizleri. Nobel Yayn No:1387. ISBN:978-605-395-184-1. (Soil analysis. Nobel Publ. No:1387. ISBN:978-605-395-184-1) Kacar, B. and Katkat, V., 2009. Gbreler ve Gbreleme Teknii. 3. Bask. Nobel Yayn. (Fertilizers and Fertilization Technics. 3rd Edition. Nobel Publ.). Kellogg, C.E., 1952. Our garden soils. The Macmillan Comp. New York, p: 92. Kovanc, . 1964. zmir blgesi topraklarnn humus durumu ve C/N mnasebetleri zerinde aratrmalar (Doktora Tezi). (Houmous status of zmir Region soils and researches on C/N relations. (Ph. D. Thesis). Lindsay, W. L., 1972. Inorganic Phase Equilibria of Micronutrients in Soils. In: Micronutrients in Agriculture (Ed: J.J. Mordvet). Loue, A., 1968. Diagnostic petiolaire de prospection. Etudes sur la nutrition et la fertilisation potassiques de la Vigne. Societe Commerciale des potasses dAlsace Services Agronomiques, p:31-41. (Foliar diagnosis of prospection. Studies on nutrition and potassium fertilization of grapevines. Societe Commerciale des potasses dAlsace Services Agronomiques, p:31-41). Malik MNA, Makhdum MI, Chaudhry FI 1992 Influence of phosphorus fertilization on crop growth, seed cotton yield and fibre quality. Pak J Sci Ind Res 35:28890. Murphy, J. and Riley, J.P., 1962. A modified single solution method for determination of phosphate in natural water. Analytic Chimica Acta. 27:31-36. Olsen, S. R., and Sommers, L. E., 1982. Phosphorus. P. 403-430. In A. L. Page (ed.) Methods of soil analysis, Argon. No 9, Part 2: chemical and microbiological properties, 2nd ed., Am. Soc. Argon, Madison, Wisc. USA.. Pizer, N.H., 1967. Some advisory aspects. Soil Potassium and Magnesium. Tech. Bull. No. 14, p:184. Sawan, Z. M., Mahmoud, M. H. and El-Guibali, A. H., 2008. Influence of potassium fertilization and foliar application of zinc and phosphorus on growth, yield components, yield and fiber properties of Egyptian cotton (Gossypium barbadense L.). Journal of Plant Ecology Vol. 1 ( 4) p. 259270.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Smith, S.A., Essington, M.E., Howard, D.D., Tyler, D.D., and Wilkerson, J., 1998. SiteSpecific Nutrient Management:Variability in Cotton Yield Response and Soil Chemical Characteristics Better Crops/Vol. 82 (1998, No. 1). Milan (TN). Soil Survey Staff. 1951. Soil survey manual. U.S. Dep. Agric. Handbk. No. 18. U.S. Government TUK, 2010. Trkiye statistik Kurumu Bitkisel retim statistikleri.(Turkish Statistical Institute. Crop Production Statistics). http://www.tuik.gov.tr/bitkiselapp/bitkisel.zul. Accessed: 20 February 2012. Volk, N. J., 1942. Relation of exchangeable potassium in Alabama soils to needs of cotton crops. J.Am. Soc. Argon. 34: 188-98. Wolf, B., 1999. The fertile triange. The interrelationship of air, water and nutrients in maxiziming soil productivity. Food Products Pres. New York. Yener, H., 1997. Gediz Ovas Allviyal Topraklarnda Kkrt Uygulamasnn, Bitkilerde Gelime, Besin Maddesi Alnm ve Verimine Etkisi, (Doktora Tezi), Ege niversitesi Fen Bilimleri Enstits Toprak Anabilim Dal. [Effect of sulphur application to Alluvial soils of Gediz Area on growth, yield and mineral uptake of plants, (Ph.D. Thesis), Ege University, Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Soil Sciences Dept.] Ycel, C., 2001. ukurova Blgesi koullarnda, farkl ekim zaman ve potasyum uygulamalarnn pamuun (Gossypium hirsutum L.) verim ve lif kalite zelliklerine etkisi zerine bir aratrma. Yksek Lisans Tezi. Adana, 2001. (A research on effect of different sowing times and potassium fertilizations on cotton yield and fiber quality in ukurova Region conditions. Master Thesis, Adana / TURKEY, 2001).

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The Use of Some Organic and Inorganic Substances to Reduce Phosphorus Fixation Cengiz Kaya*, Osman Sonmez*, Salih Aydemir* and A. Levent Tuna**
*: Harran University, Agriculture Faculty, Soil Science and Plant Nutrition Dept., anlurfa **: Mugla University, Biology Department, Mula Corresponding Author: c_kaya70@yahoo.com Abstract Calcareous soils reduce the nutrient availability and agricultural production over 600 million ha of cultivable soils worldwide. Two of the most key factors that limit agricultural production in these types of soils are reduced solubility of phosphorus and high pH. The calcareous soils in arid and semi arid regions are also naturally low in organic matter because of high temperature. The aim of the study was to test the effects of some organic such as leonardite and liquid humic acid and the inorganic substances such as sulfur on the soil pH and phosphorus fixation. An incubation study was designed in glasshouse conditions. Two levels of P (0 or 50 mg/kg) were combined with different levels of leonardite, liquid humic acid and sulfur and incubated for 90 days. The results indicate that especially, using organic and inorganic substances in combination reduced soil pH in both main P treatments and also reduced phosphorus fixation in 50 mg P/kg treatment. Keywords: Calcareous soils, leonardite, humic acid

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Effects of Different Amounts of Nitrogen and Potassium Nutrition on Nutrient Content, Plant Growth and Quality of Limonium Sinuatum.
H. Akat1
1 2

H. Altunlu1 B. olak Esetlili2 . Yoka1 R. Kln2

Mula University, Ortaca Vocational School, Mugla, TURKEY. Ege University, Agriculture Faculty, Departmnt of Soil Science, Izmir, TURKEY

Abstract: The objective of this research was to evaluate the effect of nitrogen and potassium fertilization on
growth, yield, quality and nutrient content parameters of greenhouse Limonium sinuatum production. Statice grown in 1:1:1 ratio mixture of perlite, peat and sand under 16 different nutrient conditions N and K at combinations of 0, 60, 120 and 180 ppm were used. Other nutrient requirements of the plant were supplied by Hoagland solution. Plant growth characteristics ( leaf number, number of flowers per plant, dry matter), flowers quality parameters ( stem length and stem diameter of flowers) and the nutrient contents were evaluated. Potassium concentrations were found to influence plant growth characteristics. It was concluded that the N concentration of the nutrient solution should not be more than 180 ppm and the K concentration should be 180 ppm for profitable statice production in greenhouse. Keywords: Limonium sinuatum, nitrogen, potassium, leaf nutrient levels,

Introduction The genus Limonium (Plumbaginaceae), formerly called Statice, includes mainly rosulate plants with showy inflorescences. Limonium, which consists of 150 wild species, are widely distributed in coastal regions and plains throughout the world in both tropical and temperate zones such as Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, Africa, China and Japan. This genus is characterized by its high ornamental value as a cut flower for both fresh and dry-flower arrangements. There are more than 15 cultivated species, including L. sinuatum, L. bouduelli, L. dregeanum, L. sinense, L. latifolium, L. psylliostrachum, L. bellidifolium, L. gmelinni, L. perezi, L. dumosum and L. altaica (Sato, 1989). With the increasing demand for these species in the cut flower industry floriculturists are inolved in hybridization with breeding efforts directed toward extending the variations in flower color and shape. Limonium sinuatum is grown commercially for use as a cut flower for both fresh and dry flower arrangements and use in landscape studied. It can easily adapt to several stress such as hot, cold, drought, salt conditions. Cultivation of statice can be easily carried out on all kind of soil except clay soil (Akat et al., 2010). Limonium sinuatum and other Limonium species not well known in Turkey, but they are specialty cut flowers, a high value crop, can also help overcome the potential decrease in income. Limonium cultivation under Turkeys climate and soil conditions should provide an important contribution to the country economy. Statice cut flower production in the U.S. has seen enormous growth in the past ten decades and it has 512 million dollars of trade volume (Census of Hort Specialities, 1998). Intensive crop production typically involves application of many nutrients. But little information is available on the effect of fertilization on yield and quality of halophytes. Fertilization allows adapting the amount and concentration of the applied nutrients in order to meet the actual nutritional requirement of crop throughout the growing season (Papadapulos, 1998). A balanced fertilization program will increased yield and quality of statice (Papadapulos et al, 2006; Verlingen and McDoland, 2007). One of the most important plant macro-elements is N which is essential to the structure and metabolism of plants. Deficient plants are often weak and stunted while the leaves remain small and are sometimes distorted and chlorotic. On the other hand nitrogen and potassium have a special importance in plant nutrition. Potassium increases crop quality and shelf life of flowers after harvest as well as yield. In addition, potassium gives a resistance to plant against abiotic and biotic stress factors. Fertilization of Limonium species has not as yet been studied in Turkey. The objective of this research was to determine the influence of N and K fertility rates on Limonium sinuatum plant growth and development, yield and quality of flowers.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Materials and Methods The plant in this experiment is white flowered Limonium sinuatum compindi white. Seeds of L. sinuatum were sown in peat on the 02 March 2010 and transplanted into multipots one week later. The plants grown in 1:1:1 ratio mixture of perlite, peat and sand (Yoka, 2003). Limonium seedling were transplanted to the 1.7 l pots on 09 April 2010. The adopted experimental design is a randomized plots with three replications on open field conditions of Mula University, Ortaca. Nitrogen and Potassium doses were applied as 0, 60, 120 and 180 ppm. Other elements were supplied by using a Hoagland solution (excluding NK). Nutrient solution was applied once every week. pH and EC values of the solution were maintained between 6-7 and 1.5-2 mS/cm. Flower stalks of limonium were harvested. Leaf number, Number of the flower per plant, length and diameter of stem were measured. The final harvest for this experiment was made on 16 July 2010. Samples were weighed, washed with deionized water, dried in a forced air oven for 48 hours at 70 oC. Chemical analysis of the plant material was made as follows: N was determined by Kjeldahl, P colorimetrically and K, Ca, Mg by flamephotometric methods. Trace elements were carried out by atomic absorbtion spectroscopy. Statistical analysis of the results was made by Tarist program (Ackgz, 1993). Results and Discussion The effects of N, K doses and interaction on limonium sinuatum plants quality criteria are given in Table 1. Dry mater data increased with increasing N and K doses. The effect on increasing K doses on number of leaves and number of flower per plant was significant at 5% level. The use of 180 ppm N decreased the number of flower per plant according to 120 ppm N. Number of the flowers per plant and Dry mater were highest at 120 ppm N + 180 ppm K combinations. The use of 120 ppm N+180 ppm K increased yield parallel to plant growth. Increase K dose increased the number of leaf and also increased the number of the flowers. The possible reason of this more photosynthesis. As can be seen from the table 2, the effect of N doses on macro elements contents is only N significantly different. Total N content of leaf samples range from 3.7 % to 2.4 %. Tthe effects of increasing K levels on total N, K, Ca and Mg were significant at 1 % and 5 % levels, respectively. Examining the macro element contents of the leaf samples with increased N doses, P levels were between 0.35-0.46%, K contents 7.17-7.54%, Ca levels 2.54-3.03% and Mg values 1.43-1.82%. Total P did not significant change with increased in N and K applications. But, P content of leaf increased with increased K doses, and also N, K and Ca content of leaf samples increased with increasing K doses. On the other hand, Mg contents decreased significant due to K doses.

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Table 1. The effects of N, K and N&K doses interaction on quality criteria of Limonium sinuatum.
Dry Mater(g) N dose (ppm) 0 60 120 180 LSD0,05 K dose (ppm) 0 60 120 180 LSD0,05 Interaction N & K 0-0 0-60 0-120 0-180 60-0 60-60 60-120 60-180 120-0 120-60 120-120 120-180 180-0 180-60 180-120 180-180 LSD0,05 0,74 0,82 1,23 1,14 n.s 0,82 0,82 1,04 1,38 n.s Number of Leaves 23,1 26,6 24,4 23,7 n.s 21,9 b 23,9 ab 24,9 ab 26,9 a 4,05* Number of Flower per plant 3,4 3,8 4,1 3,8 n.s 2,2 c 3,5 bc 3,9 ab 5,4 a 1,59* Stem length (cm) 30,6 32,2 29,2 31,9 n.s 31,3 32,3 30,3 29,7 n.s Stem diameter (cm) 2,5 2,6 2,6 2,5 n.s 2,3 2,6 2,7 2,6 n.s

0,57 0,39 0,75 1,24 0,53 0,75 0,76 1,22 1,31 1,43 1,60 2,28 0,87 0,80 1,14 1,87 n.s

21,7 23,4 20,5 26,6 21,9 24,7 28,2 31,4 20,6 26,1 26,9 24,1 23,4 21,3 24,4 25,8 n.s

1,7 2,4 2,1 5,4 1,3 4,2 4,5 5,5 3,5 3,7 3,8 6,3 2,0 2,83 5,0 5,3 n.s

30,5 31,7 31,1 28,3 36,9 32,6 30,4 29,9 25,4 33,5 28,7 29,1 33,9 30,9 31,3 30,9 n.s

2,3 2,5 2,8 2,4 2,0 2,9 2,7 2,7 2,6 2,5 2,8 2,3 2,2 2,6 2,4 2,8 n.s

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Table 2. The effects of N, K and N&K doses interaction on macro elements content of Limonium sinuatum.
N% N dose (ppm) 0 60 120 180 LSD0,05 K dose (ppm) 0 60 120 180 LSD0,05 Interaction N & K 0-0 0-60 0-120 0-180 60-0 60-60 60-120 60-180 120-0 120-60 120-120 120-180 180-0 180-60 180-120 180-180 LSD0,05 2,4 c 3,2 b 3,2 b 3,7 a 0,36** 2,84 b 3,04 b 3,13 b 3,60 a 0,34** 2,07 2,18 2,56 2,67 2,68 3,16 3,32 3,69 2,92 3,34 2,92 3,6 3,72 3,19 3,65 4,14 n.s P% 0,35 0,46 0,36 0,36 n.s 0,34 0,33 0,35 0,39 n.s 0,36 0,33 0,37 0,34 0,33 0,30 0,35 0,41 0,35 0,34 0,37 0,37 0,34 0,35 0,32 0,41 n.s K% 7,44 7,24 7,17 7,54 n.s 5,48 c 7,34 b 7,86 ab 8,51 a 0,87** 5,60 8,16 7,66 8,25 5,43 7,62 7,38 8,52 5,99 7,34 7,76 7,78 4,67 6,53 8,61 9,40 n.s Ca% 2,54 3,03 2,79 2,89 n.s 2,56 b 2,65 b 2,74 b 3,35 a 0,49** 2,52 3,00 2,17 2,68 2,26 2,85 3,01 4,00 2,73 2,57 2,99 2,94 2,77 2,64 2,54 3,57 n.s Mg% 1,43 1,82 1,64 1,62 n.s 1,87 a 1,75 ab 1,57 abc 1,40 c 0,30* 1,64 1,78 1,15 1,31 2,03 1,98 1,78 1,47 1,95 1,57 1,62 1,44 1,75 1,68 1,72 1,36 n.s

The effects of increasing N doses on Fe content were significant at % 1 levels. Limonium sinuatum. Leaf Fe content was between 486-743 ppm (Table 3). Effect on increasing N doses on Zn, Mn and Cu contents were not significant. Zn contents varied between 43.97 -64.97 ppm with increased N doses. Fe and Zn contents reached the highest values in the 180 ppm K treatment.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Table 3. The effects of N, K and N&K doses interaction on micro elements content of Limonium sinuatum.
Fe Ppm N dose (ppm) 0 60 120 180 LSD0,05 K dose (ppm) 0 60 120 180 LSD0,05 Interaction N & K 0-0 0-60 0-120 0-180 60-0 60-60 60-120 60-180 120-0 120-60 120-120 120-180 180-0 180-60 180-120 180-180 LSD0,05 486,94 b 609,30 ab 624,95 ab 743,86 a 157,18** 609,74 577,41 616,03 669,45 n.s 410,35 490,61 431,50 562,04 647,81 547,77 713,95 527,66 761,40 582,53 492,27 619,37 524,53 659,78 785,13 932,90 n.s 51,20 51,78 43,97 64,97 n.s 54,07 46,47 51,38 59,27 n.s 52,91 53,05 43,94 57,05 53,37 42,56 44,94 66,25 39,36 44,41 49,76 44,28 78,37 48,07 65,34 87,73 n.s 0,44 0,51 0,52 0,43 n.s 0,45 0,50 0,48 0,49 n.s 0,44 0,50 0,41 0,44 0,46 0,47 0,59 0,57 0,52 0,53 0,55 0,46 0,36 0,51 0,40 0,47 n.s 6,06 7,3 8,05 7,21 n.s 8,47 7,15 6,55 6,69 n.s 6,95 7,82 4,04 6,44 8,48 7,11 7,19 6,42 11,5 6, 7,82 6,8 5,4 7,91 7,57 7,7 n.s Zn ppm Mn ppm Cu ppm

The correlation coefficients between the measured parameters are given in Table 4. The correlation analysis showed significant positive importance on N dose by plant N and plant Fe on K dose by plant N, K, Ca, Number of Leaf and Number of flower. Increase K doses also increased number of leaf and number of flowers. Increase N doses increased plant N and Fe, and so, increase plant N and Fe increased dry matter of plant. But, Increase plant P decreased dry matter of plant. According to our results, the fertilization of limonium sinuatum these 2 elements should not be ignored.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Table 4. The correlation coefficients between quality criteria and element contents in respect to N and K doses. Variables N doses- Plant N N doses- Plant Fe K doses- Plant N K doses- Plant K K doses- Plant Ca K doses- Number of leaf K doses-Number of flower Plant N- Dry matter Plant P- Dry matter Correlation Coefficients 0,442** 0,412** 0,287* 0,434** 0,292* 0,370** 0,360** 0,350* -0,574** Variables Plant Ca- Dry matter Plant Ca- Number of leaf Plant Fe- Dry matter Plant Zn- Dry matter Plant K- Dry matter Plant K- Number of leaf Plant Zn- Number of leaf Plant Cu- Dry matter Plant Mn- Dry matter Correlation Coefficients 0,315* 0,394** 0,283* 0,282* 0,286* 0,313* 0,370** 0,301* 0,597**

As water quality and quantity becomes limited in many parts of the word in arid and semi-arid climates. Limonium sinuatum can easily be use in arid and saline areas as a very valuable halophytes. Even when the EC value of irrigation water reaches 30 dS/m, the life cycle of Statice can continue without any problem growth and yield (Cartel et al, 2006). Statice, can be used in flower marketing- both as valuable cut and dry flower- or landscape need to be studied further in arid, semiarid and saline soil in Turkey. In conclusion, Turkish farmers of Limonium sinuatum used only nitrogen containing fertilizer, but our research showed that at the same time application of N and K with other macro and micro elements increased yield and quality flowers. Nutrient solution for Limonium sinuatum should contain K 180 ppm. It was concluded that the N doses of the nutrient solution should not to be excess 120 ppm for statice production. References Akat, H., Esetlili Colak, B., Altunlu, H., Kkerolu, S., Yokas, I., Kln, R., (2010). Effect of potassium doses on plant nutrition and quality of statice (Limonium sinuatum). Soil Management and Potash Fertilizer Uses in West Asia and Nort Africa Region.(ed.E.A. Kirkby). Proceeding of the International Symposium of Potash Int. in Cooperation with Ege Univ., 161166. Carter C.T., Grieve, C.M., Poss, J.A., (2006). Salinity effects on emergence, survival, and ion accumulation of Limonium perezii. Journal of Plant Nutrition. Census of horticultural Specialties, (1998). Cut flowers sold by state. 167-181. Retrieved from. http://www. nass.usda.gov/census/census98/horticulture/horticulture.htm Papadopoulos, I.,(1998). Fertilization-Chemigation in protected agriculture. Chairs Options Mediterraneenes Vol. 31. Cyprus. Papadopoulos, I., Chimonidou, D., Savvides, S., Polycarpou, P., (2006). Optimization of irrigation with treated wastewater on flower cultivation. Proceeding of ICID Confrerence 7-11 December 2004, Cario- Egypt. 53:227-235. Sato, K., (1989). Statice. n Matsuo T. (ed.) Collected Data of Plant Genetic Resources. Kodanha, Tokyo (pp1040-41). Verlingen, S. and McDonald, L., (2007). Productivity and quality os statice (Limonium sinuatum cv Soirre Mix) and cockscomb (Celosia argentea cv. Chief Mix) under organic and inorganic fertilization regiments. Scientia horticulturae, 114(3):199-06. Yoka, I., (2003). Gl bitkisinin farkl yetitirme ortamlarnda geliimi zerine bir aratrma. Mula niversitesi Yaynlar. No:43. Mula.

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Effect of Boron on Cell Wall Boron and Calcium Concentrations of Wheat

Suleyman TABANa*, Murat Ali TURANb
a. Department of Soil Science and Plant nutrition, Ankara University, 06110 Ankara,Turkey b. Department of Soil Science and Plant nutrition, Uludag University, 16059 Bursa, Turkey *Corresponding Author: taban@agri.ankara.edu.tr.

Abstract
A nutrient solution experiment involving three levels of B (0, 1.0 and 10 mg B kg-1 as boric acid, H3BO3) was conducted on wheat plants (Triticum aestivum L. cv: Gerek-79) in greenhouse condition. During the harvest time, (nearly 1.5 cm length) was taken from each individual plant leaves into all pots. Cell wall boron and calcium concentrations were determined in at cell tip of leaves. Boron toxicity symptoms strongly occurred at 10 mg B kg-1 level of boron application in wheat plants. While applied low level of boron stimulated and increased dry weight of plants, strongly depressed and decreased dry weight of plant at applied high level of boron. While whole plants boron concentration was increased, calcium concentration was decreased by increasing B application. Most of total boron was localized in cell wall of plants. While applied boron increased the cell wall boron concentration, decreased the cell wall calcium concentration. Keywords: Durum and bread wheat, boron toxicity, boron, calcium, cell wall

Introduction It has been presented the first evidence that boron (B) is an essential element for higher plants (Warington, 1923), nevertheless, a definitive primary function of boron in plants is not yet clearly revealed. Boron is still save unknown properties as an essential plant nutrient for plants. Excess level of boron has a negative effect on plant growth. In generally, boron toxicity is observed in semi-arid and arid regions more than the other climatologically region, such as India, South Australia and Turkey. It is well known that boron plays more effects on plant metabolism and growth of higher plants (i.e. cell elongation and cell division, nucleic acid, carbohydrate, protein, auxin and phenol metabolisms, tissue differentiation, membrane permeability, and pollen germination and pollen tube growth) (Marschner, 1990). A distinctive function of boron in plant cell walls has been revealed recently (Matoh, 1997; ONeill et al., 2001). This role of boron on cell walls, however, is inadequate to explain all of the observed effects of boron deficiency or toxicity (Brown et al., 2002, Turan et al., 2009). Calcium is important for membrane permeability and stability (Mengel and Kirkby, 1982) and is also required for cell wall (Endho et al., 1971), cell elongation (Burstrom, 1968), and pollen tubes growth (Brewbaker and Kwack, 1963). On the other hand, calcium is well known to increase the rigidity of the cell wall by binding with the pectin material of the wall (Burstrom, 1968). Cereals are generally considered to be sensitive to moderate-to-high boron levels (Eaton, 1944). Wheat is semi tolerant for boron toxicity (Gupta et al., 1985). Thus, wheat can tolerate boron up to 2 g B/g. Higher boron values may frequently cause toxicity symptoms such as chlorosis, necrosis and yield reduction of wheat plants. Boron toxicity is a common problem in arid and semi-arid regions of the world. Boron contents of the soils of Central Anatolia region in Turkey are usually very high (Anonymous, 1982). Higher boron values may frequently cause boron toxicity on wheat plants growing in this region. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of boron on the cell wall boron and calcium concentrations of bread wheat plants. Materials and Methods Wheat (Triticum aestivum L., cv. Gerek 79) was grown in plastic pots containing 500 cm3 nutrient free perlite (0.4- 2.0 mm ) in a glasshouse under natural light conditions by using Ruakura nutrient solution (Smith et al., 1983) having different amounts of boron (0.0, 1.0, and 10.0 g B/ml as H3BO3). Seven wheat seeds were sown to pots having a few holes for providing drainage. After emergence, the plants were thinned to four at the 2 to 3 leaf stage. Experimental plants were irrigated with 1/4 strength
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Ruakura solution until thinning period and with full Ruakura solution after this period. Abnormal and toxicity traits and symptoms on the foliage were recorded throughout the growing period. Plants were harvested 21 days after sowing. The plant samples were washed with boron free distilled water and tips of leaves were taken for determination of cell wall boron and calcium concentrations. Remaining plant samples were dried at 65 oC and weighted. After grinding, plant samples were digested in a microwave oven (Berghof-MWS-2, Germany) for total plant boron and calcium determination by using ICP-OES (Perkin Elmer Optima 2100 DV). The pot experiment was conducted as a randomised complete design with four replications. The data were analysed statistically by using Minitab package program (Minitab Release 10.51) and treatment means were compared using the MSTAT package program (Version 3.00) for Duncans Multiple Range Test. Determination of cell wall boron and calcium concentrations: The cell wall was separated from the plants by the method described by Hu and Brown (1994). In this method, the samples of fresh plant leaf were homogenized with an ice-cold mortar and pestle in cold water. The homogenate was centrifuged at 1000 g for 10 min. The residue was washed three times with 10 volumes of 80 % ethanol and once with 10 volumes of methanol: chloroform mixture (1:1, v/v). Finally the precipitate was washed with 10 volumes of acetone. The samples were dried and digested in a microwave oven (Berghof-MWS-2, Germany) for cell wall boron and calcium determination by using ICP-OES (Perkin Elmer Optima 2100 DV). All data obtained from different analyses and measurements were analyzed statistically by using Minitab package program (Minitab Release 10.51) and treatment means were compared using the MSTAT package program (Version 3.00) for Duncans Multiple Range Test. Results Boron Deficiency and Toxicity Symptoms Boron deficiency symptoms were observed at B0 (control) treatments. On the other hand, boron toxicity symptoms strongly occurred at 10 mg B kg-1 levels as a dark brown spots and lesions with chlorotic border in the oldest leaf of wheat. Dry Weight of Durum and Bread Wheat Plants While applied low level of boron increased the dry weight of the wheat plants, high level of boron decreased the dry weight of plants (Table 1). Increase of dry weight of wheat plants at applied 1mg B kg-1 was 27.58 %. On the contrary, reduction of dry weight at 10 mg kg-1 boron applications were 25.86 % compared to the control. Table 1. Effect of boron on the dry weight (g pot-1) of wheat plants.

Treatments, B, mg kg-1
0 1 10

dry weight
1.160.81 a A 1.480.72 a B 0.860.36 a C

Range % 27.58 -25.86

** p <0.01 Means followed by the same letter are not significantly different (Duncans multiple-range test, p<0.01). Total and Cell Wall Boron and Calcium Concentrations of Wheat Plants Increasing the amount of boron applied showed variegated effects on total and cell wall B and Ca concentrations of the plants. While applied boron lead to increase the total and cell wall boron concentration, caused to decrease the total and cell wall Ca concentration (Table 2, 3). Applications of boron affected the cell wall boron and calcium concentration of the plants, both B and Ca were accumulated in the cell wall. Amount of accumulation depended on applied levels of boron. The more B applied the more B accumulated in the cell wall (Table 3).

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Table 2. Effect of boron on total boron and calcium concentration (mg kg-1) of wheat plants.

Treatments,
B, mg kg-1 0 1 10

B, (mg kg-1)
8.320.89 a 16.291.07 b 31.061.62 c

Ca, (mg kg-1)

1.330.05 c 1.180.06 b 0.960.04 c

** p <0.01 Means followed by the same letter are not significantly different (Duncans multiple-range test, p<0.05). Table 3. Effect of boron on cell wall boron and calcium concentration (mg kg-1) in wheat plants.
Treatments B, mg kg-1 0 1 10

B, (mg kg-1)
5.230.62 a 9.641.67 b 16.151.53 c

Ca, (mg kg-1) 0.780.09 b A 0.630.07 b B 0.480.02 b C

** p <0.01 Means followed by the same letter are not significantly different (Duncans multiple-range test, p<0.01). Discussion B toxicity can occur in plant tissue when the concentration exceeds 200 mg B kg-1 (Gupta et al., 1985). In present work, 10 mg kg-1 doses of boron caused B toxicity symptoms on the older leaves such as necrotic spots at panicle initiation, brownish leaf tips and dark brown elliptical spots on leaves, chlorosis of tips and margins. The leaf injury symptoms observed are in agreement with those previously reported by Bergmann (1992), Oyewole and Aduayi (1992) and Turan et al., (2009). High levels of B cause to be B toxicity in plants (Nable, 1988, Paull et al., 1988; Alpaslan et al., 1996, Taban et al., 1995; Taban and Erdal, 2000, Turan et al., 2009).). The toxic effect of B was seen at 10 mg B kg-1 treatments. Taban et al. (1995) and Turan et al., (2009) reported that B toxicity was determined when high level of boron was applied to the wheat plants. Applied B decreased dry weight of plants. Dry weights of wheat plants grown at high levels of boron were found to be lower than those grown in low levels of boron (Table 1). Total and cell wall boron concentration of the wheat plants was increased; total and cell wall Ca concentration of plants was decreased by applied of B (Table 2). Similar to the results were reported by Taban et al. (1995), Turan et al., (2009). Boron has an important position in the physical structure of cell wall, and is necessary in cell wall (Loomis and Durst 1992). Most of boron is localized in the cell wall in plants (Matoh et al., 1992). Really, in our study, the amount of boron accumulated in the cell wall. Several authors have demonstrated that a significant proportion of the boron in cell walls is associated with pectins (Yamaouchi et al., 1986; Bassil et al., 2004). The other structural element in plant cell wall is Ca. Calcium bounded with pectin molecules and localized in the cell wall as Ca-pectate complexes (Yamaouchi et al., 1986, Cleland et al., 1990). All this reason B and Ca play a significant role in cell wall structure. References Alpaslan, M., Taban, S., Inal, A., Kutuk, C., Erdal, I. (1996): Boron-nitrogen relationship in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) grown with the nutrition solution. Pamukkale University, Journal of Engineering Sciences 2 (3), 215-219.

Anonymous, 1982. Micronutrients and The Nutrient Status of Soils: A Global Study, FAO Soils Bulletin No 48, Rome.
Bassil, E., Hu, H., Brown, P.H. (2004): Use of phenylboronic acids to investigate boron function in plants. Possible role of boron in transvacuolar cytoplasmic strands and cell-to-wall adhesion. Plant Physiology 136, 33833395.
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Bergmann, W., (1992): Nutritional Disorders of Plants. Development, Visual and Analytical Diagnosis. Gustav Fisher Verlag Jena, New York, NY, USA. Brewbaker, J.L., Kwack, B.H. (1963): The essential role of calcium ion in pollen germination and pollen tube growth. Amer. J. Bot. 50, 859-865. Brown, P.H., Bellaloui, N., Wimmer, M.A., Bassil, E.S., Ruiz, J., Hu, H., Pfeffer, H., Dannel, F., Romheld, V. (2002): Boron in plant biology. Plant Biol. 4, 205-223. Burstrom, H.G., (1968): Calcium and plant growth. Biol. Rev. 43, 287-316. Cleland, R.E., Virk, S.S., Taylor, D., Bjorkman, T. (1990): Calcium, cell walls and growth. In Leonard, R.T., Hepler, P.K.: Calcium in Plant Growth and Development (pp. 9-16). American Society for Plant Physiologist Symposium Series, Vol. 4. Eaton, F.M. (1944): Deficiency, toxicity and accumulation of boron in plants. J. Agric. Res. 69, 237-277. Endho, M., Ohira, K., Fujiwara, A. (1971): A role of calcium as a component of cell wall of radish. Journal of the Science of Soil and Manure 42, 390-394 (in Japanese). Gupta. U.C., Jame. Y.W., Campbell. C.A., Leyshon. A.J., Micholaichuk, W. (1985): Boron toxicity and deficiency. Canadian J. of Soil Sci. 65, 381-409. Hu, H., Brown, P.H. (1994): Localization of boron in cell walls of squash and tobacco and its association with pectin. Evidence for a structural role of boron in the cell wall. Plant Physiol. 105, 681-689. Loomis, W.D., Durst, R.W. (1992): Chemistry and biology of boron. Bio Factors 3, 229-239. Marschner, H. (1990). Mineral Nutrition of Higher Plants. Academic Press, London. Matoh, T., Mizktani, M., Matsunaga, W., Takabe, K. (1992): Boron nutrition of cultured tobacco by-2 cells. I. requirement for and intracellular localization of boron and selection of cells that tolerate low levels of boron. Plant Cell Physiol. 33, 1135-1141. Nable. R.O. (1988): Resistance to boron toxicity amongst several barley and wheat cultivars: A preliminary examination of the resistance mechanism. Plant and Soil 112, 45-52. ONeill, M.A., Eberhard, S., Albersheim, P., Darvill, A.G. (2001): Requirement of borate crosslinking of cell wall rhamnogalacturonan II for arabidopsis growth. Science 294, 846-849. Oyewole, O.I., and Aduayi, E.A. (1992): Evaluation of the growth and quality of the Ife Plum tomato as affected by boron and calcium fertilization. Journal of Plant Nutrition 15, 199-209. Paull. J.G., Cartwright. B., Rathjen. A.J. (1988): Responses of wheat and barley genotypes to toxic concentrations of soil boron. Euphytica 39, 137-144. Taban, S., Erdal, I. (2000): Effects of boron on growth of various wheat varieties and distribution of boron in aerial part. Tr. J. of Agriculture and Forestry 24, 255-262. Taban, S., Alpaslan, M., Kutuk, C., Inal, A., Erdal, I. (1995): Relationship between boron and calcium on wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). pp, 85-90. 9th International Symposium of CIEC, Soil Fertility and Fertilization Management-Bridge Between Science, Industry and Practice, September 25-30, 1995, Kuadas-Turkey. Warington, K. (1923): The effect of boric acid and borax on the broad bean and certain other plants. Ann. Bot. 37, 629-672. Yamaouchi, M., Hara, T., Sonoda, Y. (1986): Distribution of calcium and boron in the pectin fraction of tomato leaf cell wall. Plant Cell Physiol. 27, 729-732.

Turan, M.A., Taban, N., Taban, S., 2009. Effect of Calcium on the Alleviation of Boron Toxicity and Localization of Boron and Calcium in Cell Wall of Wheat Not. Bot. Hort. Agrobot. Cluj, 37 (2), 99-103.

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Interactions of Soil Organic Matter/Humic Substances with Pesticide Residues and Metal Ions in Soil
Nicola Senesi
Dipartimento di Biologia e Chimica Agroforestale e Ambientale, Universit Aldo Moro, Bari, Italia Corresponding author: senesi@agr.uniba.it

Abstract In this presentation, a brief summary of the most important chemical and physico-chemical protective effects exerted in soil by humic substances (HS) against organic contaminats and toxic/pollutant metal ions will be provided. HS represent the most ubiquitous and widespread, abundant and reactive fractions of non-living natural organic matter present in any terrestrial and aquatic environmental compartment. For example, the estimated level of soil organic C on the Earth surface occurring as HS is 3,0 Eg. The HS consist of a physically and chemically heterogeneous mixture of relatively high-molecularmass, yellow-to-black colored organic compounds of mixed aliphatic and aromatic nature, formed by secondary synthesis reactions, the so-called humification, of the products of microbial and chemical decay and transformation and the recalcitrant residues of biomolecules originated from organisms during life and after death. A typical model macromolecule of HS consists basically of aromatic, phenolic, quinonic and heterocyclic building blocks that are randomly condensed or linked by aliphatic, O, N, or S bridges. The macromolecule bears aliphatic, glucidic, aminoacidic and lipidic surface chains as well as reactive functional groups of various nature (mainly carboxylic and phenolic, but also alcoholic hydroxyls, carbonyls, etc.) which render the HS polymer acidic. The HS are rich in hydrophobic and hydrophilic sites, exhibit a polydispersed and polyelectrolitic character, possess surface activity, and present a relatively open, flexible, sponge-like structure rich of holes. Besides the several very important fertility functions that HS are known to exert in natural and cultivated soils, all the above described properties qualify HS as the most versatile and privileged natural organic compounds in the protection of soil, sediment and water systems from organic chemicals and metals contamination by means of various mechanical, physical, chemical and biological actions. Organic contaminants (OCs) can reach the soil either by purpose, such as pesticides, or incidentally from a variety of atmospheric, aquatic and anthropogenic sources. Once on the soil surface, the OC can be partially photodecomposed and/or volatilized, be transported to surface aquatic bodies by runoff and/or erosion, and partially enter the soil or. When in the soil, the pollutant may be subjected to partial or total chemical decomposition and/or biodegradation, adsorption to soil constituents, uptake by plant roots, and/or leaching to the groundwater. All these processes are controlled by several factors including the physical and chemical properties of the OC, the nature, properties and thickness of soil, and the type and extent of interactions between OC and soil components. The risk assessment of OCs in soil and the possible remediation measures to be undertaken require an extended and accurate evaluation and quantification of the soil response to OCs. In particular, HS may interact with OCs in several ways thus affecting their solubilisation, hydrolysis, photodecomposition, and adsorption to various extent by a number of physical and chemical binding mechanisms and forces of different strength. One important class of OCs are endocrine disruptor compounds (EDCs), which are hormone-like substances that are able to alter, i.e., disrupt, the normal endocrine functions in animals and humans. Compounds proven or suspected to act as EDCs include natural and synthetic estrogens of human origin, several pesticides, pharmaceutical products, and various industrial chemicals. These compounds may enter the soil through current agricultural practices and/or disposal of urban and industrial effluents, sludges and wastes. The response of soil to the estrogenic risk of EDCs is generally related to their distribution and speciation in the soil phases, in which adsorption processes by HS play a very important role. Another important property of HS is to behave as natural multiligand complexing agents able to interact with metal ions to form complexes of varying physical, chemical and biological properties
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH and stabilities. Complexation reactions of HS play a key role in affecting the speciation, behavior, performance and fate of metal ions. This review focuses on the molecular and mechanistic aspects of metal-HS complexation, including the nature of HS complexing sites and ligands, the types of binding, the formation mechanisms and the stability of metal-HS complexes. Results obtained by the use of several spectroscopic techniques, including infrared (IR), fluorescence, and electron spin resonance (ESR). The IR spectroscopy provides information on the role played prevalently by carboxylic groups, but also by phenolic and alcoholic groups and nitrogen- and sulphur-ligands in the complexation by HS of several metal ions, including Fe3+, Al3+, Cu2+, Mn2+, Zn2+, Pb2+, Co2+, Ni2+, and others. Fluorescence spectrocopy allows the direct measurement of the complexing capacity of the HS ligands by differentiating free and metal-bound ligands. The ESR technique provides unique information on the binding mechanisms of paramagnetic metal ions such as Fe3+, Cu2+, Mn2+, V4+, and Mo5+ to HS, oxidation states of metals bound, symmetry and type of coordination sites in HS, identity of ligand atoms and groups involved in metal complexing, and degree of mobility of HS-bound metals, i.e., stability of metal-HS complexes formed. As a result of the above actions, HS will thus influence markedly the behavior, performance and fate of toxic/pollutant metal ions and organic contaminants in environmental compartments with important implications in their persistence, immobilization and accumulation, mobility and transport, chemical reactivity, bioavailability and biotoxicity, degradability, volatilization and leaching, and monitoring of residues. References N. Senesi, E. Loffredo. Spectroscopic techniques for studying metal-humic complexes in soil. In: Biophysico-chemical Processes of Heavy Metals and Metalloids in Soil Environments (A. Violante, P.M. Huang, G.M. Gadd, Eds.), Wiley-IUPAC Series on Biophysico-Chemical Processes in Environ. Systems (P.M. Huang and N. Senesi, Series Eds.), ISBN 978-0-47173778-0, Wiley-Interscience, Hoboken, NJ, USA, Ch. 4, pp. 125-168 (2008). N. Senesi, E. Loffredo. Metal ion complexation by soil humic substances. In: Chemical Processes in Soil (D. L. Sparks, M. A. Tabatabai, Eds.), Soil Sci. Soc. Of America, Inc., Madison, WI, Ch. 12, 563-618 (2005). N. Senesi. Electron spin (or paramagnetic) resonance spectroscopy. In: Methods of Soil Analysis: Chemical Methods (D.L. Sparks, ed.) ASA-CSSA-SSSA, Publ. Madison (USA), Ch.11, 323-356 (1996). N. Senesi, P.M. Huang, B. Xing. Biophysico-Chemical Processes Involving Natural Nonliving Organic Matter in Environmental System. IUPAC Series on Biophysico-Chemical Processes in Environmental Systems, Vol. 2, ISBN: 978-0-470-41300-5, Wiley-Interscience, Hoboken, NJ, pp. 876 (2009). N. Senesi, T.M. Miano. Humic Substances in the Global Environment and Implications on Human Health. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 1368 (1994). N. Senesi. Metal-humic substance complexes in the environment. Molecular and mechanistic aspects by multiple spectroscopic approach. In: (Adriano D.C., ed.) Biogeochemistry of Trace Metals, CRC Press, Boca Raton, USA, Ch. 16, 425-491 (1992). N. Senesi. Application of Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) Spectroscopy in Soil Chemistry. Advances in Soil Science, 14, 77-130 (1990). N. Senesi. Molecular and Quantitative Aspects of the Chemistry of Fulvic Acid and its Interactions with Metal Ions and Organic Chemicals. Part II. The Fluorescence Spectroscopy Approach. Anal. Chim. Acta, 232, 77-106 (1990). N. Senesi. Molecular and Quantitative Aspects of the Chemistry of Fulvic Acid and its Interactions with Metal Ions and Organic Chemicals. Part. I. The Electron Spin Resonance Approach. Anal. Chim. Acta, 232, 51-75 (1990). N. Senesi, T.M. Miano, M.R. Provenzano, G. Brunetti. Characterization, differentiation, and classification of humic substances by fluorescence spectroscopy. Soil Sci., 152, 259-271 (1991). E. Loffredo, N. Senesi. The role of natural organic matter (humic substances) on adsorption of pesticides possessing endocrine disruptor acitivity. In: The Fate of Persistent Organic Pollutants in the Environment. (E. Mehmetli and B. Koumanova, Eds.), NATO Sciences for Peace and

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Security Series-C: Environmental Security, Springer, 369-383 (2008). N. Senesi, E. Loffredo, V. DOrazio, G. Brunetti, T.M. Miano, P. La Cava. Adsorption of pesticides by humic acids from organic amendments and soils. In: Humic Substances and Chemical Contaminants (C.E. Clapp, M.H.B. Hayes, N. Senesi, P.R. Bloom, P.M. Jardine, Eds.), Soil Science Soc. of America, Inc., Madison, WI, Ch. 6, 129-153 (2001). N. Senesi, E. Loffredo. The Chemistry of Soil Organic Matter. In: Soil Physical Chemistry, 2nd Edit, (D.L. Sparks, ed.),. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Ch. 6, 239-370 (1999). N. Senesi, Miano T.M. The role of abiotic interactions with humic substances on the environmental impact of organic pollutants. In: Environmental Impact of Soil Component Interactions. Natural and Anthropogenic Organics Vol.I (P.M. Huang, J. Berthelin, J.M. Bollag, W.B. McGill, A.L. Page, eds.) CRC-Lewis, Boca Raton, 311-335 (1995). N. Senesi. Nature of interactions between organic chemicals and dissolved humic substances and the influence of environmental factors. In: Organic Substances in Soil and Water: Natural Constituents and their Influence on Contaminant Behaviour (A.J. Beck, K.C. Jones M.H.B. Hayes, U. Mingelgrin, Eds.), Royal Society of Chemistry, Publ., London, Ch.4, 73-101 (1993). N. Senesi. Organic pollutant migration in soils as affected by soil organic matter. Molecular and mechanistic aspects. In (D. Petruzzelli and F.G. Helfferich, eds.) Migration and Fate of Pollutants in Soils and Subsoils. NATO-ASI Series, Vol. G32, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 47-74 (1993). N. Senesi. Binding mechanisms of pesticides to soil humic substances. Sci. Total Environ., 123/124, 63-76 (1992). N. Senesi, Y. Chen. Interactions of toxic organic chemicals with humic substances. In: Toxic Organic Chemicals in Porous Media, (Gerstl Z., Chen Y., Mingelgrin V. and Yaron B., eds.), Ecological Studies, Vol. 73, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 37-90 (1989).

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The Utilization Of Agro-Clino as the Soil Amendment in The Seedling of Turkish Red Pine (Pinus Brutia Ten.) and its Effect in the Soil Characteristics and the Sapling Growth
Mehmet SAYMAN1 Muhammet KILCI1 Serpil ZAYDIN2 Giyasettin AKBN1
1 2

: Aegean Forestry Research Institute, Urla-zmir / TURKIYE : Gordes Zeolite Mining Co., Manager of R & D, Board Member, 2131 Sk. No:55/26, Bayrakli/Izmir TURKIYE Corresponding Author: serpilozaydin@gordeszeolite.com

This study has been made in order to examine the effects of clinoptilolite type zeolite on the growth of Pinus brutia Ten. saplings. We have used Agro-Clino brand product produced in the gem production facility of Gordes Madencilik A.. located in Grdes, Manisa and marketed as soil improver material in this study. Agro-Clino has been applied to the soil placed into plantation seedbed in ratios of 5%, 10% and 30%. The control plots were set up without Agro-Clino. At the end of 220-day growth period, the increased amount of Agro-Clino application revealed a parallel positive increase in the physical and chemical characteristics of the soil. While the cation exchange capacity of the soil increased, the saplings increasingly made use of nutrition elements. The nitrogen, phosphor, potassium, calcium, magnesium and sodium contents in the dry matters of the saplings grown in the plots subjected to Agro-Clino are greater than the nutritional element contents of the saplings grown in control plots. The amount of irrigation water is 45 lt, 100 lt and 112 lt lesser, respectively, in unit area (m2) than control plots in parallel with increased Agro-Clino amounts (5%, 10% and 30%); thus, 6,28%, 13,96% and 15,64 % water was saved. The application of 30% Agro-Clino increased the germination ratio by 423, 41% compared to control plots. The application of Agro-Clino had positive effects on the morphological characteristics of saplings. The diameter and height and the wet and dry weight values of the saplings grown in the plots subjected to Agro-Clino are better than the saplings grown in control plots. Keywords: Natural zeolite, clinoptilolite, Pinus brutia Ten., soil amendment, Sapling Growth

Abstract

Introduction Natural zeolites are volcanically-formed tuff minerals identified as hydrated aluminum silicate. The multi-functional use of zeolites originate from their high cation exchange capacities, waterinsoluble qualities, durability in acid and base environments, ability to absorb heavy metalradioactive isotope and ability to absorb heat. Cation change in zeolites is defined as the replacement of the changeable cations found in zeolite structure with the cations found in solutions. Zeolites display different selectivity for different cations during cation replacement. ter (2002) determined the cation selectivity of clinoptilolites as Pb2+>Fe3+>Zn2+>Cu2+. The high capacity of cation replacement has significant effect on the functionality of zeolite. Other structural characteristics such as grain thickness, surface area, porosity are some of the parameters affecting the functionality of zeolite. The study conducted to determine the effects of using clinoptilolite material in rice cultivation on yield, water consumption and soil structure reveals that clinoptilolite significantly increases the nutrients in the cultivated rice and enhances soil structure and decreases water consumption (Gevrek et. al., 2004). The study performed to determine the effects of adding zeolite in the standard mixture used in ready-seedling production on tomato seedling growth and quality shows that 20% dose of zeolite has the most positive effects on the plant size (cm), trunk diameter (mm), plants dry weight (g), chlorophyll a, b and total chlorophyll (g/mg dry matter) among different doses applied (nl et. al., 2004). In the study, comparison of the use of zeolite and perlite as substrate for crisp-lead lettuce, (Gul at al., 2005) concluded the use of zeolite led to increased plant growth, higher N and K contents in plant tissues and to reduced K leaching. 80 kg/de zeolite application in lettuce (Lactuca sativa var. longifolia) growing media (Polat at al., 2005), resulted with 15 % more total yield than 0 kg/da zeolite application. In the light of such information it is considered that not every type of zeolite has the same effect under same conditions as a cultivation environment. In other words, the structural characteristics of the zeolite to be used as material should be known well in terms of mineralogical, physical and chemical aspects. Clinoptilolite is a type of natural zeolite commonly used specifically in agricultural practices. Pinus brutia Ten. was preferred since it is the most common major forest

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH tree type in the West Anatolian and The Mediterranean Regions and the saplings of this type are the most commonly planted trees in the afforestation areas in our country. Aegean Forestry Research Institute Research Team (Klc and Sayman, 2003) under the Ministry of Forestation and Hydraulic Works and Enli Madencilik A.. (the Companys new name is Gordes Zeolite Corporation) Research Team conducted a joint research considering that Agro-Clino brand, clinoptilolite-based product shall have positive effects on the plantation of Pinus brutia Ten. This research has been developed by the same team and the reevaluated scientific data are provided in this article. Materials and Methods Materials Agro-Clino used in the tests is produced from the Clinoptilolite, produced in the open quarries of Gordes Zeolit Madencilik A.. (Gordes Zeolite Mining Corporation) located in Grdes, Manisa. It is subjected to granulation-classification and packaging units, produced only physically and marketed as natural soil amendment, soil conditioner. The structural characteristics (mineralogical, physical and chemical) were carried out in Istanbul Technical University, Mining Faculty, Department of Geology Engineering. Mineralogical characteristics of Agro-Clino: X-ray diffraction analysis: It has been conducted in the Laboratory of Geology Engineering, Mining Faculty, Istanbul Technical University. The specimen is subjected to XRD (x-ray diffraction) , this analysis is performed under Cu-K radiation using Bruker brand diffractometer and at 2= 1o / 0.5 min. drawing speed using Ni filter and in 2-60o range. The quantitative modal ratios of the minerals are estimated via comparison to standard ratios from XRD pattern. Ratio values are given within 5% range. The mineral composition determined as a result of the XRD analysis of Agro-Clino and their ratios are :Clinoptilolite (Zeolite type mineral) (>85-90%) + Smectic (<5%) + Feldspat (<5%) + Opal-CT (5%) . The essential mineral of the specimen is clinoptilolite which is a zeolite type mineral. and ion exchange capability(IEC) is: 1,8 meq/g. The porosity is: 41,10. (zaydn, 2005), measured thermal stability of Gordes origin clinoptilolite as 839 oC, and thermal conductivity coefficient as 0,47 W/moC, water retentions as 15 to 29 %, and BET surface area as 40,79 m2/g, Agro-Clino produced from this rock. The Chemical composition determined in XRal Laboratories in Canada (11/09/2002 dated Certificate of Analysis, work order is: 068605): SiO2: 71,18, Al2O3:12,32, K2O: 3,91% , Na2O: 0,47%, CaO: 2,58%, Fe2O3:0,96, MgO: 0,97, MnO:<0,01, TiO2: 0,08, and LOI: 7,85 %. The results of the physical and chemical analysis performed on the soil obtained from the testing field by Izmir Forest and Soil Laboratory Directorate are given in Table 1. Table 1. Physical and Chemical Characteristics of the Tested Nursery Soil
Sand % 67.23 Clay % 6.80 Silt % 25.97 Soil type Sandy, loam CEC ECx103 CaCO3 (%) (me/100g) (mmhos/cm) 16.141 3.21 0.151 Organic matter (%) 2.745

pH 8.31

The study was performed in the testing field of Karyaka Forestry Nursery of Izmir. The Pinus brutia Ten. seeds used in the test originate from Urla. According to the climatic data obtained from ili Meteorology Station, the closest station to the testing field, the annual figures in 2002 when the test was conducted were 23,3 oC for average temperature, 524,2 mm for total rainfall and 51,9% for average relative humidity. Methods Trial Pattern The test was set up in 3 repetitive stages according to random plot testing pattern. 1 m2 of plots were placed on each seedbed for three doses of Agro-Clino and control purpose. The amounts of Agro-Clino to be applied on the soil were calculated based on weights. Assuming that there is 150 kg of soil in 1 m2 area of 15 cm-depth; respectively 7.5 kg, 15 kg and 45 kg of AgroClino were homogenously mixed into 5%, 10% and 30% doses, respectively. Later, in order to
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH determine soil properties before and after cultivation period, specimens were obtained from control plots and the plots including Agro-Clino. Plots were readied for planting and then Pinus brutia Ten. seeds were planted as of 02.05.2002. Soil Analysis Methods The soil samples gathered from testing field were air-dried in the laboratory and then their physical and chemical characteristics were determined. The reactions of the soils (pH) and their conductivities were measured with pH-meter and conductivity-meter after the soil-water was prepared in 1:2.5 ratios and held for overnight (Glur, 1974). The calcification amounts were determined by using Scheibler Calcimeter Method whereas organic substance contents were determined by Walkley-Black Method (Glur, 1974). The results were calculated in percentage. The total nitrogen contents of the soils were determined via Kjeldahl Method using full-automatic Kjeltec-20 device (Bremner, 1965). The available phosphor contents of the soils were determined via Olsen Method and Bingham Method considering their pHs (Kacar, 1993). Potassium, calcium, magnesium and sodium contents in the soils extracted with Neuter 1 N Ammonium Acetate were determined via Flame Photometer and AAS1(Jackson, 1958). The trace elements such as iron, copper, zinc and manganese were determined via di-acid method (0,05 N HCl+0.025 N H2SO4) using AAS (Isaac and Kerber, 1971). Plant Analysis Methods The total N amounts of the plant samples were performed according to modified Kjeldahl method. The dried plant samples were subjected to wet decomposition method and readied for analyses of phosphor, calcium, magnesium, sodium, iron, copper, zinc and manganese. The total P amount of needle, trunk and root specimens were determined via vanada-molibdo phosphoric yellow color method whereas Fe amount was determined spectrophotometrically in 430 nm wave length according to Orthofenantrolin method. Potassium, calcium and sodium were determined via Jenway brand flame photometer. Magnesium (Mg), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn) and manganese (Mn) amounts were determined via Perkin Elmer 3110 atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The results of the analyses were calculated in percentage in dry matter (Kacar, 1972). Irrigation The water used for Karyaka nursery is utilized for watering. Irrigation water is included in C2S1 class. Irrigation is performed in the afternoon hours until the seeds are germinated and once a day in the morning hours following the completion of the germination, utilizing a sprinkler system. The daily water amount to be distributed in the test is laid out using a tensiometer. The tensiometers are placed in 11-12 cm. of depth in order to measure the moisture in the saplings root area. Irrigation is performed in the manner to support 10-30 cb values (Klc et. al., 1999). Fertilization Fertilization was not performed in the test, since the soil fertility is sufficient for Pinus brutia Ten. seedlings cultivation in accordance with the analysis results. Morphological Measurements for Saplings 30 saplings from each plot were randomly picked at the end of the 220-day cultivation period in the test. The roots of the Pinus brutia Ten. saplings brought to the laboratory were cleaned up, rinsed with pure water and dried out. The saplings then were cut off at the root collar and separated as the stem and the root. Sapling diameters were measured with micro compass at the root collar (mm) and sapling heights (the span between the terminal bud and the root collar) were measured utilizing a ruler (cm). Needles of the saplings were detached from the stem and, wet weights (g) of needles, stem and the root were separately determined on a precision scale. Dry weights of the saplings were detected at the end of a 72-hour holding period in a drying-oven at 65C.

AAS:AtomicAbsorptionSpectrophotometer

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Results and Discussion Findings obtained from this study aimed at defining the effect of Agro-Clino utilization in Pinus brutia Ten. sapling cultivation are indicated below. Changes of Soil Characteristics Generated by Agro-Clino Application Some of the physical and chemical analysis results of the soil samples at the beginning of the test and at the end of the cultivation period, obtained from the control plots and Agro-Clino mixed plots in the test field where the sapling cultivation is carried out can be viewed in Tables 2 and 3. Upon assessment of the analysis results: Soil Texture: Agro-Clino applications have increasingly altered the grain sizes in plots. Granularity in dust size has decreased while the grain size has increased, compared to the control plots. The texture classification has turned to loamy sand in plots where Agro-Clino was implemented at a rate of 30 % whereas the texture classification remained the same in areas where Agro-Clino was implemented at rates of 5 and 10 %. It was also determined that this status remained the same in the analysis conducted at the end of the cultivation period. Soil Reaction (pH): pH classification range in the test area soil has been indicated as midalkaline. As a result of the Agro-Clino applications performed; pH levels have slightly decreased in the initial stage of the testing; however, no change has occurred in terms of classification range. This is considered to have been caused potentially by the mixing of Agro-Clino of 6,43 pH into the environment and having some diluting effect. However, at the end of the testing, the analyses performed revealed that pH levels increased in all plots. The bicarbonate content of such increase is considered to be related to the high level of irrigation water. Soil Electrical Conductivity (EC): EC value which was 0.151 mS/cm in the testing field at the beginning, had increased up to levels of 0.210-0.229 mS/cm depending on the increasing rates of Agro-Clino and decreased below these levels at the end of testing. In the meantime the control plots had displayed an increase in comparison with the beginning of the test. The decrease of the EC value at the end of the testing period in Agro-Clino plots were associated with the material increasing the washing conditions due to porosity in the soil. Soil Lime (% CaCO3): Total lime content in the testing field prior to being mixed with AgroClino was approximately 3.21 % which later decreased due to Agro-Clino applications ( 2.58 % 2.97 %). The Lime content at the end of the test in control plots as well as all plots applied with Agro-Clino displayed an increase over the amount of lime content at the beginning of the test. Yet, the amount of lime content in these plots was lower than that of the control plots. Irrigation water is considered to have an effect on the increase of lime content in all plots at the end of the test. Table 2.Some of the Physical and Chemical Analysis Results of the Soil Samples Obtained from the Plots at the Beginning of the Test (0-15 cm Depth)
Application Control %5 %10 %30 Sand % 67.23 68.23 73.56 78.56 N % Control %5 %10 %30 0.170 0.133 0.105 0.099 Clay % 6.80 9.63 6.30 5.80 P ppm 47.99 40.04 37.67 30.89 Silt % Soil type CEC me/100g 16.141 18.152 22.663 31.850 Mg ppm 384 376 380 477 CaCO3 % 3.21 2.97 2.58 2.70 Na ppm 50 228 450 857 ECx103 mmhos/cm 0.151 0.210 0.213 0.229 pH
Organic matter %

25.97 Sandy loam 22.14 Sandy loam 20.14 Sandy loam 15.64 Loamy sand Macro Elements K Ca ppm ppm 308 1535 3085 6275 3500 4000 4500 5300

8.31 2.745 8.20 3.610 8.16 3.936 8.08 3.871 Micro Elements Fe Cu Zn Mn ppm ppm ppm ppm 2.6 4.7 5.4 5.1 7.4 3.4 9.1 11.3 46.1 26.3 55.8 40.9

3.015 2.199 2.595 2.731

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Table 3. Some of the Physical and Chemical Analysis Results of the Soil Samples Obtained from the Plots at the End of the Test
Application Sand % 64.56 67.23 67.56 76.06 N % 0.198 0.171 0.168 0.131 Clay % 8.08 8.75 7.08 5.08 Silt % Soil type CEC me/ 100g 15.8 19.0 19.5 32.5 Mg ppm 490 475 458 488 Na ppm 47 231 367 882 CaCO3 % 4.54 3.93 4.01 3.01 Fe ppm 3.102 2.657 3.337 2.793 ECx103 mmhos/cm pH Organic matter % 2.300 1.800 1.801 1.334 Mn ppm 123 108 98 82

Kont. %5 %10 %30 Application

Sandy 27.36 Sandy 24.02 Sandy 23.36 Sandy 18.86 Macro Elements Ca ppm 3100 3400 3750 4500

0.185 8.37 0.172 8.45 0.160 8.48 0.174 8.46 Micro Elements Cu ppm 270 186 141 127 Zn ppm 115.5 90.5 57.5 36.5

Control %5 %10 %30

P K ppm ppm 51.41 318 38.24 1400 37.68 2180 26.57 5875

Soil Organic Matter: The organic matter of soil displayed an increase at the beginning of the test in comparison with the control plot and decreased at the end in all plots, to include the control plot. The organic matter in Agro-Clino applied plots indicated a higher decrease in the control plots. The reason for that is the utilization of some of the organic matter upon decomposition by the plants as well as washing out of some of the organic substance due to increased porosity in Agro-Clino applied plots and rains at the end of the period. Soil Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC me/100 g): CEC values at both at the beginning and at the end of the period in Agro-Clino applied plots were higher than the control plots. Soil Nutrients : As the result of the analysis conducted both following the application of AgroClino and at the end of the test, it was determined that; K, Ca and Na amounts in Agro-Clino applied plots increased in parallel with Agro-Clino doses while on the other hand, there was a decrease in nitrogen and phosphorus levels. Whereas the effect of Agro-Clino applications on the plots micro element contents was not evident, at the end of the test, it was indicated that there were decreases in the amount of micro elements compared to the control plots. The Effect of Agro-Clino Applications on Irrigation The amount of irrigation water distributed to the unit area (m2) of Agro-Clino applied plots were less than that of the control plots. The amount of irrigation water distributed to the plots during the test is shown on Table 4. Upon review of Table 4; it is clear that the amount of irrigation water decreased depending on the amount of Agro-Clino applied. Additionally, a total of 311 mm per square meter of rain fell in the months of September, October, November and December until the final sample obtaining date. The unit area of 5 % Agro-Clino applied plot was given 45 liters less water in comparison with the control plot while 10 % Agro-Clino applied plot was given 100 liters less water. 30 % and the most Agro-Clino applied plots received the least amount water at approximately 112 lt. Table 4. The Amount of Water Distributed to the Plots by Months. Application (l/m2) Months Control %5 %10 June 199 187 156 July 185 170 163 August 192 180 165 September 101 98 99 October 39 36 33 November 0 0 0 Total 716 671 616

%30 156 161 160 97 30 0 604

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH The Effect of Agro-Clino Applications on Germination 560 Pinus brutia Ten. seeds were sown to the unit area (m2). The germination rate was acquired at the end of the count carried out following the completion of the germination. Germination amount and percentage increased in parallel with the increase in Agro-Clino application (Table 5). Table 5. The germination percentage relationship with the application of Agro-Clino Application Number of seeds Germination Germination (%) Increasing sown (Number/parcel(m2) rate of Number/parcel(m2) germination (%) Control 560 73 13,03 -5% 560 135 24,10 184,95 10 % 560 249 44,46 341,21 30 % 560 309 55,17 423,41 The Effect of Agro-Clino Applications on the Morphological Characteristics of Saplings It was determined that the diameter, height, wet and dry weight values of the saplings obtained from Agro-Clino applied plots are superior to those obtained from the control plots. 5 and 10 % mixtures produced saplings with similar values in terms of diameter and height, when Agro-Clino doses are compared. On the other hand, 30 % application produced saplings of less value in comparison to the other two applications (Table 6). Table 6. Average Values Regarding the Morphological Measurements of Pinus brutia Ten. Saplings
Application Control %5 %10 %30 Diameter (mm) 2,10 2,75 2,65 2,15 Height (cm) 9,35 13,39 13,99 12,00 Wet weight (mg/sapling) Needle + Root Total Stem 1.605 3.299 2.881 1.960 0,722 1,299 1,042 0,837 2,327 4,597 3,922 2,799 Dry weight (mg/sapling) Needle + Root Total Top/root Stem 530 1015 906 640 265 425 357 300 795 1440 1262 940 2.0 2.4 2.5 2.1

It was observed that the wet and dry substance amounts of the saplings obtained from Agro-Clino applications were much higher than those of the saplings obtained from the control plots. When compared in regard to Agro-Clino applications amount, it was clear that 5 and 10 % mixtures produced more wet and dry weights than the 30 % mixture. When the top / root ratios of the saplings were analyzed; it was indicated that the rate shifted between 2-2.5. Top-root ratios of the saplings obtained from Agro-Clino applications are bigger than those obtained from the control plots. While the ratios of 5 and 10 % mixtures are similar to each other, the 30 % application is much lower and close to that of the control plot. The Effect of Agro-Clino Applications on the Nutrient Contents of the Saplings Nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium and sodium amounts in the dry substances of the saplings cultivated in Agro-Clino applied plots is much higher compared to the saplings cultivated in the control plots. Also, the iron, copper and zinc element contents are much higher while the manganese content is variable (Table 7). Tablo 7. The Nutrient Contents Uptake of Pinus brutia Ten. (mg/100 sapling)
Application Control %5 %10 %30 N 1242.1 2522.3 2212.9 1564.6 P 116.3 227.8 211.1 145.3 K 462.0 979.5 855.3 630.5 Ca 567.0 948.9 702.8 683.3 Mg 142.9 229.2 197.0 173.9 Na 58.2 107.1 72.1 60.9 Fe 72.4 117.5 81.8 89.2 Cu 4.1 5.9 5.7 4.6 Zn 2.3 4.5 3.9 2.6 Mn 2.5 4.1 1.6 2.2

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Finally, the application of Agro-Clino had positive effects on the morphological characteristics and nutritional element contents of saplings. The diameter and height and the wet and dry weight values of the saplings grown in the plots subjected to Agro-Clino are better than the saplings grown in control plots. Acknowledgement The authors would like to thank the supporters of this study, Mr. Aziz Krveli and Mr. Ufuk Ozturk, the Partners of Gordes Zeolite Corporation who provided financial and technical support. References Bremner,J.M.,1965. Total Nitrogen In: Methods of Soil Analysis (Edit C.A. Black) Part 2. Amer. Soc of Agr. Inc., Publisher, Madison, Wisconsin-USA, 1149-1178 p.

Gevrek, M.N., Yamur, B., Tatar, ., Krveli, A., Uysal, .K., zaydn, S., Krveli, ., 2004, Determination of the Effect of Agro-Clino Aplication on the Yield, Water Safe, and Soil
Characteristics in Rice Grain Growth, Ege University, Rcientific Research Research Project Report, Project nr: 03-BL-016

Gul, A., Eroul, D., Ongun, A.R., 2005. Comparison of the use of zeolite and perlite as substrate for crisp-head lettuce, Scientia Horticulturae 106 (2005) 464-471 Glur,F.,1974. The Chemical and Phsical Analyses of the Soil, Istanbul University, Forestry Faculty, Publ. No: Yayn No.201. Isaac,R.A., Kerber,J.D., 1971. Atomic Absorption and Flame Photometry: Techniques and Uses in Soil, Plant and Water Analysis In Instrumental Methods for Analysis of Soil and Plant Tissue (L.M. Wals. ed.) Soil Science Society of America, Madison W I. Jackson, M., 1958. Soil Chemical Analysis, Universty of Nebraska. Collage of Agricalture. Department of Agrinomy Lincoln. Nebrasca. Kacar,B., 1972. The Chemical Analyses of Plant and Soil II. Soil Analyses,. Ankara Unuversity, Agricultural Faculty, Publ. No: 453 Ankara/TURKEY Kacar, B., 1993. The Chemical Analyses of Plant and Soil III. Soil Analyses,. Ankara Unuversity, Agricultural Faculty, the Foundation of Education, Research and Development Publication no: 3. Ankara/TURKEY Kilci,M., Sayman,M., Akbin,G., Akgl,A., 1999. Farkl Sulama Uygulamalarnn Yastkta Yetitirilen Kzlam (Pinus brutia Ten.) Fidanlarnn Geliimi zerine Etkileri. Orman Bakanl Yay.No.: 065, zmir Orman Toprak Lab. Md. Yayn No. : 5 Karyaka/zmir. Kilci, M., Sayman, M., 2003. The Effect of the Argo-Clno on the Cultivation of Turkish Red Pine (Pinus brutia Ten.) Seedlings, Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Forest Soil Laboratory, Izmir-Turkey Oter, ., Dec.,2002. Acid-base modification of zeolite and environmental protection applications of modified zeolite, M Sc, Dokuz Eyll University, Science Institute, Izmir, Turkey

Ozaydin, S., March, 2005, Utilization Opportunities of Natural Clinoptilolite in Turkey and Determination of Thermal Properties of Gordes Clinoptilolite , Ph D. n Solar Energy Institute, Polat, E., Demir, H., Onus, A.N., ,2005. The Effects on Yield and Quality of Different Level of Zeolite in Lettuce (Lactuca Sativa var. Longifolia) Growing, Akdeniz University, Journal of Agricultural Faculty, 2005, 18(1), P 95-99 Unlu, H., Ertok, R., Padem, H., 2004. Utilization Opportunities of Zeolite in the Tomato Seedling 5. Symposium on Vegetable Cultivation, anakkale 18 March University, Agriculture Faculty, Poster Presentation, p 35. 21-24 Sept., anakkale/Turkey

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH POSTER PRESENTATIONS

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH

Role of Organic Additives and Inorganic Fertilizer in Combating Irrigation Water Salinity Stress
Soliman1 S. M., Galal1 Y. G. M., Abou El-Khair2 R. A., El-Mohtasem Bella2 M. O., Abdel Aziz1 H. A., Kotb1 E. A. and Abd El-Latteef1 E. M.
Atomic Energy Authority, Nuclear Research Center, Soil and Water Research Department, abou-Zaabl, 13759, Egypt 2 Department of Soils and Water, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo Al-Azhar University Corresponding author: galalyehia@yahoo.com A greenhouse pot experiment was conducted to elucidate the effect of organic amendments on improving sorghum growth exposed to irrigation with saline water. Leucaena (LU), Quail feces (QF) and chicken manure (ChM) were added when preparing pots for cultivation at rate of 2%, 4%, 8%; 1%, 2% and 1%, 2%, 4% v/v, for LU, QF and ChM, respectively. Recommended rates of phosphate and potassium fertilizers were added when preparing soil for cultivation. Nitrogen (100 kg N fed-1) was added in splitting two equal doses in the form of ammonium sulfate. Saline irrigation water was applied at EC, equal 3 dS m-1 with different SAR, i.e. 4 and 8. Irrigation water salinity had reduced the dry matter yield of sorghum plants. Application of organic sources resulted in enhancement of dry matter yield as compared to plants only fertilized with mineral fertilizer. This holds true under adverse conditions of water salinity. Application of organic sources especially leuceana residues and chicken manure increased the nitrogen accumulated by different plant parts and overcome the negative effect of increasing water salinity levels. Unfortunately, the adverse effect of water salinity was still on going even with organic applications. The highest uptake of potassium was noticed under control treatment especially when treated with leucaena residues at high rates comparing to other fertilization sources. In some cases, increasing SAR of irrigation water had enhanced potassium uptake by different plant parts. This phenomenon was attributed to organic source. Keywords: Nitrogen, Nutrients, Organic residues, Sorghum, Water salinity
1

Abstract

Introduction Water for agricultural use is normally considered to be in one of five salinity classes, i.e. nonsaline, slight saline, medium saline highly saline and very highly saline. These classes are being defined by the total dissolved solids and electrical conductivity of the water. Crop responses to salinity vary with species and, to a lesser degree, with the crop variety. The tolerance of crops to salinity is generally classified into four to six groups, from the sensitive (or non tolerant), where most horticultural and fruit crops are included, to the tolerant, which includes barley, cotton, jojoba, sugar beet, several grass crops, asparagus and date palm. Full lists of crop tolerance classes are given by Hoffman and Shalhevet (2007). Grain sorghum is a potential crop for moderately saline areas, having been identified as fairly tolerant to salinity, and shown to contain intraspecific variability for that trait (Igartua et al., 1995). Increasing levels of Ca2+ in the solution culture enhanced growth, lowered sodium (Na+) uptake, and increased K+: Na+ ratio significantly. Elevated K+ level also improved growth significantly, but had no significant effect on Na+, Ca2+, or magnesium (Mg2+) accumulation of either roots or shoots. The influence of salinity on the accumulation of proline, amino acids and carbohydrates and total osmolality is also discussed (Dashti et al., 2009). Potassium (K) uptake by plant roots is often suppressed by sodium (Na) in the growth medium, whose damage may be moderated by calcium (Ca) (Silberbush 2001). On the other hand, different salinity levels in the water did not provide significant effects on the variables K of the sorghum crop (da Paixo et al., 2007). Inputs crop residue can increase the size and activity of soil microbial communities, and increase soil enzyme activity (Kautz et al., 2004). Crop residue amendments have caused shifts in microbial community composition, and influenced microbial carbon source utilization profiles (Schutter and Dick, 2001). At the same time, legume residues are particularly useful as organic manure due to their large N contents, and because this N is more likely to become readily available for uptake by other plants (Giller and Wilson, 1993). Benefits of using green manures may also arise from increasing soil nutrient availability and soil water storage (Aggarwal et al., 1997), reducing plant disease severity (Woodward et al., 1997) , and producing some essential nutrient elements [potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), phosphorus (P), and calcium (Ca)] other than N (Lupwayi and Haque., 1998).
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH This experiment aimed at evaluating the impact of organic sources, i.e. leucaena residue, chicken manure and quail feces added in different concentrations on sorghum growth parameters and nutrient uptake as affected by saline irrigation water differ in their SAR values. Materials and Methods Seeds Sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.)], seeds classified as salt tolerant, based on grain yield at EC = 6 dS m-1 was used as indicator plant. These caryopses were obtained (as pure strains) from the Institute of Field Crop Research, Agriculture Research Centre (ARC), Ministry of Agriculture, Giza, Egypt. Experimental soil The experiment was conducted using loamy sand soil. The source of irrigation was artificial saline water. Soil has a pH (1:2.5 water) 7.4; EC 0.31 dS m-1; CaCO3 0.75%; OM 0.35%. Soil chemical and physical determinations were carried out according to Carter and Gregorich (2008). Irrigation saline water All pots of the experiments were irrigated with different saline water. The calculation of different of water salinity levels and SAR ratios (calculating the quantities of different salts) was carried out according to Manual of Salinity Research Methods (1992) and the accompanied software program. Organic resources Leucaena leucocephala residue Leucaena leucocephala fallen leaves was used as a green manure collected from the farm of Agricultural Department for Soil and Water, Nuclear Research Center, Atomic Energy Authority, Inshas, Egypt. Poultry manure (Chicken and Quail feces) Chicken manure and Quail feces were collected from the poultry farm of the Department of Biology, Nuclear Research Centre, Atomic Energy Authority, Inshas, Egypt. Some chemical properties of the different organic sources used in the present study were presented in Table (1). Determinations were carried out according to Carter and Gregorich (2008). Table 1. Some chemical characteristics of organic sources
Value N% P% K% Na% Ca% Mg% Fe% Cu% Zn% Mn% C/N ratio Free amino acids (ppm) 9.39 1.16 1.08 0.52 3.53 1.80 0.14 0.01 0.56 0.44 13:1 46.8 Quail feces Organic sources Chicken manure 3.7 1.9 1.1 0.3 5.0 2.1 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.05 15:1 51.4 Leucaena 5.3 0.3 2.7 0.09 0.2 0.7 0.2 0.01 0.3 0.03 18:1 52.03

After harvest, plants were picked up from the soil and washed for several time with tape water then separated into stalks and roots. The plant samples were dried and subjected to laboratory analysis. All chemical determinations of plant samples were carried out according to Temminghoff and Houba (2004). Experiment layout Pots were filled with loamy sand soil at rate of 5 kg pot-1. The residue of leucaena (LU), Quail feces (QF) and chicken manure (ChM) were added when preparing pots for cultivation at rate of 2%, 4%, 8%; 1%, 2% and 1%, 2%, 4% v/v, for LU, QF and ChM, respectively. In addition, one treatment fertilized with chemical nitrogen fertilizer only was included. Superphosphate fertilizer (15.5%) and potassium sulfate were applied as basal doses at rate of 150 kg P fed-1 and 50 kg K fed-1, respectively. Fertilizer-N was applied in the form of ammonium sulfate with rate of 100 kg N fed-1. Nitrogen fertilizer was applied in two equally splitting doses; the first is one day after
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH thinning and the second after 10 days from the first dose. Ten grains of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Dorado) were sown per pot. Seedlings were thinned to 5 seedling pot-1, 21 days after sowing. All pots were irrigated with different saline water at 60-70% of field capacity. The calculation of different of water salinity levels and SAR ratios (calculating the quantities of different salts) was carried out according to the developed ASIW package (Manual of Salinity Research Methods, 1992) and the accompanied software program. Saline irrigation water was applied at EC, equal 3 dS m-1 with different SAR, i.e. 4 and 8. The experiment was conducted using randomized complete block design, consisting of two water stress treatments (A levels) and nitrogen fertilization strategy including organic or inorganic sources (B levels) and replicated three times. Statistical analysis The experiment was conducted using randomized complete block design, consisting of four water stress treatments (A levels) and nitrogen strategy (B levels) and replicated three times. All the obtained data were subjected to ANOVA analysis followed by Duncans multiple range test (DMRT) for comparison between means using SAS software program (2002). Results and Discussion Dry matter yield Stalks dry weight was gradually decreased by increasing SAR comparing to those recorded with control treatment then plants only fertilized with mineral fertilizer Table (2). Similar trend was noticed with grain and root dry matter yield. Application of leuceana residue (LU) at rate of 2% had increased the dry matter yield of all plant parts especially under control and SAR4 treatments comparable to values recorded with mineral fertilizer (MF) only. Under SAR8, there was no big significant difference between MF and LU. This holds true with stalks, grain and roots. In case of control treatment, dry matter accumulation of stalks was a little bit differed when LU rate was increased up to 4% and 8%. A little increment was also noticed with root dry matter yield. In contrast, grain yield tended to decrease with increasing the rate of LU addition. Severe decrease was recorded at rate of 8% of LU residue. Similar tend, but to low extent, was noticed with SAR4. Severe reduction in stalks, grain and root dry matter yields was recorded with SAR 8 as compared to SAR4 and control treatments. Application of Quail feces (QF) had decreased the dry matter yield of stalks and roots as compared to either mineral fertilizer or leuceana residue treatments. This holds true with control, SAR 4 and SAR 8 treatments. Severe reduction in dry matter yield of stalks and roots was recorded under SAR 8. It is worthy to mention that application of QF either at rate of 0.1% or 0.2% inhibited the formation of grains. This holds true under all salinity treatments or control one. This indicates that QF had no beneficial effect n the sorghum growth with irrigation of low water qualities. Table (2) Effect of water salinity, inorganic and organic fertilizers on sorghum dry matter yield (g pot-1)
Fertilization Treatments MF. LU2% LU4% LU8% QF0.1% QF0.2% Ch.m1% Ch.m2% Ch.m4% Stalks 37.9 50.1 51.7 54.3 23.0 11.0 50.6 60.5 40.4 Control Grain 16.6 17.1 8.55 1.07 9.80 40.4 11.9 Root 19.8 27.0 30.7 31.0 9.52 6.29 29.4 37.6 29.2 Stalks 29.7 40.4 42.2 45.3 15.9 7.10 40.2 49.4 35.9 SAR = 4 Grain 13.0 14.0 5.32 0.67 6.00 29.3 6.79
Root (A)=0.7219 (B)=0.7777 (AB)=1.149

Water salinity EC 3 dS m-1 Root 16.5 18.8 20.6 20.7 5.46 3.21 23.5 30.5 24.8 Stalks 24.0 26.9 29.1 30.6 11.8 3.16 29.3 37.3 24.9 SAR = 8 Grain 10.4 10.2 3.45 0.31 2.80 20.2 3.68 Root 11.3 14.4 15.5 16.6 3.82 1.48 16.9 21.8 17.4

L.S.D. 0.05 Stalks Fer.(A)=0.7243 EC.(B)=0.7803 (AB)=1.153

Grain (A)=0.5359 (B)=0.5773 (AB)=0.8532

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Under the good-quality water treatment, FYM application enhanced the dry matter yield by 21% over PM and 78% over the control treatment, and the number of tillers increased by 23 and 40% under FYM as compared to the PM and control treatments, respectively. Under daily irrigation with saline water, FYM increased the dry matter yield of wheat by 55% over PM and 29% over the control treatment. FYM also increased plant height by 18 and 34%, respectively. The PM treatment reduced plant growth under saline water irrigation regardless of the irrigation interval. FYM application resulted in relatively more improvement in growth under less-frequent irrigation (Ould Ahmed et al., 2010). Compared to the control, they found that PM decreased the dry matter yield under saline water irrigation and the decrease was greater with less-frequent irrigation. Similarly, PM treatment gave a decrease of number of tillers as compared to the control under saline water irrigation (67 and 61% decrease under daily and alternate day irrigation treatments, respectively). Salinity negatively affected the growth of wheat, also decreased the dry weight and the uptake of nutrients except for Na and Mn. Soil application of humus increased the N uptake of wheat and foliar application of humic acid increased the uptake of P, K, Mg, Na, Cu and Zn. Although the interaction effect between salt and soil humus application was found statistically significant. Under salt stress, the first doses of both soil and foliar application of humic substances increased the uptake of nutrients (Aik et al., 2009). On the other hand, many plant species suffer a decline in growth while exposed to salinity stress. The inhibition of growth in long-term exposure to salt stress may result from osmotic effects on water availability, reduction in net assimilation, specific ion effects, or ion imbalance due to interference with uptake of essential ions or a combination of any of those adverse factors (Bernstein et al., 1993; Noreen et al., 2007; Ashraf, 2009). In accordance with us, Jafari et al. (2009) found that growth of sorghum plant was strongly inhibited by high levels of salinity. They explained that reduction in dry weight reflects the increased metabolic energy cost and reduced carbon gain. Nitrogen uptake It seems that most nitrogen was accumulated in stalks followed by roots then grains. This holds true with control, and salinity levels as well as all fertilization treatments (Table 3). But it seems that plants irrigated with water differ in SAR values, accumulated low nitrogen as compared to the control treatment. Severe reduction in nitrogen accumulated by different plant parts was recorded with SAR 8 comparing to control and SAR 4 treatments. This holds true with all fertilization treatments. Table (3) Effect of water salinity, inorganic and organic fertilizers on nitrogen uptake by stalks, grain and roots of sorghum plants (mg pot-1)
Fertilization Treatments MF. LU2% LU4% LU8% QF0.1% QF0.2% Ch.m1% Ch.m2% Ch.m4% Control Stalks 545.9 646.7 1048.3 1383.1 430.4 202.4 953.9 952.4 667.4 Grain 315.0 403.1 171.0 24.5 209.3 807.9 260.0 Root 515.9 638.5 783.6 1063.6 290.7 194.9 764.8 751.5 813.1 Stalks 337.0 424.2 611.9 816.3 248.3 126.6 503.0 526.9 496.8 SAR = 4 Grain 221.5 290.4 96.8 12.2 100.6 468.7 134.1
Root (A) =36.54 (B) =39.37 (AB) =58.19

Water salinity EC 3 dS m-1

L.S.D.0.05 Stalks Fer. (A) =59.42 EC. (B) =64.01 (AB) =94.61

Root 272.3 378.4 455.5 684.1 115.3 82.2 474.9 522.8 546.7

Stalks 212.5 268.8 359.2 387.2 153.0 29.7 337.0 323.4 335.6

SAR = 8 Grain 98.9 204.3 54.2 3.2 31.9 316.2 50.5

Root 110.2 268.6 337.6 349.5 69.8 31.6 327.8 275.1 273.9

Grain (A) =17.14 (B) =18.46 (AB) =27.29

Concerning the effect of fertilization treatments, data show that the application of leuceana residues at different percentages has a positive significant effect on nitrogen uptake by stalks, grain and
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH roots. It increases with increasing addition rates up to 8% as compared to the mineral fertilizer treatment. The uptake of nitrogen tended to decrease with increasing water salinity, but still higher than those recorded with mineral fertilization solely. Soil treated with chicken manure (Ch.m.) reflected that plants were accumulated more N than those of mineral fertilization only and those of leuceana residues. In this respect, the stalks-nitrogen was higher with 1% and 2% rates of addition under control and SAR 4 treatments, than those of 4% rate. Under SAR 8, there was no significant difference between the three addition rates. Grain-N was increased with increasing the rate of additions. Similar trend with gradual decrease was noticed with SAR4 and SAR 8. In this regard, the highest accumulation of N by grains was induced by application of chicken manure at rate of 2% comparing to the others. This holds true under all salinity treatments as well as control one. On the other hand, nitrogen accumulated by roots was gradually increased by increasing chicken manure addition rates. This holds true with control, and different salinity levels (SAR). Generally, the addition of leuceana residues were fluctuated with plant parts, high nitrogen upake was recrded at high rate of addition than those recorded with chicken manure. This was vigorous under water salinity levels. On the other hand, addition of Quail feces (QF) inhibited the accumulation of nitrogen by different plant parts as compared to the other treatments. Results of nitrogen uptake by plants could be attributed to the growth reduction in saline soil and could also be due to its toxic effects related to the accumulation of Na+ and Cl- ions (Akhtar et al. 2001, Abdel-Ghani, 2009). Wheat plant could adjust to high salt concentrations by lowering tissue osmotic potential with the accumulation of inorganic ions (such as Na+, K+ and Cl-) as well as organic solutes (such as proline, glycinebetaine, sucrose and other sugar-related compounds in root (Fricke 2004, Munns et al. 2006). A number of laboratory and greenhouse studies have shown that salinity can reduce N accumulation in plants (Al-Rawahy et al., 1992). Many attributed this reduction to Cl- antagonism of NO-3 uptake (Bar et al., 1997; Feigin et al., 1987; Kafkafi et al., 1982) while others attributed the response to salinity's effect on reduced water uptake (Lea-Cox and Syvertsen, 1993). In wheat, proline acts as an endogenous osmotic regulator and the levels of proline in plants tissue correlated with the ability of the plants to tolerate or to adapt to saline conditions (Fricke 2004, Munns et al. 2006). Potassium Application of leucaena residue at 2% induced nearly double increase in K uptake by different plant parts (Table 4). Potassium uptake tended to increase with increasing leucaena residue addition rates. Highest increases were recorded with application of leucaena residue at rate of 8%. Similar trend was noticed with Quail feces (QF), and Chicken manure (ChM) applications. In this respect, there was no significant difference between QF and ChM when potassium uptake was concerned. Also, it seems that leucaena residue was the best among organic sources. In the same time, the application of all organic sources at the highest rate induced much more uptake of K by different plant parts as compared to the lowest rates. Plants irrigated with saline water having SAR4 gave an increase of K uptake by stalks. This was true in the presence f mineral or organic fertilizers comparable to those recorded with control treatment. This holds true with leucaena residue and chicken manure while QF did not reflect significant difference in K uptake by stalks as affected by water salinity. On the other hand, fluctuated trend was noticed with K uptake by grains. For example, it tends to increase with mineral fertilizer and leucaena added at 2% while it decreased with the increasing application rate of residue (4 and 8%), under SAR4. Chicken manure applied at different rates resulted in increase of K uptake by grains of plants irrigated with saline water with SAR4 as compared with control treatment. It seems that higher K uptake by grains under this condition was induced with the application of leucaena residues than those of chicken manure. Concerning root-K, it was obvious that salinity reduced K uptake by roots when plant fertilized with mineral fertilizer. Application of leucaena residue at rate of 2 and 4% resulted in increase of K uptake comparable to those recorded with control treatment. Reversible trend was noticed with QF and ChM treatments. Increasing sodium absorption ratio (SAR) of irrigation water up to 8, showed decrease trend of K uptake by stalks. This holds true with all inorganic and organic fertilization treatments. Similar trend was noticed with grain-K treated with mineral fertilizer and leucaena added at rate of 4 and
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH 8%, while reversible trend was noticed with the rate of 2%. On the other hand, application of chicken manure at different rates resulted in increase of grain-K as compared to those recorded with SAR4. In this regard, comparison held between leucaena residue and chicken manure did not reflect high significant difference in k uptake by sorghum grains. Fluctuated trends were recorded with root-K as affected by increasing SAR up to 8, where it was decreased in case of leucaena residue at rates of 2% and 4%, and chicken manure at rate of 4% while it increases in case of mineral fertilizer, leucaena added at rate of 8%, QF and chicken manure added at rate of 1% and 2%. Table (4): Effect of water salinity, inorganic and organic fertilizers on potassium uptake by stalks, grain and roots of sorghum plants (mg g-1 DW)
Fertilization Treatments MF. LU2% LU4% LU8% QF0.1% QF0.2% Ch.m1% Ch.m2% Ch.m4% Control Stalks 296.3 548.9 611.3 1064 863.8 900.9 856.4 688.3 1071.7 Grain 1967.6 2423.2 9050.9 9189.8 3301.0 3148.2 7148.2 Root 139.6 384.5 217.6 299.3 336.5 410.7 381.0 329.0 395.9 Stalks 362.4 596.4 1079.2 830.6 997.5 900.9 1101.5 804.4 1454.2 SAR = 4 Grain 3178.7 2989.8 4186.9 5051.0 3739.8 3598.2 3489.4
Root (A) =342.8 (B) =369.3 (AB) =545.9

Water salinity EC 3 dS m-1

L.S.D.0.05 Stalks Fer. (A) =101.7 EC.(B) =109.6 (AB) =162.0

Root 106.2 351.3 554.8 262.2 184.2 210.2 336.5 158.2 418.2

Stalks 284.5 574.1 693.0 1086.6 856.4 811.8 878.6 722.7 719.0

SAR = 8 Grain 2981.5 3706.5 3926.9 4587.4 4058.3 4273.2 3564.8

Root 128.5 284.5 299.3 514.7 254.8 284.5 470.1 239.9 340.2

Grain (A) =342.8 (B) =369.3 (AB) =545.9

The findings of Jafari et al., (2009) showed that K+ application not only stimulated the negative effects of salinity on growth, but also reduced dry matter accumulation particularly at low and medium stress. Their results were in contrast with the data of some authors who have reported ameliorative effect of K+ on salinity tolerance (Shirazi et al., 2005; Ottow and Polle, 2005). In plants, K+ plays an essential role as an osmoticum and charge carrier (Ashraf et al., 2008). Our results of stalks-K are refuting those reported earlier by Kaya et al., (2001) who found that the concentrations of both P and K were decreased in leaves of spinach in the presence of NaCl in the nutrient solution, but increased in the roots. Their results suggested that translocations of both P and K were restricted from roots to shoots and so P and K accumulated in roots in high salt treatment. On the other hand, we are partially in accordance with data previously been reported that leaf K concentration is lowered by increasing NaCl concentration in nutrient solution or in the soil e.g. in maize and barley (Benes et al., 1996). References Aggarwal, R.K.; Kumar, P.; Power, J.F. (1997) Use of crop residue and manure to conserve water and to enhance nutrient availability and pearl millet yield in an arid tropical region. Soil Tillage Res., 41, 4351. Akhtar, J., A. Naseem, K. Mahmood, S. Nawaz, R. H. Qureshi, and M. Aslam, (2001) Response of some selected wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) genotypes to salinity: growth and ionic relations. Pak. J. Soil Sci. 19, 17. Abdel-Ghani, A. H. (2009) Response of wheat varieties from semi-arid regions of Jordan to salt stress. J. Agronomy & Crop Science, 195: 55-65. Al-Rawahy, S.A., Stroehlein, J.L., Pessarakli, M., (1992) Dry matter yield and nitrogen-15, Na+, Cl - and K+ content of tomatoes under sodium chloride stress. J. Plant Nutr. 15, 341-358. Ashraf M., Nawaz K., Athar H. and Raza S. H. (2008) Growth enhancement in two potential cereal crops, maize and wheat, by exogenous application of glycinebetaine. In: Biosaline

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Agriculture and High Salinity Tolerance. Chedly Abdelly, Mnir ztrk, Muhammad Ashraf and Claude Grignon (Eds.), Birkhuser Verlag/Switzerland, p. 21-35. Ashraf, M. (2009) Biotechnological approach of improving plant salt tolerance using antioxidants as markers. Biotech. Adv., 27: 84-93. Aik, B. B., Turan, M. A., elik, H. and Katkat, A. V. (2009) Effects of humic substances on plant growth and mineral nutrients uptake of wheat (Triticum durum cv. Salihli) under conditions of salinity. Asian J. Crop Sci., p. 1-9, Asian Network for Scientific Information. Bar, Y., Apelbaum, A., Kafkafi, U., Goren, R., (1997) Relationship between chloride and nitrate and its effect on growth and mineral composition of avocado and citrus plants. J. Plant Nutr. 20, 715-731. Benes, S. E., R. Aragues, S. R. Grattan, R. B. Austin, (1996) Foliar and root absorption of Na and Cl in maize and barley: implications for salt tolerance screening and the use of saline sprinkler irrigation. Plant Soil, 180: 75-86. Bernstein, N., A. Lauchli and W. K. Silk. (1993) Kinematics and dynamics of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) leaf development at various Na/ Ca2+ salinities. Plant Physiol., 103: 11071114. Carter, M.R. and Gregorich, E.G. (2008) Soil sampling and methods of analysis. CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group, 6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300, Boca Raton, FL 334872742 Da Paixo, F.J.R. da C Domingos M..S.,.Ness R.L L, de Azevedo C.A.V., N.M. Leita B G. T.L. (2007) Effect of different salinity levels of irrigation water on absorption of K+ ,dry matter production and rough protein in sorghum (Bicolor sorghum L. Moench). ASAE Annual Meeting 072077. American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, St. Joseph, Michigan www.asabe.org Dashti A., Khan A. A. and Collins J. C. (2009) Effects of salinity on growth, ionic relations and solute content of Sorghum Bicolor (L.) Monench. J. Plant Nutr., 32: 1219 1236. Feigin, A., Rylski, I., Meiri, A., Shalhevet, J., (1987) Response of melon and tomato plants to chloride-nitrate ratios in saline nutrient solutions. J. Plant Nutr. 10, 1787-1794. Fricke, W., (2004) Rapid and tissue-specic accumulation of solutes in the growth zone of barley leaves in response to salinity. Planta 219, 515525. Giller, K.E.; Wilson, J. (1993) Nitrogen Fixation in Tropical Cropping Systems; CAB International: Oxon, UK, 313. Hoffman G J, Shalhevet J (2007) Controlling salinity. In: Hoffman G J, Evans R G, Jensen M E, (2nd Edition). ASABE, St. Joseph, MI Igartua, E., Gracia, M. P. and Lasa, J. M. (1995) Field responses of grain sorghum to a salinity gradient. Field Crops Res., 42:15-25. Jafari, M. H. S., Kafi, M. and Astaraie A. (2009) Interactive effects of NaCl induced salinity, calcium and potassium on physiomorphological traits of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.). Pak. J. Bot., 41(6): 3053-3063. Kafkafi, U., Valoras, N., Letey, J., (1982) Chloride interaction with nitrate and phosphate nutrition in tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L.). J. Plant Nutr. 5, 1369-1385. Kautz, T., Wirth, S., Ellmer, F., (2004) Microbial activity in a sandy arable soil is governed by the fertilization regime. Eur. J. Soil Biol. 40, 8794. Kaya, C., Higgs, D. and Kirnak, H. (2001) The effects of high salinity (NaCl) and supplementary phosphorus and potassium on physiology and nutrition development of spinach. Bulg. J. Plant Physiol., 27: 47-59. Lea-Cox, J.D., Syvertsen, J.P., (1993) Salinity reduces water use and nitrate-N-use efficiency of citrus. Ann. Bot. 72, 47-54. Lupwayi, N.Z.; Haque, I. (1998) Mineralization of N, P, K, Ca and Mg from sesbania and leucaena leaves varying in chemicals composition. Soil Biol. Biochem., 30 (3), 337343. Manual of Salinity Research Methods (1992). International Waterlogging and Salinity Research Institute (IWASRI), Lahore, IWASRI Publication No-147, Lahore, Pakistan. Munns, R., R. A. James, and A. Luchli, (2006) Approaches to increasing the salt tolerance of wheat and other cereals. J. Exp. Bot. 57, 10251043.
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Noreen, Z., Ashraf M., and Hassan, M. U. (2007) Inter-accessional variation for salt tolerance in pea (Pisum sativum L.) at germination and seedling stage. Pak. J. Bot., 39(6): 275-285. Ottow E. A. and A. Polle. (2005) Populus euphoratica displays apoplastic sodium accumulation, osmotic adjustment by decrease in calcium and soluble carbohydrates and develops leaf succulence under salt stress. Plant Physiol., 139: 1762- 1772. Ould Ahmed B.A., Inoue M. and Moritani S. (2010) Effect of saline water irrigation and manure application on the available water content, soil salinity, and growth of wheat. Agricultural Water Management 97: 165-170. SAS, (2002). The SAS System for Windows. Release 9. 0. SAS Inst. Inc., Cary, NC. Schutter, M., Dick, R., (2001) Shifts in substrate utilization potential and structure of soil microbial communities in response to carbon substrates. Soil Biol. Biochem. 33, 1481-1491. Shirazi, M. U., M. Y. Ashraf, M. A. Khan and M. H. Naqvi. (2005) Potassium induced salinity tolerance in wheat. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Tech., 2: 233- 236. Silberbush M. (2001) Potassium influx to roots of two sorghum genotypes grown under saline conditions. J. Plant Nutr., 24: 1035-1045. Temminghoff E E.J.M.and Houba V. J.G. (2004) Plant Analysis Procedures. (2nd eddition) Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht / Boston / London, p. 187. Woodward, J.L.W.; Pfleger, F.L.; Fritz, V.A.; Allmras, R.R. (1997) Green manures of oat, rape and sweet corn for reducing common root rot in pea (Pisum sativum) caused by aphanomyces euteiches. Plant Soil., 188, 4348.

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Impact of Intensive Cropping, N or NP Fertilizers on Micronutrients Depletion in Soil after Time under Middle Delta Region of Egypt
Zeidan, M. S., El-Karamany, M. F., Tawifik, M. M., Bakry, B. A. and Elewa, T. A.
Field Crops Research National Research Center,Dokki, Egypt Author E-mail: zeidan_ms@yahoo.com

Abstract

Long-term field studies are important to generate information on micronutrient dynamic which helps in understanding nutrients management strategies for sustainable crop production. The present study was carried out at Kafer El-Kadera village at El-Monofia Governorate, Egypt located at Middle Delta. Started in (1981 to 2008) to evaluate the effect of continuous cropping and N alone or NP fertilizers on depletion and distributed of micronutrients Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu (ppm) on soil layers Results showed that Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu (ppm) were significantly differences between location in 1981and in 2008. Micronutrients contents at all locations were decreased in 2008 than in 1981. Time had significant affects on contents of Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu in soil. All micronutrients were decrease in 2008 as compared to 1981 mean values of Fe, Mn, Zn, and Cu were decreased by (48.56, 85.20, 29.94 and 82.81%) respectively in 2008 than in 1981. Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu were significantly lower at depth of (30-60 cm) as compared to surface soil layer of (0-30 cm)except four Cu did not reach the level of significance. Results also indicated that micronutrient distributed were significantly affected by the interaction (time depth).Top soil layer had a significant higher of Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu content in 1981 and 2008 than in subsoil layer except Fe in 2008 and Cu in 1981 did not reach the level of significance. Key words: Micronutrient depletion, intensive cropping NP fertilizers

Introduction

Micronutrients are the nutrients essential for plant growth but are needed in very little quantity. An essential nutrient element sometimes may be toxic when its concentration rises above a safety level. The micronutrient (Fe, Mn, Zn, and Cu) are influenced in a characteristic way by the soil environment e.g. the micronutrients are the most soluble and available under acid conditions. Cultivation of high yielding cultivars under continuous intensive cropping systems without sufficient fertilization leads to depletion of nutrients in soil consequently over time. Carter (2005) found out that after 18 years of no-till farming the surface layer of soil (0-10 cm) contained more Mn than conventionally ploughed soil. Franzluebbers and Hons, (1996) demonstrated that the most extensive changes in the 0-5 cm soil layer, where Zn and Mn were more abundant, whereas the content of Cu was depressed. At the same time, they found that the (0-30 cm) soil horizon was richer in all the three elements. According to Wright et. al., (2007) the content of Zn in the topmost layer of (0-15 cm) was elevated in comparison to conventional tillage. Moreover, independently from the tillage method, the content of Zn tended to decline at deeper soil layers more profoundly than that of Mn or Cu. Another report (David et al., 2007) concludes that four-year zero-tillage farming has led to elevated concentrations of Mn, Zn and Cu in soil (0-15 cm) versus ploughed soil. It seems, nevertheless, that changes in the concentration of micronutrients caused by extensive simplification of tillage appeared more promptly in heavier soils and are observable not only in the topmost soil horizons but also in deeper layers, down to 30 cm depth. Material and Methods A long-term field study was started by Micronutrient Project at National Research Centre (NRC) to study the effect of intensive cropping and N or (NP) fertilizers with or without organic manure on changes of micronutrient on salty clay loamy textured soil with low and medium fertility. The study started in (1981 until 2008) it takes 27 years. Background of study site The study area was located at the Middle Delta El-Monofia Governorate Egypt. The study area covering 880 feddan divided into 16 locations. The location number, area and names are presented in (Table 1). Field crops occupy 88%, vegetable and citrus 12%. Maize is the main crop in summer and the main crop in winter is wheat and/or clover, between summer and winter farmers cultivated potatoes, pea and/or maize as forage. River Nile is the main source of irrigation water in this village is through small canal.
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Soil sampling Soil sampling was collected in September before planting and before fertilization during 1981 and 2008 at depth of (0-30 and 30-60 cm). Field Activities In (1981) before sowing farmers mold board plowing the soil were performed to a depth of 30cm before disking and planting farmer added 20m3 organic manure and 30 kg P2O5/feddan and 50-100 Kg N/Feddan as Urea (46.5% N) or nitrate ammonium (33.5% N) and use traditional variety of crops and after harvest farmer plowing the soil to a depth 30cm and after this harvest the following crops. Farmer supplying nitrogen and phosphorus only on all field crops and dont use potassium fertilize potassium for wheat, maize, potatoes through growing crops after planting. Now farmer use high yielding variety of crops with low rate of NP fertilizers for its high costs of fertilizers. Laboratory analysis: The soil samples were air-dried, ground, sieved to pass 2mm sieve and analyzed at Micronutrient Project at national Research Centre (NRC) using methods described by Chapman and Pratt. (1978).
Table 1. Location number, name and area/feddan. Number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Name El-Bahary El-Tarbeah El-Ramroma El-Berka El-Meadia El-Areada El-Fed El-Kabear El-Fed El-Sageer Kebalia El-Tarabeah El-Remia El-Omeda El-Metab El-Elow El-Taboot El-Gofara Area/Feddan* 41 35 80 30 30 36 33 45 90 75 90 50 70 65 70 45

FEddan=4200 m2 Statistical analysis Analysis of variance was calculated using the SAS statistical package for analysis of variance according (SAS Institute, 1997). All significant differences are at P < 0.05 probability level unless otherwise stated. The least significant difference (LSD) was calculated only when the analysis of variance F-test was significantly at the P < 0.05 probability level. Results and Discussion Available Fe(ppm): Fe content significantly differences between location in 1981 and 2008 Table (2). Results indicated that Fe content in 1981 ranged between 22.15 to9.35, while. In 2008 ranged between 9 88 to 4, 01. In general all location showed decreased in Fe contents in 2008 than who observed in 1981 Table (2 )indicated that the Fe content in 2008 at all location were decreased by (4.26 to75.21% ). Table (4) revealed that Fe contents were significantly decreased with time .Fe content in1981recorded(12.98 ppm) while after 27years of continuous cropping and fertilizers in 2008 became(6.68)it decreased by (48.56%).Fe was significantly higher in the surface soil layers of (0-30cm)than sub soil of (30-60cm) Table(5). In general Fe content decreased with depth increased. Fe contents in the surface soil layers was ( 9.90 ppm) while subsoil layers contain(9.76ppm) it decreased by(0.14% ).Table(6) shows that Fe contents were significantly affected by the interaction between time and depth. The highest Fe values were observed in 1981 at surface soil layers of (0-30Cm) while, depth X time interaction in

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH 2008 was not significant affects on changes of Fe between depth. Khan et al., (2002) reported that continuous application of increasing level of N significantly depleted the available Fe content in the soil.( Malhi et al.,, 1998) indicated that Fe content decrease with depth increase There was a sharp decrease in Fe content with increasing depth between soil processes and Fe movement in the soils. (Katyal and Sharma, 1991). These results corroborate with the findings of ( Xiaorong et al.,(2006)) The susceptibility of Fe to change from coarse texture It is apparent from the data presented that extractable Fe decreased with increasing soil depth . Extractable Fe decreased with increasing soil depth, Application of graded levels of N decreased the Fe status of soil in all the soil layers. These results corroborate with the findings of Nayyar et al.,(2001) Li et al (2007) Machado et al.,(2007)., and Santiago et al., (2008) Available Mn(ppm) Table (2) indicated that there were significantly differences between location in Mn content in 1981and 2008. In general Mn contents at all locations showed decreased in 2008 than who observed in 1981 .Mn content ranged between ( 43.83 to13.98) in 1981 and between (6.31to 2.92) in 2008 Table (4) shows that Mn content was significantly decreased by time. Mn contents in1981 was (25.45ppm) and became (3.77ppm )in 2008 it decreased by (85.20%) in 2008 as compared to 1981.Mn content significantly decrease with depth increased as shown in Table (5) surface soil layers contain (15.40) while, subsoil layers contain (13.82). Topsoil layer at (0-30 cm) surpass bottom soil layers of (3060Cm) by (1.58%). (Khan et al., 2002) reported that intensive fertilization and cropping for a longtime have brought a remarkable change in available Mn in soil the decrease in Mn content due to continuous cropping can be ascribed to Mn removal by successive crops without any addition from the external source. With increasing level N the decline in Mn content due to more demand Mn by the crops which were met mainly through the nature source. Cropping sequence year after year have created a favorable environment for strains of Mn oxidizing bacteria or fungi leading to faster depletion. Malhi et al.,(1998),Cox et al.,(2003) and Carter, (2005), reported that the surface soil layers of (0-10 cm) contained more Mn than sub soil layers of (30-60Cm) (Nayyar et al., 1985) found that Mn was negatively correlated with pH and sand. Whereas, a positive correlation existed with EC, OC, CaCO3 and clay From this association, it can be inferred that addition of organic matter encourages the availability of Mn and as the soil become coarser, Mn deficiency become a problem (Setia and Sharma 2004). The decrease in Mn content due to continuous cropping can be ascribed to Mn removal by successive crops without any addition from the external source. With increasing level of N, the decline in Mn content due to more demand for Mn by the crops which was met mainly through the nature source a marked decline in available Mn content with increasing soil depth to much less weathering and base cation leaching (Wilhelm and William.,2006) All sites showed decreasing exchangeable Mn with increasing soil depth. This may be attributed to the soils capacity to adsorb Mn as soil water is moving down the profile. Moreover, pH increased with soil depth, which could have rendered some Mn unavailable (Tarkaloson et al., 2006) also observed irregular pattern in available Mn content of soil with increasing soil depth manifestation and alluvial nature of the soil Mn. Results in Table(6)reveal that Mn distributed in soils were significantly influenced by interaction between (years x depth) .Surface soil layers of (0-30Cm)in1981 and 2008 contain the highest Mn content as compared with subsoil layers of (30-60cm ) in 1981 and 2008. Nayyar et al., 2001, Verma et al., 2005; Wilhelm and William, 2006, David et al., 2006 Xiaorong et al. 2006 and Wright et al., 2007) found similar results.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH
Table 2. Changes in soil Fe and Mn (ppm) as affected by location in 1981 and 2008. Fe (ppm) Changes Mn (ppm) Changes Location 1981 2008 Decrease (%) 1981 2008 Decrease (%) 1 11.55 4.57 60.46 17.60 3.16 82.03 2 14.08 4.01 71.51 17.33 6.21 64.20 3 10.32 9 .88 4.26 13.98 2.92 79.12 4 9.75 7.06 27.58 18.20 3.58 80.31 5 9.80 6.52 33.46 18.65 1.94 89.61 6 11.12 6.04 45.67 19.78 3.45 82.56 7 9.95 6.12 38.47 21.95 3.53 83.90 8 11.93 5.83 51.14 20.45 2.91 85.76 9 9.52 5.62 46.47 17.93 3.65 79.63 10 9.35 5.51 41.10 24.95 6.31 74.72 11 10.65 6.12 42.56 34.03 4.68 86.25 12 12.72 6.23 51.03 37.70 3.18 91.56 13 15.25 5.04 66.96 35.15 3.75 89.35 14 22.15 5.50 75.21 43.83 3.07 93.00 15 21.93 6.59 69.94 37.08 4.87 86.87 16 18.33 4.89 73.35 28.53 3.06 89.29 LSD(5%) 1.01 1.27 3.82 0.88

Available Zn (ppm): Data in Table (3) showed significantly differences between locations in Zn content in (PPm) in 1981 and 2008. Results in Table (3) indicated that all location showed decrease in Zn contents in soil during 2008 than in 1981. Soil Zn contents ranged between 2.30 to1.04 in 1981and between (1.68 to 0.29) in 2008 .The decreased in Zn contents in soil after 27years of intensive cropping and fertilizers ranging between (13.54to 80.%) These might be due to the distribution of micronutrients may differ among the profiles developed on different parent materials and landforms. With the introduction high yielding varieties, the removal of nutrients including micronutrients from the soils is very large. Continuous use of nitrogenous and phosphatic fertilizers in the intensive cropping system with less use of organic manures resulted in quick depletion of micronutrients from soils, Sanjib et al.,(2008) and Santiago et al., (2008) Results in Table (4) shows that time had a significant affect on changes in Zn content in soil . Zn contents in soil were lower during 2008 as compared to 1981 which decreased by( 29.94%) in 2008 than 1981( Verma et al.,2005, Gupta ,2005and Santiago et al .,2008). Table (5) shows that Soil Zn contents were significantly affected by depth. Soil depth of (0-30 cm) was contained more Zn if compared with (30-60 cm) layers. Zn in topsoil was (1.29 ppm) while, subsoil contain (0.98ppm) it decreased by (0.31%).The accumulation of Zn in surface soil layers might be due to (i) the addition through plant residues left over by the preceding crop as reported by Jalali et al.(1989) (ii) as a contaminant through fertilizer (particularly single superphosphate) or (iii) complexion with organic matter. A decrease in Zn content with increasing soil depth in soils has also been reported by (Jalali et al., 1989; Katyal and Sharma, 1991, Setia and Sharma2004 and Verm et al., 2005) reported that the top layer of most soil (0-5cm) contained more Zn than a deep soil layer under tillage and micronutrient content decreased with increasing depth. Results in Table (6) indicated that Zn distributed in soils was significantly affected by the interaction between time and depth. Zn content in the top layer soils were higher than in the bottom layer during 1981 and 2008. Results also indicated that the topsoil and subsoil layers in1981 contain more Zn if compared with the same layered in 2008 it decreased by (50.63 and 32.94 %)respectively similar results were obtained by (Khan et al.,2002,Setia and Sharma, 2004, Wright et al., 2007and , Ewa et al., 2009) available micronutrient content decreased with increasing depth. Available CU (ppm) As for Cu content (ppm) in soil was significantly a difference between location in 1981 and 2008 Table (3). All location showed decrease in Cu content in 2008 than in 1981.The Cu content in 1981 ranged between (6.11 to 2.97 ) while in 2008 ranged between (1.81 to 0. 23).Copper content was significantly decreased by time Table ( 4). Results indicated that Cu content was decreased by (82.81%) in 2008 than1981. Cu content (4.42) in 1981and became (0.76) in 2008. Cu content was decreased by (82.81%) after 27 years of continuous cropping and fertilizers in2008. Table(5)Cu

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH content was not significantly affected by increasing depth Cu content was (2.57)at depth of (0-30cm) while depth of (30-60cm) layer was(2.54)with no significant differences Table(6)showed that Cu content was significantly affected by the interaction between(time x depth)in 2008 only Cu was lower at subsoil layer of (30-60) which gave (0.79)compared with top soil layer of (0.99) (Setia and Sharma, 2004 ,Wright et al .,2007and Ewa et al.,2009) reported that the available Cu status decreased with increasing soil depth. The available Cu status decreased with increasing soil depth which may be attributed to the accumulation of biomass in the surface layer of soils leading to higher organic carbon content in the surface than subsurface soils (Setia and Sharma, 2004). The distribution of Cu showed a close relationship with physiography. The DTPA extractable Cu was highest in the surface soils of old flood plains and lowest in that of sand dunes. These changes appear to have resulted from corresponding variation either through organic carbon or CaCO3. Fertilizer addition caused a considerable decline in available Cu status irrespective of the level of application. Different treatments, continuous use of N alone resulted in a significant decline in the Cu content (Ewa et al., 2009) reported that the tillage methods were found to have produced differences only in Cu concentration in the soil depth. They also found that no till soil was more copper only in (0-10cm) layers. Fertilizer addition caused a considerable decline in available Cu status irrespective of the level of application. Different treatments, continuous use of N alone resulted in a significant decline in the Cu content. This effect was more pronounced in plots receiving N ha-1. Combined application of N with P or P and K caused a further decrease in the Cu status Nayyar et al.,2001 ) also reported a decline in Cu content with increasing level of N, P and K in a long-term experiment after22 cycles.
Table 3. Effect of location and years on changes of Zn and CU (ppm) in soil Location Zn (ppm) Change Cu (ppm) Change 1981 2008 Decrease (%) 1981 2008 Decrease (%) 1 1.51 0.38 75.00 2.97 0.31 89.60 2 2.30 1.03 75.07 4.88 0.85 82.58 3 1.98 1.68 15.09 4.87 1.34 72.49 4 1.66 1.38 16.86 4.77 1.46 69.41 5 1. 91 1.09 42.93 4.12 1.68 59.17 6 1.40 0.29 79.61 3.93 0.27 93.23 7 1.68 0.34 80.10 3.88 0.26 93.20 8 1.52 0.36 76.28 4.46 0.31 93.07 9 1.42 0.34 69.78 3.19 0.25 92.30 10 1.94 1.67 13.54 3.47 1.06 69.58 11 1.83 1.16 36.61 3.81 1.42 62.65 12 1.80 0.39 78.17 4.35 0.23 94.66 13 1.78 0.35 80.11 4.78 0.23 95.11 14 1.77 1.35 54.04 5.56 0.27 95.09 15 1.85 0.86 52.51 6.11 1.81 70.34 16 1.04 0.35 66.63 5.50 0.27 95.03 LSD(5%) 0.07 0.26 0.44 0.21 Table 4. Effect of time on Changes in soil microelements in 1981and 2008 Elenent Year Change P Value (ppm) % 1981 2008 Fe 12.98 6.68 ** -48.56 Mn 25.45 3.77 *** -85.20 Zn 1.34 0.94 ** -29.94 Cu 4.42 0.76 *** -82.81 Table 5. Effect of long-term intensive cropping and fertilizers on changes in soil microelement between (0-30 and 30-60) depth Depth Changes (%) Element P (ppm ) (0-30) (30-60) Value Decrease Fe 9.90 9.76 * -0.14 Mn 15.40 13.82 * -1.58 Zn 1.29 0.98 * -0.31 Cu 2. 57 2. 54 NS -.011

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Table 6. Effect of interaction between 1981 and 2008 years Element 1981 (ppm) (0-30) 30-60 Fe 13.23 12.74 Mn 26.26 24.62 Zn 1.55 1.12 Cu 4.45 4. 38 years and depth on distributed of micronutrients between soil depth in P Value ** ** *** NS 2008 (0-30) 6.57 4.52 1.33 0.99 (30-60) 6.79 3.02 1.03 0.79 P Value NS ** ** * Changes % (0-30) (30-60) -101.35 -87.64 -481.69 -716.6 -50.63 -32.94 -450.5 -515.52

References Carter, M.R. (2005). Long-term tillage effects on cool-season soybean in rotation with barely, soil properties and carbon and nitrogen storage for fine sandy loams in the humid climate of Atlantic Canada. Soil Till. Res. 81 : 109-120. Chapman, H.D. and Pratt, P.F. (1978). "Methods of analysis for soils, plants and waters", 309 p., Division of Agric. Sci., Univ Califor nia, Berkeley, USA. Cox, M.S., Gerard, P.D., Wardlaw, M.C. and Abshire, M.J. (2003). Variability of selected soil properties and there relationship with soybean yield. Soil Sci., Soc. of Amer J. 67, 1296-1302. David, D., Tarkalson, Gary W. Hergert and Kenneth, G. (2006). Long term effects of tillage on soil chemical properties and grain yields of a Dryland Winter Wheat-Sorghum/Corn-Fallow rotation in the great plains. Agron J. 98 : 26-33. Ewa, S.G., Jolanla, K. and Urszula, S.C. (2009). Concentration of selected micronutrient in sandy soil in relation to long-term direct drilling method J. Elemental 14 (1): 165-172. Franzluebbers, A.J., Hons, F.M. (1996). Soil-profile distribution of primary and secondary plantavailable nutrients under conventional and no tillage. Soil Till. Res., 39, 229-239. Gupta, A.P. (2005). Micronutrient status and fertilizer use scenario in India. J. Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology 18, 325-331. Jalali, V. K., Talib, A. R. and Takkar, P. N( 1989). Distribution of micronutrient in some benchmark soils of Kashmir at different alti-tudes. J. Indian Soc. Soil Sc. 37: 465. Katyal, J.C. and B.D. Sharma, 1991. DTPA extractable and total Zinc, Copper, Manganese and Iron in Indian soils and their association with some soil properties. Geoderma, 49: 16579 Khan, M.S., Abedin, M.J., Akhter, A., Hossain, M.F. and Siker, M.S.I. (2002). Effect of long-term fertilization and cropping on micronutrient cations of soils in Bangladesh, Pakistan, J. of Biological Science. 5 (5) : 543-544. Li, B.Y., Zhou, D.M., Cang, L., Zhang, H.L., Fan, X,H, and Qin, S.W. (2007). Soil micronutrient availability to crops as affected by long-term inorganic and organic fertilizer applications. Soil and Tillage Research 96 (1-2) : 166-173. Machado , L.D., Lana, A.M.Q., Guimaraea, E.C. and Ferreira, C.V. (2007). Spatial variability of soil chemical attributes in areas managed under conventional tillage. Revista Brasileira de Ciencia De Solo 31 : 591-599. Malhi, S.S. Nyborg, M. and Harapiak, J.T. (1998). Effect of long-term N fertilizer induced acidification and liming on micronutrients in soil in brome grass hay. Soil and Tillage Research 48 (1-2): 91-101. Nayyar, V.K., Arora, C.L. and Kataki, P.K. (2001). Management of soil micronutrient deficiencies in the rice-wheat cropping system. J. Crop Production 4, 87-131. Sanjib K . B .,C., Dhyan S ., Dwivedi,B.S., Sarjeet, S .B., Kumar,B.,K. and Rana ,D.S. (2008). Distributio of fractions of zinc and their contribution towards availability and plant uptake of zinc under long-term maize (Zea mays L.)wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Santiago, D. A., Quintero, J.M., Delgado, A. (2008). Long-term effects of tillage on the availabilityof iron, copper, manganese, and zinc in Spanish Vertisol. Soil Till. Res., 98: 200-207. SAS Institute,(1997).SAS/STAT Software Changes and Enhancements Through Release 6.12Edn.,SAS Institute Inc.,Cary,NY. Setia, R.K. and Sharma, K.N. (2004). Effect of continuous cropping and long-term differential fertilization on profile stratification of DTPA-extractable micronutrients. Food Agriculture and Environmental. Vol. 2 (1) : 260-265.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Tarkalson, D.D, Hergert, G.W.,and Cassman, K.G.( 2006). Long-term effects of tillage on soil chemical properties and grain yields of a dryland winter wheat-sorghum/corn fallow rotationin the Great Plains. Agron. J., 98: 26-33 Verma V.K. Kumar, K. Setlai , P.K. Sharma, C.S.and A shok, K. (2005)Pedospheric Variations in Distribution of DTPA- extractable Micronutrients in Soils Developed on Different Physiographic India Units in Central Parts of Punjab International J ,Agriculture and Biology1560 ( 72):243246 Wilhelm J. K. and William E. S. (2006) Soil Acidity and Manganese in Declining and Nondeclining Sugar Maple Stands in Pennsylvania in J. Environ. Qual. 35:433441. Wright, A.L., Hons, F.M., Lemon, R.G., McFarland, M.L., Nichols, R.L. (2007). Stratification of nutrients in soil for different tillage regimes and cotton rotations. Soil Till. Res., 96 : 19-27. Xiaorong,W., Mingde, H. , M . S . and William, J. G . (2006). Changes in soil properties and the availability of soil micronutrients after 18 years of cropping and fertilization. Soil and Tillage Research. 19 (102) : 120-130.

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Application of K-bearing Rock for Fertilization of Cowpea, (Vigna unguiculata)

Labib, B. F., Ghabour, Th. K., Wahba, M. M. and Rahim, I. S.
Soils & Water Use Dept., National Research Centre, Dokki, Cairo, Egypt

The main concept of this research work is to apply a mineral source of potassium for supplying the soil by this element in order to substitute the expensive commercial fertilization of some crops. The applied K-feldspar rock has about total potassium of 10.0%, in extractable form 395 ppm and in soluble form 125 ppm. Spectrographic semi-quantitative analysis of this rock revealed that it has 70.40% SiO2, 15.48% Al2O3, 8.38% K2O, 3.22% Na2O and traces of other elements such as Fe, Mg, P and Ti. A field experiment was conducted to grow cowpea on poor virgin sandy soil. Four treatments were followed: potassium sulfate only, potassium sulfate + potassium feldspar, potassium sulfate + potassium feldspar and potassium feldspar only. There was a highly significant variation between the vegetative growth of the cowpea under the second treatment, in which half K-requirement was added as K-sulfate and the other half as K-feldspar, and all other treatments. The same trend was obtained with respect to the number of branches in the plant, number of kernels and weight of seeds. In spite of the fertilization requirements of nitrogen, phosphorus and organic compost have been added equally to the four treatments, there were some fluctuations in the content of these elements of the yield of cowpea. The content of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in the four treatments can be arranged as followed: 2nd>1st>3rd>4th treatment. The lowest vegetative and yield quality of plants under the 4th treatment, in which potassium feldspar was added, can be explained by the fact that these minerals are quite resistant to weathering and supply relatively small quantities of potassium during the growing season. However, their cumulative release of potassium over several years is very important acting as slow release fertilizer. The positive influence of the fine grains of the K mineral bearing rocks is improving the poor structure of loose sandy soil, consequently the water and nutrient capacities of this soil will be enhanced and increase their ability to plant uptake. It is worthy to refer that the cost of chemical fertilizer (K-sulfate) is about 7000 LE /ton while the Kfeldspar rock is ranging between 600-800 LE /ton. Key words: feldspar rock, potassium sulfate, cowpea, sandy soil.

Abstract

Introduction It is well known that potassium is an essential element for plant growth, especially for tuber crops. It is necessary for photosynthesis, and the formation of proteins and carbohydrates in both grains and root tubers crops. Also the resistance to various pests and plant diseases are increased in the presence of potassium and consequently the parameters of crop quality particularly in tuber crops. Munson (1985), pointed out that potassium is added to the soil as chemical fertilizer in the form of K-sulfate or K-nitrate or K-chloride or compound fertilizer (NPK + Zn, Fe, Mn and Mo.) to increase the efficiency of this element and to reduce the costs of transport and storage of fertilizers. The approach of applying mineral source of potassium from natural deposits has been introduced by many investigators to reduce the tremendous ncrease of chemical fertilizer costs. Rogers et al (1998), examined silicate sources of phosphorus and nitrogen elements by characterizing the colonization and weathering of feldspars in situ using field microcosms. They found that feldspars that contain inclusions of P-minerals such as apatite are preferentially colonized over similar feldspars without P. David (2010), emphasized that the high cost of conventional potassium fertilizers justifies further investigation of potassium silicate minerals and their host rocks (which in some cases include basic rocks, such as basalt) as alternative sources of K, especially for systems with highly weathered soils that lack a significant cation exchange capacity. Such soils commonly occur in developing countries, and so this approach affords an opportunity to develop indigenous silicate rock sources of K as an alternative to sometimes prohibitively expensive commercial fertilizers. Also Sugumaran and Janarthanam (2007), investigated the solubilization of potassium containing minerals by bacteria and their effect on plant growth. The effect of Bacillus

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH mucildginosus (MCRCp1) on solubilization from microcline, orthoclase and muscovite mica minerals was examined and their influence on groundnut plant growth. Their results showed that the available phosphorus and potassium were increased in soil from 6.24 to 9.28 mg kg-1 and 86.57 to 99.60 mg kg-1, respectively. Also groundnut plant dry matter increased by 125% and the oil content 35.41% were increased through inoculation of MCRp1 bacteria on muscovite mineral as concluded by Seddik, (2006). The efficiency of K-feldspars combined with organic materials and silicate dissolving bacteria (SDB) on tomato yield was investigated by Badr, (2006). The obtained results referred that inoculation with SDB into the composting mass enhanced the percent of available K. Also the response of tomato plants to the feldspar-compost inoculated with SDB was obviously high when added to sandy soils of low K-content and more than potassium sulfate fertilizer. A field experiment was conducted by Hellal et al (2009), on faba bean plants fertilized by rock phosphate and feldspar in sandy soil. They found that mixture of town refuses with rock phosphate and feldspar was superior in plant height, number of branches, seed and straw yield as compared to control. The role of natural alternative fertilizers (NAF) on the N, P and K uptake by bean seeds was investigated, where the highest values were recorded under feldspar treatment except of P which logically observed after rock phosphate addition. The trend of applying bio-fertilizers to enhance increase the weathering of rock phosphate and feldspars has been followed by Massoud et al, (2009). They concluded that treatment of mixture of fungi symbiotic N-fixers and Bacillus circulans + rock phosphate + feldspar resulted in more plant height, number of branches, numbers of nodules per plant and fresh yield of snap bean (Phaseolus vulgaris, L.). Gehan et al (2010), concluded that the application of calcium nitrate combined with potassium sulfate, and ammonium nitrate in combination with feldspar, in the presence of potassium dissolving bacteria inoculation, led to significant increases in potassium available in soil for peanut and sesame, respectively. Materials and Methods Soil samples were air dried and passed through 2mm sieve and analyzed for the following: pH, total soluble salts, total calcium carbonate content, soluble cations and anions, total nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium contents, (Black et al., 1982). The forms of potassium had been determined in the sample of feldspar rock, water soluble potassium, exchangeable potassium and total potassium content, (Richards and Bates, 1989). Spectrographic semi-quantitative analysis of the K-feldspar rock was conducted according to Soltanpour et al., (1996). A field experiment had been carried out in Ismailia Governorate on a sandy soil which was cultivated with cowpea (Vigna unguiculata). The type of seeds was Kaha 1 mixed with bacteria (Azotobacter). The recommended doses of phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium fertilizers were added uniformly at the rates of 200 kg/fed as supper phosphate (15% P2O2) and 200 kg/fed as ammonium sulfate (15.5% (NH4)2SO4), potassium sulfate (48%K2O) was applied at the rate of 100 kg/fed, according to Field Crops Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Giza, Egypt. The experiment included four treatments in four plots; each plot consisted of two replicates: 1) The first treatment contained standard doses of N, P and K (as chemical fertilizers). 2) The second treatment contained standard dose of N, P fertilizer and ( Potassium sulfate + K-feldspar). 3) The third treatment contained standard of N, P fertilizer and ( Potassium sulfate + Kfeldspat). 4) The fourth contained standard of N, P fertilizer and K-feldspar only. In addition, the fresh and dry weight of plant, fresh and dry roots, plant height, number of branches, number of kernels and weight of seeds in each kernel were recorded also at harvest. The data were statistically analyzed using Costat sofware, (CoHort, 1986). Results and Discussion The main objective of this field experiment on cowpea growth is to evaluate the efficiency of K-feldspar rock to substitute the chemical fertilizer, in particular, potassium sulfate. The
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH applied K-feldspar rocks were natural deposits near the Red Sea Coast and were excavated and processed by El-Ahram Company. This K-source contained, by analysis, a total K of about 10%, K while the soluble form of almost 125 ppm and the exchangeable form of about 395 ppm. It was also found to be nearly non-saline (EC = 0.5 dS/m), non calcareous (CaCO3 = 0.6%) and moderately alkaline (pH = 8.2) feldspar rock material. The field experiment was conducted on virgin poor sandy soil cultivated with cowpea seeds, as cash crop indicator. After two months of sowing the morphological indicators of the vegetative part were recorded. The figures in table (1) showed a distinct variation among the four treatments which were followed in this experiment. The second treatment in which half of the required potassium was added as potassium sulfate (K48%) and the other half as K-feldspar rock, had given the highest vegetative growth, (Figure 1). The fresh weight of the cowpea plants was 852.5 g. under the second treatment compared to 215.0 g. under the control which was supplied with potassium sulfate only. Generally, the fresh and dry weights of the plants and roots had the following order: 2nd > 1st > 3rd > 4th. The measurements of the vegetative parameters of the cowpea (Table 1) revealed that the optimum growth occurred under the second treatment and the lowest was under the fourth treatment in which K-feldspar only was added. The same trend was proved from the number of branches, and weight of kernels and weight of seeds per plant. Similar results had been obtained by Hellal et al (2009) on faba bean fertilized by rock phosphate and feldspars. Positive results had been also recorded by Massoud et al (2009), who combined the feldspars and rock phosphate by fungi, N-fixer and Bacillus cirulans in the fertilization of snap beans (Phaseolus vulgaris, L.). The highest vegetation growth which was obtained from addition of K-feldspar rock (about 10% K) can be related to the influence of the fine grains of these minerals (microcline, orthoclase, quartz and others) in improving the physical conditions of the sandy soil. Consequently the water and nutrients capacity of this soil will be enhanced and increase their availability to plant. The beneficial effect of these feldspar rocks also related to their content of some minor elements, such as Fe, Mn and Zn which contribute to plant nutrition and increase the vegetative growth and grains. Spectrographic semi-quantitative analysis was carried on the K-feldspar sample which was used in this experiment, (Table 2). The results referred that the silicon and aluminum oxides constitute about 85.88% while potassium oxide about 8.38%, sodium oxide 3.22% and calcium oxide 1.53%. The other elements as P, Fe, Mn and Mg were found in very low concentrations or rare. This semi-quantitative analysis indicated that this source of K has no hazardous elements and can be added safely to the soil. Dealing with feldspar chemistry, El-Taher (2010), determined the elemental content of 8 feldspar samples from Gabel El-Dubb, Eastern Desert, outcropping. A total of 16 elements (Na, Mg, K, Sc, Ga, Cr, Fe, Co, Zn, Nb, Ba, Ce, Eu, Hf, Th and U) were determined by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) and 21 elements as oxides by XRF (x-ray fractionation). The author found that oxides of potassium (9.2%) and sodium (2.76%) are the major elements after SiO2 (64.95%). The rest of the 16 elements appear as trace elements. The application of feldspar rock affected the major nutrients contents of cowpea plants and the results were recorded in table 3. In spite of the fertilization requirement of N, P and organic compost had been added equally to the four treatments there were some fluctuations in the contents of N, P and K of the cowpea plants. The contents of these elements in the plants under the four treatments can be arranged as follows: 2nd > 1st > 3rd > 4th treatment.

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Table 1: The morphological and measurable parameters of the cowpea plants.

Plant length in cm

Roots fresh weight g

Plant fresh weight g

Treatment

Roots dry weight g 21.2 20.2 32.2 33.9 9.8 10.0 8.8 7.5 Seeds weight / kernel g 3.0 3.2 3.0 4.0 2.5 3.0 2.0 2.3
P2O3 0.01

Plant dry weight g

Mean

Mean

Mean

1A 1B 2A 2B 3A 3B 4A 4B Cont.1:

60.0 63.0 100.0 110.0 65.0 66.0 35.0 36.0

61.5 105.0 65.5 35.0

210.0 220.0 870.0 835.0 200.0 210.0 165.0 155.0

85.1 54.5 87.6 52.9 90.1 51.2 400.5 128.2 852.5 396.3 129.2 392.0 130.1 84.1 26.4 205.0 85.2 27.4 86.3 28.3 76.6 23.2 160.0 73.3 22.4 70.0 21.5 215.0

Mean

Number of branches / plant

Number of kernels / plant

Treatment

Kernel weight g

Mean

Mean

1A 1B 2A 2B 3A 3B 4A 4B

9.0 10.0 12.0 13.0 8.0 7.0 5.0 6.0

Mean

9.5 12.5 7.5 5.5

45.0 50.0 60.0 62.0 40.0 42.0 25.0 28.0

47.5 61.0 41.0 26.5

3.5 4.0 4.5 4.7 3.0 3.2 2.9 2.6

3.8 4.6 3.1 2.8

3.1 3.5 2.8 2.2

Table 2: Spectrographic semi-quantitative analysis of the K-feldspar rock.

SiO2 70.4 Al2O3 15.48 K2O 8.38 Elements as oxides % Na2O CaO Fe2O3 3.22 1.53 0.01 MgO 0.01 TiO2 0.01

209

Mean

Mean 20.7 33.1 9.9 8.2

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH

A 1st Treatment

B 2nd Treatment

C 3rd Treatment
Figure 1: Cowpea cultivation under different experimental treatments.

D 4th Treatment

The lowest figures in the 4th treatment, in which K-feldspar is added, can be explained as the availability of K from these minerals requires several days and convenient conditions of pH, moisture, temperature and specific micro-organisms, (Rahim, 2003). These requirements may be deficient in the first stages of cowpea growth and consequently inadequate concentration of K is present.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Table 3: The main nutrients of the cowpea plant.
Treatment 1A 1B 2A 2B 3A 3B 4A 4B Total N (ppm) 45.8 39.2 53.4 42.5 35.4 31.5 26.8 23.2 Mean 42.50 47.95 33.45 25.00 Total P (ppm) 35.4 37.5 39.8 37.4 25.2 28.0 20.0 18.4 Mean 36.45 38.60 26.60 19.20 Total K (ppm) 12.8 11.1 16.8 14.2 10.8 11.3 9.8 7.9 Mean 11.95 15.5 11.05 8.80

It is worthy to refer that the feldspar rock as a source of K is considered a slow release fertilizer since it amends the plant with the element in the successive stages of growth, particularly if combined with silicate dissolving bacteria and organic source of fertilization. In case of adding the chemical fertilizer as K-sulfate (48%K), it is readily soluble and more available to the plant but it is subject to be lost in drainage water. The soluble K in soil can be fixed on clay particles and became slowly released because of the equilibrium between the various forms of this element. The impact of K-feldspar application on some soil properties has taken into consideration. The poor sandy soil is slightly alkaline, non saline and has low CaCO3 content, (Table 4). The Nile irrigation water from derived channel, used for cowpea was considered of good quality (EC = 0.32dS/m and pH = 7.65). After the harvest of cowpea crop, the soil has been analyzed for the four treatments plots. Table 4: Some chemical properties of the soil before and after cowpea cultivation.
Soil sample No. pH (1:1) EC dS/m CaCO3 % Ca++ Mg
++

Na

CO3 -and HCO3-

Cl-

SO4--

Before cultivation 7.89 7.82 0.29 0.75 2.7 3.9 0.7 2.0 0.4 1.4 1.3 3.2 0.5 0.9 2.0 5.1 0.9 2.4

1 (0-30 cm) 2 (30-60 cm) Treatment No. 1 2 3 4

After cultivation 8.40 8.20 8.45 8.25 0.42 0.36 0.30 0.19 2.3 3.5 3.0 2.1 1.2 1.0 0.8 0.5 0.8 0.5 0.4 0.3 1.7 1.5 1.0 0.7 0.5 0.6 0.8 0.4 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.1 3.0 2.7 2.2 1.5 1.0 0.7 0.6 0.3

The figures of the major nutrient contents, (Table 5) indicated that the highest values of N, P and K were recorded in soil of the second treatment where half the K requirement

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH

was added as K-sulfate and half as K-feldspars. The lowest contents, however, were occurred in the fourth treatment with K-feldspar only.
Table 5: Nutrient content of the soil after cowpea cultivation.
Sample no. 1 2 3 4 Total N (ppm) 58.8 68.6 39.2 29.4 Total P (ppm) 45.4 50.0 32.5 30.7 Total K (ppm) 17.5 19.2 13.0 11.4

Statistical analysis Four components had been focused on, namely; fresh weight and length of the cowpea vegetative part, and number and weight of kernels per plant, and statistically analyzed using CoStat, (CoHort, 1986). The obtained results (Tables 6a and b), showed that fresh weight and length of cowpea plants were differently influenced by the applied treatments. There was highly LSD between the second and all other treatments in the fresh weight and length of the cowpea vegetative part under the conditions of the current experiment. Although, there was no difference in vegetative parts of the plants that were grown under first and third treatments, they both showed a highly LSD with the fourth treatment. As number and weight of cowpea kernels are concerned, the field experiment proved that the four treatments had different effects on the cowpea yield. The LSD results (Tables 6c and d), confirmed clearly that there were highly significant differences between kernels of the plants that were grown under the second treatment and all other treatments. They had the following descending order: 2nd, 1st, 3rd and 4th treatments. It is worthy to conclude that, the second treatment which contained half of the required K applied as feldspar and the other half as potassium sulfate fertilizer had the superior effect, than the other treatments on cowpea vegetable.
Table 6a: LSD for fresh weight of cowpea vegetative part . Table 6b: LSD for length of cowpea vegetative part. Ranking Treatment Mean 852 215 205 160 Nonsignificant range a b b c Ranking Treatment Mean 105.0 65.5 61.5 35.3 Nonsignificant range A B B C

1 2 2 1 3 3 4 4 LSD 0.01 = 26.7497

1 2 2 3 3 1 4 4 LSD 0.01 = 7.23

Table 6c: LSD for number of cowpea kernels/plant. Ranking Treatment Mean 61.0 47.5 41.0 26.5 Nonsignificant range a b c d

Table 6d: LSD for weight of cowpea kernels/plant Ranking Treatment Mean 4.6 3.8 3.1 2.8 Nonsignificant range A B C D

1 2 2 1 3 3 4 4 LSD 0.01 = 4.44

1 2 2 1 3 3 4 4 LSD 0.01 = 0.447

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH It is obvious from the obtained low values of K concentration (Table 4) in the four treatments after cultivation of cowpea that the soil is very poor and requires continuous amendment of Kfertilization. In this respect FAO (2005), referred to the critical levels of available potassium, (Table 7). Table 7: The critical levels of available potassium in some soils, (FAO, 2005) .
Type of soil Sandy Sandy clay loam Calcareous Low <85 <125 <175 Available K (ppm) Medium 85-170 125-250 175-350 High >170 >250 >350

The low concentration of K in the first treatment in which readily soluble potassium sulfate fertilizer was added can be explained by the fact that K in soil solution is subject to considerable leaching loss, particularly in structureless sandy soil. The various forms of K in soil are usually occurred in equilibrium: Non-exchangeable Exchangeable K Soil solution K The category of exchangeable form of K is very limited in sandy soil due to the low content of colloidal and clay constituents. Therefore, most of the commercial K-fertilizer added to the soil are partly absorbed by plants and the rest is mostly lost by leaching. This loss of K is more critical by the tendency of some plants to take up soluble K far in excess of their needs if sufficiently large quantities are present, and this excess of absorbed K does not increase crop yields to any extent. Munson (1985), pointed to the feldspar bearing rocks are quite resistant to weathering and supply relatively small quantities of K during given growing season. In the meantime their cumulative release of K over several years is of some importance. This release is enhanced by the solvent action of carbonate and organic acids. References Badr, M. A., (2006). Efficiency of K feldspar combined with organic materials and silicate dissolving bacteria on tomato yield. J. of Applied Sci. res., 2 (12): 1191-1198. Black, C. A.; Evans, D. D.; White, J. I.; Ensminger, L. E. and Clark, F .E., (1982). Methods of Soil Analysis. Amer. Soc. Agronomy. Inc. Publisher Madison, Wisconsin. U.S.A. CoHort, 1986. CoStat 3.03. CoHort Software. Berkely, CA, USA. David, A.C., (2010). Mineral sources of potassium for plant nutrition. Agron. Sustain. Dev., 30 (2): 281- 294. El-Taher, A., (2010). Elemental content of feldspar from Eastern Desert, Egypt, determined by INAA and XRF. Appl. Radiation and Isotopes. 68:1185-1188. FAO, (2005). Fertilizer use by crop in Egypt. First version, published by FAO, Rome, Italy. Gehan, H. Y.; Wafaa, M. S. and Mona, A. O., (2010). Efficiency of natural minerals in presence of different nitrogen forms and potassium dissolving bacteria on peanut and sesame yields. J. Amer.Sci, 6(11):647-660 Hellal, F. A.; Abd El-Hady, M. and Ragab, A. M., (2009). Influence of organic amendments on nutrient availability and uptake by faba bean plants fertilized by rock phosphate and feldspar. Amr.Eurasian, J.Agric.& Environ.Sci., 6(3):271-279. Massoud, O. N.; Ebtsam, M. M. and Nadia, H., (2009). Field response of snap bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) to N2-fixers bacillus circulans and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi inoculation through accelerating rock phosphate and feldspar weathering. Aust. J. Basic and Applied Sci, 3(2): 844-852

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Munson, R. D. (Ed), (1985). Potassium in Agriculture. American Society of Agronomy in Madison, WI., USA . Rahim, I. S., (2003). Influence of some environmental factors on release of potassium from feldspar rock. J. Agric. Sci. Mansoura Univ., 28(3):2445-2451. Richards, J. E. and Bates, T. E., (1989) Studies on the potassium-supplying capacities of southern Ontario soils. III. Measurement of available K., Can. J. Soil Sci., 69: 597610. Rogers, J. R.; Bennett, P. C. and Choi, W.J., (1998). Felspars as a source of nutrients for microorganisms. Amer.Mineralogist., 83:1532-1540. Seddik, W. M., (2006). Effect of organic manure and feldspar application on some sandy soil physical and chemical properties and their reflection on peanut productivity. J.Agric.Sci. Mansoura Univ, 31(10):6675-6687. Soltanpour, P. N.; Johson. G. W.; Jones, Jr. and Miller, R.O., (1996). Inductively Coupled Plasma Emission Spectormetry and Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectromy. Segoe Rd., Madison, WI 53711, USA. Chemical Methods. Methods of Soil Analysis,Part 3, Chemical Methods, SSSA Book series, No 5. Sugumaran, P. and Janarthanam, B., (2007). Solubilization of potassium containing minerals by bacteria and their effect on plant growth. World J. Agr. Sci., 3(3):350-355.

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Effect of Nitrogen Levels and Different Previous Crops on Canola Yield in Ahwaz Region of Iran
Siadat S.A., M.R. Moradi-Telavat* , G. Fathi, M. Mazarei, K. Alamisaeid, S.H. Mousavi
Department of Agronomy and Crop Breeding, Agriculture and Natural resources University, Ahwaz, Iran * Corresponding author: moraditelavat@yahoo.com Abstract To evaluate the previous crop and nitrogen fertilizer effects on rapeseed productivity in Ahwaz, Iran, the study was conducted in the crop years of 2007-2010. The previous crops were: (I) barley+clover; (II) rapeseed; (III) corn; (IV) mung-bean; (V) rice and (VI) wheat. The N rates applied to rapeseed were 0, 100, 160 and 220 kg ha-1. Management effects on yield and its components, oil content and oil yield were assessed. The effect of the previous crop and N both affected rapeseed productivity. The results showed that the lowest seed and oil yields occurred when unfertilized rapeseed followed rice in both repeated experiments. Highest values of these traits obtained in the range of 160 to 220 kg ha-1 N rate and mung-bean as the previous crop. Among yield components, previous crops and N rates influenced the silique number per unit area significantly, and this trait showed similar variation to seed yield of rapeseed. Data averaged across both two years indicated that the highest oil content occurred in unfertilized rapeseed plots when the effects of the previous crop were not significant. Nevertheless, rapeseed following mung-bean received 150 to 220 kg ha-1 N rates produced highest yield in two years of repeated experiment. Rapeseed following mung-bean and received 160 kg N.ha-1 had also highest NUE parameters. Keywords: Rapeseed (Brassica napus L. var. oleifera), Mung-bean; N fertilizer; oil content, rotation; yield

Introduction Efficient use of fertilizers is one of the most important factors in maximizing crop yield and sustainability. Crop nitrogen use efficiency is related to climate conditions, soil properties and interaction between nutrient elements. Compared to cereals, rapeseed requires a higher amount of nutrients, and available nitrogen (N) frequently limits seed yield. Nitrogen requirement of rapeseed is two times rather than cereals (Grant and Bailey, 1993; Ahmad et al., 2007). Colnenne et al. (1998) proposed that to produce 0.1 t of seeds, the whole crop accumulates approximately 6 kg of N. Moradi-Telavat et al (2008) reported that nitrogen increased rapeseed grain and oil yield through increased silique number and grain weight. But nitrogen has showed a negative significant effect on grain oil content (Malhi and Gill, 2004, Moradi-Teavat et al., 2008). Other workers (Rathke et al., 2005; Colnenne et al., 1998) have underlined the significance of higher soil nutrient and particularly nitrogen availability in determining the yield quantity and quality of rapeseed. While a substantial amount of N is provided by conversion of previous crop residues and soil organic matter into soluble soil N, additional mineral N is a prerequisite for high yields. Several investigations confirmed that rapeseed following cereal crops yielded substantially lower than when grown after pea (Pisum sativum L.) (Christen and Sieling, 1995; Sieling et al., 1997). Christen (2001) reported that winter rapeseed yielded as high as 3.98 t ha-1 after pea compared to 3.70 t ha-1 after winter barley and 3.50 t ha-1 after winter wheat. Further, N input from organic fertilizer and biological N2 fixation might be a substantial source of N depending on the farming system. Nitrogen sources influencing yield in rapeseed include mineral N in inorganic fertilizers, N mineralized from organic fertilizers, and N mineralized from residue of the previous crop (Rathke et al., 2005). Crop rotation managements in Ahwaz region, located at the southwest of Iran, have been affected by governmental ministry of agriculture, climate conditions in different soils etc. So, farmers have different crop rotating behavior in different conditions that have not enough positive effects, especially in terms of sustainable income or environmental aspects. The objective of this research was to determine good previous crops and optimum N rate in rapeseed cultivation for the region. Materials and Methods The study, situated in Ramin (Mollasani) Agriculture and Natural Resources University of Ahwaz, Iran, was carried out in crop years of 2007-2008, 2008-2009 and 2009-2010. The data for the soil properties and meteorological conditions are presented in Table 1 and 2, respectively. The main
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH experiment was a split plot arranged in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The previous crops were applied to the main plots and four nitrogen fertilizer levels (0, 100, 160 and 220 kg N.ha-1) to the subplots, which were 1.6 m wide (8 rapeseed line with 0.2 cm distance between them) and 4 m long. The previous crops, planted in autumn and summer of 2007-2008 crop year, were: (i) rapeseed (Brassica napus L.), (ii) wheat, (iii) corn, (iv) rice, (v) barley + berseem clover (Trifolium alexandrinum L.), and (vi) mung-bean. There were different time distances between harvesting of previous crops and planting of objective crop (rapeseed) because of different growing season of crops in the region (Table 3). Then, the objective crop (rapeseed) was planted in autumn of 2008 in all plots. The experiment was repeated certainly in crop years of 2008-2009 (previous crops) and 2009-2010 (objective crop: rapeseed). The land of experimental farm was disc harrowed and to control grasses, Treflan (Trifloralin) was applied prior to seeding at a rate of 1lit ha-1.
Table 1. Physiochemical properties of the soil in the research farm P K N Soil depth (cm) pH EC (ds.m-1) Organic matter (%) (%) mg. kg-1 0-30 0.06 7 224 7.7 3.4 0.5 30-60 0.03 3 128 7.8 3 0.42

Texture Clay-loamy Loamy-clay

Table 2. Meteorological and climatic data during rapeseed growing season months 2008-2009 2009-2010 Mean Mean Precipitation Precipitation temperature temperature (mm) (mm) (C) (C) December 15.9 15.4 15.7 113.3 January 12.3 0 15.7 21.5 February 15.8 30.3 16.2 17.8 March 19.7 3.3 21.7 3.2 April 26.7 1.2 22 18.7 Table 3. The sowing and harvest time of previous crops in both years (2007-2008 and 2008-2009) Previous crop Sowing date Harvest date Barley+ clover 10-20 Nov 10-20 May Rapeseed (as both previous and objective 20-30 Nov 10-20 May crop) Corn 20-30 Jul 20-30 Oct Mung-bean 1-10 Jul 1-10 Oct Rice 20-30 Jun 20-30 Oct Wheat 20-30 Nov 20-30 May

Nitrogen fertilizer, applied as urea [(NH2)2CO]-N, was banded to sides of the seed rows. The application of N was split applied to the crop, third part at two weeks after emergence, third part at stem elongation and remaining third part at budding stages. Phosphorus, applied as triplesuperphosphate, applied before seeding incorporated to the soil with a conventional disc. Then, the conventional tillage killed weed before seeding. In addition, hand weeding was done in growth season of rapeseed if needed. The equation 1 to calculate the Nitrogen Use Efficiency (NUE): 1) ( Rapeseed plants were harvested from two to 3 cm above ground level at maturity from a 1-m2 area of each subplot. After transporting to laboratory, the samples were analyzed for grain yield and its components. Seed yield of rapeseed was adjusted to 9% moisture content. Oil content was determined by using of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) analysis method (Jenkins 1996). The data were mix analyzed by GLM procedure using SAS programs (SAS Release 9.2, SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC; USA). Differences among treatments means were determined using the Duncans Multiple Range Test (DMRT) at the 0.05 level of probability.
N Agronomic Efficiency = Applied NNx YieldNx-YieldN0

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH

Previous crop and N fertilizer both significantly affected seed yields in this experiment (Table 4). But, the interaction between previous crop and N levels was not significant. As expected, those plots that received no N fertilizer had lower yields in all of previous crop treatments. In addition, the effect of N treatment on seed yield was consistent in all the previous crops (Table 5). The effect of N on seed yield of rapeseed differed significantly between two repeated experiments of the research (2008-2009 and 2009-2010). The highest yield occurred at the range of 160 to 220 kg ha-1 N rates in first year experiment. Whereas, the N application upper than 160 kg caused to decreased rapeseed seed yield significantly in the second year (Table 5).
Table 4. Mixed analysis of Variance of rapeseed yield and its components affected by treatments Mean Squares S.O.V df Grain/ Silique Grain Yield Dry matter Oil yield number. m-2 silique Year (Y) 1 11093377** 61528229 2866815** 1472820 585** Year*Block 4 89275 2338488 20954 3513608 5.1 Previous 5 3210440** 37977738** 667237** 15233002** 15.6 Crop (P) P*Y 5 612822 12925319** 123979 12474170** 12 Y*P*R 20 504742 1752604 101564 2353187 7.6 Nitrogen 3 21858208** 202753784** 3965432** 62092738** 65.6** (N) P*N 15 561960 5080431 100958 2085113 7.1 N*Y 3 1180757* 8110341 246271* 9160413** 13.8* P*N*Y 15 579889 4469625 110385 1559158 7.3 Res. Error 72 359676 2720808 71440 2002628 4.5 C.V 25.5 20.3 25.8 24.2 11.0 *, **: Significant in 5 and 1 % probability Table 5. Means Comparison for yield and yield components under experimental Range Test Dry Oil Grain Siliqu. mGrain/ matter yield Yield 2 silique -1 -1 -1 (kg.ha ) (kg.ha ) (kg.ha ) Year 2008-2009 2068 b 7509 b 891 b 5762 a 17.1 b 2009-2010 2616 a 8720 a 1171 a 5904 a 21.2 a Previous Crops Mungbean 2942 a 10044 a 1311 a 7319 a 18.6 a Canola 2421 b 8529 b 1059 b 5314 bc 18.1 a Barley+ clover 2373 b 8415 b 1049 b 5993 bc 20.2 a Corn 2285 b 7911 b 1013 b 5157 c 19.9 a Wheat 2276 b 7755 b 987 b 6249 b 19.6 a Rice 1791 c 6116 c 788 c 5064 c 19.2 a Nitrogen (Kg.ha-1) 0 1235 d 4726 c 561 d 4006 c 17.4 b 100 2282 c 7871 b 1021 c 5738 b 19.5 a 160 3078 a 9880 a 1359 a 7291 a 20.4 a 220 2730 b 9828 a 1170 b 6194 b 19.4 a In each column, similar letters shows no significant difference at 5 % of probability

Results Yield and its components

Grain weight 72** 0.0 0.2** 0.0 0.0 0.4** 0.0 0.02 0.04 0.04 6.3

Oil content 86.0** 0.5 6.7** 2.9 0.4 34.7** 0.8 0.8 1.5 0.5 1.7

factors with Duncan Multiple Grain weight (g) 4.05 a 2.62 b 3.47 a 3.30 b 3.29 b 3.41 a 3.29 b 3.25 b 3.21 b 3.28 b 3.43 a 3.42 a Oil Content (%) 43.3 b 44.9 a 44.7 a 43.9 cd 44.3 bc 43.3 e 44.6 ab 43.7 de 45.1 a 44.5 b 44.0 c 42.8 d NUE 10.7 a 10.5 a 14.4 a 11.7 ab 8.7 c 12.4 a 9.2 bc 7.3 c 13.0 a 12.0 a 7.4 b

The effect of previous crop on the rapeseed seed yield was equal in two years of the experiment (Table 5). Rapeseed yield was greater following mung-bean than other previous crops. The rapeseed planting following rice paddy caused to lowest yield, in both years of the experiment. There is limited time after harvesting rice to seeding rapeseed in Ahwaz region. Therefore, the tillage options will not be performed so enough good to prepare a fine small rapeseed seed bed that resulted in weak seedling and finally lower yields in comparison to other previous crops.

Similar to seed yield, the effect of N and previous crop on the dry matter of rapeseed was significant (Table 4). As shown in Table 6, rapeseed produced highest dry matter at 160 kg N.ha-1 and following mung-bean. Previous crop and N treatment both significantly affected
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH

The effects of N management and previous crop on oil content are shown in Table 4. The comparison among previous crops indicated the lowest and highest grain oil content was observed in rapeseed following corn and mung-bean, respectively (Table 5). Nitrogen fertilizer significantly decreased oil content (Table 5). Therefore, the highest oil content was attained in the unfertilized treatment and lowest oil content was observed at 220 kg ha-1 N rate. Generally, the oil yield in both years repeated experiment conformed fairly the seed yield (Table 5 and 6). The highest and lowest value of rapeseed oil yield also was observed following mung-bean and rice, respectively (Table 5). Apposed to grain oil content, rapeseed produced highest oil yield at 160 to 220 kg ha-1 N rates (Table 5). Similar to seed yield, oil yield decreased significantly with increasing N rate from 160 up to 220 kg ha-1. Previous crop and N rate both affected Nitrogen Use Efficiency (NUE) significantly. Thus, rapeseed following mung-bean and rice showed highest and lowest NUE, respectively (Table 5). In addition, increase of nitrogen up to 220 kg ha-1 cause to significant decrease of NUE. Rapeseed planted following mung-bean and received 100 and 160 kg N ha-1 had highest NUE (Table 6). Discussion The previous crop and the crop nitrogen fertilization affect both yield and quality of economically useful part of the biomass. Only a few publications have dealt with the effects of previous crops on the following rapeseed (e.g. Christen, 2001; Sieling et al., 1997 and Rathke et al., 2005). Nevertheless, the benefits of rapeseed on the following crop have been assessed mostly by several publications (Prew et al., 1986; Christen et al., 1992 and Christen, 2001). Rathke et al. (2005) and Christen and Sieling (1995) indicated that rapeseed following cereal crops yielded substantially lower than when grown after pea thus supporting present results. In present study, rapeseed following mung-bean yielded rather than following other previous crops. The benefit of the legume is related to both N and complex rotation effects. However, in present study conditions and because the growing season of the region, time distance between previous crop harvesting and rapeseed seeding was different (Table 3) and for example, rapeseed is seeded approximately 6 month later after barley mixed with clover. Thus, the effect of these previous crops is also affected by the time distance as one of the components of complex rotation effects. As a result, N fertilizer affected seed yield independently of previous crop. The positive impact of N on the seed yield of rapeseed has been repeatedly reported (Jackson, 2000; Hao et al., 2004 and Moradi-Telavat et al., 2008). Nevertheless, Jackson (2000) noted optimum seed yield of rapeseed occurs in the range from 180 to 220 kg N ha-1 depending on site conditions. Increase of nitrogen caused to increase of silique number per unit area that has been reported by other workers repeatedly (Moradi-telavat et al., 2008 and Fathi et al., 2002) indicated most important yield component in comparison with other yield components including grain per silique and so rapeseed grain weight. In addition, the positive effect of previous crop on seed yield of rapeseed was observed through the increased silique number following mung-bean. The present results indicate that seed yield of rapeseed tended to increase as N rate increases, while the oil content of the seed declined. This inverse relationship might be due to a reduced availability of carbohydrates for oil synthesis at high N supplies (Rathke et al., 2005). The negative influence of N fertilization on the oil content of the seeds is consistent with other reports (Mason and Brennan, 1998; Jackson, 2000; Fathi et al., 2002 and Moradi-Telavat et al., 2008). However, rapeseed oil yield increased with increase of N rates because of close relationship between rapeseed seed yield and oil yield. Therefore, the highest oil yield was attained by application of 160 kg ha-1 N rate. Similarly, increase of rapeseed seed yield following mung-bean caused to increased oil yield in comparison with while following other previous crops in this study.

rapeseed grain weight (Table 4). Highest value of grain weight was attained following mung-bean. And there was not significant difference among other previous crops in term of this trait (Table 5). N fertilizer caused to increased rapeseed grain weight significantly. Grain weight increased significantly at 160 kg ha-1 N rate and this was consistent up to 220 kg ha-1 N rate (Table 5). Oil content and yield

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Calculation of NUE for rapeseed indicated highest NUE by application of 100 to 160 kg N ha-1 following mung-bean. In basis of the law of diminishing return, the increase of each input such as nitrogen fertilizers caused to decreased efficiency of that input. However, in the present study, the effects of previous crops break this law. For instant, NUE of rapeseed following mung-bean showed no significant decrease in the range of 100 to 160 kg N ha-1.
Table 6. Mean comparison of grain yield, oil yield and NUE, with Duncans multiple range test Treatment Oil yield Grain yield NUE (kg.kag-1) (kg.ha-1) (kg.ha-1) Previous Crop Nitrogen (kg.ha-1) Mungbean 0 1438 ijk 661 ghi Canola 0 1117 jk 502 hi Barley+ clover 0 1644 hijk 749 fghi Corn 0 904 k 410 i Wheat 0 1247 jk 574 hi Rice 0 1110 jk 491 hi Mungbean 100 2662 bcdef 1213 bcde 20.4 a Canola 100 2373 cdefgh 1048 cdef 13.3 bcd Barley+ clover 100 2158 efghi 969 defg 11.5 cde Corn 100 2251 defghi 990 cdefg 15.9 abc Wheat 100 2319 cdefgh 1058 cdef 11.7 bcde Rice 100 1926 fghij 842 efgh 8.2 def Mungbean 160 4153 a 1854 a 17.0 ab Canola 160 3132 bc 1371 bc 13.3 bcd Barley+ clover 160 3051 bcd 1351 bcd 10.5 def Corn 160 3005 bcde 1296 bcd 13.1 bcd Wheat 160 2764 bcdef 1227 bcde 9.5 def Rice 160 2368 cdefgh 1053 cdef 7.2 ef Mungbean 220 3514 ab 1515 b 7.8 def Canola 220 2843 bcde 1221 bcde 8.4 def Barley+ clover 220 2515 cdefg 1078 cdef 5.2 f Corn 220 2976 bcde 1252 bcd 9.4 def Wheat 220 2776 bcdef 1191 bcde 6.9 ef Rice 220 1758 ghij 765 fghi 6.4 ef Similar letters in each column show no significant difference between treatments at 5 % of probability

Conclusion Generally, the productivity of rapeseed responds dramatically to different N rates. Under the given conditions, the positive effects of the previous legume (mung-bean) and N fertilizer was attained separately. High N rates caused a decline of the oil content but had positive effects on seed yield and oil yield of rapeseed. The optimum N supply depends on whether the goal is to produce high seed yield or high oil content. Oil yield is usually the main management goal, since rapeseed oil is produce as edible oil as well as a renewable oil source. To optimize yield as well as oil yield in crop rotation, rapeseed should follow a legume crop like mung-bean and receive a high dose of N. Although the highest oil content occurred when unfertilized rapeseed grown regardless of previous crop, the highest oil yield was achieved with 160 kg ha-1 N rate and mung-bean as the preceding crop. Future research should include detailed analysis of fatty acids to determine the detailed quality affected by nitrogen and crop rotation in this region. Another aspect for future researches would be to calculate substance and energy fluxes to enable a complete assessment of the environmental effects of N supply on rapeseed in Ahwaz region of Iran. Acknowledgement The authors would like to thank Iran National Science Funding (INSF) for supporting this work exactly. References Ahmad G., Jan A., Arif M., Jan M.T., Khattak R.A. 2007. Influence of nitrogen and sulfur fertilization on quality of canola (Brassica Napus L.) under rainfed conditions. J. Zhejiang Univ. Sci. 8:731-737.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Christen O. 2001. Ertrag, ertragsstruktur und ertragsstabilitat von Weizen, Gerste und Raps in unterschiedlichen Fruchtfolgen. German. J. Agron. 5:3339. Christen O., Sieling K., Hanus H. 1992. The effect of different preceding crops on the development, growth and yield of winter wheat. Eur. J. Agron. 1:2128. Christen O., Sieling K. 1995. Effect of different preceding crops and crop rotations on yield of winter oilseed rape (Brassica napus L). J. Agron. Crop Sci. 174(4):265271. Colnenne C., Meynard J.M., Reau R., Justes E., Merrien A. 1998. Determination of a critical nitrogen dilution curve for winter oilseed rape. Ann. Bot. 81(2):311-317. Fathi G., Banisaeidi A., Siadat S.A., Ebrahimpour F. 2002. The effect of different nitrogen levels and plant density on canola yield in climate conditions of Khouzestan province. Iran Sci. J. Agric. 25(1):43-57. Grant C.A., Bailey L.D. 1993. Fertility management in canola production. Can J. Plant Sci. 73:651-670. Hao X., Chang C., Travis G.J. 2004. Short communication: effect of long-term cattle manure application on relations between nitrogen and oil content in canola seed. J. Plant Nutr. Soil Sci. 167:214215. Jackson G. 2000. Effect of nitrogen and sulphur on canola yield and nutrient uptake. Agron. J. 92:644649. Jenkins P.D., Leitch M.H. 1996. Effects of sowing date on the growth and yield of winter oilseed rape (Brassica napus). J. Agric. Sci. Camb. 107:405421. Malhi S.S., Gill K.S. 2004. Placement, rate and source of N, Seedrow opener and seedling depth effects on canola production. Can. J. Plant Sci. 84:719-729. Mason M.G., Brennan R.F. 1998. Comparison of growth response and nitrogen uptake by canola and wheat following application of nitrogen fertilizer. J Plant Nutr. 21(7):14831499. Moradi-Telavat M.R., Siadat S.A., Nadian H., Fathi G. 2008. Effect of nitrogen and boron on canola yield and yield components in Ahwaz, Iran. Int. J. Agric. Res. 3(6):415-422. Prew R.D., Bean J., Carter N., Church B.M., Dewar A.M., Lacey J., Penny A., Plumb R.T., Todd A.D. 1986 Some factors affecting the growth and yield of winter wheat grown as third cereal with much or negligible take-all. J. Agric. Sci. 107:639671. Rathke G.W., Christen O., Diepenbrock W. 2005 Effects of nitrogen source and rate on productivity and quality of winter oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.) grown in different crop rotations. Field Crops Res. 94(2-3):103-113. Sieling K., Gunther-Borstel O., Hanus H. 1997 Effect of slurry application and mineral nitrogen fertilization on N leaching in different crop combinations. J. Agric. Sci. 128:7986. Varco J.J., Frye W.W., Smith M.S., MacKown C.T. 1993. Tillage effects on legume decomposition and transformation of legume and fertilizer nitrogen. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 57:750756.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Canola (Brassica napus L.) response to N levels with different amounts of wheat residues in Ahwaz region, Iran Dabirzadeh, M., G. Fathi, S. A. Siadat and M. R. Moradi-Telavat
Ramin Agriculture and Natural Rsources University of Khouzestan, Ahwaz, Iran Corresponding Author: moraditelavat@gmail.com

Abstract
Choice of a crop precise treatment method on crop residues affects the soil properties and, thus may have a positive impact on crop productivity. This study conducted to evaluate the influence of different methods of crop residue management and N fertilizers in form of nitrogen splitting (N- splitting) on yield and yield components of canola. Field experiment carried out in Ramin Agriculture and Natural Resources University of Khouzestan, Iran, during 2010-2011. Previous crop included wheat crop in all plots. The experiment design was a randomized complete block with 3 replications as a split plot arrangement. Crop residue management included four levels of wheat residues (0, 2, 4 and 6 t.h-1), place in main plots, and four nitrogen levels (0, 90, 180 and 270 kg.h-1) from urea fertilizer. Plant measurements were taken from plant height, number of secondary branches, silique number, seed number per silique, 1000 seed weight, seed yield, biological yield, percent of oil, percent of nitrogen and oil yield. Results revealed wheat reminders with nitrogen fertilizer positively and significantly affected on grain yield and biological yield. The highest (2572.5 kg.ha-1) yield was attained by application of 4 t.ha-1 of plant reminders plus to 180 kg.ha-1 of N rates, while the lowest (159.5 kg.ha-1) yield was an accomplished under the treatment 6 t.ha-1 of residues from the soil with having no nitrogen. Application of nitrogen (for 180 kg/ha) caused increase in dry matter yield, seed yield and number of silique. Keywords: rapeseed, yield, silique

Introduction Soil degradation is a concern in Southwest of Iran because soils are often shallow and form very slowly due to low annual precipitation and relatively high temperature. Also, many of the soils under agriculture in the region are moderately to severity susceptible to erosion because of heavily use of agricultural machines unsuitable application of some inputs like nitrogen. Thus management practices must provide against degradation of these agricultural soils. Crop residue management and N fertilizers can play an important role in minimizing soil degradation and improving soil quality in the region. High and sustainable crop production is linked to improved soil physical, chemical and biological properties, of soil organic matter (Tripathi et al., 2007). Shaver et al. (2003) reported that each ton/ha crop residue addition over a 12- year period reduced bulk density by 0.01 Mg/m3 and increased effective porosity by 0.3 % and each g/kg of organic C in macro aggregates increased the proportion of macro aggregates by 4.4 % in 0-25 mm layer. Residue biomass increased significantly with no till intensive cropping. Crop residues are a source of organic C for soil micro organisms and also contribute to plant nutrients. The fertilizer N equivalent credit from crop residues was suggested as 8-10 kg/ha for oilseed rape in Denmark (Thomsen and Christensen, 1998), While (Beckie, 1997) estimated a 28 kg/ha credit to crops that fallow peas. V cereal residues, however, contribute little immediate plant- available N to the soil because of their wide C: N ratios. Crop residue management practices affected organic Carbon, available P and K. Higher organic carbon (0.55%) and available P (38.8 kg ha-1) were recorded under residue incorporation while available K (160.6 kg ha-1) was highest in straw burning during the third year. It was also noticed that the available K was higher in all the years of study under burning treatment as compared to straw removal because burning of rice straw added to ash containing potassium (Gangwar et al., 2005). Also, on average, grain yield was increased by 23.7% and stover yield by 26.7% due to residue incorporation. Residue

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retention also enhanced N uptake by 28.3% in grain and 45.1% in stover of maize. The soil N fertility was improved by 29.2% due to residue retention. Soil C and N dynamics and maize (Zea may L.) yield as affected by cropping systems and residue management in North-western Pakistan (Shafi et al., 2007). In addition, the highest grain yield of corn (15.73 t ha_1) and grains per ear of corn (709.3) were obtained when 2550% of wheat residues were soil incorporated and the seeds were sown with planter equipped with row cleaner in both years as compared with conventional tillage practices. Influence of wheat residue management on irrigated corn grain production in a reduced tillage system (Bahrani et al., 2007). Kharub et al. (2004) reported improvements in wheat yield when straw was incorporated in continuous rice wheat system on a sandy clay loam. Permanent beds combined with retaining all crop residues in the soil as stubble have the potential to increase both wheat and maize yields in the Yaqui Valley (Limon et al., 2000). N management will be an important factor in maximizing the grain protein of nutritionally enhanced hybrids, but producing grain with consistently high protein concentration may be difficult given the variation in growing conditions and environments characteristic of this part of the Corn Belt (Thomisom et al., 2004). Kushwaha et al. (2005) pointed that retention of a small fraction of above-ground biomass and its incorporation in the soil enhances crop productivity and soil fertility in a cereal based tropical dry land agro ecosystem. When nitrogen was applied at 4-5 leaf stage or at the beginning of flowering, the yield of seed and protein was higher compared to nitrogen application at sowing (Sidlauskas, 2000). Ayub et al (2001), reported maximum grain yield of 84.31 q ha-1 was obtained where nitrogen was applied in three equal splitting (1/3 at sowing, 1/3 at tillering and 1/3 flowering) and it was followed by full at tillering and full at sowing which yield 80.47 q ha-1 an 80.07 q ha-1, respectively. The nitrogen in three equal splits (1/3 at sowing, 1/3 at tillering and 1/3 flowering) should be applied for getting higher grain yield of wheat in Faisalabad conditions. In another study, it was reported that the split application of nitrogen caused slightly higher increases of sterile oat dry weight and total nitrogen and greater grain yield reduction of wheat grown with oat, compared to that of a single application (Dhima and Eleftherohorinos, 2001). Weed communities and dominant species changed in response to various N splitting methods and Amaranth cultivars traits. Total weed density and biomass were greatest in Amaranth cultivars with semi-equal N treatment (25-50-25%) (Aynehband, 2008). Materials and Methods The study was carried out at the Ramin (Mollasani) Agriculture and Natural Resources University of Ahwaz, Iran, in the crop year 2010- 2011. Data concerning soil properties and meteorological conditions are shown in Tables 1 and 2, respectively. The main experiment was carried out on a split plot arranged in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Crop residue management included four levels of wheat residues (0, 2, 4 and 6 t.h-1) and four N fertilizer levels (0, 90, 180 and 270 kg N ha1) were applied to the subplots; subplots were 1.6 m wide (6 rapeseed lines with a distance of 20 cm between them) and 4 m long. Nitrogen fertilizer, applied as urea [(NH2)2CO]-N, was banded to the sides of the seed rows. Banding was carried out in three phases: onethird of the quantity two weeks after emergence, one-third on stem elongation, and one-third at the budding stage. Conventional tillage was performed to kill weeds before seeding. In addition, hand weeding was carried out during the rapeseed growing season if needed. After being taken to the laboratory, the samples were analyzed for grain yield and its components. The rapeseed seed yield was adjusted to 9%moisture content. Oil content was calculated using
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the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) analysis method (Jenkins 1996). Data were Mix analyzed by GLM procedure using SAS programs (SAS Release 9.2, SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA). Differences among treatment means were determined using Duncans Multiple Range Test (DMRT) at 0.05 level of probability. Results Results of this study showed that residues and N fertilizer and interaction between residues and N levels both significantly affected seed yields. As expected, those plots which received no N fertilizer had lower yields regardless of which crop had preceded rapeseed cultivation. In addition, the effect of N treatment on seed yield was consistent for all residues (Table 1). The highest yield was obtained at the range of 180-270 kg ha1 N rates whereas N application over 180 kg caused a significant decrease in rapeseed seed yield (Table 1). The lowest yield (159.5 kg.ha-1) was obtained an accomplished under the treatment 6 t.ha-1 of residues from the soil with having no nitrogen. This means that optimal the effect of N and residues on the dry matter of rapeseed was also significant. As shown in Table 6, rapeseed produced the highest dry matter at an N rate of 270 kg N.ha1 and following mungbean. Both previous crop and N treatment significantly affected rapeseed grain weight (Table 4). The highest value of grain weight was obtained following mung-bean and there was no significant difference in grain weight among other previous crops (Table 1). The use of N fertilizer resulted in a significant increase in rapeseed grain weight. Grain weight increased significantly at an N rate 270 g ha1 N and this increase was consistent up to an N rate of 220 kg ha1 (Table 1). Oil content and yield the effects of N management and residues on oil content are shown in Table 4. The comparison between previous crops showed that the lowest and highest grain oil content was obtained in rapeseed following corn and mung-bean, respectively (Table 1). Nitrogen fertilizer significantly decreased oil content (Table 1). Therefore, the highest oil content was obtained when no fertilizer was used and the lowest oil content was observed at an N rate of 270 kg ha1. Generally, the oil yield in both years of the experiment conformed closely to the seed yield (Table 1). Also the highest and the lowest values of rapeseed oil yield were observed following mung-bean and rice, respectively. In contrast to grain oil content, rapeseed produced the highest oil yield at N rates of 180-270 kg ha1 (Table 1). Similar to results seen with seed yield, oil yield decreased significantly when N rates were increased from 180 up to 270 kg ha1.
Table 1. Mean comparison of grain yield, oil yield and NUE, with Duncans Multiple Range Test
Treatment N1 r1 N1 r2 N1 r3 N1 r4 N2 r1 N2 r2 N2r3 N2 r4 N3 r1 N3 r2 N3R3 N3r4 N4 r1 N4r2 N4R3 N4r4 Grain yield (kg.ha1) i268/9 i170/8 208/3i i159/5 hi674/4 gh871/1 gh975/2 fgh1118/7 efg1392/3 def1569/3 572.5a ab2359/7 def1570/3 defg871/1 abc2227/8 bcd1970/3 Dry matter fg2937 g2230 g 1597 g1500 ef4638 de6294 cd8515 bc9128 bc9360 ab11206 a12750 abc10473 bc8825 abc10536 a12823 abc10472 Grain N c2/6 c2/74 2/26cd c2/75 bc3/04 c2/93 c2/94 c2/96 bc3/4 Bcde3/59 a3/7 ab3/44 a3/69 a3/61 a3/56 a3/61 Total N cd/87 cd/74 /94cd d/66 a1/44 cd/93 cd/81 cd/76 ab1/3 a1/49 abc1/15 a1/44 ab1/34 a1/45 ab1/3 a1/37 Oil Content (%) ab43/89 b43/14 45/68a b43/09 bc41/56 b42/14 b42/11 b41/98 cd39/65 d38/65 d37/5 cd39/44 d38/14 d38/52 d38/82 d39/01 Oil yield h119/3 h102/5 114/9h h129 gh271/2 gh366 fg425 defg469/8 def552/3 cdef607/7 a965 ab931 cdef600/1 bcde673/5 abc865/9 abcd738/3

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Discussion Previous crop and the crop N fertilization applied affect both yield and quality of the rapeseed and have an impact on its importance as an economically viable biomass source. Only a few publications have dealt with the effects of previous crops on subsequent rapeseed cultivation (e.g. Christen, 2001; Sieling et al., 1997; and Rathke et al., 2005). Nevertheless, the benefits of rapeseed on the subsequent crop have mostly been assessed in a variety of publications (Prew et al., 1986; Christen et al., 1992; Christen, 2001). Rathke et al. (2005) and Christen and Sieling (1995) reported that yield from rapeseed cultivation following cereal crops was substantially lower than when cultivated after pea, thus supporting the results of this study. In the present study, rapeseed following mung-bean resulted in a greater yield than after other previouspreviousNcrops. The benefit of the legume is related to both N and the effects of complex rotation procedures. However, in our present study conditions, and due to the period of the growing season of the region, the length of time which elapsed between harvesting the previous crop and rapeseed seeding differed (Table 3); for example, rapeseed is seededapproximately six months later than barley plus clover. Therefore, the effect of these previous crops is also influenced by the time factor as part of the effects of complex rotation procedures. As a result, N fertilizer affected seed yield independently of the previous crop. The positive impact of N on the seed yield of rapeseed has been repeatedly reported (Jackson, 2000; Hao et al., 2004; Moradi- Telavat et al., 2008). Nevertheless, Jackson (2000) noted that optimum seed yield of rapeseed is obtained in the range from 180 to 220 kg N ha1, depending on site conditions. An increase in N resulted in an increase in silique number per unit area; this has been repeatedly reported by others (Moradi-telavat et al., 2008; Fathi et al., 2002). These authors reported that, in a comparative analysis with other yield components such as grain per silique, the most important yield component was rapeseed grain weight. In addition, the positive effect of previous crop on rapeseed seed yield was observed through the increased silique number following mung-bean. Our results here indicate that seed yield of rapeseed tended to increase as N rate increased, while oil content of the seed decreased. This inverse relationship might be due to a reduced availability of carbohydrates for oil synthesis when the N supply is high (Rathke et al., 2005). The negative influence of N fertilization on the oil content of the seeds in our study is consistent with other reports (Mason and Brennan, 1998; Jackson, 2000; Fathi et al., 2002; Moradi-Telavat et al., 2008). However, rapeseed oil yield increased with an increase in N rates because of the close relationship between rapeseed seed yield and oil yield. Therefore, the highest oil yield was obtained by application of an N rate of 180 kg ha1. Similarly, an increase in rapeseed seed yield following mung-bean resulted in an increase in oil yield compared with following other previous crops in this study Conclusions In general, the productivity of rapeseed responds dramatically to different N rates. Under the given conditions, the positive effects of the previous legume (mung-bean) and N fertilizer were obtained separately. High N rates caused a decline in the oil content but had positive effects on seed and oil yields of rapeseed. The optimum N supply depends on whether the objective is to produce high seed yield or high oil content. Oil yield is usually the main management goal, since rapeseed oil is produced as edible oil as well as a renewable energy source. To optimize overall yield as well as oil yield in crop rotation, rapeseed should follow a legume crop like mung-bean and receive a high dose of N. Although the highest oil content was obtained when unfertilized rapeseed was grown regardless of previous crop, the highest oil yield was achieved with 180 kg ha1 N rate and

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mung-bean as the previous crop. Future research should include a detailed analysis of fatty acids to determine to what extent a specific composition is affected by N and crop rotation in this region. Another issue for future research would be to calculate substance and energy fluxes to provide a complete assessment of the environmental effects of N supply on rapeseed in the Ahwaz region of Iran. References Aynehband, A. (2008): Cultivar and nitrogen effects on amaranth forage yield and weed community. Pakistan J. Biol. Sci., 11, 80-85. Ayub, M., Sharar, M.S., Tanveer, A., Khaliq, M. (2001): Growth and yield response of wheat (Titicum aestivum L.) to Nitrogen Application at different Growth Stages. J. Biol. Syst., 1, 92-94. Bahrani, M.J., Raufat, M.H., Ghadiri, H. (2007): Influence of wheat residue management on irrigated corn grain production in a reduced tillage system. Soil Till. Res., 94, 305309. Beckie, H. (1997): Field pea magic. Research Letter #97-01. Agriculture and AriFood Canada, Reearch center, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. Dhima, K., Eleftherohorinos, L. (2001): Influence of nitrogen on competition between winter cereal and sterile oat. Weed Sci., 49, 77-82. Christen O., 2001. Ertrag, ertragsstruktur und ertragsstabilitat von Weizen, Gerste und Raps in unterschiedlichen Fruchtfolgen. German. J. Agron. 5:33-39. Christen O., Sieling K., 1995. Effect of different preceding crops and crop rotations on yield of winter oilseed rape (Brassica napus L). J. Agron. Crop Sci. 174:265-271. Fathi G., Banisaeidi A., Siadat S.A., Ebrahimpour F., 2002. The effect,of different nitrogen levels and plant density on canola yield in climate conditions of Khouzestan province. Iran Sci. J. Agric. 25: 43-57. Gangwar, K.S., Singh, K.K., Sharma, S.K., Tomar, O.K. (2006): Alternative tillage and crop residue management in wheat after rice in sandy loam soils of Indo-Gangetic plains. Soil Till. Res., 88, 242252. Hao X., Chang C., Travis G.J., 2004. Short communication: effect of long-term cattle manure application on relations between nitrogen and oil content in canola seed. J. Plant Nutr. Soil Sci. 167:214- 215. Jackson G., 2000. Effect of nitrogen and sulphur on canola yield and nutrient uptake. Agron. J. 92:644-649. Kharub, A.S., Sharma, R.K., Mongia, A.D., Chhokar, R.S., Tripathi, S.C., Sharma, V.K., (2004): Effect of rice (Oryza sativa) straw removal, burning and incorporation on soil properties and crop productivity under ricewheat (Triticum aestivum) system. Indian. J. Agric. Sci., 74, 295299. Kushvaha, C. P., Tripathi , S. K., Singh, K. P. (2000): Variations in soil microbial biomass and N availability due to residue and tillage management in a dry land rice agroecosystem. Soil Till. Res., 56, 153-166 Limon-Ortega, A., Sayre K.D, Francis , C.A. (2000): Wheat and Maize Yields in Response to Straw Management and Nitrogen under a Bed Planting System. Agron. J., 92, 295-302. Mc Ghie, W.J., Jacobs, B. (2000): The impact of contribution of bacterial and fungal microbial biomass. Can. J. Microbiology., 21, 314-322. Miller, P., McConkey, B., Clayton, G. (2002): Pulse crop adaptation in the Northern Great Plains. Agron. J., 94, 261-272.

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Moradi-Telavat M.R., Siadat S.A., Nadian H., Fathi G., 2008. Effect of nitrogen and boron on canola yield and yield components in Ahwaz, Iran. Int. J. Agric. Res. 3:415422. Prew R.D., Bean J., Carter N., Church B.M., Dewar A.M., Lacey J., Penny A., Plumb R.T., Todd A.D., 1986. Some factors affecting the growth and yield of winter wheat grown as third cereal with much or negligible take-all. J. Agric. Sci. 107:639-671. Rathke G.W., Christen O., Diepenbrock W., 2005. Effects of nitrogen source and rate on productivity and quality of winter oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.) grown in different crop rotations. Field Crops Res. 94:103-113. Sahadeva,S., G. saran.. (1993): Effect of irrigation, nitrogen and sulphur level on the growth, yield attributes, yield quality and water use of trial (Brassica compestris). Indian J. Agron., 38, 414-421. Shafi, M., Bakht, J., Jan, M.T., Shah, Z. (2007): Soil C and N dynamic and maize (zea may L.) yield as affected by cropping systems and residue management in NorthWestern Pakistan. Soil Till. Res., 94, 520-529. Shaver, T.M., Peterson, G.A., Sherrod, L.A. (2003): Cropping intensification in dryland systems improves soil physical properties: regression relations. Geoderma., 116, 149-164. Sidlauskas, G. (2000): The influence of stand population density, nitrogen rates and timing of spring oil rapeseed (Brassica napus) seed, protein and fat yield. CAB Abst. 2000/08- 2001/04.

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Effect of Acidified Converter Sludge on Some Chemical Characteristics of a Calcareous Soil

Niloofar Karimian1, Mahmoud kalbasi1 ,Shapour Hajrasouliha1
1-

Department of soil science .Islamic Azad University of Khorasgan, Isfahan, Iran.

Corresponding author: niloofar.karimian2@gmail.com

Abstract
Iron deficiency is one of the most prevalent plant nutrition problems, especially in calcareous soils . Application of still industry by-products as fertilizers is now a common practice in agriculture . The effect of application of converter sludge, along with alfalfa powder, elemental sulfur and sulfuric acid to a calcareous soil was investigated in a 120 days incubation study. Converter sludge contained 64% iron oxides..Treatments included 0, 2 and 4% pure converter sludge and mixed with acidifiers and alfalfa powder. Results showed that application of 4% pure converter sludge increased soil pH and olson-P and decreased soil EC but using a mixture of converter sludge with acidifying materials (elemental S and sulfuric acid) or alfalfa powder decreased soil pH and increased EC .Although application of mixtures of converter sludge with elemental S, sulfuric acid and alfalfa powder, significantly increased DTPA-extractable Fe but the most effective and stable treatment was alfalfa powder mixed with converter sludge and the effect of acidified converter sludge was quite short term. Olsen-P and DTPA-extractable Fe decreased with incubation time. Key words: iron deficiency, converter sludge, elemental sulfur, sulfuric acid, alfalfa powder

Introduction Iron deficiency is most prevalent on high-pH and calcareous soils in arid regions. The most important soil factors influencing iron availability are pH and organic matter, excessive water and poor aeration, interactions with other nutrients, nitrogen source (Wallace 1991 and Mortvedt, et al, 1991). Iron sources that make suitable fertilizer materials include inorganic iron salts, synthetic chelates, and natural organic compounds. Iron sulfate is the most widely used iron fertilizer. Synthetic chelates are also widely used but they are more expensive than inorganic salts. Except on high-value crops, iron chelates are not cost effective for soil application (Clarke and Mortvedt et al., 1991). Steel industries produce large quantities of different types of by-products such as: steel slag, converter sludge, fly ash, and feerosoul Significant quantities of sludge and slag are generated as waste material or byproduct every day from steel industries. They usually contain considerable quantities of valuable metals and materials.. (Mahmood and Eliot and Das et al., 2006). Converter sludge contains appreciable quantities of iron (about 64.12%) and lime (Das et al., 2006). The fine solid particles recovered after wet cleaning of the gas emerging from LD converters in the sludge form are termed as LD sludge which contains around 6164.1 of Fe and 910% of CaO (Das et al., 2006). Shariatmadari et al. (2008) reported that application of slag and converter sludge of iron melting factory to calcareous soils increased the soil DTPA-extractable Fe and Mn. Abou Seeda et al. (2002) reported that application of iron still industrys slag enhanced the nutrient uptake by radish plants this also increased soil pH and extractable Fe. Torkashvand et al. (2005) reported that the application of Lintz-Donawitz (LD) Converter sludge, increased soil pH of in acid soils and AB-DTPA extractable Mn and P. Wang and Shiang (2006) reported that application of steel slag increased the residual concentration of ammonium bicarbonate-diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (AB-DTPA) extractable Fe in calcareous soils. The present study was planned to investigate the effect of pure converter sludge along with acidifiers( sulfuric acid and elemental sulfur) or alfalfa powder on some chemical characteristic such as pH, EC, availability of Fe, Zn,Cu, Mn and P of a calcareous soil from central Iran. Materials and Methods The converter sludge was obtained from Isfahan Steel Mill factory, Isfahan, Iran. Chemical analysis of converter sludge, carried out by the central laboratory of Isfahan Iron Melting factory, is
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH presented in Table 1. The compound contains about 63.5% iron oxides and a pH about 11.6 (pH of 1:10, sludge:water suspension) and some other elements such as Ca, Si, P and Mn. An incubation experiment was carried out for 120 days to evaluate the effect of application of pure converter sludge as well as mixture of converter sludge with elemental sulfur, organic matter (alfalfa powder) and sulfuric acid. The experiment was conducted with a calcareous soil (Najaf abaad (Haplargids) collected from Isfahan region, in central part of Iran. Selected physical and chemical properties of soil are shown in Table 2. Collected surface (0-30 cm) soil samples were air-dried and crushed to pass a 2mm sieve500g subsamples of each soil was treated as explained below and then moistened to field capacity (FC) with deionized water and transferred into the plastic containers and incubated for up to 120 days at room temperature (25-35 0C). Treatments included control (L0), 2% (w/w) application of converter sludge(L2), 4% (w/w) converter sludge (L4), 2% (w/w) elemental sulfur powder (S2), 2% (w/w) converter sludge plus 2% (w/w) elemental sulfur powder (L2S2), 4% (w/w) converter sludge plus 2% (w/w) elemental sulfur powder (L4S2), 2% (w/w) converter sludge plus 4% (w/w) alfalfa powder (L2O4), 4% (w/w) converter sludge plus 4% (w/w) alfalfa powder (L4O4), 2%(w/w) acidified converter sludge (pH=2) (L2H2) and 4%(W/W) acidified converter sludge (pH=2) (L4H2). (To acidify converter sludge 5 N sulphuric acid was used). Each treatment was replicated 3 times. Sub samples taken after 30, 60 and 120 days of incubation, were air-dried and crushed to pass a 2mm sieve and stored for determination of pH, EC (electrical conductivity), DTPA-extractable Fe and Olsen-P. Moisture of containers were kept near FC soil moisture content throughout the experiment by periodically weighing and replenishing evaporated water with deionized water. At each sampling period (30, ,60 and 120 days) equivalent of 100g dry soil was taken from each container. The samples were air-dried, crush and stored for analysis. Electrical conductivity (EC) and pH were measured in 1:2 (soil : water) suspension using a SELECTA 2005 pH meter and a Metrohm 644 conductometer, respectively (Rhoads, 1996). DTPA-extractable micronutrients (Fe and Mn,) were extracted as described by (Jones 2001 )and measured by Buck 210 atomic absorption spectroscopy (Jones 2001). Available P was extracted by Olsen ( Morphy and Riley 1988) and was measured by calcium carbonate by titration by NaOH. Data were analyzed in a factorial completely randomized design.each treatments was replicated three times, by using SPSS software and significant differences were determind based on p<0.01 level for the least significant difference test.
Table 1. Chemical analysis of the converter sludge used Constituents % Fe2O3 44.30 FeO 19.22 CaO 6.12 SiO2 1.3 MgO 0.24 Al2O3 0.1 P 2 O5 0.272 MnO 1.02 ZnO 0.03 Table 2. Selected Physical and chemical properties of soils used
Physical and chemical characteristics

Soil series Najaf abaad Texture Sandy Loam Classification Haplargids pH 7.8 EC (dS/m) 2.1 CaCO3 (%) 40 P (mg kg-1) 18.5 Fe (mg kg-1) 12.2 DTPAextractableFeand,Avalable(Olsen)P
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Results and Discussion pH The effect of incubation time and treatments on soil pH is significant at the 1% level .Application of pure converter sludge increased soil pH. The increase was proportional to the rate of application (Fig 1). Application of 2-4% (w/w) converter sludge mixed with sulfur powder, or pure sulfur powder (S2, L2S2 , L4S2), 2-4% (w/w) acidified converter sludge(L2H2, L4H2) or 4% alfalfa powder mixed with 2-4% (w/w) converter sludge (L2O4,L4O4), decreased the soil pH compared to the control (L0).The increase of soil pH as the result of converter sludge application is probably due to the high pH of converter sludge. Torkashvand and Sedaghat Hoor (2007) reported the same results. Significant decrease in pH as the result of application of elemental S and its mixtures with converter sludge is likely due to the biological oxidation of elemental S and production of sulfuric acid during the incubation period. Similar results have been reported by Abbaspour et.al., (2004) when applied acidified converter sludge.

Fig.1. Effect of treatments on soil pH.

Fig.2. Effect of incubation time on soil pH.

bars (treatments) with the same letter indicate no significant difference.

EC The effect of incubation time and treatments on soil EC is significant at the 1% level .Application of pure converter sludge (2-4% w/w) had little or no effect on soil EC (Fig.2) Application of converter sludge mixed with S, sulfuric acid and alfalfa powder significantly increased EC of the soil .The largest increase was observed in S2 ( 2% w/w pure sulfur powder). EC of the soil significantly decreased after 2 month of incubation and then increased after 4 month of incubation. Except pure converter sludge ,the other treatments especially those containing elemental S increased EC of soil solution. This increase could be due to the formation of acids and increasing solubility of minerals in the soil or in the converter sludge. The formation of acids (sulfuric in S containing treatments and organic in alfalfa containing treatments) could solubilized minerals such as CaCO3 in soil and increase the EC. Abbaspour et al.,(2004) reported the same results.

Fig. 3. Effect of treatments on soil EC.

Fig.4. Effect of incubation time on EC.

For each soil, bars (treatments) with the same letter indicate no significant difference

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Fe Effect of treatments and incubation time on soil DTPA-extractable Fe was significant at p0.01. Application of (2 or4%) pure converter sludge increased DTPA-extractable Fe and it was proportional to the added amounts of converter sludge . Application of 4% alfalfa powder mixed with 2 or4% converter sludge (L2O4, L4O4) caused the highest increase in DTPA-extractable Fe. Application of mixtures of 2 or 4% w/w converter sludge with 2% elemental S increased DTPAextractable Fe. The increases were lower as compared to the mixture of alfalfa powder and converter sludge. Application of acidified converter sludge (with sulfuric acid) increased DTPAextractable Fe significantly. DTPA-extractable Fe decreased significantly during the four months of incubation (Fig.8). Significant increase in DTPA-extractable Fe in treatments containing or producing acids is probably due to the lower pH of these treatments compared to the control. Decrease of DTPA-extractable Fe with incubation time in treatments containing or producing acid treatments was possibly due to the neutralization of acids and increase of pH. Application of 4% organic matter mixed with 4% converter sludge (L4O4) was the most effective treatment in increasing DTPA-extractable probably due to the formation of soluble Fe-organic acid complexes. Melali and Shariatmadari (2008) reported that application of converter sludge mixed with vermicompost increased DTPA-extractable Fe in calcareous soil. Abou Saeeda et.al, (2002) found that the extractable fraction of Fe by CaCl2 increased with organic matter addition to soil.

Fig.5. Effect of treatments on DTPA-extractable Fe. extractable Fe

Fig.6. Effect of incubation time on DTPA-

For each soil, bars (treatments) with the same letter indicate no significant difference.

P Olsen-P was least affected by the treatments. While it slightly increased in some treatments it either decreased or did not change in some other treatments (Fig.4). Olsen-P decreased with incubation time. Moderate and proportional increase in Olsen-P in treatments containing converter sludge could be due to the high Si content of converter sludge (Table 1). The increase was especially significant in the first month of incubation. This increase could be due to the release of P from specific adsorption site by Si. (Subramanian and Copalswamy, 1990). Kristen and Erstad (1996) reported that the effect of slag on soil P was because of Si in slag. It seemed that P increased due to the increase in pH. This culminated in increased microbial activity and mineralization of organic P (Aliasgharzadeh, 1997). The extractable P decreased during the incubation period. It could be because of re-precipitation of P as calcium-three phosphate. Same results were reported by Torkashvand and Sedaghat Hoor( 2007). Abou Seeda et al., (2002) reported that increasing rates of slag increased the mobile fraction of P, during the incubation period.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH

Fig.7. Effect of treatments on Olsen-P.

Fig.8. Effect of incubation time on Olsen-P

For each soil, bars (treatments) with the same letter indicate no significant difference.

Conclusion Application of acidified or mixed with organic matter( alfalfa powder) converter sludge is an inexpensive source of Fe which could provide available Fe for calcareous soils. When pure converter sludge mixed with alfalfa powder( organic matter) or acidifir (elemental S or H2SO4) added to calcareous soil the effect on availability of Fe and Mn is greatly enhanced. Although the effect on availability of Fe decreases with time but the effect lasts long enough that most crop could benefit from its application. Application of acidified converter sludge or a mixture of converter sludge with proper amount of organic matter could be a beneficial method to provide Fe and other nutrients in calcareous soils. This, however, needs further research in the field and with various crops to determine the effect directly on the crop and also investigate the residual and environmental impact of long term application of this compound to calcareous soils. Acknowledgments Partial support of this research by a grant from the Isfahan Iron mill factory is appreciated. References Abbaspour A, Kalbasi M, Shartiatmadari H (2004). Effect of steel converter sludge as iron fertilizer and soil amendment in some calcareous soils. J. Plant Nutr., 27(2): 377-394. Abou Seeda M, EI-Aila HI, EI-Ashry S (2002). Assessment os basic slag as soil amelioration and their effects on the uptake of some nutrient elements by radish plant. Bulletin National Res. Centre (cairo), 27: 491-506. Aliasgharzadeh, N,( 1997). Soil Biochemistry and Microbiology. Tabriz University, Tabriz, Iran Boltz DF, Howell JA (1978). Colorimeteric Determination of Nonmetales. John Willy and Sons, New York. PP.197-202 Clarke, R.B. (1991). Iron: Unlocking agronomic potential.Solutions. Mar./Apr. pp. 24-28. Das B, Prakash S, Reddy PSR (2006). An overview of utilization of slag and sludge from steel industries. Resources Conservation & Recycling., 50:40-57 Gee GW, Bauder JW (1989). Particle Size Analysis, In: Methods of Soil Analysis. Klute A. (Ed.), Part I, 2nd Ed., American Society ofAgronomy, Madison, WI.PP. 383-412 Geisler J (1996). Use of steel works salg in Europe, Waste Manage.16:59-63 Jones JB (2001). Laboratory Guides for Conducting Soil Tests and Plant Analysis. CRC Press, Boca Raton. FL: 21-160 Kristen M, Erstad KJ (1996). Converter slag as a liming material on organic soils. Norwegan J. Agric. Sci. 10(1): 83-93. Lindsay WL (1979) In Chemical Equilibria in Soil. John Wiley & Sons Inc.,WileyInterscience Eds, New York, pp 4143

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Loeppert RH, Wei LC, Ocampaugh WR .Soil factors influencing the mobilization of iron in calcareous soils. In: Manthey JA, Crowley DE, Luster DG(1994). Biochemistry of Metal Micronutrients in Rhizosphere CRC Press, Boca Raton.Fla,USA,PP.343-360 Mahmood T, Elliot A (2006). A review of secondary sludge reduction technology for the pulp and paper industry. Water Res., 40(11):2093-2112. Marshner H (1995). Mineral Nutrition of Higher Plants. Academic Press, New York. PP. 313-324 Melali A, Shariatmadari H (2008). Application of steel making slag and converter sludge in farm manure enrichment for corn nutrition in green house conditions. J. Sci. & Technol. Agric. & Natur. Resour,11(42(B)): 505-514. Mohammadi Torkashvand A, Sedaghat Hoor Sh (2007). Converter slag as a liming agant in acidic soils. Int. J. Agric. Biol., 9(5):715-720. Morphy J, Riley P (1998) . A modified single solution method for determination of phosphate in natural water.In: Methods of soil analysis, part 2: chemical and microbiological properties . Page EC, Miller R.H, Keeney KD (eds), American Society of Agronomy. Inc. Soil Science. Am. Publisher. Mortvedeth JJ, Cox FR, Shuman LM, Welch RM (1991). Micronutrients in Agriculture. 2nd Ed.,No.4, Book series, Soil Science Society of America, INC, Madison,WI. Mortvedt, J.J., et al. (Eds.) (1991). Micronutrients in Agriculture, No. 4, Soil Science Society of America, Madison, WI. Norvell, W.A. and W.L. Lindsay (1982). Effect of ferric chloride additions on the solubility of ferric iron a near-neutral soil. J. Pl. Nutr., 5:128595 ORourke JA, Charlson DV, Gonzalez Do, Vokin LO, Graham MA, Cianzio SR, Grasak MA,Shoemaker RC (2007). Microarray analysis of iron deficiency chlorosis in near-isogenic soobean lines. BMC Genomics.8:476 Parkpian P (1983). The potential of iron waste by-products as an iron fertilizer in alkaline soil. Texas AM University Press. Rhoads JD (1996). Salinity: Electrical conductivity and total dissolved solids. In Methods of Soil Analysis. Part 3.Chemical Methods; Sparks DL, ED.; Soil Society of America: Madison, WI, 417-435 Shariatmadari H, Rezainejad Y, Abdi A, Mahmoodabadi A, Karami M (2008). Effect of converter sludge and slag of Isfahan Iron Melting factory on corn yield and some heavy metal uptake in a calcareous soil. J. Sci & Technol. Agric. & Natur. Resour.12: 667-681. Shen H, Forssberg E (2003). An overwiew of recovery of metals from slags. Waste Manage.23:933-949 Subramanian S, Copalswamy A (1990). Inflence of silicate and phosphate materials on availability and uptake of silicon and phosphorous in acid soils..Oryaza, 27:267-273. Torkashvand M , Sedaghat Hoor Sh (2007). Converter slag as a liming agent in the amelioration of acidic soils. International Journal of Agriculture & Biology. 5:715-720 Torkashvand MA, Kalbasi M, Shariatmadari H (2005). Effects of converter slag on some chemical characteristics of acid soils. J. Sci. & Technol. Agric. & Natur. Resour,8:55-62. Wallace, A. (1991). Rational approaches to control of iron deficiency other than plant breeding and choice of resistant cultivars. Plant and Soil. 130: 281-288. Wang X, Sheng Q (2006). steel slag as an iron fertilizer for corn growth and soil improvement in a pot experiment. Pedosphere, 16(4):519-524.

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Using Fuzzy Clustering Algorithms to Describe the Distribution of Trace Elements in Arable Calcareous Soils
M.Nourzadeh1, S.M.Hashemy2, J.A.R.Martin3, H.A.Bahrami1, S.Moshahsaei1
1 2

Soil Science Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran Hydraulic Structures Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran 3 CIFOR - INIA, Ctra. A Corun~a 7.5 km., 28040 Madrid, Spain Abstract Trace elements accumulation in arable soils is an important global hazard worldwide. In this research, the available content of Zn, Fe, B, Co, Cu, Mn, and Mo and other soil parameters (pH, organic carbon content, carbonates and electrical conductivity) were analysed in northwest Iran. Concentration levels were relatively low in areas with high pH values and low organic matter content, and only the Mo value exceeded the reference threshold. Based on the correlation among the elements, two datasets were produced. The first dataset consisting of Fe and Mn data, while the second contained Zn, B, Co, Cu, and Mo data. Two fuzzy clustering approaches, Fuzzy C-Means (FCM) and GustafsonKessel (GK), were applied for clustering both datasets. Multiple accumulation of trace elements was investigated from the clustering results and then visualised in spatial regionalisation maps. The fuzzy clustering evaluating indices showed that the GK method was more appropriate than FCM for clustering datasets. The results revealed that the first and second datasets were divided into 7 and 6 clusters, respectively. Fuzzy Clustering analyses combined with geostatistical methods were used to map the spatial variability of each cluster. This method enabled the monitoring of multiple metal accumulation in large agricultural soils. Keywords: Arable Calcareous Soils, Fuzzy Clustering, global hazard, Trace Elements.

Introduction Nowadays, accumulating trace elements in arable soils, which cause plant pollution, is a dangerous global environmental problem, and may consequently pose health hazards for domestic animals and human health (Khan et al. 2008). All plants and animals need various amounts of zinc (Zn), iron (Fe), boron (B), cobalt (Co), copper (Cu), manganese (Mn) and molybdenum (Mo) for optimum growth and normal metabolic activity. However, excessive concentrations and accumulation of these metals may produce toxic symptoms in plants (Sanchez et al. 2008). Trace elements accumulate in crops or plants, leading to damaged and altered animal or human physiological functions via the food chain. In general, normal agricultural practices cause an enrichment of these elements (Martn et al. 2007). Cultivation methods generate a considerable amount of toxic concentrations of trace metals; for instance, organic and mineral fertilisation, pesticides, irrigation water, etc. However, the contribution of metals from anthropogenic sources to soils can be higher than their contribution from agricultural practices. Entry of trace elements into soil is inevitable, but the influx of trace elements into the human life cycle can be stopped by adopting appropriate management approaches. Countermeasure against the entry of trace elements should be taken at an important stage as this stage is the only possible phase in which trace elements transmission can be controlled. Hence, adopting intelligent approaches to visualise the distribution of trace elements in agriculture areas is vital. Accumulation of trace elements in agriculture soils often occurs as a result of a simultaneous effect of numerous elements. One of the effective methods to investigate the spatial distribution of trace elements in soil and to manage them on a large scale is spatial variability assessment (Franco et al. 2006). Spatial variability assessment can be easily arranged using clustering methods. Clustering is an unsupervised data mining method that enables the investigation of trace elements multiple accumulation. Clustering is capable of extracting homogenous regions based on different trace elements by hard and fuzzy techniques. Given soils natural gradually changing behaviour, it seems that the fuzzy clustering method can interpret trace elements spatial variation better than hard methods (Amini et al. (2005) used the Fuzzy C-Means (FCM) method for grouping data samples in a case study conducted in central Iran.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH The main idea of this research is to assess trace elements concentration in the case study and the extracts locations with trace elements content rather than using standard values. To achieve this goal, the following steps were performed: (i) clustering the data points based on these trace elements as clustering features (e.g., Zn, Fe, B, Co, Cu, Mn, and Mo) in arable soils using the FCM and GK algorithms; and (ii) detecting the most appropriate clustering method. Material and methods Study area, sampling and analytical methods The study area is located in northwest Iran and covers an area of about 19,500 km2. This area has longitudes between 33 59' to 35 48' and latitudes between 47 34 to 49. The mean precipitation in the Hamadan province is around 330 mm per year. The temperature and humidity regime is Mesic and Xeric, respectively. Agriculture is important in the region and fodder farming represents the largest proportion of agriculture in this area (Nourzadeh et al. 2010). Soil samples were collected from 52 farms growing alfalfa (Medicago sativa) between September and October 2009. A total of 213 locations were sampled from 0-30 cm of soil. A global positioning system (GPS) was used to determine the sampling locations. Samples were defined as composite ones comprising 4 samples. Collected sampling points were mixed thoroughly to provide a representative bulked sample of the study area, and were kept at 4C for further laboratory analysis. Statistical analysis Fuzzy c-means (FCM) Algorithm According to FCM, clustering an unlabelled dataset X to a c number of clusters can be performed by minimising an objective function as follows:

J ( X ;U ,V ) = ( i ,k ) m xk vi
i =1 k =1

2 A

(1)

Di2,kA = xk vi A = (xk vi )T A( xk vi ) Since Standard Euclidian norm is used in FCM method, equation 2 is changed into equation 3 2 T Di2,k = xk vi = (xk vi ) ( xk vi )
2

X, U and V are representative of dataset, partition matrix and cluster centres, respectively. Different clustering methods use different distance norms to find out the similarities between objects. General form of distance norm could be defined in the form of Equation 2: (2) (3)

Gustafson-Kessel (GK) Algorithm Employing an adaptive distance norm makes GK method capable enough to extract clusters with different shapes out of a dataset. Distance norm formula is as Equation 4:

Di2,kA = (xk vi ) Ai ( xk vi ),
T

1 i c,

1 k N

(4) (5)

In an iteration process, the GK algorithm tries to minimize the following objective function:

J ( X ;U ,V , A) = ( i ,k )m Di2,kAi
i =1k =1

c N

In comparison with FCM method, just A is added to the objective function. This parameter induces the Mahalanobis norm and is defined as Equation 6:

X : A = F 1

and

F=

Fuzzy clustering validity indices Several fuzzy clustering validity indices have been proposed to statistically evaluate the results of the clustering and finding out optimum number of clusters ( c ). PC (partition coefficient), CE (classification entropy), SC (partition index), S (separation index) and XB (Xie and Beni's index)

1 N T (xk x )(xk x ) N 1 k =1

(6)

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH cluster validity indices are applied for clustering results of this research to find an optimum C. The SC validity measure index determines which fuzzy clustering method is an appropriate method for data clustering. More detailed information about the formula and structure of these validity indices are given in references (Monem and Hashemy 2011). Optimal number of clusters is capable enough to optimize the index value. These indices share a common objective that are find optimal clustering results so that each cluster becomes more compact and more separate from the other clusters in comparison with other non-optimum number of clusters. Results and discussion Statistical summary The descriptive statistics of the observations is provided in Table 1. pH, the soil organic carbon (SOC) percentage, the amount of CaCO3 (mg kg-1), and EC (electrical conductivity) were measured in each soil sample to assess the effect of these parameters on trace elements availability. According to Table 1, the soil pH samples range from 6.5 to 8.3. Due to the presence of a high percentage of carbonate material in some parts of the case study, the pH value is predominantly basic, with a mean of 7.59. Soil pH significantly affects mobility and retention, and cationic elements are inclined to become more mobile with a lower pH. Agricultural soil presented low organic carbon content. The average SOC content in the study area was 0.98%, somewhere between 0.02% and 3.40%. Organic carbon enhances soils binding capacity for metals. Table 1. Summary statistics of some soil properties and of trace elements concentrations (n=213)
variablea Min Max Mean 7.59 0.98 18.64 1.23 4.88 1.71 1.30 8.42 1.56 1.33 0.64 SD CV (%) 3.03 51.02 49.52 99.18 64.54 81.87 61.53 53.56 81.41 83.48 79.54 pH SOC(%) 6.50 0.02 1.00 0.34 0.96 0.12 0.24 0.72 0.10 0.12 0.03 8.30 3.40 45.54 10.20 27.60 8.68 10.20 30.72 7.70 7.00 5.50 0.23 0.50 9.23 1.22 3.15 1.40 0.80 4.51 1.27 1.11 0.35

In order to determine the significant relationship between the metals under study, we did a correlation analysis. Many of the correlation coefficients are significant (Table 2), and there is a stronger correlation between Fe and Mn with r2 = 0.596 and between Fe and Cu with r2 = 0.488. This means that Fe and Mn elements display similar sources and chemical behaviour in soil, indicating lithogenic control over Fe distribution. pH is a factor that essentially affects cation mobility and regulates the solubility of trace elements in soil. Most metals are normally available at an acid pH, except B (Table 2). Boron availability is favoured by an alkaline pH and tends to accumulate in calcareous soils. Boron is a metalloid that is concentrated in borate minerals and, according to Table 2, it was the only element that negatively correlated with the carbonates (r2 = -0.556). Elemental B is not found naturally, but B is an ultra trace element in animals. Although the nature of its role in animal physiology is unknown, borates exhibit low toxicity in biology. In this alkaline soil, pH negatively correlates only with Co and Zn. Those correlations between pH and trace elements content in alkaline soils are usually significant, but are not that high (Nourzadeh et al. 2011).

CaCO3(mg kg-1) EC(dS m-1) Fe(mg kg-1) Zn(mg kg-1) Cu(mg kg-1) Mn(mg kg-1) B(mg kg-1) Co(mg kg-1) Mo(mg kg-1)

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Table 2. Correlation between trace elements concentration
Metal Fe Zn Cu Mn B Co Mo SOC 0.312** -0.010 0.274** 0.154* 0.145* 0.021 0.016 pH -0.011 -0.203* 0.020 -0.063 0.410** -0.242** 0.110 CaCO3 -0.187* -0.019 -0.062 -0.163* 0.105 -0.556** 0.095 Fe 0.273** 0.488** 0.596** 0.093 0.318** 0.065 Zn Cu Mn B Co

0.191** 0.225** 0.032 0.203** -0.038

0.297** 0.279** 0.148* 0.028

0.112 0.338** 0.077

-0.142* 0.128*

-0.107

Metals contents are normally greater in soils with high clay and/or SOC contents (Rodrguez Martn et al. 2009) given clay minerals ability to absorb cations. There is a significant correlation between SOC and Fe (r2 = 0.312) and Cu (r2 = 0.274). Humic substances in organic soil act as strong complexing and reducing agents, and also influence this processes by controlling the mobilisation of many toxic metals. Fuzzy clustering Since there is no acceptable correlation between all elements, different combination of elements are considered and assessed. Then, combination with higher correlation among elements are chosen. According to the results, the dataset was divided into two sub-datasets. The first dataset consists of Fe and Mn and named DS1 and the second, includes Co, Mo, Cu, B, and Zn concentrations and called DS2. FCM and GK algorithms were applied for clustering both datasets and fuzzy clustering validity indices were used simultaneously to find the optimum values of indices and consequently optimum number of clusters. Due to all fuzzy clustering validity indices for DS1, the optimal numbers of clusters for FCM and GK methods were 6 and 7 clusters, respectively. The use of optimum value of SC validity index to determine better clustering approach shows that GK clustering method is more suitable for clustering the DS1 dataset. Fig. 1 depicts how clustering groups the DS1 dataset into clusters with using two different methods. The axes are normalised Fe and Mn values, respectively. Data are shown by dots and the 'o' markers are cluster centres. The FCM method was only able to extract spherical clusters from the dataset, while the GK method recognised clusters with different geometrical shapes.

Fig. 1. The results of the FCM (a) and GK (b) clustering methods for DS1

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Fig. 3. The results of the FCM (a) and GK (b) clustering methods for DS2 The fuzzy clustering validity indices values are assessed for DS2 and optimum number of clusters for the both FCM and GK methods are determined as 6 clusters. Given the SC index results, GK clustering proved to be the better clustering approach for the DS2 dataset compared to the FCM clustering method. Similar to DS1, Fig. 2 shows the circular and elliptical cluster shapes extracted from DS2 using FCM and GK clustering algorithms respectively. It should be mentioned that because DS2 consists of 5 elements, the feature space is 5D, and in order to make it possible to show the clustering results in a 2D plot just 2 features is considered. Acknowledgements The authors thank Professor M.J. Malakouti for their assistance in this project. We are also grateful to the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation for Project: CGL2009-14686-C02-02 and for the CAM Project: P2009/AMB-1648 CARESOIL. References Amini M, Afyuni M, Fathianpour N, Khademi H, Fluhler H.(2005). Continuous soil pollution mapping using fuzzy logic and spatial interpolation. Geoderma 124: 223233. Franco C, Soares A, Delgado J. (2006). Geostatistical modeling of heavy metal contamination in the topsoil of Guadiamar river margins (S. Spain) using a stochastic simulation technique. Geoderma 136: 852-864. Khan S, Cao Q, Zheng YM, Huang YZ, Zhu YG. (2008). Health risks of heavy metals in contaminated soils and food crops irrigated with wastewater in Beijing, China. Environmental Pollution 152: 686-692. Martn JA, Vzquez A, Grau JM, Lpez M. (2007). Factors controlling the spatial variability of copper distribution in topsoils of the North-eastern region of the Iberian Peninsula, Spain. Water, Air, & Soil Pollution 186: 311-321. Monem MJ, Hashemy SM. (2011). Extracting physical homogeneous regions out of irrigation networks using fuzzy clustering method: a case study for the Ghazvin canal irrigation network. Journal of Hydroinformatics 13(4): 652660. doi:10.2166/hydro.2010.058 Nourzadeh M, Khavazi K, Malakuoti MJ, Hashemy SM. (2010). Investigating the efficiency of two GK and C-means methods in copper concentration clustering in agricultural lands (A case study: Hamadan province). Agricultural Engineering (Scientific Journal of Agriculture), (In Farsi). 33: 61-70. Nourzadeh M, Mahdian MH, Malakuoti MJ, Khavazi K. (2011). Investigation and prediction spatial variability of chemical properties at agricultural soil, using geostatistics. Archives of agronomy and soil science (in press, DOI number: 10.1080/03650340.2010.532124). Sanchez ML. 2008. Causes and effects of heavy metal pollution. Nova Science Publishers, Inc. New York.

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Internal Macronutrients Use Efficiency of Wheat Cultivars under Water stress Conditions
M., Rezaei1*, N. Najafi2, S. Zehtab Salmasi3, K. Ghassemi Golezani3 and S, Razzaghi Miavaghi4*
West Azerbaijan Agriculture Research Center , Iran Department of Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tabriz, Iran. 3 Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tabriz, Iran 4 University of ukurova, Adana/ Turkey. bsr.ab55@yahoo.com Corresponding Author:sr.ab55@yahoo.com
2 1

Abstract

Selection of bread wheat genotypes tolerance to water deficit and low nutrient supply may increase productivity on low fertility and moisture soils and reduce fertilizers requirements. Water deficit influences both grain yield and internal nutrient efficiency of bread wheat genotypes. Two field experiments were carried out at the Agriculture Research Station of Miandoab in West Azerbaijan of Iran during 2007 - 08 and 2008 - 09 in order to investigate the effects of water supply (irrigation after I1=70, I2=100, I3=130 and I4=160 mm evaporation from Class-A pan) on grain yield and nutrient internal efficiency of nutrient in 10 winter wheat genotypes (Zarrin, Alvand, Shahryar, Sardari, C-80-4, C-81-10, C-81-4, C-83-3, Zare and Pishgam). Grain yield, internal efficiency of N, P, K and Mg and nutrient harvest index of K, Ca and Mg in all genotypes decreased, but Ca internal efficiency and N harvest index increased as water supply limited. High grain yield and internal macronutrients efficiency under severe water deficit were obtained for C-81-10, Zare and Pishgam genotypes. Keywords: Grain yield, internal efficiency, nutrient uptake, water deficit, wheat genotypes.

Introduction Bread wheat is the most widely grown cereal grain that occupying 65% (6.5 million hectares in 2010) of the total crop cultivated land in Iran. Wheat is planted on about 100 million hectares in the developing world, excluding the countries of Central Asia and the Caucasus. Crop production in arid and semi-arid regions is most limited by water deficit. In most parts of Iran, limited precipitation is confined mainly to cold and winter seasons and can not be directly used by plants (Ghamarnia and Gowing 2005). Therefore shortage of water resources has become the major limiting factor for wheat production (Nasseri and Fallahi 2007). Yield and yield components of wheat are influenced by several factors such as water stress and cultivar (Emam et al. 2007, Tayyar and Gul 2008). The nutrient internal use efficiency is defined as amount of grain yield produced per unit of nutrient taken up by the plant (Yang et al. 2003, Naklang et al. 2006). The nutrient internal efficiency is closely related to nutrient utilization and incorporation efficiency in the plant and depends on both the potential of plant productivity and all the factors related to plant nutrition processes (absorption, transport, metabolism, distribution) on plant growth (Wilson et al. 2004). For instance, the internal efficiencies of N, P and K in lowland rice grain production were 69, 345, and 71, respectively (Inthapanya et al. 2000). In another experiment, the internal use efficiency of N, P, and K in rice were 41, 87, and 37, respectively (Zhao et al. 2011). The P internal use efficiency in maize and sorghum was as high as 625 and 1000, respectively (Baligar et al. 2001), while the K internal use efficiency could be as high as 357 in tomatos (Wilson et al. 2004). However, relatively little is known about the internal use efficiency of macronutrients in wheat genotypes in Iran. Thus, this research was carried out to evaluate grain yield and internal macronutrient efficiency in 10 bread wheat cultivars under different watering conditions. Materials and Methods Field studies were carried out during 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 at the Agricultural Research Station of Miandoab, in West Azerbaijan province, Iran (46 3 E, 36 58 N, altitude 1142 m asl). The most important soil and irrigation water characteristics are shown in Table 1 and 2 (Page et al. 1982 and Gupta, 2000). The soil was alkaline (pH of 8.0), calcareous (11.4% lime) and non-saline (ECse of 0.81 dSm-1). Treatments were arranged as split plot experiment with RCB design in four

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH replications. The main plots were assigned to irrigation intervals (irrigation after I1=70, I2=100, I3=130 and I4=160 mm evaporation from class - A pan) and sub-plots were allocated for bread wheat genotypes (Zarrin, Alvand, Shahryar, Sardari, C-80-4, C-81-10, C-81-4, C-83-3, Zare and Pishgam). Each plot consisted of six rows of 4 m long and 20 cm apart. All plots received 25 kg ha-1 urea, 15 kg ha-1 ZnSO4.7H2O, 85 kg ha-1 KH2PO4, 100 kg ha-1 (NH4)2HPO4 before sowing and 140 kg ha-1 urea at tillering and pre-anthesis on the basis of soil analysis (Malakouti, 2000). Wheat seeds were sown on 6 October 2007 and 2008. All plots were irrigated to increase the soil moisture up to the field capacity. Irrigation intervals were regulated according to the irrigation treatments. At maturity, 20 plants from the four middle rows next to guard rows were harvested and grain and shoot macronutrients concentrations (N, K, P, Ca and Mg) were measured according to Gupta (2000) and Kalra and Maynard (1991). The macronutrients uptake was calculated by multiplying the dry matter with nutrients concentration and expressed in kg ha1. Internal efficiency of nutrient (IEX) was calculated according to Naklang et al (2006): Internal use efficiency (Kg kg-1) = GY/UX. Where X is one of the five macronutrients of N, P, K, Ca and Mg, GY is the observed grain yield (kg ha1) and UX is the aboveground plant nutrient uptake (kg ha1). Nutrient harvest index (XHI) was calculated as grain nutrient/total above ground nutrient content, where X is one of the five macronutrients of N, P, K, Ca and Mg (Naklang et al. 2006). In both years, plots were harvested with a small-plot combine in mid-July. The combined analysis of variance of the data was carried out by using SPSS soft-ware. Means were compared by Duncan's multiple range test at P0.05. Excel software was used to draw figures. Results The grain yield and N, P, K, Ca and Mg concentrations were significantly affected by irrigation regimes and genotypes (P0.01). water deficit led to reduction in the uptake of N, P and Ca by an average of 33, 42 and 55%, respectively (Figures 5a, 5b and 5d). However, the uptake of K and Mg by plant until under I3 treatment increased by an average of 10 and 28% respectively (Figures 5c and 5e). The interaction of irrigation genotypes for N, P, K, Ca and Mg uptake was significant (P0.01). The harvest index of nutrients was affected by irrigation regimes and genotypes (P0.01). The K and Mg harvest index were decreased, as the severity of water deficit increased. In contrast, the N harvest index increased by increasing water limitation. The highest N, P, K, Ca and Mg harvest indices were observed for C-81-10, C-83-3, Alvand and Shahryar cultivars under wellwatering, respectively (Table 4). While, the highest N, P and K harvest indices were observed for Pishgam, Zare and C-81-10 cultivars respectively. In contrast, Shahryar had the most Ca and Mg harvest index under severe water deficit (Table 4). Water limitation decreased K, Ca and Mg harvest index by an average of 38, 6 and 54%, respectively, but N harvest index increased by an average of 15%. The internal efficiency of macronutrients was affected by irrigation regimes and genotypes (P0.01). Under I1 treatment, the highest internal efficiencies of N (33.1 kg/kg), P (433.2 kg/kg), K (41.9 kg/kg), Ca (609.6 kg/kg) and Mg (150.2 kg/kg) were observed in Alvand, Zare, C-80-4, Shahryar and Pishgam cultivars, respectively (Table 4). Under water deficit conditions, the highest internal efficiency of N was observed in C-81-10, Zare and Peshgam cultivars, and of P and K in C-81-4 and Sardari cultivars, respectively; while, Shahryar cultivar had the highest Ca and Mg internal efficiency (Table 4). The N, P, K and Mg internal efficiency reduced under water deficit conditions by an average of 20, 2, 31 and 41%, respectively, while Ca internal efficiency under I4 than that under other irrigation treatments (Table 4). Discussion Nutrient uptake is an important phenomenon which affects plant growth and there is a pronounced effect of soil moisture on plant uptake of nutrients by the plant (Havlin et al. 2006). By increasing water limitation, the N, P and Ca uptake was more decreased in drought susceptible genotypes (Zarrin, Alvand and Shahryar). This decrease in the N, P and Ca uptake may be due to the reduction in these nutrients concentrations and plant yield under drought conditions. Yasin Ashraf et al. (1998) suggested that the reduction in N and P concentrations in the wheat may be due to the reduced rate of N and P uptake during drought stress. On the other hand, the K and Mg uptake in all genotypes increased under drought conditions, but the effect was more marked in drought tolerant genotypes (Pishgam, Zare and C-81-10) (Figures 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10). This increase can be
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH related to increased concentrations of these nutrients in wheat genotypes under drought stress. K plays a key role in osmotic adjustment under water stress conditions and the genotypes with higher K content showed better adaptability to water deficit and produced higher grain yield (Yasin Ashraf et al. 1992). The internal use efficiency and harvest index of macronutrients were affected by irrigation treatments and wheat genotypes. Under a low water supply only, the efficiency characteristics were found to correlate with the tolerance level, and the most tolerant genotypes tended to have more grain yield with higher internal use efficiency and nutrient harvest index (Table 4). As a consequence, N, P, K and Mg internal efficiency and K, Ca and Mg harvest index in all genotypes reduced under water deficit. However, the means of internal nutrient use efficiency of susceptible genotypes of Zarrin, Alvand and C-80-4 under water stress were lower than tolerant genotypes of Pishgam, Zare and C-81-10 (N and P about 15 to 18%, K, Ca and Mg about 14%)(Table 4). Thus, depending on the macronutrient, drought susceptible varieties need to take up about 14- 18% more nutrients to achieve the same grain yield than drought tolerant genotypes.
Table 1. Soil characteristics of the experimental site. OC CCE Total N SP Clay Sand Texture Available nutrients (mg/kg) EC Class (dS/m) (%) P K Fe Mn Zn Cu 0.81 0.83 11.4 0.12 33 26 16 Silt 11.2 250 6.24 7.17 0.74 2.44 OC: Organic Carbon, CCE: Calcium carbonate equivalent, SP: Saturation percentage. Table 2. Characteristics of irrigation water. HCO3Cl Ca CO3-2 (meq /L) 0 8.4 11.1 4.8

pH 8

pH 7.6

EC (dS/m) 1.8

Mg 5.2

Na 10.8

Table 3. Means of grain yield and nutrients uptake of wheat genotypes.

Treatments
Irrigation 70 100 130 160 Zarrin Alvand Shahryar Sardari C-80-4 C-81-10 C-81-4 C-83-3 Zare Peshgam irrigation Genotypes Grain yield (kg/ha) 5873 5115 4053 3404 4843 4605 4338 2873 4866 5025 4755 4614 4944 5246 224.4 238.5 234 202 208 157 210 197 194 132 222 210 217 203 196 209 12.89 17.21 16.68 14.05 11.90 9.60 13.34 13.31 13.37 9.0 13.50 13.09 13.19 13.56 13.34 14.84 0.83 1.14 N P K (kg/ha) 149 155 166 122 158 149 152 85 140 163 159 148 166 161 10.33 14.68 16.68 14.66 11.89 7.45 15.29 13.42 8.43 10.96 12.72 15.37 11.50 8.99 14.50 15.52 0.92 1.73 43.74 44.54 61.01 46.75 47.46 46.43 42.32 43.64 52.70 51.35 51.17 42.18 57.57 55.29 3.37 6.01 Ca Mg

Genotypes

LSD at 5%

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Irrigation treatments 70

Table 4. Means of nutrient harvest index and nutrient internal efficiency of wheat genotypes
Genotype s Zarrin Alvand Shahryar Sardari C-80-4 C-81-10 C-81-4 C-83-3 Zare Peshgam Mean Zarrin Alvand Shahryar Sardari C-80-4 C-81-10 C-81-4 C-83-3 Zare Peshgam Mean Zarrin Alvand Shahryar Sardari C-80-4 C-81-10 C-81-4 C-83-3 Zare Peshgam Mean Zarrin Alvand Shahryar Sardari C-80-4 C-81-10 C-81-4 C-83-3 Zare Peshgam Mean Zarrin Alvand Shahryar Sardaei C-80-4 C-81-10 C-81-4 C-83-3 Zare Peshgam Irrigation Genotype IG N 52.3 53.1 58.7 57.4 52.1 65.2 43.0 56.6 60.4 62.1 56.1 59.1 56.1 63.9 57.4 57.0 62.9 48.5 59.8 66.5 70.4 60.2 57.8 58.4 55.5 56.5 61.1 64.8 53.4 64.7 66.9 66.5 60.5 68.8 60.4 61.0 61.3 62.4 70.1 67.6 69.5 67.6 71.4 66.0 59.5 57.0 59.8 58.1 58.2 65.8 53.1 62.7 65.3 67.6 0.04 0.04 0.07 Harvest index (%) P K Ca 82.9 21.6 37.6 87.9 26.1 41.0 89.6 26.2 28.6 75.1 23.4 21.9 83.4 30.1 12.8 82.9 21.9 39.7 86.7 19.2 14.1 89.6 26.4 19.8 86.4 19.0 35.8 86.8 23.6 27.2 85.1 23.8 27.8 21.5 22.8 19.5 19.9 19.9 19.1 16.9 18.3 19.5 22.5 20.0 14.3 9.6 11.8 17.2 13.5 16.6 16.3 11.6 15.2 19.6 14.6 11.0 11.6 13.6 15.4 12.6 19.1 12.6 11.1 15.2 17.0 13.9 17.1 17.5 17.8 19.0 19.0 19.2 16.3 16.8 17.3 20.7 0.03 0.02 0.03 32.5 33.1 13.9 17.7 14.8 18.5 14.6 15.2 40.9 23.1 22.4 30.1 34.2 19.6 1.0 24.7 15.3 14.9 16.5 26.0 40.2 23.2 38.8 12.5 47.0 10.4 13.1 39.5 21.5 36.2 18.6 22.5 26.0 34.8 30.2 27.3 15.0 16.3 28.2 16.3 21.9 30.3 28.3 0.02 0.04 0.07 Mg 30.4 32.6 33.1 28.0 27.9 29.1 27.4 30.6 28.9 29.8 29.8 28.9 31.5 22.8 19.5 21.9 28.3 23.7 22.1 25.5 24.1 24.8 13.5 11.1 16.6 9.7 13.8 16.6 12.2 17.0 12.2 14.5 13.7 10.7 11.6 26.2 6.7 10.5 16.8 15.0 14.0 12.4 13.0 13.7 20.9 21.7 24.7 16.0 18.5 22.7 19.6 20.9 19.8 20.3 0.02 0.03 0.05 N 29.6 33.1 27.4 24.0 24.2 23.9 26.4 23.0 28.0 26.8 26.7 25.5 25.6 25.7 24.8 26.1 25.6 25.2 26.6 27.0 27.0 25.9 17.9 17.8 19.1 19.7 19.7 23.2 17.7 21.2 22.7 23.8 20.3 20.8 19.8 18.9 20.9 20.6 24.8 22.9 20.9 24.8 24.6 21.9 23.5 24.1 22.8 22.4 22.7 24.4 23.0 22.9 25.6 25.6 1.3 1.9 3.9 Internal efficiency (kg/kg) P K Ca 359.3 38.5 366.4 346.1 41.5 435.0 304.6 41.6 609.6 302.6 41.4 544.5 351.4 48.1 477.9 392.3 38.8 340.0 379.9 38.2 343.1 353.2 41.6 456.9 433.2 35.9 301.0 379.7 41.9 380.0 360.2 40.7 425.5 32.0 36.1 30.9 34.8 39.3 30.8 33.1 32.5 34.9 40.0 34.4 25.6 22.3 21.4 31.3 26.8 26.4 25.7 26.3 24.3 25.4 25.5 26.1 24.0 24.4 31.7 28.7 30.7 30.0 26.1 27.8 31.0 28.1 30.5 31.0 29.6 34.8 35.7 31.7 31.7 31.6 30.8 34.5 3.5 3.0 5.9 311.9 364.4 472.9 347.2 455.3 426.8 514.1 574.4 361.2 377.9 420.6 371.3 316.5 819.8 265.1 332.4 423.5 472.3 725.9 386.0 282.4 439.5 484.5 666.3 827.1 304.2 413.9 359.7 776.1 767.7 541.9 462.1 560.3 383.5 445.5 682.3 365.2 419.9 387.5 526.4 631.2 397.5 375.6 50.3 67.6 135.3 Mg 136.2 144.0 140.4 137.8 141.7 130.6 130.8 143.9 129.2 150.2 138.5 149.7 146.8 107.1 102.0 119.0 121.8 116.1 128.5 125.9 125.4 124.2 74.7 66.6 81.7 52.5 78.3 73.6 62.9 86.9 58.0 78.2 71.3 76.7 68.8 155.5 44.2 66.9 86.7 85.4 91.3 66.8 70.0 81.2 109.3 106.5 121.2 84.1 101.5 103.2 98.8 112.7 95.0 106.0 11.5 15.17 30.33

100

84.2 86.6 87.4 80.9 89.9 84.9 88.1 86.9 92.7 84.9 86.6 83.5 82.0 83.0 78.0 83.1 89.1 77.8 89.2 88.8 91.1 84.5 76.4 76.1 84.4 84.5 81.6 91.3 87.6 88.3 93.1 91.3 85.5 81.7 83.2 86.1 79.6 84.5 87.0 85.1 88.5 90.3 88.5 0.02 0.02 0.04

384.9 379.3 362.8 341.3 397.4 553.2 361.6 302.9 379.1 386.8 385.0 355.5 334.0 367.7 307.3 338.7 345.0 338.3 358.1 360.2 320.6 342.6 332.5 318.5 349.8 357.2 355.1 371.4 382.4 371.2 338.9 340.1 351.7 358.1 344.5 346.2 327.3 360.7 415.5 365.5 346.4 377.8 356.8 33.2 39.1 78.2

130

160

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7000 6000 5000 4000 3000 2000 100 150 200 N uptake (kg/ha) 250 300

a)

I1 I2 I3 I4

7000 6000 5000 4000 3000 2000 4 6 8 10

b)

I1 I2 I3 I4

12

14

16

18

20

22

P uptake (kg/ha)

7000 6000 5000 4000 3000 2000 50 80

c)

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7000 6000 5000 4000 3000 2000

d)

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110

140

170

200

230

1 1 1 0 2 4

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K uptake (kg/ha)

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7000 6000 5000 4000 3000 2000 1 5 25

e)

I1 I2 I3 I4

35

45

55

65

75

85

M g upta ke (kg/ha )

Figure 5. Relationship between grain yield and accumulation of N, P, K, Ca and Mg in total aboveground plant drymatter in bread wheat genotypes under different irrigation treatment

References Baligar, V.C., Fageria N.K., He Z.L., (2001). Nutrient use efficiency in plants. Commun. Soil Sci. Plant Anal. 32 (7 & 8): 921-950. Emam, Y., Ranjbar, A. M., Bahrani, M. J,.(2007). Evaluation of yield and yield components in wheat genotypes under post - anthesis drought stress. J. Sci. Technol. Agric. Natur. Resour., 11: 328-333. Ghmarina, H., Gowing, J.W., (2005). Effect of water stress on three wheat cultivars. Proceeding of the ICID 21th European Regional Conference, May 15-19, Frankfurt (Oder) and SlubicGermany and Poland, pp: 1-4. Gupta, P. K., (2000). Soil, plant, water, and fertilizer analysis. Agrobios, New Dehli, India. Havlin, J.L., Beaton, J.D., Tisdale, S.L., Nelson, W.L., (2006). Soil Fertility and Fertilizers. An Introduction to Nutrient Management. Seventh Edition, Prentice Hall of India, New Delhi, India.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Inthapanya, P.S., Sihavongb P., Sihathepc V., Chanphengsayd M., Fukai S., Basnayakee J., (2000). Genotype differences in nutrient uptake and utilisation for grain yield production of rainfed lowland rice under fertilised and non-fertilised conditions. Field Crops Research, 65: 5768. Kalra, Y.P., Maynard, D.G., (1991). Methods manual for forest soil and plant analysis. Forestry Canada. Kidambi, S. P., Matches, A. G., Bolger, T. P., (1990). Mineral concentration in alfalfa and sainfoin as influenced by soil moisture level. Agron. J., 82: 229-236. Malakouti, M.J., (2000). Balanced Nutrition of Wheat: An Approach toward Self-Sufficiency and Enhancement of National Health. Ministry of Agriculture, Agricultural Publisher Center, Karaj, Iran. (In Persian). Naklang, K., Harnpichitvitaya, D., Amarante, S.T., Wade, L.J., Haefele, S.M., (2006). Internal efficiency, nutrient uptake, and the relation to field water resources in rainfed lowland rice of northeast Thailand. Plant Soil, 286: 193-208. Nasseri, A., Fallahi, H. A., (2007). Water use efficiency of winter wheat under deficit irrigation. J. Bio. Sci., 7: 19-26. Page, A.L., Miller, R.H., Keeney, D.R., (1982). Methods of Soil Analysis; Part 2. Chemical and Microbiological Properties. ASA-CSSA-SSSA Publisher, Madison, Wisconsin, USA. Tayyar, S., Gul, M. K., (2008). Evaluation of 12 bread wheat varietes for seed yield and som some chemical properties grown in North north western Turkey. Asian J. Chem., 20: 37153725. Wilson, M.J., He, Z., Yang X., (2004). The Red Soils of China: Their Nature, Management, and Utilization. Springer, 400 Pages. Yang, X.E., Liu, J.X., Wang, W.M., Li, H., Luo, A. C., Ye, Z.Q., Yang, Y., (2003). Genotypic differences and some associated plant traits in potassium internal use efficiency of lowland rice (Oryza sativa L.) ,Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems, 67: 273282. Yasin Ashraf, M., Ala, S.A., Saeed Bhatti, A., (1998). Nutritional imbalance in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) genotypes grown at soil water stress. Acta. Physiol. Plant., 20: 307- 310. Yasin Ashraf, M., Khan, A.H., Azmi, A.R., (1992). Cell membrane stability and its relation with some physiological processes in wheat. Acta Agron. Hung., 41: 183- 191. Zhao, L., Wu, L., Wu, M., Li, Y., (2011). Nutrient uptake and water use efficiency as affected by modified rice cultivation methods with reduced irrigation. Paddy Water Environ 9: 25-32.

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Micronutrients Uptake and Distribution by Bread Wheat Genotypes under Water Deficit
Mohammad Rezaei1a, Somayyeh Razzaghi Miavaghi2 b
Agriculture Research Center of West Azerbaijan, Urmia, Iran. aRezaei54@yahoo.com University of ukurova, Adana/ Turkey. bsr.ab55@yahoo.com Corresponding Author:sr.ab55@yahoo.com
2 1

Water deficit is an environmental factor that may influence grain yield and nutrient uptake of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of water deficit on grain yield, straw yield and micronutrient content of bread wheat genotypes. Two field experiments were conducted at the Agriculture Research Station of Miandoab in West Azerbayjan during 2007-08 and 2008-09 to examine the effects of water supply (irrigation after I1=70, I2=100, I3=130 and I4=160 mm evaporation from Class-A pan) on micronutrients concentrations, grain yield and straw yield in 10 winter wheat genotypes (Zarrin, Alvand, Shahryar, Sardari, C-80-4, C-81-10, C-81-4, C-83-3, Zare and Peshgam). Irrigation and genotypes showed significant differences in grain yield, straw yield and micronutrients concentrations. Grain yield, straw yield and grain micronutrients concentrations (Fe and Zn) in all genotypes decreased with decreasing water availability. Micronutrients such as Fe and Zn in shoots decreased as water supply limited, But Mn concentration of grain and straw was not or only little affected by water stress. Keywords: Grain yield, micronutrient, straw yield, water deficit, wheat genotypes.

Abstract

Introduction Crop production in arid and semi - arid arias is most limited by water deficit. In most parts of Iran, limited precipitation is confined mainly to cold and winter seasons and can not be directly used by plants (Ghamarnia and Gowing, 2005), therefore shortage of water resources has become the major limiting factor for wheat production (Nasseri and Fallahi, 2007). Yield and yield components of wheat are influenced by several factors such as water stress and cultivar (Emam et al, 2007 and Tayyar and Gul, 2008). Drought stress caused the concentration of Fe, Zn, Mn and Cu decrease in corn flag leaf, but increased in seed, because of decrease in seed yield with increasing drought stress. Total absorption of nutrients in seed was decreased ( Rafiee et al, 2004). Ortiz Monasterio and Graham (2000) indicated that Fe and Zn were not significantly affected by the dilution effect. Several studies have related grain mineral composition to grain protein content in wheat, and significant correlations have been found between protein content and the concentrations of Zn, Fe and Cu present in the grain (Lorens and loewe, 1977 and Dikeman et al, 1982). This research was carried out to evaluate micronutrient uptake, grain yield and straw production in ten bread wheat cultivars under different watering conditions. Contents of N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Mn, Cu and Zn declined in all sugar beet genotypes under water deficiency, but the intensity of reduction varied among the genotypes (Maksimovic et al, 2003). A positive relation between grain Fe and Zn contents was reported by Graham et al (1999) and Garvin et al (2006). According to Graham et al (1999) phosphorus and Mg in the grains are mainly found in phytate and their consistent correlation with Zn suggests that high grain Zn may be associated with high phytate in wheat. Zubaidi et al (1999) reported that Plants were marginally deficient or deficient in N, P and Zn, but boron concentrations were high under drought stress condition. Compared with bread wheat, durum wheat had a very much higher concentration of sodium, higher concentrations of calcium and sulfur, but lower concentrations of potassium, magnesium, manganese and copper. Total amounts of P, Zn and Na in the shoot continued to increase throughout the growing season with significant increases occurring during grain filling, whereas there was little increase in the amount of N, K, B and Mn during grain filling. This research was carried out to evaluate micronutrient uptake, grain and straw yield in ten bread wheat cultivars under different watering conditions. Material and Methods Field studies were carried out during 2007-08 and 2008-09 in the Agricultural Research Station of Miandoab, in west Azarbayjan province, Iran (463E, 3658N, altitude 1142 m a.s.l). The soil

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH texture was silty with low EC (0.81 dSm-1) and pH of 8.0. The Most important soil characteristics are shown in Table 1. Table 1. Soil and water characterization of the experimental site
Soil pH 8 Water pH 7.6 EC (dS/m) 0.81 EC (dS/m) 1.8
(mg kg-1)

(mg kg-1)

(mg kg-1)

Fe

(mg kg-1)

Mn

(mg kg-1)

Zn

(meq L-1)

11.2 CO3-2 0

(meq L-1)

250 HCO38.4

(meq L-1)

6.24 Cl

(meq L-1)

7.17 Ca 4.8

(meq L-1)

0.74 Mg 5.2

(meq L-1)

Na

11.1

10.8

Treatments were arranged as split plot experiment with RCB design in four replications. The main plots were assigned to irrigation intervals (irrigation after I1=70, I2=100, I3=130 and I4=160 mm evaporation from class-A pan) and sub-plots were allocated for bread wheat genotypes (Zarrin, Alvand, Shahryar, Sardari, C-80-4, C-81-10, C-81-4, C-83-3, Zare and Peshgam). Each plot consisted of six rows of 4 m long and 20 cm apart. All plots received 25 kg ha-1 urea (46%N), 15 kg ha-1 ZnSO4.7H2O, 85 kg ha-1 KH2PO4, 100 kg ha-1 HPO4(NH4)2 before planting and 140 kg ha-1 urea at tillering and pre-anthesis. Wheat seeds were sown on 6 October 2007 and 2008. All plots were irrigated equally to increase the soil moisture up to the field capacity. Irrigation intervals were regulated according to the irrigation treatments. At maturity, 20 plants from the four middle rows next to guard rows were harvested and grain and shoot macronutrients ( Fe, Zn, Mn ) were measured Gupta (2000) and Kalra and Maynard (1991). In both years, plots were harvested with a small-plot combine in mid-July. The combined analysis of variance of the data was carried out, using SAS and SPSS softwares. Excel software was used to draw figures. Result Grain yield was significantly affected by irrigation regimes and genotypes (P0.01). Grain yield per unit area decreased with decreasing water availability. The values ranged from 5873 kg ha-1 in I1 to 3403 kg ha-1 in I4 (Table 2). In this study, Peshgam with 4843 kg ha-1 and Sardari with 2873 kg ha-1 had the highest and the lowest grain yield respectively. The interaction of irrigation genotypes for grain yield was also significant (P0.01). The highest grain yield per unit area was obtained for Zarrin (6950 kg ha-1) under well-watering and for Peshgam (4422 kg ha-1) under severe water deficit (Figure 1).
I1 10000 8500
-1 Straw yield (kg ha )

I2 I3 I4

7000 5500 4000 2500 1000 G1 G2 G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 G8 G9 G10 Wheat genot ypes

Figure 1. Mean grain yield of wheat genotypes under irrigation treatments.

Grain micronutrients were significantly affected by irrigation regimes and genotypes (P0.01). The interaction of irrigation genotypes for grain micronutrients was also significant (P0.01). Fe, Zn contents of grains decreased with decreasing water supply, while Mn increased under severe water deficit (Figure 2c). (Table 2). Water limitation led to an increase in grain Mn contents by an average of 8%, while concentrations of Fe and Zn in grains decreased by an average of 7% and 14%, respectively. In this study, the highest concentrations of Fe, Zn in grains were observed in C81-10 with 54.20 mg kg-1 Fe, 40.37 mg kg-1 Zn but Zarrin with 72.77 mg kg-1 had the highest

245

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH concentration of Mn (Table 2). The highest grain Fe and Zn contents were observed under I1 and I4 for C-81-10 genotype (Figure 2a, 2b), but the highest Mn was observed under I2 and I3 for Zarrin genotype (Figure 2c). Straw yield was significantly affected by irrigation regimes and genotypes (P0.01). Water limitation resulted in lower straw yield, compared with well-watering. The values ranged from 6914 kg ha-1 under I1 to 5022 kg ha-1 under I4 (Table 3). Sardari with 3763 kg ha-1 and C-80-4 with 6619 kg ha-1 and had the lowest and the highest yields, respectively (Table 3). The interaction of irrigation genotypes for grain yield was also significant (P0.05). The highest straw yield was observed for Zarrin (7863 kg ha-1) under well-watering and for Sharyar (5515 kg ha-1) under severe water deficit (Figure 3).
75 G in F c n e tra n ( m k -1 ) ra e o c n tio g g 65 55 45 35 25 15 G1 G2 G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 G8 G9 G10 Wheat genot ypes
60 G inZ c n e tra n( m k -1 ) ra n o c n tio g g 50 40 30 20 10 0 G1 G2 G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 G8 G9 G10

I1

a)

I2 I3 I4

b)

I1 I2 I3 I4

Wheat genot ypes

90 G in M c n e tra n ( m k -1 ) ra n o c n tio g g 80 70 60 50 40 30 G1 G2 G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 G8 G9 G10 Wheat genot ypes

c)

I1 I2 I3 I4

Figure 2. grain micronutrient concentrations of wheat genotypes under irrigation regimes.

I1 10000 8500
-1 S trawyield (kg ha )

I2 I3 I4

7000 5500 4000 2500 1000 G1 G2 G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 G8 G9 G10 Wheat genot ypes

Figure 3. Mean straw yield of wheat genotypes under irrigation treatments

246

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Irrigation treatment and genotypes had significant effects on micronutrients in straw (P0.01). Straw Fe and Zn contents decreased due to water deficit, but Mn concentration under I3 and I4 was higher than those under other irrigation treatments. The highest straw micronutrients were observed in Sardari with 123.3 mg kg-1 Fe, 53.53 mg kg-1 Mn and Zarrin with 11.13 mg kg-1 Zn (Table 3). The interactive effect of irrigation and genotypes on straw micronutrients was also significant (P0.01). Sardari with 150.5.1 mg kg-1 Fe and 59.91.764 mg kg-1 Mn under I1 and I2, Zarrin with 19.39 mg kg-1 Zn under I1 water regime were superior genotypes (Figure 4). Water deficit led to reductions in straw Fe and Zn contents by an average of 5%, 31% respectively. However, concentrations of Mn increased by an average 9% under water deficit (Table 3).
180 S wF c n e tra n( m k -1 ) tra e o c n tio g g 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 G1 G2 G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 G8 G9 G10

a)

I1 I2 I3 I4

Wheat genot ypes

21 S trawZn concentration ( m kg -1 ) g 18 15 12 9 6 3 0 G1 G2

b)

I1 I2 I3 I4

G3

G4

G5

G6

G7

G8

G9

G10

Wheat genot ypes

70 S trawM concentration ( m kg-1 ) n g 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 G1 G2 G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 G8 G9 G10 Wheat genot ypes

c)

I1 I2 I3 I4

Figure 4. Straw micronutrient concentrations of wheat genotypes under irrigation regimes

Discussion Straw yields followed the trend of grain yields but were generally more than twice as high and covered a considerable range with decreasing water supply (Table.2 and 3). Clearly, under severe water deficit conditions caused grain yields to drop faster than straw yield, as water limitation decreased grain yield and straw yield by an average of 43% and 20%, respectively. Peshgam, Zare and C-81-10 are superior cultivar under water deficit conditions (Figure 1). A positive relation was also observed between concentrations of Fe, Zn and Mn in grain and grain yield of C-81-10 and Peshgam under water stress that could be due to increased remobilization of stored pre-anthesis assimilates and macronutrients. There was also a positive relation between grain Fe and Zn contents that may reflect common transport mechanisms to the grain. Similar relation between grain Fe and Zn contents was also reported by Graham et al (1999) and Garvin et al (2006). According to Graham et al ( 1999) phosphorus and Mg in the grains are mainly found in phytate and their consistent correlation with Zn suggests that high grain Zn may be associated with high

247

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH phytate in wheat. In this study difference between genotypes in the highest and the lowest straw Fe, Zn, and Mn concentrations had 64%, 48% and 44% under well- watering, while this difference between genotypes had by an average of 42%, 20% and 47% under sever water deficit, respectively. This results indicate that straw Fe and Zn contents decreased due to water deficit reduction and This micronutrients were more pronounced in drought susceptible genotypes (Zarrin, C-80-4 and C-83-3) while they had the highest straw Fe and Zn contents under well-watering (Figure 4a, 4b). The result showed that straw and grain Mn content increased as water supply limited, thus Mn could be useful for high tolerance to drought stress. Feziasl et al (2009) reported by usig liner correlation coefficients between nutrient ratios in plant and grain yield that, for making nutrient balance in plant, dry land wheat requires more Mn than other micronutrients ( Fe, Zn, Cu and B) and this showed that soil Mn critical level for dry land wheat is high in this area.
Table 2. Means of grain micronutrients of wheat genotypes under irrigation treatments Zn Mn Treatments Grain Fe (mg kg-1) (mg kg-1) yield (mg kg-1) (kg ha-1) irrigation 70 5873 46.72 24.88 62.78 100 5115 45.78 36.44 59.53 130 4053 40.23 35.40 65.79 160 3404 43.23 32.09 64.86 Genotypes Zarrin Alvand Shahryar Sardari C-80-4 C-81-10 C-81-4 C-83-3 Zareh Peshgam irrigation Genotypes 4843 4605 4338 2873 4866 5025 4755 4614 4944 5246 224.4 238.5 44.89 43.26 35.09 41.97 38.87 54.20 38.92 42.94 51.40 48.37 1.34 2.50 29.30 33.33 28.70 33.81 24.33 40.37 29.53 30.80 35.48 36.39 0.63 0.92 72.77 66.90 61.21 51.40 65.03 65.45 59.38 63.50 60.74 66.02 4.29 4.94

LSD at 5%

Table 3. Means of shoot micronutrients of wheat genotypes under irrigation treatments Fe Zn Mn Irrigation Straw yield (mg kg-1) (mg kg-1) (mg kg-1) (kg ha-1) irrigation 70 100 130 160 Zarrin Alvand Shahryar Sardari C-80-4 C-81-10 C-81-4 C-83-3 Zareh Peshgam irrigation Genotypes 6914 6054 6051 5022 4843 4605 4338 2873 4866 5025 4755 4614 4944 5246 224.4 238.5 96.57 92.46 92.84 91.44 83.72 86.11 104.4 123.3 78.03 94.18 76.60 113.8 84.28 88.86 3.28 7.19 12.75 10.21 9.89 8.82 13.11 8.97 9.61 11.23 11.38 8.95 10.44 10.06 10.67 9.78 1.48 0.80 32.17 35.01 35.56 35.56 30.54 35.13 32.35 53.53 38.64 35.73 28.06 28.56 29.31 33.89 ns 3.47

Genotypes

LSD at 5%

248

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH References Dikeman, E., Pomeranz, Y., Lai, F.S. (1982). Minerals and protein in hard red winter wheat. Cereal Chem. 59: 139-142. Emam, Y., Ranjbar, A.M., Bahrami, M.J. (2007). Evaluation of yield and yield component in wheat genotypes under opst-anthesis drought stress. J. Sci. Technol. Agric. Nature. Resour. 11: 328- 333. Feiziasl, V., Jafarzadeh, J., Pala, M., Mosavi, S.B. (2009). Determination of critical levels of micronutrients by plant response column order procedure for dryland wheat in Northwest of Iran. International. J. Soil Sci. 1: 12-26. Garvin, D.F., Welch, R.M., Finlay, J.W. (2006). Historical shifts in the seed mineral micronutrient concentration of US hard red winter wheat germplasm. J. Sci. Food Agric. 86: 2213-2220. Ghamarina, H. and Gowing, J.W. (2005). Effect of water stress on three wheat cultivars. Proceeding of the ICID 21 st European Regional Conference, May 15-19, Frankfurt (Oder) and Slubic-Germany and Poland, pp:1-4. Graham, R.D., Senadhira, D., Beebe, S., Iglesias, C., Monasterio, I. (1999). Breeding for micronutrient density in edible potions of staple food crops: conventional approaches. Field Crops Res. 60: 57-80. Gupta, P.K. 2000. Soil, plant, water, and fertilizer analysis. Agrobios, New Dehli, India. Kalra, Y.P. and Maynard, D.G. (1991). Methods manual for forest soil and plant analysis. Forestry Canada. Lorenz, E. and Loewe, R. (1977). Mineral composition of U.S and Canadian wheats and wheat blends. J. Agric. Food Chem. 25: 806-809. Maksimovic, I.V., Kastori, R.R., Petrovia, N.M., Kovaaev,L.M., Sklenar,P.S. (2002). The effect of water potential on accumulation of some essential elements in sugar beet leaves (Beta vulgaris ssp. vulgaris). Natu. Sci. 104: 39-50. Nasseri, A. and Fallahi, H.A. (2007). Water use efficiency of winter wheat under deficit irrigation. J. Bio. Sci. 7: 19-26. Ortiz Monasterio, J.I. and Graham, R.D. (2000). Breeding for trace minerals in wheat .UNU Food Nutr. Bull. 21: 392-396. Rafiee,M., Nadian., H.A. nour-mohammadi, G., Karimi, M. (2004). Effects of drought stress, phosphorous and zinc application on concentration and total nutrient uptake by corn (Zea mays L.). Iranian, J. Agric. Sci. 1: 235-243. Tayyar, s. and Gul, M.K. (2008). Evaluation of 12 bread wheat varieties for seed yield and some chemical properties grown in Northwestern Turky. Asian J. Chem. 20: 3715-3725. Zubaidi, A., McDonald, G.K., Hollamby, G.J. (1999). Nutrient uptake and distribution by bread and durum wheat under drought conditions in South Australia. Australian. J. Plant Physiol. 39: 721 732.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH

Effects of Sulfur and Thiobacillus Bacteria on the Absorption of Phosphorus, Iron and Zinc in Calcareous Soils.
Fatemeh Heydarnezhad1- Parisa Shahinrokhsar2 and Hossein besharati3 1 M.Sc. in Soil Science - 2Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Center, Engineering Research Dept., Rasht, Iran 3Soil and water Research Institute, Karaj, Iran,
Corresponding Author: fatemehheydarnezhad@yahoo.com High acidity of soil in most parts of Iran reduced the plant availability to phosphorus, iron and zinc. Application of sulfur and its oxidation reduce soil acidity and can be increase the absorption capacity of the calcareous soil. Sulfur used as acidifying material for increasing absorption of nutrients in calcareous soil. The condition of the sulfur potential is the presence of Thiobacillus bacteria as the most important sulfur oxidizing in the soil. This study was carried out in the laboratory at soil and water research Institute (SWRI) in Iran during 2007- 2008. This study was evaluated the effects of elemental sulfur on the uptake of Phosphorus, Iron and Zinc in calcareous soil. Each sample divided in two parts without sulfur (S0) and treated with sulfur (S0.5). Soils were collected from East Azerbaijan province in eastern north of Iran and all soils were incubated at 28C in a dark room and no plant was grown in pots and the pots were regularly watered at field capacity. After two months, electrical conductivity (EC), pH and absorption concentration of elemental Sulfur, Phosphorus, Iron and Zinc were determined. The results showed that soil pH dropped and S concentration increased significantly with addition of S0.5 in all types of soils. Elemental Sulfur application considerably increased the electrical conductivity (EC). Phosphorus availability, Iron and Zinc were higher with the application of S0.5. The study suggests that S0.5 is an effective agent for the amendment of calcareous soils. Keywords: calcareous soil, field capacity, oxidizing, sulfur and Thiobacillus bacteria.

Abstract

Introduction Sulfur is a macronutrient element for plants that its deficiency is rarely observed in the soil. This element is used to acidify the soil and increased other nutrients uptake. Decreasing soil pH is considered, as an effective way to deal with the stabilization of nutrients in calcareous and alkaline soil. In calcareous and alkaline Soil due to high pH and high concentration of calcium ions, some nutrients such as phosphorus, iron and zinc, that their availability are dependent on pH are established (Cifuentes et al., 1993; Deluca et al., 1989; Kaplan et al., 1998; Modaihsh et al., 1989 and Tisdale et al., 1993). Common methods for dealing with these deficiencies, is the use of chemical fertilizers, in addition to the high cost of chemical fertilizers and their low yeilds , thoes have the risk of environmental pollution (Malakouti et al., 1991; Cilucncs et al., 1993). The capacity of oxidized sulfur and produce sulfuric acid reduce the soil pH at least around themselves particles on a small scale and so can be effective, on the dissolution of insoluble food components and release of essential elements especially in the rhizosphere area (besharati et al., 1999; Ebadi, 1986). Sulfur is most common acidifying matter (Tisdale, 1993). after oxidizing each mole of sulfur produced two moles of hydrogen ions (H+) in the soil and reducing soil pH, leads to dissolution nutrients in the root (besharati, 1998; Deluca et al., 1989; Kaplan et al., 1998; Modaihsh et al., 1989). The use of sulfur, as an acidifying matter with Thiobacillus bacteria to improve plant nutrition and providing sulphate has a long history of plant needs in calcareous soil (Lipman, 1916). Applying sulfur will be effective when enough consuming in the soil lead oxidizing by microorganisms like Thiobacillus bacteria (Eriksen et al., 1999). Sulfur oxidation accomplished in both chemical and biological processes in the soil, Thiobacillus bacteria are the most important sulfur oxidizing in the soil (Besharati, 2003). Main method of feeding the bacteria is chemiolithotrophic and can be achieved, vital needed energy for their activities from the sulfur oxidation reaction. Sulphoric acid from sulfur oxidation causes the solubility of insoluble phosphate compounds. A major problem of consumption of sulfur in the soil will be its oxidation. This is possible with Thiobacillus bacteria that live in aerobic conditions in the soil. Unfortunately due to the low amount of organic matter in Iran cultivated soil, the number and activity of bacteria is limited in the

250

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH soil of Iran. These bacteria in high organic matter and suitable moisture are able to grow and reproduce and thereby increase the biological oxidation of sulfur (Malakouti et al., 1996). Materials and Methods 50 soil samples from East Azarbaijan provinces were collected from cultivated fields at the depth of 30 cm. First of all soil samples were moisture to FC and then each sample was in two parts. One part without sulfur (S0) and the other after addition of 0.5% wt sulfur (S0.5) spilled in pots with two kilograms. Sulfur consumption was micronized sulfur powder with 98% purity. After two months of incubation in temperature of 28C fully air-dried and sieved from 2mm. Then some of the chemical properties of soil were determined including: pH of soil saturation extract with pH meter, EC of soil saturation extract with EC detector, phosphorus using with Olsen method and concentration of micronutrients, such as iron and zinc in DTPA method, sulfur (sulfate ions) with Gravimetric method (Ali Ehyaei, 1997). This Study carried out to investigate the effects of sulfur application on the release of nutrients in the calcareous soil. In this study, investigated two sulfur treatments and replicated three times. Analysis on the parameters was performed, using SPSS software. Tables, mean values and dispersion of soil chemical properties before and after treatment were determined. Measured soil properties seen in table 1. Table1: Some physical and chemical properties of soil samples from East Azarbayejan
depth (cm) 0-30 EC ds.m-1 2.58 pH 7.88 T.N.V % 11.28 OC % 0.97 P 16.35 K 403.43 Zn Mn (A.V) mg.kg-1 4.52 0.97 8.38 Fe Cu 1.79 SO42soil texture loam

33.37

Results and discussion the results of descriptive statistics include measures of average and dispersion of soil properties before and after treatment with sulfur in East Azarbaijan province with 50 soil samples showed that The average electrical conductivity was 2.584 ds.m-1 (Table 2) after treatment with sulfur levels was changed to 4.833(Table 3) (fig1). In other words, the treatment with 0.5 percent sulfur increased the average electrical conductivity, which is indicating a positive effect on the Soil electrical conductivity. The electrical conductivity compared before and after sulfur treatment does not reveal a significant correlation (Table 3). Modaihsh et al., (1989) and Cifuentes et al., (1993) also separately showed that consumption of 0.5% of sulfur in soils, increased significantly EC in compared to control.
8 EC (ds/m) 6 4 2 0
sulfur le ve ls S0 2.584 S0.5 4.833

Figure1: The effect of different sulfur levels on EC. pH before treatment with sulfur in East Azarbaijan province was 7.8790.034 (Table 2) after treatment with sulfur decreased to 6.5910.24 (Table 3) (fig2). Kaplan and Orman (1998) found that the use of sulfur has a significant effect in reducing soil pH. In a similar study, Miller (1965) also found that sulfur intake can reduce the soil pH after 5 years. Also Mahler and Maples (1986) showed that consumption of elemental sulfur reduces soil pH and with increasing the amount of sulfur in the soil, the pH decrease was faster. Lawrence and Germida (1988) also concluded that the oxidation of sulfur has a significant positive correlation with soil pH.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH
10 pH 8 6 4 sulfur levels S0 7.879 S0.5 6.591

Figure2: The effect of different sulfur levels on pH. Mean phosphorus from soil treated with sulfur in the East Azarbaijan Province was 16.3472.112 mg.kg-1 (Table 2) that changed after treatment with sulfur levels to 32.5675.954 (Table 3) (fig3). The reason is that adding sulfur to the soil pH of calcareous soils in small areas around the roots reduced and the ability of phosphorus absorbtion increases (Besharati. 1998). Acid strengths, amount of dissolved calcium, the type and location of chelate ligands are factors that can affect the amount of phosphorus released (sagoe et al., 1998). Goodarzi (1383) and Modaihsh et al., (1989) and Kittams and Attoe (1963) during their studies found that sulfur has positive effect on the release of phosphorus from the soil and the plant yield increase. They concluded that the oxidation of sulfur reduced pH in alkaline Soil and thus increases the concentration of available phosphorus.
50 40 30 20 10 0 p (mg/kg)

S0 16.348

S0.5 32.556

sulfur levels

Figure3: The effect of different sulfur levels on phosphorus availability. Absorbable iron in the soil of East Azarbaijan province before treatment was 4.516 0.469 mg.kg-1 (Table 2) that increased to 12.2452.507 mg.kg-1 (Table3) after treatment with sulfur (fig4). Malakouti et al., (1988) reported that consumption of sulfur in calcareous soil and with neutralizing lime increased availability of iron. Caldwell (1969) in a greenhouse with the use of 0.5 percent (by weight) elemental sulfur showed that the amount of absorbable iron in the soil increased in compared with controls.
18 15 12 9 6 3 0 Fe (mg/kg)

S0 4.516

S0.5 11.414

sulfur levels

Figure4: The effect of different sulfur levels on iron availability. zinc before treated with sulfur in East Azarbaijan province, averaging 0.9730.173 mg.kg-1 (Table 2) that changed after treatment with sulfur levels to 0.9910.102 mg.kg-1 (Table 3) (fig5). Kalbasi et al., (1988) also concluded that sulfur consumption caused Available zinc in the soil increased significantly in compared to control in the soil.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH
1.05 1 0.95 0.9 S0 0.973 S0.5 0.991

sulfur levels

Figure5: The effect of different sulfur levels on Zinc availability. Table2: Average values and dispersion of the chemical properties of soil before treated with sulfur in East Azarbaijan province
Mean Middle Mode Standard deviation Variance Range Minimum Maximum EC(ds.m-1) 2.5840.47 1.355 0.62 3.118 9.722 17.52 0.47 17.99 pH 7.8790.034 7.9 7.9 0.233 0.049 1 7.3 8.3 before treatment with sulfur P(mg.kg-1) S(mg.kg-1) 16.3472.112 33.5386.413 11.15 19 7.1 2 14.01 196.29 69 4.2 73.2 42.538 1809.502 178 2 180 Fe(mg.kg-1) 4.5160.469 4.1 1.3 3.11 9.68 12 0.8 12.8 Zn(mg.kg-1) 0.9730.173 0.65 0.4 1.149 1.319 7.4 0.2 7.6

Table3: Average values and dispersion of the chemical properties of soil after treatment with sulfur in East Azarbaijan province
Mean Middle Mode Standard deviation Variance Range Minimum Maximum EC(ds.m-1) 4.88330.281 4.19 3.45 1.864 3.476 8.71 2.74 11.45 pH 6.5910.24 7.285 7.36 1.959 2.544 5.3 2.55 7.85 after treatment with sulfur P(mg.kg-1) S(mg.kg-1) 32.5675.954 851.75102.313 15.2 630.5 3.7 962 39.497 1559.996 158.38 2.22 160.6 678.671 460594.145 2660 160 2820 Fe(mg.kg-1) 12.2452.507 4.15 3.4 16.631 276.586 59.3 1.9 61.2 Zn(mg.kg-1) 0.9910.102 0.8 0.8 0.677 0.458 4.4 0.1 4.5

Averages Comparison measured before and after treatment with t-student test that are shown in tables 4. Without any Significant measurements in the soil can be in reason of the low oxidation of sulfur and low soil nutrient (Agrifacts, 2003) and also attributed low of sulfur oxidizing population (Wainwright, 1984; besharati, 1998).

Zn (mg/kg)

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Table4: Comparison of soil chemical properties before and after treatment with sulfur in East Azarbaijan province
Comparison Electrical conductivity before and after treatment with sulfur(ds.m-1) Soil pH before and after treatment with sulfur Phosphorus before and after treatment with sulfur (mg.kg-1) Sulfur absorbent before and after treatment with sulfur (mg.kg-1) Absorbable iron before and after treatment with sulfur (mg.kg-1) zinc absorbent before and after treatment with sulfur (mg.kg-1)
ns *

Correlation 0.17ns 0.17ns 0.546

**

T calculated -4.453** 5.436** -3.169

**

99% confidence range (-3.61) (-0.888) 0.65 - 1.927 (-30.011) (-2.428) (-1097.48) (-948538) (-14.157) (-3021) (-0.31) - 0.273

-0.174ns 0.348* 0.812**

-7.896** -3.241** -0.168ns

, and ** not significant, significant at 5 and 1 % levels, respectively.

Results indicate that the oxidation of sulfur in the samples was taken and reduce pH, and increased the concentration of sulfur (as sulfate ion) in the samples. The concentration of absorbable phosphorus, iron and zinc also increased significantly and adding sulfur indicates a positive effect on agricultural soils. This is due to oxidation of sulfur in the soil and presence of microorganisms as sulfur oxidizing, which could oxidize to sulfur and release nutrients. The region soils were calcareous and soil has little ability to absorb nutrients (salardini, 1995; Malakouti et al., 1991) which did not provide the nutrients needed by plants. References Ali Ehyaei, M., (1997). The soil chemical analysis methods. Publication No. 1024. Research Institute of Soil and water. Agrifacts, (2003). Elemental sulfur. Part : characteristics of S oxidation. URL:http//www.back-to-basics.Net/agrifacts/pdf/b2b29b.pdf. Besharati, H., (1998). The Effect of Sulfur with Thiobacillus species to increase absorbs some soil elements. Thesis Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Tehran University. 176 Pages. Besharati, H., Salehrastin, N., (1999). The effect of sulfur inoculated with Thiobacillus bacteria to increase P uptake. Journal of Soil and Water Sciences, 13(1):23-39. Besharati, H., (2003). Preparation of suitable preservative for bacteria genera Thiobacillus and study its interactions with mycorrhiza fungi. Caldwell, a.c., Seim, E.C., Rehm, G.W., (1969). Effects of elemental sulfur on composition of alfalfa (medicago sative) and corn (zea maize). Agronomy Journal 61:632-634. Cifuentes, F.R., lindermann, W.C., (1993). Organic matter stimulation of elemental sulfur oxidation in calcareous soils. Siol Sci. Soc.Am.J., 57:727-731. Cilucncs, F.R., Lindermann, W.C., (1993). Organic matter Stimulation of elemental sulfur oxidation in calcareous soil. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 27:727-731. Deluca, T.H., Skogley, E.O., Engle, R.E., (1989). Band-applied elemental sulfur to enhance the phytoavailability of phosphorus in alkaline calcareous soils. Biol. Fertile. Soils.7:346-350. Ebadi, a., (1986). Sulfur and its use in agriculture. The publications of the Jihad University. Eriksen, G., Coale, F., Bollero, G., (1999). Soil nitrogen dynamics and maize production in municipal solid waste amended soil. Agronomy Journal 91: 1009-1016. Goodarzi, k., (1994). Study of Sulfur and compost effects to increase ability of soil nutrients uptake and wheat yeild. New methods of wheat feeding (Articles Collections). Department of Agriculture, Office of wheat self-sufficiency. Tehran, Iran. Kalbasi, M., Manuchehri, N., Filsoof, F., (1986). local acidification of soil as a means to alleviate iven chlovosis on quince ovchards. J.Plant nutrition. 9(3-7): 1001-1007. Kaplan, M., Orman, S., (1998). Effect of elemental sulfur and sulfur containing waste in a calcareous soil in turkey. J.Plant Nutr., 21(8):1655-1665.
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Kittams, H.A., Attoe, O.J., (1965). Availibility of phosphorous in rock phosphate-sulfur fusion. Agron.J., 57:331-334. Lawrence, J.R., Germida. J.J., (1988). Ralationship between microbial biomass and elemental sulfur oxidation in agricultural soils. Soil Sci.Soc. Am.J., 52:672-677. Lipman, J. G., Mc lean, H.C., Lint, H.C., (1916). The oxidation of sulfur in soils as a means of increasing the availability of mineral sulphates. Soil Science 1:533-539. Mahler, R.J., Maples, R.L., (1986). Response of wheat to sulfur fertilization commum.. Soil Sci. Plant Anal.17:975-988. Malakouti, M.J., Gheibi, N., (1988). Determine the critical nutrients strategic and proper fertilizer recommendations in the country. Publication of agricultural education, training and equipping the human resources department of Tat, the Ministry of Agriculture, Karaj, Iran. Malakouti, M.J., Riazi Hamedani, S.A.H., (1991). Fertilizer and Fertility. University of Tehran press. Malakouti, M.J., (2003). Sulfur required in order to increase quantity and quality of yeild of agricultural products . technical publications No,315, Council Development and application of biofertilizers, use of fertilizers and pesticides in agriculture. Office of Planning promotional media. Miller, J.R., (1965). Effect of sulfur and gypsum addition on availability of rock phosphate. Soil. Sci. 82:129-134. Modaihsh, S., Al-mustafa, W.A., Metwally, A.E., (1989). Effect of elemental sulfur on chemical changes and nutrient availability in calcareous soils. Plant & Soil 116:95-101. Salardini, A.A., (1995). Soil fertility. University of Tehran press. Tisdale, S.L., Nelson, W.L., Beaton, J.D. , Havlin, J.L., (1993). soil Fertility and fertilizers. 5th ed. Mcmillon publishing co., New York. Wainwright, M., (1984). Sulfur oxidation in soils. Advences in Agronomy., 37: 346-396. Sagoe, C.L., Ando, T., Kouno, K., Nagaoka, T., (1998). Residual effects of organic acid treated phosphate rocks on some soil properties and phosphate availability. Soil science and plant nutrition, 44:627-634.

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Nitrogen use efficiency of spring barley as affected by water deficit

A. Ebadi1. And S. Hajhossainloo2.
, Department of Agronomy, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran and 2 Graduate Student of Agronomy, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran. Corresponding author: ebadi_ali2000@yahoo.com Abstract Environmental condition influences the fertilizer use efficiency. The proper field management methods make it possible to increase the efficiency of fertilizer use in addition to enhance the crop yield and crop quality. In order to evaluating the impact of nitrogen fertilizer on some quantitative and qualitative properties of spring barley in water deficit condition, a field experiments based on randomized complete block design with four replications were conducted in agricultural research station of University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran in 2009. The irrigation schedules at three levels (as I1= fool irrigation or non stress, I2= withholding water at flowering and I3= non irrigation or rain fed), and nitrogen fertilizer at four levels (N0= 0, N1= 40, N2= 80 and N3=120 kg ha-1) were applied. The highest N remobilization and protein content was belonged to I3N2, while, the maximum nitrogen use efficiency achieved by I1N3. The nitrogen harvesting index (NHI) increased with reduction in water availability and increasing nitrogen use as much as 26% as compared to control. The maximum NHI was acquired from I3N2. It can be concluded that using proper quantity of nitrogen which is associated with leaf area expansion and its duration has increased the amount of photosynthesis and its effect on grain filling in addition to the increasing grain performance in proper moisture and fertilized conditions as compared to rain fed. Keywords: Barley, Remobilization, Water Deficit, Nitrogen Harvesting Index and Nitrogen Use Efficiency.
1

Introduction: Drought stress is one of the most important challenges in crop plants production and which is common place in many areas around the world Boyer (1982). Approximately 32% of wheat cultivated lands of developing countries usually experience some different types of drought stress during their growth season Ginkel et al. (1998). In grain filling stage, in arid and semi-arid and also temperate areas which are allocated to cereal sowing, soil water content and environment are limiting factors. In these conditions, the major part of grain need to nitrogen is granted by receiving nitrogen from plant growing organs Ellen and Spiertz (1980) process which is called as remobilization. Cereal obtains approximately 70 to 80% of grain nitrogen from growing organs before the flowering, which this quantity of nitrogen is the main nitrogen source for grain development Mainard and Jeuffroy (2001). Nitrogen absorption increases the dry matter production, but grain yield decreases because of proportional shortage of soil moisture deficit in the beginning of spring Palta et al. (1982). Drought conditions indirectly creating water deficit and halting the different physiologic activities influence on biological and economical performance Dent (1980). The importance of nitrogen transfer for wheat which grows in arid and semi-arid conditions is significant, because in this conditions after the anthesis, the weather is arid and warm and it ends up to drought stress and consequently it limits the nitrogen transfer Kirda et al. (2001). Based on these conditions, grain yield and protein increasingly are dependent on transferring performed assimimlates to grain before anthesis. Pheloung and Siddiqque (1991) and Esovank et al. (33) also reported that nitrogen plays major role in the photosynthesis process of corn and there is a close relationship between carbon and nitrogen assimilation toward reaching the high efficiency of this crop. Amount of NHI have been reported in the range of 57 to74% for spring wheat Loffler and Busch (1982), 58 to 86% for durum wheat Desia and Bhatia (1978) and 42 to 68% for oat Fawcett and Frey (1982). Nitrogen use efficiency is defined as the ratio of grain yield to absorbed nitrogen and is a key factor for nitrogen management in order to crop production Goodroad and Jellum (1988). Mole et al. Palta et al. (1982) believed that efficiency of nitrogen application in grain production is higher in low quantities of nitrogen as compared to higher quantities, while in the case of dry weight of total shoot organs it was reverse. In spite of improving the predicting ability of drought infancy time and capability of creating change in its harmful

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH effects drought is still remained as the only very important and effective factor in security and stability of food resources in different countries McWilliam (1986). Materials and methods: This experiment was carried out in experimental farm of agricultural department at the university of Mohaghegh Ardabili of Ardabil in Iran (48o 20'W, 38o 19'N and 1350 m above sea level) in order to investigate impact of different quantities of nitrogen on remobilization, nitrogen uptake and utilization efficiency in spring barley under water deficit conditions. Experimental conducted as a factorial based on randomized complete block design with 4 replications. Irrigation regime in 3 levels (complete irrigation, irrigation stop cessation at flowering and no irrigation or water stress) and nitrogen fertilizer in 4 amount (N1=0, N2=40, N3=80 and N4=120kg ha1 as urea) were applied. Seeds of spring barley (ABY1-6 genotype) were sowed based on 350 seeds m-2. The plots included 8 rows with 3 m length and 20 cm rows apart. The first irrigation was conducted immediately after sowing. In order to control weeds, hand weeding and 2, 4-D herbicide was used. Nitrogen fertilizer used during sowing and before anthesis. For determining of nitrogen, 15 plants were cut and separated into leaves, peduncle, culms and ear at anthesis and into leaves, culms and grain at maturity. For dry weight determination all plant parts were oven dried at 70 C to constant weight. Plant samples were analyzed for nitrogen concentrations (with micro Kjeldahl). All this steps were conducted exactly in physiological maturity and then allocated N was calculated from the following equation (26, 28) N translocation amount = N content of a vegetative organ at anthesis - N content of the organ at maturity Grains protein was determined from following relationship (36). Protein% = %N 5.7 N uptake and N utilization efficiency calculated from the following equation and stated as g/g (38). N uptake efficiency = plant above ground N / total used N N use efficiency = grain yield / total N uptake Data were analyzed by SAS statistical software and figures by EXCELSAS institute (1989). Duncans multiple range tests was used to separate the means. Result and discussion: Grain weight is the product of fluent photosynthesis and remobilization from stem and ears. Water stress caused significant decrease in fluent photosynthesis in such a way that decreased the yield quantity as much as 68% in rain fed as compared to irrigated conditions. Nitrogen use increased the yield in such a way that this trait had the highest quantity in N2 treatment. Osvank et al. (33) reported that N plays a fundamental role in photosynthesis and there is a close relationship between carbon and N metabolism toward reaching the potential crop efficiency. In water scarcity increasing N hasnt significant effect on grain yield, but under normal condition applying N had a major effect on grain yield and increased it as much as 76% compared to stress conditions (fig 1). But the using 120 Kg N ha-1 decreased the yield as much as 20% as compared to 80 kg N. In many conditions, an increase using N causes to increase vegetable growth and production of barren tillers and also dissyncronity of grains maturity. But when there is a proper accessibility to N for plant, some parameters including leaf area index, leaf area duration, plants photosynthesis rate, the radiant absorption percentage and the consumption (using) light efficiency would increase in the production of dry matter and grain yields and its efficiency (35). In stop irrigation at anthesis, the highest grain yield (1987 kg/ha) was achieved from I2N2 treatment, while in no irrigation conditions (dry land farming), the highest yield (1122 kg/ha) was obtained by I3N1 treatment. So

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH the reaching to N increasing was lower in moisture stress conditions. N use efficiency will increase when there is enough water (27, 40). The water deficit which is associated with reduced photosynthesis activity, acceleration ageing leafs Gerik et al. (1996), cell growth reduction, leaf expanding reduction and perspiration reduction Hsiao (1973), leaves unfavorable effects on grain yield. In this situation, the N metabolism and production of amino aside will damage and the activity of reduction nitrate enzyme is under the influence of water deficit and it decrease as much as 20 to 50% Hsiao (1973). Palta et al. Palta et al. (1982) reported that the drought stress has decreased the grain yield and carbon processing as much as 24% and 57% respectively. Which is after pollination, while it has increased the remobilization of stored materials as much as 36%. Nitrogen remobilization (NR): N remobilization from shoot organs toward the grain was affected by different levels irrigation and N quantities (table 1). The effect of different fertilizer levels an N remobilization in stress treatment was not similar (fig 2). The N2 and No fertilizer treatments showed the most and the least N remobilization quantities, respectively. In moisture treatments the highest quantity of N remobilization (23.99 gm-2) was related to dry land treatment. In dry land conditions since the least of length growing period and as a result, early maturing, early ageing and dropping the leaves of lower part of plant, more N quantities is transferred toward spike (ear). In this cause of study, the result of some researches in china showed that early ageing can cause to increase in carbohydrate remobilization from stem (39). Making use of more N quantities increased the N grain present in both no stress and water stress conditions. In irrigation conditions, also increasing in N use lead to increase in N remobilization. The result indicated the capability of N remobilization in high consumption (use-utilization) quantities in the presence of enough irrigation. Researchers stated that N utilization efficiency would increase in presence of enough water (27, 40). In other words, in absence of drought stress the N absorption would continue after pollination and a fraction of grain N would provide from its, and less percentage of stored of stored N in stem is sent to grains. But, in drought conditions, because of the limitation of water absorption after pollination, the grains N is provided from stored N in other parts and its remobilization would increase. Also at studies of Palta et al. (1982) the drought stress caused to the grain. Schnither (1989) believes that about 10 to 50 percent of N available in grain wheat originates from its displacement from vegetative tissue this quantity in barley has been evaluated as much as 80%. 0f course, the major part of transferred N is achieved from the deterioration of vegetative organs specially the leaves.

Fig. 1- Effect of N use on grain yield of barley at different irrigation schedules.

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Fig. 2- Effect of N use on N remobilization of barley at different irrigation schedules.

Fig. 3- Effect of N use on grain protein of barley at different irrigation schedules. Effect of moisture regime and quantities of N use also the interaction effect of these two factors on protein percentage of grain was significant (table 1). This trait increased in moisture stress treatment. Among fertilizer treatments, N2 treatment had the highest quantity of protein percentage. As it can be observed from figure 3, there was no significant difference, in the light of grains protein content between fertilizer treatments, but, in irrigation condition, N2 fertilizer treatment, had better condition as compared to two other treatments. With regard to the absence of moisture limitation in complete irrigation treatment, the increase in grains protein content in I1N2 treatment seems to be rational, because the cause to, be availability of more N quantities in pollination step, and also the growth stopping of other organs at this stage, cause to transferring the N absorbed by plant toward a strong reservoir (grain) and as a result has led to increases in the production of protein combinations. In this cause, Papacosta and Gagianas (1991) reported that the N application in pollination time, would increase the protein content of flour and the volume of bread. In I1N3 treatment because of more application N (40 %), the plant benefits from this N in order to develop the vegetative organs (tiller and leaf) and as a result, it has allocated less protein percentage to grain at production phase as compared to I1N2 treatment. The increase average protein percentage in stress conditions is predominantly related to decrease in the ratio of starch to protein within the grain. McDonald (1992) is also reported that the protein percentage would increase in stress conditions and its because of decrease in starch contribution within the grain not the absolute

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH increase in protein content. It can be deduced that in stress conditions, due to the decrease in pure photosynthesis and as a result deficiency (not completion) in grain potential weight that predominantly this decrease in starch content lead to. Thus increase the ratio of protein to starch within the grain. Ahmadi and Baker (2002) in their study about the effect of drought stress on wheat concluded that the starch synthesis mechanism is more susceptible than protein synthesis mechanisms in moisture stress conditions. Thus, in moisture stress conditions, the decrease in starch synthesis is more noticeable. Reference Ahmadi, A., biker, D.A. 2000. Cause stomata and non stomata limiter photosynthesis in wheat at drought stress conditions. Agriculture of Iran, 31 (4): 813-825. Boyer, J. S. 1982. Plant productivity and environment. Agron. J. 91: 368-373. Dent, F.J. 1980. Major production systems and soil-related constraints in Southeast Asia. Pp. 79-106. In: Int. Rice Rrs. Inst. (IRRI) (ed.), Properties for Alleviating food production in the Tropics. Los Bonos, Philippines: IRRI. Desia, R. M., Bhatia, C. R. 1978. Nitrogen uptake and nitrogen harvest index in durum wheat cultivars varying in their grain protein concentration. Euphytica 27: 561-566. Ellen, J., Spiertz, J. H. 1980. Effects of rate and timing of N dressing on grain yield formation of winter wheat. Fert. Res. 1: 177-195. Fawcett, J. A., Frey, K. J. 1983. Associations among nitrogen harvest index and other traits within two Avena species. Proc. Iowa Acad. Sci. 90: 150-153. Fawcett, J. A., Frey, K. J. 1982. Nitrogen harvest index variation in Avena sativa and Avena sterilis. Proc. Iowa Acad. Sci. 89: 155-159. Gerik, T.J., Faver, K.L., Thaxton, P. M., El-Zik, K.M. 1996. Late season water stress in cotton: Plant growth, water use and yield. Crop Sci. 36: 914-921. Ginkel, M.V., Calhoun, D. S., Gebeyehu, G., Miranda, A. Tian-you, C., Lara, R. P., Trethowan, R.M., Sayre, K., Crossa, J., Rajaram, S. 1998. Plant traits related too yield of wheat in early. Iate, or continuous drought conditions. Euphytica 100: 109-121. Goodroad, L.L., Jellum, M.D. 1988. Effect of nitrogen fertilizer rate and soil PH on Nitroge use efficiency in corn. Plant and soil. 106 : 85 89. Guarda, G., Padovan, S., Delougu, G. 2004. Grain yield, Nitrogen use efficiency and baking quality of old and modern Italian bread wheat cultivars grown at different N levels. Europen J. Agron. 21: 181 192. Halloran, G. M. 1981. Cultivar differences in nitrogen translocation in wheat. Aust. J. Agric. Res. 32: 535-544. Hsiao, T.C. 1973. Plant responses to water strss. Annu. Rev. Plant Physiol. 24:519-570. Ishizuka, Y. 1978. Nutrient deficiencies of crops. Taipei, Taiwan: ASPAC Food Fert. Tech. Center. Jiang, Z., Hull, R.J. 1998. Inter relationships of nitrate uptake, nitrate reductase, and NUE in selected Kentucky Blue Grass cultivars. Crop Sci. 38: 1623 1632. Jones, J.B., Steyn, W.J.A. 1975. Sampling, handling and analyzing plant tissue samples. Pp. 24 270. In: L.M. Walsh and Beaton, J.D. (Eds.). Soil testing and plant analysis. Soil Sci. Soc. Am., Madison, Wisconsin. Kirda, C., Derici, M. R., Schepers, J.S. 2001. Yield response and N- fertilizer recovery of rained wheat growing in the Mediterranean region. Field Crops Res. 71: 113-122. Loffler, C.M., Busch, R.H. 1982. Selection for grain protein, grain yield, and nitrogen partitioning efficiency in hard red spring wheat. Crop Sci. 22: 591-595. Mainard, S. D., Jeuffroy, M. H. 2001. Partitioning of dry matter and N to the spike throughout the spike growth period in wheat crops subjected to N deficiency. Field Crops Res. 70: 153165. McDonald, G. K. 1992. Effects of nitrogen fertilizer on the growth, grain yield and grain protein concentration of wheat. Aust. J. Agric Res. 43: 946-967.
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH McWilliam, J.R. 1986. The national and international importance of drought and salinity effects on agricultural production. Aust. J. Plant Physiol. 13: 1-13. Moll, R.H., Kamprath, E.J., Jakson, W.A. 1982. Analysis and interpretation of factors which contribute to efficiency of nitrogen mobilization. Agron. J. 74: 262 264. Norwood, C.A. 2000. Water use efficiency of limited and dryland corn. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 64: 363 370. Ntanos, D. A., Koutroubas, S. D. 2002. Dry matter and N accumulation and translocation for Indica and Japonica rice Mediterranean conditions. Field Crops Res. 74, 93101. Palta, J.A., Kobata, T. Turners, N.C. Fillery, I.R. 1994. Remobilization of carbon and nitrogen in wheat as influenced by post-anthesis water deficits. Crop Sci. 334: 118 124. Papakosta, D., Gagianas, A. A. 1991. Nitrogen and dry matter accumulation, remobilization, and losses for Mediterranean wheat during grain filling. Agron. J. 83, 864870. Pheloung, P. C., Siddiqque, K. H. M. 1991. Contribution of stem dry matter to grain yields in wheat cultivars. Aust. J. of Plant Physiol. 18: 530-546. SAS institute. 1989. SAS/STAT user,s guide, Version9, 4th editions, SAS Inc., Cary, NC. Schnyder, H. 1993. The role of carbohydrate storage and redistribution in the source sink relation of wheat and Barley during grain filling a review. New phytol. 123 : 233 245 Spiretz, J.H., De Vos, N.M. 1983. Agronomy and physiological aspects of the role of N in yield formation of cereals. Plant and Soil. 75: 379 391.

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Effect of water deficit and foliar zinc application on nutrient uptake and yields of chickpea
A. Ebadia , N. Dadkhah Sufiani b, E. Ghlipooria , S. Jahanbakhsha
a b

Faculty of Agriculture, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil Iran

Msc student of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil

Iran
ebadi_ali2000@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT

Nutrients uptake in chickpea cultivars might be an important response in water deficit condition. Potential of chickpea in soil moisture and nutrients uptake are determining factors that influence the yield. This study was carried out to investigate the effect of water deficit stress and foliar zinc application on Fe, K and Na uptake of chickpea genotype of Bivaniej. A randomized complete block design used based on factorial experiment with three replications. Irrigation schedules were as irrigation at: 1) vegetative phase 2) vegetative and flowering phase 3) vegetative and flowering and anthesis phase and foliar zinc application a) control (zero) b) 3 and c) 6 kg Zn ha-1. Irrigation schedules significantly decreased K and Fe uptake in plant. The reduction in K uptake was more significant at anthesis stage than in vegetative and flowering stages. Fe uptake efficiency decreased markedly under water stress at anthesis stage as compared to other stages. Decrease in Fe absorption the rate of co2 assimilation reduces (due to reduction in chloroplasts photosynthetic capacity). This seems can be the reason of yield reduction. Unlike Fe and K, the Na content increases with increasing water shortage. Replacement of Na with potassium may be the other reason for yield loss. Keywords: chickpea, water deficit stress, zinc, nutrient uptake, yield

Introduction
Chickpea (Cicer arietinum) is an important dry land pulse crop in many parts of the world (Khan et al., 2004). Chickpea cultivation not only provides a major protein of our proteinaceous diet, it also has a capacity to improve the quality of nitrogen deficient soil by virtue of forming nitrogen fixing nodules in symbiotic association with specific rhizobial strains. Environmental stresses represent limiting factors for plant productivity on the globe Drought stress is one of the major abiotic factors that influences the normal physiology and growth of plants in many ways. Drought results in the increased generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) due to energy accumulation in stressed plants which consume less light energy through photosynthetic carbon fixation ( Asada 2006). Drought inhibits or slows down photosynthetic carbon fixation mainly through limiting the entry of CO2 into the leaf or directly inhibiting metabolism (Apel and Hirt 2004). Plants have developed a wide range of adaptive/resistance mechanisms to maintain productivity and ensure survival under a variety of environmental stress conditions. The detrimental effects of drought can be minimised by adequate and balanced supply of mineral. Increasing evidence suggests that mineral-nutrient status of plants plays a critical role in increasing plant resistance to drought stress nutrients (Marschner, 1995). Under low nutrient concentrations in soil, plants have to absorb more water to be able to takeup the same amount of mineral nutrients for their metabolism than they would from soil with satisfactory fertility. Potassium (K) plays an important role in survival of plants under environmental stress conditions. Potassium influences the water economy and crop growth through its effects on water uptake, root growth, maintenance of turgor, transpiration and stomatal regula-tion (Nelson 1980). It has an important role either direct or indirect, under different environments, in major plant processes such as photosynthesis, respiration, protein synthesis and enzyme activation, water uptake, osmoregulation, yield and Increased drought resistance in different crops under water stress conditions of plant (Zaidi et al. 1994; Egilla et al., 2001). Soil moisture influences K+ uptake by plants by and the rate of K+ diffusion in the soil towards the root. The rate of root elongation is a crucial parameter in the uptake of nutrients. soil moisture the optimum resulted in speed root

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH growth.The reduction in root elongation was reflected in lower K+ uptake (Kafkafi, 1991). The function of stomata is to control water loss from the plant via transpiration. When K+ is deficient, the stomata can not function properly and water losses from plant may reach damaging levels (Gething, 1990). This effect of drought can be more severe when plants are grown with inadequate supply of K+ , as K+ itself is required for stomatal movement (Humble and Raschke, 1971). The plants K+ status also affects the ease with which it can extract water from soil. Plants adequately supplied with K+ can utilize the soil moisture more efficiently than K+ deficient plants (El-Hadi et al., 1997). Sodium (Na+) is a limiting factor to plant growth over large terrestrial areas of the world. Salinity imposes two stresses on plant tissues: (1) a water defect that results from the relatively high solute concentrations in the soil; and (2) ion-species stresses resulting from altered K+/Na+ ratios and Na+ and Cl3 ion concentrations that are inimical to plants.The alteration of ion ratios in the plant is due to the influx of sodium through pathways that function in the acquisition of potassium. (R. M, A. Termatt, A. J 1986). High levels of Na+ can displace Ca2+ from root membranes, changing their integrity and thus affecting the selectivity for K+ uptake (Cramer et al., 1985, 1987). Increasing levels of Na+ in the external medium reduced K+ in the cell. The stealth of sodium entry is due to the similarity between the hydrated ionic radii of sodium and potassium, which makes dicult the discrimination between the two ions by transport proteins. This discrimination problem is also the basis for Na. toxicity. The strategies for maintaining a high K+/Na+ ratio in the cytosol include sodium extrusion and/or sodium compartmentation( T. Flowers, at al. 1977). Micronutrients help the macro nutrients in drought alleviation by activation of certain physiological, biochemical and metabolic processes within the plant body. Some soil properties such as pH, CaCO3 content, organic matter and status of micronutrients particularly Fe and Zn play important roles in the composition and characterization of root exudates. Iron (Fe) is one of 17 elements essential to the successful growth and function of plants. The functions of iron within the plant are several, ranging from a component of various enzymes involved in chlorophyll synthesis to being an integral part of proteins involved in energy transfer powering a number of photosynthetic reactions. Iron deficiency is the most frequent nutritional problem faced by most cultivated plants when the pH level in the root zone is too high. Besides the rhizosphere pH, many other factors, such as the genotype, the levels of soluble Fe, phosphorus, bicarbonates, organic matter and moisture content in the root zone, may influence the uptake of Fe by plant ( Dasgan et al. 2004). Severe iron deficiency results in the whole leaf becoming chlorotic and even necrotic (tissue death). The use of iron chelates either via irrigation or by foliage spraying is another effective means of preventing or even curing an iron deficiency (Fernndez and Ebert 2005). it seems that the activities of Fe-containing enzymes, specifically ascorbate peroxidase, catalase, and guaiacol peroxidase, are more reliable criteria for the characterization of the Fe nutritional status of plant than the tissue Fe level (Ruiz et al. 2000; Dasgan et al. 2003). Zinc (Zn) is an important micronutrient essential for plant growth and development. Productivity is often limited by periods of water deficit and in a number of regions, zinc deficiency occur. Osmotic potential was lower and turgor higher in the leaves of zinc-deficient plants, but the ability to adjust osmotically was reduced by zinc deficiency as stress developed. In cauliflower, a reduction in photosynthesis induced by Zn deficiency was associated with a decrease in stomatal conductance (gs) and intercellular CO2 concentration (Sharma et al., 1994). A decrease of carbonic anhydrase activity due to Zn deficiency also contributed to the reduced photosynthesis net (Hacisalihoglu et al., 2003) Zinc-deficiency reduced the efficiency with which the water was used for biomass production and compromised the plants capacity to respond to water stress by osmotic adjustment (Khan et al., 2004). Materials and methods The research was carried out with own chickpea (Cicer arietinum L).Seeds of this varieties (Bivaniej) were obtained from the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Kermanshah of Iran. The experiment was carried out in 2011 in a field of the Mohaghegh Ardabili University (38 15 N and 48 15 E, 1350 m above sea level) in Iran. The soil type was a sandy loam .The experiment was based randomized complet block design facterial with three replicates.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH A randomized complete block design used based on factorial experiment with three replications. Irrigation schedules were as irrigation at: 1) vegetative phase 2) vegetative and flowering phase 3) vegetative and flowering and anthesis phase and foliar zinc application a) control (zero) b) 3 and c) 6 kg Zn ha-1. Irrigation schedules significantly decreased K and Fe uptake in plant. Each of blocks was 5 rows (with a row distance of 0.40 m) of 5 m length. First irrigated was immediately after sowing to ensure uniform emergence. The plots were kept weed free by hand weeding. Surface application and incorporation of 18 kg N ha-1 and 20 kg P ha-1 was carried out in experiment. Seeds were inoculated with fungicide protection before sowing. Shoots Measure elements (potassium, sodium): Assessments of elements were performed in two phase the experimental period, 55 (flowering) and 75day ( anthesis) after the onset of the experiment. One gram of the dry leaf sample weighted and inside the plant was dumped a pestle Chinese and was placed in the electric furnace at 500 C until the ash is completely. After this period, to each sample 10 ml of hydrochloric acid 2 normal were added and was heated to boiling point. Sample through the filter into the balloon 100 ml and pour of distilled water was brought to volume. To determine, the amount of 1/90 gr of potassium carbonate weighing and inside the balloon of 1 liter to a volume was brought t o 1000 ppm of potassium chloride solution to obtain. This of standard solution were taken amounts 0/5, 1.25, 5, 7.5, 10mm and transferred to inside the balloon 100 ml and with distilled water was brought to volume. The standard solution of sodium for 2/54 sodium chloride were used similarly. The flame of the spectrometer was used to measure concentrations of elements. of standard 0/5, 1.25, 5, 7.5, 10 ppm standard curves were used for drawing. For measuring the iron content, first, 2 g of sample shoots (leaves) were weighed separately and were well dissolved 0.8 ml H2SO4 of (3 mM) and intended to volume ml 20 and then, 2.5 ml are back and throw in a second test tube. The next stage we add the following to me very well and heading 0.5 mL From NH2OH.HCl (10%), 5 mL Fnantrvlyn solution (0.25%), 2 mL of sodium acetate solution (10%) add to and finally the volume intended to 25 ml. Then we add a vertex Fnantrvlyn to be well mixed. After the supernatant samples were removed and placed in spectrophotometer to give us their absorption. Result and discussion The resalts showed the significant difference in elements content in drought and foliar application zinc absent. Dry significant effect on potassium levels in the second stage was sampling (Table 1). Second highest amount of potassium (48.82 mg /g dry weight) in irrigation three times and conditions relating to its lowest terms were irrigated once ( Table 2). Potassium levels will decrease over time. A significant interaction was observed between potassium intake and also affect the absorption rate was also used (Table 2). A significant interaction between zinc and sodium did not land on the uptake (Table 1). According to the results, on the application could be a significant effect on sodium absorption, but the drought had significant effect on leaf sodium (Table 1). The first and second samples, respectively, the maximum amount of sodium (29/14 and 50/51 mg/ g dry weight) in the irrigated once and minimum values, respectively (21/71 and 34/12 mg/ g dry weight) of conditions were irrigated three times (table 2) In the first stage of sampling, second and third levels of stress were placed in a group, but in the second stage, was a significant difference between levels. A significant interaction between zinc and zinc application on dry and no iron absorption (Table 1) Different results were obtained in two steps on dry land. In the first stage of sampling a significant difference between treatments was not observed and the second highest amount of iron in the sample (6/85 micrograms per gram dry weight) in three of irrigation and the its lowest (5/47 micrograms per gram dry weight) the once irrigated conditions (Table 2) A significant interaction did not between zinc and land use on both the first and also the ratio of potassium and sodium (Table 2). The second stage had a significant impact on the land. The first and second samples, respectively, the highest amount (2/96 and 1/46 mg dry weight) in three of irrigation and its lowest (2/03 and

264

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH 0/741 mg g dry weight) the once irrigated conditions (Table 2). Drought impact on performance in agriculture is the main goal here was quite significant. (Table 1). The highest yield was obtained under irrigation until flowering stage. (3 times for irrigation, 1561 kg ha). Produced the lowest (1040/51 kg ha) was produced with a single irrigation. The impact on application performance was effective. On the application of 6 kg per hectare had the most impact on performance. Application of 3 kg of zinc and no consumption of zinc were in a group. Discussion: The increased sodium through the flowering stage to sheath is clear. Increase the amount of sodium and potassium is reduced water potential. This increase appears to replace sodium, potassium and sodium inability to perform duties in potassium is decreased performance. Decreased due to zinc deficiency in the enzyme carbonic hydrolase can lead to a decrease in net photosynthesis. (Welch, 1995) Active potassium absorption takes place, although at high concentrations may also be effective in attracting disabled. Caused by impaired absorption of the active ingredient is sodium chloride. Addition of sodium and potassium compete for binding sites within the cell (due to higher frequency relative to Na, K) reduces the absorption of this element is disabled. It is reported that due to the transfer of Na + and K + cat ions with a common protein, Na + to flow into the cells can compete with K +. Studies show that reducing the amount of potassium in the uptake and loss of potassium to sodium ratio, has a great impact on reducing photosynthesis and growth. High levels of salinity in the amount of potassium ions decreased and replaced with sodium ion, which acts in addition to disrupting the balance of cellular metabolism is impaired. Due to increased Na + entry via Na + entry into phloem or insufficient data to Vacoel leaf cells may increase the amount of sodium in Apoplast. Too much sodium can be prevented from entering K and thereby indirectly inhibit phloem loading is. Although high pressure sodium can help but not in specific activities such as enzyme activation and protein synthesis to create enough growth to be replaced by potassium ions. The toxic effects of sodium chloride (salt-induced accumulation in plants typically highly d) may only be due to direct effects of sodium ions, potassium and calcium, but also due to reduced amounts of essential nutrients in the plant. Several studies showed that Na + or k + / Na + on the increase, a severe reduction in uptake of potassium occurred and k + concentration in plant tissues is reduced, However, the increase in shoot sodium uptake, potassium uptake occurred in a severe reduction in k + concentration in plant tissue decreased. However, the increased absorption of sodium in the shoot. Iron reduction in the specific treatment is applied. It is likely that if the amount of absorbable iron in the soil is low. Consumption exacerbates zinc deficiency. Zinc and iron absorption process and the process of absorption and transmission iron from root to shoot together. In green plants, there is often a good correlation between iron levels and chlorophyll content of plants as well as iron, are entitled to have more chlorophyll. Iron on the activity of catalase and peroxidase are also effective. The effect of iron deficiency, decreased protein and soluble organic nitrogen compounds with the value increases Combined analysis of variance of the effects of irrigation levels and foliar zinc application on Some traits of chickpea df K+ Na+ Fe2+ K+/Na+ Yield sov 55after 75after 55after 75after 55after 75after 55after 75after day day day day day day day day
planting planting planting planting planting planting planting planting

Rep Stress Zinc error Cv

2 2 2

17.35ns 99.26ns
ns

316.14** 41.53*

108*

3.4ns

8.83* 7.78* 1.62 1.23 ns 1.76 22.12

ns

.13ns 1.97** .42 .096ns .316 22.81

ns

.418** .206** .o67 .017* .039 18.74

ns

7976.55ns 623639.041** 73992.93* .43969.46ns 127.64 9.97

280.10** 125.07** 685.68** 2.93 ns

ns

140.22 36.54 62.94ns 126.55 18.71 21.55ns 37.22 14.26

22.42 17.70ns 11.20 13.20

ns

17.45 12.19ns 23.11 11.07

ns

.545 .946ns 2.61 13.11

ns

Stress*Zinc 4
16

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH
K+
55 after day planting One irrigation Two irrigation three irrigation 75 after day planting 55 after day planting

Treatment Irrigation

Na+

2- -
Fe2+ K+/Na+ Yield
55 after day planting 75 after day planting 55 after day planting 75 after day planting

75 after day planting

58.53 a 57.85 a 63.91 a 57.87 a 64.66 a 57.77 a

37.67 b 42.97 ab 48.82 a 43.91 a 40.87 a 44.68 a

29.14 a 24.95 b 21.71 b 26.83 a 25.29 a 23.68 a

51.50 a 44.29 a 34.12 c 44.35 a 44.84 a 41.72 a

12.80 a 12.50 a 11.69 a 12.05 a 12.53 a 12.40 a

5.45 ab 5.08 b 6.85 a 6.85 a 5.45 a 6.85 a

2.03 b 2.39 b 2.96 a 2.22 a 2.64 a 2.52 a

.741c .995 b 1.46 a 1.05 a .987 a 1.15 a

1040.51 c 1237.78 b 1561.87 a 1226.04 a 1229.38 a 1384.73 a

zinc
control 3 kg/h 6 kg/h

The stomata close in response to water stress, thereby reduction in carboxylation efficiency of the chloroplasts. Stomatal closure for long time leads to photoreduction of O2 to toxic O2 species.(1) Under water stress, the photosynthetic efficiency of plants is reduced drastically as a consequence + of chloroplast dehydration (Berkowitz and Kroll, 1988). The chloroplasts lose large amounts of K + with a simultaneous decrease in photosynthesis. Hence, application of more K than that usually applied for irrigated plants (Sen Gupta et al., 1989). REFERENCES Ape1 K, Hirt H (2004) Reactive oxygen species: Metabolism,oxidative stress, and signal transduction. Ann Rev Plant Bio 55: 373-399. Asada K (2006) Production and scavenging of reactive oxygen species in chloroplasts and their functions. Plant Physiol 141: 391396. Boyer JS (1982) Plant prod. and environ. Sci. 218: 443-448. Berkowitz, G.A. and Kroll, K.S. 1988. Acclimation of photosynthesis in Zea mays to low water potentials involves altered degree of protoplast volume reduction. Planta 175: 374-379. Cakmak, I., N. Sari, H. Marschner, H. Ekiz, M. Kalayci, A. Yilmaz, and H. J. Braun. 1996. Phytosiderophore release in bread and durum wheat genotypes differing in zinc efficiency. Plant and Soil. 180:183-186. Chen, Z., Newman, I., Zhuo, M., Mendham, N., Zhang, G. and Shabala, S., 2005. Screening plants for salt tolerance by measuring K+ flux:a case study for barely. Plant, Cell and Environment. 28, 1230-1246. Cramer, G.R.; Lauchli, A. and Polito, V.S. 1985. Displacement of Ca2+ from the plasmalemma of root cells. Plant Physiology 79: 297-211. Cramer, G.R.; Lynch, J.; Lauchli, A. and Epstein, E. 1987. Influx of Na+, K+ and Ca2+ into roots of salt-stressed cotton seedlings. Plant Physiology 83: 510- 516. Dasgan HY, Abak K, Cakmak I, Rmheld V, Sensoy S (2004) Inheritance of tolerance to leaf iron deficiency chlorosis in tomato. Euphytica 139, 51-57. Dasgan HY, Ozturk L, Abak K, Cakmak I (2003) Activities of iron-containing enzymes in leaves of two tomato genotypes differing in their resistance to Fe chlorosis. Journal of Plant Nutrition 26, 1997-2007. Fernndez V, Ebert G (2005) Foliar iron fertilization: A critical review. Journal of Plant Nutrition 28, 2113-2124 Egilla, J.N.; Davies, F.T. Jr. and Drew, M.C. 2001. Effect of potassium on drought resistance of Hibiscus rosa-sinensis cv. Leprechaun: Plant growth, leaf macro and micronutrient content and root longevity. Plant and Soil 229(2): 213- 224. El-Hadi, A.H.A.; Ismail, K.M. and El-Akabawy, M.A. 1997. Effect of potassium on the drought resistance of crops in Egyptian conditions. pp. 328-336. In: Proc. of Regional Workshop of IPI, , held at Bornova, Izmir, Turkey. IPI, Basel.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Hacisalihoglu G, Hart JJ, Wang Y, Cakmak I, Kochian LV (2003) Zinc efficiency is correlated with enhanced expression and activity of Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase and carbonic anhydrase in wheat. Plant Physiol 131: 595-602. Hasegawa, P. M., Bressan, R. A., Zhu, J. K and Bohnert, H. J. 2000. Plant cellular and molecular responses to high salinity. Annual Review of Plant Physiology and plant Molecular Biology, 51: 463499. Humble, G.D. and Raschke, K. 1971. Stomatal opening quantitatively related to potassium transport. Plant Physiology 48: 447-453. Kafkafi U. 1991. Root growth under stress. pp. 375-391. In: Waisel, Y.; A. Eshel and U. Kafkafi (Eds.). Plant Roots, The Hidden Half. Marcel Dekker, Inc. New York. 1991. Khan HR, McDonald GK, Rengel Z (2004).Zinc fertilization and water stress affects plant water relations, stomatal conductance and osmotic adjustment in chickpea (Cicer arientinum L.). Plant and Soil, 267: 271-284. Marschner H (1995) Mineral Nutrition of Higher Plants, 2, Academic Press, London, U.K., pp. 889. Mansour, m. m., stadelmann and Lee- Stadelmann. (1993). salt acclimation ofgrowth, mineral content and permeability. Plant Physiology and Biochemstry 31 (3): 341-348 Ming, C. and C. R. Yin. 1992. Effect of Mn and Zn-fertilizers on nutrient balance and deficiency diagnosis of winter wheat crop in pot experiment. International Symposium on the Role of Sulphur, Magnesium, and Micronutreints in Balance Plant Nutrition (edeited by: S. Portch): 369-379, Sulphur Institute, Washington, DC. Nelson, W.L. 1980. Interaction of potassium with moisture and temperature. Pages 109-112, In: Potassium for Agriculture. Potash and Phosphate Institute, Atlanta, USA. Niu, X., Bressan, R. A., Hasegawa, P. M. and Pardo. G. M. (1995). Ion homeostasis in NaCl. stress environment. Plant Physiology 109: 735-742. Rengel, Z. (1992). The role of calcium in salt toxity. Plant Cell Environment 15: 625-632. Renault, S., Croser, C., Franklin, J. A. & Zwiazek, J. J. (2001). Effect of NaCl and Na2SO4 on red-osier dogwood (Cornus stolonifera Michx). Plant and Soil, 233(2), 261268 R. Munns, A. Termatt, Aust. J. Plant Physiol. 13 (1986) 143-160 Ruiz JM, Baghour M, Romero L (2000) Efficiency of the different genotype of tomato in relation to foliar content of Fe and the response of some bioindicators. Journal of Plant Nutrition 23, 1777-1786 Salardini, A., and Mojtahedi, M. 1978. Principles of plant nutrition; nitrogen, zinc, iron. Tehran University Press. 2nd edition. 309 pp. (In Persian). Sen Gupta, A.; Berkowitz, G.A. and Pier, P.A. 1989. Maintenance of photosynthesis at low leaf water potential in wheat. Plant Physiology 89: 1358-1365. Sharma PN, Kumar N, Bisht SS (1994) Effect of zinc deficiency on chlorophyll content, photosynthesis and water relations of cauliflower plants. Photosynthetica 30: 353-359. T. Flowers, P.F. Troke, A.R. Yeo, Annu. Rev. Plant Physiol. 28 (1977) 89-121. Tardieu, F., Zhang, J. and Davies, W.J., 1992. Wheat information in conveyed by an ABA signal from maize roots in drying soil. Plant, Cell and Environ. 15: 185- 191. Welch, R. M .1995. Micronutrient Nutrition of Plants. Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences 14: 49-82. Zaidi, P.H., Khan F.A. and Chaturvedi, G.S. 1994. Physiological role of potassium under stress environment. Fertilizers News 39: 47-49.

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Effect of Boron and Zinc Application on Yield and Quality of Sugar Beet (Beta Vulgaris L.)
W. AL-BADDRANI Depr. of Soil and Water Sciences, College of Agric. and Forestry, Mosul Univ. IRAQ . wheeda_ali2000@yahoo.com Introduction Sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L) is the one of the most important economic crops in the world. The effect of boron (B) and zinc (Zn) on the yield and the quality of sugar beet has been studied previously by a number of authors, who noted that at 0.5 mg kg-1 Zn, sugar beet exhibited greater root productivity and improved plant quality (Gupta, 1993; Drycott, 1996; Anderson, 2005; Padtee and Grafton, 2001; Mortvedt et al., 2006). The aim of this study was to examine, for the first time, the importance of K and Zn to sugar beet in Iraqi soils. Materials and methods Field experiments were conducted in two locations with differing soil physical and chemical properties (an Entisol and an Aridisol) near Mosul city in Iraq. three treatment levels of B (0, 5, 10 mg kg-1) added as a foliar application of H3Bo4 as well as Zn (0, 5, 10 mg kg-1) added as a foliar application of ZnSO4. Soil properties were determined for both locations at two depths (0 30 cm and 30 - 60 cm). The soil at first location is dominantly clay, while second location is a silty slay loam. Both soils are no saline with having CaCO3 contents of 23.6% and 14.7%, respectively. Both soils have a low organic matter content and available B (0.54 and 0.64 mg kg-1) and available Zn (0.35 and 0.27 mg kg-1), for L1and L2, respectively. Result and discussion The yield of sugar beet root mass (t ha-1) in both study locations was, in most cases significantly improved with the addition of B or Zn, and was further improved with the combined addition of B and Zn together (Tables 1). At a B addition rate of 10 mg kg-1an average root mass of 81.87 t ha-1 was found from the two study sites, which is significantly higher than the average control root yield of 64.39 t ha-1The addition of Zn at 10 mg kg-1 yielded an average root mass of 80.00 t ha-1 across the two sites. However, the combined addition of both B and Zn fertilizer, at a rate of 10 mg kg-1B and 10 mg kg-1Zn yielded an average of 86.03 t ha-1 of sugar beet roots. The sugar content in the roots was highest at the third treatment level of both B and Zn, with 10 mg kg-1B resulting in 15.10 % sugar content, and 10 mg kg-1 Zn resulting in 14.59% sugar (Tables 2). With a combined addition of B and Zn at this same treatment level, the sugar content of the roots averaged 15.47%. Conclusions Because of the calcareous nature of soils in Iraq, associated with high levels of soil pH, most micronutrients have negligible availability in these soils. This condition may lead to some nutritional disorders that go along with the deficiency of such micronutrients. The results of this study showed that the addition of B and Zn foliar application to sugar beet increases the yield of roots and improves the quality of the sugar beet in the two studied locations in Iraq.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Table 1. Effect of boron and zinc (mg kg-1) fertilizer on yield of sugar beet roots (t ha-1) at in two locations Zinc mg kg-1 zero 5 10 Effect of Boron zero 5 10 Effect of Boron zero 5 10 Effect of Boron zero 53.59 64.61 70.15 62.75c 54.94 68.60 76.50 66.68c 53.26 66.60 73.32 64.39 c Boron mg kg-1 5 10 first location 71.09 74.66 75.37 78.13 76.45 83.46 74.30b 78.75a second location 70.38 81.33 82.74 85.10 84.89 88.60 79.33b 84.96a accumulation analysis 70.73 77.995 76.05 81.61 80.67 86.03 75.81 b 81.878a Effect of Zinc 66.44c 72.70 b 76.68a 71.93b 68.88c 75.67b 83.33 a 76.82a 67.32c 74.75b 80.00a 74.02

Table 2. Effect of boron and zinc (mg kg-1) fertilizer on sugar percent of sugar beet roots at in two locations Zinc mg kg-1 zero 5 10 Effect of B zero 5 10 Effect of B zero 5 10 Effect of B Boron mg kg-1 5 zero first location 8.90 13.24 12.10 13.47 12.90 13.90 11.30c 13.53b second location 10.00 14.83 12.93 15.76 13.83 16.00 12.24c 15.56b accumulation analysis 9.45 14.03 12.51 14.67 13.35 14.95 11.77c 14.52b 10 13.66 14.20 14.33 14.10a 15.69 16.20 16.50 16.10a 14.67 15.15 15.47 15.10a Effect of Zn 11.93c 13.25 b 13.75 a 12.95b 13.50c 14.90b 15.43a 14.64a 12.72c 14.10b 14.59a 13.80

References Anderson, S., 2005. Boron Basics, Agronomic Library Washington court house ,OH 4316(880) Draycott, A. P. 1996. Fertilizing for high yield and quality sugar beet. Ball 15-IPI Basel. Switzerland. El-Kased, F.A. 1997a. Effects of boron, Zinc and phosphorus on sugar beet production in calcareous soils. Anns of Agric. Sci., Moshtohor, 35(4): 2631-2639. El-Kased, F.A. 1997b. Effect of phosphorus, zink and boron on nutrient composition and requirements of sugar beet in calcareous soil. Annals of Agric. Sci. Moshtohor, 35(4): 2653-2662. Gupta, U.C. 1993. Boron and its Role in Crop Production. CRC Press. U.S.A Hussein, M.A. 2002. Effect of boron on the yield, elemental, Content and quality characteristics

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH of sugar beet grown in calcareous soil, Amended with sulphur. Alex. J. Agric. Res., 47(2): 201207.. Khalil, M.S., S. N. Mostafa., and R.Z. Mostafa. 2001. 1-Department of Biochemictry Fac. of Agric. minufiga univ. 2- Sugar crops Res Center Giza Egypt Minufiya. J. Agric. Res. Vol. 26, No. 3 :583-594. Morsy, M.A., and M.T. Eman. 1986. Effect of boron manganese and their combination on sugar beet under El-Mina condition. 2. Concentration and uptake of N.P.K.B. and Mn. Ann. Of Agric. Sci. Ain Shams Univ. 31(2): 1241-1259. Padtee, J.M., Grafton, K., 2001. Sugar beet and zinc deficiency. nbean@larelel.net North harvest bean growers association. Email J. Center Eur. Agr. Vol 6 293.380 Mortvedt , J.J., Westfall, D.G., Corssant, R.L., 2006. Fertilizing sugar beet. Colorado State University. CSU. Cooperative Extension Agric. No. 542. Singh, P, Misra. S. M., and Sinha ,N.C.1988.Boron in soils and crops. Narendra Deva .Agric .Res 3 (2) : 117-140. Stevens, W. B., Davis, J. G., and Blumenthal, J. 2004. Nutrient management in dry bean production and pest management. Regional Bull. 562A. Colo. St. Univ., Univ. Neb., and Univ. Wyo. In press. Welch, R. M., Allaway, W. H., House, W. A., and Kubota, J. 1991. Geographic distribution of trace element problems. Pages 31-58 in: Micronutrients in Agriculture. J. J. Mortvedt, ed. SSSA Book Ser. 5. SSSA, Madison. Taipei, R.O.C. 2005. Symptoms of micronutient deficiece in crops, and how to remedy them Email .ffic@agnetorg.5f.14 wenchow st, Taipei 10616 Taiwan Tel (8862) 2362 6239

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH The Effect of Asphalt Material on Soil Electrical Conductivity, Some Soil Cations and Anions and Yields of Sunflower Abdulrazzak A. Jasim; Zadoon A. Aladami
College of Agriculture, University of Baghdad.

Abstract

The experiment was conducted during the spring season of 2009 to evaluate the effect of asphalt materials on soil electrical conductivity and soil cations and anions and water table depth and the yields of sunflower. Three treatments including asphalt and bitumen materials and without asphalt material control were used in this study. Randomized complete block design with three replications was used in this experiment. The results showed significant decrease in water table depth and soil salinity attributed to asphalt materials compared with control treatment. The results also showed a significant increase in growth properties and yields of sunflower plant attributed to asphalt.

Introduction Raise water table on soil surface is one of the main problem faces irrigate and Agricultural workers which cause saline the agricultural soil surface. Salt concentration and accumulation on soil surface by raising salty water table reduce plant growing and make agriculture very difficult in spite of existing resistance crop to saline soil. Saline soils need much cost for reclamation and salt leaching (Sharwa and Pvihari .1972). Each cases salt accumulation and salt leaching cause disturb in ecological balance. Many research workers have mentioned that increase soil salience goes parallel with increasing exchangeable sodium concentration, Ca, Mg and Na values caused by raising water table (Baraket et al, 1979); (Autaiw and Abed, 1990). Other research workers introduced some methods to avoid soil salanization by controlling soil evaporation such as; vapor barrier controlling of thermal gradient in soil profile, using of mulches such as (Plastic sheets, plant residues and petrochemical produces), stopping of capillary movement of water and adjusting climatological condition as reducing wind velocity ect. Zoght, 1977, found that petroleum compounds and mixture of other liquid to be a practical method used for sand dunes fixation in Libya, lran and U.S.A Abed Aziz, 1972, used bitumen emulsion as mulch, and he found that evaporation from soil surface was decreased. Plate and Blake, 1974, used asphalt as a barrier, and they found that moisture content domn to the barrier depth was increased. Jasim, 2000; used asphalt as a mulching and found that evaporation was decreased and soil water storage was increased. Further work on using asphalt as a barrier to maintain water in soil has been carried out by Jasim et al 1996, they stated that when asphalt was spreader as aliquot under soil surface it did work as a barrier, and prevent upward movement of water which intern increased soil moisture and decrease soil salanization. However, the objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of asphalt material on soil salinity and water table depth and sunflower yields. Material and Methods Field experiment was conduct to evaluate some asphalt materials on soil electrical conductivity and soil cations and anions and water table depth and sunflower yields the spring season of 2009 in sandy loam soil at Baghdad, Iraq. Three treatments including cold mineral asphalt material (Table 1), bitumen emulsion and control treatment were used in this study. Randomized complete block design with three replication was used soil was removed from each plot (hole) (100 * 100 * 120 cm) and replace with sandy loam soil (table 2) after spreaded asphalt materials on the sides and bottom of each plot. Soil was compacted to get their original bulk density. Locally species sunflower seeds were planted during the spring growing season in 25/2/2000 on lines, the distance between lines was 70cm and between seeds was 30cm. irrigation started when the moisture content of soil reached 50% of available water as was controlled by tensiometers which were in stalled in the soil at depth of 15cm, 80 kg/ha of P205 and 80 kg/ha of Nitrogen were added before planting. The following measurements were done for each plot:

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH 1- Rasing water table by using electrical sound device. 2- Soil electrical conductivity by using electrical conductivity measurement device (EC meter). 3- Desolved ions, CL, K, Na, Mg, Ca and S were measured by the methods in USDA 1954. 4- Plant heights, Number of seeds in head and plant yields were measured for each plot in 20/6/2000. Results and Discussion Table 3 shows the significant effect of asphalt materials on soil salinity and water table depth. It can be seen clearly that the asphalt and bitumen materials reduced water table depth and prevent salty water table to rise to soil surface. Water table depth was 120: 120 and 30cm for asphalt, bitumen and control treatments respectively may be the reason for that is the act of asphalt and bitumen materials by preventing water table to rise to the soil surface. The table also shows that electrical conductivity of soil was reduced attributed by asphalt materials. Soil electrical conductivity was 0.93, 0.92 and 13.6 ds/m for asphalt, bitumin and control treatments respectively may better reason for that the reduction in water table depth. The changes in the concentrations of dissolved ions on soil surface are presents in table 3 too. Ca, Mg, Na, K, Cl and S ions were decreased in the treatments which used asphalt and bitumen materials compared with control may be the reason for that is the decrease in the electrical conductivity of soil and the reduction of rising salty water table to the surface attributed by asphalt and bitumen materials companing with control treatment. Table 4 shows the effect of asphalt materials on plant characteristics (growth and yields). In general it seems that plant characteristics were affected considerably by asphalt materials. Plant lights, Number of seeds in head and plant yields were increased attributed by asphalt materials compared with control treatments the reason for that could be the suitable environment condition and situation during reduction salt accumulation on the surface and subsurface in the soil. The conclusion from the above results that using asphalt and bitumen materials caused reducing the accumulation of soluble ions (Ca, Mg, Na, K, CL and S ) on the surface of soil because the reduction in salty water table depth and electrical conductivity of soil. Hence plant growth characteristics and sunflower yield was increased. Many research to investigate the effect of asphalt materials on soil and plant characteristics for different soils and crops should be carried out.
Material Asphalt (40-50) Kerosine Pentonite clay Water

Table 1. Properties and percentage of used asphalt components

Percentage (%) 25 5 6 64 Specific weight on 15.6 C 104 0.801 Density =2.75 gm/cm3 1 Bulk Density gm/cm3 1.3 Soil penetration resistance kg/cm3 1.2

Light grade 5m 240 38 pH

Soil particles % Sand Clay Loam 82.4 7.4 10.2

Table 2 : Physical and chemical properties of the study soil

Soil Texture

EC ds/m

Sandy loam

2.1

7.6

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Treatment s Asphalt Bitumen Control Teratments Asphalt Bitumen Control LSD = 0.05

Table 3. The effect of asphalt material on soil salinity and water table depth
Water table depth (cm) 120 120 30 EC ds/m 0.93 0.92 11.6 Ca Mg 3.2 2.1 18.9 3.2 3.7 23.4 K Mm/L 1.0 0.31 1.1 0.30 78.2 3.10 Na Cl 2.4 2.3 96.5

S 1.2 1.1 19.8

Table 4. The effect of asphalt material on growth and yield of sunflower

Plant Hight (cm) 127.9 129.1 108.6 1.32 Number of seeds in head seeds/head 741 864 604 29.27 Yield kg/hac. 2.466 2.947 1.482 0.100

References Autaiwi , A. A. and Abed , F.M. , 1990 . Land Reclamation, Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Resarch Foundation of Technical Education. First Edition . Jasim , A.A. , 2000 . The effect of Milching with asphalt materials on some soil properties and yield of beans , 7th scientific Technical proceeding . Jasim , A.A. , Essa , E. and Muhamad .F. 1996 . The effect of asphalt materials on soil water storage , Fifth scientific Technical Proceeding . Abdel Aziz , M.H., 1972 . The effect of bitumen mulch on soil moisture and temp. as related to afforstation in knwait , Desert ints. Bull. 22, No.2 : 477-484. Sharwa , D.R. and S.S. Prihar , 1972. Effect of depth and salanity of grond water on evaporation and salanity . land . J. Agric. Sic. 43: 582. Barakat , M. A., W.M. EL. Chamry , N.A. Mohammer , and H.E. Ghazy . 1970 . The effect of water table on field crops . 1- Cotton . U.A.R.J. Soil Sci . 10 : 187-20 g. Plata J.P. , and Blake , G.R. , Effect an asphalt barrier on water storage and drought probability , Agron . J., 66 : 209-212 .(1974). USDA. Salanity labrotory staff , 1954 . Dignosis and improvement of saline and alkali soils . Handbook No, 60 , Washington D.C. Zoght , M.F., Sand Dunes , Fixation , Afforestation , Eplotion . The Arab center for the studies of Arid zones Damascus : (1977).

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Responses of Some Leaf Nutrients Concentration of Pistachio Trees to Alternate Bearing and Foliar Spray of Zinc and Copper
Akbar Soliemanzadeh*a, Vahid Mozafarib, Ahmad Tajabadi Pourc and Abdolreza Akhgarb
a

M. Sc. Student in Soil Science Department, Vali-e-Asr University of Rafsanjan, Iran

b c

Assistant Prof., Soil Science Department, Vali-e-Asr University of Rafsanjan

AssociateProf., Soil Science Department, Vali-e-Asr University of Rafsanjan

*

Corresponding Author: Asoliemanzadeh@yahoo.com

Abstract: Alternate bearing and deficiency of some micro nutrients are widespread throughout all pistachio growing areas of Iran. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of alternate bearing and foliar spray of zinc and copper on some nutrients leaf concentration of pistachio trees, cv. Owhadi, at a commercial orchard in Rafsanjan region, Iran. The experimental design was a 32 factorial experiment in a randomized complete block with four replications. Treatment were three levels of zinc (0, 1000 and 2000 mg L-1) and two levels of copper (0 and 200 mg L-1). All treatments applied in time of swollen bud (middle of March) in two consecutive seasons, 2010 (ON) and 2011 (OFF). Nutrients including phosphorus,potassium, sodium, copper and zinc were measured in leaves. Foliar application with zinc and copper increased the Zn and Cu leaf concentrations, respectively. Also, application of Zn and Cu had significant effect on Na leaf cocentration, but had no significant effect on P and K. phosphorus, sodium and copper cocentrations of leaf were greater in ON year than in OFF year, but leaf Zn and K concentrations from ON year were lower than OFF ones. A negative correlation was obtained between zinc with phosphorus (r=0.86) and copper (r= 0.87) leaves concentration. However, the results showed a positive correlation (r= 0.87) between P and Cu concentration in leaf. It was concluded that alternate bearing and spray of zinc and copper could have an important effect on the nutrient leaves concentration of pistachio trees.

Keywords: Alternate bearing, Copper, Leaf nutrient, Pistachio, Zinc 1. Introduction Alternate bearing, the occurrence of a high yield ON year followed by low yield OFF year, is severe in pistachio trees (Stevenson et al., 2000). This phenomenon may influence nutrient content of the trees and the annual nutrient consumption, as has been reported for pistachio (Brown et al., 1995), another alternate bearing tree crop species. Fernandez- Escobar et al. (1999) found that N, P, K, and Mg content were affected by crop load in olive leaves, showing lower values following the ON year. Pistachio is a plant species well adapted to dry land conditions and calcareous soils. Zinc (Zn) is an essential element in the nutrition of plants. It plays both a functional (catalytic) and structural role in enzymatic reactions (Marschner, 2002). Zinc deficiency occurs mainly on calcareous and over limed soils in which Zn availability is strongly reduced, and also on sandy, highly weathered acid soils because of low Zn status (Wojcik, 2007). Like zinc, copper is a component of many enzymes in the plant and plays a role in energy metabolism (Beede et al., 2005). Beede (1989) reported that no correlation between soil copper level and pistachio tree deficiency. Soil application is most common method to supply essential nutrients to plants. In this case applied nutrients are absorbed by plant roots. However, higher plants can also absorb mineral nutrients when applied as foliar sprays in appropriate concentrations. foliar fertilization as a visible economic way to supplement the plants nutrients for more efficient fertilization (Girma et al., 2007). In other hand, soil in pistachio growing area is characterized by high pH, carbonate content and low organic matter. In these soils, deficiencies of zinc and copper can become severe (Tavalli and Rahemi, 2007). It may be possible that foliar application of Zn and Cu can solve this problem in Rafsanjan pistachio growing area. The objectives of this study were to determine the effect of
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH alternate bearing and foliar Zn and Cu applications on some leaf nutrients concentration of pistachio trees. 2. Materials and Methods An experiment was conducted on 25-year old Owhadi on Pistaciavera cv. BadamiRiz rootstock, at Rafsanjan region in Iran. Trees in the orchard are spaced 4 and 6 m within and between rows, respectively. Trees were fertilized with CO(NH2)2,TSP and K2SO4 at rate of 300, 250 and 200 kg ha-1 y-1.The experimental design was a 32 factorial experiment in a randomized complete block with fourreplications. Treatment were three levels of zinc (0, 1000 and 2000 mg L-1) and two levels of copper (0 and 200 mg L-1). All treatments applied in time of swollen bud (middle of March) in two consecutive seasons, 2010 (ON) and 2011 (OFF).Trees were hand spray to the point of run off with treatments and Tween 20 used as a wetting agent.Leaf samples were collected in mid-July from the each tree. All samples were placed in plastic bags and were kept in a large ice boxuntil they were brought into the laboratory. Leaf were then washed in aweak detergent solution, rinsed in tap water several times, given a nal rinse in distilled water, dried at 65 0C for 48 h in a forced-air oven, andground to pass a 40-mesh screen for nutrient analyses .For determination of elements, samples (1 gr) were ashed in a muffle furnace at 550 0C for 5h; the obtained ash was dissolved in 10 ml of 2N HCl and made up to 100 ml with distilled water. Extracts of leaf samples were subjected to analysis of P by vanado-molybdo-phosphoric yellow color method, K and Na by flame photometrically and micronutrients (Zn and Cu) by atomic absorption spectrophotometer. 3. Results and Discussion 3-1. Leaf Nutrient Results showed that theconcentrations zinc and copper in the leaves was increased with Zn and Cu application (Table 1). In the ON-year, foliar application of Zn increased zinc concentration by 28% at the third level of zinc, compared with control. But this increased in OFF-year was observed at the second level of Zn, compared with control. Kizilgoz et al. (2010) also showed that leaf zinc concentration increased significantly by Zn application in pistachio trees. However, the Zn application increased copper leaf concentrations in the both years. Similarly, in the ON-year Cu application increased the copper concentration in the leaves by 25%, compared with control. The increase in copper leaf concentration with the Cu application was also observed in other studies (Kallsen, 1998).The results indicated that Zn and Cu spray significantly decreased the concentrations of sodium in leaves (Table 1). It may be that foliar application of Zn and Cu decreased transmit of sodium of roots to shoots and improved sodium exit of leaf tissue.The concentration of phosphorus and potassium in leaves were not affected by foliar treatment in both years (Table 1).

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Table 1. Effect of zinc and copper foliar application on Zn, Cu, P, K and Na concentrations in the leaves of pistachio trees in 2010 and 2011. Treatment Zinc Copper Phosphorus Potassium Sodium Zn (mg L-1) (mg kg-1 DM) (% DM) ON-year (2010) 0 7.66B 11.36B 0.10A 1.14A 0.09C 1000 8.27B 12.18B 0.10A 1.18A 0.15B 2000 8.85A 13.38A 0.09A 1.13A 0.21A Cu (mg L-1) 0 9.45A 10.93B 0.10A 1.07A 0.19A 200 7.74B 13.69A 0.10A 1.23A 0.11B Zn*Cu NS * NS NS ** OFF-year (2011) Zn (mg L-1) 0 14.96B 5.36C 0.07A 1.37A 0.10B 1000 17.06A 6.32B 0.08A 1.37A 0.08AB 2000 14.96B 8.62A 0.08A 1.31A 0.07A -1 Cu (mg L ) 0 15.30A 6.83A 0.08A 1.62A 0.08A 200 16.12A 6.70A 0.07A 1.08A 0.08A Zn*Cu ** * NS NS NS Numbers followed by the same letter in a column are not signi cantly different (Duncan test, P = 0.05). NS, nonsigni cant.

Signi cant at the 0.05 level of probability. ** Signi cant at the 0.01 level of probability. 3-2- Effect of alternate bearing on leaf nutrient concentration In this study, concentration of Copper, Phosphorus and Sodium in the leaves were greater in ON than OFF-year (table 2). These greater nutrients in ON year may have resulted from increase transpiration rates in ON than in OFF year. In many tree species, heavily cropping has been shown to increase stomatal conductance compared with nonfruiting trees (Syvertsen et al., 2003). Vemmos(1994) reported that stomatalconductances in pistachio was significantly greater in ON than OFF trees.However, concentrations of zinc and potassium in the leaves were 83 and 18% greater, respectively, in OFF than ON-year (Table 2). Competition between flower buds and developing nuts might be an important factor. The greater nutrients concentration in leaves of OFFyear were consistent with the finding of greater root growth in OFF than in ON-year (Baninasab et al., 2007).
Table 2. Effect of alternate bearing onZn, Cu, P, K and Na concentrations in the leaves of pistachio trees in 2010 to 2011. Zinc Copper Phosphorus Potassium Sodium -1 year (mg kg DM) (% DM) ON (2010) 8.59B 12.31A 0.10A 1.15A 12.31A OFF (2011) 15.71A 6.77B 0.08B 1.35A 6.77B Numbers followed by the same letter in a column are not signi cantly different (Duncan test, P = 0.05).

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH 3-3. correlation A negative correlation was obtained between the zinc leaf concentrations with Phosphorus (r=0.86) and copper (r= -0.87) concentration in leave of pistachio trees (Fig 1A and B, respectively). The results presented here showed a positive correlation (r= 0.87) between copper and Phosphorus concentrations in the leaves (Fig 1C).

Fig 1. Relationship between Zn with P (A), Cu with Zn (B) and Cu with P (C) in leaves of pistachio trees.

Results indicating that, in pistachio with high zinc leaf concentration, there are restrictionin transport of phosphorus and copper to leaves.The negative correlation between zinc with phosphorus and zinc with copper of interest, since the lack of zinc is one of the common nutritional problem of pistachio trees in Rafsanjan area, however, the high phosphorus application to pistachio orchard at Rafsanjan region is well known, and fertilization dose that reach 200-300 kgha-1y-1 of TSP are recommend (Mozafari, 2005). The positive correlation between leaf phosphorus and copper was reported for coffee trees (Martinez et al., 2003). In conclusion, Results of present study showed that foliar application of Zn and Cu in late February and early March during swelling of the bud, increased zinc and copper concentration in the leaves. However, This research demonstrates that Copper, Phosphorus and Sodium concentrations were significantly lower in leaf of OFF-year than of ON ones. But, zinc and potassium concentrations in leaf from OFF-year were lower than that ON ones. References Baninasab, B., Rahemi, M., Shariatmadari, H., (2007). Seasonal change in mineral content of different organs in the alternate bearing of pistachio trees.Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis, 38, 241258. Beede, R.H., (1989). Effect of orchard soil chemistry on copper deficiency in pistachio trees. In California Pistachio Industry, Annual Report, Crop Year, pp: 81-82.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Beede, R.H., Brown, P.H., Kallsen, C., Weinbaum S.A., (2005). Diagnosing and correcting nutrient deficiencies. In Pistachio production manual, eds L. E. Ferguson, 147-157. 4th edition. Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. University of California: Oakland. Brown, P.H., Weinbaum, S.A., Picchioni, G.A., (1995). Alternate bearing influences annual nutrientconsumption and the total nutrient content of mature pistachio trees. Trees, 9, 158-164. Fernandez-Escobar, R., Moreno, R., Garcia-Creus, M., (1999). Seasonal changes ofmineral nutrients in olive leaves during the alternate-bearing cycle. Scientia Horticulturae, 82, 25-45. Girma, K., Martin, K.L., Freeman, K. W., Mosali, J., Teal, R.K., Raun, W.R., Moges, S.M., Arnall, D. B.,
(2007). Determination of optimum rate and growth for foliar applied phosphorus in corn. Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis, 38, 11371154.

Kallsen, C.E., Holtz, B.A., Wylie, C., Villaruz, L.,(1998). Injecting zinc and copper fertilizers through low-volume irrigation systems to meet pistachio nutrient requirements. In: California Pistachio Industry, Annual Report, Crop Year, pp, 105-106. Kizilgoz, L., Sakin, E., Aslan, N., (2010). The effects of zinc fertilisation on the yield of pistachio (Pistaciavera L.) grown under rainfed conditions. African Journal of Agricultural Research, 5(24), 3427-3430. Marschner, H., (2002). Mineral Nutrition of Higher Plants. San Diego, CA: Academic Press. Martinez, H.E.P., Souza, R.B., Bayona, J.A., Venegaz, V.H.A., Sanz, M., (2003). Coffee-tree floral analysis as a mean of nutritional diagnosis. Journal of Plant Nutrition,7(26), 1467-1482. Mozafari, V.,(2005).The role of potassium, calcium and zinc in controlling pistachio die-back. Ph.D. Thesis, Tarbiat Modarres University, Tehran, Iran. (in Persian). Stevenson, M.T., Shackel, K.A., Ferguson, L., (2000).Shoot length distribution and its relation to yieldof alternate-bearing pistachio trees. Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science, 125(2), 165-168. Syvertsen, J.P., Goni, C., Otero, A., (2003). Fruit load and canopy shading affect leaf characteristics and net gas exchange of Spring navel orange trees. Tree Physiology, 23, 899 906. Tavallali, V., Rahemi M., 2007. Effect of rootstock on nutrient acquisition by leaf, kernel and quality of pistachio (PistaciaveraL.). American-Eurasian Journal of Agriculture & Environmental Science, 2(3), 240-246. Vemmos, S.N., (1994).Net photosynthesis, stomatal conductance, chlorophyll contentand specific leaf weight of pistachio trees (cv. Aegenes) as influenced by fruiting. Journal of Horticultural Science, 69, 775782. Wojeick., P., (2007). Vegetative and reproductive responses of apple trees to zinc fertilization under conditions of acid coarse-textured soil. Journal of plant nutrition, 30: 17911802

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Treatment of Pistachio Trees with Calcium Chlorite and Boric Acid at Time of Swollen Bud
Vahid Mozafari*a, Maryam moosavia, Ahmad Tajabadi Poura and Akbar Soliemanzadeha
a

Soil Science Department, Vali-e-Asr University of Rafsanjan *Corresponding author: vmozafary@yahoo.com

Abstract Fruit set is an important component of yield. One of reason of low fruit set can be deficiency of calcium and boron concentrations in the flower buds. In order to find effects of calcium and boron foliar application at the time of swollen bud (middle of March) on fruit set and some yield components an experiment was carried out in 2011 at pistachio orchard of Rafsanjan area on owhadi cultivar. The experiment was carried out based on factorial and randomized complete block design with four replications. The treatments contained of CaCl2 in three levels (0, 1and 2 %) and H3BO3 in three levels (0, 0.1and 0.2 %). Results showed that Ca application affected the fruit set and was increased of 17% at the third level of Ca, compared with the control. Similarly, the boron application increased the fruit set by 16% at the second level of boron, compared with control. Nut weight increased with boron application. There was increased 7% with boron application, at second level, compared with the nut weight of control treatment. The boron application decreased the blankness by 38% and 135% at the second and third level of boron, respectively, compared with control. However, spray of Ca (1%) significantly decreased the rate of blankness compared with control. In addition, the boron applications affected the splitting rate. It can be concluded that foliar spray of calcium and boron are necessary for obtaining better fruit set and quality in pistachio. Keywords: Boron, Calcium, Foliar application, Fruit set, Pistachio

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Effects of Potassium and Salinity Application on Morphological and Physiological Parameters of Pistachio Seedling in Sand Culture
V. Mozafaria
a

Soil Science Department, Vali-e-Asr University of Rafsanjan Corresponding Author: Vmozafary@yahoo.com

Abstract A factorial greenhouse experiment as completely randomized design with six replications was conducted to Study the effects of potassium and salinity application on morphological and physiological parameters of pistachio seedling (cv. Badami-e-Zarand) in sand culture. Treatments were two levels of K (0 and 1 mM KNO3) and three levels of salinity (0, 100 and 200 mg NaCl kg-1 soil). Prolin and redusing sugars contents whit 3 replications and on two separate time (3 and 6 days after salinity application) measured. A factorial split analyzed to test the trend of these factors so that salinitypottasium and time were as main and sub factors respectively. Results showed that as salinity increased shoot and root dry weights 17% and 15% increased, respectively. As increasing K consentration from 0 to 1 mM, increased dry weight shoot from 0.885 to 1.007 per pot. 1 mM K application increased the leaf number and stem height. As salinity increased significantly increased Na and decreased Mg of plant. Prolin and redusing sugars contents increased three days after application of salinity treatments while K decreased prolin concentration. redusing sugars content significantly affected by time factor so that redusing sugars concentration redused after 3 days but it wasnt correct about prolin content. Keywords: KNO3, NaCl, Prolin, sugars contents

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Interactive effect of salinity and magnesium on pistachio

Fahimeh Zadsalehi masouleha, Vahid Mozaffarib, Fatemeh hojjat nooghic MSc. Student of Soil Science, Department of Soil Science, Agricultural College of Vali-e-Asr University, Rafsanjan, Iran b Department of Soil Science, College of Agriculture, Vali-e-Asr University of Rafsanjan, Iran Corresponding author: fahimeh.zadsalehi@yahoo.com Abstract
The availability of good-quality irrigation water is decreasing worldwide and salinity is an increasingly important agricultural problem. Poor quality of irrigation water has reduced the yields of pistachio over recent years, especially in Rafsanjan, Kerman province. The effect of four magnesium levels [0, 0.5, 1 and 2 mM magnesium as MgSO4.5H2O], and three salinity levels [0, 45 and 90 mM sodium chloride (NaCl)] on growth and chemical composition of pistachio seedlings (Pistacia vera L.) cv. Badami was studied in sand culture under greenhouse conditions in completely randomized design (CRD) with four replications. After 28 weeks, biomass was measured. Salinity decreased biomass. Application of 2 mM Mg significantly reduced biomass. Salinity stress increased shoot Cl, P, and Mn concentrations, and root Cl, Mn and Fe concentration. For example, application of 90 mM NaCl increased root Mn concentration 41% compare to control. While, Salinity stress decreased shoot Fe and root P concentrations. For example, application of 90 mM NaCl decreased root P concentrations 9% compare to control. Application of 2 mM Mg reduced shoot Fe and root Cl, Fe and Mn concentrations. Keywords: Pistachio, Salinity stress, Sand substrate, Dry regions
a, c

Introduction: Pistachio (Pistacia vera L.) is one of the most important commercial trees grown in Iran, Turkey, and recently in the USA (Karimi et al., 2009). There are more than 460,000 hectares of nonbearing and bearing pistachio trees mainly in Kerman province in Iran. Soil salinity is a major constraint limiting agricultural productivity on nearly 20% of the cultivated area and half of the irrigated area worldwide (Zhu, 2001). Increasing salinization of arable lands is a problem of paramount importance to crop production in many parts of the world and especially in irrigated fields of arid and semi-arid regions (Grattan and Grieve, 1999), where soil salt content is high and precipitation is insufficient for their leaching. Salinity and it effect on pistachio s production have been considered by numerous authors (Mozffari & Malakouti, 2006., Shahriaripour et al. 2010). Magnesium, is an activator for many enzymes involved in energy transfer and growth processes. It is a component of chlorophyll and thus is essential for photosynthesis (Bansal, 1989). Magnesium deficiency has not been widely reported in pistachio. Deficiencies are more likely to occur in sandy and acid soils. Magnesium toxicity is rare in plant. Magnesium amount in irrigation water in most of pistachio orchards in Iran is high. Decreasing of under ground water and remove water from deeper depth lead to increasing magnesium amount. Abid et al., (2008) indicated that increasing concentration of magnesium sulphate (MgSO4) from 0 to 5 gL-1 decrased germination stage, length, fresh weight, leaf dry weight and stem dry weight in lucerne. Calcium is strongly competitive with Mg2+ and the binding sites on the root plasma membrance appear to have less affinity for the highly hydrated Mg than for Ca (Marschner, 1995). Ruiz et al. (1997) found that NaCl salinity reduced leaf Mg2+ concentrations in citrus. However increases in salinity are not always associated with decreases in leaf Mg2. It has been known for several decades that solutions with a Mg2+/Ca2+ Ratio greater than one, such as those that result by diluting sea-water, reduces the growth of maize (Key et al., 1962). Although salinity studies have analyzed plant tissue for magnesium, most of the salinitynutrition studies have directed little attention to magnesium nutrition as affected by salinity. The present study, therefore, was initiated to evaluate the main and interactive effects of magnesium and salinity levels on biomass and chemical composition of pistachio seedlings in sand culture.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Material and Methods The experiment was factorial combination of four levels of Mg (0, 0.5, 1 and 2 mM Mg as MgSO4), and three levels of salinity (0, 45 and 90 mM NaCl) in a completely randomized design with four replications. Seed of cv. Badami-e-Zarand, the main pistachio rootstock in Irans pistachio plantation area, were planted in plastic bags that were filled with 1 Kg sterilized perlite (Benton, 2003). Hoaglands solution was selected as nutrient solution (Hoagland and Arnon, 1950). Nine weeks after planting, magnesium treatments supplements with Hoaglands solution adjusted to pH 6.5. In thirteen weeks salinity treatments were applied in four intervals, after which seedlings were leached with distilled water. After 170 days, seedlings cut at the perlite surface shoot and roots were separated, washed and dried. Mn and Fe concentrations were determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometer (GBC Avanta ver.1.33, GBC Scientific, Dandenong, Australia). P concentration determined the method described by Murphy and Riely (1982). Also Cl concentration was determined by Chapman and Pratt methods (Chapman and Pratt, 1961).The data was used in analysis of variance (ANOVA) by MSTAT-C (Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA) and means were compared by Duncan's test (P0.01). Result and discussion Biomass: Analysis of variance indicated that salinity, Mg treatments and Mgsalinity interaction had significant effect on biomass of pistachio seedlings (p= 0.05). As salinity levels increased, biomass was significantly decreased. At highest level of salinity (90 mM NaCl) biomass decreased by 23% in comparison to control (Fig.1A). A decrease in biomass due to salinity stress has been reported by Shariari Pour et al., (2010) in pistachio. At highest level of Mg (2 mM) Biomass decreased by 19 % in comparison to control (Fig.1B). Rani and Jose (2009) has reported that high rates of Mg addition markedly decreased the dry matter production of okra (Abelmoschus esculentus Moench).

5 4 3 2 1 0 0 45 salinity (m M NaCl) 90 a b c Biomass(gr/pot) biomass(gr/pot)

4 a 3 2 1 0 0 5 1 2 MgSO4 Levels (m M) a b b

Fig. 1. Effect of salinity (A) and magnesium (B) on biomass of pistachio seedlings

Shoot and Root P Concentrations: Salinity had significant effect on shoot and root P concentrations of seedlings (P=0.05). Application of 90 mM NaCl increased shoot P concentration 27% and decreased root P concentrations 9% compare to control. Phosphate availability reduced in saline soils because phosphate concentrations in soil solution are tightly controlled by sorption process and by low solubility of Ca-P minerals (Sharply et al.,1992). Most studies that demonstrated that salinity increased tissue-P concentration were conducted in sand or solution cultures not soils (Grattan and Grieve, 1994). Under such conditions, salt stress by an unknown mechanism causes the plant to lose control of P uptake (Roberts et al., 1984) and transport to shoot, which is controlled at root level (Grattan and Mass, 1985). Shoot and Root Chloride Concentrations: Salinity had a significant effect on shoot and root Cl concentrations (P=0.05). Chloride concentration as expected increased with increasing NaCl levels
282

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH (Fig. 2). Sepaskhah and Maftoun (1988) suggested that the sensivity of citrus and pistachio varieties is associated to the accumulation of excessive concentration of Cl and sometimes Na in leaves. Result showed that Mg application (2 mM) reduced root Cl concentration (Fig. 3). It seems that there are negative interaction between Cl- and SO4.

0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0

cl concrntration (%)

shoot b c ab b

root

Cl concentration (%)

0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 0 0.5 1 2 a b ab c

45 salinity ( m M NaCl)

90

Mg SO4 (m M)

Fig. 2. Effect of NaCL on shoot and root Cl concentrations concentrations

Fig. 3. Effect of MgSO4 on root Cl

Shoot and Root Fe Concentrations: Shoot and Fe concentration of pistachio seedlings was significantly (P=0.01) influenced by salinity and Mgsalinity interaction. Salinity application to 90 mM NaCl decreased shoot 17% but increased root Fe concentration 19 % in comparison to control (Fig. 4A). Additions of 2 mM Mg significantly decreased shoot and root the Fe concentration (Fig. 4B). For example, The highest Mg level 2 mM Mg caused 9% decreased of shoot Fe concentration in comparison to control. Hassan et al (1970) reported that Salinity decreased Fe

concentration in the shoots of barley and corn.

shoot 200 Fe concentration(g/gdw) 160 120 80 40 0 0 45 90 salinity (m M NaCl) a a b b b c root

shoot

root

Fe concentration(g/gdw)

200 150 100 50 0

bb

ba

cb

0.5

MgSo4 (mM)

Fig. 4. Effect of salinity (A) and Mg (B) on Fe concentration Shoot and Root Mn Concentrations Analysis of variance indicated that salinity and Mgsalinity interaction had significant effect on shoot and root Mn concentrations of pistachio seedlings (P=0.01). As the salinity levels increased to 90 mM NaCl, shoot and root Mn concentrations were significantly increased (Fig. 5A). Some studies with tomato indicated that salinity either had no effect (Al-Harbi, 1995) or increased (Maas et al., 1972; Niazi and Ahmed, 1984) Mn concentration in shoot. Application of MgSO4 to 1 mM increased root Mn concentration but Application of 2 mM decreased root Mn concentration (Fig. 5B). Magnesium application to 2 mM increased Mn concentration in root in the presence of 90 mM NaCl. In general, high levels of Mg have negative effect on Mn abortion.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH

Mn concentration(g/gdw)

shoot 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0

root

Mn concentration(g/gdw)

a b b c b a

16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0

45

90

0.5

salinity levels (m M NaCl)

MgSo4 levels (m M)

Fig. 5. Effect of salinity on shoot and root Mn concentration (A) and Mg on root (B) Mn concentration Conclusions In general, the effects of salinity levels on biomass were suppressive since growth was significantly decreased with increasing salinity levels. The decline in growth was accompanied by increase in Cl- contents. This may be due to increased turgor as a result of a lower osmotic potential in the cell generated by the uptake of NaCl. Application of 2 mM Mg significantly reduced biomass. Higher Mg application decreased biomass because above a certain level, growth of plant is impaired since an excess of sulphur (S) contained in plant is not metabolized to proteinceous sulphur (Dhillon and Dev, 1980). Salinity stress increased shoot Cl, P, and Mn concentrations, and root Cl, Mn and Fe concentration. While, Salinity stress decreased shoot Fe and root P concentrations. The interaction of salinity and nutrient availability was complex and salinity increased, decreased, or had no effect on the micronutrient concentration in pistachio seedlings. Two main reasons may be responsible for these complex patterns. First, salinity changes the available concentration of these elements in soils due to an increase in the solubility of micronutrients under saline conditions (Sharpley et al., 1992). Second, it is known that genotypes of plants vary widely in their ability to metabolize micronutrients efficiency (Marschner, 1995). Also, different varieties of the same species may differ in uptake efficiency of micronutrients as well. Thus, it is not wondered that reports on the micronutrients in different species are so, variable. Application of 2 mM Mg reduced shoot Fe and root Cl, Fe and Mn concentrations. Excess Mg may also interfere with the uptake of other nutrients like zinc (Zn) or manganese (Mn) thereby restricting plant growth (Fageria, 1983). Acknoledgments We wish to thank Vali-E-Asr University of Rafsanjan Research council for its approval an for providing financial support.

References:

Abid, M. M, Haddad and Ferchichi, A., (2008). Effect of magnesium sulphate on the first stage of development of Lucerne. Option Mediterraneennes. Series A, No. 79: 405-408. Al-Harbi, A.R., (1995). Growth and nutrient composition of tomato and cucumber seedlings as affected by sodium chloride salinity and supplemental calcium. J. Plant Nutr. 18, 1403-1416. Bansal, R.I. (1989). Effect of Zn, B and Mn application on the yield and contentin berseem (Trifolium alexandrinum) grown in an alkaline soil. Acta Agronomica Hungarica 38, 353-356. Benton, J., (2003). Hydroponics: A Practical Guide for the Soilless Grower. St Luice press, Kaplan. Chapman, H.D. and Pratt, P.F., (1961). Methods of analysis for soils, plants and waters. University of California, Division of Agricultural Sciences, p. 299. Dhillon, N. S. and Dev. G., (1980). Studies of S nutrition of soybean (Glycine max L.) as influenced by S fertilization. Journal of Indian Socity. Soil Science. 28: 361-243.

284

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Fageria, N. (1983). Ionic interaction in rice plants from dilute solution. Journal of Plant and soil. 70: 309-316 Grattan, S.R., and Grieve.C.M., (1999). Salinity-mineral nutrition relation in horticultural crops. Scientia Hortculture. 78, 127-157. Grattan, S.R., Mass, E.V., (1985). Root control of leaf phosphorous and chloride accumulation in soybean under salinity stress. Agron. J. 77, 890-895. Hassan, N.A.K., Drew, J.V., Knudsen, D., Olson, R.A., (1970). Influence of soil salinity onproduction of dry matter and uptake and distribution of nutrients in barley and corn. II. Corn(Zea mays L.). Agron. J. 62, 4648. Hoagland, D.R., and. Arnon, D.I., (1950). The water culture method for growing plants without soil. Circ. 347. Agricultural Experiment Station, University of California, Berkeley. Karimi, S., Rahemi, M., Maftoun., Eshghi, M., Tavallali, V., (2009). Effects of Long-term Salinity on Growth and Performance of Two Pistachio (Pistacia L.) Rootstocks. Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, 3(3): 1630-1639. Marschner, H., (1995). Mineral Nutrition of Higher Plants, second ed, London: Academic Press. Mozaffari, V. and Malakout,i M. J., ( 2006). An investigation of some causes of Die-back disorder of pistachio trees and its control through balanced fertilization in Iran. Acta Horticulture 226:301-305. Murphy, J., and Riely, J. P., (1982). A modified single solution method for determination of phosphate in natural waters. Annal. Chem. Acta. 27:31-36. Rani, B. and jose, A.I., (2009). Studies on the dynamics of potassium and magnesium in okra (Abelmoschus esculentus Moench). The proceedings of the International Plant Nutrition Colloquium XVI. University of California, Davis. Paper 1255. Roberts, J.K.M., Linker, C.S., Benoit, A.G., Jardetzky, O., Nieman, R.H., (1984). Salt stimulation of phosphate uptake in maize root tips studied by 31P nuclear magnetic resonance. J. Plant Physiol. 75, 947-950. Ruiz, D., Martnez, V., Cerda, A., (1997). Citrus response to salinity: growth and nutrient uptake.Tree Physiol. 17, 141-150. Sepaskhah, A.R., Maftoun, M., (1988). Relative salt tolerance of pistachio cultivars. J. Hort. Sci. 63, 163-169. Shahriaripour, R., Tajabadi Pour, A., Mozaffari, V., Dashti, H., Adhami, F., (2010). Effects of salinity and soil zinc application on growth and chemical composition of pistachio seedlings. J. Plant Nutr. 33, 1166-1179. Sharply, A.N., Meisinger, J.J., Power, J.F., Suarez, D.L., (1992). Root extraction of nutrients associated with long-term soil management. In: Stewart, B. (Ed.), Advances in Soil Science, vol. 19. Springer, pp. 151-217. Zhu, J.K. (2001). Plant salt tolerance. Trends Plant Sci., 6: 66-71.

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Evaluation of the allelopathic effects of barley ( Hordeum Vulgare L.) biomass on broad leaves weed suppressing in mung bean ( Vigna Radiata L.)
Reza Monem1 Seied Mehdi Mirtaheri2 Amirpouya Sarraf3
1 Faculty member of agronomy department Islamic Azad university Shahr-e- Rey Branch, Tehran-Iran 2 Agricultural department Islamic Azad university Roudehen Branch, Roudehen-Iran 3 Faculty member of agricultural department Islamic Azad university Roudehen Branch, Roudehen-Iran. Email: rezamonaem@yahoo.com

Abstract
Allelopathy is an interaction between plants where one species releases biologically active compounds into the surrounding environment that affect other plants, most often in an inhibitory way. Common effects of allelopathy include reduced seed germination, reduced seedling growth, and reduced survival rates. Allelopathy can be considered a form of antibiosis, a biological control when used to suppress weeds and a form of cultural control especially if the crop itself is allelopathic. In order to evaluate the Allelopathic effects of Barley biomass ( derived from different phonological stages) on broad leaves weed suppressing in mung bean ( Vigna radiate L.) production a field experiment was carried out in Shahr-e-Rey Islamic Azad University (2009-2010) using factorial experiment based on randomized complete blocks design with four replications. Experimental treatments obtained from factorials of barley biomass rates (2, 4, 6 and 8 t/ha) and their age (biomass derived from tillering, stem elongation, heading, soft dough stages and straw after barley harvest). Barley biomass incorporated to the soil before seed bed preparation procedures for mung bean. Results showed that both factors have significant effect on broad leaves weed control, in such a manner, 4 and 6 t/ha of barley biomass severely reduced weed density and followed by 2 and 4 t/ha. All leaves of barley biomass also decreased weed fresh and dry weight. Keywords: Allelopathy, barley, Mung bean, weed

Introduction Modern agriculture is productivity-oriented. Thus, it relies heavily on the use of synthetic chemicals to control weeds and other pests. This has undoubtedly enhanced crop production, but it at the same time may have a negative impact on the environment quality and human health. Further, the development of resistance among weeds to synthetic herbicides is also a cause for concern (Ashraf et al, 2007). They have both stimulatory and inhibitory effects on the growth and development of their own kind and also on other species grown in their vicinity. All plants use the same primary metabolic processes for growth, development and production of seeds for the next generation. But the toxin-producing plants differ widely in their production of secondary metabolites, hence they vary in their ability to produce allelopathic effects (Zoheir et al, 2008). The weeds have been known as very tough competitors of crops for resources. The proper use of allelopathy may reduce the overuse of pesticides (herbicides, fungicides, nematocides and insecticides). Allelochemicals may also reduce pollution and decrease detrimental effects of autotoxicity and soil sickness in agriculture and forestry (Ashraf et al, 2007). Allelopathy in soil is plant-plant interaction mediated by the chemical released from the donor plant into soil and the chemical reaches the receiver plant in various ways. The behavior of allelochemicals released from a donor plant is an important factor affecting the phytotoxic activity of the receiver plant in soil. In soil, the allelochemical is released by leaching from the foliage, exudation from the roots and decomposition of the dead residues of the donor plant (Kobayashi, 2008). Numerous researches referred to the herbicidal potential of the extracts of wheat, maize, soybean, barley and rye crops as good suppressors to many crop and weed species (EL-Rokiek et al, 2006). Crop residues are a useful tool for intervention with other weed management tactics (Zoschke and Quadranti, 2002).
The present work was aimed to study the effects of barley biomass on vontrol of broad leaves weeds in mung bean.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Materials and Methods Field trial Seedbeds were prepared using conventional tillage practices at the Shahr-e-Rey Islamic Azad University, Iran. The experiments used a factorial experiment based on randomized complete blocks design with four replications. Experimental treatments obtained from factorials of barley biomass rates (2, 4, 6 and 8 t/ha) and their age (biomass derived from tillering, stem elongation, heading, soft dough stages and straw after barley harvest). Barley biomass incorporated to the soil before seed bed preparation procedures for mung bean. Plots were sown with a row spacing of 25 cm and at rates recommended for the area. Control plots were cultivated in the same manner as the treatment plots and kept weed free, but were not sown to a crop. Data was analyzed with SAS methods. All data was first analyzed by ANOVA to determine significant (P 0.05) treatment effects. Significant differences between individual means were determined using a multiple grouped test in Dunkan comparison. Results and Discussion The analysis of variance showed significant deterrente effects of different amounts of barley biomass during all phonological stages on number of broad leave weeds (Table 1). Mean comparisons (Table 2) indicated the number of broad leave weeds affected by amounts and application stages of barley biomass and this effect for last growth stages of barley was more than the other growth stages. According to Corre-Hellou (2011) peabarley intercrops can be exhibited high levels of weed suppression, even with a low percentage of barley in the total biomass. The number of broad leave weeds in control conditions was 25 but with use of 2, 4, 6 and 8 ton/hectare barley biomass, it was changed to 2, 2.25, 2.75 and 3 respectively. Dhima et al (2006) reported that use of some cereals (i.e barley) as a cover crop have a negative effect on growth of annual weeds and can reduce application of herbicides. Also Jones et al (1999) reported that, Barley was found to be the most inhibitor (64% and 47% of the fallow treatment for incorporated residue and surface residue treatments respectively).

Table 1: Analysis of variance for time of barley biomass use and amounts of it and their interaction on number and wet and dry weight of broad leave of weeds
S.O.V block time of barley biomass use (A) amounts of barley biomass use (B) Interaction A*B Error d.f 3 4 3 12 57 number of broad leaves 11.446 ns 793.063 ** 59.446 ** 90.029 ** Wet weight of broad leaves 182079.620 ns 1405292.222 ** 473889.054 ** 547055.323 ** dry weight of broad leaves 30.252 n.s 4726.518 ** 1426.948 * 1609.588** -

ns (Non significant), * ( Significant at 5%) and **, 1% ( Significant at 1%) levels

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Table 2 means comparison of wet and dry weight and number of broad leave
wet weight of broad leave (g.m-2) 824.1 a 271.2 b 266.0 b 158.8 b 63.03 b 546.5 a 259 b 236.4 b 224.6 b 2015 a 470.1 b 499.7 b 311.5 b 214.5 b 142.1 b 398.3 b 309.1 b 310.8 b 165.4 b 236.7 b 371.7 b 127.1 b 286.9 b 84.21 b 137.2 b 65.18 b 58.44 b 75.99 b 52.52 b 1170.07 a 132.15 b Numbers of broad leave (in m-2) 20.75 a 15.19 b 12.63 c 7.37 d 2.50 e 13.85 a 12.25 ab 10.65 b 10 b 34.50 a 18 b 16.75 bc 13.75 bc 15.75 bc 15 bc 16.25 bc 13.75 bc 11 c 12.25 bc 12.75bc 14.50 bc 5.25 d 13 bc 5.25 d 6d 2.75 d 3d 2.25 d 2d 25 a 4.25 d dry weight of broad leave (g.m-2) 50.30 a 21.20 b 19.28 bc 13.46 bc 4.68 c 34.31 a 19.21 b 17.51 b 16.10 b 115.3 a 27.03 b 30.60 b 28.23 b 18.22 b 13.34b 24.89 b 28.34 b 20.90 b 15.29 b 17.53 b 23.41 b 10.88 b 21.02 b 10.49 b 11.44 b 6.22 b 3.81 b 4.05 b 4.62 b 90.10 a 20.55 b

Stage of barley biomass Tillering (A1) Stem elongation (A2) Heading (A3) Dough stage (A4) Post harvest (A5) Amounts of barley biomass 2 ton /hectare (B1) 4 ton /hectare (B2) 6 ton /hectare (B3) 8 ton /hectare (B4) Interaction (A*B) A1B1 A1B2 A1B3 A1B4 A2B1 A2B2 A2B3 A2B4 A3B1 A3B2 A3B3 A3B4 A4B1 A4B2 A4B3 A4B4 A5B1 A5B2 A5B3 A5B4 Control 1 Control 2

For a given means within each column of each section followed by the same letter are not significantly different (p<0.05)

Furthermore amounts and application stages of barley biomass had significant effects on wet weight and dry weight of broad leaves (Table 1), so that these traits decreased from 1170.07gr m-2 and 90.10g. m-2 in control conditions to 52.52 g. m-2 and 4.62 g. m-2 in application of 8 ton/hectare barley biomass respectively, which shows more than 95% decrease in these factors. According to Putnam et al, (1983) Often up to 95% control of important agroecosystem weed species is obtained for a 30- to 60-day period following desiccation of the barley and some other cover crops. Therefore the barley residues on the soil surface can be exhibited numerous physical and chemical attributes that contribute to weed suppression. References Ashrafi, Z., Sadeghi, S., Mashhadi, H .R., (2007). Allelopathic effects of barley (Hordeum vulgare) on germination and growth of wild barley (Hordeum spontaneum). Pakistan Journal of Weed Science Research. 13(1-2): 99-112. Corre-Hellou, G., Dibet, A., Hauggaard-Nielsen, H., Crozat, Y., Gooding, M., Ambus, P., Dahlmann, C., von Fragstein, P., Pristeri, A., Monti, M., Jensen, E.S., (2011). The competitive ability of peabarley intercrops against weeds and the interactions with crop productivity and soil N availability. Field Crops Research. 122 (3): 264-272.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Dhima, K. V., vasilakoglou, I. B., Eleftherohorinos, I. G., lithourgidis, A.S., (2006). Allelopathic potential of winter cerals and their cover crop mulch Effect on grass weed suppression and eron Development. crop science. 46: 345 352. EL-Rokiek, K.G., EL-Shahawy, T.A., Sharara, F.A., (2006). New approach to use rice straw waste for weed control. II. The effect of rice straw extract and fusilade (Herbicide) on some weeds infesting soybean (Glysin max L. International Journal of Agriculture & Biology. 2(2): 269275. Jones, E., Jessop, R.S., Sindel, B.M., Hoult, A., (1999). Utilising crop residues to control weeds. Agronomy and Soil Science, School of Rural Science and Natural Resources, CRC for Weed Management Systems, University of New England, Armidale, NSW 235. Kobayashi, K., (2008). Behavior and phytotoxic activity of allelochemical in soil. 5th WCA. September 21-25, Saratoga Springs, NY, USA. Putnam, A.R., Defrank, J., Barnes, J. P., (1983). Exploitation of allelopathy for weed control in annual and perennial cropping systems. Journal of Chemical Ecology. 9:1001-1010. Zoheir, Y., Ashrafi, Sedigheh Sadeghi, Hamid R Mashhadi and Hassa M Alizade, 2008. Study of allelopathical effects of barley on inhibition of germination and growth of seedling green foxtail. Journal of SAT Agricultural Research .6: 1-6. Zoschke, A., Quadranti, M., (2002). Integrated weed management: Quo vadis?. Weed Biology and Management. 2(1): 110.

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Efficiency of the different fertilizing system in the irrigative meadow-brown soils of the zone of Guba-Khachmaz and its role in soil fertility
Goshgar M. Mammadova; Vuqar I. Jafarovb; Ragim A. Pashayevc Institute of Soil Science and Agrohemistry NAS of Azerbaijan, AZ1073 Baku, M.Arif street 5, email: goshgarmm@rambler.ru Abstract
The rationality of the application of the mineral and organic fertilizers jointly, separately, and also replacement of mineral fertilizers with the organic fertilizers under the cabbage plant in meadow-brown soils of Guba-Khacmaz has been investigated. The application of the part share of the mineral fertilizers in 3 (N75P45K90) correlations, organic fertilizers-20 t/h manure (neat cattles manure) in 4 correlations has been defined as a rational fertilizer norm from the standpoint of agroecology and economy. Keywords: mineral fertilizer; fertilizing system; meadow-brown soil fertility

Introduction Using of the available resources in order to increase vegetable including a cabbage, rationally, rising of the condition of the vegetable growing, its need for soil and nutrient and fertilizers application are urgent problems. Study of the nutrient balance in soil by defining of the rational norms and correlations of the joint application of mineral and organic fertilizers, soil ecological condition of the vegetable growing in Guba-Khacmaz in order to get high and qualitative crop (cabbage) from vegetable under available economic condition in our republic is one of the important problems in agrochemistry science [2, 4]. A main aim of the carried out research is study of rationality of replacement of mineral fertilizers with the organic fertilizers in an equivalent quantity and increase of soil fertility in irrigative meadow-brown soils where vegetable plants of Guba-Khacmaz are grown. Materials and methods The laboratorial experiments have been carried out in the laboratory of mineral fertilizers and microelements in the institute of Soil Science and agrochemistry of ANAS, the field experiments have been carried out in Guba-Khacmaz, but the experiments of the irrigative meadow-brown soils in the zone of Shirvanovka municipality in Gusar have been conducted by Azerbaijan sort of the white- heads of cabbage. An area of every calculation bed was 100m2 while being conducted the experiments in 4 secondaries. A plant scheme formed 70x50 cm of area. The experiment was put by a chance location rule of the versions it is used from ammonium salt-peter as nitrogen fertilizer (effecting substance - 34%), simple superphosphate as phosphorus fertilizer (effecting matter 18%), and potassium chloride as potassium fertilizer (52%). But as organic fertilizer, rotten neat cattle manure of which structure is about 0,5 % nitrogen 0,3% phosphorus and 0,6 % potassium and 165 % humidity are used. Results and discussion The soil sapless according to an agrochemical method with the purpose of conduction of the field experiments under the cabbage plant in meadow-brown soils in the Shirvanovka municipal zone of the Gusar administrative district in Guba-Khachmaz have been taken and agrochemical analyses have been conducted under the laboratorial condition [9]. A result of the conducted research has been given on table 1. Though humus total quantity forms 3,46 and 3,15 % in arable and unbearable soil layer, these parameters form 2,05 and 0,92% in 40-60 and 60-80 cm of depths. The total nitrogen quantity in soil was 0,23% it reduces while going into deep layers and this parameter decreases till 0,06 % in 60-80 cm of the depth. A quantity of the total phosphorus and total potassium has been analyzed in the investigative soils. Thus it is determined that a phosphorus quantity in 60-80 cm of the soil depth is 3 times less than in upper part. Though phosphorus total quantity vibrates by 0,25-0,22 %
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH in and arable under arable soils, reduction of these indices is observed in the deep layers of the soil. The total nitrogen quantity changes by 0,11 and 0,06 % over 40-60 and 60-80 cm of depths. Table . 1Agrochemical character of the experimental soils Total potassium, % Exchangeable potassium K2O, mq/kq 180,75 123,57 78,30 52,60 Total nitrogen, % Total phosphorus, % mobile phosphorus P2O5 mq/kq

Total humus, %

Depth, by- cm

N-NH4 mq/kq

N-NO3 mq/kq

0-20 20-40 40-60 60-80

3,46 3,15 2,05 0,92

0,23 0,17 0,11 0,06

39,72 27,11 21,16 7,23

10,27 9,24 3,82 2,12

0,25 0,22 0,18 0,09

41,17 24,02 15,13 10,20

2,44 2,07 1,74 1,55

7,9 8,1 8,3 8,4

The total potassium quantity was less in low layer in comparison with the upper layer of 60-80 cm of soil. Though a total nitrogen quantity is 2,44 % in the arable layer, the potassium total quantity is defined 1,74 and 1,55 % in 40-60 cm and 60-80 cm layers of the soil. Both ammoniac and nitrate forms of nitrogen aret in enough degree in meadow-brown soils. Thus ammonic nitrogen quantity is 39,72 mg in each kilogram of soil in sowing layer of soil (0-20), but ammoniac nitrogen quantity was in a very low degree in 40-60 cm and 60-80 cm of depths. Thus ammoniac nitrogen quantity is accordingly 21,16 and 7,23 mg/kg over the presented layers. Nitrate nitrogen quantity is 10,27 and 9,24 mg/kg in 0-20 cm and 20-40 cm and these parameters reduce while going towards the low layers of the profile. The nitrate nitrogen quantity is 3,82 and 2,12 mg/kg over the presented layers of the soil. It is defined that an environment reaction (pH) possesses alkaline reaction. pH parameter changes by 7,9-8,4 over 0-80 cm profile of the soil in the approved zone. The consequences of the conducted agrochemical researches have been estimated as the following. The agrochemical parameters of the meadow-brown soil where an experiment has been conducted by vegetable culture (autumn cabbage) in Guba-Khacmaz have been provided with both ammoniac and nitrate forms of nitrogen weakly with phosphorus in arable layer on average, weakly under arable layer with potassium weakly. According to the received gradation in our Republic phosphorus P2O5 is very weak 8 mg/kg, weak-8-15 mg/kg, medium-15-30 mg/kg, high-30-45 mg/kg; potassium K2O very weak - 150 mg/kg, weak 150-300mg/kg, mean - 300-450 mg/kg, high 450-600 mg/kg in the irrigative meadow-brown soils [3, 7, 8, 11]. During conducted experiments an application of mineral and organic fertilizers jointly and separately and an application of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilizers in a quantity that is equivalent to 35 t/h, gradually reducing of the part share of the organic fertilizers beginning form 5 t and replacing them with mineral fertilizers in an equivalent quantity being 5 t in every version it is studied an effect on the cabbage productivity. An effect of mineral and organic fertilizers on cabbage productivity has been studied and has been given on diagram1. As is obvious from the table mineral and organic fertilizers have different influence on the cabbage plant separately and their joint application on it in the separate norms and correlations. Thus according to 3-year result of the research, an application of mineral and organic fertilizers not depending on their different correlations and high or low norms showed positive effect on the cabbage plant productivity and the lowest productivity was noted in the control (unfertilized) version over the experiment. The cabbage plant productivity in the versions in which mineral and organic fertilizers were applied jointly in different norms and correlations became stronger in comparison with both control (unfertilized) versions and separate application of different correlations of mineral and organic
291

pH

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH fertilizers. The norm of organic fertilizers (manure) in the different norms and correlations of mineral fertilizers per hectare over the versions is 5; 10; 15; 17,5; 20; 25; 30 and 35 t/h, organic fertilizer is applied as a control version. The rationality of mineral and organic fertilizers in the versions in which organic fertilizers are applied till 25 t per hectare is balanced proportionate. But the versions in which organic fertilizers are applied in 25 and 30 t/h of norm the rationality of mineral and organic fertilizers weakened, this is grounded on being lower of percentage correlation of the mineral fertilizers than organic fertilizers. Thus the version in which N75P45K90 + 20 t/h of manure is applied during an application of mineral and organic fertilizers in increase of cabbage plant productivity, otherwise the version in which a quantity of the nutrient in mineral fertilizers is applied in 3 of the correlation share, but 4 of the correlation share of organic fertilizers the highest productivity is defined in the field experiment
600 517 507,6 487,3 438,4 440,2 400 394,7 396,4
Unfertilizing (control)

500

471,8 479

Manure 35 t/h (control) N175 P105 K210 (equivalent to 35 t/h of manure) Manure 30 t/h + N25 P15 K30 (equivalent to 5 t of manure)

300

260,1

Manure 25 t/h + N50 P30 K60 (equivalent to 10 t manure)

Manure 20 t/h + N75 P45 K90 (equivalent to 15 t manure)

200

Manure 17,5 t/h + N87,5 P52,5 K105,0 (equivalent to 17,5 t of manure) Manure 15 t/h + N100 P60 K120 (equivalent to 20 t manure)
Manure 10 t/h + N125 P75 K150 (equivalent to 25 t of manure)

100

Experiment version

Manure 5 t/h + N150 P90 K180 (equivalent to 30 t of manure)

Diagram 1. Effect of different norms and ratios of mineral and organic fertilizers on cabbage productivity

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH

Table 2 .Influence of mineral and organic fertilizers in the diferent norms and correlations and depending on application methods on taking out of the nitrient

(NPK) by a cabbage in the meadow-brown soils. (2007-2009 3 year, average)

Commodity output N K2O 5,3 12,9 11,6 21,6 23,5 27,8 24,3 166,5 173,8 197,6 183,2 102,0 30,14 52,6 57,1 66,7 62,2 115,1 36,3 79,5 70,2 115,7 121,8 138,5 126,6 54,8 14,1 34,6 N P2O5 K2O 9,5 23,8 21,0 32,6 34,8 39,3 36,6 9,5 10,4 8,7 7,9 3,3 4,2 2,8 P2O5 N 64,3 138,9 123,0 199,1 208,6 236,9 49,8 14,74 24,39 22,00 30,62 31,56 34,38 32,38 10,82 11,45 10,64 10,21 7,43 8,12 5,12 Vegetative mass

Experiment version

Dry biomass, c/h

Taking out by surface vegetative organs, kg/h kq/ha P2O5 16,9 40,5 33,5 60,5 65,8 77,1 71,1

Taking out by commodity output, kg/h

Total taking out, kg/h K2O 39,9 92,4 81,8 137,3 145,3 166,3 150,9

Unifertilizing (control)

Manure 35t/h (control)

N175P105K210 (equivalent to 35 t/h of manure)

293
29,18 25,86 25,83 8,34 8,31 9,73 30,9 25,2 25,8 8,1 4,9 5,9 18,9 14,7 13,6

Manure 30t/h+ N25 P15 K30 (equivalent to 5t of manure)

Manure 25t/ha+ N50 P30 K60 (equivalent to 10 t of manure)

Manure 20t/ha+N75 P45 K90 (equivalent to 15 t of manure)

Manure 17,5t/ha+N87,5 P52,5K105,0 (equivalent to 17,5 t of manure)

Manure 15t/ha+ N100 P60 K120 (equivalent to 20 t of manure)

155,8 136,8 132,2

50,5 39,8 43,1

103,9 86,4 85,5

186,7 162,0 164,0

58,6 44,7 49,0

122,7 101,0 99,1

Manure 10t/ha+ N125 P75 K150 (equivalent to 25 t of manure)

10

Manure 5t/ha+ N150 P90 K180 (equivalent to 30 t of manure)

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH According to the result of the 3-year research an average productivity is 517,0 c/h in N75P45K90 + 20t/h of the manure version, according to the control fertilizer 259,9 c/h or 98,7% rise is observed. But in comparison with the control (35 t/h manure) version an increase is determined120,6 c/h or 23,3 %. Preparation of the rational fertilization system isnt paying attention to the parameters of the soil climate condition and soil fertility of the corresponding region, but also biological characters of the plant and its need for nutrient during vegetation period and taking into account of the quantity of the nutrient are one of the factors. The cabbage plant takes much nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and other microelements with the product unlike agricultural plants, including other vegetable cultures. Therefore the biological characters of the plants nutrient assimilating from soil and fertilizer must be taken into account in getting of the planned product during definition of the mineral and organic fertilizer norms. The white-head of cabbage is one of plants which require more nutrients among vegetable plants. About 90 kg of nitrogen, 30kg of phosphorus, 135 kg of potassium are in the structure of the cabbage product (productivity is 300,0 s.) [10, 11]. While applying mineral fertilizers with the organic fertilizers jointly (mixer) commodity output of the cabbage expense more nutrients in comparison with the application of fertilizers separately. In order to base an application of fertilizers scientifically, a quantity of nutrient and their assimilating coefficient from fertilizers are learnt, too (Table 2). The carried out researches showed that an application of the organic and mineral fertilizers in the irrigative meadowbrown soils influenced on taking of the nutrient by commodity and no commodity output (by a vegetative mass). Thus, the nitrogen quantity which is taken by main and additional product in the control (un fertilizing) version is 64,3 kg/h, but the quantity of nitrogen taken by an application of mineral and organic fertilizers increases 123,0-236,9 kg/h. Carrying out of nitrogen with the product and vegetative mass in the version of N75P45K90 + 20 t/h of manure otherwise the highest parameter of 42,8%, of nitrogen fertilizer or in 3 ratio in the mineral form, 52,75% or in 4 ratio in the organic form is defined over an experiment. Totally 16,5 kg/h of phosphorus is carried out being 14,1 kg/h and 2,8 kg/h of the vegetative mass. Taking out of phosphorus by the cabbage plant increased in the version of the application of mineral and organic fertilizers in comparison with the control version. Thus, taking out of phosphorus from soil over the experiment in the version of N75P45K90 + 20 t of manure/h otherwise mineral fertilizers in 3 ratio, organic fertilizers in 4 ratio reached the highest level. The norm and correlations of the fertilizer application influenced differently on taking out of phosphorus from soil, its application in the mineral form accelerates and increases phosphorus which is taken out from the soil. Depending on the application norm of the mineral and organic fertilizers and correlations phosphorus taking out by the cabbage plant changed by 31,7-77,1 kg/h. Depending on the norm and correlations of the application of fertilizers influenced differently on taking out of potassium from soil by the commodity output and surface vegetative mass of the cabbage plant. Thus, the potassium total taking out in the control ( un fertilizing) version forms 39,9 kg/h, these parameters in the versions of the organic fertilizers increases by 81,0-166,3 kg/h. Conduction of potassium as nitrogen and phosphorus over an experiment in the manure version of N75P45K90+20 t/h otherwise an application of mineral and organic fertilizers share quantity in an equivalent quantity is observered in a ratio of 3:4 under the cabbage plant. Taking out of potassium from soil is defined 166,3 kg/h in abovementioned version. So, it was determined during the experiment that an application of mineral and organic fertilizers under the cabbage plant influenced differently on taking out of the nutrient from soil by commodity and surface vegetative mass of the plant. On a ratio of 3 parts share of mineral fertilizers, on a ratio of 4part Share of organic fertilizers that is in N75P45K90 + 20 t/h of manure versions an intensity of taking out of nutrient by plants increased. Conclusions 1. According to the received gradation in our Republic the irrigative meadow-brown soils are provided with the assimilating forms of nitrogen and potassium and humus weakly, with the assimilating form of phosphorus at an average degree. Application of the reduced norms of mineral fertilizers with the

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH manure jointly in on equivalent quantity establishes soil fertility playing an important role in increase of mobile phosphorus and changeable potassium of nitrate and ammoniac nitrogen of humus on an arable and under arable layer of the soil and makes a situation for a high and stable product. 2. Application of mineral and organic fertilizers jointly in comparison with the application separately and application of the part share on the ratio of 3 of the mineral fertilizers on a ratio of 4 of the organic fertilizers and assimilation of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium over plant development passes increased and in comparison with the control version the plant production rise very much. 3. An application of mineral and organic fertilizers influenced mainly on taking out of the nutrient (NPK) by commodity product and vegetative organs of the cabbage plant. Thus, depending on plant feeding regime commodity and non-commodity, taking out of the nutrient by product was different. N75P45K90+20 t/h pf the manure version of the mineral fertilizers or a share correlation of mineral fertilizers on a ratio of 3, but a share correlation of organic fertilizers on a ratio of 4, otherwise joint application of the mineral and organic fertilizers, the nutrient quantity, its application on a share ratio of 42,8 % of mineral, 57,2% of organic form was a reason for taking out of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, it represented an increase of the plant productivity. References 1. Agayev N.A., Ismayilova S.N., Agayev A.N., Agrochemical characters of some soils in Azerbaijan. // Azerbaijan Agrarian Science, 1999, 3-4, p.20-23. 2. Babayev M.P., Jafarova Ch.M., Hasanov V.H. Contemporary classification of Azerbaijan Soils. // Baku 2006, Scientific publication, p.360. 3. Bagirova B.S. Influence of mineral fertilizers on taking out of the nutrient in the potato plant. Works of the Azerbaijan Soil Scientists Society. VII.vol. Baku 1998, p.149. 4. Mammadov G. Sh. Social-economic and ecological bases of the rational use from Azerbaijan Soil Resources. Baku 2007, Science pub., p. 854. 5. Mammadova S.Z. Jafarov A.B. Fertility character of the Soil. //Baku 2005, p.193. 6. Mammadov G. Sh.,Guliyev V.A. Estimation of Azerbaijan north-east agricultural zone. // Science publication, Baku 2002, p. 227. 7. Mammadov G.M., Movsumov Z.R., Akhundova A.B. Influence of the different correlations on macro and microelements on productivity of vegetable plants. Azerb. Agrarian Science journal 1-6, Baku 2002, p.47-52. 8. Mammadov G.M. Regional characters of the fertilization of fruit-vegetable plants in the meadowbrown and meadow-forest soils in the north-east part of the Great Caucasus. ANAS News Biology Science. Baku 2008. 1-2, p. 59-62. 9. Agrochemical methods of soil investigations under. Pub. A.V. Sokolov, Moscow, Science 1975, p.675. 10. Barisyuk V.A. Role of fertilizer and other factors in increase of productivity of the cabbage. Kiev; Product, 2001, p. 95-108 11. Jabrailov M.G., Jafarova V.A., Sheikhova M.T. Study of the influence of the different doses and correlations of the mineral fertilizers on cabbage development under conditions of Khachmaz district. Pub .AS. Azerb. SSR. 5-6, 1971, p. 47-88

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Management of Water and Nitrogen Fertilizer on Rice Ratooning

Parisa Shahinrokhsar1 Hassan Shokri Vahed2 and Fatemeh Heydarnezhad3
1 2

Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Center, Engineering Research Dept., Rasht, Iran, Rice Research Institute of Iran, Soil and Water Science Dept. 3 M.Sc. in Soil Science
Corresponding Author: pshahinrokhsar@yahoo.com

The management of irrigation and nitrogen fertilizer has important role on yield and water used efficiemcy of rice ratooning in cracked paddy soil. To determine the effect of different irrigation water and nitrogen management on yield and yield components of rice ratooning of Hashemy variety, a field experiment was conducted in rice research institute of Iran (RRII) at Guilan provience, northern of Iran. The experiment was a randomized complete block design with factorial arrangement of treatment with three replications. Two factors including rates of irrigation (flooding irrigation (I1), capillary crack (2-3 mm) (I2) and large crack (5-6 mm) (I3)) and nitrogen fertilizer (0, 30, 60 and 90 Kgha-1 pure nitrogen) were used. Interaction of irrigation and nitrogen fertilizer showed that I1N60 treatment have highest panicle length, number of tiller per hill and grain yield. However don't have significant difference with I2N60 and I3N60 treatment. Also highest water use efficiency belong to large crack treatment (1.23 kgm-3) and lowest belong to flooding irrigation (0.13 kgm-3). Keywords: drought stress, internal irrigation, nitrogen, ratooning, rice, yield.

Abstract

Introduction Increasing rice grain yields per unit of area is one approach to improving total rice production (Santos et al., 2003). Ratooning of plant, obtaining a second harvest from a second growth of the main crop, has been practised in many countries, such as India (Gupta & Mira. 1948), Japan (Ishikawa, 1964), the United State, the Philippines and also Iran (Nasiri et al., 2007). Water management before and after main crop harvest affected ratooning ability (Votong, 1975, Hague, 1975). Mengel and Wilson (1980) reported that early flooding after harvest of the main crop resulted in a more rapid and uniform regrowth than that obtained with the delayed flooding water regime. Soil fertilty may directly on indirectly affect ratoon crop growth and yield (Plucknett et al., 1984). Nitrogen is probably the most important single nutrient element in growth of ratoons. Nitrogen fertilizer has been observed to improve tillering and increase grain yield of the ratoon crop. However, responses of ratoon to N rate were not constant. Rice ratoon crops respond well to nitrogen fertilizer (Yamamot,1967, IRRI Ann Rep. 1975, Bahar and De Datta, 1977). Nasiri et al. (2007) by studying on effect of level of nitrogen fertilizer application on yield and yield component of rice ratooning observed that different levels of N fertilizer did not significantly affect ratoon yield, harvest index, panicle number per squer meter and 1000-grain weight but N applied immediately after main crop harvest significantly affect ratoon yield and grain number per panicle. Ghorbanli et al. (2006) by studying on irrigation (flooded, periodicity and saturation irrigation) perform as main plot and different amounts of urea apply as secondary plot. Increase of amounts of nitrogen (100,200 and 300 kg.ha-1) lead to increase the growth parameters such height, tiller number, leaf area and total dry weight. Comparison of means showed that statistically significant is between irrigation method of flooded and periodicity to saturation method wherease significant increase growth parameters and amount of chlorophyll demonstrated in flooded and periodicity treatment in comparison to saturated treatment. Also interaction effects of irrigation and nitrogen were significant on parameters of above wherease saturated treatment lead to decrease nitrogen uptake and growth parameters. Ichii (1983) evaluated the effect of water management on ratoon ability of rice plants and the results showed most of the hills did not produce ratoons when the main crop was cut at ground level and the water depth was maintained at 5 cm above the ground water depth did not affect the percentage of ratoon tillers and ratoon heights when the main crop was cut 5 cm above the ground also no significant effects of water management on the percentage of ratoon tillers and ratoon heights were observed, when the main crop was cut at 20 cm above the ground. The management of cracking clay soils has important influence on irrigation efficiency. The study by Liu et al., (2003) showed that in paddy cracking clay soils the infiltration rate increases
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH significantly. They also showed that soil texture, depth of ponded water at the soil surface, crack width, cultivation, suspended minerals in the water and depth of tillage are affecting infiltration rate. Zein El Abedine and Robinson (1971) and Montes (2005) reported that the crack development depends on duration of soil moisture stress, soil type, amount of clay and type of cations. Islam et al., (2003) reported that the soil management practices to reduce crack during irrigation has significant effect on water use efficiency. Effects of irrigation water management on yield and water use efficiency of rice in cracked paddy soils were evaluated by Mostafazadeh-Fard et al., (2010). The results showed that the effects of crack width on rice grain yield and water use efficiency were significant. On cracked paddy soils, based on the development of crack width, the irrigation schedule can be planned to save water without considerable reduction of crop yield. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to determine the optimum fertilizer dose and irrigation management for ratoon rice in cracked paddy soils under north of iran condition. Matrials and Method A field experiment was conducted in rice research institute of iran (RRII) at Guilan provience, northern of Iran (Longitude 49o36E and Latitude 37o16N) has elevation of about 7 m below the sea level, mean annual temperature of 15.9 oC, mean annual rainfall of 1320 mm and mean annual humidity of 78.5%. The experiment was a randomized complete block design with factorial arrangement of treatment with three replications. Two factors including rates of irrigation (flooding (I1) irrigation, capillary crack (2-3 mm)(I2) and large crack (5-6 mm)(I3)) and nitrogen fertilizer (0, 30, 60 and 90 Kg.ha-1 pure nitrogen) were used for ratoon crops. The experiment individual plot size was 15 m2 (35). Land was prepared by deep plowing followed by laddering. Forty three day old seedlings were transplanted in the main field at the rate of two seedlings hill. Except urea, fertilizers (phosphour from source of triple super phosphate and potassium from source of potassium solphate) were applied at the time of final land preparation. Urea wad top dressed in two equal splits at 7 and 21 day after harvesting main crop. The main crop was harvested leaving a culm height 25 cm above the ground level. Intercultural operations such as weeding and plant protection were done as usual technique in RRII. Irrigation treatment was applied immediately after the first fertilizer application. A valve and a volumetric discharge measurement device was installed at the location where the sub-main hoes enter each plot and they were used to control and measure the exact amount of water needed for each plot. Ten hills (excluding border hill) were randomly selected from each unit plot prior to harvest for recording of necessary data on different crop charactres. Grain yield of 10 sample plants of each plot were added to those entire plot to calculating the yields (grain) per unit plot. The data on crop characters like plant height, total number of tillers hill, 1000-grain weight and grain yield. Collected data were analyzed following ANOVA techniques by using MSTAT-C computer package.Water use efficiency (kgm-3) was determined based on the ratio of the yield to the water applied during the irrigation season as follow (Gupta and Acharya, 1993):
Y W Where: WUE = water use efficiency, Y= total yield and W= the volume of applied irrigation water. WUE =

(1)

Table 1- Some physical and chemical characteristics of soil for the experimental plots
Depth Saturation Percent % S.P 78 80 Electrical Conductivity EC*103 1.43 1.28 pH Organic Carbon % 2.09 1.94 Total Nitrogen 0.140 0.143 Available Phosphorus ppm 14.4 15.2 Available Potassium ppm 246 246 Sand Silt % 14 10 50 40 36 50 Sicl Sic=C Clay Texture

0-15 15-30

6.19 6.20

Results and Discussion Grain Yield The analysis of variance in table 2 shows the effects of nitrogen on grain yield are significant at 1% level and the effects of crack width and interaction of crack width nitrogen on grain yield are significant at 5% level. Comparison of average grain yields in different irrigation treatments

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH indicate that the I3 treatment has the highest grain yield (463.4 kgha-1) and the I1 treatment has the lowest grain yield (406.4 kgha-1) (Table 3). Among the nitrogen treatments, the highest grain yield (590.2 kgha-1) was belonged to the N60 treatment and the lowest grain yield (277.9 kgha-1) was belonged to the N0 treatment. The difference in grain yield between N60 and N90 treatments was not significant and the increase in yield was just 8%. In Fig. 1 the interaction effect of crack width and nitrogen fertilizer observed.
A A A A B BC D D C BC A A

(In each column, the values with at least one common letter are not significantly different at 1% level)

Fig 1. The interaction effect of crack width and nitrogen fertilizer on grain yield (kgha-1)

1000-Grain Weight Table 2 shows that effect of crack width and nitrogen fertilizer on 1000-grain weight is not significant. The interaction effect of crack width and nitrogen fertilizer on 1000-grain weight is significant at 5% level. The comparison of the mean values of the 1000-grain weight (Fig. 2) shows that I1N30 treatment has the highest (22.2 g) 1000-grain weight. The I3N30 treatment has the lowest (20.5 g) value of 1000-grain weight. Similar results were obtained by Thomas et al. (2003) which showed that as the applied irrigation water increases, 1000-grain weight increases significantly.
A ABC BC AB BC C C C C BC ABC C

(In each column, the values with at least one common letter are not significantly different at 1% level)

Fig 2. The interaction effect of crack width and nitrogen fertilizer on 1000-grain weight (gr)

Panicle Length Table 2 shows the effect of crack width, nitrogen fertilizer and interaction effect of crack width and nitrogen fertilizer on panicle length is not significant. Plant Height Table 2 shows the effect of crack width and nitrogen fertilizer on plant height is significant at 1% level. The comparison of the mean values of plant height shows that the lowest and the highest
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH plant height is belonged to I1 (104.8 cm) and I3 (98.9 cm) treatments in crack width and N90 (105.8 cm) and N0 (95.9 cm) respectively (Table 3). There is no significant difference between I1 and I3 treatments. Interaction effect of crack width and nitrogen fertilizer on plant height are not significant. Number of Tillers The effect of crack width and nitrogen fertilizer on number of tillers was significant at 1% level and but their interaction effect was not significant (Table 2). The comparison of the mean values of number of tillers shows that the highest and the lowest number of tillers is belonged to the I2 (11.1) and I3 (8.1) treatments, respectively (Table 3). The highest number of tillers is belonged to N90 (10.7) and the difference between N90 and N60 is not significant (fig. 3).

Fig. 3. Tillers in rice ratoon (I3N4 treatment) Water Use Efficiency The effect of crack width on water use efficiency observes on Fig. 4. The comparison of the mean values of water use efficiency shows that the highest and the lowest water use efficiency is belonged to I3 and I1 treatments, respectively (fig.4). This figure shows that, there is no significant difference between I1 and I2 treatments. Therefore, to save water, it is better to use I2 treatment instead of I1 treatment, because I2 consumes less water as compared to the I1 (Fig.4). Islam et al. (2004) reported that the main cause of reduction of water use efficiency in cracking clay soils is the preferential flow.

Fig.4. Effect of crack width on water consumption (m3) and water use efficiency (kgm-3) Table 2. Analysis of variance for parameters
Source of variations Crack width Nitrogen Nitrogen Crack width Grain yield (kgha-1) 0.036* 0.62** 0.02* 1000-grain weight (g) 0.248ns 0.085ns 4.07** panicle length (cm) 2.30ns 6.12 ns 4.38ns Plant height (cm) 315.29** 536.15** 35.16ns Number of tillers 315.29** 536.15** 35.16ns

ns, * and ** not significant, significant at 5 and 1 % levels, respectively.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH

Table 3. The comparison of the measured average parameters as influenced by crack width and depth of irrigation water
Parameter Grain yield (kgha-1) 1000-Grain weight (g) Ear length (cm) Plant height (cm) Number of tillers Crack Width I1 I2 406.4 B 411.1 B 21.6 A 22.0 A 20.3 A 19.9 A 104.8 A 102.8 A 9.5 B 11.1 A I3 463.4 19.6 20.4 98.9 8.1 C N0 277.9 21.2 A 19.9 A 95.9 C 7.6 C Nitrogen Dose N30 N60 371.5 590.2 21.2 A 20.8 A 20.0 A 20.6 A 102.3 104.8 9.4 B 10.6 A N90 543.2 A 21.3 A 20.2 A 105.8 A 10.7 A

The values that have at least one common character are not significant at 5% level. Conclusion At the present time, the farmers apply flooding irrigation to the paddy fields with low irrigation efficiency. Based on the results of this research, paddy fields could be irrigated with much less water than the amount that farmers are using traditionally. Based on the development of crack width, the irrigation schedule can be planned to save water without considerable reduction of the crop yield and also the results showed that increase N fertilizer significantly positive affect on grain yield, plant height and number of tiller in rice ratooning . Acknowledgements This research was founded and supported by Rice Research Institute of Iran which is gratefully acknowledged References 1. Bahar, F.A., De Datta, S. K., (1977). Prospects of increasing tropical rice production through ratooning. Agron. J., 69,536-540 2. Ghorbanli, M., Hashemi Moghaddam, Sh., Fallah, A., (2006). Study of Interaction Effects of Irrigation and Nitrogen on Some Morphological and Physiological Characteristic of Rice Plant (Oryza sativa L.). Journal of agricultural sciences Islamic Azad University, 12 (2), 415-428. 3. Gupta, R., Acharya, CL., (1993). Effect of mulch induced hydrothermal regime on root growth, water use efficiency, yield and quality of strawberry. J. Indian Soc. Soil Sci., 41 (1), 17-25. 4. Gupta, P.S., Mira, A.K., (1948). Possibility of increasing the yield of rice by ratooning in the U.P. Indian Farming, 9, 13-15. 5. Hague, M.M., (1975). Varietal variations and evaluation procedures for ratooning in rice. Unpublished MS thesis, UPLB, Philippines. 110p. 6. Harnaez, a. (1958). Some facts on rice ratooning. Plant Ind. Digest 21,7-22. 7. Ichii, M., (1983). The effect of water management on ratoon ability of rice plants. Tech. Bull. Fac. Agr. Kagawa Univ, 34(2),123-128 8. Ishikawa, T., (1964). Studies of the ratoon of rice plant in early cultivation. Bull. Fac. Agric., Univ. Miyazaki, Japan, 10, 72-78. 9. Islam, M.J., Parul, S.S., Pathan A., Quasem, MA., Islam, M.S., (2004b). Influence of cracking on rice seasons and irrigation in Bangladesh. J. of Biological Sciences, 4(1),11-14. 10. Liu, CW., Cheng, SW., Yu, WS., Chen, SK., (2003). Water infiltration rate in cracked paddy soil. Geoderma, 117,169-181. 11. Mengel, D.B., Wilson, F.E., (1980). Water management of ratoon crop rice. Agron. J. 73, 1008-1010. 12. Montes, HG., (2005). Swellingshrinkage measurements of bentonite using coupled environmental scanning electron microscopy and digital image analysis. J. of Colloid and Interface Sci., 284, 271-277.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH 13. Mostafazadeh-Fard, B., Jafari, F., Mousavi, S.F., Yazdani M.R., (2010). Effects of irrigation water management on yield and water use efficiency of rice in cracked paddy soils. AJCS,4(3),136-141 14. Nasiri, M., Pirdashti, H., Naijnejad, T., (2007). Effect of level and time of nitrogen fertilizer application and cutting height on yield and yield component of rice ratooning. Pajouhesh & Sazandegi, 77, 35-40. 15. Plucknett, D.L., Escalada, R.G., Pena, D., (1984). Crop ratooning pages 151-175. In: Crop Physiology Advancing Frontiers. U.S. Gupta Edit. Oxford and JBH Publishing Co. 16. Santos, A.B., Fageria, N.K., Prabhu, A.S., (2003). Rice ratooning management practices for higher yields. Commun. Soil Sci.Plant Anal, 34,881-918 17. Thomas, UC., Varughese, K., Thomas, A., (2003). Influence of irrigation, nutrient management, and seed priming on yield and attributes of upland rice. International Rice Research Notes, 28 (2). 18. Votong, V., (1975). The effect of time of drainage and time of rewatering on the yield of ratoon rice. Unpublished MS thesis, Uni. Of Sydney, Australia. 19. Yamamoto, T., (1967). A studies on semiannual rice crop production through the regenerative function of the previous crop stubble. II. On some problems concerning manure- giving at a time when the plant has been in ears for ten days and concerning its harvest. Bull. Aichi Univ. Edu., Nat. Sci., 16,77-82. 20. Zein El Abedine, A., Robinson, GH., (1971). A study on cracking in some vertisols of the Sudan. Geoderma, 5(3),229-241.

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Spatial Variability of Zinc and Manganese in Two Agricultural Soils in Argentina Republic
Marcelo Beltrn, Gustavo Cruzate, Emilia Rivero and Susana Russo Soil Institute, National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA), Castelar 1712, Argentina mbeltran@cnia.inta.gov.ar
A study in General Villegas and Azul locations of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina was made to determine the spatial variability of zinc (Zn) and manganese (Mn) in two agricultural soil under no tillage system. The soils in General Villegas was classified as Typic Hapludoll, slope 0,05% and in Azul was Typic Argiudoll, slope 3,5%. A plot of a hectare was sampled with two different methods the grid and the zone soil sampling, collecting compound samples in two depths, before soybean sowing. The availability of the nutrient from 0-20 cm depth was estimated on a weighted average of 0-5 and 5-20 cm. Chemical determination was made using the standar routine methods of the laboratory of the Soil Institute. Descriptive statistics and geostatistics techniques were used to analyze data and to generated Zn and Mn distribution and availability maps though interpolation. The Shapiro-Wilk test was used. ArcGis Geostadistical analysis 9,2 was used to obtain distribution maps of each element through ordinary Kriging. The spatial variability of Zn availability in the soil was high and Mn was low in relation to the localities and the different methods of sampling soil depth 0-20 cm. Zn showed a strong to moderate spatial dependence and Mn showed a moderate one. Keywords: Variability Zinc Manganese Geostatistic

Introduction Soils properties are heterogeneous and their spatial variability depends on edaphoclimatic factors as original material, topography and climate, and antrotophic factors. (Barbagelata et al., 2006 ; Salgueiro, 2006) The space dependence for soil properties has been studied for two decades, and is manifested most strongly in the chemical properties. Spatial variations can be evaluated through geostatistical techniques that allow mapping and delineate areas of homogeneous management. (Vasquez Polo et al., 2010) Among nutrients, zinc (Zn) and manganese (Mn) are essential micronutrients for the crops development. Despite of have been found areas of possible response to the addition of these nutrients, is not a common its application as fertilizers in Argentina Republic. (Rivero et al., 2009) Organic matter (OM), pH and texture are the most important edaphic factors that affect these micronutrient variability. (Wang et al., 2009) The aim of this work is to evaluate the spatial variability of available zinc and manganese in two different soils of Argentina Republic. Materials and methods A study was carry out in order to determine the spatial variability of phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) in two soils under no tillage system located in The Pampa area. The soils were classified as Typic Hapludoll (General Villegas, Buenos Aires) and Typic Argiudoll (Azul, Buenos Aires). In both soils, a plot of a hectare was sampled with two different methods, the grid and zone soil sampling, collecting compound samples in two depths (0-5 and 5-20 cm), before soybean sowing. The availability of the nutrient from 0-20 cm depth was estimated on a weighted average of the two depths. For the determination of the different Chemicals propierties and elements, were used the folowing methodologies: pH was measured with a pH-meter, OM with the Walkley y Black method, Zn and Mn were extracted with EDTA and determined by atomic absorption. Descriptive statistics and the Shapiro-Wilk test were used to analyze data. ArcGis Geostadistical analysis 9,2 was used to obtain distribution maps of each element through ordinary Kriging. First of all, variograms were created with each group of data included in the study and several models of curves were used as well. The theoretical semivariogram model that best adjusted to the data was selected. There is no evident anisotropy in the directional semiviograms for all the properties studied, so isotropic models were used for semivariograms.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Results and discussion In table 1 it can be observed pH, OM values and the percentage of sand, silt and clay. It can be observed that the OM level and the content of clay is higher in Azul, on the other hand, Gral. Villegas is a Sandy soil with less OM. The pH value is similar in both soils. Table 1. Soil properties of both locations Parameters Azul Gral Villegas pH 5,6 5,6 OM (%) 5,59 2,37 Clay (%) 19,5 30,3 Silt (%) 24,5 34,7 Sandy (%) 56,0 35,0 Table 2 show the mean value of Zn and Mn obtenidos obtain by the grid method and their coefficents of variability (CV %). Table 2. Descriptive statistics of Zn and Mn in the grid soil sampling Location Azul Gral. Villegas Element Media (ppm) CV % Media (ppm) CV % Zinc 1,4 23,5 1,0 17,0 Manganese 41,1 6,2 50,6 7,6 Table 3 show the mean value of Zn y Mn (ppm) and its CV % obtain by the zone soil method. Table 3. Descriptive statistics of Zn and Mn in the zone soil sampling

Location Azul Gral. Villegas Area Alto Bajo Alto Bajo Element Media CV (%) Media CV (%) Media CV (%) Media CV (%) 1,3 24,9 1,5 20,4 1,0 20,3 1,0 10,6 Zinc 40,7 7,2 41,7 4,2 50,9 8,7 49,8 4,7 Manganeso
Both nutrients behaved in differents ways, Zn values were higher in Azul soil which has the great OM concentration, this corresponds with Malavolta (1987) who found bigger concentrations of Zn in soils with higher OM. On the other hand, Mn concentration was higher in Gral. Villegas with less OM, Vazquez (2005), found a decrease of Mn concentration in soils with high OM values. According to Silva et al (2003), the coefficient of variability for Zn was from high to medium in both places and with both sampling methods, whereas Mn had the lower coefficient of variability. An ordinary Kriging map was performed (Figure 1, 2, 3 and 4) to obtain interpolated values for Mn and Zn. Gral Villegas has a small slope, and there were not a distribution of both nutrients in accordance to this. In the case of Azul with a slope of 3%, the concentration of Zn and Mn were in the lower area. Wang et al (2009), also found a effect of the slope in nutrients distribution.

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Figure 1. Azul Zn availability

Figure 2. Gral. Villegas Zn availability

Figure 3. Azul Mn availability

Figure 4. Gral. Villegas Mn availability

The Nugget (Co), sill (Co + C) and range (R) value were computed and they are presented in Table 4. Range is considerably important, marking the distance beyond samples which have no spatial dependence. The ratio between the nugget (Co) and sill (Co + C) characterizes the random component in the whole field spatial variability, providing quantitative measures of spatial dependency for every attribute. (Cambardella et al., 1994) Table 4. Parameters for variogram models and spatial dependency
Model Lag Nugett(Co) 0,02082 22,385 0,0107 9,815 Partil sill C Co+C Zn Azul Mn Azul Zn Villegas Mn Villegas Spheric Spheric Spheric Spheric 6,6667 6,6667 6,6667 6,6667 0,0916 29,766 0,0263 5,219 0,11242 52,151 0,037 15,034 Range Co/(Co+C)*100 18,52 42,92 28,92 65,29 Spatial dependency Strong Moderate Moderate Moderate

78,5 48,9 78,5 78,5

The range was about 78.5 m for all variables but Mn in Azul which was 48.9 m. The nugget and sill were low for both nutrients in both places. Based on the ratio of nugget and sill, the spatial dependency of the data was assessed. This ratio of < 25, 25 to 75, and > 75 was defined as categories of strong, moderate and weak spatial dependence respectively . According to this classification, Zn showed a strong spatial dependency in Azul, and a moderate one in Gral Villegas. Manganese had a moderate spatial dependence in both places.
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Summarizing, it could be said that Mn variability was equal for both soils in spite of its chemicals and physical differences. On the other hand, Zn variability was higher in Azul soil, which could have been affected by the higher OM valeus and the slope. Finally it was not differences between both soil samplings.

Acknowledgements
The present study was carried out within the Technical Cooperation Agreement by and between the National Institute of Agriculture Technology, Argentina and the College of Agriculture, Iowa State University of Science and Technology, United State of America. References Barbagelata, P. and Mallarino, A. Integreting geostatistic and SIG to evaluate spatial variability and mapping soil fertility, in: XX Argentinian Congress of Soil Science, Argentina, 2006, P. 67. Cambardella, C. A., Moorman, T. B., Novak, J. M., Parkin, T. B., Karlen, D. L., Turco, R. F. and Konopka, A. E. 1994. Field scale variability in central Iowa soils. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 58:1501-1511. Malavolta E., Manual of Liming and Fertilization of the Main Crops, Ceres Agricultural Publisher, So Paulo, 1987. Rivero, E., Cruzate, G., Barbagelata, P., Michelena R., Russo, S. and Mallarino A. Low mobile nutrients (K, P, Zn and Mn) in a soil under no-tillage system, in: XVIII Latin American Congress of Soil Science, Costa Rica, 2009. Salgueiro P. Extractable phosphorus variability in a representative area of Lujan River. 2005. Thesis for degree in Agricultural Engineering, Lujan Unversity, Argentina. Silvia, V. R., Reichert J. M., Storck L., Feij S. Spatial Variability of chemical soil and corn yield in a sand distrofic argisol soil, Brasilian Soil Science, Vol 27 (6), 2003, P. 41. Vasquez Polo, J. R., Baena Garcia, D. and Menjivar Flores, J. C. Spatial Variability of physical and chemical properties in soils of the experimental farm in the Magdalena University (Santa Marta, Colombia), Agronomic act, National University of Colombia Vol. 59 N4 (2010), P. 40. Vzquez M., Micronutrients in Argosystems, 1st ed., Argentinean Soil Science Press, 2005, p. 15. Wang, H. J., Shi X. Z., Yu, D. S., Wiendorf, D. C., Huang, B., Sun, W. X., Ritsema, C. J. and Milne, E. Factors determining soil nutrient distribution in a small-scale watershed in the purple soil region of Sichuan Province, China, Soil & Tillage Research 105 (2009), 300-306. Wang, L., Wu, J., Liu, Y., Huang, H., Fang, Q. Spatial Variability of micronutrients in rice grain and paddy soil, Pedosphere 19 (2009) 748-755.

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Spatial variability of the p and k nutrients in two agricultural soils in argentina republic
Emilia Rivero1, Gustavo Cruzate1, Marcelo Beltran1, Susana Russo1, Roberto Casas1 and Antonio Mallarino2 1. Soil Institute, National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA), Castelar 1712, Argentina 2. Department of Agronomy, Iowa State University, Ames, USA erivero@cnia.inta.gov.ar Abstract:
A study was carry out in order to determine the spatial variability of phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) in two soils under no tillage system located in The Pampa area. The soils were classified as Typic Hapludoll (General Villegas, Buenos Aires) and Typic Argiudoll (Azul, Buenos Aires). In General Villegas the plot was fertilized with UREA (125 kg ha-1) and Azul with of triple superphosphate (80 kg ha-1).In both soils, a plot of a hectare was sampled with two different methods, the grid and zone soil sampling, collecting compound samples in two depths (0-5 and 5-20 cm), before soybean sowing. The availability of nutrients from 0-20 cm depth was estimated on a weighted average of the two dephts. Chemical determinations were made using the stand routine methods of INTA Soil Institute laboratory. Descriptive statistics and the Shapiro-Wilk test were used to analyze data. ArcGis Geostadistical analysis 9,2 was used to obtain distribution maps of each element through ordinary Kriging. The results showed that the spatial variability of P availability was from medium to high and in the case of K was from low to medium in relation to the localities and the different methods of sampling soil depth 0-20 cm. Both nutrients showed a moderate to a strong spatial dependence, allowing the adjustment of semivariograms. Keywords: variability, phosphorous, potassium, geoestatistc.

Introduction Soils properties are heterogeneous and their spatial variability depends on edaphoclimatic factors as original material, topography and climate, and antrotophic factors (Barbagelata et al., 2006 ; Salgueiro, 2006; Wang et al., 2009). Tillage systems, crops rotations and fertilizer applications are examples of human activity (Mallarino et al., 2004). Thus, is very important to know soil nutrient concentrations and the specific requirements for the different crops, in order to carry out a rational fertilization program (Rivero et al., 2009) Among the essential nutrients, phosphorus (P) is a macronutrient that presents a high spatial and temporal variability (Guifree et al., 1998) potassium (K) on the other hand, is nutrient that could show a lower variability. This has carried out to the development of agronomic practices that fulfil high performances with the least environmental impact, such as specific-in situ fertilization. The specific-in fertilization implies the evaluation of spatial relations of the soil properties and its effect on the performance of a crop. (Moreno Araujo, 2011) The space dependence for soil properties has been studied for two decades, and is manifested most strongly in the chemical properties. Spatial variations can be evaluated through geostatistical techniques that allow mapping and delineate areas of homogeneous management. (Vasquez Polo et al., 2010) The aim of this work is to evaluate the spatial variability of available phosphorus and potassium in two different soils of Argentina Republic. Materials and methods A study was carry out in order to determine the spatial variability of phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) in two soils under no tillage system located in The Pampa area. The soils were classified as Typic Hapludoll (General Villegas, Buenos Aires) and Typic Argiudoll (Azul, Buenos Aires). In General Villegas the plot was fertilized with 125 kg ha-1 of urea (N46) and Azul of 80 kg ha-1 of triple superphosphate P2O5 46 (P20). In both soils, a plot of a hectare was sampled with two different methods, the grid and zone soil sampling, collecting compound samples in two depths (0-5 and 5-20 cm), before soybean sowing.
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH The availability of the nutrient from 0-20 cm depth was estimated on a weighted average of the two depths. Extractable P was determined by the Bray y Kurtz II method and K extraction with ammonium acetate and determined by atomic absorption. Descriptive statistics and the Shapiro-Wilk test were used to analyze data. ArcGis Geostadistical analysis 9,2 was used to obtain distribution maps of each element through ordinary Kriging. First of all, variograms were created with each group of data included in the study and several models of curves were used as well. The theoretical semivariogram model that best adjusted to the data was selected. There is no evident anisotropy in the directional semiviograms for all the properties studied, so isotropic models were used for semivariograms. Using the exponential and spherical models, nugget (Co), sill (Co+C) and range (R) were calculated. The spatial dependence was assessed by the relationship between semivariance nugget and total semivariance (Co+C) in the sill. Results and Discussion Statistical paremeters are shown in tables 1 and 2. In the case of P, the coefficient of variation (CV%) was considered high, and for K in both soil was considered medium (Silva et al., 2003) with the grid soil sampling. In the case of the zone sampling the highest variability was also found with P being high in the upper area of Azul and very high in the low area of Gral. Villegas. With K a medium CV % was obtain in the low area of Azul and the upper area of Gral Villegas. Effion Oku et al. (2010) also found the same P and K variability. Table 1. Descriptive statistics of P and K in the grid soil sampling Location Azul Gral. Villegas Nutrient Mean CV % Mean CV % 1 P mg kg9,3 22,2 10,9 26,1 K cmolc kg-1 1,8 11,3 2,1 15,2 Table 2. Descriptive statistics of P and K in the zone soil sampling Location Azul Gral. Villegas Area Upper Low Upper Low Mean CV (%) Mean CV (%) Mean CV (%) Mean CV (%) P mg kg-1 10,6 23,3 8,4 13,4 10,4 18,9 11,9 34,2 K cmolc kg-1 1,7 8,9 1,9 10,8 2,0 16,2 1,9 6,6 In the maps created by interpolation (figure 1, 2, 3 and 4) it can be seen the highest variability of P in contrast with the variability of K. Phosphorus had different distribution between both soils, being higher it concentration in the upper area in Azul and higher in the low area of Gral. Villegas. Potassium showed a bigger concentration in the low area in Azul, but in the case of Gral. Villegas, it availability did not show a correlation with the topography.

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Figure 1. Azul P availability

Figure 2. Gral. Villegas - P availability

Figure 3. Azul K availability

Figure 4. Gral.Villegas - K availability

Table 3. Parameters for variogram models and spatial dependency

Nutrient P Azul K Azul P Villegas K Villegas Model Spheric Spheric Spheric Spheric Lag 6,667 6,667 6,667 6,667 (CO) 1,3214 0,0 2,05311 0,01299 C 3,18 0,05 7,37 0,08 CO + C 4,5031 0,0475 9,43129 0,08918 Range 78,46 78,46 68,93 28,76

Co/(Co+C)*100 29,34 0,00 21,77 14,57

Spatial Dependence Moderate Strong Strong Strong

Based on the ratio of nugget and sill, the spatial dependency of the data was assessed. This ratio of < 25, 25 to 75, and > 75 was defined as categories of strong, moderate and weak spatial dependence respectively. (Wang et al., 2009 ) It can be seen that there is a strong spatial dependence in the distribution of P in Gral. Villegas and K in both places. Phosphorus in Azul showed a strong spatial dependence.

Acknowledgements

The present study was carried out within the Technical Cooperation Agreement by and between the National Institute of Agriculture Technology, Argentina and the College of Agriculture, Iowa State University of Science and Technology, United State of America.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH References Barbagelata, P. and Mallarino, A. Integreting geostatistic and SIG to evaluate spatial variability and mapping soil fertility, in: XX Argentinian Congress of Soil Science, Argentina, 2006, P. 67. Cambardella, C. A., Moorman, T. B., Novak, J. M., Parkin, T. B., Karlen, D. L., Turco, R. F. and Konopka, A. E. 1994. Field scale variability in central Iowa soils. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 58:1501-1511. Effiom, O., Essoka, A. and Thoma, E. 2010. Variability in Soil Properties Along an Udalf Toposequence in the Humid Forest Zone of Nigeria. Kasetsart J. (Nat. Sci.) 44 : 564 - 573 (2010) Greco, C. R. And Viera, S. R. (2003). Spatial variability of physical properties in an experimental plot. Brazilian Soil Science, 29: 167-177. Guifree, L., Pascale, C., Conti, M., Ratto, S.and Heredia O. Extractable phosphorus spatial variability at microescale level during a wheat crop cycle under two tillage systems, Technical Agriculture (Chile) 58 (1998) 276-284. Mallarino, A.and Wittry, D. 2004.Efficacy of grid and zone soil sampling approaches for sites specific assessment of phosphorus, potassium, pH, and organic matter, Precision Agriculture 5 131-144. Moreno Araujo, M. T. Spatial variability of the physical, chemical and biological properties in two agricultural soils in Quebec, Canada, Rev. Fac. Agron. (LUZ) 28 (2011) 223-241. Mortvedt, J. J., Giordano, P. M., Lindsay, W. L. Micronutrients in Agronomy, AGT Editor S. A, 1983, p. 242. Rivero, E., Cruzate, G., Barbagelata, P., Michelena R., Russo, S. and Mallarino A. Low mobile nutrients (K, P, Zn and Mn) in a soil under no-tillage system, in: XVIII Latin American Congress of Soil Science, Costa Rica, 2009. Salgueiro P. Extractable phosphorus variability in a representative area of Lujan River. 2005. Thesis for degree in Agricultural Engineering, Lujan Unversity, Argentina. Silvia, V. R., Reichert J. M., Storck L., Feij S. Spatial Variability of chemical soil and corn yield in a sand distrofic argisol soil, Brasilian Soil Science, Vol 27 (6), 2003, P. 41. Souza, Z.M., Silva, M.L.S., Guimaraes, G.L., Campos, D.T.S., Carvalho, M.P., Pereira, G. T. (2001). Spatial Variability of physical propertiesin an oxisol soil under no-tillage system in Selviria (MS). Brazilian Soil Science, 25: 699-707. Vasquez Polo, J. R., Baena Garcia, D. and Menjivar Flores, J. C. Spatial Variability of physical and chemical properties in soils of the experimental farm in the Magdalena University (Santa Marta, Colombia), Agronomic act, National University of Colombia Vol. 59 N4 (2010), P. 40. Wang, H. J., Shi X. Z., Yu, D. S., Wiendorf, D. C., Huang, B., Sun, W. X., Ritsema, C. J. and Milne, E. Factors determining soil nutrient distribution in a small-scale watershed in the purple soil region of Sichuan Province, China, Soil & Tillage Research 105 (2009), 300-306. Wang, L., Wu, J., Liu, Y., Huang, H., Fang, Q. Spatial Variability of micronutrients in rice grain and paddy soil, Pedosphere 19 (2009) 748-755.

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Comparison of interpolation methods for estimating N, P and K in agricultural lands of Golestan province, north of Iran
H. Kazemi Poshtmasari1, Z. Tahmasebi Sarvestani2, B. Kamkar3, Sh. Shataei3 and S. Sadeghi4
1 2

Ph.D Student of Tabiat Modares University, PO Box 14115-336, Tehran, Iran. Scientific Member of Tabiat Modares University, PO Box 14115-336, Tehran, Iran. 3 Scientific Member of Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, ,Gorgan, Iran 4 Scientific Member of Higher Education Complex of Jahrom Scientific-Applied Center, Fars, Iran Corresponding Author:hossein_k_p@yahoo.com

Abstract
This research was conducted in northern part of Iran, in Golestan province. Golestan is very famous in view of agricultural productions in Iran. In this province, about 650,000 hectares are cultivated and wheat, barley, soybean, canola, cotton and rice are the main crops. In this research, the spatial distribution of N, P and K in agricultural lands of Golestan province were evaluated using different interpolation methods such as, Kriging, Inverse Distance Weighting, Local Polynomial, and Radial Basis Function. Thus, 505 soil samples were provided from fields in 2008 and macronutrients rates were measured for each sample. The performance criteria for evaluation the used method were Mean Absolute Error (MAE), Mean Bias Error (MBE) and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) with the Cross Validation method extracted by GS+ and GIS softwares. The results showed that Kriging (Exponential, Spherical and Exponential models) was the best method to estimate N, P and K. Because, it had the highest precision and lowest error for estimation of these elements. Local Polynomial (Degree 3) was also found as the most unsuitable methods for estimating of these elements. Semivariograms analysis indicated that N, P and K were best fitted to Exponential, Spherical and Exponential models, respectively. Keywords: Golestan province, Geostatistic, Nitrogen, Potassiunm, Phosphorus

Introduction Golestan is very famous in view of agricultural productions in Iran. In this province, about 650,000 hectares are cultivated and wheat, barley, soybean, canola, cotton and rice are the main crops. Uncultivated areas are covered with pastures and forests. Recently, this province is faced with a lot of salinity related problems in north and northeast and agricultural area became the worst affected. In recent years, geostatistics has been proven to effectively assess the variability of soil properties (Webster and Oliver 2001; Sun et al. 2009). Geostatistics provides a set of statistical tools for analyzing spatial variability and spatial interpolation. These techniques produce not only prediction surfaces but also error or uncertainty surfaces. A semivariogram is used to describe the structure of spatial variability. The semivariogram plays a central role in the analysis of geostatistical data using the kriging method. It takes into account the spatial autocorrelation in data to create mathematical models of spatial correlation structures commonly expressed by variograms (Gundogdu and Guney 2007). The interpolation method is recognized as a critical factor for interpolation accuracy. Interpolation methods can be classified into three categories: statistics (regression tree and multiple regression), geostatistics (ordinary kriging and universal kriging), and hybrid (co-kriging and regression kriging). Therefore, less information can be interpolated for guiding the selection of interpolation method for wide-ranging soil properties within the same field or for the same soil properties across contrasting landscapes (Zhu and Lin 2010). The accuracy of interpolation methods for spatially predicting soil and water properties has been analyzed in several studies. Istock and Cooper (1998) used kriging method to estimate heavy metals and found that the used method is the best estimator for spatial prediction of metals. The present study was therefore carried out with the objective of evaluating accuracy of different interpolation methods, kriging, RBF and IDW, for analyzing the spatial pattern and mapping of N, K and P in agricultural fields at province scale, in the Golestan province, north of Iran.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Materials and Methods This research was conducted in northern part of Iran, in Golestan province, during the 2008. This province, with an area of 20,033 km2, is located in the southeast of Caspian sea between 36 44 and 38 5 north latitude and 53 51 and 56 14east longitude (Figure 1). The eastern extension of Alborz Mountains Range surrounds the coastal plains of the Caspian sea as a high and long wall, thus all over the province the land slope decreases from the southern and eastern mountains towards sea, with altitude ranging between -25 to 3000 m. The climate of the province is under the influence of Alborz Mountains, Caspian Sea, the southern wildernesses of Turkmenistan, and forests.

Figure. 1 Location of the study area Soil samples were randomly taken from 505 locations in May 2008. Samples were taken at depths of 030 cm and air-dried to remove stones and coarse crop residues. Three samples from each sampling site were collected from the surface soil layer and samples were thoroughly mixed and one sample ground to pass a sieve, then stored in plastic bags prior to analysis. The N values of sample were determined by using Kjeldhal method and P, K was measured using by an atomic absorption spectrometer (Varian SpectrAA-10). The semivariogram (Variogram) was used in this study to analyze discrete soil samples. Semivariograms are a key tool in regionalized variables theory and are formed by three constituents: sill, range and nugget with increasing lag between samples; (Mashayekhi et al., 2007). Semivariogram is computed as half the average squared difference between the components of data pairs (Goovaerts, 1999;Webster and Oliver, 2000): The function is expressed as: (1) = Where N(h) is the total number of data pairs separated by a distance; h; Z represents the measured value for soil property, and x is the position of soil samples. In this study, the Exponential, Spherical and Gaussian models were selected. Spatial patterns N, P and K were determined using the geostatistical and interpolation methods such as, Kriging, Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW), and Radial Basis Functions (RBF). To evaluate interpolation methods, statistical indices of MAE (Mean Absolute Error), MBE (Mean Bias Error) and RMSE (Root Mean Square Error) were used. The validation and the sufficiency of the developed model variogram can be tested via a technique called cross validation. Maps were produced with GIS software ArcGIS and its extension of Spatial Analyst. The geostatistical analysis and the probability calculations were carried out with GS+ and geostatistic extension of ArcMap. Results and Discussion Figure 2 presents the semivariogram and fitted model for N. Preliminary calculations of variograms in different directions showed that all semivariogram were isotropic. Semivariograms analysis indicated that N was best fitted to Exponential model with nugget, sill, and nugget/sill equal to
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH 0.418, 0. 98, and 0.57, respectively. In this research, nugget/sill ratio (57 %) indicated moderate spatial dependence at the large scale of the Golestan province.

Figure 2.Empirical and fitted Exponential semivariogram for the N The results of geostatistical analyses of N have been presented in Table 3. The results showed that kriging (Exponential model) was the best method to estimate pH, because it had the highest precision and lowest error for estimation of these elements. The performances of three models (Spherical, Exponential and Gaussian) have been compared. According to the cross-validation parameters, generally all three models performed fairly well but Exponential was the best model. Local Polynomial (Degree 3) was also found as the most unsuitable method for estimation of these elements (MAE=0.364, MBE=-0.086 and RMSE=1.340). Table 1. Results of geostatistical analyses of N in agricultural lands of Golestan province, Iran Method Kriging Model Gussian Exponential
Spherical Multiquadric Invers Multiquadric Thin Plate Spline Power 1 Power 2 Power 3 Degree1 Degree2 Degree3

MAE 0.170 0.170

0.171 0.181 0.172 0.217 0.173 0.177 0.183 0.177 0.195 0.364

MBE 0.002 0.002

0.002 0.002 0.005 -0.003 0.006 0.007 0.007 -0.002 0.001 -0.086

RMSE 0.230 0.229

0.231 0.246 0.231 0.290 0.232 0.237 0.246 0.238 0.262 1.340

Radial Basis Function(RBF)

Inverse Distance Weighted(IDW)

Local Polynomial

In order to understand spatial variation of N, a map was provided by kriging method for agricultural fields of Golestan province (Figure 3). Based on this map, the west to east of Golestan province had different concentrations of N. In the northeast of this province, N was less than 0.05, and lower than the mean N in other agricultural lands. In contrast, the central areas had a high N content. The semivariogram of the P data was also spherical with nugget, and sill, nugget/sill equal to 0.235, 0.629, and 0.62, respectively. The nugget/sill ratio of P was 62. % and belonged to the scope of moderate spatial dependence. In this study, kriging, IDW, Local Polynomial and RBF were used to estimate P. The summary statistics for geostatistic method show that kriging (Spherical model) provides much better estimation results for P than other methods. Kriging is a widely used method of geostatistical interpolation that assumes that no regional trend exists in the data. Generally, geostatistics is superior to IDW which is similar to the results of Barca and Passarella (2007), Mashayekhi et al.
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH (2007); Ali and Malik (2011). Comparison between the different methods was carried out by MAE, MBE, and RMSE statistical parameters. In this research, Local Polynomial (Degree 3) was found as the most unsuitable method for estimation of P.

Figure. 3 Interpolation maps of N and P produced by kriging Spatial patterns of P estimated by kriging are shown in Figure 3. The results show the high dependence of this parameter on climate. Phosphorus concentration was lower in the northern, semi-arid zone, than in the south and west. Also, the results showed that kriging was the best method and Local Polynomial method was also found as the most unsuitable method to estimate K. Maroofi et al. (2009) findings are in agreement with our result in which these researchers reported that Radial Basis Functions were the most unsuitable method for estimating EC and pH in stream drained water in Hamedan-Bahar plain, west of Iran. Spatial interpolation technique such as kriging utilized the coregionalization structure of soil properties and provided unbiased estimates and minimum variance (Ali and Malik, 2010). Based on K map, the west to east of Golestan province had different concentrations of K. (Figure 5). The results also can show the high dependence of this parameter on climate such as: rainfall and agricultural management. Note that Golestan is a region where the climate changes from the south to the north and thus rainfall varies from 250 mm to 700 mm per year. Figure 4 presents the semivariogram and fitted model for K. This study revealed the spatial variability of available soil N, P and K in agricultural fields of Golestan province. Results of this research indicated that geostatistics are more suitable methods for estimation of soil properties than other interpolation methods. In this research, the nugget/sill ratio of N, P and K belonged to the scope of moderate spatial dependence. The comparison between the different methods showed that kriging was the best method to estimate these elements. Based on spatial variability of map, K is higher in the northwest and north of Golestan (semi arid zone) than in the south and east areas. It is suggested that in the future studies, other interpolation methods such as co-kriging and soil properties such as Ca and S be used in order to prepare precision maps.

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Figure 4. Spherical semivariogram for the K Acknowledgments

Figure 5. Interpolation map of K

We thank the Agricultural and Natural Resources Center of Golestan province and Tarbiat Modares University (TMU) that supported this research. Also, we sincerely thank Dr A. Fath Nia for his kind helps. References Ali, S. M., Malik, R. N., (2011) Spatial distribution of metals in top soils of Islamabad city, Pakistan. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment.172:116. Barca, E., Passarella, G., (2007) Spatial evaluation of the risk of groundwater quality degradation. A comparison between disjunctive kriging and geostatistical simulation. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment .137:261-73. Goovaerts, P., (1999) Geostatistics in soil science. Geoderma. 89:145. Gundogdu, K. S., and Guney, I., (2007) Spatial analyses of groundwater levels using universal kriging. Journal of Earth System Science.116 (1): 49-55. Istok, J. D., Cooper, R. M., (1998) Geostatistics applied to groundwater pollution. III: global estimates. Journal of Environmental Engineering. 114: 915-928. Maroofi, S., Toranjeyan, A., Zare Abyaneh, H., (2009) Evaluation of geostatistical methods for estimating electrical conductivity and pH of stream drained water in Hamedan-Bahar Plain. Journal Water and Soil Conservation. (In Persian).16: 169-187. Mashayekhi, K., Asadi, Z., Movahedi Naeini, S. A., Hajrasuliha, S., (2007) Salinity regionalization with geostatistic method in a wet soil in southern Lenjan-Isfahan (Iran). Indian Journal of Agriculture Research .41:1 -9. Webster, R., and Oliver M. A., (2001) Geostatistics for environmental scientists. Wiley, New York. Zhu, Q., Lin, H. S., (2010) Comparing ordinary kriging and regression kriging for soil properties in contrasting landscapes. Pedosphere. 20:594606.

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Effects of zinc rates and application forms on protein and micronutrients accumulation in common bean
H. Kazemi Poshtmasari1, E. Afshari 2 M. A. Bahmanyar3
1 2

Member of Young Researchers Club of Islamic Azad University of Rasht Branch, Rasht, Iran, Member of Young Researchers Club of Islamic Azad University of Shiraz Branch, Shiraz, Iran, 3 Soil Science Department, University of Agriculture and Natural Resources of Sari, Sari, Iran Corresponding Author:hossein_k_p@yahoo.com Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is recognized as being susceptible to zinc deficiency. In order to investigation the effects of zinc rates and application forms on protein and elements contents (Fe, Cu, Mn and Zn) in common bean plant, a greenhouse experiment was conducted as a factorial based on completely randomized design in Sari, north of Iran. Treatments were included zinc rates in 4 levels (10, 20, 30 and 40 mg kg-1 soil) and application forms in 3 levels (soil application, seed pelleting and foliar spraying). Results showed that zinc rates had significant effect on accumulation of Zn, Cu, and Mn in bean leaves. Among Zn application forms, spray application had the highest accumulation of Fe, Zn and Mn in leaves. The highest Zn content in seed was observed in 20 and 40, mg kg-1 soil level, respectively. In this experiment, all treatments of Zn either rate or application had not significant effects on Cu and Mn accumulation in common bean seeds. Interaction effects between Zn rates and application forms showed that the highest Fe content in seed was observed in spray application and 40 mg kg-1 soil level. The protein content nearly showed stable state despite of zinc levels increases form 20 mg kg-1 soil to 40 mg kg soil-1. Results also showed that grain yield was increased with increasing soil zinc levels. Keywords: Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), Protein, Micronutritions, Yield, Zinc

Abstract

Introduction
Zinc is one of the eight trace elements which are essential for the normal healthy growth and reproduction of crop plants (Alloway, 2004). In plants, zinc does not undergo valency changes and its predominant forms in plant are as: low molecular weight complexes, storage metalloproteins, free ions, and in soluble forms associated with the cell walls. Zn can become inactivated within cells by the formation of complexes with organic legends or by complexes with phosphorus (Brown et al., 1993). Beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) are recognized as being susceptible to zinc deficiency. Symptoms of zinc deficiency usually appear on the second set of trifoliate leaves. The leaves become light green and mottled as the deficiency progresses: the area between the leaf veins becomes pale green and then yellow near the tips and outer edges. In cases of severe deficiency, the older leaves may turn grey or brown and die. In the early stages of deficiency the leaves are often deformed, dwarfed and crumpled (Anonymous, 2006). Gianqinto et al., (2000) reported that in glasshouse and rain shelter conditions, leaf Zn concentration lower than the critical level was reduced by the addition of P to plant grown at low Zn supply. Findings by Haslett et al. (2001) showed that foliar treatments with ZnSO4 and chelated Zn forms in wheat (Triticum aestvium L.) resulted in shoot Zn concentrations in 7-week-old plants supplied with Zn in the root environment or via foliar spray of ZnO. Study of Page and Feller (2005) showed that dynamics of redistribution Zn65, Mn54, Ni63, Co57, and Cd109 differed considerably in young wheat. Zn 65 and Cd 109 were released more slowly form the roots to the leaves and was subsequently redistributed in the phloem to youngest leaves only at trace levels. Hacisalihoglu et al., (2004) resulted that Zn efficient genotypes of bean distributed more Zn into young parts of shoot. Also, they reported that the older portions of the shoot for most genotypes had higher dry matter production under Zn deficiency than under sufficient Zn supply. Hardiman et al., (2005) investigated factors affecting the distribution of cadmium, copper and lead and their effect upon yield and zinc content in bush bean and reported that uptake of heavy metals are associated with a decrease in zinc content in plants and a decrease in yield. The zinc status of soils and crops are easily accessed by soil or plant analysis and it is important that farmers should investigate land where poor yields are obtained without other obvious explanations such as drought or disease, especially in areas with highly susceptible soils (Alloway,

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH 2004). Generally, the aims of this study was to investigate different Zn application forms and rates effects on accumulation of Zn, Fe, Cu, Mn, N and protein contents in bean in greenhouse condition.

Materials and Methods

A greenhouse experiment was conducted as a factorial based on randomized complete design (CRD) with 4 replications. Experiment was carried out at the greenhouse of the Sari Agriculture and Natural Resource University in north of Iran during 2006. Treatments were included zinc rates in 4 levels (10, 20, 30 and 40 mg kg-1 soil) and application forms in 3 levels (soil application, seed pelleting and foliar spraying). In foliar application treatments, plants were supplied with znic sulphat (ZnSO4) as foliar spray at the 10 days after flowering. Seeds of bean plants (Phaseolus vulgaris (L.) were grown in pots. Bean seeds were pre-germinated for 2 day, after which 10 seeds of bean were sown in pots filled with clay loam soil. One week after sowing, the seedlings were thinned to five per pot. The daily air temperature ranged from 37 C (maximum at days) to 10 C (minimum at night), which the daily average temperature being about 20 C. For each sampling, one plant was selected from each pot in maturity stage and dried to 14% moisture then elements contents in each sample were determined. The amounts of grain protein content (using Kjeldhal method) in seeds, Zn, Fe, Cu, Mn, and N accumulated in seeds and leaves have been determined. To determine Zn concentration in leaf and grain, after drying at 60C and grinding, seed and leaves samples were changed to ash at 550C for 8 h, and then the ashes were dissolved in 3.3% HCl (v/v) to determine Zn and Fe by an atomic absorption spectrometer (Varian SpectrAA-10). Analysis of variance was preformed by SAS and Duncan's multiple range test (DMRT) was used at p0.05 level of probability to test differences between treatment means.

Results and Discussion

Elements content in leaves: Results of analysis variance showed that Zn rates had significant effect on Zn, Cu, Mn and N contents of bean leaves (Table 1). The highest Cu and Mn contents were obtained when Zn at the rate of 40 mg kg-1 soil was applied (Table 2). Results showed that Zn content in leaves was increased when soil zinc levels increase in 10-30 mg mg kg-1 soil, but Zn content of leaves was reduced in 40 mg mg kg-1 soil (Table 2). The highest of N content was obtained in 20 mg mg kg-1 soil and with increasing Zn supply the N content was reduced (Table 2). In this experiment, Zn rates had not significant effect on Fe accumulation in Leaves (Table 2). The among of Zn application forms, spray application of Zn had the highest Fe, Zn and Mn concentration in leaves of bean (Table 2). According to this result, Haslett et al. (2001) reported that by foliar treatment of Zn in wheat, Zn concentration in shoot was about two fold greater than plants supplied with Zn in the root environment. Also findings by Hacialihoglu et al. (2004) are in agreement to these results. Among different Zn application forms, Cu content was increased when from soil application of Zn was used (Table 2). Results showed that Zn application forms had not significant effect on N percentage in leaves. Interaction effects between Zn rates and application forms showed that the highest of Zn content was observed in 10, 20, and 30 mg mg kg-1 soil and spray form (Table 3). The highest of Cu content and N percentage were obtained in 40 mg kg-1 soil level with soil application form and 20 mg mg kg-1 soil level with soil application form, respectively (Table 3). Elements content in seed: Results showed that Zn content of seed was effected by Zn rate (P<%1). The highest Zn content in seed was observed in 40, 20, mg kg -1 soil level, respectively (Table 2). Cichy et al. (2005) reported that one way to reduce the incidence of Zn deficiency may be through the development of high Zn dry beans. The application forms Zn had significant effect on Fe and Zn content in 1% level of probability (Table 1). The highest Fe content was obtained in spray and soil application forms of Zn fertilizer. Also, the highest amount of Zn content in seed belonged to spray application form of Zn. In these cases, Haslete et al. (2001) showed that foliar application of Zn in inorganic or organic forms is equally suitable for providing adequate Zn nutrition to wheat. In this experiment, all treatment of Zn had not significant effects on Cu and Mn content in bean seed (Table 1). Interaction effects between Zn rates and application forms showed that the highest of Fe content in
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH seed was observed when spray application with 40 mg kg-1 soil level was applied, but the highest Cu content belonged to 40 mg kg-1 soil level with seed pelleting treatment (Table 3). Protein content of seed: The most fundamental effect of zinc on protein metabolism is through its involvement in the stability and function of genetic material (Brown et al. 1993). Variance analysis (Table 1) showed that all treatments had signification effects on protein content in 1% level of probability, in which the highest protein content of seed was obtained in 20 mg kg-1 soil level. Also the highest and lowest protein was observed in soil application and seed pelleting and in spray form of Zn levels (Table 2). In this experiment, the protein content was almost stable when Zn levels increase from 20 to 40 mg kg-1 soil (Table 2). Interaction effects between rate and application forms of Zn was significant in 1% level of probability (Table 1). The lowest of protein content in bean seed was obtain in spray application of Zn fertilizer in different levels of Zn (Table 3). Grain yield: Results of analysis variance showed that Zn rates had significant effect on grain yield (P< 5%) but, application forms of Zn fertilizer had not significant effect (Table 1). Results also showed that grain yield was increased when soil zinc levels was increased (Table 2). Many studies reported that zinc is important for high yielding and high quality crops such as beans (Alloway, 2004; Gianquinto et al., 2000; Brown et al., 1993). Gabal et al., (1985) findings showed that foliar application of 50 to 100 ppm Zn significantly increased total dry matter, seed yield in Giza-3 bean cultivar. Generally, the results presented in this paper demonstrate that zinc is an element required for growth and reproduction of plants and in this experiment, Zn application forms and rates had significant effect on protein content and accumulation of some elements in seed and leaves of bean. On the other hand, when zinc fertilizer is applied to soils, the balance of other micronutrients and macronutrients could be affected. Our results clearly indicate that grain yield of plants treated with seed pelleting application of zinc behave differently than plants treated with soil and foliar application. The different plant response observed upon these three different ways might be related to different Zn-uptake strategies in leaf and root cells.

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Table 2. Results of mean comparison of studied traits in Zn application forms and rates
Zn(mg kg -1) Protein N% leave 3.31a 3.00a 3028a 3.27b 3.63a 3.00b 2.90b 240.83b 336.26a 235.00b 314.44a 228.89b 258.35ab 281.11ab Grain Yield gr plant-1 Seed 26.27a 24.68ab 25.56b 24.61b 26.93a 25.44b 25.04b Seed 15.81a 15.66a 15.83a 16.01a 16.63a 15.06a 15.36a 80.87b 70.82b 76.49b 99.80a 76.28b 81.54ab 88.17a leave Cu(mg kg -1) Mn(mg kg -1) Seed 40.25b 37.36c 47.42a 38.91b 45.62a 36.65b 46.39a 165.87a 157.03a 173.58a 63.31b 8.45a 8.06ab 7.22b 7.94ab 11.77b 12.93b 12.50b 14.77a 63.81b 73.14b 282.89a 7.37a 8.36a 8.09a 14.99a 11.75b 12.25b leave Seed leave

Treatment

Fe(mg kg -1)

Seed

leave

Application forms Soil Application Seed Pelleting Foliar Spraying Zn Rates (mg kg-1 soil) 10 20 30 40

81.62ab 335.93b 74.07b 397.94ab 92.90a 423.17a

77.53a 87.47a 78.18a 88.27a

434.50a 356.12a 362.07a 390.02a

Means within the same column followed by the same letter were not significantly different according to DMRT (P< 0.05).
Zn(mg kg -1) Cu(mg kg -1) Mn(mg kg -1) Protein(%) N%

Table 3. Interaction effect of Zn application forms in Zn rates

Treatment

Fe(mg kg -1)

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Seed leave Seed leave Seed leave Seed leave Seed leave SA *10 72.07bc 359.99bc 38.79bcd 82.16b 8.89b 12.57b-d 16.72ab 81.96b-e 24.61cd 3.22bc S P*20 92.99b 287.90c 43.95bc 41.89b 4.89c 15.12ab 16.46ab 67.03de 27.54a 4.05a F S*30 85.96bc 397.67a-c 35.21cd 65.50 b 7.09b 14.20b 14.94ab 66.66de 25.43a-d 2.91bc S A*40 75.45bc 301.13c 43.07bc 65.67b 8.54b 18.08a 15.12ab 89.47a-d 27.50a 3.08bc S P*10 84.71bc 407.37a-c 38.08b-d 79.19b 8.18b 10.38cd 14.95ab 65.59e 24.87b-d 3.22bc F S*20 79.01bc 401.80a-c 44.85bc 100.41b 11.03a 12.01b-d 17.44a 75.04c-e 26.79ab 3.34bc SA*30 63.18c 391.27a-c 30.61d 71.03b 6.76bc 9.83d 14.23b 76.86c-e 23.41b 2.76c S P*40 69.40bc 391.34a-c 38.44b-d 41.92b 7.47b 14.76b 16.01ab 108.86a 23.65d 2.69c F S*10 75.81bc 539.13a 39.86b-d 336.26a 8.54b 12.38b-d 16.37ab 95.07a-c 24.35d 3.37bc SA*20 90.40bc 378.66bc 48.05b 328.18a 8.18b 11.67b-d 16.01ab 70.39de 26.45a-c 3.50ab S P*30 85.42bc 297.29c 44.13bc 384.18a 7.82b 13.47bc 16.01ab 85.97b-e 27.48a 3.32bc FS*40 119.95a 477.59ab 57.66a 82.33b 7.83 b 11.47 b-d 14.95ab 101.27ab 23.96d 2.94bc Means within the same column followed by the same letter were not significantly different according to DMRT(P< 0.05), : mg kg-1 soil :SA: Soil Application, SP: Seed Pelleting and FS: Foliar Spray

Grain Yield gr Plant-1 7.51a 4.48a 7.54a 6.36a 6.19a 5.69a 8.08a 8.18a 6.13a 5.80a 6.81a 6.81a

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Acknowledgments Financial support by the University of Agriculture and Natural Resource of Sari, highly appreciated. Reference Alloway, B. J., (2004) Zinc in soils and crop nutrition. International Zinc Association (IZA), Belgium. pp:128. Brown, P. H., Cakmak, I., and Q., Zhang, (1993) Form and function of zinc in plants. In: Robson. A. D.(eds). Zinc in Soils and Plants, Kluwer Academic Publishers. Dord Recht. pp 90106. Cichy, K. A., Forster Sh., Grafton, K. F., and Hosfield, G. L., 2005. Inheritance of seed zinc accumulation in navy bean. Crop Science. 45: 864-870. Gabal, M. R., Abdellah I. M., Abed I. A., and F. El-Assioty M., (1985) Effect of Cu, Mn, and Zn foliar application on common bean growth, flowering and seed yield. 10th African Symposium on Horticulture Crops, ISHS. 158 p. Gianquinto, G., Abu-Rayyan, A., Tola L. D., Piccotino D.and Pezzarossa, B., (2000) Interaction effects of phosphorus and zinc on photosynthesis, growth and yield of dwarf bean grown in two environments. Plant and Soil. 220: 219-228. Hacisalihoglu, G., L. Ozturk, I. R. Cakmak, M. Welch and L. Kochian, 2004. Genotypic variation in common bean in response to zinc deficiency in calcareous soil. Plant and Soil. 259:71-83. Hardiman, R., Jacoby T. B., and Banin, A., (1984) Factors affecting the distribution of cadmium, copper and lead and their effect upon yield and zinc content in bush beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). Plant and Soil. 81:17-27. Haslett, B. S., Reid, R. J., and Rengel Z.,, (2001) Zinc mobility in wheat; uptake and distribution of zinc applied to leaves or roots. Annals of Botany. 87: 379-386. Page, V., and Feller, U.2005. Selective transport of zinc, manganese, nickel, cobalt and cadmium in the root system and transfer to the leaves in young wheat plants. Annals of Botany. 96: 425-434.

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Investigation chemical characteristics and effects of industrial water on water, soil and plant in Yazd Province
Scientific Member of Soil and Water of Institute of Iran, Isfahan, Iran, and PhD Student of University of Isfahan, Iran. . 2 Member of Jehad-e-Agriculture Organization of Esfahan. E-Mail:HR.rahmanii@yahoo.com
1

Hamid-Reza Rahmani1, Mohammad Azad2

Abstract: Investigation the effects of industrial textile water on soil, water and plant. For conducting this research major important textile factory were selected and sampling did in 2 stages and in 2 years. The waste water pH, TDS, TSS, solfate, coloride, bicarbonate, N-No3, salinity and concentration of Cu, Zn and Cd were above permissible limit. On soils Zn and Cd were in critical range. In addition soils had higher amounts of OM, N and available P and K compare to control sample. Concentration of Zn and Cu in plants was over permissible limit and concentration of heavy metals in shoots and roots in plants were different. Results showed that industrial water have limitation for application of irrigation, surface water and subsurface water. Use of these waters causes pollution of environment and transferred poisonous compounds in food chain. Keywords: Industrial water, effluent, contamination, pollution

Introduction The contamination and quality of irrigation water is of the main concern especially in the regions with limited water resources. In such region not only the water resources should wisely be utilized at the same time it should be prevented from contamination. The industrial water effluents (EW) are one of the sourses of soil and water contamination. The EW usually contains high level of hazardous material, which removal of them are not possible with routine treatments. EW in case of entrance into the soil, surface and ground water, cause pollutions and poison food chain. Additionally, due to limitation of fresh water and increasing population; treatment and recycling of raw swage is needed(Abbaspour,1992). Unregulated discharge and mixing of raw swage with the fresh water resources causes irreversible damage to environment and agricultural lands. Heavy metals in the EW are among the main environmental pollutant, which has been studied by many researchers. In Iran the concentration of heavy metals have been studied in some researchers(Torabian and Baghuri,1996). The cadmium concentration in Southern Part of Iran for several plants were 1.5 to 2 times higher than the none pollutant area. Also in several studies, the soil Cadmium concentration has been high. Soils and plant in south part of Tehran has the highest level of Cadmium (Torabian and Baghuri,1996). The plant highest Cadmium concentration has been reported in Taiwan in brown rice contaminated soil (Chen et al , 1994). The budding rate and growth of trees has been decreased by increasing Cd and Pb concentration in EW used for irrigation (Bazargan,1988). The Pb concentraion in EW of selected industries in City of Yazd were less than 0.01 mg/liter (Rahmani,1997). In Bahrain Pb concentration in plants were from 9 to 240, in Canada from 100 to 300 in France from 50 to 400, in England from 100 to 700 and in Iran 50 to 400 mg/kg (Rahmani,1995; Rahmani,2001). The Yazd province in Iran is located in a dry region, with limited water resources. The water resources should be wisely utilized and allocated. In the City of yazd 20000 cubic meter of industrial swage are generated daily and discharge into old abundant Qanat, absorption well, and use for irrigation. The practice of this tradition has caused soil and surface and underground water pollutions (EPA,1994). The major and most important of sources of pollutant and their effect on water soil and plants will be study. Material and methods: The main industries in the city of Yazd were surveyed and categorized according to their potential plolutened capacities. Among different industrial sectors the textile factories were selected for further study due to its domination in the industrial sector in the area. The Yazd-Baf, Afshar, Salk-

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Baf, textile factories were selected and soil and plant irrigated with effluents water (EW) form these factories were studied for two years in two stages. For study the ground water contamination, Northern Section of city where heavily industries are located, were selected. The Water of deep Well of Shrag, Soltani, Haji-Safar, Haji-Khalifah, were chosen and were analyzed. Also, the plants and soil in Afshar 1 and 2 districs, which are irrigated from these wells, were sampled, and analyzed. For effluent water sampling, the sampling containers were washed once with Sulfuric acid and three times with de-ionized water. The EW was sampled twice per year, during 24 hour in 8 hours period. The field Measurement of pH, temperature, and electrical Conductivities were done immediately and TDS, TSS, BOD, COD, Nitrate, Phosphorous, Organic matter, total Hardness, Total nitrogen, Available K, Cations, Anions and heavy metals, CU, Zn, Cd, Pb, and Cr were determined in the Laboratory using standard methods. The well water were sample once for two different times duringy a 24 hours period and were analyzed for pH, Temperture, EC, in the field, and analyzed for all parameters as in EW except BOD and COD in laboratory. Soil and plant samples were taken in a one-hectare field in 4 randomized locations, irrigated with EW or well water and, in a virgin adjacent field, for 0-30 and 30-70 cm soil depth. for two years. The soil samples were passed through a 2 mm sieve. pH, EC, texture, organic matter, Calcium Carbonate, Total nitrogen, available Phosphorous and Potassium, cations, anions, heavy metal including Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb, and Cr were measured using standards laboratory methods. The dominated plants were sampled twice from four random locations inside and one virgin site. The plans were separated into root and shoot. The dry matter percent, Cl, available P, total N, available K, and heavy metal including Cu, Cd, Zn, Pb and Cr were measured. The data were analyzed using ANOVA, and t-test. Result and Discussions: The result shows that: the EW of Yazd-Baf pH, TDS, TSS, sulfate, Cl, Bicarbonate, Cu, and Cd; in Salk-Baf pH, TDS, TSS, sulfate, Cl, N-No3, EC, Bicarbonate, Cu, and Cd; in Afshar pH, TDS, TSS, sulfate, Cl, N-No3, EC, Bicarbonate, Cu, Zn and, Cd are the limiting factors. Therefore, he textile EW has many limiting factor for discharge into surface water or absorption well and, utilization for irrigation water. Therefore, the swage water should be treated adequately for long and sustainable application. The irrigation wells water do not show any limitation regarding the heavy metals, but the PH, TDS, Bicarbonate, Cl, EC, sulfate are the limiting factor. In Soils the Zn and Cd concentration were the limiting and were in critical range. However the soils had higher organic mater, total nitrogen, available potassium and phosphorous comparing to control (virgin uncultivated soils) where it is due to application of EW which conation nitrogen, Potassium, organic carbon and higher root derive organic. due to more vigorous plant growth The Zn and Cu are the limiting factor in studied plants. In addition uptake of heavy metal from soil wheat, shows a higher uptake of Zn and Cu in root, Cynodon dactylidon , Cu in root, and Zn in top, and Haloxylon ammodendron Zn and Cu in top compare with other parts. For all location, the soil and plants concentaion of heavy metals were much higher compare with the uncultivated virgin land, which shows the effect of EW on soil and plants. Therefore, application of EW from textile factories are limiting, and lack of adequate attention and treatments in the long time may cause un on environment, food chain and consequently human and wild life. Conclusions The heavy metals concentration in plants is considerably higher in land irrigated with sewage effluent compare to well water. The sewage effluent has an important rule in agricultural land and plant and in long time may contaminate ground water resources. Due to high Zn concentration and high Zn to Cd ratio in swage effluent the high Zn concentration can control and decrease absorption of cd by plant . References: Abbaspour, M. , (1992), Environmental Engineering (In Farsi). Vol 1. IAU Publication, Iran 550 pp.
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Bazargan, N., (1988), Utilization of Nhar-Firoz-Abad swage effluent for irrigation of agricultural land, and the fate of heavy metals (In Farsi). M.S. Thesis. University of Tehran, Health Department. Chen Z.S., S.L. Lo, and H.C. Wu. ,(1994), Summary analysis and assessments of rural soil contaminated with Cd in Taiwan. Project report of Scientific Technology Advisor Group (STAG), executive yaan, Taipei, Taiwan. Environmental Protection Agency., (1994), Yazd Development effect on Environment (In Farsi). The water and wastewater consultant. Rahmani, H.R. ,(1995), The soil leads pollution by on road Vehicles in some Highways of Iran (In Farsi). M.S. Thesis. Isfahan university of Technology, 140 PP. Rahmani, H.R., (1997), Investigation of Pb, Cd, Ni, concentration in Effluent water of selected industrials factory in city of Yazd. (In Farsi). The research Deputy of Yazd University. Rahmani, H.R., (2001), The plant lead poluttion by on road Vehicles in some Highways of Iran (In Farsi). Ecology. No. 26 P: 77-83. Torabian A. and S. Baghuri. ,(1996), Investigation of contaminations of untreated Effluent municipal and industrial water in agricultural land in south Tehran (In Farsi). Ecology. Vol:22 No. 18 PP:33-45.

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Nitrate pollution in vegetables (Esfahan, 2003)

Hamid-Reza Rahmani
Scientific Member of Soil and Water of Institute of Iran, and phD Student of University of Isfahan, Iran. Email: hr.rahmanii@yahoo.com

Abstract:
The Nitrate concentration in vegetable plants were studied during growing season in Agricultural lands in 2003.The plants studied were stem and leaf vegetable crops including Leek, Dill, Fenugreek (Trigonell), Mint, Parsely ,Spiach and Chinees Parsley, fruit and bulb vegetable including onion, Cucumber, Eggplant, Watermelon and tomato. For each crop three fields with a similar management were selected and, in each field eatable plant parts, were sampled in three replicate. The plants samples were analysed for percent dry matter and nitrate concentration. Between the crops the highest nitrate content was found in leaf vegetables crop. Within the stem and leaf vegetable crops highest and lowest Nitrate content were 2353.03 and 29.23 mg/kg of dry weight in parsley and in Spinach, respectively. Also, within root vegetables highest and lowest nitrate content were in Eggplant 37.8 mg/kg and Tomato 16.4 mg/kg fresh weights, respectively. The mean N-Nitrate content in greens was higher than permissible level. Keywords: Nitrate, permit limit, vegetable, fertilizer

Introduction: Nitrate accumulation in plants is a natural process and occur when nitrite uptake exceed plants metabolisms rate. Nitrate uptake and accumulation in plant depends upon plant species and varieties. It is modified by biotic conditions, fertilizer application and cultural practices. Excessive level of nitrate in drinking water and fresh vegetables when is converted to nitrate in the digestive system of human and animal interferes with the oxygen-carrying capacity of blood and caused a condition known as methaemoglobinaemia. Also continuous consumption of vegetable and drinking water with high level of nitrate content may react with nitrosamines to form N-Nitrose, which, are potent carcinogens in human and animals (Gafari, 2003 and Malakoti , 2000). Unfortunately, for many years unscientific application of Nitrate and phosphate fertilizer and ignoring basics principal of agricultural management which require a balance nutrient, has caused serious damage to soil and crop production. Even though the application rate of chemicals fertilizer in Iran is higher than worldwide average (110 kg/ha) and is about the same as developed countries (116 kg/ha) however, the average yield is less than developed countries (Malakoti, 1999). Generally green leaf and stem vegetable (radish, spinach, Celery, Beet, Lettuce, Carrot, Cauliflower) accumulate nitrogen more than other crops. In contrast in tree fruits and bulb vegetable such as onion and potato nitrate accumulation is seldom higher than critical level (Malakoti, 1999). More than 56 kg/ha nitrogen increase the nitrate concentration in sugar beet. In cereal grain, excessive nitrate accumulation seldom occur with application of less than 400 kg/ha urea. In Wheat, barley and oat application of less than 90 kg/ha nitrogen seldom cause excessive nitrate accumulation (more than 0.2 percent) in grain (Malakoti, 1999). Excessive nitrate concentration has been reported in paddy soils in northern Iran, in the underground water, and in vegetable crops in south of Tehran. In this study the nitrate concentration in plant soil and water in Baraan during 2002 growing season will be examine. Materials and Methods: The nitrate levels in plant during a growing season was investigated in the Baraan Agricultural Area. The selected plants Categrories were stem and leaf vegetable: including Leek, Dill, Fenugreek (Trigonell) Mint, Parsely and Chinees Parsely, Spinach; fruit and bulb vegetable: including onion, Watermelon, Eggplant, Cucumber and tomato. For each type of plant 3 fields with similar management were selected. In each field 3 individual plant samples from either stem,

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH leaf or tuber were taken in three replicates Plants were sampled several times in the morning and evening. The pant sample were immediately placed in an ice box and were carried to the laboratory for standards analysis (I.S.O.. No. 3091 and I.S.O.. No. 2918). Results and Discutions: Between the crops the highest nitrate content was found in stem and leaf vegetables crop. Within the stem and leaf vegetable crops highest and lowest Nitrate content was 2353.03 and 29.23 mg/kg of dry weight in parsley and in Spinach, respectively. Also, within root vegetables highest and lowest nitrate content were in Eggplant 37.8 mg/kg and Tomato 16.4 mg/kg fresh weights, respectively.The mean N-Nitrate content in greens were higher than permissible level (Lorenz, 1987; Maynard, 1978 and Mintti, 1978). Timing of sampling shows that Nitrate level in stem and leaf vegetable in the afternoon are considerably lower than morning, and nitrate content decreases during the day. The effects of sampling time were significant (p<0.01). Table 1- The maximum, minimum and mean concentration of Nitrate concentration in fresh Stem and leaf, Fruit and Bulb vegetable. Vegetable type Stem and leaf Parsely Mint Spinach Fenugreek Chinees parsley Beet leaf Leek Fruit and Bulb Tomato Onion Cucumber Eggplant Watermelon 9 12 9 9 9 21 77.9 23.1 45.5 49 10 0 16 28 21 16.4 30.4 20.1 37.8 32.8 12 6 9 9 9 9 12 No. of Replicate Maximum 5180 1000.3 66.8 2828 917.8 786 5180 N-No3 Minimum 347.6 135.4 5.5 686 120.7 1350.4 347.6 Mean 2353 462.3 29.2 1629.7 568.2 2900.7 2353

The effect of sampling time shows that the N-No3 concentration is significantly lower (0.01<p) in the afternoon than in the morning and afternoon sampling. The over application of nitrogen fertilizer in agricultural land has leads to nitrate contamination of soil, underground water and consequently to excess accumulation in plants. In this study the irrigation well water and soils were high. The nitrate concentrations especially in leaf and stem vegetables were higher than permissible level, which could lead to food chain in human. The study of nitrate level in underground water, in stem and leaf vegetable shows that high nitrate concentration is harmful to human health and need to be address by co-operations between agricultural and health organizations.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH References: Gafari R. 2003. The nitrate concentration in selected Vegetable crops in Esfahan city. Pajohesh in Medical Science (In Farsi). P: 123-125. Esfahan University. Department of Medical Science. Malakoti M. J. 2000. Sustainable Agriculture and yield increasing through balance fertilization (In Farsi). Agricultural Extension Publication. 460 pp. Malakoti M. J. 1999. Investigation of nutrient balances in soils of Iran.(In Farsi). Journal of water soil and machine. Vol: 10. PP:12-17. I.S.O.. No. 3091. Determination of nitrate content (Referece Methods). I.S.O.No 2918. 1975. Determination of nitrate content (Reference Methods) Lorenz, O. A. 1987. Nielsen D. R. et. al. Nitrogen in Environment. Vol:2, Soil Potential nitrate level in edible plant part. PP: 201-202. In plant Nitrogen relationship. Academic Press, New York. Maynard, D. N. 1978. Potential nitrate level in edible plant part. PP: 221-233. In Nielsen D.R. et. al. Nitrogen in Environment. Vol:2, Soil plant Nitrogen relationship. Academic Press, New York. Mintti, P. L. 1978. Potential nitrate level in edible plant part. PP: 234-252. In Nielsen D.R. et. al. Nitrogen in Environment. Vals, Soil plant Nitrogen relationship. Academic Press, New York.

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Amount Lability of Zinc and sorption its by different soils at the presence of Potassium and Sodium Cations and Phosphate, Nitrate, and Chloride
1

S. S. Hashemi1 Soil Science Department, College of agriculture, Malayer University, Malayer, Iran.

Corresponding author: E-mail: hashemy558@yahoo.com

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of common cations and anions on Zn sorption and lability characteristics. Zinc sorption isotherms were conducted on two acid, two calcareous and two gypsiferous soils in K+, Na+, H2PO4-, NO3 - and Cl- backgrounds solution. The total amount of Zn sorbed within the experimental concentration range was higher in gypsiferous soils than that in calcareous soils and acid soils. Of the two cations, the greatest Zn sorption was in the Na+ background, followed by K+ backgrounds. Because of the Na+, the large hydrated ionic size; it forms only outer-sphere complexes with clay mineral surfaces, whereas K+ is able to form inner-sphere complexes with mineral surfaces. Zinc sorption was enhanced by H2PO4- as opposed to Cl- or NO3- in acid soils, but it was decreased in calcareous and gypsiferous soils except in the G2 soil. Strong buffering by KH2PO4 maintained relative lower pH ranges in its soilsolution mixtures compared with the other electrolytes. Therefore the strong acidity of H2PO4- could dissolve a certain quantity of CaCO3 in these soils, which could not only decrease the total carbonate surface for Zn sorption but also release more Ca ions to compete with Zn for surface sites of aluminosilicate clays. It is also increased H+ may also compete with Zn for clay exchange sites. The sorbed Zn was partitioned into labile and nonlabile pools by extracting with DTPA-TEA at the end of sorption experiment. The results shown that in all soils total sorbed Zn is nonlabile. About 90% of the total sorbed Zn by all soils was nonlabile. The presence of H2PO4 -caused more nonlabile Zn than Cl- or NO3-. Keywords: gypsiferous soils, DTPA-TEA, sorbed Zn, lability

Abstract

Introduction Zinc is considered a trace element in soils. The specific minerals controlling the activity of Zn2+ in soils are not known. Since Zn is easily adsorbed by mineral and organic components in most soil types, it normally accumulates in the surface horizons (Kabata-Pendias and Pendias, 2001.). Zn is one of the elements which are essential in small amounts, but can be toxic in high concentrations (Siegel, 2002). Zn sorption capacity correlates with soil contents of aluminosilicate clays, metal oxides and carbonates (Saha et al., 2001). The effect of major cation and ionic strength on the chemistry of Cd, Cu, and Zn in alkaline sodic and acidic soils has been investigated by Fotovat and Naidu (Fotovat and Naidu, 1998). Increasing ionic strength was found to decrease Zn retention in acid soils but did not have any significant effect in calcareous soils (Shuman, 1986). Additional ionic strength, cation and anion affected in Zn sorption. Wang and Harrell (2005) showed that NH4+ and K+ equally decreased Zn sorption as opposed to Na+ in acid and calcareous soils; NH4+ yielding 4 to 12% more adsorbed Zn in the labile pool as compared to K+ in acid soils. They showed that the effect of background ions on the lability of adsorbed Zn varied between acid and calcareous soils. There are few studies that link the relationship of Zn sorption with its lability and cation, anion in soils, and its relationship with soil minerals. The objective of this study was to investigate Lability of Zinc and sorption its by different soils at the presence of Potassium and Sodium Cations and Phosphate, Nitrate, and Chloride in soils of Fars and Mazandaran provinces, Iran. Material and Method Surface samples (015 cm) selected of two acid soils were collected from Mazandaran and two calcareous and two gypsiferous soils were collected from Fars province, Iran. The two acid soils included Typic Argiustolls (A1), and Typic Haplustolls (A2). The two calcareous soils were Typic Endoaqualfs (C1) and Typic Calciustepts (C2), and the two gypsiferous soils were Gypsic Calciustepts (G1) and Aridic Haplustolls (G2). The soil samples were air-dried and ground to pass through a 2 mm sieve before laboratory analyses. The chemical characteristics of the soils are presented in Table1.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Table1. Some of the chemical characteristics of the soils.
Soil Typic Endoaqualfs Calcareous (C1 ) Typic Calciustepts Calcareous( C2 ) Gypsic Calciustepts Gypsiferous (G1) Aridic Haplustolls Gypsiferou (G2) Typic Argiustolls Acid (A1) Typic Haplustolls Acid (A2) pH CaCO3 Org. Gypsu Ca2+(sol.) Mg2+(sol.) Ferrous ZnK+ (solution) carbo Equival. m (meq/100 (meq/100 Ferric DTPA (meq/100 g) n (mg/kg (%) (%) g) g) (%) (%) ) 52.8 1.57 Trace 124 32.5 0.26 0.394

7.4

7.4

55

1.14

Trace

82

trace

0.04

0.928

7.45

47.5

0.11

5.62

Trace

18

trace

0.02

0.094

7.75

18

0.7

33.5

Trace

144

trace

0.25

0.26

6.62

4.77

5.46

0.88

4.4

2.2

2.45

14.3

5.38

2.36

3.08

0.05

4.8

1.3

4.03

0.88

Zn sorption isotherms Two-gram subsamples of each soil sample were placed in separate centrifuge tubes and mixed with 20mL of a different electrolyte solution containing 0, 0.5, 1, 3, 5, 10 mM of ZnSO4. The (preweighed) centrifuge tubes were shaked for 24h on a reciprocating shaker. Four 50-mM electrolyte background solutions were used in this study, NaNO3, KCl, KNO3 and KH2PO4 (Wang and Harrel, 2005). Various amounts of Zn-sorbed in nitrate and in K-salts could reveal the effect of cations (K+ and Na+) and anions (NO3- and H2PO4-), respectively. The use of 50-mM background solutions was to ensure that effects of cations and anions were evaluated at a dominant and constant ionic strength. After equilibrium, samples were centrifuged and the supernatant was filtered through a Whitman No. 42 filter paper. Two replicates were used for collecting each data point. Zn concentration in the supernatant was analyzed by ICPOES (inductively coupled plasmaoptical emission spectroscopy) at a wavelength of 213.8 nm. In the equilibrium solution the amount of adsorbed Zn was found by calculating the difference between the initial and the final concentration. Zn sorption parameters were obtained by fitting experimental data to the mathematical equations termed adsorption isotherms. Adsorption isotherms most frequently used are Freundlich (Freundlich, 1906) (Eq.1), Langmuir (Langmuir, 1916) (Eq.2) and Temkin (Aharoni, and Sparks, 1991) (Eq.3) equations: X= KC1/n Eq.(1) X= (KbC)/(1+KC) Eq.(2) X=K1+K2lnC Eq.(3) Where X is the amount of sorbed Zn (mg kg-1), C is the Zn concentration in the equilibrium solution (mg L-1), and K, n, b, K1 and K2 are adsorption coefficients. However, the linear forms of Freundlich and Langmuir isotherms are usually used for fit of the adsorption data: logX= log K+ nlogC Eq. (4) C/X= (1/Kb) + (1/b)C Eq.(5) (X, n, C, K and b as previously described). Lability of sorbed Zn A 20-mL DTPA-TEA solution was added to each centrifuge tube containing Zn-sorbed samples. The tubes were then shaken for 2 h on the reciprocating shaker, the samples were centrifuged, and the supernatant solutions were filtered and analyzed for Zn content by ICP OES (inductively coupled plasmaoptical emission spectroscopy). The amount of DTPA extracted-Zn was corrected for

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Zn concentration in the interstitial solution based on preweighed tubes, soil weight, and solution weight. The corrected DTPA extractable Zn was designated as the labile pool, whereas Zn unextractable by DTPA was considered as the nonlabile Zn. Results and discussion The linear form of the Langmuir equation significantly described the fit of the data for Znadsorption in all soil samples (Eq. 5 and Table 2). The data also showed a highly significant fit to Freundlich and Temkin adsorption isotherms equations (Table 2). Effect of cations on the total Zn sorption The data presented in Fig. 1 and 2 showed that both cations and anions had a considerable impact on Zn sorption, especially at high Zn concentrations. The total amount of Zn sorbed within the experimental concentration range was higher in gypsiferous than calcareous and acid soils. In the studied soils, the largest Zn sorption was observed in the Na+ background followed by that in the K+ background. The differences in total Zn sorption caused by different cations were generally reflected in Langmuir sorption maxima for all soils (Table 2). Large-sized hydrated ions such as Na+ caused to form only outer-sphere metal-clay complexes whereas K+ is able to form innersphere complexes with mineral surfaces (Sposito, 1984). Similar results have been reported for acid sandy soils and Andepts (Winistorfer, 1995; Arias et al., 2005). In contrast, Winistorfer (1995) reported that concentration of Cu in acidic soils in the presence of Na was lower than that in water extracts and that the concentration of Zn and Cd were higher in Na extracts. The results of this study (Fig.1) clearly showed that K+ ions reduce Zn sorption in calcareous soils, although such decrease is relatively small, possibly due to large Zn sorption capacity in calcareous soils. Effects of anions on the total Zn sorption The effects of anions on the amounts of sorbed Zn were different in acid, gypsiferous and calcareous soils. In acid soils, the largest Zn sorption was observed with H2PO4- followed by Cland NO3-, whereas in gypsiferous and calcareous soils, the H2PO4- decreased Zn sorption, with the exception of the G2 soil. In acid soils oxi-anions such as PO43- and AsO43- can form inner-sphere surface complexes with iron and aluminum oxides that increase negative surface charges (Bolan et al., 1999). The predominance of Fe and Al oxides in acid soils (Table 1) may explain the greater Zn sorption in the H2PO4- treated in acid soils. Wang and Harrell (2005) state that the strong acidity of H2PO4- could dissolve a certain quantity of CaCO3 in these soils, which could not only decrease the total carbonated surface for Zn sorption but also release more Ca ions to compete with Zn for surface sites of aluminosilicate clays. Increasing H+ may also be due to the competition with Zn for clay exchange sites (Zhu and Alva, 1993). All these could constitute the cause for low total Zn sorption observed for calcareous and gypsiferous soils. Arias et al. (2005) showed that the adsorption of copper and Zn in acid soils depends to a significant extent on pH and CEC. Langmuir sorption parameters showed that in acid soils, the presence of H2PO4- increased Zn sorption maxima as well as the bonding energy value (Table 2). The G2 soil, which contained lower CaCO3 and higher amorphous oxide-Fe (Table1) have different behavior from other soils. The relationship between the amount of total Zn sorption and the amorphous Fe have been showed by Wang and Harrell (2005). They showed that the regression equation for acid soils with approximately 98.8% of the variation in total sorbed Zn could be explained by amorphous Fe oxide content. Clearly, the integrated effect of very high amorphous Fe oxide content and low CaCO3 content caused an increase, rather than decrease in Zn sorption in the presence of H2PO4 in the G2 soil. Regardless of the Cl- and NO3- treatments, similar results observed for the Zn sorption in all soil samples by the Langmuir prediction model (Fig. 2 and Table 2). There was no difference in Zn sorption caused by the presence of Cl- and NO3- (Fig. 2). This result was true for both acid and calcareous soils

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Table 2.Temkin, Freundlich, Langmuir isotherms parameters and coefficients of determination (R2) for total Zn sorption by different soils
Soil Typic Endoaqualfs Calcareous (C1 ) Typic Calciustepts Calcareous (C2 ) Gypsic Calciustepts Gypsiferous (G1) Aridic Haplustolls Gypsiferou (G2) Typic Argiustolls Aci (A1) Background solution KCl KNO3 NaNO3 KH2PO4 KCl KNO3 NaNO3 KH2PO4 KCl KNO3 NaNO3 KH2PO4 KCl KNO3 NaNO3 KH2PO4 KCl KNO3 NaNO3 KH2PO4 Typic Haplustolls Acid (A2) KCl KNO3 NaNO3 KH2PO4 Temkin K1 K2 1574 1300 466 118 284 500 875 36 640 314 111 93 186 1163 1103 NS 235 633 511 810 2086 143 953 720 308 356 773 388 812 316 633 317 226 415 472 57 471 684 746 NS 593 676 777 785 411 32 490 159 R
2

Freundlich n k 1.37 2.83 2.34 2.87 0.44 2.91 2.69 3.17 0.91 1.33 1.93 0.90 1.85 0.55 1.52 1.02 0.52 1.95 1.60 3.06 2.7 1.71 1.81 1.04 1001.7 837.1 612.1 354 91579.7 447.1 742.4 289.7 718.8 77.2 306.8 734.5 1.1 1.1 144.2 246.3 31535.5 216.1 170.8 7337.1 862.4 21 81.2 3163.1

Langmuir b (mgkg-1) K (Lkg-1) 3333 3333 5000 2500 5000 5000 2500 2500 5000 2000 2000 476 5000 2500 588 5000 3333 3333 5000 5000 129 370 1666 4168 1 0.25 0.33 0.064 0.08 0.03 0.57 0.02 0.5 0.032 0.24 0.27 0.04 0.05 0.02 0.07 0.04 0.03 0.02 0.8 0.04 0.06 0.02 0.12

R2

0.97*** 0.97*** 0.96*** 0.99*** 0.98*** 0.95*** 0.81*** 0.90*** 0.64** 0. 77*** 0.86*** 0.55** 0.69** 0.61*** 0.70*** 0.99*** 0.98*** 0.94*** 0.98*** 0.57** 0.95*** 0.98*** 0.64**

0.98*** 0.96*** 0.80*** 0.96*** 0.92*** 0.99*** 0.98*** 0.98*** 0.97*** 0.97*** 0.92*** 0.54** 0.99*** 0.99*** 0.96*** 0.64** 0.92** 0.95*** 0.97*** 0.97*** 0.59** 0.96*** 0.99*** 0.66**

1*** 0.99*** 0.99*** 0.98*** 0.86*** 0.81*** 0.99*** 0.91*** 0.97*** 0.74*** 0.85*** 0.99*** 0.66*** 0.64*** 0.81*** 0.99*** 0.99*** 0.99*** 0.99*** 0.98*** 0.89*** 0.99*** 0.97*** 0.99***

b = Sorption maximum; K and k = Bonding energy constant. K1= Adsorption coefficients; K2 = Adsorption coefficients, n = Adsorption coefficients; NS, **, ***: Not Significant, Significantly at P 0.5 and P 0.1, respectively.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH

Fig. 1. Zn sorption by two acid (A1, A2), two calcareous (C1, C2) and two gypsiferous soils (G1, G2) as affected by different background cations. C = Equilibrium solution concentration; q = Adsorbed Zn amount.

Fig. 2. Zn sorption by two acid (A1, A2), two calcareous (C1, C2) and two gypsiferous soils (G1, G2) as affected by different background anions. C = Equilibrium solution concentration; q = Adsorbed Zn amount.

330

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH References Aharoni, C. and Sparks, D. L., (1991). Kinetics of soil chemical Reactions-A theoretical treatment, In: D. L. Sparks and D. L. Suarez (eds.). Rates of soil chemical processes. pp(1-18). SSSA. Madison, WI. Arias, M., Perez-Novo, C., Osorio, F., Lopez, E., Soto, B., ( 2005). Adsorption and desorption of copper and zinc in the surface layer of acid soils. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 288, 21-29. Bolan, N.S., Naidu, R., Syers, J. K., Tillman, R.W., (1999). Surface charge and solute interactions in soils. Advance Agronomy. 67, 87140. Freundlich, H. M. F., ( 1906). Over the adsorption in solution. Journal of Physic Chemistry, 57, 385-470. Fotovat. A., and Naidu, R.,( 1998). Changes in composition of soil aqueous phase influence chemistry of indigenous heavy metals in alkaline sodic and acidic soils. Geoderma, 84, 213 234. Kabata-Pendias, A., and Pendias, H. K., (2001). Trace elements in soils and plants. 3 rd ed. CRC Press. Bocaraton. FL. Langmuir, I., (1916). The adsorption of gases on plane surface of glass, mica and platinum. Journal America Chemistry Society, 40, 1361-1368. Pardo, M.T., and Guadalix, M.E., (1996). Zn sorption-desorption by two Andepts: Effect of pH and support medium. European Journal of Soil Science, 47, 257263. Saha, U. K., Tanjguchi, S., Sakurai, S., (2001). Adsorption behavior of Cd, Zn, and Pb on hydroxyaluminum- and hydroxyaluminosilicate-montmorillonite complexes. Soil Science Society American Journal, 65, 694-703. Siegel, F. R. (2002). Environmental geochemistry of potentially toxic metals. Springer-Verlag, Berlin-Heidelberg. 2-11pp. Shuman, L. M., (1986). Effect of ionic strength and anions on Zn sorption by two soils. Soil Science Society American Journal, 50, 1438-1442. Sposito, G., (1984). The surface chemistry of soils. Oxford Univ. Press. New York. Wang, J. J., and Harrel, D. L., (2005). Effect of ammonium, potassium and sodium cations and phosphate, Nitrate, and chloride anions on Zn sorption and lability in selected acid and calcareous soils. Soil Science Society American J, 69, 1036-1046. Winistorfer, D., (1995). Speciation of heavy metals in extracted soil solution by a cation exchange batch equilibrium method. Communication Soil Society Plant Analysis, 26,10731093. Zhu, B., and Alva, A. K., (1993). Differential sorption of trace metals by soils as influenced by exchangeable cations and ionic strength. Soil Science, 155, 61-66.

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Using GIS to map soil organic matter and nitrogen content to prevent cultivation effects on soil quality Mohammadjavad Bidadi1*, Majid Sardaghi1, Nassim Meghdadi1, Behnam Kamkar2 1. Department of Agroecology, Gorgan University of Agriculture Sciences and Natural Resources 2. Department of Agronomy Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Recourses Corresponding author: *Mohammadjavadbidadi@yahoo.com
Abstract
Human activates such as tillage and cultivation practices along with low organic matter have been led to soil degradation, compaction and increasing its erosion. Sustainable and precise soil management is one of approaches to prevent these problems. This study was aimed to investigate the relationship among different soil characters alike soil organic matter and nitrogen content with fertilizer demand. These information could be useful to reduce cultivation practices. Our results indicated that because of non-uniformity in measured soil characters, fertilizer demand also is completely different. Therefore GIS as an approach could be useful for precise management of soil fertility and consequently soil cultivation practices.To do this, reclassified maps of organic matter and nitrogen content were provided by using Digital Elevation Model and the gap of aforementioned characters with recommended values were calculated. These gaps were used pixel by pixel to provide fertilizer demand maps. These maps are fruitful guidelines to sustain soil as the main component of agroecosystems. In this study, spatial analyst tools, procedures and function were used to interpolate and reclassify the raster maps. Organic matter changed from <1 to 5% and nitrogen content was less than 0.14 ppm. Our results indicated that for precise management of soil cultivation, the practices intensity should be adjusted based on soil physiochemical characters to maintain high-quality zones and improve low-quality ones. Keywords: Organic matter, Soil structure, Nitrogen content, GIS maps.

Introduction
High and sustainable crop production is linked to improved soil physical, chemical and biological properties, which in turn are a primary function of soil organic matter. Conversion of natural ecosystems to agriculture as well as increasing intensity of tillage are known to decrease soil organic matter (SOM) levels and contribute significantly to the increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration (Lal et al., 1998). Human activates such as tillage and cultivation practices along with low organic matter have been led to soil degradation, compaction and increasing its erosion. Sustainable and precise soil management is one of approaches to prevent these problems. Management practices that simultaneously improve soil properties and yield are crucial to sustain high crop production and minimize detrimental impact on the environment. Management options such as no-tillage (NT) (Saffigna et al., 1989; Halvorson et al., 2002), choice of crops in a rotation and rotation length (Havlin et al., 1990; Janzen et al., 1992; Soon and Arshad, 1996), and adequate fertilization (Nyborg et al., 1995b) can be used to enhance level of organic matter in soil, which might offset the potentially negative impact of residue removal. Because of the increased awareness of environmental impacts of soil C and N loss, there is a need for reliable monitoring instruments. Technological development in positioning, sensing and control system has opened a new era, in which traditional agricultural practices are left behind. Precision farming is a term used to describe the management of variability within a field, applying agronomic inputs in the right place, at the right time and in the right quantity to improve the economic efficiency and diminish the adverse environmental impact of crop production (Earl et al., 2000). Study and understanding of the soil spatial variability is very important as soil variability causes crops yield to be distributed unevenly in a field (Liu et al., 1999). The first step in addressing the problems caused by soil variability is to develop a Site Specific Crop Management program (SSCM) to help improve soil quality through practical and economically efficient treatments. Some of suitable tools that can provide the necessary facilities in the basis of soil fertility management are nutrients classification maps that provided with using from statistical techniques in environment Geographic Information System
332

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH (GIS). Fertility maps are useful for identifying soil sources. These maps is based on fertilizer recommendations, monitoring changes soil nutrition, and one important tools that predicted deficiency or toxicity of nutrients in the soil. According to role effective of soil fertility in modern agriculture, providing soil fertility maps for better planning for the use of chemical fertilizers is more necessary. This study was carried out to determine organic matter and nitrogen content in a raster layer to assess precise deficiency values, and so provide fertilizer demand maps.

and Natural Resources, Iran which is situated at 3682 N latitude, 5432 E longitude, at an altitude of 13 m above mean sea level and with 85102 m2 area. For this purpose the field border was determined using global positioning system (GPS), and 51 points were identified in that by 25m 100m distance grid cells throughout the felid. To determine nitrogen and organic matter content sampling was done from 30 cm soil depth. Reclassified maps of organic matter and nitrogen content were provided by using Digital Elevation Model (DEM) and the gap of aforementioned characters with recommended values were calculated. These gaps were used pixel by pixel to provide fertilizer demand maps. spatial analyst tools, procedures and function were used to interpolate and reclassify the raster maps, Spline (Sp) and Inverse Distance Weight (IDW) method was used to interpolate nutrient contents. Nitrogen content were measured by Kejeldal method and organic matter measured by Weakly Black method. Field border and sampling points are presented in Fig.1.

Material and methods This study was carried out in Research field of Gorgon University of Agricultural Science

Fig.1. Field border and sampling points position.

Results
In this research, Spline (Sp) and Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW) as two interpolation methods were used to evaluate nitrogen (N) and organic matter (OM). Our results showed that both of them are suitable methods, this was obtained by comparing actual data whit interpolation values, but Observed against predicted values revealed that IDW interpolation method was superior than Sp method (RMSE=0.016), however Sp method also has reasonable outputs. Field nitrogen variability was interpolated between 0.071-0.14 and 0.001-0.13 ppm base on Sp and IDW methods, respectively (Fig. 2). Reclassifying of nitrogen maps is not impossible in general, due to different response thresholds of different crops.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH

Fig. 2. Nitrogen variability in studied field base on Sp and IDW interpolation methods. Interpolated Field organic matter varied between 0.17-5.18% and 0.475.17% base on Sp and IDW methods, respectively (Fig. 3). To reclassify organic matter maps and determine favorable and unfavorable areas, plant response threshold to organic matter range for plants, classified as Sp ranged from o.17-2 and 2-5.19, and as IDW ranged from 0.47-2 and 2-5.17. The results showed that are presented in Fig. 4. Generally organic matter changed from <1 to 5% and nitrogen content was less than 0.14 ppm. Our result indicated that favorable and unfavorable zones areas were as 84461 and 652 m2, respectively. This expressed that major part of field is suitable for plants cultivation, approximately. According to this results for precise management of soil cultivation, the practices intensity should be adjusted based on soil physiochemical characters to maintain high-quality zones and improve low-quality ones.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH

Fig. 3. Organic matter variability in studied field base on Sp and IDW interpolation methods.

Fig. 4. Favorable and unfavorable area in respect to soil organic matter content base on Sp and IDW interpolation methods in studied ares, unfavorable (Top rang) and Favorable (Bottom rang).
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Map deficiency values organic matter was prepared according to Sp and IDW methods, too. Our results showed that 18 points were less than 2% organic matter, which organic matter deficiency variability was interpolated between 1.2-1.7% and 0.11-1.5 % base on Sp and IDW methods, respectively. Fig. 5.

Fig. 5. Organic matter deficiency values variability in studied field base on Sp and IDW methods.

Discussion

The cause of nutrient depletion is due to the imbalance between the input and output of a soil system. Maintenance of proper nutrient status in soil is a key factor for high yield production. The inputs include nutrients in the soil profile, fertilizer application; nutrients derived from rainfall or from water apply to the crop, sediments accumulated on the soil and bio fixation. Nutrient removal from soil is due to uptake by crops, soil erosion, leaching, and volatization. The ability of soil to provide nutrients for crop production of fertility of a soil system is enhanced by systematic returns of nutrients. In order to properly manage nutrient balance of a soil system in a sustainable way it is necessary first to know availability, depletion and balance of nutrient in a soil system. A geographic information system (GIS) is useful to produce the interpolated maps for visualization, and for raster GIS maps algebraic functions can calculate and visualize the spatial differences between the maps. These maps are fruitful guidelines to sustain soil as the main component of agroecosystems. Our results showed that because of non-uniformity in measured soil characters, fertilizer demand also is completely different. Therefore GIS as an approach could be useful for precise management of soil fertility and consequently soil cultivation practices. Ami Azghadi, A., Khorasani, R., Mokaram, M., Moezzi, A. A., 2011. Evaluation soil fertility based on phosphorus, potassium and organic matter factors, for wheat using fuzzy, AHP and GIS techniques. Research and Scientific Journal Water and Soil, 24(5): 973-984. Earl R, Thomas G, Blackmore BS. The potential role of GIS in autonomous field operations. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture. 2000. 25:107120. doi: 10.1016/S01681699(99)00058-7. [Croos Ref].

References

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Havlin, J.L., Kissel, D.E., Maddux, L.D., Long, J.H., 1990. Crop rotation and tillage effects on soil organic carbon and nitrogen. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 54: 448452. Halvorson, A.D.,Wienhold, B.J., Black, A.L., 2002. Tillage, nitrogen and cropping system effects on soil carbon sequestration. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 66: 906912. He, Y. S., Hai-yan, P., Annia, G., Gomez, A. H., 2005. Measurement and analysis of soil nitrogen and organic matter content using near-infrared spectroscopy techniques. Journal of Zhejiang University Science, 6(11): 10811086. Janzen, H.H., Campbell, C.A., Brandt, S.A., Lafond, G.P., Townley- Smith, L., 1992. Light fraction organic matter in soil from long term rotations. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 56: 17991806. Lal, R., Follett, R.F., Kimble, J.M., Cole, C.V., 1998. The Potential of US Cropland to Sequester Carbon and Mitigate the Greenhouse Effect. Lewis Publisher, Boca Raton, FL, 128 pp. Liu G, Kuang JS, Liu WJ. The application of GIS on field fertility map. Journal of Agricultural University of Heibei. (in Chinese). 1999. 22(3): 7982. Malhi, S.S., Lemke, R., Wang, Z.H., Chhabra Baldev S., 2006. Tillage, nitrogen and crop residue effects on crop yield, nutrient uptake, soil quality, and greenhouse gas emissions. Soil and Tillage Research, 90: 171183. Myint, S. W., Thongthap, Ch., Eiumnoh, A., 1997. Soil nutrient depletion modeling using remote sensing and GIS: A case study in Chonburi, Thailand. Proceedings of the 18th Asian Conference on Remote Sensing, 20-25 October, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, pp. R51-R53. Nosratpur, S., Ardalan, M., Farajnya, A., Esamily Ouri, A., 2009. Investigation of spatial distribution of soil fertility factors in Maraghe farms by means of geographic information systems. Whatershed Management Research. N (87). Nyborg, M., Solberg, E.D., Malhi, S.S., Izaurralde, R.C., 1995b. Fertilizer N, crop residue and tillage alter soil organic carbon and nitrogen content in a decade. In: Lal, R., Kimble, J., Levine, E., Stewart, B.A. (Eds.), Soil Management and Greenhouse Effects. Adv. Soil Sci., CRC Press Inc., Boca Raton, FL, USA, pp. 9399. Puget, P., and Lal, R., 2005. Soil organic carbon and nitrogen in a Mollisol in central Ohio as affected by tillage and land use. Soil and Tillage Research 80: 201213. Roshani, G. A,. And Sadeghi, S,. 2007. Digital Mapping the geographical distribution of nutrients in soils under wheat cultivation in Golestan Province. Second national conference on ecological agriculture in Gorgan. Iran. Saffigna, P.G., Powlson, D.S., Brookes, P.C., Thomas, G.A., 1989. Influence of sorghum residues and tillage on soil organic matter and soil microbial biomass in an Australian Vertisol. Soil Biol. Biochem. 21: 759765. Soon, Y.K., Arshad, M.A., 1996. Effects of cropping on nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium forms, and soil organic carbon in a Grey Luvisol. Biol. Fertil. Soils 22: 184190. Walkly, A. and Black, I.A., 1934. An examination of the degtjareff method for determining soil organic matter and a proposed modification of the chromic acid titration method. Soil. Sci. 37: 29-38. Wang, X., Oenema, O., Hoogmoed, W.B., Perdok, U.D., Cai, D., 2006. Dust storm erosion and its impact on soil carbon and nitrogen losses in northern China. Catena 66: 221227.

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Recovery Kinetic of Available Phosphorus after Adding Triple Superphosphate in Soils

Abdollatif Gholizadeh*a
a

Department of plant production, College of Agriculture Science and Natural resources, Gonbad Kavous University, Gonbad, Golestan, Iran * Corresponding Author: latif_gholizadeh@yahoo.com

Kinetic information is requirement for describing of soil ability in phosphorus (P) supplying, optimum management of fertilizer and reduction of environmental pollution. For obtain recovery kinetic of available P, 20 soil samples from north of Iran were collected with different physicochemical characteristics. 250 mg P Kg-1 of triple superphosphate was added in soils and incubated at 200c and 75% field capacity moistures with 3 replications at 2010. The Olsen P of treated and control soils were determined after 1, 3, 7, 15, 30, 60 and 140 days and recovery percent of P were measured in above said times and the best describing P recovery kinetic models were fitted to soils. Results showed that Elovich, Power function and Ostan equation (Y= 100/ (1+kTb)) had the best fit to data obtained from phosphorus recovery study but was suggested Ostan equation was better that because of less standard deviation. k constant of Ostan equation had good correlation with free iron oxide, pH and saturation percent of soil samples and b constant had good correlation with pH of soil samples. This parameter can be helpful in estimating of phosphorus recovery in these soils. Phosphorus recovery percent of triple superphosphate in alkaline soil samples (14 samples) was 55% after one day and this is significantly greater than acidic (6 sample) soils about 45%. Phosphorus recovery percent was stable after 30 days and in alkaline and acidic soil samples was about 37% and 20% respectively. Key words: Phosphorus, Kinetic, Recovery, Triple superphosphate

Abstract

Introduction P retention is a continuous sequence of precipitation and adsorption. Where water soluble fertilizers are applied, soil solution P concentration increases greatly. Regardless of the contributions of adsorption and precipitation, understanding P- fixation processes is important for optimum P nutrition and efficient fertilizer P management (Havlin et al., 2005). P adsorption in soils follows two distinct patterns: an initial rapid reaction followed by a much slower reaction. Adsorption reactions involving exchange of P for anions on Fe/Al oxide surface are rapid. The slower reactions involve formation of covalent Fe-P or Al-P bound on Fe/Al oxide surfaces and precipitation of a P compound. These slow reactions involve a transition from more loosely bound to more tightly bound adsorbed P, which is less accessible to plants. The initial compounds precipitated during of fertilizer P in soils are relatively unstable and will usually change with time in to more stable and less soluble compounds (Havlin et al., 2005). An important practical consequence of P adsorption and precipitation reactions is the time after application during which the plant is best able to utilize the added P. On soils with high P-fixation capacity, this period may be short, whereas with other soils it may last for months or even years. The reaction time will determine whether fertilizer P should be applied at one time in the rotation or in smaller, more frequent applications. The main purpose of this work was to study the recovery of applied P fertilizer (triple superphosphate) in soils of northern Iran using chemical extraction (viz. Olsen P, a bicarbonateextraction which is a valuable estimate of available P in calcareous soils) during the time (1 to 140 days after application). In this work, we also fitted the describing P recovery kinetic models such as Zero order, First order, Second order, Parabolic diffusion, Bowden and Bennett, Elovich, Power function, and Ostan suggested equation (Y= 100/ (1+kTb)) to obtained PRP data of soils. Materials and Methods 20 soil samples were collected from 0 20 cm of north of Iran (Golestan, Mazandaran and Guilan provinces) at 2010. Chemical and physical characteristic of soils such as pH, EC, soluble Ca in 1:1 extract, organic carbon (Nelson and Sommers ,1982), available P (Olsen et al., 1953), P retention capacity (Saunders, 1965), free Iron oxide (Holmgren, 1967), Equivalent Calcium Carbonate(ECC) (Loeppert and Donald, 1996), active ECC (Del Campillo et al., 1992) and soil texture in

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH hydrometric methods were measured. 15 samples were alkaline soils and 5 samples were acidic soils. 250 mg P Kg-1 of triple superphosphate was added in soils and incubated at 200c and 75% field capacity moistures with three replications at 2010. The Olsen P of treated and control soils (without P) were determined after 1, 3, 7, 15, 30, 60 and 140 days and phosphorus recovery percent (PRP = [(Pex Pex0)/ (Pad)] x 100) were measured in mentioned said times. The best describing P recovery kinetic models such as Zero order, First order, Second order, Parabolic diffusion, Bowden and Bennett, Elovich, Power function, and Ostan suggested equation (Y= 100/ (1+kTb)) were fitted to obtained PRP data of soils. Correlations of chemical and physical characteristic of soils with PRP and with empirical constant of equations were determined. Results and Discussions Fitness of equations P adsorption in soils follows two distinct patterns: an initial rapid reaction followed by a much slower reaction. Adsorption reactions involving exchange of P for anions on Fe/Al oxide surface are rapid. The slower reactions involve (1) formation of covalent Fe-P or Al-P bound on Fe/Al oxide surfaces and precipitation of a P compound. These slow reactions involve a transition from more loosely bound to more tightly bound adsorbed P, which is less accessible to plants. The initial compounds precipitated during of fertilizer P in soils are relatively unstable and will usually change with time in to more stable and less soluble compounds (Havlin et al., 2005). Results showed that Elovich, Power function and Ostan equation (2004) had the best fit to data obtained from P recovery study but suggested Ostan equation was better that because of less standard deviation and high Coefficient of determination (table 1).
Table 1. Coefficient of determination (r2) and standard deviation (SE) of linear fitting of equations to PRP soil All of soils Alkaline soils Acidic soils Elovich r2 92.9*** 94.4*** 87.7** SE 2.68 2.29 3.85 Power function r2 SE 96.0*** 0.056 96.1*** 0.048 95.0*** 0.091 Ostan equation r2 SE 97.2*** 0.040 97.4*** 0.035 95.3*** 0.053

Fig. 1 shows PRP and fitting of Ostan Eq. to mean obtained data of alkaline and acidic soils and all of soils during the times.

Fig.1 - PRP and fitting of Ostan Eq. to obtained data of alkaline and acidic soils and all of soils during the times.

PRP decreases with increasing of Ostan Eq. Constants (k and b). Similar equation was suggested by Bowden and Bennett (1976) [Recovery = 100 / (1 + t)]. In this equation, PRP decrease to 50% after one day and is based on Bouldin, et al's (1960) finding. Helyar and Godden (1976) suggested another equation [R = 100 n / (n + t)]. This equation shows that kinetic of PRP is in accord with second order equation. Sammadi and Gilkes (1999) suggested an equation [R = 100 / (1 +kt)] with

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH using of Helyar and Godden's equation. This equation did not have good fitness with our study's data. Independence of k and b constant is the excellence and advantage of Ostan equation. In the

Table 2 shows range and mean of k and b constant after fitting of PRP data to Ostan equation. Extensive range of k and b constant indicates diversity and complexity of soils characteristics in P fixing.
Table 2- range and mean of k and b constant in alkaline and acidic soils soil Alkaline soils Acidic soils k range 0.53 1.38 1.01 1.78 mean 0.96 1.52 b range 0.12 0.28 0.24 0.34 mean 0.22 0.29

other hand, k constant variation not related to b constant variation (Ostan, 2004). For this reason, we can correlate this constant with soil characteristics. Also, this equation transform easily to linear form [Log ((100-Y)/Y) = Log (a) + b Log (T)].

k and b constant in acidic soils significantly (p< 0.001) greater than alkaline soils and this indicate to decreasing of PRP and increasing of P fixation in acidic soils (Owusu-Bennoah and Acquaye, 1989; Ostan, 2004) Correlation of constant with soil characteristic Many physical and chemical properties of soil influences P solubility and adsorption reaction in soils. Consequently, these soil properties also affect solution P concentration, P availability to plants, and fertilizer P recovery by crops (Havlin et al., 2005). Correlation of k and b constant of Ostan equation with soil characteristic was measured by stepwise regression (table 3).
Table 3- stepwise regression of constant with soil characteristic regression R2 k = 0.58 + 0.065 (Fed) 67.2*** k = 1.68 + 0.051 (Fed) 0.135 (pH) 74.3*** k = 1.76 + 0.039 (Fed) - 0.20 (pH) + 0.009 (SP) 81.6*** b = 0.45 0.029 (pH) 22.5 **

Free iron oxide, pH and SP of soil samples had good correlation with constant of equation and this parameter can help to estimation of phosphorous recovery in these soils. Importance of free Iron oxide (Owusu-Bennoah and Acquaye, 1989; Ostan, 2004; Tisdel et al. 1985) clay (Cox, 1994) and ECC (Sharply et al. 1989) was showed in other studies. Sammadi and Gilkes (1999) expressed that k constant in second order equation had significantly positive correlation with free Iron oxide and clay and significantly negative correlation with AECC. Rayan et al. (1985) showed that the negative correlation between PRP and free iron oxide in soils but constant of equation didnt have any significant correlation with it. Sammadi and Gilkes (1999) believe that P recovery with bicarbonate agent for extraction of P bounded to iron oxide and clay fewer than for P bounded to CaCO3. There was no significant correlation between constants and ECC and AECC in this studies but significant correlation between free Iron oxide and ECC (r = -0.55*), AECC (r = -0.54*) and pH (r = -0.54*) of soils was seen. Negative correlation between constants (k and b) and pH indicate that unavailability and adsorption of added P decrease with increasing of pH. The P adsorbed is held with five times more bonding energy in acid soils than in calcareous soils. In the acidic soil, Fe/Al oxides are abundant and the mineral surface has a net (+) charge, although both (+) and (-) sites exist. The predominance of (+) charges readily attracts H2PO4- . By increasing pH, abundance of positive charge sites on Fe/Al oxide and amount of Fe/Al oxide declines, so adsorption of phosphate decrease with these minerals (Havlin et al., 2005; Tisdale et al, 1985). Also, solubility of Fe and Al phosphate increase with increasing of pH. Chand and Tomar (1993) expressed that by increasing pH, transformation of added P to Fe phosphate decreases significantly.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Recently precipitated of Fe oxides are amorphous and they have great specific area (Borggaard 1982) and play important role in adsorption and desorption of P (Sah and Mikkelsen. 1986a; Kuo and Lotse. 1974b). Phosphate ion may be adsorbed on the Fe oxide as specific form (white, 1981) Therefore adsorbed P cannot be desorbed easily (Kuo and McNeal, 1984). Ryan et al's study (1985a, 1985b) confirmed that not only aging of P had negative effect on available and extractable of P in calcareous soils, but also free Fe oxide had great effect on transformation of soluble P to insoluble form. Acknowledgments This research was conducted at soil science department of Tehran University and with supporting of Soil and Water Research Institutes is also appreciated. Reference Borggaard, O.K., (1982). Influence of iron oxides on the surface area of soil. J. Soil Sci. 33:443449. Bouldin, D.R., Lehr, J. R,. and Sample. E. C. (1960). The effect of Associated salts on the transformations of monocalcium phosphate monohydrate at the site of application. Soil Sci. Sos. Am. Proc. 24:464-468. Bowden, J. W., and D. Bennett, (1976). The decide model for predicting superphosphate requirement. Proc. Symp. Phosphate in Agriculture, 1974. Chand, T ., and N.K. Tomar.(1993). Effect of soil properties on the transformation of phosphorus in alkaline calcareous soils. J. Indian Soc. Soil Sci. 41:56-61. Cox, F.R. (1994). Predicting increases in extractable phosphorus from fertilizing soils of varying clay content. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J.58:1249-1253. Del Campillo M C, Torrent J and Loeppert RH, (1992). The reactivity of carbonates in selected soils of Southern Spain. Geoderma 52:149-160. Havlin, J.L., Beaton, J.D., Tisdale, S.L., Nelson, W.L. (2005). Soil fertility and fertilizers. 7th ed. Pearson Prentice Hall. New Jersey Helyar, K.R., and Godden, D.P. (1976). The biology and modeling of fertilizer responses. J. Aust. Inst. Agric. Res. 43: 22-30. Holmgren. G. G. S., (1967). A rapid citrate- dithionate extractable iron procedure. Soil Sci Soc Am Proc 31:210-211. Kuo, S., and McNeal, B.L., (1984). Effects of pH and phosphate on cadmium sorption by hydrous ferric oxides. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 48:1040-1044. Kuo, S,. and Lotse, E.G., (1974b). Kinetics of phosphate adsorption and desorption by he]matite and gibbsite. Soil Sci. 116:400-406. Loeppert, R. H., and Donald, L.S., (1996). Carbonate and Gypsum. Pp. 437-575. In:Page AL (ed.) Methods of Soil Analysis. 3rd. American Society of Agronomy, Madison,WI. Nelson, D.W., and Sommers, L.E., (1982). Total carbon, organic carbon, and organic matter. P. 539-579. In: Page (ed.) Methods of Soil Analysis. Part 2. 2nd ed. American Society of Agronomy, Madison,WI. Olsen, S.R., Cole, C.V., Watanabe, F.S., and Dean, L.A., (1953). Estimation of available phosphorus in soils by extraction with sodium bicarbonate. USDA Circ.No 939. Ostan, S.( 2004). Kinetic and equilibrium studies of P in some soils of Iran. Ph.D thesis. University of Tehran. Karaj. Iran Owusu-Bennoah, E., and Acquaye, D.K., (1989). Phosphate sorption characteristics of seleceted major Ghanaion soils. Soil Sci. 148:114-123. Ryan, J., Curtin, D., and M. A. Cheema. (1985). Significance of iron oxdes and calcium carbonate particle size in phosphate sorption by calcareous soils. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 49:74-76. Ryan, J., Hasan, H. M., Baasiri, M., and Tabbara, H. S., (1985b). Availability and transformation of applied phosphorus in calcareous Lebanese soils. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 49:1215-220. Sah, R.N., and Mikkelsen, D.S., (1986a). Effects of anaerobic decomposition of organic matter on sorption and transformations of P. I. Effect on P Sorption. Soil Sci. 142:267-274.
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Sammadi, A., and Gilkes R. J., (1999). Phosphorus transformations and their relationships with calcareous soil properties of South western Australia. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 63:809-816. Sharpley, A. N., Sing, U., Uehara, G ., and Kimble, J., (1989). Modeling soil and plant phosphorus dynamics in calcareous and highly weathered soils. Soil Sci. Soc .Am. J. 53:153158. Saunders, W. M. H., (1965). Phosphate retention by New Zeland soils and its relationship to free sesquioxides, organic matter, and other soil properties. New Zeland Journal of Agriculture Research 8:30-57. Tisdale, S. L., Nelson, W.L., and Beaton, J.D., (1985).Soil fertility and soil analysis .Soil Sci. 98:78-84. White, R.E., (1981). Retention and release of phosphate by soil and soil constituents. P. 71-114. In: P.B. Tinker (ed.) Critical reports on applied chemistry, Vol. 2. Soil and agriculture. John Wiley and Sons. New York.

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Effectiveness of Mycorrhizae and Phosphate Rock on Soybean Yield

Mohammad Rezvani1, Abdollatif Gholizadeh2, Benzhamin Afshang1, Faezeh Zaefarian3
Department of Agronomy, Qaemshahr Branch, Islamic Azad University, Qaemshahr, Iran Crop Production Department, College of Agriculture and Natural resources, Gonbad Kavous University, Gonbad, Golestan, Iran 3 Departments of Agronomy and Plant Breeding, Sari Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University, Sari, Iran Corresponding Author: m_rezvani52@yahoo.com
2 1

Abstract

The high cost of importing soluble P fertilizers is, therefore, forcing many developing countries to turn increasingly to using local phosphate rock (PR) resources to improve agricultural production. A pot culture experiment was carried out to investigate effect of mycorriza on soybean yield. Experiment was factorial with four replicates. Factors were included none-inoculation (M0) and inoculation (M) to mycorrhizae plus five resources of phosphate (B1: control without phosphate amendment, B2: standard phosphate fertilizer from triple superphosphate, B3: Yazd phosphate rock, B4: Yasouj phosphate rock and B5: Gafsa phosphate rock from Tunisia). Total dry weight, P concentration in shoot and root, N uptake and yield and yield components were evaluated. Interaction effect of mycorrhiza and phosphate resources on plant dry matter, P concentration of shoot and root and N uptake was not significant. There was the highest total dry weight of plant in triple superphosphate resource. Results showed inoculated plant produced more pod number per plant than non-inoculated ones. Inoculated plant in triple superphosphate produced the highest soybean yield. Treatment of Gafsa plus inoculation with mycorrhiza produced the highest yield of soybean among the PR resources. Keywords: phosphate Rock, mycorrhizae, yield, Soybean, triple superphosphate

Introduction Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are ubiquitously associated with the large plant families in different ecosystems worldwide (Zhao et al., 2001). This relationship has important consequences for the cycling of nutrients in the soil. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi provide plants with essential nutrients, such as phosphate, when they are scarce or have low mobility in the soil solution. In turn, photosynthetic carbon is transported into the soil via the transfer of sugar from the root to their endosymbiotic fungi, which later translocate this carbon in form of lipids and sugar into the external mycelium spreading in the soil (Bago et al., 2003). The use of rock phosphate as a fertilizer for P-deficient soils has received markedly interest in recent decades. Rock phosphates (PR) are natural, inexpensive and available fertilizers resources, but their solubility is low in non-acidic soils (Rodriguez et al., 1999). Several alternative methods have been applied to increase P availability in PR including: (1) incorporation of additives into RP, (2) partial acidulation of RP, (3) compaction of PR with water-soluble P fertilizers, and (4) microbial methods (Van Straaten, 2002). The addition of microbiologically-solubilised phosphate to agricultural soils has been used for improving plant growth and nutrition (Vassilev et al., 1998). The solubilisation of rock phosphate by microorganisms able to excrete organic acids has been tested under fermentation conditions (Rodriguez et al., 1999 The aim of this research was comparing some PR resources in yield and yield component of soybean. Materials and Methods A pot experiment under glasshouse conditions was set up to investigate effect of mycorriza on soybean yield and yield components. Experiment was factorial with four replicates. Factors were included none-inoculation (M0) and inoculation (M) to mycorrhizae plus five resources of phosphate (B1: control without phosphate amendment, B2: standard phosphate fertilizer from triple superphosphate, B3: Yazd rock phosphate, B4: Yasouj rock phosphate and B5: Gafsa rock phosphate from Tunisia). The soil was collected from the top 20 cm layer from arable plots and analyzed for the following properties: pH 7.9, organic carbon (OC, 2%) and available P (5.7 mg kg-1).
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH The Glomus intraradices strain applied as mycorrhiza inoculum. Soybean seed was planted in 5 kg pots. The irrigation and nutrients supply as plant needed. Sampling for N and P measurements was carried out before harvesting. In maturity stage plants cut from pots and oven dried. Total dry weight, P concentration in shoot and root, N uptake and yield and yield components were evaluated. The data were analysed by SAS software and means compared by Duncan Multiple Range Test. Results Total dry weight The interaction had not significantly effect on soybean biomass production. The highest plant dry weight was produced in plants that were grown triple superphosphate fertilizer (Table 1). The Gafsa PR had the highest rate of plant total biomass among the PR treatments (Table 1). P concentration in shoot and root The highest concentration of P shoot and root was in triple superphosphate fertilizer. Gafsa treatments had the highest P concentration of shoot and root among the RPs (Table 1). Inoculation with G. intraradices increased the P concentration of shoot (Table 2). But the P of root did not changed by inoculation with G. intraradices (Table 2). Phosphate resources B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 Table 1. Effect of PR resources on some soybean parameters. Root P N uptake Total dry weight Shoot P (mgkg-1) (mg) (g per plant) (mgkg-1) 30.87 d 0.11 d 0.25 c 624.30 c 56.56 a 0.22 a 0.39 a 1590.00 a 31.25 d 0.14 bc 0.31 b 638.90 c 32.13 c 0.13 c 0.31 b 665.00 c 40.76 b 0.15 b 0.33 b 847.40 b Pod number 12.57 c 36.97 a 14.25 c 16.31 b 18.88 b

B1: control without phosphate amendment, B2: standard phosphate fertilizer from triple superphosphate, B3: Yazd rock phosphate, B4: Yasouj rock phosphate and B5: Gafsa rock phosphate from Tunisia.

Nitrogen uptake The interaction between mycorrhiza and phosphate resources had not markedly effect on N uptake by plant. In mycorrhizal plants N uptake was more than uninoculated ones (Table 2). The plants that were grown in Gafsa treatments had more N uptake than other RPs applied (Table 1). Inoculation M1 M0 Table 2. Effect of inoculation on some soybean parameters. Root P N uptake Total dry Shoot P (mgkg-1) (mg) weight (g) (mgkg-1) 39.48 a 0.16 a 0.33 a 902.28 a 37.55 b 0.14 b 0.31 a 843.96 b Pod number 20.54 a 15.26 b

M1: inoculated with mycorrhiza, M0: uninoculatd with mycorrhiza. Columns with the same letter are not significantly different at 5 % level.

Root nodulation Root nodulation was markedly affected by interactions. Figure 1 show inoculation with G. intraradices increased the root nodulation, so that treatment that inoculated had more nodulation. Among the RPs treatments plant grown in Gafsa inoculated treatments had more root nodulation (Fig. 1).

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH
15 Root nodul number 12 9 6 3 0 B1 B2 B3 P Resorces B4 B5 cd d cd cd a b cd cd

Inoculated Uninoculated c cd

Fig. 1 Effect of interactions between mycorrhiza inoculation and PR resources. In each group, the columns with the same letter are not significantly different at 5 % level.

Yield and yield components Number of pod per plant was not affected by interactions. Inoculation with G. intraradices enhanced significantly pod number (Table 2). Interaction was significantly influenced on grain yield. The Gafsa inoculated by G. intraradices produced the highest grain yield among the RPs (Fig. 2).
15 Grain yield (gperplant) 12 9 6 3 0 B1 B2 B3 P resources B4 B5 cd d cd cd cd cd a b inoculated uninoculated c cd

Fig. 2 Effect of interactions between mycorrhiza inoculation and PR resources on grain yield. In each group, the columns with the same letter are not significantly different at 5 % level.

Discussion The interaction had not significantly influence on plant biomass, P concentration in shoot and root, plant N uptake and number of pod per plant. Mycorrhization increased plant biomass, N uptake, P concentration of shoot and pod number (Table 2). Microorganisms in the hyphosphere of AM fungi may affect mycorrhizal functions such as nutrient and water uptake carried out by the external hyphae of AM fungi. In contrast, fungal activities could also modify the structure and the biofunctionning of microbial communities. It is well established that AM fungi modify root functions (i.e. root exudation) (Marshner et al., 1997), change carbohydrate metabolism of the host plant (Shachar-Hill et al., 1995) and influence rhizosphere populations (Andrade et al., 1998). Furthermore, AM fungi can exude substances that have a selective effect on the microbial community in the rhizosphere and in the soil (Hobbie, 1992). As these microbial communities differ from those of the rhizosphere (zone of soil subjected to the influence of living roots), this microbial compartment is commonly named mycorrhizosphere (Linderman, 1988). The mycorrhizosphere is usually divided in two different zones, one under the dual influence of root and fungal partners of the mycorrhiza (the mycorrhizosphere) and the other subjected to the AM hyphae (the mycosphere or hyphosphere) which supports different bacterial activities from those recorded in the mycorrhizosphere (Andrade et al., 1998). Root nodulation was more induced by inoculation by mycorrhiza. The better nodule development would have stimulated effective N2 fixation, increasing the amount of N available to the plant to support growth. Optimum growth of fabaceae plants is usually dependent on symbiotic relationships with mycorrhizal fungi and N2-fixing bacteria (Xavier and Germida, 2003). Mycorrhizal inoculation of plant roots usually stimulates plant growth through effects on nutrient uptake, nodulation and N2 fixation, and/or water supply (Redecker et al., 1997). Lucerne has been found to grow better after inoculation with AM fungi (Nielsen and Jensen, 1983).
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH References Andrade, G., Mihara, K. L., Linderman, R. G., Bethlenfalvay, G. J., (1998). Soil aggregation status and rhizobacteria in the mycorrhizosphere. Plant and Soil, 202, 8996. Bago, B., Pfeffer, P. E., Abubaker, J., Jun, J., Allen, J. W., Brouillette, J., Douds, D. D., Lammers, P.J., Shachar-Hill, Y., (2003). Carbon export from arbuscular mycorrhizal roots involves the translocation of carbohydrate as well as lipid. Plant Physiology 131, 14961507. Hobbie, S.E., (1992). Effects of plant species on nutrient cycling. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 7, 336339. Linderman, R.G., 1988. Mycorrhizal interactions with the rhizosphere microflora: the mycorrhizosphere effect. Phytopathology 8, 366371. Marshner, P., Crowley, D. E., Higashi, M., (1997). Root exudation and physiological status of a root-colonizing fluorescent pseudomonad in mycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizal pepper (Capsicum annuum L.). Plant and Soil, 189, 1120. Nielsen, J. P., Jensen, A., (1983). Influence of vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi on growth and uptake of various nutrients as well as uptake ratio of fertilizer P for Lucerne (Medicago sativa). Plant and Soil, 70, 165172. Redecker, D., Vonbereswordtwallrabe, P., Beck, D. P., Werner, D., (1997). Influence of inoculation with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi on stable isotopes of nitrogen in Phaseolus vulgaris. Biology and Fertility of Soils, 24, 344346. Rodriguez, R., Vassilev, N., Azcn, R., (1999). Increases in growth and nutrient uptake of alfalfa grown in soil amended with microbially-treated sugar beet waste. Applied Soil Ecology, 11, 9 15. Shachar-Hill, Y., Pfeffer, P.E., Douds, D., Osman, S.F., Doner, L.W., Ratcliffe, R.G., 1995. Partitioning of intermediary carbon metabolism in vesiculararbuscular mycorrhizal leeks. Plant Physiology 108, 715. Van Straaten, P., (2002). Rocks for crops: agro-minerals of sub-Saharan Africa. ICRAF, Nairobi, Kenya. Vassilev, N., Baca, M. T., Vassileva, M., Franco, I., De Nobili, M., (1998). Mineralization of three agro-industrial wastes by an acid-producing strain of Aspergillus niger. In: De Bertoldi, M., Sequi, P., Lenunes, B., Papi, T. (Eds.), The Science of Composting. Chapman & Hall London. Xavier, L. J. C., Germida, J. J., (2003). Selective interactions between arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. viceae enhance pea yield and nutrition. Biology and Fertility of Soils, 37, 261267. Zhao, Z. W., Qin, X. Z., Li, X. W., Cheng, L. Z., Sha, T., Wang, G. H., (2001). Arbuscular mycorrhizal status of plants and the spore density of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in the tropical rain forest of Xishuangbanna, southwest China. Mycorrhiza 11, 159162.

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Bioenergetics Efficiency of Fertilizer for Barley

V.Yu. Grebenshchikov, .. Ablov, S.O. Pankovets
Irkutsk State Academy of Agriculture FSBI IMVL

Efficiency of diverse agricultural technologies is based on economic estimates of price (labor input, product cost-price, profit, cost effectiveness, etc.). These estimates are practically valid provided relatively stable market situation with prices reflecting true user value and being commensurate. With fertilizer and agricultural products prices disparity nowadays, mineral fertilizers use has drastically declined. Economically positive effect in agriculture maybe ensured by intense exploitation of producers durable equipment. Use of mineral fertilizers is one of the most efficient ways to enhance production. However, high economic efficiency of fertilizers may be attained only if biological peculiarities of the cultivar, soil-climatic conditions of the zone, as well as the actual use of the acquired grain are considered. Type of the mineral fertilizer used is of significance as well (Andreyev, 1999). Energy-based assessment of agricultural efficiency (in Joules) as well as that of effectiveness of this or that agro-method has recently become very frequent. Bio-energy efficiency is determined by the ratio of the amount of potential energy accumulated by agro-cenosis to the consumption during growth. (Kutuzova et al. 1966; Bulatkin, 1985; Bondarenko, 1986; Volodin, 1989; et al.) Bio-energy assessment virtually does not depend on prices and market instability, which enhances the efficiency of the unified assessment energy approach to research of anthropogenic impact results. With dramatic rise of fuel prices and intense competition for energy-carriers assessment of production energy efficiency, including that of agriculture, becomes increasingly crucial. Besides, assessment of bio-energy efficiency is one of agroecological parameters characterizing cultivation technologies of agricultural species. The research was conducted in 19961998 within the framework of field experiment at the test site Molodezhnoye on light-grey forest soil of heavy granulometrical composition. The test site soil was low in mineral nitrogen and exchange potassium and high in labile phosphorus with humus content of 1.72%. The flowchart of the test comprised five variants: 1 no fertilizers (control); 23- N 60 45 60 ; 4- N 60 30 90 ; 5- N 60 45 90 . The tests were performed according to the conventional methods (Dospekhov, 1985). Bio-energy assessment was carried out as per the methods of G.G. Kulikov with co-authors (2000) on barley species Odessky 115 and Nevan. Bio-energy assessment of mineral fertilizers use in our research has demonstrated high efficiency of pomaces. The structure of energy consumption by test variants is drawn in Table 1. According to the calculations, in the course of introduction of mineral fertilizers the latter take up a significant share in the structure of energy consumption (up to one third of the total). Maximal energy consumption is accounted for by seeds - over 60% in control and up to 43 % with the use of fertilizers. Consumption structure slightly varies from species to species, as their absolute norm of seeding is different and consumption for grain harvesting is higher for the Odessky 115 species as compared to the Nevan species due to higher productivity of the former. Bio-energy assessment of mineral fertilizers in cultivation of agricultural species includes analysis of the structure of overall energy consumption per 1 ha. The assessment was conducted by the following parameters: overall energy consumption, primary product output in natural and energy calculation, energy capacity of product unit, energy co-efficient, increment of gross energy (Table 2). Bio-energy assessment of mineral fertilizers use demonstrated that all the variants produce positive energy balance for primary product. High energy consumption with the fertilizers use decreases energy co-efficient in the Odessky 115 species from 2.51 to 1.32, and from 3.01 to 2.06 in the Nevan species in the fourth variant as compared to control. Comparison of variants with fertilizers shows that with phosphorus-potassium proportion being balanced in the second and fifth variants energy co-efficient increases up to 2.20 and 2.27 for the Odessky 115 the Nevan species respectively. Gross energy increment on average in the variants is higher for cultivation of the Odessky 115 species, as its productivity is higher as compared to the Nevan species.
347

N 60 30 60 ;

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH fertilizers pesticides

Table 1.Structure of overall energy consumption per 1 ha of barley for fallplough (MJ/ha) Specie Variant equipment labor seeds fuel electrical s energy 1. 0- 11480 237.4 8580 2681.7 30.1 8.5 1.75 63.6 19.9 0.22 2. N60P30K60 1196.1 290 8580 2738.1 33.6 6.0 1.45 43.0 13.74 0.16 3. N60P45K60 1197.1 291.3 8580 27339.6 33.6 5.65 1.44 42.6 13.6 0.16 4. N60P30K90 1198.2 294.2 8580 2742.1 33.6 5.93 1.46 42.5 13.5 0.16 5. N60P45K90 1198.85.80 295.1 8580 8580 33.6 1.4 42.9 13.5 0.16 1. 0- 1141.0 237.4 6578 2680 30.1 9.9 2.07 57.3 23.34 0.26 0 0 6283 31.5 6480 32.2 6537 32.4 6730 33.0 0 0 813 6 813 4.1 813 4.0 813 4.0 813 4.0 813 7.1 overall expenses* 13490.2 100.0 19933.8 147.8 20134.6 149.3 20198.1 149.7 20402.6 151.2 1148.1 100.0

Nevan

2. N60P30K60

Odessky 115

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1190.0 290.0 6578 2738.1 33.6 6283 813 6.4 1.62 36.7 15.3 0.18 35.05 4.5 3. N60P45K60 1190.1 291.0 6578 2739.6 33.6 8480 813 6.6 1.61 36.3 15.1 0.18 35.75 4.48 4. N60P30K90 1191.2 294.0 6578 2740.6 33.6 6537 813 6.5 1.6 36.2 15.1 0.18 35.9 4.4 5. N60P45K90 1191.8 295.0 2752.0 2752.0 33.6 6730 813 6.5 1.6 35.8 15.0 0.18 36.6 4.4 Note: Numerator represents consumption of overall energy (MJ/ha); denominator share of consumption in the total energy sum (%); * Denominator represents per cent of consumption as compared to control variant.

17926.7 156 18125.2 157.0 18187.4 158.0 18363.4 160

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Table 2. Bio-energy assessment of mineral fertilizers use by primary product output from 1 ha
Variant Parameter Total energy consumption, MJ Energy capacity of 1 c of grain Harvest, c/ha Overall energy output, MJ Energy co-efficient (q) Gross energy increment Q, MJ 1 13490 1590 21.3 33867 2.51 20377 2 Odessky 115 species 3 4 20135 1590 25.9 41181 1.38 21046 20198 1590 24.9 39591 1.32 19393 5 20403 1590 28.2 44838 2.20 24435 1 11480 1590 21.7 34503 3.01 23023 2 17927 1590 25.0 39750 2.22 21823 Nevan species 3 18125 1590 23.6 37524 2.07 19399 4 18197 1590 23.6 37524 2.06 19337 5 18363 1590 26.2 41658 2.27 19103

19934 1590 26.9 42771 2.15 22837

Thus, well-balanced mineral nutrition significantly enhances barley productivity, which increases bioenergy efficiency of mineral fertilizers use. REFERENCES Andreyev S.S. Economic assessment of mineral fertilizers assortment // Agrochemical bulletin. 1999. - 1. - P. 20-22. Bondarenko V.I. et al. Biological economic efficiency of winter wheat cultivation // Zemledeliye. 1986. - 2. P.25-26. Bulatkin G.A. Comparative energy efficiency of plurannual herbs and maize cultivation for silage on grey forest soils // VASKHNIL reports. - 1985. - 10. P.35-40. Volodin V.., Eremina R.F., Shestova L.P. et al. Methods of assessment of bio-based agricultural systems efficiency. ., 1989. 39 p. Dospekhov B.. Field test methods. - .: Kolos, 1985. - 351 p. Kulikov G.G., Budadzhapov V.Ts., Batuyev A.P., Dabayeva M.D. Bio-energy assessment of agricultural species cultivation and performance of crop-rotation introduction. Ulan-Ede: RIO Bur GSKHA, 2000. 40 p. Kutuzova .. et al. Agro-energy assessment of meadow forage production techniques // Kormoproizvodstvo. ., 1988. - 6. P. 5-9.

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Soil Potential of Irkutsk Region in the Process of Barley Producing

V.Yu. Grebenshchikov, V.V.Verhoturov, A.Yu. Puzyreva
Irkutsk state academy of Agriculture FSBI IMVL

Introduction Irkutsk region is located almost in the center of the Asian continent and has a large extension from the North to the South (about 1,400 km), and from the West to the East (about 1,500 km). The climate of Irkutsk region is extremely continental with the severe long-term, but dry winter and comparatively warm summer with abundant precipitation. The territory of Irkutsk region is of 77,486 ha; among this territory less than 3.0% is developed for the agricultural use. Soil diversity of Irkutsk region is determined by the formation conditions under the influence of different bedding rocks, vast irregularity of relief, climatic factors. The agriculturally littledeveloped regions of the mountainous territories are dominated by mountain forest, mountain meadow, and bog soils. Definitely, the peculiarities of the physical and geographical conditions of the region and soil cover cause the fertility and its usage. Among the total area of the land fund the proportion of the agricultural land is 2372,800 ha, including arable land of 1621,700 ha, hay harvest of 263,700 ha, pasture of 488,900 ha (Figure 1).

21%

11% 68%

1.

Arable land 21%

2.

Hay harvest 11%

3.

Pasture 68%

Figure 1. Structure of the agricultural land in Irkutsk region In consideration of different landscape and geographical conditions the soil cover of the arable lands are distinct in mixed character (Table 1).

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Table 1. Soil cover structure of the lands used for arable in Irkutsk region
Type of soil Grey forest soils Including: light grey Grey Dark grey Calcareous Including: little content of humus Medium content of humus High content of humus Chernozems Meadow chernozem Meadow Alluvial Sod-podzol Other Total: Square, ths.ha 790,3 109,2 390,6 290,5 586,0 125,8 254,6 207,6 109,3 77,1 10,8 36,3 8,2 3,7 1621,7 Share of arable land, % 48.7 6.7 24.2 17.9 36.3 7.8 15.7 12.8 6.7 4.7 0.7 2.2 0.5 0.2 100

Agricultural production in the region is conducted in three agroclimatic zones (Table 2). In subtaiga and taiga zones there is lack in the warmth with excessive moisture; in forest steppe zone there is lack in the warmth with excessive moisture for three years out of ten years, as well as lack in the moisture against a background of heat supply for three years out of ten years [1]. Steppe zone is characterized by lack in moisture for the main agricultural crops. Table 2. Distribution of agricultural lands by agroclimatic zones of Irkutsk region, ths.ha Agroclimatic Arable Hay Pasture Deposits Perennial Agricultural zone harvest grasses lands Forest-steppe Steppificated Subtaiga-taiga 844,4 469,6 307,7 95,9 78,9 89,0 169,4 237,6 81,9 0,1 1,0 14,0 0,6 5,9 1124 786,7 485,5

Thus, the largest specific gravity of the total arable land is in forest-steppe zone - 52 %, steppificated zone - 29 % and subtaiga-taiga zone - 19 %. Spring barley by the sowing areas has the third place in the region, though the main part of its sowing provides four or five varieties. Along with heat and moisture supply, soil fertility is one of the main factors determining the yield that is why the given study deals with the assessment of the grain yield and quality of the zoned varieties of barley for different soils in Irkutsk region. Barley is widely used in the agriculture and processing industry. Sowing areas of barley vary from 60,000 to 90,000 ha per year. Such varieties as Nevan, Sobolyek, Acha, Biome and others are zoned for barley cultivation in Irkutsk region. In respect with that the main arable area is located in the forest-steppe zone, the assessment of productivity and quality of varieties depending on soil fertility has been carried out in the given zone. The forest-steppe zone is located along the Trans-Siberian Railway from Irkutsk to Tulun, and reaches the right bank of the upper flow of the river Angara. The zone is characterized by relatively favourable climatic conditions. Vegetation period is moderately warm. The annual precipitation is 310-420 mm. There is about 75% of precipitation during the vegetation of agricultural crops; however, spring and the beginning of summer are characterized by the insufficient moisture. Material and Methods The study deals with the assessment of productivity and quality of grain of the zoned varieties for different soils. The studies have been conducted for three years (2008- 2010) on the state variety

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH stations of the main crop areas of the forest-steppe zones: Kuytun (agrophone 1), Irkutsk (agrophone 2) and Bratsk (agrophone 3). Table 3. Agrochemical characteristics of soils of the studied agrophones
Agrophone Type of soil Humus, % Movable according to Kisanov P2O5 K2O high high high low medium medium Granulometric composition Medium clay loam Heavy clay loam Light clay loam

1 2 3

Grey forest Dark grey forest Calcareous

4.8 5.5 4.0

5.0 4.9 6.7

Agrophone 1 is presented by the grey-grey forest soil with humus content of 4.8-5.0 % with subacidic reaction of soil solution. According to the granulometric composition it is medium clay loam. Agrophone 2 is presented by dark-grey forest soil with humus content of 5.5 % with acidic reaction of soil solution. According to the granulometric composition it is heavy clay loam. Grey forest soils are formed under pine, pine-larch and aspen forests on the grassy quaternary sediments genetically related to jurrasic sandstones. According to O.V. Makeyev (1959) and V.A. Kuzmin (1988), these soils were formed from the sod-weakly podzolic soils under the impact of change in the taiga vegetation to the forest-steppe one. According to the humus content in the accumulative horizon in the grey forest soils type there are three types: light grey, they consist of up to 3%, grey - 3-5%, dark grey - more than 5% of humus content. The distinctive feature of grey forest soils is a well-defined granular-lumpy structure in the subsurface layer. Agrophone 3 is characterized by calcareous soil with neutral reaction of soil solution with low humus content (4%). According to the granulometric composition it is light clay loam. For this type of soil the soil-forming rocks are considered to be eluvial, diluvial quaternary loams and clays genetically connected with the carbonate ediments of the upper and lower cambrian. It should be noted that the years of the study on heat and moisture supply have been characterized as favourable. Due to this relatively high yield of barley has been obtained (Table 4). Table 4. Barley productivity and quality depending on its agrophone *
Variety Agrophone Crop capacity, centner/h 40,2 46,0 1 Mass of 1000 grains,g 39,2 47,7 Proteic substance content, % 14,2 14,5 Crop capacity, centner/h 43,2 50,1 2 Mass of 1000 grains,g 43,8 47,7 Proteic substance content,% 14,4 15,0 Crop capacity, centner/h 16,1 16,1 3 Mass of 1000 grains,g 46,1 51,2 Proteic substance content,% 12,8 13,2

Acha Biome

Footnote * average values for the period of 2008-2010 Culture productivity was largely determined by the humus content in the soil; calcareous soils have low barley yield, and it is 16 c/ha against 40-46 c/ha of the grey forest soils (Table 4). It is obvious that soils with neutral reaction of the soil solution and light granulometric composition are of little use for the studied species cultivation [2]. Discussion and Results Due to the increase in the humus content the barley productivity increases as well that correlates with the increase in the protein content. Thus, according to the variety Acha for the grey forest soils the protein content on average was 14.2 % for three years, for Biome 14.5 %. It should be noted that the protein content went up to 14.4- 15.0 % in the agrophone 2 [3]. Therefore, soil cover of Irkutsk region is characterized by the great diversity that requires a necessity of the rational choice of farming crops. The limiting factor for the crop productivity is one of the soil and climatic cultivation conditions in the region.

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References Agroclimatic resources of Irkutsk region / V.I. Gontar [and others] // edited by V.I. Gontar: Hydrometpublishing house, 1977. - 208 p. Geinak V., Efimov V.N., Osipov A.I. Role of fertilizer humus and nitrogen in barley production // Reports of RAS. - 1998. - 4. - P. 21-22. Black K.A. Plant and soil: Translation from English / edited by Rabotnova, ., Ear, 1973. 503 p.

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Problems of Regulation of Oil Content in the Soils of Siberia

A.Yu. Puzyreva, V.Yu. Grebenshchikov, .. Ablov Irkutsk state academy of Agriculture FSBI IMVL Introduction Nowadays there is no economic branch, where oil or oil derivatives would not be needed. Oil is used as a raw material to produce thousands of various products: fuels (benzenes, kerosenes, diesel, boiler fuels, etc.), hydrocarbon oils, paraffines, vaselines, oil bitumens, solvents and many others. Unlike air and water, which are able of self-cleaning, soil self-purification ability is limited, it is one of the most complex matrixes in ecological analysis. That is why with the increase of these substances concentration environmental balance in soil system is disturbed, morphological, physical-chemical and chemical characteristics of soil horizons are changed, water-physical characteristics are altered, proportion between individual fractions of organic matter, particularly between lipid and humus constituents, is disturbed, thus causing the threat of washing out from soil of oil and oil products and therefore secondary pollution of ground and surface waters. In compliance with the existing methods [1-4], water pollution by oil products is assessed by the content of hydrocarbons (aliphatic, alicyclic, aromatic), which constitute the principal and the most characteristic part of oil and oil products. According to SaNPiN 2.1.7.12-87-03 [5], oil and oil products content is included in the list of indices of soil sanitary state. The degree of soil pollution is assessed on the basis of the system of maximal acceptable concentrations (MAC), which reflect a relatively safe content of certain chemicals in the soil. Currently in Russia and Europe oil products MAC in the soil is not established. There are regionally approved oil products MAC standards for soil. For Saint-Petersburg and Moscow they constitute 180 mg/kg and 300 mg/kg respectively. In keeping with the determination methods [3], mass fraction of oil products in unpolluted soils should not exceed 100 mg/kg. Major potential sources of environmental pollution with oil and oil products are oil fields, oil pipelines, refineries, land and sea transport shipping oil products. Importance of critical practical is impact environmental pollution of environment by oil and oil products. Such pollutions usually generated by a concrete source create a significant one-time load on soil, water, biological objects, thus causing an immense damage to the natural environment. Impact pollutions represent a key object of control. The most frequent and the least controllable impact source is oil pipelines, through which crude and marketable oil is pumped, as well as various liquid oil products. Pipelines are configured as a dense grid in oil producing areas; their routes cover the whole country crossing rivers, canals, mountain ridges. Oil pipelines failures are not infrequent. Material and Method A salient example is oil spillage from trunk pipeline Krasnoyarsk-Irkutsk, which took place on 29.10.2006 resulting from a failure at the agricultural zone of the Topkoye tract in the Usoliye district of the Irkutsk region. Various institutions have been involved in the research on assessment of soil pollution degree and character for five years. Thus, in 2010 at the initiative of the CJSC Telminskoye a complex phased appraisal was conducted. Joint expert committee members collected 66 samples, including 2 background ones (Table 1). The results of the previous years (2006-2009) proved a heavy local pollution of the land plot owned by the CJSC Telminskoye at the area over 13 000 m2. With this in view, soil samples collection points for mapping were identified by a pair of geodesic signal receivers of global navigation satellite systems (GNSS): GPS (USA) and GLONASS (RF) of the Trimble R-7 GNSS. Engineering-geodesic research for complex-committee appraisal has been performed by the JSC Avtodorproekt as the appraisal committee member responsible for geodesics. In January 2011 soil samples were mechanically collected from the depth of 0-20 cm. An average sample, 7-9 kg of soil with plant remains was sent to an independent laboratory, where after drying

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH and blending the soil was ground, screened through 1mm aperture sieve and packed in hermetic 1 l jars. In March 2011 soil samples were shipped to the following certified laboratories: RSU named after Gubkin (Moscow), SibNII CBP (Bratrsk), Primary department of laboratory analysis and technical measurements CLATI for East-Siberian region (Irkutsk), FSBI Irkutsk MVL to identify oil products in the soil by gravimetric methods taking into account the pollution degree. The results of the laboratory of the RSU named after Gubkin differed significantly from those of the three other laboratories. Statistical method excluded the results from the mathematical processing. Besides, this laboratory based its research on the invalid method RD 39-01477098-015-90. Table 1 Results of soil samples analysis as per the data of certified laboratories, mg/kg of soil
Sample collection point 1 2 3 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 FSBI IMVL 2830 34200 1310 3000 11825 49800 16475 7566 920 2260 16050 75 30 50 30 30 25 60 120 40 2010 39600 17560 6300 39200 50000 31480 90 30 40 1580 8400 720 7830 19000 2420 1560 9500 1460 FSBI CLATI 3471 30913 2097 3374 12140 42283 14722 4894 668 2217 19494 138 19 58 22,6 105,6 166,3 26,7 29,4 66,4 25816 29301 18254 4795 48885 41357 28587 105 19 36,6 665,8 9500 387,2 25108 15321 1033 3059 4107 1093 SibNIICBP 3520 35000 1640 4570 18530 47080 19100 9990 510 6140 12360 130 130 40 20 20 20 40 70 30 1060 8490 12350 3530 20810 20730 20220 30 30 30 180 6650 180 4380 5220 770 1010 1220 360 average 3273,67 33371 1682,33 3648 14165 46387,7 16765,7 7483,33 699,333 3539 15968 114,333 59,6667 49,3333 24,2 51,8667 70,4333 42,2333 73,1333 45,4667 9628,67 25797 16054,7 4875 36298,3 37362,3 26762,3 75 26,3333 35,5333 808,6 8183,33 429,067 12439,3 13180,3 1407,67 1876,33 4942,33 971

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Table 1. Continue
Sample collection point 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 average arithmetic mean of the results of the three laboratories 63 64 average arithmetic mean for background samples average arithmetic mean for the points with oil products content exceeding the background value 30 19 24,5 24,3 19 21,7 19 19 19 FSBI IMVL 1460 3700 37800 12420 7820 2240 2350 9400 1340 24460 120 2760 217800 8200 87500 100 70 100 275 160 25 19 45 75 19 FSBI CLATI 445 1846 29792 9088 10234 1709 13733 9303 877 18162 83,8 2949 170649 13678 61717 140 19 24 116,7 161 24,5 19 122,3 90,1 30 SibNIICBP 290 3290 7980 5380 4500 1360 3790 2520 410 12780 60 1740 122760 4410 45360 60 40 40 60 80 50 20 110 20 20 average 731,667 2945,33 25190,7 8962,67 7518 1769,67 6624,33 7074,33 875,667 18467,3 87,9333 2483 170403 8762,67 64859 100 43 54,6667 150,567 133,667 33,1667 19,3333 92,4333 61,7 23 10564,6 24,4333 19 21,7

14917

13688

8628

Analysis of Table 1 demonstrates that the arithmetic mean of oil products content in soil samples according to the results of 3 laboratories constitutes 10564.6 mg/kg. Average oil products content in the background sample is 21, 7 mg/kg. Sample collection points 12,14,15,16,27,54,55,58,59,61,62 were accepted as polluted ones, as oil products content in them is at the level of background taking into account the methodic error. Although the laboratory data are different. In this connection average arithmetic mean of oil products content on the polluted area became respectively higher and amounted to 14917 mg/kg (FSBI Irkutsk MVL), 13688 mg/kg Primary department of laboratory analysis and technical measurements CLATI for East-Siberian region (Irkutsk), and 8628 mg/kg (SibNII CBP (Bratsk). As stated above, MAC and AAC for oil products (with the exception of benzene) in the soils have not been established; nor are they developed at the regional level, that is why pollution assessment in keeping with the legislation is conducted in different ways.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Results and Discussion According to the experts of FSBI Irkutsk MVL and Primary department of laboratory analysis and technical measurements CLATI for East-Siberian region, in compliance with SanPin (Sanitary Regulations and Norms) 2.1.7.1287-03 Sanitary-epidemiological requirements to soil quality [5], the sites, which demonstrate significant excess of background values, are considered polluted. However, the expert from RSU named after Gubkin finds it necessary to reclaim the soils with hydrocarbon content over 6 % (60 000 mg/kg) referring to the departmental normative document RD 39-00147105-006-97 Instruction for reclamation of soils disturbed and polluted in the course of emergency and major overhaul of trunk pipelines [7]. Soils with hydrocarbons content below 6 % are reclaimed through stimulated processes of self-purification. Soils with hydrocarbons below 1 % are reclaimed through natural processes of self-purification (soil aeration, bio-destruction). This is 10 000 mg/kg of soil, which is a lot if the background content of 21.7 mg/kg of soil is considered. Besides, Guidelines for identification of degraded and polluted soils [8] class soil pollution as very high with oil products content over 5000 mg/kg. Since there is no approved standard for hydrocarbon content in soils to determine pollution by oil and oil products in the territory of the RF and Siberian region it is difficult to determine the degree of soil pollution. Absence of oil products MAC in soil does not allow to give a clear-cut legal evaluation and estimate the damage caused through unlawful activity of the third parties on the lands [9]. References 1. PND F 16.1.41-04 Guidelines for gravimetrical measurement of oil products concentration in soil samples, ., 2004. 2. PND F 16.1:2.2.22-98 Guidelines for measurement of oil products mass fraction in mineral, organogenic, organo-mineral soils and bottom sediments by IR-spectrometry, 1998. 3. PND F 16.1:2.21-98 Guidelines for measurement of oil products mass fraction in soil samples by fluorimetric method on the liquid analyzer Fluorate-02, . 2007. 4. RD 52.18.575-96 Determination of overall oil products content in soil samples by IRspectrometry, 1996. 5. Sanitary-epidemiologic requirements to soil quality. SanPiN 2.1.7.1287-03", approved by the 6. Chief state sanitary superintendant of the Russian Federation dated April 16 2003, as of June 15, 2003. 7. RD 39-0147098-015-90 Instruction for control over soil state on the objects of MinNefteprom enterprises. - ., 1990. 8. RD 39-00147105-006-97 Instruction for reclamation of soils disturbed and polluted in the course of emergency and major overhaul of trunk pipelines, approved from July 1, 1997. 9. Guidelines for identification of degraded and polluted soils" dated March 27, 1995 N 3-15/582 Guidelines for estimation of damage caused to soils as an object of environmental protection (approved by the Order of the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia dated July 8, 2010 238)

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH

Effect of Sewage Sludge Application on Some Chemical Properties of Soil, Growth and Mineral Composition of Corn
Hamid .H. R. AL-JOUBORY
College of agriculture / university of Baghdad Corresponding author: dr.hamid_1954@yahoo.com

Abstract

Pots used in the experiment with mixture of clay alluvial soil from the Abu Ghraib / Faculty of Agriculture Baghdad. The effect of the use of different rates (zero, 15 and 30, 60, (120 tons / ha of sludge resulting from the heavy-water treatment plant in Rustumiya / Baghdad in the growth of plant maize (zea mays L.) and the absorption of some nutrients and heavy. Put the soil in Plastic pots of (6) kg capacity and a rate of (4) kg soil and placed in the wire canopy after adding sludge under natural conditions and the design of factorial experiments are designed full of random with three replicates and the results showed the following: an increase in the accumulation of dry matter per plant increased the rate of used sludge The impact of treatments (60 and 120) tons of sludge / ha are the best treatments as compared to other treatments. The results also suggest an increase in the moral content of the leaves of nitrogen and magnesium added to increase the rate of sludge material and the effect of added rate (60 and (120 tons of sludge / ha are the best, as has been noted little effect of these transactions in the content of the plant from each of phosphorus and potassium , sodium, iron, manganese, cadmium, and results showed also that there is a slight increase from each of the zinc, copper and lead content in the plant under study. Keywords: sewage sludge, organic fertilizers, corn.

Introduction The addition of sewage to agricultural soils for the purpose of oncreasing their fertility and productivity is considered as one of the old applications in Agriculture (Tisdal and others 1985) and the interest in the use of solid products resulting from wastewater treatment or what is known as Sludge (Sewage Sludge) has recently been increased in agriculture, where the form of quantities of sludge used in this area accounted for 37% and 44% of the quantities resulting in the European Union EU and the United Kingdom, respectively (1996, smith), explained each of the Fred (1975) and Kiekens and others (1984) and Perdro (1996) have explained the prevalence of the use of sludge in agriculture due to the positive impact caused by this substance in the soil by enrich the organic matter and many of the macro and micro nutrients, but the sludge also contains and nutrients in addition to simple heavy metals that accumulate in the soil, especially under the long term use of that matter and their effects on the food chain (Fares et al, 1998, Hernandes and others 1984, Adams and sander, 1992 and Kabatu, (1991. And between Simon and Szentek (2000) the installation of sludge varies depending on many factors, but in general we can say that 1 ton of dry sludge contains an average of 60 -- 32 kg of nitrogen and phosphorus 37-7 kg and 10-2 kg potassium in addition to varying amounts of other elements , And believed that 48-28% of the total sludge content of nitrogen is beneficial to the plant immediately after mixing the sludge with the soil (nitrogen metal) may require many years later it will break the entire content of the sludge from nitrogen, depending on the microbial activity in the soil which in turn, the environmental conditions prevailing exchange, we find that most part of the potassium and phosphorus are enshrined in the sludge are useful for the plant in the first year of the application. Sabey and Hart (1975) found that the addition of sludge to the soil have increased the productivity of wheat, has achieved rates ranging between 20 -50 tons dry matter / ha as the best treatment of productivity. The Henandes and others (1991) have found that the addition of sludge increased soil content of each of total nitrogen, phosphorus that may be useful while the potassium level remained viable and the use of sludge has led to a clear increase in the growth of the maize crop and production, but this use was corresponded to sharp increase in the content of the plant from the studied elements (Zn, Cu, and Fe). And due to the low potassium content of the sludge Miah and others (1999) believe that the addition of potassium fertilizer with sludge improves plant growth and increase productivity, but long-term use requires the addition of potassium fertilizer in addition to other mineral fertilizers as well. On the other hand Smilde (1981) found in his studies of the accumulation of heavy metals (Cd and Ni and Cu and Zn) and toxic effects resulting in a number of
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH growing crops in soil treated sludge containing varying levels of heavy metals that can be placed in the following order of heavy metals studied in terms of their toxic impact in the tested plants of (Zn Cu> Ni> Cd>). Adams and Sander ((1984 see that the vulnerability of heavy metals added with the sludge of uptake by the plant mainly associated with the interaction of soil (PH), therefore, they recommended that the PH of soil that the sludge will be added to is higher than (6.5) As Moreno and others ((1997 has been found FBI experiment on lettuce leaf, the addition of sludge containing different levels of heavy metals (Cd and Ni and Cu and Zn) to the calcareous soil had been accompanied by a reduction in the interaction (PH) of soil and improve the nutrition of both components of nitrogen and phosphorus But the production was affected negatively with a high level of heavy metals in sludge used. The aim of the research to study the impact of the use levels of plant sludge resulting from the heavy-water treatment plant in Rustumiya / Baghdad in the growth of maize plant expressed in producing dry matter on the one hand and the content of this plant of some nutrients and heavy on the other. Materials and methods An experiment was conducted in the wired canopy / Faculty of Agriculture - University of Baghdad to study the effect of sludge (sewage) plant in the growth of maize (Research 106), the absorption of some mineral elements in the plastic pot, which placed the soil by 2 kg / pot after air drying and sieving them, table (1) shows some of the physical and chemical characteristics of the soil used in the experiment. The application of sludge treatment produced from the plant of heavy water in the Rustamiya/ Baghdad, which is shown in table (2) some of the attributes after drying under the degree of (105 m) then grinded and well mixed with the soil of each pot individually in the following levels (zero, 15 and 30, 60, 120) t / ha, so the number of rates used in this research five transactions to add a sixth treatment included the use of mineral fertilizer consisting of urea (200 kg N / ha) and Sbor triple phosphate (180 kg P5 02 / ha) and in order to compare the coefficients of sludge and the impact of mineral fertilizer treatment, and by three Repeaters and using the full design and test the oven Altaicp Yellow moral comparison between averages and the level (5%). Ovb a later step been watered pots equal amounts of water in order to ensure an appropriate level of moisture helps to begin analyzing the sludge. After ten days of pills pots planted maize Zea mays L. Category (Research 106) rate of ten seeds / pot and after germination has been the integration of gel so kept on five Plants in each pot that was equal amounts of irrigation water from the tap, and whenever the need for all transactions and after forty-five days from the date of Agriculture was cut plants at the soil surface and placed in paper bags and dried in preparation for laboratory analysis were estimated wet weight of plant samples and the samples dried in the oven at a temperature (70 C) The dry weight and then milled and kept in containers suitable for analysis laboratory where they were required to rate each of phosphorus and potassium, sodium, nitrogen and some heavy metals in plants and laboratory methods are common. Table (1) shows some physical and chemical characteristics of soil used in the study
ECe dS/ m 2.5 CEC Cmol / kg 22.2 Ph 7.9 O.M % 0.9 concentration of some ions dissolved mmo / L Cl SO4 Mg Ca k HCO3 3.2 % lime 22.5 10.2 10.5 5.6 8.1

Na size distribution of minutes (g / kg) Clay silt sand 242 198 560

1.5 10.5

Table (2) sum of chemical component of sludge

C gm/100gm 29.1 N gm/100g 3.9 P gm/100gm 0.7 Zn gm/100gm 1125.0 Cu mg/kg 160.0 Pb mg/kg 110.5 Ni mg/kg 55.2 Cr mg/kg 21.5 Cd mg/kg 5.9

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Results and Discussion The effect of various transactions in the growth of plants: shown in table (3) that there is a clear increase in the amount of production of all of the dry and wet for the maize crop to increase the rate used in the sludge and moral treatment compared to the comparison with the treatment given added 120 tons / e of the sludge the best production of both dry and wet material to yield a percentage Increase of 14 and 31% respectively, these findings are consistent with the findings of each of the simon and szentek (2000) and Hernandes and others (1991) when studying the impact of the use of sludge in the productivity of crops of maize and barley, with the increase of sludge rate used is also increasing quantities available for Plant nutrients, especially nitrogen and phosphorus, which is reflected in a positive plant growth, and the other hand, the results show a clear advantage for the two deals 60 to 120 tons of sludge / e on the treatment of fertilization Metal as well. The impact of transactions added to the sludge in the content of some plant nutrients shows us the table (4) that there was a significant increase in the total content of the maize plant of nitrogen using 60 and 120 tons of sludge / e, while in both the 15 and 30 t / ha were not there increase of the metal element in the plant as observed in comparison with the influence of mineral fertilizer, the addition of sludge at 120 t / e have achieved an increase in plant content of nitrogen and this is expected Azaalmna that 48-28% of the total sludge content of nitrogen is applicable to the benefit of the plant after mixing sludge with the soil (1975, sabey and Hart and 1998, Car tron and weil and Wen and others 1995). With regard to the element phosphorus above table shows an increase in the content of the shoots of the plant slightly with increasing the user from the sludge, but this increase were not commensurate with the level of the user from sludge and compared with the treatment of mineral fertilization results show no significant differences between this transaction and transactions that have been used the sludge due to the phenomenon of transformation of phosphorus and install the forms for the benefit of viable plant it into forms and images is not ready for plants, because of the high PH value of soil as well as a high content of carbon (Mangel and Kirkby, 1978 and 1995, Marschner). Show Alentiaj shown in table (4) With regard to the content of the vegetative part of the plant from a lack of potassium Totthir The transactions used in this research and not be due to relatively poor sludge component of potassium compared with other nutrients, especially nitrogen and phosphorus (Henands and others, 1991) As for the content of the shoots of calcium transpired Alentiaij no little influence in the content of the plant considered in this element because of the richness of soil that was originally used in calcium and sodium is also an element. With regard to the element magnesium point out results in table (4) an increase in the content of the plant as a result of this component is added to the sludge compared to the comparison treatment (without addition) can be attributed to the phenomenon of Antagonisme antagonism between calcium and magnesium (Marschner, 1995). Table (3) shows the influence of different parameters of the production of dry matter for maize crop (g/ pot)
Dry matter Fresh matter g/pot production treatment ton/ha

13.20 13.50 13.90 14.70 15.10 14.00 0.70

44.90 49.98 51.00 52.50 59.10 53.00 6.14

zero 15 30 60 120 Mineral fertilizer L.S.D 0.05

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Table (4) shows the influence of different parameters of sludge on the content of corn leaves of some nutrients (%)
Nutrient gm dry mater/100gm Na 0.07 0.09 0.06 0.10 0.9 0.7 0.4 Mg 0.24 0.25 0.29 0.31 0.33 0.35 0.07 Ca 0.30 0.27 0.33 0.27 0.26 0.33 0.10 K 3.36 3.30 3.17 3.56 3.13 3.64 0.48 P 0.40 0.55 0.43 0.47 0.48 0.44 0.12 N 2.4 8 2.4 1 2.5 4 0.3 2 3.6 6 3.6 0 0.4 3 treatment ton/ha zero 15 30 60 120 Mineral fertilizer L.S.D 0.05

The impact of various transactions in the content of the plant from heavy elements are shown in table (5) concentrations of some heavy metals in plants and what the concentration of iron in the plant is clear that there was no clear impact of the transactions used in the concentration of this element in growing plants under study and this is due to the small quantities available from the iron plant in the circumstances of the soil with high amounts of total and the PH Alcarbonat Leaning towards the base. As for the element manganese is observed from the results of the table above fall in the content of the shoots of the plant laboratory of this component under the influence of the use of sludge may be attributed to install Section is not a fair amount of manganese containerizing matter sludge added in the soil due to the high PH Soil, leading to reduction in the amounts available from this component of uptake by the plants and this is confirmed by the Wild and others (1988). For a copper results turned out to a significant increase, but not in the moral content of the shoots of plants of this component with increasing sludge rate used the rate of 120 tons / h may be due because of this tendency to a copper bound to organic matter component of complexes with this material present in the soil (Moreno and others 1997 and Berti and Jacobs, 1996) It should be noted here that the concentration of copper in the plant did not exceed the natural limits of this element in the plant in any of the transactions used in this research. As regards the element zinc emerges from the results recorded in Table (5) Artva moral level (P0.05) in the content of the shoots of plants of this component is to increase the rate of sludge but the concentration of zinc in plant remained within normal limits even when using 120 tonnes / e of the sludge. As for the element lead, the results obtained Maatarig an increase in the content of the shoots of this component with the increase in the rate used sludge has reached this increase to the highest values for them when you use the average 60 tons / ha, but the content of the plants of this race, regardless of transactions used in this research also remained within normal limits for the concentration of this element in plants. With regard to the element cadmium results indicate that there was no clear impact of the transactions used in this research in the composition of the content of the shoots of plants of this component, only observed a slight decrease in concentration of this element in the plant from the use of coefficients of 60, 120, t / e, probably because of Link cadmium with organic matter, which reflected negatively on the plant made available to this element as copper tends to form stable complexes with organic matter (Ross 1994 and Moreno and others 1997). As noted from the results of this study that the content of the plant from this race, other than the content of other heavy metals studied were generally Slightly higher than the normal limits for the

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH concentration of this element in a plant treating me so to compare and fertilization may be due to mineral rich soil already used this element. Table(5) shows the influence of different parameters of sludge on the content of corn leaf of heavy metal
mg/kg dry mater Cd 3.1 2.2 2.9 1.1 1.8 2.2 1.42 Pb 3.5 4.9 5.0 8.2 7.1 5.3 5.16 Zn 50.0 48.2 62.1 64.8 81.5 50.0 22.50 Cu 16.2 15.1 19.2 19.3 19.7 21.4 8.32 Mn 118.1 109.2 118.0 90.0 85.4 116.4 29.21 Fe 122.2 128.3 132.7 135.9 131.8 127.9 41.10 heavy metal treatment o 15 30 60 120 mineral fertilizer L.S.D 0.05

References Abdel Sabour m.F.A (1997).fate of heavy metals in sewage sludge amended sandy soil, Egypt.j.soil sci. 37:125-140 Adams m.T.and Sander j.I.R.(1992). The effect of PHon the release to solution of Zinc,Coper,and Nickel from metal-loaded sewage sludge. Environmental pollution 0.8:85-99. Alloway B.J.(ed.)(1984).Heavy metals in soils.2nd edition. Black-Academia professional,London. Berit W.R. and Jacobs L.W,(1996).Chemistry and phytotoxicity of soil trace elements from repeated swage sludge application .j.Environ .Qual.25:1025-1032. Carton J.M and Weil R.R.(1998) Seasonal trends in soil nitrogen from injected or surfaceincorporation swage sludge applied to corn.Cummum.soil Sci.Plant Anal.29:121-139. Fred C.B.(1975).Municipal sewage sludge and selected element applications to soil:Effect on soil and fescue.j.Environ.Qual.4:267-272. Hernandes T.Moreno j.I and Costa F.(1991). Inflence of sewage sludge application on crop yields and heavy metal availability.Soil Sci. and plant nutr.37:201-210.e Kahn M. and Scullion j.(1999).Microbial activity in grass land soil amended with sewage siudge con taining varying rates and combinations of Cu, Ni and Zn. Bio Fertil Soils.30:202209. Kiekens A., Cottenie A. and landschoot G.V.(1984).Chemical activity and biological effect of sludge-borne heavy metals and inorganic metal salts added to soils. Plant and soils. 19:89-99. Kothari S.K., Marschner H. and Romheld V.(1991). Contribution of VA. Mycorrhiz hypha in Ecsquestion of phosphorus and Zinc by Maize grown in calcareous soil.Plant and soil. 131:177185. Marschner H.(1995).Mineral Nitration of Higher plants.second Academe prees. Lodon. Mengel K. and Kirk by E.A.(1978).principles of Plant nutrition. International potash Institute. Worblaufen-Bern/Switerland. Miaha y.m., Chih y.C.,Hiroacki H. and Chion M.(1999).Barley Growth in response to Potassium.fertilization of soil with long term application of sewage sludge.soil Sci. and plant Nutr.,45:495-504. Moreno L.j., Carlos Hernandes G.T. and Ayuso M.(1997).Application of composted sewage sludges contaminated with heavy metals to an Agricultural soil.sci. and plant nutr.,43:565-573 Murphy J.Q. and Rieley J.p. (1962).Amodified single solution method for determination of phosphate in natural water. Analytic chimica Acta 27:31-36. Roos S.M.(ed) (1994).Toxic metals in soil-plant systems John Wiely and son.New York.
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Simon L. and Szentek k.(2000).Szeniziszap Komposzt hatasa A kukorica nitrogen-tartamara, nehany elettani Jellemzojere es hozamara.Agrokemia es Talajtan 49:231-246. Sabey B.R,and Hart W.E.(1975). Land application of swage sleudge:i.Effect on growth and chemical composition of plants.J.Envieron.Qual.,vol.4, no2:252-256. Smilde K.W.(1981). Heavy-metal accumulation in crops grown on sewage sludge amended with metal salts. Plant and soil 62:3-14. Smith R.S.(1996).Agricultural Recycling of sewage sludge the envirment. CAB international, Wallingford Oxon,UK, Wen G., Bates T.E. and voronry R.P.(1995).Evaluation of Nitrogen availability in irradiated sewage sludge, compost and manure compost.J.Environ. Qual.24:527-534. Wild a and Jones L.H.P.(1988). Mineral nutrition of crop plant, in Russells soil condition and plant growth, wild , A.(ed), Longman sci.Techn.publ.Harlo,Essex.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH

The Effect of Salt Stress on Flower Yield and Growth Parameters of Saffron (Crocus Sativus L.) In Greenhouse Condition
Mehrnoush Eskandari Torbaghan
Ferdowsi University of Mashhad & Soil and Water Expert of Northern Khorasan of Agricultural and Natural Resource Research Center Crocus sativus L. has been cultivated since ancient times as the source of saffron, a substance renowned for its medicinal and flavoring properties. Iran nearly produces 80% of worlds annual saffron production. On the other hand Iran has many arid and semi arid regions with low to moderate salinity. So its important to investigate how saffron response to salinity. To study the effect of salinity stress on flowering stage of saffron (Crocus sativus L.), an experiment was performed in the greenhouse of Northern Khorasan Agricultural and Natural Resource Research Center (NKANRRC) in 2010. The experimental treatments included: salinity at six levels S0=0, S1=20, S2=50, S3=70, S4=100 and S5=120 mM sodium chloride. The results of first year showed that number of days to emergence was min in 50 mM NaCL. Increasing salinity levels decreased plant height, No. of days to flower. Fresh weight of flower increased with increasing salinity levels to 100 mM and the threshold salinity level for stigma fresh weight was 50mM. Results also showed that salinity imposed a significant effect on different growth parameters of saffron at high levels characteristics, but, it had a nutritional effect at 50 mM of NaCl. The best growth parameter and stigma yield was found with 50 mM of NaCl. Keywords: Saffron, Salinity stress, flower yield and growth parameters

Abstract

Introduction Water scarcity and soil salinity are two important factors limitations for agricultural production in arid and semi-arid regions like Iran. Salinity and water stress reduce root water uptake. In irrigated soils particularly in arid and semi-arid regions, plants are subjected to both salinity and water stress in different intensities. Renewable, high quality water resources in these areas are limited. The main water source for saffron irrigation is groundwater which suffers increasing salinity and, because of limited water resources, more effective use is emphasized. Therefore, saline water may be used for saffron production (Sepaskhah and Yarami, 2010). The effects of salinity and water stress on saffron yield have been reported by Sepaskhah and Yarami (2009) and Sepaskhah and Kamgar-Haghighi (2009). In these conditions, during an irrigation interval, evapotranspiration depletes the soil water content and consequently the matric potential and osmotic head of the soil solution are reduced and these factors reduce root water uptake. Crocus sativus L. corms were grown in perlite and watered by half-strength modified Hoagland nutrient solution containing 0, 50, 100, 150, 200 mM NaCl (Rajaei et al., 2009). Growth parameters and contents of proteins, proline, polyphenols, minerals and saccharides were studied in fibrous roots, contractile roots, corms and leaves. All plants remained alive and did not display any sign of foliar damage even at 200 mM NaCl. However, the salinity decreased growth, relative water content and increased contents of proline and Na+ in all organs (Rajaei et al., 2009). Another study was done to determine the interaction effects of salinity with 0.5, 1.7, 2.9, and 4.0 dS m-1 electrical conductivity and irrigation regime (2, 4, 6, and 8 day) on flower yield and growth of saffron in a pot experiment under a transparent shelter (Sepaskhah and Yarami, 2009). The results indicated that saffron flower and corm yields were the most and the least sensitive to soil water depletion, respectively. Furthermore, they concluded that corm and root growth were inhibited at field-capacity soil water content and that deficit irrigation was necessary for optimum growth. Dry weight reductions per unit increase in the salinity of the drainage water were 14.2, 10.8, 9.1, and 2.9% for saffron flowers, corms, roots, and leaves, respectively. Threshold values for the EC of the drainage water ranged between 0.08 and 0.67 dS m-1 for flowers and roots, respectively. Also, dry weight reductions per unit increase in salinity of the irrigation water for saffron flowers, corms, roots, and leaves were 28.3, 25.0, 21.1, and 7.0%, respectively. The threshold EC values of the irrigation water ranged between 0.13 and 0.48 dS m-1 for flowers and roots, respectively. When saline water was used to irrigate saffron, the irrigation interval needed to be more frequent (2-d intervals) to avoid severe water stress (Sepaskhah and Yarami, 2009).

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH In order to investigate the effect of salinity stress (0, 30, 60 and 90 mM NaCl) and amount of potassium (50, 100 and 150 % of Hoagland solution base) on root and shoot biomass accumulation of saffron, a greenhouse study was carried out in 2008-2009 (Sabet Teimouri et al., 2010). Results indicated that salinity imposed a significant effect on different growth characteristics; leaf dry weight, number of leaf, root dry weight, root volume, root density and physiological characteristics of saffron and potassium significantly controlled the negative effects of NaCl on length and number of roots as well as fresh weight and number of leaves per plant. Potassium and NaCl interactions were also significant. At different levels of NaCl adding K to the root medium caused an increasing in root numbers per plant. But this trend was observed up to 60 mM of NaCl and at 90 mM NaCl, potassium showed no modifying effects. Relative water content and electrolyte leakage were drastically decreased by increasing NaCl salinity. There was a reduction at 90 mM compared to the control respectively. The best growth parameter and root to shoot ratio was found with 30 mM of NaCl (Sabet Teimouri et al., 2010). This study was conducted to evaluate flower yield and some growth parameters of saffron (Crocus sativus L.) in response to salt stress and we determined the effects of salinity stress on saffron tolerance threshold. Also, there is little publicly available information about the trend of salinity tolerance threshold and flower yield of saffron with time. So, we intend to find it. Materials and Methods In order to study the effect of salinity stress on saffron (Crocus sativus L.), an experiment as RCBD (Randomize Complete Block Design) in three replications was performed in the greenhouse at Northern Khorasan Agricultural and Natural Resource Research Center in 2010. The experimental treatments concluded: salinity at six levels S0=0, S1=20, S2=50, S3=70, S4=100 and S5=120 mM sodium chloride. The 18 pots, with 25 and 20 cm diameter and height respectively were prepared for cultivation of saffron corms. For filling pots of soil with the desired soil, sampling operation was carried out and then they were analyzed in soil and water laboratory of NKANRRC. To improve the desired soil texture, the ratio of 1:1:2 of soil, animal manure (cow) and sand were mixed (Amended soil characteristics for cultivation has been expressed in Table 1). The base of each pot was covered with wire netting for better drainage. All of the pots were filled with the amendment soil at the same amount (about 3 kg). Then all pots were irrigated. The soil pots were reached to the field capacity limit 48 hours later; two young saffron corms were planted in each pot. Finally, each pot was uniformly irrigated with water treatments (0, 20, 50, 70, 100 and 120 mM sodium chloride). Saline solution (Treatments) was made by laboratory NaCl. Pots were irrigated with net water requirement of saffron (Saffron maximum water requirement is in March and April of about 15 to 20 litters per m2 per irrigation period) (Saffron Manual for Afghanistan, 2007). All agricultural operations such as weeds removal, irrigation with salt water, were done until the end of growth period (about 3 months). Date to germinate and seedling emergence in each pot was recorded. Pots were kept in controlled greenhouse conditions (maximum and minimum average greenhouse temperatures were 41.9 and 10.7 C and average relative humidity about 60%) until the end of growth period. Some parameters of saffron were measured and recorded during experiment time. At the end of physiological growth stage (flowering stage) in the first year of the experiment, plants were harvested from the soil surface in each pot and fresh weight of flower and stigma were separately measured. Each of them was separately dried for 48 hours in the oven at 72C and then their weight was recorded. The data were analyzed with statistical software (MSTAT-C) and mean data were compared by Duncan Multiple Test Range in 0.05 confidence level.
parameter Unit amount

Table 1. Agricultural soil characteristics after improvement

Texture Sandy loam Sand 56 Silt (%) 32 Clay 12 pH EC dS/m 5.22 SP 7.55 36.06

Lime

Organic matter (%) 3.63

N 0.186

P ppm 110.30

K ppm 1320

36.25

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Results The results of experiment showed that maximum No. of days to germinate was observed with no significant difference in S4, S5 and S1 with 32.4,32.4 and 27 percent with each other but significant increase compared to the control (Table 2). The two remained treatments (S3 and S2) had significant difference with each other and control. Compared of them with control (S0) showed 10.9% increase and 29.7% decrease respectively (Table 2). Minimum No. of days to emergence was showed in S2 with 30.3% reduction compared to control (Fig. 1). S5 and S1 had maximum No. of days to emergence with no significant difference with each other (30.3% and 23.3% increase) (Fig. 1). Other treatments did not show any significant difference with each other and control (Fig. 1). There was no significant difference between treatments or salinity levels in plant height parameter except of S1 level. This treatment showed 44.1% increase compare to control (Table 2). Table 2: Effect of different salinity levels on yield and some growth parameters of saffron No. of days to flower decreased with increasing salinity levels. No. of days to flower was maximum in S0 (control) and the other treatments had significant difference with it (Fig. 2). Maximum reduction was observed in S5 and S4 with 48.9% and 47.6 % decrease respectively and no significant difference with each other (Fig. 2). S3, S1 and S2 levels showed 39.4%, 23.8% and 22.4% decreases compare to control respectively. The No. of plants per pot at the end of growth time did not show any significant difference in all salinity levels (Table 2). Table 2: Effect of different salinity levels on yield and some growth parameters of saffron The No. of Dry Weight Dry Weight No. of days to Plant Height No. of Treat. Plants per of Flower of Stigma Germinate (cm) Tiller Pot (mg) (mg) S0 S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 P value 12.33 c 15.67 a 8.667 d 13.67 b 16.33 a 16.33 a 0.0000 5.967 b 8.600 a 5.600 b 5.867 b 5.833 b 6.067 b 0.0000 2.000 a 1.667 a 2.000 a 2.000 a 2.000 a 1.667 a 6.667 a 3.333 c 4.000 bc 4.667 b 3.333 c 3.000 c 0.0006 32.67 b 59.33 a 60.00 a 31.00 b 60.33 a 25.67 c 0.0000 4.333 b 6.667 a 7.667 a 3.333 b 7.667 a 4.333 b 0.0000

S0=0, S1=20, S2=50, S3=70, S4=100 and S5=120 mM sodium chloride Different letters in each column is indicated significant difference at 5% level.
22 No. of day to emergence 20 18 16 14 12 10 S0 S1 S2 S3 Salinity Treatments S4 S5

a a b c ab ab

Fig 1.The Effect of different salinity levels on No. of days to emergence

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH
55 No. of day to flowering 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 S0 S1 S2 S3 Salinity Treatments S4 S5

b c

Fig 2. Effect of different salinity levels on No. of days to flower Maximum No. of tiller was observed in control (S0) and the other treatments had significant reduction compare to it. Minimum decrease was observed in S3 and S2 with 29.9% and 40% respectively compared to control (Table 2). The other treatments did not show any significant difference with each other. Fresh weight of flower (stigma +stamens +corolla) in all treatments had significant difference with each other and belonged to separate statistical groups (Fig. 3). Maximum of it was observed in S1, S2, S4 and S3 with 78.6%, 61.2%, 45.4% and 8.6% increases compare to S0 respectively (Fig. 3). Only S5 treatment had significant decrease (23.2 %) compared to control.
500 Wet Weight of flower (mg) 450 400 350 300 250 200 150 S0 S1 S2 S3 Salinity Treatments S4 S5

a b c d f

Fig 3. Effect of different salinity levels on fresh weight of flower Maximum fresh weight of stigma (Fig. 4) was observed in S2, S1 and S4 with 127.4%, 109.6% and 76.7% significant increases than to control respectively (Fig. 4). Two remained treatments (S3 and S5) had not any significant difference with each other and control (Fig 4).

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH
60 Wet Weight of stigma(mg) 55 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 S0 S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 Salinity Treatments

a c

Fig 4. Effect of different salinity levels on fresh weight of stigma Maximum dry weight of flower was observed in S4, S2 and S1 with 84.6%, 83.6% and 81.6% increase compare to control respectively (Table 2). Maximum significant reduction was observed in S5 (21.4 % decrease). Maximum dry weight of stigma was also observed in S2, S4 and S1 with 76.9%, 76.9% and 53.8% increase compare to control respectively and no significant difference. Two treatments (S5 and S3) did not show any significant difference with each other and control.
480 440 400 360 320 280 240 200 0 20 40 60 80 Salinity Concentrations (mMol) 100 120 y = -0.7984x + 382.24 R = -0.358

Fig 5. Correlation between salinity levels and fresh weight of flower (mg)
60 Fresh Weight of Stigma (mg) 55 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 0 20 40 60 80 Salinity Concentration (mMol) 100 120 y = -0.0045x + 0.4884x + 32.051 R = 0.514
2

Fig 6. Correlation between salinity levels and fresh weight of stigma (mg)

Fresh Weight of Flower (mg)

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Correlation between salinity levels and fresh weight of flower (Fig. 5) and fresh weight of stigma (Fig. 6) showed that there was negative correlation. So, with rising salinity levels, fresh weight of flower and stigma decreased. Correlation between salinity levels with fresh weight of flower was lower than the other correlation and regression coefficient was about 0.358. Regression coefficient for fresh weight of stigma was about 0.514. Discussion Saffron is a triploid plant, thus its attractive purple-violet flowers cannot produce any seed. The plant propagation is possible only via corms. Any improvement in crops quality and quantity must emerge from the corm quality. Even though resistance to certain undesirable environmental stress can be achieved by gene transfer, understanding the role of nutritional factors as well as studying their effect on the metabolic and enzymatic properties of the corm might lead to desired flowering quality as well as quantity in this post-genomic era (Keyhani et al., 2004). High salinity levels (70, 100 and 120 mM) and the lowest salinity level (20 mM) caused a delay in corms germination. The 50 mM salinity level decreased the No. of days to germinate. Indeed, 50 mM salinity level had a nutritional effect on saffron germination. Chloride (Cl-) is the one of essential nutrients for plant and its lack strongly prevented longitudinal growth of root (Khold Barin and Eslam Zade, 2005). Chloride is also responsible for the emergence of oxygen in the photosystem II (Salardini and Mojtahedi, 1988). Comparison between the need of chloride for growth and the amount of it can be provided by various resources, revealing that under field condition, chloride deficiency rarely occurs. When high amount of chloride exist in root zone, it has non-specific effects on metabolism such as competition with nitrate in plant uptake, balance of cations anions regulation and metabolisms of organic acids (Khold Barin and Eslam Zade, 2005). Chloride is the one of the active osmotic materials in cell vacuoles and when external osmotic pressure solutions increases than osmotic pressure of plant cells, a disorder osmotic regulation by plant cells accrues and high levels of sodium and chloride have a direct toxic effects on membrane and enzymatic systems (Kafi and Mahdavi Damghani, 2000). The trend for No. of days to emergence was similar to date to germinate. So, the average salinity level (such as 50 mM) decreased No. of days to emergence. Salt exists in water as ions. Up to a certain amount of the ions can be helpful to plants. During absorption and transpiration of water, plants obtain some of the ions they need to survive and grow. Chloride helps plants to metabolize and sodium is involved in the regeneration of phospho enol pyruvate in CAM and C4 plants such as saffron. It can also substitute for potassium in some circumstances (Norman and Hopkins, 2009). With salinity increase plant height decreased except of 20 mM` salinity level. In this treatment plant height was significantly higher than the other treatments and control. Soil salinity reduced plant height and stem diameter of safflower but it accelerated flowering and maturity (Zeinali, 1999). Our results also showed that with increasing salinity the No. of days to flower decreased (Fig. 2). Accelerate flowering was a mechanism of escape from stress condition or adaptation to salinity stress in the most plant such as saffron. Osmotic problem in plants also occurs under drought stress conditions and salinity stress is called a type of physiological drought since 100 years ago (Kafi and Mahdavi Damghani, 2000). The genetically, drought resistance mechanisms can be divided into three categories, which include drought escape, drought avoidance and drought tolerance. However, crops are used usually more than one mechanism for drought resistance. Drought avoidance is the ability of a plant to complete its life cycle before the water deficit in soil and plants. This mechanism involves the fast phenological development (early flowering and earliness), growth flexibility (variation depending on the severity of water deficit during the growing season) and transition pre-flowering photosynthesis to grain products (Iran Nejad and Shahbaziyan, 2005).Maybe, drought avoidance was a mechanism that saffron escaped from salt stress condition in this study. Because, with increasing salinity levels, No of days to flower or time to flowering decreased. No. of tiller was decreased with increasing salinity levels (Table 2). This result was similar to some researches such as Sabet Teimouri et al. (2010) and Rajaei et al. (2009). Fresh weight of flower (stigma +stamens +corolla) increased with increasing soil salinity up to certain amount (100 mM) compare to control (Fig. 3). In this study, the most important parameter or stigma yield also was increased with increasing in soil salinity up to 50 mM salt concentration
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH than to control (Fig. 4). The best growth parameter or stigma yield was found with 50 mM of NaCl. Stigma yield was more sensitive to salinity stress than flower yield. Saffron is very resistant to salinity. Researchers found that bulb production decreased with increasing salinity. When electrical conductivity increased from 1200 to 7000 s/cm, bulb production reduced from 100 to 35 percent (Regional Saffron Cultivation and Harvesting Techniques in Spain, Greece and Italy, 2011). Effects of different salinity levels (0, 50, 100, 150 and 200 mM (NaCl)) on some physiological and biochemical parameters in different saffron organs (fibrous root, contractile root, corm and leaf) have been studied (Rajaei et al., 2008). Growth, fresh and dry mass in all organs decrease under salinity and contractile root was the most affected organ. Relative water content decreased significantly when salinity increased more than 100 mM. Flowering and size of flowers severely decreased as salinity increased more than 100 mM (Rajaei et al., 2008).Contractile root and root were more sensitive and corm and leaf were more tolerant organ to salinity. Our results showed a relatively weak correlation between salinity, flower and stigma saffron yield about 35 and 50 percent respectively and their equation followed from liner and second degree equation respectively (Fig. 5 and 6). This was probably due to data were less and the experiment was done in greenhouse and pot condition. Results of other researchers indicated that salinity imposed a significant effect on different growth characteristics, leaf dry weight, number of leaf, root dry weight, root volume, root density and physiological characteristics of saffron (Sabet Teimouri et al., 2010). Mosaferi (2001) indicated that there was a good correlation between irrigation intervals or drought stress and yield of saffron in his research. By reducing irrigation interval, yield was increased for different five age groups farms (1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 years old) and also for the average of all age groups. Higher yield obtained with lower irrigation interval has also been with confirmed elsewhere (Mosaferi, 2001). There was a good correlation between irrigation interval and yield of saffron in the evaluation of irrigation management of saffron at agro ecosystem scale in dry region of Iran (Behdani et al., 2008). Higher yield obtained with lower irrigation interval. Irrigation with 12 days, interval is the most frequent in Torbat-haydarieh and this could be reason for higher yield in this county, while in Gonabad a 12 day irrigation interval is not practices and in the other counties, the irrigation interval are more less the same. References Behdani MA, Nassiri Mahallati M, Koocheki A (2008). Evaluation of irrigation management of saffron at agro ecosystem scale in dry region of Iran. Asian Journal of Plant Sciences. 7 (1): 22-25. Iran Nejad H, Shahbaziyan N (2005). Plant resistance to environmental stresses. Tehran. Faghih Press. P: 240. Kafi M, Mahdavi Damghani A (2000). Mechanisms of Environmental Stress Resistance in Plants. Ferdowsi University Press. P: 467. Keyhani E, Keyhani J, Hadizadeh M, Ghamsari L, Attar F (2004).Cultivation Techniques, Morphology and Enzymatic properties of Crocus sativus L. I. International Symposium on Saffron Biology and Biotechnology, Albacete, Spain. Khalid KA (2001). Physiological studies on the growth, development and chemical composition of Nigella sativa L. plant. PhD Thesis. Fac. Agric. Ain-Shams Univ. Cairo. Egypt. pp. 214218. Khold Barin B, Eslam-Zade T (2005). Mineral Nutrition of Higher Plants. First volume. Shiraz University Press. P: 495. Norman PA Huner, Hopkins W (2009). Introduction to Plant Physiology 4th Edition. John Wiley & Sons Inc. ISBN: 978-0-470-24766-2.P: 528. Rajaei M, Niknam V, Ebrahim Zade H, Razavi Kh (2008). The effect of salinity on some physiological parameters, biochemical and gene expression in saffron farm plants (Crocus sativus L).Ph. D Thesis. University of Tehran. Iran. Rajaei SM, Niknam V, Seyedi SM, Ebrahimzadeh H, Razavi K(2009). Contractile roots are the most sensitive organ in Crocus sativus to salt stress. Biomedical and Life Sciences. 53:3.523-529.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Sabet Teimouri M, Avarseji Z, Kafi M (2010) .Effect of Different Salinity and Potassium Levels on Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) Morphophysiological Characteristics. World Food System - A Contribution from Europe. Tropentag 2010, September 14 16. Zurich. Germany. Mosaferi H (2001). Effect of different regimes of irrigation on saffron yield. Msc. Thesis of irrigation and drainage. Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. Iran. Regional Saffron Cultivation and Harvesting Techniques in Spain, Greece and Italy (2011). http://europeansaffron.eu/archivos/Annex%20White%20book.pdf. Saffron Manual for Afghanistan (Planting, Maintenance, Harvesting and Processing) (2007). DACAAR Herat Provincial Office or DACAAR Rural Development Program. www.dacaar.org. Salardini AA, Mojtahedi M (1988). Principals of plant nutrition. Second volume. Markaz Nashr Daneshghahi Press. Tehran. P: 316. Sepaskhah AR, Kamgar Haghighi AA (2009). Saffron irrigation regime. Int. J. Plant Prod. 3:1. 1-16 Sepaskhah AR, Yarami N (2009). Interaction effects of irrigation regime and salinity on flower yield and growth of saffron. J. Hort. Sci. Biotech. 84:2. 216-222. Sepaskhah AR, Yarami N (2010). Evaluation of macroscopic water extraction model for salinity and water stress in saffron yield production. Int. J. Plant Prod. 4:3.175-186. Zeinali A (1999). Safflower (knowledge production and consumption). Printing University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources of Gorgan, IRAN.

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Effect of Salt Stress on Germination and Some Growth Parameters of Marigold (Calendula officinalis L.)
M. Eskandari Torbaghan
Ferdowsi University of Mashhad & Soil and Water Expert of Northern Khorasan of Agricultural and Natural Resource Research Center Abstract Marigold (Calendula officinalis L.) was cultivated so long as ornamental plant until its medicinal properties was known and it was used as medicinal plant. Marigold type fruit is achene. It has type variation and it sees as three types: carenate, alate and orbicular. Despite of the abundant resources in salinity, little information exists on the effects of salinity on marigold. Thus, the great need exist for detailed understanding reaction of this important economic plant to salt stress conditions. To study tolerance of three type seeds of marigold (Calendula officinalis L.) to salinity stress, a laboratory experiment was conducted in Completely Randomize Design Factorial with three replications in North Khorasan Agricultural and Natural Resource Research Center. The main factor was salinity with six levels (0, 1, 3, 5, 7 and 10 dS/m) and sub factor was three types of marigold seed (carenate, alate and orbicular). Results of experiment showed that the germination percent and germination rate decreased with increasing in salinity. Cinarenate had more germination rate than two other types of marigold seeds in all salinity levels. Alate had also more germination rate than orbicular in low salinity levels (0, 1 and 3 dS/m). Salinity decreased radicle and plumule length in all three type seed. Maximum of plumule and radicle length was observed in orbicular and carenate seeds respectively. Plumule wet weight was max in medium salinity levels (3 and 5 dS/m). But, radicle wet weight decreased with salinity increasing. Minimum decreasing in radicle wet weight and maximum salinity tolerant under effect of seed type was observed in carenate seed. Maximum sensitivity to salinity stress was also observed in orbicular marigold seed. Maximum and minimum of radicle to plumule length ratio was observed in 5 and 10 salinity levels respectively and carenate seed of marigold under effect of seed type . Key words: Salinity, seed types (carenate, alate and orbicular), Marigold (Calendula officinalis L.)

Introduction Production of medicinal plant was equivalent to 34084.5 tons in 2001 in Iran. It has been obtained from 81749.1 ha cultivation. Maximum production of medicinal plants relate to khorasan province was 10028.8 tons that it has had 29.4% of total production in the country (Bi-Name, 2001). According to 1999 to 2006 statistics, marigold cultivation was approximately 12.7 ha and the amount of dried flowers production was 10.9 tons that the average yield was 858 Kg/ha (Bi-Name, 2001; Ebrahimi, 2008). Marigold (Calendula officinalis L.) was cultivated as ornamental plant so long until its medicinal properties was recognized and was used as medicinal plant. Calendula officinalis L. with English name as "pot marigold" is herbaceous plant from Asteraceae (Compositae) that originates have been reported Mediterranean and West Asia. Origin of this plant has been also mentioned Southern Europe and East Mediterranean (Omid Beygi, 2005; Borm and Van Dijk, 1994; Cromack et al., 1993; Earle et al., 1964; Meizer zu Beerentrup et al., 1987). The name of Calendula officinalis L. comes from Latin word (Calend) meaning first day of each month because this plant has a long flowering period. Since the flowers move in the sun radiation, it has been come as sun sing in astronomical texts (Dinda and Craker, 1998). Marigold species had six annual herbaceous plant species in Iran. C. aurantica is exclusive to Iran and C. alata, C. palaestina, C.persica, C.sancta and C. tripterocarpa species in addition to Iran also grow in Palesrine, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt , Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Canary Islands, southern Spain Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Kashmir, (Mozafariyan, 2003). Usage of marigold flower is including medicinal (treatment of gastric and intestinal diseases, skin ulcers treatment and anti- inflammatory), cosmetics (supplying various creams) and food (food coloring such as cheese and butter). Also, its seed oil has pharmaceutical and an industrial application (Bernath, 2000; Delia Loggia et al., 1994 and Dinda and Craker, 1998) Marigold has anti fungi and antiviral properties (Mardani Nejad et al., 2003). Recently, evidences of antiviral effects of HIV have been found on the extract flowers of this plant (Kalvatchev et al., 1997). Marigold fruit is seen as achene type with three different type variation alate (Fig. 1), carenate (Fig.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH 2) and orbicular (Fig. 3) (Cromack. and Smith, 1998).Seed color is grey or light brown. Seeds have suitable vigor for 5 to 6 years (Dinda and Craker, 1998) and in the suitable climatic condition for planting, germinate after 4 to 5 days. Weight of 1000 seed is 8 to 12 gram (Omid Beygi, 2005).

Fig1. Three types of seed marigold (a) alate, (b) carenate and (c) orbicular Germination percent in well seeds is 60 to 80% in laboratory conditions and emergence amount is 40 to 60% in filed (Omid Beygi, 2005; Borm andVan Dijk, 1994; Forment et al., 2001). Medicinal plants including marigold are reach sources of secondary metabolites that means they are basic ingredients of many medicine. Although, these materials are originally made by genetic processes directly. But, making them are clearly under effect of environmental factors, so that environmental factors cause changes in medicinal plants growth and quantity and quality of their ingredients such as alkaloids, glycoside, steroids, volatile oil (essential oil) and etc (Sinebo et al., 2004). Planting economically of a medicinal plant is affordable when its secondary metabolites production is reached to optimal level. With understanding of effective environmental factors in production and selection of appropriate plant varieties (Omid Beygi, 1998; Omid Beygi, 1999) can achieve maximum production (Bi-Name, 2001). Salinity stress is one of the most extensive damage stresses in arid and semi arid region. But, it exists in semi humid region and costal lands (Iran-Nejad and Shahbazian, 2005). Salinity problem has been recognized in many years ago and some studies have been also done on it. Scientists often study physiological effects of salinity in plants and of reclamation saline soil (Iran-Nejad and Shahbazian, 2005). The first thing should be examined by each crop plant breeder is natural variety in plant tolerance to salinity and that wild and farm resources are available separately. Many changes can be done in crop tolerance to salinity. Germination seed in saline culture media is the most common method. Salinity effect on germination rate is more than total germination percent. Salinity decrease roots length growth more than shoots. But, this matter is reverse in some plants (Iran-Nejad and Shahbazian, 2005). One of the pre selecting methods in salinity resistance or sensitive to salinity is seed germination in saline solution and observing total seed germination percent and germination rate, and the amount of plumule or radicle growth (IranNejad and Shahbazian, 2005). Despite of the abundant resources in salinity, little information are available in the salinity effects on marigold. Thus, the great need for detailed understanding of this important economic plant to salinity stress condition exists. Chaparzadeh et al. (2003) studied the effects of anti-oxidative reactions of marigold under salinity conditions. Results of experiment indicated that the most physiological marigold (Calendula officinalis L.) parameters were affected by salinity. Total of plant growth, lipid per oxidation and accumulation of hydrogen peroxide were a lot of affected by high salinity conditions and were reduced. Shoots were affected by salinity level more than roots, except of 1000 Mm NaCl salinity that roots growth reduced more than shoots growth. Abbaspour (2001) studied marigold (Calendula officinalis L.) flovonides changes under salinity conditions. In this study, the impact of six NaCl treatments (0, 25, 50, 75, 100 and 150 Mm) was investigated on intensity of photosynthesis, breathing intensity, CO2 point offset, content chlorophylls, the carotenoids, soluble and insoluble sugars, proteins, proline and robinin and quercetin flavonoids . Results of experiment showed that the intensity of photosynthesis decreased with salinity increasing, but, breathing intensity and CO2 point offset increased. Also, a and b content chlorophyll decreased in salinity treatments comparing to control. Carotene amount also decreased in all five levels of salinity, but, xanthophyll increased in low salinity and decreased in high salinity levels. Also, in all salinity levels, soluble and insoluble sugars amount of root and leaf increased and decreased, respectively. Quercetin and robinin flavonoids increased both in root,
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH young and old leaves that this increasing was not statistically significant in root but, it was significant in young and old leaves. Also it was determined the amount of quercetin and routine flavonoids was higher in young leaves than the old leaves and root. The effects of saline irrigation water investigated on yield (fresh and dry weights of flower heads) of Calendula officinalis L., essential oil (EO) yield, chemical constituents of the EO and total flavonoids and carotenoids flower heads at three flowering stages, i.e. initial (21 days after bud formation (DABF)), full flowering (81 DABF) and final (111 DABF) (Khalid and Teixeira da Silva, 2010). After plants were treated with different levels of saline irrigation water (0.39, 1.56, 3.13, 4.69, 6.25, 7.81 and 9.38 dS m1) consisting of NaCl, CaCl2 and MgCl2 salts, the flower head yield and pigment (total flavonoids and carotenoids) content were significantly reduced. Irrigation with saline water increased the EO content and its main components (-cadinol, - and cadinene). Fresh and dry weights of flower heads and EO increased near 81 DABF while the content of pigments increased by 111 DABF. Saline irrigation water decreased the fresh and dry weights of flower heads, and pigment contents (total flavonoids and total carotenoids) but increased essential oil yield and its main components (-cadinol, - and -cadinene) of Calendula officinalis L. Fresh and dry weights of flower heads and essential oil increased towards the full bloom stage of flowering while pigment content, such as total flavonoids and total carotenoids, increased (Khalid and Teixeira da Silva, 2010). To gain a better insight into long-term salt-induced oxidative stress, some physiological parameters in marigold (Calendula officinalis L.) under 0, 50 and 100 mM NaCl were investigated (Chaparzadeh, 2004). Salinity affected most of the considered parameters. High salinity caused reduction in growth parameters, lipid peroxidation and hydrogen peroxide accumulation. Under high salinity stress, a decrease in total glutathione and an increase in total ascorbate (AsA + DHA), accompanied with enhanced glutathione reductase (GR, EC 1.6.4.2) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX, EC 1.11.1.11) activities, were observed in leaves. In addition, salinity induced a decrease in superoxide dismutase (SOD, EC 1.15.1.1) and peroxidase (POX, EC 1.11.1.7) activities. The decrease in dehydroascorbate reductase (DHAR, EC 1.8.5.1) and monodehydroascorbate reductase (MDHAR, EC 1.6.5.4) activities suggests that other mechanisms play a major role in the regeneration of reduced ascorbate. The changes in catalase (CAT, EC 1.11.1.6) activities, both in roots and in leaves, may be important in H2O2 homeostasis (Chaparzadeh, 2004). This research were conducted to study of salt stress on germination and some growth parameters of three types (carenate, alate and orbicular) of marigold (Calendula officinalis L.) under laboratory conditions. Materials and Method To study of three types of Calendula officinalis L. tolerance to salinity stress in laboratory conditions, a factorial experiment was conducted based on completely randomized design with three replications in the laboratory of Agriculture and Natural Resources Research Center, North Khorasan. Experimental main factors, were including salinity as main factor at six levels 0, 1, 3, 5, 7 and 10 dS/m sodium chloride and three types of marigold seed (carenate, alate and orbicular) as sub factor. For this purpose, 54 petri dishes were prepared by disinfecting. Sterling petri dishes were done in the oven at 110 C temperature and in 24 hours. Marigold seeds were disinfected with 10 percent of sodium hypochlorite and 2 per 1000 Benomile fungicides respectively with 30 seconds for each them. Seeds were washed with sterile distilled water, after each stage. 25 sterile marigold seeds from each three types (carenate, alate and orbicular) were exposure in each petri dish between filter paper and then they were treated with sodium chloride solution (1, 3, 5, 7 and 10 dS/m) and distilled water (control). For preparation of salt solution, laboratory 1NaCl and distilled water was used. Then the petri dishs were transferred to the incubator with the temperature 25 1 C for 20 days for measuring germination. The first stage of germination percent counting began after 48 hours. In order to keep potential solutions constant, the solutions were changed once every three days in each petri dish. Petri were checked every day and the number of germinated seeds was recorded. After 20 days passed from the first day of experiment radicle length mean, plumule length mean, plumule and radicle wet weight,radicle to plumule length ratio and radicle to
1

. Natriumchlorid(NaCl), (M=58.44 g/mol) - MERCK

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH plumule wet weight was measured and then they were posed in the oven for 48 hours in 60 C for dry weight measuring .Marigold seeds germination rate (RG) was calculated by the following formula (MaGuire, 1962).
R.G. =

In the above formula M is the number of germinated seeds in i day and D is the number of days passed from the beginning of the experiment. The data were analyzed with MSTAT-C software and the mean data were compared with Duncan Multiple Range Test at the 0.05 confidence level. Results Marigold seeds germination percent decreased under effect of salinity levels rising (Table 1). So that, maximum of germination percent was observed in control (none salinity treatment). Increasing in NaCl salinity levels caused about 83.8, 75.8, 72.5, 35.5 and 22.6 percent decreasing for 10, 7, 5, 3 and 1 dS/m treatments respectively (Table 1). Study of marigold seeds germination rate was also shown that with salinity increasing in media culture seeds, germination rate decreased (Fig. 2). One dS/m salinity level did not show significant difference with control. But, this level had significant difference with 5, 7 and 10 dS/m salinity levels at 5% confidence level (Fig. 2). Increasing in environmental salinity level showed 83.0, 72.6, 66.1, 33.2 and 12.3 percent decrease in 10, 7, 5, 3 and 1 dS/m treatments compare than to control (Fig. 2). Maximum of plumule length was affected by environmental salinity. Increasing about 31.5 and 22 percent was showed in 1 and 3 dS/m salinity levels respectively than to control (P0.05) (Table 1). Comparison of other treatments (Table 1) showed that plumule length decreased in all remained treatments than to control. Maximum decrease than to control was observed in 5 and 7 dS/m salinity levels with 39.7 and 35.7 percent than to control respectively that they had statistical significant difference compare to control (Table 1). Maximum of marigold seeds radicle length under effect of environmental salinity was observed in 3 and 1 dS/m salinity levels that they showed increasing about 6.9 and 0.38 percent than to control respectively (Table 1). Radicle length decreased in other levels (treatments) than to none salinity level (Table 1). Maximum decreasing was observed in 7, 10 and 5 dS/m salinity levels with 52.7, 47.9 and 29.1 percent respectively (Table 1). This study showed that 3 and 10 dS/m salinities allocated maximum and minimum wet plumule weight under effect of salinity levels (Fig. 3). Three dS/m salinity level had 39.7 percent increase than to control and 10 dS/m level had 82.8 percent decrease than to none salinity treatment (control) (P0.05) (Fig. 3). Seven dS/m treatment did not show any statistical significant difference with minimum plumule wet weight level (10 dS/m) and it had 79.1 percent decrease than to control (Fig. 3). Wet plumule weight in 5 and 1 dS/m salinities was observed with none statistical significant difference with each other and control (Fig. 3).
8.5

M D

0.075

a ab ab ab

Plumule wet weight (g)

Germination rate

7 5.5 4 2.5 1 0

a ab bc

0.06 0.045 0.03 0.015 0

bc
7

c
10

b
0 1 3 5 7

b
10

NaCl diffrent salinity (dS/m)

NaCl diffrent salinity (dS/m)

Fig 2. The effect of NaCl salinity levels on germination rate of Calendula officinalis L.

Fig 3. The effect of NaCl salinity levels on plumule wet weight of Calendula officinalis L. (g)

The effect of salinity on radicle wet weight had significant difference. Maximum of radicle wet weight was observed in 1 and 3 dS/m treatments under effect of salinity media culture respectively that they had about 71.6 and 12.3 percent increase than to control (none salinity treatment) (Fig. 4).

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Ten, five and seven dS/m treatments allocated minimum of radicle wet weight respectively. Reduction observed in above levels than to zero treatment (control) was about 85.3, 77.4 and 69.2 percent respectively (Fig. 4). Maximum of plumule dry weight under effect of salinity levels was observed in 3 dS/m treatment with 69.7 percent increasing than to control (Table 1). Comparison of other treatments with control was shown about 79.0, 72.1, 65.1 and 48.8 percent decrease in 7, 5 10 and 1 dS/m levels respectively (Table 1). Observed trend for radicle dry weight under effect of environmental salinity in treatments was similar to radicle wet weighy (Table 1). One dS/m treatment had maximum radicle dry weight with statistical significant difference than to control and other treatments. Then, 3 dS/m treatment was the next with none statistical significant difference at 5% confidence level (Table 1). Other treatments decreased than to control (Table 1). Plumule dry weight rising was about 14 percent in 1 dS/m treatment and 10, 5, 7 and 3 dS/m treatments had decreasing than to control was about 77.2, 64.9, 57.8 and 5.2 percent than to control respectively (P0.05) (Table 1). Comparison of radicle to plumule length ratio under effect of environmental salinity levels (Table 1) showed that 5 and 10 dS/m levels allocated maximum and minimum length ratio with 13.9 percent increase and 39.7 percent decrease respectively. Comparison of other treatments was also shown that all of the treatments decreased compare to control (none salinity treatment) (Table 1). Radicle to plumule wet weight was in 1 and 5 dS/m treatments max and min respectively with statistical significant difference with each other (Table 1). Other salinity levels did not show any statistical significant difference with each other and both mentioned treatments (1 and 5 dS/m levels) (P0.05). Maximum of radicle to plumule wet weight was observed in maximum treatment (1 dS/m) with 30.2 percent increase and minimum of this ratio was shown in 5 dS/m treatment with about 49.5 percent decrease compare to control (Table 1). Radicle to plumule dry weight ratio only had significant difference in 1 dS/m salinity with control (103.9 percent increase) and other levels. Other treatments did not show any statistical significant difference with each other (Table 1). Study of germination percent under effect of marigold seed types showed that germination percent in orbicular type was lower than carenate and alate (Table 2). Maximum of germination rate was observed in carenate, alate and orbicular respectively (Fig. 5). Two types of marigold seeds, carenate and orbicular had statistical significant difference with each other. But, comparison of alate seed did not show any significant difference with two other types seeds (Fig. 5).
0.06

a b

Radicle wet weight (g)

0.045 0.03 0.015 0 0 1

c
3 5

c
7

c
10

NaCl diffrent salinity (dS/m)

Fig. 4. The effect of NaCl salinity levels on radicle wet weight of Calendula officinalis L. (g)

Fig. 5. The effect of seed types on germination rate of Calendula officinalis L.

Comparison of plumule length in three types of seed showed statistical significant difference (P0.05) with each other (Fig. 6). Maximum of plumule length was observed in orbicular, carenate and finally in alate seed respectively (Fig. 6). Comparison of radicle length of marigold seedlings in seed types showed significant difference with each other too (Fig. 7). Maximum radicle length was observed in carenate, alate and then orbicular (Fig. 7).

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH
1.7 Plumule length (cm) 1.6 1.5 1.4 1.3 1.2 orbicular carenate alate Calendula officinalis L. seed types

a b
Radicle length (cm)

4.5 4 3.5 3 2.5 2

orbicular carenate alate Calendula officinalis L. seed types

Fig. 6. The effect of seed types on plumule length of Calendula officinalis L. (cm)

Fig. 7. The effect of seed types on radicle length of Calendula officinalis L. (cm)

Results of experiment for plumule wet weight did not show any significant difference among marigold seed types (Table 2). But, the comparison of weights with each other showed that plumule wet weight in orbicular seed was lower than two other types' seeds carenate and alate (Table 2) showed statistical significant difference with each other. Although, maximum of radicle wet weight was observed in carenate and then alate and finally orbicular (table 2). Study of plumule and radicle dry weight of marigold seedlings (Figs 8 and 9) showed that carenate, alate and orbicular allocated maximum to minimum plumule and radicle dry weight with statistical significant difference at 5% level confidence (Figs 8 and 9).
0.005 Plumule dry weight (g 0.004 0.003 0.002 0.001 orbicular carenate alate Calendula officinalis L. seed types Radicle dry weight (g)

a b c

0.007 0.006 0.005 0.004 0.003 0.002

orbicular carenate alate Calendula officinalis L. seed types

Fig. 8. The effect of seed types on plumule dry weight of Calendula officinalis L. (g)

Fig. 9. The effect of seed types on radicle dry weight of Calendula officinalis L. (g)

Maximum of radicle to plumule length ratio was observed in carenate that it had significant difference with two other types of seed (Table 2). None statistical significant difference (P0.05) was observed among marigold seed types in radicle to plumule wet weight ratio (Table 2). Maximum of radicle to plumule dry weight ratio was observed in carenate, alate and then orbicular (Table 2). Maximum and minimum of radicle to plumule dry weight ratio allocated to carenate and orbicular respectively. Alate did not show any significant difference with two mentioned seeds at 5% confidence level (Table 2). Marigold seed germination percent under effect of salinity levels and seed type had statistical significant difference with each other in most treatments (Table 3). Maximum of germination percent was observed in alate none salinity, carenate 1dS/m salinity and finally in carenate none salinity treatment respectively that they were in three different separate statistical groups (a, b and c) (Table 3). Minimum of marigold seed germination percent was also observed in orbicular 7 dS/m salinity, orbicular 5 and 10 dS/m salinities respectively (Table 3).Totally, germination percent decreased with increasing in salinity. Also, comparison of interaction effect between salinity and seed type (Table 3) showed that in all salinity levels orbicular seed had lower germination percent than two other seed types. Maximum of germination rate under interaction effect of environmental salinity and seed type was observed in carenate none salinity treatment and 1 dS/m salinity with none statistical significant difference with each other (P0.05) respectively (Fig. 10). None salinity alate and carenate 3 dS/m salinity with none statistical significant difference with each other also allocated maximum germination rate next to both maximum treatments (Fig. 10). Results of this study showed that in all salinity levels of 5, 7 and 10 dS/m and orbicular and alate seed type, germination rate was minimum with none statistical significant difference with each other (Fig. 10). Similar to germination percent, germination rate decreased with salinity increase and carenate seed in all

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH salinity levels than two other seed types and alate seed in low salinity level (0, 1 and 3 dS/m) had better germination rate than to orbicular seed (Fig.10).
12 Germination rate 10 8 6 4 2 0
S0

a abc

ab
Plumule dry weight (g)

cd ef ef ef

bcd de f de f ef f f ef f f

0.01 0.009 0.008 0.007 0.006 0.005 0.004 0.003 0.002 0.001 0

a b d h f i e g i h i h h h h h c bc

S S0 T1 S S0 T2 S S1 T3 S S1 T1 S S1 T2 S S2 T3 S S2 T1 S S2 T2 S S3 T3 S S3 T1 S S3 T2 S S4 T3 S S4 T1 S S4 T2 S S5 T3 S S5 T1 S S5 T2 ST 3

Treatments

S0

Fig. 10. Effect of salinity and seed type on germination rate of Calendula officinalis L.

Fig. 11. Effect of salinity and seed type on plumule dry weight of Calendula officinalis L. (g) Plumule length was maximum in orbicular and 1, 10 and 3 dS/m salinities respectively with statistical significant difference (a, b and c groups) (Table 3). Then, both treatments carenate seed 1 and 3 ds/m salinities with none statistical significant difference with each other and finally orbicular none salinity with significant difference with two mentioned treatments allocated maximum plumule length (Table 3).Minimum plumule length under effect of salinity and seed type was observed in orbicular 7 and 5 dS/m salinities, alate 10 and 5 dS/m salinities respectively that all of them had significant difference with each other at 5% confidence level (Table 3). Comparison of radicle length under interaction effect of salinity and seed type showed that (Table 3) maximum of radicle length was observed in carenate 3 dS/m salinity that it had statistical significant difference with other treatments (P0.05). After that, two treatments (carenate 1dS/m salinity and none salinity) were in the next statistical group (b) with none significant difference with each other. Alate in 0, 1 and 3 dS/m salinity levels was observed in c statistical group with none significant difference with each other (Table 3). Minimum of radicle length was observed in alate 10 dS/m salinity, orbicular 7 dS/m salinity with none significant difference and then in orbicular 10 dS/m, carenate 7 dS/m and finally alate 5 ds/m salinity with none significant difference respectively (Table 3). Results showed that radicle length in Calendula officinalis L. seedling affected by increasing salinity more than seed type. As, this decreasing was observed in all of seed types in high salinity levels (Table 3). Results also indicated that alate 5 dS/m salinity, carenate 3 dS/m and none salinity allocated maximum plumule wet weight respectively. But, these treatments did not any significant difference with each other at 5% confidence level (Table 3). Comparison of plumule wet weight was min in all high salinity levels (7 and 10 dS/m) with no attention to Calendula officinalis L. seed type (Table 3). In addition to 7 and 10 dS/m salinities plumule wet weight decreased in orbicular and carenate seeds at 5 dS/m salinity and alate 3 dS/m salinity. Maximum radicle wet weight was observed in carenate 1 dS/m salinity and then carenate 3 dS/m salinity in separate statistical group (a and b) (Table 3). Alate and carenate none salinity treatments, alate 3 dS/m was observed with none significant difference with each other after both maximum radicle wet weight treatments. Carenate 7 dS/m was also observed after mentioned treatments in d statistical group (Table 3). Radicle wet weight decreased with environmental salinity increase. But, minimum decrease and maximum tolerance attention to seed types was observed in carenate and maximum sensitivity to salinity was observed in orbicular seed of marigold too. High sensitivity of orbicular was clear in low salinity levels (0, 1 and 3 dS/m) in radicle wet weight (Table 3). Study of interaction effect between salinity and seed type on plumule dry weight (Fig 11) showed that all treatments were in separate statistical group in low salinity levels (0, 1,3 and 5 dS/m). Maximum plumule dry weight was observed in carenate 3 dS/m, carenate none salinity, alate 3 dS/m and orbicular 3 dS/m with statistical significant difference (Fig. 11). Minimum of plumule dry weight was also observed in orbicular and 7, 5 and 1 dS/m treatments (Fig. 11).

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S S0 T1 S S0 T2 S S1 T3 S S1 T1 S1 ST2 S S2 T3 S S2 T1 S S2 T2 S S3 T3 S S3 T1 S S3 T2 S S4 T3 S S4 T1 S4 ST2 S S5 T3 S S5 T1 S S5 T2 ST 3
Treatments

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Results of interaction effect of salinity and seed type showed that maximum of radicle dry weight was observed in carenate and 1, 0 and 3 dS/m salinities (Fig 12). Maximum of radicle dry weight was observed in carenate 1 dS/m and none salinity (with none significant difference with each other), alate none salinity, orbicular 3 dS/m (Fig. 12). Alate 1 dS/m, carenate 3 dS/m treatments were in the same statistical group (d) with no significant difference. With salinity increasing, radicle dry weight decreased similar to radicle wet weight. But, with losing humidity of radicles, special statistical difference was not observed under effect of seed type in radicle dry weight (Fig. 12).

Fig.12. Effect of salinity and seed type on radicle dry weight of Calendula officinalis L. (g)

Fig. 13. Effect of salinity and seed type on radicle to plumule length ratio of Calendula officinalis L.

Results of radicle to plumule length ratio under effect of environmental salinity and seed type (Fig. 13) showed that this ratio was higher in medium and high salinity levels (5 and 7 dS/m). Maximum of this ratio was observed in orbicular 7 dS/m with significant difference with two treatments orbicular and carenate seeds 5 dS/m (Fig. 13). Minimum of radicle to plumule length ratio was also observed in orbicular 10 and 1 dS/m. Study of this ratio showed that maximum and minimum amount of that with attention to salinity level indicated in orbicular seed type (Fig. 13). Comparison of treatments for radicle to plumule wet weight ratio (Table 3) under interaction effect of salinity and seed type showed that it had not any significant difference amoung treatments. But, only carenate 1 dS/m, alate none salinity treatments was observed maximum radicle to plumule wet weight and separate statistical groups (a and b). Minimum of this ratio was observed in alate 5 dS/m salinity. None special trend among treatments under effect of salinity and seed type was observed for radicle to plumule wet weight ratio (Table 3).This observing was also shown for radicle to plumule dry weight. As, only two treatments, carenate 1 and 7 dS/m salinities treatments had maximum of this radicle to plumule dry weight with statistical significant difference with each other (Table 3). Discussion In addition to results of experiment, germination rate and germination percent of marigold seeds decreased by increasing salinity levels (Table 1). Several studies have been shown that germination percent and germination rate of most plants under effect of salinity decrease, germination delayed at the lower levels of salinity, whereas, final germination percent decreased at higher salinity (Aref and Wander, 1998). Abou El-Fadl et al. (1990) indicated that even though soil salinity more than 2000ppm decreased peppermint (Mentha arvensis) plant growth, the EO yield and that of its components increased. By increasing the levels of soil salinity plant growth of Ocimum basilicum (basil), damsesea (Artemisia absinthium), black cumin (Nigella sativa) and sage (Salvia officinalis) was significantly decreased but EO and its main components increased (El-Shafy et al., 1991; AbdEl Nabi and Hussein, 1996; Khalid, 2001; Hendawy and Khalid, 2005 ). Osmotic problem in plants also occurs under drought stress conditions and this term exist about 100 years ago that salinity stress is a type of physiological drought (Kafi and Mahdavi Damghani, 2000). Peppermint essential oil and alkaloid amounts in many plants increase under effect of drought stress because the decomposition of starch and proteins shall simulate the production of such materials (Khaje pour, 1986). In experiment was conducted, maximum of germination percent and germination rate was observed in carenate, alate and orbicular seed respectively (Table 2 and Fig.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH 5).The seeds have higher germination rate under salinity conditions, in the next of growth stage, seedling establishment and soil solutes avoiding will be more successful (Richards, 1954).Ming et al. (1999) to study the effect of seed type (carenate, alate and orbicular) and different five substrate (vermiculite, sand, soil, commercial mixture and producer' mixture) on Calendula officinalis L. germination and seedling development showed that the seed types have no relation with seedling development. But, germination was better in alate and orbicular seeds (Ming et al., 1999). Plumule and radical length had better in 1 and 3 dS/m salinity concentrations rather than to none salinity treatment (control) (Table 1). But, higher salinity levels caused length and weight Calendula officinalis L. seedlings decrease. Plumule and radical wet weight was also higher in lower salinity levels (1 and 3 dS/m salinity) (Figs. 3 and 4). Soaking wheat seed in water or NaCl solutions and then drying by air flow, before planting in saline soil with 0.5 percent NaCl , caused germination simulate and growth seedlings of these seeds in soil, also deep root growth of these mentioned seedlings is visible than the seedlings of untreated seeds (Al-Shamma, 1983). Fertilizer in addition to soil fertility is solution salt and when it solves in soil solution osmotic pressure of solution change and this effect is similar to soil salinity (Salardini, 2000). The effect of locations (Gorobilje & Arilje and Kaarevo) and applications of different types of fertilizers (200 kg KAN ha-1 ,400 kg NPK (15:15:15) ha-1 and control (without fertilising)) on yield and seed quality of the marigold cultivar "domai oran"/"domestic orange" was observed and analysed during two growing seasons (2006 and 2007). Results showed that the effect of fertilising on the yield in comparison with control was also significant (Jevovi1 et al., 2008). The highest quality of seed (germination viability, total germination and seed weigt) was recorded in the location of Kaarevo where NPK was applied, while the lowest quality of seed was identified in the location of Gorobilje where KAN was applied. The yield in 2006 was insignificantly higher over all locations and variants, which was caused by a greater amount of precipitation, but seed quality was somewhat better in 2007 as a result of a greater temperature sum (Jevovi1 et al., 2008). Chlorine is the one of essential nutrients for plant and its lack strongly prevented longitudinal growth of root (Khold Barin and Eslam Zade, 2005). Chlorine is also responsible for the emergence of oxygen in the light system II in photosynthesis (Salardini and Mojtahedi, 1988). Comparison between the need of chlorine for growth and the amount of it can be provided by various resources, reveals that under field condition, chlorine deficiency rarely occurs. When that chlorine exist in high amount in root zone have none specially extensive effects on metabolism that can be mentioned such as competition with nitrate uptake, regulate the balance of cations anions and organic acids metabolisms (Khold Barin and Eslam Zade, 2005). Chlorine is the one of active osmotic materials in cell vacuoles and when external osmotic pressure solutions increases than osmotic pressure of plant cells in addition of disorder of osmotic regulation by plant cells, high levels of sodium and chloride have a direct toxic effects on membrane and enzymatic systems (Kafi and Mahdavi Damghani, 2000) and finally cause decreasing growth and death plant. Carenate seed of Calendula officinalis L. in comparison of two other types seed had better condition approximately in all growth parameters. Marigold fruit is achene and it has type variation and is observed as three types carenate, alate and orbicular (Cromack and Smith, 1993). The formation of seeds on receptacle from outside to inside is alate, carenate and orbicular respectively. Considering of time and place of formation, seed vigour is variable. Maximum of seed vigour is observed in alate seed. Carenate seeds have medium seed vigour and orbicular seeds have low seed vigour (Ameri, 2007). Since the various yield components are affecting on the final yield, the final yield sensitivity to the environmental stresses such as salinity is function of each of the various yield component sensitivity to the stress (Eskandari Torbaghan, 2006). Generally, environmental stresses such as drought and salinity stress cause shoot to root ratio decreasing in different plants. Really, stresses cause root growth increasing. The results of this experiment showed that in low salinity levels, plumule to radicle length ratio had decrease and with environmental salinity increasing (5 and 7 dS/m) this ratio increased. But, in maximum salinity level (10 dS/m) this ratio decreased again (Table 1). Salt stress effects on plants growth are related to cell division and development. Salinity limits growth potential by decreasing it without increasing in cell division period. The number of metaphase stage increase after salinization. This shows that salts have one toxic effect on mitotic division. Mitotic division spindle growth is very sensitive to the medium ionic composition. In halophyte plants, cell division is limited whereby the number of cells decreases. However,
380

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH longitudinal growth stimulation of cells cause increases of the size of some specific cells and in the other hand in gelycophytes plants with soil salinity increasing, cell division and longitudinal cell growth limite. Salinity induced chloride salts, is strongly limited cell division but increased longitudinal cells are stimulated, while the sulphate salts cause limitation for growth and cell development more than cell division (Iran-Nejad and Shahbazian, 2005). Salinity was more effective on radicle to plumule wet and dry weight ratio than length ratio. As, in lower salinity level (1 dS/m) radicle wet weight was improved than plumule wet weight. The total studied ratios in this research were higher in carenate seed. Study of the effect of different priming types (control, GA3, Manitol, NaCl and distilled water) on seed germination of two medicinal plants including pot marigold (Calendula officinalis) and sweet fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) under salinity stress (0, 2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10 ds m-1) showed that with increasing salinity, germination traits such as germination percent, rate and plumule length decreased, but seed priming with GA3 and NaCl showed lower decrease (Sedghi et al., 2010). In all of the salinity levels, primed seeds (except manitol) possessed more germination rate and plumule length than control. The highest radicle fresh and dry weight in pot marigold was seen at 7.5 ds m-1 salinity stress level. It seemed that higher germination rate in pot marigold shows higher tolerance to salinity than sweet fennel. Priming with NaCl and GA3 caused an increase in germination percent of pot marigold and sweet fennel in various range of salinity, but in lower salinity levels percent of germination was higher than upper ones. The result of this experiment had consistent with the hypothesis that under undesirable conditions such as salinity stress, priming with GA3 and NaCl can prepare a suitable metabolic reaction in seeds and can improve seed germination performance and seedling establishment(Sedghi et al., 2010). Table1. The effect of different salinity levels on germination and some growth parameters of Calendula officinalis L. seedling
Germination percent 27.56 a 21.33 b 17.78 b 7.556 c 6.667 c 4.444 c 0.0000 Plumule length (cm) 1.553 c 2.042 a 1.896 b 0.936 d 0.998 d 1.483 c 0.0000 Radicle length (cm) 4.183 b 4.199 b 4.473 a 2.963 c 1.978 d 2.178 d 0.0000 Dry plumule weight (g) 0.004778 b 0.002444 c 0.008111 a 0.001333 de 0.00100 e 0.001667 d 0.0000 Dry Radicle weight (g) 0.006333 b 0.007222 a 0.00600 b 0.002222 c 0.002667 c 0.001444 d 0.0000 Radicle to plumule length ratio 2.751 b 2.251 d 2.448 cd 3.136 a 2.678 bc 1.658 e 0.0000 Radicle to plumule wet weight ratio 0.7414 ab 0.9656 a 0.5070 ab 0.3745 b 0.8880 ab 0.4974 ab 0.0020 Radicle to plumule dry weirht ratio 1.203 b 2.454 a 0.7791 b 1.315 b 1.278 b 0.9444 b 0.0000 Salinity levels S0 S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 P
value

S0 = control, S1 = 1, S2 = 3, S3 = 5, S4 = 7 and S5 = 10 dS/m NaCl Different letters in each column is indicated significant difference at 5% level.

Table 2. The effect of seed types on germination and some growth parameters of Calendula officinalis L. seedling
Seed types ST1 ST2 ST3 P value Germination percent 5.556 b 19.33 a 17.78 a 0.0000 Wet plumule weight (g) 0.007667 a 0.05611 a 0.05200 a 0.007 Wet Radicle weight (g) 0.004056 c 0.05178 a 0.01750 b 0.0000 Radicle to plumule length ratio 2.342 b 2.747 a 2.372 b 0.0000 Radicle to plumule wet weight ratio 0.5938 a 0.9053 a 0.4878 a 0.0014 Radicle to plumule dry weirht ratio 0.8677 b 1.923 a 1.195 ab 0.0000

ST1= orbicular, ST2 = carenate and ST3= alate Different letters in each column is indicated significant difference at 5% level.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Table 3. Interaction effect of salinity and seed type on germination and some growth parameters of Calendula officinalis L.
Treatments S0 ST1 S0 ST2 S0 ST3 S1 ST1 S1 ST2 S1 ST3 S2 ST1 S2 ST2 S2 ST3 S3 ST1 S3 ST2 S3 ST3 S4 ST1 S4 ST2 S4 ST3 S5 ST1 S5 ST2 S5 ST3 P value Germination seed 10.67 ef 28.00c 44.00a 6.667fgh 36.00b 21.33d 9.333ef 21.33d 22.67d 2.667hi 12.00e 8.000efg 1.333i 12.00e 6.667fgh 2.667hi 6.667fgh 4.000ghi 0.0000 Plumule length (cm) 1.783e 1.480fg 1.397gh 2.717a 1.970d 1.440fgh 2.140c 1.917d 1.550f 0.7333l 1.210j 0.8633k 0.3333m 1.243ij 1.417gh 2.333b 1.350hi 0.7667kl 0.0000 Radicle length (cm) 3.567d 4.893b 4.090c 3.180f 5.147b 4.270c 3.467de 5.727a 4.227c 2.667g 4.337c 1.887i 1.567j 2.000i 2.367h 2.000i 3.200ef 1.333j 0.0000 Plumule wet weight (g) 0.009667ef 0.08700abc 0.05667bcde 0.004333ef 0.07267abcd 0.04267cdef 0.02467def 0.1073ab 0.08233abc 0.002333f 0.02967def 0.1170a 0.0006667f 0.02500def 0.006333ef 0.004333ef 0.01500ef 0.007000ef 0.1377 Radicle wet weight (g) 0.0060fghi 0.04533c 0.04600c 0.002333ghi 0.1540a 0.01067efg 0.01167ef 0.05967b 0.03800c 0.001000i 0.01767de 0.003333fghi 0.001333hi 0.02433d 0.004333fghi 0.0020hi 0.009667efgh 0.002667ghi 0.0000 Radicle to plumule wet weight ratio 0.6222bcdef 0.5207cdef 1.081b 0.5333cdef 2.126a 0.2372ef 0.4964cdef 0.5630bcdef 0.4617cdef 0.4444def 0.5959bcdef 0.08315f 1.000bc 0.9815bcd 0.6825bcde 0.4667cdef 0.6444bcde 0.3810ef 0.0001 Radicle to plumule dry weight ratio 0.6667efg 1.275cdef 1.667bcd 1.000defg 4.778a 1.583bcde 1.206cdefg 0.5417fg 0.5893fg 0.3333g 1.944bc 1.667bcd 0.6667efg 2.333b 0.8333defg 1.333cdef 0.6667efg 0.8333defg 0.0000

S0 = control, S1 = 1, S2 = 3, S3 = 5, S4 = 7 and S5 = 10 dS/m NaCl ST1= orbicular, ST2 = carenate and ST3= alate Different letters in each column is indicated significant difference at 5% level. Abbaspour H, 2001. Role changes of flavonoids of marigold (Calendula officinalis L.) against salinity. MS c. Thesis. Tarbiat Modares University. Abd-El Nabi LM, Hussein EH, 1996. Effect of irrigation with saline water on damsesa oil and on Spodolera littoralis (Bios D). Egypt-Hung. Hortic. Conf. 1 Abou El-Fadl IA, Abd-Ella MK, Hussein EH, 1990. Effect of irrigation by saline water on the growth and some principal compounds of peppermint and spearmint in two types of soil. J. Agric. Res. Tanta Univ. 16, 276295. Al-Shamma AM, 1983. Breeding for salt tolerance in barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) Diss. Abstr. Int. B. 43:2763B. Ameri AA, 2007. Eco physiological aspects of different nitrogen levels and plant density on flower production, essential oils, nitrogen and radiation use efficiency of Marigold (Calendula officinalis).Ph D. Thesis of Crop Physiology. Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. Iran.P:143. Aref S, Wander MM, 1998. Long-term trends of corn yield and soil organic matter in different crop sequences and soil fertility treatments on the Morrow Plots. Advances in Agronomy. 62: 153-161. Bernath J, 2000. Medicinal and aromatic plants. Mezo publication, Budapest, p.667. Bi-Name, 2001. Cultivation, production and yield of medicinal plant Country. State General Office Medicinal Plants.P:135. Borm G, Van Dijk N, 1994. Effects of sowing time, seed rate and row distance on Calendula officinalis L. grown for seed. In: Alternative oilseed and fiber crops for cool and wet regions of Europe. Proceedings of a workshop, 7-8 April 1994 at Wageningen, CPRO-DLO, The Netherlands, pp. 203. Chaparzadeh N, D'Amico ML, Khavari-Nejad RA, Izzo R, Navari-Izzo F, 2004. Antioxidative responses of Calendula officinalis under salinity conditions. Plant Physiology and Biochemistry.42(9): 695-70. Chaparzadeh N, Khavari-Nejad RA, Navari F, Izzo R, 2003.Water relations and ionic balance in Calendula off cinalis L. under salinity conditions, Agrochimica 97: 6979. Cromack HTH, Freer JBS, Smith JM, 1993. The performance of a range of novel crops in southern England. Proceedings of the Second European Symposium on Industrial Crops and Products. 22-24 November, at Pisa, Italy. Cromack HTH, Smith JM, 1998. Calendula officinalis. Production potential and crop agronomy in southern England. Industrial Crops and Products 7: 223-229. Delia Loggia R, Tubaro A, Sosa S, Becker H, Saar St, Isaac O, 1994. The role of triterpenoids in the topical anti-inflammatory activity of Calendula officinalis flowers. Planta Medica 60: 516- 520. 15- Dinda K, Craker LE, 1998. Growers Guide to Medicinal Plants. HSMP Press. Amherst, 35-37. 16- Earle FR, Miklojajczak KL, Wolf. IA, 1964. Search for new industrial oils, Seed oils of the Calendulae. J. Am. Oil Chem. Soc. 41: 345347.

Refrences

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Ebrahimi A, 2008. Country development program of sustainable medicinal plants. Research Institute of Forest and Rangeland.P:139-147. El-Shafy S, Meawad A, Awad A, Shaer M, 1991. Effect of combination treatment between salinity, gamma irradiation as well as cycocyl on II Leaf pigment and chemical constituents of sweet basil plants. Zagazig J. Agric. Res. 18, 22472293. Eskandari Torbaghan M, 2006. Effect of Cl/SO4 ratios in water and nitrogen fertilizer on soil properties, yield and yield parameters of barley (Hordum vulgar L.). MS c. Thesis of Soil Science. Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. Iran. P:86. Forment M, Mastebroek D, Gorp C, 2001. A Growers manual for Calendula officinalis L. ADAS Bridgets Research Centre, Martyr Worthy, Winchester, UK. Hendawy SF, Khalid KA, 2005. Response of sage (Salvia Officinalis L.) plants to zinc application under different salinity levels. J. Appl. Sci. Res. 1 (2), 147155. Iran-Nejad H, Shahbazian N, 2005. Field Crops Tolerance to Stress. Kar No Press. Tehran. P: 230 Jevovi R, Kosti M, Todorovi G, Markovi. J, Deki S, 2008. Effects of the application of different types of fertilizers and habitats on the yield and seed quality of marigold (Calendula officinalis L.). Book of Abstracts. The Fifth Scientific-Research Symposium on Breeding and Seed Production. Vrnajka Banja - Serbia, May 25-28, 2008. Kafi M, Mahdavi Damghani A, 2000. Mechanisms of Environmental Stress Resistance in Plants. Ferdowsi University Press. P: 467. Kalvatchev Z, Walder R, Garzaro D, 1997. Anti-HIV activity of extracts from Calendula officinalis flowers. Biomed and Pharmacother. 51: 176-180. Khaje Pour MR, 1986. General principles of Agriculture. Jihad Danshgahy Isfahan University Press. P: 412. Khalid AKh, Teixeira da Silva JA, 2010. Yield, essential oil and pigment content of Calendula officinalis L. flower heads cultivated under salt stress conditions. Scientia Horticulturae. 126(2):297-305. Khalid KA, 2001. Physiological studies on the growth, development and chemical composition of Nigella sativa L. plant. PhD Thesis, Fac. Agric., Ain-Shams Univ. Cairo. Egypt, pp. 214218. Khold Barin B, Eslam-Zade T, Mineral Nutrition of Higher Plants. First volume. Shiraz University Press. P: 495. MaGuire JD, 1962. Speed of Germination. Aid in selection and evaluation for seedling emergence and vigor. Crop Science.2:176-177. Mardani-Nejad SH, Khold Barin B, Sadat Y, Morad Shahi A, Vazir Pour M, 2003. Vegetative behavior change and the amount of essential oil of lavender (Lavandula officinalis) in response to different amounts of ammonium nitrate. Iranian Journal of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants. 19: 16-35. Meizer zu Beerentrup H, Robbelen G, 1987. Calendula and Coriandrum, New potential oil crops for industrial uses. Fat. Sci. Technol. 6, 227230. 33- Mozafariyan V, 2003.Iranian Cultural Names of Plants. Farhange Moser Press. Omid Beygi R, 1998.The study of silymarin production in Silybum marianum plant with wild and agric seeds planting. Iranian Journal of Agricultural Science .29:413-420. Omid Beygi R, 1999.Important usage of breeding sweet fennel (Foeniclum vulgar).Pajouhesh-vaSazandegi.44:40-46. Omid Beygi R,1999.The study of chemical types of Iran Matricaria chamomillal L. wild and comparison with breeding type. Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology. 1: 45-53. Omid Beygi R, 2005.Production and processing of medicinal plants. First volume. Beh Nashr Press.P:135. Omid Beygi R, 2005.Production and processing of medicinal plants. Second volume. Beh Nashr Press.P:207. Richards LA, 1954. Diagnosis and improvement of saline and alkali Soils. USDA agriculture handbook No. 60. Washington. Salardini AA, 2000.Soil fertility. Tehran University Press. P: 440. Salardini AA, Mojtahedi M, 1988. Principals of plant nutrition. Second volume. Markaz Nashr Daneshghahi Press. Tehran. P: 316. Sedghi M, Nemati A, Esmaielpour B, 2010. Effect of seed priming on germination and seedling growth of twomedicinal plants under salinity. Emir. J. Food Agric. 22 (2): 130-139. Sinebo W, Gretzmacher R, Edelbauer A, 2004. Genotypic variation for nitrogen use efficiency in Ethiopian barley. Field Crops Res. 85: 4360.

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Estimating Leaf Area of Mango (Mngifera indica L.): A Comparison Between Destructive and Non-destructive Methods
Maryam. Ghoreishi1, 2, Yaghoob. Hossini2, Manochehr. Maftoon1
Department of Agriculture, Fars Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shiraz, Iran. Department of Soil and Water, Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Center of Hormozgan, Bandar Abass, Iran. Corresponding author: E-mail address: maryamgh1967@yahoo.com
2 1

Abstract: Mango (Mangifera indica L.), one of the most popular tropical fruits, is cultivated in a considerable part of southern Iran. Leaf area is a valuable parameter in mango research, especially plant physiological and nutrition field. Most of available methods for estimating plant leaf area are difficult to apply, expensive and destructive which could in turn destroy the canopy and consequently make it difficult to perform further tests on the same plant. Therefore, a non-destructive method which is simple, inexpensive, and could yield an accurate estimation of leaf area will be a great benefit to researchers. A regression analysis was performed in order to determine the relationship between the leaf area and leaf width, leaf length, dry and fresh weight. For this purpose 50 mango seedlings of local selections were randomly took from a nursery in the Hormozgan province, Iran, and different parts of plants were separated in laboratory. Leaf area was measured by different method included leaf area meter, planimeter, ruler (length and width), the fresh and dry weights of leaves were also measured. The best regression models were statistically selected using Determination Coefficient, Maximum Error, Model Efficiency, Root Mean Square Error and Coefficient of Residual Mass. Overall, based on regression equation, a satisfactory estimation of leaf area was obtained by measuring the non-destructive parameters, i.e. number of leaf per seedling, length of the longest leaf ,width of widest leaf (R2 = 0.88) and also destructive parameters, i.e. dry weight (R2 = 0.94) and fresh weight (R2= 0.94) of leaves. Keywords: destructive; leaf area; mango; non-destructive; regression linear models.

Introduction The leaf area measurement is one of the most important parameter in agricultural research especially in plant physiology and nutrition. This parameter is a representative of plant growth and development. Also its relationship with the absorption of light, respiration and photosynthesis is important. Therefore, accurate estimation of leaf area index is necessary for studying ecophysiology, atmosphere -ecosystems interaction, global climate change, water balance modeling and characterization of vegetation- atmosphere interactions (Chen et al., 1997; Rich et al., 1995). Many methods of measuring plants leaf area have been presented but most of them are mix of several models of measurement with complex and difficult mathematical equations. For example measuring leaf area by optical methods and image spectroscopy (Gosa et al., 2007) cannot be carried out everywhere.Even in methods such as using digital cameras and calculating the surface by computer programs; although taking photos is fast and very accurate analysis, but because of vast number of leaves this process takes a long time and often equipments are very expensive (Bignami & Rossini, 1996; Lu et al., 2004). Other methods are include, blue printing, photographic and planimeter that they all need to be separated leaves from the plants which cause the destruction of vegetation in order to create special problem in some studies those include plots with limited number of plants to be able to continue alternatively different tests on them (Cristofori et al., 2007; Lu et al., 2004; Ugese et al., 2008). Mango (Mangifera indica L.)is one of the world's oldest and the most popular tropical fruit, because of its wonderful fragrance, flavor, high nutritional value and the beauty of its color variety (Shafique et al., 2006; Tahir et al 2003). In general, carbohydrates constitute 60% of fruit dry weight which the main ingredients are sugar and acids. The amount of carbohydrates depends on the rate of the leaves photosynthesis which it also depends on the leaf area and the leaf photosynthetic capacity (Lu'chaudel et al., 2005). Estimating the leaf area without separating the leaves of the plant provides a simple, accurate and detailed cost method that can solve many problems of measuring the leaf area, especially in developing countries. Results show that using simple regression equations provide a model that includes estimation of the leaf area by measuring the leaf length and the width individually or in combination. In a study on a cucumber plant (Cho et al., 2007), it was observed a significant

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH correlation between the length and the width of cucumber leaves, plant fresh weight and dry weight with leaves area. In another research (Spann & Heerema, 2010) in order to measure the leaf area of 14 types of fruit trees such as Almond, Citrus, Olives etc reported that regression equations can be used for estimation a branch leaf area with measuring the length of the longest leaf of that branch without separating it and the leave numbers. In other studies (Lopes & Pinto, 2005; Sanchez-de-miguel et al., 2011) observed that using an experimental model could help to estimate the leaf area in the main stem of grapevine based on measuring the number of the leaf in the main stem and the leaf area of the tallest and the smallest leaves. They found that the method is a valid and reliable way to estimate leaf area in the vineyards of Spain (R2 = 0.94). Serdar & Demirsoy, (2006) apply a simple regression model for estimating the leaf area in chestnut successfully. In the present study is followed an attempt to provide a simple model, cheap, fast and without any destroying the leaves (separating leaves from the plant) to measure leaf area in seedling of mango. Material and method The research was done on the production of mango seedlings in the nursery of Hormozgan province. The first, 50 trees of mango seedlings from nursery of Minab and Roudan city in the Hormozgan province in southern Iran were selected. Then cut off the seedlings from crown and was transferred to the laboratory. In laboratory different parts of plants, were separated from each other and the leaves of each plant were counted individually. Next, the surface of each separated leaves were measured by the leaf area meter (Li-3100) and with Planimeter device (KP-90 N) after copied the leaves's figures on paper. Then the length and the width of every seedlings leaves was measured consequently with a ruler. Leaves, stems and roots of each seedling separately weighed and then dried at a temperature70 C for 72 hours and at the next stage dry weight of them were measured. In this study by measuring some of the parameters of leaves and using conventional regression equations, the leaf area and also the growth in other parts of the plant were estimated. Then the estimated leaf area plotted against the measured values and the models were compared. Also, comparison of quantitative models to calculate the statistic Determination Coefficient (R2), Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), Maximum Error (ME), Efficiency Factor (EF), Coefficient of Residual Mass (CRM) and the index Mean Square Error (MSE) for each of the models was performed(Mohammadi et al,.2007). Results and Discussion This study is proposing a simple measurement of length, width and number of leaves of various local mango trees. Based on that different regression equations were obtained by using Planimeter and oven devices. Some of the proposed models with statistically relevant statistics are given in Table 1.
Table1. Comparison of quantitative different models to estimate LA. LA: leaf area measured by leaf area meter; P: leaf area measured by planimeter; R: leaf area measured by

ruler; DW: dry weight; FW: fresh weight, (P< 0.01).

Row 1 2 3 4

Parameter LA=0.9932*P LA=0.6876*R LA=46.97*FW LA=113.41*DW

RMSE 6.727 35.226 105.199 143.932

MSE 0.000027 0.000541 0.017207 0.007166

CRM -0.0023 -0.0061 0.0732 0.0192

R2 0.9999 0.9968 0.9420 0.9468

ME 8.167 106.448 373.451 454.160

EF 0.9988 0.9968 0.9977 0.9468

As can be seen in rows 1 to 4, in Table 1, measuring the leaf area with ruler and Planimeter and also leaf fresh and dry weight are beneficial methods for determining the leaf area of mango leaves, according to compare the determination coefficient of regression models. Other statistics in rows 1 to 4 in Table 1 are also confirmed this. Linear relationship with the leaf area and four methods (Planimeter, ruler, fresh weight and dry weight) is shown in Figure 1.

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Figure1. Relationship between the leaf area with leaf area meter and digital Planimeter(a), Rule (b) fresh weight (c) and dry weight (d) (In the Oven 70 C)of mango leaves.

Each of the recommended methods has some advantages compare to the method using a leaf area meter. Planimeter device, is used in the planimeter method, in comparison with the leaf area meter is much cheaper and more available, due to its light weight, and being small and portable to different locations. Since the leaf area measured by a planimeter had an extremely high correlation with the measurement using a leaf area meter it was considered a suitable alternative device. Another way is measuring the length and the width of the seedling leaves with a ruler. Although it takes a lot of time to measure leaf area but the simplicity and extremely low cost compared to the other methods and considering that the amount of leaf area measured with this method is very close to the actual amount of the leaf area, makes it a good way to determine the leaf area. In particular, it allows measuring without separating the leaves of the seedlings and therefore not destroying it during the measuring procedure. Other possible proposed methods of predicting the leaf area of mango leaves are measurements of fresh and dry weight of leaves. As mentioned, the comparison between the two methods of fresh weight and dry weight shows despite the determination coefficient is almost the same, using the fresh weight method is preferred, first, because it is time saving (no need for spending time in the oven for drying leaves) and secondly, as a fresh leaf tissue is required in many experiments (including determination of chlorophyll, sugars, hormones, antioxidants, etc). So its a non-destructive process. But generally, these methods are usually used in situations where the researchers have to do chemical tests on the elements of plant and the destruction of vegetation is not considered in research. Despite the usefulness of previous methods for estimating the leaf area, they are time consuming. On the other hand, in some researches it is necessary to measure the leaf area of leaves, without damaging the plant and continue testing while the plant is performing its functions. The destruction of the plant (leaves) and consecutive measurements at a desired time period is especially important. In this direction many researches do modeling for estimating the leaf area a garden and crop plants has been done without the destruction of vegetation (Potdar et al., 1991; Cho et al., 2007; Cristofori et al., 2007; Ugese et al., 2008; Spann et al., 2010; Giuffrida et al., 2011). In this part of the experiment, in order to minimize the time, facilitate the determination and also to obtain an accurate estimation of the leaf area, by measuring some parameters like the length, width and the number of leaves per plant based on statistically statics, the reliable models were compared and the best one was found. This model can be a good alternative method for determining leaf area instead of leaf area meter device (Table 2).

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Table 2. Model of leaf area estimation of mango seedlings in field conditions without destroying the plant, along with relevant a statistically statistics

LA: leaf area measured by leaf area meter; SL: leaf area of longest leaf; SW: leaf area of widest leaf; L: length of longest leaf; W: width of widest leaf; N: number of leaf per seedling (P<0.01). Note: Sequence of the models in the table above is according to the preference.

ROW 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

parameter LA=0.2452[(L*W)*N] LA=1.0465[(L*W)*N]0.8261 LA= 0.0848(L2*N) LA=0.6979(L2*N)0.7806 LA= 0.259(SW*N) LA=1.6939(SW*N)0.7756 LA=0.2286(SL*N)+161.56 LA=1.4509(SL*N)0.7967

RMSE 149.12 243.11 476.48 236.84 268.62 271.35 271.01 275.63

MSE 0.0205 0.0076 0.0184 0.0087 0.9245 0.0103 0.0113 0.0104

CRM 0.17070 0.03266 0.07586 0.03124 0.05630 0.03799 0.00011 0.03393

R2 0.865 0.896 0.833 0.881 0.814 0.859 0.811 0.858

ME 1054.45 990.10 819.06 1011.76 792.98 1046.80 1012.31 1102.74

EF 0.9428 0.8481 0.9655 0.8558 0.8145 0.8108 0.8112 0.8047

Comparison between models shows that models 5&6 from table 2 are preferred due to higher R2, lower RMSE and higher EF, after that sequence of the models(from 7 to12) in the table 2 is according to the preference. Linear relationship with the leaf area and different method is shown

in figure 2.
3000

3500

Actual leaf area (cm2)

2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 0

Actual leaf area (cm2)

y=0.2452x R=0.8652 y=1.0465x 0.8261 R=0.8965

3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 0

y = 0.0848x R = 0.8329 y = 0.6979x0.7806 R = 0.8808

(Longest leaf *Widthest leaf )* no. of leaves

5000

10000

15000

20000

40000

60000

(Longest leaf )2 * no. of leaves

Actual leaf area (cm2)

3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 0

Widest leaf area (cm2) * no. of leaves
y = 0.259x R = 0.8145 y = 1.6939x0.7756 R = 0.8593

3000

Actual leaf area(cm2)

2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 0

y = 0.2286x + 161.56 R = 0.8112 y = 2.0288x1.0768 R = 0.8579

5000

10000

15000

Longest leaf area (cm2) * no. of leaves

5000

10000

15000

Figure 2. Relationship between leaf area by leaf area meter devices with dimensions measured with a ruler leaves (multiplied by dimensions, exponent of two the surface of and widest leaf and longest leaf in number of leaves)

In this experiment the possibility of measuring dry and fresh weight of leaf, stem and also root in mango seedlings by measuring the length and width of leaves were studied. According to the experiments could be carried out with the accuracy and suitable speeds for the fresh and dry weight leaves of seedlings and also for stem fresh weight and root dry weight of seedlings without damaging the plants. Table 3 shows the linear equation between leaf dry and fresh weight with the width of the widest leaf times the length of the longest leaf leaves times the number of leaves with relatively high determination coefficient (R2=0.86 ,R2=0.84). The fresh weight of stem, with the sum of the width of the widest leaf and the length of the longest leaf times the number of leaves show a significant linear regression relationship (R2= 0.72). Root dry weight with the square of the width of the widest times the number of leaves show relatively a good determination coefficient (R2 = 0.65). The equations associated with a statistically relevant statistics are given in Table 3. However high determination coefficient for estimating the root dry

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH weight was not obtained in this model, but due to the importance of knowing the amount of root growth in physiological and nutritional studies, and considering the difficulties in directly measuring the root, this model can be a good guide to solve this problem.
ROW 13 14 15 16 Parameter DW(root)=0.0017(W2*N)+1.2146 FW(stem)=0.0145[(L+W)*N]+3.1817 FW(leaf)=0.0051[(W*L)*N] DW(leaf)=0.0021[(W*L)*N] RMSE 1.102 3.845 2.741 2.236 MSE 0.01899 0.02387 0.02245 0.14503 CRM -0.00614 -0.00591 -0.02212 0.03974 R2 0.6472 0.7244 0.8637 0.8391 ME 2.295 8.395 19.449 7.416 EF 0.6470 0.9370 0.9651 0.8386

Table 3. Comparison of different models to estimate of leaves dry and fresh weight, fresh weight of stem and

root dry weight of mango seedlings in field conditions without destroying the plant

DW: dry weight; FW: fresh weight, L: length of longest leaf; W: width of widest leaf; N: number of leaf per seedling.

Results obtained from this research are consistent with the research results conducted on cucumber (Cho et al., 2007) estimating the fresh and dry weight of leaves by measuring the length and width of leaf without separating the leaf from the plant. Conclusion In this case study, the simple regression models were obtained to estimate the leaf area of mango that can be used with high percentage confidence in the physiological and nutritional studies. The results indicate that the leaf area of a mango seedling with high speed and accuracy can be achieved by measuring the length of the longest leaf, width of the widest leaf and also number of leaf without using expensive equipment. Models were time saving and easily predicted in the field conditions. A point to note is the estimation method of the leaf area without destruction; it makes possible to measure of leaf area in reload period of the plant growth. Thus this model can be convenient and quick alternative, especially at places where there is no access to modern equipment or other devices for measurement measuring the leaf area. Acknowledgements Gratitude is expressed to Ms. Ghanizadeh, Ms. Armat, and Mr. Nezhadi for technical assistance. Bignami, C., and Rossini, F., (1996). Image analysis estimation of leaf area index and plant size of young hazelnut plants. Journal of Horticultural Science, 71,113-121. Chen, J. M., Rich, P.M., Gower,S. T., Norman, J. M., Plummer, S., (1997). Leaf area index of boreal forests: theory, techniques, and measurements. Journal Geophysical research, 102(D24), 29429- 29443. Cho, Y. Y., Oh, S., Oh, M. M., Son, J. E., ( 2007). Estimation of individual leaf area, fresh weight and dry weight of hydroponically grown cucumbers (Cucumis sativus L.) using leaf length, width, and SPAD value. Scientia Horticulturae, 111, 330-334. Cristofori, V., Rouphael, Y., Gyves, E. M., Bignami, C., (2007). A simple model for estimating leaf area of hazelnut from linear measurements. Scientia Horticulturae, 113, 221-225. Giuffrida, F., Rouphael, Y., Toscano, S., Scuderi, D., Romano, D., Rivera, C.M., Collia, G., Leonardi, C., (2011). A simple model for nondestructive leaf area estimation in bedding plants. Photosynthetica, 49(3): Gosa, A. G., Schaepman-Strub, G., Kooistra, L., Schaepman, M., Pellikka, P., (2007). Estimation of leaf area index using optical field intriments and imaging spectroscopy. Proceeding 5th Earsel Workshop on Imaging Spectroscopy. Bruges, Belgium. Lechaudel, M., Joas, J., Caro, Y., Genard, M., Jannoyer, M., (2005). Leaf:fruit ratio and irrigation supply affect seasonal changes in minerals, organic acids and sugars of mango fruit. Journal of Science Food and Agriculture, 85, 251- 260. Lopes, C., and Pinto P. A., (2005). Easy and accurate estimation of grapevine leaf area with simple mathematical models. Vitis, 44(2), 55- 61.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Lu, H. Y., Lu, C. T., Wei, M. L., Chan, L. F., (2004). Comparison of different models for nondestructive leaf area estimation in taro. Argon Journal, 96, 448- 453. Mohammadi, A., Mosaede, A., Heshmatpour, A., (2007). Determination of the best model to estimate suspended sediment loads in Gbazaghly gauge station-Gorganrood River, Iran. Journal of Agricultural Science and Nature Resource, 14(4), 232-240. Potdar, M.V., and Pawar, K. R., (1991). Non-destructive leaf area estimation in banana. Scientia Horticulturae, 45, 251-254. Rich, P. M., Chen, J., Sulatycki, S. J., Vashisht, R., Wachspress, W. S., (1995). Calculation of leaf area index and other canopy indices from gap fraction: a manual for the LAICALC software. Kansas Applied Remote Sensing Program Open File Report. Sanchez-de-Miguel, P., Junquera, P., De la Fuente, M., Jimenez, L., Linares, R., Baeza, P., Lissarrague, R., (2011). Estimation of vineyard leaf area by linear regression. Spanish Journal of Agricultural Research, 9(1), 202-212. Serdar, U., and Demirsoy, H., (2006). Non-destructive leaf area estimation in chestnut. Scientia Horticulturae, 108, 227-230. Shafique, M. Z., Ibrahim, M., Helali M. O. H., Biswas, S. K., (2006). Studies on the physiological composition of different mango cultivars at various maturity levels. Bangladesh Journal of Scientific and Industrial Research, 41(1-2), 101- 108. Spann, T. M., and Heerema, R. J., (2010). A simple method for non-destructive estimation of total shoot leaf area in tree fruit crops. Scientia Horticulturae, 125, 528-533. Tahir, F.M., Ibrahim, M., Hamid, K., ( 2003). Seasonal variation in nutrient concentration of bearing and non-bearing terminals in mango (Mangifera indica L.). Asian Journal of plant Science, 2(1), 113-115. Ugese, F. D., Baiyeri, K. P., Mbah, B. N., (2008). Leaf area determination of shea butter tree (Vitellaria paradoxa C. F. Gaerts). International Agrophysics , 22, 167-170.

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Nanotechnology and Advanced Practical Options to Improve Fertilizer Use Efficiency

A. Danesh-Shahraki1 and M. R. Naderi1
1

Department of agronomy, Shahrekord university, Sharekord, Iran Corresponding author: danesh-a@agr.sku.ac.ir

Abstract: Fertilizers are commonly used to crops as soil or foliar application. In these conditions, due to the occurrence of some problems such as leaching and runoff, only a small fraction of the active ingredient of fertilizers, that is much less than the minimum effective concentration for normal plant growth, will be available for Plants. Hence, in order to implement effective control over the nutritional status of plants, frequent use of chemical fertilizers is needed. This continuous use can cause some undesirable side effects such as water and soil pollution. So new technologies must use to design and manufacturers of fertilizers that have features such as controlled-release and slow-release nutrients, especially in response to special stimulants, improved targeting activities, lower environmental toxicity and easy and safe delivery of nutrients, and thereby prevent the frequent use of chemical fertilizers. Nanotechnology as an emerging technology has an important role in optimizing conventional agricultural management techniques. Increase in fertilizer use efficiency, reduction in production costs and more protection of the environment are some of the major characteristics that can be achieved by employing nanotechnology and development of nanofertilizers and nanosystems in nutrients delivery to the roots of plants. Keywords: Nanotechnology, fertilizer use efficiency, hydroxyapatite nanoparticles, nanoporous zeolites

Introduction Fertilizers are commonly used to crops as soil or foliar application. In these conditions, due to the occurrence of some problems such as leaching and runoff, only a small fraction of the active ingredient of fertilizers, that is much less than the minimum effective concentration for normal plant growth, will be available for plants. Hence, in order to implement effective control over the nutritional status of plants, frequent use of chemical fertilizers is needed. This continuous use can cause some undesirable side effects such as water and soil pollution. Thus, increasing fertilizer use efficiency and reduce environmental pollution caused by unreasonable use of fertilizers, are important steps towards sustainable development of agriculture (Paramasivam and Alva, 1997). So far, efforts to increase nutrient use efficiency through improved formulations of conventional chemical fertilizers have resulted in little success (Kottegoda et al., 2011). Nanotechnology as the science of working with the smallest possible particles, raises hopes for the future to overcome the problems encountered in agriculture. Using nanotechnology, especially use of nanoparticles, the nutrient and water status in plants could determine. So, when the plant is able to absorb the highest amount of water and nutrients, irrigation or fertilization is done (Chinnamuthu and Boopathi, 2009). The objective of this study is giving a brief overview on nanotechnology and advanced practical options to improve fertilizer use efficiency. Such studies will provide the theoretical backgrounds that are needed for applied agricultural research in this field. Layered nanomaterials In order to protect human health and the environment, global efforts have been made towards the use of nanotechnology for the design, construction and development of "green materials". The "green materials" is typically stands for substances made from recyclable or sustainable materials that are compatible with the environment and do not destroy it. However, green materials can also refer to non-toxic, eco-friendly biomaterials which offer safer alternatives for human life. layered nanoparticles such as layered double hydroxides, hydroxy double salts and cationic clays because of its biocompatibility and biological applications, are classified as green materials. Over the years Layered nanoparticles have long been exploited as supports or templates for chemical processes in industry. Nowadays, increasing attention is focused on their biological usages such as biomolecule reservoirs, in nanomedicine, and as agricultural nutritional materials. Some of layered nanomaterials traits such as slow release and biological compatibility, enables their agricultural applications. Park et al., (2008) tried to stabilize urea in the interlayer space of montmorillonite to form of urea-magnesium complexes. With the help of layered materials in

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH fertilizer, the degradation of urea in soils was significantly delayed. Nowadays, utilizationof layered materials as vehicles nutritional ingredients and controlled release matrices for herbicides or fertilizers are the recent novel approaches in application of layered materials. Slow release nanofertilizers Controlled or slow release fertilizers released their nutrient contents gradually to coincide with the nutrient requirement of a plant (Paramasivam and Alva 1997). These fertilizers were physically prepared from the granules of the soluble fertilizers by coating them with materials, which reduce their dissolution rate. Application of controlled release fertilizers improved their efficiency, reduced soil toxicity, minimized the potential negative effects associated with over dosage, and reduced the frequency of consumption. Furthermore, it is possible that these types of fertilizers improve the soil for cultivation with regard to better soil aeration and friability and soil erosion prevention (Liu et al., 2006). Many researches have been carried out around the world to select the appropriate coating materials. However, covering materials that have already been recommended had many disadvantages, such as high cost and limited application, that had to be improved and upgraded. Among this, nanotechnology has immense potential value to design and manufacture new synthetic or natural materials With desirable traits that necessary to cover or cement fertilizers. Some reactions, such as adsorption, intercalation, and ion exchange that occurred between clay minerals and organic matter or inorganic matter, formed the clay nano-composites (Qiu et al.,. 2004). Because of its desirable traits, application of clay nano-composites improved physiochemical characteristics of soil and fertilizer nutrient use efficiency (Liu et al. 2005). Lately, the utilization of slow release fertilizers has become a new trend to save fertilizer consumption and to minimize environmental pollution. This brings out the idea of developing encapsulated fertilizers, in which NPK fertilizers are entrapped within nanoparticles (Corradini et al., 2010). Therefore, the fertilizers are protected by the nanoparticles for better survival in inoculated soils, allowing for their controlled release into the soil (Saigusa, 2000). Chitosan is a polymer which is due to its features such as biodegradable, bioabsorbable, and bactericidal, has a special importance in the design and construction of environmentally friendly fertilizers (No et al., 2007). Another possible strategy to improve the formulation of conventional fertilizers and increasing nutrient use efficiency is a nanostrategy involving a slow-release fertilizer composition based on urea-modified hydroxyapatite nanoparticles encapsulated into the cavities present in soft wood. hydroxyapatite nanoparticles were envisaged as a suitable candidate for ready surface modification with different organic and inorganic materials due to their rich surface chemistry (Kottegoda et al., 2011). Appearance of strong interactions between nanoparticles and the urea molecules may have contributed significantly towards the slow and sustained release of urea when the system is encapsulated within the cell cavities. Advantages of the above slow-release fertilizer would be improved efficiency and higher crop yield as the nutrients are released over time, thus enhancing hitherto problematic NUE. In addition to having an impact on energy and economy as highlighted above, the novel nanostrategy is envisaged to result in reduced environmental damage from leaching of nitrogen, compared to conventional water-soluble fertilizers (Kottegoda et al., 2011). Nanoporous zeolites Zeolites are important in plant nutrition Because of their high cation-exchange capacity and porosity. The specific structure and diversity of the zeolites vary as also their application. They can be used either as carriers of nutrients and/or a medium to free the nutrients (Ramesh et al., 2010). The main use of zeolites in agriculture is in nitrogen capture, storage and slow release (Leggo, 2000). Application of soluble N fertilizers is one of the major reasons for groundwater contamination. Nitrogen releasing dynamics of the absorbed form (in zeolites) is much slower than for the ionic form. There are reports of ureaimpregnated zeolite chips, which can be used as slowrelease nitrogen fertilizers (Millan et al., 2008). Li (2003) demonstrated the possibility of using surfactantmodified zeolite using hexa decyl trimethyl ammonium as fertilizer carrier to control nitrate release, and deduced that surfactant-modified zeolite is a suitable sorbent for nitrate, since slow
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH release of nitrate is achievable. These dual properties suggest that surfactant-modified zeolite has potential as fertilizer carrier to control the release of nitrate and other anions. Ammonium-charged zeolites have shown their ability to increase the solubilization of phosphate minerals and thus leading to improved phosphorus uptake by plants and yield of crops. Studies conducted to examine solubility and cation-exchange in mixtures of rock phosphate and NH+4 and K-saturated clinoptilolite showed that mixtures of zeolite and phosphate rock have the potential to provide slow-release fertilization of plants in synthetic soils by dissolution and ion-exchange reactions (Allen et al., 1993). Smart delivery systems A very interesting application of nanoparticles in the life sciences area is their use as smart delivery systems. Nowadays, these smart delivery systems are being widely investigated for cancer treatments. capabilities of smart delivery systems to target particularly the desired tumor tissue avoids the undesired side-effects of the treatment and reduces the concentration of drug required, leading to a more efficient drug administration (Kukowska-Latallo et al., 2005). The same principles can be applied in plants for a broad range of agricultural uses. These smart systems deliver chemicals in a controlled and targeted manner as similar to the proposed use of nanodrug delivery in humans (Lu et al., 2008). In additionThrough implanting smart nano-particles in the plants could determine the nutrient status in plants and useful for remedial measures to the malady that causes yield reduction (Chinnamuthu and Boopathi, 2009). Conclusion As fertilizers, particularly artificial fertilizers, have a major potential to pollute soil, water and air, In recent years, many efforts were done to minimize these problems by agricultural practices and the design of the new improved fertilizers. The emergence of nanotechnology open up potential novel applications in various fields of agriculture and biotechnology. Nanostructured formulation through mechanisms such as targeted delivery or controlled release mechanisms, could release their active ingredients in responding to environmental triggers and biological demands more precisely. There is the possibility of using these mechanisms to design and construction of nanofertilizers. Hence, nanotechnology has a high potential for achieving sustainable agriculture, especially in developing countries References Allen, E. R., Hossner, L. R., Ming, D. W. and Henninger, D. L., (1993). Solubility and cation exchange in phosphate rock and saturated clinoptilolite mixtures. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., 57, 13681374. Chinnamuthu, C. R. and Boopathi, P. M., (2009). Nanotechnology and Agroecosystem. Madras Agricultural Journal, 96, 17-31. Corradini, E., Moura, M. R. and Mattoso, L. H. C., (2010). A preliminary study of the incorporation of NPK fertilizer into chitosan nanoparticle. Polymer Letters, 4, 509515. Kottegoda, N., Munaweera, I., Madusanka, N. and Karunaratne, V., (2011). A green slowrelease fertilizer composition based on urea-modified hydroxyapatite nanoparticles encapsulated wood. Current science, 101, 73-78. Kukowska-Latallo, J. F., Candido, K. A., Cao, Z., Nigavekar, S. S., Majoros, I. J., Thomas, T. P., Balogh, L. P., Khan, M. K., Baker, J. R., (2005). Nanoparticle targeting of anticancer drug improves therapeutic response in animal model of human epithelial cancer. Cancer Research, 65, 53175324. Leggo, P. J., (2000). An investigation of plant growth in an organozeolitic substrate and its ecological significance. Plant Soil, 219, 135146. Li, Z., (2003). Use of surfactant-modified zeolite as fertilizer carriers to control nitrate release. Microporous Mesoporous Mater., 61, 181188. Liu, X. M., Zhang, F. D., Zhang, S. Q., He, X. S., Wang, R. F., Feng, Z. B. and Wang, Y. J., (2005). Responses of peanut to Nano-calcium carbonate. Plant Num'tion and Fertilizer Science, 11, 385-389.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Liu, X., Feng, Z., Zhang, S., Zhang, J. Xiao, Q. and Wang, Y., (2006). Preparation and testing of cementing nano-subnano composites of slowor controlled release of fertilizers. Scientia Agricultura Sinica, 39, 1598-1604. Milln, G., Agosto, F., Vzquez, M., Botto, L., Lombardi, L. and Juan, L., (2008). Use of clinoptilolite as a carrier for nitrogen fertilizers in soils of the Pampean regions of Argentina. Cienc. Inv. Agr., 35, 245254. No, H. K., Meyers, S. P., Prinyawiwatkul, W. and Xu, Z., (2007). Applications of chitosan for improvement of quality and shelf life of foods: A review. Journal of Food Science, 72, 87 100. Paramasivam, S. and Alva, A. K., (1997). Leaching of nitrogen forms from controlled-release nitrogen fertilizers. Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis, 28, 1663-1674. Park, J. K., Bin Choy, Y., Oh, J. M., Kim, J. Y., Hwang, S. J. and Choy, J. H., (2008). Controlled release of donepezil intercalated in smectite clays. International Journal of Pharmaceutics, 359(12): 198204. Qiu, H. X., Yu, J. G. and Lin, T., (2004). Synthesis and properties of sodium carboxymethylcellulose/montmorillonite nanocomposites. Acta Polymerica Sinica, 3, 419423. Ramesh, K., Biswas, A. K, Somasundaram, J. and Rao, A. S., (2010). Nanoporous zeolites in farming: current status and issues ahead. Current Science, 99, 760-764. Saigusa, M., (2000). Broadcast application versus band application of polyolefin-coated fertilizer on green peppers grown on andisol. Journal of Plant Nutrition, 23, 14851493.

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Effect of foliar application of zinc and manganese on physiological parameters of plant growth and growth rate of red bean pods under drought stress
A. Danesh-Shahraki1, M. Jamshidi2, G. Fathi2 and S. M. Hashemi-Jazi3
1

Department of Agronomy, Shahrekord University, Shahrekord, Iran Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding, Agricultural and Natural Resource University of Ramin, Ahvaz, Iran 3 Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Center, Shahrekord, Iran Email: danesh-a@agr.sku.ac.ir
2

Abstract
In order to study the effect of foliar application of zinc and manganese on physiological parameters of plant growth and growth rate of red bean pods (cv Naz) under drought stress, this experiment was carried out in a split plot factorial design with three replications in 2010 at agricultural research center of Shahrekord. The drought treatments at three levels, including S1, S2 and S3 (irrigation after 50, 70 and 90 mm water evaporation from evaporation pan class A, respectively) considered as the main plots and foliar application of Zn (zinc sulfate) at three levels (0, 100 and 200 g.ha-1) and also Mn (manganese sulfate) at three levels (0, 150 and 300 g.ha-1) were considered as sub-plots. Leaf area index (LAI), leaf area duration (LAD), crop growth rate (CGR), net assimilation rate (NAR) and pod growth rate (PGR) were measured. The results showed that drought stress significantly reduced all evaluated traits. Foliar application of Zn and Mn had a positive and significant effect on pod growth rate. Overall, results showed that foliar application of Mn can recommended as an effective way to improve yield under drought conditions.

Key words: Bean, Drought stress, Manganese, Zinc, pod growth rate and growth indexes Introduction Plant growth indices are useful tools for quantitative analysis of plant growth in different environmental conditions. They provide a proper interpretation of how plant species respond to stressful conditions. In both natural and agricultural situations, plants are exposed to environmental stress. Among the different types of environmental stress, drought stress is an important factor that limiting production of large seeded legumes such as beans, which are widely used around the world as food crops (Cruz de Carvalho et al., 1998). So drought stress after diseases is the second largest contributor to the beans yield reduction. Drought adversely affects many physiological and biochemical processes and nutrient balance in plants. Among the micronutrients, Zinc and Manganese nutrition can affect the sensitivity of plants to drought stress (Khan et al., 2003). Studies have been shown that a small amount of Zinc and Manganese applied by foliar spraying can signi cantly increase the yield of crops (Crabtree, 1999; Gadallah, 2000 ;Hebbern et al., 2005; Mirzapour and Khoshgoftar, 2006; Sarkar et al., 2007). Zinc plays a consequential role in the production of biomass (Kaya and Higgs, 2002; Cakmak, 2008) and it may be required for chlorophyll production, pollen function, fertilization and germination (Cakmak, 2008; Kaya and Higgs, 2002; Pandey et al., 2006). Manganese plays essential roles in the metabolism of isoprenoids, chlorophylls, carotenoids and phenolics. Previous studies have shown that external application of Manganese increases photosynthesis, net assimilation, and relative growth and yield (Lidon and Teixerira, 2000; Sultana et al., 2001). Despite much information regarding the effects of foliar application of Zinc and Manganese on bean and other crop plants, there is little information about the effect of foliar application of zinc and manganese on the bean under drought stress. So this study evaluated foliar zinc and manganese applications to assess their influence on physiological parameters of plant growth and pods growth rate of red bean under drought stress. Materials and Methods The experiment was carried out at experimental farm of, Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Center of Shahrekord (32036'N, 50056'E), Iran during 20092010. The experimental design was a split plot factorial in a randomized complete block with three replications. Three

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH drought stress treatments, including S1, S2 and S3 (irrigation after 50, 70 and 90 mm water evaporation from evaporation pan class A, respectively) were randomized to the main plots. Subplots were 9 treatments in number and consisted of a factorial combination of three foliar application treatments of zinc sulfate (0, 100 and 200 g.ha-1) and three foliar application treatments of manganese sulfate (0, 150 and 300 g.ha-1). Drought stress and foliar application treatments were implement from V4 growth stage. Growth analysis were performed by determining leaf area index (LAI), leaf area duration (LAD), crop growth rate (CGR) and net assimilation rate (NAR) according to methods outlined by Gardner et al., (1994). Pod growth rate (PGR) was calculated as follows:
PGR =

Where w and t are pod dry weight (g) and time (day), respectively. All data were analyzed with the GLM procedure using the SAS statistical software package. Means were compared using LSD test at 5% probability level. Results and Discussion The results showed that all of the evaluated traits were affected by different levels of drought stress, significantly (Table 1). With increasing in water stress severity, Leaf area index (LAI), leaf area duration (LAD), crop growth rate (CGR), net assimilation rate (NAR) and pod growth rate (PGR) decreased, significantly (Table 2). None of the simple effects of foliar application of Zinc and Manganese, their interaction and interactions between stress levels and the application of these elements had no significant effect on growth indexes (Table 1). While the effects of Zinc and Manganese, as well as the interaction of drought stress and foliar applications of Manganese on pod growth rate were significant. With increasing in Zinc and Manganese rates the pod growth rate was increased, significantly (Table 2). The highest and lowest of pod growth rates were obtained with application of 300 g. Mn.ha-1 along with no stress condition (S1Mn3) and without Manganese application along with severe drought stress condition (S3Mn1), respectively (Fig. 1). In this study, foliar application of Manganese extremely reduced damaging effects of drought stress on pod growth rate. This positive effect of Manganese on pod growth rate may be related be its role in the metabolism and biological activities as well as their impact on the photosynthetic pigments and enzymatic activities (El-Sherbeny, et al., 2007; Wanas, 2002). Table 1, Summary of variance analysis of characters S.O.V df LAI LAD CGR NAR R 2 0.10n.s 76.47* 20.44 ** 0.23n.s S 2 12.90** 2687.96** 318.28** 5.60** E(a) 4 0.29 439.9 8.33 0.03 Mn 2 0.76n.s 34.77n.s 1.51n.s 0.02n.s Zn 2 0.16n.s 8.49n.s 2.29 n.s 0.03n.s n.s n.s n.s S*Mn 4 0.05 4.82 2.37 0.20n.s n.s n.s n.s S*Zn 4 0.03 0.76 0.03 0.09n.s n.s n.s n.s Mn*Zn 4 0.008 8.38 0.20 0.10n.s n.s n.s n.s S*Mn*Zn 8 0.01 3.89 0.29 0.07n.s E(b) 48 0.09 20.44 1.34 0.21 *.** and n.s significant at the 5 and 1% and Non-significant, respectively

w 2 - w1 t 2 - t1

PGR 9.94n.s 187.31** 43.47 1639.84** 307.78** 70.40** 13.88n.s 7.21n.s 7.44n.s 20.25

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Table 2, Means comparison of characters LAD CGR LAI 2 -2 -1
(m .day) (g.m .day )

Treatment

Drought stress S1 3.30 a* 52.63 a 12.10 a 3.70 a 40.22 a S2 2.54 b 42.03 ab 8.72 b 3.45 b 34.65 b S3 1.92 c 32.68 b 5.23 c 2.81 c 23.84 c LSD 5% 0.40 15.80 2.18 0.10 4.90 Foliar application M1 (Control) 2.53 41.16 8.44 3.33 25.25 c -1 M2 (150 g Mn.ha ) 2.59 42.86 8.71 2.28 32.63 b M3 (300 g Mn.ha-1) 2.64 43.32 8.91 3.34 40.83 a Z1 (Control) 2.43 41.80 8.44 3.28 29.63 c Z2 (100 g Mn.ha-1) 2.55 42.48 8.57 3.35 32.70 b Z3 (200 g Mn.ha-1) 2.68 42.90 9.05 3.32 36.30 a LSD 5% 0.10 2.40 0.60 0.20 2.40 * Difference of means having similar letter in each column is not significantly different (LSD)

(g.cm-2.day-1)

NAR

(mg.pod-1.day-1)

PGR

Conclusions In conclusion, the results of this research showed that drought stress significantly reduced physiological parameters of plant growth and pod growth rate of Red Bean. Foliar application of Zn and Mn had a positive and significant effect on pod growth rate. According to these study results foliar application of Mn can recommended as an effective way to improve yield under drought conditions.

Fig. 1. Interactions between drought stress and different levels of foliar application of Manganese on pod growth rate References Cakmak, I., (2008). Enrichment of cereal grains with zinc: agronomic or genetic bioforti cation? Plant Soil 302, 117. Crabtree, W. L., (1999). Deep placement of Mn fertilizer on a sandy soil increased grain yield and reduced split seed in Lupinus angustifolius. Plant Soil 214, 914. Cruz de Carvalho, M. H., Laffray, D., Louguet, P., (1998). Comparison of the physiological responses of Phaseolus wulgaris and Vigna unguiculata cultivars when submitted to drought conditions. Environmental and Experimental Botany, 40, 197207.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH El-Sherbeny, S. E.; Khalil, M., Hussepn, M. S., (2007). Growth and productivity of rue (Ruts graveolens) under different foliar fertilizers application. Journal of Applied Sciences Research, 3(5), 399-407. Gadallah, M. A., (2000). Effects of indole-3-acetic acid and zinc on the growth, osmotic potential and soluble carbon and nitrogen components of soybean plants growing under water de cit. Journal of Arid Environment, 44, 451467. Gardner, F. P., Pearce, B. R., Mitchell, R. L., (1994). Physiology of Crop Plants. Iowa State University Press. Hebbern, C. A., Pedas, P., Schjoerring, J. K., Knudsen, L., Husted, S., (2005). Genotypic differences in manganese ef ciency: eld experiments with winter barley (Hordeum vulgare L.). Plant Soil, 272, 233244. Kaya, C., Higgs, D., (2002). Response of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L.) cultivars to foliar application of zinc when grown in sand culture at low zinc. Science Horticulture, 93, 53 64. Khan, H. R., McDonald, G. K., Rengel, Z., (2003). Zn fertilization improves water use efficiency, grain yield and seed Zn content in chickpea. Plant Soil, 249, 389-400. Lidon, F. C., Teixerira, M. G., (2000). Rice tolerance to excess Mn: implication in the chloroplast lamellae synthesis of a novel Mn protein. Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, 38, 969978. Mirzapour, M. H., Khoshgoftar, A. H., 2006. Zinc application effects on yield and seed oil content of sun ower grown on a saline calcareous soil. Journal of Plant Nutrrent, 29, 1719 1727. Pandey, N., Pathak, G. C., Sharma, C. P., (2006). Zinc is critically required for pollen function and fertilisation in lentil. Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology, 20, 8996. Sarkar, D., Mandal, B., Kundu, M. C., (2007). Increasing use ef ciency of boron fertilisers by rescheduling the time and methods of application for crops in India. Plant Soil 301, 7785. Sultana, N., Ikeda, T., Kashem, M. A., (2001). Effect of foliar spray of nutrient solutions on photosynthesis, dry matter accumulation and yield in seawater-stressed rice. Environmental and Experimental Botany, 46, 129140. Wanas, A. L., (2002). Resonance of faba bean (Vicia faba L.) plants to seed soaking application with natural yeast and carrot extracts. Annals of Agricultural Science, Moshtohor, 40(1), 259278.

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Seed germination of seven varieties of rice (Oryza Sativa) in the presence of salicylic acid under salt stress
M, TAFVIZI 1, H, NOURI 2, A, TAVAKOLI 3
1 2 3

M.Sc. Student, Department of soil science engineering, University of Tehran, Iran M.Sc. Student, Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Iran M.Sc. Students, Faculty of Agriculture, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

Corresponding Author: Tafvizi.m.s@gmail.com

Abstract
Salicylic acid (SA) is a growth regulator that promotes growth of plants under stress and non-stress conditions. In order to evaluate seed priming effects with SA treatment on some germination characteristics in rice varieties were grown under the salinity stress, an experiment was carried in Factorial test with 3 repeats in completely random design in physiology lab of University of Tehran in 2010. Experimental treatment included three levels of SA priming (0, 600, 1200 mol), two levels of (with and without salinity) and 7 rice varieties (Gaem, Mazandran, Fajr, Sepid, Neda, Nemat, Sang-e-tarom). The results showed salinity decreased seed germination percentage, shoot length, radical length, root numbers and level and about 1200 mole of SA decreased percentage of seed germination, radical length, shoot length and root number too. Interaction effect of salinity stress, varieties and salicylic acid on seed germination was significant at 1% level. Varieties sang tarom, neda and fajr showed highest percentage of seed germination

Keywords: priming, rice, salicylic acid, salt stress, seed germination

Introduction
The word salicylic acid (SA) was derived from Latin word Salix, meaning willow tree. It is ubiquitously distributed in the whole plant domain (Raskin et al., 1990) and is classified under the group of plant hormones (Raskin, 1992). SA is assigned diverse controlling roles in the metabolism of plants (Popova et al., 1997). Germination is one of the effective processes for improving the quality of cultivated plants which are widely consumed in the word. The process is influenced by external factors such as presence or absence of light, metal or mineral composition of soil, germination time, all of which aid or inhibit the germination process in relation to the reserve materials of the seed (Valverde2004). Seed priming is a method in which seeds are partially hydrated until the germination process begins, but radicle emergence does not occur (Bradford 1995). Primed seeds usually exhibit an increased germination rate, greater germination uniformity, and, at times, greater total germination percentage (Basra et al 2005). Germination and seedling growth are reduced in saline soils with varying responses for species and cultivars ( Hampson and Simpson, 1990). Salinity may also affect the germination of seeds by creating an external osmotic potential that prevents water uptake or due to toxic effects of Na+ and Cl- ions on the germinating seed (Khajeh-Hosseini et al., 2003). Senaratna (2000) reported that SA could provide multiple stress tolerance. Similarly, soaking wheat seeds in SA solution provided protection against not only drought, but also salinity stress (Hamada and Al-Hakimi, 2001). Oryza sativa (rice) is recognized as one of the most important crops in the world and it provides the main source of energy for more than half of the world population. It is the major food crop in the Asia. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of salicylic acid (SA) seed priming on some germination characteristics in rice varieties were grown under the salinity stress.

Materials and Methods

In order to evaluate the effects of seed priming under salinity conditions on germination traits, a factorial experiment was conducted in physiology lab of University of Tehran in 2010 based on
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH the completely randomized block design with three replications. Experimental treatments included three levels of SA priming (0, 600, 1200 mol), two levels of (with and without salinity) and 7 rice varieties (Gaem, Mazandran, Fajr, Sepid, Neda, Nemat, Sang-e-tarom). Seed disinfection: Twenty five seeds of each cultivar were enclosed and soaked for 30 second in 0.5% solution (v/v) of sodium hypochlorite. After each treatment, the seeds were rinsed (15 see) three times with distilled water. Rice seedling treated with different concentrations of salicylic acid (SA) (i.e. 0, 600, 1200 mol ) have been used for seedling growth. For this purpose, after surface sterilization of seeds, they were soaked in SA solutions for 48 h and thereafter dried by sterile paper. Then they were transferred in to whatman filter paper and were grown under the salinity stress (NaCl solution) and without salinity (distilled water) conditions. The number of germinated seed, radical length, shoot length and root number were recorded after one week. The analysis of variance of the data was done by SAS, 9.1 and MCTATC software.

Results and Discussion

Radical length: Analysis of variance results showed that effects of varieties, varieties salicylic acid priming Interaction (p<0.05), priming salinity Interaction and varieties salicylic acid priming salinity Interaction (p<0.01) were significant. Effect of priming, salinity and varieties salinity interaction were not significant (table1). Since there was significant Interaction between varieties salicylic acid priming salinity, highest radical length was relative to Neda variety under control priming and without salinity. But the Lowest radical length was obtained under control priming and salinity that was relative to Mazandran variety. Similarly, mer et al (2000) reported that salinity (NaCl) decreased radical length of different crop. Shoot length: Analysis of variance results showed that effect of salicylic acid priming and salinity was significant (p<0.05). Since there was significant varieties salicylic acid priming salinity Interaction, The Sepid variety in SA priming (600 mol) level and non-salinity conditions showed the highest mean of shoot length. The lowest mean was related to Mazandran variety under SA priming control and salinity stress. Root numbers: Analysis of variance results showed that effect of varieties, salicylic acid priming and salinity was significant (p<0.05) (table 1).Since there was significant varieties salicylic acid priming salinity Interaction. The highest mean of root numbers was related to Sepid and Nemat varieties and the lowest was related to Mazandran variety. Germination percentage: The effects of varieties, varieties salicylic acid priming Interaction at 5% and varieties salinity Interaction and salicylic acid priming salinity Interaction at 1% were significant but varieties salicylic acid priming salinity Interaction was not significant (table 1). The result of mean comparison showed that highest germination percentage was related to the tarom, neda and fajr varieties and lowest germination percentage was related to the Mazandran variety. In the condition of salinity stress, highest and lowest mean was relative to Salicylic acid levels 600 and 1200 mol, respectively. Shakirova (2003) reported that Salicylic acid (SA) is a germination inducer. According to the results of this study, it is concluded that Salicylic acid priming causes a series of biochemical changes during seed priming which will show its effect on growth and developmental stages.
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Table1: Analysis of variance for Oryza sativa (rice) seed germination radical length, shoot length and root number s.o.v Genotype prime Genotype*prime salinity Genotype*salinity Prime*salinity Genotype*prime*salinity error CV% df 6 2 12 1 6 2 12 84 Mean Square radical length 196.56** 2.77ns 14.92* .071ns 12.66ns 34.37* 17.31* 7.99 15.2 Shoot length 61.59** 19.24** 19.61** 97.17** 20.55** 3.22* 13.75** .94 11.27 Root number 9.87** 5.73** 5.08** 4.76** 5.1** 3.21** 9.42** .37 16.44 GP 395.68** 21.84ns 47.17* 24.88ns 75.85** 99.55** 30.07ns 20.31 5.47

* And **: Significant at the 5% and 1% probability levels, respectively ns: no-significant

References
Basra SMA, Farooq M, Tabassum R. (2005). Physiological and biochemical aspects of seed vigor enhancement treatments in ne rice (Oryza sativa L.). Seed Sci. Technol. 33(3). Bradford, K.J. (1995). Water relations in seed germination. In "Seed Develop mentand Germination" (J. Kigel and G. Galili, Eds.), pp. 351-396. Marcel Dekker Inc., New York. Hamada, A. M., and Al-Hakimi, A.M. A., (2001). Salicylic acid versus salinity-drought induced stress on wheat seedlings. Rostl. Vyr. 47: 444-450. Hampson C, Simpson G (1990). Effects of temperature, salt, and osmotic potential on early growth of wheat (Triticum aestivum. I) Germination. Can. J. Bot., 68: 524-528. Khaje-hosseini, M., A. A. Powell, I.J. Bingham, (2003). The interaction between salinity stress and seed vigour during germination of soybean seeds, Seed Sci. Technol., 31, 715725. Mer, R. K., Prajith, P. K., Pandya, D. H. & Dandey, A. N. (2000). Growth of young plants of Hourdum vulgare, Triticum aestivum. Cicer aritinum and Brassica Juncea. J Agronomy and Crop Science, 185, 209-217 Popova, L., Pancheva, T., and Uzunova, A., (1997). Salicylic acid: Properties, biosynthesis and physiological role. Bulg. J. Plant Physiol., 23: 85-93. Raskin, I., (1992) .Role of salicylic acid in plants. Ann. Rev. Plant Physiol. Plant Mol. Biol., 43: 439-463. Raskin, I., Skubatz, H., Tang, W., and Meeuse, B. J. D., (1990). Salicylic acid levels in thermo genic and non-thermo genic plants. Ann. Bot., 66: 376-383 Senaratna, T., Touchell, D., Bunn, E., and Dixon, K., (2000). Acetyl salicylic acid (Aspirin) and salicylic acid induce multiple stress tolerance in bean and tomato plants. Plant Growth Regul, 30: 157-161. Shakirova, F.M., sahabutdinova D.R. (2003).Changes in the hormonal status of wheat seedlings induced by salicylic acid and salinity .Plant science.164: 317-322. Valverde, T., Quijas, S., Lo pez-Villavicencio, M. and Castillo, S. (2004). Population dynamics of Mammillaria magnimamma Haworth (Cactaceae) in a lava-field in Central Mexico. Plant Ecology 170, 167184

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Modifications in phosphorus forms in the rhizosphere of different plant species

Luciano Colpo Gatiboni, Evandro Luiz Schoninger, Paulo Roberto Ernani
Santa Catarina State University, Av. Luis de Cames 2090, Lages-SC, Brazil, 88520-000. Corresponding author: lgatiboni@gmail.com

Abstract

Plants, through intermediation of diverse mechanisms, have shown different responses to fertilization with rock phosphate, including responses through alteration of the attributes of rhizospheric soil. The objective of this study was to evaluate the alterations in different forms of phosphorus in the rhizosphere of soil fertilized with rock phosphate as a result of cultivation of different species of plants. An experiment was developed in a greenhouse in the city of Lages, southern of Brazil. Treatments consisted of the cultivation of four species of plants (soybeans - Glycine max (L.) Merrill, brachiaria grass - Brachiaria brizantha Hochst Stapf, millet Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Brown, and sorghum - Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) and one control (absence of plants) in PVC columns filled with soil and divided with nylon mesh (25 m) to impede root growth in part of the column. After 45 days of cultivation, the soil was divided into the layers of 0-1, 1-2, 2-3, 3-4, 4-5, 5-7, 7-9, and 9-14 mm as of the rhizoplane and air dried so as to determine the P contents through Hedley fractionation. The cultivation of millet, brachiaria grass, and sorghum reduced the inorganic P content in the most labile forms of Hedley fractionation only in the 0-1 mm layer as of the rhizoplane. Keywords: Phosphorus fractionation, cover plants, Brazilian cerrado soils, rock phosphate, rhizospheric soil.

Introduction Phosphorus (P) deficiency has been one of the greatest limitations to increasing productivity of crops in tropical regions, with food production being highly dependent on the use of phosphate fertilizers, especially from soluble sources. These sources provide good P availability soon after their application (Prochnow et al., 2004); however, they present high production cost and low residual effect due to significant adsorption of P derived from fertilizers on soil colloids. Seeking to reduce crop production costs, an increase in the use of less soluble P sources, such as rock phosphates (RP), has been observed. Such phosphates need low pH values and P and Ca sinks of the soil to favor their dissolution and P availability (Robinson and Syers, 1990). Nevertheless, the soil characteristics that favor RP dissolution may be limiting factors for plant development and, for that reason, countless studies have been made on the micro region of the soil that may present characteristics desirable for RP dissolution due to plant development the rhizosphere (Hinsinger and Gilkes, 1995). The alterations caused in the rhizospheric soil attributes vary according to the plant species cultivated (Hinsinger and Gilkes, 1996, 1997). Thus, the identification of species more capable of accessing less available forms of P and later introduction of them in a crop rotation system may benefit to nutrient recycling. In the central region of Brazil, brachiaria grass, sorghum, and millet have presented potential for use as cover plants in the between harvest period of soybeans and, because this, the objective of this study was to evaluate alterations in different forms of phosphate in the rhizosphere of a soil fertilized with rock phosphate and cultivated with these plant species. Material and methods The experiment was carried out in the city of Lages, SC, Brazil. A soil sample collected from the 020 cm layer of an Oxisol with a clayey texture was used, which was planted to pasture with Brachiaria brizantha in the municipality of Matup MT (101018 S, 545133W). The soil was air dried and passed through a sieve with a 2 mm and it presented the following characteristics: pH in water: 5.4; P (Mehlich 1): 0.5 mg dm-3; K: 1.4 mmolc dm-3; Ca: 7.0 mmolc dm-3; Mg: 4.2 mmolc dm-3; Al: 4.2 mmolc dm-3; H+Al: 54.8 mmolc dm-3; organic matter: 30 g dm-3; CEC(pH 7.0): 67.4 mmolc dm-3; base saturation: 19%; sand: 296 g kg-1; silt: 165 g kg-1; clay: 538 g kg-1. The soil was incubated for 20 days with moisture near that retained in field capacity, with a dose of CaCO3 equivalent to 2.4 t ha-1 of lime to raise the base saturation of the soil to 50%. Then, the equivalent of 140 kg ha-1 of P2O5 and 100 kg ha-1 of K2O were added to the soil in the forms of Arad rock phosphate and potassium chloride respectively.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Carrying out the experiment in a greenhouse was based on the methods described by Kuchennbuch and Jungk (1982), Zoysa et al., (1997) and Chen et al., (2002). For this purpose, PVC columns of 5 cm diameter and 10 cm height were created, which were composed of an upper column of 5 cm height, an intermediate column of 2 cm height and a lower column of 3 cm height. At the base of the upper column was fastened a nylon mesh with a 25 m opening (for the purpose of impeding root growth to the lower columns) and, at the base of the lower column, a nylon mesh with a 50 m opening was fastened (to allow water ascent). These columns were filled with soil until reaching a density of 1.0 g cm-3. A randomized block experimental design was used with four replications. Each experimental unit consisted of three PVC columns to obtain the quantity of soil required in the chemical determinations performed, totaling 15 PVC columns per block. Treatments consisted of cultivation of four species of plants (soybeans, brachiaria grass, millet and sorghum) and a control (absence of plants). During experiment period, soil moisture was maintained through capillary rise. Two viable seeds of each species were planted per pot.. On the day of planting, the experimental units received the application of 25 mg kg-1 of N in the form of urea, in solution (except for the soybeans), and in the pots where the soybeans were planted, application of liquid inoculant (Bradyrhizobium japonicum) was made. At five days after planting, thinning of the plants was performed, leaving only one plant per pot. At 14 and 28 days after planting, application of 25 mg kg-1 of N was made in the pots (except for the soybeans). At 45 days after planting, cutting of the above ground part of the plants was carried out, the roots were separated from the soil and also separation of the PVC columns was performed. The soil contained in the intermediate column, whose upper part was in contact with the mesh that impeded root growth, was divided into the following layers as of the mesh (rhizoplane): 0-1, 1-2, 2-3, 3-4, 4-5, 5-7, 7-9, and 9-14 mm. The soil samples were air dried for later determination of pH in CaCl2 0.01 mol L-1 the forms of soil phosphorus following the methodology proposed by Hedley et al. (1982), namely: P extractible by ion exchange resin (Presin); inorganic P extractible with bicarbonate 0.5 mol L-1 (Pibic); organic P extractible with bicarbonate 0.5 mol L-1 (Pobic); inorganic P extractible with NaOH 0.1 mol L-1 after sonication (Pihid); organic P extractible with NaOH 0.1 mol L-1 after sonication (Pohid); inorganic P extractible with HCl 0.5 mol L-1 (PHCl) and P extractible after soil digestion with H2SO4 + H2O2 (Presidual). The determination of P concentration in the different extracts was performed by means of the colorimetric method proposed by Murphy and Riley (1962). After collection, the plants were dried in a laboratory oven at 65C until obtaining constant weight and were then weighed for determination of dry matter of the above ground part and the roots. Evaluation of the phosphorus content in the plant tissues was performed through the sulfuric acid method. We also performed the P content in the seeds used. Determination of phosphorus in the extracts of plant tissues was performed using the colorimetric method proposed by Murphy and Riley (1962). The data were submitted to analysis of variance (p0.05). For the data of phosphorus accumulated in the tissue, comparison of the means by the Tukey test (p0.05) was carried out. For the soil data in which there was effect of the treatments by the F test, the means of each species were compared with the mean of the control by the Dunnett test; the results of phosphorus contents in the soil were presented based on the difference () between the means of each species and of the control, calculated by the following equation: = mean of the species mean of the control. Results and Discusssion Soybeans were the crop that most accumulated P in its tissue (above ground part and roots), while brachiaria grass and sorghum accumulated the least quantities, and the millet did not differ from the other species (Table 1). Upon observing the percentage of P accumulated in the tissue derived from the seed (PPS), we verify that soybeans were the sole crop that reached a value greater than 100%. Thus, we can infer that the main source of P for this crop during the period of the experiment was the seed itself and not the soil. Sorghum was the only species that reduced the Presin content, however, only in the layer nearest the roots (Figure 1), since in the other layers there was no effect from the cultivation of the different species. There was a reduction of the Pibic content with the cultivation of brachiaria grass, millet and sorghum, observed only in the layer nearest the roots, while with soybean cultivation, no difference was observed in the content of this form of P in any of the layers (Figure 1), probably
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH because of the elevated quantity of P in the soybean seed (Table 1). Considering the Presin and the Pibic as forms of P available to the plants (Guo and Yost, 1998; Gatiboni et al., 2007), we can observe that there was significant depletion of P with cultivation of plants, shown by the reduction in the contents of these forms in the layer nearest the roots. Nevertheless, the reduction of Pibic in all the treatments with gramineous plants and of Presin only with the cultivation of sorghum does not necessarily indicate preferential uptake of this form by determined species, but rather that there is an interconnection between the compartments of the P fractions in the soil, as already reported by Gatiboni et al. (2007). That way, with the uptake of the Presin by the plants, it is probable that this form has been made up by other forms like Pibic, thus explaining the reduction only in the Pibic contents with the cultivation of brachiaria grass and millet. Thus, we observe that only the gramineous plants led to significant depletion of P in the layer nearest the roots, showing their greater uptake capacity of this nutrient in the period in which the experiment was carried out. As was previously mentioned, the main source of P for the soybeans during the period evaluated must have been the seed itself, thus reflecting low need of uptake of this nutrient and absence of P depletion of the soil. This positive relationship between the quantity of P in the seed and the dry matter production of the plants has already been reported for soybeans (Trigo et al., 1997), wheat (Zhu and Smith, 2001), clover (Thomson and Bolger, 1993), oats (Zhang et al., 1990) and rice (Ros et al., 1997), confirming the hypothesis that in the beginning of their development, certain species of plants may survive only with the P derived from the seed (Grant et al., 2001).
Table 1 - Phosphorus accumulated in plant tissue (PAT), one hundred seed weight (W100), phosphorus content in seeds (PCS), amount of phosphorus per seed (APS) and percentage of phosphorus accumulated in the tissue derived from the seed (PPS). Plant Brachiaria grass Millet Soybean Sorghum F value PAT mg vase 0.214b 0.287ab 0.442a 0.146b 7.0**
-1

W100 g 0.66 0.57 10.82 2.48 -

PCS g kg 3.5 3.7 4.3 2.6 -1

APS mg seed 0.023 0.021 0.465 0.064 -

-1

PPS % 11 7 105 44 **

VC (%) 35.3 - Means followed by the same letters in the columns did not differ significantly by Tukey test (p0.05). p0.01.

Although the Pobic is also considered a labile form of P (Hedley et al., 1982; Guo and Yost, 1998; Gatiboni et al., 2007), the influence of the cultivation of plants on this variable has not been observed (Figure 1). The Pobic is a form of P associated with the microbial biomass of the soil (Chen et al., 2002) and its depletion occurs principally when the contents of Presin and Pibic are not sufficient to supply the demand of the plants. Therefore, as the availability of inorganic P in the layers nearest the roots was not limiting and the organic carbon derived from the roots stimulates microbial growth and activity in the rhizosphere (Toal et al., 2000), not only maintenance of the Pobic contents is possible, but also the elevation in the contents of this form of P, as reported by Chen et al. (2002). The contents of Pihid, Pohid, PHCl and Presidual were not influenced by cultivation of plants (Figure 2), and this fact may be explained due to these forms of P being considered more labile, and principally because the cultivation period was very short and the need for P by the crops was low. Gatiboni et al. (2008) observed that the smaller the quantity of inorganic P available for plants, the greater the extrusion of phosphatases by plants with the objective of accessing organic forms of P. Therefore, the plants access the less available forms of P principally when they need elevated quantities of P and there are low contents of the more labile forms of this nutrient (Gatiboni et al., 2007).

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14 10

(a)
Brachiaria Millet Soybean Sorghum

Presina (mg kg-1)

6 2 -2 -6 -10 -14
Distance from rizoplane (mm) 2,5

Control

2,5

(b)
1,5

(c)

1,5

Pobic (mg kg-1)

0 1 2 3 4 5 7 9 14

Pibic (mg kg-1)

0,5

0,5

-0,5

-0,5

-1,5

-1,5

-2,5

-2,5
0 1 2 3 4 5 7 9 14

Distance from rizoplane (mm)

Distance from rizoplane (mm)

Figure 1 Phosphorus content difference between each treatment and control ( P) in the labile P forms from Hedley fractionation scheme. a) changes in P resin fraction ( Presin); b) changes in inorganic P-Pbic fraction ( Pibic); c) changes in organic P from Pbic fraction ( Pobic); in different layers of soil from rizoplane caused by the cultivation of plants. Circular symbols indicate significant difference between treatment and control by Dunnett test (p0.05).

For the variables where there was effect of the cultivation of plants, Presina and Pibic, alteration in their values were restricted to the layer nearest the roots (0-1 mm), showing the spatial restriction of the alteration in the chemical attributes of the soil in terms of root development (Zoysa et al., 1997; Chen et al., 2002) and indicating that the collection of a small layer of soil near the roots (up to 14 mm) is sufficient for the evaluation of the P transformations in the rhizosphere. Nevertheless, the determination of the soil layer to be sampled in future studies should take into consideration diverse factors that interfere in the distance of root activity, such as attribute evaluated, soil buffer capacity, soil moisture, nutrient uptake capacity by the plant and cultivation time. It is interesting to emphasize that the technique used for evaluation of the rhizosphere in this study is useful in evaluation of the occurrence of phenomena (P uptake, for example). Nevertheless, the magnitude in which this phenomenon occurs is certainly different from that observed in normal crop conditions because the depth limitation of root growth due to the use of the 25 m mesh brings about significant concentration of roots in the region near the mesh, making the capacity for alterations in the soil attributes of the rhizosphere possible, as Zoysa et al. (1997) alert. In this study we concluded that sorghum led to depletion in the Presin and Pibic contents, while brachiaria grass and millet led to depletion only in the Pibic contents. Alterations in the Presin and Pibic contents were restricted to the 0-1 mm layer.

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10 6 Pihid (mg kg-1) 2 -2 -6 -10

0

10

(a)

Brachiaria Millet Soybean Sorghum

(b)

6 Pohid (mg kg-1)

-2

-6

-10
1 2 3 4 5 7 9 14

14

Distance from rizoplane (mm) 1,5 1,0 PHCl (mg kg-1) 0,5 0,0 -0,5 -1,0 -1,5 0 1 2 3 4 5 7 9 14 Distance from rizoplane (mm) Presidual (mg kg-1)

80

Distance from rizoplane (mm)

(c)

(d)

60 40 20 0 -20 -40 -60 -80 0 1 2 3 4 5 7 9 14

Distance from rizoplane (mm)

Figure 2 Phosphorus content difference between each treatment and control ( P) in the moderately labile P forms (a and b) and non-labile forms (c and d) from Hedley fractionation scheme. a) Changes in inorganic P-Phid fraction ( Pihid ); b) Changes inorganic P-Phid fraction ( Pohid ); c) changes in inorganic P from P-PHCl fraction ( PiHCl); d) changes in residual P fraction ( Presidual); in different layers of soil from rizoplane caused by the cultivation of plants. Treatments did not differ significantly of the control by Dunnett test (p0.05).

References Chen, C.R.; Condron, L.M.; Davis, M.R.; Sherlock, R.R. 2002. Phosphorus dynamics in the rhizosphere of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) and radiate pine (Pinus radiate D. Don.). Soil Biology and Biochemistry 34: 487-499. Gatiboni, L.C.; Kaminski, J.; Rheinheimer, D.S.; Brunetto, G. 2008. Soil microbial biomass phosphorus and activity of acid phosphatases during decline of soil available phosphorus. Pesquisa Agropecuria Brasileira 43: 1085-1091 (in Portuguese, with abstract in English). Gatiboni, L.C.; Kaminski, J.; Rheinheimer, D.S.; Flores, J.P.C. 2007. Bioavailability of soil phosphorus forms in no-tillage system. Revista Brasileira de Cincia do Solo 31: 691-699 (in Portuguese, with abstract in English). Grant, C.A.; Flaten, D.N.; Tomasiewicz, D.J.; Sheppard, S.C. 2001. The importance of phoshorus in the inicial development of plants. Potafos, Piracicaba, SP, Brazil. p. 1-5 (in Portuguese). Guo, F.; Yost, R.S. 1998. Partitioning soil phosphorus into three discrete pools of differing availability. Soil Science 163: 822-833. Hedley, M.J.; Stewart, J.W.B.; Ghauhan, B.S. 1982.Changes in inorganic soil phosphorus fractions induced by cultivation practices and laboratory incubations. Soil Science Society of America Journal 46: 970-976.
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Hinsinger, P.; Gilkes, R. J. 1995. Root-induced dissolution of phosphate rock in the rhizosphere of lupins grown in alkaline soil. Australian Journal of Soil Research 33: 477-489. Hinsinger, P.; Gilkes, R.J. 1997. Dissolution of phosphate rock in the rhizosphere of five plant species grown in an acid, P fixing mineral substrate. Geoderma 75: 231-249. Hinsinger, P; Gilkes, R.J. 1996. Mobilization of phosphate from phosphorus rock and aluminasorbed phosphate by the roots of ryegrass and clover as related to rhizosphere pH. European Journal of Soil Science 47: 533-544. Kuchenbuch, R.; Jungk, A. 1982. A method for determining concentration profiles at the soilroot interface by thin slicing rhizospheric soil. Plant and Soil 68: 391-394. Murphy, J.; Riley, J.P. 1962. A modified single solution methods for the determination of phosphate in natural waters. Analytica Chimica Acta 27: 31-36. Prochnow, L.I.; Alcarde, J.C.; Chien, S.H. 2004. Agronomic efficience of acidulated phosphate. In: YAMADA, T.; ABDALLA, S.R.S., eds. Phosphorus in brazilian agriculture. Piracicaba: Potafos, 2004. p. 605-651 (in Portuguese). Robinson, J.S.; Syers, J.K. 1990. A critical evaluation of the factors influencing the dissolution of Gafsa phosphate rock. Journal of Soil Science 41: 597-605. Ros, C.; Bell, R.W.; White, P.F. 1997. Effect of seed phosphorus and soil phosphorus applications on early growth of rice (Oryza sativa L.) cv. IR66. Soil Science and Plant Nutrition 43: 499-509. Thomson, C.J.; Bolger, T.P. 1993. Effects of phosphorus concentration on the emergence and growth of subterranean clover (Trifolium subterraneum). Plant and Soil 155/156: 285-288. Toal, M.E.; Yeomans, C.; Killham, K.; Meharg, A.A. 2000. A review of rizhosphere carbon flow modeling. Plant and Soil 222: 263-281. Trigo, L.F.N.; Peske, S.T.; Gastal, F.C.; Vahl, L.C.; Trigo, M.F.O. 1997. Effect of phosphorus concentration in the seed on the yield of soybean. Revista Brasileira de Sementes 19: 111-115 (in Portuguese, with abstract in English). Zhang, M.; Nyborg, M.; Mc Gill, W.B. 1990. Phosphorus concentration in barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) seed: Influence on seedling growth and dry matter production. Plant and Soil 122: 79-83. Zhu, Y.G.; Smith, S.E. 2001. Seed phosphorus (P) content affects growth, and P uptake of wheat plants and their association with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi. Plant and Soil 231: 105-112. Zoysa, A.K.N.; Loganathan, P.; Hedley, M.J. 1997. A technique for studying rhizosphere processes in tree crops: soil phosphorus depletion around camellia (Camellia japonica L.) roots. Plant and Soil 190: 253-265.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Effects of phosphate biofertilizer on yield and morphological characteristics of wheat (Triticum aestivum) Irandokht Mansoori Scientific Staff of Sari Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University. E-mail: iranmansoori@yahoo.com. Abstract: Bio fertilizers are ideal input for reducing the cost of cultivation and for practicing organic farming and are gaining momentum recently due to the increasing emphasis on maintenance of soil health. In order to determine the effects of phosphate bio fertilizer (PSB) on yield and morphological characteristics of wheat, a study was undertaken in Sari Agricultural sciences and Natural Resources University during 2008-2009. A factorial experiment was performed based on randomized complete block design with four replications. The first factor consists of two levels of phosphate bio fertilizer (0 and 100 g ha-1) and the second factor was three levels of phosphate fertilizer (0, 60 and 90 kg ha-1). Results showed that bio fertilizer increased significantly grain yield, spike no, seed no, spike length, 1000 seeds weight and harvest index, however, had no significant effects on plant height. Since, treatments 60 and 90 kg ha-1phosphate fertilizer enriched with 100 g ha-1 phosphate bio fertilizer showed no significant differences on yield. Using such a treatment will save nearly 30 kg ha-1 phosphate fertilizer in compression with what it conventionally used, and help to reduce environmentally pollution.
Keywords: Wheat, Phosphate bio fertilizer, Phosphate fertilizer, Yield.

Introduction Judicious use of fertilizers in crop production is an important management practice as well as in the crop productivity. Wheat is the principle cereal of the temperate regions of world. It is an annual herb with 0.6-1.5 m high culms. Continuous use of chemical fertilizers results in decline in yield and soil fertility and increase in environmental pollution (Virmani, 1994). Hence, there is great need for minimizing dependence on fertilizers by supplementing the plant nutrients with eco friendly biofertilizers for enhanced productivity, sustainability, ecofriendliness (Sharma, 2003). Fertilizers are in short supply and expensive in developing countries. Therefore, it is important to explore the possibility of supplementing phosphorous fertilizers with biofertilizers of microbial origin (Zahir et al.,, 2003). A biofertilizer (also bio-fertilizer) is a substance which contains living microorganisms which, when applied to seed, plant surfaces, or soil, colonizes the rhizosphere or the interior of the plant and promotes growth by increasing the supply or availability of primary nutrients to the host plant. Phosphorus is a limiting factor for plant growth. Phosphorus biofertilizers help the soil to reach its optimum level of phosphorus and correct the phosphorus levels of the soil. Unlike nitrogen biofertilizers, the usage of phosphorus biofertilizers is not dependent on the crops cultivated on the soi Torolore et al., 2003)l. We can use Phosphate for all crops with Rhizobium, Azotobacter, Azospirillum and Acetobacter. Microbial processes are fast and consume relatively less energy than in dustrial prosses (Rodreges and Fraga, 1999). The objective of this study was to determine the effects of phosphate biofertilizer on yield and morphological characteristics of wheat (Triticum aestivum). Material and Method The experiment was conducted at Sari, Iran (Lat. 53 13; Long. 36 42; Alt 40 m). Average rainfall is about 800 mm. The soil was clay loam (clay 30%, sand 39% and silt 31%) with 1.74 % Organic matter, 7.1 pH, 9 and 210 ppm available phosphorous (P) and potassium (K), respectively. Soil samples were taken for analysis before land preparation and were fertilized on the basis of a soil test recommendation. A factorial experiment was performed based on randomized complete block design with four replications. at Sari Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University, Iran, during winter 2008-2009. The first factor consists of two levels of phosphate bio fertilizer (0 and

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH 100 g ha-1) and the second factor was three levels of phosphate fertilizer (0, 60 and 90 kg ha-1). The size of plot was 2.4 6 m2. Urea and magnesium sulfate were used as nitrogen and sulfur source, respectively. Fertilizers were broadcast on soil surface before seeding, and then incorporated into the top 20 cm soil with a rotovator and biofertilizer were applied though seed inoculation just prior to sowing. A1cm2 area from each plots was harvested for determination of stover and plants straw (dry matter minus grain) and 2 m2 area from each plot was harvested for grain yield and were Oven dried at 60C for 72 h Each sample was separated into component crops Statistical analysis was performed by MSTAT-C. Duncan's test was applied at 1% and 5% levels of probability for statistical interpretation. Result and Discussion In this study generally all the parameters were significantly affected by inoculation treatments over control (Table 2). Application of biofertilizers with phosphate level significantly influenced the grain yield of wheat (Table 1). The grain yield was significantly increased with increased level of fertilizers to wheat owing significant increase in dry matter, spike no and seed no attributes with higher fertilizer levels. Similar finding are reported by (Gosh, 2000; Vessy, 2003 ; Deubel and Merbach, 2005) who find that Increasing P supply through higher level of fertilizer P application increased the grain yield and yield component of wheat. Higher grain yield was observed in the combined use of biofertilizer along with 90 kg p ha-1. This may be due to the balanced nutrition of crop from organic source that favors the crop with slow and steady nutrient availability throughout the crop growth period, along with the inorganic source that meets out the requirements in an adequate level. This would have helped the crop for better growth, enhanced yield attributing parameters and finally yield (Saravanapandian and Raniperumal, 2000). Also phosphate biofertilizer may enhance nutrient uptake by plants through solubilizing insoluable phosphorus (Rodriguez and Fraga, 1999; Sharma,2003). Data presented in (Table2) demonstrated that inoculated wheat grains with biofertilizer significantly increased numbers spike/m2, spike length, 1000grain weight, grain yield and harvest index compared with none inoculated. Similar finding were reported by Hussein and Radwan (2001). In the control blocks without biofertilizer the grain yield, spike no and seed no was declined. These wide gaps between the wheat grain yields produced on the control plots and the treatments supplied with biofertilizer together P fertilizer have attracted the attention of the people and helped them to understand more easily about the value of biofertilizer in wheat production.There was significant enhancement in grain yield between plots that they received 60 and 90 kg ha-1phosphate fertilizer which conventionally uses in Sari to wheat, but in plants inoculation with biofertilizer there was no significant difference between plots that they received 60 and 90 kg/ ha-1 phosphate fertilizer. This result showed that we can use of 60 kg/ ha-1 of phosphorus instead of conventionally use 90 kg/ ha-1 of phosphorus in Sari while use of biofertilizer. The present results indicated clearly the vital role of P in plant life and its contribution in increasing the grain yield. This indicated that integrated use of inorganic fertilizer along with biofertilizer helps in sustaining higher yield, growing healthy plants while enhancing the sustainability and the health of the soil as also reported by (Trolore and et al., 2003 and Zahir et al., 2004). Generally, 60 kg\ ha-1 of phosphorus with phosphate biofertilizer recommended, because of maximum yield production and to reduce environmentally pollution.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Table 1- Intraction effects of biofertilizer and phosphate fertilizer on grain yield (kg/ ha-1), 1000grain yield (g), spike no, spike length (cm), HI(%) and height (cm) of wheat (Triticum eastivum). Treatment a1b1 a1b2 a1b3 a2b1 a2b2 a2b3 Grain yield 1324.6 e 1431.2 d 1456.6 c 1485.4 b 2137.7 a 2138.3a 1000grain yield 46.3 d 48.4 c 48.6c 49.7 b 50.7 a 50.9 a Spike no 5.3 de 5.9 d 6.3 c 7.2 b 7.4 ab 7.8 a Seed no 22.4 f 23.1 e 24.3 d 25.1 c 30.1 b 31.4 a Spike length 8.5 e 9.1 de 9.6 d 10.8 c 11.8 b 12.0 a HI(%) 29.8 e 31.1 d 31.4 d 34.4 c 38.8 ab 39.1 a Height 99.8 b 100.0 ab 101.1 ab 101.2 ab 103.5 a 103.6 a

There are no significant differences between the numbers with same letters that are in the same columns

a1 and a2 : 0 and 100 g ha-1 biofertilizer, respectively. b1, b2 and b3 : 0, 60 and 90 kg ha-1 phosphate fertilizer, respectively

Table 2- Mean comparison of biofertilizer and phosphate fertilizer on grain yield (kg/ha-1), 1000grain yield (g), spike no, spike length (cm), HI(%) and height of wheat (Triticum eastivum). Treatments Biofertilizers Grain 1000grain Spike no Seed no Spike HI(%) Height yield weight length 0 1452.05 b 47.11 b 6.5 b 26.2 b 8.8 b 31.4 b 103.1 a a a a a a a 100 2067.45 49.56 7.1 31.1 11.4 41.2 103.2 a Phosphate fertilizer(g./ha-) 0 1123.5 c 45.3 c 4.3 c 25.4 c 8.6 c 29.1 c 91.2 c b b b b b ab 60 2178.9 49.8 6.7 30.9 10.5 41.2 104.6 ab a a a a a a 90 2198.4 50.0 7.2 31.3 11.6 41.8 104.9 a
There are no significant differences between the numbers with same letters that are in the same columns.

Acknowledgements The author is grateful to Sari Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University, for providing necessary facilities to conduct this research work. References Deubel, A. and W. Merbach., (2005). Influence of microorganisms on phosphorus bioavailability in soils. In: Buscot, F. and A. Varma (eds.), Microorganisms in Soils: Roles in Genesis and Functions, (pp, 177-91). Springer- Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg, Germany.
Ghosh, S.K., (2000). Organic farming for sustainable development. World. 15-20. Hussien, H.F. and Radwan, S.M.A.,(2001). Effect of biofertilization with different levels of nitrogen and phosphoros on wheat and associated weeds under weed control treatments. Pakistan. Journal. Biotechnology Sciences, 4(4), 435-441. Rodriguez, H., and R. Fraga, (1999). Phosphate solubilizing bacteria and their role in plant growth promotion. Biotecnology Advances, 17, 319-339. Saravananpandian, P and Raniperumal, R., (2000). Effect of integrated nitrogen managementon fertility status of rice soil. Madras Agricultural Journal. 87(6), 217-222. Sharma, A. K., (2003). Biofertilizers for sustainable agriculture. Agro bios, India.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Trolore, S.N., Hedley. M.J.., Kirk, G. J. D., Bolan, N. S., Loganatha, P., (2003). Changes in phosphorous fractions, pH, and phosphates activity in rhizosphere of two rice genotypes. Australian Journal of Soil Research, 41, 471-499. Vermani, (1994). Effect on inorganic fertilizers on growth and yield of wheat and soil properties. J. Indian Soc. Science. 42, 516-519. vessy, J. K., (2003). Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria as biofertilizer. Plant and Soil, 255, 571-586. Zahir, A., Arshad , M., Frankenberger, W. F (Jr)., (2004). Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria applications and perspectives in agriculture. Advances in Agronomy. 81, 97-168.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH

Investigation of N Uptake, Nitrate Accumulation and Yield of Potato Affected by Nitrogen and Plant Population
Shahzad Jamaati-e-Somarin1*, Ahmad Tobeh2 and Roghayyeh Zabihi-e-Mahmoodabad1.
1- Young Researchers Club, Ardabil Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ardabil. Iran. 2- Department of Agronomy and Plant breeding, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili. Ardabil. Iran. *Corresponding author: jamaati_1361@yahoo.com

Abstract In order to investigation of N uptake, nitrate accumulation and yield of potato affected by nitrogen and plant population, a factorial experiment based on randomized complete block design with three replications was carried out in Ardabil, Iran, in 2010. Factors were nitrogen levels (0, 80, 160 and 200 kg ha-1 net nitrogen) and plant populations (5.5, 7.5 and 11 plant m-2). Results showed that the at 160 kg ha-1 nitrogen (as equal to 80 kg ha-1 nitrogen) and 11 plant m2-, the most tubers and yield of tuber were gained. 160 and 80 kg ha-1 nitrogen jointly with population of 5.5 plant m-2, caused the most mean tuber weight per plant. Most N uptake by plant aerial parts and the most nitrate concentration in dry and fresh tuber weight were observed at 200 kg ha-1 nitrogen, 11 plant m-2 and 200 kg ha-1 nitrogen, 5.5 plant m-2, respectively. With increasing nitrogen application up to 160 kg ha-1, N uptake by tuber, number of tuber, tuber dry weight and mean tuber weight was increased. So, utilization of 80 kg ha-1 nitrogen to reach highest yield and less nitrate accumulation, population of 11 plant m-2 to gain seed tuber (because of reduction in tuber weight and size) and population of 7.5 plant m-2 for eating usages, are recommended. Key words: N uptake, Nitrate accumulation, Plant population and Potato. Introduction The fate of nitrogen fertilizers used in potato production is an important environmental concern (Meyer, 2002). Nitrogen is an essential element for plant growth and is a main part of proteins. When plant grows up in unfavorable environmental conditions, protein production is reduced and nitrogen accumulates as non-protein compounds. Potato (Solanum tuberosum) is grown and eaten in more countries than any other crop, and in the global economy it is the fourth most important crop after the three cereals including maize, rice and wheat (Stephen, 1999). Belanger et al. (2000) reported that estimation of optimum fertilizer rates is of interest because of growing economic and environmental concerns. Usually, there is a close relationship between light intensity and nitrate reduction in green leaves. Also, Nutrient elements deficit has important effect on nitrate accumulation. With increasing nitrogen application and plant population, potato yield increases (Arsenault et al, 2001). Haase et al, (2007) found that tuber N uptake and nitrate concentration were significantly influenced by amounts of nitrogen fertilizer. Also, N uptake increases number of tuber, tuber weight, qualitative and quantitative aspects of tuber. But, over-usage of nitrogen delays tuber growth and reduces its qualitative and quantities aspects. Plant population in potato affects some of important plant traits such as total yield, tuber size distribution and tuber quality (Samuel et al, 2004). Maher (1998) reported that with increasing plant population, mean tuber weight decreased and in low populations, number of harvested tubers, was decreased. Increasing plant population led to mean tuber weight decrease and number of tuber and yield per unit area, increase (Osaki, et al, 1995). Increment of plant population decreases mean tuber size probably because of plant nutrient elements reduction, increment of interspecies competition and large number of tubers produced by high numbers of stems (Beraga and Caeser, 1990). Joern and Vitosh (1995) indicated that increasing nitrogen values resulted in increase of tuber nitrate concentration. Georgakis et al (1997) concluded that by increasing plant population, the tuber yield was increased. Karafyllidis et al (1997) reported that plant population strongly affected yield, both by number and by weight, and more tubers and yield per square meter were expected in higher plant populations. Wadas et al, (2005) reported that, with increasing the level of nitrogen fertilization, the nitrate content of tuber was increased and higher applications of nitrogen, caused higher nitrate

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH content in tubers, too. Marguerite et al. (2006) showed that the mean maximum increase in total tuber yield, generated by N fertilization against the zero-N treatment, was 34.3% and ranged from 10.5% to 54.7%, and in regard to potato, the improvement of N efficiency should be also achieved by splitting N fertilizer applications and by monitoring the crop N needs to match crop N requirements and mineral N supply throughout the growing season. The aim of this work was investigation of different plant population and nitrogen level on N uptake, tuber nitrate accumulation, yield and yield components in order to definition of the best nitrogen level and plant population in which the highest tuber yield with the lowest environmental accumulation were gained in year 2010 in Ardabil region, Iran. Material and methods In order to investigation of N uptake, nitrate accumulation and yield of potato(Agria cultivar) affected by nitrogen and plant population, a factorial experiment based on randomized complete block design with three replications was carried out in Ardabil, Iran, in 2010. First factor was nitrogen level (0, 80, 160 and 200 kg ha-1 net nitrogen) and second was plant population (5.5, 7.5 and 11 plant m-2). Nitrogen was of urea source and applied in two stages, planting date and earthling up stage. Based on soil test from depth of 0-30 cm, total saturated electrical conductivity (TSEC) was 3.68 mmhos cm-1, soil PH was 8.09, total nitrogen was 0.56 % and soil texture was loamy sand. Rows were spaced 60 cm. Plots were included six rows each three meters. In order to preventing nitrogen effects in adjacent plots, they were placed 1.5 meters distance. Tubers of 60-70 grams were sown in 13 May 2010. Sowing depth was 12-13 cm. Last harvest was assigned for yield. Promoting storage capability, ten days before harvest, aerial parts were removed (Khajehpour, 2004). Sampling was done from 2 m2 plot area, then, tubers were transferred to the laboratory. Before measurements, tubers were washed along with roots and stolons. Different plant tissues were dried separately for 48 hours in 75C and weighed. Tuber nitrate accumulation was calculated by sulfosalicylic acid method using spectrophotometer device (Cecile, France). Calculation of N uptake rate was made according to the Hashemidezfooli et al, (1998): NEU= DM EC where: NEU = nutrient element uptake, DM = dry matter and EC= element concentration. Results were analyzed by SAS software, mean comparisons were done via Duncan's multiple range test and graphs were drawn by Excel software. Results and discussion N uptake Results showed that simple effects of plant population and nitrogen level on N uptake by aerial parts and tubers (P<0.01) and interaction effects of plant population nitrogen level (P<0.05) only for N uptake by aerial parts, were significant. Since, increasing nitrogen application led to overgrowth of aerial parts and consequently, increase of leaves and stems dry weight, so, it increased N uptake. The most nitrogen was uptaken at 200 kg ha-1 nitrogen and the less at control level, for all aerial parts. But in tuber, it was increased up to 160 kg ha-1 and then, decreased (Table1). Increment of population increased dry matter of aerial parts per unit area. This led to more N uptake in aerial parts and tubers so, the most and the fewer uptakes were observed in 11 and 5.5 plant m-2 (Table1). With increasing plant population and constant rate of available nitrogen, competition for nitrogen, increased. In 200 kg ha-1 nitrogen and 11 plant m-2 treatments, the most uptake and in 80 kg ha-1 nitrogen and 5.5 plant m-2, the less uptake was observed (Table2). Haase et al, (2007) reported that with increasing N application, N uptake in tuber was increased and it is in accordance with our work. Also, they revealed more nitrogen uptake by tuber in case of increased nitrogen. Since, N uptake in tuber per unit area increased as a result of plant population and nitrogen level increment, so this increase, has affected positively tuber yield and yield components and probably, the best reason to yield increment. Nitrate accumulation Simple effect of plant population and nitrogen and their interaction effect on tuber nitrate accumulation based on dry weight (P<0.01) and fresh weight (P<0.05) was significant. With increasing nitrogen level, nitrate content in tuber dry and fresh weight significantly increased. More nitrate content in tuber, as a result of increase nitrogen application, has been reported by Wadas et al, (2005).

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Increase of population, reduced tuber nitrate accumulation, as well (Table1). Perhaps, this is because of low fertilizer distribution between the large number of plants and consequently, the tubers. In 200 kg ha-1 nitrogen and 5.5 plant m-2, the most nitrate accumulation in fresh and dry weight, was observed (Table2). In all nitrogen levels, Agria cu. has accumulated the less nitrate rate in both fresh and dry tuber weight. Also, it could be found that nitrogen usage over the favorite range either caused to yield reduction or, increased nitrate accumulation in tuber. Yield and yield components Effects of plant population, nitrogen level (P<0.01) and their interaction effect (P<0.05) on tuber yield, were significant. Also, effects of plant population and nitrogen level (P<0.01) on tuber dry weight and tuber yield per unit area, were significant. Effects of plant population and nitrogen level (P<0.05) on mean tuber weight and number of tuber per unit area, were significant, as well. With increasing plant population, tuber yield was decreased per plant and increased per unit area (Table 1). This result has been reported by many of other researchers (Osaki, et al, 1995; Georgakis et al, 1997; Karafyllidis et al, 1997). In 160 and 80 kg ha-1 nitrogen and population of 5.5 plant m-2, the most tuber yield per plant was observed (Table 2). Increment of nitrogen application up to 160 kg ha-1, led to increase of number, dry weight, tuber yield per unit area and mean tuber weight, and then decreased. This is because of high growth of aerial parts as a result of over-usage of nitrogen (more than 160 kg ha-1) and consequently, increases of intra competition to reach water, mineral elements and light that significantly reduced yield and yield components at 200 kg ha-1 nitrogen. In population of 5.5 plant m2 , the most mean tuber weight was gained. Increase of plant population, decreased mean tuber size probably as a result of lack of available nutrient elements, intra competition or great number of produced tubers per plant (Beraga and Caeser, 1990).
Table 1. Effects of plant population and nitrogen levels on measured traits. Experimental levels N uptake Nitrate N uptake Nitrate by shoot accumulati by tuber accumulat (gr m-2) on in tuber (gr m-2) ion in fresh tuber dry weight weight (ppm) (ppm) Nitrogen 0 1125.0c 628.83c 78.94d 19.58d fertilizer (kg 80 1428.8b 879.29a 170.52c 33.88c ha-1) 160 1582.6b 924.54a 214.47b 50.82b 200 Plant population (plant m-2) 5.5 7.5 11 2012.6a 1176.c 1472.44b 1962.98a 746.41b 674.85c 761.98b 974.48a 273.7a 213.81a 180.29b 159.13c 63.22a 46.46a 45.34a 37.58b Number of tuber in m2 Mean tuber weight (gr) 23.29b 30.21ab 33.67a 24.85b 30.55a 27.36ab 26.11ab Dry weight of tuber (gr m-2) 498.79b 669.95a 728.18a 498.23b 525.35b 580.32b 742.45a Tuber yield per plant (gr) Tuber yield (gr m-2)

63.86b 93.35a 100.9a 80.23ab 77.12b 81.62ab 95.0a

257.44c 403.96a 420.76a 318.63b 449.79a 312.84b 287.97b

2024.6b 2994.1a 3174.6a 2457.0b 2346.3b 2473.8b 3116.6a

*Numbers with same words in each column, have no significant differences to each other.
Table 2. Effects of plant population and nitrogen levels on measured traits. Interactions effects N uptake by shoot Nitrate accumulation in tuber (gr m-2) dry weight (ppm) Control 5.5 plant 892.6f 94.87h Control 7.5 plant 976.3ef 75.4i Control 11 plant 13075.5def 66.55i 80 kg 5.5 plant 1091.3ef 187.95e 80 kg 7.5 plant 1343.2de 171.02f 80 kg 11 plant 1934.9bc 152.58g 160 kg 5.5 plant 1258.8def 238.81c 160 kg 7.5 plant 1554.2cd 221.00d 160 kg 11 plant 2050.7b 183.6e 200 kg 5.5 plant 1577.8cd 333.59a 200 kg 7.5 plant 1901.2bc 253.74b 200 kg 11 plant 2558.8a 233.78c Nitrate accumulation in tuber fresh weight (ppm) 21.68fg 20.85fg 16.21g 38.69de 42.18cde 35.78ef 50.21bcde 58.81bc 43.44bcde 75.26a 58.51b 54.88bcd Tuber yield per plant (gr) 300.3bcd 220.00d 252.01cd 580.3a 330.5bcd 301.1bcd 546.34a 387.58b 328.36bcd 372.22bc 313.26bcd 270.4bcd

*Numbers with same words in each column, have no significant differences to each other.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Conclusions In general, the most amount of nitrate in dry and fresh weight of tuber was observed in 200 kg ha-1 nitrogen, 5.5 plant m-2 treatments and the most tuber yield per plant was gained in jointly 80 and 160 kg ha-1 nitrogen, 5.5 plant m-2 treatments. Nitrate accumulation at 80 and 160 kg ha-1 net nitrogen was 170.52 and 214.47 mg kg-1 tuber dry weight and 38.88 and 50.82 mg kg-1 tuber fresh weight, respectively. At these nitrogen levels especially 80 kg ha-1, nitrate accumulated was lower than critical range so, application of 80 kg ha-1 nitrogen to gain most tuber yield with less nitrate accumulation in tuber, is recommended for Agria cu. in Ardabil region. Noticing mean tuber yield in Ardabil region of 28.7 t ha-1 and its comparison with yield of 80 and 160 kg ha-1 nitrogen treatment (29.44 and 31.74 t ha1 , respectively), it seems that can be recommended for this region. Also, population of 11 plant m-2 is suitable to obtain planting seed (according to reduction of tuber weight and size). But, population of 7.5 plant m-2 is recommended for eating usages. References Arsenault, W.J., Leblanc, D.A., Tai, G.C.C., and Boswall. P., (2001). Effect of nitrogen application and seed piece spacing on yield and tuber size distribution in eight potato cultivars. The Potato Association of America. General Abstracts Not Presented at the 85th Annual Meeting.78:301309.URLhttp://www.umaine.edu/paa/paainsiderindex.htm Belanger. G., Walsh, J.R., Richards, J.E., Milburn, P.H., and Ziadi. N., (2000). Comparison of Three Statistical Models Describing Potato Yield Response to Nitrogen Fertilizer. Agron. J. 92: 902-908. URL http://agron.scijournals.org/ Beraga, L., and Caeser. K., (1990). Relationships between number of main stems and yield components of potato (Solanum tuberesom L. CV. Erntestolz) as influenced by different day length. Am. J. Potato Res. 33: 257-267. http://redepapa.org/potatomicrotubers Georgakis, D.N., Karafyllidis, D.I., Stavropoulos, N.I., Nianiou, E.X., and Vezyroglou. I.A., (1997). Effect of planting population and size of potato seed-minitubers on the size of the produced potato seed tubers. Acta Hort. (ISHS) 462:935-942. http://www.actahort.org/books/462/462_149.htm Haase, T., Schuler, C., and Heb. J., (2007). The effect of different N and K sources on tuber nutrient uptake, total and graded yield of potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L.) for processing. Euro. J. Agronomy. 26: 187197. DOI: 10.1016/j.eja.2006.09.008. http://www.elsevier.com/locate/eja Hashemidezfooli, A., Koocheki A., and Banayanavval. M., (1998). Yield increment of crop plant. (Translation). Jehad daneshghahi Mashad press. Mashad. Iran. ISBN 964-6023-05-3. Joern, B. C., & Vitosh. M. L., (1995). Influence of applied nitrogen on potato. Part I: Yield, quality and nitrogen uptake. Am. Potato J. 72: 51-63. URL Home: http://food.oregonstate.edu. Karafyllidis, D.I., Georgakis, D.N., Stavropoulos, N.I., Nianiou, E.X., and Vezyroglou. I.A., (1997). Effect of planting population and size of potato seed-minitubers on their yielding capacity. Acta Hort. (ISHS) 462: 943-950. http://www.actahort.org/books/462/462_150.htm Khajehpour, M., (2004). Production of industrial plants. Jehad-e-Daneshgahi Isfahan press. Isfahan. Iran. ISBN 961-6122-63-9. Maher, M.J., (1998). The effect of planting population on the production of potato minituber under protection. Proceedings of the Agricultural Research Forum, UCD. 4097 (b): 1-8. Kinsealy Research Centre, Malahide Road, Dublin 17. Teagasc. ISBN 1-90-11-38-82-8. http://www.teagasc.ie/dtsearch.asp Marguerite, O., Jean-Pierre, G., and Jean-Francois. L., (2006). Threshold Value for Chlorophyll Meter as Decision Tool for Nitrogen Management of Potato. Agron. J. 98: 496-506. DOI: 10.2134/agronj2005.0108. For an alternate route to Agronomy Journal Online use this URL: http://intl-agron.scijournals.org Meyer, K.M., (2002). Impact of nitrogen management strategies on yield, N-use efficiency, and rhizoctonia diseases of Irish potato. M.S thesis. Faculty of North Carolina State University. A thesis submitted to the Graduate Faculty of North Carolina State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Osaki, M., Ueda, H., Shinano, T., Matsui, H., Tadano, T., (1995). Accumulation of carbon and nitrogen compounds in sweet potato plants grown under deficiency of N, P, or K nutrients. Soil Science and Plant Nutrition. 41(3): 557-566. URL: http://wwwsoc.nacsis.ac.jp/jssspn/SSPN.html Samuel, Y.C., Essah, D., Holm G., and Delgado. J.A., (2004). Yield and quality of two U.S. Red Potatoes: Influence of nitrogen rate and plant population. Proceedings of the 4th International Crop Science Congress Brisbane, Australia, 26 Sep 1 Oct 2004. http://www.cropscience.org.au Stephen, D.J., (1999). Multiple Signaling Pathways Control Tuber Induction in Potato. Plant Physiol., 119: 1-8. Plant Physiology, January 1999, Vol. 119, pp. 18, www.plantphysiol.org 1999 American Society of Plant Physiologists. For an alternate route to Plant Physiology online use this URL: http://intl.plantphysiol.org Wadas W., Jaboska-Ceglarek, R., Kosterna. E., (2005). The nitrats content in early potato tubers depending on growing conditions. EJPAU 8(1): 26. Available Online: http://www.ejpau.media.pl/volume8/issue1/art-26.html

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Physiological Traits of Durum Wheat under Nitrogen and Plant Density Effects
Roghayyeh Zabihi-e-Mahmoodabad, Shahzad Jamaati-e-Somarin*.
Young Researchers Club, Ardabil Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ardabil. Iran. Corresponding Author: rogizm@yahoo.com. Abstract In order to evaluate the Physiological traits of durum wheat Seymare cultivar under nitrogen and plant density effects, a factorial experiment based on randomized complete block design with three replications was conducted in the research center for agriculture, Islamic Azad university, Ardabil branch, Ardabil, Iran in 2009-2010 growing season. Factors included nitrogen rates: 0, 60, 120 and 180 kg ha-1 and plant populations: 300, 350 and 400 plant m-2. Date of appearance of some growth stages, growth of the leaves and stems in terms of number and dry weight and also, leaf chlorophyll content during the growing season was recorded. Results showed that with increasing nitrogen application, some aspects such as stem dry weight, number of leaf, stem and tiller along with the leaf chlorophyll content were increased and with increasing plant population per unit area, vegetative growth period and leaf chlorophyll content were decreased while the reproductive growth period, leaf and stem dry weight and the number of leaf, stem and tiller were increased. Key words: Leaf chlorophyll, Plant density, Durum wheat, Growth, and Nitrogen.

Introduction Nitrogen is one of the basic compounds in plant nutrition and its deficit directly is of important growth limiting factors in plants because the need of plants to this element is much more than the other ones (Alizadeh, 2002). Nitrogen consists of 2-4 percent of plant dry weight. No other element such nitrogen can stimulate plant growth. Nitrogen takes part in the construction of chlorophyll, some vitamins, Hormones, cell wall and enzymes (Kafi et al., 2005). Phenology is known as the date of the appearance of the important incidents in the plant life. Lieth (1974) suggests a clear definition of the phenology quoted from the phenology committee: phenology is the study of the timing of the biological incidents, tools and biological and non-biological causes of appearance of these timings and eventually, their evaluation among the different cultivars. Wheat reaction to the plant density (Population) is more than row-plants. In cereals, in the highest populations, the lowest number of seeds are produced as a result of excess competitions among the plants to reach light or water. The rate of the nitrogen application is effective in the amount and distribution of this element inside the plant. (Koochaki and Sarmadnia, 2001). Also, soil high fertility and/or increase in nitrogen usage, causes the increase in growth and grain yield of the corn (Sarmadnia and Koochaki, 1997). Plant density has the severe impact on the length of the different phenological stages of the corn (Early et al., 1967). With increasing plant population, delay in flowering, earring and decreasing of the reproductive growth stage is observed (Daynard and Muldoon, 1983). Lang et al, (1986) reported the reduced percent of the infertile plants using the nitrogen application and decrease in plant population. Rudha and Al-younis (1978) observed that increase in nitrogen application results in the delay of the flowering. Quantitative analysis of growth is a suitable method to explain and interpret the reactions of plant to the different environmental conditions during the growth period by which, distribution of the photosyntetically assimilates among the organs of the plant may be evaluated by measuring the amount of dry matter produced by the plant (Tesar, 1984). Tollenaar and Lee (2002) observed that the number of emerged leaves are reduced by decreasing available nitrogen for plant but amount of soil compaction, depth of seeding, and the rate of radiation and carbon dioxide impact on the leaf growth, as well (Wilhelm and Mc Master, 1995). Plant population can influence the growth of the leaf and stem by impacting on nutrient elements, humidity, solar radiation and plant phenological stages. Permanent cool- season and small- grain cereals produce one leaf each 4 to 6 days at the same conditions for the corn and other warm-season cereals (Koochaki and Sarmadnia, 2001). Low temperatures may delay the length of the vegetative growth and flowering stages and restrict the available nutrients because of increase in the time at which leaves are appeared (Hill, 2007; Mc Williams et al., 1999).

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Leaf chlorophyll content is an important factor to determine the photosynthesis rate and dry matter (DM) production (Ghosh et al., 2004). In a study on the relationship between chlorophyll content and nitrogen concentration in terms of leaf unit area, it was shown that the former has a high correlation with the latter (Karimi, 2001). Ghosh et al. (2004) reported an increase in chlorophyll content under stress due to the application of fertilizer. Nitrogen is an important element needed by crops, since it is one of the constituents of nucleic and amino acids, proteins, peptides, chlorophyll and alkaloids (Mengel, 1992). Nitrogen application had a significant effect (p<0.01) on leaf chlorophyll so that, there were significant differences among different levels of nitrogen. In an experiment no significant difference was observed between 0.5 Mm and 1 Mm nitrogen application on potato by Bahavar, et al., (2009). Salehpour et al, (2009) also found that nitrogen has a significant effect on the chlorophyll content of the lentil. Ghosh et al. (2004) reported that chemical fertilizer application increased potato chlorophyll content. The aim of this work was investigation of the nitrogen rates and plant population's effect on growth and leaf chlorophyll content of the durum wheat during the growing season. Materials and Methods In order to evaluate the Physiological traits of durum wheat Seymare cultivar under nitrogen and plant density effects, a factorial experiment based on randomized complete block design with three replications was conducted in the research center for agriculture, Islamic Azad university, Ardabil branch, Ardabil, Iran in 2009-2010 growing season. The research center in which the work was carried out was located in north-western of Iran with the elevation of 1350 meters of sea level (48o, 20' E, 38o, 5' N). The weather of the region is very cool in winters and rather warm in summers. Soil of the location was loamy- clay with a PH of 7.7 and the depth of 70 cm. seeds were prepared from the agricultural organization, Germy, Iran. Surface sterilization of seeds was performed using Diniconazol fungicide before planting. Seeds were placed at the depth of 3-4 cm by spacing 15-25 cm apart on 10 rows each 4 meter length. The first irrigation was done after planting and the rest, while the plant needed, based on the different plant requirements and environmental conditions. Mechanical and chemical weed controlling were executed during the season. Amount of 1/3 total applied nitrogen was applied at the planting time and the rest, was used as surface spread in the spring after the weather began to be warmer coincide with the tillering stage, 2 times. To investigate the date of appearance of several growing stages, following records were performed (Emam and Niknejhad, 2004): The length of the vegetative growth period; from the planting date to the 50 percent flowering stage. The length of the reproductive growth period; from the flowering date to the physiological maturity. Date of physiological maturity; from the planting to the beginning of 50 percent plants turn to yellow. In order to determine the number, dry weight and some other growing traits of the leaves and stems as a trend during the season, approximately 151 days after planting (DAP) for one time each week, sampling was performed from each plot and was continued 7 times (193 DAP). At the end of the sampling stages, the growth rate of the plants nearly reached a constant value and hence was stopped. To do this, 5 complete plants along with the roots and tillers were taken out the soil and after removing the roots, the rest was subjected to measure. To determine the leaf chlorophyll content and the impact of the several nitrogen levels and plant populations on this trait at different growth stages, approximately 170 DAP as each week, leaf chlorophyll content was measured and recorded using the chlorophyll meter device (CC 200, USA- 001495) for 7 times so that, by reaching the final stages, the chlorophyll content was reduced. To measure this trait, the attachedto-plant leaves were placed between the two blades of the device and the content of the three sections of the leaves including the beginning, the middle and the end of the samples were read and recorded by selecting the 15 individual plants. In other words, this content was a mean of 45 reads and was done for the all plots. Data were subjected to analysis by SAS and mean companions were performed using the Duncan's multiple range test procedure. Also, graphs were drawn in Excel software.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Results and Discussions Vegetative growth period The length of the growth period of the under study wheat was affected by the plant populations and nitrogen levels. (Table 1). Results of the analysis of variance (data not shown) showed that there is a significant difference (p<0.01) between the nitrogen levels and plant populations but there was no significant difference for the interaction effect of these treatments. The longest and the shortest vegetative growth period were gained at the 300 and 400 plant m-2, respectively. With increasing the nitrogen amounts, length of this period was increased so that, the longest one was obtained by application of 180 kg ha-1 nitrogen. However, there was no significant difference between the 60 and 120 kg ha-1 nitrogen on this trait, but with increasing the nitrogen levels and decreasing the plant populations, the length of vegetative growth period was increased (Table 1). Higher amounts of nitrogen resulted in the increase in the growth of the aerial parts and delayed the period (Jamaati-e-Somarin et al., 2009). Lang et al. (1986) observed that with increasing the plant population over the favorable point, this period is delayed one day. Reproductive growth and ripening period Results revealed that plant populations and nitrogen levels significantly (p<0.05) affected the reproductive growth period, respectively. With increasing plant population, this period was decreased so that, in 300 plant m-2, the shortest and in 400 plant m-2, the longest one was achieved (Table 1).
Table 1. Effects of plant density and nitrogen levels on measured traits. Experimental levels Generative Ripening growth Vegetative growth period (DAP) period (DAP) period (DAP) 173.66c 55.66b 227.94c Nitrogen fertilizer 0 (kg ha-1) 60 177.44b 56.55ab 241.05b 120 178.00b 58.33a 243.94b 180 183.77a 56.88ab 259.63a 300 181.07a 53.00c 240.22a Plant density (plant m-2) 350 177.50b 57.58b 242.97a 400 176.08b 60.00a 246.22a *Numbers with the same words in each column, have no significant differences to each other.

Based on the some researches performed on the reduction of the mentioned period caused by the higher rates of plant population, it seems that in the lower populations, the stronger growth of the leaves and lateral stems may result and hence, the incident light radiation needed for the better photosynthesis is increased and eventually, the more suitable growth of the flowering buds is prepared (Lang et al., 1986). Accordingly, the beginning of the reproductive period starts with the flowering so, it is logical that with increasing plant population, the length of the reproductive growth period increases. Also, it was found that nitrogen amount up to the 60 kg ha-1 decreased this period but increase in nitrogen application higher than this amount increased the period so that, the longest one was achieved at the level of 120 kg ha -1 (Table 1). Nitrogen significantly (p<0.01) affected the length of the ripening period and simple effect of plant population and interaction effect of plant population nitrogen level was not significant on this trait. Increase in the nitrogen application increased the length of this period, but there was no significant difference between the 60 and 120 kg ha-1 usage. The longest and the shortest time to the ripening were gained at the levels of 180 kg ha-1 nitrogen and control, respectively (Table 1). It seems that increase in nitrogen application may improve the vegetative growth and hence, plant come to senescence later and ripening happens with delay. Number of leaf, stem and tiller According to the graphs for the number of leaf, stem and tiller (Fig 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6), it was cleared that increase in the application of the nitrogen and plant population, led to the increase in number of leaf, stem and tiller per unit area but in terms of the time, these traits were increased in the beginning of the sampling and as time passed, this value became nearly constant. Increase in
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH the number of leaf and stem caused by the increase in plant population is seen in some researches (Alam et al., 2007). The main effect of the nitrogen is rapid extension of the leaves and stems and causes the plants more rapidly dose the canopy and benefit from the growing season; this matter has been proved by the frequent experiments (Peng et al, 1996; Mengel, 1992). Mengel (1992) found that the first impact of nitrogen on potato is the increase in size and number of leaves. By this means, photosynthesis/respiration ratio and production of the assimilates is increased but in the excess values, expanding of the aerial parts become more and more and as a result, the number of leaves placed in the shadow is increased So, the photosynthesis/respiration ratio is decreased. This will lead to the lower assignment of assimilates to the leaves than the tubers as the main yield (Emam and Niknejhad, 2004). The initial growth of the plant is low because of incompletion of the canopy but as the growth increases, more photosynthetically matters are produced because of the more radiation absorption by the canopy.
0 60 120 180

300

350

400

9000 8000 7000 6000 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 0 151 158 165 172 179 186 193

8000 7000 Number of leaf in m2 6000 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 0 151 158 165 172 179 186 193

Number of leaf in m2

Day after planting

Day after planting

Fig1. Effect of nitrogen fertilizer rates. on number of leaf m-2 during the season .
0 60 120 180

Fig2. Effects of plant populations on number of leaf m-2 during the season
300 350 400

1400 1200 Number of stem in m2 1000 800 600 400 200 0 151 158 165 172 179 186 193
Number of stem in m2

1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0 151 158 165 172 Day after planting 179 186 193

Day after planting

Fig3. Effect of nitrogen fertilizer rates on number of stem m-2 during the season.
0 60 120 180

Fig4. Effect of plant populations on number of stem m-2 during the season.
300 350 400

450 400 350 Dry weight of leaf in m2 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 151 158 165 172 179 186 193

400 350 Dry weight of leaf in m2 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 151 158 165 172 Day after planting 179 186 193

Day after planting

Fig5. Effect of nitrogen fertilizer rates on dry weight of leaf m-2 during the season.

Fig6. Effect of plant populations on dry weight of leaf m-2 during the season.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Dry weight of the leaf and stem Trend of the differences of the leaves and stems dry weight m-2 in different populations and nitrogen amounts has been shown in Fig 7, 8, 9 and 10. During the time, it is clear that both of the mentioned traits have increased slowly and have become constant at the latest stages of the plant growth. Also, these figures show that with increasing plant population, amount of the leaf and stem dry weight has increased. Higher dry weight of the leaf and stem in higher populations may be resulted from the better growth of the plant due to the well establishment of the canopy useing the environmental resources more favorably so, the more yield can be achieved. This result is in accordance with the Cox (1996), Longnecker and Robson, (1994). With compare the results presented in the figures it can be concluded that the higher nitrogen values increase the dry weight of the leaf and stem. In other words, nitrogen enhances the dry weight of the stem by expanding the aerial parts and consequently, preparing the more transportable assimilates to the stems (Costa et al, 2002). Due to the increase in the number of stems per unit area caused by the higher populations, it is expectable to accumulate more assimilates in the stems (Cox and Cherny, 2001)
300
0 60 120 180

350

400

2100
2100

1800 Dry weight of stem in m2

1800 Dry weight of stem in m2 1500 1200 900 600 300 0 151 158 165 172 179 186 193

1500 1200 900 600 300 0 151 158 165 172 179 186 193

Day after planting

Day after planting

Fig7. Effect of nitrogen fertilizer rates on dry weight of stem m-2 during the season.
0 60 120 180

Fig8. Effect of plant populations on dry weight of stem m-2 during the season.
300 350 400

800 700 Number of tiller in m2 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 151 158 165 172 179 186 193

1000 900 800 Number of tiller in m2 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 151 158 165 172 Day after planting 179 186 193

Day after planting

Fig9. Effect of nitrogen fertilizer rates on number of tiller m-2 during the season.

Fig10. Effect of plant populations on number of tiller m-2 during the season.

Leaf chlorophyll content Trend of the leaf chlorophyll content in different populations and nitrogen levels has been shown in Fig 11 and 12. This trait was increased slowly by 198 DAP and then, by reaching the end of the season, it was decreased gradually. Also, it was found that as population increased, this trait was decreased so that, the most and the least one was observed in 300 and 400 plant m-2, respectively. As in lower populations, the fewer plants grow so, inter-plant spaces get more and ability of plants to absorb the light and nutrient elements is improved and the chlorophyll content is increased. With increasing nitrogen up to 120 kg ha-1, this amount was increased and then was decreased. Bahavar et al. (2009) and Salehpour et al. (2009) reported the same results about the impact of nitrogen application on the leaf chlorophyll content as well. Ghosh et al. (2004) reported that chemical fertilizer application increased plant chlorophyll content.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH
0 60 120 180

300

350

400

80 Leaf chlorophyll content index

80 70 Leaf chlorophyll content index

170 177 184 191 198 205 212

70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

60 50 40 30 20 10 0 170 177 184 191 198 205 212

Day after planting

Day after planting

Fig11. Effect of nitrogen fertilizer rates on leaf chlorophyll content during the season.

Fig12. Effect of plant populations on leaf chlorophyll content during the season.

Conclusions Generally, it can be said that with increasing nitrogen levels, some traits such as the length of the vegetative, reproductive and ripening periods, number and dry weight of the leaf, stem and tiller, and the leaf chlorophyll content were in creased. Also, with increasing plant population, the length of the vegetative growth period and the leaf chlorophyll content were decreased while the number and dry weight of the leaf, stem and tiller were increased. References Alam, M.N., Jahan, M.S., Ali, M.K., Ashraf M.A., and Islam. M.K., (2007). Effect of vermicompost and chemical fertilizers on growth, yield and yield Components of potato in barind soils of Bangladesh. Journal of Applied Sciences Research, 3(12): 1879-1888. http://www.insinet.net/jasr/2007/1879-1888.pdf Alizadeh, A., (2002). Soil, water, plants relationship. Emam Reza university press. Mashhad. Iran. Edition number: 3. ISBN: 964-6582-21-4. Bahavar, N., Ebadi, A., Tobeh A., and Jamaati-e-Somarin. Sh., (2009). Effects of Nitrogen Application on Growth of Irrigated Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) under Drought Stress in Hydroponics Condition. Res. J. Environ. Sci. 3(4): 448-455. DOI: 10.3923/rjes.2009.448.455 Costa. C., Dwyer, L.M., Strwart, D.W., and Smith. D.L., (2002). Nitrogen effects on grain yield and yield components of leafy and Nonleafy Maize Genotypes. Crop Science. 42: 1556- 1563. http://crop.scijournals.org/cgi/content/full/42/5/1556 Cox, W.J., (1996). Whole plant physiological and yield response of maize to plant density. Agronomy Journal, 88: 489-496. http://agron.scijournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/88/3/489 Cox, W.J., and Cherny. D.J.R., (2001). Row spacing, plant density, and Nitrogen effects on corn silage. Agronomy Journal. 93: 597-602. http://agron.scijournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/93/3/597 Daynard, T.B., and Muldoon. J.F., (1983). Plant to plant variability of maize plants grown at different densities. Canadian Journal of Plant Science, 63: 45-59. http://aob.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/91/7/795 Early, E.B., Mcllrath, W.D., Seif R.D., and Hageman R.H., (1967). Effects of shade applied at different stages of plant development on corn (Zea mays L.) Production. Crop Science, 7:151-1. http://crop.scijournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/7/2/151 Emam, Y., Niknejhad, M., (2004). An Introduction to the physiology of crop yield (translation). Shiraz university press. Shiraz. Iran. Edition Number: 2. ISBN: 964-462-218-9. Ghosh, P.K., Ajay, K.K., Bandyopadhyay, M.C., Manna, K.G., Mandal, A.K., and Hati. K.M., (2004). Comparative effectiveness of cattle manure, poultry manure, phosphocompost and fertilizer-NPK on three cropping system in vertisols of semi-arid tropics. dry matter yield, nodulation. Chlorophyll content and enzyme activity. Bioresource Technology. 95: 85-93. doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2004.02.012

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Hill, J.H., (2007). How a corn plant develops. Iowa state university of science and Technology. Cooperative extension service Ames. Iowa. 641: 923-2856. https://www.extension.iastate.edu/store/OrderingInformation.aspx Jamaati-e-Somarin, Sh., Tobeh, A., Hassanzadeh, M., Hokmalipour, S., and Zabihi-eMahmoodabad. R., (2009). Effects of plant density and nitrogen fertilizer on nitrogen uptake from soil and nitrate pollution in potato tuber. Res. J. Environ. Sci. 3(1): 122-126. DOI: 10.3923/rjes.2009.122.126 Kafi, M., Lahooti, M., Zand, E., Sharifi, H.R., and Gholdani. M., (2005). Plant physiology (translation). Jehad Daneshgahi Mashhad press. Mashhad. Iran. Edition Number: 5. ISBN: 964324-005-3. Karimi, H., (2001). Forage crops breeding and cultivation. 6th Edn. Tehran University Publications. ISBN: 964-03-3753-6. Pp, 414. Koochaki, A., and Sarmadnia, G.H., (2001). Physiology of crop plants (translation). Jehad Daneshgahi Mashhad press. Mashhad. Iran. Edition Number: 9. ISBN: 964-6023-92-4. Lang, A.L., Pendleton, J., and Dungan. G.H., (1986). Influence of population and nitrogen levels on yield and protein and oil content of nine corn hybrids. Agronomy Journal. 48: 284 289. http://agron.scijournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/48/7/284 Lieth. H., (1974). Purpose of penology book in penology and seasonality modeling. SpringerVerlag, New York. Pp. 230. Longnecker, N. and Robson. A., (1994). Leaf emergence of spring wheat receiving varying nitrogen supply at different stage of development. Annals of Botany 74: 1-7. http://aob.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/74/1/1. DOI: 0305-7366/94/070001 MC Williams, D.A., Berglund, D.R., and Endres. G.J., (1999). Corn growth and management quick guide. North Dakota State University and University of Minnesota. NDSU, A-1173. http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/plantsci/rowcrops/a1173/a1173w.htm MC Williams, D.A., Berglund, D.R., and Endres. G.J., (1999). Corn growth and management quick guide. North Dakota State University and University of Minnesota. NDSU, A-1173. http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/plantsci/rowcrops/a1173/a1173w.htm Mengel, K., (1992). Nitrogen: Agricultural productivity and environmental problems. In Nitrogen Metabolism of plants. K. Mengel and D. J. Pillbeam. (eds). PP.1-16. Oxford University press, Oxford. U. K. ISBN 0-19-857752-4. Peng, S., Garcia, F.C., Laza, R.C., Sanico, A. L., Visperas, R.M., and Cassman. K.C., (1996). Increased N-use efficiency using a chlorophyll meter on high-yielding irrigated rice. Agron. Plant physiol. 47: 243-253. DOI: 10.101610378-4290(96)00018-4. Rudha, M. S. Al. and Al-younis. A. H., (1978). The effect of row-spacing and nitrogen levels on yield, yield components and quality of maize (Zea mayz L.) Iraqi Journal of Agricultural Science, 13:235-252. In: Field Crops Abstracts, 1981, 34(1): 51. Salehpour, M., Ebadi, A., Izadi M., and Jamaati-e-Somarin. Sh., (2010). Evaluation of water stress and nitrogen fertilizer effects on relative water content, membrane stability index, chlorophyll and some other traits of lentils (Lens culinaris L.) under hydroponics conditions. Res. J. Environ. Sci. 3(1): 103-109. DOI: 10.3923/rjes.2009.103.109 Sarmadnia, G. and Koochaki. A., (1997). Physiological aspects of dry farming. 5rd ed. (translation) Jehad Daneshgahi Mashhad Press. Mashhad. Iran. ISBN: 964-6023-30-4. Tesar, M.B., (1984). Physiological basis of crop growth and development. Amerrican Society of Agronomy. Madison. Wisconsin. pp. 291-321. Tollenaar, M. and Lee. E.A., (2002). Yield potential yield, yield stability and stress tolerance in maize. Field Crops Res. 75:161170. doi:10.1016/S0378-4290(02)00024-2 Wilhelm, W.W. and McMaster. G.S., (1995). The importance of the phyllochron in studying the development of grasses. Crop Science 35: 1-3. http://crop.scijournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/35/1/1

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH

Effect of Biological Fertilizer on Uptake of Micro & Macro Elements in Cucumbers Shoots
a
a

Faranak Moshabaki Isfahani, bHossein Besharati

Department of Agriculture, Fars Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad university, Shiraz, Iran. Institute of Soil and Water Research, Karaj, Iran Corresponding author: Faranakmoshabaki@yahoo.com

Plant growth promoting rhizo bacteria (PGPR) are the rhizobacteria, which there are existed around the region of the root and through different mechanisms (direct and indirect) increase plant growth and crop yields (bio protectants, bio fertilizer, growth-simulating). Supply nutrients in accordance with natural feeding of plant, to assist in biodiversity, intensify the activities of life, quality improvement and environmental health and overall, preserving and supporting the national capital (soil, water, Nonreproducible energy sources) are the objectives of study. The present study for the sake of evaluating the use of biological fertilizers produced by plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) and chemical fertilizers in the separate treatments on the rate of macro and micro elements in cucumbers shoot by using a factorial experiment in completely randomized block design with three repetition were performed in the field. The results indicate that the use of biological fertilizers have caused to increase plant dry and fresh weight, the amount off chlorophyll in the leaf and amount of elements in cucumbers shoot. The results showed that the maximum uptake of Zn was in treatment 75% chemical fertilizer when used conjunction with biofertilizer1 (incubated with Bacillus Lentus), Fe in control treatment and P & N in 75% chemical fertilizer supplemented with bio fertilizer 2 (incubated with Pseudomonas Putida) . Keywords: Bacterium, Cucumber, Biological fertilizer, PGPR

Abstract

Introduction Soil is the complex place, where all the factors used in the production are in collision with each other and if the human doesnt have moderation in the use of agricultural inputs, it is irrecoverable. Traditional farming methods and use of chemical fertilizers does not work to achieve maximum production, lasting (stable) and economic agriculture. Biological fertilizers are discussed as the most natural and most appropriate solution to keep alive and active soil biological systems. Supply of organic matter to the soil to respond to the most pressing need, is the biggest advantage of biological fertilizers. Behzad Sani and the other (2008) in a study compared the effect of phosphate solublizing bacteria and micorrhizal fungi on corn production, figure SC (704). The result of this experiment showed that in the micorrhizal treatment and PSB with chemical fertilizer is used, obtained the most seed function in a hectare, seed weight, number of grains per ear and grain number in the row and the result of this treatment versus the other treatments was significant at the 5% level. In a study, the effect of PSB on the growth and function of sunflower in the presence of phosphorus in field condition has been researched , the results indicate that PSB affect the quality of seed and the function of oil. Also has increased the head diameter, thousand grains weight, seed ratio, oil content, seed and oil function (Ekin2010). Totally review of the research showed that PGPR bacteria increased root properties (length, mass, volume) and increased absorption of nutrients from soil by the roots and generally their application has positive effects on different plants in terms of quality and quantity. Tomar et al. (1998) applied different combinations of Azotobacter, vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizae (VAM), phosphorus solubilizing bacteria (PSB) and NPK fertilizers in wheat. They reported that yield was 2.63 tones ha-1 in control, 3.41 tones ha-1 with NPK only and the highest (3.80 tones ha-1 ) with NPK+VAM+PSB. Venkateswarlu et al. (1984) have reported that during the solubilization of rock phosphate by fungi, the pH of the culture was lowered from 7 to 3. Since, phosphate solubilizing micro-organisms, (PSM) proportion in natural microbial population is not more than 1%, hence it is a common practice in several Russian States, European and Asian countries to inoculate soil with PSM to increase P concentration in the soil solution (Taha et al.1969). Kundu and Gaur (1984) reported that the grain and straw yields of rice increased significantly due to inoculations. They further reported that the phosphate solubilizing microorganisms improved phosphorus uptake over control with and without chemical fertilizers.
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Materials and Method This plan to assess the effect of bio fertilizers on uptake of micro & macro elements in cucumbers shoot as a factorial experiment in the randomized complete block design with 3 repetitions in 45 experimental plots in different levels of chemical fertilizer (0.25%, 50%, 75%, 100%) and biological fertilizer that inoculated with two bacteria (Pseudomonas Putida, Bacillus Lentus) in separate treatments in a lowland field area of 800 square meters in Isfahan Dashti was performed. The act of land preparation, including tillage, major and minor streams has been done. Soil analyses were performed, accordingly fertilizer recommendation were super phosphate tribl 75 kg/ha, 300kg/ha urea, potassium soulphate 100 kg per hectare. Also specific aphid poisons and Abamactin are used. Random samplings after eliminate the marginal effects of plots with harvested plant from each plot was done. Then shoots were separated, and after transfer to laboratory they were weighted (fresh weight), then they were kept in Avon for 72 hour and again they were weighted (dry weight) and necessary tests to determine the elements such as iron, zinc, nitrogen and phosphorus were done. Data were analyses by SPSS software and mean comparison with Dunkan test was performed at the 5% level which their results are shown in table 1. The symbol of P represents chemical fertilizer, B1 shows bio fertilizer-1 and B2 indicates bio fertilizer-2. Amounts of used fertilizers were respectively 0, 25%, 50%, 75%, 100%. Result and Discussion The results show that about Zn B1 P50 treatment has the most significant difference with control and other treatments. In this way has less absorption too, and control treatment and B1 P75 were on maximum absorption of zinc, also B1 P75 had no significant difference by control treatment. About Fe, the results show that we had most absorption in control treatment, and had lowest absorption in B2 P100, Also this treatment had the most significant difference with control treatment too. In study of N, results showed that B2P75 have the most significant difference by control sample, also had the most absorption of N, and B0P50 had no significant difference with control treatment, and B2P0 had the lowest absorption. In study of P, results indicated that the most absorption observed in B2P75, and the lowest absorption was on B0P100. Also B0P100 had the most significant difference by control treatment. So results showed that combination use of biologic and chemical fertilizers have increased the amount of elements in cucumber shoots. Esaway (2009) different effects of organic and inorganic fertilizers on the function of cucumber and some soil properties were evaluated. result showed that the function of cucumber in 75% inorganic-N + 25% organic N treatment was higher than other treatments. Also results confirmed that the combination of organic and inorganic fertilizers can increase plant growth, function, quality and fertility of soil. Phosphorus fertilization, affecting the development of the root system at the initial developmental Stages of the plant, determines a potential possibility of water and mineral component uptake, including nitrogen ( Grzebisz et al. 2003). Therefore, it can be stated that releasing this component from fertilizers in the period before flowering may constitute one of the factors determining maize nutrition with nitrogen, which in turn affects the photosynthetic activity of leaves that determines yield-forming results obtained (Montemurro et al. 2006). Increasing the value of the chlorophyll index (SPAD) in plants of spring barley caused by fertilization with simple superphosphate was observed in an earlier study by Potarzycki (2003). Aftab Afzal et al. (2005) the effects of Phosphate Solubilizing Microorganism inoculants to improve phosphorus uptake and its impact on the yield of wheat was carried out under rainfed conditions were evaluated. For this purpose, the effect of mixture of Pseudomonas and Bacillus species on phosphorus uptake, growth and yield of wheat variety Rawal - 87 was studied. The treatments resulted in statistically significant increase in seed phosphorus content (%) and tillers per m2 over control. Grain yield and biological yield were significantly increased by the treatments and maximum yield was recorded when PSM was used with phosphorus alone or along with organic matter. It is concluded that PSM alone or along with other combinations produced profound effect on grain and biological yield, tillers per m2 and seed phosphorus content. On other parameters its effect was non-significant. Dwivedi et al. (2004) reported that pre presowing inoculation of wheat seeds with PSM led to a yield increase over noninoculated treatments. Saad and Hammad (1998) also reported that the greatest grain yield of wheat was found with inoculation of bacteria and application of calcium superphosphate. Also they were reported that the highest straw yield was obtained with inoculation of phosphate solubilizing bacteria and application of calcium superphosphate.
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Table 1: Compare treatment mean in uptake of micro and macro elements
Name of treatment Uptake mean of Zn mg/kg 32 ef 30 cd 26 b 26 b 31 de 26 b 27 b 13 a 27 b 31 de 33 f 26 b 26 b 29 c 27 b Uptake mean of Fe Mg/kg 1523 a 1246 b 1010 c 607 d 688 e 622 f 629 g 1208 h 1233 i 612 j 119 k 558 l 508 m 838 n 503 o

Uptake mean of P Per

P0B0 P0B1 P0B2 P25%B0 P25%B1 P25%B2 P50%B0 P50%B1 P50%B2 P75%B0 P75%B1 P75%B2 P100%B0 P100%B1 P100%B2

0.300000a 0.2612900b 0.2283900c 0.2387100d 0.3161300e 0.2516100f 0.2677400g 0.2935500h 0.2709700i 0.2903200j 0.3129000k 0.3741900l 0.3418135m 0.2709700i 0.396800 n

Uptake mean of N Per 4.87 a 4.25 e 4.18 f 4.35 g 5.17 h 4.64 i 4.87 a 5.28 b 5.90 j 5.28 b 6.25 c 6.70 k 5.86 l 6.25 c 6.14 o

Common letters in each column indicate no significant difference in level of 5% Afzal, A., Ashraf, M., Asad, S. A., Farooq, M, (2005). Effect of Phosphate Solubilizing Microorganisms on Phousphorus Uptake, Yield and Yield Traits Wheat (Triticum aestivum l.) in Rainfed Area. International Journal of Agriculture & Biology, 7(2), 207-209. Ekin, Z., (2010). Performance of phosphate solubilizing bacteria for improving growth and yield of Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) in the presence of phosphorus fertilizer. African journal of Biotechnology. 9(35), 6794-6800. Esawy, K. M., (2009). Effect of Different Organic and Inorganic Fertlizers on Cucumber Yield and Some Soil Properties. World journal of Agricultural Sciences. 5(40), 408-414. Dwivedi, B. S., Singh, V. K., Dwivedi, V, (2004). Application of phosphate rock, with or without Aspergillus awamori inoculation, to meet phosphorus demands of ricewheat systems in the Indo Gangetic plains of India. Australian J. Experimental Agric., 44, 10411050. Grzebisz, W., Potarzycki, J., Biber, M., Szczepaniak, W, (2003). Reakcja ro_lin uprawnych na nawo_enie fosforem (Response of agricultural crops to nitrogen fertilization). J. Elementol, 8(3), 83-93 (in Polish). Kundu, B.S., Gaur, A.C. (1980). Establishment of nitrogen fixing and phosphate dissolving bacteria in rhizosphere and their effect on yield and nutrient uptake of wheat crop. Pl, Soil, 57, 223230 Montemurro, F., Maiorana, M., Ferri, D., Convertini, G, 2006. Nitrogen indicators, uptake and utilization efficiency in a maize and barley rotation cropped a different leaves and sources of N fertilization Field Crops Research 99, 114-124. Potarzycki, J, 2003. Rola siarki Z superfosfatu prostego w nawo_eniu jczmienia jarego. I. Plonijako ziarna (Role of sulphur from simple superphosphate in spring barley fertilization. I. Yield and grain quality). Nawozy i Nawo_enie 4(17), 180-192 (in Polish). Saad, O. A. O., Hammad, A. M. M, (1998). Fertilizing wheat plants with rock phosphate combined with phosphate dissolving bacteria and V.A mycorrhizae as alternate for casuperphosphate. Annal Agric. Sci, Cairo, 43, 445460. Sani, B., Liyaghati, H., Sharifi, M., Hosseyn nezhad, Z, (2008). Comparison of PSB and mycorrhizal fungi on the optimal production of corn cultivator (SC704). Proceedings of the Second National Conference on Ecological Agriculture in Iran. Taha, S.M., Mahmood, S.A.Z., ELDamaty, A. A., Abd ElHafez, A.M, (1969). Activity of phosphate dissolving bacteria in Egyptian Soil. Pl. Soil, 31, 149160. Tomar, U. S., Tomar, I. S., Badaya, A.K, (1998). Response of chemical and biofertilizer on some matric traits in wheat. Crop Res, 16, 408410. Venkateswarlu, B., Rao, A.V, Raina, O, (1984). Evaluation of phosphorus solubilization by microorganisms isolated form arid soils. J. Indian Soc, Soil Sci, 32, 273277.

References

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH

The Relation between Iron Application and Manganese Contents of Two Peanut (Arachis Hypogaea L.) Varieties in the ukurova Region of Turkey
Seyyid Irmak1, Abdullah L1, Yasin KORKMAZ1
1

Easthern Mediterranean Agricultural Research Institute, Adana, Turkey. Corresponding Author: seyyidirmak@hotmail.com

.)
Abstract
In this study, effects of iron application on manganese contents of leaf and grain of two peanut (Arachis Hypogaea L.) varieties were investigated in the ukurova Region of Turkey. Furthermore, correlation between manganese content of soil and manganese contents of leaf and grain of peanut were investigated. While manganese contents of soil samples collected from each experimental plot of NC7 variety ranged from 2.58 mg kg-1 to 3.42 mg kg-1, the manganese contents of soil samples of experimental plot of OM variety ranged from 2.16 mg kg-1 to 4.80 mg kg-1 in 2006. Also the manganese contents of soil samples collected from each experimental plot of NC-7 variety ranged from 2.20 mg kg-1 to 4.65 mg kg-1, the manganese contents of soil samples of experimental plot of OM variety ranged from 3.75 mg kg-1 to 4.25 mg kg-1 in 2007. There are negative correlation between the manganese contents of soil and the manganese contents of grain each variety in 2006. While the correlation between the manganese contents of soil and the manganese contents of grain of OM variety was statistically 0.01 level significant, the correlation for NC-7 variety was statistically insignificant. There are positive correlation between iron application ( to soil and foliar) and manganese contents of grain samples of two varieties. This correlation for NC7 variety was statistically 0.01 level significant. The correlation between iron application and manganese contents of grain samples of OM variety was statistically insignificant in 2006. Also there are negative correlation between the manganese contents of leaf samples for each two varieties and Fe application to soil and foliar. There are positive correlation between manganese contents of grain samples of NC7 variety and Fe application to soil in 2007. But this correlation is statistically insignificant. Key words: Micronutrient, iron application, manganese, peanut.

Introducton
Peanut, as fatty seed (36.1 million tons/year) is the second largest grown crop after soybean in the world (FAQ, 2004). Considerably high fat content (% 40-60) of seed placed the peanut to an important point in herbal oil industry. Based on the data of 2002, peanut meets 5.6% of the herbal crude oil production in the world (Arolu et al., 2003). Advances in the mechanization in peanut production caused to increase cultivation areas and thus the peanut production has also been significantly increased. Peanut is successfully cultivated as both the main and as the second crop after wheat in Cukurova Region (Arolu, 2000). It is known the importance role of micro nutrient element in human and plant nutrition. Insufficient content of micronutrient elements in soil has a negative impact on the development of crops, which, in turn, affects human health (Erdal et al., 2000; Irmak et all., 2008; Cakmak, et al., 2010). World Health Organization reported the deficiencies of iron in human population of developing countries (WHO, 2002). Providing appropriate and sufficient plant nutrient is a prerequisite for a satisfactory crop production. Restoration the deficiency of plant nutrients is important to achieve the highest genetic yield for a given crop. Therefore, to achieve the expected benefits from fertilizers used, determining macro and micro nutrients, nutrient requirements of the plants, the way and the time of fertilizing should carefully be determined (Bolat et all., 2009). Some researchers reported that Fe deficiency can occur in plants grown in soils with high concentrations of Cu, Mn and Zn and in soils with low organic matter (Erdal et al., 2003). In this study, the effects of Fe application on the manganese contents of leaf and grain of two peanut varieties (OM and NC7) were investigated in the ukurova Region in Turkey. Also the correlation between the manganese content of soil and the manganese content of peanut plant were investigated in the study.

426

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Material And Methods In this study were carried out in area of Eastern Mediterranean Agricultural Research Institute, in Adana, Turkey. The climate of region is a typical Mediterranean climate which is mild and rainy in winter and hot and dry in summer. Total rainfall measured was 575,5 mm in 2006, and 588.6 mm in 2007 (Climatic Data, 2006 and 2007). Soil temperature regime is thermic and moisture regime is xeric (Soil Survey Staff, 2006). Wheat, corn, cotton, soybean, peanut, sunflower, melon water and rapeseed are the cultivated crops (field crops) in the region. Two peanut varieties (NC-7 and OM) were used in the present study as plant material. The soil samples were taken from 0-30 cm depth from each of experiment plot, and the soils were dried, en passed through 2 mm sieve for chemical analisis. Soluble salt, CaCO3, pH, organic matter, texture, available P2O5 and available K2O were carried out by known methods (Black, 1965; McKeague, 1978; Nelson and Sommer, 1996). Manganese analysis of soil samples, leaf and grain were carried out according to DTPA method (Dietilentriaminpentaasetikasit) (Lindsay and Norvell, 1978). The experiment was established according to the split-siplt plot design with 4 replications. In the trail; cultivars were the main parcel, nutrients were the sub parcels and nutrient doses were sub-sub parcels. Zero, 10, 20 and 40 kg ha-1 doses of pure iron (FeSO4) were used. Doses of pure iron were applied under soil before cultivation. In the Fe application on leaf, 0, 1, 2 and 3 kg ha-1 pure Fe doses were applied. In foliar application, FeSO4 with water solution was used. Right after the flowering period of leaf, foliar applications were carried out three times, with twenty day intervals. The data were evaluated according to the variance analyze in statistic program (Jump 5.0) and LSD test was used for the differences among averages. Results and Discussion Some Physical and Chemical Characteristics of Soils Selected some physical and chemical properties of soils taken experiment plots were presented in Table 1 and 2. Accordingly, soluble salt content of soil samples taken in 2006 ranged between 0.023 % and 0.029 %. pH of the soils is neutral, slightly alkaline and varies between 7.65 and 7.86. Lime content ranged from 14.00 % to 17.00 %. It seen that the soils are moderately calcareous. Organic matter contents of soils are low, and ranged between 1.36 % and 1.58 %. Sand content of soils changed between 23.6 % and 26.2%, silt content of 41.4 % and 43.8 %; clay content between 30.2 % and 32.9 %. It seen that usually soils of experiment plots are silty clay loam (U.S. Laboratory Staff, 1954). Available P2O5 content of soil of the experiment plots ranged between 27.0 kg ha-1 and 38.0 kg ha-1. Available K2O content was high and ranged from 860.0 kg ha-1 to 1160.0 kgha-1 (Irmak et all., 2012). Table-1. Selected some physical and chemical characteristics of experiment plots in 2006.
Mode of Appli. Fe Doses kg ha-1 0 10 20 40 0 1 2 3 Salt % 0.029 0.029 0.026 0.027 0.023 0.025 0.026 0.026 pH 1/1 7.65 7.75 7.77 7.75 7.86 7.79 7.82 7.84 CaCO3 Org. Mat. % % 14.00 1.51 14.00 1.55 14.00 1.58 14.00 1.39 17.00 17.00 16.00 16.00 1.42 1.36 1.36 1.39 Available P2O5 kg ha-1 34.0 38.0 36.0 31.0 34.0 27.0 32.0 29.0 Available K2O kg ha-1 1160.0 990.0 860.0 1060.0 890.0 860.0 860.0 860.0 Sand % 23.6 24.2 24.7 25.8 23.9 24.3 26.2 25.7 Silt % 43.5 43.0 42.5 41.4 43.8 43.3 43.6 41.9 Clay % 32.9 32.8 32.8 32.8 32.3 32.4 30.2 32.4

Soil

Foliar

The soluble salt content of soil samples taken in 2007 ranged between 0.020 % and 0.027 %. pH of the soils is neutral, slightly alkaline and varies between 7.92 and 8.04 (Table2). Lime content ranged from 16.15 % to 18.43 %. It seen that the soils are moderately calcareous (U.S. Laboratuar Staff, 1954). Organic matter contents of soils are low, and varies between 0.91 % and 1.47 %. Sand
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH content of soils ranged between 24.4 % and 31.8%, silt content of 38.0 % and 40.8 %; clay content between 30.2 % and 34.9 %. It seen that usually soils of experiment plots are silty clay loam (U.S. Laboratory Staff, 1954). Available P2O5 content of soil of the experiment plots ranged between 22.5 kg ha-1 and 59.0 kg ha-1. Available K2O content was high and ranged from 551.3 kg ha-1 to 1056.0 kgha-1 (Irmak et all., 2012). Some researchers reported that excessive phosphorus in soils interacts with Fe element. It is known that although the mechanism of the PxFe interaction hasnt been clearly explained, previous studies have shown that excessive phosphorus converts Fe into non-active form within the plant (Erdal et al., 2000; Cakmak, et al., 2010). Table-2. Selected some physical and chemical characteristics of experiment plots in 2007.
Mode of Appli. Fe Doses kg ha-1 0 Soil 10 20 40 0 1 Foliar 2 3 Salt % 0.023 0.021 0.022 0.025 0.021 0.021 0.027 0.020 pH 1/1 7.97 8.04 7.97 7.96 7.95 7.97 7.92 7.96 CaCO3 % 16.91 16.72 16.15 16.72 17.29 18.43 17.48 18.24 Org. Available Available P2O5 K2O Mat. kg ha-1 kg ha-1 % 1.09 1.22 1.47 1.25 0.94 1.06 1.00 0.91 29.5 34.2 27.9 59.0 22.5 31.0 25.6 35.7 989.2 1056.0 924.4 989.2 684.9 577.0 551.3 684.9 Sand % 24.4 28.7 28.7 26.7 29.6 28.5 31.8 29.6 Silt % 40.8 38.0 38.0 40.0 39.1 39.1 38.0 38.0 Clay % 34.9 33.3 33.3 33.3 31.3 32.4 30.2 32.4

The Correlation between Manganese Contents of Soils and Manganes Contens of Leaf and Grains Manganese (Mn) contents of experiment plots soils, leaves and grain samples in 2006 were presented in Table 3. The Mn contents of soil samples collected from each experimental plot of NC7 and om varieties ranged from 2.58 mg kg-1 to 3.42 mg kg-1, and 2.16 mg kg-1 to 4.80 mg kg-1 respectively in 2006. While the Mn contenst of leaf samples of cv. NC-7 and OM changed between 21.00 - 41.00 mg kg-1, and 29.00- 50.00 mg kg-1, the Mn contents of grain samples of NC7 and OM ranged from 25.00 to 36.00 mg kg-1 and 12.00 to 29.00 mg kg-1 respectively. Negative correlation were determined between soil and grain contents of Mn in 2006. There are negative correlation between the manganese contents of soil and the manganese contents of grain each two varieties in 2006. While the correlation between the manganese contents of soil and the manganese contents of grain of OM variety was statistically 0.01 level significant, this correlation for NC-7 variety was statistically insignificant. Also the Mn contents of soil samples collected from each experimental plot of NC-7 ranged from 2.20 to 4.65 mg kg-1, while those of cultivar OM ranged from 3.75 to 4.25 mg kg-1 in 2007. The mentioned nutrient contents of leaf samples of NC-7 and OM changed between 10.00 - 21.00 mg kg-1, and 14.00-24.00 mg kg-1 respectively in 2007. While Mn contents of grain samples of cv. NC-7 and cv. OM ranged from 10.50 to 25.98 mg kg-1, and 27.06 to 44.86 mg kg-1 respectively in 2007. The high Mn content of OM grain may be due to high Mn content of soils of experimental plot. Because, Mn content of ukurova Regions soil reported as high (Irmak et al. 2008). Also, while there are negative correlation between the manganese contents of soil samples and contents of leaf and grain of NC-7 variety, there are positive correlation between manganese contents of soil samples and leaf and grain of OM variety in 2007. This it may be OM variety sensitive to manganese. But these correlations are statistically insignificant in 2007.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH The Correlation between Fe Application and Mn Contens of Leaf and Grain of Peanut Relationship between Fe application and Mn contents of leaf and grain samples in 2006 were presented in Table 3. There was inverse relation between doses of Fe applications on soil and manganese contents of leaf samples for each two varieties in 2006. While the Mn content of leaf samples in control plot of cv. NC-7 for Fe application on soil was 35.00 mg kg-1, the Mn content of leaf samples with second dose Fe applied 10 kg ha-1 realized as 33.00 mg kg-1. The manganese content of leaf samples was 40.00 mg kg-1 in third dose of 20 kg ha-1 realized as 24.00 mg kg-1 with fourth dose Fe applied 40 kg ha-1. Similarly while the Mn content of leaf samples of control plot of cv. OM for Fe application on soil was 40.00 mg kg-1, the Mn content of leaf samples with the second dose Fe applied 10 kg ha-1 realized as 38.00 mg kg-1. The Mn contents of the leaf samples decreased as applied Fe doses increased and it was 32.00 mg kg-1 in third dose of 20 kg Fe ha-1. The manganese content of leaf samples was 50.00 mg kg-1 in the fourth dose of 40 kg Fe ha-1. While the grain Mn content of control plot for NC7 variety on soil Fe application was 25.00 mg kg-1, Mn content of grain samples with the second dose of 10 kg Fe ha-1 realized as 26.00 mg kg-1. In the grain samples Mn content was found 36.00 mg kg-1 with the third dose of 20 kg Fe ha-1. and 35.00 mg kg-1 with the fourth dose of 40 kg Fe ha-1. Table-3. Mn contents of soil, leaf and grain samples of Fe application experiment plots in 2006.
Mode of Applic. Fe Doses kg ha
-1

Mn content of soil mg kg-1 NC7 variety 3.12 3.12 3.42 2.58 2.76 2.70 2.62 2.64 OM variety 2.16 2.68 2.26 2.32 4.60 4.40 4.20 4.80

Mn content of leaf mg kg-1 NC7 variety 35.00 33.00 40.00 24.00 21.00 29.00 21.00 41.00 OM variety 40.00 38.00 32.00 50.00 35.00 44.00 44.00 29.00

Mn content of grain mg kg-1 NC7 OM variety variety 25.00 29.00 26.00 28.00 36.00 27.00 35.00 25.00 27.00 14.00 30.00 12.00 31.00 13.00 33.00 17.00

P content of grain % NC7 variety 0.37 0.40 0.37 0.39 0.43 0.39 0.39 0.39 OM variety 0.36 0.40 0.36 0.38 0.34 0.38 0.37 0.34

Soil

Foliar

0 10 20 40 0 1 2 3

The grain Mn contents of cv. COM decreased when Fe doses increased in 2006. While the Mn content of grain samples in control plot of COM for soil Fe application was 29.00 mg kg-1, the grain manganese content with the second dose applied 10 kg Fe ha-1 realized as 28.00 mg kg-1. The grain manganese content with the third dose applied 20 kg Fe ha-1 realized as 27.00 mg kg-1 and the fourth dose of 40 kg Fe ha-1realized as 25.00 mg kg-1 (Table-3). Similar results were obtained for the foliar Fe application in 2006. While the leaf Mn contents of zero dose of NC-7 for foliar Fe application was 21.00 mg kg-1, the leaf Mn content with the second dose applied 1 kg Fe ha-1 realized as 29.00 mg kg-1. However, the leaf Mn content of NC-7 was lowered to 21.00 mg kg-1 with 2 kg Fe ha-1 application. The leaf samples of Mn content were increased to 41.00 mg kg-1 with 3 kg Fe ha-1. Similar results were obtained for the foliar Fe application for COM variety. The leaf Mn content of COM variety for zero dose of foliar Fe application was 35.00 mg kg-1, and it was found as 44.00 mg kg-1 with the second dose applied as 1 kg Fe ha-1. While the Mn contents of grain of zero dose of NC-7 variety for foliar Fe application was 27.00 mg kg-1, the Mn content of grain with the second dose applied 1 kg Fe ha-1 found as 30.00 mg kg-1. The Mn content of grain samples was increased to 31.00 mg kg-1 with second dose applied 2 kg Fe ha-1. Grain Mn content of COM variety of zero dose of foliar Fe application found 14.00 mg kg-1, and 12.00 mg kg-1 with the 1 kg Fe ha-1 (Table-3). There were positive correlation between iron application ( to soil and foliar) and Mn contents of grain samples of NC7 variety. This correlation was statistically 0.01 level significant. Also there are positive correlation between Fe application

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH and Mn contents of grain samples for cv. COM, but this correlation was statistically insignificant in 2006. Relationship between Fe application and Mn contents of leaf and grain samples in 2007 were presented in Table 4. Similar results were obtained for the foliar and soil Fe application in 2007. There are inverse relationship between doses of Fe applications on soil and foliar and Mn contents of leaf samples for each of two varieties in 2007. While the Mn content of leaf samples in control plot of NC-7 variety for Fe application on soil was 20.00 mg kg-1, and10.00 mg kg-1 with second dose applied Fe 10 kg ha-1. The leaf content of Mn samples was 17.00 mg kg-1 for third dose of 20 kg ha-1; as 15.00 mg kg-1for fourth dose Fe applied 40 kg ha-1. Similarly while the Mn content of leaf samples of control plot of COM variety for Fe application on soil was 24.00 mg kg-1, and 16.00 mg kg-1 with the second dose applied Fe 10 kg ha-1. The manganese content of leaf samples was 17.00 mg kg-1 for third dose Fe applied 20 kg ha-1 as well as 17.00 mg kg-1 for the fourth dose Fe applied 40 kg ha-1. Table-4. Mn contents of soil, leaf and grain samples of Fe application experiment plots in 2007.
Mode of Applic. Fe Doses kg ha
-1

Mn content of soil mg kg-1 NC7 variety 2.20 3.00 3.00 2.90 4.45 4.60 4.65 3.90 OM variety 4.25 4.20 4.15 4.20 4.05 4.15 3.75 4.05

Mn content of leaf mg kg-1 NC7 variety 20.00 10.00 17.00 15.00 21.00 12.00 13.00 11.00 OM variety 24.00 16.00 17.00 17.00 20.00 16.00 14.00 14.00

Mn content of grain mg kg-1 NC7 variety 14.97 25.98 19.60 12.66 19.79 14.38 16.33 10.50 OM variety 44.86 38.93 44.71 41.44 27.06 38.77 35.70 36.12

P content of grain % NC7 variety 0.44 0.45 0.42 0.44 0.17 0.21 0.13 0.32 OM variety 0.51 0.53 0.51 0.49 0.39 0.48 0.48 0.52

Soil

Foliar

0 10 20 40 0 1 2 3

While the grain Mn content of control plot for NC7 variety in soil Fe application was 14.97 mg kg-1, the Mn content of grain samples with the second dose realized as 25.98 mg kg-1. The grain samples of Mn was found 19.60 mg kg-1 in the third dose Fe applied 20 kg ha-1 and 12.66 mg kg-1 in the fourth dose. The grain Mn contents of cv. COM decreased as applied Fe doses increased in 2007. The Mn content of grain samples in control plot of COM variety for soil Fe application were found as 44.86 mg kg-1; 38.93; 44.71 and 41.44 mg kg-1 second, third and fourth dose applications respectively (Table-4). Similar results were obtained for the foliar Fe application in 2007. While the leaf Mn contents of zero dose of NC-7 for foliar Fe application was 21.00 mg kg-1, and 12.00 mg kg-1 in the second and 13.00 mg kg-1 with third dose of Fe applications. Similar results were obtained form the foliar Fe application of COM variety. The leaf Mn contents of COM at zero dose level of foliar Fe application was 20.00 mg kg-1, 16.00 mg kg-1 and 14.00 mg kg-1 with the second and third dose Fe application. While the Mn contents of grain for zero dose of NC-7 for foliar applications was 19.79 mg kg-1, 14.38 mg kg-1 with the second dose application. The manganese content of grain samples was increased to 16.33 mg kg-1 with dose of 2 kg Fe ha-1. The Mn contents of grain of COM for zero dose of foliar Fe application was 27.06 mg kg-1, and found as 38.77, 35.70, 36.12 mg kg-1with the second, third and fourth dose applications respectively (Table-4). Also there were negative correlation between the Mn contents of leaf samples for each two varieties and Fe application to soil and foliar applications. There were also positive correlation between Mn contents of grain samples of NC7 and Fe application to soil in 2007. But these correlations were not statistically significant. Also there are positive correlation between the Mn contents of grain samples for OM variety and Fe application foliar applications. This correlation was statistically 0.01 level significant.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Acknowledgements We would like to express our profound thanks to the General Directorate of Agricultural Research for funding the study. We extend our gratitude to Dr. aban KARAAT, the owner of the GVEN Agriculture joint-stock company. References Arolu, H.H., (2000).Yerfst yetitirme ve slah.ya bitkileri yetitirme ve slah ders kitab. ..Ziraat Fakltesi, Genel Yayn No:220, Adana, p. 204. Arolu,H.H., alkan, S., St, T., Gllolu, L., and Zaimolu, B., (2003). Trkiyede yal tohum retimini artrabilme olanaklarnn belirlenmesi zerinde aratrmalar. Trkiye I. Yal Tohumlar, Bitkisel Yalar ve Teknolojileri Sempozyumu, stanbul. Black, C.A., (1965). Methods of soil analysis, Part 2, Am. Soc. Agron. No. 9 Madison, WI, p. 1572. Bolat, A., Sarhan, H., Karaa, H.A., Cerit, ., (2009). Determining the applications of chemical and microbial fertilizer's effects on specifications of some agronomic and partical yield of maize plant in Cukurova. Trkiye VIII. Crop Science Congres Hatay, Turkey,Vol.(2), 598-602. Cakmak, ., Pfeiffer, W.H., McClafferty, B., (2010). Biofortification of durum wheat with zinc and iron, Cereal Chemistry, 87 (1), 1020. Climatic Data, (2006) Cukurova Agricultural Research Institude Meteorology Center, Adana. Climatic Data, (2007) Cukurova Agricultural Research Institude Meteorology Center, Adana. Erdal, ., Bozkurt, M.A., Mesut, K., (2000). Hmik asit ve fosfor uygulamalarnn msr bitkisinin (zea mays l) fe, zn, mn ve cu ierii zerine etkisi, Tarm Blmler Dergs, 6 (3), 9196. Erdal,U., Turan, M.A., and Taban, S., (2003). Effect of zinc application on growth and nutrient concentrations of corn grown in soils with different characters. Ankara University Journal of Agricultural Science. 28 (9), 334339. FAO, (2004). Statical Department, Online, QWeb site, http://www.fao.org Irmak, S., and Vapur, H., (2008). Correlation of manganese contents of soils and wheat plants (triticum spelta) in the Cukurova Region of Turkey, Pakistan Journal of Biological Sciences, 11 (19), 23312335. Irmak,S., Src,A.K.,and Aydin, S., (2008). The effects of iron content of soils on the iron content of plants in the Cukurova Region of Turkey, International Journal of Soil Science, 3 (3), 109-118. Irmak, S., l, A., and Korkmaz, Y., (2012). The effects of soil copper content and iron application on peanut (Arachis hypogaea) Copper contents of plants, Journal of Food, Agriculture & Environment,10 (1), 488491. Lindsay, W.L., and W.A., Norvell, (1978). Development of a DTPA soil test for zinc, iron, manganese and copper. Soil Sci, Soci. Ame. Journ., (42), 421-428. McKeague, J. A., (1978). Manual of soil sampling and methods of analysis, Canada Soc. Soil Science, Ottawa, Canada, edn. 2. Nelson, D. W., and Sommers, L. E., (1996) in ed: D.L. Sparks, Total carbon, orgnanic carbon and organic matter, methods of soil analysis, Part 3, Am. Soc. Agron. Madison, WI, p. 961 1010. Soil Survey Staff, (2006). Keys to soil taxonomy, USDA, 19 th Ed. USA, p. 341. U.S. Salinity Lab. Staff, (1954). Methods for soil characterization. p. 83-147. In:Diagnosis and improvement of saline and alkali soils. Agr. Handbook 60, USDA, Washington, D.C. World Health Report (WHO), (2002). Reducing risks, promoting healthy life. World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.

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Using Line Intersect Sampling to Estimate Hazel Production in Fandoqlou Shrub Land in Ardabil
Farshad Keivan Behjou, Saeid Nabavi*, Roghaieh Asiabi, Rohollah Salar
Department of Range land Management, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili Corresponding Author: saeidgpzn@gmail.com Abstract To manage natural resources, Consideration to their features and potentials is an undeniable factor.The presented study has been conducted on Fandoqlou region located in Ardebil province with emphasis on the economic value of the area focusing on hazel trees. As the first stage of study, the dispersion of hazel trees was determined by a preprocessing field visit. Having depicted a statistical network with dimensions of 100 100 m, hazel trees samples were chosen by the use of line intersect sampling method and making 15 transactions into defined network. Then, the regression prediction model was utilized to evaluate the amount of production. Results show that just few hazel trees have a fair fruition. Being a recreational place and having a lot of trippers around the year is the main reason of poor productivity for most of trees in Fandoqlou region that it should be considered by authorities. However, a comprehensive conservative plan can be helpful to solve flora extinction problem, as an example hazel trees, and to benefit possible economic incomes in mentioned area. Key words: Fandoqlou shrub land, line intersect sampling, regression model, hazel production

Introduction Agricultural activities and natural resources as one of the most important human activities in Iran and has a special place and given the vast geography of science, both humans and the environment are reviewed and evaluated The review of economic ,social and functional, it is a geographical study (Kardvany,2003).In many developing countries, agricultural products and natural resources, Source to the needs of the community and mine development programs is of particular importance. Economies rely on agriculture and natural resources have many Thus the export of agricultural products into important source of foreign exchange to the countrys economic structure is considered.On the other hand, the level of Tat Artba late and former agricultural production makes that production and trade of these products as a factor in the growth-related activities, including manufacturing and services become (Karbasi,piry2010).Horticulture means the cultivation of fruit trees and exploit them, one of the most important pillars of our country makes up the rural economy that The type of tree, its cultivation and harvest rates vary in different regions(Krdvany,2003).The other side of the utilization and extraction non-wooden forest products of long been the attention of human and close relations and close relationship with human life (Abdollah Pour,2004).Non-wooden forest products (Flowers, fruits, fodder, etc) due to the high value of food, medicine, industry and the economy at large, especially local residents will be utilized. In the nuts, as a non-wooden forest product, due to possessing nutrient elements of the abundant and cheap energy to its very nature and also possessing values, the public attention. It should be the proper management and proper planning and integrated area of high potential The mass production of non-wood products (in case, hazelnuts), with a focus on maintaining a balance between production and harvesting, will be better. Fandoqlou region, we have a large number of passengers each year throughout the country. This beautiful natural area, the potential removal of the top resorts, due to a variety of biological Plant species that look very nice, especially given the region ,Potential economic value ,the high level that we now have paid little attention to the economic value of this area. The reason for this claim ,the indiscriminate harvesting of fruits and nuts in principle by the people and especially for leisure travelers who enter the forest sector are Fandoqlou shrubs Unfortunately, the sometimes serious damage to hazelnut shrubs, as well as cutting the branches of shrubs Required to prepare wood for barbecue, take into The nuts and fruit shrubs in this completely wrong, from shrubs to be dumped on the ground and remain unused. But with a planning and economic measured and special attention of the state beneficiary can prevent this were wasted and also economic value and can be smuggling jewelries economic region, the potential to benefit the beneficiary and villagers around Fandoqlou. World hazelnut production is 875 thousand tons .Turkey with 70 percent of the world hazelnut production in the first place, and
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Italy accounted for 20percent of world production is in second place. After the America , Azerbaijani, Georgia, Iran, Spain, China and France are the world's largest hazelnut producer countries (FAO, 2007). Iran with the production of 17578 nuts sixth producer of the world with an average performance of 923 kilograms in hectares in comparison with the average performance of world and especially in comparison with the country such as America (3776 kilograms in hectares) is very low (Husseinava, Pyrkhzry2010). Hosseinzadeh (1) production and harvest the fruit and place it in luggage and money supply and livelihoods of residents in the province of Ilam and he concluded that in each hectare 50 kilograms produced complains that the amount of each household consumption on average in the year 4/11 kilograms and with each household income reverse relationship. To identify and determine the amount of byproducts in Drshhrstan Kamyarn locals use of these products is And examining the change in prices over the directions indicated by the change of ends ,Substantially affect the price of the products. Shamekh and Avatphyhemat (2006), In their study examined the use of forest products non-wooden rural village forester Kojuor province is part of such functions, The study results show that on-wooden food products, for use in the household, and more for sale at market. And is enjoying an economic income .Amry (2000) Use of native in the use of these products and its impact on the management as the most important factor for using non-sustainable wood products. Tadani (2001)The article states that their products non-wooden of economic, social and ecological As an important part of work in developing countries is the protection and management. Fard (2003),The study is reminiscent of the local economy has an important role in non-wooden products .This study emphasizes that social problems will increase demand for these products .The main objective of present study is estimation of the amount of hazelnut production in Fandoghlou Shrubland. Materials and Methods Study Area Fandoqlou shrub land located in adjacent of Ardabil city.This region for its attractions unique forest and pastures and beautiful Badranlou perplexed by various natural attractions, a Privileged resolution for the development of industry in Ecotourism. East of Ardabil province is part of the forest .The province is the largest subtropical forests. This forest is scattered ata level approximately 25 km East of the village of Upper Khanq Namin road-Astara began with the NorthWest South-East in the East Village Hur ends.16 thousand hectares area in about four thousand hectares under the cover of jungle areas and the rest pastures. Mountainous region and height fluctuation in the area of jungle areas, and they generally Iranians the number of high altitude 1400 and 1600 meters above sea level. The height of the tallest mountain in the trench to a height of 2120 meters above sea level. Emission range of forest species and their density And the dominant species indifferent parts of the forest species belonging to eight dark. Identified in a variety of rare species such as hazelnuts, hornbeam, beech, oak, and Willow Oak high musk As one of the most beautiful and rare flowers and lily chandelier in the world that adds value to the region (Department of Geology ,2010).

Figure 1 - Location of the study area in Iran and Ardabil

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Methods Transect method for estimating production Hazelnut production in this study to estimate the amount of mathematical statistical model was used. To determine the number of searches, field operations and systematic random sampling method was based on networking. Preliminary visit the region and eventually network cells with regard to the area of and how about 1,400 bushes, 100 sensors 100 meters in the government. In a cell Transects to adiametric and landed every shrub in a way that Transects cut off as an example of individual. In this instance, there are many measurements and mathematical models have been produced, and finally the amount of production in any specific seedlings. Table 1 Descriptive statistics for each transect is given.
Table 1. Descriptive Statistics of hazelnut shrubs in the study area Maximum sucker 54 12 22 20 5 11 22 22 11 4 12 14 7 9 9 Minimum sucker 3 1 5 1 2 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 Number of transects 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Statistical Analysis Mathematical statistical model used to estimate the production of fruit trees in this study were as follows : (R2 = 0.49) Y = -1.089(S)2 + 21.48(S) + 97.21 "in which the amount of hazelnut production to warm up his number. And also the coefficient of fruit production bushes and the number of his sucker in each has been the expression of solidarity and meaningful high between the two parameter. Results and Discussion By examining 15 transect walks in network design, it was found that shrubs in transect 1,has the highest production with an average production of 371.57 g and this is while transect No. 7 in the least amount of production with the amount of 141. 39.The amount of information generated in other transects is given in Table 2 .It can be stated that high levels of production in transect 1,This is because the sample trees in this transect, have been less affected by the destructive effects promenade And the shrubs in transects7s high injury promenade which it entered , The production rate is significantly reduced in line with these results Behjou(1390)is. So if the public interest with a serious and effective contribution to the design of management plans Caras and influential on the quality of the utilization and protection of basic products such as non-wood especially nuts is due to cover the high level of this kind in the region, it is possible to resistance ecosystems to high production hoped to potential high potential fashionable resort region, especially economic nuts le potential that eventually will be any benefit over this issue is the attention of the government and people will be area.

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Figure 3 - The destruction and damage to standing trees in forest areas fandoqlou Table 2 - Statistics relating to the production of hazelnut shrubs studied Standard error of Production (gr) 14.98 13.16 29.45 7.68 12.37 10.48 19.37 16.84 18.88 4.30 15.32 8.11 14.37 8.9 6.40 Average production (gr) 371.57 177.84 147.26 149.36 159.63 172.03 141.39 161.11 173.27 144.99 156.79 168.12 152.16 169.02 167.20 Number of transects 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Resources Aiyeloja, A. A., and O.I., Ajewole, (2006).Non-timber forest products marketing in Nigeria. A case study of Osun state, Educational Research and Reviews, Academic Journals, Vol. 1 (2), 52-58pp. Avatefihemat, M., Shamekhi, T.,(2006). Traditional knowledge and technologies of Rural people in using some newable Non wooden products in forests( case study: Chitan area),Journal 0f social science,2006. No.34-35,149-174pp. Babulo, B., B., Muys, and E. Mathijs., 2006, economic valuation methods of Forest Rehabilitation in Exclosures. Journal of the Drylands 1(2), 165-170pp. Emery, M.R., (2000).who knows? Local non-timber forest product knowledge and stewardship practices in Northern Michigan, Journal of Sustainable Forestry, Vol. 13, NOs 3/4. Freed, J., (2003). Non-timber forest products in local economies: the case of Mason County, Washington 67, Journal of Sustainable Forestry, Vol. 13, NO. 3/4. FAO, (1995). Non wood forest products for rural income and sustainable forestry, reprinted 1999, No.7, FAO, Rome, 127pp. Ghanbari, S.,(2009).review of production, harvesting, utilization of non-wooden products Arasbaran forest,M.Sc.thesis, Faculty of Natural Resources, Tehran University, 90pp.
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Hoseinava,S.,Pirkhezri,M.,(2010).Evaluation of Qualitative and quatitative in some wheat species in karadj s climatic on journal of seedling and seed,V.2-26,No.3. Hamidnejad, M., Salem, J., Shakeri,M., Akhoundiemeybodi,H.,(2001).economic assessment of the extent of lesions at the time of wheat harvest and plowing in Harat, Marvsat and Abarkoh regions in Yazd Province, Agricultural economics & development,No.34. Hosienzadeh,J.,(1996).Economic assessment,collecting and oiling from pistacia fruit socialproblems in Ilam. M.Sc.thesis, Inforestry, Faculty of Natural resourses, Tehran university.115pp. Keivan Behjou, F.,(2011).Environmental evaluation of Damages to Residual due to recreational activities in Fandoulou forests of Ardebil,12pp. Kardavani,P., pourramezan,I.,(2009). Study of hazel planting problems and socio-economic effects on Eshkoratregion (Rodsar province),Geographical research, No.45. Mahdavi,A.,(2006).Study of Non-wooden Forest products in harvesting in Kamyaran,M.Sc.thesis, Faculty of Natural resourses, Tehran university.97pp. Thadani, R., (2001).international non-timber forest product issues, Journal of Sustainable Forestry, Vol. 13, No. 3/4.

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Requirements of Phosphorus Fertilizers in Different Soil Phosphorus Levels in Wheat in Konya

Yusuf Ik
Konya Toprak, Su ve lleme ile Mcadele Aratrma stasyonu Mdrl Corresponding Author: isikyusuf@hotmail.com

Abstract
This study was carried out in order to determine the required phosphorus fertilizers in different soil phosphorus levels in soils of Konya District by Olsen Phosphorus Analyze Method. Field experiments were conducted in a completely randomized block design with four replicates in total 42 locations, showed different phosphorus levels. Five phosphorus levels (0, 30, 60, 90 and 120 kg/ha) were applied in field experiments on irrigated areas. Modified Mitcherlich ((log (A-y) = logA-b1.c1-cx) were used in the analysis of data. While the estimation of theoretical maximum yield (A), efficiency of soil phosphorus (c1) and efficiency of phosphorus fertilizer (c) were found 4459 kg/ha, 0.168 and 0.093 respectively in irrigation conditions. The estimation of theoretical maximum yield (A), efficiency of soil phosphorus (c1) and efficiency of phosphorus fertilizer (c) were found 1858 kg/ha, 0.163 and 0.103 respectively in dry conditions. By this equation, relationship between fertilizer levels and wheat yield were calculated, and fertilizer levels based on wheat prices were determined. According to obtained equation, yield increases by different phosphorus fertilizer levels, were estimated by log (4459-y) = log 4459-b1.0.168-0.0925x. Also yield increases by different phosphorus fertilizer levels, were estimated by log (185, 8-y) = log 185, 8-b1.0.1630.103x on dry conditions. Keywords: Konya, wheat, efficiency of phosphorus fertilizer, efficiency of soil phosphorus, theoretical maximum yield

Introduction Productive production in agricultural products by obtaining maximum and high quality yield is possible through the total providing of plant nutrition need besides various cultural precautions. However some nutrition is not adequate enough in some parts of the agricultural lands. Thus these inadequate nutrition are given to the land through fertilizers. Besides firstly determining the contents of nutrition of the soil by using chemical analysis methods to obtain expected benefit from fertilizer, the calibration of chemical soil analysis should be carried out as result of trial made in the regions where those plants are grown. This study was carried out to determine the amount of phosphorus applied to the land showing different analysis values by calibrating the Olsen Phosphorus Analyze values for wheat grown in Konya region. Materials and method Some soil characteristics as the soil texture, pH, salt, organic materials, and potassium contents of the experiment lands are determined by methods stated by Richards (1954) and the phosphorus content useful for plans by using those mentioned by Olsen and Ark (1954). The research was conducted in irrigated lands which shows characteristics suitable for agriculture by using Porsuk 76, and in dry lands by using Kunduru-1149 variety in accordance with the randomized block design methodology. In the total evaluation of the results of the study Mitscherlich equation which is given as log (A-y) = logA-b1.c1-cx equation modified by Bray was utilized (Yurtsever, 1969). The Parameters of the equation, efficiency of soil phosphorus (c1) and efficiency of phosphorus fertilizer (c) were calculated by the yield of grain obtained in the land experiments carried out in the region. Later, by using the efficiency of phosphorus fertilizer and the amount of fertilizer used to estimate the theoretical maximum yield that could be obtained in the region in order to determine the fertilizer amount necessary reach the theoretical maximum yield 90%, 92%, 94%, 96%, and 98% levels. In order to determine the amount of fertilizer to be used economically the formula yFx = xFx prposed by Yurtsever (1975) was used.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Results The effects of phosphorus fertilizer application on wheat grain yield The phosphorus content of the fields on which phosphorus experiments were conducted, the increase in production due to phosphorus fertilizer application, the efficiency of soil and phosphorus fertilizer are given in Table 1
Table 1.The efficiency of soil phosphorus and phosphorus fertilizer for wheat variety grown in irrigated and dry conditions in the Konya region. irrigated Experiment no 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Olsen analysis value (kg/ha) 56.3 44.1 30.7 35.5 29.7 45.5 44.8 63.5 28.0 18.0 39.2 52.8 53.3 25.7 39.5 59.5 36.3 59.8 60.5 53.5 52.8 Mean Yield increase (%) 6.44 9.98 26.35 20.25 30.84 27.82 18.85 7.06 25.50 56.93 31.22 17.52 18.15 20.33 31.86 24.54 19.84 12.36 8.61 15.01 18.09 (c1) 0.212 0.227 0.189 0.195 0.172 0.122 0.162 0.181 0.212 0.136 0.129 0.143 0.139 0.269 0.115 0.103 0.194 0.152 0.176 0.154 0.141 0.168 (c) . 0.067 0.151 0.070 0.114 0.113 0.087 . 0.114 0.093 0.080 0.139 0.078 0.042 0.067 0.118 0.116 0.088 . 0.165 0.148 0.103 Olsen analysis value (kg/ha) 29.4 16.0 26.8 21.7 25.7 25.1 25.7 32.3 46.3 33.8 35.4 45.9 54.8 28.8 46.7 33.7 41.3 55.5 30.1 43.6 38.3 dry Yield increase (%) 31.30 58.99 32.10 35.57 20.89 48.23 39.74 23.87 30.39 18.65 27.56 18.34 9.55 25.21 27.71 26.84 30.56 31.97 32.59 20.50 35.57 (c1) 0.172 0.143 0.184 0.207 0.265 0.126 0.156 0.193 0.112 0.216 0.158 0.160 0.186 0.208 0.119 0.170 0.125 0.089 0.162 0.158 0.117 0.163 (c) 0.089 0.076 0.099 0.122 0.058 0.086 0.086 0.094 0.106 0.072 0.115 0.097 . 0.115 0.69 0.93 0.170 0.099 0.110 0.143 0.109 0.100

As can be seen in Table 1, in both irrigated and dry conditions the relative increase in grain yield due to fertilizer is related with the present amount of phosphorus in the soils of experiment lands. The increase in yield in phosphorus-poor soils is greater in comparison to that in efficiency phosphorus-rich ones. In irrigated lands the increase in production in relation to soil phosphorus content can be expressed with the Y=58.48-59.28log(x) equation. The correlation coefficient (r= 0.76xx) of this equation is found to be significant at the 1% possibility level. According to the equation above as the soil phosphorus content increases, the increase in production obtained as a result of fertilizer decreases. Consequently in the soils showing analysis values at 10.0 kg P2O5/ha, 20.0 kg P2O5/ha and 30.0 kg P2O5/ha, it is possible to obtain production at 58.5 %, 41.1%, and 33.0% levels respectively, in soils with phosphorus content with the value of 90.0 kg P2O5/ha, the increase in the production declines at 1.9% level. The relative increase in grain yield with the phosphorus fertilizer in dry conditions can be expressed with the Y= 56.63-51.07 log(x) equation. The correlation coefficient (r= 0.66xx) of this equation is found to be significant at the 1% possibility level. According to the equation above as the soil phosphorus content increases, the increase in production obtained as a result of fertilizer decreases. As a result, in the soils showing analysis values at 10.0 P2O5/ha, 20.0 kg P2O5/ha and 30.0 kg P2O5/ha it is likely to obtain production at 56.6 %, 41.1%, and 32.3% respectively, in soils with phosphorus content with the value of 100.0 kg P2O5/ha, the increase in the production declines at 5.6% level.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH These results indicate that in soil which shows high analysis values at 100.0 kg P2O5/ha or above there is no need to use phosphorus fertilizer while growing wheat in both irrigated and dry conditions. However in soils with lower analysis values fertilizer is to be used. The amount of fertilizer to be used depends on the desired level of crop besides the analysis value of the land to be fertilized and the analysis of the efficiency of soil and phosphorus fertilizer. As can be seen in Table 1 for wheat grown in irrigated conditions in Konya region the efficiency of soil phosphorus was found to be 0.168; and that of phosphorus fertilizer is 0.103. For wheat grown in dry conditions the efficiency of soil phosphorus was found to be 0.163; and that of phosphorus fertilizer is 0.100. According to these efficiencies in soils with different phosphorus analysis values, for four different yield levels aiming at 92%, 94%, 96%, and 98% of maximum yields the required fertilizer amount for wheat grown in dry and irrigated conditions are calculated and given in Table 2
Table 2 For different yield levels the required fertilizer amount for wheat grown in dry and irrigated conditions in Konya region according to soil analysis values (kg P2O5/ha) Phosphorus analyzing value 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0 8.0 9.0 % 92 Irrg. Dry 101 97 82 79 64 63 46 46 28 29 10 12 % yield levels % 94 % 96 Irrg. Dry Irrg. Dry 114 110 133 128 96 93 115 111 78 76 97 94 60 59 79 77 42 42 61 60 23 25 42 43 10 24 27 10 10 % 98a Dry 159 142 125 108 92 75 58 41 29

Irrg. 166 148 129 111 93 75 57 39 21

As Table 2 indicates as the level of desired yield increases at certain analysis values the amount of required fertilizer increases much more. In this case it is necessary to examine whether the increase in yield compensate fertilizer expense. To do this it is required to know the effect of fertilizer on yield, and fertilizer-yield price. In Konya region conditions as a result of the field experiments applied in soils with phosphorus analysis values, by determining the theoretical maximum yield and the efficiency of soil and phosphorus fertilizer, the effect of phosphorus fertilizer on wheat grain yield was found. The relationship between the amount of grain in irrigated conditions can be expressed with log (4459-y) = log 4459-0.168b1 - 0.103x equation, that of in dry conditions with log (1858-y) =log 1858-0.163b1- 0.103x equation. According to the equations the changes in yield due to phosphorus fertilizer application in soils with different phosphorus values are given in Table 3 In Table 3 the fertilizer applied to wheat grown in irrigated conditions created by natural precipitation, the yield obtained as a result is given as kg/ha. Consequently by switching to economical analysis, to determine the amount of fertilizer that should be applied economically in soils with different phosphorus analysis values the marginal fertilizer and marginal yield is to be know in monetary terms. As a result of the calculations made by considering 1 kg phosphorus is 1.6 TL and 1 kg bread wheat is 0.5 TL, for soils with phosphorus analysis the amount of phosphorus fertilizer that should economically applied to wheat grown in irrigated conditions is determined as 140 kg P2O5/ha, 110 P2O5/ha kg 70 P2O5/ha and 30 P2O5/da sequentially. As a result of the calculations made by considering 1 kg durum wheat is 0.6 TL, for soils with phosphorus analysis values with 10.0 kg P2O5/da, 30.0 kg P2O5/da, 50.0 kg P2O5/da and 70.0 kg P2O5/da the amount of phosphorus fertilizer that should economically applied to wheat grown in precipitationdependent conditions is determined as 110 kg P2O5/ha 70 kg P2O5/ha, 40 kg P2O5/ha and 10 kg P2O5/ha sequentially. As can be seen in Table 2 the amount of fertilizers given above is enough to provide 96% of maximum yield grown in irrigated conditions, and 92% in dry conditions. Thus according to the present fertilizer and wheat price, the fertilizer amount that should meet provide 96% of maximum yield grown in irrigated conditions, and 92% in dry conditions is to be applied.
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Table 3 The increase in yield due to phosphorus fertilizer application in soils with different phosphorus content in Konya region (kg/ha) Bread wheat (Irrigated) Phosphorus content (kg P2O5/ha) 1. 0 Crop up 581 470 380 307 248 200 162 131 106 86 69 56 45 37 30 3.0 Crop up 268 217 175 142 115 93 75 60 49 40 32 26 21 17 14 5.0 Crop up 124 100 81 65 53 43 35 28 23 18 15 12 10 7.0 Crop up 57 46 37 30 24 20 16 13 10 1. 0 Crop up 254 204 163 131 105 84 67 54 43 34 28 24 17 14 Durum wheat (Dry) Phosphorus content (kg P2O5/ha) 3.0 Crop up 12.0 96 77 62 49 39 32 25 20 16 13 10 5.0 Crop up 57 45 36 29 23 19 15 12 7.0 Crop up 26 22 17 11

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150

16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16

Ik, Y., 1992. Konya region of wheat irrigated conditions, the calibration of phosphorus fertilizer demand and Olsen Phosphorus Analysis Technique. General Directorate of Rural Services, No: 157, Konya, Turkey Ik, Y., 1997. Konya region and Olsen Phosphorus Analysis Method in terms of wheat phosphorus fertilizer calibration request. General Directorate of Rural Services, Soil and Water Resources Research Branch Office. Annual reports, No: 102 Ankara Turkey Olsen, S.R., C. U. Cole, F. S. Vatanabe, L. A. Dean, 1954. Enstimation of Avaliable Phosphorus in Soils by Extraction with Sodiumbicarbonate U. S. Dept. of. Agr. Cir. 939. Washington. USA Richars, L. A., Saline and alkali soils U.S. Dep. Agr. Handbook. No.60 Yurtsever, N., 1969. Soil analysis of correlations and economic analysis. Soil and Fertilizer Research Institute, Technical Issue, No: 18. Ankara. Yurtsever, N., 1984. Experimental Statistical methods. Soil and Fertilizer Research Institute No: 121, Ankara

Discussion The efficiency of soil phosphorus and efficiency of phosphorus fertilizer on wheat grain yield was considerably different from one another. This situation clearly indicates that the efficiency of phosphorus and the phosphorus fertilizer requirement of wheat in dry and irrigated conditions do not show significant difference. As can be seen when examining Table 3.2 and Table 3.3 together, provided that analysis and expected yield level remain constant, the amount of phosphorus fertilizer that should be applied is close to each other in both conditions. For example, in a field with an analysis value of 20.0 kg P2O5 /ha the level of expected yield is the 98% of maximum yield. In this case the amount of fertilizer that should be applied can be calculated as 148 kg P2O5/ha in irrigated conditions, 142 kg P2O5/ha in precipitation-dependent conditions. Although the phosphorus fertilizer requirement of wheat in dry and irrigated conditions do not show significant difference, the amount of fertilizer that should be applied economically changes with respect to irrigated and precipitation-dependent conditions. The increase in yield due to application of fertilizer in irrigated conditions is more than the increase in precipitation-dependent conditions. For instance in case of a land with 20.0 kg P2O5/ha, the amount of fertilizer that should be applied in irrigated conditions is 115 kg P2O5/ha, whereas it decreases to 79 kg P2O5/ level in precipitation-dependent conditions. References

The Marginal Fertilizer price (TL)

The amount of fertilizer(kgP2O5/ha )

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Effectiveness of Fluorescent Pseudomonads Able To Produce IAA and Utilize ACC on Growth of Pistachio Seedling Abdolreza Akhgara and G. Hasania
a

Dept. of Soil Science, Vali-e-Asr University, Rafsanjan, Iran *Corresponding Author: arakhgar@yahoo.com

Abstract The aim of this study was investigation of the effectiveness of isolates, being able to produce IAA and utilizing ACC as the sole source of nitrogen, on growth pistachio seedlings. In the present study, based on fluorescent properties of isolates in King B medium, 52 colony of fluorescent pseudomonad randomly isolated from the rhizosphere soils of pistachio seedling and then purified. Identifying these strains, according to the microscopy, physiological and biochemical characters tests related to species determination, showed that 49 of 52 isolates belonged to Pseudomonas fluorescens species and due to the lack of accordance with the characters in the Bergey book, 3 isolates was identified as Pseudomonas sp. Then isolates were evaluated for the ability to produce IAA and utilize ACC. In a greenhouse experiment, the effectiveness of the six isolates, that were able to utilize ACC as the sole sources of nitrogen and produce different amounts of IAA were tested on the pistachio seedling. Also the results showed that application of most of strains significantly increased leaf number, Leaf area, and shoot fresh and dry weight of pistachio seedlings. Keywords: ACC deaminase, Auxin, fluorescent Pseudomonads, Pistachio

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Molecular Characterization of ACC Deaminase-Containing Plant Growth Promoting Pseudomonas spp. associated with Canola Rhizosphere, Using Box PCR Profile and Partial Sequence of 16s rDNA Abdolreza Akhgara* and Mahdi Arzanloub
a b

Dept. of Soil Science, Vali-e-Asr University, Rarsanjan, Iran Dept. of Soil Science Tabriz University, Tabriz, Iran *Corresponding Author: arakhgar@yahoo.com

Abstract Ethylene is synthesized in plant tissues from the precursor 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) during biotic and abiotic stress conditions. Plant growth-promoting bacteria contained the enzyme ACC deaminase are able to lower the level of ethylene in developing or stressed plants. The aim of this study was to isolate and genetically identify the ACC deaminase producing associative bacteria of canola rhizosphere. For this reason, 105 isolates were randomly selected from Canola rhizosphere soil located in Qom and Qazvin provinces, Iran. At first, isolates were screened for ACC utilization, as the sole source of nitrogen. The phylogenetic analysis of 16S rDNA and cluster analysis of BOX-PCR carried out on the isolates that were able to use ACC. The results indicated that only 15 isolates were able to use ACC. Results of phylogenetic analysis based on the partial 16S rRNA sequencing indicated the all of isolates belonged to Pseudomonad fluorescent group and species of Pseudomonas fluorescens. The cluster analysis based on the pairwise coefficient similarity with UPGMA of BOX-PCR showed a wide variation in fingerprinting pattern caused by their high degree of genetic variability into strains of Pseudomonas fluorescens producing ACC deaminase enzyme. It seems that Pseudomonas fluorescens is dominant species producing ACC deaminase in Canola rhizosphere grown in tested soils. Keywords: PGPR, Pseudomonas fluorescens, 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC), phylogenetic analysis, BOX-PCR

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Mineral and Bacterial Fertilization Impact on Dehydrogenase Activity and Microbial Biomass in Acid Eutric Cambisol under Winter Wheat
Aleksandra Stanojkovic-Sebic1, Dragutin A. Djukic2, Leka Mandic2, Radmila Pivic1, Dragana Josic1
1 2

Institute of Soil Science, T. Drajzera 7, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia Faculty of Agronomy, University of Kragujevac, Cara Dusana 34, 32000 Cacak, Serbia Corresponding Author: astanojkovic@yahoo.com.

Abstract An extensive application of the high rates of mineral fertilizers inhibit the growth and activity of soil microorganisms. Biodiversity can be maintained by application of nitrogen fixing microorganisms, which could present an alternative and/or supplement to mineral nutrition. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of non-symbiotic bacterial inoculants and different rates of mineral fertilizers on dehydrogenase activity and microbial biomass in acid eutric cambisol type of soil under winter wheat, based on the following variants: control (non-fertilized soil); 60 kg/ha N and P2O5, and 40 kg K2O/ha (N1P1K1); 120 kg/ha N, P2O5 and K2O (N2P2K2); Enterobacter sp. strains + N1P1K1; Enterobacter sp. strains + N2P2K2; Klebsiella planticola + N1P1K1; Klebsiella planticola + N2P2K2. The volume of soil microbial activity was estimated in the beginning and at the end of the plant growth. Dehydrogenase activity was estimated by spectrophotometer, while microbial biomass, in the form of CO2-C, was determined by hloroform fumigation incubation method. Studied parameters of microbial activity were significantly higher during the entire investigation period in the variant where combination of bacterial inoculants and lower rates of mineral fertilizers (N1P1K1) was applied. The intensity of soil microbial activity was slightly higher in the full maturity phase of the wheat than in its phase of intensive growth. It can be concluded that by applying bacterial inoculants we can effect on dynamics and direction of microbial processes that indirectly effect on increase and maintenance of the soil fertility and decrease the application of mineral fertilizers. Keywords: Bacterial inoculants, mineral fertilizers, soil dehydrogenase activity, soil microbial biomass, wheat.

Introduction The studies in the field of fertilization are mostly focused on the increase of the yield of crops whereas the traits of the cumulative effect of fertilizers (the change of biological and chemical soil properties, the content of biogenic elements and heavy metals etc.) have often been disregarded. Regardless of its major role in crop productivity and soil fertility, the application of mineral fertilizers (particularly nitrogen) may induce a series of negative consequences, from the microbiological, economic and ecological aspects (Acosta-Martinez and Tabatabai, 2000). The coefficient of nitrogen utilization by crops is low (30-60%) and is being reduced even more with the increase of nitrogen fertilizers rates. The problems concerned can be overcome by partial replacement of these fertilizers by application of microbial inoculants, in order to inhibit or stimulate certain cellular processes, including mineralization ones, thus leading to the improvement of physico-chemical and biological soil properties (Milosevic et al., 2003). Having in mind the above mentioned, the aim of this investigation was to examine the influence of different rates of mineral fertilizers [composite NPK (nitrogen:phosphorus:potassium = relation 15:15:15)] and their combination with selected soil bacterial inoculants, and sampling period on microbial biomass carbon and dehydrogenase activity in Eutric Cambisol and grain yield of wheat. Material and Methods The investigation was conducted on Mladenovac experimental station of Institute of Soil Science, located 55 km from Belgrade in Serbia, during 2007. Mean monthly temperature and precipitation summ for the investigated period are presented in Table 1.

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Table 1. Mean monthly air temperature and precipitation summ for the study year. Month January February March April May June July August September October November December Mean Total Year 2007 Temperature Precipitation (C) (mm) 7.6 49.3 7.2 56.0 10.2 99.6 14.9 3.8 19.5 79.0 23.8 107.6 25.8 17.5 24.2 72.5 16.2 84.1 11.8 103.6 5.2 131.5 1.1 34.5 14.0 839.0 Mean 1990-2007 Temperature Precipitation (C) (mm) 1.8 41.9 3.7 36.8 8.0 42.8 12.8 54.6 18.2 51.4 21.6 94.8 23.2 66.1 23.1 60.1 17.6 63.8 13.1 53.8 7.4 55.6 2.3 61.5 12.7 683.2

The studied soil type was Eutric Cambisol. The experiment was set up in a randomized block design with three replicates, based on the following variants: control (, non-fertilized soil); 60 kgha-1 N and P2O5, and 40 kg K2O ha-1 (N1, low rates of mineral fertilizers); 120 kgha-1 N, P2O5 and K2O (N2, high rates of mineral fertilizers); Enterobacter sp. strains + 60 kgha-1 N and P2O5, and 40 kg K2O ha-1 (ES+N1); Enterobacter sp. strains + 120 kgha-1 N, P2O5 and K2O (ES+N2); Klebsiella planticola + 60 kgha-1 N and P2O5, and 40 kg K2O ha-1 (KP+N1); Klebsiella planticola + 120 kgha-1 N, P2O5 and K2O (KP+N2). Winter wheat (cv. Evropa 90) was used as a test plant. Nitrogen fertilizer was applied in the form of urea with 46% N, phosphorus in the form of monoammonium phosphate with 52% P2O5 and 11% N, and potassium as 40% potassium salt (KCl). The pure culture of an associative N-fixing bacterium K. planticola was obtained from the stock culture of the Microbiology Laboratory of Faculty of Agronomy (Cacak, Serbia), while the Enterobacter strains (KG-75 and KG-76) were obtained from the stock culture of the Microbiology Laboratory in the Center for Small Grains (Kragujevac, Serbia), where they have been isolated from the rhizosphere of wheat. Pure liquid inoculums of K. planticola and Enterobacter spp. were made using fermentors with suitable nutrient broth and incubated with aeration for 48 h at 28C 1. The inoculation of the soil under young plants of wheat was carried out using plastic haversack sprinkler with 300.00 cm3/m2 of diluted liquid bacterial inoculum, previously made by adding the tap water in the pure bacterial liquid inoculum. For the purpose of microbiological analyses the soil samples were taken in the beginning and at the end of the plant growth, from the plough soil layer (0-20 cm). The following soil chemical parameters were analyzed: soil acidity - potentiometrically, using glass electrode pH meter; available phosphorus and potassium - spectrophotometrically and flamephotometrically, using Al-method by Egner-Riehm; humus content, using Tiurin's method, modified by Simakov; soil total N, using elemental CNS analyzer, Vario model EL III (Jakovljevic et al., 1985; Nelson and Sommers, 1996). Microbial biomass carbon (MBC) was measured using the chloroform fumigation incubation method, based on CO evolution (Jenkinson and Powlson, 1976). Soil dehydrogenase activity (DHA) was assayed under standard conditions (24 hours of incubation at 30C 1) by measuring the intensity of the red-coloured triphenyl formazan extinction, formed by reduction of 2, 3, 5 - triphenyltetrazolium chloride, spectrophotometrically (Thalmann, 1968). The microbiological data obtained were analyzed by the method of the analysis of variance, using SPS Statistica 6.0 Software. The significance of the differences between the study factors was

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH compared by the LSD test at P < 0.05 and P < 0.01. The grain yield of wheat was calculated at 14% moisture. Results and Discussion The main chemical characteristics of the study soil sampled before the trial was set up are presented in Table 2. The soil is characterized by acid reaction, high available potassium and medium available phosphorus, humus and total nitrogen supply.
Table 2. Main chemical characteristics of the studied Eutric Cambisol. Parameter nKCl pH H 2O P2O5 (mg 100 g-1) K2O (mg 100 g-1) Humus (%) Total N (%) Mean 4.06 4.90 15.73 25.30 2.19 0.136 Standard deviation 0.05 0.03 0.31 0.30 0.01 0.005 Range 4.00-4.10 4.87-4.92 15.51-16.09 25.08-25.65 2.18-2.19 0.132-0.141

The results of the microbiological study showed that the values of MBC and DHA in the soil depended on the fertilization variant used, as well as the sampling period studied (Tables 3 and 4). The analysis of the experimental data showed that the highest and statistically highly significant (P < 0.01) level of DHA and MBC inhibition in the soil was determined in the variant with high rates of NPK nutrients (N2) during both studied vegetation periods of wheat. Opposite to this, the highest and statistically highly significant (P < 0.01) stimulation of DHA and MBC in the soil was affected by applied combination of the microbial inoculants used and low rates of NPK fertilizers (variants ES+N1 and KP+N1).
Table 3. The effect of fertilization variant (A) and sampling period (B) on average dehydrogenase activity (g TPF10 g-1 of an air-dry soil) in Eutric Cambisol under winter wheat. Variants (A) Sampling period (B) LSD 0.05 0.01
XA

I II

92.00 96.30 94.15

N1 90.60 92.93 91.77

N2 45.73 36.83 41.28 A 2.33 3.09

KP+N1 109.10 123.17 116.14

KP+N2 61.83 69.83 65.83

ES+N1 ES+N2 117.43 63.37 132.17 64.17 124.80 63.77 B 1.22 1.62

XB 82.87 87.91 85.39

Table 4. The effect of fertilization variant (A) and sampling period (B) on average microbial biomass C (mgkg-1 of an absolutely dry soil) in Eutric Cambisol under winter wheat. Variants (A) Sampling period (B) XA LSD 0.05 0.01 I II 46.54 74.11 60.33 N1 37.53 66.86 52.20 N2 19.33 39.65 29.49 A 12.24 16.36 KP+N1 72.96 118.07 95.52 KP+N2 26.42 50.76 38.59 ES+N1 ES+N2 90.51 28.67 130.63 55.11 110.57 41.89 B 5.22 6.98
XB 45.99 76.46 61.22

Similar to our studies, results of the previous studies indicate that long-term application of high doses of mineral fertilizers significantly decrease microbiological activity in soil by decreasing soil pH and increasing N content in soil (Aciego Pietri and Brookes, 2008; Wang et al., 2009). Other findings (Csitari and Hoffmann, 2005) point out that different fertilizer treatments influence soil biological parameters significantly, but there is no linear correlation between them and the quantity of fertilizer active agents. Stimulative effects of the combine usage of the associative N-fixing

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH bacteria and low rates of NPK nutrients on soil MBC and DHA were also reported in previous studies (Raicevic et al., 2006). According to our studies, the values of MBC and DHA also depended on sampling period studied. The highest values of MBC and DHA were determined in the second sampling period, which was, for MBC, statistically highly significantly more (P < 0.01), and for DHA statistically significantly more (P < 0.05) comparing to the first vegetation period of wheat. The highest values of the studied parameters of soil fertility in the second sampling period is, probably, due to a better distribution of precipitation at the beginning of summer in the year studied. Similar to this, Nagaraja et al. (2002) reported that an increase in soil moisture status during the wet periods of the year resulted in higher biological activity. The analysis of the yield of wheat grain showed the noticeable yield differences between the applied fertilization treatments (Fig. 1).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

Grain yield of wheat (th-1)

8,10 5,92 4,52 2,13

8,98 6,04

9,22

N1

N2

KP+N1

KP+N2

ES+N1

ES+N2

The highest increase in yield was obtained by combined application of bacterial inoculants used and high rates of mineral NPK fertilizers, although it should be noted that with combined usage of bacterial inoculants and low rates of mineral NPK fertilizers were obtained higher yields comparing to the application of low rates of the pure mineral nutrients (60 kgha-1 N and P2O5, and 40 kg K2O ha-1) in conditions of agricultural production typical for this study. Similar results were obtained in the study of El-Sirafy et al. (2006), in which a significant interaction effect of nitrogen fertilizers and microbial inoculation on wheat yield compared to the unfertilized variants was also found. The character of the effects of the applied fertilizers on the yield of crop also depended on the weather conditions specific to each year of study. Specifically, good distribution of rainfall and temperature during 2006/2007 contributed largely to the achieved high yields of wheat in the investigated agro-ecological conditions, as indicated by other authors (Josipovic et al., 2005). Acknowledgement This study was supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of Republic of Serbia, Project No. TR-37006. References Aciego Pietri, J. C. and Brookes, P. C., (2008). Relationships between soil pH and microbial properties in a UK arable soil. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 40, 18561861. Acosta-Martinez, V. and Tabatabai, M. A., (2000). Enzyme activities in a limed agricultural soil. Biology and Fertility of Soils, 31, 85-91. Csitari, G. and Hoffmann, S., (2005). Comparative study on soil biological parameters at a longterm eld experiment. Archives of Agronomy and Soil Science, 51, 563569. El-Sirafy, Z. M., Woodard, H. J., El-Norjar, E. M., (2006). Contribution of biofertilizers and fertilizer nitrogen to nutrient uptake and yield of Egyptian winter wheat. Journal of Plant Nutrition, 29, 587-599.

Fertilization variants Figure 1. The effect of the fertilization variants on the grain yield of wheat (t ha-1)

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Jakovljevic, M., Pantovic, M., Blagojevic, S., (1985). Laboratory manual in chemistry of soils and waters. Belgrade: Faculty of Agriculture. Jenkinson, D. S. and Powlson, D. S., (1976). The effects of biocidal treatments on metabolism in soil V: A method for measuring soil biomass. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 8, 209-213. Josipovic, M., Kovacevic, V., Petosic, D., Sostaric, J., (2005). Wheat and maize yield variations in the Brod-Posavina area. Cereal Research Communications, 33, 229-233. Milosevic, N., Govedarica, M., Jelicic, Z., Protic, R., Kuzevski, J., Krstanovic S., (2003). Microbial inoculants as biofertilizers: testing, potential and important factor for sustainable agriculture. In Proceedings of Research Papers (pp. 89-98). PKB Institute Agroekonomik, No. 9, Belgrade, Serbia. Nagaraja, M. S., Parama, V. R. R., Srinivasamurthy, C. A., Siddaramappa, R., Suseela Devi, L., Lalitha, B. S., (2002). Soil biological processes: Seasonal changes in natural and man made ecosystems. In Proceedings of the 17th World Congress of Soil Science (pp. 401-410). Kasetsart University, No. 9, Bangkok, Thailand. Nelson, D. W. and Sommers, L. E., (1996). Total carbon, organic carbon, and organic matter. In Methods of Soil Analysis (961-1010), SSSA Special Books, Part 3, Madison, WI. Raicevic, V., Jakovljevic, M., Kikovic, D., Vasic, G., Lalevic, B., Antic-Mladenovic, S., Micanovic D., (2006). Importance and possibilities of biofertilization in modern agricultural production. Soil and Plant, 55, 195-202. Thalmann, A., (1968). Zur Methodik der Bestimmung der Dehydrogenaseaktivitt im Boden mittels Triphenyltetrazoliumchlorid (TTC). Landwirtschaftliche Forschung, 21, 249-258. Wang, H., Mo, J., Lu, X., Xue, J., Li, J., Fang, Y., (2009). Effects of elevated nitrogen deposition on soil microbial biomass carbon in major subtropical forests of southern China. Frontiers of Forestry in China, 4, 21-27.

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Response of Cotton to Boron Side Dressing as Affected by Phosphors Fertilization and Crop Residues Incorporation in Soil.
Hala H. Gomaha, H.M.A. Raghiba, K.K. Atiaa and A.E. Husseina
Department of Soils and Waterm Faculty of Agriculture, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt *Corresponding Author: halagomaa71@hotmail.com Abstract: Boron deficiency is expected to occur on Cotton plants (Gossypium hirsutum L.) grown in clay soil received high rate of P fertilizer and amended with crop residues (CR). This work aims to explore the response of cotton plants grown in such soil to B side- dressing. Two rates of B (0 and 2 kg B fed-1 as boric acid), four rates of P fertilizer (0, 100, 300 and 500 kg superphosphate fed-1) and two levels of CR were tested in an experiment carried out at the Experimental Farm of Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt, during two successive growth seasons of 2004 and 2005. Heavy application of superphosphate (500 kg SP fed-1) resulted in increasing hot water extractable B from 1.88 to 2.05 and from 2.68 to 3.01 ppm in soil samples collected at peak bloom of two growth seasons. Incorporation of CR into the soil significantly increased hot water extractable B to as high as 32.4, 26.3 and 43.6% more than the untreated soil samples while it significantly decreased B content in cotton leaves by 17.1, 20.9 and 12.2% in samples collected at peak bloom of the 1st season, peak bloom and 50% open boll of the 2nd season, respectively. With the application of 2 kg B fed-1, there were 38.1 and 57.7% increases in B contents of leaves sampled at peak bloom and 50% open boll growth stages, respectively, over control. Keywords: cotton plants, boron application, phosphors fertilization and crop residues

Introduction Increasing B levels changed the concentration of plant nutrients in the leaves as well as in the roots of maize plants (Mozafar, 1989). Tariq and Mott (2007) ended to that the interactions of B with other plant nutrients are highly complex and the effects can be antagonistic or synergistic depending on plant species and varieties, growth medium and environmental conditions. In addition, the deficiency or excess of B not only affects the relative values of individual elements, but also affects the balance among certain nutrients within plants casing either an increase or decrease of dry matter production. High B reduced P content in kiwifruit plants (Sotiropoulos et al., 1999), maize genotypes (Gunes and Alpaslan, 2000), wheat (Singh et al., 1990), radish growing in sand culture (Tariq and Mott, 2006). On contrast, increasing B levels increased P concentration in groundnut (Patel and Golakia, 1986), shoots and roots of tomato plants (Alvarez-Tinaut et al., 1980), barley plants (Singh and Singh, 1984), apple root stock in tissue culture (Mouhtaridou et al., 2004) Yamanouchi (1980) and Sinha et al. (2003) reported that increasing P supply decreased boron concentration in tomato leaves. Phosphorus application decreased boron concentrations in soil and its uptake by Zea maize plants, and its toxicity in the soils of semiarid areas (Gunes and Alpaslan, 2000). Kaya et al. (2009) revealed that phosphorus application to nutrient solution (0.5 or 1 mM P) to tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum cv. Target F1) plants mitigate the adverse effects of high boron on fruit yield and growth. The aim of this investigation is to assess the response of cotton plants grown on a clay soil amended with crop residues and P fertilization to the soil application of B. Materials and Methods A field experiment was conducted at the Experimental Farm of Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt to study the effect of soil dressing of boron on P and B content in soil and cotton leaves (Gossypium hirsutum L.) as affected by phosphorus status and under two levels of crop residues. The experimental design was split split plot with four replications, where the levels of crop residues were used in the main plots, phosphorus treatments were in the sub-plots and the boron levels were in the sub-sub-plots. Tap water was used as the 0 B treatments. Crop residues (5.45 ton fed-1 of corn residues in the first season and 3.7 ton fed-1 of clover residues in the second season) were applied to the experimental site 2 years before starting the experiment, dried out in the open field 45 days before sowing, cut into small pieces and ploughed into the surface layer (0.00 0.25 m depth) of the experimental site then irrigated. The nutrient composition

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH of CR was slightly variable from one year to another, and on average contained 36% total C, 0.71.23% N, 0.22% P and 0.83% K on a dry weight bases. Super phosphate (15.5% P2O5) treatments (0, 100, 300 and 500 kg SP fed-1) were applied banding at the top third of the rows before sowing date with about 10 days. Two equal doses of ammonium nitrate (31 kg N/fed each) were applied banding at the top third of the row after thinning (along with 24 kg K2O/fed as potassium sulfate) and 4 weeks later. Agronomic cultural practices were carried out as usual to assure the optimum production for cotton crop. Boron was applied to the soil as a powder of boric acid (17% B) with tow levels 0.00 and 11.76 kg boric acid / feddan (0 and 2 kg B fed-1). The amount of boric acid was mixed with the first dose of nitrogen fertilizer by banding at the top third of the row after thinning and at the second true leaf stage. Cotton leaves were collected from 25-30 plants (generally the third or the fourth primary leaf below the terminal) 7 days after the last foliar application of boron, in the first season and the first sample of the second season. Another sample was taken at the end of the second season. Cotton leaves were separated, rinsed in tap water, rinsed twice in distilled water, air dried then oven dried at 70oC and prepared for chemical analysis. Packing up of cotton yield was conducted at the end of both growing seasons (after 100% of the bolls were open). The soil had a clayey texture (51.6% clay, 26.7% silt and 21.7% sand) with 1.3% organic matter, pH 7.74 (1:1 suspension), EC 2.9 ds/m, 8.04 ppm available P and 1.28 ppm hot water extractab B. Soil samples were collected from each plot at the same time of cotton leaves sampling. Soil samples (2-3 random cores from the middle row at 0.00- 0.25 m depth) were thoroughly mixed, air-dried and ground to pass a 2-mm sieve and stored for chemical analysis. Total soluble salts were determined in the saturated soil-paste extract by measuring the electrical conductivity (Jackson, 1973). Organic matter content was determined using Walkely-Black method, following Baruah and Barthakur (1997). Soil pH was measured in 1:1 (soil: water) suspensions using a glass electrode (Jackson, 1973). Mechanical analysis was carried out using the pipette method (Piper, 1950). The soil samples collected in the first and the second seasons were analyzed for Olsen P extraction (Olsen et al., 1954) with 0.5 M NaHCO3 (pH 8.5, 1: 20 soil: extract ratio, 30 min shaking). Also, soil samples were analyzed for extractable boron with 1 soil : 2 water extract ratio and boiling for 5 minutes (Jackson, 1973). The plant leaves collected in the first and the second seasons were subjected to analysis using the dried digestion with the addition of magnesium acetate and extraction in 2N H2SO4, (Jackson 1973). Phosphorous concentration in the soil extraction and in the plant digest was determined colorimetrically using the stannous chloride phosphomolibdic-sulfuric acid system as described by Jackson (1973). Boron concentration in the soil extractant and in the plant digest was determined colorimetrically using carmine method (Hatcher & Wilocox, 1950). All obtained data were subjected to statistical analysis of variance and treatment means were compared for significant differences using the LSD at p = 0.05 and p = 0.01. The MSTAT-C (version 2.10) computer program was used to perform all the analysis of variance in agreement with the procedure outlined by Steel and Torrie (1982). Effects of phosphorus fertilization and boron side dressing on P and B availability in soil At all levels of P fertilization, increasing the amount of B fertilizer up to 2 kg B fed-1 had no significant effect on available P in the soil (Table 1). However, P fertilization interacts with B sidedressing and significantly affects the amount of hot-water extractable B in the soil. The P x B interaction effect on B availability was changed with increasing the P fertilization rate. Boron availability in soil samples collected at peak bloom growth stage of both growth seasons significantly decreased from 1.44 to 1.17 and from 2.21 to 1.85 ppm, respectively, with the application of low P fertilization rate of 100 kg superphosphate fed-1. The reaction of soluble B with active calcium to form the highly insoluble Ca-metaborate and thus reduce the availability of B could be a possible cause for lowering the availability of B in the soil (Tariq and Mott, 2007). Heavy application of superphosphate resulted in increasing hot-water extractable B from 1.88 to 2.05 and from 2.68 to 3.01 ppm in soil samples collected at peak bloom growth stage of the two growth season, respectively (Table 1). However, comparing to control, B availability in soil samples collected later on at the 50% open boll growth stage did not show significant changes with heavy application of superphosphate. Changing in B retention on soil components associated with
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Results and Discussion

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH changing the soil pH could be a possible explanation for that. Heavy application of superphosphate occasionally reduced the pH of the soil, minerals, and thus increased the amount of hot-water extractable B. Considering the soil buffering capacity, the soil pH returned back to its initial value, and therefore, B availability did not change. The effect of pH on boron adsorption by oxides and clay minerals is well established with the maximum amount of boron adsorption occurring in the pH range 7 to 9 (Goldberg and Glaubig, 1986). Tariq and Mott (2007) reported many reasons for the increases of boron adsorption with increasing pH such as an increase in B(OH)4 concentration, an increase in OH concentration, a change in the concentration of Al and Si in solution and an increase in net negative charge and of surface hydroxyl ion dissolution.
Table 1: Effects of P fertilization and B side dressing on P and B availability in the soil
P rate kg Fed-1 0 B rate kg Fed-1 Extractable P in soil (mg/kg) 1st season 2ed season Peak 50% open Peak Bloom Bloom boll 8.11 7.31 6.66 8.40 7.19 6.66 8.25 7.25 6.66 9.55 9.45 8.70 9.79 9.50 8.93 9.67 9.48 8.78 14.55 17.45 15.53 14.63 17.18 15.35 14.59 17.32 15.44 17.93 21.87 20.40 18.43 22.33 20.57 18.18 22.10 20.49 n.s n.s n.s Extractable B in soil (mg/kg) 1st season 2ed season Peak Peak 50% open Bloom Bloom boll 1.44 2.21 1.21 2.33 3.15 1.68 1.88 2.68 1.45 1.17 1.85 1.40 1.36 2.64 1.91 1.27 2.24 1.66 1.48 2.01 1.62 1.89 3.10 2.21 1.68 2.55 1.92 1.69 2.25 1.21 2.42 3.78 1.74 2.05 3.01 1.47 0.28 0.23 n.s * * *

0.00 2.00 Mean 0.00 100 2.00 Mean 0.00 300 2.00 Mean 0.00 500 2.00 Mean LSD0.05 (P x B) LSD0.05 (at the same level of P)

Effects of crop residues incorporation and boron side dressing on P and B availability: Side dressing of B to the soils without incorporation of crop residues had no significant effect on the amount of available P (Table 2). However, with the incorporation of crop residues into the soil, side-dressing of 2 kg B significantly increased the extractable P in soil samples collected at the peak bloom growth stage of the 1st seasons from 12.84 to 13.05 ppm. In the 2nd growth season, side dressing of B, with or without CR, had no significant effects on P availability in the soils.
Table 2: Effects of soil dressing of boron with crop residues incorporation in soil on availability of P and B in the soil . Extractable P in soil (mg/kg) Extractable B in soil (mg/kg) Crop B rate 1st season 2ed season 1st season 2ed season -1 Residues kg Fed 50% open Peak Peak 50% open Peak Bloom Peak Bloom boll Bloom Bloom boll 0.00 12.22 13.57 12.73 1.33 1.81 1.19 -CR 2.00 12.38 13.51 12.70 1.64 2.82 1.48 Mean 12.35 13.54 12.72 1.49 2.32 1.33 0.00 12.84 14.48 12.92 1.55 2.35 1.53 +CR 2.00 13.25 14.45 13.05 2.36 3.51 2.29 Mean 13.05 14.47 12.99 1.96 2.93 1.91 n.s n.s LSD0.05 (CR x B) n.s 0.20 n.s 0.24 LSD0.05 B (at the 0.40 0.50 n.s 0.26 0.15 0.21 same level of CR)

Also, side dressing of B fertilizer with or without incorporation of crop residues into the soil, in general, significantly increased the amount of hot-water extractable B in soil samples collected in

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH both growth seasons. However, with incorporation of crop residues into the soil, the enhanced effects of B side dressing on the amount of hot-water extractable B were higher and more pronounced. For instance, side dressing of 2 kg B with crop residues incorporation significantly increased the hot-water extractable B from 1.55 to 2.36 ppm in soil sample collected at peak bloom growth stage of the first season. The size available B reached its maximum of 3.51 ppm in the 2nd growth season at the peak bloom growth stage in soil that received crop residues and 2 kg B fed-1. Decomposition of crop residues resulted in releasing of B into the soil. Releasing of B from crop residues together with the side dressing of B raised the amount of available B in the soil. Adhikari et al. (1993) found that oxidation of the organic matter in soils caused significant increases in the amount of boron released to the available form as well as decreases in the amount of boron that could be fixed by the soil. With the continuation of growth season, the amount of available B reached its minimum of 1.19 ppm in the soils that received neither crop residues nor B fertilizer. The loss of available boron through crop removal, leaching, and reversion to unavailable forms, coupled with higher requirements of cotton for boron could be the possible causes for this reduction. Soil organic matter decomposes to supply the soil solution to maintain adequate B levels when solution B is removed by crop uptake or leaching. Effects of phosphorus fertilization and side-dressing of boron on P and B content in cotton leaves: Only in the 1st growth season, phosphorous concentration in cotton leaves was significantly affected by P x B interaction (Table 3). Side dressing of B decreased P content in cotton leaves when no P fertilizer was added and had no observed effect on P concentration in leaves of cotton plants treated with low rate of P fertilization. However, with increasing the P fertilization rate, sidedressing of 2 kg B fed-1 significantly increased the P content in cotton leaves sampled at peak bloom growth stage of the 1st season. In the 2nd season, the P x B interaction had no significant effects on P concentration in cotton leaves. However, inspection of the 2nd season data revealed that at low level of P fertilization side-dressing of B also increased P contents in cotton leaves. The B x P interaction is varied based on the rate of P fertilization. At low level of available phosphate in the soil B may have an antagonistic effect on P. However, at high level of P availability in the soil B may have a synergistic effect on P, increasing the B fertilization rate may enhance the root growth of cotton plants resulted in taking up more P. Gunes and Alpaslan (2000) reported that application of B decreased P concentration and uptake in all studied maize genotype. Tariq and Mott (2007) reported that B interacts with other nutrients, either synergism or an antagonism, can affect plant nutrition under both deficiency and toxicity condition. However, reviewing the literatures one could not be assured that whether B is directly or indirectly involved in the interaction of certain nutrients and the nature of these complex interactions are still obscure. The P x B interaction only had a significant effect on the B content in cotton leaves sampled at the peak bloom growth stage of the 2nd growth season (Table 3). However, in both growth seasons, P fertilization reduced the B contents in leaves of cotton plants. Here again, phosphate had an antagonistic effect on both or either borate uptake and transport. Using mustard plants as an index plant, Sinha et al. (2003) found that the synergy between B and P was reflected when low phosphorus accentuated the effect of B deficiency by lowering further the reduced dry weight, total seed yield and increased further the concentration of reducing sugars, phosphorylated protein and activities of phosphatase and ribonuclease in B deficient leaves. The effects of excess boron in mustard, viz., reduction in dry weight, seed weight, contents of reducing sugars, organic P, oil content, activity of ribonuclease and stimulating leaf boron, content of inorganic P, phosphorylated protein were accelerated further by combined toxicity of both nutrients. The other explanation of this reduction is based on the dilution effects associated with the enhanced effects of B fertilization on the dry matter accumulation.

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Table 3: Effects of P fertilization and side-dressing of B on P and B contents in cotton leaves. P in cotton leaves (%) P rate Kg Fed-1 B rate kg Fed-1 0.00 2.00 Mean 0.00 2.00 Mean 0.00 2.00 Mean 0.00 2.00 Mean 1st season Peak Bloom 0.252 0.248 0.250 0.274 0.271 0.273 0.291 0.300 0.296 0.308 0.316 0.312 0.008 0.009 2ed season Peak Bloom 0.474 0.506 0.492 0.509 0.508 0.510 0.520 0.535 0.530 0.549 0.543 0.548 (N.S) 0.033 50% open boll 0.474 0.506 0.492 0.509 0.508 0.510 0.520 0.535 0.530 0.549 0.543 0.548 (N.S) 0.033 B in cotton leaves (mg/kg) 1st season Peak Bloom 45.70 61.49 53.59 41.06 58.08 49.57 43.79 61.11 52.45 40.95 61.94 51.44 (N.S) 3.42 2ed season Peak Bloom 37.25 54.44 45.84 36.76 53.17 44.96 37.54 49.46 43.50 37.05 48.09 42.57 2.32 2.29 50% open boll 42.36 61.45 51.91 38.83 62.93 50.88 40.08 63.95 52.01 37.79 62.51 50.15 (N.S) 3.54

100

300

500

LSD0.05 (P x B) LSD0.05 B (at the same level of P)

However, in both growth seasons and at both growth periods, at all levels of P fertilization side dressing of 2 kg B fed-1 significantly increased the B contents in cotton leaves. The effects of sidedressing of B on B content in cotton leaves reached its maximum in samples taken at 50% open boll. Application of 500 kg superphosphate with side-dressing of 2 kg B fed-1 increased the B content in cotton leaves from 37.8 to 62.5 ppm. The mobility of B in plants is low and B tends to accumulate in older leaves by the end of growth season. Effects of crop residues incorporation in the soil and side-dressing of boron on P and B content in cotton leaves: Incorporation of crop residues into top soil layer did not alter the effects of B side dressing on the P contents in cotton leaves (Table 4). Enrichment of the root zone with P and B anions released during the decomposition of organic matter could demolish the effects of B side dressing on P uptake by roots and thus did not alter the P status in leaves tissue. In an opposite direction of the CR x B interaction effects on P concentration, B contents in cotton leaves were significantly and remarkably affected by that interaction. In both seasons and at studied growth stages, CR incorporation in the soil with B side dressing significantly reduced the B concentration in cotton leaves. The reducing effects of CR on B concentration in cotton leaves with no B application were 17.6, 21.8, and 15.0% in leaves sampled at peak bloom of the 1st season, peak bloom and 50% open boll of the 2nd season, respectively. With side dressing of 2 kg B, the reducing effects of CR on B contents were less pronounced. As was mentioned before, hot-water extractable B in the soil at the beginning of the experiment (at peak bloom growth stages) decreased with CR incorporation in the soil. This decrease was most prominent at high levels of B application. The effect of the CR incorporation on leaf B concentration was also prominent at high B application rates, incorporation of CR into the soil resulting in less B in the leaf tissues. Explaining the effects of CR on B availability and concentration in leaves tissues Yermiyahu et al. (2001) reported that B formed staple complexes with organic matter and the affinity of organic matter for B could affect B uptake by plants because of changing B concentration in soil solution.

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Table 4. Effects of crop residues incorporation in the soil and B side-dressing on P and B contents in cotton leaves. P in cotton leaves (%) B in cotton leaves (mg/kg) B rate 1st season 2ed season 1st season 2ed season Crop kg Residues Peak 50% open Peak 50% open Fed-1 Peak Bloom Peak Bloom Bloom boll Bloom boll 0.00 0.278 0.525 0.357 47.03 41.69 42.98 -CR 2.00 0.277 0.550 0.352 66.19 57.07 66.13 Mean 0.00 +CR 2.00 Mean LSD0.05 (CR x B) LSD0.05 B (at the same level of CR) 0.278 0.284 0.290 0.286 (N.S) 0.005 0.539 0.501 0.496 0.501 (N.S) 0.027 0.354 0.382 0.376 0.377 (N.S) 0.008 56.61 38.73 55.12 46.92 1.89 4.13 49.38 32.61 45.50 39.05 1.64 2.10 54.56 36.54 59.29 47.92 (N.S) 1.82

The relationship of hot-water extractable B and B contents in cotton leaves as affected by crop residues incorporation in the soil Boron content in cotton leaves significantly correlated with the amount of hot-water extractable B in the soil (Fig 1). Boron content in cotton leaves linearly increased with increasing the amount of hot-water extractable B in the soil. In the treatment of no CR incorporation in the soil the slope of the regression line is higher than that of the treatment of CR incorporation in the soil. This mean that with increasing the amount of organic matter in the soil the release of B was little bet slower and need much more time to completely released from the organic matter. This is much more observed lately in the growth season at the 50% open boll growth stage. Boron concentration in the leaves was highly significantly correlated (r2 higher than 0.3 in all soil samples) with the B concentration in the soil. This correlation coefficient was further improved when CR incorporated into the soil. The results presented herein indicate that organic matter plays an important role in controlling B concentration in the soil solution, and that it has a prominent effect on reducing B uptake by plants. Side-dressing of 2 kg B fed-1 kept the B content in leaves as 60.65, 51.29 and 62.7 ppm B in leaves sampled at peak bloom of the 1st season, peak bloom and 50% open boll or the 2nd season, respectively. These levels are very close to that reported by El-Gharably and Bussler (1985) and in between the deficient and toxic levels of B as reported by Cassman (1993). Keeping the B concentration in leaves tissue overall the growth season within these levels ensured that cotton plants well grow well and produce the target yield. It is obvious that the incorporation of CR into the soil significantly increases available B in soil, while decreases B content in cotton leaves. The increases in hot water extractable B due to CR incorporation were as high as 32.4, 26.3 and 43.6% more than the untreated soil in soil samples collected at peak bloom of the 1st season, peak bloom and 50% open boll of the 2nd season, respectively. However, B content in cotton leaves was significantly decreased with CR incorporation to the soil by by 17.1, 20.9 and 12.2 % in samples collected at peak bloom of the 1st season, peak bloom and 50%open boll of the 2nd season, respectively. Two reasons could explain the reduction of B contents in leaves of cotton plants grown in soil received CR. Firstly; high organic matter may strongly retain B anions and render it unavailable for cotton plants. Secondly; the high amount of available P in soil may compete with B on the adsorbing sites of the roots resulting in a senergestic effect between P and B anions. Awad and Maki (1990) observed that B adsorption maximum values in acidic as well as calcareous soils increased with soil organic matter content. Yermiyaho et al. (2001) found that composted organic matter decreased B concentration in bell pepper plants. Khoshgoftarmanesh and Nourbakhsh (2009) found that the effects of different crop residues on P availability depending on kind of the crop residue material, since the concentration of available P was decreased in the soil treated with the leaves of oleaster, apple, oak, and clover and shoots of wheat and barley. Other plant materials had no effect (leaves of plant-tree,

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH root and leaves of clover and shoots of wheat) or increased (leaves of alfalfa and corn and roots of wheat and alfalfa) available P over 8-week incubation period.

Fig. 2. Relations betweern hot-water extractable B in the soil and B contents in cotton leaves.

Reference Adhikari, T.; A. K. Mondal; D. Kumar and B. Mandal. 1993. Influence of organic matter and lime application on boron availability in soils. Indian J. Agri. Sci. 63(12): 803806. Alvarez-Tinuat, M. C., A. Leal and Recalde-Martinez. 1980. Iron-Manganese interaction and its relation to boron levels in tomato plants. Plant Soil. 55: 377-388. Awad, K. M. and A. K. Maki. 1990. Boron adsorption by calcareous soils as related to soil properties. Mesopotamia J. Agric. 22(4): 4556. Baruah, T. C. and H. P. Barthakur. 1997. A text book of soil analysis. Vikas Publishing House PVT LTD, New Delhi, India. Cassman, K. G. 1993. Cotton. In: Bennet, W.F. (ed.), Nutrient Deficiencies and Toxicities in Crop Plants, pp: 1116. APS, Press, St. Paul, MN. USA. El-Gharably, G.A and W. Bussler. 1985. Critical levels of boron in cotton plants. J. Plant Nutr. Soil Sci. 148(6): 681688. Goldberg, S. and R. A. Glaubig. 1986. Boron adsorption and silicon release by the clay minerals kaolinite, montmorillonite and illite. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 50: 1442-1448. Gunes, A. and M. Alpaslan. 2000. Boron uptake and toxicity in maize genotypes in relation to boron and phosphorus supply. J. Plant Nutr. 23: 541550. Hatcher, J. T. and Wilcox, L. V. 1950. Colorimetric determination of boron using carmine. Anal. Chem. 22: 567569.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Jackson, M. L. 1973. Soil chemical analysis. Prentice-Hall, Inc. Englewood Cliffs, N. J. New Delhi, India. Kaya, C., A. L. Tuna, M. Dikilitas, M. Ashraf, S. Koskeroglu and M. Guneri. 2009. Supplementary phosphorus can alleviate boron toxicity in tomato. Scientia Hort. 121: 284288. Khoshgoftarmanesh, A. H. and F. Nourbakhsh. 2009. Salinity and plant residue effects on soil available phosphorus. J. Plant Nutr. 32(6): 954966. Mouhtaridou, G. N.; T. E. Sotiropoulos; K. N. Dimassi and I. N. Therios. 2004. Effects of boron on growth, and chlorophyll and mineral contents of shoots of the apple rootstock MM 106 cultured in vitro. Biologia Plantarum. 48(4): 617619. Mozafar, A. 1989. Boron effect on mineral nutrients of maize. Agron. J. 81(2): 285-290. Olsen, S. R., C. V. Cole, F. S. Watanabe and L. A. Dean. 1954. Estimation of available phosphorus by extraction with sodium bicarbonate. USDA Circ. 939. U.S. Gov. Print. Office, Washington, DC. Patel, M. S.; and B. A. Golakia. 1986. Effect of calcium carbonate and boron application on yield and nutrient uptake by groundnut. J. Indian Soc. Soil. Soil Sci. 34: 815-820. Piper, C. S. 1950. Soils and plant analysis. Inter. Sci. Publishers. Inc. New York. U.S.A. Singh, V. and S. P. Singh. 1984. Effect of applied boron on nutrients and uptake by barley crop. Current Agric. 8: 86-90. Sinha, P.; B. K. Dube and C. Chatterjee. 2003. Phosphorus stress alters boron metabolism of mustard. Commun. Soil Sci. Plant Anal. 34(3&4): 315326. Sotiropoulos, T. E.; I. N. Therios and K. N. Dimassi. 1999. Calcium application as a means to improve tolerance of kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa L) to boron toxicity. Scientia Hortic. 81: 443449. Steel, R. G. D. and J. H. Torrie. 1982. Principals and procedures of statistics. A Biometrical approach .Mc Graw Hill Book Company, New York. U.S.A. Tariq, M. and C. J. B. Mott. 2006. Effect of boron supply on the uptake of micronutrients by radish (Raphanus sativus L.). J. Agri. Biol. Sci. 1 (2): 1-8. Tariq, M. and C. J. B. Mott. 2007. Effect of boron behavior on nutrients in soil-plant system-A Review. Asian J. Plant Sci. 6 (1): 195-202. Yamanouchi, M. 1980. The effect of phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium and iron treatment on the absorption and translocation of boron in several crops grown in high concentration of boron. J. Sci. Soil Manure. 51(2): 126130. Yermiyahu, U., R. Keren and Y. Chen. 2001. Effect of composted organic matter on boron uptake by plants. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 65: 1436 1441.

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E ffect of Potassium and Calcium Application on the Fruit Yield of Tomato in A Hydroponics System with Unequal and Dynamic Distribution of Salt
Mohammad Koushafar*1, AmirHossein Khoshgoftarmanesh2, Abdolamir Moezzi3, Mostafa Mobli 4
Department of Soil Sciences, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Khouzestan, Iran, Department of Soil Sciences, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran 3 Department of Soil Sciences, Shahid Chamran Univ .Ahwaz, Khouzestan, Iran 4 Department of Horticultural Sciences, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran *Corresponding Author: mkmkmkfar@yahoo.com
2 1

Abstract

A problem for unequal distribution of salt in the root media is toxicity of sodium (Na) and reduced uptake of some nutrients particularly calcium (Ca) and potassium (K) by the root split supplied with saline water. There is a hypothesis that addition of Ca and K to these systems might alleviate salt-induced damages to plant. This study was carried out to evaluate the effect of Ca and K application on fruit yield of tomato plants grown in a hydroponics system with unequal distribution of salt in the root media. Addition of 40 mM NaCl in one part of the root media resulted in reduction of the fruit yield of tomato in comparison with the Johnson treatment. Addition of Ca, K+Ca and half-strength Johnson nutrient solution to the saline part of the root media increased fruit yield of tomato compared with the sole application of saline solution. In contrast, addition of K had no effect or slightly decreased fruit yield of tomato. Keywords: Hydroponic, Salinity, Tomato

Introduction Unequal salt distribution in the root zone is a method for application of saline water in agriculture. In this system, nutrient and salt ions are unequally distributed in the root zone of plants by divided it to two separated parts and it will be expected that this strongly affect the plant reaction on the uptake of water, minerals and the osmotic potential Raising the Na supply in the nutrition solutions induced an increase of Na content and Ca and K reduction in the plant tissue and has a adverse effect on the fruit yield (Nakamura et al, 1990; Navarro et al, 2000; Tuna et al, 2007; Gobinathan et al, 2009; Arshi et al, 2010 and Tzortzakis, 2010). So it seems that calcium and potssium addition to the root growth media observed to relieve Na+ toxicity (Maser et al, 2002; Akinci). Calcium and potassium are the effective elements to reduce adverse impacts of salinity in plants (Khayyat et al., 2007; Mozafari et al., 2008; Gobinathan et al, 2009 and Bastias et al., 2010). Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of addition calcium, potassium on the yield of tomato in a hydroponic system with dynamic unequal salt distribution in the root environment. Materials and Methods Seeds of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum var. Falcato F1) that is a commercial cultivar largely cultivated in Iran especially in greenhouses were germinated on perlite. The vigorous 5-leaf seedlings were selected and transferred to an aerated half strength Johnson nutrient solution. Therefore, 24 boxes with 6 treatments and four replications were used in this experiment. The seedlings were removed from the half strength Johnson nutrient and then the roots of tomato seedlings were separated into approximately two equal parts, half was grown in an isolated water black box containing 2.7 l aerated Johnson nutrient solution, and the other half was grown in a similar box containing 2.7 l aerated 40 mM NaCl solution. Treatments were distinguished according to the nature of the half saline root zone as: (N) plants supplied with Johnson nutrient solution in one box and 40 mM NaCl in the other box, (NC): plants supplied with Johnson nutrient solution in one box and 40 mM NaCl + 4mM CaCl2 in the other box, (NK): plants supplied with Johnson nutrient solution in one box and 40 mM NaCl + 6mM KCl in the other box (NKC): plants supplied with Johnson nutrient solution in one box and 40 mM NaCl + 2mM CaCl2 + 3mM KCl in the other box, (NJ/2): plants supplied with Johnson nutrient solution in one box and 40 mM NaCl + half Johnson nutrient elements in the other box and (J): plants supplied with Johnson nutrient solution in each two parts of box. All solutions in the boxes were renewed weekly. In all
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH treatments, the box containing nutrient solution was called "A" and another side was called "B". Two parts of roots in each treatment were interchanged every 7 day. The time interval and NaCl level were selected based on the preliminary experiment. The experiment was set up in a randomized complete block designs with four replicates. Analysis of variance was carried out using the SAS program. All data were subjected to analysis of variance and means were compared using Fisher's protected Least Significant Difference (LSD) method when the F test indicated significance difference at P < 0.05. Results and Discussion The effect of addition element to the root media was significant so the fruit yield at the Johnson treatment (J) was highest (241.22 g plant-1) and Nk, the treatment that had extra potassium in the half of saline media root showed the lowest fruit yield (45.53 g plant-1), (Fig. 1). When the half part of root exposed to 40 mM NaCl and the other half was immersed in the nutrient solution, fruit yield decreased 78% compared with the Johnson treatment, although addition calcium, calcium + potassium and half Johnson nutrient elements to the saline part of root media at the various treatments led to 73.2, 73.5 and 71.8 increase in fruit yield. The plants supplied with Johnson nutrient solution in each parts of root media had the maximum Ca2+ and K+ concentration. The lowest K+ concentration was found at the treatment that the half part of root was in the saline solution and the lowest Ca2+ concentration was found at the treatment, which had extra potassium in the half of saline root media. Addition of calcium to the saline-half of culture media minimized the reduction in plant fruit yield caused by NaCl with significant difference. In most cases salt tolerance of a crop cultivar can be increased by an increase in the Ca2+ concentration in the saline growth medium (Dogan and et al., 2010). Interaction effect of 7-day root interval and addition of calcium to the saline half of media culture significantly reduce the adverse effects of NaCl on fruit yields of tomato. Present study showed addition Ca2+ to the half of saline root led to reduce the concentration of sodium and increasing calcium in the tomato, when increased fruit yield. So, addition of extra potassium to the saline-half of culture media was not effective to reduce Na+ concentration, when decreased the fruit yield (Fig.1).

Figure 1: The effect of addition calcium, potassium and half-strength Johnson nutrient solution to the half part of root media on the fruit yield In the present research, the fruit yield of tomato was investigated in the dynamic split-root hydroponic systems where 40 mM NaCl salinity level and Ca, K+Ca, K and half-strength Johnson nutrient solution were applied at one part of the split roots and the other part was immersed in the nutrient solution. According to the results obtained in this study, by addition of Ca to the saline solution, it would be possible to replace about half of the crop water demand with saline water with no significant fruit yield reduction in a hydroponics system with unequal distribution of salt.

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References Akinci, I. E., Simsek, M., (2004). Ameliorative of potassium and calcium on the salinity stress in embryo culture of cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.). Journal of Biological Sciences, 4, 361-365. Arshi, A., A. Ahmad, I. M. Aref and M. lqbal., (2010). Calciom interaction with salinity induced effects on growth and metabolism of soybean (Glycine max L.) cultivars. Journal of Environmental Biology, 31, 795-801. Bastias, E., Alcaraz-Lopez, C., Bonilla, I., Martinez-Ballesta, M.C., Bolanos, L., Carvajal, M., (2010). Interactions between salinity and boron toxicity in tomato plants involve apoplastic calcium. Journal of Plant Physiology, 167, 54-60. Dogan, M., R. Tipirdamaz and Y. Demir., (2010). Salt resistance of tomato species in sand culture. Plant Soil Environ, 56, 499-507. Gobinathan, P., Sankar, B., Murali, P.V., Panneerselvam, R., (2009). Interative effects of calcium choloride on salinity-induced oxidative stress in Pennisetum typoidies. Botany Research International, 2, 143-148. Khayyat, M., Tafazoli, E., Eshghi, M., Rahemi. M., Rajaee, S., (2007). Salinity supplementary calcium and potassium effects on the fruit yield and quality of strawberry (Fragaria ananassa Duch.). American-Eurasian J. Agric. & Environ. Sci, 2, 539-544. Maser, P., M. Gierth and I. I. Schroeder., (2002). Molecular mechanisms of potassium, and sodium uptake in plant. Plant and Soil, 247, 43-54. Mozafari, H., Kalantari, K.M., Oliaie, M.S., Torkzadeh, M., Salari, H., Mirzaei, S., (2008). Role of calcium in increasing tolerance of Descurainia Sophia to salt stress. Journal of Agriculture & Social Sciences, 4, 000-000. Nakamura, Y., K. Tanaka, E. Ohta and M. Sakata., (1990). Protective effect of external Ca2+ on elongation and the intracellular concentration of K+ in intact mungbean roots under high NaCl stress. Plant Cell Physiol, 31, 815-821. Navarro. J.M, V. Martinez and M. Carvajal., (2000). Ammonium bicarbonate and calcium effects on tomato plants grown under saline conditions. Plant Sci, 157, 89-96. Tuna, A. L., C. Kaya, M. Ashraf, H. Altunlu, I. Yokas and B. Yagmur., (2007). The effects of calcium sulphate on growth, membrane, stability and nutrient uptake of tomato plants grown under salt stress. Environmental and Experimental Botany, 59 173178. Tzortzakis, N. G., (2010). Potassium and calcium enrichment alleviate salinity-induced stress in hydroponically grown endives. Hort. Sci. (Prague), 37, 155-162.

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Eveluation of Rock Phosphate, Sulfur and Thiobacillus Application Affecting the Extractable P
Marzieh Jazaeria, Abdolreza Akhgarb, Amir Hossein Mohammadic and Mehdi Sarcheshmeh Poord
m. sc. Studentin soil science, vali-e-asr university of rafsanjan, iran.b assistance proff soil science, vali-easr university of rafsanjan, iran.c assistance proff plant pathology in Iranian pistachio research institue. d assistance proff soil science. Shahid bahonar university of kerman. Corresponding Author: marzieh_jazaeri@yahoo.com
a

Abstract: Calcareous soils are widespread throughout the world. these soils usually have a problem in highly P-sorbing. for a long time rock phosphate has been a major source to phosphate fertilizer production. due to the prohibitive cost chemical fertilizer has generated considerable interest toward direct utilization of rock phosphate in some countries. the biological methodes can be used to increase the efficiency of direct application of rock phosphate. Thiobacillus can solubilize the phosphorus of rock phosphate by producing sulfuric acid from the oxidation of elemental sulfur. this study was carried out to evelute the effect of different levels of rock phosphate and elemental sulfur inoculated with Thiobacillus sp. to enhance the P solubility of rock phosphate in the calcareous soil with low available P. The present research was conducted in the greenhouse condition using a completely randomized factorial design with 24 treatments and 3 replications in the vali-easr university of rafsanjan,iran. The treatment consisted of rock phosphate at three rates: 0% (P1), 0.1% (P2), 0.2% (P3) and elemental sulfur at four rates: 0%(S1), 0.1%(S2), 0.2%(S3), 0.5%(S4) and inoculation without (T1) and with Thiobacillus sp. (T2). extractable phosphorus and pH were measured after 50 days. the laboratory results indicated that addition of sulfur to soils in combination with Thiobacillus sp. decreased soil pH and hence extractable P was sinificantly increased compared with control and soil amended just with sulfur
Keywords: calcareous soil, sulfur,Thiobacillus, phosphorus

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Effect of Sulfur and Thiobacillus sp. on pH Reduction of Calcareous Soil

Marzieh Jazaeria, Abdolreza Akhgarb, Amir Hossein Mohammadic and Mehdi Sarcheshmeh Poord
m. sc. Studentin soil science, vali-e-asr university of rafsanjan, iran,b assistance proff soil science, vali-e-asr university of rafsanjan, iran. cassistance proff plant pathology in Iranian pistachio research instituet d assistance proff soil science. Shahid bahonar university Corresponding Author: marzieh_jazaeri@yahoo.com
a

Abstract: Most of soil in Iran with arid and semi-arid climate contains high amount of CaCO3 and low organic matter resulting in high soil pH. soil pH directly affects the growth of plants becuse it affects the availability of plant nutrients, such as phosphorus, ferrous and zinc. for results in lowering pH, sulfur is added to the soil. the oxidation of sulfur produces H2SO4 and solubilizes carbonate minerals present. beside the chemical oxidation of sulfur is generally very slow. The main objective of the current work was to evalute sulfur oxidation potential by inoculation of Thiobacillus sp. and their effects on pH reduction. this greenhouse experiment was carried out in a completely randomized design with factorial arrangement. the treatment comprised of four levels of elemental sulfur (S1=0%, S2=0.1%, S3=0.2%, S4=0.5%) and inoculation with Thiobacillus sp. And without inoculation in three replications. pH were measured every week for a month. the results of experiment showed that elemental sulfur inoculation with Thiobacillus sp. decreased soil pH over the time compared with control. Keywords: pH, biological oxidation, sulfur, Thiobacillus sp.

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Nutritional Partitioning of Macro Nutrients (N, P, K, Ca and Mg) in Strawberry Plants Grown pn Different Medium
Sahriye SONMEZ*1 Sedat CITAK1 Nafiye ADAK2
Akdeniz University, Faculty of Agriculture, Soil Science and Plant Nutrition Department, Antalya/Turkey Akdeniz University, Elmal Vocational School, Antalya/Turkey *Corresponding author: ssonmez@akdeniz.edu.tr
2 1

Abstract

Frigo and potted type of strawberry Camarosa plants were grown on soil and different soilless medium (Perlite, Cocopeat and Peat) under greenhouse conditions in order to observe its macro nutrient (N, P, K, Ca and Mg) partitioning among the seedlings and also plant aerial parts including; leaf, leaf stalk, fruit stalk and fruit. Macro nutrient concentrations were measured separately in frigo and potted strawberries plant parts and statistical differences were recorded between the seedling types and among the plant parts and also the growing medium. Regarding to seedling type, N and P tended to be higher in frigo, but K and Ca to be in potted seedlings. For plant part, leaf appears to be the main localization sites for all macro nutrients except K, which was found in higher concentrations in leaf stalk. Growing medium had an influence plant nutritional status and suggesting cocopeat and peat to be good for strawberries might be acceptable; however, perlite also reflects remarkable results. Soil did not respond well compared to the other growing medium. All in all, this study reveals that seedling type and growing medium had a great impact on nutrient partitioning of strawberry plants. Keywords: Seedling type, growing medium, plant parts, nutrient concentrations.

Introduction In recent years, a wide range of soilless culture techniques have been developed and commercially used for intensive production of horticultural crops, particularly in greenhouses (Ghehsareh et al. 2011). Soilless culture is a method that aims to grow plant by supplying nutrient elements in a desired concentration on different media or in water directly (Resh, 1981). Soilless medium are free of weed seeds, have a lower risk of incidence of root pathogens, and facilitate optimal nutrition management of the crop (Cantliffe et al., 2007). Some substrates have been used as plant growing medium including cocopeat, peat and perlite (Resh, 1981). Coconut coir (cocopeat) and peat has been characterized as having good water retention capacity and aeration characteristics (Dinar, 2003), perlite has many advantages over more conventional substrates providing a reusable, noncompacting, well aerated, moisture retentive medium (Stirling, 1997) and three of them has been used for the commercial production. All strawberry plantings are generally established by using fresh (potted) or dormant cold stored frigo plants (Rowley et al. 2010; Lutchoomun, 1999). Commercial strawberry growers have a preference for frigo seedlings over potted one due to its associated advantages, in particular improved yields and flexibility in planting date (Roudeillac and Veschambre, 1987). Strawberry has been grown commercially all around world, reaching to 254523 ha and 4178152 tons of production over the world in 2009 (FAO, 2012). In general, strawberry is commonly produced as early spring crop or out-of-season in glasshouse or polyethylene tunnel. Pests and diseases in soil culture have always been problems especially in protected areas (Gul et al., 2005). Therefore, soilless strawberry production is more pronounced and is becoming popular in recent years. Growing strawberry in soilless system holds some advantageous. For example, suitable substrates in soilless culture within greenhouse systems not only extend harvesting duration but also permit out of season strawberry production as well as an increase in yield (Takeda, 1999). However, material properties of substrate exhibit direct and indirect effects on plant physiology and production (Cantliffe et al., 2007). In order to grow strawberry, different substrates such as peat moss, coconut coir, perlite, rockwool and pine bark have been used successfully. This study was conducted to identify the differences in strawberry seedlings and plant parts including leaf, leaf stalk, fruit stalk and fruit in terms of nutrient partitioning of the plants with regard to the growing medium and to make a comparison with soil under the same conditions. Therefore, nutritional status of strawberry plant parts would be identified separately and the influence of seedling type and growing medium on nutritional partitioning is to be defined.
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Material and Methods Camarosa strawberry plants seedlings, potted and frigo, were used as test plant and three common soilless media including perlite, peat moss and cocopeat, and one soil, collectively 4 medium were compared in terms of nutritional status of different plant part including leaf, leaf stalks, fruit stalks and fruit. As indicated in table 1, the soil has a pH of slightly alkaline, calcareous, not saline, low in organic matter and has a texture of clay. All macro nutrients (N, P, K, Ca and Mg) are generally adequate to good for plant growth as well as micro nutrients except for Fe and Zn concentrations. Table 1. Chemical and physical properties of the soil used for the experiment. Parameters Results Remarks Literature N, % 0.11 Adequate Loue, 1968 P, mg kg-1 5.80 Adequate Olsen ve Sommers, 1982 K, me 100 g-1 0.80 Good Pizer, 1967 Ca, me 100 g-1 29.2 Good Loue, 1968 Mg, me 100 g-1 2.25 Good Fe, mg kg-1 1.50 Deficient Cu, mg kg-1 0.60 Adequate Lindsay ve Norvell, 1978 -1 Mn, mg kg 8.10 Adequate Zn, mg kg-1 0.41 Deficient pH (1:2.5 water) 7.92 Slightly alkaline Kellog, 1952 EC (1:2.5 water) 0.10 Not saline Sol Survey Staff, 1951 CaCO3, % 5.0 Calcareous Evliya, 1964 Organic matter, % 1.95 Low Thun vd., 1955 Texture Clay Black, 1957 All plants were supplied from a commercial seedling company and the growing procedure was a follows; two types seedlings were transferred separately to pots having 75 cm in length, 25 cm in wide and 25 cm in deep and white in color and all pots were designed to have %1 slope for drainage. 10 seedlings and 4 emitters having 2 L h-1 flux were applied to each pot. Drainage was adjusted to be 30 % and 20 % in summer and winter season, respectively (Cantliffe et al. 2007). Frigo and potted types of plants were sowed in August and September respectively. Nutrient solution formulation given in Table 2 was applied to all medium including soil as well. Table 2. Nutrient solution for strawberry growing Macro Nutrients mmol L-1 NO3 - N 11.5 H2 PO4 -P 1.5 SO4---S 1.5 NH4+ - N 0.5 + K 3.5 Ca++ 4.5 Mg++ 1.5 Micro Nutrients Fe Mn Zn B Cu Mo mol L-1 20 20 10 12 0.75 0.5

The fertilizers used were as follows; KNO3, NH4NO3, Ca(NO3)2, KH2PO4; MgSO4.7H2O, Fe EDDHA (6 % Fe), MnSO4H2O (32 % Mn), ZnSO47H2O (23 % Zn), CuSO45H2O (25 % Cu), H3BO3 (17 % B), Na2MoO42H2O (39 % Mo). Solution pH and EC were fixed 5.5-6.5 and 1.5-1.8 dS m-1, respectively (Lieten, 2008, Cantliffe et al. 2007). To adjust solution pH, nitric acid (55 %) was used. Analytical: The sampling of plants were done just after the first fruits fully matures and were selected randomly from each medium and separated to leaf, leaf stalk, fruit stalk and fruit; Afterwards, each part were washed with distilled water and then were dried at 65 oC until the samples reach a stable weight. Having ground all the samples, an analytical regime was performed as stated by Kacar and Inal (2008); N was determined in modified Kjeldahl method; and P, K, Ca
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH and Mg were in wet digestion method and the measured via ICP-OES. The soil that were used was also analyzed for following parameters, soil pH and EC by 1:2.5 soil:water suspensions (Jackson, 1967; Anonymous, 1982); CaCO3 by Scheibler calcimeter (Evliya, 1964), texture by bouyoucos hydrometer (Bouyoucos, 1955); organic matter by modified Walkey-Black (Black, 1965); total N by modified Kjeldahl (Kacar, 1995). Plant available P by Olsen methods (Olsen, 1982); extractable K, Ca and Mg by1 N Ammonium acetate (pH=7) (Kacar, 1995); and extractable Fe, Zn, Cu and Mn by DTPA methods (Lindsay and Norwell, 1978) and all of them were measured via ICP-OES as well. Statistical Methods. The experiment was laid out as randomized parcels as factorial design with 3 replications. Analysis of variance was performed to evaluate differences in measured parameters. Thereafter, parameters were compared by Duncans multiple range tests at 5 % significance level. Results and Discussions Nutrient partitioning in terms of seedling type, plant parts and growing medium are to be discussed individually. For seedling types, figure illustration gives the better understanding for the evaluation the results, so figure 1 indicates the distribution of macro nutrients concentrations of the seedlings. Considering the fact that N and P are statistically higher (p>0.001) in frigo type; however, potted type of strawberries high in K and Ca (p>0.001). Moreover, no statistical differences exist in terms of Mg concentrations.
4,00
3,68 a*

3,50 3,00 %, Concentrations 2,50

2,22 b

3,36 b

2,79 a

2,00 1,50 1,00

0,72 b 0,78 a

0,50
0,22 0,23 0,32b

0,00

0,38a

Frigo
a

Ca

Mg

Potted

Different letters in the same bar for the same macro nutrient denote significant differences by Duncans multiple range test at 5%.

Figure 1. Mean nutrient concentrations (%) of frigo and potted types of strawberries. Frigo plants has longer and denser root system than potted one; however, no mature green leaves are present in frigo seedlings, whereas potted plants have an average of four mature and healthy green leaves per plant (Lutchoomun, 1999). While having a denser root system appears to be an advantage for frigo plants, no mature leaves formation could be perceived as a disadvantage. These characteristics differences are possibly the main outcome of the results. Furthermore; these results are under the influence not only of the seedling type but also of the growing medium and of plant part. All in all, it is possible to say that potted plant slightly concentrated more nutrients than that of the frigo one. In addition to seedling type, plant parts are also evaluated and table 3 indicates the nutrient concentrations of different plant part regardless of the seedling type separately. That different plant parts shows different elemental composition is advisable, and these fluctuations could be attributed
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH to nutrient utilization or mobilization within the plants. Regarding to this experiment, leaf appears to be the main plant parts that recovers N, P, Ca and Mg in higher concentrations than the other plant parts; however, K is high in fruit stalk in general. Table 3. Nutrient concentrations of different plant parts. Macro Plant Parta Nutrients (%) Leaf Leaf stalk Fruit stalk N 5.23a 2.10d 3.64b P 0.45a 0.26d 0.33c K 1.91c 2.81b 3.58a Ca 1.11a 0.87b 0.66c Mg 0.29a 0.26b 0.19c
a b

Fruit 3.11c 0.37b 1.71d 0.29d 0.18c

Significanceb *** *** *** *** ***

Different letters in the same lines denote significant differences by Duncans multiple range test at 5%. 5 % *, 1 % **, 0.1 % ***, not significant N.S.

If we take into account the nutrient elements individually with regard to different plant part, different results are recorded. This case for N is as the following order, Leaf>fruit stalk>fruit>leaf stalk; for P, leaf>fruit>fruit stalk>leaf stalk; for K, fruit stalk>leaf stalk>leaf>fruit; for Ca, leaf>leaf stalk>fruit stalk>fruit; for Mg, leaf>leaf stalk>fruit stalk>fruit. Moreover, it is possible to say that leaf and fruit are high in N, leaf stalk and fruit stalk in K. Similar study was carried out by Lineberry and Burkhard (1943) and found that Ca, Mg and P were localized in the leaf and Ca was lower in the leaf stalk then the leaf. These results are in agreement with the findings of this study. Therefore, that the leaf is the main localization plant part for Ca, Mg and P is apparent. Another aspect of this experiment is to consider the growing medium effects on plant nutritional status. Table 4 shows the general results of macro nutrient concentrations of strawberry plants grown on the different growing medium. There are statistically significant differences among the growing medium on plant macro nutrient concentrations (p>0.001). Table 4. Effects of growing medium on plant macro nutrient concentrations. Macro Growing mediuma Significanceb Nutrients (%) Perlite Soil Cocopeat Peat N 3.26b 3.38b 3.69a 3.76a *** P 0.35b 0.30c 0.36b 0.39a *** K 2.65a 2.48b 2.54ab 2.33c *** Ca 0.68b 0.86a 0.70b 0.75b *** Mg 0.23a 0.20b 0.24a 0.23a ***
a b

Different letters in the same lines denote significant differences by Duncans multiple range test at 5%. 5 % *, 1 % **, 0.1 % ***, not significant N.S.

Significant differences are clear among the growing medium (p>0.001) for all macro nutrients; further, cocopeat and peat appears to have the highest concentrations in general. N concentrations of the plants are statistically in the same group in cocopeat and peat, and this case is also true for perlite and soil. P is also higher in peat and the lowest in soil, which could be attributed to soil properties given in table 1. On checking to K, perlite and cocopeat are in the same statistical group; however, cocopeat is also statistically same with soil. Therefore; the three of them are the better medium for plant K concentrations, but not peat (Table 4). For Ca, it is the soil which gives the highest plant Ca concentrations not the others, being related possibly to Ca concentrations of the soil. In contrast, soil brings about the lowest plant Mg concentrations different from the others. Suggesting that cocopeat and peat are good for strawberries might be acceptable; however, perlite also reflects remarkable results. If the macro nutrients are considered with regard to growing medium, the configuration could be as follow; N, P and Mg in cocopeat and peat; Ca in soil and K is in perlite, soil and cocopeat. Actually, cocopeat and peat appears to be the best, but the further scrutinies are left to the reader. Regarding to former studies, Stirling (1997) advised perlite to be used in strawberry growing; in contrast, Dilmaghani and Hemmaty (2011) suggested that perlite

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH and cocopeat could be used successfully in strawberry growing and the similar result are reported by Tehranifar et al. (2007). In conclusion, seedling type has not tangible influence on plant macro nutrient concentrations if we regard the all macro nutrients; however, frigo plants yields more N and P; and potted K and Ca. As mentioned, these differences could be related to seedling preparation procedure, and the results indicate that different type of seedling shows different nutrient concentrations. This is also true for plant part, distinctive results are recorded among the plant part, and leaf is the main localization site within the plant is clear. This might be proof of the leaf sampling for the determination of the plant nutritional status. Growing medium are also reflected prominent results, and cocopeat and peat could be recommended for strawberries. This might be related to substrate properties, as mentioned above these two types growing medium could contain some nutrients to a different extent and could hold some nutrients as well, and serve as an important source of nutrients. This case is not true for perlite which is not able to hold nutrients as well as water; furthermore, perlite needs special attention for plant growing. Finally, suggesting cocopeat and peat to be good for strawberries might be acceptable; however, perlite also reflects remarkable results, but the soil did not respond well compared to the other growing medium. All in all, this study reveals that seedling type and growing medium had a great impact on nutrient partitioning of strawberry plants. References Anonymous, (1982). Methods of Soil Analysis (Ed. A.L. Page). Number 9, Part 2, Madison, Wisconsin, USA, 1159 pp. Black, C. A., (1957). Soil-Plant Relationships. John Wiley and Sons, Inc., Newyork. Black, C. A., (1965). Methods of Soil Analysis. Part 2, Amer. Society of Agronomy Inc., Publisher Madisson, Wilconsin, U.S.A. 1372-1376. Bouyoucos, G.J., (1955). A Recalibration of the Hydrometer Method for Making Mechanical Analysis of the Soils, Agronomy Journal 4 (9): 434. Cantliffe, D.J., Castellanos, J.Z., Paranjpe, A.V., (2007). Yield and quality of greenhouse-grown strawberries as affected by nitrohen level in coco coir and pine bark media. Proc. Fla. State Hort. Soc.120, 157-161. Dilmaghani, M.R. and Hemmaty, S., (2011). Effect of different substrates on nutrients content, yield and quality of strawberry cv. Selva in soilless culture. J. Sci&Technol. Greenhouse Culture, 2(7) 8-11. Dinar, M., (2003). Strawberry production in greenhouse. Proc. Intl. Congr. Greenhouse, Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico. Netafilm. Evliya, H., (1964). Kltr Bitkilerinin Beslenmesi. Ankara niv. Ziraat Fak. Yaynlar, Say:10. FAO, (2012). FAO statistical yearbook. www.fao.org Ghehsareh, A.M., Borji, H., Jafarpour, M., (2001). Effects of some culture substrates (date-palm peat, cocopeat and perlite) on some growing indices and nutrient elements uptake in greenhouse tomato. African Journal of Microbiology Research, 5 (12), 1437-1442. Gul, A. Erogul, D., Ongun A. R., (2005). Comparison of the use of zeolite and perlite as substrate for crisp-head lettuce. Scientia Horticulturae 106: 464471. Jackson, M. L., (1967). Soil Chemical Analysis. Prentice Hall of India Private Limited, New Delhi. Kacar, B., (1995). Bitki ve Topran Kimyasal Analizleri, III. Toprak Analizleri, Ankara niversitesi Ziraat Fakltesi Eitim, Aratrma ve Gelitirme Vakf Yaynlar, No: 3. Kacar, B., nal, A. (2008). Bitki Analizleri. Nobel Yay. No: 1241, Ankara Kellog, C.E., (1952). Our Garden Soils. The Macmillan Company, Newyork. Lieten, P., (2008). Substrates as an alternative to mebr for strawberry fruit production in northern europa. Http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/environment/ozone/conference/lisboa/strawberry/9.pdf Accessed 18 February 2012

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Lindsay, W.L. and Norvell, W.A., (1978). Development of a DTPA Soil Test for Zinc, Iron, Manganese and Copper. Soil Sci. Amer. Jour., 42 (3): 421-428. Madisson, Wilconsin, USA, 1372-1376. Lineberry, R.A. and Burkhart, L., (1943). Nutrient deficiencies in the strawberry leaf and fruit. Plant Physiology, 18 (3), 324-333. Loue, A., (1968). Diagnostic Petiolaire de Prospection. Etudes sur la nutrition et la Fertilization Potasigues de la Vigne. Societe. Commerciale des Potasses dAlsace Serviced Agronomiques. 31-41. Lutchoomun, S., (1999). Influence of fresh and cold stored plantlets on strawberry yield. Food and Agriculturel Research Council, Reduit, Mauritius, AMAS, 181-185. Olsen, S.R. and Sommers, E.L., (1982). Phosphorus Soluble in Sodium Bicarbonate, Methods of Soils Analysis, Part 2, Chemical and Microbiological Properties. Edit: A. L. Page, R. H. Miller, D. R. Keeney, 404-430. Pizer, N.H., (1967). Some Advisory Aspect. Soil Potassium and Magnesium, Tech. Bull. No.14: 184. Resh, H.M., (1981). Hydroponic food production. Woodbridge Press Publishing Company, Santa Barbara, California, 93111. USA Roudeillac, R. and Veschambre, D., (1987). La Fraise. Paris France: CTIFL-CIREF, 182-183p. Rowley, D., Black, B., Drost, D., (2010). Strawberry plug plant production. Utah State University, Cooperation Extension, Horticulture Series. Soil Survey Staff, (1951). Soil Survey Manuel. Agricultural Research Administration, U.S. Dept. Agriculture, Handbook No: 18. Stirlling, C., (1997). The production of protected strawberries in perlite. International Strawberry Symposium. Acta Hort 439, 509-524. Takeda, F., (1999). Strawberry production in soilless culture systems. Acta Horticulture. 481:289-295. Tehranifar A, Poostchi M, Arooei H, Nematti H., (2007). Effects of seven substrates on qualitative and quantitative characteristics of three strawberry cultivars under soilless culture. Acta Hortic. (ISHS), 761: 485-488. Thun, R., Hermann, R.., Knickman, E., (1955). Die Untersuchung Von Boden. Neuman Verlag, Radelbeul and Berlin, s:48-48.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH

Distribution of soil manganese fraction and their plant availability

Ahmet KORKMAZa
a

Tark KADIOLUb

Ayhan HORUZa

Ondokuz Mays niversitesii Ziraat Fakltesi Toprak Bilimi ve Bitki Besleme Blm, Samsun-TURKEY b Ercincan Tarm l Mdrl, Erzincan-TURKEY

Corresponding Author: ayhanh@omu.edu.tr Abstract: In this study, it was to determine the Mn fractions contents of Bafra, aramba and Suluova plain soils and their availability for plant. For this purpose, it was ascertained the water soluble and exchangeable Mn, organic matter and microbial biomass bounded Mn, easily reducible Mn and Fe oxides bounded Mn fractions. With the aim to determine their availability for plant, it is grown oat as indicator plant and determined the relationships between dry matter, Mn content and uptake of plant and Mn fraction contents of the soils. In generally, Mn fraction contents of the soils showed in order as easily reducible Mn > organic matter + microbial biomass bounded Mn > Mn + Fe oxides minerals bounded Mn > water soluble and exchangeable Mn. Mn content of oat plant varied as 10,60-38,99 ppm. The correlation coefficient between water soluble + exchangeable Mn content and oat yield found as r=-0,740*. The correlation coefficient between easily reducible Mn content and Mn content and uptake of plant found respectively as r=0,438* and 0,522*. Besides, The correlation coefficient between the sum of water soluble and exchangeable + easily reducible Mn content and Mn content and uptake of plant found respectively as r=0,489* and 0,507*. This results; it was shown that the available Mn contents of soils can be determine by analyses of the fractions easily reducible Mn and the sum of water soluble + exchangeable Mn + easily reducible Mn. It was not found significant the relation between Mn + Fe oxides minerals bounded Mn contents and Mn content and uptake of plant. Keywords: Oat, manganese fraction, availability

Introduction Mn content of plants is affected by the variety of plant, root development, the soils physical, chemical and biological properties, the soils available Mn content, availability of the soils manganese fractions, agricultural methods applied and weather conditions (Turan, 1980). Oat plant, which contains less than 20 ppm Mn, is stated to have insufficient Mn while plants which contain between 20-100 ppm are stated to have sufficient Mn (Lou, 1986). It has also been stated that granite rocks are poor in total manganese and the rough soil on them have too much oxidized Mn forms; thus, available Mn content on coarse textured soils is low (Lou, 1986). Turan (1980) found out that the average Mn content of the soils in the coastal region of Antalya were as total Mn>easily reducible Mn>water soluble. Guest et al. (2002) identified that the water soluble + exchangeable Mn content in oxidizable soil was 0,72 ppm, in waterlogged and reducible soil it was 228 ppm and when reducible soil was dried fast, it was 202 ppm. The researchers stated that organic matter and microbial biomass bounded Mn content was 17,5 ppm in oxidizable soil, 77,2 ppm in waterlogged and reducible soil and 92,8 ppm when reducible soil was dried fast. Moreover, the researchers identified that easily reducible Mn content was 191 ppm in oxidizable soil, 6,27 ppm in waterlogged and reducible soil and 8,41 ppm ppm when reducible soil was dried fast. The same researchers found out that the manganese oxide and iron oxide minerals bounded Mn content was 236 ppm in oxidizable soil, 184 ppm in waterlogged and reducible soil and 151 ppm when reducible soil was dried fast. In French Toulouse Laboratories, the evaluation of active manganese (exchangeable Mn+easily reducible Mn) content determined with the ammonium acetate +%0,2 hydroquinone extraction method indicated that the critical value was between 20-25 ppm Mn in soils with a pH higher than 6. It has been determined that when active Mn content was found to be 25-100 ppm in solids with a pH higher than 6, the soils were considered to be normal; when more than 100 ppm active manganese was found in soils with a pH lower than 5, the soils were considered to have a risk of toxicity (Lou, 1986). Lou (1986) the exchangeable Mn and easily reducible Mn fractions of soils were good indicators of available Mn in soils. The aim of this study was to determine the Mn fractions contents of Bafra, aramba and Suluova plain soils and their availability for plant.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Material and Method The soil samples were taken from villages in Bafra, aramba ve Suluova where growing sugar beet is allowed. The places where the samples were taken and some of their physical and chemical properties are given in Table 1. Texture in soil samples (Bouyoucos, 1951) and organic matter in pH 1:2,5 soil distilled water suspension (Richard 1954) were determined with Walckley-Black method, cation exchange capacity and exchangeable K were determined with Jackson (1962), lime with Scheibler calcimeter (Hzalan and nal, 1966), available phosphor with Olsen et al., 1954, extractable Fe, Zn and Cu with atomic absorption spectrophotometer (Lindsay and Norvell ,1978). Mn fractions were determined through sequential extraction method as stated by Guest et al. (2002). In determining water soluble+exchangeable Mn extraction 1M NH4OAc (pH:7) solution was used while 0,5 M CuSO4 (pH:3) solution was used to determine organic matter and biomass bounded Mn fraction. 1M NH4OAc + 0,018M quinone (pH:7) was used to extract easily reducible Mn fraction and 0,3M Na-citrate (40 ml)+ 1 M NaHCO3 (5ml) + 1 g Na-Dithionite (DSB, dithionite+citrate+bicarbonate solution) was used in determining Mn-oxide and Fe-oxide bounded Mn fraction. Greenhouse experiment: In order to determine the Mn of the soils, oat was grown as the indicator plant through double pot (Jansen, 1974) method. During the application of double pot method, 200 g oven dry soil, taken 3 times from each soil, was put on top of every pot and 15 oat seeds were planted in each pot and they were left to germinate with distilled water within the field capacity. After germination was completed, each pot was diluted by leaving 10 plants and after the roots began to hang from the upper pot to the lower pot, the lower pots were filled with food solutions free of manganese. During the development period, the lower pots were supplemented with food solutions. Food solution free of manganese contained 0,003M Ca(NO3)24H2O, 0,001M KNO3, 0,002M NH4HPO4, 0,0075M MgSO47H2O, 0,002M KCI, 81,67 mg/lt Fe-EDDHA, 2,86 mg/lt H3BO3, 0,22 mg/lt ZnSO47H2O, 0,16 mg/lt CuSO45H2O, 0,04mg (NH4)6Mo7O244H2O. The oat plant was harvested at the end of 60 day growing period and dry matter and Mn content were determined according to Kacar (1972). Results and Discussion The relationship between the yield, the plants Mn content and the plants uptake Table 2 presents the yield content, Mn content and Mn uptake of the oat plant grown without Mn fertilizer. The soils were found to be 1% significantly different in terms of yield content, Mn content and Mn uptake of the oat plant. The yield content of oat was found to be 1,24-2,40 g/pot, Mn content was found to be 10,60-38,99 ppm and Mn uptake was found to be19-80 g/pot. When the critical Mn content of the plant (<20 ppm) as pointed out by Lou (1986) was considered, it was found that the oat grown in soils 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 17, 18 and 20 were sufficient in terms of Mn nourishment while the oat grown in soils 5, 13, 15, 16, 19 and 21 were found to be insufficient or risky in terms of Mn content. Table 3 presents the relationship between the biological indexes (yield, Mn content and Mn uptake) obtained by oat plant grown in experiment soils. The Mn fraction content of the soils and the relationship of these fractions with some properties of soil and biological indexes Table 4 presents Mn fraction contents of the soils determined with sequential extraction method. Water soluble+exchangeable Mn content of the sample soils were found to be between 0,51-59,80 ppm.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH

Table 1. The places where soil samples were taken from and some of their physical and chemical properties
Silt Texture P2O5 Fe
1:2,5 me/100g

Sand OM
Available

Clay KDK

pH

CaCO3

Extractable K

DTPA-Extractable Mn

Soil No:

Places where samples were taken

469

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

anarlk (aramba) Ovack (aramba) Hrriyet (aramba) Aa Karabahe (aramba) Ahubaba (aramba) Saluca (Suluova) Uzunova (Suluova) Yzbey (Suluova) Kurnaz (Suluova) Saygl (Suluova) Hacbayram (Suluova) Kurtahmetli (aramba) Bafracal (aramba) Mucal (aramba) Kouky (Bafra) eyhren (Bafra) Kaygusuz (Bafra) Adaky (Bafra) Fenerky (aramba) Sarkay (Bafra) Doanca (Bafra) Lowest Highest

32,5 24,3 28,2 15,7 18,0 36,7 25,0 32,9 34,5 29,4 46,6 13,9 32,2 23,0 34,5 24,6 10,8 22,9 56,8 19,7 22,5 10,8 56,8

% 37,0 27,4 39,2 60,3 36,4 27,3 22,8 42,6 27,8 27,0 28,9 36,6 46,0 55,1 45,6 30,1 32,2 44,5 35,7 45,4 38,0 22,8 60,3 30,5 48,3 32,6 24,0 45,6 36,0 52,2 24,5 37,7 43,6 24,5 49,6 21,8 21,9 19,9 45,3 57,0 32,6 7,5 35,0 39,5 7,5 57,0 Loamy clay clay Loamy clay Loamy silt Clayed Loamy clay Clayed Loamy Loamy clay Clayed Loamy Clayed Loamy Loamy silt Loamy Clayed Clayed Loamy clay Loamy sand Loamy clay silt Loamy clay 7,6 6,9 6,6 7,7 6,5 7,6 7,4 7,5 7,3 6,9 7,4 6,8 7,3 7,2 7,8 7,6 6,7 7,4 7,2 5,2 7,3 5,2 7,8 20,9 33,5 22,8 19,8 32,2 25,4 34,5 16,7 25,6 30,7 19,3 33,7 14,7 18,2 15,7 31,8 42,9 24,6 6,0 25,0 28,1 6,0 42,9 9,8 30,6 11,6 27,5 10,8 3,3 3,1 9,6 2,8 2,8 4,4 11,6 7,8 27,2 9,2 10,8 8,1 10,5 10,8 33,8 37,0 2,8 37,0

% 15,5 1,4 6,0 1,2 0,5 16,5 16,1 12,3 15,3 9,5 9,1 0,9 6,3 7,8 10,5 2,2 1,7 10,5 10,3 0,0 0,3 0,0 16,5

% 1,3 2,2 1,6 2,7 2,4 1,9 1,6 1,0 1,5 2,3 2,3 2,0 0,8 2,5 1,9 2,3 4,3 2,5 0,7 2,0 2,2 0,7 4,3

kg/da 7,2 42,9 18,4 19,6 24,1 14,4 13,9 18,1 14,4 29,6 10,9 51,9 2,0 12,6 10,4 28,4 49,0 13,6 20,8 51,9 17,3 2,0 51,9

me/100g 1,3 0,8 0,6 0,5 1,3 1,9 1,7 0,9 2,1 2,6 0,6 0,8 0,4 0,7 0,8 0,8 1,3 0,4 0,2 0,3 0,6 0,2 2,6

Zn ppm 1,3 1,5 1,9 1,1 1,2 0,7 1,3 1,0 2,1 1,0 1,0 0,8 0,2 1,2 1,4 1,1 1,4 0,9 0,5 1,5 2,3 0,4 2,3

4,4 3,2 6,8 6,4 5,3 2,7 2,4 4,0 3,5 2,9 3,1 5,7 1,9 8,2 2,8 8,2 5,2 3,7 2,4 2,9 6,8 1,9 8,2

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Table 2. The yield content, Mn content and Mn uptake of the oat plant grown without Mn fertilizer
Soil No: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 LSD (0,05) Yield, g/pot 1,86d 2,12a-d 1,85d 1,94d 1,93d 1,97cd 2,09a-d 2,27a-c 2,11a-d 2,40a 2,31ab 2,39a 1,87d 2,11a-d 2,01b-d 2,14a-d 2,16a-d 1,98cd 1,90d 1,24e 2,16a-d 0,31 Mn content, ppm 38,99a 27,69b-d 25,09c-e 24,51de 16,40f-h 23,93de 21,61d-f 27,69b-d 22,97d-f 21,32d-f 34,80ab 32,04a-c 19,00e-g 21,03d-f 19,29e-g 16,11f-h 20,16e-g 19,92e-g 10,60h 23,35d-f 13,21gh 7,40 Mn uptake, g/pot 72ab 58b-d 46c-g 47c-g 31f-h 47c-g 45c-g 62a-c 49c-f 51c-f 80a 76ab 35e-h 47c-g 39d-g 34e-h 43c-g 52c-e 19h 28gh 28gh 19,00

Table 3. The relationship between yield Mn content and Mn uptake

Biological indexes Yield Mn content *:P<0,05; **:P<0,01 Mn content 0,118 Mn uptake 0,497* 0,916**

Organic matter and microbial biomass bounded Mn contents were found to be between 57,98-115,11 ppm, while easily reducible Mn contents were between 67,29-454,02 ppm and Mn-oxide and Fe-oxide mineral bounded Mn contents were between 33,32-169,67 ppm. Mn fraction totals were found to be between 162,24-681,39 ppm. In sample soils, Mn fractions were sequenced as total Mn > easily reducible Mn > organic matter and microbial biomass bounded Mn > manganese oxide and iron oxide mineral bounded Mn > water soluble and exchangeable Mn. Turan (1980) determined that the average amount of different Mn forms for Antalya coastal area soils were sequenced as total Mn > easily reducible Mn > water soluble Mn. Guest et al. (2002) found out that water soluble+exchangeable Mn content was 0,72 ppm for oxidizable soils, 228 ppm for waterlogged and reducible soils and 202 ppm when reducible soil was dried fast. The researchers stated that organic matter and microbial biomass bounded Mn content was 17,5 ppm for oxidizable soils, 77,2 ppm for waterlogged and reducible soils and 92,8 ppm when reducible soil was dried fast. The researches also stated that easily reducible Mn content was 191 ppm for oxidizable soils, 6,27 ppm for waterlogged and reducible soils and 8,41 ppm when reducible soil was dried fast. The same researchers found out that manganese oxide and iron oxide mineral bounded Mn content was 236 ppm for oxidizable soils, 184 ppm for waterlogged and reducible soils and 151 ppm when reducible soil was dried fast. The relationship between the Mn fractions of soils is presented in Table 5. The correlation coefficient of the relationship between the soils water soluble+exchangeable Mn content and manganese oxide and iron oxide mineral bounded Mn content was found to be r=0,691**. Likewise, the correlation coefficient of the relationship between the soils easily reducible Mn content and organic matter and microbial biomass bounded Mn content was found to be r=0,502.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Table 4. Mn fraction contents of soils determined through sequential extraction methods
Soil Number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Lowest Highest Average Mn fraction contents of soils, ppm Water soluble Organic matter and and exch. Mn microbial biomass bounded Mn 0,98 98,27 1,27 86,21 1,61 95,30 1,60 67,08 0,51 70,72 0,70 68,95 0,70 75,14 1,62 111,99 0,92 62,46 0,85 80,08 2,10 89,02 1,19 101,44 1,61 106,38 2,31 115,11 0,92 81,37 1,53 68,64 1,28 96,76 2,37 97,02 3,65 57,98 59,80 87,09 3,10 105,86 0,51 57,98 59,80 115,11 4,30 93,82 Easily reducible Mn 440,91 378,64 367,71 200,57 211,50 189,65 298,89 271,58 239,90 260,65 211,50 454,02 299,98 356,79 160,15 362,25 313,09 210,40 67,29 105,53 282,50 67,29 454,02 270,64 Mn-oxide and Feoxide mineral bounded Mn 67,59 44,81 77,51 60,17 73,54 33,84 45,85 44,60 42,41 44,81 54,63 124,74 82,42 74,59 34,88 58,91 110,63 50,56 33,32 169,67 86,08 33,32 169,67 66,45 TotalMn 607,75 510,93 542,13 323,42 356,27 293,14 420,58 429,69 354,69 386,39 357,25 681,39 490,39 549,00 277,32 491,33 521,76 360,35 162,24 422,09 477,54 162,24 681,39 435,22

Table5. The relationship between the Mn fractions (r)

Mn fractions Water soluble and exchangeable Mn Organic matter and microbial biomass bounded Mn Easily reducible Mn Mn-oxide and Fe-oxide mineral bounded Mn *p<0.05 **P<0.01 Organic matter and microbial biomass bounded Mn 0,00 Easily reducible Mn 0,387 0,502* Mn-oxide and Fe-oxide mineral bounded Mn 0,691** 0,387 0,144 Total Mn -0,031 0,682** 0,909** 0,526*

In other words, water soluble+exchangeable Mn content of the soils increased as their manganese oxide and iron oxide mineral bounded Mn fraction increased. Likewise, easily reducible Mn content of the soils increased as their organic matter and microbial biomass bounded Mn content increased. As the soils total Mn content increased, their organic matter and microbial biomass bounded, easily reducible Mn oxide and Fe-oxide mineral bounded Mn contents increased significantly. However, no significant relationship was found between water soluble Mn content and total Mn content. Table 6 presents the relationship between Mn fraction contents and some soil properties. As it can be understood from Table 4, the water soluble+exchangeable Mn contents of soils decreased significantly as their pH values increase. Moreover, as the clay content of the soils increased, their easily reducible Mn fractions increased significantly. Mn-oxide and Fe-oxide mineral bounded Mn contents decreased significantly as their sand content, pH values and lime content increased. On the other hand, total Mn increased significantly as clay content increased; however, Mn decreased significantly as sand content increased. The correlation coefficient of the relationship between the soils Mn fraction contents and the yield amount, Mn content and Mn uptake of the oat grown in these soils is presented in Table 7.
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Table 6. The relationship between Mn fraction contents and some soil properties
Clay Mn fractions, Water soluble and exch. Mn Organic matter and microbial biomass bounded Mn Easily reducible Mn Mn-oxide and Fe-oxide mineral bounded Mn TotalMn *P<0,05, **P<0,01 -0,031 -0,031 0,463* 0,291 0,464* Sand -0,151 -0,291 -0,417 -0,576** -0,565** pH -0,762** -0,083 0,122 -0,771** -0,204 CaCO3 -0,298 -0,151 -0,109 -0,627** -0,316 OM 0,000 0,054 0,104 0,288 0,170

Table 7. The correlation coefficient of the relationship between the soils Mn fraction contents and the yield amount, Mn content and Mn uptake of the oat grown in these soils
Biological indexes Water soluble and exch. Mn Organic matter and microbial biomass bounded Mn 0,141 0,327 0,340 Easily reducible Mn 0,411 0,438* 0,522* Mn-oxide and Fe-oxide mineral bounded Mn -0,422 0,077 -0,089 Mn total 0,170 0,433* 0,431 fraction

Yield -0,740** Mn content 0,00 Mn uptake -0,219 *P<0,05, **P<0,01

As it can be seen from the Table 7, there is a significant negative relationship between water soluble+ exchangeable Mn content and yield and easily reducible Mn content and Mn content and Mn uptake of the oat plant. These results show that water soluble+ exchangeable Mn content and easily reducible Mn content can be good indicators in determining the available Mn content of soils. Lou (1986) stated that exchangeable Mn and easily reducible Mn fractions of soils are good indicators of available Mn in soils. References Turan, C., 1980. Antalya ky yresi topraklarnda manganez belirlenmesinde uygulanan deiik yntemlerin karlatrlmas. Ankara niv. Ziraat Fak. Yaynlar 734. Bilimsel Aratrma ve ncelemeler:426, Ankara Guest, C.A., Schulze, D.G., Thompson, I.A., Huber, D.M., 2002. Correlating Manganese X-Ray Absorption Near-Edge Structure Spectra with Extractable Soil Manganese. Soil Sci. Am. J., 66:1172-1181. Lou, A., 1986. Diagnostic petiolarie de prospection. Etudes sur la nutrition et la fertilisation potasigues de la vigne. Societe Commercialedes potasses dalsace Services Agronomiques. 31-41 Richard, L.A., 1954. Diagnosis and improvement of saline and alkali soils. US Dept. Agr. Handbook 60: 105-106. Hzalan, E. ve nal, H., 1966. Toprakta nemli kimyasal analizler. Ankara niversitesi Ziraat Fakltesi yaynlar 278,5-7. Olsen, S.R., U. Cole, F.S. Watanable and L.A. Dean, 1954. Estimating of available phosphorus in soils by extraction with sodium bicarbonate. U.S. Dept. Of Agr. Cir. 939, Washington, D.C. Bouyoucos, G.J., 1951. A Recalibration of the Hydrometer Method for Making Mechanical Analysis of Soils. Argon. J.43:434-438 Jackson, M.L., 1962. Soil Chemical Analysis. Prentice-Hall, Inc. Ang. Cliffs, U.S.A Lindsay, W.L. and Norwell W.A., 1978. Development of a DTPA Soil Test for Zinc, ron, Manganese and Copper. Soil Sci. Soc. Amer. J. 42: 421-428. Kacar, B., 1972. Bitki ve Topran Kimyasal Analizleri: II. Bitki Analizleri. A.. Ziraat Fakltesi Yaynlar:453,Uygulama Klavuzu: 155, Ankara. Jansen, B.H., 1974. A double pot tecnique for rapid soil testing. T. Rop. Agric (Trinidad) 51:161166.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH

Efficiency of Pseudomonas and Bacillus and Phosphorus Chemical Fertilizer in Three Soils with different level of available phosphorous on Wheat
Sara Ramzani Movafagha*, A.Reza Fallaha, M. Alahgholipourb
Soil and Water Research Institute of Iran, Meshkin Abad, Karaj, Iran Scientific Member, Rice Research Institute of Iran, Rasht, Iran Corresponding Author: sara.rm84@yahoo.com
b a

Abstract To evaluate the efficiency of phosphorus solubilizing bacteria and phosphorus chemical fertilizer on yield and yield components of wheat in three different soils on wheat an experiment was conducted in greenhouse condition. The treatments were arranged as split plots and were evaluated in a complete randomized block design with three replications. The phosphorus chemical fertilizer level of P0 (control), P1 (25 Kg/ha), P2 (50 Kg/ha), P3 (75 Kg/ha) and P4 (100 Kg/ha) of super phosphate triple were allocated to the main plots. While the different bacteria strains of B0 (control), B1 (Pseudomonas petida), B2 (Bacillus sircalmous) in 3 soils with different level of available phosphorous 3.4, 8 and 13 mg/kg were allocated to the sub plots. The results of the experiment indicated that the highest forage dry matter yield of 26.9 g/pot-1 was obtained with application of 75 Kg/ha of phosphorus fertilizer accompanied with S1 bacteria (Pseudomonas petida) in soil with 13 mg/kg available phosphorous. The B1 (Pseudomonas petida) demonstrated an acceptable efficiency in dry matter of wheat with no chemical phosphorus fertilizer application. This result indicated that in organic farming systems, this bacterium could be used as a source of phosphorus requirements in wheat production. Key words: Available phosphorus, phosphate solubilizing bacteria, triple super phosphate, wheat

Introduction Soil-plant-microbe interaction has got much importance in recent decades. It is well known that a considerable number of bacterial species, mostly those associated with the plant rhizosphere, are able to exert a beneficial effect upon plant growth. Therefore, their use as biofertilizers or control agents for agriculture improvement has been a focus of numerous researchers for a number of years (Suslov TV, 1982; Davinson J., 1988; Lemanceau P., 1992; Kloepper JW. 1994; Glick BR., 1995a) Microorganisms are involved in a range of processes that affect the transformation of soil P and are thus an integral part of the soil P cycle.Phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB) are used as biofertilizer since 1950s (Kudashev, 1956; Krasilinikov, 1957). Use of these microorganisms as environment friendly biofertilizer helps to reduce the much expensive phosphatic fertilizers. In particular, soil microorganisms are effective in releasing P from inorganic and organic pools of total soil P through solubilization and mineralization (Hilda and Fraga, 1999). Currently, the main purpose in managing soil phosphorus is to optimize crop production and minimize P loss from soils. Recently, phosphate solubilizing microorganisms have attracted the attention of agriculturists as soil inoculums to improve the plant growth and yield (Young, 1994; Young et al., 1998; Goldstein et al., 1999; Fasim et al., 2002). Phosphorus biofertilizers could help increase the availability of accumulated phosphate (by solubilization), efficiency of biological nitrogen fixation and increase the availability of Fe, Zn etc., through production of plant growth promoting substances (Kucey et al., 1989). Trials with PSB indicated yield increases in rice (Tiwari et al., 1989), maize (Pal, 1999) and other cereals (Afzal et al., 2005; Ozturk et al., 2003).Strains of Pseudomonas putida and Pseudomonas fluorescens have increased root and shoot elongation in canola, lettuce, and tomato as well as crop yields in potato, adishes, rice, sugar beet, tomato, lettuce, apple, citrus, beans, ornamental plants, and wheat. Wheat yield increased up to 43% with Bacillus inoculants, (Kloepper JW, et al., 1989) and a 1020% yield increase in the same crop was reported in field trials using a combination of Bacillus megaterium and Azotobacter chroococcum .Bacillus spp. has increased yield in peanut, potato, sorghum, and wheat (Broadbent P, et al., 1977; Burr TJ et al., 1978; Capper AL et al., 1986) With the emphasis on screening for potential PSB from the soil for the agricultural purposes the present experiment was designed to evaluate the efficiency of Pseudomonas and Bacillus and

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH phosphorus chemical fertilizer in three soils with different level of available phosphorous on Wheat.

Materials and Methods

A pot experiment was carried out in Soil and Water Research Institute of Iran, to investigate the Efficiency of Pseudomonas and Bacillus and Phosphorus Chemical Fertilizer in Three Soils with different level of available phosphorous on Wheat (Triticum aestivum) variety Shiraz in greenhouse condition. Plastic pots (10 kg soil capacity) were used for trial. The soil properties before planting are shown in table1.
Table 1: Soil chemical properties of experimental area Sample pH EC T.N.V N dsm-1 % % mg/kg S1 7.97 0.92 5.9 0.037 S2 7.88 0.57 14.2 0.137 S3 7.96 0.96 8.3 0.086 K % 200 492 356 P mg/kg 3.4 8 13 Fe mg/kg 1.38 5.82 0.18 Zn mg/kg 1.46 0.44 2.3

Un-sterilized soil was air dried and filled in pots. Composite soil samples were collected and analyzed (analysis given above). These pots were placed under greenhouse conditions. Eight seeds were sown in each pot. The experimental design for the study was arranged as factorial on the basis of completely randomized block design with three replicates. Five levels of phosphorous chemical fertilizer (triple supper phosphate) consisting of P1 =25, P2 =50, P3 =75, P4 =100 kg-1 ha and control P0=no chemical fertilizer were allocated to the main plots and three levels of Phosphate solubilizing bacteria of B0 = control, B1= Pseudomonas potida, B2= Bacillus sircalmous and two levels of manure of 0 and 15 ton ha-1 were assigned to the subplots in a factorial combinations. Seedbed preparation was done in early autumn. Nitrogen fertilizer of 250 kg ha-1 was used in the form of urea. Nitrogen fertilizer was top dressed in three portions, one third at the time of planting, one third before flowering and the remain at the time of grain filling. The inoculants bacteria, Pseudomonas potida and Bacillus sircalmous have a good ability to facilitate phosphorus uptake and Auxine hormone secretion which effectively enhances the plant growth at 5108 cell g-1 population. To inoculate the seed by biological fertilizers, the seed were first covered by Arabic Gum solution and then bacteria were applied according to experimental treatments. All the seeds were sown soon after inoculation in experimental plastic plots. Weeds were removed by hand and plots were irrigated as required through the growing seasons. Grain yield and yield components were measured after plants reached their physiological maturity in late June. To measure the grain yields components, all the plants were cut from each plot, and all the yield components were measured on them. The data obtained in the study were subjected to analysis of variance using MSTATC, computer software (Bricker, 1991) and means were compared by Duncans Multiple Range Test (Duncan, 1955). Results and Discussion The results of analysis of variances are presented in Tables 2, 3, 4 respectively. In this study generally the dry matter weight were significantly affected by inoculation treatments over control (Tables 2, 3, 4). The analysis of variance showed significant effect of phosphorus fertilizers, bacterial inoculation and organic matter treatment and their interaction effects on dry matter. Phosphate solubilizing bacteria without any P fertilizer increased dry matter weight. However when PSB was used in conjunction with P fertilizer and organic matter, a much greater effect was observed. All the treatments involving P fertilizer+ PSB, Organic matter+ PSB improved and PSB+ organic matter+ P fertilizer improved dry matter weight. Under absences of chemical phosphorus fertilizer the most -1 amount of dry matter of 15.10 g pot was obtained by Pseudomonas Poetida inoculation in S1 -1 sample that was 13.4 percent more than control, 22.01 g pot was obtained by Pseudomonas -1 Poetida inoculation in S2 sample that was 24.7 percent more than control and 20.08 g pot was obtained by Pseudomonas Poetida inoculation in S3 sample that was 26.6 percent more than

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH control. It showed that the sole application of phosphate solubilizing bacteria in samples with 13mg/kg was more effective.
Variable Degree of freedom Replication 2 Bacteria 2 Organic Matter(OM) 1 Organic MatterBacteria 2 Triple Super phosphate(TSP) 4 Bacteria TSP 8 OM TSP 4 BacteriaOM TSP 8 Error 58 Coefficient of variation (%) ** = Highly significant at 1% level of probability, * = Significant at 5% level of probability, NS= Non-significant

Table 2: Analysis of variance of measured parameters in S1 Sample

DM 2.150 24.002** 190.62** 3.157** 26.042** 14.447** 22.317** 3.113** 0.618 5.51

Table 3: Analysis of variance of measured parameters in S2 Sample

Variable Degree of freedom Replication 2 Bacteria 2 Organic Matter(OM) 1 Organic MatterBacteria 2 Triple Super phosphate(TSP) 4 Bacteria TSP 8 OM TSP 4 BacteriaOM TSP 8 Error 58 Coefficient of variation (%) ** = Highly significant at 1% level of probability, * = Significant at 5% level of probability, NS= Non-significant Variable Degree of freedom Replication 2 Bacteria 2 Organic Matter(OM) 1 Organic MatterBacteria 2 Triple Super phosphate(TSP) 4 Bacteria TSP 8 OM TSP 4 BacteriaOM TSP 8 Error 58 Coefficient of variation (%) ** = Highly significant at 1% level of probability, * = Significant at 5% level of probability, NS= Non-significant DM 0.02 210.32** 522.73** 1.950ns 24.90** 5.22** 8.59** 4.66** 0.750 4.57

Table 4: Analysis of variance of measured parameters in S3 Sample

DM 0.238 141.028** 2.510* 4.887** 23.403** 8.509** 4.123** 9.618** 0.496 3.86

All inoculations with P fertilizer and dual inoculation without P had significantly greater plant dry matter weight than other treatments. Dry matter weight was increased by fertilizer P, dual inoculation and combined application of inoculants + P. Fertilizer P alone and in combinations with inoculations and dual inoculation all significantly increased the yield over control as well as single inoculations. These results confirmed the previous findings (Khalid et al., 1997; Biswas et al., 2000a, b; Hilali et al., 2000, 2001), who reported increased plant height and spikelets per spike of various crop plants by microbial inoculation. The interaction effects were also significant. The highest amounts of dry matter weight of 18.25 g -1 pot were obtained by co-application of Pseudomonas Poetida organic matter 75Kg ha-1 TSP -1 that was 140.5 percent more than control in sample S1, 26.9 g pot were obtained by co-application of Pseudomonas Poetida organic matter 75Kg ha-1 TSP that was 73.5 percent more than control -1 in sample S2 and 24.05 g pot were obtained by co-application of Pseudomonas Poetida organic

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH matter 75Kg ha-1 TSP that was 50 percent more than control in sample S3. Salehrastin (1999) reported the considerable increase in maize, soybean and wheat yield as a result of the use of bacterial fertilizer. The present study indicated that the interaction effects of PSBTSPorganic matter is soil which had less available phosphorous was more effective than others.it also showed that in this experiment the application of Pseudomonas Poetida is more effective than Bacillus sircalmous. In fact, the advantageous effects of biological fertilizers on soil conditions to be noticeable, The Bio-fertilizers are considered as the most favorable natural compounds to enhance the microorganism activities in the soil. The highest privilege of application of these fertilizers in Iran is providing with organic matter in desperately needed arid and semi-arid soils. Also providing with the nutrients in accordance to natural abilities of plant uptake potential, enhancing and improving the soil biodiversity, developing the biological activities, increasing the environmental hygiene, conservation and supporting the natural and non-renewable resources are among the most important reasons to increase the utilization of biological fertilizers. Soil fertility management by biological fertilizers is one of the basic components of sustainable agriculture.

References

Afzal, A., M. Ashraf, S.A. Asad and M. Farooq, 2005. Effect of phosphate solubilizing microorganisms on phosphorus uptake, yield and yield traits of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in rainfed area. Int. J. Agric. Biol., 7: 2079 Bricker, B., 1991. A Micro Computer Programme for the Design, Manage and Analysis of Agronomic Research Expt. Crop and Science Department, AUS, Lansin USA. Broadbent P, Baker KF, Franks N, Holland J. Effect of Bacillus spp. on incrased growth of seedlings in steamed and in nontreated soil. Phytopathology 1977; 67:102734. Burr TJ, Schroth MN, Suslow T. Increased potato yields by treatment of seedpieces with specific strains of Pseudomonas fluorescens and Pseudomonas putida. Phytopathology 1978; 68:137783. Capper AL, Campbell R. The effect of artificially inoculated antagonistic bacteria on the prevalence of take-all disease of wheat in field experiment. J Appl Bacteriol 1986; 60:15560. Davinson J. Plant beneficial bacteria. Bio/Technology 1988; 6:2826. Duncan, D.B., 1955. Multiple ranges and multiple F- test. Biometrics, 11: 142 Fasim, F., Ahmed, N., Parson, R., Gadd, G.M., 2002. Solubilization of zinc salts by a bacterium isolated from air environment of a tannery. FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 213, 16. Glick BR. The enhancement of plant growth by free-living bacteria. Can J Microbiol 1995a:41:10917. Goldstein, A.H., Braverman, K., Osorio, N., 1999. Evidence for mutualism between a plant growing in a phosphate-limited desert environment and a mineral phosphate solubilizing (MPS) bacterium. FEMS Microbiol. Ecol. 3, 295300. Hilda, R., Fraga, R., 1999. Phosphate solubilizing bacteria and their role in plant growth promotion. Biotechnol. Adv. 17, 319359. Kloepper JW, Lifshitz K, Zablotowicz RM. Free-living bacterial inocula for enhancing crop productivity. Trends Biotechnol 1989; 7:3943. Kloepper JW. Plant growth promoting bacteria (other systems). In: Okon J, editor. Azospirillum/Plant Association. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 1994. pp. 13754. Krasilinikov, N. A. 1957. On the role of soil micro-organism in plant nutrition. Microbiologiya26:659-72. Kucey, R. M. N., H. H. Janzen and M. E. Legget. 1989. Microbial mediated increases in plant available phosphorus. Adv. Agron. 42:199 - 228. Kudashev, I. S. 1956. The effect of phosphobacterin on the yield and protein content in grains of Autumm wheat, maize and soybean. Doki. Akad. Skh. Nauk. 8:20-23. Lemanceau P. Effects benefiques de rhizobacteries sur les plantes: exemple des Pseudomonas spp. fluorescent. Agronomie 1992;12:41337.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH ztrk, A., O. Ca glar and F. Sahin, 2003. Yield response of wheat and barley to inoculation of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria at various levels of nitrogen fertilization. J. Plant Nutr. Soil Sci., 166: 15 Pal, S.S., 1999. Interaction of an acid tolerant strain of phosphate solubilizing bacteria with a few acid tolerant crops. Plant Soil, 213: 22130 Suslov TV. Role of root-colonizing bacteria in plant growth. In: Mount MS, Lacy GH, editors. Phytopathogenic Prokariotes. London: Academic Press, 1982. pp. 187223. Tiwari, V.N., L.K. Lehri and A.N. Pathak, 1989. Effect of inoculating crops with phosphomicrobes. Exp. Agric., 25: 4750 Young, C.C., 1994. Selection and application of biofertilizers in Taiwan. Food and Fertilizer Technology Center. Tech. Bull. 141, 19. Young, C.C., Chang, C.H., Chen, L.F., Chao, C.C., 1998. Characterization of the nitrogen fixing and ferric phosphate solubilizing bacteria isolated from Taiwan soil. J. Chin. Agricult. Chem. Soc. 36, 201210 (in Chinese).

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Effect of Zinc on Phosphorus Concentration in Two Cultivars of Wheat

Fatemeh M.Shirazi*, Mohammad Ardalan, Hossein M.Hosseini
Soil Science Department, Faculty of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, University of Tehran, Karaj Iran. Corresponding Author: soil.fmsh@gmail.com Abstract The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of zinc on phosphorus concentration in two cultivars of wheat under greenhouse condition. The design of experiment was factorial including four levels of zinc (0, 30, 60,100 ppm), two cultivars of wheat (Falat and Pishtaz) with three replication. Wheat grains were grown in 3 Kg pots for 92 days and in the end of growth period, plants were harvested for analysis. The results showed that the application of zinc reduced the concentration of phosphorus in both shoot and grain but it increased the concentration of phosphorus in root. With the application of zinc the concentration of this element was significantly increased in shoot, root and grain. The ratio of phosphorus to zinc, amount of grain protein and grain yield reduced with application of zinc.The cultivar of Falat had better growth under excessive zinc condition and antagonism relation of phosphorus and zinc was lower in Falat compared to Pishtaz cultivar. Keywords: Zinc, Phosphorus, Wheat, Falat, Pishtaz

Introduction Interaction among elements under their excessive supply in soil is primarily of scientific importance. Phosphorus and zinc are essential nutrients for plant growth. Unfortunately, these nutrients can act antagonistically with one another under certain circumstances. Excessive phosphorus can cause zinc deficiency in plant tissue. Similarly, excessive zinc can cause phosphorus deficiency; however, this phenomenon is rare. It is believed that the rise in the concentration of the former will result in the decreased content of the latter (Kabata-Pendias et al. 1999). The studies of the inverse relationship i.e. of the impact of zinc on phosphorus buildup in plants are less numerous, especially when Zn contents of soil reach toxic levels. Occasionally, in cultivated plants, lower phosphorus content or decreased phosphorus uptake is found, especially under excessive Zn supply (Moraghan JT. 1984, Chaney RL. 1993). Researchers believe that the reason behind the antagonistic effect may be the precipitation of zinc phosphates in the roots. However it seems that there are also other mechanisms involved. It is not always that Zn-P relationship can be referred to as antagonism. At times, increasing Zn rates stimulate phosphorus concentration in plants (Benedycka Z. 1995, Krauze A. 1996). The correct relationship of phosphorus to zinc is different for different species and is continuously modified as the plant grows older The pattern of zinc vs. phosphorus is also variety dependent (Erdal I. et al. 2002). Some varieties within a species are characterized by higher susceptibility to either excess or deficiency of zinc probably because of differences in the ability to take up phosphorus (Weber R. et al. 1997, Moraghan JT. 1984). According to investigators, the varietal differences for the response to phosphorus in turn are caused by different uptake of zinc by those varieties ( Li HY. et al. 2003). The proportions between zinc and phosphorus in the plant differ not only with plant, variety and development stage but are also dependent on physico-chemical properties of the soil. The mechanism of this phosphorus-zinc interaction occurs primarily in the plant root, rather than in the soil. Excessive concentrations of phosphorus in the plant root result in the binding of zinc within root cells and, therefore, becomes unavailable for plant. The main objective of the present study is to determine the interaction of zinc-phosphorus within soil and plant under different treatments and cultivars. Method A greenhouse experiment was carried out with four treatments and two cultivars of spring wheat. Pots filled with 3kg of soil ,and treated with zinc sulfate at 0, 30 , 60 and 100 mgZnkg-1soil, but all pots received 20 mgPkg-1 soil of phosphorus fertilizer. The soil in the experiment was clay in texture and table 1 shows the properties of the soil.

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Table 1. physical and chemical properties of the soil used in the experiment Properties pH EC(dsm ) Texture Organic matter (%) Pav (mgkg-1) Znav( mgkg )
-1 -1

Amount 5.9 1.093 Clay 3.44 5.8 1.6

Two more populare cultivars of spring wheat seeds in Iran ( Falat and Pishtaz ) were grown in these pots for 104 days after which the plants were cut and separated into roots,stems,leaves and grains. After harvesting, soil and plants were analyzed for phosphorus using spectrophotometery method and for zinc using AAS method. Statistical data processing of the results was performed by analysis of variance.The results were processed by modern statistical methods using the computer program, Genstat32, MSTAT and SPSS.In this paper the results for plant shoot, plant root and soil are presented. Results Results indicated that different zinc treatments have a significant effect (P<0.01) on phosphorus uptake by plant and the Zn0 treatment imposed the highest phosphorus concentration in plant. Comparision between the two cultivars showed that the Falat cultivar had a significantly higher phosphorus uptake compered to Pishtaz (fig 1). Applied zinc had no effects on the amount of phosphorus in root and also phosphorus concentration in roots did not differ in two cultivars under study. Different zinc treatments have a significant effect (P<0.01) on zinc concentration and in both cultivars. There was a significant increase (0.01) of zinc in shoots.But there was no significant difference between Falat and Pishtaz regarding zinc concentration(fig 2). Different zinc treatments had a significant increase (P<0.01) in Zn uptake by plant root and the Zn100 treatment showed the highest Zn concentration in Falat and in Pishtaz cultivar in Zn uptake by root. But there was no significant difference between Falat and Pishtaz in root Zn. There was no significant increase in amount of available phosphorus in soil but the amount of Zinc increased significantly in soil ( table 2). Comparision between the two cultivar used showed that the Falat cultivar had a significantly higher phosphorus uptake compered to Pishtaz.

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Table 2. Phosphorus and zinc concentrations in plant tissues and soil for two wheat cultivars grown
Cultivar Treatments (ppm) 0 30 60 100 Pishtaz 0 30 60 100 P in shoot (%) 0.235 a 0.155 b 0.116 b 0.115 b 0.129 a 0.144 a 0.114 a 0.091 b Zn in shoot (ppm) 28.4 c 50.1 bc 69.2 b 112.8 a 23.2 c 42.6 b 39.6 bc 120 a P in root (%) 0.415 a 0.436 a 0.391 a 0.436 a 0.403 a 0.433 a 0.380 a 0.341 a Zn in root (ppm) 57.4 b 66.0 b 85.7 b 111.0 a 39.7 c 54.6 bc 69.3 b 127.4 a Pav in soil (ppm) 17.816 a 16.336 a 16.170 a 14.973 a 16.050 a 15.330 a 19.2 a 13.845 a Znav in soil (ppm) 2.85 c 9.59 bc 16.85 b 29.54 a 2.91 c 9.45 bc 14.41 b 35.89 a

Falat

Figure 1. Phosphorus concentrations in Shoot of two wheat cultivars

Figure 2. Zinc concentrations in Shoots of two wheat cultivars

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Conclusion The results showed that the application of zinc reduced the concentration of phosphorus in both shoot and grain but it increased the concentration of phosphorus in root. With the application of zinc the concentration of this element was significantly increased in shoot, root and grain. The ratio of phosphorus to zinc, amount of grain protein and grain yield reduced with application of zinc.The cultivar of Falat had better growth under excessive zinc condition and antagonism relation of phosphorus and zinc was lower in Falat compared to Pishtaz cultivar.This experiment confiremed that the wheat cultivar Falat is more efficient in P uptake than Pishtaz. It also supports the theory of an antagonism between levels of zinc application and phosphorus uptake by plants. References Benedycka Z., Krauze A.; 1995. [Application of phosphorus with micronutrients (Zn, Mo, B) for foliar fertilization of faba bean]. Acta Acad. Agricult. Tech. Olst. Agricult.; 61(496): 31-37; [in Polish]. Chaney RL., 1993. Zinc phytotoxicity. In: Zinc in Soils and Plants. Ed. A D Robson. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht.: 135-150. Erdal I., Yilmaz A., Taban S., Eker S., Torun B., Cakmak I.; 2002. Phytic acid and phosphorus concentrations in seeds of wheat cultivars grown whit and without zinc fertilization. J. Plant Nutr.; 25(1): 113-127. Kabata-Pendias A., Pendias H.; 1999. Biogeochemia pierwiastkw sladowych. [Biogeochemistry of trace elements]. Wyd. Nauk. PWN, Warszawa; [in Polish]. Krauze A.; 1996. [The effect of zinc fertilization on the yield and grain quality of winter wheat in relation to the rate and method of phosphorus fertilization]. Zesz. Probl. Post. Nauk Rol.; 434(1): 185-191; [in Polish]. Li HY., Zhu YG., Smith SE., Smith FA.; 2003. Phosphorus-zinc interactions in two barley cultivars differing in phosphorus and zinc efficiencies. J. Plant Nutr.; 26 (5): 1085-1099. Moraghan JT.; 1984. Differential responses of five species to phosphorus and zinc fertilizers. Commun. Soil Sci. Plant Anal.; 15(4): 437-447. S. Venkatesan, K.V.Hemalatha and S. Jayaganesh (2006) Zinc Toxicity and its influence on nutrient uptake in tea. American Journal of Plant Physiology I (2): 185-192. Weber R., urawski H., Hryczuk B.; 1997. Reakcje odmian pszenicy jarej na zagroenie zwizane z nadmiarem cynku w zalenosci od pH gleby. [Response of spring wheat cultivars to zinc excess hazard in relation to soil pH]. Biul. IHAR; 204: 197-203; [in Polish]. Y.-G. ZHU, S. E. SMITH and F. A. SMITH (2001) Zinc (Zn)-phosphorus (P) Interactions in Two Cultivars of Spring Wheat(Triticum aestivum L.) Differing in P Uptake Efficiency. Annals of Botany 88: 941-945.

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Soil quality management and productivity assessment with pig slurry applications, in SE Spain
Asuman Bykkl Yanarda1, ngel Faz Cano1, Ahmet R. Mermut,2,3, Melisa Gmez Garrido1 and Ibrahim Halil Yanarda1
1) Sustainable Use, Management and Reclamation of Soil and Water Research Group.Agrarian Science and Technology Department. Technical University of Cartagena. Paseo Alfonso XIII, 48. 30203 Cartagena, Murcia, Spain. Corresponding Author: asumanby@upct.es 2) Harran University, Agriculture Faculty, Soil Science Department, anlurfa, Turkey. 3) Department of Soil Science University of Saskatchewan 51 Campus Drive Saskatoon SK Canada.

Abstract
Sustainability of agriculture is now a major global concern since the 1980s. Soil organic matter is very important in the proper functions of the soil, which is also a good indicator of soil quality. This is due to its influence on many of the chemical, physical, and biological processes that control the capacity of a soil to perform properly. Understanding of nutrient supply through organic matter mineralization in agricultural systems is essential for maintaining long-term quality and productivity. The composition of pig manure will have a profound impact on soil properties, quality and crop yield when used in agriculture. We studied the effects of pig slurry (PS) application as an organic fertilizer, and to determine the optimum amount that can be added to the soil, effects on soil properties, quality, and productivity. We applied 3 different doses on silty loam soils: D1 (170 kg N/ha), D2 (340 kg N/ha) and D3 (540 kg N/ha); unfertilized plots (C) served as controls. Samples were collected at two different levels, surface (0-30 cm) and subsurface (30-60 cm). Additions of pig manure to soils at agronomic rates (170 kg N/ha/yr) to match crop nutrient requirements showed that the soil quality improved with the applications of PS, depending on the soil characteristics. D1 (170 kg N/ha) applications increased SOC without causing any soil pollution. The level of benefits from the use of PS application depends on the management of PS, which is very important in terms of the soil quality and productivity. Keywords: Pig slurry, Soil management, Soil quality, Productivity

Introduction The recycling of pig slurry in agricultural soils is an alternative and value added practice in countries such as Spain. This is particularly the case since many regions are arid and are comprised of poor soils (1% organic matter) that support intense mineralization organic matter. Spain is the second largest pig producer in Europe, nearly 2.5106 Mg (dry wt.) of pig manure is collected annually (Bigeriego, 1995) and approximately 50% of this manure is spread on agricultural land (MAPA, 1997). Murcia region occupies the fifth place in Spain, with more than 1.6 million pigs (MAPYA, 2000). Unfortunately, the facilities to store and use the slurry safely have not kept pace with the increased animal production (Faz et al., 2005). Pig manures may increase the soil fertility and thus the crop production potential of soils. It also causes changes in soils physical, chemical and biological properties, including the nutrient bioavailability, soil structure, water holding capacity, cation exchange capacity, soil pH, microbial community and activity etc. (Marschner, 1995; Walker et al., 2004; Clemente and Bernal, 2006; Agbede et al., 2008; Muhammad and Khattak, 2009). Organic carbon is one of the most important constituents of soils and improves soil structure, soil chemical and physical properties and biological activities. The need to increase the organic matter of the soil for the improvement of conservation and sustainability of agricultural soils, the use of organic fertilizers, such as PS, has become an important research topic. The objective of this study was to identify the amount of optimum doses of PS, in terms of general soil characteristics, soil quality and productivity. Materials and Methods Description of Study Area: The study site is located in the La Hoya of the Guadalentn Valley of Lorca (Fig. 1), Murcia province, SE Spain. The Climate of the area is semiarid, with mean annual average rainfall of 300 mm and mean annual temperature of 180C and potential evapotranspiration is >900 mm yr1
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N NUTRIENT MANAGEM MENT FOR SOIL SUST TAINABILIT FOOD SE TY ECURITY AND A HU UMAN HEA ALTH (Lpe ez-Bermdez et al., 2002 The typic Mediterra z 2). cal anean summ drought m mer means there is almost no ra (3mm in July), wher ain n reas autumn and spring are the rain seasons. Intense drou n ny ughts are nse recur rrent (90mm in 1994), but also inten rainfalls (100 mm day-1) are re b s d ecorded ever decade ry which causes a ve high eros h ery sion rates. M agricultu in the area is rain-fed.. Because of semiarid Most ure f clima condition generally cropping pat ate ns, ttern is cerea especially barley. al,

Fig. 1 Location o the Guade 1: of elentin Valley in Spain (S y Source: Deld et al. (200 den 05)). Expe erimental De esign, Soil Sa ampling and Analytical Procedures: d P : Experimental des sign of the st tudy area wa consisted of six micro plots, 5 x 5 meters. The micro as ese plots, include con , ntrol and raw manure ap w pplications; at single (3), double (1) and triple (1) doses. a ( The s study was sta arted in Marc 2009 and finished Jun 2011. The time of sam ch ne mpling and ap pplication are gi iven in Table 1. e Table 1. The tim of samplin and appli e me ngs ication (*1st sampling was mean averag of two samp (total s ge ples.
8 sam mples were col llected; Samp.: Sampling, g PS.App.: Pig Slurry Application) 1.Soil 1. PS. 2.Soil 3. Soil 4. Soil 1. PS. 5. Soil 6. S Soil 7. Soil Samp. App. Samp. Sa amp. Samp. App. Samp. Sam mp. Samp. March-June September October Ma arch June September October Mar rch June 20 010 2010 201 2009 2009 2009 2010 2010 11 2011

Three different doses were ap e pplied for the experimen D1 (Single Dose-170 k N/ha), D2 (Double e nt: e kg Dose-340 kg N/h and D3 (Triple Dose ha) ( e-540 kg N/h unfertilized plots (C served as control. ha); C) s lly, oil urries were applied to th field bef he fore plant Total seven so samples were taken, two pig slu samp were tak (three tim during s ples ken mes study). Slurr were app ries plied once pe year. Soil samples er l from each micro plot with th hree random points are collected from two depth surface (0-30 cm) c m hs, subsurface (3 30-60 cm) ho orizons. The soils and pla samples were taken to the lab, airant w o -dried for and s 7 day passed thr ys, rough a 2-mm sieve, hom m mogenized, and stored in plastic bags at room tem a n s mperature prior to laboratory analyses. y The f following an nalyses were carried out: pH measure in a 1:1 water soil rat solution according ed w tio a to Peechs method (1965); sol luble salts ac ccording to Bower and Wilcox (1965 equivalent calcium B W 5); carbo onate (CaCO3) (Bernard's Calcimeter Total Phosphorous (W O r); Watanabe an Olsen, 19 nd 965); soil organ carbon m nic method acco ording to An (1945), described by Duchaufo (1970), based on nne b our b sured with Automatic Titrater Metro oxida ation with H2SO4 and K2Cr2O7, meas A ohm 702 SM Titrino, M nitrog accordin to Duchaufour (197 gen ng 70), cation exchange capacity follow e wing the method of m Chap pman (1965) Bioavail ). lable metals and cation were de s ns etermined by atomic ab y bsorption spect trophotomete (AAnalyst 800, Perkin Elmer) for pig slurries, soils, and pla er t n p s ants.

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N NUTRIENT MANAGEM MENT FOR SOIL SUST TAINABILIT FOOD SE TY ECURITY AND A HU UMAN HEA ALTH ults cussion Resu and Disc Soil a Pig Slur Characte and rry eristics and Q Quality: The p physico-chem mical charac cteristics of t pig slurr are given in Table 2 The results showed the ries n 2. s that; the amount of electrica conductivi (EC), nit al ity trogen (N), bioavailable metals, cat e tions and phosp phorus were high in applied pig slurry y. Ta able 2: Chara acteristics of pig slurries added to plo (mean val f ots lues)
Paramet ter pH EC (dS m-1) TN (g L-1) Cu (mg L-1) Zn (mg L-1) Fe (mg L-1) ( (TN= total nitr rogen) Value 7,2 16,1 1,0 0,7 3,4 3,8 Para ameter Mn (m L ) mg P (m L-1) mg Mg (m L-1) mg Ca (m L-1) mg K(m L-1) mg Na (m L-1) mg
-1

Value 0,4 360,0 309,5 738,5 193,6 893,6

The g general chara acteristics of the soil sam f mples are giv in Table 3. The textu of the soi is silty ven ure ils loam in the area They had basic reacti a. ion, generall non salin high lime content an cation ly ne, e nd excha ange capacity y. Table 3: General characterist of the so in the are studied. e tics oils ea
Soil Profil le A1 (0-20 cm) ) A2 (20-40 cm m) CK1 (40-65 c cm) CK2 (65 cm m) pH 8,2 8,6 8,7 8,8 EC TN N (m mS/m) (g kg -1) g 2,7 1,5 1,1 2,0 0,6 6 0,5 5 0,5 5 0,4 4 CEC CaCO3 (+) cmo kg-1 ol (% %) 9,0 0 18,3 8,7 7 10,0 55.3 3 55.5 5 57.9 9 60.5 5 BD (g/cm3) 1,31 1,19 1,2 1,17

The i important soil factors tha influence t mineraliz at the zation of pig manure incl ludes pH, sa CEC, alts, textur presence of toxic inor re, rganic or org ganic compou unds (Schoenau et al., 20 002). Becaus of this, se some soil charact e teristics must be determin to decide the threshold level of pig slurry in the soil. t ne t d g Organ carbon c nic contents wer between 8 and 24.0 g kg-1 in th surface h re 8.0 0 he horizon, and changed betwe 4.0 and 21.0 g kg-1 in the subs een surface horiz (Fig. 2.) There was a slight increase of zon ). s organ matter w pig slurr applicatio in the are Similar positive resu were rep nic with ry on ea. p ults ported by Charl (1999) fo pig manure application to soils. les or e n

nic n rea ace, Fig. 2: Soil organ carbon in the study ar (a: Surfa b: Subsurface)

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Effects of manure addition on soil organic matter content would be more pronounced on soils of lower organic matter content and low fertility, and it may take several years of application before significant differences can be detected (Loro et al., 1997). Chang et al. (1990) observed a decrease in soil pH with time and suggested that some soils might eventually decrease with continued application of manure. Changes of crop properties with PS application: D1 applications had positive effect on plant yield, in the area studied. Lal and Marthur (1989) observed similar result that manure applications have positive effect on crop yield. Cultivated soils with less than 2% organic matter content are considered unfavorable for sustainable agricultural production, the application of soil organic amendments in quantities that provide a sufficient reserve of organic matter for several years. Some researchers are found that; Manure with low mineralization rates is a better choice for both dressings for perennial crops (Pinamonti and Siche 2001). The study showed that; manures may also contain trace amounts of elements that are nonfunctional in plant metabolism, but which become of interest due to potentially enhanced accumulation in plants grown on the soils treated with pig slurry. We observed that, there are many factors to be considered when attempting to assess the overall net impact of a management practice on productivity. Additions of pig manure to soils at agronomic rates (170 kg N/ha/yr) to match crop nutrient requirements were found to have a positive impact on soil productivity. Conclusions The use of organic manure in agricultural lands is positive from the recycling and economic perspective. Application of organic residues to soils directly maintains an adequate level of soil organic matter, a critical component of soil fertility and productivity. Organic manure is considered as slow-release N fertilizer, as it releases or mineralizes only a fraction of its total N content during the growing season. High initial applications to build up the organic pool and cut back in subsequent years would be appropriate. In supplying the nutrient requirements, the amount of manure applied can be calculated based on the rate of N applied and the rate of organic N mineralization in the application season. D1 application is the agronomic rate of N-requirement (170 kg N/ha/yr) which is very appropriate in term of sustainable agriculture and also this dose can improve physical, chemical and biological soil properties. Therefore, the benefits from the use of application depend on management of pig slurry, carbon and environmental quality. Whereas, PS has high metal contents and application of high doses can pollute the soils and would be harmful for human, animal and plants, which may not be suitable in term of sustainable agriculture. References 1. Anne. 1945. Ann., Agro. 2, 161-172

2. Bigeriego, M. 1995. Depuracion, reciclado y reutilization de purines. P. 131-140- 1er Congreso Nacional de Veterinaria y Media Ambiente, Imprenta Regional. Murcia, Spain.
3. Bower C.A., and Wilcox L.V. 1965. Soluble salts. In C. A. Black (Ed.). Methods of Soils Analysis. American Society of Agronomy. Madison, Wisconsin, U.S.A. 2, 933-940. 4. Chang, C., Sommerfeldt, T.G., and Entz, T. 1990. Rates of soil chemical changes with eleven annual application of cattle feedlot manure. Can. J. Soil Sci. 70:673-681. 5. Chapman, H. D. 1965. Cation exchange capacity. In C. A. Black (ed.). Methods of Soil Analysis. American Society of Agronomy. Madison, Wisconsin, U.S.A. 2, 891-900. 6. Clemente and Bernal, 2006;

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7. Directive 91/676/EEC. 1991. Concerning the protection of waters against pollution caused by

nitrates from agricultural sources. Ofic. J.L 375, 31.12. European Union, Brussels. 8. Duchaufour, Ph. 1970. Precis de Pedologie. Masson. Paris. 481 pp 9. Faz Cano , A., Tortosa, J.L, Andujar, M., Llona, M., Lobera, J.B., Palop, A., and Amat. S. 2005. Application of Pig slurries in the Guadelentin Valley for brocoli and watermelon production: Preliminary Results. Advances in GeoEcology.36:133-147. 10. Lal, S. and Marthur, B.S. 1989. Effect of long-term fertililization, manuring and liming of an Alfisol on maize, wheat and soil properties: I. Maize and wheat. J. Indian Soc. Soil Sci. 37: 717724. 11. Lpez-Bermdez, F., Barbera, G.G., Alonso-Sarria, F., and Belmonte-Serrato, F. 2002. Natural resources in the Guadalentin (South-east Spain): Water as a key factor. p. 233245. In NA Geeson et al (ed) Mediterranean desertification, a mosaic of processes and responses Wiley, Chichester. 12. Loro, P.J., Bergstrom, D.W., and Beauchamp, E.G. 1997. Intensity and duration of denitrification following application of manure and fertilizer to soil. J. Environ. Qual. 26:706713. 13. MAPYA, 2000. www.mapya.es 14. Peech, M. 1965. Hydrogen-ion. In C.A. Black (Ed). Methods of soil Analysis. American Society of Agronomy. Madison, Wisconsin, USA. 2, 914-916.Pinamonti, F. and Siche, L. 2001. Compost utilization in fruit production systems. pp. 177-200. In: Stoffella P. J. and B. A. Kahn (eds.) Compost utilization in horticultural cropping systems. New York, USA: Lewis Publishers. 15. Schoenau, J.J., Mooleki, P., Assefa, B., Grevers, M., Qian, P., and Hultgreen, G. 2002. Benefits to Soil from Livestock Manure: Manure Management in Direct Seeding Systems. Proceedings of Direct Seeding Optimizing Production Systems 14th Annual Conference of the Saskatchewan Soil Conservation Association, Feb. 13 &14, 2002, Regina, SK. 16. Watanabe, F.S. and Olsen, S.R. 1965. Test of ascorbic acid method for determining phosphorus in water and NaHCO3 extracts from soil. Soil Science Society of America Proceedings. 677-678.

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Investigation of the Impact on Vegetative Growth of Saharan Desert Dust

Nihal YCEKUTLU
Faculty of Science, Department of Chemistry, Hacettepe University, Beytepe, Ankara/TURKEY Corresponding Author: nihal.yuce@gmail.com Abstract Saharan dust deposition has an important impact on climatic processes, nutrient cycles, soil formation and sediment cycles. Through long-range transport of dust, the Sahara desert supplies essential minerals to the receiving environment. During my thesis studies, the impact of various growth media on development of some bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and durum wheat (Triticum durum L.) cultivars have been investigated. As a four different nutrient media, Hewitt nutrient solution (Hewitt, 1966), illuminated and nonilluminated Saharan desert soil solutions and distilled water have been utilized. Seedling length, leaf area and photosynthetic pigments have been determined. The results of this study indicate that, wheat varieties fed by irradiated Saharan soil solution gave comparable results to Hewitt nutrient solution. Experiments are done under both light and dark so as to simulate and differentiate between daytime and nighttime atmospheric processing. These properties have been tested on the certified cotton cultivar (Gossypium Hirsutum L.) by using illuminated and non-illuminated Saharan desert soil solutions. In scope of this study, the effect on the vegetative growth of plants of Sahara dust have been investigated and physical, chemical and mineralogical composition for its role in crop production have been analyzed. As a result, this event occurs in nature is explained by reactions. Keywords: Saharan desert soil, natural fertilizers, Fe 2+ / Fe 3+ photoreduction, vegetative growth, fulvic and humic acids.

Introduction
One -1.5 billion tons of dust are thrown from the Saharan desert and scattered to the atmosphere each year. Dust storms are significantly meteorological events that affect the East Mediterranean region. At a global scale, the Sahara desert is the most important source of mineral aerosols. Aerosols can be introduced into the atmosphere either directly (primary aerosols) or as a product of gaseous reactions in the atmosphere (secondary aerosols) and they play a significant role in the climate forcing (IPCC, 2001). The biogeochemical impact of desert dust also remains a matter of discussion regarding its contribution for different macro and micro nutrient elements to terrestrial and marine systems, and especially its potential fertilizing role for remote oceanic areas by supplying micronutrients as phosphorus and iron (Jickells and Spokes, 2000). Dust originating from the Saharan Desert could initiate a series of reactions upon contact with cloud water and results in the formation of reduced iron (Fe2+), oxalate and various basic amino acids (Saydam and enyuva, 2002). Microorganisms rather their by products such as basic amino acids, Fe2+, oxalate generated during the transportation of Saharan dust in the atmosphere where sun light and water from cloud was easily accessible and the microorganisms began multiplying (Mace et al., 2003). Iron is the most abundant transition metal in the atmosphere and can play a significant role in cloudwater chemistry where its reactivity is closely related to the partitioning between Fe(II) and Fe(III) (Parazols et al., 2003). It has been shown that Saharan soil may have the potential of producing bioavailable iron when illuminated with visible light and also it has some essential macro and micro nutrient elements (Saydam and enyuva, 2002). In this study designed experiments to characterize it and to observed its action in simulated environmental applications. During my thesis studies, Sahara dust have been investigated for its role in crop production, so physical, chemical and mineralogical composition have been analyzed, as well as humic acid and fulvic acid were extracted. Saharan soil sample was analyzed by XRD (x-ray diffraction) technique the dominant mineral was quartz, feldspar, calcite, gypsum and clay followed respectively (Ycekutlu, 2004). Finally, the significance of seedling length, leaf area and photosynthetic pigments content on vegetative growth productivity in the controlled climate chamber has been discussed.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Investigation of Some Events That Occur in Nature Photochemical Cycling The light-induced redox cycling of iron did not lead to the release of iron and decomposition of H2O2 primarily localized on the clay surface. This work implies that iron-bearing clays could be a sink of H2O2 in the environmental system. The Haber-Weiss cycle (eqs 1-4) is one primary H2O2 decomposition route catalyzed by iron species, where tFe(II) and tFe(III) represent the Fe(II)/Fe(III) species in solid or solution phase. In the presence of natural ligands (oxalate, humic acid, et al.), however, iron is likely to be released from the oxide surface, increasing the contribution of solution phase reaction to the loss of H2O2 (Voelker at al. 1997; Faust and Hoffmann, 1984).

Light irradiation and the presence of natural organic matters (NOM) could facilitate this process (Voelker at al.): The decomposition of H2O2 can be promoted by factors that assist conversion from Fe(III) to Fe(II). The reaction of (photo) produced Fe(II) with H2O2 has been reported to be an important source of . OH in systems composed of ferrihydrite/fulvic acid or iron loaded humic acid (Paciolla et al. 1999; Southworth et al. 2003). In recently works, it was found that quinones and dyes could reduce ferric ions and Fe(III) loaded on resins, accelerating significantly the decomposition of H2O2 and the removal of organic pollutants under visible irradiation (Chen et al. 2002; Wu, et al. 1999).

Clay minerals are widespread layer type aluminosilicates in the environment that are found on the earths surface and in atmospheric aerosols in the stratosphere (Shichi and Takagi, 2000). Photosynthesis Photosynthesis is the process by which green plants, eucaryotic algae, cyanobacteria, and certain other prokaryotes convert light energy into chemical energy. In higher green plants and algae, the overall process can be summarized by the equation: light energy 6CO2 + 12H2O -----------------> C6H12O6 + 6O2 + 6H2O chloroplasts

Photosynthesis in plants is dependent upon capturing light energy in the pigment chlorophyll, and in particular chlorophyll a (Fig. 1). This chlorophyll resides mostly in the chloroplasts and gives leaves their green color.

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Figure 1. Absorption Spectrum of Chlorophyll and Carotenoids

(Available from: http://www.nicerweb.com/bio1151/Locked/media/lab/photo/key1151.html)

The Hill Reaction 4Fe3+ + 2H2O light (h) chloroplasts/thylakoids Hill (1937) found that when isolated chloroplasts from ground up leaves of stellaria media placed in cell extracts, produced oxygen from H2O in illuminated stage. He also noticed that cell extracts can be replaced by salts of iron like ferric oxalate. The substances when added to illuminated isolated chloroplasts in the absence of CO2, acted as hydrogen acceptors i.e oxidants. These substances are called Hill oxidants or Hill reagents (Available from: http://www.photosynthesisinfo.com/hill-reaction/). A general description of iron redox cycling in the presence of humic substances and light must include both iron redox reactions of dissolved Fe species and those taking place on the surface of the iron oxide particles as well as the transfer of iron species from the surface to the solution and vice versa. In addition, large undifferentiated molecules, such as humic acids (Voelker et al., 1997) as well as small organic molecules may specifically facilitate Fe dissolution from dust into the ocean. Humic Compounds in Soil Fertility One of the used organic-mineral fertilizers is the humic acid. Humic matter is formed through the chemical and biological humification of plant and animal matter and through the biological activities of microorganisms (Anonymous, 2010). The effects of humic substances on plant growth depend on the source and concentration, as well as on the molecular fraction weight of humus. Lower molecular size fraction easily reaches the plasma lemma of plant cells, determining a positive effect on plant growth, as well as a later effect at the level of plasma membrane, that is, the nutrient uptake, especially nitrate. The effects seen on the intermediary metabolism are less understood, but it seems that humic substances may influence both respiration and photosynthesis (Nardi et al., 2002). Humic Like Substances (HULIS) Humic like substances (HULIS) have been identified as a major fraction of the organic component of atmospheric aerosols (Dinar et al., 2006). Atmospheric aerosol play important roles in numerous atmospheric processes such as cloud formation, modification of cloud properties, heterogeneous chemistry, and visibility degradation, all of which affect climate forcing and air quality (IPPC, 2001; Kaufman et al., 2005). Several studies have focused on the effect of organic aerosol on cloud droplet nucleation [where aerosol particles act as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN)] and on particles hygroscopic growth (Facchini et al., 1999; Brooks et al., 2004; Gysel et al., 2004). 4Fe2+ + 4H+ + O2 (Hill Reaksiyonu)

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Materials and Methods

Saharan Desert Soil In this research, Saharan desert raw soil samples taken from southern Tunisia, near Tozeur has been used. In laboratory the raw soil samples dried, sieved (30 mesh) and homogenized. Some physical and chemical analyzes of a homogeneous soil of the Sahara desert, Laboratory of Soil (Soil and Water Resources, Central Research Institute, Ankara, Turkey) were conducted. Analyses were carried out using methods Handbook of Soil and Water Analysis Laboratory (Tzner, 1990). Adequacy of the analysis results were determined the reference values (Gne et al., 2004). Some physical and chemical analyzes of soil of the Sahara desert in Table 1 are given. Physical and chemical analysis results, the desert soil properties were determined by comparing with reference values. Table 1. Some physical and chemical analysis of the Sahara soil *
PHYSICAL ANALYSIS Texture With water saturation (%) Electrical conductivity (EC, dS/m) CHEMICAL ANALYSIS With water saturation pH Total salt (%) Lime (CaCO3) (%) Organic Matter (%) Total Nitrogen (%) Organic Carbon (%) Total Humik Asit Some plant-available macro-elements (ppm) Phosphorus Potassium Some micro plant-available elements (ppm) Fe (DTPA) Cu (DTPA) Zn (DTPA) Mn (DTPA)

Results

The analysis results Loamy sand 31 1.69 Reference values ** 7.82 (slightly alkaline) 0.034 (unsalted) 13.16 (medium) 0.28 (very few) 0.01 0.16 5.98 7.73 ( Low) 200.23( sufficient) 6.64 ( sufficient) 1.22 ( sufficient) 0.82 ( sufficient) 18.48 ( sufficient) 6.5-7.5 0.35-0.65 5 - 15 3-4

15.72 99.58 >4.5 >0.2 0.5-2.4 14-50

* Soil and Water Resources Research Institute, ANKARA **Tzner,1990 ve Lindsay vd., 1978. Sahara desert soil; sandy-loamy texture, slightly alkaline, salt-free, moderately calcareous, very little amount of organic matter due to the poor in total nitrogen, phosphorus less, Fe, Cu, Zn and Mn were determined according to the results of the analysis is adequate. According to obtained results, the Sahara desert of wheat plant grown in soil solutions in any nutrient deficiency or toxicity, to be determined.

Discussion

Saharan dust has an important impact on climatic processes, nutrient cycles, soil formation and sediment cycles (Goudie and Middleton, 2001). In desert regions, dust is dispersed from different sources. These include alluvial deposits on dry flood plains wadis, playas, etc. In addition to wind
490

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH stress, dust production is influenced by vegetation, soil structure, and moisture content of the soil, texture, mineral content and surface roughness (Goossens and Offer, 1988). The first test have been performed by Ycekutlu (2004) on the certified wheat cultivars monocotyledons (Triticum aestivum L. and Triticum durum L.) by using Hewitt nutrient solution and deionized water used as two extreme control solutions and illuminated and non illuminated Saharan desert solutions as. In addition to base cations (Ca, Mg, K) and other important nutrients (e.g., nitrogen and phosphorus), depletion of some other nutrients [e.g., manganese (Mn) and zinc (Zn)] is regarded as one of the detrimental consequences of acidifying deposition on ecosystems (Galloway, 1995). Finally, the biogeochemical implications of saharan soil dissolved mineral on vegetation growth have been investigated. Therefore mineral interactions of the elements in Saharan desert soil solution need to be researched. Recent guidance publications on soil management from Defra (Defra, 2006) group soils as follows: sandy or light silty, medium, heavy, chalk and limestone soils and peaty, reflecting some of the parameters listed. These are the same groups used for recommending fertiliser applications to agricultural and horticultural crops (MAFF, 2000). Biological processes can be important for the development and maintenance of soil texture and structure. A report prepared for English Nature by Ian Bradley et al. (2006), eight key soil parameters that are of importance for plants and the kind of vegetation that can develop in a particular situation are: soil texture and structure (the nutrient status, soil chemistry, pH, depth), organic matter (moisture, porosity, permeability and soil fauna). Agri-environment schemes have management options for habitat re-creation and restoration (Rural Development Service Technical Advice Note 31, 2005). Key Points - Standard soil sampling methodology and analysis is essential. - Low soil phosphorus status is critical when trying to achieve botanical diversity. - Soil nitrogen status is important on land undergoing reversion from arable to grassland. - Knowledge of inherent soil type and soil pH will assist with determining an appropriate seed mix or target vegetation type. The impact of Saharan Desert dust transport and natural emissions on air quality monitoring and its impact on vegetative development, determination of environmental activities, mineral nutrition and natural fertilizers of plants, distribution and accumulation of bacteria, fungi spores and microorganisms at the select plot region are observed (Ycekutlu and Ycekutlu, 2009, 2010). The following describes the seven key elements of the research methodology (Ycekutlu, 2011).
Anonymous (2010). Humic and fulvic acids: The black gold of agriculture? Available from: http://www.humintech.com/pdf/humicfulvicacids.pdf (Access date: 20.09.2010). Chen, F.; Ma, W. H.; He, J. J.; Zhao, J. C. (2002). Fenton degradation of malachite green catalyzed by aromatic additives. J. Phys. Chem. A 106, 9485-9490. Faust, B. C.; Hoffmann,M.R., (1984). Photoinduced reductive dissolution of R-Fe2O3 by bisulfite. Environ. Sci. Technol. 20, 943- 948. Facchini, M. C., Mircea, M., Fuzzi, S., and Charlson, R. J., (1999). Cloud albedo enhancement by surface-active organic solutes in growing droplets, Nature, 401(6750), 257259. Bradley I., Clarke M., Cooke H., Harris J., Harrison P. L., Mayr T., Towers W., Rodwell J. and Gowing D., (2006). Guidance on understanding and managing soils for habitat restoration projects, English Nature Research Reports, Number 712. Brooks, S. D., DeMott, P. J., and Kreidenweis, S. M., (2004). Water uptake by particles containing humic materials and mixtures of humic materials with ammonium sulfate, Atmos. Environ., 38(13), 18591868. Dinar, E., Taraniuk, I., Graber, E. R., Katsman, S., Moise, T., Anttila, T., Mentel, T. F., and Rudich, Y., (2006). Cloud Condensation Nuclei properties of model and atmospheric HULIS, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 6, 2465-2482. DEFRA. (2006). Cross compliance guidance for soil management. PB11162, London. Available from: www.defra.gov.uk/farm/capreform/pubs/pdf/XCSoilGuidance2006.pdf

References

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH
Galloway, J.N., (1995). Acid deposition: perspectives in time and space. Water, Air and Soil Pollution, 85:15-24. Gne, A., Alpaslan, M ve nal, A., (2004). Bitki Besleme ve Gbreleme. Ankara niversitesi Ziraat Fakltesi Yayn No: 1539 Ders Kitab: 492. Goossens, D., Offer, Z.Y., (1988). Loess erosion and loess deposition in the Negev Desert: theoretical modelling and wind tunnel simulations. Desert Meteorology Papers, Series A., No.13. Goudie A.S. and Middleton, N.J., (2001). Saharan dust storms: nature and consequences, Earth-Science Reviews, 56200.179204. Gysel, M., Weingartner, E., Nyeki, S., Paulsen, D., Baltensperger, U., Galambos, I., and Kiss, G., (2004). Hygroscopic properties of water-soluble matter and humic-like organics in atmospheric fine aerosol, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 4, 3550, Available from: http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/4/35/2004/. Hewitt, E.J., (1966). Sand and water culture methods used in the study of plant nutrition, Tech. Com. No. 22 (Revised 2nd edition) comm Bur. Hort. And Plantation Crops. IPPC (2001), Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): Climate Change: The Scientific Basis, Cambridge University Press, UK. Kaufman, Y. J., Koren, I., Remer, L. A., Rosenfeld, D., and Rudich, Y., (2005). The effect of smoke, dust, and pollution aerosol on shallow cloud development over the Atlantic Ocean, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 102(32), 11 20711 212. MAFF. (2000). Fertiliser recommendations for agricultural and horticultural crops. RB209, London. Mace, K.A., Kubilay, N., Duce, R.A., (2003). Organic nitrogen in rain and aerosol in the eastern Mediterranean atmosphere: An association with atmospheric dust Journal of Geophysical ResearchAtmospheres. 108 (D10): Art. No. 4320. Nardi S, Pizzeghello D, Muscolo A, Vianello A (2002). Physiological Effects of humic substances in plant growth. Soil Biol. Biochem., 34(11): 1527-1536. Paciolla, M. D.; Davies, G.; Jansen, S., (1999). Generation of hydroxyl radicals from metal-loaded humic acids. Environ. Sci. Technol. 33, 1814-1818. Parazols, M., Marinoni, A., Amato, P., Abida, O., Laj, P., Delort, A-M., Zappoli, S. and Mailhot, G., (2007). Speciation and role of iron in cloud droplets at the puy de Dme station (Erratum). Journal of Atmospheric Chemistry, 57: 299-300. Rural Development Service Technical Advice Note 31, (2005). Agri-environment schemes have management options for habitat re-creation and restoration, Available from: http://www.defra.gov.uk/. Saydam, A.C. H.Z. enyuva, Deserts ? Can they be the potential supplier of biovailable iron. Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 29 (2002) No.11, 10.1029/2001GL013562. Shichi, T.; Takagi, K., (2000). Clay minerals as photochemical reaction fields. J. Photochem. Photobiol., C: Photochem. Rev. 1, 113-130. Southworth, B. A.; Voelker, B. M., (2003). Hydroxyl radical production via the photo-Fenton reaction in the presence of fulvic acid. Environ. Sci. Technol. 37, 1130-1136. Tzner, A. (1990). Toprak ve Su Analiz Laboratuvar el kitab . T.C. Tarm Orman ve Ky leri Bakanl Ky Hizmetleri Genel Mdrl Yayn. Ankara. Voelker, B. M. And Sulzberger, B. (1997). Iron redox cycling in surface waters: effects of humic substances and light. Environ. Sci. Technol. 31, 1004-1011. Voelker, B.M., Morel, F.M.M. and Sulzberger, B., (1997). Iron redox cycling in surface waters: Effects of humic substances and light. Environmental Science & Technology, 31(4): 1004-1011. Ycekutlu, A. N., (2004). The investigation of possible impact of elemental composition of Saharan dust on the growth parameters of some selected wheat variets. Master of Science Thesis Hacettepe University, Department of Environmental Engineering, Ycekutlu, N. and Ycekutlu, Y. (2009). International Conference on Advanced Laser Technologies (ALT09), Impacts of the Transport of Aerosols from Saharan Dust and Lidar Techniques, 26 Sept.-1 Oct., Antalya, Turkey. Book of Abstracts p. 31. Ycekutlu, N. and Ycekutlu, Y. (2010). International Conference on Organic Agriculture in Scope of Environmental Problems. Impact of Climate Change on Agri-Environment Observed with New Technologies, 03-07 Feb, Cyprus. Proceeding of full text p. 180. Ycekutlu, N. (2011). Investigation Of The Dynamic Transport Of Saharan Desert Dust With Laser Techniques, 5th Atmospheric Science Symposium 27-29 April 2011 Istanbul Technical University Istanbul Turkey. Proceeding of full text p. 533. Wu, K. Q.; Xie, Y. D.; Zhao, J. C., (1999). Hidaka, H. Photo-Fenton degradation of a dye under visible irradiation. J. Mol. Catal. 144, 77-84.

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Plant Nutrient Contents of Some Vegetable and Stone Fruits

Tulin Pekcan1, Hatice Sevim Turan1, Erol Aydogdu1, Bihter Colak Esetlili2, Habil Colakoglu3
1. Olive Research Station, University Street Number: 43 35100 Bornova, Izmir, Turkey 2. Ege University Faculty of Agriculture Department of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, Bornova, Izmir, Turkey 3. Toros Agriculture, 129 Street Number: 1/101, 4. Industrial Site, Bornova, Izmir, Turkey Corresponding author: tulhan35@hotmail.com Due to understanding of the importance of vegetable and fruits in human nutrition, the researches dealing with this issue all over the world began to increase day by day. With the clarification of the conditions of healthy nutrition, related studies was started in the 1950s in Turkey and after the role of vegetables in human nutrition was brough up a matter, the trend in the consumption of vegetable and fruit increased. This trend has brought the demad for vegetable and fruits and led to an increase in production. One of the ways to increase production in the growing is to determine the amounts of plant nutrients removed by soil with plants and to prepeare proper fertilization programmes according to the analysis results of soil and leaf. Thanks to fertilization programmes to be done depending on the analyses of soil and leaf, better quality and more quantity on the yield will be provide. For this aim, the contents of macro and micronutrient removed by fruit was determined by doing fruit analyses belong to fresh bean (Phaseolus vulgaris var. comminus), pea (Pisum sativum L.), cowpea (Vigna sinensis L), watermelon (Citrullus lunatus (Thunb.) Mansf.) (syn. C. vulgaris), melon (Cucumis melo L), cherry (Cerasus avium), sour cherry (Prunus cerasus) and peach (Prunus persica) grown in and around Izmir. Mineral plant nutrients transmissible to humans was also determined by people who consume vegetable and fruits with unit product In the result of fruit analyses, with the consideration of the amounts of plant nutrients removed by fruit, secure fertilization programmes will be prepeare. Keywords: Vegetable, stone fruit, vegetable analyses, fruit analyses.

Abstract

Introduction One of the ways to increase production in the growing is to be prepared appropriate fertilization programmes according to the results of soil and leaf analysis by determining the amounts of plant nutrients removed by soil. The analysis results of various cultivars grown in different locations vary more or less of eachother while it is being prepared the fertilization programmes. Even the same variety is grown in the different ecologies, the analysis values may be different. For this reason, the growing location belong to the plant will provide more effective benefit by obtaining better quality and more quantitiy of the growers with the fertilization programmes. In the analyses result, it will be prepeared more reliable fertilization programmes with the consideration of the amounts of plant nutrients removed by crop. Materials and Methods In this study, the amounts of macro and microelement were determined in the pod and grain of pea (Pisum sativum L.), cowpea (Vigna sinensis L.) and bean (Phaseolus vulgaris var.comminus), in the shell, flesh and seed of watermelon (Citrullus lunatus (Thunb.) Mansf. (syn.C. vulgaris) and melon (Cucumis melo L), flesh, peel and stone of peach (Prunus persica), flesh, stone and pedicel of cherry (Cherry, Cerasus avium) and sour cherry (Sour Cherry, Prunus cerasus) grown in Izmir and the surrounding villages. Nitrogen was analyzed by the Kjeldahl Method in the analyses of shell of watermelon and melon, peel of peach, flesh, stone and pedicel. P, K, Ca, Mg (%), B, Cu, Fe, Mn, Zn and Mo (mg kg-1) were determined with microwave digestion system and ICP-OES device. Results and Discussion In the study, the amounts of macro and microelements belong to peach are given in Table 1.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Table 1. The amounts of plant nutrient removed by soil with peach (gr/DM and kg/da) Peach N P2O5 K2O Ca Mg B Cu Fe Mn Zn Mo Co Se *: kg **: gr Flesh 1.35 0.39 1.88 0.08 0.69 3.86 0.56 1.87 0.32 0.97 0.01 0.01 0.23 n: nil Peel 0.19 0.06 0.27 0.03 0.02 0.97 0.21 3.64 0.15 0.41 n n n Stone 0.39 0.13 0.31 0.65 0.46 0.57 0.40 1.88 0.31 0.72 n 0.01 n Total amounts removed by soil with 2.5 ton/da crop 3.79* 1.13* 4.85* 1.48* 2.30* 10.59** 2.29** 14.48** 1.53** 4.12** 0.03** 0.03** 0.44**

The amounts of macrolements removed by soil with peach are given in Figure 1. It is determined that N (1.2 kg), P2O5 (0.3 kg), K2O (3.5 kg) and Mg (0.3 kg) removed by soil with 1 ton peach (Toros Agriculture, 2012). This data is compatible with the values in the study.

Figure 1. The distribution of the amounts of N, P2O5, K2O, Ca and Mg of peach (%) When 100 gr fresh peach was eaten, it was determined that 163.38 mg of potassium was taken by the human body in the result of analyses (Table 2). Ozcagiran et al. (2011) inform that the amount of potassium taken by the human body with 100 gr fresh peach is 160 mg. This data is compatible with the study. Table 2. The amounts of plant nutrient taken by the human body with 100 gr fresh peach Peach Plant nutrients taken by the human body with 100 gr fruit (mg) N 140.62 P 17.85 K 163.38 Ca 9.60 Mg 64.68 B 0.44 Cu 0.07 Fe 0.50 Mn 0.04 Zn 0.13 Mo n Co n Se 0.02 n: nil

494

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Although cherry and sour cherry are in the same family group, the amounts of plant nutrient removed by soil vary more or less depending on various factors. The amounts of plant nutrient removed by soil are shown given in Table 3. Table 3. The amounts of plant nutrient removed by soil with cherry and sour cherry (gr/DM and kg/da) Flesh Stone Pedicel Total amounts Total amounts removed by removed by soil with 1.2 soil with 1.6 Sour Sour Sour Cherry Cherry Cherry ton/da crop ton/da crop Cherry Cherry Cherry (Sour Cherry) (Cherry) N 2.12 0.65 0.23 0.57 0.09 0.11 3.11* 2.22* P2O5 0.74 0.19 0.09 0.17 0.06 0.03 1.14* 0.66* K2O 3.48 0.95 0.11 0.23 0.19 0.23 4.83* 2.37* Ca 0.56 0.58 0.03 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.83* 1.17* Mg 0.15 0.52 0.02 0.3 0.01 0.06 0.22* 1.48* B 2.73 2.50 0.10 0.54 0.09 0.35 3.73** 5.66** Cu 1.36 0.29 0.21 0.26 0.10 0.2 2.14** 1.26** Fe 2.72 1.50 1.36 1.04 0.43 1.10 5.77** 6.08** Mn 0.32 0.39 0.10 0.36 0.04 0.16 0.59** 1.52** Zn 0.68 0.36 0.17 0.65 0.14 0.08 1.27** 1.81** Mo 0.03 n 0.00 n n n 0.04** 0.01** Co 0.01 n n n n n 0.02** 0.01** Se n n n n n 0.01 n 0.19** *: kg **: gr n: nil Both fruits are different in terms of the amounts of macro and microelements removed by soil. It was determined that the ratios of K2O/N were 1.55 and 1.07 in the cherry and sour cherry. Yigit et al. (2009) inform that there is a significant differences in the contents of plant nutrient in the study of cherry. Potassium (9267-16778 mg kg-1), Mg (1012-2113 mg kg-1), Ca (510-2438 mg kg-1) and P (585-1546 mg kg-1) are determined in their study. The amounts of N, P2O5 and K2O removed by soil with cherry and sour cherry are shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. The distribution of the amounts of N, P2O5 and, K2O of cherry and sour cherry (%) It is seen that the amounts of plant nutrients taken by the human body with 100 gr fresh cherry and sour cherry in Table 4. Ozcagiran et al. (2011) inform that 227 mg K and 16 mg Ca are taken by human body with 100 gr cherry and 114 mg K, 8 mg Ca and 8 mg Mg are taken by human body with 100 gr sour cherry.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Table 4. The amounts of plant nutrient taken by the human body with 100 gr fresh cherry and 100 gr fresh sour cherry Plant nutrients taken by the human body with 100 gr fruit (mg) Cherry Sour Cherry N 249.09 79.05 P 37.69 10.17 K 339.22 95.48 Ca 65.55 70.44 Mg 18.03 62.61 B 0.32 0.30 Cu 0.16 0.03 Fe 0.32 0.18 Mn 0.04 0.05 Zn 0.08 0.04 Mo 0.004 n Co 0.001 n Se n 0.01 n: nil Watermelon and melon are known as the refreshing summer fruits in Turkey. Turkey is ranked second after China in the world production of watermelon (Anonymous, 1998). The amounts of plant nutrient removed by soil with watermelon and melon are given in Table 5. Kemmler and Hobt (1986) inform that 9 kg N, 7 kg P2O5 and 16 kg K2O removed by the crop of 5 ton /da in the study of watermelon. Our values were lower compared with these researchers. This difference results from the growing conditions and cultivar properties. The percentage distribution of the amounts of N, P2O5,and K2O of watermelon and melon is given in Figure 3. Table 5. The amounts of plant nutrient removed by soil with watermelon and melon (gr/DM and kg/da) Total amounts Flesh Shell Seed Total removed amounts by soil removed by with 9 soil with 5 Watermelon Melon Watermelon Melon Watermelon Melon ton/da ton/da crop crop (Watermelon) (Melon) N 1.02 0.19 0.20 0.03 9.35 0.19 5.21* 2.98* P2O5 0.18 0.06 0.08 0.03 5.25 0.07 2.71* 1.21* K2O 0.99 0.75 0.07 0.17 18.19 0.10 9.49* 7.43* Ca 0.08 0.01 0.01 0.03 3.99 te 2.01* 0.30* Mg 0.09 0.03 0.02 0.02 1.32 0.01 0.70* 0.41* B 0.82 0.35 0.10 0.16 7.59 0.03 4.20** 1.31** Cu 0.20 0.05 0.12 0.03 2.17 0.09 1.23** 0.41** Fe 3.16 0.53 0.28 0.54 13.36 0.34 8.28** 3.40** Mn 0.36 0.05 0.19 0.05 6.14 0.10 3.30** 0.48** Zn 0.49 0.26 0.22 0.08 7.82 0.27 4.21** 1.49** Mo 0.01 n n 0.00 0.03 n 0.02** 0.01** Co 0.00 n n 0.00 0.04 n 0.02** n Se 0.05 n n 0.03 0.50 0.02 0.27** 0.06** *: kg **: gr n: nil

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Figure 3. The distribution of the amounts of N, P2O5 and, K2O of watermelon and melon (%) It was determined that the high amount of potassium were taken by the human body with 100 gr watermelon and melon as it is seen in Table 6. Table 6. The amounts of plant nutrient taken by the human body with 100 gr fresh watermelon and 100 gr fresh melon Plant nutrients taken by the human body with 100 gr fruit (mg) Watermelon Melon N 18.89 22.25 P 1.47 3.10 K 15.27 71.96 Ca 1.47 0.97 Mg 1.70 3.10 B 0.02 0.04 Cu te 0.01 Fe 0.06 0.06 Mn 0.01 0.01 Zn 0.01 0.03 Mo n n Co n n Se n n n: nil The amounts of plant nutrient removed by soil with bean, pea and cowpea are shown in Table 7. Halliday and Trenkel (1992) inform that 8.7 kg N, 2.7 kg P2O5, 10.7 kg K2O and 0.78 kg MgO are removed with 1 ton fresh bean. Our values were lower compared with these researchers except the values of MgO. Ca (10.97 mg kg-1), Mg (161.25 mg kg-1), K (659.45 mg kg-1) and Fe (32.14 mg kg-1) are determined in the 55 cultivars of cowpea (Asante et al., 2009). This data were lower compared with this study. This difference results from the growing conditions and cultivar properties. Kemmler and Hobt (1986) inform that 12.5 kg N, 3.5 kg P2O5 and 8 kg K2O removed by the crop of 200 kg /da in the study of pea. The percentage distribution of the amounts of N, P2O5,and K2O of bean, pea and cowpea is given in Figure 4.

497

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Table 7. The amounts of plant nutrient removed by soil with bean, pea and cowpea (gr/DM and kg/da) Total amounts Total amounts Total amounts Grain Pod removed by removed by removed by soil with 1 soil with 2 soil with 2 ton/da crop ton/da crop ton/da crop Bean Pea Cowpea Pea (Cowpea) (Pea) (Bean) N 5.56 4.06 7.60 3.84 11.24* 16.33* 7.77* P2O5 1.66 1.50 1.95 1.42 3.36* 4.71* 1.99* K2O 4.56 1.21 4.58 1.76 9.23* 6.14* 4.68* Ca 0.54 0.09 1.76 0.75 1.09* 1.72* 1.80* Mg 0.70 0.12 0.90 0.35 1.42* 0.98* 0.92* B 2.70 0.66 3.89 1.58 5.46** 4.65** 3.97** Cu 0.72 0.75 0.95 0.82 1.45** 3.24** 0.97** Fe 13.01 5.73 12.09 8.08 26.33** 28.56** 12.36** Mn 10.05 0.67 13.59 1.48 20.33** 4.44** 13.89** Zn 3.91 3.89 4.74 2.35 7.91** 12.89** 4.85** Mo 0.16 4.06 0.06 n 0.32** n 0.06** Co 0.16 n 0.05 n 0.32** n 0.05** Se 0.38 n n n 0.78** n n *: kg **: gr n: nil

Figure 4. The distribution of the amounts of N, P2O5 and, K2O of bean, pea and cowpea (%) When Table 8 is examined, it is seen that pea was much reacher in the amount of P and cowpea was much reacher in the amount of K+Ca+Mg in terms of human nutrition. Table 8. The amounts of plant nutrient taken by the human body with 100 gr fresh bean, 100 gr fresh pea and 100 gr fresh cowpea Plant nutrients taken by the human body with 100 gr vegetable (mg) Bean Pea Cowpea N 561.86 1405.92 777.11 P 73.34 176.37 86.87 K 382.86 347.70 388.55 Ca 54.69 30.23 180.06 Mg 70.85 42.83 91.61 B 0.27 0.23 0.40 Cu 0.07 0.26 0.10 Fe 1.32 1.99 1.24 Mn 1.02 0.23 1.39 Zn 0.40 1.35 0.49 Mo 0.02 0.04 0.01 Co 0.02 n n Se 0.04 n n n: nil

498

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH When the plant nutrients removed by soil were examined, it was determined that vegetables removed greater amount of N and fruits removed greater amount of K in this study. Although the soils of Turkey are rich in terms of K generally, the fertilization with K should be taken into account in the fertilization programmes because of all of the potassium are not available form in the soil. It was determined that watermelon, bean, cowpea and pea were rich in the amounts of N and K respectively in terms of human nutrition. References Anonymous, (1998). Turkeys statistical yearbook. Turkish Statistical Institute. Publication No: 2240. Ankara. Asante, I. K., Asare, C., Annan, K. and Amuzu, N., (2009). Chemical characterization of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L) Walp) accessions and some of their wild relatives: micronutrients and macronutrients. African Journal of Science and Technology, 10, 2, 16 ref, 99-107. Halliday, D. J. and Trenkel, M. E., (1992). World fertilizer use manual. International Fertilizer Industry Association. Germany. Kemmler, G. and Hobt, H., (1986). Potash: A product of nature. Kali und Salz AG, Kassel, Germany. Ozcagiran, R., Unal, A., Ozeker, E. and Isfendiyaroglu, M., (2011). Temperate Zone Fruits. Ege University Faculty of Agriculture, Publication No: 556. Izmir. Toros Agriculture, (2012). The fertilization of stone fruits, http://www.toros.com.tr. Accessed 02 January 2012. Yigit, D., Baydas, E. and Guleryuz, M., (2009). Elemental analysis of various cherry fruits by wavelenght dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry. Asian Journal of Chemistry, 21, 4, 21 ref, 2935-2942.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Phosphate and Calcium Adsorption Interactions on Kaolinite: 2. Calcium Adsorption as Function of Equilibrium Concentration, Ph, and Ionic Strength Fateme Aghamir* and Rasoul Rahnemaie
Soil Science Department, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehan, Iran *Corresponding author: aghamir110@yahoo.com

Abstract Calcium is an omnipresent ion in natural systems that are essential for plant growth and development. Calcium activity in soil solution is influenced by the adsorption-desorption, and dissolution-precipitation reactions, which often affect on each other in a very complex manner. In this research, calcium ion adsorption on kaolinite mineral was measured as a function of pH, initial Ca concentration, ionic strength, and kaolinite concentration by measuring its adsorption isotherms and edges. Experimental data were analyzed by using the empirical adsorption models. Experimental data revealed that calcium adsorption is increased by an increase in pH and initial concentration. The positive effect of pH on Ca adsorption was attributed to the reduction in proton activity in solution and dissociation of proton from the surface groups that in turn reduces H-Ca adsorption interaction and increases negative charge on kaolinite surface. It was also observed that increasing ionic strength reduces calcium adsorption due to the Na-Ca adsorption interaction. Keywords: Adsorption, Calcium, Equilibrium concentration, Ionic strength, Soil pH.

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Micronutrient Status of Cherry Plantations in Bayurdu (Izmir) Region

Murat EKL1
1 2

Hande ARSLAN2

Hakan AKICI2

Toros Agri Industry and Trade Co., Inc. Tekfen Tower 4. Levent-stanbul Ege University Faculty of Agriculture Department of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, Bornova-zmir. Corresponding author: hakan.cakici@ege.edu.tr

Abstract
This study was undertaken Bayurdu district of Kemalpaa- Izmir, where intensive cherry farming takes place. For this aim soil and leaf samples were taken from 60 cherry plantations representing this area. Soils were examined for their physical and chemical properties (pH, total soluble salt, CaCO3, organic matter, texture, Fe, Zn, Cu, Mn) and leaves for their secondary plant nutrients (Fe, Zn, Cu, Mn). Results were composed with that of the cited reference valves to find the suitability of soils for cherry and nutrient status of the crop. In addition, soil and plant relationships were investigated by statistical evaluations. According to the results obtained from this research, 23.3 % of plantations are insufficient in Zn. Keywords: Cherry, soil characteristics, micronutrients, soil and plant relationship

Introduction Cherry is consumed throughout the world and it commercial production has intensified in some countries. The U.S, Turkey, Germany, Italy, France, and parts of European of Commonwealth of Independent States are important countries in terms of cherry production (Boriss et al., 2006). Cherry production intensified in Central Anatolia and in the ion lakes region, and Aegean and Izmir, Manisa, Afyon, Isparta, Konya, Bursa, Sakarya and Kocaeli in the Marmara regions. According to data of 2010, there are now a total of 14.740.131 fruit trees and 417.905 tons are produced and a market value of 132.579.000 US$ (TK, 2011; TK, 2012; FAO,2012). Izmir is at the forefront in terms of amount of production with 43,097 tons but much lower than the desired level in terms of quality of production and export and amount of yield. Indeed, the number of bearer is 565.280, average yield per tree was 34 in 1997 in Izmir, the number of bearer is 2,109,135, and average yield per tree was 23 kg in 2010. The production is 35.400 tons, the number of bearing-cherry trees is 1,800,000 and average yield per tree is 20 kg in Kemalpaa, where this research was carried out (Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, 2011). This study was carried out with the aim of determining the soil properties, nutritional status and soil-plant relationships of cherry gardens, which cover a total land area of 77.1 ha and this place Fresh Vegetable and Fruit Marketing Cooperative by 102 members in Bayurdu-Kemalpaa-Izmir. Producer set the ground for cherry gardens in fertilizer programs which will be prepared with obtained data and determined the plant nutrition problems in the region. Materials and Methods The research material was composed of the samples of soil and leaves taken from 60 different gardens using a method that is representative of 77.1 ha cherry production fields pertaining to 102 producers registered at the Fresh Vegetable and Fruit Marketing Cooperative affiliated with the Kemalpaa District of Izmir province. Soil samples taken from 60 different garden, 0-30 and 30-60 cm depth between 20 June - 01 July in this study and pH and % total salt was measured with pH meter and Conductivity bridge in CaCO3, organic matter, texture, available Fe, Zn, Mn and Cu was determined with DTPA methods, respectively (Kacar, 1995). Leaf samples were taken between 20 June 01 July with soil samples (Tuna, 1991). After cleaning, the leaf samples were dried in 65-70 0C on these samples. Fe, Zn, Cu and Mn were determined by Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer(AAS), respectively, in plant extract, which was prepared by the wet decomposition method (Kacar, 1972; Kacar 1995). Tarist statistical software package was used for evaluation of the results obtained in this study (Tarist, 1994).

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Results and Discussion Physical and Chemical Properties of Soil pH: pH values of soil samples varied between 4.14 - 7.36, 4.47 - 7.90 and were taken from 0 30, 30 60 cm depths, respectively. When the results of pH were classified according to Kellog (1952), the soil samples were taken from 0 30 cm depth and had the following reactions: 26.6% of neutral (pH 6.6-7.3), 41.9% of mild acid (pH 6.1-6.5), 20% of medium acid (pH 5.6 - 6.0), 6.6% of very strong acid (pH 4.5 - 5.0), 3.3% of a strong acid, 1.6% of (sample No.13) extreme acid (pH <4.5). Soil samples taken from 30 60 cm depth had the following reactions: 47.6% of mild acid 24.3% of medium acid, 13.3% of neutral, 6.6% of a very strong acid, strong acid, 5%, 1.6% of the extreme acid (sample No.13) and medium-alkali (sample No:15) (pH: 7.9- 8.4). Soil samples were usually mild acid reaction in both depths. Soil reaction was determined to vary between 7.15- 7.40 in the cherry gardens of Kemalpaa-Izmir as a result of Tunas work (1991). Total Soluble Salt: Total soluble salt content of soil samples varied between 0.03- 0.08 and 0.030.09 at 0-30 cm, 30-60 cm depths, respectively. There is no salinity problem in this garden for that total soluble salt content is <0.15 at the both depths (U.S. Soil Survey Staff, 1951). Tuna (1991) found that total soluble salt values between 0.030% and 0.068% and stated that there is no salinity problem as a result of his work in Kemalpaa. CaCO3: CaCO3 extent of samples varied between 0.25-3.0%, 0.14-3.08% at the 0-30 and 30-60 cm depths, respectively. Sample No. 2 is lime (2.5-5%) at both depths. There was no lime problem in any of the other samples (0-0.15%) (Evliya, 1960). Tuna (1991) determined that % lime content of soils representing two depths varied between 0.57-4.93 in the cherry gardens as a result of his work in Kemalpaa. Organic Matter: Organic matter extent of soil varied between 0.87-3.85% , 0.82-2.92% at the 030 and 30-60 cm depths, respectively. 56.7% of the samples were poor (<2) in terms of humus, 43.3% of the samples were humic soil (2-4) in the first depth (Akalan, 1965). 83.3% were poor in terms of humus, 16.7% of samples were humic soil in the second depth. Tuna reported that the organic matter extent of soil samples was 1.11 to 3.31%, 0.67-1.70% at 0-25 cm, 25-50 cm depth, respectively in the cherry gardens in Kemalpaa where production is done in the traditional way. Texture: Texture of samples of 58.3% was loam, 21.7% was silt loam, 13.3% was sandy loam, 5% was clay loam, 1.7% was silt clay loam at 0-30 cm depth, 63.4% was loam, 18.3% was sandy loam, 15% was silt loam, 3.3% was clay loam at 30-60 cm depth (Black, 1965). Tuna (1991) reported that sandy loam texture was dominate for these soils. The micro-element (Fe, Zn, Cu and Mn) analysis results of soils are shown below: Iron Content of Soils: Fe content of soil samples was calculated as 4.62-84.98 mg kg-1, 4.54-66.14 mg kg-1 at 0-30 cm, 30-60 cm depth, respectively. Fe content of soil samples were determined to be sufficient (4.5 mg kg-1<) and high in both depths (Lindsay and Norvell, 1978). Zinc Content of Soils: Available Zn content of soil samples can be divisions 0.42-20.62 mg kg-1, 0.32-10.82 mg kg-1 at 0-30 cm, 30-60 cm depth, respectively. The Zn content of soil samples of 95% was medium (0.5-1.0 mg kg-1) and 5% was at a poor (<0.5 mg kg-1) level in the first depth. In the second depth, 63.3% of soil was adequate (1.0 mg kg-1 < ), 28.4% was medium, 8.3% was inadequate (Lindsay and Norvell, 1978). Tuna (1991) reported that the Zn content of soil samples was 0.66-9.13 mg kg-1 as a result of his work in Kemalpaa. Copper Content of Soils: Available Cu content of soil had divisions between 0.90-51.28 mg kg-1, 1.11 -18.46 mg kg-1 at 0-30cm, 30-60 cm depth, respectively. The Cu content of soil samples was determined to be sufficient (0.2 mg kg-1 <) in both depths (Lindsay and Norvell,1978). Manganese Content of Soils: Available Mn content of soil had divisions between 3.24-93.02 mg kg-1, 3.12-87.12 at 0-30cm, 30-60 cm depth, respectively. The Mn content of soil samples were determined to be sufficient (1.2 mg kg-1 <) in both depths (Lindsay and Norvell,1978). Nutrient Content of Plants Iron: The values of samples varied between 68-350 mg kg-1. Reuter and Robinson (1986) reported that the Fe contents of the cherry leaves varied between 100-25 mg kg-1and were sufficient. 95% of the samples was enough (100-250 mg kg-1), 3.3% was higher (251-500 mg kg-1), 1.7% was

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH inadequate (60-99 mg kg-1). Georgiev (1979) according to Bulgaria at the optimum value for a study of cherry leaf Fe reported as 89-103 mg kg-1 (Tuna,1991). Zinc: The values of leaf samples were determined between 12-58 mg kg-1. Reuter and Robinson (1986) reported that the Zn contents of the cherry leaves varied between 20-50 mg kg-1 and were sufficient. Of the samples (20-50 mg kg-1), 16.7% was inadequate (15-19 mg kg-1), 6.6% no Zn (<15 mg kg-1), and 5% was higher (51-70 mg kg-1). Georgiev (1979) and Ozer et al. (1984), according to the cherry leaves, the optimum values were 16-28 mg kg-1 and 18-36 mg kg-1 as indicated (Tuna 1991). Copper: The values of leaf samples were determined between 4.1-17.8 mg kg-1. Reuter and Robinson (1986) reported that the Cu contents of the cherry leaves varied between 5-16 mg kg-1 and were sufficient. 96.7% of samples was enough (5-16 mg kg-1), 3.3% was above average (17-30 mg kg-1). Manganese: The values of leaf samples were determined between 43-150 mg kg-1. Reuter and Robinson (1986) reported that the Mn contents of the cherry leaves varied between 40-160 mg kg-1 and were sufficient. All of the samples were at a sufficient level. Soil-Plant Relationship As shown in Table 1, it followed that there was a negative-important relationship between pH values of soil where it was taken from 0-30 and 30-60 cm depth and the Fe contents of leaves. There was a negative relationship between pH values of soil where it was taken from 0-30 cm depth and the Mn contents of leaves. Positive-important relationships were determined between soil samples where they were taken from 0-30 cm depth and Zn and Cu, also 30-60 cm depth and the Fe, Zn, Cu and Mn contents of leaves. Important-positive relationships were determined between available Fe content of soils at both depths and the Fe content of leaves. Positive-important relationships were determined between available Zn content of soils at both depths and Zn content of leaves. Important relationships were determined between available Cu content of soils at both depths and Cu content of leaves, Important-positive relationships were determined between available Mn content of soils at both depths and Mn content of leaves. Table 1. Correlation coefficients of soil-plant relationships
Soil Analysis pH Organic Matter (%) Available Fe (mg kg-1) Available Zn (mg kg-1) Available Cu (mg kg-1) Available Mn (mg kg-1) 0-30 cm 30-60 cm 0-30 cm 30-60 cm 0-30 cm 30-60 cm 0-30 cm 30-60 cm 0-30 cm 30-60 cm 0-30 cm 30-60 cm Fe -0.529** -0.607** -0.263* 0.773** 0.696** ------Leaf Analysis (mg kg-1 dry matter) Zn Cu ----0.306* 0.268* 0.335** 0.441** ----0.681** -0.582** --0.667** -0.545** ----Mn -0.290* --0.293* ------0.485** 0.348**

1.7% of the cherry gardens grown in Bayurdu town of Kemalpaa District of Izmir province were proved to be insufficiently fed in terms of Fe and 16.7% of the same gardens proved to be insufficiently fed in terms of Zn. Inadequacies overaged in terms of the part of Fe in these soil. This situation must be considered in fertilization programs, here. The establishment of field trials are useful in determining the amount of micro nutrients that should be in cherry trees. Special attention should be paid to the form, timing and application method of micro nutrient fertilizer because the soils is generally of a light texture, part of the soil is low in organic matter. The soil-plant relationship is strong and these verification to our study.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH References Akalan, .,(1965). Soil Formation, Structure and Properties. Ankara University. Faculty of Agriculture. Publication No: 231, Pages 332. (in Turkish) Black, C.A., (1965). Methods of Soil Analysis. Part II. American Society of Agronomy Inc., Publisher Medison, Wisconsin, USA, p: 1372-1376. Boriss, H., Brunke, H., Kreith, M., (2006). Commodity Profile: Cherries, Sweet and Tart. Agricultural Marketing Resource Center, March, 2006.http://aic.ucdavis.edu/profiles/Cherries2006.pdf Accessed 10 January 2012. Accessed 18 February 2012. Evliya, H., (1960). Nutrition of Cultivated Plants. Ankara University. Faculty of Agriculture. Publication No: 36, Pages 656. (in Turkish) Food and Agriculture Organization [FAO], (2012). http://faostat.fao.org/site/535/default.aspx Accessed 18 February 2012. Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, 2011. Agricultural Structure Statistics 2010. http://cey.izmirtarim.gov.tr/tarveri/tv.htm Accessed 18 February 2012. Kacar, B., (1995). Chemical Analysis of Plant and Soil III. Soil Analysis. Ankara University. Faculty of Agriculture. Education Research & Extension Found. Public. No: 3, Pages 705, Ankara. (in Turkish) Kacar, B., (1972). Chemical Analysis of Plant and Soil II. Plant Analysis. Ankara University. Faculty of Agriculture. Education Research & Extension Found. Public. No: 453, Pages 255, Ankara. (in Turkish) Kellog, C. E., (1952). Our Garden Soils. The Macmillian Company. New York. Pages 232. Lindsay,W.L. and Norvell,W.A., (1978). Development of DTPA Soil Test for Zinc, Iron, Manganese and Copper. Soil Sci. Soc. of Amer. Journal 42: 421-428. Reuter, D. J. and Robinson, J. B., (1986). Plant Analysis an Interpretation Manual, 127 pp. Tarist, (1994). General Statistics Version 4.01 DOS, Ege Forestry Research Institute KaryakaIzmir- Ege University. Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Field Crops. Bornova-Izmir. Tuna, L., (1991). Assessment of Nutritional Status in terms of P-K-Ca-Fe-Zn of Cherry Plantations in Kemalpaa Region and Studies on Seasonal Variations in These Elements. Ege University. Faculty of Agriculture. Masters Thesis, Bornova-zmir. (in Turkish) Turkish Statistical Institute [TK], (2011). Summary of Agricultural Statistics, 2000-2009. Agricultural Production and Value. Turkish Statistical Institute, 2011, Ankara. Turkish Statistical Institute [TK], (2012). http://www.tuik.gov.tr/bitkiselapp/bitkisel.zul Accessed 18 February 2012. U.S. Soil Survey Staff, (1951). Soil Survey Manuel. Agriculture Research Administration. U.S. Dept. Agri., Handbook, No: 18.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH

Effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus on growth and antioxidant enzymes in Citrus aurantium under water stress condition
Zahra Paymaneha, Mehdi Zareia, Abdol-Majid Ronaghia, Ali Akbar Kamgar-Haghighib, Ali Reza Shahsavarc
a Department of Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran. b Department of Irrigation, Faculty of Agriculture, Shiraz University, Shira, Iran. c Department of Horticultural Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran. Corresponding Author: z.paymaneh@yahoo.com In many arid and semiarid regions of the world, water decline lead to decrease crop productivity. Arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) employ the mechanisms such as enzymatic antioxidant production to alleviate the effects of water stress in host plants. The effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi Glomus mosseae on reactive antioxidant production by citrus (Citrus aurantium) was assessed in a greenhouse experiment. The experiment was a completely randomized design in a factorial arrangement with two factors and three replications for each treatment. The factors were irrigation treatments with 2, 4, 6 and 8 day intervals and mycorrhizal treatments at two levels (inoculation with Glomus mosseae and control). Water stress decreased shoot dry weight, root dry weight, leaf number per plant, plant height and stem diameter and increasing antioxidant enzyme.The results indicated that regardless of water status, shoot dry weight, root dry weight, plant height, leaf number per plant and stem diameter were notably higher in AM than in non-AM plants. Mycorrhizal treatments had higher superoxide dismutase (SOD), guaiacol peroxidase (G-POD), ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and catalase (CAT) activities than control. Root colonization decreased as the water stress levels increased. The data in the present study suggests that, AM symbiosis notably increased of enzymatic antioxidant production which in turn helps AM plants to enhance drought tolerance. Keywords: Antioxidant enzymes, Arbuscular mycorrhiza , Citrus aurantium, Drought Stress.

Abstract

Introduction In many arid and semiarid regions of the world, drought is considered probably the most important factor limiting crop productivity (Zhang, 2003). Drought is the most common adverse environment, which limits crop production in different parts of the world special in Iran that is considered as dry and semi dry country. Often drought is accompanied by relatively high temperatures, which promote evaportranspiration and hence could accentuate the effects of drought and thereby further reduce crop yields. 49.78 percent of crops are planted in rainfall in Iran due to water limitation and rate of rainfall. Productivity of crops in rainfed area in Iran is 42 percent of irrigated field (Sabaghpour et al., 2006). Citrus orchards cover an area of 268,000 ha with a production of 4,300,000 tons in three major citrus-growing regions in Iran (Ahmadi et al., 2006). Antioxidant defense enzymes include superoxide dismutase (SOD), guaiacol peroxidase (G-POD), catalase (CAT), glutathione reductase (GR), ascorbate peroxidase (APX) are essential in the protection of cellular components from Reactive oxygene Species ROS (Apel and Hirt, 2004). Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) is a mutualistic association between AM fungi (AMF) and the roots of terrestrial plants and fungi can improve plant performance under stress environments and, consequently, enhance yield (Bonfante and Genre, 2008) AMF increase the drought tolerance of citrus plants by different mechanisms such as improvement of water relations and mineral uptake (Wu and Zou, 2009), biomass allocation and rat of photosynthesis (Miransari et al., 2007) osmotic adjustment (Wu and Xia 2006), antioxidants production (Wu et al, 2006), photosynthesis (Levy and Krikun, 1980) and root hydraulic conductivity (Graham and Syvertsen, 1984). Wu et al (2007) showed that five Glomus species improved the water relations of C. tangerine and increased antioxidant enzmyes activities of leaves. The high efficient fungus was G. mosseae and G. geosporum and the least was G. etunicatum under both well-watered (WW) and water stress (WS) conditions. Wu et al (2006) showed that AM colonization increased the activities of antioxidant enzymes (SOD, GPOD, CAT, APX) under well-watered (WW) and water stress conditions in citrus roots. Wu and Xia (2006) reported that AM colonization changed the plant growth, osmotic adjustment and photosynthesis characters of Citrus tangerine and suggested that the benefit of AM colonization under water stress conditions was due to the enhancement of osmotic adjustment. Citrus sensitive to water stress conditions. Little information is available on the effects of AMF on ROS metabolism in water stress citrus plants. The purpose of this study is to, evaluate the effects of
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Glomus moseaa on growth and antioxidant production by sour orange under water stress conditions. Materials and Methods Plant materials and cultivation Seeds of sour orange (C aurantium L.) were surface-sterilized by immersing in 70% alcohol for 5 min, rinsed four times with sterile distilled water, and transplanted into plastic pots containing 3.5 kg of Sterilization mixture of field soil, humus and sand (1:1:1, v/v/v). After hundred and twenty days seedlings were transferred to plastic pots containing 5 kg of an autoclaved growing Sterilization soil. Mycorrhizal inoculum A stock culture of Glomus mosseae, consisted of spores, soil, hyphae and infected root fragments Fifty grams of inoculum was inoculated per pot. The inoculum was placed 5 cm below citrus roots at the time of transplanting. Non-AM treatments also received same weight of autoclaved mixture. Experiment design and water management The experimental treatments consisted of two factors consisted of four soil water regimes (2, 4, 6 and 8 day intervals) and two AM status (G. mosseae and non-AMF) that were arranged in a completely randomized factorial starte design. Each treatment (two seedlings per pot) was replicated three times. Water treatments began after 60 days of acclimation in greenhouse conditions then WW pots were irrigated once every 2 days and WS pots were watered once every 4, 6, and 8 days. Determinations of plant biomass, growth and AM colonization Hundred and twenty days after water treatments. plant height, stem diameter, leaf area and leaf number per pot were recorded all of the plants were harvested. Shoots and roots dried at 70oC for three days to measure for dry weight. Some of fresh roots were carefully washed and cut in to 1 cm root pieces and fix in formalinacetic acidalcohol solutions. These roots were cleaned with 10% (w/v) KOH, acidified in 2% HCl for 5 min, and stained with 0.01% acid fuchsin (Kormanik et al. 1980). AM colonization was measured with grid line method. Extraction of antioxidant enzymes Fresh leaf samples were separated and kept at -80 0C homogenized in 2 mL of phosphate buffer (pH 8), centrifuged at 13000g for 15 min at 4C, and the supernatant was used for assays of total protein, SOD, G-POD,APX and CAT. Protein was evaluated using bovine serum albumin as the standard (Bradford, 1976). Superoxide dismutase activity was determined by the method of Beauchamp and Fridovich (1971) and was expressed as Unit g-1 fresh weight (fwt.). One SOD unit was defined as the amount of enzyme that inhibited 50% nitroblue tetrazolium by light. Catalase activity was assayed by measuring the rate of disappearance of H2O2 following the procedure of Dhindsa et al. (1981). G-POD activity was determined using the method of Chance and Maehly (1955). The activity of ascorbate peroxidase (APX) was measured as a decrease in absorbance at 290 nm for 1 min (Nakano and Asada, 1981). Proline content of leaves was estimated according to Bates et al. (1973) for free proline determination. Statistical analysis The experimental data were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) with Statistical Analysis System (SAS) 9.1.3 software and LSD (p=0.05) was used to compare treatment means. Results Root colonization of seedlings varied from 39% to 76% in mycorrhizal treatments (Table 1). As water stress increased, root colonization was significantly decreased. Water stress significantly decreased shoot and root dry weights (Table 1). AM inoculation markedly increased shoot and root dry weights of sour orange seedlings under both WW and WS conditions. Plant height, leaf number per plant and stem diameter were lower for WS seedlings than those for WW seedlings (Table 1). AM seedlings showed higher shoot and root dry weights, plant height, leaf number per plant and stem diameter under WW and water stress conditions. AM and non-AM seedlings under WW and water stress conditions had no significant difference for plant height.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH The SOD activity in leaves of AM and non-AM seedlings was also increased by water stress (Table 2), the SOD activity of AM leaves was higher that of non-AM leaves. AM had no significant effects on SOD activity under WW and WS conditions. The APX activity of AM leaves was significantly increased water stress (Table 2). The APX activity of WW leaves was similar in AM and non-AM seedlings, but under WS conditions the APX activity of leaves increased in AM seedlings compared with non-AM seedlings. The G-POD activity of leaves was significantly increased by increasing water stress (Table 2). In leaves, AM inoculation increased the G-POD activity of seedlings under WW and WS compares with that of non-AM leaves (Table 2). WS caused a increase in the CAT activity of leaves (Table 2). AMF enhanced in APX, G-POD, APX and CAT activities under water stress condition. AM symbiosis and water stress notably increased the guaiacol peroxidase (G-POD), ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and CAT activity of leaves. But AM had no significant effects on SOD activity under WW and WS conditions.
Table1- Root colonization, plant biomass and morphological characteristics of AM and non-AM Citrus aurantium seedlings subjected to water stress or kept well watered
Water status (day interval) 2 4 6 8 AMF status AMF Non-AMF AMF Non-AMF AMF Non-AMF AMF Non-AMF Source of variation Mycorrhiza (M) Droughtstress (D) Interaction (M D) Root colonization (%) 76.15a 0.00d 70.07a 0.00d 49.32b 0.00d 39.36c 0.00d ** ** ** Dry weight (g plant-1) shoot root 13.76a 4.96 a 11.13b 3.91 b 10.56 b 4.00 b 8.71 c 3.76 bc 8.13c 3.87 b 5.76 d 3.07 cd 8.11 c 3.03 cd 5.21 d 3.06 cd ** ** NS ** ** NS Leaf number 51.17 a 43.50 a 42.33 a 39.17 a 38.33 a 35.33 a 37.87 a 33.33 a NS NS NS Plant height (cm) 76.29 a 70.17 b 68.67 bc 63.33 c 56.50 d 51.33 d 50.50 de 44.83 e ** ** NS Stem diameter (mm) 6.59a 5.53bc 6.05ab 5.01 dc 5.41dc 4.97dc 4.93d 4.09 e ** ** NS

Note: The same letter within each column indicates no significant difference among treatments (P<0.05). NSnot significant. *P<0.05, **P<0.01 Table 2- Superoxide dismutase (SOD), guaiacol peroxidase (G-POD), catalase (CAT) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) activities of leaves in AM and non-AM Citrus aurantium seedlings subjected to water stress
Water status (day interval) 2 4 6 8 AMF status AMF Non-AMF AMF Non-AMF AMF Non-AMF AMF Non-AMF Source of variation Mycorrhiza (M) Droughtstress (D) Interaction (M D) SOD (U g-1 fwt.) 345.8 b 217.3b 418.3ab 349.6 b 448.9ab 387.0b 722.4 a 481.1ab NS NS NS APX (U g-1 fwt.) 549.25 bc 506.74 c 620.57 abc 518.01 c 710.33 ab 574.80 bc 776.18 a 701.82 ab * ** NS G-POD (U g-1 fwt.) 94.09c 66.22c 146.58bc 77.57c 219.85b 81.78c 383.18a 101.63c ** ** ** CAT (U g-1 fwt.) 741.24bc 552.83 c 777.11 b 733.67 bc 828.93 ab 765.82 b 991.40 a 850.86 ab * ** NS

Note: The same letter within each column indicates no significant difference among treatments (P<0.05). NSnot significant. *P<0.05, **P<0.01

Discussion The roots of Citrus aurantium inoculated with G. mosseae were colonization. Water stress decreased the degree of AM colonization. Previous works showed a significant reduction of mycorrhizal colonizationin citrus seedlings exposed to Water stress (Wu et al., 2006).
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH The positive effect of AM on growth of sour orange under WW and water stress conditions. Similar results had been reported for other citrus plant species (Wu and Xia, 2009; Wu et al., 2011) Once plants are subjected to water stress, activities of a number of antioxidant enzymes are enhanced to eliminate reactive oxygen species. It is well documented that AM symbiosis causes an increase in antioxidant enzymes activities of host plants. In an early study, SOD activity was higher in the mycorrhizal Sour orange plants than non- AM plants (Ruiz-Lozano et al., 1996). It was also observed that inoculation with G. mosseae increased the APX, G-POD, SOD and CAT activities in leaves of Sour orange seedlings. Alguacil et al reported that AM inoculation increased the activities of several antioxidant enzymes which were surely correlated with AM-induced increments in shoot biomass and phosphorus or nitrogen. Although AM symbiosis affected reactive oxygen metabolism and antioxidant production, but the exact mechanisms involved are still unclear. References Ahmadi, S., Afsharifar, A., Niazi A., Sadeghi, M., Izadpanah,, K., (2006). Distribution and analysis of genetic diversity of Citrus tristeza virus (CTV) isolates in Kerman Province. 17th Iranian Plant Protection Congress: Alguacil, M. M., Hernandez, J. A., Caravaea, F., Portillo, Roldan, A., (2003). Antioxidant enzyme activities in shoots from three mycorrhizal shrub species afforested in a degraded semiarid soil. Journal of Plant Physiology, 118, 562570. Apel, K. and Hirt, H., (2004). Reactive oxygen species: metabolism, oxidative stress, and signal transduction. Annu. Rev. Plant Biology, 55, 373-399 Bonfante, P., Genre, A., (2008). Plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi: an evolutionarydevelopmental perspective. Trends in Plant Science, 13(9), 492-498. Graham, J. H., Syvertsen, J. P., (1985). Host determinants of mycorrhizal dependency of citrus rootstock seedlings. New Phytologist, 101, 667-676. Levy, Y., Krikun, J., (1980). Effect of vesicular-arbuscular on Citrus jambhiri water relations. New Phytologist, 85, 25-31. Miransari, M., Bahrami, H. A., Rejali, F., Malakouti, M. J., Torabi, H., (2007). Using arbuscular mycorrhiza to reduce the stressful effects of soil compaction on corn (Zea mays L.) growth. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 39, 2014-2026. Ruiz-Lozano, J. M., Azcon, R., Gomez, M., (1996). Alleviation of salt stress by arbuscular mycorrhizal Glomus species in Lactuca sativa plants . Journal of Plant Physiology, 98, 767-772. Sabaghpour, S. H., Mahmodi1, A. A., Saeed, A., Kamel, M., Malhotra, R. S., (2006). Study on chickpea drought tolerance lines under dryland condition of Iran. Crop Science, 1(1-2), 70-73. Wu, Q. S., Xia, R. X., (2006). Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi influence growth, osmotic adjustment and photosynthesis of citrus under well-watered and water stress conditions. Journal of Plant Physiology, 163, 417-425. Wu, Q. S., Xia, R. X., Zou, Y. N., (2006). Reactive oxygen metabolism in non-mycorrhizal citrus (Poncirus trifoliata) seedlings subjected to water stress. Journal of Plant Physiology, 163, 1101-1110. Wu, Q. S., Zou, Y .N., He, X. H., (2011). Differences of hyphal and soil phosphatase activities in drought-stressed mycorrhizal trifoliate orange (Poncirus trifoliata) seedlings. Scientia Horticulturae, 129(2), 294-298.

Wu, Q. S., Zou, Y. N., (2009). Mycorrhizal Influence on Nutrient Uptake of Citrus Exposed to Drought Stress. The Philippine Agricultural Scientist, 92 (1), 33-38.

Wu, Q. S., Zou, Y. N., Xia, R. X., wang, M. Y., (2007). Five Glomus species affect water relations of Citrus tangerine during drought stress. Botanical Studies, 48, 147-154. Zhang, Z.B., (2003). Fundamentals of physiologhy and Genetics and breeding in crop Drought Resistance and water saving. Science Press. Beijing .

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Evaluation water use and potassium fertilization on potato yield and quality to overcome problems of food security
R. Razavi , H. tabiezad, F. G. shaieste
Researcher, Scientific Staff board of soil and water research Dep. Agricultural research center of W.Azarbayjan. P.O.Box:365, Urmia, Iran Corresponding author: razyasbah@yahoo.com

Abstract

Potato is the forth product of humans food requirement. Irrigated potatoes are usually grown on coarsetextured soils low in organic matter. Typically, these soils are sandy loams or loamy sands, low in native fertility. Potato requirement for potassium is quite high. Potassium provides much of the osmotic pull that draws water into plant roots. In order to improve Potato yield and quality with management of water consumption and potassium uptake, a field experiment was carried out with split plot design in 3 replications in Urmia region of Iran. Main plots were include of four rates of irrigation water 40 and 70 percent (W1), 40 and 100 percent (W2), 70 and 70 percent (W3), and 70 and 100 percent (W4) from pan evaporation in order before tuber initiation and then from tuber initiation until complete maturing. The sub plots were include of three rates of potassium fertilizer in order 100 (K1), 150 (K2), 200 (K3) kilogram of potassium per hectare. Statistical analysis have shown that the effect of irrigation treatments on tuber yield create a significant difference (p<0.05). The effect of potassium on protein percentage create a highly significant difference (p<0.01). Maximum protein percentage (2.3%) obtained from W4K3 irrigation treatments on water use efficiency (WUE) create a highly significant difference (p<0.01).The results indicated that W4K3 treatment is recommendable. In this treatment, the average yield for two years was 40.75 Tons/ha, with crop water requirements of 773 mm. Considerable increase in the content of protein was observed with higher K application. Keywords: potassium, potato, protein, water use.

Introduction Scheduling irrigation is attempting to apply water to potatoes at the appropriate amount for a specific stage in the plants development and growth. The potato plants use of water is primarily for transpiration and tuber production and, therefore, irrigation is most important from emergence to vine senescence. Transpiration is the movement of water through the vine, from roots to leaves, to compensate for water loss at stomatas (pores) that are open to allow gas exchange (oxygen and carbon dioxide) between the plant and the atmosphere thereby supporting plant photosynthesis and respiration. Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) rate fourth among the worlds various agricultural products in production volume, after wheat, rice and corn (Fabeiro et al., 2001). Production of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) takes a very important place in world agriculture, with a production potential of about 327 million tons harvested and 18.6 million hectares planted area (FAO, 2006). It is a temperate crop (Onder et al., 2005) that grows and yields well in cool and humid climates or seasons, yet it is grown in climatic regions from the tropics to the sub-polar and comprises a major food crop in many countries. Potato is grown in over 120 countries throughout the world and is a staple crop in several of them. Potato requirements for potassium is quite high. When potassium is present in short supply, characteristic deficiency symptom's appear in the plant. Potassium provides much of the osmotic pull that draws water into plant roots. Many irrigation experiments have shown that potato is relatively sensitive to moisture stress (Fabeiro et al., 2001; Yuan et al., 2003). But many other studies reported that potatoes are very sensitive to soil moisture stress (Kashyap and Panda, 2003; Onder et al., 2005) due to their sparse and shallow root system. Early studies have shown that water is the most important limiting factor for potato production and it is possible to increase production levels by well-scheduled irrigation programs throughout the growing season (Chowdhury et al., 2001; Panigrahi et al., 2001; Ferreira and Carr, 2002) Potato crop has strict requirement for a balanced fertilization management, without which growth and development of the crop are poor and both yield and quality of tubers are diminished. Among the major nutrients, potassium not only improves yields but also benefits various aspects of quality.
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Some of the tuber quality parameters affected by potassium nutrition are: tuber size, percentage of dry matter, starch content, internal blackening, storability and resistance to mechanical damage. Potassium also provides resistance against pest and diseases and drought and frost stresses. Potato crop is a heavy remover of soil potassium and is the nutrient taken up in the greatest quantity. The tubers remove 1.5 times as much potassium as nitrogen and 4-5 times the amount of phosphate (Perrenoud, 1993). Potato is regarded as an indicator crop for K availability because of the high K requirement (Roberts and McDole, 1985). Few soils could produce high potato yields for very many seasons without replenishing removed K. Potassium has a crucial role in the energy status of the plant, translocation and storage of assimilates and maintenance of tissue water relations (Marschner, 1995). Potassium is not an incorporated component of plant molecules, in opposite to N and P which are constituents of proteins, nucleic acids, phospholipids, ATP, etc. Potassium predominantly exists as a free or absorptive bound cation, and can therefore be displaced very easily on the cellular level as well as in the whole plant (Lindhauer, 1985). This high mobility in the plant explains the major functional characteristics of K: as the main cation involved in the neutralization of charges and as the most important inorganic osmotic active substance (Clarkson and Hanson, 1980). Materials and methods In order to determine potassium effect on the yield and quality of potato and its interaction in water use, a field experiment was carried out for two years in Urumia region with 3 replications. The experiment was arranged in a split-plot design, with four irrigation regimens as main plots. The sub plots were include of three rates of potassium fertilizer. The treatments were: Main plots W1= water application 40% of pan evaporation before, and 70% after tuber initiation. W2= water application 40% of pan evaporation before, and 100% after tuber initiation. W3= water application 70% of pan evaporation before, and 70% after tuber initiation. W4= water application 70% of pan evaporation before, and 100% after tuber initiation. Sub plots K1= potassium 100 Kg/ha K2= potassium 150 Kg/ha K3= potassium 200 Kg/ha Before starting treatments for germination of seeds, all of the experimental plots were irrigated once uniform. Irrigation water measured with 3 partial flumes allowing the appropriate amount of water to each blocks. Daily evaporation was determined by class A pan Table 1. The results of soil samples testing of experimental field before planting
location Kahriz Nazloo Depth 0-30 30-60 0-30 30-60 sp% 30 30 50 49 Ec (dS/m) 0.48 0.50 0.49 0.48 8.3 8.3 7.8 7.7 PH TNV (%) 4.5 4 12.2 12 O.C (%) 0.59 0.49 109 0.62 AVP ppm 7.8 5.0 7.8 7.8 AVK p.p.m 195 120 290 270 clay (%) 12 13 28.4 40.4 silt (%) 45 43 40 40 sand (%) 42 44 21.6 19.6

According to results of analysis the electrical conductivity of soil was suitable for plants. pH of soil was medium alkaline, organic mater was low, available phosphorus was medium and available potassium was low soil texture of Kahriz region was loam and Nazloo region was silty clay. Plants spaced 0.75 0.30 m. The area of sub Plots were 12 m2 and the main plots separated 3 m from each other. Irrigation intervals were 10-15 days before tuber initiation and regulated irrigation interval 7-10 days after tuber initiation.
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Results and discussion Table 2. Mean of yield and protein percentage and mean water use efficiency
Main plots subplots K1 Yield t/ha K2 K3 % protein mean K1 K2 K3 WUE kg/m3 mean K1 K2 K3 mean W1 cd abcd bcd B ab ab a 32.53 34.80 33.38 32.57 2.08 2.08 2.30 2.15A 5.83 6.24 5.98 6.02 W2 abcd 37.67 ab 39.15 a 40.57 A 39.29 ab 2.05 b 1.82 ab A 2.15 2.29 5.27 5.47 5.70 5.48 W3 abcd 35.55 d 31.57 abcd 34.90 B 34.0 ab 1.96 ab 2.04 ab A 2.19 2.06 5.77 5.12 5.66 5.52 ab W4 39.48 mean 36.32 A 35.16 A 37.40 A B 2.10 1.996 B A 2.23 5.49 5.45 5.65

abc 38.33 a A ab ab a A 40.75 39.52 1.92 1.92 2.30 2.04 5.10 4.95 5.27 5.11

According to experimental analysis of two years and comparing the yield of treatments the best of them was W4 K3 , water application rate 70% before and 100% after tuber initiation with using potassium 200 Kg/ha. According to experimental analysis of two years and comparing the protein percentage of treatments the best of them was W4 K3, water application rate 70% before and 100% after tuber initiation with using potassium 200 Kg/ha. Maximum water use efficiency obtained from W1 K2, water application rate 40% before and 70% after tuber initiation with using potassium 150 Kg/ha. Water use of treatments Treatments mm Water use before tuber initiation mm Water use after tuber initiation Total Water use mm W1 191 366.5 557.5 W2 191 523.5 714.5 W3 349.5 366.5 616 W4 349.5 523.5 773

Statistical analysis have shown that the effect of irrigation treatments on tuber yield create a significant difference (p<0.05). The effect of potassium on protein percentage create a highly significant difference (p<0.01). Maximum protein persentage2.3%obtained from W4K3 irrigation treatments on water use efficiency (WUE) create a highly significant difference (p<0.01). The results indicated that to obtain maximum yield per unit of land W4K3 treatment is recommendable. In this treatment, the average yield for two years was 40.75 tons/ha, with crop water requirements of 773 mm. Considerable increase in the content of protein was observed with higher K application. Because of managing irrigation program can use potassium fertilizer more than 200 Kg/ ha.

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References Chowdhury, S.R., E. Aatony, R. Singh, A.K. Thakur and H.N. Verma, 2001. Leaf area development and its relationship with tuber yield in sweet potato under different irrigation regimes. Orissa J. Hort., 29: 20-23. Clarkson, D.T. and J.B. Hanson. 1980. The mineral nutrition of higher plants. Ann. Rev. Plant Physiol. 31: 239-298. FAO., 2006. FAOSTAT agriculture. Rome. http://faostat.fao.org/faostat/collections?subset=agriculture. Fabeiro, C., F. Martin de Santa Olalla and J.A. de Juan, 2001. Yield and size of deficit irrigated potatoes. Agric. Water Manage., 48: 255-266. Ferreira, T.C. and M.K.V. Carr, 2002. Responses of potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L.) to irrigation and nitrogen in a hot and dry climate. I. water use. Field Crops Res., 78: 51-64. Kashyap, P.S. and R.K. Panda, 2003. Effect of irrigation scheduling on potato crop parameters under water stressed conditions. Agric. Water Manage., 59: 49-66. Lindhauer, M.G. 1985. The role of potassium in the plant with emphasis on stress conditions (water, temperature, salinity). In: Proceedings of the Potassium Symposium. Pretoria, October 1985. Department of Agriculture and Water Supply, International Potash Institute and Fertilizer Society of South Africa. pp. 95-113. Marschner, H. 1995. Mineral Nutrition of Higher Plants. 2 nd Ed. Academic Press, London. Onder, S., M.E. Caliskan, D. Onder and S. Caliskan, 2005. Different irrigation methods and water stress effects on potato yield and yield components. Agric. Water Manage., 73: 73-86. Panigrahi, B., S.N. Panda and N.S. Raghuwanshi, 2001. Potato water use and yield under furrow irrigation. Irrig. Sci., 20: 155-163. Perrenoud, S. 1993. Fertilizing for High Yield Potato. IPI Bulletin 8. 2 nd Edition. International Potash Institute, Basel, Switzerland. Roberts, S. and R.E. Mc Dole. 1985. Potassium Nutrition of Potatoes. In: Potassium in Agriculture (Ed: R.S. Munson). ASA-CSSA-SSSA, Madison, WI. pp. 800-818. Yuan, B.Z., S. Nishiyama and Y. Kang, 2003. Effects of different irrigation regimes on the growth and yield of drip-irrigated potato. Agric. Water Manage., 63: 153-167.

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Evaluation nitrate leaching of wheat and corn from Urea and SCU sources on Lysimeter condition
R. Razavi, H. tabiezad, A. Majidi
Researcher, Scientific Staff board of soil and water research Dep. Agricultural research center of W.Azarbayjan,Urmia, Iran Corresponding author: razyasbah@yahoo.com

Abstract
Adequate nitrogen is necessary to obtain optimum yields and quality. Excess nitrogen is subject to leaching and run-off and can contaminate water supplies. Excess nitrate-nitrogen levels in drinking water are a serious health hazard. Nitrogen fertilizer rate and crop management effects on nitrate leaching from an agricultural field. Nitrogen fertilizer and irrigation management have the important role to control nitrate leaching. Lysimeters comprise another way to measure nitrate leaching by collecting the seepage water for following nitrate analysis. In order to compare nitrate leaching and variation of nitrate concentrations rate in soil profil for two sources of nitrogen fertilizer, Urea and SCU (Urea coated with solfour) by Lysimeter an experiment was carried out at Kahriz station of Uromia in Iran for three years. 4Lysimeters were used for each of wheat and corn for three years. Two Lysimeters were used for Urea fertilizer and the number1 was irrigated according to obtain potential evaportranspiration and the number 2 was irrigated according to local conditions. The other two Lysimeters were used for SCU fertilizer and the number 3 was irrigated according to obtain potantial evaportranspiration and number 4 was irrigated according to local conditions. 400 m2 around of each Lysimeter was cultivated such as Lysimeter crop. The results have shown that nitrogen leaching from Urea and SCU were in order 55.22, 32.29 kg/ha for wheat and 73.51, 37.87 kg/ha for corn and nitrogen leaching of Urea were70 and 94 percent more than SCU for wheat and corn. Nitrogen leaching for corn is 27 percent more than wheat. Keywords: Corn, nitrate leaching, SCU, Urea, wheat

Introdution The leaching of nitrate N (NO3-N) from agricultural land and the subsequent contamination of water resources have been recongised as a major environmental issue that could undermine the long-term sustainability of agricultural production in many countries (Spalding and Exner 1993; Jarvis et al. 1995; Addiscott 1996; Cameron et al. 1997; Di and Cameron 2001). Because high concentrations of nitrate in drinking water are deemed to be detrimental to human health, world and national health organizations have established drinking water guidelines, limiting N (NO3-N) -N concentration to a maximum of 10-11.3 mg N (NO3-N) N/L (World Health Organization 1984). If N (NO3-N) leached from agricultural land is drained into surface water bodies, it may cause deterioration in quality (e.g. algal bloom). To protect water quality, a number of countries or regional authorities have developed regulations to limit N inputs into farming systems, established nitrate vulnerable zones (e.g. EC 1991), and produced codes for good agricultural practices (e.g. MAFF 1991). Environmental concerns and stricter regulations have increased the need to accurately estimate nitrate leaching losses from crops. Nitrogen management is important both from a crop production and an environmental standpoint. Nitrogen applied early in the season can be easily leached out of the root zone with heavy rainfall or excess irrigation. The result may be increased potential for contamination of the ground water with nitrate and poor yields due to nitrogen deficiency Nitrogen (N) has a pronounced and often dramatic influence on the growth and yield of crops. Management of soil and fertilizer N is difficult because N undergoes numerous transformations and is easily lost from the soil. These losses concern growers for three principal reasons: 1) the losses can and often do adversely affect plant growth and crop yield, 2) when N is lost in the nitrate form, there is a chance for contamination of groundwater and drinking water supplies, and 3) it is expensive to replace lost N. Of all the essential plant nutrients, nitrogen is the one most often limiting to wheat and corn production on sandy soils. Nitrogen fertilizer recommendations for irrigated soils are based on crop
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yield goal and previous crop. Because of lower yield, early maturing varieties generally require less nitrogen than later maturing varieties. Efficient nitrogen (N) fertilization is crucial for economic wheat and corn production and protection of ground and surface waters. Excessive plant-available N produces wheat plants that are susceptible to lodging and disease with resulting decreased yields and increased input costs. The potential for enrichment of ground and surface waters with nitrates also increases with excessive N fertilizer applications. However, insufficient N availability to wheat and corn plants results in low yields and significantly reduced profits compared to a properly fertilized crop Nitrogen fertilization of wheat is more complicated and the results are more variable than with any other field crop High rates of N fertilizer in the production of continuous corn (Zea mays L.) have resulted in excessive nitrate N (NO3-N) leaching, with concentrations in ground water frequently exceeding the maximum contaminant level (MCL) of 10 mg/L. . Nitrogen added too early can result in significant losses of nitrogen and when extra nitrogen is added as insurance the potential for lodging and diseases are increased. A producer must incorporate the practices that will give him the best chance of success with the yield levels he is trying to achieve. The higher the yield goal the more important the nitrogen management becomes. In many cases, timing is as important as the amount of nitrogen applied. Lysimeters comprise another way to measure nitrate leaching by collecting the seepage water for following nitrate analysis. Nitrogen fertilizer rate and crop management effects on nitrate leaching from an agricultural field. Nitrogen fertilizer and irrigation management have the important role to control nitrate leaching Materials and methods In order to compare nitrate leaching and variation of nitrate concentrations rate in soil profil for two sources of nitrogen fertilizer: Urea and SCU (Urea coated with solfour) by Lysimeter an experiment was carried out at Kahriz station of Uromie for three years. 4 drainagable Lysimeters were used to measure crop evaportranspiration and nitrate leaching of wheat for two years and corn for one year in different growth stages. Two Lysimeters with area of 1.5 m2 were used for Urea fertilizer and the number1 was irrigated according to obtain potantial evaportranspiration and the number 2 was irrigated according to local conditions. The other two Lysimeters with area of 1.8 m2 were used for SCU fertilizer and the number 3 was irrigated according to obtain potantial evaportranspiration and number 4 was irrigated according to local conditions.400 m2 around of each Lysimeter was culthvated such as Lysimeter area. The evapotranspiration of each production was determined from measurment of irrigation water and amount of principal and drainage water for each lysimeter. Table 1- The results of soil samples testing of experimental wheat field before planting
Depth 0-30 30-60 NH4+ ppm 0.7 1.4 No-3 ppm 5.6 11.2 Ec (dS/m) 1.18 1.35 7.7 7.8 PH TN (%) 4.5 4 O.C (%) 0.72 0.67 AVP ppm 9.9 9.0 AV ppm 240 210 clay (%) 10 12 silt (%) 49 43 sand (%) 41 45

According to results of analysis the electrical conductivity of soil was suitable for plants. pH of soil was low alkaline, organic mater was low, available phosphorus and available potassium were medium and soil texture was loam.

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Table 2- The results of soil samples testing of experimental corn field before planting
Depth 0-30 30-60 NH4+ ppm 4.2 2.8 No-3 PPm 4.2 2.8 Ec (dS/m) 0.89 0.89 8.0 8.0 PH TN (%) 8.0 8.0 O.C (%) 0.89 0.52 AVP p.p.m 14.6 6.6 AV p.p.m 280 220 clay (%) 12 11 silt (%) 46 44 sand (%) 42 45

According to results of analysis the electrical conductivity of soil was suitable for plants. pH of soil was low alkaline, organic mater was low, available phosphorus and available potassium were medium and soil texture was loam. Table 3- The results of irrigation water testing
Na+ 1.0 Mg2+ 1.0 Ca2+ 2.00 Me/l So420.1 cl1.4 Hco3 3.4 Co3 0 NH4 p.p.m 1.4 NO3 p.p.m 4.2 S.A.R PH EC*106

1.4

7.1

494

According to results of analysis the class of irrigation water was C2S1 and the quality of water is suitable. Wheat and corn evapotranspiration (Etc) were determined in ten days and for a month in different growth stages. Wheat and corn evapotranspiration determined by measuring irrigation water amount, drainage water and precipitation. The following formula used for determination of canola evapotranspiration: ETc=I + P-D W In this formula: Etc is canola evapotranspiration I is irrigation water amount P is precipitation D is drainage water W is moisture differences Weather data were collected from a weather station located at approximately near the experimental field wheat has been sowed in the end of September and corn has been sowed in the end of April and grew uniform. Results and discussion The results have showed the mean wheat evapotranspiration for 4 Lysimeters in order was 492.5, 492.5, 534.1 and 498.1 mm. For the fertilizer source maximum grain yield was obtained from Urea fertilizer (8 t/ha). For the irrigation regime maximum grain yield was obtained from the irrigation to obtain potential evaportranspiration (8.5 t/ha). Also the results have showed the mean corn evapotranspiration for 4 Lysimeters in order was 683.8, 668.8, 807.8 and 796.1 mm. For the fertilizer source, maximum grain yield was obtained from SCU fertilizer (10.55 t/ha). For the irrigation regime maximum grain yield was obtained from the irrigation to obtain potential evaportranspiration (10.58t/ha).

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Table 4. Amounts of soil nitrate N (NO3-N) for wheat field

year soil nitrate ppm Before plantig first After harvesting Before plantig second After harvesting Depth 0-30 30-60 0-30 30-60 0-30 30-60 0-30 30-60 urea 9.1 5.6 6.3 4.2 2.8 2.8 28 27.3 SCU 12.6 9.5 11.9 7.7 2.8 2.5 24.5 25.2

Table 5. Amounts of soil nitrate N (NO3-N) for corn field

soil nitrate ppm Before planting After harvesting Depth 0-30 30-60 0-30 30-60 urea 7.0 3.5 8.1 6.2 SCU 6.3 6.3 5.7 4.7

Table 6- Mean Amounts of Recharge and Discharge (drainage) water and Amounts of drainage water N (NO3-N) for wheat lysimeter
Fertilizer source Urea SCU Recharge water in each lysimeter litr 859.3 983.4 Discharge (drainage) water from each lysimeter litr 102 105.5 N (NO3-N) of (drainage) water mg/lit 81.2 55.1 Total N (NO3-N) (mg) 8282.4 5813.5 Leaching N (NO3-N) per ha (kg) 55.22 32.29

Table 7. Mean Amounts of Recharge and Discharge (drainage) water and Amounts of drainage water N (NO3-N) for corn lysimeter
Fertilizer source Urea SCU Recharge water in each lysimeter litr 1266.45 1661.75 Discharge (drainage) water from each lysimeter litr 174.2 105.69 N (NO3-N) of (drainage) water mg/lit 63.3 64.56 Total N (NO3-N) (mg) 11026.8 6817.0 Leaching N (NO3-N) per ha (kg) 73.51 37.87

The results have shown that nitrogen leaching from Urea and SCU were in order 55.22 , 32.29 kg/ha for wheat and 73.51 , 37.87 kg/ha for corn and nitrogen leaching of Urea were70 and 94 percent more than SCU for wheat and corn. Nitrogen leaching for corn is 27 percent more than wheat.

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References Addiscott TM (1996) Fertilizers and nitrate leaching. In `Agricultural chemicals and the environment'. (Eds RE Hester, RM Harrison) Issues in Envronmental Science and Technology 5, 1-26. Cameron KC, Di HJ, McLaren RG (1997) Is soil an appropriate dumping ground for our wastes Australian Journal of Soil Research 35, 995-1035. Di HJ, Cameron KC (2001) Nitrate leaching in temperate agroecosystems: sources, factors and mitigating strategies. Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems (in press). EC (1991) Council directive of 12 December 1991 concerning the protection of waters against pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources. 91/676/ECC, Legislation 1375/1-1375/8, European Community. Jarvis SC, Scholefield D, Pain B (1995) Nitrogen cycling in grazing systems. In `Nitrogen fertilization in the environment'. (Ed. PE Bacon) pp. 381-419. (Marcel Dekker: New York) MAFF (1991) `Code for good agricultural practice for the protection of water.' Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. (MAFF Publications: London) Spalding RF, Exner ME (1993) Occurrence of nitrate in groundwater--a review. Journal of Environmental Qualility 22, 392-402. World Health Organization (1984) `Guidelines for drinking water quality. Vol 1. Recommendations.' (WHO: Geneva)

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Influence of salinity and supplementary calcium on growth, uptake and translocation of nutrients in tomato plants in hydroponic culture
Z. Ahmadi, A. Ronaghi, N. Karimian
Department of Soil Science, College of Agriculture, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran. Corresponding Author, z.ahmadi84@yahoo.com

Abstract

A greenhouse experiment was conducted to determine the effect of salinity and supplementary calcium levels on growth, uptake and translocation of nutrients in tomato cv. Kal-j N3 in a hydroponic culture. Treatments included three levels of NaCl (0, 15 and 30 mM) and three levels of Ca (0, 3 and 6 mM). Supplementary Ca improved Blossom end rot (BER) disorder in fruits. Addition of NaCl decreased both shoot and root dry weights. Concentration of Fe, Ca, Mn, Cu, and P in roots and Ca, Ca/Na, N, and chlorophyll meter readings in shoots and concentration of Fe, Mg, Ca, P, and Cu in fruits decreased with salinity application. However, concentration of some nutrients in roots, shoot and fruits increased with NaCl addition Concentration of perolin and ion leakage in shoots, and fruit vitamin C, total soluble solid (TSS) and BER increased by addition of NaCl. NaCl increased uptake of Na in roots, Mg and Na in shoots and Cu, and Na in fruits but decreased that of Mg in fruits. Supplementary Ca increased uptake of Ca, Cu and P by roots, Ca in shoot, but decreased that of Na in roots, Cu, and Na, in shoots and P in fruits. NaCl increased translocation of Na and Cl to shoot but decreased to fruits. Keywords: Salinity, Hydroponics, Tomato, Nutrients, Calcium
+2

Introduction Tomato is moderately salt tolerant crop that plays a significant role in agriculture section (Foolad, 2004). Plants are suffered from salt stress in three ways: (1), the toxic effect of a high concentration + of Na and Cl (2), the decrease in the osmotic potential in the rooting medium, and (3), impaired + nutrients balance (Gama et al., 2007). On the other hand, high concentrations of Na and Cl + reduce the absorption of essential nutrients and additionally can be toxic by competing with K and +2 NO3 in biochemical processes (White, 1999). Ca is considered to be a very immobile element once deposited in plant tissues. Recent research has revealed that a low calcium level in the root zone is rarely a limiting factor for the vegetative growth of tomato (Del Amor and Marcelis, 2006). Many investigations have reported an increased occurrence of Blossom end rot (BER) with decreasing osmotic potential in the root zone of tomato even if this decrease is partly imposed by raising the Ca+2 concentration (Adams, 1991). Various factors,including the cultivar, the external concentrations of Ca+2, NH4-N, K, and Mg, salt or water stress, oxygen availability in the root zone, air relative humidity, and air temperature, may aggravate or ameliorate the occurrence of BER (Navarro et al., 2005). Salinity may leads to nutritional imbalance and competitive absorption and elements translocation or distribution in plants (Marschner, 1995). There are antagonistic + +2 + +2 affects between Na and Ca and synergistic effect between K and Ca . Increasing salinity +2 + decreases Ca /Na ratio in different plant organs (Cramer et al., 2004). Material and methods Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill. cv. Kalj-N3) seeds were germinated in perlite and peat trays. and transplanted to 500-mL pots (perlit and peat culture) 4.5 weeks later. The composition of the basic nutrient solution was (mg/L): k2SO4 352, CaSO4.2H2O 180, MgSO4.7H2O 50, Phosphate(P2O5) 180, Tolall Nitrogen (NO3, NH4) 180, Fe- EDTA 5, Chelated Manganes 0.45, Chelated Copper 0.48, Boron 0.18, Zinc 0.45, Molybdenum 0.045 . The electrical conductivity 1 (EC) of the fresh solution was 1.9 - 6.1 dSm . The initial pH of nutrient solution was 5.56.5. Treatments consisted of 3 salinity levels, (0, 15 and 30 mM NaCl) and 3 levels of the Ca (0, 3 and 6 mM) in 3 replications.

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Plant analysis and measurements 0 After the last fruit harvest, tomato plants were completely harvested, dried at 70 C for two days, weighed and finely ground. The powdered samples were used for chemical analyses. Plant samples 0 0 (1000 mg) were ashed at 550 C for 6 h and digested with 5 mL of 2N HCl at 60 c for 5 min. Extracts were filtered and diluted to 50 ml with distilled water and stored in plastic vials until analyzed.. Sodium and potassium were determined by flame photometer. Chloride ion measurement with titration by 0.05N silver nitrate. Dry matter of leaves, stem, fruits and roots were determined after drying at 70C. The concentration of Mn, Fe, Zn, Ca, Mg and Cu were determined using. atomic absorption (Chapman and Pratt., 1961). Total nitrogen by Micro-Kjeldahl digestion procedure (Bremner et al., 1992). Chlorophyll meter readings were taken using SPAD502 and recorded. P by (Chapman and Pratt., 1961). Proline was extracted and measuring according to the method of Bates et al (1973). Membrane permeability of leaves and root were determined using conductivity meter (Yan et al., 1996). Fruit quality: The homogenized fruit tissue was centrifuged and the supernatant measured for total soluble solids (TSS) using a digital refractometer, titrable acidity (TA) by titration with NaOH (0.1 N) as described by Moradshahi et al. (1977), Vitamin-C by titration of fruit juices with Indophenol Method (Ting ans Russef, 1981). Data collected were statistically analyzed with software (SAS, 9.1). LSD test for determine significant differences among treatments at P 0.05. Results and Discussion Dry weight of shoots and roots decreased with the increasing levels of applied NaCl in nutrient +2 solution. However plants dry weight increased with increasing Ca treatment. Increasing levels of + applied NaCl increased Na concentration of tomato plants (Fig 1), (Table 1). Salinity decreased +2 + +2 + concentration of Ca , K and Ca /Na ratio and chlorophyll meter reading(CMR) but significantly increased Fe, Mn and Cl concentration in tomato shoot. Salinity decreases +2 + Ca /Na ratio in different corn plant organs (Cramer et al., 2004). Accumulation of Na+ in all organs tomato increased with increasing salinity levels. Na concentration in tomato increased +2 significantly with increasing levels of applied NaCl in the absence of Ca (Fig 1 (Table 1). No significant difference in Na concentration was observed in tomato fruits in NaCl treatments +2 compared to that of control. Highest Ca concentration in different organs occuredat 6 mM Ca level in the absence of NaCl .(Tables 2, 3 and 4). Cell membrane permeability (ion leakage) of plants increased by both NaCl and Ca levels. However, interactive effects of salinity and Ca on membrane permeability (EC%) was not significantly. Magnesium concentration in shoots and +2 fruits decreased by both salinity and supplementary Ca but it decreased in root only by NaCl. + +2 NaCl reduced uptake of K, Ca in tomato fruits. Antagonistic relationships between Na or Ca + with K and negative effect of NaCl on K uptake in different plant organs was reported (Carjaval et al., 2000). Salinity to increase Zn concentration in shoot tissue tomato (Maas et al., 1972). Salinity decreases concentration of P in plant tissues. Concentrations of micro nutrients (Fe, Mn and Cu) roots and fruits decreased under saline condition. Anjum (2008) showed that increasing salinity decreased micro nutrients concentrations (Fe, Mn, Cu and Mn) in roots and leaves in citrus. Zn concentration was increased by salinity but P content decreased in shoots and fruits. Indicating an antagonistic relationship between Zn and P. Salinity increased Zn concentration in tomato shoot. (Mass et al., 1972). Salinity increased proline concentration of shoot. However, salinity Ca interaction on proline concentration of was not significant. (Table 5). Asraf (1994) reported that, the salt-tolerant population accumulated greater amount of proline compared with non- tolerant. NaCl increased Vitamin C, TSS an TA of tomato fruits therefore improved the fruits quality. Serio et al, (2004) reported, that salinity improved tomato fruit quality. However plants yield decreased with increased NaCl levels.

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a
4000 3500 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 0 15 30 0 mM Ca+2 3mM Ca+2 6mM Ca+2

b
Concentration Na+( mg/k )
30000

Concentration Na+( mg/k )

25000 20000 15000 10000 5000 0

0 mM Ca+2 3mM Ca+2 6mM Ca+2

15

30

NaCl (mM)

NaCl (mM)

Figure 1. Affects of salinity and Ca

+2

+2

on concentration of Na+ (mg kg-1) in root (a) and shoot (b)

Table1. Effects of salinity and Ca on concentration of Na+ (mg kg-1) of fruit tomato Level of Ca+2(mM) NaCl (mM) 0 3 6 Average 0 1072.7b* 461.1cd 288.2b 607.3B 15 265.6b 508.9cd 813.8bc 529.4B 30 992.4b 1670.5a 1696.3a 1453.1A Average 776.9A 880.2A 932.8A *Values with the same letter are not statistically significant (LSD, P=0.05).
+2 +2

Table 2. Effects of salinity and Ca on Ca concentration (mgkg1) of root tomato Level of Ca+2(mM) 0 3 6 Average NaCl (mM) 0 847.2 cd* 2207.5a 2375.8a 1810.17A 15 1406.8b 1332.7 b 1489.5b 1409.67B 30 997.9 c 735.5d 466.3 e 733.21C Average 1083.95 B 1425.22 A 1443.87 A *Values with the same letter are not statistically significant (LSD, P=0.05).
+2 +2

Table 3. Effects of salinity and Ca on Ca concentration (mg kg1) of shoot tomato Level of Ca+2(mM) NaCl (mM) 0 3 6 Average 0 1226bc* 894 bc 8660a 4010.4A 15 2273bc 1501bc 3466b 1419.0B 30 647c 763c 1009bc 805.9C Average 922.2C 1512.1B 3801.1 A *Values with the same letter are not statistically significant (LSD, P=0.05).

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Table 4. Effects of salinity and Ca on Ca concentration (mg kg1) of fruit tomato Level of Ca+2(mM) NaCl (mM) 0 3 6 Average 0 100.72b-d 130.07b 268.93a 166.6A 15 101.17b-d 119.02bc 102.52b-d 107.6B 30 93.58 b83.70cd 70.99 b 82.8C Average 98.5B 110.9B 147.5A *Values with the same letter are not statistically significant (LSD, P=0.05). Table 5. Effects of salinity and Ca+2on concentration Proline ( molg-1) of shoot tomato Level of Ca+2(mM) NaCl (mM) 0 3 6 Average 0 3.402c* 9.309b 8.610bc 7.463 B 15 11.019ab 7.791bc 10.808ab 9.760AB 30 15.780 a 10.010b 6.143bc 10.645 A Average 10.067A 9.037A 8.765A *Values with the same letter are not statistically significant (LSD, P=0.05).
+2 + +2 +2

Table 6. Effects of salinity and Ca on Na adsorption (g pot-1) in root tomato Level of Ca+2(mM) NaCl (mM) 0 3 6 Average 0 1.932d * 6.870bc 7.451bc 5.4B 15 16.029a 10.686 b 6.979bc 11.2A 30 16.496a 10.174b 4.106cd 10.3A Average 11.5A 9.2A 6.2B *Values with the same letter are not statistically significant (LSD, P=0.05)
+2 +2

Table 7. Effects of salinity and Ca on Ca adsorption (g per pot) in shoot tomato Level of Ca+2(mM) NaCl (mM) 0 3 6 Average 0 70.88cd* 163.12b 734.82a 322.9A 15 56.25cd 81.26cd 101.48c 79.7B 30 43.89d 52.53d 47.46d 10.3A Average 57.0C 99.0B 294.6A *Values with the same letter are not statistically significant (LSD, P=0.05). Ca uptake in shoots significantly decreased by salinity (Table 7). At 6 mM Ca level increased salinity decreased significantly Ca absorption in shoot (Table 7).Interaction Salinity Ca interaction on uptake Na of roots tomato was significantly (Table 6). Sodium uptake of roots +2 increased by increasing salinity level in the absence of Ca . Acknowledgements We would like to appreciate Shiraz University for funding this project and providing research facilities.

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References Adams, P., (1991). Effects of increasing the salinity of the nutrient solution with major nutrients or sodium chloride on the yield, quality and composition of tomatoes grown in rockwool. J. Hortic. Sci. 66, 201-207. Anjum, M. A., (2008). Effect of NaCl concentrations in irrigation water on growth and polyamine metabolism in two citrus rootstocks with different levels of salinity tolerance. Acta Physiol. Plant, 30, 43-52. Ashref, M., (1994). Organic substance responsible for salt tolerance in Eruca sativa. Biol. Plant., 36: 255-9 Bates, L. S., Waldren, R. P., and Tear, I. D., (1973). Rapid determination of free praline for water-stress studies. Plant and Soil, 39, 205-7 Bremner, J. M., Mulvaney, C. S., Miller, S. R., and Keeny, D. R., (1992). Methods of soil analysis. 2nd ed. Madison. 59-69. Chapman, H. D., and Pratt, P. F., (1961). Method of analysis for soil plants and water. Carjaval, M., Cerda, A., Martinez, V., (2000). Modification of the response of saline stressed tomato plants by the correction of cation disorders. Plant Growth Reg. 30, 37-47. Cramer, G. R., Alberico, G. J., Schmidt, C., (2004). Salt tolerance is not associated with the sodium accumulation of two maize hybrids. Australian Journal of Plant Physiology 21, 675692. Del Amor, F. M., Martinez, V., Cerda, A., (1999). Salinity duration and concentration affect fruit yield and quality, and growth and mineral composition of melon plants grow in perlite. Hort Science, 34(7), 1234-1237. Foolad, M. R., (2004). Recent advances in genetics of salt tolerance and cold tolerance in tomato. Plant Cell, Tissue Organ Culture 76, 101-119. Gama, P. B. S., Inanaga, S., Tanaka, K., Nakazawa, R., (2007). Physiological response of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) seedlings to salinity stress. African Journal of Biotechnology 6, 079-088. Kuo, S., (1996). Phosphorus. P. 869-920. In: D. L. Sparks et al., (eds.) Methods of Soil Analysis Part III, 3rd ed., Am. Soc. Agron., Madison. WI. Marschner, H., (1995). Mineral Nutrition of Higher Plants. Academic Press, pp. 200-255. Moradshahi, A., Vines, H. M., Black, C. C., (1977). CO2 exchange and acidity levels in detached pineapple, Ananas comosus (L.) Merr. Leaves during the day at various temperatures, O2 and CO2 cocentration. Plant Physiol. 59, 274-278 Navarro, J. M., Flores, P., Carvajal, M., Martinez, V., (2005). Changes in quality and yield of tomato fruit with ammonium, bicarbonate and calcium fertilization under saline conditions. Journal of Horticultural Science and Biotechnology 80, 351-357 Serio, F., Gara, L. D., Caretto, S., Leo, L., Santamaria, P., (2004). Influence of an increased NaCl concentration on yield and quality of cherry tomato grown in posidonia (Posidonia oceanica (L) Delile). J. Sci. Food. Agric. 84, 1885-1890. Ting, S. V., and Russef, L., (1981). Citrus fruit and products analysis technology. Marcel Dekker, Inc. New York. Basel. 124-125. White, P. J., (1999). The molecular mechanisms of sodium influx to root cells. Trends Plant Science 4, 245-246. Yan, B., Dai, Q., Liu, X., Huang, S., Wang, Z., (1996). Flooding induced membrane damage, lipid oxidation and activated oxygen generation in corn leave. Plant and soil, 179: 261-8

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Evalivation edafical Traits of Wheat Agroecosystems (after harvesting) under effect of Microorganisims (Thiobacillus thioparus and Pseudomonas fluorescens)
Saeed Chaman gashta*, Bohloul Abbaszadehb, Mohammad Reza Ardakania, Kazem Khavazic, Saeed Vazana and Vahid Malakia
a Department of Agronomy, Islamic Azad University,Karaj branch,Iran. b Research Instituteof Forest and Rangelands, Tehran, Iran. c Institution soil and water, Karaj, Iran. Corresponding Author: saeidch33@yahoo.com

bacteria effects on soil characters after implant wheat (var. Bahar). a factorial experiment was carreid out based on randomized completeblock desigen (RCBD) with 3 replications at Research field of Karaj Branch, Islamic Azad University in 2010.treatments were included Sulfate at two levels (0, 300 kg/ha), biological fertilizers in three levels: sulfur oxidizing (Thiobacillus thioparus) phosphate solubizing (Pseudomonas fluorescens strain36 Pseudomonas fluorescens strain93 Pseudomonas fluorescens strain187) and Non using fertilizer (control) and phosphorus of source super phosphate triple at 3 levels (0, 49, 74 kg/ha). In this research, effect of treatments was evalute on some traits as phosphorus, potassium, Nitrogen, Acidity, Ec and Thiobacillus Population.The results showed that effect of Sulfate were signifcant defference on phosphorus, potassium, Nitrogen, Ec and Thiobacillus Population (%1 level). Effect of Phosphorus were signifcant defference on Phosphorus, Potassium, Acidity, Ec and Thiobacillus Population (%1 level) and Nitrogen (%5 level). The interaction effect of Sulfatephosphoruswas significant on Phosphorus, Potassium, Acidity, Ec and Thiobacillus Population (%1 level). The interaction effect of phosphorusbacteria was significant on Phosphorus, Potassium, Nitrogen, Acidity, Ec and Thiobacillus Population (%1 level).The interaction effect of Sulfatebacteriphosphorus was significant on Phosphorus, Potassium, Nitrogen, Acidity, Ec and Thiobacillus Population (%1 level). TheResult of means comparison showed that the hieghest Phosphorus (16.08 ppm), Nitrogen (0.08 ppm),Acidity (7.93 m.mohes) and sulfur oxidizing had highest Thiobacilluspopulation (3481067 CFU/g) rate to control. Keywords: phosphate solubizing, sulfur oxidizing, phosphorus, Sulfate, biological fertilizers.

Abstract:This experiment was conducted to investigation of phosphate solubizing and sulfur oxidizing

Introduction Excessive use of chemical fertilizers in agriculture cause adverse environmental effects and longterm decline in the quality of products Agriculture is the following. However, to reduce these adverse effects, Alternative fertilizers have been used as biological fertilizers, Although the consumption of fertilizers is necessary for the complete lack of some elements, But it is better than supplements, biological fertilizers are used, Like the human diet because they can only rely on drugs to be reinforcing. The plant should be fed on a balanced diet of natural materials and with the help Mbna biological agents are programmed (salehrastin, 2001). These microorganisms are important, including Thiobacillus, which become more acidic soil, and ultimately better absorption of plant nutrients such as Phosphorus are. Many researchers use the Sulfur in the increased ability to absorb Phosphorus, Sulfur or Sulfuric acid plants reported because of reduced pH, Sulfate supply needed micronutrients in calcareous soils and plants, and were alkaline (Malakoti, 1999). Rupla and Tora (1973 ), the research showed that the use of Sulfur bacteria Thiobacillus, pH of the soils significantly reduced. The insoluble Phosphate solubilizing microorganisms can be defined as a group of microorganisms that can cause acid secretion through mechanisms such as release of Phosphorus from phosphorus sources are insoluble. Many of these microorganisms with the production of phosphatase enzymes release phosphate from organic phosphor compounds cause (Malacoti, 1999). In a study by Singh and Kapoor (1992 ) was conducted on wheat, Inoculation of Phosphate solubilizing microorganisms on Phosphorus solubility of soil phosphate source was investigated, Results showed that the Phosphate solution and fungal inoculum Mycorrhizal combined with improved crop yield and P uptake of soil phosphate in soils deficient in nutrients. (Deloka et al., 1989 ) Effect of sulfur inoculated with Thiobacillus bacteria to increase P sorption in calcareous soil in field studies have, Treatments consisted of Thiobacillus, Thiobacillus + sulfur, sulfur+ super phosphate triple, super phosphate triple and sulfur in Thiobacillus were Thiobacillus super phosphate triple. Results showed that the highest yield of corn treated with sulfur +

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Thiobacillus + super phosphate triple is associated with the performance of sulfur + Thiobacillus difference was not significant. (Rose et al.,1989) reported that soil Phosphorus and Sulfur inoculated with Thiobacillus thiooxidans bacteria rapidly decreased soil pH and available Phosphorus in the soil enough to grow sorghum increased. The beneficial effects of sulfur from power plant to its oxidation, acid production, decreased pH and increased dissolved nutrients in the root environment is concerned, thus utilizing the potential of sulfur is present in soil bacteria Thiobacillus because part of sulfur by Thiobacillus bacteria are the most important soil microorganisms that can be converted to sulfuric acid (Kilham, 1994; Tabatabia, 1997). Materials and Methods This experimant was conducted to investigation of Phosphate solubizing and Sulfur oxidizing bacteria effects on soil characters after implant Wheat (var. Bahar). a factorial experiment was carreid out based on randomized completeblock desigen (RCBD) with 3 replications at Research field of Karaj Branch, Islamic Azad University in 2010.treatments were included Sulfate at two levels (0, 300 kg/ha), biological fertilizers in three levels: sulfur oxidizing (Thiobacillus thioparus) phosphate solubizing (Pseudomonas fluorescens strain36 Pseudomonas fluorescens strain93 Pseudomonas fluorescens strain187) and Non using fertilizer (control) and phosphorus of source super phosphate triple at 3 levels (0, 49, 74 kg/ha). Plots of 2 x 6 m and 200 kg/ha seed rate was considered. Planting operations in the November 2010 was 18. After a bacteria impregnated with seeds, seeds in the plots sprayed and then watered immediately took action to create the Faroe, Concurrent with the growing amount of 60 kg/ha of nitrogen fertilizer urea (Recommended by laboratory soil) was added to the total land and shoot once a week when urea was added to the ground. Irrigation operations are regularly conducted. After wheat harvest treatments on soil sampling and yield of Phosphorus , Potassium , Nitrogen , pH , Electrical conductivity and soil were examined in Thiobacillus. The statistical analysis related to projects using SAS and Excel software was used for statistical comparison Duncan test at 5% level was used. Results and Discussion The results showed (Table 1) that effect of Sulfate were signifcant defference on Phosphorus, Potassium, Nitrogen, Ec and Thiobacillus Population (%1 level). Effect of Phosphorus were signifcant defference on Phosphorus, Potassium, Acidity, Ec and Thiobacillus Population (%1 level) and Nitrogen (%5 level). The interaction effect of Sulfatephosphoruswas significant on Phosphorus, Potassium, Acidity, Ec and Thiobacillus Population (%1 level). The interaction effect of phosphorusbacteria was significant on Phosphorus, Potassium, Nitrogen, Acidity, Ec and Thiobacillus Population (%1 level). The interaction effect of Sulfatebacteriphosphorus was significant on Phosphorus, Potassium, Nitrogen, Acidity, Ec and Thiobacillus Population (%1 level). Table 1. Analysis of variances of the measured traits
S.O.V Rep Sulfate (s) biological fertilizers (b) Phosphorus (p) sb sp bp Sbp Error C.V% Df
2 1 2 2 2 2 4 4 34

Phosphorus
280.12** 36.67** 172.37** 26.34** 77.08** 219.04** 130.26** 33.34** 0.18 3.09

Potassium
280.05** 136.96** 1004.16** 92.16** 1305.57 1550.47** 350.41** 277.76** 0.07 0.09

Nitrogen
0.0005** 0.0004** 0.0006** 0.0002* 0.0002* 0.0001ns 0.0003** 0.0003** 0.0001 8.45

pH
1.59** 0.0001ns 0.01** 0.01** 0.01** 0.04** 0.03** 0.01** 0.01 0.0001

EC
0.01** 1.44** 1.98** 0.05** 1.66** 0.36** 0.27** 0.05** 0.0001 0.81

Thiobacillus Population
145592.26** 1705421.87** 2675675.03** 1869027.45** 2965811.97** 2929278.98** 3793355.87* 1847401.13** 26678.12 28.93

ns, *, **, respectively, indicating no significant difference in levels 5 and 1 percent is significant.

Comparison of the results of sulfur (Table 2) showed that sulfur consumption averages 14.83 ppm, 0.08 ppm, 7.90Mm and 1983444 (CFU/g) and the maximum sulfur consumption averages 13.18

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH ppm, 0.07 ppm, 7.89 Mm and 297417(CFU/g) less phosphorus, nitrogen, acidity and had Thiobacillus. Table 2. Comparison of the effect of sulfur on the soil characteristics of the harvested wheat field
Phosphorus soil Potassium Nitrogen pH EC ThiobacillusPopulation (ppm) (ppm) (ppm) (Mm) (ds) (CFU/g) Sulfate 14.83a 280.18b 0.08a 7.9a 1.06b 1983444a Non Sulfate 13.18b 283.37a 0.07b 7.89a 1.39a 297417b Similar letters in each column indicate no difference between the average areas are evaluated. Sulfate

Comparison of results of biological fertilizer (Table 3) showed that the average sulfur oxidizing 15.5 ppm Most of the bacteria consume on average 10.45 ppm had the least amount of phosphorus in the soil. Bacteria consume the averages of 290.38 ppm and 1.59ds and phosphate solubilizing with averages 277.05 ppm and 0.94 ds lowest potassium , electrical conductivity , respectively. Average phosphate solution with 0.08 ppm maximum and average consumption of 0.07ppm had the least amount of nitrogen. Average phosphate solution with 7.93 Mm and oxidizing sulfur with the highest average mouse 7.87 Mm allocated to the lowest acidity. The average sulfur oxidizing 3481067 (CFU/g) highest and average phosphate solubilizing 61667 (CFU/g) the lowest population in the soil after the wheat had Thiobacillus. Table 3. Comparison of biological fertilizers on soil properties after harvesting wheat field
biological fertilizers Phosphorus soil (ppm) Potassium (ppm) Nitrogen (ppm) pH (Mm) EC (ds) Thiobacillus Population (CFU/g) 3481067a

sulfur oxidizing 15.5b 277.88b 0.078b 7.87b 1.15b phosphate 16.08a 277.05c 0.08a 7.93a 0.94c 61667b solubizing Non using fertilizer 10.45c 290.38a 0.077b 7.88b 1.59a 409167b Similar letters in each column indicate no difference between the average areas are evaluated.

Comparison of results of phosphorus (Table 4) showed that the average Phosphorus 14.75ppm and 283.88 ppm maximum and average consumption of 74 kg phosphorus and 12.61 and 297.38ppm had the least amount of phosphorus and potassium. Average nitrogen in the P 0.85ppm and spent most 49 kg of phosphorus with a mean 0.07ppm had the lowest. Average consumption of 74 kg of phosphorus with 7.91 Mm of the maximum and average consumption of 49 kg phosphorus, 7.29 Mm was the lowest acidity. The average consumption of 49 kg phosphorus and 1.29 ds and 2914389 (CFU/g) and the highest average P 1.19ds and 63600 (CFU/g) had the lowest acidity and Thiobacillus populations. Table 4. Comparison of the effect of phosphorus on soil properties after harvesting wheat field
Phosphorus Thiobacillus Population (CFU/g) Use 74 kg/ha 12.61b 279.38c 0.81ab 7.91a 1.2b 404333b Use 49 kg/ha 14.67a 282.05b 0.07b 7.29b 1.29a 2914389a Non use 14.75a 283.88a 0.85a 7.91a 1.19c 63600b Similar letters in each column indicate no difference between the average areas are evaluated. Phosphorus soil (ppm) Potassium (ppm) Nitrogen (ppm) pH (Mm) EC (ds)

Comparison of results interaction of sulfurbiological fertilizer (Table 5) showed that the consumption of dissolved sulfurPhosphate solubilizing with an average 17.33ppm maximum control, mean 7.56ppm had the lowest phosphorus. SulfurNon using bacteria consume an average of 290.66 ppm maximum and Non using sulfurphosphate solubilizing consumption averaging 271.22 ppm potassium content was minimal. Average Nitrogen in the treatment of sulfurphosphate solubilizing with 0.09 ppm maximum and average control treatment with 0.07 ppm was ranked the lowest. Solution of phosphate and sulfur oxidizing treatments with a mean

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH 7.96ds and 7.82ds had the highest and lowest amount of soil acidity. Electrical conductivity and dissolved phosphate in the control treatments, with averages of 2.02 ds and 0.85 ds was the highest and lowest values. The average treatment with sulfursulfur oxidizing 5736889 (CFU/g) highest and treatment with an average consumption of Non using sulfurphosphate solubilizing 45778 (CFU/g) had the lowest population of Thiobacillus Table 5. Comparison of the interaction effects of sulfurbiological fertilizers on the characteristics of soil after harvesting of wheat field
Sulfatebiological fertilizers Phosphorus Potassium Nitrogen pH EC Thiobacillus soil (ppm) (ppm) (Mm) (ds) Population (ppm) (CFU/g) s1b1 16.33b 267f 0.07bc 7.93b 1.07d 5736889a s1b2 14.83c 282.88d 0.09a 7.9c 1.02e 77556b s1b3 13.34d 290.66a 0.08b 7.86d 1.09c 135889b s2b1 14.66c 288.77c 0.08b 7.82e 1.23b 97333b s2b2 17.33a 271.22e 0.08b 7.96a 0.85e 45778b s2b3 7.56e 290.11b 0.07c 7.9c 2.02a 682444b Similar letters in each column indicate no difference between the average areas are evaluated . s1= Sulfur s2= Non Sulfur b1= Sulfur oxidizing b2= Phosphate solubilizing b3= Non bacteria

Comparison of results from the interaction of sulfur and phosphorus (Table 6) showed that treatment with sulfur and Non using phosphorus average 19.16 ppm maximum of 74 kg/ha phosphorus with an average consumption of sulfur treatment 10.06 ppm had the lowest phosphorus. Average treatment 22 with 292.77 ppm highest and treatment 12 with average 271.33 ppm potassium content was minimal. Nitrogen in treatment (s1p3) with a mean of 0.09 ppm Most of the treatments (s1p2) with a mean of 0.07ppm had the lowest. Treatments (s1p3) and (s1p2) with averages 7.96 ds and 7.83 ds had the highest and lowest levels of soil acidity. Electrical conductivity of the treatments (s2p3 ) and (s1p3 ) with averages 1.49ds and 0.88 ds was the highest and lowest values. The treatment (s1p2 ) with a mean 5744889 (CFU/g) highest and treatment (s2p3 ) with a mean 41500 (CFU/g) Thiobacillus populations was minimal.
Table 6. Comparison of interaction effect sulfurphosphorus on Soil characteristics after harvesting wheat field Sulfate*Phosphorus Phosphorus Potassium Nitrogen pH EC ThiobacillusPopulation soil (ppm) (ppm) (Mm) (ds) (CFU/g) (ppm) s1p1 10.06d 287.22b 0.08ab 7.9c 1.18d 127111b s1p2 15.27b 271.33e 0.07c 7.83e 1.12e 5744889a s1p3 19.16a 282d 0.09a 7.96a 0.88f 78333b s2p1 15.16b 271.55e 0.07c 7.93b 1.22c 681556b s2p2 14.06c 292.77a 0.07c 7.88c 1.45b 83889b s2p3 10.33d 285.77c 0.08ab 7.86d 1.49a 41500b Similar letters in each column indicate no difference between the average areas are evaluated . s1= Sulfur s2= Non Sulfur p1= Consumption of 74 kg/ha Phosphorus p2= Consumption of 49 kg/ha Phosphorus p3= Non Phosphorus

Comparison of results from the interaction of biological fertilizerphosphorus (Table 7) showed that treatment (b1p3 ) with an average 21.5ppm largest and treatment (b3p3) with phosphorus had the lowest average 11 ppm. Treatment (b3p2 ) with the highest average 296 ppm and treatment (b2p2 ) with an average 267.5ppm potassium content was minimal. Nitrogen in treatment (b2p1 ) with a mean of 0.09 ppm more and treatment (b3p1 ) with a mean of 0.073 ppm was ranked the lowest. Treatment (b2p1 ) and (b1p2 ) with an average 8 ds and 7.83 ds had the highest and lowest levels of soil acidity. Electrical conductivity in the treatment (b3p2 ) and (b2p2) with averages 1.89ds and 0.96 ds was the highest and lowest values. Thiobacillus populations in treatment (b1p2 ) and (b3p3 ) with an average 8.56 million and 55000 (CFU/g) highest and lowest, respectively.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Table 7. Comparisoninteraction effect of biological fertilizersphosphorus on soil characteristics after harvesting wheat field
biological Phosphorus Potassium Nitrogen pH EC Thiobacillus fertilizers soil (ppm) (ppm) (Mm) (ds) Population Phosphorus (ppm) (CFU/g) b1p1 11.5ef 275.5g 0.076b 7.9c 1.33d 115667b b1p2 13.5c 282.66e 0.078b 7.83d 1.01f 8560000a b1p3 21.5a 275.5g 0.081b 7.9c 1.11e 540000b b2p1 18.5b 278.16f 0.095a 8a 0.87e 52333b b2p2 18b 267.5h 0.078b 7.9c 0.96h 55667b b2p3 11.75e 285.5c 0.091a 7.9c 0.98g 77000b b3p1 7.85g 284.5d 0.073b 7.8d 1.4c 1045000b b3p2 12.51d 296a 0.078b 7.85d 1.89a 127500b b3p3 11f 290.66b 0.081b 7.95b 1.47b 55000b Similar letters in each column indicate no difference between the average areas are evaluated . b1= Sulfur oxidizing b2= Phosphate solubilizing b3= Non bacteria p1= Consumption of 74 kg/ha Phosphorus p2=Consumption of 49 kg/ha Phosphorus p3= Non Phosphorus

Comparison of results of interactions effect of sulfurphosphorusbiological fertilizer (Table 8) showed that treatment (s1b1p3 ) with an average of 26 ppm more and treatment (s3b3p2) with an average of 6 ppm phosphorus was lowest. Treatment (s2b3p2) with average 305 ppm highest and treatment (s1b1p3) with average 257 ppm was the lowest potassium. Nitrogen in treatment (s1b2p1) with a mean of 0.11 ppm highest and treatment (s2b3p2) with a mean of 0.07 ppm had the lowest. Treatment (s1b2p1) and (s2b1p2) with average 8 ds and 7.76 ds had the highest and lowest amount of soil acidity. Electrical conductivity in the treatment (s2b3p2) and (s2b2p1) with an average 2.41 and 0.74 ds was the highest and lowest values. The treatment (s1b1p2) with mean 17000000 (CFU/g) the highest and treatment (s2b3p3) with an average of 19000 (CFU/g) Thiobacillus populations was minimal. Table 8. Comparison interaction effect of sulfurphosphorusbiological fertilizers on the characteristics of soil after harvesting of wheat field
Sulfatebiological fertilizersphosphorus s1b1p1 s1b1p2 s1b1p3 s1b2p1 s1b2p2 s1b2p3 s1b3p1 s1b3p2 s1b3p3 s2b1p1 s2b1p2 s2b1p3 s2b2p1 s2b2p2 s2b2p3 s2b3p1 s2b3p2 s2b3p3 Phosphorus soil(ppm) 11j 12i 26a 13h 16f 15.5fg 6.2n 17.83d 16f 12i 15g 17e 24b 20c 8l 9.5k 7.2m 6n Potassium (ppm) 276j 268n 257q 290.66g 259p 299b 295d 287i 290h 275k 297.33c 294e 265.66d 276j 272m 274l 305a 291.33f Nitrogen (ppm) 0.073cd 0.073cd 0.086bc 0.11a 0.073cd 0.096b 0.073cd 0.086bc 0.086bc 0.08cd 0.083cd 0.076cd 0.08cd 0.083cd 0.086bc 0.73d 0.7d 0.076cd pH (Mm) 7.9b 7.9b 8a 8a 7.8c 7.9b 7.8c 7.8c 8a 7.9b 7.76d 7.8c 8a 8a 7.9b 7.9b 7.9b 7.9b EC (ds) 1.51d 1.92c 0.8o 1.01j 0.08e 0.98k 1.02j 1.38f 0.87m 1.15g 1.11h 1.43h 0.74p 0.84n 0.98k 1.79c 2.41a 2.08b ThiobacillusPopulation (CFU/g) 156667c 17000000a 54000c 68000c 74667c 90000c 156667c 160000c 91000c 74667c 120000c 36667c 36667c 64000c 1933333 95000c 19000c

Similar letters in each column indicate no difference between the average areas are evaluated . s1= Sulfur s2= Non Sulfur b1= Sulfur oxidizing b2= Phosphate solubilizing b3= Non bacteria p1= Consumption of 74 kg/ha Phosphorus p2=Consumption of 49 kg/ha Phosphorus p3= Non Phosphorus

Results correlated traits (table 9) showed that phosphorus with nitrogen (r =0.39**) and acidity (r=0.56**) and a significant positive correlation with electrical conductivity (r =-0.48**) correlation was significantly negative. The potassium with electrical conductivity (r=0.44**) had a

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH significant positive correlation. Nitrogen with acidity (r =0.45**) significant positive correlation and with electrical conductivity (r =-0.33*) had a significant negative correlation. Table 9 - the simple correlation of soil properties after harvesting wheat field
Phosphorus Phosphorus Potassium Nitrogen pH EC Thiobacillus Population 1 -0.25ns 0.39** 0.56** -0.48** 0.05ns Potassium 1 0.2ns 0.12ns 0.44** 0.21ns Nitrogen pH EC Thiobacillus Population

1 0.45** -0.33* 0.17ns

1 -0.03ns 0.05ns

1 0.12ns

ns, *, **, respectively, indicating no significant difference in levels 5 and 1 percent is significant Discussion Nutrient uptake by plants in many soils of Iran due to high pH and calcium ions is difficult. Among the elements phosphorus and micro-nutrients can be named. Results showed that biological fertilizers on growth and yield are influenced in their influence on soil structure and fertility to the soil fertility has been putting increasing. Table (8) demonstrated that treatment (s1b1p3) that despite the phosphorus intake was not there was much phosphorus in the soil indicating that the bacteria release phosphorus was found to be insoluble. Use organic fertilizers that contain sulfur bacteria are Thiobacillus can use these elements to enhance efficiency (khademi, 2000). Eskandari (1991) during testing it was concluded that the available phosphorus in soil organic material associated with treatment with powdered sulfur and phosphorus fertilizer with no significant increase in the level of a percent, was compared to the control without fertilizer, Also sulfur, phosphorus fertilizers with organic materials in addition to compensating for the lack of available phosphorus in soils greater effects than seen with phosphorus fertilizer showed. In addition to sulfur nutritional value , due to the oxidation capacity and produce sulfuric acid, can be minimized to reduce the pH in the small scale of its particles, is having, It can be , especially in the rhizosphere zone, the dissolution of insoluble dietary compositions and release essential elements such as phosphorus, to be effective. (Kochakzadeh et al., 2003) Stated that when the phosphate soil with sulfur and Thiobacillus on soil organic matter in a timely manner (before planting) and the correct way (strip or deep) be consumed, a significant portion of phosphorus required to supply plant. Treatment (s2b3p2) had the highest potassium seems to be due to its abundance and availability in soil bacteria in the plant would not affect its value. Nitrogen values in Table (8) In Treatment (s1b2p1) Maximum amount that may indicate that phosphate solubilizing bacteria in soil by fixing nitrogen. Defreittas and Germida (1992) showed that wheat seeds inoculated with strains of P. cepacia R85, P. putida R104 and P. fluorescens R111 Increased absorption of nitrogen and iron from the soil. Research results showed that sulfur- oxidizing reduce soil acidity and increased uptake in plants, The nutrient uptake by plants in many Iranian soil because of high pH and calcium ion is difficult, This research was also observed in the treated (s2b1p2 ) allocated to the lowest acidity. Preliminary results of soil testing was apparently abundant amounts of sulfur and sulfur in the soil after the test because the entity had, there was little need for the oxidation of sulfur oxidizing it. Researchers of various fertilizers consumed in the oxidation of sulfur nutrient with beneficial effects (N. P. K. Ca) creating conditions for the dissolution of fertilizers and reduce soil pH, resulting in increased activity of some fertilizers and acid oxide like suppliers, linked said. Electrical conductivity in the treatment soil (s2b3p2) was the greatest, it seems that it will increase the phosphorus. The sand in treatment (s2b1p1) was the highest. Treatment (s1b1p1) had the highest amount of sludge. Treatment (s2b3p1) had the highest clay and treatment (s1b1p2) had the largest population of Thiobacillus. In one study it was found that the oxidation rate of sulfur in soils inoculated with Thiobacillus bacteria, about 11 times higher than in soils not inoculated. The main method of feeding the bacteria, and the reaction chemilitotrify is sulfur oxidation, the energy to perform are critical business activities, This genus contains several species with different ecological demands and thus it is possible that in any situation, at least some species can be active

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH in the soil. (Besharati et al., 2001) Investigation showed that the 72.5% of the agricultural soils studied contain neutral species like Thiobacillus are acidophilic species and 27 % contained . References Besharati, H., Kariminia, A., Salehrastin, N., Yakhchli, B., Khavazi, K and Malcoti, M.J. 2001. Identify and assess their impact on the Iranian native strains of Thiobacillus reduced soil pH. Industrial production of biological fertilizers in the country. (Page 600). Higher Council for Development and application of biological materials and efficient use of fertilizers and pesticides in agriculture. Dissemination of agricultural education. Department of Education and Human Resource Mobilization. Karaj. Page 175-229. Defreitas, R. J. and Germida, J. J. 1992. Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria for winter wheat. Canadian Journal of Microbiology, 36:265-272. Deluca, T. H. E. O. Skogley, and R. E. Egle. 1989. Band-applied elemental sulfur to enhance the phytoavailibility of phosphorus in alkaline calcareous soils.Biol. and Fert. of Soils. 7: 346350. Eskandari, z. 1991. Effect Sulfur and phosphorus uptake of organic materials on maize plant and its residual in a few samples of soil. Master's thesis Industrial University Esfehan. Page 114. Khademi, Z., Rezaee, H., Malkoti, M, J and Milani, P. 2000. Optimal nutrition of Canola. Effective step in increasing the yield and oil quality. Dissemination of agricultural education. Department of Education and Human Resource Mobilization. The Department of Agriculture. Karaj.Iran. Khavazi, K., Asadi rahmani, H., and Malcoti, M. J. 2003. Nursery producy industrial Biological fertilizer on country. ( c- Falah nosrat abadi, A.R., Rahimian, H. A., Saleh rastin, N., and Malacoti, M. J. 2003. Investigation suggestion of Microorganisms of phosphate solubizing in soil of ghylan province, 300-315. Kilham,K.,1994 soil ecology.University of press,Cambridge. Kochakzadeh, Y., Malacoti, M. J and Khavazi, K. 2003. The role of sulfur , Thiobacillus , phosphate Solubization and dissolved organic matter in the corn needed to supply of phosphorus from the soil phosphate. Feeding of corn. (Proceedings). Senate Publications Office to order the corn forage plants and projects. Rupela , O.P. and P. Turo, 1973. Ultilization of Thiobacillus to reclaim alkali soils. Soil Biol. Biochem. 5: 899-901. Salehrastin, N. 2001. Biological fertilizers and their role in order to achieve sustainable agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture, Dissemination of agricultural education. pp95. Sing, S. and K.K. Kapoor. 1992. Inoculation with phosphate solubilizing microorganisms and a vesicular mycorrhizal fungus improve s dry matter yield and nutrient uptake by wheat grown in a sandy soil. Biology and Fertility of Soils 28:139-144. Tabatabai. M. A. 1997.soil a enzymes .in:page .a.L.Miller , R.H., Keeny , D.R. (eds). Methods of soil analysis part2.chemical and microbiological properties .American society Agronomy Madison.PP.903-943.

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The interaction of different Zinc application and seed density on grain yeild and phytic acid concentration in winter wheat
Ghazaleh Vafaeia*, Mohammad Lotfollahia, Vilma Bayramzadeha, Mohammad taher Nezamia, Shokofeh Rezaeia
a: Department of Soil Science, Karaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Karaj, Iran. *Corresponding Author: ghv58.vafaei@gmail.com

To study the interaction of different Zinc application and seed density on grain yield and phytic acid concentration on winter wheat a field experiment was carried out from 2008 to 2009 in researching field of Islamic Azad University of Karaj in Mahdasht region. In a factorial experiment with a randomized complete block design and three replicates per treatment, two levels of seed density (180, 210 kgha-1 Pishtaz variety), two levels of Zn (0, 40 kgha-1as zinc sulfate) and 300 kgha-1 urea fertilizer added to the trial plots. All other management practices were done in conventional methods. results showed that the effect of different rates of seed density and Zn on grain yield was significant (P<0.05). seed density not significant at (P<0.05) but Zn increased the yield grain from 3.03to 3.59 tonha-1 (18.4) respectively. The interactive effect of seed density and Zn on grain yield was significant (P<0.05) and the highest grain yield (3.61 tonha-1 ) was obtained in Zn1d2 treatment. The effect of Zn on the PA concentration of grain was significant (P<0.05). Zn decreased it from (5.4 mg/kg) in Zn0 to 2.3 mg/kg in Zn1 (134.7%). The effect of seed density on the PA grain was significant at 5% level and increased it from 4.4 in d2 to 3.4 in d1 (29.4%). Keywords: Phytic acid, seed density, Wheat, Zinc

Abstract

Introduction Increasing the Zn and Fe concentration of food crop plants, resulting in better crop production and improved human health, is an important global challenge. Among micronutrients, Zn deficiency occurs in both crops and humans (White and Zasoski, 1999; Hotz and Brown, 2004; Welch and Graham, 2004). According to a WHO (2002) report on the risk factors responsible for development of illnesses and diseases, Zn deficiency ranks 11th among the 20 most important factors in the world and 5th among the 10 most important factors in developing countries. In a comprehensive study, Hotz and Brown (2004) reported that Zn deficiency affects, on average, one-third of worlds population, ranging from 4 to 73% in different countries. The regions with Zn-deficient soils are also the regions where Zn deficiency in human beings is widespread, for example in India, Pakistan, China, Iran and Turkey (Cakmak et al. 1999; Alloway, 2004; Hotz and Brown, 2004). Zinc deficiency in soils and plants is a global micronutrient deficiency problem reported in many countries (Sillanpaa, 1982; Bybordi and Malakouti, 2003; Alloway, 2004; Seilsepour, 2007). Nearly 50% of the cereal-grown areas in the world have soils with low plant availability of Zn (Graham and Welch, 1996; Cakmak,2002). Bybordi and Malakouti (2003) reported that wheat is sensitive to zinc deficiency, but less sensitive to Iron and copper deficiencies. Wheat is inherently low in concentrations of Zn in grain, particularly when grown on Zn-deficient soils. Based on a range of reports and survey studies, the average concentration of Zn in whole grain of wheat in various countries is between 20 to 35 mg kg1 (Rengel et al., 1999; Cakmak et al., 2004; Seilsepour, 2007). Most of the seed-Zn is located in the embryo and aleurone layer, whereas the endosperm is very low in Zn concentration (Ozturk et al., 2006). Cultivated wheat contains very low levels of Zn and shows a narrow genetic variation for Zn. Compared to cultivated wheat, wild and primitive wheat represent a better and more promising genetic resource for high Zn concentrations. Little information is, however, available about the genetic control and molecular physiological mechanisms contributing to high accumulation of Zn and other micronutrients in grain of different genetic materials (White and Broadley, 2005; Ghandilyan et al., 2006; Lucca et al., 2006). Results showed that grain yield is dependent to available-Fe and available-Zn in soil. So use Fe and Zn had not any effects in soils which had available-Fe and available-Zn more than 4.7 and 0.8 mg kg-1, respectively. Maximum increasing of grain yield by Fe application was 1100 kg.ha-1 in soils which contain 2 mg kg-1 available Fe

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH and by Zn application, grain yield increase received to 1200 mg kg-1 in soils which contain 0.5 mg kg-1 available Zn. There was a positive correlation between grain yield and available soil Fe or available soil Zn. The average grain yield increased by using of Fe and Zn were 317 and 330 mg kg-1, respectively. Yield increased 868 mg kg-1 by using of Fe and Zn. So the critical levels of Fe and Zn in soils were determined 4.7 and 0.8 mg kg-1, respectively. In this way, 54 and 46% of soils under wheat cultivation had deficiency in Fe and Zn, respectively. So the use of Zn and Fe fertilizers is highly recommended for yield increase in these soils (El-Majid et al., 2000; Seilsepour, 2007). Phytic acid is a major phosphorus compound in plant seeds and is also found in significant quantities in roots and tubers (1). Phytic acid (P6C6H18O24) or myo-inositol hexaphophate is the storage form of P in grain which is comprised of to 75% of total P of grain (PA-P). More than 90% of PA is in aleuron layer of wheat and thus, whole wheat flour contains a high amount of PA (Erdal et al., 1998a; Pomeranz, 1990). Phytic acid binds to essential minerals, thus rendering them unavailable for intestinal uptake and unable to participate in essential metabolic processes in the body. Phytins are the calcium and magnesium salts of PA that are soluble. Bran constitutes about 10.5-16.5% of the seed in different wheat varieties, and on the average 7% of that belongs to aleurone layer, a large amount of PA being accumulated in this layer of wheat grain (Mahmudi et al., 1999; Welch and Graham, 1999). Phytic acid may have beneficial and/or deleterious effects on humans and/or animals through nutrition. Some benefits reported are that it has anti cancerous properties and preventive effects against heart disease and diabetes (Janeb and Thompson, 2002). The typical negative effect known is the binding of such divalent cations as magnesium (Mg), Ca, Zn and Fe forming insoluble complexes, hence reducing their bioavailability. Phytic acid is also able to form complexes with proteins at high pH levels, and thus impair digestibility and bioavailability of seed proteins (Carnovale et al., 1988). Zinc deficiency is a global micronutrient deficiency in humans. It has been estimated that more than 2 billion people suffer from Zn deficiency (Madaiah et al., 1964). Some in vitro studies have indicated that Zn forms the most stable (insoluble) complex with PA. Phytate forms complexes with not only dietary Zn but also with endogenous Zn (Flanagan, 1984). Studies by Hallberg (6) showed that phytic acid rather than dietary fibre is mostly responsible for the reduced availability of minerals in man. Evidence has been presented showing that phytic acid causes a decrease in calcium and zinc balance in rats and humans (7). Phytic acid has also been reported to interfere with iron absorption in man and forms complexes of varying composition with proteins (8, 4). The objectives of the present study were to reduce the phytic acid by use Zinc fertilizer and balanced consumption of seed density. Materials and Methods Zinc deficiency is currently listed as a major risk factor for human health and causes of death globally. To study the interaction of different Zinc application and seed density on grain yeild and phytic acid concentration in winter wheat a field experiment was carried out from 2008 to 2009 in researching field of Islamic Azad University of Karaj in Mahdasht Region in poor Zn soil. In a factorial experiment with a randomized complete block design and three replicates per treatment, two levels of seed density (d1=180, d2=210 kgha-1 as Pishtaz Variety), two levels of Zn (Zn0=0, Zn1=40 kgha-1 as zinc sulfate) and 300 kgha-1 urea fertilizer added to the trial plots. And all other management practices were done in conventional methods. Planting pattern was strip cropping and seed were planted by hand. No pesticide was used fro pest management. When the plants were at full maturity stage and dried, harvest was conducted by hand from the end of wheat stem. To do this, from each 12.5 m2 plot, only 6 m2 (1.5 4 m) was harvested to reduce the error in decrease the effects of other plots. After harvesting, pounding the samples and detaching grains from straw, laboratory analyses were conducted. Phytic acid was extracted from seed wheat by the method of Fill and Fossati (5) , Zinc by Atomic Absorption. All statistical evaluations were done with the use of SPSS software. Analysis of variance results were considered significant if P < 0.05;

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Results Results showed that application of Zn and seed density (alone or together) has significant effect (at 0.05 probability) on wheat grain yield, grain-Zn and PA concentration. seed density not significant at (P<0.05) on grain yield but Zn increased the yield grain from 3.03to 3.59 tonha-1 (18.4) respectively. The interactive effect of seed density and Zn on grain yield was significant (P<0.05) and the highest grain yield (3.61 tonha-1) was obtained in Zn1d2 treatment. Seed Zn concentrations responded positively to increasing nutrient Zn treatment. The Effect of different rates of Zn application on Zn and PA (Phytic acid) concentration on grain wheat was significant (p<0.05). Similar results have been reported by Yilmaz et al. (1997). Seilsepour (2007) found that the average grain yield increase by using of Fe and Zn were 317 and 330 mg kg-1, respectively. Grain yield increased 18.4% by using a Zn application. Zn application increased grain-Zn concentration up from 21.51mg/kg to 27.70mg/kg (28.7%). Yilmaz et al. (1997) reported that fertilizers can increase grain Zn concentration up to three- or fourfold Zn application decreased phytic acid concentration from 5.4gr/kg to 2.3gr/kg. The effect of Zn on PA concentration of grain was significant (P<0.05). Zn decreased it from (5.4 mg/kg) in Zn0 to 2.3 mg/kg in Zn1 (134.7%). The effect of seed density on the PA grain was significant at 5% level and increased it from 4.4 in d2 to 3.4 in d1 (29.4%). The interactive effect of seed density and Zn on phytic acid was significant (P<0.05) and decreased it from 6.5gr/kg to 2.2gr/kg. Maximum PA concentration was obtained by using 210 kg/ha seed density without Zn treatments. Discussion Zinc and phytic acid content in grain crops are directly related to their nutritional quality and therefore human health. In order to eliminate Zn deficiency and reduce PA concentration in wheat, adding chemical compounds such as premix to soil is common in Iran. Acknowledgments I gratefully acknowledge the valuable contributions to Dr. Ali Khanmirzaei and I would like to thank Engineer Hossein Akbari for support and helpful comments. And specially thanks to my families. References Alloway BJ (2004). Zinc in soils and crop nutrition. IZA Publications. International Zinc Association, Brussels. pp. 1-116. Bybordi A, Malakouti MJ (2003). Effects of Iron, Manganese, Zinc and Copper on Wheat Yield and Quality under Saline Condition. Olom-e- Ab Va Khak. 17(2): 48-59. Cakmak I (2002). Plant nutrition research: Priorities to meet human needs for food in sustainable ways. Plant Soil 247: 3-24. Cakmak I, Kalayci M, Ekiz H, Braun HJ, Yilmaz A (1999). Zinc deficiency as an actual problem in plant and human nutrition in Turkey: A NATO-Science for Stability Project. Field Crops Res. 60: 175-188. Cakmak I, Torun A, Millet E, Feldman M, Fahima T, Korol A, Nevo E, Braun HJ, Ozkan H (2004). Triticum dicoccoides: an important genetic resource for increasing zinc and iron concentration in moderncultivated wheat. Soil Sci. Plant Nutr. 50: 1047-1054. Carnovale, E., Lugaro, E. and Lombardi- Boccia, G. 1988. Phytic Acid in Faba Bean and Pea: Effect on Protein Availability. Cereal Chem., 65: 114-117. El-Majid AA, Knany RE, El-Fotoh HGA (2000). Effect of foliar application of some micronutrients on wheat yield and quality. Ann. Agric. Sci. 1: 301-313. Erdal, I., B. Torun, S. Karanlik, H. Ekis and I. Cakmak. 1998. Determination of zinc and phytic acid and bioavailability of zinc in wheats grown in Turkey. The first national zinc congress in Turkey. 1998. Flanagan, P. R. 1984. A Model to Produce Pure Zinc Deficiency in Rats and Its Use to Demonstrate that Dietary PhytateIincreases the Excretion of Endogenous Zinc. J. Nutr., 114: 493-502

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Ghandilyan A, Vreugdenhil D, Aarts MGM (2006). Progress in the genetic understanding of plant iron and zinc. Physiol. Plant 126: 407- 417. Graham RD, Welch RM (1996). Breeding for staple-food crops with high micronutrient density: Working Papers on Agricultural Strategies for Micronutrients, No.3. International Food Policy Institute, Washington DC. Hotz C, Brown KH (2004). Assessment of the risk of zinc deficiency in populations and options for its control. Food Nutr. Bull. 25: 94-204. Janeb, M. and Thompson, L. U. 2002. Role of Phytic Acid in Cancer and Other Diseases. In: "Food Phytates", (Eds.): Reddy, N. R. and Sathe, S. K.. CRC Press, Boca Raton, F L, PP.225248 Lucca P, Poletti S, Sautter C (2006). Genetic engineering approaches to enrich rice with iron and vitamin A. Physiol. Plant 126: 291-303. Madaiah, V. T., Kurink, A. and Reid, B. L. 1964. Phytic Acid Studies. Proc. Soc. Biol. Med., 103: 304. Mahmudi, M., Kimiagaran, M., Velaiy, N. and Ghafarpur, M. 1999. Epidemiology Study of Zn Deficiency in Guidance School Students of Tehran City at 1997. The 5th Nutritional Congress Issues of Iran, Food Safety and Family Nutrition, Tehran, Iran. Ozturk L, Yazici MA, Yucel C, Torun A, Cekic C, Bagci A, Ozkan H, Braun HJ, Sayers Z, Cakmak I (2006). Concentration and localization of zinc during seed development and germination in wheat. Physiol. Plant 128: 144-152. Pomeranz, Y. 1990. Advances in Cereal Science and Technology. Vol X. PP. 309-311. Amreican Association of Cereal Chemists, St. Paul, Minn., USA. Rengel Z, Batten GD, Crowley DE (1999). Agronomic approaches for improving the micronutrient density in edible portions of field crops. Field Crops Res. 60: 27-40. Seilsepour M (2007). The study of fe and zn effects on quantitative and qualitative parameters of winter wheat and determination of critical levels of these elements in Varamin plain soils. Pajouhesh & Sazandegi 76: 123-133. Sillanpaa M (1982). Micro nutrients and the nutrient status of soils. A global study. FAO Soils Bull. No. 48, FAO, Rome. Welch RM, Graham RD (2004). Breeding for micronutrients in staple food crops from a human nutrition perspective. J. of Exp. Bot. 55: 353-364. Welch RM, Graham RD (2004). Breeding for micronutrients in staple food crops from a human nutrition perspective. J. of Exp. Bot. 55: 353-364. White PJ, Broadley MR (2005). Biofortifying crops with essential mineral elements. Trends Plant Sci. 10: 586-593. White JG, Zasoski RJ (1999). Mapping soil micronutrients. Field Crop Res. 60: 11-26. Hallberg L, Rossander L, Skanberg A. Phytates and the inhibitory effect of bran on iron absorption in man. Amer J Clin Nutr 1987; 45: 98896.

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Effect of Phosphorus and Zinc fertilizer application on yeild and decreasing the rate of (PA/Zn) in winter wheat
Ghazaleh Vafaei1*, Vahid Maleki2, Zarnegar Akhavan1, Nima Jaafari3
1- Department of Soil Science, Karaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Karaj, Iran. 2- Department of Agronomy, Karaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Karaj, Iran. 3- Department of Horticulture, Karaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Karaj, Iran& Faculty member of young researchers club, Islamic Azad University, Karaj branch, Iran. Corresponding author: ghv58.vafaei@gmail.com Balanced fertilization is one of the most important factors for increasing yield and improving the quality of wheat crop. In human nutrition PA/Zn ratio is an important factor and nutrients absorption will be reduced by high levels of PA/Zn ratio in diet. To study the effect of P and Zn application on reduced the PA/Zn ratio of wheat grain a field experiment was carried out from 2008 to 2009 in researching field of Islamic Azad University of Karaj in Mahdasht region. In a factorial experiment with a randomized complete block design and three replicates per treatment, tree levels of P(0, 100 and 200 kgha-1 as DAP), two levels of Zn (0, 40 kgha-1as zinc sulfate) and 300 kgha-1 urea fertilizer added to the trial plots. All other management practices were done in conventional methods and the seeds of Pishtaz variety of wheat was planted. The Anova results showed that the effect of different rates of P and Zn on grain yield was significant (P<0.05). P and Zn increased the yield grain (28.5%) and (18.4%) respectively. The interactive effect of P and Zn on grain yield was significant (P<0.05) and the highest grain yield (3.76 tonha-1 ) was obtained in Zn1P2 treatment The effect of P on the PA/Zn ratio of grain was significant at 5% level and increased it (87.1%) but Zn application significantly (P<0.05). For reduction of PA/Zn ratios balanced fertilization especially Zn application and apply P fertilizers only on the basis of soil testing are necessary. Keywords: Phosphorus, The rate of PA/Zn, Wheat, Zinc

Abstract

Introduction Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) has been cultivated throughout the world especially in such countries as Iran, Greece, and Egypt, as early as 2500 B.C. (Araste, 1991). It is the most consumed cereal crop constituting approximately 30% of the total cereals grown, making it a major source of nutrition including minerals for many people (McKevith, 2004). Consumption of whole wheat bread prepared from high extraction flours has been recommended because of their high content of fiber, vitamin, and minerals. Despite their beneficial effects, these breads contain high amounts of undesirable compounds like phytic acid (Malakouti, 2001; Faridi, 1980; Reinhold et al., 1974). High extraction flour is the commonly used especially in the rural areas of Iran. On the other hand, because of population growth and the necessity to shorten the time of bread preparation, most bakeries do not use the proper yeast and skip fermentation. This leads to a production of breads with high PA content (Sheikh-ol-Eslami and Jamalian, 2003). Malnutrition of iron (Fe), Zn, and calcium (Ca) observed in many parts of the Middle East, especially in Iran and Egypt, is believed to result from consumption of breads prepared from high extraction flours (Malakouti, 2001; Reinhold et al., 1974; Hurrel, 2001). Food enrichment process is the most reliable, cheapest, and best solution for a compensation of microelements deficiency in calcareous soil conditions (Nagi, 1996). In fertilized areas, a large fraction of wheat grain micronutrients is accumulated in the bran that does not ordinarily enter the peoples diets, therefore it is recommended that bread be prepared from whole wheat flour which has a low PA/Zn ratio. Erdal et al. (1998b) consider PA/Zn molar ratio, especially in cereals and legumes, to be a good criterion for assessment of Zn adsorption with PA/Zn of 25-30 as critical values in foods. Gibson et al. (1998) reported that PA/Zn molar ratio of 12 or higher caused a decrease in Zn absorption. According to WHO (1996) 55% of Zn content of foods is expected to be absorbed if PA/Zn ratio of foods is less than 5; whereas it would be 35% if the ratio is 5-15 and only 15% if it is higher than 15. Malakouti (2001) reported that PA/Zn ratio of Sangak, Barbary, Lavash, Taftun, and Baget bread flours, i.e., the bread types popular in Iran, was higher than the standard limit. Studies conducted about the effect of grinding and debranning have revealed that while total P, PA-P, and phytase are accumulated in the outer layers of cereal grains, however variation in phytase activities is high
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH within foodstuffs, depending on genetic and environmental factors (Cossa et al., 2000). The ratio of phytic acid to minerals present in foods may serve as an indication of the availability of the minerals in question. For example, a high phytic acid to zinc molar ratio (> 15:1) indicates low mineral availability from that food. The objectives of the present study were to reduce the phytic acid and PA/Zn molar ratio by use balanced of consumption of P and Zn fertilizer. Materials and Methods To study the Effect of Phosphorus and Zinc fertilizer application on yeild and decreasing the rate of (PA/Zn) a field experiment was carried out from 2008 to 2009 in researching field of Islamic Azad University of Karaj in Mahdasht Region in poor Zn soil. In a factorial experiment with a randomized complete block design and three replicates per treatment, tree levels of P (P0=0, P1=100 and P2=200 kgha-1 as DAP), two levels of Zn (Zn0=0, Zn1=40 kgha-1as zinc sulfate) and 300 kgha-1 urea fertilizer added to the trial plots. Pishtaz variety were taken to be used in this study and All other management practices were done in conventional methods. Planting pattern was strip cropping and seed were planted by hand. No pesticide was used fro pest management. When the plants were at full maturity stage and dried, harvest was conducted by hand from the end of wheat stem. To do this, from each 12.5 m2 plot, only 6 m2 (1.5 4 m) was harvested to reduce the error in decrease the effects of other plots. After harvesting, pounding the samples and detaching grains from straw, laboratory analyses were conducted. Phytic acid was extracted from seed wheat by the method of Fill and Fossati (5) , Zinc by Atomic Absorption and phosphorus by dry ash. The phytic acid content and distribution of phosphorus during cereal flaking were determined as well as the level of some minerals, and the molar ratios of phytic acid: zinc were calculated To calculate the zinc molar ratio use this formula as bellow:

All statistical evaluations were done with the use of SPSS software. Analysis of variance results were considered significant if P < 0.05; Results Appropriate amounts of P, coupled with sufficient Zn, increased P and Zn concentrations in wheat grain. The Zn supply decreased both phytic acid and the molar ratios of phytic acid to Zn in wheat grain with respect to the Zn0 treatment. Furthermore, proportions of Zn and P content in the grain relative to that of the whole plant were improved. With increasing P, the proportion of Zn and P content in the grain relative to the whole plant decreased. P and Zn acted antagonistically in roots. Excess P inhibited Zn uptake in roots, while Zn decreased the transfer of P from roots to shoots. For P that had been transported to the shoots, supplemental Zn facilitated its transfer to the grain. table 1 shows the major effect of P application on Zn & P concentration of grain wheat and the phytic acid and PA/Zn molar ratio. The anova results shows that the effect of different rates of P and Zn on phytic acid and PA/Zn molar ratio was significant (p< 0.05). Phosphorus increased both of the phytic acid concentration and PA/Zn molar ratio from 3.75gr/kg to 5.66gr/kg and 14.97 to 28.01 (87.1%) respectively. Table (1. Effect of P application on Zn & P concentration, the phytic acid and PA/Zn molar ratio on grain wheat Treatment P0 P1 P2 P concentration (%) 0.27 0.31 0.32 Zn concentration (ppm) 24.38 27.58 23.01
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Phytic acid (gr kg-1) 3.77 2.31 5.66

PA/Zn molar ratio 14.97 8.96 28.01

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Consumption of 200 kg/ha Phosphorus increases the PA/Zn ratio molar up to the critical level. PA/Zn ratios in whole wheat flour were higher than the critical limit (25, Erdal et al. 1998b) Effect of different rates of Zn application on Zn & P concentration and the phytic acid and PA/Zn molar ratio on grain wheat was significant (p<0.05) shows at figure (1). Zn application decreased both of the; phytic acid concentration and PA/Zn molar ratio from 5.4 gr/kg to 2.3gr/kg and 26.01 to 8.72, The interactive effect of P and Zn on yield was significant (P<0.05) and the highest yield (10.20 tonha-1 ) was obtained in Zn1P1 treatment . So Zn1P1 treatment from amount of the seed concenteration of Zn, seed weight, yield and the ratio of PA/Zn was better so the suitable treatment was recognized.seed Zn concentrations responded positively to increasing nutrient Zn treatment. The effects of P treatment on plant and seed P and phytic acid were largely independent of the effects of Zn treatment on seed Zn.

Figure (1) - effect of Zn application on Zn & P concentration, the phytic acid and PA/Zn molar ratio on grain wheat Discussion For reduction of PA/Zn ratios balanced fertilization especially Zn application and apply P fertilizers only on the basis of soil testing are necessary. Excess P decreased the distribution of Zn in grain, while Zn enhanced the uptake of Zn and P in grain, The combined application of Zn fertilizer with the extensive use of P fertilizer can effectively increase the P and Zn concentration and Zn bioavailability of wheat grain, and hence Zn nutritional quality. These results were consistent with the findings researchers such az Malakuti 2001, Erdal et al., 1998 and etc. Acknowledgments We gratefully acknowledge the valuable contributions of other members of our research team and our families.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH References Araste, N. (Translator). 1991. Cereal Technology. Cultural Assistance of Astane- GhodseRazavi. Cossa, J., Oloffs, K., Kluge, H., Drauschke, W. and Jeroch, H. 2000. Variabilities of Total and Phytate Phosphorus Contents as well as Phytase Activity in Wheat. Tropenlandwirt, 101: 119126. Erdal, I., Torun, B., Karanlik, S., Ekis, H. and Cakmak, I. 1998b. Determination of Zinc and Phytic Acid and Bioavailability of Zinc in Wheats Grown in Turkey. The First National Zinc Congress, Ankara, Turkey. Erdal, I., Yilmaz, A., Kalayci, M., Cakmak, I. and Hatipoglu, F. 1998a. Effect of Zinc Fertilization on Phytic Acid-zinc Molar Ratios in Different Wheat Cultivars Grown in Central Anatolia GAP Regions. The First National Zinc Congress, Ankara, Turkey. Faridi, H. A. 1980. Technical and Nutritional Aspects of Iranian Breads. Bakers Digest., 18-22. Fiel, B. and Fossati, D. 1997. Phytic Acid in Triticale Grains as Affected by Cultivar and Environment. Crop Sci., 37: 916-921. Gibson, R. S., Yeudall, F., Drost, N., Mitimuni, B. and Cullinan, T. 1998. Dietary Interventions to Prevent Zinc Deficiency. Am. J. Clin Nutr., 68: 484-487. Hurrel, R. F. 2001. Influence of Vegetable Protein Sources on Trace Element and Mineral Bioavailability. Presented at the PAHO Technical Consultation on Recommended Nutrient Composition of Fortified Complimentary Foods. Washington, DC. Malakouti, M. J. 2001. Comparing Researchfor the Zn, Phytic Acid, and Phytic Acid to Zinc Molar Ratio in Different Bread Types of Tehran. Effect of Zn in Human Healthy Congress. Tehran, Iran. McKevith, B. 2004. Nutritional Aspects of Cereals. Nutrition Bulletin, 29: 111-142. Nagi, K. 1996. The Role of Food Fortification in Combating Micronutrient. In: "Micronutrient Deficiencies in the Arab Middle East Countries", (Eds.): Musaiger, A. O. and Milad, S. S.. F. A. B., Cairo, Egypt, PP. 22-35. Reinhold, J. G., Parsa, A., Karimian, N. A., Hammick, J. W. and Ismail-Baigi, F. 1974. Availability of Zinc in Leavened and Unleavened whole Meal Wheaten Breads as Measured by Solubility and Uptake by Rat Intestine In vitro. J. Nutr., 104(8): 976-982. Sheikh-ol-Eslami, Z. and Jamalian, J. 2003. Investigation of Phytic Acid Contents of Wheat Flour, Dough, and Lavash and Sangak Breads. J. Sci. Technol. Agric. Natur. Resour., Isf. Univ. Technol., Isf., Iran. 7(2): 185-192. WHO. 1996. Trace Elements in Human Nutrition and Health. WHO, Geneva.

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Super Absorbent Hydrogels and Periods of Irrigation Reduce the Effect of Drought Stress on Turf
Nima Jaafaria*, Hasan Shahrodb, Vahid Malekic, Ghazaleh Vafaeid

a: Department of Horticulture, Karaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Karaj, Iran & Faculty member of
young researchers club, Islamic Azad University, Karaj branch, Iran b: Department of Horticulture, Karaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Karaj, Iran. c: Department of Agronomy, Karaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Karaj, Iran. d: Department of Soil Science, Karaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Karaj, Iran. Corresponding Author: Nima Jaafari (nima_jaafari@yahoo.com)

Abstract
Turf is a grass member of Poaceae family with delicate structure and high sensitivity to drought stress. Regarding this sensitivity, this experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of super absorbent hydrogels on alleviating the effects of drought stress on sport turf. The experiment was conducted in the research field of Department of Horticulture, Chamran University, Ahvaz, Iran, in split plot in the form of a randomized complete block design. The factors studied in this experiment included 0, 50 and 100 g/m2 super absorbent hydrogel and irrigation period of 3 and 7 days. During the growth period, physiological indices such as leaf area, leaf fresh and dry weight, root fresh and dry weight, tillering, growing density and the color were studied. Analyzing data by MSTATC revealed the significant effect of treatments (P0.01). Super absorbent hydrogels clearly alleviated the effect of drought stress on plant. Keywords: drought stress, grasses, sport turf, super absorbent hydrogel.

Introduction Iran is dry and semi desert country that water deficit as a main factor threatens agriculture actor and especially green spaces. According to this fact that all plants need water for growth and optimal yield even in green house conditions in case of not meeting this need they plants suffer drought stress (6).Total consumed water is 86.5 billion /m3 in a year in Iran that 80 milliard is consumed in agriculture sector and %65 of this amount is lost because of improper and incorrect irrigation and management styles (5).In case of reduction of water consumption by new irrigation and management methods products yield is increased %50 in agriculture sector (7). Poly acryl superabsorbent can be used as water absorber in increase of preserving capacity and water intake in the soil and this property is important for encounter to water stress and reduction of draught stress effects (6). Superabsorbent polymers or hydro gels could absorb considerable amount of water, inside of the polymer is discharged gradually after absorption and drying of the environment. So the soil is wet for long term without need to irrigation. From practical view point substance with capability of absorption minimum 20 times of its weight is evaluated as superabsorbent .water absorption level in these polymers ranges from trivial amount of 20 folds of their weight to more than 2000 weight depended on impurities water formulation and salt amount (2). This substance category was established in late of 1950 and it was designed for most applications like water preserving agents in agriculture and aid in extinction of fire. So in deed these substances were expanded in industrial scale in early of 1980.Thse materials were used in Japan for personal hygiene (12). Application of superabsorbent polymers in refining of drinking water, sewage, food industries, textile and extraction of mines have been reported (4, 16) .No odor and colorless and without contamination superabsorbent are found in underwater soils and plant tissues. These substances have anion and cation and neutral electrical charge that anion charge is important in agriculture. Anode superabsorbent could absorb plant effective cathode in addition to significant amount of water and meets plant needs (1). Polymer particles are in four sizes of powder, small (1-0/3 mm),medium (1-2 mm), big(2-4 mm).Except powder size by short life these substances are

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH preserved in the soil 5 to 12 years depended on environment conditions and because of continuous volume change (expansion during swelling and contraction during losing water) increase air and finally de composited by microorganisms depended on their type (12). Superabsorbent hydro gels could absorb 200 and 500ml water for each polymer dry weight gram (19).These substances intake plant required nutrients (17). In some conditions superabsorbent polymers are used as fertilizer releasing agent in the soil matrix so that they intake plant nutrients and release them gradually and meet plant needs thus prevent washing of these elements (15). Superabsorbent influence on water penetration in the soil and soil apparent weight and structure (11) and also on soil surface evaporation (17).According to this fact that light soils have less preservation and storage capacity but they have less humidity amount applicable for F.C and P.W.P. By adding of Superabsorbent hydro gels into soil preservation capacity is increased and water penetration is improved and evaporation level is reduced (9). Application of 3gr Superabsorbent hydro gels in one litter of the soil increases sandy pores up to %37 and %50.clay sand needs less Superabsorbent hydro gels relative to sandy and loamy soils because of having high percentage of small pores. These substances are used as catalyst in some reactions and in rubber ions exchanging combinations (14). Until now many researches have been carried out on the effect of superabsorbent hydro gels on different plants like olive, wheat, melon, cucumber, soy and etc. These researches reported the positive effect of these substances on the plant growth and quality in different draught conditions. In faculty of agriculture in Tarbiat Modares university, Kykhaei (13) investigation application of water Superabsorbent polymer in the plant in field study .the researcher improved the soil physical properties and investigated the effect of this substance on oil cotton herbal plant growth properties. Also he recommended this substance in order to saving of water and increase of consumption output by making water stress and study of the results. He concluded that application of water Superabsorbent polymer could solve the problem of preserving of light soils humidity. Huttermann and et al (10) researches showed that allpinus halepensis planted seeds survived after combination of the soil with polymer in % 0/4under wet stress after 17 days while in combination of %0/2 only 23 plants in experiment group and 17 plants in control group survived. Allahdadi (2003) (1) investigated the effect of polymer A100 on legume corn yield and growth. The results showed the positive effect of high amount of Superabsorbent on the studied properties specially plant height and dry substance. By increase of irrigation intervals the effect of existence and high amount of polymer seem tangible. Shafihi (3) in a study on pancium and effect of polymer showed positive effect on produced dry substance enhancement and growth. In research of Dehghan and et al (7) it was found that in combination of %0/75 of polymer and soil the dry matter production in the soil without polymer was equal to dry matter obtained in treatment of the soil and polymer after twice consumption. So it is concluded that %50 water was saved in this part of the experiment as application of the polymer. Generally grasses are divided into two categories according to usage. The firs category involves grasses used in the green spaces of the houses, parks recreational and industrial area and etc .in addition they used for construction of appropriate surfaces for practices like football, golf, tennis and etc that Lawn 1 is used in this case. The second category is used for planting in meadow, fields and besides of the roads, these grasses are called turf egrass 2 and they are used for production of the legumes and prevention of dust into airplane motor. The grass is used mainly in sport fields and most of the researches have been conducted related to resistance of the plants against walking and resistance against heat or cold and also pests (20).

Materials and methods

This research was conducted in winter of 2010 in research field of horticulture sciences department of Ahvaz Shahid Chamran University as spilt plot experiment with completely statistical design with three treatments of control superabsorbent hydro gels of 50 and 100 g for each m3 and three replications.Each plot was considered in length of 2 meters and width of 1 meter.80 gram sport grass seed and the superabsorbent hydro gels a-200 were used.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Each plot was prepared for planting of the grass and sowing of the seeds then the superabsorbent hydro gels were distributed uniformly in all surfaces. The plots were irrigated equally and after five days of planting the seeds were germinated.3and 7days irrigation period begun after ten days planting .this irrigation period continued until forty days. All plots were covered by plastic tunnels in rainy days in order to preserve irrigation period. The first physiologic indictors sampling was done at the end of irrigation period. Then draught stress was applied for 34 days and then the second sampling was conducted. The data were analyzed by statistical software. Table (1) summarizes the experiment grass characteristics. And table (2) shows the characteristics of superabsorbent hydro gel used in the experiment.
Table 1: experiment grass characteristics Scientific name English name Kentucky blue grass Tall fescue Growth season cold cold Resistance against walking medium high Water need high Low deep and Draught resistance medium high Cold resistance high high Texture

popretensis festucaarundinacea loliumperenne

Fine to medium Fine to big fine

Perennialrye cold high Low and high high grass continuous Table 2: characteristics of superabsorbent hydro gel used in the experiment

Specification A200 superabsorbent Apparent White grain Humidity % 5-7 Odor and toxicity Density(g/cm2) 1/4-1/5 Solution pH 6-7 solubility in water Non dissolved Particle size 50-150 Maximum stability(year) 5 Urban water absorption practical capacity :g/g 180 Still water absorption practical capacity :g/g 203 Solution absorption practical capacity of 40 chloride sodium salt :g/g Time to reaching %0/63 of balanced absorption 76 capacity(second) Maximum dissolved element (weight 2-3 percentage) Results and discursion The results of this research showed that application of 100g superabsorbent hydro gel in irrigation once in seven days affects significantly on increase of the measured traits so that the color, density and earring and fresh weight and surface of the leaf were increased. Except root fresh weight and dry weight showed the highest yield in application of 50g superabsorbent hydro gel in seven days irrigation. The highest leaf dry weight was obtained in 100g superabsorbent hydro gel application and three days irrigation and also the lowest leaf surface was observed in 100g superabsorbent hydro gel application and in control group in three days irrigation.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH After application of draught period the second sampling was conducted. The results showed that the color, density and earring and fresh weight and dry weight of the leaf were increased significantly in application of 100g superabsorbent hydro gel and irrigation of seven days. The lowest root and leaf density and earring and fresh weight and dry weight were observed in 50g superabsorbent hydro gel. These treatments reduced leaf fresh and dry weight in drought period. Thus this research showed the best results in application of superabsorbent hydro gel in increase of the measured traits in grass and it reduced drought effect. Application of 100g superabsorbent hydro gel reduced significantly draught stress in grass. These results are in agreement with findings of Alahdadi (2003) about positive effect of high amount of superabsorbent on the studied properties. References
Alahdadi, A, 2003: investigation of the effect of superabsorbent hydro gels application on reduction of drought stress in the plants. The second superabsorbent hydro gels industrial and agriculture application specialist educational course articles.49-71. Asgari, F., Nafisi.OmidianH. and Hashemi 1994;Synthesis Recognisian and modifiction the properties of suger.absorbent plymers,procceding International seminar of polymer Sciense and technology,80-83. Banj Shafihi, Shhram, 2003: the effect of superabsorbent polymers on increase of soil humidity, fertilizer output, panicom growth. The second superabsorbent hydro gels industrial and agriculture application specialist educational course articles.123- 134. Barvenik,F-W.1994;Polyacry lamide characterics related soil application soil seience158(4):235343. Bowman ,D.c.and R.Y.Evan.1991; calcium inhibition of polyacrylamide gel hydration is partially reversible by Polassium.Hortscience26(18):1063-1065. Chatzopoulos,T,F.,J.F.fugit,L.ouillous.zooo;Etu deocation function do different parameters dolabsption et alla desorption do sodium retitule, European polemer Journal 36:51-60. Dehghan.B.,1995;using polymers hn landscape trees-preliminary research shows that polymers result in less irrigatoin.ornamental out look4:17-18. Ganji Khoramdel, N, 2003: The effect of superabsorbent on soil physical properties. The second superabsorbent hydro gels industrial and agriculture application specialist educational course articles. Ganji Khoramdel, N, 2009: the effect of PR3005Aabsorbent polymer on siol physical properties. M.S thesis of agriculture faculty, Tarbiat Modares University. Huttermann.A.,Zommorodi.M.,Reise.K.1999;Addition of hydrogels to soil prolonging the survival of Pinus halepensis seeding subject to drought.soil and thllage REASERCH 50:295-304. Helalia,A., and J. Letey.1998;cationic polymer effects on in filtration rates with a rianfall simulator soil Science Society of America Journal 52: 247-250. Kabiri, K, 2003, acrylic superabsorbent hydro gels. The second superabsorbent hydro gels industrial and agriculture application specialist educational course articles. Kekhaei, F, 2003: investigation of the effect of superabsorbent on consumed water and some quantitative and qualitative properties of oil cotton. M.S thesis of agriculture faculty, Tarbiat Modares University. Liu,Z,S.1995;effet of polymer in Agriculture university of water100.canada. Mikklesen,R.L.1994;Using hydro phyilic polymer to control nutrient release.Fertilizer Research 38:53-59. Orzolek,MD.1993; use of hydro phyilic polemer in horticulture. Hort technology3(1):41-44. 9-Helalia,A., and J. Letey.1998;cationic polymer effects on in filtration rates with a rainfall simulator soil Science Society of America Journal 52: 247-250. Taylor, k.c, and HolFacre,R.G.1986;effect of hydrophilic Polymer on media water retentionaud nutrient availability to ligustum .Hort Science,21:1159-1161. Teyel, M.Y.,O.A EL-Hady.1981; super gelas a soil coudition.Acta Horticulture119:247-250.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Evaluating the effects of macro, micro and organic matter on crop yield and the residual effects of fertilizers in a crop rotation
E.O. Montazeri, H. Tabiehzad and F.G. SHayeste
Members of scientific board of west Azerbaijan research center,Uromia,Iran Corresponding author: Mnet1960@yahoo.com

Abstract

In order to evaluate the nutrients changes due to different managements in fertilizer usage over time and study the crop yield changes and the sustainability of production in relation with different crop system in area's dominant crop rotation (wheat, sunflower, and sugar beet) a completely randomized block experiment with 14 treatments and 3 replications was carried out in a soil with low P,K,Zn,Fe and organic matter content in Tobacco Research Station of West Azerbaijan Iran from 2004 for five years. In this rotation wheat two times sunflower and sugar beet one time planted. The analysis of variance indicated that all the fertilizer treatments in comparison with control caused significant increase at 5% Level for wheat grain and straw yield, seed yield and weight of a thousand seeds of sun flower and at 1% level for sugar beet weight. At the end of rotation soil chemical analysis indicated differences at 1% level between the treatments for organic matter content. Keywords: Effect, Macronutrient, Micronutrient, Rotation, Residual effects

Introduction: Halvorson et al (1985) reported that by using phosphorus fertilizer only once according to soil analysis the amount of phosphorus measured after 16 years by Olson method was greater than that of measured at the beginning of trial .The application of phosphorus as mineral fertilizer or animal manure increases available phosphorus in soil (Sumner, 2000).Chemical reactions between soil and calcium in water causes the absorbable phosphorus to change into non absorbable or less absorbable form for the plants. While manure decays organic phosphates are released and the total phosphorus level available to plant increases. The residual effect of organic phosphorus in soil will remain for years if manure usage is stopped, if not. It will also increase the soil drainage five times in comparison with the soil without it (Hedley et al., 1982). The results of experiments conducted in South East Asia on rice have shown a reduction in production despite the fact that all the management measures were executed properly. The reason was believed to be partially due to the changes in the quality of the soil organic matter and partially due to the lack of necessary nutritional elements like P, K, S and Zn (Fallah, 1993). Materials and Methods: This experiments was conducted with 14 treatments and three replications on a piece of land located at Tobaco Research Station in Urmia with heavy soil containing non absorbable phosphorus and organic matter, average amount of absorbable (K) and other microelements at a lower level than critical point on dominant rotations of the area (wheat, sunflower and sugar beet) (table 1). depth SP Ec cm % Ec103 0-30 48 0.47 Table 1- Chemical analysis of soil pH O.C T.N.T ava(p) ava(k) Fe Zn Cu Mn sand silt clay % % mg/kg % 8.1 0.5 15.2 5 210 7.53 0.93 0.98 2.3 20.6 44 35.4

During the experiment period, wheat was planted twice but beet and sunflower were planted once. The treatments were as following: 1- Control (without any fertilizer) 2- Recommended NP (Urea +Ammonia Phosphate) 3- Recommended NP (Ammonia Nitrate +Ammonia Phosphate) 4- Recommended NPK (Urea+ Ammonia Phosphate+ Potassium Sulphate)

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5- Recommended NPK (Urea+ Ammonia Phosphate+ Potassium Chloride) 6- Recommended NPKZn 7- Recommended NPKSZn 8- Recommended NPK Plus five tons of compost 9- Recommended NPK Plus five tons of manure 10- Recommended NP Plus five tons of compost 11- Recommended NP Plus five tons of manure 12-Compost (40 tons per hectare) 13- Manure (40 tons per hectare) 14- NPKFe The dimensions of the lots were 10 3.75 meters on which soil analysis like % O.C, P (ava), K(ava), Cl and microelements had been done before cultivation .The recommended fertilizers were treated to the lots according to the type of crop. All the fertilizers were used along with 1/3 of the nitrogen during the cultivation and the rest was used in two stages as topdressing. The microelements which are needed in smaller amounts were taken from the following sources. Zn was taken from zinc sulfate, Mn from manganese sulfate at the rate of 30 and 40 kg per hectare respectively (Malakouti and Gheibi, 2001) and iron from iron sequestrene. During the experiment period, agricultural cares taken for all the treatments were the same. At the end, harvest was from lots of 10 squares meters. Results Wheat: During the rotation period wheat was cultivated in two times. The average result revealed that the treatment caused an increase in production of grain, one thousand seed weight, protein percentage in a grain, grain number in panicle and the weight of straw but this increase was significant only in grain, straw weight and protein percentage in a grain.The maximum grain weight was obtained in treatment number 13(40 tons of manure per hectare) which was 5.86 tons per hectare which located in group A considering statics. Compared to the control (without any fertilizer) there was an increase of two tones per hectare. Regarding nitrogen fertilizer, no significant difference was seen in production between urea and ammonia nitrate usage. Sunflower: Investigating the effects of different treatments on sunflower seed yield, one thousand seed weight and the protein percentage in the seed, it was found out that there was statistically 5% significant difference compared to the control section, but among the treatments 2 to 14 there was no significant difference in seed production compared to each other. One thousand seed weight statistically showed one percent significant difference. Treatment 11(NPK+ 5 tons manure) was placed at group A with an average of 66.38 grams alone. The protein percentage was also affected by different treatments and statistically was placed at one percent significant difference. Treatment 14(NPKFe), with 26.1 percent, was the highest and the control section, with 18.17 percent was the lowest. There was no difference in protein percentage between the treatments with nitrogen and potassium fertilizers. The effects of Zn and S on protein increase were less than that of iron. Sugar beet: All the treatments statistically had a significant effect of one percent on sugar beet yield. The forth treatment with an average production of 70.96 tons per hectare was placed in group A and the control with an average production of 20.43 tons per hectare was in group E. There was no significant difference among the effects of different nitrate fertilizers nor was among the effects of different potassium fertilizers. The same result was true about the effects of Zn and S on beet roots. No effect in different treatments was seen on root sugar rate but was noticed on one percent production promotion.

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Discussion The changes in soil organic carbon during the rotation period shows that there is a significant difference among the treatments at the level of 5% at the end of rotation. Treatment 13(40 tons of manure per hectare) was placed in group A with %86(fig1). It is worth mentioning that the amount of organic carbon in the manure was %32.The results of different treatments revealed that during the rotation period the amount of absorbable phosphor was more in the soil with organic treatments than the soil with chemical ones. Therefore in categorizing the treatments, number 13 was in group A during the whole stages (fig 3). This proves that organic matter can be considered as a source of phosphor for plants during a rotation which can improve the physical properties of soil as well. Regarding usable Zn in soil, treatments 12 (40 tons of compost per hectare) contained the maximum amount of absorbable Zn during the stages of rotation. This is expectable because the amount of Zn in compost is 655 milligram per kilogram (fig 2).The results of T evaluation between two groups, at the beginning and end of the experiment regarding absorbable iron indicated a significant difference at the level of one percent. The amount of usable iron with an average of 7.53 milligram at the start of cultivation season, reduced to 6.62 milligram at the end of the season. This reduction is not so significant that can cause problem for the following cultivation

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References Fallah, V.M., (1993). Long-term effect of macro and micronutrient application on rice yield and and soil properties. International symposium of insurf. Fujian academy of Agriculture, Fuji, China. Hedley, M. J., J. W. B. Stewart, and Chanhan, B.S, (1982). Changes in inorganic soil phosphorus fraction induced by cultivation practices and by laboratory incubation. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J.46:970976. Halverson, A.D. and Black, A.l., (1985).Long-term dryland crop responses to residual phosphorus fertilizer. Soil Sci. Soc. Am.J.49:928-933. Malakouti, M.J., Gheibi, M. N., (2001).Determination of critical levels of nutrients in oil, plant& fruit for the quality & yield improvements of Iran's strategic crops. Sumner, M. (2000). Hand book of soil science. United States of America.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Evaluation of soil phosphorus release by oxalic acid
Neda MORADI1, MirHassan RASOULI-SADAGHIANI1* , Ebrahim SEPEHR1
1. Department of Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Urmia University, Urmia IRAN *. Corresponding author: m.rsadaghiani@urmia.ac.ir Abstract Next to nitrogen, phosphorus (P) is the most important essential nutrient for plant growth. However, excessive application of P fertilizers has led to soil and ground water contamination. P in acidic and calcareous soils retains and accumulates by Fe/Al oxide and calcium carbonate, respectively. Study on the efficacy of organic acids in particular oxalic acid (OA) in decreasing P accumulating and increasing its release from soil solids, is more important in accordance to appropriate application management and inhibiting of excessive and unbalanced P fertilizer using. In order to evaluation of OA effect on P release, five soil samples prepared from surface of West Azerbaijan, Iran. In this study 2.5g of soil treated with 2 and 5 mM OA, 0.5 mM K2HPO4 in presence of KCl 0.01 M (as background solution) in batch experiment. The results showed that in the presence of OA and due to occupying sorption sites, P adsorption and retain significantly reduced. The efficacy of OA at high concentration (5 mM) was sharper compared to its low concentration. It is concluded that in calcareous soils with high P, plants with exuding organic acids like OA can obtain their P requirement for several years and therefore can reduce significantly soil pollution and its leaching to ground waters. Keywords: Phosphorus, oxalic acid, calcareous soils, P pollution

Introduction Phosphorus is one of the most limiting nutrients for plant growth in many soils. Its availability depends on soil characteristics and contents of mobilisable P fractions. The Ca-P is the main inorganic P fraction in calcareous soils, whereas Fe-P and Al-P are predominant forms in acid soils (Chang and Jackson, 1957). So application of phosphorus (P) fertilizers in agricultural calcareous soils has introduced some problems mainly because of P adsorption, precipitation, low recovery and accumulation in soil. Decrease in availability of P is suggested to be a complex function of several factors such as: soil chemical composition, amount and reactivity of silicate clays, CaCO3, Fe oxides, P addition rates and time (Afif et al. 1993). Organic acids play a key role in enhancing anion availability to plants by participating in ligand exchange reactions on mineral surfaces. Low-molecular-weight organic acids widely occur in water and soil as natural products of root exudates, microbial secretions, and decomposition of plant and animal residues (Zhang et al., 1997; Marschner and Romheld, 1995). Organic-acid exudation from roots is considered to be one of the mechanisms for plants to adapt to P-deficient environment (Chen et al. 2008) by mobilizing unavailable P in soil (Wang et al. 2008). Low-molecular weight aliphatic organic acids, such as citric and oxalic, have been reported to reduce P adsorption by soil and P-fixing minerals, and to desorbed soil P, thus improving the availability of soil P to plants (Khademi et al, 2009 ). So the objective of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of oxalic acid in reducing the sorption of phosphorus in the studied soils. Materials and Methods Surface layer (0-30 cm) of five calcareous soil were sampled in the north-west of Iran. The soil samples were air dried and ground to pass through a 2 mm-sieve before use. Some of the chemical and physical properties of the soils are given in Table 1. Phosphorus sorption isotherms were measured to evaluate the effects of organic acids on P sorption. For the sorption experiments, triplicate soil samples (2.5g) were placed in 50 mL centrifuge tubes. Twenty five mL of 0.01 M KCl solution containing 0.4 mmol L-1 KH2PO4 and 0, 2 and 5 mol L-1 from oxalic acid was added to each tube. Two drops of toluene were added to inhibit microbial activity. The suspensions were shaken on an end-over-end shaker at 251C for 24 h. At the end of the incubation period, the tubes were centrifuged at 3000 rpm for 10 min and filtered through a Whatman filter paper

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(No. 42). The P concentration in the supernatant was determined by the molybdenum blue method (Murphy and Riley 1962). Sorbed P was calculated from the difference between the concentration of soluble P added in the initial solution and P in the solution at equilibrium. In order to evaluate the ability of OX to depress P sorption, the percentage efficiency of OX was calculated according to the expression of Deb and Datta (1967):

Efficiency of OX (%) = (1- P adsorbed in the presence of OX / P adsorbed when applied alone) 100
All of the data were subjected to ANOVA after normality and homogeneity test (MSTATC software and MINITAB 14.0). Duncan's multiple range tests was conducted only when the analysis of variance was significant at P 0.05. Results and Discussion Selected chemical and physical properties of the studied soil are shown in Table 1. The soil can be classified as neutral to alkaline with low organic matter. The calcium carbonate equivalent varied from 42 to 280 g kg-1. CEC ranged from 21 to 38 cmolc kg-1. Clay content in all soils averaged 392 g kg-1 and ranged from 100 to 560 g kg-1. Table 1. Some physical and chemical properties of the studied soils
Soil Number 1 2 3 4 5
a b

Site

pH (CaCl2) 7.4 7.6 8.0 7.5 7.5

CECa (cmol kg-1) 30 29 27 38 21

CCEb

OMc (g kg-1) 27 27 21 29 6

Clay

Silt

Sand

Texture Class Clay Silty Clay Clay loam Clay Sandy Loam

Khalifan Sofichi Rozeh Chai Pasveh Rahdaneh

47 93 220 280 42

500 470 330 560 100

400 410 440 340 200

100 120 230 100 700

CEC = cation exchange capacity CCE = CaCO3 equivalent c Organic matter

The amount of P sorption at different concentrations of oxalic acid is shown in Table 2. The degree of reduction in P sorption in the presence of oxalate depends on the concentrations of the organic acid. The greater the oxalic acid concentration added, the higher the reduction in P adsorption. The results showed that the amount of P sorption significantly was decreased in particular at different concentrations of oxalic acid and the greater the oxalic acid concentration added, the higher the reduction in P adsorption (Table 2). So, the lowest and highest amount of P sorption were observed in soil 5 (sandy) and soil 4 (clayey, carbonated), respectively. probably positively related to the content of CaCO3 equivalent and clay percent (Table 1). Our results indicate that oxalic acid has potential to decrease P sorption in the studied soils. Table 2. Effect of oxalic acid concentration on phosphorus sorption Concentration ( mmol L-1) 0 2 5 1 123 a 121 b 112 c Soil types 2 124 a 115 b 112 c 3 125 a 116 b 112 c 4 129 a 120 b 118 b 5 109 a 107 a 99 b

Means followed by dissimilar letters within a column are significantly different at p<0.05 according to Duncan Test

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Efficiency of oxalic acid in reducing the sorption of phosphorus is shown in fig.1. Oxalic acid was highly efficient of reducing P adsorption by soils. Efficiency of oxalic acid at 2 and 5 mM concentrations were increased from 1.83 to 7.38% and 8.35 to 10.57%, respectively. These results imply that there was competition between organic acid and P for soil surface. The effect of the organic ligand depending on the acid strength and the number of carboxyl groups. Among these organic acids, oxalic acid (H2C2O4) is a relatively strong acid with two carboxyl groups. The mechanism of P sorption on soil and minerals with variable charge was mainly ligand exchange reaction (Prafitt, 1978; Haynes and Swift,1989).
12

Oxalic acid efficiency (%

10 8 6

2 mM
4 2 0 1 2 3 4 5

5 mM

Soils

Fig. 1. Efficiency of oxalic acid in reducing phosphorus sorption Khademi et al. (2009) reported that oxalate has a tendency to be precipitated readily in the presence of Ca2+ (Strm et al., 2001) and reduce the content of active carbonates in calcareous soils. In calcareous soils, oxalic acid excretion leads to the dissolution of CaCO3 and precipitation of Ca-oxalate in the zone of plant roots. In calcareous soils, oxalate may release P primarily held in CaP minerals through the formation and precipitation of Ca-oxalate (Strm et al., 2001). The present results showed that the effect of organic acids was relied on the constituents of soil solid phase and organic acid concentration. In order to increase the utilization efficiency of P and alleviate environmental pollution resulted from P, the competition between P and organic acid should be considered. References Afif, E., Matar, A., Torrent, J., (1993). Availability of phosphate applied to calcareous soils of West Asia and North Africa. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 57, 756760. Chang, S. C. and Jackson, M. L., 1957. Fractionation of soil phosphorus. Soil Science, 84, 133144. Chen, C. R., Condron, L. M., Xu, Z. H., (2008). Impacts of grassland a forestation with coniferous trees on soil phosphorus dynamics and associated microbial processes: A review. For Ecol Manage, 255,396409. Deb, D. L. and Datta, N. P., (1967). Effect of associated anions on phosphorus retention in soil: II. Under variable anion concentrations. Plant and Soil, 26, 432-444. Murphy, J. and Riley, J. P., (1962). A modified single solution method for the determination of phosphate in natural waters. Analytica Chimica Acta, 27, 3136. Zhang, F. S., Ma, J., Cao, Y. P., (1997). Phosphorus deficiency enhances root exudation of lowmolecular weight organic acids and utilization of sparingly soluble inorganic phosphate by radish (Raghanus sativus L.) and rape (Brassica napus L.) Plants. Plant and Soil, 196, 261264.

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Marschner, H. and Romheld, V., (1995). Strategies of plants for acquisition of iron. Plant and Soil, 165, 261274. Wang, Y., He, Y., Zhang, H., Schroder, J., Li, C., Zhou, D., (2008). Phosphate mobilization by citric, tartaric, and oxalic acids in a clay loam Ultisol. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 72, 12631268. Khademi, Z., Jones, D. L., Malakouti, M. J., Asadi, F., Ardebili, M., (2009). Organic acid mediated nutrient extraction efficiency in three calcareous soils. Australian Jornal of Soil Research, 47, 213220. Strm, L., Owen, A. G., Godbold, D. L., Jones, D. L., (2001). Organic acid behavior in calcareous soil: sorption and biodegradation rates. Soil Biology & Biochemistry, 33, 21252133. Prafitt, R. L., (1978). Anion adsorption by soils and soil materials. Advances in Agron, 30, 1-50. Haynes, R. J., Swift, R. S., (1989). The effect of pH and drying on adsorption of phosphate by aluminum-organic matter associations. Journal of Soil Science, 40, 773-781.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH

The effect of microbial inoculation on growth and essential oil content of peppermint
MirHassan Rasouli-Sadaghiani1*, Mehdi Mahmoudzadeh1, Abbas Hassani2
1. Dept. of Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Urmia University 2. Dept. of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Urmia University

Corresponding author: m.rsadaghiani@urmia.ac.ir

Abstract
In new years the use of soil microorganisms, including plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) on growth of plant nutrition has been considered. This study was investigated as complete randomized design with 4 treatments and 3 replications. Treatments included: 1) control or no-inoculation (C) 2) inoculation with Pseudomonase (P) 3) inoculation with Bacillus (B) and 4) inoculation with Azotobacter (A). At the end of plant vegetative period, growth parameters as well as essential oil content were measured. Results showed microbial inoculation significantly (P 0/05) affect measured parameters including plant height, stem diameter, number of lateral branches, and total length of lateral branches, leaf number, and fresh and dry matter yield per pot. Microbial inoculation significantly increased essential oil content (>30%) of peppermint compared to non-inoculated plants. Enhancement of growth factors and essential oil content occurred because of increased root surface area and proper nutritional status. The highest and lowest values for plant growth parameters were observed in plants inoculated with PGPR and control, respectively. Keywords: Essential oil, Peppermint, Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria, Rhizosphere.

Introduction The rhizosphere concept was first introduced by Hiltner to describe the narrow zone of soil surrounding the roots where microbe populations are stimulated by root activities (Gray and Smith, 2005). Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) comprise a diverse group of rhizospherecolonizing bacteria and diazotrophic microorganisms which, when grown in association with a plant, stimulate growth of the host. PGPR can affect plant growth and development indirectly or directly (Glick, 1995; Vessey, 2003. Plants of importance in modern agriculture and trade are not restricted to traditional food, forage, and fiber crops, but increasingly include species with secondary metabolites having desired aromatic or therapeutic qualities, or providing source material for the perfume and chemical industries. Lipid (oil) constituents of certain plants are used as chiral auxiliaries in synthetic organic chemistry, and in microbial transformation of common structures to give highly functionalized substances of enhanced economic value (Sangwan et al., 2001).Various species of bacteria like Pseudomonas, Azospirillum, Azotobacter, Klebsiella, Enterobacter, Alcaligenes, Arthrobacter, Burkholderia, Bacillus and Serratia have been reported to enhance the plant growth (Benizri et al., 1998). Bacillus subtilis is one such commercialized PGPR organism, and it acts against a wide variety of pathogenic fungi. Among these bacteria, fluorescent pseudomonades have high efficiency in host root colonization and plant growth metabolites production as well (Rasouli-Sadaghiani, 2010). Peppermint has a long tradition of medicinal use, with archaeological evidence placing its use at least as far back as ten thousand years ago. It is the oldest and most popular flavour of mintflavoured confectionery (Mahmoud, 1996). Essential oils (EO) are volatile, lipophilic mixtures of secondary plant compounds, mostly consisting of monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes and phenylproponoids. Trials with rhizosphere associated plant growth promoting N2-fixing and Psolubilising Bacillus species indicated yield increases in barley (ahin et al., 2004), wheat (De Freitas, 2000), maize (Pal, 1998), sugar beet (Cakmakc et al., 1999. Plant growth responses were variable and dependent upon the inoculant strain, soil organic matter content, growing stage, harvest date, and growth parameters evaluated (Cakmakc et al., 2007). The objective of this paper was to better characterize the effects of three plant growth promoting rhizobacteria, Pseudomonas, Bacillus and Azotobacter on growth and essential oil content of peppermint.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Materials and Methods This study was performed on a loamy sandy soil, collected from outside the township of Salmas (3811'N, 4446'E), West Azerbaijan province located in North-West of Iran. The pot experiment was carried out in a randomized complete design with three replicates. Four treatments were considered: Control plants or non-inoculated (C), plants inoculated with Pseudomonas (P), Bacillus (B), Azotobacter (A). Rhizomes of peppermint were planted into a hole in substrate where the inoculum had been previously added (Khaosaad et al., 2006). Plants were kept in a glasshouse with a 16/18 h light/dark photoperiod, 26/22C light/dark thermoperiod. After 118 days growth, the plants were harvested and the following parameters including plant height, stem diameter, number of lateral branches, total length of lateral branches, leaf number, and fresh and dry matter yield per pot were measured by standard methods. Furthermore essential oil content was evaluated in aerial parts of host plants. For this purpose, 50 g of each treatment dry matter were hydro-distilled in a Clevenger-type apparatus for 2 h and then percentage and yield of essential oils were calculated. The essential oils were dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate, stored in a dark glass vials and kept at 4C (Omidbaigi et al., 2003). GC (Gas Chromatography) analysis was performed using an Ultra Fast Chromatograph (Thermo-UFM) equipped with a Ph-5 column (10 m 0.1 mm, film thickness 0.4 m). The components of the oil were identified by comparison of their mass spectra with those of a computer library or with authentic compounds and confirmed by comparison of their retention indices either with those of authentic compounds or with data published in the literatures (Davies, 1990). The data were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) using SPSS 13.0 (SPSS Inc., 2004) statistical program. Mean values were separated according to Duncan test at P=0.05. Result and Discussion Yield and yield parameters: Bacterial inoculations improved the peppermint growth and growth parameters. The performance of the plants was better in inoculated treatments in comparison to the control. The results showed that plant height (H), stem diameter (SD), number of lateral branches (NLB), total length of lateral branches (TLL), leaf number (LN), and fresh matter yield (FMY) and dry matter yield (DMY) per pot of peppermint cultivars significantly increased by PGPR strains application compared with the control. The highest H, SD, NLB, TLL, LN, FMY and DMY were recorded in Pseudomonas application and control, respectively (Table 1). Fluorescent pseudomonads are a group of PGPR reported to improve the overall growth of various crops (Dey et al., 2004). Inoculation of P. fluorescens improved plant growth through production of growth promoting substances such as indole acetic acid (IAA) and cytokinins. The role of auxins and cytokinins in enhancing plant cell division and root development is well known. IAA is involved in root initiation, cell division, and cell enlargement, and increases root surface area and consequent access to soil nutrients by enhanced formation of lateral and adventitious roots (Gray and Smith, 2005). Cytokinins promote cell division, cell enlargement, and tissue expansion in certain plant parts (Dey et al., 2004; Gray and Smith, 2005). P. fluorescens was reported to enhance defensive capacity against a broad spectrum of foliar pathogens, a response termed induced systemic resistance (ISR) (MercadoBlanco and Bakker, 2007). Noel et al. (1996) observed a direct growth promotion of the early seedling root of canola (Brassica campestris) and lettuce (Lactuca sativa) by PGPR.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Table 1. Effects of PGPR strains on some of plant growth parameters in peppermint. Microbial Treatments Control Azotobacter sp Pseudomonas sp Bacillus sp H (cm) 51.78 c* 69.50 b 79.42 a 75.67 ab LN 280 b 550 b 654 a 576 b NLB 15 b 45 a 47 a 42 a SD (mm) 2.06 b 2.64 ab 3.04 a 3.03 a TLL (cm) 140.33 b 589.00 a 641.33 a 616.67 a FMY (g pot-1) 52.86 b 99.26 a 109.75 a 103.96 a DMY (g pot-1) 11.90 b 21.09 a 21.94 a 20.08 a

* means in each column followed by the same letter are not significantly different at P < 0.05 according to Duncans multiple range tests. (H: Plant height; LN: Leaf number; NLB: number of lateral branches; SD: Stem diameter; TLL: Total length of lateral branches; FMY: Fresh matter yield and DMY: Dry matter yield).

Essential oil content: There are significant differences in essential oil percent as well as essential oil yield between inoculated and non-inoculated plants and among different bacterial species (Table 2). Plants inoculated with Pseudomonas showed significant increase in essential oil percent and yield in comparison with other treatments. Essential oil percent and yield enhancement effects of bacteria used in this study on peppermint could be explained with improved the peppermint growth and growth parameters and increasing of nitrogen and phosphorus uptake and increasing of other mineral uptake by plants inoculated with PGPR strains. Table 2. Effect of PGPR on essential oil percent and yield of peppermint. Microbial Treatment Essential oils (%) Essential oils yield (ml pot-1) Control 2.11 b 0.173 b 2.53 a 0.250 a Azotobacter sp 2.75 a 0.259 a Pseudomonas sp 2.60 a 0.233 a Bacillus sp

*means in each column followed by the same letter are not significantly different at P<0.05 according to Duncans multiple range tests.

The increasing effects of the PGPR on the essential oil percent and yield of crops such as Cymbopogon citrates stapf (Ratti et al., 2001), and Glycine max (Arguello et al., 2006) were explained by improved the plant growth and growth parameters and increasing of mineral uptake. In the present study, it was found that the inoculation of PGPR strains increased essential oil percent and yield of peppermint, which provide the additional evidence supporting the finding of previous study (Table 2). References Arguello, J. A., Ledesma, A., Nunez, S. B., Rodriguez, C. H. and Goldfarb, M. D. D. 2006. Vermicompost effects on bulbing dynamics, nonstructural carbohydrate content, yield and quality of Rosado paraguayo garlic bulbs. Horticulture Science, 41: 589-592. Benizri, E., Courtade, A., Picard, C. and Guckert, A. (1998). Role of maize root exudates in the production of auxines by Pseudomonas fluorescens M. 3. 1. Soil Biology Biochem, 30: 1481-1484. Cakmakc, R., F. Kantar and O.F. Algur. (1999). Sugar beet and barley yields in relation to Bacillus polymyxa and Bacillus megaterium var. phosphaticum inoculation. J. Plant Nutr. Soil Sci, 162: 437- 442. Davies, N. W. (1990). Gas chromatographic retention indices of monoterpens of methyl silicons and carbowax 20m phases. Journal of chromatography, 503: 1-24. De Freitas, J. R. (2000). Yield and N assimilation of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L., var Norstar) inoculated with rhizobacteria. Pedobiologia, 44: 97-104. Dey, R., Pal, K. K., Bhatt, D. M., Chuhan, S. M. (2004). Growth promotion and yield

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH enhancement of peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) by application of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria. Microbiol. Res. 159: 371394. Glick, B. R. (1995). The enhancement of plant growth by free-living bacteria. Canadian Journal of Microbiology, 41:109117. Gray, E. J., Smith, D. L. (2005). Intracellular and extracellular PGPR: commonalities and distinctions in the plantbacterium signalling processes. Soil Biol. Biochem, 37: 395412. Khaosaad, T., Vierheilig, H., Nell, M., Zitterl-Eglseer, K., Novak, J. (2006). Arbuscular mycorrhiza alters the concentration of essential oils in oregano (Origanum sp., Lamiaceae). Mycorrhiza, 16: 443-446. Mahmoud, S. D. M. (1996). Response of growth and essential oil content of sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) to some natural hormones. Acta Hortic., 426: 629-634. Mercado-Blanco, J., Bakker, P. A. H. M. (2007). Interactions between plants and beneficial Pseudomonas spp.: exploiting bacterial traits for crop protection. Antonie Leeuwenhoek, 92: 367389. Noel, T. C., Sheng, C., Yost, C. K., Pharis, R. P. and Hynes, M. F. (1996). Rhizobium leguminosarum as a plant growth promoting rhizobacterium: direct growth promotion of canola and lettuce. Can. J. Microbiol, 42: 279283. Omidbaigi, R., Hassani, A. and Sefidkon, F. (2003). Essential oil content and composition of sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum) at different irrigation regimes. J. Essent. Oil Bearing Plants, 6: 104-108. Pal, S. S. (1998). Interaction of an acid tolerant strain of phosphate solubilizing bacteria with a few acid tolerant crops. Plant Soil, 198: 169-177. Rasouli-Sadaghiani, M. H., Hassani, H., Barin, M., Rezaee Danesh, Y. and Sefidkon, F. (2010). Effects of AM fungi on growth, essential oil production and nutrients uptake in basil. Journal of Medicinal Plants Research, Vol. 4(21): pp. 2222-2228. Ratti, N., S. Kumar, H. N. and Gautam, S. P. (2001). Improvement in bioavailability of tricalcium phosphate to Cymbopogon martini var. motia by rhizobacteria, AMF and Azospirillum inoculation. Microbiological Research, 156:145-149. ahin, F., R. Cakmakc and F. Kantar. (2004). Sugar beet and barley yields in relation to inoculation with N2-fixing and phosphate solubilizing bacteria. Plant and Soil, 265: 123-129. Sangwan, N. S., Farooqi, A. H. A., Shabih, F., Sangwan, R. S., 2001. Regulation of essential oil production in plants. Plant Growth Regulation, 34: 3- 21. Vessey, K. J. 2003. Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria as bioferitilizers. Plant Soil, 255: 571586.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Evaluation of zinc utilization and acquisition efficiency in some Iranian wheat genotypes
Samira Baghban-Tabiat1, MH. Rasouli-Sadaghiani1, E. Sepehr1
1. Dept. of Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Urmia University, IRAN Corresponding author: m.rsadaghiani@urmia.ac.ir

Abstract
Zinc deficiency is a well-documented problem in food crops, causing decreased crop yields and nutritional quality. Recent estimates indicate that nearly half of world population suffers from Zn deficiency. Greenhouse experiment were carried out with twenty wheat genotypes and varied zinc (Zn) supply to study the seed zinc utilization (ZUE) and acquisitions efficiency (ZAE), seed yield and zinc content in seed. Plants were grown for 4 months in a sand culture, with 5 mg Zn kg-1 soil (+Zn) and without Zn (-Zn). The results showed that, with adding Zn, seed yield significantly was increased in majority of genotype. However, under Zn-deficient conditions Navid, Sholeh, Karaj-1 and Kaveh had the lowest seed yield and these genotypes indicated the lowest seed zinc content. Zn acquisition efficiency was significantly different between wheat genotypes. Kaveh (7.4%) and Karaj-2 (72%) showed the lowest and highest ZACE, respectively. Kaveh and Rasoul genotypes had the highest and Navid, Sholeh and Karaj-1 genotypes had the lowest ZUE under Zndeficient conditions. It is suggested that not only enhanced Zn uptake capacity but also enhanced internal Zn utilization capacity of genotypes play important roles in differential expression of Zn efficiency. The results of this study also suggest the importance of Zn enrichment of wheat grain for support human society health. Keyword: zinc, wheat, utilization efficiency, acquisition efficiency, seed yield

Introduction Zinc (Zn) deficiency is a widespread problem that reduces yield and grain nutritive value in many cereal-growing regions in the world (Gen et al., 2009). Low soil Zn is attributed to a number of soil and environmental factors including low soil organic matter, high soil pH, calcareousness, water logging and arid climate (Cakmak, 1998; Tandon, 1995; Mortvedt, 1991). Based on analysis of diet compositions and nutritional needs, it has been estimated that 49% of the world's population is at risk of suffering from zinc deficiency. The various symptoms of severe zinc deficiency comprise growth retardation, delayed bone maturation, skin lesions, diarrhoea, impaired appetite, and increased susceptibility to infections caused by defects in the immune system. The groups most at risk for being affected by zinc deficiency are infants, young children, and pregnant women, especially in developing countries (Welch and Graham, 2004; Gibson, 2006). Seed is the major reservoir of both organic as well as inorganic nutrients in crop plants and seed reserve concentration vary across the species and genotypes. Environment and the efficiency of the plant to take up, utilize and translocate nutrients to the seed or to the edible parts influence growth development and yield (Anand, 2007). Zinc-efficient genotypes have the capacity to grow and yield well on Zn deficient soils (Pearson and Rengel, 1997), so an alternative approach to increase grain Zn concentration of staple food crops would be to exploit the genetic variation in concentrations of Zn in seeds. There are two genetic mechanisms governing Zn movement from soil to grain. One is Zn up-take from the soil, commonly termed Zn efficiency, and the other is mobilization of this Zn to the grain. Variation in seed zinc content in beans (Nathan et al., 2001) and cereals and pulses have been reported (Anand, 2007) . Like many other crop species, wheat genotypes possess great variation in their Zn acquisition and utilization (Oikeh et al., 2003; Banziger and Long, 2000; Rengel and Graham, 1995). Therefore increasing the Zn content of food crops can be a good strategy to overcome its deficiency in people of developing countries. The objective of the present study was to compare the response of 20 indigenous wheat genotypes to Zn deficiency on a sand culture and to estimate the Zn utilization and acquisition efficiency in grain.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH
Materials and Methods A sand culture experiment was conducted in greenhouse of the Department of Soil Science, University of urmia. twenty wheat genotypes (Darab, Shiraz, Kaveh, Karaj-1, Karaj-2, Hirmand, Hamoon, Rasoul, Dez, Navid, Moghan, Inia, Aria, Azadi, Nik Nezhad, Marvdasht, Bayat, Golestan, Atrak and Sholeh ) were grown with deficient (0 mg Zn kg1 soil) and sufficient (5.0 mg Zn kg1 soil) Zn treatment. The experiment was laid out in a completely randomized design with three replicates. Complete nutrient solution (Table 1) was applied before plantation of seeds for each pot. Table 1: Composition of stock solutions used in preparation of the nutrient solution1
Series 1 2 3 4 5 6 Salt NH4NO3/CaCl2.2H2O K2SO4/ KH2PO4 MgSO4.7H2O Fe-EDTA MnSO4.H2O/ Na3[Co(NO3)6]/(NH4)6Mo7O24. 4H2O/ CuSO4.5H2O/ H3BO3 ZnSO4.7H2O Concentration of stock solution g L-1 57, 90 42, 30.242 24 41.66 6, 0.55, 0.62, 1.2, 0.42 13.14 Final Salt mg Kg-1 95.2, 150.3 139.9, 90.73 40.1 83.33 10, 0.5, 0.2, 2, 0.7 21.95

1- Sadeghzadeh et al., (2009)

3.5 kg washed sand was placed in a plastic pots and seven wheat plants were grown into each pot. The plants were initially irrigated with double deionized water for per days. Each pot was kept at constant moisture content following the weighing of the pot. The plants were harvested after 4 month and then the samples (seed) were oven dried for 72 hours in 75C. Zn concentration was assayed using the atomic absorption method and total Zn uptake (TZn = Seed dry weight * Zn concentration) and Zn efficiency indices were calculated: Zn acquisition efficiency (ZACE): Zn utilization efficiency (ZUTE):

TZninZn 0 TZninZn 5

Statistical analyses were done with Excel, SAS and MSTATC software. Result and Discussion The data on seed zinc concentration and content of 20 wheat genotypes is presented in the Table 2. Seed Zn concentrations decreased in all genotypes and vary between 14-32 mg kg-1 in Zn deficiency condition. Trethowan et al (2005) Reported that there is significant variation in wheat for Fe and Zn concentration in the grain and Fe and Zn levels in wheat grain vary significantly depending on the growing environment and the genetic composition of the materials tested. Seed zinc concentration increased significantly due to the application of zinc in all wheat genotypes (Table 2). Cakmak (2002) reported that depending on plant species, soil application of zinc can increase zinc concentration in plants by as much as 2 to 3 folds. However, high fertilizers effects of zinc have not correspondingly increased zinc concentrates or yield in wheat (Welch and Graham, 2004). To improve Fe and Zn grain concentrations, plant breeders require significant genetic variation for these characters that is heritable across locations and years. Synthetic wheat has been identified with significantly higher levels of grain Fe and Zn (Calderini and OrtizMonasterio, 2003) and improved Zn efficiency (Cakmak et al., 1999).

SeedDW TZn

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Table 2: Concentrations and Content of Zn in grains of wheat genotypes at deficient and sufficient Zn levels
Wheat genotypes Darab Hirmand Azadi Bayat Kaveh Dez Aria Inia Karaj-2 Atrak Nik Nezhad Moghan-1 Marvdasht Shiraz Rasoul Golestan Hamoon Karaj-1 Sholeh Navid
1- With Zn application 2- Without Zn application

Zn concentration (seed) (mg/kg) +Zn1 -Zn2 63 22 59 32 52 14 40 26 51 13 42 22 57 23 57 18 72 24 64 26 66 25 37 17 58 17 32 17 58 15 39 21 50 26 87 23 60 16 25 0 LSD0.05= 12

Zn content (seed) (g/pot) +Zn -Zn 145 42 171 76 141 47 126 39 67 5 171 61 184 81 118 45 110 80 200 79 190 74 153 65 232 53 134 59 174 33 115 76 123 60 45 6.5 68 20 0 0 LSD0.05= 16

Furthermore the data on table 2 showed that all of genotypes had significantly different about seed zinc content in both Zn sufficiency and deficiency condition. The seed zinc content varied from 45232 g pot-1 between genotypes in Zn sufficiency condition. Aria and Karaj-2 had the highest and Kaveh and Karaj-1 had the lowest seed Zn content in zinc deficiency condition. In this study Marvdasht, Nik Nezhad, Atrak and Aria genotypes had the highest seed Zn content in zinc sufficiency condition; therefore this subject is important about enrichment of wheat. So increasing the zinc content of cereal grains will be important for improving human nutrition. Jambunathan (1987) reported similar variation in zinc content of sorghum with a range of 1.9-5.7 mg/100 g of seeds (Anand, 2007). For high seed zinc content, it is also essential to understand the uptake and translocation pattern, variation in uptake and translocation ultimately leading to variation in seed zinc content. It is therefore important to understand the influence of genetic and environmental effects and distribution of zinc and its translocation to grain (Khan et al., 2003). The physiological basis for the difference in seed zinc content is not known, like uptake of Fe, zinc uptake might occur by different strategies in dicots and monocots, but need to be verified. In some cases, the release of phytosiderophores has been correlated to increased zinc efficiency (Ramesh et al., 2004). Since, most of the cereals are usually grown in marginal soils with less management practices except rice, low zinc in soil could also contribute to low zinc in grains. Utilization and acquisition efficiency Plant genetic potential plays an important role in determining total Zn uptake at any level of Zn supply, so in order to exclude this factor the relative total Zn uptake (treatment Zn0/treatment Zn5) was used to estimate Zn acquisition efficiency (ZACE). Zn utilization efficiency (ZUTE) represents the amount of seed dry matter produced per unit of Zn absorbed. The data on seed zinc utilization and acquisition efficiency of wheat genotypes is presented in the Table 3. Genotypes had significantly differences in the seed Zn utilization and acquisition efficiency (Table 3). The result showed that zinc acquisition efficiency was varied from 7.4-72 percent. Karaj-2 and Kaveh had the highest and lowest seed zinc acquisition efficiency, respectively (Table 3). Furthermore seed zinc

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utilization efficiency was varied in wheat genotypes. Kaveh whit 7.6 percent had the highest and Hirmand whit 3.09 percent had the lowest seed zinc utilization efficiency. Any species able to maintain metabolic activities at low tissue Zn concentration and produce more seed dry matter per unit of Zn absorbed is considered efficient in Zn utilization. The data at table 3 showed that in all species ZUTE decreased with Zn application, suggesting that under Zn limitation alternative pathways develop in plants to maximize the use of limited available Zn. Table 3: Efficiency indices in different wheat genotypes
Wheat genotypes Darab Hirmand Azadi Bayat Kaveh Dez Aria Inia Karaj-2 Atrak Nik Nezhad Moghan-1 Marvdasht Shiraz Rasoul Golestan Hamoon Karaj-1 Sholeh Navid
1- ZACE: Zn acquisition efficiency 2- ZUTE: Zn utilization efficiency

ZACE (Seed) % 29 45 34 31 7.4 36 44 38 72 39 39 43 23 44 19 66 48 14 29 0 LSD0.05= 13.75

+Zn 1.6 1.7 1.9 2.5 2 2.4 1.8 1.7 1.4 1.6 1.5 2.7 1.7 3.08 1.7 2.6 2 1.1 1.7 0

ZUTE (Seed) %

LSD0.05 = 0.95

-Zn 4.6 3.09 7 3.9 7.6 4.6 4.3 5.4 4.08 3.9 3.9 6.01 5.9 5.8 6.6 4.8 3.9 2.9 2.7 0

Conclusions As it is expected, with respect to Zn acquisition and utilization, a great deal of variations exists among different wheat genotypes. According to these studies it is evident that there are wide differences among wheat genotypes with respect to Zn acquisition and utilization efficiency. The genotypes (Kaveh, Karaj-1, Navid, Rasoul and Marvdasht) had the lowest and Hirmand, Aria, Karaj-2, Moghan-1, Golestan, Shiraz, Hamoon) had the highest ZACE and other genotypes were intermediate. Furthermore, Zn utilization efficiency in the Azadi, Kaveh and Rasoul genotypes were higher than other genotypes and Navid, Sholeh, Karaj-1 and Hirmand genotypes had the lowest ZUTE in Zn deficiency condition. Suggesting that Zn acquisition ability should be the most important mechanisms for high Zn efficiency in such genotypes. Acknowledgment The technical assistance received from Urmia University and Soil Science Department in Agricultural College is greatly acknowledged. References Anand, R., (2007). Evaluation of raby sorghum genotypes for seed zinc content and zinc use efficiency. MSc. Thesis, Uni. of Agricultural Sciences. Banziger, M. and Long, J., (2000). The potential for increasing the iron and zinc density of maize through plant breeding. Journal of Food Nutrition. Bull, 21(4), 397-400.

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Cakmak, I., Torun, B., Erenoglu, B., Ozturk, L., Marschner, H., Kalayci, M., Ekiz, H., Yilmaz, A., (1998). Morphological and physiological differences in the response of cereals to zinc deficiency. Journal of Euphytica, 100, 349-357. Cakmak, I., Cakmak, O., Eker, S., Ozdemir, A., Watanabe, N., Braun, H. J., (1999). Expression of high zinc effi ciency of Aegilops tauschii and Triticum monococcum in synthetic hexaploid wheats. Journal of Plant and Soil, 215, 203-209. Cakmak, I., (2002). Plant nutrition research: priorities to meet human needs for food in sustainable ways. Journal of Plant and Soil, 247, 3-24. Calderini, D. F., Ortiz-Monasterio, I., (2003). Are synthetic hexaploids a means of increasing grain element concentrations in wheat? Journal of Euphytica, 134, 169-178. Gen, Y., Verbyla, A. P., Torun, A. A., akmak, I., Willsmore, K., Wallwork, H., McDonald, G. K., (2009). Quantitative trait loci analysis of zinc efficiency and grain zinc concentration in wheat using whole genome average interval mapping. Journal of Plant and Soil, 314, 49-66. Gibson, R. S., (2006). Zinc: the missing link in combating micronutrient malnutrition in developing countries. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, 65, 51-60. Hemalath, S., Patel, K., Srinivasan, K., (2007). Zinc and iron content and their bio accessibility in cereals and pulses consumed in India. Journal of Food Chem, 102, 1328-1336. Khan, H. R., McDonald, G. K., Rengel, Z., (2003). Zn fertilization improves water use efficiency, grain yield and seed Zn content in chickpea. Journal of Plant and Soil, 249, 389-400. Maqsood, M., Rahmatullah, A., Kanwel, S., Aziz, T., Ashraf, M., (2009). Evaluation of Zn Distribution among grain and straw of twelve indigenous wheat (Triticum Aestivum L.) genotypes. Pakestan Journal. Bot, 41 (1), 225-231. Mortvedt J J, Cox F R, Shuman L M and Welch R M., (1991). In: Micronutrients in Agriculture, 2nd Edition. (Eds.): J. J. Mortvedt, F. R. Cox, L. M. Shuman and R. M. Welch. SSSA. Madison, WI. Nathan, A. S., Charles, E. W., Sixte, N., Richard, J. N., Danny, L. B., (2001). Evaluation of zinc seed treatments for rice. Journal of Agronomy, 93, 152-157. Oikeh, S. O., Menkir, A., Maziya-Dixon, B., Welch, R., Glahn, R. P., (2003). Genotypic differences in concentration and bioavailability of kernel-iron in tropical maize varieties grown under field conditions. Journal of Plant Nutrition, 26 (10&11), 2307-2319. Pearson J N and Rengel Z., (1997). Mechanisms of plant resistance to nutrient deficiency stresses. In Basra AS, Basra RK, eds. Mechanisms of environmental stress resistance in plants (pp.213-240). Harwood Academic. Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Ramesh, A. S., Choimes, S., Schachtman, P. D., (2004). Over expression of an Arabidiopsis zinc deprivation and seed zinc content . Journal of Pl. Mol. Biol, 53, 373-385. Rengel, Z. and Graham, R., (1995). Importance of seed zinc content for wheat growth on zincdeficient soils. I. Vegetative growth. Journal of Plant and Soil, 173, 259-266. Sadeghzadeh, B., Rengel, Z., Li, C., (2009). Differential zinc efficiency of Barley genotypes grown in soil and chelator-buffered nutrient solution. Journal of Plant Nutrition, 32 (10), 17441767. Tandon H L S., (1995). Micronutrients in Soils, Crops and Fertilizers. Fertilizer Development and Consultation Organization: New Delhi, India. Trethowan, R. M., Reynolds, M., Sayre, K., Ortiz-Monasterio, I., (2005). Adapting wheat cultivars to resource conserving farming practices and human nutritional needs. Annals of Applied Biology, 146, 405-413. Welch, R. M. and Graham, R. D., (2004). Breeding for micronutrients in staple food crops from a human nutrition prespective. Journal of Exp. Bot, 55, 353-364.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH The effect of nitrogen fertilizer (biological, chemical and integrated) on quantitative characteristics of forage in Sorghum and fenugreek intercropping Asadi, S a., Chaichi, M. R b., Abbasdokht, Hc., Asghari, H.Rc and Gholipour, Md
a

Agronomy Department, University of Shahroud, Iran Corresponding author: Sadegh_asadi15@yahoo.com

The sorghum and fenugreek intercropping as a new source of forage has attracted the attention of agricultural researchers. The effect of fertilizing systems on forage quantity and quality is sound. This project was conducted to evaluate the effect of biological, chemical and integrated fertilizing systems on forage quantity in sorghum and fenugreek intercropping. The experimental treatments were arranged as split plots based on randomized block design with three replications. The fertilizing treatments viz. 1. Control (N0 fertilizer), 2. Biological fertilizer (a combination of Azosperilium, Azotobacter, Rhizobium and Mychorriza) 3. 50% chemical fertilizer + Biological fertilizer 4. Chemical fertilizer (based on soil analysis) was assigned to the main plots. The subplots were assigned to different additive intercropping combinations of sorghum and fenugreek of 1. Sole Sorghum (no weeds), 2. Sole sorghum (with weeds), 3. Sole fenugreek (no weeds), 4. Sole fenugreek (with weeds), 5. Sorghum + 50% fenugreek, 6. Sorghum + 100% fenugreek. The results indicated that the maximum forage dry matter of 8480 kg/ha was produced in Sorghum + 50% fenugreek treatment when received 50% chemical fertilizer + Biological fertilizer. In all fertilizing systems the sorghum forage production followed a decreasing trend as the fenugreek density increased in the intercropping. The highest leaf/stem ratio was observed in both Sole Sorghum (no weeds) and Sorghum + 50% fenugreek treatments when received 50% chemical fertilizer + Biological fertilizer. Keywords: Sorghum, Fenugreek, Additive intercropping, Biological fertilizer

Abstract

Introduction The arable land has decreased as the world population followed an increasing trend during the last few decades. One of solution to feed the growing world population is to produce more feed in a given land area. Multiple cropping systems (mixed, intercropping etc.) is considered as environmentally sound solution to produce feed in on efficient land use system (Park, et al., 2002; Banik., 2006). In most of the intercropping system legumes are one of the cropping components with crop families and usually lead to a better land equivalence ratio (Banik et al., 2006). Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) is one of the most important forage crops which is widely cultivated in arid and semiarid regions of the world (Doggett, 1988). The mixed cultivation of this crop with fenugreek (Trigonella foenum) not only produce a palatable forage, but also act as a medicinal forage which will reduce the dependence of dairy farms to chemical medications. Fenugreek is on annual legume forage crop which belongs of leguminose family (Dini, 2006). The leaves of this crop are rich in Ca, P, Fe, Carotenes, Protein and Vitamin C (Nazar, 2007; Ebubekir, 2005). This crop produces quality forage with palatability for livestock (Ahmad et al., 1999; Sun and Sun, 1996). Intercropping of sorghum in double rows with legume plants is the best forage producer compared to other mixed cropping system and sole cultivation sorghum (Pomhwar, 2004). The superiority of sorghum intercropping with legumes forage crops in a 1:1 and 2:1 was reported by Homayouni (2004). Bio fertilizer (biological fertilizer) has been introduced as a proper substitute for chemical fertilizer in sustainable agricultural systems (Wu, et al., 2005). These fertilizers contain a substantial population of probiotic microorganism that promote plant growth through better availability of mineral nutrients (P, K, Fe, Zn) and enhance metabolic activities of plant by hormones and sidrophore exertion in rhizosphere (Chen, 2006). Sinai (2004) reported that the highest rates forage production and nutrient absorption (N and P) in sorghum and chickpea was observed when 50% of required chemical fertilizer way applied along with animal manure and PGPR (phosphate solubilizing bacteria). The goal of this experiment was to evaluate the effect of biological and integrated fertilizers application on sorghum and fenugreek in an intercropping.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Materials and Methods The experimental treatments were arrange as split plots were four N fertilizer sources of control (N0), biological fertilizer (Azotobacter, Rhizobium, Azosperilium and michorryzia) chemical fertilizer (Urea, according to soil test) (Nch100) and integrated fertilizer (biological fertilizer + 50% chemical fertilizer) (NBi + Nch50) were assigned to the main plots and six additive intercropping methods of sole fenugreek (weed free) (T0), sole fenugreek (weed contaminated) (Tw), sorghum + 50% fenugreek (ST50%), sorghum + 100% fenugreek (ST100), sole sorghum (weed free) (S0) and sole sorghum (weed contaminated) (SW) were allocated to the subplots. Each experimental plot was 24 m2 in dimension contained fours rows of plants each 4 m in length and 50 cm apart. Sorghum (cv. Pegah) was planted in a rate of 200000 plant/ha. Fenugreek was planted at the rates of 20 kg/ha for ST100 and T0 and TW treatments and 10 kg/ha for ST50 intercropping. All treatments were irrigated at 60 days after planting.at 150 centimeters height (10 leaf-stage). Forage samples were dried at 70 C0 in forced oven for 72 hours. Results and discussions The results of analysis of variance are presented in table 1. The highest sorghum dry leaf weight of 444 g/m2 was observed in sole sorghum (weed free) (So) when integrated fertilizer was applied. The lowest dry leaf weight of 214.3 g/m2 was obtained in control fertilizer (no fertilizer application) in sorghum + 100% fenugreek (ST100) (fig. 1).

Fig. (1). Interaction of fertilizer intercropping system on sorghum leaf dry matter

Almost the same results were observed in stem dry weight where the highest value of 321.7 g/m2 was obtained is so treatment when received integrated fertilizer and the lowest stem dry weight 210

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH g/m2 belong to sorghum at (ST100) in control fertilizer treatment (fig. 2). Sorghum stem dry weight followed a decreasing trend as the weight of fenugreek or weeds increased in plots. The results for leaf/stem ratio also followed the same trend for leaf and stem parameters (fig. 3).

Fig. (2). Interaction of fertilizer intercropping system on sorghum stem dry matter

Fig. (3). Interaction of fertilizer intercropping system on sorghum leaf/stem ratio

Brich and Stewart (1989) showed that the leaf/stem ratio for millet decreased from 0.92 to 0.58 when nitrogen fertilizer was applied. Bebawi (1989) declared that the higher forage production in forage sorghum in response to nitrogen fertilizer application is explained by more tillering, higher tillering rate and higher leaf area. A negative significant correlation exists among total dry matter, leaf/stem ratio and nutritive value of forage crops (Wilman et al., 1998). Total sorghum forage yield was effect by yield components of leaf and stem dry weight. The highest total sorghum dry weight of 766.3gr/m2 was obtained when integrated fertilizer was applied of S0 and it was decreased by 45% and reduced to 424.3 gr/m2 in ST100 treatment in control (no fertilizer applied). These resulted are supported by Mahfooz (2007) working on fennel and Cavender et al, (2003) and Sarig et al. working on grain and forage sorghum. In all fertilizing systems the total forage production (sorghum + fenugreek) was higher that sole cropping. The highest total forage yield 848

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH gr/m2 was obtained from ST50 treatment when received integrated fertilizer. The lowest total dry weight was produced by TW (fenugreek infected by weeds) (fig. 5).

Fig. (4). Interaction of fertilizer intercropping system on total sorghum dry weight

Fig. (5). Interaction of fertilizer intercropping system on total sorghum+Fenugreek dry weight

This could be explained by the efficient role of probiotics in facilitating the absorption of nutrients by plants. Our results supported finding of Siani et al., 2004. The lower total forage production in intercropping systems in chemical fertilizer application compared to integrated fertilizer treatment could probably be explained by high levels of nitrogen in this treatment which could adverse effect the beneficiary bacteria activities (Amooaghayi, Mostajeran, 2008). The lower yield of legumes could explained by its low ability for competition with sorghum (Panwar et al., 2004).

References
Ahmad, F.; Acharya; S.N., Mir, Z. and Mir, P.S. (1999). Localization and activity of RNA genes of fenugreek chromosomes by fluorescent in situ hybridization and silver staining.Theoretical and Apploied Genetics. 98: 179-185.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Amooaghayi, R., and Mostajeran, A. (2008). Plant and bacteria symbiosis systems. Isfahan university publication. 237 pages. Banik, P., A. Midya, B.K. Sarkar and S.S. Ghose. (2006). Wheat and chickpea intercropping systems in an additive series experiment: advantages and weed smothering. Eur. J. Agron. 24: 325-332. Bebawi, F. (1989). Forage sorghum production on a witchweed infected soil in relation to cutting height and nitrogen. Agronomy Journal. 78: 827-832. Cavender, N. D., Atiyeh, R. M. and Knee, M. (2003). Vermicompost stimulates mycorrhizal colonization of roots of sorghum bicolor at the expense of plant growth. Pedobiologia. 47: 8589. Chen, J. (2006). The Combined Use of Chemical and Organic Fertilizers and/or Biofertilizer for Crop Growth and Soil Fertility. International Workshop on Sustained Management of the SoilRhizosphere System for Efficient Crop Production and Fertilizer Use. October, p. 16-20. Dini, M. (2006). Scientific name of medicinal plants used in traditional medicine, Forest and Rangeland Research Institute Publication, Iran, 2006, pp: 299 300. Doggett, H. (1988). Sorghum. Longman Scientific and Technical. New York. Ebubekir,A., Engin, O. and T.Faruk. (2005). Some physical properties of fenugreek (Trigonellafoenum-graceum L.) seeds. J. Food Engin. 71: 37-43. Homayouni, H. (2004). Evaluation of forage production in sorghum/legume intercropping in different mixing rates. M. Sc. Thesis. University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran. Mahfouz, S.A. and Sharaf-Eldin, M.A. (2007). Effect of mineral vs. biofertilizer on growth, yield, and essential oil content of fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill.). Int. Agrophysics. 21: 361366. Nazar,A.N., and Tinay, A.H. (2007). Functional properties of Fenugreek (Trigonella foenumgraceum) protein concentration. J. Food Chemi. 103: 582-589 Panhwar, M.A., F.H.Memon, M.A.Kalhoro and M.I.Soomro. 2004.Performance of maize in intercropping systems with soy bean under different planting patterns and nitrogen levels.Jornal of Applied Sci. 4(2):201-204. Park, S. E., Benjamin, L. R. and Watkinson, A. R. (2002). Comparing Biological Productivity in Cropping Systems: A Competition Approach. The Journal of Applied Ecology 39: 416-426 Sarig,S., Blumand, A. and Okun, Y. (1988). Imporvement of the water status and yield of fieldgrown-grain Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) by inoculation with Azosperilium brasilense .J.Agri.Sci.110:271-277. Sinai, V.K., Bhandari, S.C. and Tarafdar, J.C. (2004). Comparison of crop yield, soil microbial C.N and P,N-fixation, nodulation and mycorhizal infection in inoculated and non-inoculated sorghum and chickpea crops. Field Crops Research. 89:39-47. Sun, H.A. and Sun, H.Q. (1996). Ecological geographical characteristics and grazing values of forage legumes in the grassland of Qingha:. Grassland of China. 6: 31-34. West, T. D., and D .R.Griffith.(1992). Effect of stripcropping corn and soybean on yield and profit. J.Prod.Agric.5:107-110 Wilman, D. and Rezvani Moghaddam, P. (1998). In vitro digestibility and neutral detergent fibre and lignin content of plant parts of nine forage species. J. Agric. Sci. Camb. 131: 51-58. Wu, S. C., Cao, Z. H., Li, Z.G. Cheung, K.C. and Wong, M. H. (2005). Effects of biofertilizers containing N-fixer, P and K solubilizer and AM fungi on maize growth: a greenhouse trail. Geoderma. 125:155-166.

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Comparison GIS and Almagra models for optimum use of land in the North-west of Iran
Hamid Reza Momtaz1, Ahmad Pakpour rabati2
1. Department of Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Urmia University, Iran 2. M.Sc Graduated Tabriz University Corresponding author: hamidmomtaz@gmail.com or h.momtaz@urmia.ac.ir

Abstract

One of the major challenge in programming for optimum use of land is protecting land and biophysics potential of soil while diversifying its agricultural uses. The purpose of present study was comparison of GIS (Geographic Information System) and Almagra models in planning for the optimum land use as for maize (Zea Mays) and sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) in north-west of Iran. This study was performed in Pasveh and Jaldyan areas, located between 36 30' and 36 50' N latitudes and 45 05' and 45 25' E longitudes. After determining the characteristics of climate, soil and topography of the study area, Almagra and GIS models was performed. Results showed that climatic classes were moderately suitable (S2) for maize and sunflower cultivation due to low relative humidity of the growing season. Based on the GIS and Almagra models, most limiting factors for crop production in the studied areas, besides climatic variabilities, are microrelieff, pH, CaCO3, coarse fragments, texture and soil depth. However, some land units reflected drainage limitation (Aeric Calciaquolls) as results of the fluctuations in water level. Overall, the results of GIS, in comparison with Almagra model, were more logical due to consideration of climate index in crop development, Moreover, application of models for optimum land use are more efficient than difficult timeconsumming traditional methods. Keywords: Almagra and GIS, MicroLEIS, new system, optimal use

Introduction Land evaluation knowledge using new systems, world of software and computer is the first and most important step in planning the optimum use of land. The use of different Softwares and models will provide a chance of decision in a very large area in less time.. GIS is a computer system for capturing, managing, integrating, manipulating, analysing, and displaying spatial and descriptive data related to the land. The most recognized type of spatial analysis of overlaying operations is performed in GIS environment which yields new spatial elements through a final map. Overlaying is considered as one of the important methods in geographical analysis (George & Korte 1997).. Martin and Saha (2009) used GIS and remote measuring to analyze the cultivation system of a watershed in India and indicated that the present agricultural area of 47% could be increased to 71 % by adopting scientific land evaluation methods. Since the early 1990s and following this trend, MicroLEIS (Mediterranean Land Evaluation Information System) has evolved towards an agro-ecological decision support system. Today, MicroLEIS DSS is a set of useful tools for decision-making which in a wide range of agro-ecological schemes. In this system, a set of relative and geographical characteristics of lands are entered into the model as input data. At the next level, a group models are used to evaluate the suitability and destructibility of lands and finally the results are implemented in planning the land use and management programs (De La Rosa, 2004). Among the land use programming models are Terraza and Cervantana models which are used for diagnosing areas with special bioclimatic shortages and soil and land limitations for agricultural use and Almagra model which is used for qualitative evaluation of the suitability of the land for crops. In this model, various characteristics of the land, especially the soil properties, must be defined. Derwish et al. (2006) studied land suitability for wheat, potato, sunflower, alfalfa, and citrus in Egypt using Almagra. After combining the results with GIS, land suitability map in different land units for all products of study was presented with the aim of sustainable agricultural development. According to the results of this study, Typic Haplogypsids soils had high suitability for cultivating wheat, potato and sunflower and low suitability for alfalfa and citrus with soil limitation. Shahbazi et al. (2008) used MicroLEIS DSS to plan land use in Ahar area (Iran) which 45% of the total land was classified as suitable for agricultural uses...The present study aims at

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using new systems, software, and computer programs, is planning the optimum use of land in north-western in Iran.

Materials and Methods

This study was performed in Pasveh and Jaldyan area, located between 36 30' and 36 50' N latitudes and 45 05' and 45 25' E longitudes at western Azarbyjan province of Iran (Figure. 1). Climate data (1986-2006) were collected from Piranshaher meteorological station: maximum and minimum daily temperature in July and January months, respectively 32.4 and -5.3 C and average annual temperature was 12C, total annual precipitation about 627.7 mm mostly concentrated in fall and spring. Xeric and mesic were soil temperature and moisture regimes, respectively.

Figure 1. Location of study area in West Azarbaijan province in the North-west of Iran

According to the available data, the growth periods and development stages for the crops in the region include initial stage, development stage, med-season stage and late season stage (Table 1)
Table 1. Growth periods and developed stages of crops in the study area crop Initial stage 25 day sunflower (30April-23May) 25 day maize (30 April-23 May) Developed stage 35 day (24May-28Jun) 40 day (24May-3 July) Mid-season stage 45 day (29Jun-12August) 45 day (4July-17 August) late Total 25 day 130 (13Agusut-6September) 30 day 140 (18Agusut-17September)

The required characteristics for the land evaluation (Sys et al, 1991) including climatic data like (such as; precipitation, evaporation and transpiration potential, temperature, solar radiation, relative humidity, altitude) and the characteristics of land (slope, drainage, flood, microrelife, texture, soil structure, coarse fragments, soil depth, CaCO3, cation exchange capacity, soil pH, organic carbon and salinity) were collected. Land suitability class was investigated for maize (Zea Mays) and sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) using ArcGIS 9.3 software and Almagra model. The GIS-based land-use suitability analysis has been applied. Due to reduced cultivation and changes predicted for the future, should think proper use along with providing strong management methods for the exploitation of land based on known production of capacity and are allocation them for the best user type. Overlaying is considered one of the important methods in geographical analysis. In fact, two types of layer adaptation operations with regard to structure have been suggested. The first type of adaptation model is Raster model in which lots of layer could be mixed and the final result can be demonstrated by a final map. Unlike the raster method, vector model is difficult to some extent and needs complex processes for the structure of data. In this study, raster model was used to overlay the data in which the input data included soil and landscape characteristics. After Overlaying the data in ArcGIS environment, various limitations of land for specific uses were identified and the classes, subclasses, and the priority scheme of the specific crops in the area were created based on the limitations. Almagra fits the types of biophysical evaluation that use as diagnostic criteria for those soil characteristics or conditions favorable for crop development in
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productivity (De la Rosa et al., 1992). It is based on an analysis of the edaphic characteristics affecting most directly the productive development under different agricultural uses. The agricultural uses considered are the following traditional crops: wheat (T), maize (M), melon (Me), potato (P), soybean (S), cotton (A), sunflower (G) and sugar beet (R) as annuals; alfalfa (Alf) as semiannual; and peach (Me), citrus fruits (C) and olive (0) as perennials. The control or vertical section of soil for measuring texture, carbonates, salinity and sodium character was as following: For annual crops - between 25cm and 50cm in depth, or between 25cm and the limit of useful depth when the latter is between 25cm and 50cm or in some part of the soil within the useful depth when this is less than 25cm. For semi-annual and perennial crops - between 25cm and 100cm in depth, or between 25cm and the limit of useful depth when the latter is between 25cm and 100cm, or in some part of the soil within the useful depth when this is less than 25cm. Depending on the gradations considered for each of the criteria selected (gradation matrices) and on the different agricultural uses, five suitability classes are established. Following the criterion of maximum limitation, each factor has a definite action, and the verification of the degree of a single variable is sufficient to classify the soil in the corresponding category. Thus, it is not necessary that all the classification factors are present in each class - it will be the most unfavorable if it is determinant. The five suitability classes for each crop are: Class S1 Soils with optimum suitability, Class S2 Soils with high suitability, Class S3 Soils with moderate suitability, Class S4 Soils with marginal suitability, and Class S5 Soils with no suitability. The physical, and chemical characteristics of typic studied soils are presented in Table 2. Soils of the studied area were classified as Vertisols and Mollisols based on soil taxonomy (Soil survey staff, 2010). The climatic classes were of moderate suitability (S2) for maize and sunflower due to the limitation of relative humidity of the growing cycle (Table 4). Qualitative land suitability study resulting from comparing physiological requirements of each product with characteristics of lands was performed using GIS and Almagra models. The results of both models were similar, except for Typic Calcixererts soils in land units of 5-1 and 5-2 and Fluventic Haploxerolls soils in land units of 7-2 and 7-3 in which some differences were apparent. Overall, results of these methods were similar due to two reasons: I. Basic planning and modeling are based on the simple limitation method. II. There are no counter-effects of factors in calculating the index of land in these models. Modeling in GIS Using ArcGIS software and calculations based on the FAO framework, Map of land suitability for the products under study are presented in figure 2 and 3, and based on the results of qualitative land suitability for different land utilization types are presented in Table 3. Martin and Saha (2009) used similar a model for the capability and capacity in India. The results of overlaying land suitability classification for each crops showed, the most of this area are moderate suitability class (S2) for crops. Generally, Typic Calcixererts with 14.87 percent in land units of 5-1 and 5-2 due to high CaC03 for sunflower, while maize had critical suitability class (S3). Also, the study showed that Typic Calcixererts in land unit of 1-1 and about 85.13 percent of Vertic Calcixerolls, Typic Haploxererts, Fluventic Haploxerolls and Aerie Calciaquolls in land units had moderate suitability class (S2) for cultivation maize and sunflower. The most important factors limiting the study area for sunflower and maize, in addition to climatic variables, are microrelife, pH, CaCO3, coarse fragments and texture. Results of applying the Almagra model soil units classified as agricultural lands are shown in Table 3. For this qualitative model, matching tables following the principle of maximum limitation for soil factors are used to express soil suitability classes for 12 Mediterranean crops.

Results and Discussion

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Depth (cm)

Horizon

Table 2. The physical and chemical properties of representative profiles in the studied are
Soil Particles Silt Sand(%) (%) 11.8 11.8 11.8 13.8 27.8 29.8 15.8 10.8 15.8 9.6 13.6 9.6 5.6 27 34 18 14 12 10.4 12.4 30.4 24.4 12.6 11.6 14.6 17.6 23.6 Coarse fragments CaCO3 pH Clay (%) (%) (%) Profile 1, Situation; East of Jaldyan with slope 25% and Microrelife 30-60, Unit 1-1 37 51.2 5 14 7.6 33 55.2 17.5 7.7 34 54.2 19.4 7.7 33 53.2 21.2 7.9 Profile 2, Situation; South of Jaldyan with slope 5-8% and Microrelife 15-30;Units 2-1, 2-2 & 2-3 32 40.2 15 4.12 7.4 22 48.2 10 7.12 7.7 35 49.2 5 18.1 7.8 45 44.2 18.7 7.8 33 51.2 4 18.9 7.5 Profile 3, Situation; West of Sarukany with slope 12% and Microrelife 15-30; Unit 3-1 33.7 56.7 7.5 7.9 31.7 54.7 17.5 8.2 36.7 53.7 20.6 8.3 38.7 55.7 28.7 8.3 Profile 4, Situation; Junction Naghadeh-Pasveh with slope 0-1% and Microrelife 0-15; Units 4-1,4-2 & 4-3 28.6 44.4 3.5 6.8 22.6 34.4 3.62 7.1 37.6 44.4 3.12 7.1 35.6 50.4 15.25 7.8 32.6 55.4 17.62 7.8 Profile 5, Situation; South of Andezeh with slope 1-2% and Microrelife 15-30; Units 5-1 & 5-2 30.6 59 5.62 7.7 33.6 54 13.7 7.6 33.6 36 30 7.8 39.6 36 29 7.9 Profile 6, Situation; South of Sarukany with slope 0-1% and Microrelife 0-15; Unit 6-1 32.7 54.7 1.87 7.3 32.7 55.7 2.5 7.2 32.7 52.7 2.8 7.5 32.7 49.7 3.5 7.7 31.7 44.7 5 7.7 CEC Cmol(+)/kg

EC

OC (%)

(ds/m)

0-20 20-70 70-120 120-150 0-20 20-60 60-85 85-115 115-150 0-25 25-80 80-125 125-150 0-20 20-50 50-80 80-125 125-150 0-20 20-60 60-100 100-150 0-10 10-30 30-70 70-125 125-150

Ap Bkss1 Bkss2 Bkss3 Ap Bk1 Bk2 Bk3 Bk4 Ap Bkg1 Bkg2 Bkg3 Ap Bw1 Bw2 Bk1 Bk2 Ap Bss Ck1 Ck2 Ap A Bss1 Bss2 CB

30.8 29.4 28 27 15.23 21.08 10.9 12.42 20.86 32 31.5 28.4 28 20 20.6 23 28 28 29.63 27.47 23 22.5 38 32.5 33 33 30.8

0.65 0.28 0.27 0.26 1.44 0.29 0.23 0.27 1.17 0.73 0.6 0.77 0.67 0.44 0.52 0.22 0.27 0.55 0.52 0.42 0.33 0.32 0.51 0.37 0.21 0.24 0.38

1.1 0.68 0.48 0.41 1.5 0.62 0.37 0.34 0.27 1.5 0.57 0.45 0.33 1.1 0.56 0.52 0.4 0.33 1.3 0.62 0.43 0.23 1.2 0.95 0.56 0.47 0.25

0-25 25-65 65-95 95-125 125-150

Ap Bw1 Bw2 C1 C2

31.8 39.8 45.8 60.2 34.8

Profile 7, Situation; West of Andezeh with slope 1-2% and Microrelife 0-15; Units 7-1, 7-2 & 7-3 42 26.2 5 1.62 7.4 39 21.2 5 3.12 7.5 36 18.2 10 1.75 7.5 26.6 13.2 20 2.1 7.5 39 26.2 5 1.5 7.6

17.5 15 13.4 11.7 16.8

0.45 0.31 0.32 0.35 0.27

1.5 0.49 0.39 0.35 0.33

In this research work, only 2 typic and traditional crops were selected. The results of this model revealed that 5.42 percent of Fluventic Haploxerolls in the land units of 7-2 and 7-3 due to the limitation of coarse fragments and texture, whose effects are shown as (t) in Almagra model, had critical suitability classes (S3) for sunflower and maize. Thus, the study revealed that 94.85 percent of the land due to the limitation of soil texture, coarse fragments, Cac03, drainage, and soil depth had moderate suitability classes (S2) and the same area of land area, too, had moderate suitability classes (S2) for sunflower and maize, respectively, due to the limitation of soil texture, coarse fragments, CaC03, and drainage. According to Almagra model, the most limitation in the study area for products include soil texture, coarse fragments, CaC03, and soil depth and in some land units with Aerie Calciaquolls classification drainage limitations were also observed.

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land units

Table 3. Soil suitability of mapping units for different land utilization types GIS Model Almagra Model Climate index Climate class
Maize Sunflower 71.58 71.58 71.58 71.58 71.58 71.58 71.58 71.58 71.58 71.58 71.58 71.58 71.58 71.58 Maize S2 S2 S2 S2 S2 S2 S2 S2 S2 S2 S2 S2 S2 S2 Sunflower S2 S2 S2 S2 S2 S2 S2 S2 S2 S2 S2 S2 S2 S2 Maize Sunflower S2ftc S2fc S2fc S2fc S2fc S2c S2c S2c S3fc S3fc S2c S2c S2sc S2sc Maize S2tc S2t S2t S2t S2tdc S2t S2t S2t S2t S2t S2t S2t S3t S3t 51.52 51.52 51.52 51.52 51.52 51.52 51.52 51.52 51.52 51.52 51.52 51.52 51.52 51.52 S2ftc S2sc S2sc S2sc S2fc S2c S2c S2c S3fc S3fc S2c S2c S2sc S2sc S2t

Sunflower S2tc S2tc S2tc S2td S2tc S2tc S2tc S2ptc S2ptc S2tc S2tc S3t S3t

1.1 2.1 2.2 2.3 3.1 4.1 4.2 4.3 5.1 5.2 6.1 7.1 7.2 7.3

Figure 2. Land suitability map for maize in different land units using GIS model

Conclusion Land-use suitability analysis is more than a GIS-based procedure even if it involves participatory approaches. In short, GIS technology to be useful in planning must evolve in parallel with changing perspectives of planning. It can be expressed that GIS is a database of specialized information which, as a task management system, manages and organizes descriptive data, and also, could be widely used as a toolbox for analyzing and modeling spatial data.

568

Figure 3. Land suitability map for maize in different land units using GIS model

It is suggested, this method includes placing two or more map layer to produce a new map, to be used more in land evaluation because it is very difficult and time-consumer by traditional methods. In the other hands, using GIS in land suitability surveys increase the accuracy and rate of research. the use of GIS map increase efficiency and accuracy of soil will help and probably could be a tool for producing maps of soil explorative in beginning studies used more accurate. Almagra model in some cases, like determining the soil suitable, can yield useful information regarding the suitability of soil easily and quickly for agricultural experts and even farmers. With models framework such as that used in the MicroLEIS decision support system and GIS, the components can be easily used as required for a particular application. Overall, the knowledge-based decision support system approach used in MicroLEIS DSS and GIS appears to be very useful methods for responding to the need to bring agriculture and land resources sciences together for decision-makers. The obtained results help the decision makers in defining the optimum agricultural land use in the area.

References

Derwish, K. M., Wahba, M. M., Awad, F., (2006). Agricultural soil suitability of Haplo-soils for some crops in Newly Reclamid areas of Egypt. Journal of Applied Science Research, 2 (12): 1235-1243pp. De La Rosa D., Mayol, F., Diaz-Pereira, E., Ferandez, M., De La Rosa, Jr D., (2004). A land evaluation decision support system (MicroLEIS DSS) for agriculture soil protection with special reference to the Mediterranean region. Environmental Modeling and Software 19, 929942 Martin, D., and Saha, KS., (2009). Land evaluation by integrating remote sensing and GIS for cropping system analysis in a watershed. Current Sci, Vol. 96: 569-575. Shahbazi, F., De la Rosa, D., Anaya-Romero, M., Jafarzadeh, A. A., Sarmadian, F., Neyshabouri, M. R., Ustan, SH., (2008). Land use planning in Ahar area (Iran) using MicroLEIS DSS. Int. Agrophysics, 22: 277-286. Soil Survey Staff., (2010). Keys to Soil Taxonomy. Eleventh Edition. Sys, C., Van Ranst, E., Dedaveye, J., (1991). Land Evaluation. Parts I, II and III: Methods in Land Evaluation. International Training Centre for Post Graduate Soil Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent. Belgium. 247pp Wahba, M., Derwish, K. M., Wad, F., (2007). Suitability of specific crops using MicroLElS program in Sahal Baraka, Farafra Oasis, Egypt. Journal of Applied Sciences Research, 3(7):531-539. Young, A., and Goldsmith, R. F., (1977). Soil Survey and Land Evaluation in developing countries. A case study in Malawi: the Geographical Journal, 143: 407-438.

569

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Fertilizer recommendations for wheat production, using soil testing and GIS in Ahar area, Iran

Mj Vahidi1, HR Momtaz2, AA Jafarzadeh3, R Mirabbasi Najafabadi1, MA Sadeghzadeh3

1. Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tabriz, Iran. 2. Department of Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Urmia University, Iran 3. Soil Science Department, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tabriz, Iran Corresponding author: Mohammadjavadvahidi@yahoo.com

Abstract
Wheat is one of the most important and widely used field crops in the world. With regards to limitations for increasing the surface under cultivation in Iran, the importance of increasing yield in area unit through fertilizers application becomes more obvious. Soil testing is one of the most known and exact methods for fertilizer recommendations for plants. In this research, some factors affecting soil fertility including availability of N, P, K, Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, B and some physical and chemical properties of soil such as sand, silt and clay percentage, organic carbon, CCE, saturation percentage, pH and EC were determined based on standard methods, in Ahar area, that located in East Azarbaijan Province, Iran. For this purpose, 800 soil samples from 30 cm soil surface layer were analyzed. Studied parameters were interpolated in Arc GIS 10 software, and were classified in related maps. Evaluation of nutrients status in the soil was conducted through comparison of obtained results with recommended critical levels for wheat. Results revealed that in main parts of studied region, nutrients availability was optimum for wheat production, except for some elements such as zinc. In order to increase yield production in area unit, however, management of organic matter and fertilizer applications in areas with nutrient deficiency, should be optimized. Keywords: Soil testing, Ahar, Fertility, Wheat, GIS

Introduction With regards to growth population and present yield of agricultural productions in area unit and future need of increasing country population, agricultural development programs should be design and perform such that cause to increase agricultural production toward supply food and clothing for country population (Goodwin, 1991). Increasing of agricultural productions trough the two methods is possible. First, increase the surface under cultivation, second increase yield in area unit. According to the soil and water resources limitations, development of the surface under cultivation in Iran is associated with restrictions and also it is very costly. One of the methods to achieve this purpose is increase the fertility of lands under cultivation and use the full potential of any land to produce the highest economic yield (Wolman and Fournier, 1987). According to the FAO experts opinion, in the years 1976 to 1978, 50 to 60 percentages of products has been increased in world because of the proper use of the chemical and organic fertilizers (FAO, 2002) but fertilizer recommendations in Iran rarely is based on proper evaluation of soil fertility status and according to land, water and climate limitations, so firstly not achieved the expected yield increase, secondly balance of nutrient elements in the soil was disappeared, third this illusion for Iranian farmers there that to use much fertilizer will be more yield. According to nutritional problems, considering soil as a source of provider plant nutrient elements is important. There are various methods for considering fertility soils status that their most common is soil testing. In this method, could be measured amount of plant absorbent elements in the soil, in the shortest time, So that in this research, work based on soil testing were done. Wheat in wide range of world agricultural land is cultivated, that show most adaptation in comparison with other species of crops. More agricultural land in the world compared with other economic products is devoted to wheat (Briggle and Curtis, 1987). The importance of wheat both in terms of production and nutrition in the world is more than other products. Even in areas that due to being variable climate status and dry environment is not possible to produce vegetable, wheat can be produced (FAO, 2008). Muler (1978) in his study concluded that computerized fertilizer recommendations based on residual nitrogen levels in soil, correctly recommended the nitrogen requirements for cereals. Tandon (1995) reported that in 4530 wheat farms in India after taking fertilizers containing zinc, iron, manganese, copper, boron and molybdenum, respectively, 380, 780, 560, 380, 520 and 440 kg/ha increasing grain yield was
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH
obtained.. McKenzie et al (2003) revealed that proper management of phosphorus fertilizers using soil testing led to increase 57 to 72 percent grain yield of wheat in different soils of Canada. For growth and proper yield of wheat is need to sufficient amount of potassium. Considering the importance of soil nutrient elements and fertilizer requirements of wheat, this study intends through soil testing Ahar province that is one of the most important regions for wheat cultivation, the fertility status for this strategic product using the geographic information system (GIS) were examined to provide appropriate solutions, the highest rate of wheat production towards sustainable agriculture is achieved.

Materials and Methods

The studied area in Ahar region with geographical coordinates between the eastern longitude 46 00' 05 to 47 16' 43 and northern latitude 38 22' 25 to 38 45' 13 is located and the area is approximately 134,000 hectares. The moisture and temperature regimes of soils area are Xeric and Mesic respectively. The locations of sampling and the latitude-longitude of studied points have been determined based on semi detailed studies of land evaluation, using Google Earth software (figure 1).

Figure 1. Location of study area in East Azarbaijan province and Iran

For study of soil nutrients changes in studied area, research was conducted during the following four steps: First step included preparing and gathering information and statistics in the region in related to the soil, the initial mapping area and select the appropriate software to analyze the data. Second step was soil sampling. Because of extremely important of soil surface, this research has been done for 0-30 Cm of soil surface. Third step was soil analysis, including measuring the amount of phosphorus, potassium, iron, zinc, manganese, copper, boron, electrical conductivity, soil reaction, the percentage of nitrogen, organic carbon, clay, sand, silt, calcium carbonate equivalent and the saturated moisture. These tests were done on 800 samples of soil. In the fourth step, amounts of different variables using the Arc GIS 10 software were interpolated and analyzed according to the critical levels of some nutrient elements for wheat. The amounts of organic carbon were measured using wet oxidation method by chromic acid and then titrated using ferrous ammonium sulfate (Nelson and Sommers, 1996). In the soil fertility, total nitrogen, solution and absorbent phosphorus and exchangeable potassium of the soil are measured (Peterson et al, 2002). The amounts of available phosphorus were determined using Olsen method (Olsen et al, 1954). Also iron, manganese, copper and zinc concentrations that extracted by DTPA were determined (Lindsay and Norvell, 1978). The measurement of total soil nitrogen is including digestion and distillation (Bremner and Mulvaney, 1982). The amounts of available potassium for plant were extracted using neutral normal ammonium acetate and determined by flame Photometer (Bashour and Sayegh, 2007). Also, the absorbent boron in the soil was measured based on standard methods (Sah and Brown, 1997). Clay, silt and sand percent were calculated using hydrometer method (Gee, 1986). Also, the calcium carbonate equivalent, moisture saturation, electrical conductivity and reaction of soil according to the standard methods were measured (Soil Conservation Service,

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH
1992). For each plant should be determined amount of adequate and critical concentration of each nutrient element in the soil, because should be done correct fertilizer recommendation based on it. These critical levels using visual Kate and Nelson (1965) method are obtained in the field. In this research, the studied variables data were classified in the GIS environment, then according to the specified limits in the study area, can be studied fertility status for cultivable products.

Results and Discussion

Table 1 shows some descriptive statistics of studied soil properties in Ahar region. According to this table, generally, mean of studied data reveal that the exceptions of zinc element, studied variables have relatively proper condition for cultivation of wheat and according to critical levels (After Malakouti and Gheibi, 2000) and suitable fertilizer recommendation (tables of 2 and 3) soil fertility status can be improved. According to Malakouti and Gheibi (2000), available phosphorus status for wheat was determined that 47.6 percentages of lands area have less than 10 mg/kg of available phosphorus and their situation is improper, also 35.1 percentages of lands have between 10 to 15 mg/kg of available phosphorus and just 17.3 percentages of lands have more than 15 mg/kg of available phosphorus and their situation is proper (Figure 2 - A). 6.8 percentages of lands have less than 30% clay and less than 250 mg/kg potassium and almost 9 percentages have more than 30% clay and less than 300 mg/kg potassium that is improper for cultivation of wheat, whereas 33 percentages of lands have less than 30% clay and more than 250 mg/kg potassium, also 51.1 percentages of lands have more than 30% clay and more than 300 mg/kg potassium that is proper for cultivation of wheat. It should be mentioned that 39.8 percentages of lands have less than 30% and 60.2 percentages of lands have more than 30% clay (Figures 2 - B and 2 - C). Considering the amount of organic carbon can be recommended nitrogen fertilizer (Table 2). Organic carbon status in the GIS environment were investigated and determined 55.66 percentages of studied lands have less than 0.5%, 29.54 percentages between 0.5% to 1%, 9.62 percentages between 1% to 1.5% and 5.28 percentages of area lands have more than 1.5% organic carbon and according to table 2 to produce 12 ton/ha wheat for each of these areas that the certain percentage of organic carbon is allocated to them can be recommended urea fertilizer for nitrogen (Figure 3 A). Based on table 2 and studies that was conducted in GIS environment, 0.57 percentages of lands have less than 5 mg/kg phosphorous and therefore requires to 150 kg/ha triple superphosphate. 47 percentages of the lands have between 5 to 10 mg/kg phosphorous and need to be 100 kg/ha triple superphosphate and 35.1 percentages of lands have between 10 to 15 mg/kg and for this area should be used 50 kg/ha triple superphosphate. Also 17.3 percentages of the lands area have more than 15 mg/kg phosphorous and dont require to fertilizer (Fig. 3 - B). Almost, there isnt less than 150 mg/kg potassium in the studied area and 0.16 percentages of lands have less than 30% clay with potassium between 150 to 200 mg/kg and 200 kg/ha potassium sulfate fertilizers should be used for it. Approximately was not observed more than 30% clay with 150 to 200 mg/kg potassium in the studied area. 6.6 percentages of lands have less than 30% clay with 200 to 250 mg/kg potassium and 0.5 percentages have more than 30% with 200 to 250 mg/kg potassium that require to 100 kg/ha potassium sulfate. Also 8.5 percentages of lands area have more than 30% clay and between 250 and 300 mg/kg potassium that require to 50 kg/ha potassium sulfate. The rest of the lands that have more than 300 mg/kg potassium, dont require to fertilizer (Figures of 3 C and 3 D). In the some parts of Europe and Asia because of the use fertilizers containing micronutrients the yield and product quality have increased (Nub and Voortman 2008). According to Malakouti and Gheibi (2000), 10.63 percentages of lands have less than 1.15 mg/kg copper and 60.70 percentages have less than 1 mg/kg boron. Also 2.58 percentages of lands area have less than 4.1 mg/kg manganese, 89.7 percentages of lands have less than 0.62 mg/kg zinc and 26.73 percentages of lands have less than 2.5 mg/kg iron (Figures of 4 - A, 4 - B, 4 - C, 4 - D and 4 - E) that these amounts are critical level of these elements in soil and it is necessary that their requirement of fertilizer be provided based on table 3. Deficiency of nutrients in soil had undesirable effects in agriculture and providing balance of nutrients using organic and inorganic containing micronutrients for maintenance the soil quality and production is recommended (Rahman and Azam, 2005). After calculating the amount of required fertilizer, there are several fertilization methods that determining the most suitable fertilization method depend on the soil and product
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conditions (Wang et al, 2007). According to the wheat and soil conditions in the studied area that is given in Table 1 can be recommended suitable fertilization method based on various references (Malakooti and Gheibi 2000). In the studied area according to the prepared maps in the GIS Environment (Figures 2, 3 and 4) in areas where nutrients are not enough should be used fertilizers containing these nutrients to reach maximum quality and yield of wheat. It should be noted that the use of geographical information system (GIS) techniques in this research increased accuracy, speed and facility of special access and application of this technique is recommended in other same researches.
Table 1: Some descriptive statistics of studied soil properties in Ahar province Frequency distribution quartiles (%) Number of Variance Mean Maximum Minimum samples 75 50 25 1.21 0.94 0.74 0.183 1.03 4.8 0.14 800 7.79 7.71 7.63 0.02 7.7 8.1 5.6 800 15 11 7.3 36.29 11.7 37.5 1 800 0.80 0.57 0.43 0.42 0.75 8.77 0.27 800 37 32 27 63.3 31.4 51 2 800 13 9 6 115.74 11.79 97 1 800 411 324 262.75 48255 357.5 3909 80 800 7.02 5.2 3.94 7.61 5.77 25.04 1.62 800 0.46 0.34 0.26 0.14 0.44 4.12 0.01 800 2.40 1.84 1.42 0.78 1.97 7.54 0.2 800 15.72 8.26 6.18 71.94 11.7 58.9 2.08 800 1.06 0.96 0.86 0.032 0.97 2.14 0.48 800 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.001 0.11 0.5 0.1 800 53 48 43 60.04 47.71 83 25 800 45 38 31 129 39 80 3 800 33 29 26 43.5 29.5 67 5 800 Studied variables Organic carbon (%) pH CCE (%) EC (dS/m) Clay (%) Phosphorous (mg/kg) Potassium (mg/kg) Iron (mg/kg) Zn (mg/kg) Cu (mg/kg) Mn (mg/kg) Boron (mg/kg) N (%) SP (%) Sand (%) Silt (%)

Malakooti and Gheibi (2000) performed many experiments during four years (1996 to 2000 using visual Kate Nelson-method) to determine the critical level of micronutrients for irrigated wheat cultivation and presented the appropriate fertilizer recommendations.
Table 2: Fertilizer recommendation for cultivation of irrigated wheat based on soil testing (to produce 12 ton/ha) (After Malakouti and Gheibi, 2000) Potassium (K)** Phosphorous (P) Nitrogen (N)* More than 30% clay Less than 30% clay Potassium Potassium Potassium Potassium triple Phosphorous Urea Organic sulfate (mg/kg) sulfate (mg/kg) superphosphate (mg/kg) (kg/ha) carbon (kg/ha) (kg/ha) (kg/ha) (%) 200 <150 300 <150 150 <5 500 <0.5 150 150-200 200 150-200 100 5-10 400 0.5-1 100 200-250 100 200-250 50 10-15 300 1-1.5 50 250-300 50 >250 0 >15 200 >1.5 0 >300

* Nitrogen fertilizer must be used in discrete doses ** Potassium chloride consumption as the same as recommended amount with irrigation water as top dressing in the non saline fields of wheat was recommended.

If amounts of micronutrients are lower than the critical level in order to Malakooti and Gheibi (2000), the following fertilizer recommendations (Table 3) will be presented for the use of fertilizers containing these micronutrients.
Table 3: Fertilizer recommendation for cultivation of irrigated wheat (After Malakouti and Gheibi, 2000) Amount of consumption* Fertilizers containing micronutrients 40 kg Zinc sulfate 30 kg Manganese sulfate 20 kg Copper sulfate 20 kg Boric acid Two stages spraying Iron sulfate or Iron fertilizers

* Recommended amount added to the soil before planting or 50 percent with irrigation water and spraying is usable.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Conclusion
According to conducted studies through GIS technique, soil testing, adding organic matter to the soil, land use based on land suitability, maintain desirable soil reaction, proper management and avoid continuous usage and non scientific of chemical fertilizers in the studied area, are strategies to increase crop productivity and quality and having sustainable agriculture that can be recommended.

Figure 2. Mapping of status A) Phosphorous B) Potassium with less than 30% clay (regions that have more than 30% clay is shown with white color) C) Potassium with more than 30% clay (regions that have less than 30% clay is shown with white color) based on comments of soil and water institute in GIS environment

Figure 3. Mapping of status A) Organic carbon B) Phosphorous C) Potassium with more than 30% clay (regions that have less than 30% clay is shown with white color) D) Potassium with less than 30% clay (regions that have more than 30% clay is shown with white color) based on comments of soil and water institute in GIS environment

Figure 4. Mapping of status A) Iron B) Zinc C) Manganese D) Cooper E) Boron according to critical level of nutrients in east Azarbaijan province, based on comments of soil and water institute in GIS environment

References

Bashour, I. I., and Sayegh, A. H., (2007). Methods of Analysis for Soils of Arid and Semi-Arid Regions. American University of Beirut. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Rome. Bremner, J. M., and Mulvaney, C. S., (1982). Nitrogen-total. In A. L. Page, R. H. Miller, and D. R. Keeney (eds.), Methods of Soil Analysis, Part 2. Agronomy 9:595-624. Briggle, L. W., and Curtis, B. C., (1987). Wheat worldwide. In: E. G. Heyne (ed). Wheat and wheat improvement. Madison, Wisconsin, U. S. A. Cate, R. B. Jr., and Nelson L. A., (1965). A rapid method for correlation of soil test analysis with plant response data. North Carolina Agric. Exp. Stn., International soil Testing Series Bull. No. 1. FAO., (2002). Water and fertilizer use in selected countries. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Rome, 2002.

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FAO., (2008). Using Food Science and Technology to Improve Nutrition and Promote National Development, Robertson, G.L. & Lupien, J.R. (Eds), International Union of Food Science & Technology . Gee, G. W., (1986). Particle size analysis. In: Method of Soil Analysis, part I. ASA- SSSA, Madison, USA. Goodwin, N., (1991). Lessons for the World from US Agriculture: Unbundling Technology. World Development. Vol. 19 (No. 1). pp 85-102. Lindsay, W.L., and Norvell, W.A., (1978). Development of a DTPA test for zinc, iron, manganese and copper. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., 42: 421-428. Malakouti, M. J., and Gheibi, M. N., (2000). Determine the critical level of effective nutrient elements in the soil, plant and fruit. (In Persian) Agricultural education publishing. Second edition. McKenzie, R. H., Bremer, E., Kryzanowski, L., Middleton, A. B., Solberg, E. D., Heaney, D., Coy, G., Harapiak, J., (2003). Yield Benefit of Phosphorus Fertilizer for Wheat, Barley, and Canola in Alberta. Better Crops/Vol. 87 (No. 4). pp 15-17. Muler, S., (1978). The role of the soil inorganic N content in N fertilization of cereals. Soils and Fertilizers. 42: 66-80. Nelson, D.W., and Sommers, L.E., (1996). Total carbon, organic carbon and organic matter. In: D.L.Sparks A.L. Page, P.A. Helmke, R.H. Loeppert, P.N. Nub, M., and Voortman, R.L., (2008). Simultaneously addressing micronutrient deficiencies in soils, crops, animal and human nutrition: opportunities for higher yields and better health. Centre for World Food Studies. Staff Working Paper WP -06 - 02. Olsen, S.R., Cole, C.V., Watanabe, F.S., Dean, L.A., (1954). Estimation of available phosphorus in soil by extraction with sodium bicarbonate. USDA Circ. 939 US Gover. Prin. Office, Washington DC. Peterson. E. H., Pannel. D. G., Nordblom. T. L., Shomo, F., (2002). Potential benefit from alternative areas of agricultural research for dry farming in northern Syria. J.of Agricultural System. Volume 11. Issue 2-p: 93-108. Sah, R. N., and Brown, P. H., (1997). Boron determination-a review of analytical methods. MICROCHEMICAL JOURNAL. 56, 285304. Siadat, S. A., Hashemi Dezfouli, S. A., Radmehr, M., Lotfali Aieneh, G. A., (1999). Effect of micronutrients on yield and process of N, P, K absorption by wheat. (In Persian) Proceedings of the 6th Iranian Soil Science Congress. Mashhad University. Soil Conservation Service., (1992). Soil Survey Laboratory Methods and Procedures for Collecting Soil Sample. USDA-SCS. Soil Survey. Invest. Ret. No. 2. U. S. Gov. Print. Office, Washington, DC. Rahman, M. D. M., and Azam, M. G., (2005). Fertility Evaluation of Old Meghna River Floodplain Soils in Bangladesh for Sustainable Agriculture. Chiang Mai J. Sci. 32(2): 127-137. Tandon, H., (1995). Micronutrients in soil crops and fertilizers. Fertilizer Development and Consulation Organization, New Delhi, India.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Chemical Forms Changes and Extractable Iron in Soils Treated With Slag and Convertor Sludge of Esfahan Iron Melting Factory
Alireza Kazemi, Hosein Shariatmadari and Mahmood Kalbasi Department of soil science, college of agriculture, Esfahan University of Technology, Esfahan,Iran
Iron deficiency is the most widespread deficiency among the plant nutrients. Nowadays, different materials such as inorganic salts, organic chelates, soil acidifying materials and industrial wastes are used to correct iron deficiency. Slag and convertor sludge of steel factories are among the industrial wastes for this purpose. These materials contain considerable amount of iron and produced in large quantity every year. Application of slag and convertor sludge to soil may affect bioavailability and chemical forms of iron in soil. Sequential chemical extraction technique has been widely used to examine these chemical forms, and thus to better understand the processes that influence element availability. It was, therefore, the objectives of this study to investigate the application effect of slag and convertor sludge of Esfahan iron melting factory on the chemical forms of iron, distribution of these forms and bioavailability of iron in surface and subsurface soil of three research fields. The study was conducted in 3 fields, namely Khazaneh, Lavark and Shervedan. Tessier and Shuman method was used for chemical forms of iron analysis. In regard to results, more than 99% of the applied Fe occurred in residual, Fe oxide and hydroxide, free and amorphous forms. Application of slag and convertor sludge for three consecutive years increased chemical forms and extractable iron in surface and subsurface soil of three fields. Keywords: slag, convertor sludge, chemical forms and extractable Fe.

Abstract

Introduction Although the total concentration of trace elements in soil gives some indication of the level of contamination, it provides no insight into element availability or mobility. Elements in soil are associated with a number of physicochemical forms. The different fractions of trace elements vary considerably in their chemical reactivity and bioavailability. The distribution of metals among soil components is important for assessing the soil potential to supply sufficient micronutrients for the growth of plant and to retain toxic quantities of heavy metals. The degree of metal association with different geochemical phases strongly depends upon the physicochemical conditions of the soil, basically pH, CaCO3 concentration, cation exchange capacity, nutrient status(competitive species in soil solution), organic matter content (OM) and texture. Sequential chemical extraction technique has been widely used to examine these physicochemical forms, and thus to better understand the processes that influence element availability. Selective sequential extractions have been used on contaminated lake sediments, radioactive wastes, and mine wastecontaminated areas. Chemical extractions are also used for mineralogical analyses and subsequent taxonomic delineation of soils (Tessier et al., 1985; La Force et al., 1999; Hickey and Kittrick, 1984). In a sequential extraction procedure, a sample is treated with a series of progressively harsher reagents to dissolve increasingly refractory forms. Ideally, the reagents are chosen to selectivity attack a special soil compartment with minimal dissolution of non-targeted phases. In practice, however, the desecrate extraction of any given phase may be unachievable. However, the application of sequential extraction procedure is still subjected to much controversy. One problem is limited selectivity of extractants, the other is trace element redistribution among phases during extraction procedure, which will lead to some errors in the final results. Generally, the amount of metal in the successive extract is assumed to be equivalent to that of previously band metal released from the soil or sediment component attacked by the reagent. However, the metal released from certain components would have opportunity to reassociate with remaining undissolved solid components or freshly expose surface before recovery of extract. This will lead to the so-called redistribution, some studies concerned about this phenomenon. Therefore repeated extraction of each step may also minimize element redistribution. The sequential extraction procedure described in literature differ mainly in the extractants used, the order of extraction and operational details such as the solid to extractant ratio and extraction time (Tessier et al, 1979 ).

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This extraction scheme is a hybrid of two well established extraction sequences developed by Tessier et al (1979) and shuman (1985). Extraction involve the isolation operationally defined deionized water (soluble), magnesium chloride (exchangeable), sodium hypochlorite (organic matter), sodium acetate-acetic acid (carbonate), hydroxylamine-hydrochloride-nitric acid (Mn oxides), ammonium oxalate in the dark (noncrystalline materials), hydroxylamine-hydrochlorideacetic acid (Fe oxides), citrate-bicarbonate-dithionate sodium (free Fe) and hydrochloric-nitrichydrofluoric acid (residual). Materials and Methods This study was conducted in three research fields namely Khazaneh, Lavark and Shervedan. Treatments used in this experiment were as follows. Control, 1, 2, 3 and 4 times critical level of iron as a slag and convertor sludge of Esfahan iron melting factory. At each field 3 blocks was selected and each block was divided to 9 plots. Each plot was divided to 3 part and each part of the plot received treatments in three replication for one, two and three consecutive years. After 3rd year sample were collected from 0-20 cm and 20-45cm depths. For better understanding of results, 4 times critical level of Fe as slag and convertor sludge was selected and prepared for laboratory analyses. For the laboratory analyses, the soils were air-dried, grounded and passed through a 2 mm sieve. Selected chemical and physical properties of the soils are given in Table 1.
Tabel 1. Selected chemical and physical properties of the soils Field Soil texture pHe ECe (dS/m) 4.31 1.68 2.04 pH(1:5) CaCl2 6.83 6.87 6.91 OM ( %) 0.96 1.15 2.25 CaCO3 ( %) 60.67 39.50 37.07

Khazaneh Lavark Shervedan

Sandy clay loam Silty clay loam Clay

8.15 8.27 8.02

The sequential extraction procedure used for this experiment was as follows. 10 ml of deionized water was added to 1 gr dry weight soil placed in a 50 ml plastic centrifuge tube. To the remaining sediment 10 ml of 1M MgCl2 (pH=7) was added and shaken for 1 hr. The residual sediments was then exposed to 20 ml of sodium hypochlorite at pH=9.5, while being heated to 955C for 1 hr. This was done three times to enhance removal of the organic fraction (Anderson, 1963; Omueti, 1980; Shuman, 1983). The resulting solids were then leached for 5 hr with 20 ml of 1M NaOAcHOAc (sodium acetateacetic acid) at pH=5 to remove the carbonate fraction of the sediment (Tessier et al., 1979). To the leftover sediment, 25 ml of 0.1M NH2OHHCl in 0.01M HNO3 adjusted to pH=2 was added and repeated two times to enhance removal of Mn oxides (Chao, 1972; Shuman, 1982). This procedure is expected to extract contaminants that are bound to crystalline Mn oxides and is estimated to be 85% efficient at selective solubility of crystalline Mn oxides residing in the soil (Chao, 1972). Additionally, a few percent of the total amorphous Fe will probably be removed during this extraction (Chao, 1984). For the next extraction, the sediment was shaken for 4 hr with 20 ml of 0.2M ammonium oxalateoxalic acid (pH=3) to remove the noncrystalline materials (McKeague and Day, 1966; Schwertmann, 1973). To the remaining residue, 30 ml of 1.0 M NH2OHHCl solution in 25% (v/v) HOAc was added and then heated to 95 5C for 6 hr to remove the crystalline Fe and Mn (hydr)oxides (Tessier et al., 1979). For the next extraction a modified Kunze and Dixon (1986) procedure (citrate-bicarbonatedithionate or CBD) for the removal of free Fe-oxides was used. 20 ml of 0.3M sodium citrate and

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2.5 ml of 0.5M NaHCO3 (sodium bicarbonate) were added. The suspension was heated to 80C in water bath, and then 0.5gr of Na2S2O4 (sodium dithionate) was added. The mixture was stirred constantly for 1 minute and occasionally during the 14 minutes of digestion at 80C. At the end of the procedure, an aqua regia-hydroflouric digestion was used on the remaining solids. The procedure was initiated by using 10 ml 3:1:2 (by volume) HClHNO3H2O kept at 95 5C for 1 hr, then cooled, and followed by 10 ml of HF heated for 2 hr at 95 5C, shaken, and then neutralized with 20.0 ml of saturated boric acid and 0.50 g of H3BO3(s) (Sridhar and Jackson, 1974). DTPA-TEA method was used for extraction of bio-available iron. In this method the extractant contained 0.005 M DTPA, 0.1 M TEA, 0.01 M CaCl22H2O, and was adjusted to a pH of 7.3 with HCl. Extractant to soil ratio was 10:4 (v/w), and the shaking time was 2 hr (Lindsay and Norvell, 1978). After extraction, the solution was filtered through whatman no. 42 filter. Results and Discussion More than 99% of the applied Fe occurred in the residual, Fe oxide and hydroxide, free and amorphous forms. The order of chemical forms in Khazaneh field were as fallows: residual> bound to Fe oxide and hydroxide> free iron> amorphous iron> bound to crystalline Mn oxide> soluble iron> bound to organic matter> exchangeable Fe> carbonate Fe. In Lavark and Shervedan fields the order was the same, but carbonate Fe was more than exchangeable Fe (fig1 and fig2).
100% 80% Fe amount (%) 60% 40% 20% 0%
Control L40-1 L40-2 L40-3 S40-1 S40-2 S40-3 Control L40-1 L40-2 L40-3 S40-1 S40-2 S40-3 Control L40-1 L40-2 L40-3 S40-1 S40-2 S40-3

Khazaneh

Lavark

Shervedan Residual Fe Free Fe Fe as oxides and hydroxides Amorphous Fe Fe bound to crystalline Mn-oxide Carbonate Fe Fe bound to organic matter Exchangeable Fe Soluble Fe

Treatment

Figure 1. Fe amount versus treatments for 0-20 cm depth. S40 and L40 (4 times critical level as slag and converter sludge). 1, 2 and 3 (application of S40 and L40 for one, two and three consecutive years).
Khazaneh Lavark Shervedan Residual Fe Free Fe Fe as oxides and hydroxides Amorphous Fe Fe bound to crystalline Mn-oxide Carbonate Fe Fe bound to organic matter Exchangeable Fe Soluble Fe
Control L40-1 L40-2 L40-3 S40-1 S40-2 S40-3 Control L40-1 L40-2 L40-3 S40-1 S40-2 S40-3 Control L40-1 L40-2 L40-3 S40-1 S40-2 S40-3

100% 80% Fe amount (%) 60% 40% 20% 0%

Figure 2. Fe amount versus treatments for 20-45 cm depth. S40 and L40 (4 times critical level as slag and converter sludge). 1, 2 and 3 (application of S40 and L40 for one, two and three consecutive years).

Treatment

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In organic soils, 50% of the iron was found in the organic materials, but little was found in this form in mineral soil horizons. In mineral soils, most the iron resides in the amorphous and crystalline iron oxides and residual fractions (Shuman, 1979). Application of slag for 2 and 3 consecutive years (S40-2, S40-3) increased soluble and exchangeable Fe at surface (0-20cm) and subsurface (20-45cm) soil of 3 fields. Application of slag and converter sludge for 2 and 3 consecutive years increased Fe bound to organic matter and at the same time decreased carbonate Fe at surface and subsurface soils of 3 fields. A five-year study of land application of municipal sludge to a forest soil has shown that most metal movement seems to be limited to the upper 5 cm of soil, however, repeated applications in the following year increased metal leaching to the underlying soil. In most contaminated soils, metals do not appear to leach downward insignificant quantities in the short run, because of their strong interactions with the soil. However, in the long run, metals can leach downwards in a soil due to their complex with organic matter especially in an alkaline environment where organic matter is more soluble (Marschner and Wilczynski, 1991). The effectiveness of the carbonate extraction has been questioned since it may not completely dissolve the target (carbonate) phase. Moreover, this extraction may instead dissolve some Fe oxides in the system (Hickey and Kittrick, 1984). Application of converter sludge for 3 consecutive years (L40-3) increased residual Fe, iron bound to Fe-oxides and hydroxides, free Fe, amorphous Fe and iron bound to crystalline Mn oxide at surface and subsurface soils of 3 fields (fig 1 and fig 2). Studies have shown that metals added in a soluble form to soil are converted into chemically less active forms and the final metal forms are affected by organic matter, CEC, redox potential, and soil content of Al, Fe, and Mn oxides (Schalscha et al., 1982). Some soil samples contained significant amounts of free Fe oxides that could not be extracted by the Tessier et al (1979) procedure. For these samples, a modified Kunze and Dixon (1986) procedure (citratebicarbonatedithionite or CBD) for the removal of free Fe oxides was used. The citratebicarbonatedithionite procedure is the standard method for removal of free Fe oxides (both amorphous and crystalline) with a minimal destructive action to the clay minerals (Kunze and Dixon, 1986). During the AOD extraction procedure, acid dissolution of Fe, or more likely ligand enhanced dissolution, occurs (Arshad et al., 1972; McKeague and Day, 1966). The AOD extraction does not specifically remove any one particular phase, rather it extracts dominantly noncrystalline Al, Fe, and Mn all at once from the solid phase along with some crystalline material, particularly lepidocrocite, during the short reaction period employed (McKeague et al., 1971; Schwertmann, 1973; Chao and Zhou, 1983). For example, AOD can extract some Fe from magnetite but little from goethite and hematite within 4 hr, whereas Schwertmann (1973) determined that oxalate extracted considerable amounts of lepidocrocite along with amorphous Fe (McKeague et al.,1971; Schwertmann, 1973; Chao and Zhou, 1983). Elements removed during the residual extraction are expected to be associated with the silicate matrix of the soil. These elements are considered nonlabile and are presumed to be bound tightly in the silicate fraction. This extraction step is used to provide estimates of residual Fe partitioning after an extraction scheme and when summed with the previous extractions creates an operationally defined total Fe concentration. A significant portion of Fe remained in the solid phase until the residual extraction. Application of converter sludge for 3 (L40-3) consecutive years increased bioavailable (DTPAextractable) iron for both depths of Khazaneh and Lavark fields and for surface soil of Shervedan field. Application of slag for 3 years (S40-3), however, increased DTPA-extractable Fe of Shervedan field only for 0-20 cm depth. Extractable-Fe versus treatments for 0-20 and 20-45 cm depths are shown in fig 3 and fig 4.

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45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Khazaneh a d a c Lavark b c Shervedan b a a a Extractable-Fe (mg Fe/kg soil

d c

b bc

b b

Figure 3. Extractable-Fe versus treatments for 0-20 cm depth. In each field columns with the same letters are not significantly diffirent according to LSD test (p < 0.05). S40 and L40 (4 times critical level as slag and converter sludge). 1,2 and 3(application of S40 and L40 for one, two and three consecutive years).

S40-3 S40-2 S40-1 L40-3 L40-2 L40-1 Control

50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Khazaneh a

S40-3 S40-2 S40-1 L40-3 L40-2 L40-1 Control Treatment

Lavark

S40-3 S40-2 S40-1 L40-3 L40-2 L40-1 Control

Shervedan bc a b de b

Extractable-Fe(mg Fe/kg soil

e a c c c d b c d cd bc bc

cd

ab d

Figure 4. Extractable-Fe versus treatments for 20-45 cm depth. In each field columns with the same letters are not significantly diffirent according to LSD test (p < 0.05). S40 and L40 (4 times critical level as slag and converter sludge). 1, 2 and 3 (application of S40 and L40 for one, two and three consecutive years).

Acknowledgements This study was financially supported by Esfahan iron melting factory and Esfahan University of Technology. References Anderson, J.U., (1963). An improved pretreatment for mineralogical analysis of samples containing organic matter. Clays and Clay Mineral, 10, 380-388. Arshad, M.A., St. Arnaud R.J., Huang P.M., (1972). Dissolution of trioctahedral layer silicates by ammonium oxalate, sodium dithionite-citrate-bicarbonate, and potassium pyrophosphate. Canadian Journal of Soil Science, 52, 19-26. Chao, T.T., (1972). Selective dissolution of manganese oxides from soils and sediments with acidified hydroxylamine hydrochloride. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 36, 764-768.
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S40-3 S40-2 S40-1 L40-3 L40-2 L40-1 Control Treatment

S40-3 S40-2 S40-1 L40-3 L40-2 L40-1 Control

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Chao, T.T., (1984). Use of partial dissolution techniques in geochemical exploration. Journal of Geochemical Exploration, 20, 101-135. Chao, T.T. and Zhou L., (1983). Extraction techniques for selective dissolution of amorphous iron oxides from soils and sediments. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 47, 225-232. Hickey, M.G. and Kittrick, J.A., (1984). Chemical partitioning of cadmium, copper, nickel, and zinc in soils and sediments containing high levels of heavy metals. Journal of Enviromental Quality, 13, 372-376. Kunze, G.W. and Dixon, J.B., (1986). Pretreatment for mineralogical analysis. p. 91100. In A. Klute (ed.) Methods of soil analysis. Part 1. 2nd ed. Agron. Monogr. 9. ASA and SSSA, Madison, WI. La Force, M.J., Fendorf, S.E., Li, G.C., Rosenzweig R.F., (1999). Redistribution of trace elements from contaminated sediments of Lake Coeur d'Alene during oxygenation. Journal of Enviromental Quality, 28, 1195-1201. Lindsay, W.L. and Norvell, W.A., (1978). Development of a DTPA soil test for zinc, iron, manganese and copper. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 42, 421428. Marschner, B. and Wilczynski, AM., (1991). The effect of liming on quantity and chemical composition of soil organic matter in a pine forest in Berlin, Germany. Plant Soil, 137, 229 236. McKeague, J.A., Brydon, J.E., Miles, N.M., (1971). Differentiation of forms of extractable iron and aluminum in soils. Soil Science Society of America Proceedings, 35, 33-38. McKeague, J.A. and Day, J.H., (1966). Dithionite and oxalate extractable Fe and Al as aids in differentiating various classes of soils. Canadian Journal of Soil Science, 46, 13-22. Omueti, J.A., (1980). Sodium hypochlorite treatment for organic matter destruction in tropical soils of Nigeria. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 44, 878-880. Schalscha, E. B., Morales, M., Vergara, I., Chang, A. C., (1982). Chemical fractionation of heavy metals in waste water affected soils. Journal of the Water Pollution and Control Federation, 54, 175-180. Schwertmann, U., (1973). Use of oxalate for Fe extraction from soils. Canadian Journal of Soil Science, 53:244-246. Shuman, L.M., (1985). Fractionation method for soil micronutrients. Soil science, 140 ,11-22. Shuman, L.M., (1982). Separating soil iron and manganese oxide fractions for microelement analysis. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 46, 1099-1102. Shuman, L.M., (1983). Sodium hypochlorite methods for extracting microelements associated with soil organic matter. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 47, 656-660. Shuman, L. M., (1979). Zinc, manganese, and copper in soil fractions. Soil science, 127, 10-17. Sridhar, K. and Jackson, M.L., (1974). Layer charge decrease by tetrahedral cation removal and silicon incorporation during natural weathering of phlogopite and saponite. Soil Science Society of America Proceedings, 38, 847-850. Tessier, A., Rapin, F., Carignan, R., (1985). Trace metals in oxic lake sediments: Possible adsorption onto iron oxyhydroxides. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 49, 183-194. Tessier, A., Campbell, P.G.C., Bisson, M., (1979). Sequential extraction procedure for the speciation of particulate trace metals. Journal of Analitical chemistry, 51, 844851.

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Potassium release kinetics from K-feldspar in comparison with muscovite as influenced by different extractants
Afifeh Mousavi, Fatemeh Khayamim*, Hossein Khademi, Hossein Shariatmadari
Department of Soil Science, College of Agriculture, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan,, Iran, *Corresponding author: f.khayamim@yahoo.com

Abstract

Feldspars are known as important sources of potassium in soils, particularly in semi-arid and arid areas but limited information is available about these minerals as potassium sources. The objective of this research was to compare the kinetics of potassium release from these minerals as influenced by organic and inorganic extractants using successive extraction method. The experiment was carried out in a completely randomized design with a factorial combination and three replications. Treatments consisted of three kinds of K-bearing minerals including Hamedan Muscovite (Iran), Yazd feldspar (Iran), and Ward feldspar (U.S), three extractants including CaCl2, oxalic and citric acids of 0.01 M concentration and 6 times of extraction (1, 2, 4, 8, 24 and 48 hours). The results indicated that the percentage of K2O in feldspars was significantly higher than muscovite but potassium release from muscovite was 6-8 times greater than the two feldspars. Type of extractants affected potassium release and organic extractants (oxalic and citric acids) were more capable of potassium release. Potassium release by organic extractants was 2.5-3 times more than CaCl2 as an inorganic extractant. Different kinetic equations showed that power function, parabolic diffusion and first order equations adequately described K release, whereas Elovich equation did not. Among the three equations, power function equation was selected as the best model describing K release from the minerals. Based on the selected kinetic equations, it seems that potassium release from K-bearing minerals is controlled by diffusion process. Keywords: Kinetics, Potassium release, Muscovite, K-feldspar

Introduction Potassium (K) is an essential element for plant growth and its importance in agriculture is well recognized (Sparks and Huang, 1985). Soil K is typically divided into four forms: soluble K, exchangeable K, non-exchangeable K, and K in soil minerals (Sparks, 1987). There are dynamic, equilibrium reactions among different forms of K. Most of the total K in soils is in the structural form, mainly as K-bearing primary minerals such as micas and K-feldspars. Mineral K is generally assumed to be only slowly available to plants; however, its availability depends on the level of K in other forms, and the degree of weathering of feldspars and micas constituting the mineral K fraction (Sparks and Huang, 1985; Sparks, 1987). Feldspars are the most abundant rock-forming minerals at the Earths surface. Chemical weathering of these minerals is important for controlling groundwater geochemichal, quality and can affect the porosity and permeability in aquifers. Therefore, chemical weathering can influence the rates of groundwater flow and transport of contaminants. Over longer timescales the dissolution of Ca, Mg-rich silicate minerals, such as the Ca, Al-rich plagioclase, regulates atmospheric CO2 concentration, and can, therefore, affect global climate (Bemer et al., 1983; Brady, 1991). Muscovite as a di-octahedral mica has been categorized as resistant minerals group for weathering. K in micas is kept by electrostatic forces while covalence band preserve potassium in feldspars (gaard and Krogstad, 2005). It seems that K release from feldspar is more complicated. Kinetics of K release from the mineral K pool in soils to various extractants has been examined by many authors and a number of models have been evaluated for their suitability for describing K release (Dhillon and Dhillon, 1990; Carey and Metherell, 2003). Some of these models are simple and empirical but they have been used with various levels of success to describe the rate of K release from soil constituent to an extracting solution. These models allow soils to be ranked on the basis of differences in the potential rate of release of mineral K to plants. Mortland (1958) found that the initial rate of K release from biotite was zero-order which indicated that some factor was obviously restricting the rate or release of K independently of the amount left in the mineral. Huang et al., (1968) showed that K release was first-order for biotite, microcline, muscovite, and phlogopite. The rate coefficients were in the order biotite > phlogopite> muscovite > microcline.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Feigenbaum et al., (1981) found that relative rate coefficients based on the parabolic diffusion equation averaged 0.40 for muscovite particles. Despite the fact that feldspars are known as important sources of potassium in soils, particularly in semi-arid and arid areas, limited information is available about these minerals as potassium sources in Iran. Therefore, the objective of this research was to compare potassium release kinetics of three K-bearing minerals, as influenced by organic and inorganic extractants using successive extraction method. Materials and methods
Experimental design

Experiment was carried out in a completely randomized design with factorial combinations and three replications. 54 treatments were used consisting of three types of minerals (Yazd K feldspar (Iran), Ward K-feldspar (U.S) and Hamadan Muscovite (Iran)), three types of extractant (oxalic and citric acids as organic extractant in comparison with calcium chloride as a mineral extractant with 0.01 M concentration) and 6 times for extracting (1, 2, 4, 8, 24 and 48 hour).
Minerals preparation

Yazd K-feldspar and Hamadan muscovite were obtained from internal sources in Iran. Another type of K-feldspar was prepared from Ward Company in the United States. All minerals were tested for their purity by XRF method (Table 1). All K-bearing minerals were pulverized and passed through a 230 mesh sieve and saturated with Ca using a 1 N CaCl2 solution (2:1 solution to mineral). Saturated minerals were washed with distilled water several times to remove the excess CaCl2 and then oven-dried at 105 C.
Kinetics of K release

Kinetics of K release was studied by successive extraction (Lopez-Pineiro and Navarro, 1997; Jalali, 2006). 0.2 g of each mineral was weighed and placed in a 100-mL centrifuge tube, and then 20 mL of varying equilibrating solutions with concentration of 0.01 M was added. The tubes were capped and shaken for 15 min and kept in an incubator at 25 C. After 1 hour, the suspensions were centrifuged and the solution was analyzed. Fresh solution was added and the contact process was repeated. Successive extraction continued for 2, 4, 8, 24 and 48 hours. K concentrations in samples were measured by flame photometer. The amount of K release was calculated based on the amount of K in mineral. Table 1: Elemental analysis of minerals used in the experiment
Mineral K-feldspar (Yazd) K-feldspar (Ward) Muscovite (Hamadan) SiO2 Al2O3 MgO Fe2O3 K2O CaO % 63.91 64.24 48.34 17.58 17.93 33.92 0.01 0.01 0.08 0.22 0.46 1.77 13.75 13.71 9.98 0.15 0.45 0.17 2.98 1.21 0.64 0.015 0.013 0.06 0.004 0.006 0.06 0.462 0.457 0.03 0.5 1.13 4.5 99.58 99.61 99.55 Na2O TiO2 MnO P 2O 5 LOI* Total

*Loss on ignition

The release of K with time was fitted by using the following equations (Martin and Sparks, 1983) Power function equation lnq=lna+blnt Parabolic diffusion q=a+bt1/2 Elovich equation q=a+blnt First order ln (q0qt)=abt Where q is the amount of released K, qt is the cumulative K released at time t, q0 is the maximum K released, and a and b are constants. An important term in these equations is the constant b, which is indicative of the release rate of K. Kinetic equations for K release were evaluated by comparing coefficients of determination (r2) and standard errors of estimate (SEE) for each equation.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH All statistical analysis was carried out using the SAS 9.1 software. Results and discussion
Non-exchangeable potassium release trends

Cumulative non-exchangeable K release by successive extraction with 0.01 M of different extractants from K-feldspar (Yazd), K-feldspar (Ward) and Muscovite (Hamadan) have been shown in Fig. 1. The K release was initially rapid followed by a slower reaction. The amount of K release was greatest in the first stage of extraction in all the K-bearing minerals tested and declined after 4, 3 and 2 successive extractions in muscovite, K-feldspar (Yazd) and K-feldspar (Ward), respectively. Then, the amount of K release remained nearly constant in subsequent extractions. The initial fast release rate may be related to the K on the surface sites, whereas the later stage of slow release may be attributed to the release of K from peripheral edge sites and interlayer sites. The change in the release rate may be related to a two-phase release characteristic of a diffusioncontrolled process that has been observed for ions similar to K, such as NH4 (Steffens and Sparks, 1997). The two-phase release was also reported by Dhillon and Dhillon, (1990), Ghosh and Singh, (2001).
(a)
K-feldspar (Yazd)
4000 3500
4000 3500

(b)
K-feldspar (Ward)
Oxalic acid Citric acid Calcium chloride

K release (mg/kg)

K release (mg/kg)

3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0

0 10 20 30 40 50

Oxalic acid Citric acid Calcium chloride

3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 0 10 20 30 40 50

Time (hour)

Time (hour)

Muscovite (Hamadan)
4000 3500

(c)

K release (mg/kg)

3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 0 10 20 30 40 50

Oxalic acid Citric acid Calcium chloride

Time (hour)

Fig. 1: Cumulative K release (mg/kg) from (a) K-feldspar (Yazd), (b) K-feldspar (Ward) and (c) Muscovite (Hamadan) by different extractants. Potassium release by different K-bearing minerals

There were statistically significant differences among K-bearing minerals investigated. Potassium release from muscovite as a di-octahedral mica was significantly more than k-feldspars. K in micas is kept by electrostatic forces while covalence band preserve potassium in feldspars (gaard and Krogstad, 2005). The release of K from micas proceeds in two different processes: (1) transformation of micas to expandable 2:1 layer silicates by exchanging K with hydrated cations, and (2) dissolution of the crystal structure followed by the formation of weathering products. So, it seems that K release from feldspar is more complicated. However, both K-feldspars had similar amounts of non-exchangeable K (Table 1). Cumulative non-exchangeable K release by Yazd Kfeldspar was more than that of Ward K-feldspar. It seems that the more K release by Yazd Kfeldspar is related to its crystallographic system. Yazd K-feldspar and Ward K-feldspar are orthoclase and microcline, respectively. Percentages of K release by different extractants from Kbearing minerals after 48 hours are presented in Table 2. Total K released in the present study ranged from 305.13 to 3840.18 mg kg1. The highest potassium release reported for muscovite by

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH oxalic acid was 8.2 and 6.3 times more than Yazd K- feldspar and Ward K-feldspar, respectively. Also, potassium release from Yazd K-feldspar was 1.3 fold more than Ward K-feldspar.
Potassium release by different extractants

Type of extractants affected the potassium release from different minerals Organic extractants (oxalic and citric acids) were more capable of potassium release. Potassium release by organic extractants was 2.5-3 folds more than CaCl2 as an inorganic extractant. As Table 2 shows K release from muscovite by oxalic acid was 2.98 folds more than CaCl2. Also, K release by citric acid was 2.5 folds more than CaCl2. Due to the larger size, hydration energy and valence of the Ca 2+ ion, it is difficult for the CaCl2 to release interlayer K from tightly held sheets of micas or feldspars (Dhillon and Dhillon, 1990). Jalali and Zarabi (2006) studied non-exchangeable K-release kinetics in ten calcareous soils using 10 mM CaCl2 and 10 mM oxalic acid. They found that cumulative non-exchangeable K released from soils was in a range of 71 to 180 mg kg1 and 13 to 2499 mg kg1 in CaCl2 and oxalic acid extractions, respectively. Comparison between oxalic and citric acids as two common organic acids showed that the oxalic acid is more capable than citric acid to release K from minerals. K release from muscovite by oxalic acid was 1.3 folds more than citric acid (Table 2). Oxalic acid as the simplest dicarboxylic acid is believed to promote mineral weathering and formation (Drever and Stillings, 1997; Jones et al., 2003). The mechanisms by which oxalic acid enhances mineral weathering include donating protons to dissolve minerals, forming complexes with metal ions in mineral structures, and reducing some transitional metals (Fe and Mn) to disrupt mineral structures (Kodama et al., 1983). Some studies suggest that oxalic acid will greatly increase the dissolution rate of feldspar minerals, while other studies reported little or no effect. For example, Manley and Evans (1986) observed that microcline, albite, and labradorite dissolution rates increased in the presence of 0.1 m M oxalic acid, yet they concluded that the increase was due to the strength of the acid (a pH effect), rather than a metal-organic complexing effect. Mast and Drever (1987) showed that 0.5 and 1 mM solutions of oxalic acid had no effect on the steady-state release of Si from oligoclase from pH 4 to 9. However, Amrhein and Suarez (1988) and Welch and Ullman (1993) reported that oxalic acid solutions increased dissolution rates of anorthite, bytownite and labradorite by factors of 2-7.
Table 2: Percentage of K release by different extractants from K-bearing minerals after 48 hours Mineral K-feldspar (Yazd) K-feldspar (Ward) Muscovite (Hamadan) Kinetics of K release Oxalic acid 0.73 0.56 4.63 Citric acid 0.66 0.49 3.58 Calcium chloride 0.26 0.22 1.55

Different kinetic models were used to describe K release from K-bearing minerals. The parameters and correlation coefficients for the models are listed in Tables 3. Different kinetic equations showed that power function, parabolic diffusion and first order equations adequately described K release, whereas Elovich equation did not. The r2 values of the first order equation are less than the other models (Tables 3) indicating that this model did not describe K release kinetics as effectively as the other models. Among the three equations, power function equation was selected as the best model describing K release from minerals. The constants a and b of each model represent the intercept and the slope of the linear curves. The constant b and a in Ellovich equation indicate the release rate of K and initial rate of K release, respectively. The constant b and a for muscovite and oxalic acid were the highest as the most vigorous condition for K-release. Based on the selected kinetic equations, it seems that potassium release from K-bearing minerals is controlled by diffusion process.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH

Table3: Standard estimation error (SEE), parameters (constants a and b) and coefficients of determination (R2) of the kinetic equations used for the modeling of K release from K-bearing minerals Extractant First order equation Diffusion equation Ellovich equation Power function b 1.41 0.29 1.21 1.66 1.91 1.66 2.00 2.58 1.38 0.73n.s 0.61 0.05 0.08 0.78* 0.85* 0.74 0.04 0.07 0.68* 2213.3 797.41 0.82* 0.64 0.05 0.08 2463.7 0.75* 0.91* 0.12 0.17 0.1 47.22 52.48 0.90** 0.85* 0.54 0.07 0.08 307.81 68.18 0.81* 24.58 6.90 0.91* 0.67 0.05 0.04 440.01 52.48 6.90 0.9** 0.68n.s 0.54 0.06 0.08 169.02 34.84 15.42 0.81* 0.93** 0.99** 0.95** 0.99** 0.92** 385.97 183.69 222.1 136.86 128.99 64.49 0.87** 0.91** 0.87* 0.58 0.06 0.07 445.52 84.57 28.51 0.84* 0.95** 452.68 170.94 443.92 312.60 55.93 0.78* 0.66 0.05 0.06 562.34 72.1 32.54 564.77 0.8* 0.93** 0.1 0.14 0.15 0.09 0.16 0.42 2471.17 0.12 2212.4 800.68 0.08 0.13 SEE R2 a b SEE a b SEE a b R2 R2 SEE 0.06 0.05 0.08 0.02 0.07 0.22 0.07 0.06 0.08 R2 0.89** 0.94** 0.89** 0.98** 0.92** 0.90** 0.87** 0.84** 0.86**

Mineral

Oxalic acid

5.42

-0.05

K-felspar (Yazd)

Citric acid

5.61

-0.08

Calcium chloride

4.69

-0.45

Oxalic acid

5.18

-0.06

K-feldspar (Ward)

Citric acid

5.36

-0.07

Muscovite (Hamadan)

586

Calcium chloride

5.18

-0.06

Oxalic acid

7.03

-0.07

Citric acid

6.44

-0.09

Calcium chloride

5.97

-0.05

n.s, *, **Not significant, significant at P 0.05 and P 0.01, respectively.

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH

References Amrhein, C. and Suarez, D. L., (1988). The use of a surface complexation model to describe the kinetics of ligand-promoted dissolution of anorthite. Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta, 52, 2785-2793. Bemer, R. A., Lasaga, A. C., Garrels, R. M., (1983). The carbonatesilicate geochemical cycle and its effect on atmospheric carbon dioxide over the past 100 million years. American Journal of Soil Science, 283, 641-683. Brady, P. V., (1991). The effect of silicate weathering on global temperature and atmospheric CO2. Journal of Geophysics Research, 96, 18101-18106. Carey, P. L. and Metherell, A. K., (2003). Rates of release of non-exchangeable potassium in New Zealand soils measured by a modified sodium tetra phenyl-boron method. New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research, 46, 185-197. Dhillon, S. K. and Dhillon, K. S., (1992). Kinetics of release of potassium by sodium tetraphenylboron from some top soil samples of red (Alfisols), black (Vertisols) and alluvial (Inceptisols and Entisols) soils of Indian. Fertility Research, 32, 135-138. Drever, J. I. and Stillings, L. L., (1997). The role of organic acids in mineral weathering. Colloids and Surfaces, 120, 167-182. Feigenbaum, S., Edelstein, R., Shainberg, I., (1981). Release rate of potassium and structural cations from mica to ion exchangers in dilute solutions. Soil Science Society America Journal, 45, 501-506. Ghosh, B. N. and Singh, R. D., (2001). Potassium release characteristics of some soils of Utter Pradesh hills varying in altitude and their relationship with forms of soil K and clay mineralogy. Geoderma, 104, 135-144. Jalali, M., (2006). Kinetics of non-exchangeable potassium release and availability in some calcareous soils of western Iran. Geoderma, 135, 63-71. Jalali, M. and Zarabi, M., (2006). Kinetics of non-exchangeable-potassium release and plant response in some calcareous soils. Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science, 169, 194-204. Jones, D. L., Dennis, P. G., Owen, A. G., Van Hees, P. A. W., (2003). Organic acid behavior in soils: Misconceptions and knowledge gaps. Plant and Soil, 248, 31-41. Kodama, H., Soonitzer, M., Jaakkimainen, M., (1983). Chlorite and biotite weathering by fulvic acid solutions in closed and open system. Canadian Journal of Soil Science, 63, 619-629. Lopez-Pineiro, A. and Garcia Navarro, A., (1997). Potassium release kinetics and availability in unfertilized Vertisols of southwestern Spain. Journal of Soil Science, 162, 912-918. Manley, E. P. and Evans, L. J., (1986). Dissolution of feldspars by low-molecular-weight aliphatic and aromatic acids. Soil Science, 141, 106-112. Martin, H.W. and Sparks, D.L., (1983). Kinetics of non-exchangeable potassium release from two coastal plain soils. Soil Science Society America Journal, 47, 883-887. Mast, M.A. and Drever, I. I., (1987). The effect of oxalate on the dissolution rates of olLigoclase and tremolite. Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta, 51, 2559-2568. Mortland, M. M., (1958). Kinetics of potassium release from biotite. Soil Science Society America Proceeding, 22, 503-508. gaard, A. F. and Krogstad, T., (2005). Release of interlayer potassium in Norwegian grassland soils. Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science, 168, 80-88. Sparks, D. L., (1987). Potassium dynamics in soils. Advances in Soil Science, 6, 1-63. Sparks, D. L. and Huang, P. M., (1985). Physical chemistry of soil potassium. In Potassium in Agriculture (pp. 201-276). SSSA. Madison, WI. Steffens, D. and Sparks, D. L., (1997). Kinetics of non-exchangeable ammonium release from soils. Soil Science Society America Journal, 61, 455-462. Welch, S. A. and Ullman, W. J., (1993). The effect of organic acids on plagioclase dissolution rates and stoichiometry. Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta, 57, 2725-2736.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Influence of Potassium Application Rates on Growth and Potassium Efficiency of Pepper Genotypes
1 1

Rahman KILI 2Krat KORKMAZ Siran Vocational High School / Gumushane University, 29700 Gumushane Turkey 2 Soil Science Departments, Ordu University, 52200 Ordu Turkey Corresponding author: toprak.rk@gmail.com

Potassium is the second absolute essential element for the plants acquired after nitrogen. It is required in order to increase plant yield and quality. This study aimed to find out the effects of potassium on the development of pepper plants and efficiency of potassium (K) for plants. For this purpose, this study conducted in greenhouse, 4 pepper varieties (arli Safran, Sivri Demre, Sivri Mert, Dolma Punto) were investigated by applying three replication of five different potassium doses (0, 50, 100, 200 and 400 mg kg-1). According to the results obtained, statistically significant differences among varieties (p <0.001) were determined in terms of dry matter yield applied K and K acquisition. Evaluation of dry matter weight of these varieties showed that arli Safran produced 16.24 g pot-1 dry matter at control dose range, it produced 22.85 g pot-1 of dry matter at 400 mg kg-1 with an increase of 71% with the application of potassium. While Sivri Demre produced 9.26 g pot-1 of dry matter at control dose, it produced 13.37 g pot-1 dry matter at 400 mg kg1 with of 69% increase. While Dolma Punto had 15.04 g pot-1 of dry matter at control dose, it had 19.9 g pot1 of dry matter with an increasing dose of potassium (400 mg pot-1) which reached 84%. While Sivri Mert 13.37 g pot-1 at control dose, it produced 18.32 g pot-1 of dry matter with the application of 400 mg pot-1 of potassium and reached 78%. Significant increase of dry matter in all types was obtaine with the application of potassium. According to efficiency classification, Sivri Mert and Dolma Punto varieties were found effective and sensitive (IV), arli Safran and Sivri Demre were effective and insensitive (II). Correct fertilization program of pepper cultivation gains importance to increase the yield and quality as well as to prevent economic losses and environment pollution. Genotypic differences among plant varieties must be take into consideration in terms of nutrient element use for conscious and correct fertilization program. Keywords: Pepper (Capsicum annum L.), Efficiency of Potassium, K fertilization

Abstract

Introduction Plants must be fertilization and have adequate nutritional to obtain many and qualified productions. Potassium (K+) is one of the most abundant elements in the earth's crust and it forms about 2.5% of lithosphere. The concentration of potassium in soil indicates variability ranged from %0.04 to 3.00 (Ashley et. al. 2006). The concentration of K+ element, which is essential for plant growth typically, varies between 0.5-6.0% of dry matter, but it is sometimes higher in some cases. Potassium, which has 10% of dry matter weight, is the most abundant cation in plant cells (Szczerba et al. 2008). Potassium affects cell division, stomal mobility, changes in gas regulation in plants, enzyme activity and photosynthesis, helps transportation of plant nutrition, increases use of protein and loss of water, and prevent discoloration (Cakmak, 2005). Potassium affects development and growth of plant root in a positive way, prevents plants from bending, and increases cold resistance, effectiveness of nitrogen and the lignifications and silicification in plants (Akta 1995). Potassium in plants is necessary for photosynthesis and production of high-energy phosphate molecules produced during respiration (adenosine triphosphate ATP) and uses energy for the transportation of photosynthesis productions to the storage organs of plants (Harada and Leigh 2006). Potassium efficiency is defined as the power to produce high yield from plant types and varieties with low potassium in soil (Yang et al., 2007). Most researches have reported that there are differences in terms of potassium efficiency among plant varities and even among the varieties of the same type (Fageria et al., 2001). Gerloff (1977) divided plants into 4 groups according to use efficiency: I) Effective-Sensitive; these plants are capable of increasing yield in both with high and low nutrition, II) Effective-Insensitive; these plants are capable of increasing yield in low nutrition conditions but they do not respond positively when nutrition amount is increased. III) IneffectiveSensitive; these plants have low yield in low nutrition conditions, but they respond positively and have high yield with nutrition addition, IV) Ineffective-insensitive; these plants are the most unresponsive in both with the low nutrient conditions and nutrition addition.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Potassium-efficient genotypes can produce more fine roots in all root systems than K-inefficient genotypes and can extend the surface area (Hogh-Jensen and Pedersen, 2003). However, increase of genotypic K+ effectiveness is not due to root growth. It is reporte that K+ effective genotypes have higher K+ current than K+ ineffective. (Jia et al., 2008). In this study, it is aimed to determine potassium use of pepper types grown in greenhouse, potassium effectiveness of plant varities and effects of potassium application on plant growth parameters. Materials and Methods This experiment was carried out at Ordu University Faculty of Agriculture in 2008 as a pot experiment in greenhouse conditions by applying three replications of five different doses (0, 50, 100, 200 and 400 mg kg-1) of potassium nitrate (KNO3+) to four different types of pepper (Carli Safran, Sivri Demre, Dolma Punto, and Sivri Mert). 100 mg kg-1 of phosphorus and 400 mg kg-1 of nitrogen was applie to pots as a base fertilizer. Determination of Some Soil Properties in the Land of Trial Test soil texture; hydrometer method (Bouyoucos, 1951), soil reaction (pH); 1:2.5 ratio with saturation sludge (U.S. Salinity Lab. Staff, 1954), salinity (EC), 1:2.5 soil-water mixture (U.S. Salinity Lab. Staff, 1954), free carbonates, with scheibler calcimeter (Caglar, 1958), organic matter, Walkley-Black wet combustion method (Nelson and Sommers, 1982), available potassium, 1N NH4CH3COO (pH 7.0) with a solution of potassium in the soil exposed by reading fleymfotometry (Knudsen et al, 1982), Total Nitrogen; Kjeldahl wet digestion method were determined (Bremner,1965). Methods Used in Some Analyzes of Plant Greenhouse experiments bloom prior to the soil 1 cm above the harvest samples (shoot and roots) are washed for 48 hours at 70 C to constant weight until after drying per plant dry weight to determine the weighed (Kacar, 1984) after the plant grinding mill, ground and analysis and prepared for. Potassium activity in plants, (lower N dry weight / dry weight of sufficient N) x 100 was set to be (Damon et al. 2007). Potassium in the plant; Wet or dry combustion method fired plant samples by atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) were determined (Plank, 1992). Statistical analysis of the data obtained at the end of the trial, MSTAT-C package program was used and the results are statistically significant are grouped according to Duncan test. Results and Discussion Some Physical and Chemical Properties of Test Soils It was determined that the soil has slight acid of pH (6.29), clay loam structure, 2.23% organic matter, little salt and lime, sufficient nitrogen (0.163%), low phosphorus (4.79 mg kg-1), sufficient potassium (220 mg kg-1), high calcium (4985 mg kg-1), sufficient magnesium (276 mg kg-1), sufficient iron, zinc, copper and manganese (10, 1.8, 0.25 and 30 mg kg-1 ). Table 1. Trial of some physical and chemical properties of soil
N % 0.163 P K Ca Mg Fe Zn Cu Mn pH Org.Sub. % 6.29 2.25 CL Str.

----------------------------------mg kg -1--------------------------4.79 220 4985 276 10 1.8 0.25 30

Dry Matter Production of Pepper Plant

Shoot Dry Matter Production Dry matter yield among varieties was evaluated and it was found that the lowest dry matter yield was Sivri Demre (11.54 g pot-1) and the highest dry matter yield was Carli Safran (18.86 g pot-1). Considering the relationship between potassium doses and plant dry matter yield, the lowest dry matter yield at control dose was 13.87 g pot-1. Dry matter amount increased with the increase of potassium dosages.
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Table 2. Shoot dry matter production values of pepper genotypes
K Doses (mg kg-1) VARETES arli Safran Sivri Demre Dolma Punto Sivri Mert 0 16.24 9.26 15.04 14.93 13.87D 50 17.33 11.40 15.20 17.09 15.26C 100 g pot-1 18.33 11.89 16.61 17.52 16.09B-C 200 19.52 11.76 17.53 18.34 16.79B 400 AVERAGE 22.85 13.37 17.98 19.09 18.32A 18.86A 11.54C 16.47B 17.39B

F Test Variete *** Dose *** Variete x Dose GR ***, GR statistically significant at 0001, GR is not statistically significant.

Application of 400 mg K kg-1 of potassium increased dry matter yield at 32% compared to control dose providing the highest dry matter yield (18.32 g pot-1). Evaluation of amount of plant dry matter showed that pepper varities varied between 9.26 g pot-1 22.85 g pot-1 in terms of interaction of Variety x Dose. Even though there were some dry matter production differences among pepper varities grown without potassium application, statistically these differences were not found significant. Root Dry Matter Production Root dry matter of plants among varities was evaluated and it was found that Sivri Demre had 2.53 g pot-1 Dolma Punto had 3.99 g pot-1 and Carli Safran 3.85 g pot-1, the highest dry matter yield. 2.81 g pot-1 average was determined among applied potassium dosages and root dry matter values at control dose, and 40% increase was obtained in pepper plants dependent on the doses with the application of 100 mg K kg-1 potassium. Evaluation of Variety x Dose interaction in terms of root dry matter showed that Sivri Demre was (1.60 g pot-1), the lowest, Dolma Punto was (4.83 g pot-1), the highest. According to the results of the experiment, evaluation of amounts of root dry matter without potassium application revealed that Sivri Demre was 1.60 g pot-1, the lowest; Carli Safran was 3.48 g pot-1 the highest. According to these results, it is believe that differences among these varieties in potassium deficient conditions can be highly effective mechanism for potassium nutrition of plants. Table 3. Root dry matter production of pepper genotypes K Doses (mg kg-1) VARETES arli Safran Sivri Demre Dolma Punto Sivri Mert 0 g pot-1 3.48c-e 1.60g 3.40c-e 2.77d-f 2.81B 50 3.61cd 2.67d-f 3.97a-c 3.82bc 3.52A 100 3.78bc 3.48c-e 4.83a 3.51c-e 3.90A 200 3.80bc 2.53ef 4.21a-c 3.58cd 3.53A 400 AVE. 4.60ab 2.36fg 3.55cd 3.57cd 3.52A 3.85A 2.53C 3.99A 3.45B

F Test Variete *** Dose *** Variete x Dose ** , ** *** 0.01 and 0.001 statistically important respectively Potassium Concentrations in Shoot and Root of Pepper Plants Evaluation of potassium concentration of the shoot revealed that Sivri Mert had 2.36% of potassium concentration, the lowest, and Sivri Demre had 2.89%, the highest. The interaction among dosages and varieties showed that the lowest potassium concentration 1.60% was in Sivri

590

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Mert, the highest 3.61% was in Sivri Demre with 200 mg K kg-1 and 400 mg K kg-1, and other results were between these values. Table 4. Shoot Potassium Concentrations of Pepper Plants K Doses (mg kg-1) VARETES arli Safran Sivri Demre Dolma Punto Sivri Mert 0 % 2.01d-f 2.18c-f 2.87a-e 1.60f 2.16B 50 2.27b-f 2.45b-f 3.16a-c 1.89ef 2.44B 100 2.34b-f 2.61a-f 1.87ef 2.70a-f 2.38B 200 2.35b-f 3.61a 2.67a-f 3.07a-d 2.92A 400 3.10a-d 3.61a 3.35ab 2.53a-f 3.15A AVE. 2.41B 2.89A 2.78AB 2.36B

F Test Variete ** Dose *** Variete x Dose ** ***, ** 0.01 and 0.001 respectively statistically important Potassium concentration increase was obtained in root tissues of plants and it was statistically found p<0.001 significant. Potassium applications, the lowest dose of 0.96% obtained with the control ratio of the highest concentration of 1.14% was obtaine at 400 mg K kg-1 dose. Table 5. Root Potassium Concentrations of Pepper Plants
K Dose (mg kg-1) VARETES arli Safran Sivri Demre Dolma Punto Sivri Mert F Test Variete Dose Variete x Dose 0 2.01a 0.78de 0.34h 0.70d-g 0.96B *** *** *** 50 2.11a 1.21c 0.43h 0.80d 1.14A 100 % 2.19a 0.52e-h 0.45gh 0.86d 1.01B 200 1.58b 0.59d-h 0.72d-f 1.13c 1.01B 400 AVE. 1.65b 0.51f-h 0.81d 1.61b 1.14A 1.91A 0.72D 0.55C 1.02B

*** statistically important 0.001 That there are some potassium concentrations changes in the root tissues of plants can be cause by transportation of potassium, which is an active element. According to the results, potassium concentration in plant tissues increased linearly with increasing doses of potassium in all varieties. Different Potassium Applications, Potassium Amount Removed from Soil and Potassium Use Effects of Pepper Varieties According to the survey results, potassium use efficiency showed that dry matter amount and potassium use of plants increased significantly with the dose of 400 mg kg-1 of potassium compared to control dose. Thus, considering potassium respond of plants, efficiency classification was determined between 0-400 mg kg-1. Table 6. Potassium efficiency of pepper genotypes K Dose (mg pot-1) Dose arli Safran Sivri Demre Dolma Punto Sivri Mert 0 16.24 9.26 15.04 13.87 50 17.33 11.40 17.09 15.26 100 g pot-1 18.33 11.89 17.52 16.09 200 19.52 11.76 18.34 16.79 400 Effect(%) 22.85 13.37 19.09 18.32 71.09 69.28 83.65 78.19

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Classification of pepper varieties according to potassium use efficiency defined as the ratio of low yield of dry matter to high yield of dry matter by Damond et al., (2007) indicated that Dolma Punto and Sivri Mert were effective-sensitive, arli Safran was effective-insensitive and Sivri Demre was ineffective-sensitive. Differences in potassium acquisition can be affect by root morphology and root structure; corn, tomato, onion, potato, rye grass experiment showed that root surface area increased potassium acquisition amount when root hairs expand in the soil (Jung, 2001). All plants can expand their surface area several fold by increasing the length of the root in low-K+ conditions, and some plants can increase potassium acquisition even its efficiency is low (Jia et al., 2008). RESULTS It was observed that pepper plant growth slowed down to a minimum and delayed, its leaves get smaller and bronze in colour during potassium deficiency. Necrotic brown spots were formed near blood vessels, and its leaves sometimes bent and dried. Onsets and severity of symptoms must be different from each other during potassium deficiency. According to results obtained, it was observed that dry matter yield, potassium content and acquisition amount of plants especially grown in low potassium conditions increased by potassium use. It was seen that plants did not show any development in terms of dry matter in insufficient potassium conditions, but dry matter yield increased with potassium use. Needless to say that effects of fertilization on plant functions, yield and quality cannot be ignored. Correct fertilization program according to soil analysis results undoubtedly is going to increase the efficiency and quality of the product and provide economical productions. Also testing similar studies under field conditions, continuing them until the formation of fruit and monitoring K+ accumulation of fruit is useful. Pepper varieties resistant to potassium deficiency can be determined by screening experiments made by breeders. The amount of potassium fertilizer to be applied should be determined considering the soil structure and plant varieties to reduce environmental pollution and fertilizer inputs. REFERENCES Akta, M., 1995. Bitki Besleme ve Toprak Verimlilii. Ankara niversitesi Ziraat Fakltesi Toprak Blm, Yayn no:142, Ders Kitab:4 Ashley, MK., Grant, M., Grabov, A. Plant responsesto potassium deficiencies: arole for potassium transport proteins. JExpBot2006; 57: 42536. Aybak H., Biber Yetitiricilii Hasad Yaynlar 2002. Bouyocous, G.J., 1951. A Recalibration of Hydrometer for Making Mechanical Analysis of Soil. Agronomy Journal, 43: 434-437. Bremner, J.M., 1965. Total nitrogen. In. C.A. Black et al (ed). Methods of Soil Analysis. Part 2. Agronomy 9:1149-1178. Am. Soc .of Agron., Inc. Madison, Wisconsin, USA. alar, K. ., 1958. Toprak Bilgisi. A. . Yaynlar No: 10, Ankara Cakmak, I., 2005 The role of potassium in alleviating detrimental effects of abiotic stresses in plants. J. Plant Nutr. Soil Sci. 2005, 168, 521530 Damon, P.M., 2007. Wheat genotypes differ in potassium efficiency during vegetative growth. Euphytica, 156: 387-397. Damond, P., Osborne, L., Rengel, Z., 2007. Canola genotypes differ in potassium efficiency during vegetative growth. Euphytica, Volume 156, pp. 387-397(11) Fageria, N.K., Barbosa MP, da Costa JGC., 2001. Potassium-use efficiency in common bean genotypes. J Plant Nutr 24:19371945 Gerloff, G.C., 1977. Plant Efficiencies in The Use of N, P ve K. In Plant Adaptation to Mineral Stress in Problem Soils. Ed. M. J. Wright. pp. 161-174.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Harada, H. and R.A. Leigh., 2006. Genetic mapping of natural variation in potassium concentrations in shoots of Arabidopsis thaliana. Journal of Experimental Botany, 57:4, 953 960. Hogh-Jensen, H., Pedersen, M.B., 2003. Morphological plasticity by crop plants and their potassium use efficiency. J Plant Nutr 26: 969984 Jungk, A., 2001. Root hairs and the acquisition of plant nutrients from soil. J Plant Nutr Soil Sci 164: 121129 Kacar, B., Katkat, A. V., 1998. Bitki Besleme. Uluda niversitesi Glendirme Vakf Yayn No. 127. Bursa Knudsen D.,G. A. Peterson and P. F. Pratt, 1982. Lithium, Sodium and Potassium. In Methods of Soil Analysis. Part 2. Chemical and Microbiological Properties. Agronomy 9. P:225-246. ASA. SSSA Publication. Madisan. WI. USA. Nelson, D.W., Sommers, L.E., 1982. Total carbon, organic carbon and organic matter. In Methods of soil analysis. Chemical and microbiological properties. (Eds AL Page, RM Miller, DR Keeney) pp. 539-580. (Eds AL Page, RM Miller, DR Keeney) pp. 167-179. (American Society of Agronomy Inc.: Madison,WI). Osman, O. A., and R. A. T. George, 1984. The effect of mineral nutrition and fruit position on seed yield and quality in sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum L.). Acta Horticulturae, 143: 133141. Pimpini, F., 1967. Experiments with the Mineral Fertilization of Sweet Pepper. Prog. Agric. Bologna 13: 915-932. Szczerba MW,Britto DT, Balkos KD, Kronzucker HJ. Alleviationofrapid, futileam monium cyclingat the plasma membran eby potassium reveals K+ sensitive andin sensitive componentsof NH4+ transport. J. Exp Bot 2008; 59:30313. U.S. SALINITY LAB. STAFF. 1954. Methods for soil characterization. 83-147 655 p. Yang, X.E., J.X. Liv, W.M. Wang, H. Li, A.C. Luo, Z.Q. Ye and Y. Yang. 2003. Genotypic differences and some associated plant traits in potassium internal use efficiency of lowland rice (Oryza sativa L.). Nutr. Cycling Agroecosyst., 67: 273-282.

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Sources of sulfur for oil, protein and S contents of soybean (Glycine max cv. Sahar) grown in soils of Golestan province, Iran
Esmael Dordipour*and Moslem Ebrahimi
Soil Science Department, Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Gorgan University Iran, *Corresponding author Email: E.Dordipour@yahoo.com Abstract Sulfur is increasingly being recognized as the fourth major plant nutrient after N, P and K. The most popular traditional sulfur fertilizers are ammonium sulfate, single superphosphate, K2SO4, (NH4)2SO4, MgSO4. New elemental sulfur-containing fertilizers are now in the market to meet the increasing demand. Two sites field experiments were conducted on soils in Kalaleh located on the northeast of Golestan province, Iran in summer 2011 to determine response of soybean (Glycine max cv. Sahar) to S fertilization from different sources of S fertilizers in terms of seed quality (oil, protein and S concentration). Seven treatments consisted of Control (NPK upon basis of soil test as urea, triple superphosphate and KCl), elemental S (500kg/ha as granular), elemental S (500kg/ha) + Thiobacillus spp. (2%w/w of granular S), (NH4)2SO4 (120kg/ha), K2SO4 (150kg/ha), MgSO4 (200kg/ha) and MgCl (150kg/ha) were applied in a randomized complete block design with four replications. Field experiments results indicated that there was significant difference among different S fertilizers for S concentration in plant (=1%). K2SO4 showed the most S content (0.30%) while control (0.19%) and elemental S (0.21) treatments had the least S contents. Elemental S needs to be oxidized to sulfate-S in soil for plant uptake. Plant S content in Karagol (0.26%) was greater than Yankack field (0.23). N content in plant and seed varied from 3.6 to 4.1% and 5.4 to 5.8%, respectively. Oil and protein contents of seed ranged from 17.0 to 18.0% and 34.0 to 35.7, respectively. The most and the least oil contents were also observed in K2SO4 and control treatments, respectively. Keywords: Oil, Sulfur, Soybean

Introduction Sulfur (S) is increasingly being recognized as the fourth major plant nutrient after nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium. S is the most abundant in the earth's crust, averaging 0.06 to 0.10 % and the optimum concentration of S in plants ranges from 0.1 to 0.5 % of plant dry weight (Malakouti et al., 2006). Soybean is widely cultivated in many Asian (China, Japan, Korea) and south and central American (Brazil and USA) countries (OBrien, 2011). The second cultivation possibility in many areas of Iran, including Golestan province (> 80000 ha) leads to supply some portion of domestic oil and protein consumption as well as the increase of farmers income. Intensive agriculture with the use of improved cultivars and high analysis fertilizers may cause conditions of nutrient exhaustion, resulting in nutrient imbalance in soils. Oilseed crops have a high demand of S, with approximately 16 kg of S required to produce 1 ton of seeds containing 91% of dry matter (Zhao etal., 1993). High-S-demanding crops, such as canola, require the presence of plant available S in soil in the form of sulfate for optimum seed yield (Nyborg, 1968). Therefore, sulfate-S containing fertilizers have been popular choices for producers. Ammonium thiosulfate also provides a portion of its S content in a readily available form and can be an effective S source (Grant et al., 2004). Many elemental S granular products have become available for use on a commercial scale. These elemental S fertilizers with very high S concentrations (~90%) may be attractive compared to sulfate-S due to lower bulk resulting in less product to transport and apply. However, elemental S must be oxidized by soil microorganisms to sulfate-S for plant uptake (Bettany and Janzen, 1984; Wen et al., 2001),which reduces the effectiveness of elemental S fertilizers compared to sulfate-S fertilizers in the shortterm. Sulfate-S (SO4-S) is the only form available to plants. Now there is a wide variety of commercial fertilizers that contain elemental S, which may cost less per unit of S than sulfate-S fertilizers. However, the effectiveness of these fertilizers depends on how quickly the S is oxidized in soil to plant available sulfate. The rate of conversion of S from elemental to sulfate form is influenced by soil properties, environmental conditions and other factors (Noellemeyer et al., 1981; Solberg et al., 2003; Nuttal et al., 1993; Slaton et al., 2001). Even though

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH ammonium sulfate is widely used and readily available for plant uptake, field data are limited on the use of ammonium sulfate as an S source for soybeans (Sweeneya and Granadeb, 1993). Earlier studies indicated that the spring elemental S application is not used by the same year crops but it will be effective in the next years after oxidation (Nutall et. al, 1993). Other researchers also declared that the remaining elemental S will be effective for the crops of following years (Riley et. al, 2000). The effect of potassium sulfate (0, 15 and 30 kg/ha) on yield, seed quality and S uptake by rapeseed was studied at different growth stages in northeastern Saskatchewan. The results showed that the application of 30 kg S/ha with N in comparison with 0 kg S/ha averagely increased the yield (824 kg/ha) and plant S uptake. S placement as side banded and seed row at seeding was the most appropriate method (Malhi and Gill, 2002). The effect of four types of S fertilizers (3 bentonite-elemental S fertilizers and ammonium sulfate) on yield and its components of rapeseed were investigated in northeastern Saskatchewan. The results showed that elemental S has no effect on yield increase and S uptake by rapeseed in the first year of application but it was effective in the following years. There was significant increase in yield, seed oil content and S concentration in plants with the application of ammonium sulfate. There was also little effect of S fertilizer application on protein concentration in seed (Malhi, 2005). Three field experiments were conducted on S-deficient soils during 2000 and 2001 in Saskatchewan to determine the effects of different S fertilizers on yield, oil, protein and S concentration, S and N uptakes in seed of canola. There was a marked increase in yield, concentration and S uptake and oil content in seeds of canola with granular sulphate-S fertilizers. In contrast, granular elemental S fertilizers were not effective in correcting S deficiency in canola in the first year of application. Negligible microbial oxidation of elemental S particles to sulphate-S in soil was considered as the major problem for lack of effectiveness of granular S fertilizers in the Parkland region of Canadian Prairies (Malhi et al., 2005). In another experiment, the effect of elemental S fertilizer application management on quantitative and qualitative yield of rapeseed was studied in Canada. Results indicated that elemental S fertilizers were not effective in increasing oil and seed yield in the year of application, and were generally less effective than sulfate-S fertilizer even after multiyear annual applications, especially when they were applied in spring (Malhi et al., 2005). The effects of S and Mg on growth and yield of two cultivars of sunflower were investigated in Urmia in 1999. The results indicated that the most oil extraction was obtained from the treatment combined of 200 kg/ha magnesium sulfate and 500 kg /ha elemental S, which showed 32.8 increase in comparison with blank treatment. The most protein yield was for the Mg + S treatment with the average of 21.8% (Taher et al., 1999). S application resulted in the increase of oil content and its quality in canola, soybean and sunflower (Singh and Sahu, 1986). Other researchers showed that foliar application of magnesium sulfate increased the yield and oil content in seeds (Kene et al., 1990). Similar studies on sunflower indicated that the application of sulfur increased yield and its components (Sharma and Gangwar, 1985). In an experiment, the interaction effect of SN on growth and yield of oilseeds in two rapeseed cultivars was investigated. The results showed that the combined application of S and N had significant effect on yield and oil content in seeds (Fazili et al., 2010). The objective of this study was to compare the effectiveness of different sources of S fertilizers and their interaction effects on uptake and S concentration in plant, oil content and protein in soybean seeds.
Two fields were selected in Karagol and Yankack villages, in Kalaleh and Minoodasht cities respectively which are main area of soybean farms in Golestan province and physical and chemical properties of their soils were measured. This experiment was carried out in randomized complete block design with seven fertilizer treatments in four replications in summer of 1990. Soybean (Glycine max cv. Sahar) was

Materials and methods

cultivated. Treatments include:

1. 2. 3. 4.

Control (N, P and K were 50, 75, 75 kg/ha - on the basis of soil test results - which were applied from urea, triple super phosphate and potassium chloride sources, respectively) Elemental S (500 kg/ha from granular S) Elemental S + Thiobacillus spp. (treatment2 + Thiobacillus spp. Which was 2% w/w of applied S) Ammonium sulfate (120 kg/he)
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5. 6. 7. Potassium sulfate (150 kg/ha) Magnesium sulfate (200 kg/ha) Magnesium chloride (150 kg/ha)

Urea (as a starter), triple super phosphate, potassium chloride, and S fertilizers were applied as side banded and seed row at cultivating time. Individual plots were 5 m 2 m consisting of 5 rows with 5 m long and the distance of within rows was 0.4 m. The cultivation operations were done on the basis of conventional farming. Oil content of seeds was measured by Soxhlet method (Joshil et al., 1998; AOAC, 1990 and Pritchard, et al., 2000). Leaf samples collected after flowering stage in which the amount of N, S (by wet oxidation), K and Mg (by dry ashing) were measured (Benton Jones and case, 1990). Protein concentration was calculated by multiplying the total N with 6.25 (Williams, et. al., 1998). At the end of experiments, statistical analysis was done by SAS software using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and mean comparison test (SAS Institute, 1993). Results and discussion Physical and chemical properties of the soil in the two fields Physical and chemical properties of the soil in the two fields were shown in Table (1). Soil texture of the two fields was loamy and had high organic carbon with neutral pH. The soil of Yankack field had more sulfate and lime amounts than the soil of Karagol field. Table1. Some physical and chemical properties of soil
pH Field Kargol Yankack 7.6 7.6 EC dS/m 1.4 1.5 OC % 3.2 3.3 TNV % 8.5 18.3 SO42mg/kg 18.8 26.5 Texture Loam Loam

ANOVA results Analysis of Variance results (Table, 2) indicated that the effect of location on S content (=5%) and N content (=1%) was significant in leaves while it was not so in the other parameters. Also, the effect of elemental fertilizer sources treatments excluding N and protein contents in seeds was statistically significant (=1, 5 %). The interaction effect of location fertilizer sources treatment was not significant.
Table 2. Results of ANOVA on the sulfur, Magnesium and Nitrogen contents in leaves and the Nitogen, oil and protein contents in seeds of two soybean fields SS S. O. V. R L R*L F LF Error Total CV (%) df 3 1 3 6 6 36 55 S 0.0136 0.0068 0.0018 0.0463 0.0019 0.0295 0.0999 ** * Mg 0.009 0.004 0.006 0.027 0.004 0.037 0.088 ** Nleaf 1.63 0.22 0.02 0.80 0.01 0.19 2.87 ** ** ** Nseed 0.08 0.12 0.14 0.46 0.14 1.57 2.50 Oil 1.40 0.12 3.07 6.46 0.52 13.64 25.22 * Protein 3.6 3.9 4.4 17.2 7.3 62.1 98.5 3.8

13.7 7.9 1.9 3.8 3.5 *, ** i.e. statistical significant at P. values 0.05 and 0.01, respectively

Location effect S content of leaf in Yankack field was significantly less than its content in Karagol field. (Fig. 1. A and B). This was in accordance with sulfate contents of the soil in the two fields (Table, 1),

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH while N content of leaf in the two fields was contrary to S content of leaf. There was not any statistically significant difference between the two fields regarding the other parameters.

A B Fig. 1. Effect of location on the (A) S, Mg and N contents in leaves and (B) N, oil and protein contents in seeds of two soybean fields. (Means followed by the same letters are not
significantly different at lsd, =1% )

The effect of S fertilizer sources There was significant difference among fertilizer treatments in terms of S concentration in the plant (Table, 3). The most S content in soybean leaves was observed in potassium sulfate treatment and it had significant difference with control and the other S fertilizer sources treatments except ammonium sulfate. This shows that S along with K and N has more effect on S concentration in the plant. Ammonium sulfate was also reported as the most effective S fertilizer by Malhi (2005). Elemental S and magnesium chloride treatments have no significant difference with the control treatment in term of S concentration in the plant. To be available to the plant, elemental S must be oxidized to sulfate-S form (Bettani and Janzen, 1984). This result is in consistence with those found by Malhi, et al. (2005) and Riley, et al. (2000). When Thiobacillus spp. was added into the elemental S, it increased S concentration significantly in the plant. In fact, Thiobacillus spp. increased the oxidation rate of elemental S to sulfate-S form. Magnesium sulfate and magnesium chloride treatments increased the magnesium concentration in the plant in comparison to control and other treatments. The most N concentration in the plant was observed in ammonium sulfate and potassium sulfate. They had significant difference with control and other treatments (Table, 3). There was significant difference among S fertilizer sources treatments in terms of oil content in soybean seeds (Table, 3). The most oil content was in treatments with potassium sulfate and ammonium sulfate fertilizers. They had significant difference with control, elemental S and magnesium chloride treatments. The application of S results in the increase of oil content and its quality in the plants of canola, soybean and sundflower (Malhi, 2005; Malhi and Gill, 2002; Grant et al., 2003; Singh and Sahu, 1986). The combined application of S and N has also significant effect on yield and oil content in seeds (Fazili et al., 2010). The application of magnesium sulfate increased the yield and oil content in seeds significantly in comparison to control and alone elemental S treatments. Foliar application of magnesium sulfate leads to the increase of yield and oil content in the seeds (Kene et al., 1990). The application of Mg along with S results in enhance of oil content in the seeds. Findings revealed that S sources containing magnesium produce more oil than the control treatment (Hilton and Zubriski, 1985; Sagare et al., 1990; Vasudaven et al., 1997). Elemental S and magnesium chloride treatments were not significantly different than control treatment in terms of oil content in the seeds. Elemental S must be oxidized to sulfate-S form to be available for plants (Bettany and Janzen, 1984). These results were similar to those observed by Grant, et al. (2003), Malhi and Gill (2002) and Janzen

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH and Karamanos (1991). The oil content in the seeds increased significantly by adding Thiobacillus spp. into elemental S. In fact, this is due to enhance of elemental S conversion rate to sulfate-S form. The most N and protein contents in the soybean seeds were in ammonium sulfate and potassium sulfate treatments. They had significant difference in comparison to control treatment while they were not so in comparison to the other fertilizer treatments (Table, 3). The results were similar to those reported by Malhi (2005), Malhi and Gill (2003) and Riley, et al. (2000). Table 3. Mean comparisons test on the sulfur, Magnesium and Nitrogen contents in leaves and the Nitrogen, Oil and protein contents in seeds of two soybean fields
Fertilizer B B AB A AB AB B 34.3 34.2 35.1 35.7 34.5 34.9 34.0 1.3 C C ABC AB A ABC BC S 17.0 17.1 17.5 17.7 18.0 17.5 17.3 0.6 Mg B B AB A A AB B 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.8 5.8 5.6 5.5 0.2 Nleaf % CD C B A AB B BC 3.6 3.7 3.9 4.1 4.0 3.9 3.8 0.1 C C B BC BC A B 0.38 0.39 0.41 0.39 0.40 0.45 0.41 0.03 D D BC AB A BC CD 0.19 0.21 0.25 0.27 0.30 0.25 0.21 0.04 Nseed Oil Pr Sources* B S S+T SA SP SM CM LSD (5%)

Means within each column followed by the same letters are not significant (Lsd, = 5%). *B=blank, S=elemental sulfur, S+T= elemental sulfur + Thiobacillus spp., SA= ammonium sulfate, SP= potassium sulfate, SM= Magnesium sulfate and CM= Magnesium chloride Nleaf= nitrogen in leaves and Nseed= nitrogen in seeds

Conclusion Ammonium sulfate and potassium sulfate fertilizers were the most effective fertilizers which increased S concentration in the plant and oil and protein contents in soybean seeds. The application of elemental S along with Thiobacillus spp. increased the effect of alone elemental S, and due to its abundance and cheapness in Iran, it can be recommended as a good choice to be applied instead of ammonium sulfate and potassium sulfate.
We are gratefully thankful to scientific team work in soil fertility and plant nutrition for their collaboration in laboratory analyses. Also, we would like to express our deep gratitude to Abdolnasser Dordipoor for his editing this paper syntactically.

Acknowledgement

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Effect of different sources of sulfur fertilizers on growth, biomass and seed yield of soybean (Glycine max cv. Sahar) in Golestan province, Iran.
Moslem Ebrahimia and Esmael Dordipoura*
Soil Science Department, of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Gorgan University, Iran *Corresponding author: E.Dordipour@yahoo.com
a

Sulfur is presently considered the fourth most important nutrient after N, P and K. High-S-demanding crops, such as soybean, require the presence of plant-available S in soil in the form of sulfate for optimum seed yield. Therefore, sulfate-S containing fertilizers have been popular choices for growers. The present study was undertaken to assess effect of different sources of sulfur fertilizers on growth, biomass and yield of soybean in northeastern Golestan province, Iran. A field experiment, comprised of seven treatments of S sources on two sites in Kalaleh in 2011, was arranged in a completely randomized block design, and replicated four times. The treatments included blank (NPK as urea, triple superphosphate and KCl), elemental S (500kg/ha as granular), elemental S (500kg/ha) + Thiobacillus spp. (2%w/w of granular S), (NH4)2SO4 (120kg/ha), K2SO4 (150kg/ha), MgSO4 (200kg/ha) and MgCl (150kg/ha). Field experiment results indicated that there was no significant difference among different S fertilizers for plant height, fresh and dry weights and yield components (=1 and 5%) except 1000 seeds weight. However, K2SO4 had the most dry weight amount (151.6g/pl.) while control (110.7g/pl.) and elemental S (111.0 g/pl.) treatments had the least amount. Effect of fertilizer source on the soybean seed yield was significant (=1%). K2SO4 (2.198kg/plot) showed the most amount of seed yield in comparison to control treatment (1.388kg/plot). Elemental S + thiobacillus (1.670kg/plot) also had the noticeable difference with blank but, elemental S alone (1.500kg/plot) did not statistically differ from the control. Because its effectiveness depends on the rate at which S is oxidized to sulfate-S in soil for plant uptake. Keywords: Fertilizer, sulfur, Soybean

Abstract

Introduction Sulfur deficiency has become a more widespread problem in recent years because of expansion of oilseed production, increase in cropping intensity combined with reduction in summer fallow and increased crop removal of S by higher-yielding cultivars that require more S to develop full yield potential. Therefore, even soils that would normally be well supplied with S are now becoming depleted (Malhi et al., 2004). Plants use only the sulfate form of S. In the past, S fertilizers usually contained sulfate-S, but now there are many commercial fertilizers that contain S in elemental form and the effectiveness of these fertilizers depends on the rate at which S is oxidized to sulfate-S in soil for plant uptake. There are many reports on the factors (e.g., soil type, environmental conditions and fertilizer characteristics) that affect the rate of S oxidation from elemental S fertilizers (Bettany and Janzen, 1984; Nuttal et al., 1993; Solberg et al., 2003). In a number of field studies, canola has been found to produce lower seed yield with elemental S fertilizers than with sulfate-S fertilizers on S-deficient soils, particularly in the first year of application and especially with spring application at seeding time (Malhi and Leach, 2003). As S is immobile in plants, deficiency of S can occur at any growth stage and cause considerable reduction in seed yield. In order to prevent seed yield loss due to S deficiency, a constant supply of available S to oilseed crops is needed throughout the growing season. On soils marginally deficient in S, the use of high-yielding cultivars and application of higher rates of N and P fertilizers can result in faster depletion of S from soil, and increase instances and severity of S deficiency during peak growing periods of plant (Malhi, 2005). Oil crops, especially Canola have high requirements for S (Grant and Bailey, 1993), due to a combination of high protein content with a high proportion of cysteine and methionine. Rapeseed (Brassica compestris L.) was observed to require 310 times more S than barley (Bole and Pittman 1984). The effect of potassium sulfate (0, 15 and 30 kg/ha) on yield, seed quality and S uptake by rapeseed was studied at different growth stages in northeastern Saskatchewan. The results showed that the application of 30 kg S/ha with N in comparison with 0 kg S/ha averagely increased the yield (824 kg/ha). S placement as side banded and seed row at seeding was the most appropriate method (Malhi and Gill, 2002). The effect of four types of S fertilizers (3 bentonite-elemental S
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH fertilizers and ammonium sulfate) on yield and its components of rapeseed were investigated in northeastern Saskatchewan. The results showed that elemental S has no effect on yield increase by rapeseed in the first year of application but it was effective in the following years. There was significant increase in yield with the application of ammonium sulfate (Malhi, 2005). Three field experiments were conducted on S-deficient soils during 2000 and 2001 in Saskatchewan to determine the effects of different S fertilizers on yield, oil, protein and S concentration, S and N uptakes in seed of canola. There was a marked increase in yield of canola with granular sulfateS fertilizers. In contrast, granular elemental S fertilizers were not effective in correcting S deficiency in canola in the first year of application. Negligible microbial oxidation of elemental S particles to sulfate-S in soil was considered as the major problem for lack of effectiveness of granular S fertilizers in the Parkland region of Canadian Prairies (Malhi et al., 2005). In another experiment, the effect of elemental S fertilizer application management on quantitative and qualitative yield of rapeseed was studied in Canada. Results indicated that elemental S fertilizers were not effective in increasing seed yield in the year of application, and were generally less effective than sulfate-S fertilizer even after multiyear annual applications, especially when they were applied in spring (Malhi et al., 2005). The effects of S and Mg on growth and yield of two cultivars of sunflower were investigated in Urmia in 1999. The results indicated that the most seed yield was obtained from the treatment combined of 200 kg/ha magnesium sulfate and 500 kg /ha elemental S, which showed 32.8 increase in comparison with blank treatment (Taher et al, 1999). S application resulted in the increase of seed yield and its quality in canola, soybean and sunflower (Singh and Sahu, 1986). Other researchers showed that foliar application of magnesium sulfate increased the yield and oil content in seeds (Kene et al., 1990). Similar studies on sunflower indicated that the application of sulfur increased yield and its components (Sharma and Dev, 1980; Sharma and Gangwar, 1985). In an experiment, the interaction effect of S N on growth and yield of oilseeds in two rapeseed cultivars was investigated. The results showed that the combined application of S and N had significant effect on yield and oil content in seeds (Fazili et al., 2010). The objective of this study was to compare the effectiveness of different sources of S fertilizers and their interaction effects on growth, biomass and seed yield and its components of soybean. Materials and methods Two fields were selected in Karagol and Yankack villages, in Kalaleh and Minoodasht cities respectively which are main area of soybean farms in Golestan province and physical and chemical properties of their soils were measured. This experiment was carried out in randomized complete block design with seven fertilizer treatments in four replications in summer of 1990. Soybean (Glycine max cv. Sahar) was cultivated. Treatments include: 1. Control (N, P and K were 50, 75, 75 kg/ha - on the basis of soil test results - which were applied from urea, triple super phosphate and potassium chloride sources, respectively) 2. Elemental S (500 kg/ha from granular S) 3. Elemental S+Thiobacillus spp.(treatment2+Thiobacillus spp. Which was 2% w/w of applied S) 4. Ammonium sulfate (120 kg/he) 5. Potassium sulfate (150 kg/ha) 6. Magnesium sulfate (200 kg/ha) 7. Magnesium chloride (150 kg/ha) Urea (as a starter), triple super phosphate, potassium chloride, and S fertilizers were applied as side banded and seed row at cultivating time. Individual plots were 5 m 2 m consisting of 5 rows with 5 m long and the distance of within rows was 0.4 m. The cultivation operations were done on the basis of conventional farming and the harvest was done by cutting the plant from bottom (3 cm above the ground surface) and the three middle rows. One meter from beginning and end of rows was considered as marginal effect. Biomass fresh and dry weight, seed yield and its components were determined. At the end of

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH experiments, statistical analysis was done by SAS software using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and mean comparison test (SAS Institute, 1993). Results and discussion Physical and chemical properties of the soil in the two fields Physical and chemical properties of the soil in the two fields were shown in table (1). Soil texture of the two fields was loam and had high organic carbon with neutral pH. The soil of Yankak field had more sulfate and lime amounts than the soil of Karagol field. Table 1. Some physical and chemical properties of soil pH EC OC TNV SO42- Texture dS/m % % mg/kg Field Kargol 7.6 1.4 3.2 8.5 18.8 Loam Yankak 7.6 1.5 3.3 18.3 26.5 Loam ANOVA results The results of ANOVA (Table 2) showed that the location effect on soybean yield and its components was not significant, while it was significant (=1%) on height of the plant. Also, the effect of S fertilizer sources treatments on seed yield and weight of 1000 seeds was significant (=1%), but on the other parameters, it was not significant. The interaction effect of location fertilizer sources treatment was significant only on 1000 seeds weight (=5%). Table 2. Results of ANOVA on the dry weight, seed yield and its components and plant height of two soybean fields
SS S. O. V. R L R*L F LF Error Total CV (%) df 3 1 3 6 6 36 55 DW 3011.6 1982.0 7458.8 11758.6 2839.9 36925.1 63975.9 27.1 Yield 379099.5 93928.2 84729.5 2833847.0** 313943.9 3166186.6 6871734.6 20.1 Plant No 2848.3 9.4 4527.2 2400.7 1144.2 6139.7 17069.6 19.4 Pod No 4225.3 17.2 12276.1 2299.4 4475.7 26510.9 49804.6 23.6 Seed No 27713.9 2702.2 41198.8 15609.7 37334.7 107023.6 231582.8 22.9 SW1000 308.4 8.6 123.2 1879.2** 444.9* 1065.9 3830.2 4.4 Hieght 451.9 10152.1** 735.8 1562.7 1863.4 6443.9 21209.7 19.1

*, ** i.e. statistical significant at P. values 0.05 and 0.01, respectively DW= dry weight and SW1000= 1000 seed weight

Location effect The plant height in Yankak field was statistically higher than Karagol (Fig. 1). This was in agreement with soils sulfate contents within the two fields (Table 1), while the other parameters in the two fields were not significantly different. The effect of S fertilizer sources Dry weight of the plant in fertilizer treatments was heavier than control and alone elemental S. The most amount was observed in potassium sulfate and ammonium sulfate fertilizer treatments, while the lowest amount was recorded in control and alone elemental S treatments. There was significant difference among fertilizer treatments in terms of seed yield (Fig. 2. A). The most amount of kernel yield was recorded in potassium sulfate fertilizer treatment and it was significantly different from the control and the other S fertilizer sources treatments except ammonium sulfate.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH This shows that S along with potassium and ammonium has more influence on soybean seed yield. The combined application of S and N had significant effect on the yield of oilseeds (Fazili et al., 2010). Ammonium sulfate was reported as the most influential fertilizer by Malhi (2005). The elemental S and magnesium chloride treatments were not significantly different from control treatment in terms of seed yield. Elemental S must be oxidized to sulfate-S form to be available for plants (Bettany and Janzen 1984). These results were similar to those reported by Malhi (2005), Malhi et al. (2005), Malhi and Gill (2002) and Riley, et al. (2000). The seeds yield increased significantly by adding Thiobacillus spp. into elemental S. In fact, this is due to the enhance of elemental S conversion rate to sulfate-S form. The results were similar to those found by Grant et al. (2003), Malhi et al. (2005), Janzen and Karamanos (1991). In comparison to control and alone elemental S treatments, soybean seed yield was also increased by the application of magnesium sulfate, but this increase was not significant. Foliar application of magnesium sulfate increased yield and seed oil content (Kene et al., 1990). The findings indicated that S sources which contain Mg enhance the yield more than control treatment (Hilton and Zubriski, 1985; Sagare, et al., 1990 and Vasudaven, et al. 1997). There was no significant difference among fertilizer treatments in terms of seed yield components excluding the weight of 1000 seeds. The application of S fertilizers significantly increased the weight of 1000 seeds in comparison to control and alone elemental S treatments (Fig. 2. B). Potassium sulfate fertilizer treatment had the heaviest 1000 seeds weight, while the lowest 1000 seeds weight was in control and alone elemental S treatments. The application of S and N together had the most influence on qualitative and quantitative canola growth (Malhi et al., 2005; Malhi and Gill, 2002).
90 80 70

Plant height (cm)

60 50 40 30 20 10 0

Yankak Soybean Fields

Karagol

Fig. 1. Effect of location on the plant height of two soybean fields. (Means followed by the same letters are not significantly difference at lsd, =1% )

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2500 2000
Seed Yield (g/plot)

a
1000 Seed weights (g)

140 135

a b b c c

1500 1000 500 0

bc

bc

ab

bc

bc

130 125 120 115 110 105

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CM

S+T

SA Fertilizers

SP

SM

CM

B=blank, S=elemental sulfur, S+T= elemental sulfur + Thiobacillus spp., SA= ammonium sulfate, SP= potassium sulfate SM= Magnesium sulfate and CM= Magnesium chloride

Fig. 2. Mean comparisons test on (A) the seed yield and (B) the 1000seed weights of two soybean fields (Means for columns followed by the same letters are not significant (Lsd, = 5%)).

Conclusion Ammonium sulfate and potassium sulfate fertilizers were the most effective fertilizers which increased soybean yield and its components. The application of elemental S along with Thiobacillus spp. increased the effect of alone elemental S, and due to its abundance and cheapness in Iran, it can be recommended as a good choice to be applied instead of ammonium sulfate and potassium sulfate. Acknowledgement We are gratefully thankful to scientific teamwork in soil fertility and plant nutrition for their collaboration in laboratory analyses. Also, we would like to express our deep appreciation to Abdolnasser Dordipoor for his editing this paper syntactically. References Bettany, J. R. and Janzen, H. H. 1984. Transformations of sulphur fertilizers in prairie soils. Pp. 817822 in J. W. Terry, ed. Proc. International Sulphur 84 Conference, Sulphur Development Institute of Canada, Calgary, AB. Bole, J. B. and Pittman, U. J. 1984. Availability of subsoil sulphate to barley and rapeseed. Can. J. Soil Sci., 64: 301312. Fazili, I. S., Masoodi, M., Ahmad, S., Jamal, A., Khan, J. S. and Abdin, M. Z. 2010. Interactive effect of sulfur and nitrogen on growth and yield attributes of oilseed crops (Brassica campestris L. and Eruca sativa Mill.) differing in yield potential. Journal of Plant Nutrition, 33: 1216-1228. Grant, C. A. and Bailey, L. D. 1993. Fertility management in canola production. Can. J. Plant Sci., 73: 651670. Grant, C. A., Clayton, G. W. and Johnston, A. M. 2003. Sulphur fertilizer and tillage effects on canola seed quality in the black soil zone of western Canada. Can. J. Plant Sci., 83: 745758. Hilton, B. R. and J. C. Zubriski. 1985. Effect of suphur, zinc, iron, copper, manganese and boron applications on sunflower yield and plant nutrient concentration. Commun. in Soil Sci. and plant Anal., 16 (4): 411-425.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Janzen, H. H. and Karamanos, R. E. 1991. Short-term and residual contribution of selected elemental S fertilizers to the S fertility of two Luvisolic soils. Can. J. Soil Sci., 71: 203 211. Kene, H. K., Wankhade, S. T. and Sagare, B. N. 1990. Influence of nutrients spray on yield and oil content of sunflower. Ann. Plant Physiol., 4 (2): 246-248. Malhi, S. S. 2005. Influence of four successive annual applications of elemental S and sulphate-S fertilizers on yield, S uptake and seed quality of canola. Canadian Journal Plant Science, 85: 777792. Malhi, S. S. and Gill, K. S. 2002. Effectiveness of sulphate-S fertilization at different growth stages for yield, seed quality and S uptake of canola. Canadian Journal of Plant Science, 82: 665674. Malhi, S. S. and Leach, D. 2003.Effectiveness of elemental S fertilizers on canola after four annual applications. Proc. Soils and Crop Workshop (Disc Copy), February 2003, Saskatoon, SK. Malhi, S. S., Leach, D. and Wang, Z. H. 2004. Factors affecting yield variations of various crops in north-eastern Saskatchewan. Proc. Soils and Crops Workshop (Disc Copy), 19-20 February 2004, Saskatoon, SK. Malhi, S. S., Schoenau, J. J. and Grant, C. A. 2005. A review of sulphur fertilizer management for optimum yield and quality of canola in the Canadian Great Plains. Canadian Journal Plant Science, 85: 297307. Malhi, S. S., Solberg, E. D. and Nyborg, M. 2005. Influence of formulation of elemental S fertilizer on yield, quality and S uptake of canola seed. Canadian Journal Plant Science, 85: 793802. Nuttall, W. F., Boswell, C. C., Sinc, A.G., Moulin, A.P., Townley Smith, L. J. and Gallway, G. L. 1993. The effect of time application and placement of sulphur fertilizer source on yield of wheat, canola and berley. Commun. Soil Sci. Plant Anal., 24(17-18): 2193-2202. Riley, N. G., Zhao, F. J. and Mc Grath, S.p. 2000. Availability of defferent forms of sulphur fertilizers to wheat and oilseed rape. Plant Soil, 222:139-147. Sagare, B. N., Y. S. Guhe and A. H. Ater. 1990. Yield and nutrient harvest by sunflower in response to sulphur and magnesium application in typic chromusterts. Annals of plant Physiology, 4(1): 15-21. SAS Institute, Inc. 1993. SAS/STAT users guide. Version 6, 4th ed. Vol. 2. SAS Institute, Inc., Cary, NC. 846 p. Sharma, R. L. and Dev, G. 1980. Interaction of amide-nitrogen and sulfur for growth and nutrient accumulation in sunflower. Journal Nuclear Agriculture and Biology, 9 (4): 146148. Sharma, R. K. and Gangwar, M. S. 1985. Selenium-sulphur relationship on the growth and composition of sunflower. Journal Indian society of Soil science, 33(4): 821-825. Singh, H. C. G. and Sahu, M. P., 1986. Response of oilseed to sulphur. Fertilizer News, 31 (9): 23-30. Solberg, E. D., Malhi, S. S., Nyborg, M. and Gill, K. S. 2003. Fertilizer type, tillage, and application time effects on recovery of sulfate-S from elemental sulfur fertilizers in fallow field soils. Commun. Soil Sci. Plant Anal., 34: 815830. Taher, M. N., Zardoshti, M. R., Majidi, A., Pourmireza, A. A., and Malakouti, M. J. 1999. The effect of S and Mg on yield and qualitative properties of two sunflower cultivars. The Journal of soil and water, 12 (13): 82-92. (in Persian) Vasudevan, S. N., Virupa-Shappa, K., Venugopal, N. and Bhaskar, S. 1997. Response of sunflower (Helianthus annuus) to phosphorus, sulphur, micronutrients and humic acid under irrigated condition on red sandy-loam soil. Indian J. Agric. Sci., 67 (3): 110-112.

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Effect of Vermicompost Application on Soil Alkaline Phosphatase Activity and Available Phosphorus Content
Ismail Emrah TAVALI and Ilker UZ*
Akdeniz University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, Antalya, TURKEY *Corresponding Author: ilkeruz@akdeniz.edu.tr Abstract In this study, effects of vermicompost, which is produced by a local company, applied in different doses on soil alkaline phosphatase activity and available phosphorus content, and also soil EC and pH was investigated with comparative application of farm manure in the same doses. For this purpose, mixture of soil and organic fertilizers in different rates (0, 1, 2, 3 and 4 t/da) were incubated for sixteen weeks in a pot experiment under greenhouse condition. Soil samples were collected in regular intervals during the incubation period and analyzed. According to the data, highest available phosphorus value was obtained with 4 t/da vermicompost application and available phosphorus content appeared to have positive relation with alkaline phosphatase activity in the vermicompost treatments while showing positive relation with pH in the farm manure treatments. Alkaline phosphatase activity showed fluctuations and generally followed similar trend in both vermicompost and farm manure treatments during the incubation period and their applications to soil resulted in a general increase in the enzyme activity compared to the control. In addition, there appeared to be a statistically significant negative relation between alkaline phosphatase activity and EC in the vermicompost treatments and a positive relation between the enzyme activity and pH in the farm manure treatments. These results indicate that vermicompost may have a potential to be used as an alternative to farm manure and further studies in the field with various agricultural plants should be conducted to assess its full potential for our region. Keywords: Vermicompost, farm manure, alkaline phosphatase, available phosphorus

Introduction Most of the biochemical reactions occurring in soil are carried out by microorganisms. By secreting extracellular enzymes, microorganisms, mostly heterotrophs, convert complex compounds into their organic and inorganic constituents that are more bioavailable for living organisms (Kadalli et al., 2000). Among these compounds, phosphorus-containing compounds (such as phosphate monoesters) is of great importance due to the fact that phosphorus is one of the main nutrients required by plants and that its bioavailability is highly limited in soil. Phosphorus availability is controlled by both biotic and abiotic factors. Microorganisms affect soil phosphorus through mineralization and immobilization processes. Microorganisms can also enhance the solubilization of phosphorus from inorganic compounds, especially calcium phosphates. Inorganic phosphorus is generally found as aluminum and iron phosphates in acid soils and calcium phosphates in alkaline soils. It is thought that 75-90% of phosphorus given with inorganic fertilizers precipitates with aluminum, iron, and calcium before taken up by plants (Gyaneshwar et al., 2002). Organic fertilizers are considered to be the solution to the problem of bioavailability of phosphorus in soil since these fertilizers contain beneficial microorganisms secreting extracellular enzymes to release phosphorus bound to organic compounds and producing organic and inorganic acids to solubilize precipitated phosphorus. These fertilizers may also stimulate indigenous microorganisms to perform these processes. As a result, for last four decades, effect of common organic fertilizers on soil enzyme activity has been intensively studied by many scientists (Juma and Tabatabai, 1977; Mathur and Sanderson, 1978; Speir and Ross, 1978; Mathe and Kovacs, 1980; Beck, 1984; Gadkari, 1984; Nakas et al., 1987; Rastin et al., 1988; Wilke, 1988; Cochran et al., 1989; Doelmann et al., 1989). Vermicompost is the product of composting in which various species of worms are used and has no thermophilic phase. It is known that vermicompost promotes plant growth, suppresses soil-born plant pathogens, and improve soil physical and chemical properties. Since 1970s, vermicompost has been known to have a potential in agricultural production and widely used in several countries. In Turkey, however, vermicompost is almost unknown to agricultural professionals and its production and utilization is highly limited. Also, studies conducted on vermicompost have mainly
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH focused on changes in enzyme activity during vermicomposting, its effect on plant growth and yield, and its pathogen-suppressing properties. Only a limited number of studies is available regarding effect of vermicompost on soil enzyme activity. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate effect of vermicompost applied in different doses to soil on phosphatase activity and available phosphorus content of soils with comparative application of farm manure in the same doses. Material and Method This study was conducted as a pot experiment in which mixtures of soil and fertilizer were incubated for sixteen weeks under greenhouse conditions. The soil used in the study was obtained from a land that was previously used as a citrus orchard. Vermicompost was produced and provided by a local company, and farm manure was obtained from the dairy farm belonging to the Faculty of Agriculture at Akdeniz University. Physical and chemical properties of soil, vermicompost, and farm manure used in the study are given in Table 1.
Table 1. Physical and chemical properties of soil, vermicompost and farm manure Feature Texture pH (1/2.5) EC (1/2.5) S/cm Lime (%) Organic Matter (%) Total N (%) C/N P (%) K (%) Ca (%) Mg (%) Mn (ppm) Zn (ppm) Cu (ppm) Fe (ppm) Soil Clay loam 7.62 110 17.7 2.1 0.09 13.53 0.0013 0.19 0.40 0.09 2.67 0.47 0.25 1.20 Vermicompost 7.80 1450 48.95 1.90 14.94 2.05 0.8 1.89 0.92 500 100 44 1575 Farm manure 8.19 4500 67.87 1.49 26.41 0.78 2.56 3.03 0.68 741 52.62 72 565

The experiment included two organic materials (vermicompost and farm manure) applied in five different doses (0, 1, 2, 3, 4 t/da dry weight) and was conducted with randomized factorial block design with four replicates. There were total of 36 pots in the experiment. No organic material added to the control treatment. During the incubation period, soil moisture was kept at 60% of the field capacity water content. Soil samples from each pot were collected in regular intervals (0, 1st, 4th, 7th, 10th, 13th and 16th week) and analyzed for alkaline phosphatase activity, EC and pH. Available phosphorus content was measured at the beginning and at the end of the experiment. Alkaline phosphatase activity was measured as described by Tabatabai (1982) with p-nitrophenol as substrate and results were expressed as g PNP g-1dry soil h-1. EC and pH was measured in 1:2.5 soil:water mixture. Available phosphorus content was analyzed according to Olsen and Sommers (1982). Statistical analyses including variance analysis, Duncan multiple range test, and Pearson correlation test were conducted using SPSS software (version 17.0). Results Available Phosphorus Available phosphorus contents of soils at the end of the incubation period are given in Table 2. The available phosphorus content was 30 ppm before addition of organic materials at the beginning of the experiment. Depending on the organic fertilizer doses and time, available phosphorus content
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH of the soil ranged from 38 ppm to 109.25 ppm. The highest value was obtained with 4 t/da vermicompost treatment and the lowest with the control treatment. The difference between the treatments was found to be significant (p<0.001). According to the correlation analysis, based on the 16th week, there is significant (p<0.05) positive relationship (r = 0.536) between available phosphorus content and alkaline phosphatase activity in soils treated with vermicompost. In farm manure treated soils, however, a significant (p<0.05) positive relation (r = 0.479) was observed between available phosphorus and pH.
Table 2. Effect of vermicompost and farm manure on available phosphorus in soil Application Available phosphorus (ppm) Kontrol 38.00 d1 V 1 t/da 81.00 c V 2 t/da 88.00 b V 3 t/da 90.00 b V 4 t/da 109.25 a FM 1 t/da 79.25 c FM 2 t/da 85.00 bc FM 3 t/da 88.00 b FM 4 t/da 108.25 a LSD (5%) 107.1***2 1 Means followed by the same letters are not significantly different (LSD; p>0.05). 2 0.1%***, 1%**, 5%*

pH Changes in soil pH during the incubation period are shown in Fig.1. Soil treated with organic materials showed changes in pH depending on time and doses. In general, in the control treatment, soil pH was lower compared to other treatments. In soils containing 1 t/da vermicompost or farm manure, soil pH fluctuated during the incubation period and showed a trend almost similar to the control treatment. Application of 2 t/da vermicompost resulted in the highest drop in soil pH at the end of the experiment (16th week). In addition, during the incubation period, pH values in soils with vermicompost and farm manure (2, 3, 4 t/da) were, in general, above the pH value of the control soil. Farm manure at 3 t/da (4th, 7th, 13th and 16th week) was found to lower the pH more compared to vermicompost at the same dose. At the end of the incubation period, pH values ranged from 7.89 to 8.15 in the vermicompost treatments and from 7.95 to 8.16 in the farm manure treatments. EC (Electrical Conductivity) During the incubation period, EC value, in general, showed a similar trend in all treatments (Fig. 1). In the first week of the incubation period, a sharp increase was recorded and the highest increase was with 4 t/da farm manure application. Except the 1 t/da treatment, soils treated with organic material showed higher EC values compared to the control. However, there was no significant difference between vermicompost and farm manure applied in the same doses. At the end of the incubation period, the lowest and highest EC values were 160.45 and 179.85 S cm-1 for vermicompost treatments and 165.10 and 207.75 S cm-1 for farm manure treatments. Alkaline Phosphatase Activity Alkaline phosphatase activity of soils treated with vermicompost and farm manure, in general, showed a similar trend during the incubation period (Fig. 1). Phosphatase activity at the beginning of the experiment was higher in organic treatments compared to the control. After a slight drop in the first week, phosphatase activity increased between 1st and 7th weeks. During the first seven weeks, difference between organic materials and the control treatment was found to be significant.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH However, no significant difference was observed between vermicompost and farm manure applied in the same doses. At the end of the incubation period, alkaline phosphatase activity values ranged from 40.39 to 51.91 g PNP g-1dry soil h-1 for vermicompost treatments and from 36.70 to 40.01 g PNP g-1dry soil h-1 for farm manure treatments. According to the correlation analysis, there is a statistically significant (p<0.01) negative relationship (r= -0.251) between phosphatase activity and EC values of soil treated with vermicompost. In the farm manure treatment, however, phosphatase activity showed significant (p<0.05) positive relationship (r = 0.196) with soil pH. Discussion Vermicompost and farm manure applied to soil significantly increased available phosphorus content of soil compared to the control treatment. However, with one exception, no significant difference was observed between these two organic materials applied in the same doses in terms of phosphorus even though phosphorus content of the vermicompost used in this study is two times higher than that of farm manure. This situation may be attributed to the fact that phosphorus in vermicompost is released more gradually (Lazcano et al., 2008). In addition to more gradual release of phosphorus, lower EC, C:N ratio, and pH can make vermicompost more suitable material for agriculture. A significant positive relationship was observed between available phosphorus and phosphatase enzyme activity in vermicompost treatments in our study. This result is in agreement with the observation reported by Saha et al. (2008). Similarly, our finding showing significant negative relationship between EC and phosphatase activity in soils with vermicompost is supported by previous reports (Garcia et al., 1994). Vermicompost and farm manure applications resulted in significant increase in alkaline phosphatase activity compared to the control and followed a similar trend during the incubation period. Higher initial phosphatase activity in soils immediately after the addition of organic materials indicates high enzyme activity already present in these materials. The observation that no significant difference, in general, exists between phosphatase activity values in vermicompost and farm manure treatments in same doses during the incubation period may indicate that alkaline phosphatase activity and potential for stimulating indigenous soil microorganisms to produce this enzyme is similar. However, it should be noted that techniques and materials used in vermicompost production may have great influence on vermicompost properties such as microbial composition and activity, and its nutrient content. In other word, these properties may show variations depending on vermicomposting methods and organic materials used. Conclusion Results of this study indicate that, in terms of parameters investigated in this study, vermicompost has a potential to be used as an effective alternative to farm manure for our region. However, in order to assess its full potential for agricultural sector in Turkey and to promote its production and utilization, further studies in the field with various agricultural plants should be conducted. Acknowledgements This study was financially supported by the Research Fund of Akdeniz University (Project No: 2010.02.0121.029).

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FM 1 t/da

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V 1 t/da

FM 1 t/da

FM 1 t/da

pH

Incubation period (week)

Control V 2 t/da FM 2 t/da

10

12

14

16

Incubation period (week)

V 2 t/da FM 2 t/da

10

12

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Alkaline phosphatase (g PNP g-1 dry soil h-1)

0

8,35 8,25 8,15 8,05 7,95 7,85 7,75

EC (S/cm-1)

500 450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0

100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16

Incubation period (week)

Control V 2 t/da FM 2 t/da

Control

pH

Incubation period (week)

Control V 3 t/da FM 3 t/da

10

12

14

16

Incubation period (week)

V 3 t/da FM 3 t/da

10

12

14

16

Alkaline phosphatase (g PNP g-1 dry soil h-1)

0

8,35 8,25 8,15 8,05 7,95 7,85 7,75

EC (S/cm-1)

500 450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0

100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 2 4 6

10

12

14

16

Incubation period (week)

Control V 3 t/da FM 3 t/da

pH

V 4 t/da FM 4 t/da

10

12

14

16

Incubation period (week)

10

12

14

16

Alkaline phosphatase (g PNP g-1 dry soil h-1)

8,35 8,25 8,15 8,05 7,95 7,85 7,75

EC (S/cm-1)

pH

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH

10

12

14

16

Incubation period (week)

10

12

14

16

Alkaline phosphatase (g PNP g-1 dry soil h-1)

8,35 8,25 8,15 8,05 7,95 7,85 7,75

EC (S/cm-1)

611
500 450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0

Control

100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

Incubation period (week)

500 450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 Control V 4 t/da FM 4 t/da

100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

10

12

14

16

Incubation period (week)

Control V 4 t/da FM 4 t/da

Control

Incubation period (week)

10

12

14

16

Incubation period (week)

Figure 1. Changes in pH, EC and alkaline phosphatase activity in soils treated with vermicompost (V) and farm manure (FM) during the incubation period

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH References Beck, T.H., (1984). Microbiologische und biochemische charakterisierung landwirtschaflich genutzter Bden. Z Pflanzenernahr Bodenkd., (147), 456-466. Cochran, J.E., Lawrence, L.D., Odell, K.S. and Gartin, S.A., (1989). Relationsip between job and marital satisfaction of secondary agriculture teachers and their spouses. Paper presented at 43rd Eastern Region Agricultural Edication Research Conference, Mystic, CT. Doelman, P.L., Haanstra, H., Loonen, H. and Vos, A., (1989). Decomposition of alphahexachlorocyclohexane and beta-hexachlorocyclohexane in soil under field conditions in a temperate climate. Soil Biol. Biochem., (22), 629-639. Gadkari, D., (1984). Influence of the herbicide on the extracellular urease and phosphatase in suspended soil. Zbl Mikrobiol., (139), 415- 424. Garcia, C., Hernandez, T. and Costa, F., (1994). Microbial activity in soils under Mediterranean environmental conditions. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, (26), 1185-1191. Gyaneshwar, P., Kumar, G. N., Parekh, L. J. and Poole, P. S., (2002). Role of soil microorganisms in improving P nutrition of plants. Plant Soil, (245), 83-93. Juma, N.G and Tabatabai, M.A., (1977). Effects of trace elements on phosphatase avtivity in soils. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., (41), 343-346. Kadalli, G.G., Devi, L.S., Siddaramappa, R. and John, E., (2000). Characterization of humic fractions extracted from coirdust-based composts. Ind. Soc. Soil Sci., (48), 51-55. Lazcano, C., Brandon-Gomez, M. and Dominguez, J., (2008). Comparison of the effectiveness of composting and vermicomposting for the biological stabilization of cattle manure. Chemosphere, (72), 10131019. Mathe, P. and Kovacs, G., (1980). Effects of Mn and Zn on the activity of phosphate in soil: I.Phosphatase activity of a calcareous chernozen soil under maize. Agrokem Talajtan, (29), 441446. Mathur, S.P. and Sanderson, R.B., (1978). Relationship between copper contents, rates of soil respiration and phosphatase activities of some histozols in an area of Southwestern Quebec in the summer and the fall. Con. J Soil Sci., (58), 125-134. Nakas, J.P., Gould, W.D. and Klein, D.A., (1987). Origin and expression of phosphatase activity in a semiarid grassland soil. Soil. Biol. Biochem., (19), 13-18. Olsen, S.R. and Sommers, L.E., (1982). Phosphorus. Methods of soil snalysis, part 2. chemical and microbiological properties agronomy monograph no:9 (2nd ed.) ASASSSA. Madison, Wisconsin. USA, p. 403-427. Rastin, N., Rosenplanter, K. and Huttermann, A., (1988). Seasonal variation of enzyme activity and their dependence on certain soil factors in beech forest soil. Soil. Biol. Biochem., (20), 637642. Saha, S., Mina, B.L., Gopinath, K.A., Kundu, S. and Gupta, H.S., (2008). Relative changes in phosphatase activities as influenced by source and application rate of organic composts in field crops. Bioresource Technology, (99), 1750-1757. Speir, T.W. and Ross, D.J., (1978). Soil phosphatase and sulfatase. In Soil Enzymes. Burns RG (ed.). Academic Press, London, pp. 197- 250. Tabatabai, MA., (1982). Soil Enzymes, methods of soil analysis, part 2. chemical and microbiological properties. Agronomy Monograph No:9 (2nd ed.) ASA-SSSA. Madison, Wisconsin. USA, p. 903-943. Wilke, B.M., (1988). Langzeitwirkungen potentieller anorganischer Shadstoffe auf die mikrobielle aktivitat einer sandigen Braunerde. Z Pflanzenernahr Bodenkd, (151), 131-136.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Effects of Hazelnut Husk Compost and Bacteria Inoculation on Soybean Growth and Nodule Formation
M. Akif AIKGZ1, Damla BENDER ZEN2
1 2

Department of Field Crops, Faculty of Agriculture, Ordu University, Turkey Department of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, Faculty of Agriculture, Ordu University, Turkey Corresponding author: turquaqua@hotmail.com

Abstract
In this study, effects of the hazelnut husk compost and bacteria inoculation on development of soybean and nodule formation was investigated. Trial was established according to randomized parcels experimental design and as five different mixing ratio of a hazelnut huskcompost (0% (control), 2%, 3%, 4%, 5%, volumetrically), two bacteria inoculation (inoculation and non-inoculation), two sterilization conditions (sterilized and unsterilized), and 3 replications. According to the results, in terms of above ground %N, root N% and total dry matter, that non-sterile conditions and non-inoculated conditions are more effective, and especially in these conditions its being at a rate of 4% of hazelnut compost is sufficent in the environment. In addition to this, with adding different rates of compost to the soil, this increase was positively affected. It was seen that 3% and 4% compost practises increased the number of nodules in sterile soil at inoculated and non-inoculated conditions much more(respectively, 233 pieces/plant, 243 units/plant). Husk compost applications have provided an increasing of nodule weight at a rate of 3% in sterile and inoculated conditions and at rate of 4% in non-sterile and non-inoculated conditions. That 3%-dose is an adequate rate was determined with the help of husk compost practises. Keywords: Hazelnut Husk Compost Practises, Rhizobium japonicum, Nodle Formation, Sterilization, Soybean

Introduction Chemical fertilizers are used extensively in recent years; such as environmental pollution, soil pollution and the physical properties of soils deformation causes problems. For years, chemical fertilizers are used to increase efficiency by conventional means not only reduces the amount of soil organic matter has not only led to degradation of soils from day to day. Organic wastes used as a contribution to the country's economy more efficient and one of the objectives of agricultural activities. Holds an important place in the evaluation of organic waste compost, bio-organic matter broken down by bacteria and other microorganisms, soil-like substance called humus is the process of transformation. By eliminating waste in the composting process as well as providing a valuable source of organic matter to soils increased the yield and quality (Montemurro et al., 2006, Walter et al., 2006). Hazelnut cultivation, harvesting a very large number of waste is revealed at the end. Age of 1 kg of hazelnut about 1/3 ratio is obtained in dry shelled hazelnut and 1/5 ratio remains over from dry husk. These values reveal hazelnut husk show that high amounts offarming in the vicinity. In Turkey, annual average yield of 600 thousand tons 350 thousand tons of shelled amount husk compost, Italy, 105 thousand tons, 24 thousand tons in Spain (International Nut Council, 2010). According to the values, husk compost is a great potential to be assessed. Caliskan et al. (1996), In the study by hazelnut husk compost approximately 93% organic matter, with the appropriate values are expressed in terms of pH and salinity. Covered in terms of nutrients, low in limit values for nitrogen and phosphorus, potassium and micro-elements has enough values. Obtained from hazelnut orchards, and made ready as compostby the Indore method of compost husk compost hazelnut (6.35 mm sieved). After the waste in the form of the post-harvest hazelnut husk compost some physical and chemical properties, can be evaluated for use as the organic material is higher than the values (Bender Ozenc, 2006). Soybean, a good legume crop rotation and soil fertility due to the need to have an important role both in terms of sustainable agriculture. Thanks to living in the roots of the bacterium Bradyrhizobium japonicum, by connecting the free nitrogen, soil nitrogen in the air meets the needs. In this way, and can be cultivated plant itself, after leaving the nitrogen-rich atmosphere, and nitrogen, to meet its needs. The purpose of this study, hazelnut husk compost and bacteria inoculation on soybeans investigate the effects of development and nodule formation.

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Materials and Methods Research, clay loam soil, as organic material, hazelnut husk compost, which is a kind of early maturing soybeans and 26B Flint Rhizobium japonicum bacteria culture used for inoculation. Research soil and hazelnut husk compost given some features of the Table 1. For this purpose the soil material used in the examples, various amounts by volume was prepared by mixing environments. Mixing ratios were determined by taking into consideration the amount of material mixed with 1 acre land. Soils were autoclaved after passing through a 4 mm sieve. Prepared in sterile and sterile soils 3 kg pots put separately, Compost husk five different mixing ratio in volume (0% (control), 2%, 3%, 4%, 5%) was stirred. Been made and then inoculated seeds were sown in each pot for 5 seed so that a depth of 3cm. Following the three plants in pots so that the output of each diluted. Encouragement of each pot to give nitrogen, 50 ppm N, 250 ppm K, 100 ppm P are given. Research flowering period (the period of maximum formation of nodules), terminated (approximately 55 days). During the research, another fertilizer applied. Plants, the soil above the cut end of the trial, divided into above-ground portion. Root, the pot was washed from the soil. Nodules on plant roots washed and dried after collecting by hand, pounded in a mortar and ground in ceramics. Plant roots and above-ground sections, washed and after drying, grinding mill, milled plant and prepared for analysis.
Table 1. Some properties of the soil and hazelnut husk compost
properties pH (1:2.5) EC(dsm-1) organic matter (%) organic carbon (%) total nitrogen (%) total salt (%) lime % (CaCO3) phosphate (P2O5 kg/da) potassium (K2O kg/da) hazelnut husk compost 6.20 0.97 72.30 20.41 0.65 370 870 soil 7.5 2.19 0.134 0.04 2.4 6.25 64

Some of the methods used in determining soil properties: Texture, hydrometer method (Bouyoucos, 1951) and with the texture triangle (Soil Survey Staff, 1951), soil acidity and salinity (1:2.5), U. S. Salinity Lab. according to Staff (1954), free carbonates, Scheibler calcimeter determined. Organic matter, Walkley-Black wet combustion method, organic carbon, Nelson and Sommers (1982), available phosphorus, Bray and Kurtz (1945), available potassium, Knudsen et al (1982) was performed as by described. The methods used in determining the characteristics of hazelnut husk compost: pH and E.C (1:3), according to Gabriels and Verdonck (1992), The amount of organic matter, determined by dry ashing method. Total nitrogen, according to the method of Dumas, total phosphorus and total potassium, Kacar (1972) was performed as by described. Nitrogen in the plant (stem and leaves), nodule nitrogen, root nitrogen, made by the Kjeldahl wet digestion method. The results obtained are "MSTATC" package program randomized plot design with factorial analysis of variance and LSD multiple comparison tests were made. Results and Discustion Hazelnut husk compost N% content above ground increases with increasing doses when administered. hazelnut husk while not applied to the control conditions N % content of 3.11% . 3.30 to 3.34% 4% and 5% at doses of up to increased, but the doses were to be found in 4% (Table 2). Hazelnut husk compost increases and put forward to by many scientists the soil organic matter physical and chemical properties of soils developed (Ozenc ve Calskan, 2001; Zeytin and Baran, 2002). N% content is low, while sterile and inoculation conditions (2.95%), % N content is low, while sterile and non-inoculation conditions (2.95%), without sterilization and inoculation increased the conditions of these values, respectively 3.29% the content of 3.33% and 3.33% was obtained. N% content in soybean plant above ground, and without sterilization conditions, where inoculation is obtained with higher values, the addition of hazelnut husk compost soil at 4% N% content was determined that a rate sufficient to increase.
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Table 2. Effect of hazelnut husk compost and bacteria inoculation on ground N content (%)
dose 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 sterilization 2.91 2.88 2.86 3.04 3.05 2.95 b 3.01 3.12 3.49 3.46 3.55 3.33 a 3.14 B unsterilization 3.23 3.26 3.26 3.34 3.34 3.29 a 3.29 3.32 3.31 3.34 3.40 3.33 a 3.31 A inoculation X dose 3.07 3.07 3.06 3.19 3.20 3.15 3.22 3.40 3.40 3.48 inoculation 3.12 B

non-inoculation

sterilization X inoculation

inoculation

3.33 A

sterilization X inoculation sterilization

* difference between the averages shown in the same letter, is not important in their own group.

Non-sterile and non-inoculation conditions hazelnut husk compost applications, the highest dose of 2% and 5% (2.30%, 2.23%) were obtained from the root N% content. (Table 3). From hazelnut husk compost applications made sterile and non-inoculation according to the conditions of inoculation are lower in terms of results. This is the destruction of bacteria in the environment that connects with sterile compost resulting from the impact of nitrogen eliminated. However, nonsterile conditions, application of compost gave better results in the conditions of immunization, N% content of the root of the maximum (2.30%) increased. Soybean plants in terms of root N% content, and inoculation of sterile conditions, hazelnut husk compost by the addition soil of 2% higher than the root N% content (2.23%, 2.30%) values are obtained, inoculation was the most effective implementation of the compost.
Table 3. Effect of hazelnut husk compost and bacteria inoculation on root N content (%)
dose 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 sterilization 1.71 g 1.77 e...g 1.77 e...g 1.75 fg 1.79 e...g 1.76 b 1.75 fg 1.78 e...g 1.91 de 1.89 d...f 1.77 e...g 1.82 b 1.79 B unsterilization 1.73 g 2.30 a 1.82 e...g 2.09 bc 2.23 a 2.03 a 1.77 e...g 1.89 d...f 1.73 g 1.78 e...g 2.01 cd 1.84 b 1.94 A inoculation X dose 1.72 f 2.03 a 1.80 d...f 1.92 bc 2.01 ab 1.76 ef 1.84 c...e 1.82 c...f 1.83 c...e 1.89 cd inoculation 1.90 A

non-inoculation

sterilization X inoculation

inoculation

1.83 B

sterilization X inoculation sterilization

* difference between the averages shown in the same letter, is not important in their own group. LSD for dose (p<0.01)= 0.09875, sterilization X LSD for inoculation (p<0.01)=0.08833, sterilization X LSD for dose (p<0.01)= 0.1397, inoculation X LSD for dose (p<0.05)=0.1044, sterilization X inoculation X LSD for dose (p<0.05)=0.1476

Nodule is a direct relationship between weight and total dry matter, nodule weight will increase with the increase in the amount of total dry matter. Thus, these values are obtained from non-sterile conditions and non-inoculation nodules are similar in weight, non-sterile inoculation and 4% in the husk compost (0.52g) was obtained from the weight of the highest nodule. Non-inoculation and non-sterile environments, the relationship between the two criteria are perfect places for the development of soybean plants. Completing the development of the plant in this way is thought to increase the amount of total dry matter. Without application compost conditions which are nonsterile and sterile environments content of total dry matter 16.6g-16.1g was found. Both conditions are added to the soil in different proportions on a regular basis the amount of hazelnut husk compost increased the total dry matter. Total dry matter content of 4% and 5% dose applications

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sterile conditions while 17.4g and 17.6g, 20.7g and 21.3g applications non-sterile conditions the same dose was found. Both husk compost applications of 4% and 5% there was no statistically significant difference between dose applications. Inoculation not done, husk compost the highest content of total dry matter under the application of increasing doses (21.3g) value received applications of compost applications made husk compost hazelnut inoculation has been found that better results. Given in the form of compost soil organic matter and thus accelerate the development of micro-organisms of the soil by increasing soil organic matter, increase the concentration of nutrients, provided by the healthy growth of plants reported by Akkoyun et al. (2002). Similarly, Zeytin and Baran (2002) compost applications increased plant growth as reported in their work. Hazelnut husk compost increasing doses of applications on the effect of the total amount of dry matter and total dry matter content is highest in regular conditions, 4% are obtained and the application of non-sterile husk compost (Table 4).
Table 4. Effect of hazelnut husk compost and bacteria inoculation on total amaunt of dry matter (g)
dose 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 sterilization 16.5 16.6 17.1 17.4 17.7 17.1 c 16.6 17.2 17.5 17.5 17.6 17.3 c 17.1 B unsterilization 16.4 17.6 20.2 22.2 22.3 19.7 a 15.7 17.7 18.7 19.2 20.3 18.3 b 19.0 A inoculation X dose 16.4 17.1 18.7 19.8 20.0 16.2 17.5 18.1 18.4 18.9 inoculation 18.4

non-inoculation

sterilization X inoculation

inoculation

17.8

sterilization X inoculation sterilization

* difference between the averages shown in the same letter, is not important in their own group. LSD for dose (p<0.01)= 1.508, sterilization X LSD for inoculation(p<0.05)=1.008, sterilization X LSD for dose (p<0.01)=2.133

Sterile and inoculation compared to control 4% in the husk compost conditions (105 units/plant) increased by 231% 243 units/plant nodules were obtained Zarkovic et al., 2000; Zeytin, 2000 in their work, together with applications of compost and organic matter content of soil total N, P and K is a significant increase in the amount reported. Xiao et al. (1993) in their studies conducted in China, their cultivation of two soybean after wheat harvest, 0, 3.75, 7.5, 15, 30, 60 kg/ha of nitrogen are implementing, nodule formation and nitrogen fixation of low doses of nitrogen increased by increasing the vegetative growth, however, 15 kg/ha of nitrogen on the nodule formation and nitrogen fixation, blocking doses reported. Soybeans are grown in environments, In order to increase the formation of nodules except for N, P and K contents of the environment is also important. Any phosphorus content of a nodule is a strong relationship between the biological nitrogen fixation. In addition, Phosphorus, increasing molybdenum intake increases the amount of leg hemoglobin in the nodules. This situation increases the nitrogen fixation. Compost should have a high P and K content of husk compost (Table 5) also shows that encourage N fixation. The effect of increasing doses of hazelnut husk compost applications is generally organized on the number of nodule and nodule number of the most sterile, where conditions are inoculation and observed that application of husk compost 4 %.

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Table 5. Effect of hazelnut husk compost and bacteria inoculation on number of nodules (unit/plant)
dose 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 sterilization 175 af 202 ad 233 a 224 ab 182 ae 203 174 af 219 ab 214 ac 243 a 224 ab 215 209 A unsterilization 105 fg 109 eg 140 cg 178 af 198 ad 146 157 bg 178 af 172 af 135 dg 89 g 146 146 B inoculation X dose 140 156 187 201 190 166 199 193 189 157 inoculation 175

non-inoculation

sterilization X inoculation

inoculation

181

sterilization X inoculation sterilization

* difference between the averages shown in the same letter, is not important in their own group. LSD for dose (p<0.05)= 27.67, sterilization X inoculation X LSD for dose (p<0.01)=74.06

Sterile and inoculation conditions that it increasing doses of husk compost applied nodule weight increases (3% dose 0.50g). Bacteria noculation with non-inoculation variants compared sterilized soil positive correlations between dry matter and nodule formation reveals (Onac, 1998). More than the weight of the nodules, is directly related to the number of nodules. The results obtained are analyzed, sterilization and inoculation is similar to the weight of a nodule on the application of husk compost 3%, the highest number of nodules (243 units/plant) was found. Furthermore, immunized and non-sterile soil conditions by the addition of 4% husk compost increase in weight of nodules (0.52g) as a result appears to the other. Prepared by inoculation of sterile soil in different proportions of soil and husk compost applications caused increases in nodule weight was not a regular. The soil is sterile, where inoculation was made and the application conditions 4% by weight of nodules is the highest value, a similar result, non-sterile conditions and inoculation at 3% was obtained (Table 6).
Table 6. Effect of hazelnut husk compost and bacteria inoculation on nodule weight (g)
dose 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 sterilization 0.28 eg 0.35 be 0.36 be 0.33 cf 0.30 dg 0.33 b 0.26 eg 0.42 ad 0.50 a 0.45 ac 0.41 ad 0.41 a 0.37 A unsterilization 0.22 f 0.12 j 0.31 dg 0.52 a 0.46 ab 0.33 b 0.25 eh 0.27 eg 0.19 gj 0.13 hj 0.07 j 0.18 c 0.25 B inoculation X dose 0.25 e 0.24 e 0.34 bd 0.43 a 0.38 ab 0.26 de 0.34 bd 0.35 ac 0.29 ce 0.24 e inoculation 0.33 A

non-inoculation

sterilization X inoculation

inoculation

0.30 B

sterilization X inoculation sterilization

* The difference between the averages shown in the same letter, is not important in their own group. LSD for dose (p<0.01)= 0.06047, sterilization X LSD for inoculation (p<0.01)=0.05409, sterilization X LSD for dose (p<0.01)= 0.08552, inoculation X LSD for dose (p<0.01)= 0.08552, sterilization X inoculation X LSD for dose (p<0.01)= 0.1209

Hazelnut husk compost N% content of nodules under the application control with increasing doses 4:11%, while the dose of 3% to 4.78%, 4.87% dose of 4%, 5% is seen that 4.98% of dose in (Table 7). Were supplemented with 5% to soil hazelnut husk compost, Maximum N% content is increased (4.98%), only 3%, 4% and 5% were not statistically significant difference between doses. Alagoz et al. (2006) the addition of the organic material study explored the effects of physical and chemical properties of the soil, span conditions and garbage compost chicken manure applied soil treated with different doses. The amount of organic material and soil organic matter total nitrogen

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content (N), effects on the physical and chemical properties that were determined at different levels these organic materials of different origin used regularly and effectively with the physical and chemical properties of soils can be improved some have concluded. Similarly, in the form of composted organic matter, be the soil, and therefore the development of micro-organisms of the soil can be accelerated by increasing the soil organic matter. Improved soil structure and plantavailable nutrient concentration increased compost more healthy growth of plants, provides (Akkoyun et al., 2002). Looking at the average values; the soil is not sterile, inoculation applications where the maximum of nodule content (4.93%) increased. With the addition of ground hazelnut husk compost nodule N% content increased with increasing doses, but 3% hazelnut husk compost of the optimal dose was statistically determined that the dose of compost.
Table 7. Effect of hazelnut husk compost and bacteria inoculation on nodule N content (%)
dose 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 sterilization 3.67 3.91 4.28 4.45 5.08 4.28 b 4.06 4.18 4.89 5.02 5.00 4.63 ab 4.45 B unsterilization 4.59 5.08 5.03 5.05 4.93 4.93 a 4.11 4.55 4.88 4.97 4.89 4.68 ab 4.81 A inoculation X dose 4.13 4.49 4.66 4.75 5.01 4.08 4.36 4.89 5.00 4.95 inoculation 4.61

non-inoculation

sterilization X inoculation

inoculation

4.65

sterilization X inoculation sterilization

* The difference between the averages shown in the same letter, is not important in their own group. LSD for dose (p<0.01)= 0.6419, sterilization X LSD for inoculation (p<0.05)=0.4291

As a result of the research, when data were evaluated to be effective in applications where nonsterile conditions in general and inoculation, as organic material applications of hazelnut husk compost is used dose 4% for the dose rate can be said that criteria are evaluated. In addition, nodule formation and development of bacterial inoculation done to increase the conditions were used in hazelnut husk compost. References Akkoyun, M., zdemir, S., Satrl, S., elebi, Y., 2002. Organik atklarn deerlendirilmesi, Kompost Ekin Dergisi, say 3., sf: 58-62, 2002, Ankara. Alagz, Z., Ylmaz, E., ktren, F. 2006. Organik materyal ilavesinin baz fiziksel ve kimyasal toprak zellikleri zerine etkileri Akdeniz niversitesi Ziraat Fakltesi Dergisi, 2006, 19(2), 245-254. Bender zen, D., 2006. Effects of Composted Hazelnut husk on growth of tomato plants. Compost Science & Utilization, vol. 14, No. 4, 271-275. Bray, R. H. and Kurtz, L.T. 1945. Determination of total organic and availableforms of phosphorus in soils. Soil Science., 45:39-45. Bouyoucos, G. J., 1951. A Recalibration of the Hydrometer Method for Making Mechanical Analysis of Soils. Agron. J., 43, p 434-438. alar, K. 1958. Toprak lmi. Ankara niversitesi Ziraat Fakltesi Yaynlar, Ankara. alkan, N., Ko, N., Kaya, A ve enses, T. 1996. Fndk husk compostundan kompost elde edilmesi. Fndk Aratrma Enstits Mdrl Sonu Raporu. 41 s., Giresun. Gabriels, R., and Verdonck, O. 1992. Reference methods for analysis of compost. In: Composting and compost quality assurance criteria, pp. 173-183. Kacar, B. 1972. Bitki ve topraklarn kimyasal analizleri II. Bitki analizleri. Ankara niversitesi Ziraat Fakltesi Yaynlar, 453. Uygulama Klavuzu, 155, 646 s., Ankara.

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Knudsen, D., Peterson, G.A. and Pratt, P.F., 1982. Lithium, Sodium and Potassium Methods of Soil Analysis. Part 2 Chemical and Microbilogical Properties, Agronomy Monograph No:9 Asa-Sssa, Wisconsin, USA. Montemurro, F., Maiorana, M., Convertini, G. and Ferri, D., 2006. Compost Organic Amendments in Fodder Crops: Effects on Yield, Nitrogen Utilization and Soil Characteristics. Compost Sci. Util., 14 (2): 114123. Nelson, D. W., Sommers, L. E. 1982. Total Carbon, organic carbon and soil organic matter. In: Page, A. L. (Ed.). Methods of Soil Analysis Part II. Madison, WI, ASA-SSSA, pp. 539579. Ona, I., 1998. ukurova Koullarnda Deiik Bradyrhizobium japonicum zolatlar le Alamann Farkl Soya eitlerinde Nodlasyon N2 Fiksasyonu ve Verime Etkisi. .. Fen Bil. Ens. Doktora Tezi. Adana. 60s. zen, N. and alkan, N. 2001. Effect of husk compost on hazelnut yield and quality. Proceedings of the 5 th International Congress on Hazelnut, Acta Hort. 556:559-566. U.S. Salnty Laboratory Staff, 1954. Diagnosis and Improvement of Saline and Alkaline Soils, USDA No: 6. Xiao, N. H., L, Z. Y. and Wu, S. T., 1993. Nitrogen Nutrition and Fixation in Soybean After Wheat. Field Crop Abstracts, 46 (11): 954p. Walter, I., Martinez, F. and Cuevas, G., 2006. Plant and Soil Responses to the Application of Composted MSW in a Degraded, Semiarid Shrubland in Central Spain. Compost Sci. Util. 14 (2): 147154. Zarkovic, B., Blagojevic, S. And Stevanovic, D. 2000. Agrochemical properties of a calcareous chernozom soil after long-term application of mineral and organic fertilizers. Zemljiste: biljkan, 49(2); p. 59-67. Yugoslavia Zeytin, S. 2000. Fndk Husk compostunun topraklarn baz fiziksel zellikleri zerine etkisi. Ankara niversitesi Ziraat Fakltesi., 39 s., Ankara. Zeytin, S., Baran, A., 2002. Influences of composted hazelnut husk on some physical properties of soils. Ankara University Faculty of Agriculture Department of Soils Science 06110, Ankara, Turkey.

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Effects Of Hazelnut Husk Compost And Tea Waste Compost On Growth Of Corn Plant (Zea Mays L.) 1
University of Ordu Faculty of Agriculture Department of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, 52200-Ordu Corresponding Author: samsunmelegi@hotmail.com Abstract: In this study, effects of hazelnut husk compost and tea waste compost applications on growth of corn plant (Zea mays L.) in greenhouse conditions was investigated. Trial was established according to randomized parcels experimental design and as two organic materials, four different mixing ratio (0%, 2%, 4% and 8%, volumetrically) and a three replicates. Corn varieties were used as Nkatria (early) and Mataro (medium) and it was determined total root length, root dry weight, plant lenght, shoot dry weight and shoot/root ratio. Influence of tea waste compost mixed with soil and development of the early variety from varieties were to be much more. Tea waste compost is more effective for all the parameters, except shoot/root ratio. It was seen that 8 % and 4 % tea waste compost practices much more increased total root length and root and shoot dry weight in the early variety (2341.87cm, 8.40g, 52.32g, respectively). Hazelnut husk compost could be preferred in the same variety for root weight and increase in the 2% dose was to be higher. Application doses of materials had an effect on varieties in terms of plant height. Mixing materials into the soil at the rate of 4% provided the best height growth (120cm) in the early variety. However, shoot/root ratio was found 11.72 in medium variety and 8% dose of hazelnut husk compost. In the all parameters, the most effective material was to be 8% dose of tea waste in medium variety. While hazelnut husk compost remarkable effects in early variety, medium variety has not been effective. Keywords: compost, corn plant, root growth, shoot growth

Sevin YILMAZ, Damla BENDER ZEN

Introduction In productivity of soil, soil organic matter content is very important due to the effects on biological, chemical and physical properties of soils (Shirani et al., 2002). Corn plant has a highly developed root system and the stem. For all of the roots with portion of stems remained in the soil after harvest, increases organic matter content of soil. Even if other conditions are suitable, plant can not grow properly under insufficient and undeveloped rooting. Therefore, development of the root should be given importance during the growth period. Insufficient organic matter in soil can cause many problems such as weakness of soil aggregation and aggregate stability, failure of water holding capacity and aeration, lack of biological activity, decrease in the amount and useful of nutrient (Haynes and Naidu, 1998; eker and Karakaplan, 1999; elik et al., 2004). This negative affect efficiency and quality of crop production at all stages from germination to harvest. Harvest residues, farm wastes, animal manure, urban wastes, industrial wastes and similar materials either direct or after composted can be used to increase organic matter content of soils (Entry et al., 1997; Madejn, et al., 2001; Bhattacharya et al., 2003; Balesdent et al., 2005; Coppens et al., 2006). In 2010, 600.000 tons of shelled nuts, 1 million 305 thousand 566 tons tea produced (Anonymous, 2010). Each year, an average 350.000 tons of dries hazelnut husk and over 20 thousand tons of tea wastes remain (Kacar, 1987). These wastes are not considered in any way for today, however, they have significant potential as plant growing medium in terms of properties (Ktk, 2000; Doan and Peken, 2003; zen, 2004; Bender zen, 2006; olak et al., 2007; Bender zen and zen, 2008; Peken and Gnay, 2009). Both wastes are destroyed by composting, but also provided organic matter source for the soil, thus, productivity and quality is improved (Crecchio et al., 2004; Montemurro et al., 2006; Walter et al., 2006). In this study is aimed to investigate of effects of hazelnut husk and tea waste compost on root development and growth of corn plant (Zea mays L.) as a source of plant protein.

Materials and Methods

In the study, clay loam soil, hazelnut husk compost (HHC) and tea waste compost (TWC) sieved through 4mm screen as organic waste, Nkatria (early) and Mataro (medium) varieties as corn plant were used. Some properties of soil and organic materials are given in Table 1. Materials were
1

This study has been prepared Masters Thesis

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH mixed with soil samples at 0%, 2%, 4% and 8% on a volume basis and different mediums were prepared. Mixing ratios were determined by taking into consideration the amount of material mixed with 1 acre land. Soil samples were analyzed as the following methods: Table 1. Some physical and chemical properties of soil and organic materials
Properties Texture Bulk density (gcm-3) Soil reaction (pH) Electrically conductivity (EC, mhos/cmx103) Field capacity (%) Wilting point (%) Aeration capacity (AC, %) Easily available water (EAW, %) Water buffering capacity (WBC,%) Organic matter (%) Nitrogen (%) P (mgkg-1) K (mgkg-1) Soil Clay loam 1.20 6.29 2.874 25 14 2.25 0.163 4.79 220 Hazelnut husk compost 0.16 7.26 1.092(dSm-1) 21.85 13.83 6.84 36 1.054 0.068 0.521 Tea waste compost 0.12 6.38 3.967(dSm-1) 23.47 11.39 6.51 65 2.718 0.145 1.103

Texture (Bouyocous, 1951), bulk density (Blake and Hartge, 1986), field capacity and wilting point (Klute, 1986), pH and EC (U. S. Salinity Lab. Staff, 1954), organic matter content (Nelson and Sommers, 1982), total N (Bremner, 1965), available phosphorus (Bray and Kurtz, 1945) and available potassium (Knudsen et al., 1982) were determined. Compost samples were analyzed as the following methods; bulk density, EAW, AC and WBC (De Boodt, et al.,1973), pH and EC (Gabriel and Verdonck, 1992), organic matter content (DIN 11542, 1978), total N (Colombo and Giazzi, 1982), total P and K (Kacar, 1972) were determined. The experiment was set up in randomized plot design with three replicates under greenhouse conditions. Prepared mixtures were put in pots of 6L separately. A nutrient solution (100ppm/pot KH2PO4, 200 ppm/pot Ca(NO3)2 and 2.5ppm/pot Fe) was applied to all pots. After fertilization, five seeds were planted in a depth of 5cm into each pot. The plants were irrigated, in accordance with their water demand during growing period and no extra fertilization was applied. The experiment lasted until the end of the stem elongation. Before harvest, plant height was measured from soil surface in each pot. Shoots and roots were separated by cutting them off at the base of the root and washed. Before, roots were sampled to determine the length of the root and total root length were calculated Bhm (1979). And then, roots and shoots were dried at 60 C, in an air-forced oven, for 48 h, and dry weight was determined (Kacar, 1984). Using root and shoot dry weight; shoot/root ratio was calculated. Statistical analyses were done by JUMP statistic program and significant differences among the treatment means were calculated by Tukey (least significant difference) test at P < 0.05

Results and Discussion

Total root length varied depending on organic materials and also increased with increasing doses of the wastes (Table 2). Tea waste compost was more effective than hazelnut husk compost. This is expected a result based on physical and chemical properties of materials (Table 1). Ktk et al. (1995) reported that composted tea wastes can be used as growing media. Bender zen (2006) determined that 4% and 8% doses of hazelnut husk compost mixed with soil positive affected soil properties. While root length is 1580.14cm under control, it has reached 2341.87 cm by 8 % dose of tea waste compost. A physical conditions of growing media, in particular adequate and suitable water content, is an important factor for root development. When roots was washed, it was shown that roots are thick and short in the husk compost media, thin and long in the tea waste compost. Plant roots tend to further elongation to reach the water. Roots more increased in the tea waste compost mixtures because its easily available water content (11.39%) is lower than hazelnut husk compost (13.38%). Some researchers reported that root length of corn plant more increased by 2%
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH dose of composted chicken manure (eker et al., 2005), 60 mg/ha animal manure application (Mahboubi et al., 2007). Ko (2008) indicated that soil mixed with organic fertilizers has important effects on the root length. Table 2. Effect of compost applications on total root lenght (cm)
Dose 0 2 4 8 0 2 4 8 TWC 1743.45 2179.88 2237.48 2503.74 2166.13 1416.84 1834.99 2193.99 2179.99 1906.45 1998.79A 1580.14c 2007.43abc 2215.73ab 2341.87a HHC 1743.45 1754.64 1860.03 1933.98 1823.03 1416.84 1459.16 1531.98 1686.01 1523.50 1682.54B 1580.14c 1606.91c 1696.00c 1809.99bc Variety X Dose 1743.45 1967.26 2048.75 2218.85 1416.84 1647.08 1862.99 1933.00 Variety 2036.30A

EARLY

Variety X Media MEDIUM Variety X Media Media 0 2 4 8

1673.26B

1580.14C 1807.17BC 1955.87AB 2075.93A

Dose (p <0.05)= 364,997, Dose X Media (p <0.05)= 436.389

As seen in Table 3, total root and shoot dry weights of the early variety are higher than the medium variety. But, the effect of organic materials did not generate statistically significant difference for the early variety, especially the root dry weight (7.44-7.09, respectively). Zeytin and Baran (2002), Bender zen and zen (2008) stated that hazelnut husk compost and some soil amendment improved physical and chemical properties of clay loam soil. Yalnkl et al. (1996) have achieved positive outcomes effects on root dry weight of seedlings used of composted tea leaves factory wastes as organic fertilizer. Also, formation shapes of roots in rooting (thick and short or thin and long etc.) affect the root dry weight. ztrk and Bildik (2005) reported that compost mixed with soil affects positively root growth depending on providing of soil aeration. Tea waste compost is capable lower water content but higher aeration capacity than husk compost (Table 1) for root development and growth. Root growth approximately 2-fold increased in the medium variety, this value changed between 3.70g and 6.86g. Considering all factors, the highest root dry weight (8.40 g) was found at 4% dose of tea waste compost in the early variety, but hazelnut husk compost also recommended for the same variety. On the other hand, tea waste compost should be preferred in the medium variety. Polat and Almaca (2006) reported that compost applications affects positive in plant growth. Increasing soil organic matter content is important for corn cultivation. A good root growth will provide a good development of soil-top parts. Tea compost is more effective on root growth, shoot weight led to an increased. It is seen to be compatible of shoot and root growth in terms of the effects of compost. In addition, chemical properties next to physical properties of media are important a factory for shoot development. Tea waste compost has 65% organic matter content and is richer than husk compost in terms of some macro nutrient element contents (Table 1). 8% dose of tea waste compost was found to be the most effective dose (52.32 g, 51.74 g, respectively) for both varieties. Effect of 8% dose of hazelnut husk compost on the medium variety is remarkable (50.24g). Cheng et al.(2009) stated that organic fertilizers are more effective than chemical fertilizers in the foliar and shoot growth. Erdal and Tarakoglu (2000) have shown that organic materials as tea waste, tobacco powder, hazelnut husk and animal manure increased different levels the development of corn plant and plant dry weight.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Table 3. Effect of compost applications on root and shoot dry weights (g)
Dose 0 EARLY 2 4 8 Variety X Media 0 MEDIUM 2 4 8 Variety X Media Media TWC 6.60bc 43.06d 6.93bc 47.53bc 8.40a 51.26ab 7.82ab 52.32a 7.44a 48.54a 3.70d 40.25d 6.45c 47.65bc 6.86bc 48.72ab 6.74bc 51.74a 5.94b 47.09b 6.69A 47.82A HHC 6.60bc 43.06e 7.37abc 48.82ab 7.17abc 49.69ab 7.25abc 48.41ab 7.09a 47.50ab 3.70d 40.25d 3.79d 41.36d 3.86d 43.89cd 4.31d 50.24ab 3.91c 43.93c 5.50B 45.72B Variety X Dose 6.60 43.06e 7.15 48.17bc 7.78 50.48ab 7.53 50.37ab 3.70 40.25f 5.12 44.50de 5.36 46.30cd 6.52 50.99a Variety 7.27A 48.01A

4.92B 45.51B

Root dry weight: Variety X Media (p <0.05)= 0.707, Variety X Media X Dose (p <0.05)= 0.968 Shoot dry weight: Variety X Media (p<0.05)= 2.030, Variety X Dose (p<0.05)= 2.427, Variety X Media X Dose (p<0.05)= 2.779

At the plant height, application doses of the materials have been effective on varieties. As with other parameters, it was higher at 4% dose of early variety (120cm) and (Table 4). Ktk (2000) reported that mixtures, consisting of tea waste compost, spent mushroom waste, peat and perlite, affect plant height. Tea waste, hazelnut husk, urban waste compost, composted rice husk significantly affect characteristics such as gradation speed, plant height, root wet weight of the trial plants (Uzun et al., 2000; Stringheta et al., 1999). Table 4. Effect of compost applications on plant height (cm)
EARLY MEDIUM Dose 0 98.33e 105.00d 101.67B Doses 2 4 116.25abc 120.00a 110.83cd 112.50bc 113.55A 116.25A Variety 8 118.75ab 110.00cd 114.37A 113.33A 109.58B

Dose(p <0.05)= 5.355, Variety X Dose (p <0.05)= 6.402

Shoot/root ratio shall be required to high in plants. This value will vary according to using fertilizer and fertilization program. As seen in Table 5, shoot/root ratio was more found in media where hazelnut husk compost and in the medium variety. In general, physical properties of husk compost and chemical properties of tea waste compost are better. Effects of this are clearly seen in parameters. The formations of thick and short roots in the husk compost have caused lower at root weight, so this rate was higher. On the other hand, tea waste has approximately two times higher rich content in terms of chemical properties and thus, it has promoted the development of shoot. This has led to a decrease in the relative due to the root together with shoot growth. Xu et al. (2009) noted that restriction of root growth from the body was led to a strong decline root/shoot dry weight ratio.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Table 5. Effect of compost applications on shoot/root ratio
Dose 0 2 4 8 0 2 4 8 TWC 6.53b 6.92b 6.10b 6.79b 6.59c 10.89a 7.41b 7.10b 7.69b 8.27b 7.43B HHC 6.53b 6.63b 6.94b 6.68b 6.70c 10.89a 10.92a 11.63a 11.72a 11.29a 8.99A Variety X Dose 6.53c 6.78c 6.52c 6.73c 10.89a 9.17b 9.37b 9.71ab Variety 6.64B

EARLY Variety X Media MEDIUM Variety X Media Media

9.78A

Variety X Media (p<0.05)= 1.160, Variety X Dose (p <0.05)=1.387, Variety X Media X Dose (p <0.05)= 1.588

Conclusion Using tea waste and hazelnut husk composts as organic material affected positive growth of corn plant. Generally, while tea waste compost increased both root and shoot growth, hazelnut husk compost was to be more effect on shoot growth. This is shown in the shoot/root ratio. 4% and 8% doses of materials have been faster and more effective at the early variety and so theirs effects were similar. At the medium variety, 8% dose of tea waste compost was effective in all parameters except from shoot/root ratio. For the same variety and media, the research of plant development at the end of harvest is recommended to attain better results. References Anonymous, (2010). Msr, ay ve fndk retimi. Trkiye statistik Kurumu. Balesdent, J., Arrouays, D., Chenu, C., Feller, C., (2005). Stockage etrecyclage du carbone. In: Girard, M.C., Walter, C., Re my, J.C.,Berthelin, J., Morel, J.L. (Eds.), Sols et Environnement. Dunod,Paris,(pp. 238-261). Bender zen, D., (2006). Effects of composted hazelnut husk on growth of tomato plants. Compost Science & Utilization, 14(4), 271275. Bender zen, D. and zen, N., (2008). Short-term effects of hazelnut husk compost and organic amendment applications on clay loam soil. Compost Science & Utilization, 16( 3), 192 199. Blake, G. R. and Hartge, K. H., (1986). Bulk density, particle density. In: Methods of Soil Analysis. Part I. ASA-SSSA, Madison, WI, 363-382. Bremner, J.M., (1965). Methods of soil analysis part II. chemical and microbiologial properties. In.ed. C.A.Balack.American Soc.of Agronomy.Inc.Pub.Agron Series. No:9 Madison USA. Bray, R. H. and Kurtz, L. T., (1945). Determination of total organic and available forms of phosphorus in soils. Soil Science, 45, 39-45. Bouyoucos, G. J., (1951). A Recalibration of the hydrometer method for making mechanical analysis of soils. Agron. J., 43, 434-438. Bhm, W., (1979). Methods of studing root systems. Ecological Studies. Vol.33. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York. Crecchio, C., Curci, M., Pizzigallo, M., Ricciuti, P., Ruggiero, P., (2004). Effects of municipal solid waste compost amendments on soil enzyme activities and bacterial genetic diversity. Soil Biol. Biochem., 36, 15951605. elik, ., Orta, I., Kilik, S., (2004). Effects of compost mycorrhiza, manure and fertilizer on some physical properties of a chromoxerent soil. Soil and Tillage Research, 78, 59-67. Colombo, B. and Giazzi, G., (1982). Total automatic nitrogen determination. Am. Lab. 14, 3845. Coppens, F., Mercks, R., Recous, S., (2006). Impact of crop residues location on carbon and nitrogen distribution in soil and in water-stable aggregates. European Journal of Soil Biology, 57, 570-582.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Polat, H. ve Almaca, N.D., (2006). Harran ovasnda tesviye yaplan arazilerde kompost ve yeil gbre uygulamasnn toprak zellikleri ve pamuk verimine etkisi. Toprak ve Su Kaynaklar Aratrma Enstits Yaynlar, anlurfa. eker, C. ve Karakaplan, S., (1999). Konya ovasnda toprak zellikleri ile krlma deerleri arasndaki ilikiler. Turk. J. of Agric. For., 29, 183-190. eker, C., Ersoy, ., Zengin M., (2005). Msr bitkisinin ilk geliimine kompostlatrlm tuzlu tavuk gbresinin etkisi. Seluk niversitesi Ziraat Fakltesi Toprak Blm, Konya, Trkiye. Shirani, H., Hajabbasi, M. A., Afyuni, M., Hemmat, A., (2002). Effects of farmyard manure and tillage systems on soil physical properties and corn yield in central Iran. Soil & Tillage Research, 68, 101108. Stringheta, A.C.O., Cordoso, A.A., Lopes, L.C., Fontes, L.E.F., (1999). Growth of chrysanthemum in substrate consisting urban solid waste compost and carbonized rice husk. Revista Ceres, 264, 175188. U.S.Salinity Laboratory Staff, (1954). Diasgnosis and improvement of saline and alkali soils. U.S.D.A. Agricultural Handbook, No: 60. Uzun, S., zkaraman, F., Marangoz, D., (2000). Torba kltrnde kullanlan farkl organik artklarn son turfanda olarak stmasz seralarda yetitirilen baz sebzelerin byme, gelime ve verime etkisi. OM Zir. Fak. Dergisi, 15 (3), 1621. Yalnkl, M.K., Altun L., Kalay H.Z., (1996). ay yapra fabrikalar atklarnn kompostlatrlarak orman fidanlklarnda organik gbre olarak kullanlmas. K.T.. Orman Fakltesi, Trabzon. Xu, L., Niu, J., Li, J., Zhang F. (2009). Growth, nitrogen uptake and flow in maize plants affected by root growth restriction. Journal of Integrative Plant Biology, 51 (7), 689697. Walter, I., Martinez, F., Cuevas, G., (2006). Plant and soil responses to the application of composted MSW in a degraded, semiarid shrubland in central Spain. Compost Sci. Util., 14 (2), 147154. Zeytin, S. and Baran, A., (2002). Influences of composted hazelnut husk on some physical properties of soils. Bioresource Tech., 88(3),241-244.

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The Effect of Broadcast and Band Applications of Different P Doses and Mycorrhiza Inoculations on Lettuce Growth and Nutrient Uptake
Ahmet Demirba, Ibrahim Orta*, ada Akpnar, Uygar Turk and Zlkf Kaya
The University of ukurova, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, AdanaTurkey. *Corresponding author: iortas@cu.edu.tr Lettuce (Lactuca sativa) is an important vegetable crop grown widely in the Mediterranean region. Excessive phosphorus is used as fertilizer, which can cause pollution in soil. Mycorrhiza has a very important role of nutrient uptake in soil. The study was aimed to determine the effects of broadcast and band applications of P fertilization and mycorrhizal inoculation on lettuce plant growth and nutrient uptake under field conditions. Experiment was carried out under field conditions during 2003 on Menzilat soil series (Typic Xerofluvents) which is located in the Research Farm, Faculty of Agriculture, University of ukurova, (Eastern Mediterranean region) Turkey. In experiment, lettuce was used as a test plant. Phosphate fertilizer (Ca(H2PO4)2 applied as 0-50-100-150 kg P2O5 ha-1. Plant yield, P and Zn in lettuce leaf and root colonization were measured. The results shown that the mycorrhizal inoculation increased the lettuce yield, also slightly increased root infection and P and Zn content. In broadcast and band application, mycorrhiza inoculated lettuce plants have high yield than non-inoculated plants. The results showed that phosphorus level application statistically increased yield. Also increasing P application in non-mycorrhizal treatment increased lettuce yield. The band P application slightly produces yield than that of broadcast P application. Mycorrhizal inoculation increased the lettuce root infection level, however the colonization levels not so high. Mycorrhiza inoculation significantly increased P and Zn contents in both phosphorus application ways. Keywords: Lettuce, Mycorrhiza, Phosphorus Doses, Nutrient Uptake Broadcast and Band

Abstract

Introduction The mycorrhizal symbiosis is one of the fundamentally important aspects of plant ecosystems and their physiology for healthy plant development and soil quality. The mycorrhizal symbiosis and the mycorrhizosphere which are the area of influence for the root associated mycorrhizal hyphe (mycorhizosphere) can reach places where no roots can penetrate and fungi can reach to less mobile mineral nutrients and water from soil. Certain fungus species called as mycorrhiza (arbuscular mycorrhizae) have been known to play a significant role in forming stable soil aggregates (Orta, 1997). The cycling of macro and micronutrients in an ecosystem is influenced by multiple interactions involving soil microbial populations (Barea and Jeffries, 1995). Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) associations play important roles in this nutrient cycling through their microbial activity and their involvement in plant nutrient acquisition (Barea, 1991; Bethlenfalvay and Schuepp, 1994). It is known that the development of mycorrhizal colonization and its effectiveness on plant growth is enhanced in poor soils. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) can improve plant growth by taking up relatively immobile nutrients such as phosphate (Barea and Jeffries, 1995). AMF form symbiotic associations with most economically important cash crops (Ortas, 2008a,b). Mycorrhizal hyphae transport mineral nutrients over greater distances from depleted zones than do roots (Jakobsen, 1995). Thus, under low nutrient conditions AM-colonized roots may have an enhanced uptake of relatively immobile macro and micronutrients (Subramanian and Charest, 1999). The symbiotic root-fungal association is postulated to increase plant growth and the uptake of relatively immobile nutrients such as zinc (Zn) and phosphorus (P). Ortas et al. (2003 a) and Ortas (2010) showed that under field conditions, mycorrhizal inoculation increased plant P and Zn content.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Materials and Methods The experiment was carried out during 2003 in the Menzilat soil series (Typic Xerofluvents Fluvents, Entisols) located at the Research Farm of the Cukurova University (3700_ 54.31_N, and 35 21_21.56_E and 31 m above mean sea level) in eastern part of the Mediterranean region of AdanaTurkey. The regional climate is typical Mediterranean with long-term average annual air temperature of 19.1 C (ranging from 14.2 C in JanuaryFebruary to 25.5 C in JulyAugust), and precipitation of 670.8 mm. As much as 80% of the annual precipitation is received between November and April, with a mean annual humidity of 66% (Anonymous, 2008). A 2x7 m factorial randomized block design including 4 P levels (0-50-100-150 kg ha-1 P2O5) and two mycorrhizal treatments (with or without AM inoculation) and two applications (broadcast and band) were used. Thus, there were 16 treatment combinations replicated tree times. Cocktail mycorrhizae (G. intradices, G. mossea, G. etinicatum, G. caledonium, G. intaradices, G. fasciculatum and Dr. Kindom) was used on mycorrhizal plots. After harvest, yield of lettuce plant was recorded and shoot tissues was analyzed for P and Zn. After acid digestion treatment, P in plant tissue was determined colorimetrically using by the (Murph and Riley 1962) method by using a spectrophotometer and Zn was quantified by atomic absorption spectroscopy. The roots were washed and were cut into approximately 1 cm-segments, cleared with 10% KOH in boiling water bath for 15 min, and stained with trypan blue for mycorrhizal colonization estimation (Phillips and Hayman, 1970). Results and Discussion The results shown that mycorrhiza inoculation increased yield of lettuce plant compared with non-mycorrhiza plots in broadcast applications (Figure 1). P application and mycorrhizal inoculation significantly (P<0.001) increased lettuce yield. In the broadcast application the highest yield was determined in 0 kg ha-1 P2O5 addition in inoculated and non inoculated plots 59040 kg ha-1 and 56420 kg ha-1 respectively. The results shown that in broadcast applications, the yield did not increased with increasing P level applications not only in inoculated plots however also in non-inoculated plots.
70000 60000 50000 Yield (kg/ha) 40000 30000 20000 10000 0 P0 P1 P Levels P2 P3 b a b c d ab c ab

(- M) (+ M)

Figure 1. The effect of broadcast applications of different P doses and mycorrhiza inoculations on yield of Lettuce.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH
70000 60000 50000 Yield (kg/ha) 40000 30000 20000 10000 0 P0 P1 P Levels P2 P3 (- M) (+ M) bc b bc b cd a b d

Figure 2. The effect of band applications of different P doses and mycorrhiza inoculations on yield of Lettuce.

In band applications plots, the highest yield was determined in 100 kg ha-1 P2O5 application as 65470 kg ha-1 (Figure 2). In non-inoculated plots yield was 57610 kg ha-1 in 150 kg ha-1 P2O5 application, however, in control treatment yield was 54760 kg ha-1.
Table 2. The effect of broadcast and band applications of different P doses and mycorrhiza inoculations on root infection and P and Zn content of Lettuce Root Infection (%) 10.0 0.0 fg P0 10.7 1.2 fg P1 9.0 1.7 fg P2 10.0 0.0 fg P3 26.7 5.8 bc M+ P0 26.7 5.8 bc P1 26.7 5.8 bc P2 5.8 d16.7 f P3 10.0 0.0 fg Band MP0 0.0 c20.0 e P1 10.0 0.0 fg P2 8.0 3.5 g P3 30.0 10.0b M+ P0 40.0 0.0 a P1 5.8 b23.3 d P2 5.8 e13.3 g P3 Mean (three replicates) Bracket is SE (Standard error) Applications Broadcast MP (%) 0.22 0.0 b 0.23 0.0 b 0.27 0.1 ab 0.26 0.1 ab 0.28 0.0 ab 0.29 0.0 ab 0.27 0.1 ab 0.30 0.22 0.24 0.25 0.27 0.28 0.30 0.34 0.23 0.1 ab 0.0 b 0.0 b 0.1 ab 0.0 ab 0.0 ab 0.1 ab 0.1 a 0.0 b Zn (mg kg-1) 20.9 1.7 e 25.3 2.0 b-e 28.0 5.8 a-d 26.0 2.3 b-e 24.9 2.5 b-e 28.6 2.9 a-d 27.1 5.3 b-e 28.9 22.7 22.0 26.7 26.3 24.2 28.5 29.4 33.6 2.7 a-c 3.4 c-d 3.3 de 4.4 b-e 0.8 b-e 4.0 b-e 3.4 a-d 2.9 ab 2.5 a

The results showed that P content significantly increased in shoot of lettuce with mycorrhiza inoculation (Table 2). The high value of P content in shoot of lettuce was recorded as 0.34 % in inoculated plots in 150 kg ha-1 P2O5 application and band applications. In control treatments, both
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH broadcast and band applications P content was 0.22 %. However, P content of lettuce plant was above critical level in all applications. Tawaraya et al. (2001) showed that plant shoot P content and biomass increased with mycorrhizal colonization. The results shown that mycorrhiza inoculation significantly increased root infection of lettuce plant both in broadcast and band applications (Table 2). Generally, root infection ranged from 8 to 40 %. The high value of root infection was recorded as 40 % in inoculated plots and 50 kg ha-1 P2O5 in band applications treatment. However, root infection decreased with increasing P levels especially in 150 kg ha-1 P2O5 application. Miller and Jackson (1998) reported that in the 18 fields, a wide range of AM colonization of lettuce roots was found and root colonization ranged from 2 to 60 %. but over half the fields had <10% root colonization, and only one had >50 % colonization. Also they reported that over half the fields < 10 % root colonization, and only one had > 50 % colonization. Ortas (2012) reported that the mycorrhizal inoculum increased the root colonization of garlic, horsebean, soybean, chickpea, melon, watermelon, cucumber, maize, cotton, pepper, eggplant and tomato plants compared with the non-inoculated treatments. The results shown that Zn content did not increased significantly with mycorrhiza inoculation and increasing P levels (Table 2). There was no important difference between inoculated and noninoculated plots. However, Zn content of lettuce plant was above critical level in all applications. The highest Zn content was determined as 33.6 mg kg-1 in inoculated plots in 150 kg ha-1 P2O5 application in band applications.
Table 2. Significance of P-values (probability) from analysis of variance for the parameters (p<0.005) Applications Broadcast./Band. Mycorrhiza Phosphorus doses Broad./Band.*Mycorrhiza Broad./Band.*Phosp. Mycorrhiza* Phosp. Broad./Band*Mycorr.* Phosp. Broad: Broadcast DF 1 1 3 1 3 3 3 Yield 0.001 0.001 0.001 0.001 0.003 0.001 0.001 Infection 0.084 0.001 0.001 0.872 0.002 0.006 0.624 P 0.931 0.005 0.468 0.885 0.543 0.261 0.282 Zn 0.645 0.001 0.002 0.267 0.520 0.399 0.570

The overall results revealed that mycorrhiza inoculation increased yield, P and Zn content of lettuce plant (P<0.05) (Table 2). Broadcast and band applications only increased yield (P<0.05), but did not affect root colonization, P and Zn content of lettuce. Also, phosphorus doses increased yield, root colonization and Zn content (P<0.05), but did not effect P content. Finally the results showed that in non-mycorrhizal treatments increasing P application increased lettuce yield. Also band P application slightly produces more yield than that of broadcast P application. For further research several mycorrhiza species will be tested under field conditions. References Anonymous, 2008. Turkish Methorology Service. Ankara, Turkey. Barea, J.M. 1991. Vesicular_/arbuscular mycorrhizae as modifiers of soil fertility, in: B.A. Stewart (Ed.), Advances in Soil Science, Springer, New York, pp. 1-40. Barea, J.M. and Jeffries, P. 1995. Arbuscular mycorrhizas in sustainable soil plant systems, in: A. Varma, B. Hock (Eds.), Mycorrhiza: Structure, Function, Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Springer, Heidelberg, pp. 521-559. Barea, J.M., Jeffries, P., 1995. Arbuscular mycorrhizas in sustainable soilplant systems. In: Varma, H., Hock, B. (Eds.), Mycorrhiza, Springer, Berlin, pp. 521560. Bethlenfalvay, G.J. and Schuepp, H. 1994. Arbuscular mycorrhizas and agrosystem stability, in: S. Gianinazzi, H. Schuepp (Eds.), Impact of Arbuscular Mycorrhizas on Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Ecosystems, Birkhauser, Basel, pp. 117-131.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Jakobsen, I. 1995. Transport of phosphorus and carbon in VA mycorrhizas, in: A. Varma, B. Hock (Eds.), Mycorrhizas: Structure Function, Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Springer, Berlin, Germany, pp. 297-324. Miller, R.L. and Jackson, L. E. 1998. Survey of vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizae in lettuce production in relation to management and soil factors. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge (1998), 130, 173-182. Murphy, J. and Riley, J. P. 1962. A modified single solution for the determination of phosphate in natural waters. Analtica Chemica Acta 27, 31-36. Ortas, I. 2012. The effect of mycorrhizal fungal inoculation on plant yield, nutrient uptake and inoculation effectiveness under long-term field conditions. Field Crops Research, 125, 3548. Ortas, I., 2008a. The effect of mycorrhizal inoculation on forage and non forage plant growth and nutrient uptake under the field conditions. In: Options Mediterraneennes. Sustainable Mediterranean Grasslands and their Multi-functions. CIHEAM, Zaragoza, pp. 463469. Ortas, I., 2008b. Field trials on mycorrhizal inoculation in the Eastern Mediterranean Horticultural Region. In: Feldmann, F., Kapulnk, Y., Baar, J. (Eds.), Mycorrhiza Works. Hannover, Germany, pp. 5677. Ortas, I., 2010. Effect of mycorrhiza application on plant growth and nutrient uptake in cucumber production under field conditions. Spanish Journal of Agricultural Research 8, S116S122. Ortas, I. (1997) Determination of the Extent of Rhizosphere Soil. Commun. Soil Sci. Plan. 28, 1767-1776. Ortas, I., Sari, N., Akpnar, C., 2003a. Effects of mycorrhizal inoculation and soil fumigation on the yield and nutrient uptake of some solanaceas crops (tomato, eggplant and pepper) under field conditions. Agricoltura Mediterranea 133, 249258. Phillips, J.M. and Hayman, D.S. 1970. Improved procedures for clearing roots and staining parasitic and vesicular_/arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi for rapid assessment of infection, Trans. Br. Mycol. Soc. 55, 158-161. Subramanian, K.S. and Charest, C. 1999. Acquisition of N by external hyphae of an arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus and its impact on physiological responses in maize under drought-stressed and wellwatered conditions, Mycorrhiza 9, 69-/75. Tawaraya, K., Tokairin, K., and Wagatsuma, T., 2001. Dependence of Allium fistulosum cultivars on the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus, Glomus fasciculatum. Applied Soil Ecology 17, 119124.

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The Effect of Mycorrhizal Inoculation and Phosphorus Doses on Leek Growth Under Field Conditions
ada Akpinar, Ibrahim Orta*, Ahmet Demirba, and Murat imek
The University of ukurova, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, AdanaTurkey. *Corresponding author: iortas@cu.edu.tr

Abstract
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are ubiquitous inhabitants of soils, and they are involving plant growth and nutrient uptake under less fertile soil conditions. In cost of the Mediterranean soil conditions soil are under soil born disease and many partial sterilization methods are used for clean soil for next plantation. Since Methyl Bromide is harmful for all soil beneficial and pathogenic organisms, basamid as an agrochemical is less harmful to use for soil born pathogen. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of mycorrhizae inoculations and application of different phosphorus doses on leek yield, mycorrhizal colonization and nutrient uptake. The experiment was carried out under field conditions on the Menzilat soil series (Typic Xerofluvents Fluvents, Entisol) which is located in the research farm, Faculty of Agriculture, University of ukurova (Eastern Mediterranean Region), Turkey in the years of 2008. The experimental area was partially sterilized with basamid chemicals. Leek (Allium porrum L.) seedlings were inoculated with cocktail mycorrhizae as a mix of G. mosseae, G. etunicatum, G. intraradices, G. clarum, G. fasciculatum and Dr. Kindom speacies. As phosphorus doses 0, 50, 100 kg ha-1 P2O5 were used. Plots have been prepared by 8x3m = 24 m2. At harvest leek yield, root colonization (%), tissue phosphorus (P) and zinc (Zn) content were determined. The results shown that the mycorrhizal inoculation significantly increased leek yield. In non-inoculated plots, leek yield increased with increasing P levels application. However, in inoculated plots, leek yield did not increased with P levels application. Mycorrhizal inoculation increased root colonization ratio (%), however increasing P application reduced the root colonization as well. P and Zn content of leek plants increased with mycorrhizal inoculatation. The results shown that under field conditions mycorrhizal inoculation can be successfully applied for horticultural plants such as leek. Keywords: Leek, Mycorrhiza, Phosphorus Doses, P and Zn content

Introduction AMF colonize the roots of most plant species, including many agricultural crops (Jansa et al., 2006; Smith and Read, 2008; Ortas, 2012). Mycorrhizas are highly widespread mutualistic associations between soil fungi and plant roots. AM development frequently leads to increased plant uptake of P and several micro nutrients such as Zn, Cu (Smith and Read, 2008; Ortas, 2010). Mycorrhizae can transmit nutrients to plants from a great distance, with the fungal hyphae undertaking the function of a widely spreading root systems (Marschner, 1995; Schnepf et al., 2008). In Japan under greenhouse conditions, the effects of mycorrhizal fungus inoculation on seedlings of 17 species of vegetable crops were investigated and it was reported that growth was noticeably enhanced by AMF inoculation (Matsubara et al., 1994). However macro and micro nutrient levels in the plants did not clearly reflect these differences in yield for the mycorrhizal and nonmycorrhizal inoculation. It seems that plant yield associated with mycorrhizal inoculation cannot be explained only by the effect of mycorrhizal inoculation on nutrient uptake. One of the most dramatic effects of mycorrhizal infection on the host plant is the increase in phosphorus (P) uptake (Ortas et al., 1996) and Zn (Kothari et al., 1991) mainly due to the capacity of the mycorrhizal fungi to absorb phosphate and zinc from soil and transfer it to the host roots (Ortas et al., 2001). Sharma et al. (2004) reported that colonization of the root system by AMF confers benefits directly to the hosts plant growth and development by increasing nutrient uptake and especially attributed to enhanced uptake of less mobile nutrients such as P and Zn. Mycorrhizae species to be different in root colonization and dependence ratio in a low-fertility soil with increased P and Zn application (Ortas et al., 2001). This may be the effect of soil ecological parameters on root infection. It is well established that infection by mycorrhizal fungi is significantly reduced at high soil phosphorus levels (Koide, 1991). The level of phosphorus in the plant has also been shown to influence the establishment of mycorrhizae with high levels inhibiting colonization by mycorrhizae (Menge et al., 1978; Graham et al., 1991). Plenchette et al. (1983)

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suggested a new definition of mycorrhiza dependence by expressing the dry mass of a mycorrhizal plant as the dry mass of a non-mycorrhizal plant at a given level of soil fertility. Colonization of roots by AMF increases the uptake of nutrients and allows plants to thrive in soils with low levels of available of nutrients (Smith and Read, 2008). Formation of AM is influenced by the content of soil P, and in high-P soils, plants are less dependent on mycorrhizae and less colonized (Amijee et al., 1989; Jakobsen, 1995). Leek was chosen as a test plant because its roots can be heavily colonized by a large range of AMF species, and it is highly dependent on mycorrhizal symbiosis for its nutrient acquisition and growth, especially under P deficient or otherwise stressful soil conditions (Plenchette, 2000; Jansa et al., 2008). The aim of this study was to determine the effects of mycorrhizae inoculations and application of different phosphorus doses on leek yield, mycorrhizal colonization and P and Zn uptake. Material and Methods The experiment was carried out under field conditions on the Menzilat soil series (Typic Xerofluvents Fluvents, Entisol) which is located in the research farm, Faculty of Agriculture, University of ukurova (Eastern Mediterranean Region), Turkey in the years of 2008. The soil is clay loam, pH is 7,40 and Olsen extractable P is 4,01 mg kg-1 soil. The experimental area was partially sterilized with basamid chemicals. The regional climate is typical Mediterranean with long-term average annual air temperature of 19,1 C (ranging from 14,2C in January-February to 25,5C in JulyAugust), and precipitation of 670,8 mm. As much as 80 % of the annual precipitation is received between November and April, with a mean annual humidity of 66 % (Anonymous, 2008). Immediately before sowing, the site was ploughed and plant residue incorporated into the surface at 15 cm with a disc harrow. Cocktail mycorrhizae (G. intraradices, G. mossea, G. etinicatum, G. caledonium, G. fasciculatum and Dr. Kindom) were used on mycorrhizal plots. As phosphorus doses 0, 50, 100 kg ha-1 P2O5 were used. Plots have been prepared by 8x3m = 24 m2. Leek (Allium porrum L.) plant was used as test plant. P content was determined by the (Murph and Riley, 1962) method by using a spectrophotometer. Micronutrient Zn content was determined by an atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Root samples were washed and sub-sampled first to determine mycorrhizal colonization and the fresh samples of roots were saved in a mixture (250:13:15, by volume) of ethanol, glacial acetic acid and formalin (Ortas, 1994) until the determination of mycorrhizal colonization, which was based on the procedure by Koske and Gemma (1989). Mycorrhizal colonization was determined by the grid-line intersection method (Gioannetti and Mosse, 1980). Mycorrhizal dependency (MD) was calculated by using the following formula (Plenchette et al., 1983): MD = (Yieldmycorrhizal Yieldnon-mycorrhizal)/Yieldmycorrhizal) 100 Result and Discussion The results shown that the mycorrhizal inoculation significantly increased leek yield (p<0,008) (Table 2). In non-inoculated plots, leek yield increased with increasing P level application. In control treatment yield (non-mycorrhiza) was 9227 kg ha-1 however in 100 kg ha-1 P2O5 application yield was 15687 kg ha-1 (Figure 1). In mycorrhizal inoculated plots in crop treatments yield was 17030 kg ha-1 however in 100 kg ha-1 P2O5 application the yield was 15417 kg ha-1. The results shown that with the increasing P application the yield of leek was gradually decreased. When no P was applied, mycorrhizal inoculation increased leek yields by up to 84% under field conditions. With 50 kg ha-1 P2O5 application, mycorrhizal inoculating increased yield up to 38%.

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Yield
25000,0 17030,0 a 20000,0 15000,0 9226,7 b 10000,0 5000,0 0,0 0 kg P2O5/ ha 50kg P2O5/ ha (-M) 100 kg P2O5/ ha 0 kg P2O5/ ha 50kg P2O5/ ha (+M) 100 kg P2O5/ ha 12013,3 ab 15686,7 ab 16613,3 ab 15416,7 ab

Figure 1. The effect of mycorrhiza and P doses application on leek yield (kg/ha)

Similarly Sorensen et al. (2008) demonstrated that pre-inoculation increased the post-transplanting rate of mycorrhizae development, the shoot and root concentration of P, Zn, Cu, and N. Sorensen et al. (2005) shown that showed that the previous crop influenced mycorrhiza formation, uptake of P, Zn, and Cu, and early growth of leek seedlings. However under high level of organic amendment mycorrhizae may not be as efficient as expected. The results shown that the mycorrhizal inoculation significantly increased root infection (p<0,001) (Table 2). In non-inoculated plants nearly there was no infection. Similarly yield results, increasing P application reduced the root colonization (Figure 2). Mycorrhiza inoculated-plants were mycorrhizal colonization of roots between 57-73 %. It has been reported that high P availability in the soil will reduce the mycorrhizal colonization of roots (Van Auken and Freidrich, 2006). Sorensen et al. (2008) determined that the AM colonization of leeks increased from 40 % to 70 % to field conditions.
Mycorrhizal Root Infection
100,0 73,3 a 80,0 60,0 % 40,0 20,0 0,0 0 kg P2O5/ ha 50kg P2O5/ ha (-M) 100 kg P2O5/ ha 0 kg P2O5/ ha 50kg P2O5/ ha (+M) 100 kg P2O5/ ha 6,7 b 3,3 b 6,7 b 56,7 a 70,0 a

Figure 2 . The effect of mycorrhiza and P doses application on root colonization (%)

Mycorrhizal inoculation significantly increased nutrient uptake. P and Zn content of plant tissue in mycorrhizal inoculated plant was higher than non mycorrhizal one. In high-P soils, plants do not need mycorrhizae to take up sufficient P (Table 1). In non-mycorrhizal leek plants P % content changed from 0,18-0,22 P %, but in mycorrhiza inoculated-plants changed from 0,20-0,28 % P. Sorensen et al. (2008) determined that pre-inoculation increased the post-transplanting rate of mycorrhizae development, the leek plant shoot and root content of P and Zn. Mycorrhizae play a significant role in ion uptake, especially P, Zn and similar results were reported by (Ortas, 2010). The primary effect of AM on their host plant is an increase in plant growth and P uptake (Ortas et al., 1996; Ortas, 2003).

kg/ha

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In mycorrhiza and non-mycorrhizal inoculated plots Zn content of plant not regularly increased with incrased with P level increase. However mycorrhizal inoculated plots Zn content is higher than non- mycorrhiza inoculated plots. Perner et al. (2006) reported that mycorrhizal fungus colonization increased leek shoot Zn and K content, but did not significantly affect leek shoot dry matter or shoot N and P content.
Table 1. The effect of mycorrhiza and P doses application on P and Zn content P Zn Applications % mg kg-1 0.18 0.0 a 20.1 3.5 a 0 kg P2O5 ha-1 0.22 0.0 a 19.4 1.8 a (-M) 50 kg P2O5 ha-1 0.22 0.0 a 19.5 2.3 a 100 kg P2O5 ha-1 0.20 0.0 a 24.1 3.9 a 0 kg P2O5 ha-1 0.28 0.1 a 25.2 2.1 a (+M) 50 kg P2O5 ha-1 -1 0.26 0.1 a 23.1 3.0 a 100 kg P2O5 ha Table 2. Significance of P-values (probability) from analysis of variance for the parameters (p<0.005) P Zn Yield (%) (mg kg-1) Root Infection (%) (kg ha-1) 0.008 0.066 0.006 0.001 Mycorrhizae (M) 0.333 0.042 0.825 0.461 P doses (P) 0.068 0.581 0.788 0.368 MXP

It has been hypothesized that mycorrhizal dependence is largely controlled by root architecture system (Baylis, 1975) and nutrient requirement (Ortas and Akpinar, 2011). Plants with coarsely branched roots and with few or no root hairs are expected to be more dependent on mycorrhiza than are plants with finely branched root systems (Smith and Read, 2008). Ortas (2012) defined mycorrhizal dependence (MD) as the degree to which a plant species is dependent on the mycorrhizal condition to produce its maximum growth at a given soil fertility. This definition mostly pronounced for P requirement but not for other nutrients such as Zn. In present experiment plant Zn content also increased, however MD was not calculated for Zn nutrition.
Table 3. The effect of P doses application on mycorrhizal dependency (%) P doses Mycorrhizal Dependency (%) 45.8 0 kg P2O5 ha-1 27.7 50 kg P2O5 ha-1 -1 -1.8 100 kg P2O5 ha

It has been shown that there are great differences between the P doses application on MD. The results are shown that under field condition leek plant depend on mycorrhizal inoculation with low level of P application (Table 3). At 0 kg P2O5/ha control treatment leek plant shown high response to MD (45,8 %), however at 100 kg P2O5/ha application negative effect on mycorhhizal dependency (-1,8 %) was calculated. The degree of plant dependence is of great practical and ecological interest for plant nutrition. Sylvia (1994) reported that mycorrhizal dependence by using two arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, identified as G. intraradices and G.etunicatum, at three different levels of phosphorous and mycorrhizal inoculation increased flowering dogwood seedling survival, root length, root fresh mass, shoot dry mass, shoot height and the proportion of roots colonized. AzconAguilar and Barea (1997) suggested that mycorrhizal dependence for a representative plant species in Mediterranean shrublves (lavandula spica l.) as a key factor to its use for re-vegetation strategies in desertification-threatened areas. As management strategies, mycorrhizal inoculation should be used on low-P soils. Mycorrhizal inoculation should be increased plants for uptake of P and Zn, thereby, reduce the need for fertilizer P application. Leek (Allium porrum L.) plants inoculated with AM fungi grown better than control plants. It can be suggested that mycorrhizal inoculation is necessary for leek plant growth
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References Anonymous., (2008). Turkish Methorology Servise. Ankara, Turkey. Azcon Aguilar, C., Barea, J.M., (1997). Applying mycorrhiza biotechnology to horticulture: Significance and potentials. Scientia Horticulturae, 68, 1-24. Amijee F, Tinker PB, Stribley DP., (1989). The development of endomycorrhizal root systems. VII. A detailed study of the effects of soil phosphorus on colonization. New Phytologist, 111: 435446. Baylis, G.T.S., (1975). Themagnolioid mycorrhiza and mycotrophy in root systems derived from it. In: Sanders, F.E., Mosse, B., Tinker, P.B. (Eds.), Endomycorrhizas. Academic Press, New York pp. 373-389. Gioannetti, M., Mosse, B., (1980). An evaluation of techniques for measuring vesiculararbuscular mycorrhiza in roots. New Phytologist, 84, 489-500. Graham, J.H., Eissenstat, D.M., Drouillard, D.L., (1991). On the relationship between a plants mycorrhizal dependency and rate of vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal colonization. Functional Ecology, 5, 773-779. Jakobsen, I., (1995). Trasport of phosphorus and carbon in VA mycorrhizas. In Mycorrhiza. Eds. Varma, A., and Hock, B. Pp 297-324. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heilderberg. Jansa, J., Smith, F.A., Smith, S.E., (2008). Are there benefits of simultaneous root colonization by different arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi? New Phytologist, 177, 779-789. Jansa, J., Wiemken, A., Frossard, E., (2006). The effects of agricultural practices on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. In: Frossard, E., Blum, W., Warkentin, B. (Eds.), Function of Soils for Human Societies and the Environment, Special Publication of the Geological Society No, London, pp. 89-115. Koide, R.T., (1991). Nutrient supply, nutrient demand and plant-response to mycorrhizal infection. New Phytologist, 117, 365-386. Koske, R.E., Gemma, J.N., (1989). A modified procedure for staining roots to detect VAmycorrhizas. Mycological Research, 92, 486-505. Kothari, S.K., Marschner, H., Romheld, V., (1991). Contribution of the VA mycorrhizal hyphae in acquisition of phosphorus and zinc by maize grown in a calcareous soil. Plant and Soil, 131, 177-185. Marschner, H., (1995). Mineral Nutrition of High Plants. Academic Press London. Matsubara, Y., Harada, T., Yakuwa, T., (1994). Effect of vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi inoculation on seedling growth in several species of vegetable crops. Journal of the Japanese Society for Horticultural Science, 63, 619-628. Menge, J.A., Johnson, E.L.V., Platt, R.G., (1978). Mycorrhizal dependency of several citrus cultivars under three nutrient regimes. New Phytologist, 81, 553-559. Murph, J., Riley, J.P., (1962). A modified single solution method for determination of phosphate in natural waters. Analytica Chimica Acta, 27, 31-36. Ortas, I., (1994). The effect of different forms and rates of nitrogen and different rates of phosphorus fertilizer on rhizosphere pH and P uptake in mycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizal sorghum plants. University of Reading, Reading. Ortas, I., (2003). Effect of selected mycorrhizal inoculation on phosphorus sustainability in sterile and non-sterile soils in the Harran Plain in South Anatolia. Journal of Plant Nutrition, 26, 1-17. Ortas, I., (2010). Effect of mycorrhiza application on plant growth and nutrient uptake in cucumber production under field conditions. Spanish Journal of Agricultural Research, 8, S116-S122. Ortas, I., (2012). The effect of mycorrhizal fungal inoculation on plant yield, nutrient uptake and inoculation effectiveness under long-term field conditions. Field Crops Research, 125, 3548. Ortas, I., Akpinar, C., (2011). Response of maize genotypes to several mycorrhizal inoculums in terms of plant growth, nutrient uptake and spore production. Journal of Plant Nutrition, 34, 970-987.

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 Ortas, I., Harris, P.J., Rowell, D.L., (1996). Enhanced uptake of phosphorus by mycorrhizal sorghum plants as influenced by forms of nitrogen. Plant and Soil, 184, 255-264. Ortas, I., Kaya, K., Cakmak, I., (2001). Influence of va-mycorrhiza inoculation on growth of maize and green pepper plants in phosphorus and zinc deficient soils. In: Horst, W.e.a. (Ed.), Plant Nutrition- Food Security and Sustainability of Agro-Ecosystems. Kluwer Akedmic Publishers, Dordrecht, Germany, pp. 632-633. Perner, H., Schwarz, P., George, E., (2006). Effect of mycorrhizal inoculation and compost supply on growth and nutrient uptake of young leek plants grown on peat-based substrates. Hortscience, 41, 628-632. Plenchette, C., (2000). Receptiveness of some tropical soils from banana fields in Martinique to the arbuscular fungus Glomus intraradices. Applied Soil Ecology, 15, 253-260. Plenchette, C., Fortin, J.A., Furlan, V., (1983). Growth-responses of several plant-species to mycorrhizae in a soil of moderate P-fertility .1. Mycorrhizal dependency under field conditions. Plant and Soil, 70, 199-209. Schnepf, A., Roose, T., Schweiger, P., (2008). Growth model for arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. J. R. Soc. Interface 5, 773-784. Sharma, M.P., Gaur, A., Tanu, U., Sharma, O.P., (2004). Prospects of arbuscular mycorrhiza in sustainable management of root- and soil-borne diseases of vegetable crops. In: Mukerji, K.G. (Ed.), Disease management of fruits and vegetables: fruit and vegetable diseases. Kluwer Alphen an den Rijn, pp. 501-539. Smith, S.E., Read, D.J., (2008). Mycorrhizal Symbiosis. Academic Press, San Diego, CA. Sorensen, J.N., Larsen, J., Jakobsen, I., (2005). Mycorrhiza formation and nutrient concentration in leeks (Allium porrum) in relation to previous crop and cover crop management on high P soils. Plant and Soil 273, 101-114. Sorensen, J.N., Larsen, J., Jakobsen, I., (2008). Pre-inoculation with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi increases early nutrient concentration and growth of field-grown leeks under high productivity conditions. Plant and Soil, 307, 135-147. Sylvia, D.M., (1994). Vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal (VAM) fungi. In: Weaver, R.W., al., a.e. (Eds.), Methods of soil analysis, Part 2. Microbiological and biochemical properties, . Soil Science Society of America, Madison, pp. 351-378. Van Auken, O.W., Freidrich, R., (2006). Growth and mycorrhizal infection of two annual sunflowers with added nutrients, fungicide or salts. Texas Journal of Science, 58, 195-218.

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Effect of Organic and Inorganic Fertilizer on Yield and Quality of Onion Plant (Allium cepa var. Valencia) Cultivated with Directly Seed Sowing Method
Safak Ceylanb , Funda Yoldasb , Nilgun Mordogan*a , Bihter Colak Esetlilia , Neriman Tuba Barlasa
a

Ege University Soil Sciences and Plant Nutrition Department, Bornova-Izmir (TURKEY) Ege University Odemis Technical Training College Odemis Izmir (TURKEY) Corresponding Author: nilgun.mordogan@ege.edu.tr
b

Abstract This study was carried out in the experimental fields of Odemis Technical Training College (Ege University) as randomized block design with three replications. In the experiment farmyard manure was applied as 0, 2, 4 and 6 t/da and commercial fertilizers were applied to obtain NPK at both recommended dose (12:10:15 kg da1 ) and half of recommended rate of NPK (6:5:7,5 kg da-1). In the first year, fleshy leaf thickness, diameter of bulb, bulb length and the quantity of storage leaf were influenced significantly by fertilizer treatments. Although the effect of treatments couldnt be found significant on yield in both 2 years. The highest yield was obtained with the application of organic fertilizers at a dose of 4 t/da in the 1st year and at a dose of 6 t/da in the 2nd year . By these applications, yield was found higher than control about 34.2 % in the 1st year and in the 2nd year it was found higher than control about 27 %. In the 1st year, the effect of treatments on N; P; K; Ca; Na; Mg; Fe, Zn; Cu; Mn content of onion bulb was found as insignificant. But in the 2nd year, onion bulbs Fe content was effected significantly by applications. Keywords: Onion, organic fertilizer, yield, macro and micro plant nutrients

Introduct on Increased sensitivity on human health and environment (in our country), featured the conscious fertilization programs and to obtain healty crops. In this sense, the use of especially organic fertilizers is noticed. In plant production, the physical, chemical and also biological availability of soil is very important. Organic fertilizers effect positively root growth via amendation of rhizosphere conditions and also contain plant nutrients as well. Several studies were realised on the effects of fertilization on onion yield and quality. Singh et. al. (1997), researched the effects of green manure, farmyard manure, vermicompost and inorganic fertilization on onion yield and they obtained the highest yield with farmyard manure. Shaheen et. al. (2007), found that; the mixture of cattle manure and biofertilizer increased the onion yield and enriched the mineral content of bulb. Onion is a vegetable which is used in almost all dishes in our cuisine and also which is very important in human nutrition (Vural et al. 2000). Onion consists of lots of usefull compounds such as vitamin A, B, C; phosphorus; iodine; silisium; sulfur and also some other antibiotic and digestive factors (Anonim, 2006). Onion (Allium cepa L.) is a winter crop vegetable. However, onion seedlings need cool conditions in development period, need high temperature and long day duration in bulb formation stage ( Woodburry ve Ridley, 1969; Vural ve ark., 1987). In onion production, it is possible to gain bulb onion in the same year. Therefore, the determination of the availability for cultivation with direct seed sowing or seedling is very important to decision on specie used in available ecologies in addition to market conditions and the other properties (Vural ve ark., 1987). The effects of organic fertilizers applied with different rates on both the quality and yield of onion in Odemis area was evaluated and its comparision with mineral fertilizer application was made. Materials and Methods Farmyard and commercial fertilizer applications were compared in Valencia onion cultivated with direct seed sowing This 2 yeared experiment was conducted as randomized block experimental designe with 3 replications in Ege University Odemis Technical Training School.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH In experiment, the rates of 0, 2, 4, 6 t/da N, P, K (12: 10: 15 kg/da) were used as mineral and the half of this rate is used as the low rate (6,5:7,5 kg/da). Experiment is of 6 different applications with the control. The plot area was 3m2 and consisted of ten rows, 0.3 m apart, with 0.02 m spacing in rows. Nitrogen fertilizer was applied in ammonium nitrate form (33 %); 1/3 at planting, 1/3 for full leaf expansion and 1/3 at the beginning of the bulb, making three divisions. Phosphorus and potassium were applied at the planting in the forms of triple super phosphate and potassium sulphate. This experiment was conducted during 2 years. Some physical and chemical properties of the experiment soil is shown in Table 1 and 2.
Table 1. Some Physical and Chemical Properties of the Experiment Soil (1st year) Parameters (0-30cm) (30-60cm) 7,15 6,86 pH (%) 0,03 0,03 Salt (%) 0,57 0,77 O.M. (%) 0,56 0,64 CaCO3 (%) 84,92 76,92 Sand (%) 2,72 2,72 Clay (%) 12,36 20,36 Silt Loamy Sand Loamy Sand Texture (%) 0,12 0,13 Total N ( ppm ) 0,22 0,25 Available P ( ppm ) 71 70 Available K ( ppm ) 1500 1486 Available Ca ( ppm ) 485 480 Available Mg ( ppm ) 9 9 Available Na ( ppm ) 4,92 4,80 Available Fe ( ppm ) 2,81 2,15 Available Mn ( ppm ) 3,22 2,85 Available Zn ( ppm ) 0,49 0,52 Available Cu Table 2. Some Physical and Chemical Properties of the Experiment Soil (2nd year) Parameters (0-30cm) (30-60cm) 7,29 8,07 pH (%) 0,03 0,03 Salt (%) 0,46 0,05 O.M. (%) 0,63 0,63 CaCO3 (%) 81,12 83,12 Sand (%) 4,88 4,88 Clay (%) 14,00 12,00 Silt Loamy Sand Loamy Sand Texture (%) 0,05 0,028 Total N ( ppm ) 18,4 19,3 Available P ( ppm ) 70 35 Available K ( ppm ) 691 543 Available Ca ( ppm ) 132 72 Available Mg ( ppm ) 16 16 Available Na ( ppm ) 17,36 14,12 Available Fe ( ppm ) 5,26 30,60 Available Mn ( ppm ) 2,13 0,51 Available Zn ( ppm ) 1,70 0,87 Available Cu

Experiment soil is in neutral reaction except in the second year where it is 0 to 30 cm in depth (alkaline medium), There is no problem of total salt. The texture is loamy-sand. Lime and organic matter was poor. Total N content is good n 1st year but poor in 2nd year. Available K content is low, available P is poor in 1st year but rich in 2nd year. The calcium content was determined as moderate in 1st year and as poor in 2nd year. Mg contents are fine with the except for 30-60 cm (medium) depth. Fe,Cu,Mn and Zn contents were determined as enough. However, Zn in 30-60 cm

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH (in 2nd year) was found in critical levels (Gne ve ark. 2000) (Table 1, 2). The analyse results of farmyard manures used in experiment for both 2 years are shown in Table 3.
Table 3. Some properties of manure (1st and 2nd year). (1st year) Property (%) 1,36 Total N ( ppm ) 0,32 Available P ( ppm ) 1,11 Available K ( ppm ) 0,38 Available Ca ( ppm ) 0,60 Available Mg ( ppm ) 1,35 Available Fe ( ppm ) 213,2 Available Mn ( ppm ) 92,1 Available Zn ( ppm ) 25 Available Cu (2nd year) 1,6 0,92 1,21 0,60 0,58 0,06 101 46 12

The datas of the experiment were evaulated statistically with TARST pocket statistic program (Acikgoz et. al.,1993). Results and Discussion In the first year, yield was found as 5276,78803,3 kg/da, number of bulb 83,2109,5 no /m2, bulb width 4,5476,953 cm, bulb length 5,0407,280 cm, fleshy thickness 0,2170,287 cm, number of storage leaf 7,86710,467 number of shoot tips 1,001,13 number of dried leaf 1,87 2,20 pieces (Table 4). The highes yield was obtained at 4 t/da application of organic fertilizer but this was not significant. This application increased yield by 27 % compared to the control plots. Similar results was found also by Yoldas et. al. (2011), Rather et. al. (2003), Sharma et. al. (2003), Kumar et. al. (2001), Dixit (1997) and Mallanagouda et. al. (1995). In experiment, bulb diameter, bulb length, fleshly leaf thickness and storage leaf quantity were effected significantly by applications. Fleshly leaf thickness was the highest at of 2 t/da and bulb diameter was also the highest at 6 t/da organic fertilizer application .At the end of the experiment, statistical differences couldnt found with the applications of 4-6 t/da. The highest storage leaf quantity was found with 4 t/da fertilizer rate but no difference was found between 2 ve 4 t/da applications. At the end of 1st year; yield, bulb number, shoot end and sapless rind pieces werent effected significantly.
Table 4. Effect of organic and mineral fertilization on yield and some quality criteria (1st year) Fleshly Number Number Bulb Bulb Number Yield leaf of Applications of bulb width height of shoot (kg/da) thickness storage (no/m2) (cm) (cm) tip (no) (cm) leaf (no) 6916,7 99,83 4,547d 5,040c 0,217c 7,867c 1,00 0 7620,0 97,83 5,307cd 6,120b 0,287a 9,467ab 1,07 2 t/da 8803,3 86,17 6,640ab 7,280a 0,233c 10,46a 1,13 4 t/da 5276,7 83,20 6,953a 7,147a 0,247b 10,400a 1,00 6 t/da NPK NPK/2 LSD 7210,0 7336,7 ns. 108,17 109,50 ns 5,993bc 5,920bc 0,898** 6,593ab 5,700bc 1.019** 0,230c 0,243b 0,038* 9,000bc 8,733bc 1,329** 1,13 1,00 ns

Number of dried leaf (no) 1,87 2,00 2,20 2,20 2,20 2,00 ns

In the 2nd year of cultivation with directly seed sowing method; yield is between 1640,02382,5 kg/da, number of bulb is between 30,2538,25 no/m2, bulb width 4,775,39 cm, bulb height 5,23 5,76 cm, fleshly leaf thickness 0,230,29 cm, storage leaf number is between 6,277,33, shoot tip number is between 1,001,13, Number of dried leaf is between 1,602,33. The effects of applications on these criteria werent found statistically significant. In 2nd year The highest yield was obtained at 6 t/da application of organic fertilizer and an increase was found about 34% compared to the control plots. (Table 5). The difference between the datas of 1st and 2nd year is supposed to originate from noncontrollable climate factors (rainfall and temperature).

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Table 5. Effect of organic and mineral fertilization on yield and some quality criteria (2nd year) Fleshly Number Number Bulb Bulb Number Yield leaf of Applications of bulb width height of shoot (kg/da) thickness storage (no/m2) (cm) (cm) tip (no) (cm) leaf (no) 1782,5 37,00 4,89 5,49 0,23 6,87 1,00 0 1970,0 36,50 5,11 5,23 0,29 6,60 1,07 2 t/da 1782,5 30,25 5,39 5,76 0,25 7,33 1,07 4 t/da 2382,6 38,25 5,15 5,54 0,25 7,13 1,13 6 t/da 1782,5 31,00 4,85 5,31 0,23 6,27 1,07 NPK 1640,0 32,75 4,77 5,69 0,24 6,67 1,07 NPK/2 ns ns ns ns ns ns ns LSD

Number of dried leaf (no) 2,33 1,60 2,07 2,00 2,00 2,13 ns

Macro and Micro Elemental Contents of Onion Leaves Macro and micro elemental contents of onion seedling and fresh onions samples are given in Table 6 and 7.
Table 6. Effect of organic and mineral fertilization on macro and micro element content of leaves in seedling period (1st year) Applications 0 2 t/da 4 t/da 6 t/da NPK NPK/2 LSD(%5) N (%) 5,60 4,73 4,93 5,27 4,80 5,60 ns P (%) 0,45 0,44 0,47 0,49 0,48 0,47 ns K (%) 3,37b 3,10b 3,73ab 4,40a 3,10b 2,87b 0,96** Mg (%) 0,37 0,33 0,34 0,35 0,39 0,37 ns Na (%) 0,09c 0,11bc 0,14ab 0,19a 0,08c 0,07 0,05** Fe (ppm) 91,67 82,33 113,33 96,33 107,67 94,67 ns Cu (ppm) 6,80 6,80 7,77 7,40 5,76 6,23 ns Zn (ppm) 26,67 26,67 25,00 23,33 26,00 23,00 ns Mn (ppm) 50,67 46,67 48,00 49,67 47,00 49,00 ns

In 1st year, the effect of fertilizer applications on K and Na contents in seedling period was found statistically significant. However the effect of applications on N, P, Mg, Fe, Cu, Zn and Mn contents was found insignificant. Leaf K content increased with the increase of farmyard manure and it reached the highest value (4.40 %) with the application of 6 t/da. Leaf Na content increased with the increase of farmyard manure and it reached the highes value (0.19 %) with the application of 6 t/da (Table 6). However, between 4 and 6 t/da cattle manure doses a statistical difference couldnt be found. In fresh onions period, the effect of fertilizer applications on content of N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Na, Fe, Cu, Zn, Mn in leaves wasnt found statistically significant (Table 7). In the study, macro element contents in fresh onions leaves were found adequate and high; micro element contents were found adequate (Bergmann, 1986). In the study, 1st year, in onion bulbs, 4,37-4,87 % N, 0,420,47 % P, 3,454,89 % K, 0,881,30 % Ca, 0,420,51 % Mg, 0,380,58 % Na, 186,67295,00 ppm Fe, 9,9311,53 ppm Cu, 21,0033,70 ppm Zn, 21,8027,70 ppm Mn were determined (Table 8). With regard to Mills and Jones (1996), it is insufficient when the N content in onion bulbs is below 1%. In terms of this value, a deficiency is not seen on onion bulbs of the research. The analyzed P results are similar with Coolong (2004). Tahvonen (1993), reported that; avarage K content in onion bulbs is about 2 %. In terms of this limit value, K deficiency doesnt exist in onion bulbs. Coolong (2004) has found the Mg content of onion bulbs between 0.12-0.16 % in his research. In comparison with the researcher, Mg contents of onion bulbs in this research is found a little higher. In terms of Mills and Jones (1996), optimal Fe content of onion bulbs are between 60-300 ppm. Fe contents which found in the experiment is similar to reported values. Mn contents are below of the limit values which was reported by Mills and Jonesun (1996) between 50 and 250 ppm. It is reported that; onion plant is susceptible to Zn (Sullivan, et. al., 2001) and therefore it shows a positif response to Zn fertilization (Midan et. al., 1986). It is also reported by Mills and Jones (1996) that, onion bulbs Zn content decreased in cultivated under low N conditions. In this

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH research, Zn content didnt show an increase with increasing N doses and according to the control. Coolong et. al. (2004), reported that onion bulbs N and P content increased with the applications of N; Mn, Fe and Zn content tends to increase however; K, Cu and Mo content werent affected.
Table 7. Effect of organic and mineral fresh onions period, (1st year). N P Applications (%) (%) 4,60 0,39 0 4,83 0,44 2 t/da 5,20 0,44 4 t/da 4,67 0,36 6 t/da Mineral 4,67 0,42 Fertilizer- NPK 4,87 0,39 NPK/2 Ns ns LSD(%5) fertilization on macro and micro element content of onion leaves in K (%) 4,13 4,03 4,13 4,37 3,43 3,53 ns Ca (%) 2,00 2,33 2,00 2,10 2,13 1,83 ns Mg (%) 0,45 0,45 0,40 0,45 0,48 0,51 ns Na (%) 0,12 0,17 0,18 0,20 0,12 0,12 ns Fe (ppm) 77,67 81,67 82,67 89,00 79,33 69,33 ns Cu (ppm) 7,73 6,43 6,77 8,37 7,07 8,37 ns Zn (ppm) 17,33 15,33 18,67 17,67 17,33 17,33 ns Mn (ppm) 46,33 47,00 49,33 50,00 47,00 49,33 ns

Table 8. Effect of organic and mineral fertilization on macro and micro content of onion bulbs (1st year) Mn N P K Ca Mg Na Fe Cu Zn Applications (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (ppm) (ppm) (ppm) (ppm) 4,37 0,42 3,88 1,20 0,45 0,43 249,67 11,8 33,70 27,70 0 4,60 0,42 3,86 1,09 0,48 0,44 295,00 10,03 24,93 22,67 2 t/da 4,87 0,45 3,91 0,88 0,42 0,38 215,67 10,57 23,90 21,80 4 t/da 4,47 0,47 3,97 1,06 0,51 0,58 256,67 9,93 21,00 23,77 6 t/da Mineral 4,47 0,45 4,98 1,30 0,42 0,52 213,00 11,53 32,43 20,03 FertilizerNPK 4,63 0,45 3,45 1,14 0,46 0,44 186,67 11,40 28,03 23,97 NPK/2 ns ns Ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns LSD(%5)

Effect of organic and mineral fertilization on nutrient content of onion bulbs was found insignificant. In the 2nd year in onion bulbs, N (%) 3,093,98, P (%) 0,380,46, K (%) 1,471,60, Ca (%) 1,46 1,52, Mg (% )0,660,92, Na (%) 0,110,25, Fe (ppm) 188,50264,33, Cu (ppm) 4,895,62, Zn (ppm) 33,4073,37, Mn (ppm) 15,3019,23 were determined (Table 9). Effect of organic and mineral fertilization on N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Na, Cu, Zn, Mn contents of onion leaves wasnt found statistically significant. In 2nd year, fertilizer applications affacted Fe content of onion bulb significantly and Fe content reached the highest value as 264.33 ppm with the application of 2 ton/da farmyard manure. As a conclusion in the local ecological conditions a consideration of the need to fertilization in onion cultivation and the highest value in yield and quality parameters and also with a consideration of positive effects on soil fertility; it is found that; farmyard manure application is suitable.
Table 9. Effect of organic and mineral fertilization on macro and micro element of onion buls (2nd year) N P K Ca Mg Na Fe Cu Zn Mn Applications (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (ppm) (ppm) (ppm) (ppm) 3,31 0,38 1,51 1,50 0,68 0,22 238,67ab 5,16 66,50 17,67 0 3,12 0,44 1,60 1,50 0,92 0,18 264,33a 5,08 70,90 15,30 2 t/da 3,09 0,46 1,47 1,46 0,73 0,15 228,33ab 4,98 68,03 19,23 4 t/da 3,14 0,34 1,58 1,51 0,82 0,11 213,67bc 5,42 73,37 17,90 6 t/da Mineral 3,28 0,44 1,57 1,52 0,66 0,17 234,33ab 5,62 55,97 16,10 Fertilizer- NPK Mineral 3,98 0,41 1,56 1,52 0,68 0,25 188,50c 4,89 33,40 17,55 FertilizerNPK/2 ns ns ns ns ns ns 39,23* ns ns ns LSD(%5)

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH References Akgz, N., Akka, M.E., Maghaddam, A., zcan, K., (1993). Tarist PCler iin statisitik Kantitatif Genetik Paketi. Uluslar aras Bilgisayar Uyg. Semp. 133, 19 Ekim 1993, Konya. (Tarist, Quantitative Genetic Pocket of Statistics for PCs. Int. Computers Application Sympossium, 133, 19 Oct. 1993, Konya /TURKEY. Anonim, 2006. http://www.thehealthnews.org/tr/topic/neyeiyigeliyor/sogan.htm Bergmann, W., 1986. Farbatlas. Ernaehrungsstrungen bei Kulturpflanzen. Gustav Fischer Verlag. Coolong, W. T., Kopsell, D.A., Kopsell, D.E., Randle, W. M. (2004). Nitrogen and Sulfur Influence Nutrient Usage and Accumulation in Onion. Journal of Plant Nutrition, 27:9, 16671686. Dixit, S. P., (1997). Response of onion (Allium cepa L.) to nitrogen and farmyard manure in dry temperate high hills of Himachal Pradesh. Indian J. Agric. Sci. 67 (5):222-223. Kumar, A., Singh, R., Chhillar, R.K., (2001). Influence of nitrogen and potassium application on growth, yield and nutrient uptake by onion (Allium cepa L.). Indian J. Argon., 46 (4): 742746. Mallanagouda, B., Sulikeri, G.S., Hulamani, N.C., Murthy, B.G., Madalgeri, B.B., (1995). Effect of NPK and FYM on growth parameters of onion, garlic and coriander. Univ. Agric. Sci. (Bangalore) 24 (!1): 212-213. Midan, A.A.; El-Sayed, M.M.; Omran, A.F.; Fattahallah, M.A., (1986). Effect of foliar spraying with indole acetic acid (IAA) combined with Zn or Mn nutrients on yield of onion seed. Seed Sci. Tech. 1986, 14, 519528. Mills, H.A.; Jones, J.B., (1996). Jr. Plant Analysis Handbook II; MicroMacro Publishing, Inc.: Athens, GA, 1996; 662. Rather, S.A., Ahmed, N., Chattoo, M. A., (2003). Response of Onion to Microbial Inoculation and Chemical Nitrogen. Hayrana J. Hort. Sci. 32:3/4. 270-271. Sharma, R. P., Datt, N., Sharma, P.K., (2003). Combined Application of Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium and Farmyard Manure in Onion Under High Hills, Dry Temperate Conditions of North-Western Himalayas. Indian J. Agr. Sci., 73:4:225-227. Singh, L., Bhonde, S.R., Mishra,V.K., (1997). Effect of different organic manures and inorganic fertilizers on yield and quality of rabi onion. Shaheen, A.M.; Fatma A. Rizk and S.M. Singer (2007). Growing onion plants without chemical fertilization. Research J. Agric. Bio., Sci., 3(2): 95 104. Sullivan, D.M.; Brown, B.D.; Shock, C.C.; Horneck, D.A.; Stevens, R.G.; Pelter, G.Q.; Felbert, E.B.G., (2001). Nutrient management for onions in the pacific northwest. Pacific Northwest Ext. Pub. 2001, 546, 142. Tahvonen, R. Contents of selected elements in some fruits, berries, and vegetables on the Finnish market in 19871989. J. Food Comp. Anal. 1993, 6, 7586. Vural H, Eser B, zzambak E, Eiyok D, Tzel Y, Yolta T (1987). A Study on determining degrees of conformity of planting the seed to be produced directly with native onion varieties. Ege Res. Fund, Res. Report, no:051. Vural H, Eiyok D, Duman I (2000). Vegetable Growing. Depart. Hort., Fac. Agric., Ege Univ. Bornova, Izmir, Turkey. 440 pages. Yoldas F, Ceylan S, Mordogan N, Esetlili B.., (2011). Effect of organic and inorganic fertilizers on yield and mineral content of onion (Allium cepa L.). African Journal of Biotechnology (AFR J BIOTECHNOL) Vol. 10(55), pp. 11488-11492, 21 September, 2011. Woodburry, G.W., ve Ridley, J.R., 1969. the Influence of Incandescent and Fluorescent Light on Bulbing Response of Three Onion Varieties. Jour. Amer. Soc. For Hort. Sci. 94:365-367.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Manganese-Iron Interactioncs in Soil, Hazelnut Leaves and Nuts
Nedim ZENa, Damla BENDER ZENb, mr DUYARc, Halil EROLc
University of Ordu Vocational School Department of Crop Production, 52200-Ordu University of Ordu Faculty of Agricultural Department of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, 52200-Ordu Hazelnut Research Station, Giresun Corresponding Author:nedimozenc@yahoo.com Abstract This study was carried out in Hazelnut Research Station trial orchards for two years. Balanced nutrition of plants is important in order to attain high amounts and quality of yield. Interactions among nutrients can greatly influence their balance in soil and plant tissues. In this study, Mn and Fe interactions and its effect on concentration of these nutrients in soil, hazelnut leaves and Tombul hazelnuts were investigated. The experiment was arranged according to completely randomized block design with three replicates and five doses for two years. MnSO4 fertilizers were prepared in doses of 0 g.ocak-1, 8.0 g.ocak-1, 16.0 g.ocak-1, 32.0 g.ocak-1, 64.0 g.ocak-1 and were applied in Tombul hazelnut orchards. During the experiments, soils, plants and nuts were analyzed to determine the nutrition level of the Tombul hazelnut in different nutrient concentrations. The results showed that Mn content of soil, leaf and nut determined to be increased depending on the increasing rates of Mn fertilizer. Due to Mn-Fe interaction, soil, leaf and nut were differences in Fe content. Increasing doses of Mn, Fe content of the soil significantly reduced. Fe content of the leaf remained unchanged in the first year, but decreased in the second year. Fe content of nut was found to decrease below normal values. Keywords: Fertilization, nutrient elements, interaction, hazelnut

Introduction Hazelnut, which is one of Turkeys most important export products, has a very important place in the country agriculture. Our country is the homeland of hazelnut and has very old a culture history in the agricultural products, and provides approximately 75% of worlds hazelnut. In addition, hazelnut production has a very important place due to meet approximately 20% of agricultural export revenue. In our country, hazelnut cultivation is made approximately 690.000ha and 646.000tonnes of dry shelled nut is obtained per year according to last five-year average. Although the amount of total production is high, the amount of yield obtained per unit area is very low. One of the main factors that causes low yield of hazelnut, the lack of plant nutrition applications. Studies related to hazelnut cultivation and plant nutrition practices are limited, so increasing studies is of great importance. During the development period of plant is essential to find adequately plant nutrient elements and to know the interactions of nutrient in the soil. Changes in pH, lime, organic matter, size fractions (clay) and soil moisture regime had a strong influence on the micronutrient distribution. Mn and Fe decreased with a rise in pH and/or lime content and with a fall in organic matter content (Katyal and Sharma, 1991). Agricultural lands often are encountered with a deficiency of manganese and availability or interactions of manganese depending on properties of soil are observed. Kacar and Katkat (2007) noticed that manganese deficiency is frequently observed neutral or alkaline with well-drained in soils, manganese deficiency can be seen in some soils, slightly acid and rich in organic matter. Hazelnut cultivation lands in the country have mostly acid characteristic and rich in organic matter, so manganese deficiency are found. Macro nutrient status beside micro nutrient status of the hazelnut plants in Terme and nye regions were determined by Horuz (1996), and specified that relationships among nutrients have an important effect on quality properties in hazelnut. Therefore, manganese interactions have a place in hazelnut cultivation that the most attention from these interactions is Mn-Fe interaction. Manganase may cause an antagonistic effect on iron in plant (Lidon, 2002). Alam et al. (2000) showed that Mn competitively inhibited Fe absorption on plant. In this study, it was aimed to determine of Mn and Fe content in the soil, leave, nut and Mn-Fe interactions by MnSO4 fertilization.

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Materials and Methods The study was carried out in Tombul hazelnut orchards of Giresun Hazelnut Research Station between 2010-2011 years. The experiment was set up in completely randomized block design with three replicates and five doses at the Tombul hazelnut orchards for two years. Mn fertilizers were prepared in doses of 0 (control), 8.0, 16.00, 32.00, 64.00g.ocak-1. Prepared fertilizers were applied to each block. The hazelnut orchard was fertilized, in accordance with the request their other plant nutrition elements. Necessary cultural operations were made during the trial. Soil, leaves and nut samples were collected at the planned periods (soil and leaf sampling in July, nut sampling in August) and were made ready for analyses. Soil samples were analyzed as the following methods: Saturation and pH (Richards, 1954), texture (Soil Survey Staff, 1951), organic matter content (Nelson and Sommers, 1982), available P (Bray and Kurtz, 1945) and available K (Knudsen et al., 1982) were determined and results are given Table 1. The amounts of Mn and Fe were measured by DTPA method in the soil samples, in the hazelnut leaves and nuts (Lindsay and Norvell, 1978). Statistical analyses were done by JUMP statistic program and significant differences among the treatment means were calculated by Tukey (least significant difference) test at P < 0.05
Table 1. Some soil properties of Tombul hazelnut orchard MnSO4 applications g.ocak-1 Mn-0.00 Mn -8.00 Mn-16.00 Mn-32.00 Mn-64.00 Organic Matter (%) 4.96 5.00 5.48 5.93 7.17 Available phosphorus (ppm) 113.52 112.55 95.89 100.87 105.22 Available potassium (ppm) 316.95 489.19 496.24 505.70 626.03

Saturation (%) 58.50 60.00 60.50 64.50 66.00

Texture Clay Loam Clay Loam Clay Loam Clay Loam Clay Loam

pH 5.88 5.98 5.77 6.64 6.09

Results and Discussion The Tombul hazelnut orchard was fertilized in increasing doses of MnSO4 fertilizer in 2010 and 2011 years. After fertilization, soil samples are analyzed and the amount of manganese and iron are given Table 2. Manganese content of soil increased by manganese applications, and the most effective doses were found 16 g.ocak-1 and 64 g.ocak-1. However, this effect has changed over the years. In general, Mn contents of soil was higher in 2010 than 2011 year, so the most effective application was seen in 16 g.ocak-1 application (36.953 ppm) at the first year. The availability of manganese is also affected by soil pH, with manganese becoming less available as soil pH is increased (Uren, 1999). Manganese deficiency can be seen in some soils, slightly acid and rich in organic matter (Kacar and Katkat, 2007). Therefore, the effects of manganese applications have been marked.
Table 2. The amounts of manganese and iron in soils after applied of MnSO4 fertilizers MnSO4 applications g.ocak-1 Mn 0.00 Mn 8.00 Mn 16.00 Mn 32.00 Mn 64.00 Av. of Year The amount of manganese (ppm) 2010 11.142cd 11.546bcd 36.953a 26.781abcd 32.483abc 23.781 2011 8.071d 17.265abcd 22.320abcd 25.662abcd 33.683ab 21.400 Av. of dose 9.607C 14.406BC 29.637A 26.221AB 33.083A The amount of iron (ppm) 2010 66.613abc 58.637abc 48.803abc 29.347c 37.347bc 47.549B 2011 86.233a 76.273ab 70.297abc 55.593abc 54.873abc 68.654A Av. of dose 76.423A 67.455AB 58.050AB 42.470B 46.110B

Dose (p<0.05)=13.329, DoseXYear (p<0.05)=15.77

Dose (p<0.05)=13.329, DoseXYear (p<0.05)=29.70

Iron content of soil decreased at important ratio depending on MnSO4 fertilization. The highest value was 76.423 ppm in the control application and decreased by increasing manganese doses

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(Table 2). Also, Fe content of soil significantly changed over to years, and 2011 year compared to the 2010 were higher (86.233 ppm, the control). Manganese applications and in the pH effect led to decrease iron content of soil. This is a clear indicate of Mn-Fe interaction. Mn-Fe interaction has occurred due to increase in the total amount of heavy metal with MnSO4 applied to the soil. Akta (1994) stated that presence of high amount of lime, high pH, high phosphate concentration in the soil and other excess of heavy metal leads to the low amount of available iron. Similarly, Adilolu and Adilolu (2004) reported that available Fe, Cu and Mn contents of acid soils is insufficient hazelnut grown in Turkey. The significant increase of manganese content in the soil, but also significantly decreased the amount of iron in the soil is shown in Figure 1.
Relationships Mn-Fe in soil 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0
76,423 67,455 58 ,05 42,47 29 ,637 9,607 14,406 26,221 46,11 33,083

(ppm)

Mn 0.00

Mn 8.00

Mn 16.00 Mn 32.00 (g.ocak )

-1

Mn 64.00 Iron

Manganese

Figure 1. The amounts of manganese and iron in soils

After MnSO4 fertilization, the leaf samples were taken from separate hazelnut ocak and leaf manganese and iron content were determined. As seen in Table 3, application doses were effective only on the manganese content of leaves, and manganese values increased from 252.972 ppm up to 585.372 ppm. However, a change did not occur over the years. While iron content of hazelnut leaves was determined as 144.117 ppm in the first year, significantly decreased in the second year depending on Mn-Fe interaction, and was found to be 96.361 ppm. Mn has an antagonistic interaction with Fe. As Mn concentration in plant tissues increase, Fe concentrations generally decrease (Hodges, 2003). No fertilization and Mn 8.00 g.ocak-1 applications in the first year were the highest values, 165.553 ppm, and 155.233 ppm, respectively; however, iron content of hazelnut leaves was decreased depending on increasing of application dose and effect of years.
Table 3. The amounts of manganese and iron in hazelnut leaves after applied of MnSO4 fertilizers MnSO4 applications g.ocak-1 Mn 0.00 Mn 8.00 Mn 16.00 Mn 32.00 Mn 64.00 Av. of Year The amount of manganese (ppm) 2010 252.167 270.300 529.343 427.633 486.853 393.259 2011 253.777 255.700 641.400 443.633 460.267 410.955 Av. of dose 252.972B 263.000B 585.372A 435.633AB 473.560AB The amount of iron (ppm) 2010 165.533a 155.233a 145.667ab 130.600abc 123.553abc 144.117A 2011 82.437c 88.797c 101.343bc 104.260bc 104.970bc 96.361B Av. of dose 123.985 122.015 123.505 117.430 114.262

Dose (p<0.05)=248.153

Dose X Year (p<0.05)=35.185

Interactions between manganese and iron occurred for dry matter yields, rate of Mn absorption by the roots, and the proportions of manganese and iron transported to the tops (Heenan and Campbell, 1983). Iron exists in component of some proteins in chain of photosynthesis. That photosynthetic activity falls with a decrease in available Fe amount (Marschner, 1986; Dejong, 1982). Horuz (1996) reported that Fe contents in the leaf samples of hazelnut plant showed

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significant negative correlation with Mn contents (r=-0.312*) in Terme region. Akta (1994) reported that rise of Mn/Fe ratio in nutritional media increased iron chlorosis; the reason for this is not decrease Fe uptake of manganese due to not making the task of iron in the activity of the enzyme. Changes in manganese and iron content of hazelnut leaves depending on application doses are shown in Figure 2.
Relationships Mn-Fe in leaf 700 600 500 (ppm) 400 300 200 100 0 Mn 0.00 Mn 8.00 Mn 16.00
-1

585,372 435,633 252,972 123,985 263,000 122,015 123,505 117,430 114,262 473,560

Mn 32.00

Mn 64.00 Iron

(g.ocak )

Manganese

Figure 2. The amounts of manganese and iron in hazelnut leaves

Trial hazelnuts were harvested in August, and manganese and iron levels were determined in nuts. Manganese content of nuts changed depending on both application doses and years (Table 3). This value is almost two times higher in 2011 year (77.288 ppm). Manganese content of nut with Mn 16.00 g.ocak-1 application was found 93.685 ppm. Both factors taken into account, the highest value (120.400 ppm) was obtained with Mn 16.00 g.ocak-1 application in 2011 year. On the other hand, iron content of nut ranged between 22.920 ppm and 42.723 ppm, but not statistically significant. Years had an impact only on the iron content of nut. It was determined as 30.100 ppm and 39.857 ppm by years. Golchin et al. (2000) reported that application of Mn reduced Fe concentration in grain. When MnSO4 fertilizer is applied, manganese content of nut comes up the normal value, iron content falls below normal value. Kksal (2000) reported that there are 7.7 mg.100g-1 manganese and 4.27 mg.100g-1 iron in Tombul hazelnut. zkutlu et al. (2011) noticed that Tombul hazelnut has 66.45 ppm manganese and 49.06 ppm iron contents.
Table 3. The amounts of manganese and iron in nuts after applied of MnSO4 fertilizers MnSO4 applications g.ocak-1 Mn 0.00 Mn 8.00 Mn 16.00 Mn 32.00 Mn 64.00 Av. of Year The amount of manganese (ppm) 2010 23.971c 24.293c 66.970bc 56.110bc 52.480bc 44.765B 2011 48.477bc 57.903bc 120.400a 89.290ab 70.370bc 77.288A Av. of dose 36.223C 41.098C 93.685A 72.700AB 61.425BC 22.920 27.050 37.767 32.190 30.570 30.100B The amount of iron (ppm) 2010 2011 36.420 42.723 42.480 39.610 30.053 39.857A Av. of dose 29.670 34.887 40.123 35.900 34.312

Dose (p<0.05)=29.318, Dose X Year (p<0.05)=34.694

As seen in Figure 3, while manganese content of nut increased, iron content did not change significant depending on application doses of MnSO4 fertilizer.

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Relationships Mn-Fe in nut 100 80 (ppm) 60 40 20 0 Mn 0.00 Mn 8.00 Mn 16.00 (g.ocak )
-1

93,685 72,700 61,425 36,223 29,670 41,098 34,887 40,123 35,900 34,312

Mn 32.00

Mn 64.00 Iron

Manganese

Figure 3. The amounts of manganese and iron in nuts

Conclusion When applied in MnSO4 fertilizers in the Tombul hazelnut orchard, manganese content of soil, leaf and nut increased significant levels, but their iron content decreased belirgin olarak. Manganese content of soil was higher in 2010 than 2011 year, and the most effective application was seen in 16 g.ocak-1 application (36.953 ppm). Dolaysyla, the highest iron content was in 2011 year and control application (86.233 ppm). The similar results obtained in terms of manganese and iron contents of leaf. The most effective dose was found to be 16 g.ocak-1 manganese applications (585.372 ppm) for manganese content of leaf. The highest iron content of leaf was in 2010 year and control application (165.533 ppm) and decreased over the years. Manganese content of nut rise on the normal value, iron content fallen below normal value and the highest value (120.400 ppm) was obtained with Mn 16.00 g.ocak-1 application in 2011 year. For this reason, the correct application and sufficient amount of Mn fertilizer should be considered. Also, iron content in soil, leaf and nut depending on Mn-Fe interactions should be kept under control.

Adilolu, A. and Adilolu, S., (2004). An investigation on nutritional status of hazelnut grown in acid soils of Turkey. Archieves of Agr. and Soil Sci. Vol:50, N:6, pp.617-622(6). Akta, M., (1994). Bitki Besleme ve Toprak Verimlilii. Ankara niversitesi Ziraat Fakltesi Yaynlar:1361, 344s. Alam, S., Kamei and S., Kawai, S., (2000). Phytosiderophore release from manganese-induced iron deficiency in barley. J. Plant Nut., 23, 1193-1207. Bray, R.H. and Kurtz, L.T., (1945). Determination of total organic and available forms of phosphorus in soils. Soil Science., 45, 39-45. Dejong, T M., (1982). Leaf nitrogen contents and CO2 assimilation in peach. J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 107(6), 955-959. Golchin, A., Esmaili, M., Malakouti, M.J., (2000). Effect of organic matter, Mn and Cu on the yield and quality of irrigated wheat in the cold provinces of Iran. J. SWRI.1074. Heenan, D.P. and Campbell, L.C., (1983). Manganese and iron interactions on their uptake and distribution in soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.). Plant and Soil, 70(3), 317-326. Hodges, S.C., (2003). Soil fertility basics. NC Certified Crop Advisor Training. Chapter 6. Micronutrients, pp.28. http://www.plantstress.com/Articles/min_deficiency_i/soil_fertility.pdf Soil Science Extention, Nort Carolina State University, USA. Horuz, A., (1996). Terme-nye fndk bahesi topraklarnn besin element durumu ve bunlarn baz toprak zellikleriyle olan ilikileri. Yksek Lisans Tezi. Ondokuz Mays niversitesi. Samsun. Kacar,B. and Katkat, A.V., (2007). Gbreler ve Gbreleme Teknii. 2. Bask, Nobel Yaynlar, Yayn no:1119, 560s.

References

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH
Katyal, J.C. and Sharma, B.D., (1991). DTPA-extractable and total Zn, Cu, Mn, and Fe in Indian soils and their association with some soil properties. Geoderma, 49(1-2), 165-179. Knudsen, D., Peterson, G. A., Pratt, P. F., (1982). Lithium, sodium and potassium. Methods of Soil Analysis, Part II, ASA-SSSA, WI, 225-245. Kksal, A. ., (2002). Trk Fndk eitleri. Fndk Tantm Grubu, Karadeniz Fndk ve Mamulleri hracatlar Birlii, 136s. Lidon, F. C., (2002). Micronutrients uptake and translocation in Mn-treated rice. J. Plant Nut., 25, 757-768. Lindsay, W.L., and Norvell, W.A., (1978). Development of a DTPA soil test for zinc, iron, manganese and copper. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., 42, 421-428. Marschner, H. (1986). Mineral Nutrition in Higher Plants. Acedemic Press, 674 pp. Nelson, D.W., and Sommers, L.E., (1982). Total carbon, organic carbon and soil organic matter. In:Methods of Soil analysis, Part II, ASA-SSSA, Madison, WI, 539-579. zkutlu, F., Doru, Y.Z., zen, N., Yazc, G., Turan, M., Akay, F., (2011). The importance of Turkish hazelnut trace and heavy metal contents for human nutrition. J. of Soil Sci. And Env. Man., Vol. 2(1), 25-33. Richards, L.A., (1954). Diagnosis and improvement saline and alkaline soils. U. S. Dept. Agr. Handbook, 60. Soil Survey Staff., (1951). Soil Survey Manuel, U.S.D.A. Handbook 18, Washington D. C., USA. Uren, N. C. (1999). Manganese, in Soil analysis: an interpretation manual, CSIRO Publishing, Australia, pp. 287-294.

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Effects of Potassium, Salicylic and Humic Acid Applications on Plant Growth and Nutrient Uptakes in Tomato (Solanum Lycopersicum L.)
Ferit SNMEZ, Efdal GLSER, Fsun GLSER*
Yznc Yl University, Faculty of Agriculture, Soil Science & Plant Nutrition Dept. Van-Turkey Corresponding Author: gulserf@yahoo.com Abstract In this study, effects of potassium, salicylic and humic acid applications on plant growth and nutrient uptakes in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) were investigated in a controlled growth chamber between April and May 2008. Potassium (200 ppm K), salicylic acid (0.1 mmol SA), humic acid (2000 ppm HA) and their interactions (KSA, KHA, HASA and KHASA) were applied into pots having 2 kg soil in a randomized plots design with three replications. The experimental study was ended after eight weeks of sowing tomato seeds. HASA treatments increased plant height (7.11cm), shoot length (17.15 cm), shoot fresh weight (3.66 g), root fresh weight (1.826 g) significantly (p<0.01). KHASA treatments decreased plant growth criteria compared with the control and the other applications. The highest Fe (699.500 ppm), Mn (620.33 ppm), Zn (18.383 ppm) and Cu (16.147 ppm) contents obtained in the HASA, HA, KSA and SA treatments, respectively. SA treatments significantly increased Mg content (%1.895) compared with the control and the other applications (p<0.01). Key words: Tomato, potassium, salicylic acid, humic acid, nutrients, plant growth

Introduction The production of vegetable crops using transplanted seedlings is an important technique for vegetable growers worldwide. Environmental and soil conditions during vegetable seedlings growth in the nursery affect establishment and yield. One of the most important factors in obtaining seedling quality is to ensure optimum growth conditions (Nicola and Bassoccu, 1994). It has been reported that the potassium (K) increase quality and yield in several cultivars (Imas, 2003; Anonymous, 2004). Salicylic acid (SA) is recognized as an endogenous signal molecule, involved environmental stress tolerance in plants (Khan, 1992). It was reported that salicylic acid treatments increased the resistance of wheat seedlings to salinity (Shakirova and Bezrukova, 1997) and water stress (Bezrukova et al., 2001), the resistance of tomato and bean to low and high temperature (Senaratna et al., 2000), the resistance of rice to the injurious action of heavy metals (Mishra and Choudhuri, 1999), and also the resistance of cucumber, wheat and rice seedlings exposed to salt stress (Shim et al., 2003). Coronado et al. (1998) reported that aqueous solution applications of SA as spray to shoots of soybean significantly increased the growth of shoots and roots either in greenhouse or field conditions. Humic substances (humic and fulvic acids), constitute 65-70 % of the organic matter in soils, are the subject of study in various areas of agriculture, such as soil chemistry, fertility, and plant physiology as well as environmental sciences because of their multiple positive effects on plant growth (Russo and Berlyn, 1990). It was also reported that humic acid application increased the plant growth and plant nutrient uptake in pepper seedlings (Glser, et al. 2010). Bhme and Thi Lua (1997) also reported that humic acid had beneficial effects on nutrient uptakes by plants and was particularly important for the transport and availability of micro nutrients. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of potassium, salicylic acid and humic acid applications on plant growth and nutrient contents in tomato seedlings. Material and Methods In this study 3:1 ratio of soil:sand mixture was used as a plant growing media. Some properties of the media were determined using the standard analyses methods (Kacar, 1994). The soil:sand mixture used in the study had non-saline, slightly alkaline, moderate in lime, low in organic matter and insufficient in phosphorus and potassium contents (Table 1).
Table 1. Some properties of the growing media Total salinity (%) pH (1:2.5) Lime (%) 0.02 8.12 14.8 Organic matter (%) P, mg kg-1 K, me kg-1 0.75 3.98 0.43

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH After filling the each pot (2000 cm3) without drainage holes with soil:sand mixtures, 24 pots were autoclaved. Potassium (200 ppm K), salicylic acid (0.1 mmol SA), humic acid (2000 ppm HA) and their interactions (KSA, KHA, HASA, KHASA) were applied into pots with three replications. As a basic fertilizer treatment, 90 mg kg-1 P2O5, and 250 mg kg-1 N were also applied into each pot from TSP, and (NH4)2SO4 respectively. H2274 tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) variety was used as a plant material. Five tomato seeds were sown to each pot, and then the seedlings were thinned to one. The experiment was carried out in a plant growth room between April and May, 2008. The pots were placed in a growth chamber at 221C with 12 fluorescent illuminations with 8000 lux light intensity and the seedlings were irrigated with distilled water. The experiment was ended 8 weeks after the sowing. The levels of nutrients were analyzed in dried and grinded samples according to the methods reported by Kacar and nal (2008). Variance analysis of the experimental data was carried out in a randomized plots design on eight treatments (control, K, SA, HA, KSA, KHA, SAHA, KSAHA) with 3 replications, and pairs of mean values were compared by least significant difference (LSD) using MSTAT (1988) program. Results and Discussions The applications of K, SA, HA and their interactions had significant (P<0.01) effects on plant growth criteria of tomato seedlings. The highest shoot length (7.11 cm) and root length (17.15 cm) (Figure 1 a, b), shoot fresh weight (3.66 g) and root fresh weight (1.822 g) (Figure 2 a, b) were obtained in HASA applications. The other applications generally decreased plant growth criteria, except root length, compared with the control. The lowest mean of shoot length (4.81 cm), shoot fresh weight (1.09 g) and root fresh weight (0.601 g) were determined in KHASA application.

Shoot Length, cm

Root Length, cm

8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

ab

ab bc

ab

ab abc c

20 16 12 8 4 0 ab b b ab

a ab b

KHASA

HASA

a)

b)

Figure 1. The effects of the treatments on a) shoot length (LSD:1.65**) and b) root length (LSD:3.67**) in tomato seedlings. C:control, K:potassium, SA:salicylic acid, HA:humic acid.

2,5
ab bc a

Root fresh weight, g

Shoot fresh weight, g

4 3 2 1 0

2,0 1,5 1,0 0,5 0,0 abc c c ab

abc

c c

bc

bc c

KHASA

HASA

a)

b)

Figure 2. The effects of the treatments on a) shoot fresh weight (LSD:1.55**) and b) root fresh weight (LSD:0.66**) in tomato seedlings. C:control, K:potassium, SA:salicylic acid, HA:humic acid.

651

KHASA

HASA

SA

HA

KHA

KSA

KHA

KSA

SA

HA

KHASA

HASA

KHA

KSA

SA

HA

KHA

KSA

SA

HA

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH The effects of different treatments on macro and micro nutrient contents in tomato seedlings are given in Table 2. The applications of K, SA, HA, and their interactions affected nutrient contents of tomato seedlings significantly. The Ca contents in all treatments, except K application alone, were lower than that in the control. SA applications increased Mg content (1.895%) compared with the control and the other applications significantly (P<0.01). According to LSD test, the K content (6.77%) obtained in the K application was in the same group with the K contents in other applications statistically. The Fe contents (699.50 ppm) in the HASA application were statistically (P<0.05) different and higher than that in the control. Similarly, the Mn contents (478.50 ppm) obtained in the HASA application were statistically (P<0.01) different and higher than that in the control. The highest Mn (620.33 ppm), Zn (18.383 ppm), and Cu (16.147 ppm) contents obtained in the HA, KSA, and SA applications respectively. Several researchers (Russo and Berlyn, 1990; Snmez and Bozkurt, 2005; Glser et al., 2010) reported that the humic acid application increased plant growth in different cultivars. According to the results of this study, it can be concluded that HASA applications had positive effects on plant growth criteria more than separate applications of HA and SA. It was also reported that the salicylic acid applications had positive effects on plant growth (Trkylmaz et al., 2005; Ramanujam et al., 1998). But, the results of some investigations given below are similar to the findings of our study. Shettel and Balke (1983) reported that the SA application decreased seedling growth in corn and soybean. Pancheva et al. (1996) determined that root growth decreased with increasing the SA doses in barley. Wajahatullah et al. (2003) reported that applications SA sprays had no effects on plant and root length in soybean. The HASA applications increased Fe and Mn contents in tomato seedlings, also the higher plant growth criteria was obtained in this treatment. The increases in nutrient uptake whit humic acid applications were reported by several researchers (Adani et al., 1998; Lobartini and Orioli, 1997). The results of some studies showed that the Fe content of soybean (Aly and Soliman, 1998) and Fe, Mn, Cu and Mg contents of rice (Mishra and Choudri, 1999) increased with using SA. These results were similar to the findings of our study. The K application alone had no significant effects on plant growth criteria in this study. It was thought that the K concentration used in this study was high and caused high osmosis in growing media. Therefore, the K application did not show significant effects on plant growth. Similarly, combinations of K, SA, HA caused high osmosis and inhibited plant growth and nutrient uptake. As a result, HASA application may be useful for growth of tomato seedlings. On the other hand, it was thought that using different forms and application rates of K, SA, and HA can be useful for the similar investigations related to this subject.
Table 2. The effects of the treatments on macro and micro nutrients in tomato seedlings. Ca, % Mg, % K, % Fe, ppm Mn, ppm Zn, ppm Cu, ppm C 6,15 ab 1,63 bc 6,39 abc 311,8 c 320,5 e 13,5 bc 15,6 ab K 6,94 a 1,83 ab 6,77 ab 543,0 abc 459,8 cde 14,6 abc 13,6 abc SA 6,04 ab 1,90 a 7,14 a 423,2 bc 468,0 cd 16,3 ab 16,4 a HA 5,77 abc 1,48 cd 6,30 bc 374,7 bc 620,3 ab 16,5 ab 12,6 bc HASA 4,40 cd 1,40 cd 6,81 ab 699,5 a 478,5 bcd 12,7 bc 12,4 bc KHA 3,70 d 1,25 d 5,88 c 399,7 bc 340,3 de 11,1 c 10,7 c KSA 4,30 cd 1,50 cd 6,99 ab 678,7 a 579,8 abc 18,4 a 11,7 c KHASA 5,03 bcd 1,40 cd 7,15 a 589,2 ab 648,3 a 16,6 ab 11,9 c LSD 1,61** 0.25** 0.83* 248.71* 144,38** 4,79** 3,34** * significant at 5% and ** significant at 1% level, C:control, K:potassium, SA:salicylic acid, HA:humic acid.

References Adani, F., Genevini, P., Zaccheo, P., Zocchi, G., (1988).The effect of commercial humic acid on tomato plant growth and mineral nutrition. Journal of Plant Nutrition, 21(3), 561-575. Aly, S.S.M., Soliman, S.M., (1998). Impact of some organic acids on correcting iron chlorosis in two soybean genotypes grown in calcareous soil. Nutr. Cycling Agroecosyst. 51, 185-191.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Anonymous, 2004. FAOSTAT. http://faostat.fao.org. Bezrukova, M.V., Sakhabutdinova, R., Fathutdinova, R.A., Kyldiarova, I. , Shakirova, F., (2001). The role of hormonal changes in protective action of salicylic acid on growth of wheat seedlings under water deficit. Agrochemiya 2, 51-54. Bhme, M., Thi Lua, H., (1997). Influence of mineral and organic treatments in rizosphere on the growth of tomato plants. Acta Hortic., 450, 161-168. Coronado, M.A.G., Lopez, C.T., Saavedra, A.L., (1998). Effects of salicylic acid on the growth of roots and shoots in soybean. Plant Physiol. Biochem., 8, 563-565. Glser, F., Snmez, F., Boysan, S., (2010). Effect of Calcium Nitrate and Humic Acid Applications on Growth and Yield Criteria of Pepper Seedling under Salt Stress. journal of Environmental Biology, 31(5), 873-876. Imas, P., 2003. Potassium fertilization in organic agriculture. International Water and Irrigation, 23(2), 42-43. Kacar, B., (1994). Bitki ve Topran Kimyasal Analizleri: III. Toprak Analizleri. A. . Ziraat Fak. Eitim Aratrma ve Gelitirme Vakf, Yayn No:3, Ankara. Kacar, B., nal, A., (2008). Bitki Analizleri. Nobel Yayn No:1241, Fen Bilimleri:63. Khan, A.A., (1992). Preplant physiological seed conditioning. Horticultural Review. 14, 131181. Lobartini, J.C., Orioli, G.A., Tan, K.H., (1997). Characteristics of Soil Humic Acid Fractions Seperated by Ultrafiltration. Com. Soil.Sci.Plant Anal., 28(9&10), 787-796. Mishra, A., Choudhuri, M.A., (1999). Effects of salicylic acid on heavy metal-induced membran deterioration mediatedby lipoxygenase in rice. Biol. Plant 42, 409-415. MSTAT, 1998. MSTAT microcomputer statistical program. Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI. Nicola, S., Bassoccu, L., (1994). Nitrogen and N, P, K relationships affect tomato seedling growth, yield and earliness. Acta Hort. 357, 95-102. Pancheva, T.V., Popova, L.P. and Uzunova, A.N., (1996). Effects of Salicylic acid on growth andphotosynthesis in barley plants. J. Plant Physiol., 149, 57-63. Ramanujam, M.P., Jaleel, V.A., Kumaravelu, G., (1998). Effects of salicylic acid on nodulation, nitrogenous compounds and related enzymes of Vigna mungo. Biologia Plantarum 41, 307-311. Russo, R.O., Berlyn, G.P., (1990). The use of organic bio-stimulants to help low input sustainable agriculture. J. Sust. Agri., 1, 19-42. Senaratna,T., Touchell, D., Bunn, E., Dixon, K., (2000). Acetyl salicylic acid induce multiple stress tolerance in bean and tomato plants. Plant Growth Regul. 30, 157-161. Shakirova, F.M., Bezrukova, M.V., (1997). Induction of wheat resistance against environmental salinization by salicylic acid. Bioll.Bull. (Izv. Russ. Acad. Sci.), 24, 109-112. Shettel, N.L., Balke, N.E. (1983). Plant growth response to several allelopathic chemicals. Weed Science, 31, 293-298. Shim, I.S., Momose, Y., Yamamoto, A., Kim, D.V., Usui, K., (2003). Inhibition of catalase activity by oxidative stress and its relationship to salicylic acid accumulation in plants. Plant Growth Regul. 39, 285-292. Snmez, F., Bozkurt, M.A., (2006). Lettuce grown on calcareous soils benefit from sewage sludge. Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica. B, 56(1), 17-24. Trkylmaz, B., Akta, L.Y., Gven, A., (2005). Phaseolus vulgaris L. de salisilik asit Uyarml Baz Fizyolojik ve Biyokimyasal Deiimler. Frat niv. Fen ve Mhendislik Bilimleri Dergisi. 17, 319-326. Wajahatullah K., Balakrishnan P., Donald L.S., (2003). Photosynthetic responses of corn and soybean to foliar application of salicylates. J. Plant Physiol., 160, 485-492.

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Influence of Organic Fertilizers on the Improvement of Plant Nutrition under the Conditions of Irrigation by Water Charged In Salt
Oustani Mabrouka a, Halilat Md. Tahar b
a, b

Laboratory of Bio- resources: Conservation and Exploitation, University Kasdi Merbah Ouargla Algeria

Abstract In arid areas, soil salinity and irrigation with brackish waters and the massive influx of mineral fertilizers are major constraints for development of the potatoes crop strategic for our country. To highlight the effect of organic fertilization on improving production and increasing level of tolerance of this plant to saline stress, three increasing doses (20, 40, 60 t/ha) of poultry manure have tested and compared to mineral fertilizer treatment and a control without any input in three experimental sites in increasing levels of salinity. The results showed a significant increase in vegetative growth parameters and those of performance in the presence of increasing doses manure compared to mineral fertilizers and without any witness, and this latter whatever the level of salinity in the three experimental sites. However, the effect of the interaction (Manure x Salinity) showed the best performance was recorded by the D4 treatment (60 t/ha FV) x location 3 (very salty soil), with a maximum yield of 528 quintals/ha. Given the costs associated with the purchase of mineral fertilizers and their effect on the environment, and according to these results, we recommend that producers of potatoes in arid applying poultry manure as fertilizer organic in conditions saline at 60 t/ha can be considered an optimal dose in these conditions with the absence of mineral fertilizers. Keywords: Salinity, Organic fertilizer, Poultry manure, Potatoes, yield, Nutrition.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Test the Valorization of Saline Groundwater to Improve Nutrition of Plants in Arid Regions Oustani Mabrouka a, Halilat Md. Tahar b
Laboratory of Bio- resources: Conservation and Exploitation, University Kasdi Merbah Ouargla Algeria Corresponding author: belsam.oustani@yahoo.fr
a, b

Abstract In arid regions, the success of crop production depends on groundwater that is the only resource available due to lack and / or inadequate rainfall. In these areas, crop water requirements are high, while the available water is often a strong mineralization, unfavorable for direct use in irrigation. The analysis of irrigation water has allowed us to classify these waters in the class of high salinity waters to excessive salinity. Decreases in parameters of vegetative growth and those returns are directly related to the salt concentration of natural waters. One possibility for improving yields and quality of agricultural products is to ensure all the needs for water and plant nutrients and the latter by the transformation of natural waters in nutrient solutions. In fact, the addition of nutrients in the form of organic fertilizer to this natural saline or sodic water reduces the effect of salinity. In addition, processing of natural waters in saline nutrient solution modified significantly the growth parameters and those returns. The results are very similar situations initially irrigated with water of good quality. Keywords: Salinity, Groundwater, nutrient solution, crop yield.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Influence of Organic Fertilizers on the Effect of Organic Fertilizer on Some Physical and Chemical Properties of Saline Soils in Arid Regions (Case of Ouargla) Oustani Mabrouka a, Halilat Md. Tahar b
Laboratory of Bio- resources: Conservation and Exploitation, University Kasdi Merbah Ouargla Algeria Corresponding author: belsam.oustani@yahoo.fr
a, b

Abstract To highlight the effects of organic fertilization with manure of farm on some soil properties, an experiment was conducted outdoors in the farm Babziz located in the region of Ouargla in the South East of Algeria. The objective was to determine the effectiveness of organic fertilization with manure farm on the evolution of: CR, pH, EC, C/N To do this, an experiment was installed using a device consisting of two Split plot main plots corresponding to two different salinity levels (low salt soil and saline soil), and secondary plots corresponding to four increasing doses of farmyard manure 20, 30, 40 and 50 t / ha, and a control without any input. The different combinations were monitored evolutionary parameters studied over a period of 3 years. The results showed a significant improvement in all properties studied for the two soils after enrichment by different doses of farmyard manure compared to the control treatment no contribution. However, best results were recorded by the treatment T50 (50t/ha). The results recorded on the parameters studied, we noted during the test: A decrease in pH of 8.42 and 8.50 to 7.43 and 7.93 respectively for the soil salty and slightly salty; a decrease in electrical conductivity of 2.1 and 4, and 30 to 1.85 .3,14 dS / m respectively for the soil slightly salty and savory; Increased water holding capacity up to 21.35 % and 22.95% respectively for the soil slightly salty and savory, a good evolution of C/N ratio for the two soils at the end of the test. The overall results show the benefit of the use of organic fertilizer to improve soil fertility in arid regions particularly those characterized by high salinity. Keywords:Salinity, Organic fertilizer, Farm manure, Soil properties.

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Response of pistachio seedlings to different levels of salinity (sodium chloride) and manganese in perlite medium Zohreh Asadollahi1, Vahid Mozaffari2and Ahmad Tajabadipour2 1. MSc. Student, Vali-e-Asr university of rafsanjan, zohre_asadollahi@yahoo.com 2. Assistant Prof., Vali-e-Asr university of rafsanjan, vmozafary@yahoo.com 2. Assistant Prof., Vali-e-Asr university of rafsanjan, ahtajabadi@yahoo.com.au
Abstract
A greenhouse experiment was conducted to study the effect of Manganese (Mn) and salinity on growth and chemical compositionof pistachio seedling in perlite. A factorial greenhouse experiment was carried out as completely randomized design with two treatments, salinity (0, 75, 150, 225 and 300 mM NaCl) and Manganese (0, 12, 24 and 36 M MnSO4). Result showed that salinity stress decreased growth parameter in pistachio seedling. Application of 300 mM NaCl, decreased biomass and ratio dry weight shoot to root 89 and 54 percentage respectively. But application 12M Manganese increased biomass 12 percentage respectively. Salinity stress significantly increased shoot and root Na/Ca and Na/K. Application 24M Manganese increased shoot Na/Ca. Keywords: Biomass, Manganese, Pistachio, Salinity

Introduction Pistachio (Pistacia vera L.) is one of the most important commercial trees grown in Iran, Turkey, and recently in the USA. Pistachio is considered a potential crop for many arid and semi-arid regions.Pistachio plants are known to be tolerant to salts (Ferguson et al., 2002). Najmabadi (1969) also stated pistachio can grow on land too saline for other crops, however Parsa and Karimian (1975) have shown that salt adversely affects the aerial and root growth of P. vera. Adverse effects of salinity on growth, photosynthetic rates, and morphological changes in the leaves of pistachio have been shown (Ranjbar et al., 2002). Nevertheless, pistachio plantations are on sodic soils and irrigated with low quality, saline water in Iran. These conditions result in reduction of yields of pistachio over recent years. Soil salinity is a major constraint limiting agricultural productivity on nearly 20% of the cultivated area and half of the irrigated area worldwide (Zhu, 2001). Increasing salinization of arable lands is a problem of paramount importance to crop production in many parts of the world and especially in irrigated fields of arid and semi-arid regions (Grattan and Grieve, 1999), where soil salt content is high and precipitation is insufficient for their leaching. Saline soils contain sufficient soluble salts to suppress plant growth through a series of interacting factors such as osmotic potential effect, ion toxicity and antagonism, which induce nutrient imbalances (Neumann, 1997). According to Zohary (1973), Iran is a country with a lot of saline soils. The areas with saline and alkaline soils are expanding especially in arid and semiarid regions of Iran. Approximately 12.5% of agricultural lands in Iran are affected by increased or natural salinity (Alkhani and Ghorbani, 1992). Solubility micronutrient in salty and sodic soils is low and plants growth in this kind of soils have deficit from element. some limitation factors like salt and high percentage calcareous, cause nutrient problem like deficit of manganese, copper, zinc and potassium. (Mozaffari, 2006). Manganese is one of essential micronutrient for all plants, manganese has avitral role in chlorophyll synthesis, electron transport and cofactor for many enzyme ( Burneli, 1988). As mentioned the role manganese in plants and the salinity problem plants in earth that pistachio is growing, the goals of this research is analyzing the salinity and manganese effect on the growth and chemical of seedling pistachio, Material and Methods A factorial greenhouse experiment was carried out as completely randomized design with four replications in perlite. Pistachio seeds after disinfectant and germination, planted in pots including perlite. As mentioned manganese is including micronutrient, in fourth week seeds were separated from plants and reformed hoagland nutrient solution.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH (KNO3=1 ,KH2PO4=0.8 ,K2HPO4=0.3 ,CaNO3.4H2O=0.5 NH4NO3=0.35, MgSO4=0.5 NaCl=0.1,(NH4)6Mo7O24.4H2O=0.04 ,H3BO3=24.26, CuSO4.5H2O=1, ZnSO4.7H2O=3.82 FeEDTA=1.54)following four manganese levels in fourth week after planting were done. In the 7th week after planting, salinity treatments were done. After 15th week of treatments, pistachio seedlings were harvested by washing roots from the perlite and plants divided into root and shoot. Plant material was washed thoroughly with tap water and then twice with distilled water, before being oven-dried at 75C to a constant weight to estimate dry weight. After that 0.5 gr powder samples shoot and root ashed at 5500C and were added to samples 5 mL HCL 2N. The concentration Ca were measured with atomic absorption model GBC.932 and concentration Na and K with photometerflime. Result and Discussion Biomass and Ratio shoot to root Result showed that Application 75, 150, 225 and 300 mM NaCl (Figure 1), decreased biomass 21, 81, 84 and 89 percentage respectively, compared with control and application 12 M manganese (Figure 2) increased biomass by 16 percentage compared with control. Shibli et al., (2007) also reports increased growth parameter in seedling apple with application manganese. Ratio shoot to root decreased with increased salinity. Application 75, 150, 225 and 300 mM NaCl (Figure 3) decreased Ratio shoot to root 16, 41, 46 and 54 percentage respectively, compared with control and application Manganese nonsignificant Ratio shoot to root. Salinity normally decreases vegetative growth of plants such as pistachios. It has been claimed that the growth of pistachio trees under stress surpassesthat of all other fruit trees species (Adish et al., 2010). It is shown that damage to pistachio plants has been mainly attributed to excessive accumulation of Cland Na+ in the leaves (Tvallali et al. 2008). Karimi et al., (2009) reports decreased biomass in pistachio seedling and reason decrease Ion toxic effects of salts are attributed to excess accumulation of certain ions in plant tissues and to nutritional imbalances caused by such ions.

Fig 1, The effect salinity in biomass

Fig 2, the effect manganese in biomass

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Fig 3. The effect salinity in shoot to root

Na/K and Na/Ca in shoot and root Analysis of variance indicated with salinity levels increased, shoot and root Na/K significantly increased, (Figure 4), and application Manganese nonsignificant shoot and root Na/K. application 150, 225 and 300 mM NaCl increased root Na/K 37, 47 and 47 percentage

High salt (NaCl) uptake competes with the uptake of other nutrient ions, especially K+, leading to K+ deficiency. Increased treatment of NaCl induces increasein Na+ and Cl- and decrease in Ca2+ and K+, levels in a number of plants (Khan, 2001). Salinity enhances the content of Na+, and Cl-1 in Vicia faba and the ratio of Na+ / K+ increased (Gadallah, 1999). Salt treatments greatly reduced shoot and root K concentrations compared with unstress plants. In saline soils, Na competes with K for uptake across the plasma membrane of plant cells. This can in low K+/Na+ ratio that reduced plant growth and eventually become toxic. (Najafian et al, 2008).

respectively, compared with control. Result showed that application NaCl, increased shoot and root Na/Ca, (Figure 5), application 75, 150 , 225 and 300 mM NaCl increased root Na/Ca 40, 49, 60 and 78 percentage respectively, compared with control, and application 12 and 24 M manganese (Figure 6), increased 29 and 41 percentage respectively, compared with control.

Fig 4. The effect salinity in Na/K

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Fig 5. The effect salinity in Na/Ca

Fig 6. The effect manganese in Na/Ca

References
Adish, M., Fekri, M., and Hokmabadi, H. 2010. Response of Badami- Zarand Pistachio Rootstock to salinity stress. J. Nut Related Sci. 1(1):1-11. Alkhani, H. and Ghorbani, M. 1992. A contribution to the halophytic vegetation and flora of Iran. In: Towards the Rational Use of High Salinity Tolerance Plants, Kluwer Academic Publ., Dordrecht, 1: 35-44. Burneli, J. N. (1988). The biochemistry of manganese in plants. PP. 125-137. In: R.D. Graham, J. Hannam and N.C.Uren (eds.), Manganese in Soils and Plants. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands. Ferguson, L., Poss, J.A., Grattan, S. R., Grieve, C. M., Wang, D., Wilson, C., and Donovan Chao, C.T. 2002. Pistachio rootstocks influence scion growth and ion relations under salinity and boron stress. Journal. Am. Soc. Sci.,127: 194199. Grattan, S. R., and Grieve, C. M. 1999. Salinity-mineral nutrient relations in horticultural crops. Sci. Hort. 78(1-4): 127-157. Gadallah, M. A. A., 1999. Effects of proline and glycinebetaine on Vicia faba response to salt stress. Biol. Plant. 42, 249257. Grattan, S. R., and Grieve, C. M. 1999. Salinity-mineral nutrient relations in horticultural crops. Sci. Hort. 78(1-4): 127-157.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Karimi, S., Rahemi, M., Maftoun, M., and Tavallali, V. 2009. Effect long-term salinity on growth and performance of two pistachio (pistacia vera L.) Rootstocks. Journal. Basic and Applied Science 3(3):1630-1639. Khan, M. A., 2001. Experimental assessment of salinity tolerance of Ceriops tagal seedlings and saplings from the Indus delta, Pakistan. Aquat. Bot. 70, 259268. Mozaffari, V. and Malakouti, M. J. (2006). An investigation of some cause of Dieback disorder of pistachio tree and its control throuth balance fertilization in Iran. Acta horticulture. 22: 301305. Najafian, S. H., Rahemi, M., and Tavallali, V. 2008. Effect of salinity on tolerance of two bitter almond rootstocks American. Eurasianj. Journal. Agric. Environ. Sci. 3(2): 264-268. Najmabadi, M. F., 1969. General pistachio culture. MSc Thesis, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran. Neumann, P., 1997. Salinity resistance and plant growth revisited. Plant Cell Environ., 20: 1193-1198. Parsa, A.A. and N. Karimian, 1975. Effect of sodium chloride on seedling growth of two major varietiesof Iranian pistachio (P. vera L.). Journal. Hort. Sci., 50: 4 1-46. Ranjbar, A., van Damme, P., Samson, R. and Lemeur, R. 2002. Leaf water status and photosynthetic gas exchange of Pistacia khinjuk and P. mutica exposed to osmotic drought stress. Acta Hort., 591: 423428. Shibli, R. A., Ashatawi, M., and Mohammad, M. 2007. Influence of Zn and Mn level on growth and micronutrient acquisition of apple micro culture. American-Eurasian. J. Agric Environ. Sci. 2:147-152. Tavallali, V., Rahemi, M., and Panahi, B. 2008. Calcium induces salinity tolerance in pistachio rootstocks. Fruits, 63: 201-208. Zohary, M., 1973. Geobotanical Foundation of the Middle East,. Amsterdam, Stuttgart,2: 35-44. Zhu, J.K., 2001. Plant salt tolerance. Trends Plant Sci., 6: 66-71.

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Organic Agriculture important for Soil conservation toward Sustainability of Ecology

Sareh Rahimi1, Seyed Mahmood Hosseini1
1-

Arsanjan branch, Islamic Azad University- Arsanjan- Iran Corresponding author: sarehrahimi@yahoo.com

Abstract

Soil conversation has an opportunity to achieve through pay attention to organic farming as a new paradigm. There is a general concept that soil, plant, animal and human have a specific relationship. Some of researchers, who know Organic Farming, believe understanding this relationship, make situation to achieve Sustainable Agriculture. The gain soil productivity is a very slow process and because conventional agriculture until now didn't pay attention to maintain the natural capital in soil, Organic Farming is known as a new paradigm to manage this valuable resource. This paper attempts to identify Organic Farming methods and investigate its effects on soil conservation. Keywords: Agriculture, Organic Agriculture, Soil conservation.

Introduction Agriculture as a whole concept comprise all Agricultural, horticultural, farming foresting, fishing, birds, and honey nourishment, but because, two important element are soil and water in Agricultural, so their recognition can be a main factor to sustainable productivity. It has proved that plants and animal life depends on soil is the most surface layer of earth. The soils have roles in beginning and the consistency of life. For soil formation in a boat 1 cm diameter, it needs to 500800 years of environment continuous activity and if an Agricultural land needs about 25 cm soil, it needs to 20000 years environmental activity. The difference of sustainable and compact today agriculture is that the sustainable agriculture emphasis on yield consistency in long time with minimize effects on environment, but the compact agriculture emphasis on short-tem purposes and maximum yield. The organic agriculture is a ways of sustainable agriculture and in it, many strategies of environmental protection have used in the essay tried to despite this system description, its benefits also discussed. Because the sustainable agriculture is a complete from of previous agricultural systems, it has tried to the current agriculture system in Iran and its challenges evaluated. In Iran with using appropriate usage of fertilizer and pesticides and minimum poisons usage despite of other non chemical methods, we have seen a considerable reduction in distributive poisons but its usage is also high and should be reduced organic agriculture is one of best production system that in it the natural sources production have emphasized.
During the Years 79-81 48/2 16/7 35/1 100 Iran Years 79-81 43/7 28/6 27/7 100 Years 76-78 48/9 18/1 33 100 Developing countries 50 35 15 100 Developed countries 17 35 48 100

Poisons type insecticide fungicide herbicide Total

The agriculture department of united state provides a simple description of organic agriculture is a production system that avoids using artificial fertilizers, pesticides, insecticides, growth regulators. Organic agricultural systems relied on using rotation techniques plant waste animal fertilizers, using green manure and other organic wastes and biological control. Soil as alive system is the main basis in this description and with its reinforcement, the useful microorganism activity would increase this description contains three parts: 1- All which farmers avoid it 2- All which farmers do 3- The soil is a live system that farmer try to rain force and improve it. The influence of organic agriculture on soil:

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH In an organic farm to weed control or nutrient providing there is not only a way the mixture of weeds green manure cereals forage soil preparation methods controls the weed and provide the soil nutrient and also has other effects. To access the appropriate yield level. First emphasis on the balance factors in farm and agricultural system. So, the rotation and management in fertilization and soil preparation emphasized. 1- Soil fertility: With production increase, the soil fertility decrease, and its serious effect should be regarded. Using solution mineral fertilizers the nutrients easily provide for plants the soil biological activity would decrease. But the agricultural products quality and human and animal health depend on the health soil. The healthy and without pollution is the basis of organic agriculture and provide an appropriate condition for live and alive elements of soil. 2- Erosion control: The soil erosion is not a new phenomena and during the history accrued in recent era the water and wind erosion discussed in a new shape and its main factor is the non correct agricultural activities. In Iran there is annually 1 milliard ton soil erosion. The current observations showed that the organic methods decrease the soil erosion dramatically and increase the soil structure with increasing its activity and improving soil Aggregate. The non correct activity caused 28% soil erosion during the past 50 years. But the appropriate systems with soil structure improvement have increased the microorganisms activity especially the fungal and bacterial activity. 3- The N yield increase: Despite of useful effects of chemical fertilizers, agricultural crops would not be appropriate if the fertilization done without enough knowledge. Usually with the principle methods of cultivation, some amount of N, turns to the soil. If manure in solid or liquid from used correctly the N wasting would results. Using forage or materials with high C/N ratio the microorganism activity would increase anal with their break down, this N material would use in the soil. Currently to protect the soil N balance. The plant wastes animal manure and green manure are used to protect the N balance and the organic matters of soil and also to improve the physical properties of soil. But it is not a general recommendation. Result and discussion The results of the soil evaluation as a live system is that the soil should be nourished and it should nourish the plant, so the balance of plant and soil would result. The modern agriculture had provide high yield using high level of inputs and increased the environmental expenses. During the last decade sustainability regarded as one of the agricultural principles. The basis of organic agriculture which certainly has positive effects on environment is sustainable management of agricultural resources. The main basis of soil management in agriculture contain the appropriate agriculture methods, minimum cultivation and culturing on trace lines in steep areas and also protecting the plant cover on soil which has low organic matters. Using organic fertilizer and increasing biological activities that are the principles of organic agriculture, would improve the soil structure organic agriculture have paid attention to soil fertility, erosion control, N yield increase and their effects of soil protection the N source in these farms would provide using N stabilization with legumes and because of having manure fertilizer they have high organic matters. With attention to the results of this essay, it recommend agricultural investigator to pay more attention to doing research about the challenges of current agricultural system in dry areas and to recognize the problems of these systems, and also with providing the designs and appropriate projects to using modern methods, this system would provide for farmers, because this aim is depend to sustainable agriculture access and using organic agriculture. References Environmental biophysics. Springer - Verlag, Pp 286. Fetter, C.W. 1999. Contaminant hydrogeology Prentice Hall. London, PP500 Hall, A. 2004. Cropresponsesto environment. CRCPress, New York, PP232

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH K. Rezaei-Moghaddam, E.Karami, 2005, Conceptualizing Sustainable Agriculture: Iran as an Illustrative Case Journal of Sustainable Agriculture, vole 27(3). Misral, A. 2004.Soilpollution, monitoring and remediation. Springer - Verlag, pp252 McCutcheon, S.C.and J.L.Schnoor.2003 Phytoremediation transformation and control of contaminants. JWNew York, PP 987. Nadia Hage Scialabba, 2004, organic Agriculture and soil biodiversity , Secretary Priority Area for Inter-Disciplinary Action on Organic Agriculture Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Rome, Italy. Nicolai V. Kuminoff, 2004, valuing the option to convert from conventional to Organic Farming, USA, proceeding of the 19th Annual conperence.pp 570-577. R.K.Pathak and R.A. Ram, 2005, Successful Conversion of Conventional to Organic/Biodynamic: a Case Study, Central Institute for Subtropical Horticulture, Luck now, and India. Pazira, E.and M. Homaee. 2003. Salt affected resources in Iran extension and reclamation J.Exp.Botany. 54-59. Pierzynski, G.M., J.T.Sims and G.F.Vance. 2ooo. Soils and environmental quality. CRCPress, New York, PP459 Troeh, F.R., J.A.Hobbs and R.L. Donahue. 2004. Soil and water conservation for productivity and environmental protection, Prentice Hall. London, PP 656. Scow, K. M., O, Samaseo. N, Gunapala. S, Lav., R, Venette. H, Ferris. R, Miller. C, Shennan. 1994. Transition from conventional to low in put agriculture changes. Soil fertility and biology. California Agriculture. 48:20-26

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Evaluation of a Rhizobium dry granular inoculant using effect on bacteria protection and nitrogen fixation under salinity stress
Rana, Barazandeh *a , Hadi, Asadi rahmani b, Amir yousefzadeha
a.

Scientific Association of Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resource, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran. b. Soil and Water Research Institute * Corresponding Author: rbarazande@gmail.com

Abstract This experiment was conducted to investigate the useful age of Rhizobia in granular and powder form inoculants which were used in 2 legumes; Soybean and Alfalfa which have high feed value. Then the effect of Rhizobium granular inoculant on above ground production and roots dry weight under the salinity stress was studied. In first stage, Powder inoculants were supplied using perlite carrier and granular inoculants were supplied using perlite and sodium alginate., Brady Rhizobium Japonicum strain for soybean and Sino Rhizobium Melliloti for alfalfa suspension were added to the sterile carriers. Plate count method was made at 0, 15, 30, 60, 90, 120, 150, 180 days for Rhizobia population counting. The results showed that the useful age of Rhizobia in powder form is more than granular form. The last stage was greenhouse experiments that were done in a completely randomized factorial block design. 4 treatments (blank, Nitrogen, granular and powder inoculants) 3 levels of salinity (EC= 0, 4, 8 ds/m) with 4 replications were used. During the 90 day-growth period necessary cares were taken to keep the soil moisture at 75% of FC.The dry matter production for both above ground portions and the roots and also percentage of the plant uptake Nitrogen were determined after the harvest. The data were analyzed by SAS software for statistical evaluations. Results showed that the amounts of dry matter production for both above ground portions and the roots and also the plant nitrogen uptake percentage were highest in granular inoculant comparing with other treatments. Keywords: Rhizobium, inoculant, nitrogen fixation, salinity stress. Introduction Worldwide, scientists in different countries are trying to increase both the productivity and profitability of the agricultural sector of their economies (Borges et al., 2011), to feed growing populations and to increase the quality of life for millions of people. In recent years there has been a growing concern about environmental changes, and about how we are using the resources available in natural habitats. Nitrogen (N) is an essential element of life and a part of all plant and animal proteins (Kramer, 2000). As a part of the DNA and RNA molecules, as an essential element in the chlorophyll molecule, N is vital to a plants ability to photosynthesize. The source of nitrogen is air, which is almost 80% nitrogen. Nitrogen fertilizer has now become a major environmental problem and a health hazard while symbiotic N2 fixation offers a sustainable alternative (Poustini, 2007). Legumes can convert atmospheric nitrogen into a usable form in a process called fixation. Soybean is an agricultural crop of tremendous economic importance (Bun Ng, 2011). The importance of soybean as a source of oil and protein and its ability to grow symbiotically on low-N soils, point to its continued status as the most valuable grain legume in the world. Improvements in biological nitrogen fixation can help achieve increased soybean production. Alfalfa, called the "Queen of the Forages" is the fourth most widely grown crop in the United States behind corn, wheat and soybeans and double the cotton acreage (Bauchan, 2000). Alfalfa

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH is also important due to its high biomass production. The record yield of one acre of alfalfa is 10 tons/acre (22 Mg/ha) without irrigation and 24 tons/acre (54Mg/ha) with irrigation. Alfalfa is a widely adapted crop, energy-efficient and an important source of biological nitrogen fixation. The average acre of alfalfa will fix about 200 kg of nitrogen per year, thus reducing the need to apply expensive nitrogen fertilizers. One of the most important characteristics of alfalfa is its high nutritional quality as animal feed. Alfalfa contains between 15 to 22% crude protein as well as an excellent source of vitamins and minerals. The US alfalfa crop fixes an estimated 2 2.5 million tons of N each year, which is used for protein production and plant growth. The alfalfa-rhizobium combination is a powerful nitrogen fixing system. Salinity is a widespread problem especially in arid and semiarid regions (Flowers, 1999). Some studies indicate that 20-50 % of all irrigated croplands are affected by high salt concentration, resulting in considerable economic losses. Soil salinity affects plant growth and development by way of osmotic stress(Sairam, 2004), injurious effects of toxic Na+ and Cl ions and to some extent Cl and SO42 of Mg2+ and nutrient imbalance caused by excess of Na+ and Cl ions. One of the best ways for decreasing salinity stress is using inoculants. The legume-Rhizobium symbioses and nodule formation on legumes are more sensitive to salt or osmotic stress than are the rhizobia. Materials and methods Brady Rhizobium Japonicum USDA110 strain for soybean and Sino Rhizobium Melliloti RM2011 for alfalfa were used for inoculant preparation. Rhizobia were grown in yeast mannitol broth (YMB) for seven days until the viable count of rhizobia reached around 3108 cells ML-1 . In order to supply granular form of the inoculant, sodium alginate and perlite required to give a final concentration of 2% of each were added together to the YMB and mixed for 30 min using a magnetic stirrer. Using a 10 mL pipette, mixture was added drop wise into sterile 0.1M CaCl2 to obtain uniform alginate-perlite beads. One liter of YMB supplied about 40 gr granules. The beads were air dried in laminar flow chamber aseptically. In order to supply powder form of the inoculant; 25 gr perlite was put in a polythene bag and 10cc distilled water and 65cc YMB containing Rhizobia were added to the bag. Then bag was packed and massaged for distributing Rhizobia. In order to investigate the useful age of Rhizobia in granular and powder form inoculants, Plate count method was made at 0, 15, 30, 60, 90, 120, 150, 180 days for Rhizobia population counting. For the enumeration of rhizobia entrapped in the granules, 0.1 gr beads were dissolved in 9 mL of 0.2 M potassium phosphate buffer (pH 6.8) .The released Rhizobia were counted by dilution plate count technique using YMA medium. For the enumeration of rhizobia in powder form inoculant, 1 gr was dissolved in 9 mL sterile distilled water and supplied serial dilution. Then Rhizobia were enumerated in plate count method. The pot experiment that was done in a completely randomized factorial block design was conducted in 1 kg capacity earthen pots filled with the soil (Table 1 indicates the soil characteristics) for alfalfa and 4 kg capacity earthen pots for soybean. Alfalfa variety Hamadani and soybean variety Williams were used as legume hosts. For soil inoculation 0.01 gr granules (106 Rhizobia granule-1) was placed 2 cm below each seed. For powder form inoculation with perlite based inoculant, 0.1 gr for each seed (106 Rhizobia for each seed) of inoculant was mixed with seeds. Each pot was sown with 5 seeds. For Nitrogen treatments 50 mg/kg nitrogen by Ammonium Nitrate dissolving was added pots in two division; one of them at first, other division 45 days after sowing. For salinity treatments 3 levels of salinity (EC= 4, 8 ds/m) and distilled water using NaCl solution were added pots. There were 4 replications for each treatment. During the 90 day-growth period necessary cares were taken to keep the soil moisture at 75% of FC. 90 days after sowing plants were harvested. The dry matter production for both above ground portions and the roots were determined using 110c for 48 hours oven. Samples were digested for kejeldahl determination of total N for dry matter production of above ground portions for soybean. The data were analyzed by SAS software for statistical evaluations.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Results and Discussion The results showed that the useful age of Rhizobia in powder form is more than granular form. Also Decreasing intensity of Rhizobia population in granules were more than powder form as after 90 days Rhizobia population was extremely decreased (Tables1, 2). This result is contrary to Hegdes investigation (Hegde, 1992). According to Hegdes experiment, Rhizobia population shown less decreasing as during 6 months it was changed from 1011 to 9.721010 rhizobia in 1 gr, but in this experiment it was changed from 8.96108 to 4.8106 rhizobia in 1 gr. Maybe, initial Rhizobia population need to be increased for getting better results. More investigations need producing high quality granules.
Table1. Comparison of the useful age of Rhizobia in granular and powder form inoculants in soybean Days Rhizobia population in granules Rhizobia population in perlite YMB 0 15 30 60 90 120 150 180

8.96108

3108

2.3108

2108

3.1108

1.04108

2.7107

1.9107

4.8106

9.8108

6.9108

2.3108

5108

5.3108

2.8108

4.5108

4.3108

2.6108

Table2. Comparison of the useful age of Rhizobia in granular and powder form inoculants in alfalfa Days Rhizobia population in granules Rhizobia population in perlite YMB 2.6108 0 1.5108 15 6.5107 30 1.5107 60 5.5107 90 1107 120 1.7107 150 9106 180 8106

3108

8.3108

6108

5.15108

1.9108

8.3108

6.6108

6.8108

6.5108

Plants survived and grew at all salinity levels. Salinity significantly reduced the dry weights of both above ground portions and the roots as the most dry weight was for distilled water and the lowest was for EC=8 ds/m.(fig1) Salt effects on rhizobia infection of the root may have limited plant growth and Salt reduced nodule number.

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Plant dry weight

Salinitytreatments
Fig1. Effect of salinity on plant dry weight

Inoculation significantly increased above ground portion and root dry weights and also percentage of the plant uptake nitrogen and the amounts of dry matter production for both above ground portions and the roots and also the plant nitrogen uptake percentage were highest in granular inoculant comparing with other treatments because granule form of inoculant provides slow release of Rhizobia over longer period. There were significant difference between inoculation treatments and nitrogen treatments. The dry weight in both of inoculations (powder form and granule form) is more than nitrogen treatment and others. Infection of Rhizobia causes more and permanent Nitrogen fixation but adding nitrogen solution causes increasing of the amounts of dry matter production for both above ground portions and the roots and also the plant nitrogen uptake percentage less than using inoculant. The results of nitrogen uptake percentage in dry matter production of above ground portions for soybean were shown that in distilled water treatment, the most percentage of N uptakes was for powder form inoculant and shown decreasing for granular, nitrogen and blank treatments respectively. (Fig 2) In this condition powder form is more effective because of increasing Rhizobia population.

Plant dry weight

Treatments
Fig2. Nitrogen uptake percentage in distilled water treatment for soybean

However in EC=4 and EC=8 ds/m, the most percentage of N uptakes was for granular form and shown decreasing for powder form, nitrogen and blank respectively. (Fig 3) Under salinity stress granular form is more effective because of providing slow release of Rhizobia over longer period.

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Plantdryweight

Treatments
Fig3. Nitrogen uptake percentage in EC=4, 8 ds/m for alfalfa

Biological fertilizers like granule form and powder form increased above ground portion and root dry weights and also percentage of the plant uptake nitrogen under salinity stress because increasing of Rhizobia population cause nodulation, Nitrogen fixation and yield (Hume, 1992). References Bauchan, G. and Greene, S., (2000). Report on the Status of Medicago Germplasm in the United States, http://www.ars-grin.gov/npgs/cgc_reports/alfalfa/alfalfacgc2000.htm. Accessed 1 Feb 2012. Borges,M., Blassioli Moraes,M.C., Laumann,R.A., Pareja,M., Silva,C.C., Michereff,M.F.F and Paula,D.P.,(2011) Chemical Ecology Studies in Soybean Crop in Brazil and Their Application to Pest Management. Soybean - Biochemistry, Chemistry and Physiology, InTech Bun Ng, T., (2011). Soybean Biochemistry, Chemistry and Physiology. In Tech Web.ORG Flowers, T. J. (1999) Salinisation and horticultural production. Scientia Horticulturae, 78: 14. Hegde, s. v. and Brahama Prakasha, G.P., (1992). A dry granular inoculant of Rhizobium for soil application. Plant and Soil, 144:309-311 Hume,D.J. and Blair, D. H.,(1992) Effect of numbers of Bradyrhizobium Japonicum applied commercial inoculants on soyebeanseed yield in Ontario. Can. J. Microbial., 38: 588-593. Kramer,D.A., (2000). NITROGEN, U.S. Geological Survey Minerals Yearbook. Poustini, K., Mabood F., and Smith D. L., (2007). Preincubation of Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. phaseoli with Jasmonate and Genistein Signal Molecules Increases Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) Nodulation, Nitrogen Fixation and Biomass Production. J. Agric. Sci. Technol. Vol. 9: 107-117 Sairam, R. K. and Tyagi, A., (2004). Physiology and molecular biology of salinity stress tolerance in plants. Current Science, 86(3):407-421

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Some Plant Nutritional Elements in Tobacco Production in Aegean Region and the Effects of Soil Properties on Yield and Quality Sdka EKREN1
1 2

Nilgn MORDOAN2

Department of Field Crop, Faculty of Agriculture, Ege University, Izmir-TURKEY Department of Soil Science & Plant Nutrition, Faculty of Agriculture, Ege University, Izmir-TURKEY Corresponding author: sidika.ekren@ege.edu.tr

Abstract Aegean Region producing more than 50% of total tobacco production accommodates enough agricultural areas to meet total oriental production demand in the world alone. Fertilization and soil properties of tobacco production areas are of more importance than other culture plants due to the quality of tobacco. Production method, drying conditions and fertilization are quite important in tobacco production and they can cause changes in physical and chemical properties of tobacco. Mineral fertilizers containing nitrogen, phosphor and potassium are the main fertilizers used for tobacco and other culture plants. Especially the fertilizers containing potassium and phosphor improve quality. However, in the use of nitrogenous fertilizers to increase yield, it is required to determine nitrogen amount, nitrogen form and the time of nitrogen application that will not damage the quality. In addition, if the plant nutritional elements taken from soil are not returned back to soil, yield will decrease in time, and later quality will worsen. Provision of optimal conditions for yield and quality is quite important for Aegean tobacco among oriental tobacco group. Keywords: Aegean tobacco, soil, plant nutritional elements, yield, quality

Soil and Quality Relationship Some factors affecting yield in tobacco agriculture are also effective on the quality. The quality of tobacco plant is determined by the combination of genotype, production conditions and drying method and ecological factors. Soil is the leading among these factors affecting quality and yield in oriental tobacco agriculture. Oriental tobacco is produced especially on very different land classes and soils with different textures in Aegean Region. For this reason, it shows a wide variation in terms of yield and quality. Soil properties are very effective on the scent and taste of tobacco. Purgeslove (1968) determined that the properties of tobacco change when the same species is produced in different soils. Therefore, soil structure is important for tobacco agriculture. In order to obtain maximum yield in any plant group, the production is made in soils that have good ventilation and drainage properties, high water holding capacity, irrigation possibility, deep profile and rich element content. However, as known, the aim of oriental tobacco production has been to obtain good quality product until recent years. Tobacco purchasing firms are primarily interested in the quality of tobacco, while the producers naturally desire high yield beside quality. Unless the basic nutritional elements of tobacco are not met, growth and quality of the product are negatively affected (Akehurst, 1981). Good quality tobacco is reported to be produced on kr and kr-taban lands. However, the shift of tobacco agriculture to base lands reduces quality. Sometimes, that good quality tobacco production is observed in lands that can be defined as base ground. Sandy soils are infertile in general, while the high nitrogen content in loamy soils negatively affects the quality (Akehurst, 1981). The areas allowed for tobacco production generally include kr, kr-taban and taban lands, while morphological, physical and chemical properties and important differences are not much considered in this classification and these notions are highly depended on personal opinions of individuals who make the distinction. However, it is quite important to consider certain properties like the slope of land, soil depth, productivity etc. and physical and chemical analyses of the tobacco production soils in terms of the yield and quality. This matter was investigated in a study performed in the region of the present study, and the most qualified tobacco production was determined in the 2nd and 3rd class agricultural lands, while the quality decreased in the 1st class lands, and both the quality and yield were found low in the 4th class lands (Tuncay et al., 1985).

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Table 1. Chemical and Physical Properties of Some Tobacco Lands in Akhisar Region
Land No 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 pH 7.53 7.56 7.62 7.78 7.27 7.78 7.40 7.67 7.67 Salt (%) 0.112 0.110 0.051 0.051 0.097 0.051 0.041 0.064 0.068 Organic Matter (%) 1.45 1.39 2.37 0.93 0.88 0.93 1.19 1.60 0.72 Lime (%) 20.29 2.21 22.67 1.72 0.72 1.72 3.43 11.38 15.41 Sand (%) 30.00 34.00 51.28 63.28 52.40 63.28 81.84 47.68 48.40 Silt (%) 39.64 41.64 14.00 22.00 22.72 22.00 7.28 30.00 26.72 Loam (%) 30.36 24.36 34.72 14.72 24.88 14.72 10.88 22.32 24.88 Texture Clay loam Loam Sandy clay Loam Sandy loam Sandy clay Loam Sandy loam Loamy sand Loam Sandy clay Loam

Table 2. Chemical Properties of Some Tobacco Lands in Akhisar Region

Land No 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Total N (%) 0.067 0.067 0.095 0.101 0.034 0.050 0.062 0.067 0.073 P K (mg/kg) (mg/kg) 0.10 0.09 0.05 0.37 0.21 0.01 0.06 0.02 0.08 252.59 427.46 97.15 563.47 456.61 233.16 174.87 408.03 398.32 Ca (mg/kg) 2853.86 2098.80 3569.24 3479.36 1509.32 2584.22 1389.48 3494.34 3479.36 Mg (mg/kg) 375.00 300.00 131.00 427.00 339.00 224.00 453.00 673.00 816.00 Na Fe Cu Zn Mn (mg/kg) (mg/kg) (mg/kg) (mg/kg) (mg/kg) 24.90 19.92 9.96 9.96 19.92 24.90 9.96 69.73 49.81 3.77 2.50 6.26 1.83 1.83 2.16 2.19 1.47 1.67 1.64 1.60 0.76 1.20 1.16 0.94 1.12 1.80 1.82 1.66 0.76 0.58 0.86 0.72 0.48 0.68 0.62 0.64 9.50 8.62 17.32 6.56 2.06 7.14 4.50 5.90 5.80

Source: Delibacak et al., 2008

Delibacak et al. (2008) carried out a study on the effects of soil properties on yield and quality of tobacco products in Akhisar district, and the soil properties of producers lands which showed differences in terms of quality and yield are given in Table 1 and 2. Soils form different textures generally rich in lime in alkali character. Quality tobacco is produced in these lands considering soil structures (Table 1). Nicotine content in tobacco is affected rather by physical properties of soil. It is known that nicotine content in sandy soils is reduced with irrigation (Akehurst, 1981). In Table 2, these lands are seen poor in nutritional elements and especially nitrogen content. Although the low nitrogen content positively affects the yield, the important point is that water holding capacities and the beneficial conversion of nutritional elements of these lands. For the useful conversion of plant nutritional elements, they should be in water-soluble form in root rhizosphere. Plants increase the movement of water from rhizosphere to root texture and thus the flow of nutritional elements through rapid transpiration on condition that there is enough water in soil. Otherwise, plants cannot use the nutritional elements required for growth (enbayram et al., 2005). There is no comprehensive inventory based on scientific data and indicating the physical structures and productivity of tobacco production soils in our region where soil has important effects on yield and quality. On this subject, the TUBITAK-TOVAG project number 475 conducted jointly by Department of Field Crops and Department of Soil of Agriculture Faculty of Ege University and Tekel Institution is an important initial study (Tuncay et al., 1985-1986). Therefore, Delibacak et al. (2008) determined water holding capacity week in sandy land, while it was quite high in loamy

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH
land. From this regard, loamy texture of the soil profile allows plant to remain vivid during summer period. Plant Nutritional Elements and Quality Relationship It is known that oriental tobaccos are sensitive to fertilization and the quality is negatively affected by fertilization and many tobacco producers consciously or unconsciously have used fertilizer. Culture plants grow using the nutritional elements in soil, and the yield and then the quality decrease, if the nutritional elements taken from soil are not returned back to soil. With respect to this matter, studies should be performed to determine suitable fertilization programs in order to increase the productivity of soils poor in nutritional elements and to maintain the productivity in lands where normal yield is obtained. Many studies have been implemented on the fertilization of tobacco so far; however, most of them could not provide reliable results because classical research methods are not convenient for the oriental tobacco group in field experiments. The quality of these tobaccos is best determined in dry product (tobacco bales) through expertise method. The reasons of failure are that commercial bales cannot be made from tobaccos grown in small trial plots, tobaccos are harvested from trial plots subject to different doses of fertilizers on the same day due to the experiment method, suitable fields cannot be chosen for fertilization experiments and experiment coordinators do not show as much attention as tobacco producers. Nitrogen and Quality Fertilizers containing nitrogen, phosphor and potassium are mostly used in the fertilization of tobacco and other culture plants. No corruption was observed in the quality when high amounts of potassium and phosphor fertilizers are used. However, one should be very careful in the use of nitrogenous fertilizers. The optimum amount of nitrogen, nitrogen form and nitrogen application times that provide yield increase in tobacco without damaging quality should be determined. Plants assimilate nitrogen in ammonium (NH4+) and nitrate (NO3-) forms because these two forms of nitrogen creates different effects on physiological and metabolic processes in plants (Haynes and Goh, 1978; Marschner, 1995). Although nitrogen is assimilated in nitrate form by roots, plants transform it into ammonium form in their bodies. If nitrogen fertilization is made only in ammonium form, it causes important problems in plant growth (olakolu et al., 2005). When nitrogen is given only in ammonium form, it complicates the intake of positively charged elements like K+ (Kashket et al., 1977), Ca+2 (Wilcox et al., 1973) and Mg+2 (Junk, 1977), and the deficiencies of these elements can be seen in plant growth. On the other hand, in study using only ammonium form of nitrogen, important decreases were noted in yield although apparent symptoms like necrosis and withering were not present (Walch-Liu et al., 2000). Leaves become dark green with adequate nitrogen fertilization and plant demonstrates a strong vegetative development. They become yellow and chunky with nitrogen deficiency (Kacar, 1984). Raah and Terry (1994) reported that nitrogen forms and nitrogen doses have important roles in morphological and physical properties of plants. At the same time, rigid character and rigidity level of smoked tobacco are depended on nitrogen amount. As nicotine is a nitrogenous compound, it is known to increase in parallel with the nitrogen amount in soil. However, nitrogen disturb the balance between carbohydrates and nitrogenous substances to its detriment, and causes leaves to outgrow, tissues to become thin, fragility of leaves to increase and color to darken (Delalang and Chouteau, 1976; Hoyert and Bandel, 1981). As known, color is a very important criterion in fluecured and oriental tobaccos. A little bit darkened color causes significant decreases in price. Potassium and Quality Potassium does not encourage vegetative growth in plant like nitrogen. It does not have an apparent effect on growth. It rather affects quality. It is important as it increases the inflammability of leaves in terms of quality. With respect to oriental tobacco quality, potassium application increases the leaf thickness, creates bright yellow color on leaves, and increases sugar content in leaves; furthermore, the ripening occurs earlier and follows a stable course. It also increases the resistance of plants against water stress, and helps to preserve moisture level of leaves after drying. As can be seen, these properties can completely tolerate the risks of nitrogen fertilization (enbayram et al., 2005).

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The major potassium fertilizers are potassium chloride (KCL), potassium sulfate (K2SO4) and potassium nitrate (KNO3). The most common of them is potassium chloride in general. However, chlorine does not have an evident negative effect on quality. Organic acid content decreases in tobacco, while protein content increases, and an unpleasant sweetish taste and smell occur. As a result of increasing hygroscopicity in tobacco, drying and fermentation become difficult and mold growth and decay are observed during storage. In addition, chlorine results in burning difficulty in tobacco. The previous studies (Kampfer and Zehler, 1967; Sabourin and Bonnet, 1967) demonstrated that burning becomes perfect when the chlorine content of tobacco leaf is less than 1%, while the burning is not satisfactory with 2-3% of chlorine content, and it is bad with >3% of chlorine content. Tobacco leaves with more than 1% of chlorine content are not used in the production of Cuban cigar, while tobacco leaves with suitable elasticity and up to 2.4% of chlorine content can be used in cigarette production. Potassium sulfate fertilizer is recommended in terms of tobacco quality. On the other hand, potassium nitrate is more expensive than other nitrogenous fertilizers. Therefore, it is suggested to apply this fertilizer only to leaves or to add it in lifeline water during dilution process (olakolu et al., 2005). Phosphor and Quality Phosphor is a mobile element that can be taken by plants, and plants only fulfill their requirements. It has positive effect on color of tobacco and incites the ripening. Its deficiency occurs with slow and chunky development and retarded ripening period. Leaves form rosette, stand upright and appear in dark green. Leaves cannot reach their normal size and remain small. In some cases, stains appear on lower leaves of plants deficient in phosphor (Kacar and Katkat, 2010). Approximately 30% of phosphor taken by plant is used in RNA formation. Therefore, growth accelerates at the onset of vegetation with phosphor fertilization (Akehurst, 1981). Due to reflection of phosphor in soil on leaves, there is no important difference among the types of tobacco in terms of phosphor content, and the average rate remains under 1% in all types (Harlen and Moseley, 1955). Calcium and Quality Calcium is not a mobile element like phosphor and potassium. It is an important element of cell wall in plants. Calcium and potassium account for an important part of ash. It generally exists in insoluble form, especially as calcium salt in the structure of cell wall in leaves. Potassium is an effective element for the cell growth in plants, while calcium is effective in the increase of cell number. The redundant presence of calcium in soil increases the cell number (Tso, 1972). It should be given to soil to adjust pH. Especially, due to the high pH in tobacco production fields in Aegean Region, the increasing concentration of soluble calcium considerably decreases the utility of phosphor for plants (Abderrahman, 2001; Larsen, 1967; Dalal, 1977). For the tobacco products in Aegean Region, some relations have been detected between the calcium levels in soil and the properties of tobacco leaves. For instance, positive relations were observed between CaCO3 levels in soil and total alkaloid, chlorine and color properties of tobacco, while negative relations were reported between CaCO3 levels in soil and the levels of chlorogenic acid, Fe, P, and Mg. Furthermore, the changeable cation capacity of soil (Ca++, Mg++) is positively related to total sugars and chlorogenic acid, while it is negatively related to total- N, crude fiber and phosphor (Drossopoulos et al., 1992). Magnesium and Quality Magnesium is absolutely necessary for plants and enters in chemical structure of chlorophyll. Around 10% of magnesium in leaves exist in the composition of chlorophyll; therefore, in its deficiency, white color appears between veins on leaves, while the veins remain green because carotene and xanthophyll break down with chlorophyll, as well. Similar to potassium, magnesium is also effective on burning property of tobacco. When the magnesium content exceeds 2% level in leaves, it negatively affects burning. It is also related to ash content. When the magnesium level decrease under 0.4% in tobacco, some symptoms are observed, while more serious situations are reported when it is lower than 0.2% (Chouteau and Fouconnier, 1988). Magnesium deficiency could be seen in very slightly sandy soils.

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Conclusion Tobacco plant is greatly affected by environmental conditions, and gains characteristics depending on the soil structure. Physical and chemical properties of soils have important effects on leaf quality. In addition, mineral substances shaping growth and development of tobacco plant directly or indirectly affects the leaf quality. The redundancy or deficiency of these elements causes changes in commercial quality as well as physical and chemical properties of leaves. References Abderrahman, W. A. (2001) Energy and water in arid developing countries: Saudi Arabia, a case study. International Journal of Water Resources Development, Vol.17, No.2, pp. 247-255. Akehurst, B.C.. (1981) Tobacco. Tropical Agricultural Series. ISBN 0 582 46646 6, 403-404. Second Edition. Chouteau, J. And Fauconnier, D. (1988) Tobacco fertilizing for high quality and yield. IPI Bull. 11, Lang druck Ag, Liebefeld-Bern. olakolu, H., enbayram, M., Sekin, S. (2005) Ege Blgesi ttn yetitiriciliinde gbrelemede dikkat edilmesi gereken hususlar. Ege Blgesinde Ttn Tarm ve Sorunlar altay. 21 Aralk 2005. Bornova/zmir. Dalal, R.C. 1977. Soil organic phosphorus. Adv. Agron. 28:83-117. Delalang, J. And Chouteau, J. (1976) Influence of mineral nitrogenous supplies on yields and physical and chemical characteristics of tobacco depending on the nature soils. Frans. Tob. Abst., 2001. Delibacak, S., Okur, B., Ekren, S., Ongun, A.R., Sekin, S., Mordoan, N. (2008) Akhisar yresi ttnlerinin verim ve kalitesi zerine toprak zelliklerinin etkisi. 2004-ZRF-028 Nolu Proje Kesin Raporu. Bornova/zmir. Drossopoulos, J.B., Kanamanos, A.J., Kouchayi, G.G. (1992) A survey of selected nutrient levels at different leaf position of oriental field grown tobacco plants. Tobacco Science 36:1015.7 Harlan, W. R. And Moseley, J. M. (1955) Tobacco in encyclopedia of chemisrty and technology. 14:242-261. Interscience Encyclopedia Inc. New York. Haynes, R. J. And Goh, K. M. (1978) Ammonium and nitrate nutrition of plants. Biol. Rev. 53:465-510. Hoyert, J. H. and Bandel, V. A. (1981) Effect of nitrogen on tobacco performance and correlation of total nitrogene analysis of tobacco leaf with yield. Maryland Agric. Exp. Sta., M. P. 967. Junk, A. (1977) Wirkung von ammonium und nitrat stickstoff aus das wachstum und die zusammensetzung von pflanzen. Landwirtschaftliche Forschung, Kongreband, Teil II, 18-26. Kaar, B. (1984) Bitki besleme (2. Bask). Ankara niversitesi Z.F. Yaynlar 899. Kacar, B. and Katkat, V. (2010) Bitki besleme (5. Bask) Nobel Bilim ve aratrma Merkezi. Yayn No: 49. Kampher, M. and Zehler, E. (1967) Die bedautung der sulfatischen dnfemittel fr die ertragserhhung und qualitats-verbesserung landwirtschafflicher gantenbaulicher und forttlicher kulturen. Int. Potash Inst., Bern/Switzarland. Kashket E.R. and Barker SL. (1977) Effects of potassium ions on the electrical and pH gradients across the membrane of streptococcus lactis cells. J Bacteriol. 130(3):10171023. Larsen, S. (1967) Soil phosphorus. Adv. In Agron., No. 19:151-206. Marschner H. (1995) Mineral nutrition of higher plants, 2nd edn. London: Academic Press. Purseglove, J. W. (1968) Tropical crops. Logman Group L. Burnt Mill Hartaw, Essex CN 20-2JE. Raab, T.K. and Terry, N. (1994) Nitrogen source regulation of growth and photosynthesis in Beta Vulgaris. Plant Physiol. 105: 1159-1166 Sabourin, L. and Bonet, R. (1967) A chloride sulphate comparison in the potassium manuring of tobacco. Potash Rev.

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enbayram, M., Ekren, S., Sekin, S. (2005) Ekolojik koullarn ve besin elementlerinin oryantal ttn kalitesi zerindeki etkileri. Ege Blgesinde Ttn Tarm ve Sorunlar altay. 21 Aralk 2005. Bornova/zmir. Tso, T.C. (1972) Physiology and biochemistry of tobacco plant. Dowden. Hutchinson and Ross. Inc. Stroudsburg. Tunay, H., Sekin, S., zam, A. (1985) Akhisar-Manisa Blgesinde yetitirilen topraklarn toprak zellikleri ve toprak zellikleri ile ttn kalitesi arasndaki ilikiler. TBTAK-TOAG 475 Nolu Proje Kesin Raporu. Tunay, H., Sekin, S., zam, A. (1986) Akhisar-Manisa Blgesinde yetitirilen topraklarn toprak zellikleri ve toprak zellikleri ile ttn kalitesi arasndaki ilikiler zerine bir alma. Doa 434-447. Walch-Liu, P., Neumann, G, Bangerth, F., Engels, C. (2000) Rapid effect of nitrogen form on leaf morphogenesis in tobacco. Jour. Of Exp. Bot. Vol:51 No: 343. 227-237. Wilcox GE, Hoff JE, Jones C.E. (1973) Ammonium reduction of calcium and magnesium concentration of tomato and sweet corn leaf tissue and influence on the incidence of blossom end rot of tomato fruit. Journal of the American Society of Horticultural Science 98, 8689.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Heavy Metal Contents of Aegean Region Tobaccos in Turkey According to Quality Groups and Stalk Position
Sdka EKREN1, idem SNMEZ2,Adem GKL1
1 2

Department of Field Crop, Faculty of Agriculture, Ege University, Izmir-TURKEY Seed Technology Center, Ege University, Izmir-TURKEY Corresponding author: sidika.ekren@ege.edu.tr

Abstract The study was carried out in Akhisar district of Aegean Region in Turkey where tobacco is very popular in the growing period of 2004 and 2005. In this research, nine fields that were different in terms of the quality and yield in the villages called Hacosmanlar, Arabacbozky, Dereky, Mecidiye and Sleymanl were elected. Chromium (Cr), cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni), zinc (Zn), arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) contents of the tobaccos were analyzed. All analysis showed that there were significant differences among tobacco samples analyzed in different years, priming and also quality groups. After two years results of the study, arsenic, lead, chromium, cadmium, cobalt, zinc and nickel were measured as 0.18-0.98 ppm, 7.45-38.40 ppm, 4.37-28.60 ppm, 0.05-1.50 ppm, 1.10-5.45 ppm, 43.9-140.9 ppm, 6.00-10.85 ppm, respectively. To the authors increased concentrations of these elements are indicated only at places, where the soil is highly contaminated by that element. These elements in our study are known to be harmful for human health when the natural concentratinos are altered through smoking in active or passive way. Keywords: Tobacco, minor or trace elements, quality, Aegean Region

Introduction There is a strong campaign against smoking, because of its harmful effect on peoples health. In spite of that, tobacco and tobacco products present a means for enjoyment to over 20% of the world population (Pelivanoska, 2007). The production of tobacco in the world wide and effects of human consumption of tobacco, make it desirable to study the trace elements in tobacco products. Some trace elements in tobacco are hazardous for human metabolisms even at very low level of smoke. As this product provides routes of entry into the body system it is particularly important to characterize the consumption of elements that may have toxic properties. Large number of toxic elements are found in tobacco leaves. This situation is an important problem as many trace elements, in particular the heavy metals are accumulating in soils where intensive fertilizer application is practiced (Camas et al., 2007). It is known that tobacco absorb the heavy metals from soils and accumulates them in leaves. The content of heavy metals in tobacco leaves vary and depends on the growing conditions, mainly on the soil composition and properties (Bojinova et al., 1994). Some portions of these metals are transferred by the smoke into the human body, where they accumulate and damage the organs (mainly kidney and liver) and act as promoters in conjunction with carcinogens. The mortality rate of diseases caused by smoking is more than 350 000 per year in the USA and so it can be seen that it is worrying public health problem. Besides the heavy metals, more than 4000 individual chemical constituents of cigarette smoke have been identified and most of the constitutents are responsible for various cancer in the body and especially 90 % of lung cancers. Because of a large consumption of tobacco and tobacco products in the world, studies on heavy metals in tobacco leaves are necessary. Toxic elements and other substances which are partly or completely vitalized in the smoke of tobacco are inhaled and absorbed through lungs during smoking by both active or passive smokers: the metabolism is altered by these toxic substances: Cu and Zn concentrations in the tissues of smokers are found to be significantly higher: the effects of other biologically important elements such as, Al, As, Cd, Cr, Pb, Mn, Hg, Ni, Po-210 and Se are also altered in the tissues of smokers. (Camas et al., 2007). The concentration of heavy metals are known to be affecting the functions of liver, kidney, lung and heart. Similarly, the adverse health effects of toxic elements on the fetus through maternal smoking and on infants through parental smoking are of special concern. High concentration of Al, Cu, Cr and Ni in body tissues are known to be hazardous especially for respiratory and urinery systems (Camas et al., 2007).

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It is known that oriental tobacco grown in Turkey has high quality due to the suitable ecological conditions and social structure. Tobacco has been widely grown in several regions of Turkey for centuries as the family agriculture. One of the important characteristics of Turkish tobacco is its aroma. Also, Turkish tobaccos have low nicotine content. They have poor burning quality and low filling values. In spite of these undesirable qualities, they are highly valuable in the international markets because of their blending capability. Aegean type tobaccos account for two thirds of the annual tobacco leaf production of the country and for 85-90 % a of total tobacco export (Sekin et al., 2002). Aegean tobaccos sold in the foreign markets are used in blends for which, tobaccos purchased from the farmers of different districts are sorted and blended in the factories for sale, where tobacco is grown districts and localities are important because they take part in exported bales and affect the quality of the products. Aegean Region as the manipulation processing center is one of the most important oriental tobacco markets of the world. The aim of this study was to determinate the heavy metal content in small leaf oriental tobacco grown in Aegean Region of Turkey. To authors knowledge there is no published report documenting Aegean Region tobacco plants in terms of heavy metal contents. Material and Methods The research was carried out in Akhisar where tobacco is very popular in Aegean Region in the period of 2004 and 2005. In this study, nine tobacco farmers (five villages) which are known to show differences in terms of the quality and yield in the villages called Hacosmanlar (H1, H2, H3); Arabacbozky (A1, A2); Dereky (D1); Mecidiye (M1) and Sleymanl (S1, S2). Tobacco samples are taken from both the bales of producers which was stated above during the tobacco marketing period and experts in Akhisar working for Tobacco Industry and Trade Company (TTL Tobacco Company). Low, middle and upper leaves of 9 producers tobacco, differ from each other in terms of quality and yield have been harvested separately. After these leaves have been dried in the sun they have been baled in a way that each one represent each priming. Some samples are taken from these baled tobacco samples in a way that they represent low, middle and upper priming in the quality group. The amount of samples taken from each priming of each producers is 100 gr. Tobacco seeds used in producers fields in Akhisar belong to Sarbaglar tobacco type. In 2004, the first year of this study, 27 tobacco samples and in 2005, 27 samples as well, totally, 54 tobacco samples in different quality group were studied. Chromium (Cr), cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni), zinc (Zn), arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) elements of tobacco were analyzed in spectrophotometer. Dried tobacco samples were digested with HNO3:HCLO4 (4:1, v/v) and than Cr, Co, Ni, Zn, As, Cd and Pb contents in the solutions were determined spectrophotometrically by using atomic absorpsion (Kacar 1972). Statistical analyses: The data obtained from each component with 2 replications and 3 factor (priming groups) were subjected to statistical variance analyses (ANOVA) using F test according to Akgz et al. (2004). Variable in each component were subjected separately to variance analysis. The means of the variables were grouped by using Least Significant Difference (LSD) values at 5 % levels of probability. Results and Discussion It is well known that, there are major and important differences among tobacco types. Within each type there are also wide differences among grades or stalk position (upper stalk, middle stalk and lower stalk position) and also one single leaf. Total nitrogen and total alkaloid content of the leaves are low in the center stalk position and high in both bottom and upper position (Tso, 1990). This study, there were some differences among the quality and stalk position. The variations of the contents of the heavy metals are considered to genetic characteristics, fertilizers, irrigations, climate, soil characteristics and also the storage conditions. The arsenic concentration in oriental tobacco is much less than that of other tobacco types (Tso, 1990). The results of the arsenic contents are presented in Table 1. Average arsenic contents in the second year (0.52 ppm) were higher than in the first year (0.43 ppm). Results obtained showed that
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the highest arsenic content was recorded for A1 farmers of 1st priming group (0.98 ppm) in the second year. On the other hand, the lowest arsenic were observed for H1 farmers at the 1st priming (0.18 ppm) in the first year.
Table 1. Arsenic Contents of Aegean Region Tobaccos (ppm)
2004 Farmers M1 H1 H2 H3 S1 S2 A1 A2 D1 Average
LSD(p<0.05)(Farmer) 0.104 LSD:Least significant difference

2005 Ave. 0.58 0.34d 0.34d 0.30d 0.30d 0.40cd 0.75a 0.55bc 0.30d 0.43b
(FxY) .147 b

1st 0.55ab 0.18c 0.20c 0.27c 0.32bc 0.38bc 0.69a 0.77a 0.33bc 0.41ab
0.060

Primings 2nd 0.58ab 0.62ab 0.62ab 0.20d 0.38bcd 0.49abc 0.74a 0.43bcd 0.32cd 0.49a

3rd 0.60ab 0.22d 0.22d 0.42cd 0.21d 0.33d 0.83a 0.44cd 0.26d 0.39b
(YxP) 0.085

1st 0.42bc 0.42bc 0.29c 0.28c 0.40bc 0.55b 0.98a 0.46bc 0.65b 0.50a
(FxYxP) 0.55

Primings 2nd 0.49abc 0.25c 0.24c 0.57ab 0.59ab 0.74a 0.69a 0.42bc 0.68a 0.52a

3rd 0.55bc 0.27d 0.22d 0.36cd 0.66ab 0.87a 0.73ab 0.71ab 0.65ab 0.56a

Ave. 0.49c 0.31de 0.25e 0.40cd 0.55bc 0.72a 0.80a 0.53bc 0.66ab 0.52a

Years Ave. 0.53b 0.33de 0.30e 0.35de 0.43cd 0.56b 0.78a 0.54b 0.48bc

(Year) 0.049 (Priming)

The arsenic content of tobacco increased with increasing rate of fertilizer application. The factors contributing to the variation in concentration of As at different localities are texture and Fe content of the soils, the absorbtion having been higher from coarse textured than from fine textured soils and having increased as the Fe content decreased. In general, the As content of tobacco is higher in soil where Fe is added than when none is applied. The content of As is usually higher in the tobacco roots than in the leaves (Tso, 1990). In the Table 2, lead contents varied between 7.45-34.70 ppm in the first year; 9.34-38.40 ppm in the second year of our study. According the two years results, average lead contents changed in between 8.97 and 33.07 ppm. The lead contents in A2 farmers were found to be highest in contrast to the others.
Table 2. Lead Contents of Aegean Region Tobaccos (ppm)
2004 Farmers M1 H1 H2 H3 S1 S2 A1 A2 D1 Average
LSD(p<0.05)(Farmer) 0.724 LSD:Least significant difference

2005 Ave. 14.88d 13.88d 16.22c 16.75c 17.99b 8.97f 18.23b 26.48a 10.33e 15.97b
(FxY) 1.023

1st 10.70e 8.65f 11.15de 25.15a 18.75b 7.45f 14.70c 25.95a 12.65d 15.02c
0.418

Primings 2nd 22.05b 24.80a 15.10d 8.70e 22.33b 9.51e 22.90b 18.80c 9.35e 17.06a

3rd 11.90d 8.20e 22.40b 16.40c 12.90d 9.96e 17.10c 34.70a 8.99e 15.84b
(YxP) 0.591

1st 28.60b 16.40g 18.60f 21.30e 14.70g 9.86h 35.30a 23.20d 25.60c 21.51a
(FxYxP) 1.773

2nd 12.60d 9.34e 14.40c 14.40c 14.50c 15.50c 24.00b 37.60a 23.10b 18.44b

3rd 12.20f 25.40c 14.80e 30.30b 15.10e 17.80d 17.10d 38.40a 24.10c 21.69a

Ave. 17.80e 17.05e 15.93f 22.00d 14.77g 14.39g 25.63b 33.07a 24.27c 20.54a

Years Ave. 16.34e 15.46f 16.07ef 19.38c 16.38e 11.68g 21.93b 29.78a 17.30d

(Year) 0.341 (Priming)

In spite of this, the presence of heavy metals like Pb in food and industrial crops are not acceptable in terms of health care even if the plants do not exhibit toxicity due to biomagnification (Kabata and Pendias, 1992). Heavy metals in five tobacco types grown in Greece and Italy reported the highest Pb content in Burley tobacco (11-15 mg/kg), in Virginia it ranged 5.0-9.0 mg/kg and in orientals Basma, Kabakulak and Samsun 8.0-12.0 mg/kg (Metsi et al., 2002). The values determined for the leaf concentration in our study are higher than those indicated in some scientific

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sources (Adamu et al, 1989; Gondola and Kadar, 1993), but they are within the limits of the normal concentration of the element in the plants 0.1-10 mg/kg (Kabata and Pendias, 1984). The chromium contents varied significantly in each farmers and priming groups. According to two years results, chromium contents changed from 4.37-28.60 ppm as shown in Table 3. The highest value for chromium contents was obtained for D1 farmers (13.75 ppm) and while for H3 (28.60 ppm) in the second year.
Table 3. Chromium Contents of Aegean Region Tobaccos (ppm)
2004 Farmers M1 H1 H2 H3 S1 S2 A1 A2 D1 Average
LSD(p<0.05) (Farmer) LSD:Least significant

2005 Ave. 7.18c 6.27d 9.75a 7.82b 5.12e 5.47e 7.62b 7.65b 10.00a 7.43b
(YxP) 0.236

1st 7.95c 7.25cd 10.10a 4.37g 4.60g 5.60f 6.25ef 6.70de 9.25b 6.90c
difference

Primings 2nd 3rd 6.10de 7.50c fg 5.10 6.45de c 7.30 11.85a 8.60b 10.50b g 4.55 6.20e 5.40ef 5.40f b 9.30 7.30c d 6.40 9.85b 13.75a 7.00cd b 7.39 8.01a
(Priming) 0.167

1st 17.55d 4.43h 22.25a 15.20e 7.00g 11.10f 20.10b 20.60b 19.20c 15.27c
(FxY) 0.409

Primings 2nd 17.30e 5.21h 27.60b 28.60a 20.30c 9.30g 20.70c 15.10f 19.10d 18.13a
(FxYxP) 0.709

3rd 2.80f 6.40i 3.70c 4.30bc 1.60g 8.20h 9.20d 4.70a 8.00e 6.54b

Ave. 15.88e 5.35h 24.52a 22.70b 12.97f 9.53g 20.00c 20.13c 18.77d 16.65a

Years Ave. 11.53e 5.81h 17.13a 15.26b 9.04f 7.50g 13.81d 13.90d 14.38c

0.289 (Year) 0.136

Cadmium examination of the tobacco was intensified in the past decade mainly due to its possible association with health issues. The content of cadmium is presented in Table 4. In 2004, the average content of cadmium exceed 1.00 ppm only in tobacco sample in A1 where it achieved 1.02 ppm (Table 4). The lowest cadmium content (0.10 ppm) was noted in H3 and S2 farmers. In the second year of this study, maximum cadmium content was observed in A2 farmers (1.10 ppm) while minimum cadmium content was found in S1 (0.43 ppm). The cadmium content in tobacco is 3 ppm (Tso, 1990). The cadmium content ranged from 0.22 to 4.53 ppm (Gondola and Kadar, 1993); 1.0-3.4 ppm (Adamu et al., 1989) and lower than 2 ppm (Bell et al., 1992).
Table 4. Cadmium Contents of Aegean Region Tobaccos (ppm)
2004 Farmers M1 H1 H2 H3 S1 S2 A1 A2 D1 Average
LSD(p<0.05) (Farmer) 0.083 LSD:Least significant difference

2005 Ave. 0.15 0.15d 0.29c 0.10d 0.12d 0.10d 1.02a 0.60b 0.67b 0.36b
(YxP) 0.068 d

1st 0.30b 0.32b 0.34b 0.08b 0.20ab 0.05b 0.90a 0.40b 0.30b 0.32b
(Priming)

Primings 2nd 0.10c 0.06c 0.10c 0.12c 0.10c 0.06c 0.80ab 0.60b 0.90a 0.32b

3rd 0.06d 0.08d 0.44c 0.10d 0.07d 0.20d 1.36a 0.80b 0.80b 0.43a
0.048

1st 0.60ef 1.30ab 0.70de 1.10bc 0.40f 0.70de 1.50a 0.90cd 0.80de 0.89a
(FxY) 0.118

Primings 2nd 0.50e 0.70de 1.30ab 0.60e 0.60e 0.90cd 1.30ab 1.50a 1.10bc 0.94a
(FxYxP) 0.204

3rd 0.30d 1.00a 0.90a 0.60bc 0.30d 0.60bc 0.40cd 0.90a 0.80ab 0.64b

Ave. 0.47f 1.00bcd 0.97cd 0.78e 0.43f 0.73e 1.07ab 1.10a 0.90d 0.83a

Years Ave. 0.31e 0.58c 0.63c 0.43d 0.28e 0.42d 1.04a 0.85b 0.78b

(Year) 0.039

The values of cobalt content range from 5.45 ppm to 1.10 ppm in 2004 and 4.10 ppm to 1.60 ppm in 2005 (Table 5). In our study the concentration of cobalt are found to be higher than the other scientific source (Tso, 1990; Paunescu et al., 2004; URL, 1). The average zinc concentration in our study was between 43.9 and 128.5 ppm where the lowest values were measured in H1 and the highest in A1 farmers in 2004 respectively zinc concentrations varied from 61.2 to 142.1 ppm in 2005 (Table 6).
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Table 5. Cobalt Concents of Aegean Region Tobaccos (ppm)
Farmers M1 H1 H2 H3 S1 S2 A1 A2 D1 Average
LSD(p<0.05) (Farmer) 0.385 LSD:Least significant difference

1st 2.49b 1.73b 2.10b 5.45a 1.63b 1.80b 2.00b 2.20b 2.00b 2.38a
(Year) 0.182

2004 Primings 2nd 3rd ab 1.60 1.98bc b 1.10 1.68c 1.69ab 3.10a b 1.13 2.70ab 1.40b 1.80bc b 1.30 1.60c a 2.40 2.20abc 1.60ab 2.10bc a 2.50 2.00bc b 1.64 2.13a
(YxP) 0.315

Ave. 2.02bc 1.50c 2.29b 3.09a 1.61c 1.57c 2.20b 1.97bc 2.17b 2.05b
(FxY) 0.545

1st 1.80cd 3.25ab 2.60bc 1.70cd 1.60d 1.60d 4.10a 3.10b 4.10a 2.65a
(FxYxP) 0.944

2005 Primings 2nd 3rd c 1.70 1.70b ab 3.30 1.80b 1.90c 2.10b 3.30ab 2.00b 2.40bc 1.60b c 1.80 1.60b bc 2.40 1.60b 1.80c 2.30b 3.80a 3.50a a 2.49 2.02b

Ave. 1.73e 2.78b 2.20cde 2.33bcd 1.87de 1.67e 2.70bc 2.40bcd 3.80a 2.39a

Years Ave. 1.88de 2.14cd 2.25cd 2.71ab 1.74e 1.62e 2.45bc 2.18cd 2.98a

(Priming) 0.222

Table 6. Zinc Concents of Aegean Region Tobaccos (ppm)

Farmers 1 M1 H1 H2 H3 S1 S2 A1 A2 D1 Average
LSD(p<0.05) (Farmer) LSD: Least significant st

90.6c 65.5f 44.2h 81.9d 72.8e 76.0e 102.8b 60.0g 123.3a 79.6c

2004 Primings 2nd 3rd de 70.4 80.4e g 58.4 43.9g 98.1c 90.6d 111.1b 97.8c d 71.9 100.9c 63.3f 109.8b a 128.5 69.2f 66.2ef 79.7e c 98.4 116.9a b 85.1 87.6a
(Year) 0.882 1.080 (YxP)

Ave. 80.4d 55.9g 77.6e 96.9c 81.8d 83.0d 100.1b 68.6f 112.8a 84.1b
1.527 (FxY)

95.2e 135.2b 116.2c 100.1d 119.6c 87.1f 140.9a 61.5g 61.2g 101.8b
2.645

st

2005 Primings 2nd 3rd b 129.2 122.8c a 139.5 120.5c 140.4a 142.1a f 93.0 131.5b e 100.1 112.8d 77.9h 94.6f c 124.4 110.9d 119.6d 103.2e 86.1g 76.9g a 112.2 112.8a
(FxYxP) 4.580

Ave. 115.7c 131.7a 132.9a 108.2d 110.8d 86.5f 125.4b 94.7e 74.7g 108.9a

Years Ave. 98.1d 93.8e 105.2b 102.5c 96.3d 84.7f 112.8a 81.7g 93.8e

1.870 (Priming) difference

The content of zinc in plant material usually ranges 20-100 mg/kg. The main source of zinc for plants is the soil, where it ranges from 10 to 300 ppm. Zinc mobility in soil is low and it is proportionally taken by plants, depending on the available quantities in soil solution and on plant species. In tobacco, the usual rate of zinc is 85 ppm. In the other studies, zinc contents in Aegean tobaccos, changed within the ranges of 18-54 ppm (Gloval and Gndz 1982) and 18-84 ppm (Irget 1995). Although its functions were not well known in the plants, the deficiency of micro elements in soil affects the growth, development and the leaf quality adversely (Tso 1990).
Table 7. Nickel Contents of Aegean Region Tobaccos (ppm)
Farmers M1 H1 H2 H3 S1 S2 A1 A2 D1 Average
LSD(p<0.05) 0.261 LSD:Least significant difference (Farmer)

1 9.83a 9.94a 9.88a 9.60a 7.40c 8.60b 6.00d 7.40c 6.90c 8.39a
(Priming)

st

2004 Primings 2nd 3rd 7.00d 9.80a c 7.90 9.35a a 9.85 7.30c 7.80c 9.88a d 6.40 8.20b 6.80d 6.58d a 9.60 6.70cd d 6.60 8.50b 8.60b 7.00cd c 7.83 8.14b
0.151

Ave. 8.88a 9.06a 9.00a 9.09a 7.33b 7.33b 7.43b 7.50b 7.50b 8.13b
(YxP) 0.213

9.60ab 9.55b 10.20a 9.85ab 7.59b 9.40b 9.79ab 9.23b 7.08b 9.14a
(FxY) 0.369

st

2005 Primings 2nd 3rd 9.50c 9.20c ab 10.25 10.10b a 10.65 10.80a 10.35ab 10.85a bc 9.73 9.40c 9.35c 8.50d 9.85bc 7.20e d 6.58 9.50bc 6.80d 7.70e a 9.22 9.25a
(FxYxP) 0.640

Ave. 9.43c 9.97b 10.55a 10.35a 8.91d 9.08cd 8.95d 8.44e 7.19f 9.21a

Years Ave. 9.15c 9.52b 9.78a 9.72ab 8.12d 8.20d 8.19d 7.97d 7.35e

(Year) 0.123

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH
According to the results nickel content was the lowest of A1 at 1st priming (6.00 ppm) and it achieved higher value of H1 and 1st priming (9.94 ppm) in 2004. On the other hand, it observed the highest value of H3 farmers at 3rd priming (10.85 ppm) and reached the lowest value of A2 at 2nd priming (6.58 ppm) in 2005 (Table 7). The values were similar to the other scientific source (Bell et al, 1992). According to theirs result, nickel content for oriental tobaccos are found 6-19 ppm. Conclusion Heavy metal contents of the tobacco samples varied in Turkish Aegean tobaccos according to the farmers (quality grades), years and also, priming groups and significant differences among the farmers were determined in trace elements in tobacco. The contents of heavy metals in the leaves of the Aegean tobacco were in accordance with the data, given in the other scientific sources and they are within the limits of the leaf concentrations in tobacco plants, which are considered normal. Acknowledgements The authors are thankful to Enviromental Engineer Mberra ELBEYL, Director of the Department for Water Plants and the Laboratory of General Management of Water Supply and Sewerage of Izmir Municipality.
References Adamu C A, Mulchi, C L and Bell P F (1989). Relationship between soil pH, clay, organik matter and CEC (cation exchange capacity) and heavy metal concentrations in soils and tobacco. Tobacco Science, 33: 96-100. Akgz N, lker E and Gkl A (2004). Biyolojik aratrmalarn bilgisayarda deerlendirilmesi. Ege niversitesi Tohum Teknoloji Uygulama ve Aratrma Merkezi. Yayn No: 2 Bornova/zmir. Bell P F, Mulchi C Z and Chaney R Z (1992). Microelement concentration in Maryland air-cured tobacco. Commun soil science plant analysis., 23 (13-14): 1617-1628. Bojinova R, Georgiev B, Krasteva V, Chuldgian H and Stanislavova L (1994). A study related to the degree of heavy metals contamination of soils and crops in the area of matallurgic factory D. Blagoev. Soil Science Agrochemistry and Ecology, 4-6, 32-35. Camas N, Karabulut B and Karabulut A (2007). The elemental analysis of some important tobacco varieties (Nicotiana tabacum L.) by using WDXRF spectroscopy. Asian Journal of Chemistry 19 (5): 3971-3978. Gondola I and Kadar I (1993). Relationship of heavy metal concentrations in flue-cured tobacco leaf to certain enviromental factors in Hungary. Coresta Meeting Agro-Phyto Groups, Budapest. Gloval M C and Gndz G (1982). Trace elements in Turkish tobacco determined by instrumental neutron activation analysis. Journal Radioanalytical Chemistry 78 (1):189-198. Irget E (1995). zmir ilinde yetitirilen karabaglar 6265 ttn grubunun beslenme durumu ile kimi kalite zellikleri arasndaki ilikiler. Ege niversitesi Fen Bilimleri Enstits Toprak Anabilim Dal. Bornova/zmir. Kacar B (1972). Chemical Analysis of plant soil. I. Plant analysis. Agriculture Faculty of Ankara University No: 453, Ankara. Kabata P and Pendias A H (1984). Trace elements in soils and plants, 2nd ed; CRC Pres:Boca Raton, FL, 424. Kabata P and Pendias A H (1992). Trace elements in soils and plants. 2nd Edn., Lewis Pub. Inc. Boca Raton, FL., pp:365. Metsi T H, Tsotsolis N, Barbayiannis N, Miele S and Bargiacchi E (2002). Heavy metal levels in soils, irrigation waters and five tobacco types. Results of four year survey of the main tobacco areas of Greece and North Italy. Coresta Congress, New Orleans. Nitsch A, Kalcher K, Greschonig H and Pietsch R (1991). Heavy metals in tobacco and tobacco smoke, N. Trace metals cadmium, lead, copper, cobalt and nickel in Austrian cigarettes and in particle phase and smoke gas. Beitr Tabakforsh, 15 (1), str. 19-32 Paunescu A D, Paunescu M, Pancu A and Carnici M, (2004). The role of heavy metals in the soil upon the technological, chemical and smoking qualities of tobacco. Coresta Congress. Agro-Phyto Groups. Pelivanoska V (2007). Investigation of tobacco contamination by heavy metals in the Bitola region. Proceedings 43rd Croatian and 3rd International Symposiumon agriculture. Opatija. Crotia. pp: 106-110. Sekin S, Pekssl A and Kkzden R, (2002). Macro and micro element contents of Izmir tobaccos related with quality. The second Balkan scientific conference quality and efficiency of the tobacco production, treatment and processing. Plovdiv/Bulgaria. Tso T C (1990). Production physiology and biochemistry of tobacco plant. USA. URL 1. http://www.univagro-iasi.ro

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH

Effects of Some Solid Wastes from Medicinal and Aromatic Plant Factory used for Canola Growth on Soil Properties and Fertility
Mzeyyen Seer1, mer Ltf Elmaci1, afak Ceylan2 Department of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, Faculty of Agriculture, Ege University, 35100-Bornova, zmir, Turkey. oelmaci@hotmail.com 2 demi Vocational Training Scholl of Ege University, 35750-demi, zmir, Turkey
1

Abstract
Oregano and cumin solid factory wastes were composted separately for 7.5 months and used in canola vegetation experiment as soil conditioner and organic fertilizer. The physical and chemical properties of these wastes were determined before and after composting. Canola (Brassica napus L.) experiment was performed on 12 plots per 6 m2 and was conducted as 4 treatments with composted oregano and cumin wastes, mineral fertilization and control in three replications. In soils, at the beginning and the end of the experiment physical, chemical properties and macro nutrients were determined. Compared with the beginning of the vegetation, pH and total soluble salt of the soils did not change although CaCO3 and organic matter percentages increased especially in oregano wastes applicated plots at the end of the vegetation. In these plots statistically highest CaCO3 and organic matter were observed. At the end of the vegetation only nitrogen showed statistical differences between the applications and was highest in cumin wastes applicated soils fallowed by oregano wastes applicated soils. High Ca content of oregano wastes applicated plots which have also high CaCO3 content is remarkable. At the end of the vegetation; N, P, K, Mg and Na levels of soils increased and available Ca considerably decreased. Keywords: Oregano and cumin wastes, Canola, Soil nutrient content, Soil properties, Agro-industrial Wastes

Introduction Nowadays, as concerns are raised because fossil energy sources oil, coal, naturgas are becoming extinct, humanity is forced to find other energy sources. The use of alternative energy sources can reduce air pollution and improve public health and health economy. Among the renewable energy sources the greatest potential belongs to the biomass which is rich in carbonhydrate compounds. Besides sunflower, palm and soya bean, canola is the most important biomass with respect to biodiesel production. Germany is leader in biodiesel production of the world with 1.4 million ha Canola growth area and this accounts for 96% of all oily plants growth area (Marquard, 2006). As a developing country, Turkeys potential of biomass energy should be taken into consideration and Canola growth must be increased. Because of the insufficiency of the organic matter in the soil, the use of organic residues, by-products or wastes is gaining high importance to improve soil fertility. Several industrial residues have relatively high concentrations of nutrients and they could arrange physical and chemical properties of the soils. Many studies have been done on the effect of agroindustrial wastes on soil characteristics and fertility. Some of them are; Sing et al. (2005) who used pressed sludge, melasses and rice husk, Steponavicius (2005) sludge of milk production, Stepkowsha et al. (2001) compost of olive oil sludges, Elmac et al.(2003) some solid and liquid agro-industrial wastes and Kl et al. (2002) tobacco wastes. According to Elmac et al. (2005) the application of production residues of cumin and oregano to the soil increased the microbiological activity of the soil mostly with cumin wastes, although mineral fertilizer application had no effect on microbial biomass and activity in the soil. The use of medicinal and aromatic plants is widespread in the world in many branches of industry. Turkey supplies 70% of the worlds oregano and have many processing factories (Kayhan, 1991). The wastes of these factories cause some problems with respect to storage requirements. It would be logical to evaluate these wastes for the nutrition of canola, which is the dominant oil plant for biodiesel production. Analyses of changes in soil properties and fertility with the use of composted oregano and cumin factory wastes was the main subject of this study. Materials and Methods A field experiment was conducted with canola plants (Brassica napus L.) using 7.5 months separately composted solid wastes from Kta Medicinal and Aromatic Plant Factory in the

682

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH demi district of zmir province in Turkey. Three samples were taken from each waste type (cumin and oregano) and analysed for their physical and chemical properties before and after composting. The pH, total soluble salt (Anonymous, 1954), organic matter (Anonymous, 1994) and Total N (Bremner, 1965) contents of the wastes were determined. For the determination of macronutrients the samples of wastes were wet digested (HNO3:HClO4; 4:1) (Kacar, 1984). In the extractions, the content of P was determined by colorimeter (Lott et al., 1956), that of K, Ca and Na by flame photometer and that of Mg by AAS (Atomic Absorption Spectrometry) (Hanlon, 1992). In soils of the field experiment at the beginning of the vegetation physical, chemical properties and macro nutrients were determined. In these soils besides pH (Jackson, 1967), total soluble salt (Anonymous, 1951), CaCO3 (Kacar, 1995), organic matter content (Reuterberg and Kremkus, 1951), texture (Bouyoucos, 1962) and total N content (Bremner, 1965) were analysed. The amounts of available K, Ca and Na in the soil were determined by flame photometer and Mg was determined by AAS (Jackson, 1967) after extraction with 1 N NH4OAC (Anonymous, 2004). Available P was measured by colorimeter in extract with distilled water (Bingham, 1962). The field experiment was conducted in 9.11.2006 using coincident block design with three blocks and four plots (each of 6 m2) per block. For comparing of the cumin and oregano wastes additionally mineral fertilizer and control plots were arranged. The composted wastes (4 t da-1) were incorporated into the soil at a depth of 15-20 cm before planting. Mineral fertilizers were applied at recommended doses of 20 kg N da-1, 6 kg P2O5 da-1 and 20 kg K2O da-1. 1/3 of the N doses and the whole of the P and K were given as 15:15:15, NH4NO3 (%33 N) and in the form of K2SO4 at planting and another 1/3 part of the N was given at begin of the vegetation (5.2.2006) and 3. N dose was given two weeks later than second application (20.2.2006) as NH4NO3. Brassica napus (L.) was planted in each plot in 8 rows with 30 cm in between the rows and 5-7 cm above the rows. At the end of the vegetation on 19.6.2007 soil samples were taken from all plots at a depth of 0-20 cm and changes in physical, chemical properties and macro nutrients were determined. Statistical analyses were made using the Tarist 4.01 DOS (Tarist, 1994) package. The data was analysed by one-factor coincidental block design and variance analysis was applied. Mean values were separated according to the least Significant Difference method at p 0.01. Results and Discussion According to Table 1 which gives some physical and chemical properties of cumin and oregano wastes before composting, the cumin waste has stronger acidity (5.2) than oregano wastes (5.7). These are among the best recommended pH values given as 5.2-6.0 for the plant nutrition. The cumin waste has twofold salt value than oregano wastes. We expect that these wastes wont cause salinity problem because of the dilution effect of the wastes applicated soils. But their controlled use and especially the use of composted wastes are recommended in salinized soils. Organic matter percentages of cumin and oregano wastes are 89 and 96 respectively. Before composting twofold higher C/N value of oregano than cumin wastes is interesting. For a good composting process C/N value of 20-40 are recommended (etin et al., 2004). Table 1. Some physical and chemical properties of cumin and oregano wastes before composting.
pH (1:10 water) Cumin wastes Oregano wastes 5.2 5.7 EC (dS m ) 51 23 3.2 1.5
-1

Salt

Organic Matter (%) 89 96

Organik C

C/N

P (%)

45 48

28 63

1.62 0.76

0.08 1.7 0.15 1.6

Although percentage of K in two wastes doesnt differ, N percentage is twofold higher in cumin and P percentage is twofold higher in oregano wastes. After composting from 7.5 months the physical and chemical properties and macronutrients contents of wastes changed as shown in Table 2.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH

pH (1:10 water) Cumin wastes Oregano wastes 8.3 7.4

EC (dS m-1) 18 15 Salt

Organic Matter (%) 42 32

Organic C

C/N

K %

Ca

Mg

Na (mg kg-1) 500 500

1.2 1.0

24 19

12 12

2.0 0.39 1.9 1.9 0.28 1.6 0.21 1.4 1.5 0.16

Table 2. Some physical and chemical properties of cumin and oregano wastes after composting. With composting pH values of wastes increased slightly and became slightly alkali (7.4) to medium alkali (8.3) for oregano and cumin wastes respectively. After composting; other properties such as EC, salt, organic matter, organic C and C/N values decreased in both wastes. From the macronutrients K did not change meaningfully while N and P contents of cumin and oregano wastes increased with composting. Generally cumin wastes have higher Ca and Mg values than oregano wastes whereas Na content was equal in both wastes. Table 3 represents the physical and chemical properties and macronutrients content of the experimental soil. This soil was neutral, has no salinity problem, was low in CaCO3 and organic matter and had a loamy sandy texture. Table 3. Physical and chemical characteristics and macronutrients of the experimental soil (0-20 cm depth). Properties pH Total soluble salt CaCO3 Sand Loam Clay Texture Organic Matter Toplam N Available P K Ca Mg Na Units % % % % % % % mg kg-1 mg kg-1 mg kg-1 mg kg-1 mg kg-1 Value 7.05 <0.03 0.66 79 17 4 Loamy-sand 1.09 0.05 8.41 110 830 139 14.4

Regarding macronutrients the total N and available Mg contents of the soil were at medium level while available K and Ca were low (Gne et al.,2000) and the soil was rich in P (Chapmann and Pratt,1961). Akdemir et al. (1997) observed 11.4 mg kg-1 of available P in this regions soils, and Oktay et al. (1997) observed 12.5 mg kg-1. After vegetation period of canola plant the changes in soils physical and chemical properties such as macronutrients contents are shown in Table 4. With respect to pH values of soil except mineral fertilized plot (6.7) there were no difference between the treatments (7.0). Compared with the beginning of the vegetation, the applications had no effect on pH and total soluble salt content of the soil. The similar effect was also demonstrated by Elmaci et al. (2008) with cumin and oregano wastes applied for cotton nutrition. The fact that the total soluble salt value in the control and oregano and cumin treatments was equal indicated that the wastes carried no risk with respect to salinity.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Table 4. Physical and chemical properties and macronutrient content of treated soils (0-20 cm) after harvest.
Total soluble salt Treatments Control Mineral fertilizer Cumin wastes Oregano wastes Minimum Maximum LSD ns: non significant pH 7.0 6.7 7.0 7.0 6.7 7.0 ns. < 0.0.3 < 0.0.3 < 0.0.3 < 0.0.3 < 0.0.3 < 0.0.3 ns. Organic CaCO3 Matter (%) 1.35 ab 1.97 b 1.34 ab 2.18 ab 1.17 b 2.78 a 1.63 a 2.83 a 1.17 1.97 1.63 2.83 0.31** 0.671* **: p<0.01 Total N 0.071 b 0.062 b 0.097a 0.081ab 0.062 0.097 0.023* P 8 11 13 12 8 13 ns. A v a i l a b l e K Ca Mg (mg kg-1) 145 162 221 159 246 201 215 290 274 252 426 215 145 162 201 252 426 274 ns. ns. ns. Na 35 34 41 40 34 41 ns.

*: p<0.05

During the vegetation, CaCO3 and organic matter percentages of soils increased at least by twofold nearly in all treatments. At the end of the vegetation statistical differences were observed between the applications in respect of CaCO3 (p<0.01) and organic matter (p<0.05) percentages of soils. As expected oregano and cumin wastes had statistically most increasing effect on organic matter percentages of soil. Elmac et al. (2008) indicated highest organic matter increase in oil-free oregano applicated soils planted with cotton. Bahtiyar (1999) states that organic wastes from different origins have recently been used as soil amendment to increase or regulate organic matter content in the soil. At the end of the vegetation only total N percentage of soils was affected significantly from the applications. Cumin wastes have most pronounced effect on total N content of the soil while oregano wastes have also statistical increasing effect on it. The positive significant effect of both wastes on total N of soil are well correlated with their higher organic matter content. Although not at significant level, other macronutrients such as P, K, Ca, Mg and Na contents of soil were almost higher in oregano or cumin wastes applicated plots than the others. Highest Ca content of oregano applicated soils after harvest is well correlated with highest CaCO3 percentage of these soils. Elmac et al. (2008) found p<0.001 significant higher level of Ca in oregano wastes applicated cotton soils. Compared with the beginning of the vegetation, wastes applications increased N, P, K, Mg and Na content of soils while available Ca content decreased considerably at the end of the vegetation. References Akdemir, H., Oktay, M., rget, M. E., Hakerlerler, H., Atl, H., cel, T. (1997). Effect of nitrogen rates on potato yield, quality and mineral composition. E.. Zir. Fak. Dergisi 34, 1-8. Anonymous. (1951). U.S. Soil Survey Staff, Soil Survey Manual, U.S. Dept. Agr. Handbook 18, U.S. Govt. Printing Office, Washington DC, USA. Anonymous. (1954). Diagnosis Improvement of Saline and Alkali Soils, Agr. Handbook, U.S. Salinity Lab. Staff., U.S.Govth. Printing Office, Washington DC., No:60, p:19 Anonymous. (1994). Methodenbuch zur Analyse von Kompost. Bundesgtegemeinschaft Kompost e.V. November Anonymous.(2004). Soil Survey Laboratory Methods Manual, Edited by Burt, R. U.S. Dept. of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service, Soil survey Investigations Report No:42 version 4.0. Bahtiyar, M., (1999). Our soils, problems and recommendations. Tema Dergisi, 21, 24. Bingham, F.T., (1962). Chemical soil tests for available phosphorus. Soil Sci. 94: pp.87-95. Bouyoucos, G. J., (1962). Hydrometer method improved for making particle size analysis of soil. Agronomy J., Vol. 54 No:5. Bremner, J. M. (1965). Total Nitrogen. in Black, C.A., Evans, D.D., White, J.L., Ensminger, L.E.,Clark, F.E. and Dinauer, R.C. (Eds.): Methods of Soil Analysis Part 2 Chemical and Microbiological Properties, Am. Soc. of Agron., Madison, Wisc. Agron Ser., Vol. 9,1149 1237.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Chapman, H.D., and Pratt, P. F., (1961). Methods of analysis for soils, plants and waters. University of California, Division of agricultural sciences. etin, C. S., Ekinci, K., Haktanr, K. (2004). The technic of Compost. Karaman, M. R., Brohi, A.R. (Editors:) Trkiye 3. Ulusal Gbre Kongresi, Tar m Sanayi evre, 11-13 Ekim, Tokat, 1313-1348. Elmac, . L., Seer, M., Ceylan, ., Akdemir, H. (2003). Possibility of using solid- liquidorganic- inorganic- production residues as fertilizer in plant growth. Ege niversity Scientific Research Project Report. Proje No:99-ZRF-38 Bornova zmir, 1-78. Elmac, . L., Seer, M., Okur, N., Ceylan, ., Akdemir, H., Kaykolu, H., (2005). Effects of solid wastes of medicinal and aromatic plant factories on microbiological activity of soil and growth, yield and quality of cotton. Ege niversity Scientific Research Project Report.. Proje No:03-ZRF-54 Bornova zmir, s:1-74. Elmac, . L., Seer, M., Ceylan, ., Akdemir, H., (2008). Effects of solid wastes of medicinal and aromatic plant factories on soil properties and cotton yield and quality. 4. Ulusal Bitki Besleme ve Gbre Kongresi Bildiriler Kitab, 8-10 Ekim 2008 Konya, 497-508. Gne, A., Alpaslan, M., nal, A., (2000). Plant Nutrition and Fertilization. Ank. ni. Zir. Fak. Yay. No:1514, S:199. Hanlon, E. A. (1992). Determination of total Manganese, Iron, Copper and Zinc in Plants by Atomic Absorption Techniques. in C. Oven Plank (Ed.) Plant Analysis Reference Procedures for the Southern Region of the United States. Southern Cooperative Series Bulletin 368. May. Jackson, M. L., (1967). Soil chemical analysis, prentice hall of India private limited. New Delhi. Kacar, B. (1984). Practice Guide of Plant Nutrition, Ankara ni. Zir. Fak. Yay. 900, Uygulama Klavuzlar: 214. Kacar, B., (1995). Soil Analysis: Chemical analysis of plant and soil III, Ankara ni., Zir. Fak., Eitim Ara. ve Gelitirme Vakf Yaynlar, 81-86. Kayhan, C. (1991) Medicinal and aromatic plants. Research projects working group meeting. Speaker, Ege Tarmsal Aratrma Enst. Menemen, zmir (Unpublished). Kl, K., Saltal, K., Src, A.K. (2002). The Effect of Tobacco Waste Application on the Physical and Chemical Properties of Alkaline Soils. Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry, 26(2), 87-91. Lott, W. L., Nery, J. P., Gall, J. R., Medcoff, J. C. (1956). Leaf Analysis Technique in coffe research, I.B.E.C. Research Inst. Publish No:9. Marquard, R. (2006). Rapsanbau fr die Kraftstoffproduktion. Enerji Bitkileri ve Yeil Yaktlar Sempozyumu, 14-15 Aralk 2006 Bornova-ZMR, 7-14. Oktay, M., Akdemir, H., Hakerlerler, H., rget, M. E., Atl, H., Ar, Y. (1997). Effect of applying different form and doses of potassium on yield and some quality characteristics of potato. E.. Zir. Fak. Dergisi 34(1-2), 81-88. Reuterberg, E., und Kremkus, F., (1951) Bestimmung von Gesamthumus und Alkalischen Humusstoffen im Boden, Z. Pflanzenernaehr. Dng. und Bodenkd. Verlag Chemie GmbH. Weinheim. Singh, S., Singh, D., Gupta, D. C. (2005). Influence of agro-industrial wastes on the macro and micro- nutrients of three types of soil before and after their incorporation. Environment and Ecology, 23(2), 252-254. Stepkowska, E. T., Maqueda, C., Morillo, E., Lopez, R., Perez-Rodriguez, J. L. (2001). Changes in physico-chemical properties of soils fertilized by agro-industrial residues. Fresenius Environmental Bulletin, 10(3), 300-304. Steponavicius, A. (2005). Accumulation of sludge during the treatment of wastewater from milk processing companies and its application as a soil fertilizer. Research for rural development. Int. Scientific conference proceedings, Jelgava, Latvia, 19-22 May 2005, 73-76. Tarist. (1994). General Statistic, Version 4.01 DOS, Ege Ormanclk Aratrma, E..Z.F. Tarla Bitkileri ZMR.

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The Effects on Chlorophyll Content of CO2 Enrichment in Camarosa Strawberry Cultivar (Fragaria x ananassa Duch.var. Camarosa) Grown Under High Tunnel**
.Nalan AKAROLU, Saime SEFEROLU2
Adnan Menderes niversitesi, Sultanhisar M.Y.O, Aydn-TURKEY. Corresponding author: snakaroglu@adu.edu.tr

Abstract
In this study, the effect of the three different CO2 doses (500 ppm, 700 ppm and 1000 ppm) on strawberry (Fargaria xannanasa Duch. var Camarosa) plants on chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and total cholorophll content was examined. Camarosa strawberry cultivar were grown high plastic tunnels in the Vocational School of Sultanhisar. Results showed that the values chlorophyl pigments were increased in all CO2 doses when compared to the control. The highest values of chlorophyl pigments were determined in plants receiving 1000 p.p.m. compared to the 500 ppm, the 700 ppm . Keywords: Strawberry, CO2 enrichment, chlorophyll content

Introduction The strawberry culture (Fragaria x ananassa Duch.) is one of the most widespread fruit production in the world. Its production is increasing in the last years in Turkey since it is a good income sources for small family-farming. Yield is lower in spite of the fact that the strawberry production fields have increase.There are two direct approaches for obtaining a high yield of strawberries; increasing the yield per plant, and increasing the cultavition density (Hayashi et.al., 2011). Increase in crop yield of CO2-enriched environments has been recorded in several experiments (zelik 1997; Deng and Woodward, 1998; Yongseub et.al, 1998; Aguilere et.al.2000; Segura et.al.2001;). Enoch et.al.(1976) studied strawberry plants growing under different levels of CO2 enrichment (900,1500, 3000 mol mol-1) in unheated greenhouse conditions. They noticed that under CO2 levels 900, 1500, 3000 mol mol-1 increased yield respectively 31,43 and 51 % in relation to the control treatment (300 mol mol-1 CO2 concentration) CO2 in the greenhouse vegetables cultivation are obtained three major resources for plants. These resources are air from outside, respiration that plants make and CO2 decomposed from organic materials in soil. CO2 proportion in the atmosphere of greenhouse can be increased by burning of propane, kerosene or natural gas or by directly granting of pure CO2. CO2 need of every plant shows variety. Dry matter formed by a plant in 1 m2 area per day requires 1.6 times as much CO2. This is equal to the amount of CO2 contained 20 m3 of air (Kaar et.al., 2002) Green plants on earth understood that produce 550 billion tons organic matter per year, by used 280 billion tons water and 690 billion tons carbon dioxide, thanks to photosynthesis, and that let out 550 billion tons oxygen into the air (Vardar, 1976). Carbon dioxide concentration of the atmosphere relatively is low as 360 ppm or 0,036 % as based on the principle of volume. On the one hand carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is constantly is used by green plants for photosynthesis and as a result of this concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere decreases, on the other hand different sources are constantly produce carbon dioxide (Kaar et.al., 2002). According to Scheferr et.al.(1999) due to the global carbon dioxide emissions, the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration is expected to each 600 mol mol-1 in the year 2050. The use of carbon dioxide to enrich the atmosphere in greenhouses has been studied since the beginning of the 20th century.According Mortensen(1987), in spite of intensive research in the European and the U.S. in relation with carbon dioxide enrichment started from the year 1900s, increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of greenhouse could not be realized in practice until the late 1950s. The main reasons for this are used soil which has rich organic materials and is an important source of carbon dioxide, and have been as a result pollution occurring during the burning hydrocarbons. In the 1960s, interest showing in the enrichment of carbon dioxide, the producers cant provide significant increases in plant growth and yield of plants and because of plants were damaged by danger gases (C2H4, CO, SO2), were decreased again. In the 1980s, carbon
This study contents a chapter of project (SUMYO-06001) supported by Adnan Menderes University, Scientific Projects Management Unit.
*

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH dioxide enrichment has gained popularity in greenhouses because of carbon dioxide sources and equipments of polluting less or not air have been developed, the concentration of carbon dioxide can be control in the greenhouse space and greenhouse's soils remain deprivation natural sources of carbon dioxide for started to be used inorganic growth media. With increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration on photosynthesis is thought to increase the amount of photosynthesis. However, carbohydrates in plants for the production of light energy must be absorbed sufficiently. There has mutual effect on photoseynthesis of the amount of light absorbed and carbon dioxide. In practice, external factors, such as light intensity, carbon dioxide and temperature depends on the conditions is possible to keep under control, but the internal factors, such as, chlorophyll contents and functions of protoplasmic of plants is not possible to keep under control (Kaar et.al.,2002) Chlorophylls are complex molecules arranging in light absorption, electron transfer, and energy transfer having a very convenient functions, in order to perform photosynthesis (Taiz and Zeiger,2008) Plant photosynthetic productivity is dependent on the environment, and thus is important in terms of product yields. This work was conducted to investigate the effect on leaf chlorophyll content of strawberry plants of CO2 in different doses (ambient, 500 ppm, 700 ppm, 1000 ppm), one of the factors playing an important role in plant growth and photosynthesis. Material and Method The study was conducted at the Sultanhisar Vocational school, experiment field, Sultanhisar, Aydn, Turkey, during the 2007 and 2008. Trials were conducted under four different high plastic tunnels of 60 m2 each. Material in this study has been created the Camarosa strawberry cultivar grown most widely in Sultanhisar. CO2 fertilization in gaseous form was passed through plastic pipes into strawberry tunnels. The amount of CO2 was automatically controlled by a solenoid valve and applied to 500 ppm for tunnel 1, 700 ppm for tunnel 2and 1000 ppm for tunnel 3, respectively. CO2 was applied into the half of the tunnels whereas the other half was not given CO2 as a control process during the vegetation period. Applications of CO2 were made from 6 to 8 a.m. (during two hours) in March, April and May in 2007 and 2008. Amount of CO2 was measured by a Testo 535 CO2 analyzer. To prevent phytotoxicity from emerging in the plants, CO2 application was stopped when greenhouse temperatures exceeded 30Cin May 11th in 2007 and May 18th in 2008 (zelik,1997). Leaves samples were collected the 3rd leaf from bottom to top of plant between March and May in two years. 0.5 g of fresh leaf samples after added CaCO3 was homogenized using a porcelain mortar and resuspended in 10 ml of 80% acetone. 10 ml of 80% acetone was added in cholorophyll suspension fluid. Samples were left for 1 hour off the mouth at 4 C. Then 4 ml from chlorophyll extract was taken and final solution was completed volume 12 ml by 80% of acetone. The concentrations of cholorophyll a, b and total were determined by spectrophotometer at a wavelength of 645 and 663 (Arron 1941; Tohma 2007) Results and Discussion The average amounts of chlorophyll obtained leaves of plants been applied CO2 in 2007 and 2008 years fertilization was in 1sd and 2nd the table. Effects of CO2 enrichment on the chlorophyll in the study were found to be significant compared to control in both years. The highest values of chlorophyll pigments were determined in plants receiving 1000 ppm compared to the 500 ppm, the 700 ppm. Values of chlorophyll pigments in plant receiving 1000 ppm were obtained respectively chlorophyll a 28.03 mg L-1, chlorophyll b 12.67 mg L-1 and total chlorophyll 40.69 mg L-1

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Table 1. The average amounts of cholorophyll content in 2007 years (mg L-1)
Chlorophyll a Chlorophyll b Control 15.29 b 6.22 bc 500 ppm CO2 19.10 ab 7.83 b 700 ppm CO2 19.46 ab 7.86 b 1000 ppm CO2 28.03 a 12.67 a significance * * * Means followed by the same letters are not significantly different at P<0.05) Total chlorophyll 21.51 bc 26.93 b 27.32 b 40.69 a *

Table 2. The average amounts of cholorophyll content in 2008 years (mg L-1)
Chlorophyll a Chlorophyll b Control 23.57 b 10.26 b 500 ppm CO2 27.17 b 11.04 b 700 ppm CO2 27.76 a 14.59 b 1000 ppm CO2 28.02 a 16.97 a significance * * * Means followed by the same letters are significantly different =0.05) Total chlorophyll 33.83 b 38.21 ab 42.35 ab 44.99 a *

Kaar (1989) factors affecting forming of chlorophyll a and b arranged as genetic light, oxygen and carbohydrates, nitrogen, magnesium and other minerals, temperature, and water, and stated in a very closely related to chlorophyll synthesis in the plant the mechanism of the physiological changes that may occur in any way zelik (1997) was found no significant effect on chlorophyll a, b, and the total amounts in study investigating effects of 1000 ppm CO2. Researcher concluded that the values of the chlorophyll of the leaves had effectives of training packages in the form of culture rather than effectives of CO2. Plant cholorophyll content was noticed that was effective in physiological changes related to plant nutrition. CO2 enrichment was increased the chlorophyll content of strawberry leaves. This research concluded that CO2 enrichment can be cholorophyll a,b and total content. References AGUILERE,D., D. Mura, A. Ruiz, J.A. Fernandez, P.F. Martinez, N. Castilla, 2001. Effects of carbon dioxide enriched irrigation on yield of eggplant (Solanum melongona) production under greenhouse conditions. Acta Horticulturae 2001, No.559, 223-227; 17 ref. ARNON I.D., 1949. Copper Enzymes in isolated choloroplasts polyphenoloxidase in Beta vulgaris. Plant Physiology vol.24 Number 1 January 1949.p:1-16 DENG X., Woodward F.I.,1998. The growth and yield responses of Fragaria ananassa to elevated CO2 and N supply. Annals of Botany 81: 67-71 HAYASHI S., Saita S., Iwasaki Y., Yamamato S., Nogaya T., Kona K., 2011. Development of circulating-type movable bench systems for strawberry cultivation. JarQ 45(3), 285-293 (2011). ENOCH H., Rylksi I., Spilgeman M.,1976. CO2 enrichment of strawberry and cucumber plants grown in unheated greenhoses in Israel. Scientia Horticulturae V:5 p:33-41 KAAR B.,1989. Bitki Fizyolojisi. Ankara niversitesi Ziraat Fakltesi yaynlar Yayn no: 1153,sayfa 423. KACAR, B., A.V.Katkat, . ztrk, 2002. Bitki Fizyolojisi.Uluda niversitesi Glendirme Vakf Yayn No:198 VPA A.. Yayn No:74 BURSA MORTENSEN, L.M., 1987. CO2 Enrichment in the Greenhouses. Crop Responses. Scientia Hort. 33(1987)1-25 ZELK N.,1997. Seralarda toprakl ve topraksz ortamda yetitirilen domateslerde (Lycopersicum esculentum mill L.) zenginletirmenin vegetatif gelime ile verim ve kaliteye etkileri. Akdeniz niversitesi Fen Bilimleri Enstits. Doktora tezi,yaynlanmam SCHEFFER B., Whiley A.W., Searle C., 1999. Atmospheric CO2 enrichment, root restriction, photosynthesis, and dry-matter partitraning in subtropiacal and tropical fruit crops. HortScience V.34 p:1033-1037

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH SEGURA M.L., Para J.F., Lorenzo P., Sanchez-Guerra M.C., Medrano E.,2001. The effects of CO2 enrichment on cucumber growth under greenhouse conditions. Acta Horticulturae 559:4549.Spain, 2001 TAZ and Zeiger, 2010. Bitki Fizyolojisi. eviri Editr: Prof.Dr. smail Trkan, Palme Yaynclk, ANKARA. ISBN: 978-9944-341-61-5 TOHMA ., 2007. ilekte salisilik asit uygulamasnn tuz stresine dayankllk zerine etkileri. Yksek Lisans Tezi.baslmam.Atatrk niv.Fen Bilimleri Enstits, Erzurum, 2007. VARDAR Y.,1976. Bitki fizyolojisine giri. Ege niv.Fen Fakltesi kitaplar Serisi:19 Bornova-zmir 198 sayfa YONGSEUB, S., Hanwoo D., Sugon B., Sungkuk C., Boosull C., 1998. Effect of CO2 enrichment on quality and yield of Oriental melon (Cucumis melo L. Var. Makuwa Mak.) in greenhouse. RDA Journal of Agro Environment Sciense, 40:2,107-110; 8 ref.

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Effects on Plant Growth of Camarosa, Rubygem, Festival Strawberry Cultivars of Different Growth Cultures
.Nalan AKAROLU, Saime SEFEROLU, Vezin AKAY
Adnan Menderes niversitesi, Sultanhisar M.Y.O, Aydn-TURKEY. Corresponding author: snakaroglu@adu.edu.tr Abstract This study was carried out aim to determine effects different growth culture on the plant growth characteristics of Camarosa, Rubygem and Festival cultivars plants in the greenhouse of Sultanhisar Vocational School, Adnan Menderes University, Aydn. In this study were used frigo seedling of Camarosa, Rubygem and Festival cultivar. The plants of Festival cultivar were grown in soilles pots contaning different growth culture ( perlitte, peat, zeolit; perlit and peat(1:1 v/v), perlit+zeolit (1:1 v/v); peat+zeolit(1:1 v/v); perlitte, peat and zeolit (1:1:1 v/v). In this research aim to determine effects different growth culture on the plant growth parameters of plants of Camarosa, Rubygam and Festival cultivar were obtained fresh and dry weight of the whole plants, fresh and dry weight of roots, the lenght of roots, the leaf area, net assimilation rate (NAR), relative growth rate (RGR). It was found that different growth cultures affected the plant growth of of plants of Camarosa, Rubygem and Festival. Keywords: Strawberry, growth culture, plant growth

Introduction Dynamic and variable soil is efficient as long as it supplies the water and nutrients to plants. This power must not be limit adversely by physical, chemical and biological properties of soils affecting directly or indirectly the growth of plants (Kaar and Katkat, 1999). People have struggled to increase agricultural production with a view to feed a growing population and have begun to use various materials in agriculture. For this purpose, the use of wood ash, bone powder, horn, nail etc, besides material as gypsum, lime and marl were widespread (Kaar and Katkat, 1999). In recently year, growing media such as peat, the perlite, peat, vermiculite, zeolite, coco peat organic and inorganic materials has been used in order to find solutions to problems such as soil acidification, alkalinity, salinity, heavy metal accumulation, extinctions of plant nutrients, decrease the amount of organic matter, water saturation, compaction of creamy layer arising in developing agricultural systems of today. Plant growth and fruit quality and yield characteristics of these materials to study the effects on the are made of various investigations by many scientists as Albaho et al., 2009, Caso et al., 2009, Ghazvini et al.,2007, inkl, 2008, olak, 2000, Eltez and Yksel 2007, Jankauskiene and Brazaityte, 2008, ahin et al., 1998. The strawberries are one of our products made numerous researches over in order to explore the effect of different growing media. In order to grow strawberry, different substrates such as peat moss, coconut, perlite, rockwool and pine bark have been used. According to Lieten, peat has been the best substrate for hydroponic culture (Ghazvini et al., 2007). Turhan and Atilla (2004), found that using mixture of perlite and zeolit (1:1 ratio) to grow strawberry may be beneficial in their researches that studied effects of chloride application and different growth media on ionic composition in strawberry plants during vegetative phase. Strawberry carried out the production in the spring, at a time when there is almost no fruit in demand by consumers is an important horticultural plant. According to 2008 data, in open field and greenhouse conditions including strawberries in our country were yielded as 261 078 tones (Anonymous, 2009). Turkey is seen a steady increase in the production of strawberries due to have very an favorable ecology for the production of strawberries by the years. Strawberry has become an important export crop thanks to cultivar development studies, which has the attentive and high input costs production according to other fresh vegetables and fruits, and should reach a very fast from producer to the consumer as a risky activity for export. Turkey's 7% of strawberry production has been obtained Aydin. More than 50% of the strawberry production in Aydin province takes place Sultanhisar town. In this case, the Sultanhisar district is

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH made intensive strawberry production in the limited agricultural areas. Strawberry is one of important crop for export in Sultanhisar, Aydn. This study was conducted aim to investigate effects of organic and inorganic materials on vegetative development properties of Rubygam, Festival and Camarosa strawberry cultivars in order to maintain the productivity of strawberry plant. Material and Methods The study was conducted at the Sultanhisar Vocational school, experiment field, Sultanhisar, Aydn, Turkey, during twelve weeks, from October 20th, 2011 to January 12th, 2012. Material in this study has been created the Rubygam, Camarosa strawberry cultivars grown most widely in Sultanhisar. In the trial, frigo seedlings of Rubygam, Festival and Camarosa strawberry cultivars were used. Each frigo seedling the following medium in plastic pots which is top diameter 15 cm, bottom diameter 20 cm, depth 20 cm and have got the volume of 9800 ml were used as growing medium. 1st medium : perlit, 2nd medium : torf, 3nd medium : zeolit, 4rd medium : perlit + torf (1:1 v/v) 5th medium : torf+zeolit (1:1 v/v) 6th medium : perlit+zeolit (1:1 v/v) 7th medium : perlit+torf+zeolit (1:1:1 v/v) Hoagland solution was applied to all plants three times a week, approximate 200 ml per pot during investigation. Water was supplied to saturation for all plants on other days. Before plant samples in order to calculate fresh and dry of whole plant weight, lenght of root and leaf area were first carefully washed with tap water to remove contaminants on the surfaces of plants taken from each pot in the laboratory and then were launched distilled water three times. The plant samples were removed excess water with blotting paper, and then in these samples were measured the root lengths, fresh and dry of root, fresh and dry weight of leaves. The plant samples separeted components as root, stem, and leaves. Leaves from plant samples were taken from measurements of leaf area. Then the plant samples were kept for 48 hours in an oven at set 65 C. Plant samples were determined dry weight values. The mean relative growth rate (RGR) and net assimilation rate (NAR) fort the experimental period were calculated (zelik, 1997). The results obtained from the measurements of each studied feature were statistically analysed. The trial was randomized with 3 replications. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was carried out using SPSS statistical program. Results and Discussion Their effects on plant growth of Rubygam, Festival and Camarosa strawberry varieties of different growth media are given in Table 1. In this study was determined to be in terms of a statistically difference between growth media and whole plant, root length, root fresh weight, root dry weight, leaf area, net assimilation amounts and relation growth when plant growth parameters examined (Table 1). Changes in the amount of the root length, fresh and dry weight of root, fresh and dry weight of plant, leaf area, net assimilation and relative growth rates were investigated in order to determine whether the different media effects were effective on the different developments of vegetative organs of Rubygam, Festival and Camorasa strawberry cultivars. A significant effect of the substractes on vegetative development of strawberry plants was found in this study. The plants belonging to Rubygam, Camarosa and Festival strawberry cultivars had a significantly development in peat than those grown in the remaining substrates (Table 1). The greatest mean vegetative development was obtained in plants of all cultivar grown in peat while the lowest vegetative development was found in the plants of same cultivars in the perlite in terms of researching all parameters. According to Centliffe et al., material properties of substrate exhibite direct and indirect effects on plant physiology and production (Ghazvini et al., 2007). Peat was determined that was the best substrate as growing media when vegetative grow in terms of the fresh and the dry weight of root and whole plant, the length of the root were examined. This
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH media followed by the a substrate mixture peat with zeolite (1:1 v/v) and mixture peat with perlite (1:1 v/v) respectively. The best results in terms of fresh and dry weight root obtained from plants grown in peat, while the worst results were obtained from plants grown in perlite. Fresh weight of plants growing in peat was average 43,94 g. Plant dry weight in peat was 10,35 g. The lowest total leaf area was obtained from perlite culture as average 35,61 cm2 leaf area while in medium containing peat was grown plants that had 85,03 cm2 leaf area with regard to total plant leaf area. Calculated values of mathematical equations as net assimilation rate and the relative growth rate, as well as different plants have different reactions to different cultural practices also took the time factor, is used in order to more clearly compare and interpret (Eiyok, 1986). The lowest amount of net assimilation rate in terms of the total leaf area of plants was obtained from the perlite as 10,45 g/cm2/day while the highest value is obtained from peat as 18,89 g/cm2/day. Bannister (1980) stated that the relative growth rate is time-dependent expression the increase of weight of all the plants and that all plant organs and various organs beside all plant organs exhibit effects in the production of material, so that it is possible to determine the activity of plants and organs growing. The highest value of mean relative growth rate in growing medium containing peat were obtained as 22,53 g/g/day while the lowest value of mean relative growth rate were determined as 9,25 g/g/day. Positive results in this research carried out were obtained generally from media where the peat was included. As a result, the best results in relation to plant vegetative growth were obtained from peat while the perlite gave the lowest results in point of plant development properties. Among the researched substrates, peat was the most useful for the production strawberry. This substrate was followed by mixture peat with zeolit (1:1 v/v) and mixture peat with perlit (1:1 v/v), respectively. References Anonim, (2009). Tarm istatistikleri. http: //www.die.gov.tr/tarm istatistikleri Albaho, M.Bhat, N. Abo-Rezq,H. Thomas, B.(2009), Effect Of Different Substrantes On Growth And Yield Of Two Cultivars Of Capsicum Annum. European Journal of Scientific Research, ISSN 1450-216X Vol.28 No.2 (2009), pp227-233 Bannister,P. (1980), Introduction to physiological plant ecology. Chapter 3. Energy balance and gaseous exchanges in plants. 36-61. Blackball scientific publications, London.273 p. Caso, C.C, M. Rodriguez-Delfin, A. (2009). Effect of the Growing Media on the Strawberry Production in Column System. International Symposium on Soilless Culture and Hydroponic. ISHS Acta Horticulturae 843, pages 373-379. inkl, H.(2008), Farkl Organik ve norganik Ortamlarda Hyar Fidesi retimi. Tekirda Ziraat Faltesi Dergisi 2008 5(2) olak,A. (2000), Baz ilek eitlerinde Farkl Ortamlarn Verim ve Kaliteye Etkisi Yksek lisans tezi, St mam niversitesi Ziraat Fakltesi, Bahe Bitkileri Blm,Kahramanmara Eltez, R. Tzel, Y. (2007), Merdiven Tipi Sistemde Farkl Topraksz Tarm Tekiklerinin Sera ilek Yetitiriciliinde Verim ve Kaliteye Etkileri. Ege niversitesi Ziraat Fakltesi Dergisi 2007:44(1)15-27 Eiyok, D.(1986), Brio osenia Erkenci Karnabahar eidinde Farkl Uygulamalarn Tohum Verimine Etkileri zerine Aratrmalar. Ege niv.Ziraat Fak. Bahe Bitkileri Blm (Doktora tezi baslmam) Bornova-zmir Ghazvini, R.F. Payvast, G.Azarian, H. (2007), Effect of Clinoptilolitic-Zeolite and Perlite Mixtures on the Yield and Quality of Strawberry in Soil-less culture.International Agriculture and Biology, Vol.9 No.6, 885-888. Jankauskiene, J. Brazaityte,A.(2008), The influence of various substratum on the quality of cucumber seedlings and photosynthesis parameters. Scientific Works of the Lithuanian Insttute of Horticulture and Lithuanan University of Agrculture. 2008 27 (2) Kaar, B. Katkat, A.V. (1999), Gbreler ve Gbreleme Teknii. VPA yayn no :20 ISBN 975564-084-3 Bursa

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH zelik N. 1997. Seralarda toprakl ve topraksz ortamda yetitirilen domateslerde (Lycopersicum esculentum mill L.) zenginletirmenin vegetatif gelime ile verim ve kaliteye etkileri. Akdeniz niversitesi Fen Bilimleri Enstits. Doktora tezi,yaynlanmam ahin, . zdeniz, A. Zlkadir,A. Alan, R. (1998). Sera Koullarnda Damla Sulama Ynetimi ile Sulanan Domates (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) Bitkisinde Farkl Yetitirme Ortamlarnn Verim Kalite ve Bitki Gelimesine Olan Etkileri. Tr.J. of Agriculture and Forestry 22 (1998) 71-79 TBTAK Turhan E., Atilla E., 2004. Effect of choloride application and different growth media on ionic composition in strawberry plant. Journal Plant Nutrition 27:1653-1665.

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Table 1.Effect of different growing media on vegetative development properties of strawberry cultivars
Total Leaf Area (cm2)

GROWING MEDIA

CULTIVARS

1st medium PERLITE

RUBYGAM FESTVAL CAMAROSA

Mean 2nd medium PEAT

RUBYGAM FESTVAL CAMAROSA

Mean 3rd medium ZEOLITE

RUBYGAM FESTVAL CAMAROSA

Mean 4th medium PERLITE + PEAT

RUBYGAM FESTVAL CAMAROSA

695
2.34 g 19.02 b 4,31 f

Mean 5th medium PERLITE+ZEOLITE

RUBYGAM FESTVAL CAMAROSA

Mean 6th medium PEAT+ZEOLITE

RUBYGAM FESTVAL CAMAROSA

Mean 7th medium PEAT+PERLITE+ZEOLITE

RUBYGAM FESTVAL CAMAROSA

Mean

PLANT GROWTH PARAMETERS Root Length Root Fresh Root Dry (mm) Weight Weight (g) (g) 10,5 4,05 1,55 10,2 3,95 1,46 10,1 3,85 1,33 10,3 d 3,95 d 1,45 e 24,2 20,43 5,31 23,1 18,65 4,66 23,9 20,31 5,43 23,7 a 19,80 a 5,13 a 18,3 8,21 1,96 17,5 7,67 1,84 17,3 8,08 1,89 17,7 c 7,98 c 1,90 c 20,5 8,60 2.28 19,4 8,08 2.03 19,5 8,12 2,00 19,8 b 8,27 c 2,10 b 19,5 6,95 1,64 21,5 6,55 1,57 23,4 7,36 1,78 21,5 b 6,95 1,66 d 20,8 8,98 2,16 19,5 8,88 2,02 21,5 9,74 2,24 20,6 b 9,20 b 2,14 b 17,5 8,01 1.99 16,0 7,95 1,88 19,5 8,15 2,09 17,7 c 8,03 c 1,99 c Plant Fresh Weight (g) 8,42 6,96 6,11 7,16 e 44,86 44,02 42,94 43,94 a 16,76 15,83 15,06 15,88 d 17,24 16,85 16,92 17,00 c 15,80 14,78 16,12 15,57 d 18,33 18,01 17,70 18,01 b 15,78 14,93 16,05 15,59 d 37,42 35,54 33,88 35,61 e 89,69 85,81 79,59 85,03 a 51,25 48,68 50,26 50,06 c 61,03 60,09 59,89 60,34 b 46,48 45,34 48,28 46,70 d 61,28 62,88 60,15 61,44 b 50,15 52,83 54,29 52,42 c 55,94 a 13,52 d 12,64 e Plant Dry Weight (g) 2,36 1,87 1,74 1,99 c 10,26 10,89 9,89 10,35 a 3,69 3,48 3,36 3,51 b 3,79 3,55 3,61 3,65 b 3,27 3,10 3,43 3,27 b 4,03 3,99 3,78 3,93 b 3,47 3,29 3,64 3,46 b Net assimilation rate (g/cm2/gn x 10-2) 10,04 10,88 10,45 10,45 e 20,01 18,87 17,79 18,89 a 11,53 11,34 11,43 11,43 d 15,34 15,31 15,22 15,29 b 11,97 11,56 11,78 11,77 d 14,44 14,23 14,01 14,23 b 12,24 12,57 12,98 12,60 c Relative Growth Rate (g/g/gn x 10-4) 9,28 9,34 9,14 9,25 d 24,72 23,23 19,64 22,53 a 10,88 10,34 10,66 10,62 c 14,88 14,68 14,26 14,60 b 9,87 9,78 9,57 9,74 d 11,24 11,09 11,08 11,14 c 10,21 10,75 10,86 10,60 c

Mean for medium 18.76 b 9,17 c *Means followed by the same letters are not significantly different at P<0.05

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH

The Effects of Oil Olive Waste and Lime Growth on Corn

Saime SEFEROLU Julide FIRAT Mustafa Ali KAPTAN

Adanan Menderes niversitesi, Ziraat Fakltesi, Toprak Bilimi ve Bitki Besleme Blm, Aydn Corresponding author: sseferoglu@adu.edu.tr Abstract Oil olive waste (OOW), one of the residues of olive oil factories, has been obtained from olive which has potentially economic value. Some of the characteristics of this material are positive for agriculture such as low pH and high content of organic matter, N, P, K, and Mg. However, OOW is a source of pollution for environment in terms of oil, high salt and phenol contents. In this research, CaCO3 and olive oil waste as organic fertilizers have been examined in corn growth. The effects of OOW (0-1-2-3-4-5-6-kg m2) and CaCO3 dosages (0, 2.5- 5%) on germination and corn growth have been searched. The research has been carried out in completely randomized block design with three replications in a pot experiment. Pots were consisted of 3 kg soil and 100 g perlite. The increasing of OOW dosages resulted in negative effect on leaf weight, root weight and germination of corn plant when compared with control plant. However these increments decreased by adding CaCO3. It was determined that total soluble solid (%) and root/leaf ratio increased in all applications. The best effect on germination and corn growth were observed by 2 kg m-2 (olive oil waste) + 5% CaCO3. Over than 3 kg/m-2 of oil olive waste dosages resulted in increasing toxicity effect. Keywords: olive oil waste, corn, germination, growth, nutrient

Introduction The remaining part from olive oil after olive processing, olive oil waste (OOW) has high total solid material with dark red color and also its electricity conductivity (EC) is high while its pH is low. In addition, it is rich product in terms of organic material, N, P and K minerals. In Aydn which has a significant potential of producing olive; there are the producing of the olive in an area of 152.788 ha and in there on-off year average 272.494 ton product is gained (Tunalioglu, 2009). Mediterranean countries are mostly affected by this serious environmental problem since they are responsible for 95% of the worldwide olive-oil production. In these countries about 11 million tons of olives are produced per year from which about 1.7 million tons of olive oil are extracted. The seasonal polluting load of olive-oil production is equivalent to about that of 22 million people per year since the COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand) value of the wastewater is about 80 g l1 and its volume produced from 1 ton olive is about 0.8 ton (Aktas et. al., 2001). Olive oil is extracted mainly in two ways, traditional (classical, pressing) and continuous (centrifuging) methods from the pulp of olive fruits obtained by grinding them in stone mills. In the traditional method the ground olives are pressed in cloth bags then the liquid mixer is rested in a series of tanks to separate the oil. In the continuous method the crushed olive fruits are pumped into a three-phase decanter then the impure oil is centrifuged (Tunalioglu 2009) This waste can be disposed of either by disc arching it into surface waters or by land spreading. Currently, there is not any specific European regulation governing OOW disposal (Tomati, 2001). The environmental implications from the uncontrolled disposal of OOW are mainly connected to their high organic load and their antimicrobial and phytotoxic properties (Paredes et al., 1987; Rodriguez et al., 1988; Capasso et al.;1995).The disposal and treatment of this liquid waste are the main problems of the olive oil industry because of its high organic load and content of phytotoxic and antibacterial phenolic substances, which resist biological degradation (Aktas et al., 2001). OOW has also a high potassium concentration and notable levels of nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium and iron (Paredes et al., 1999). However, many authors have observed negative effects on plants and soil properties when OOW is used directly as an organic fertilizer (Sierra et al., 2001; Casa et al., 2003; Cereti et al., 2004). Hence, a conditioning treatment of this waste is necessary to produce a stable and easily manageable end-product. It has been shown that in some circumstances OOW can be phytotoxic and it has been suggested that phenols are the main determinants of this effect (Capasso et al.,1992; Bonari et al., 1993).

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH These phytotoxic effects are particularly evident during germination and seedling development of higher plants (Aliotta et al., 2000; Casa et al., 2003). Some preliminary tests have been done for the reusing of OOW or its solid waste such as fertilizer (Albi Romero et al., 1960), a source for the single-cell protein (Gharsallah, 1993) or biogas (Fiestas Ros de Ursinos, 1977) production. There are no concrete results for their application on a large scale. Calcium hydroxide and aluminum sulfate have also been used besides magnesium sulfate by (Tsonis et al., 1989). The values of pH, fixed solids, total solids, volatile solids and COD have been determined after the treatment of OOW with the chemicals. They have reported that COD value dropped to 2030% with calcium hydroxide, when it was added until the pH of the waste reached 11. In this study lime treatment was examined in order to reduce the pollution effect of OOW. Besides, the effect of increasing doses of OOW and of OOW with lime combination doses on the development of corn plant was searched. Material and Methods Material The research is done as pot in the plastic greenhouse composed 240 m2 of ADU Agriculture Faculty the Department of Soil. The soil is used as producing area and maize cultivar Pioneer 31G98 is used. The material of experiment is used in seven different doses OOW and three different doses + lime and it is carried out a years. The results of chemical and physical analyses of the soil (texture, sandy (S); sandy (75%), clay (13%) and silt (12 %); pH, 7.92; Total Salt, 0.0011%; organic matter 0.27%; soluble P, 0.6 mg kg 1 ; exchangeable K, Ca. Mg, Na, 53, 4, 2270, 124, 42 mg kg1; plant available Fe, Zn, Mn, Cu, B, 11, 0.8, 3.7, 0.10, 0,13 mg kg1) was obtained (Kacar, 1999). The olive oil waste ( pH, 6.4; Total salt, 0.97%; Organic matter, 15.78 %; Total nitrogen, 1.95 %; soluble P 167 mg kg1 ; exchangeable K, Ca, Mg, Na 3234, 1082, 1435, 287 mg kg1; plantavailable, Fe, Zn, Mn, Cu, B, 578, 72, 175,30,32 mg kg1 ) was obtained from the local (Aydn, Turkey) factory. Methods The doses OOW and CaCO3 were (0-1-2-3-4-5-6 kg m2) and 0, 2.5- 5% respectively. The dimentions of pots were r=9,5cm, h=25,5cm. The each pot contained 3 kg soil and 100 g perlite. 15 maize seeds have been planted in each pot, their sprout situation has been watched and later, 3 plants have been left to each pot. The research has been carried out in completely randomized block design with three replications in a pot experiment. After sowing, emergence of seedlings was observed morphological characters such as germination number, plant height, leaf weight, root weight, % dry matter and leaf / root ratio SPSS statistical packet program is used in the evaluation of the experiment and it has been analyzed. The subjects found different from p0.05 has been grouped according to Duncan. Result and Discussion When the effects of seven doses of OOW mixed with soil together with control and two doses of lime on germination number , and plant height were examined, it was determined that in all lime applications, increasing doses of OOW when compared control the germination number, and plant height decreased. (Table 1.). In addition, OOW and lime combination effects were found significantly. Navas et al (1998) found that increasing purified mud doses increased barley plant height. Seferoglu and Kl (2002) showed that increasing liquid OOW affected the wheat germination negatively. It has been found that OOW negatively affected germination and the early growth stage of plants (Perez et al., 1980; 1986). On other hand, it was considered to promote plant growth in some field experiments (Torres Martin et al., 1980; Potenz et al, 1980). DAnniabale et al. (2004) notified that the application of OOW affected on wheat germination as phytotoxic, but fungal cultures decreased the phyto-toxicity. Akta et al., (2001) pointed that lime applications decreased the pollution load came from OOW.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH On the other hand, a significant plant growth increase was observed in the treatments receiving Olive mill wastewater treated in the presence of rock phosphate Vassilev et al. (1998). Several methods (physicochemical and biological)to reduce pollutant problems with OOW have been proposed ( Borja et al., 1995; Benitez et al., 1997; Aktas et al., 2001;). Seferoglu (2011) searched that the effects of different doses of the OOW on development of bean, onion and radish. In 2-3 ton da-1 doses, except radish the best germination and development parameters were obtained for bean and onion Table 1. The effects of different OOW and lime doses on germination and plant height of corn
OOW Dosages kg m2/ 0 1 2 3 4 OOW Germination 14.16 14.00 13.66 12.16 13.83 Plant height 73.3 a 67.6 a 54.4 b 45.75 47.1 c OOW+ 2.5% CaCO3 Germination 14.33 13.83 13.16 14.16 14.16 Plant height 76.8 a 69.5 b 69.2 c 55.0 c 54.2 c OOW+ 5.0% CaCO3 Germination 14.00 13.33 13.00 13.66 12.66 Plant height 75.3 a 66.8 b 61.2 b 55.0 c 47.1 d The overall Average Germination 14.16 a 13.72 ab 13.27 bc 13.33 b 13.55 ab Plant height 75.1 a 68.0 b 61.6 c 51 9 d 49.4 de 42.9 e 43.0 e 56.0

12.83 41.1 c 13.66 42.0 d 12.33 45.5 d 12 94 bc 5 11.66 41.2 c 13.33 44.8 d 13.16 43.2 d 12.72 c 6 52.9 c 13.80 a 58 8 b 13.16 b 59.3 a 13.38 Average 13.19 b Standard error OOW=0.282; OOW+ 2.5 % lime =0.185; OOW*lime = ns (germination) p 0.05 Standard error OOW=1.252; OOW+ 2.5 % lime =0.820; OOW*lime = 2.16 (height) p 0.05

While increasing doses of OOW decreased the leaf and root weight, OOW + 2.5 % and 5 % lime applications resulted in less decreases. The reason of that for especially 2.5 % lime application is that decreases of the phytotoxic effects on plant development (leaf and root weight) (Table 2). Table 2. The effects of different OOW and lime doses on leaf and root weight of corn (g)
OOW Dosages kg m2/ OOW OOW+ 2.5% CaCO3 OOW+5.0% CaCO3 root 34.7 30.5 28.5 26.4 22.1 19.4 10.0 24.5 a The overall Average Leaf 150.9 a 110.7 b 101.7 bc 120.2 b 89.4 bcd 79.5 cd 58.5 d Root 31.8 a 27.3 ab 23.5 b 24.3 ab 17.9 c 16.1 cd 12.21 d

leaf Root leaf root leaf 144.2 25.1 170.3 35.7 160.4 0 80.9 22.5 110.6 28.9 140.5 1 70.8 16.3 110.4 25.2 122.8 2 70.9 15.6 160.6 30.9 118.5 3 60.9 14.7 70.3 17.2 99.9 4 70.4 14.6 60.4 14.4 81.8 5 60.9 13.8 50.4 12.9 41.2 6 80.5 b 17.6 b 120.3 a 25.0 a 110.5 a Average Standard error OOW= 2.75 OOW+ 2.5 % lime =0.2.25; OOW*lime =ns (leaf ) Standard error OOW=1.25; OOW+ 2.5 % lime =0.82; OOW*lime = ns (root)

In a study of herbicides, solid olive processing waste provided a 79% decrease in common purslane in strawberries (Boz et al., 2003). The reason for solid olive processing wastes effectiveness could be that contains toxic and antibacterial phenolic substances (Hamdi and Garcia, 1993; RamosCormenzana et al., 1995; Martirani et al., 1996; Yeilada et al., 1998; Paredes et al., 1999; Garcia et al., 2003; Casa et al., 2003; DAnnibale et. al.,2004; Roig et al., 2006). When the average values were considered, compared with control, leaf / root ratio for increasing doses of OOW and OOW+2.5% applications affected statistically (p0,05). Different letters show that 1-2 kg/m2 doses are more efficient (Table 3). Boz et al. (2001) examined that the effects of three different doses (0, 3, 4.5 kg m-2) of OOW in corn, sunflower and wheat plants. They observed that while germination decreased in 14 day, negative effects disappeared in 28 and 42 days with the OOW doses increases. After 42 day, development of corn and sunflower (plant height) increased Rouina et al., (1999) applied 2-4 liters/pot liquid OOW on the pots planted young

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH olive and did not take negative results, but when applied 6-8 liters/pot OOW applied, plant development stopped and it dried later. Table 3.The effects of different OOW and lime doses on leaf /root ratio and dry matter (%)
OOW Dosages kg m2/ OOW Leaf/root OOW+ 2.5% CaCO3 OOW+5.0% CaCO3 The overall Average Leaf/root 0.21 d 0.25 a 0.23 bc 0.20 cd 0.20 cd 0.20 cd 0.21 ab 0.214 Dry matter 34.1 g 39.1 f 42.3 e 48.1 d 53.7 c 56.1 b 57.8 a 47.3

Dry Leaf/root Dry Leaf/root Dry matter matter matter 0.17 34.8 d 0.21 34.4 e 0.22 33.2 d 0 0.27 40.9 c 0.26 41.5 c 0.22 35.0 d 1 0.23 45.4 bc 0.23 37.3 d 0.23 44.2 cd 2 0.22 49.5 b 0.19 47.6 b 0.22 47.2 c 3 0.24 55.4 a 0.25 45.9 b 0.22 59.6 b 4 0.21 46.3 bc 0.24 55.3 a 0.23 66.6 ab 5 0.23 48.7 b 0.26 54.6 a 0.24 70.2 a 6 0.224 b 45.9 b 0.234 a 45.2 c 0.226 ab 50.9 a Average Standard error OOW=0.28; OOW+ 2.5 % lime =0.18; OOW*lime =0.41 (leaf/root) Standard error OOW=00.91; OOW+ 2.5 % lime =0.91; OOW*lime =0.241 (dry matter)

Dry matter contents of corn increased with application of increasing doses of OOW when compared control .In addition that, 6 kg m-2 OOW+ %2.5 lime applications resulted in highest dry matter. These values are significant statistically (p0,05). Similar results for dry matter was taken by Seferolu and Kl (2002) for strawberry; Seferoglu et.al.(2008) for mandarin; Boz et al., (2009) for okra, faba bean, and onion; Seferolu (2011) for bean, onion and radish. Conclusion It was found that increasing OOW doses resulted in negative effects on corn germination, plant height, leaf weight, and root weight. However, OOW + lime applications gave better results than only OOW applications. Lime applications eliminated some negative effects of OOW and 2.5 % lime applications become more efficient. Dry mater, leaf/root ratio for all applications increased as parallel with the increase of OOW doses. The best doses for germination and development of corn plants as 1 kg m-2 OOW+ 2.5 % lime were founded. It was determined that OOW with 2.5 % lime can be used as fertilizer for corn. References Aktas ES, Imre S, Ersoy L. (2001). Characterization and lime treatment of olive mill wastewater. Water Res;35:233640. Albi Romero M. A. and Fiestas Ros de Ursinos J. A. (1960) Industrial utilization of the waste liquor from olive pressing. Possible utilization as a fertilizer. Grasas Aceites. 11, 123124. Aliotta, G., Cafiero, G., De Feo, V., Di Blasio, B., Iacovino,R., Oliva, A.,(2000). Allelochemicals from Rue (Ruta graveolens L.) and Olive (Olea europea L.) oil mill waste as potential natural pesticides. Curr. Top. Phytochem. 3, 167177. Benitez, F.J., Beltran-Heredia, J., Torregrosa, J., Acero, J.L.,(1997). Improvement of the anaerobic biodegradation of olive mill wastewaters by prior ozonation pretreatment. Bioprocess Eng. 17, 169175. Bonari, E., Macchia, M., Angelini, L.G., Ceccarini, L., (1993). The wastewaters from olive oil extraction: their influence on the germinative characteristics of some cultivated and weed species. Agr. Med. 123, 273280. Borja R, Banks CJ, Wang Z. (1995). Effect of organic loading rate on anaerobic treatment of slaughterhouse wastewater in a fluidized-bed reactor. Bio resource Technology;52:157 162. Boz, . Seferolu, S., Doan M.N., Albay, F., Kl ., (2001). Zeytin Karasuyunun Baz rnlerde Herbisit ve Gbre Olarak Kullanlma Olanaklarnn Aratrlmas.Trkiye III. Herboloji Kongresi 9-12 Ekim 2001. A.. Ziraat Fak. Bitki Koruma Blm Ankara Turkey. Boz, O., Dogan, M.N. and Albay, F. (2003). Olive Processing Wastes for Weed Control, Weed Research 43: 439-443.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Boz, O. (2009). Effects of olive waste, chicken manure and Dazomet on weeds withhout soil solarisation. African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 8 (18), pp. 6510-6515, 15 Septemmer, 2009. Capasso, R., Cristinzio, Evidente, A., Scognamiglio, F., (1992). Isolation, spectroscopy and selective phytotoxic effects of polyphenols from vegetable waste waters. Phytochemistry. 31, 41254128. Capasso, R., Evidente, A., Schivo, L., Orru, G., Marcialis, M.A., Cristinzio, G., (1995). Antibacterial polyphenols from olive oil mill waste waters. J. Appl. Bacteriol. 79, 393398. Casa R, DAnnibale A, Pieruccetti F, Stazi SR, Giovannozzi Sermanni G, Lo Cascio B. (2003). Reduction of the phenolic components in olive-mill wastewater by an enzymatic treatment and its impact on durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf) germinability. Chemosphere;50:959 66. Cereti CF, Rossini F, Federici F, Quaratino D, Vassilev N, Fenice M. (2004). Reuse of microbially treated olive mill wastewater as fertiliser for heat (Triticum durum Desf). Bioresour Technol;91:135 40. DAnnibale, AD, Casa R.,Pierucetti F, Ricci M, Marabottini R (2004). Lentinula edodes removes phenols from olive-mill wastewater: impact on durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) germinability. Chemosphere, 54: 887-894. Fiestas Ros de Ursinos J. A. (1977) Waste water treatment in olive oil industries. Grasas Aceites. 28(2), 113121 Garcia-Gomez A, Roig A, Bernal MP. (2003). Composting of the solid fraction of olive mill wastewater with olive leaves: organic matter degradation and biological activity. Biores Technol;86:5964 Gharsallah N. (1993) Production of single cell protein from olive mill wastewater by yeasts. Environ. Technol. 14, 391395. Hamdi M., Garcia J. L. and Elluoz R. (1992) Integrated biological process for olive mill wastewater treatment. Bioprocess Engng. 8, 7984. Kacar, B. (1999). Soil Analysis. Nobel Publisher Number: 44. ISBN 978-605-395-184-1. Print II. Martirani, L., Giardina, P., Marzullo, L., Sannia, G., (1996). Reduction of the phenol content and toxicity in olive mill wastewater with the ligninolytic fungus Pleurotus ostreatus. Water Res. 30, 19141918. Mediterranean Region, Cyprus, 610 October, C5. Navas A, Bermdez F, Machn U., (1998). Influence of sewage sludge application on physical and chemical properties of Gypsisols. Elsevier Geoderma 87 123-135 pp. Paredes, C., Cegarra, J., Roig, A., S_anchez-Monedero, M.A., Bernal,M.P., (1999). Characterization of olive-mill wastewater (alpechin) and its sludge for agricultural purposes. Bioresource Technology 67, 111115. Paredes, M.J., Moreno, E., Ramos-Cormenzana, A., Martinez, J., 1987. Characteristics of soil after pollution with waste waters from olive oil extraction plants. Chemosphere 16, 1557-564. Perez, J., Gallardo-Lara, F. & Esteban, E. (1980). Aspectos a considerar en el empleo del alpechin como fertilizante. I. Evaluacion de su efecto fitotoxico inhibidor de la germinacion de semillas Cuad. Cienc. BioL, 1, 59-67. Perez, J.D., Esteban, E., Gallardo-Lara, F., (1986). Direct and delayed influence of vegetation water on magnesium uptake by crops. Paper presented at International Symposium on Olive by Products Valorization, Sevilla (Spain). Potenz, D., Righetti, E. & Volpicella, M. (1980). Effetto inquitante delle acgue reflue della lavorazione delle olive su terreno agrario. Inquinamento, 22, 1-4. Ramos-Cormenzana A, Jua`rez-Jimenez B, Garcia-Pareja MP. (1996). Antimicrobial activity of olive mill waste-waters (Alpechin) and biotransformed olive oil mill wastewater. Int Biodeterior Biodegrad;38:28390. Rodriguez, M.M., Perez, J., Ramos-Cormenzana, A., Martinez,J., (1988). Effect of extracts obtained from olive oil mill waste waters on Bacillus megaterium ATTC 33085. J. Appl. Bacteriol. 64, 219226.

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH Roig A, Cayuela ML, Sanchez-Monedero MA (2006). An overview on olive mill waste and their valorization methods. Waste Manage. 26:960-969. Rouina, B.B., Taamallah, H, Ammar, E., (1999). Vegetation Water Used as a Fertilizer on Young Olive Plants. ISHS Acta Horticulture 474: III. Internetional Symposium on Olive Growing. Seferoglu, S., (2011). Effects of olive oil solid waste on growth and nutrient uptake of faba bean, onion, and radish plants. African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 10(34), pp. 6510-6515. Seferolu, S., Seferolu, H.G., Kaptan, M.A. 2008 Zeytinya Fabrikas At Karasuyun (sv) Gbre Olarak Mandarinlere Uygulanmasnn Besin Maddesi eriine ve Meyve Kalitesi zerine Etkisi. 4. Ulusal Bitki Besleme ve Gbre Kongresi Konya- Trkiye. Seferolu., S., Kln, ., (2002). An Investigation on Use of Olive Vegatation Warter as Fertilizer for Wheat 13 th Internat onal Scientific Centre of Fertilizers (CIEC) Tokat Turkey . Sierra J, Mart E, Montserrat G, Cruanas R, Garau MA. (2001). Characterisation and evolution of a soil affected by olive oil mill wastewater disposal. Sci Total Environ;279:207 14. Tomati, U., (2001). A European regulation about olive mill waste industry. In: Proceedings of the 11th International Symposium on Environmental Pollution and its Impact in the Mediterranean Region, Cyprus, 610 October, C5. Torres Martin, M., Velasco, E. & Zamora, A. (1980). Aspetos a considerar en el empleo del alpechin como fertilizante. An. Edafol. Agrobiol., 39, 1379-1384. Tsonis S. P., Tsola V. P. and Grigoropoulos S. G. (1989) Systematic characterization and chemical treatment of olive oil mill wastewater. Toxicol. Environ. Chem. 2021, 437457. Tunalioglu R., (2009) Olive Growing and Production in Aydin Aydin Stock Exchange. Seminar notes. 5 March 2009, Aydin. Vassilev N, Vassileva M, Azcon R, Fenice M, Federici F, Barea JM. (1998). Fertilizing effect of microbially treated olive mill wastewater on trifolium plants. Biores Technol; 66:1337. Yesilada O, Sik S, Sam M (1998). Biodegration of olive mill wastewater by Coriolus versicolor and Funalia trogil: effects of agitation, initial COD concentration, inoculum size and immobilization. World J. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 14: 37-42.

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Effect of Different Fertilizing Systems Using Green Manure and Zeoponix on Sunflower Yield and Soil Biochemical Properties
Faezeh Daryaei1, Amir Ghalavand2, Ali Sorooshzadeh3, Mohammad Reza Chaichi4and Fatemeh Sadat Talebi5
1,5: Ph. D. student of agroecology and Msc student of agronomy, 2, 3: Associate and professor of Tarbiat Modares University and 4: Associate professor of Tehran University Email:daryai2003@yahoo.com An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of green manure and integration of zeoponix (mixture of zeolite and chicken manure) and chemical N fertilizer urea on sunflower yield and soil chemical and biological properties in Tarbiat Modares University research farm, Iran. Chuckling vetch (Lathrus sativus) was sown as a green manure in 21 April, 2009 and was ploughed and mixed with the soil at full blooming stage. Some plots were remained uncultivated as a fallow treatment. Sunflower was sown in all plots with 50000 plants per hectare density in 27 June, 2009. The cultivation was repeated in same way in 2010. The main experimental treatments consisted of different crop sequences including green manure-sunflower and fallow-sunflower. The above treatments were assigned to the main plots. Different integrated fertilizing treatments which are zeoponics+25% chemical fertilizer, zeoponics+50% chemical fertilizer, zeoponics+75% chemical fertilizer, zeoponics and chemical fertilizer were assigned as subplots to each main treatment plots. The experimental data were analyzed as split plots based on a randomized complete block design with three replications. The result from combined analysis of data of two years showed that sunflower seed, oil and protein yield were not affected by presence of green manure in crop sequences, while the organic C content in fallow treatments significantly increased in comparison to the green manure treatments. The total N content in soil was higher in fallow treatments. In contrast, the highest P and K contents were observed in green manure ones. The highest amount of total N was observed in Z100 treatment, while for OC, P and K amounts, Z50F50 was the best. The highest amount of carbon of microbial biomass and microbial soil respiration were observed in Z50F50 and Z25F75, respectively. There were no significant differences for interactions of main plots and sub plots for sunflower seed, oil and protein yield. The highest interactions of carbon of microbial biomass and microbial soil respiration were observed in GMZ50F50 and FaZ25F75, respectively. It could be concluded that integrated fertilizing systems can enhance soil biochemical properties and improve crop yield and chemical fertilizer consumption can be reduced accordingly to sustainable agriculture. Key words: Green manure, Zeoponix, Fertilizer, Soil Chemical and Biological Properties sunflower

Abstract

Introduction Agronomic practices influence soil organic matter (SOM) dynamics. Increase of SOM levels are crucial for biological, chemical and physical soil functionality [3]. However, changing soil organic carbon (SOC) in arid climates is a great challenge [10]. Soil management influences soil microorganisms and soil microbial processes through changes in the quantity and quality of plant residues entering the soil and through changes in nutrient inputs [9]. Zeoponix contains zeolite which is used in poultry bed because of water, urea, NH4 and ion absorption, can be used as organic fertilizer. After the end of chicken raising, zeoponix which mixed with chicken feces, can be collected and be used as manure in agriculture. The use of legumes as soil-improving and soil-conserving crops has historically been an integral part of crop-rotation strategies [11]. The objective of this study was to examine the short-term effects of fertilizing systems using green manure (Lathrus, sativus) and zeoponix on sunflower seed, oil and protein yield and soil chemical and biological properties in a sandy soil. Materials and methods An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of green manure and integration of zeoponix and chemical N fertilizer urea on sunflower seed, oil and protein yield and chemical and biological soil properties at the Experimental Farm of Tarbiat Modares University in 2009 and 2010, Tehran, Iran. Chuckling vetch (Lathrus sativus) was sown as a green manure on 21 April, 2009 and was ploughed and incorporated in the soil at full blooming stage on 6 June, 2009. Some plots were remained uncultivated as a fallow treatment. Sunflower was sown in all plots with 50000 plants per

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH hectare density on 27 June, 2009. The cultivation was repeated in same way in 2010. The main experimental treatments consisted of different crop sequences including green manure-sunflower (GM) and fallow-sunflower (Fa). The cropping sequence treatments were assigned to the main plots. Different integrated fertilizing treatments consisted of zeoponics+25% chemical fertilizer (Z75F25), zeoponics+50% chemical fertilizer (Z50F50), zeoponics+75% chemical fertilizer (Z25F75), chemical fertilizer (F100) and sole zeoponics (100%) (Z100), were assigned as subplots. The experimental data were analyzed as split plots based on a randomized complete block design with three replications. Soil sampling was carried out in October 2009 and 2010 after harvesting of sunflower at three sites of each individual plot; soil was collected at depth of 030 cm at field capacity moisture. The samples were stored at 4 C in loosely tied plastic bags to ensure sufficient aeration and prevent moisture loss prior to assaying for microbiological and respiration activities. Biochemical analyses were carried out within two weeks. Microbial carbon biomass content was determined by the chloroform fumigationextraction method modified by Jenkinson and Ladd. (1981) [8]. Soil microbial respiration was measured following the procedure described by Jaggi. (1976) [7]. For each microbiological analysis, three replicates per collected sample were done. Results were based on the oven-dried weight of the soil. Statistical analyses were carried out using SAS software as combined analysis of data of two years, and the mean values were classified by LSD test. Results The seed, oil and protein yield response of sunflower to green manure was not significant. However, zeoponix application greatly enhance sunflower seed, oil and protein yield (Table 1). Accordingly, there were no significant differences between Z100 and F100 in sunflower seed and oil yield. But F100 produced the highest protein yield. Significant difference was not observed for interaction of crop sequence and fertilizing system for seed, oil and protein yield. Soil analysis test showed that the organic C content in Fa treatments significantly increased in comparison to the GM treatments (Table 1). Also, the total N content in soil was higher in Fa treatments. In contrast, the highest P and K contents were observed in GM. Integrated fertilizing systems had significant effect on soil chemical properties. The highest amount of total N was observed in Z50F50 and Z75F25 treatment and the least was in F100. Z50F50 also had the highest amounts of OC, P and K. It showed that manures had a greater effect on increasing soil organic C and N levels and other nutrients compare to F100. In this study, there was a significant difference in MBC and microbial soil respiration mean values between GM and Fa treatments (Table 1). Under different fertilizing systems, significant differences were observed for MBC and microbial soil respiration mean values (Table 1). The result showed that the highest amount of MBC and microbial soil respiration were observed in Z50F50 and Z25F75, respectively. Interaction effects for nutrients and MBC showed that when chemical fertilizer was used, the least amounts of nutrients were retained in the soil (Table 2). However, soil respiration was high in FaF100.

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Table 1: Sunflower yield and biochemical soil properties as affected by crop sequences and different fertilizing systems Means with the same letters are not significantly different at p < 0.05 when compared by LSD.
Respiration (micg/g.h) 0.26b 0.33a 0.309c 0.275d 0.267e 0.33a 0.318b 0.14b 0.17a 0,155b 0.158a 0.159a 0.155b 0.142c 1.5b 1.84a 1.7b 1.731a 1.734a 1.67c 1.53d 120a 102b 90.667 e 115.667b 132.833a 112.583 c 103.5d 776a 563.1b 514.682e 626.625d 808.008a 752.976b 645.745c 1439.02a 1540.03a 1577.08ab 1332.43 c 1474.46 bc 1367.78 c 1695.88a Seed yield (Kg/h) 3292a 3426.7a 3656.1a 3013.9b 3337.9ab 3117.2b 3671.6a Total N % OC% P (mg) K (mg) Oil yield (Kg/h)

Treatments

MBC (mg/Kg)

GM Fa Z100 Z75F25 Z56F56 Z25F75 F100

5.73b 6.33a 4.83e 6.01c 7.16a 4.59a 5.6d

Protein yield (Kg/h) 605.8a 652.27 a 611.49b 515.14b 600.42b 593.48b 824.67a

Table 2: interaction effects of crop sequences and different fertilizing systems on sunflower yield and biochemical soil properties. Means with the same letters are not significantly different at p < 0.05 when compared by LSD.
Respiration(m icg/g.h) 0.273f 0.281e 0.178g 0.293d 0.283e 0.346c 0.269f 0.356b 0.373a 0.353b 0.143de 0.139f 0.146d 0.138f 0.139f 0.168c 0.178a 0.172b 0.173b 0.144d 1.555e 1.481f 1.573e 1.42g 1.475f 1.845c 1.982a 1.895b 1.922b 1.601d 96.5e 111.33d 150a 129.5b 113d 84.83f 120c 115.66d 95.66e 93.41e 527.4g 685.85d 980.42a 948.53b 737.96c 501.96h 567.4f 635.52e 557.41f 552.17f Total N % OC% P (mg) K (mg) Oil yield (Kg/h) 1431.01ab 1242.01ab 1476.07a 1315.06ab 1730.95a 1723.15a 1422.84ab 1472.83ab 1420.50ab 1696.77a Seed yield (Kg/h) 3483.08a 2855.37ab 3356.16a 3013.75ab 3751.58a 3829.08a 3172.5ab 3319.66a 3220.6ab 3668.37a

704

Treatments

MBC (mg/Kg)

GMZ100 GMZ75F25 GMZ50F50 GMZ25F75 GMF100 FaZ100 FaZ75F25 FaZ50F50 FaZ25F75 FaF100

3.611g 5.251f 7.805a 6.795b 5.203f 6.05e 6.775c 6.522c 6.336cd 6.002e

Protein yield (Kg/h) 601.79ab 458.1ab 571.24ab 619.08ab 778.83a 621.18ab 572.21ab 629.6ab 567.87ab 910.1a

4. Discussion The soil texture (sandy) in experimental field of this study is the limiting factor for the accumulation of organic carbon in the top layer of soil. Therefore, leaching of nutrients was higher in green manure plots due to irrigation during the green manure growth. Soil sampling was collected after sunflower harvesting. Because of that, MBC and soil microbial respiration were increased during sunflower growth in fallow sunflower treatments in comparison to

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH green manuresunflower treatments. Microbial activities were decreased in green manure sunflower treatments. It could be concluded that during green manure growth, microbial biomass were more active than fallow plots because of dynamics of chemical and biological elements. But this dynamic peak was occurred in fallow sunflower treatments during the sunflower growth. Pikul, (1996) showed that green manures decreased yields of subsequent spring and winter wheat crops, compared to conventional fallow practices [11]. Brown (1964) summarized studies reported by Haas et al. (1957) from 37-yr trials conducted at 10 locations in the northern and central Great Plains and concluded that legume green manures are not effective in reducing soil loss of N and C [4]. Results from studies (e.g., Rasmussen and Parton, 1994; Staben et al., 1997) show that rebuilding soil organic matter is difficult and that the time required to effect change could be much longer than the 1 year documented in the present report [12], [14]. It is known that organic matter introduced to soil stimulates soil microbial populations and soil biological activity [2]. The addition of zeoponix to soil increased the incidence of microoganisms in the sunflower rhizosphere. The number of colony forming units of bacteria and fungi increased when pig manure compost was added to the soil [15]. The carbon and nitrogen in zeopnix could be easily used as energy and nutrient source for soil microorganisms and this resulted in increased soil microbial biomass. There are in the agreement with results obtained by that the addition of organic amendments increased the microbial biomass and resulted in a positive correlation between microbial biomass C and soil microbial populations [13]. [15]. Zeoponix could be an alternative to chemical fertilizer to increase soil microbial populations and improving the sunflower growth. Zeoponix application could produce the same yield when chemical fertilizer was used solely. Many studies showed that integrated fertilizing systems produced higher sunflower yield compare to chemical fertilizers [5], [1]. References 1. Akbari, P., A. Ghalavand and S. A. M. Modarres sanavi. 2009. Effect of different nutrition systems (organic, chemical and integrated)and biofertilizer on yield and other growth traits of sunflower. Sustainable Agriculture Science, 19.1: 86-96 2. Brady, N.C. and R.R. Weil, 1999. Soil organic matter. 13. Pascual, J.A., C. Garcia and T. Hernandez, 1999. In: The nature and properties of soils. Upper Saddle Comparison of fresh and composted organic waste in River. New Jersey, pp: 446-490. 3. Bradford, J.M. and G. A. Peterson. 2000. Conservation Tillage. In: M.E. Sumner, Editor, Handbook of Soil Science, CRC Press, Boca Raton, USA pp. 247270 4. Brown, P.L. 1964. Legumes and grasses in dryland cropping systems in the northern and central Great Plains: A review of the literature. USDA Misc. Publ. 952. USDA-ARS, , DC. 5. Gholamhoseini, M., A. Ghalavand, A. Dolatabadian, E. Jamshidi and A. Khodaei Joghan. 2009. Integrated fertilizer management to attain sunflower sustainable production under different irrigation regimes. Archives of Agronomy and Soil Science 6. Haas, H.J., C.E. Evans, and E.F. Miles. 1957. Nitrogen and carbon changes in Great Plains soils as influenced by cropping and soil treatments. USDA Tech. Bull. 1164. 7. Jaggi, W. 1976. Die Bestimmung der CO2-Bidung als MaB der bodenbiologischen Aktivitat. Schw Landw orsch. 15:371-380 8. Jenkinson, D. S. and J. N. Ladd. 1981. Microbial biomass in soil: measurement and turnover. In: Paul, E. A., J. N. Ladd (eds) soil biochemistry, vol 5. Marcel Dekker, new York, pp 415-471 9. Madejn, E, F. Moreno, J.M. Murillo and F. Pelegrn, (2007). Soil biochemical response to long-term conservation tillage under semi-arid Mediterranean conditions. Soil and Tillage Research, 94: 2, 346-352 10. Martens, D.A., W. Emmerich, J. E. T. McLain and T. N. Johnsen. 2005. Atmospheric carbon mitigation potential of agricultural management in the southwestern USA, Soil Till. Res. 83 pp. 95119. 11. Pikul, J. L., R. R. Allmaras and S. E. Waldman. 1985. Late season heat flux and water distribution in summer-fallowed Haploxerolls. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 49:1517-1522. 12. Rasmussen, P. E., and W. J. Parton. 1994. Long-term effects of residue management in wheatfallow: I. Inputs, yield, and soil organic matter. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 58:523-530.
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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH 13. Rogoshewski, P., H. Bryson and K. Wagner, 1983. Remedial action technol for waste disposal sites. Noyes Data Corporation, Park Ridge, NI. 14. Staben, M. L., D. F. Bezdicek, J. L. Smith, and M. F. Fauci. 1997. Assessment of soil quality in conservation reserve program and wheatfallow soils. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 61:124-130. 15. Weon, H.Y., J.S. Kwon, J.S. Suh and W.Y. Choi, 1999. Soil microbial flora and chemical properties as influenced by the application of pig manure compost. Kor. J. Soil. Sci. Fert., 32: 76-83. 16. Wong, J.W.C., K.K. Ma, K.M. Fang and C. Cheung, 1999. Utilization of a manure compost for organic farming in Hong Kong. Bioresource Technol., 67: 43-46.

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Effects of Vermicompost Application on the Growth and NPK Contents of the Lettuce Plant (Lactuca sativa) Under the Different Soils
Sezer ahin*, Cevat Ylmaz, M.Rt Karaman
*Gaziosmanpasa University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, TokatTurkey, Corresponding author: sezer.sahin@gop.edu.tr

Abstract
One or a few physical, chemical and biological characteristics of soils such as high pH, high lime content, low inorganic matter content restrict uptake of nutrients at a considerable amount. Especially in plants that are planted as seedling, to change and support root region supplementing organic sedimentary matters increases nutritional elements uptake. Vermicompost that occur transforming organic sedimentary matters into humus-like matters via the earthearthworms has been started to be used for vegetable gardening especially in recent years. For this aim, a pot experiment was carried out in greenhouse conditions during the spring, vermicompost application to the Arapsa lettuce plant with seven different soils was performed in pots that can include four kg and so plants growth and effects upon NPK uptake have been analyzed. In the study that was conducted according to completely randomized design as three replications, each pot was applied 300 ppm N, 150 P and 150 ppm K Plant fresh matter yield and dry weight, leaves N, P and K contents were determined. As a result, it has been observed considerable rate of increase in plants mineral matter uptake and plant development along with vermicompost application. Keywords: Lettuce, plant development, vermicompost, nutritional element uptake.

Introduction In order to improve agricultural production, it is necessary to harvest more crops per unit area. While actualizing this, composting fertilizer which maintains soils nutritional element cycle and productivity is generally provided mostly from chemical fertilizers rather than the organic fertilizers. This application negatively especially affects soils chemical properties. Especially soils high pH, high lime, low organic matter, inadequate moisture contents decrease uptake of nutritional elements by the plants. Vermicompost (earthworm compost) has recently been included into organic fertilizers which regularizes soils physical and chemical properties and increases its nutritional value, at the same time. Vermicompost is a product of the interaction between microorganism and earthworms, stabilization of organic sedimentary materials and biodegradation (Sing et al., 2008). Microorganisms and earthworms are important biological organisms that are helpful to the nature in order to maintain nutrient flow from one system to another (Nagavallemma et al., 2004). Vermicompost (earthworm compost) is the matter that provides nutrition of plants with the nutritional element it includes and a good soil regulator that Lumbricus Rubellis and Eisenia Foetida wiggler types known as Californian Red Earthworm constitute spoiling the physical and chemical properties of matters they consume feeding on organic sedimentary nutritional materials and animal faeces. Earthwarms excrete coelomic fluid in order to be protected from harmful microorganisms and actualize their movements in soil. In vermicompost production, while materials given to earthworms are passing through the earthworms digestive system, they infect upon those ferments; the last material does not require decomposition and has been in a form that the nutritional element can be taken by plants. Organic regulatory materials increase microbial activity and enzyme production (Perucci, 1990; Zink and Allen, 1998), and aggregate stability of soil particles (Tisdale and Oades, 1982), and vermicompost includes several nutritional elements in forms that plants can uptake such as nitrate, phosphate, calcium and potassium (Orozco et al., 1996). Vermicompost application affects soil pH, microbial population and soil enzyme activity (Maheswarappa et al., 1999). Beside those properties, vermicompost provides increase of soils water holding capacity, porosity and cation exchange capacity with extra transformation surfaces. With vermicompost application, soil properties getting better increases plants growth and causes increase in productivity. In studies that have been carried out with vermicompost application, increase in plant yield has been provided and they have stated that soil properties were improved as

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH result of those. With vermicompost application, there occurs increase in yield and improvement in quality features for the strawberry (Arancon et al., 2004; Sing et al., 2008), increase in yield for potato, spinach and radish (Ansari, 2008), and increase in yield for sorghum plant (Patil and Sheelavantar, 2000). In a study that Hernandez et al. (2010) compared organic and inorganic fertilizers, there have been noticed differences in nutritional element uptake according to the applications, and stated that there occurred some changes in soils physical and chemical properties with vermicompost application (Azarmi et al., 2008; Tejada et al., 2009). Results that have been obtained from vermicompost studies show us that with application of vermicompost or organic fertilizers to the soil, nutritional element that the plant can uptake has been provided to be taken more uplifting the conditions of the plant. In this study, effects of vermicompost applied to the different soils upon plant growth and uptake of nutritional elements have been analyzed. Material and Method This study was carried out in a grennhouse of Gaziosmanpasa University implementation field in 2011. Experimenting soils physical and chemical properties were shown in Table 1. Properties of commercial vermicompost fertilizer that was used in the experiment were shown in Table 2.
Table1. Physical and chemical properties of the experimental soils Soil Properties 1 No 2 No 3 No 4 No Texture SCL SL L CL pH 7.86 7.75 7.84 7.99 0.96 0.79 0.97 0.83 EC mmhos cm-1 Org.Mat. (%) 1.82 1.89 1.75 1.83 Lime (%) 7.8 3.6 12.8 11.8 Total N (%) 0.28 0.20 0.24 0.22 5.5 4.7 7.8 7.3 P2O5 kg/da 25 34 28 40 K2O kg/da 5 No CL 7.82 1.04 1.55 13.6 0.29 7.9 26 6 No C 7.79 1.59 1.65 24.0 0.34 9.5 35 7 No L 7.77 1.74 1.34 11.7 0.32 6.8 26

In experimental soils, methods that have been performed pH (1:2 soil-water solution) (Jackson, -1 1958), EC (1:2 soil-water solution, mmhos cm ) (Jackson, 1958), CaCO3 (%) (Allison and Moodie, 1965), total N (%) (Bremner, 1965), useful P2O5 (kg/da) (Olsen et al., 1954), useful K2O (kg/da) (Richards, 1954), organic matter (%) (Nelson and Sommers, 1982), texture (Bouyoucos, 1951). Plants fresh matter yield and dry weight were measured and nitrogen analysis was performed with Kjeldahl distillation method (Bremner, 1965). Grinded samples were combusted according to dry combustion method (Kacar and Inal, 2008) and in acquired distillations P and K readings were performed with ICP-OES (Perkin Elmer) device.
Table2. Properties of commercial vermicompost Vermicompost pH Moisture Organic (%) M. (%) Amount 7.4 35-40 35-45 Total N. (%) 1.5-2.5 P 2O 5 (%) 2-2.5 K2O (%) 2.5-3 Calcium (%) 5-6 Magnesium (%) 1-1.5

In the study, lettuce plant was sown in pots that can include 4 kg soil and ground surface part was harvested 4 weeks later. According to, completely randomized design each pot was applied 300 ppm N, 150 P and 150 ppm K. In the study, lettuce growth was compared performing 1 kg vermicompost to 3 kg soil and lettuce growth within 4 kg soil in control application. Variance analysis was carried out using MSTAT-C packaged software and Duncan comparison test in 5% and 1% importance levels was performed for important parameters. Results and Discussion Plant growth and leaf NPK contents Lettuce plants fresh matter yield, dry weight, leaf N, P, K contents with vermicompost application was shown in Table 3. Effects of vermicompost application on plants fresh matter yield, dry

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH weight and leaf P content (p<0.01), leaf N and K content (p<0.05) was found as statistically significant.
Table 3. Effects of vermicompost application upon plants fresh matter, dry weight and leaf N, P and K content. Analyzed Properties Fresh matter yield Dry weight Leaf N content Leaf P Leaf K (g/plant) (g/plant) (%) content (%) content (%) 1 No Soil 65 5.3 1.03 0.65 1.68 1 No Soil + Ver. 75 7.5 1.12 0.84 2.67 2 No Soil 33 3.8 0.80 0.48 1.53 2 No Soil + Ver. 65 5.4 1.23 0.74 2.35 3 No Soil 46 3.6 1.02 0.67 1.53 3 No Soil + Ver. 100 8.8 1.14 0.78 2.34 4 No Soil 58 6.3 0.78 0.56 1.57 4 No Soil + Ver. 110 10.3 1.23 0.82 2.36 5 No Soil 48 3.1 0.78 0.58 1.36 5 No Soil + Ver. 88 5.4 0.99 0.89 2.65 6 No Soil 62 4.3 0.78 0.79 1.56 6 No Soil + Ver. 115 9.7 0.99 0.93 2.89 7 No Soil 36 4.3 1.02 0.78 1.38 7 No Soil + Ver. 87 9.2 1.23 0.94 2.13 Fresh matter yield F-test: Vermicompost (V):**, Soils (S): *, V x S: *; Dry Weight F-test: Vermicompost (V):**, Soils (S): *, V x S: *; Leaf N content: Vermicompost (V):*, Soils (S): Not important, V x S: *; Leaf P content: Vermicompost (V):**, Soils (S): Not important, V x S: *; Leaf K content: Vermicompost (V):*, Soils (S): *, V x S: * **p<0.01, *p<0.05

When properties of soil used in the experiment have been analyzed, it is seen that it has restrictive properties for plant nutritional elements (Table 1). Especially, soil pH, low organic matter, texture, and lime contents are prominent features. Especially soil texture, among those features, decreases growth of plant root and soil pH decreases uptake of nutritional elements and high lime decreases benefit of phosphate. By means of the properties it includes, vermicompost that has been applied to the soil increases more growth of plants roots and plants uptake of more water and nutritional elements (Table 3). Fresh matter yield and dry weights increased with vermicompost application. Those increases have been observed in many studies carried out with vermicompost applications (Arancon et al., 2004; Sing et al., 2008; Ansari, 2008; Joshi and Vig, 2010). Compost application increases nitrogen mineralization in the soil (Debosz et al., 2002), vermicompost added to the soil increases usefulness of phosphate in the soil (Erich, 2002). Vermicompost has high microbial activity (Tomati, 1988) and vermicompost application affects soil pH, microbial population and soil enzyme activity (Maheswarappa et al., 1999). Vermicomposts affecting those listed properties and increasing the growth of plant by this means provided plants benefiting more from applied nutritional elements and caused increase in leaf N, P and K contents. As a result of the study that was carried out with vermicompost addition to the soils that have different physical and chemical properties, there has been observed increase in plant growth and mineral matter uptake. Main reason of those increases is considered as changes in soils physical properties. Adding organic sedimentary matters such as vermicompost to the soils that soil properties restrict the plant nutritional element should especially be implemented in vegetable growing. Organic sedimentary matters regulate soils physical and chemical properties beside this, provide enrichment of the soil with nutritional elements it include and increase usefulness of chemical fertilizers in the soil. Dissociation of solid organic fertilizers such as vermicompost and admixture period to the soil takes very long time. Carrying out studies in order to see effects of plants that need long time to be grown will be very beneficial in terms of understanding effects of those materials. Beside this, application doses change from one plant to another, in order to increase usefulness of chemical fertilizers, knowing those required doses will be very beneficial.

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Allison, L.E. and Moodie, C.D., (1965). Carbonate. In C. A. Black et al. (ed.) Methods of Soil Analysis, Part 2. Agronomy 9:1379-1400. Amer. Soc. of Agron., Inc., Madison, Wisconsin, USA. Arancon, N.Q., Edwards, C.A., Bierman, P., Welch, C. and Metzger, J.D., (2004). Influences of vermicomposts on field strawberries: 1. Effects on growth and yields. Bioresource Technology, 93, 145153. Azarmi, R., Giglou, M.T. and Taleshmikail, R.D., (2008). Influence of vermicompost on soil chemical and physical properties in tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum) field. African Journal of Biotechnology, 7(14), 2397-2401. Bremner, J.M., (1965). Methods of Soil Analysis. Part II. Chemical and Microbiological properties. Ed. A.C.A. Black Amer. Soc. of Agron. Inc. Pub. Agron. Series No:9 Madison USA. Bouyoucos, G.J., (1951). A recalibration of the hydrometer method for making mechanical analysis of soil. Agron. Journal. Debosz, K., Petersen, S.O., Kure, L.K. and Ambus, P., (2002). Evaluating effects of sewage sludge and household compost on soil physical. chemical and microbiological properties. Appl. Soil Ecol., 3: 237248. Erich, M.S.,. Fitzgerald, C.B., and. Porter, G.A., (2002). The effect of organic amendments on phosphorus chemistry in a potato cropping system.Agric. Ecosys. Environ., 88: 79-88. Jackson, M.L., 1958. Soil chemical analysis. Prentice. Hall. Inc. Englewood Cliffs, N. J, Newyork. Joshi, R. and Vig, A.P., (2010). Effect of vermicompost on growth, yield and quality of tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum L). African Journal of Basic & Applied Sciences, 2(3-4): 117-123. Kacar, B. ve nal, A., (2008). Bitki Analizleri. Nobel Yaynlar. Maheswarappa, H.P., Nanjappa, H.V. and Hedge, M.R., (1999). Influence of organic manures on yield of arrowroot, soil physico-chemical and biological properties when grown as intercrop in coconut garden. Anal of Agricultural Research, 20(3): 318-323. Nagavallemma, K.P., Wani, S.P., Stephane, L., Padmaja, V.V., Vineela, C., Babu, R.M. and Sahrawat, K.L., (2004). Vermicomposting: Recycling wastes into valuable organic fertilizer. Global Theme on Agrecosystems Report no. 8. Patancheru 502 324, Andhra Pradesh, India: International Crops Research Institute fort he Semi-Arid Tropics. 20 pp. http://www.intranet.icrisat.org/gtaes/Projects/TATA/docs/publications/172-2004.pdf Nelson, D.W., Sommers, L.E., (1982). Methods of Soil Analysis, Part 2. Chemical ve Microbiological Properties, Page, A.L., Miller, R.H. Keeney, D.R.(ed) 2nd edition. S.S.S.of America Inc. Publisher, Madison,Wisconsin. Olsen, S.R., Cole, V., Watanabe, F.S. and Dean, L.A., (1954). Estimation of Available Phosphorus in Soils by Extraction with Sodiumbicarbonate. Agricultural Handbook, US, Soil Department. Orozco F.H., Cegarra, J., Trujillo, L.M., Roig, A., (1996). Vermicomposting of coffee pulp using the earthworm Eisenia fetida: effects on C and N contents and the availability of nutrients. Biol. Fert. Soils, 22: 162-166. Richards, L.A, (1954). Diagnosis and Improvement of Saline and Alkaline soils. U.S.D.A. Handbook, No:60. Patil, S.L. and Sheelavantar, M.N., (2000). Effect of moisture conservation practices, organic sources and nitrogen levels on yield, water use and root devolopment of rabi sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) in the vertisols of semi-arid tropics. Annals of Agricultural Research, 21(1): 32-36. Perucci, P., (1990). Effect of the addition of municipal solid-waste compost on microbial biomass and enzyme activities in soil. Biol. Fertil. Soils., 10: 221. Sing, R., Sharma, R.R., Kumar, S., Gupta, R.K., Patil, R.T., (2008). Vermicompost substitution influences groth, physiological disorders, fruit yield and quality of strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa Duch.). Biosourche Technology, 99, 8507-8511. Tejada, M., Garcia-Martinez, A.M., Parrado, J., (2009). Effects of a vermicompost composted with beet vinasse on soil properties, soil losses and soil restoration. Catena, 77, 238-247. Tisdale, J.M. and Oades, J.M., (1982). Organic matter and water-stable aggregates in soil. J. Soil Sci., 33: 141. Tomati, U., Grappelli, A. and Galli, E., (1988). The hormone like effect of earthworm casts on plant growth. Biol. Fertil. Soils. 5: 288-294. Zink T.A, Allen M.F., (1998). The effects of organic amendments on the restoration of a disturbed coastal sage scrub habitat. Restor. Ecol. 6: 52-58.

References

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Effect of salt stress on photosynthetic pigments in pistachio leaves (Pistacia vera cv.Badami-Riz-zarand) inoculated with arbuscular mycorrhizae(glomus mosseae)
Mohammad Hossein Shamshiria, Fateme Pourizadib, Hamid Reza Roostaa, Hamid Reza Karimia
a b

Faculty. of Hort Dept., Agri-college, Vali-e-Asr university of Rafsanjan, Iran M.Sc student of Hort., Agri-college, Vali-e-Asr university of Rafsanjan, Iran

Corresponding Author: Mohammad Hossein Shamshiri ; e-mail : shamshiri@vru.ac.ir

Drought stress is one of the most important abiotic stress factors which is generally accompanied by photosynthesis inhabitation due to the perturbation of the biochemical processes involving the photosynthetic pigments degradation. On the other, it has been proved that mycorrhizal symbiosis can ameliorate the adverse effects of salt stress in many plants. In this greenhouse experiment, mycorrhizal seedlings of pistachio(Pistacia vera cv.Badami-Riz-zarand)inoculated with Glomus mosseae were exposed to 4 levels of saltiness ( 0.5, 3, 6 and 9dSm-1 )and harvested 21 and 42 days after the commencement of salt treatments. Increase in salt stress intensity caused a significant decrease in chl a while total chl and carteniods content did not affect by salt stress and chl b showed a significant increase at highest salt stress intensity. Leaves of micorrizal plants contained significantly more photosynthetic pigments compare with non-mycorrhizal plants. Degradation of photosynthetic pigments were increased in second harvesting date. We conclude that mycorrhizal symbiosis can protect photosynthesis rate of pistachio seedlings against the adverse affects of saltiness at least in partial by inhibiting of their degradation.
Keywords: Mycorrhizae, salt stress, pistachio, chlorophyll, cartenoids, photosynthesis

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT FOR SOIL SUSTAINABILITY FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN HEALTH

EFFECT OF BIOFERTILIZER AND CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS ON IRON AVAILABILITY AND YIELD OF LENTIL
Mowafaq Younis Sultan
Dept. of Soil Sci. & water resources College of Agri. and Forestry University of Mosul, Mosul , IRAQ mowafaqsultan@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT Field experiment was conducted in the research farm of soil & water sciences department, College of Agriculture and Forestry, to study the effects of biofertilizer and chemical fertilizers on the Iron, zinc availability of in the soil (Calciorthid) ant Lentil Yield (Lens culinaris) using RCBD design was used. The experiment involved two levels of inoculation (mixture inoculants of three rhizobial strains Le719, Le726 and Le735
,

from

Rhizobium Leguminosarum ), three levels of nitrogen fertilizer (0, 40, and 80 kg N/H) added as urea (46% N), and three levels of phosphorus (0, 40, and 80 kg P/H) as super phosphate and their combination on the availability of Iron and Zinc in soil (Calciorthid). Samples of soils were taken at three interval times (75,105, 137 days) after planting, Fe and Zn were analysis beside the Lentil yield was taken. The main results could be summarized as following 1- Generally lentil plant responded positively and a significant increases was found in the seeds yield to addition of the biofertilizer Leguminosarum ) for all treatments. 2- A significant increases was found in availability of Iron and Zinc in the soil at three interval times (75,105, 137 days) after planting . 3- Higher yield was obtained from the combination of the Rhizobial inoculation and N,P fertilizers treatment (inoculated with rhizobia + 80 kg P/H + 80 kg N/H). (inoculated with Rhizobium

Key word: Rhizobium leguminosarum , Iron ,Zinc, Lentil, Phosphorous, Nitrogen

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