غلامحسین حق نیا

Different morphological forms and growth patterns of filamentous fungi as (mycelia, clumps, and pellets) have been observed in industrial processes. The aim of this study was to optimize and investigate the growth and morphology of Pleurotus ostreatus for fungal pellets formation by modifying various cultivation conditions. Factors such as types of fungal culture media (Kirk’s and Malt extract mediums), temperature (25, 28, 32°C), pH (4.5, 5.5, 6.5), cultivation agitation rate (100–130-150rpm), type of carbon sources, levels of fungal inoculum, the presence of additive agents and trace metals were screened for their effect to formulate two types of pellets (simple and complex (hybrid)). Also activity of two ligninolytic enzymes (laccase, manganese peroxidase) was evaluated in both the simple and complex pellets in modified Kirk’s medium. Among all various factors, pH, agitation rate, preparation of fungal inoculum and appropriate time for adding the carbon sources were detected as the most influential factors. According to the results uniform pellets were formed only at pH 5.5 for both types of pellets. Fungal pellets size showed an inverse correlation with the agitation rate of culture. Moreover the formation of pellets remained unaffected by additive agents except with peptone. Measuring the enzymatic activity (laccase and manganese peroxidase) of fungal pellets also revealed that complex pellets have more capability to secrete remarkable amounts of such lignin-degrading enzymes in compared to simple pellets. Based on evidences, fungal pellets of P. ostreatus almost can be formed directly from hyphae and spore aggregation may not be an essential step.

Boron is one of the micronutrient elements needed by plants. High concentrations of this element in agricultural waters, especially in arid and semi-arid regions, cause toxicity in plants grown in these areas. various methods have been proposed to reduce the concentration of boron in water and soil that surface adsorption is one of the most important. in recent years, the use of layered double hydroxides (LDHs) or hydrotalcite (HT)-like, compounds as anionic adsorbents from aqueous solutions has been taken into special consideration. One of the most important reasons for the use of attractions is affordability. Now, if, in addition to high adsorption efficiency, they can be reused, can be used on a large scale. Therefore, in view of these points, in addition to measuring the adsorption capacity of LDH types, the desorption quality was also evaluated, because it plays a significant role in its reusability.

in this research, two types of layered double hydroxides (LDHs) with different kinds of metal ions (Mg-Al and Mg-Fe) were prepared by co-precipitation method in nanometer dimensions, and their adsorption features were evaluated in vitro to remove boron from aqueous solution. The Hydrotalcite-like features were determined by chemical analysis, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The affinity of these materials for adsorption of different species of boron in solution was studied as a function of pH, contact time, LDHs quantity and B concentration (Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherms).

Boron removal was independent of the solutions' initial and final pH because of the high buffering capacity of the LDHs. the highest amount of boron was adsorbed on Mg-Al-LDH and Zn-Al-LDH, at the first 10 and 20 minutes, respectively. It was found that 80 min is enough time for the equilibrium state to be reached in boron adsorption for two types of LDHs. Boron adsorption capacity increasing the adsorbent quantity (0.5-5 gr/lit) and application of 5 gr/lit of Mg-Al-LDH and Zn-Al-LDH absorbed 52% and 60% of the initial boron amount, respectively. The adsorption isotherms, described by the Langmuir model, are of L-Type isotherm, suggesting that B(OH)4- is adsorbed preferentially on HT-like materials. Zn-Al-LDH with the maximum adsorption capacity of 3 mg/gr had a higher adsorption capacity for boron than Mg-Al-LDH (with the highest adsorption of 2.48 mg/gr). On the other hand, the desorption of boron from Zn-Al-LDH by 200 mg sodium nitrate solution per lit, was higher than that of Mg-Al-LDH.

After the treatment of a solution containing 2 mg of boron per liter using 0.5 gr of both adsorbents, the final boron concentration reduces to below the recommended limit by WHO for drinking water (0.5 mgL-1). Both types of LDH are highly capable of removing the boron element from contaminated solutions; but with the aim of reusing the adsorbent and, consequently, its "cost-effectiveness", Zn-Al-LDH nano-adsorbent could be more proper to use than Mg-Al-LDH nano-adsorbent, due to higher adsorption and desorption.

Considering the high cultivation area of pomegranate in Iran, it is necessary to pay attention to this plant nutrition in order to increase quantitative and qualitative of pomegranate fruit. Nutrition management is one of the most important factors for determining the yield and quality of fruit that there are a few studies to reach the optimal management of nutrition in pomegranate. Therefore, the present study was conducted to investigate the effect of different levels of organic component and chemical fertilizers on quantity and quality characteristics of Punica granatum fruit cv. KhazarBardaskanas a factorial design based on randomized complete blocks design with three replications. Treatments include vermicompost in three levels of 0, 12.5 and 18.75 (V1, V2, V3) kg tree-1 and humic acid in two levels of 0 and 5 g tree-1 (H1, H2) as the soil application and zinc chelate in the two levels of 0 and 0.005 (Zn1, Zn2) as foliar spray. The measured factors were yield, length and diameter of fruit and some qualitative characteristics of fruit juice such as total phenol, antioxidant activity, titratable acidity (TA), total soluble solids (TSS). Also, the concentration of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and zinc were determined in leaves. The results of present study showed that the effects of treatments were significant for more measured parameters. The maximum amount of yield 29.09 kg tree-1, antioxidant activity (39.79 %) and total phenol (863.12 mg GAE 100g-1) were observed in V2H2Zn2 treatment of 12.5 kg tree-1 vermicompost, 5 g tree-1 humic acid and 0.005 foliar sprayof zinc. Also, the level of nitrogen, potassium and zinc in the leaves were obtained from the above mentioned treatment (V2H2Zn2), which compared with the control treatment can be recommended as the superior treatment.

An investigation was carried out for the journals in 13 branches of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources at the Department of Agricultural Sciences, IR Academy of Sciences. A total of 200 Iranian scientific journals were qualitatively evaluated. As part of that project, the results of 10 journals in the fields of soil science published in 2014 are reported. Ten indices for evaluating the format of the journals and five indices for the quality of the articles published in the journals were designed and used. The data were statistically analyzed to rank the journals. Results showed that none of the journals received the highest ranking (very good). Twenty percent were good, fifty percent were medium, twenty percent were weak and ten percent were placed in the very weak category. The journals were also compared by the following criteria in relation to published articles: innovativeness, applicability and up-to-datedness of articles and practical usefulness and necessity of publication of the journal. In this regard, Biology Journal scored highest. Journals of Soil and Water Conservation Researches, and Soil Management and Sustainable Production scored highest for the necessity of publication. None of the assessed journals showed any preference in view of practical usefulness.

Pharmaceutical antibiotics such as oxytetracycline (OTC) and sulfamethoxazole (SMX) are highly consumed for the treatment of infectious diseases and to growth improvement in livestock and poultry industry every year. More than 90 percent of consumed antibiotics may be excreted from the animal's body as main compounds and bioactive metabolites, and introduced into the soil environment which may impose adverse effects on non-target microorganisms. The effects of antibiotics on soil microbial functions have not been well determined yet. In this study, in order to assess the impact of oxytetracycline and sulfamethoxazole on soil microbial functions, a factorial experiment was conducted based on completely randomized design with factors of concentrations (0, 1, 10, 25, 50 and 100 mg.kg-1 soil), time (1, 4 and 21 days) and kind of antibiotics in the laboratory conditions. Soil microbial community functions were evaluated by measuring the activities of alkaline phosphatase and urease and potential nitrification. The results showed that oxytetracycline severely affected alkaline phosphatase and urease activities in the first day of incubation. But, the activities of these enzymes were recovered with increasing the incubation time. While, sulfamethoxazole significantly inhibited activities of alkaline phosphatase and urease enzymes compared to control treatment during the incubation. The effect of oxytetracycline and sulfamethoxazole on potential nitrification followed the same pattern so that nitrification rate increased with increasing concentrations of antibiotics in the early days of incubation, but these antibiotics had adverse effects on potential nitrification over time. Overall, OTC antibiotic exerted adverse effects on soil microbial functions in the early days of incubation, while SMX antibiotic exerted long term effects on soil microbial parameters.

Extended abstract Knowledge about the soil quality in agriculatral lands and natural resources is essential for achievement the best management and maximum economic efficiency. The land use change is the important human activity in environmental ecosystems, which effect on some soil processes such as microbial activity, mineralization of carbon and nitrogen content. In addition, land use has an important role on temporal and spatial variation of soil properties and quality. Agricultural practices may affect positive or negative effect on soil quality. Intensive cultivation of plants decreases soil physical and quality, as a result of this yield of plants, production efficiency and environment quality decrease. In this research, the effect of three land uses on soil physical, fertility and quality properties were studied. The studied area (Hossein abad) is located 30 km far from the northern Nehbandan town (South Khorasan, Iran).To study the effect of land uses change on soil properties were selected three land uses including pomegranate (Punica granatum ), olive (Olea europaea) and wheat (Triticum aestivum ). The 45 soil samples (15 samples from each land use) were taken from surface soil (0-30 cm). Then some soil physical and fertility properties which affect the soil quality were measured and the effect of land use change from wheat cultivation to olive and pomegranate gardens during the recent 20 years were studied. In addition, soil quality in each land use was determined based on cornel university test. To compare soil properties and quality, the randomized complete block design was applied. The results showed that land use change had a significant effect on organic carbon, mean weight diameter of aggregates (MWD), water stable aggregates (WSA), macro nutrients (N, P, and K), and some micro nutrients (Fe and Mn) (P < 0.001). Comparison of means demonstrated that the difference between organic carbon content in olive and pomegranate land uses was not significant, and the content of OC in both land uses was significantly higher than wheat land use. Olive and pomegranate land uses cause to stability of soil structure increase, probably due to reduction the traffic of wheals and also somewhat increasing the organic carbon as a result of littering. Therefore, the MWD in olive land use was significantly higher than two land uses and the lowest value was obtained in what land use. Also, the value of WSA in three land uses was significantly different (P < 0.05) and their content in olive and wheat land uses were the maximum and minimum, respectively. The concentration of total nitrogen in pomegranate land use was more significant than two other land uses (P < 0.05). But the concentration of phosphorous (P), potassium (K), Fe and Mn in wheat land use was the highest content and significantly greater than other two land uses. Despite the concentrations of P, K, and Fe nutrients in pomegranate land use were the lowest value, but, there were no significant difference between the concentration of them in olive and pomegranate land uses. It seems that this variation especially P and Fe is probably due to pH and the Ca and Mg concentration and creation insoluble component of Fe, Mn and P in these land uses.
According to the results of cornel university test, soil quality in garden land uses was decreased and the range of soil quality score was varied from 49.5 (olive) to 61.2 (wheat). Among the soil properties affecting the soil quality, fertility and chemical properties such as electrical conductivity (EC), absorption sodium ratio (SAR) and somewhat pH of soil saturated extract decreased the soil quality in olive land use. Also, OM, Fe, Zn, and Mn decreased the soil quality in 3 land uses, of course in olive and pomegranate land uses, micro nutrients (Fe and Mn) had the more effect on decreasing the soil quality compared to wheat land use. In addition, bulk density (Bd), mean weight diameter of aggregates (MWD), aeration porosity (AC), P, K, and Cu contents increased soil quality in all 3 land uses. In general, when wheat land use change to olive and pomegranate land uses decreased some soil properties and quality in arid area of Nehbandan, probably due to low quality of irrigation water.

Increased generation of pollutants such as heavy metals is one of the serious and developing environmental issues threatening human society. Heavy metal pollution not only affects the physical and chemical properties of the soil but also it is dangerous to human health through entering into the food chain and finding its way into the groundwater. The present study was conducted to predict soil lead concentration, as one of the most important heavy metals, using readily available soil properties based on artificial neural network model. For this purpose, 63 soil samples were collected from 60-cm depth of the land surrounding Kashafrud River located in Mashhad City. Measured parameters included pH, electrical conductivity, particle size distribution, organic carbon, and Pb content in soil. The multilayer perceptron (MLP) as an artificial neural network model was used to predict the Pb concentration in soil. The performance of this model was assessed by the coefficient of determination (R2), mean absolute error (MAE), and also root mean square error (RMSE). The results showed that artificial neural network model is a suitable method to determine Pb concentration in soil rather than the direct laboratory measurement, which is an expensive and time-consuming method.

With the emergence of computers and geographic information system (GIS), as well as access to spatial digital data, different methods of data mining, modeling and estimation of soil properties found their place in soil sciences. Data mining of soil properties using computer-based statistical methods uncovers hidden patterns in the database which ultimately leads to the fitness of a model for estimation of soil properties. These methods can be used in the scorpan equation. Two main components of scorpan model include environmental variables and learning program. In the present study, three different methods including multiple linear regression (MLR), artificial neural network (ANN) and Gene Expression Programming (GEP) as “f’ function in scorpan model were evaluated and compared in estimating of soil properties using auxiliary data such as vegetation data, topography and remote sensing data.
Material and The study area with an area of 1225 ha was located in Bajgiran rangelands, Khorasan Razavi province, Iran. In order to investigate vegetation cover and soil 137 units were investigated in which 3-5 plots were selected with a distance of 10 meters apart along an accidental transect, and plant species names and numbers besides vegetation percentage were recorded. Next, one soil sample was taken from each transect (Totally 137 soil sample). Train attributes derived from digital elevation model; different bands derived from the ETM and used for computing spectral indices; and plant diversity indices were calculated using Simpson and Shannon-Wiener. These obtained parameters were used as covariate in estimating calcium carbonate equivalent, clay, density, nitrogen, carbon, sand, silt and saturated moisture capacity. Data deduction was done by PCA analysis to deduct the number of input data for ANN and GEP models, and finally, Normalization and standardization were carried out on the data.
The results obtained from the evaluation of three numerical methods based on root mean square error (RMSE), mean bias error (MBE) and coefficient of determination (R2) showed that ANN model had the highest accuracy in estimating soil properties, given the higher coefficients of determination for calcium carbonate equivalent , clay, density, nitrogen, carbon, sand, silt and saturated moisture capacity with the values of 0.72, 0.46, 0.69, 0.67, 0.77, 0.62, 0.7 and 0.85, respectively, moreover, lower RMSE with the values of 7.46, 4.46, 0.08, 0.03, 0.27, 5.6, 3.5 and 3.4, respectively. ANN could explain 60-85 percent of variability of soil properties, among which the best estimates were for saturated moisture capacity and soil organic carbon with R2 = 0.85 and R2 = 0.77, respectively.
Evaluating the estimation of soil properties through three numerical models introduced ANN as the most accurate model. ANN validation results showed that mean bias error (MBE) for estimated soil properties were close to zero, and this confirms that the fitting has been created unbiased by model. Furthermore, the low RMSE of model verified accurate estimation of soil variables. The results also indicate that GEP had higher accuracy than the linear regression method for most soil properties.

Gully erosion is an important type of soil erosion in Iran and Ardebil province (Moghimi and Salami, 2011; Khatibi, 2006). Increasing the cross section of gullies is an indicator for gully developing (Deng et al, 2015). Topography and soil properties are two important factors in gully developing in various regions of worldwide (Poesena et al, 2003). Despite the importance of soil properties in gully erosion, the direct effect of these agents was less investigated and few researches have been carried out to the effect of physical and mechanical soil properties on gully erosion. Therefore, the objectives of this research were to determine 1) the effect of topography on gully erosion, 2) effect of surface and subsurface soil physical and mechanical properties on increasing the cross section of gullies and 3) to select the most important soil properties affect developing the cross section of gullies in three regions of Ardebil province (Ortadagh, Molla Ahmad, and Sarcham). In addition, the relationship between the most soil properties and topographic agents was investigated
The effect of topography on gully erosion was investigated by using of two methods i.e. topographic threshold of gully forming (as , where A and S is gully watershed cross section and slop, respectively, a and b is local coefficients) and the relationship between slope classes with gullies density. In regard to catchment characteristics, a set of similar gullies was selected in each region and the changes of cross section area for gullies in four points along its length were measured as indicator of gully development during two years. 17 physical and mechanical of surface and subsurface soil properties in each point were measured and the most important properties that affect on gully development were selected based on principle component analysis (PCA) method. Finally, the stepwise regression model was fitted to the soil properties selecting from PCA for gully's development in each region.
The relationship between Slope classes and gully density showed that in MollaAhmad region gully density was increased with increasing the slope. In OrtaDaghregion, similar trend was observed up to 20-30% slope, while in Sarcham region these was no relationship between slope classes and gully density. According to the topographic threshold it seems that runoff is the main agent for gully forming in MollaAhmad,but in Sarchamthe piping and tunnel erosion might have caused gully formation and in Ortadagh both surface and subsurface flows were recognized as effective agents for gully formation. Increasing values of the cross section for the selected gullies during 2 years was 0.9, 0.6, and 0.8 m2 for Ortadagh, MollaAhmad, and Sarcham regions respectively, which were 41, 44 and 61 percent more than their initial cross sections. Among mechanical soil properties, liquid limit (LL), plastic limit (PL) and shear strength (SS) had the negative and significant correlations with increasing the cross sections of gullies in 3 regions. Among the particle size fractions, Water dispersible clay had the most effect on increasing the gully’s cross sections and except for surface depth of Molla Ahmad, its correlation with gully’s cross section was significant. Principle component analysis (PCA) demonstarated that in MollaAhmad and Ortadagh mainly mechanical properties of soil and aggregate stability had the more effect on increasing the gully cross section, but in Sarcham soil particle size classes and aggregate stability indices had more effect on gully’s cross section.
According to topography threshold, it can be concluded that surface runoff is the main agent for gully forming in MollaAhmad and gully density increases by increasing the slope classes. In this region the effect of surface runoff on surface soil erosion was sever. In Sarcham there was no relationship between slope and gully density and it was found that the subsurface flow is predominant factor for gully forming. In OrtaDagh both surface and subsurface flows were the main factors for gully forming, so due to increasing the surface flow up to slope 20-30% class, maximum gully density was noted in this slope class and the effect of subsurface soil properties in developing gully cross section was higher than surface soil properties. In general, the relationship between gully density with slope classes, topographic threshold and soil physical and mechanical properties which were effective on gully development indicated the close consistency between the type of hydrologic flow in gully forming and the most important soil properties on increasing the gully’s cross section.

Loess deposits are the silt dominated aeolian deposits. Loess-paleosol sequences have been frequently used to determine and reconstruct paleoclimate and paleoenvironment of quaternary. The first step for this purpose, is to identify the sequence of loess and paleosols and describe their pedological, physical and chemical characteristics. Particle size distribution is the most important characteristics of loess deposits. This characteristic is a function of distance from source and pedological processes. Carbonates are the main constituents of the loess deposits which can act as a cement and affect the particle size distribution. Main loess areas in Iran are located in the north of country, especially in Golestan province. However, there are loess deposits in Sari which there is little information about their pedological and morphological properties. The objectives of this study were to 1) identify the loess - palaeosol sequences and 2) determine the effect of carbonates on particle size distribution of two loess-paleosol sequence in southern Sari.
There is a loess containing area in southern Sari. During field surveying, two loess-paleosol sections were explored and the loess layers and paleosols (horizons and pedogenic features) were described. The sections were sampled from 10 cm intervals. Calcium carbonate equivalent (CCE), soil organic carbon, pH and particle size distribution of the samples were measured. Particle size distribution was determined using pipette method. The fractions of sand, coarse silt, medium silt, fine silt and clay fractions were measured. To determine the effect of carbonate on particle size distribution, sand, silt (coarse silt, medium silt and fine silt) and clay contents of the samples were measured before and after carbonate removing. Diluted HCl was used to remove the carbonates.
The thickness of the sections were 408 and 627 cm and were morphologically similar. Both sections contained a modern soil (MS) and three palaeosol which separated by loess layers. This indicated periodic alternation of soil formation and loess accumulation. In the studied sections, the modern soils composed of cambic (Bw) and calcic (Bk) horizons. Paleosols 1 (PS1) and paleosols 2 contained argillic-calcic (Btk) horizons. Paleosols 3 (PS3) indicated vertic properties (Bsskg). In contrast to modern soil in loess in humid regions of Golestan province which contained argillic horizon, the modern soil in the studied sections were not highly developed. Slickenside and wedge shape were the two main vertic properties which observed in PS3. Seasonal saturation in PS3 due to low permeability of Bsskg horizon produced stagnic properties. Accumulation of Mn oxides and to some extent Fe oxides revealed the intermediate reduction states.
Carbonate calcium equivalent (CCE) in the sections ranged from 2 to 48.75 %. High amount of secondary carbonates were found in loess layers and was higher than overlying paleosol. This indicated that in humid periods of soil formation the carbonates translocated from the paleosols. Particle size distribution results indicated that sand fraction mostly composed of hard carbonate nodules and consequently the amount of sand fraction reached to 42 % which is unusual in loess deposits. The amount of sand, silt and clay in the sections were 2 to 48.75 %, 36.2 to 78.2 % and 16.6 to 43.8 % which after removing the carbonates changed to 0.3 to 3.8 %, 47.1 to 81.5 % and 17.6 to 50.3 % respectively. Particle size distribution firstly indicated the distance from the origin. Dominance of medium silt showed that the sediments have been originated from relatively large distance. Weathering and translocation of fine particles during humid periods increase the clay content in the paleosols. The highest amount of clay content and the lowest amount of CCE occurred in PS2 palesols which indicate suitable weathering conditions during PS2 formation. Furthermore, the thick Btk horizons in PS2 paleosols of both sections is another evidence of suitable conditions for soil formation.
Results of the present study indicated that the studied sections are suitable for future paleoclimate and paleoenvironment studies. The sequences of loess-paleosols in southern Sarin was similar to those in humid areas of Gorgan which indicated they experienced similar sequences of climate variations. On the other hand, secondary carbonates accumulated as hard nodules increase d the amount of sand content which may cause misleading interpretation. Therefore, it is suggested removing the carbonates of loess sections in humid areas of northern Iran.

Gully erosion is an important type of soil erosion worldwide with respect to sediment production and land degradation that also occurs in different parts of Iran (12, 19, 26). Topography and soil properties of gully's drainage catchment have important effects on gully's development (17). Various studies reported the effect of soil on gully formation (22, 25). The objective of this study is investigate hydrologic process of gully forming by topography index and determining of surface and subsurface soil properties effect on gully extension in 2 year and select the most important of this properties.
In order to determine the main hydrological process that shapes the gully's shapes three regions of Ardabil province were selected including Orta Dagh, Mola Ahmad and Sarcham, and topographic threshold of gully forming was determined as where S and A are the slope and area of gully's drainage catchment, respectively and a and b are the regional coefficients. Furthermore to investigate the effect of soil properties on gully's development in each region, a set of similar gullies were selected and the changes of volume and cross section area for gullies in four points along its length were measured as indicator of gully development during a two years time. 19 different soil properties at surface and subsurface layer of gullies and at drainage area were measured and their effects on gully development were investigated. At the end, stepwise regression models were introduced to predict the value of gully development and to determine the main factors of gully development in each catchment. Precision of regression models determined with R2 and RMSE.
The results showed that in Sarcham catchment b power of topographic threshold was positive, therefore piping and tunnel erosion seems to be main reason for gully forming but in two other catchments the values of b power was negative therefore runoff may have caused gully formation. Correlation analysis between soil properties and gully's development revealed that in Sarcham catchment erodibility and presence of soluble materials in subsurface layers of soil had a strong relation with gully development. While in other two catchments, erodibility of surface and subsurface layers of soil had similar effects on gully development. In general, application of regression models that used total data set of surface as well as subsurface as independent variable for prediction of cross sectional area changes showed higher precision. For prediction of changes of gully volume, total properties of drainage area were used as independent variables. The precision of this model in Orta Dagh and Sarcham was high but in Mola Ahmad was low. The results of stepwise regression model demonstrated that in Orta Dagh catchment, MWD, very fine sand, clay contents in surface layer, gypsum, calcium carbonate, dispersible clay in subsurface layer, percentage of plant cover and CROSS index in drainage area of gully, in Mola Ahmad catchment, organic carbon and bulk density at surface layer, dispersible clay content and SAR in subsurface layer, and mean slope of gully drainage area and in Sarcham catchment, bulk density and dispersible clay content in surface layer, bulk density, silt and sand contents in subsurface layer, and curve number (CN) and Miller shape index of gully drainage area had more meaningful effect on gully development.
Used topography index had careful for determining of gully formation hydrological process. In Sarcham gully's extension related to soluble material in subsurface soil but in two other region gully's extension related to erodibility of surface and subsurface soil. Between properties of gully catchment properties that effected on runoff volume had main effect on gully's extension.

Holocene era that has nourished human civilization for the last ten thousand years, has given its way to a warming planet which is over populated, its forests are depleting and its fertile soils are rapidly destroyed due to increasing human activities in our time. Hence the word Anthropocene is being used for this era. Soils can sequester or release a large mass of carbon, maintain nutrients or flow them to the rivers where it may have impact on fishing industry. Sediment from soil erosion could affect power generation. Presently technology has advanced with such a pace that can lead to great changes in the soils. In this paper different scenarios are discussed for the future of the soils. They focus on how technology may have consequences on the condition of soils in the future. However, the greatest global processes that consume. The highest energy consumptions are related to geological events. We are encountered a new sphere developed through combined activities of man and technology, called technosphere. Technology effect on pedosphere is long lasting. Therefore, in far future, experiencing soils with great changes and interesting properties would not be out of expectations. This will take us to the discussion of smart soils. In a world that miniaturized computers are uniformly distributed, sensors and activators can be used to collect and relay environmental information about the state of the soil (temperature, moisture, relative motion of near particles) and coordinate with instructions relayed back from central computers. Considering cost reduction and increasing ability of computer chips, one can expect that what we now know as soil, land, water and vegetation management, will reach to a point that soils and other surface systems will be known as technological tools rather than natural systems.

Topography is one of soil forming factors through the degree and aspect of slope affect on soil physical properties. The aspect of slope influences soil moisture, temperature and activity of micro organisms cause change soil organic matter in different soil aspects and therefore create different soil qualities. Different solpe degrees through transport of organic and clay particles down parts of the slope and changing bulk density affect the soil quality (15). In order to maximize utilization of agricultural lands and minimal environmental degradation and to prevent soil erosion, study soil quality is essential. The aim of this study was to evaluate soil quality in different degrees of both northern and southern slopes in catchment of Torogh dam, located south eastern of Mashhad.
To asses the soil quality, 40 soil samples were taken from 0-30 cm soil depth in both northern and southern slopes consist of less than 10%, 10-20%, 20-30% and more than 30% slope degrees in catchment of Torogh dam, located south eastern of Mashhad. 5 soil samples were collected from each slope degree and and properties such as soil organic matter content, bulk density, CaCO3, sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), mean weight diameter of aggregates, water dispersible clay and silt, sand, silt and clay percent, pH and soil structural stability index (SI ) were measured. The score of each property based on scoring functions and their weights were calculated by dividing the communality value of each property to total communality of all properties in JMP4 software. Then Soil quality index was calculated by multiplying the score and weight of the studied properties and sum of them.
According to the results of this research, The significant correlation between the percentage of organic matter, CaCO3, water dispersible clay and silt, silt and clay with soil quality index was positive and, that of soil quality index with mean weight diameter of aggregates and percentage of sand was negative (P In this research, the effect of slope aspect on soil quality was more than degree, and different slope degrees had no significant effect on soil quality.

Reusing of treated waste water (TWW) for agricultural irrigation is one of the common management strategies for dealing with water deficit in arid and semi-arid regions. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of irrigation with TWW for ten years on some chemical and biological properties of irrigated soils in surrounding land of Kashafrud River located in Mashhad (Iran). The soil samples were collected from 8 points and 3 replications at intervals of 1 Km from surrounding lands of river. Also the soil sample that irrigated with underground water and had the same agricultural management practices was selected as control. The results showed that irrigation with TWW increased the soil pH and electrical conductivity (EC) in comparison to the control. Also¡ the TWW increased the concentration of zinc (Zn)¡ iron (Fe)¡ and lead (Pb)¡ so that they were less than toxicity limits and the concentration changes of cadmium (Cd) and nickel (Ni) in soil due to TWW was negligible. Application of TWW significantly increased the ratio of Cmic/Corg¡ respiratory activity and microbial biomass in comparison to the control. The metabolic coefficient (qCO2) values of irrigated soil samples with TWW were significantly less than that of control. The results of this research demonstrated that the irrigation with TWW did not only have adverse effects on soil properties and it also improved them. Furthermore¡ due to the different entrances of waste water into river¡ the soil chemical and biological properties were various in different points.

Gully erosion is the most advanced water erosion in watersheds that produce large volumes of sediment can cause serious damage. In order to manage and cope with this type of erosion, to identify areas of high risk of gully erosion in the watershed is very important. For this purpose gully erosion hazard zonation maps by combining information layers of different factors affecting the formation of gullies is prepared on the basis of their importance. Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and fuzzy Gamma operator new and useful methods for weighting and combining various layers of information. This study aimed to compare two methods of zoning with AHP and fuzzy gamma 0.8 in three watersheds in the name of Orta dagh, Molla ahmd and Sarcham was conducted in Ardabil province. For zoning from eight factor include slope, aspect, elevation, land use, Plant cover, geology, distance from roads and distance from waterways that are important factors affecting the formation of gullies were used. For comparison of two methods to accurately determine the zoning of the area, two compression density ratios (Dr) and quality sum (Qs) was used. The results showed that in all three areas fuzzy method is more accurate, AHP method are careful in the two Orta dagh and molla ahmad area but in sarcham did not workable. In general for zoning of gully erosion risk using fuzzy gamma was suitable. However, if selection and weighting factors influenced the formation of gullies has careful, AHP can was a good method.

Soil erosion by water is one of the most widespread forms of land degradation and it has caused many undesirable consequences in last decades. On steep slopes, rill erosion is the most important type of erosion, which produces sediment and rill flow. It can be also considered as a vehicle for transporting soil particles detached from upland areas. Recent studies indicate that soil detachment rates are significantly influenced by land use. It is also known that there is a major difference between detachment rates of disturbed and natural soils (Zhang et al., 2003). Plowing rills especially in steep slopes increases sediment production. Sun et al. (2013) reported that the contribution of rill erosion in hill slope lands in china was more than 70%, which was approximately 50% of total soil erosion. In addition, measured soil loss is statistically related to hydraulic indicators such as slope, water depth, flow velocity, flow shear stress and stream power (Knapen et al., 2007). This study aims to evaluate the effects of hydraulic variables (shear stress and stream power) on spatial-temporal soil detachment rate. The focus is on the plowing rills in hillslope areas under wheat dry farming cultivation.
The study area is located in hilly slopes with the slope of 22.56% under dry farming wheat cultivation at 60 km of west of Shiraz, Iran. Top-down conventional plowing was carried out in order to create 10 meters furrows. Slope and cross sections of rills were measured throughout the experiment at 1 m intervals by rill-meter. Water was added to the top of the rills for 10 minutes and inflow rates were 10, 15 and 20 L min-1. Hydraulic parameters such as shear stress and stream power were calculated measuring rill morphology and water depth. Flow velocity and hydraulic radius along the different rill experiments were also calculated. Sediment concentrations were measured in three equal regular time and distance intervals (measurement points (MPs)), they were considered to calculate sediment detachment rate in different times and sections of each rill experiment for spatial and temporal soil detachment rate evaluation. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was employed to test the significance of differences of sediment detachment rate among different treatments.
The results showed that the maximum values of shear stress and stream power were 14.07 Pa and 10.29 Wm-2 and the minimum values were 7.41 and 2.77 respectively. This research also indicated that changes in longitudinal profile of these hydraulic parameters along the rills affected the soil detachment rate values. Obtained average, minimum and maximum of the soil detachment rate were determined as 0.09, 0.02 and 0.22 kgm-2s-1, respectively. Due to Detachment-Transport Coupling mechanism, there was a significant difference between the initial and following MPs (P

Leafy vegetables are considered as the main sources of nitrate in the human diet. In order to investigate the effect of nitrate levels and harvest times on nitrate accumulation، nitrate reductase activity، concentrations of Fe، Zn، Cu and K in Lettuce and Spinach and their relation to nitrate accumulation in these leafy vegetables، two harvest times (29 and 46 days after transplanting)، two vegetable species of lettuce and spinach and two concentrations of nitrate (10 and 20 mM) were used in a hydroponics greenhouse experiment with a completely randomized design and 3 replications. Modified Hoagland and Arnon nutrient solutions were used for the experiment. The results indicated that by increasing nitrate concentration of solution، nitrate accumulation in roots and shoots of lettuce and spinach increased significantly (P ≤ 0. 05)، and the same trend was observed for the nitrate reductase activity in the shoots of the two species. Increasing the nitrate concentrations of solution، reduced the shoot dry weight and the concentration of Fe and Cu in both species، where as it increased the K and Zn concentrations in the shoots of the two species in each both harvest times، the nitrate accumulation increased، but the nitrate reductase activity decreased in the shoots of the two species over the course of the growth. The Concentration of Fe، Cu and K decreased in the shoots of lettuce and the spinach with the time، despite the increase in Zn concentration in the shoots. The results also indicated that increasing nitrate concentrations of solution to the levels greater than the plant capacity for reduction and net uptake of nitrate، leads to the nitrate accumulation in the plants. Nitrate accumulation in plant tissue led to decreases in fresh shoot yield and Fe and Cu concentrations and nitrate reductase activities in both lettuce and spinach.

Soil salinity is one of the major agricultural problems and it is limiting crop productivity in many parts of the cultivated areas all over the world. Saline soils are differentiated by the presence of great ratios of Na/Ca، Na/K، Ca2+، Mg2+، and Cl/NO3 (Gratan & Catherine، 1993) and high levels of neutral salts in the surface layers، which are resulting from the capillary action (Al-Falih، 2002). Osmotic stress occurs when soluble salts increase in the soils and then results in specific ion toxicity (Agarwal & Ahmad، 2010). Therefore، one of the most important side effects of salinity is nutritional disorders. High concentration of NaCl in the root medium usually reduces nutrients uptake and affects the transportation of potassium and calcium ions in plant. (Gratan & Catherine، 1993) reported that the salinity of soils changes ionic strength of the substrate and it can influence mineral nutrient uptake and translocation. Salinity also changes the mineral nutrient availability and disrupts the mineral relations of plants. Hence، the main purpose of this research is to evaluate the effects of rhizobial bacteria inoculation on K، Ca and Na concentration of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in saline soils.

Soil sample was collected from Astan Ghodse Razavi farm، Mashhad Iran، and then was dried and passed through a 12-mesh (approximately 2 mm) screen. Soil sample was divided into three parts and then was placed into three containers. Each container was watered by a different proportion of saline water (EC= 10 dS. m-1). Salinity of soils was regularly monitored until three salinities (2، 6 and 10 dS. m-1) came out. Then، a completely randomized design with a factorial arrangement was carried out in a greenhouse condition. The experimental factors included four levels of inoculation (Sinorhizobium meliloti، Bradyrhizobium japonicum and Rhizobium leguminosarum and control) and three levels of soil salinity (2، 6 and 10 dS. m-1) with three replications. Wheat seeds were sterilized in 5% sodium hypochlorite for 2-3 minutes and were washed several times and then were germinated and seedlings were inoculated with bacterial strains. Inoculated wheat seedlings were grown in 1 kg pots. Wheat seedling was watered with sterilized water for one month and was harvested for chemical analysis. Potassium and sodium concentrations in plant tissues were determined by flame photometer and calcium concentration was measured by using Atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS).

The results showed that the root and shoot dried weight، K and Ca concentrations and K/Na ratio in wheat shoot were significantly decreased with increasing soil salinity. The lowest shoot and root dry weight were observed in high level of salinity (10 dS. m-1). Inoculation of wheat seedlings with rhizobial bacteria had a positive effect on shoot and root dry weight. The highest shoot and root dry weight were obtained when wheat seedlings were inoculated with Sinorhizobium meliloti in non-saline soil treatment (2 dS. m-1). Calcium concentration increased significantly in all levels of salinity when wheat seedlings were inoculated with Rhizobium leguminosarum. Among all tested strains، Rhizobium leguminosarum had a prominent effect on growth of wheat seedlings. With increasing soil salinity، the concentration of sodium increased in shoot and root tissues and K/Na ratio declined dramatically. The lowest K/Na ratio was found in the highest level of salinity (10 dS. m-1). On contrast، the K/Na ratio in wheat shoot was amplified when wheat seedlings were inoculated with rhizobial strains. The highest K/Na ratio was observed in Rhizobium leguminosarum treatment. There are data that show that wheat cultivars having greater leaf K: Na، K ion flux، and growth improve under saline conditions (Mayak et al.، 2004; Morant Manceau et al.، 2004; Yao، 2010). It seems that Rhizobium leguminosarum reduced the detrimental effect of salinity to some extent. Acknowledgements: This research was partially supported by vice president for research and technology of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. We thank our colleagues who provided insight and expertise that greatly assisted the research، although they may not agree with all of the interpretations or conclusions of this paper.

In the past decades، the study of soil erosion has gained considerable attention by many researchers. This was thorough understanding of soil erosion processes and variable factors affecting it which is essential for making land management decisions. The aim of this study was to investigate the spatial-temporal coefficient of variation of soil erosion and flow hydraulic parameters in top-down conventional ploughing rills with 20 percent average slope. The artificial rills were produced with a length of 10، 20 and 30 meters. Hydraulic parameters and sediment concentration were measured at three equal time and distance intervals after applying 10، 15 and 20 Lmin-1 inflow rates for 10 minutes. Consequently، sediment detachment and transport rates were calculated. In addition، relative errors (RE) of these parameters were calculated in order to investigate the coefficient of variations. The results showed that there was a significant difference (P<0. 01) between sediment (soil detachment rate، transport rate and sediment concentration) and hydraulic parameters. Stream power was significantly different with sediment detachment and transport rates (P<0. 05). Temporal evaluation revealed that coefficient of variations in the first and final time intervals of RE values of detachment and transport rates were more than middle time slot. This is perhaps due to stochastically movement of available sediment in the first step and undercutting and bank failure of rills in final stage. Spatial variability showed that the RE in the primary section is significantly (P<0. 01) greater than following sections، whereas there was no significant difference between second and third sections.

Leafy vegetables play a crucial role in human dietary. Excessive application of nitrogen fertilizer leads to accumulation of high levels of nitrate in the tissues and causes further consequence. In order to evaluate the impact of zinc and harvest times on the reduction of nitrate accumulation and nitrate reductase activity، an experiment was conducted as completely randomized design with factorial arrangement and three replicates in Hoagland and Arnon nutrient solutions. Treatments were two levels of zinc (7 and 50 µg. L-1)، two harvest times (29 and 46 days) and two plants of lettuce and spinach. The results indicated that with increasing zinc concentration، nitrate concentration in lettuce shoots in both times decreased and nitrate concentration in roots decreased during the second harvest، whereas no reduction was found in roots and shoots of spinach plants. Nitrate reductase activity was increased in lettuce and spinach plants with application of high zinc levels. Reduced enzyme activity، and increased nitrate accumulation was observed over time in both experimental plants. The results of this study indicated that nitrate metabolism in plants affected by activity of nitrate reductase enzyme، the species of plant، harvest time and plant nutrients such as the zinc.

In recent years، due to the increased population، urbanization and changes in human consumption patterns، urban، industrial and agricultural soils have been exposed to various pollutants such as heavy metals. The objective of this research was to identify hotspots of Pb by using global and local Moran Indices in urban and suburban soils of Kashafrood catchment. A total of 261 surface soil samples (0-15 cm deep) were taken using irregular girding network method and their total Pb concentrations were measured. The positive Moran index at confidence level of more than 99 percent showed the spatial clusters between observations. On the basis of local Moran index results، 15 samples were introduced as hotspots (high-high value) located southeast of Mashhad plain. Exclusion of extreme values resulted in the addition of high-high cluster (hotspots) leading to the extension of these areas to the West of the Mashhad city. These areas are introduced as hotspots due to the urban land use، the direction of prevailing wind، and the area being close to Mashhad airport.

Bioreduction of ferric iron in anoxic conditions with respect to biological and environmental aspects is an important process. This process is considered in paddy soils and mostly controlled by microbial activities. Ferric iron is one of the most terminal electron acceptor in these soils. Present study with the aim of isolation and identification of some bacteria with high ability in ferric iron reduction in paddy soils of northern Iran was conducted. Testing of ability of isolated ferric iron reducing bacteria was conducted in nutrient broth according to biogenic Fe (II) produced and the results was compared with Shewanella sp that showed the highest concentration of ferrous iron. Then three superior bacteria were chosen and genomic DNA of these bacteria tested by using of PCR and fd1 and rd1 primers for 16S rRNA amplification sequence analysis. By using the BLAST program of these isolates and isolates in data bases, all selective isolates were belonged to Bacillus sp. Sequence of PS11 isolate showed 99.4% of homology with Geobacillus stearothermophilus and PS23 showed 98.4% homology with PS23 and B. subtilis. Sequence of PS23 also showed 98% homology with B. subtilis and B. thuringiensis that these isolates have ability to reduce ferric to ferrous iron in vitro conditions.

To evaluate the effect of parent material and land use on the variations of Ni, Zn and Pb,the number of 181 soil samples (0-10 cm) in 12 parent material-land use units were taken from an area of approximately 1500 km2 in Mashhad plain, Norteastern Iran. Aqua-regia extractable of the mentioned elements were measured. The amount of Ni in rangland and urban areas were measured of 205.8 and 68.9 mg/kg, respectively in ultramafic-methamorphic parent material which not significantly different. While in other units the concentration of this element varied from 43.2 to 62.9 mg/kg and was not influenced by land use. In all units, Zn with averages of 48.8 to 84.7 and Pb with average of 25.1 to 36.1 mg/kg showed less variations than Niandwere less affected by parent material. Zn in soils with metamorphic origin was slightly higher than the other parent materials. The amount of Zn and Pb in urban areas (only in ultramafic-methamorphic parent materials) were nearly 40% higher than cultivated and pasture land uses indicating the addition from the external pollutant source. Increase of Pb and Zn in urban lands can be attributed to industrial and urban activities.

From the plants nutrition view point، silicon has not been recognized as an essential element but its useful effects on growth and development of many plants have been reported. In order to study the effect of application of different silicon on the yield component of wheat، an experiment was conducted in the city Torbat Heidarieh located in Razavi Khorasan province. The experiment was performed as a completely randomized design (CRD) with factorial arrangement and four replications in green house condition. Experimental factors include two wheat varieties (Pishtaz and Roshan)، three levels of silicon (0، 250 and 500 mg/kg) from sodium silicate source and three levels of nitrogen (250، 500 and 800 mg/kg) from Urea source. Results showed that yield components (panicle weight، weight of 1000 grain، harvest index) significantly increased when silicon was applied to the soil. investigations have shown that lodging is an important factor for yield reduction، either directly or indirectly due to the appearance of some fungal diseases and also problems encountered at harvesting. Silicon application increased the density of stem unit which may have positive effect an the resistance of plants to lodging. It was observed that silicon increased plant height in a slow manner which is important for lodging. application of different nitrogen levels in the soil improved the efficiency of silicon uptake by the plant which shows the interaction between these two elements. Treatments of 500 and 800 mg/kg silicon and nitrogen respectively increased the weight of 1000 grain and harvest index. Application these two elements respectively effect the performance of varieties of wheat yield. Treatments of 500 mg/kg silicon performance of the highest yield. Pishtaz and Roshan varieties responded differently to silicon application. Pishtaz responded better to growth characteristics and seems to have higher yield potential to Roshan variety.

Soil maps are the common sources of soil information for land evaluation and land use planning. The objective of this study was to evaluate the capability of conventional and geostatistical methods for mapping selected physical (sand, silt and clay) and chemical (carbonate calcium equivalent and pH) soil properties. Based on interpretation of aerial photographs, satellite images and field observations, five geopedologic map units were identified in an area of about 12 km2 in southern Jiroft. 100 surface soil samples (0-20 cm) were taken from a regular grid of 500 × 250 m. The results indicated that geopedological map units were significantly different in at least one soil property. Differences of characteristics between units are resulting differences in geomorphic processes. Continuous soil maps prepared by the ordinary kriging also revealed continuous variations of characteristics in accordance with the changes in geomorphic processes. However, variations between units obviously recognizable in the boundary of units were not revealed by the geostatistical method. Based on results of this study, the conventional method is proposed for large areas (small scale maps) and geostatisticals method for small areas (large scale maps) are proposed for soil mapping.