فهرست مطالب a. reyhanitabar

Original Walkley-Black (OWB) method has been extensively used for measuring Soil Organic Carbon (SOC), mainly because of its convenience. However, the reliability of this method is still under speculation. In recent years, Permanganate Oxidizable Carbon (POXC) has been suggested to be more useful than the total SOC. In the present study, SOC contents of the 20 non-calcareous soil samples (0-20 cm) were determined by the OWB method and its modified versions (WB with external heating and WB using colorimetric determination) to understand their relationships with easy-to-find Soil Organic Matter (SOM) determined by the method of Loss-On-Ignition (LOI) at two temperatures (400 and 550°C). The POXC was also determined in the sampled soils and applicable relationships were specified between these methods. Eight of the 20 soils were selected to determine the accuracy of different WB methods using total organic carbon by CHN elemental analysis. Results showed strong power relationships between LOI and OWB methods. The WB method with external heating exhibited the highest recovery (95.3%) among the tested methods. This could be attributed to the finer soil particles used in the proposed method (less than 0.15 mm) than what has been used in the conventional method (less than 0.5 mm). The POXC method showed a high correlation with OWB method and, on average, accounted for only 4.1% of the Total Organic Carbon (TOC). This would likely reduce the value of POXC as an independent parameter to derive the labile fraction of SOC.

Savory is considered one of the most important medicinal plants, which is used in various food and medical industries. Nitrogen (N) plays a major role on the growth and yield of medicinal plants. Therefore, an adequate supply of N is required for successful production of savory. However, the application of chemical N fertilizers is associated with many obstacles such as groundwater ‎pollution, N enrichment of surface waters, and drop in the quality of plants. ‎Accordingly, nowadays, great attention has been paid to organic fertilizers. In this regard, humic acid-based fertilizers have shown promising results. Humic acids (HAs) could be converted into nitrohumic acids (NHAs) through the nitration process, in which nitro groups (NO2) are located on the aromatic rings. This process increases the N content of the HA. Thus, ‎‎NHAs can be used as organic N fertilizers in the cultivation of medicinal plants whose organic production is a priority. However, the ‎effects of these types of fertilizers on plant growth and physiological characteristics have not been well ‎understood. Accordingly, the present study for the first time investigates the effectiveness of NHA on the ‎morphological and physiological characteristics of savory, as well as N loss through leaching.‎

In the current study, HA was initially extracted from leonardite (purchased from Yazd Golsang Kavir Company) as a rich source of HA. Then, NHA was prepared through the nitration process using nitric acid (50% by volume). After that, using FT-IR (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy) and CHNS analysis the extracted HA and NHA were characterized, and their N content was determined. Afterward a ‎greenhouse experiment in a completely randomized design (CRD) with three replications was conducted ‎to determine the effects of 16 treatments, including control (without urea, HA and NHA), urea (U1, U2 and U3), humic acid ‎‎(HA1, HA2 and HA3), nitrohumic acid (NHA1, NHA2 and NHA3), urea-humic acid (U1HA1, U2HA2‎ and U3HA3), and urea-nitrohumic acid (U1NHA1, U2NHA2 and U3NHA3) on the morphological ‎and physiological characteristics of savory plant. The treatment levels were ‎determined as 40, 80, and 120 mg N kg-1 for the first, second and third level of the treatments, respectively. In the combined treatments of urea and HA or NHA, an equal fraction of the total nitrogen (N) was applied. At the end of the experiment, standard methods were used to assess various characteristics, including root length, leaf area, plant height, root volume, wet and dry weights of shoot and root, leaf chlorophyll index, concentrations of phosphorus, potassium, nitrogen, nitrate, and nitrate reductase in both the shoot and root. Additionally, leaching was conducted on specific days during the experiment, and the leachate was collected for nitrate measurement.

The results showed that using the nitration process, some characteristics of the NHA such as total acidity, the content of carboxylic and phenolic groups as well as N content improved as compared to the initial HA. Moreover, the results indicated that most of the morphological and physiological ‎traits of savory plants, including leaf area, plant height, root length, fresh and dry weights of root and shoot as well as chlorophyll index, and the concentration of nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, nitrate and nitrate reductase enzyme were significantly higher in the NHA treatments than those of HA. In addition, the highest shoot dry weight was obtained in the combined treatments of U3NHA3 and U3HA3 as well as in the U3 treatment alone. The average rate of nitrate concentration increase in the U treatments was 1.77 times higher than the UNHA treatments. According to the results, U3 treatment indicated the highest nitrate loss which by using the U3NHA3 treatment, the mean concentration of nitrate ‎in the leachate decreased by about 40.5% as compared to the U3 treatment.‎

The findings of this research revealed that most of the morphological and physiological ‎traits of savory plant showed better responses to the combined treatments of U3NHA3 and U3HA3 as well as to the U3 treatment alone. However, with regard to the lower accumulation of nitrate in the shoot of savory as well as to the lower nitrate leaching, the combined treatments were preferred. Accordingly, NHA can be ‎a alternative nitrogen source in increasing the yield and growth indicators of savory. However, the reasons behind the fact of the better performance of combined nitrogen treatments than the individual ones require more research in the future.

This study aimed to assess the effect of incubation time and sewage sludge on peppermint biomass, essential oil yield, and Zinc (Zn), lead (Pb), and Cadmium (Cd) concentrations in the plant tissues as well as assessing phytoremediation potential of peppermint grown in contaminated calcareous soils. A greenhouse experiment was conducted by growing peppermint (Mentha pipertia L.) in two contaminated soils treated with three levels of sewage sludge (0, 10, and 30 g kg-1) over two incubation times (30 and 120 days). Results revealed an increase in plant biomass and essential oil yield with an increase in incubation time and the sewage sludge amount. The concentrations of Zn, Pb, and Cd in plant tissues increased significantly in all treatments, except Cd concentration in plants growing on 10 g kg-1 of sewage sludge and incubated for 120 days. No traces of Zn, Pb, and Cd were found in essential oil of plants treated with 10 g kg-1 of sewage sludge. In other treatments, the concentrations of these metals in the essential oil were found within the limits recommended for medicinal plants. Unlike the bioaccumulation factor, the translocation factor of the studied metals decreased with an increase in the sewage sludge amount and incubation time. Although peppermint was not a sustainable plant to lower the pollution load, as the biomass production increased significantly and metals concentrations in essential oil remained within the recommended limits in all treatments, it can be concluded that peppermint can be used for cultivation in contaminated soils treated with sewage sludge.

Sorption and desorption are important processes that influence phosphorus (P) chemistry in soil. Desorption is a process more complex than sorption and usually not all that is adsorbed is desorbed. This indicates that adsorption and desorption mechanisms are not similar and it seems that such reactions are irreversible. Such irreversibility is usually called hysteresis. Major factors such as chemical changes in the structure of minerals, non-equivalent processes, inflation of adsorbent material, changes in the strength of crystals, irreversible fixation of adsorbed molecules in fine pores and equilibrium time less than its true value lead to hysteresis phenomenon. The concentration of phosphate in soil solution and thus its availability for plant are closely related to sorption processes by soil components. This relationship can be explicated by sorption isotherms. Soil organic matter (SOM) especially in arid and semiarid regions is one of the important indices of soil quality and plays important role in phosphate chemistry and fertility. Organic matter could decrease P sorption, maximum buffering capacity, and bonding energy and could increase P concentration in calcareous soils solution. Organic matter and organic acids resulted from its decomposition may coat calcium carbonate surfaces and prevent the formation of apatite precipitation. There are several methods to remove soil organic matter including using hydrogen peroxide and sodium hypochlorite solutions. It has been reported that H2O2 is penetrated into the interlayer spaces of phlogopite and vermiculite through exchange with water and cations and decomposes into H2O and O2. Therefore, this study was conducted to quantify the hysteresis indices, to investigate the effect of organic matter removal on phosphorus (P) hysteresis indices and to evaluate the relationship between hysteresis indices and soil characteristics and selection of index with the close correlation.

This study was carried out to obtain soil organic matter (SOM) removal with sodium hypochlorite solution (NaOCl, pH=8) effects on P hysteresis indices in 12 calcareous soils of Iran with different characteristics. For experiment of P sorption, 2 gr of soil subsamples was placed in separate 50 mL centrifuge tubes, to which were added 20 ml of monocalcium phosphate containing 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 60, 80 and 100 mg P L-1, which had been prepared in 0.01 M CaCl2 solution as background. Centrifuge tubes were shaken in a shaker incubator for 48-hour period to reach an equilibrium. Then, they were centrifuged at 4000 rpm for 5 minutes. The supernatant was filtered through a filter paper and the P concentration of filtrates determined using a spectrophotometer. The difference between initial and final P concentrations was assumed to be the amount of P adsorbed by the soil. Desorption experiments were assumed at the end of sorption experiments at the highest initial concentration of P with 0.01 M CaCl2 solution. The tubes were shaken to reach phosphate desorption equilibrium time (24 hours) at 25 °C in incubator shaker. Then, it was centrifuged for 5 minutes at 4000 rpm and 15 ml of the supernatant solution was pipetted and then 15 ml of solution of 0.01 M CaCl2 was added to tubes and the above steps continued to 9 steps. Freundlich model was used to describe the sorption – desorption isotherms data. DataFit 9.0.59 software (1995-2008) was used for nonlinear fitting of Freundlich to sorption data.

According to the results, P sorption and desorption data showed hysteresis which indicates adsorption and desorption mechanisms are not the same. As expected, nonlinear Freundlich equation showed a best fit (R2=0.96) to the data. The mean value of desorbed P in studied soils after SOM removal was decreased by 40%, so it was concluded that P sorption was more irreversible. In NaOCl treated soils, the mean values of seven studied hysteresis indices (HI) increased. Regression analysis indicated that the fourth hysteresis index, obtained from the distribution coefficient (Kd), had close relation with clay (r = 0.69, p < 0.05) and active calcium carbonate (r = 0.7, p < 0.05) concentration. Moreover, this hysteresis index showed significant (p<0.01) positive correlation with Kfsorb and Kfdesorb, which suggests that increasing bonding energy in sorption and desorption isotherms decreased desorption amount due to the strong interaction between adsorbed P and absorbent surface, increasing this hysteresis index.

It was concluded that among seven used hysteresis indices, HI4 can be introduced as the best index for the studied calcareous soils. It is predicted that using organic matter or preventing its reduction in arid and semi-arid calcareous soils may increase the efficiency of P fertilizer, given an increase in hysteresis index after the removal of the organic matter.

In this study, the interactive effects of soil moisture and SS levels were investigated on alfalfa (Medicago sativa c.v Garehyounjeh) shoot and root fresh weights, water use efficiency (WUE), and concentrations of some elements in a loam soil under greenhouse conditions. A factorial experiment based on a randomized complete blocks design with three replications was conducted with two factors: soil moisture at three levels (0.81 FC–FC, 0.56–0.75 FC, and 0.35–0.50FC) and SS at four levels (0, 15, 30, and 60 g/kg soil). When 10% of the alfalfa plants flowered, the shoot and root fresh weights, concentrations of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), sodium (Na), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), and zinc (Zn) and WUE of alfalfa plant were measured. The results showed that the main and interactive effects of SS and soil moisture on alfalfa shoot and root fresh weights, WUE, and concentrations of elements were significant (p≤0.01). The decrease in soil moisture content, decreased alfalfa shoot and root fresh weights, WUE, concentrations of Fe in the shoot and concentrations of P, Fe, and Na in the root (p≤0.05); while it increased concentrations of Cu in the root, and Cu and Zn in the shoot (p≤0.05). Effect of soil water content on concentrations of N, K, Ca, Mg, Zn, and Mn of the root depended on the level of SS. Concentrations of Mg, Fe, Zn, Cu, and Mn in the root and shoot and concentrations of P, K, and Ca in the root were increased (p≤0.05) with the use of SS and increase in its level. By increasing the SS level, shoot and root fresh weights were initially increased and then decreased (p≤0.05). Effect of SS on WUE depended on soil water content. With sufficient water supply (0.81FC–FC), WUE was increased with increment of SS level, while under water-deficit stress (0.35FC–0.50FC), application of SS up to 30 g/kg increased WUE but at the level of 60 g/kg, increase in the soil salinity reduced WUE (p≤0.05). To increase WUE and improve the nutrition and growth of alfalfa at similar conditions, 30 grams of SS per kilogram of soil may be recommended under both well-watered and water-deficit conditions. Although the use of sewage sludge had some beneficial effects in this experiment, the potential risks of heavy metals in long-term application of this organic waste should be considered and avoided.

Converting feedstock into biochar is a popular approach to overcome the disposal problem, yet the role of waste type and pyrolysis temperature on biochar properties is not understood well. In this study, biochars were produced from various feedstock such as tea waste, apple wood, wheat straw and walnut shell at 300, 400, 500 and 600°C with 1-hour residence time. The results showed that increase in pyrolysis temperature significantly decreased biochar mass yield. The maximum and minimum mass yields were observed in walnut shell at 300˚C and apple-wood-derived biochars at 600˚C by 69 and 20%, respectively. The produced biochar had pH range between 5.3 to 9.7, and its pH value and ash content increased significantly with increasing pyrolysis temperature, except for walnut shell. Total concentrations of P, Ca, K, Na, Fe, Zn, Cu, and Mn and available concentrations of K, Ca, Mg, and P increased with pyrolysis temperature increasing in all samples, except at walnut shell-derived biochar. According to CHN analysis, by increasing pyrolysis temperature, the total carbon concentration increased but total nitrogen and hydrogen concentrations decreased. The pH value decreased with time until 72 hours, beyond which a near steady-state condition was attained. Relationships between pH and CaCO3-eq content of biochars were close and linear. The FT-IR spectra showed that aromatic C increased by increment in heating. Also, by increasing pyrolysis temperature, the mean pore diameter decreased but micropores volume increased and led to increase in the specific surface area of biochars. The results of this study suggest that biochars produced at 300 and 400˚C may have potential as fertilizer in calcareous soils because of low pH and EC, with high mass yield.

Cupper (Cu) is one of the micronutrients and the release rate of this element is an important factor in determining its bioavailability in calcareous soils. In this research, the kinetics of native Cu extraction by DTPA was studied in 21 calcareous surface soils (0-30 cm) and the best kinetics model to describe the data was selected. For this purpose 20 mL of 0.005 M DTPA solution was added to 10 g air dried soil and shacked,then during the 0.16 to 200 hours the concentration of Cu was determined. Furthermore the abilities of  zero, first, second and third order equations, simple Elovich, two constant rate, parabolic diffusion, Lagergern first order and Blanchard equations in description of the kinetics process were evaluated. According to the results, the rate of Cu extraction by DTPA was increased with time then reached a relative equilibrium in 72 hours. The best models for describing kinetics of Cu extraction during 200 hours were the simple Elovich and two constant rates. Also within 0.16 to 20 hours besides these two equations, the parabolic diffusion was one of the best models, too. Lagergern first order and Blunchard equation despite the wide range of correlation coefficients did not have a good fitness with the 21 studied soils. The αsβst product of simple Elovich equation (qt = 1/βs ln(αsβs) + 1/βs lnt ( in initial 15 minutes was larger than 1 for all studied soils. The amounts of constant b in the constant rate equation (qt = atb) were positively and negatively correlated with sand concentration (r= 0.47 *) and CEC values (r=-0.45*), respectively. The highest correlation coefficientsbetween the kinetics parameters of superior equation, was observed between the ab with βs.

In this research, the effects of combined application of nitrogen (N) and iron (Fe) on the chlorophyll index and some growth characteristics of corn were studied using a factorial experiment based on completely randomized design with three replications under greenhouse conditions. The factors were N from two sources including urea and sulfur coated urea (SCU) in 3 levels (0, 100 and 200 mg N kg-1) and the Fe from two sources including commercial Fe-EDDHA and ferrous sulfate (FeSO4.7H2O) in 3 levels (0, 10 and 20 mg Fe kg-1). The results showed that the main effects of both sources of N and Fe on chlorophyll index and growth characteristic of corn plan were significant (p<0.01). Also, the interaction effect of N and Fe on shoot dry weight and leaf chlorophyll index was significant (p<0.05), so that the maximum shoot dry weight of corn was obtained with 200 mg N kg-1 as urea with 10 mg Fe kg-1 as Fe-EDDHA. The maximum leaf chlorophyll index was recorded in treatment with 200 mg N kg-1 from source of SCU with 20 mg Fe kg-1 as FeSO4.7H2O. In the most studied traits the difference between the two nitrogen sources, namely, urea and SCU was not significant.

Nickel (Ni) is an element that has recently been added to the list of essential micronutrients of plants. On the other hand, accumulation of Ni in soils and plants has increased concerns about humans and other living organisms for toxicity of Ni. To study the effect of Ni and iron (Fe) on the growth characteristics of corn (Zea maysL.) plant in the soil a factorial experiment on the basis of randomized complete blocks design with three replications was carried out under greenhouse condition in a calcareous soil. The factors included the concentration of the applied Ni at four levels (0, 10, 50 and 100 mg Ni kg-1 soil) as pure nickel sulfate (NiSO4.6H2O) source and Fe at five levels of 0, 10 and 20 mg Fe kg-1 soil, as iron sulfate (FeSO4.7 H2O) and commercial Fe sequestrene (FeEDDHA). According to the results, at the applied levels of 50 and 100 mg Ni kg-1 soil, the shoot dry weight was decreased by 21.1 and 31.9%, and the relevant decrease of root dry weight was 30.8 and 28.5% respectively, as compared to the control. Stem height was decreased by 2.1% in the presence of 100 mg Ni kg-1 soil, as compared to the control. Chlorophyll index was decreased by 32.4 and 40.5% in levels of 50 and 100 mg Ni kg-1 soil, respectively, as compared to the control. Increasing Fe levels of the two applied Fe sources significantly increased the shoot dry weight. But the shoot dry weight was decreased by 81.9 and 29% at 20 mg Fe level of Fe-EDDHA, as Ni was increased from the levels of 10 to 50 mg and from 50 to100 mg, respectively.

Information about forms of zinc (Zn) is important for the evaluation of its status in soil and also understanding of the soil fertility and chemistry. To obtain such information, amounts and distribution of Zn in different fractions of 20 soil samples of Tehran province, Iran were determined by sequential extraction method and their relationships with each other and with soil characteristics were investigated. Total Zn of soils ranged from 70 to 169.9 mg/kg-1. The amount of different Zn forms relative to the sum of forms was determined to be as follows: organic less than 0.1, soluble+exchangeable 0.1, manganese-oxide-associated 0.9, carbonate 1.6, crystalline iron-oxide-associated 3.8, amorphous iron-oxide-associated 4.2, and residual form 89.3%. Simple correlation coefficients showed that pH had a negative significant correlation with all forms of Zn except organic. Silt and clay contents had significant positive correlations with total, residual, and crystalline iron-oxide-asociated Zn but CEC had significant correlation only with total Zn. Calcium carbonate equivalent showed a significant correlation with soluble+exchangeable, manganese-oxide-associated and amorphous iron-oxide-associated Zn. DTPA-extractable Zn was significantly correlated with soluble+exchangeable, carbonate, and amorphous iron-oxide-associated Zn. A significant correlation was also observed between the Zn forms themselves, which is presumably a reflection of the existence of a dynamic relation between the chemical forms of an element in soil.