نشریه بوم شناسی کشاورزی
سال سیزدهم شماره 4 (زمستان 1400)

In parallel with the population growth, increasing food production using modern agricultural methods seems necessary. Application of chemical inputs and biodiversity reduction in agroecosystems lead to artificial ecosystems, requiring human intervention. Soil is an essential part of agroecosystems and the key to soil fertility is preserving the ecological biodiversity of the system. The use of management methods based on field hydrone inputs reduces the consumption of thorny inputs and reduces environmental degradation. The size and stability of the aggregates indicate the balance between the constituent and destructive factors of the aggregates. Different tillage methods are based on the soil physical and chemical properties. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of management methods on the physical and chemical properties of farm soil of the cities in Isfahan province.

We investigated the effect of management practices on physical and chemical properties in field soils in Esfahan province during 2011-2012. First, 6 fields are selected in each of 23 counties, and evaluation was conducted using questionnaires filled by farmers. Accordingly, the fields were classified in three groups (low input, medium input and high input). Two fields of each group input were selected and evaluated. Four points (30 centimeters of depth) at each hectare of field were randomly sampled. By mixing, one complete sample was obtained and carried to laboratory for further analyses. Soil texture was determined by hydrometric method, and electrical conductivity and pH were determined in saturated extract. Wet oxidation method was used to measure soil organic matter. To determine the stability of aggregates, soil samples were evaluated by wet sieving method.

 Results indicated that soil texture, aggregate stability, electrical conductivity and rate of organic matter in three management practices (low input, medium input and high input) were significantly different (p < 0.01). The aggregate stability in low input fields had the highest value (0.72) and in high input fields had the lowest value (0.42).The soils in low and high input fields include maximum and minimum organic matter (2.05% and 1%), respectively. The field management methods had a significant effect on the amount of organic matter. The pH of soil samples did not show a significant difference. The electrical conductivity of the soil solution was different between three planting systems analyzed. In high input fields, the electrical conductivity values of the soil solution had the highest values. It seems that excessive consumption of chemical inputs in high input fields increased the electrical conductivity of soil solution. Other researchers have reported that the soil solution electrical conductivity depends on several factors such as the fertilizer type and their consumption, irrigation method and soil type.

Reduced chemical fertilizers consumption and less entry of machinery increase the stability of aggregates in low input fields. The reduced or non-tillage methods in fields that preserve more crop residues on the soil surface increase the aggregates’ consistency and thus improve their stability. Application of conventional plowing, chemical inputs, and no crop rotation reduce soil organic matter content.

Soil is the basic element for all ecosystem services which enhances different functions of ecosystems. It  provides  and  regulates  a  large  number  of  ecosystem  services and functions, and  plays  an  important  role  in  human health. Results of some experiments indicate a positive correlation between ecologically-based soil management with qualitative soil indices. Increase in soil organic matter enhances 10 different functions in agricultural ecosystems including biogeochemical cycle, nutrient returns, formation, and stability of soil aggregate, water purification and holding capacity, pH regulation, decreasing of erosion and finally crop growth improvement. In agricultural ecosystems, crop yield is notably dependent on soil properties. It has been stated that maintaining function and services of ecosystems could only be achieved by proper soil management. As a  consequence  of  land use, global warming, climate  change  and  conventional management,  soil  ecosystem services  are  being  drastically  degraded,  endangering food safety for coming generations. This  decreases  soil  ecosystem  services  and functions regulation  capacity  and  affects  the  sustainability  of  the  communities. It has been observed that no-tillage system which results in less soil disturbance and more accumulated crop residue has physical, chemical, and biological properties.

In order to evaluate soil ecosystem services based on different low and high input management in Khorasan province, the samples were taken from 10 sites by completely randomized design with four replications in 2014. The soil samples were collected from the depth of 0-30 cm in low input fields of saffron and orchards, high input wheat and corn fields, and annual research field (Agricultural Research Station, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad). Physical and chemical soil properties such as bulk density, organic carbon, total nitrogen, available P and K, pH, electrical conductivity (EC), and also biological criteria including microbial biomass carbon, dehydrogenase, and phosphatase enzyme activity were measured. Inputs used including chemical fertilizer, herbicide, insecticide, fungicide and also the acreage for wheat, tomato, alfalfa, corn, potato, sugar beet and canola were determined during the growing season of 2013-2014. After calculating greenhouse gases emission including CO2, N2O and CH4 based on emission indices, global warming potential was computed.

Results showed that type of ecosystem management affected all soil properties except the acidity (p ≤ 0.01). Management of high input and annual field crops (experimental) and also farmers’ fields caused reduction of organic carbon content, total nitrogen, available P, available K, EC, microbial biomass carbon, dehydrogenase and phosphatase enzyme activity and carbon sequestration in comparison with perennial field of saffron. However, bulk density was reduced. The highest and the lowest carbon contents were observed for orchard and annual experimental fields with 0.104 and 0.036 percent, respectively. The highest and the lowest sequestered carbon were observed for orchard and annual field crops (experimental) with 335.31 and 182.48 kg carbon per ha, respectively. Management of perennial fields (saffron), annual corn field and annual wheat field caused reduction of 12, 35 and 41 percent, respectively, in sequestered carbon compared with that for orchard fields. The highest global warming potential (GWP) was recorded for corn and potato with 3.69 ton CO2 equivalent per ha which was 53, 37, 16 and 12 percent higher than those for wheat, sugar beet, tomato and corn, respectively. The lowest GWP was recorded for canola with 1.35 ton CO2 equivalent per ha.

It can be concluded that reduction of chemical fertilizer and applying more organic inputs seem to be rational ecological approaches for sustainable management of the cropping ecosystem with a consequence of reduction in greenhouse gases and climate change mitigation. These sustainable practices are crucial to improve soil biodiversity. Using pesticides and herbicides has, however, a negative impact on biodiversity.

 Sustainable production in agriculture is closely related to the proper soil chemical, physical, and biological conditions which are considered as the main functions of soil organic matter. The amount of soil organic matter, especially soil organic carbon (SOC), in agricultural ecosystems depends on the tillage practices. Conventional tillage (CT) which generally uses moldboard plow, results in soil losses by intense erosion, a net loss of nutrients and organic carbon. Toward sustainable agriculture, decreasing plow intensity of CT through application of conservation tillage strategy in which tillage practices are omitted or limited to a considerable extent, has been reported as an essential alternative. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of tillage management practices and N application on soil chemical and physical properties as well as SOC in a corn-based rotation on a clay loam textured soil in semi-arid climate of Hashtgerd, Iran.

 A field experiment as the split plot design with three replications carried out in the research farm of agricultural research department of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran in two successive growing seasons during 2011-13. The tillage systems were (CT) conventional tillage (moldboard, rotary, and leveler) and; (MT) minimum tillage (disk) assigned as the main plot; and N rates of application, as the subplots, were 0, 50, 150, 250 kg ha-1. In CT treatment, moldboard plow to a depth of 25-30 cm was used as the primary tillage once in autumn and once in spring each year. As the secondary tillage, CT plots were rotavated to 10 cm depth in spring. MT treatment included two trips over the plots with disk harrow cutting to a soil depth of approximately 10 cm prior to sowing. Soil pH, bulk density (BD), total nitrogen (TN), soil organic carbon (SOC), exchangeable K and available P were then evaluated. Soil samples were collected in September 2013 after the end of three growing seasons from 0-30 cm depth at 5 locations per plot using a 3.5 cm diameter coring tube.

 The results showed that short-term (2 years) effect of tillage systems on soil pH, BD, TN, SOC and exchangeable K as well as available P, was not significant (p ≤ 0.05). However, N application rate significantly (p ≤ 0.05) changed soil TN, BD, exchangeable k and available P. Soil TN increased significantly (p ≤ 0.05) by increase in N application rate as the highest amount of TN was 1036 and 968 mg kg-1 in 250 and 150 kg ha-1, respectively. As the soil samples were taken after crops harvest, soil TN is illustrative of the residual soil N and high amount of TN implies the excessive N application. Soil BD decreased significantly in 250 kg N ha-1. Increasing the N application rate would decrease soil BD by increasing root growth. Exchangeable K and available P decreased significantly (p ≤ 0.05) by increasing N application rate. The lowest amount of soil exchangeable K, and available P was detected for N rate of 250 and 150 kg ha-1, 127 and 130 mg kg-1 for K, and 13.43 and 14.24 mg kg-1 for P, respectively. Increased N application promotes plant growth and improves nutrient uptakes such as K and P, consequently, the amount of soil exchangeable K and available P would decrease.

 Toward sustainable agriculture, conservation tillage seems to be an effective strategy to maintain crop yields as well as soil chemical, physical, and biological properties in the long-term. However, based on the results, tillage systems (CT and MT) had no significant effects on SOC as well as other investigated soil properties in the studied site in the short-term. However, N application rate increased soil TN and decreased BD, exchangeable K and available P. It seems that longer-term investigations are needed to evaluate the probable effects of different tillage systems on soil properties particularly SOC

Limitation of water resources is one of the crucial factors that contributes to the decline in agricultural productivity (Zhang et al., 2012). Intercropping plays a pivotal role for increasing biodiversity, land use efficiency, nutrient and water use efficiencies, and enhanced ecological services. Intercropping could be one of the alternatives to address some of the associated obstacles with modern agriculture, including low yield, pest and pathogen infection, soil degradation and environmental deterioration, thereby promoting sustainable and productive agriculture. Naked-seeded pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo L.) is an herbaceous, monoecious, annual plant of the Cucurbitaceae family (Lewis et al. 1997). The plant is economically and nutritionally important and cultivated for oil and medical purposes all over the globe. Several studies have reported the chemical composition and oil characteristics of the pumpkin seed from different origins and varieties (Kostalova et al., 2009). Summer squash is used for treating Helminth and reducing bad cholesterol. There is no official data about summer squash cultivation in Iran, but many Iranian farmers cultivate summer squash in marginal lands.Due to the importance of two species of naked-seeded pumpkin and sunflower and the lack of sufficient and documented information on intercropping of these two plants under drought stress, the present experiment was conducted to measure the potential of intercropping of these two plants and investigate their response to drought stress.

In order to evaluate the effect of different levels of irrigation and planting pattern on yield quantity and quality and water use efficiency (WUE) intercropped of pumpkin and sunflower, an experiment was conducted as the split-plot based on a randomized complete block design with three replications at experiment station of the Agricultural Faculty of Bardsir, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman in 2019. The experimental treatments were irrigation levels (90, 60 and 30% of field capacity; FC) assigned to the main plot and planting patterns (sole cropping of pumpkin, sole cropping of sunflower, additive intercropping of 100% of pumpkin + 50% of sunflower on ridge and additive intercropping of 100% of pumpkin + 50% of sunflower in furrow) as the subplot.

The results showed that the highest fruit number, single fruit weight, fruit, seed and oil yields of pumpkin were obtained in additive intercropping of 100% of pumpkin + 50% of sunflower in furrow. With increasing drought stress level, the superiority of the furrow planting pattern relative to sole cropping was more evident for pumpkin. The largest head diameter (33 cm) and highest seed per head (1640) was found for additive intercropping of 100% of pumpkin + 50% of sunflower in furrow when irrigated with 90% of FC. In all irrigation levels, sunflower seed yield in sole cropping was significantly higher than both intercropping pattern due to its higher plant density. The maximum proline content for pumpkin (1.52 μmol g-1 FW) and sunflower (2.63 μmol g-1 FW) were observed at the two species sole cropping in severe drought stress condition. Land equivalent ratio (LER) was higher than one in all the irrigation levels and planting patterns. The highest value of WUE (0.64 kg m-3) was related to additive intercropping of 100% of pumpkin + 50% of sunflower in furrow when irrigated with 60% of FC.

The results of this study illustrated that pumpkin is a sensitive plant to drought stress, and deviation of water availability from the field capacity significantly declines the yield. The addition of sunflower in the middle of the furrow between the two rows of pumpkin could reduce the negative effects of drought stress on the plant. This planting pattern could also significantly improve the fruit and seed yields of pumpkin in both moderate and severe stress conditions. However, the addition of sunflower on the ridge and between pumpkin plants had no significant positive effect on improving pumpkin yield under drought stress, due to increased interspecific competition. Therefore, pumpkin intercropping with high height plants such as sunflower, which causes a shading effect on pumpkin and reduces evapotranspiration, can be a useful strategy under drought.

Wheat is one of the most important crops worldwide and one of the most essential commodity in the global market. Many studies showed that it is necessary to increase global wheat production double before 2050 in order to meet the growing demands of the population, changing diets and consuming biofuels. In recent decades, climate changes have complicated the prediction of drought frequency and extent in the Mediterranean Basins. Therefore, more genetic sources are needed to identify lines carrying genes for tolerance and adaptation to drought conditions. One of the most important factors limiting growth, development, and productivity of crops is drought. Landraces breeds have become particularly important as genetic resources adapted to local conditions. An appropriate level of genetic variability in breeding materials and parental germplasm is vital for generating improved germplasm with desired traits that help to increase crop production and thus improve human nutrition. Landraces may facilitate to capture genetic recombination required for creating new genotypes tolerant to biotic and abiotic stresses. It is necessary to comprehend well the available genetic variation in primitive wheat, wild species, and landraces.

A core collection of 249 bread wheat landraces throughout Iran which belong to six different geographic origins were studied under supplemental irrigation and rainfed conditions at Sararood Agricultural Research Station in Kermanshah during 2016-17 growing seasons. Phonological, morphological and physiological traits were scored including days to heading (DTH), days to maturity (DTM), plant height (PH), peduncle length (PL), relative water content (RWC), number of seed per spike (NSPS), 1000 kernel weight (TKW), harvest index (HI), and grain yield (GY). Phonological, morphological and physiological traits were analyzed based on unbalanced combined completely randomization design. Two environments of supplemental irrigation and rain-fed were compared based on Hotelling T square test for the measured traits and multivariate analysis was also used to compare geographic origins in each environment separately. Shannon's index is employed to investigate diversity in germplasm and was utilized GT-bi-plot technique in order to depict relationships among diversity pattern for investigated traits and geographical origins of Iranian landraces.

The results of unbalanced analysis of combined variation and multivariate analyses revealed significant differences among geographical origins of Iran. Multivariate analysis showed significant differences among genotypes with different geographic origins in terms of Wilks’ lambda (0.69, 0.39), Pillai's trace (0.33, 0.81), Hotelling-Lawley trace (0.41, 1.1), and Roy’s greatest root (0.32, 0.57) for all traits at 1% probability level in supplemental irrigation and rainfed conditions, respectively. It means that the present population had high variegation. The results of bi-plot depicted significant differences between south geographic origins landraces and other geographic origins landraces for GY, HI, and TKW under the both supplemental irrigation and rainfed conditions. GT bi-plots revealed that the south landraces were early in flowering with high GY potential and also they indicated more compatibility to unpredictable situations in medium drought (supplemental irrigation) and severe drought (rainfed) conditions. The results indicated earliness (short DTM) as the most important phonologic trait affecting GY under rainfed conditions. South landraces can be suggested as highly valuable resources for using in breeding programs to develop new high yielding cultivars under unpredictable harsh environmental conditions. The examined Iranian wheat landraces showed high variations for important traits including GY, HI, TKW and earliness.

Our finding indicated that the explored variation play an important role in developing new cultivars and may be used in breeding programs aiming for adaptation to drought conditions. It is necessary to use a wide range of breeding strategies in order to gain present diversity in bread wheat which will lead to the expansion of the genetic basis of current cultivars and improvement of new wheat cultivars adapted to dryland conditions.

Tourism is still based on the significant role of human resources, regardless of technological development in the world, so that this industry leads to direct employment in sub-sectors of industry and indirect employment in many activities. Tourism is one of the most important industries in the contemporary world. Despite the growth of tourism, the agriculture industry is facing a growing number of challenges, such as intensifying market competition, limited access to lands, increasing cost of inputs and lower commodity prices, which has led to lower incomes for small-scale farms around the world. Therefore, in order to survive, agriculture has to find a way to add value to its products and create reliable sources of income. Agritourism provides many economic, educational, and social benefits to producers, consumers (tourists) and society. Besides, agritourism motivates farmers to stay in this job. Agritourism is a job that farmers and ranchers do during agricultural, horticultural or agricultural business activities, intending to create entertainment, leisure and gain experience for visitors and educate them, without replacing service activities with productive activities, this also raises farmers' incomes.

After choosing the Fuzzy Delphi method, we formed the implementation, guidance, and monitoring teams. Then, the initial indicators and sub-indicators were extracted to develop a preliminary questionnaire. In the next step, the questionnaire, whose questions were based on those sub-indicators, was designed. Then, the questionnaires were validated and sent to the elected specialists in different Delphi rounds. After the experts' answers were collected, the desired indicators were selected. For picking the indicators, the fuzzy value of each question was calculated and converted to a defuzzification value and later compared to the threshold value.

After three rounds of Fuzzy Delphi method, indicators and sub-indicators were chosen. In the first round of the Fuzzy Delphi method, seven sub-indicators were removed from 43 extracted ones. In addition, at this stage, two sub-indicators of non-governmental organizations active in the tourism sector and farmers' social incentives to accept tourists were added to the extracted indicators. At the end of the second round, 38 sub-indicators had defuzzification value above the mean range. At this stage, these indicators were not removed or added, but since some of the questions did not include the consensus of experts’ opinions, Fuzzy Delphi process entered the third round. After the third round of Fuzzy Delphi and reviewing its results, we found that the defuzzification values of all research questions in this round are greater than the mean range. Therefore, all the indicators of the third questionnaire are valuable. On the other hand, in the previous round, no new indicators have been proposed by experts, therefore, based on these results, we have reached the research goal to identify effective indicators in the process of assessing the capacity of agritourism in Iran. There is also a condition of consensus or agreement for all questions, which represents the Fuzzy Delphi method completion and the indicators' selection.

The results of this study represent that eight indicators and 38 sub-indicators should be considered to evaluate the development potential of agritourism in Iran. The indicators are as follows: cost, farm and environment, infrastructure, rules and regulations and policy, attitude and ability of the host community, fun and shopping, security and safety and last but not least, tourist attractions. There are few studies on agritourism in Iran, and since the agritourism industry plays an important role in rural development in the world, it needs to be given more attention in Iran. Therefore, in future studies, it is recommended to weigh these indicators and study and compare the potential of Iranian villages based on the indicators extracted in this study and the weight assigned to each indicator.

Given recent droughts, Medicago scutellata Var. Rabinson has taken an important position in crop rotation, especially in semi-arid regions. Therefore, agronomy management factors play an important role in improving its growth. Also, regarding its short growth period length, its quantitative and qualitative forage yield has been high, and it can be sown through dry-farming in regions with 300-500 mm of rainfall. On the other hand, given the importance of forage cultivation in agriculture and water shortage in Iran, we can try to cultivate fallow lands. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of different agronomic management methods on the quantitative and qualitative snail medic forage yield and to compare the relative contribution of components to increasing it under the climate of Arak.

In this study, two sowing dates (July 15 and 22, 2017) as main plot, two sowing depths (1-2 and 2-4 cm), and four seeding rates (2.5, 7.5, 12.5, and 17.5 kg ha-1 equal to 20, 50, 80, and 125 plants m-2) as subplots were investigated. The experiment conducted in split plot factorial based on randomized complete block design with three replications. It is noteworthy that due to seed hardness, the average number of germinated seeds was low. The measured traits in this study included forage dry weight, stem dry weight, pod dry weight, leaf dry weight, number of pods per m2, leaf area index (LAI), dry mater digestibility (DMD), crude protein (CP), crude fiber (CF), crude ash (CA), acidic detergent insoluble fiber (ADF) and neutral detergent soluble fiber (NDF) in the final stages of forage harvesting. Finally, using the statistical software SAS, we performed analysis of variance, comparison of means using Duncan’s multiple range test at 5% probability level and correlation analysis.

The results showed that the highest dry forage weight and dry stem weight (2884.13 and 1361.71 kg.ha-1, respectively) were observed in the treatment of seeding rate of 12.5 kg ha-1, at sowing depth 1cm and on the sowing date of July 21. Accordingly, the amount of dry forage obtained from the sowing date of July 21 and the sowing depth of 1 cm was 10.77 and 19.84% more than that of the sowing date of July 5 and the sowing depth of 2 cm, respectively. The portion of dry stem weight in the sowing date of July 21 and sowing depth of 1 cm was 53.96 and 55.24% of the dry forage weight, respectively. Furthermore, the portion of the pod and dry leaf weights from the dry forage for sowing date of July 21 were respectively reported as 34.13 and 11.91%, and for sowing depth of 1cm were, respectively, 33.56 and 11.18%. As the amount of seeding rate increased, the CF increased, and the percentage of CP decreased. By taking into account the absolute value of the slope value of the equations of these two traits, it was found that the effect of density on the CF is more than the effect of this treatment of CPP. According to the obtained results, the sowing date of July 21, the sowing depth of 1 cm, and the consumed seed of 12.5 kg ha-1 showed an appropriate quantitative and qualitative yield. Also, according to the results of the correlation test, it was determined that the dry forage produced had a positive correlation with the stem dry weight (0.99**), the pod dry weight (0.99**), the leaf dry weight (0.98), the number of pods per m2 (0.43*), the CA (0.71**), DMD (0.78) and NDF. On the other hand, a negative correlation was found with LAI (-0.66**) and ADF (-0.53**).

Regarding the absolute value of the slope in the equations pertaining to these two properties, it was found that the susceptibility of fiber percentage to density was higher than the susceptibility of crude protein percentage in this treatment. In deeper sowing, the obtained protein percentage was 1% lower, while the lowest fiber percentage occurred in shallow sowing. Generally, we can say that this crop has a high sensitivity to high densities. Based on the results, there were the relation between regression and correlation results.

Medicinal plants are rich resources for traditional medicines and in this regard play an essential role in the development of human culture. Basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) belongs to the Laminaceae family and can be found in tropical Asia, Africa, Central America, and South America. Basil is traditionally used worldwide as a medicinal herb to treat numerous ailments. The leaves and flowering tissues are traditionally used as antispasmodic, carminative, digestive remedies, to treat abdominal cramps, fever, poor digestion, migraines, insomnia, depression, dysentery, etc. Application of chemical fertilizers in order to eliminate residues of this chemichal substances from crop to ensure consumer health and environmental protection is one of the major challenges in sustainable production of medicinal crops. The application of organic fertilizers such as farmyard, vermicompose, and humic substances as an alternative to chemichal fertilizers to improve soil fertility in sustainable agriculture is currently being discussed. Application of organic fertilizers in addition to modifying soil physical and chemical properties, provides nutrients for the plant in long-term. Various studies have also shown the positive effect of organic fertilizers on increasing the quantitative and qualitative yield of medicinal crops. Therefore, the present study was conducted to investigate the effect of cow manure, vermicompost, and humic acid on some morphological traits, dry matter yield, and production of basil essential oil.

The experiment was conducted as a factorial based on a randomized complete block design with three replications at a farm in Oshnavieh city in the West Azerbaijan Province in 2014. The treatments included organic fertilizers (20 tons ha-1 farmyard, 7.5 and 15 tons ha-1 vermicompost, and control) and humic acid application (soil application, foliar application and not application as control). The measured traits included plant height, lateral stems number, lateral stems length, flowering stems number, leaf number per plant, leaf chlorophyll index, dry matter yield and essential oil percentage. Data analysis was done using MSTAT-C statistical software and means were compared using LSD test at 1% or 5 % probability levels based on the significance level in each trait.

The results showed that application of organic fertilizers significantly increased plant height, lateral stems number, lateral stem length, flowering stem number, and leaf number. The highest essential oil yield (2.94 g m-2) was obtained using 15 tons ha-1 vermicompost. Both foliar and soil application of humic acid treatments had the highest lateral stems number (13.1 per plant) and essential oil yield (2.75 g m-2) and humic acid foliar treatment had the highest flowering stem number (22.9) and essential oil percentage (0.59%). All treatments of organic fertilizer and humic acid increased leaf chlorophyll index compared to control. Application of 15 tons ha-1 vermicompost combined with or without humic acid produced the highest dry matter yield (with an average of 538.6 g m-2) that showed 99.6% increase compared to control (not application of organic fertilizers and humic acid). It seems that the application of humic acid and organic fertilizers increased the absorption and transport of nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium and magnesium as well as water absorption by the plant and by this way, the morphological and growth traits of plant increased. On the other hand, application of organic fertilizers not only increased the available nutrients to the plant, but also improved soil physical conditions and biological processes and provided a suitable environment for root growth. Consequently, organic fertilizers increased dry matter production and essential oil content and yield.

The findings of this study showed that organic fertilizers and humic acid application had significant effects on morphological traits, yield, and essential oil content of basil. So that, these treatments significantly increased the value of morphological traits. The highest dry matter yield was obtained by application of 15 tons ha-1 vermicompost combined with or without humic acid. The treatment of foliar application of humic acid had the highest essential oil content. The highest essential oil yield was obtained by the application of 15 tons ha-1 vermicompost. Finally, the application of organic fertilizers could be used in sustainable agriculture to improve of quantitative and qualitative yield of basil and reduce the application of chemical fertilizers.

 Leaf area index, radiation absorption and radiation use efficiency are important ecophysiological characteristics, which is useful in assessing the amount of light absorbed for dry matter production. Understanding how and managing the effects of ecological factors on plant reproduction is essential for achieving sustainability in agricultural production systems. On the other hand, the use of efficient crops in utilization of resources, especially solar radiation, is one of the fundamental approaches towards achieving this goal. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of sulfur and biofertilizers applications on growth indices, radiation absorption and use efficiency of chickpea.

 In order to determine the growth indices, radiation absorption, and radiation use efficiency (RUE) of chickpea, a field experiment was conducted in 2019 at the Agricultural Research Station of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad based on a completely randomized block design with ten treatments and three replications. The experimental treatments including: 1-Spa, 2-Spo, 3-Spa+SOB, 4-Spa+SOB+NFB+PSB+KSB, 5-Spo+SOB 6-Spo+SOB+NFB+PSB+KSB, 7-SOB+NFB+PSB+KSB, 8- NFB+PSB+KSB, 9-SOB and 10-Control. Sampling was started 20 days after planting by taking six destructive samples. The plant was sampled two weekly intervals to determine the growth parameters of chickpea including leaf area index (LAI), dry matter accumulation (DM), crop growth rate (CGR) and radiation use efficiency (RUE). For calculations of radiation use efficiency, it was necessary to estimate daily LAI and daily absorbed, the RUE was calculated based on g MJ-1 through the slope of a linear regression between total dry weight accumulations (g m-2), and cumulative absorbed the total daily solar radiation.

 The results showed that the highest leaf area index was obtained in Spa + SOB + NFB + PSB + KSB and Spo + SOB + NFB + PSB + KSB treatment which was 29 and 26 %  more than control, respectively. The application of pa + SOB and Spo + SOB treatment, which increased 12 and 7 % compared to control, respectively. In this study, sulfur was more important than other fertilizer treatments. The highest dry matter accumulation was obtained in Spo + SOB + NFB + PSB + KSB and Spa + SOB + NFB + PSB + KSB treatment which was 31 and 27% more than control. SOB and NFB + PSB + KSB treatments had the lowest amount of dry matter after control. The results showed that the highest crop growth rate observed in Spo + SOB + NFB + PSB + KSB treatment, which increased by 14% compared to control. The maximum absorbed radiation coincided with the highest leaf area index of chickpea. Then, Due to the decrease in leaf area index until the end of the growth period, the absorbed fraction of light absorbed a decreasing trend. The estimated RUE levels in different treatments were significantly different (P≤0.01). The highest radiation use efficiency was in Spa + SOB + NFB + PSB + KSB treatment (R2 = 0.91**) which was 18% more than control. Also, increasing leaf area can increase the plant's photosynthetic potential and increase dry matter, at finally to increased RUE.

The results showed that treatments (Spo + SOB + NFB + PSB + KSB) and (Spa + SOB + NFB + PSB + KSB) with higher leaf area index resulted in more efficient use of canopy light absorbed by chickpea leaves as a result of increased radiation and dry matter efficiency. High slope radiation use efficiency indicates the high efficiency of a plant using sunlight and converting it to dry matter. Giving attention to a more frequent application of biological fertilizers could be considered as an essential agro-ecological approach, which results in healthier soil and water resources.

Tillage intensity and tillage system can affect biological, physical, and chemical properties of the soil. Suitable soil management is essential to achieve sustainable agricultural production especially in drought-prone regions. More application of machineries in a tillage system will result in more soil compaction which in turn increases soil bulk density and decreases its air and water permeability. Additionally, it has been well documented that the compact soil hampers the downward growth of the crop roots. The soil with good physical quality will provide aeration and water as well as non-impeditive mechanical resistance for root proliferation. Moldboard plowing is currently applied in around 65% of tillage practices although the agricultural extension services have tried to convince farmers to apply reduced tillage system by replacing moldboard plow with chisel plow to mitigate adverse effects of moldboard plowing especially in arid and semi-arid regions. Conservation tillage practices, especially reduced tillage, have been introduced to Iranian farmers since 1999. Mycorrhiza is the product of an association between a fungus and plant root that enhance the tolerance levels of plants against the drought, salinity and high heavy metal contents. The aim of the present study were to evaluate the effects of tillage systems, nitrogen levels, and mycorrhiza inoculation on yield and yield components of mung bean and soil criteria.

The experiment was conducted in Darehshahr research field in two growing seasons (2017 and 2018). The experimental layout was split plot based on a randomized complete block design with three replications. Treatments consisted of three tillage systems as conventional, conservation and no tillage as main plot, four nitrogen levels including 0% (as control), 33%, 66% and 100% of recommended fertilizer as sub plot, and two levels of mycorrhiza fungi inoculation (Contains arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi of Glomus mosseae strains, counting 107 to 108 (CFU / g.) Prepared by Soil and Water Research Institute) (no symbiosis (as control) and with symbiosis) as sub-sub-plot. Studied traits were yield components (such as 1000-seed weight, No. of seeds per pod, No. of pods per plant), seed yield and harvest index of mung bean and moisture content, cone index and organic carbon percent of soil. For analysis of variance SAS 9.4 was used. All the means were compared according to Duncan test (p≤0.05).

The results revealed that the highest 1000-seed weight (57.48 g) was obtained from no-tillage and the highest number of seeds per pod (10.64 seeds per pod) and the number of pods per plant (61.04 pods per plant) were obtained from conservation tillage. The highest seed yield was obtained from conservation tillage + application of 100% N fertilizer with 2941 kg.ha-1. The highest seed weight, number of seeds per pod, and number of pods per plant were obtained from 66% N fertilizer application. Mycorrhiza inoculation increased harvest index, seed yield and its components. The soil bulk density in the no-tillage system had the highest value. The maximum and the minimum soil moisture contents were observed for non-tillage and conventional tillage systems, respectively.highest soil cone index (2.25 MPa) was obtained from no-tillage and 66% N fertilizer and the lowest (1.07 MPa) was for conventional tillage system+ without nitrogen application. The highest and the lowest soil organic carbon were related to no-tillage and conventional tillage systems with 0.68% and 0.32%, respectively.

In general, the conservation tillage system+ application of 66% N fertilizer and inoculation with mycorrhiza had a relative advantage impact on yield and related traits. In addition, the soil physical traits and organic carbon content were improved affected as declined tillage systems. The long-term field experiment points out the beneficial impacts of reduced tillage and no tillage systems that, in addition to preserving both soil physical (such as cone index) and chemical criteria (and organic carbon), fertility and biological activity, could increase yield and exhibit a comparable yield over a long-term period as in conventional plough. Currently, there is no mung bean variety appropriate to Iran. Improving some varieties with higher yield which are tolerant to warm climate and water deficiency seems essential to improve the sustainability of local seed production. Investigating into the effect of mung bean tillage and fertilizer consumption on the weed type and density is also suggested for future studies.