Ghasem Gheicari; Mohammad Reza Asgharipour; Mohsen Mousavi Nik; Ahmad Ghanbari
Abstract
Conventional tillage methods result in resource waste and the release of greenhouse gases into the environment. An experiment with a randomized complete block design and three treatments in four replications was conducted at Darab Agricultural Research Station for five years to determine the effects ...
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Conventional tillage methods result in resource waste and the release of greenhouse gases into the environment. An experiment with a randomized complete block design and three treatments in four replications was conducted at Darab Agricultural Research Station for five years to determine the effects of different tillage methods on nitrous oxide (N2O) and ammonia (NH3) emissions in cotton-wheat rotation. Direct farming (no tillage), low tillage, and conventional wheat-cotton tillage (control) were used as treatments. Following wheat harvesting in the direct and low tillage treatments, 30% (weight) of wheat residues were dispersed on the field. Within two years, N2O and NH3 emissions from the cotton-wheat field were estimated using the DNDC 9.5 model. Data from the first three years of the study was used to validate the model. The results of model validation revealed that the model performed well in simulating the soil environment as well as N2O and NH3 emissions. The simulation results revealed that the highest and lowest N2O emission rates occurred in conventional and no-tillage treatments, with a significant difference. After five years of experimentation, average annual N2O emissions were 4.40, 2.80, and 2.14 kg N ha-1 y-1 for conventional, low, and no-tillage treatments, respectively. According to the simulation results, peak NH3 emission from soil occurred on the fifth day after fertilization in all three treatments. The overall findings of this study indicated that the use of no-tillage methods is more advantageous than other cotton culture treatments in cotton-wheat rotation under similar conditions as in the current study.
Sousan Nadi Bohlooli; Abdul Shakoor Raissi; Ahmad Ghanbari; Fatemeh Nosrati
Abstract
The development and implementation of effective, beneficial programs towards restoration, conservation, and appropriate utilization of medicinal plant species are feasible only through the identification of their ecological characteristics. This research was conducted with the objective of investigating ...
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The development and implementation of effective, beneficial programs towards restoration, conservation, and appropriate utilization of medicinal plant species are feasible only through the identification of their ecological characteristics. This research was conducted with the objective of investigating the morphological, nutritive, and secondary metabolite characteristics of calotrope wild populations in certain habitats of Baluchestan, as a completely random nested design with three repetitions throughout four cities during February/March 2014. The edaphic properties of habitats were also assessed. The obtained data were compared at a 5% significance level via DMRT. The samples were collected from various regions, including the cities of (1) Iranshahr (Mand-e Bala and Sarzeh villages), (2) Chabahar (Negour and Nalent villages), (3) Nikshahr (Bandaan and Bent villages), and Khash (Baluchkan and central Khash), were compared. Results showed that the majority of the investigated characteristics were significantly different among cities and regions. In this research, Nikshahr city had the highest number of morphological characteristics. The investigated soil in Nikshahr city was more suitable regarding P and K, as compared to other regions. The plants grown in Nikshahr had the highest level of foliar N, Ca, K, and P, the highest level of floral K, and the highest level of P and K in the roots. Forty-two compounds were identified in the aerial organs and root extracts of calotrope. Among the active ingredients, 9-Octadecenamide acid with 8.3% in the aerial organ, Benzyl alcohol with 8.7% in the root, and 2,6,10-Trimethyl,14-ethylene-14-pentadecane with 27.2% in the stem-extracted latex had the highest content in this plant.