Restoration of degraded lands by adoption of recommended conservation management practices can rehabilitate watersheds and lead to improving soil and water quality. The objective was to evaluate the effects of grass buffers (GBs), biomass crops (BCs), grass waterways (GWWs), agroforestry buffers (ABs), landscape positions, and distance from tree base for AB treatment on soil quality compared with row crop (RC) (corn [Zea mays L.]–soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] rotation) on claypan soils. Soil samples were taken from 10‐cm‐depth increments from the soil surface to 30 cm for GB, BC, GWW, and RC with three replicates. Soil samples were collected from summit, backslope, and footslope landscape positions. Samples were taken at 50‐ and 150‐cm distances from the tree base. β‐Glucosidase, β‐glucosaminidase, dehydrogenase, fluorescein diacetate hydrolase (FDA), soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN), active carbon (AC), and water‐stable aggregates (WSA) were measured. Results showed that β‐glucosidase, β‐glucosaminidase, dehydrogenase, FDA, AC, WSA, and TN values were significantly greater (P < 0.01) for the GB, BC, GWW, and AB treatments than for the RC treatment. The first depth (0–10 cm) revealed the highest values for all soil quality parameters relative to second and third depths. The footslope landscape had the highest parameter values compared with summit and backslope positions. The 50‐cm distance of AB treatment had higher values than the 150‐cm distance for all measured parameters. Results showed that perennial vegetation practices enhanced soil quality by improving soil microbial activity and SOC.
Core Ideas
Permanent vegetative management (trees and grasses) enhanced soil quality.
Perennial practices improved microbial activity and increased soil organic carbon.
Perennial vegetative practices have agricultural and environmental significance.
Establishing perennial practices is an effective approach to enhance soil quality.
The study aimed to measure the concentration of some heavy metal elements and represented by (Pb, Cd,Cu) through the use of atomic absorption spectrometer Flame AAS-7000 type SHIMADZU underwent a process modeling to twelve samples from the soil of electricity Dezlat al Jadiriyah station in the Baghdad University compound at a depth of 30-60 cm from the surface and divided the samples into two groups first included six samples from inside the station while the second included six samples from outside the station. For the element of Pb was higher concentration reached by 29.32ppm and less concentration 17.56ppm. were elements Cd and Cu are growing and less and proportions of certain while the highest concentration of copper 9.69 ppm and le
This study has contributed to identify convenience of the land Usifiya of Mahmudiya district baghdad province for the cultivation of sensitive and salt resisting crops and growing pasture .The nine pedons (tracks) of the study have spread over three transects to cover the whole area the north, middle and south . Depending on Visual Space tupe (TM) for 2007 which is super classified, samples are distributed on all classes of land cover It is detected the presence of nine series soils namely MM5- MW96- DM 115 for 1st transect MF12- DM46 - DM96 for 2nd transect DM56- DF56 - MW5 for 3rd transect Soils are classified to the level of sub great group according to (soil Survey Staff) to : *Typic Torri Fluvents , Typic Haplos
The hydrolysis of urea by the enzyme urease is significant for increasing the irroles in human pathogenicity, biocementation, soil fertilizer, and subsequently in soil improvement. This study devoted to the isolation of urease from urea-rich soil samples collected from seven different locations. Isolation of the various bacterial species was conducted using nutrient agar. The identity of isolated urease was based on morphological characteristics and standard microbiological and biochemical procedures. The urease producing strains of bacteria were obtained using the urease hydrolysis test. The bacterial isolates produced from soil samples collected from different environments and treat
This study has been undertaken to investigate the mineralogical properties and morphological features of sand fraction in some soils of Baghdad / Iraq.The morphological features of sand fractions were studied by Polarized optical microscope. Results have shown that the grains of these minerals from samples of sands have different colors, those from the surface horizons have dark brownish spots, due to staining by organic matter, and have a yellowish– to yellowish brown spots due to accumulation of Iron oxides.Results of light minerals indicated that quartz is dominant due to effect of parent material of these soils. Two types of opaque minerals (black and brown) are found, whereas t
This work focused on anthropogenic influences of the trace metals distribution in the soils of Kirkuk city. Sequential extraction technique was used to determine the distribution of the chemical fractions of Ag, Cd, Co, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn, As, Cr and V in soil of Kirkuk city. This area is affected mainly by burning oil trash. Results show that these heavy metals were primarily restricted to surface horizons and mostly associated with the residual fraction (28.8 – 50%). The remnant fractions (13.8 – 33.1%) linked to the organic matter, 7.9 – 27.2% was bound to Fe-Mn oxide, 0.7 – 27.9 was bound to carbonate. Only a small amount of the total metals in the soil is exchangeable (0.5 – 4.2%) and water soluble (0 – 4.1%) fractions.
There are many aims of this book:
The first aim is to develop a model equation that describes the spread of
contamination through soils which can be used to determine the rate of
environmental contamination by estimate the concentration of heavy metals
(HMs) in soil. The developed model equation can be considered as a good
representation for a problem of environmental contamination.
The second aim of this work is to design two feed forward neural networks
(FFNN) as an alternative accurate technique to determine the rate of
environmental contamination which can be used to solve the model equation. The
first network is to simulate the soil parameters which can be used as input data in
the second suggested network, while the second network sim
In the case where a shallow foundation does not satisfy with design requirements alone, the addition of a pile may be suitable to improve the performance of the foundation design. The lack of in-situ data and the complexity of the issues caused by lagging in the research area of pile foundations are notable. In this study, different types of piles were used under the same geometric conditions to determine the load-settlement relationships with various sandy soil relative densities. The ultimate pile capacity for each selected pile is obtained from a modified California Bearing Ratio (CBR) machine to be suitable for axial pile loading. Based on the results, the values of Qu for close-ended square pile were increased by 15
Gypseous soil is considered as a problematic soil for embankment construction, however, implementation of emulsified asphalt as a stabilization agent could be a proper solution for enhancing its properties as a subgrade soil. In this work, the sustainability of asphalt stabilized soil has been assessed in terms of its resistance to cyclic (freezing-thawing) and (heating-cooling) processes. Specimens have been prepared at optimum fluid content (moisture and emulsion) and tested under direct shear stresses while subjected to 30 cycles of (freezing-thawing) and (heating-cooling). Both of dry and soaked testing conditions have been implemented. Data have been observed after each 10 cycles, and compared with that of reference mix. It was conclud
With the increase in industry and industrial products, quantities of waste have increased worldwide, especially plastic waste, as plastic pollution is considered one of the wastes of the modern era that threatens the environment and living organisms. On this basis, a solution must be found to use this waste and recycle it safely so that it does not threaten the environment. Therefore, this research used plastic waste as an improvement material for clay soil. In this research, two types of tests were conducted, the first of which was a laboratory test, where the undrained shear strength (cohesion), compression index (Cc), and swelling index (Cr) of the improved and unimproved soils were calculated (plastic was added in pr