High tunnels, or unheated plastic greenhouses, are becoming increasingly popular among organic vegetable growers across the United States. However, the intensive production typical of these systems presents soil health challenges, including salinization due to high fertilizer or compost inputs coupled with lack of rainfall to leach salts. Legume cover crops may improve soil health in high tunnels by reducing the need for external inputs, while adding organic matter. We tested the soil health effects of a winter hairy vetch (Vicia villosa Roth) cover crop used to replace fertilizer N in an organic tomato cropping system in high tunnels. Studies were replicated across three sites differing in climate and soil type (Kansas, Kentucky, and Minnesota) over three years. We measured vetch cover crop effects on a suite of soil health indicators, including potentially mineralizable nitrogen (PMN), permanganate oxidizable carbon, and microbial biomass. Preliminary results suggest that vetch effects on PMN were highly variable. Soil mineral N, meanwhile, was often lower in the vetch treatment than in a fertilized control, both in spring and in fall. While further work on vetch effects on crop yields is needed, our results suggest that even legume cover crops such as vetch have the potential to reduce nitrate leaching.
Sesame crop, one of the very important oily, industrial, and summer crops that is economically important, has been investigated. The plantation and production of this crop has been studied in Al-Qadisiyah governorate during 2003-218. This is because this governorate is well-known by sesame plantation. Such a study helps to know the geographical distribution of sesame agricultural season in 2017-2018, and explore the most important natural factors that affect its plantation. Different research approaches have been adopted based on that facts that need to be met. A field study approach has been used in studying sesame crop descriptively and conceptually, shedding light on its nutritional and economic importance. Moreover, a descriptive com
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In this study, the behavior of square helical piles models (5×5) mm2 embedded in expansive soil bed overlaying a layer of sandy soil was investigated. The sand layer 200mm thickness was compacted into four sub layers in a steel container with diameter 400mm in size. Sandy soil layer was compacted into two relative densities 40% and 80%. The bed of ثءحties 40% and 80%.The bed of o00mm in size.Sandy soil layer was compacted into two relative densities 40% and 80%.The bed of oexpansive soil 300mm thickness was compacted into six sub layers on sandy soil layer. Model tests are performed with helical pile length 350mm, 400mm and 450mm and with helix diameter 15mm and 20mm. Also, one helix and double helix were
... Show MoreThe present research included sampling and analysis of 41 soil samples , the samples cover various areas of Nasiriyah city (industrial,commercial,residential and agricultural ) to estimate pollution levels of lead element and determine the correlation between lead concentration and natural factors in soil which represent sedimentary organic matter content, granular gradient, clay minerals and non-clay minerals . The results of the current study showed that the average concentration of lead in the soil samples was 61.12 ppm , it was noticed an increase in the concentration of lead in environmental components in the area of this study especially in residential , industrial and commercial location and the impact of natural factors of the so
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Low-level microbial activity due to the production of organic acids is a recognized problem during the initial phase of food waste composting. Increasing such activity levels by adjusting the pH values during the initial composting phase is the primary objective to be investigated. In this study, sodium acetate (NaoAc) was introduced as an amendment to an in-vessel composting system. NaoAc was added when the pH of the compost mixture reached a low level (pH < 5), the addition increased pH to 5.8. This had a positive effect on the degradation of organic materials i.e. the formation of methane gas compared to the results without NaoAc addition.
The results also proved that anaerobic-aerobic in-vessel composting could reduce the
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Steps were taken to obtain the Kojic acid crystals from local fungal isolation A. flavus WJF81 by separating the fermentation products from the fungus mycelium from the production plant at the centrifuge at a speed of 5000 cycles for 10 minutes. The extraction was followed by ethyl acetate then supernatant concentrate by using rotary evaporator, and dried with heat oven 37ºC. Long, yellowish, pristine acid crystals were obtained that examined the optical microscope with a magnification force of 10x and 40x. The melting point of kojic acid was determined between 152.9-153.5 °C Results of the diagnosis of Kojic acid by applying High pressure liquid chromatography HPLC technique showed that the acid was at one peak, which was close to the
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In this study is the phenomenon of desertification risk assessment in the Abu Ghraib area west of Baghdad/Iraq, which has an area of about (384.168 km 2), that the annual mean temperature is more than (22 C). Rainfall was low, ranging from the (200 mm) per year for Iraq and (2.82) mm per year of the study area* temperature is high and evaporation is also high (mm 7.73) per year*, so the climate in general of the dry type and the system of soil moisture is the kind of Aridic (Torric). To this study was to identify three indicators to monitor for the period from 2001-2005 using GIS and these indicators are (soil, groundwater and the nature of land use), using ArcGIS 9.1. The results showed that the risk of desertification was part of the leve
... Show MoreRecently, the Internet of Things has emerged as an encouraging technology that is scaling up new heights towards the modernization of real word physical objects into smarter devices in several domains. Internet of Things (IoT) based solutions in agriculture drives farming into a smart way through the proliferation of smart devices to enhanced production with minimal human involvement. This paper presents a comprehensive study of the role of IoT in prominent applications of farming, wireless communication protocols, and the role of sensors in precision farming. In this research article, the existing frameworks in IoT-based agriculture systems with relevant technologies are presented. Furthermore, the comparative analysis of the a
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