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.
A hybrid cadmium sulfide nanoparticles (CdSNPs) electroluminescence (EL) device was fabricated by Phase – Segregated Method and characterized. It was fabricated as layers of (ITO/poly-TPD:CdS ) and (ITO/poly-TPD:CdS /Alq3). Poly-TPD is an excellent Hole Transport Layer (HTL), CdSNPs is an emitting layer and Alq3 as electron transport layer (ETL). The EL of Organic-Inorganic Light Emitting Diode (OILED) was studied at room temperature at 26V. This was achieved according to band-to-band transition in CdSNPs. From the I-V curve behavior, the addition of Alq3 layer decreased the transfer of electrons by about 250 times. The I-V behavior for (poly-TPD/CdS) is exponential with a maximum current of 4500 µA. While, the current i
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Abstract In this study, an investigation is conducted to realise the possibility of organic materials use in radio frequency (RF) electronics for RF-energy harvesting. Iraqi palm tree remnants mixed with nickel oxide nanoparticles hosted in polyethylene, INP substrates, is proposed for this study. Moreover, a metamaterial (MTM) antenna is printed on the created INP substrate of 0.8 mm thickness using silver nanoparticles conductive ink. The fabricated antenna performances are instigated numerically than validated experimentally in terms of S11 spectra and radiation patterns. It is found that the proposed antenna shows an ultra-wide band matching bandwidth to cover the frequencies from 2.4 to 10 GHz with bore-sight gain variation from 2.2 to
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In this study, the response and behavior of machine foundations resting on dry and saturated sand was investigated experimentally. A physical model was manufactured to simulate steady state harmonic load at different operating frequencies. The effect of relative density, depth of embedment, foundation area as well as the imposed harmonic load was investigated. It was found that the amplitude of displacement of the foundation increases with increasing the amplitude of dynamic force and operating frequency meanwhile it decreases with increasing the relative density of sand, degree of saturation, depth of embedment and contact area of footing. The maximum displacement was noticed at 33.34 to 41.67 Hz. The maximum displacement amplitude respons
... Show MoreIn this study, the response and behavior of machine foundations resting on dry and saturated sand was investigated experimentally. A physical model was manufactured to simulate steady state harmonic load at different operating frequencies. The effect of relative density, depth of embedment, foundation area as well as the imposed harmonic load was investigated. It was found that the amplitude of displacement of the foundation increases with increasing the amplitude of dynamic force and operating frequency meanwhile it decreases with increasing the relative density of sand, degree of saturation, depth of embedment and contact area of footing. The maximum displacement was noticed at 33.34 to 41.67 Hz. The maximum displaceme
... Show MoreSource of energy and protein Field crops considered an important needed for human
beings Due of this fact increases should appear in the quantities of their production in order to
meet the needs of continuous increasing in the population of the glope year after year ;
otherwise, an increase in the gap between the amount of production and consumption will
occur .
This study aims to reveal the geographical distribution of the potato crop in the district
of Abu – Ghraib. For this purpose, a study conducted about the cultivated areas, production
and crop yields per Dunam for period of 7 years lasted from 2005-2011.
The study shows that potato is one of the most important field crops that are grown in
the Abu –
This study focuses on the basics of cultivation and production of the Wheat Crop in
Wasit Province ; in order to reveal the reality of the geographical distribution of its cultivation
and production.
Wheat is the most important field crops cultivated in Wasit province, as it has vast
possibilities for expansion in growing and production, in which agriculture conducted in a
year and left in other , then changing this method would increase cultivated area of it to nearly
doubled, as well as the possibility of increasing average yields in Donam by using improved
seeds, fertilizer, with the availability of water lever machines, especially wheat is grown in
areas of rivers abutment.
The study showed the spread of th
The objective of the study was to predict crop coefficient (K) values for cucumber inside the greenhouse during the growing season 2014, using watermarks gypsum blocks and atmometer c apparatus during the growing stages and to compare the predicted values of the crop coefficient with different methods and approaches. The study was conducted in the greenhouses field within Al-Mahawil Township, 70 km south of Baghdad, Iraq. The watermarks soil water sensors and atmometer apparatus were used to measure crop evapotranspiration and reference evapotranspiration on daily basis, respectively. The comparison and the statistical analysis between the calculated K in this study and values obtained from greenhouse gave a good agreement. The root mean
... Show MoreAssessment of the in service behavior of asphalt stabilized subgrade soil under environmental impact has got little attention by the research workers. However, the sustainability of the roadway depends mainly on the welfare of its subgrade soil condition. In this work, Gypseous soil was stabilized with asphalt emulsion for subgrade usage, the durability of the mixture has been assessed in term of its ability to maintain the compressive strength when practicing the environmental impacts. Specimens of 38 mm in diameter , and 76 mm in height have been prepared with various water-asphalt percentages, and subjected to 30 cycles of (freezing-thawing), (heating-cooling) and (wetting-drying) processes. Specimens have been tested for unconfined comp
... Show MoreThe study presents the test results of Completely Decomposed Granite (CDG) soil tested under drained triaxial compression, direct shear and simple shear tests. Special attention was focused on the modification of the upper halve of conventional Direct Shear Test (DST) to behave as free
head in movement along with vertical strain control during shear stage by using Geotechnical Digital System (GDS). The results show that Free Direct Shear Test (FDST) has clear effect on the measured shear stress and vertical strain during the test. It has been found that shear strength
parameters measured from FDST were closer to those measured from simple shear and drained triaxial compression test. This study also provides an independent check on
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