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.
Soft red winter wheat (SRW) is characterized by high yield and relatively low protein content. In Kentucky, there is growing demand from local artisan bread bakers for regionally produced flour, requiring production of grain with increased protein content and/or strength. The objective of this two-year field experiment was to evaluate the effect of nitrogen (N) management on five cultivars of winter wheat on yield and bread baking quality traits of modern and landrace SRW cultivars (Triticum aestivum L.). All five cultivars were evaluated using two N application rates in conventional and organic production systems. All traits measured were significantly affected by the agricultural production system and N rate, although plant height
... Show MoreDrip irrigation is one of the conservative irrigation techniques since it implies supplying water directly on the soil through the emitter; it can supply water and fertilizer directly into the root zone. An equation to estimate the wetted area in unsaturated soil is taking into calculating the water absorption by roots is simulated numerically using HYDRUS (2D/3D) software. In this paper, HYDRUS comprises analytical types of the estimate of different soil hydraulic properties. Used one soil type, sandy loam, with three types of crops; (corn, tomato, and sweet sorghum), different drip discharge, different initial soil moisture content was assumed, and different time durations. The relative error for the different hydrauli
... Show MoreUtilizing the modern technologies in agriculture such as subsurface water retention techniques were developed to improve water storage capacities in the root zone depth. Moreover, this technique was maximizing the reduction in irrigation losses and increasing the water use efficiency. In this paper, a polyethylene membrane was installed within the root zone of okra crop through the spring growing season 2017 inside the greenhouse to improve water use efficiency and water productivity of okra crop. The research work was conducted in the field located in the north of Babylon Governorate in Sadat Al Hindiya Township seventy-eight kilometers from Baghdad city. Three treatments plots were used for the comparison using surface
... Show MoreThis work investigates experimentally the effect of using a skirt with a square foundation of 100 mm width resting on dry gypseous soil (i.e., loose soil with 33% relative density), and subjected to an inclined load. Previous works did not study the use square skirted foundation rested on gypseous soil and subjected to inclined load. The investigated soil was brought from Tikrit city with 59% gypsum content. Standard physical and chemical tests on selected soil were carried out. Model laboratory tests were carried out to determine the effect of using a skirt with a square foundation on the load-settlement behavior of gypseous soil and subjected to inclined load with various Skirt depth (Ds) to foundation width (B) ratio
... Show MoreThe Mediating Role of Cobit 2019 in Managing the Relationship Between Qualitative Characteristics of Accounting Information and Information Asymmetry
This research aims to know the reality of succession planning in the researched organization and how it occupies the important jobs in the organization and its readiness for sudden and urgent events that lead to the vacancy of these jobs, and the importance of this research is that it is one of the rare Arab and Iraqi studies and research in this field, as it is one of the first researches It deals with the reality of succession planning in light of the retirement law No. (26) of 2019, and the research problem was the absence of consecutive planning programs and the weak preparation of suitable candidates to face sudden and urgent conditions as replacements for current leaders who occupy the leading and key positions in the depar
... Show MoreThis study uses the performance of the discretionary estimation models by using a sample of listed companies in the Netherlands and Germany. The actual accounting framework provides a wide opportunity for managers to influence data in financial reporting. The corporate reporting strategy, the way managers use their discretionary accounting, has a significant effect on the company's financial reporting. The authors contribute to the literature through enhancement to these models to accomplish better effects of identifying earnings management as well as to present evidence that is particular to the Dutch and German setting.
For this, we followed the methodology of Dechow, Sloan, and Sweeney (1995) and Chan
... Show MoreThe present study investigated Haematological changes in Mesopotamichthys sharpeyi, as well as determination genotoxic effects of cadmium chloride on bunni fish by using 120 fingerlings, fish were distributed randomly into four treatments in addition to control group. Fish in first group treated (T1) with cadmium 0.093mg/L with changing water and added cadmium continuously, fish in the second group treated (T2) with cadmium 0.093mg/L with changing water without adding cadmium, third treatment (T3) with cadmium 0.046mg/L with changing water and adding cadmium continuously, and fourth treatment (T4) with cadmium 0.046mg/L with changing water without adding cadmium. Results of blood picture in T1 and T3 showed a significant reduction in red bl
... Show MoreAnabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) are man-made derivatives of the male sex hormone testosterone, originally designed for therapeutic uses to provide higher anabolic potency with lower androgenic effects. Increasing numbers of young athletes are using these agents illicitly to enhance physical fitness, appearance, and performance despite their numerous side effects and worldwide banning. Today, their use remains one of the main health problems in sports because of their availability and low price. The present study focuses on investigating the adverse effects of anabolic androgenic steroid abuse on sex hormones, liver and renal function tests, fasting glucose levels and lipid metabolism in Iraqi male recreational bodybuilders
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