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.
This field experiment was conducted at Research Station B, Department of Horticulture and Landscape Engineering, College of Agricultural Engineering Sciences, University of Baghdad, Jadiriyah during the fall season of 2019-2020 to evaluate the effect of cultivation dates and soil fertilization source on the growth, yield and quality of broccoli. A split plot design within the RCBD design with three replicates was applied as the Max F1 hybrid broccoli seedlings were transferred to the field at two dates 25, Sep. 2019 and 15, Oct. 2019, which were symbolized as A and B, respectively, and occupied at the main plot. After two weeks of cultivation, the soil fertilizers were applied three times during the season in 20 days between each applicati
... Show MoreThe influence of process speed (PS) and tillage depth (TD) , on growth of corn (Zea mays L) yield, for Maha cultivar, were tested at two ranges of PS of 2.483 and 4.011 km.hr-1, and three ranges of TD of 15,20 and 25cm. The experiments were conducted in a factorial experiment under complete randomized design with three replications. The results showed that the PS of 2.483 km.hr-1 was significantly better than the PS of 4.011km.hr-1 in all studied conditions. The , slippage ratio (SR) and the machine efficiency (ME), the physical soil characteristics represented by the soil density and porosity (SBD and TSP), and the plant characteristics represented the roots dry weight, PVI and the crop productivity (CP), except adjective of the fu
... Show MoreIn Iraq, the risk of soil pollution by petroleum products increases with the growth of oil exploration, production and shipping large quantities of oil through pipelines over thousands of kilometers. Numerous oil spills have been documented recently in many sites due to damage in the oil industry infrastructures, which have led to soil contamination causing serious environmental hazards and deterioration to the soil and its engineering properties. So, it is essential to investigate the impact of oil leakage through the soil stratum consequently, assessing the eligibility of the contaminated soil for construction projects or identifying the appropriate treatment method. The paper investigates the general behaviour and the associated variatio
... Show MoreIn the geotechnical and terramechanical engineering applications, precise understandings are yet to be established on the off-road structures interacting with complex soil profiles. Several theoretical and experimental approaches have been used to measure the ultimate bearing capacity of the layered soil, but with a significant level of differences depending on the failure mechanisms assumed. Furthermore, local displacement fields in layered soils are not yet studied well. Here, the bearing capacity of a dense sand layer overlying loose sand beneath a rigid beam is studied under the plain-strain condition. The study employs using digital particle image velocimetry (DPIV) and finite element method (FEM) simulations. In the FEM, an experiment
... Show MoreThe research aims to find out the relationship between the medical and nursing staffing and its impact on the quality of provided health service in the Yarmouk Teaching Hospital, and to understand the nature of the relationship between doctors and nurses, it has been the adoption of cooperation and conflict Kmngaran independent knowledge of the relationship between doctors and nurses and the quality of health service as a variable certified by eating five dimensions (tangibility, reliability, safety, responsiveness, empathy). The research was adopted to collect data on the questionnaire prepared medical and nursing to the angel and adopted included Likert Quintet her, and distributed to doctors working in the Yarmouk hospital in
... Show MoreThis study investigates the impact of nonsurgical periodontal treatment (NSPT) on oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) in patients with periodontitis stages (S)2 and S3, and the factors associated with the prediction of patient-reported outcomes. Periodontitis patients (n = 68) with moderately deep periodontal pockets were recruited. Responses to the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP)-14 questionnaire and clinical parameters including plaque index, bleeding on probing (BOP), probing pocket depth (PPD), and clinical attachment loss (CAL) were recorded. All patients received supra- and subgingival professional mechanical plaque removal. All clinical parameters and questionnaire responses were recorded again 3 months after NSPT.
... Show MoreIn this study, the effect of intersecting ribs with inclined ribs on the heat transfer and flow characteristics of a high aspect ratio duct has been numerically investigated. The Relative roughness pitch (P/e) is 10 and the Reynolds number range from 35,700 to 72,800. ANSYS (Fluent-Workbench 18.0) software has been utilized to solve the Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations with the Standard k-ε turbulence model. Three ribbed models have been used in this study. Model 1 which is a just inclined ribs, Model 2 which has a single longitudinal rib at the center with inclined ribs and Model 3 which has two longitudinal ribs at the sides. The results showed that the heat transfer rate has been enhanced when the int
... Show MoreThe high mobility group A1 gene (HMGA1) rs139876191 variant has been related to metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes, but data are lacking in Middle Eastern populations. The study aimed to assess whether the HMGA1 rs139876191 variant is associated with metabolic syndrome risk and whether this variant predicts the risk of insulin resistance. This case-control study was carried out at single center in Kirkuk city/ Iraq from February to August 2022. Polymorphisms in HMGA1 and genotyping were identified by Sanger sequencing of genomic DNA obtained from 91 Iraqi participants (61 patients with metabolic syndrome and 30 control). Lipid profile, serum (glucose and insulin), glycated hemoglobin, blood pressure, body mass index, and waist circumfer
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