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.
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Estimation of elements: Pb, Zn, Mn, Cd, and Cu, which were conducted seasonally from October-2021 till March-2022 in residential areas of Baghdad City using Geoaccumulation index (Igeo), enrichment factor ratios (EF), the factor of contamination (CF), contamination degree (Cd), index of pollution load (PLI) and index of potential ecological risk (Eif). The overall contamination factor in the research area is limited from low contamination with Cu, Mn, and Zn, moderately contaminated to very high contamination with Pb and Cd, while the assessment according to the I-geo index shows categories that vary from a slightly polluted to unpolluted by those examined heavy metals. The pollution load index indicates that the soils in some resi
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In this study, the CR-39 detector technique was used, to estimate the uranium concentration from the soil in midland refineries Company (Doura refine (, Baghdad, Iraq. Uranium concentrations in soil samples have been measured using solid state nuclear track detector type CR-39. Nine soil samples were collected from different areas within the Doura refinery and other soil samples were collected form Abu Tayara Street and ALshortaa District outside the refinery for comparison. The results showed variable values for uranium concentrations. The average value of uranium concentration was found to be 0.37 ppm in doura refinery. For areas outside the refinery, the concentration of uranium was 0.008 ppm. Thes
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The aim of this paper is to estimate the concentrations of some heavy metals in Mohammed AL-Qassim Highway in Baghdad city for different distances by using the polynomial interpolation method for functions passing from the data, which is proposed by using the MATLAB software. The sample soil in this paper was taken from the surface layer (0-25 cm depth) at the two sides of the road with four distances (1.5, 10, 25 and 60 m) in each side of the road. Using this method, we can find the concentrations of heavy metals in the soil at any depth and time without using the laboratory, so this method reduces the time, effort and costs of conducting laboratory analyzes.
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Under-reamed piles defined by having one or more bulbs have the potential for sizeable major sides over conventional straight-sided piles, most of the studies on under-reamed piles have been conducted on the experimental side, while theoretical studies, such as the finite element method, have been mainly confined to conventional straight-sided piles. On the other hand, although several laboratory and experimental studies have been conducted to study the behavior of under-reamed piles, few numerical studies have been carried out to simulate the piles' performance. In addition, there is no research to compare and evaluate the behavior of these piles under dynamic loading. Therefore, this study aimed to numerically investigate bearing capaci
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Uranium concentrations in soil were determined for ten locations in Salahdin governorate using CR-39 track detector, fission fragments track technique was used, the nuclear reaction of nuclear fission fragments obtained by the bombardment of 235U with thermal neutrons from (Am-Be) neutron source with flux (5000n.cm-2.s-1), the concentration values were calculated by a comparison with standard samples. The results of the measurements show that the uranium concentration in soil samples various from 0.42±0.018ppm in Beji province to 0.2±0.014 ppm in Tooz province with an average (0.31±0.08ppm), the values of uranium concentration in all samples are within the permissible limits universally.
This study aims to detect cadmium accumulation in the soil of Baghdad. Twenty soil samples were collected randomly during November 2020 to cover the study area, emphasizing the nature of each area (agricultural, commercial, industrial, residential, roadside, and waste dumping sites). All soil samples were subjected to geochemical analysis using atomic absorption spectrometry (ASS) to determine the concentration of cadmium in Baghdad soil. The laboratory data was utilized to design the spatial analysis map using Arc GIS 10.4.1 to investigate the spatial distribution of cadmium. The results demonstrated that the total content of cadmium in the study area ranged from 0.121to 1.78 mg/kg. All results of cadmium concentrations are withi
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The 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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